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In the midst of his early 2009 run on American Idol, Adam Lambert remembered thinking during auditions that the judges were never going to pick him because, “I’m the gay guy. This is a pipe dream.” The singer who placed second to Kris Allen that season after a memorable run during which Lambert made a name for himself by bringing unique spins on songs by Johnny Cash and Tears For Fears, described his decision to lean into his true self while accepting an award at the 2023 Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Gala on Saturday (Jan. 21).
According to EW, the 40-year-old solo singer and Queen frontman discussed the homophobia he faced early in his career, describing his thoughts about making that season’s finale. “I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I had no idea that it would go that long. And then once I got off the show, I got signed a record contract. There was an Entertainment Weekly article that was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s exciting, and it may or not be because he might be gay.’ And I was like, ‘Might be?!’”
Lambert said he then began a “very interesting journey” through the music industry in which he felt like there were “no gay guys. It was kind of the Wild West in terms of that.” Lambert also described the iconic moment during the Nov. 2010 American Music Awards on the eve of his first single’s release when he thought he was doing the same thing he’d been doing since he was a teenager.
“I was kind of sexy, and had dancers on stage, and I did a couple of suggestive moves with a couple of dancers, and an impromptu kiss with my bass player. I was feeling it. Well, I got off stage and I got in trouble. The network was like, ‘How dare you?’ They banned me for a while,” he said. “They threatened me with a lawsuit. It was like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s where we’re at.’ I didn’t know. I’d been in a bubble in L.A. amongst artists, weirdos, and I didn’t realize that that kind of thing would ruffle feathers the way it did.”
Instead of shrinking away and hiding his true self, Lambert said he thought the best move was to lean in and, “be as gay as I f—ing can be. And be flamboyant and be wild, and if it gets me into trouble, it gets me in trouble, but I’m not going to back down from it.” In the years since, said Lambert, he’s seen how his decision has played out and it makes him proud.
“Over the past few years, I keep meeting more and more young people that saw me when we were a kid on TV and they’re like…’You helped me talk to my parents about being gay,” he said. Lambert was on hand to receive an honor at the Creative Coalition’s annual Sundance Film Festival gala, presented by his Fairyland co-star, Cody Fern, who also appears in the 1970s drama about a teen girl with two dads.
When Madonna shared a touching message to her fans across her socials, one very special fan put her hand out — Lady Gaga.
The Queen of Pop shared a video in which she thanked fans for their overwhelming “love and support” this past week, during which time tickets for her Celebration Tour moved like hotcakes.
“I don’t take any of this for granted,” Madonna enthuses. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And I’m so grateful for all of your support. And I can’t wait to put the show together and have a moment with each and every one of you on the stage. To celebrate the last four decades of my journey.”
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One of those fans who’ll cheer Madonna on will be Mother Monster herself. Gaga responded to the pop legend’s unscripted piece to camera, “We love you M.”
But wait, there’s more. Friend and collaborator Diplo responded, “U better book me for afterparty.”
Gaga isn’t wrong. Fans bought up 600,000 tickets in one day for Madonna’s retrospective trek. To keep up with demand, 23 concerts were added the 37 dates already announced on both sides of the Atlantic, when 98% of all tickets sold out in a matter of hours, Billboard reports.
The Celebration Tour begins July 15 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and will include performances of music from Madonna’s entire catalog, spanning her 40-year career as the best-selling female touring artist of all time.
For those pop fans with a long memory, Madonna and Gaga reportedly had a frosty, decade-long rivalry.
In a 2019 interview with British Vogue, however, Madonna suggested those rumors of a beef were blown out of proportion because people wanted to believe them.
“People got very excited about [the thought of Lady Gaga and myself as] enemies, when we never were enemies,” she told the title.
The pair were spotted partying together at a Met Gala afterparty in 2015, and in 2019 Gaga came to Madonna’s Oscars party after winning for original song for “Shallow,” even posing for photos together, looking cuddly.
Live Nation is producing The Celebration Tour. Visit www.madonna.com/tour for more.
Beyoncé‘s 11-year-old daughter Blue Ivy joined her mom onstage in Dubai on Saturday (Jan. 21), entering to loud applause for “Brown Skin Girl.”
“Where are all my brown skin girls? Give it up for my baby, my brown skin girl, Miss Blue Ivy Carter,” Beyoncé said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who was in attendance at the event taking place at the city’s new luxurious hotel, The Atlantis Royal. The star put on a nearly 75-minute performance at the invite-only event.
“Brown Skin Girl” is Blue Ivy’s Grammy-winning collaboration with her mother; its video won the best music video award last year. The mom-and-daughter duo performed some choreography together on the Dubai stage, with Beyoncé encouraging the crowd to sing along “if you love brown skin women.”
