Month: January 2023

When the Grizzlies and Lakers met on Friday night in L.A., not many expected the lead story to be an altercation at the end of the first half between Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant, and…Shannon Sharpe.

The NFL Hall of Famer turned FOX Sports talking head has become one of LeBron James’ most vocal supporters, and he took that a tad too far when he interjected himself into the action on Friday night in what became a Lakers win. Sharpe initially gave a statement at halftime talking about how he wanted the smoke and the Grizzlies were soft, but after some time to reflect on the incident, Sharpe struck a different tone on Monday morning’s Undisputed.

Sharpe offered a lengthy and earnest apology to the Lakers, the Grizzlies, Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant specifically, and LeBron James, who offered his support of Sharpe after the game.

“Friday night at the Lakers game, I want to apologize for my behavior. I’ve preached for the last six and a half years, responsibility and accountability, and I take full responsibility for what transpired. It does not matter what Dillon Brooks said or how many times he said it. Me being the responsible person, me having the platform I have, and me having so many people look up to me, I was wrong. I should’ve lowered the temperature in the arena. Instead, I turned the temperature up and I let it get out of hand.”

He would continue to offer direct apologies to the Lakers and Grizzlies organizations for negative attention he brought to both, to Brooks who he called a “fierce competitor” and wished him the best, to Morant who he lauded for his incredible abilities, to James for always supporting him and putting him in a position to have to support him after such a display, and also his family who had to see that and be associated with it.

All things considered, this is about as well done as it gets from Shannon, who absolutely could’ve just doubled and tripled down on his behavior, ranting and raving about the Grizzlies. It seems that it was almost a moment of reckoning for Sharpe that he’s no longer an active part of the games, but just a fan and he can’t let his emotions run as hot as the players actually participating. Kudos to him for finding that perspective and we’ll see if he can keep the banter to a friendlier note at future games.

Let’s say you were born in 1999. And let’s also say you’re interested in learning about the rise and fall of 1990s alternative rock. Naturally, you brush up with some informative Google searches. Then you head to your streaming platform of choice. You search for the canonical albums of the era. After a while, you feel like you have uncovered all of the pertinent information.

But you haven’t.

There is a missing chapter from this story. It concerns a band — who actually formed in 2001 and broke up in 2003 but are nevertheless aesthetically and philosophically ’90s — whose sole album isn’t available online via officially sanctioned (i.e. legal) channels. In terms of the historical narrative, this group has been all but written out. But that one record (which came out 20 years ago this week) is full of stunning melodies and sparkling guitar tones, and it ultimately deserves to be known (for reasons we will soon get into) as the last great ’90s alt-rock album. Which is to say, this very shiny rocket ship that never quite made it off the launch pad is important.

I am referring to Zwan’s Mary Star Of The Sea.

Who (or what) was Zwan? The first thing you must know about Zwan is that, as a band, they made no sense. And this was true from the very beginning.

Let’s introduce the cast of characters:

Billy Corgan: A songwriting genius and an interpersonal disaster. His most famous album Siamese Dream begins with a thrillingly bitter anthem about how much he loathes the petty politics of indie-rock credibility. Seven years later, he disbands his multi-platinum rock group Smashing Pumpkins and forms Zwan with … two well-regarded indie-rock guitarists? Huh? In time, he will make an artistic decision to bury the indie-rock guys in the mix and solo all over their asses, before ending the band altogether in acrimonious fashion. He will subsequently justify this by insisting that his fellow ex-Zwannies only wanted to “live like pieces of shit and live their little weird creepy lives.”

Matt Sweeney: Indie-rock guitarist No. 1 (Chavez). A well-known nice guy and born collaborator. He recovers from his traumatic tenure in Zwan by making 2005’s Superwolf with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, one of the great indie-rock records of the aughts. Of his time with Corgan, he muses, “It was interesting, I’m still sort of unpacking that experience. We all had to sign confidentiality agreements, so I can’t really talk about it.”

David Pajo: Indie-rock guitarist No. 2 (Slint and Tortoise). He annoys Billy by claiming to be unaware of all his many radio hits because in the ’90s “Delta blues was way more exciting to me than the Pumpkins and that whiny voice.” But he decides to join Zwan anyway because Corgan’s arrogance “cracked me up.”

Paz Lenchantin: In-demand bass player. She decides to leave her present gig with A Perfect Circle after receiving a “sign” to join Zwan in the form of a coloring book connected to the outsider artist Henry Darger purchased while on tour with Corgan in St. Louis. She subsequently likens Billy to a dictator, and says that being in a band with him is “like a fetish, like how people like being whipped.” Adding insult to injury, Billy borrows the coloring book and never returns it.

