Month: December 2023

The James family got some terrific news on Thursday. Bronny James, the eldest son of LeBron and Savannah James and a freshman with the USC Trojans basketball team, got fully cleared to return to basketball following an incident in July where he went into cardiac arrest. While all the updates that came out about Bronny indicated that he was doing well and his dad said he planned on playing for the Trojans this season, getting the all clear was still a gigantic bridge to cross, and fortunately, that day has come.

As you can guess, his old man is pretty excited about this development. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 133-110 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, LeBron told the media that nothing will keep him from missing Bronny’s first game in a Trojans uniform, and if that means he has to leave his team on the day of a game, so be it.

“He loves playing it, he loves competing, he loves being out there just having a good time, having fun, been doing it for a long time, and he’s put the work in,” James told the press. “It’ll be exciting. Looking forward to his first game whenever he’s cleared and whenever he’s ready to have his first game. I already told my teammates that if they play on the same day we’re playing, then I’ma have to catch them next game, so.”

James went on to say that it’s “family over everything,” and stressed that he has to be in attendance when Bronny takes the floor for the first time in his collegiate career.

There’s still no word on when Bronny will make his debut, but as McMenamin mentioned in his tweet, there are a few possibilities for overlap between Lakers games and Trojans games. The first game to fit that bill comes on Dec. 28, when the Lakers host the Charlotte Hornets and the Trojans travel to Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks.

Flo Milli continues to make a case for why you want her on your team. Tonight (December 1), the Alabama native has dropped her catchy new bop of a single, “Never Lose Me.”

On “Never Lose Me,” Flo reminds us that she’s hard to woo, and she’s even harder to keep.

“How you gon’ prove you could treat me right? / You stole my heart like a thief in the night / Yeah, he my man, he was never your type / If you try me, ho, it’s on sight,” she raps on one of the song’s verses.

On the chorus, she hammers home to a romantic interest, “Tell me you don’t ever wanna lose me.”

This particular single is one of Flo’s more melodic songs, as she showcases both her rap skills and her soft, R&B vocal stylings. In an interview with The Forty Five, which took place earlier this year, Flo said we can expect her upcoming second album, Fine Ho, Stay to demonstrate more rawness.

“I’ve been [exploring that vulnerability] a little bit more,” said Flo. “But I’ve been exploring lots of different pockets. Y’all will see on the new album the versatility that I bring.”

You can listen to “Never Lose Me” above.

South African Afro-fusion singer Tyla has made quite the wave this year. The global sensation just reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with her breakthrough single, “Water.” Tonight (December 1), Tyla followed up with an equally catchy and groovy single.

On her new song, “Truth Or Dare,” Tyla revisits a past lover, however, she is older, wiser, and more principled this time around. She lays down the law, and informs him that she won’t fall for his charm so easily again.

“So let’s play truth or dare / Dare you to forget that you used to treat me just like anyone / Truth or dare? Is it true you care? / Now that you can see the love from everyone,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

“Truth Of Dare” follows the announcement of Tyla’s self-titled debut album, which she announced via social media yesterday.

“Everything that’s happening has surpassed anything I could have dreamt of,” she said in the post’s caption. “African music is going global and I’m so blessed to be one of the artists pushing the culture. I’ve been working on my sound for 2 years now and I’m so ready for the world to hear it.”

You can listen to “Truth Or Dare” above.

Tyla is out 3/1/2024 via Epic. Find more information here.

South African Afro-fusion singer Tyla has made quite the wave this year. The global sensation just reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with her breakthrough single, “Water.” Tonight (December 1), Tyla followed up with an equally catchy and groovy single.

On her new song, “Truth Or Dare,” Tyla revisits a past lover, however, she is older, wiser, and more principled this time around. She lays down the law, and informs him that she won’t fall for his charm so easily again.

“So let’s play truth or dare / Dare you to forget that you used to treat me just like anyone / Truth or dare? Is it true you care? / Now that you can see the love from everyone,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

“Truth Of Dare” follows the announcement of Tyla’s self-titled debut album, which she announced via social media yesterday.

