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Kelly Clarkson is getting candid with fans about why she hasn’t been hitting the road lately.
During her concert in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday (May 9), the 43-year-old pop star and TV personality told the crowd that touring isn’t realistic right now due to the demanding schedule of The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“We haven’t done a show in a while, y’all, ’cause I have a talk show. It’s like a whole other job,” Clarkson said, referencing her band, according to Page Six. The Grammy winner also noted that being a single mother takes up much of her time.

Still, Clarkson expressed gratitude for the opportunity to perform two nights at Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena — her first live shows in nearly six months.

“We are bummed ’cause we love doing shows, and it’s hard to fit it in, so it’s cool when it does work out with the schedule,” the American Idol alum told the audience. “And it’s cool to get to see your faces and feed off y’all. Thank you so much for having so much energy.”

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Her 90-minute set included fan-favorite hits such as “My Life Would Suck Without You,” “Because of You,” “Breakaway,” “Miss Independent,” “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Since U Been Gone.” It marked her first full-length concert since November 2024.

Clarkson hasn’t embarked on a full tour since 2019. In the years since, she has booked Las Vegas residencies — including shows at PH Live at Planet Hollywood in 2023 and 2024. Earlier this year, she announced a new Vegas residency, Kelly Clarkson: Studio Sessions, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The show opens July 4 and runs through July and August, with additional dates scheduled for November.

In March, Clarkson celebrated the milestone 1,000th episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show. The daytime program, which launched in 2019, was renewed by NBC Owned Television Stations for a seventh season in December 2024. Her contract is set to expire next year, Page Six reports.

The show has earned 22 Daytime Emmy Awards, including eight individual wins for Clarkson herself. Most recently, it won outstanding daytime talk series for the fourth consecutive year at the 2024 Daytime Emmys.

Now in its sixth season, The Kelly Clarkson Show averages 1.2 million viewers per day and remains one of the top syndicated talk shows in the country, airing on more than 200 stations nationwide.

Arcade Fire returned to Saturday Night Live on May 10 to perform new songs from their upcoming album. The Canadian quintet — led by frontman Win Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne — took the stage at Studio 8H ahead of their forthcoming seventh studio album, Pink Elephant. Arcade Fire opened their set with the […]

Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and more stars are returning soon to their old stomping grounds, with The Voice announcing that a handful of former coaches will be performing on the upcoming season 27 finale.
As revealed Friday (May 9), the “God’s Country” singer and Kelly Clarkson Show talk show host will both take the stage during the competition series’ live show on on Tuesday, May 20, with the episode running from 9 to 11 p.m. ET/PT. Shelton — who was a Voice coach from seasons 1 to 23, the longest anyone has ever served on the panel — will sing “Texas” from his new album, For Recreational Use Only. Clarkson, who has nine seasons as a coach under her belt, will perform new single “Where Have You Been.”

But the two stars aren’t the only Voice veterans who are locked down for the finale. Season 23 and 25 coach Chance the Rapper will take the mic for “Space and Time,” while Alicia Keys — who manned one of the four spinning chairs for seasons 11, 12 and 14 — will share the stage with Amanda Reid from Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen for the television debut of “The River” / “Empire State of Mind.”

Plus, Foreigner will perform a medley of their greatest hits, including “Feels Like the First Time,” “Juke Box Hero” and “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and Joe Jonas will belt out “Heart by Heart” from his upcoming solo album, Music for People Who Believe In Love. Sheryl Crow — one of this season’s mega mentors — will join James Bay to sing their collaboration “You and Me Time,” and season 22 Voice winner Bryce Leatherwood will deliver a rendition of his track “God Made” from his upcoming self-titled debut album.

The finale will come as five finalists compete for the honor of this season’s winner, which will be selected by audience voting on May 20. This season’s coaches were Kelsea Ballerini, Michael Bublé, John Legend and Adam Levine.

