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The new trailer for HBO’s long-awaited music drama series The Idol promises to dive into the muck of the music industry, and judging from the two-minute sneak peek that dropped on Monday morning (April 17), nobody emerges clean.
The series slated to debut on June 4 on HBO (and later stream on Max), was co-created by co-star The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) along with Euphoria mastermind Sam Levinson — and Reza Fahim — and it takes little time establishing the gritty, sex and excess vibe.
“When was the last truly f–king nasty, nasty bad-pop was one of the show’s stars asks over footage of Depp’s Jocelyn posing for photos while smoking a cigarette in a daringly plunging red gown. It quickly introduces nightclub owner Tedros (Tesfaye), whose dark past seems like a bonus for the pop star whose career was derailed by a mental health crisis on her previous tour.
“You’ve got the best job in the world. You should be having way more fun,” Tedros whispers as he seduces the singer on the dancefloor. “I like you,” she responds while a pounding remix of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” amps up the tension. The teaser then switches to showing cult leader Tedros as a svengali-like figure who unlocks something in Jocelyn by seemingly leaning all-in on her sex appeal.
“I want to be the biggest touring act ever,” she says as those around Jocelyn fear that Tedros is brainwashing his charge while things appear to be spiraling out of control. The filming of the series that was originally ordered by HBO in Nov. 2021 — which also co-stars Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Moses Sumney, Hank Azaria and more — was reportedly plagued by delays, reshoots and rewrites on a production Rolling Stone claimed was described by a source as a “s–tshow.”
Last week, The Weeknd posed a 17-second preview of a song he’s been working on for with producer Mike Dean the show that he captioned “THE IDOL VOL. 1.” The Idol will air on HBO on Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. beginning June 4 and will screen out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Watch the trailer for The Idol below.
James Corden has long had a soft spot in his heart for the men of One Direction. He’s hosted them and done bits with the beloved boy band’s members over the course of his eight years hosting the Late Late Show. So naturally given their affection for one another speculation has been running rampant that Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson would get the band back together to honor Corden’s final curtain call.
In a tweet on Thursday afternoon (April 13) — over a screenshot of a British tabloid report claiming that the five-piece would reunite for the first time in 8 years for Corden’s swan song — the show stamped the words “FALSE ALARM” in red letters. “Nobody loves the boys more than us … but this story just isn’t true,” read the let-down message to anyone who believed that the quintet are getting the band back together to honor their pal one lasat time.
“What is true is we’ve got an absolutely brilliant 2 hour finale planned to celebrate 8 years of #LateLateShow at 10pm on April 27th,” the tweet added.
One Direction visited the Late Late Show in May 2015, shortly after Malik took leave from the group, with Styles, Horan, Payne and Tomlinson cramming into a minivan for a “Carpool Karaoke” segment. Over the years Payne has dropped by to do a “Boy Bands Vs. Solo Artists Riff-Off” with Corden and perform “Strip That Down,” while Horan has done his own “Carpool” segment, a “500 Miles” song parody, and, just last month, a musical pirate sketch.
Tomlinson popped in last year and performed “Bigger Than Me” — while proving game to talk about whether he was open to being kidnapped in another long-running 1D bit on the show — and also performed in a number of sketches over the years. Styles has allowed Corden to film a low-budget music video for him, done a week-long residency, played a very spicy “Spill Your Guts” with Kendall Jenner, guest hosted, shot his own “Carpool” trip and even a Crosswalk Concert over the years.
Check out the Late Late Show‘s tweet below.
Nobody loves the boys more than us … but this story just isn’t true. What is true is we’ve got an absolutely brilliant 2 hour finale planned to celebrate 8 years of #LateLateShow at 10pm on April 27th. pic.twitter.com/Vyj75eB5qz— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) April 13, 2023
Drake Bell was reported safe on Thursday afternoon (April 13), just hours after police in Daytona Beach issued a missing person’s alert for the 36-year-old former Nickelodeon star. And while police have not released any information to date about where Bell (born Jared Bell) was before he was found or what caused them to issue a “missing and endangered” alert, the former Drake & Josh star broke his silence on Thursday evening with a jokey tweet about the incident.
“You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this?,” he wrote along with a crying laughing emoji. At press time Bell had not further explained where he was or why the alert was issued and a spokesperson for the Tampa Bay Police Department had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional information on the search for the actor.
On Thursday morning, TBPD wrote on Facebook that, “He [Bell] should be traveling in a 2022 grey BMW and his last known location is potentially the area of Mainland High School… He is considered missing and endangered.” Hours later they sent out an update that read, “we can confirm law enforcement officials are in contact and Mr. Bell is safe.”
