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J-Hope entered South Korean military boot camp on Tuesday (April 18) in order to fulfill the country’s mandatory 18-month service requirement, but before heading off, the members of BTS gave him an emotional send off as captured in a video shared to the K-pop group’s BANGTANTV.
Suga, RM, Jung Kook, Jimin and V all arrived at the drop-off location to send off the rapper and lift his spirits. While the military service hung heavy among the members, the Bangtan Boys tried keeping the mood light by making several comments on J-Hope’s newly buzzed hair.
“It really suits you,” several of the members remarked throughout the video, with V cheekily telling the rapper to “think of me when you wash your hair.” J-Hope couldn’t help but be delighted by the praise, and frequently ran his hands and fingers though his shortened hair. “The rain just bounces off,” he joked.
Once Jimin arrived, he told the camera, “Our J-Hope … they’re leaving one by one,” before embracing the rapper in a long hug. “You’ve come a long way. How do you feel? Did you get some sleep?” J-Hope replied that he only got three hours and drank a cup of coffee before heading out.
Jung Kook added a few jokes of his own. “I was fine when Jin left, but with J-Hope leaving, I’m pretty sad. I’m kidding!” he said. Meanwhile, V made sure to keep the tears at bay, telling the group, “If someone cries here, won’t it be too different than it was with Jin?”
Jin — who took a day off from service — showed up later in the video, but due to restrictions, was not shown.
After taking several pictures with his fellow BTS members, J-Hope gave BTS ARMY one final message: “Yes, ARMY, I’m off now. I’m fulfilling my duty as an able-bodied Korean man. I’ll be sure to make a safe return and be better than ever and greet you then. Fighting! I love you.”
J-Hope’s entrance into the military makes him the second BTS member to fulfill the requirement after Jin, who started his mandatory military service last year. The remaining BTS members will also be required to complete their mandatory military service over the next couple of years.
Watch J-Hope’s send off in the video above.
Usher and Roberta Flack are upgrading to doctors. As announced Thursday (April 20), Berklee College of Music will award the the artists with honorary doctorate degrees at this year’s commencement ceremony.
The ceremony will take place the morning of May 13 at Boston University’s Agganis Arena, where multi-instrumentalist Sona Jorbarteh will also receive an honorary degree. All three of the honorees will have the chance to address the 2023 class of graduates at the ceremony, and each will be further celebrated with a reception and concert on the eve of commencement, featuring more than 200 student vocalists, musicians, dancers, arrangers and producers from the graduating class performing a musical tribute to their work.
Usher and Flack join an impressive and diverse list of musicians who’ve received honorary degrees from Berklee in years past, including Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan, Esperanza Spalding, Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, Ringo Starr, Gloria Estefan and John Legend. An eight-time Grammy winner and nine-time Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, the “Yeah!” singer is being recognized for his accomplishments in music, film and activism.
“No. 1 is always going to mean a lot to everybody. But it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, change your passion,” he told Billboard in 2021. “It hasn’t changed mine, whether I put out a record that hit No. 1 instantly or took time to get there. I have a record company that’s willing to fight for it and get it heard, to connect with my audience and prospective new fans. I’ve tried a lot of stuff. There’s a way to play in R&B where you can be as creative as you want. Don’t cut yourself off — don’t feel you need to be tied so authentically to one thing.”
Four-time Grammy winner Flack has topped the Hot 100 three times: “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” in 1972, “Killing Me Softly With His Song” in 1973 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974.
Post-pandemic album cycles for A-list pop acts have often been accompanied by major, career-high concert announcements. Bad Bunny’s all-stadium World’s Hottest Tour preceded the release of Un Verano Sin Ti, Taylor Swift’s Midnights was followed by The Eras Tour, and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is being supported by his first run in stadiums. For the Jonas Brothers, similar announcements would trickle out. But before going big, they went intimate.
In March, Joe, Kevin & Nick Jonas put on five shows at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre, recently the home to stage musicals Beetlejuice, Tootsie and Evita. Located on 46th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, the Jonas Brothers took on Broadway with a series of (relatively) small shows that set the stage for the year ahead.
