Month: February 2023

It hasn’t even been three months since SZA released SOS, and it’s already proven itself a commercial success.

The TDE singer’s long-awaited and critically acclaimed sophomore album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart and has spent at least nine weeks atop the charts following its December release. The album was also certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) within weeks of its release. Additionally, the project helped the “Snooze” singer break the record for the US’s largest streaming week for an R&B album.

Recently, the singer’s album reached a major milestone on streaming giant Spotify with nearly 3 billion streams. This would be her second album to do so following her 2017 debut project, Ctrl.

“‘SOS’ by @SZA has reached 3 billion streams on Spotify. It’s her second album to achieve this,” Pop Crave reports.

https:/ twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1629681707203829760?s=20

To help promote the album (not that it’s necessary at this point), the singer kicked off her tour earlier this month, kicking off at The Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Joining her on the road as support is Grammy-nominated singer Omar Apollo. The tour is expected to go on until the end of March, with its final show at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Omar Apollo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Karol G’s flaming red hair must come with a set of music superpowers. The recording artist’s fourth set album, Mañana Será Bonito, which dropped on Friday (February 24), is already breaking records. Featuring guest appearances by Sean Pual, Romeo Santos, Quevedo, Justin Quiles, and more, to some, this news may serve as no surprise.

However, according to Pop Base, the singer’s latest album, Mañana Será Bonito, earned the biggest debut by a woman Spanish album in Spotify history.

During an interview with our very own Lucas Villa, Karol revealed that the album is the product of her recent emotional obstacles. “I had a very dark moment in my life where the only thing I could do was turn to my family and my friends,” she said before adding, “I understood after that life wanted to show me that what I should value the most is having my family and my friends by my side. That was a very hard and difficult process to go through. I was disappointed by what was happening to me. It was a blow in many ways to my personal life.”

Karol closed with, “I always have a phrase that I repeat to myself when things are going wrong: ‘It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get through this. Tomorrow will be another day. Tomorrow will be beautiful. Tomorrow is going to be great.’”

This isn’t the first time the singer broke records on Spotify, in fact, last year Karol G was the most streamed Latin woman artist revealed during the streaming giant’s Wrapped data release.

All in all, given how much of her personal life she’s poured into the project, Karol G is surely proud of this professional accomplishment.

Don Toliver is in major-label album mode right now. The “After Party” rapper’s Love Sick album, produced with hitmakers like Boi-1da and James Blake (with whom he also shares a song on the album called “Let Her Go”), has finally dropped. The project features guest appearances from some of music’s biggest acts— GloRillla, Lil Durk, Brent Faiyaz, and more. On Friday (February 24), the Cactus Jack artist released a visualizer for the track “Private Landing,” featuring Future and Justin Bieber.

“I don’t know why these h*es can’t stand me/I guess I’m too demanding,” he raps. “Wanna hit the double Coke, the candy (Candy)/I’m so high, no landing (Landing).”

In the visualizer, Toliver can be overheard rapping as a special package is being delivered in what seems to be the “Love Sick” restaurant. This fictional food joint serves as the inspiration behind the project. A beautiful woman is seen putting away stacks of cash, with two armored guards standing by while the chef is busy whipping up some food.

The 16-track album also features popular acts such as WizKid, Kali Uchis, Charlie Wilson, and more. The project is also accompanied by a short film titled Love Sick: The Short Film, released on Prime the same day as the album release.

Check out the visualizer above.

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

Disgraced singer and songwriter R. Kelly received yet another hefty prison sentence earlier this week. On Thursday (February 23), Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for child pornography charges which will run concurrently with his 30-year sentence for sex trafficking and racketeering. Kelly’s former manager, Donnell Russell, was also sentenced to serve one year in prison for making a threat to shoot someone at a Lifetime screening of the Surviving R. Kelly documentary.

With it being such a sensitive topic, you’d think comedians wouldn’t attempt to tackle that even in a padded suit, but not SNL’s Coin Jost and Michael Che. During last night’s Weekend Update skit, the pair took it a step further, making the sentencing the butt of the joke in Che’s newly introduced segment, What Did They Even Do Wrong. The miniature skit aims to comedically define wrongdoings by public figures.

When the pair reached the pair discussed the recent sentencing of Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly, Che, says, “I mean mainly they’re guilty of loving too much, right. A player’s gotta play,” before turning it to the audience for laughter, “Am I right, ladies?”

The YouTube comments were filled with viewers praising the new addition to the segment, writing, “OMG on Michael Che’s new segment – what did they even do wrong – too funny. Looking forward to them posting the whole Weekend Update in its entirety on Monday morning. Even funnier that way.”

