JoJo Siwa is a global superstar, entrepreneur, singer, television and film star, a New York Times bestselling author, an internet sensation with over 66 million followers on social media, and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020. A mogul of inspiration, JoJo has uniquely bridged a fan following across a broad demographic delivering her message of “positivity, self-love, inclusivity and acceptance”. Siwa is a consumer products powerhouse, with her famous JoJo Siwa bow selling more than 80 million bows globally to date, as well as developing an international empire of products spanning toys, apparel, accessories, consumer electronics and more. In 2018, Siwa made her introduction as a recording artist with the release of her debut EP. She went on her first-ever tour the following year, selling out over 100 arenas and becoming the youngest artist ever to headline and sell out the O2 Arena in the UK. In 2021, Siwa starred in “Dancing with the Stars,” making history as the first contestant to dance with a same sex partner. She is Emmy nominated for and executive produced both the reality competition series “Siwa’s Dance Pop Revolution” and the live-action musical “The J Team”, in which she also stars. Her latest TV ventures found her on the judges panel for Season 17 of “So You Think You Can Dance”, and starring in the new original hybrid docuseries “JoJo Goes” on Facebook Watch. With several Platinum and Gold-certified singles under her belt, JoJo is currently in the recording studio working on her next project.
Kelsea Ballerini has consistently made history. With the release of her debut album The First Time (Black River), she became the “only female country artist to hit #1 with the first three consecutive singles from a debut album.” This history-making feat helped earn the honeyed alto a Best New Artist GRAMMY nomination. She has logged five back-to-back Top 10 entries on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, including the platinum-selling The First Time [2015], gold-selling Unapologetically [2017], gold-selling kelsea [2020], ballerini [2020], and SUBJECT TO CHANGE [2022]. With seven #1 singles and 31 certifications from the RIAA to date, her catalog boasts a string of essential smashes such as the double-platinum “Miss Me More” and “Peter Pan,” platinum-selling “half of my hometown” feat. Kenny Chesney and “hole in the bottle” with Shania Twain, and gold-selling “I Quit Drinking” with LANY. Among dozens of accolades thus far, she has garnered three GRAMMY® Award nominations, won two ACM Awards, picked up two CMA Awards, took home the iHeartRadio Music Awards honor for “Best New Artist,” and received multiple career nominations from the ACM Awards, American Music Awards, CMA Awards, CMT Awards, and People’s Choice Awards. She concluded 2021 as the “#3 most-played female artist on country radio” and CMT “Artist of the Year” in addition to picking up “Musical Event of the Year” and “Video of the Year” at the CMA Awards for “half of my hometown.” Kelsea scored a nomination in the category of “Single of the Year” at the 2022 CMA Awards for “half of my hometown,” and she notched a People’s Choice Awards nomination for “Country Artist of 2022.” Kelsea led the field for 2022 CMT Music Awards nominations with three nominations for “Video of The Year,” “Collaborative Video of The Year” and “CMT Performance of The Year.” Not to mention, she snagged a nomination for “Music Event of the Year” for the 2022 ACM Awards as both artist and producer of “half of my hometown.” This marked Kelsea’s first ACM nomination as a producer. Expanding her sphere of influence, she authored her first original book of poetry Feel Your Way Through, and Dolly Parton tapped her to star in the audiobook of Run, Rose, Run. In April 2022, Kelsea co-hosted the CMT Awards on CBS nationwide. On top of this, the multi-platinum country superstar was named the newest face of COVERGIRL. She has joined the brand in a multi-year partnership and is set to launch a cosmetic collaboration with the brand in 2023. She was inducted as a member of the famed Grand Ole Opry in 2019. At the time, she notably became the Opry’s youngest member in its nearly 100-year history since being founded in 1925. With these accolades, it is no wonder NPR proclaimed, “Kelsea Ballerini is definitely one of the most influential women in country right now… she’s defining the sound of the genre.” Kelsea’s fourth album, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, arrived on September 23, 2022. The first single “HEARTFIRST,” quickly took over airwaves as the “most added song at country radio” the week of its release and was recently certified gold by the RIAA. Most recently, Kelsea earned a GRAMMY® nomination for “Best Country Solo Performance” for “HEARTFIRST.” Kelsea surprised fans with the release of her intimate six-song EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (Black River) on February 14, 2023. The EP, along with an accompanying short film written and directed by Ballerini, marks the multi-platinum star’s most intimate and honest work to date. The project became an instant hit with fans and debuted to universal acclaim from critics including The New York Times, Variety, Rolling Stone and more. On the heels of the EP’s success, Kelsea made her Saturday Night Live debut on March 4, 2023. She recently wrapped the second leg of her sold-out headlining Heartfirst Tour and she’ll spend the rest of the Spring in arenas across the country as she joins Kenny Chesney on his I Go Back Tour. Kelsea Ballerini is ready to continue making history in 2023 and beyond.