Titled Jonas Brothers on Broadway = 5 Albums 5 Nights, the band played its entire discography dating back to 2007, one album at a time: Jonas Brothers on the 14th, A Little Bit Longer on the 15th, Lines, Vines and Trying Times on the 16th, Happiness Begins on the 17th, and this year’s as-yet-unreleased The Album on the 18th.
Speaking to Billboard, Brad Wavra (SVP Global Touring, Live Nation) commented, “The Jonas Brothers’ Broadway shows were all about doing something unique and special for their fans. The intimate setting combined with the format of celebrating five albums over five nights was meant to bring fans along on the band’s personal journey from day one all the way into their new upcoming album.”
According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Jonas Brothers grossed $1.6 million and sold 7,291 tickets over these five consecutive shows.
Scaling for the week of shows was relatively consistent, ranging from 1,387 tickets on the final night to 1,500 on the 16th. Accordingly, grosses barely budged, from $298,000 to $322,000. Tickets were priced between $299 and $89, averaging out at $213.
Having toured arenas and amphitheaters for the last 15 years, the Marquis Theatre is the smallest venue the Jonas Brothers have played since 2008, dating back to a sold-out underplay at London’s Carling Academy Islington (591 tickets, now known as the O2 Academy). To further illustrate the Broadway run’s rare intimacy, it’s the first reported engagement at the venue in Boxscore history.
Since the Jonas Brothers’ 2019 reunion, the band’s New York presence has been spread between Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, the Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.) and Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater (Wantagh, N.Y.). Those five shows (there were two at MSG) averaged $2.2 million and close to 15,000 tickets.
But the Marquis Theatre shows don’t represent a step down from historical business. Since their Broadway concerts, the JoBros announced a two-night stay at Yankee Stadium, marking the biggest area play of the band’s career. “The momentum is only going to build from here with their stadium shows coming in August, and with what more lies ahead for 2023,” says Wavra.
Throughout their history in arenas and amphitheaters, the Jonas Brothers have dipped their toes in the stadium circuit. Most recently, they played one show at Boston’s Fenway Park (Oct. 1, 2021) and two at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Penn. (Aug. 31, 2019 and Sept. 24, 2021). Those shows peaked at 31,000 in attendance and $2.6 million, leaving room to grow for Yankee Stadium’s 45,000 capacity.
Since the group’s earliest Boxscore reports in 2006, the Jonas Brothers have grossed $326.8 million and sold 4.5 million tickets across 359 shows. With three secret-location shows later this month in Los Angeles (April 25), Dallas-Fort Worth (April 26) and Baltimore (April 28), plus the Aug. 12-13 New York dates, those numbers will continue to grow in 2023.
In addition to Ryu Su Jeong establishing her independent label and releasing her debut full-length album, the singer-songwriter and former Lovelyz girl-group member is revealing her first-ever English song to reach even more listeners with her music.
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Billboard premieres Ryu Su Jeong’s new song and music video for “How Can I Get Your Love,” a cut off her soon-to-be-released LP, Archive of Emotions.
In a similar soundscape to previously revealed singles “Love or Hate” and “Daydreaming,” which will both appear on the album, “How Can I Get Your Love” offers a lo-fi, bedroom-pop atmosphere elevated by the honeyed melodies Ryu was famous for as a lead vocalist in Lovelyz’s string of hits from 2014-2021.
Over refreshingly unfiltered drums and guitars, Su Jeong expresses mixed emotions that are equally relatable and heartbreaking. In a sweet, melancholy delivery, she sings, “You say, ‘I love you’/ I could not answer anything…/ I’m afraid to imagine that you’re not there/ What if that happens? There’s no such thing that lasts forever.”
The accompanying music video sees the K-pop star in a tangle of situations to represent the spectrum of sentiments expressed in the song. At one moment, Su Jeong is hiding under a couch from the people walking around her, and the next moment she’s lying on the sofa with her hair stroked by a gentle hand. There’s also the juxtaposing image of Su Jeong surrounded by a pile of fuzzy teddy bears that seem adorable until she finds a pair of scissors and rips them all into stuffing.
