Ariana Grande is one femininomenon Chappell Roan loves. While answering questions on a recent livestream, the 26-year-old star had nothing but kind things to say about the 31-year-old vocalist, from praising Eternal Sunshine to hyping up the upcoming Wicked films. 

The topic of Grande first came up when one fan left a comment about Wicked, the first installment of which arrives in November starring the R.E.M. Beauty founder as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba. “Oh my god, I’m so excited,” Roan raved of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, which was based off of Gregory Maguire’s novel. 

“I’m a really big Ari — I’m an Arianator,” the “Good Luck Babe!” artist added. “I love her album.” 

Roan’s comments come nearly two months after Grande sent love to the Missouri native on Instagram Stories, sharing a Wicked-related meme featuring Roan’s 2024 Gov Ball look, which involved painting her entire body green to channel the Statue of Liberty. “I really ♡ @chappellroan,” the Victorious alum wrote at the time.  

On Aug. 19, Grande’s friend and Wicked costar Bowen Yang conversed with Roan for Interview magazine, revealing that he was the one to introduce the “Yes, And?” singer to the “Hot to Go!” artist’s work. “I remember drinking a glass of wine with Ariana Grande after we wrapped and being like, ‘You should get on Chappell Roan,” the Saturday Night Live star recalled. “‘She’s f–king awesome. Her live shows are incredible.’” 

“I appreciate that,” Roan replied at the time. “I’ve been like, ‘Oh, my god. People are legitimately excited about this album.’” 

Roan is currently climbing her way up the Billboard charts, with her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess recently reaching a new peak at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 a full 11 months after it was released in September 2023. She has seven entries on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 31, including “Pink Pony Club,” “Red Wine Supernova,” “Casual,” “Femininomenon” and “My Kink Is Karma.” 

As her star has rapidly risen, however, Roan recently needed to set boundaries with fans regarding what she called “predatory behavior” in a lengthy statement on Instagram. “Please stop touching me. Please stop being weird to my family and friends. Please top assuming things about me,” she wrote in the post, which followed a TikTok video in which she also expressed her concerns on the same subject. “There is always more to the story. I am scared and tired. And please—don’t call me Kayleigh.”

Seven years after its 2017 release, Clean Bandit’s Zara Larsson-featuring “Symphony” ranks at No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart dated Aug. 31.

The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity from Aug. 19-25. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

“Symphony” debuts at No. 1, the first to do so since Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” topped the tally in February.

@bells..wife

Last one i promise 🥰

♬ Symphony – Zara Larsson

The seven-year-old song is trending on TikTok thanks to multiple edits using colorful photos and videos of dolphins, with captions and overlays that are generally funny and oftentimes demotivational. Others talk about seeing dolphin images in their everyday life since and being reminded of the new meme.

For her part, Larsson, who is currently on tour, changed the background video of her concert performances of “Symphony” to dolphins as a nod to the trend.

@zaralarsson

Replying to @Alberto Guti stream venus and buy tickets to my US tour bitches

♬ Symphony – Zara Larsson

“Symphony” peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2017. In the week ending Aug. 22, it earned 784,000 official U.S. streams, up 7%, with more gains likely for the week ending Aug. 29.

The song reigns over Surf Curse’s “Disco,” which jumps from No. 7 to the runner-up spot on the TikTok Billboard Top 50. As noted in the article announcing the Aug. 24 chart, “Disco,” released in 2019, surges due to a dance trend sporting two creators facing each other while performing their moves.

@kooljobaby_

the kindest trend

♬ Disco – Surf Curse

“Disco” leaped 82% in streams in the week ending Aug. 22 to 1.7 million. It’s the second Surf Curse song to sport major attention on TikTok years after the song’s initial release, following “Freaks,” which found so much success that it became a radio single for the band, peaking at No. 15 on Alternative Airplay in 2021.

Jordan Adetunji’s “Kehlani,” which had led the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the preceding two weeks, falls to No. 3, while DJ Drama and Gucci Mane’s “Photo Shoot” and Hanumankind and Kalmi’s “Big Dawgs” round out the top five.

