When you're a celeb and your name starts trending online, everyone rushes to Twitter to check that you haven't been involved in a scandal or tragedy. Rest assured, dear fans—Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Billie Eilish, Demi Lovato and Billie Joe Armstrong are all okay. They's actually more than okay, they were all just blowing up the internets Sunday night with their at-home performances in support of Elton John’s COVID-19 music benefit.The iheart Living Room Concert, which aired Sunday night commercial free on Much (and is available for streaming now on
CTV.ca), saw this generation’s biggest stars performing their greatest hits live from their own couches and living rooms (and in one case, private recording studio), filmed on cellphones and iPads, to raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross and other COVID-19 first response businesses. The concert also paid tribute to our frontline health professionals and first responders who are so often unsung heroes, but the stars made sure they were definitely SUNG last night.
Be still our '90s-lovin' hearts
Mariah Carey, who just had her
50th birthday anniversary on Friday, performed her classic '90s hit, "Always Be My Baby" from her home studio, accompanied by a pianist and backup singers (all live from their homes). Naturally, Mimi had a wind machine going in her own home studio. We’re not sure if it’s because it was hot in in there, or because she knows she just looks so FIERCE with her hair blowing in the wind—in either case, Mimi is as Mimi does.[video_embed id='6145773705001']iheartradio Living Room Concert: Mariah Carey performs ‘Always Be My Baby’[/video_embed]Nineties heartthrobs Backstreet Boys had some physical distancing choreography on fleek with a performance of "I Want It That Way." Howie, AJ, Kevin, Nick, and Brian were each at their respective homes, but their performances were edited together to present a quarantine music video to rival the original (jk,
who are we kidding?).
Shawmila 5-ever
Eternal relationship goals Camila Cabello and Toronto’s own Shawn Mendes performed an acoustic version of her song, "My Oh My" which features that rather apropos lyric, “sit next to me and you might end up catching a fever.” If that’s not an anthem for physical distancing and self-isolation, we don’t know what is! Camila’s vocals positively sizzled while Shawn strummed a mean guitar to accompany her. There was
no wild kiss to go with their performance, likely because swapping saliva molecules during this time isn’t the best message to send out into the world.[video_embed id='6145786975001']iheartradio Living Room Concert: Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes perform "My Oh My"[/video_embed]
Demi Slay-vato
Demi Lovato sang and tickled the ivories in unison during an emotional performance of her hit ‘Skyscraper’ that uplifted the entire internet with her angelic voice. The iPhone recording of her performance was flanked by two images of empty, deserted streets from around the world like NYC’s Times Square, which really pulled on our heart strings (but keep up the good quarantining, crew!). When she sang, “go on and try to tear me down, I will be rising from the ground,” the
internet bawled like a
little baby.[video_embed id='6145773023001']iheartradio Living Room Concert: Demi Lovato performs ‘Skyscraper’[/video_embed]
Billies represent
Billie Joe Armstrong sang an acoustic version of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on his chesterfield, which naturally became a trending topic on Twitter, but not for the reason you think. Sure, when he sang, “I walk a lonely road,” we all were definitely feeling that right now (#QuarantineSads), but it was his wee little doggo who stole the show. The curious pupper kept
leaping on the couch and interrupting him. Billie Joe at one point during the instrumental bars whistled and called for his dog to join him. Motion to have the snuggledog become the fourth member of Green Day. All in favour say "Aye." Motion carries.The Billie du jour, Billie Eilish, also performed with Finneas an acoustic version of ‘Bad Guy,’ on her couch with a stack of vinyls off to the side. Looking comfy with her leg up, and her slick and sly voice relaxed, we’ve never heard "Bad Guy" sound so suave and cool before.[video_embed id='6145771478001']iheartradio Living Room Concert: Billie Eilish and Finneas perform “Bad Guy”[/video_embed]After all that, and even more performances, we gotta say the best solace for a time like this is music and being #TogetherApart from the isolation of our own homes. We'll be keeping the concert on repeat
on CTV.ca for the remainder of the day, thank you very much.[video_embed id='1929892']BEFORE YOU GO: Meghan Markle wants to relaunch blog and write cookbook[/video_embed]