However, on other social media sites, such as Twitter, users were not pleased by the joke. One user wrote, “When will they take Michael Che off Weekend Update? He’s not funny & neither was that Weinstein/R. Kelly ‘joke.’”

Watch the full skit above.

Nas’ New York state of mind stretches far beyond his native Queensbridge neighborhood. While the “One Mic, One Gun” rapper recently revealed that he’d love to collaborate with Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen during his appearance on The Late Show hosted by Stephen Colbert, his love for New York musicians runs deep.

As the mogul’s tour made a stop at Madison Square Garden on Friday (February 24), Nas took a moment during his set to pay homage to Trugoy The Dove (real name David Jolicoeur) of De La Soul. The Long Island native passed away early this month.

The sold-out crowd joined us as Nas played the opening verse on De La Soul’s hit single “Buddy” before proclaiming, “Make some noise for Trugoy, De La Soul. Rest in Poetry!”

When the news first broke of Trugoy’s death, Nas took to Instagram to share a touching note. In the now archived post, Nas wrote, “‘Trugoy The Dove. You showed us it’s ok to have fun, not sad or too too deep or fight the power, tho it was very much fight the power what u did so genuis. Thank you.’”

Nas isn’t the only figure in music to pay their respect to the late rap trailblazer. Quest Love, Busta Rhymes, Common, as well as Trugoy’s surviving groupmates Maseo And Posdnuos, also broke their silence with a heartfelt message on social media, writing, “You were the heart of our group. You brought so much creativity, energy, and passion to our music, and your influence will be felt for years to come.”

Last week brought some bad news: Succession’s forthcoming fourth season will be its last. On one hand, in an age of endless spinoffs and revivals, it’s good to be reminded that some things can just come to an end, before they slide into a sad decline. On the other, Succession is really freaking good and it will be sorely missed. Among the many people sad about the news is its creator, Jesse Armstrong. He’s even open to some kind of spinoff. Problem is, HBO brass is not.

In the same New Yorker interview in which Armstrong confirmed the show was ending (in a bit caught by The Guardian), he also lamented the idea. “I feel sad, and I have the circus-has-left-town feeling that everyone gets who works on a production that’s good, and this one particularly so,” he confessed. “I imagine I’ll be a little bit lonely, and wandering the streets of London in a funk.”

Still, while Armstrong admitted he “never thought this could go on forever,” he’s not against the idea of reviving it in some fashion, saying “there could be something else in an allied world, or allied characters, or some of the same characters.” He added, “Maybe there’s another part of this world we could come back to, if there was an appetite?”

Problem is, should Armstrong one day wish to follow through on this idea, whatever form it should take, he may have to convince the powers that be. When asked by Variety if Succession could get some spinoff, HBO and HBO Max content CEO Clay Bloys wasn’t optimistic.

“I don’t think so,” Bloys responded. He did add, “I always say ‘never say never.’” However, he remained practical. “It doesn’t seem to me that there’s something in Succession where you would go, ‘Let’s follow just this kid’ or whatever. It doesn’t seem like a natural thing to me.”

That being said, Bloys added, if [Armstrong] said I want to do this, then I would follow Jesse’s lead.”

So there you go! There may or may not one day be more Succession in some form. Who’s to say. In the meantime, the fourth season debuts on March 26 on HBO.

(Via New Yorker, Variety, and The Guardian)

In 2021, Doja Cat released her third studio album, Planet Her. The album, which centers on the fictional planet that the “Say So” hitmaker created, not only launched her into pop superstardom but earned several chart-topping hits. It’s been nearly two years since its release, and now, Planet Her has surpassed six billion streams on Spotify, making it the most streamed album by a female rapper in the streaming platform’s history.

“‘Planet Her’ by Doja Cat has surpassed 6 BILLION streams on Spotify. It is the most streamed album by a female rapper in history,” Pop Base reports.

The album featured guest appearances from some of music’s biggest acts —Young Thug, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and SZA — showcasing her growth as an artist. Doja was no longer the “Mooo!” girl known for her quick-witted internet humor. Instead, she was a certified hitmaker. The project even helped the rapping songstress nab a Grammy nomination for Best Album at the 64th Grammy Awards.

While she didn’t walk away with the top award that night, she still got the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her mega-pop hit “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA.

Regarding new music, what Doja Cat has under her sleeve is unclear. She noted that the album could be influenced by rap or maybe even “rave culture.” Most recently, she’s said she wants to take a more “masculine direction” with the album.

Either way, Doja has proved herself as more than a meme star, and the world will be waiting with its ear to the ground for her next project and whatever direction she takes it.

