The Tonight Show
She’s working late, ’cause she’s singing on The Tonight Show. Sabrina Carpenter returned to the late night program to perform her smash hit “Espresso” on Thursday night (Oct. 3), giving Jimmy Fallon’s audience an after-dark jolt of caffeine. Taking the stage in a baby-blue leotard — surrounded by a full band and back-up singers dressed […]
Ariana Grande made all kinds of news on Thursday night (June 6) when she visited The Tonight Show to perform her new single, “The Boy Is Mine,” and have a chat with host Jimmy Fallon about her role in the two-part movie adaptation of Wicked. Wearing a Jackie O.-style black mini-dress with white buttons down the front and matching white heels, the singer took the stage to deafening cheers from the studio audience.
The pair reminisced about the time Grande did Fallon a “solid” during COVID when she appeared in a Zoom interview in 2021, at which point she revealed she already knew she’d gotten her dream role. “But I couldn’t tell you yet,” Grande said when Fallon noted that the singer had been cast in director Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the musical in the role of Glinda the Good.
“This was the sweetest thing ever, because Jimmy was being such an amazing friend to me,” Grande said when Fallon recalled that he asked her at the time if she might return to acting. “He knew about my audition process that I was going through when we were filming our music video for [“It Was A…] ‘Masked Christmas,‘ but he knew that I was going through this audition process and I couldn’t tell anyone that I had the role yet. I was like sworn to secrecy,” Grande said.
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The singer described getting the call about the role two days before the Zoom interview and because she was sworn to secrecy, said she was “trying to subliminally tell you [Fallon] through the screen that I got it.” She remembered wearing a big pink sparkly choker that she thought might tip Fallon off.
“I knew it in my head, I kept the secret as well,” Fallon laughed before pulling out a 2011 tweet from Grande in which she wrote, “Loved seeing Wicked again… amazing production! Made me realize again how badly I want to 2 play Glinda at some point in my life! #DreamRole.” Grande will star alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in the film that will be released in two parts, with the first part due on Nov. 27.
“To share it with people and to feel the love that we’ve received has been really overwhelming,” Grande said. The singer also described how she wasn’t intending to record her new album, Eternal Sunshine, until after she wrapped Wicked. But when the Hollywood strike shuttered production last year she went home to see her family and booked a week in the studio with producer Max Martin, during which they recorded five of the album’s songs.
Grande also confirmed that the video for “The Boy Is Mine” will feature Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley, who fans suspected might appear in the clip after Grande teased the video with a TikTok of the You star awkwardly dancing to the song’s chorus; the video is slated to debut on Friday morning (June 7).
“The video stars Penn Badgley, who I’ve been a fan of my entire life,” said Grande. “It was so amazing to work with him. Super honored to work with him.”
Grande returned later to perform “The Boy Is Mine” backed by the Roots on a rooftop set while wearing a short black dress and fabric mask with cat ears.
Watch Grande talk Wicked and perform “The Boy Is Mine” on The Tonight Show below.
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Doja Cat likes to play around. And during her visit to The Tonight Show on Wednesday night (May 1), the “Paint the Town Red” singer/rapper was in an especially playful mood while discussing the wild outfits her dancers wear on the tour in support of her Scarlet album. Previewing the hair-forward upcoming European leg of her Scarlet tour, Doja told host Jimmy Fallon, “I wanted it to be modeled after hair, that’s the theme, hair, so it’s going to be a very hairy show.”
Fallon noted that last month Doja became the first female rapper to headline Coachella, cueing up a clip of a performance of “Demons” from that gig during which her dancers bopped around stage in gigantic, white-fur-covered yeti-like costumes. That naturally led to Doja offering Fallon a chance to get in on the action by modeling one of the hair suits, which he awkwardly pulled on, unable to properly cinch up the furry pants.
What followed was a hirsute Fallon bopping and bouncing along to the Roots’ funky beat as he learned some of Doja stage choreo, waving his arms and grabbing the air while holding up the pants with one hand.
