Pop
R.I.P. John Davis, Vocalist Behind Milli Vanilli Dead at 66 Due to COVID-19
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-27T15:57:30+00:00“>May 27, 2021 | 11:57am ET John Davis, a session musician who provided vocals for Milli Vanilli, has died at 66. As his daughter Jasmin confirmed in a Facebook post, the cause was COVID-19. “This is Jasmin, Johns daughter,” she wrote. “[U]nfortunately my dad passed away this evening through the coronavirus. He made a lot of people happy with his laughter and smile, his happy spirit, love and especially through his music. He gave so much to the world! Please give him the last round of applause. We will miss him dearly.” Alongside Brad Howell, Charles Shaw, Jodie Rocco, and Linda Rocco, Davis was recruited by German producer Frank Farian in the late ’80s to sing o...
Jack Antonoff Talks Winning Grammys With Taylor Swift, Breaking the Law With Bruce Springsteen: Watch
Jack Antonoff can produce a hot record, he can play keys, guitar. Just don’t ask him to take you for a drive. Antonoff stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show on Wednesday (May 26) for a chat about the music making process during lockdown, winning big with Taylor Swift, and sneaky rogue behavior. At the top, Antonoff talked about the challenges he and Swift faced in creating Folklore, and their fruitful trip to the Grammy Awards, where they were rewarded with the golden statuette for album of the year. The event itself was everything, from “cool,” “incredible,” “different” and apparently the most fun he’s had at an awards show. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to me...
Lady Gaga & Lisa Kudrow Offer a Fragrant Duet For ‘Friends: The Reunion’
“Oh! Oooohhhhhhh!!!!” as Phoebe Buffay would say! Friends: The Reunion, didn’t only bring stars Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer together when it arrived on HBO Max Thursday (May 27), it also delivered on one heck of a fan-favorite: “Smelly Cat.” [If you haven’t yet watched Friends: The Reunion, stop here to avoid anymore spoilers.] The endearing song — made popular by Kudrow’s kooky character Phoebe — delighted audiences anew when the actress sat down in Central Perk to deliver her acoustic performance. “Yeah, don’t get too excited. I haven’t done this in a long time,” Kudrow warned the cheering crowd before saying to herself, “I should be Phoebe...
Piglet Wins Season 5 of ‘Masked Singer’: ‘I Tried to Be as Silly & Ridiculous As I Could’
If you were paying attention all along, though, it seemed pretty obvious from the beginning that Piglet was on his way to a victory. Among his standout performances were Dan + Shay’s “Speechless,” Lewis Capaldi’s emotional “Bruises,” a tear-jerker “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins, Lukas Graham’s “7 Years,” the praiseworthy “Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)” by Andy Grammer and a rumble to the rock side for the Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender.” It was his final song, though, that got the panel, and the former boy band singer, all choked up, even as panelist Ken Jeong once again proved that his picker is on another planet by hoisting wildly improbable Avengers: Endgame star Jeremy Renner as his final ...
J. Cole, The Black Keys & Alan Jackson Lead Busy Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart
At Nos. 2-9 on the new chart, there are debuting albums from The Black Keys, Alan Jackson, ENHYPEN, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers featuring Rob Moose, Nicki Minaj, Yoko Yakahashi and Megumi Hayashibara and Myles Kennedy. Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart n...
Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon Talks ‘Invisible’ Single & ‘Future Past’ Album, Reflects on First Hot 100 No. 1
Onboard for Future Past — Duran Duran’s 15th studio album — are producers Erol Alkan, Mark Ronson and Giorgio Moroder. The set will also feature special guests in Blur’s Graham Coxson on guitar, David Bowie’s former pianist Mike Garson, and guest vocals from the “absolutely magical” Lykke Li (with more collaborators promised to be announced at a later date). On the Pop Shop Podcast, Le Bon chats about how “Invisible” evolved over time and speaks to those “who feel they haven’t got a voice,” how its eye-popping music video was created using an artificial intelligence named Huxley, why there was a long wait between albums, and how the band connected with producer Alkan. In addition, Le Bon also discusses his joy in hosting his weekly music show Whooosh! on SiriusXM, alongsid...