One of the most compelling young artists in the pop world today, FLETCHER has made a massive cultural impact by speaking her truth with total abandon. On her debut album Girl Of My Dreams, the New Jersey-bred singer/songwriter expands on the fearlessly candid storytelling first glimpsed on her chart-topping 2019 single “Undrunk” and later shown on critically acclaimed projects like THE S(EX) TAPES—a 2020 EP that spawned the streaming hit “Bitter” and reached No. 1 on iTunes across all genres. With its unfiltered look at the most intimate of emotional experiences—desire and obsession, loss and trauma, the pain of personal growth and power of true self-acceptance—the result is FLETCHER’s most revealing and revelatory body of work to date. “So much of my past work has been focused on other people and on my relationships: all the people who have broken my heart, all the hearts that I’ve broken,” says FLETCHER. “For my debut album it felt right to do a deeper dive into self-exploration, and all the different facets that make up who I am. I wanted it to be the most honest, raw, and complete representation of the complex and sensitive-ass Pisces that I’ve always been. It took a long time and a lot of reflection to create a body of work like that, but it’s important to me that my music comes directly from lived experience.” In the making of Girl Of My Dreams, FLETCHER worked closely with her longtime collaborator Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde), the executive producer behind the album as well as her 2019 debut EP you ruined new york city for me and THE S(EX) TAPES (a thrillingly unapologetic project which also feature the Kito-produced smash single “Bitter”). Built on a high-energy and hypnotic sound including everything from pop-punk to dance-pop to gorgeously understated folk, Girl Of My Dreams also finds FLETCHER joining forces with acclaimed creatives like Ali Payami (Taylor Swift, The Weeknd), Jenn Decilveo (Miley Cyrus, MARINA), and Amy Allen (Harry Styles, Halsey), all of whom she considers essential to the unchecked vulnerability at the heart of her music. “I love working with people who feel like family and understand me on multiple levels,” she says. “There’s a flow and a synergy to the process, which is the only way I ever want to work moving forward.” Arriving on the heels of hit singles like “girls girls girls”—a 2021 release that ingeniously reimagined Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” with Perry’s stamp of approval—Girl Of My Dreams takes its title from an autobiographical track closely documenting her journey to self-fulfillment. “When my mom was younger she had a dream of a girl with long black hair riding on a horse, but she could never see what the girl’s face looked like,” says FLETCHER in unveiling the song’s origins. “She had a feeling that the girl might be the daughter she’d have one day, but I turned out to be nothing like that girl. To me it’s a metaphor for growing up queer in a small conservative town, and feeling like I wasn’t any of the things that people maybe thought or hoped I would be. As I explored my queerness later on, there were a whole series of people who I thought could be the girl of my dreams. But after so many years of looking outside myself, I finally came to the realization that the girl of my dreams is me.” Although much of Girl Of My Dreams emerged from exacting introspection, FLETCHER also offers up such wildly euphoric tracks as “Her Body Is Bible.” Co-produced by Malay and Sly (Dua Lipa, Maneskin), the album’s soaring lead single showcases the irresistible force of FLETCHER’s voice as she rapturously sings the praises of the feminine form. “As someone who grew up going to Catholic church, I was often told that I was wrong for loving how I wanted to love, and it caused quite a bit of inner turmoil over the course of my life, “ she says. “I know now that something so pure and so beautiful could never be wrong, so I wanted to write about embracing my sexuality as something that makes me feel so free. I think for a lot of queer people there’s a need to unpack religious trauma, and I loved the idea of making this song feel like both an anthem and a hymn.” Another high-wattage and hard-hitting track, “Becky’s So Hot” spotlights FLETCHER’s gift for crafting deeply resonant pop songs with extraordinary specificity. “I wrote that song after accidentally liking a picture of my ex-girlfriend’s new girlfriend—she was wearing a vintage T-shirt of my ex’s, a shirt I used to wear, and I told my co-writers, ‘I can’t be mad about it, because Becky’s so hot,’” says FLETCHER, who created the guitar-fueled track with One Love and newcomer Pink Slip. The complexities of moving on were something I wanted to explore and it felt more interesting to me to write something from the perspective of being in in awe of her; sort of like ‘damn… it kinda stings that she’s so hot, but I can’t even be mad about it because I get it…she’s hot.’ It paints a picture of how pain can evolve and so can you.” On “Better Version,” FLETCHER shares what she refers to as “the flipside to ‘Becky’s So Hot,’” a heavy-hearted expression of post-breakup grief (from the gut-punching chorus: “Do you think of me/When you fuck her?/Do you use the moves/The ones we learned?/It’s always the next person/That gets the better version”). “It’s a sad reality that after a relationship ends, the next person is going to get the better version of you: the more evolved, more healed, the one who’s worked through their bad habits or communication issues,” says FLETCHER. “This song is me trying to accept that someone else will get the better version of my ex, and someone else will get the better version of me.” One of the most exhilarating tracks on Girl Of My Dreams, “Serial Heartbreaker” takes on a glorious velocity as FLETCHER owns up to her imperfections (“Sensitive but not enough/I’m not the best at breaking up/Too soon to rip the Band-Aid off/A sucker for the fuck-me-up”). “That song was the most fun we had on the album,” she says. “It started with me spilling my guts about why all my relationships have failed, and we just kept pushing the tempo faster and faster and faster.” And on “For Cari,” Girl Of My Dreams closes out with a stripped-back and slow-burning piece that merges her aching confession with a bit of quietly joyful self-celebration (“And this city’s too big for small things I need/And I’m done losing sleep over things I can’t be/And I’ve pleased everybody, so this one’s for me”). “The day I wrote ‘For Cari’ I was so heartbroken and uninspired, so I decided to make something just for myself,” FLETCHER recalls. “There was no intention of it being anything I might actually release—it was just something I needed to do so I wouldn’t lose my mind, and it ended up becoming my personal mantra.” Even in its most painful moments, Girl Of My Dreams radiates an undeniable hope that’s possibly tied to a recent shift in FLETCHER’s process. “In the past my songs mostly came from a place of brokenness or despair, but lately the inspiration comes when I feel my healthiest,” she says. Growing up in Asbury Park (also the homeland of her musical hero, Bruce Springsteen), FLETCHER first immersed herself in songwriting at age 12. “I was writing about heartbreak before I’d ever even kissed anyone,” she says. “I was such an anxious kid, and it was way easier for me to put my feelings into lyrics than speak them out loud.” While studying at NYU’s famed Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, FLETCHER began independently releasing her music and quickly gained traction on Spotify. As her profile rose, FLETCHER signed with Capitol Records in 2018 and soon made her debut with you ruined new york city for me—a five-track project featuring “Undrunk,” which spent several weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and later garnered her a nomination for iHeartRadio’s Best New Pop Artist. Released in September 2020, THE S(EX) TAPES drew abundant praise from critics, with SPIN proclaiming that “[t]here aren’t any rules when it comes to FLETCHER’s music.” The project also led to such accolades as FLETCHER’s nomination for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist. In the last few years alone FLETCHER has also earned acclaim from the likes of TIME, Teen Vogue, Billboard, Harper’s Bazaar, Interview, NME, GQ, and The Guardian, in addition to landing on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for 2022. But for FLETCHER, there’s no greater reward than the intense connection she’s forged with her fanbase—a potent sense of community that’s immediately palpable at every live show. With her past live experience including several sold-out headline tours and appearances at major festivals, she recently embarked on a long-awaited headline tour of North America and Europe, for which all dates sold out within minutes. “I hadn’t stepped onstage in nearly three years, and it was magical to see my fans in person again,” she says. “It’s given me such a deep sense of purpose to create spaces for people to come together and feel safe, protected, and free to be themselves. I just want to continue doing that, because I know how badly I needed those spaces when I was growing up.” According to FLETCHER, keeping those fans at the forefront of her mind played a vital part in creating such an all-encompassing debut album. “I’ve gotten so many letters from people telling me that I’ve helped them to accept who they are, which makes this whole thing a very meaningful shared experience for me,” she says. “Because of that, I wanted to make sure to speak about my queerness from a place of joy, instead of the hardship that’s often portrayed in the media. I hope the album instills people with a sense of power and self-curiosity, and I hope it helps them understand that everything they’ve ever looked for in other people is right there within themselves.”
