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Selena Gomez must be having an incredible summer, based on new photos and video clips of the singer/actress out at sea, looking completely radiant and carefree in a pink swimsuit. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Gomez, pictured in a pretty bikini and denim overalls — and […]
Troye Sivan would like to set the record straight — well, not straight per se — about some rumors that have pervaded the internet for the last few years.
On a recent episode of Emily Ratajkowski’s High Low podcast, Sivan declared once and for all that he is not a bottom. “This is actually something I want to clear up,” he told the model-actress. “I wrote this one song called ‘Bloom,’ right? It’s about bottoming. And the lyric is ‘I bloom just for you.’ And people took that and ran.”
Continuing, the Australian pop star said that the queer community online thinks that he is “some crazy power bottom,” when that is simply not true. When asked by EmRata if it was “annoying to have to clarify that,” Sivan said it was not. “I think sometimes people are just surprised, maybe if they go on a date with me, and I’m like, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m not a bottom,’” he said.
Fans expressed their varying levels of shock in the comments section of a TikTok clip, with one saying “I did NOT have ‘Troye Sivan is a strict top’ on my 2023 bingo card.” Some fans, though, felt that Sivan had been pretty clear through his lyrics. “I’ve always understood that. Like he’s saying ‘I bloom JUST for YOU,’” one commenter wrote.
The new clip comes during a big week for Sivan — his latest single “Rush” recently debuted across 12 different Billboard charts, including a No. 77 debut on the Billboard Hot 100, marking his first entry on the chart since 2021’s “You” with Regard and Tate McRae, and his highest debut on the chart to date.
In an interview with Billboard shortly after the song was released, Sivan said that he was already thrown off by the extremely warm reception it received. “I know that I’m really super happy about it, and I also think I am a little bit intimidated,” he said. “It’s a good intimidation, because it just makes me think, ‘Damn, we’ve got to make a great video for the second single.’”
Check out the clip of Sivan on EmRata’s High Low below:
Taylor Swift rewrites the record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as “Cruel Summer” climbs to the top of the list dated Aug. 5. The song becomes her 12th leader on the list, surpassing the 11 each for Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Rihanna. Swift claims the mark […]
Flashback to her mistakes, her rebounds, her earthquakes. In another case of life imitating art (this time, the art being lyrics to Taylor Swift‘s 2017 Reputation track “Dress”), Swifties at the Eras Tour in Seattle last weekend danced so hard, they generated enough seismic activity to rival a low-grade earthquake. The discovery was found by Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, who measured the “Swift-quake” at Lumen Field to be equivalent to a 2.3 on the magnitude scale.
“For Taylor Swift, I collected about 10 hours of data where rhythm controlled the behavior,” Caplan-Auerbach explained to CNN Thursday (July 27). “The music, the speakers, the beat. All that energy can drive into the ground and shake it.”
The findings called back to another incident at Lumen Field in 2011, when fans watching a Seattle Seahawks game went wild over an impressive touchdown by running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch. The rumblings from the game showed up on the same local seismometer as the activity from the Eras show, according to Caplan-Auerbach.
“The shaking was twice as strong as ‘Beast Quake,’” she added. “It absolutely doubled it.”
Comparing activity from the Saturday (July 22) show with the Sunday (July 23) show, Caplan-Auerbach shared that there wasn’t one crowd of Swifties that was discernibly more raucous than the other. Both groups danced equally enthusiastically, the only main difference being that the second show started about half an hour later than the first due to delays.
It wasn’t just scientists who noticed the record-breaking movement at the stadium, by the way. Even Swift was impressed by all the energy she greeted with, afterward writing on Instagram, “Thank you for everything. All the cheering, screaming, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of your lungs.”
The conclusion of the Seattle shows means that Swift has just one more state to visit on the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour, which she’ll wrap up with two performances at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., followed by six concerts at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. From there, she’ll embark on months of international shows, traveling through Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia with support from Sabrina Carpenter and Paramore.
And even regardless of seismic activity, fans at the rest of those Eras Tour venues have a lot to live up to following Seattle. While onstage Sunday night, Swift doubled down on a diary entry she recalled writing during 2018’s Reputation Tour: “Seattle, Washington is the best crowd I have ever played for.”
