Month: November 2023

For Kaytranada, this year has more or less been defined by collaboration. He even welcomed a few familiar faces to join his Coachella set. This summer, he and Aminé joined forces to drop their Kaytraminé album, which Uproxx’s Aaron Williams dubbed “not just the album of the summer, but the literal soundtrack of it,” and subsequently toured in support of it. And if that weren’t enough, Kaytranada produced on Victoria Monét’s Grammy-nominated album, Jaguar II.

Kaytranada had no other choice but to punctuate 2023 with a collaborative single. The good news is that he decided to offer up a double single. Even better news? A full-length Kaytranada album is expected to drop in 2024, as per press release.

On Thursday morning, November 30, Kaytranada shared “Lover/Friend” featuring Rochelle Jordan, and the B-side is “Stuntin” featuring Channel Tres. Each song also has an instrumental version available to enjoy.

“Lover/Friend” is as scintillating as its title suggests — a classic will-they-won’t-they elevated by unique production and gorgeous vocals. The press release correctly describes it as “quintessential Kaytranada, providing the producer’s trademark bounce with enough space to let Jordan’s vocals shine.”

“Stuntin” is also bouncy but exists on a totally different wave, as Tres’ sultry voice delivers a confident message in an assured but hushed tone.

Listen to them below.

The first season of Peacock’s true crime anthology series, Dr. Death, focused on the former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, who was the subject of the Wondery podcast of the same name. Duntsch was accused of injuring over 30 patients before his license was eventually revoked. Season two will tell the story of a different doctor with a similar set of deadly skills.

Dr. Death season two will follow Paolo Macchiarini, an Italian thoracic surgeon accused of research fraud. At one point, Macchiarini was a world-renowned regenerative researcher who worked on various trachea transplants though it was later revealed that he falsified some of his credentials while working. Macchiarini was accused of unethically performing experimental and dangerous procedures, which resulted in the deaths of several of his patients. Macchiarini was also the subject of Netflix’s Bad Surgeon: Love Under The Knife.

Edgar Ramirez portrays the celeb doctor, while Mandy Moore plays journalist Benita Alexander, who begins a relationship with Macchiarini before his lies begin to unravel with deadly consequences. Here is the official description:

The line between personal and professional begins to blur, changing her life forever. As she learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets, a group of doctors halfway across the world make shocking discoveries of their own that call everything about Paolo into question.

Luke Kirby, Ashley Madekwe, and Gustaf Hammarsten also star in the limited series. Season one is streaming now, and you can catch season two of Dr. Death on Peacock on Dec 21.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Fortnite players recently had a field day, after someone turned Eminem’s rap battle from 8 Mile into an actual in-game experience. Recently, the rapper collaborated with the video game to offer users the chance to play as him with new skins being added — and they sure got creative.

In the clip, Eminem faces off against Marvel’s The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, who was the same actor he rapped against in the actual movie. So, it’s close enough.

Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, even gave his approval after replying to a Twitter post. “I mean… wow!” he wrote.

It’s also worth noting that the turnaround to do this was incredibly fast, as the Eminem skins only went live on Fortnite yesterday (November 29). This offered three choices of outfits for players, including one of him as Slim Shady, “a Rap Boy costume, and a Marshall Never More” one, according to HipHopDX.

“B just like me,” Eminem captioned with a preview of the Shady look on Instagram.

As a partner with the company, he will also be appearing at Fortnite‘s Big Bang event, where fans can catch a virtual concert — putting him among previous ones like Travis Scott and more.

Check out the Fortnite recreation of Eminem’s 8 Mile rap battle above.

There’s a meme that’s been circulating on the internet for the past decade or so making light of the fact that urban club promoters will put literally anything on their flyers to make their events relevant. Examples range from Martin Luther King Jr. in a durag (for MLK Day parties, of course) to flavor of the month video vixens who certainly won’t be attending.

But that tendency apparently came back to bite a party promoter in Atlanta after they referenced recent public discord between trap rap OG T.I. and his song King Harris to promote an event in the city. A video of T.I. reading the club’s employees the riot act surfaced online, drawing amused and amazed reactions from fans on social media who couldn’t help noting the rapper “stands on business.”

But why was T.I. so angry that his son was on the flyer? The trouble goes back to another viral video that captured the 18-year-old King arguing with his parents about his upbringing during a recent Atlanta Falcons game. In the video, King tries to assert his hood credentials to a father who literally sold drugs to make a living (by the way, the video was shot in a suite at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium), eventually getting so heated at his parents’ joking provocations (he sucked a pacifier ’til he was 12, according to Tiny) he appears to physically challenge his father. While the video is hard to make out, from the audio, it doesn’t sound like that went well for him.

Obviously, this is an embarrassing situation for the family — especially for T.I., who’s had something of a rough couple of years in the public eye (partly his own fault) — so it makes sense he wouldn’t want other folks making light of his troubles. Undoubtedly, when he got wind of the club flyer, which PhotoShopped him putting King in a chokehold, he wasn’t too happy about it. In the video posted online, T.I. tells club employees “ain’t nothing goin’” until the flyer is changed. To make a long story short, the flyer was changed.