A glow surrounds Hayley Kiyoko. Like an everlasting sunset or a solar eclipse, it’s the kind of light you can’t turn away from. She shines because she’s been through it. She’s weathered life’s insanity, embraced her full potential, and poured it all into her art without apology. Rather than hold back, she aims higher than heaven itself. She had a vision for what pop music could be— glorious, seductive, thoughtful, tender, redemptive, and rapturous all at once—and she made it a reality projected widescreen in three dimensions of sound, sight, and spirit. Through the prism of Hayley’s distinct creativity comes her second full-length album, Panorama [Atlantic Records]. In 2018, Hayley was at a high point. Following the success of her gold-certified anthem “Girls Like Girls,” Hayley’s landmark debut album, EXPECTATIONS, reacted with tastemakers and a legion of fans. Hayley resonated with a newfound community who brought her total streams to just shy of 1 billion as she sold out tours on multiple continents, lit up the stage at Coachella, and picked up “Push Artist of the Year” at the MTV VMAs. Receiving widespread acclaim from People, Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard, Teen Vogue, and more, NPR named her among “The 21st Century’s Most Influential Women Musicians.” Known for portraying powerful queer narratives in all her self-directed music videos, Hayley also launched her own production company, Rich Youth, to dive deeper into the world of TV and film. She also broke ground with the introduction of her very own gender-inclusive fragrance, Hue, which has been nominated for the “Universal Prestige Fragrance Of The Year’ at the annual Fragrance Foundation Awards. With all this success, though, Hayley looked inward and found a need to transform. “Over the past few years since I released Expectations, I’ve struggled with mental and physical health issues,” she says. “I had to rip myself apart and put myself back together again, piece by piece, on what felt like an endless journey to heal my mind and body. Through this process I emerged as a stronger, more refined version of myself. With every step, I reclaimed my own color along the way. This album is a product of that; filled with failure, heartbreak, finding love and fighting to keep it. Each song is unique and intentional.” Forging this project deep in the San Fernando Valley, she wrote the bulk of the album inspired by the natural fantasy surroundings where she lived in Topanga Canyon. She states, “Panorama’s world is inspired by the sky we see after a wildfire. The setting feels like being on Mars, playing off the theme of beauty found through destruction.” The album cover captures that feeling when the rainbow hits and gives us that hopeful feeling. This time she worked alongside frequent collaborators, Pat Morissey and Kill Dave, eventually bringing on executive producer, Danja [Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears], who has become a trusted collaborator and kindred creative spirit. It began with questions. She reveals, “How far can I push past my own psychological boundaries? What is my truth and what is just a facade?” Panorama unspools her journey in technicolor, inviting everyone along for the ride. For as sweet as “Sugar At The Bottom” may be melodically, it doubles as a warning of a femme fatale’s dark side. “Luna” lusts after an older woman, thirsting for wisdom and knowledge by likening this beau to the moon. Then, there’s the standout lead single “For The Girls,” a bass-boosted mission statement that followed the releases of effervescent “Chance” and self-affirming “Found My Friends”. Its sticky hook serves up a “celebration of women—their strength, their beauty, and their vulnerability.” On its heels, “Flicker Start” allows one ray of light to anesthetize a moment of hopelessness. During “Underground,” we hear Hayley like we’ve never heard her before, reaching a new level of vulnerability with a raw exhale through glassy and eerie synths. Soon, an off-kilter danceable beat kicks in backed by sweeping strings. Over this backdrop, she confesses to “searching for rainbows in the sky” before the warbling hook: “Why does every day make me feel some type of way, like I’m underground?” She absorbs the warm, childish, and innocent bliss of nostalgic first love on “Forever,” breathing in a gust of Pacific Ocean air and exhaling a synth-y paean to youthful romance. “Deep In The Woods” dives into a different realm of love when you “meet someone and say, ‘Hi, it’s you. It’s always been you’.” On the other end of the spectrum, “Supposed To Be” bottles the fight for love in its tense ebb and flow, breaking through the stalemate for one last touch. On the title track, “Panorama,” an orchestral fantasia of sound compliments her high register as she asks, “Wait, have you seen the view?” “It’s a reminder to always look up and enjoy the things around you,” she says. “I need that reminder all the time to challenge me to be the best version of myself.” “I love listening to this record,” she beams. “That’s why I’m so inspired and excited to share it. Normally, I write an album and release it right away but this time I was able to use the creative process as a tool for myself to find comfort through the pandemic. I listened to it, took it in, felt confident, and found my way again. With Panorama, hope is the most powerful gift I can offer.”
