Culture
Lava La Rue’s Big Year: How the U.K. Indie Upstart Rendered Their Artistic Vision in ‘Hi-Fidelity’
As 2022 draws to a close, Billboard Pride is taking a look back at some of the queer indie artists who saw their stars rise over the last 12 months. Below, U.K. genre-bender Lava La Rue breaks down their big year. It’s the end of a busy trip to New York for Lava La Rue. The buzzy, much talked-about indie artist from West London has been in and out of studio sessions and supporting their partner’s gigs around the city, but as they log onto a Zoom call from a Brooklyn hotel room, they look mildly bummed. “It’s super rainy and gross,” they say, swiveling their camera around to show a cloud-choked skyline just outside their window. “Normally I get this very cute view of everything corny, like the Empire State. Now, it’s just kind of looking like Gotham.” But ...
11 best things to do in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
From the world’s longest zipline to desert bedouin camps, these are the best things to do in Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, is an intriguing blend of the modern world and old Arabia. Unlike its neighbouring emirates, overdevelopment is yet to engulf Ras Al Khaimah, more commonly known as RAK. This, along with its sandy coast and craggy interior, makes it a beguiling Middle East destination. Meaning ‘headland of the tent’, Ras Al Khaimah is located in the northeastern part of the UAE, bordering Musandam, an exclave of Oman. Its position between the Persian Gulf and the Hajar Mountains reveals a range of landscapes from dramatic hilltop forts and dusty rose-red ridges to wind-hewn deserts and a glittering coastline of sandy beaches and mangrove...
Sia Gives Her Favorite ‘Survivor’ Season 43 Players Major Cash Prizes
Turns out Survivor contestants don’t necessarily have to outwit, outplay or outlast in order to win a big cash prize. That’s because Sia has once again given away huge spoils of her own to her favorite season 43 contestants. In a video shared by Entertainment Weekly on Friday (Dec. 23), the pop star doled out $200,000 to three players who fell short of the CBS competition’s $1 million grand prize when the Sole Survivor was announced on Dec. 14. “Hi, Jesse! It’s your biggest fan, Sia!” she begins during a video chat with Jesse Lopez, who finished in fourth place. “I really think that you deserved to win, and I think you just played the most epic, sneaky, wonderful game in the whole world. … So I wanted to give you $100,000.” “Oh my god!” a shocked Lopez exclaimed. The pop star then went on ...
Attention, Last-Minute Shoppers! These Retailers Offer Curbside & In-Store Pickup
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. Waited until the last minute to finish your holiday shopping? With just two days before Christmas, last-minute shoppers plan to hit the streets in droves but procrastination isn’t the only thing driving this seasonal shopping ritual, ” target=”_blank”>inflation has a lot do with why many people waited until the last minute. If you’re a last-minute shopper, we rounded up a list of more than a dozen retailers that offer in-store and curbside pickup, plus their store hours on Christmas Eve. However, some stores close early on Christmas Eve, so you might need...
‘The Best Man: The Final Chapters’: How to Stream the Limited Series for Free
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. “Just like old times, only better.” Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, Melissa De Sousa, Terrence Howard and Harold Perrineau reunite in The Best Man: The Final Chapters. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The limited series, based on the film franchise written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee, will premiere on Peacock on Thursday (Dec. 22). Fans of The Best Man will get a chance to catch up with the lives of Harper (Diggs), Robyn (Lathan), Jordan (Long), Lance (Chestnut), Quenti...
‘Smooth Like Butter’: This BTS Collab Is Perfect for Beauty Lovers
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. The Bangtan Boys dropped a new collaboration for beauty-loving members of the BTS Army! BTS and the South Korean beauty giant Laneige teamed up for a special edition of the brand’s lip sleeping mask set. The Laneige BTS x Amorepacific Lip Sleeping Mask Lip & Pop Edition Set features three delicious scents inspired by the BTS singles “Butter,” “Permission to Dance” and “Dynamite.” Available at Sephora.com and Laneige.com, the $35 set includes an exclusive “Butter” flavor (that smells like buttered popcorn) along with a couple of fan-favorite scents: ...
