Pride
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For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard is counting down our staff picks for the top 10 pop stars of 2021 all this week and next. First, a salute to the artist who made the most impressive comeback this year: resurgent (and reinvented) pop star Sam Smith.
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By 2015, Sam Smith’s name was synonymous with global success. The U.K. singer-songwriter achieved hits and acclaim in Britain as early as 2013 — and in 2014, that acclaim built to stateside recognition, after they released a career-defining single in “Stay With Me” and unveiled their debut album In the Lonely Hour. Capping the year off with their first U.S. tour, the star would go on to win four Grammys in ‘15, including a near-sweep the Big Four categories.
While Smith never lost the cultural capital they’d accrued at the outset of their career, the next half-decade saw diminishing returns for the singer. With hits becoming more sporadic and album sales trending in the wrong direction, it seemed as though Sam Smith’s star was dimming.
Yet 2022 proved the opposite — not only is Smith back, but they are reinventing their own fame. With the release of their first Hot 100 No. 1 single – one whichreinvented their tried-and-true sound — and even more new music to come, 2022 may well be as important a year for Smith as their breakthrough year in the mid-‘10s.
Public transformation is perhaps something of a theme for Smith; in 2019, the singer publicly came out as non-binary. Changing their pronouns to “they/them,” Smith quickly captured the attention of the world as the most publicly recognized artist to identify as such.
Their first album after coming out, 2020’s Love Goes, didn’t appear to benefit much from that increased awareness — debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 (compared to No. 2 and No. 1 debuts, respectively, for Lonely Hour and The Thrill of It All) and moving a mere 41,000 equivalent album units in its first week, the project was not the triumph that some had hoped it could be.
By the time 2022 had rolled around, the British singer understood that it was time for a change. In April, they unveiled their single “Love Me More,” a self-love anthem that appeared to safely straddle the two musical worlds that Smith has always inhabited — euphoric dance-pop (as in their breakthrough release “Latch” with Disclosure) and brooding ballads (“Stay With Me, “I’m Not the Only One,” etc). The lyrics and vocals of the single sounded like they could have been deep cuts off of their debut album, with Smith’s signature croon placed front and center. But in the background, a groovier, bass-and-drum-focused production hinted at something more.
Smith made it clear what their intention was when speaking to their fans about the song. In an Instagram post for the video — which celebrates chosen family, as Smith and a group of queer friends go out clubbing in London — Smith said the song marked “the beginning and the end of something.” The rest of their year would prove that sentiment right; gone was “the old Sam Smith,” now replaced by a newer, truer self with more confidence, a keener eye for trends, and the ability to follow-through with major results.
“Love Me More” performed largely the same way that their last few singles had — it reached a peak of No. 73 on the Hot 100 almost three months after its release, while growing a steady Top 40 radio audience, peaking at No. 34 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart. It wasn’t the smash hit success that they may have hoped for, but “Love Me More” managed to put Smith’s name back in the pop conversation.
Speaking to Billboard for our August cover story, Smith revealed that the slow-burn, transitional appeal of “Love Me More” was, in fact, the point. “People sometimes come out the gate in such a big way,” they said, revealing that their fourth studio album was on its way. “This album, for me, is the best album I’ve ever made, and it’s the most excited I’ve ever been about [my work]. So, I really wanted to start things off in a kind way, because there’s some big messages on the record.”
Smith would go on to reveal that they had gotten involved on the production side of their new album, working with a team of producers to tweak their sound to create what they would go on to call their “first non-heartbreak album.” The defining theme of their upcoming work, they said, was “me doing exactly what I want to do,” and having a ball while doing it. “I think joy for me, and for a lot of queer people, is quite a dangerous place. We’re all masters of pain, and I think it’s actually a very courageous act to step into the queer joy of it all.”
It didn’t take long for them to follow through on their promise of “queer joy.” In a TikTok post midway through August, Smith showed themself in the studio with rising pop singer Kim Petras, playing a snippet of something new; a clanking industrial beat punctuated their voice as they wailed, “Mummy don’t know Daddy’s getting hot/ At the body shop/ Doin’ something unholy.”
