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.

You get a gift! You get a gift! Everybody gets a gift!

Oprah Winfrey released her highly anticipated 2023 “Favorite Things” list on Wednesday (Nov. 1), which details her top choices in every category from food, home and beauty to tech and “cozy” — creating the ultimate gift guide for those who aren’t yet sure what to get their loved ones this holiday season.

Oprah’s list is extensive, and the countless options could be overwhelming for someone who doesn’t know where to start. We at Billboard have your back by narrowing it down to our top 15 picks from Oprah’s holiday gift guide that will surely bring a smile to anyone this year.

See more below.

Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Kindle Scribe

 
Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s first Kindle device that offers the best of both worlds because you can read and write with it.

“This summer, a friend I was traveling with raved about his Kindle, the first to include a notebook and a pen that never needs charging—especially how readable it was in the sun and how much he enjoyed writing notes with it,” Oprah wrote. “He was right!”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Beats Studio Pro Over-Ear Headphones

$199.95 $349.99 43% off

Buy Now On Amazon

Fun fact: Oprah is a fan of “all things Beats” including the new Studio Pro headphones. The latest over-ear, noise cancelling headphones from the brand offer up to 40 hours of battery life.
 
“I love all things Beats,” Oprah wrote in her gift guide. “Some of us are over-the-head-headphone people, and if you know one of them, these are the best of the best.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Meta Quest 3 Asgard’s Wrath Bundle

For the gamers and tech lovers, the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset allows you to explore all kinds of games in the Quest content library without a PC or console. You can also watch live concerts, films, exclusive events and more.

“This headset gives both fully immersive and mixed-reality experiences for 500-plus apps,” Oprah said of the virtual reality set. “Great for gaming, or, if you’re Adam and Gayle, a quick game of virtual pickleball at the office.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Take OFF Luggage 18 Inch Personal Item Removable Wheels Suitcase

$95.99 $119.99 20% off

Buy Now On Amazon

A budget-friendly suitcase for holiday travel and more. This “brilliant under-the-seat-bag” from Take Off luggage features removable wheels, so you can pop them off and slide the bag under your seat.


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

32 Degrees Women’s Lightweight Recycled Poly-Fill Packable Jacket

Lightweight, affordable and keeps your warm in the cold weather. This 32 Degrees “packable little shacket” with pockets is available in black, forestwood and moonlit ocean.


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

The Original, The Remix, The Encore Collection Family Matching Holiday Sweatshirts

The holidays are the perfect time to whip out your matching family sweatshirts. As Oprah noted, “We finally solved the mystery of what to wear after the matching family pajamas —matching family sweatshirts, especially ones that encourage both smiles and group pictures.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

House No. 23 Alaia Sherpa Fleece Robe

House 23 is known for its super soft robes, throw blankets and more. Oprah chose the sherpa fleece robe for the ultimate feeling of post-bath plushness and warmth.

“I picked their throw last year, and I can tell you the only thing better than diving under a faux-shearling blanket is to walk around almost wearing one—makes you feel like you’re at a spa,” wrote Oprah.


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Therabody TheraFace Pro

You don’t have to leave home for a spa-like skin treatment. The TheraFace Pro features eight therapies in one tool.  “It has percussive massage and cleansing options, and red, blue, and red-plus-infrared light therapies,” wrote Oprah. “It’s for anyone looking for lifting and tightening but afraid of needles.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Sterling Forever The Perfect Occassion Earring Case

Take your jewelry on the go with this Sterling Forever travel case complete with earrings. As Oprah wrote, it’s a mini “treasure chest with five earring styles we curated to cover every travel need, from day-tripping to black-tie wedding. Plus room for your other essential pieces.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

SPGBK Unisex Stainless Steel, Water Resistant Watch

$63.99 $79.99 20% off

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Always on time. This unisex wrist watch from SPGK has an adjustable, silicone band and it’s water resistant. The stylish timepiece is available in six colors including black, white, brown, navy and two shades of purple.


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

TELFAR Medium Shopping Bag

If you’re not already familiar with Telfar, consider this an introduction. The Medium Shopping Bag features a double strap (handles and cross-body straps), embossed logo and a main compartment with magnetic snap closure. It’s also the same bag that Beyoncé was spotted wearing in 2021.


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

WanderFull Crossbody HydroBag

$47.20 $59.00 20% off

Buy Now On Amazon

Carry your water bottle in style with Wanderfall’s Crossbody HydroBag. It’s available in 24 colors including matte and metallic designs.

