At last week's TidalX1020 concert, the night was filled with megastars doing what they do best; but the most memorable performance of them all was Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj.
But of course they didn't just show up and perform; no, these ladies went through gruelling rehearsals so everything went down perfectly.
Considering how flawless their performance was, you know they put in a lot of work backstage. And at the beginning of the week we got a tiny glimpse of some of those intense preparations – which includes a staring contest.
Forget megadivas like Mariah Carey or Jennifer Lopez… when it comes to outrageous backstage demands; rappers Jay Z and Kanye West are WELL able to hold their own.
In fact, a just-seen list of their concert requests has now been made public, and suffice to say it all makes for some rather eyebrow-raising reading.
Jay Z, for example, likes his suite to be kept at a pleasant 21.5C – and he likes to have three €72-a-pop Mayan tuberose-scented candles from Belle Fleur lit also.
Mr Carter also dictates that staff aren’t allowed to vacuum near his room, and they’re told not to approach him to ask for free concert tickets either (although we can’t say we blame him for that one).
Meanwhile, TMZ reports Mr West like any vases present in his room to be cylindrical (yup, as you do). He also requires staff to hunt down a Genelecs1031a speaker… a model which was discontinued a decade ago.
He furthermore likes to have minty dental floss at his disposal; requests only all-black towels and wants KashiGo Lean cereal.
It’s not all entirely clean-living, mind: the 37-year-old husband of Kim Kardashian asks for a total of 13 bottles of booze – including three bottles of ParadisHennessy cognac – totaling around €3,000.
Unsurprisingly, Jay Z just wants €275 Ace Of Spades champagne – although since he owns the company, he isn’t charged for the bottles (lucky him).
With Blue Ivy about, Jay asks for the entire suite to be childproofed with all corners, sharp edges, and electrical outlets all covered, and statues, lamps, and breakable objects removed. And FYI, the three-and-a-half year old only drinks organic whole milk.
Spanx, waist trainers, even corsets… there are plenty of ways to slim down your silhouette without hitting the gym, but Beyoncé's trick has to be the weirdest one we've heard yet.
The singer, who famously did the water-only Master Cleanse to shed the pounds for her role in Dreamgirls, is no stranger to going to extremes to look good.
But a new book about Bey's rise to fame reveals she once used something very strange indeed to get to illusion of a smaller waist… a roll of masking tape.
Beyoncé apparently once wrapped the thick tape around her waist as a makeshift corset, as she was unhappy with how she looked in a black catsuit she was dressed in for a video shoot.
"She took the strong cloth tape – pressure sensitive and most certainly never intended to be used on one’s skin – and started wrapping it around her bare waist," the Becoming Beyoncé biography by J Randy Taraborrelli details.
"I’m gonna corset my waist with this tape," Bey is quoted as saying.
The book also goes into detail about Beyoncé's notoriously private marriage to Jay-Z, stating the pair split for a year over rumours Jay-Z had been having an affair with Rihanna.
We thought they were the only celebrity couple that would really last forever, but apparently we have been lied to. At least, that is according to a new book, Beyoncé: The Untold Story.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z separated for a year when the rumours that he was having an affair with Rihanna began to make headlines.
Beyoncé and Jay started dating in 2000. Allegedly they split at around the same time that he discovered Rihanna and helped launch her single Pon De Replay, five years later.
It seems that Bey “wasn’t sure what to make of the situation,” and this new book claims she and her now husband split.
J Randy Taraborrelli, the author of the book, told Entertainment Tonight:
“They spent maybe a year apart from each other because Beyoncé just wasn't sure of what to make of the situation with Rihanna.”
At that time Jay Z was 35, Beyoncé 24, and Rihanna was 17, and it wasn’t until a year later in an interview with Cosmopolitan that wedding rumours began about the pair when Bey said: “I did start thinking about what kind of wedding I’d want.”
While he went on to say that Rihanna and Bey are quite close now, it seems that he believes that elevator spat between Jay and Solange was a result of the alleged affair and the couple’s separation.
In May 2014 Solange was caught on camera lashing out at Jay after the Met Gala.
The surveillance video that made it to the internet and then went viral was lacking audio however, so no one seems to know what sparked the fight. Naturally, Beyoncé has declined to comment.
According to Taraborrelli, who claims he spoke to multiple sources very close to the singer, Beyoncé told her husband that he could not attend Rihanna’s after party that night.
