Music News

The rumors were true — partly.

Celine Dion did, indeed, make a big comeback by performing an Édith Piaf song at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris Friday. However, she did not, as reported, duet with Lady Gaga, and the song she sang was not "La Vie en Rose." It was another Piaf song, "Hymne A L'Amour," or "Hymn to Love."

Celine, dressed all in white, was perched on the first level of the Eiffel Tower in a glittering white gown, belting out the French song and showing no sign of struggle. As fans know, Celine's diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome has impeded her ability to sing and to perform onstage.

In fact, Celine's performance Friday was her first since March 2020. She had been forced to halt her tour due to COVID-19 and then due to her medical issues. She revealed her diagnosis in 2022.

Celine's performance followed the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, as athletes performed a torch relay through the streets of Paris.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The trailer for the Nick Jonas-starring production of The Last Five Years released on Friday. The production, which will also star Adrienne Warren, starts performances on March 18, 2025.

Halsey has revealed how she convinced Britney Spears to let her sample her song "Lucky" for her latest single of the same name. "I wrote her the longest, sappiest, stan letter of all time and she was soooo nice," Halsey wrote on the social platform X.

Kamala Harris is giving Chappell Roan a boost on streaming. The Harris campaign used Chappell's "Femininonenon" in a TikTok criticizing former President Donald Trump on Monday, and it boosted streams of her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by 19 percent from Monday, July 15, to Monday, July 22.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After her performance at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lady Gaga posted an essay on Instagram talking about the inspiration behind the number.

Gaga sang "Mon Truc en Plumes," made famous in 1961 by Zizi Jeanmaire, and she wrote that she was humbled to be asked by the Olympics organizing committee to sing "such a special French song—a song to honor the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre."

"Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music," she continued. "I wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth—Paris."

She said some of the black, pink and white feathered pieces were rented from Le Lido archives, "a real French cabaret theater. We collaborated with Dior to create custom costumes, using naturally molted feathers."

She added, "I studied French choreography that put a modern twist on a French classic. I rehearsed tirelessly to study a joyful French dance, brushing up on some old skills—I bet you didn’t know I used to dance at a 60’s [sic] French party on the lower east side when I was first starting out!

Gaga concluded by thanking France "for welcoming me to your country to sing in honor of you—it’s a gift I’ll never forget!"

She added, "Congratulations to all the athletes who are competing in this year’s Olympic Games! It is my supreme honor to sing for you and cheer you on!!"

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Adele regularly refers to her boyfriend, Rich Paul, who she began dating in 2021, as her "husband," leading many fans to assume that they secretly got married. Of course she hasn't confirmed that, but now there are rumors that the two might actually be officially engaged.

People reports that Adele and Rich were seen leaving the London hot spot Chiltern Firehouse on July 20, and Adele was sporting a large pear-shaped diamond ring on her left hand.

The British tabloid The Sun is going all-in on the photos, reporting that Rich recently proposed and the two then went to Chiltern Firehouse to celebrate. The paper claims Adele FaceTimed friends and family to share the news after she accepted his proposal.

Adele has often told fans at her Las Vegas residency that she wants to have another child. She and her ex-husband share a son, Angelo, while Rich has three kids of his own.

Even if Adele is engaged and the two do get married, it's unlikely that she'll announce it. And since she already calls Rich her "husband," fans won't know the difference, anyway.

Adele is currently in Germany preparing for her upcoming shows in a custom-built stadium in Munich.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sabrina Carpenter is doing great on the U.S. charts, but she's totally dominating the charts across the pond.

Her song "Please Please Please" returned to number one of the U.K.'s Official Chart for a fourth week on top; it ascends to #1 by replacing her own song, "Espresso," which now falls to #9. 

Between those two songs, Sabrina has now held the #1 spot in the U.K. for 11 weeks this year, which is the most for any artist since Olivia Rodrigo spent 14 weeks on top in 2021 with "driver's license" and "good 4 u."

