Month: November 2023

Seventeen years after her debut album, Taylor Swift just had the biggest opening weekend sales of her career. 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart this weekend with 1.653 million units sold in the U.S. alone. That’s the biggest opening weekend for an album since Adele’s 25 launched with a mind-melting 3.482 million albums sold.

Billboard reports that “of 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s first-week units, traditional album sales comprise 1.359 million of that sum — Swift’s single-largest sales week for any of her albums. It surpasses her previous high, logged when the original 1989 album debuted with 1.287 million sold.” It’s the first Taylor’s Version to sell more than the original album, this coming a few days after she set the record for the most-streamed Spotify album in a single day.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) also had the sixth-biggest sales week for any album ever, behind the aforementioned Adele album, *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached (2.416 million), *NSYNC’s Celebrity (1.878 million), Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP (1.76 million), and Backstreet Boys’ Black & Blue (1.591 million).

Taylor’s Version? More like Taylor’s World.

Swift’s Eras Tour resumes this week in Buenos Aires before hitting Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to close out the year. The record-setting tour (which is also breaking records at the box office) will return to the U.S. in 2024.

The Warriors and Cavs met on Sunday night in Cleveland, and while that matchup doesn’t carry quite as much weight as it did five years ago, it was still a matchup of two hopeful contenders in each conference.

For the Cavs, they’re trying to re-establish themselves as one of the East’s top teams with a new, young core headlined by Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. For the Warriors, they’re trying to prove their star group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green still have what it takes to compete for a fifth championship together. Sunday’s game went the way of the young Cavs in an impressive 115-104 win, and it was a tough night for the Warriors in a few regards.

Not only did they take the loss, but Draymond Green had to play through some pain after getting kicked in the nuts less than three minutes into the game as he went up for a rebound alongside Jarrett Allen, whose leg flailed right in between poor Draymond’s legs and left him laying on the floor for a bit.

Now, this naturally brings up some memories of Cavs-Warriors showdowns of the past, as Green rather famously got suspended one game for a low blow on LeBron James during the 2016 Finals, helping pave the way for a stunning Cavs comeback in the series. Allen, for his part in this instance, didn’t receive a Flagrant or any penalty for what was deemed incidental and accidental contact, despite the pain it cause for Green.

The fourth quarter of Cowboys-Eagles in Philadelphia was

With 10 minutes to go and the Eagles up 28-17, Luke Schoonmaker caught what was initially ruled a touchdown on 4th and goal, but upon review it was determined his knee was down while being contacted before he brought the ball over the goal line, resulting in a turnover on downs.

From there, the Cowboys would force a 3-and-out and would drive for a touchdown that, this time, actually counted to pull within 5.

On the two-point conversion it appeared Dak Prescott got in on a scramble to the pylon, but once again review showed the Cowboys coming up painfully short, as Prescott stepped out on his last step before diving for the score. That meant Dallas was down 5 instead of 3, which was important as they’d force another 3-and-out and get the ball back. For some reason, they decided to try and make that their last drive of the game, but stalled out and couldn’t kick a field goal to tie the game, meaning they had to go for it on 4th and 8. Prescott rather bizarrely chose to throw a jump ball to Jalen Tolbert in tight coverage, which got broken up with just over a minute to play.

Once again, Dallas’ defense stood tall and forced a 3-and-out — and nearly got a fumble on third down that the Eagles managed to jump on — and the Cowboys got one more crack at a game-winning TD. They would get the ball all the way down to the 6, largely on Philly penalties as there was a DPI that got them to midfield on the first play, a roughing the quarterback, and an offsides all in succession. However, at that point, Dallas decided it was their turn to make mistakes with a false start and then a sack, an incompletion, and a delay of game that pushed them all the way back to the 27.

That set up a final play where Dak found CeeDee Lamb at the 2-yard-line, but he was unable to get through the wall of Eagles defenders to the end zone, with the Cowboys coming up painfully short for a third time in the fourth quarter to a crucial score.