“Now, this is a design I haven’t seen before—cute and multifunctional,” Oprah raved. “It holds my water bottle when I’m hiking in Maui; for city walkabouts, the pocket holds a phone and a credit card.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

How to Be More Tree: Essential Life Lessons for Perennial Happiness

$11.86 $14.00 15% off

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Ready to be more like a tree? “Trees are having a moment,” Oprah explained. “I’ve seen lots of books on the topic, but How to Be More Tree, with its gorgeous illustrations and wisdom of the ages, is the one I send to friends.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Bread Oven

OK, this one is just so fun. A way to make easy, homemade bread is perfect for a baker or food enthusiast in your life. It’s also great for someone who is gluten free but still wants to enjoy bread without the reaction that comes along with it.

“You know how I feel about bread, so I was very happy to see this enameled cast-iron piece that brings brick-oven baking to a home oven,” wrote Oprah. “In other words, it makes a crust to die for.”


Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2023: Best Gifts to Shop

Schmidt Brothers – BBQ Bonded Teak 4 Piece Grilling Accessory Set

$79.99 $99.99 20% off

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It’s grill time! For the great grillers in your life: This four-piece stainless steel and hand-polished-teak set will be perfect,” per Oprah.


Another Halloween has come and gone. We are rounding up some of the best costumes that celebrities donned this year. The Halloween streets were lit with stars stopping by Billboard’s bash in LA, and Heidi Klum’s party brought out all the stars in New York. We take you inside both! The queen of Xmas, Mariah Carey, defrosted the holiday at the stroke of midnight on November 1st. And more!

Tetris Kelly

We’re looking at music’s best Halloween costumes and taking you into LA and New York’s hottest Halloween parties. We play five things with Feid. Look back at the release of ‘Spice World,’ and Mariah ushers in her season officially.

Tetris Kelly

Happy Hump Day, friends. I’m Tetris Kelly from Billboard News and it’s Wednesday, November 1st. I’m still recovering from all the Halloween festivities. If you didn’t catch all the amazing outfits, we’ve got you covered. The stars do it every year, and 2023 was no different. Here are some of the best costumes from some of your favorite artists. Cher was a popular costume choice for both Victoria Justice and Christina Aguilera, complete with a ‘Burlesque’ re-enactment. You all saw my costume yesterday, but my girl doubled the fun: Mariah Carey served two looks before the change of the season as Regina George and Jessica Rabbit. When it comes to serving face, the king and queen were Gwen Stefani as the Corpse Bride and Zayn as Voldemort. And Anitta and Marina Sena finished us with their Mileena and Katana costumes. Fat Joe was looking more like skinny Joe thanks to his Ozempic costume. Camila Cabello gave us Anne Hathaway realness with her ‘Princess Diaries’ outfit. Reneé Rapp embodied Justin Bieber onstage during her concert in Brooklyn. And if you can spot her, Janelle Monáe had the most insane chameleon costume this year.

Watch the full video above!

Oliver Tree is fresh off the release of his third studio album, Alone in a Crowd, and he sat down with Billboard’s Rania Aniftos to discuss how he created a unique presence in the music industry.

“This is really a collection of all my favorite styles and selected works and highlights of what I like and different styles, but also still be a component that’s a thread through of a concept album,” he said of his new project. “The thing that also ties it together nicely is I produce on every single song and I’m the one who mixes so from the beginning of the conception, through the mixing process, I’m hands on.”

As for his goofy persona, Oliver said that it was somewhat of an unexpected journey for him. “I’d already spent the bulk of my existence on Earth making music and no one was listening to it,” he recalled. “No one cared. And I was like, ‘Wow, this actually working. This is bigger than my music.’ All I did was just show up looking stupid, and I think it’s a mirror that I was setting up of society, and how dumb things have gotten in a lot of ways but also experimentation is kind of the birth of invention and trying to make something that hasn’t been done a million times.”

The “Miss You” singer also revealed exclusively to Billboard that he’s planning a concert in Antarctica for the end of the year. “It’s finally happening at the end of this year. I get to finally go to Antarctica and I can’t say too much about it, but I will say that I’m finally making the dream come to life. It’s a long time coming,” he said.

Watch the full interview with Oliver Tree above.

Musician Oliver Tree stopped by Billboard News and discussed accidentally creating his persona, how he finds inspiration for his music videos, why Alone In The Crowd could be his last record and more!