According to People magazine, Bell’s last public appearance before his brief disappearance was on April 11 when he was seen with his two-year-old son at SeaWorld in Orlando; Bell shares custody of the child with estranged wife Janet Von Schmeling, who the magazine reported in January had split with the actor/singer as he sought outpatient treatment for substance use issues.
See Bell’s tweet below.
You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this? 😂— DrakeBell.ethᵍᵐ (@DrakeBell) April 13, 2023
Here’s to beginnings and endings. As Taylor Swift’s six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn has reportedly slowed down, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown has ramped things up with boyfriend Jake Bongiovi.
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The two seemingly unrelated headlines merged on Tuesday (April 11) when the 19-year-old actress and her 20-year-old beau of several years appeared to make it official with a black and white post on Brown’s Instagram that featured a very Taylor twist.
“I’ve loved you for three summers now, honey, I want ’em all,” Millie wrote alongside the image of Jake — the youngest of Bon Jovi singer Jon Bon Jovi‘s four children — hugging her from behind on a beach with the actress rocking what appears to be a diamond ring on her ring finger.
The caption, of course, is a reference to Taylor’s song “Lover,” in which the Swift sings that exact line before busting into the chorus, “Can I go where you go?/ Can we always be this close forever and ever?/ And ah, take me out, and take me home (forever and ever)/ You’re my, my, my, my lover.”
Bongiovi shared a snap from a different angle, showing the couple from behind with the surf crashing in front of them, his arm draped around Brown’s shoulder and a second snap in which he’s gazing lovingly into Millie’s eyes while they take a boat ride. Jake’s caption featured the word “Forever” followed by a translucent heart emoji. At press time reps for the couple had not confirmed the news.
Brown and Bongiovi were first linked after they posted a selfie together in June 2021, making things official that fall with a November post in which they were snapped kissing on the London Eye. In January of this year, Brown gushed about her love, writing, “Endlessly in love with the year I’ve had! Grateful for my friends, family, donkey (bernard), my doggies, my puppies teeth, and my partner for life. Here’s to another year with you and the wonderful people and animals around us. Let’s do it again but better!”
Jake returned the honor in February, when he celebrated Bobby’s 19th birthday with a sweet post in which he wrote, “Another year around the sun together happy 19th to the girl of my dreams. I love you more than words can describe. Everything about you is golden down to the core.”
The happy news for BrownGiovi came just days after reports that Swift and actor Joe Alwyn had broken up after six years together.
Check out the happy couple’s snaps here and here.
As soon as Billboard‘s Zoom call with Dave star Lil Dicky was over, you better believe the first Google search that followed was for “ScroGuard.”
Just as advertised in the call and in the premiere episode of the FXX sitcom’s third season — which debuts Wednesday night (April 5) with two new chapters — there used to be a male sexual safety device by that name, and he has a real-life story about it. He’s turned that personal embarrassment into another hilariously cringe-inducing scene for his series about a painfully honest, endearing rapper trying to make it in a game that values grittiness, bravado and ruthless climbing over being a good guy.
“That came from reality,” Lil Dicky (real name: Dave Burd) tells Billboard about the gag gift a friend bought for him years ago on the eve of an anticipated date with a woman the “Earth” rapper met on tour. After an intimate shaving incident, Burd says he realized his nick couldn’t be covered by a standard-issue condom, so he had to break the news that there would be no backstage bump-and-grind that night unless he wore the cumbersome device that looks like a pair of latex grandpa undies.
That look-away moment is replayed in the first episode after a show-opening sex rap that manages to incorporate lyrics about delicious soup, General Custer and “leakage,” that Burd — chilling on a couch in a pink sweatsuit — says was part of making this season more musical, and even more relatable.
“I wanted to start the season off with something interesting,” he says of the desire to set the table for his search for true love and romance while on tour. “For a long time, I found having sexual opportunities were more stressful than gratifying. My life as a single guy was less like the great sex I had in Albuquerque than some awkward incident.”
And man does Burd love, and lean all the way into, awkward. The first episode opens with Dave meeting a potential love interest in Texas for a possible hookup that involves the aforementioned ScroGuard. It winds up at a house party where the rapper explains to a room full of drunk fans that life on the road is weird and confusing and mostly includes people looking at him like he’s a C-list alien.
“It is therapeutic and liberating to have things you’re super insecure about and that you kept to yourself for 27 years… and not only am I going to release it, but I’m going to release it in such a public way,” he says about his self-identified inability to understand the parameters of modern celebrity cool.
