The 56 artists competing in the inaugural edition of NBC’s American Song Contest – which debuted Monday (March 21) evening — will have their songs released by Atlantic Records, the legendary American label that has been home to iconic artists such as Aretha Franklin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Ed Sheeran. Billboard spoke with Atlantic Records president, West Coast, Kevin Weaver about the label’s involvement with the competition and plans for the season. How did Atlantic Records become the label for the American Song Contest? Ben Silverman and Audrey Morrissey are both really good friends of mine. Ben propagated the deal to bring the format to the U.S. I talked to Ben very early on and then I saw the press announcements that NBC picked up the show and then they hired Audrey ...
“Jared, it’s so nice to meet you,” Anne Hathaway says to her co-star Jared Leto, as if they were meeting for the first time. The Oscar winners were on stage at the Paramount Theater at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, to present the premiere of their new limited series, WeCrashed, the story of charismatic WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann and his wife, Rebekah Neumann, who propelled the co-working start-up to a global value of $47 billion before it all came tumbling down. Hathaway’s line was playing off the fact that Leto reportedly stayed deep in character while filming and that she didn’t properly “meet” the actor until after production concluded Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “He just became Adam Neuman...
Since its debut in 2018, HBO’s high school drama Euphoria has been a sensation, but when the show came back for its long awaited second season on Jan. 9, 2022, it reached new heights — and helped a handful of hits experience a second spike of popularity along the way. With a viewership doubling over the first three episodes, as Variety reported in February, Euphoria‘s new season quickly became an important vehicle for massive streaming bumps of older tracks. For the show’s music — which pivots from Thelonius Monk or Judy Garland to Lil Xan and 100 Gecs’ Laura Les within a single hour-long episode, all curated by music supervisor Jen Malone and featuring an original score by producer-artist Labrinth — there was a measurable spike in listenership after each episode aired for nearly every s...
After three “incredible” dates, everything goes strangely wrong in the most offbeat sketch from SNL Saturday night (March 5). A woman (Sarah Sherman) is getting closer to her new romantic interest (Chris Redd) when their chemistry is derailed by a bunch of singing meatballs that are secretly all over the woman’s body — singing meatballs with the faces of the episode’s host, Oscar Isaac, as well as cast members Aidy Bryant, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang and more. “We are little meatball men, singing our little meatball song/ Join us please and sing along,” they sing in an unexpected little ditty during the pre-taped sketch. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Mid-breakup, Redd’s character — overwhelmed by the bizarre body meatballs — asks, “I’m sorry. Is there a piano in your armpit?” T...
Ciara is continuing her busy streak — after hosting Wednesday’s 2022 Billboard Women in Music event, the singer is lent her talents to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, guest hosting Friday’s (March 4) episode of the daytime program. The episode featured a very special guest: Her husband, Russell Wilson, who had a very important question to ask her in front of the audience. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Getting down on one knee before Ciara, the professional football player said, “I have a question for you. A serious question. Can we have more babies? It will be perfect. Just give me one more at least, you know what I mean?” The audience cheered on the “1, 2 Step” singer in the hopes that she would say yes to his proposal. “We definitely can have a l...