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Beyoncé is Billboard's greatest pop star of the 21st century. Mom Tina isn't surprised

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Beyoncé is Billboard's greatest pop star of the 21st century. Mom Tina isn't surprised

The end of the 21st century is still decades away, but Billboard has already declared its greatest pop star: Beyoncé.

The music magazine on Tuesday revealed that the “Crazy in Love” and “Formation” diva had secured the top spot among 25 generational pop talents, including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Drake and Lady Gaga. Billboard’s editorial staff selected Queen Bey for her “full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact,” the outlet announced.

“She’s been Beyoncé for 25 years now, and as she continues to challenge herself (and by extension, the rest of the pop world) to find new and different ways to be define [sic] greatness,” wrote Billboard deputy editor Andrew Unterberger, “it doesn’t seem like she’s going to stop being Beyoncé anytime soon.”

As part of its Beyoncé celebration, Billboard published an essay that chronicled the “Single Ladies” singer’s career from her Destiny’s Child days in the late 1990s to her most recent album, “Cowboy Carter.” The career retrospective praised the Houston native’s consistency, her ubiquity across music and other facets of pop culture — including film and fashion — and her “commitment to innovation.”

While the music outlet dedicated thousands of words to Beyoncé’s life and career, the singer’s mom, Tina Knowles, offered a handful in response to her daughter’s latest honor.

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“That’s nice. That’s very nice,” Knowles told TMZ during a brief exchange Tuesday evening on the Sunset Strip.

When the reporter asked whether her family gets “used to those titles” and accolades, Knowles simply responded, “Yeah.”

The “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ’Em” singer has not yet publicly addressed her latest honor.

Knowles, Destiny’s Child’s former costume designer and mother to “Cranes in the Sky” artist Solange, isn’t shy about celebrating her superstar kin. On her Instagram, Knowles hypes her daughters’ magazine covers, album sales and even their nonmusic ventures, such as Beyoncé’s Cécred haircare line and her SirDavis whiskey brand.

On Tuesday, Knowles also touted Beyoncé’s upcoming NFL halftime show. The Grammy winner’s performance will stream Christmas Day on Netflix when the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens at NRG Stadium. Knowles told TMZ that “excellence” is what viewers can expect from the holiday gig.

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Taylor Swift, who soon will wrap her blockbuster Eras tour after nearly two years, secured the No. 2 spot on Billboard’s list. The historic Grammy winner (she is the only artist to win album of the year four times) “is the most famous woman in the world,” according to Billboard. However, the well-meaning praise inadvertently sparked a twofold backlash last week when her ranking was announced. Before Beyoncé landed the top spot, some of Swift’s legion of fans, known as Swifties, called out Billboard about her second-place ranking and made the case for the “Lavender Haze” singer to be No. 1.

“I like Beyoncé but she’s nowhere near Taylor’s level when it comes to impact and numbers,” a fan tweeted last week. Another Swift devotee on X (formerly Twitter) also cited the “Love Story” pop star’s “commercial success” and “record-breaking sales” as reasons for her to claim the top spot.

Adding salt to the wound, Billboard included a controversial snippet of Kanye West’s “Famous” music video in its montage meant to celebrate Swift. The Billboard clip reportedly featured the music video’s infamous wax figure modeled after a naked Swift, prompting Billboard to issue an apology for including the clip “that falsely depicted her.”

“We have removed the clip from our video and sincerely regret the harm we caused with this error,” the outlet tweeted.

In Tuesday’s Beyoncé reveal, Billboard acknowledged Swift’s accomplishments, lauding her as the “lone artist who really challenged Beyoncé for the top spot” and celebrating her dominance in album sales, streaming and touring. However, she “simply hasn’t been around for long enough to be able to match the expansiveness of [Beyoncé’s] quarter-century of dominance,” the magazine said.

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Still, Swift found success with Spotify, which announced Wednesday that the “Shake It Off” diva was its most-streamed artist of the year. Swift also earned the title last year.

“In her Global Top Artist era,” Spotify tweeted Wednesday. “Congratulations Taylor Swift on the over 26+ billion streams in 2024.”

Joining Swift as the audio platform’s top 10 global artists are fellow Billboard 21st century greatest pop star honorees Drake, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny and Kanye West.

“You guys are unbelievable. What an amazing thing to find out going into our last weekend of eras shows,” Swift wrote to fans Wednesday in an Instagram story. “THANK YOU!”

For Beyoncé and Swift, their respective Billboard and Spotify wins can be a boon as they prepare for the 2025 Grammy Awards. In November, Beyoncé earned 11 nominations, the most of the latest crop of Grammy hopefuls. Top nominees also include Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Swift.