Rania Aniftos:
Maybe we should just end the interview now.

Oliver Tree:
Want to wrap it?

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah. Thank you everybody for watching!

Oliver Tree:
Thank you!

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah, it was so nice or…

Oliver Tree:
What’s going on? It’s your boy Oliver Tree and you’re watching Billboard News.

Rania Aniftos:
Hey, everybody. I’m Rania Aniftos with Billboard News and I am so excited. We’re here with the one and only Oliver Tree. Hello!

Creating this Oliver Tree persona was kind of almost an accident, right? Because I think I heard you say you were putting out music and nobody was really listening. And then you kind of grabbed a ski jacket from your mom and the sunglasses and you kind of turned it into comedy and suddenly people started caring about your music.

Oliver Tree:
I’d already spent the bulk of my existence on earth making music and no one was listening to it. No one cared and I was like, “Wow, this actually worked.” This is bigger than my music and all I did was just show up looking stupid. And I think it’s a mirror that I was setting up of society, like how dumb things have gotten in a lot of ways. But also experimentation is kind of the birth of invention and trying to make something that hasn’t been done a million times.

Oliver Tree is my birth name, both my parents were trapeze artists.

Rania Aniftos:
This album that you’ve just released, it’s a little more open, like a little more vulnerable, I think looking into who you are and your interests. Were you concerned about taking that extra step in your artistry and your lyricism and you’re playing around with different genres?

Oliver Tree:
The first album I made was really a lot like this one in the context that people weren’t listening to albums. And I kind of made the album with that mindset of “Hey, this is really a collection of all my favorite styles and selected works.”

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah.

Oliver Tree:
“If you will of the highlights of what I like, different styles.” But also, there can still be a component that’s a thread through of a concept album through the visual component, through the character, which still allows it to be cohesive.

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah.

Oliver Tree:
And the thing that also ties it together nicely is I produce every single song, I’m the one who mixes so from the beginning of the conception through the mixing process, I’m hands-on. I can produce these things by myself, It’s not something I’m particularly interested in doing because you spend so much time making these albums. And if you’re just by yourself making music all the time, it’s very lonely.

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah.

Oliver Tree:
And I used to do that, for all my old music. It was just me by myself. And I found myself incredibly lonely. And I think that that’s ironic, in the context of this album, is exploring the theme of loneliness.

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah.

Oliver Tree:
And it’s such a big part of it. It’s kind of a full circle moment as I’ve evolved as an artist, I recognize that it doesn’t have to be so lonely. I would rather do it with my friends. I’d rather go to Brazil, and bring out my friends and work there than necessarily be stuck in one place by myself in this dark room.

Rania Aniftos:
Yeah.

Oliver Tree:
So it’s a way that I’ve found it’s a lot more fun and sustainable in the long term.


Watch the full video above!

The ARChive of Contemporary Music (ARC), which houses more than three million recordings and millions of historic materials, is searching urgently for a new home. 

ARC, which B. George founded in 1985 in a lower Manhattan loft, has stored its collection for the past three years in a facility in Duchess County, N.Y. that was donated by hotelier Andre Balazs, but zoning laws imperil its existence. “The space we have now is zoned for agricultural storage and not for offices,” George tells Billboard. “We could be forced to move at any time.” 

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ARC shuttered its New York City location in Tribeca in 2020 because of skyrocketing rents and a lack of space. “Equally important, after more than 30 years in lower Manhattan, there was no help offered by the City of New York,” George says. 

Among its treasures, ARC houses Keith Richards’ 18,000-piece blues collection, which it says is one of the most extensive collections of blues and R&B recordings in the world. It also contains Brazilian magnate Zero Freitas’ Brazilian music collection, the late director Jonathan Demme’s Haitian music collection and late producer/label owner Jeep Holland’s collection of more than 125,000 classic rock and pop recordings. Artists including David Byrne, and renowned critics like the New York Times’ Jon Pareles and John Rockwell, have also donated recordings, books and papers.

Over the decades, ARC, whose board members have included the late David Bowie, Nile Rodgers, Martin Scorsese and Q-Tip, has proved an invaluable resource. It provided research and music for such films as Goodfellas, That Thing You DoPhiladelphia and Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary, as well as supplying publishing information to BMI and the Harry Fox Agency. In recent years, ARC has focused on digitizing its collection.

