iHeartRadio's Wango Tango 2021

DATE: June 12th, 2021
TIME: 7pm PST - 11pm PST (10pm ET - 2am ET)
LOCATION: Dignity Health Sports Park, Los Angeles
NETWORK: Broadcasted on over 95 iHeartMedia radio stations in 95 markets across the country & streaming on livexlive.com
MAX PERFORMERS: 5 (1 headliner slot & 4 regular slots)

CAL AIRING DATE & TIME: June 13th, 2021 at 4pm ET

PERFORMER REQUIREMENTS:

BOOKING INFORMATION:

Voice Announcement: Please give a warm welcome to your host of the evening, Dixie D’Amelio!

The crowd in the arena screams as Dixie D’Amelio walks on stage.

Dixie D’Amelio: Hello Wango Tango!!!! I’m Dixie, and welcome to the 2021 edition of iHeartRadio’s Wango Tango!!!! Tonight, you will be lucky to hear some of today’s hottest artists, performing their biggest songs live right here in front of us! We have… Rihanna!!!! Kelsea Ballerini!!! And our headliner… Keke Palmer!!! Among many more! Are you guys excited or what???!!! Yeah, I thought so. Before we begin, I would like to note that the entire audience is vaccinated. Let’s give ourselves a round of applause for taking that step to securing our nation’s safety!!



Dixie D’Amelio: Now, without any more introduction, let’s kick tonight off with our opening performer. You know her from the COUNTLESS hit records she has released for more than a decade now, and the hits keep coming! Get up on your feet, for Katy Perry!!

The stage lights are dimmed until they go fully dark. You can hear the audience getting excited during the small pause. As "Never Really Over" starts, the lights all flash bright during the first beat. There you can see Katy wearing a beautiful orange dress getting ready to perform. Her body language encapsulates the lyrics as they're being sung. As the chorus begins the floor beneath Katy starts to rise; it keeps on rising until the part where she sings 100 words per minute starts. She then jumps as her dress becomes some sort of parachute to gracefully glide her down. Of course, she is strapped onto a harness in case of an accident. She spins around as she starts singing the chorus for the second time. She lands on the floor as soon as the second verse begins. Hypnotic spirals begin to appear around the stage as soon as the lyric "I guess I could try hypnotherapy" begins. Once the second chorus comes on, Katy's dancers and backup singers start to elevate up as Katy did before. Then they fall down with parachutes that look like daisies as other types of flowers begin to invade the stage. A staircase filled with flowers appears to rise during the bridge and during the final chorus, she walks up to a throne at the very top. The song is at its end and fake flowers are shot everywhere in the crowd. The lights dim once again as "Con Calma" is being set up to begin. Katy made an almost impossible wardrobe change as she looks very seductive in the 90s like outfit. She commences her part and then Bad Bunny appears with a similarly themed outfit. The stage becomes a dancefloor as the song continues and the dancers play their part. In the midst of the song Katy's dancers on her side are all white California'd girls while Bad Bunny has all Latino men. Each of them has a partner to dance with while Katy and Bad Bunny are the main attention. The song ends and Katy falls into Bad Bunny's arms almost looking like they kissed.

Voice Announcement: From Hulu’s Love Victor, here’s Michael Cimino and Isabella Ferreira!

The two walk on stage.



Isabella: What’s up Wango Tango!
Michael: How’s it going, guys!
Isabella: No, I didn’t hear you guys over here. WHAT'S UP WANGO TANGO!!
Michael: Make some noise!!
Audience screams.
Isabella: We are so fired up to be introducing the next artist. She is literally my spirit animal! Her new hit is shaping up to be one of the biggest songs of the summer.
Michael: It’s called "Body", and that chorus is just one of the most addictive things ever!
Isabella: Kicking off her trademark Hot Girl Summer with her first Wango Tango performance ever. Here she is…
Michael & Isabella together: Megan Thee Stallion!!

As the presenters walk off, the lights on stage all dim. An electric guitar is heard playing some strings. Golden lights slowly begin to shine, revealing the stage set up. On stage, stands five background dancers all spread apart, wearing black outfits. In between them, there’s a large staircase in the center of the stage. The electric guitar stops, and there’s a brief second of silence. Suddenly, moaning sounds begin to play, and the opening instrumental to "Body" starts.

The main light on top of the staircase turns on, and Megan Thee Stallion is revealed to be at the top. Her outfit is an all-black two-piece bodysuit, covered by a sheer bedazzled gown. The audience starts screaming. Lifting her hand, Megan speaks into the microphone.

“Real Wango Tango ish!”


An idea of what her outfit looks like.

Going straight into the song’s chorus, Megan performs choreography on top of the staircase, as backing track vocals play. The routine entails her shaking her shoulders while folding her hands, and twerking. Beneath her, at stage level, are the five background dancers doing the same routine too. The camera pans between the dancers below and Megan at the top.

