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A little over a year ago, Ariana Grande made the pop world a little bit lighter with the release of Eternal Sunshine, her seventh studio album. Crafted in the afterglow of her divorce from realtor Dalton Gomez during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes that paused Wicked production, Eternal Sunshine arrived atop the Billboard 200 (her sixth […]
If you already loved K-pop girl group aespa‘s 2024 hit “Whiplash” then you’re in luck, because on Thursday (March 27) they dropped not one, but three new versions of the bouncy pop track. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “We’re so excited to share these new versions of […]
Back in 2017, Selena Gomez was coming off her greatest commercial hot streak, having just released 2015’s Billboard 200-topping Revival — which scored a trio of smash pop singles — and keeping her momentum going with a run of successful collabs. Then, she released “Bad Liar,” the most sophisticated, ambitious and generally surprising single of her career to that point, co-written alongside a pair of hitmakers with whom she had an obvious connection. The song was rapturously received by pop fans and critics alike, but the commercial response to it was distinctly muted — seemingly leaving Gomez unsure of what to do next.
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On this week’s Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard‘s executive director of music, Jason Lipshutz, to talk about one of the most fascinating pop songs of the last decade. We look at why the song worked in so many unlikely ways, why it won over so many listeners who’d previously disregarded Gomez but still couldn’t find its footing at radio or streaming — and whether or not the song, which felt like a major turning point in Selena Gomez’s career upon its release, actually ended up being such a pivotal release for her.
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Along the way, of course, we ask all the important questions about Selena Gomez and “Bad Liar”: Why was lifting the bassline from a 1977 Talking Heads song the key to this 2017 pop single? What made Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter such perfect collaborators for Gomez at this point in her career? Why does she love playing multiple characters in the same project so much? Was there really nothing subtle about the Battle of Troy? Can we hear any of “Bad Liar” in Gomez’s new I Said I Love You First album, recorded with longtime producer (and now-fiancé) Benny Blanco? And perhaps most importantly: Would we still name “Bad Liar” the best song of 2017?
Check out our discussion above, and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights. (Selena would want you to!)
Transgender Law Center
Trans Lifeline
Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe
Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed, and giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.
Kesha finally revealed the title of her upcoming sixth album on Thursday (March 27). It’s ., as in the punctuation mark period. The 11-song collection due out on July 4 that will feature previously released singles “Joyride” and “Delusional” is described in a press release as an “unapologetic, unfiltered declaration of artistic freedom and fearless authenticity.”
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The latest taste of the album dropped on today, with two versions of the whip-cracking country pop hoedown “Yippee-Ki-Yay,” produced by Pink Slip (Ava Max) and Nova Wav (Beyoncé). “B–ch I just got a brand new car/ Hose me down at the trailer park/ We lit up like a bonfire/ Singing ‘Yippee-ki-yay, yippee-ki-ya-ya,” Kesha sings over the loping plucked guitar and hand-clap beat on a solo version of the track.
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The more fleshed-out lead version of the single features T-Pain, who takes the reins on the second verse where he sings, “I just pulled up in a brand new one/ Bartender, pour me up some damn fluid/ I just wanna see a pretty girl dancing to it/ Drinks on me just ’cause I can do it.”
The singer has been teasing the new song for a week, posting cryptic videos in which the upcoming LP’s signature oversized pink period icon is splashed over her face and body. The album was conceived, co-produced and co-written by Kesha and, according to the release, it, “transcends pop norms to create a raw, daring, and intensely personal sonic journey, a defiant act of self-expression that refuses to adhere to expectations or play it safe.”
Period — the follow-up to 2023’s Gag Order — represents a new chapter in Kesha’s career that kicked off last July when she dropped the first two singles under her own label, Kesha Records. The independent label that has global distribution through ADA gives the singer full creative control and ownership of her work after she settled a long-running defamation suit filed by her former label boss, producer Dr. Luke, in 2023; Kesha filed suit against Luke (born Lukasz Gottwald) over allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in 2014, claims he repeatedly denied.
The full track list for . (Period) is: “Freedom,” “Joyride,” “Yippee-Ki-Yay,” “Delusional,” “Red Flag,” “Love Forever,” “The One,” “Boy Crazy,” “Glow,” “Too Hard” and “Cathedral.”
Listen to both versions of “Yippee-Ki-Yay” below.
