Month: May 2023

BTS‘ “The Planet” has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (May 12) on Billboard, choosing the group’s latest as their favorite new music release of the past week.

“The Planet” brought in more than 45% of the vote, beating out new music from the Jonas Brothers, Lil Durk and J. Cole, Shakira and more.

The song, BTS’ first new music release to feature all seven members since they’ve been focused on solo projects and military service, is featured as the theme song for the new South Korean animated series Bastions.

BTS’ “The Planet” is an uptempo track with a sunny chorus about letting your colors shine. An animated music video accompanied the release.

Trailing behind “The Planet” on the poll is the Jonas Brothers’ The Album, with 18% of the vote, Lil Durk feauturing J. Cole’s “All My Life,” with 15% of the vote, and Shakira’s “Acróstico,” with 9% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

Beyoncé is showing appreciation to her mom on Mother’s Day.

Queen Bey took to Instagram on Sunday (May 14) share a loving post featuring a large photo of Tina Knowles-Lawson displayed onstage at the superstar singer’s Renaissance tour stop at Brussels’ King Baudouin Stadium. The post also included a short video of Knowles-Lawson excitedly cheering on her daughter from the side of the concert stage.

“Happy Muva’s Day,” Beyoncé captioned the gallery. “I love you so much Mama and I’m so grateful for all you do for me.”

The same sweet message also appeared on the homepage of Beyoncé website on Mother’s Day.

Beyoncé’s long-awaited Renaissance World Tour launched on May 10 in Stockholm, Sweden, with a jaw-dropping, three-hour showcase featuring dozens of career-spanning hits. The trek will continue throughout Europe until July 9, with stops in London, Barcelona, Brussels and Amsterdam before heading to Toronto for two dates at Rogers Centre.

The Renaissance tour then heads to the United States, starting with Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field and making stops in Chicago, East Rutherford, N.J., Atlanta, Houston and more before concluding Sept. 27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

The stint is in support of her 2022 album, Renaissance, which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart upon its release and won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album. Three of the project’s songs also won individual awards, with “Break My Soul” winning best dance/electronic recording, “Plastic Off the Sofa” taking home best traditional R&B performance and “Cuff It” winning best R&B song.

See Beyoncé’s Mother’s Day tribute on Instagram below.

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Nicki Minaj has shared the music video for latest single “Red Ruby Da Sleeze.”

The Queen of Rap took to social media on Mother’s Day (May 14) to officially unveil the island-themed clip, which was filmed in the superstar rapper’s home island of Trinidad and Tobago.

“There’s now a full #RedRubyDaSleeze video on YOUTUBE!!!! It’ll be everywhere else next week. Happy early MOTHER’S DAY,” Minaj wrote on Instagram.

In the video, Minaj dons a strappy black swimsuit while ferociously rapping the track’s lyrics atop a deck that overlooks the ocean. Elsewhere, she lounges oceanside and struts city streets with Basketball Wives star Brooke Bailey. Other footage shows Minaj looking stunning in a “red ruby”-colored silk robe, which she later takes off to provide a better look at her bathing suit.

Minaj previously revealed that she filmed the “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” video while spending time in spending in her native Trinidad for the island’s 2023 Carnival festivities.

“Red Ruby da Sleeze,” which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-March, saw the the rapper interpolating Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh),” which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2003. The track follows a similar formula to her 2022 Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Super Freaky Girl,” which sampled Rick James’ 1981 song “Super Freak.”

Watch Minaj’s “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” video below.

Taylor Swift was looking out for her fans on Saturday (May 13) during night two of her Eras Tour stop at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

The 33-year-old pop superstar stopped mid-performance during a shortened version of “Bad Blood” to seemingly call out a security guard. As seen in a fan-captured video, Swift noticeably lingered near the side of the stage and shouted, “She’s fine!” and “She wasn’t doing anything!” between song lyrics. She then shouted, “Hey! Stop!” before continuing on with the performance.

