Month: December 2021

Of all of the hits in Snoop Dogg‘s massive catalog, the biggest is his 2004 Rhythm & Gangsta single “Drop It Like It’s Hot” featuring Pharrell. It became Snoop’s first Hot 100 No. 1, a position it held for three weeks in 2004, and it was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, ending the decade named the most popular rap song of the decade by Billboard.

In fact, many of Snoop’s collaborations with Pharrell have been wildly successful. “Beautiful” also hit the top 10, while “Signs,” with Justin Timberlake, was also a huge hit in its own right, landing at No. 1 or in the top 10 on numerous global charts. However, Snoop does have one major regret about his time working with Pharrell as a producer, which he revealed in a recent interview with GQ.

“What I didn’t get from him that I always wanted was a song with me and Jay-Z together on a Pharrell beat,” Snoop admitted. “Because I felt like [Jay and I] heard his beats the best, you know what I’m saying? We did his beats the most justice.” This opinion stemmed from a bit of friendly competition between the two rap vets. “Because that’s our producer; he’s our guy,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Man, that sh*t you gave Jay-Z was hot. Now you think I can get one better than that?’ You think Jay’s saying, ‘How the f*ck do you get this n**** ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot?’ I’ve been hanging out with you, and you’re going to give him that?’”

Elsewhere in the interview, Snoop talks about letting DMX record his final album at Snoop’s own compound for free, which became a key point in his negotiations to become the Def Jam’s creative consultant.. “[Def Jam] owed me [for DMX’s studio time], and I wasn’t sending no invoices because I did that for X and then X passed away. Charge to the game. He gave me that.”

You can read the full interview here.

Salut, mon ami! Tyler The Creator’s Golf Le Fleur line has been bubbling up for years now. What began in 2017 as a limited edition set of Converse Chuck Taylors in colors like Jolly Green, Solar Power, and Vanilla in the first wave, and Greener Pastures, Limoges, and Rhubarb in the second wave, the vision was to tie together different subcultures. “I wanted to put them in one place, that was important to me,” Tyler said in a release earlier this year. Now the collection has been developing into something deeper beyond just kicks.

Today, Tyler and Golf Le Fleur have announced the first fragrance in the collection, dubbed “French Waltz.” It’s described as a “rose-musk fragrance for everyone,” and is crafted by CPL Aromas, the largest fragrance-only fragrance house in the world. A look under the hood of French Waltz shows that it boasts an incredibly layered scent. It has a musk and sandalwood base, with top notes of mandarin, nashi pear, lychee, and magnolia, and mimosa, jasmine, rose and muguet as its the heart. It slots well with Golf Le Fleur’s mission of creating “a whimsical world that reflects the ideas of curiosity, color harmony, and opulence……le FLEUR* is by and for the sun seekers.”

French Waltz is a limited release in 100mL and 50mL sizes, starting December 13 at 11 a.m. ET here. Watch the vert artsy launch film above and check out pictures of the bottle and the display box below.

While “Watermelon Sugar” will be remembered as the defining single from Harry Styles’ late-2019 album Fine Line, “Adore You” was still a significant success in its own right: It had a respectable Hot 100 chart peak at No. 6, it was certified 4-times Platinum a few months ago, and it’s Styles’ second most-played song on Spotify with just shy of a billion streams.

Point being, “Adore You” is cool, and now Porches has added another dimension to the track with a cover. Aaron Maine strips the song of its pop elements and keeps his arrangement simple, with just vocals and Nirvana-style guitar.

Maine says of his rendition, “I thought it would be interesting to strip down ‘Adore You,’ this huge pop song, and see what happened. I feel like I was really able to get lost in it and create this kind of eerier and darker version.”

Meanwhile, Maine recently told Uproxx of how he’d like his music to be remembered, “Pure. I just would want people to think of me as someone who devoted their life to making art, and that the joy I felt creating these songs would be felt by the listener.”

Listen to Porches’ cover of “Adore You” above.

Jonas Brothers may have released their comeback album Happiness Begins in 2019, but 2021 marked a year of firsts for them. They brought their music on a North American tour that saw them performing at several iconic venues for the first time, including Boston’s Fenway Park. Thanks to a documentary crew along for the ride, the Jonas Brothers give fans insight into their exciting tour with the new documentary series, Moments Between The Moments.

