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Billie Eilish was the ultimate fan growing up, and she’s grown to become peers with most of her former idols. A young Billie loved Justin Bieber so much that her parents “did consider” getting her therapy for it. Years later, Bieber jumped on Eilish’s “Bad Guy” remix and attended her 21st birthday party last December.

Lana Del Rey is in the same tier.

“You were my first lock screen on the first phone I ever got,” Billie Eilish told Lana Del Rey for Interview Magazine in February. Del Rey cited that conversation while on the red carpet at the 2023 Billboard Women In Music event in Los Angeles last night, March 1.

“With Billie, I mean, talk about a woman who’s, like, cooked good all the way through,” Del Rey said. “Not only the way she sings, her vocal inflections, you can’t even copy it, but as a person, she’s just — every now and then, you meet someone who’s just a good person. And it’s not like that’s a requirement — in fact, usually, it’s the opposite — to be a good artist. But she just happens to be both.”

She continued, “When we did Interview Magazine and she interviewed me, and she just talked about how her first phone screen picture was of me with the bee. I mean, picture me in my bedroom freaking out. ‘Cause she’s, like, my living legend. It’s fun to have a little camaraderie there.”

When asked by Billboard‘s Lyndsey Havens if she’d work with Eilish, Del Rey emphatically assured, “Oh, I feel like I’m sure, at some point, we will.”

Del Rey was honored with the Visionary Award, which was presented to her by Olivia Rodrigo.

Watch her red carpet interview above and find her Visionary Award acceptance speech below.

Pedro Pascal has been racking up rave reviews for his portrayal of Joel Miller in The Last of Us, but apparently, another star came very close to snatching up the role for the hit series. In a new interview with Jeffrey Pierce, who voiced Joel’s brother Tommy in the PlayStation game, HBO was looking at a future Marvel star instead of Pascal. Those casting choices gave Pierce a heads up that he probably wouldn’t be playing Tommy in the series, but he did land a role as Perry, the right-hand man to Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen.

Via The Direct:

So… I think initially they had talked to Mahershala Ali about playing Joel, which is an obvious cue that I’m not gonna play Tommy… And when they cast Pedro [Pascal], I knew like, yeah, that was certainly not going to happen regardless, I’m older than Pedro Pascal. So I was not under harboring any illusions about that, for sure.

Pierce also revealed that before HBO stepped in, The Last of Us was almost adapted into a movie, and for a while, there was talk of an animated series.

“There have been a couple of different iterations over time,” Pierce said. “There was a movie at one point. There was a motion-capture cinematic animated series at one point. And both of those are things that I thought, ‘I got a pretty good shot at being involved to some degree.’”

Ultimately, HBO brought in Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin to take a crack at a live-action series, and with the help of The Last of Us game creator Neil Druckmann, the two have pulled off the unthinkable by adapting a video game into a prestige TV drama.

(Via The Direct)

Following the season finale of Mayfair Witches (the second installment in AMC’s expanding Rice-verse), star Alexandra Daddario spoke to Harper’s Bazaar about all things fashion. The actress, who recently attended the Christian Dior presentation at Paris Fashion Week, said that “whenever I put something great on, it can just instinctively make me feel confident.”

She continued, “When I was a young actress coming from New York and didn’t have much, my focus was getting auditions and wearing what I needed to for work and for being in character. Now, as I get older, I’m embracing what I love and feel good in, and am really coming into my own.”

Daddario was also asked about when she feels most beautiful (besides when she’s changing into her bathing suit on The White Lotus). “After I’ve had my hair and make-up done by other people – they’re much better at it than I am!” she said. “I also feel gorgeous just walking around my house wearing my pajamas and being surrounded by family. I just feel so lucky.” Her fashion inspirations include Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, Emily Ratajkowski (“These women wear their clothes with such confidence”), and this hotel cat.

It’s a better hotel experience than her time in Hawaii.

(Via Harper’s Bazaar)

The Billboard Women In Music Awards took place last night (March 1), using Women’s History Month as a reason to celebrate women in the music industry. A spotlight was on Chlöe, who’s releasing her new album In Pieces soon as well as taking it out on a tour. She was on hand to present Latto with the Powerhouse Award.

“We just need the opportunities,” she said when asked in a red carpet interview how the industry could help women producers. “I definitely think there’s a lot more than who are given opportunities. The reason I got into producing as a young girl was because for sis and I, no producers wants to produce things for a 12- and 10-year-old. So I took matters into my own hands. I always loved math and science and had been a huge nerd with that, so it was fun combining my love of technology and music together. I executive-produced my album dropping in a month and there’s only two songs I didn’t produce.”