In between a recent run of pics from the studio, Justin Bieber took some time out on Thursday morning (March 27) to post a few adorable snaps with his and wife Hailey Bieber’s seven-month-old son, Jack Blues. In the first image in the carousel, the back of Bieber’s head obscures the toddler’s face, though Jack’s pudgy hand can be seen grabbing a hold of his dad’s ear.
The subsequent slides include a stack of brightly colored fabric swatches, Hailey rocking a red sweatshirt and matching leggings combo and chatting with two women and another, zoomed-out picture of Jack laying on a towel on the floor — again grabbing the 31-year-old singer’s face — seemingly after bath time.
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Bieber captioned the post “ITS CUZ I AM A MANIAC [freezing face, shrug emoji]… that we dedicated Jack Blues Bieber to Jesus.” To date the couple have not posted any images in which Jack’s face is visible.
It wasn’t all daddy duty, though. A subsequent slide captures a shirtless Bieber working a drum pad in the studio, followed by a grainy close-up of his face, a clearer one in which he is smiling while wearing a fuzzy blue hat and pink sweatshirt and a final, blurry picture of an obscured woman walking in front of a fireplace.
After a period off the radar in 2022 and 2023 while he was dealing with the effects of the Ramsay Hunt syndrome, Bieber has been more visible lately, posting a series of images from the recording studio. U.K. artist Sekou got in the action as well last week when he posted an Instagram Story from a recording session that featured Fred Again.., who co-produced and co-wrote Bieber’s 2019 hit “I Don’t Care” with Ed Sheeran.
Then, on Saturday, Bieber shared an Insta video of a jam session from the studio, captioning the nearly three-minute clip with a reflective comment. “I think I hate myself sometimes when I feel myself start to become inauthentic,” he wrote. “Then I remember we’re all being made to think we’re not enough but I still hate when I change myself to please people.” Among the friends and musicians tagged in the clip were singer-songwriter Jensen McRae, pastor Judah Smith, Josh Mehl, DJ Taylor James, producer Camper, and others.
The recent activity has once again gotten Beliebers excited about the prospect that the singer is getting closer to following up his last full-length project, 2021’s Billboard 200 No. 1 Justice album. At press time Bieber has not confirmed a title or release date for his next LP.
Ed Sheeran had a lot to talk about when he visited The Tonight Show on Wednesday night (March 26). In addition to finally revealing the title of his upcoming album, the singer also described the globe-trotting trip he took to record his new single, “Azizam,” gave host Jimmy Fallon a live demo of his famous loop pedal set-up, talked about his eternal quest to land a song on a Rihanna album and joked about topping his Tartantino-inspired 10-album career arc with a final life-spanning LP called Eject.
Whew.
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Sheeran explained that the title of his new song translates into “my dear” in Farsi, inspired by the song’s Persian producer, Illya Salmanzadeh. “We were creating a lot of music and he suggested we create something within the Persian culture,” said Sheeran, who noted that they’ve done a full version in Farsi as well. The song recently got its live debut at a pop-up show in New Orleans, where Sheeran was joined by the second-line Soul Rebels brass band.
Though the song was originally created within a Persian frame of reference, Sheeran said that growing up hearing a lot of traditional Irish music made him realize the rhythms of the two cultures are very similar, but performed on different instruments. So, when he was in China working with classical musicians there he recorded a version with traditional Chinese musicians, and then did the same with Indian musicians, Irish musicians and bluegrass players in Nashville.
“Music is a universal language, even if it is all in a different language,” Sheeran said.
Sheeran finally confirmed that his upcoming album is called Play and that after his Mathematics album series, which included five studio records — + (2011), x (2014), ÷ (2017), = (2021) and – (2023) — his next run is based on an idea he had when he was 18. Back then, the now-34-year-old singer cooked up a 10-album plan, starting with maths, and followed by Play, Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.
“I’m kind of obsessed with [Quentin] Tartantino and I heard he was doing 10 films and he’s go his side projects… and so I want to do my 10 and do a side project here and there.” When Fallon asked if Sheeran would hang it up after Stop, the singer said he’s also toying with the idea of an album comprised of unreleased songs written throughout his life and then released on the day he dies as Eject.
Sheeran also described how he was inspired by Irish singer/songwriter Gary Dunne as a young teenager and messaged his hero on MySpace to find out how to use a loop pedal. He then took to the Tonight Show stage to demonstrate how he built “Shape of You” piece-by-piece, with Jimmy supplying the high “Oh I, oh I, oh I” backing vocals. He also shared a video from India in which he plays the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song on sitar.
