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Lindsay Lohan is reprising one of her most iconic roles, but according to her, stepping back into one facet of the character was a little, well, freaky.
In a conversation with Freakier Friday costar Chloe Fineman for an Elle cover story published Tuesday (May 27), the actress opened up about what it was like to sing again while playing Anna Coleman for the second time in Freaky Friday‘s upcoming sequel. Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the original 2003 flick found Lohan’s character — a teenage rebel who fronts a rock band called Pink Slip — magically switching bodies with her mother.
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“It was good,” Lohan began. “Well, it was kind of nerve-racking at first, because I’m not singing as me. When I was doing [Freaky Friday], I was also recording an album, so it was part of my life at the time. In this movie, I was singing it as Anna, whereas before felt more like Lindsay singing.”
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The Parent Trap star also confirmed that everyone in the original Pink Slip lineup returned for the sequel. “The whole band came back,” she told the Saturday Night Live comedian. “And it’s so funny, because Christina Vidal [who plays Maddie] had just had a baby, and we were like, ‘How weird is this? Are we still cool?’”
The interview comes just a couple of months ahead of the premiere of Freakier Friday, which hits theaters on Aug. 8. It’ll mark the latest project in Lohan’s onscreen renaissance that has taken place over the past few years following a long hiatus, during which the actress started a family. In 2022, she married finance executive Bader Shammas, and the pair welcomed a son, Luai, the following year.
According to Lohan, her little boy doesn’t fully understand her job as an actress yet — although he did recognize her on screen when she watched the original Freaky Friday to study her own guitar playing. “In my trailer, one day I was watching the original guitar scene and practicing movements,” she recalled to Fineman. “And he was there and he was like, ‘Mama,’ pointing at the screen.”
See Lohan on the cover of Elle below.
Ahead of the premiere of the new Apple TV+ animated special Lulu Is a Rhinoceros on Friday, Billboard Family has your exclusive first listen of the uplifting self-love anthem “The Perfect Me.”
The adorable ditty features Auli’i Cravahlo‘s Lulu, Dulé Hill’s Flom Flom and Utkarsh Ambudkar’s Hip-Hop celebrating their best and most authentic selves as they sing, “The perfect me is me/ The perfect you is you/ And when we listen to each other/ The whole world is more in tune, yeah!/ Who I am’s up to me/ Nothing I have to prove/ I’m easy to love, I’m good enough/ The perfect you is you!”
Coinciding with the premiere, Cravalho and creators Jason and Allison Flom shared exclusive statements with Billboard about the inspirational message that both kids and adults can take from “The Perfect Me.”
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“I adore Lulu for her enthusiastic spirit, and her innate wisdom of knowing exactly who she is,” the Moana star tells Billboard. “The song ‘The Perfect Me’ was a lot of fun to record; and while the message is simple, it felt meaningful to belt out! Others might say how you should look or act, but you are whole and complete without alI that outside noise. It’s honestly really catchy, and I definitely left the studio in a better mood that day.”
Meanwhile, the Floms — who penned the original children’s book together and serve as executive producers on the animated special — shared their own thoughts on the self-love anthem. “To write these lyrics, I started from, ‘The rhino of my dreams is me’ and ‘I am easy to love,’” Allison says. “In the song, Lulu, Flom-Flom and Hip-Hop each have a verse where they affirm: ‘Who I am is up to me/ Nothing I have to prove/ I’m easy to love/ I’m good enough…The perfect you is you!”
Jason adds: “Each of them reminds us that there’s much more to them than everyone else thinks and assumes. … We think everyone, not just kids, will connect to ‘The Perfect Me,’ and maybe they’ll get a boost of confidence every time they hear it.”
Once Lulu Is a Rhinoceros arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday, the special’s soundtrack will be available on Apple Music and other streaming platforms as well.
Pop songwriter LELAND serves as the special’s musical producer, and he tells Billboard: “Finding the right melodies and chords to pair with the brilliant lyrics written by Allison Flom was a challenge I welcomed. I aimed to compose melodies that felt conclusive, exciting, and easy enough for a child to sing after just a few listens. I remembered the songs I loved as a kid in my favorite musical specials or movies and how they’ve stuck with me to this day. The message of ‘The Perfect Me’ is simple and important and something we should all be reminded of whether we’re kids or adults.”
Watch the exclusive premiere of “The Perfect Me” from Lulu Is a Rhinoceros below.
On Tuesday’s (May 27) season 20 premiere of America’s Got Talent, judge Simon Cowell was blown away by a Brazilian crew that combined LED technology and dance for a simply mesmerizing show. The troupe is called Light Wire, and their show has to be seen to be believed. The movements of four dancers onstage cascade […]
50 Cent isn’t letting up on his self-appointed coverage of the Diddy trial, and he continues to have fun with AI to help with his trolling. This time around, the Queens rapper and filmmaker reacted on social media to his name being mentioned during Diddy’s ex-assistant Capricorn Clark’s testimony on Tuesday morning (May 27), during […]
Kenan Thompson is teasing the possibility of casting changes for the next season of Saturday Night Live. Following the conclusion of the iconic sketch comedy show’s 50th season on May 17 — hosted by Scarlett Johansson with musical guest Bad Bunny — the 47-year-old comedian and longtime SNL cast member called the season’s end “bittersweet” […]
Sacha Jenkins, a pioneering hip-hop journalist, author, filmmaker and cultural historian, has died at the age of 54.
