Month: May 2023

Earlier this week, TMZ premiered a new documentary, TMZ Investigates: Britney Spears: The Price Of Freedom. The doc made a lot of claims, which Sam Asghari addressed, and now Spears herself has spoken up, too, via a new Instagram post.

The post features a photo of a reflective-looking woman with the text, “Thinking about when I was a teenager and I’d ride in the trunk of my friends car to a party at a gravel pit, sleep just fine on a hard floor and eat McDonalds whenever I wanted, and now I have a 13-step skincare routine, get to bed by 9:30, work out daily and eat mostly plants.”

Spears’ caption starts, “Considering what happened to me during the conservatorship and how hard I work everyday to be a better person since it’s been over !!! The concern and just effort on TMZ’s part of being the trashiest news channel for news !!! Damn I’m flattered !!!”

She continued, “These men who I have no idea who they are, are talking about me as if they have any right at all to do so !!! My girlfriend called me and said ‘because I know you I was laughing at these men and what they were saying’ !!! But she also said it was really disturbing how incredibly conniving and foolish it was !!! The media has always been cruel to me and most people probably wouldn’t even comment on it but I do think some people might believe this and I care !!! I almost feel like my life in the business has always been that girl at school who was bullied and laughed at !!! But in my case there is no superior person to set it straight !!!”

Spears also gave an update on her upcoming book, writing, “I think some people are wanting to hear my story … either through a book or what have you ??? I’ve had to stop a couple of times !!! It may take me a year, maybe longer who knows … to share my story !!!”

Find Spears’ full post below.

“Considering what happened to me during the conservatorship and how hard I work everyday to be a better person since it’s been over !!! The concern and just effort on TMZ’s part of being the trashiest news channel for news !!! Damn I’m flattered !!! These men who I have no idea who they are, are talking about me as if they have any right at all to do so !!! My girlfriend called me and said ‘because I know you I was laughing at these men and what they were saying’ !!! But she also said it was really disturbing how incredibly conniving and foolish it was !!! The media has always been cruel to me and most people probably wouldn’t even comment on it but I do think some people might believe this and I care !!! I almost feel like my life in the business has always been that girl at school who was bullied and laughed at !!! But in my case there is no superior person to set it straight !!! My dad was supposedly the one who was supposed to protect my mind and heart from things of this matter but he was the main one who was secretly loving it !!! I think some people are wanting to hear my story … either through a book or what have you ??? I’ve had to stop a couple of times !!! It may take me a year, maybe longer who knows … to share my story !!! My great grandmother told me two things that I will never forget !!! People come here for two reasons … either for a lesson or a blessing and she said ‘Dear sweetheart the real key to happiness is to forget every fucking thing that ever happened ‘ !!! It’s a new day y’all !!!”

The Los Angeles Lakers, as a team, had an awful shooting night in Game 2 against the Nuggets, as their inability to knock down shots from deep played a big role in allowing Denver to come back and take a 2-0 series lead on Thursday night.

As a team, the Lakers were 8-of-30 from three-point range, but were only that successful from long range thanks to Austin Reaves. The second-year guard has been L.A.’s most reliable three-point shooter in these playoffs and continued that with a 5-of-9 shooting night in Denver, making him the only Laker with more than one make on the night. Reaves finished the night with 22 points, tied with LeBron James for the team-high in scoring — Jamal Murray, on the other side, scored 22 in the fourth quarter to lead Denver to the win.

Given he was tied for the team lead in scoring on the night, Reaves was asked to go to the podium after the game to talk about the loss and what happened. Reaves did so after snagging a quick shower, but hadn’t gotten his hair fully dried which meant he rolled up to take questions looking, well, like this.

Reaves looking like he was from a mid-2000s rock band gave NBA Twitter enough fodder to have some fun late into the night.

There were also some who went a different route from the many band references to note he looked like Todd from Wedding Crashers.

https://twitter.com/PintOfJack/status/1659415355553456128

A Lana Del Rey fan-favorite track has finally been made available for streaming. Tonight (May 19), Del Rey has given her song “Say Yes To Heaven” an official release on streaming platforms.

On the song, Del Rey encourages a special someone to take a chance on love and make an escape with her.

