Pop
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Ariana Grande really, really wanted to play Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked.
How much? “If it hadn’t happened, I might have ended up in an insane asylum,” she joked during a panel Sunday (Nov. 10) in Hollywood following a screening of the film, which opens in theaters Nov. 22. Grande, who is credited as Ariana Grande-Butera in the film, prepared for months for her audition.
“Vocally, it’s very different for me than what I usually sing, so I started training every single day with my vocal coach for two-and-a-half, three months before my first audition, and my acting coach. I just wanted to be prepared to use any tool needed whatever was asked, I wanted to be able to drop in and do it and really become her,” Grande said. “I gave my everything to it and paused everything else.”
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If she had not gotten the role, Grande noted she knew that, because of director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt, the part “was in the most loving hands, so I just kind of worked as hard as I could and let the rest fall into place. I do think, though, if it hadn’t happened, I might have ended up in an insane asylum, so there’s that.”
Chu admitted that Grande had “a giant wall to climb over” simply because of her fame as “Ariana Grande.” He also questioned, “Does she really know what it takes to carry a movie? Does she know what it takes to be inside a character? And she came in, and I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I was like, ‘She’s not talking like Ariana Grande. She’s not singing like Ariana Grande.’ By the way, I was outside in the parking lot, and she drove past like 14 times in 20 minutes.”
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“I didn’t know you had seen me or heard me,” Grande broke in. “You were like, ‘Who’s blasting [Wicked song] “One Short Day?”’”
Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who stars as the Wicked Witch Elphaba, first met at Erivo’s house and shared snacks, including berries. “We just giggled and I felt an immediate safety,” Grande says. “And then we kind of made a pact to really take care of each other.”
“To be really honest with each other,” Erivo continued. “To make space for each other.”
Grande says she was extremely nervous. “I almost sh-t in my pants. But she’s just the warmest human being. We were just so open immediately with each other. I think that that promise that we made to each other and how we kept it and how it strengthened along the way is one of the things that we’re proudest of.”
11/11/2024
The K-pop group proves why they’ve graduated to stadiums on the RIGHT HERE U.S. tour.
11/11/2024
Three weeks after Liam Payne‘s shocking death, the Jonas Brothers appeared to pay tribute by performing One Direction’s “Night Changes” at the siblings’ concert in Highland, Calif., on Sunday night (Nov. 11).
Standing in a line onstage at Yaamava’ Theater, Nick, Joe and Kevin gave the song a delicate touch — the “Jealous” singer sharing lead vocals with the DNCE frontman while strumming dual electric guitars with the eldest Jonas brother. “We’re only gettin’ older, baby/ And I’ve been thinkin’ about it lately/ Does it ever drive you crazy/ Just how fast the night changes?” the trio sing as the crowd joined in.
At the end of the tune, Nick sang part of the last line — “It’ll never change….” — before pointing to the audience to finish it for him. “… for me and you,” fans delivered before applauding.
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The moment was inevitably full of unspoken emotions, as it comes as many in the music world — and certainly those who were close to Payne — continue to process the loss of the “Strip That Down” musician. On Oct. 16, the ex-boy band star fell to his death from the third-story balcony of his hotel in Buenos Aires, with toxicology reports later determining that he had “alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants” in his system when he died.
Police are still investigating the events that transpired leading up to the fall and detained three people in connection to the case this month. They were charged with abandonment of a person followed by death and the supply and facilitation of narcotics, according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor, but one of them — 24-year-old waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, who claims to have partied with the star the night of his death — recently publicly denied that he’d given Payne drugs.
Payne is survived by a son, Bear, whom he shares with ex Cheryl Cole. Many of the X Factor alum’s friends and family posted messages of grief in the days following his death, including all four of his former One Direction bandmates: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson. In a separate full-band statement, the foursome wrote, “We are completely devastated … We will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly. The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever.”
Watch the Jonas Brothers cover “Night Changes” below.
