Pride
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Lizzo is once again using her platform to speak out about important issues. This time, she’s reminding followers not to lose focus when it comes to the numerous political shifts happening all at once in the United States, from the government’s plan to potentially ban TikTok to the resurgence of outdated anti-LGBTQ and Jim Crow era laws.
“Hi!” the 34-year-old musician wrote on her social media platforms Thursday (March 23), going on to list out three concerning developments that are playing out “as we speak.”
“The ceo of tiktok is being interrogated by congress with intent to ban TikTok in America,” she continued. “Anti lgbtqia legislation is being passed banning gender affirming health care & drag shows.”
And finally, “Jim Crow era laws are being reinstated in Mississippi,” referring to a bill passed earlier this month by the state’s House proposing that judges in Hinds County Circuit Court in Jackson be appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice — a conservative white man — rather than the city’s predominantly Black population, who for years have chosen the judges themselves through elections.
The “About Damn Time” singer’s latest tweet came the same day members of Congress grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew for hours about ByteDance, the social media platform’s parent company, and its alleged ties to the Chinese government, which both Democrats and Republicans worry pose a threat to user privacy and national security. The Biden administration has even put forward pending legislation that would give the president the power to ban TikTok nationwide if ByteDance doesn’t divest its stake in the app.
Chew and other spokespeople for the platform, however, have been adamant that ByteDance has never shared, or been asked to share, user data with the Chinese government.
Meanwhile, anti-LGBTQ — specifically, anti-trans and anti-drag — laws have been cropping up across the U.S., most notably in Tennessee. The state’s governor, Bill Lee, recently signed controversial laws banning minors from receiving gender-affirming care and preventing drag queens from performing in certain public spaces, which numerous musicians have publicly denounced.
Lizzo herself spoke about transphobia in a tweet earlier this month, writing, “I’ve never heard a reason why someone is transphobic.. I think if we knew ‘why’ these people felt this way there would way less support for these ideals.” “The ‘why’ is more insidious than we realize,” she’d added.
See Lizzo’s tweet about the TikTok hearing and anti-LGBTQ legislation and the resurgence of Jim Crow laws below:
Hi! As we speak:– the ceo of tiktok is being interrogated by congress with intent to ban TikTok in America – anti lgbtqia legislation is being passed banning gender affirming health care & drag shows– Jim Crow era laws are being reinstated in Mississippi— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) March 23, 2023
Sitting in a studio with Demi Lovato in 2012, songwriter-producer Mitch Allen wanted her to hear something. The rising star was there to record “Two Pieces,” a track to be included her soon-to-be-released album Demi. After hearing her “gigantic vocal” on the emotional pop anthem, Allen pressed play on a demo he’d been workshopping and pitching around called “Heart Attack.”
“She looked me, her eyes lit up, and she just said, ‘Oh my God, I love it. I wanna cut it,’” he recalls in a conversation with Billboard. Looking back on that moment herself, Lovato remembers the same feeling. “I knew I wanted to record it,” she says. “I could hear what I wanted to do with the song — I just loved it.”
10 years after its official release in 2013, “Heart Attack” stands as one of the biggest hits of Lovato’s career (one of the star’s three top 10 solo hits on the Billboard Hot 100) and a well-established fan favorite in their discography. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of her signature, the singer decided it was time to give the song an update.
On Friday (March 24), Lovato unveiled the “rock version” of her hit single, first teased to fans who attended her latest tour dates. Swapping swelling synths for raging guitars and scintillating trap beats with double-time pop-punk drums, the updated anthem keeps the bones of the original while turning up the heat on the aesthetics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP0CB_2QjGo
Oak Felder, a longtime collaborator of Lovato’s and the executive producer of their 2022 rock opus Holy Fvck, struggled with how to approach remake a song that he “loved” already. “No matter what happens to it or how it’s changed, you just can’t get the original version outta your head,” he says. “To be truthful with you, that’s kind of what made it a challenge.”
The sound that Felder couldn’t shake was that of production duo The Suspex, made up of Allen and Jason Evigan. The duo wrote “Heart Attack” with Sean Douglas, Aaron Phillips and Nikki Williams, the latter of whom the song was originally intended for.
From the moment they first produced the demo, Allen says he knew that “Heart Attack” was a left-field pop song for 2013’s radio landscape, especially with its nods towards light rock and EDM sounds. But after hearing Lovato’s earth-shattering vocals, he knew they had to pare it down.
“We had a dubstep drop right after that massive bridge; it went to this crazy Skrillex-esque … I don’t even know what to call it, this dubstep break that Jason just sat down and just went nuts on,” Allen explains. “That was the first part that we ended up having to cut, because we realized as much as we loved the choppiness and aggressiveness, it wasn’t what was on the radio and it wasn’t right for Demi.”
What ended up being right for the singer was ad-libbing — once everyone was in the studio together, Lovato asked Allen if they could improvise a few runs on the song’s bridge. “They were pretty off-the-cuff, they kind of just came to me in the moment. It was a pretty simple and easy thing,” Lovato says, before adding with a laugh, “Well, actually, some of the notes were really hard. I remember kind of struggling to hit a few of those in the studio.”