It’s worth noting too that Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” the chart’s longest-running No. 1 at 10 weeks earlier this year, drops 4-6, marking the first time in its 17 weeks on the survey (dating back to May) that it has not been in the chart’s top four.

Two other songs join “Symphony” as debuts within the top 10, and unlike the No. 1, the ensuing two are brand new songs: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” bows at No. 8, followed by Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” at No. 9.

@jjk.aep

they need to pay for my THERAPYYYY‼️‼️ || 💌 #tangled #tanglededit #flynnrider #flynnrideredit #rapunzel #rapunzeledit #disney #disneyedit #edits

♬ Die With A Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

“Die With a Smile” is the first TikTok Billboard Top 50 appearance (the chart began in September 2023) for both Gaga and Mars. The top-performing clip featuring the song so far is an upload on Mars’ own account showing a portion of the music video, while other early successes include fan edits of movies and TV (Tangled, Elemental and more), reaction videos to the song and music video, lip-synch renditions and more.

The tune concurrently debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 27.4 million streams, 13 million audience impressions and 21,000 sold, as previously reported.

“Taste,” meanwhile, hasn’t yet made any other Billboard charts – that’s because it was released on Aug. 23, alongside the rest of Carpenter’s new album, Short n’ Sweet. The song benefits from the tracking week for the TikTok Billboard Top 50 being a Monday-Sunday setup (Aug. 19-25) vs. the majority of Billboard’s other charts (Friday-Thursday), though it still needed a hefty amount of attention in those three days to even crack the ranking, let alone the top 10.

According to TikTok, creations using the main “Taste” sound have already surpassed 2 million, with one of the top-performing uploads a behind-the-scenes video of the “Taste” music video uploaded by Carpenter herself, asking, “Am I babygirl?” Others feature lip-synchs to the new track, whose full Billboard chart impact will be known on the tallies dated Sept. 7, utilizing data from Aug. 23 to 29.

@sabrinacarpenter

♬ Taste – Sabrina Carpenter

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Bose is celebrating its 60th anniversary with diamonds. On Monday (Aug. 26), the tech brand unveiled an exclusive collection of headphones and earbuds available in a limited-edition “Diamond” colorway.

The three-piece collection includes the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones ($429), QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds ($299) and Ultra Open Earbuds ($299).

Bose’s popular QuietComfort Ultra Headphones feature spacial audio, full noise cancellation and up to 24 hours of battery life. The QuietComfort Earbuds last for up to six hours per charging session and up to a full day in the charging case. The battery on Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds is equipped with up to four hours of power on its own and up to 19.5 hours inside the charging case.

From now until Sept. 18, customers who shop Bose’s Diamond collection will be automatically entered for a chance to win a pair of diamond-incrusted Ultra Open Earbuds valued at nearly $9,000. The winner will be announced at the end of the September.

In addition to the special release, Bose customers can save 10% with the purchase all three Diamond 60th Edition products by Sept. 15.

Labor Day is coming soon, which means the tech deals are heating up at Bose. Shoppers can save up to $150 off select products during the brand’s Labor Day sale. Although the Diamond collection isn’t included in the sale, there are a bunch of other hot deals to shop over the holiday weekend.

What’s on sale at Bose? The SoundLink Rev+ II Bluetooth is $70 off ($229), QuietComfort Headphones are $100 off ($249) in select colors, the Smart Ultra Soundbar is $150 off ($749) and the Sounlink Micro Bluetooth Speaker is $20 off ($99).

The Labor Day sale ends on Sept. 2.

Casual music listeners may recognize Syleena Johnson’s soulful, magnetic voice from “All Falls Down,” her 2004 Grammy-nominated Billboard Hot 100 hit (No. 7) with Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West). Yet there is several decades’ worth of music history coursing through those vocal cords. 