“If you dance, I’ll dance / And if you don’t, I’ll dance anyway / Give peace a chance / Let the fear you have fall away / I’ve got my eye on you / I’ve got my mind on you / Say yes to Heaven / Say yes to me / Say yes to Heaven / Say yes to me,” she sings over smooth, gorgeous guitar strings, as a pounding drum beats in the background.

Versions of “Say Yes To Heaven” have appeared online for years on platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud, but until tonight, the song had never been officially released. The song is rumored to date back to the sessions for Del Rey’s third studio album, Ultraviolence, which was originally released in 2014.

Recently, the song had gone viral on TikTok, which is likely what prompted a release of the song in both a studio format and a sped-up version.

You can listen to “Say Yes To Heaven” above.

For much of Thursday’s Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets were stalled in the mud offensively. After scoring 132 points in the Game 1 victory, Denver had just 76 points through three quarters, while Murray followed up his own 31-point performance with 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting before the fourth frame. Then, Murray and the Nuggets caught fire. They scored 32 points in the final period, including 22 on 6-of-7 shooting from Murray. Denver outscored Los Angeles 32-24 in the fourth quarter to win the game 108-103, and now holds a 2-0 lead in this Western Conference Finals matchup.

During his fourth-quarter explosion, Murray went 4-of-5 beyond the arc. As he hustled his way back down the floor following his fourth triple, he pointed toward ESPN’s Mike Breen on the broadcast desk and yelled “bang!” — a nod to Breen’s signature call commemorating key shots at key moments of games.

Murray’s rarely played as someone short on confidence, and this is a sensational show of awareness to know who’s calling the game and what he’ll say after a big three. He certainly didn’t seem to lack it in Game 2, despite the slow first three quarters. Denver needed him to keep firing and pull the offense out of its massive slog. Murray accomplished exactly that, powered the Nuggets to a 2-0 series advantage and provided everyone with an enjoyable moment amid his dazzling scoring stretch.

Conan Gray is back and ready to deliver. Tonight (May 19), the Gen-Z pop superstar has shared his new single, “Never Ending Song.”

Over pulsating, ’80s-inspired synths, Gray describes a magical kind of love that he just can’t escape.

“You and I / sacrificed my adolescence / just to waste my time / on the edges of your life / but we’ve grown too close / now it can’t amount to nothing / I can hear your voice / in the music on the radio / and it goes on and on and on / like a never ending song,” he sings on part of the song.

In the accompanying music video, Gray arrives to a grocery store as it is closing, and throws down his best dance moves throughout the shop. He is later joined by some of the customers in the store, who then give it all they’ve got.

“It’s about a tale as old as time and something we’ve all gone through, which is a painful tumultuous relationship that just never seems to die no matter how many times you kill it,” said Gray in a statement. “The story just drags on and on. Maybe that’s by design, or maybe you secretly don’t want it to ever end. I’ve always enjoyed disguising my sadness inside of upbeat music. It’s how I’ve handled life. I never like to take myself too seriously—life is painful enough as is.”

You can see the video for “Never Ending Song” above.

While the Nuggets won Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, they did so by holding on narrowly after seeing a 21-point lead evaporate into just a three-point edge in the fourth quarter. Because of that, a lot of the conversation over the last two days leading into Game 2 was about the adjustments L.A. made in the fourth quarter that were successful against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets offense and how that would carry over.

The Lakers got great minutes out of Rui Hachimura in the fourth quarter, allowing Anthony Davis to roam and serve as the person bringing the double team on Jokic, which stymied the Nuggets offense and allowed L.A. to claw back into the game. However, the talk about that adjustment became too much of the focus, particularly considering Denver was going to have a chance to develop some counters to the Lakers’ defensive scheme. In Game 2, Jokic wasn’t quite as dominant — only 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists — and early he seemed a bit too passive, but was still effective and, ultimately, once the Nuggets started making shots they pulled in front in the fourth quarter.

After the Game 2 win, head coach Michael Malone voiced his frustration with the lack of commentary about Jokic’s historic 30-20-10 triple-double in Game 1 and how his team seemingly was on the backburner despite winning the opening game.