And not for nothing, Sheeran said “Shape of You” was originally written for Rihanna and that every time he cooks up new songs for an album he always works on one on the side that he hopes she will pick. “Rihanna has the best taste out of anyone,” he said, possibly shooting his shot again for the singer’s mythical ninth album, while noting that his Justin Bieber hit “Love Yourself” was originally written for RihRih. “She always picks just really, really great songs.”
Always busy, Sheeran described a pop-up, two-day pub he’s hosting in Ipswich, Massachusetts beginning on Friday (March 28), where fans can gain entry by going on an old cell phone and sending in a video or message that is meaningful. Those messages will then be projected onto the walls of the bar for the filming of a music video. Sheeran, of course, also played the song that inspired the pub, “Old Phone,” for just the second time live to Fallon’s delight.
Fallon and Sheeran also teased the recent taping of one of the host’s signature disguised subway busking bits, noting that Ed did a killer cover of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” for surprised New York commuters.
Watch Sheeran on the Tonight Show below.
When Lady Gaga makes a cameo on your show, you best believe it’s not going to be any ordinary day on set.
According to Jenna Ortega, the producers of Wednesday all but rolled out the red carpet for Mother Monster when she came overseas to film her part on the Netflix series’ upcoming second season — but it was all gone as soon as Gaga’s parts were over.
On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, the 22-year-old actress recalled working with the “Disease” singer, saying, “I remember showing up to set and they completely changed everything.”
“We had a normal functioning set, and I remember pulling up to work the day of, and suddenly there was like truck after truck after truck,” she continued. “They had, like, rolled out this walkway for her to exit from the trailer to the tents. I went to my tent to hang out, and they replaced my dirty tent with, like, brand-new tents. I had a barber’s chair. They gave me fancy water. Everything. We really did it up for her guys. We really wanted to impress her.”
Ortega added while laughing, “And then the next day, I went back to my dusty setup. … I wanted her to be on set even more, but part of it was because the water was really nice.”
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Though season 2 will mark Gaga’s debut on the show, the 14-time Grammy winner first unofficially entered the Wednesday universe when her 2011 track “Bloody Mary” experienced a renaissance after fans started pairing it with Ortega’s iconic dance sequence from the first season. The phenomenon sparked a TikTok dance trend in 2022 that Gaga herself took part in; two years later, it was announced that she’d be joining the show’s cast.
Earlier this month, the Scream star teased the musician’s role in Wednesday, saying, “She’s great in the show, and I don’t think she’s what people expect her to be.”
On Colbert, Ortega added, “She is so sweet, so humble, just a normal person, and it’s beautiful and amazing … It’s intimidating when someone is so talented but cool at the same time.”
Watch Ortega recount her time filming Wednesday with Gaga on The Late Show above.
It’s been a decade since Zayn Malik left One Direction and on Tuesday night (March 25) during the singer’s show in Mexico City he did something he hasn’t done since then: he performed one of the group’s most beloved hits during a solo show. At his gig at Palacio De Los Deportes on the Stairway […]
Lady Gaga announced the dates for her anticipated summer-fall 2025 Mayhem Ball tour in support of her new Mayhem album on Wednesday morning (March 26). “This is my first arena tour since 2018,” said Gaga in a statement. “There’s something electric about a stadium, and I love every moment of those shows. But with The MAYHEM Ball, I wanted to create a different kind of experience — something more intimate — closer, more connected — that lends itself to the live theatrical art I love to create.”
After a run of previously announced shows in April and May, Gaga’s first North American and European tour since her 2022 Chromatica Ball tour will open in the U.S. with a double-down in Las Vegas on July 16 and 18, two shows in Seattle, three nights at Madison Square Garden in New York and two-night runs in Miami, Toronto and Chicago. She will then play a run of arena dates across Europe from Sept. 29 through Nov. 20.
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Tickets for the North American dates will go on sale on March 31, with an artist pre-sale beginning on April 2 at 12 p.m. local time; sign up for that pre-sale here through 8 a.m. ET on Sunday (March 30). The general on-sale will kick off on April 3 at 12 p.m. local time here. There will also be a Citi pre-sale for North America beginning on Monday (March 31) at 12 p.m. local time through April 2 at 11 a.m. local time here. A Verizon pre-sale will begin on April 1 at 12 p.m. local time through April 2 at 11 a.m. local time here.
