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Fans of Snoop Dogg‘s Doggyland have a new song to sing along to. This time, Snoop’s lovable character Bow Wizzle linked with social media sensation VanVan — who also happens to voice Doggyland‘s Vancy the Dalmatian character — for a new video for a remix of the “Clean Up Song,” which interpolates the classic children’s […]
That’s a wrap. Selena Gomez has finished filming the latest season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, an occasion the singer-actress celebrated with an emotional post on Instagram Wednesday (June 18). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a behind-the-scenes video filmed at the end of […]
Before you and the fam settle in to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July, be sure to check out “The Fourth in America” concert special — with the performer lineup revealed exclusively on Billboard below.
The special will include performances by headliner Noah Kahan, along with Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley, Sting, Nelly, Counting Crows, Timbaland, The Fray, CAKE, Sublime, Ice Cube, Kaskade, 4 Non Blondes, Ashley McBryde, The War and Treaty and the I Love the 90’s Tour with Vanilla Ice, Young MC, Rob Base and Tone Loc. Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the United States Air Force Band will also perform on the special, hosted by CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN anchor Boris Sanchez, along with CNN anchor and correspondent Victor Blackwell and CNN anchor and senior national correspondent Sara Sidner from San Diego.
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The star-studded affair will not only feature performances from wide-ranging artists; CNN will also broadcast fireworks shows from across the country, including in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Diego, Seward, Alaska and Washington, D.C. with CNN anchor/correspondent John Berman, CNN national correspondent Randi Kaye and CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten providing on-the-ground reporting from Nashville, Fort Lauderdale and New York City, respectively, as the United States celebrates its 249th anniversary of independence.
Now in its fifth year, CNN’s The Fourth in America has built on the success of CNN’s New Year’s Eve programming, making it a yearly destination during the Fourth of July as families across the country tune in after a day of barbecuing and chasing kids around.
CNN’s The Fourth in America special will broadcast live on CNN and CNN International, and will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Friday (July 4) with coverage set to begin at 7 p.m. ET on CNN and ending at 1 a.m. ET.
Fans will have to wait until Oct. 24 to see the eagerly anticipated Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. But they got a teaser on Wednesday morning (June 18) when the first trailer for the film starring The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as the Boss dropped, revealing the shape and mood of the film that will follow the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s introspective sessions for his stark, 1982 acoustic album Nebraska.
The two-and-a-half minute preview opens with White as Springsteen sitting in a Camaro on a car lot as he tells the salesman that he’s never owned a new vehicle before. “It’s awfully fitting for a handsome devil rock star,” the salesman says, tipping his hat that he knows exactly who his low-key, famous client is. “Well that makes one of us,” White replies.
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We next see Springsteen in his New Jersey bedroom with his guitar tech Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) as he works out the stripped-down sound of the Nebraska title track. “Don’t need to be perfect,” he tells Batlan, “I want it to feel like I’m in the room by myself.”
Director Scott Cooper’s movie also features Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s longtime manager and confidant Jon Landau, who is seen telling a record exec that his client’s deeply personal album is “not about the charts. This is about Bruce Springsteen and these are the songs that he wants to work on right now,” as White moans out the lyrics to the album’s haunting title song.
Over images of White looking at old pictures, Strong tells a story about the singer’s childhood bedroom, which had a hole in its floor. That hole becomes a metaphor for Springsteen’s complicated relationship with his withholding father (played by Adolescence‘s Stephen Graham). “Bruce is a repairman,” Strong says. “And what he’s doing with this album is he’s repairing that hole in his floor. He’s repairing that hole in himself… and once he’s done that, he’s going to repair the entire world.”
The two-and-a-half-minute trailer ends with triumphant footage of a sweat-drenched White howling “Born to Run” on stage with the E Street Band, the veins in his neck strained to the extreme as he pulls off one of the rocker’s signature stage hops. Springsteen spent time on the set of the film earlier this year and he professed to be very impressed with White’s work.
In a chat on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio in January, the 75-year-old rocker was asked if it felt weird to see White play him on screen. “A little bit at first, but you get over that pretty quick and Jeremy is such a terrific actor that you just fall right into it,” Springsteen said. “He’s got an interpretation of me that I think the fans will deeply recognize and he’s just done a great job, so I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun being on the set when I can get there.”