The win gives the Eagles some serious cushion in the NFC East and in the chase for the NFC’s 1-seed, while the Cowboys will feel like they left a ton of points on the board in the fourth quarter and should have won that game. Prescott had 374 yards and 3 touchdowns in a generally terrific performance, but their issues finishing off drives and with mental mistakes persisted. On the other side, Philly created fewer scoring chances but got four touchdowns out of the opportunities they did make, which proved the difference in this game.

Yet another leading lady has fallen into “Boyfriend” singer Usher’s lustful web of passion. Instead of roping in another musician (Saweetie, Doja Cat), model (Winnie Harlow), or actress (Gabrielle Union), the crooner set his eyes on a reality television star. Yesterday (November 4), during his latest My Way: The Las Vegas Residency show, Usher and Real Housewives Of Atlanta’s Kenya Moore shared a hot and heavy movement.

In a video captured by concertgoers, the recording artist worked the crowd until stumbling upon the VIP section where Moore was seated. After looking eyes, Usher complimented Moore’s curvy physique, singing, “Oh girl, you got those hips out. They gonna be talking ’bout you tomorrow saying, ‘She put that thang on,’ baby.”

Moore, who was in town for BravoCon 2023, was flattered by Usher’s advances. She blushed as she swayed back and forth during Usher’s sensual serenade. When asked, “How are you doing,” by Usher, she immediately responded, “I’m great now!”

Fans online chimed in, egging the exchange on.

“They would be super cute together. Great chemistry. Rawr,” wrote one user.

“I love this for our girl. ,” penned another.

“I better not see Marc Daly tweeting nothing like Darius: “It’s the outfit, though. You are a mom,” added another.

Users online are pushing for this fun back-and-forth to lead to a full-blown relationship. However, according to Usher’s 2022 appearance on Angie Martinez’s In Real Life podcast, he is in a committed relationship. In contrast, Moore is in the process of finalizing her divorce from Marc Daly.

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

It’s been three years since the 2020 election and some Republicans still haven’t acknowledged what actually happened. To recap: Joe Biden won. Donald Trump lost. Even now, and even after a violent failed coup, some cronies won’t accept his failure, at least publicly. One of those is Steve Scalise. Hot off a failed bid for House Speaker (which went to some generic guy who seems made by AI), the MAGA lawmaker went on TV and managed to dodge a question about the results so many times the host gave up on him.

Per Mediaite, during Scalise’s appearance on ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked him, straight-up, “Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”

A simple question! And yet Stephanopoulos got five word salad responses that entirely ducked the question.

“There are states that didn’t follow their laws,” Scalise argued. “That is what the state constitution, the U.S. Constitution requires. You know, I’ve seen in my own state where we had to send our elections commissioner to jail years ago for fraud and corruption, and we cleaned up our act in our state. Every state ought to follow the laws that are on their books. That’s what the U.S. Constitution says.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Stephanopoulos shot back. “Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”

That didn’t work either. “Look, Joe Biden’s president,” Scalise said. “I know you and others want to talk about 2020. We’re focused on the future. We’ve talked about 2020 a lot.”

“I’m asking you a different question,” Stephanopoulos charged. “Can you say unequivocally that the 2020 election was not stolen?”

“You want to keep rehashing 2020,” Scalise replied
“I just want an answer to the question!” a visibly annoyed Stephanopoulos said. “Yes or no?”

Scalise tried to turn the tables on him, asking, “Will you acknowledge that there were states that didn’t follow the actual state legislative enacted laws on their books, which the US Constitution says they’re supposed to do?”

Stephanopoulos responded by mentioning the many, many court decisions rejecting such allegations. But he wasn’t done just yet. “I asked you a very, very simple question,” Stephanopoulos said. “Now I’ve asked it, I think the fifth time that you can’t appear to answer. Can you say unequivocally the 2020 election was not stolen?”

