State Champ Radio TV/Film
Page: 172
Justin Timberlake delivered a pair of new songs from his upcoming album during his return to Saturday Night Live on Jan. 27.
The 42-year-old pop star and actor served as musical guest for the fifth time as a solo artist, showing off his soulful vocals alongside host Dakota Johnson on the latest episode of the long-running NBC sketch comedy show.
After making a cameo in his Social Network co-star’s monologue, JT opened with his just-released single “Selfish,” which will appear on his upcoming sixth solo album, Everything I Thought It Was. The singer unveiled the song earlier this month at his hometown concert in Memphis.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“So if I get jealous, I can’t help it/ I want every bit of you, I guess I’m selfish,” Timberlake sings on the silky-smooth R&B song. “It’s bad for my mental, but I can’t fight it.”
For his second song, with an introduction from longtime pal and sketch partner-in-crime Jimmy Fallon, the superstar debuted the brand new gospel-flavored tracked “Sanctified,” featuring Houston rapper Tobe Nwigwe. The energetic performance included a full band and backup dancers.
EITIW is scheduled to drop on March 15. The forthcoming set follows 2018’s Man of the Woods, which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Later in the episode, Timberlake joined SNL alum Fallon for another hilarious edition of “The Barry Gibb Talk Show.”
The 10-time Grammy winner is no stranger to Studio 8H at 30 Rock. He joined SNL‘s Five-Timers Club in March 2013, with two of those times when he pulled double duty as musical guest as well. Timberlake has also earned four Emmys through his work on the show, including outstanding original music and lyrics for his “Di– in a Box” music video with Lonely Island. His last performance on SNL was in December 2013.
Watch Timberlake’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.
[embedded content]
[embedded content]
Here’s a math problem for you: If the Super Bowl, which drew 113 million viewers last year, combines with Taylor Swift, who sold roughly 3.3 million tickets to her Eras Tour last year and over 6 million albums and whose recordings streamed on-demand 16.5 billion times in the U.S., according to Luminate, how many fans will tune in to the big game?
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Not even statisticians know, but the scenario could play out Feb. 11 if Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs win their playoff game this weekend.
Just about everything Swift goes near experiences a consumption boost, from donuts in Kansas City to hotels in Philadelphia. Her televised omnipresence at Chiefs games led to a 400% sales hike in Fanatics’ Kelce jerseys on a single day and an additional 2 million female viewers for Sunday Night Football in early October, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
So far, the NFL has proceeded cautiously with this new demographic, attempting to welcome Swifties without alienating football diehards with over-coverage. Rick Porter, who covers TV and ratings for THR, expects that strategy to continue for the big game. “They’ll probably try to keep walking that line,” he says, “and not make it the Taylor Swift Bowl.”
Should Kelce and the Chiefs (and Swift) make it to the Super Bowl, Porter predicts the hype-filled run-up week to spotlight their romance, as opposed to more conventional football drama about tight-end positioning, defensive formations or, say, Eminem. “Everything about Super Bowl week is over the top, so I’m sure on media day that everybody will get bombarded with questions about it,” he says. “It’s the line they have to walk between welcoming more people into the tent but not turning off any of the people who were there to watch and talk about the game.”
Could Super Bowl viewership increase? A Taylor Swift Effect, Porter says, could potentially bump the numbers from 115 million to 130 million — “or something ridiculous like that.” He adds, “That would be a pretty big shock, if something jumped that much from something that was already this big.” Still, unprecedented numbers are Swift’s specialty: Eras grossed more than $900 million last year, according to Billboard estimates, and is on its way to earn more than any tour ever.
JoJo Siwa is returning to the judging panel of So You Think You Can Dance, Fox announced on Friday (Jan. 26). The dancer and online star will be joining previously announced judges Allison Holker and Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the upcoming 18th season, which airs on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox, before streaming […]
In tandem with the approaching celebration of Black History Month, comes word about the premiere of A&E’s latest documentary: James Brown: Say It Loud. Described by A&E as a “definitive look at a complicated life and a reflection on the immense impact Brown continues to have on music and culture today,” the four-part documentary series will […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
After the success of big-box concert films such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, Lil Nas X is taking us down the old town road in his own in-depth documentary from HBO. Titled Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, the documentary will premiere on Max on Saturday (Jan. 27), and coincides with his latest new single, giving fans the opportunity to explore the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” singer’s rise to fame and debut tour.
Divided into three acts — Rebirth, Transformation and Becoming — the movie chronicles the “Industry Baby” singer’s life growing up in Atlanta, his rebirth as a musician and his place within the community of Black queer icons. Fans will also get behind-the-scenes footage of Lil Nas X throughout his debut tour, which spanned 60 days across North America and Europe.