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The interview also touched on Doja’s early performance “dance battles” as a kid and the dance crew she was in as a teenager, as well as her memory of her first-ever concert: Earth, Wind & Fire. While checking out her mom’s favorite band, the then five-year-old Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini was unexpectedly given her first spotlight. “It sounds like a lie, but I was pulled up on stage because we were in the front and, like a tiny little peanut like this going ‘ahhhh!!!’… I get it,” she laughed.
Her second show as just as epic, also with her mom: Beyoncé. That time, though, mother and daughter were as far as possible from the stage in the rafters, with only Bey’s whipping hair visible from that nosebleed vantage. “Saw a tiny little Beyoncé, but it was great,” she said.
Doja returned later in the show for an intense performance of the slow-burn Scarlet deluxe edition track “Acknowledge Me,” joined by an angelic six-member choir and full band on a smoke-shrouded stage during which she, of course, wore a white hair coat over white bodysuit.
Watch Fallon’s hairy dance and the “Acknowledge Me” performance below.
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Grupo Frontera delivered an emotionally charged showcase of their single “Ya Pedo Quién Sabe” on Thursday night’s (April 4) Tonight Show. Proudly representing the Rio Grande Valley by performing in front of a neon 956 sign — the area code of the borderland region they’re from — the band appeared rocking their usual black cowboy hats, with […]
Zayn has long been a man of few words. The former One Direction singer and solo star made a surprise appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday night (March 13), and in keeping with his let-the-music-do-the-talking demeanor, the 31-year-old’s mid-monologue walk-on was silent, but heady. Carrying a coffee mug and a note card, Zayn casually […]
British comedian Jack Whitehall was, ostensibly, on The Tonight Show on Thursday night (Feb. 1) to plug his new Netflix special, Settle Down. And while that made it a special occasion, Whitehall said his appearance also marked an even more very significant milestone.
“Some of you will know, today is a very, very important day for another reason,” Whitehall told host Jimmy Fallon after chiding him for not mentioning the important date in the monologue earlier. “The first of February, Jimmy, today, is the 30th birthday of Mr. Harry Styles!” Whitehall, who has had some legendary run-ins with the “Watermelon Sugar” singer on U.K. TV over the years encouraged the audience to wish Harry a happy day, confident that Styles would see his kind gesture, because, as he noted, “he watches all of my late-night appearances.”
Saying he had planned to leave Styles a personal voice note later that night, Fallon twisted the comedian’s arm to read the very special tribute he penned for the singer. By chance, Whitehall had his little pink journal in his breast pocket, which he pulled out to workshop his Harry homage for the studio audience. “Just tell me if you think this is too much,” Whitehall said of the poem titled: “Turning 30 in Styles.”
“Harry, oh sweet Harry, you are a man of utter class
My north, my south, my if, my when
My elbow and my ass
I first saw you on X-Factor
The silly reality show way back in 2010
Nearly three Simon Cowell faces ago
A twinkle in your eyes, your hair looked like a mop
A high-pitched little voice, your testicles yet to drop
You dazzled the world with your boy band One Direction
An unstoppable rise, like an unwanted morning … [asking if he can say that word on late night TV]
The day the band broke up, I screamed, I cursed, I cried
I hadn’t been that sad since the day Mufasa died…”
Watch Whitehall read his poetic tribute to Styles on The Tonight Show below.
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You probably didn’t have Cher wearing a fake mustache and spitting pieces of donut at Jimmy Fallon on your 2023 bingo card, but that certainly didn’t stop the Goddess of Pop from hocking a few loogies on Thursday night’s (Dec. 7) Tonight Show. During her surprise appearance, Cher acted alongside Fallon in the show’s long-running […]
Fans will soon be able to bask in all of Jung Kook’s solo glory with a very special upcoming television appearance. The “Seven” crooner will make his solo Tonight Show debut on Monday, Nov. 6, as a guest and performer. Emmy-winning host Jimmy Fallon took to the official Tonight Show Instagram to reveal the announcement. […]
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During a sit-down with The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon before their now-viral performance with The Roots, the remaining members of De La Soul recounted the band’s early days. They shared a touching moment with the enthusiastic audience.
