Music News: Dua Lipa, Green Day and Billy Joel

Dua Lipa is seemingly everywhere these days. She acts, she sings, and she blows up balloons (I am just assuming as she does everything else). She even has a new album due out later this year. But Dua Lipa also feels that while audiences want to love what their favorite musical artists do, the same audience doesn't want their favorite artists to be too human.

According to a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Lipa says she feels that people want to hear and watch pop stars sing songs, make music videos, and act in the random film, but people do not want to their favorite singers to be "smart," or too "political." Lipa feels this is unfair.

Not from the standpoint of Lipa wanting to go on long and often political rants or somehow prove her intelligence, but she does feel a little boxed in by not being able to do those things. As Lipa said to Rolling Stone, "Not that I’m trying to prove myself in that way, but there is so much more to me than just what I do."

Dua Lipa pushes back on near-sightedness and Green Day vocalist comments finds something cool

Someone who doesn't mind speaking their mind, though, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. Armstrong came out as bisexual decades ago and understands that some people will praise him for his openness while others will try to crucify him for it. But Armstrong finds it "cool" that anyone would see him as a "bisexual icon."

Speaking with People, Armstrong said, "It’s way more complex now, as far as sexuality. You’re like, ‘Wow, we’ve really come a long way.’ Even though it’s still kind of looked at as being taboo...I think it’s (expletive) cool that someone calls me a bisexual icon. I’ve seen that before. I’m like, ‘(expletive), yeah!" So if you are looking for someone who gets a bit upset by any social media hate that won't be Armstrong, and thank goodness for it.

Is a new Billy Joel album on the way?

Billy Joel has not released a pop album in over 30 years. His last was 1993's River of Dreams. His last album of original music was 2001's Fantasies & Delusions, but that record was made up of instrumental classic compositions. The record was good, but not exactly what one had come to expect from Billy Joel.

While there have been no tracks recently, or even a hint of some snippet of a new song, Joel did recently change the header on his Facebook page and changed the outlay of his Spotify page to show artwork that says "Did I wait too long..." One might infer Joel is about to give us some music again. Or maybe he is just playing with us.

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