Culture
9 Nintendo Switch Games You Can Buy on Sale for Mario Day
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. March 10 marks National Mario Day, a celebration of the beloved, overall-wearing video game character who has been around for over 40 years. Mario Day started in 2016, but the character of Mario was first introduced in the Donkey Kong arcade game in 1981. Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario after he was unable to secure licensing rights to use Popeye. The character was originally called Jumpman before the name change, but according to other reports, he was also named “Ossan” (a Japenese word for “middle-aged guy”). The Mario known and loved by...
How MGMT’s ‘Little Dark Age’ Became an Unstoppable TikTok Meme
Like many 40-year-olds who engage with social media only when necessary, MGMT co-founder Ben Goldwasser doesn’t have a TikTok account. So when the title track of the band’s 2018 album, Little Dark Age, suddenly began appearing in thousands of videos on the platform in the first pandemic summer of 2020, he had to rely on his wife and friends to clue him in on the out-of-nowhere phenomenon. “It was surprising to me to even have our song be on TikTok at all, and then it was like, ‘Well, how big is this?’” Goldwasser tells SPIN by phone. “I don’t even know what a big TikTok song is or what that means.” In this case, “big” doesn’t really do justice to what’s been going on with “Little Dark Age” on TikTok, where users have made more than 5.5 million videos that weave the song int...
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 14 Sparks Streaming Gains For Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez & More
RuPaul’s Drag Race fans love a good lip sync for your life moment, filled with stunts, reveals, kicks and all of the high-stakes reality show drama we’ve come to expect over 14 seasons. But there’s another group that should really love these moments — the artists whose songs get featured. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Over the course of season 14 of Drag Race, every song that has been featured as a lip sync at the end of each episode has seen streaming gains in the week following the episode’s airing, according to MRC Data. The biggest winner amongst the 9 songs featured thus far on season 14 is Kylie Minogue‘s “I Love It.” Released as the third single off of Minogue’s album DISCO on October 23, 2020, “I Love It” was featured as the...
Ariana Grande and More Celebs Slam Passage of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
On Tuesday (March 8), the controversial Parents Rights in Education bill was passed in the Florida Senate, leading Ariana Grande and other famous faces to speak out against it. Better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the potential law would restrict teachers from speaking about LGBTQ+ history, people, and other topics in school classrooms across the state and give parents the right to sue educators and administrators who did so. A proposed amendment to the bill would also require school counselors and teachers to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents at home if they come out or confide in a trusted adult at school. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “Really disgusting,” Ari wrote in her Instagram Stories beneath a post by Equality Florida sharing the news. Meanwhile, George Takei ...
One Love: Cedella Marley & Fossil Team Up for International Women’s Day Collection
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Cedella Marley – author, designer, recording artists and daughter of Bob Marley – is partnering with Fossil for a limited-edition collection released on Tuesday (March 8). Inspired by her father’s timeless hit “One Love,” and her Jamaican heritage, the Cedella Marley x Fossil Collection boasts vibrant styles that embody the spirit of togetherness. Included in the collection: a limited-edition Fossil watch with interchangeable wrist straps ($180), a gold-tone brass charm necklace that spells out “One Love” ($28), a leather backpack ($280) and a matching wallet, the latter of which will be released at a later date. As part of Fossil’s ongoing effort to #MakeTimeForGood, 25% of proceeds from the limited-edition collection will be donated to ...
‘The Thing About Pam’: Where to Stream the True Crime Series Online
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Attention true crime lovers: there’s a new TV series that might become your next obsession. The Truth About Pam, starring Renée Zellwellger, Josh Duhamel, Judy Free and Katy Mixon, premieres on NBC on Tuesday (March 8). Zellwellger plays convicted killer, Pam Hupp, in the six-episode series which centers around the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria. Hupp, Betsy’s former coworker, was accused in the deadly stabbing but has never been convicted of her murder. Betsy’s husband, Russ Faria, was wrongfully convicted and later freed for his wife’s murder. Meanwhile, Hupp ...
