Demi Lovato is ready to return to music. In a new interview with New Music Daily with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1, she opened up about the brand new song she’s performing at Grammys 2020, a song that was written four days before her apparent overdose.
As Demi revealed to Zane, the track is titled “Anyone,” and she described it as a heavy and emotional look at her mindset in the summer of 2018. “At the time when I was recording it, I almost listened back and hear these lyrics as a cry for help,” she said. “And you kind of listen back to it and you kind of think, how did nobody listened to this song and think, ‘Let’s help this girl.'”
Demi continued, noting that she had decided on sharing the song while still in the hospital. “I remember being in the hospital and listening to the song and it was about a week after I had been in the hospital and I was finally like awake, and I just remember hearing back the songs I had just recorded and thinking, ‘If there’s ever a moment where I get to come back from this, I want to sing this song,'” she explained.
The Grammys performance comes just days before Demi is scheduled to perform the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and as she shared with Zane, fans will likely hear even more from her. She confirmed that more new material is coming after the release of “Anyone,” saying, “I think as time goes on, I’m going to tell more and more about it. With the next song that I have coming out I think I tell more of the story. With this one it just kind of tells you a little bit about where I was right before and right afterwards.”
Admitting that she is excited to share more new music with fans, Demi further hinted at possible musical collaborations with other artists. Although she didn’t confirm any names, she anticipated that 2020 would be a big year for her. Prepare yourself accordingly, Lovatics.
Earlier this week, The Telegraph published an article on Nike’s plus-size mannequins, calling them “obese,” “gargantuan,” and “a dangerous lie.” Not surprisingly, women on social media aren’t having it.
The world of sports—and workout gear, for that matter—hasn’t historically been the most size-inclusive place. Thankfully, that’s changing as major brands like Nike are stepping up to recognize the fact that women of all sizes can, and do, workout. Earlier this month Nike revamped it’s London flagship store, including plus-size models to show off the brand’s recently expanding range of sizes. (They also included para-sport models.)
It’s a powerful shift, but like any step towards progress, there are haters. The new Nike mannequin is “immense, gargantuan, vast. She heaves with fat,” writer Tanya Gold, said in her Telegraph article. “She is, in every measure, obese, and she is not readying herself for a run in her shiny Nike gear. She cannot run. She is, more likely, pre-diabetic and on her way to a hip replacement.”
This is of course bullshit. Weight is not a reliable indicator of health. Women of all weights, shapes and sizes run marathons, practice yoga, do CrossFit. They box, they swim, they play tennis, they bike, they climb mountains. Visit a gym, a spin class or the sidelines of a race and you’ll see all different kinds of bodies—all athletes, all deserving to be there.
The backlash to Gold’s article was swift, with women sharing photos and stories on social media of themselves working out, sporting plus-size gear, and delivering a resounding clapback to *The Telegraph*’s assertion that being plus-size and being an athlete are mutually exclusive. “Excluding diverse bodies is the opposite of progress,” model Iskra Lawrence wrote on Instagram. “Being skinny does not equal being healthy…I’m nearly 200lbs of ‘I will kick your a$$ in a sprint, boxing, jumping and lifting over half my body weight.'”
Here are some of the most powerful reactions to the fat-shaming article that prove women of all sizes can kick ass in the gym:
“Still want to tell me my body type can’t run?” one woman wrote.
“THIS is crazed bullying. It’s hate speech. We can’t allow people to discuss size like this. We wouldn’t allow it about race or religion in these huge publications,” actress and founder of i_weigh Jameela Jamil wrote on Instagram. “I’m disgusted and furious. Everyone at every size deserves to feel comfortable and good about themselves. And god dammit how can we shame people about their size and then try to take down mannequins for sportswear that include their size, inviting them at last into a part of the world they have been previously excluded from. So backwards, so grotesque and so disappointing.”