“Everything that’s happening has surpassed anything I could have dreamt of,” she said in the post’s caption. “African music is going global and I’m so blessed to be one of the artists pushing the culture. I’ve been working on my sound for 2 years now and I’m so ready for the world to hear it.”

You can listen to “Truth Or Dare” above.

Tyla is out 3/1/2024 via Epic. Find more information here.

The Beyhive is losing it over Beyoncé‘s new concert film and documentary Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé. Many fans have already gone out to early screenings of the film, which offers a look at her creative process in addition to her incredible performances throughout the Renaissance World Tour. And as she is known to do, Beyoncé included another surprise for the fans at the end of the movie.

During the end credits, fans can hear “My House,” a new song from Queen Bey, which features her going into full rap mode. Driven by triumphant horns, “My House” shows a new side of Beyoncé, as she turns up the heat by way of scorching bars.

“Me and my thug bae gon’ slide tonight / Paparazzi ain’t got clips to hide tonight / Cash out this plane jet, call Lorraine / And take the Tiffany, I want forty-four karats on my fangs / I want pink diamonds on my belly chains and my nipple rings,” Bey raps on the song’s opening verse.

At the time of writing, it is unknown if “My House” will appear on an upcoming Beyoncé album, if it is a standalone single, or a leftover track from the Renaissance sessions.

You can hear a clip of “My House” above.

Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé is in theaters now.

Tried-and-true holiday traditions certainly have their merit, but there’s something quite special, magical even, about discovering personal rituals that commemorate one’s unique life. In my household, for instance, nothing quite rings in the Christmas spirit like sipping my partner’s delicious coquito and putting up a cardboard gingerbread house for my cats.

The beauty of creating customized holiday traditions is that they can be as festive, sentimental, or as silly as you want them to be. And you never know how one small moment can become the catalyst for a tradition that sparks joy year after year.

For Jess Lydon, that tradition is baking expletive-laden pies for Thanksgiving. (This is your profanity warning—the images below contain swear words.)

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“What started as a means to get a rise out of my Grammy has snowballed into a weird family tradition. I bake one pie a year,” Lydon shared to the subreddit r/Baking.

For 2023, Lydon chose the word “D—wad,” an homage to her favorite word to hurl in a fit of road rage, topped onto a decadent rosette-filled apple pie.

“Asshat,” apparently her second favorite word, was used in 2016.

Lydon also added a litany of pies from former years— “F—wit,” “Penis,”“B—-,” “F— Off”…you get the idea.

Gotta say, watching Lydon’s baking skills progress over the years (thanks in large part to using the correct tools, she notes) to something worthy of a Paul Hollywood handshake on “British Bake-off” makes this even more enjoyable.

Folks on Reddit seemed to enjoy it too. If for nothing else, to add their own profanity-themed jokes.

“A culinary and visual delight! This is the best thing I’ve seen all day,” one person wrote.

Meanwhile, another quipped, “Your growth in pastry work is quite touching, c—,” to which Lydon replied, “Thank you, t—. I’m pretty proud of the progress. And grateful to my family for putting up with The Early Years. The first few pies were rough looking.”

Others had suggestions for next year’s pies, including “prick,” “nimrod,” “bollocks,” and “bastard.” All solid choices.

As Lydon explained to TODAY.com, the tradition came about from trying to get a “giggle” out of her “sweet little Japanese” grandma. After seeing that first pie, which read “F— Off,” Lydon recalled that her grandmother gave a lighthearted “double edged compliment” by saying, “Oh my, well, I can see that you’ve tried really hard. And you put a lot of effort into it.”

Sadly, Lydon’s grandmother passed away a few years after the first pie, but the cheeky tradition lived on. And in its own quirky way, it brings Lydon’s family together.

As for her Reddit popularity, Lydon told TODAY.com that she’s thrilled others shared her love of vulgar pastry making, and is happy to see that some folks might start their own version of the tradition.

“If we can make a few more people laugh because of rude words looking pretty, then I’m all for it.”

Whether it’s curse-word pies, funny sweaters, DIY decorations, or something else altogether, maybe this is a sign to create your own unique holiday tradition, however big or small.