“You win Game 1 of the playoffs, and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone says. “Let’s be honest, that was a national narrative: The Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out. No one talked about that Nikola had a historic performance. He’s got 13 triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative is about the Lakers and their adjustments. So you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, you come back and you know what, we’re going to go up 2-0.”

Finding slights in media coverage is a time-honored tradition in sports, but Malone’s not totally wrong here. The major networks, particularly ESPN, spent an awful lot of time on Hachimura’s defense and how the Lakers had figured some things out, which was worth talking about to a degree, but so was the play of Jokic to force that adjustment. Coming off of Game 2 the conversation will undoubtedly touch on Jamal Murray’s fourth quarter eruption to lead Denver to the come from behind win and a 2-0 series lead, but you can also rest assured LeBron and AD’s struggles shooting will be a leading topic as well. That should give Malone ample fuel to keep telling his top-seeded Nuggets they aren’t getting enough respect going into Game 3 in L.A., which, to be honest, is exactly what he wants.

As the title of The Dare‘s new EP The Sex EP suggests, his debut solo project is all about sex. Over the course of four tracks, The Dare, whose real name is Harrison Patrick Smith, offers poppy, electronic accounts of sexcapades by way of candid, and sometimes irreverent lyrics.

On the EP’s title track, “Sex,” The Dare delivers robotic vocals over a shockingly horny 8-bit-sounding beat.

“Sex, I want to turn you on / And then I want you gone / You might even have hate me a little bit / Sex, I want to call your mom /And tell her you’re the bomb / I might even see if she’s into it,” he says on part of the song.

According to The Dare, The Sex EP is simply an introduction to his artistry, and he promises a diverse repertoire of music in the future.

“I just wanted to write something funny and true about my relationship to sex,” said The Dare in a statement. “It’s also the most time-honored and classic theme of rock and roll, so I had to do it. The other, less horny songs are coming later.”

In the meantime, you can listen to “Sex” above.

The Sex EP is out now via Republic. Find more information here.

Post Malone is gearing up for the release of his fifth studio album, Austin, and with the pair of songs he’s released thus far, it sounds like it’ll be his most personal to date. On the first single, “Chemical,” he addresses his mental health and his addictions, displaying a desire to change, no matter how hard it seems.

Now, on “Mourning,” he painfully describes the process of getting sober, and dealing with the fact that he is forced to face the emotions he had been numbing for years.

“Don’t want to sober up / The sun is killin’ my buzz, that’s why they call it ‘mourning’ / Thought I was strong enough / Threw my bottle at the sky, said, ‘God, that’s a warning’ / Don’t wanna sober up / Try to keep it inside but I just wanna pour it / Thought I was strong enough Got a lot of sh*t to say, couldn’t fit it in the chorus,” he sings on the song’s chorus.

While he has more music on the way this summer, Post has been giving a hand at other endeavors, like an all-pink Raising Cane’s restaurant in Utah. He also recently helped a fan put a down payment on a home in Scotland.

You can listen to “Mourning” above.

Austin is out 7/29 via Republic. Find more information here.

(WARNING: Spoilers (or maybe not?) for this week’s Power Book II: Ghost episode will be found below.)

Power Book II: Ghost lost a big character in its most recent episode, which probably makes the two-week break the show was on quite warranted. Cooper Saxe, a role Shane Johnson played for a decade, was killed in episode eight of season three. His death came from a gunshot from Davis MacLean’s brother Theo who killed suicide Saxe and then himself in what will surely be one of the most shocking events in season three. That wasn’t all from episode eight, though. Elsewhere, Effie was arrested for her attempted murder of Lauren and Tariq helped set forth a plan for him, Monet, and RSJ to get their money back from the Weston Holdings Ponzi scheme.

In episode nine of Power Book II: Ghost season three, titled “A Last Gift,” everyone has to immediately deal with the aftermath of Cooper Saxe’s death and Effie’s arrest. Tariq discovers that Saxe knew about Lorenzo’s connection to Zeke’s death via evidence and Davis MacLean is left to prove that he did not influence Theo’s decision to kill Saxe while fighting new allegations from Jenny Sullivan. The Tejadas also have to make sure that they do not become collateral damage in the Saxe/Effie mess, but that becomes the least of their worries when Dru, Cane, and Diana find out that Monet enlisted Gordo to kill Lorenzo in response to him accidentally killing Zeke. This leads to an explosive response from the Tejada children, one that will forever change the relationship they have with their mother.