Billy Porter is a GRAMMY®, EMMY® and 2X Tony® Award winner. Porter began his music career in 1997 with the release of his self-titled (aka Untitled) debut album which spawned the Top 10 “Bubbling Under” single, “Show Me” and the monster ballad, “Love Is On The Way,” which also appeared at the pivotal moment in the film, “First Wives Club.” He went on to release “At the Corner of Broadway + Soul” (2005), “Billy's Back on Broadway” (2014) and “The Soul of Richard Rodgers” (2017) featuring Pentatonix, India.Arie, Leslie Odom Jr. and Cynthia Erivo, among others. Porter scored his first #1 with “Love Yourself” in 2019 on the US Dance Club Songs Chart. He followed that up with his 2020 reimagining of the legendary Buffalo Springfield anthem, “For What It's Worth,” and a fierce collab with The Shapeshifters on “Finally Ready.” 2021 saw Porter covering Juliet Roberts club classic “Caught in The Middle” for Red Hot + Free, which supports underserved communities afflicted with HIV/AIDS. He was also enlisted by multiplatinum international superstar Jessie J for “I Want Love.” And he delivered a magical turn on Earth, Wind, and Fire's iconic “Shining Star” as Fab G, the Fairy Godmuva, in the 2021 remake of “Cinderella.” Porter is a veteran of the theater (“Miss Saigon,” “Angels in America,” “Grease”), and a two time Tony® winner, including “Best Leading Actor in a Musical” for “Kinky Boots” in 2013 and “Best Musical” as a producer for “A Strange Loop” in 2022. He has also received a GRAMMY® for the “Kinky Boots” original Broadway cast recording in the category of “Best Musical Theater Album” in 2014. Porter took home the EMMY® Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” in 2019 for his work as Pray Tell on “Pose,” making history as being the first openly gay man to do so. TIME Magazine named him one of the “100 Most Influential People” of 2020. Porter released his highly anticipated memoir, “Unprotected,” in October 2021. His directorial film debut, “Anything's Possible,” dropped Summer 2022 to much acclaim. Now, Porter kicks off his next chapter in music, his first love, with new album “The Black Mona Lisa” arriving Fall 2023. Make sure to check out his new single “Fashion” out now.
International pop sensation Kim Petras has become one of music’s most buzzed-about talents, self-styling a massively dynamic career with a string of critically acclaimed singles and projects, more than 850 million global streams, sold-out headline tours of North America and Europe, and lavish praise from major mainstream publications and tastemaking outlets worldwide. After years of triumphing as an entirely independent artist with her larger-than-life magnetism, Kim signed to Republic Records / Amigo Records and began a brand-new era with the recent release of "Coconuts" and "Future Starts Now" both from her forthcoming, highly anticipated debut album. Last year, Kim performed on the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards and drew global attention at the Met Gala. Kim recently made her epic Coachella debut, where she performed songs from her sex-positive Slut Pop EP live for the first time. Next up, Kim will headline NYC Pride’s Pride Island in June.
Kim immediately made a splash with her 2017 break-out single “I Don’t Want It At All” (a #1 hit on Spotify’s Global Viral 50 Chart) and “Heart to Break” soon became her first Top 40 smash. Her 2019 project Clarity featured lead single “Icy.” Her Halloween-themed project TURN OFF THE LIGHT included standout tracks “There Will Be Blood” and “Close Your Eyes” and was followed by her 2020 summer hit “Malibu.” As Kim’s widespread acclaim has grown, she has made national TV appearances including Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and has collaborated with the likes of Charli XCX, Kygo, Cheat Codes, Madison Beer, and K/DA. She was also personally selected by Ariana Grande to appear on the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack.
Ciara is a Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. During her nearly 20-year career, she has sold over 23 million records and 22 million singles worldwide, including chart-topping hits “Goodies,” “Ride,” “Oh,” “1, 2 Step,” “I Bet,” and “Level Up.” The latter transformed into a defining moment for the culture with the subsequent movement it incited clocking over 300 million views on YouTube and garnering Platinum certification from the RIAA. At the vanguard of the fast-changing music industry, Ciara continues to make one power move after another. She formally launched Beauty Marks Entertainment (BME) as a boundless platform for her music, media, film, fashion, philanthropy, technology, and entrepreneurial pursuits. The company’s business model was built on fully supporting the artist and the female-led enterprise places Ciara at the forefront of forward-thinking entertainers taking an entrepreneurial approach to their careers. Along with advancing a new paradigm sure to reshape the industry landscape, BME has already empowered Ciara to reclaim her narrative and realize her vision more completely than ever before. In 2019 Ciara released Beauty Marks, her seventh full-length album and first for her own Beauty Marks Entertainment. She is currently working on her eighth album with previously releases single “JUMP,” “Better Thangs” with Summer Walker and most recently “Da Girls”. In 2020, Ciara along with husband Russell Wilson, launched The House of LR&C, a new concept in retail with a focus on doing good, built with a mission to democratize the retail industry and create large scale positive change. The House of LR&C brands include Good Man Brand, Human Nation and LITA by Ciara. In keeping with her entrepreneurial spirit, Ciara is the co-owner of Ten To One rum and recently launched her skincare line OAM (On A Mission) which provides clinical level results through vitamin C. Ciara is not only known for her vocal talent and dance moves (her videos have been viewed over 2 billion times), but she has starred in both film and television roles. In addition, Ciara has held brand partnership deals with Equinox and Pandora, and was formally a Global Brand Ambassador for Revlon. As longtime muse for several high-fashion designers, Ciara has not only been the face of various campaigns, but she has graced the covers of numerous fashion and lifestyle magazines (most recently May 2022 cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, September 2022 cover of Ebony, October 2022 cover of Allure and December 2022 cover of Women’s Health). Ciara is a devoted wife and mother of three as well as a philanthropist who sits on the board of the Why Not You Foundation which she shares with her husband Russell Wilson. The foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to education, children’s health, fighting poverty and empowering today’s youth to lead with a “why not you” attitude. In March of 2022, Ciara and Russell became New York Times Bestselling authors with the release of their first children’s book “Why Not You” (Random House) which was inspired by the work they do through their foundation.