Keep reading to learn the streaming options available.
How to Watch Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero
Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero was produced by HBO and can be streamed through the company’s official streaming platform, Max. If you already have Max, you can watch the documentary for free when you log into your account.
Don’t have a Max subscription? The streaming platform doesn’t offer a free trial, but it does provide a mix of affordable plans starting at $9.99/month that you can personalize to your budget and needs. Click here or the button below to start your subscription. You can also take advantage of promos and offers that’ll earn you a free Max membership (learn more here).
Max comes with three memberships to choose from: With Ads, Ad-Free and Ultimate Ad-Free. The With Ads plan is the ad-supported membership and cheapest option at $9.99/month, or you can save 20% with a yearly plan for $99.99/year. With it, you’ll have access to the entire Max library including original movies, TV series, content and more. You’ll also be able to stream on up to two devices at once in HD.
The Ad-Free plan includes everything in the With Ads plan minus commercials and up to 30 downloads to watch content on the go for only $15.99/month or $149.99/year. Or, you can take advantage of the Ultimate Ad-Free option that includes 4K Ultra HD quality, 100 downloads to watch on the go and the ability to stream on up to four devices at once.
Other content you can look forward to watching include Barbie, Succession, South Park, The Last of Us, Love & Death, Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon, Euphoria, True Detective, The White Lotus, Gossip Girl, Parasite, The Menu, The Gilded Age and more.
Prime members and Hulu subscribers can also add Max to their subscription through the premium channel options, which will keep all your content viewing in one place.
Watch the trailer for Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero below.
[embedded content]
Taylor Swift may not have secretly authored Argylle, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t at least a little bit present in the making of the book’s film adaptation.
On the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show, leading lady Bryce Dallas Howard confirmed that, contrary to many a conspiracy theory, the 34-year-old pop star did not write Elly Conway’s debut novel Argylle under a pseudonym, nor did Swift officially have anything to do with the upcoming film inspired by the spy book. “We can’t pretend she was involved,” the actress said during the Friday (Jan. 26) episode, per People.
However, Howard went on to say, “The reality is [Swift] was in many ways a great inspiration.” “She is a cat lady,” continued the Jurassic World star. “She’s got this awesome backpack with a cat in [it] that she walks around with. She loves a good argyle sweater, and there is a sort of unapologetic dorkiness about her. That’s a little bit like what my character is like.”
Hitting theaters Feb. 2, Argylle follows Howard’s character, Elly — a novelist and doting cat mother — as she accidentally becomes involved in the dangerous world of secret agents after discovering that her fictional spy books mysteriously foreshadowed real events. The flick also stars Henry Cavill in the titular role, as well as Dua Lipa, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Ariana DeBose, John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson.
And because very little is known about the real Elly Conway, who has zero known social media presence, questions about the author’s identity started to arise last year. That’s when some Swifties began noticing certain connections between Argylle and Swift, namely the inclusion of a Scottish Fold cat — the breed of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s first two cats, Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson.
Director Matthew Vaughn, however, has been quick to shut their suspicions down. “It is not true,” he told Entertainment Tonight earlier this week, conceding that there is indeed a strange “amount of odd connections” between film’s reference material and the 12-time Grammy winner.
“It’s not Taylor Swift,” he also said in a Rolling Stone interview earlier this month. “And I say that because I imagine Taylor Swift has a load of people trying to jump on her bandwagon left, right and center, and I don’t want to be a part of that club.”
Saweetie‘s 2021 hit “Best Friend” is the perfect soundtrack the first trailer for the upcoming Zac Efron buddy comedy Ricky Stanicky. The initial look at the Prime Video flick directed by Peter Farrelly (Green Book) that also stars John Cena, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino and William H. Macy — cued to the rapper/singer’s bouncy track, […]
All those hours building with Lego before he was famous has really paid off for Pharrell Williams. In fact, the two-time Oscar winning singer/songwriter/producer is parlaying his childhood fascination with the colorful bricks into the building blocks of his upcoming biopic, Piece by Piece.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Who would’ve thought that playing with Legos as a kid would evolve into a movie about my life,” Williams said in an Instagram post on Friday morning (Jan. 26). “It’s proof that anyone else can do it too,” he added along with a hashtag for the title of the film.
Pharrell further hyped the movie due out on Oct. 11 with an accompanying man’s march of progress illustration, except make it Lego, with blocky Williams evolving from a single flat 1×1 plate to a 1×1 brick, a golden minifigure and, finally, a camo-wearing minifig in the 13-time Grammy winner’s image.
