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Congratulations are in order for Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley, who married over the weekend in New Jersey. The music producer and Bleachers frontman, 39, exchanged vows with the Maid actress, 28, on Saturday (Aug. 19) in a star-studded ceremony attended by celebrities including Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Channing Tatum, Zoë Kravitz, Cara Delevingne […]
Ariana Grande has big plans for the 10th anniversary of Yours Truly. The 30-year-old pop star and actress announced through social media on Saturday (Aug. 19) a week’s worth of surprises to celebrate her 2013 debut album, which bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In a video post on Instagram featuring a mix […]
Jon Batiste is an albums artist through and through, and spoke with Billboard News to prove it. The Grammy award winner sat down with Billboard in the latest episode of the program to discuss his latest project, World Music Radio, and to divulge his approach to success in light of being a highly decorated artist.
Speaking of World Music Radio — which was released on Friday, Aug. 18 — Batiste revealed that he worked with producer Jon Bellion on the project, which allowed several unintentional themes to make its way into the record.
“Water is a theme in the album. There’s many different themes that recur, and we didn’t even really realize when we were making it, some of the themes were subliminal,” the five-time Grammy winner told Carl Lamarre, Billboard‘s deputy director of R&B/hip-hop. “I was working with the great Jon Bellion…he had this thing for his son for in terms in living life and the world’s crazy and just the idea of self care, being in the world living your life, sometimes you just gotta take pause. And relating that to my life and the thing we’ve been trough and all the stuff we’re trying to create in this album is a mantra.”
Creating a new body of work, following the success of his 2021 effort WE ARE (which earned him four out of his five total Grammys) could seem like a daunting task, but Batiste revealed that the accolades do not factor into his approach to making music.
“I really make bodies of work. The singles are crazy, that’s important, but I’m a top to bottom album artist. I create bodies of work and I create worlds that you immerse yourself in, so that requires people who not only know how to connect to what’s in the culture and reinvent it and make it our own, but also speak to it through my voice and understand that there’s a world that’s being built that’s bigger than just me,” he explained.
Batiste added that instead of the pressure coming from “trying to outdo any public perception or even in awards,” it comes from wanting to “build something that’s even more bespoke, even truer to my artistry that takes everything that I’ve done so far, synthesizes it and adds to it.”
World Music Radio, preceded by singles “Calling Your Name” and “Drink Water,” is available to stream now.
Listen to Batiste’s full interview with Billboard in the video above.
The countdown for the arrival of Olivia Rodrigo‘s album GUTS continues. To further drum up anticipation for the records’ release, the pop star appeared on Capital FM across the pond in England to briefly chat about what fans can expect from her sophomore release and even play a snippet from one of the tracks. In […]
Celebrations are in order for Lady Gaga, as her debut album The Fame, turned 15 years old on Saturday (Aug. 19). To celebrate the occasion, the pop star — who formally launched her pop career with the record and became one of the genre’s most formidable forces following its arrival in 2008 — released a […]
“I never feel uglier than when I’m in LA,” Noah Kahan joked to the sold-out crowd at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on Friday night (Aug. 11), which was immediately met by roaring laughter and assurance from fans.
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Though it’s unlikely that Kahan could ever feel ugly in his sleek white jacket featuring a photo of his beloved German Shepard and his album title Stick Season written across the back, the balance between humor and touching moments encouraging love and healing were prominent throughout the evening.
Shortly after he received a Taylor Swift-themed friendship bracelet from a fan in the front row that read “folkwhore,” the singer ran through fan-favorite and heart-wrenching tracks from his 2022 deluxe album Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever), weaved with throwback hits like “False Confidence” and “Maine.”
Looking out into the audience, who showed just how much they love him by belting out every word to every song, Kahan showed his love back before performing “You’re Gonna Go Far,” a song about taking risks. “I know a lot of people here in LA aren’t from LA. They’ve taken big risks in their lives to come here,” he sweetly told the audience. “Remember that the people back home love you and are happy you’re doing well.”
He also showed his love throughout the show by encouraging his fans to go to therapy if it’s accessible to them. “I had all of these dark feelings and thoughts for a lot of my childhood and I just lied about them to my therapist for 10 years and never said anything real,” he recalled. “I was so lucky and privileged to go to therapy, but I still lied because it was scary to confront what I was actually feeling. I know it looks like I’ve been divorced two times, Los Angeles, I look old as s— but I’m only 26 [laughs] When I was 23, I started being honest and telling the truth to my therapist and I started feeling happier for the first time. It was strange for me but it felt good.”
He continued, “The happiest person in here should be in therapy. It could save your life.”
In general, the show was as cathartic and therapeutic as it gets without actually sitting down with a therapist, as fans in the audience were tearing up constantly as they heard songs that resonate with them, a unique quality of Kahan’s music that isn’t as common in the mainstream music scene these days. The swell of emotions all culminated with the set’s final song, “Homesick,” as all 6,000 people in the crowd, who are chasing dreams likely in the city they did not grow up in, came together to sing and feel at home.
Buy tickets for Kahan’s Stick Season tour here, and check out the full set list below.
Noah Kahan Set List:
All My LoveEverywhere, EverythingShe Calls Me BackFalse ConfidenceNew PerspectiveNo ComplaintsGrowing SidewaysMaineYour Needs, My NeedsNorthern AttitudeDial DrunkCall Your Mom (with Lizzy McAlpine)You’re Gonna Go FarOrange JuiceHomesick
Encore:The View Between VillagesPaul RevereStick Season (with Joy Oladokun)
Madonna celebrated her 65th birthday this week, and the Queen of Pop is bouncing back better than ever after her recent hospitalization. The iconic pop star took to Instagram on Friday (Aug. 18) to share a montage of clips from her birthday celebration in Portugal. “It’s great to be Alive………… .. and Amazing to Be […]
The emotional season two finale of Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty definitely hurt to watch — but it was especially painful if you’re Team Conrad, and even more so if you’re a Swiftie.