“As a non pre-diabetic size 18 woman who has always been big…I find that these types of rants are more of a reflection of how someone feels about themselves,” Katie Sturino, a plus-size blogger and founder of Megababe, posted on Instagram.
“As my friend and trainer @lubu22 says…you can still be thin and very unhealthy. Size does not fully determine health,” one woman wrote.
“That mannequin with the bigger body represents me, in fact my body is even bigger than that mannequin. People wonder why fate people don’t feel welcome in the fitness space – THIS IS WHY!,” one woman posted on Instagram. “I wish growing up I had seen mannequins like this and plus-size people represented in the fitness world. I find that seeing bodies like mine represented encourages me to move and take care of myself physically.”
“Tonight I swam 500m round a freezing cold reservoir and I loved it! The only thing that held me back was my wetsuit (the biggest women’s one I could get) garrotting my neck,” another woman posted. “I had the same experience trying to get clothes to fit when I was marathon training, and what makes it even more frustrating is putrid articles like this from the @telegraph (swipe right) today against @nike’s move to have realistic sized female mannequins to house their realistic sized gym wear. How are we expected to get fit and healthy if we can’t buy the clothes to bloody exercise in?”
“Why is it ok to publicly shame plus-size women who want to be more active and fit.Who want to work out, who want to wear a well known brand,” one woman wrote in an Instagram post.
“Plus girls work out every day,” another woman wrote.
“We’re told multiple types a day, every single day, that our bodies are only considered worthy if we shrink ourselves,” one woman posted. “Your body is worthy. At any size. And so is mine.”
“It is hard enough for women to find the courage and strength needed to start exercising and even harder to find clothes that fit us,” another woman wrote. “Nothing burns me up more than women tearing down other women, especially women who are trying to make a change in their lives…Your health and fitness is not dictated by your size (large or small) and it is also no one else’s business but yours.”
Before season one of Killing Eve started filming, creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge and star Jodie Comer met at a restaurant to work out a backstory for Comer’s character, Villanelle, a deadly (but stylish!) assassin. “We created a timeline and just threw ideas out there of what she could have gone through,” Comer tells Glamour. “Why she is the way she is, or what may have happened.” They decided she was in a home at some point, but got kicked out for her behavior. And then, “We were like, ‘Yeah, and she kills someone!'” Comer laughs at the memory. “We were throwing the craziest stuff at each other—I’m sure people were wondering [what was going on at our table].”
Now, those diners would be leaning in, hoping to hear more about what’s next for Villanelle. After the Emmy-nominated series debuted on BBC America last year, it became a hit with critics and fans alike. That’s thanks to a winning combo of witty, genre-pushing writing and next-level performances by Comer and her costar Sandra Oh. Based on Luke Jennings’s Codename Villanelle series, Oh plays Eve, a refreshingly normal M15 officer, who becomes obsessed with finding Comer’s Villanelle, a wildly confident, often petulant, probably psychopathic killer.
Their cat-and-mouse dynamic is what makes the show so unexpected and fun to watch. And as season two approaches, it feels like there’s still so much more to unpack about the women and their many complexities. Comer says that Waller-Bridge always had a clear vision, especially for Villanelle. “She was always going on about her naughtiness, her childishness, which I love—that mischief and fearlessness and lack of caring for what people think,” Comer says. “But then, she’s a woman and extremely talented and good at her job. There’s this side of her that’s like, ‘Do not fuck with her.'”
For Comer, the most important thing was to make Villanelle, a contract killer with a closet full of couture, relatable. “Assassins always seem, to me, to be portrayed as superheroes that you can’t really access,” she explains. “There’s a wall up, where you’re like, ‘I’d like to see what’s going on underneath all of this.’ There’s a lot of redeemable qualities about her, which I think enables the audience to be on her side sometimes. Strangely, sometimes you respect her.”
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“I think sometimes what is charming about these characters is their looks,” she continues. “Like, he’s a psychopath or a murderer, but he’s so…the only thing you like about him is that he’s really good-looking. Villanelle is so much more than that. Her charm is not just in the way she looks, but the way she acts and carries herself.”