Jenkins passed away on Friday (May 23) at his home due to complications from multiple system atrophy, his wife, journalist and filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Throughout his multifaceted career as an author, producer, magazine founder and filmmaker, Jenkins was widely regarded as a key authority on hip-hop culture. Born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City, he moved to Queens in the late 1970s — a formative time when hip-hop, punk, graffiti and skateboarding were all rising cultural forces.
Jenkins was the son of Horace Byrd Jenkins III, an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker who worked on 60 Minutes and Sesame Street. He began his own career by founding Graphic Scenes & X-plicit Language, an early magazine dedicated to graffiti art. Jenkins later co-founded the hip-hop newspaper Beat Down with childhood friend and fellow music journalist Elliott Wilson.
In 1994, Jenkins and Wilson launched the influential hip-hop and skateboarding publication Ego Trip. The magazine ran for 13 issues and spawned two acclaimed books: 1999’s Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists and 2002’s Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism! Alongside team members Jefferson “Chairman” Mao, Gabriel Alvarez and Brent Rollins, Ego Trip also branched into television, producing several shows for VH1, including 2007’s The (White) Rapper Show.
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Jenkins contributed his writing to publications like Spin, Rolling Stone and served as both music editor and writer-at-large at Vibe. He recently held the position of creative director at Mass Appeal, according to Rolling Stone.
As a filmmaker, Jenkins directed and produced a range of projects. His work includes Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (2022), Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (2021), Fresh Dressed (2015), All Up in the Biz (2023) and Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos (2024). His 2019 docuseries Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men earned him an Emmy nomination.
Jenkins is survived by his wife, Raquel Cepeda, and their two children.
Hot Ones host Sean Evans is blowing the lid off of one of the country’s most exclusive, top-secret concert venues: Aaron Paul’s living room. On the latest episode of his culinary web series posted Thursday (May 22), the interviewer got the Breaking Bad star to open up about his little-known house shows, for which Paul […]
JIN covered a lot of ground during his appearance on The Tonight Show Wednesday (May 21), from opening up about BTS‘ upcoming reunion to trying out his skills as a late-night host and chatting about … butts.
During one of the more serious moments from his interview with host Jimmy Fallon, the K-pop star reflected on his feelings about bandmates RM, Suga, V, Jimin and Jung Kook approaching the end of their respective military enlistments in South Korea, after which ARMY is expecting the guys to resume full-band activities as early as June. JIN completed his service in June 2024, while J-Hope finished in October.
“It was great to be alone,” said JIN, who released two solo EPs, Happy and Echo, during the band’s time apart. “But when they come back, since they worked very hard, I’m going to honor them and give them great respect.”
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“They are my lifesavers, so I need to show my appreciation and take care of them,” he added of his bandmates as fans in the audience went “Awwww.”
The remaining band members will be discharged in June, allowing all seven of the Bangtan Boys free to regroup for the first time since JIN enlisted in December 2022. BTS hasn’t released a proper studio album since 2020’s Be, which topped the Billboard 200.
Elsewhere in his conversation with the Saturday Night Live alum, JIN talked about his love for Tom Cruise, working on new EP Echo and gearing up to embark on his upcoming solo tour. One of the silliest moments, however, came as the performer switched places with Fallon, testing out his hosting capabilities behind the famous Tonight Show desk. “Thank you for coming to my show!” JIN quipped as Fallon laughed. “I am a superstar.”
JIN went on to pose a very important question to his “guest.” “Do you think we have one butt or two?” he asked a perplexed Fallon, who eventually answered that humans have just one butt.
“One? No!” the “Running Wild” singer hilariously replied, standing up from his seat before gesturing to his own tush in demonstration. “It’s left leg and right leg, and left, right — two!”
Also on the show, JIN performed “Don’t Say You Love Me,” transforming the show’s stage into a giant bed. In conversation with Fallon, he revealed that the track is about the tough feeling of knowing you need to break up with someone, but not having the heart to do it.
Watch JIN’s full Tonight Show interview above.
Miley Cyrus just gave fans a new look into the world of Something Beautiful, with the pop star unveiling her visual album film’s official trailer — featuring a snippet of an unreleased song — on Thursday (May 22). Posted three weeks ahead of the movie’s theatrical release, the trailer opens with Cyrus cloaked in a […]
For his return to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night (May 21), Jin transformed the stage into a giant bed — and Billboard has the exclusive preview photos to prove it. The BTS member made himself at home in Studio 6B, getting extra cozy for his performance of “Don’t Say You Love […]