Whatever struggle Lovato was feeling, Allen says he didn’t notice it. “That very last note [of the bridge] was the highest note I’d ever heard a human being hit with full voice, and she just did it,” Allen says, still amazed. “It was perfect. I’m the kind of producer that will always say, ‘That was awesome. Do it again.’ I don’t think I cut it a second time, I just sat there slack-jawed, staring at her and saying, ‘Oh my God.’”
That bridge went on the not only impress Allen, but fans as well — over the last few years, the bridge to “Heart Attack” has spawned a TikTok challenge where aspiring singers attempt to hit the stratospheric G5 in full voice at the end of the run, to varying effect.
For Lovato, that kind of legacy for the song means a lot to her. “It feels amazing, being able to see the song continue to reach people and inspire people to hit those high notes,” she says. “I used to try and hit those high notes in my favorite songs — it’s really cool that people are starting to do the same with mine.”
With that legacy came a set of unspoken expectations for a new rock version — but Felder says he quickly solved the problem he was facing by listening to “La La Land,” another fan-favorite song from Lovato’s discography.
“I realized Demi, in that era, sounded like a completely different person … Demi’s voice now is a witness and a testament to the things that she’s been through as a person,” he says. “Once you’ve gone to hell and you’ve come back, you really appreciate life … when I hear her sing about things that are emotional or painful or joyful, there is a lot more experience and understanding of those emotions behind the way that she’s singing it now. Once I got there, the production just came right out.”
Lovato agrees with Felder’s assessment, and takes it a step further — it’s not just their voice that has changed in the last 10 years. “I was so young, and I was a completely different person back then,” they explain. “I hadn’t come out as non-binary yet, so when I look back, I see a totally different person than I am today. But I still love that girl, I love that part of me.”
With the added context of all Lovato’s been through over the last few years — a public overdose, stints in and out of rehab, publicly coming out and more — the rock version of “Heart Attack” bears plenty more grit and anger where the original didn’t. When Lovato sings “It’s just not fair, pain’s more trouble than love is worth,” this time, you genuinely believe her.
That added context is everything Allen says they were aiming for when reinventing the song in the studio. “It was about capturing what she feels now,” he says. “I think that’s the magic that comes from a great song, where you get to go, ‘Okay, we did that version. We don’t need to rely on it. How do we feel today, and does it still hold up?’ I think it does.”
From her experience playing the new version of the song live on her Holy Fvck Tour, Lovato knows for a fact that it still holds up. “I saw [my fans] rocking out to it, and it just brought a lot of joy to my heart,” she says. “I wouldn’t have believed that I would be re-recording this song for a 10 year anniversary because it was that special. But being able to see it from that perspective today is really exciting to me.”
Since joining forces in 2011, Queen + Adam Lambert have quickly become one of the most successful touring acts in the world — and now, they’re ready to prove why.
On Friday (March 24), the internationally beloved rock group announced the latest North American expansion of the Rhapsody Tour, set to take place this fall. Kicking off at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena in October, the tour will make 14 stops throughout the U.S. and Canada, including shows in New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville and Dallas, before closing out at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium in November.
For fans who saw the first North American leg of The Rhapsody Tour in 2019, fear not; the new set of dates promises an “expanded and updated” show, with guitarist Sir Brian May adding in a statement, “Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious.”
Billboard caught up with May, Lambert and Roger Taylor ahead of their official announcement, where the trio talked about what fans can expect from the new show, their favorite songs to perform live, and why “this is not a farewell tour,” according to May.
This is the first time in four years that the three of you will be touring the U.S. together, following your European tour last year — how are you feeling ahead of hitting the road this fall?
Brian May: It’s incredible, yeah. I think we all learned in COVID how much we really missed this. It was really tough for everybody. We already did our big outing in Europe, but with a lot of restrictions on that; we had a very strict protocol just to get through, because people were going down like flies. But we managed to get through that whole tour without losing a date, and it was all sold-out, packed, fantastic and better than ever, I think. So we thought, “Well, we just have to get back to the states.”
Outside of those restrictions, were there any significant learning curves you had to navigate in a post-COVID touring environment last year?
Roger Taylor: Not really, no, I think it was a huge relief to just get back to something approaching normality. That made up for the fact that we did have to have a lot of mask-wearing, and we temporarily lost a few people along the way. And it was a long tour wasn’t it?
May: Oh, yeah.
Taylor: We were changing it and improving it as we went, and we are now going through all of those improvements again when it comes to this American leg.
I’ve noticed that the phrase “one more time” has been thrown around quite a bit when it comes to this tour — are you planning on this being Queen + Adam Lambert’s final outing?
May: Let me be clear, this is not a farewell tour. You can always do one more time … and then one more time … and then another time after that!
Adam Lambert: [laughs] Yeah, why limit yourself, guys?
Taylor: It’s just a simple, five year farewell tour, right?
When it comes to the “improvements” you’ve made to the show, what can fans expect to see that’s new with this leg of The Rhapsody Tour?
May: Well, we’re not gonna tell you that much, we don’t want to spoil it. [laughs] But the nice things is that the material is what ultimately gives the ideas, and we’re able to develop those ideas as we go along. We get to throw more and more stuff in, production-wise.
