Music News
Normani Gushes to Childhood Icon Ciara About Her Impact, Says Debut Album Is ‘Almost Done’
Ciara filled in as host for The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday (Dec. 30), and guest Normani told her she’s “almost done” with her debut album. The 25-year-old singer opened up about how being in Fifth Harmony was allowed her to “hide.” But now that she’s in the solo spotlight, Normani says she’s been experiencing firsthand all the difficulties with putting out a project — especially her first — all on her own. “People underestimate how hard it is and how much effort we put into one project, one body of work. And coming out of a girl group, there was a lot that I hard to figure out about myself and fears that I had to deal with head on,” she said. “I was always so safe being in a girl group. I remember my mom when I was little, she was like, ‘Why do you want to be in a girl grou...
‘American Idol’ Judges Imagine Alternate Careers In Season 20 Promo: Watch
American Idol returns on Feb. 27, marking its 20th season overall and fifth season on ABC. Ahead of the milestone year, a promo for Idol‘s new season will air during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022 on ABC, and Billboard has an exclusive preview of the clip. The 90-second video finds Idol judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan, as well as host Ryan Seacrest, imagining what life would be like had they never been discovered. Richie’s alternate career in sculpting is suspiciously reminiscent of the video for his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Hello,” while Perry’s mirror universe job involves her selling the explosive namesake of one of her Hot 100 toppers. Bryan’s non-musical gig involves tending bar while serving up some of the lyrics to his 2020 single and Cou...
Ava Max Celebrates ‘Baby Hairs’ Growing Back After Losing Them to COVID-19
Ava Max is ready to leave her experience with COVID-19 behind as she slowly lets her hair grow back. In an Instagram Story posted on Wednesday (Dec. 30), the “Kings & Queens” singer posted a short video of small hairs beginning to grow in on the top of her head, and writing that she suffered from some hair loss after contracting the virus in 2020. “Baby hairs Comin THRU,” she wrote. “Also so so happy my hair is growing back .. ((( I lost a lot of hair when I had Covid last year!! 🙁 )))” While it may sound odd, the American Academy of Dermatology does in fact say that COVID-19 can result in “telogen effluvium,” commonly referred to as hair shedding. “Fever is a common symptom of COVID-19. A few months after having a high fever or recovering from an illness, many people see notic...
Which ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ Performer Are You Most Excited to See? Vote!
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022 is just one day away, and Billboard wants to know who you’re most excited to see perform! Billy Porter and Daddy Yankee will be pulling double duty as hosts and performers of the 50th annual televised New Year’s Eve celebration. While hosting the Central Time Zone countdown in New Orleans, Porter will deliver a new single on the riverboat Louis Armstrong on the Mississippi River in the city’s historic French Quarter. And for New Year’s Rockin’ Eve‘s first-ever Spanish-language countdown in Puerto Rico, Yankee will give a special hometown performance in San Juan. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Although LL Cool J and Chlöe had to pull out of their performances in Times Square, where 17-time host and the sh...
Chrissy Teigen Celebrates John Legend’s 43rd Birthday With a Sweet & Funny Post
Chrissy Teigen marked her husband John Legend‘s birthday with sweet well wishes and humor in an Instagram post on Tuesday (Dec. 28). “Happy birthday to my forever,” the Cravings author wrote alongside a cute series of photos featuring the couple dressed to the nines and posing in a photo booth. “I am lucky to have known you 16(!!) of your 43 years and I still wish it were more. I picked the most kind hearted man, the best father, and most talented human being around, which is truly a testament to me! Anyhoo i love you more than a caption could capture. More than a boomerang could wrangle. I love you I love you.” Additionally, Teigen shared an adorable video of herself cuddled up to John on her Instagram Stories, wishing him a happy birthday as an old episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta p...
Tori Kelly Spills on Why Doing Voiceover for ‘Sing 2’ Was ‘Really Awkward & Weird’: Watch
Tori Kelly stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday (Dec. 29) to dish about reprising her role as Meena the elephant in Sing 2. “It’s really fun and you have to just not be scared to be silly. ‘Cause it’s very awkward,” she admitted to guest host Brad Paisley, who’s currently filling in for Ellen DeGeneres. “This was my first time doing voiceover work, so thankfully I had our amazing director Garth Jennings, who is just like a kid at heart.” She continued: “It’s similar to being in a recording booth, like, just recording a song. So that part felt comfortable; I already knew kind of how to do that part. But it’s a lot of repetition. I mean, there would be times where they would be like, ‘OK… this scene you’re falling down a hole. And so we need you to make noises like you’re falling...
