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With his team’s first playoff game looming this weekend, Travis Kelce seems calm and confident, and his life off the field might have something to do with that. During an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show on Wednesday (Jan. 15), the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was asked how things are in his personal life, since, as the host put it, “you livin’ a little bit better than most.”
“I’m enjoying all aspects of life, that’s for damn sure, man,” Kelce, 35, laughed, giving Smith the answer he was subtly digging around for about the status of the baller’s high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift. “Me and Taylor are happy and I couldn’t be happier to have that confidence and that comfort off the field and all the support I could ever ask for stadium.”
Veteran sports talker Smith then made a confession: he’d never listened to Swift’s music before, but he went to one of the Eras Tour shows and said it was “the greatest concert” he’s ever been to in his life. “It’s off the chain,” Kelce confirmed of the record-setting outing that wrapped up on Dec. 8 in Vancouver.
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Smith said his daughters “hoodwinked” him into taking 10 of their friends to a show at $2,000 a ticket (a price Kelce diplomatically noted was the “re-sale” value of the tickets), with the host joking, “I ain’t got your money, Travis! I damn sure ain’t got her money! I said, ‘this better be worth it!’ And I gotta confess, it was so damn good I went back twice.”
He then got serious again, asking if all the hoopla and attention to the couple’s now year-and-a-half long romance has “added” to Kelce’s football talents, comparing it to a struggling prize fighter used to grinding who suddenly hits the “jackpot with everything that you’re doing.”
“I think personally, that’s the beauty of being in a very strong relationship is that you get that support to be able to come in and focus on your craft,” Kelce said. “Focus on being the best version of you. That’s why I wanted to be at the concerts supporting her, being there for her and making sure she feels comfortable and supported in everything she’s doing in life.”
Kelce said he’s as focused as he’s ever been on his job, mostly because he doesn’t have to worry about things off the field. But when Smith recalled that some commenters said Kelce did not seem to be in his best shape at the beginning of the season, not necessarily blaming Swift for being a distraction, but speculating that all the travel Travis was doing to support Swift on her tour was “taking away” from his training, the 10-time Pro Bowler had a very simple answer.
“You have to be true to yourself,” he said of the criticism. “People are saying things [and] you’ve got to be able to reflect and look at yourself and see, ‘Why are they saying these things?’ I was still playing at a high level knowing all that. We were winning football games, which is all I ever care about and, on top of that, this building knew how hard I worked and how much focus I have on football throughout the year.”
All that said, the three-time Super Bowl-winner is gearing up to get back on the field and focus on his day job. So when Smith asked if the team is feeling confident going into their first playoff game this weekend against the Texans on Saturday — after earning a bye last week due to their divisional top spot — Kelce sounded positive about their path to a potentially unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.
“Setting ourselves up with the No. 1 seed, having everybody have to come through Arrowhead [Stadium]… I think this year it was such a different team, such a different feel,” Kelce said. “We were barely winning football game at the end of the game, so there is always that feeling of ‘we gotta be better, we gotta be better, we gotta be better.’ And right now we’re playing our best football, man, and I’m definitely feeling confident.”
The Chiefs play the Texans at 4:30 on Saturday.
Check out Kelce’s interview with Smith below.
Leighton Meester’s music career is experiencing a revival following the devastating loss of her Los Angeles home in the recent wildfires.
With encouragement from none other than Flavor Flav, fans have rallied behind the Gossip Girl actress and singer by revisiting her discography, sparking a wave of support across social media and music platforms. Flavor Flav took to TikTok on Jan. 14 to spotlight Meester’s 2009 single “Somebody to Love,” which features Robin Thicke.
In the video, the Public Enemy rapper danced to the pop track, urging fans to “Stream @LeightonMeester ‘Somebody to Love’ and use the song in yo TikTok’s.” He captioned the post, “Starting to hype up my girl Leighton Meester and help her family recover from the fire.”
