Month: January 2023

Every NBA team has some form of a halfcourt shot contest for fans, but the prizes vary significantly from team to team. Lakers fans can win $70,000 for a made halfcourt shot, while the Pacers have the lowest with a $500 prize, and everyone else falls somewhere in between.

In Portland, the prize is a Toyota 4Runner, and a fan had a chance to take that home on Thursday night as the Blazers hosted the Sixers in a game that got away from Portland early, falling behind by 26. Our guy’s effort in the halfcourt competition must’ve been inspired by the first half Blazers, as he put up one of the worst attempts from midcourt you will ever see, as the ball barely got to the paint.

The view from the crowd is even funnier, as it really brings into perspective just how short poor Matt comes up.

I really love the collective gasp from the crowd as they watch the ball flutter to the court, 10 feet shy of the rim, coupled with the “Oh, Matt…” from the in arena host who is trying his best not to be mean in the moment. It was a night to forget for the Blazers, who ended up losing by 10, and this poor fella, who will struggle to live this one down with his friends. It’s also a reminder that guys like Stephen Curry make these shots look way easier than they are — although, this one makes it look harder than it actually is.

Releasing right at midnight (January 20), where the moonlight is shimmering on the western hemisphere and there’s sunrise on the other, TWICE finally releases their second long-awaited, and highly-anticipated English single “Moonlight Sunrise.”

The nine-member ensemble — composed of Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu — grabs inspiration from the energetic sounds of Miami bass and turns “Moonlight Sunrise” into a dreamy, dance pop track that puts listeners through a sonic getaway into love.

The English single boasts romantically flirtatious and heart-fluttering lyrics, that guarantees to sweep any ONCE (TWICE’s fans) off their feet. Whether it be Chaeyoung’s rap done in a lower register, or Sana whisper-singing “Come with me / Don’t think twice” in the second verse, or Mina’s (or shall we say Sharon, her English name?) analogy of calling herself a shot of tequila sunrise, “Moonlight Sunrise” is a perfect blend of showcasing TWICE’s grown cheekiness while still keeping their signature bubbly personas.

According to a report from YTN News on Naver earlier this week, “Moonlight Sunrise” “expresses the feelings and excitement you feel when you love someone using analogies of the bright moonlight and the rising sun.”

Earlier this month, it was revealed “Moonlight Sunrise” was co-written by members Nina Ann Nelson and Kaedi Dalley of girl group CitizenQueen.

The release of “Moonlight Sunrise” comes after the success of their first English single “The Feels” in 2021, where the track carried a mesh of disco and pop elements in sound and choreography. However, the latest English single is only a pre-release to the group’s upcoming twelfth EP titled Our Youth. According to the group’s announcement earlier this month, the new music project is expected to come in March.

Phoebe Bridgers appeared alongside her reunited Boygenius bandmate for a new interview in Rolling Stone. During the piece, Bridgers details her relationship with pop star Taylor Swift. The two, who collaborated together for Swift’s vault track, “Nothing New,” from the 2021 rerecorded album, Red (Taylor’s Version), have been friends since.

Bridgers and Swift recently posed for a photo at a party together and have frequently expressed their admiration for one another. It seems she has pulled a lot more than musical inspiration from Swift, but also a philosophy for living life.

“I take inspiration from the people I see who are happy, and I’m still trying to,” Bridgers said. “She’s such a deep, wise human being, and has not sacrificed fun at all. She validates those boundaries that people have tried to take from her for her whole life.”

“You don’t hear enough about how people become successful and then happy. I’m able to hire my best friends to travel the world with me, and I don’t have any shitty people around anymore,” she added.

Swift, who has been notoriously private about her personal life in recent years, is currently still in a longterm relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. And, as her social media snaps with Bridgers show, she pops up at a moment’s notice without a single paparazzi sighting.

Kim Petras dropped her brand new single, “Brrr,” on the heels of her massive “Unholy” collab with Sam Smith.

Produced by Ilya (Ariana Grande, Normani, Ellie Goulding), the song details trying to melt a cool new relationship over a heavy industrial synth beat, as she details a “live fast, die young” mentality.