Elsewhere in this episode, Weston Holdings gets exposed for their Ponzi scheme which leaves Brayden, Kiki, and others at a huge risk of getting in trouble. Reluctantly, Brayden takes care of the issue in a way he hoped he wouldn’t have to. Tariq is also visited by a friend from the past and it’s here that he learns that his mother is a grave danger, something that leads to another meeting with an important figure from his past.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways that we have after season three’s ninth episode, “A Last Gift”:

Tariq Is Tired Of Saving Everyone

There hasn’t been a point in season three where Tariq wasn’t going out of his way to save someone close to him, whether it be for the drug operation or for personal reasons due to the relationship at hand. He’s saved the Tejadas and he’s saved Effie. He’s saved Brayden and he’s saved Rashad Tate. Sure, Tariq has been the saved individual a few times like when Brayden took the fall for him on the witness stand in season two, but more times than not it’s Tariq with the cape on. In episode nine, Tariq is back to his saving ways. He buys the group more time from Noma when Effie gets arrested and he talks some sense into Brayden when he’s hesitant to handle his uncle Lucas who is moments away from telling the police about the Weston Holding Ponzi scheme and the drug operation Tariq and Brayden run there. However, when the episode concludes with Tariq rushing to his mother’s witness protection home, you can tell Tariq is tired of this constant need to serve and protect the people around him. The attacks are getting tiresome, and he’d love for things to just go right for once, but nope. We’re left on a massive cliffhanger involving Tariq, his mother, and none other than Tommy Egan.

Jenny Sullivan’s Scorched-Earth Approach Will Only Leave Her Burned

One of the biggest reasons behind Cooper Saxe’s downfall, and eventually his death, was his relentless chase of the St. Patricks and any of their associates. Saxe ran into the figurative brick wall that cost him his life, and from the looks of it, Jenny Sullivan could be taking the first steps toward a similar fate. Jenny’s connection and love for Saxe certainly make her goal of having the St. Patricks and their associates pay for his death reasonable, but her scorched-earth approach will only lead to mistakes and presumably a loss. Yes, to beat Tariq and his crew you have to stay one step ahead of them, which is what Jenny did by using the attempted murder charge she had against Effie to put her behind bars. However, you can’t get too ahead of yourself. So through the tears and the extremely confident determination to take them down, Jenny can’t get too out of character or she’ll find herself in the same position Saxe found himself in for the past ten seasons: doing whatever in the pursuit of a win to make up for a resume of losses.

Brayden’s Corporate Suit And Tie Doens’t Make Him Less Like Tariq

I touched on this following last week’s episode, but Brayden seems to think that he is playing a different game compared to Tariq — better yet, it seems like he thinks his game is a bit more law-abiding. In episode nine, Brayden has a moment of truth with Tariq where he admits to not wanting to become the person that Tariq is today, the person that was able to kill his father and others in pursuit of his goals. Tariq sees it a lot differently though, he views his actions as necessary to make sure that he and Brayden were always safe and could escape harm’s way if they ever found themselves there. Tariq was down to do what was needed, but Brayden has always been a bit hesitant when it was his turn. As he stands there, suit and tie’d up speaking to Tariq, it seems like it finally dawns on him that this corporate look of his doesn’t make him any better than or less like Tariq. Maybe it was this conversation or maybe it wasn’t, but in the end, Brayden did what needed to be done for him and Brayden to live to see another free day.

