The event that is The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in full swing and the soundtrack rollout has started. Up until this point, Madonna’s “Vogue” has been the unofficial theme song used in the teasers and promo appearances. Now the first of what is expected to be multiple new hits has premiered and it slides right in with the ballroom anthems of the world. Lady Gaga and Doechii team up for the flamboyant Rupaul-esque tune “Runway” that feels like an updated “Supermodel (You Better Work)”, exactly the kind of song that is supposed to represent a film about the fashion industry – Gaga of course being the fashion icon she is and Doechii representing the newer generation of celebrities using fashion as a form of storytelling in their art.

What was once a niche subgenre in pop music, ballroom is now pretty mainstream. Everyone from Beyoncé to Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, to Ariana Grande, and of course Madonna and more has dipped their toes into the colourful sounds and language of Ballroom community. Madonna of course gave us hits like “Vogue”, “Deeper and Deeper”, “Rescue Me” and “Thief of Hearts”, and in her wake, other pop girlies connected through music with the LGBTQIA+ communities that make up so much of their fanbases. Beyoncé took this to new heights with her culture-defining 2023 LP Renaissance, paying homage to her Uncle Johnny and singing to the entire queer community in the process. The soundtrack to The Devil Wears Prada 2 feels like another project that will give our great pop divas another place to showcase this love and devotion and there’s no better choice than Gaga and Doechii to do so. Doechii is herself a member of the queer community and has made ballroom tracks before, like “Alter-Ego”, and has openly shared that she is a huge fan of Gaga’s. As for Gaga, I don’t think I need to explain why she’s relevant to the queer community. Gaga just closed her year-long Mayhem Ball tour last night in New York City and premiered “Runway” last week during the show in Saint Paul. Mayhem and the entire era has been something of a magical time for Little Monsters because of just how healthy and happy Gaga seems to be on stage. Having her be a part of The Devil Wears Prada 2 feels like the perfect blockbuster finale to one of the most cherished periods in Gaga’s 20-year career. I’ll be breaking out my fan for this one, honey!

Next week is the official release of the Mother Mary soundtrack as featured in last week’s column. Anne Hathaway’s 2026 takeover is truly bleeding into every avenue of art that I consume and I’m not mad about it. There’s also the release of Zayn’s newest album which is expect to blend South Indian influences with R&B. This week is all about the girls. We have new music from Lady Gaga with Doechii, Shakira with Anitta, Nelly Furtado, Kylie Cantrall, and Kehlani with Missy Elliott. Plus, Rihanna is blowing up on TikTok.

Listen on…

MC’s PICKS OF THE WEEK

“Runway” by Lady Gaga, Doechii

“Runway” is a house meets hip-hop diva anthem co-written by one of the greatest divas of our time... Bruno Mars? Bruno is a co-writer on the track and he can actually be heard on several occasions in the background. This would mark the second collaboration between Bruno and Gaga, the first of course being the mega hit “Die with A Smile” that continues to be played on every Adult Contemporary radio station known to man. This time the Bruno/Gaga collab sees her teaming up with Doechii. The two first connected when Doechii presented Gaga with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, which Gaga went on to praise in British Vogue later that year. Almost serendipitously, Gaga’s anticipated cameo in The Devil Wears Prada 2 brought all those pieces together for a gay old time. It’s all very 80s dancefloor with a hint of early 90s. That sweet spot where Soul II Soul and Black Box ruled the clubs. Gaga performs the first verse in an almost unrecognizable speaking tone, some may even call it her version of rapping. It did take me a few listens to recognize when she was “singing”. We’ve grown so accustomed to her extraordinary vocals that it almost felt confusing to not be hearing her belting her heart out. It’s similar to her 2020 track “Babylon”- a spoken word call of strength and total queen realness. Doechii on the other hand is going all fashion, referring to the dancefloor as a runway to show off both your greatest moves and looks. An opening line that actually is a sample of Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor instructs us that “no matter what, you’ve got to strut”, automatically setting the tone for the next 3 minutes.

“Choka Choka” by Anitta, Shakira

This is a dream collaboration of sorts for me because these two ladies were both some of my favourite live experiences of the last few years. Shak was giving Latina pop queen while Anitta’s show was a full on Brazilian funk rave. The thought of what these two could create together has been on my mind for years, and it’s finally here. Even better is that the song is as funky and bumping as I ever would have hoped. Sung in both Portuguese and Spanish, the song blends both Anitta’s sound and Shakira’s signature voice seamlessly. My girl Taina is the one who brought Brazilian Funk into my life, exposing me to the music of her culture, and it’s some of my favourite music to dance to. “Choka Choka” is the exact type of song we would be jamming to on the regular. The term “Choka Choka” represents a situation where something is over the top which makes sense when you listen to the song. The energy bouncing off the speakers is off the charts. Lyrically the ladies sing about female independence and what it means to be a free woman. I don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese but the English translation online helped me decipher. As Shakira likes to say, my hips didn’t lie and they told me that this song needs to go on my pre-drink party playlist. Anitta performed the song this past weekend when she made her SNL debut as the musical guest. Shakira on the other hand is still on her sold-out stadium tour that is taking her back to the USA this summer before a residency in Spain this fall. Both are on top of their game and if Shakira knows one thing, it’s how to make a killer female duet. Having done duets with Beyoncé, Rihanna, KAROL G and more, Shak is always uplifting her fellow she-wolfs. It’s just a big girl power fest all around and I’m living for it.

