Pop
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A man in Ellis County, Texas, is going viral after he bought an autographed guitar for $4000 at an auction only to destroy it. In the clip shared by TMZ, the white-haired man is seen grabbing the guitar and repeatedly hitting it with a hammer while the crowd cheers. He then looked as though he […]
After starring in a Saturday Night Live sketch about your favorite hippo’s favorite hippo, Bowen Yang is over fans misinterpreting his jokes. In an expired Instagram Story posted on Sunday (Sept. 29), Yang responded to a headline from Variety saying that his appearance as Moo Deng on Weekend Update was meant to “mock” pop star […]
“Kellyoke” has been one of the most popular segments on The Kelly Clarkson Show since the show premiered in 2019. Clarkson has covered more than 800 songs in the segment, demonstrating on a daily basis that she can just sing about any kind of song. 2024 Grammy host Trevor Noah alluded to Clarkson’s prowess when […]
Like any relationship, the one Ariana Grande shares with her fans isn’t perfect. While taking a lie detector test with her Wicked costar Cynthia Erivo for Vanity Fair, the 31-year-old pop star was candid about the complex dynamic she has with her millions of listeners.
“I love them always, but I think sometimes they can hurt my feelings,” Grande said in the video posted Monday (Sept. 30).
“Sometimes I don’t like them, but I love them always,” the “Yes, And?” singer added as Erivo nodded sympathetically. “It’s a hard relationship. [It’s] sort of weirdly parasocial, but it feels very real to me.”
In service of her point, Grande also confirmed that she still maintains yearslong friendships with multiple people who started off as a fans, and revealed that she’s DM’d admirers just to chat multiple times throughout her career. She also gave her thoughts on the name her fanbase has coined for itself: “Arianators.”
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“I’ve accepted it, but would I pick that? Of course not,” she said, laughing. “That would be insane.”
Filmed in conjunction with Grande and Erivo’s joint Vanity Fair cover story, the lie detector test also gave the R.E.M. Beauty founder an opportunity to set the record straight on numerous plastic surgery rumors that have followed her over the past couple of years. As the Harriet star fired off different procedures, Grande confirmed that no, she hasn’t had a nose job, face lift, eye lift, chin implant, Brazilian butt lift or breast surgery (“No, can you imagine?”) as the machine confirmed she was telling the truth each time.
“This is the best day of my life,” she said. “Take that, you YouTube people.”
“I’ve had fillers in various places, and botox, but I stopped like four years ago,” Grande added. “That is the extent. But also, like, [I’m] in full support of all people who do these things. Work. Whatever makes women, men, non-gender-conforming people feel beautiful should be allowed. Why do we care?”
Watch Grande take the lie detector test above.
Sabrina Carpenter copped to possibly having a role in last week’s first-ever indictment of a sitting New York mayor. During her headlining show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday night (Sept. 29), Carpenter took a moment to respond to the historic news from Friday that N.Y. Mayor Eric Adams had pleaded not guilty to five felony charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery after officials accused him of taking more than $100,000 in illegal gifts in exchange for allegedly helping out the government of Turkey.
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According to fan video of the moment, she joked, “Damn, what now? Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?” pulling her face away from the mic as she laughed while the crowd clapped and yelled. Carpenter was referring to reports earlier this month that tied the filming of her blood-soaked 2023 “Feather” video to one of the voluble Mayor’s friends.
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Carpenter made headlines last Halloween when just weeks after filming the visual inside Brooklyn’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish Church in Williamsburg led to the demotion of Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello. The Church leader was relieved of his administrative duties after it emerged that he’d approved the shooting of the clip in which Carpenter, 25, bloodily offs former boyfriends and winds up in a skimpy black dress posing and wriggling on the altar in the ornate 130-year-old church next to a bedazzled coffin emblazoned with the message “RIP B–ch.”
After the video’s release, Bishop Robert J. Brennan said he was “appalled at what was filmed” at the church,” noting that the parish did not follow “diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script.” The song was featured on Carpenter’s 2022 Emails I Can’t Send album.
Carpenter’s name popped up earlier this month when reports said that federal investigators were also in the midst of an investigation into the relationship between Gigantiello and Adams’ former chief of staff, Frank Carone. The church was reportedly subpoenaed by federal investigators last week seeking information about possible financial and business tied between longtime friends Gigantiello and Carone, in an investigation allegedly tied to the filming of the video that has racked up more than 100 million views to date.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further on that review, which is still ongoing,” diocese officials said in a statement. “The Diocese is fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations, including conduct at individual parishes or involving any priest.”
