Taylor Swift was having a bit of trouble remembering her song lyrics during her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday (July 8).
During the acoustic section of her set at Geha Field at Arrowhead Stadium, the 33-year-old pop star hilariously forget the words — not once, but twice — to her sorrowful 2010 Speak Now track “Last Kiss.”
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After effortlessly singing the first two lines of the opening verse, Swift accidentally skipped ahead to the “July ninth” portion of the second verse before pausing to acknowledge her mistake.
“Oh my God, the words… We have this rule on this tour where if I mess up a song that I have to play it again some other time on the tour so that I can avenge myself,” she explained to the crowd. “I got too excited, I got too excited. Will you allow me the honor of starting over?”
Swift then restarted the tune, getting through the first three lines without a hitch, before halting once again to second-guess herself.
“Oh my God! No, those are the right lyrics,” Tay said, repeating the opening lines. “I swear that I will not mess this up again! Oh my God! This one, I love this one. Why am I doing this to this song?”
The third time was a charm, as the songstress effortlessly delivered the Speak Now track without further interruption.
Prior to performing “Last Kiss,” Swift reminded the sold-out crowd of the date, which plays an important role in the song.
“I don’t know if you noticed what the date is today, but it’s July 8th,” she said. “Soon it will be July 9th. You know what time it is, Kansas City. It’s time to play ‘Last Kiss’ and cry.”
“Last Kiss” reached No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2010. In the prologue included in the vinyl edition of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), the newly released re-recorded version of her third album, Swift called it “the saddest song I’ve ever written.”
Watch Swift’s performance of “Last Kiss” in Kansas City here.
Harry Styles was struck in the face by an unknown object during his concert in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday (July 8).
As seen in a fan-captured video, the 29-year-old British pop star struts down the stage at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadion when a mysterious object pelts him near the eye. The “As It Was” singer then winces in pain as he bends over, covers his eye and continues walking off stage.
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The former One Direction member, who is close to wrapping his epic Love on Tour outing, had not commented about the incident on social media at press time.
This isn’t the first time Styles has been hit by objects during his shows. Last year, the crooner had to take a brief pause in Chicago after getting struck in the groin by something thrown by a fan. He’s also had Skittles and chicken nuggets hurled at him while performing.
Styles is the latest victim of a dangerous trend in which artists are being struck by random items at concerts. Bebe Rexha, Lil Nas X and Kelsea Ballerini are among the slew of artists who have recently had their shows interrupted by the launching of various objects, including a phone, sex toy and bracelet, respectively.
Adele even addressed the concerning trend during one of her recent Las Vegas residency shows. “Have you noticed how people are, like, forgetting f—ing show etiquette at the moment, people are throwing s— on stage? Have you seen that?” she’s heard saying in a clip on social media.
Watch Styles get struck in the face at his Vienna concert on Twitter below.
Harry Styles gets hit in the eye by an object thrown at him during his concert in Vienna. pic.twitter.com/mD9kzFoQvG
Peter Nero, a Grammy-winning pianist who interpreted pop songs through classical and jazz forms and served as the Philly Pops’ conductor for more than three decades, has died. Nero was 89.
Nero died Thursday (July 6) at Home Care Assisted Living Facility in Eustis, Fla., according to his daughter, Beverly Nero, The Philadelphia Inquirerreported. Services will be private.
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Nero colored his renditions of pop songs — from Cole Porter and George Gershwin to the Beatles and Bob Dylan — with classical, swing, Broadway, blues and jazz melodies. He often called his sound “undefinable” and was not offended when others called it “middle of the road.” (He once told a newspaper, “Middle of the road and doing great business.”)
Recruited by Philadelphia concert promoter Moe Septee, Nero started the Philly Pops orchestra in 1979, the year Arthur Fiedler died. Fiedler is credited with virtually inventing the modern version of the pops orchestra in Boston, and Nero hoped to rival it in popularity.
“I’d like to beat the pants off them,” Nero said at the time.
Nero’s orchestra wasn’t as prominent as Boston’s, but it did tout routine sellouts in Philadelphia, no doubt helped by Nero’s lively playing style and warm stage presence.
In his work as both performer and conductor, Nero returned frequently to Broadway tunes, Hollywood themes and Gershwin, the subject of the Philly Pops’ first concert. But he also dipped into Motown’s catalog and farther afield to bands such as Procol Harum and an album devoted to disco and ’70s love songs.
