Month: April 2023

Davido’s disappearance from the public spotlight wasn’t something he had planned in advance. However, following the tragic death of his young son in November, the Nigerian Afropop star and his partner Chioma Rowland took time to mourn privately as a family. Then nearing the end of March, the musician to social media to surprise fans with a heartfelt note.

“Thank you to everyone out there for your love and support that has held me down. All the love and messages while I was away, the gifts sent, the concerts you all threw! I appreciate it all,” wrote Davido.

Also included in the post was the news that his third album, Timeless would be hitting streaming platforms soon. Now with the album officially available to the public, streaming titan Apple Music shared that the project broke one of its global records.

Shared to the company’s Twitter page, Apple Music revealed Davido is breaking global records on. The Nigerian superstar’s [album] Timeless had the most first-day streams ever for an African album on Apple Music.”

To which Davido, quote tweeted to humbly reply, “God is too good!”

Apple Music wasn’t the only streaming platform, Davido’s new album broke records. AudioMach, also shared that Timeless now holds its record for the highest streams for within album in 24 hours.

Timeless is now via Davido Music Worldwide and Sony Music Entertainment. Find more information here.

If you thought Burna Boy’s set at Dreamville Festival 2023 this past weekend was one for the books, the international superstar is just starting. The “Last Last” musician made his debut performance at the multi-day event in Raleigh, North Carolina, but his upcoming concert date in New York is where the real history is being made.

With Burna Boy’s Love, Damini World Tour is set to stop at Citi Field in New York on coming July 8; this will make the Afro-fusion act the first Nigerian artist to headline a US stadium, according to Billboard. Last year, Burna Boy set his name in the history books by becoming the first Nigerian act to headline Madison Square Garden thanks to his show Burna Boy Presents One Night in Space.

Citi card members’ pre-sale tickets start tomorrow, Tuesday, April 4, at 10 am local time. The general ticket sale begins on Friday, April 7, at 10 am local time. For more information, click here.

Bruna Boy’s Love, Damini album continues to perform well on the global charts. In fact, late last month, Burna released the long-awaited visual for his epic collaborative track “Rollercoaster” with J Balvin.

When discussing the inspiration behind the globally successful album, Burna Boy wrote on Twitter, “Love, Damini is a personal body of work,” adding, “It’s about the ups and downs, the growth, the L’s and W’s. I’m excited to share this journey and roll out with you all.”

View the remaining tour dates below.*

04/08 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
04/12 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
05/20 — Paris, FR @ La Defense
06/03 — London, UK @ London Stadium
06/17 — Arnhem, Netherlands @ Gelredome
07/08 — Flushing, NY @ CitiField

*The tour schedule above does not include festival dates.

Burna Boy will perform at Coachella 2023, Afro Nation Miami 2023, Afro Nation Portugal 2023, Roskilde Festival 2023, Colours of Ostrava 2023, and Big Slap 2023.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If you thought Burna Boy’s set at Dreamville Festival 2023 this past weekend was one for the books, the international superstar is just starting. The “Last Last” musician made his debut performance at the multi-day event in Raleigh, North Carolina, but his upcoming concert date in New York is where the real history is being made.

With Burna Boy’s Love, Damini World Tour is set to stop at Citi Field in New York on coming July 8; this will make the Afro-fusion act the first Nigerian artist to headline a US stadium, according to Billboard. Last year, Burna Boy set his name in the history books by becoming the first Nigerian act to headline Madison Square Garden thanks to his show Burna Boy Presents One Night in Space.

Citi card members’ pre-sale tickets start tomorrow, Tuesday, April 4, at 10 am local time. The general ticket sale begins on Friday, April 7, at 10 am local time. For more information, click here.

Bruna Boy’s Love, Damini album continues to perform well on the global charts. In fact, late last month, Burna released the long-awaited visual for his epic collaborative track “Rollercoaster” with J Balvin.

When discussing the inspiration behind the globally successful album, Burna Boy wrote on Twitter, “Love, Damini is a personal body of work,” adding, “It’s about the ups and downs, the growth, the L’s and W’s. I’m excited to share this journey and roll out with you all.”

View the remaining tour dates below.*

04/08 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
04/12 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
05/20 — Paris, FR @ La Defense
06/03 — London, UK @ London Stadium
06/17 — Arnhem, Netherlands @ Gelredome
07/08 — Flushing, NY @ CitiField

*The tour schedule above does not include festival dates.

Burna Boy will perform at Coachella 2023, Afro Nation Miami 2023, Afro Nation Portugal 2023, Roskilde Festival 2023, Colours of Ostrava 2023, and Big Slap 2023.

Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season 1 of House of the Dragon.

There was a chance House of the Dragon wouldn’t click with audiences the way Game of Thrones did. Such fears were put to rest pretty quickly. The prequel series was a big hit, prompting plenty of online chatter. Some were even bummed to learn the second season will be slightly shorter than the first. (At least they’re getting more dragons.) People love this Westeros place so much that HBO is in talks to make a prequel to the already-existing prequel.

