Rihanna
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Rihanna is heading to the big screen — in animated form. The “Umbrella” singer is set to voice Smurfette in Paramount and Nickelodeon’s upcoming Smurfs film.
While the film is still untitled and does not have a release date, Puss in Boots director Chris Miller is taking on the project, which is based on the beloved characters created by Belgian artist Peyo.
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“I get to show up in my PJs in my third trimester,” the pregnant RiRi said onstage at CinemaCon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I hope this gives me cool points with my kids one day.”
Rihanna’s reps confirmed that she is expecting her second child with A$AP Rocky after fans speculated about her appearance during her 2023 Super Bowl halftime show performance earlier this year. The singer was dressed in a curve-hugging red outfit and appeared to rub her belly during the airborne performance at the State Farm Arena in Glendale, Arizona. Rihanna welcomed her first child with the rapper last May.
The couple has yet to reveal the due date of the upcoming bundle of joy, or the sex of the baby. In the meantime, RiRi’s been rocking her signature cool pregnancy looks. Earlier this month, the “Love on the Brain” singer celebrated her brand’s partnership with Ulta in an all white look from head to toe, complete with a snug undershirt that showed off her baby bump.
Billboard News’ Tetris Kelly caught up with the guys of ENHYPEN and talked about their upcoming mini album ‘DARK BLOOD’. Shenseea reveals her favorite Jamaican Slang Halsey and Alev Aydin have spit, the couple’s decision to break up was “amicable,” according to sources. And more!
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The LAPD is reportedly investigating the theft of a car from outside the home of singer and billionaire entrepreneur, Rihanna.
According to TMZ, a 2012 Audi sedan was stolen from outside of the Los Angeles-area home late last week when the driver allegedly ran inside for something leaving the car running and the keys inside. The report notes that the driver believes that someone jumped in and drove off with it.
The incident marks the second time that LAPD has been out to the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate in Beverly Hills this month.
The gossip site previously reported that a man showed up at the Bajan singer’s home earlier this month with plans to propose to her. According to TMZ, because the man had broken no laws, he was released and asked not to return.
In 2018, a man was arrested after spending at least a day inside the residence while Rihanna was away. The man later claimed he was there to have sex with the singer.
It is unclear if she was home during the last two incidents.
The Fenty Beauty leader is currently expecting her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky the couple has a son who will turn 1 in May.
According to The New York Post, Rihanna’s massive Beverly Hills home features amenities like a bonus room, breakfast room, cabana, a center hall, gym, media room, and a walk-in closet. Other features include a den/office space and a separate guest house. The house is close to that of Beatles legend, Paul McCartney.
The singer performed at both this year’s Super Bowl and the 95th Academy Awards where she performed “Lift Me Up,” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. The song was nominated for Original Song and serves as Rihanna’s first Oscar nomination. Ultimately, “Lift Me Up,” lost to “Naatu Naatu” from the hit Telugu-language film RRR, which made history by becoming the first Indian film song to win an Oscar, according to BBC.
It’s been over seven years since Rihanna dropped a full-length studio album. However, she told British Vogue earlier this year that the wait may soon be over. “I want it to be this year,” she told the magazine. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”
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Photo: Getty
Rihanna slayed at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday with a classy performance of her soulful ballad “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She didn’t win the Oscar for best original song – the award went to “Naatu Naatu” from RRR – but RiRi will likely have more chances to win for the song at next year’s Grammy Awards.
“Lift Me Up,” which Rihanna co-wrote with Tems, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, is a front-runner for a nomination for best song written for visual media.
“Lift Me Up” could also wind up with record and/or song of the year nominations. Rihanna has been nominated for record of the year three times, for “Umbrella” (featuring Jay-Z), “Work” (featuring Drake) and as featured artist on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie.”
If “Lift Me Up” is nominated for song of the year, it would mark Rihanna’s first nod in that category. Her only songwriting nods to date are for “Run This Town,” which won best rap song, and “Kiss It Better,” which was nominated for best R&B song.
