After the news broke that J. Lo — who’s had a bit of fun with the celebrity gossip industrial complex on social media herself lately — had broken up with Alex Rodriguez, the peanut gallery got a huge chunk of fat to chew as the actress/singer was later seen out with former beau Ben Affleck. Not to be outdone or forgotten, though, Diddy made sure that followers would remember that before there was “Bennifer,” Diddy was the other half of a Lopez power couple — one that had its fair share of memorable moments.
Posting a photo of the two of them together with a #TBT (Throwback Thursday) hashtag, Diddy stirred up a veritable symphony of flabbergasted fan reactions wondering whether he was shooting his shot or just kicking up dust for the fun of it. For what it’s worth, for Puff to still be in the running after all these years, J. Lo would have to have forgiven him for getting her arrested after the infamous 1999 nightclub shooting that sent Shyne to prison for a decade and contributed to the couple’s breakup. Diddy’s a notorious optimist, and it has been twenty years, but if he really is calling his shot, his odds probably aren’t great after this stunt. Check out the responses below.
Diddy is super wack for that J Lo mess. If my ex posted me holding his hand 20 years after I left him bc his recklessness got me arrested after a shooting at a club, I’d be furious.
Knockout City is kind of like a lot of things. Its bright, endlessly-customizable outfits and gear instantly bring Fortnite to mind and the chaotic gameplay certainly reinforces that. It’s like a lot of frenetic shooters, skinned in a style that games like Rocket Arena have emulated without the instant replayability that has made similar titles Rocket League and Fortnite extremely successful.
But the early returns on playing the chaotic dodgeball simulator — whimsically set in a world where guns were never invented and scores are settled by gangs with high-tech dodgeball matches — are strong enough to make you wonder if Knockout City will be a game future titles emulate themselves. Unlike Rocket Arena, a game where chaos and confusion never really translated into fun, Knockout City is fun even when it’s frenetically busy.
Part of the allure is that, at its core, it’s very simple. The main controls are on the triggers, which allow you to catch a ball and throw a ball. There are varying kinds of special balls, power moves, and lots and lots of dodging and running, but the core mechanics are the timing of throwing and catching a ball. Get hit once and you can get eliminated with a second hit. Or catch a ball thrown your way and you can try to knock someone else out.
Once you get all that down and test out the mechanics, playing through the various modes of Knockout City is to immediately confront just how good you are at the game. Because despite its simplicity, it can get complicated in a hurry. Teamwork is everything, timing is key and working together to find isolated players and plunk them in the face with digital balls is essential. The learning curve is swift here, especially when playing against teams that are in a groove and know what to expect. If you’re going to wander off alone and not communicate with your teammates, you could get completely wrecked by a more experienced squad.
EA
Ultimately what makes Knockout City worth trying is that it feels like dodgeball, which is good because at its core, it is. Teams can go to work on individuals, and the fear of taking someone on with a ball in their hands is real. But making that happen in a video game is easier said than done. The game’s engine works here, and the physics are realistic without making things too simplistic. Knockouts don’t come cheap, and they certainly don’t feel it.
This is a skill-based game through and through, which means if you don’t have the juice, you can feel like a liability to your teammates in a hurry. Though there are few things more immediately satisfying than turning yourself into a ball and letting a teammate use you to plunk someone else, being the easy target for another team is a humbling experience no matter how quick the game goes. There’s an equity in there that’s hard to beat, though, and knowing less-talented players can’t simply VC-spend their way to glory is at least a bit of comfort here.
EA
EA launched the game on Friday with a Block Party event where the game is free to try for its first two weeks. With no level caps or restrictions on what you can play and earn, anyone still skeptical of the $20 price of admission can give it a try for themselves and see if the juice is worth the squeeze here. I’d just recommend playing with some friends, taking it slow and practicing a good deal before you let yourself into the competitive space, because things are already tough out there.
With the premiere of Loki is just around the corner, Marvel continues to share bits and pieces from the time-traveling Disney+ series as it slowly pulls back the curtain on Loki’s solo adventure after breaking reality by cheating death in Avengers: Endgame. In the latest promotional spot, titled “Chaos,” the Trickster God drops the line that will sound very familiar to Guardians of the Galaxy fans.
During a voiceover, Loki refers to himself as “Good… bad… a little of both,” which is almost the same language that Star-Lord uses in the final moments of the first Guardians film when he asks the newly formed team what they want to do next. Does this mean Loki will have a run-in with Rocket Raccoon and the others? Who knows? The Disney+ series promises a cataclysmic event on a massive scale, and with at least one Infinity Stone in the mix, the God of Mischief is essentially traipsing through the Guardians’ backyard. But with the timeline raveling apart, will the Guardians even exist or have the same members from the previous MCU films? Marvel fans will have to wait and see.
Here’s the official synopsis for Loki:
Picking up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.
Loki starts streaming Wednesday, June 9 on Disney+.
Logan Cemetery in Utah is home to one of the most creative and practical headstones to ever mark a final resting place. The headstone for husband and wife, Wade and Kathryn Andrews, features the dates they lived, some images that represent Wade’s life, and Kathryn’s fudge recipe.
Wade first passed away in 2000 and Kathryn helped select the images that went on his side of the headstone. When her children asked what she’d like to have to have on hers, she said she’d like her fudge recipe.
“She really loved people,” Janice Johnson, Kathryn’s daughter, said according to Lexington 18. “She would write poetry, and she would take fudge whenever people got together.”
The headstone has become quite the attraction at Logan Cemetery with photos of it popping up online.
Kay’s Fudge Recipe – The tombstone is a Marble slab and this photo was… #funniness #laugh #grin #jolly https://t.co/HTS50SeT7p
The cool thing is that Kathryn, who also went by Kay, knew that it brought people joy because it was engraved years before her passing in 2019 at the age of 97.
