For the past several years, Drake has absolutely dominated streaming numbers on Spotify. Several of his songs sit at over one billion streams and he was even named the most-streamed Spotify artist of the decade along with Ed Sheeran and Post Malone. But some of his Spotify stats have recently changed, as Doja Cat has now surpassed Drake as the rapper with the most monthly listeners on the streaming platform.
As first reported by XXL, Drake has 63,302,316 monthly listeners on Spotify, whereas Doja Cat managed to slightly beat that number thanks to the success of her 2021 album Planet Her. Beating Drake’s monthly listener count by several hundred thousand, Doja Cat now boasts 63,690,597 monthly listeners.
Doja Cat’s new feat counts as another career win for the musician, but she recently revealed she was starting to feel burnt out from hustling a little too hard. In a series of since-deleted tweets earlier this month, Doja Cat went off about how she never takes breaks from constantly working. “I’m just tired and i don’t want to do anything,” she wrote. “I’m not happy. I’m done saying yes to motherf*ckers cuz I can’t even have a week to just chill. I’m never not working. I’m f*cking tired.”
Planet Her is out now via Kemosabe/RCA. Get it here.
In the aptly titled preview, “Change of Plans,” Disney+ reveals that its upcoming Hawkeye series will switch things up a bit when it premieres the day before Thanksgiving. According to the new video, Hawkeye will drop two episodes on November 24, which is practically a whole Marvel movie to enjoy over the holiday. There’s also a healthy amount of new footage scattered throughout the minute-long clip, but sorry, no sign of Florence Pugh’s Yelena yet.
The new Hawkeye release schedule also puts to bed concerns over The Book of Boba Fett premiere. Before today’s announcement, the Star Wars series was set to arrive on the same day as Hawkeye‘s finale, which seemed like an odd move for Disney+. Sure, both series would no doubt perform well as far as views, but Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed over the summer that social media reactions have been an important metric for determining a series’ success.
With Book of Boba Fett and Hawkeye releasing on the same date, the two would have had to compete for eyeballs on social media instead of dominating the pop culture conversation as most Disney+ series have done so far. Now, it’s smooth sailing for both as Hawkeye wraps up just a few days before Christmas, which is fitting for the show’s holiday theme.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a Super Hero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton’s past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.
The first two episodes of Hawkeye premiere November 24 on Disney+.
Just days short of his 29th birthday, Lil Durk is quite the accomplished young man. In the 11th year of his rap career, he’s bigger than ever, thanks in part to Drake putting him on the 2020 single “Laugh Now, Cry Later.” After years of being a cult favorite, Durk has spent the months since Drake’s co-sign enjoying his status as one of rap’s go-to feature artists, lending his voice to breakout singles from Pooh Shiesty and Coi Leray, teaming up with Lil Baby for a joint album, and elevating singles from a slew both established stars and up-and-comers.
But there’s one thing he has yet to do that he’s now setting his sights on accomplishing: Finishing high school and earning his diploma. In an effort to challenge himself and expand his worldview, he announced his intention on Twitter. “I’m going to get my high school diploma,” he wrote. “I want to challenge myself on my goals and real life situations.”
I’m going to get my high school diploma I want to challenge myself on my goals and real life situations
His admirable intentions drew a varied response from fans, some of whom were supportive of his decisions while others ridiculed him for going back to school at the age of 28. But there’s nothing wrong with continuing your education, and it’s never too late to pursue any goal — especially one aimed at bettering yourself and setting a good example. I salute Durk’s decision and look forward to posting about his graduation, just like with Quavo last year.
When running around the world that NBA 2K has created for My Career it’s hard not to recognize the variety. When players are geared up in their off-court outfits, it becomes an opportunity for players to express themselves in new and interesting ways.
This is entirely by design. 2K wants players to feel like they have a wide variety of styles available to them because basketball is a multi-cultural game. It brings in people from all walks of life — Different ages, backgrounds, interests, and ideas — NBA 2K has given these players the chance to make the ideal basketball player in their mind. Of course, 2K is also a game about living the life of an NBA superstar. Sure, it allows the player to break out into other passions as well, but the idea of being an NBA star remains true at the game’s core. So gaining the opportunity to be expressive, but also still look like an NBA player, is what drives the clothing players can choose from when playing 2K.