Lambert: I will say, the technology has come so far, even in the 10 years that we’ve worked together. It gives us so much freedom when it comes to what we want to create, what environment we want to put around a song. We have all of these toys that we get to play with, which we all get a big kick out of. We have an amazing creative team that work with us — I mean, we add something in a couple of days if we have a cool idea. Once the show kicks off, the show is never locked. It’s never the same show every night, we have the ability to throw a new song in, move the set around, change the visuals. There’s so much freedom.
That’s really interesting — how exactly do you go about adding new songs or new moments on the fly like that?
Lambert: I’d say a couple of glasses of wine and a chat, yeah?
May: [laughs] I mean, we also always do a soundcheck. The soundcheck is the key thing for us, I think. Every time we go into a new city and set things up, we’ll go into a soundcheck for two or three hours sometimes. When we’re doing that, we’ll try new stuff out, and our team is so flexible with us, that we’ll just throw out, “Can you give us a certain lighting effect, can you do stuff on the screens?” And they’ll build it on the spot for us. We don’t work on backing tracks or anything, which means we can kind of do anything we want. And we’re really fortunate to have a technical team that can handle that — a lot of this stuff is programmed to work at pretty exact intervals, and ours is all human touch, which gives it that live feel.
Lambert: Also, when we add a song sort of impromptu, we don’t like to over-rehearse it. We play it in that soundcheck and maybe one more soundcheck, and then we throw it in. It makes it really fun, like it’s a thrill-seeking activity, where we just go for it and see what happens.
Brian, I wanted to congratulate you on your recent knighting from King Charles III — what was that experience like for you?
May: It was nice! It was a lot more exciting that I thought it would be, really. We’ve interacted with King Charles a lot — he was at Live Aid! We’ve worked with him on the Prince’s Trust, which is a wonderful charity that takes care of young people, over the years. So meeting him and having him actually do that for me, was actually a really big deal for me. We had a pleasant chat about how old age was treating us, because we’re about the same age [laughs]. It’s quite nice, I feel like it’s given me a little bit more power to do the work I do with animals. I view it in that light — not so much as a prize, but as a kind of empowerment.
And Adam, congratulations on your High Drama covers album — were there any big covers you wanted to include that didn’t quite make the cut?
Lambert: There were definitely a couple others I was considering, but it was a very thought-out project, so we weren’t wasting a lot of time or energy in the studio. We did it so quick, probably recorded those over about two months. I’m so happy with it, even though I did not write those songs, it felt like I was getting creative in the studio to find new ways to make them sound. That was such a cool challenge for me.
Queen has one of the most prolific songbooks in modern rock music. Obviously there are the core set of hits that you’re gonna play almost no matter what — do you have any favorites in particular to perform that maybe aren’t as monolithic?
May: You know, there’s some stuff that we know would be very difficult — Roger mentioned “The Millionaire Waltz” once.
Taylor: [laughs] Oh yeah, I don’t know if we could pull that off.
May: But a lot of the stuff we do anyways is fairly complex — the key is you don’t play the record. We really play how we feel on the stage. It’s funny, some people would call that a bluff, but there’s a lot of multi-track guitar harmonies in a lot of our songs, and I don’t do that onstage and I don’t use trickery to achieve it. I play what I’m feeling, and people hear that and get a purely live version of the song. No extra frills, because to me, recording has always been different than performing live.
Taylor: Sometimes, the song gains a whole new dimension of excitement from that. But the live version will not be exactly the same as the record — that’s not what we’re about.
May: Some people will do that — they’ll have clicks and backing tracks and make everything sound perfect, but why do that? Why not do something that’s real and in the moment and ready to fall off the edge?
Lambert: As far as the setlist goes, I think we’re all aware of what the fan favorites are. But the most important thing here is that, sure, we need to have fun, but the audience is buying a ticket to see the show. This is about their evening and giving them a show that feels fresh. We are keenly aware of what the favorites are and we try to include the big hits every night — they have a lot of hits, so it’s a lot to choose from. But it’s a two-plus hour show, so we’ve got plenty of time to get those big hits.
Tickets for The Rhapsody Tour officially go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. local time on LiveNation.com.
Lil Nas X may be known for his no-holds-barred online personality, but even his fans are letting him know to pump the breaks following a recent tweet.
On Wednesday (March 22), Lil Nas tweeted out a simple message to his followers: “where do the gays be in africa,” he wrote. “i wanna come there.”
Fans quickly pointed out that the timing of the rapper’s tweet wasn’t great, especially considering a new law in Uganda punishing homosexuality.
The Ugandan parliament passed a sweeping anti-LGBTQ law on Wednesday, criminalizing “identifying as LGBTQ+, or the so-called promotion of gay identity,” according to a report from NPR. Performing sexual acts with a person of the same sex was already illegal in Uganda, but the new law would punish the mere act of identifying as queer with up to 20 years in prison, or the death penalty in cases of “aggravated homosexuality” — a broad definition that includes “repeat offenders,” having sex with an HIV-positive person and more.