ARC has already received an anonymous donation of $1 million to fund the move, though George estimates it needs $10 million to relocate. He would like to stay in the area. “Access is important,” he says, “so near the Hudson or Harlem train lines.”

George says ARC has not solicited record companies, even though Atlantic chairman/CEO Craig Kallman is on the board of trustees, and many major and independent labels have contributed material to the collection. “We wish to remain independent. Our collection and focus is on all forms of popular music from every culture and nation,” he says. “Beyond rock, we have the largest collections of Brazilian, Asian Indian, Caribbean and Latin Music in North America. To better understand the history of popular music means trying to save everything that happened.”

Ideally, a capital campaign will raise the $10 million and allow ARC to open a new facility, The Center for Popular Music, which would greatly expand its public offerings and allow students, educators, historians, musicians, journalists and fans to access the archives. “The goal is to be a free, welcoming place for research,” George says. “We will develop public programming and events including movie nights, concerts, class courses, exhibitions, listening parties, conferences, seminars, lectures, workshops, record sales, record release parties — activities that support our mission and engage the community. Our mission will always remain preservation.”

Halle Bailey and DDG have officially won Halloween. The couple took to Instagram on Tuesday (Oct. 31) to share their recreation of iconic looks from the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.

“Whitney + nippy & bobby,” Bailey captioned the photo along with some laughing emojis in reference to the “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” singer’s nickname, Nippy, which was given to her by her father and used by her close friends and family.

The couple recreated the 1987 Whitney album cover, as well as a red carpet photo from the Billboard Music Awards and sweet candid snaps of the couple.

Over the weekend, the duo dressed up as the lead characters from 1993’s Poetic Justice, played by Janet Jackson and the late Tupac Shakur.

Bailey, who resembles Jackson in general, also took to TikTok to share a video in which she and DDG re-create an NSFW scene from the film.

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Bailey is no stranger to channeling her iconic look-alike, as she’s paid tribute to Jackson throughout the years. She even got Jackson’s approval this year: The iconic pop star shared Bailey’s Halloween costume to her Instagram story along with a red-heart emoji.

“Poetic justice, put it in a song,” Bailey captioned a series of photos of the couple’s costumes, quoting Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 song “Poetic Justice.” DDG captioned his photos “tupac & janet” with a black heart. The pair re-created a dozen photos of Jackson and Shakur, from the film’s poster to a series of black-and-white publicity photos.


Halle’s sister Chloe went a more mystical route for her Halloween costume this year, dressing as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, also known as Khaleesi. As part of Chloe x Halle, the duo contributed the haunting song “Wolf at Your Door” to the 2019 album For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones, which also featured contributions from Maren Morris, Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers as well as a collaborative track from SZA, The Weeknd and Travis Scott.

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.

Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite is honoring the late Matthew Perry with a special tribute titled Matthew Perry: Thanks for Being a Friend. The 30-minute program is scheduled to air Sunday (Nov. 5) at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will be followed by “fan favorite” episodes of Friends with Perry as his hilariously sarcastic character Chandler Bing.

Viewers will have the opportunity to watch never-before-seen interviews with Perry as well as behind-the-scenes footage from his time on Friends. The channel will also be running reruns of the hit sitcom leading up to the tribute special so you can revisit some of your favorite moments from the series.

You can tune into the live special through your cable provider — just go to the Nickelodeon channel, which you can find through your TV provider’s guide.

Don’t have cable? We recommend trying out DirecTV Stream, which has the Nick channel and offers a five-day free trial. Plus, right now you can take advantage of the platform’s $30 off promo that’ll take $10 off your plan for the first three months. Click here or the button below to start your free trial now.

DirecTV Stream $64.99/month after 5-days free $74.99 13% off

Get your directv stream free trial here

HBO’s streaming platform Max also plans to put a tribute to the 54-year-old actor at the start of each episode of Friends that will read “In memory of Matthew Perry.”

Keep reading to learn the streaming options to watch the Nick at Nite tribute and rewatch Friends.

How to Watch Friends & Matthew Perry: Thanks for Being a Friend

If you don’t have cable, then an HD antenna like these ones here on Amazon might be able to stream Nick at Nite live. If not, then DirecTV Stream will give you a 5-day free trial to watch reruns of Friends and Matthew Perry: Thanks for Being a Friend without having to spend hundreds of dollars on cable.