“Everyone has their own things they struggle with in life, and what I want this show to do is if someone sees me dealing with insecurities about my penis in a proactive way, then maybe it will inspire them to look at their insecurities and not be so affected by them,” Burd says about the I-see-you-and-sometimes-I-am-you message bubbling under the surface at all times. “I want the show to inspire people to live their best lives.”
Dave certainly tries to do that this season, whether it’s taking a few moments to drop trou on the side of the road for some fresh vitamin D rays on his nether regions, or re-creating his first love. The latter comes via the hectic, drum-thumping, Birdman-style series of action shots in the second episode, which is set on a video shoot that reunites the rapper with his 8th-grade crush. In true Dicky style, though, the maniacal shoot takes place at his parents’ house, where his mom complains about the gaffer tape tearing up her freshly painted walls just before she walks in on what is the most embarrassing sex scene involving a geyser-like stunt device ever committed to film.
“I think that’s always been my biggest strength, how unabashedly honest I am,” Burd says about always leaning into his awkward small-D energy.
Dave airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on FXX and streams on Hulu the next day.
Apple TV+’s Carpool Karaoke: The Series will be back this summer with another batch of episodes featuring A-list musicians, actors and comedians belting out tunes in traffic. The series will return on June 23 with all-new episodes featuring some classic pairings, including Avril Lavigne and Yungblud, Alanis Morissette and model/actress Cara Delevingne and Somebody I Used to Know co-stars Alison Brie and Danny Pudi.
Other classic pairings will include comedian Cedric the Entertainer and Abbott Elementary‘s Sheryl Lee Ralph, another ride around the block for former Glee castmates Lea Michele and Darren Criss, as well as the cast of the Netflix girl group mockumentary Girls5eva and the casts of CBS’ Ghosts and Apple Tv+’s The Afterparty.
A minute and a half long teaser for the upcoming sixth season dropped on Monday morning (Apil 3), opening with Succession star Brian Cox and The Traitors‘ Alan Cumming singing the beloved Scottish children’s song “Ye Canny Shove Yer Grannie Aff a Bus,” followed by their take on the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe. We also got Morissette and Develvingne crushing the singer’s iconic “Ironic,” Cedric and Sheryl getting smooth with Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much” and Michele and Criss looking for “Sweet Understanding.”
The Ghost team tackled Harry Belafonte’s “Jump in the Line” and Cumming tried to convince Cox that he’s never done karaoke before.
Last year’s fifth season of the Emmy-winning show that spun off from a beloved bit on James Corden soon-to-end Late Late Show featured rides with Anitta and Saweetie, Sandra Oh and Duran Duran, Nikki Glaser and her favorite band, Wilco, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton with Amber Ruffin and Vanessa Williams, Method Mad and Chris Redd, Ciara and Russell Wilson and Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott.
The most recent edition of the network version featured Corden saddling up with Lil Nas X, with the two discussing celebrity dating and while collaborating on the MC’s 2019 breakthrough hit, “Old Town Road,” as well as “Industry Baby” and “That’s What I Want,” before Corden surprised Montero with a visit to the set of the long-running soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, on which Lil Nas will make his daytime debut on April 19.
Check out a preview of the upcoming Carpool Karaoke: the Series season below.
Saturday Night Live will roar back in April with three back-to-back shows, including an April 8 episode with SNL three-timers the Jonas Brothers performing alongside former cast member Molly Shannon (A Good Person) in her second hosting gig.
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On April 15, Karol G will take the 8H stage for the first time with Oscar nominee Ana de Armas (Ghosted), who will also make her SNL debut that night. They join the previously announced April 1 episode topped by Emmy winner and Abbott Elementary star/writer Quinta Brunson in her SNL hosting debut alongside fellow first timer Lil Yachty.
It’s been a season 48 to remember so far this year for the long-running sketch show, which welcomed Aubrey Plaza and Sam Smith on Jan. 21 to kick off the year, followed by Michael B. Jordan (Creed III) and Lil Baby on Jan. 28 and a memorable turn by The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal with five-timers Coldplay on Feb. 4. The hot streak continued with Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers) and Jack White on Feb. 25 and Super Bowl LVII winner Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Kelsea Ballerini on March 4, followed by the most recent episode, which paired Wednesday‘s Jenna Ortega and The 1975 on March 11.
Saturday Night Live airs live on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET and streams live on Peacock at the same time.
Check out the Instagram promo for the April SNL episodes below.
