Kis-My-Ft2 Debuts at No. 1, Official HIGE DANdism Rises to No. 4 on Japan Hot 100

Kis-My-Ft2’s “Luv Bias” blasts in at No. 1 on the latest Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Feb. 22 to 28, selling 217,880 copies in its first week.

The theme of the ongoing drama series Oh! My Boss! starring member Yuta Tamamori led physical sales, look-ups and Twitter mentions this week, and also performed well in radio airplay (No. 13) and video views (No. 15). Sales figures for the the seven-member Johnny’s boy band’s new single increased by about 37,000 copies from its previous release, “Endless Summer” (180,763 copies).

Official HIGE DANdism’s “Universe” jumps 40-4 this week, breaking into the top 10 on the Japan Hot 100. The theme of this year’s space-themed Doraemon movie sold 37,301 copies and soared up the chart fueled by sales (No. 4) and look-ups (No. 3). The animated movie was initially set to open in theaters this Friday (Mar. 5), but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme song’s performance on the song chart despite its lack of promotion in this regard goes to show HIGE DAN’s stable popularity.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.

Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, dated Feb. 22 to 28, here.

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BTS ARMY Reacts to Grammys Performance Announcement: ‘We Get to See Them Fulfill Their Dreams’

The 2021 Grammy Awards announced its lineup of performers, and the BTS ARMY was swift to get #BTSGrammyPerformers trending after seeing their idols on the official bill.

Tweets full of “teamwork makes the dream work” and “BTS paved the way” took over on Sunday (March 7) as fans expressed their excitement over the Grammys news and celebrated the K-pop superstars’ success and impact.

“The thing about us and BTS is that we get to see them fulfill their dreams, but they get to put a soundtrack in ours,” one fan wrote in reaction the the news of the group’s upcoming performance.

“I’m so proud of our Grammy nominated, Grammy performing boys! YOU DID IT !I’M CRYING,” said another fan, who posted a throwback interview clip in which the Grammys were the topic of discussion. “What Yoongi wants, Yoongi gets, always. Our boys making history once more.”

“I just want them to have all the happiness in the world. Because they’ve given me so much happiness,” read another tweet with the #BTSGrammyPerformers hashtag.

Many messages outlined BTS’ history with the Grammys — from being presenters to nominees and performers — and made hopeful predictions of what else could be to come for them. “They’ll be Grammy winners soon too,” a fan said, referring to their current nomination for best pop duo/group performance for “Dynamite.”

See a selection of proud ARMY reactions below, and tune in on March 14 to see the show, which will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and air live at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. The Grammy Awards will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

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Here Are All the Winners From the 26th Annual Critics Choice Awards

It’s time for the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards.

Hosted by Taye Diggs, the ceremony honors both TV series and films.

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance presented the first award of the night — best supporting actor to Daniel Kaluuya, for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah. Orlando Bloom then presented the Critics Choice for best supporting actress to Maria Bakalova, for her role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

See a full list of winners below.

Best Supporting Actor:
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas the Black Messiah

Best Supporting Actress:
Maria Bakalova, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

Best Supporting Actress, Drama Series:
Gillian Anderson, The Crown

Best Supporting Actor, Drama Series:
Michael K. Williams, Lovecraft Country

Best Supporting Actor, Movie Made for Television or a Limited Series:
Donald Sutherland, The Undoing

Best Supporting Actress, Movie Made for Television or a Limited Series:
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America

Best Young Actor of Actress:
Alan Kim, Minari

Best Actor in a Drama Series:
John O’Connor, The Crown

Best Actress in a Drama Series:
Emma Corrin, The Crown

Best Actress, Movie Made for Television or Limited Series:
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit

Best Actor, Movie Made for Television or Limited Series:
John Boyega, Small Axe

Best Comedy Film:
Palm Springs

Best Comedy Special:
Tie: Jerry Seinfeld, 23 Hours to Kill and Michelle Buteau, Welcome to Buteaupia

Best Acting Ensemble:
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Supporting Actor, Comedy Series:
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek

Best Supporting Actress, Comedy Series:
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Best Actor, Comedy Series:
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Best Actress, Comedy Series:
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

Best Comedy Series:
Ted Lasso

Best Drama Series:
The Crown

Best Talk Show:
Late Night With Seth Meyers

Best Limited Series:
The Queen’s Gambit

Best Movie Made for Television:
Hamilton

Best Short Form Series:
Better Call Saul: Ethics Training With Kim Wexler

Best Song:
“Speak Now,” One Night in Miami

Best Director:
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Cinematography:
Joshua James Richards, Nomadland

Best Editing:
Tie: Alan Baumgarten, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mikkel E. G. Nielsen, Sound of Metal

Best Visual Effects:
Tenet

Best Production Design:
Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale, Mank

Best Hair and Makeup:
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Costume Design:
Ann Roth, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Actor:
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Original Screenplay:
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Foreign Language Film:
Minari

Best Score:
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste, Soul

Best Actress:
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Picture:
Nomadland

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Louis Tomlinson Announces Plans to Launch New Management Company

Louis Tomlinson is looking to develop some new musical talent.

