Month: April 2023

Billie Eilish recently released her latest Air Force 1 Low colorway, and Megan Thee Stallion rocked the coveted sneakers while throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for her hometown Houston Astros on Thursday night, March 30.

“That’s my GIRRLLLLLLL,” Eilish wrote on her Instagram Story tonight, March 31, atop a photo of Meg on the mound at Minute Maid Park before the reigning World Series champions took the field against the visiting Chicago White Sox. “Also in my shoes???!!!!????? she the love of my life @theestallion.”

Meg was in high spirits at Thursday’s game:

Tonight, Meg is performing at the AT&T Block Party at Houston’s Discovery Green park to kick off Final Four weekend for the men’s NCAA Tournament. It marks her first live performance of 2023, as she slowly reemerges in the public eye after a December trial found Tory Lanez guilty of shooting her in 2020.

“There’s no place I’d rather be for my first performance of the year than my hometown of Houston,” Meg said in a statement when the AT&T Block Party was announced earlier this month. “The AT&T Block Party Concert is gonna be such a vibe, and I can’t wait to get back on stage in the city where it all began. I’m looking forward to seeing my Hotties and putting on an unforgettable show for them.”

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

LSU’s women’s basketball team will play for its first national championship. Despite trailing Virginia Tech by as many as 12 points in the third quarter of Friday night’s Final Four tilt, the Tigers put together a dominant fourth quarter to pick up a 79-72 win and punch their ticket to the biggest game in program history on Sunday afternoon.

The Hokies looked like they were in cruise control early on in the third, as the team closed out the first half on an 11-0 run to take a 34-32 lead into the locker room. They continued to pour it on out of the break, and at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter, Cayla King knocked down a three to give the team a comfortable 51-39 lead.

Whenever LSU started to chip away at the lead, Virginia Tech seemed to have an answer. That was the case until the start of the fourth quarter, where the Tigers were nothing short of dominant. Alexis Morris and Angel Reese scored the first seven points of the frame before Georgia Amoore was able to temporarily stop the bleeding at the 7:53 mark.

And then, the Hokies stopped scoring. The team went on a nearly 6-minute long scoreless drought, all while they continued to get hammered on the other end of the floor. In all, LSU started the fourth quarter on a 22-3 run to go up by as many as 10 points.

While Virginia Tech was able to get to the free throw line down the stretch to keep the door cracked open, LSU was able to take care of business when they had the ball to slam it shut. A 27-point effort from Morris led the way for the Tigers, while Reese had 24 points and 12 rebounds. LaDazhia Williams also hit double-figures, going for 16 points and seven boards. Four members of the Hokies hit double-figures, with Elizabeth Kitley’s 18 points, 12 rebounds, and seven blocks leading the way.

The Tigers will now wait to see if they’ll take on South Carolina or Iowa with a national title on the line. While they have not faced off against Caitlin Clark and co. this year, LSU did play the defending national champions in Columbia this season, where the Tigers fell, 88-64.

Don’t look now, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just might lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a playoff berth that avoids needing the play-in tournament altogether. While it would take a strong close to the regular season and some help around them, Oklahoma City entered Friday’s slate of games 38-39 on the year, which puts them in 10th place in the Western Conference and two games back of the Golden State Warriors for the 6-seed.

The brilliance of Gilgeous-Alexander is a big reason why, as he has a legitimate case to be an All-NBA First-Team selection for his performance this season. And on Friday night during the Thunder’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Gilgeous-Alexander managed to stuff the stat sheet in a rather unique way: with one shoe on his foot.

Gilgeous-Alexander went up for a layup, made it, and hit the deck, where he ended up losing the sneaker on his left foot. He kept playing, though, all with his shoe in his hand.

It’s pretty impressive to snag a rebound and get one of your teammates going on a fast break while holding onto a sneaker, a situation that was remedied when a Josh Giddey layup attempt was blocked out of bounds. Gilgeous-Alexander could have tossed his sneaker over to the sidelines so he wasn’t holding onto things, or he could have just stayed behind the play and put it back on, but this was easily the funniest option.

