• Madonna, 67, named John F. Kennedy Jr. as the best sex of her life in a new video made in partnership with Grindr to promote her upcoming 15th studio album Confessions II
• When asked to name the “best d***-down” she’s ever had, Madonna offered a qualifier first: “I’m only going to name dead people” — then picked JFK Jr., with whom she had a brief relationship in the early 1990s
• The video was obtained early by Page Six and also features playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D’s Marcello Gutierrez
• Confessions II is the follow-up to Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor; no release date has been announced

Madonna has never exactly been tight-lipped about her personal life, but her latest disclosure comes with one of her better qualifiers in recent memory. In a new video made with Grindr to promote her upcoming album Confessions II, the 67-year-old was asked to name the best sex she’s ever had. She was happy to answer — on one condition.

“I’m only going to name dead people,” Madonna said. Then she named John F. Kennedy Jr., per Page Six, which obtained the video before its release.

Madonna and Kennedy Jr. had a brief relationship in the early 1990s — a pairing that was the subject of considerable tabloid attention at the time and has been referenced in the decades since. Kennedy Jr. died in a 1999 plane crash at 38. The caveat Madonna attached to her ranking — limiting it to deceased exes — was noted across coverage as both practical and characteristically Madonna: a way of answering the question while declining to compare anyone currently living.

The Confessions II Rollout

The Grindr collaboration is part of an unconventional promotional push for Madonna’s 15th studio album, the follow-up to her landmark 2005 record Confessions on a Dance Floor. Instead of a traditional press tour, she filmed a roundtable-style video with playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D Global Beauty Editor Marcello Gutierrez — a mix of queer artists and tastemakers suited to the Grindr platform, per Us Magazine.

The questions in the video ranged from playful to pointed. The JFK Jr. answer has naturally dominated the coverage since the clip began circulating Thursday, per Just Jared. No release date for Confessions II has been announced.

The post Madonna Says JFK Jr. Was the Best Sex of Her Life — With One Very Madonna Caveat appeared first on Cream.

• Madonna, Shakira, and BTS will headline the first-ever halftime show at a FIFA World Cup final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
• The show is curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, with a cheeky Sesame Street and Muppets announcement video.
• The performance is expected to last approximately 11 minutes — a tight window for three stadium-level acts.
• All proceeds benefit the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which aims to raise $100 million for children’s education and access to soccer worldwide.
• Shakira dropped her official 2026 World Cup anthem “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy the same day as the announcement.

Soccer’s biggest night just got the most ambitious soundtrack imaginable. FIFA confirmed on May 14 that the 2026 World Cup final will feature the first-ever halftime show in the tournament’s nearly 100-year history — and the lineup is Madonna, Shakira, and BTS. Three of the most globally recognized artists alive, sharing one stage, in what FIFA president Gianni Infantino called “a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup, befitting the biggest sporting event in the world.”

The show goes down July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and produced by nonprofit Global Citizen. And the way they announced it? Only slightly unhinged in the best possible way — Martin recruited Elmo, Cookie Monster, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Animal from Sesame Street and The Muppets to help break the news.

In the video, Elmo nominated Madonna, Cookie Monster pushed for BTS (because “Butter” is, obviously, both his favorite song and a cookie ingredient), and Animal — with characteristic chaos — demanded Shakira. Martin FaceTimed the seven BTS members — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook — to confirm they’d be there. They’re in. The whole thing is as delightful as it sounds.

“It’s a chance to show how amazing all different kinds of humans are,” Martin said in the clip. “And monsters, aliens — it’s one big family, really.”

Three Artists, Three Reasons This Works

Madonna, 67, comes in with serious momentum. The best-selling female recording artist of all time is set to release her 15th studio album, Confessions II — the follow-up to 2005’s Grammy-winning Confessions on a Dance Floor — on July 3, just over two weeks before the final. She’s already had one of her most-talked-about moments in years after making a surprise appearance during Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella headline set in April. Eagle-eyed fans also noticed that Madonna’s Instagram account and the FIFA World Cup account started following each other the night before the announcement — as far as soft leaks go, that one landed.

Shakira, 49, might have the deepest personal connection to the World Cup of anyone on this bill. The Colombian singer wrote and performed “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, appeared at the 2006 and 2014 finals, and took the halftime stage at the Copa America 2024 final in Miami. She also recently performed a free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio before a crowd of 2 million people. The woman does not do small. And on the same day as the halftime show announcement, Shakira released “Dai Dai,” her official 2026 World Cup anthem — an Italian phrase that loosely translates to “let’s go” — produced with Nigerian artist Burna Boy, teased in a video filmed at Brazil’s iconic Maracanã Stadium.

BTS completes the lineup as the group that needs no introduction but keeps earning one anyway. The seven-member South Korean group has sold more than 45 million albums worldwide, earned six No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2020, and commands one of the most organized fan bases on the planet — ARMY, short for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. After a nearly four-year hiatus during which each member fulfilled South Korea’s mandatory military service, they returned in full force this year with their fifth studio album, ARIRANG, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March. Their 85-date world tour is currently underway, with stops in Stanford and Las Vegas this month, and Chicago and Los Angeles later in the summer. Their history with Chris Martin goes back to 2021, when their Coldplay collaboration “My Universe” hit No. 3 in the UK.

The Cause Behind the Show

This isn’t just a spectacle for spectacle’s sake. The halftime show is directly tied to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, a landmark initiative aiming to raise $100 million to expand access to quality education and soccer for children around the world. One dollar from every ticket sold to a 2026 World Cup match will go toward the fund. Global Citizen — the nonprofit that has worked alongside Chris Martin since 2015, when he joined as its international festival curator — is producing the full show.