Two of the most devastating songs in the Taylor Swift canon were used in Thursday night’s (Aug. 17) season closer — Folklore‘s Bon Iver collaboration “Exile” and Midnights deluxe track “Bigger Than The Whole Sky”– making moments where leading lady Belly breaks Conrad’s heart or says goodbye to a dying Susannah all the more gut-wrenching. And while the episode definitely had its fair share of happy moments (particularly for Jeremiah supporters, iykyk), one of the only things fans could talk about afterward was the evil genius of using Swift’s songs so strategically.
The use of “Exile” was a particular standout, simply because of how perfectly it described the scene at hand. Belly, played by Lola Tung, ends things for good with her ex-boyfriend, Chris Briney’s Conrad, and instead chooses to be with his brother Jeremiah, portrayed by Gavin Casalegno. Belly and Conrad’s main issue as a couple was their inability to communicate or fully understand each other, as reflected in each word of “Exile”: “I never learned to read your mind (never learned to read my mind)/ I couldn’t turn things around (you never turned things around)/ ‘Cause you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs).”
“actually footage of me when exile started playing in the summer I turned pretty,” tweeted one fan, sharing a video of someone literally plunging a knife into their TV screen.
“THEY DID NOT PUT ‘bigger than the whole sky’ OVER THAT SCENE,” wrote another, referencing the moment in the episode when Belly visits her unofficial second mom Susannah, played by Rachel Blanchard, for the last time shortly before Susannah passes away from cancer.
In the song, Swift describes a loss that’s just as indescribable and hard to process as Belly’s loss of her close family friend: “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye/ You were bigger than the whole sky/ You were more than just a short time.”
This is far from the first time The Summer I Turned Pretty music supervisors have used Swift’s discography this season; in fact, the “Anti-Hero” singer’s music has been featured heavily throughout both installments of the show, which is based on Jenny Han’s novels of the same name. Tracks like “Lover,” “False God” and “The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version)” were included in the series’ debut season, while season two has boasted “august,” “Back to December (Taylor’s Version),” “Snow On The Beach,” “Sweet Nothing,” “Last Kiss (Taylor’s Version),” “Delicate,” “This Love” and more.
Luckily, fans have some time to recover before the next season of The Summer I Turned Pretty arrives, almost inevitably bringing with it more sad, beautiful, tragic Swift synch placements. The show was officially renewed for a third season, though work on the next chapter won’t begin until the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are resolved.
See the best reactions to The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s double Swift knockout below:
episode 8 having the flashback of susannah telling belly to look after conrad with bigger than the whole sky, exile playing when conrad leaves the motel and conrad’s final scene being him unpacking junior mint at the beach house pic.twitter.com/Y0sBj42F7B— ruby ✭ | tsitp spoilers (@lolatungluvbot) August 12, 2023
Jihyo is in the zone. On Friday (Aug. 18), the TWICE vocalist released ZONE, her debut solo EP featuring collaborations with 24kGoldn and Heize. Jihyo had been steadily teasing and promoting the release of her debut solo project. The EP’s lead single, “Killin’ Me Good,” saw two snippets of its production process released in late […]
Lizzo appears to be going about her business as usual in the aftermath of the harassment lawsuit filed against her by former dancers, allegations she denied in a statement earlier this month. In her first Instagram post since then, the 35-year-old hitmaker sings, dances and poses her way through the streets of Japan, showing off her glam outfit and unbothered attitude.
“Shabooya, sha, sha, shabooya roll call,” she sings at the beginning of the clip posted Friday (Aug. 18), a play on the area she appears to be exploring in Japan: Shibuya, located in Tokyo. Wearing a spiky blue-green-yellow dress with her hair done in space buns, Lizzo flashes peace signs and poses with a pair of shades in a series of photos that cycle through following the first clip, set to “Shabooya” by Hitkidd, Gloss Up & K Carbon, Slimeroni and Aleza.
“From Shibuya, with Love 💖” she captioned the post.
The update marks the “About Damn Time” singer’s first post on social media since she addressed the allegations of sexual harassment and hostile work conditions levied against her in a lawsuit by former dancers, taking to social media two days after it was filed to issue a response. In her Aug. 3 statement, she said the dancers’ complaints were as “unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”
“These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional,” she added.
Lizzo didn’t detail or address any specifics of the accusations in her statement, which plaintiffs Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez called “disheartening” and “incredibly frustrating” in an interview with CNN This Morning later that day. On the show, the three women rehashed and doubled down on their allegations that Lizzo had pressured them to inappropriately touch nude dancers at a sex show in Amsterdam, overworked them in an “excruciating” hours-long re-audition process, “called attention” to a dancer’s weight gain and more.
In the weeks since, the dancers’ legal team has said that six more people have come forward with similarly disparaging stories about Lizzo. The Grammy winner’s Big Grrrls dance team also shared a group statement on Thursday (Aug. 17) in support of their boss.
“We had the time of our lives on The Special Tour,” read the statement on the Big Grrrls’ Instagram account. “The commitment to character and culture taking precedence over every movement and moment has been one of the Greatest lessons and Blessings that we could possibly could ask for.”