For the first time in their career, Sam Smith went viral. In a matter of days, the chorus of their single “Unholy” was circulating TikTok, as users soundtracked their videos of everything from glow-ups to cosplay to thirst traps with it. In the four months since it was first shared, the sound has been used over 500,000 times.
“Unholy” naturally caught fans off guard — while dabbling in dance-pop was not necessarily new for Smith, the implicit eroticism of the lyrics signaled a complete tonal shift from the superstar. The innuendo and subtlety of past dance-adjacent hits like “Dancing With A Stranger” or “How Do You Sleep?” were gone, replaced by brazen sexuality and unbridled confidence.
Enjoying more buzz than they had ever experienced around an unreleased track, Smith finally unveiled “Unholy” in its entirety in September, complete with a gloriously queer, cabaret-inspired music video. The result of reinventing their image and sound was suddenly clear as day — “Unholy” debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100, eventually overtaking Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” for the No. 1 position on the chart dated Oct. 29. The song even earned Smith their first Grammy nomination since their big night in 2015, for best pop duo/group performance.
Not only was this moment monumental for both Smith and Petras’ personally — the song marked both artists’ first No. 1 single — but it demonstrated a key milestone for queer performers; “Unholy” was the first song by publicly transgender or non-binary solo artists to go No. 1.
Breaking that record with “Unholy” also meant more than personal victory for Smith; by having the biggest hit of their career release after they’d been publicly out as non-binary for over three years, Smith effectively dispelled any dormant ideas of the “marketability” of queerness from label boardrooms of ages past. The song definitively proved that audiences aren’t turning away from LGBTQ art – if anything, they’re interested in hearing from voices that have often been left out of our pop milieu.
With a sudden burst of career momentum from a surprise smash-hit, Smith finally announced their new album Gloria in mid-October. Citing “emotional, sexual and spiritual liberation” as the album’s primary inspiration, Smith set a Jan. 27 release date for the LP. The project has already garnered plenty of attention, thanks in large part to Smith capitalizing on the viral success of “Unholy” by sharing short teasers of songs off the project in a series of TikTok clips.
It’s no small feat to become a near-overnight success at the outset of your music career; to replicate that success nearly a decade after your debut is practically unheard of. Yet Sam Smith proved that they are more than just the heartbroken balladeer persona that was pushed onto them after smash hits like “Stay With Me.” They are a preeminent voice of pop stardom, one who isn’t going anywhere any time soon
Omar Apollo — who kicked off his career in 2017 when he borrowed money from a friend to upload his first song to Spotify, the heartfelt “Ugotme” — went from working at McDonald’s and Guitar Center to becoming a Grammy nominee for best new artist at the upcoming Feb. 5 ceremony.
He’s one of the industry’s most exciting names thanks to his unique musical shapeshifting, effortlessly moving between viral tracks that drip with soul and R&B to overtly pop jams to alternative rock, reaching a crescendo with the release of debut album Ivory in April. Along the way, a generation of fans readily see themselves in Apollo, from his proud Mexican heritage to his authentic openness about his sexuality.
Hot off his nationwide Prototype tour, Apollo spoke candidly to Billboard about the evolution of his sexuality (including his trials and tribulations and that recent viral tweet), as well as his close relationship to his Mexican culture and the new video for his Hot 100 hit “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All).”’
Congratulations on being a best new artist Grammy nominee! What does that mean to you?
It’s such an honor to even be nominated. I mean that’s insane. I was definitely very, very excited. I called my parents and told them the news, and so many friends reached out. It was a crazy feeling.
Where were you that morning? Did you watch the announcement?
I was watching it in my hotel room in Atlanta. Me and my team were watching it. My manager tackled me, and I fell on the bed. Everyone was “Ahh!!” They were recording it, it was so funny. And then I really had to use the bathroom, so I kicked everyone out and called my dad. He was so excited; he had a little cook hat on. He was so excited, just saying congratulations and he started to say, “You’ve been working so hard.” Dad stuff. And then I called my mom and she was super excited, and we started talking about what we’re going to wear.