But the most striking image in the video comes when a pull cord like those of a wind-up doll snakes out of Ryu Su Jeong’s back. Is it a metaphor for a toxic friendship? Infatuation? The K-pop industry? Expect several fan theories to arise from this visual.
In preparation for Archive of Emotions, the 25-year-old tells Billboard she wants songs like “How Can I Get Your Love” to have a universal appeal to soothe and comfort listeners through any difficulties they may be facing.
“I hope the people that listen to my music will heal and be able to confront all sorts of things that are just inevitable and tend to just come in life,” she says. “I also hope it becomes a long-lasting and remembered album for everyone that listens to it.”
Archive of Emotions drops on April 20 at 5 a.m. ET (6 p.m. local time in South Korea). For now, listen to and watch “How Can I Get Your Love” exclusively on Billboard:
Showing her Swiftie card! Suki Waterhouse opened up in a new interview about her deep love for Taylor Swift‘s music.
“Right now I’m really in a ‘Karma’ moment,” the Daisy Jones & The Six star told E! News’ The Rundown when asked at Coachella’s Revolve Fest to choose her favorite song by the superstar. “‘Blank Space’ is an incredible song. Like, I was actually looking at her talking about it the other day, it was funny, she said it started as, like, a joke song about what someone would write about the perception of her, or something. And then that ended up being such a massive, amazing song.”
When it comes to albums, the actress/model couldn’t choose between a couple of Swift’s most recent bodies of work. “I love everything on Evermore, Folklore,” she stated of the 2020 twin albums with a sigh, adding, “I’m a real Swiftie.”
Most recently, Waterhouse starred in Prime Video’s small-screen adaptation of Daisy Jones & The Six. Based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s hit novel of the same name, the series featured the Pop & Suki co-founder as the fictional Karen Sirko opposite Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, Timothy Olyphant and more.
Meanwhile, Swift is currently in the midst of her sold-out Eras Tour, which stops this weekend for three shows at Houston’s NRG Stadium with openers Beabadoobee and Gracie Abrams. In honor of the concerts, the local Humane Society is lowering fees for cat adoption to a Taylor-specific $13.
Watch Waterhouse rave about her favorite Taylor songs and albums below.
“I’m right now in a really Karma moment. Black Space is a incredible song […] I love everything on evermore, folklore. I’m a real Swiftie.” — Suki Waterhouse to E! The Rundown on her favorite Taylor Swift songspic.twitter.com/ZaRHgjibcw— suki waterhouse archive (@bestsukiw) April 17, 2023
Aaron Carter‘s ex-fiancée spoke out Wednesday (April 19) after details of the late star’s autopsy report were made public for the first time.
“The results of the autopsy are not closure for me,” Melanie Martin said in a statement to TMZ. “It claims death is by drowning but also adds he was wearing a t-shirt and necklace in the bathtub which doesn’t make sense, why would he be in a bathtub with clothes on? I am still in shock and still miss Aaron every day. I don’t understand the chain of events and this report only has us asking more questions.”
Released by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, Carter’s autopsy stated that he died as a result of accidental drowning after ingesting a lethal combination of difluoroethane, the gas typically used in cans of compressed air and alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax. According to the report, huffing the gas mixed with taking the pills resulted in the “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” rapper falling unconscious; his body was later found in the bathtub at his Lancaster, Calif., home.
Martin and Carter shared son Prince, who was just weeks away from turning one year old at the time of his dad’s passing. On the baby’s birthday, Martin paid tribute to Carter’s memory with an emotional social media post, writing, “Happy birthday to my baby boy Prince Lyric Carter. Today is going to be a tough one for me but I know your daddy is playing birthday songs for you up in heaven I love you baby boy!!!”
Swifties are still in mourning following news that Taylor Swift and her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, have broken up.
The shocking turn of events was first reported in an exclusive April 8 piece from ET, followed by additional confirmations from other news outlets citing sources close to the situation. Neither Swift nor Alwyn have addressed the situation, but if those sources are to be believed, the split was perfectly amicable.
