Pop
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Travis Kelce is, as expected, the biggest Swiftie! The Kansas City Chiefs tight end sat down with his brother, Jason Kelce, for a new episode of the duo’s New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce podcast this week, where Travis opened up about his experience attending one more of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stops before it […]
Ariana Grande may have become a superstar as a chart-topping pop star, but after pivoting back to musical theater while working on Wicked, the 31-year-old artist says she’s hoping to keep acting at the forefront in the future.
While speaking to her Wicked costar Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on the duo’s Las Culturistas podcast on Wednesday (Nov. 6), Grande was candid about wanting to return to Broadway someday. “It is my heart,” said the R.E.M. Beauty founder, who got her start as a young teenager in 13: The Musical, followed by her role as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Victorious.
“I’m gonna say something so scary — it’s gonna scare the absolute s–t out of my fans and everyone, but I love them, and they’ll deal, and we’ll be here forever,” she continued. “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. 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.”
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“Reconnecting with this part of myself who started in musical theater, and who loves comedy, and it heals me to do that — finding roles to use these parts of myself and put them in little homes and characters and bits and voices and songs,” Grande added. “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. I’m getting emotional.”
The podcast interview comes just a few weeks ahead of the Nov. 22 premiere of the first Wicked film, which also stars Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Golblum, Ethan Slater and more. Toward the end of filming last year, she recorded her first album in four years: Eternal Sunshine, which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following its March release.
Before Eternal Sunshine came 2020’s Positions, which Grande also spoke about on Las Culturistas. “When it came out, it kind of didn’t go so well,” she reflected of the LP, which also spent two weeks atop the U.S. albums chart. “I just mean as far as what my fans were saying … I just got like, ‘This is not what we want’ vibes.”
“That really put me in a cage of judging every piece,” she continued. “I scrapped so many things I was going to put out for it. And now people love it like it’s the best thing I’ll ever make! What is that? How is that fair? But I love them for it.”
Listen to Las Culturistas with Ariana Grande below.
Sabrina Carpenter said “Please Please Please” and voters definitely listened. According to HeadCount.org, the singer got more voters engaged in Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) election than any other artist the organization works with. HeadCount said that Carpenter, 25, helped inspire 35,814 voter registrations and got another 263,087 voters to take other actions outside of registering (including checking their registration status and polling location).
“Through our partnerships with over 100 top music artists — like Sabrina Carpenter, Green Day, Ariana Grande, and so many others — HeadCount had a record-breaking year, registering over 450,000 new voters and engaging over 3 million more people to make sure they vote,” said the non-profit’s executive director, Lucille Wenegieme, in a statement. “Our model works because musicians and celebrities have a cultural cache and an intimate connection with their fans, especially among young people, whose identity as a fan of a particular artist can be even stronger than other aspects of their identity, including affiliation with a political party or candidate. We are so grateful to our artist partners and their teams for inspiring their fans to take control of their future.”
HeadCount said that it had a presence at more than 3,700 events this year as part of its “Good to Vote” campaign, where they registered nearly half a million new voters, with almost half of them between the ages of 18-24. Carpenter’s impressive numbers on her Short n’ Sweet tour including activating voters through giveaways, in-person activations and video boards and mailers. The partnership also included a sweepstakes offering fans the chance to see the tour by checking their registration status, with winners slated to be flown out to the singer’s Nov. 9 San Francisco show.
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In addition, on their globe-hopping stadium Saviors tour, pop-punk legends Green Day broke HeadCount’s all-time record for the most voters engaged on a single tour, registering more than 7,900 new voters and engaging over 61,000 voters through in-person activations on the outing; those figures nearly double the previous record set by Ariana Grande on her 2019 Sweetener world tour.
HeadCount — which works with hundreds of other touring artists including 5 Seconds of Summer, Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, Chappell Roan, Ariana Grande, Fall Out Boy, Billie Eilish, DRake, HAIM, Gracie Abrams, Harry Styles and others — has registered more than 1.5 million voters since 2004. This year, the group said it engaged over three million music fans to take action, another all-time record for the organization, with more than 80% of all voters it registered representing Gen Z or millennials.