How did your tour go? You played the biggest rooms during the biggest run of your career so far, but I know you had to cancel a date because it was taxing on your voice.
Yeah, totally. Oh my gosh, that’s the biggest stress, your voice. I have a lot of things I do on the road to be able to take care of it, but I’m going to have to go harder on this next tour to really, like, have a regimen. Your voice is these two little vocal folds in the back of your throat that are so, so, so sensitive and delicate, and touring is so not delicate. And, you just have to be able (to get through it). Right down to the food you eat.
As anyone who’s seen your tour can attest, you really don’t encompass one genre. There’s R&B-forward songs like “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All),” but you also have more alt rock, hip-hop, pop and you even threw in some traditional Mexican songs. Was it a conscious decision to have a discography that zig-zags through genres, or just the general evolution of your music?
I grew up on soul and R&B and that’s where my soul and heart is. I also just have a general interest in music itself. I can’t help but attempt to try out all of these different styles. I grew up rapping and I did that before I started singing. That turned into writing and all that. Honestly, it’s a discovery. There was a point in time I was putting things out because they felt good.
The traditional Mexican songs have become a highlight of your show. What made you incorporate them into the tour in the first place? You performed them when you were a kid, right?
Yeah, so I was in Ballet Folklórico, which was like a Mexican folk ballet. So I wasn’t singing; I was dancing to very similar music when I was in third grade or something like that. So it’s always been a part of my life and I grew up watching videos of Folklórico and stuff like that, so I was like, this feels genuine to me, this feels like something I want to do at my shows. I just had to try it. It turned into being this moment in the show where I would amplify (the culture).
An artist like Selena grew up in Texas and (at least at first) didn’t speak Spanish, but her heritage was important to her and it seemed like she represented the Latin community in the States. Meanwhile, you’re from Indiana and tapping a similar fanbase. What does it feel like to juggle that part of your heritage, and do you feel a responsibility?
I was born and raised in Indiana; my parents came from Mexico with the intention of having a better life here. Some things my parents would always tell me were to not forget where I came from, so the family and our traditions and the culture has always been super important. It’s its own culture, because it’s mixed with this American culture. To have this visibility…. A lot of the people who come to the show are all Latin. It’s great because that’s something I wanted growing up. An artist who represented my people, who looked like me and could actually have my story of how my parents came here and their kids could be successful. There are so many different ways success can be. It’s just wonderful to know that my parents’ intentions were pure, true and I was able to change my family’s life forever.
Speaking of Hispanic culture, I want to talk about your partnership with Buchanan’s Whisky, which you always post about on social media. It’s a brand that is popular with the Latin community, and I know it’s one that’s close to your family.
Yeah, well I only really like to partner with brands that are authentic to me and my family, my uncles, my friends all drink it. So it’s been a brand I’ve already been connected with and I really love how they celebrate the Mexican culture. When they asked me to support 200 Percenters, which is 100 percent Hispanic and 100 percent American [their 200% Futuro Fund which raises money for Hispanic and Latin organizations], it just felt like a no-brainer. Honestly, it was great to tour with them. They joined a few of the dates and had some stands for drinks, so I’m excited for everything that’s to come with them.
What does your family think? For the Buchanan’s drinkers this must be a dream. Free Buchanan’s for life!
Yeah, totally! They just sent my dad a bottle; he was so excited. I was with him when he received it. He tells everyone.
Your queerness is also a major part of your identity. I wanted to ask you about your viral tweet in which someone accused you of queerbaiting and you had a NSFW response and you clarified, in an NSFW way, “No, I’m actually gay. This isn’t just some marketing thing.” What made you tweet that?
I’m gonna be honest with you man, that tweet had zero thought. I saw the tweet and thought, this is actually comical because it’s so untrue. So opposed to being defensive, I just thought of something…. Twitter is literally a place where I have so many tweets like that. It’s kind of funny that it keeps being brought up because it was my little vulgar moment! (Laughs) What did Jay-Z say? “What you eat don’t make me sh-t.”