Unfortunately, Chlöe has also been at the center of criticism for having a Chris Brown feature for the track “How Does It Feel” on her new album due to his history of harassment, battery, sexual assault, and more. That song is out now as a single.

Watch her full interview above.

In Pieces is out 3/31 via Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.

The 2023 Billboard Women In Music Awards went down last night (March 1) and during the ceremony, Lana Del Rey was given the Visionary Award. She was introduced by Olivia Rodrigo, who heaped heavy praise on Del Rey and on one of her songs in particular.

After rattling off some Del Rey stats (15 songs on the Hot 100 chart, eight top-10 albums) and other resume bullet points, Rodrigo (who was named Woman Of The Year at last year’s ceremony) said, “Lana has raised an entire generation of music lovers and songwriters like me, and taught them that there’s beauty in their vulnerability and power in their melancholy.”

She continued, “The first song I ever heard of Lana’s was ‘Video Games,’ which… I still consider that song to be probably the best love song of all time. She captures sadness, anger, and sensuality in a way only the greatest of songwriters ever could.”

Rodrigo then concluded:

“What I admire the most about Lana, though, even more than her perfectly written albums, life-changing poetry, and heavenly voice is her unwavering authenticity. Lana has forged her own path her entire career, constantly raising the bar for herself and creating art that pushes boundaries and changes lives. She never sacrificed her unique voice and perspective on a world and an industry that constantly tries to put people in a box. And if that doesn’t make you a visionary, I truly don’t know what does.

She’s also just, like, the coolest, kindest, nicest girl to ever exist, and Lana: I love you.

Watch Rodrigo’s Del Rey speech above. Also check out Del Rey’s acceptance speech below.

After Elon Musk purchased Twitter for an unfathomable amount of money, a lot of people vowed to quit the platform. Most didn’t (Mastodon is emptier than a Chick-fil-A on Sunday), but Hasan Minhaj has. It took awhile, but the moment of “f*ck this, I’m done with the app crashing and bots and whatever the hell this is” came during Wednesday’s episode of The Daily Show.

“Since Elon’s takeover, all I see is, ‘Twitter sucks.’ ‘We should leave Twitter.’ ‘Elon ruined Twitter.’ But here’s the thing, guys: Elon didn’t make Twitter terrible, Twitter has been terrible for years because of us!” Minhaj said. He called it the “sh*ttiest platform on planet Earth,” but “as bad as it gets, no one ever leaves!” After listing all the reasons that Twitter is terrible (“It’s all ISIS beheadings and clout”), Minhaj came to a realization: that he’s the “living embodiment” of Twitter for bitching about it but still having an account, and it’s not fair to judge “other people without changing anything about myself.”

So, he said goodbye to the fail whale for good.

“F*ck this,” Minhaj said. “I’m leaving Twitter. I’m leaving this hellscape right now. Let’s do this right now.”

I learned two things: Minhaj is a man of his word, and The Daily Show office has a good wifi signal. You can watch the clip above.

Taylor Sheridan’s vast assembling of Paramount shows includes several existing and in-development shows that aren’t directly related to Yellowstone. However, that franchise reigns supreme and shall remain near and dear to the former Sons of Anarchy cop and Oscar-nominated screenwriter’s followers. As such, the TV world currently awaits word about whether the Yellowstone flagship show will truly see the exit of Kevin Costner from the franchise.

If that ever happens, viewers can take comfort in a steady supply of offshoots that does not appear to be ending anytime soon. 1883 came and went and starred Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Billy Bob Thornton. 1923 remains ongoing and stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. There’s reportedly a Matthew McConaughey role in development, although no one knows if that applies to a freestanding show or another one already in existence. And then there’s the upcoming 6666, which (to outsiders) might sound like something demonic is involved.

A haunted ranch? No, that’s not the case. The in-development show’s title directly refers to a real-life, legendary ranch — 6666 or the Four Sixes — in West Texas. The title also makes a direct reference to a Yellowstone Season 5 episode, in which John Dutton’s daughter, Beth, decided to “to start selling Yellowstone-branded beef” after being inspired by the 6666 ranch. Presumably, the spinoff would take place at the ranch and follow any soap operatics involved. What’s particularly interesting, though, is that Sheridan walks the walk so much that he actually owns this ranch.

At least, that’s the case since mid 2021, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram initially reported, when Sheridan managed to pony up at least $320 million for the historic swath of land that is twice as big as Chicago and “legendary” in ranching circles after being founded in 1879 by Samuel “Burk” Burnett. A few years following the sale, the Four Sixes General Manager, Jim Leathers (yes, that’s his actual name), is now speaking up about how the sale went down. The Abilene Reporter-News relays Leather’s speech at the recent Agriculture Legacy Luncheon, in which he referred to “Taylor Sheridan and the ‘Yellowstone’ bunch” while admitting that he hadn’t heard of Sheridan ahead of his interest to buy.