So why are fans, who’ve helmed an outpouring of social media grief-posts since then, so sad?
Well, Swifties are particularly invested in the happiness of one Taylor Alison Swift. Longtime fans have been at Swift’s side throughout her self-professed “hopeless romantic” search for true love for 17 years. Alwyn’s steadfast presence for six years felt like the end of a full circle journey for those who’ve been with her since the beginning (as well as younger fans who have experienced the ups-and-downs of her romantic life by listening to the visceral love songs in her back catalog).
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with being sans a significant other, no matter who you are. But the sweetness of lyrics like “My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue / All’s well that ends well to end up with you” starts to taste a little salty in lieu of a breakup.
With a heavy heart, Billboard rounds up 13 of the most heartbreaking Taylor Swift songs to revisit post-Alwyn (and no, they aren’t all from Lover). Read them below, but have tissues ready.
“Cornelia Street”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo
Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: This one might be the most obvious in the mix — fans have literally been making pilgrimages to Swift’s infamous West Village apartment to mourn — but “Cornelia Street” is straight up painful now that “Toe” is no longer. On this Lover fan favorite, the pop star vows to never again go near the tucked-away New York home she and Alwyn once shared if they broke up, because the pain of it all would be that catastrophic.
Saddest lyric: “I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends / I’d never walk Cornelia Street again / That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend”
“Death By a Thousand Cuts”
Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: Swift once jokingly bragged about how “Death By a Thousand Cuts” proved she was still able to write exquisite breakup songs even while in a happy, healthy relationship (see: her Tiny Desk concert). But now, she probably relates to its piercing lyrics in real time, for the first time since she wrote them — which, if true, is such a cruel twist of fate.
Saddest lyric: “My heart, my hips, my body, my love / Trying to find a part of me that you didn’t touch / Gave up on me like I was a bad drug”
“Last Kiss”
Album: Speak Now
Why it’s heartbreaking: Yes, “Last Kiss” was written a long time before Swift ever met Alwyn. But the raw pain of one of her most brutal breakup songs seems fresh again; the hook “never thought we’d have a last kiss” is especially fitting for a love that, to outsiders, seemed like it would last a lifetime.
Saddest lyric: “So I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep / And I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe”
“Midnight Rain”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo
Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: This Midnights track didn’t ring any alarm bells at the time of its release; fans generally assumed the clashing personalities described in the lyrics were written about an ex, not Alwyn, who was believed to still be her boyfriend at the time. Now, it seems plausible that “Midnight Rain” was actually an early warning of the reported differences that ultimately caused Swift and Alwyn’s breakup.
Swift has been open in the past about how the Favourite actor prefers a private, quiet, not-so-glamorous lifestyle. And in “Midnight Rain,” that’s the exact type of partner she describes needing to leave behind: “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain / He wanted a bride, I was making my own name.”
Saddest lyric: “I guess sometimes we all get just what we wanted / And he never thinks of me, except when I’m on TV”
“Dancing With Our Hands Tied”
Album: Reputation
Why it’s heartbreaking: This anxiety-fueled track encapsulates a recurring theme on Reputation: fear that Swift’s hectic life would somehow cause her to lose her love. Actually, that’s a recurring theme throughout her latter discography — but more on that later.
No one knows for sure what truly caused the breakup, but it’s hard not to sympathize with Taylor upon discovering that this fear came true, at least to an extent.
Saddest lyric: “I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us / So, baby, can we dance / Oh, through an avalanche?”
“Lover”
Album: Lover
Why it’s heartbreaking: The title track of Swift’s mushy-gushiest album ever is one of the purest, most joyful love songs in her discography. In professing to have found her forever partner after years of getting her heart broken time and time again, “Lover” gave fans in similar boats hope that a soul mate was out there waiting for everyone — now, it doesn’t feel so certain.
Saddest lyric: “Can I go where you go? / Can we always be this close forever and ever?”
“Invisible String”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo
Album: Folklore
Why it’s heartbreaking: Throughout “Invisible String,” Swift seems to give vignetted snapshots of her fated relationship with Alwyn, from his childhood job at a yogurt shop to their three-year anniversary lakeside vacation. The motif of this folksy serenade is that she and her beau were destined from the very beginning by a metaphoric “thread of gold” that connected them through all their ups and downs.