Kay may have left this mortal coil, but her fudge recipe lives on.
Lady Gaga. Mother Monster. Stefani Germanotta. It doesn’t matter which name she goes by, it’s undeniable that Lady Gaga is one of the most exhilarating pop stars of this generation. Ever since her major-label debut with 2008’s The Fame, she’s donned many hats: a human-motorcycle hybrid for her sophomore album Born This Way (which turned 10 on May 23rd), a Warholian figure for 2013’s ARTPOP, a smoky jazz singer who doubled as Tony Bennett’s BFF, a political advocate for the underrepresented youth, an Oscar-nominated actress (and -winning musician), and a businesswoman who oversees everything from her Born This Way Foundation to her Haus Laboratories cosmetics line. She even took the hat-wearing literally, going full cowgirl for 2016’s Joanne.
Lady Gaga’s journey is an inspiring one: from scoring gigs in the Lower East Side of her native Manhattan to trying to replicate the genius of David Bowie, Queen and Madonna to becoming a fully realized artist whose greatest attribute is fearlessly being herself. Her vulnerability and willingness to experiment with every inch of her sound and looks has rubbed off on a new generation of quirky singers, who now also have a chance at fame thanks to Lady Gaga helping to pave the way.
In celebration of Lady Gaga’s rising icon status, we present a ranking of our favorite songs.
30. “LoveGame” (The Fame, 2008)
Lady Gaga wrote “LoveGame” in just four minutes the day after she went clubbing, using a guy she thought was hot as her muse. The pickup line she uttered — “I wanna ride on your disco stick” — transformed from the song’s intro into a literal rock candy-shaped disco stick that was seen everywhere from the music video and her live performances to Halloween costumes. While it hasn’t aged the best compared to the rest of The Fame, “LoveGame” was essential in Gaga’s building blocks of her pop music takeover.
29. “Sour Candy” (Chromatica, 2020)
Here, the singer lets her guests take over the show. K-pop girl group Blackpink’s sticky-sweet harmonies bring the song’s title to life, charming listeners in both their native Korean and English tongues. Gaga’s vocals are somewhat of a moody shadow, looming over the infectious deep house beat (courtesy of dance-pop masters BloodPop and Burns) that’ll make mouths water all over the dance floor.
28. “Sinner’s Prayer” (Joanne, 2016)
The pink cowboy hat that Lady Gaga donned throughout her Joanne era founds its purpose on “Sinner’s Prayer.” A jangling “take me as I am” midtempo tune, it’s a heartfelt fusion of bluegrass, indie folk, and pop — a product of its eclectic collaborators Mark Ronson, Father John Misty, and BloodPop. Gaga isn’t looking for any kind of redemption here, contrasting the string of biblical references tossed throughout the song. It’s a wonder Quentin Tarantino has yet to snatch this to soundtrack his next spaghetti western.
27. “Teeth” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
The Fame Monster gave us the first glimpse of just how brilliantly weird Lady Gaga was going to become, and “Teeth” is the ultimate marker. Co-written and co-produced by New Jack Swing legend Teddy Riley, the track is a standout from the rest of the EP’s synth-pop. “Take a bite of my bad girl meat,” the singer commands over a wobbly, funkified production that’s lifted from the most guttural parts of the Bible Belt. Leave it up to Gaga to make oral fixations sound so gnarly.
26. “Million Reasons” (Joanne, 2016)
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The Joanne era found Gaga stumbling a bit as she tried to seamlessly meld country and pop. And while “Million Reasons” isn’t her strongest ballad, it’s certainly one of her most touching. The song’s tenderness appears to resonate with Gaga as well. It was the closer of her Joanne World Tour and she performed it nearly every chance she got, from the Grammy Awards (where it earned a Best Pop Solo Performance nomination) to her 2017 Super Bowl halftime show. “Million Reasons” even crept into her promotional run for A Star Is Born two years later, taking on a new life as the now-infamous “There can be 100 people in a room” quote.
25. “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)” (The Fame, 2008)
Sure, some fans may call this track “basic.” But not every Lady Gaga song is meant to smack you across the face with otherworldly synths. “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)” is refreshing because of its simplistic nature. Borrowing from ‘90s Eurodance melodies as heard in Ace Of Base, the song is irresistible bubblegum pop bliss. The Joseph Kahn-directed video amplifies this feeling, with Gaga embracing her Italian heritage as a housewife ready to find a new man in a ‘50s-inspired Little Italy dream world.
24. “Dancin’ In Circles” (Joanne, 2016)
Who knew Beck was such a freak? The experimental rock artist is the co-writer of this self-love anthem, which doubles as the millennial version of Divinyls’ 1990 classic, “I Touch Myself.” A fusion of reggae, ska, and pop, “Dancin’ In Circles” finds Gaga yearning for pleasure… if only her partner was around. The singer has praised masturbation before (see The Fame Monster’s “So Happy I Could Die” and ARTPOP’s “Sexxx Dreams”), but here she makes loneliness feel oh-so-good.
23. “Stupid Love” (Chromatica, 2020)
After Joanne’s lukewarm reviews and Gaga leaping further into the movie industry, many wondered if she was capable of returning to her original form as pop’s wild child. Well “Stupid Love,” the lead single from Chromatica, proved that spark never left. The blippy, disco-pop melodies combined with soaring ‘80s-style vocals transported doubters back to the early days of her career. It’s partly thanks to co-writer and pop mastermind Max Martin, marking the first time the pair collaborated. “Stupid Love” is a silly, joyous club jam that doesn’t take itself too seriously, leaving us all with no choice but to “freak out, freak out, freak out, freak out”.