Monet Never Valued The Most Important Part Of Her Regime

The Tejadas’ best quality was the cohesiveness and chemistry between their family who were all participants in the drug business. It’s something that seemingly made them a force to be reckoned with. However, with Monet taking over the reins, especially during Lorenzo’s incarceration and especially after her death, it was clear that she never valued that family aspect in terms of its importance towards their drug business. She led like a dictator and often used manipulation to get her kids to do what she wanted and believe what she wanted them to. Unfortunately, Dru, Cane, and Diana are a smart bunch and it was only a matter of time until they figured out the truth of Lorenzo’s death, which is exactly what happened in “A Last Gift.” We’ve seen the Tejada children storm away from their parents or storm out of their house multiple times over the three seasons of Power Book II: Ghost, but this latest occurrence seems a lot different. Monet has caused irreversible damage and it’s something that will different come back to bite her in the future. Dru, Cane, and Diana are independent and will certainly figure out how to achieve their personal goals on their own if need be, but as for Monet’s drug business, it was never built as a solo operation. We’ll just have to wait and see how she moves forward with her kids now against her.

New episodes of ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

After a wild opener that saw Nikola Jokic out-duel Anthony Davis to give Denver a 1-0 lead on L.A., the expectation was that the Lakers would come out with some added force in Game 2 trying to even the series before it shifts to Los Angeles.

That was exactly how the first half played out as L.A. took a 53-48 lead into the break, highlighted by a 17-point, 7-for-7 shooting performance from Rui Hachimura, who had become a talking point after Game 1 for his stout defense on Jokic down the stretch that allowed the Lakers to pull within as few as three in the fourth quarter. Hachimura was sensational in the first half, taking advantage of Denver’s focus being on the Lakers two stars, but as the game wore on the Nuggets’ attention on Davis and LeBron James paid off.

Those two struggled all night, combining for 40 points on just 13-of-34 shooting, and down the stretch they could not get it going to match Denver as the Nuggets offense woke up. Aside from Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets struggled for most of the night offensively, falling behind by double digits in the third quarter before finally showing some signs of life with a 10-0 run to tie the game. Jokic posted another strong triple-double with 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists, doing most of his damage in the first three quarters to keep Denver in the game.

In the fourth quarter, it was Jamal Murray who took over, scoring 22 of his 37 points in the final period. Murray looked tired all night, appearing to struggle to find his legs on his jump shot in the early going as he started the game 5-of-17 through the first three quarters, missing many on the front rim. However, as the final quarter arrived, he caught fire, knocking down 6-of-7 shots from the field, including four threes, to push the Nuggets in front while Jokic took a brief rest and then hit key shots and free throws late to keep them ahead.

There were some nervy moments still for the Nuggets down the stretch, as Austin Reaves (who had 22 points to match LeBron James as the Lakers leading scorer) banked in a three with a minute to play to cut the deficit down to just two.

However, the Lakers could never pull closer than that, with a missed layup by LeBron James (his fourth miss at the rim of the night) effectively ending their chances at pulling off a comeback Denver seemed more than willing to leave the door open for. Eventually, Murray and company would shut the door at the free throw line and polish off a 108-103 win, giving themselves a 2-0 series lead.

It was a wild game, with the Nuggets getting just enough from their others — headlined by Bruce Brown’s 12 points off the bench and Michael Porter Jr.’s 16 points, including some timely threes — to stay within reach until Murray finally got going. Jokic wasn’t quite as dominant, but continues to stuff the stat sheet and was happy to turn things over to Murray in the fourth quarter once the point guard started to percolate. They’ll be thrilled with pulling out a win on a night where they didn’t have their A-game for most of the night, doing to the Lakers what L.A. couldn’t in Game 1, stealing a win with a big fourth quarter. After the game, Michael Malone offered a succinct explanation of what happened in the fourth quarter for his star guard.

On the other side, the Lakers got what they needed from their role players, but the stars simply didn’t perform as needed. After a masterpiece in the opener, Anthony Davis was dreadful offensively, going 4-of-15 from the field with four turnovers. He was still a massive presence defensively, with four blocks and a steal, but without him playing with that same level of force offensively, the Lakers just struggled to produce enough. James likewise had some odd issues finishing at the rim, including a botched breakaway dunk, and then spent much of the fourth quarter desperately heaving threes to answer Murray’s flurry to no avail. Aside from Reaves (5-of-9 from three), no one on the Lakers made more than one three, going 3-of-21 as a group outside of the young shooting guard. That wasn’t a catastrophe when the Nuggets were also missing everything, but once Denver’s shooters woke up, the Lakers just couldn’t quite find the answer.