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Bebe Rexha took over Billboard’s Instagram Stories to give a peek at her Galentine’s Day festivities, soundtracked by a Britney Spears record.
After showing off one of her giant candles on Saturday (Feb. 13), Rexha, rocking a fresh new haircut, explained that “the second step to Galentine’s Day for me is setting the mood with music. And because it’s Galentine’s Day, we’re doing Britney, OK?”
She went on to play one of the pop star’s classics, “I’m a Slave 4 U,” off of Spears’ 2001 album, Britney, on the unofficial holiday where women celebrate the other women in their lives.
To wrap up her short and sweet Instagram takeover, Rexha walked viewers through baking and “doing my best job” decorating cute sugar cookies. She also showed off a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries.
“Look out for new music soon,” she teased in the caption of her last video clip.
Watch her full takeover on @Billboard’s Instagram Stories.
Taylor Swift’s “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” is off to, well, a swift sales start. Meanwhile, the track — which is not being actively promoted to radio stations — drew a smattering of airplay on its first day of release.
The Sales ‘Story’ … The new re-recording, which was released on Feb. 12, sold 10,000 downloads in the U.S. that day, according to initial reports to MRC Data.
To compare, in the week ending Feb. 4, just three songs sold more than 10,000 in the entire week in the U.S. — Tom MacDonald’s Fake Woke (14,000), BTS’ “Dynamite” (13,000) and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” (13,000). (Sales in the week ending Feb. 4 are reflected on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart dated Feb. 13.)
On Feb. 11, Swift announced that she has re-recorded her 2008 album Fearless, as Fearless (Taylor’s Version), and that the updated lead single, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” would be unveiled that night. Fearless became Swift’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, while “Love Story” was her second Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit. Since then, Swift has tallied seven more No. 1 albums, and 27 more top 10 Hot 100 hits.
As for the original version of “Love Story,” it sold about 200 downloads in the U.S. on Feb. 12. In the week leading up to the release of the re-recording’s release, the original version had been selling a negligible amount on a daily basis. Through Feb. 4, the original “Love Story” had sold 6.13 million downloads in the U.S.
Re-recordings of older songs or albums are treated separately from their originals, with independent chart histories for each version. Thus, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” will chart separately from Swift’s original 2008 recordings of the album and song, respectively.
News on the Feb. 12 streaming activity of “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” will be reported in the coming days.
And Now, The Radio ‘Story’ … As for radio airplay in its first day, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” — which is not being actively promoted to radio stations — drew 144 plays on Feb. 12 on 89 stations that report to Billboard’s all-genre, audience-based Radio Songs chart, a sum that translates to 777,000 audience impressions. Leading the way among those 144 plays, 83 were on reporters to the Pop Airplay chart, 34 were on Adult Pop Airplay reporters and 12 were on Country Airplay panelists.
How does that play compare to the 2008 version?
The new take drew more than twice as many plays as the original on Feb. 12, which logged 67 plays yesterday on Radio Songs reporters. Adult Contemporary chart reporters accounted for 25 of those spins, followed by Country Airplay panelists contributing 12.
While the new version attracted 777,000 in audience impressions on Feb. 12, the original drew 227,000.
Though “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” is not being actively promoted to radio, instead, three tracks continue to be promoted to various formats from Swift’s latest LP, Evermore. “Willow” rose 11-9 on the most recently published Adult Pop Airplay chart (dated Feb. 13), becoming Swift’s 24th top 10 on the tally, extending her record for the most among women. It also held at its No. 9 high on Adult Contemporary and climbed 23-20 on Pop Airplay. Meanwhile, the set’s “Coney Island,” featuring The National, repeated at its No. 26 best on Adult Alternative Airplay, and “No Body, No Crime,” featuring Haim, kept at No. 60 on Country Airplay.
The original “Love Story” hit No. 2 on Radio Songs (and No. 4 on the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100). It topped Country Airplay and Pop Airplay and remains the only song to have led both lists. It also crowned Adult Contemporary and rose to No. 3 on Adult Pop Airplay.
Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Stallion were touched by a tweet from Kerry Washington on Saturday (Feb. 13).
The Scandal star gave a shout-out to Grande and her co-stars, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, after their release of the “34+35″ remix music video. The three have something of an ideal girls’ day together in the clip, which debuted on Friday — and next time, Washington wants an invite.
“Hey @ArianaGrande @theestallion @DojaCat if there is a 34+35 remix to the remix…I am available! Just wanted to throw that out there,” Washington wrote on Twitter, throwing in some fire emojis.
Grande reacted to the tweet on Saturday with an “omg,” accompanied by a heart and a tearful emoji, echoing Meg’s “omgggg” tweet earlier.
See their sweet tweets below, and watch the trifecta’s video for the “34+35″ remix. “34+35″ is off of Grande’s Positions album; in January, the remix marked the highest-charting Hot 100 hit by a trio of women soloists in nearly 20 years.
While Janet Jackson has not responded to Justin Timberlake’s recent public apology to her, she did take the time this weekend to connect with her fans via a new video posted on social media.
Jackson tweeted a 45-second clip on Saturday (Feb. 13) in which she thanked her longtime supporters for being a part of her life. Speaking directly to the camera, she wore a mask — but she seemed to have a smile on her face.
“I was at home just the other day by myself and I began to cry,” said Jackson. “I was crying because I was so thankful for all that God has blessed me with, all that he has given me. I’m so thankful for Him being in my life. And I am so thankful for all of you being in my life.”
“You’re so special to me,” she said.
She added, “And I want to thank all of you for making ‘Control’ number one once again after 35 years. I never, never in a million years, I would never think that this would happen. I really appreciate you and I love you so, so much. Thank you.”
Jackson’s influential Control album, released on Feb. 4, 1986, just celebrated its 35th anniversary.
Her latest message to fans comes a day after Timberlake — her former co-star at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, where her breast was exposed by Timberlake on live television in what was deemed a wardrobe malfunction, one for which Jackson faced the fallout — issued an apology to her (as well as to Britney Spears), years later. He expressed regret over his past “ignorance” and for benefiting “from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”
Watch Jackson speak to her fans in the video below.
Kelly Clarkson is opening up about how she enjoys spends her alone time while being single.
During Friday’s (Feb. 12) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the 38-year-old pop star described her perfect solo date, which typically involves relaxing by her fireplace a glass of wine while reading a book or watching Netflix.
“We all know that we don’t need someone by our sides to live our best lives,” Clarkson said before opening the discussion to her virtual audience. A female fan then asked the talk show host and singer, “What do you do to date yourself?”
“This is going to be real boring,” the mother of two prefaced her response. “I love literally having a glass of wine. I put the fireplace on in my bedroom … and read a book or I watch some Netflix.”
She added, “Or I literally just hang out with my girls. I love that.”
Clarkson’s comments arrived ahead of her first Valentine’s Day since splitting with husband Brandon Blackstock. In early June, she filed to end her seven-year marriage with Blackstock.
Elsewhere during the segment — which included interviews with actress Sarah Chalke and comedian Kym Whitley — another audience member asked Clarkson, “What’s something that you pretended to be cool with that you weren’t cool with while in a relationship?”
The host replied with a laugh, “I dated this guy, and I think because I’m a singer-songwriter … if you date (people who are music artists), they feel like, ‘I’m gonna write her a song’ — don’t.”
Watch the full Kelly Clarkson Show clip below.
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