The 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards was held in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday, March 30. Bad Bunny, Christina Aguilera, and Jeremy Pope were among those honored. Jennifer Coolidge even made a surprise appearance.

Is an awards show really an awards show if Bad Bunny isn’t there? It increasingly feels like the answer is no, and he was recognized at the GLAAD Awards for using his ubiquitous platform to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Puerto Rican megastar was presented the Vanguard Award by Ricky Martin, who praised Benito as “the most-streamed artist in history is loudly standing with trans women and the entire community” while letting “LGBTQ people dance, sing, love, and live lives authentically” (as relayed by The Hollywood Reporter).

THR also translated Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech from Spanish to English:

“I always say I don’t do anything expecting an award. I don’t do music for an award, I don’t do videos, my appearance [for an award]. I do everything because of how I feel and that’s all I have done. I believe that following my heart has led me to where I am, following my heart has brought me here receiving this award, surrounded by such beautiful people. I believe that when you have a good heart and you give love, that’s what you receive back, and that’s what I’ve wanted to do all this time with my music, with what I represent, with my space, with my concerts, with my shows, with all I do. That’s all I want to do. Give and receive love.”

Aguilera was given GLAAD’s Advocate For Change Award, and Pope received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. When the honorees were revealed in early February, Variety reported that Aguilera has “helped raise over $500 million toward HIV research with MAC cosmetics,” and GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis explained why Bad Bunny deserved to be this year’s Vanguard recipient.

“Bad Bunny uses his role as one of the world’s most popular music artists to boldly shine a light on LGBTQ people and issues, including transgender equality and ending violence against trans women of color,” Ellis said. “By consistently advocating for our community, elevating our stories, and demanding action from anti-LGBTQ leaders, Bad Bunny redefines the positive influence Latin music artists can have within the LGBTQ community, and has set an example for all artists.”

Previous GLAAD Vanguard recipients include Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, and Janet Jackson.

Watch Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech above, and check out footage from the event below.

Maisie Peters, ahead of her upcoming album, The Good Witch, is keeping fans fed with a brand new single about coming out of a relationship even stronger. Titled “Lost The Breakup,” Peters twists the knife at an ex over the fact that, despite him moving on first, she’ll still win in the long run.

“I’m the best thing that almost happened to you,” she sings, giving an instant confidence booster. “I’ll smile and you’ll have to face it / I’m thе greatest love that you wasted / But, by then, I’ll be far away / And, oh sh*t, you lost the breakup.”

The song follows her album’s lead single, “Body Better,” which gave another perspective on coping with a relationship ending.

“If ‘Body Better’ was me at my lowest, ‘Lost The Breakup’ was me clawing my way back up and out,” Peters said in a statement. “It feels like dressing up in sequins and going to a party with your best friends, like cheap champagne and smudged lipstick and burgers on the floor at 3 a.m. It’s a manifestation song and maybe if you sing it, it will come true (it did for me).”

Peters also filmed a music video for the song in Tokyo, and it will drop on April 5.

Check out Maisie Peters’ “Lost The Breakup” above.

The Good Witch is out 6/16 via Gingerbread Man Records/Elektra. Find more information here.

Lauren London paid tribute to her late partner, Nipsey Hussle, on the four-year mark of his passing. The two dated for five years and welcomed a son together before Hussle was shot and killed on March 31, 2019, by Eric Holder, who was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison in February.

London posted a black-and-white portrait of Hussle to Instagram alongside a heartbreaking caption.

“I hold my breath all of March knowing I have to face the memory of the day you transitioned….,” she wrote. “Holding on to ancient wisdom, but the pain is the pain, and nothing was ever the same…Eternal Being Ermias Asghedom, I Love You.”

She also attached a quote from Baha’i about death and a spirit living on, even if it is no longer with us:

“To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird. We see that without the cage this bird flies in the world of sleep; therefore, if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist. Its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness increased. In truth, from hell it reaches a paradise of delights because for the thankful birds there is no paradise greater than freedom.”

London has spoken about losing Hussle in the years since he passed.

