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Tag: Pink

  • Drake, Pink, The Weeknd win big at Billboard Music Awards

    By Associated Press
    NEW YORK: It was a family affair at the Billboard Music Awards: Pink twirled in the air in a powerful performance with her daughter, and Drake was named artist of the decade, accepting the honor alongside his 3-year-old son.

    Drake, who extended his record as the most decorated winner in the history of the awards show to 29 wins Sunday, was surrounded by family and friends who presented him with the Artist of the Decade Award. He walked onstage outside the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with his son Adonis holding his hand.

    “I wanna dedicate this award to my friends, to my longtime collaborators … to my beautiful family, and to you,” he said, looking to Adonis and picking him up to kiss him.

    Drake placed his first song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2009, and since has logged the most songs ever on the chart, with 232 entrees. He’s also logged a record 45 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and a record 22 No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.

    He was also named top streaming songs artist Sunday.

    Pink received the Icon Award and was joined onstage by her 9-year-old daughter — showing off their powerful gymnastic skills as they spun in the air in a jaw-dropping performance. Known for her signature aerial and acrobatic moves, Pink was matched by Willow Sage Hart as “Cover Me In Sunshine” played in the background, Pink’s song featuring vocals from her daughter.

    “Willow, you nailed it,” Pink said after the performance. “I love what I do and I love the people that I get to do it with, and we’re pretty good at what we do, but it wouldn’t matter if no one came to see us and play with us. So all you guys out there … thank you for coming out!”

    Pink’s performance was one of several pre-taped moments at the awards show, which aired on NBC and was hosted by Nick Jonas. Live performances were held outdoors, in front of feverish audience members wearing masks.

    The Weeknd was on hand to accept the most wins of the night — 10. He walked into the show with 16 nominations, winning honors like top artist, top male artist, top Hot 100 song for “Blinding Lights” and top R&B album for “After Hours.”

    “I wanna take this opportunity to thank you, my parents,” he said. “I am the man I am today because of you. And thank you to my fans, of course. I do not take this for granted.”

    The late rapper Pop Smoke was also a big winner: He posthumously earned five honors, including top new artist and top rap artist, while his debut — “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” — won top rap album and top Billboard 200 album, which his mother accepted onstage.

    “Thank you to the fans for honoring the life and spirit of my son, so much that he continues to manifest as if he was still here in flesh,” Audrey Jackson said.

    Another late rapper was also honored during the show. Before presenting top rap song to DaBaby, Swizz Beatz dedicated a moment to those who have recently died in hip-hop, including his close friend and collaborator DMX. And Houston rapper and activist Trae Tha Truth, who earned the Change Maker Award, ended his speech with a powerful sentence: “We still gon’ need justice for Breonna Taylor.”

    Other winners Sunday included Bad Bunny and BTS, who both won four awards and also performed. Breakthrough country singer Gabby Barrett won three awards, including top female country artist and top country song for the hit “I Hope.” The song’s remix featuring Charlie Puth won top collaboration.

    “Oh my gosh. Thank y’all so much. This means so much to me,” Barrett said as she broke into tears. “I’ve been performing for 10 years really hard. …We’ve worked so hard to get here.”

    Another country star also won big Sunday though he wasn’t allowed to participate in the show.

    Morgan Wallen, who was caught on camera using a racial slur earlier this year, won three honors, including top country artist and top country album for “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which has had major success on the pop and country music charts despite his fallen moment.

    Wallen was nominated for six awards, and Billboard Awards producer dick clark productions said it couldn’t prevent Wallen from earning nominations, or winning, because finalists are based on album and digital sales, streaming, radio airplay and social engagement. The producers did ban Wallen from performing or attending the show.

    The Billboard Awards kicked off with a collaborative performance by DJ Khaled, H.E.R. and Migos, who brought the concert vibe back to life a year after live shows were in the dark because of the pandemic. Doja Cat and SZA — accompanied by futuristically dressed background dancers — sang their big hit “Kiss Me More” inside the venue, where the seats were empty. Alicia Keys, celebrating the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking debut “songs in A minor,” sang songs from the album including the hit “Fallin’.” The performance was introduced by former first lady Michelle Obama.

    Other performers included Karol G, twenty one pilots, Duran Duran, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jonas Brothers and Glass Animals.

    Stars like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kanye West won honors at the show though they didn’t attend. Machine Gun Kelly, who started in rap but has had recent success on the rock charts, won top rock artist and top rock album.

    “I released my first mixtape 15 years ago and this is the first big stage I’ve ever been invited to accept an award on,” he said, kissing his actor-girlfriend Megan Fox before walking to the stage.

    “To the box that society keeps trying to put me, you need stronger material because you can’t keep me in it,” he proclaimed.

  • Pink gave us complete access to her life for ‘All I Know So Far’: Director Michael Gracey

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Pop icon Pink was “incredibly open” about sharing her life, both personal and professional, for the upcoming documentary “P!nk: All I Know So Far”, says director Michael Gracey.

    Slated to start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from Thursday, “All I Know So Far” follows the 41-year-old singer-songwriter on her ‘Beautiful Trauma World Tour’ in support of her seventh album in 2017.