Stopping the routine, Megan raises the microphone to her mouth and begins to rap the first verse of the song. Initially, standing still at the top while rapping, she slowly starts to make her way down the steps. Arriving at the end of the staircase just in time for the chorus, Megan goes back to doing the same choreography from earlier. The dancers are now next to her, lined up in a triangle formation, and they all dance.



During the second verse, Megan makes her way to the right side of the stage, rapping as she moves. Stopping there for the chorus, she and the two background dancers there do the chorus’ choreography once more. Near the end of the song, at the final chorus, Megan and all the dancers are now back to the center of the stage. There, they do a more heightened version of the chorus’ choreography, giving it their absolute all. They finish it off lined up horizontally, bent down backwards, grabbing their ass cheeks from behind.



As the "Body" instrumental fades, the lights on stage dim, but a spotlight remains on Megan. She speaks into the microphone.

“What’s up y’all! Do we have any Hotties in the building! [audience faintly screams] I said, do we have some mother f-ing Hotties, in the mother f-ing building!!!! [audience yells] Exactly! Well, I’m so happy y’all had me here today. This is my first live performance in months! So I want to end this ish off with something special. Where my savages at??!!! [audience yells, the camera pans to a black gay in the crowd mouthing ‘period!’]”

Immediately, the iconic instrumental to Megan’s #1 single "Savage" begins to play. Since Wango Tango cannot afford Beyoncé’s performance fee, it is the original version of "Savage".

Megan walks back to the staircase, where the dancers are now sitting on the steps. She sits among them, placed in the center, and raps the first verse of the song. For the rest of the performance, Megan and the dancers stand up during the chorus and perform the viral TikTok routine to the song.



Megan finishes off the song with her signature “ahh!” sound. She takes a couple of seconds to breathe, being tired from the choreography. With a smile on her face, she ends the performance by speaking into the microphone.

“Thanks so much y’all! Enjoy the rest of the show!”

After a couple minutes of the stage lights being off, they turn back on and TikTok star Larray is standing on stage.



Larray: Hello bitches!!!! How are the girls and the gays doing tonight? Happy Pride month, period!!! Our next performer has been one of the most influential people in my life. From her fashion to her makeup to, of course, her music, she’s shaken the table in every imaginary way. And girl, if she’s listening right now, girl hit me up to model for Savage x Fenty. I would eat that down! Anyways, here is the legend herself. The Bajan Princess RIHANNAAAAA!!!!

Lights up on Rihanna in a white dress, with a slit cut from her thigh. The beginning of "triggered" begins to play as Rihanna sings, “Go figure.” The spotlight shines on her alone at the center of the stage. Symbols clash and drums begin playing in between “Go figure” and “you were the trigger.” The spotlight now engulfs the entire stage as a more upbeat, trap-version of "triggered" beings playing. Rihanna rips off the dress from the slit as it reveals a skankier, white mini-skirt and bra outfit. Rihanna begins rap-singing the lyrics. A hip-hop dance group forms behind her as Rihanna falls in line with their movements. As the song gets to the chorus, Rihanna goes back to singing. She then goes back to the rap-singing during the fourth verse. As the outro approaches, Rihanna makes her voice hoarse as if she’s in pain while singing: “You need to stay out of my way.”



The music then abruptly stops as Remy Ma is heard from the crowd: “Stop the motherfuckin music.” She then gets on stage in a similar fashion to Lil Mama at the VMAs, grabs the mic from Rihanna and says, “You, are you dumb?”



The instrumental of "Come Thru" begins to play as Remy says, “Remy, Mwah, it’s the REM-ix!” Remy hands the mic back and falls in line behind Rihanna and with the hip-hop dancers as Rihanna starts her verse. Giant milk bottles that weren’t visible before now come into view on both sides of the stage. As the chorus begins the milk bottles begin spraying milk into the air as Rihanna sings, “you make me wanna come through, quarter after 2, just to put it down on you.” Remy is then seen attempting to come to the front of the stage but security catches her and takes her off-stage as the dancers attempt to hide it. Rihanna finishes her performance, drenched in the milk that spurted out on stage, seemingly satisfied with herself. “Thank you so much Japan,” she exclaims as a gunshot is heard off stage.

Voice Announcement: Star of Disney Plus’ High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and now more commonly known as the reason we are tortured with snooze break up songs from Olivia Rodrigo, it’s Joshua Bassett!

Joshua: That wasn’t the introduction we agreed upon, iHeart??? Anyways, as a songwriter, I know a lot about what it takes to write an amazing song. Our next performer does too! Her lyrics have led her to dominate the first half of the year with 3 top 5 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including her very first number-one! Let’s give it up for Kelsea Ballerini!