I think the shocking thing is not that you tweeted it, but the fact that it wasn’t too long ago that an artist would hide the fact they were gay as much as they could. But there you are being 100 percent honest, essentially saying: “I’m gay, this is what gay people do, what are you gonna do about it?” The gay community reacted to that like, “Yes!”
I’m totally aware of the privilege we have now to be ourselves and still have a career. Honestly it had a lot to do with me growing up in Indiana which is very conservative. Everyone is always tiptoeing around it. As opposed to trying to defend myself, I embraced the sexual aspect of it. I don’t normally think when I go on Twitter, it’s reactions. Everything on there is just a bunch of reactions. But people thought I was queerbaiting before (early in my career). I wasn’t super open about my sexuality, but people were hearing things. In Indiana people were saying “He’s not even gay, he’s just doing that to be artist-y.” I always thought it was funny because the reality of my life is not that; it’s not a choice, it’s just what I am. You have to laugh at things like that. I didn’t think I was going to get this far in-depth talking about that tweet.
I remember my first time writing about being gay in a public forum; it was a milestone for me considering it was something that was so personal. Do you remember your first time incorporating it into your music?
Yeah… I don’t know if I ever said this, but I put out music when I was 18 and it was a song called “Beauty Boy.” That was the first time I ever said anything about it. I made it subtle. I didn’t say, “This is my gay song!” I just kind of put it out. I was feeling confident; my friends knew, I told them and they were like, “Do it.” In my town it started to get a lot of criticism and it got back to my family. I started getting really discouraged because the way it was received didn’t make me feel good…. It’s still kind of tough to talk about it. So (after that) I stopped putting pronouns in my music for a couple years, I think. But then I just realized, I can’t let other people’s opinions influence my life. I can’t let them dictate my life. That’s silly. I grew up very religious, so I was dealing with that too. Eventually, I put out a song called “Stayback” and the video had…. homosexual undertones. I remember being terrified. It was really hard for me. I almost didn’t put it out, but luckily my friends were very supportive. It wasn’t that I wasn’t out; I had been out for years. But when you come from this very conservative, Catholic upbringing… I experienced a lot. There’s a lot of things people don’t know about. Those things just stay with me. To be able to go and talk and be myself is a blessing. I’m very fortunate and I don’t take it for granted.
It’s a personal evolution for everyone, but for you your personal evolution has doubled as an artistic evolution through dealing with that. But culture is a mirror held up to society, and you’re giving other people who have gone through those same experiences a voice.
I mean, that sort of thing makes me really happy. It feels like that was, like, robbed from me. I didn’t get to experience this open, high school love. That was type of thing that I had to experience later in life. I had to develop it later. So yeah, it’s a lot.
In The Velvet Rage it says if you’re gay, even if you experienced dating with a member of the opposite sex, you inevitably have to do it all again at some point with a member of the same sex.
The Velvet Rage! That’s a good book.
Tell me about the video for “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All),” which just came out and has so far collected over six million views on YouTube. You’re insulated in this room and then there’s a collapse. What was your thinking behind its concept?
Honestly, I hate explaining things just because it kind of puts it in a box. Literally, in the video it was a box I built (laughs). But I was working with these directors, rubberband [jason sondock and simon davis]. Super talented producer and cinematographer. Everything couldn’t have gone better and it was a great day. The video was made to amplify what is being said in the song. I always had a tough time with videos, things like trying to work in a love interest. But the directors were so talented and they thought everything through. We worked really hard on the edit and coloring and tried to get to feel how I wanted it to. It was perfectly executed. I love it.
With just a few weeks left in 2022, make sure you’re spending them well with some new jams from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of First Out, our weekly roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
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From Troye Sivan’s new team-up with PNAU to Saucy Santana’s latest club-ready banger, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
PNAU & Troye Sivan, “You Know What I Need”
After their breakthrough team-up with Dua Lipa and Elton John on “Cold Heart,” Australian trio PNAU were looking for their next big collaboration — and they found fellow down-under indie-pop jammer Troye Sivan. The new track “You Know What I Need” proves what a match made in heaven the two artists are; PNAU’s slinky disco-meets-dance-pop production elevates Sivan’s crisp tenor vocals for this feel-good anthem. By the time you reach the euphoric chorus, where the Sivan’s voice blasts into an otherworldly falsetto, you’ll have already added this to your favorite playlist for future spins.