“Lift Me Up” will also probably be nominated in a performance category – either best R&B performance or best traditional R&B performance. (The final decision on where to slot performances that seem to be on the border between two categories is made by a large screening committee. They base their decision on the sound of the performance, as they perceive it, not chart position or the artist’s image.)
Rihanna has been nominated in R&B performance categories twice, for “Needed Me” and “Hate That I Love You,” a 2007 collab with Ne-Yo. She has yet to be nominated for best traditional R&B performance.
“All the Stars,” from the first Black Panther, was nominated for Grammys in four categories (though it didn’t win in any of them). The smash by Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA was nominated for record and song of the year, best rap/sung performance and best song written for visual media.
The Recording Academy announced earlier this month that the eligibility year for the 66th annual Grammy Awards will end on Aug. 31, one month earlier than usual. So the eligibility “year” will consist of just 11 months.
Rihanna may or may not release her long-awaited ninth studio album by Aug. 31 – she has another “project” in the works just now – which would change the Grammy conversation around her. Rihanna’s best year at the Grammys in terms of nominations was 2016, when she amassed eight nods. (Alas, she lost them all.)
The early front-runners for record of the year nominations, in addition to “Lift Me Up,” include Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” SZA’s “Kill Bill” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.”
This wouldn’t be the first time “Anti-Hero” and “Lift Me Up” have tangled. By holding at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week last November, Swift’s smash kept Rihanna’s ballad from debuting in the top spot and becoming her 15th No. 1 single. Instead, “Lift Me Up” debuted and peaked at No. 2. “Anti-Hero” went on to log eight total weeks at No. 1 – the record for a Swift single.
After a group of grandmothers at Arcadia Senior Living Bowling Green went viral on TikTok thanks to their adorable recreation of Rihanna‘s recent Super Bowl halftime show performance, Jay-Z, Roc Nation and RiRi herself have taken notice.
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The living facility revealed on Facebook that the “Love on the Brain” singer sent the group a gorgeous bouquet of white roses. “You ladies’ dance was amazing,” the note signed by RiRi and Roc Nation reads. Billboard can confirm that the star and her team sent over the sweet token of appreciation. See it here.
The gesture comes just a week after Jay-Z sent the living facility a huge display of red roses. “We love the TikTok here at Roc Nation,” the agency’s founder wrote in the note. See Jay-Z’s gift here.
The group of grandmothers at Arcadia Senior Living Bowling Green shared their viral video last week, in which they’re seen taking on the remix of Rihanna’s 2009 hit “Rude Boy” from the Super Bowl performance. In the clip, a number of elderly women are lined up and dressed in white — exactly like RiRi’s dancers. They move out of the way one by one to reveal one last senior citizen, dressed in red like the singer was at the Super Bowl. The grandma then sings her heart out to “Rude Boy” while dancing and holding a microphone.
At the time of publication, the post has more than 30 million views and 3.5 million likes.
Rihanna‘s recent Super Bowl halftime show performance has been making waves on social media for the past few weeks, with TikTok users recreating dance sequences from RiRi’s highly anticipated return to the stage.
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A group of grandmothers at Arcadia Senior Living Bowling Green have joined in on the fun this week, sharing a video to the living facility’s official TikTok page in which they’re seen taking on the remix of Rihanna’s 2009 hit “Rude Boy” from the Super Bowl performance. In the clip, a number of elderly women are lined up and dressed in white — exactly like RiRi’s dancers. They move out of the way one by one to reveal one last senior citizen, dressed in red like the singer was at the Super Bowl. The grandma then sings her heart out to “Rude Boy” while dancing and holding a microphone.
“Our halftime show > Rihanna’s halftime show,” the caption reads. At the time of publication, the video has more than 24 million views and 3 million likes.
It’s hardly the first incredible lip sync the ladies at Arcadia Senior Living Bowling Green have taken on. They previously shared a video to the tune of Miley Cyrus’ Billboard Hot 100 chart topper, “Flowers,” taking the lyrics literally as they buy themselves flowers, write their names in the sand and talk to themselves, among other empowering activities in the song’s chorus.
“Miley Cyrus is reminding us that self love is our super power,” they captioned the sweet post, along with a number of emojis.