Looking for more affordable options? FuboTV offers Nickelodeon as one of its channels as well as 7-day free trial, which means you can watch the special and more for free. After the trial is over, you’ll be charged the normal subscription price based on the plan you choose. Plans start at $74.99/month and offer a variety of live news, sports and entertainment channels, DVR storage and the ability to watch on at least 10 screens at a time.

FuboTV $74.99/month after 7-days free

Get your fubotv free trial here

Hulu + Live TV is the best option if you’re looking for the most programming for a fraction of the cost. Not only will you have a 30-day free trial, but you’ll also get access to the entire Hulu library and hundreds of live TV channels including Nickelodeon. If you’re a fan of bundling you can save even more money by adding ESPN+ and Disney+ to your plan for $81.99/month.

Hulu + Live TV $75.99/month after 30-days free

get hulu + live tv free trial here

How to Watch Friends

The best way to rewatch episodes of Friends as well as the 2021 reunion special is through Max, HBO’s streaming service. Right now, you can take advantage of Prime Video‘s 7-day free-trial, which will give you access to all the content on Max as well as everything the Prime Video library has to offer. Once the free-trial is over you’ll be charged the normal subscription price of $15.99/month.

Max on Prime Video $15.99/month after 7-days free

get your max free trial here

You’ll need to be a Prime member in order to get the 7-day free-trial. If you already have a subscription you just need to add the channel to your subscription under the Prime Video channel store.

Not subscribed? Amazon offers a 30-day free trial that’ll give you access to Prime Video as well as additional Prime member benefits like one-day free shipping, exclusive Prime member-only deals, grocery delivery, Prime Premiere and more. Click here to start your free trial now.

Prefer to own the series on DVD? Amazon is currently offering the complete series on sale for 41% off, which you can shop below.

friends cast on dvd cover

Friends: The Complete Series (25th Anniversary DVD)

Enjoy all 10 seasons of NBC’s award-winning sitcom series in a 25th anniversary collectors edition. Inside you’ll find 32 disc with every episode from the show, so you can rewatch and relive some of the most iconic episodes and scenes that still captivate audiences today.


Aaron Spears, who worked as a drummer for Usher, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and countless other music stars, has died at age 47, his family announced Monday (Oct. 30).

The drummer was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Usher’s 2004 album Confessions and had just turned 47 last week.

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“It is with a heavy heart and overwhelming sadness that I share the news of the passing of my beloved husband, Aaron Spears,” Spears’ wife, Jessica, said in an Instagram post. “Aaron was not only an incredibly accomplished drummer, admired by many for his unparalleled talent and passion for music, but he was also a devoted father to our precious son, August. His love, guidance, and warmth were the pillars of our family, and his absence leaves a void that words cannot describe. We were blessed to have him in our lives, and his legacy will live on through the beautiful rhythms he created and the love he shared with us. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Please remember Aaron for the incredible person he was and the amazing music he brought into our world. At this time we ask for privacy as we work our way through this.”

The many artists who worked with Spears shared an outpouring of condolences to social media.

Along with a photo of Spears, Grande shared this message to her IG Story: “I can’t wrap my head around this. We were all so incredibly lucky to know Aaron. The absolute brightest light of a human being. Always the kindest, always smiling. I am so honored and thankful that our paths crossed and to have spent so much very special time together. Thank you for your utter brilliance, for our laughs, and for your kindness always. I will miss your hugs. You are so, so loved and will be so very missed.”

“It’s been a painful season for all of us,” Justin Bieber wrote in an Instagram post, adding in his Story: “We lost a beautiful man and inspiration to all of us drummers. @aspears prayers for your family and loved ones you will be remembered and celebrated.”

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker commented on Jessica’s post, “I have no words. I love you so much my brother and will miss you. This doesn’t seem real. Praying for you Jessica and August.”

The Roots’ Questlove shared a video of Spears drumming along with a heartfelt message about his fellow drummer on Instagram. “The world lost a legend today. Husband, father, producers music director, leader drumgod & just a Cotdamn BEAST in Aaron Spears. You’ve seen Aaron drum prolly 5-10 times in your life if you attend concerts & sometimes without knowing. That’s how much in demand his services were. … Condolences to his wife, family, community and all who loved him and were given joy through his musical contributions. This is devastating … rest in melody brother.”

See Jessica’s announcement below:

Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies have been besties since co-starring on Victorious together more than a decade ago — but their new joint Halloween costumes are a long way from Nickelodeon.

