Ariana Grande is once again addressing how her speaking voice has changed in recent months, this time pointing out that male performers are rarely met with the same criticism she’s received for embodying her role as Glinda in the upcoming Wicked films.

While appearing as a guest on the Tuesday (July 9) episode of Evan Ross Katz’s Shut Up Evan podcast, the pop star opened up about her decision in June to explain why the sound of her voice sometimes changes. After a clip of her abruptly switching tones on Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed went viral last month, she’d commented on TikTok that she’d been “speaking like this for two years” on the set of the upcoming Wicked films and noted that using a higher register is better for her vocal health.

And on Katz’s show, Grande went into even more detail. “I did just spend a long time playing a character every single day and training my voice to do different things,” she said of her tenure as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba. “The voice is in the body, it’s an instrument, and muscle memory is a real thing. That’s a normal thing for people who, it’s their job to transform.”

The “Yes, And?” singer went on to marvel at how men in Hollywood are often praised when their characters carry over into their real-life personas, whereas she’s been made fun of online for the same thing. “You see male actors — sure, people make jokes here and there as well about everybody who experiences something like this — but it’s always after the fact that they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, how dedicated to his craft. What an amazing transformation! He’s a brilliant performer!’” she said. “And God forbid I sneeze like Glinda.”

“I had a job to do,” Grande added. “People change and habits happen. It’s a strange thing to be under such a microscope.”

The scrutiny she’s faced about her speech habits was just one of many topics the Grammy winner broached with Katz, who also asked Grande about why she deactivated her X account as well as her decision to gently call out body shaming with a vulnerable TikTok last year (something she called “impulsive,” but doesn’t regret). At one point, the pair discussed the reasons why the star has chosen to remain quiet throughout last year’s backlash to her romance with Wicked costar Ethan Slater, which they hinted at without referencing head on.

“There’s still a lot of misperceptions about everything out there,” Grande told Katz. “I’ve sent you so many drafts of things like, ‘I want to say this so badly!’ I always sleep on it and I always come back around to protecting and not taking that bait, because what I have discovered is that protecting my peace and my privacy and the actual details … sometimes when it would be addressing something, you would actually be exposing more of your actual real life.”

Listen to Grande’s Shut Up Evan interview below.

It’s Celebrity Family Feud week, and the survey says: Team Megan Thee Stallion will be matched up against Ne-Yo and his clan. 

Ahead of Tuesday night’s (July 9) premiere on ABC, Billboard exclusively obtained a clip from the episode featuring the Houston Hottie going toe-to-toe with the “Because of You” singer in the face-off round. 

Dressed to the nines in a sharp bronze suit, host Steve Harvey asks Meg and Ne-Yo, their hands ready to buzz: “Name something you’ve done to your mate’s feet.” Thee Stallion beats Ne-Yo to the buzzer with a romantic foot remedy, “Massage!”

A version of her answer came in as the top response with 50 out of the 100 replies giving a variation of “Rubbed ‘Em.”

An excited Meg elected to play the round and brought Steve over to her family, who were all completely decked out in red threads. Her manager Travis Farris steps up and delivers with his answer, which finds him taking care of his woman’s at-home pedicure needs: “Cut they toenails.”

Harvey was a fan of the answer. “Come on playa, snip snip!” the comedian said in response. “You still feeling that, click click!” Farris nailed the second-highest response, with pedicure scoring team Meg another 27 points. 

Tune into the full Celebrity Family Feud episode on Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Hulu subscribers will have access to streaming the episode on Wednesday (July 10). 

It’s been a banner year for Megan Thee Stallion, who delivered her highly anticipated Megan album on June 28. It bowed in at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 – her sixth top 10 entry – with 64,000 equivalent album units earned.

Watch Billboard‘s exclusive Celebrity Family Feud clip below.

Nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards won’t be announced until July 17, but nominations for the 2024 Astra TV Awards were announced on Tuesday, July 9. The awards are presented by The Hollywood Creative Alliance, which includes critics, entertainment journalists, content creators, industry insiders and creatives.

With 15 nods, FX’s The Bear was this year’s most nominated series, followed by Max’s Hacks and Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building with 13 each. ABC’s Abbott Elementary and CBS’s Ghosts are tied for third place with 11 nods each.

Apple TV+’s The Morning Show led the drama categories with 11 nominations. Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith was the second-most nominated drama series with 10 nods.

Several artists who have topped the Billboard Hot 100 received nominations in various categories. Selena Gomez is nominated for best actress in a streaming comedy series for Only Murders in the Building. Ricky Martin is up for best supporting actor in a streaming comedy series for Palm Royale (Apple TV+). Bradley Cooper is nominated for best guest actor in a comedy series for Abbott Elementary. Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) is up for best actor in a streaming drama series for Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

In other categories, The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix), about the 1985 recording session for “We Are the World,” is nominated for best documentary, where it is competing with In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon (Hulu) and STEVE (Martin): A Documentary in Two Parts (Apple TV+), among other shows.

Gaga Chromatica Ball (Max) is nominated for best variety series or special, where it is competing with 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (ABC) and the most recent editions of the Grammys, Oscars, Tonys and SAG Awards, among other shows.