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

Woody Harrelson hosted SNL for the fifth time on Saturday night, which puts him in the august company of the “Five Timer’s Club.” Good for him! He celebrated the milestone with a rambling monologue that went on for over six minutes. For the most part it was affably meandering. He even started telling a story before taking numerous detours, returning to it only at the end — at which point it was revealed he seemed to be telling a weird anti-vax joke.

Harrelson began by addressing how divided America has become. Calling himself a “redneck hippie,” he said, “You know, the red in me thinks you should be allowed to own guns. The blue in me thinks – squirt guns. So, I’m red and blue which makes purple. I’m purple.”

He talked about his famous weed habit, as well as how he didn’t drink for seven months (then enjoying it again for “five glorious months”).

Harrelson eventually settled on a story about a script he’d read after hosting the show in November of 2019. What was it about?

“The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes, and people can only come out if they take the cartels’ drugs, and keep taking them over and over,” he explained. “I threw the script away. I mean, who is going to believe that crazy idea?”

No one laughed at that, but they did at his second punchline: “Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day long.”

So is Harrelson anti-vax? Was he just joshing? He’s a pretty kooky guy, so it’s a little hard to tell, although the anti-vax contingent on social media quickly turned him into a hero. Others may have forgiven him by the time he got to a pretty funny send-up of Brendan Fraser’s movie The Whale.

This year’s Oscars are a couple weeks away, but this year’s ceremony lives in the shadow of what happened last year. Will someone make like Will Smith and slap another presenter? Probably not! But the Academy board isn’t taking any chances. Last week they announced they had established a “crisis team” that will try to prevent any similar incidents. The move was widely mocked, including on SNL’s most recent Weekend Update.

“Guys, it’s not going to happen again. I’m sure you wish it would, for ratings,” racked co-host Colin Jost about the move. He then speculated on some ways they could advertise a possible assault.

“If anything the promo should be, ‘Who’s going to get slapped this year?’ Can Ana de Armas beat the Tár out of Cate Blanchett? Which Banshee will knock the shoes off Marcel the Shell? And who has what it takes to Whale on Brendan Fraser?”

The Academy’s paranoia was one of many topics touched on during this weekend’s segment. Jost also laid into Donald Trump for his cynical appearance in East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a horrific train derailment, which had been parodied earlier on the show.

“Donald Trump visited East Palestine, the site of the recent train derailment, because Trump usually tries to make himself look better by standing next to a train wreck,” Jost joked. He had a few more jokes on the matter.

“The train that derailed was carrying highly toxic vinyl chloride, which I think is something Trump recommended as a cure for COVID,” Jost told the crowd. He then moved on to Trump handing out bottles of his long-ago-discontinued branded spring water. “Said residents, ‘Thanks, but we’d rather drink the toxic train water.”

Meanwhile, Michael Che took on both Marjorie Taylor Greene, who he called the former “Cocaine Bear,” alongside a picture of her State of the Union get-up, and slammed her call for a “National Divorce” by declaring her “the most divorced-looking woman I have ever seen.”

Che then moved on to Ron DeSantis, whose forthcoming memoir, called The Courage to Be Free, has a title, Che said, “sounds like a Black history book he’s banned.”

You can watch the most recent Weekend Update in the videos above and below.

Last week, Donald Trump made his way to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the horrific train derailment that caused a toxic airborne event. It was a calculated move: In a presser, he rambled about his discontinued line of spring water. He later went to McDonald’s. Seeing that SNL has a top shelf Trump impersonator in James Austin Johnson, there was no way they wouldn’t start their latest show by taking it on.

“It’s wonderful to be here in the town of East Palestine, not a great name,” Johnson’s Trump declared. “To come here and see these wonderful people who have been abandoned by Biden. He’s on spring break in Ukraine with his friend Zelensky in the T-shirt, very disrespectful.”

Thus began a rambling soliloquy, not to different from Trump’s own, with him talking about speaking to a farmer who said the event had poisoned his land, leaving him with nothing to eat but dirt.

“And I said, ‘Well, what are you doing eating the dirt? Don’t eat the dirt,’” he recalled. “‘Don’t eat the dirt. You should be eating the cold McDonald’s I brought you and the bottled water and Trump ice. I’ll be honest, I just put my sticker on some Dasani.”

He even praised the newly contaminated area. “I’ve heard all about your situation with the water, but I was looking at your river, and it’s so shiny,” he said. “I’ve never seen water so beautiful — beautiful rainbows and discolorations. It’s wearing makeup Fenty Beauty Water by Rihanna.”

And then he laid into Rihanna, as Trump inexplicably did.

You can watch the Colkd Open in the video above.