Pop
Page: 479
Selena Gomez celebrated her 31st birthday over the weekend by doing what a lot of us did: seeing Barbie. Of course, The Only Murders in the Building star had a private screening of the record-setting Greta Gerwig smash that brought in more than $155 million and celebrated with some of her famous friends, including Paris […]
Tony Bennett‘s widow, Susan Benedetto, share some of her favorite memories of the “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” singer with People magazine just days after the beloved pop singer died at age 96 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Susan, who married Bennett in 2007 after 20 years with the singer, shared […]
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is underway, with 32 teams competing for the biggest prize in the sport. Tones And I helped get the ball rolling.
The Australian singer and songwriter teams-up with American rapper Bia and French-Senegalese singer-songwriter Diarra Sylla on the competition’s official walkout anthem, “Bring It On,” which dropped in full Friday (July 21).
Produced by multi-Grammy Award-winner RedOne, the tune will play before all 64 games across the tournament and will enjoy sync opportunities on free-to-air commercial TV in Australia.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The triumvirate of artists represents “different continents and a variety of musical influences,” explains FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura, pointing out the tune will be used for future tournaments.
“By bringing together voices from Africa, Australia, Europe and North America, this song symbolises how music – and football – can unite the world,” comments Samoura.
“Bring It On” premiered ahead of the opening match last Thursday, July 20 between New Zealand and former World Cup champion Norway at Eden Park, Auckland.
“Being able to bring different people and cultures together through music is just the best thing for me,” comments Bia, whose homeland is the reigning World Cup champion.
Though Senegal missed out this time, “there will be four African teams taking part and I will be proud to represent my country through music,” adds Sylla.
Stream “Bring It On” below.
[embedded content]
Tones cut her teeth busking on Australia’s east coast before landing a global smash with “Dance Monkey,” which swung to the top of sales charts in at least 30 markets. Along the way, the track clocked a record 24 weeks at No. 1 on Australia’s ARIA Singles Chart, and, in the U.K., logged 11 weeks at the summit, an all-time mark for a solo female artist.
The hitmaker (real name: Toni Watson) led Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters Chart in January 2020, as the song cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Global combined streams top 10 billion across her catalog, which includes “Fly Away,” which peaked at No. 11 in the U.K. in 2021.
Tones is currently in the studio recording her sophomore album, due out in 2024. It’s the followup to 2021’s Welcome to the Madhouse, which led the ARIA Albums Chart.
But first, a new song, “The Greatest,” is slated to arrive Aug. 4.
The World Cup is co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand for the first time. For the record, both home teams got their campaigns off to winning starts.
The hosts are represented in music by Kiwi pop artist BENEE and Aussie singer and songwriter Mallrat, whose collaboration “Do It Again” is the “official song” of the tournament.
Stream “Do It Again” below.
[embedded content]
It’s a wrap for Harry Styles‘ Love on Tour. The Harry’s House hitmaker ended his massive tour in Reggio Emilia, Italy, at RCF Arena on Saturday night (July 22), and he topped the last concert off with an extra encore.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Styles closed the show with an as-yet-untitled song that was new to fans: It went on for about 10 minutes and it was an instrumental ballad, with Styles on piano.
His name and the phrase “new song” trended on Twitter on Saturday as fans reacted to hearing new music from Styles at his final Love on Tour date. It was an emotional end to a tour that went on for nearly two years.
“I don’t get to do this if you guys don’t come,” Styles told the audience during a speech that had fans in tears. “I know that more than anyone else. You guys being here tonight, I know you wanted to make it special for me. You make it special for me every single night.”
“The atmosphere that you have created, the family that you have created, this safe space that you have created,” he said during his speech. “I want to thank you for everything.”
Styles continued, “I know feeling so incredibly small in this world it can be really, really difficult to feel like anything you can do can make a difference. I promise you, I see it all the time in the little things that you do and the way that you treat each other. How it has affected all the people around me, how it has affected people out there, it is so much bigger. It does not end when this tour ends. I want you to continue it. Put love out into the world. It needs it a bit right now. I love you all so much, and I’m gonna miss you. I will be loving you so, so much — if you’ve been supporting me for one year, five years, 13 years, whatever it is. Not only have you changed my life over and over again, but you’ve made me the happiest. I’m so thrilled and happy to be here tonight. I’m so, so happy.”
