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The Masked Singer crew will get a very special visit from a musical superstar on Wednesday night’s (Dec. 4) “Quarter Finals: Merging of the Masks” episode. None other than 13-time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer Babyface dials into the show to deliver words of encouragement to the three-headed singing sensation Buffalos. Calling in on the show’s fuzzy, rainbow-hued […]
Amy Adams has always liked and appreciated Taylor Swift‘s music. But then the Nightbitch star went to see the Eras Tour, she proudly became “a Swiftie at 50,” the star told Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s (Dec. 3) Tonight Show. “I’m a Swiftie at 50, so I’m like a shifty 50 Swiftie… and I’m like ‘isn’t that nifty?’ And now my daughter’s going, ‘Ooh, I hate this for you.’”
Adams said the Eras experience was so profound that she went from “normal” to “‘I’ll take all the friendship bracelets!’”
When Fallon asked if Adams had ever met the singer, the Golden Globe winner said they did cross paths years ago at an awards show afterparty, where they sang karaoke together. In fact, they did a duet on 4 Non Blondes’ signature 1993 hit “What’s Up,” during Adams committed the ultimate karaoke faux pas.
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“And I may have… uh… sang it a little loud,” Adams admitted. “And I’m sure everybody was like, ‘Amy, shut up! Like, we want to hear Taylor sing.’ I was just in it.”
“The one that goes ‘hey, yeah, yeah, yeah’? You went for it? That one?” Fallon asked.
“I did,” Adams said. “When someone does that at karaoke I let them go,” Fallon said.
“But I should have sat down and just let Taylor sing,” Adams realized. “I had a blast. Now, in reflection, if I were to do it now I’d be so different I would like to think… I did the right thing. I sang really loud over Taylor Swift… and probably not great, either.”
Fallon also mentioned that there’s a long-running internet campaign suggesting that the six-time Oscar nominee would be the perfect choice to play Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine, in a biopic. “Uh, that would be amazing,” said Adams, whose red hair is a shade darker than Paine’s signature flame mane. Fallon then help up a tweet that said “Amy Adams will win an Oscar for Tree Paine’s biopic.”
“That would be so fun,” said Adams, mother to a 14-year-old daughter who (see above) she noted is now not embarrassed by her mom, but more embarrassed for her mom. “If it got me closer to Taylor then that would be fun,” Adams said.
Adams’ Nightbitch opens in theaters on Friday (Dec. 6).
Watch Amy Adams describe shouting over Taylor Swift during karaoke below.
Sixteen-year-old New York native Sydney Sterlace made a strong case for a slot in the upcoming finals when the Team Gwen singer wowed the studio audience and viewers on Monday night (Dec. 2) during the launch of the live rounds on The Voice. Dramatically backlit, Sterlace stood alone center stage in a black and tan […]
Jason Kelce stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday night (Nov. 21) to talk about his new ESPN talk show, though the conversation naturally ended up pivoting to his younger brother Travis and Trav’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
After some perfunctory talk about the former Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl-winning center’s salad days with the team and how he keeps himself busy now that he’s retired, the pair got down to the really important stuff: what gifts is Jason getting Travis and Taylor for Christmas?
“At Christmastime will you buy individual gifts for Travis and Taylor, or will you buy them a couple’s gift?” Kimmel wondered. “And what do you get them?”
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“It’s tough to shop for people that can have anything that they want,” Jason admitted. “So you gotta go to handmade gifts, something sentimental maybe that is near and dear to them?” When Kimmel asked if Jason was crafty enough to make his own hand-made gifts, the former baller said he never has, but that it might work “really well” this holiday season.
“I’ve got something up my sleeve year… a macaroni necklace would be [a good gift]. It works on me with my kids,” said Kelce. “It would be funny if you make Taylor a macaroni necklace and then all of a sudden millions of girls are wearing macaroni necklaces,” Kimmel joked as Kelce coined the sure-to-be-viral-soon phrase “friendship macaroni necklaces.”
Jason Kelce will debut his new ESPN talk show, They Call it Late Night, on Jan. 3, with the post-season series slated to air every Friday during the playoffs. “I’ve always loved [late night shows]. I remember sleepovers watching Conan O’Brien with my friends,” he told Kimmel. “For me, the biggest thing players say they miss when they leave the sport is being around the guys, the locker room, the banter.” Which is why the new show will feature a rotating cast of legends, friends, celebrities, former teammates and a live band, all in Philadelphia, of course.