“Being able to play and live the life of NBA players is central to everything that we’re doing with [My Career] mode.” Ronnie “Ronnie 2K” Singh told Uproxx. “So part of, you know, storytelling and being expressive is what you wear in the real world. So it was really important for us to think about that when it came to licensing. So, this has been a multi-year thing. But it’s really come to a place where we have the who’s who of the brands in the fashion world and a lot of it came from a lot of different sources like we got a lot of input from NBA players. We see what they wear and we wanted to again, give people the clothes that they see on their favorite NBA player to kind of live that life.”
The list of options available to players is honestly impressive. It of course has the usual suspects like Nike, Adidas, and Jordan but it also features After School Special, OVO, and Crocs. Wearing Crocs while running around a city designed for basketball players might sound a little weird, but it’s all about giving players the opportunity to express themselves through their fashion choices. While clothes don’t define someone, people can make the clothing they wear representative of themselves. If that’s what it’s like in in the real world, then it would be a disservice to players to not be able to show that same expression in the world of 2K.
“We’re really trying to give our player base the most amount of options in the way that they express themselves throughout the game,” Singh said. “You know, that doesn’t just extend to the clothing, but in the game, you also get an option of — What do you want to be? A fashion designer, or music collaborator as your side gig for the game. I just think the people really relate and connect with that…We have a wide demographic of people that play our game, a lot of different interests. So we need to be diverse in what we are offering.”
In a way, basketball has always been a sport where the players have expressed themselves through their fashion choices. From guys like Allen Iverson bringing hip-hop style to the NBA (and the ensuing pushback from the league with the dress code) to today where players will sometimes wear clothes that could fit in a traditional fashion show, this variety in style is an opportunity for players to give all of us a glimpse of who they really are as people. It’s also representative of what the NBA now values. The NBA is a league that wants its players to share who they are as people and their fashion choices are a perfect way for them to do that — a stark contrast to the dress code era. So it only makes sense that in a game like NBA 2K, where everyone is trying to live out their dream of being an NBA superstar, that they would also express themselves through fashion.
“It is all about storytelling.” Singh said. “You know, I use this example when I talk about our game in general, but it’s a great kind of corollary to the clothing world. For years basketball was about teams. We grew up in the Lakers versus Celtics all those historical teams. Well, you know, the NBA did a great job of moving towards you caring about their superstars. So now we know so much about Kobe and LeBron and Steph and all of the inner workings. MJ, obviously, Magic, and Larry were kind of the first people in that world where we knew a lot about them as individuals. Well, part of that individuality was what they were doing in terms of what they were wearing and their personal brands. We kind of took on that same mold. Right? Like we introduce my career into 2K10. We made it about you as a basketball player and then now, like, we’re making it about you as a greater influencer in the basketball world with these extensions, such as being a fashion designer yourself or being a musician in the game yourself.”
As basketball, and 2K, have evolved it’s become about something more than basketball. It’s a culture where we are constantly seeking out ways to express ourselves. What better way than to tell everyone who we are as a person than through our clothes? NBA players have been doing it for well over a decade so it only makes since that 2K has been embracing that too. Fashion is expression and these days in the world of 2K players have more options to express themselves than ever before.
Nearly a decade after the project was announced (and after a few scheduling changes due to COVID Delta variant concerns), we are now merely a month away from the first-ever live-action adaptation of Clifford the Big Red Dog hitting theaters — and even have a warm and fuzzy final trailer to prove it. Based on the upcoming film’s final trailer, it looks like we can count on it containing just as much love as there is pup, with some heart-warming moments and lessons about never making yourself small to fit into a world where others deem you “too big.”