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The call for support comes amid reports that Meester and her husband, actor Adam Brody, are among the many families displaced by the wildfires that began last week, forcing thousands to evacuate. The couple, who share two children, have not publicly commented on the loss of their Pacific Palisades home.
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Fans have since responded with overwhelming enthusiasm by revisiting Meester’s self-written debut album, Heartstrings, released in 2014. Meester wrote all nine tracks featured on the record by herself, and the album was produced by Jeff Trott.
The album has now climbed to No. 18 on the iTunes all-genre album chart, surpassing notable releases like Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion, and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N Sweet. Her single “Your Love’s a Drug,” released in 2010, has also cracked the iTunes songs chart.
This resurgence mirrors the support seen for Heidi Montag, another wildfire victim whose decade-old album, Superficial, recently topped the iTunes charts thanks to a viral TikTok campaign.
Flav has also been instrumental in promoting Montag’s music, posting several TikTok videos with the caption, “Doing my part to get Heidi Montag to #1.” Montag and her husband, Spencer Pratt, lost their Pacific Palisades home in the fires and turned to social media to share their journey and encourage fans to stream Montag’s music as a way to help them rebuild.
Following the success of Superficial, Montag’s album surged to No. 1 on iTunes. To celebrate, Montag and Pratt joined Billboard’s Tetris Kelly during a TikTok livestream to discuss future plans, including new music.
“We just actually had one of the most famous writers and producers reach out to us, and I recorded it yesterday,” Montag revealed. “They asked us not to specify who they are […] We’re really excited, and there’s a lot of stuff in the works. We really want to focus on getting a portion back to the community too, so we’re trying to figure out how to incorporate charities into everything we’re doing.”
Meanwhile, Flavor Flav, a vocal advocate for using music as a means of recovery, also announced on Jan. 11 that he has donated to wildfire relief efforts through GoFundMe campaigns and nonprofit organizations.
He encouraged others to join his efforts, stating, “They need us right now.”
Meester’s music career includes standout moments such as her collaboration with Cobra Starship on the 2009 hit “Good Girls Go Bad,” her role in the 2010 film Country Strong, and the release of singles like “Somebody to Love” and “Your Love’s a Drug.”
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are turning loss into creativity. The couple, who first found fame on the reality series The Hills, lost their home in the Pacific Palisades wildfire. Amid the tragedy, the pair turned to social media to share their journey and encourage fans to stream Montag’s previous music as a way to help them rebuild. […]
The wintry video for Wham!‘s beloved holiday hit “Last Christmas” has joined YouTube billion-views club. Fittingly, the feat for the song originally released in 1984 comes just after the track skated to the top of the U.K. charts for the second year in a row during the holiday season.
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Written and produced by late singer George Michael, the song first hit No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart in 2021, marking the fifth No. 1 for the duo that also included singer Andrew Ridgeley. Shot in Switzerland by director Andrew Morahan (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”), the playful clip features the two singers enjoying a fun ski vacation with their girlfriends.
Though the pair and their significant others are all smiles as they pile into a cable car to enjoy some Christmas R&R in a picturesque chalet, trimming the tree, lobbing snowballs at each other and enjoying a festive meal, it becomes clear through furtive glances and a tell-tale glittery brooch that Ridgeley’s significant other has an unspecified romantic past with Michael.
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Pining for what appears to be a lost love, Michael sings, “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart/ But the very next day, you gave it away/ This year, to save me from tears/ I’ll give it to someone special.”
“Last Christmas” is the first Wham! video to join the YT billion club, joining Michael’s 1984 debut solo hit from that same year, “Careless Whisper.”
According to the U.K. Official Charts report, with its No. 1 slot in December, “Last Christmas” became the first song in the chart’s history to snag two consecutive Christmas No. 1 slots; in its release year, the song was blocked from the top spot by the all-star Band-Aid song “Do You Know It’s Christmas?,” which featured vocals from Michael. It finally hit the Christmas No. 1 in 2023, marking the longest trip to the top holiday spot at 39 years; it first hit No. 1 on the New Year’s Day charts for the week ending January 7, 2021.