Jimmy Chamberlin: Long-suffering drummer who was fired twice from Smashing Pumpkins, once before Zwan and once after, and then rehired. Reflecting on the Pumpkins’ golden era, he once said, “I fucking hated the ’90s.”

On paper, this was not a band built to go the distance. In reality, it was even less stable. But that did not prevent Billy from making big plans. Behind the scenes, his new outfit worked up dozens of songs — between 100 and 200 tunes in all, based on varying accounts from his bandmates. Dubbing the electrified mothership band “The True Poets Of Zwan,” he also dreamt up an acoustic spin-off band with the same line-up (plus Paz’s sister Ana on cello) called Djali Zwan. He then declared his intentions to record a separate Djali Zwan album live in the studio with cameras filming everything, “Let It Be-style,” all while spearheading a high-profile rollout for Zwan proper.

For all of Corgan’s grandiosity, the idea behind Mary Star Of The Sea appears to have been relatively simple: Make a very catchy, streamlined, and accessible Smashing Pumpkins soundalike record for an audience who loved Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and then fell off once they went to college or started their first jobs. That’s a lot of people! And Billy was now prepared to cater to them, finally, once and for all. Put off by the Nosferatu posturing and goth-synth vibes of Adore? Overwhelmed by the excesses of the Machina/Machina II era? With Mary Star Of The Sea, Billy was attempting nothing less than a memory wipe that erased the years between 1998 and 2002, fully restoring him to his rock-star prime.

In fact, he was buckling down and writing only super-catchy radio-friendly songs. The long black frocks and “Zero” shirts were put in mothballs. Billy was now embracing uncharacteristic sunniness. On the effervescent singles “Lyric” and “Honestly,” the guitars jangle warmly and Corgan’s unmistakeable whine is sweetly leavened by Lenchantin’s enchanting backing vocals. The ingratiating vibes carry over to deep cuts like “Settle Down” — anchored by an infectious Peter Hook-esque bassline that evokes “1979,” courtesy of co-writer Lenchantin — and the self-explanatory “Endless Summer,” in which the listener is forced to picture the notoriously pale Corgan kicking it carefree at the beach. There’s even a track literally called “Baby Let’s Rock!” that more or less sums up Corgan’s aim to make his own slightly skewed version of a feel-good power-pop Cheap Trick record.

Heard 20 years later, Mary Star Of The Sea sounds like one of the most immediate and likeable albums in Corgan’s catalog. It’s pretentious, but not that pretentious, especially given what came before and after from him. There are no overwrought concepts, no confrontational provocations, no bullshit. It’s basically Corgan giving us what we want — heavy and melodic guitar anthems that feel simultaneously epic and intimate.

Only at the time, it wasn’t what people wanted. In 2003 — as online piracy was wiping out a music industry that the Pumpkins had dominated just a half-decade earlier — FM radio was now populated by nu-metal and mall punk bands and the music press was enamored with the sharply dressed post-punk outfits coming out of New York City. Into that world entered Mary Star Of The Sea, a record straight out of 1996, a castaway from the death throes of alternative rock that didn’t reach the shore until the next decade. In the moment, the anachronistic feel of Corgan’s songs — no matter how well they were executed — made it inarguably obvious that this bygone era was dead and gone forever.

All of this rendered Zwan, ostensibly a “new” band, an instant classic-rock fossil. Or, as Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber put it, “an enterprise so gleefully out-of-step with the present, so misguidedly earnest, so just plain wrong.”

Some of that wrong-ness is apparent in the video for “Lyric,” in which we see Corgan and his bandmates walking down the streets of Chicago as scores of admirers follow them, Pied Piper-like, to a euphoric dance party at local music club The Metro. There are two ideas we’re being sold here, neither of which feel credible — first, that this band is starting a movement that inspires people to take to the streets in solidarity. Second, that this is an actual band, in terms of being five individuals who enjoy working together as a creative and culturally relevant entity.

On Mary Star Of The Sea, Zwan only briefly feels like an actual band. And that mostly occurs on the ridiculously sublime 14-minute guitar workout “Jesus I/ Mary Star Of The Sea,” the one track where Sweeney and Pajo’s textured shadings are allowed to stand out amid Corgan’s relentless six-string blitzkriegs. (At least I think that’s Sweeney and Pajo — it’s possible Corgan merely layered his own overdubs, in the mode of Siamese Dream.)