In high praise from the singer known for his signature raspy, emotive voice, Springsteen said White was nailing it. “He sings well,” he said. “He sings very well.” Springsteen gave his full blessing for the adaptation of Warren Zanes’ book of the same name and in an interview earlier this year White said he’d studied hours and hours of video and worked with a vocal coach to nail Bruce’s vocal tone and speaking cadence.
The film also features Odessa Young (A Million Little Pieces) as Springsteen’s girlfriend, Gaby Hoffman (Transparent) as his mom, Adele, Marc Maron (Sticks) as record producer Chuck Plotkin and David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) as a Columbia Records executive.
Check out the Deliver Me From Nowhere trailer below.
The Golden Globes released the timeline, eligibility rules and award guidelines for the 83rd Annual Golden Globes. The show, to be hosted by Nikki Glaser for the second year in a row, is set to air live coast-to-coast on Sunday, Jan. 11, from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on CBS, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. The show will emanate from its long-time home, the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Eligibility rules include the newly added best podcast award outlining how the top 25 podcasts will qualify with a total of six final nominations for the category. Luminate will determine qualifying podcasts.
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Nominations for the Golden Globes will be announced on Monday, Dec. 8. The full awards timeline is outlined below, and complete rules and categories can be found on the Golden Globes’ website.
The Golden Globes, which likes to call itself “Hollywood’s Party of the Year,” is the world’s largest awards show to celebrate the best of both film and television. Dick Clark Productions will plan, host and produce the show.
Here’s the 83rd Annual Golden Globes timetable. All dates are 2025 unless otherwise noted.
Friday, Aug. 1: Submission website opens for 2026 Golden Globes motion picture and television entries.
Wednesday, Oct. 1: Submission website opens for 2026 Golden Globes podcast entries.
Friday, Oct. 31: Deadline for motion picture, television, and podcast submissions. Entries must be completed on the Golden Globes’ website.
Monday, Nov. 17: Deadline for television and podcast nomination ballots to be sent to all voters.
Sunday, Nov. 23: Final date for television and podcast press conferences; final date for television and podcast programs to be uploaded to the Golden Globes screening platform by 5 p.m. PT.
Monday, Nov. 24: Deadline for receipt of television and podcast nomination ballots by 5 p.m. PT.
Tuesday, Nov. 25: Deadline for Motion Picture and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement nomination ballots to be sent to all voters.
Wednesday, Dec. 3: Final date for Motion Picture and Box Office Achievement press conferences; final date for Motion Pictures and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement to be uploaded to the Golden Globes screening platform.
Thursday, Dec. 4: Deadline for the receipt of Motion Picture and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement nomination ballots by 5 p.m. PT.
Monday, Dec. 8: Announcement of nominations for the 83rd Annual Golden Globes at 5 a.m. PT.
Friday, Dec. 19: Final ballots sent to all voters.
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026: Deadline for the receipt of final ballots by 5 p.m. PT.
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026: Presentation of the 83rd Annual Golden Globes at 5 p.m. PT.
The Golden Globes are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
When Atlantic Records’ Kevin Weaver was approached about the soundtrack to F1, he says the label didn’t face much competition. “The successes that we’ve had speak for themselves,” he notes, which include recent smash soundtracks to films including Barbie and Twisters. Both boasted chart-topping superstars and spawned multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — and, in the case of Barbie: The Album, even landed three Grammys and an Academy Award. Which is partly why, Weaver adds, “We do get a lot of opportunities to see things early and first.”
Weaver, Atlantic’s president of the West Coast, was first approached about F1 last fall by David Taylor, head of music at Apple TV+ and Apple Original Films. He was then introduced to director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who showed him several scenes from the Brad Pitt-starring Formula 1 racing drama and discussed opportunities for music. “At that point, it felt undeniable to me,” Weaver recalls. “We knocked the deal out in less than a week — that is unheard of.”
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Weaver oversaw and produced F1: The Album — which received a kickoff at the Miami Grand Prix in April and will arrive June 27 alongside the film — with Atlantic executive vp/co-head of pop/rock A&R Brandon Davis and senior vp of A&R and marketing Joseph Khoury. This will be Atlantic’s first soundtrack release since restructuring as Atlantic Music Group, with Weaver sharing his gratitude for the “trust and support” from the new leadership team, including CEO Elliot Grainge, GM Tony Talamo and COO Zach Friedman. “From the very start with our launch at the Miami Grand Prix through each weekly single release, we’re lucky to have a team that is so dialed in,” he says.
