TV/Film
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An annual tradition on American Idol continues on Monday (April 7) – Hollywood Week, an integral part of the process of finding a winner, which has been part of the series since season 1 in 2002. But this year’s Hollywood Week is different from any previous edition, with the addition of Idol’s first artist-in-residence, Jelly Roll.
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“Hollywood Week is even more chaotic than what you see on TV. The episodes are pretty chaotic, but the camera can’t catch all of the chaos,” Jelly Roll tells Billboard during a sit-down interview. “I love it because it reminds me of the music business. It’s real. They’re not hazing these kids. This is stuff that happens in our business all the time. I can’t wait for the world to see this – the show brings me in when the kids are picking their head-to-head songs, so I am in the trenches with these babies. I watch them pick their songs. I give them advice and I catch them picking their partners. Some of them probably picked the wrong partner,” he shares.
“There was one group of singers who didn’t know how to communicate with each other, and I said, ‘This is the biggest decision you’re going to make because this is the last time the judges decide who goes forward. I’m going to give y’all my advice right now. Take it or leave it and I won’t be offended, but I think at this point your best bet is to pick a song that you feel safe doing together, not where one has to carry the other.’
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“Another group picked a song that the girl knew really well, and the guy didn’t know, and they thought it was the best for them. I said, ‘At this point, if y’all aren’t going to change the song, then there’s going to be a point where you’re going to have to carry this song,’ and that’s exactly how it shook out. She ended up having to carry the song and then, as happens in American Idol, there’s a plot twist, but I can’t give that away.”
Season 23 is not the first time the producers have shaken up the Hollywood Week format. “We refresh it here and there, year-to-year,” executive producer and showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick explains over breakfast with Billboard. “The auditions are the auditions. The live shows are the live shows. Hollywood Week is the round that has the most flexibility, but I do think that it’s really important to keep the integrity of the challenges the same as far as actually giving them real experiences that they might have in the industry, like staying up all night, collaborating with someone you’ve never met before, learning a new song. Some years you have duets or groups. With Carrie Underwood coming back, it was important for me to maintain some of the things that she had experienced in her season.”
And what did Underwood think of that? “Hollywood Week for her was the biggest eye-opening experience,” says Wolflick. “She remembers so much about all of it and her group round with Vonzell Solomon singing ‘Please Mr. Postman’ and all the little things, like forgetting her words in the first round. She sang ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ by Candi Staton. She didn’t really know that song. It was a different era then with no original music and you couldn’t play guitar. So she’s definitely seen the evolution. It was nostalgic, yet she was still excited about it.”
Wolflick elaborated on adding Jelly Roll to the mix, following his appearance on the season 21 finale and his mentorship during the Hawaii shows in season 22. “He was so great last year. He sat with the panel and he brought so much charisma and excitement. When the show aired the feedback was very positive and we and ABC were eager to do something with him. I’m sure every other show, like The Voice, were asking him too. He’s very hot. He loves American Idol. He told me, ‘This is one of the biggest things to ever happen to my career.’ He literally watched every single tape. He watched every single bio. He took the kids off to the side before going on camera and made them feel comfortable. I’ve never experienced mentoring on this level. I think carving out his role on the live shows is going to be interesting, too.”
In a separate interview, Jelly Roll confirmed his feelings about the show. “I love Idol. I’ve been an Idol fan my whole life. Who doesn’t love watching a kid’s dream come true on national TV? That’s what we get to see. To come back this year and have a full-time position with the cast is really great.”
Expanding on his role on Idol this season, Jelly Roll’s enthusiasm was apparent. “It’s fun. I’m glad we’re talking about this, because I look at my role probably different than anybody else does. I think I am the bridge from these young artists to the people’s living room. I am a bridge between them and the judges. I’m a constant mentor and source of advice, but more than anything, my job is to try to make these kids feel as good as I know they sound.”
Wolflick explained why this new role was created for Jelly Roll. “The word mentor seemed a little cliché and I wanted something with some weight. An artist-in-residence matches the gravitas that he has. He’s there with us all season. Hopefully he’s here for the long haul. He’s invested above and beyond what we would really expect of him.”
The Bear star Jeremy Allen White had some pretty big shoes to fill when he signed on to star as Bruce Springsteen in the upcoming biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Emmy-winning actor proved that he was more than up to the task this week when theater owners got […]
It will be nearly nine months before fans can hold space on their calendars to see the anticipated Wicked sequel, Wicked: For Good. But in Las Vegas this week, director Jon M. Chu wowed the crowds of movie exhibitors in town for the annual CinemaCon convention when he gave them a sneak peek at the second part of the big screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical.
Stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were, of course, on hand to help out, taking the stage alongside Chu and movie producer Marc Platt at the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace on Wednesday (April 2), according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We took a shot, and we divided Wicked into two parts,” Platt told the thousands of theater owners about splitting the film in two, with the second part due in theaters on Nov. 21. “Now we have the privilege of doing it all again with Wicked: For Good in November.”