“I also don’t want to give a misconception that I’m at peace and I’m walking around on a cloud,” London said on the People Every Day podcast back in January, speaking to the struggles of continuing on despite grieving. “I have to wake up with the intention of this every day because there are days I don’t want to, and I’m like angry about it. And that’s what healing is. It is up and down, side to side, all over the place. You know what I mean? And with each new level, there’s something else.”

Coi Leray presented SZA with the Woman Of The Year honor at Billboard‘s 2023 Women In Music event at the start of March. Leray is moving like she wants that Women Of The Year title for herself in 2024 — from her inclusion in Hulu’s RapCaviar Presents and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Nonsense” remix to continuing to refresh her November 2022 single “Players.”

“Players” already got a remix featuring Busta Rhymes, but Leray isn’t stopping there. When you keep hitting home runs, why stop swinging? She just dropped another “Players” remix featuring the rising Dominican star Tokischa.

“The official last remix,” Leray wrote on Instagram, complete with three fire emojis. “I NEED ALL MY LATINAS TO GO CRAZY THIS WEEKEND.”

“Diamond chain, that’s my bestie / Trust nobody, these b*tches is messy,” Tokischa raps in English, seamlessly transitioning from her Spanish bars. “Big ass smile, my mouth gotta bling / Thinkin’ ’bout money, not thinkin’ ’bout him / Soy la perra, you already know me / Wanna eat my ass en mi penthouse suite.”

“Players” became Leray’s first-ever Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hit, slotting in at No. 9 on the chart dated April 1. She celebrated the news with an Instagram reel set to Tee Grizzley’s “Winning” captioned, “Top 10 [five heart emojis, three party popper emojis] thank you again for all your support! each and every one of you [prayer hands emoji].”

Listen to the revamped version of “Players” above.

It’s the penultimate weekend of the Division 1 college basketball season. The women’s Final Four will lead things off on Friday night — LSU and Virginia Tech will play in one Final Four matchup, while South Carolina will take on Iowa a little later in the evening — and on Saturday, the men will determine their national title game after UConn plays Miami and San Diego State squares off against Florida Atlantic.

About 30 seconds into the first game of the weekend, Virginia Tech’s Cayla King threw up a shot that ended up in a turnover. The catch: The ball actually got stuck on top of the backboard, which meant that someone was gonna have to figure out how to get it down from there.

Instead of one of the people with a mop coming to help, a pair of LSU cheerleaders sprung into action. The two went right over to the backboard and took care of business, with one holding the other one up and making it so she could simply swat the ball off of the top of the glass.

We got one of these during last year’s men’s tournament, and it’s always a blast to see the cheerleaders save the day like this. There’s going to be a whole lot of good basketball this weekend, but we think it’s gonna be hard for anyone to have a better assist.

Chlöe’s fans have been wishing she’d manipulate time to go faster since the January announcement of her debut solo album, In Pieces, which finally dropped today, March 31. Along with it came the video for “Cheatback” featuring Future, and in that video, Chlöe goes back in time to process her pain.

Directed by Audrey Ellis Fox, the nearly four-minute video begins with the reversal of Chlöe smashing out the windows of a car’s windshield — perhaps a subtle nod to Beyoncé’s Lemonade baseball bat? — and a stream of tears erasing from her cheek. She sings, “I’m not gonna cry anymore / I’m not gonna wait up at night / I’m not gonna answer your calls / Whenever you’re down / I’m not gonna bleach your clothes / I’m not gonna do you like that / What I really, really want / Is to cheat back.”

But Chlöe is not going to do that, even though she’s tempted by “another boo from the hood with some tats,” played by Joey Badass. She spends the rest of the video fighting against that impulse and instead spending a night out with her girls.

Future (and an exceptional floppy hat) understands, singing from the strip club as dollars cascade down on him: “The beauty of you, that’s what do it for me / No one above you, girl, you the best / Should’ve never let you down, feelin’ embarrassed.”

Even though In Pieces is here — and a subsequent tour is on the way in April — fans still aren’t satisfied and want “Told Ya” featuring Missy Elliott to get the video treatment ASAP.

For now, watch “Cheatback” above.

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