To know that the thread was broken — or worse, never actually existed — is wildly depressing.
Saddest lyric: “A string that pulled me out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar / Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire / Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons / One single thread of gold tied me to you”
“The Great War”
Album: Midnights (3am Edition)
Why it’s heartbreaking: The message of this deluxe Midnights stunner is that Swift’s relationship went through a grueling, nearly fatal rough patch before coming out stronger on the other side. She sings of jealousy, trust issues and arguments that nearly made her lose the one thing that really mattered. But because they got through it, nothing would ever be able to separate them again.
Saddest lyric: “That was the night I nearly lost you / I really thought I lost you”
“Peace”
Album: Folklore
Why it’s heartbreaking: Again, we have Swift addressing her fear that the tumultuousness of her life might interfere with her ability to preserve her relationship. “If you’re gonna be in my life, there’s a certain amount that comes with it I can’t stop from happening,” she said of the meaning behind “Peace” in her Folklore: The Longpond Studio Sessions film. “This song was basically like, is it enough? Is the stuff that I can control enough to block out things that I can’t?”
Saddest lyric: “Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other / Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother / Is it enough?”
“Champagne Problems”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo
Album: Evermore
Why it’s heartbreaking: Part of what makes the fictional breakup story in “Champagne Problems” so devastating is how Swift wrote the song with Alwyn, credited under the pseudonym William Bowery. Were they predicting their own split years before it went down without even knowing it? We’re not crying, you’re crying.
Saddest lyric: “One for the money, two for the show / I never was ready, so I watch you go”
“Sweet Nothing”
Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: “Sweet Nothing” now feels like a premature response to the fears expressed on “Dancing With Our Hands Tied” and “Peace.” Also written with Alwyn, this simple lullaby seemed to say: yes, as long as we have each other, that’s enough.
Saddest lyric: “All that you ever wanted from me was nothing”
“You’re On Your Own, Kid”
Album: Midnights
Why it’s heartbreaking: Midnights’ Track 5 finds Swift realizing that no one is waiting at the end of the road for her, not even her partner — which is telling, given recent events. All this time she’s been alone, for better or for worse, even when she thought she had it all.
She doesn’t look back with regret, though. And at the end, she reminds us that we shouldn’t either: “Everything you lose is a step you take / So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it / You’ve got no reason to be afraid.”
Saddest lyric: “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this / I hosted parties and starved my body / Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss”
“White Horse (Taylor’s Version)”
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo
Album: Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Why it’s heartbreaking: A teenaged Swift used to prophesy that someday, she’d find her Prince Charming. After ten years, it seemed like she finally had.
Sigh.
Saddest lyric: “I’m gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well”
Jesy Nelson took to social media on Tuesday (April 18) to vent about media speculation over her falling out with Little Mix.
“What’s really s–t about this f–king music industry is that when you’re going in to do an interview and you think you’re going to be talking about your music, and the video, and actually talking about something that’s really important to you, that went on in your life and has happened to women around you — domestic violence — which is what my music video was about,” she said through tears in an Instagram Story. “It’s really s–t to then, you know, obviously get asked a question about Little Mix. Which is inevitable, I was in Little Mix for 10 years.”
“So naturally, people are gonna be curious, like, are we still speaking?” she continued. “I said, ‘No, we haven’t spoke for two years but I honestly wish them all the best. We’re all on our solo journeys, it’s such an exciting time for us all right now.’ And yeah, honestly that was all I said.”
However, the former girl group member didn’t take kindly to the simple sound byte become the headline of virtually every story about the interview, rather than the focus being on her latest single “Bad Thing.”
“It’s just f–king bulls–t, ’cause I just feel like women just get pitted up against each other 24/ 7 in music,” Nelson added. “And I hate it, I think it’s disgusting, and it’s just really frustrating that when you’re actually going in there to talk about something that’s really close to my heart and means something to me, it’s then all taken out of context.”