Although it was unclear what specifically happened during the incident, social media users who said they attended the concert agreed that Swift was defending a fan from an overly aggressive security guard, who were strict and plentiful near the stage.

“taylor was yelling at a security guard because they fully kept putting their hands on us to physically push us off of the barricade instead of just telling us to move,” @jackandtaylor wrote on Twitter. “we weren’t throwing anything, we weren’t screaming anything insane, she was fully coming over to dance and sing with us and it resulted in security being extremely aggressive for no reason.”

Other standout moments during the Philly show included the surprise song portion of her set, which included Fearless deep cut “Forever & Always” (requested by her friend Lena Dunham) and 1989 standout “This Love.”

Swift’s three-date Philadelphia weekend at Lincoln Financial Field comes to a close on Sunday night.

Watch Swift defending a fan during “Bad Blood” in the clip below.

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— v (@ViralMaterialz) May 14, 2023

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky‘s firstborn, seemingly named RZA, turned one on May 13.

On Saturday night, A$AP posted a sweet series of photos and a video of the couple’s son on Instagram.

His caption included the name RZA and a shout-out to Wu-Tang: “‘WU TANG IZ 4 DA CHUREN’ HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY 1st BORN . RZA,” he wrote.

The snaps include several precious family shots, plus a cute video of the little one looking at himself on a screen. “Big head man,” A$AP lovingly says before kissing his son.

Two days ago, the Daily Mail claimed that it had obtained the baby boy’s birth certificate, which reportedly notes that his full name is RZA Athelston Mayers. Billboard reached out to Rihanna and A$AP’s rep for comment at the time.

The original RZA’s name isn’t actually RZA, but Robert Fitzgerald Diggs. The Wu-Tang frontman adopted RZA as a stage name.

See Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s new photos on Instagram. The couple are expecting their second child, and Rihanna’s said her second pregnancy is “so different from the first one … No cravings. Tons of nausea. Everything’s different, but I’m enjoying it.”

LIVERPOOL, U.K. — Sweden’s Loreen overcame strong competition from Finland and Israel to win 2023’s Eurovision Song Contest in a closely fought final that featured guest appearances from Queen drummer Roger Taylor and, in a pre-recorded video, the Princess of Wales.   

39-year-old Loreen, whose real name is Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, was the fans and bookmakers’ frontrunner going into Saturday’s Grand Final, held in Liverpool, England, on behalf of war-torn Ukraine.   

Having previously triumphed in the annual competition in 2012, Loreen is the first woman to win the contest twice. Her song “Tattoo,” a bombastic electro-pop ballad, placed first with 583 points.  

“The only thing I feel right now is so much love. Not in my wildest dreams did I think this was going to happen,” said the singer in a press conference that took place immediately after the show wrapped. 

Finnish rapper Käärijä, one of the breakout stars of this year’s Eurovision thanks to his song “Cha Cha Cha” and eye-catching costume of spikey black trousers paired with green bolero sleeves, came second with 526 points.  

It is the seventh victory for Sweden in the contest’s 67-year history, equalling Ireland as the country with the most Eurovision wins. The first Swedish act to take home the crown was ABBA in 1974 with “Waterloo.” Prior to Loreen, Sweden’s most recent win came in 2015 with Måns Zelmerlöw’s “Heroes.” The only other artist to win Eurovision twice is Ireland’s Johnny Logan, who finished top in 1980 and 1987.  

The rest of the top five was made up of Israel (362 points), Italy (350 points) and Norway (268 points).  

The United Kingdom is hosting this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine, which won 2022’s competition with “Stefania” by Ukrainian rap-folk band Kalush Orchestra (the U.K. finished second through Sam Ryder’s “Space Man”). The tag-line for this year’s event is “United By Music,” referencing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. 

The home city of Ukraine’s Eurovision act, Tvorchi, was hit by Russian missiles moments before the act took to the stage in Liverpool, according to reports. Two people were injured in the attack in Ternopil, Western Ukraine, the chief of the regional state administration, Volodymyr Trush, said. 