Adams plead not guilty last week on federal charges alleging that he accepted expensive travel and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign dignitaries in exchange for political favors.
See fan video of Carpenter’s comment below.
Lady Gaga loves a surprise, but even she wasn’t prepared when the world found out she was engaged to fiancé Michael Polansky in July thanks to an unexpected announcement. During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show last week to promote her role as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux, Gaga revealed that she […]
A trailblazer in fan communication, Dear U has officially begun the expansion of its messaging platform, Bubble, into the Western market with J Balvin and Peso Pluma.
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Billboard can exclusively share that starting Sept. 30, the Latin music powerhouses will be the “first of many artists outside of Asia” to engage with fans through Dear U’s newly launched U.S. version of the platform. The duo joins a large number of K-pop artists using the Bubble platform (also known as “the bubble”) to share private messages, voice notes, video content, and behind-the-scenes moments with subscribers including chart-toppin acts like Stray Kids, (G)I-DLE, BLACKPINK‘s Jisoo and Lisa, as well as a handful of Korean actors, athletes and content creators.
Since launching its artist-to-fan messaging service in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic era of social distancing, Dear U’s various Bubble apps have become a top marketing and social tool in the K-pop and Asian entertainment industries, currently connecting more than 600 artists to communicate directly with some of their most dedicated fans. With the company reporting over 73 percent of its two million paid subscribers living outside of Korea, introducing these two chart-toppers mark a significant shift to expand its offerings to the Western landscape successfully.
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“While the entertainment market continues growing, the service industry leveraging fandoms has not received as much attention,” Chong-oh An, the CEO of Dear U, tells Billboard. “In Korea, where fandom culture is fully established, Dear U has built a business model to harness this culture. Our aim is to introduce a fresh perspective to the global entertainment landscape and bring new excitement to fans around the world.”
While platforms like HYBE’s Weverse launched services like Weverse DM as a paid messaging service in 2023, Bubble was first to market in 2020 in launching the service for a slate of artists under the SM Entertainment roster. Dear U’s major shareholders are SM Entertainment (home to groups and Bubble users like NCT, aespa and Lucas) and JYP Entertainment (J.Y. Park, TWICE and ITZY), with the companies also featuring some of their international acts like SM’s China-focused boy band WayV and JYP’s Japan-based girl group NiziU partaking in the platform.
With a combined 13 No. 1s on the Hot Latin Songs chart, 50 Billboard Hot 100 entries between them, as well as highly dedicated fan engagement across their social media accounts, J Balvin and Peso Pluma are seen as ideal partners for Dear U’s next phase with Bubble.
“For me, it has always been important to be connected to my fans, La Familia,” says current Billboard cover star, J Balvin, in a statement. “I love reading comments and conversations so it’s exciting to communicate with fans no matter what their first language might be. This is why the Bubble is the perfect platform to keep in touch.”
“Peso Pluma wouldn’t exist without our dedicated fans who have supported us since the very beginning,” the 25-year-old Mexican rapper-singer adds. “Even though we don’t speak the same language, our music is crossing borders and I’m always excited to find new ways, such as through this partnership with Bubble, to connect with them.”
Teasing that Bubble’s services will “continue expanding into different genres across Western markets with major superstars,” the international, U.S. app can be downloaded here or for Android here. Fans can subscribe to an artist’s Bubble platform, which costs $4.99 per month per artist. Read on for more insight into Bubble’s big moment from Dear U’s CEO Chong-oh An.
Billboard: Congratulations on the latest news about the expansion and new offerings with Dear U. What does this moment signify for the company?
Chong-oh An: This moment signifies Dear U’s global expansion to the Western market. While the entertainment market continues growing, the service industry leveraging fandoms has not received as much attention. In Korea, where fandom culture is fully established, Dear U has built a business model to harness this culture. Our aim is to introduce a fresh perspective to the global entertainment landscape and bring new excitement to fans around the world.
Why were J Balvin and Peso Pluma the right partners to kick off the expansion?