Holiday Travel Guide: 7 Items That Should Be On Your Packing 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. Heading out of town for the holidays? According to AAA, an estimated 113 million people are expected to travel to their holiday destination and 102 million of them will be hitting the road. Meanwhile in the friendly skies, the TSA expects 2022 holiday travel numbers to hit “pre-pandemic levels.” A Music Fan’s Ultimate Travel Bucket List 12/19/2022 With gas prices still high and seasonal stress levels rising, the holidays can be overwhelming, but there are things that can help relieve some of your anxiety, like making sure that you have everything needed for ...
Cecily Strong Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Says Goodbye in Character on ‘Weekend Update’ Segment
Cecily Strong is the latest castmember to depart NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Strong’s final show was Saturday night’s edition on Dec. 17. She appeared as Kimberly Guilfoyle in the cold open and other segments, including one about “Jewish Elvis” as well as “Weekend Update.” In the latter, she played recurring character Cathy Anne, who was saying “goodbye” because she was going to prison. She joked that she’d be fine because she had “friends on the inside, they seem to be doing OK” as a photo of recently departed castmembers Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were shown onscreen in prison garb. “Everybody has to go to jail at some point, right? It’s my time now,” she added. Breaking character a bit toward the end, she said: “I had a lot of fun here. And I feel really lucky that I have had so many ...
Austin Butler Can’t Help Falling in Love With Sarah Sherman’s ‘Jewish Elvis’ on ‘SNL’
Austin Butler brought his “casual” version of Elvis to Saturday Night Live, and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman graced the stage as “Jewish Elvis.” Sherman’s “Jewish Elvis” was the star of Butler, Cecily Strong, and Ego Nwodim’s retirement home in a sketch Saturday night. Butler dressed like a grandma and appeared to be the performer’s biggest fan in the theater — even revealing a T-shirt under her blouse with her catch phrase, “This is a zizzaster!” “The first night of Hanukkah, they really kick things off with a bang,” Strong says in the clip below. “Oh my god, I’m so horny I’m gonna friggin’ explode,” exclaims Butler, who was the host of SNL for the night in an episode that featured Lizzo as musical guest. “Oh! I’m like Niagara Falls over here,” adds Butler later in the sketch. “My chair ...
How Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Changed a ‘George & Tammy‘ Scene That Initially ‘Disturbed’ Her
Jessica Chastain says a scene was altered in George & Tammy with the help of co-star Michael Shannon to give country icon Tammy Wynette more agency in the Showtime limited series. In the first episode of the series, based on Wynette’s personal and professional relationship with fellow musician George Jones, the duo is confronted with their future while Wynette is still married to her soon-to-be ex-husband Don Chapel. In an interview with Marie Claire, the actress and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated show shared that, in an early outline of the scene, Jones gets Wynette alone by distracting Don with an escort. For Chastain, the sequence around this moment was upsetting. “I read it, and I was deeply disturbed,” Chastain recalled. “[...
Austin Butler Finds Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Elvis on the Shelvis’ Ahead of ‘SNL’
Austin Butler tried to make a quick visit with Jimmy Fallon to get some advice before his SNL hosting gig this weekend. Instead of finding Fallon, he found an Elvis on the Shelvis in a skit for The Tonight Show. “Who is this?” Butler — who starred in a biopic about rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — asks in the skit, picking up the doll off the mantle. Elvis on the Shelvis, played by Fallon, then comes to life for a musical performance. “Well, I move around the house when I’m a-home alone/ You did what you did/ You done what you done/ Elvis on the Shelvis never tell no one,” Fallon’s Elvis sings. “You’re going on the top of my tree,” Butler says after the Elvis on the Shelvis show. Butler’s SNL episode with musical guest Lizzo airs Saturday (Dec. 17) on NBC. Watch his clip with Fallon...
‘Mamma Mia!’ Sequel Director Ol Parker Teases Future for Film Franchise
It sounds like Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker might be ready to take a chance on pursuing another film in the musical franchise. Parker, who helmed Universal Pictures’ 2018 follow-up to director Phyllida Lloyd’s 2008 hit Mamma Mia!, told Screen Rant in an interview published online Saturday (Dec. 17) that producer Judy Craymer has always intended to make a film trilogy. Craymer has credits on both films and also the ABBA-centric jukebox musical of the same name, which was the basis for the first movie and has had runs on the West End and Broadway. “Judy Craymer, the genius producer behind the musical and the first two films, always plans for it to be a trilogy,” Parker teased. “That’s all I can say. The first one made an eno...
