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“I’m just going to go in there and just, ‘Ahhh!’” Cardi B screams while telling Billboard about her upcoming hosting gig at the 2021 American Music Awards.
The first-time host is a three-time nominee this year, getting nods for favorite female hip-hop artist as well as favorite music video and favorite hip-hop song for her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Up.” Although she won’t be taking the AMA stage as one of the performers this year, Cardi previously performed her Hot 100 No. 1 “I Like It” alongside J Balvin and Bad Bunny in 2018 — and she says in the new interview on Friday (Nov. 19) that performance is “the biggest one that everybody loved.”
“Every single time that they bring up my performances, that’s the one they be like, ‘Oh, this the one! This the one that Cardi was a superstar! This the one!’ the 29-year-old rapper recalled.
She believes performances are not only the best part of the AMAs, but also crucial to the way artists are received by the public. “Performances can make or break you,” adds Cardi. “They won’t break your career, but if it’s a great performance, it’s like, ‘Oh wow!’ But if it’s a bad performance, it’s like, ‘Oooh, you got one more chance.’”
The 2021 American Music Awards will air live Sunday from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will stream the next day on Hulu.
Sam Asghari may have attended the Los Angeles premiere of House of Gucci on Thursday night without fiancée Britney Spears, but that didn’t stop the pop star from gushing about her husband-to-be’s red-carpet appearance.
Spears took to Instagram to post two photos of her fiancé: one of him smiling while soaking in a hot tub and a second of him posing on the House of Gucci red carpet. “Ok so my baby stole the show at the premiere of House of Gucci !!!! Sorry to the cast but my baby is [fire emoji] … I’m the photographer on the first one !!!!!”
Asghari later posted videos of himself posing on the carpet, revealing that he was dressed and styled by Donatella Versace in a smart Versace tuxedo, matching trousers, and a printed shirt. At the premiere, Asghari talked to E! about how excited he is to get started on his future with Spears now that her conservatorship has ended.
“It’s just so real to live my life and live our life like this,” he told the celebrity news outlet, adding that Spears chose to forego the carpet because they are “not quite ready to make an appearance outside together.”
Spears and Asghari have been in bliss since her 13-year long conservatorship was formally terminated by a Los Angeles judge on Nov. 12 following months of pressure from fans of the pop star and supporters of the #FreeBritney movement.
See the couple’s Instagram posts below.
It must be awkward for Saweetie to reunite with her “ex-fiancé” Kyle Mooney on the Saturday Night Live stage.
In a new promo for this weekend’s episode, host Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) introduces musical guest Saweetie, who turns and says a cold “hello, Kyle” to the longtime castmember.
“Do you two know each other?” his SNL castmate Cecily Strong asks. “We did,” Mooney says. “Until she broke up off our engagement.”
Liu wonders, “Is this going to be a problem?” I guess we’ll have to tune in Saturday night to find out.
Saweetie and Liu are both making their Saturday Night Live debuts this weekend. On Friday (Nov. 19), the rapper premiered the brand-new song “Icy Chain,” which she plans to perform on the late-night show for the first time. “Y’all better not miss my Icy Chain performance on SNL this Saturday!” she tweeted Friday.
Watch the new promo below before tuning in Saturday at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC:
Y’all better not miss my Icy Chain performance on SNL this Saturday! ♥️❄️ pic.twitter.com/uc4bmq1PgK
— ICY SEASON ❄️ (@Saweetie) November 19, 2021
The American Music Awards is considered the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, but it hasn’t always worked that way.
After Dick Clark created the ABC broadcasted show in 1973, the show sought to distinguish itself from the peer-voted Grammys by focusing on what music fans bought and listened to. The exact way of measuring that popularity has evolved over the years. In recent years, nominations became based on key fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts, including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partner MRC Data, and cover the time period Sept. 25, 2020, through Sept. 23, 2021.
But how did the fans become responsible for picking the winners? And who gets to pick the performers for each show? Find out in the latest episode of Billboard Explains before the 2021 AMAs, hosted by this year’s three-time nominee Cardi B for the first time, airs live on Sunday, Nov. 21 from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. Click here for a full lineup of performers and presenters for the 2021 ceremony.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” was able to shoot to No. 1 on the Hot 100.
TikTok has tapped Shavone Charles to lead communications around the social platform’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Charles joins TikTok next week in the newly formed role after serving as the director of communications and creative partnerships at VSCO, where she launched the #BlackJoyMatters campaign. Prior to joining VSCO, she oversaw global music and youth culture communications at Instagram and music and culture communications at Twitter, two positions that she created at both companies.
Outside of her work with major tech companies, Charles is also the founder of two creative collectives, Future of Creatives and Magic In Her Melanin, focused on amplifying women of color and other underrepresented creators.
“As a Black creator and advocate, I am thrilled to join the TikTok team and continue my work in fearlessly supporting and amplifying the stories of underrepresented creators,” Charles told The Hollywood Reporter.
The executive will be based in Los Angeles and report up to Hilary McQuaide, TikTok’s head of communications.
Over the past year, TikTok has sought to improve its relationship with Black creators after a number of creators have spoken out about not receiving credit or recognition for their creation of viral trends on the platform. (Over the summer, several Black creators even withheld from posting to the platform as part of a virtual “strike” to highlight their contributions to the app.)
In January, TikTok created a Black creatives incubator program with MACRO to better support Black TikTok creators, and earlier this week, 10 Black creators were awarded $50,000 grants as part of the partnership between the two companies.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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