The pair shared a dozen photos of their detailed costumes to Instagram on Monday night (Oct. 30), with Grande dressed up as Nomi Malone, Elizabeth Berkley’s rookie stripper in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven-directed erotic thriller, and Gillies dressed up as Cristal Connors, Gina Gershon’s jaded showgirl desperate to cling to her position as the top dancer.

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“You and me…we’re exactly alike,” Gillies captioned one photo of the pair side-by-side, wearing coordinated black ensembles that look like they’re borrowed directly from the movie set. In a joint post, Gillies quotes another of Gershon’s famous lines from the film: “You are a whore, Darlin’!” And in a final quotable caption: “There’s always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.”

In Grande’s final post, she gives one of Berkley’s famous lines some shine: When asked where she’s from on the East Coast, Nomi angrily responds, “different places !!!!!” (You can almost see Elizabeth Berkley throwing her basket of french fries in frustration when you hear those two simple words.)

Last year, Grande and Gillies put together equally elaborate Halloween costumes, re-creating a series of scenes from the Christopher Guest mockumentary Best in Show. Gillies portrays Jane Lynch’s character Christy Cummings while Grande takes on her partner, Jennifer Coolidge’s Sherri Ann Cabot. Later on in the scenes, Grande transforms into Eugene Levy’s Gerry Fleck — eyebrows and all — while Gillies plays Catherine O’Hara’s curly-haired Cookie Fleck.

See all the Showgirls magic below:

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday (Oct. 30) that artificial intelligence (AI) firm Stability AI could not dismiss a lawsuit claiming it had “trained” its platform on copyrighted images, though he also sided with AI companies on key questions.

In an early-stage order in a closely watched case, Judge William Orrick found many defects in the lawsuit’s allegations, and he dismissed some of the case’s claims. But he allowed the case to move forward on its core allegation: That Stability AI built its tools by exploiting vast numbers of copyrighted works.

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“Plaintiffs have adequately alleged direct infringement based on the allegations that Stability downloaded or otherwise acquired copies of billions of copyrighted images without permission to create Stable Diffusion, and used those images to train Stable Diffusion,” the judge wrote.

The ruling came in one of many cases filed against AI companies over how they use copyrighted content to train their models. Authors, comedians and visual artists have all filed lawsuits against companies including Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI, alleging that such unauthorized use by the fast-growing industry amounts to a massive violation of copyright law.

Last week, Universal Music Group and others filed the first such case involving music, arguing that Anthropic PBC was infringing copyrights en masse by using “vast amounts” of music to teach its software how to spit out new lyrics.

Rulings in the earlier AI copyright cases could provide important guidance on how such legal questions will be handled by courts, potentially impacting how UMG’s lawsuit and others like it play out in the future.

Monday’s decision came in a class action filed by artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz against Stability AI Ltd. over its Stable Diffusion — an AI-powered image generator. The lawsuit also targeted Midjourney Inc. and DeviantArt Inc., two companies that use Stable Diffusion as the basis for their own image generators.

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In his ruling, Judge Orrick dismissed many of the lawsuit’s claims. He booted McKernan and Ortiz from the case entirely and ordered the plaintiffs to re-file an amended version of their case with much more detail about the specific allegations against Midjourney and DeviantArt.

The judge also cast doubt on the allegation that every “output” image produced by Stable Diffusion would itself be a copyright-infringing “derivative” of the images that were used to train the model — a ruling that could dramatically limit the scope of the lawsuit. The judge suggested that such images might only be infringing if they themselves looked “substantially similar” to a particular training image.

But Judge Orrick included no such critiques for the central accusation that Stability AI infringed Andersen’s copyrights by using them for training without permission — the basic allegation at the center of all of the AI copyright lawsuits, including the one filed by UMG. Andersen will still need to prove that such an accusation is true in future litigation, but the judge said she should be given the chance to do so.

“Even Stability recognizes that determination of the truth of these allegations — whether copying in violation of the Copyright Act occurred in the context of training Stable Diffusion or occurs when Stable Diffusion is run — cannot be resolved at this juncture,” Orrick wrote in his decision.

Attorneys for Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt did not return requests for comment. Attorneys for the artists praised the judge for allowing their “core claim” to move forward and onto “a path to trial.”

“As is common in a complex case, Judge Orrick granted the plaintiffs permission to amend most of their other claims,” said plaintiffs’ attorneys Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick after the ruling. “We’re confident that we can address the court’s concerns.”