Since departing from Little Mix in late 2020 shortly after the group released their sixth studio album Confetti, Nelson has launched a solo career laden with controversy — dropping her debut single “Boyz” in 2021 featuring Nicki Minaj and facing a barrage of accusations of “Blackfishing” in the song’s accompanying music video.
Watch Nelson’s tearful thoughts on Little Mix and her new music below.
“I wanted to raise awareness about domestic violence […], that’s what the interview was supposed to be about […] but we got told “sorry, that didn’t get enough clicks, so, yeah… we wanted to make it about Little Mix”– Jesy Nelson opens up about her new interview for The Sun pic.twitter.com/aH62ENUC4E— Jesy Nelson Source (@jesysource) April 18, 2023
A month after three nine-year-old children and three adults were murdered at Nashville’s Covenant School in a mass shooting, some of the city’s biggest names have signed a petition imploring the state General Assembly to pass “common sense gun legislation.”
As reported by the Tennessean (story is paywalled), artists including Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, Rodney Crowell, Kelsea Ballerini, Mickey Guyton, Michelle Branch, Shane McAnally, Martina McBride, Maren Morris, Margo Price, Lucinda Williams, Jars of Clay, Jason Isbell, Ben Folds, Allison Moorer and dozens of others sent a letter to the Tennessee General Assembly this week asking legislators to pass extreme risk protection laws (also known as “Red Flag” laws) and to strengthen requirements about the safe storage of firearms.
“Gun violence in Tennessee is not inevitable,” the group said in the letter. “We are not hopeless, and we will not accept inaction. This does not have to be our normal and we ask that you stand with us! We know that gun safety laws work. Policies like extreme risk protection laws and secure storage of firearms can save lives. And we ask that you keep your session open until these policies are put into place.”
Crow and Grant were also reportedly joined by Ruby Amanfu and Will Hoge on Tuesday (April 18) to deliver the letter to state lawmakers before the upcoming scheduled end of the current session.
“We need to put the safety of our children above politics and special interests,” read the group’s letter. “We appreciate Governor Lee taking steps towards creating a safer community against gun violence, however we believe these are only the first steps in improving the safety for our children and Tennesseans. It’s time for you to pass effective measures that will keep guns out of dangerous hands before the shooting starts.”
The nation’s latest mass school shooting has once again led to calls for the passage of common sense gun legislation, with TN Gov. Bill Lee saying last week that he will sign an executive order strengthening background checks for buying firearms in his state as well as calling for the red flag law that would allow emergency court orders allowing police to temporarily confiscate weapons from those deemed a risk to themselves and others.
The Tennessean reported that the term “red flag law” is considered anathema in gun-rights circles, with the National Rifle Association sending out a call to supporters this week asking them to tell their lawmakers that they oppose the kinds of extreme-risk orders that have been passed in such conservative states as Florida, which passed one after the 2019 Parkland School shooting that left 14 students and three adults dead.
“Anything that’s pushed to a later agenda just loses momentum,” Christian singer/songwriter Grant said in a nod to the support for new gun legislation in the wake of the shooting at the private Christian elementary school. “There’s too much pain to lose momentum… As songwriters, there’s not a song when you show up at 10 a.m. — you just talk until the ideas come together. There is a force in communication, especially when it’s a shared goal. By the end of the day, you’ve got a chorus. You actually can create something out of nothing with the right kind of concerted effort, and it can be game-changing.”
The letter came from Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a nonpartisan group formed in the wake of the Covenant shooting that is reportedly heavily lobbying lawmakers behind-the-scenes. In addition to the letter, the group staged an event in Nashville on Tuesday night where thousands of people linked arms to form a human chain that stretched from the Tennessee Capitol to the hospital where victims of the shooting were transported on March 27.