The first episode of the five-part Moments Between The Moments series premiered this week in partnership with Messenger. Titled “A Year Of Firsts,” the episode takes viewers on a wild ride through the ups and downs on life on the road. The brothers may have been excited for the Fenway show, but the performance didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped. As seen in the docuseries, Jonas Brothers experienced some difficulty actually getting their tour bus to Fenway — all thanks to a hotdog cart blocking the road. In order to make their set on time, the brothers decided to just get out of the bus and walk down the street.

In his interview for the series, Nick Jonas explained why this year has been very special for him:

“My mantra for 2021 was ‘a year of firsts.’ Did a Super Bowl commercial this year, first time, hosted and performed on SNL for the first time, got to play Fenway Park, the list goes on. It wasn’t something that I could have really planned, all these things just kind of happened. Fenway’s another benchmark for the brothers to have played thousands a venues across the world and to still have places that we’ve never played on this tour alone — it’s pretty cool. It was the biggest show on tour. You could feel it in the walls, you could feel it in the ground. To be one of a few artists who get to play there is really special.”

Watch Jonas Brothers’ Moments Between The Moments episode one here.

While the question of which sibling has it worst in Succession is hotly debated, when it comes to which of the show’s stars is taking the most heat right now, the answer is much clearer. On Sunday, December 5, The New Yorker published a lengthy and bewildering profile on Kendall Roy actor Jeremy Strong, kind of implying that the Emmy award-winner was not only delusionally unaware of the show’s status as a dark comedy, but was also — to put it lightly — difficult to work with.

In the profile, the author reached out to quite a few of Strong’s Succession co-stars, as well as former directors and castmates such as Robert Downey Jr. and Aaron Sorkin. While their time spent with Strong varied a great deal, each person reached out to for a comment seemed to help paint this picture of Strong as comically intense about his work and status (much like his onscreen counterpart), with Succession star Brian Cox going as far as to voice concern over Strong’s methods, telling The New Yorker “I just worry about what he does to himself.”

However, following this somewhat humiliating onslaught on the actor, one star has come to Strong’s defense: Jessica Chastain. According to tweet shared by Chastain last night, the piece written by The New Yorker “incredibly one-sided,” using “snark” to sell while painting Strong in a very disingenuous way. Chastain said that after knowing Strong for 20 years — and even working with the actor on two separate projects — she finds him to be a “lovely person” who is “very inspiring and passionate about his work.”

“I’ve known Jeremy Strong for 20 years & worked with him on 2 films,” Chastain wrote. “He’s a lovely person. Very inspiring & passionate about his work. The profile that came out on him was incredibly one sided. Don’t believe everything you read folks. Snark sells but maybe it’s time we move beyond it.”

Unfortunately for both Strong and Chastain, it might take more than a few testimonies to change the public’s perception of the actor following this profile. With everything from his methods to his overall intelligence thrown into question in the piece, this incident comes close to being a real life, Succession-level PR nightmare for Strong. Based on the profile, however, Strong could very well be welcoming the trial by fire — it doesn’t get anymore method than this.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear notes that “your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits … you get what you repeat.” Basically, if you want to predict where your life is leading, take a look at your daily choices. And Clear is certainly not the first or last motivational speaker to promote this wisdom. Pick up any self-help book, and it will most likely tout the message of how small, incremental changes can have an enormous impact on our lives.

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A recent thread on AskReddit posed the question: What improved your quality of life so much you wished you did it sooner? For those of us who still can’t seem to tick off things like “drink more water” from the to-do list (despite knowing full well all the benefits) it might help hearing success stories from real, everyday people.