Still, Weaver believes securing the deal might have been the easiest part of a process that has yielded one of the more genre-diverse soundtracks in recent memory, with contributions from Ed Sheeran, Rosé, Chris Stapleton, Myke Towers, Tate McRae, Burna Boy and more. “We try to look into a crystal ball,” he says. “And so as much as we go with the staples like the Ed Sheerans, trying to forecast artists that are going to be having the biggest moments around when we’re releasing the project and when the film comes out is always of critical importance, too.”
Plus, as Weaver says, Formula 1 is a “very global” brand, with the average F1 fan having music taste that is equally wide-ranging. “I went to a bunch of races. I got to spend time with drivers and team principals and immerse myself into the sport. A big part of general strategy was, ‘What are we doing that has a global feel?’ A big part of it was, ‘What kind of music would you hear when you’re in the paddock at an F1 race?’ ”
Kevin Weaver (second from left) and Rosé.
Evan Hammerman
The A&R experience, as a result, was much different compared with last year’s soundtrack to Twisters, which primarily featured country stars — fitting for a film about chasing tornadoes in central Oklahoma. (Twisters: The Album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.)
Only one artist appears on both projects: Stapleton had an existing song in Twisters and contributed the original track “Bad as I Used To Be” to F1: The Album. “Part of what was exciting was [it would] put Chris on an album and a platform that played in a much broader way than the lane and genre of country music,” Weaver says. “Same thing when I went to Dom Dolla and Tiësto and Peggy Gou: These seminal dance artists saw an opportunity to sit on an album with other global superstars across a lot of different genres, and I think that was part of the coveted nature of why artists really wanted to be a part of this thing.”
For Sheeran in particular, his aptly titled track, “Drive,” came together quickly while he was in the studio with John Mayer and producer Blake Slatkin, saying that “the song fell out of us” after he had seen some of the film. (Dave Grohl is also on the track.) Sheeran recalls how Mayer “just whacked an octave pedal on and went wild” to come up with the song’s riff.
“Movies are my hobby and probably the only thing other than sport that I get, like, starstruck to be part of,” Sheeran adds. “Not just directors or actors or whatever, but being a part of the journey of a movie is so exciting for me.”
Of the album’s 17 tracks, seven singles are already out. McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” has become the first to enter the Hot 100, at No. 33. The song also scored her another No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart.
“We set out to have multiple hits and to move culture. We always have our own odds of what we think are going to be the records, but then other records come out of nowhere,” Weaver says. “We always felt like the Tate song was going to be big. We always knew the Rosé song [“Messy”] was going to be special and really important. I feel really bullish about the Ed Sheeran song, the Burna Boy song [“Don’t Let Me Drown”], Tiësto and Sexyy Red [“OMG!”]. We have a lot of really strong records here. It boils down to which raise their hand.”
Until then, Weaver is already on to his next project — in fact, his next three are locked in. “I have one I can’t talk about specifically, but all I can say is we are doing the soundtrack for probably the most highly anticipated relevant global media [intellectual property] of our generation,” he teases. “And I think that is going to be a monster.”
This story appears in the June 21, 2025, issue of Billboard.
From Coachella to your couch, Yo Gabba Gabba! is so back. Fresh off the beloved kid show’s standout performance at Coachella in April — featuring special guests Flavor Flav, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Portugal. The Man and Thundercat — the full library of the original four seasons of Yo Gabba Gabba! is coming to Apple TV+ […]
As a film and television composer who’s worked on Deadpool & Wolverine and Stranger Things, Rob Simonsen is no stranger to finding a way to weave pop music into his lush scores. But what he was a stranger to was composing for an animated film — until now.