Saucy Santana, “Bop Bop”
With year-end celebrations set to start any day now, rising rapper Saucy Santana just delivered the perfect turn-up banger. “Bop Bop,” much like the other romps in Santana’s ouevre, is nothing but pure fun bottled into two and a half minutes. The infectious beat shoots the song forward on all cylinders, while the rapper’s impeccable — and often hilarious — turns of phrase keep you guessing about what’s coming next. As Saucy eloquently puts it, he’s got “the sauce and the boys, McLovin’.”
Joy Oladokun, “Power”
It’s not hard to see why Joy Oladokun is quickly becoming the industry go-to for uplifting ballads. Take one listen to “Power,” her new song for the Al Sharpton documentary Loudmouth, and you’ll hear what everyone else does — a singer-songwriter with a pen so sharp it could cut through glass, and a profound voice that refuses to be quieted. More than perhaps any other song that Oladokun has written, “Power” refuses to lean all the way into despair or hope, because it knows that a healthy balance of both will only give that much more weight to its impactful message of perseverance.
Carlie Hanson, “Pretender”
Carlie Hanson has never shied away from the uglier side of self-talk. “Pretender,” though, is the singer at her most uneasy. With a very simple acoustic guitar and drum combo, Hanson lets her raw vocals do most of the heavy lifting on a self-effacing single about the disconnect between expectations and reality. Her words become hard to hear sometimes, only buffeted by the passion and verve being poured into the lyrics by an emotionally exposed Hanson.
Abisha, “I Think I Love You”
Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned love song? Abisha’s “I Think I Love You” takes after a long line of dance anthems extolling the virtues of romance, as she employs some house and EDM production staples to amplify the flirtatious, adorable lyrics. Add onto that the overt queer themes explored throughout the track, and “I Think I Love You” quietly becomes an LGBTQ anthem of empowerment and love.
Some people like to create lists of “freebies” with their significant others, determining which celebrities they’d be permitted to take a pass at from their partner. Now, we know who would make K-pop star Holland‘s list.
In a short video clip posted to his Twitter in which he tagged Lil Nas X, Holland revealed that he recently metthe two-time Grammy winner for the first time. After asking the interviewer to “just cut” the next part, the star went on to say that he had an idea for how he wanted that meeting to go. “I really wanted to have sex with him,” he said, giggling. “I said ‘hello,’ but he was so busy.”
According to the K-pop crooner, the “Old Town Road” singer did at least say “hi” and offer a quick compliment to Holland, who says he attempted to keep the conversation going. “Lil Nas X told me I have a good hairstyle,” he said. “I told him, ‘Give me a kiss’ or something like that. ‘Please kiss me!’ But, no …”
Billboard has reached out to Lil Nas X for comment.
The openly gay K-pop star made headlines earlier this year after he opened up online about being attacked in Seoul’s Itaewon area in what he described as a “hate crime” after being called a “dirty gay” by his assailant. In an interview with Billboard, the singer said he shared his story because “I want people to recognize the pain as well as the courage that’s allowing me to share my story. I want those who are feeling lonely to be comforted, but I also want people who take things for granted and live without the fear of being attacked to be shocked because these crimes do exist.”
Check out Holland’s recap of his exchange with Lil Nas X below:
After a whirlwind couple of weeks, Elton John is taking a moment to give thanks and get a conversation started.
In a new interview with E! News, the “Rocket Man” singer commemorated World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) by looking at the road ahead in HIV/AIDS research. “We need to keep up the energy, momentum and conversation around HIV so it doesn’t feel like something in the past,” he said. “At the Elton John AIDS Foundation, we’re committed to advocating with local partners and governments and big campaigns to draw attention and end AIDS by 2030.”
John founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 as a means of funding medical research into eradicating HIV and AIDS. In the 30 years since, the organization has grown to become one of the largest independent AIDS charity organizations in the world.
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“It’s astounding to remember that the Foundation I started at my kitchen table in Atlanta 30 years ago is now an internationally recognized organization for HIV care and prevention,” Elton said. “To witness and be a part of the growth of the Foundation has been one of the greatest joys of my life.”
In honor of World AIDS Day, luxury fashion brand Saks Fifth Avenue announced their new partnership with John’s foundations. Along with producing live events and a merchandise collection for the new venture, Saks also donated $1 million to the Rocket Fund, one of the foundation’s campaigns to spread resources and awareness around the globe. “This campaign will expand and mobilize our mission for the rights and health of everyone, everywhere, and bring us closer to ending the AIDS epidemic and the stigma associated with it,” John said.
The news comes just weeks after John’s final U.S. show, which was streamed live on Disney+. During his “farewell” performance, John featured special guests like Brandi Carlile, Dua Lipa and Kiki Dee, before thanking his American fans for their constant support throughout his five-decade career. “I want to thank you because you made me,” he said. “Without America, I wouldn’t be here. So, thank you for all the years of love and generosity and loyalty.”
Check out John’s full interview with E! News here.
When you’re nervous about saying something in public, the most common piece of advice is to imagine your audience in their underwear. Well, Sam Smith has something very public to say — and they just decided to flip that advice around.
In a new clip posted across their social media accounts on Wednesday (Nov. 30), Smith teased one of the songs off of their new album, titled “I’m Not Here To Make Friends.” In the video clip, Smith is seen looking over a tall balcony, wrapped in a pashmina. As they begin to mouth along with the words, the camera pans down to reveal they’re wearing very little else; a pair of briefs and fishnets barely cover a dancing Betty Boop tattoo on the star’s thigh as they groove along to the track.
The song clip itself offers yet another new sound for Smith as they venture into disco — a four on the floor beat pairs with a grooving baseline as Smith croons about what they’re ready to offer a lover. “I could ease your appetite/ No you’ve never been this high,” they sing. “Don’t be scared if you like it/ ‘Cause I’m not here to make friends.”
The new teaser comes as Smith continues to ride the high of “Unholy” — the Kim Petras collab spent its ninth week on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 3, as well as a seventh week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S this week. Both “Unholy” and “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” are set to appear on Smith’s fourth studio album Gloria, which is due out Jan. 27 via Capitol Records.
Check out Smith’s full song teaser below.
Grammy-nominated R&B star Omar Apollo isn’t trying to hide anything, despite what one Twitter user may have thought.
In a tweet posted on Monday (Nov. 28), Apollo responded to a fan who questioned whether or not the singer was “queerbaiting” his fans. “no i b sucking d–k fr” the singer wrote in his NSFW response, immediately following the tweet by saying “from the back.”
The original tweet focused on whether or not Apollo was “queerbaiting” his fans by wearing certain kinds of clothes, with the user wondering if the “Evergreen” singer was “like those type ‘i don’t label myself let me wear cropped and paint my nails and i say i find another guy hot’ … i like his song but i don’t like supporting straight men doing queerbating [sic].”
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Many of the star’s fans, though, were quick to point out that the term “queerbaiting” doesn’t apply to real people navigating their sexuality in public, but was instead created to discuss the marketing of fictional characters in television and film. “A reminder that queerbaiting refers to fiction where writers hint at a queer relationship without ever making it explicit in order to appeal to queer audiences without alienating straight ones,” one user wrote. “Real people do not queerbait themselves. Stop demanding that people out themselves.”
Apollo recently earned his very first Grammy nomination for best new artist. The “Tamagotchi” singer is up against other fast-rising stars such as Latto, Anitta, Maneskin, Wet Leg and more.
Check out Apollo’s hilarious clapback to the speculation below:
P!nk is letting her opinions regarding Evangelical Christians’ response — or rather, the lack thereof — to the recent shooting at Colorado’s gay Club Q be known. On Sunday (Nov. 27), the “Never Gonna Not Dance Again” singer reshared a TikTok video that her pal Leslie Jones posted to Twitter. In the clip, Pastor Bob Lerien of the Redeemer Lutheran Church (in Lancaster, Penn.) condemned people of the cloth who have been silent on the tragedy.