22. “Electric Chapel” (Born This Way, 2011)
There’s a song on Born This Way titled “Heavy Metal Lover,” but “Electric Chapel” is where heavy metal is actually found. Whipping up the best of Iron Maiden, Van Halen, and Judas Priest into a blender, the track transports you to the genre’s ‘80s glory days as soon as that dagger-sharp riff kicks in. Like many songs on the album, it’s a stellar mix of religious and pop music metaphors, with Gaga substituting a traditional church for a chrome-colored safe space for fans and lovers alike.
21. “G.U.Y.” (ARTPOP, 2013)
ARTPOP remains Gaga’s strangest era, and it’s a shame that “G.U.Y.” got stuck beneath all the theatrics. A power-bottom anthem for the ages, the song is for the girls and gays who take pride in being submissive — but only in the bedroom. Standing for “Girl Under You,” Gaga teamed up with Zedd for a buzzing tune stuffed with clever double-entendres (the “retweet” line references the Twitter icon resembling the 69 position). The seven-minute-long short film took the song’s campiness to new heights, starring the cast from Bravo’s reality show The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills who revel in the artist’s over-the-top extravaganza.
20. “So Happy I Could Die” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
For most pop singers, a song titled “So Happy I Could Die” is more flippant than metaphorical. But Gaga has always been one to take her meanings a step further. This trance-like Fame Monster deep cut has a somber undertone, straddling the line of enjoying alcohol-induced liberation and fear of addiction. Throughout this inner conflict, she just happens to meet a lavender blonde that piques her bi-curiosity. Overall, “So Happy I Could Die” exudes pure euphoria that makes you want to ascend to the heavens after a single listen.
19. “Applause” (ARTPOP, 2013)
“Applause” signified just how massive Lady Gaga had become. She was no longer the NYC Italian-American girl struggling to find gigs at local venues. No, she was a bonafide superstar whose every breath relied on the praise of her diehard fans. That kind of codependency was the basis for “Applause,” which was written in the aftermath of the singer taking a six-month hiatus following hip surgery. During that time, she craved the attention from Little Monsters screaming her name at sold-out arenas. The music video, directed by fashion photography duo Inez and Vinoodh, was equal parts self-aware musician and off-the-wall theater kid. She herself summed it up best: “Pop culture was in art, now art’s in pop culture, in me!”
18. “Scheiße” (Born This Way, 2011)
Like the majority of Born This Way, “Scheiße” was the product of Lady Gaga’s tour bus recording sessions as she bulldozed through Europe during The Monster Ball Tour. The song is utter chaos in a way that only Gaga could pull off, kicking off with purely nonsensical German tongue. It’s a ridiculously catchy headspin of Eurodisco, techno, and electroclash found in the deepest corners of Berlin, wired together by whirring synths and a head-pounding bassline. “Scheiße” is one of her most liberating tunes, commanding the dance floor just as strongly as she commands female empowerment rights: “If you’re a strong female / You don’t need permission.”
17. “Swine” (ARTPOP, 2013)
If “Scheiße” is chaotic, then “Swine” is the mayhem that tornadoes around it. The ARTPOP deep cut is a melodic madhouse, with Gaga using her sexual assault by a music producer at age 19 as an emotional release. Being the genius she is, she transformed that traumatic memory into an unsettling call-out to those who take advantage of others. “You’re just a pig inside a human body / Squealer, squealer, SQUEAL OUT, you’re so disgusting!” she wails on the chorus, which she intensified during a vomit-filled performance at 2014’s SXSW. After the song is over, you’re left feeling repulsed and uneasy — not only by the predatory men that still freely roam the earth, but the inner demons that you’ve tried and failed to suppress.
16. “Just Dance” (The Fame, 2008)
Picture this: it’s the beginning of spring in 2008 and students who are just returning from break are still longing to party ‘til the sun comes up. In comes a relatively unknown singer from New York City who has her eyes set on dominating the pop world. “Just Dance,” produced by RedOne and co-written by Akon, was Lady Gaga’s drunken daze of a debut single. Using dance as the remedy for our problems, the song replicated that rush to the sticky-and-sweaty club floors for millennial kids everywhere. It was a sleeper hit: finally topping the Billboard Hot 100 after five months of being on the chart, showing Gaga was here to stay. One can’t say the same for Colby O’Donis, whose clichéd guest verse remains trapped in late ‘00s clubs.
15. “I’ll Never Love Again” (A Star Is Born, 2018)
Lady Gaga is at her best when she’s stripped away from all the wacky (but still beloved) synths and solely accompanied by a piano. She’s recorded plenty of piano ballads, but the Grammy-winning “I’ll Never Love Again” is absolutely devastating. Serving as the final scene of A Star Is Born, the track combines two tragedies: the fictional loss of Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine and Gaga’s real-life loss of her childhood friend Sonja Durham. Gaga, who arrived from the film’s set to the hospital just 10 minutes after Durham passed from cancer, poured every inch of her grief into the song and the scene. It’s one of the most powerful film moments that sits right up there with Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from 1992’s The Bodyguard.
14. “Bloody Mary” (Born This Way, 2011)
Love is the sweetest sin on “Bloody Mary”, one of the most sonically wicked tunes in Mother Monster’s arsenal. Here, Lady Gaga plays the role of Mary Magdalene who she called “the ultimate rockstar’s girlfriend”. Her unshakeable devotion is ultimately too seductive to ever make it beyond the steps of the Catholic Church — but that’s what makes it so satisfying. There may be Gregorian-inspired chants and promises to dance like Jesus said, but the warped vocal effects and pained shouts of “LOVE!” keep the song distinctively Gaga.
13. “Rain On Me” (Chromatica, 2020)
It’s always an event with Lady Gaga collaborates with a fellow pop star, and “Rain On Me” was no exception. She called on fellow Italian girl, Ariana Grande, for this uplifting single that provided listeners with hope at the start of the pandemic. They briefly dwell in their pain, but also churn it into positivity. During a 2020 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Gaga revealed the line “I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive” also references her ongoing struggle with sobriety, a subject she’s tackled since the beginning of her career. That vulnerability is what keeps “Rain On Me” weighted and not simply just a radio-friendly pop tune.