Both of these artists are extremely popular, beloved, and influential. But they also bring unique cultural significance and strong fan engagement to the table. J Balvin and Peso Pluma frequently interact with their followers on social media, creating a sense of community and loyalty that aligns perfectly with Dear U’s mission to enhance artist-fan communication.
J Balvin and Peso Pluma are huge names in the Latin market and community. Was there a specific reason you wanted to team with Latin artists after primarily focusing on Asian and K-pop talent?
Our goal is to help connect artists with their loyal fans around the world, regardless of genre or market. Latin music has truly gone global over the past few years, and we are providing a platform to connect these passionate fanbases. J Balvin’s contributions to the global reggaeton movement and Peso Pluma’s fresh influence in regional Mexican music will help the platform cater to not only a large number of fans, but also a wide array of music tastes, languages, and cultural backgrounds. They will help us break barriers with fan connection.
Dear U’s story is interesting because it launched Bubble in 2020 when the digital conversation was so prevalent, yet the company continues to expand today. What did the pandemic teach you?
The pandemic required us to create innovative ways to connect artists and fans that we’ve continued to use today. Because artists have fans across the world and can’t always be physically present to engage with them, we’re proud to help bridge that gap and create connection.
In your opinion, what’s a very special or highly engaging moment an artist can have on their Bubble compared to traditional social media platforms?
Artists see their bubble subscribers as true superfans. With bubble, they can share intimate moments – from behind-the-scenes photos, selfies, and audio messages to polls about dinner or outfit choices. Even during [professional] breaks, artists can maintain this closeness by sharing personal snapshots, like photos from family trips. More than public social media, this exclusive content fosters a more personal and intimate connection, allowing fans to feel included in their favorite artist’s life.
As we await the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, a showdown between Democratic nominee Tim Walz and Republican nominee JD Vance on Tuesday (Oct. 1), let’s look back on the only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 that was written or co-written by a future VP.
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The hit was Tommy Edwards’ “It’s All in the Game,” a philosophical romantic ballad which topped the Hot 100 for six weeks in the fall of 1958. Charles Gates Dawes, a self-taught pianist, flutist and composer, composed the melody in 1911 under the title “Melody in A Major.” Dawes later became an American diplomat and Republican politician, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a TIME magazine cover subject. He served as the 30th VP of the U.S. from 1925-29 under Calvin Coolidge.
Dawes’ melody was not a major hit under its original title, but noted lyricist Carl Sigman remembered it and 40 years later added lyrics to it, transforming it into “It’s All in the Game.” Sigman’s most memorable lyric: “Once in a while he won’t call/ But it’s all in the game.” Edwards first recorded the song in 1951, the same year Sigman added lyrics to it. His pretty, but unremarkable, recording reached No. 18 on Billboard’s Disk Jockey and Best Sellers charts.
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The great Nat “King” Cole included the song on his 1957 album Love Is the Thing, which topped the Billboard 200 for eight consecutive weeks.
In 1958, Edwards re-recorded the song, giving it a light doo-wop flavor which made it compatible with pop playlists — which by that point included a lot of doo-wop and rock and roll. Leroy Holmes was the orchestra leader on both versions. Both versions were released on the same label (MGM Records). But the differences are stark. The earlier version is awash in strings; the update is leaner. And Edwards doesn’t rush through the lyrics. Inserting pauses on two key lines (“You have words/ With him” and “And he’ll kiss/ Your lips”) adds considerable drama.
A re-release of the 1951 “traditional pop” version would likely not have succeeded in 1958 – music had changed a lot in the intervening seven years – but the re-recording was a smash. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in seven weeks, bumping Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blue (Volare)” (which went on to win Grammys for record and song of the year) from the top spot in September 1958. “It’s All in the Game” remained on top for six consecutive weeks, before being replaced by Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe.”
Unfortunately, Dawes died in April 1951, shortly before Sigman added lyrics to his tune, so he never knew that the little ditty he wrote 40 years earlier was about to become a hit, and later, a timeless classic.
Edwards returned to the top 20 on the Hot 100 three times by 1960, with “Love Is All We Need,” “Please Mr. Sun” and “I Really Don’t Want to Know.” He died in 1969 at age 47 due to complications from cirrhosis of the liver.
“It’s All in the Game” has returned to the top 30 on the Hot 100 twice. British pop singer Cliff Richard took it to No. 25 in 1964. Motown greats the Four Tops took it to No. 24 in 1970. In addition, Eddie Holman featured the song as the B-side of “Hey There Lonely Girl,” a No. 2 Hot 100 hit in 1970.