“You should pull me up closer / Turn the heat up in your Rover / Why don’t you take it out on me? / If you think you’re so cold, brrr,” Petras ponders in the electronic chorus as her voice becomes increasingly robotic.

“If you likе it, baby, hotel lobby / Can you work me, baby, like pilatеs? / I’ma do my fitness, every day, so / You can come and get it, have your way / When you say it, say it, say it with a little attitude,” she adds in the second verse.

However, the pre-chorus gives a softer break, showing off Petras’ range.

“Brrr,” along with her November solo song, “If Jesus Was A Rockstar,” have both been speculated to be tracks from her upcoming debut album… Although it hasn’t been confirmed yet. Petras is also set to debut the song’s first live performance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, which will air on January 23 at 12:35 p.m. ET.

Listen to Kim Petras’ new song “Brrr” above.

NLE Choppa is ready for a prosperous year. On his new single, “23,” the Memphis rapper is ready to let go of old ways and move onto better things.

“Old sh*t ain’t going for it / this newer me probably knew me last year, but you don’t know me,” he raps over a searing Tay Keith-produced beat.

The new single precedes his upcoming album, Cottonwood 2, which, according to a press release, is set to drop this spring. Leading up to the release of Cottonwood 2, Choppa will promote the NLE Reading challenge across the country to encourage young students in low-income and at-risk neighborhoods. He will also make pop-up appearances on his vegan food truck, This Can’t Be Vegan Food, and share videos on his YouTube channel.

Choppa began teasing Cottonwood 2 on his Instagram page earlier this week. In a post, he shared that he had cut off his hair and revealed that he was practicing the art of detachment in order to make improvements in his life.

“Death to what no longer serves you,” he said. “Death to Old Cycles, Death to old/bad habits, Death to friendships/relationships, Death to the simplest thing like my hair, Death to everything holding back the NEW.”

Check out the video for “23” above.

NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After a scalding hot stretch that included 18 wins in 21 games, the Brooklyn Nets are in the midst of a rough patch. Kevin Durant is sidelined with injury and, in the first three games without him, the Nets scored less than a point per possession (the worst mark in the NBA) on the way to three straight losses. Brooklyn does have Kyrie Irving to carry a substantial workload but, in short, the Nets’ other star, Ben Simmons, hasn’t quite lived up to the billing on the offensive end, and he had a tough night on Thursday against the Suns.

With the Nets already down 16 points in the third quarter, Simmons was called for his fifth foul in 18 minutes of action, and it came on a moving screen. He didn’t take kindly to the call and, just seconds later, he picked up a pair of technical fouls to earn an ejection and an early trip to the locker room — despite the best efforts of teammate Yuta Watanabe on the bench to keep Simmons from his second.

Simmons did finish with six assists in 18 minutes, and he has 46 assists combined in his last five games. However, Simmons scored just 33 total points in seven games before Thursday, and he generated only seven points before the ejection in this game.

Obviously, Simmons isn’t a dynamic scoring option at this point. Though he does bring value as a defender and playmaker, it is actively wild to see a player of his stature and salary slot carrying a 14.6 percent usage rate, and the bizarre nature of Simmons’ season continued with this strange exit.

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen‘s family has grown by one. Last week, the two welcomed their third child, as Legend revealed during a private concert. Today (January 19), Legend took to Instagram to share the first image of their newborn baby.

In the photo, Legend and Teigen’s children, Luna and Miles are seen holding their baby sister, who Legend revealed is named Esti Maxine.

“On Friday, we welcomed Esti Maxine Stephens to our family, and our house is overflowing with love and joy,” said Legend in the post’s caption. “I’m in awe of Chrissy’s strength and resilience and I’m so thrilled to see how Luna and Miles embrace their baby sister. I’m so, so grateful, but that doesn’t seem like a big enough word…”

Teigen shared the same photo on her Instagram account, expressing the joy she, Legend, and their kids have felt since bringing Esti home.

“the house is bustling and our family could not be happier,” she said in the post’s caption. “Daddy sheds nightly tears of joy seeing Luna and Miles so full of love, and I am learning you still need diapers with a c section!? We are in bliss. Thank you for all the love and well wishes – we feel it all!”

You can see the new family photo above.