He did add: “I think it's safe to say the only people who know for sure what happened are Bey, Jay, Solange and the bodyguard who were in the elevator.”
It might seem odd that for someone as famous as Beyoncé, when you attempt to inquire about her age, the answer is pretty hard to find.
The correct answer that is.
Despite being one of the biggest stars on the planet, she still faces serious criticism about her age. Rumours have been swirling about for years, and when you take that whole Solange aspect into account then it just becomes a bizarre conversation.
Her father, Matthew Knowles is the last person we expected to add even more fuel to that fire – but he did.
In an interview with The Breakfast Club, Matthew said:
"P!nk, she’s the exact same age as Beyoncé. There used to be this battle, which group was better. Usher, he was the same age. They were all 14- or 15-years-old."
P!nk was born on September 8, 1979 and Usher was born on October 14, 1978 – two and three years before Queen Bey respectively. Knowles' statements, then, implies that Beyoncé might be 36, rather than 34.
OK, to be fair, sometimes our own parents get mixed up. However, this is not the first time people have been left confused about Bey’s age.
In 2008, Gabrielle Union, of Bring It On fame, said she and Bey have been friends since they were teenagers. However, Gabrielle is nine years older.
Conspiracy theorists maintain that Bey is actually older, but by a few more years than Matthew believes. In 2013 it emerged that people thought Solange was Bey’s daughter.
Someone who claims to work for the Department of Health in Texas supposedly unearthed her birth certificate and claims it has her birth date as 1974. Which would mean she’s actually closer to 40 than 30.
There are websites that maintain that Beyoncé got pregnant as a 12 or 13-year old but the family covered it up and said she was Bey’s sister.
Apparently, since Matthew’s interview the Huffington Post requested a comment on the matter from Beyoncé’s publicist. The request was not returned.
Beyoncé can fix her own dress, thank you very much.
The singer appeared at an event for Tidal Music in New York last night, and was keen to get as much camera time on the red carpet as possible.
So keen, in fact, that she shushed her personal assistant away rather than stand there and have her dress adjusted.
Beyoncé's assistant Sam Greenberg is usually pretty adept at fading into the background, but she made headlines all over the world last night when she was spotted looking totally flustered after Beyoncé coldly told her to go away – in front of the cameras.
The video has already gone viral since being posted to Twitter last night:
Sam had stepped in to adjust Beyoncé's plum-coloured Phillip Plein dress and fur stole, but the singer only endured her for a second or two before saying "stop it" under her breath, while still smiling broadly for the gathered photographers.
Poor Sam is seen darting away, no doubt fearing for her job after the rebuff.
Having been Bey's PA for almost three years now though, we reckon Sam's career is still safe.
Plus, we're sure she's suffered worse at the hands of her famous boss before now.
So, remember when it seemed like Beyoncé wasn’t going to give any more interviews?
She even decided not to have a sit-down interview, or any kind of interview at all when she appeared on the cover of Vogue.
Instead, her recent cover for the magazine was accompanied by a profile by critic and memoirist Margo Jefferson — without any quote from B herself.
There was much speculation at the time the she had given up answering questions and instead opted to share news and updates with her fans directly on platforms like Instagram.
However, she kind of broke her interview vow of silence for the indie publication BEAT Magazine.
While Bey didn’t speak in-person to the mag, she provided some interesting quotes for their cover story via email.
There were some revelations about her favourite throwback Beyoncé outfits: “Destiny’s Child Survivor era with the army fatigues. Or maybe Bootylicious with the gold tooth and pink tips in my hair.”
Her favorite pizza toppings: “Extra tomato sauce and jalapeños,” an excellent choice, B.
Netflix or chill? “Netflix and chill.”
We expected nothing less, to be honest.
She was also asked some slightly more introspective questions too, such as her take on the "taste of fear." Bey had this to say:
"What does fear taste like? Success. I have accomplished nothing without a little taste of fear in my mouth.”
That’s going to be a motivational poster/Instagram quote in a matter of minutes, we can feel it.
If you've had a fringe or bangs, you've more than likely been on an emotional roller coaster while growing them out.
Don't worry, we've all been there. So, whether it's your first time or hundredth, you can expect to go through these stages of the process:
Excitement
Yay! You're growing out your fringe.You just can't wait to toss your hair over your shoulder each morning and not have to worry about styling your fringe so you don't look like the Grinch. You're SO over bangs anyway.