Given that Sheridan wanted the Yellowstone franchise to start filming at Four Sixes, Leathers initially decided that he wasn’t interested. Then Sheridan, who was the sixth prospective buyer after the first five didn’t work out, took a three-day tour of Four Sixes, and he won Leathers over, but it wasn’t easy:

“He came, and I told him that I could see a whole lot more downside than upside, Why would I jeopardize the reputation of the ranch just to be on TV?” Leathers got up and walked out.

“Lo and behold, I work for the guy now,” Leathers said, to laughter. “I have not seen a show of ‘Yellowstone’ to this day.”

Sheridan apparently was able to cobble up enough investors to help him pull together the additional $300,000 million that he needed to purchase Four Sixes, and with all of that capital involved, one can bet that there are big Yellowstone plans for the ranch in addition to utility. 1883 filmed on the premises, and with a freaking title like 6666, it’s safe to assume that this series will go down in its natural habitat, too.

Heck, with all of the overarching significance involved with such a pricey ranch investment, 6666 should prove to be a major part of the overarching Sheridan universe of shows. And although Leathers claims to have never watched Yellowstone or its offshoots, he does acknowledge that the show isn’t “accurate” to ranching life, but Sheridan “put enough sugar on the cookie for people to watch it.” And the rest, as they say, is pop culture history.

(Via Abilene Reporter-News, Texas Monthly & Southern Living)

Worlds are about to collide: BTS’ J-Hope announced that he’s dropping the solo track “On The Street” tomorrow (March 3) and that appearing on the tune is J. Cole.

The Cole appearance is revealed in a new teaser video, which starts with a shot from behind J-Hope as he walks on a city roof. As he approaches the ledge, Cole comes into view and the two lean against the ledge together and look out over the city.

This collab is probably particularly exciting for J-Hope, as he’s long been a Cole fan. On BTS’ 2014 track “Hip Hop Lover,” J-Hope raps (translated to English via Genius), “Hope hope world / Before I made my own world, Cole world / Ever since he shone on Friday nights.” In 2018, he named his debut solo mixtape Hope World, similar to Cole’s 2011 debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. Then, J-Hope got to meet Cole at Lollapalooza 2022 and a video of the encounter makes it clear how special the moment was for him.

J-Hope (whose real name is Jung Ho-seok) didn’t actually model his stage name after Cole like it may seem, though. Rather, the J-Hope name came about because he wants to be a source of hope for the BTS Army.

(WARNING: Spoilers for this week’s Bel-Air episode will be found below.)

Season two of Bel-Air got underway last week with a bit of turmoil surrounding the Banks family. The first episode of the new season, “A Fresh Start,” began with Will living at Jazz’s house following his discovery at the end of season one that his family — Phil, Vivian, and his mom specifically — hid the truth about his father from him. In his absence from the Banks mansion, Will set his eyes on regaining his independence in life and achieving his basketball dreams. While these two remain active goals of his, Will eventually returned to the Banks mansion after Phil put his pride aside to apologize to him.

Elsewhere in the episode, Jazz and Hilary made things official in their relationship, Vivian’s new role at the Neeman Artistic Fellowship doesn’t get off to a smooth start, and Carlton has to figure out ways to make his day-to-day life at the Bel-Air Academy comfortable.

For the second episode of season two of Bel-Air, titled “Speaking Truth,” Will basketball life is on full display. There’s no denying that Will is the best player on the team, but with his eyes set on landing a division one college basketball scholarship, Will is slowly forgetting that basketball is a team sport. This leads to a rift in the team that comes down to more than just Xs and Os, but each other on- and off-court personalities and how their mesh, or clash rather. Outside of Will’s world, we see Carlton make some progress with this anxiety issue, only to be put in several high-anxiety situations. Vivian’s fellowship issues continue while Phil extends an olive branch out to Geoffrey. Lastly, Jazz and Hilary have a few rifts in their relationship, and in their attempt to repair things, they make a decision that maybe neither of them weren’t ready to make.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season two’s second episode, “Speaking Truth”:

Don’t Let Arrogance Be Your Achilles Heel

This new season of Bel-Air makes it clear that Will is the best player on the Bel-Air Academy basketball team. Additionally, we knew that Will was a great player during his time back in Philly, he was even scouted by a few college coaches. However, as I mentioned above, Will is also forgetting that basketball is a team sport in season two of Bel-Air. He belittles and disses his teammates when his coach calls for plays that result in someone besides Will making a basketball. And when his teammates fail to score and they lose a game, Will goes on to ignore his coach’s requests and ball-hog his way into three-point baskets and dunks that end in cuss-filled rants about his talents and the lack of that with his opponents all while forgetting about his teammates. Sure, they won the game, but at what cost? As much as Will thinks the Bel-Air Academy basketball team could be the Achilles heel toward his ability to receive a division one college basketball scholarship, his own arrogance could play into that equally, if not more.

