Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers met up for dinner in New York City Friday night (Nov. 3).
Swift was photographed arriving at the Greenwich Village restaurant Minetta Tavern, where she dined with Bridgers — who’s her friend, an Eras Tour tourmate, and a collaborator (the pair recorded vault track “Nothing New” together for the Taylor’s Version re-recording of Red.) Swift was dressed for fall in an appropriate color palette of brown and orange, her wide-legged trousers topped off by a ’70s-style Gant sweater.
Restauranteur Keith McNally, owner of Minetta Tavern, shared the details of the evening in “Friday night report” Instagram post early on Saturday (Nov. 4).
“All great with the table. Taylor Swift was with Phoebe Bridgers,” said the report, as told by Roberta Rossini Delice of Keith McNally Restaurant Group.
She described the starter: “Chef Laurent sent baked oysters and foie Gras Amouse Bouche.”
“I was near the table when Taylor Swift ate the oyster and she opened her eyes and said ‘my god! … she really liked it!” the report said.
“Then they had scallops to share,” the post said, followed by “Dover sole” for Swift and “lobster vol en vent” for Bridgers as main courses. “They drank 2 rhubarb Sophie. She was here until around 12:15.”
The report said that the pair didn’t want desserts.
Swift did oblige chef Laurent Kalkotour when a picture was requested. The snapshots were put up on Instagram, where McNally also shared a couple photos taken by the paparazzi outside the restaurant.
The report added that the staff believes Swift will return. “She really enjoyed it,” the post read, adding that her Friday night appearance stirred up a lot of activity on Minetta Lane — paparazzi and “about 100” people gathering to catch a glimpse of the star.
“Victoria, Matt, Laurent and all staff did a great job. Minetta was busy and vibrant . Great team tonight. What a night and what a restaurant!” the note concluded.
Swift just released 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and will soon be resuming The Eras Tour as it goes international. She’ll next perform in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from Nov. 9-11, followed by dates in Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil. After a holiday break, Swifties will see her take the stage in Tokyo, Japan, in February 2024.
See the photos of Swift at Minetta Tavern on McNally’s Instagram account.
Lana Del Rey is not involved with the new film Priscilla, but director Sofia Coppola was open to the idea.
The Hollywood Reporter says the director first became aware of fans associating Elvis and Priscilla Presley with Del Rey — who has embodied Priscilla’s ’60s-style big hair and thick eyeliner throughout her career as an artist — while filming Priscilla.
“I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realize that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’” Coppola said in a recent interview with E! News.
“We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing,” she explained.
Besides embodying Priscilla’s style, Del Rey, known as a longtime fan of the Presleys, has referenced Elvis in her lyrics. She had a demo titled “Elvis” featured in Eugene Jarecki’s Elvis documentary, The King, in 2017.
Coppola invited Del Rey to the Priscilla premiere, but the singer-songwriter couldn’t attend. She says she is “excited for her to see it.”
The film is based on Priscilla’s memoir, Elvis and Me, and follows the romance between Elvis and Priscilla, told from her perspective. It doesn’t feature Elvis’ actual music because Authentic Brands Group, the majority owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, didn’t accept Coppola’s offer for the rights.
“They don’t like projects that they haven’t originated, and they’re protective of their brand,” Coppola told THR earlier this year. “But that made us be more creative.”
Although the late Lisa Marie Presley, who was the only child of Elvis and Priscilla, seemingly did not approve of the way her dad was depicted in Coppola’s script, Priscilla was moved by the project.
At the movie’s Venice Film Festival showing, Priscilla embraced Coppola and wiped away tears during a standing ovation. “We haven’t talked specifically about the music, but she said, ‘You did your homework,’ ” Coppola told Billboard. “She felt it was authentic, which was so important to me.”
Priscilla, starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, is now playing in theaters.
Britney Spears is ready for the holiday season.
On Friday night (Nov. 3), the 41-year-old pop superstar shared a video of herself on social media wearing a long red cutout dress in celebration of the year-end festivities.
“Merry Halloween Christmas New Years Thanksgiving!!!” the “…Baby One More Time” singer captioned the clip on Instagram.
The brief video features Spears cheerily spinning around in home with a brightly lit Christmas tree peeking from behind in the background.
Spears has good reason to celebrate. The pop star’s new tell-all memoir, The Woman in Me, sold 1.1 copies in its first week of release, according to the Associated Press. The sales figures cover pre-orders, print sales, 3-books and audiobook versions of the book that was released on Oct. 24.
