The coolest thing about being a celebrity (you know, besides the exorbitant salary and the access to, well, everything) may very well be the fact that you can request anything you want to your backstage area.
You can ask for white kittens and doves, or a “good quality peanut butter” whenever you show up to your dressing room. Nope, this is not even remotely a joke — everything you just read is a real request from people whose albums you probably have bought and loved.
Now, if you were a celeb and about to show up to your dressing room before a show or performance of some sort, you’d probably want some of the basics, right? You might ask for water, coffee, or maybe some basic stuff to munch on?
Maybe you’d want to something for your roadies or team, too. But if you wanted something even crazier — what would you ask for?
Would you ask for endless bottles of alcohol? Or dinners that change depending on the exact day of the week? Would you ask for fur carpets made of actual animal fur? Or chiffon curtains and vanilla candles? (And when we say “vanilla” and “chiffon” we mean exactly vanilla or chiffon and nothing else, damn it. Not silk. Not satin. Chi—ffon. CHIFFON).
So many celebs want very specific things (see “chiffon” above — a real request) while they tour, and it’s sort of surprising to us that they even ask!
What’s the most extra request you can think of? Trust us, these celebs have your wildest fantasies beat — by a long shot.
When a celeb wants all this stuff, their managers put it into something called a rider. This a tour document that stipulates exactly what a performer wants when they arrive at a venue.
Of course, some celeb riders range from the commonplace to the absolutely absurd — and we’ve tried to include only some of the requests from the most bonkers riders out there.
1. Taylor Swift
She needs to calm down.
Now, you wouldn’t be a very good millionnaire if you didn’t make some weird requests from the peasants that flock around you, and Taylor must know this. Her rider indicates requests for times before and after 11 a.m.
Before 11 a.m., she wants a grande iced caramel latte (she takes two sweet-n-lows, please) along with a grande iced Americano with soy milk (and then also two sweet-n-lows), and a slice of pumpkin loaf from Starbucks.
At night, girl is going wild with the yummies, asking for mac-n-cheese, butter, twizzlers, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream as well as a Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yogurt.
We hope you’re sharing, Taylor!
2. Mariah Carey
Kittens, please?
When Mariah Carey wants something, she gets it. Or, well, her team tries to.
In one of her riders, the famous diva requested not only “12 1 Liters of Fiji Water, 3 Bottles Chardonnay — Chilled, 12 Cokes, 12 Diet Cokes, 12 Vanilla Protein Drinks, 6 Sparkling Water (Pellegrino), 12 Melon Flavor Gatorade” and several glasses of wine along with chicken “warmed up”, she asked for “20 white kittens and 100 white doves.”
The ask was declined due to…er…obvious reasons, but still.
3. Kanye West
Alcohol machines? They exist, and Kanye gets them.
Besides the bottle of Hennessy, Skyy or Absolut Vodka, Patron Silver Tequila, and four 6-packs of Heineken, Kanye might also be ordering an alcoholic freaking slushie machine to his green room, which, hey, we salute you, Kayne.
That is legitimately the most extra situation we have ever, ever heard. There’s no proof that this is on his rider, but it certainly is something that he has had backstage at least once.
4. Drake
Does anyone want a shot?
Look, Drake is cool and sort of badass, right? That’s his whole schtick, at least (because we remember Drake when he was on Degrassi, so…). And if you’re trying to look like the cool guy, you’d better have a full bar.
Drake requires a bunch of alcohol, including, Heineken, Jack Daniels, Patron Silver, Pinot, Grey Goose, and Hennessey. Jeez, dude. You’re gonna be calling a hotline, but it’s not going to be Hotline Bling. It’s going to be 911.
5. Adele
“Squeezy, please.”
OK, so we never, ever want to hate on Adele. She’s the queen of vocal performance and BFFs with Jennifer Lawrence. But Adele’s rider is sort of worth mentioning due to its utter specificity, rather than its weird requests.
For one, she wants 12 small bottles of still spring water. Ok. But then she asks for 2 “squeezy” bottles of honey — which isn’t organic — along with six brand new mugs washed and dried with matching teaspoons. Also, she wants her sandwiches individually wrapped.
6. Katy Perry
No carnations, ever.
Aside from requesting absolutely NO carnations in her dressing room under any circumstance, thank you, Katy wants healthier foods: dried apples and pears, dry-roasted edamame, bowls full of fruit, potato chips (but only Kettle brand), Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio.
Specific stuff. Like, who requests a SPECIFIC brand of Pinot? This California Girl does.
