Miranda Lambert may have a forthcoming album (Four The Record, due out November 1) and a moderately successful side project (Pistol Annies, whose album Hell On Heels was released last week) but she continues to face charges (in so many words) of breaking up the first marriage of her husband Blake Shelton. As those who are well-versed in country lore know, Lambert met Shelton on June 8, 2005, when they sang “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” for the CMT special 100 Greatest Duets. In Lambert’s episode from this season of Behind the Music (available to stream in full on our site), she, her family, and Shelton talked about the unforgettable performance. “Looking back on that,” Shelton said, “I was falling in love with her, right there on stage”—and it’s plain to see. The problem? “I was a married guy, you know?” (Shelton had married his high school sweetheart Kaynette Williams two years earlier.) “Standing up there and singing with somebody and going, ‘Man, this shouldn’t be happening.’”
Last night when Lambert appeared on Dateline, she faced a similar line of questioning from Hoda Kotb, and she stuck to her story—that sparks flew during the 2005 special, but that she kept her distance until Shelton was divorced. “I had seen their wedding picture in Country Weekly,” she told Kotb. “I knew better, like, this is off limits. My parents are private investigators, for God’s sake. I’ve seen this my whole life—affairs. Of all people to know better, I know better than this.”
With specials focused on the lives and careers of music industry powerhouses like Adam Lambert, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, it’s been quite an outstanding season of Behind The Music thus far. That hot streak continues this weekend with the premiere of Behind The Music: Ricky Martin (which, sadly, is the last episode of this season).
In this special sneak preview from the show that debuts this Sunday, August 14, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, international superstar Ricky Martin finally seems to be at peace. After having to deal with gossipmongers trying to reveal secrets about his sexuality ever since he rose to fame as a member of Menudo, he’s now living his life openly and honestly. He’s been in a steady relationship with Puerto Rican financier Carlos Gonzalez, which has helped give him the strength to lead the fight for equality on both the sexual and cultural fronts. “Who wants to feel like a second class citizen?”, he explains. “That’s why I say about equality, ‘I don’t want more rights than you. I want the same. That’s all.’”
The latest episode of Behind The Music will focus on the life and times of the one, the only Adam Lambert. Last week, we shared with you a clip from the show where Adam discussed his American Idol experience, particularly as it related to his struggle to keep his sexual orientation under wraps (as directed by Idol‘s producers).
And with the debut of Behind The Music: Adam Lambert now just three days away—it premieres this Sunday, August 7, at 10 p.m. ET/PT—we’ve got another sneak to share with you. In the video above, Adam discusses the early stages of when he “realized that I was probably not the same as the other boys.” This was around the time that he was 12, and he confesses that “to me, it was a deep secret … I didn’t know how my parents would react, and I didn’t know what that would be like, and I think, at at that age, it was something that I was ashamed of because it was so different.” For Glamberts the world over, this is a special not-to-be missed.
We got pretty excited about Adam Lambert‘s episode of Behind The Music (airing Sunday, August 7) when we unveiled the sneak peek yesterday (so excited, in fact, that we were briefly convinced that it premiered this week). But after seeing the preview of the episode that does premiere on Sunday, July 31, at 10PM ET/PT—Behind the Music: Enrique Iglesias—we’re more than willing to wait.
In this sneak peek that we shared exclusively with EW’s Music Mix, Enrique Iglesias recalls the overnight celebrity (especially among women) that accompanied the year following the release of his eponymous debut in November 1995. The record sold over nearly two million copies in the United States alone, going platinum faster even than Selena‘s Amor Prohibido. In both new and archival interviews, Iglesias discusses the magnitude and intensity of female attention that attended his newfound fame. (“Before I was a singer, I was getting dumped all the time,” he recalled in 1999.)
Others speak more frankly. Andres Restrepo, who toured with Iglesias during this period, characterized exactly how wild the mobs of female fans, hanging out of cars going upwards of fifty miles an hour, could be: “I felt like I was on a safari in Africa, getting attacked by all these lions and stuff!”