The set starts with “in the way, in the way / in the way i used to” echoing throughout the venue. Kelsea walks onto the stage from the left side and begins singing "the way i used to" as the guitar pluck intro loops a couple of times. She stands in the center of the stage and sings the first verse. She has a mic stand and looks around at the crowd in jerky movements pretending to seem curious and shocked like the lyrics in the chorus suggest. As the song builds for the second verse she rips the mic off of the mic stand and struts out to the edge of the stage. She walks side to side on the stage occasionally stopping and grooving to the song. As the song ends with the “ignore me it’s just tequila talking line” she shouts at the crowd and they cheer. She makes some witty jokes about alcohol before getting more serious and introducing the next song. An assistant brings the mic stand to the front of the stage and hands her a guitar. She strums and begins to sing her hit "la". This performance is relatively straightforward as she sings and plays the guitar. For the bridge where she doesn’t sing anything but “ooooo” she pushes her guitar to her back and takes the mic. She bends down and high fives the front row of the crowd. When the lyrics begin again she stands up and finishes out the song. She thanks the audience for being so lovely and making her first Wango Tango so great. They applaud her while she walks off the stage.

Voice Announcement: Welcome back to the stage, here to announce her inferiority to our headliner, Rihanna!

Rihanna: I know we've had our differences in the past, but I've realized that I will always be inferior to you queen. Everyone, please welcome the Queen of R&B, Ms. Keke Palmer, our Wango Tango headliner!!

Keke's band starts to play as a sudden instrumental begins in the background. Smoke then surrounds the stage as the crowd begins to chant "Keke! Keke! Keke! Keke!" on a very continuous loop until she eventually comes to vision.



As the smoke clears, the instrumental to "I Don't Belong To You" plays. Keke is finally shown in a long black robe behind a microphone stand, as she begins to vocalize the first verse of "I Don't Belong To You". Keke looks back and sees her banner behind her, and starts to suddenly cry. "Thank you guys so much for being a part of this journey, it means so much to me that I've made it this far," Palmer states as the "I Don't Belong To You" instrumental continues to play. Keke finishes the "I Don't Belong To You" performance eventually as the bridge and last chorus hits.



"Alright guys, let's have some fun now! Nuff of that cryin shit!" Keke screams! The crowd roars as the "Bossy" instrumental begins to play. Keke strips from her covered robe to a white crop top and ripped jeans outfit with long hair and stilettos to match. Keke's backup dancers come from behind stage as they join her to perform. "Let's Go Wango Tango!" Keke says as she starts the first verse of "Bossy".



A pole is in the middle of the stage during the "Bossy" performance to pay tribute to the music video, which celebrates the stripping and sex work in general. Keke starts to perform on the pole as the last chorus of "Bossy" hits.



"So we just got done with two smash hits for you guys.....lets add another one? *laughs*" The crowd goes irate as the instrumental to "Heebiejeebies" plays. Keke starts singing her parts in "Heebiejeebies" as she goes towards the crowd for them to rap YoungBoy's parts, as he's not here with her. Every person Keke gave the mic to while performing knew all of YoungBoy's parts, as she was surprised herself. Keke wrapped up the Heebie performance back in the center of stage singing the last chorus of the song.



"Alright now y'all...y'all wanna hear some tracks from my album Free Yourself?" The crowd roars after Keke asks the question. Keke states, "Chile, let me get out these heels. Jonny!!! Bring my crocs." Jonny Braun, the CEO of Virgin Records, runs on stage to trade the heels with crocs for Keke.



"Ok then! Let's start with a fan favourite!" The crowd begins to scream as the instrumental of "Easy Breezy" begins to play. Keke skips around stage performing "Easy Breezy" with her backup dancers. Keke does an amazing dance break towards the end of "Easy Breezy" that has the instrumental looping.



More album tracks (with a surprise guest) are performed as "Something Real (feat. Chris Brown)" gets played. "Y'all may know my high yellow ass friend, come out here Chris!!" Chris Brown then comes out and runs to the stage to perform the song with Keke. The pair sounds crisp and clear as they perform "Something Real".



"It's time to start getting emotional y'all, let me get the stool and sing for y'all." Jonny then brings out a guitar to Keke. The more emotional tracks of Free Yourself begins as Keke sings her heart out to "Let You Go" and "Get Away" behind a microphone stand.



"The last song I will be performing is a song I wrote by myself. It's a guitar stripped down song, and the last song on my album, If you know you know." Keke then begins to strum the instrumental of "Lost". Keke sings and cries towards the end of "Lost". The crowd begins to scream and cheer as the end of "Lost" gets performed.



"Thank you Wango Tango!!" Keke yells. The crowd begs for more as the curtain closes to Wango Tango 2021.

In front of the closed curtains, now stands Dixie D’Amelio.

Dixie D’Amelio: One more round of applause for our headliner guys! Well, that’s all for this year. Give it up the last time for all our amazing performers tonight! Everyone did so well. Before we go, I want to say thank you to the iHeart execs for allowing me to host tonight. I was originally insulted to only be offered a hosting position, but I enjoyed it. Not to mention, it was either this or sucking some old white man’s you know what for radio play, so this was by far the better option! Have a safe ride home! See you next year! Bye!!!!