Johnson, the daughter of the late soul giant Syl Johnson, is getting ready to unleash what she says is her final solo studio album on Friday (Aug. 30). And, as she explains to Billboard over Zoom, the road has not been easy. 

“This album is probably my best work, and it is whooping my ass!” she quips. “It wouldn’t be this good if there wasn’t some drama that was attached to it.” 

Johnson is frazzled over the final mixes for Legacy, which serves not only as her final solo LP, but also a painstakingly crafted tribute to her late father. Led by the revelatory “Monsters in the Closet,” Legacy combines Johnson’s vocals with that of her late father, setting their tones and styles in conversation across 16 tracks that explore the industry-inflicted scars, the timelessness of soul music and the towering impact of Chicago’s music and culture. Featuring appearances from Twista and Shawnna, as well as fresh takes on Syl Johnson classics like 1968’s “Different Strokes,” Legacy is both a gift from a daughter to her father, and a gift from an artist to the sounds that sustain her. 

Arriving in the throes of the ever-challenging balancing act that is being an R&B star and present mother — “[Creating Legacy] took time in the middle of touring, chasing around a superstar athlete kid and another child who is on the spectrum, high-functioning, mind you, and has piano and drawing class” – Johnson’s new record is a wholly family affair. The warmth of those familial ties, as well as the darkness of certain shared experiences, permeates the entire record.

Just as the contributions of her own family remind listeners of our general human connection, so does the album’s exploration of soul music, which marries the late 1950s beginnings of Syl Johnson’s discography with the 21^st century sheen of his daughter’s. It’s a winning continuation of Syl Johnson’s own impact as one of the most sampled acts in hip-hop, from Public Enemy‘s “Fight the Power” to The Throne’s “The Joy.”

In a candid conversation with Billboard, Syleena Johnson pulls back the curtain on both her final album and her nearly three decades in the music industry.

Why was now the time to come back with a new record? 

I was already going to come back two years ago, but my father died [in 2022], and that changed things. My father was the legacy, the pinnacle of my music. I feel like [losing him] changed the tone and scope of the album. It changed the intention of the album, and it changed my motivation of why I was creating it. It took two years, which is unheard of for a person like me [who] can create an album in a week or two. Two years means I was mourning. 

Every single track has my father in it, so I was trying to make sure that [the album] honored him and highlighted him as well as myself properly. I was okay with taking my time and getting it done right. The time is now, not because I chose it, but because God designed it for this time. Why? I don’t know, but we’re gonna find out. 

This is the last Syleena Johnson album. We’re going to work Legacy for as long as we possibly can, because it has so much good material. Sometimes, you let the people catch up to all of the repertoire. I have 14 albums, there’s people that don’t know those records. Hopefully, Legacy will be powerful enough to [spur interest in my back catalog]. I will be doing the Chi album [with Dave Hollister and Carl Thomas], but as far as [my own] albums, I just don’t want to do anymore. 

Was there a specific moment in which you knew that this would be the final Syleena Johnson album? 

Yes. I recorded eight records, and they were good. We were thinking of just doing an EP, so I went to Chicago to Toxic Studios, my producers, my musical family. I went there to touch up vocals on a record, and they started playing all this music. I just got sadder and sadder because I knew I [was going to] have to record all of these because they were so good. It was like a happy-sad moment. I was like, “Oh my God!” creatively, but the adult in me that has been in this business for over three decades was like, “Again? Okay. I’m not free. We have to continue.”

And then I realized this album is getting ready to go to a different level, That’s when I knew: I’m going to give them 16 records, give them everything I have vocally and lyrically, and I’m out. And I’m going to put my dad in it. Both of us are considered underrated, so I want us to not be underrated together in this space. I’m constantly going to be creating in some way, shape or form, but it’s the work part and [being] independent that’s just too hard. 

The album literally blends your vocals with your dad’s. Why did you go for that approach instead of, say, sampling his original recordings? 

