Month: December 2022

Harry Styles has plenty to celebrate this year with his No. 1 album Harry’s House and perennially No. 1 single “As It Was.” His equally world-beating Love On Tour snaked through Buenos Aires, Argentina, yesterday (December 3), and fans were treated to an appetizer.

Argentina defeated Australia 2-1 in its Round of 16 match during the 2022 FIFA World Cup behind goals from Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez. The match was screened at Estadio River Plate, and Styles sprinted out from backstage to cheer and egg on fans’ celebration after the final whistle.

Argentina’s quarterfinal match against Netherlands won’t kick off in Qatar until Friday, December 9, but Argentinians will happily pass the time at another Love On Tour show back at Estadio River Plate tonight (December 4).

If Brazil can get by South Korea tomorrow (December 5), then it’s possible that Styles’ Brazilian fans will enjoy the same World Cup fanfare around his Love On Tour stops across Sao Paolo, Rio De Janeiro and Curtiba between December 6 and December 14.

Styles is scheduled to continue Love On Tour with three dates at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, that had to be rescheduled from early November January 26-29, 2023, because Styles came down with the flu. After that, the UK superstar will head to Australia. See the full remaining Love On Tour schedule here.

It’s been a tough year for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as Mike Tomlin’s unbelievable streak of .500 or better seasons seems set to finally come to an end as the rebuild begins in Western Pennsylvania.

Kenny Pickett has shown signs of growth in his rookie season, but the Steelers offense just lacks the juice to be a consistent threat, in part because their rushing attack has stalled out. Some of that’s because defenses know the Steelers want to lean on the running game more because they have a young QB, but Najee Harris and company just haven’t been able to provide much support to the passing game this season.

Harris has been looking stronger in the last month but suffered an oblique injury in the Monday night win over the Colts, and coming off a short week that was a bit of a concern going into a game with the Falcons. Harris quickly answered questions about how he was feeling with a first quarter run that saw him shed a tackle attempt by a defensive back by dribbling his head into the ground like a basketball with one of the nastiest stiff arms we’ll see all year.

Harris might not have the same burst he showed as a rookie this season as he’s dealt with injuries, but he’s still an incredibly physical runner and if you don’t come with full force to bring him down, you might end up on a highlight reel for the wrong reasons.

Sam Smith will kick off 2023 with new music. Their fourth studio album, Gloria, is set to arrive in January and boasts a promising set of collaborations. Among the collaborators for Gloria are Ed Sheeran, Kim Petras, Koffee, and Jessie Reyez, the latter of whom will appear on two tracks.

This weekend, Smith shared a preview of one of the tracks called “Perfect.”

“I’m not perfect, but I’m worth it,” Smith sings on the track. “I used to love the nightlife / ‘Till the nightlife got too lonely / Might be time for the right guy.”

In a video, Smith plays the intro of the song, while wearing a t-shirt and jeans. When the beat switches, they are then seen in black underwear and pink lingerie.

Smith said in a recent interview with Michelle Visage’s Rule Breakers podcast that the inspiration behind their album’s title was both them and their fans, and their journeys to discovering their identities.

“I’ve called it Gloria because I’ve called that voice inside me Gloria,” they said. I”t’s like a voice in my head that just says, ‘You can do it’. And kids have just got to access that voice and feed it.”

Gloria is out 1/23/2023 via Capitol. Pre-save it here.

Check out the preview above.

Arianators are likely going to have to wait for a new Ariana Grande album because the two-time Grammy winner is busy transforming into Glinda for Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Wicked. Luckily, it’s impossible to tire of her existing discography. That much is clear on Spotify.

Grande’s Positions recently surpassed four billion streams on Spotify and became her fifth album to eclipse that mark, according to Pop Crave and Spotify Daily Data. The album’s title track became Grande’s sixth No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Her other four albums to have reached at least four billion Spotify streams are 2019’s Thank U, Next, 2018’s Sweetener, 2016’s Dangerous Woman, and 2014’s My Everything.

The Instagram fan page @honeymoonavenue posted about the accomplishment, which Grande shared to her Instagram Story with a heart and “thank you.”

Spotify dominated the news cycle last week because of Spotify Wrapped. The personalized recap released annually by the streaming giant gifted top listeners with recorded thank-you videos from the likes of Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Blackpink, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Baby, and more.