As per Variety, the prequel-to-the-prequel series will dip even further back into the Targaryen line, telling the story of the one who started it all, Aegon I Targaryen. Here’s how Variety describes the premise:

The show would tell the story of how Aegon and his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, used their army and their three dragons to conquer six of the seven kingdoms on Westeros with the exception of Dorne. In doing so, Aegon I became the first king of Westeros, the first to sit on the Iron Throne, and the founder of the Targaryen Dynasty. Those events took place approximately 300 years prior to the events of “Game of Thrones.”

For context, House of the Dragon begins with one of Aegon I’s successors, Viserys, the fifth king of the Seven Kingdoms. It ended with his death, followed by the ascension of Aegon II, played by Tom Glynn-Carney.

HBO has spent years teasing numerous Game of Thrones prequels and spinoffs, though only House of the Dragon has ever come to fruition. So take news of this with a quarry of salt. Still, Variety reports that HBO is “keen to move forward” with the show, which might even kick off with a movie that could lead into a potential series. So if you love learning about every branch of the Targaryen family tree, then you may be in luck. Meanwhile, franchise creator George R.R. Martin is still working on that next book.

(Via Variety)

Taylor Swift merch is a big deal. For her new album Midnights, she had an array of items: duffle bags, crewnecks, hoodies, backpacks, vinyl clocks, vinyl collector’s cases, etcetera. Of course, she went all out for the extravagant The Eras Tour, which has cities literally renaming themselves for the pop star. However, the merch has been getting some complaints from fans, saying clothing has been fading after one wash.

Swift’s official website has issued a statement about the situation, saying the product is supposed to have a “distressed, vintage look.” However, they offered a point of contact for providing replacements.

Read the full statement below.

“Due to the particular ink curing process used on certain Tour Collection products, after washing your merchandise you may see a faint fade on the product print. This slight fade is related to the product’s distressed, vintage look. Please also note it is important to follow product care instructions as listed on the product label when washing and drying your items, to best protect and maintain the product’s look and feel. However, if after washing your product you notice a dramatic loss of pigment or ink bleeding on your product, please contact [email protected] so we can help address the concern, and provide a replacement if necessary under our Exchange Policy.”

LSU’s dominant performance against Iowa on Sunday afternoon in the 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship Game was the most viewed women’s title game in history, peaking at over 12.3 million viewers with an average of 9.9 million.

It was an unmitigated success for women’s basketball, as LSU and Iowa both brought plenty of storylines into the game having beaten top seeds Virginia Tech and South Carolina in the semifinals on Friday. Stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were the headliners, but it was LSU that saw others step into starring roles as Jasmine Carson, Alexis Morris, and LaDazhia Williams all topped 20 points in the game to lead an incredible LSU scoring performance to win the school’s first women’s basketball national title.

After the game, much of the conversation was about Reese’s trash talk to Clark, as she returned the “You Can’t See Me” gesture Clark had used during the tournament to the Iowa star, and just generally delighted in sending Clark home without a ring. That saw some get upset at Reese, calling her classless and defending Clark (who never asked for that to happen), which then became plenty coming to Reese’s defense and calling out the double standard applied to Black players showing emotion compared to white players like Clark, who isn’t shy about dishing out trash talk herself.

The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, is now apparently stepping into some murky waters and only exacerbating the issues following the public reaction to LSU, a team with almost entirely Black players, beating an Iowa team that’s almost entirely white. Biden said at an event on Monday, via the AP, she’ll encourage president Joe Biden to not only extend the traditional invite to the champions from LSU, but also Iowa “because they played such a good game.”

“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” she said. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

This statement unsurprisingly didn’t go over well with many, including Reese who made her thoughts on it known on Twitter.

I can’t blame Reese, who has spent the last 24 hours as the center of controversy for enjoying her national championship win. While she’s welcomed the spotlight and celebrated accordingly on social media, this is fairly absurd and isn’t something you’d ever see in another sport. While I don’t think there’s malice in the sentiment from the First Lady, it’s just not something you can do in the world of sports and, if anything, feels patronizing to Iowa and disrespectful to LSU, even if unintended. That it’s extending an invite to the team that’s mostly white for trying hard and doing their best only further creates an optics issue.

Donald Trump may have become the first president in American history to be indicted on criminal charges, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be convicted. There’s a chance the case against him could fall apart and he returned to the “zombie apocalypse” that is his hometown for nothing. Still, the unprecedented move has galvanized the Republican party, who’ve spent the last few days rallying to his defense. One of them got so worked up, though, that he let out what seemed like a top shelf Freudian slip.

Over the weekend, Los Angeles attorney Brian Claypool, who moonlights as a political commentator, went on Fox News to tear apart Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against the former president. He expressed skepticism that the dozens of charges — still not made public — would stick, and that the indictment would lead to a conviction. He bandied about GOP buzzwords like “political witch-hunt,” called Bragg “radical,” and said he was “targeting Trump.”