A number of users responded to Lil Nas’ tweet pointing to the new Ugandan law. “The Uganda gays need love and solidarity today,” wrote singer-songwriter Simon Curtis, while another person wrote, “nah bro. stay home, be safe.” Others called out the “Industry Baby” rapper’s statement through quote tweets, with one fan asking that he “read the room,” while another pointed out his “terrible timing.”
The latest backlash comes shortly after Lil Nas X published an apology for another tweet he posted joking that he had transitioned. “apologies to the trans community i def handled that situation with anger instead of considering why it was not cool,” he wrote. “much love to you guys. sorry.”
Check out Lil Nas X’s tweet below:
where do the gays be in africa i wanna come there— pussy (@LilNasX) March 22, 2023
When asked to explain the inspiration behind the title of her latest EP, Jozzy shrugs, saying Songs for Women, Free Game for N—as is exactly as the title suggests; the Memphis native makes music for women, but if men listen they’ll probably learn a thing or two. “When I’m talking to a girl, [men] always stare,” she says. “It’s not a trick to it, it’s not game. It’s just understanding who and what a woman is.”
Released in late February, Songs for Women is Jozzy’s first project since signing to Love Records, the label created by Sean “Diddy” Combs to highlight R&B talent (Roc Nation and Hallwood Media are handling management for the singer.) It’s her biggest release as a singer, following years of success as a songwriter who has worked with artists like Billy Ray Cyrus, Chlöe Bailey, Beyoncé and Timbaland.
Featuring production credits from Diddy, Stevie J and others, the 10-track project is full of adoration and longing for women, from the “Free Game” interlude that features Eartha Kitt’s viral laughter and unflappable response when asked if she’d compromise for a man to “Replay,” the mid-tempo offering about the memories that remain after a relationship has ended. The project isn’t just a debut for Jozzy, though; as the first signee on Love Records, Jozzy’s EP represents a beginning for the label, signaling the type of sound we might come to expect from the Diddy’s latest venture. The mogul pulled no punches when it came to promoting his newest signee, introducing her as the “R&B Biggie” onstage at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards and co-directing her first music video.
Jozzy says she signed with Love Records because Diddy understood and accepted her identity in a way that previous collaborators had not. In the past, she says her appearance and sexuality (“I was gay, I was a masculine woman”) perplexed people who didn’t think she should be making vulnerable R&B music. “When they heard ‘Alone,’ a lot of people were like ‘she doesn’t sound how she looks,” she notes, adding that she wants people to look past their biases and stereotypes to give the music a chance.
Diddy didn’t see those hang-ups, though. “Puff is good at seeing positive and good things in people … Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t the most handsome guy but he saw it in him and then boom, everyone else saw it,” she says. “If Puff says it’s cool, it’s cool,”
“Jozzy is a very special and dynamic talent that only comes around once in a generation, so I’m excited to see how her music sets a new standard for R&B,” Diddy told Billboard in an emailed statement about the singer. “Her skills as a writer and performer, matched with her style and energy has the potential to make her one of the greats and I’m proud to play a part in shaping the next chapter of her career.”
At the foundation of Jozzy’s artistry is her ability to craft songs that capture a distinct feeling or moment and make them feel universal. She’s been doing this for other artists for years, long before she got an opportunity to do so for herself on a big stage. Jozzy co-wrote Billy Ray Cyrus’ verse on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and has multiple credits on Latto’s 777 album, including for the single “It’s Givin.” Recently, she landed songwriting credits on SZA’s no. 1 album SOS for the song “Low” and on Chlöe’s forthcoming solo debut album for the song “Pray It Away.” “I can be anybody as a songwriter,” she says. “Like the song I wrote with Chloe, ‘Pray It Away.’ [I wrote] ‘Fuck n—a, fuck n—a, I just learned to hate from a fuck n—a.’ I would never say that. It’s like being in a movie. I can be any character.”
Last year, just before Beyonce’s Renaissance album was released, she learned the singer had transformed a demo she’d co-written and titled “Right Here, Right Now” into the six-minute disco track “Virgo’s Groove.” “Beyonce turned that s–t into a masterpiece,” Jozzy says, noting the original production sounded like Houston R&B. “We had a great song, but the way she colored it … it’s crazy.”
Jozzy says she now has the management and legal team to help ensure she’s being fairly compensated for her work with other artists, but she still laments the idea that songwriters should be “ghostwriters” or underpaid. “There [are] people trying to fight for us, but we need a union. There are a lot of songwriters that are struggling,” she says, noting she believes they should be paid on the frontend, even if it’s only a couple thousand dollars, in the same way that producers are.
“These songwriters are broke. It’s sick. If you don’t want songwriters, just put the beat on the radio and see how it goes,” she quickly adds. “I tell people I work with, ‘Are you going to be on the right side of history or the wrong side of history? Because I’m telling. I’m calling your name out.’”
Lately, she’s been working hard to save some of her songwriting magic for her own releases, too. While attending the Wireless Festival in London last year, when she got an idea to film the visuals for the reflective single “Alone.” In the video, which was co-directed by Diddy, she wanders the dark streets in Paris ruminating on her desire for companionship. At one point, she performs on a sidewalk with the Eiffel Tower — a singular symbol of Paris that for forty years was the tallest structure in the world — behind her, before being joined by Diddy for his signature dance, the Diddy Bop.