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Much of the family was in attendance, too, including Jay-Z and her other children, and Tina Knowles-Lawson and Mathew Knowles.
“My beautiful children are here to see their mom perform,” Beyoncé announced to the crowd, with celebrity guests in attendance including Kendall Jenner, Rebel Wilson, Ellen Pompeo, Winston Duke, Letitia Wright, Liam Payne, Chloe x Halle, Bar Refaeli and Swedish House Mafia.
THR reports that Beyoncé opened with a cover of Etta James’ “At Last.” She didn’t treat the crowd to anything from Renaissance, perhaps saving their debut for a future tour — but songs that did make the set list that haven’t been heard live in a while included “Beautiful Liar,” “I Care,” “Ave Marie” and “Flaws and All.”
She performed also “Crazy In Love,” “Countdown” and “Naughty Girl,” plus “Halo,” “XO,” “Be Alive,” “Freedom,” “Spirit,” “Otherside,” “Bigger” and “Naughty Girl” inviting the crowd to chime in when she asked, “Where are my naughty girls at?”
She ended the special show dancing in water while singing “Drunk In Love” as fireworks went off.
Watch a clip of her opening with “At Last” via The Hollywood Reporter below.
Ariana Grande is showing love to Kristin Chenoweth after the Broadway vet shared a video of herself singing a Wizard of Oz classic alongside the pop superstar.
On Friday (Jan. 20), Grande — who will portray Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming live-action film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked — posted a TikTok video of herself singing a gorgeous a cappella version of “Over the Rainbow” from the 1939 musical film. Shortly after, Chenoweth responded with a side-by-side clip of herself harmonizing the beloved tune alongside Grande.
“You know I had to duet this one,” Chenoweth, who originated the role of Glinda in the Broadway musical of Wicked in 2003, wrote in her TikTok video. “Over the [rainbow emoji] with my baby girl.”
The Broadway star added in her caption, “Just two Ozians.”
Grande quickly caught wind of Chenoweth’s flattering post and shared a heartwarming response in her Instagram Story. “oh i am crying,” the 29-year-old pop star wrote. “i love you so much @kchenoweth.”
It’s been more than a year since it was announced in November 2021 that Grande would be playing Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in the long-awaited big-screen adaptation of the prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Chu later revealed that they’d be splitting the project into two films, the first of which is set to arrive in December 2024.
Last March, Chenoweth expressed her approval of Grande’s casting as Glinda in the Wicked movie. “I think that crown and wand are going to the exact correct person,” she said during an appearance on Today. “I think she’s gonna nail it.” Chenoweth added, “Maybe some people do know this about Ari, but she’s really, really funny. And Glinda has to do funny and drama; she has to do it all. And sing high and sing low. So, there’s the girl.”
Watch Chenoweth sing “Over the Rainbow” alongside Grande on TikTok below.
It’s safe to say Diane Keaton is a fan of Miley Cyrus‘ “Flowers.” On Friday (Jan. 20), the actress decided to take herself dancing to the anthem on social media.
“@mileycyrus YOUR INCREDIBLE SONG GAVE ME A REASON TO DANCE IN MY OWN BACKYARD!” the Academy Award winner captioned her Instagram post, which shows her jumping into the grass and getting down as Cyrus’ voice sings, “I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand/ Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand/ I can take myself dancing and I can hold my own hand/ Yeah, I can love me better than you can.”
Of course, in her trademark fashion, Keaton just so happens to be wearing a wide-brimmed bowler hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeved black turtleneck and matching wide-leg pants for her jaunt in the backyard.
The Annie Hall star got plenty of support for her jubilant dance, with Kerry Washington commenting, “SAME!” followed by an appropriately bright string of flower emojis. Thalia also wrote, “You are the best” while Christy Carlson Romano playfully pleaded, “Adopt me,” after seeing Keaton’s moves.
Keaton isn’t the only famous face who’s become an instant Smiler thanks to Cyrus’ latest single. A few days prior, Gloria Gaynor expressed her own appreciation for the song in a separate Instagram post, writing, “Your new song carries the torch of empowerment and encourages everyone to find strength in themselves to persevere and thrive. Well done Miley!” upon hearing the song for the very first time.
Check out Keaton joyfully grooving to Cyrus’ “Flowers” below.
Given the way Shania Twain dominated the stage at the 2022 People’s Choice Awards, delivering a jaw-dropping medley of her biggest hits, you’d never think that she ever struggled with her voice.
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However, in InStyle‘s new February cover story, the beloved country artist revealed that for more than seven years, she was unable to project vocally. Doctors then diagnosed the now 57-year-old with Lyme disease stemming from a 2004 tick bite, leading them to believe that the disease damaged nerves in her vocal cords.