More than 80 years after its release, Bing Crosby‘s beloved holiday hit “White Christmas” is getting a Bangtan boost from V of BTS.
As announced Wednesday (Nov. 6), the 28-year-old K-pop star will join the late legend on a remix of his 1942 smash arriving Dec. 6. Released in partnership with the Bing Crosby Estate, Primary Wave Music and Geffen Records, the project is described as an “era-bridging” collaboration and comes 47 years after Crosby’s last cross-generational duet: 1977’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” with David Bowie.
“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to be featured in a song with my all-time favorite jazz artist, Bing Crosby,” V said of the track in a statement. “I grew up listening to his song ‘It’s Been a Long, Long Time’ countless times a day, and I feel incredibly fortunate and honored to have sung along on ‘White Christmas’ with the voice of someone I consider an idol.”
“Being a huge fan of his, I sang with the utmost sincerity and admiration for him,” continued the South Korean superstar, who previously covered “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” of which Crosby’s take peaked at No. 30 on the Holiday Streaming Songs, No. 8 on the Holiday Airplay and No. 14 on the Holiday Digital Song Sales charts. “I hope many people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed singing it. Lastly, I wish a lovely holiday season to everyone listening to the song.”
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Originally recorded for the 1942 film Holiday Inn and later heavily featured in the 1954 film White Christmas, Crosby’s enduring hit is widely renowned as the bestselling single of all time. It was released a full 16 years before the inception of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, but premiered on the chart in December that same year and later reached a peak at No. 12 in 1962.
Crosby died in 1977. His daughter Mary Crosby said in a statement about her father’s new posthumous collaboration, “As a family, we are thrilled to have V and Dad singing together on this ultimate Christmas song. Their voices blend beautifully, capturing the holiday spirit in the best possible way.”
The legendary performer’s son Harry added, “We are happy that V will help share the joy of this timeless Christmas song.”
The holiday team-up will arrive about nine months after the release of V’s solo single “FRI(END)S,” which reached No. 65 on the Hot 100. Last December, he teamed up with Umi for a duet titled “Wherever U R.”
V is currently in the midst of his mandatory enlistment period in the South Korean military, as are four of his BTS bandmates: SUGA, RM, Jimin and Jung Kook. Earlier this year, Jin and J-Hope separately finished their service obligations, and full-band activities are expected to resume in 2025.
See the cover art for Bing Crosby and V’s “White Christmas” below.
After some fans commented on Selena Gomez‘s posture at a recent red carpet event promoting her upcoming Netflix film Emilia Perez, the singer/actress/entrepreneur reportedly responded by revealing a medical condition that she is struggling with. According to ELLE, after Gomez walked the carpet at the American French Film Festival premiere of the film in Los […]
Earlier this year, British girl group Girls Aloud reunited for a run of shows in the U.K. and Ireland, their first since 2013. It was their first as a quartet following the death of member Sarah Harding, who passed away in 2021 aged 39, following complications from breast cancer. The group have now shared news […]
Andrea Swift is just as big of a Kansas City Chiefs fan as her daughter is. Taylor Swift’s mom attended the NFL game at Arrowhead Stadium with the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” singer and her son Austin on Monday night (Nov. 4), where she was seen cheering on Tay’s boyfriend, tight […]
Barry Keoghan is Sabrina Carpenter’s biggest fan! The Academy Award-nominated actor discussed his relationship with the “Feather” pop star during a recent episode of Spotify’s The Louis Theroux Podcast, where he was asked directly, “Are you in a relationship with Sabrina Carpenter?” “Oh, I knew you’d do this,” Keoghan said with a laugh, before eventually explaining, “Listen, […]
When the 2025 Grammy nominations are unveiled on Friday, there’s a world where the year’s biggest pop stars dominate the storyline. Billboard awards editor Paul Grein has shared his final Big Four predictions ahead of Friday’s announcement, and he thinks pop women will lead the biggest categories, including Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured […]
With a hotly-contested presidential election going on, Shaboozey thinks we could all use a little “Good News.” So, he’s here to give us a taste of just that. In a TikTok posted on Monday (Nov. 5), the “Bar Song” singer shared a snippet of his yet-to-be announced new single, in which he looks for some […]