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Kelsea Ballerini & Arsenio Hall Bring Back "Greatest Hits"

Kelsea Ballerini & Arsenio Hall Bring Back "Greatest Hits"

5:47·By Gemma G
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YH goes behind the scenes of ABC's "Greatest Hits" with hosts Arsenio Hall and Kelsea Ballerini, who explain the concept of the show and talk about some of the show's epic musical pairings, including the Backstreet Boys and Meghan Trainor! We also chat with performer Gallant about his duet with Seal, plus we catch up with mastermind Ken Ehrlich and find out how LL Cool J and Wiz Khalifa saved the day!

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Young Hollywood

Greatest hits. Greatest greatest hits, Greatest hits. I'm Oliver Trevena with Young Hollywood. Here with Arsenio Hall, Kelsea Ballerini, Greatest Hits. This is it. So tell us about the show for people that don't know about it.

Kelsea Ballerini

So it's a six episode series and each episode represents five years from 1980 through 2005. And the biggest artists come in and either sing their hit or have someone collaborate with them or have someone come in and sing it for them. So we have collaborations like Bonnie Raitt and Andrew Day, Megan Trainer and Backstreet Boys, it's amazing.

Arsenio Hall

Yeah pause just for a minute and talk about Backstreet Boys and Megan. We freaked out. I like Nick more than her, but I can't let it out. He loved Nick Carter. He was like, I love the Carter. I'm like, you're a Nick fan are you?

Kelsea Ballerini

Yes, I'm a Carter fan.

Arsenio Hall

I would have gone Kevin. Kevin, I'd go with when I am choosing a basketball team. Kevin's a good power forward. Okay. I got you. In the music world.

Kelsea Ballerini

See now we're talking basketball and we lost her.

Arsenio Hall

You lost her.

Young Hollywood

Well to be honest, you totally lost me as well. I kick the ball. I don't bounce it. I'm here with this man, Gilat and this guy is with Seal tonight. Absolutely. Which is incredible.

Guest

Oh yeah, I'm really really honored and humbled. He can sing. He can really sing. Like legitimately sing.

Young Hollywood

And it's not your first time. We were just saying you were at Coachella.

Guest

Yeah, yeah, we performed at Coachella. We did crazy and then we did my song written gold. I couldn't be more honored to to be here with them again tonight.

Young Hollywood

Amazing. And you're singing crazy tonight. You're singing crazy tonight, yeah. Amazing. Which which I just heard came out the year you were born.

Guest

Yeah. Which is crazy. Which is yeah, it's insane. Yeah.

Arsenio Hall

Yeah. 91 was a good year.

Young Hollywood

This is true. This is true. And the show itself is bringing in, you know, back the hits from the 80s, 90s and and 2000s. Um do you have a greatest personal hit of yours?

Guest

I honestly really love Kiss From a Rose. Okay. Um I think that's an incredible song that is its own thing. It's not defined by genre. It's not locked down by time and it's going to live on for many, many, many decades.

Young Hollywood

I love that. Now you're singing obviously Seal's song. If you were to go karaoke this weekend, what's your go to song? What would you sing?

Guest

Oh man. I hate karaoke.

Young Hollywood

You do? Yeah. Well if you're gonna sing anyone's song. Oh, you have to. If I dragged you there, you'll be singing. You'll have no choice.

Guest

Oh man. You know, I would do a Disney song. Why not? Aladdin, A Whole New World. Yeah. Why not? Yeah.

Young Hollywood

I love that. All right. We'll go this weekend and we'll past. Okay, we're done. Okay. Have you heard the duets that have happened on this show so far?

Kelsea Ballerini

Yeah, I have a little bit, yeah.

Young Hollywood

Anyone specific that you're excited about?

Kelsea Ballerini

Um, well, I mean, I love Andrea Day. Yeah, she was working with Bonnie Raitt, so that's gonna be incredible. Backstreet Boys and Megan Trainer. Oh yeah, that's going to go on. That's gonna go off. It's gonna be fine. Gonna be lots of dancing, I think.

Young Hollywood

Oh yeah. I think so. In that one. In that one. Excited that you're here. You're you're everywhere right now blowing up, so uh I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Guest

Yeah, we'll be doing a show in 20 years and people will be saying Gilat's greatest hits. Oh man. That would be incredible.

Young Hollywood

How's this going? Because you're new to the hosting world. Yes. This guy isn't. Have you been giving tips?

Kelsea Ballerini

You know what? We help each other. It's just an energy that you have to have with someone which is what I've learned and luckily like we hit it off and we just kind of goof off the whole time which has been super fun.

Arsenio Hall

You can't fake chemistry. You can't. I've tried it. I've tried it. It doesn't work.

Kelsea Ballerini

Doesn't work.

Arsenio Hall

Tried it many times. Yeah. No, it wasn't.