In 1975, he lamented to The Washington Post: “I find it impossible to use a lot of the new material that’s coming out. There is some rock material in my repertoire … but a lot of rock groups are selling a sound, not music. You take the tune apart and there’s nothing there to work with.”
He led the Philly Pops until 2013, exiting his leadership role when the orchestra said it could no longer afford him.
By his own admission, Nero struggled early in his career — under the name Bernie Nerow — during stints in New York and Las Vegas. But he found his stride in his late 20s playing in New York’s club circuit.
He was signed to RCA by Stan Greeson, who saw a potential star and had him change his name to Peter Nero. A steady stream of early 1960s club shows led to regular radio and TV appearances and two dozen RCA albums over the span of a decade.
Nero earned Grammy Awards in 1961 for best new artist and in 1962 for best performance by an orchestra or instrumentalist for his record “The Colorful Peter Nero.”
A 1963 album, Hail the Conquering Nero, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard pop album chart. It included versions of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” and “Mack the Knife.”
He also charted with a version of “Theme from ‘The Summer of ’42,’” a song written by Michel Legrand for the 1971 movie. Nero’s version hit No. 21 on the Billboard pop singles chart.
Nero also wrote the score for the 1963 Jane Fonda film Sunday in New York and made an appearance in the movie.
Born Bernard Nierow in 1934, Nero was raised in Brooklyn. He started taking piano lessons at age 7 and, by age 11, he was said to have been able to play Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D Major from memory. He later won a scholarship to take classes at Juilliard, won several talent contests and graduated from Brooklyn College.
When headlining, Nero disliked having a set list and would pick songs on the spot. The idea of mixing styles and genres carried over to the Philly Pops.
“My programs for the Philly Pops may open with ‘Die Meistersinger,’ then ‘Chariots of Fire,’ then Enesco’s Rumanian Rhapsodies, then a television theme,” Nero told The New York Times in 1982. “I keep going back and forth, and the audience bought it from the beginning.”
Coolio‘s posthumous album includes guest appearances from Naughty By Nature‘s Treach, Da Lench Mob’s J-Dee, and Ras Kass on a project that was not intended to be the rapper’s last.
Titled Long Live Coolio, the forthcoming LP is a celebration of the Grammy award-winning MC, best known for his ’90s classics “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage.” His representatives on Friday (July 7) exclusively shared with The Associated Press the 11-song track list and who will be heard on the album when it is released later this year.
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“A Star Is Born”, the latest track from the release — a collaboration between Naughty By Nature’s Treach, MC Shan, and Coolio’s long time producer/collaborator DJ Wino — premiered on Friday, a track that doubles as a history lesson in Coolio’s path to superstardom. The video was filmed in Las Vegas.
“When I heard Coolio’s verse, I’m like, ‘Yo, it feels like the homie is still here,” Treach said, showing off a large portrait tattoo of his labelmate Coolio on his chest. “How do we want people to think of him? We just want them to always think of him. That’s what it’s about — keeping your homies’ names in the streets. Tupac just got a star in Hollywood. We don’t just say it when our brothers are here. We say it until we meet up with them again.”
“Went from Old Man to Boo Daddy to Coolio,” Coolio raps in “A Star is Born.” “At the age of 18 I hit the studio KDAY I’m on radio.”
“Coolio told his story in the second verse,” said DJ Wino. “This song was not meant to be posthumous.”
Coolio died in September 2022 from the effects of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office determined, ruling it an accidental death. In March 2023, Coolio’s estate announced that the hip-hop legend had been working on an album in the days leading up to his death.
DJ Wino says about 75% of the album was completed prior to Coolio’s death. “He laid it out there for us,” he said of finishing Long Live Coolio. “It was up to us to come through, and like good little foot soldiers we followed up.”
Coolio won a Grammy for best solo rap performance for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer film Dangerous Minds that sampled Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise” and was played constantly on MTV. The song hit one billion views on YouTube in 2022.
The rapper had subsequent hits with “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994, “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” in 1996 and 1997’s “C U When U Get There.” His career album sales totaled 4.8 million, with 978 million on-demand streams of his songs, according to Luminate. He was nominated for six Grammys overall.