Under the watch of a stock computer camera and above a gaffer-taped-up digital
keyboard, Tate McRae broadcasts un-delayed, unfiltered, and undeniable feelings
straight from the heart. The Calgary, Alberta singer and songwriter transmits emotion in
its purest form by way of intimate instrumentation and dynamic delivery. By the age of
sixteen, she quietly amassed 114 million YouTube views and a total of 60 million
cumulative streams in addition to winning over fans worldwide to the tune of 1.5 million
YouTube subscribers and 872K Instagram followers
Now, this vulnerable approach fuels her 2019 debut for RCA Records.
“My songs are all of the words I can never say,” she explains. “I have a very hard time
conveying my feelings through speaking, so I write in order to express myself. I sit in front
of the piano and try to tell a story. Writing is how I let out everything that’s happened to
me. It’s my way of really communicating.”
It’s been that way for Tate ever since her most formative years. As a lawyer, dad’s
occupation took the family around the world. Getting a passport by the time she could
walk, Tate lived in Oman and traveled to Egypt, Vietnam, Dubai, London, Thailand,
France, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain all before settling back in Canada at sixyears-old. Her mom, a dance educator, taught dance along the way and emerged
Tate in the studio listening to music and exploring movement. Traveling continued for
Tate after they settled back in Canada this time as a guest artist to countries like
Mexico, Australia and all over the US and Canada. Tate is known for her storytelling and
emotional connection to music.
“Being around the world opened up my creativity,” she says. “I draw inspiration from
everywhere I’ve gone to. I’m the kid with a huge imagination, so traveling just
expanded my knowledge.”
At home, she always “performed for family and friends,” bringing the show online
through the launch of her YouTube channel in 2011. Simultaneously, she made a name
for herself as a competitive dancer, training formally since the age of eight. She
placed second runner up on Season 13 of the FOX series So You Think You Can Dance,
achieved the “The Best Dancer” honor three times at the prestigious Dance Awards,
and hit the stage for performances on Ellen, The Teen Choice Awards, and beyond. Not
to mention, she lent her voice to NETFLIX’s animated Lalaloopsy in the role of Spot
Splatter Splash. As her fan base burgeoned, she decided to share her first original song
on YouTube, delivering the single “One Day” live in 2018. The video exploded with 27
million views as the track racked up 30 million Spotify streams. “Teenage Mind” followed
with 12 million Spotify streams, and she inked a deal with RCA Records.
Introducing a singular style, her official 2019 debut single “Tear Myself Apart” pairs stark
piano and static beats with vulnerable verses. Everything builds towards a confessional
chorus, “I’m left alone to tear myself apart. You make it look so easy, turn around and
leave me. I’m left alone to tear myself apart.”
“It’s a very dramatic and intense song, but it’s real and honest,” she admits. “It’s easy to
get caught up in a relationship and take everything out on yourself. ‘Tear Myself Apart’
comes directly from the heart.”
As she readies more music and prepares to tour, Tate continues to connect on the
deepest level possible—just like she did when she first started in her room back in
Alberta.
“I just want to share my music with the world and hopefully make others feel something
on a super personal level,” she leaves off. “My goal is for you to relate and hopefully be
moved.”
Troye Sivan Mellet is South African-born YouTuber, actor, model and singer known for his roles in The Spud Franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Boy Erased (2018). He moved to Perth, Australia when he was two years old. Troye has two brothers and a sister, and was raised Modern Orthodox. In 2018, his family moved to Melbourne. Troye lives in LA where he has a house. He has over 6.6 million subscribers on YouTube as of October 2018, with videos ranging from song covers to challenge videos to original songs and music videos. One of his earlier videos, a collaboration filmed with fellow YouTube star Tyler Oakley titled 'The Boyfriend Tag' even won a Kid's Choice award in 2014.
Over the past couple of years, Troye has released two EPs, the one in 2014 being TRXYE and the one in 2015 being WILD. His unique blend of electro-pop and smooth melodies have taken him as high as number fifteen on Billboard's Social 50 list, which chronicles the most influential names in music today. Along with WILD and the lead single Talk Me Down off of his new album Blue Neighbourhood which came out on 4 December 2015, he released a trilogy of music videos titled Blue Neighbourhood.