“It’s time to be very clear about something. All of you Evangelical and fundamentalist clergy who claim to be pastors and shepherds of God’s flock who step into your pulpits and preach hate and bigotry and transphobia and homophobia, you are blasphemers and you are false prophets,” Lerien started. “If you are proclaiming anything but the acceptance and love of God’s beautiful and beloved LGBTQIA+ children, you are blaspheming against the image of God in which they were created, and you will be judged for the blood on your hands because you are enabling the hate the kills God’s beautiful children.”
The pastor continued, “For all you Evangelical and fundamentalist lay people who fill the pews and offering plates in those churches, you have blood on your hands because your offerings are financing the hate. Your offerings are paying to stoke the fires that lead to people commuting these despicable acts of violence against the innocent. And for all my fellow mainline protestant progressive Christian clergy and especially bishops and other judicatory executives who are not speaking out – how dare you. If you are not condemning homophobia and transphobia explicitly from your pulpit, then you are enabling it implicitly in the streets. If you are not condemning it, you are complicit in it. Your silence is violence and the time for neutrality is long over, so suit up and speak up or sit down and shut up.”
In response to the video, P!nk wrote a simple “Thank you” to the pastor for getting his point across. The singer’s tweet makes her one of many celebrities who have spoken up about the Colorado Springs gay club shooting in which five people were killed and at least 18 injured; musicians who have expressed their anger and condolences include Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Hayley Kiyoko and more.
See P!nk’s tweet below.
JoJo Siwa reflected on her friendship with Elton John while attending the singer’s final U.S. tour date in Los Angeles on Sunday.
“I remember the first time I ever got to meet Elton was backstage at one of his concerts and I got to talk to him for 45 minutes,” she told E! News at L.A.’s famed Dodger Stadium. “I was only 15 and that conversation changed my life forever.”
Almost half a decade later, the 19-year-old got the surprise of a lifetime when Sir Elton called her after she publicly came out, saying, “”Hello JoJo, darling. This is Elton.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, get the camera out. It’s Elton John.’
“To see the way that the world accepted Elton John for who he was, Freddie Mercury for who he was,” Siwa continued, “All of those people who came before me in the gay community made me feel like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be OK. Those people are who they are, people know them and people love them.’”
Siwa hit the red carpet wearing a re-creation of the Rocket Man’s famous orange plumed costume with devil horns, and she wasn’t the only star who made an appearance during Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodgers Stadium, which streamed live on Disney+. Dua Lipa joined John for their 2021 Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” while Kiki Dee was on hand for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and Brandi Carlile duetted with her pal on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”
Picking up her phone on a Friday afternoon, Brandi Carlile sounds about as genuine as she ever has when she politely says, “I’m doing really well.”
“Doing well” is likely an understatement — when Billboard chats with the “Right on Time” singer, she is two days away from performing with her “greatest hero of all time” Elton John for his farewell U.S. show at Dodger Stadium. “I feel I am being given one of the greatest gifts of my life by getting to do that,” she says, exasperated. “He gave me an unspeakable honor of getting to sing with him … I will never forget it.”
She’s also coming off of a personal career-high; last week, Carlile earned seven Grammy nominations, tying pop diva Adele for the third-most nominations of the year. Earning more nominations than she ever has in a single year, including in the record and album of the year categories, the Americana categories and her first-ever rock nominations, Carlile sums up her experience with a simple thought: “It is … crazy. Like, really crazy.”
Carlile spoke with Billboard about her record-setting nominations, the importance of community in the Americana genre, and why she’s working on “bridging that gap” between younger generations and sometimes underappreciated musical icons like Joni Mitchell and Tanya Tucker.
Let’s go ahead and jump in — congratulations on seven Grammy nominations! How does it feel knowing you’re tied with Adele for the third-most nominations of anyone?