Meanwhile, Sabrina's new fragrance, Cherry Baby, is available now everywhere, including Amazon, Rite Aid, Walmart and JCPenney. According to WWD, Sabrina said of the scent, “I wanted this fragrance to be bold and flirty while also feeling sophisticated and timeless. Cherry Baby is all about capturing those moments of joy and making every day feel a bit more magical.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Post Malone and "Fast Car" singer Luke Combs have teamed up for "Guy for That," a new song from Posty's upcoming country album, F-1 Trillion.

In the song's music video, Post and Luke come out the back of a building and head into a set of portable toilets — but what they don't know is that the porta potties are actually on the back of a flatbed truck. The driver pulls a cover over them and drives away while the two singers are relieving themselves.

When they emerge, they're confused and don't know where they are, but when the cover pulls back, they realize they're on Nashville's Lower Broadway, which is essentially that city's party central. They perform the song, which is about a guy who wants to get back together with his ex but doesn't know how, as fans cram the streets and cheer.

The truck is then covered back up and they drive back to the original building, where Post tells Luke, "Craziest p*** of my life."

F-1 Trillion will be out Aug. 16.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

As expected, Lady Gaga has performed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Gaga appeared on a staircase on the bank of the Seine River in Paris, hiding behind two big pink feathered fans, so all we could see were her legs, clad in black stockings and stilettos.  When she was revealed we could see she was sporting a black bodysuit, with her hair slicked back in a bun, and a feather headpiece.

Gaga then performed the song "Mon Truc en Plumes," which means "My Feathered Thing." It was made famous by Renée Jeanmaire, popularly known as "Zizi," accompanied by dancers.

In the middle of the upbeat number, she sat down at a piano for a minute, and then was back up and dancing, now with a white feathered "tail" attached to her outfit.  After some more dance moves, she ran back up the stairs.

It remains to be seen when and if Celine Dion will also perform. 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pink has been on tour in Europe for weeks but she's still on top of what's been going on with the U.S. presidential election.

The Wrap reports she was one of 100,000 people who attended a Zoom fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate. Notably, The Wrap reports that Pink signed onto the call after coming offstage in Stockholm, Sweden, where it was 3 a.m. local time.

"We are in this … and I’m just really grateful that us women are going to have a voice, and we’ve always made our voices heard, and now it’s time to just get extra loud," Pink said on the call. "Let’s go. Let’s get loud.” 

It's not clear how much money, if any, she donated, but the call itself raised more than $1.8 million for Harris' campaign, The Wrap reports.

July 25 in Sweden was Pink's final concert in Europe before she returns to the U.S. for another leg of her Summer Carnival tour, with opening acts Sheryl Crow and The Script. She posted a video montage of the shows on Instagram and thanked the fans, writing, "What an absolute whirlwind lovefest, Europe and UK for a second summer in a row. The memories we’ve made will last me and my family and crew a lifetime or two."

"Thank you to every single person that spent your time with me, shared your hearts with me, let me into your lives. Thank you for always seeing me and holding me and lifting me up," she continued. "I hope I made you feel things. I love you and appreciate all of you so much. Until next time my friends."

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Now that the concept of "brat summer" is everywhere, people are quick to say that it's no longer a thing — but Charli XCX has some news for them.

On Instagram she posted several screenshots of media accounts, including Pitchfork, declaring that "brat summer" is "dead," that "people are ruining it" and that it's "over." She wrote in the caption, "oh ? see u next week 🙂"

This comes after the British singer posted a photo of herself in the studio "recording .... something."

Meanwhile, as you might have expected, all this talk about Brat, "brat summer" and "Kamala IS Brat" has been very good for Charli's bank account. Billboard reports that her album Brat is up 14% in total streams.

It's worth noting that Charli XCX is British and cannot vote in the U.S. presidential election.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Justin Timberlake’s DWI case in Sag Harbor, New York, has been adjourned until Aug. 2.

At that time Justin will be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and failing to keep right, WABC-TV reports. The new arraignment is due to a problem with the way Justin was initially charged. He did not appear in court on Friday, according to WABC-TV.