Jozzy says she wanted to use the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of the isolation she was feeling both in the song and in her own personal life at the time. “If you look at the Eiffel Tower, it sits alone. But it’s so beautiful,” she says. “It’s the irony of being in Paris and I was really going through some s–t with a girl. Who wants to be alone in Paris? Shawty was supposed to be out [there] with me.”
The year has certainly started off on a high note, but Jozzy is always looking forward to her next songwriting credit and her next project as an artist. She hopes to release a new project before the end of the year and she’s been working with famed choreographer Laurieann Gibson to prepare for future live performances.
But, for now, she’s just hoping to keep bringing attention to Songs for Women. “I just want to continue to get more ears on it, she says. “Keep getting new fans.”
With states such as Tennessee and Florida taking aim at drag queens through controversial legislation, Trixie Mattel, Bob the Drag Queen and a troupe of other queens and performers are ready to fight back.
This week, Producer Entertainment Group (PEG) announced “Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” a new campaign in partnership with other LGBTQ media organizations (including GLAAD, Q.Digital, Trixie Cosmetics and more) to combat anti-LGBTQ legislation around the country through awareness and fundraising.
Kicking off as an online information campaign, “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” is set to lead up to a livestreamed, one-night-only telethon featuring dozens of artists in a series of live and pre-taped performances. The initiative has confirmed Trixie Mattel, Bob the Drag Queen, Jinkx Monsoon, Katya, Eureka O’Hara, Ginger Minj, Monét X Change, Peppermint and more as performers, with “many more names to be announced,” according to a press release.
Mattel, who recently completed her world tour with Katya, made her feelings about the state of anti-LGBTQ legislation very clear in a statement released with the news. “The only place where men in dresses sexualize children is church,” she wrote.
Bob the Drag Queen, who’s currently preparing to join Madonna on her world tour, added, “The most traumatizing thing about drag isn’t harming kids, it’s getting sent home first on Drag Race … but I can’t relate.”
Jacob Slane, a partner and talent manager with PEG, said in a statement that the organization was “sick” of the continued attacks on the LGBTQ community from state legislatures. “These bans are not just about trans people or drag performers. It is a systematic subjugation of LGBTQ people,” he wrote. “Through the ‘Drag Isn’t Dangerous’ campaign, we want to show that drag performers are not dangerous groomers, sexual deviants, criminals or whatever is the latest evangelical slur du jour. We want to raise awareness and funds to make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ people who are under attack.”
The “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” telethon will take place on Sunday, May 7. For tickets and more information, click here.
Musician Durand Jones is sharing an intimate look at his personal life with a new video for his debut solo single “That Feeling.” The track – off his upcoming LP Wait Til I Get Over – is an ode to Black queer love from the lead singer of Durand Jones and the Indications and marks the first time the singer has openly discussed his sexuality.
“That Feeling” reflects on Jones’ first queer relationship and the mixed feelings he felt about “taboo” love. “I dedicate this one to a cajun dude out near Lafayette, Louisiana. Back in the day, our bond and love for another was so close and intense, that it overwhelmed me,” Jones said in a statement released with the song. “I began to be scared of it and ashamed. I found myself in a flurry trying to find the feelings when I said I would be so many things for him.”
Jones continues, “It’s the first breakup song I’ve ever written, and it’s the first and only love song I’ve written directly to another man. I wanted this song to be a big climatic build of emotions – to capture our frustration, sadness, and nostalgia that comes with the end to any intimate relationship.”
The single is released alongside a music video directed by Will Niava and McCray Sutherlin. Backdropped by scenes of gulf Louisiana wetland, the video follows Jones and a younger version of himself falling in love for the first time. When an older Jones returns to his hometown, he and his former love exchange fleeting glances at a Southern dinner table and tender gazes in a marshy field, capturing the aching yearn of long-lost love.
Jones’ debut solo album Wait Til I Get Over (due out on May 5 via Dead Oceans) serves as a reckoning of Jones’ relationship with his hometown of Hillaryville, La., a town first established as a form of reparations to previously enslaved Black Americans. Check out the official video for Jones’ “That Feeling” above.
Everyone has their celebrity crushes, including celebrities themselves. And when Saweetie revealed who she was crushing, she certainly caught their attention.
In an interview with E! News posted on Monday (March 20), Saweetie revealed that her “celebrity guy crush” was none other than Lil Nas X. She shared that she thought “he is so fine,” and added that “he look better than me … I be like, ‘What is your skin regimen?’”
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It didn’t take long for Lil Nas to hear about Saweetie’s confession. Retweeting a fan account that posted a clip of Saweetie’s response, the “Industry Baby” singer joked that he was ready to switch teams for her. “goodbye lgbt community, we had a great run,” he wrote next to a heart emoji.
The adorable exchange came just a few hours after a dustup of online drama involving the pair, when fans noticed that Saweetie liked a tweet questioning Lil Nas X’s sexuality with a clip from his recent Lollapalooza Chile performance. The “My Type” rapper quickly dispelled rumors that she thought Lil Nas was secretly straight in a tweet of her own, saying, “he was lookin fine af that’s why I liked the video I didn’t see the shadiness …. *unlikes*.”