If there’s a lesson in this, it’s probably to remember that despite the money and notoriety, entertainers are people too, and deserving of some amount of decency and privacy. You might think everything is fair game, but if they disagree, it can go badly for you — expeditiously.

Despite the pandemic, Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters and broke some box-office records as audiences flocked to see Tom Holland return as the web-slinger alongside some familiar faces. After making a fateful decision, Holland’s Spider-Man is last seen swinging into the night with a new costume that is easily the most comics-accurate version of Spidey’s suit to ever be seen on the screen. And that’s the last anyone has saw of him.

For two years now, Holland has yet to resurface in the MCU, and there has been little talk about a fourth movie in the franchise, even though Marvel and Sony were quick to tout that there will be a new film as No Way Home became a smash hit. Well, we finally got an update from Holland, and from the sound of things, it might be a while until we see him return as Spider-Man if he even returns at all. (Yikes.)

Here’s what Holland told reporters at the Critics Choice Association press conference via Collider:

All I can say is that we have been actively engaging in conversations about what it could potentially look like for a fourth rendition of my character. Whether or not we can find a way to do justice to the character is another thing. I feel very protective over Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy. So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.

While that’s probably not the hopeful update Spidey fans were looking for, Holland did make it clear that if a solid story for Spider-Man 4 is cracked, he’s definitely on board.

“If we can figure that out, I would be a fool not to put the suit back on again because I owe everything to Spider-Man,” Holland said. “I love the character and the people I get to work with. So, I would love to tell another story, but I’ll only tell it if we can find the right one.”

(Via Collider)

One of the most interesting parts of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament was how it required a fluid schedule following the group stage. With the quarterfinals and semifinals counting as regular season games as well, ensuring teams only played one extra game if they made the championship, the teams that lose in the tournament needed to make up those two games with scheduling being done on the fly.

The result is a pair of 11-game slates on Wednesday, December 6 and Friday, December 8, where the teams that failed to advance from the group stage will each play one home and one road game. All of the games except two are in-conference matchups — Bulls-Spurs and Grizzlies-Pistons — against non-division opponents. The losers of the quarterfinals in each conference will also face each other to add their 82nd game to the schedule.

Below you can find the schedule for the eliminated teams, with the two games the NBA added to their schedule for the days in between the tournament knockout rounds.

Wednesday, December 6

Magic at Cavaliers (7:00 p.m. ET)
76ers at Wizards (7:00 p.m. ET)
Grizzlies at Pistons (7:00 p.m. ET)
Spurs at Timberwolves (7:30 p.m. ET)
Nets at Hawks (7:30 p.m. ET)
Heat at Raptors (7:30 p.m. ET)
Hornets at Bulls (8:00 p.m. ET)
Thunder at Rockets (8:00 p.m. ET)
Jazz at Mavericks (8:30 p.m. ET)
Nuggets at Clippers (10:00 p.m. ET)
Trail Blazers at Warriors (10:00 p.m. ET)

Friday, December 8

Pistons at Magic (7:00 p.m. ET)
Hawks at 76ers (7:00 p.m. ET)
Raptors at Hornets (7:00 p.m. ET)
Wizards at Nets (7:30 p.m. ET)
Warriors at Thunder (8:00 p.m. ET)
Cavaliers at Heat (8:00 p.m. ET)
Timberwolves at Grizzlies (8:00 p.m. ET)
Bulls at Spurs (8:30 p.m. ET)
Rockets at Nuggets (9:00 p.m. ET)
Clippers at Jazz (10:00 p.m. ET)
Mavericks at Trail Blazers (10:00 p.m. ET)

Contrary to what you might think, the term “Twin Flame” was not coined by Taylor Swift in the song “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” and it is an actual concept that some people subscribe to. It means different things to different people, but for people in the Twin Flame Universe, it’s an online community where you can meet your soul mate. It’s also a cult!

The cult is the subject of Netflix’s wild new docuseries Escaping Twin Flames, which follows the controversial leaders of the Twin Flame Universe and how they manipulated and coerced vulnerable people who were “looking for love.” What seemed to be a low-level dating site turned out to be a full-on cult led by husband and wife Jeff and Shaleia Divine.

The Divines, who married in 2016 after meeting on the internet and moving to Hawaii, host a series of webinars about finding your “twin flame,” which would help you find your soulmate after paying $4,444 four times a week for online webinars (a steal!). The two then would allegedly force some of their members into “twin flame unions” and begin controlling their actions. So what are they up to now?

Despite the harrowing doc, the two are still running Twin Flame Universe, mostly by posting some extremely questionable Instagram graphics about finding your flame. They have addressed the “concerns” that both Netflix’s Escaping Twin Flames and Prime’s Desperately Seeking Soulmate documentaries brought up….they just don’t really care! The group still has over 67k members and continues to grow.