    Gracey, who made his feature directorial debut the same year with the Hugh Jackman-starrer “The Greatest Showman”, said the documentary is an intimate peek into Pink’s life.

    “Pink was incredibly open with me and Dave Spearing (the other camera operator).

    While we toured with her, and even after the tour came to a close and her family returned to America, she gave us complete access to her life; she was unfiltered and let us shoot it all, and I think that’s why the film has a real intimacy to it,” the filmmaker told PTI in an email interview from Melbourne, Australia.

    Known for songs like “There You Go”, “Most Girls” and “Just Give Me a Reason”, the Grammy winner, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore, is ‘Perfect’, just like one of her all-time hit tracks, he said.

    “I find it incredible what a peek behind the curtain this movie offers into Pink’s life; into the areas that you wouldn’t usually have access to.

    To hear and see what it is for Pink as she tries to juggle all of it is a really rare insight into the life of someone like this.

    She really tries to give her fans 150 per cent, and her family 150 per cent, and the determination she has to achieve that is something really special to watch,” Gracey added.

    The director said as he bonded with Pink over “The Greatest Showman”, he came to understand more about her life and her voice.

    And it only made sense to him that the way she approaches her tours, her music, and her family are intrinsically intertwined, he said.

    “So the story of the film became apparent. This was the approach we took on this documentary; rather than separating the subject matters, we wanted to show they are all so interweaved, allowing this documentary to tell the story of her life.

    ” Over the years, documentaries have often received criticism for being a whitewash or a wasted opportunity into the life of the subject.

    Asked how he has ensured that does not happen with “All I Know So Far”, Gracey said the subject matter that the team wanted to explore with Pink was how she managed to strike a balance being both a rockstar and a mother.

    “…that was our intent from the very beginning to the very end. Because of how much Pink let us into her life, we were able to capture so many wonderful moments that explored that idea of duality,” he said.

    “There are many different versions of the film we could have cut, but that balance between front-of-house concert, behind-the-scenes conversations, and just observing her life on the road with her family was really something that we crafted together, and Pink was instrumental in realizing that,” he added.

    The title of the film came from Pink’s new number, “All I Know So Far”, and according to the director, the song acts “as a sort of letter to Willow”, her daughter whom she shares with husband and former motocross racer Carey Hart.

    “This was Pink’s way of saying to her daughter that if she were to leave this earth tomorrow, here is all that she knows so far,” Gracey said.

    Pink and Hart, 45, are also parents to son Jameson (four).

    “It’s a beautiful and powerful message that is very inline with Pink’s approach to parenting.

    She is honest with her children, just as she is honest with her audience,” he added.

    As someone who has been a part of both the music and film industries, Gracey said the relationship between music and storytelling has always been “inseparable”.

    “At the end of the day, whether it’s a feature length film or a three minute song, you are putting emotions, ideas, and a point of view into the world – and while filmmaking and songwriting are different skill sets, they are fundamentally rooted in the ability to tell your audience a story.

    That was the heart of what I could bring for my first documentary – what is the most powerful story to tell?” The director, who is also a visual effects supervisor and an adman, said his background has been the “greatest training” for filmmaking.

    “…you have to try and convey an idea or an emotion in a very short amount of time.

    It is such an incredible schooling; you get to work with the best people in the world, and you see who you creatively click with and learn skills you carry through with you into your longform work.

    I love that I get to do this – and I still shoot commercials to this day for exactly that reason,” he added.

  • Pink remembers kissing Christina Aguilera, hating her ‘Lady Marmalade’ ‘booty shorts’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: Ahead of the premiere of the documentary ‘Pink: All I Know So Far’, American singer-songwriter Pink, at the premiere of the Hollywood Bowl, discussed the possibility for a ‘Lady Marmalade’ reunion.

    According to Variety, the 42-year-old songstress told Marc Malkin, “I want to see the reunion with all the young girls now. I never say never about anything. All the fun stuff that’s happened in my life has been almost by accident.”

    The 2001 version of singer Patti LaBelle’s ‘Lady Marmalade’ became a fan favourite from the ‘Moulin Rouge’ soundtrack.

    In the music video, the powerhouse group donned burlesque-inspired looks in line with the theme of the movie, which took Pink some time to get used to.

    “I was not happy about my outfit. I did not want to be in booty shorts, but I got into it. Cameras started rolling and I started feeling myself. Now I look at it and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that body. Why didn’t I appreciate it?’” Pink said.

    As reported by Variety, one thing that ‘Cover Me In Sushine’ singer might not be up for again is playing spin the bottle with ‘Lady Marmalade’ collaborator Christina Aguilera. As they reminisced about her career, Malkin recalled Pink’s birthday party in New York City, where the two pop stars shared a kiss.

    “When I was painted instead of a shirt? Was is that one? Yes, she kissed me. That was a fun party,” Pink remembered.

    Despite the happy memory, she shut down a future recreation of the kiss.

    “Nope, I have a 9-year-old dude,” she said, laughing at what her daughter would possibly say: “Is mommy kissing Christina?”

    Variety reported that ‘Pink: All I Know So Far,’ which chronicles the singer’s life on the road up to her first performance at Wembley Stadium in England, hits Amazon Prime on May 21.