BTS V, Aespa, and NCT make their first moves on the Billboard’s weekly Hot Trending Songs chart with songs like ‘Christmas Tree,’ ‘Dreams Come True,’ Earthquake’ and ‘Dreaming.’
Happy New Year! Music stars began to usher in 2022 with messages on social media on New Year’s Eve.
Kacey Musgraves had an excellent suggestion on Twitter for those hoping for a better year ahead: “PSA: if you listen to Rainbow at precisely 11:56:39 on New Year’s Eve, you’ll be starting off 2022 hearing ‘it’ll all be alright,’” she noted in a tweet on Dec. 31. “Do with this what you will.”
Meanwhile, Normani fans were in for an end-of-year treat: the singer’s name trended after she posted a video snippet that seems to play a few seconds of a new song, captioning it with “Dear 2022” — implying there’s more dropping in the new year.
Christina Aguilera looked back at the highlights of her 2021 — “a year full of love, excitement & new adventures,” she tweeted — but also looked forward to what’s to come: “I am SO ready for what’s next. 2022… Here we go!”
Over on Instagram on New Year’s Eve, Halsey shared some personal snapshots from her year as a new mom. “Long nights, full hearts. Happy new year,” they wrote.
Shakira kept things sweet with a selfie featuring her last kiss of the year.
Elton John posted a messages of thanks to his family and fans for their support this year and wrote, “I can’t wait to FINALLY get back on the road with my Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour and everything else that 2022 has in store!”
See all of those messages, and many more, below. The list will be updated as 2022 arrives.
PSA: if you listen to Rainbow at precisely 11:56:39 on New Year’s Eve, you’ll be starting off 2022 hearing “it’ll all be alright.” Do with this what you will.
— K A C E Y (@KaceyMusgraves) December 31, 2021
This year has brought so many inspiring collaborators into my life & incredible opportunities my way, and I am SO ready for what’s next.
2022… Here we go! ❤️
— Christina Aguilera (@xtina) December 31, 2021
… Y los últimos besitos del 2021! pic.twitter.com/vrIutAc99l
— Shakira (@shakira) December 31, 2021
…my manager/husband David Furnish, his brilliant team and our beautiful sons ❤️
Thanks to all of you, I love you all! I can’t wait to FINALLY get back on the road with my Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour and everything else that 2022 has in store! 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) December 31, 2021
My forever New Years kiss. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/MUecAtsir1
— Nick Jonas (@nickjonas) January 1, 2022
Feliz año nuevo! can’t wait to give you guys my/ our next album, Familia in 2022 🏄♀️ pic.twitter.com/dWWo0aoy0t
— camila (@Camila_Cabello) December 31, 2021
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, keep safe and see you in 2022! 💥 pic.twitter.com/VEqnRtSJbQ
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) December 31, 2021
Happy New Year’s. May next year be shining bright – Paul pic.twitter.com/VlBwHSFeUI
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 31, 2021
Look back Paul’s year, as we revisit 2021 in 60 seconds! ⏰
Featuring a remix album, a career-spanning book, a cookbook, a picture book, two major documentaries, a Royal Mail stamp collection and much, much more. https://t.co/uUHvClEZ7M pic.twitter.com/yoH81jQc02
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) December 31, 2021
2021 was one for the books.. Let’s see what ya got 2022!!! C’mon!!! pic.twitter.com/yyHUJWygCf
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) December 31, 2021
2022 backwards says 5SOS pic.twitter.com/BY9EoQPWen
— 5 Seconds of Summer (@5SOS) January 1, 2022
Familia! Gracias por acompañarme este año.
Que el 2022 esté lleno de bendiciones y salud para todos. Los amo, bendiciones. 🙏🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/9WxHA5RvuL— Marc Anthony (@MarcAnthony) December 31, 2021
🙏🏽🤍 be safe everyone and have a happy New Year. 🎊🎆
— Becky G. (@iambeckyg) December 31, 2021
The big question every New Year’s Eve.. https://t.co/ZLNvPeC2HE 🎉 @ZooeyDeschanel pic.twitter.com/Kgs4qtMjN4
— Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) January 1, 2022
happy new year!