Lance Bass is one of the many boyband members and associates featured in the upcoming Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands documentary, which dives deep into the genre’s history and influence. In a new clip shared exclusively with Billboard on Monday (Nov. 11), the *NSYNC star shares a glimpse of how often a young […]
11/11/2024
The producer who is dating Selena Gomez is featured in the magazine’s anticipated sexiest issue with tips on epic first dates and cooking.
11/11/2024
At the Los Angeles premiere of Wicked, Harry Daniels made the gutsy decision to serenade Ariana Grande with her debut single “Put Your Hearts Up” — a song she isn’t exactly fond of.
But luckily, it paid off. In a video posted to the influencer’s TikTok over the weekend, the pop star spotted Daniels in the crowd as she was greeting Wicked fans and immediately recognized him, cheering, “Oh my god it’s Harry Daniels!”
After feigning running away from his inevitable performance — the social media star has built a platform off forcing celebrities to watch him sing — Grande listened intently as he sang a few bars from the 2011 bubblegum single. “Oh my god, I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life,” the Grammy winner said sweetly after it was over, hugging Daniels. “It’s so nice to see you, thank you for being here.”
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“THIS IS MY GLINDA YALL IDCCCC,” Daniels, who also shared a photo with Grande on Instagram, captioned the clip.
Of all the songs in Grande’s multiplatinum discography, “Put Your Hearts Up” is on the record as one of the singer’s least favorites. In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, she called it “geared toward kids” and “so inauthentic and fake,” adding, “That was the worst moment of my life. For the video, they gave me a bad spray tan and put me in a princess dress and had me frolic around the street. The whole thing was straight out of hell. I still have nightmares about it, and I made them hide it on my Vevo page.”
Since then, Grande has released seven studio albums, six of which have topped the Billboard 200, most recently 2024’s Eternal Sunshine. However, the vocalist has revealed that she now plans on focusing more on acting and musical theater after falling back in love with both while working on the Wicked films, a far cry from her mindset at the time of that same 2014 Rolling Stone interview (“I hate acting,” a then 20-year-old Grande said. “It’s fun, but music has always been first and foremost with me.”)
“I’m always going to make music, I’m always going to go on stage, I’m always going to do pop stuff, I pinky promise,” she said on the Nov. 6 episode of Las Culturistas. “But I don’t think doing it at the rate I’ve been doing it for the past 10 years is where I see the next 10 years … Whatever makes sense, or whatever roles we see fit, or where I could really do a good job or honor the material, I would really love to. I think it’s a lot better for me.”
The first Wicked film hits theaters Nov. 22. Watch Daniels serenade Grande below.
It’s been almost 11 months since Lil Nas X boldly declared that “b—h I’m back like J Christ.” Now, the singer promises, he’s actually back for good. In a video posted to his X account on Sunday night (Nov. 10), the rapper revealed that “phase 1” of his new era begins on Monday (Nov. 11). […]
Beyoncé is adding another ivy to her life. Next year, Yale University will offer a collegiate course studying the multi-hyphenate superstar’s career as it relates to a greater history of Black excellence in art, spanning her 2013 solo debut to 2024’s Cowboy Carter.
Registered as “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music,” the spring 2025 class will be taught by Professor Daphne Brooks. As reported by the Yale Daily News Friday (Nov. 8), it’ll focus on the “sonic, fashion and visual media” evolution of Bey — who is mom to eldest daughter Blue Ivy (along with twins Rumi and Sir) and founder of Ivy Park — over the past decade. According to Yale’s course description, “In short, this is a class that traces the relationship between Beyonce’s artistic genius and Black intellectual practice.”
“[Beyoncé] is just so ripe for teaching at this moment in time,” Brooks told the student publication. “The number of breakthroughs and innovations she’s executed and the way she’s interwoven history and politics and really granular engagements with Black cultural life into her performance aesthetics and her utilization of her voice as a portal to think about history and politics — there’s just no one like her.”
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Through examining the 32-time Grammy winner’s career, students will also gain insight into “Black history, intellectual thought and performance” at large, with Bey serving as a jumping-off point for wider discussions on icons such as Josephine Baker, Diana Ross, Betty Davis and Grace Jones. Brooks previously incorporated Beyoncé into her “Black Women in Popular Music Culture” curriculum when the professor was teaching at Princeton, which inspired her to devote an entire class to the star as past students showed “so much energy” around Bey in particular.