It’s not that Zwan was a fraud, exactly. Based on live clips, Zwan was a polished and powerful act in concert. It’s just that they were never allowed to grow organically as a new band. They were instead treated as an extension of the Pumpkins, and afforded the sort of opportunities available only to superstar acts. Right away, Zwan landed plum TV spots on Saturday Night Live and The Late Show With David Letterman. And they toured throughout 2002 and ’03 with lots of media coverage.

If you wanted to see Zwan during this period, you most likely did see them. Though the gigs grew gradually less prestigious. I caught them in the spring of 2003 at a college gymnasium outside of Green Bay, when the record was already sinking down the charts, with a fitfully interested audience of students who were in junior high when “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” was all over MTV.

Despite an aggressive promotional push, Mary Star Of The Sea struggled to sales of 250,000. Not a bad number for a rookie act, but Zwan was saddled with much higher expectations. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Lenchantin astutely observed that Corgan “was able to sell 16 million records in the CD era. Now we’re getting into another era … If a better record means how much you sell, it’s going to start to feel humbling pretty soon, no matter how good you are. I think that era was affecting him.”

While Zwan technically fell apart in September of 2003 after Pajo and Lenchantin departed to play in Pajo’s band Papa M, the failure of Zwan to live up to the lofty commercial standards of ’90s-era Pumpkins doomed the project. Instead of looking inward, Corgan lashed out with withering post-mortem assessments, immediately reverting to his “Cherub Rock” view of the indie-musician mentality.

“The music wasn’t the big problem, it was more their attitude: `Why do we have to practice? I’d rather be hanging out at the Rainbo.’ Lifestyle stuff,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2003. “I got snookered in by really bad people. It’s embarrassing to me.”

He went further two years later in an interview with Paste. “They proved me right, which is that the whole indie thing is just a pose,” he said. “They’re just assholes. It’s simple. I could go on with a thousand stories, but you can put that in big capital letters.”

Where does this leave Mary Star Of The Sea, a very good record that — outside of YouTube and used CD stores — is relatively hard to find? Given that nobody involved in Zwan apparently enjoys the album or anything else to do with the band, Mary Star Of The Sea has long seemed doomed to the dustbin of history. Though that might change soon, given recent inklings from Corgan of a reissue.

Along with boasting some of Corgan’s best songs of the last 20 years, Mary Star Of The Sea crystallizes a moment in time when ’90s-style rock died as a commercially viable entity, even as it (creatively) still had some gas in the tank. Beyond that, Zwan is just a fun rock ‘n’ roll story that shouldn’t be forgotten. An ill-conceived supergroup that lived fast, died young, and left a tuneful and catchy corpse. Free Zwan!

Shakira is continuing to break records with “BZRP Music Sessions #53,” her diss track against her ex-partner Gerard Piqué. Yesterday (Jan. 22), it was revealed that Colombian superstar surpassed Bad Bunny on Spotify to claim a new record.

Thanks to the success of Shakira’s “BZRP Music Sessions #53” with Argentine producer Bizarrap, she rose to No. 9 on Spotify’s most-streamed artists globally list. Bad Bunny moved down to the No. 10 spot. That marked the first time that the Latin artist with the most monthly listeners was a woman. Shakira also set a new record for the Latin artist with the most monthly listeners on Spotify with 68,879,869 listeners. She surpassed Bad Bunny who had 68 million monthly listeners. Shakira expressed her gratitude on Twitter.

“I feel humbled and grateful though I’m only one among millions of women out there who have so much to say and offer. Women of all races, ages and conditions. Thanks for your loyalty and support,” she wrote.

Since dropping on January 11, “BZRP Music Sessions #53” went viral thanks to Shakira’s biting lyrics against Piqué and his current girlfriend Clara Chía Marti. While singing that Piqué needed to “work out” his brain as much as his time spent in the gym, she implied that his relationship with Marti was a downgrade. Shakira compared herself to a Ferrari and a Rolex while saying that Piqué settled for a Twingo car and a Casio watch.

Emily Ratajkowski may seemingly be riding high as a supermodel, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all been roses and sunshine. As she’s revealed over the past few years, she’s been through some sh*t following those (as she described them) “teenage dirtbag” years and entering a field where she’s taken ownership of her own body back after being objectified. For one thing, Emily has accused Robin Thicke of groping her on the “Blurred Lines” set, and in retrospect, she emerged with a surprising stance on that mess while also advocating for the importance of feminist causes.