Here’s the tracklist to Coolio’s Long Live Coolio:
“Shine On Me” “Got That” “Notice Me” (feat. Ras Kass) “Fast Pace” (feat. Kid Frost) “I’m Wit That BS” (feat. J-Dee from Da Lench Mob) “TAG You It” (feat. Too $hort) “A Star Is Born” (feat. Treach from Naughty By Nature) “Belly of the Beast” (feat. Cejaz Negraz) “Snitch’N” “Stand Up Beat It Hit It” (feat. Jay Chris) “R Thentic” (feat. Kurupt & Chill)
Selena Gomez is feeling re-energized after spending Independence Day with some close friends.
The Only Murders in the Building star took to Instagram on Saturday (July 8) to reflect on her uplifting 4th of July holiday weekend alongside longtime bestie Taylor Swift, the Haim sisters, and other pals.
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“Sometimes you need to be around empowering, kind and kick a– gals. I needed that,” Gomez captioned the post, which included party pics with her A-list friends.
On Friday, Swift shared the same set of Polaroids from her annual patriotic celebration. In one of the pics, Tay hugs a smiling Gomez from behind, wrapping her arms around Selena’s shoulder. A second snap shows the pair preparing to share a red, white and blue Bomb Pop.
The two other photos appear to show the women singing karaoke in the kitchen and piling up for a group hug. The images also featured Este, Alana and Danielle Haim, along with Nashville stylist Ashley Avignone and Sydney Ness, who is the reported girlfriend of Swift’s brother Austin.
Swift has hosted a 4th of July blowout for years, with her crew of models, actors and singers making the trek to the singer’s Rhode Island mansion for pool parties and pics. Other guests over the years have included Ed Sheeran, Nick Jonas, Gigi Hadid, Lena Dunham, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and many others.
Earlier this summer, Gomez teased on Instagram that the follow-up to her 2020 album, Rare, is finally underway. The 30-year-old pop star shared several photos of herself working in a recording studio. “Don’t worry guys, it’s coming,” the singer-actress captioned the post. “Even from Paris.”
With severe thunderstorms working its way through the Ozarks Friday night, many drivers are left battling the dangers of flooded roads.
A flash flood warning has been put into effect for southeastern Greene County until 1:30 a.m. the morning of July 8.
The latest reports indicate more than five inches of rain in two hours near the Pat Jones YMCA off Republic Road in Springfield earlier tonight.
Numerous reports of flooding were called in regarding flooding on and along intersections of East Battlefield, including Luster Avenue and Barnes Street.
To find areas of flooding that have caused road closures and traffic delays, go to the MoDOT Traveler Information Map, which can be found here.
Jason Mraz has been making music for more than 20 years, but he’s only just made his first pop album.
On June 23, the singer/songwriter released his latest album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, a 10-track collection that contains some of the dance-iest and most pop-forward songs of Mraz’s career while still asking the deep questions that have been a through line in all of his output.
Mraz recently stopped by the Billboard News studio to unpack some of the stories behind the album, including how it took heavy influence from none other than his mom.
Upon telling his mom the ideas he was considering exploring on his next project, Mraz recalls, “She said, ‘These are great, but I feel like you’ve done this before.’ She said, ‘What you need to do is make a pop album before it’s too late.’
“Those words ‘before it’s too late’ reverberated around the room,” Mraz continues, “and I thought… am I too old to make upbeat music?’ So I wanted to challenge myself and my bandmates; we all challenged each other to make this album you could dance to.”
But Mraz, who turned 46 on the day of the new album’s release, wanted to make dance music for people his age, which caused him to approach the themes of the album from a different perspective than those in a lot of mainstream pop.
“Historically, had I been doing this at a younger age, I would have been hormonally charged to try to create these dancefloor bangers,” he says, “but as you get older those moments are still precious, but it’s not what all of life is about. Sometimes life is about cheering yourself on to get through the day.”
Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical is Mraz’s eighth studio LP and comes 21 years after his first album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which produced breakout hits including “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)” and “You and I Both.”
“I think back then, it’s all I knew so I felt both like a winner, but I felt a little unworthy,” Mraz says of the starting-out days. “I felt like I was thrown into it too soon. I wasn’t fully realized in life and I was 23, 24, so I’m writing songs that are more for that age. Looking for love in all the wrong places, I guess, but still asking questions about why am I here and what is the meaning of life. I think that is the through line.
Mraz says the advice he’d give to this younger version of himself is pretty simple: “Just relax, you don’t need the tramp stamp, you can quit smoking sooner than you think, it’s gonna be OK. I was junk food and cigarettes and beer, and I was everything, every night. That’s who I was back then. I felt like I was indestructible. I wouldn’t really wake up from that for many years, probably 2007 is when I had a big transformation in my life, so that first album is a distant memory, but a joyful one.”
