Category: News

The Weeknd keeps breaking record after record. Earlier this month, it was revealed that his hit single “Blinding Lights” was Spotify’s most streamed single of all time. Now, The Weeknd has broken Spotify’s record for most monthly listeners in the world.

As of now, The Weeknd currently has over 94.73 million listeners, a stat that was shared by PopCrave and retweeted by The Weeknd himself.

It’s no surprise that The Weeknd has raked in so many streams. Over the past decade, he has supplied us with several hits.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Weeknd explained how a lot of his songs came together.

One of his breakthrough hits was “Earned It” from the motion picture soundtrack to 2015’s Fifty Shades Of Grey.

“The song in the film for Fifty Shades of Grey is just so sexy and sexual,” he said. “Working on this song was fun as well, but that felt a little bit more fun and loose, while [‘Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)’] felt a little bit more scientific.”

“Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” is the theme for the 2022 film Avatar: The Way Of Water and was recently revealed to be on the shortlist for potential 2023 Academy Awards nominations.

“I feel honored to be part of that list,” he said. “Any kind of recognition for it feels like a blessing.”

Almost two decades into her career, Nicki Minaj has solidified her position as an icon in the rap game. The New York rhymer, who recently turned 40, continues to break records despite some controversies that have followed her over the years. Recently, Minaj hit a major milestone for female rappers on Spotify, surpassing over 28 Billion streams.

“@NICKIMINAJ has now surpassed 28 billion streams on Spotify across all credits. She’s the first female rapper to hit this milestone,” Chart Data reported.

The “Do We Got Have A Problem” rapper has been breaking many records lately. Last week, Minaj eclipsed Missy Elliot as the the longest-charting female rapper on Billboard’s Hot 100 because of her No.1 hit “Super Freaky Girl,” which charted again on the week of January 5, earning the hit a 20-week total.

However, despite the track’s success, Minaj was snubbed from the Grammy nominations this year. Minaj revealed that the song had been moved over to the pop category. Enraged by the Recording Academy’s decision, the rapper demanded that if she had to be put in the category, so should Latto for her big hit” Big Energy,” leading to a nasty online spat between the two.

In other music news, this past November, Minaj recently teamed up with Reggaeton artists Maluma and Myriam Fares for a new collaboration titled “Tukoh Taka.” The track served as the Official FIFA Fan Festival Anthem for 2022.

Some other artists mentioned are from Warner Music. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Arizona Cardinals opted to fire head coach Kliff Kingsbury earlier this week. Kingsbury, a former college head coach who was hired with no NFL coaching experience prior to the 2019 season, went 28-37-1 during his time at the helm of the Cardinals and helped get the team to the postseason one time — they made it last year and lost in the Wild Card round to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.

Kingsbury, who is known to be a good offensive mind, is apparently a bit of a hot commodity on the open market, as Peter Schrager of Fox Sports reports that a few teams have reached out to him with the hopes that he’ll fill their offensive coordinator vacancy. There is just one problem: Schrager brings word that Kingsbury is so uninterested in coaching right now that he recently purchased a one-way flight to Thailand.

Prior to heading to the NFL, Kingsbury spent six years as the head coach of his alma mater, Texas Tech. His contract with the Red Raiders was not renewed after the 2018 campaign, and while he originally agreed to become the offensive coordinator at USC, he left the program after a few weeks to take an NFL head coaching gig.

This time a month ago few had even heard of George Santos. The now-freshman representative from New York was elected despite anyone delving deeply into the many claims he made about himself while running for office. Now there’s two, sometimes three wackadoodle revelations a day. Some are big, like him allegedly being involved in criminal activity in Brazil. Some are small, like the latest dirt on him: that he may be petty thief.

In an interview with Patch (as caught by The Daily Beast), one of Santos’ former roommates said that the representative stole a Burbery scarf from him. What’s more, he wore it, appropriately, to a Stop the Steal riot held the day before the Jan. 6 riot.

Santos had two months prior lost his first congressional run, and he made Trumpian claims of voter fraud to the whipped-up crowd. “If you’re from New York, you know what they did to me,” Santos charged, while wearing allegedly pilfered neckware. “They did to me what they did to Donald Trump. They stole my election.”

Another former roommate of Santos corroborated the story, revealing text messages between them in which they discussed not only the scarf but also a shirt they accused of him stealing. The two have also claimed they found phones, checks, and other pricey dress shirts missing during their tenures with Santos.

The news came shortly after yet more allegations of sketchy Santos behavior, namely that he’d previously worked for an investment company accused by the SEC of being a Ponzi scheme. Santos has refused to resign amidst the ever-mounting allegations over his prolific and oft-surreal behavior.

(Via Patch and The Daily Beast)

Boldy James has undergone extensive surgery after suffering severe injuries from a car crash this past Monday (January 9). Following the two-car accident, the rapper was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. James’ publicist confirmed that accident took place in the Detroit Metropolitan area.

James, whose real name is James Clay Jones, underwent surgery on his neck after suffering from broken vertebrae and orthopedic injuries.

The rapper’s publicist said that Boldy has been removed from the ICU and is now in “stable condition.”

James and his family have issued a statement to the public, expressing their gratitude to “the incredible doctors and nurses that are taking care of him, and also to the communities’ emergency medical personnel and first responders.”