12. “The Edge of Glory” (Born This Way, 2011)
Born This Way celebrates the — ahem — glory days of ‘80s rock and pop, and “The Edge Of Glory” fully encapsulates the decade’s sonic freedom. It’s a total rush, with Gaga’s vocals ballooning enough to fill stadiums that would later sing along. Inspired by the passing of her grandfather, Gaga channels her inner Bruce Springsteen to stress the importance of cherishing every waking moment of life. And what better way to honor The Boss than by calling on Clarence Clemons? Here, the late E Street band’s saxophonist adds an additional feeling of hope to the already-galvanizing track.
11. “You And I” (Born This Way, 2011)
Where “Million Reasons” had a shaky attempt at modern country, “You And I” excelled at it. Gaga’s signature kookiness is still at the heart of this Grammy-nominated honky-tonk midtempo, but (like with many songs on Born This Way) she fearlessly tackled an untouched sonic territory. An ode to her “cool Nebraska guy” (the origin of her then-boyfriend Lüc Carl), it’s the purest moment on Born This Way. Drenched in whiskey and kisses, it was meant to be an All-American classic thanks to the sample of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” (Brian May plays guitar on the track) and production by arena-rock legend Mutt Lange. “You And I” also served as the introduction to Gaga’s rowdy make alter-ego Jo Calderone, who’s in dire need of a reappearance.
10. “Telephone” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
Lady Gaga and Beyoncé first gave the collaboration thing a try with 2009’s “Video Phone” from the latter’s I Am…Sasha Fierce. But lightning officially struck with the dynamic pair traded in a then-burgeoning technology for a more classic telecommunications device. Originally meant for Britney Spears, the Grammy-nominated “Telephone” is a pop whirlwind that was made even more crazed with the nine-minute-long short film that picks up where “Paparazzi” left off. Inspired by Quentin Tarantino classics like Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Pulp Fiction (which carried on the Reservoir Dogs-inspired “Video Phone” video), it follows Beyoncé picking up her best gal-in-crime from jail as they both plan a colorful murdering spree at a diner. It’s cheeky (“Let’s make a sandwich!”), dancefloor-shattering (“This is a DISAS-TUH!”) and just fun to watch two pop stars create magic. “Telephone” was such a spectacle that you almost forget that a powerhouse like Beyoncé is sparingly utilized.
9. “Poker Face” (The Fame, 2008)
Sure, “Just Dance” was Lady Gaga’s debut single. But if you let fans tell it, it’s “Poker Face” that signifies her major breakthrough. The chart-topping, Grammy-winning tune is a naughty twist on the popular Texas Hold ‘Em card game. But rather than playing for chips, Gaga is playing her man who doesn’t know she’d rather be with a woman. And her allure is just as addicting as the song, with its robotic Mum-mum-mum-mah’s, pure pop chorus, and lyrical winks like “’Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin”. “Poker Face” was saved from being too cheesy with Gaga’s theatrical piano rendition that was later covered on hit shows like Glee and sampled on Kid Cudi’s “Make Her Say” single.
8. “Speechless” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
At the time of The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga was seen more for her wacky costumes. But beneath the hair bows and bubble dresses was an immensely talented vocalist and pianist. She showcased such on “Speechless,” which could’ve fit in Queen’s arena-filling heydays just as easily as beneath the bright lights of Broadway. Written as a plea for her father Joseph Germanotta to have open-heart surgery, the ballad is an impassioned urge enveloped in ‘70s rock melodies. Do yourself a favor and check out her live rendition, which drowns the original with overwhelming emotions.
7. “Dance In The Dark” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
Ask any Little Monster to choose their pick for Lady Gaga’s most underrated song, and all signs will point to “Dance In The Dark”. It was meant to be The Fame Monster’s third single, but was overlooked for the ABBA-and-Madonna homage “Alejandro”. Nevertheless, “Dance In The Dark” remains adored for its raw body image themes. At first listen, it’s an orgasmic experience fit for the grittiest of BDSM basements. But once the lights go down, it reveals a string of insecurities of not wanting your partner to see your naked body. That sense of shame is cemented in the plastic surgery-referencing opener: “Silicone, saline, poison / Inject me baby / I’m a free bitch”. The tragic glamour continues with the bridge, which evokes Madonna’s spoken word on “Vogue,” paying respects to fallen pop-culture deities like Marilyn Monroe, Sylvia Plath, JonBenét Ramsey, and Princess Diana.
6. “Shallow” (A Star Is Born, 2018)
It’s hard to remember the last time a movie delivered a striking duet like A Star Is Born’s “Shallow.” Sure, it was exciting to hear Bradley Cooper explore musical terrain. But the thrill of the song was the humanization of Lady Gaga, who became the former’s equal while showcasing just how strong her vocals have grown. “Shallow” is all about taking a leap, whether that be with faith or love, and the pair dove headfirst. After winning two out of four Grammy Awards, the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song (among other accolades), and becoming Gaga’s longest-running No. 1 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart, “Shallow” has grown bigger than the song itself. Just like Cooper’s Jackson Maine couldn’t help but to take another look at Gaga’s Ally, the entire world couldn’t help but hit that “repeat” button just one more time.