First, I’m a creative, so I can’t do nothing that’s basic. I don’t want to do anything anybody’s ever done. This hasn’t been done before. Because we own the estate, it’s easier for us to get clearances – these different record companies that [own the song’s] publishing are not going to push back because it brings more money and more eyes to the project and my dad’s records. 

I wanted to show people our similarities [and] the best way to show that is to put us right next to each other. There are parts of the record [where] I sound almost like my dad. I wanted to bring him in because I saw him in his last days. I saw him until his last breath. I wanted to remember him in the light that I put him in on this record. 

This album has helped me understand how amazing he is as an artist. How he placed a record, why he wrote and sang certain ways, comparing his body movements onstage to my own, etc. There’s also lines on the album where he’s just talking to me and whoever listens to this album. 

Did you go into the studio sessions already knowing what songs of his you wanted to bring into the fold? 

No! My sister [who is also my manager and the head of our dad’s trust] is directly connected with the record label that bought my dad’s publishing right before he died. She told the producers at Toxic“ Productions, “You can create from these records,” and my dad had a whole box set. 

I work with such talented producers, and one of my hopes for this project is that it blows up, gets a Grammy, and does all the things that an album can do. I want the producers to be recognized for this body of work that they helped me to create. Rafael Capone is mixing and mastering the whole project in a two-and-a-half-week period.  

What was the first song that you knew was going to be on this album? 

My father died on my youngest son’s birthday (Feb. 6). My son was turning 11 with a party at Sky Zone [at 10 a.m.] and my dad died at 2:00 in the morning. I had to go and be a mom, even though I was super sad. 

Three weeks after that, I flew to Chicago and started recording. The very first song was “Monsters in the Closet” and the next song was “Watching Over.” Those two songs I knew for a fact were going to make the album. I couldn’t even get through recording and writing those two songs. I would be recording and just break down in tears and everybody would just stop and wait until it passed.  

Every time I go in the studio, I don’t have many songs that don’t make it. That’s not my process. I record a specific amount of songs because I’m a storyteller. I don’t need to write a whole bunch of unnecessary records. That’s like if you write a book and go, “Let me write six chapters just in case.” Sometimes you will get some good records that somebody else wrote, and you save those in the vault or for a deluxe. Pretty much everything I recorded made this album except two things. I’m not a big fan of recording, I’m a live girl because that’s where you can really connect the fans with the music. 

What was the most difficult part about opening yourself up on a song like “Monsters,” which draws parallels between the experiences you and father had in this industry? 

There’s many stages of grieving. I was in a place where I was upset at this industry and what it had done to my father and I and our relationship. It’s an ongoing thing inside of the industry and it does it to all artists. The music business is dirty and cruel. It steals from you. It takes from you with very little deposit back into you. I’m tired of not telling the truth. We have to start telling the truth about what the hell be going on! 

I know this is R&B, but we don’t always have to talk about love and pain. That’s what Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway and my father did back in the day. I wanted this album to be conscious across all of its tracks. 

Artists’ mental health is huge theme on Legacy, and the record drops right before Suicide Prevention Month kicks off. What do you want to see the industry do in terms of better prioritizing artists’ mental health? Have you seen anything get better (or worse) during your time in the industry? 

The only that has gotten better is the fact that we [can do so much by ourselves] as independent artists. It’s not at the hands of the marketing department at your label. The flip side of that is very difficult because you have to use your own money and you have to do all the footwork, but at least you know where your money’s going.  

In general, people and greed are the basis of the music industry. Because you’re dealing with artists, we are delicate in that way. We want you to like and buy into what we create because it’s tied to our actual livelihood. They don’t like it, we don’t eat. I don’t think people truly understand the depth of how stressful that can be. When you see all of these artists self-medicating, trying to calm themselves down, trying to not have anxiety, then whatever they’re using to self-medicate gets the best of them. It could kill them.  