Getting engaged at a sporting event is a bit of a touchy subject. Some folks are into the idea, while others believe that it’s not the time or the place for what is legitimately one of the most important moments of a person’s life. During Thursday night’s New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, one person decided it was, indeed, the right place to do it, and as a result, this beautiful thing had a unique twist: Julius Randle and a referee having a lengthy conversation about something that happened during the Knicks’ game against the Detroit Pistons.

League Pass caught the in-arena moment where two Knicks fans were given tickets to see a show at Radio City Music Hall this holiday season, but as it turns out, it was all a setup so that the dude could drop down on one knee and pop the question. And then, as you can see on the left of the screen, Randle shows up and starts talking to the referee about something that appeared to have him pretty upset. You keep waiting for Randle to walk away while the proposal is happening, but it just keeps going.

The most important thing here is to say congratulations to the happy couple. I will now, as a person who became an ordained minister on the internet to perform wedding ceremonies in the pass, volunteer to do their ceremony on the condition that both Julius Randle and this referee also attend.

King Isis continues to show us why they’re one of the most exciting act in the indie landscape right now. Earlier this week, the queer-led, Afro-futuristic artist from Oakland shared a trippy cover of Sexyy Red‘s “Pound Town.”

Driven by hypnotic guitars and clashing drums, Isis transformed the viral hip-hop hit into a moody, alternative banger. In a video shared to Isis’ YouTube channel, they are accompanied by a backing band, as they perform in a grungy, garage-like setting.

Throughout their discography, Isis has experimented with rock, hip-hop, R&B, and jazz sounds. In an interview with DIY Magazine, Isis explained that they don’t like to be kept inside a box, nor do they care for their music to be palatable or accessible to everyone. Rather, they make music that reflects what’s happening inside their mind at the moment, not sticking to any set routine for making music.

“I feel like it’s more palatable for songs to have a bright-sounding instrumental, and then dark lyrics. But that’s not the intention of how I write, to be accessible,” they said. “In my head it all goes together, but an outside perspective might be like, ‘What the f*ck is going on?’”

You can see the cover of “Pound Town” above.

Brandon Blackstock, ex-husband of singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson, has reportedly been ordered to pay Clarkson nearly $2.7 million after reports that he overcharged her during his time as her manager. TMZ first reported the news today, noting that they had obtained legal documents from a California labor commissioner.

According to the documents, Blackstock crossed the line booking Clarkson as a mentor on The Voice, along with gigs for Norwegian Cruise Line, Wayfair, and as a host of the Billboard Music Awards. According to TMZ, only agents, not managers, can legally book these types of gigs, with very few exceptions.

TMZ noted that Blackstock received fees for these gigs, and the labor commissioner has ordered him to give those fees to Clarkson. The fees reportedly total $2,641,374. Blackstock will appeal the ruling, according to the publication.

Clarkson filed for divorce back in 2020, and the divorce was finalized in 2022.

In the divorce, Clarkson was reportedly ordered to pay Blackstock $1.3 million, along with $45k a month in child support for their two children. Brandon also receives $115,000 a month in spousal support, but this will end in January 2024.

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

Brandon Blackstock, ex-husband of singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson, has reportedly been ordered to pay Clarkson nearly $2.7 million after reports that he overcharged her during his time as her manager. TMZ first reported the news today, noting that they had obtained legal documents from a California labor commissioner.

According to the documents, Blackstock crossed the line booking Clarkson as a mentor on The Voice, along with gigs for Norwegian Cruise Line, Wayfair, and as a host of the Billboard Music Awards. According to TMZ, only agents, not managers, can legally book these types of gigs, with very few exceptions.

TMZ noted that Blackstock received fees for these gigs, and the labor commissioner has ordered him to give those fees to Clarkson. The fees reportedly total $2,641,374. Blackstock will appeal the ruling, according to the publication.

Clarkson filed for divorce back in 2020, and the divorce was finalized in 2022.

In the divorce, Clarkson was reportedly ordered to pay Blackstock $1.3 million, along with $45k a month in child support for their two children. Brandon also receives $115,000 a month in spousal support, but this will end in January 2024.

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