Lil Nas X also clapped back at the original tweet claiming that he was “not really gay or not really that feminine it’s so forced,” questioning the qualifications of the person making the accusation. “oh no guys it’s the estrogen expert,” he tweeted.
Check out the clip from Saweetie’s interview and Lil Nas X’s response below:
Country, pop and Americana artists congregated at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Monday (March 20) for the benefit concert Love Rising to support the LGBTQIA+ community and to oppose a slate of bills that negatively impact the LGBTQIA+ community and transgender teens.
The arena was packed, as the evening featured a bill featuring Maren Morris, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Jason Isbell, Sheryl Crow, Allison Russell, Yola, Amanda Shires, Yola, Joy Oladokun, Jake Wesley Rogers, Wrabel, Brittany Howard, Fancy Hagood, Autumn Nicholas, Mya Byrne, Julien Baker, Shea Diamond and more. Sibling duo Brothers Osborne, who had been slated to perform during the show, was forced to back out of the performance just prior to the show, as member John Osborne and his wife Lucie were welcoming twins.
The concert also raised awareness and funds to battle a slate of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation — particularly Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1 and House Bill 9/Senate Bill 3, which ban drag shows in the presence of minors, and transgender procedures for minors. On March 2, Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1/HB1 and SB3/HB9; SB3 takes effect April 1 and is already impacting live events and queer artists in the state.
Just days after these legislations were signed, four-time Grammy nominee Russell and radio personality Hunter Kelly (who hosts the LGBTQIA-themed country music show Proud Radio on Apple Music) began working to rally a stellar slate of artists from the Nashville music community and beyond to oppose the legislation.
The evening began with a video featuring cast members of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!, with drag performer Asia O’Hara emceeing the evening.
“Drag is not a crime,” O’Hara said. “We are here tonight to say one thing and one thing only: Enough is enough.”
In addition to the top-shelf lineup of performers on hand, drag artists were featured throughout the evening, including Nashville-based Veronika Electronika, who said, “I think it comes down to our LGBTQIA+ communities are not being afford the same protections as other groups. … If you think this stops with legislation against the trans community and the drag community, wake up!”
The evening featured repeated calls for donations (by texting “Love” to 99126) to the organizations aided by the concert, including Inclusion Tennessee, OUTMemphis, Tennessee Equality Project and the Tennessee Pride Chamber, as well as Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation. (The Looking Out Foundation doubled donations up to $100,000.) Donations can still be made at propeller.la.
Nashville mayor John Cooper surprised the crowd by taking the stage to proclaim March 20 Love Rising Day in Nashville.
“Every person, regardless of who they love, how they dress and how they identify, deserves to be treated with love and respect,” Cooper said. “We will always be a welcoming city. Let me say that again: We will always be a welcoming city. I speak for all of Nashville when I say to all of our LGBTQ+ neighbors, we are glad you are here … we must support one another by speaking up and speaking out against discrimination and hate when we see it, because we are better and stronger together.”
Here, we look at 10 top moments from the evening:
Adeem the Artist
Nonbinary singer-songwriter Adeem the Artist expressed gratitude for the organizers of Love Rising, including Russell (who backed Adeem on banjo), David Macias and Ali Harnell.
“It’s a weird juxtaposition of jubilation and fear … I live in Tennessee a state that wants to criminalize my very identity,” they said before performing “For Judas” from their latest album, White Trash Revelry.
Jake Wesley Rogers
Queer performer Jake Wesley Rogers, whose career launched in Nashville, started off by telling a story of a childhood school memory, prior to launching into the dramatic “Pluto,” including the key line “at the end of the day, you and me are both the same/ We just wanna be loved.”
“A few weeks after our test, our teacher informed us that Pluto was no longer invited. It’s one of my earliest traumas, because if you are an outsider you know how that feels … Tonight, Nashville, we realize that oftentimes our insecurity is our superpower. Take all your fears, worries and let it explode in this arena and let in all the love that you are.”
Sheryl Crow
“This is a statement about what kind of world we want to live in, living our free truth … and that we don’t let politicians inflict their fear story on any of us,” Crow said before launching into her 1996 hit “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”
She later shared how she has to explain to her sons how “some people don’t get to live like they want to because it doesn’t align to someone’s political agenda.” Crow went on to perform “Hard to Make a Stand,” and encouraged those in the audience to register to vote.
Maren Morris
After performing “Crowded Table” alongside Russell, Oladokun, Amanda Shires and more, Morris returned to the stage for a solo performance, recalling how earlier in the day, her young son visited several drag queens in their dressing rooms and delighted in watching as they perfected their hair and makeup for the show.
“Yes, I introduced my son to some drag queens today, so Tennessee, f–king arrest me,” Morris said. She went on to perform “Better Than We Found It” and then welcomed drag performer Alexia Noelle to perform “Meet Me in the Middle.”
Joy Oladokun
Brandishing a guitar emblazoned with “Keep Hope Alive” Joy Oladokun performed the hopeful “Somehow, Things Just Get Better.”