Based on Norman Bridwell’s 1963 Scholastic children’s book series of the same name, the upcoming movie follows a young, New Yorker named Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) who lives with her mother in a small apartment. However, as she grows older, she never quite feels a sense of belonging — that is until a strange man named Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese) gifts her a strange, red puppy that will forever change her life. As her love for the dog causes him to grow to a preposterous size, Emily has to recruit her Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) to help her care for him. However, while Emily, Jack, and the community take to the pup, proving to Emily regardless of who you are you do belong, the government — fueled by a social media frenzy — threaten to take Clifford away from her.
In addition to Camp, Cleese, and Whitehall, the film features the talents of Tony Hale, Sienna Guillory, David Alan Grier, Russell Wong, and a what’s sure to be a fun Kenan Thompson cameo. While the initial report of the film being live-action (as well as the first look at CGI Clifford) was met with some scorn, Deadline reports the film has been tracking well and could be a real, heartwarming film for families, providing they feel safe enough seeing it with current pandemic conditions. Clifford the Big Red Dog will be released both theatrically and via streaming over on Paramount+ on November 10.
When she’s not on the road or collaborating with major brands like Popeyes and Revlon, Megan Thee Stallion is watching anime. She has so much love for the genre that she even partnered with anime streaming platform Crunchyroll for some eye-catching merch. Now combining her love of hot foods and anime, Megan joined an episode of Hot Ones to explain what exactly she loves so much about watching anime.
When asked about her go-to anime show on Hot Ones, Megan described the series Black Clover, which she says she’s currently watching. The rapper explains why she relates to the only character who doesn’t have magic, saying she loves proving to everyone she’s stronger than they first expected:
“My favorite character on the show is Asta because this motherf*cker is always screaming and hollering. Even if they’re in the middle of the fight, he’ll just bust out with some goofy sh*t. […] I just feel like I can relate to him, and a lot of the other characters in anime, because people will try to count you out when they feel like you ain’t sh*t or you ain’t got something yet. But you train and train, and you fight and fight, you keep proving everybody wrong and you keep beating the odds. I feel like, that’s the type of person I am.”
Watch Megan’s Hot Ones segment above.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
As the Dave Chappelle controversy continues to engulf Netflix, employees have been sharing internal conversations at the streaming giant, and what they reportedly reveal (according to Bloomberg) is a surprising bit of information about how much return Netflix is getting on its massive investments — and one of its smallest.
In a new Bloomberg report on how much “impact value” Chappelle’s special brings to Netflix, internal documents on the streaming company’s metrics show that Netflix actually lost money on his last special, Sticks & Stones, which cost $23.6 million. By comparison, the entire first season of Squid Game only cost $21.4 million, and it’s an international smash-hit that’s delivered record numbers for Netflix.
As Collider notes, Squid Game is also considerably cheaper than other Netflix hits:
At around $2.4 million per episode across its nine-episode run, securing the K-drama was also less costly than fellow top ten launches on the platform like The Crown and Stranger Things which, per a Variety report, came in at $10 million and $8 million per episode respectively. While still a lot of money, Squid Game was a bargain, especially in the age of increasingly rising costs for television shows fueled by bigger properties like Marvel and Disney seeping into the market.
These new internal numbers apparently provide an interesting look at Netflix’s inner-workings, which have been notoriously opaque. Most reporting on the success of Netflix series relies on Netflix as a source, which is not always ideal. More importantly, it raises questions about the streaming company’s strategy of dropping big bucks to secure A-list actors like the reported $200 million it spent on Red Notice starring Ryan Reynolds, The Rock, and Gal Gadot. You can almost buy 10 Squid Games with that kind of money.
Everybody is obsessed with Squid Game, the Netflix drama in which a group of desperate people competes in children’s games for a massive payout — only to discover that elimination in the games means death. People love the show so much that they’ve begun competing in their own makeshift Squid Games in real life (minus the threat of imminent death, of course).
One such group is the high-end sneaker store Patnmoon, which invited customers to compete in the dalgona challenge from the show, in which a shape must be pieced out of a circular honeycomb toffee without breaking the shape itself. The prize is merch from the store, including Chrome Hearts apparel, Off White Nike Dunks, or a PlayStation 5.