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Who will win the top Grammy prizes? It’s best to stick around, ‘round, ‘round for when the ceremony is broadcast on CBS and streams live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 2

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Movie Reviews

‘Nawi’ Review: Four Kenyan Filmmakers Collaborate on an Earnest Social Message Movie About Child Marriage

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‘Nawi’ Review: Four Kenyan Filmmakers Collaborate on an Earnest Social Message Movie About Child Marriage

Watching “Nawi,” two things become quickly evident. First, a wonderful lead performance carries the film. Michelle Lemuya Ikeny plays the eponymous character, a 13-year-old who yearns to go to high school but instead must face the patriarchal traditions of her community. She’s set to be married off for a substantial dowry in livestock. Second, the creative team of Toby Schmutzler, Kevin Schmutzler, Vallentine Chelluget and Apuu Mourine is so determined to make a salient point about child marriage that they deprive the film of its cinematic and entertainment value. In shifting focus to their political statement, the four co-directors fail to give their lead actor the showcase her strong performance demands. 

Selected to represent Kenya at the Oscars, “Nawi” takes place in the rural region of Turkana in the northern part of the East African nation. It’s based on true events and begins with its steadfast and studious young protagonist earning top marks in her high school entrance exams. As she’s being celebrated by her teacher and friends, and as a TV news crew interviews her for her academic accomplishments, a plan is hatched by her father Eree (Ochungo Benson) to marry her off to a much older man.

Being the only daughter in her family, it falls upon her to save them and sacrifice herself in order that the price paid for the dowry can help sustain them. As she writes in her journal and the audience hears in voiceover, the price is “60 sheep, eight camels, 100 goats. No more, no less.”

Before the wedding, the film spends time showing Nawi’s patriarchal family construct and the complicated interrelationships within it. As head of household, Eree has two wives: Ekai (Nungo Marrianne Akinyi) and Rosemary (Michelle Chebet Tiren). Nawi was born to Rosemary, the second and younger wife. These early scenes build real drama and tension in the family. Both women believe Nawi’s place is as a wife and mother, totally buying into their community’s traditions.

Ekai is forthright and matter of fact about it, while Rosemary lovingly tries to convince Nawi to see the bright side, believing she could end up with a smart daughter just like she did. This mother-and-daughter dynamic is warmly portrayed, and the actors show palpable affection that explains how Nawi grew up to become courageous and graceful — she had lots of love and support. Additionally, Nawi has a poignant and playful relationship with her brother, Joel (Joel Liwan), even if they come from different mothers. 

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Throughout this setup, Ikeny holds the film together with a performance rich in emotional clarity. The directors choose to play many scenes on her face, capturing her reactions to whatever’s unfolding in copious close-ups. Ikeny is always watchable and manages to convey silently what her character is feeling. For such a young actor, she comfortably and seemingly easily does what some actors take decades to achieve: fill the frame and single-handedly elevate their film’s artistic quality. 

Even as the screenplay runs out of ideas and resorts to obvious melodrama, Ikeny remains the sole reason to engage with “Nawi.” The character goes through a lot: she escapes, she tries to hitchhike to Nairobi, she becomes a mentor and teacher to a group of boys her age, and she has to make many critical decisions. Throughout this long journey, Ikeny shows Nawi as courageous, defiant, scared and lost all at once. Both character and actor mature onscreen and show real grit and conviction. 

However, even Ikeny’s performance cannot save the film once it hurtles to its conclusion. Where it had begun as a character study, “Nawi” fades out to become a rather rote PSA. The film loses artistic merit and dramatic credence as it desperately tries to make a point about child marriage. While this is a grave issue that needs to be addressed and loudly amplified to the audience, such an obvious approach is not how the issue should be tackled onscreen.

The filmmakers resort to hammy techniques, such as having the actor address the camera, and in the process forget their main character and the story they set up to tell. Clearly, the filmmakers had good intentions, collaborating with various NGOs to tell the story, but the film ultimately becomes no more than an educational tool — something that could have directly come from one of these humanitarian institutions.

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Opinion: Not another revival of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'

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Opinion: Not another revival of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'

On Nov. 25, Band Aid released the “ultimate remix” of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” the rock charity single from 40 years ago that, in addition to whatever good it has done, also broadcasts a narrative that undermines an entire continent’s dignity and agency. The recording has raised millions for humanitarian aid but has also furthered misrepresentations that have long justified treating Africa as a blank slate for Western intervention.

In 1984, Bob Geldof, then the lead singer for the Boomtown Rats, brought together a supergroup of British and Irish rock stars to perform “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” a song he co-wrote after seeing BBC reports of widespread famine in Ethiopia. The lyrics are a pop-song paean to colonialism, reminiscent of Hegel’s 19th century thinking when he dismissed Africa as “unhistorical, undeveloped” and “devoid of morality, religions and political constitution.”

Lines such as “Where nothing ever grows / No rain nor rivers flow” and “Well tonight, thank God it’s them instead of you” painted Ethiopia as helpless, barren and dependent on Western salvation. In 1984, the song, accompanied by wrenching famine images, simplified a complex crisis, reducing the nation’s historical, cultural and religious identity to a caricature of despair for Western audiences.