According to Spotify, the top-five most-streamed artists globally in 2022 were Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, and BTS. Whenever Grande chooses to drop again, she’ll likely reclaim her rightful place near the top.

Pro tip: Don’t come at Cardi B. The diamond-certified rapper performed at the Chase Sapphire Lounge on Friday, December 2, as part of the annual Art Basel festivities in Miami Beach. One hater tweeted, “Grammy winner Cardi B performing in someone’s backyard.” Cardi clapped back with a paystub for $1 million. The exchange has since been deleted, but it was captured and subsequently set the internet on fire.

“I got payed [sic] 1 million dollars to perform at this elite bankers event private event for 400 people and only for 35 minutes… … THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU TYPE ABOUT THIS GRAMMY WINNER,” Cardi B responded.

People also criticized what she wore during the set — an au natural bodysuit. “Sooo was this worn for cthat bankers event,” one Tweeter asked with the rolling eyes emoji, eyeballs emoji and skull emoji.” Cardi responded, “Yes … it’s a custom Jean Paul Gaultier look and it represent the purest form of women bodies.”

Cardi posted photos from her performance from her short but lively set, while other footage shows that her “Tomorrow 2” collaborator GloRilla joined her for part of it.

Offset, Cardi’s husband of five years, also performed at Art Basel and dedicated his performance to Takeoff, his cousin and fellow Migos member Takeoff who was fatally shot on November 1 in Houston. Cardi’s Chase Sapphire Lounge performance briefly lifted his spirits — she previously said she’s been “feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy” in the aftermath of Takeoff’s tragic passing — according to NSFW texts tweeted by Cardi.

Yesterday (December 3), Offset shared another online tribute to Takeoff. He tweeted an animation of the late 28-year-old with the message, “I miss you bra tryna push through the pain.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Only one person had a worse Thanksgiving than Donald Trump: His name is James Michael Grimes, and he’s the guy who spent the holiday trapped in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship. For 20 hours he managed to stay alive, though at the time the news broke it wasn’t clear how. It still isn’t entirely clear, but he recently opened up to Good Morning America, telling a wild story about eating unusual things to stay alive and fending off sea creatures.

Grimes told GMA that on Thanksgiving Eve he had a couple drinks while on board a Carnival cruise ship. Though he wasn’t drunk, he doesn’t remember what happened between when he told his sister he was going to the bathroom and awaking to find himself in the water, with no ship in sight.

For the next 20 hours, he managed to tread water and battle jellyfish. At one point he encountered some unidentified critter with a fin.

“It came up on me really quick and I went under, and I could see it. And it wasn’t a shark, I don’t believe,” Grimes recalled. “But it had more like a flat mouth, and it came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was, all I could see was a fin.”

How did he keep up his energy over the long time? By eating what he could, including bamboo that floated by him.

“It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater,” Grimes said. “I was never accepting that this is it — this is going to be the end of my life.”

It wasn’t until late into Thanksgiving Day, around 8:25 pm, that a Coast Guard tanker spotted him and fished him out of the water. Not only did he miraculously survive, but his condition was stable. Surely Hollywood will be calling him, ready to gift the world with the next 127 Hours.

(Via Insider)

It appears The Weeknd will close out the year the same way he opened it — by dropping new music. Back in January, he released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM. This month, it appears he will drop a new single for Avatar: The Way Of Water.

Today (December 4), The Weeknd shared a snippet of what seems to be a new song on social media. Though the audio snippet only comprised of an instrumental and no lyrics, the audio was accompanied by an image of the Avatar logo. At the bottom of the screen was what seemed to be a release date, reading, “12.16.22.”

The Weeknd has had quite an impressive journey over the past decade. 10 years ago, he released his three breakthrough mixtapes, House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence, in the form of a compilation called Trilogy, following the breakthrough of his song, “Wicked Games.”

Now, it looks like his music is going to be on the soundtrack for one of the most anticipated movies of the year.

In a recent interview with his hometown paper, Toronto Star, he expressed what’s next for him, after he’s achieved pop superstardom.

I just follow the creative visions I have in whatever medium of art they come and am compelled to share it with as many people as are open to it.

Check out the preview above.

Going into conference championship weekend, there was a chance for this year’s College Football Playoff to be a very simple decision from the committee. Wins by Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and USC in their respective conference championship games would’ve ensured those four would play for the national title.