The Four Tops’ recording made the top 10 on what was then called Best Selling Soul Singles. The song was also a big country hit, making it a true multi-format smash. Tom T. Hall’s single reached No. 12 in 1977 on what was then called Hot Country Singles.
Numerous other artists have recorded the song, including Barry Manilow, on his Billboard 200-topping album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties (2006), and George Benson on his double-live album Weekend in L.A., which made the top five in 1978. The song also appeared on top 10 albums by pianist Roger Williams, bandleader Lawrence Welk and actor/singer George Maharis (a regular on Route 66).
Donny & Marie Osmond recorded the song in 1975. Earlier that year, they had a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Morning Side of the Mountain,” which was Edwards’ first chart hit in 1951, right before “It’s All in the Game.”
Other artists to have recorded “It’s All in the Game” include Ricky Nelson, Keely Smith, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, The Lettermen, Sandy Posey, Bobby Vinton, Bing Crosby, Brook Benton, Freddy Fender, Van Morrison, Issac Hayes, Glenn Jones, Merle Haggard & the Strangers and Johnny Mathis & Take 6.
In addition to being the only future VP to have written or co-written a No. 1 Hot 100 hit, Dawes is one of just two people credited with writing or co-writing a No. 1 hit who have also won a Nobel Prize. He shares that distinction with Bob Dylan, whose many hits include “Mr. Tambourine Man,” a No. 1 for The Byrds in 1965. Dawes was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his work on the Allied Reparations Commission, where he helped formulate the Dawes Plan to aid the struggling German economy. Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
Sigman, the lyricist of “It’s All in the Game,” wrote many famous songs over the course of his long career, including “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “Crazy He Calls Me,” “Ebb Tide,” “What Now My Love,” “You’re My World” and “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and died in 2000 at age 91.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan of CBS’ Face the Nation are set to moderate Tuesday’s VP debate.
Chris Martin has been a longtime supporter of the Global Citizen Festival. Over the weekend, the Coldplay singer was slated to once again curate the New York festival, but the rain-soaked fans who turned up to see headliners Post Malone, Jelly Roll and Rauw Alejandro got way more than they expected at the event aimed […]
BTS‘ Suga has reached a resolution in his drunk scootering incident. According to Reuters, the K-pop superstar was fined 15 million won ($11,500) by a South Korean court for driving an electric scooter while intoxicated after previously having his license suspended over the incident.
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A judge in the Seoul Western District Court issued the fine in a summary judgement last week after the case against the singer born Min Yoon-gi, 31, was referred to the prosecution, a court official revealed on Monday (Sept. 30). A summary indictment is used to discharge minor offenses through court fines or confiscation without going to a full trial. The singer was questioned by police after they reportedly observed him falling off his electric scooter in the Hannam neighborhood in the Yongsan district on August 6.
Days after the DWI stop, Suga confirmed that his license had been revoked and posted a pair of heartfelt apologies on Weverse, explaining that at first he didn’t realize he couldn’t ride the electric two-wheeled scooter after having drinks at dinner earlier in the evening. “In the process of setting up an electric kickboard at the front door of the house, I fell alone, and there was a police officer around me, so I took a breath test,” he wrote in the Aug. 7 post, apologizing to “everyone who was hurt by [his] careless and wrong actions.”
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BTS’ record label, BigHit, also issued a statement, apologizing “for the disappointment caused by the artist’s inappropriate behavior.” “As a social service agent during his military service, he is prepared to accept any disciplinary actions from his place of work for causing a social disturbance,” the label added. “We will take greater care to ensure that such incidents do not happen again in the future.”
In a second apology later in the month, Suga took responsibility for his actions again, writing to fans, “It’s all my fault. My carelessness is giving everyone who cares about me a hard time. I will try not to do anything wrong again and live with repentance. Due to this incident, I have greatly damaged the precious memories I made with the members and fans and put a lot of pressure on the name of the BTS.”
At press time a spokesperson for Suga had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
BTS have been on hiatus for two years as the members complete their mandatory South Korean military service and according to AFP, Seoul’s Military Manpower Administration said that Suga will be punished according to traffic laws, not military law, because the incident took place outside of the singer’s official military working hours.