Justin will now appear virtually Aug. 2 in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court. He's been accused of running a stop sign and swerving out of his lane while leaving The American Hotel in his BMW.

According to WABC-TV, in his first public comments since the arrest, Timberlake's attorney Ed Burke contended Justin "was not intoxicated," adding, "I'll say it again. Justin Timberlake was not intoxicated. And we are very confident that charge, that criminal charge, will be dismissed."

Burke argued in court that the case should be thrown out due to a "defective accusatory instrument," which is another way of saying there was an issue with the way that Justin was charged.

"The police made a number of very significant errors in this case ... and there are many others," Burke continued. "Sometimes the police, like every one of us, make mistakes. And that's the case in this very instance."

According to the criminal complaint, Justin "was driving drunk, had bloodshot, glassy eyes, slowed speech, was unsteady on his feet and performed poorly on a field sobriety test." He told the arresting officer he'd only had one drink and refused to take a chemical test, WABC-TV reports.

The next date of Justin's Forget Tomorrow World Tour is Friday in Poland.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lady Gaga's upcoming film Joker: Folie À Deux is a musical of sorts, but Gaga says fans shouldn't expect A Star Is Born-quality vocals from her this time around.

Speaking to Empire magazine, Gaga says of her character, Harley Quinn, who she refers to as "Lee," "There’s plenty of bum notes, actually, from Lee. I’m a trained singer, right? So even my breathing was different when I sang as Lee."

"When I breathe to sing on stage, I have this very controlled way to make sure that I’m on pitch and it’s sustained at the right rhythm and amount of time, but Lee would never know how to do any of that," she explains. "So it’s like removing the technicality of the whole thing ... I worked a lot on the way that I sang to come from Lee, and to not come from me as a performer."

Gaga also says the way the movie incorporates music — having it be "an extension of the dialogue," as she puts it — is "unlike anything I've ever done before."

Joker: Folie À Deux, co-starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker, comes to theaters in October but will have its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from the end of August to the beginning of September.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Halsey's long-awaited song "Lucky," which interpolates both Britney Spears' "Lucky" and the 1998 #1 hit "Angel of Mine" by Monica, has arrived, along with a powerful video.

The video, directed by Francis Ford Coppola's granddaughter Gia, juxtaposes the life of an ordinary tween girl with that of a pop star named "Halsey," who appears to live a glamorous life and wears a crystal bodysuit similar to the one Britney did in the video for "Toxic." However, we soon realize that Halsey's real life isn't that glamorous: just like the real Halsey, she's sick and undergoing medical treatments.

In the lyrics, Halsey describes what's happened in the last few years, including being diagnosed with lupus and a rare T-cell disorder, and breaking up with the father of her son, Ender.

"I shaved my head four times because I wanted to/ And then I did it one more time 'cause I got sick/ And I thought I changed so much, nobody would notice it, and no one did," she sings. "And I left the doctor's office full of tears/ Became a single mom at my premiere/ And I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year/ And that's the biggest lie of my career."

At the end of the video, Halsey and the girl are at a playground, swinging side-by-side on a swing set.

"Lucky" follows "The End" as Halsey's first releases from her upcoming album, which she recently told a fan on social platform X is "all over the place," genre-wise.

Halsey posted video of her boyfriend, Avan Jogia, vibing to the song and saying, "I feel very lucky and I'm so proud of the person singing this song."

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sabrina Carpenter's fragrances Sweet Tooth and Caramel Dream have been very successful since they launched in 2022, and now the "Espresso" singer has added to her fragrance empire with her new scent, Cherry Baby. But Sabrina says she has no plans to try to compete with Rihanna by launching multiple beauty and fashion brands.

Speaking to The Business of Fashion, Sabrina explains, "I like to start small. Get my foot in the door. See how other people connect to things, but also, how I connect to things!” She adds, "Later, other endeavors will be other endeavors. If that means creating something else that reflects a new time in my life? Then that’ll be what it is."