The veteran composer — whose work also includes 2009’s 500 Days of Summer, 2018’s Love, Simon and 2024’s It Ends With Us — will make his animated debut this weekend with Pixar‘s Elio, which hits theaters on Friday. In addition to Simonsen’s score, which hops from 11-year-old Elio’s begrudging home planet of Earth to the far reaches of outer space where he dreams to live forever, there are also two prominent music placements in the film: Talking Heads‘ existential 1981 single “Once in a Lifetime” and Vicente García‘s “Carmesí,” a top 20 hit on Billboard‘s Tropical Airplay chart in 2017.
In a conversation with Billboard, Simonsen tells us how both of those songs ended up in the movie, how he musically guides viewers between multiple planets in the sci-fi adventure, his 1973 Disney favorite that still resonates today, how he created his own “space disco” track for a memorable montage, and why he “felt at home” working in animated film.
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Rob Simonsen attends the World Premiere of Disney and Pixar’s “Elio” at El Capitan Theatre on June 10, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney/Pixar
I would love to start with when and how you got involved in this project. I’m not seeing any other animated work in your bio, and your only previous Disney project is Deadpool & Wolverine – so was that the connection?
They found me before Deadpool. Actually, I had done some scores that I think they found to use in their film, and they called me to meet with me and shared this really touching story [of Elio] with me. And I really loved what they were going for, and I felt like I understood it and was really excited. Of course Pixar [is] an incredible brain trust, an incredible group of people, and so there was a bit of a sympathetic resonance, I think. And, yeah, we got underway.
How long ago was that?
I think two and a half years ago, something around there. This one had a longer time frame than what I’m normally used to, working in live-action. I wrote a suite after seeing an initial cut and having a conversation with the director and really felt what they were going for. And I sat down and I wrote a suite and I sent it, and that ended up being “Elio’s Theme,” which is in the film — starts and ends the movie.
What was the biggest difference between scoring an animated film and the other movies you’ve previously worked on?
Oh, lots of stuff. You know, getting used to seeing hand sketches of really emotional scenes and filling in the blanks with your imagination, which actually is a process that I love. In a lot of ways, there’s not the limitations of exactly what frame something needs to hit. So you’re allowed to create music that has a little bit more inherent music logic to it. And in some cases, they’re able to get some of these things in kind of early and maybe have some musical moments even to hang the cut and the animation on.
Oh wow, that has to be very cool when that happens.
That happened pretty rarely, but when it does happen, it’s certainly nice.
This movie travels to so many different locations, so can you talk about creating music for each setting of this movie? So when Elio is on Earth, versus when he’s in the Communiverse, versus when he’s on Hylurg.
We were definitely trying to give each different location its own flavor. So for Hylurg, we focus on this low male choir and low brass. And for the Communiverse, we use these choir dolls, which are these small, handmade wooden robot dolls that are made by a Swedish company called Teenage Engineering. And we used them as kind of our vocal choir for the Communiverse, which they’re encoded with vowels and words and consonants, and it sounds like language, but it’s not English. It’s not really any specific language. So it has this kind of uncanny resemblance to human voices, but yet it sounds otherworldly, slightly technological. And then on Earth, it’s quite grounded, and there’s a lot of atmosphere, with simple piano melodies to kind of speak to Elio’s heart and his longing.
One of my favorite music moments is when Glordon and Elio are in the Communiverse and basically just treating it like one big amusement park, and there’s sort of a montage of all the fun they’re having. What were you going for with that music?
Kind of a pop track, a space disco cut. I love space disco. What an amazing little subgenre of the ’70s and ’80s. You know, Meco doing these kind of orchestrated but synthesized disco versions of all these sci-fi movies, theme songs and whatnot. And do a modern version of that, but also something that has this kind of nostalgic whimsy to it but with a solid beat that kind of makes you bop your head hopefully.
There are also two pop music parts of the movie – let’s start with the first one, Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.” Was that something you were involved in selecting, or was that the dream song that the filmmakers already wanted there?
Yeah, they picked that actually. By the time I saw the first cut, when I was brought on, it was in there. And I love that song, so I was happy to see it there.
I was racking my brain to think of another moment in a Disney/Pixar movie that features an existing song in its entirety like that and was having a hard time coming up with one. It’s jarring in a very cool way!
Yeah, it is a bit different for them. And off the top of my head, I’m not sure that I know of another one.
The other moment is a Vicente García song called “Carmesí,” which plays on Aunt Olga’s car radio in the movie. How was that song chosen?