Emily also recently endured divorce (from Sebastian Bear-McClard) and has (hopefully) had better experiences in the aftermath while dating Pete Davidson and (most recently) Eric Andre, but she does have regrets like the rest of us do. And Emily got real while delivering a commencement speech to grads at NYC’s Hunter College.

As the supermodel and activist urged Winter 2023 grads to celebrate, she told them that the time is now, before they miss out: “Here’s what I missed in not celebrating: I missed out on joy.” Emily posted a clip of her speech on Instagram:

Via PEOPLE, Emily detailed her struggle to celebrate her own worth:

“It’s hard to celebrate myself, not as an imposter in a body, but as a soul deserving of joy. And I bet a few people here feel the same way. So, if you can’t celebrate yourself, maybe do it for others; for the friends and family that greeted you when you returned home after your long day, who listened to you complain about your workload and your schedule, who encouraged you when you were filled with stress and hopelessness — for the loved ones who fill this audience, who can remember when you first had the idea to try and get this degree and cheered you on when you were sure you’d never make it. The people in your life who love you are a precious gift; treat them as such, enjoy them as such, celebrate with them.”

It’s sound advice, and you can watch her full address above.

(Via PEOPLE)

Doja Cat loves to take people by surprise, whether through her artistry, personality, or wardrobe. Paris Haute Couture Week will run from today, January 23, through Thursday, January 26, and Doja Cat started the week off strong at Schiaparelli’s Haute Couture show.

The multiplatinum-certified rapper, singer, and songwriter arrived covered head-to-toe in 30,000 Swarovski crystals, which is sparking comparisons to early-career Lady Gaga:

https://twitter.com/cassandrapintro/status/1617530252896636928?s=20&t=7J8vYLMLQnpVnVibcH7Z9g

According to Vogue, the Schiaparelli show was inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and featured “Daniel Roseberry’s signature surreal gold-plated faces were brought to life with glistening bronze-gold face and body paint, blurring the boundaries between real bodies and inanimate objects.”

The publication had exclusive details on Doja’s head-turning look, which was handled by makeup artist Pat McGrath:

“Extending this idea of a live sculpture onto the front row, McGrath and her team adorned the singer with crimson Swarovski crystals for a ‘shimmering, scintillating and subversive look.’ ‘Collaborating with the incomparably talented Doja Cat and Daniel Roseberry was an absolute pleasure,’ McGrath says. ‘Her patience and dedication as she sat with Team Pat McGrath and I for four hours and 58 minutes to achieve the creation, covered in over 30,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals, was truly inspiring.’”

McGrath also posted an Instagram video:

Doja Cat similarly stunned at Paris Fashion Week last year, painting her entire body gold one day or painting faux bruises and cuts on her face to symbolize Fashion Week “kicking her ass.”

After spending nearly four long years behind bars, 03 Greedo is officially out of prison — but he’s still not totally “free” just yet. Greedo shared a post on Instagram detailing the conditions of his release, which include a stay at a halfway house. Also, he says fans shouldn’t expect new music for a while, although he regrets not releasing more. His full statement reads:

Yes, I am free from prison but I am still not completely out. For anyone confused I am in a halfway house for up to 6 months with a five minute phone call a week. Where I am I just want to see my daughter and record music. I wish I could have released alot more music while I was away. So, I have this chip on my shoulder to just go record n drop at least 12 tapes before my major album and I honestly just don’t want to talk to alot of people yet. I got a lot I want to clear in my head first. So, if I’m not recording with you or laying with you. I’m not inna rush to talk after damn near 5 years. Just being honest! Salute to the GeeHive and all my supporters, I love you. Thank u for keeping me alive while I was incarcerated.
Yours Truly, Cheeto

Greedo was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking and possession of a firearm in July 2018, and while it appears he’s been able to have his sentence reduced, receiving an early release this month, we all know that comes with conditions and stipulations that can be burdensome — especially for a well-known rapper whose lifestyle includes extensive travel and visibility (see: Meek Mill’s probation case).

During his incarceration, he released a wealth of new music recorded just before he reported to prison, and upon his release, he followed up with the Free 03 project with music recorded over the phone. While it’s frustrating that fans must wait for new music from him, it’s a relief having him out and hopefully, he can remain that way for good.

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, Donald Trump is reportedly making moves to abandon Truth Social and return to the warm, sweet embrace of his original online love, Twitter. The former president was invited back to the social media platform shortly after Elon Musk’s acquisition was complete, but at the time, Trump abstained from the offer. Not because he’s some some sort of savvy media analyst or anything. There’s a far more simple answer: Trump would lose a ton of money if he reneged on his exclusivity contract with Truth Social.