I think we need to do a better job of understanding the artists’ case and having empathy for them. We have to be these politicians and we ain’t politicians! We’re human beings and our job is to create music and soundtrack our lives. You don’t see nobody knocking on the movie score man’s house and cussing him out, and he’s creating the scores for all these movies for us to feel certain ways. But because we’re famous, we should be grateful that people even give us the time of day. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, the artist suffered the most. There’s no empathy for artists. People don’t care what happens to them. You hold us to all these high standards, and then you’re quick to forget us when it’s over. 

People don’t value what we put into the world, and I feel like everybody should be valued the same.  

“Black Balloon” became your first Billboard chart entry in over a decade. What did that mean to you, especially to do so alongside your dad, who’s officially credited as an artist on that track? 

It’s a great moment because I’m 48. I recorded my first album at 15 [and] I am still out here. The people are still out here turning up/ I’m happy that God has allowed me to have this longevity and have and still be here in my right mind and talk regular with you, chile. 

What lessons would you say were the most difficult for you to internalize throughout your career? 

Trusting myself. Trusting my ears. Trusting what I really want to hear in my records and being adamant about it. I was 21 when Wayne Williams brought me into Jive Records and I would let the last say be someone else’s. Sometimes I might not be happy with it inside, but you just have to let it go. And that was that wasn’t all the time, that was rare. I was given a lot of creative freedom at Jive. It was just certain things [that] when I look back, I’m like “Shit, I should have just listened myself.” [Being an] introvert disconnected me from a lot people in times where I should have been trying to connect more. That’s another lesson: networking. And some of my introversion comes from fear of judgement, but I was very young. When you get older, you don’t give a f—k who’s around and you don’t give a damn. When you’re a young woman and trying to balance male egos, it’s tough. I don’t blame myself. 

Close enough — welcome back, One Direction. In a rare and exciting twist of events for fans of the boy band, both Niall Horan and Harry Styles were under the same roof singing one of their old hits, with the “As It Was” musician attending the Irish singer-songwriter’s Manchester concert Tuesday night (Aug. 27). 

In one video filmed by a fan at Horan’s Co-op Live performance, Styles — sporting a scruffy mustache and yellow cardigan — enthusiastically rocks back and forth as the The Voice alum sings 1D’s 2014 track “Stockholm Syndrome,” which the “Watermelon Sugar” musician co-wrote with three other songwriters back in the day. “Oh, baby, look what you’ve done to me,” Horan belts as Styles mouths along, waving his hands in the air. “Oh, baby, you got me tied down.” 

Horan has been performing “Stockholm Syndrome” solo on his The Show: Live on Tour trek, but it originally appeared on Four, the penultimate album released by his former boy band before the group members parted ways. The song reached No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the LP topped the Billboard 200. 

In other clips from Horan’s Manchester show, Styles dances and chats with other concertgoers while staying close to the walls of the arena, at one point swaying along to “Heartbreak Weather” from the former’s 2020 solo album of the same name. Toward the end of the show, Horan appeared to squint from the stage as he watched his ex-bandmate shake hands, give hugs and make his way out of the venue during “Slow Hands.”

Styles is just the latest special guest Horan’s tour has hosted this month, with Ed Sheeran attending his Dublin show on Aug. 23 and jumping on stage for surprise duets of “Little Things” — which the “Shape of You” artist penned for One Direction in 2012 — and “Lego House.” After the show, Sheeran shared a video on Instagram of him rehearsing the latter track with Horan.

See clips of Styles at Horan’s Manchester concert below.

Harry singing and dancing during Stockholm Syndrome at Niall’s concert at the Co-op Live in Manchester tonight

– August 27, 2024 pic.twitter.com/3msoAiujQS

— HSNews (@HS_News_) August 27, 2024

Harry during Heartbreak Weather at Niall’s concert at the Co-op Live in Manchester tonight

– August 27, 2024 pic.twitter.com/G4z9VtYRuY

— HSNews (@HS_News_) August 27, 2024

Niall watching Harry leaving his concert at the Co-op Live in Manchester tonight

– August 27, 2024 pic.twitter.com/qkpVTMosC5

— HSNews (@HS_News_) August 27, 2024