Both of his EPs have debuted at number five on the Billboard Top 200, his album debuting at number seven and he has won several awards for his work, including most recently an EMA.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Elizabeth Nicole
9x GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician and producer Brandi Carlile has added select headline dates to her extensive 2023 touring schedule with newly confirmed shows at Brookville, NY’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Selbyville, DE’s Freeman Arts Pavilion, Madison, WI’s Breese Stevens Field, Interlochen, MI’s Kresge Auditorium, Cuyahoga Falls, OH’s Blossom Music Center and Huntsville, AL’s Orion Amphitheater. Full details can be found at www.brandicarlile.com/tour. In addition to the new dates, Carlile held her inaugural “Mothership Weekend” in Miramar Beach, FL on May 12-14—a three-day Mother’s Day celebration that featured performances from Carlile, Hozier, Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and more. Additionally, Carlile’s once-in-a-lifetime “Echoes Through the Canyon” weekend will take place at Washington’s Gorge Amphitheatre in June. The three-night run kicks off Friday, June 9 with Carlile’s annual headline concert with special guests Marcus Mumford and Allison Russell, followed by legendary artist Joni Mitchell’s “Joni Jam” Saturday, June 10 with Carlile opening. The final night, June 11, will feature The Highwomen with special guest Tanya Tucker. Furthermore, Carlile will join P!NK on her “Summer Carnival 2023” stadium tour later this year. The upcoming performances add to yet another landmark year for Carlile, won three more awards at this year’s 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards, bringing her total number of GRAMMY wins to nine. After winning Best Americana Album (In These Silent Days), Best Rock Song (“Broken Horses”) and Best Rock Performance (“Broken Horses”), Carlile performed “Broken Horses” during the live awards broadcast, which Billboard called, “an epic rock set that showcased guitar skills, impressive vocal range and rasp, and her captivating presence.” Inspired by the mining of Carlile’s own history while writing her #1 New York Times Best Selling memoir, Broken Horses (Crown), In These Silent Days was released via Low Country Sound/Elektra to overwhelming acclaim, with NPR Music praising, “absolutely breathtaking, across the whole album Brandi Carlile pulls out all the stops. It’s just extraordinary.” Following the release, Carlile shared a special deluxe version last fall entitled In The Canyon Haze, which features reimagined Laurel Canyon-inspired versions of each song from the album, plus a special rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (stream/purchase here). Deluxe vinyl and a CD bundle featuring the deluxe and an accompanying 80-page paperback archive are also now available. The book features never-before-seen photos and handwritten notes from the studio, photo shoots, television performances, and much more. Purchase here. In These Silent Days follows Carlile’s 2018 breakthrough GRAMMY Award-winning album, By The Way, I Forgive You, which Rolling Stone declared, “…an Adele-meets Joni Mitchell tour de force.” In the years since—in addition to collaborative projects with Elton John, The Highwomen, Tanya Tucker, Soundgarden, Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton, Barry Gibb, Leslie Jordan, Brandy Clark and more—she has earned nine Grammy Awards for her work as a performer, songwriter and producer, was awarded Billboard’s Women In Music “Trailblazer Award,” CMT’s Next Women of Country “Impact Award” and received multiple recognitions from the Americana Music Association Honors & Awards including 2022’s Song of the Year (“Right on Time”), 2021’s Artist of the Year, 2020’s Album of the Year (Highwomen), Group of the Year (The Highwomen) and Song of the Year (“Crowded Table”) and 2019’s Artist of the Year. In addition to their work as a band, Carlile and the Hanseroth twins remain committed to social activism and advocacy. Together they are founders of the Looking Out Foundation, which amplifies the impact of music by empowering those without a voice with varied initiatives including campaigns focused on Children in Conflict/War Child, The IF Project, Fund Racial Justice and more. To date, they have raised over $3 million for grassroots causes.
Known as the larger-than-life ambassador of New Orleans Bounce music, Big Freedia is a nationally recognized hip-hop artist, TV personality and cultural influencer. Most recently she made headline news for her feature on Beyoncé’s Grammy-Award winning single, “Break My Soul,” released in 2022. In addition to releasing her own critically acclaimed EPs, ‘3rd Ward Bounce’ (2018), ‘Louder’ (2020), and ‘Big Diva Energy’ (2021), Big Freedia, also known as the Queen of New Orleans Bounce, also appeared on numerous high profile projects, including Beyoncé’s Grammy award-winning, “Formation,” and on Drake’s “Nice For What,” where she brings her distinctive voice and signature catchphrases to all her work. Last year, she covered “Judas” on Lady Gaga’s Born this Way The Tenth Anniversary album (2021). Big Freedia’s ascension in the music industry was chronicled over six seasons in the highly rated reality show, ‘Big Freedia Bounces Back’ from 2011-2016 on Fuse TV. Currently, she is filming a brand new series, ‘Big Freedia Means Business,’ chronicling Freedia’s triumphs in music, business and life that will debut in the summer of 2023 on Fuse. Big Freedia is known for her infectious energy and personality. In 2019, she was the official host for the Met Gala IG Live Stream Red Carpet event and a host of 2021's Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve TV celebration. Known by her fans as the “Queen Diva,” Big Freedia is a loud and proud advocate for racial and gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights. In 2021, Big Freedia was honored as one of Ebony’s Power 100 and she has appeared on Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, NPR, The Breakfast Club, The Problem with Jon Stewart, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Real. Her critically acclaimed 2015 memoir, God Save the Queen Diva (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster) was released in paperback in 2020.