This partnership between FIFA and Global Citizen has actually been in the works since 2024, when the organizations announced a four-year agreement at Global Citizen’s annual New York festival. Martin also curated the first-ever FIFA Club World Cup final halftime show last year, also at MetLife Stadium, where Doja Cat, Tems, and J. Balvin performed — and Coldplay surprised the crowd with “A Sky Full of Stars.” Don’t be shocked if Martin finds a way onto the July 19 stage as well.

The One Detail Everyone’s Debating

Here’s the logistical wrinkle: the show is expected to run approximately 11 minutes. Under the International Football Association Board’s official laws of the game, halftime breaks cannot exceed 15 minutes — and it’s still unclear whether that window will be extended to accommodate the performance the way the Super Bowl does its show.

That is a very tight runway for three artists of this caliber. For context, last year’s Club World Cup halftime at the same stadium ran well past 24 minutes. Fitting Madonna, Shakira, and all seven members of BTS into a precisely choreographed 11-minute window will be an operation unto itself — and one the whole world will be scrutinizing in real time.

FIFA has also announced plans to take over New York’s Times Square during the final weekend of the tournament, extending the celebration beyond the stadium. The World Cup itself — the largest in history, with 48 teams competing across the US, Canada, and Mexico — kicks off June 11 when Mexico takes on South Africa at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. Opening ceremony performances across the three host countries will feature Katy Perry, Future, Alanis Morissette, Maná, Tyla, Michael Bublé, Alessia Cara, LISA, J Balvin, and more.

But the night that matters most is July 19. And if you needed proof that the world is ready to treat the World Cup final like the Super Bowl, just look at who’s headlining the show.

The post Madonna, Shakira & BTS to Headline First-Ever World Cup Final Halftime Show appeared first on Cream.

• Madonna will world premiere a 10-minute cinematic visual for Confessions II at the 2026 Tribeca Festival on June 5
• The film, directed by TORSO (David Toro and Solomon Chase), is built around the first six tracks of the upcoming album
• A post-screening conversation with Jimmy Fallon will follow the premiere at the Beacon Theatre in New York City
• Tickets are available exclusively to Madonna Community members via unique digital access codes
• Confessions II — her first album in seven years — drops July 3 via Warner Records

A full month before the rest of the world gets their hands on Confessions II, Tribeca Festival is about to give a very lucky crowd the first real taste of Madonna’s new era — on a big screen, no less. The Queen of Pop will bring the world premiere of a cinematic visual work to the 2026 Tribeca Festival on Friday, June 5 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, with the screening followed by an exclusive conversation between Madonna, directors David Toro and Solomon Chase, and Jimmy Fallon.

The project, directed by the New York-based photography and directing duo TORSO — partners in life and work — clocks in at over 10 minutes and is built around the first six tracks of her highly anticipated album, including lead single “I Feel So Free” and her collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter, “Bring Your Love.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sYPHaUs4Whc%3Ffeature%3Doembed

The film unfolds as one continuous, unbroken piece — no cuts between songs, no chapters that feel like separate music videos. It’s described officially as “a single, continuous piece, weaving together interconnected, music-driven sequences into an immersive cinematic experience” that “gives physicality to the music” and “lives in the tension between control and surrender, between being seen and disappearing into a crowd.”

Each of the six songs gets its own chapter — “each one a sexy thriller, a dance delusion, an epic fever dream” — but the whole thing follows what the festival calls a “twisted dream logic,” blurring the lines between tracks the same way the album itself does. The result, per the official description, is “a transcendent journey that catapults the viewer through a f-ked-up night out that’s remembered not for what happened, but for how it felt.”

Madonna is ambushed, pursued, and ultimately worshipped by a roving squad of camera-wielding femmes. The film moves through bedrooms, club bathrooms, cars, arenas, and open nature — all the many sanctuaries where music actually lives. And through all of it, every thread leads back to the same place: the dancefloor.

What the Film Is Really About

Beyond the fever-dream visuals, the project digs into something more personal — the dualities that have defined Madonna’s entire career. Privacy versus publicity. Grief versus catharsis. Intimacy versus communion. Fandom versus collaboration. TORSO, whose work spans fashion runway films, commercial campaigns, and cinematic storytelling across live and digital environments, was tapped to translate all of that into something you can feel in a theater.

The cinematic experience is produced by Division, powered by Dolce & Gabbana.

Tribeca Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal made clear this wasn’t just a routine booking. “Madonna has spent decades proving that reinvention is its own art form,” she said in a statement. “Confessions II feels immersive, provocative, and completely of the moment, while still channeling the kind of nightlife mythology only she could create. We are thrilled to welcome Madonna back to Tribeca.”

And “back” is the right word. Madonna last appeared at Tribeca in 2008 for the premiere of I Am Because We Are, a documentary about children in Malawi orphaned by AIDS that she executive produced. Her connection to the festival runs deeper than just the New York City geography — Rosenthal told Billboard that a long friendship with Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary helped make it happen. “I’m really good friends with her manager, Guy Oseary, who has been with her almost as long as I’ve been with Bob,” Rosenthal said, referring to Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro. “She’s got an album dropping and it lined up perfectly.”

The Album Behind It All

Confessions II arrives July 3 via Warner Records — Madonna’s first studio album in seven years and the long-awaited follow-up to her 2005 dance classic Confessions on a Dance Floor. She’s reuniting with the man who helped make that record a cultural moment: award-winning producer, songwriter, and DJ Stuart Price. The album is available for pre-order now, with vinyl, CD, and cassette editions all in the mix.

Tickets for the June 5 Tribeca premiere are available exclusively to Madonna Community members, accessible only through unique digital access codes — so if you’re in, you were already in.

The post Madonna Brings ‘Confessions II’ Visual to Tribeca appeared first on Cream.