Category: News

On Sunday, September 24, Usher simultaneously confirmed that his next album is called Coming Home and unveiled himself as the Super Bowl LVIII Apple Music Halftime Show performer. The cover art shows Usher holding a Georgia peach over the back of his neck.

“I’ve been coming home in a lot of different ways — the choice of music and reconnection to some of the people that I’ve worked with from my past and always wanted to work with,”Usher told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, adding, “In a sense, I’m coming home because I’m in that comfortable space. When you’re at home, you’re comfortable.”

Usher has become very comfortable in Las Vegas during his Usher: My Way The Vegas Residency, so, of course, he is performing Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024.

“It’s happening,” Usher told Lowe. “It has happened, ladies and gentlemen! Yes! We made it. […] It’s been a lot to keep secrets from my own kids at home. A very, very close-knit group of people knew, and we’re really excited about the entire thing. Obviously, a legacy, but more than anything, the fact that this is the most grand stage to ever play on.”

For fans who can’t bear to wait until February to see Usher, there are still plenty of Usher: My Way The Vegas Residency dates before it closes on December 2.

Coming Home will be Usher’s ninth LP and first original album release since Hard II Love in 2016. So far, the only released track is “Good Good” featuring 21 Savage and Summer Walker from August.

Coming Home is out 2/11/2024 via Mega/Gamma. Find more information here.

Usher’s wildly successful Usher: My Way The Las Vegas Residency is scheduled to end on December 2, but Usher does not plan on taking a break in 2024 — and he doesn’t even need to leave Las Vegas.

On Sunday, September 24, Usher, Roc Nation, and the NFL simultaneously confirmed that he will perform the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show at Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024. The game will broadcast on CBS.

Usher’s announcement cleverly recreated Usher’s “Confessions, Pt. II” video. One version had present-day Usher talking to the Usher in the “Confessions” video, reassuring him, “The song is gonna be fine. You get a girl pregnant; it’s gonna be a hit. […] Listen, we’re doing the Apple Music Halftime Show. The Super Bowl! In Las Vegas! I’m on set shooting the promo for it right now.”

There were several versions, each featuring Usher co-starring with someone different, including Kim Kardashian, Deion Sanders, Odell Beckham Jr., and Marshawn Lynch.

And what better time to announce an album?

Usher also confirmed that he will release Coming Home during his Super Bowl performance. He spoke with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about both exciting developments, expressing how relieved he is to no longer have to keep the Super Bowl secret from his kids and explaining the meaning behind his new album’s title.

Watch one of Usher’s Super Bowl announcements above, and watch his clips with Lowe below.

Coming Home is out 2/11/2024 via Mega/Gamma. Find more information here.

(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent The Chi episode will be found below.)

In the most recent episode of The Chi, titled “Who Shot Ya?” the characters on the show all said goodbye to Kevin who finally decided to take his video game talents out west after weeks of contemplation. Kevin had been offered a video game opportunity that would allow him to elevate his career, but it required a move to Los Angeles. In “Who Shot Ya,” his family throws a farewell party for him that quickly turns emotional as tears are shared between Kevin and his inner circle, and that was especially the case with his mother. Before that moment, Lynae makes Kevin promise that he will come back to Chicago to visit his family and friends and he says he will. However, will we see Kevin in the second half of The Chi season six?

Is Kevin Leaving The Chi In Season 6?

It turns out that Kevin is leaving The Chi for good. Alex R. Hibbert, who plays Kevin on the show, confirmed his departure in an emotional Instagram post. He wrote:

Dear fans and viewers,

It brought tears to my eyes just writing this. As some of you may already know, today marks my departure from THE CHI. This show has been such an important part of my life and I’m forever grateful to the people that watched me grow up on camera in front of your eyes for several years. It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my castmates, crew members, and all of you who have supported me and throughout this incredible journey. Working on this show has been an unforgettable experience, and I am grateful for all the opportunities it has brought me. I have learned so much from my time here, and I will carry those lessons with me as I move on to new projects. To the fans who have followed me and my character’s journey, your unwavering support and love have been the driving force behind my work. I am humbled and honored to have been able to bring this character to life and share [Kevin’s] story with you. While I may be leaving this show, I am excited about what the future holds. I look forward to continuing to create meaningful and impactful work that resonates with audiences around the world. Once again, thank you for everything. I will miss this show and most importantly I’m going to miss Kevin, but I will cherish the memories and experiences forever.