Madison Beer is gearing up to release her sophomore album Silence Between Songs on September 15, and the singer-songwriter sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss the inspiration behind her upcoming project.
“I got started really young doing this, and I feel like I’ve had a very busy 12 years or so in the industry and I kind of convinced myself that the moments where I was making music and when I was on tour and when I was my busiest was when I was growing,” she shared of the metaphorical album title. “As I’ve gotten a little bit older, I realized it’s actually been the moments that I’ve been able to tune out the noise and I’ve been able to be alone, really reflect and be more isolated where I’ve grown the most. So, it’s the silence between songs and when the noise is turned off is when I feel like I’ve learned who I am the most.”
Over the course of her career, Beer has grown a loyal fanbase and even some famous supporters including Lana Del Rey, who expressed how much she enjoys the 24-year-old’s music at Billboard’s Women in Music event back in March.
“She’s so cute and sweet that I was the first person she thought to name,” Beer expressed. “It’s just not something that I think I can comprehend. I think it also goes back to feeling conditioned that no one likes me and I’m not good enough and whatever. Having someone like her validate that I am, and that she’s in any semblance a fan is crazy. Not only do you know who I am, you’ve listened to my music. It’s wild. She’s just incredible. I could gush over her forever.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Madison Beer above.
H.E.R. is set to deliver a special tribute performance at the 2023 ESPY Awards, which will broadcast live coast-to-coast on ABC on Wednesday, July 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The show will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
H.E.R. is set to perform her latest single “The Journey” in a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the V Foundation and late basketball coach Jimmy Valvano’s iconic speech at the first ESPYs.
Valvano was an American college basketball player, coach and broadcaster. While serving as head coach at North Carolina State University, his team won the 1983 NCAA men’s basketball title against the heavily favored Houston Cougars.
Valvano is also remembered for an inspirational speech delivered at the 1993 ESPY Awards while he was terminally ill with cancer. Valvano implored the audience to laugh, think and cry each day. He also announced the formation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, whose motto would be “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” He gave the speech less than two months before his death in April 1993 from adenocarcinoma.
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ESPN has helped raise more than $195 million for the V Foundation over the past 30 years, according to the network.
As previously announced, Chicago White Sox pitcher and cancer survivor Liam Hendriks will be honored with this year’s Jimmy V Award for Perseverance; the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will be given the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage; and the Buffalo Bills training staff will be awarded with the Pat Tillman Award for Service.
The ESPYs, which are presented this year by Capital One, are co-produced by ESPN and Full Day Productions.
H.E.R., 26, has won five Grammys and an Oscar. In 2021, she and her collaborators D’Mile (Dernst Emile II) and Tiara Thomas won both a Grammy for song of the year for the Black Lives Matter anthem “I Can’t Breathe” and an Oscar for best original song for “Fight for You” from the film Judas and the Black Messiah.
H.E.R. has received three Grammy nominations for album of the year, all as lead artist. She was nominated in three out of four years from 2018-21.
Danielle Jonas got vulnerable while appearing alongside husband Kevin Jonas in a new episode of the LadyGang podcast this week, in which she opened up about comparing herself to Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas’ wives, Sophie Turner and Priyanka Chopra, respectively.
“The two boys married somebody who, they’re actresses, they’re out there, everyone knows them. And I feel like I’m Danielle, and it’s hard,” she explained to the podcast’s hosts Keltie Knight, Jac Vanek and Becca Tobin, before telling Kevin, “It’s also that I’m out there celebrity-wise because I’ve married you.”
She continued, “And that’s where it’s like, ‘Oh, I wanna have something else to my name too.’ So that it feels … I don’t know, more than or like the other girls. ‘Cause then when I’m with the other girls, I feel just less than sometimes. It’s weird.”
Kevin was quick to assure his wife that he feels the same around his younger brothers. “I feel the same way with Nick and Joe, right? Like solo careers, movies, all this stuff. It’s like everyone has to find their place,” he said, “No matter the situation, right?”
36-year-old Danielle and the 35-year-old Jonas Brothers singer first met on a vacation in the Bahamas back in 2007. They tied the knot two years later at Oheka Castle in Long Island, NY, and have been going strong ever since. The longtime couple share two daughters: nine-year-old Alena and six-year-old Valentina.
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