Watch the “Last Christmas” video below.
Robbie Williams has long had a cordial relationship with the British royal family. But when it came to an invitation to perform at King Charles III’s coronation ceremony in 2023, the singer said he had to politely decline. Appearing on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live earlier this week, Williams said he was, as rumored, asked to celebrate the royal passing of the torch, but had a professional conflict.
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Williams told Cohen that there was definitely “a reason” he could not accept the gig. “I was working. I got something I couldn’t turn down because of money,” Williams said, without elaborating on what gig kept him from the royal honor.
Williams has shown his support for the royals before, acting as the opening act at the 2012 diamond jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, which was organized by his former Take That bandmate, Gary Barlow. And while he didn’t make it to the coronation concert held for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 7, 2023, that glitzy event did feature sets from Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli and the other members of Take That: Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, joined by DJ Robin Schulz and Calum Scott.
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Other acts who took the stage included Tiwa Savage, Paloma Faith, Steve Winwood, Olly Murs, Pete Tong and Nicole Scherzinger.
Though fans couldn’t see him then, they can catch the British superstar in his unusual new biopic, Better Man, in which a CGI monkey version of Williams takes viewers through a series of over-the-top musical numbers illustrating the singer’s wild days and nights as a boy bander and solo star.
Paramount paid $25 million to acquire the $110 million movie directed by The Greatest Showman‘s Michael Gracey, only to see it tank at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, where it took in a modest $1 million on more than 1,200 screens. To date, the movie has reportedly earned just under $5 million in Williams’ native U.K., marking it as the first major box office bomb of the year.
Watch Williams discuss the coronation rebuff below.
In The Substance, Margaret Qualley’s character turns into an overnight superstar. So naturally, the film’s costume director Emmanuelle Youchnovski turned to some real-life idols for inspiration — including Beyoncé and Dua Lipa.
In an interview with Next Best Picture published Tuesday (Jan. 14), the creative opened up about studying the two pop stars while designing the wardrobe for Sue. In the Coralie Fargeat-directed horror flick, the character — played by the Poor Things star — replaces Demi Moore’s Elisabeth as the leading lady of a popular workout program after the Ghost actress’ character clones herself into Sue, whom she believes is a younger, hotter version of herself.
“I took [inspiration from] the video clip of Beyoncé’s ‘Blow,’ where she had the colors, you remember this one?” Youchnovski said, referencing the 32-time Grammy winner’s 2013 track. “And I also took a lot of inspiration from Dua Lipa, because she wears a lot of bodysuits.”
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“But the bodysuit, it’s metallic, it’s fuchsia, it’s neon,” the costumer continued, noting that the “Levitating” singer’s look also inspired her to add “more skin” to Sue’s gear via cut-outs.
While Youchnovski referenced modern pop stars for Qualley’s character, however, the designer said she deliberately sourced from the 1980s — think Jane Fonda — for Moore’s role. “The most difficult thing for us was to have the same show with different points of view: Elisabeth’s view and Sue’s view, the new one,” she added. “If we do ‘80s things for Elisabeth, it’s more easy for us to do a new one for Sue, like Dua Lipa, or Beyoncé, or whatever.”
After first premiering at Cannes — where it won best screenplay — The Substance arrived in theaters in September, going on to clear $70 million at the global box office. Both Qualley and Moore have received critical acclaim for their performances in the project, with the latter recently taking home best actress in a musical or comedy at the 2025 Golden Globes.
But while Bey and Dua may have inspired Sue’s appearance, Qualley previously revealed that it was another pop star who got her into the headspace to play the character. “We all just had the Brat summer with Charli XCX, and I was listening to Charli as my Sue inspo,” the Drive Away Dolls star told Brut America in October. “She has a lot of good, like, pump-it-up girl songs. I got that Sue energy from Charli’s old music, so that’s where my head was.”