Vincent “Maseo” Mason and Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer shared memories with Fallon about recording the group’s seminal debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. They also led the audience in a brief, heartfelt tribute to David “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur who passed away last month at 54.
Jolicoeur died just weeks before the group’s catalog hit streaming services after years of legal disputes.
Maseo and Posdnuos told Fallon about how the group met in Amityville, Long Island and recalled their first public performance opening for Stetsasonic. “We did [one] song and I remember DMC came backstage and was like, ‘Yo, do the song again,’ it was just amazing,” Mercer said.
More recently, DJ Drama announced that he has a new Gangsta Grillz mixtape coming with the group, telling Elliot Wilson and Brian “B. Dot” Miller for a new episode of Rap Radar, “For me being a mixtape DJ I was always addicted to the new sh*t. I was a teenager in the 90’s so that’s my era; that’s what I ride around listening to” he explained. “De La Soul is coming to streaming [platforms] and I couldn’t be more excited. And we got a Gangsta Grillz coming. That’s a little sidebar.”
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At the conclusion of the interview, Maseo thanked Reservoir Media which secured the group’s six-album back catalog through its acquisition of the previous label, Tommy Boy Records in 2021. He also led the audience in thanking Trugoy the Dove.
“Can you please say for me ‘thank you, Dave?’” Mason asked the crowd.
“Thank you, Dave,” the crowd responded.
“Tonight, he’s watching,” Fallon added.
Later in the show, De La Soul and The Roots performed “Stakes Is High,” the titular Jay Dee-produced track from the group’s 1996 album. The moving performance made the rounds last week on social media with fans and other hip-hop connoisseurs calling the performance, “flawless.”
Watch the performance below.
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Chance the Rapper did a late-night triplet when he visited The Tonight Show on Monday (March 6), by participating in an interview, playing a daft game, and performing a new number.
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First up, the Chicago hip-hop star (real name: Chancelor Johnathan Bennett) sat for a chat with the NBC program’s host Jimmy Fallon, and cleared up any questions about whether Martin Short really is such a good guy.
Well, yes, apparently. Chance regaled with a tale of a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, in which he was separated from his eldest daughter, Kensli. That was until a “kind older gentleman gets up” and offered his seat to the girl. It was indeed the Martin Short. “I super freaked out,” Chance admits. “He was really, really nice and I don’t think he knows who I am. So I think he just did it…that’s a really kind gesture.”
Conversation moved on to Chance’s Black Star Line Festival in Ghana. “It was very successful,” he says of the event, held earlier this year with a lineup featuring Erykah Badu, Dave Chappelle, T-Pain, Jeremih, Sarkodie, Tobe Nwigwe, Asakaa Boys and M.anifest.
“It was magical. 52,000 people, the largest concert in the history of Ghana”. With the dust barely settled, Chance and Vic Mensa are plotting the next round for the festival in January 2024. And perhaps, this time visiting the West Indies.
“We’re actually thinking about hosting the next one in Kingston, Jamaica,” he explains. “We’re still working it out in our heads. And we love the city of Accra and Ghana and West Africa as a whole. We just want to continue to, like, create community in other spaces.”
The Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer also squeezed in some promo for season 23 of The Voice, for which he’s the newest coach. Would he have auditioned for the show if the whole Chance The Rapper thing never happened?
Sure, he would have done just fine, Chance admits confidently.
And which song would he hit, given the chance? “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going Song,” the Jennifer Hudson piece from Dreamgirls.
Chance stuck around and showed he’s a good sport by playing a round of “Peanut Butter That’s My Jam Tic-Tac-Toe,” a sticky new spot and a real mouthful.
The Coloring Book star closed it out with a solo-performance of “YAH Know”. The recording, which features King Promise, will appear on his upcoming album Star Line Gallery, expected for release later this year.
Watch the performance below.