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (Hulu) is nominated for best docuseries.

Carpool Karaoke: The Series (Apple TV+) is nominated for best short form.

Seth MacFarlane is nominated in three categories for Ted (Peacock) – best directing and writing in a streaming comedy series and best voice-over performance.

There are three new categories – best anime series, best children or family series and, remarkably, best Saturday Night Live host. Nominees in the latter category are Emma Stone, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ryan Gosling and Timothée Chalamet.

The 2024 Astra TV Awards will stream live from the Avalon Hollywood on Sunday, Aug. 18. The ceremony can be watched worldwide on the official Astra Awards YouTube channel and KNEKT Television Network.

The Hollywood Creative Alliance, commonly called HCA, is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization. The vision and mission of the HCA is to amplify diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and culture in entertainment.

The Kid Laroi is set to perform at the 2024 Kids’ Choice Awards, which will be simulcast live on the East Coast on Saturday, July 13, at 8 p.m. ET/PT across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, TV Land, CMT and MTV2.

The Australian pop star will perform a medley that will include “Nights Like This,” a track from his debut studio album The First Time; “Stay,” his 2021 global smash that led the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks; and a non-album single “Girls.” Nickelodeon promises that his performance “will conclude with an epic sliming.”

Justin Bieber, The Kid Laroi’s partner-in-slime on “Stay,” performed at the 2021 Kids’ Choice Awards. The Bieb performed “Intentions” (with Quavo), “Hold On” and “Anyone.” Jack Harlow and Kid Cudi performed on the show in 2022. Lil Uzi Vert, Bebe Rexha and Lil Baby were among the performers on last year’s show.

The 2024 show will be hosted by SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Patrick Star (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke). This marks the first time that the show has been hosted by virtual characters. This year marks the 25th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants, which first aired on Nickelodeon as a sneak peek after the Kids’ Choice Awards on May 1, 1999, and officially premiered on July 17 of that year.

Taylor Swift is the leading individual nominee for the 2024 Kids’ Choice Awards, with six nods. She is followed in the nominations by Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo and Justin Timberlake, with four nods each.

Barbie also scored heavily in the nominations, with eight total nods. The box-office juggernaut has four nods in film categories (favorite movie, favorite movie actor for Ryan Gosling and favorite movie actress for both Margot Robbie and America Ferrera) and four in music categories (favorite album, favorite song for both Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and favorite music collaboration for Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” with Aqua).  

The Kids’ Choice Awards, complete with green slime and Nick’s signature orange blimp award, has long been a top attraction for young viewers. This year’s show will be held at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion for the first time since 2010 and the 11th time overall.

Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2024 is produced by Nickelodeon Productions and overseen by Ashley Kaplan, executive vice president, Nickelodeon & Awesomeness Unscripted & Digital Franchise Studio; Paul J Medford, vice president, unscripted current series; Luke Wahl, vice president, unscripted creative; Jennifer Bryson, vice president, production, tentpoles, events & music & specials; and Ellen Rydzewski, senior vice president, celebrity, events & talent relations. Guy Carrington & Kevin Hermanson of Done and Dusted serve as executive producers, with Rob Paine serving as co-executive producer. The show is directed by James Merryman.

Queens of the Stone Age announced on Tuesday morning (July 9) that the group has been forced to cancel a string of planned European dates this month due to a medical issue affecting singer Josh Homme. “QOTSA regret to announce that Josh Homme must return to the United States immediately for emergency surgery,” the group wrote on Instagram.

At press time a spokesperson for the group had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional information on what procedure Homme will undergo or a timetable for his recovery. “Every effort was made to push through and play for you, but it is no longer an option to continue,” the statement continued.

“Queens are gutted we aren’t able to play for you,” the group said in the statement. “We apologize for any inconvenience and share in your frustration and disappointment.” Last week, the group informed fans that they would not be able to perform at the preview of this year’s AMA Music Festival on July 5 in Italy “due to illness.”

The affected shows include:

July 10 — Vitrolles, FR @ Festival Jardi Sonore

July 13 — Trencin, SK @ Pohoda Festival

July 16 — Berlin, DE @ Zitadelle Spandau

July 17 –Ostrava, CZ @ Colours of Ostrava

July 18 — Vienna, AS @ METAstadt

July 20 — Cluj, RO @ Electric Castle Festival

July 23 & 24 — Zagreb, HR @ SRC Salata

July 28 — Athens, GR @ Athens Rocks

The post encouraged ticket holders for the festivals to visit the event’s websites for updated information, with ticket holders for headlining shows asked to await contact directly from the point of purchase. According to setlist.fm, the most recent show the band performed was on July 6 at the Ippodromo del Galoppo di San Siro in Milan, Italy.

At press time the band’s official page lists another run of European festival dates in August as the next shows on the band’s tour schedule, beginning with an August 8 show in Gothenburg, Sweden at the Way Out West Festival. Following six more Euro festival dates, Queens are slated to bring their End Is Nero tour — which kicked off in Sterling Heights, MI in August 2023 — to U.S. shores again in September, beginning with a show at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston on the 27th.

See the band’s statement below.