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week (July 28), Travis Scott takes listeners to Utopia, Post Malone introduces his fans to Austin, and Offset and Cardi B brush off the haters (with a movie star’s help). Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Travis Scott, Utopia
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No pyramids, no problem: Even with its much-hyped premiere event in Egypt delayed until a date TBD, Travis Scott still dropped his long-awaited Utopia — five years after his 2018 blockbuster Astroworld — this Friday at midnight. Like Astroworld, the album is a winding journey through Scott’s sonic universe, with such A-list guests as The Weeknd, 21 Savage, Future and of course his old “Sick Mode” collaborator Drake — though you’ll have to actually listen to know that they’re on there, as the streaming tracklist is once again feature spoiler-free. The most exciting cameo this time around: fellow H-Town native Beyoncé, detouring from the Renaissance Tour to Utopia, with her first-ever appearance on a Travis Scott album.
Post Malone, Austin
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Guitar Posty was promised, and Guitar Posty was (mostly) delivered. Which is not to say that Austin finally features Post Malone living out his Kurt Cobain fantasies in full — you probably wouldn’t even quite call it a rock album, more just a pop album with a power ballad or two, a disco jam (!!) and a good amount of six string over all of it. Some are fun, some are despairing, some somewhere in between, but all clearly more by the man behind “Circles,” than the one behind “Rockstar” or “Congratulations.” It’s an enjoyable listen — and an interesting career move for Post, who experienced a bit of a commercial downturn with last year’s wrenchingly personal Twelve Carat Toothache, and who has yet to really recapture the chart dominance of his late 2010s this decade.
Offset feat. Cardi B, “Jealousy”
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Cardi B’s absurd run of scene-stealing features continues with an overdue solo collaborator — her own husband, Offset. “Jealousy” doesn’t have much of a chorus or hook to speak of — it would just get in the way of the couple’s bars, as Offset insists “I’m Michael, I’m not no Jermaine” and Cardi attests, “B–ches don’t wanna go Birkin for Birkin/ B–ches ain’t got enough hits for a Verzuz/ B–ches be actin’ so different in person.” The song is helped by a sample of Three 6 Mafia’s “Jealous Ass B–ch” and a music video that sees the duo paying tribute to the 2001 John Singleton classic Baby Boy, with original star Taraji P. Henson even making a cameo.
Mitski, “Bug Like an Angel”
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After 2022’s top five-debuting Billboard 200 hit album Laurel Hell, critics’ darling turned viral indie sensation Mitski is already scheduled for the follow-up LP, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, out in September. This week, we get the first taste: “Bug Like an Angel,” a Cowboy Junkies-like acoustic ballad with occasional jarring choral punctuations, and the kind of poetic lyrical exhaustion fans have come to expect from her the past half decade: “When I’m bent over wishin’ it was over/ Makin’ all variety of vows I’ll never keep/ I Try to remember the wrath of the devil/ Was also given him by God.” A year and a half since the last album? Already way too long a wait.
Gucci Mane, “Woppenheimer”
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Never let it be said that Gucci Mane doesn’t give the people what they want. A meme nostalgic for Guwop’s peak mixtape run went viral last weekend, theorizing that if we were still 2009, we’d have gotten a Woppenheimer project pegged to the Christopher Nolan-directed box office smash. Today, La Flare says “fair enough” and does indeed release a “Woppenheimer” — with the fan’s proposed cover art and anything — though only a single rather than a full mixtape. The narcotic trap banger indeed could have appeared on an Obama-era Gucci release, as he raps on the hook, “Broke people like bringin’ up the past, I’m talkin’ recently/ I know what I did for you, but what you did for me?” The ball is indeed back in their court.
Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loveliest Time
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In 2022, she was having The Loneliest Time — but those days are over, and the Canadian pop favorite is back this week and apparently having a much nicer go of it. From the jazzy friskiness of “Anything to Be With You” to the neon synth drama of “Kamikaze” to the Midnight Star-interpolating electro-pop of “Shy Boy,” Carly Rae Jepsen does indeed seem to be feeling loose and carefree, hopscotching from one sound to another and generally keeping the vibe consistent throughout. Fans can only wonder what set might be completing the trilogy in 2024: The Luckiest Time? The Looniest Time? The Languorousest Time?