Kelsea Ballerini

Why are you putting that out there? It wasn't. Never.

Arsenio Hall

That was a joke. That was a joke. That didn't happen. You knew her for two days. That was a date. It wasn't. He was there. It was Vegas. It was just weird. It was strange. It was strange. You told me you wouldn't say anything.

Kelsea Ballerini

This is what it's like on stage.

Arsenio Hall

I bet. The chemistry is amazing.

Kelsea Ballerini

Chemistry is amazing.

Young Hollywood

Um and you quickly told me something about last night. Someone pulled out and someone replaced. I want to talk about the pull out. We won't mention that. That's always. Yeah. Yeah. Oh.

Arsenio Hall

We're in a situation where we had an opening on the show because someone got sick. And then Ken comes in and says, LL Cool J and Wiz Khalifa are on their way. You talk about a superhero. Look at that. I'm here with the man behind the greatness, Ken Lick. This is amazing production. Amazing show. Especially for music lovers. It really is a music show. The competition element is minimal if at all but whatever age you are, anywhere between 15 and 55, you're going to know these songs. It's wonderful to see It really is, you know, it's a cliché, but it's this family of music. I'm excited. I'm actually putting my feet in stilettos. They want to move. They want to move. I'm excited. Yeah. Yeah.

Kelsea Ballerini

This really is a show that just appeals to everyone any age. Just music lovers. I love doing the duets. I love doing these combinations. They're pretty magical and you can see the love that the younger artist has for those artists that came before. There's amazing duets. There's people performing.

Arsenio Hall

If you guys could put two people on a stage. I want Lenny Kravitz playing the guitar licks on Beat It while Jason Derulo does Beat It. There you go. She didn't like my choice. See.

Young Hollywood

You must have made such a list for Santa as a child as well.

Arsenio Hall

Oh yeah, I have Deliver your presents. I want this. I want freedom, Santa. I want freedom. The coolest thing that happened since we've been here and I was hoping it would happen, but I didn't quite know. Okay. She performed. You did perform.

Kelsea Ballerini

Yeah, I got to perform.

Arsenio Hall

With someone?

Kelsea Ballerini

I didn't. I honored three of my favorites. Her all the personalities. Yeah. Yeah. I did Britney Spears, Shania Twain and Maroon 5. And it was my first performance with dancers and like I know we're like a sparkly bodysuit. Oh yeah. And the Shania hat for man. I feel like a woman video. Yeah. So it was like totally new for me.

Arsenio Hall

I used to reenact that video when I was a kid. The man I feel like a woman. It says a lot about me. Probably why I'm single. Let's wrap this up. Let's wrap this up. Let's wrap this up. Greatest Hits. Greatest host. Greatest hits. See there. ABC Thursday nights. Greatest hits. Greatest greatest hits. Greatest hits. We out.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Arsenio Hall

    Host of 'Greatest Hits'

  • Kelsea Ballerini

    Host of 'Greatest Hits' and performer

  • Oliver Trevena

    Interviewer for Young Hollywood

  • Backstreet Boys

    Featured artists in a collaboration with Meghan Trainor

  • Meghan Trainor

    Featured artist in a collaboration with Backstreet Boys

  • Nick Carter

    Member of Backstreet Boys mentioned by Arsenio Hall

  • Gallant

    Performer who duets with Seal

  • Seal

    Artist who duets with Gallant

  • Bonnie Raitt

    Featured artist in a collaboration with Andra Day

  • Andra Day

    Featured artist in a collaboration with Bonnie Raitt

  • Ken Ehrlich

    Mastermind/executive producer of 'Greatest Hits'

  • LL Cool J

    Saved the day by performing when someone fell sick

FAQ

What is the concept of ABC's 'Greatest Hits'?+
ABC's 'Greatest Hits' is a six-episode series where each episode covers five years from 1980 through 2005. Artists perform their hits, collaborate with others, or have someone else sing their songs.
Who are the hosts of 'Greatest Hits'?+
The hosts of ABC's 'Greatest Hits' are Arsenio Hall and Kelsea Ballerini.
Which artists collaborated on 'Greatest Hits'?+
Some collaborations on 'Greatest Hits' include Bonnie Raitt with Andra Day, and Meghan Trainor with the Backstreet Boys.
Who is Ken Ehrlich?+
Ken Ehrlich is the mastermind and executive producer behind the 'Greatest Hits' production.
Which artists stepped in last minute for a performance?+
LL Cool J and Wiz Khalifa stepped in last minute to perform on 'Greatest Hits' when another artist got sick.
Which artists did Kelsea Ballerini honor in her performance?+
Kelsea Ballerini honored Britney Spears, Shania Twain, and Maroon 5 in her performance, including wearing a sparkly bodysuit and Shania Twain's 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman' hat.

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