“I mean, I look at Rihanna, and I think she’s a genius," Sabrina laughs. "Do I ever want to make as many bras as she’s made? Absolutely not! I don’t know if I could ever handle that. Like, she runs an empire.”

But according to her partners, Scent Beauty, Sabrina's new fragrance is expected to break records, given that her first two scents raked in more than $15 million in profits within a year of their launch. Scent Beauty CEO Stephen Mormoris tells BoF, "The closest sales trajectory that Sabrina Carpenter, as a brand, has is that of Jennifer Lopez."

Sabrina says Cherry Baby is "a little bit more sophisticated" than her previous scents, adding, "It has a bubbly feel that’s like a Cherry Cosmo or a Shirley Temple, but it’s also very rich. ... I didn’t want it to feel like it was synthetic in any sort of way. It can be playful, but not fake.”

“It’s something that we as young women can wear while growing into adult women,” she said. “Cherry Baby is just sweet enough.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sabrina Carpenter's European fans have another chance to see her on tour. The singer announced new dates for the Short n' Sweet European tour leg on Thursday. "new tour dates for u, europe," Team Sabrina wrote on Instagram. "on sale with the remaining shows tomorrow @ 10am local time."

Taylor Swift sent love Hamburg's way after performing The Eras Tour in the German city this week. "Hamburg!! I loved those crowds so so so much. AND we got a rain show night one, unlocking Fuzzy Hair Me for the evening," Taylor wrote on Instagram. "Been having a blast watching these new Eras crowd traditions unfold all throughout Europe… You guys are seriously so creative."

Selena Gomez shared a sweet photo dump of pictures of her and her boyfriend, Benny Blanco, to her Instagram on Wednesday. "Thank you for sharing your life with me today and everyday," Selena captioned the photos.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Katy Perry's daughter, Daisy Dove, who turns 4 in August, is getting to the age where she's starting to realize that her mom isn't just her mom — she's "Katy Perry."

Appearing on The One Show on the BBC Thursday, Katy told the hosts, "If I'm distracted or doing something, and she's already said, 'Mom! Mom! Mom!' the third time she'll go, 'Katy Perry!' And I'm like, 'NO! Don't call me that! ... I will only ever be 'Mommy' to you! I earned this!"

Katy also revealed that Daisy has just started singing her hit "Roar." "She's belting it with her whole body," Katy said.

"But on the flip side," Katy admitted, "she's also singing 'Peacock.' And now I know what every parent went through in 2008. And I'm sorry!"

In case you don't recall, "Peacock" — which was on her 2010 album, by the way — is one long double entendre. Katy sings, "I wanna see your peacock-cock-cock ... C'mon, baby, let me see what you hiding underneath/ Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?/ Whatcha waiting for, it's time for you to show it off."

And then she sings, "Oh my god, no exaggeration/ Boy, all this time was worth the waiting/ I just shed a tear, I am so unprepared/ You got the finest architecture/ End of the rainbow-looking treasure/ Such a sight to see/ And it's all for me." 

So, yeah, it's no wonder Katy doesn't want Daisy to sing that.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

When Taylor Swift asked Ice Spice to jump on a remix of "Karma," fans immediately brought up the fact that Taylor's former boyfriend Matty Healy had made comments about Ice that some considered offensive. But according to the rapper, she didn't know about it at the time.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Ice says she's still a "huge fan" of Healy's The 1975, noting that she was "late as f***" to the controversy. "I didn’t know about it until like a month after or something like that,” she says. "He apologized multiple times, but I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was to other people."

"I feel like people just wanted something to be mad about, I guess," she continues. "I wasn’t angry or sad or anything. I was just kind of confused. I never really cared about that.”

As for Taylor, Ice says she stood in her closet "hysterically crying" after her manager called to tell her that Taylor wanted her on the "Karma" remix. Ice says she now considers Taylor to be her "closest celebrity friend," and ignores comments about how Taylor was just trying to align herself with Ice for some kind of clout.