7. Madonna
Flower-scented furniture, anyone?
When Madonna asks for something on her rider, she means business. Aside from “flower-scented furniture” (which, lol), she asks for her backstage area to LOOK like her actual home.
She wants only vegan food, though. It’s great to be healthy but asking for only vegan is a lot. It’s Madonna, though. We’d expect nothing less.
8. Jason Derulo
No Dasani water!
This rider is extra, you guys. For real — Jason is a serious dude is makes big-time requests, including specifying NO Dasani water or Tropicana orange juice.
He wants REAL utensils — no plastic. He also requests a make-your-own-salad bar, coconut water, a whole bunch of healthy stuff for his crew, and cold cuts or sandwiches which “must be accompanied by hot selections in order for it to be acceptable.”
Oh, and two boxes of Uncrustables just to throw something unhealthy into the mix. Jason also wants a “medium breed dog.” To play for “the day.” Cue images of said dog thinking, “What is going on here?”
9. Jack White
Guac attack!
Jack White of the White Strips is SUPER into guacamole, y’all. One could call him a guacamole aficionado. A guacamole expert.
Well, at least that’s what his rider makes it sound like — since he literally includes a recipe for guacamole (to be made exactly to his magical guac-ification) so that he can have his guac anywhere he goes. Yikes.
10. Tenacious D
A different menu every day.
When most of us think of Tenacious D, we think of their cool dude charm and anti-rock & roll behavior (one of their lyrics is simply, “This is greatest and best song in the world.”
But their rider indicates otherwise. Unless this band is trolling us–Jack Black is quite the comedian, after all–their rider literally asks that a different kind of food is supplied each day: Tuesday? Steak and seafood. Saturday? Indian food.
11. Marilyn Manson
Does the Antichrist eat Doritos?
If you’ve ever watched any Manson video, you wouldn’t stop and think, “He seems like a nice, simple guy.”
So it’s no surprise that on his rider he asked for expletives we can’t mention here, champagne, fine cheeses and — like any other normal person — Doritos and 2 percent milk. Oh, and the absinthe. He wants two bottles of the stuff.
12. Van Halen
“Absolutely no brown M&Ms.”
According to U Discover Music, Van Halen was pretty serious when it came to their tour demands. Take, for example, their 1982-83 tour rider, which asked for M&Ms (totally normal, right?) with ALL of the brown M&Ms removed.
Apparently, this was David Lee Roth’s — the singer — way of making sure his team had their eyes open. Imagine being the person who had to pick those bad boys out?
13. Mary J. Blige
She’s not a fan of old toilet seats, okay.
Mary J. Blige requests BRAND NEW toilet seats because god forbid she use a toilet that contains a seat that was previously used by any human.
She also requires her hotels to have only king size beds as twin-sized beds are “unacceptable.” She’s also very particular about the place settings of her plates and utensils and she wants frying pans. Frying pans! This feels odd, considering she also requests takeout menus from local eateries. Is she cooking? Is she ordering out? Who knows.
14. Nicki Minaj
The rapper likes spicy fried chicken wings (no thighs, lots of wings,) a large cheese platter, a deli tray filled with cold meats, and chewing gum.
Nikki also likes candles that smell like baked goods.
According to The Daily Mail, she also likes two dozen pink or white roses, bottled water, and some throat lozenges.
15. Justin Bieber
The singer likes a lot of odd things, like nobody speaking to him directly and having dozens of ironed, plain white t-shirts available.
His food demands, however, are pretty reasonable.
What do you think?
16. Christina Aguilera
Aguilera’s food requirements are very precise.
Her preferences are for environmental reasons and include an organic food spread without plastic or Styrofoam.
She also likes dried cranberries, soy cheese, Nesquik, and Flintstones vitamins.
He likes Swedish fish and peanut butter and cheese Ritz Bits
17. Alicia Keys
The singers needs three cans of chunk white tuna for her main meal before before a performance.
In her dressing rooms, you’ll also find Nutri-Grain bars, six packets of instant oatmeal, and an assorted fruit platter.
Keys also requests menus for top local seafood restaurants for potential dinners after the show.
Whose tour rider request do you think is the craziest?
It’s got to go to Mariah Carey, right? Asking for kittens and doves is pretty much the MOST extra move ever — even if it wasn’t fulfilled due to…being too extra. If it’s not Mariah, then who do you think is the most extra person on this list? In the end, here’s to asking for your want in life — and hopefully getting it!