However, after USC got smoked by Utah on Friday night and TCU took a gutting overtime loss on Saturday afternoon, the committee suddenly found itself having some very difficult decisions to make. After a week of talk about how we might finally get a Playoff without Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson, the Tide and the Buckeyes were thrust back into discussion by USC and TCU faltering. Most observers believed the Horned Frogs deserved to remain in the field given it was their first loss, with the question being who would replace USC.

Ohio State’s case was that their lone loss was to the No. 2 team in the country, where they were competitive for three quarters before the floodgates opened. For Alabama, the argument is they suffered their two losses on the road by a combined 4 points against top-15 opponents, but they needed the committee to be really invested in power ratings to jump either Ohio State or TCU for that final spot.

Ultimately, it was the Buckeyes that won out on the final spot, with TCU remaining at No. 3 despite their loss, setting up a very intriguing pair of semifinals in Atlanta and Phoenix.

PEACH BOWL (Dec. 31, 8 p.m. ET): 1. Georgia vs. 4. Ohio State
FIESTA BOWL (Dec. 31, 4 p.m. ET): 2. Michigan vs. 3. TCU

Georgia-Ohio State is the type of matchup you’d expect to see in a national title game and the Buckeyes will have to prove they can handle the physicality of Georgia after they got leaned on and eventually broken down by a similarly tough Michigan team in their lone loss of the season. The Wolverines, meanwhile, avoid having to have the immediate rematch with the Buckeyes and take on a TCU team that simply never goes away, and will present a unique challenge this Michigan team hasn’t faced yet.

Alabama finished fifth, with Tennessee finishing sixth, as they both leaped above USC in the final rankings.

Nick Cannon’s spirits were high this week. He brought his Wild ‘N Out crew to Madison Square Garden — alongside A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Bobby Shmurda and GloRilla — and hilariously poked fun at himself for the world’s population hitting eight billion people with a video showing him stress-shopping for his 11 children this holiday season. But the Masked Singer host was forced to press pause.

“Okay, so I guess I’m not Superman…” Cannon posted to Instagram on Friday (December 2). In the photos, he’s masked in a hospital bed. “I promised myself I would never be back at this place again… But this is a great lesson to take care of YOU or YOU won’t be able to take care of everyone else. Don’t trip though, I don’t need any well wishes or prayers, just some solid rest and I will be back on the journey to becoming stronger than ever.”

“It’s just pneumonia, nothing I can’t handle,” Cannon continued. “Crazy thing is, last night we was just rocking a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden in front of thousands of fans, now I’m all alone in a tiny hospital room. Life is definitely a rollercoaster! #LupusWarrior.”

Cannon’s peers showered him with well wishes and prayers. ASAP Rocky wrote, “Sending love, recover soon brother.” Deion Sanders added, “God has u covered my brother! Hear him now.” Angela Yee, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Marlon Wayans, Larenz Tate, Jeremih, Heidi Klum, and more also flooded the comments.

Cannon was diagnosed with lupus in 2012 and is an official “Lupus Warrior” for the Lupus Foundation of America. He most recently welcomed his 11th child, Beautiful Zeppelin Cannon, on November 11.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Reboots have been all the rage for a while, but there are still plenty of shows that have fallen through the revival cracks. One of them is Kenan & Kel, the beloved ‘90s Nickelodeon show that made names out of stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. The two have spent years threatening to team back up, but so far they’ve only settled for fun little one-offs. Another of those took place on the latest SNL.

The sketch started out Kel-less. In a pre-taped segment, Thompson explained that the show had been revived, sort of: Instead of Kel, Kenan was joined by episode host Keke Palmer, who was all of two years old when the show premiered. At first she makes a fine Kel replacement, doing her own schtick. Then she starts getting overly dramatic, breaking the lighthearted spell by talking about things like crime in “Chi-Raq” and claiming Kenan is the father of her baby (prompting Palmer to show off her very real baby bump).

As Kenan & Kelly wrestles with tone issues, in, finally, walks Kel, who at first is up to his old shenanigans, proving more interested in orange soda than catching up with an old friend. Then tragedy ensues. But there’s a happy ending: Kenan and Kel ultimately reveal that Jordan Peele has tapped them for a sequel to Nope called Yep.

You can watch the reunion in the video above.