Pop
From Pop Smoke to Post Malone, What’s Your Favorite New Music Release? Vote!
This week’s new music is both out of this world, like Nick Jonas‘ new solo single “Spaceman,” and of the world of Pokemon, courtesy of Post Malone‘s cover of Hootie & The Blowfish’s 1995 smash “Only Wanna Be With You” for the video game franchise’s 25th anniversary. But which new release has blown you away? Pop Smoke shines his light beyond this life through his posthumous single “AP,” which is featured in his upcoming film debut Boogie. And Chloe x Halle dropped a divine, Afrofuturistic visual for the title track of their sophomore album Ungodly Hour, which also received a Chrome Edition on Friday (Feb. 26) featuring two new songs, “Hazy” and “80/20.” You Deserve to Make Money Even ...
Sheppard Return With a Splash of Color on ‘Kaleidoscope Eyes’: Stream It Now
Sheppard are back with all the colors of the musical rainbow on Kaleidoscope Eyes, their third album. The shiny pop-rock outfit out of Brisbane, Australia dropped the new album at the stroke of midnight. Spanning 16 tracks, Kaleidoscope Eyes includes lead single “Die Young,” which bowed at No. 3 on AIR’s Independent Singles chart back in 2019. Led by the sibling duo of George, Amy and Emma Sheppard, Kaleidoscope Eyes is the followup to Watching the Sky, which debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in 2018, and their 2014 debut Bombs Away, which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 in their homeland. Bombs Away featured “Geronimo,” the highest-selling single in Australia by a homegrown artist that year. You Deserve to Make Money Even Whe...
Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry Offers a Clear Portrait of Teenage Life: Review
The Pitch: When Billie Eilish was 13 years old, she posted a video of herself singing her song “Ocean Eyes”. Three years later, in 2018, she was already on a fast path to superstardom, and director R.J. Cutler somehow knew to pick up his camera. This is the starting point to his Apple TV+ documentary, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Cutler, whose resume includes documentaries such as The September Issue and Belushi, couldn’t have predicted the kind of year he was about to capture. By circling around Eilish’s 18th year, Cutler documented the writing, recording, release, and reaction of her first full-length album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. He then continued to capture Eilish’s subsequent sold-out shows and festival appearances, radio and magazine interviews, and ...
9 Things We Learned From Billie Eilish’s ‘The World’s A Little Blurry’ Documentary
Perhaps the best part, though, is that instead of glossing over some of the most painful moments — quite literally, like the time Eilish sprained her ankle within seconds of starting a sold-out Milan concert to the time she forgot the words to a song during her Coachella debut — the documentary unpacks them for what they are. In doing so, The World’s a Little Blurry is a refreshing return to the documentary as a vehicle for unveiling, unlike many celebrity documentaries of late that more so double as concert films or hype-reels. Despite how often Eilish has talked about her family, mental health journey and concerns over cancel culture, the film manages to show, not tell, how these topics have impacted and continue to impact her as both a teenager and public figure. Ahead of th...
Billie Eilish Performs ‘Ilomilo’ In Front of L.A. Skyline, Cries Over Favorite Fan Moment at ‘Blurry’ Live Premiere
She pulls up right next to her brother and hitmaker-in-crime Finneas, who’s playing “ilomilo” on a sky blue piano that would’ve matched the sky earlier in the day. The “Therefore I Am” singer walks out wearing the Gucci x North Face puffer jacket and matching bucket hat, but her easily recognizable neon green hair still peeks out from underneath and frames her face, which sometimes goes out of focus to reveal the L.A. skyline behind her. Following her stripped-down performance of the track from her blockbuster debut album Where We All Sleep, Where Do We Go?, the Grammy-winning singer plops down right next to Lowe in a comfy chair setup in the same sky blue shade as her microphone and Finneas’ piano. The two launch into the interview segment by...
Chloe x Halle Drop Futuristic ‘Ungodly Hour’ Video
Chloe x Halle dropped the futuristic video for the title track from their 2020 album “Ungodly Hour” on Wednesday night (Feb. 24). The eye-popping clip directed by Alfred Marroquín (Rosalia, Sech) opens with the sisters dressed in head-to-toe blue vinyl outfits inside a dark, mysterious laboratory, posing and twitching to the song’s heartbeat rhythm as the lights flicker around them. The scene then turns to a shallow pool, with both singers laying in the water wearing nude-colored, bedazzled body suits in between flashes of them in a spare expanse rocking silver gowns and Erykah Badu-like facial hardware. The whole thing feels like a glimpse of dystopian, fashion-forward future set to the song’s soothing flow and vocals, which have them warning, “You know ...