A week prior to the finale, Ballerini and Legend will both perform as well, delivering “Baggage” and “So High,” respectively, on the May 13 episode. On May 19, Bublé will sing “Always on My Mind.”

Starting May 12, The Voice‘s season 27 live shows will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT Mondays and 9 p.m. ET/PT Tuesdays through the finale.

Akon has chimed in on the tension between 50 Cent and Black Mafia Family co-founder Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory.
During a recent appearance on the BagFuel podcast, he talked about his relationship with BMF and Jeezy during the mid-2000s, and was eventually asked about Meech falling out with his business partner 50 Cent once he got out of prison. “Actually, me and Meech had some talks about that,” Akon revealed. “He does feel slighted ’cause he felt that, you know, him and 50 should’ve sat down and had a real conversation as men because he’s been in [prison] for 20 years. He don’t know the feud that’s going on with 50 and whoever else. All he know is that, when he got out, [Rick] Ross came through, showed some love. While he was locked up, Ross made a big ass song that was, you know, ‘They think I’m Big Meech, Larry Hoover.’ In his mind, Ross is just paying homage.”

He added that the former music executive and drug kingpin wasn’t fully aware of the music business politics that would “warrant what Fif’ did.”

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The “big ass song” Akon is referring to Rick Ross’ 2010 street anthem “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)” featuring Styles P, which peaked at No. 60 on the Hot 100. The same song Rick Ross once told Billboard that he would clear for the show if 50 agreed to help promote Ross’ Wingstop franchises after the G-Unit boss expressed interest in using the track in another Billboard interview.

50 Cent and Big Meech have been in business together with the former producing a docuseries and a TV series for Starz about the latter’s rise to power alongside his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory in the Detroit underworld during the late ’80s, eventually turning BMF into a national crime syndicate and influential record label that was instrumental in breaking Jeezy’s solo career.

However, things turned sour when Meech and Rick Ross were seen together on social media, causing a back and forth between the Miami rapper, 50 and Meech’s son, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr., who plays his father in the BMF series.

The fourth season of BMF is set to premiere on June 6.

It’s Walton Goggins’ world, we’re just living in it. The actor who has been on a red hot streak lately thanks to his dual over-the-top roles in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend and things are, honestly, off to a rough start.
In one of the promos for Saturday’s (May 10) show, the veteran character actor gets a little taste of what it’s like to be super recognizable, for… something. “I’m Walton Goggins and I’ll be hosting SNL this week with musical guest Arcade Fire,” Goggins says. Cast member Ego Nwodim can’t hold in her excitement, fangirling to Goggins that she loves his “music.”

“I… what… you think I’m Arcade Fire?” Goggins says a bit peeved. “Oh shoot, my bad,” Nwodim replies, embarrassed. “You thought Walton Goggins was four people?,” the host huffs while surrounded by members of the band. “We hung out at the Met Gala! Also, I literally said my name at the beginning of this!”

Not willing to endure the indignity any longer, Goggins says “screw this” and walks off. “We’re still cool, right Walton?” Nwodim asks Arcade Fire, as singer Win Butler waves goodbye to “Arcade Fire.”

Nwodim gets it right, kind of, in another promo.

“Walton, I hear you’re a pretty serious actor. So how do you prepare for the role of ‘Walton Goggins?,’” she asks. “I dunno, I just try to have fun and… um, wait a minute. Oh God. Oh Jesus, this is the role of a lifetime,” Goggins realizes, haunted. “How do we honor that which we have lived so directly, for he who can’t truly be himself is a fraud,” the actor continued as Nwodim and musical guests Arcade Fire slowly, nervously slip out of frame while the Righteous Gemstones star gets into serious method mode.

“… And… they’re gone,” he laments as he’s left alone on stage.

Finally, Nwodim tells Goggins she loved him in The White Lotus, while Butler adds that he also loved him in the holy roller Max comedy Righteous Gemstones. “Ah, much obliged,” says Goggins, who has been killing it for more than 30 years in films including Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Ant-Man and the Wasp and dozens of TV series before turning into a global sensation over the past six months.