See the list of artists who signed the letter below:
Allison Moorer
Allison Russell
Amy Grant
Ben Folds
Ben Rector
Brandy Clark
Brittany Howard
Brittney Spencer
Charlie Worsham
Devon Gilfillian
Drew & Ellie Holcomb
Emmylou Harris
Gabe Simon
Hayes Carll
Jason Isbell
Jars of Clay
Jess Ray
Jimi Westbrook
John Tibbs
Kacey Musgraves
Karen Fairchild
Kelsea Ballerini
Kelsey Waldon
Ketch Secor
Langhorn Slim
Leah Blevins
Lola Kirke
Lucie Silvas
Lucinda Williams
Lydia Luce
Madeline Edwards
Maggie Rose
Margaret Becker
Margo Price
Maren Morris
Martina McBride
Mat Kearney
Matt Maher
Maxi Diaz
Michelle Branch
Mickey Guyton
Miko Marks
Nick Howard
Patrick Carney
Paul McDonald
Rodney Crowell
Ron Pope
Ruby Amanfu
Ruston Kelly
Ryan Hurd
Sarah Buxton
Sarah Jarosz
Shane McAnally
Sheryl Crow
Sierra Hull
Sista Strings
Sixpence None the Richer
The Brook & the Bluff
The Cadillac Three
The Wood Brothers
TJ Osborne
Will Hoge
Erika Jayne’s love affair with Las Vegas started with a playbill. When she was just a child, the future reality star’s mother and stepfather took a weekend getaway to Sin City and brought back a program for Lido de Paris, the famous revue boasting topless showgirls that ran for decades at the now-demolished Stardust Resort and Casino, as a souvenir.
“I fell in love with this program,” Erika tells Billboard from her home in Los Angeles. “So much so that when I did my book report, we had to pick a city and I picked Las Vegas.”
Bringing her beloved program filled with topless performers didn’t exactly go over well in her Georgia classroom, but the then-elementary schooler flooded her class with dice and other Vegas-themed paraphernalia instead, only to learn after she gave her report that the glitzy metropolis wasn’t actually the capital of Nevada. (For the record, that’s Carson City.) But the point remained: Erika officially had her sights set on Vegas.
This summer, that longstanding dream of seeing her name in the lights of Sin City will be fully realized as Erika launches Bet It All on Blonde, her very own residency at House of Blues Las Vegas inside the Mandalay Bay.
“It just feels right. It is right. It’s over the top like Erika Jayne,” the blonde bombshell said of bringing her act to the famous Strip starting Aug. 25 for a run of 11 dates over five weekends through Dec. 2. “Fantasy, love, escape, glitz, glamour and fun — that’s what we’re gonna bring to you and I’m so f—ing excited.”
Erika Jayne
Courtesy Photo
Those six individual keywords make up what the singer refers to as the guiding “ethos” of her stage persona, whom many fans first met when she joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast back in 2015. Erika Jayne became an instant fan favorite upon her introduction to the Bravosphere, and in her seven seasons and counting, Bravoholics have watched the dance-club diva perform in gay clubs in San Diego, Chicago and New York City, to far-flung locales like Mykonos. In season 9, she even headlined her very own tour, which included a sold-out show at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles attended by her fellow Housewives.
But even before she was living out her fantasies in front of Bravo’s cameras, Erika had already gained a passionate, mainly LGBTQ+ fanbase and a string of dance-driven chart hits — including nine No. 1s on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart. It’s an undeniable accomplishment she notes hasn’t fully translated in the minds of Housewives fans, even as they’ve watched her record music, hold auditions, cast dancers and film music videos for singles like “How Many F–ks” (her most recent No. 1) and “Xxpensive” on the show.
“They’re all special,” the self-described “musical theater kid” says of her nine chart-toppers, the number of which actually rivals the likes of Christina Aguilera (10), Britney Spears (11), Kylie Minogue (14) and Lady Gaga (15). (Madonna, meanwhile, holds the unparalleled record on the chart, as revisited on Her Madgesty’s excellent 2022 compilation Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones.)
“Like, think about ‘Roller Coaster,’ which was in 2007 or 2008 or whenever it was,” Erika continued. “You know, it was my first record out. And I just remember creating in the beginning with such freedom and making music that I liked to dance to. … As I think here, there are so many [songs] that I wish had a bigger look. But now they will, ’cause they’ll be back in the show.”