This is true, though her insanely gorgeous fashion sense helps. Comer agrees. “She completely expresses herself through her clothes. You know she gets paid well for what she does, and that’s how she likes to spend her money,” she says. “She very much dresses based on where she is in the world, which is influenced by how she feels. I don’t think she has a set style. She would probably try to wear everything and anything, but because she wears it with confidence it works. That’s probably the key to her: her confidence.”
Comer says season two will keep unlocking more of Villanelle’s many contradictions, but you won’t be seeing a young actress play “baby Villanelle” in flashbacks: “What we really explore is these flickers of moments, where we feel like we’re getting in there of who she was and is. She is forced into situations where she has to try and be honest, and I think that’s really interesting for the audience to see.”
A Star Is Born has been met with nonstop acclaim ever since its debut, which isn’t so surprising given that Lady Gaga is front and center of the project. Not only did she give the performance of a lifetime as pop singer Ally, but she basically caused a rupture in the space-time continuum with her showstopping red-carpet outfits during the press tour.
It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role, but that could have been the case: In a recent interview, Jennifer Lopez shared that she had been in early talks to develop a Star Is Born script with Will Smith.
Speaking to Extra, Lopez addressed rumors that she and Smith had been attached to the film before Bradley Cooper came in to direct and star in the remake. “Oh yeah, Will and I talked about it and talked about developing the script,” the singer-actress-producer-icon said. “It just never took off. Projects are like that.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Lopez and Smith reportedly dropped out of talks around 2013. At some point, Clint Eastwood was also looking into the project and had tapped Beyoncé and Leonardo DiCaprio about lead roles. That didn’t work out either, of course. Eventually Cooper was brought on, and he turned to Lady Gaga in a room full of 100 people, and…well, you know the rest.
Cooper and Gaga’s version of the film is the third remake of the 1937 original; subsequent versions have starred Judy Garland and, later, Barbra Streisand. Gaga was nominated for a Grammy and a Golden Globe earlier this month, and she’s considered a top contender for an Oscar this year.
PHOTO: Clay Enos
Lopez says that even though the film didn’t work out on her end, she’s happy with how it’s all turned out.
“I’m really proud of Bradley, one for directing his first film…we’re friends, and watching Gaga kind of do her thing in the movie, it’s just great,” she said. “It’s perfect, just like this movie, everything happens in its own divine timing.”
Still, we can’t but wonder what the J.Lo version of Ally would have been like. Would there have been dance routines? Green Versace dresses? I guess we’ll never know.
Rose McIver, who plays Amber Moore in Netflix’s A Christmas Prince, told Glamour this week that Meghan Markle was “certainly” an inspiration in the franchise’s sequel, aptly titled A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. Watch five minutes of the new movie—which hits Netflix today—and that’s abundantly clear.
It centers on Amber’s acclamation into the Aldovian royal family, where she finds herself challenging the traditions and protocols Prince Richard (Ben Lamb) and his relatives have followed for years. Meghan Markle reportedly has a history of doing the same when it comes to the British royal family—so, in that respect, she and Amber are very similar. In fact, Markle’s “royal rule-breaker” narrative is all over this movie—as well as some softer references to her wedding, relationship, and life with Prince Harry.
Below, check out all the maybe-probably-definitely references to the Duchess of Sussex in A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. PS: Very light spoilers ahead.
1. Amber has a personal blog; Meghan ran a lifestyle website called “The Tig.”
2. The couple goes back and forth between Aldovia and New York, much like Meghan and Harry shuttled between Toronto and London during their dating phase.
3. There’s a “waving to the commoners from a car” scene! Look familiar?
4. Amber is tabloid fodder. News outlets may have covered Meghan and Harry once or twice.
5. Someone tells Amber that royal “protocol” must be observed now that she’s about to marry Prince Richard. That’s a word Meghan knows all too well.