“And I liked you in that other thing you were in,” Nwodim adds, at a loss to name the exact project. “Oh yeah, and that one episode of that… one show,” Bulter says, as Goggins blushes at the non-specific plaudits. “Wait a second, didn’t you also play that guy that…” Nwodim begins, as Goggins completes her thought with, “… in that thing with the other guy.”

“Yes!” Nwodim and Butler say in unison.

Watch the promo below.

The race to ROSÉ‘s new song is over, with the BLACKPINK star unveiling “Messy” for the F1 soundtrack, along with an accompanying music video, on Thursday (May 8).
In the sleek visual, the New Zealand-born performer walks through various nighttime cityscapes, strutting down a glistening street past a crowd of people and leaning over the terrace of a high-rise building in between shots of footage from the F1 movie. “Baby, let’s get messy, let’s get all the way undone/ Come over and chase me like I’ve never been touched,” she belts over piano and anthemic percussion, sitting on the floor of a blue-lit room as confetti rains down on her. “Baby, I’m obsessed with you, and there’s no replica/ If it’s messy, then you know it’s really love.”

“Messy” is just one of several songs that will appear on the F1 soundtrack, which Atlantic Records announced May 1. Similarly, ROSÉ is only one of many A-list stars who contributed to the project, with Ed Sheeran, Tate McRae, RAYE, Burna Boy, Roddy Rich, Dom Dolla, Chris Stapleton, Tiësto, Sexyy Red, Myke Towers, Madison Beer, Peggy Gou and more musicians also lending their talents to the album.

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Don Toliver and Doja Cat also released a single for F1, “Lose My Mind,” in late April.

Starring Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Damson Idris, the Joseph Kosinski-directed film will hit theaters June 27, the same day its full soundtrack drops.

For ROSÉ, “Messy” marks her first release since her debut solo album, Rosie, arrived in December and reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The LP featured smash hit “APT.” featuring Bruno Mars, which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200.

The K-pop star is now gearing up to reunite with her BLACKPINK bandmates for the first time since their Born Pink trek concluded in 2023, with ROSÉ teasing back in February that they had new music in the works around the same time the girl group announced that a world tour was slated for this summer. Three of the members — ROSÉ, JENNIE and LISA — were in attendance at the 2025 Met Gala in New York City Monday (May 5).

Watch ROSÉ’s “Messy” music video below.

As it turns out, Benj Pasek of EGOT-winning songwriting duo Pasek & Paul couldn’t take the musical advice to “Whistle While You Work” during the making of the Snow White live-action remake… because he can’t whistle. “I would like to make a public service announcement that I cannot whistle,” Pasek says in a bonus feature […]

Prince Royce is set to open TelevisaUnivision’s 2025-26 Upfront presentation, taking place in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday. The bachata star will perform songs from his upcoming new album Eterno. “Music is the cornerstone of our content strategy, bringing to life the power of Latin Music to our audience and clients,” Ignacio Meyer, president of Univision […]

[Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the winner and runners-up revealed on Wednesday night’s (May 7) season 13 finale of The Masked Singer.]
In a season that has featured the unmasking of a mess of music stars — including Edwin McCain (Nessy), Method Man (Stud Muffin) and Flavor Flav (Space Ranger), plus actors Matthew Lawrence (Paparazzo), Candace Cameron Bure (Cherry Blossom) and James Van Der Beek (Griffin) and boxer Oscar De La Hoya (Fuzzy Peas), among others — when the confetti rained down on Wednesday night’s (May 7) Masked Singer finale, it was no surprise who came out on top.

Pearl shone the brightest on a night when she reigned supreme over the other three finalists — Boogie Woogie, Coral and Mad Scientist — after a season of dominating the competition with a perfectly executed mix of pop, R&B, rock, Latin and soul songs.