5. “Judas” (Born This Way, 2011)
A theme song for holy fools everywhere, “Judas” is all about betrayal. But rather than a simple retelling of Judas Iscariot, Gaga crowns herself as Mary Magdalene as she struggles between choosing Jesus (righteousness) or Judas (temptation). Her lyrics about wanting forgiveness for her past sins are nearly stomped out by intense industrial-inspired synths. Even Gaga herself can’t make up her mind about the sonic direction, alternating between a robotic, quasi-Caribbean tone in the verses and bubbly power pop on the radio-crafted chorus. The gothic undertones come alive in the music video, which reimagines Jesus and his Twelve Apostles as a rowdy biker gang, with Judas played by The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus. If any other pop counterpart attempted to pull off “Judas,” it would fail miserably. But the magic of Mother Monster is that she can make something completely unhinged look beautiful.
4. “Marry The Night” (Born This Way, 2011)
Lady Gaga often turns her pain into art, and her trauma overflows on “Marry The Night.” Looking at the title, it may seem like a mere four-on-the-floor tune. But the accompanying 14-minute-long short film reveals both the turbulent and beautiful parts of her life story. “I’m going to be a star,” she tearfully says in the video, meaning every single syllable. “You know why? Because I have nothing else to lose.” She’s battled sexual assault that resulted in an unwanted pregnancy, debilitating mental health, fibromyalgia, being rejected by major record labels, alcoholism, and more. But what always saved her was her love for her family and, of course, music. “Marry The Night” is about wholeheartedly succumbing to your dreams. For Gaga, that meant finding solace in her hometown’s bars and clubs where she could create safe spaces and ultimately launch her career. Clearly, this isn’t meant to be your average fairy tale. “Marry The Night” is a message of resilience, tenacity, and strength all wrapped up into an irresistible dance anthem. What more could you ask for?
3. “Born This Way” (Born This Way, 2011)
They don’t call her “Mother Monster” for nothing. A longtime advocate for the LGBTQ+ and marginalized ethnic communities, the singer tapped into her maternal instinct to provide comfort to those who were shunned for living in their truth. When the infamous meat dress-clad Lady Gaga first teased this chorus during her Video Of The Year acceptance speech for “Bad Romance” at the 2010 MTV VMAs, no one could predict just how momentous the song would truly become. Yes, it directly lifts from the uplifting melodies of Madonna’s “Express Yourself” (the icon later performed a taunting mashup along with “She’s Not Me” during 2012’s MDNA Tour). Yes, it was one of Gaga’s first missteps as her choice words of “chola” and “orient” was met with criticism. But, like with any ground-breaking pop song, the controversy only added to its appeal. “Born This Way” is an anthem that blasts just as loudly through the streets of annual Pride parades worldwide as it does in the girl group poster-filled walls of Middle America’s queer youths. But its meaning manages to dig deeper than that, growing into a socio-political moment that’ll be etched in history books for generations to come.
2. “Paparazzi” (The Fame, 2008)
From Princess Diana’s tragic death to the brief downfall of Britney Spears, the paparazzi have become one of the more insidious yet inseparable parts of Hollywood. And on “Paparazzi,” Lady Gaga fields it through a lens of horror. The singer’s sickly sweet tone pretties up the track in order to disguise listeners from its subtle sinister qualities. Celebrities’ relationship with the media and the paparazzi is a shameful tug-o-war, all relying on each other to float above fame’s choppy waters. It’s her most clever song to date, perfectly balancing a double meaning of stalking both a lover and a celebrity. “Paparazzi” later solidified its place in pop culture history with the cheeky music video. With its references to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, it follows Gaga’s fall and rise to fame after killing her equally attention-starved boyfriend (played by Alexander Skarsgård). A year after its release, Gaga’s bloodied theatrical performance at the MTV VMAs that left her swinging from the ceiling proved she wasn’t your average pop star.
1. “Bad Romance” (The Fame Monster, 2009)
Ask any Lady Gaga fan about the first time they watched the “Bad Romance” video and they’ll detail the memory with excitement. For me, it was my freshman year of college: A few floormates and I gathered around my janky laptop to watch the premiere on her official website. Our expressions rapidly alternated between a fit of giddy excitement and jaw-dropping awe. As soon as that “Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah / Roma, Roma-ma / Gaga, ooh la la” buzzed in our ears, we knew we were witnessing history.
“Bad Romance” was the first taste of the formula that Gaga still uses to this day: pure pop melodies, nods to her love for ‘80s and ‘90s dance, pop culture references (the entire second chorus calls out Hitchcock classics like Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window), a radio-friendly chorus that sticks on the charts like honey, and a hefty dose of “WTF” weirdness that keeps the singer in her own lane. The song sliced through the cutesy pop that was weighing down the genre at the time, hypnotizing with its clamoring beats and shocking with an explicit music video. It’s sheer performance art that borrows from Michael Jackson’s love for over-the-top spectacle and Stanley Kubrick’s visual delirium. Here, Gaga is kidnapped and sent to a Russian bathhouse where she’s forced to perform for the highest bidder. But rather than settling, she burns it all (including the dirty gangster in her bed) down. In the words of Miley Cyrus, she couldn’t and will never be tamed.
“Bad Romance” made it clear Lady Gaga wasn’t a singer to be fu*cked with — an attitude that she’s carried throughout her career ever since. And even though she’s traded those iconic Alexander McQueen Armadillo boots seen in the video for a more demure look, the star continues to crush anyone who dares to step in her path.
Friends: The Reunion (HBO Max feature-length special) — The whole O.G. gang is back in one place, which means that Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Ross (David Schwimmer), and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) are all here. Sadly, Paul Rudd is not on the scene, but there’s a buffay (get it?) of guest stars here to reinforce why this pop-culture phenomenon remains popular to this day, and why, oftentimes, friends can become your family.
Rugrats: Season 1 (Paramount+ series) — The 2021 revival of this series brings the babies back into action mode, which means that Tommy Pickles is leading his gang on a whole new set of adventures, this time in full-on three-dimensional CGI rendering. In the debut episode, dinosaurs are on the scene while Tommy helps Chuckie after his intent to appear brave does not go as planned.
