Pop
Demi Lovato Opens Up About Her Recovery After Drug Overdose: ‘I Had to Essentially Die to Wake Up’
The singer also opened up about the progress she’s made in dealing with her substance abuse issues since last appearing on CBS Sunday Morning in 2016. “I was probably 24 when we did the interview, Lovato says. “I’m in recovery for a bunch of things and I had been sober for how many years, but I’m still miserable. For the first time in my life, I had to essentially die to wake up.” Lovato’s CBS Sunday Morning interview — which airs March 21 at 9 a.m. ET — arrives ahead of the singer’s four-part documentary series, Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, premiering March 23 on YouTube. The tell-all docuseries explores Lovato’s devastating overdose, which left her with three strokes and a heart attack, as well as blind s...
Lana Del Rey Teases ‘Rock Candy Sweet,’ Her ‘Next Record’
“Just want to say thank you again for the kind articles like this one and for reminding me that my career was built on cultural appropriation and glamorizing domestic abuse,” she quipped via sideways text overlaying the article. “I will continue to challenge those thoughts on my next record on June 1 titled Rock Candy Sweet.” In her latest Instagram post, she repeated that album announcement: “ROCK CANDY SWEET,” she captioned a photo of herself. “June 1.” Billboard has reached out to a representative for Lana Del Rey for comment about Rock Candy Sweet. Her new album Chemtrails Over the Country Club, featuring singles “Let Me Love You Like a Woman,” “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” and “White Dress,” is av...
Song of the Week: SABA Stays Fresh as Ever on the Reflective “Ziplock”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Chicago rapper SABA returns with a double-single, his first new music of 2021. Chicago rapper SABA has returned this week with another set of double singles, “Ziplock” and “Rich Don’t Stop”, continuing the dual-drop format he established throughout 2020. “Ziplock” was produced by D. Phelps and Coop the Truth and marks the first new music from the emcee in 2021. (He can also be found on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah, appearing on “Plead The .45th” alongside Smino.) A recent press release st...
Britney Spears’ Mom Encourages Star to Sing ‘Again’ With Throwback Video
Spears added, “I’ve actually never watched this performance … it’s definitely from a while ago !!!! It’s from one of the first trips I took alone … mostly I just remember saying ‘WOW Singapore.'” Spears’ post drew comments from thousands of supportive fans echoing her mom’s encouraging words. “Please sing again,” one fan pleaded. Another wrote, “Listen to your mom and release the album.” Elle King also chimed in on the comments, writing, “SING FOR US BRIT! We love you so much.” And Jordin Sparks shared several emojis with a smiling face and tear. See Spears’ Instagram post here. In February, Spears shared another throwback video of herself performing “Toxic” in 2017, reminding fans that she’s en...
Justin Bieber Gets Too Woke for His Own Good on Justice: Review
The Lowdown: After an unfortunate misstep with Changes, released last year just before lockdown, Justin Bieber found himself, once again, at a sharp crossroads: carry on writing meme-able nonsense for lyrics, or put forth something that makes better use of the large production budget his label shells out. Fortunately, on Justice, he chose the latter. Unfortunately, if ever there was an example of the needle tipping too far, this is it. While Justice steps away from the lyrical fallacies of its predecessor, for an album that is much more expansive and explorative, the record has way too much nonsense surrounding it. If at any point you begin to wonder why the first voice on a song about submitting sexually to his wife is not Bieber, but civil rights leader and martyr Dr. Martin Luther King ...
Every Song Ranked on Justin Bieber’s ‘Justice’: Critic’s Picks
Although Bieber’s latest features high-quality pop throughout, some of its 15 songs stand out immediately. Here is a humble, preliminary opinion on the best songs on Justice. 15. 2 Much Beginning the album with audio from a Martin Luther King Jr. speech (and previewing the interlude midway through the album), Bieber quickly segues into a muted piano ballad designed to show off his impeccable vocals. “2 Much” is relatively short and has room to spare sonically, but effectively introduces the romantic core of the album that follows. 14. Lonely with Benny Blanco Adding months-old singles to the end of a track list is standard practice in pop’s streaming era, a way to acknowledge recent-ish hits while not exactly turning them into the centerpieces of a new body of work. Yet ending Justice with...