A release from Focus Features announcing the film directed by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) describes the movie as an “unparalleled motion picture experience that captures the magic and brilliance of Pharrell Williams’ creative genius, one LEGO® brick at a time. Uninterested in making a traditional film about his life, Pharrell set out to tell his story in a way that would set audience’s imaginations free. Developed from his singular vision, Piece by Piece defies genres and expectations to transport audiences into a LEGO world where anything is possible.”
Neville is also a co-producer on the movie along with producer Caitrin Rogers, Williams, Mimi Valdés and Shani Saxon of Pharrell’s i am OTHER label/creative collective. Jill Wilfert and Keith Malone are executive producing for the LEGO Group.
“Five years ago, Pharrell Williams approached me with the idea of helping him tell his story through LEGO animation,” director Neville said in a statement. “It was one of those rare moments where I knew in a second that this was a journey I wanted to go on. I’m grateful to our partners at Focus Features and at the LEGO Group for their belief in our crazy mission. We assembled an incredible team of creative collaborators to help make a new type of film. I can’t wait for people to see it.”
Williams added that when he had “this crazy vision” to tell his story via LEGO, he could not have imagined a better partner than Neville. “He is a legend,” said Williams. “Grateful that Focus wanted to collaborate with us and I’m honored to share this with the world and bring people into my universe. Building with LEGO bricks encourages us to follow our imagination.”
See Pharrell’s post below.
In a new clip from the upcoming biopic Bob Marley: One Love, premiering exclusively on Billboard below, viewers go inside the studio with Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Marley and his full Wailers band as they record their signature 1977 reggae smash “Jamming.” Ben-Adir — the British actor known for the TV series The OA and Peaky Blinders […]
Teyana Taylor proved her acting chops in her acclaimed role as a single mother struggling to make a home for her son in the gritty 2023 drama A Thousand and One. But the “Gonna Love Me” singer/actress is out to prove she’s a true double threat with her upcoming role in the as-yet-untitled Dionne Warwick biopic.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On Wednesday (Jan. 24), Taylor praised the “Walk on By” star by giving props to the woman who she said helped her see herself. “And just like that.. 2020MORE Blessings!,” Taylor wrote alongside rose, praying hands and heart emoji in an Instagram post that featured a screenshot of an announcement from Warwick’s son, producer Damon Elliott, confirming the movie’s green light.
“It’s official… we are funded and we have a shoot date!” Elliott wrote, seemingly certifying that the film is ready to begin shooting; at press time there was no additional information on the production.
Taylor gave the 83-year-old Warwick her flowers in the post, writing, “Ms. Dionne Warwick… A woman of great statue, poise and elegance, with a fiery spirit — Realizing I was looking at my future self. My reflection without a mirror,” adding, “Being able to learn and study from one of the greats like, @therealdionnew has allowed me to learn a lot about myself and the woman I am today. She has taught us to be proud of who you are…. —Don’t Make Me Over.”
The post ended with Taylor telling Warwick that her music and social involvement has “enhanced the culture. Your soul and artistry serves as an example of not only resilience and strength, but of faith and purpose.” Taylor included a nod to the producers behind the film and Elliott, writing, “We are so excited to make you proud!… Shout out to @iamdamonelliott it’s GO TIMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! It’s been a long time coming!!!”
Taylor announced plans for the movie in March 2023, telling Tamron Hall that they had already begun working on the biopic. “We’re in the building process right now. I’ve always wanted to make sure like, I could lock in with any person that I would be playing, you know?,” Taylor said at the time. “How Angela [Bassett] and Tina [Turner] was, how Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles, you know what I’m saying? Like, to really get to know them and I miss when movies was like that, when you get to know them and tap in and just bond.”
She said that at that point she and Warwick were already talking to each other every day. “That’s my girl. Me, her, and her son [Elliott],” she said. “I mean, I’ve always been a firm believer in just always standing on safety. She’s had a wonderful career, you know, and I think right now it’s about making her feel as safe as possible so she can tell her story. A lot of these stories get misconstrued or extremely dramatized to an extent and that’s not where we want to go.”
The role seemed to manifest naturally back in 2020, when notoriously hilarious X poster Warwick had a meet-cute on what was then called Twitter in which Dionne tweeted at Netflix with a plea to make a movie and take her casting suggestion. “Please don’t ask who I would cast to play me as it would obviously be Teyana Taylor,” Warwick wrote at the time.
See Taylor’s post below.