Platt added that in For Good the stars “go deeper to find more depth and more complexity and more profundity in those characters. What’s in store is going to astonish people.” Director Chu also noted that one of the most anticipated moments in the upcoming sequel will definitely include “where the girl from Kansas drops in.”
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THR reported that the first trailer for the follow-up to the nearly $750 million-grossing first part did not disappoint, describing a “rousing response” from the gathered theater bosses to footage including the first look at Dorothy — though her face was not shown — as well as “golden bricks, a wedding and flying monkeys galore.”
“This is between the Wizard and I,” Erivo’s green witch says in the trailer in a nod to the abiding friendship between Grande’s pink witch Glinda and Erivo’s green-skinned Elphaba, with Grande’s Glinda later warning, “Elphaba, they’re coming for you.” The trailer also features Glinda stepping out from her emerald castle and putting on her oversized tiara, a well as Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) racing through the forest with his men on the hunt for Elphaba, as well as a shot of the latter writing “OUR WIZARD LIES” in the sky.
According to Deadline, exhibitors also saw Glinda walking down a wedding aisle toward the Prince and Jeff Goldblum’s wizard at the control boards, ordering Dorothy, the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow to “bring me the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West!” The final image reportedly featured Elphaba reaching out for her hat as it flies into her hand, with her broom in the other as she exclaims, “I’m off to see the wizard!”
In a nod to the pair’s endless, tear-streaked, hand (and space) holding press tour for the first film, the Associated Press reported that Oscar nominee Grande told the crowd, “we already have our tissues packed,” with Erivo promising “less waterworks this time.”
Actor David Schwimmer has admitted the theme song to Friends haunted him for years due to its overuse.
Schwimmer, who began his acting career in 1989, rose to widespread fame five years later for his role as Ross Geller in the NBC sitcom Friends. A monumental hit and a cultural phenomenon across its ten-year run, the show’s ubiquity in the pop culture zeitgeist led to its theme song (The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You”) becoming just as recognizable as its lead actors. For Schwimmer though, the omnipresence of the theme left a lasting negative effect on him that continued far beyond the show’s completion in 2004.
Appearing on the Making the Scene podcast with hosts Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Schwimmer admitted that the overuse of the song became a little too much. ”I’ll be really honest, there was a time for quite a while that just hearing the theme song would really…” he explained, letting out a sigh to reflect his exhaustion. “I just had that reaction, I just had heard it so many times.”
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“Anytime you would go on a show, a talk show, or an interview, that would be your intro song. I just didn’t have the greatest response to it,” he said.
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Written by Friends producers David Crane and Marta Kauffman, with songwriter Allee Willis and The Rembrandts’ Danny Wilde and Phil Sōlem, “I’ll Be There for You” was used as the theme song to the show after R.E.M. had rejected the use of their song “Shiny Happy People” as the opener. The track also became a commercial success off the back of its use in the series, reaching No. 17 on the Hot 100 and topping the Adult Contemporary, Radio Songs, and Pop Airplay charts.
Largely in part to the song’s constant presence in pop culture, Schwimmer admits that he didn’t manage to change his attitude toward the song until the last few years, when his daughter Cleo began to discover the series.
“At about age nine, my kid discovered it and started watching it,” he explained. “I’d be making breakfast or whatever, and I’d hear my kid’s laughter. My whole relationship to that song and that show changed again.”
Jack Black is hosting Saturday Night Live for the fourth time this weekend (April 5), and you’d think he’d be a pro by now. However, in a new promo for the show, the School of Rock star gets a little confused as to what “hosting” means.
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In the minute-long clip, cast members Ego Nwodim and Ashley Padilla discuss Black’s odd behavior on set. “I think he thinks hosting SNL is, like, literal hosting,” Nwodim explains. “Like, he’s having people over at his house or something.”
The scene then cuts to various moments in which Black treats studio 8H like his home, demanding that cast member Michael Longfellow take his shoes off before heading to the stage. “Sorry, I’m a stickler,” the comedian says.
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He then repeatedly tells Jane Wickline where the restroom is, offers some more cast members some of his roast for tasting, and makes a call for more ingredients due to the attendance of “more people than I was expecting.”
The clip then cuts back to Nwodim and Padilla, before Black appears behind them, holding a cooking tray. “Oh, great, the asparagus is soggy,” he says before angrily throwing the vegetables in the air. “I am blowing it!”
Black’s last time hosting was 20 years ago, in December 2005. Joining him in this weekend’s episode are Elton John and Brandi Carlile, who will be appearing as the musical guests.
Watch the promo with John and Carlile below, and catch the full Saturday Night Live episode on April 5 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC, before it begins streaming on Peacock.
From concert films and documentaries to biopics, we review 10 other Bob Dylan movies available to stream online right now.
