Month: September 2024

Taylor Swift treated the 2024 MTV VMAs like one of her shows, minus any actual performances. But there were multiple costume changes: the “Fortnight” singer showed up wearing a Reputation-y dress from Christian Dior’s 2025 resort collection before changing into what Swift style expert Sarah Chapelle described as a “custom Monse look inspired by the Fall/Winter 2024 collection.” Which is a fancy way of saying: it looks like The X-Files.

The dress, which had a beaded UFO spaceship on the front, could have been a reference to her rumored next single, “Down Bad” (“Did you really beam me up? / In a cloud of sparkling dust”). But some fans are convincing themselves that it was her sly way of acknowledging Fox’s science-fiction series The X-Files premiering 31 years ago yesterday. 31… 13… it’s all adding up.

I want to believe (and it does kind of look like Mulder’s office poster).

“Taylor. I am straight up getting X-Files vibes from this dress,” one X user wrote, while another added, “taylor swift wearing an alien themed dress a day after the x-files anniversary means that she will be singing one of the songs in the reboot. there are signs for those who seek them.” The facts are indisputable: “Somehow missed this despite being one of my fave shows ever. 31 years ago yesterday we were given ‘Pilot’ for The X-Files. 31 years later Taylor Swift has been riding a roomba with a UFO backdrop & today wore a sequined ‘I want to believe’ dress. Ergo, Taylor is an X-Files fan.”

While accepting the award for Video Of The Year, Swift thanked her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and burgeoning actor) Travis Kelce, for his support. “This video seems very sad when you watch it, but it actually was like the most fun video to make,” she said. “Something that I’ll always remember is that when, when I would finish a take, and I’d and I’d say cut, and we’d be done with that take, I would always just hear someone cheering from across the studio where we were shooting it, and that one person was my boyfriend, Travis.” Swift added, “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot.”

Jon Bon Jovi found himself in the right place at the right time earlier this week: On September 10, the singer (and Millie Bobby Brown’s father-in-law, apparently) helped talked a woman off the edge of the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shared a security video of the situation on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “A shout out to @jonbonjovi & his team for helping a woman on the Seigenthaler Ped Bridge Tue night. Bon Jovi helped persuade her to come off the ledge over the Cumberland River to safety.” The tweet also includes a quote from Nashville Police Chief John Drake: “It takes all of us to help keep each other safe.”

As Billboard notes, Bon Jovi was filming a music video nearby at the time. The security footage shows Bon Jovi and another person approach the woman, who was standing on the opposite side of the guard rail, facing away from it and holding onto it behind her. After some conversation, the woman turned around, and Bon Jovi and the other person helped the woman over the guard rail. Bon Jovi then hughed the woman as they and the other person walked down the bridge. Police confirmed the woman was taken to receive mental health care later.

After adding Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain to the lineup, Linkin Park is back.

They just played the first show of their From Zero World Tour yesterday (September 11), so we have a setlist (via setlist.fm). As expected, it draws largely from the band’s classic era, as songs from Hybrid Theory and Meteora took up over a third of the 27-song setlist.

Shinoda previously said of Armstrong and Brittain, “The more we worked with Emily and Colin, the more we enjoyed their world-class talents, their company, and the things we created. We feel really empowered with this new lineup and the vibrant and energized new music we’ve made together. We’re weaving together the sonic touchpoints we’ve been known for and still exploring new ones.”

Check out the setlist below, along with Linkin Park’s upcoming tour dates.

Linkin Park’s From Zero World Tour Setlist

1. “Somewhere I Belong”
2. “Crawling”
3. “Lying From You”
4. “Points Of Authority”
5. “New Divide”
6. “The Emptiness Machine”
7. “The Catalyst”
8. “Burn It Down”
9. “Waiting For The End”
10. “Castle Of Glass”
11. “Joe Hahn Solo”
12. “When They Come For Me / Remember The Name”
13. “Lost In The Echo”
14. “Given Up”
15. “One Step Closer”
16. “Lost”
17. “Breaking The Habit”
18. “What I’ve Done”
19. “Leave Out All The Rest”
20. “My December”
21. “Friendly Fire”
22. “Numb”
23. “In The End”
24. “Faint”
25. “Papercut” (encore)
26. “Keys To The Kingdom” (encore)
27. “Bleed It Out” (encore)

Linkin Park’s 2024 Tour Dates: From Zero World Tour

09/16 — New York, NY @ Barclays Center
09/22 — Hamburg, Germany @ Barclays Arena
09/24 — London, UK @ The O2
09/28 — Seoul, South Korea @ INSPIRE Arena
11/11 — Bogota, Colombia @ Coliseo Medplus

From Zero is out 11/15 via Warner Records. Find more information here.