Here are some of the highlights:

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Swimming for back pain

“Drugs, bed rest for weeks, chiro, deep massage, electroshock. Then I swam some laps and over a three day period months of decrepitude vanished. I couldn’t believe and am now obsessed with swimming.” – DontShootTheFood

“Most people who have back pain (especially lower back pain) have it as a result of sedentary lifestyle (exacerbated by sitting in office chairs for a long period of time). Swimming is a fantastic total body and core workout which just builds and balances strength to reduce back pain. If you have pain due to an injury, it may not be as effective.” – hanksredditname

Managing road rage

“Someone wants to pass me when I’m in the left lane? Move over and let them pass. Someone wants in my lane? That’s ok, I don’t consider the gap ahead of me to be my real estate. Semi puts on their blinkers when I’m intending to pass? Let off the speed and flick my high beams to let them know there’s enough room to enter my lane. All of this helps traffic flow better, makes things safer, and actually feels good to do. And all it required was to stop feeling like all of those things were a personal attack on me and my desire to get to my destination.” – Buddahrific

Setting boundaries … even with family

“I used to feel like I had to hang out with people when they asked, and as an introvert would resent losing my ‘me’ time. Now I’m just honest with people and say I’m tired, or that I had a long weekend of Great British Bakeoff and dog snuggles that I was really looking forward to. Might sound lame but I’m 150% happier.” – Acceptable-Place0872

“…I’m in my late twenties and talk to neither of my parents. I forgive them for what they did, but I don’t want a relationship of any kind with them and have made that very clear. I just stopped picking up the phone, texting back, messaging back at all. My brother still talks to one, but he suffers for it. I know I made the right decision.” – thekindwillinherit

Exercising for more than just your body

“I wish more people knew exactly how helpful exercise really is for both mental and physical health! Throughout high school I was seeing psychologists for anxiety and other issues and they repeatedly told me to eat healthy and exercise to improve my mental state. It’s pretty easy when you are in a bad place to dismiss that and say ‘a chemical imbalance in my brain isn’t going to fix itself if I go for a run’ so I never followed their advice. When I was around 20 I got a gym membership and actually started exercising for unrelated reasons and WOW does it help a lot! If you have mental health issues, a healthy lifestyle might not totally fix you but it will DEFINITELY help.” – vindaflyfox

Breaking free from phone addiction

“Disable your push notifications in tandem with uninstalling all social media apps. It’s quite fascinating how much better you feel when social media isn’t installed. Bye bye FB/Meta, Insta, Twitter, all of it gone. Talk about liberating. Took me about a month of “training”, but now I hardly ever look at my phone, and I no longer feel phantom vibrations while it’s in my pocket. It’s disgusting how we’ve become slaves to our devices.” – dj92wa

Improving sleep

“I’ve been using my CPAP for a few weeks now and I actually know what it’s like to have energy and motivation and not be a zombie by 2 pm. If anyone else feels like that, I heavily recommend talking to your doctor about having a sleep study done.” – whomikehidden

“Sunrise Alarm Clock. I wake up so much better during the dark winter months.” – herbstavore

Decluttering

“…A consistently clean home is amazing and doesn’t take a ton of time. 10-15 minutes a day I can keep things fairly tidy.” – unwinagainstable

“Nothing feels so relaxing when everything is in its place, organized and uncluttered. This obviously goes for at home, but also a clean car, clean desk, clean and organized computer and filing. Taking notes and reminders and deleting them when the task is done really relieves the mind. You can relax and focus better when your brain isn’t cluttered and overwhelmed.” – KanataCitizen

Walking for an hour

“This literally saved my life. A lot of people think just going out for a walk has minimal benefits, but it has both great physical and mental ones. Highly underrated (and free).” – grittypitty

Journaling affirmations

“…it helps remind me of my values, which helps me make better decisions each day, and having done it for three years now, I can see the progress I’ve made in learning not to sweat the small stuff. It’s encouraging. I’m figuring myself out.” – babblewocky

Dropping sarcasm

“I thought this gave me sharp, dry wit but really it was one step up from a teenager’s whiney voice making fun of people. It really was a low form of humor and, indeed, the perfect analog to the pseudo-intellectualism of the cynical act. It’s so easy to be sarcastic and nasty and it gets old REALLY fast.” – zazzlekdazzle

Opting for positive content

“I stopped consuming true crime content this past summer. It overall made me a more fearful, less empathetic, and more judgemental person by nature. The content encouraged my negative thought spirals and called it awareness. Never going back.” – notwest94