While a number of U.S. awards shows and nomination announcements have been postponed or reworked due to the ongoing devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, England’s BAFTA Film Awards announced its nominations slate on Wednesday morning (Jan. 15).
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Among the films garnering multiple nods was the musical drug drama Emilia Pérez, which snagged 11 nominations, including best film, director and leading actress for Golden Globe winner Karla Sofía Gascón, as well as supporting actress for co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.
The first part of Wicked was nominated seven times, including best leading actress for Globe nominee Cynthia Erivo and best supporting actress for Ariana Grande, as well as costume design, hair/makeup, production design, sound and special visual effects. Notably, though, the box office smash re-telling of the Wizard of Oz-inspired Broadway musical was shut out in a number of major categories, including best film, director and adapted screenplay.
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The BAFTA nominations were the first for Grande and Gomez.
The top-nominated film was the Vatican thriller Conclave, which had 12 nominations, while post-WWII epic The Brutalist scored nine, followed by the stripper drama Anora and Dune: Part Two, which each snagged seven. Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was tapped for six BAFTAs, including best film, adapted screenplay and leading actor for Timothée Chalamet and supporting actor for Edward Norton.
Scrappy Irish music comedy Kneecap also had six, including outstanding British film, outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for writer/director Rich Peppiatt and original screenplay.
There have been a number of postponements due to the fires that have killed 25 so far an scorched more than 14,000 acres, including a push-back of the Critics Choice Awards, an extra week for academy members to vote on this year’s Oscars (and a postponement of the nomination announcement until Jan. 23) and the cancellation of the major label events surrounding this year’s Grammy Awards.
In light of the devastation in L.A., BAFTA film chair Sara Putt told Variety, that the British Academy’s thoughts are “very, very much” with everyone impacted by the still raging wildfires, the worst in the city’s history. “It’s a dreadful, dreadful time,” she added, noting that the BAFTAs have not yet decided if they would move the dates for the final voting rounds. The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony is slated to take place on Feb. 16 at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Check out the full list of 2025 BAFTA nominations here.
Celine Dion paid loving tribute to her late husband, René Angélil, on Tuesday (Jan. 14) on the night anniversary of his death. “René, we can’t believe you’ve been gone nine years already. Not a day goes by that we don’t feel your presence, RC, Eddy, Nelson and I,” Dion wrote in an Instagram post featuring her and the couple’s three children, sons René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 14.
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“You were my greatest champion, my partner, and the one who always saw the best in me,” she added. “I honor you and you are forever missed mon amour…. We love you.” Angélil died of throat cancer in 2016 at 73. Dion and Angélil met when the singer was 12 and he was 38 and he later mortgaged his home to fund her debut album, 1981’s La voix du bon Dieu. The couple married at Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal on Dec. 17, 1994.
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Back in December, Dion marked another milestone when she honored Angélil on what would have been their 30th wedding anniversary. She posted a throwback black and white picture of the two from their wedding day, writing, “You still fill our hearts, every day. You are everything to us. We miss you so much. Happy 30th anniversary, mon amour!”
Earlier this week, Dion sent her thoughts and prayers to those suffering during the historic L.A. wildfires. “My heart goes out to everyone in Los Angeles affected by these devastating fires. In moments like this, it’s so important for us to come together and help,” she wrote on Instagram, where she included a list of resources for those who’ve lost their homes or been forced to flee the conflagrations that have killed 25 people to date. Officials are warning that high winds on Wednesday (Jan. 15) could hamper efforts to contain the two largest fires, which have burned nearly 40,000 acres to date.
For a longer list of organizations providing relief to those impacted by the fires click here.
City and Colour frontman Dallas Green has dropped a bombshell for fans of his folk collaboration You + Me with pop icon Pink.