He also called Trump an unkind name. While discussing Bragg’s motives for charging Trump, Claypool claimed that what he wanted to do was “humiliate President Fraud.” Claypool quickly caught himself, but the damage was done.

You can watch Claypool’s full interview in the video below, but it’s worth noting that when he gets to the Freudian slip, there’s a sudden edit, excising his screw-up. Still, it was a good slip, albeit not as epic as the one George W. Bush made last year about the Iraq War.

In September of last year, Lizzo won the Emmy for Outstanding Competition Program for her Amazon Prime Video series, Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls. Because of that, Amazon Studios — who produced it alongside Lizzo’s production company Lizzo Bangers — is extending the “About Damn Time” performer’s first-look deal, according to Billboard.

“Lizzo is one of the most exciting, creative, joyful artists in the industry, and the impact of her Emmy award-winning series Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls exceeded our every expectation,” Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon, and MGM Studios shared in a statement. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Lizzo and can’t wait for our global Prime Video audience to experience what’s next.”

“I’m thrilled to continue this partnership with the Amazon team after an incredible experience on season one of Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” Lizzo added. “I’ve witnessed lives change through this show, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue making space for even more Big Grrrls around the world to shine and break down barriers across this industry.”

It looks like Lizzo’s gonna have a good year.

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

Many great comedians have sat at the helm of the “Weekend Update” desk on “Saturday Night Live” over the show’s 48 seasons. Chevy Chase was known for his cool deadpan. Dennis Miller was the hip intellectual. Norm Macdonald will go down in history for his endless OJ jokes that eventually got him removed from the desk. Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon were a great double act that was a fun mix of high-brow and low-brow humor.

The current anchors, Michael Che and Colin Jost, will probably best be known for making fun of each other. Over the years, one of the duo’s signature bits has been writing jokes for each other and reading them live for the first time. It seems like every time they do that bit, Che finds a new way to embarrass Jost.

On Saturday, April 1, Che was at it again, this time with a brutal April Fool’s prank where he secretly asked the audience not to laugh at any of Jost’s jokes.

Che and Jost opened their segment with jokes about the indictment of former president Donald Trump, but the audience laughed much harder at Che than at Jost. A few minutes into the bit, Jost made a joke at his own expense and it received only a smattering of laughter.

“At this point, it feels like even pro-Trump people have moved on,” Jost said, referring to the trial before a superimposed image of him wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and a sign that read, “LET OUR BOY GO!” appeared on the screen.

The gag was met with an audience member screaming, “You stink!” The heckle was the last straw for Jost, who hung his head in his hand in shame. At that point, Che gave up the gag.

“I told them not to laugh at you for April Fools,'” Che told Jost, and the two couldn’t keep it together. “That’s the meanest thing you’ve ever done to me. I’m covered in sweat,” Jost told Che through fits of laughter.

“I was truly like, ‘Am I not mic’d?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, I just suck,” Jost joked.

The crowd broke out in applause for Jost, but he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of acknowledging them after they refused to laugh at his jokes. “No, no! Don’t even dare! Don’t you even dare try now.”

When it was Jost’s turn to tell his next joke, a bit about Florida Ron DeSantis, Che said, “They’ll probably laugh at this next one.” And the audience did.

The episode was hosted by Abbot Elementary’s Quinta Brunson, who shined in “Traffic Altercation,” a sketch where she and Mikey Day played motorists screaming at each other in traffic. The crux of the bit was that they couldn’t hear what each other was saying, so they had to argue using hand signals.

“Saturday Night Live” will return on April 8 and will be hosted by SNL alum Molly Shannon (“Superstar”). The musical guest will be the Jonas Brothers.

One of a fan’s greatest thrills watching a live baseball game is catching a home run ball. For dog lovers, the only thing better than catching one yourself is letting your dog do the honors.

On Saturday, March 25, a Dodger fan wearing a “K-9” jersey was over the moon after his dog caught a home run ball during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. The dog was wearing a service dog vest, which made his amazing feat even sweeter.

The Dodgers were losing to the Kansas City Royals 5-2 in the 7th inning when prospect Michael Busch put a ball over the fence. After the scramble for the ball on the outfield lawn was settled, a joyous-looking canine could be seen proudly holding the ball in its mouth.

The dog looked like it’s played more than a few rounds of fetch in its day.

The crowd erupted in cheers to salute the lucky dog. After a brief struggle, his owner, wearing the K-9 jersey, took the ball from the dog’s mouth and held it high above his head in celebration.

u201cFetch never rests ud83dude24u201d

— Cut4 (@Cut4)
1679778419

The video received some of the cutest responses on Twitter.

“Sign the dog @Dodgers,” @mookiebag wrote.

“Service dog really being a service,” @tonyforthemostpart added.

Many folks also hoped that the man in the K-9 jersey handed the ball to a kid after the celebration.

Sadly, that was the last bit of excitement for the Dodger fans at the game. The Royals won the game 6-3. The dog has yet to be signed to a major league contract.