Kylie Minogue is headed to Las Vegas. The “Padam Padam” singer announced on Thursday (July 27) that she has scheduled her first-ever residency at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas’ Voltaire this fall. “VEGAS BABY! [star emoji],” she tweeted in a video set to her latest global dance smash. “So excited to headline the all-new @VoltaireLV at starting this fall. See you there! #MoreThanJustAResidency.”
The gigs for the first headliner run at the 1,000-seat cabaret-style space at the Venetian are slated to kick off on Nov. 4, with tickets going on sale on August 9. The space was described in a press release announcing the shows as “blurring the line between an intimate club, concert, and non-stop entertainment venue.”
“Today is the day where it all becomes, beautifully real,” Minogue said at the Los Angeles event announcing her residency according to EW. The singer said she and the resort have been “living with” their plans for the residency for nearly three years. “So to finally be able to say, yes, I am doing a show in Vegas and to be at Voltaire at the Venetian Resort, it’s just, it’s such a good match. And, yeah, I couldn’t be more excited.”
Minogue is prepping her 16th studio album, Tension (Sept. 22), which has been set up by the global hit “Padam Padam.” The Australian singer hinted at her plans to join Adele, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and other current Vegas residency artists earlier this month during an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in which the host asked if she had any plans to do a “tour or Vegas residency.” Squinting her eyes mischievously, Minogue teased, “very possibly.”
“The spirit of Voltaire is one of pure, authentic fun. It’s one I resonate with as a pop artist. My new album Tension is all about the space where the intimate and universal come together and Voltaire represents just that,” Minogue said in a statement announcing the residency on Friday morning (July 28). “The creative team has designed an environment where people can get up and dance at their tables and revel in the night – that’s what my music is for.”
Producer Michael Gruber described his vision for Voltaire as an “interactive night out with some of the world’s biggest superstars” in an intimate setting where “anything can happen and no two evenings are the same.”
With a theme of “Belle de Nuit” (Beauty of the Night), Voltaire aims to capture a spirit “evocative of veils and mystery, of come-to-play and dress-to-express,” with table service that will include everything from champagne and caviar to cookies. “The creative team has designed an environment where people can get up and dance at their tables and revel in the night,” said Minogue. “That’s what Voltaire is and I can’t wait to perform in this intimate and exciting setting.”
Venetian president/CEO Patrick Nichols said that, “Voltaire will lead a revival in high-caliber nightlife giving guests an unexpected night out, but also the opportunity to see some of their favorite artists in an intimate way.” Gruber added, “Everything about Kylie reflects the essence of Voltaire. Her music is fun. Her spirit is absolutely infectious. And she’s at the top of her game, which makes this a truly special moment for fans to connect in such an intimate environment.”
Minogue will wear custom high-fashion costumes for the residency created by a designer who has worked with her before, as well as with Beyoncé and Mariah Carey, for what is described as a “heavy couture influence [that] lends the entire evening an unforgettably glamorous lens.” Emmy- and Tony-winning production designer Derek McLane (Moulin Rouge, MJ on Broadway) conjured the “immersive key-hole themed room design, centered around modern-day art deco fantasy.”
“I really wanted it to feel like an escape from the environment of the casino floor. Something that felt like a completely different world. An intimate, exciting, and inviting world,” said McLane. Information on tickets, tables and packages for the opening show and residency run is available here.
Watch the residency announcement below.
Madonna had a lot to celebrate this week as the pop icon continued recuperating from her recent hospitalization for a bacterial infection. In an Instagram video posted on Thursday (July 27), the singer promoted the 40th anniversary celebration of her 1983 debut album and the song that helped boost her to global stardom, “Lucky Star.” […]
Matteo Bocelli‘s relationship with his father, beloved Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, means everything to him.
“Thanks to my dad, I had the pleasure to be on the most famous stages of the world and got to travel all over the planet,” 25-year-old Matteo tells Billboard. “Bringing our voices on stages, we were bringing a story that is true and authentic. As I always say, music is about authenticity, because when you’re not truthful to music, the music won’t work and people won’t feel it. Our duet ‘Fall On Me’ is a song that talks about a true relationship between father and son and it’s probably why people really felt the song and they were so excited to see us together all the time.”