If you’re sharing a Netflix password with your friends or a disembodied hand meant to spy on your while you’re away at private school, be prepared to hear from Netflix Headquarters very soon. The streaming giant has been threatening to stop users from mooching for almost a year, and they made their intentions known at the end of 2022 that we’d be seeing a plan put into place to remove out-of-household user access in “early” 2023. Well, guess what? It’s now early 2023, and Netflix chose its fourth quarter earnings report to announce the beginning of the end for letting your barber watch Bo Burnham stand-up shows on your dime.

According to the report (via The Hollywood Reporter), the earnings letter reported a cartoonishly high amount of profile sharing among users.

“Today’s widespread account sharing (100M+ households) undermines our long term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business. While our terms of use limit use of Netflix to a household, we recognize this is a change for members who share their account more broadly,” Netflix said.

100M+? Almost half of all Netflix accounts let someone mooch? That seems difficult to believe, but it would also point to why the company is so steadfast in this totally bummer move.

“Part of it is what we call casual sharing, which is people could pay, but they don’t need to and so they’re borrowing somebody’s account. So our job is to give them a little bit of a nudge and to create features that make transitioning to their own account easy and simple,” co-CEO Greg Peters said.

The strategy makes sense, but the big question is whether that nudge will send people looking for their credit cards or learning to live without the final seasons of Stranger Things.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

Ava Max is steadily gearing up for her sophomore studio album, Diamonds & Dancefloors, which has kept fans hyped with its plethora of shimmery singles. Plus, Max appeared at CNN’s New Year’s Eve party to play a few tracks — showing that she’s serious about becoming one of the most anticipated pop stars.

“I had to figure out who I was again because I let someone else define me for the past year,” she told Rollacoaster Magazine. “It’s been a journey for sure. I’m stronger than ever now, I look back and realize it was all a good thing.”

Release Date

Diamonds & Dancefloors is out 1/27 via Atlantic.

Tracklist

1. “Million Dollar Baby”
2. “Sleepwalker”
3. “Maybe You’re The Problem”
4. “Ghost”
5. “Hold Up (Wait A Minute)”
6. “Weapons”
7. “Diamonds & Dancefloors”
8. “In The Dark”
9. “Turn Off The Lights”
10. “One Of Us”
11. “Get Outta My Heart”
12. “Cold As Ice”
13. “Last Night On Earth”
14. “Dancing’s Done”

Features

As of now, there are no confirmed features on Ava Max’s new album.

Artwork

The original artwork was changed from an up-close shot of Max with a diamond in her mouth, on the left, to one that is a bird’s eye shot with bluer diamonds. The current cover art of Diamonds & Dancefloors is pictured on the right.

Singles

Ava Max has released a handful of singles from Diamonds & Dancefloors so far. The lead, “Maybe You’re The Problem,” dropped in April of last year. Since then, Max’s other singles include “Million Dollar Baby,” “Weapons,” “Dancing’s Done,” and “One Of Us.” According to her fandom wiki, she also plans to release “Cold As Ice” as a promotional single on January 23.

Ava Max is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Trippie Redd has the internet buzzing. The rapper is set to drop his new album, Mansion Musik tonight, which has been executive produced by Chief Keef. Upon the announcement for the album, fans are aching to hear news about an upcoming tour.

Though Trippie has not yet announced a tour to accompany the album, he is set to perform on several dates this year across the US and the UK.

Mansion Musik marks Trippie’s first album in nearly two years. In addition to Mansion Musik, Trippie has also been teasing A Love Letter To You 5 from his acclaimed mixtape series. In an interview with Montreality, Trippie said this will be the best music he’s ever made.

“This is the last A Love Letter To You so…I done put my all into it,” he said. “I’ve been working on this for like, three to four years. Dropping projects, but still having music tucked to the side for this project.”

You can see dates for Trippie’s upcoming performances below and purchase tickets here.

01/21 — Bangor, ME @ Cross Insurance Center
01/22 — Lowell, MA @ Tsongas Center
01/22 — Washington, DC @ Capitol One Arena
03/02 — Tempe, AZ @ Mullett Arena
03/03-05 — Inglewood, CA @ Hollywood Park Grounds
08/24-27 — Reading, Great Britain @ Reading Festival