I know they were chasing some options. And I think, actually, Zoe Saldaña [who voices Elio’s Aunt Olga] may have mentioned that song and put it forward as a song that she liked. So I think that there was a cool thread of involving her in that choice.
Between Stranger Things and Deadpool & Wolverine, you’re very familiar with how a song can get a big bump from being placed in a movie like this. Do you see a world where this young audience is going to discover Talking Heads and David Byrne or Vicente García through this film?
Sure, especially since there’s only those two song pieces. The Talking Heads, it’s interesting — it’s an older song now, but it still feels fresh sonically. And yeah, I hope that a young generation gets introduced to David Byrne.
Were you a Disney kid growing up or before working on this? What does working on a Disney project mean to you?
Disney has changed the world and has had so many influences and impacts on the world. And I really love that [Walt] Disney was a real visionary and someone who was trying to transport people to new places, but yet, in these new places, you hopefully find something inspiring about life and humanity and the experience of being human, and he was a really forward-thinking person. So, I mean, it’s undeniable the mark that Disney has left, and Pixar as well. Their track record is incredible, and they’ve had so many movies that have been so enjoyable to watch and have been so well-made and so smart, and I think they really cracked the code on making films that appeal to adults and kids. So it was a real dream to get a call from them and to work on this one.
Do you have a personal favorite Disney project from your past?
You know, I love [1973’s] Robin Hood. I loved it as a kid, and I recently rewatched it, and I was struck by how relevant it is to today’s times. So I recommend that movie as a rewatch to anyone now. It’s really, really resonant, and the music is incredible in that it’s very, very catchy melodies and a great score by George Bruns, who is an amazing Disney composer, and Roger Miller delivering these amazing songs. Some of those melodies are just constantly in my head. I find myself absentmindedly whistling the “Whistle Stop” song from Robin Hood when I’m walking down the street.
Do you hope to do more animated work after this?
Yeah, I would love to. I really enjoyed working with animators. They’re so sensitive. You know, their whole job is to capture the essence of a human emotion with drawings and representations of humans, and knowing exactly what kind of emotion to go for. And emotion is almost infinite in terms of the gradation of it and the spectrum of human emotions. And Pixar, they’re the best at doing these very specific facial expressions, and the performances that they infuse their characters with is really impressive. And I saw as these animations kind of improved over time and got more specific, a character would wince in a certain way or kind of make a face in a certain way. And I just appreciate how much study of humanity animators have to do, and that’s what we do as film composers, you know? You’re a study of human emotions. So I felt at home with these people. So I’d love to do it again.
What was it like seeing the movie in its entirety the first time?
I think when I saw the whole thing, I had some notes for myself. [Laughs] But, you know, we really worked hard and I think banged it into great shape, and I think the movie really sings. Sitting back and watching it with an audience for the first time at a premiere was great. There’s a lot of enthusiasm for the characters and a lot of laughs, and it’s very breezy and, I think, very poignant in moments. So to be able to feel that with a group of people, you know, that’s an irreplaceable experience.
Three hours of prime time real estate, more than 30 musical acts bookended by lightly rehearsed comedy bits and a Radio City Music Hall’s worth of huge stars. What could go wrong?
Potentially everything, actually. But somehow, SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert director Beth McCarthy-Miller not only managed to land the plane with the February special, but she corralled some of the biggest stars in the world for one of the most dazzling, surprise-filled nights of music in recent memory.
And, not for nothing, it all happened with way less rehearsal time than you could ever imagine.
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“They called me a year and a half ago and asked me and I absolutely said ‘yes’ right away. … I’m a total music and comedy nerd,” Emmy-nominated director McCarthy-Miller tells Billboard about her return to multi-cam TV after a career that has included stints behind the camera for episodes of Veep, The Good Place, Modern Family, 30 Rock and an 11-year run as SNL‘s director. “I would do anything for [SNL creator/producer] Lorne [Michaels], who was so instrumental in my career. It was like going back for a high school reunion.”
Sure, if your high school class included Lady Gaga, Eddie Vedder, Bill Murray, the Backstreet Boys, Miley Cyrus, Bad Bunny, Post Malone, the living members of Nirvana, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll and Cher.