Big week for Taylor Swift. Then again, isn’t that true of every week when you’re Taylor Swift? Swift officially endorsed Kamala Harris for the upcoming US Presidential election, and 24 hours later, she endorsed Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, her boyfriend of a year-plus, while accepting Video Of The Year at the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday night, September 11.

Swift won alongside Post Malone for their “Fortnight” video. The song also claimed Best Collaboration, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Song Of The Summer. During her speech, Swift listed “all of the people” with whom she made the video, including “my boyfriend, Travis.”

“The thing is that this video seems very sad when you watch it, but it actually was like the most fun video to make,” Swift said. “Something that I’ll always remember is that when I would finish a take and I’d say “cut” and we’d be done with that take, I would always just hear someone like cheering, like, “Woo!” from across the studio where we were shooting it. And that one person was my boyfriend, Travis.”

The crowd erupted in shrill cheers and shrieking.

Swift continued, “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot because I’ll always remember that.” She pivoted away from the world’s favorite romance to also encourage all of her fans over the age of 18 to “please register to vote for something else that’s very important coming up.”

Outside of “Fortnight,” Swift won Artist Of The Year and Best Pop. Her six victories this year brought her all-time VMAs total to an all-time-most 30. As per Variety, Swift surpassed Beyoncé’s previous record 25 VMAs, and Swift became the first artist to win Video Of The Year five times.

Watch Swift’s speech here.

The official Hip-Hop 50 celebration may have wrapped up last year, but LL kept the hip-hop history lesson going at the 2024 MTV VMAs. His medley performance not only included songs from his newly released fourteenth studio album, The FORCE, but also encompassed many of his signature hits going back to his glory days in hip-hop’s Golden Age. Opening with “Headsprung” (remixed with the now-familiar Mohawks sample, “The Champ,” rather than its original Timbaland-produced beat) then transforming into Public Enemy’s “Bring The Noise” (with a surprise appearance from Chuck D himself), the veteran performer also went through “Rock The Bells” before hitting newer songs like “Passion” and “Proclivities” before returning to another classic: “Doin’ It.” You can watch the full performance above.

Ironically, LL’s performance was nearly upstaged during a shot of the audience featuring a woman standing motionless, staring at the stage, and grinning in such an eerie way, that it seems almost certain that she was an actor planted to promote the upcoming horror thriller Smile 2. Unfortunately, though, LL didn’t perform “Murdergram Deux,” his collaboration with Eminem, who also performed tonight to open the VMAs, but probably did leave before LL’s performance.

You can still check out a full list of VMA winners here.

RuPaul’s Drag Race icon and drag performer Sasha Colby introduced Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” performance at the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday night, September 11, and Roan repaid the favor later in the show.

Roan won Best New Artist and read her acceptance speech straight from her diary. After thanking MTV, Island Records, family, and friends, Roan said, “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me, and I dedicate this to queer and trans people who fuel pop. To the gays who dedicate my songs to someone they love or hate, and thank you to the people who are fans who listen to me — who hear me when I share my joy and my fears. Thank you for listening to me.”

Roan continued, “And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you, I understand you, because I’m one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you wanna be, b*tch.”

Roan was also nominated for Best Trending Video (“Hot To Go!”), Song Of The Summer (“Good Luck, Babe!”), and Performance Of The Year (“Red Wine Supernova”).

Watch Roan’s acceptance speech here, and watch her “Good Luck, Babe!” performance above.

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis recently wrapped filming Freakier Friday, the long-awaited sequel to 2003’s Freaky Friday. But is it too late to cast Halsey as a member of Pink Slip, millennials’ favorite fictional punk band? A retroactive cameo? Please? I’m even open to CGI.

At Wednesday night’s (September 11) 2024 MTV VMAs, Halsey sang “Ego” from The Great Impersonator, their fifth LP due out on October 25. She might or might not have been impersonating Anna Coleman, Lohan’s Freaky Friday character.

Whether Halsey intended to or not, people on X (formerly Twitter) immediately drew the comparison — and delighted in the serendipitous nostalgia.

“Halsey giving Simple Plan meets Freaky Friday,” someone named Cait posted. Someone else wrote, “Halsey LIVE from the Freaky Friday garage.”