However, Trump’s contract with Truth Social expires in June, and according to a new report, he doesn’t plan on renewing it. Via Rolling Stone:

Since late last year, former President Trump has informed several people close to him that he doesn’t want to re-up the exclusivity agreement with his social media company, Truth Social, two sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. “There’s not going to be a need for that,” is how one of the sources recalls Trump describing his soon-to-expire contractual obligation.

Ever since Musk offered Trump a chance to return to Twitter, there has been talk that Trump wouldn’t be able to resist jumping ship. The platform offers the former president the sweet dopamine rush that he was accustomed to as one of Twitter’s most prolific posters, and also, Truth Social is rapidly bleeding money and users.

Of course, the big question is whether Twitter will still be around by June. Musk has been making drastic changes since taking over the social media company, which has caused a steep drop in advertising revenue. Donald Trump could very easily be trading one digital graveyard for another if Musk doesn’t find a way to stave off bankruptcy.

(Via Rolling Stone)

Avatar: The Way of Water has surpassed $2 billion in ticket sales worldwide after spending a sixth straight weekend at the top of the box office in the United States (the first film to do so since… 2009’s Avatar).

The Way of Water joins Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avengers: Infinity War as the only movies to gross over $2 billion globally. That’s a lot of James Cameron, but it’s even more Zoe Saldana.

The actress appears in four of the six highest-grossing movies of all-time, thanks to her roles as Neytiri in the Avatar franchise and Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That puts her fourth on the list of the highest-grossing lead performers, behind only Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson (the only non-MCU stars in the top 10: the Toms, Cruise and Hanks). As long as Cameron keeps making Avatar sequels, which he will, Saldana will eventually dethrone Johansson:

So far, The Way of Water has generated $598 million at the domestic box office and $1.4 billion internationally. Overseas, the standout markets are China ($229 million), France ($129 million), Germany ($117 million), Korea ($96 million), and the United Kingdom ($81 million). It’s especially impressive that Avatar 2 managed to crack $2 billion, a benchmark that’s been impossible in COVID times, because not every market is re-connecting with the Na’vi. The follow-up isn’t playing in Russia, where the original grossed $116 million, and it’s flopping in Japan with $28 million, a dramatic decrease from the first film’s $176 million haul.

Never bet against James Cameron — or Zoe Saldana.

(Via Variety)

Drake’s Apollo Theater show in New York City turned out to be quite the event. In addition to having Harlem’s own Diplomats join him on stage to perform their beloved “national anthem,” Drake ran through a career’s worth of hits ranging from his earliest radio swings like “Headlines” and “Over” to his more recent 21 Savage collabs like “Rich Flex” (“do something for meeee”) and “Jimmy Cooks,” all while roasting his Degrassi: The Next Generation character and keeping an eye out for his fans.

During the Sunday night show, a fan fell from the balcony to the orchestra pit floor, prompting Drake to pause the show and ensure her safety. “Just gotta make sure somebody’s OK,” he told the fans. The crew also had to make sure that the other fans would be safe, removing a stage light the fallen fan knocked out of place, as well as its electrical cables.

After about 15 minutes, the show resumed with an announcement that there had been no serious injuries. Upon his return to the stage, Drake promised to make up for the delay saying, “Let’s just make some noise that everybody’s okay. I feel like they had to wait like 10 minutes; we should go up a little more.” He also gave fans something else to look forward to, teasing a new project in 2023.

Drake postponed his first-ever shows at the Apollo Theater from early December to Saturday, January 21 and Sunday, January 22, and the general consensus is that he could have postponed them to January 2024 and the wait would have been worth it. From performing an exhaustive set list to teasing a potential new project, Drake brought everything to the stage.

According to Billboard, Drake’s set was just as much a visual chronicle of his journey as it was a musical one. Drake opened the show with “Over My Dead Body” from 2011’s Take Care while wearing the same basketball jersey worn by Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake starred in the role from 2001 to 2009 — when he was still best known as Aubrey Graham — and he also mocked his haircut from that time elsewhere in the show.

“I wanted to make this show about gratitude,” Drake told the crowd near the top of the show, per Billboard. “This is a little story we put together about my deep love for my family, for my dear friends and for each and every one of you that have been supporting me for a long time.”

Drake also shared the stage with his Her Loss collaborator 21 Savage, Dipset, and Lil Uzi Vert across the two nights. Check out clips below.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.