After years of relearning how to sing with physical therapy and vocal warm-ups, the five-time Grammy winner underwent open-throat surgery in 2018. “After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound,” Twain told the publication. “I didn’t know what was going to come out.”
Thankfully, the star worked up the courage to try again. “It did scare me, but I just had to take the leap and make a sound. And I was so excited about what came out,” she recalled. “It was a connection to the vocal cords and it came out very easily. I was really, really, really excited.”
“It’s a reminder, don’t take time for granted,” Twain added of the scary experience. “Don’t take the opportunity for granted. It’s possible I might lose it, that it may not last. I guess any prosthetic or support that you get that is synthetic, your body still may give out around it. It could happen.”
The now-healthy country queen is gearing up to head out on a 2023 global tour in support of her upcoming sixth studio album, Queen of Me, out on Feb. 3. “These days, I’m feeling very comfortable in my own skin – and I think this album reflects that musically,” Twain said via Instagram announcing the news. “Life is short and I want to be uplifted, colorful, unapologetic and empowered. I want to carry a clear message, particularly as a woman, to always remember my power and I hope the songs are a reminder to you, of that same power inside you!”
David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s viral collab-turned-smash “I’m Good (Blue)” ascends to No. 1 on Billboard’s mainstream top 40-based Pop Airplay chart (dated Jan. 28).
The song, on What a DJ/Warner Records, gained by 2% to 15,551 plays on 153 reporting stations, or, an average of 102 plays per panelist, Jan. 13-19, according to Luminate.
All charts dated Jan. 28 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Jan. 24.
Guetta claims his second Pop Airplay No. 1, after “Without You,” featuring Usher. As the song topped the tally dated Dec. 3, 2011, Guetta ends the longest break between leaders since the chart began in 1992: 11 years, one month and three weeks. He surpasses Sean Paul’s 10-year, three-month and one-week gap in 2006-16.
Rexha also achieves her second Pop Airplay No. 1, after “Me, Myself & I,” with G-Eazy, reigned for two weeks in April 2016.
Meanwhile, as “Good” climbs from No. 3 to the Pop Airplay summit, it bests the peak of the song that it prominently interpolates: Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” which reached No. 2 on the list in January 2000.
Guetta and Rexha’s single holds at its No. 4 high on the most recently published all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 21), likewise having topped the No. 6 peak of Eiffel 65’s hit.
“[David] had played [‘I’m Good’] at a festival after we had cut it, and somebody took a YouTube video of it and posted it,” Rexha recently told Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast. “Then somebody found that and made a remix and posted it to TikTok. Then this big gamer posted it from TikTok, and then it blew up from her page.
“It’s crazy, because you just never know what people want,” Rexha added. “Everybody was going crazy and being like, ‘We want this song! Why can’t we find it?’ And I was hitting up David [saying], ‘David, people really want this record! We should just put it out!’ At this point, it’s viral on TikTok, and people are asking for it. Let’s just give the people what they want. It’s just a great, fun record.”
She can buy her own flowers and set her own records! Miley Cyrus broke the Spotify record for the most-streamed song in a single week on Thursday (Jan. 19) thanks to her latest hit “Flowers.”
After the streamer shared the news on its social channels, the superstar took to her own Instagram Stories and Twitter to react. “Thank you so much @Spotify and my amazing fans,” she wrote, using a red heart emoji to communicate her gratitude for all the support the song has received.
So far, the lead single off the upcoming Endless Summer Vacation has bowed at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia and No. 2 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart. The song will make its official mark on the Billboard Hot 100 when the coming week’s charts are unveiled on Monday (Jan. 23), though Billboard readers already voted it as their favorite new release last week.
“Flowers” has also received a resounding stamp of approval from none other than Gloria Gaynor. “I’m in Nashville working on new music and just heard, ‘Flowers,’ for the first time @MileyCyrus,” the disco icon tweeted. “Your new song carries the torch of empowerment and encourages everyone to find strength in themselves to persevere and thrive. Well done Miley!”
In addition to flipping Bruno Mars’ 2014 single “If I Was Your Man” on its head, part of the song’s appeal comes from the litany of potential Easter eggs pointing to its narrative being about Cyrus’ relationship with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, from her choosing to release the track on his 33rd birthday to a reference to the Woolsey Fire that burned down the couple’s Malibu home back in 2019 tucked into the lyrics.
Check out Spotify’s announcement of Miley’s new record and read her sweet reaction:
You might not want to start workshopping ship name combos for Selena Gomez and Drew Taggart (Drewlena? Gogart?) just yet. A couple days after rumors began to swirl that the Only Murders in the Building star was dating the Chainsmokers musician, Gomez took to her Instagram Stories to set the record straight.