The Canadian musician, currently on tour in Australia with his band, revealed that the duo has completed a long-awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2014 debut Rose Ave.
“We started writing and recording some songs in 2018 and recorded some more in 2022 and in April last year, we wrapped it up,” Green said, as per News.com.au. “I would hope that it comes out sooner than later but there’s a lot going on; she’s just finished the feat of doing back-to-back stadium tours and I’m just about to finish two and a half years of touring myself.”
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In another interview with The Plug podcast, Green noted that Moore also made the surprise announcement during a recent charity show.
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“She announced it on stage and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re talking about this? I’m gonna talk about it!’”
Pink first met Green through her husband Carey Hart and felt an immediate creative connection. She then invited the singer-songwriter to Los Angeles, where they recorded the majority of their debut, Rose Ave., in one week.
The two artists had worked together on one previous occasion. In 2014, Moore “sang with [Green] once at another show,” and she told Billboard she “knew that we didn’t sound horrible.” So when “the stars aligned” and both artists had some time off, they decided to try to recreate that magic.
Their album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, reached No. 1 on the Folk Albums chart peaked at No. 2 on the Digital Albums chart. It also peaked at No. 2 on the Australian charts and No. 1 in Canada. The album’s lead single “You and Me” also charted in several countries.
The announcement comes as Green navigates the emotional terrain of his latest City and Colour album, The Love Still Held Me Near, written after the tragic loss of his producer and close friend Karl Bareham in 2019.
Beyond the stage, Green told the publication he had also recently collaborated with Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana. “They had a song they wanted me to possibly help finish, so I came out early and went to the studio for two days and it was amazing, a lot of fun,” Green shared.
For Green, the parallels between his connection with Sultana and his partnership with Pink are unmistakable. “The only other time someone actively reached out to collaborate like this was Alicia [Pink],” he said.
City and Colour’s tour continues through Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth this January, with Green returning Down Under in March for a series of shows with his post-hardcore/screamo band Alexisonfire.
Ever since its release in 2015, Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” has become a musical representation of hope for anyone overcoming obstacles or struggling with tragedy.
As the wildfires in Los Angeles continue to devastate the city, Platten took the stage at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Monday (Jan. 13) to perform her hit before the playoff game between the LA Rams and the Minnesota Vikings. “It was such an emotional night. It was so much bigger than me and the song,” she tells Billboard of the moment, which served as a tribute to victims of the fires as well as first responders who are risking their lives to save their city.
Platten and her family are thankfully safe, and were able to return home after a precautionary evacuation. “My heart breaks,” she says. “We know friends who have lost their houses, friends whose schools have burned down. It’s horrifying, and it’s been a really scary experience.”
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During her “Fight Song” performance, Platten switched up the line in the song’s first verse — “I might only have one match/ But I can make an explosion” — to a fitting and more appropriate lyric given the circumstances: “We might have been knocked down/ But I know we’ll keep going.”
“I feel really incredibly grateful for the whole night,” she says. “We can do so many things with tragedy. We can mourn together, and we can cry together — but then there are also times to be strong together. What I felt on stage was, ‘May this song touch people like medicine, may this song be healing.’ I did feel feel a reverberation and an echo in the stadium of that hunger for hope in the midst of darkness. Sometimes music can do what words can’t.”
Platten hopes to continue her message of hope as she embarks on her Set Me Free tour, which kicks off on March 17 in Denver, Colo., and hits multiple cities including Los Angeles before wrapping on May 9 in Orlando, Fla. “It’s freedom, and it’s earned joy, not superficial way of celebration,” she says of the upcoming run of live shows. “It’s the kind of joy where you’ve been through some shit, and you’ve seen pain and you’ve seen tragedy, and you are choosing to stay strong and resilient. We’re all going to sing and dance, but we’re also going to cry and feel our feelings. Hopefully, the whole tour gives people permission to feel everything.”
Watch Platten perform “Fight Song” before the Rams and Vikings game below.