For anyone who has robbed themselves of watching Freaky Friday, Lohan’s Anna and her best friends (played by Christina Vidal and Haley Hudson) have an objectively awesome band named Pink Slip.

Freaky Friday parallels aside, Halsey’s “Ego” performance ruled.

The Great Impersonator will be Halsey’s first LP release since the 2021 Grammy-nominated If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. “I made this record in the space between life and death,” Halsey wrote on Instagram when announcing the album. “And it feels like I’ve waited an eternity for you to have it. I’ll wait a bit longer. I’ve waited a decade, already.”

The crowd at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards was left yelling, “Yeah, Glo!” after GloRilla’s performance of that song, decked out in a black-and-white suit, which turned into a skimpy bikini as she performed “TGIF” atop a conference table, replete with the flames that seemed like a prerequisite for pretty much every other performance of the night.

The Memphis native is fresh off the release of her second mixtape, Ehhthang Ehhthang, which produced “Wanna Be” with Megan Thee Stallion, its remix with Cardi B, and “All Dere” with Moneybagg Yo. She also joined Megan Thee Stallion on her Hot Girl Summer Tour, realized that Cardi B is her cousin, and had a slew of various wardrobe malfunctions. She was also presented with the key to the city of Memphis, making her very much a hometown hero and a burgeoning superstar.

She and Meg also apparently have plans to drop a joint album in the near future, with Meg saying, “I ain’t gon’ say too much, but it feels like it’s going to get done.” Not bad for a pair of rappers who say they weren’t sure about each other when they first met.

You can check out GloRilla’s performance video here, and keep up with the full list of VMAs winners here.

Shannon Sharpe made headlines on Wednesday afternoon, and it had nothing to do with a debate on First Take. While the details were murky, it sure sounded like Sharpe went live on Instagram Live while he was having sex with someone — nothing got caught on camera while IG broadcasted it to Sharpe’s followers.

After a statement was posted to Sharpe’s Story claiming he was hacked was taken down, the Hall of Fame tight end tweeted that he’d go onto his YouTube show, Nightcap, to discuss the incident with his co-host, Chad Johnson. While Sharpe made clear that he was not going to share any details about the person he was with, he was candid that this incident did occur, his going on IG Live was a total accident, and that his heart sank when he figured out what was going on.

“I’m someone that is extremely, extremely private, and to have one of your most intimate details be heard for the entire world to hear,” Sharpe said. “I’m embarrassed for a number of reasons … even when I’m behind closed doors, I still try to remain a level of professional, although I’m in the privacy of my own home. And I’m very disappointed in myself — not for the act, I think there are millions, billions of people of consenting age that engage in activities. But to have your most intimate detail, for the audio to be heard, I’m disappointed in myself.

“This was not staged,” Sharpe continued. “Came in, threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity. I did not know IG Live — I’ve never been on IG Live, I’ve never turned IG Live on, so I don’t know how it works. And so, all of a sudden, my other phone is going off, and people are calling me, FaceTime, that I’ve never talked to a day in my life on FaceTime. And I’m like, why are y’all calling me FaceTime?”

Sharpe explained that someone finally got through to him, and when he was finally told that people heard him having sex, “man, my heart sank, it dropped.”

You can watch the entire episode of Nightcap — which featured Sharpe and Johnson speaking openly about the incident while also cracking jokes about the whole thing — right here.

Chappell Roan was fiery before the 2024 MTV VMAs even started on Wednesday night, September 11. The Midwest Princess was caught on video appearing to advise an off-camera photographer to “shut the f*ck up.” Roan brought that energy to the UBS Arena stage in New York. You can watch the performance here.

RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sasha Colby introduced Roan by saying, in part, “Pop music in inclusive. No matter what you look like, who you love, it’s meant for everyone. And no one has revitalized that spirit more than this next artist.”

Roan’s set design was a medieval castle. She strutted through the gates while carrying a fiery bow, then shot it up toward the castle to set everything on fire. She launched intto “Good Luck, Babe!” and delivered pristine vocals while dancing with a bunch of armored people yielding swords. Roan belted out “I told you so” while her armored dancers fought behind her, and by the end, Roan was the last one standing.

“Good Luck, Babe!” and “Hot To Go” have catapulted Roan into the zeitgeist this summer. “Good Luck, Babe!” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August.

In addition to being a 2024 MTV VMAs performer, Roan was nominated for Best New Artist and MTV Push Performance Of The Year.