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“I LIKE BEING ALONE TOO MUCH,” she wrote Thursday (Jan. 19), according to Entertainment Tonight. “#iamsingle.” The 30-year-old “Rare” singer had written the message over a black and white hilltop nature landscape, though she reportedly deleted the post quickly after uploading it.
Before Gomez shut it down, speculation over her possible courtship with the “Closer” musician had started making rounds a few days prior, when the pair was spotted bowling together in New York City. Photos of the bowling alley hangout were published on Page Six, which reported that the two had been seen “making out” and interacting with fans.
The dating rumors were ill-timed, however, as they surged just days after Taggart and his Chainsmokers bandmate Alex Pall raised eyebrows with a revelation that they had joined in on threesomes together in the early days of their career. “They were never planned,” Pall recalled of those days on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.
“It was also the days when we used to have to share hotel rooms,” he continued. “In Europe they have the two beds, they don’t even split them apart … so it’s almost by force that we were forced into these scenarios.”
Though she may not be dating anyone at the moment, it’s not like Gomez doesn’t have anything going on right now — she’s started working on season three of Only Murders and recently teased that her new album is in the works.
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Trippie Redd drops back in with a surprise, Kali Uchis gives us a kiss-off and The Kid LAROI introduces a new era. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Trippie Redd, Mansion Musik
If the title of Trippie Redd’s new surprise album is familiar, that’s because it’s one letter removed from Chief Keef’s fiercely beloved 2018 mixtape Mansion Musick; Keef serves as the executive producer, as well as something of a spiritual forefather, to Trippie’s latest opus, which boasts 76 minutes of unhinged energy and A-list guest stars. Mansion Musik begins with a zonked-out burst — Future, Lil Baby, Juice WRLD and Keef himself are all featured within the first five songs — never really lets up, with Trippie Redd flexing over distorted guitars, trap beats and anyone who doubts his ferocious power.
Kali Uchis, “I Wish You Roses”
Kali Uchis’ placement on the 2023 Coachella lineup — the third most prominent name on Sunday’s bill, right behind Frank Ocean and Björk — is a subtle indication for the perceived potential of the genre-blending singer-songwriter following a pair of beguiling albums and the viral sensation of “Telepatía.” “I Wish You Roses” delivers on that promise, a swaying, luxurious vocal showcase that acts as a fond farewell to someone circling out of one’s life and another showcase of Uchis’ power as a hook creator; her ability to conjure lush choruses and sing them with verve and tenacity nods to the artist stepping more into the mainstream this year.
The Kid LAROI, “I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)”
“I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)” may represent the soft launch of The Kid LAROI’s return: as the first song released from long-awaited full-length The First Time, its short run time and parenthetical note suggest that “Love Again,” which arrives next week, will more closely resemble a proper single. Yet that doesn’t mean the 95-second track isn’t full of intrigue: although “I Can’t Go Back” features LAROI’s brand of warbled melancholy, the pounding drums and ghostly harmonies hint at an expansion of his sound, which has yielded some major hits thus far but could be ballooning into something on a grander scale.
Måneskin, Rush!
Although Måneskin has taken a highly unorthodox path toward international fame — the Italian rock quartet blew up thanks in part to a years-old cover of a Four Seasons song being scooped up on TikTok and crossing over to streaming platforms — the group isn’t going anywhere now that they’ve arrived. Rush!, their first full-length since their global boom, capitalizes on the brighter spotlight with limitless hooks (some of which are courtesy of Max Martin) and clean, radio-ready guitar hooks; Måneskin is adept at pivoting to the mainstream without shedding any of their ostentatious personality or rock tenacity, which makes the album both a solid introduction as well as a logical next step.
Kim Petras, “Brrr”
Kim Petras is wasting no time harnessing the momentum of “Unholy,” her enormous No. 1 hit with Sam Smith: after ending the year with the single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar,” Petras quickly returns with “Brrr,” a hypnotic hyperpop track that more closely resembles the seductive swirl of “Unholy.” Petras has long been adept at tossing out double entendres and sinking her teeth into synth-pop refrains, but with newfound top 40 juice, a crackling song like “Brrr” could help translate a chart-topping assist into a major solo moment.
Mac DeMarco, Five Easy Hot Dogs
Last year, Mac DeMarco challenged himself to start driving and not return home until he had created a new album. “Maybe it’s the last couple of years, or maybe it’s my age now, but the idea of forgoing any sort of normalcy or comfort and making my entire life, for a segment of time, completely insane feels very inspiring to me,” he explains in a press release. “I stayed out on the road doing this for almost four months.” He came back with Five Easy Hot Dogs, a charming instrumental exercise that plays out in the order of his trip, and feels like a sumptuous conversation with a curious soul who happens to be an acclaimed, still-evolving indie singer-songwriter.