When Kimmel asked if Travis might be on the show, Jason said the Kansas City Chiefs tight end will “probably” be busy — the Chiefs are 9-1 and are on track to cruise to the playoffs again this year — but “hopefully” he can’t make it because he’s tied up trying to win an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl.
“If he says he can’t make it on a Friday and then we see him at one of girlfriend’s concerts on a Friday, we’re gonna have a problem probably,” Kimmel joked about Travis’ frequent trips around the world to catch Swift on her soon-to-conclude Eras Tour. “We all know who the priority is,” Jason said.
Watch Jason Kelce on Kimmel below.
SPOILER ALERT: This article features the name of the singer eliminated on Wednesday night’s (Nov. 20) episode of The Masked Singer.
So far, season 12 of The Masked Singer has already seen the usual mix of athletes, singers, actors and media personalities getting sent home, including John Elway (Leaf Sheep), Yvette Nicole Brown (Snowbird), Paula Cole (Ship), Marsai Martin (Woodpecker), Andy Richter (Dust Bunny), Laverne Cox (Chess Piece) and Natalie Imbruglia (Bluebell).
So the stakes were high Wednesday night when the Group C singers kicked things off with a collaboration on Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.,” with Ice King, Strawberry Shortcake, Royal Knight and Sherlock Hound taking the stage together following last week’s elimination of their groupmate Macaron (surfer Bethany Hamilton).
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Last week, previous Masked contestants Hanson revealed in a clue package that Ice King had topped charts around the world, sold out stadiums and was given the “royal treatment like he was one of The Beatles,” before retreating from the spotlight. That could have been anyone, so Wednesday night’s clue package kind of gave away the game, with the King noting that he can really relate to Miley, as they’ve both learned how the media can be “totally uncool” and that this year he’s been part of a “firestorm” of press.
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That revelation was a prelude to Ice King’s impassioned cover of Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts hit “Midnight Sky,” which he sang in the midst of a soundstage blizzard of fake snow. It followed last week’s rip through Hot Chelle Rae’s 2011 Billboard Hot 100 No. 7 hit “Tonight Tonight.”
The guesses from the judges were all over the place, with Robin Thicke praising the King’s “rock” energy, but not coming up with a Teen Choice Award winner who would fit the bill, even as always-wrong Ken Jeong doubled down on his guess from last week: Joe Jonas. Rita Ora keyed in on a possible former child star who has been through it, Shia LaBeouf, though Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg vacillated between James Franco and the actual man behind the mask: three-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner Drake Bell.
The child actor who began his career on the sitcom Home Improvement before becoming a Nickelodeon superstar on The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and The Fairly OddParents also sang on the Drake & Josh soundtrack and released his debut album, Telegraph, in 2005. He followed up with his 2006 breakthrough It’s Only Time and 2014’s Ready Steady Go! and has since released two albums independently: 2020’s The Lost Album and this year’s Non-Stop Flight.
Earlier this year, Bell, 38, revealed in the Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV documentary that during his Nickelodeon years, his dialogue coach Brian Peck had repeatedly sexually assaulted him beginning when Bell was 15; Peck was arrested in 2003 and convicted of lewd conduct with a minor.
Billboard spoke to Bell before Wednesday night’s elimination episode and found out why he loved his costume, how TikTok sleuths blew his mind and what his next era might look like.
What made you want to do Masked Singer this season? Are you a fan of the show?
Totally. What’s interesting is that I had the opportunity to do Masked Singer in Mexico [last year], so I had experience coming in. I was Baby Alien [holds adorable stuffed Baby Alien doll up to the camera] and I’m on tour and doing meet-and-greets and a fan made me this stuffed animal.
You have a young son at home. Has he seen you on the show?
He’s a little too young. … I don’t think that he would tell any of his friends, but I had to keep it under wraps. I hope he’s able to watch it tonight and when I take my head off he’s like, “Wait, what? That was Dada?”
Every contestant complains about how hot and uncomfortable the costumes are. Tell me about the Ice King costume. Why did it speak to you?