6. Amber’s father doesn’t act fancy-pants when he meets the royals for the first time. Seems to be some Thomas Markle symbolism, in my opinion.
7. Mrs. Averill is now the head of royal press and protocol, and she’s telling Amber to watch the image she’s projecting with all her TV show appearances and blog posts. So, in other words, quit Suits.
9. Amber is clearly finding these intense traditions and procedures difficult to understand. Meghan reportedly has similar feelings in regards to the British royal family.
11. Everyone seems quite turned off by Amber wanting to work and speak on more serious Aldovian issues — much like Meghan raised eyebrows (and made headlines) for voicing her political opinions.
12. Yup, they make Amber censor her blog. Remember when Meghan shut down The Tig?
13. Take a shot every time they say “protocol” in this movie. Then take a shot for every article about Meghan Markle that has that word.
It’s been a stressful year, but at least you can count on Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix to come through with the holiday cheer. After all, what’s more relaxing than watching an overworked woman fall in love with a Christmas tree farmer? So decompress with all of our delightful holiday content right here.
Courtney Conquers has been a Lady Gaga fan for 10 years—even before “Just Dance” was released—and like any dedicated Little Monster, she jumps at the chance to see her Mother in the flesh. “It’s been a decade of fangirling and networking and being crazy but not too crazy,” she tells Glamour.com. “So every once in a while, I get emails or links for opportunities.” Earlier this year, for example, she attended a taping of the Recording Academy’s Elton John tribute, at which Gaga performed “Your Song.”
Another opportunity arose in late April 2017, when Conquers and her friend Jamie (also a Gaga fan) got word that tickets to A Star Is Born filming event in L.A. were available. (Proceeds went to Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.) In a matter of days, Conquers found herself witnessing the making of the movie’s most pivotal scene: when Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) pulls Ally (Gaga) onstage to sing “Shallow” for the first time. Here the 29-year-old Toronto native tells her story.
I run a blog called the Drag Coven with my best friend, Jamie, and we were on our way to L.A. for RuPaul’s Drag Con when a mutual friend sent us a link and was like, “Hey, I don’t know when you’re gonna be in L.A., but you guys should do it.” It was a sign-up link where, for $12 a day, you could go for two days and be in a scene of A Star Is Born.
We panicked because we were actually going to be in L.A. those days, but we had approximately T-minus 45 seconds to get the tickets for both of us—Gaga sells out like that, no matter what—and we were [on an airplane] about to take off. But we got them.
We didn’t know in what capacity we’d be involved, or where we’d stand, so we just went in the morning and got in line. We’re used to this—we’re those intense fans. The first thing they did when we walked in was make everybody put their cell phones in a locking pad. Then they filed us in, the appropriate number of people for each row. The people who got there first were closer to the front.
They [also] sectioned off a place at the front to put people who were there for fun but who kind of knew how this worked, who could hold their own. They wanted them to have followed the dress code. We were supposed to dress like we were going to a country-rock summer music festival. We were told specifically not to wear anything Lady Gaga–related, which I’d say at least a quarter of the people didn’t listen to and had to turn their shirts inside out.
“[After the filming] friends would be like, ‘I’m so excited. Can you hum the song for me?’ I’d say, ‘Actually, I can’t.'”
There was a warm-up host playing Lady Gaga trivia with the crowd [to compete for spots in the special section]. Jamie and I met up with a group of about seven [Gaga fans] we knew and got the questions right. So we ended up bumping [even closer] to the front. I doubt you’ll see us, but we were right there.
There were several hours where I definitely saw why they needed us there, but we weren’t active. Earlier in the day they had to do setups and practices with body doubles and stand-ins. They had to get the lights right.
We were there long enough that they made sure we had a meal. They gave us vouchers, which was good, because [the options were] very overpriced concert-venue foods. We all got hot dogs, a bag of chips, and a drink. But people got tired and squirrelly. There was one lady who was being particularly rude, shouting out of turn when set people were trying to concentrate. I ended up just taking her hot dog and eating it. She had it sitting under her seat, so I said, “You know what? She’s not eating that, and she’s really bugging me.” She didn’t even notice. It’s survival!
PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Before Gaga came out, they were hyping us up by getting the crowd to sing Gaga songs. But then they were like, “OK, maybe getting you to sing Gaga songs was a mistake. What we really need from you is to pretend this is not Lady Gaga. You do not know this person. She is not the pop star you know and love. This is just some girl; you’re curious but not that enthused. Do not shout things. Do not go wild. Lady Gaga does not exist in this universe.”
We saw Gaga and Bradley do their scene probably about 18 times [over the course of both days]. They had internal mikes, but they turned the big amplifying mikes off; it wasn’t a full-on concert. People [outside the venue] were sending drones in trying to record the music—the crew caught them and explained, “We actually need you to be quite quiet, because we have to play the music so the people onstage can hear it, but soft enough that these drones won’t pick it up. You’re probably not going to hear anything.” [After the filming] friends would be like, “I’m so excited. Can you hum the song for me?” I’d say, “Actually, I can’t.”
“I slammed face-first into an absolute tree of a human being—it was Bradley Cooper!”
On the end of the first day, I went to the bathroom and whipped around the corner really fast; I slammed face-first into an absolute tree of a human being—it was Bradley Cooper! He almost knocked me on my butt. He was very tall, which I didn’t realize. (I was there for Gaga; I’m not an obsessive Bradley Cooper fan.) I was taken aback and was just like, “Oh, sorry.” And he went, “Oh, sorry.” And I said, “No, I’m sorry.” We kind of got in this sorry war, which was funny. He went, “Thank you for being there. How’s it going? Are you having fun?” And I said, “Yeah, it’s really good. I’m excited to be here.” He was like, “Oh, great, thank you.” And I went, “No, thank you.” And he went, “No, thank you.” He started laughing, and I got flustered and mumbled, “OK, I have to pee now.” I ran off, so embarrassed. He was very nice.
The second day they took us up into the higher stands to shoot again. (We’d only paid $12 for the first day, but they basically said, “Anyone who’s here today can come back tomorrow if they want to.”) You don’t end up seeing Jamie and me in the movie then, either, because there’s a flash of a spotlight [when Gaga walks past us in the scene]. It was cool because they did a couple takes and she walked by us over and over and over again. At one point she was standing, waiting for the take to start, and she kind of looked up and Jamie and I went, “Hey, girl.” She’s known Jamie longer, so she definitely recognized Jamie. I haven’t seen Gaga in a couple years, and I got a radical haircut since then, so she gave me this look. I saw both confusion and recognition. It was a very quick interaction, but very cute.
[Near the end of the second day] I remember them saying, “If you absolutely have to go, exit to the left and we’ll unlock your cell phones. If you can stay, please do.” They were checking that they got everything they needed and everybody was milling around waiting; there was downtime on set. So we stayed, and Gaga went to the piano and started tinkering around. Then she suddenly started singing her own music—she just did a mini concert out of nowhere. Jamie and I, being the adoring fans we are, immediately said, “Screw the seat I’m sitting in,” and hopped to the front of the stage. She did “You and I” and “Edge of Glory” and a little bit of “Born This Way.” Bradley Cooper came out and sat on one of the speakers and was smiling at all of us; he clearly enjoyed seeing her entertaining us. It was very sweet and the smallest little Gaga concert I’d ever been to.
Then they said, “All right, that’s a wrap.” We all cheered, and Gaga and Bradley each got on the mike and said, “Thank you so much for being here.” [The crew] unlocked our cell phones, and that was it.
When we saw the scene onscreen it was very weird. It was cool seeing it up there when we’d been there to see the inner workings. We were also seeing this woman, whose career has greatly influenced us, on the big screen in a new capacity. She was so good. She was even better than I thought she was going to be.
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