It’s been another bittersweet week, as the coronavirus sadly took the lives of country icon Joe Diffie, “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” writer Alan Merrill, and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. And on top of that, the death of the legendary Bill Withers was announced on Friday (April 3) (he passed from heart complications on Monday).
But, once again, several superstars rallied to make sure the week wasn’t entirely full of sadness. Drake unveiled the first photos of his adorable son, Adonis; Karol G and Anuel AA dropped a cute new couple tune (and video); and Ariana Grande made Arianators go crazy over her natural curly hair. Even Justin Bieber remained in good spirits — despite the news that his Changes Tour is postponed as a result of COVID-19 — as he shared some heartwarming chats with celebs on Instagram Live.
It all began with a touching all-star special on Sunday night (March 29), when several superstars joined forces for iHeartRadio’s Living Room Concert for America.
Related
Take a look at the week’s uplifting music moments below.
Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey and more performed from their living rooms for a good cause
Though the iHeartRadio Music Awards couldn’t take place as planned on Sunday, some of music’s biggest names still came together for a star-studded evening. An hour-long special, titled iHeartRadio’s Living Room Concert For America, was hosted by Elton John and featured performances from the Backstreet Boys (nailing those harmonies from their respective homes), Mariah Carey, Demi Lovato, Alicia Keys and more. The best part? The special raised $8 million to battle the coronavirus.
Drake revealed first pics of his son
Drake’s fans have been dying to see his son, Adonis, since the rapper revealed he had a child in his Scorpion track “Emotionless” in 2018, and they finally got their wish on Monday (March 30). The 6 God took to Instagram to share pics of his adorable boy, who has curly blonde locks and big blue eyes. Adonis’ mother, French model Sophie Brussaux, shared a handful of other precious shots, even joking that “Adonis’s parents are really blonde.”
The Weeknd dethroned Roddy Ricch on the Hot 100
After Roddy Ricch reigned over the Hot 100 for 11 weeks straight with his smash “The Box,” The Weeknd proved to be the one who could take him down. The singer’s “Blinding Lights” hit No. 1 thanks in part to The Weeknd’s album After Hours being released on March 20.
Along with his latest Hot 100 feat, The Weeknd made history, topping the Billboard 200, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Artist 100, Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts simultaneously — becoming the first artist to do so. “It feels like a huge blessing,” the star told Billboard about his accomplishment.
Ariana Grande revealed her natural curly locks
Ponytail be gone! Amid quarantining at home, Ariana Grande apparently wanted to fully let her hair down, and she wanted the world to know. She posted a pic of her free-flowing curls on Twitter on Monday, captioning the shot “get a load a dis.” And boy did Ariantors do just that: As of press time, the tweet has more than 500k likes. (Check out Billboard‘s gallery of Ari and more stars rocking their natural curly hair here.)
get a load a dis pic.twitter.com/2SPx6f3fbA
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) March 30, 2020
A coronavirus parody of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” went viral
While a global pandemic certainly isn’t funny, some have found ways to make light of the world’s current situation — but a man named Adrian Grimes may take the cake. He turned Queen’s iconic hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” into “Coronavirus Rhapsody,” which transforms the song’s real lyrics into all-too-real coronavirus-related lines (for example, the opening is now “Is this a fever?/ Is this just allergies?”) that are so genius, you may laugh your way through the rest of quarantine. (Note: The video was originally posted on March 21, but gathered heat this week.)
Stephen Colbert unveiled a never-before-seen collab with John Prine
A few days after John Prine’s family announced on social media that the country legend had been hospitalized after a sudden onset of COVID-19 on Sunday (his wife updated that he is “stable” on Monday), Stephen Colbert paid tribute to his friend with a duet they filmed in 2016.
The pair sang Prine’s classic “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” at the Ed Sullivan Theater, but the segment never aired on The Late Show. In a heartfelt message introducing the clip, Colbert called the performance “one of the happiest moments I’ve had on my show or any show,” which was fully apparent while they sang.