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Rihanna, fresh from rocking the Super Bowl Halftime Show earlier this month, will find herself again on the stage at one of the most prestigious events of the year. The Barbadian superstar and business mogul will perform the soul-stirring “Lift Me Up” at this upcoming Oscars ceremony.
Rihanna is currently expecting her second child while still running her massive Savage X Fenty fashion and beauty empire, but it looked like the prospect of a new album is further in the rearview. However, with the halftime show and the impending Oscars performance, which was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday (Feb. 23).
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As one of the featured songs from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, the Oscar-nominated “Lift Me Up” is nominated for Original Song and serves as Rihanna’s first Oscar nomination. The song was written by Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, Ryan Coogler, and Tems.
The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The live event will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmell.
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Photo: Icon Sportswire / Getty
Rihanna runs onto Billboard‘s multimetric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated Feb. 25) with eight songs, including six in the top 10, following her Super Bowl halftime show extravaganza on Feb. 12.
“We Found Love,” featuring Calvin Harris (No. 3), and “Only Girl (In the World)” (No. 4), both performed at the show, lead the way on the chart. “Love,” from 2011, earned 8.1 million official U.S. streams, up 236%, while “Girl,” from 2010, tallied 6.8 million, up 212%, respectively, in the Feb. 10-16 tracking week, according to Luminate.
Concurrently on the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart (which started in 2013), “Love” leaps 24-3 and “Girl” debuts at No. 4. Five of Rihanna’s seven career top 10s on the chart are new this week.
“Love” also sold 5,900 downloads, up 1,035%, while “Girl” moved 5,600, up 977%. Those figures are also good for vaults on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart, with the former up 17-2 and the latter, 18-3. Rihanna has now totaled nine career top 10s on the tally (which began in 2010), with “Girl” and two others notched since the Super Bowl: “Don’t Stop the Music” (re-entry at No. 5; 3,000, up 651%) and “S&M” (24-9; 2,400, up 398%).
Returning to the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (which began in 2013), the other new Rihanna top 10s are “Don’t Stop the Music” (No. 7), “Where Have You Been” (No. 8), “S&M” (No. 9) and “Disturbia” (No. 10).
The six songs by a single act in the top 10 are the most since July 2, 2022, when eight tracks from Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind debuted, including his first No. 1, “Falling Back.”
Additionally, Calvin Harris’ “This Is What You Came For,” featuring Rihanna, which spent three weeks at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2016 (one of Harris’ four toppers and Rihanna’s sole leader), restarts at No. 11. Rihanna’s “SOS” rounds out the list of her appearances in its initial showing (No. 14). All mark Rihanna’s first visits to the survey since April 22, 2017, the last week that “This Is…” was on the chart.
Rihanna boasts nine career Hot Dance/Electronic Songs top 10s, also including “Right Now,” featuring David Guetta (No. 5, 2013).
As previously reported, Rihanna claims her first week at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100, with five albums in the top 50 of the Billboard 200, sparked by her best streaming week ever.
Other Super Bowl halftime show performers have tackled Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in recent years, including Jennifer Lopez with “On the Floor,” featuring Pitbull (No. 4, Feb. 15, 2020), after her headlining set with Shakira at Super Bowl LIV. Before that, Lady Gaga landed two top 10s (“Bad Romance,” No. 6, and “Poker Face,” No. 8, on Feb. 25, 2017) among six chart hits after headlining the Super Bowl LI halftime show.
Winning weekend: Jason Derulo and David Guetta’s “Saturday / Sunday” enters Hot Dance/Electronic Songs at No. 18. The fourth charted title for Derulo (and second with Guetta, after their “Goodbye,” featuring Nicki Minaj and Willy William; No. 9, 2018) is the record-extending 74th for Guetta. (Kygo is next with 61.)
Madonna’s ‘Sorry’ returns: Also noteworthy on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs is a debut from Blond:ish, Eran Hersh, Darmon and Madonna, “Sorry” (No. 39). The new remix of Madonna’s “Sorry” brings the initial appearance each for the first three credited acts and the sixth for Madonna. She last charted with another freshly remixed version of an older hit, 1998’s “Frozen,” with Sickick (No. 10, April 2022).