After blowing everyone away on the eighth season of American Idol, Adam Lambert went on to release his debut album For Your Entertainment which included the international hit “Whatya Want From Me” and earned him a GRAMMY Award nomination. Adam followed this success with his second album Trespassing which became the first album to reach the number one spot in the US and Canada by an openly gay artist. His highly anticipated third album The Original High was his first for Warner Bros Records, which was executive produced by Max Martin and Shellback, and included the smash hit “Ghost Town.” Adam joined the cast of Glee for a six-episode story in 2013, and performed the role of Eddie in Fox’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He went on to judge on The X Factor Australia where his artist, Isaiah, won the show. In between touring the world with Queen, Adam has been exploring the world of film and TV with a cameo in Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody as well as voicing character Emperor Maximus in animated-live action hybrid movie Playmobil: The Movie. In 2019, Adam released single “Superpower” ahead of his highly anticipated EP Velvet: Side A, which went into the Top 10 Download Chart in the UK and US on release. At the beginning of 2020, Adam Lambert launched the Feel Something Foundation; a non-profit organisation in support of LGBTQ+ human rights. Adam released “Roses” featuring Nile Rodgers early February 2020, a track from his album Velvet which was released that March. In October 2021, Adam took over the Venetian Theatre in Vegas for a very special 6-night run of shows. At the start of 2022, Adam joined the judging panel for new ITV (UK) Saturday night entertainment show Starstruck, alongside Beverley Knight, Sheridan Smith, Jason Manford and host Olly Murs, for which he’s back again this year. This past February, Adam released High Drama, an album of inspired covers released via BMG which landed him his fifth Top 10 on Billboard’s Album Sales Chart. Executive produced by Adam, alongside production from the likes of Tommy English (Kacey Musgraves, Carly Rae Jepsen), Andrew Wells (Halsey, OneRepublic), George Moore and Mark Crew, High Drama highlights a journey through modern music. The diverse collection of songs spans from classics such as Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand The Rain” to modern hits like a rock-leaning rendition of Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast.” Adam is no stranger to impressing crowds with his carefully curated transformation of other artist’s songs, from the beginning of his career on American Idol, to his 2018 performance at the Kennedy Center Honors where Adam reduced Cher to tears with his delicate ballad reading of her mega-hit Believe, to his role as the current frontman of Queen. After a 4-year long hiatus, Sir Brian May, Roger Taylor and Adam will set out on a spectacular North America run this fall with their universally acclaimed Rhapsody Tour which kicks off on October 4 at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena making stops in Toronto, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and more before concluding at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
When the world changed, so did Kesha. The glitter-strewn dance-pop queen had just released her fourth album, High Road, in January 2020 when reality as we knew it came to a screeching halt. For the first time since entering the pop machine in 2008, Kesha confronted herself in the discomfiting silence. One day, in that initial perilous pandemic spring, Kesha walked to the grocery store to buy flowers. “On the way back, I couldn’t stop crying,” she recalls. “I was just sobbing walking down the street with my bouquet of flowers.” Paralyzed by anxiety, worry, doubt, and fear—for herself, for her family, the world—she felt desperate enough to turn to prayer. “It set me down this trip, wondering, what’s the point of all of this? What is the point of me singing silly songs into the ether? Does it have a bigger purpose? Is this worth anything to anybody?” She found herself considering “how love is the most important thing, if not the only thing.” It was like a vivid visualization of an interior rearrangement. That day, Kesha felt her higher consciousness revealing itself—or “some kind of god”—illustrating a path forward. What followed was a process of acknowledging all that she cannot control. “I had this beautiful, heartbreaking, cathartic, raw, scary moment where I felt like I had to surrender: to give up the illusion of power and control,” Kesha says. The cracked-open music of Gag Order followed – a title referring to opening herself up to emotions that had before been seen as off-limits. Kesha woke up the next day and immediately set out recording “Eat the Acid,” which would become the second track on her most personal and realized album by a staggering margin. “I just sang it into my phone,” she says, and soon began working on the song over a Zoom session with her mother, the songwriter Pebe Sebert, and her friend and producer Stuart Crichton. “I told them, ‘I feel like I experienced a spiritual awakening and an ego death at the same time and I want to make music that sounds like that.’” That initial iPhone recording ended up as the final vocal take on Gag Order—at the encouragement of the legendary Rick Rubin, who produced the album. With Kesha acting as executive producer, Gag Order is a daring sonic rebirth and her most cohesive vision. From its hymns of self-awareness (“Living in My Head”) and liturgical minimalism (“Eat the Acid”), to the gospel-flecked exaltation (“Only Love Can Save Us Now”) and bracing balladry (“Hate Me Harder”), this is the diaristic music of a woman excavating her life and creating a new world. It is the expansive, searching sound of an artist experimenting her way towards a kind of personal liberation. It’s patently unformulaic, and so lucid it can feel psychedelic. Gag Order was a fundamentally transformative collaboration. Rubin encouraged Kesha to turn radically inward to explore her own soul, instigating a challenging process of self-realization. “This life was never mine,” Kesha sings on “Fine Line.” “I can’t keep wasting time.” Gag Order sacrifices none. “This was the first time I ever made a record that wasn’t geared towards: ‘What’s the first single?’ ‘What’s going to perform well at radio?’ That was never a conversation. It was a beautiful change that I had never experienced before—to work with someone who valued me and wanted to bring out who I am without ever once considering the margin of profit” “I feel like I went through some of the stages of grief,” Kesha adds. “This process allowed me to tap into emotions that I otherwise haven’t let myself access. I got in touch with anger. I got to be insecure. I got to be honest. Rick encouraged me to go as deep as possible. It’s scary to dive into the deep end, but it’s like swimming: you need someone watching at the shore to make sure you don’t drown.” Never is this risk-taking more evident than within the spare, brutal honesty of “Fine Line,” which Kesha calls one of her favorite songs she’s written. Like a statement-of-intent for Gag Order, it’s a song of profound dualities about both the safety and trap of silence—“The truth keeps roaring like a lion,” Kesha sings, “That’ll be the cross I’ll die on”—filled with biting, speak-sung lyrics and celestial loops. “It’s me expressing my anger about the whole fucking game, and how I can’t play it anymore,” she says. “It’s exhausting and not sustainable to cater to everyone else’s opinions of who you are.” Kesha wrote the previous track, the chantlike “Living in My Head,” in the throes of a panic attack. The closer “Happy” portrays the divine complexity of speaking one’s truth: “By expressing my sadnesses and insecurities, I came into confidence,” Kesha adds. “That song is like a promise