 “ELECTRIC CIRCUS” by Nelly Furtado, boi-1-da, Canada Soccer

Only a few months after announcing to the world that she was taking an extended hiatus from music and live performing, Nelly Furtado is here with a special collaboration with producer boi-1-da and Canada Soccer. The single is the first from a collection of songs produced by boi-1-da in collaboration with Canada Soccer as the countdown to FIFA heats up. FIFA arrives in Toronto in June, so the city is buzzing with anticipation. What better way to hype the country up than an R&B/Dance track by one of our very own shining stars. The song samples Nelly’s 2006 Loose album cut “Glow”. “Glow” was never released as a single so it remains unknown by the greater public, making it the perfect choice to modernize in a new way all these years later. To sweeten the tea a little bit, the title of the song is also a familiar nod to Canadians who grew up in the 90s. Electric Circus was a dance show that aired for 15 seasons, and it was just people all dressed up to the nines dancing the night away at the MuchMusic studios in downtown Toronto; a simpler time before social media saw people posting themselves doing similar dances for free from the comfort of their homes rather than the streets. There was a magic to letting yourself be seen without the added pressures of algorithms and filters. Nelly’s new track is really just a classic song of hers re-imagined to capture new magic, except this time for a generation that didn’t get it to feel it the first time around. Nelly may say she is done with music but I think she does dance music so well, and I would love for her to make a full record of tracks in this vein should she decide to get back in the ring.

"Carrie Bradshaw” by Kylie Cantrall

Someone once told me that the older I get, the harder it would be to feel connected to younger artists. There’s some truth to that sure but not when it comes to Descendants star Kylie Cantrall who has launched her new single under Republic Records, her first major label release. Kylie has long been influenced by 90s and 2000s music, film, and fashion and she’s letting it be known in the new single that’s named after an iconic fictional characters of the era. The track, which was produced by Tricky Stewart, is a callback to some of his best pop tracks with the likes of Rihanna, Britney, Beyoncé, and more. In a recent episode of her online vlog Life of a Valley Girl, Kylie mentions that Tricky’s history with those icons was a part of the reason she chose to work with him. Upon more digging into her musical journey, it’s clear that she has taken serious inspiration from Janet, TLC, Britney and more. It’s hard to believe this girl was only born in 2005. It always excites me when someone from a younger generation than me finds inspiration from the music I connected to as a child (and continue to connect to as an adult). Plus, it helps that the song is catchy and easy to listen to. I’m all about easy listening and music that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and this song is the perfect contender for summer driving bop.

“Back and Forth” by Kehlani, Missy Elliott

On her quest to bring back authentic R&B music to the pop charts, Kehlani has already been more than successful, as her hit single “Folded” has remained in the Top 10 for the entirety of 2026 so far. With her new album finally coming out on April 24th, Kehlani is teasing fans with a new track featuring and produced by Missy Elliott. If Kehlani is trying to keep things authentically R&B then she’s already scored big with Missy on her track because while Missy is certainly a pioneer in Hip-Hop, her contributions to R&B music are plentiful. From Aaliyah to Monica, Missy has crafted some of the most iconic gems of the genre so it only makes sense that she lend her talents to Kehlani’s new project, especially given the serious momentum she’s earned since “Folded” became a hit. The song is a groovy and laid back mid-tempo with the exact swag you expect from anything that Missy touches. Kehlani’s vocals are buttery smooth and the song has all the elements that we all love from classic 2000s R&B tracks, down to the ringtone that plagued all of our phones back in 2003. I was a child then so maybe I didn’t have a phone but the sound of my aunt’s NOKIA lives in my head rent free. Kehlani’s gotten the stamp of approval from almost every legend in the genre from Brandy and Toni Braxton, to Ne-Yo and Mario and with good reason. She’s got the voice and the quality music to back it up. “Back and Forth”, although not in any way related to Aaliyah’s iconic 1994 hit, can’t help but make me think that it’s an homage especially since Missy was behind the soundboard on this one which makes my heart smile.

MC’s VIRAL PICK

"Sex With Me" by Rihanna

While we continue to weather the drought of Rihanna's music career, younger generations are discovering her music every day and this week it's a track from her as-of-now final album Anti that's making some noise online - enough noise that it has landed the song at #10 on TikTok's viral 50 chart. In this case there is not one particular trend associated with the track but rather a plethora of trends simply because the song is trending. The trends in question that have helped the song skyrocket are simple. First, we've got just a bunch of Gen Z'ers lip-synching to the song with the caption "SWM" on the screen. Given the highly sexual nature of the song, the trend is supposed to imply the idea of "eye f-cking" - you know when you give someone that look that says "let's do this", LOL. Second, you have the lyrics from the second verse where she sings about "having the sauce" where users are flexing an ability of some sort to let you know they're "saucy". It's cheeky and teasy like the song itself. 

@ty.jayzen saucy🌶️ #fyp #basketball #trending ♬ Sex With Me - Rihanna
@teezyjp

♬ original sound - ⌗ 𑣲⋮ nini 𝜗ৎ
@ju.sedano

♬ original sound - ⌗ 𑣲⋮ nini 𝜗ৎ

I'm always here for a viral Rihanna moment, but especially this song. It came out while I was in college so you can just about guess how many times it was played in my dorm room for some leisure activities. Rihanna is busy being a mom and a business mogul right now but maybe this constant surge of viral hits will be the push she needs to give us one more album. A boy can only dream. 

The 2026 “MC’s MUSIC LOUNGE” Spotify playlist is officially live. You can add it here to keep up to date with my weekly picks throughout the year. 

With Love, 

MC

Photo credits: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

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