Practicing gratitude

“It is small but it genuinely makes a big impact. I had an assignment for a university course last year where we had to spend one week noting down something positive/good each day and then the next week negative things and I hadn’t realized just how much my life has improved until the week where I focused on negative things, it really solidified how much of a difference it made on my mood, how I felt about myself, and even how much I accomplished.” – supersaurus65

There were some other great contenders: daily dancing, seeing a therapist, stretching before bed and at waking … just to name a few. But no matter the habit, they planted seeds for not only a new life, but for a new identity. As Clear would put it, “every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”

Let authors like Clear help guide you—and stories like the ones above help inspire you—as you forge a better path for yourself, one small step at a time.

Breanna Stewart‘s not used to spending her time away from basketball. Most winters, the four-time NCAA champion, two-time WNBA champion, two-time WNBA MVP, and two-time Olympic gold medalist is overseas in Russia, where she added a Euroleague ring to her collection in 2021. But after a surgery to repair her left Achilles tendon ended Stewart’s 2021 WNBA season early, the young star found herself having to sit idly as her Seattle Storm made a playoff run.

After a loss in the second round by Seattle, Stewart stayed stateside to rehab. With all that free time and no ability to get on the court, Stewart went virtual, partnering with NBA 2K and American Express on an exciting event at Staples Center this weekend, which will feature, among other things, Stewart clashing with Clippers star Paul George in the NBA 2K22.

Stewart spoke with Dime this week about the event, her recovery, and what she’s looking forward to in the 2022 WNBA season.

We’re kind of in the early stages of the W really being integrated into NBA 2K. So I’m curious, how did you get involved with this American Express/NBA 2K22 experience and what has it been like for you personally to get more involved as an ambassador for the game and the W’s place in it?

To be involved in the American Express/NBA 2K22 experience is really exciting not only as someone who plays 2K, but also really [loves] being able to be a part of the experience as well, and appreciate the pop-up and the opportunity to play against Paul.

Like you touched on, the WNBA hasn’t been in 2K for that long, but as I was preparing for this weekend and playing against Paul on Twitch, it just made me think of all the times that after a game or whatever it was, so many people on social media would (tell me), “Oh I just dropped 50 with you on 2K or I played with you on 2K,” and things like that, so really connecting the WNBA to video games and esports is something that’s helped our platform continue to gain eyes and gain viewers from a different direction. So, it’s exciting and it’s exciting to be part of this event.

Zooming out a little bit, it always sounds scary to hear “surgery” and “Achilles” in the same sentence, and I know there was a “minor” in there as well, but especially with someone like you who has a history with that injury, where are you right now in your recovery from that procedure and what was it like for you to have your season be so affected by that injury again?

It was really tough for me, to be honest, to be dealing with a similar injury at the end of the season. The hardest part for me was, like you said, having Achilles and injury in the same sentence, and it was my other side, the one that I didn’t have surgery on before.

A lot was going through my mind. I didn’t want to go through an Achilles rupture. I didn’t want to go through rehab. I basically didn’t want to go through anything. But that wasn’t really an option for me.

So to kind of, you know, be a little bit ahead of the game, I had the precautionary surgery, just to make sure I clean everything up. I have the time. I am not going overseas right now. It was the best decision for me. And I actually just had rehab this morning and I’m now walking in two shoes, so I’m very happy about that. No more boot. No more crutches. Getting back to normalcy a little bit.

Looking forward to next year’s WNBA season, the Storm will be making their debut at Climate Pledge Arena. Have you been able to see the arena yet and what will it mean to get an upgrade to a bigger, newer facility?

I can’t wait to be in Climate Pledge. To be honest, I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve only seen the pictures and videos on social media. And when the [NHL’s Seattle] Kraken opened the arena, I was still on crutches, so it was just kind of like a pain in the ass to get around. So I just wasn’t really feeling that, but I’m sure once I get back to Seattle, I’ll make sure to really get the grand tour.

But it’ll be nice, you know, it’s nice to be back in Seattle playing, it’s nice to be in Seattle center. Obviously, our fans, the majority of our fans are in Seattle. And that’s our home, that’s where we play. It’s not Key anymore. It’s Climate Pledge, but it’s gonna be awesome. And, you know, for those that haven’t played in that arena or in Seattle before, it’ll be great.