“I never thought there would be a world where I could be out loud about who I love … it’s f–king hard to live here and specifically a country that feels like it’s always attacking who you are. It’s hard not to just hide in the f–king house and I wrote this about the cyclical nature of life and how things turn around hopefully,” Oladokun told the crowd.
Cidny Bullens
While taking the stage to introduce transgender performer Mya Byrne, Bullens took a moment to share a powerful testimony of a life that includes time performing with Elton John and Rod Stewart, singing lead vocals on the Grease soundtrack, and working in Nashville with artists including Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and more. Bullens also spoke of physically transitioning from Cindy Bullens to Cidny Bullens in 2011.
Speaking of the ream of Tennessee legislations, Bullens said, “The state of Tennessee does not support me, or any other LGBTQ, transgender, or non-binary person. They targeted us all, they targeted humanity, they targeted love. This can’t stand because we won’t let it.”
Jason Isbell
“I can’t tell y’all how happy I am to be in this room with so many good people,” he said before launching into his now decade-old song “Cover Me Up.”
“Everybody deserves to be free to love yourself for who you are. You can’t really love someone else until you love who you are, so that should be available to everyone,” he said before welcoming the Rainbow Coalition band, which had been backing the artists all night, back to the stage. He continued with a rendition of Wet Willie’s “Keep on Smilin’,” tweaking a key lyric to say, “The state of Tennessee’s playing games/ And they say that you’re to blame.”
Hozier and Allison Russell
“What an honor it is to be part of this event, and to be part of your beautiful city” the Irish-born Hozier told the crowd while taking the stage. “[Irish political leader] James Connolly once said that no revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression. There are so many elements of queer culture that are no less than revolutionary. In a time of fear-mongering, just standing up for who you are is revolutionary.”
One of the most powerful moments — in an evening filled with powerful moments — came as Hozier was joined by Russell to perform “Nina Cried Power,” with Russell’s fiery belting a perfect match for Hozier’s grainy, fervent voice.
Hayley Williams and Becca Mancari
Williams, known both for her solo work and with Paramore, recounted her family’s move to Nashville when she was 13, and how the community — in particular, the creatives in the LGBTQIA+ community — influenced her music and artistry. She also brought a moment of levity to the show, telling the crowd, “If you’re a drag performer — skilled, talented — I’m sure some of them wake up thinking, ‘Why did I shave my legs for this?’” Williams said, before performing Deana Carter’s 1997 hit “Did I Shave My Legs for This?”
Williams teamed with Becca Mancari for an acoustic rendition of “Inordinary” from Williams’ second solo album, Flowers for Vases/Descansos.
Russell, Ruby Amanfu and Shea Diamond
“Never let them extinguish your fire — we were all born into the same world. Nobody has the right to take your rights,” said singer-songwriter Shea Diamond. “We are so much bigger than the hate they divide us with … Trans is beautiful, and drag queens are saving the world. So in this moment, we can’t allow them to stop everything we’ve built.”
Brandi Carlile and her family, who could not be in attendance, sent in a video tribute and introduced Russell, who welcomed to the stage Ruby Amanfu to join Russell and Diamond. Together, their three illustrious voices elevated “A Beautiful Noise.”
Russell then welcomed her daughter and several friends to join them for “You’re Not Alone,” which Russell originally recorded with Carlile.
“This is circle work that we are engaged in,” Russell said. “Circles are powerful — there is no one above, no one below … every single one of us equal worthy and beautiful. There is nothing we together can’t do when we work together in these magic circles.”
Drag queens and musical theater go together about as well as peanut butter and jelly, a fact that was proven yet again on the latest installment of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
On last week’s episode (aired Friday, March 17), the six remaining contestant got to perform in a fan-favorite challenge: the Rusical! Fighting for parts and learning their songs and choreo, the queens put on a show-stopping performance of Wigloose: The Rusical, telling the story of a small town trying to ban drag —which sounded pretty familiar to the audience at home.
With the judges struggling to find flaws in what was one of the best Rusical performances to date, they ultimately adored Anetra’s hilarious-yet-moving performance as the show’s supportive mother. Meanwhile, the panel split hairs and decided that Loosey LaDuca and Salina EsTitties didn’t wow them as much as the other girls on the runway, landing them both in the bottom.
Performing in a chilling lip-sync to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” both queens did their best to showcase the inherent drama of the song. Ultimately, Loosey’s eerie performance earned her another week in the competition, bringing Salina’s competitive run to a close.
Billboard caught up with Salina following her elimination to talk about surviving three lip-syncs on the show, how timely Wigloose feels today, and the backstage drama that came from RuPaul’s infamous question, “who should go home tonight and why?”
You made it to the top six! How are you feeling about your Drag Race journey?
I feel amazing about it. Being there, it didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal, because I was like, “Yeah, I wanted to get to the top!” But after the fact, looking back, I was like, “Wait … top six out of 16 bitches? That’s great.”
With being in the top six, you also join a handful of Drag Race queens who have survived three or more lip syncs, like Jujubee, Coco Montrese and others. Was that something that you were consciously thinking about in the moment?
