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Black queer dancer O’Shae Sibley was fatally stabbed outside of a New York City gas station on July 29 while vogueing to Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, according to The New York Times. Now, Queen Bey is paying tribute to the late dancer on her website. “Rest in power, O’Shae Sibley,” she wrote in all caps. Sibley, […]
Fans of Broadway’s Britney Spears musical Once Upon a One More Time demanding “gimme more” just got lucky — or, more specifically, “Toxic.” The team behind the show – which finds fairy tale princesses singing Spears’ pop classics while discovering their own agency beyond “happily ever after” – is offering up a new cast performance clip from the production. This OUAOMT video shows the play’s antagonists, Stepmother (Jennifer Simard) and Narrator (Adam Godley), singing a twisted update on “Toxic,” Spears’ Grammy-winning top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
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In case you haven’t seen the Britney-approved Broadway musical yet, brace yourself for this take on “Toxic.” Yes, the unforgettable strings are present, but the song’s delirious dance-pop energy has been subverted into an unsettling, disorienting electronic abyss, making this a villainous vocal showcase for Simard and Godley, both two-time Tony Award nominees.
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If you think this version brings to mind the moody music of a Grammy-sweeping “Bad Guy,” you’re not wrong. “We love ‘Toxic’ as it was originally created, but tonally, it was too inherently playful for a musical narrative that needed to darken and take a turn,” Keone & Mari Madrid, the directors and choreographers of OUAOMT, tell Billboard. “So, we decided to take inspiration from some of our old work with Billie Eilish. Basically asking ourselves, ‘If Billie covered “Toxic,” what might that sound like?’ Our cast and creative team all leaned in to that dark, monochromatic tone.”
“It’s an honor and responsibility to try and do justice to Ms. Spears, and the song for which she won her first Grammy. There is only one Britney, and I think it would be a mistake to try and do an impression,” Simard tells Billboard. She adds that a total re-imagining of the song was a necessity for the storytelling arc of the musical. “It is a real turning point in the show where we illustrate that fairytales are, in fact, dark. If that moment doesn’t work, the entire show doesn’t work. No pressure! But I think we did it,” she says. (You can watch the video above for proof of that.)
“We all realized early on that it was vitally important that ‘Toxic’ shows these two characters, Stepmother and Narrator, undergoing a complete transformation. Story-wise, it is a crucial turning point, as the Stepmother takes matters into her own hands and transforms Narrator into something – that by the end of the number – even she can’t control,” says Godley, who joins Simard during the mind-bending “Toxic” performance. “At the heart of it, of course, is Jennifer’s unmatched ability to sing the number in such an incredibly powerful, extraordinary, and unexpected way. “
“This is undeniably a huge hinge moment for the show. Narrative-wise. Energy-wise. It’s the ‘dark night of the soul’ and if we’re not delivering here, the rest of the story truly suffers,” Keone & Mari Madrid tell Billboard. “Jennifer and Adam helped us find such a delicate yet sensual dance of power that happens between their characters. They bring so much to the table – and are incredible humans, as much as they are artists. One example is Jennifer’s wild-siren-song-note at the end of the number. It was something she was keeping in her pocket, that we didn’t know she had, and when she brought it forward that moment really brought the number to a crescendo. That vocal absolutely nails everything home.”
You can check out Simard’s eyebrow-raising note beginning at the 3:15 time stamp. Be sure to catch Liv Battista’s eerie back bend at the 1:40 mark — keep in mind she’s doing that move eight times a week.
“All our company and our departments came through for this moment,” the directing-choreography duo tell Billboard. “And when all the elements are firing together, it’s really something.”
Once Upon a One More Time is currently running at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in New York City.
California’s lieutenant governor and other elected officials on Tuesday urged Taylor Swift to postpone her upcoming Los Angeles concerts as a way to stand in solidarity with striking hotel workers. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and dozens of state and local politicians signed an open letter telling Swift that her tour makes the region’s hotels money, with some properties […]
Bebe Rexha is going through a break up. The “I’m Good (Blue)” singer revealed during her July 28 London concert that she and her boyfriend of three years, Keyan Safyari, have ended their relationship. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Rexha confirmed the split before performing her […]
Taylor Swift is expressing gratitude to the crew that helped keep her Eras Tour going. The “Bejeweled” superstar has reportedly given $100,000 bonuses to each truck driver of her tour before the Saturday night (July 29) show in Santa Clara, Calif., according to TMZ and ET. Swift has around 50 drivers on her tour, making […]
Nick Jonas enjoyed a month of soaking up the summer sun with his family, and took to Instagram to document his activities over the month of July. In the series of photos shared to Instagram on Tuesday (Aug. 1), the Jonas Brothers star is seen lounging at the beach and on boats with his wife […]
After sending fans into a clue-finding frenzy, Olivia Rodrigo has now ended their suffering by at last unveiling the official tracklist to her upcoming sophomore album, Guts. In a second teaser video Tuesday (Aug. 1) — which followed one day after Rodrigo shared a mysterious clip filled with hidden song titles for fans to decode […]
The month of August is upon us. And for Swifties, that means it’s officially Follklore season.