CORRECTION: The Adam Lambert episode of Behind The Music will air on Sunday, August 7, not Sunday, July 30 as originally stated.
The next episode of Behind The Music, premiering Sunday, August 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, looks into the life of American Idol star Adam Lambert. In this sneak peek, Lambert talks about his behind-the-scenes struggle with the public debate about his sexuality—and his inability to respond, thanks to the Idol contestant contract, which forbids contestants from giving one-on-one interviews before the competition is over.
This episode is sure to be a highlight of an already great season, so don’t miss it!
Behind The Music is moving to Sundays starting with this week’s premiere of the can’t-miss Mary J. Blige episode. In this sneak peek, Blige reveals how her budding romance with now-husband Kendu Isaacs inspired her to combat her worsening alcohol abuse. “The best thing you can do to me? Challenge me to challenge myself,” she says, and that’s exactly what Isaacs apparently did for her. She attributes her success to “willpower” and “prayer,” and admits, “It was hard.”
Make sure to catch the full episode on Behind The Music‘s new night, Sunday, July 24th at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
After delving into the histories of two hip-hop icons, this season of Behind the Music takes a left turn tonight with a look into the life of country star Miranda Lambert. In this sneak peek, she describes her 2009 album Revolution as a document of “what I’m living for now” and looks back at her first meeting with lifelong idol Loretta Lynn at the 2010 CMAs in November (where she won in four categories). To see the story of how she got there, watch Behind the Music: Miranda Lambert tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Some hip-hop heads like to talk about the “four pillars” of hip hop, as defined by Afrika Bambaataa: rapping, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti painting, as an all-encompassing view of hip-hop as a culture (and sometimes, a nostalgic lament for what’s been lost). But for a kid nearly three thousand miles away from hip-hop’s South Bronx birthplace, like, say, Ice Cube in South Central Los Angeles, the pillars were signifiers for those seeking information about the nascent musical style. In this exclusive sneak peek of Behind the Music: Ice Cube, which premieres Wednesday, July 6 at 10PM ET/PT, Ice Cube talks about being a curious kid in those days, after first hearing “Rapper’s Delight” and becoming obsessed with rap: “I used to be in the TV Guide, looking for anything that had anything to do with graffiti, breakdancing, rapping, scratching.”
MISSY ELLIOTT SPEAKS ON HER BEHIND THE MUSIC EPISODE: “I THOUGHT, ‘LET ME REINTRODUCE MYSELF’” Missy Elliott talked to Gerrick D. Kennedyat Pop & Hiss about her ongoing collaboration with Timbaland, the legacy of Aaliyah, and her Behind the Music episode, which premieres tonight at 10PM ET/PT. Also check out our sneak peeks of the episode, which will get you excited for the episode, and also remind you that Missy looks like a Gmail Robot in the video for “Sock It 2 Me.” [Pop & Hiss/LAT]
Missy Elliott Shares Graves Disease Diagnosis Billboard reports that in an interview with the upcoming issue of People, Missy Elliott reveals that she was diagnosed with the thyroid disorder Graves disease in 2008, the aggressive treatment plan for which left little time for music. Elliott speaks about her battle with the autoimmune disorder in the season premiere of Behind the Music, airing Wednesday, June 29, at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Justin Bieber And His Security Team Attack A Plainclothes New York City Cop
Ninety minutes ago, at an appearance at Macy’s in Herald Square in Manhattan, Justin Bieber went outside, reportedly to apologize to the massive crowd that could not come inside due to fire code. As the throng of screaming Beliebers pressed against the barriers, an undercover cop ran towards Bieber to protect him—only, neither Bieber nor his security knew the guy was a cop. Onlookers across the street caught the incident on film and, naturally, uploaded it to YouTube, so one and all can see Bieber coming to blows with a cop. [Sound of the City and TMZ]