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If you were really paying attention to the clues this season, Pearl’s identity was plain to see. There was talk of a “tough exterior” you had to break through to find the treasure inside, making her own way by playing shows in discount stores and dive bars, Elvis, a bowl of cherries and Aphrodite, goddess of love. She also noted she grew up in a tiny town, split before finishing high school to work in a bar and said that when she started doing what she does, it launched a movement that opened the doors for many others. 

The guesses were all over the place, with judge Robin Thicke thinking Melissa Etheridge, to Rita Orr tossing out rockers Pat Benatar and Joan Jett and always-wrong Ken Jeong wildly swinging with certainty that Madonna was under the mask (she wasn’t). Meanwhile, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg’s guesses over the season leaned country, including Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Kacey Musgraves — which turned out to be the right kind of lean.

There’s a very good reason Pearl came out on top, beginning with her gritty, emotional cover of Lesley Gore’s 1963 empowerment anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” which Thicke praised for being “sultry and swaggy,” with a touch of soul and grit. Proving her versatility, she also spread that grit on The Outfield’s 1986 rock anthem “Your Love,” then pivoted again with a hip-swiveling take on Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine’s 1985 classic “Conga.” Other highlights included a killer cover of Dolly Parton’s 1977 pop country No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Here You Come Again,” a rock pivot for Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and an impressive run through the Whitney Houston ballad “Saving All My Love For You.”

She secured the win with Wednesday night’s cover of KT Tunstall’s 2004 rocker “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” which sounded so much like it could have been one of her own songs that Jeong called her the “Meryl Streep of Masked Singer.” Her final song, The Pretenders’ epic ballad “I’ll Stand By You,” soared and, seemingly, locked in the season 13 crown for none other than country star Gretchen Wilson.

Her victory came over Boogie Woogie (Andy Grammer), Coral (Zombies‘ Meg Donnelly) and Mad Scientist (Florida Georgia Line country star and solo singer Brian Kelley).

The singer — whose breakthrough, Grammy-winning 2004 single “Redneck Woman” sat at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks — spoke to Billboard before her win about why now was the right time to do the show, how the flashy costume switched up her public persona and why she didn’t sing a song from her all-time favorite rock band.

This show had you doing more choreo than I imagine you’re used to, so much hip shaking and gyrating. Was that weird to you, or did the costume help alleviate any nerves?

The costume helped with everything. When I stepped into the costume, I was transformed, I became Pearl. All of the different sides of Gretchen Wilson that I’ve never felt comfortable enough to show just took the forefront in the costume. I saw it as an opportunity to show the world there’s a lot more to me than this redneck y’all keep talking about.

What as it about that sparkly costume that appealed to you? You usually are a black T-shirt and jeans kind of woman, and it’s so girly. [For the record, Wilson was wearing a black T-shirt and one sparkly, rhinestone-studded blue glove during our Zoom.]

It was just all of the things I’ve never felt comfortable to do as a grown woman. I took it and ran with it. It’s an uncomfortable costume. You don’t feel all that pretty in it because you’re mostly just sweating. But when you happen by a mirror and see it you’re like, “ooh!,” you just can’t help yourself. I thought it was really good exactly because of that: Everybody just thinks of a plain Jane, girl next door type of thing, and I thought this costume was perfect because it was so opposite of what anybody would ever think they’d see me behind.

You’ve had a wild ride in the music biz, scoring five top 10 singles on the Billboard country charts and then jumping to your own label, so I’m curious: What did you want to prove on the show?

I had some post-COVID health stuff, I’m a long-hauler. I’ve got medications I’ll have to take for the rest of my life — high blood pressure, asthma — these are all things I didn’t have right before COVID. I also was dancing with a 6-year-old boy at a wedding, spinning, spinning, spinning, then I lost myself and I shattered my ankle and my leg, so I spent eight months in a wheelchair in a cast. So all of this was happening to me the last couple of years and it really got me to the point where, health-wise, my weight, I was thinking, “I might be done. It could be over for me because I’m not sure I’ll be able to breathe out there and do this thing as a living anymore.” So when this opportunity came, it was a moment for me to go, “All right, I’ve struggled, I’ve got the weight down, the medication is helping and if I say yes to this and I can go do this then I can do anything.” If I can do this, I can do a 75-minute show in Yuma, Arizona, in August outside.