The original “Sorry” spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart in 2006, Madonna’s second-longest-leading No. 1 among her seven leaders; only previous Confessions on a Dance Floor single “Hung Up” clocked more time on top, eight weeks in 2005.
Englund celebrates ‘like Christmas morning’: Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Anabel Englund achieves her third leader with “Need Me Right” (3-1). Englund also led with “Picture Us” (October 2020) and “Underwater” (April 2021). Dating to Englund’s first top 10 ink in May 2020, with the No. 2-peaking “So Hot,” she is tied with David Guetta and Joel Corry for the most top 10s among all acts, with eight each.
“Getting a Billboard No. 1 feels like opening my eyes on Christmas morning,” Englund tells Billboard. “I’m so grateful for all of the success ‘Need Me Right’ has been having. Writing this song was fun and felt effortless working with two people, James Hurr and Paul Harris [of Dirty Vegas], that I love.”
“Need” is drawing core-dance airplay on SiriusXM’s BPM, Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel and WCPY (Dance Factory FM) Chicago, among others. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
Also on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, BONNIE X CLYDE collects its second top 10 and FOMO experiences its first with “Need Ya” (12-9).
Chris Brown took to his Instagram Stories on Friday (Feb. 17) to seemingly respond to backlash he and Chloe Bailey received following the announcement that the duo will be collaborating on the upcoming track “How Does It Feel.”
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“If y’all still hate me for a mistake I made as a 17-year-old please kiss my whole entire a–,” Brown wrote in an all-text Instagram Story, seemingly referring to the time he physically abused then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009, which was brought up on Twitter by fans who disapproved of Bailey’s choice to collaborate with the “No Guidance” singer.
“I’m f—ing 33,” Brown continued. “I’m so tired of y’all running with this narrative… you weird a– n—-s are the same ones that tune in every week to see Blueface and Chrisean beat the f— out each other in front of the world. But that’s ok? It’s entertainment? All y’all can suck my d— disrespectfully.”
The singer went on to ask where the “cancel culture” is toward white celebrities, sharing photos of stars who had faced assault allegations against them, including Mel Gibson, Nicholas Cage, Ozzy Osbourne, Charlie Sheen and more. “No more fake love from me… stay out my way or get ran over, simple as that,” Brown concluded. “None of you and I mean none of you n—-s can f— wit me.”
The people Brown named have yet to publicly respond to his statements. Watch Brown’s Instagram Stories before they disappear here.
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In the new issue of British Vogue, featuring a gorgeous cover of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky and their baby boy in his magazine debut, the music icon and Fenty mogul said that her son is “obsessed” with his dad.
“I’m just sitting on the sidelines when they’re together,” she says in the exclusive feature article, seemingly amused by her role in the background. “I’m literally the girl trying to get into the boys club, waiting for my turn. He is obsessed with his father. And I’m like: ‘Didn’t I give birth to you? What is going on?’”
She added, “Their connection is undeniable. The second Rocky makes eye contact with him he is on fire. The whole thing they say about sons and moms, it’s a myth. Sons and fathers is crazy. I realized that the validation that you really need as a boy is from your father.”
The megastar just stunned the world during her Super Bowl appearance last Sunday, Feb. 12 by showing off another baby bump and announcing that she is expecting a second child.
Ri-Ri also shared some insight into her relationship with the A$AP Mob rapper whom she previously dated and had a long friendship. “We’re best friends with a baby,” she says, laughing at their dynamic now. “We have to be on the same page, but we’ve always kind of had that in our relationship. Everything changes when you have a baby but I wouldn’t say it’s done anything but made us closer.”
In the cover story, she also explained why she changed from her previous decision to not perform at the game due to her support of blackballed former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes,” she says now, “but it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level.” She notes the two previous Super Bowls which demonstrated representation to her, specifically referring to last year’s headliners, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar, “you know, representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message.”
She also added that motherhood may have influenced her decision, “Of course,” she says, as the writer notes she is visibly moved, “raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life.” It’s made her re-evaluate everything. “You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’” She added, “All of those things really start to hit differently.”