Ragnarok: Season 2 (Netflix series) — This coming-of-age drama with a Norse mythology framework returns to show us more gloriously breathtaking Norwegian slices of nature. Unfortunately, not all goes smoothly, given that the residents of Edda are dealing with the effects of climate change, including melting poles, warm winters, and drastic, unpredictable changes in weather. Mysterious inhabitants turn this into a bit of a cautionary tale and a lot of entertainment.
From Cradle To Stage (Paramount+ series) — This Dave Grohl-directed series follows Dave and his mom, Virginia, meeting up with another artist and their mom each week. This week, Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile arrives with her mom, Teresa, to guide Dave and Virginia around Ravensdale, Washington. Brandi’s trajectory from a tomboy kid to an openly gay artist gets the spotlight. Also, moms rule, and so does Dave Grohl.
Madagascar: A Little Wild: Season 3 (Hulu series) — Yep, this is the series that continues those lively, circus-life movies and the franchise that will (and parents will love this) never retire. Essentially, it’s a CGI musical comedy that follows four animal lead characters who live at the Central Park Zoo while dreaming big, as one does in New York City. And of course, this is all about never, ever declining to pursue one’s dreams.
Eden (Netflix series) — A city called “Eden 3” is filled with robots who no longer have human-boss types, which means that many robots now believe that humans never really existed at all and are only a myth. Naturally, a human baby girl shows up and throws the bots’ worldview into disarray.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC, 9:00pm) — Benson digs into an unusual case of domestic violence involving Garland’s injured neighbor. A conflict of interest? Perhaps.
Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC, 10:00pm) — Stabler’s checking the final boxes on his quest to find out who really wanted Kathy dead while Angela’s attempting to get her kids away from Wheatley, and Bell’s family files a massive lawsuit.
Rebel (ABC, 10:00pm) — Cruz ignores Rebel’s advice and uses a perhaps-wrong-yet-familiar source to find evidence on the faulty Stonemore valve. Meanwhile, teamwork is in order to help Ziggy get things done.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Bradley Whitford, Carlos Watson
Jimmy Kimmel Live — Emma Stone, Rory Scovel, Chloe Moriondo
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Michael Douglas, Billy Porter, Mustafa
The Late Late Show With James Corden — Emily Blunt, Elle King
Flo Milli, the breakthrough Alabama artist who put the early half of the quarantine in a chokehold with her fan-favorite mixtape Ho, Why Is You Here?, is nowhere to be found on the list of nominees for the 2021 BET Awards — and now, fans want answers. While the Best Female Hip Hop artist nominees include shoo-ins Cardi B, Coi Leray, Doja Cat, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, and Saweetie, Flo Milli’s name climbed into Twitter’s top trending topics as many wondered why she wasn’t nominated herself after dropping beloved singles like “Weak” and “Send The Addy” and featuring on Yung Baby Tate’s viral hit “I Am.” She was, however, nominated for Best New Artist.
Some fans complained that Flo Mili’s absence — as well as those of names like Chika, Tierra Whack, and Yung Baby Tate — constituted colorism on BET’s part. “If Flo Milli was yellow, then she’d be on the list,” asserted one fan. Another grouped Chika and Tierra Whack with Flo Milli, asking, “Wtf is going on???”
If Flo Milli was yellow, then she’d be on the list.. there. I said it.
“Flo Milli didn’t rebrand the entire state of Alabama to get snubbed like this,” one fan said. However, another pointed out the lack of statistical support for claims of the Mobilian’s popularity. “Everyone in the quotes acting confused on why Flo Milli not nominated when y’all don’t even support her offline,” they wrote. “Her mixtape peaked at #78 and none of her singles charted. Y’all need to stop showing fake love because she is talented.”
Flo Milli didn’t rebrand the entire state of Alabama to get snubbed like this @BET
Everyone in the quotes acting confused on why Flo Milli not nominated when y’all don’t even support her offline. Her mixtape peaked at #78 and none of her singles charted. Y’all need to stop showing fake love because she is talented. https://t.co/5rxmgNv0Bu
— jordan • they/them (@jd_occasionally) May 27, 2021
And while much of the outcry focused on Coi Leray’s two 2021 singles blowing up, they seemed to overlook her 2020 EP Now or Never, which was supported by a number of well-received singles, and the three years of foundation building she’d done with appearances on the Spider-Verse soundtrack and breakout single “Huddy.”
coi leray but not flo milli nominated for best female rap…i done seen it all
Of course, invested fans can spot a snub for any given award show and this isn’t even the first time that BET has been called out in this particular field. In 2017, Dreezy called out the BET Awards for including multiple women who hadn’t even released projects in the prior year, so while there’s no pleasing everybody, there’s at least been a tremendous amount of progress made in the years since. And hey, there’s always next year.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Following a recent series of on-air spats between Meghan McCain and Joy Behar that eventually resulted in Whoopi Goldberg exploding on McCain and ABC News president Kim Godwin reportedly ordering an emergency meeting to calm things down, McCain’s mom, Cindy, has weighed in on her daughter’s shouting matches, and she’s not a fan.
While stopping by Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show, Cindy was asked how she reacts when she sees her “tough cookie” of a daughter get into it with her co-hosts. After revealing that the family nickname for Meghan is “John McCain in a dress,” she said that she appreciates how Meghan “stands up for what she believes in,” even if Cindy doesn’t agree with some of Meghan’s views. But as for the recent spat of confrontations that required Whoopi to dress down Meghan, Cindy admits that it’s not too great to see for her as a mother. Via Mediaite:
“Yeah, from a mom – you teach your children to be polite and be nice to other people and all that kind of stuff, and it does make me cringe a little bit,” she admitted. “But again, it’s her job and it’s what she does, and it’s Whoopi’s job to keep the peace, so I understand everything that’s going on there. But as a mom, yeah, it does bother me a little bit.”