Your sound was so versatile on the show, from rock to country, pop, Latin and R&B. Why was that a priority for you?

First of all, because I could. I grew up in bar bands. When I was 16, I was in three to four bands all at once, and it was always covers, so I got my start like, “How much can I sound like this one?” That was sort of a hidden gem in my pocket that I had, being able to transform my voice.

You didn’t do a song by your favorite band Heart, though. Why not?

Like any show, only a certain number of songs they have clearance for, so it wasn’t like I could go in there and say, “I want to sing ‘Barracuda’ by Heart.” There was a very good chance they wouldn’t have been able to clear it. Also, had they brought me a Heart song, I would have said no because it would have been a dead giveaway. I felt we got really close with show opener [Big & Rich’s] “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” — those are two of my very best friends. How do they not know that that’s me? I tried to pick songs I love, but also songs my audience would not typically think it would be me singing.

Speaking of which, was it fun to sing “Pink Pony Club” with Rita Ora on the finale?

There’s a song I’ve never heard! Never heard it [before I sang it] and never heard it since. Let me just say [throws up prayer hands]: Nothing against the song, it’s just not my thing.

How cool was it to get that message from your daughter on the last night? Did she know it was you on the show?

In the beginning, I told almost no one. I told my publicist, I had to tell my mom because I have four dogs and she had to come take care of them. The show decided to involve my daughter and her new husband, so that’s how she got on it, otherwise she wouldn’t have known. I’m really glad they did because keeping this secret from her felt wrong not having her involved in the moment.

Your Pretenders cover tonight made Ken cry! That must have felt good, right?

I didn’t remember that! I haven’t seen the final episode yet. I don’t know what my favorite performance is because I haven’t seen them all yet. I was impressed with the “Conga” because that was so far outside of what I normally do, but my friends are all liking “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and that was my least favorite. I was thinking, “What did I just do? I just chose a song that is going to lose me the competition. Where do I go with this vocal?” I had to be creative and jump an octave, or two, because this song doesn’t go anywhere! I think I did go three octaves in that song.

In a promo for this weekend’s new Saturday Night Live, it seems like Walton Goggins still has White Lotus on his mind as he teases his hosting debut.
Paired with SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez, the promo finds Goggins poking fun at the weekly White Lotus-style “who’s gonna die?” fan theories, applying them to the penultimate episode of season 50. 

Hernandez attempts to rein in Goggins’ death theories, saying, “It’s not that kind of show, man. It’s SNL, no one’s gonna die.”

Goggins presses on regardless, confidently adding, “Colin Jost, Michael Che, murder-suicide,” to which Hernandez replies, “No! These are real people, they’re not characters… no one is dying.”

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Goggins pushes further, insisting, “That’s exactly what someone who’s about to die would say,” and proceeds to theorize about which cast member might be responsible for Hernandez’s fictional demise.  He cycles through Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman before fixating on Bowen Yang, exclaiming, “It’s Bowen! It’s always been Bowen. It would always ever be Bowen, because he hates you.”

In classic SNL fashion, the sketch culminates with cast member Michael Longfellow sneaking up to dramatically stab Hernandez, revealing himself as the killer. “I should have been Domingo,” Longfellow says, referencing Hernandez’s viral recurring SNL character. Goggins, fully immersed, concludes with, “Wow, I did not see that coming! Prestige television!”

Fresh off his debut at the Met Gala on Monday, Goggins will continue a month of firsts as he makes his Saturday Night Live hosting debut this weekend, alongside musical guest Arcade Fire. SNL airs Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.