I thought of you a little bit watching the announcements come through for Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd and their NIL deals the past few weeks. If you’re able to put yourself in that space, how do you think your college career is different if you have that ability to build a brand and make money and get your name out there in that way?

Well, I mean, first of all, I’m really happy for the NCAA athletes to be able to take advantage of the NIL. It’s something that (has) been a long time coming and you can’t help but think about, you know, myself and the other athletes who made an impact in college and what would have happened in their college career.

But I think the biggest thing was it would have … I would have been able to really take advantage of my brand (from) the moment that I stepped on campus at Storrs and had that start then, instead of four years later. But this is the way things work. And to be able to kind of have a path to make a sacrifice to help the next generation, that’s perfect for me.

After Lauren Boebert graced the internet with a family Christmas photo that featured her and her children all brandishing guns less than a week after the school shooting in Michigan, the hosts of The View tore into the “shameless” Colorado senator and the state of the Republican Party. While the panel discussion was initially about Dan Crenshaw calling some of his GOP colleagues “grifters” and “performance artists,” the conversation soon shifted to Boebert’s photo, which the daytime TV show decided not to air because it was “too annoying,” according to host Joy Behar.

After co-host Sarah Haines ripped Boebert by saying you can be “pro-Second Amendment, and not pro-those kind of trashy pictures,” Behar wondered if there’s any chance of dealing with the Republican Party considering this type of behavior is becoming standard procedure.

Via The Wrap:

Behar, who dubbed the representative “Lauren ‘Bobblehead’ Boebert” took particular issue with the timing of the picture, considering that four students were killed in a school shooting in Michigan just last week.

“For her to put out a picture like that, shows that she’s completely shameless,” Behar said. “My question is can you even negotiate with shameless people? I don’t think it’s possible.”

While most of the panel agreed with Behar that there’s not much hope for the GOP, Whoopi Goldberg offered up her thoughts by pointing to Roy Moore‘s failed 2017 campaign. According to Whoopi, Republicans made a lot of noise about still voting for Moore despite his sexual misconduct allegations, but when they went inside the voting booth, they voted differently. As for the chances of that happening to provocateurs like Boebert when it comes time for reelection, it’s kind of hard to share Whoopi’s optimism that gun-filled Christmas cards will turn away Republican voters.

(Via The View on Twitter)

Jeopardy! is slowly but surely scrubbing away the taint of the Mike Richards hosting fiasco. A new champ, Amy Schneider, keeps racking up wins (while also taking time to call out Republicans after a lawmaker congratulated her on the current winning streak), and the two “temporary” hosts, Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik, have kept the train running smoothly with no controversy to be found.

Well, it seems that producers realize that they’ve got a good thing going, and as such, the official Jeopardy! account tweeted that things will stay constant with the two hosts for the time being. “We are delighted to let you know our excellent and experienced team in front of and behind the camera will continue into 2022,” the show tweeted. “@missmayim and @kenjennings will share hosting duties through the end of #Jeopardy! Season 38, and Michael Davies will remain as executive producer.”

As Hollywood Reporter notes, the dual-hosting scenario will carry through much of next summer with new showrunner Michael Davies sticking around, too:

Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings, who have been sharing hosting duties for season 38 following the Mike Richards debacle, will continue to serve in the same capacity into 2022. Producers Sony Pictures Television said Wednesday that the duo will remain hosts through the end of the syndicated game show’s current 38th season, which ends July 29.

Michael Davies, who has been serving as interim showrunner after Richards was fired after selecting himself as the replacement host for the late Alex Trebek, will also continue through season’s end.

Seriously, this situation could continue forever, and I don’t think Jeopardy! fans would be mad. Why rock the boat, you know? A split situation allows Mayim to keep hosting the show’s special editions (including this week’s Professors Tournament) while both she and former champ Jennings remain wildly popular with the show’s viewers. For his part, Jennings seems very at ease at the hosting podium with those old tweets proving to be no problem at all. Let the games continue.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)