In Meghan’s defense, tensions have noticeably cooled this week on The View despite reports that Meghan allegedly stormed out of the emergency meeting on Monday. However, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long the peace will last.
This summer we’re packing up some bare essentials, loading up the car, and hitting the road with our friends for our first slice of real-live, full-on summer since the pandemic started. We’re more than psyched to start exploring the world beyond our local supermarkets and since last summer was just kept to our quarantine clusters, we’re ready to make some memories with friends we haven’t seen.
What better way to remember a trip with the people you’ve missed most than by taking lots of photos to document everything? But after all that time spent in isolation our photo game is looking rusty (selfie game and Pokemon Snap skills are on point, though). So to get some tips on how to snap memorable pictures, we reached out to professional travel photographer and Nikon ambassador Taylor Jackson for tips.
Before Jackson linked up with Nikon, he was hard at work documenting his travels and piloting a series that would take him around the world. So he’s got all the expertise we need to really help bring our travel photos to life.
“Maybe five or six years ago… I thought ‘I’m going to go ahead and make my own portfolio and travel on my own budget,’ hopefully, someone will see the benefit of having their brand tied to that,” Jackson tells me over the phone. “We were fortunate enough to partner with Nikon to do what would eventually become the travel show, Around the World. They basically left us to our own devices to go out and do what we want, and come back with 10 episodes and a bunch of shorts… it was a real dream come true that they trusted us to go out and do that to come back with a series we put on Youtube.”
Jackson’s Youtube is also full of other great photo-centric content from portrait tips to photography tutorials, so definitely check that out after exploring the advice offered here. Let’s jump in!
Taylor Jackson
Your photos have a tendency to look so hyper-realistic it’s almost otherwordly, what are some of your tips for capturing that otherworldly vibe in photos?
I think that most great travel and landscape photography is all about timing and being in the right place at the right time. So you, fortunately, have a lot of control over that, but it, unfortunately, involves waking up early in the morning to catch that morning golden hour sunrise or staying out during what would be a normal dinner time to get those photos at the evening golden hour.
A lot of it just comes from lighting and the right place and right time, some good fortune thrown in there as well as watching the weather and taking whatever opportunities are available.
Sometimes you get very fortunate and you’re in the right place and the right time and you have a camera, other times a lot of planning has to go into it to really make those shots come to life. A certain level of it is thanks to post-production as well, you have to know what you want the final image to look like when you start the edit to make sure that it fulfills your vision of what happened, you also have to know the possibilities of what’s possible in what you captured in the raw file.
Taylor Jackson
Are there any new photo tools you’ve discovered that have really helped your photo-taking and editing process? What tools would you suggest?
For travel and landscape and if you’re out in the world working on photos, Lightroom Mobile is really useful. I’ll be taking my photos out in the field and instantly be able to do an edit. I use to have to go home sit down and… it’s a whole process, but now when I get the image that I know is the final image, I can just go in and start editing right on my phone. That speeds things up a lot.
It’s unlocked a lot of potential in terms of what can be shared what’s currently happening and what’s going on and not creating backend workflow that really stresses you out if you don’t take many photos and you come home and have all these photos to go through. It’s really easy to just make those selections when you’re out in the field and then they’re just final images at that point.
Taylor Jackson
Your landscape and travel photography has a much different mood than your portrait work, what tools do you use to set the mood of a photo?
The lighting is so crucial to any moment, you can make something feel incredibly romantic or otherworldly, it has such a tremendous impact!
Especially around post-sunset, when it starts to get into that blue hour and the incandescent lights on buildings start to match with the sky, there are really some interesting opportunities when you start paying attention to those really dynamic times of the day. Maybe that’s only a 20-25 minute process from that golden hour to the weird blue hour, and if you really know what you want to do within that you can really create some cool and unique moments. They don’t seem like they’d exist in normal life yet they exist every day — you just have to start noticing them!
What about when lighting conditions aren’t ideal? How can you take a spontaneous photo to the next level?
It’s all about experimentation. There is opportunity within any light you’re given you just have to be aware of those and know what will work. That’s the most important thing. I’m never really in the most ideal lighting environments, especially when doing client work or out on wedding days. You maybe get 10 minutes over sunset but the rest of the day is usually in really challenging light. Knowing what’s possible and knowing to have people look towards the light or away from the light or to know when to meter for the background or meter for the people facing the camera.
There are too many variables but just experimenting and seeing what works is the best way to do it.
Taylor Jackson
How much time do you typically spend in post? What are you trying to fix, how heavy is your editing hand?
I try to keep things realistic to what is in the scene. I won’t be replacing skies or anything like that, I feel like you start to get into the more artistic side of photography at that point, which is totally cool if that’s something you’re interested in. But for me at least, anything that’s happening in that scene is fair game and I’m just trying to make every element look as good as it possibly can.
In post-production, I’m usually balancing the image overall for color or for tones, for instance in the sunset, if the sky is all bright and the foreground all of a sudden gets really shadowy then I’m going to bring that up a little bit in post-production just to balance out the scene as best I can but beyond that, I don’t do anything too crazy or anything that can’t be done in-camera.
That’s my personal limit. If I can’t do it in the camera or in the darkroom then I probably don’t want to be pushing past that. But that just comes down to style, overall when you’re putting together a portfolio of work on an Instagram page, if you do all these different styles it starts to look really eclectic.
Taylor Jackson
What post-production tools do you use beside Lightroom?
I’ll also edit with Instagram, believe it or not, it’s incredibly powerful now as far as an image editor, especially if you’re taking images with your phone, it’ll know how to interpret those images a lot better.
On the computer, I use Lightroom and maybe Photoshop if there are any specific edits I need to do that are more within the image, like if I need to fix a tree and I want to modify that so it doesn’t stand out, but usually global adjustments I’m all doing within Lightroom.