Billie Eilish has obviously conquered the world of music. But once you see her acting debut in the creepy teaser for Donald Glover’s new Amazon Prime Video series Swarm you’ll be wondering who the “Bad Guy” really is.
The series, which premieres today (March 17) focuses on a character named Dre (Dominique Fishback) who is an obsessive fan of a Beyoncé-like pop star. In the clip Eilish posted on Instagram, she and Dre are seen in extreme close-up discussing something ominous. “I see… milk spilled on the carpet,” Dre says.
“What color was the milk?,” Eilish’s character asks with a sweetly sinister look on her face. “It was red,” Dre replies with a knowing half-smile. “Did you hurt someone?” Eilish whispers before cracking a devilish grin. When Dre says she did, Eilish praises her work as “very good.”
The show also features Paris Jackson, Chloe Bailey, Damson Idris, Rickey Thompson, Rory Culkin, Kiersey Clemons and Byron Bowers. All seven episodes of the show are now available on Prime Video.
In an interview with Billboard, Fishback opened up about portraying Dre in the series. “I really wanted to stretch myself as an actor,” said the 31-year-old actress.
“Presence was really important,” she explained of her approach to the role. “If I tried to map out Dre, I wouldn’t be able to play an authentic character because she isn’t that. It became a thing where I would do something really weird and I would try to get a reaction out of Donald [Glover]. If I could get him to be like, ‘Huh, that was strange,’ then I was doing something.”
Eilish also posted a series of snaps from the Swarm red carpet premiere earlier this week, including ones in which she’s cheesing in baggy black slacks, an oversized white button-down and black tie in a parking garage stairwell, walking the carpet, posing with Fishback and series co-creators Donald Glover and Janine Nabers and with boyfriend Jesse Rutherford.
Check out Eilish in the teaser and walking the red carpet at the show’s premiere below.
In the first trailer for the upcoming Apple TV+ series My Kind of Country, executive producers Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon break down the reason they decided to hop into the reality singing competition lane.
“When we got together a long time ago we were talking about how country music should stop limiting people and start opening doors… it’s music brought over from all over the world,” Witherspoon says in the two-minute sneak peek that dropped on Friday morning (March 10). “The bluegrass, the folk, the gospel. There’s so many threads woven through country music,” Musgaves adds.
The series that will pit 12 contestants against each other in a bid to become the next country star will feature a diverse group of singers from around the world trying to impress ground-breaking country stars Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton and Orville Peck. Each scout has picked a diverse roster of up-and-coming acts who they think have that special something and invited them to Nashville to showcase their unique sound.
In keeping with that theme, each artist’s team is packed with acts that span the globe, with Allen’s featuring singers from Mexico, India, North Carolina and South Africa, while Guyton’s squad has two Nashville and South African performers and Peck’s players from India, South Africa and California.
The winner of the competition will receive what is described as a “life-changing” experience from Apple, which will include global exposure across the Apple TV+ and Apple Music platforms.
My Kind of Country will debut on March 24.
Check out the trailer below.
Kelly Clarkson was reunited with her 2019 The Voice team member, Jej Vinson, when the singer returned for season 23 — this time in a group.
The trio, called Sheer Element, took the stage for the blind auditions on Tuesday (March 7), where they delivered a sleek rendition of Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” complete with flawless three-part harmonies.
Their impressive performances got chair turns from Chance the Rapper, Niall Horan and Kelly Clarkson, whose jaw dropped when she saw her former team member Vinson. “What the hell!” she screamed upon seeing him.
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“He was Team Kelly on another season. He is incredible, that is insane,” Clarkson explained to her fellow coaches, before later telling the Sheer Element, “You’re incredible and I already love Jej’s voice. You’re so incredibly tight and you know your vibe. You’re not picking a coach to teach you anything about that. You’re picking a coach for song selection, and that’s really key.”
Horan also chimed in, noting that he turned his chair because the group’s performance “made me feel,” before adding that he has some experience in a group as a former member as One Direction. “I’ve been in a group. My favorite acts of all time are The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Boyz II Men. I feel that we could work very well together,” Horan shared.
Chance the Rapper also gave his pitch for the trio, sharing, “I can tell that you guys have done this together for a while because it sounds so tight. As an overall presentation, it was just insane.”
He continued, “I also produce music for a few different groups, and I think I could see exactly where you guys could go with your style, aesthetic and with the three of you guys as a group. So, if you want to win, come get down with Team Chance.”
Watch the full performance below, and be sure to tune into The Voice tonight (March 7) at 8 p.m. ET on NBC to see who Sheer Element chose as their coach.