Nicki Minaj Remembers Former Business Manager Angela Kukawski as ‘Sweetest Person’ After Her Death
Nicki Minaj honored her former business manager Angela “Angie” Kukawski, who recently died in a suspected homicide. The Los Angeles-based business manager was reported missing a week ago on Dec. 22, but Los Angeles and Simi Valley police officers found her body inside her car parked on Patricia Avenue in Simi Valley the next day, according to a press release from the Los Angeles Police Department issued Wednesday (Dec. 29). Her death was ruled a homicide by the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office. She was 55. On Minaj’s Instagram Story Wednesday, the rapper wrote, “Hardest working, most reliable, sweetest person you could ever know. You didn’t deserve this, Angela. My heart is breaking for your children. Rest In Peace.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news Nicki Minaj sympathize...
BE:FIRST and Its Fans Achieve Success on Hot Trending Songs Charts
BE:FIRST, a Japanese group led by musician and music producer SKY-HI, is enjoying tremendous success on the U.S. Billboard charts. The Hot Trending Songs global charts track Twitter posts by artists’ fans and other Twitter users around the world. BE:FIRST’s debut single “Gifted.” — which was released on Nov. 3 — took the No. 1 spot with a commanding lead, a rarity for a Japanese artist. Even now, a month after the single’s release, it still enjoys a high place on the charts. Posts from BESTY, BE:FIRST’s supporters, are generating constant buzz on Twitter. There are also fan accounts who share daily chart updates. [embedded content] As reported in numerous news articles, “Gifted.” took the No. 1 position on the Nov. 10 Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, dominating the digital metrics of downloa...
LL Cool J Cancels ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ Performance After Testing Positive for COVID-19
LL Cool J will no longer be performing at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2022 after he tested positive for COVID-19, he announced Wednesday (Dec. 29). The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was scheduled to take the stage in NYC’s Times Square shortly before midnight to perform his decades-spanning smashes. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I know it’s disappointing to the millions of fans but my test came back positive for COVID, which means I’ll no longer be able to perform as scheduled at NYRE,” LL Cool J said in a statement to Billboard. “We were ready and I was really looking forward to ringing in 2022 in my hometown in a special way, but for now I wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year. The best is yet to ...
BTS’ V Receives Sweet Birthday Tributes From His Bandmates & Lizzo
BTS‘ V turned 26 on Thursday (Dec. 30) at midnight KST, and his superstar bandmates couldn’t wait to wish their “bro” the best on his special day. Some members like RM and Jimin took to BTS’ Twitter account to post goofy and glamorous pictures of V (real name Kim Taehyung) with identical captions: “My love. Happy birthday bro.” J-Hope used his new individual Instagram account to post personal photos with V on his Story, which the birthday boy reposted on his own record-breaking account. The Guinness World Records announced earlier this month that V’s handle, @thv, broke two social media records for being the fastest to reach both one and 10 million followers on Instagram. But over on Twitter, Lizzo shared fanmade artwork of her and V while writing, “#HAPPYVDAY somebody made this and it’s s...
Marianne Faithfull Turns 75: Celebrate With Her 10 Best Songs (Critic’s Picks)
Marianne Faithfull debuted in 1964 as one of the more promising voices of the British Invasion. The Rolling Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, discovered her, which lead to Mick Jagger (eventually her romantic partner) and Keith Richards co-penning her debut single “As Tears Go By.” Musically, however, she was a far cry from the Stones, possessing an effortlessly quivering soprano that imbued her string-laden baroque pop with a nebulous, folky mysticism. Explore See latest videos, charts and news In the late ’60s, her commercial output came to a virtual stop. The next decade would see laryngitis, drug abuse and depression take their toll on the nascent talent. After a well-documented rough patch, she returned with the most thematically weighty and artistically influential material of her...
Don McLean Is Open to Collaborating With Taylor Swift: ‘Anything Is Possible’
What’s better than one “major rock and roll force of nature”? How about two! Don McLean is still showing Taylor Swift love after her 10-minute, 13-second version of “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” became the longest ever No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 song in terms of its run time, dethroning McLean’s 8-minute, 37-second smash from 1971 “American Pie (Parts 1 & 11).” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a new interview with People, the 76-year-old singer-songwriter contemplated on the idea of them coming together on a track. “Anything is possible, if it’s done the right way,” he told the publication. “I’m always interested in doing anything.” He clearly doesn’t view the pop superstar who broke his half-century record as an opponent, but as a ...