Olivia Rodrigo Is ‘So Happy’ After ‘Good 4 U’ Becomes Her Second Hot 100 No. 1
“Good 4 U” music video director Petra Collins, who’s helmed many visuals for Selena Gomez, commented, “!!! Duh,” while Conan Gray cleverly quoted her latest chart topper, “as the legendary olivia rodrigo once said, good 4 u bestie.” Dan Nigro, who co-wrote “Good 4 U” and produced all of Sour, also shared the Hot 100 graphic and a screenshot of a three-way celebratory FaceTime call with Rodrigo and singer-producer Alexander 23. “Holy Sh–!!! Good 4 U just debuted at #1. So thankful to be able to make music with such close friends…. and thankful to the amazing team surrounding us that kept pushing us to make this song better!” he captioned the images on his IG. Alexander 23 shared the same FaceTime sc...
Inside The Weeknd’s Billboard Music Awards Car Choreography: ‘There Was a Lot of Trust’
Directors Alex Lill and Charlie Morse recall coming up with the idea for “car choreography,” says Morse, before anything else. Morse soon after storyboarded their ideas (seen below) to show the larger team their vision. “From those drawings came a lot of realizations about all the different shapes you could do with cars, and I was doing a lot of them from the top down just to showcase the arrangements, and that’s when we realized that a lot of these play well from an aerial shot, which you see in the final big pullout” that they filmed using a drone. “One of the things we were always inspired by was those old 1950s synchronized swimmers,” says Lill. “So it was kind of recontextualizing that. We weren’t trying to do a Fast & Furious type th...
Nick Jonas Thanks Wife Priyanka Chopra For Helping Him ‘Feel My Best’ For 2021 Billboard Music Awards Hosting Gig
Nick said Priyanka helped him carry on after a “brutal” tumble off his bike. Nick Jonas thanked his wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, for helping him “feel my best” for Sunday’s 2021 Billboard Music Awards after a bike accident left him injured last week. “I started this last week by taking a brutal tumble on a bike fracturing my rib and ended it hosting the @bbmas with my incredible wife by my side who helped me every step of the way to recover and feel my best. I love you @priyankachopra,” Jonas tweeted early Monday morning (May 24) alongside a photo of him hugging his wife. The actress posted the same pic, with a supportive message for her husband, who not only capably hosted the COVID-safe show from Los Angeles, but also performed a medley with the ...
Doja Cat and SZA Perform “Kiss Me More” at 2021 Billboard Music Awards: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-24T00:17:37+00:00“>May 23, 2021 | 8:17pm ET Open a new tube of chapstick and check out Doja Cat and SZA’s first performance of “Kiss Me More” at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. “Kiss Me More” is the first single from Doja Cat’s upcoming album, Planet Her, and Sunday marked the first time she and SZA have sung it together live on stage. Surrounded by dancers with their heads in giant orange balls, the pair delivered a stylish performance. SZA sang from atop a rotating pedestal platform before kicking it down to Doja for a dance-remix breakdown. Check it out ahead. After jumping into bed with hyper-sexualized songs like the “34+35” remix, you might be wondering, why a song about l...
BTS Perform “Butter” For First Time at 2021 Billboard Music Awards: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-24T02:00:35+00:00“>May 23, 2021 | 10:00pm ET BTS just served up a heaping helping of “Butter” at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. The K-pop idols’ performance marked their first live rendition of “Butter” since its release just two days prior. On stage from Seoul, the septet sang the song across several elaborate set pieces, including one made to look the Billboard Music Awards red carpet. Replay “Butter” below, and head here to see other performances from tonight’s Billboard Music Awards, including Doja Cat with SZA, The Weeknd, and Duran Duran. Related Video During the awards show, BTS also took home trophies for Top Duo/Group, Top Song Sales Artist, and Top Social Ar...
The Weeknd Performs “Save Your Tears” at 2021 Billboard Music Awards: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-24T02:50:26+00:00“>May 23, 2021 | 10:50pm ET The Grammys pissed off one of music’s biggest names when they completely snubbed The Weeknd at this year’s awards ceremony, and you can bet the Billboard Music Awards aren’t making the same mistake. Not only did they hand the After Hours singer seven trophies before the televised event even began, they gave him the first broadcast award of the night for Top Hot 100 Artist. (And a handful more after that.) Later in the show, they also provide him with a whole dang parking lot for his performance of “Save Your Tears”. The Weeknd’s performance made innovative use of vehicles instead of backup dancers. It began with him leading a gang of r...