I mean, no, because we all know that third Beyoncé lip sync was supposed to be Mistress — we all saw that interview! [laughs] No, no, it’s fine, I got to give an iconic Beyoncé moment, I was fully ready, bitch. The thing with our season is it felt like anyone could have been in the bottom at any point. We’re all so talented and good at this, that if you put any one of the girls there, it would have been a fight regardless. It did feel good winning, obviously. But at the same time, it really felt like anyone could have been in my situation, which made it such a weird experience to live through. To be able to keep going felt amazing.
A lot of the girls were like, “Oh, I’m just here to have fun!” But I think, deep down, we were all really there to try and win and do our best.
Yes, girl, people are trying to win this season.
Oh, we see that with Miss Loosey, don’t we, honey? [laughs]
I’ve also love that you shouting the phrase “Free Willy” when Anetra leapt over Marcia in the episode prior has become a full-blown meme on Twitter.
I was so happy they kept that in. When we were watching that lip-sync, when she leapt over her, it was the most iconic lip sync situation we had seen all season. So the fact that they made me a part of it was just sickening. And Marcia had no clue that happened in the moment! The way everyone was screaming in the room, it was just insane.
Let’s get into this week and the Rusical episode. For the one trillionth time on this show, we get this moment where Loosey and Luxx are fighting over who gets to play the lead. You backed out quickly from that fight — do you think it’s really worth it to fight for the lead role in these challenges?
In a situation like this where you’re really vying for wins and you want to get noticed by the judges, in the lead role, you’re going to get noticed the most. Usually, the conversation quickly steers towards, “Oh, you could really mess up! You could do really bad!” But I think with musicals, and the fact that a lot of us drag queens are theater queens, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to showcase everything we can do — dance, sing, act, lip-sync — all at once. As a theater major myself, I wanted that lead role, too! But, I wasn’t gonna fight over it.
I think everyone was very struck by how unbelievably timely this Rusical was. Having a show about a small town trying to ban drag while that actual real thing is actively happening in Tennessee and on the precipice of happening in other states felt really wild.
It’s literally so insane. It’s fully like that thing with how The Simpsons kept predicting the future — now it’s Drag Race. At the time of filming, which was almost a year or so ago, Ru had just done an interview with Jimmy Fallon, I think, talking about acceptance and drag queen story hour, which was sort of the main issue at the time. But it’s still happening today, and now it’s even crazier. It’s actually wild how relevant it is today, and I’m really grateful that this is all lining up the way that it is, because what a great way to combat this and show that it’s really about love at the end of the day.
How have you been dealing with all of the news coming out of places like Tennessee lately?
It’s crazy. Our good sister Aura lives in Tennessee, and she has been a very vocal advocate, and she’s been using her platform to fight against it. We’ve all kind of been asking her, “What can we do to help?”
It’s interesting, too, now that I’m traveling to these smaller, rural towns where I’m thinking, “Wait … y’all don’t like us.” It’s very scary out here today.
Getting back to the Rusical, the judges weren’t kidding when they said that all of you killed this performance. When you were preparing for Wigloose, could you tell that this one felt like such a strong Rusical challenge?
The music is so good. We could not stop singing “Everybody’s going Wigloose” ever since we left the show. Like, we’ve all been talking about how we genuinely can’t wait for it to go on iTunes so we can actually listen to it. Leland is a literal genius, and he’s fast making all of this stuff while we’re there. It’s insane.
So, yes, we knew we were crushing it. When the critiques happened and there were no bad critiques, it felt correct. Like, “the show was perfect, let’s just read you guys for your looks.” So it was like, “Okay, cool, we did something iconic that’s going to go down in history.”
Speaking of critiques, this week the dreaded question comes up; “Who should go home tonight, and why?” I appreciate that you let the girls who said your name know exactly how you felt about being picked. What’s that experience like, having to answer, and being told that these girls want you gone?
Well, in that moment, I was truly like, “Well, it’s only two people out of five.” I had a feeling in my heart that they didn’t even necessarily believe that was true. Up until this point, I had been in the bottom for two design challenges and the one interview challenge, which no one thought I should have been in the bottom for to begin with. So, Loosey straight up told me, every design challenge, “You shouldn’t have been in the bottom.” So, in the moment, I was like, “If that’s the case, Loosey, your math about why I should go home just doesn’t add up.”
So I thought, “Let’s go out with a bang. If this is my last episode, I’m gonna go down with a fight.” And I was so mad that they weren’t pushing back at me during Untucked! Like, “fight with me, dammit!” And then Anetra comes in with, “Well, RuPaul was asking about who deserved to go,” and I was like, “Shut up, Anetra, I’m not even talking to you, I’m talking to Loosey!” [laughs]
We get to this lip sync — I just want to know what your approach was, knowing you had this chilling, emotional song to perform while wearing giant hot dog fingers?
Girl, it was giving Everything Everywhere All At Once. The whole point of EsTitties is that she’s an actress, she takes these serious beats, but the reality of who she is really is just chaos, insanity and camp. I knew it would look ridiculous, but as long as I played it so serious and heartfelt, it would make it even more hilarious that I had these massive hands.