Scalise once again stated that Biden is president, thus ducking the question a fifth time. That was one too many. Stephanopoulos gave Scalise a curt, “Thanks for your time.”

After the exchange turned heads, the White House put out a statement condemning Scalise’s refusal to accept reality:

“Election denial is a dangerous conspiracy theory that has done unprecedented harm to the country and has been comprehensively debunked by over 80 federal judges, as well as the Trump Administration’s national security officials. Like President Biden said when House Republicans won their majority, when Speaker McCarthy was elected, and when Speaker Johnson was elected, this is a moment for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together in good faith to find common ground on behalf of the American people and address the shared challenges families grapple with every day. It is not a time to perpetuate long-discredited conspiracy theories that fueled an assault on the Capitol and tear Americans apart.”

You can watch Stephanopoulos attempt to be the adult in the room in the vide above. The fruitless 2020 election business begins around the five-minute mark.

(Via Mediaite)

The New Orleans Pelicans have gotten off to a solid start to their season, going 4-2 in the first two weeks, following the lead of their trio of stars as Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, and Brandon Ingram are all averaging over 20 points per game.

Injuries have been the primary cause for concern in New Orleans in recent years, and they’ve already dealt with some absences from Ingram to start the year — along with Trey Murphy III working his way back from knee surgery. One of the few constants in the lineup last year was McCollum, as he played 75 games, but he will miss at least a bit of time this week after being diagnosed with a small pneumothorax in his right lung, as the team announced on Sunday.

The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that guard CJ McCollum has been diagnosed with small pneumothorax in his right lung after medical imaging was taken this morning. Additional examination will be performed in the next 48 hours to determine the progress of healing. More information will be provided following examination.

A pneumothorax, per the National Institute of Health, is “a collection of air outside the lung but within the pleural cavity” which can cause the lung to collapse. As the release notes, McCollum will be evaluated further over the next two days, which would indicate he will at least miss New Orleans’ next game against the Nuggets and potentially more as they determine how it will heal and the treatment plan. As for McCollum, he seems to at least be in good spirits as he took to Twitter after the news broke to laugh at a wild picture choice from a news aggregation account.

McCollum is averaging 21.7 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game in the first six contests for the Pelicans, and is their steady-handed veteran in the backcourt.

While so many teams around the NFL are dealing with mediocre to outright awful quarterback play week in and week out, the Houston Texans, a bit surprisingly, are getting some high level production on a weekly basis.

C.J. Stroud has been terrific as a rookie, not just in comparison to other rookie quarterbacks but to the rest of the signal callers in the league as a whole. Stroud had a bit of a hiccup a week ago in a loss to the Panthers, but he bounced back in a huge way on Sunday to set a rookie record for single game passing yards with 470 in a thrilling win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that moved the Texans to 4-4 on the season.

Stroud finished the game with 470 yards on 30-of-42 passing with 5 touchdowns, more than doubling his season touchdowns total as he continues to grow more comfortable letting it rip. That was evidenced in how he played in the second half, as the Texans scored 29 points in the second half while playing without a kicker — although backup running back Dare Ogunbowale hit a 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to put them up by three.

It looked as though Stroud’s effort might not be enough as Baker Mayfield connected with Cade Otton on a touchdown pass with under a minute to play to put the Bucs up four.

However, Stroud calmly marched the Texans deep into Bucs territory with some absolute dimes, linking up with fellow rookie Tank Dell for the two biggest completions of the game. The first was on a deep corner route to the sideline to get within striking distance of the end zone with 11 seconds on the clock, as Stroud lofted a beautiful ball into space and Dell was able to haul it in and get both feet in before stepping out to stop the clock.

On the next play, Stroud ripped one to Dell up the seam for the game-winning touchdown, firmly announcing his presence as a budding star QB in the league.