Tickets for select shows in Europe will go on sale on March 31 with a Mastercard pre-sale for shows in Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Belgium beginning at noon local time through April 2 at 10 p.m. local here. Additional pre-sales will run throughout the week before the general on-sale for all of the European/U.K. dates beginning on April 3 at 12 p.m. local time here.
Mother Monster will gear up for the tour by headlining Coachella next month, followed by a pair of previously announced dates (April 26-27) at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City, and some other already announced spring dates, including a free May 3 show on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and four nights at the National Stadium in Singapore on May 18, 18, 21 and 24.
Check out the dates for the 2025 Mayhem Ball tour below.
July 16 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
July 18 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
August 6 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 7 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 22 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 23 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 26 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 31 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
Sept. 1 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
Sept. 10 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
Sept. 11 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
Sept. 15 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 17 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Sept. 29 – London, UK @ The O2
Sept. 30 – London, UK @ The O2
Oct. 2 – London, UK @ The O2
Oct. 7 – Manchester, UK @ Co-op Live
Oct. 12 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Avicii Arena
Oct. 13 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Avicii Arena
Oct. 19 – Milan, Italy @ Unipol Forum
Oct. 20 – Milan, Italy @ Unipol Forum
Oct. 28 – Barcelona, Spain @ Palau Sant Jordi
Oct. 29 – Barcelona, Spain @ Palau Sant Jordi
Nov. 4 – Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena
Nov. 5 – Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena
Nov. 9 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
Nov. 11 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis Arena
Nov. 13 – Lyon, France @ LDLC Arena
Nov. 14 – Lyon, France @ LDLC Arena
Nov. 17 – Paris, France @ Accor Arena
Nov. 18 – Paris, France @ Accor Arena
Nov. 20 – Paris, France @ Accor Arena
Selena Gomez isn’t afraid to talk about the double standard when it comes to comments about her appearance. On this week’s episode of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, Gomez lamented that she gets “a tad bitter” when people mention her weight, noting that those comments are always aimed at women.
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Appearing with fiancé Benny Blanco — who said he never reads too deeply into what people say about him online because he’d rather “free-fall through life” without knowing what anyone else thinks — Gomez said her take is very different. “I was also going to point out that women have it much worse,” she said. “From my perspective, it’s pretty wild, and I think this isn’t news to anybody, that obviously women have a lot more intense feelings from their appearance to what they are wearing to everything.”
The scrutiny is so intense that Gomez said it gets in her head when she’s getting ready for the red carpet. “When I get prepared for an event, 90 percent of the time I’m just like, ‘I just hope I can take the picture and sit down.’” Gomez said, “It’s the character that gets judged, it’s the way I’m not white enough, I’m not Mexican enough. There’s just so many different things that come up in my face that I can’t help but see. But I fall victim to looking at things, and it really doesn’t add to your life, but it’s just so difficult. From the choices of people you date, it’s like nobody cares about those kind of things with men. They’re just like, ‘yeah, the did that, they said that.’”
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Gomez, 32, said the most frequent unsolicited comments she sees are about her weight, with “everyone” online having “something to say” about it. “My weight’s a big one too,” she said. “It’s really making me sad and — not even sad cause, I’m not a victim, I just think it’s made me a tad bitter, and I feel really guilty for saying that, but it’s true.” In the past, Gomez has shared that the medicine she takes to combat the chronic autoimmune disorder lupus can cause weight fluctuations.
In November, Gomez hit back at negative posts about her posture at a red carpet event promoting her Oscar-nominated film Emilia Perez, after some TikTok users suggested she was trying to hide her body with poses in which her hands were positioned across her stomach. “This makes me sick,” Gomez wrote in the comments of the speculation. “I have SEBO [SIBO] in my small intestine. It flares up. I don’t care that I don’t look like a stick figure. I don’t have that body. End of story. No I am NOT a victim. I’m just human.”
As she’s revealed before, the singer also told Shetty that she takes mental health breaks from being online and “most of the time” she ignores the haters, noting again that she doesn’t have social apps on her phone. “So there are ways to combat it,” she said. “I’m not like, ‘I hate it.’ I understand the power of what social media is, it’s just tricky.”
Watch Blanco and Gomez on the Shetty podcast below.