The 29-year-old singer took to social media on Saturday (March 6) to announce his plans to launch a new artist management company.

“I always dreamed of having my own label, having an imprint never really worked for me because I still had to have someone else’s blessing to sign people,” Tomlinson began his series of tweets. “People I believed in massively but unfortunately didn’t fit the traditional pop role hence never doing the deals….”

The former One Direction member continued, “So I’ve decided to put it out there in the world today. I’m going to start my own music management company to help develop new artists. Watch this space.”

Tomlinson pointed out that the management company announcement is “the first step of actualising the idea but at this stage that’s all this is. An idea!” He also clarified in another tweet that his plans do not included forming a record label.

In July 2020, Tomlinson announced that he had parted ways with Simon Cowell’s Syco. The artist had signed a solo recording contract with the label in 2017.

“Hope everyone is doing ok! Just wanted to let you know that Syco Music and I have agreed to part ways,” Tomlinson tweeted at the time. I’m really excited for the future and to be back in the studio writing the next album. Can’t wait to finally see you all on tour!!”

One Direction’s five studio albums were released through Syco/Columbia Records.

In early 2019, Tomlinson joined Arista Records within the Sony Music family, where he signed to Epic under Syco in 2017. As part of the deal, the singer’s solo music was distributed through Syco/Arista in the United States.

Tomlinson has released four solo singles since One Direction announced its hiatus in 2015. His latest album, Walls, was released in 2020 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving the relaunched Arista Records its first top 10 on the chart in years.

View Tomlinson’s tweets about launching his own management company below.

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Cardi B Returns and Teases New Music After Deactivating Her Twitter Account

Cardi B’s break from Twitter was short-lived.

The superstar temporarily deactivated her account when fans demanded she drop her sophomore album after she revealed that she was excited to be releasing her own doll on Friday (March 5). By the early morning hours of Saturday, she was back on Twitter.

In her first tweet on Saturday, Cardi addressed the criticism of her project timelines by reminding fans how she announced her previous album, Invasion of Privacy: “I announced my 2018 album in March 11th I knew I had to drop in April because by may my stomach was going to be to big to do music videos. That’s why I like it was the last music video I made ….Soo please tell me when did I ever wait on others to drop beside my stomach ?” she wrote.

She then tweeted a short audio snippet of a new song, in which she seems to be rapping “I need more money than problems this year.”

On Saturday evening, she got on Twitter again to give her followers a brief update on her upcoming plans.

“After next week I’m going full album mode,” Cardi tweeted along with another clip — a throwback of the rapper working on “Red Barz.” “I was hungry around this time .Perfecting & writing my s—.”

“Im going to complete some business do things for ‘UP’ then I’m out !but please let’s stay on topic & not ask me about things when ya know I don’t like talkin bout my moves,” she said.

Cardi B announced the arrival of her doll on Today Friday morning, opening up about how she wanted to design a doll that looks like her and represents a diverse array of girls, including 2-year-old daughter Kulture, because she didn’t have that experience with dolls as a child.

“I would love my daughter to play with a doll that looks like me. Growing up, I ain’t ever seen a doll that look like me. I ain’t ever seen a doll that really represents me. When you go to the doll aisle when you was my age, it’s either like there’s a real white one or there’s a real dark one. And there’s barely one that’s in the middle. None of them have my style, none of them have my flavor,” she recalled in the interview.

See her latest tweets below.

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Andra Day Honored by Black Women Film Network for ‘Billie Holiday’ Role

Andra Day accepted the On Her Shoulders Preservation Award during the Black Women Film Network 2021 Summit on Saturday (March 6), thanking the non-profit organization for honoring her work in The United States Vs. Billie Holiday.

“Thank you for recognizing and honoring the work that we put into this, to continue to push Black women’s narratives forward, to continue to uncover Black women’s narratives,” Day said in a virtual acceptance speech.

“This award is more special to me because of our community, because of our family, because of who we are,” Day continued. “And to just know that I have the support and that Black women were moved by the film and felt they were represented, and felt that they were seen… I think that has everything to do with Billie Holiday’s legacy.”

The honor comes less than a week after Day won the Golden Globe best actress in a drama trophy for her performance in Hulu’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday, becoming the second-ever Black actress to win the category and the first to do so in 35 years.

Day was a first-time Globes winner. She was also nominated for best original song with Raphael Saadiq for “Tigress & Tweed” from the film, which is now streaming.

