Tag Archives: Raye

Mariah Carey Among Inaugural BRIT Billion Award Honorees

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It’s a BRIT-ish invasion for Mariah Carey. 

The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning singer is among the first recipients of the new BRIT Billion Award, denoting 1 billion career UK streams.

Mariah CareyCarey is among a list of honorees that includes Lewis Capaldi, Whitney Houston, Coldplay and Sam Smith.

The BRIT Billion award, which, like the existing BRIT Certified program and its platinum, silver and gold tiers, is verified using Official Charts data.

Other artists in the inaugural class of recipients are ABBA, AJ Tracey, Anne-Marie, Ellie Goulding, George Ezra, Headie One, RAYE and Rita Ora. More artists who have surpassed the threshold will be announced in due course.

“I’m really honored to be one of the recipients of the BRIT Billion Award,” Carey said in a statement. “I’m so grateful to my fans for their endless and enduring support. I love you UK lambily and cannot wait to come back to your side of the pond and create more magical moments together.”

This is the first time in its five-decade history that the BPI’s certifications program has recognized an artist’s combined success across multiple projects. The One Billion career total will include tracks an artist has appeared on either as the principal performer or as a featured artist, as credited by the Official Charts.

The introduction of BRIT Billion reflects the extent to which streaming has transformed the music landscape for artists and fans alike over the past decade. More than 85% of the UK’s recorded music consumption now takes place through streaming.

Sophie Jones, BPI chief strategy officer and interim chief executive, said in a statement: “For a recording artist, there can be few greater sources of pride than having a Platinum or Gold disc on their wall, but in an era when success in measured in the hundreds of millions and indeed billions of streams, it was clear that we needed a new and additional way to recognize and celebrate outstanding achievement in recorded music, and I feel certain that having a BRIT Billion Award will become equally prized.”

The BRIT Billion award represents the first significant upgrade to the certifications program since April 2018, when it was rebranded from the BPI Awards to the BRIT Certified Awards.

Ice Spice Appears in SKIMS’ New Shapewear Spring Campaign

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It’s shaping up to be a sexy summer for Ice Spice…

SKIMS has debuted several new shapewear styles for spring, and has tapped several Gen Z musicians to do it, including the 23-year-old half-Dominican American rapper.

Ice Spice, SKIMSIce Spice and her “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” collaborator PinkPantheress star in the new ad campaign alongside fellow musicians Nessa Barrett and RAYE for Kim Kardashian’s fashion brand.

The campaign was released on Monday, April 24.

“I’m excited to launch this next generation of SKIMS shapewear with a campaign that celebrates these incredible musical artists,” Kardashian said in a statement regarding the release. “Ice Spice, Nessa Barrett, PinkPantheress, and RAYE are super talented women and truly reflect our SKIMS community.”

In the new brand images and videos, Ice Spice wears the Seamless Sculpt High Neck Thong Bodysuit in the color bronze and PinkPantheress wears the Seamless Sculpt High Waist Catsuit in the color jasper (charcoal gray). Elsewhere in the campaign images, Barrett is seen in the Seamless Sculpt Slip Dress in the color sienna (tan) while RAYE appears in the Seamless Sculpt Strapless Thong Bodysuit in the color clay (light gray).

“SKIMS just gets it and makes me feel extra snatched,” said Ice Spice. “I’m happy to be a part of the latest campaign.” PinkPantheress echoed her collaborator’s sentiment, adding, “These styles empower me to try clothes I wouldn’t have tried before and make me feel so comfortable and secure.”

On the charts, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” sits at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Ice’s “Princess Diana” remix with Nicki Minaj debuts at No. 4 on the chart.

Victoria Justice Celebrates 30th Birthday with Release of New Single “Last Man Standing”

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Victoria Justice is standing tall…

The half-Puerto Rican singer/actress and former Nickelodeon star, who turned 30 on February 19th, has debuted her long-awaited single, “Last Man Standing.”

Victoria Justice

“I’m stepping into my 30s in this place of feeling empowered,” Justice tells Variety of timing the release to her birthday. “I feel like this song really captures a lot of that energy, and it’s fun, and it’s kind of sexy, and it’s got these very strong themes of female empowerment, so it just felt like a really good fit.”

“Last Man Standing” features intoxicatingly upbeat vocals from Justice set to a breezy, four-chord riff on the acoustic guitar. The performer’s talent is on full display in the song’s chorus, for which she sings in an ethereal high register.

Cementing her place in pop iconography, the track is a welcomed follow-up Justice’s previous tracks, like 2021’s “Too F*ckin’ Nice” and 2020’s “Treat Myself.”

To date, Justice has released six singles, including her latest song. Justice’s vocals also appear on the soundtracks of films she starred in like Afterlife of the Party, Trust and 2016’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.

As she embarks on the next chapter of her life, the budding pop star is committed to releasing her first studio album.

“I definitely am releasing an album — that’s happening,” Justice affirms. “I can’t say that that is done right now by any means, but I think right now, I’m focusing on releasing some singles. I have a collection of songs right now that I’m really proud of.”

Justice adds that, if given the opportunity to collaborate with any artist, she’d love to work alongside fellow songwriter Raye, best known for the TikTok viral track “Escapism.” with 070 Shake. She ponders the dream collab with a soft grin, proceeding to recite the song’s popular line, “A little context if you care to listen,” in Raye’s distinctive British accent.

With no plans to slow down her acting career anytime soon either, the near future will also see Justice appear on-screen in upcoming films California King and The Tutor. The latter is a thriller starring Justice, Garrett Hedlund and Noah Schnapp, in which she takes on her first role as a pregnant woman.

“It was really funny, just putting on my little one-piece pregnancy suit,” Justice says, describing the surreality of the role as she, too, begins to think about one day starting a family. “I found myself rubbing it a lot. Honestly, I would just be rubbing it all the time.”

The Tutor marks a stark transition for Justice, whose recent performance in the Netflix rom-com A Perfect Pairing similarly evidences the ex-Nickelodeon actor leaning into mature characters. And it doesn’t look like she’s turning back anytime soon.

Known to Zoey 101 fans as Lola Martinez, Justice confirms she will not be returning to the cast for the upcoming reboot of the popular Nickelodeon series. On January 12, the network announced a sequel film was in the works at Paramount+ with actors Jamie Lynn Spears, Erin Sanders, Sean Flynn, Matthew Underwood, Christopher Massey, Abby Wilde and Jack Salvatore reprising their original roles.

“The timing of everything didn’t work out, but I’ve been in touch with Jamie and the entire cast, and they could not be more understanding and more supportive,” Justice says. “Ultimately, I would love to be there with them. I loved doing that show. It was such a pivotal point in my life, and I had so much fun making it. I love that cast; we had such a great time, and I just have so much love for them.”

Justice notes she’s not opposed to the idea of doing a reboot of one of her prior works, though she cautiously weighed the pros and cons. On one hand, she says, some stories are better left untouched. But by the same token, Justice proudly recognized the extensive impact of projects like “Victorious” and “Zoey 101” on so many children’s lives.

“I feel really grateful. I feel really content in the place that I am in life right now, and I’m hopeful and excited for the future,” Justice add. “I’m really looking forward to releasing the new music that I’ve been working on. And I hope that people love it and resonate with it. And I just want to express like all the gratitude that I have for my fans and the people who have been supporting me for, well, I don’t know, like two decades.”