The trek, which launched on Sept. 4, 2021 in Las Vegas, brought Styles to five continents and has become one of the 10 highest-grossing tours of all time, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The former One Direction singer had earned almost $600 million from the tour as of a week ago.
Watch him perform his new song and see a clip from his thank you speech below.
Harry’s thank you speech at the final show of Love On Tour on stage at RCF Arena Reggio Emilia in Reggio Emilia, Italy – 22 July (via taylorontourr) pic.twitter.com/rakeDJtz4w— HSD Love On Tour (@hsdlot) July 23, 2023
Britney Spears and Will.i.am‘s “Mind Your Business” has topped this week’s new music poll. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (July 21) on Billboard, choosing the collaboration between the pop superstar and Grammy-winning producer as their favorite new music release of the past week. “Mind Your Business” brought in nearly 48% of the […]
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated July 29). It’s the first time a re-recorded Swift album has spent its first two weeks at No. 1. The pop superstar’s re-recorded Fearless and Red each bowed at No. 1 in 2021, and then fell from the top slot in their second frames — though the former returned to No. 1 six months later after its release on vinyl and signed CD.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) earned 121,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 20 (down 83%), according to Luminate.
Swift leads a quiet top 10, where the region hosts zero debuts for the first time in six months. The top 10 was last absent of debuts on the Jan. 28-dated list, when SZA’s SOS led the chart for a sixth week.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new July 29, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (July 25). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 20, SEA units comprise 73,000 (down 65%, equaling 95.6 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 22 songs), album sales comprise 47,000 (down 91%) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 72%).
For a second week in a row, Swift has four albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. A week ago, she became the first living artist to chart four albums in the top 10 at the same time since 1966. On the latest chart, those same four sets (all former No. 1s) are still in the top 10, as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is joined by Midnights (rising 5-4 with 51,000 units; down 7%), Lover (7-6 with 44,000; down 2%) and Folklore (a non-mover at No. 10 with 34,000; up 5%).
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time is stationary at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 105,000 equivalent album units (up 2%). One Thing at a Time has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 20 of its chart weeks. It extends its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.
Peso Pluma’s Génesis returns to its peak, rising 4-3 (55,000 equivalent album units; down 5%); Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 6-5 (48,000; up 3%); SZA’s SOS ascends 8-7 (43,000; down 1%); Lil Uzi Vert’s former leader Pink Tape dips 3-8 (40,000; down 34%); and Gunna’s A Gift & a Curse is steady at No. 9 (nearly 40,000; down 6%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Taylor Swift gave the first live performance of her Evermore song “No Body, No Crime” with Haim during her Eras Tour stop at Seattle’s Lumen Field on Saturday (July 22). To assist with the live unveiling, the pop superstar brought out longtime friends the Haim sisters, who were featured on the studio version of the […]
The 1975 took the stage at Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia on Friday (July 21), but the set came to an abrupt end after the band’s frontman Matty Healy spoke out against the country’s stances on LGBTQ+ rights.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I’m f–ing furious, and that’s not fair on you because you’re not representative of your government,” the 34-year-old singer-songwriter is heard telling the crowd in videos circulating social media. “Because you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool. So, I pulled the show yesterday, I pulled the show yesterday, and we had a conversation and we said, ‘You know what, we can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government.’ But, I’ve done this before. I’ve gone to a country where it’s — I don’t know what it f—ing is. Ridiculous. F—ing ridiculous to tell people what they can do with that and that. If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f— off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before and it doesn’t feel good, and I’m f—ed off.”
After the rant, Healy challenged the anti-LGBTQ+ laws even further, kissing bandmate Ross MacDonald for an extended period of time. The set then ended half an hour early, with Healy telling the audience before leaving the stage: “Alright, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, see you later.”
A source tells Billboard, “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and community.” Back in 2019, the musician broke an anti-LGBTQ law in United Arab Emirates by going into the crowd during their show in Dubai and kissing a male concertgoer.
While there hasn’t been an official statement confirming The 1975’s band from Malaysia, Billboard has reached out to reps from the festival for more information.
According to Outright International, same-sex relationships are illegal in Malaysia, and in states imposing Islamic Sharia law, gender non-conformity is also criminalized. “Due to these laws, LGBTIQ Malaysians are subject to arbitrary arrests, assault, extortion and privacy violations by police and public officials,” according to the site.