Gwen Stefani Launches ‘GXVE’ Beauty: “This Feels Like the Next Chapter of My Life”
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. You can officially shop Gwen Stefani’s GXVE Beauty! The makeup line (pronounced “Give”) is a bold, high-performance collection featuring lipsticks, eyeliner, brow pencils, eyeshadows and more ranging from $24-$48. The 52-year-old pop legend has never revealed her signature shade of red lipstick, but fans can now enjoy Stefani’s staple lip color in three different formats: matte lipstick, satin lipstick, and liquid lipstick. “This feels like the next chapter of my life,” Stefani shared during an exclusive preview of the collection on Thursday (March 3) held a...
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Star Willow Pill Comes Out as Trans Femme: ‘I’m Starting to Feel Bits of Happiness’
Season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race has already made history for featuring the most trans contestants in a single season. Several weeks into the ongoing season, Bosco and Jasmine Kennedie joined Kerri Colby and Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté in publicly representing their trans identities. And in a tweet posted Thursday evening (March 3), Willow Pill shared with her fans that she now openly identifies as trans femme, while simultaneously leaving herself some room for the future. “I’m still not sure where I fit on the spectrum, for now I just say trans femme, but I also don’t have to know now,” they wrote. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The Chicago queen, who originally hails from Denver, said that they’ve been “not happy” with their gender identity for a while. They added tha...
A Portrait of the Artist as A Jung Man
The world according to ex-pat artist Victor Spinelli is a Bacchanalian romp on the beach with mythological Gods and Goddesses and a never-ending supply of art making, hijinks and adventurous escapades. Spinelli is a thoughtful, philosophical, multi-dimensional artist who has been living on the island of Ibiza since 2001, where he started as the photographer for Manumission, the theatrical, Fellini-esque clubbing party that took over the island. For years, he documented the wild and uninhibited characters of the night. “I was hired on the spot to document Manumission. 60,000 Spanish pesetas [about $400] each Monday night. It was an incredible ride of 5 summers of which my job was to basically follow the Manumission Girls around for 24 hours. A dream.” Spinelli’s role and his Camera Verite s...
Sebastian Stan Is a One-Man Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe ruled the metal scene in the late ‘80s, going on to sell over 100 million records. However, by the time Sebastian Stan was the right age to appreciate the glam band, the metal heyday had passed. “Unfortunately, I didn’t really know Mötley Crüe when I was growing up,” Stan says, “because when I was in high school, it was already a grunge world.” But that didn’t stop the Romanian-born actor from discovering the band later, telling SPIN, “I personally gravitate towards the ’80s.” So, despite not growing up on the iconic group, he eventually came to love them. Eventually becoming intimately familiar with one of the band members by playing him on TV. Stan, 39, is currently garnering praise for his portrayal of Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in the Hulu drama Pam and Tommy, a fictionalized r...
How to Snag Karol G’s Red-Hot Billboard Women in Music Look for Less
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Karol G took the stage at the 2022 Billboard Women in Music event on Wednesday night, where she performed a soft-yet-powerful rendition of “El Barco” backed by an all-female band. She then accepted the Rule Breaker Award — which honors female artists who use their music and platform to defy expectations — to venue-shaking cheers from the audience. “The world teaches us all the time to see bad things in each other and in ourselves, and what about if we just see the beautiful things in us? I try to do that every day,” she told the audience. Explore Explore Kar...
Dave Grohl’s ‘Storyteller’ Spends Another Week on the New York Times Best-Sellers List
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Dave Grohl is on a winning streak. The Foo Fighters singer/guitarist’s memoir The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music moved up a couple of notches to land at No. 9 on the New York Times best-sellers list, which is up two spots from the previous week. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Grohl’s book has spent an impressive 20 weeks on the best-sellers list, and landing in the top 10 puts him a few spots behind Will Smith’s self-titled memoir, which is at No. 5 after notching 15 weeks on the NYT best-sellers list. Mat...