Those are just some of the acts that McCarthy-Miller juggled on show night in the penultimate prime-time celebration of the beloved sketch series’ 50th anniversary. The programming also included the three-hour SNL50: The Anniversary Special that aired two days later, as well as the earlier mind-bending Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music documentary directed by The Roots’ Questlove and the four-part SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night docuseries on Peacock.
In other words, tons of competition for booking and viewers’ eyeballs.
Beth McCarthy
Barry Goldenberg
McCarthy-Miller knew it was a monumental task, but she was up for it and, frankly, after working with Michaels to see who was available (and not) and putting the million little pieces together, she can now confidently say that “there is nothing I would change.”
Billboard hopped on the phone to chat with McCarthy-Miller about the show and to find out why she is now fully convinced that The Roots can play any song ever recorded.
You worked on the legendary MTV Unplugged with Nirvana, but whose idea was the surprise Post Nirvana performance with Post Malone and the living members of the group?
Dave Grohl was involved early on, and there was always interest in the Foo Fighters and possibly [Nirvana bass player] Krist [Novoselic] joining them. I know during COVID, Post did a YouTube Nirvana show with Travis Barker, and I think it became a natural segue. Dave and Krist had used St. Vincent and other singers before for the FireAid show and the guys just really enjoyed playing with him. After rehearsal, I went back to check on everything with [guitarist] Pat [Smear] and Dave, and they were like, “That was fun!”
The unexpected collabs really ruled the night. You also had Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard doing a Queen cover (“Crazy Little Thing Called Love”) at the top. How involved were you in piecing those together?
The Miley thing was a combination of everyone asking, “What would you want to see?” I think Miley wanted Brittany, and that was a Lorne and Miley thing. … [show co-executive producer] Mark Ronson had a lot do with the pace of the show and where people should go and when. It was definitely a combined effort.
I have to ask, were there any of those collabs that didn’t happen that you went for? Frequent SNL guest Justin Timberlake couldn’t make it because he’s on tour, but who else did you reach out to?
There were people who were just not available who would have been great. Timberlake, not available and also for the Sunday show. I think Bruce Springsteen wasn’t available and people who were asked who made their mark on the show but were just not available. It was definitely tricky to try to represent as much as you could without being able to represent everybody obviously and represent different genres. I thought it all kind of worked out beautifully.
I saw someone ask, “Why didn’t they have Ashlee Simpson come back for a redemption arc?“
[Laughs] I’m sure Ashlee wouldn’t have enjoyed that phone call either. Or just have her come out and do a little hoedown dance during someone else’s number? I think we left the comedy to the comedians on that show, which was great. Everyone was having so much fun and would show up early for rehearsals to watch. Bill Murray hung out almost the whole day when he was rehearsing. So he rehearsed his [Nick the Lounge Singer bit] all day with the girls [Maya Rudolph, Cecily Strong and Ana Gasteyer], and then he came out and was just hanging out watching the rehearsals when Backstreet Boys were rehearsing and he was singing at the top of his lungs in the empty Radio City Music Hall along to the Backstreet Boys. Everyone was so happy to be there and be part of the show.
Another highlight was Lady Gaga doing “D–k in a Box” with Andy Samberg. Did Gaga need convincing to join in on that? It was also fun to see cast members incorporated into musical numbers, like Fred Armisen playing drums for Devo and the B-52s.
Gaga was in for that and she was not necessarily performing. She was definitely doing the “D–k In a Box” bit and we had somebody fall out and she then performed [“Shallow”]. We had T-Pain and Bad Bunny, and Eddie Vedder was so funny as Captain Jack Sparrow.
What was the rehearsal time to swap Gaga in for that bit?
You mean besides no rehearsal? We rehearsed that whole show in two days. So we had about 45 minutes to rehearse that [Lady Gaga] bit. I had pre-blocked it with stand-ins just so I knew where we were going. Then we literally got everybody [Gaga, Samberg, Eddie Vedder, Lonely Island, T-Pain, Bad Bunny] up there for 45 minutes and they did a run-through. I think T-Pain didn’t even come to the run-through.
Were there any worries about catching a stray by dipping into the Drake/Kendrick beef with the Marty and Bobbi bit singing “Not Like Us” with Will Ferrell and Ana?