That’s because one of the most beloved tracks on Taylor Swift‘s 2020 album shares a name with the month we’ve just entered: “August,” told through the perspective of a character dubbed by the fandom as Augustine, who fills the role of “the other woman” in the teenage love triangle chronicled by Folklore.
Even Swift herself has taken to Twitter to ring in the start of the month, in spite of the fact that she’s released two more albums (Evermore and Midnights) since dropping Folklore at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (The album is just that iconic, and so is “August.”)
“get in the car it’s august,” the pop star wrote at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday (Aug. 1), referencing one of the song’s lyrics: “Remember when I pulled up and said ‘Get in the car’/ And then canceled my plans just in case you’d call?”
Her tweet received more than one million likes in just a few hours, with thousands of fans sharing their excitement in the comments. Many of them quoted more lyrics in Swift’s replies: “SALT AIR AND THE RUST ON YOUR DOOR!!!!” wrote one, while another added, “i never needed anything more (than this tweet).”
“august heads unite,” chimed in Jack Antonoff — who produced “August” — in a tweet of his own.
Other Swifties have also shared homemade memes and reverent tweets honoring the track, with several people declaring, “It’s officially august by taylor swift month.”
There’s plenty of evidence beyond Tuesday’s swirl of Swiftie tweets that proves “August” isn’t just any old fan-favorite song, but has the evergreen power of a seasonal classic, something diehard Swifties and casual fans alike will dust off every year. For instance, the track made a resurgence on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart just a few weeks ago, and returned to the top 10 of the Hot Alternative Songs chart — mirroring the chart boost “August” saw one year ago.
And, assisted by a heavy feature in Prime Video’s Summer I Turned Pretty season two trailer, “August” has also experienced a major streaming boost recently. The week the trailer came out, its streams went up by 24%, according to Luminate.
See Taylor’s tweet and posts from Swifties celebrating “August” below:
get in the car it’s august— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 1, 2023
for some people, today is national girlfriend day, for others, it is august by taylor swift. never both.— iya ★ (@hotmessjunk) August 1, 2023
happy august never forget that a man once texted me that he was “changing for the better à la taylor swift” and then proceeded to just…do the plot of August to me. a real commitment to the bit, i’ll give him that— ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) August 1, 2023
to live for the hope of it all— folklore lyrics bot (@folklorebot) August 1, 2023
It’s right there in the name: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So, given that said bony-shelled reptiles are right in the demo, it’s fitting that in a new promo for the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie that is out on Wednesday (Aug. 2), Leo, Raph, Don and Mikey are unabashed members of the ARMY.
“This is it, guys,” Raphael laments in the 20-second clip in which the foursome are lashed to a giant bomb-like device that seems to spell their demise. “Oh, so many regrets,” he groans. “I just wish I could see BTS IRL,” says Donatello.
Leonardo, of course, has a creative idea, offering, “We could do some of the songs for you,” he says, with Michelangelo adding that he’d be down for a few bars. Leo then gets the gang started, singing the first lines of BTS’ global No. 1 smash “Butter,” while encouraging the others to join in. But, given their predicament — they are lashed to a wall by their wrists and ankles — the song comes out as more of a cry than a croon.
It’s all a bit sad, honestly and Don complains that they don’t even really know the words. To be fair, the tweet of the clip had a very stark warning message: “Jung Kook please don’t watch this.”
In addition to the four turtles (voiced by Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon), the film also features the voices of Rogen, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Paul Rudd and Maya Rudolph; Rogen and producing partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote and co-produced the film directed by Jeff Rowe.
Watch the trailer below.
Jung Kook please don’t watch this. Get tickets now for the best reviewed comedy of the year – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: #MutantMayhem is in theatres everywhere Wednesday. #TMNTMovie— TMNT (@TMNTMovie) July 28, 2023
It’s the first day of August, which has us thinking about Taylor Swift’s timely song “August” from her 2020 album Folklore. Folklore was surprise-released on July 24, 2020 — so just ahead of August that year — and in the Augusts since, we’ve seen the song re-emerge on various Billboard charts timed to the month. […]