And wouldn’t you know it, the store’s staff convinced Atlanta rapper Lil Baby to try his luck, posting a short video to TikTok. Baby always seems game to play around with TikTok-ers, previously participating in a quiz of his own lyrics (and inexplicably failing somewhat miserably). This time around we don’t get to see how he did, but considering he’s trying the umbrella — the most difficult shape to carve out, according to the show, we can assume he probably didn’t make it.
Of course, Baby’s got more than enough money to just purchase the expensive wares at Patnmoon, so he was probably able to laugh off any potential losses — especially since no masked, triangle-faced soldiers were hovering nearby to punish him like in the show.
Following the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Ringer‘s Keith Phipps wondered where have all the sports movies gone. Now, you may think the genre deserves to be put out of its misery after watching the miserable Space Jam sequel and seeing the faith-based trailer for the Kurt Warner movie, American Underdog, but all is not lost. Halle Berry is doing her darnedest to keep the sports movie alive.
In her directorial debut, Bruised, Berry plays Jackie Justice, a washed-up MMA fighter who’s attempting to make a comeback. She’s also a mother looking after her six-year-old son. “I loved it because fighting is something that I just know so much about on a personal level and on a career level. I understand what it is to fight and not be heard,” the Oscar winner told the New York Times about what drew her to the movie. “I understand the trauma of life that makes one want to fight, need to fight, have to fight.”
You can watch the trailer above. Here’s more:
Jackie Justice (Halle Berry) is a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace. Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after her last fight, she’s coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi (Adan Canto) and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter (Shamier Anderson) who promises Jackie a life back in the octagon. But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny (Danny Boyd, Jr.) — the son she gave up as an infant — shows up at her doorstep.
In the magazine aisle there’s no shortage of suggestions to spice up your sex life with your partner.
They usually range from “duh” to … absurd.
Not a real Cosmo cover. But it sooo could be. Image by @Remiel/Flickr (altered).
While most magazine tips focus on what women can do for their male partners (I mean, there’s a reason why Cosmo has a reputation), a newly-released discovery is for the fellas.
What Canadian scientists recently found is an easy-to-follow tip that probably won’t be in the next issue of Esquire: Do your fair share of chores.
Sorry. I hate chores, too. GIF from “The Office.”
I know, I know. Sorry. But it doesn’t have to be so bad! If this did make it into the Cosmo and Men’s Health sex and relationship tips sections, I imagine it’d go a little bit like this:
“Think of her carpet … and how badly it needs to be taken care of. Then reach for the vacuum for a loud cleaning session to make that rug spotless.”
“If you really want an irresistible move to get her in the mood, try introducing plastic into your routine. Using plastic gloves while scrubbing the tub and toilet doesn’t just give your skin a relief from those harsh cleaning chemicals, but that cleaning sesh will really show you mean business.”
“To achieve sex-god status, you have to truly master cleaning the pots. Firmly hold the handle of the pot and gently scrub away that grease and grime. The clean, shiny insides of her cookware will really get her going. For extra points, clean the pans, too.”
If you’ve been following research on the effect of chore division on a couple’s sex life, then you might be scratching your head. This new research goes completely against a bombshell 2012 University of Washington study that said men doing what is traditionally seen as “women’s work” in the home leads to heterosexual couples having less sex.
But wait, before running to mop the floor a few extra times. It isn’t a certain qualitativeamount of chores that helps couples reach the sexy times jackpot.
The key to the couples’ satisfaction is whether the man feels he is doing his fair share.
While pouring over a five-year study of German couples and their sex lives, researchers found a trend for which couples had the most frequent and most satisfying sex: the ones who had a male partner confident that he’s pulling his weight in the household.
Sorry folks: Skipping doing the dishes in hopes of more romps in the bed is the wrong way to go.
The finding is helpful for cohabiting couples trying to balance their needs for both a clean house and sexual intimacy.
They only studied heterosexual partners, but I bet the moral behind it could be true regardless of gender. When people make a fair contribution to the household, everyone feels better and the couple has more opportunity for quality time.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
GIF from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
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