Sincerely, Alex R. Hibbert

Hibbert played Kevin since the show’s start in 2018. As for what’s next, Hibbert has roles in the upcoming movies Story Ave and Good Burger 2 which will be released on September 29 and November 22, respectively.

New episodes of ‘The Chi’ are available through the Paramount Plus With Showtime plan on Fridays at 3am EST/ 12 pm PST. Weekly episodes also air Sundays on Showtime at 9pm EST/PST.

Long ago, Justified fans knew that Kaitlyn Dever was a phenomenal actress in the making. Unbelievable, Booksmart, and Dopesick confirmed as much. Dever also stars in a new sci-fi horror film that is a current overnight hit on streaming. That would be 20th Century Studios’ No One Will Save You, which essentially went straight-to-streaming via Hulu on Sept. 22.

Granted, a few lucky people did get to see the movie in limited theaters a few days prior, but for all practical purposes, this is a streaming movie release. And that’s surprising, considering that horror hits are notorious for reaping much more than their modest budgets at the box office. In this case, Brian Duffield reportedly directed the movie for just under $23 million, and if you’ve seen the it, you’ll know that A Quiet Place viewers would love it. Remember that little 2018 movie from Paramount Pictures? The sleeper film was a smash hit, opening to $50,203,562 on a $17 million budget. John Krasinski’s baby went on to gross $188 million domestically and $340 million worldwide (and a sequel did pretty darn well, too, even during Covid-19).

No One Will Save You‘s suspense is best experienced without even watching trailers, and it’s a genuinely scary movie that will put you in the spooky-season spirit. It’s both a home-invasion picture and an alien-invasion story and contains hardly any dialogue, which only adds to the seat-arm-gripping nature of the movie. Dever is winning audience accolades, and the film probably would have made a killing in theaters.

Who’s first in line to appreciate No One Will Save You? A certain horror maestro. “NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU is fun, fun, FUN,” tweeted Guillermo del Toro. “It is also smart and with great moments, staged in a classic, solid way. It avoids the pitfalls and maximizes its resources. I couldn’t think of a more perfect movie for your weekend. Fulfills all the promise of SPONTANEOUS.”

Again, though: No one seems to know why this didn’t receive a standard theatrical run. That’s especially the case for this past weekend when a holdover like The Nun 2 held off the star-packed Expend4ables.

More raving for the “in-f*cking-credible” Kaitlyn Dever would not stop.

And see? It wasn’t only great at home but also great in theaters:

[extremely Jim pretending to be Dwight voice] Reboot, remake, Battlestar Galactica. Guess which one The Office is getting?

Deep into a Puck article about the Writers Guild of America reaching a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers after 146 days on strike comes this detail: “We’re also about to see a firehose of announcements of projects and castings that have been held back for fear of bad optics… Greg Daniels is set to do a reboot of The Office, for instance.”

A reboot of NBC’s The Office — which itself is an American remake of a British series — was inevitable; it’s arguably the biggest sitcom since the days of Seinfeld and Friends. Soon, it was apparently become official.

But should it? “I think because of that there’s been a resurgence in interest in the show, and talk about bringing it back. But apart from the fact that I just don’t think that’s a good idea, it might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted 10 years ago. The climate’s different,” star Steve Carell said in 2018 about a potential reboot. He added, “A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know? But I just don’t know how that would fly now.”

If one of the first five episodes of the new Office isn’t called “Cancel Culture,” I’ll eat a scoop of floor chili.

(Via Puck)

As rumors about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dating continue to swirl, the NFL star seems to be endearing himself to Swifties. As one fan put it, “taylor dating an american football player who is vaccinated, drinks bud light and loves his mom.” Swift went to a Kansas City Chiefs game to watch Kelce play yesterday (September 24), which of course essentially confirmed that something is going on between the two.

Furthermore, after Swift watched the game, she left the stadium with Kelce; Jarrett Payton, a TV anchor and son of NFL legend Walter Payton, shared a video of the two walking together in the bowels of Arrowhead Stadium after the game. A fan also got a video of Kelce and Swift in a convertible outside the venue.

Some fans even picked up on what appears to be a Swift Easter egg from Kelce. After the game, he wrote a white and blue outfit, which fans were able to identify as KidSuper Studios’ “1989 Bedroom Painting” jacket and pants combo, certainly a choice look given the upcoming release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and perhaps not a coincidence.

Another fan took things even further, tweeting, “u guys will NOT believe what i found out about travis kelce SO apparently he was born in 1989, he joined the NFL in 2013, won his first superbowl at the age of 31 (13 backwards yk) and for the cherry on top, bro weights 113kg ijbol isn’t that WILD?”

Are Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dating? Maybe! It looks like there’s at least something going on there, especially after Swift turned up to see Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play the Chicago Bears yesterday (September 24). She appeared to have a heck of a time at the NFL match-up, and Swifties had their own fun churning out Swift/football memes.

Plenty of fans are in celebration mode, like one who wrote, “taylor dating an american football player who is vaccinated, drinks bud light and loves his mom,” alongside a video of Olivia Wilde chanting, “We love America!”

Others cracked jokes about how Swifties are suddenly football fans now, or are at least trying to be. One shared a video of Hulk Hogan attempting to listen to hip-hop and wrote, “Swifties forcing themselves to watch Football because Taylor is involved.”

https://twitter.com/LocalSoundwave/status/1706130766298542522

Another shared a photo of a young Chiefs fan posing in his room that’s decked out in team gear and wrote, “*taylor goes to one chiefs football game* me:.”

Some fans joked that Swift had some learning to do when it comes to the sport, like one who shared a photo of a zombified Swift using a laptop and wrote, “Taylor researching how football works last night before the game starts.”

Check out some more memes below.

The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass maestro Mike Flanagan is (almost) back with his new series, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, as inspired by the 1839 Edgar Allen Poe short story. Do not expect a literal retelling of the original source material.

What can one expect? Expect to see some Poe-evoking ravens with a modern retelling that retains few events but carries the spirit from the original Poe offering. Also expect to see some Flanagan favorites within the cast, which includes Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Carl Lumbly, Michael Trucco, Paola Nuñez, Henry Thomas, Kyleigh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, Katie Parker, Malcolm Goodwin, Annabeth Gish, and more, including a very theatrical Mark Hamill.

The Poe short story revolves around a narrator who is an old friend of Roderick Usher and arrives to keep him company after Madeleine Usher falls ill. At that time, the two reclusive siblings are the only members of the family who remain alive. Cue supernatural/haunting happenings and Roderick literally being scared to an extreme at one point with the house, presumably haunted, cracking and falling to pieces much like his mind.

In the Flanagan series, Carla Gugino will portray a figure from the past who arrives to terrorize and deliver consequences upon the Usher family, who is described as “a collection of stunted hearts.” The family might remind you of the Roys on Succession but with siblings Roderick and Madeleine having built their fortune from Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. In other words, get ready for the parable treatment of a certain epidemic, and of course, Flanagan will keep things spooky as hell.

The Fall Of The House Of Usher descends upon Netflix on October 12.

The Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 2-1 on the young season with a 23-18 win in Las Vegas over the Raiders on Sunday night in a game that featured one of the most baffling and, for Raiders fans, infuriating end of game coaching sequences we are likely to see all year.

After scoring a touchdown and getting a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 23-15, the Raiders forced a 3-and-out and got the ball back, once again marching into Steelers territory. With just over three minutes on the clock, they faced a 4th and 1, but a snap infraction backed them up to a 4th and 6. At that point, Josh McDaniels made the rather surprising move to try and kick a field goal to cut the lead to five and lean on his defense again to get a quick stop and allow for a game-winning TD, rather than a game-tying one.

It was a questionable at best choice that got bailed out when Pittsburgh got a personal foul penalty for leverage on the kick block attempt — which, why they were in a full kick block and not kick safe on a 4th and 6 up 8 is an entirely other question for the other coaching staff. From there, the Raiders would work the ball inside the 10 yard line with under three minutes to go, but after back-to-back incompletions, they faced a 4th-and-4 from the 8, but this time had just 2:22 on the clock and were much closer to the end zone but again trotted Daniel Carlson out for the field goal.

Carlson would make it, but even with all their timeouts and the two minute warning, the margins were razor thin for the Raiders, as a first down would effectively ice it. After two solid inside runs from Najee Harris, the Steelers went empty on 3rd and 2 and the Raiders, for some reason, went with an all out blitz, sending the slot corner and two linebackers, while also playing off coverage on the outside allowing Kenny Pickett to very calmly roll left and hit Allen Robinson wide open for the first down.

Going with an all-out blitz in that situation is truly insane, because they needed such short yardage that forcing a hot throw doesn’t help you at all. If this was 3rd and long, sure, but just conceding the short throw is the worst possible thing you can do in that situation, and not only was Robinson wide open on the left side, but had the play been run to the right, George Pickens was wide open on the slant because, again, the corner was 8 yards off the line at the snap for reasons passing understanding.

From there, the Steelers would run the ball three straight times and punt, with Pressley Harvin III sending a bomb to the 10 that got muffed and recovered by Vegas with 12 seconds left in the game, which Jimmy Garoppolo promptly followed up with a woeful interception up the sideline.

It was a truly dreadful coaching sequence, with the first field goal attempt being bad but borderline understandable given where they were on the field, time remaining, and how they’d stopped them twice in a row. The second one was flat out dreadful being on the 8-yard line and having let another minute run off the clock to get there. From there, they made a horrific defensive call on 3rd and short when they absolutely had to have a stop — Cris Collinsworth rightly said on the broadcast they couldn’t have called a worse defensive play if they tried — and gave up any hope of a miracle. McDaniels tried to explain the kicking decision in his postgame presser, but didn’t have anything approaching a decent answer.

As you’d expect, the comment section on the Raiders livestream of his presser was almost entirely people telling the team to fire him.

McDaniels now moves to 18-30 as a head coach and we have a pretty good sample size of him just not being very good at the job. Calling plays and making game management decisions are two very different skillsets and for all his success doing the former in New England, his efforts doing the latter in Vegas and Denver have been rather disastrous, with Sunday night being his magnum opus of head-scratching decisions.

The Dallas Cowboys looked dominant in the first two weeks of the season, destroying the two New York teams to start the year 2-0. Even after the brutal news that Trevon Diggs had torn his ACL in practice this week, the expectation was they’d cruise to 3-0 as they faced Joshua Dobbs and the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale on Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinals had been in both games they’ve played this year, but also gave up a huge lead to the otherwise hapless Giants in Week 2 and weren’t expected to be a match for Dallas’ stout defense. However, there’s a reason they play the games and the Cardinals pretty much dominated Dallas from start to finish, running the ball with ease and frustrating the Cowboys offense, particularly in the red zone, en route to a 28-16 win.

It was a dismal loss for the Cowboys that took an awful lot of shine off of their early hot start and certainly takes some steam out of the argument they are the league’s best team. While plenty of folks enjoy watching the Cowboys lose, no one has more fun at their expense than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who posted his customary victory lap reaction video on Twitter shortly after the final whistle, thanking Dallas for being “the gift that keeps on giving” by always seeming to find embarrassing losses just when the hype around them takes off.

Smith has had to hear his ESPN colleagues fawn over the Cowboys over the last two weeks as they dominated on both sides of the ball, but after looking pedestrian against a mediocre at best Cardinals team, he will certainly enjoy this week as he gets to prod at Cowboys supporters Monday to Friday.