Her win marks the category’s first Black winner since Whoopi Goldberg, who became the first Black actress to do so in 1986. Halle Berry famously lost the category for Monster’s Ball but went on to win the Oscar in 2002. And Angela Bassett, who was a presenter on Sunday, was the last Black actress to win best actress in a comedy or musical, in 1994.

The Black Women Film Network is the oldest non-profit organization focused on preparing Black women in the film, television, and new media industries. On Saturday, it honored noteworthy names in the industry including Day, Debra L. Lee, Rikki Hughes, Mikki Turner, Courtney Neal and Denise Armstrong during its annual BWFN Summit.

The summit’s theme this year was “The Revolution Will Be Digitized: Black Women Leading in New Spaces as Multi-hyphenate Creators.” Presented by Cvent, the event celebrated Black women in the arts and entertainment industry and featured master classes, seminars and activities that helped connect key industry leaders with aspiring entertainment professionals. Featured speakers represented brands such as ColorCreative, BET, WME, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, Netflix, Tyler Perry Studios, CNN, and Starz.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

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Lizzo on What It’s Really Like Living ‘Obese’: ‘My Bank Account Is So Fat’

Lizzo was asked how she deals “with being obese every day” and couldn’t pass on the opportunity to feign horror as she described a day in her actual life.

An advocate for being “body normative” — “I want to normalize my body. And not just be like, ‘Ooh, look at this cool movement. Being fat is body positive.’ No, being fat is normal,” she said in an interview with Vogue last fall — Lizzo shared an Instagram video on Saturday (March 6) addressing the question in a delightful way.

“I wake up into my obese bed,” she began. “I have to get like a king bed because I’m so obese.”

Looking at the camera and pretending to hold back tears (while also trying to hold back laughter), Lizzo continued, “I put on my obese Louis Vuitton house slippers, and I walk into my massive, obese bathroom and I just stare into my wall-to-wall, obese mirror and lather myself in the most obese, expensive oils and creams, and — oh, god — I walk into my obese, gorgeous, mid-century modern kitchen, and by the time I’ve made it into my kitchen, I’ve already made another obese million dollars.”

“My bank account is so fat,” she sobbed. “My bank account is so obese, and, like, I tried to put it on a diet but she’s just so stubborn, like, she won’t listen.”

Watch her fire back at the attempted body-shaming on Instagram. Her response even got some love from Beyoncé and Solange’s mom, who reacted with a few crying-laughing emojis and pointed out, “who ever asks that has an obesely stupid brain!!!”

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Beyonce Pays Tribute to Late Fan Lyric Chanel With Emotional Medley

Beyonce is honoring the memory of her young fan Lyric Chanel, who died Friday (March 5) after a two-year battle with brain cancer and anaplastic ependymoma.

The 13-year-old girl’s difficult illness was documented by her family on Instagram, which drew more than 600,000 followers and caught the attention of celebrities like Queen Bey and Cardi B.

Following Lyric’s death, Beyonce shared an emotional video montage on her website in celebration of the girl’s life. In the tribute, which features photos and videos of a smiling and dancing Lyric, Beyonce is heard singing a special medley of her hit songs “Brown Skin Girl,” “Halo” and “Love on Top.”

Toward the end of “Love on Top,” Bey changes the lyric “baby” to “Lyric” in remembrance of her late fan.

“Lyric it’s you/ You’re the one I love/ And you’re the one I need,” she sings. “You’re the only thing I see/ Come on Lyric it’s you/ You’re the one that gives your all/ You’re the one I can always call/ When I need you baby everything stops/ You put my love on top.”

Beyonce concludes the tribute with a heartfelt, “I love you with all my heart.”

In September, Lyric received a beautiful bouquet of white flowers from the 39-year-old mother of three after posting an adorable throwback video of herself singing the star’s 2011 hit “Love on Top.”

“When the Queen Bey sends you flowers,” Lyric’s family captioned a video of the girl alongside the flowers. “Thank you so much @beyonce Lyric was so shock to get mail from you and she said Beyonce is the Best!!! We love you so much and she hopes to one day meet you.”

Watch Beyonce’s beautiful tribute to Lyric Chanel below.

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Diddy’s REVOLT Promotes Detavio Samuels, Colin McIntosh

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ REVOLT has unveiled key promotions to reshape the top management at the hip-hop cable network after the departure of Roma Khanna as CEO last year.

Detavio Samuels, hired as chief operating officer in 2020, is promoted to CEO, while Colin McIntosh adds the COO title to his chief financial officer duties at the Black-owned media company. Samuels and McIntosh started sharing the leadership at REVOLT as co-heads when former MGM and NBCU exec Khanna stepped down as CEO in July 2020.

And longtime digital strategist Deon Graham has been upped to chief brand officer at Combs Enterprises, Combs’ portfolio of businesses and investments, where he will work closely with Samuels and McIntosh.