Justin Bieber and Drew Barrymore had a very wholesome chat on Instagram Live
Justin Bieber has been on Instagram Live a lot while social distancing with his wife, Hailey Bieber, which has resulted in some unexpected chats. One of the most endearing was JB’s chat with 50 First Dates star Drew Barrymore on Tuesday, as their conversation quickly turned into a gush fest on Tuesday (March 31).
Barrymore complimented Bieber’s Drew House clothing line — “It’s so cool and optimistic, and I’m so honored to be a part of it,” she said (some of the pieces have her face on it) — and Bieber told Barrymore he’d been revisiting the classic films in which Barrymore was a child star, including E.T. “You’re the best,” Bieber told her.
Blink-182 (sort-of) reunited
As Netflix’s latest craze Tiger King continues to blow up the internet with hilarious memes, Blink-182 got in on the fun — and made fans go wild. Former singer Tom DeLonge shared a picture of the Tiger King himself, Joe Maldonado, and his two husbands (if you haven’t watched yet… you should) with the caption “I miss the old Blink-182.”
DeLonge captioned the photo “I’m Joe,” to which singer Mark Hoppus quickly replied “The hell you’re Joe. I’m Joe.” Despite the former bandmates’ seemingly tumultuous past, DeLonge quipped back, “Either way, you and I end up deeply in love and raising cats.” Okay, so they didn’t quite say that they’ll be getting together anytime soon, but we’ll take that interaction for now!
Beyoncé hit her first billion-view milestone
Nearly 11 years after Beyoncé delivered one of her most iconic hits to date with “Halo,” the evocative video for her breathtaking ballad hit 1 billion views on YouTube. Believe it or not, the vid marks Beyonce’s first to cross the 1 billion mark: Her next most-watched is “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” which has 750 million views.
Karol G and Anuel AA dropped a new quarantine single
One of Latin music’s favorite couples, Karol G and Anuel AA, are social distancing together — and luckily for fans, that resulted in a new song. On Wednesday (April 1), the pair released their new song “Follow,” a smooth fusion of reggae and urban melodies about two people playing hard to get. Karol G and Anuel AA also dropped a homemade video for the track, which shows their lavish quarantine quarters where they’ve taken bubble baths, played Jenga and shared sweet kisses.
SuperM previewed their All That performance
We may all be in quarantine now, but fortunately for SuperM fans, the K-pop group filmed a segment for All That prior to the social distancing period. Billboard got a preview of their fiery “Jopping” performance ahead of the April 4 show, which will also feature the septet in a skit that was previewed on All That’s Instagram account earlier this week.
Colbie Caillat, Betty Who and more performed on virtual Uncancelled Festival
With just about every festival postponed or cancelled for the forseeable future, several artists have come together to bring the UnCancelled Music Festival straight to folks at home. The virtual event took place on Thursday afternoon (April 2) and featured live streamed performances from Colbie Caillat, Emily Kinney, Josh Radnor, Betty Who.
Virtual live concert platform StageIt hosted the festival, teaming with independently owned venues across the country to curate “stage” lineups; a portion of the proceeds from pay-what-you-want tickets for each stage were donated to the Recording Academy’s emergency financial assistance program, MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Sam Hunt, Troye Sivan and (many) more released new music
Exciting new music has been sprinkled throughout the entire week, with The Weeknd kicking things off on Monday with three bonus songs from his Billboard 200-topping album After Hours. That same day, Thomas Rhett celebrated his 30th birthday with “Be a Light,” an inspiring collaboration with fellow country superstars Reba McEntire, Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin and Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott. Plus, Frank Ocean finally delivered “Dear April” and “Cayendo” to streaming services after releasing them as vinyl-exclusive singles last October.
Then on Wednesday, Troye Sivan delivered a vibe-heavy new track “Take Yourself Home.” And New Music Friday proved to be just as star-studded: Along with the arrival of Sam Hunt’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Southside, new songs arrived from Drake, Future, DaBaby, Kygo and The 1975. Oh, AND Lindsay Lohan (yes, the Lindsay Lohan) returned with a club-ready, self-aware single “Back to Me.” Check out Billboard’s full rundown here!