Optimism
It looks like your hair grew about half a centimetre this week, hurrah! At this rate, you can shove your fringe behind your ears in a week or two. And you better stock up some clips and pins in the meantime.
Frustration
You knew it wasn't going to be easy, but does it really take THIS long. You've read every article there is about styling your hair while growing it out, but nothing works for you. And can anyone over 7-years-old really pull off a hairband?!
Joy (when you see a slight progress)
OK maybe you can rock the side swept look. "Where are all of those clips I bought last week though?!"… They're long gone, so you'll have to use some mega-hold hairspray.
Desperation
It's just not going right. Maybe you need to take some hair-growing supplements. Or, maybe there's something wrong with your diet or shampoo. Would hair extensions work?! So many questions.
Weakness
You have a big event coming up next week and you realise there's no way you can wear your hair down without looking like a shaggy dog. Maybe if you snip off that tiny uncontrollable bit it might look a bit better.
Panic
OMG, what a disaster. Why did you go near those scissors. That's it, it's time to call your hairdresser ASAP for an emergency appointment. She'll sort it out.
Resignation
You walk out of the hairdressers sporting bangs like Beyoncé. It's OK though, you'll be growing them out again in no time… right?
All those lavish costumes must take quite some time to perfect, as the theme for next year's Met Gala has already been announced.
The Metropolitan Museum Of Art confirmed last night that the 2016 red carpet event will have a futuristic theme, with the official title of Manus X Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology.
The gala, due to take place on May 2 on next year, will kick off a three-month long exhibition under the same theme at New York's Costume Institute.
Anna Wintour will act as official chair for the event – as she has done since 1995 – and will work with Vogue staffers to oversee the benefit committee and 650-strong guest list of stars and philanthropists.
Honorary co-chairs this year include Taylor Swift and Idris Elba, though we can hardly imagine they'll be sweating too much over seating charts and flower arrangements.
Last year's theme, China: Through The Looking Glass, brought costumes back in time as it examined China's influence on Western fashion through the centuries.
Rihanna certainly had the most memorable look on the night, making the cover of Vogue's special Met Gala edition in her yellow Guo Pei fur-trimmed gown.
Beyoncé also showed off her slimmed-down figure in an incredible sheer Givenchy gown – with rumours she intentionally arrived on the red carpet last to ensure the cameras got a good look.
As for Kim Kardashian, she was equally stunning in a skintight Roberto Cavalli fishtail dress, accompanied by Kanye in a… velvet suit.
Despite her stunning look, Kim was controversially snubbed by Anna Wintour, not even making the list of names on Vogue's special cover.
We cannot WAIT to see next year's red carpet looks.
Beyoncé, Jay Z, Rihanna, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West are all taking legal action against French sportswear label, EvelenParis.
The celebs and their respective holding companies are alleging that the brand has used each of their names and likeness without their permission on garments they are selling.
The garments in question also have their faces printed onto them as well as slogans like "Kanye is my Homie" and "Pharrell is my Brotha."
The Paris-based company retails relatively inexpensive products including jumpers, t-shirts, backpacks and phone covers – although the garments in question have all now disappeared from the brand's website.
Almost 60 violations against the musicians are listed in the lawsuit and the high-profile group is seeking the end of manufacturing for all offending items.
They also want unspecified damages including not only legal fees but the profits made from the items that were sold too.
But the plot thickens, as this isn't the first time that the company has fallen foul on celebrities, as the lawsuit details a prior warning:
"Even after receiving warning to cease selling the infringing goods, defendants continue to sell unauthorised products and to trade upon the goodwill associated with the plaintiffs, all for defendants' profits."
Oh wow! Jay Z and Beyonce have just secured a €40m Holmby Hills home… and suffice to say it is SPECTACULAR!
Owned by an unnamed British billionaire – who only bought the place last year – the power-couple are forking out around €132,000 a month in rent for the abode, which sprawls over close-to 2,000sq metres.
It furthermore has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen, a library, a media room, an Olympic-sized swimming pool and spa and steam-room.
Outside, there are further guest and servant out-houses, an infinity pool complete with waterfall, and beautiful formal gardens.
The Carters have, according to TMZ, signed a year-long lease. The website adds: “Jay Z and Beyonce are putting down stakes in LA, largely because they think it's a good place to raise Blue Ivy.”
As for neighbours – Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion and the Los Angeles Country Club are both in the locale, as is the home of talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.
Although they shouldn't have to rub shoulders with anyone: their new home is on more than a hectare of land.