The couple recently had a child and continue to stand by the fact that they are not a cult, just a fun little community that boasts “divine masculinity ” and manifestations. In 2020, the couple filed a lawsuit against seven ex-members, though it was later dismissed. Now they are just posting cringe Instagram posts to their massive amounts of followers, who probably have not seen the doc yet.

Escaping Twin Flames is now on Netflix.

(Via People)

This morning, November 30, news broke that The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died at 65 years old. The iconic Irish rocker’s wife, Victoria Clarke, confirmed his passing on Instagram, and The Pogues released a statement on the band’s official Instagram account.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan,” it reads. “Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side. Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family. He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father, Maurice, family and a large circle of friends. Further details will be announced shortly but the family ask for privacy at this very sad time.”

An official cause of death has not been publicly confirmed, though MacGowan was discharged from the hospital last week (as relayed by NME) and had been “in and our of medical care” since a 2015 pelvic injury that compromised his mobility (again, as per NME last December).

Fans will likely mourn MacGowan this holiday season by listening to The Pogues’ classic Christmas song, “Fairytale Of New York.” (Born on December 25, it’s only right that an eternally played Christmas song is part of MacGowan’s legacy.) Below is a refresher course.

When Did “Fairytale Of New York” Come Out?

The Pogues released “Fairytale Of New York” featuring the late Kirsty MacColl in 1987. To celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2012, the song was re-released on iTunes (what a relic) and on limited-edition 7″ vinyl.

According to The Independent, “it took more than two years to perfect,” and “the title was chosen after the song had been written and recorded, lifted from the titleof Irish American author JP Donleavy’s novel A Fairy Tale Of New York.”

What Has Shane MacGowan Said About “Fairytale Of New York”?

In December 2012, MacGowan participated in an oral history of “Fairytale Of New York” by The Guardian and shared that the song started when Elvis Costello told him he didn’t think MacGowan could write a Christmas duet to sing with Costello’s wife, Cait O’Riordan, who was also The Pogues’ bass player. He also confirmed that Costello had initially suggested titling the song “Christmas Day In The Drunk Tank,” but MacGowan didn’t like the name.

This excerpt from The Guardian piece pulls back the curtain on the song’s meaning:

“‘The guy is a bum who is living on the street,’ says MacGowan. ‘And he’s just won on a horse at the unlikely odds of 18-to-one, so you’re not even sure he is telling the truth.’ He says that both characters are versions of himself. ‘I identified with the man because I was a hustler and I identified with the woman because I was a heavy drinker and a singer. I have been in hospitals on morphine drips, and I have been in drunk tanks on Christmas Eve.’”

In November 2020, MacGowan was asked by Metro why he had said he hated “Fairytale Of New York” in the film, Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan. He responded, “I don’t hate ‘Fairytale’! I’m just a bit sick of it.” He also told the publication he felt the censored versions were “ridiculous.” As per The Independent, Radio 1 removed “sl*t” and a homophobic slur sung by MacColl from radio play in 2007, and in 2018, MacGowan released a statement explaining the usage of crass language, which can be seen below:

How Has “Fairytale Of New York” Charted?

According to Billboard, “Fairytale Of New York” has made it “in the UK’s top 20 19 times since its release, perennially charting around Christmastime and peaking at No. 2 on the UK charts during the year of its release.” As for the Billboard charts, the quirky yet sentimental ballad peaked at No. 4 on The Official UK Singles Chart (in January 2019), No. 5 on Euro Digital Song Sales (December 2007), No. 5 on Ireland Songs (December 2022), No. 6 on UK Songs (December 2022), No. 8 on UK Digital Song Sales (December 2020), No. 9 on Alternative Digital Song Sales (December 2022), No. 22 on Holiday Digital Song Sales (October 2011), and No. 24 on Rock Digital Song Sales (January 2021).

Yesterday (November 29), Taylor Swift celebrated being Spotify’s Top Global Artist by finally giving her Midnights album track, “You’re Losing Me,” a proper streaming release. Before, it had only been available on a CD format. As part of the celebration for dropping the fan-favorite, her collaborator, Jack Antonoff, posted an Instagram story that sparked some serious Swiftie news.

Antonoff revealed that Swift wrote and recorded the breakup song on December 5, 2021, instead of it being a recent one after the news of her April split from Joe Alwyn. This significantly changed fans’ minds on the timeline of their relationship, and that it might not have been all they thought it was.

“How long could we be a sad song?” Swift sings, pointing out that things were “too far gone to bring back to life.”

Some fans have speculated that the pair might have broken up and then got back together — given they had been spotted throughout 2022, seemingly still going strong.

Others felt that the song represented Swift emotionally checking out of their relationship before they called it quits.

“Taylor Swift is ‘breaking up with him in my head months before I work up the courage to actually do it’ representation,” one user wrote.

Check out some fan reactions about “You’re Losing Me” and whether it’s about Joe Alwyn.