While he’s already had an impressive amount of musical experience thanks to working and performing with his father, Matteo is ready to re-introduce himself to the world on his own — but not without paying tribute to the family who supported him along the way. The singer dropped a new solo single, “Chasing Stars,” on Friday (July 28), which was written by pop superstar Ed Sheeran and his brother Matthew about their own father.
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“When I was younger, my father was my hero / Let me hop on his shoulders, we sang to the moon,” Matteo’s honeyed vocals croon on the opening lines of the heartfelt ballad, which, as expected, Andrea loved. “Once my father heard that first line calling him my hero, he said, ‘I like this song,’” Matteo recalls with a laugh, before sharing how supportive the Italian legend has been while his son worked to carve his own creative path.
“My father helped this big step feel a little smaller,” he says. “I’m very grateful for everything that he taught me, the values that he gave to me and all the vocal techniques. Every time I have jobs, I still go to him and ask him how I should use my voice. He’s always saying, ‘I’m here for you to help you for whatever you need.’ I think that this is what father should always do. Let their sons live their lives but always be there to support and give advice.”
Having a song written by Ed Sheeran on his debut album made the song even sweeter, as Matteo has been a fan of the superstar since he released 2011’s “The A Team.”
“To think that in my very first album, I have a song with him, it’s incredible. It’s really a privilege,” Matteo says, noting that he met Sheeran “multiple times” over the years, but really got to know him back when he worked with Andrea on his 2017 “Perfect Symphony” duet. “We kept in contact, and later on, we asked if it was possible to have a song written by him. We thought it’d be a privilege to have one of his songs and he sent us ‘Chasing Stars.’ I fell in love with the song in the very first moment because it’s beautiful, the melody and also the lyrics. It wasn’t a song that he wrote for me. It was a song that he did for himself — but what’s cool is the song has a theme that is quite common because we both have a shared value of family and a passion for music.”
He continues, “I found so many connections on that song that I said, ‘I’ve got to do it.’ Not only because everything Ed touches is beautiful, but also because all the pieces of the puzzle were fitting perfectly.”
As for the age-old phrase, “Never meet your heroes,” the warning proved to be completely untrue in Matteo’s experience working with Sheeran. “One of the things that I appreciate so much about Ed is that in his music and art in general, he knows what it means to be free and to have the freedom to do what you love in your way,” Matteo says. “Many artists in their career have been judged for what they were doing or the way they were bringing music to people. For this reason, he gave me the freedom to perform the song the way I like. He wasn’t at all the type to be like, ‘No, you got to do this, you got to do that.’ He encouraged me to perform it the way I feel, because he said, ‘At the end of the day, you’re going to be on stage performing the songs.’”
The Parisi-produced “Chasing Stars” will be featured on the singer’s upcoming debut solo album, fittingly titled Matteo, set for release on September 22 via Capitol Records. The 12-track project will feature both Italian and English songs capturing this new chapter in Matteo’s life.
Despite his confidence in taking this next step as a solo artist, Matteo is still growing and learning who he is, just like any 25-year-old. “They always ask me who I am today and I always say, ‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ because it’s truly a specific and particular phase of my life,” he says of how he views himself at this moment. “This is why one of the first ideas we thought of was to call the album Fasi, which means ‘phases’ in English, because it’s a very important moment of my life with many, many changes. I’m super happy about all of the music I made these last two years and this record will be the product of getting to experiment and work with many writers and composers. You learn so many things, you have so many experiences and so many stories to tell. I hope that the concepts and all the stories and emotion will be able to connect with people.”
Listen to “Chasing Stars,” and watch the moving music video, below.
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Ethan Slater and estranged wife Lilly Jay have filed for divorce on Wednesday (July 26), Billboard can confirm. The reason listed for the divorce is not currently clear. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The musician also spoke out against the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical star’s […]
The Internet was sent ablaze on Wednesday (July 26) when a former Air Force intelligence officer testified in Congress, claiming under oath that the U.S. government secretly operates a “multi-decade” reverse engineering program of recovered vessels, adding that they’ve allegedly gotten ahold of non-human “biologics” from crash sites. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news […]