As a wedding photographer coming home at the end of the day and having 300 to 400 images to go through the speed of Lightroom really helps me out there a lot. When I’m doing landscape images I have more room to sit with the files, so typically a landscape image will go from Lightroom as a global edit and then end up in Photoshop for the finalization of it whereas wedding and portrait work goes through Lightroom and gets batch processed for skin smoothing and a few other small things.
Taylor Jackson
It seems as if this summer is going to be the summer of road trips. For those not willing or wanting to carry all this gear with them, what are the essentials tools you would need in your photography kit if you wanted to document your adventures of the summer?
For the photography kit, I like to go as simple as possible whether I’m out at a wedding or I’m ‘out doing landscape photography. It is nice to be prepared and to bring everything with you but I find if I put myself in a box I’m forced to be creative with what I’ve got.
I would say a 50mm Prime is a great tool to have out there. When you’re on a road trip or traveling with friends and family, the best thing to come back with is a few nice landscape photos but also great photos of everyone you were there with. I think that’s what’s truly important 10 to 20 years from now so a fifty-millimeter lens is definitely something that will make those images a lot better. I like the 50mm Prime because it separates everyone from the background with this really nice depth of field that looks real and natural and it’s not something you can just replicate with portrait mode on your phone, it feels completely different.
When you actually print things out, and you should print photos, it has a completely different feeling it feels like you’re in the moment again which is so cool.
Taylor Jackson
You take a lot of really great night photos, what tips and advice do you have for people who want to capture images at night with the same kind of vivid color and detail
Night images rely the most on your technology. You can do an okay job with the phone, but if you have something like the Nikon Z6II, the files that come off that camera give you almost unlimited freedom with what you can do, within reason. So with night shots I would really heavily on what’s possible in post-production, you can see the scene in real life but the way it captures it might not be there yet and it just needs a little finesse in post-production.
That’s something that helps enable that process, a great camera that produces great raw files.
Taylor Jackson
When international travel opens up again where is the fit place you’re excited to go take some pictures?
Tokyo Japan. I check every other day to see if Japan is open to foreign visitors. It’s an amazing city, I saw the movie Lost in Translation a bunch of years ago and fell in love with Japan because of that, and then as I got there I realized the experience can be really similar your first time. You go to Shinjuku and you see the lights and all the noise but by day three or four you realize a little bit more about what the city actually is like.
It’s the calmest quiet place in the world. You’re in a major city but the noise floor is so low you could hear a pin drop in subway traffic.
It is very strange and very surreal, I get completely relaxed and calm when I go there. Also, being from the Toronto area, I’m 12 hours flipped, so my workday is through the nighttime there — I have the full day to explore and I’m not getting hit with emails and notifications because everyone I know is asleep. The culture and the people are amazing, the food is incredible, its a place I’ve been a couple of times every year for the last 10 years now.
Taylor Jackson
I saw that you went to the real-life Mario Kart circuit in Tokyo, what was that experience like?
It’s crazy that that existed! It may or may not come back but I’m hoping it does its the craziest thing. You’re in street-legal go-karts in open traffic but you’re only maybe a foot and a half off the ground, you’re literally in a Mario Kart but you’re also in traffic with large trucks and taxis, it is absolutely crazy they are allowed to do that.
It’s so much fun you drive around with a couple of your friends in a group of maybe 6 or 7 karts, you get to select your costume before you go or you can bring your own costume, and you just drive around. There is a chase vehicle if you don’t want to drive, it’s a Tuk-tuk they brought in from Thailand, I think it’s the only tuk-tuk in Tokyo that I’ve seen. Even not driving the Mario kart is so much fun — it’s a weird experience that I’m happy exists somewhere in the world.
Who knew that in the year of our lord Olivia Rodrigo 2021, dating apps would be the battleground on which vaccinated singles and anti-vaxxers would wage their final war?
In case you missed it, President Joe Biden’s been working with popular dating apps like Tinder and Bumble to encourage young singles to get their shot. These platforms provide incentives for members who can prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. Sure, the real perk of getting jabbed is that your risk of contracting a deadly virus (that’s killed hundreds of thousands in this country alone) lowers exponentially, but hey, millennials and Gen-Zers want to get laid too. Win, win.
Except now, the anti-vax community is taking a page from Biden’s social media marketing push by offering up their own dating app specifically for singles who don’t get the COVID-19 vaccine. No, really. It’s called “Unjected” — we know, the jokes write themselves — and it claims to be a service created by two mothers in Hawaii who “believe in true science & the scientific method.”
According to the platform’s website, its creators believe that “Covid-19 vaccines are shedding dangerous spike proteins” and that “those who have chosen not to be a part of the trials have documented adverse events after being exposed to the Vaccinated.” Fact check: this is obviously not true. Still, the ladies want to offer a safe space for unvaccinated individuals to “come together uncensored through business, friendship or love.” Because, you know, public spaces like grocery stores and that annual family barbeque is now going to be off-limits unless you’re fine possibly dying from a completely preventable virus.
Now look, we can’t really tell if this is a parody, or just an idea so absurd, so devoid of brain cell function that it just reads like a parody. Also, anti-vax rhetoric is becoming increasingly dangerous for society as a whole, so we don’t want to downplay the seriousness of how harmful this kind of thinking really is.
But dammit, some Twitter comebacks are just too good to ignore.
To be followed up shortly by the dating app for those with chronic respiratory issues
I know this is far beyond the point, but as a former copy editor and a self admitted grammar nerd…shouldn’t it be “Uninjected”? I mean, “Unjected” sounds like a dating app for folks who didn’t propel themselves from the cockpit of a fighter plane that was spiraling to earth.
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(@Coolness941) May 27, 2021
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