(Other) People Have Feelings Too, You Know?

In season one, we saw Phil come across the realization that his obsession and drive toward work became so much that his wife felt it was necessary to take a step back and tend to the family more just to keep things afloat. While it hasn’t reached this level of severity yet, Will and Hilary certainly have the workaholic gene in them. They’re both so set on achieving their life goals that they seemingly fail to see how it affects people who have a genuine interest in them. Hilary tells Jazz that her desired illusion of attainability on social media isn’t worth ruining all to post their relationship on Instagram, which isn’t something you tell your romantic partner. Will is the top offender here as he disses his basketball teammates to advocate, selfishly I must say, for the best decisions for the team — which all have to do with him scoring. He also uses Jackie, a girl who is slowly taking an interest in him, to get information on Doc in hopes of getting in his good grace. Case in point: these people have feelings, and though it’s okay the chase your dreams, neglecting the feelings of the people around you who can lift you up will end in you making little to no progress.

Be Aware, Not Afraid, Of The Greater Good

Throughout his time at Bel-Air Academy, Carlton has spent most of it in the good graces of the school’s white students. In season two, that isn’t the case anymore. Luckily, Carlton has found a bit of a home at the school’s Black Student Union, a group that previously despised him for not attending to the Black student body’s needs especially when he was class president. His chance to make an impact in the group and in the Black student body comes when middle school teacher Mrs. Hughes (played by Tatyana Ali, the original Ashley from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) gets fired for giving students off-the-curriculum about racism, sexism, and other tough but important topics. The Black Student Union pushes for a walk-out to protest Mrs. Hughes’ firing, and while Carlton is originally on board, a fellow Black teacher at the school asks him to reconsider the decision because of the repercussions it could have. Carlton expresses his fears to Will, who brushes them off and tells Carlton that there’s nothing to worry about. While that isn’t exactly true, this walk-out is something that would benefit the greater good of the school. This is a moment to be aware, not afraid of that greater good. Carlton wants to make an impact on the school and this is exactly how he can do it. While his anxiety issues could get in the way, he’s certainly capable of coming through for his community.

Impact Is An Undeniable Power

In just the two episodes of Bel-Air, it was clear that Mrs. Hughes had a huge impact on Ashley’s time at Bel-Air Academy. Furthermore, older students like Lisa acknowledged that Mrs. Hughes also made sure to look after them during their time in middle school. There’s an undeniable power in having such an impact on Black children like Ahsley, Lisa, and Carlton. The world, even as members of the Banks family in Ashley and Carlton’s cases, seeks to knock them down or limit their heights. However, it’s clear that Mrs. Hughes approached her interactions by keeping the aforementioned takeaways in mind. There was no arrogance in her interactions, the feelings of others were considered, and she didn’t back down from breaking a rule in favor of the greater good. She knew supplying Ashley and others with outside curriculum readers on racism, sexism, sexuality, and more would be in violation of school rules, but the impact it would have on her students would be greater in the long run. Will, Carlton, Ashley, and Hilary all want to have some sort of impact on the world in their respective lanes, and though it’s possible, they need to take a second and see how Mrs. Hughes’ selflessness contributed to her own impact on others. Once they do that, the sky is the limit.

New episodes of ‘Bel-Air’ are available Peacock on Thursdays at 5:01 am EST/ 2:01 am PST.

Metallica are preparing for the release of their new album 72 Seasons. Blazing singles like “Lux Æterna” and “Screaming Suicide” continue to build the anticipation for the record, and the newest one, “If Darkness Had A Son,” is doing the same.

In typical Metallica fashion, the track is seven minutes long, throwing the listener straight into an immersive, rollercoaster-like experience. The guitars are corrosive as James Hetfield howls poetic, dark lines: “If darkness had a son, here I am / Temptation is his father / If darkness had a son, here I am / I bathe in holy water / Temptation, leave me be.”

“72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” Hetfield explained about the album in a statement. “The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are.”

“I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today,” he continued. “Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”

Listen to “If Darkness Had A Son” above.

72 Seasons is out 4/14 via Blackened Recordings. Pre-order it here.