LISA of BLACKPINK is getting down with Blackstreet and Dr. Dre, jamming out to “No Diggity” with her White Lotus castmate Tayme Thapthimthong in a recent clip. Posted to Max’s Instagram, the video finds the pair sitting in press-junket chairs as Thapthimthong flexes his vocals while LISA giggles and dances along. “Shorty get down, good […]
The Masked Singer pulled off one of its biggest surprises of the season during Wednesday night’s (April 2) “Boy Band Night” episode, revealing rapper, actor, and Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man as the celebrity beneath the Stud Muffin costume.
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The reveal came after Stud Muffin delivered a smooth and cheeky rendition of Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison,” complete with coordinated choreography and a clue package that hinted at his ties to hip-hop, brotherhood, and birthday shoutouts from BBD themselves. Clue deliveries during the episode came from Masked Singer alums Omarion (B2K) and Wayne Brady, the latter calling Method Man his “travel buddy.”
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“I had fun with it,” said Method Man, whose real name is Clifford Smith, Jr. “I’m always down to do something unexpected, and The Masked Singer let me just go out there and play. That’s what it’s about.”
Panelist Rita Ora had been adamant in her guess from Stud Muffin’s first appearance, and her celebration after the unmasking confirmed she’d been waiting for the win. “I knew it was you!” Ora exclaimed. “Your voice is so distinct — and you moved like a pro!”
The reveal drew gasps from the judges, with Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong both shocked by Method Man’s commitment to the disguise.
Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg floated guesses like MC Hammer and 2 Chainz earlier in the night, while Thicke aligned with Ora in the final moments.
The Wu-Tang legend is just the latest high-profile name to appear on season 13 of The Masked Singer, which has leaned into music nostalgia and heavy guest star cameos this year. Method Man’s appearance follows the show’s recent nods to boy band royalty like NSYNC’s Chris Kirkpatrick and B2K’s Omarion, both of whom joined the panel this week to dish out clues.
Best known for his iconic role in Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man has also had a prolific career in acting and production, with credits spanning How High, The Wire, Power Book II: Ghost and beyond. His last solo album, Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab, dropped in 2022 and featured collaborations with Redman, Jadakiss, and KRS-One.
Season 13 of The Masked Singer continues next Wednesday with the Group C finals. As for Method Man? He’s officially out of the oven.
Billboard Women in Music 2025 Last Friday is really happening, folks. We’ve been covering updates about the film extensively since June of 2024 when Ice Cube told Flavor Flav that the movie was gaining momentum. “We’re working on it. We finally got some traction with Warner Bros.,” he said. “They have new leadership. My man […]
Billboard Women in Music 2025
A feature film by artist, graphic designer, music video director and Ed Banger Records’ longtime art director So Me is out today (April 1) on Netflix.
Banger tells the story of an aging French DJ named Scorpex, played by French actor Vincent Cassel. Scorpex gets mixed up in a mission with an intelligence agency that provides him with what he believes is the chance to return to the top with the movie’s titular banger. The film also stars Laura Felpin and features an appearance by French dance royalty Kavinsky. Watch the trailer for Banger below.
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The French language film expands an episode that So Me, born Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, directed for the 2021 French television series 6 X Confiné.e.s. This episode also starred Cassel as Scorpex, with So Me later writing the film based around the character.
“I was already contemplating a movie in this world, and the opportunity of shooting the [episode] came a little bit after actually,” So Me tells Billboard. “So in a way, the [episode] is a spinoff that came out before the movie itself.”
He adds that the bumbling but endearing Scorpex “generates empathy because we’re all sooner or later confronted with a cooler, younger version of ourselves. And it’s particularly true in a job where most of the audience is, well, young. Some DJs deal with it perfectly, some struggle a bit more, and I look at it with a certain tenderness.”
Having worked with many DJs over the years, So Me says these artists have “all inspired me, that’s for sure. However, I would say [Scorpex] is more of a composite. This scene is just so ripe for satire. It’s a lot of egos. And it’s pretty competitive.”
After spending years directing videos for artists including Justice (“D.A.N.C.E.”, “Audio, Video Disco”) Major Lazer (“Get Free”), Kid Cudi (“Day ‘N’ Nite”) and Kanye West (“Good Life”), So Me says making a movie was “always been a dream” of his.
“There’s a lot of common things: Framing, lightning, turning ideas into moving images,” he says of the commonalities between making videos and making this movie. “However, there are also some major differences, such as directing actors, basically telling a more complex story. Music videos are more of a place to experiment, but having shot a lot of things already probably put me at ease to attack the climbing of such a high peek.”
But while making a feature length film was new, So Me certainly had a lot of life experience to draw from in terms of telling a story that takes place within the DJ world of clubs, parties and studios.
“I hope [the film] shows an educated version of how things actually happen in the studio, backstage, et cetera,” he says. “My goal was that people who are in the know would find it credible, however showing how it really is would be extremely boring for people who don’t know. So it’s a fantasized version of this world that aims at feeling real.”