Writing on Instagram after their performance, Tvorchi said: “Ternopil is the name of our hometown, which was bombed by Russia while we sang on the Eurovision stage about our steel hearts, indomitability and will.” 

“Europe, unite against evil for the sake of peace,” said the Ukrainian duo. 

It is the first time that the U.K. has held the contest in 25 years, although being the host was no advantage to the country’s entry, Mae Muller. She finished second to last with her track “I Wrote a Song” picking up just 24 points.    

26 acts competed in Saturday’s final, held at Liverpool’s 11,000-capacity M&S Bank Arena, including artists from the so-called “big five” countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, who automatically qualify for the main show because of their broadcaster’s financial contributions to the event. (The other 20 finalists qualified via two semi-finals, held earlier in the week. Ukraine also got a free pass to the final as reigning winners).  

Kalush Orchestra opened the show with a spirited run through their 2022 winning song “Stefania” and new single “Changes,” joined by a procession of drummers wearing pink bucket hats in homage to the band’s frontman Oleh Psiuk.  

Prior to arriving onstage, Kalush Orchestra featured in a pre-recorded opening film, part filmed in a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, that also contained guest appearances from British stars Joss Stone, Sam Ryder, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and, in a surprise 10-second cameo, a piano playing Princess of Wales.   

The princess, who learned to play the instrument as a child, recorded her contribution at Windsor Castle earlier this month, said organizers after the segment aired.   

Following the opening performance, the Eurovision Grand Final was a characteristically flamboyant mix of kitsch Euro pop, overwrought ballads, elaborate PVC costumes, and soaring rock songs, interspersed with a jolt of head-banging glam metal courtesy of Germany’s Lord of the Lost.  

Among the highlights were Austria’s Teya & Salena, performing dance track “Who the Hell Is Edgar?,” named after American poet Edgar Allen Poe, and Poland’s Blanka, singing her breezy reggae-tinged song “Solo” backed by a troupe of colorfully dressed dancers.    

France’s La Zarra was another crowd pleaser with her disco-flavored torch song “Évidemment,” passionately sung in French.  

Blanca Paloma, representing Spain, energetically fused flamenco rhythms with pulsing synths and a sinuous melody, while Norway’s entry — a bodice-wearing Alessandra, singing “Queen of Kings” — drew a rapturous reception from fans inside the sold-out arena.  

Israel’s Noa Kirel, one of the country’s biggest pop stars, was one of the strongest female solo acts with her bombastic track “Unicorn,” complete with an energetic 30-second dance breakdown.  

The night’s biggest cheers, however, went to Finland’s Käärijä and the contest’s eventual winner, Loreen.  

A standout moment from the four-hour-long final was a mid-show interval that saw a number of former Eurovision contestants deliver a medley of songs representing Liverpool’s illustrious musical heritage, beginning with Italy’s 2019 entry, Mahmood, singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.”  

Also performing in the mid-show segment were Israel’s Netta, singing Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record),” Liverpool-born Sonia, who came second in Eurovision in 1993, and the Netherlands’ Duncan Lawrence, leading the crowd through a rousing cover of Gerry and the Pacemakers‘ “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” 

Other non-competition performers included 2022 Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder singing his single “Mountain” backed by Queen’s Roger Taylor on drums.  

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was the first in the event’s long history where viewers from countries not taking part could vote, including the United States where Saturday’s final — and the two preceding semi-finals — was streamed on Peacock. Viewer votes make up 50% of the final result, with the remainder determined by a professional jury from each participating country. 

As per the two semi-finals, the show’s hosts were British TV personality and singer Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina. Joining them for the final was another U.K. TV star, Irish comedian Graham Norton. 

Last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, held in Turin, Italy, was watched by 161 million people across 34 countries, according to organizers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), making it the world’s biggest music competition.