The Yale offering is just the latest Beyoncé course to be unveiled at a prestigious university in recent years, part of a broader trend of colleges all over the world dedicating classes to modern artists. A notable uptick in Bey-related studies happened in 2016, around when she released her critically acclaimed album Lemonade; since then, Arizona State, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Michigan and more institutions have all enshrined Queen Bey in academia in some way or another.
News about the latest Beyoncé class arrived on the same day as the 2025 Grammy nominations, which saw the Destiny’s Child alum earn more nods than any other artist. Among her 11 nominations are song and record of the year for Billboard Hot 100-topper “Texas Hold ‘Em” and album of the year for Cowboy Carter.
Gracie Abrams has notched her first ever No. 1 song in the U.K. with “That’s So True” topping the Official Singles Chart.
The U.S. singer-songwriter has had a breakout year following the release of her sophomore album, The Secret Of Us, as well as an opening slot on Taylor Swift’s massive Eras Tour. The Secret Of Us debuted at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart back in June and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
“That’s So True”, which recently peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, faced a stiff challenge from Gigi Perez’s “Sailor Song,” which held the top spot prior to this week’s battle. The Official Charts Company says that fewer than 1,200 chart units across downloads, streaming and physicals came between the pair. Another Abrams single, “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” is currently placed at No. 4.
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Chappell Roan secured her second top five hit with “Hot To Go!” which rises to No. 5. The Missouri-born musician, who Billboard reported recently split from her management company, previously peaked at No. 2 on the Official Singles Chart with “Good Luck, Babe!” back in August.
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Elsewhere there’s success for KSI and Trippie Redd as their collaboration “Thick Of It” reaches a new height of No. 6, while Sabrina Carpenter follows at No. 7 with “Bed Chem,” while her previous chart-topper “Taste” lands at No. 9.
Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” rises seven from its previous position to No. 11, its highest position yet. The Weekend and Anitta’s “São Paulo” lands at No. 22, the latter’s first top 40 entry in the U.K.
Following his maiden U.K. No. 1 Album with Chromakopia, Tyler, The Creator secures his eighth top 40 hit with Lola Young-featuring “Like Him” landing at No. 33.
See the full Official Singles Chart here.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars have a lot to smile about following the unveiling of the 2025 Grammy nominations Friday (Nov. 8), which saw the duo earn two major nods for their chart-topping collaboration “Die With a Smile.”
And on Sunday (Nov. 10), both pop stars reacted to the news with a passionate thank-you note to fans who supported the track. “I’m so grateful for these 2 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS! 😭” Gaga wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself and Mars enjoying glasses of champagne.
“Because of our amazing fans we are so blessed to be nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo recording for Die With A Smile!!” the Joker: Folie à Deux actress continued. “@recordingacademy We love y’all! 😭Monsters and Hooligans did that! 🥂”
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In the comments, Mars added, “(Monsters 🤝 Hooligans) Thank you! We love you!”
Nominations for next year’s Grammy awards arrived about three months ahead of the Feb. 2 ceremony. Gaga and the Silk Sonic star share the song of the year category with Shaboozey, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, while 2025’s best pop duo/group performance is split among “Die With a Smile” and “Us” by Gracie Abrams and Swift, “Levii’s Jeans” by Bey and Post Malone, “Guess” by Charli XCX and Eilish, and “The Boy Is Mine” by Ariana Grande, Brandy and Monica.
Gaga and Mars spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Die With a Smile” this year. Complete with a retro Nashville-themed music video, the track served as a standalone collaboration ahead of Gaga’s Joker 2 companion album, Harlequin, and upcoming seventh studio album. It also preceded Mars’ “APT.” duet with ROSÉ of BLACKPINK, which recently debuted atop the Global 200.
“This was a pure, organic thing that both these artists who respect each other so much wanted to do together,” songwriter Andrew Watt, who worked on “Die With a Smile” with the two superstars, told Billboard earlier this year. “This was about the love of making great music.”