The costume designers did me such a solid because my costume was so easy to move around in. Not the Mexico one, though; that was a really hot costume. Every 15 minutes I was asking for a fan or taking the head off. But this one was awesome and it was so light and easy to move around in. Right when I saw it, seeing this big character, the King and his big mustache and cape … [I thought] “There is going to be so much to play with.” I completely lost myself in the character.
You really seemed to go for it with the Hot Chelle Rae song. What inspired you to choose that one? It seems a bit outside of your usual vibe.
It’s totally out of my wheelhouse, but totally a guilty-pleasure song. It’s cool because when I’m in the costume, I’m not self-conscious about what people are going to think. It allows you to lose yourself and find the character and sing songs you wouldn’t normally sing.
The package alluded to you and Miley both understanding the difficulties of growing up in the Hollywood spotlight, so why “Midnight Sky”?
I think honestly just the vibe of the song. I love older music, from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and it had a real vintage feel. The second I heard it, I thought, “This has got to be the one.” It was the closest thing to what I’m into.
You’ve done movies, TV, albums, video games, but this is your first competition show. What was your goal? Did you want to win?
First of all, it’s just fun. This was an opportunity to have fun and they really allow you to play the game. You always think it’s smoke and mirrors and it’s all Hollywood and the contestants know who the other contestants are. But it is secretive and we really have no idea who anyone else is. When you leave the hotel, you’re completely covered up, with gloves and everything. You’re looking at how tall they are and trying to listen to their performance, but you can only hear the singer right before you. You don’t eat lunch together or rehearse together… so you’re playing along with the game.
Did anyone in your life immediately realize it was you under that costume?
I didn’t think anyone would ever guess or recognize my voice, but I was looking at a clip on TikTok and in the comments section every comment was, “Oh, this is Drake Bell.” They were like, “This is Drake because when he’s singing onstage without a guitar, if you look at a picture, his hands are like this and look at Ice King and his hands are like this too.” On the first night they were guessing it’s me? I thought I’d be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.
Was there something about being masked that appealed to you as someone who has spent so much time with their face in the spotlight? Was there a comfort in that?
There’s a total comfort, like when I’m doing voice-over work on the Ultimate Spider-Man. Like when you’re doing fight scenes, you move your face in a way to get the sounds out and if you were on camera you wouldn’t make those faces because you’d be worried about what you look like. But getting the right voice behind the mask you’re not worried about someone going, “Wow, Drake Bell can’t dance.” Or “Why is Drake Bell singing this song?”
Obviously it’s been a hectic, intense year for you as you’ve come back into the spotlight. Do you feel like Masked Singer is an opportunity to have a “second chance” in Hollywood?
I definitely feel that way. Being able to do something so fun and music-driven now that I just released a new album and am on tour now — life works in mysterious ways, but it all came together at the right time. As I’m launching the new record and reintroducing myself to the world, this is a really cool thing.
You mentioned that you dropped the Non-Stop Flight album earlier this year. Can we expect more music from you soon?
The album is big, 25 songs, and it’s a total concept album that sounds like you’re on an airplane flight with announcements from the flight attendants and captain. It’s a journey through my life and the most autobiographical, self-reflecting album I’ve put out. … Songs about the past, present, future, the good, the bad, ugly, ups and downs. It took four years to complete, and every time I thought I was done, I’d write another song and something would happen. I would also love to get back on screen and now I’m really focused with the work I’m doing with a production company and looking to get more into writing and directing and producing and hopefully getting on the other side [of the camera].
Cher is out there hitting all the usual spots promoting her long-awaited autobiography, Cher, The Memoir: Part One. And a recurring theme in her chats is how unapologetically Cher she is, including talking candidly about how hard it was reviewing her 78 years on Earth, most of which she’s spent in the public eye.
And, Cher being Cher, sometimes that forthrightness can tip over into not-safe-for-morning-TV talk. That’s exactly what happened on The Today Show on Tuesday morning (Nov. 19), when the singing legend sat down to talk about the memoir with co-host Hoda Kotb and dropped an uncensored F-bomb while telling a hilarious story about some solid relationship and career advice she got from late comedy icon Lucille Ball.
To be fair, Cher warned Kotb that she was going to sprinkle some zesty language into the breakfast mix when the host asked about what Ball had counseled when Cher split from husband/singing partner Sonny Bono in 1975. “I can’t say it on TV,” Cher said before making sure that producers were “going to bleep it.” When Kotb promised that it would be censored, Cher went ahead and told the story, as-is.