Stroud will surely see some more ups and downs as his rookie year continues, but you can see the confidence he has in what he’s being asked to do. He now has 1,800 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and just one interception on the season, as he’s not only doing a good job protecting the ball and not making mistakes but is now showing the ability to push the ball downfield with more authority while remaining efficient. Just look at this pass chart, going all over the field to pick apart the Bucs.

Given the prerequisite for being a top team in the NFL these days is high-level QB play — and how few teams feel like they have that — the Texans have to be thrilled with Stroud’s performance this season and feel like they are on a very good track for their rebuild.

Macklemore became popular in the early 2010s thanks to his feeling-good and light-hearted breakout single “Thrift Shop.” Since then, the rapper’s discography has broadened to address several social issues, such as substance abuse. In the years since, he’s kept his artistry intertwined with political discourse, tackling issues like the election of former President Donald Trump, marriage equality, the opioid crisis, and police brutality.

On Saturday, November 4, Macklemore showed his support for the growing Free Palestine movement, delivering a speech at the pro-Palestine rally in Washington, D.C. You can read what he said below.

First and foremost, this is absolutely beautiful to observe today. I didn’t expect to be on a microphone. There are thousands of people here more qualified to speak on the issue of a free Palestine than myself. But I will say this. They told me to be quiet. They told me to do my research, to go back, that it’s too complex to say something, right? To be silent in this moment. In the last three weeks, I’ve gone back, and I’ve done some research … I’m teachable. I don’t know enough. But I know enough that this is a genocide.

Macklemore isn’t the only musician to speak up about the ongoing conflict between the Israeli military and Hamas forces. In a petition directed at President Joe Biden, Cat Powers, Clairo, Kaytranda, Kehlani, Jennifer Lopez, Majid Jordan, Snoh Aalegra, Vic Mensa, Victoria Monét, and more urged the president to demand an immediate cease-fire.

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

When the Houston Texans came out for the second half of their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, they had an unusual look to their kicking unit. Backup running back Dare Ogunbowale was the one kicking it deep to open the half after Ka’imi Fairbairn got injured and couldn’t give it a go coming out of the break.

That led to a fascinating situation where, for much of the second half, every time the Texans got deep into the red zone, they were going for it on fourth down and/or going for two-point conversions after touchdowns. That plan was working well for them, as they’d racked up 20 points in the second half, spurred on by a more aggressive approach due to their kicking situation.

However, with the game tied at 30-30 in the fourth quarter, the offense stalled out in the red zone and, this time, DeMeco Ryans called on Ogunbowale to try a go-ahead field goal from 29 yards out.

The backup running back turned emergency kicker absolutely drilled it, with a field goal that looked better than some we’ve seen from actual kickers in similar situations. It was a very cool scene as you could see how excited the entire special teams unit was for Ogunbowale and even Ryans had to crack a smile after taking a big exhale seeing the go-ahead kick go through the uprights.

On December 8, 2022, Celine Dion revealed that she had to reluctantly cancel her Courage World Tour due to her battle with Stiff-Person Syndrome. Since then, the “My Heart Will Go On” singer has stayed out of the public eye as she seeks treatment. In September, her sister shared an update, stating, “There’s little we can do to support her, to alleviate her pain. We’re crossing our fingers that researchers will find a remedy for this awful illness.”

To fans’ surprise, on Saturday, November 4, Celine was spotted at Katy Perry’s final Las Vegas Residency show Play. In photos and video captured by concertgoers, she appeared to be in good spirits as spectators exchanged pleasantries with her.

People online chimed in after seeing the visuals.

“Omg, I’m glad she’s back on her feet ,” wrote one person.

“Good to see Celine out and strong too,” wrote another.

“Beyond happy to see her outside looking happy ,” penned another.

“It’s nice to see her happy and out. I hope she recovers soon,” remarked yet another.

“QUEEN! I hope she’s feeling better,” wrote yet another.

Dion wasn’t the only notable guest in attendance. Couple Carmen Diaz and Benji Madden were seated behind her. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry also attended the residency.