As she prepares for her residency, the RHOBH star has no qualms about taking a cue from recent smash engagements like Spears’ Piece of Me, Aguilera’s The Xperience or Gwen Stefani’s Just a Girl to find inspiration for what makes a Vegas show sparkle. “Obviously, it’s going to be Erika Jayne,” she says. “But let’s be honest: Everybody’s looking at Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez. Those women have done a great job. And I’m gonna do a great job too.”
It’s also a safe bet to expect Erika’s preparations for Vegas won’t simply stay in Vegas, either. Expect to watch the process play out on season 13 of RHOBH, which is currently in production, and possibly beyond the Bravo franchise too, into a spin-off of its own. “I remember watching Blonde Ambition and being so fascinated by the inner-workings of a tour,” she says, referencing Madonna: Truth or Dare, the 1991 documentary directed by Alek Keshishian that brought fans behind the scenes of Madonna’s now-iconic, boundary-breaking Blonde Ambition Tour. “I want to give the fans a different look at my artistry, putting a show together, where I am in my life, outside of Housewives.
“Because it has its own life,” she continues. “You know, the show, the residency, everything that goes into it. The personalities around it, the pressure. Making the show is fascinating to a lot of people. It certainly is to me. And I think that that needs to be captured.”
Along with past cuts like “Give Me Everything,” “Stars” and “Painkillr,” the Pretty Mess author promises her residency will also include new music filled with “big, anthemic, fun moments,” which she’s currently hard at work recording in the studio, as well as covers of some of her favorite songs by other artists. “It’s a new era of Erika Jayne,” she teases. “And I think that’s important because the journey continues on as a musician, as an artist. Things have changed, but I will never not be happy onstage. Does that make sense? I will never not celebrate onstage, I will always have a good time and always bring the party. But it’s just a new party.”
What’s changed exactly? Well, first the pandemic ravaged the world, bringing Erika’s thriving performing career to an abrupt and devastating halt just weeks after she’d made her celebrated Broadway debut playing Roxie Hart in Chicago. (“I think that anyone that calls themselves a performer should have to go to Broadway. … Every night I stood onstage, I just was honored to be there.”)
Then, as anyone who’s followed the drama on RHOBH or read the news in the past two years knows, her personal life imploded as she was caught in the legal riptide of her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s very public fall from grace. The onetime powerhouse of the L.A. legal and political worlds, who earned his reputation winning high-profile cases like 1993’s Anderson et. al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric — which inspired the movie Erin Brockovich — stands accused of misappropriating at least $2 million in funds meant for the families of victims of a 2018 airplane crash in Indonesia, funneling more than $20 million in additional victim compensation to the LLC created for Erika’s entertainment career and various other financial crimes. He has since been disbarred, placed in a legal conservatorship, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and lives permanently in a memory care facility.
Erika, meanwhile, has maintained she had no knowledge of Girardi’s misdeeds — a controversial plot point that has fueled much of the can’t-miss drama on the past two seasons of RHOBH. Last fall, she won a decisive victory in a $5 million lawsuit filed against her for allegedly “aiding and abetting” her husband, with the judge finding no evidence of “wrongdoing” on her part, per the L.A. Times.
Determined to come out on the other side of her world being upended, Erika says the title of Bet It All on Blonde symbolizes not only the next chapter of Erika Jayne, but also her hard-fought independence and steadfast commitment to herself.
“Look, I think it’s no secret what I’ve been going through these last couple years,” she says. “And you do, in life, have to bet on yourself. Especially in this business. You have to be willing to take risks, and Vegas is a betting town, so I bet it all on myself. I rolled the dice and I’m cashing in.”
Tickets for Erika Jayne’s Bet It All on Blonde residency go on sale Monday (April 24) at 10 a.m. PT via the House of Blues Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay or Ticketmaster, or by calling (702) 632-7600. A special fan presale will begin Thursday (April 20) at 10 a.m. PT with additional presales for members of MGM Rewards, MGM Resorts’ loyalty rewards program, as well as House of Blues, Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers will start one day later on Friday (April 21) at 10 a.m. PT. All presales will end Sunday (April 23) at 10 p.m. PT before the general on-sale.