See Healy’s speech as well as the kiss and end of the set via social media below.
OMFG they just got banned from Kuala Lumpur and had to leave the show because they stood up for basic human right. good for them. MAKE THE 1975 POLITICAL AGAINpic.twitter.com/u9RcKjnJZS— tina ⎕ 🥀 (@hazyheadbigcity) July 21, 2023
If you took one look at 19-year-old Kenzie‘s Instagram, you’d see a smiling girl who loves spending time with her friends, playing with her sense of style and cuddling with her boyfriend.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
But, as we all know, social media isn’t always what it seems. “I feel like everyone thinks that all of these people on social media are perfect and don’t go through struggles. We all do,” the singer and dancer tells Billboard.
That’s why Kenzie decided on Friday (July 21) to release “Anatomy,” a heart wrenching ballad about her strained relationship with her father. “It’s just anatomy, you’re only half of me / But still you don’t know me at all / You’ve been my missing piece, so why aren’t you missing me?” she sings in the chorus, her voice nearly trembling in the way it usually does when being so deeply vulnerable for the first time.
The song, which acts as a musical therapy session, started out fittingly as a suggestion from her therapist. “When I turned 18, I started therapy and it was a big moment for me, because I just never trusted anyone to listen to my emotions,” she explains. “It just felt like a weird concept to me, you know, talking to a stranger. As I started doing therapy, she kept telling me write a letter to my dad and I felt that was so weird. So, I ended up just writing a song about it. I sent it to her and I was like, ‘Here’s my letter to my dad. Here’s everything.’”
She continues, “I ended up really loving the song and I hit the realization that there are people who will relate to this and I feel like it could help a lot of people in some way. It also gives people a chance to get to know me better.”
The track arrived along with an equally goosebump-inducing music video, in which the Dance Moms alum dances in an empty studio with the younger version of herself. “I’m healing my inner child for sure,” she says of the clip. “It was really important to me to add a younger version of myself in the video because when I was younger, I didn’t think about all of these issues. I think the second I turned 18, it all literally just came crashing down. I always used to make jokes about it. I’d just be like, “Yeah, well, that’s my life.” You know how kids are. But it’s a real life struggle that people go through and it really didn’t hit me until I was 18. Every time I watch the video, it just makes me cry because she’s so amazing in it.”
Before releasing the track, she showed it to her mother and sister — fellow dancer Maddie Ziegler — and, while she was “nervous,” the result was everything she hoped for. “I sent it to my sister and she just FaceTimed me and didn’t say anything and had tears coming down her face,” Kenzie recalls. “I also played it for my mom which I was a little nervous for because it’s a touchy subject. She’s just so supportive and she obviously cried as well. She just looked at me and was like, ‘that’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.’”
In fact, Maddie ended up choreographing the music video. “I mean, she loves it so much because, of course, it’s her childhood too,” Kenzie explains. “It was so special having her there with me because it is a big moment in my life to be talking about this. Just having her be a part of it made me feel at home and comforted.”
As for how she perceives her relationship with her father now, Kenzie says “Anatomy” (and therapy) has helped her immensely in coming to terms with it. “I was really hesitant to release the song, because I have so much love for my dad no matter what because he is my family. I love very deeply and I don’t hold grudges,” she says. “But it definitely was healing because I just feel so content and I feel so happy with myself. I honestly don’t have these struggles anymore and I think it’s because I was so vulnerable and got to let everything out.”
Moving forward, Kenzie wants to continue being vulnerable in her music — not only to help herself heal, but also to help others. “I just feel like it’s just so personal and I really look up to people that are honest and share their story to other people. It helps other people in many ways,” she shares. “Bottling it up and acting like it doesn’t exist is not always the healthiest way. I think it’s important to talk freely about what you’re going through, and not be afraid to share your feelings. It’s also not embarrassing! That’s how I felt for a long time with my friends that had a mom and dad, and I just felt really embarrassed and left out. I learned that it made me a strong person and it’s made me who I am.”
Watch Kenzie’s “Anatomy” music video below.
[embedded content]
In the world of modern music, you have your fans. You have your Stans. And then, beyond even that, you have people who are pretty much just one misstep away from a restraining order. Horror stories about stalkers, trespassers and aggressive admirers are sadly nothing new in the history of music. But in the past […]