“With Black creativity driving the global economy and Hip Hop driving global culture, REVOLT is primed to be the leading Black-owned global media power. Our focus is growing rapidly, expanding digitally, positioning Hip Hop to dominate the video space, and transforming the global media landscape,” Samuels said in a statement.

Launched in 2013 as a music channel on Comcast after its merger with NBCUniversal, the hip hop network plans to create talent-driven channels and forge strategic partnerships with leading brands and media platforms. REVOLT said it has added two million new subscribers from Comcast in the last year to an active viewership in over 60 million homes, and crossed one million YouTube subscribers organically.

The company is also set to release a new REVOLT digital mobile app in the second quarter of 2021 to offer 24-hour original content to viewers worldwide.

“My vision for REVOLT was always to build the world’s largest Black-owned media company powered by the smartest young executives from the culture. As we reimagine the future of the brand, it’s important that we stay true to that mission and position real game-changers to lead the way,” Combs added in his own statement.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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Roc Nation Wins $12M Insurance Claim Over Maroon 5 Manager’s Death

Roc Nation has won a $12 million lawsuit against Texas-based insurance provider Houston Casualty Company (HCC) for failing to pay out a “key man insurance policy” on Maroon 5’s late manager Jordan Feldstein.

Feldstein, older brother of actors Jonah Hill and Beanie Feldstein, was the co-founder and CEO of Career Artist Management (CAM) where he principally managed Maroon 5 and Adam Levine, his childhood friend. He died unexpectedly of natural causes at the age of 40 on Dec. 22, 2017, a day after Roc Nation paid the premium on his insurance policy with HCC.

Roc Nation obtained the policy on Feldstein as part of its 2016 purchase of a 49% ownership interest in CAM. Because of Feldstein’s importance to CAM, he and Roc Nation agreed in their purchase contract to obtain insurance protecting Roc Nation’s investment should Feldstein die or become disabled, according to court papers. Roc Nation purchased the “key man insurance policy” from HCC in 2016 and renewed the policy on Dec. 21, 2017, making it effective from Dec. 15, 2017, onward.

Feldstein died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism, with the Los Angeles Medical Examiner declaring his cause of death as natural. But HCC denied paying out Roc Nation’s claim and Roc Nation responded by suing in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York on Jan. 18, 2019, for wrongfully denying insurance coverage.

HCC argued in court papers that Roc Nation was precluded from any recovery because the company failed to cooperate with HCC’s investigation of the claim — a contention that Roc Nation denied. HCC also argued that the policy language required the insurance payment be reduced by all future profits that could have been traceable to Feldstein’s services. To this, Roc Nation’s legal team argued that the policy’s plain language outlines that it was entitled to recoup from HCC its full investment in CAM, minus any dividends it had received from CAM by the time Feldstein died.

Both sides debated over whether the meaning of “and/or,” writing “insured” rather than “insured person,” and whether misplaced words such as stating “Direct Ascertained Net Loss” rather than “Direct Net Ascertained loss” created other contractual meanings. HCC attorneys tried to convince the judge that term “generated” in the policy referred to revenue that Feldstein meant to set forth “to bring into existence.”

Ultimately, in a 52-page ruling issued Wednesday in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, Judge Paul Engelmayer sided with Roc Nation finding it “complied with the overwhelming majority of HCC’s requests, and offered reasonable justifications when it failed to do so.” Engelmayer said he found Roc Nation submitted extensive information in response to HCC’s “unreasonably broad” requests and had “only drawn the line when the requests [were] overtly irrelevant or not reasonably-tailored. He also said that term “generated” referred to revenue that was generated and was not a “forward looking” meaning.

Engelmayer ruled that HCC must pay Roc Nation a $12,529,222 policy amount, minus any money generated by Feldstein while he was alive and performing services through December 22, 2017. Engelmayer, however, denied that any post-death revenue from artists formerly associated with Feldstein or CAM needed to taken into account.

“Cases against insurance companies are complex and fact intensive,” says Scott Zolke, a partner at Loeb & Loeb, not affiliated with the case. “It is incumbent upon the insurance company to say precisely what they’re covering, as opposed to using terms that can be interpreted a couple of different ways. And this was an instance where when you look at these terms that I want to say were conflicting, it clearly created an ambiguity, and that ambiguity is going to every time be interpreted against the insurance company and in favor of the insured.”

“It is of paramount importance to specifically and clearly say what you’re insuring…. It underscores the importance of actually reading what you’re signing. A typo leaves us with ambiguity and ambiguity leads to litigation…. If you don’t define precisely what you are insuring, then you’re leaving yourself subject to a differing view.”

Attorneys for Roc Nation and HCC did not respond to request for comment.

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