“Which is so rude to me, [because] why would she not want to be my friend?” Ice says. “Taylor f**** with me. She’s so funny. I think our personalities mesh really well.” 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Joe Jonas' new solo album, Music for People Who Believe In Love, is coming out Oct. 18, but it appears as though his brother Nick is also working on new music.

On Instagram, Nick posted footage of himself jamming to a song in the studio, with no sound. He captioned it, "Great couple days in Nashville writing with my boys ... more to come." Among the "boys" is Shay Mooney, who is half of the chart-topping country duo Dan + Shay. They've scored crossover hits with songs like "Tequila," "Speechless" and the Justin Bieber collab "10,000 Hours."

Nick also posted a video of himself pumping his fist in the control room while Shay sings in the recording booth.

It's not clear if Nick is recording something for a solo project, or doing a  Dan + Shay collab, or both. His last solo album was 2021's Spaceman.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like The Fray know how to save their career: They're releasing their first new music in 10 years and have also announced a headline tour.

Since the "How to Save a Life" band's last album, 2014's Helios, lead singer Isaac Slade has left the band, leaving vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Joe King to take over frontman duties. The lineup also includes longtime members Dave Welsh on guitar and Ben Wysocki on drums. Their new project, a six-song EP called The Fray Is Back, will be out Sept. 27.

“I was under the belief that if you go away, people will forget about you,” King says in a statement. “When we decided to go on indefinite hiatus back in 2016, essentially ending the band, I actually came to peace with it, for a while at least."

He continues, "What I didn’t anticipate was that our music would live on, and perhaps I underestimated how our songs have become woven within the stories of millions, and no one forgets their story." He goes on to say that they began sharing musical ideas, which "became a unifying force that gave us new purpose and direction.”

Lead single "Time Well Wasted," along with a video, is out now.

The Fray will launch a headline tour of more intimate venues Sept. 27 in Washington, D.C. The tour is currently scheduled to wrap up Oct. 20 in Nashville. Welsh says in a statement, "For us, to be able to pick up the conversation where we left off is an unbelievable honor—and the opportunity to start a new conversation is something you just can’t take for granted, too.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Taylor Swift isn't in Deadpool & Wolverine, but she took to her Instagram Story on Thursday to praise her pal Ryan Reynolds for getting the movie made — in typical snarky Deadpool fashion.

Taylor posted a photo of herself and her friend Blake Lively posing with Reynolds — who's Blake's husband — plus Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy and costar Hugh Jackman. She wrote, "Over the past few years I have watched one of my best friends on this planet pour every bit of his heart, soul, sweat, time, energy, jokes, pain, joy, rebellion, darkness, and magic into this film."

"He's created the best work of his life, and this film feels like an actual joy portal, a wild escape from reality and an abs sandwich," she continued. "I don't know how he did it."  

Then came the joke: "But that's Hugh for you! These other randoms crashed the photo and we were too polite to ask them to leave."

Taylor concluded her post by providing a link to buy tickets to the film "if you like things that are unspeakably awesome," and finished by shouting out Ryan's Deadpool character, Wade Wilson, "aka my godkids' sperm donor!"

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ahead of the opening of the 2024 Olympics, three artists have come together to record a theme for the occasion.

The song was created in conjunction with Coca-Cola and the International Olympics Committee. It's called "Hello World (Song of the Olympics)," and was written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and Silk Sonic member Anderson .Paak, who performs it with Gwen Stefani.

The video for the upbeat anthem, which features .Paak, Gwen and many Olympic athletes, is out now. It features lyrics like, "We can defy the odds and make way/ When we link it's a bond that never can break/ Electric, the motion, connection, that's the focus/ Celebrate when you rise to the moment."

Ryan tells Billboard in a statement, "It’s not every day that you’re given the opportunity to write an official song in celebration of the Olympic Games, and I am grateful to be part of such an incredible collaboration." 

He adds, "The Games are an important way for all of us to come together and celebrate each other globally, and we wrote this song with that in mind. I grew up watching every Olympics since childhood, so this is a lifelong dream. I hope this song inspires and uplifts."

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.