“Thank you to all the fans who made #TheWomanInMe a #1 @nytimes bestseller,” she tweeted along with a mind-blown emoji. “it means the world to me !!! Love you all [three kiss emoji] !!!”
The book chronicles Spears’ rise to fame, her relationship with fellow child star Justin Timberlake, and her life under a highly restrictive 13-year conservancy. The hype surrounding the memoir also provided a bump to Spears’ catalog, with streams up 21% in the days leading up to its release.
See Spears’ post on Instagram below.
“F— Kenny G!” Action Bronson playfully exclaimed halfway through his performance at New Balance’s TCA New York City Marathon Kick-Off Party on Friday night (Nov. 3). The Queens rapper wasn’t really throwing shots at the Grammy-winning smooth jazz saxophonist, he was simply singing the praises of Matt Carrillo (aka Young Mexico), the incredibly impressive saxophonist and keyboardist that served as one of the main anchors of the band’s whimsical set.
At New Balance’s TCA New York City Marathon Kick-Off Party, sports and hip-hop continued their decades-long convergence as Action Bronson helped celebrate the imminent 26.2-mile race, as well as the latest evolution in his partnership with sports footwear giant New Balance.
After Adidas unexpectedly canceled his UltraBOOST collaboration back in 2019, Bronson teamed up with New Balance, officially announcing a new multi-item collaborative capsule with the brand back in March. Among the items in the capsule were the New Balance 990v6 “Baklava” sneaker. A few months later, a second 990v6 sneaker — named “Lapis Lazuli” — arrived exclusively on Bronson’s specializinginlife.com website (Jun. 22), receiving a global release on Jun. 30.
“I’m just enchanted by nature,” Bronson mused backstage before his performance. “Nature’s beauty. It’s natural beauty. It’s whimsical. It’s like stranger than fiction.”
Given the forest green hues and deep blues that appear across his different colorways, Bronson’s relationship with all of nature’s gifts truly inspired the design of his New Balance collaborations. Finding a home with New Balance was a special journey after the less-than-favorable way his Adidas partnership dissolved, but “I’ve been a New Balance guy for years, way before any of this other s—,” Bronson explains. “I’ve come from a family of f—ing chubby feet, flat feet, where you need a good walking shoe and something with stability and comfort as well as performance. This provides all three for my type.” To further explain, Bronson likened his foot type to “a triangle slice of pizza.”
During his set, Bronson tore through lively renditions of “Latin Grammys,” “DMTri,” and “Baby Blue,” allowing his five-member band to riff to both their heart’s desire and the audience’s pleasure. Embodying the whimsy he attributed to nature, Bronson delivered a characteristically charismatic stage show that even featured him literally touching his toes onstage and adding idiosyncratic percussion flourishes.
Cocodrillo Turbo, Bronson’s last studio effort, arrived last year, but the Billboard Hot 100 hitmaker is already formulating his next LP, although he’s purposely keeping his plans lowkey. “Lots of things [are] coming in the new year,” he teased. “Exciting things if you can’t tell how excited I am. I’m just stoned!”
The TCS NYC Marathon launches on Sunday (Nov. 5) at 8:00 a.m. EST.
This year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was a roller coaster ride of emotions, surprise appearances, heartwarming speeches and, of course, good music. Plus, both the class of 2023 inductees and the night’s performers were more diverse than ever, thanks to the Hall’s ongoing efforts to recognize a broader range of genres as well as the women and people of color who have permanently changed the landscape of music for the better (in spite of what exiled co-founder Jann Wenner may have said earlier this year, something that made for a sizzling diss in Bernie Taupin’s acceptance speech).
And whether it was from the audience or behind the scenes, Billboard was there at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday night (Nov. 3) to capture it all. The evening’s inductees included Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, The Spinners, DJ Kool Herc, Link Wray, Chaka Khan, and Bernie Taupin, while the performers list spanned Adam Levine, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Elton John, H.E.R., Ice-T, LL Cool J, Miguel, New Edition, Olivia Rodrigo, Queen Latifah, Sia, Stevie Nicks and St. Vincent — several of whom stopped backstage to answer one-on-one questions from Billboard, address the press room as a whole or simply take photos.
For the first time ever, the ceremony was live-streamed, meaning fans everywhere could tune in via Disney+ to watch in real time. But to find out what cameras didn’t catch, keep reading below to see what you missed backstage at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, including exclusive Billboard interviews with Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood and more:





