Month: January 2024

Usher is currently preparing for one of the biggest performances of his storied career: the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show. (It looks like he’s even cut sugar and alcohol from his diet to make sure his body is as ready as possible for the big day.) The Super Bowl is now just under a month away, as kickoff is set for February 11. Ahead of then, Usher has hyped up his performance with a new teaser video.

The video starts with a gospel choir singing, “Peace up, A-Town down,” before the rest of the clip is soundtracked by Usher, Ludacris, and Lil Jon’s 2004 hit “Yeah!.” From there, we’re treated to various clips from throughout the years, of either Usher or other people enjoying him and/or “Yeah!.” The video ends with the tagline, “One performance. 30 years in the making.”

Pay attention and you’ll spot appearances from LeBron James, J Balvin, and Jung Kook. Usher worked with Balvin last year, teaming up with him and DJ Khaled on “Dientes.” A couple months later, he linked up with Jung Kook for a “Standing Next To You” remix. LeBron, meanwhile, was pumped last year when he heard that Usher had landed the coveted halftime gig.

Check out the video above.

After a quiet end of 2023 and start of 2024, the music industry is officially back. There were a ton of big releases today (January 12), from Lil Nas X, Kali Uchis, 21 Savage, Kid Cudi, and of course, Ariana Grande. She returned hours ago with her new single, “Yes, And?,” a dance-ready bop that sees Grande as self-empowered as ever.

There’s one lyric in particular that has Grande fans completely besides themselves.

Towards the end of the song, Grande sings, “My face is sitting, I don’t need no disguise / Don’t comment on my body, do not reply / Your business is yours and mine is mine / Why do you care so much whose **** I ride? / Why?”

On that asterisked word, Grande takes a pause and doesn’t say anything, but it doesn’t take too much thinking to understand that’s she went the explicit route to talk about the focus the public puts on her romantic life.

Grande was one of the top trending topics on X (formerly Twitter) after the song’s release, and a lot of tweets are about that aforementioned lyric. As one user summarized the reactions, “ariana grande just gagged the entire planet.”

Check out some more “Yes, And?” reactions below and listen to the new song above.

We are just weeks away from Cole Bennett’s much-anticipated debut compilation album All Is Yellow, which is set to drop this month under DefJam, as well as Bennett’s iconic Lyrical Lemonade brand. Ahead of the new album, Lil Yachty, Gus Dapperton, and Joey Badass have shared “Fallout,” a heartbreaking new collab.

On “Fallout,” the three artists grapple with the mixed emotions that come with the end of a once-passionate love. Dapperton opens the song with forlorn vocals, singing on the chorus, “Go ahead and play with my money, my money / Baby, it’s so f*ckin’ funny to me, I get up / Kinda thought of you and me in the end / I’d do it over, and over, and over, and over again.”

Yachty pops in, appearing to try to win his former lover back.

“We came too far to still be feeling empty / Nothing I won’t do for you, don’t tempt me / I’d put it all on the line just to show you / Money I blow through, placеs I go to / Just to get back to me and the old you,” he rap-sings, bargaining for a return to who he and his ex once were.

Badass provides a conclusion to the story, noting that he will reunite with his former flame in another universe.

“My love is defo, so we in this sh*t forever / And again in the next life, bounded by blood,” he raps

You can listen to “Fallout” above.

All Is Yellow is out 1/26 via DefJam. Find more information here.

Ariana Grande is back. Tonight (January 12), the pop hitmaker has shared her first single in almost for years. Her latest, “Yes, And?” serves as the lead single from her upcoming seventh studio album, which is rumored to be titled Eternal Sunshine.

On “Yes And?,” Grande brushes off negativity from haters, and grooves to a nostalgic new beat. No two of Grande’s lead singles sound alike, and on “Yes And?,” Grande throws it back to an early ’90s pop sound, channeling her idol, Madonna, reigning in a new era of self-love.

“Yes, and? / Say that sh*t with your chest, and / Be your own f*ckin’ best friend / Say that sh*t with your chest / Keep moving like, What’s next? Yes, and?,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

She doubles down on the self-affirmation, noting she’s not taking anyone else’s opinions into consideration

“Don’t comment on my body, do not reply / Your business is yours and mine is mine,” she sings on the song’s bridge.

2024 is already gearing up to be a busy year for Grande. On top of releasing her hotly-anticipated album, Grande will star in the film adaptation of Wicked, which is set to premiere this November.

Fans can look forward to seeing the video for “Yes And?” at 10 a.m. EST.

In the meantime, you can listen to ‘Yes And?’ above.

At long last, Lil Nas X is back. With his first new solo single in two years, the rapper, pop star, and provocateur is entering his “Christian era” with his new single, “J Christ.”

On his new single, Lil Nas X declares that while he’s been away for a minute, he’s loud and proud this era, not minimizing himself for anybody.

B*tch, I’m back like J Christ / I’m finna get the gays hyped / I’m finna take it yea high / Back up out the gravesite / B*tch, I’m back like J Christ,” he raps on one of the song’s verses.

In the song’s accompanying video, Lil Nas X is joined by several A-list lookalikes, including counterparts of Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and more. He delivers a killer dance routine choreographed by Sean Bankhead as he makes an exit from hell, plays a heavenly basketball game, slays on the Met Gala carpet, and makes an epic resurgence.

Toward the end of the video, a screen reads “Day Zero: A New Beginning,” which looks like it may be the name of the upcoming album.

We’ll probably have to wait a bit for more album details, but in the meantime, the video makes for an epic reintroduction to our favorite troll.

You can see the video above.