It’s extremely life-affirming, and it does a lot more for me than I even want it to, if that makes sense? There is an emotional validation that comes with that, where I feel like I shouldn’t be putting that much credence in accolades like that. But it just feels really really nice, and I’ve been having a very lovely past few days because of it.
The part that I kind of am annoyed with myself about is how nervous I got the night before the nominations. I was thinking about it and stressing about it, and at some point, I was like, “B–ch, you are in your 40’s. Calm down. This doesn’t make or break you.” I didn’t wanna care, but I really did!
It must feel amazing, especially because this is the most nominations you’ve received in a single year, and it’s all for your solo work on In These Silent Days.
Yeah, it is incredibly affirming for the record — and for my band, and for Shooter [Jennings] and Dave [Cobb] who produced the record with me. It was really fun when they were announcing all of the album of the year nominees, and we only took up like three lines of the screen — there’s so few of us, we’re such a little engine that could! I was really proud of that! I just remember every step of the way to this place, and I have enjoyed it the whole time.
This year also marks your return to the Americana categories after a brief foray into the pop categories last year with your best pop solo performance nomination for “Right on Time.” I know you’ve spoken about your displeasure at being excluded from Americana; why is that genre representation so important for you?
God, this is gonna sound so f–king Pollyanna. But for me, it’s about community — it’s where you build your house, it’s where you work and cultivate your friends, you collaborate with each other, you sacrifice for each other, you love each other’s victories. After a point, you kind of earn the right to say, “This is my home, these are my people, I belong here,” even if you use an electric guitar on a song or two.
It’s just a home base thing, for me — I’ve built my whole life within this community, including my family and my kids. We’re just rooted in our Americana people. And what Americana really is is a rejection of some of the exclusive tenets of country music — I mean that politically, I mean that sonically. In terms of diversity, Americana is where you’re gonna see it the most.
It’s interesting, because along with going back to Americana, these are also your first-ever rock nominations, for “Broken Horses” — I imagine that would feel like a better label than pop for your music.
Yeah, I feel like there’s a very clear bridge between these two genres that we are crossing constantly. Our heroes have done it, too — we’ve got someone like Elton John doing Tumbleweed Connection; Lucinda Williams doing Car Wheels On A Gravel Road; Dave Grohl showing up in Americana collaborations; even just the overarching concept of Tom Petty as a bridge between rock and Americana. I always say that Americana is a community and an idea, but T-Bone Burnett told me when I was in my early 20’s, “If anybody ever asks you what kind of music you play, immediately say rock n’ roll.” Because he was saying that rock n’ roll is all encompassing, and that it isn’t a genre, it’s a risk you take.
Outside of the Grammys, you have so much going on — your Tanya Tucker documentary came out last month, and you recently announced that Joni Mitchell will be performing with you at the Gorge next summer. You have a unique ability to bridge generational gaps between younger fans and these incredible legends; why prioritize that in your career?
That’s interesting — it sort of leans into my major ideals of feminism and ageism and the way that we get pushed out of our chosen field at a certain age, particularly women and not nearly as often men. So I find so much value and wisdom and character and audacity in these incredible voices. Like, Joni Mitchell’s voice no longer being that high soprano, and now existing in this sort of baritone space, or Tanya Tucker having the most rugged cowboy voice in country music; these are people who are seen for their “peak moments” that came to them much younger than it would have for men.
So, I see so much value in bridging that gap between the older generation of way-pavers in rock and Americana and us in the younger generations as more of a gift than anything else. Like, it’s a privilege to watch someone like Joni have this resurgence, and to see her work affect someone like Olivia Rodrigo — who is, in turn, so graceful about honoring her heroes.
Even just the thought of you performing with Joni for a full show is so exciting to me. What can fans expect from that show next year?
It’s going to be absolutely incredible, because it really is going to be just like Newport — the community around Joni, and the jokes, and the stories, and the laughs, and the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, and eventually, Joni singing whenever the f–k Joni decides she wants to sing. It’s gonna be so loose that it’s almost more special than a concert, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a voyeuristic thing, because we’re allowing people to basically see into a living room jam session.