The Ethiopian famine of 1984 was far from a straightforward natural disaster. It was exacerbated by the civil war between Ethiopia’s Soviet-aligned Derg regime and insurgent groups such as the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front supported by Western nations. Cold War geopolitics turned the famine into a proxy battleground, with the U.S. and U.K. providing both famine relief and covert support to insurgents seeking to weaken the Derg.

The original Band Aid release set a record for Christmas sales in the U.K., and eight months later, Geldof organized Live Aid, a televised concert that attracted more than a billion viewers in more than 100 countries, or roughly a third of humanity. Broadcast over 16 hours from Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium (since demolished) in Philadelphia, it was a landmark cultural event featuring performances by David Bowie, Madonna, Paul McCartney and dozens more, and was attended by British royalty, including Princess Diana. The spectacle raised an astonishing $50 million in pledges, alongside additional revenue from sold-out merchandise. It was hailed as the pinnacle of humanitarian success.

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However, behind the euphoric Live Aid headlines lay dark questions. In a memoir, Fikre Selassie Wogderess, Ethiopia’s prime minister from 1987 to 1989, said only $20 million worth of aid actually reached the country in the mid-’80s. Reports — denied by Geldof and, in one instance, retracted by the BBC — have suggested that some of the funds could have landed in rebel hands. Since 1985, the Band Aid Charitable Trust is estimated to have raised more than $178 million for African relief, but the broader context cannot be ignored.

Beyond the famine, the West’s involvement in Ethiopia turned into overt political meddling. In 1991, during the fall of the Derg, the U.K. and U.S. orchestrated a peace conference in London that enabled the TPLF to rise to power. This minority-led government ruled Ethiopia for 27 years, exacerbating ethnic tensions and sowing the seeds of instability that continue to plague the nation. The parallels with the Berlin Conference of 1884 — 2024 marks its 140th anniversary — where European powers divided Africa for their gain, are striking. Both events reveal a pattern of external forces imposing political structures on Africa to serve their interests, heedless of the continent’s complex histories and diverse peoples.

Band Aid’s long-term impact on Africa’s image is equally troubling. The branding of Ethiopia — and by extension, Africa — as a monolithic land of suffering has been repeated through the years with revivals of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” including Band Aid II in 1989, Band Aid 20 in 2004, Band Aid 30 in 2014 and now Band Aid 40, shaping how the world sees and engages with Africa, and no doubt influencing investment, collaboration and policy decisions.

The lyrics have been edited in response to critics calling the song demeaning and rife with colonial tropes, but it remains a self-congratulatory and tone-deaf exercise. A majority of Ethiopians are Christians; the country adopted Christianity as early as the 4th century AD. Ethiopians knew it was Christmas in the winter of 1984, and they know it now — despite the song’s patronizing question.

And Ethiopia continues to be misrepresented in the Western imagination. Far from being a helpless land, it is the cradle of human civilization with a legacy as a leader in Africa’s fight against colonialism. Although the country in 2024 is no utopia — its challenges are real — it has survived a century of external interference and internal struggles. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed responded succinctly to the 2024 Band Aid remix: “A good cause that has not evolved with the times might end up doing more harm than good.”

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The relentless revival of narratives centered on helplessness and dependency distorts the rich and complex realities of Ethiopia and Africa. Rather than perpetuating outdated stereotypes, we must elevate African voices and champion a future where Africa leads and inspires on its own terms.

Elias Wondimu divides his time between Ethiopia and Los Angeles. He is the founding director of Tshehai Publishers, the editorial director of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies and a senior fellow with the International Strategic Studies Assn.

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Marielle Heller’s ‘NIGHTBITCH’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror

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Marielle Heller’s ‘NIGHTBITCH’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror

There are movies that can exceed expectations and then there are movies that don’t do anything other than exist and fulfill a slot in theaters and a resume-builder for some actors. Nightbitch is the latter of the two options.

The story centers around a middle-aged mother named…..Mother. That’s her name in the movie because apparently, that’s her entire identity in the realm of the story and her life revolves around being a stay-at-home mother with responsibilities towards her child and also dealing with a workaholic husband, who she deems as another child to have to take care of.

Meanwhile, she notices a large number of cysts growing all over her body as she develops more hair and animalistic tendencies to the point where she has turned into an actual dog, along with some of her other mom friends.

Let me start off by saying that this film feels like an overlong trailer for the film that is to come and seems largely unnecessary other than to give a hip hip hooray for the single mothers that feel overworked by their children and underappreciated by their spouses. 

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The whole tone of the film seems bizarre and is too raunchy for kids but also too demented and weird for adults to digest. It’s almost as if the filmmakers decided to combine the series Desperate Housewives and Teen Wolf to create some amalgamation of a hybrid film that looked more like a Superbowl Ad.

The sad part is that the only thing that was worth getting giddy about and putting a smile on your face was the little two-year-old boy doing whatever it was on screen, which was certainly cute.

This movie tried hard but it made no sense and it really was just a pastime for moms to line up and watch Amy Adams sympathize with their plight on screen. 

 

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