No. I thought it was hilarious. If anyone is gonna take that as a diss, they need to find a sense of humor somewhere because that was so funny. Will and Ana threw that together with [longtime SNL writer] Paula Pell in about 24 hours.
More than 600 musical acts have performed on SNL over the years, so how do you start cutting down the list for your show?
Well, you start cutting it down by the people who say no. [Laughs] No, but it’s really hard and thank God they had done that great documentary that Questlove did, because it really encompassed how important music is to SNL. Because everyone was really represented quite well in that. So then it was just decisions on what was going to be on the main show and what was going to be on Friday night show. I thought the Paul Simon/Sabrina Carpenter thing was perfect for the Sunday show. I think for a minute that was on the Friday show, then it went to the Sunday show, and Paul on the Sunday show was perfect, just where it should have been.
Who was your must-have? Who did you chase to no avail?
A few, of course. There were definitely people who weren’t able to be there who would have been great: Mick Jagger, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks. But the other side of it is, you couldn’t get everybody and I thought every genre on music that’s been on SNL was represented in that show.
Jimmy Fallon worked his ass off in that opening “Soul Man” bit.
He was working very hard and very out of breath.
Did it feel mean in retrospect to make him host and talk so much right after that?
[Laughs] It was always his idea to do some opening number, and I thought that was the perfect representation and Jimmy does stuff like that better than anybody else. It was a little difficult for the poor guy to do that, but he did do it in run-through, but I don’t think he hit it as hard. He was, literally, out of breath. But every comedian or musical performer, you put an audience in front of them and they take it up to 11.
Tell me about something we didn’t see onscreen that blew your mind. Or something that really captured the vibe of the moment for you.
In general, the whole thing felt like a family reunion. People were sticking around to watch other people rehearse, and people were coming over from 30 Rock to Radio City to see other people rehearse. The unsung heroes of that Friday night show were The Roots. Those guys worked their butts off and were literally thrown into the fire a couple of times and having to work out and learn songs in 15 minutes, get off stage and then come back in half an hour. And then, on the live show, Brittany Howard’s guitar went out and stopped working and the guitar player from The Roots [“Captain” Kirk Douglas] picked up that guitar solo on the fly. It was amazing. They can pick up a song in five seconds and they were also playing in all the musical comedy bits too!
There were so many A-listers in the audience that it could have been a typical stuffy awards show vibe. So were you surprised by their freakout over Backstreet’s “I Want it That Way”? Tina and Amy were singing like high schoolers, Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd were shouting along. Even Jerry Seinfeld got in on it.
When they rehearsed and they do what they were gonna do, and they said, “Now you sing,” I was like, “Oh no! It’s an industry crowd, I hope they’re gonna sing!” But literally every person knew every word. Paul Rudd, Pedro Pascal, Jerry Seinfeld was singing with Brian [Littrell]. It was nuts. Every time I cut to the audience, I’ve never, ever had a better cut-away experience in my life where every time I cut to a shot there was some incredibly famous person singing at the top of their lungs having the greatest time of their life.
What do you think it was about them that go everybody so excited?
I think everybody was so psyched for that experience. I said to Lorne, “You’re literally watching your legacy in front of your eyes.” It’s kinda nuts. I think everyone has a deep appreciation for Lorne and what he’s accomplished, and I think everyone just came to have fun.
One of the things that really grabbed people was Pedro Pascal just losing it to DEVO. When you saw that, were you like, “Oh, we need to cut that immediately”?
Yes, it was nuts, it was crazy. Every time I cut to the audience they were having the time of their lives. Pedro literally gyrating to DEVO was, I think, my favorite cut-away of the whole night.
Was there anything that did not go as planned that was a pleasant surprise or an “oh sh–” moment?
I think almost everything happened the way it was supposed to happen magically, which I will tell you did not happen in run-through. The fact that on-air it all happened the way it was supposed to was a Christmas miracle. We made every changeover, but there was one really big changeover where we had Jimmy in the audience and he was supposed to go over to talk to Sandler, and Sandler wasn’t in his seat because he’d just done the Post Nirvana intro and he was backstage talking to people. So then he just freewheeled it, which was amazing, and we were able to make the turnaround a little faster on the night of the show so he wasn’t there laying with egg on his face for too long. Other than that, everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.