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) December 31, 2021
Happy New Year! 🎊
— Cyndi Lauper (@cyndilauper) December 31, 2021
Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer, lyricist Bernie Taupin, singer Pauline Black and the Spice Girls’ Mel B are among the music industry professionals recognized in the 2022 New Year Honours List, the annual U.K. tradition dating back to 1890 that bestows titles upon a number of individuals in recognition of their work and is presented in the name of Queen Elizabeth II.
Rob Stringer, leading as chairman of Sony Music Group and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) honor for his service to creative industries, social justice and charity. He notably launched Sony’s $100 million Social Justice Fund to support social justice and anti-racist initiatives globally.
Bernie Taupin, longtime lyricist for Elton John — the pair have been collaborating for more than 50 years — also received a CBE for exceptional services to music.
Pauline Black, singer with ska’s The Selecter for more than 40 years, received an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to entertainment.
Singer Mel B (Melanie Brown) received an MBE, making her a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for services to charitable causes and vulnerable women related to her work with domestic violence charity Women’s Aid.
James Bond gatekeepers and Eon Productions heads Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are also among the names on the 2022 list.
The duo, who produced this year’s smash hit No Time To Die, currently the third most successful film of all time in the U.K., have been given CBE honors for a “services to film, to drama, to philanthropy and to skills.” They both already have an OBE.
Another CBE recipient on the 2022 list is Jason Bourne and Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass for “services to the arts,” while John Boorman, the veteran filmmaker behind Deliverance and Excalibur and already a CBE, is to get a knighthood, the highest honor on the Order of the British Empire list for “services to film.”
Stage and screen icon and renowned activist Vanessa Redgrave, together with Joanna Lumley, best known for playing Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous and for her activism on behalf of Gurkha veterans, are both receiving Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire honors, one step below a knighthood. Redgrave’s award is in recognition for her “services to the arts” while Lumley’s is for “services to drama, to entertainment and to charitable causes.”
The 2022 list, announced just 90 minutes before midnight on Dec. 31, 2021, features a heavy crop of British sports stars, charity workers and, perhaps unsurprisingly, individuals known for their work in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Knighthoods are going to the chief medical officers for England, Scotland and Wales.
A portion of this article first appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
The beloved star of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ ‘The Golden Girls’ and ‘Hot in Cleveland’ died days shy of her 100th birthday.
“It’s literally like living in a disco ball here,” says fashion designer Michael Schmidt during a video call from the new exhibit that he’s put together spotlighting iconic fashion items worn by mega-stars and all featuring Swarovski crystals. Taking sparkling and dazzling to new heights, the exhibition of embellished costumes opened in November at Swarovski’s Kristallwelten — that’s Crystal Worlds in English — a park and museum, opened in 1995, that’s located near the jewelry company’s headquarters in Wattens, Austria.
Most items in the exhibit, titled The Art of Performance, are original pieces, including one of Michael Jackson’s famed gloves. “To me this is the greatest piece of pop memorabilia in history so I’m thrilled to have this here. This is an original. It’s on loan from Michael Bush, who was Michael Jackson’s designer. He made all of Michael Jackson’s clothes for the second half of his life,” says Schmidt.
On loan from Bob Mackie and Cher is a Mackie-designed headdress and top worn by the singer for her residency in Las Vegas. “To see it in person, it’s really overwhelming. It’s pleated and meant to evoke feathers and then of course it’s crystalled,” says Schmidt.
His own design of a glove for Lady Gaga, which she wore in American Horror Story: Hotel as Elizabeth the Countess, is also on display.