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She then described reaching out to Ball — who went through a similarly public break-up with her husband and I Love Lucy co-star, Desi Arnaz, 15 years earlier — who gave some sage, and salty, advice after Cher found out that, as she told Kotb, Bono had taken “all her money” before their split. “I said, ‘Lucy, I’m calling you because to my knowledge, there’s never been a situation besides mine except yours,’” Cher said she told Ball about a female entertainer who publicly left their on- and off-screen spouse. “And she said, “F–k him. You’re the one with the talent!’”
Though the f-word is now bleeped in the online video of the moment on the Today feeds, after it happened a clearly shocked Kotb said, “Oh!… we didn’t have the seven-second [delay]. But we will get it for the next feed!”
After realizing the f-bomb had not been bleeped, Cher turned to Kotb and pointed the finger, saying, “Well you said I could!”
Kotb laughed, saying, “I should have bleeped it myself! Bleep!”
That oopsie moment followed Cher’s Monday night (Nov. 18) visit to the Tonight Show, where she did another funny bit with host Jimmy Fallon and talked about how difficult it was to really lay it all out in the book — which is the first half of a two-part project that will be followed by Part Two next year.
“It was a b–ch,” she told Fallon about the first half of the book, which follows her rise from Cherilyn Sarkisian to worldwide fame as one-half of the Sonny & Cher duo. “It’s not going through your life that’s hard so much. But I did it a couple of times because the first time it didn’t work out. The second time I just didn’t want to tell anything. And then I thought, ‘You know what? Give back the money.’ It’s hard because when you’re telling your life there’s parts you’d like to guard.”
More importantly for her fans, the new Rock and Roll Hall of Famer also casually mentioned that she’s working on her twenty eighth studio album and follow-up to 2018’s ABBA cover album Dancing Queen; she released the Christmas holiday album in 2023. When Fallon asked if a new LP was on the horizon, Cher said she’s “about to” begin work on one to wild applause from the audience.
Watch Cher on the Tonight Show below.
Kelly Clarkson‘s star was born a long time ago. In fact, 2025 will mark 23 years since America voted to make Clarkson the very first — and still in many minds the very best — American Idol winner. So even though she had nothing to prove on Thursday (Nov. 14) in the latest Kellyoke segment […]
On her promotional run for the movie musical Wicked, Ariana Grande has been talking a lot about how her starring role as Glinda is the gig of a lifetime. And while the singer has said she’s been basically prepping for this moment since she was in the single digits, that doesn’t mean she is taking it all so, so seriously.
Which might explain why on Thursday night (Nov. 14) when she dropped by The Tonight Show to talk up the movie that will hit theaters on Nov. 22, she was happy to have a bit of fun with one of the most beloved Wizard of Oz memes of all-time. In a clip posted a few hours before airtime captioned “Ariana Grande’s sister is a witch,” Grande and Fallon recreated the 2018 “THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST, BRO!” clip in which two men have a seriously heated discussion about whether Glinda the Good Witch is a princess or not.
In Ari’s hands, she is the overheated bro yelling, “Hold on, hold on, hold on. Her sister was a witch, right? And what was her sister? A princess, the wicked witch of the east, bro. You’re gonna look at me and you’re gonna tell me that I’m wrong? Am I wrong? She wore a crown and she came down in a bubble, Doug. Grow up bro, grow up.”
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Grande sold it like a champ, coming at Fallon hard while wearing a flowing pink gown as he stared at her in disbelief.
The singer later sat down with Fallon — with the long train on her ruffled dress taking up the rest of the couch — to talk about the movie, as well as her super-viral bit from her SNL hosting stint last month in which purposely, and hilariously, sang off-key in a sketch sending up Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”
Asked if it was hard to sing off-key, Grande said it was “really fun. I really enjoyed it… it was a bit we found in the moment.” Grande said she pitched it the writers, asking if it would be funnier if her vocals got “progressively worse” as the bit went on. Speaking of SNL, Grande also talked about helping to get current cast superstar Bowen Yang a spot in Wicked, calling his performance as Pfannee “absolutely brilliant… he killed it.”
She then recreated the call she had with SNL major domo Lorne Michaels — including a spot-on impersonation of the show boss’ dry persona — in which she nervously asked him if he could spare Yang. “In that moment I realized I don’t have what it takes to get this to happen,” Grande said. “But I did beg,” she added, describing how Yang would fly back-and-forth between SNL and the Wicked set to be a part of the two-part film.
Grande has already spoken quite a bit about how she was willing to put everything else on hold when she heard that director Jon M. Chu was turning the Broadway sensation into a movie musical, saying she knew she had to “earn” the part and was willing to put her music career on hold to prepare for the role she’d coveted since she was a girl.
Ready to take “all” the acting and singing lessons to train her voice to become a coloratura soprano, Grande recalled that she got huge support from Fallon as she was preparing to audition, which was also when she was recording the video for her collaboration with Jimmy on his holiday song “It Was a… (Masked Christmas),” also featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
Even with all the mental preparation she did beforehand, Grande said getting cast along with Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba sent her into overdrive. “When they called me to tell me I had the part, I had one heart attack,” Grande said. “That was the first one. And then they told me I was going to be playing opposite Cynthia Erivo, that was the second heart attack. And then I died and I’m dead. And I’m dead here. And I’m still dead.”
She also brought along a never-before-seen video of her first rehearsal for the show-stopping swinging chandelier bit in which she almost booted a stunt coordinator in the face as she flew around in circles.
Watch Grande on the Tonight Show below.
Kelly Clarkson has turned the Kellyoke segment of her syndicated daytime talk show into a signature moment. Sometimes it’s touching, sometimes it’s fun and occasionally the singer and her crack house band turn around a cover that is so unique and totally Kelly that it makes you wonder if she’s casually created the perfect version […]
When fans of The Voice tuned in to the show on Monday night (Nov. 11) to check out the start of the Knockout rounds, there was one singer who was conspicuously absent. According to EW, host Carson Daly noted at the top of the episode that country singer Tanner Frick had dropped out of the competition after notching a four-chair turn earlier in season 26.
At press time, Frick had not commented on his absence and the show did not provide any additional information about why he left the series. But on Tuesday (Nov. 12), the Manchester, TN native who used to work at the city’s water & sewer department posted another snippet of a new song on Instagram featuring seemingly prescient lyrics.
“These whiskey nights and neon lights they all fade away/ But this lonesome road keeps calling me to stay,” he sings in his gravely country drawl over acoustic guitar. “So I’m back here, I’m on my own/ I can’t seem to leave this life alone/ I guess I’m a lone wolf and a stray/ Ain’t nobody want me anyway.” Frick did not comment on the song or his departure in the post, with the caption to the clip re-iterating the song’s refrain.
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Commenters were confused and had a lot of questions, with one asking “What happened???,” while another added, “Ugh I hate that you left the Voice. I had you as my top #1 artist! So sad to see you go but I hope everything is okay! You have an amazing voice and you have such talent. Keep pushing forward and good luck with your future.” One of his fans lamented that Frick could have “won it all.”
On Nov. 3 Frick seemed to preview his leave-taking in a TikTok video featuring the same song — which he said was titled “Lonesome Road” — while reminding fans to tune in to the show to see him perform.
Frick made a name for himself during the blind auditions round in early October with a cover of Morgan Wallen’s “Thought You Should Know,” which earned him chair turns from all four coaches, with both Snoop Dogg and Reba McEntire bonding instantly with the singer over their shared family roots in Mississippi. “While ya’ll still had your backs turned I was into this!” Snoop reminded fellow judges Michael Bublé and Gwen Stefani about his early adopter status on the country crooner.
Stefani said all the judges were won over when Frick sang with his “full voice,” which allowed his uniqueness to shine through, correctly predicting that the singer would go with country icon McEntire as his coach. Last week, Frick impressed again in a Battle Round duel with Tate Renner on Jelly Roll’s “I Need a Favor.” After he failed to advance in that round, Bublé snagged him for his team, calling the pick-up a “huge win for me” and dubbing the country singer a “piece of the puzzle” that he didn’t have.
EW reported that on Monday’s show Daly told fans at home that Frick, 26, had “left the competition after rehearsals,” with no additional information available at press time on the reason for his departure.
The Voice airs on NBC on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming on Peacock the next day.