I still sing “Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars” all the time, so tell me how the Bill Murray lounge singer bit came together?
I think [longtime SNL writer] Jim Downey wrote it for Billy, and then Billy asked for three of the girls and they tried to get who was available. Ana, Maya and Cecily agreed to do it and they rehearsed it in the lobby of Radio City and then came onstage and rehearsed it the day before the show.
The four-part series showed you how tight rehearsal and writing is on the show, but it sounds like your show was just as harried, if not more.
It was crazy nutty. It was two days of rehearsal and then show day, and we did a little rehearsing on show day before we did a run-through. We ran through the whole show just once.
It seems like you tried to pay tribute to so many through the song choices, like Eddie Vedder tipping his hat to Tom Petty with “The Waiting,” or David Byrne doing “Heroes” or Chris Martin with Bonnie Raitt…
It was definitely a conscious decision and Eddie [Vedder] was going to do “The Waiting” and we asked if he could say something about Tom [Petty] at the end of the song. He said he would do it in the middle during the break and then he said something completely different at run-through than he did during the show! He mentioned more of the musical artists on the show [during run-through], and then on air he did a tribute to the cast members.
What does it take to get Cher to put on those assless chaps again?
C’mon! How crazy is that? That she looks like that at her her age. I’m embarrassed of myself because I don’t look like that and I’m a lot younger. And how amazing did she sound?
The cast are used to staying up all night writing and long hours to get the show on air each week. But when you think about putting together this show, what was the biggest challenge now that you’ve had time to think about it?
The most challenging part was just getting the show rehearsed and on the air without any disasters. Also the difference between an hour and a half and three hours and also the difference in doing it at Radio City and having these huge band changeovers. It was logistically a lot more difficult… just putting all the pieces together. It was like a Tetris puzzle, so if one piece fell out you were in big trouble. Like when Brittany’s guitar stopped working, I said, “Oh God, I hope this doesn’t keep happening to us tonight.” And it didn’t and we were all good.
Peacock revealed the cast for the fourth season of The Traitors on Friday (June 13), including Donna Kelce, Monet X Change, Eric Nam and more.
In a video posted to social media, host Alan Cumming unveiled the cast by deliciously teasing, “Ah, dear me … what treachery awaits us this season? The fates whisper of betrayal. Backstabbing. And the occasional dagger in the dark. Let us see whose murderous destinies are forever entwined in my castle walls: the cards never lie. People on the other hand? Constantly.”
The hit reality show will be Mama Kelce’s first TV appearance after she starred in a pair of Hallmark Channel holiday movies in 2024. Meanwhile, Monet X Change will be following in the well-heeled footsteps of fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen, who also happens to be his co-host on their popular Sibling Rivalry podcast, and Nam becomes the first K-pop idol to compete on the series.
After (spoiler alert!) being the very first contestant in the castle murdered by Bob and the rest of the Traitors last season, Dorinda Medley will also get a much-deserved second shot to play the game, joining fellow Bravolebrities Lisa Rinna, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Porsha Williams and Caroline Stanbury of the Real Housewives franchise and Top Chef winner-turned-host Kristen Kish.
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Of course, there are plenty of other competition show alumni as well, which is sure to set up the now-signature “Gamers vs. Housewives” rivalry in the castle. Gamers to watch out for amid the lochs and highlands this season include Survivor stars Rob Cesternino, Yam Yam Arocho and Natalie Anderson, as well as Big Brother‘s Tiffany Mitchell and Ian Terry.
Meanwhile, Bachelor Nation alum Colton Underwood and Stephen Colletti of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and One Tree Hill fame are both obvious contenders to fill the hunky role in the castle established by Peter Weber and Dylan Efron in past seasons. And Olympic figure skaters Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir will add a dose of athleticism to the show’s endurance-testing physical challenges along with Mark Ballas of Dancing With the Stars.
Other famous faces rounding out the season 4 cast include actor Michael Rapaport, comedian Ron Funches and Rob Rausch and Maura Higgins of Love Island.
While a release date for the upcoming season of The Traitors has yet to be announced, expect the murders, banishments and parade of tartan to begin imminently as the 23 contestants descend on Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands.
Watch Cumming’s full season 4 cast reveal along with a first look at The Traitors‘ famous wall of portraits for the new season below.