“She played a killer and she would cut your throat with the nail of this glove. It’s 11,000 Swarovski crystals with sterling silver filigree,” says Schmidt, who is known for his one-of-a-kind edgy-meets-elegant creations for pop stars such as Madonna, Elton John, Beyoncé, Cher, Rihanna, Cardi B and Katy Perry.
Schmidt spent three years putting together the show, which was supposed to open last year in tandem with the 125-year anniversary of Swarovski. But it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It actually gave us a lot more time to pull in other things that I wouldn’t have access to. These pieces were scattered around the world in various archives,” says Schmidt.
Other pieces in the show are recreations, such as a sculptural replica of the chandelier dress — designed by Jeremy Scott and made by Schmidt — that Perry wore to the Met Gala in 2019.
Schmidt also had a reproduction made of the Swarovski-encrusted Jean Louis dress that Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962. (The original is owned by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! which purchased the gown in 2016 for $4.8 million.)
And he recreated the white tuxedo that Marlene Dietrich wore in the 1932 film Blonde Venus. “This was the very first time that Swarovski crystal ever appeared on film, in the famous scene with Marlene and Cary Grant. The original no longer exists,” says Schmidt, adding that Blonde Venus marks “the introduction of Swarovski to the world of filmmaking, and after that all of the major designers of the day, from Adrian to Edith Head, they all used Swarovski on all of the great movie stars of the time.
Additional original items in the exhibit include pieces worn by Bjork, Lizzo, Elton John, Selena Gomez (a crystal floral headdress), Grace Jones, Dita Von Teese and Beyoncé. There’s the actual crystal slipper created for the 2015 film Cinderella, plus a scarf worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch not far from the elaborate headdress worn by Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones in the 2015 film Jupiter Ascending. Also on display is a leotard worn by Simone Biles. “It was very important for me to have Simone in the exhibition,” says Schmidt. “I wanted to expand the scope beyond singers and movie stars to include sports.”
“What’s really incredible is that all of these moments from the last nearly 100 years have all been touched by Swarovski. There’s never been an exhibition quite like this that connects all of these amazing moments and this company and their products which are really indispensable to the entertainment industry,” continues Schmidt.
The exhibition — which will be on display for seven years (though some items will only remain for a year while new ones will be added) — was designed by Tony-winning set designer Derek McLane, who’s designed everything from Moulin Rouge! and Ragtime on Broadway to the stage of the Academy Awards (from 2013 to 2018). McLane’s creations for the Swarovski exhibit include a crystal-covered mannequin-like sculpture of Elton John on stage, seeming to fly above a piano. “We have very special custom lighting on [the exhibition] so all the crystals sparkle in a spectacular way,” says Schmidt. Another highlight: A sparkling corset worn by Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge, the film.
The Art of Performance is just one of 17 exhibition areas at Crystal Worlds, spaces that Swarovski calls Chambers of Wonder. Elsewhere on view throughout the 17 chambers is an installation called The Chandelier of Grief by artist Yayoi Kusama; a nearly 20-foot-tall tree made of 150,000 crystals co-designed by designer Tord Boontje and the late Alexander McQueen; and a crystal dome with 595 mirrors modeled after one of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes. The 18-acre park even boasts a carousel that’s made with 15 million Swarovski crystals. “The museum, which is built into the foothills of the Alps, is quite extraordinary,” says Schmidt.
With Schmidt’s gift for eye-popping design, his exhibition is a fitting addition to the mix. “Of course I had heard a lot about Michael Schmidt designing all these incredible costumes and then I went to L.A. and he invited me to his studio,” says Carla Rumler, curator of Swarovski Crystal Worlds and cultural director of Swarvoski. Then and there, at Schmidt’s studio, Rumler proposed doing an exhibition together. “He said yes immediately,” she recalls, adding, “I’m so overwhelmed about the outcome. When I saw it first I had tears in my eyes. Without him we couldn’t have done this. He had access to all the pieces.”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter, where you can see photos from the exhibit.