Lana Del Rey Strips Back the Glamour on the Charming Chemtrails over the Country Club: Review
The Lowdown: In 2019, Lana Del Rey released Norman Fucking Rockwell! to critical acclaim, an album that integrated her long-running motifs of allusive Americana, melancholy femininity, and seedy glamor with more memorable melodies and legibility – a full execution of the vision she’d been expressing since 2012. Now, on Chemtrails over the Country Club, the singer-songwriter and pop icon continues to weave sharp referential lyrics with atmospheric set-pieces. The album is a cohesive extension of NFR!, but the sound is more overtly connected to California country-folk, built around shimmering guitars and gentle pianos. She teams up with Nashville artist Nikki Lane while name-checking her forebears Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Stevie Nicks, and Tammy Wynette. Del Rey still addresses tragic ...
Meghan Trainor to Star in a Sitcom as Part of NBC Deal
Meghan Trainor has teamed up with NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Entertainment for a unique overall deal, which includes a new comedy series. The cross-platform collaboration with the company opens the door for the Grammy-winning singer’s potential scripted and unscripted projects across the network, cable, streaming and syndicated programming and throughout NBCU’s larger portfolio, which includes NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, SYFY, Universal Kids, USA and Peacock. “In addition to being a phenomenally talented performer, Meghan is a vibrant and hilarious ray of light who is the perfect fit for NBC’s brand,” Susan Rovner, chairman, entertainment content, NBCUniversal Television & Streaming, said in a statement. “We love the idea of introduci...
Paul McCartney Prepping ‘Hey Grandude!’ Children’s Book Sequel
“I’m really happy with how HEY GRANDUDE! was received, as this was a very personal story for me, celebrating Grandudes everywhere and their relationships and adventures with their grandchildren,” said McCartney in the statement about the series inspired by the nickname the pop legend got from his eight grandchildren. “I love that it has become a book read to grandkids at bedtime all around the world. I always said if people liked the first book and there was an appetite for more, I would write some further adventures for Grandude—so he’s back and this time with his special invention, Grandude’s green submarine!” Illustrator Durst added, “I am so thrilled to be collaborating with Paul again on Grandude’s Green Submarine. I think this is the adventure book we all need durin...
First Stream: New Music From Justin Bieber, Lana Del Rey, Paloma Mami and More
Justin Bieber gains more artistic clarity on Justice, as he tries to express a complex emotional state — focused on the happiness of marriage, but interested in the outer edges of that joy — over the course of an album instead of jamming it into three minutes. There have been countless iterations of Justin Bieber The Pop Superstar, but this one is spending the time to help fans understand who he is and where he’s going, and the result is his strongest front-to-back listen to date. (Click here to read the full review of Justin Bieber’s Justice.) Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over The Country Club Two years after 2019’s Norman F–king Rockwell! became Lana Del Rey’s critical breakthrough, earning her best career reviews and multiple Big Four Grammy nominations, follow...
J Balvin Unveils New Single “Tu Veneno”: Stream
Late last month, J Balvin gave us a preview of his as-yet-untitled new album with a song called “Ma’ G”. Now, the reggaetón superstar is back with a new bop called “Tu Veneno”. The release of this one is a little less bombastic than “Ma’ G”‘s unveiling, which premiered during a titanic boxing match between Canelo Alvarez and Avni Yildirim. “Tu Veneno” (which translates to “your poison” in English) is arriving under more normal circumstances, but it’s an equally catchy and dance-able slice of reggaetón gold. Take a listen below. There’s still no word on what Balvin’s upcoming album will be called or when it will arrive, but those details will likely emerge in the coming weeks. When it does finally surface, the record will be Balvin’s first full-length since his massively successful 2020 alb...
Justin Bieber’s ‘Justice’ Is Here: Stream It Now
The Biebs links up with a whole new crew of featured artists, including Khalid on “As I Am,” Kid Laroi on “Unstable,” and the peachy-keen “Peaches” collab with Giveon and Daniel Caesar, which he previewed on his NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. Justice also includes previously released singles “Holy” featuring Chance the Rapper, “Lonely” with Benny Blanco, and “Anyone,” all of which hit the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the recently released “Hold On.” Listen to Justice in full below. 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 meet Beautiful people, ...
