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Ke$ha opens up about how intimate she gets with fans a during her tours.

At a recent show, she pulled a boy onto the stage-something she does midway through each performance-but it was Ke$ha who was left speechless. “He started crying and he told me that the only reason he was alive was because of my music,” she says. “He’d never felt accepted for who he was, and through my songs he realized that there are people out there who will love him for exactly who he is, and so he decided to come out of the closet.” It was this interaction, however brief, that convinced Ke$ha (born Kesha Rose Sebert) to ignore the critics and focus on her fans. “I’m doing this to make people happy,” she says, “and that’s translating. Quite frankly, that’s the reason I think I was put on the planet this lifetime. I’m here to make music, so the fact that it’s resulting in a positive change is the ultimate payoff for me.”

Minaj talks about acting as her first love, and how it influenced her to bring more characters to her songs and performances.

What alchemy has positioned Minaj so neatly at the heart of the zeitgeist? Her prodigious musical and performance skills are crucial, of course, as is her imaginative glamour. “Acting was my first love,” Minaj says, and the former drama student inhabits her characters, from alter egos Roman Zolanski and his mother, Martha, to her turn as a creepy schoolgirl on Saturday Night Live. Whether she’s a vampire, a jungle guerilla fighter, or a sultry Cleopatra in her videos, Minaj sends a message: women don’t need to be sold by tired sexual clichés.

Even more up-and-coming artists have a chance to grace the BIllboard stage thanks to Cruze-ing to Vegas Battle of the Bands hosted by Mark McGrath May 18 at the Fremont Experience in Las Vegas. The winner will get to perform at the Billboard Music Awards. For more visit Billboard Magazine.