The Phoenix Suns began Thursday in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference, producing only a 19-18 record in the first 37 games of the season. Given the team’s lofty expectations and aspirations, that start would qualify as unsatisfying for the Suns, even amid injury concerns that have limited Bradley Beal to only 13 games and kept Kevin Durant and Devin Booker off the floor for 16 combined contests.

However, TNT’s Charles Barkley took his criticism to a different place during Inside the NBA on Thursday, flatly expressing his view that the Suns are “in trouble” at this juncture.

“My Suns are in trouble,” Barkley said. “They have no leadership, they have no toughness. And the guards, Beal and Booker do not fit together. They don’t have a point guard. But they got no leadership, and they got no toughness.”

Barkley, of course, played for the Suns and has a long-standing attachment to the organization as a result. It would be fair to note that his thoughts about the backcourt fit and lack of a true point guard are not exactly outlandish, and many have expressed skepticism about the team’s roster construction. Still, the comments that were more eyebrow-raising stemmed from references to leadership and toughness.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to measure these qualities from the outside, and this sounds a bit like Barkley being Barkley. The comments did come just before the Suns played on TNT’s airwaves against the Lakers on Thursday, but if Phoenix continues to hover around the .500 mark with a massive luxury tax bill and a roster that was built to win in the present, the murmurs will only grow from Barkley and others.

The eyes of the basketball watching world were on Milwaukee on Thursday night. The two best teams in the Eastern Conference were going head-to-head, and there was plenty of excitement over what would happen in the latest matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks.

And then, the game started. Milwaukee looked like a team trying to make a statement, while Boston looked like a team on the second night of a back-to-back that was playing its fifth game in seven days. The Bucks, as a result, raced out to an 18-point lead in the first quarter and took an emphatic, 75-38 lead into the locker room. It made for some pretty bad television, so TNT decided to do something a little unusual and just put another game on for a while.

With Milwaukee up, 100-62, and Boston resting its starters for the entirety of the second half, TNT decided to just put another basketball game on. Unfortunately for them, at the time they cut over, the Dallas Mavericks were beating up on the New York Knicks, 47-28, so it’s not like that was a good game, either. Unsurprisingly, the Bucks weren’t totally into this arrangement.

The good news for them is that, once the fourth quarter started, TNT went back to the Bucks-Celtics game.

Swifties are still furious with comedian Jo Koy over a joke he made about Taylor Swift during his hosting gig at the 2024 Golden Globes ceremony that took place last weekend.

Alluding to Swift’s frequent appearances on-screen during Kansas City Chiefs games, where she is often seen supporting her boyfriend Travis Kelce, Koy said “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”

Though Swift has not commented directly on the matter, she appeared visibly frustrated as she took a swig from her champagne flute in reaction to the joke. In an interview with Los Angeles Times published today (January 11), Koy clarified that he did not mean any harm by the joke.

“I didn’t understand the Taylor tiff,” Koy said. “Mind you, that one was just getting rewritten 50 million times, never ran it through, all the way up until we had to walk out. It’s just weird, where do you place it, and we kept hammering it and cutting it down. But the whole intention of that joke was to make fun of the NFL.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Koy noted that he is a big fan of Swift’s, and doubled down that the joke was merely making fun of the NFL — and not her.

“It’s like, the cool thing about the Globes is we don’t need to do cutaways for ratings,” said Koy. “What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work. I got nieces that I bought tickets for. There’s no ill intent in that joke. The joke is about the NFL and how they keep using cutaways to [her]. And it’s an obvious reason why. I’m not saying anything that no one’s saying, and it’s obvious what that joke was. It’s about the NFL.”

VH1’s Love And Hip-Hop franchise has spawned many stars, including Cardi B, K. Michelle, and more. However, one Love And Hip-Hop alum is looking to forget that her appearance on the show happened.

Rapper Baby Tate, who appeared on Love And Hip-Hop: Atlanta joked that the show simply used her likeness, and that she, herself, was never actually on the show.

A fan on Twitter asked “why tf was yung baby tate on love n hip hop,” to which Tate responded “That did not happen,” with a gif of Will Smith from Men In Black.

Bay area rapper Drebae responded to the post doubling down, saying “Exactly. You would never. They getting too good with the A.I chile.”

Tate then replied, saying “No literally this AI is getting SCARY like yall need to protect ur selves cuz if they can just put u on a show u was never on imagine what else they can do!?!”

Jokes aside, Tate only appeared on Love And Hip-Hop for one season, back in 2021. But now, it seems like she’s solely focusing on her music. She will kick off her Sexploration Tour next Wednesday (January 17) at The Echo in Los Angeles.

Baby Tate is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

iHeartRadio’s ALTer EGO Festival returns this Saturday (January 13) at The Honda Center in Anaheim, California. With several of the biggest acts in rock and alternative music — both newcomers and veterans — the line-up for this year’s ALTer EGO festival looks promising.

Fans can expect an evening filled with performances by Yellowcard, Lovelytheband, Bush, The Last Dinner Party, Fall Out Boy, and more. And thankfully, since all of these bands will be in the same venue, ticketholders won’t have to wander around various parts of the space.

Those who won’t be able to attend the festival are able to stream through the iHeart app, or through Veeps.com, or through the Veeps App on Apple TV, Roku, iOS, and Android. Fans in the Los Angeles are can tune into ALT 98.7 and hear the live performances in real-time.

Festivities kick off at 7 p.m. and continue all throughout the night. You can see a full schedule of performers below.

7 p.m.: The Black Keys
7:35 p.m.: Yellowcard
8 p.m.: Lovelytheband
8:25 p.m.: Sum 41
8:50 p.m.: The 1975
9:25 p.m.: Bush
10 p.m.: The Last Dinner Party
10:20 p.m.: 30 Seconds To Mars
10:50 p.m.: Fall Out Boy

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