Listen to Shamir’s Thumping Cover of Billie Eilish’s ‘Ocean Eyes’
Shamir has put his own spin on Billie Eilish‘s breakthrough debut single, “Ocean Eyes” and it’s a jam. The sedate 2016 original is notable for its barely-there beat and spare, swirling instrumentation. But in the hands of Shamir, the whispery ballad is transformed into a percussion-heavy swoon, with the singer layering in more aggressive drums, thumping bass and ringing guitars under his soaring falsetto. The audio for the remake dropped on Tuesday, just weeks after Shamir teased it in a since-deleted Instagram post that read, “Have you ever said to yourself, ‘I love ‘Ocean Eyes’ by @billieeilish but I wish it was a haunted emo shoegaze rock song? Well come 2/23 I got you!” You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Da...
Iann Dior & Clean Bandit Perform ‘Higher’ From Bob Marley’s Jamaica Studio: Exclusive
“Traveling to Jamaica with Clean Bandit for the making of this track was an experience I’ll never forget,” the 21-year-old “Mood” singer tells Billboard in a statement. “It was super dope shooting the video and performing at Bob Marley’s old studio too – Marley was such a legend and a constant inspiration in my life.” “We’ve fallen in love with Jamaica,” Clean Bandit adds. “We spent a lot of time there last year. The people, the food, the culture, and the artistry and creativity especially. We’ve done a lot of recording and collaborating over there and shooting videos with Iann for our current single was really special.” “We shot a full, k...
Bella Thorne Blasts Public Scrutiny Britney Spears Faced: ‘No One Gives Disney Kids Enough F***ing Credit’
When Bella Thorne first watched Hulu’s Framing Britney Spears in early February, she was irate — and has yet to shake the feeling. “It made me so sad, just all the wrongs that society did to her,” she says. “It’s disgusting what she went through, what she is still going through, the whole nine yards, it is literally terrible. And thank goodness they made the documentary so that people can change their fucking perception on situations.” The actress, 23, shares some similarities with the pop star, after all. They both were groomed for stardom as children and came up through the Disney ranks, Thorne via “Shake It Up” (opposite Zendaya) and Spears as a Mouseketeer, and both suffered the predations of paparazzi and negative scrutiny. She vividly r...
Watch Rick Astley React to ‘The Voice’ Judges Covering ‘Together Forever’: Exclusive
You’ve got to wake up pretty early in the morning to Rick Roll the Rick Roller. That’s what happened when British singer Rick Astley was told that the coaches from The Voice had filmed a remake of his iconic 1988 video for “Together Forever.” In the clip, which opens with some crackly, vintage 1980s VHS vibes, Astley lights up when he sees Blake Shelton doing an awkward, hunched-shoulder dance as he’s joined by an acid wash-drenched Nick Jonas and a shoulder-pad rocking Kelly Clarkson. John Legend, decked out in a fringed leather jacket, pulls off his own Breakfast Club-worthy steps, which clearly delights Astley, who is checking it all out on his phone. “That is priceless,” Astley chuckles as Clarkson shakes her gold necklaces and matching chunky ...
‘Love Story,’ ‘The Twist,’ ‘Unchained Melody’ & More Re-Recorded Hot 100 Hits
The original was released from Swift’s second LP, 2008’s Fearless. The new take is from her forthcoming re-recording of the album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version). (Re-recordings of older songs or albums are treated separately from their originals, with independent chart histories for each version.) “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” is the second single ever to top Hot Country Songs in separate forms, after Dolly Parton’s iconic “I Will Always Love You” led in 1974 and, in a second take, in 1982. On the Hot 100, Swift’s new entry is the latest to chart more than once as re-recorded in-studio by an artist that previously made it a hit. Here’s a look at 20 other memorable such singles, listed chronologically by their updated ve...
Coldplay Were Full Of Love After BTS Covered of ‘Fix You’
Coldplay sent all the love to BTS after the K-pop superstars played a surprise cover of 2005’s “Fix You” during Tuesday night’s (Feb. 23) MTV Unplugged. The British group included a link to the special, writing “beautiful” in Korean and “Love” in English, along with the bandmembers’ individual initials. The half-hour performance was filmed on five different sets, each one matching the mood of each song, from an arcade to an indoor field and a retro living room. Along with acoustic versions of songs from Be, RM, Jimin, Jin, Suga, Jungkook, V and J-Hope slipped in the surprise Coldplay cover as a treat for their American viewers. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be...