to myself to put that first from here on out” because hard as it may be, honesty is an act of self-love. Gag Order is pitched to honesty from the inside out: “Rick kept taking off all the fancy production, making it super minimal so you could really hear the lyrics,” Kesha says. “That felt symbolic of how he wanted me to really be honest—to have my voice and melodies stand out and shine through. It was empowering and horrifying.” “I know rationally that there is no light without dark, but when it came to sharing emotions I viewed as ugly, I wanted to be kind to the listener and spare them from what I perceived as negativity. I now see that it was just me avoiding what being human is. I needed to love myself enough to give a voice to the dark. Without it, I am unbalanced, and am not practicing real self-love.” As it walks through grief, Gag Order still claws its way towards hope. One interlude features the first-ever cleared samples of late, world-renowned guru Ram Dass to appear outside of explicitly spiritual recordings. “Only Love Reprise” features a sample of Kesha’s niece (“a sweetie pie”) as a reminder to honor your childlike self and your connection to playfulness. (Kesha began carrying around a picture of herself as a kid while making the album.) Owing to that spirit, “All I Need Is You” is a love song that Kesha wrote to a true soulmate: her cat. The following track, “The Drama,” culminates with Kesha expressing a deep-rooted desire—to be reborn as a house cat—delightfully layered over an interpolation that harkens back to her childhood playing punk songs with her brother: The Ramones’ 1978 burnout anthem “I Wanna Be Sedated.” “This song I had never realized was so dark, and I related. When paralyzed with anxiety I wanted to both be sedated and reserve my place in my next reincarnation as a domesticated indoor housecat.” Kesha has, for the record, never actually taken acid. As a child, her mother warned her against it, as she delineates in “Eat the Acid”’s lyrics: “You said don’t ever eat the acid/If you don’t wanna be changed like it changed me.” But the events leading to Gag Order felt like a metaphorical approximation of that experience, as Kesha’s sense of herself and her music clarified and intensified irrevocably. “As an artist, sometimes self-exploration is the art,” she adds. “You become a vessel for what comes of that.” “It’s liberating to show up as who you truly are,” Kesha reflects, “and to not gloss it over or Facetune it or filter it. To really strip it all back and bare my soul felt scarier than anything I’ve ever done. I realized that before, I was kind of making music to please other people. But that’s not where great art is made. To not push myself or take risks felt like I was doing a disservice to my artistry. I don’t get to be an artist and only make safe music; that’s not why I’m here. To do the same safe shit over and over started to feel like spitting in the face of the fact that I’m an artist. The best art should scare me a little bit. This whole album scared the shit out of me.” “It was a necessary step. Now that I’ve written it, I feel so much more complete and whole—like I’m not pretending with everyone. It’s a moment I can say I’m really proud of. I would love for people to sit and get quiet with this record, and maybe get quiet with themselves, and just know that having all these different emotions is safe, it’s okay. And you’re not alone. Not only is it okay, it's powerful, and I am now living with the power that I found in the darkness.”
Showcasing the melismatic vocals of Olly Alexander, London's Years & Years artfully combine '80s-style ambient synth pop with funky electronic beats. Their evocative, dancey, cross-pollinated sound drew accolades that included winning the BBC's prestigious Sound of 2015 poll. That same year, they hit number one in the U.K. with their debut album, Communion. Years & Years initially came together in 2010 in London when multi-instrumentalist/producers Michael Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen met online while looking to start a band. They eventually added vocalist and actor Alexander after hearing him singing at a friend's house while taking a shower. The trio's keyboard- and electronics-based sound first gained exposure when the single "Traps" was released on Kitsuné Music in 2013. The group's second EP, Real, came out in February 2014, and with some impressive live dates under their belts, Years & Years announced they had signed a deal with Polydor. Their first major-label single, Take Shelter, appeared in August 2014, followed by a collaboration with the Magician on Sunlight a month later and the release of Desire in November. In 2015, on the heels of winning the prestigious BBC Sound Of award, Years & Years released their debut full-length album, Communion. The well-received album debuted at number one in the U.K. and peaked in the Top 50 of the U.S. Billboard 200. The following year, they were nominated for four BRIT Awards and headlined their own tour, which included a sold-out show at London's Wembley Arena. Also that year, they contributed the single "Meteorite" to the Bridget Jones' Baby soundtrack. In 2018, they returned with their sophomore full-length, Palo Santo, which featured production by Kid Harpoon, Greg Kurstin, GRADES, and others. Included on the album were the singles "Sanctify" and "If You're Over Me." The album peaked at number three in the U.K. and hit the top of Billboard's U.S. Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
iHeartRadio and P&G are excited to announce the return of Can’t Cancel Pride 2023 – The Future Starts Now, an evening recognizing the LGBTQ+ community and celebrating organizations creating a more inclusive and equal world.
This Pride month, we’re bringing together performances and appearances from the most influential voices in the LGBTQ+ community as well as the biggest names in culture and entertainment.
Hosted by JoJo Siwa, this year’s fourth annual Can’t Cancel Pride will focus on the LGBTQ+ community’s past achievements, the urgency of the present moment and the hope for our future.
This year, the 2023 Elton John Impact Award will be presented to Brandi Carlile for her humanitarian work with the Looking Out Foundation, which amplifies the impact of music by funding and empowering causes and organizations that often go unnoticed.
Watch the show on June 15th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT or on demand through June 30th on iHeartRadio’s Facebook and YouTube pages, Revry, The Roku Channel, and The Advocate Channel.
Together, let’s show the LGBTQ+ community they are not alone and raise much needed funds for the organizations providing lifesaving and life-affirming resources and services like GLAAD, SAGE, The Trevor Project, the National Black Justice Coalition, CenterLink and Outright International.
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In 2020, as the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread cancellations of summer events, P&G and iHeartRadio joined forces to show that COVID-19 could cancel many things, but not pride.
Can’t Cancel Pride was born from an effort to remain together while in isolation, and to support many LGBTQ+ organizations that rely on Pride Month to raise awareness of their mission and funds to support their efforts. While we celebrate the progress that has been made in many parts of the world to promote equality and acceptance, LGBTQ+ individuals continue to face various challenges and vulnerabilities, and so our Can’t Cancel Pride mission continues.
Now in its fourth year, and in partnership with many P&G brands, Can’t Cancel Pride continues to unite the LGBTQ+ community by celebrating visibility and inclusivity for all, and raising funds that provide lifesaving and life affirming support.
for six diverse LGBTQ+ Charitable Organizations
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