The timing of the accident couldn’t be worse. Last June, the rapper announced that he was working on an album with beats from the legendary producer J Dilla. It’s unclear what the project’s intended release date was, but presumably, it will most likely be pushed back after the car accident.

James, a Detroit native, had become a staple on the local underground rap scene over the last decade. He previously collaborated with the iconic producer on Rebirth Of Detroit in 2012 alongside Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids on the song “Detroit Game.”

A romantic night out for Britney Spears and her husband Sam Asghari quickly turned into a disaster, TMZ is reporting. Last night (January 13), the two were reportedly spotted at JOEY, a restaurant in Woodland Hills. At the time of the arrival, the restaurant was already said to be packed, and customers reportedly recognized Spears and Asghari immediately.

Fans then were said to begin pulling out their cell phones, and start filming the two. This reportedly caused Spears to experience a manic meltdown. According to the publication, Spears was visibly upset and begin speaking incoherently. Witnesses said Asghari stormed out of the restaurant.

A video obtained by the publication shows Spears sitting alone in the restaurant, speaking incoherently.

Shortly after the video was recorded, Spears reportedly left the restaurant with her bodyguard, who was said to return to the restaurant to pay the bill.

At the time of writing, neither Spears nor Asghari have spoken about the incident, however, the “…Baby One More Time” hitmaker appeared to be in good spirits in the hours leading up to the night. Earlier in the day, Spears shared a video of herself on Instagram dancing to Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé’s 2014 hit single, “Feeling Myself.”

Representatives for Spears and Asghari did not immediately return our request for comment.

For too long, Megans have been underappreciated. But now everything has changed. M3gan, the thriller/satire from Blumhouse starring Allison Williams and M3gan the robot who has Instagram face, dance moves rivaling Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3, and a violence problem hit theaters last week and has put Megans on the map, so of course it is time to rank Megans.

From Megan Draper to M3gan, here are the Megans, ranked, including Megs and Meghans:

11. Meghan McCain

If there’s one thing Meghan McCain is useful for, it is having an amusing, dumb take on something. As of publication, Meghan McCain has fully embraced her Megan status, making her profile pic a picture of M3gan. I don’t respect her, but I do respect the bit.

10. Megan Fox

Megan Fox is the reason Jennifer’s Body has become a cult hit: her performance as a literal maneater is better than anyone gave her credit for when it came out in 2009. Fox has had quite the deserved redemption arc over the years, but she would appear higher in the ranking if I didn’t know that she drank Machine Gun Kelly’s blood. Even when you are famous, there are some things you keep to yourself.

9. Meghan Markle

If she edited her husband’s book, the Duchess of Sussex (who might not be that for long) might be higher in the ranking. Suits is streaming on Peacock right now, and she is better in that than whatever she and Prince Harry are doing right now.

8. Meg March from Little Women

The oldest sister of the March girls from Little Women, Meg March is quiet, sweet, and attracted to the lives of the wealthy, although she knows she’ll never live the life of luxury she craves. Throughout Louisa May Alcott’s book and every movie adaptation, Meg grows as a person and comes to terms with her status and falls in love with her quiet and poor little Massachusetts life, despite her ambitious sister Jo’s thoughts on the matter. Over the many film adaptations of the classic novel, Meg has been played by Janet Leigh, Trini Alvarado, and Emma Watson. In Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation, Emma Stone was originally supposed to play Meg, but was eventually replaced by Watson. I like to imagine that the timeline in which Stone played Meg is a much more chaotic timeline than this one, but the truth is that this is probably the worst timeline of them all (besides the one where James Corden starred in The Whale, directed by Tom Ford).

7. The Meg from The Meg (2018)

A big shark to match Jason Statham’s big arms. Amazing. Good job, buddy!

6. Megara from Hercules (1997)

Megara is an independent and sarcastic bitch who happens to have a deal with Hades, god of death. Throughout the entire movie, this post-modern Disney princess acts like she is bored and wants the whole thing to end already. Unlike any other Megans or Megs, she has a bigger than physics would allow in real-life ponytail (which probably weighs more than her body), a purple Grecian gown, and hips so sharp they could cut someone who gets in her way.

5. Megan Mullally

Megan Mullally is best known for her role as Karen Walker, the pill-popping socialite with little to no grasp of reality on Will & Grace and her one-of-a-kind high pitch voice. She also played the ex-wife Tammy to real-life husband Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation. While she may not have a number in her name, Megan Mullally is a Megan who is a gay icon.

4. Megan Draper from Mad Men

For a bit, the stylish and patient Megan Draper brought out the best in Don Draper. She made him happy, she got him to listen to The Beatles and live in the best apartment Manhattan has ever seen. But once Don realized she was ambitious, independent, and not willing to put up with his bullsh*t, he lost interest. “Zou Bisou Bisou” was embarrassing for everyone involved, from Megan to Don to everyone at the party to the audience, but Megan got through it and it’s one of the most iconic moments in television history.

3. Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan is one of the best comedic actors to ever do it. Her first leading role as Sally Alright in When Harry Met Sally… turned her into an icon and immediately made cinema history with the orgasm scene. Ryan is the master of slightly neurotic, very romantic, type-A New York blondes with incredible 90s haircuts who fall in love with men they think they hate. Ryan’s greatest performance, though? She isn’t really a Megan: her real name is Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra. Meg Ryan is her stage name. Regardless, she has true Megan energy, and more so than some actual Megans.

2. Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion is one of the best new artists to emerge in the past five years, and she rose to the top quickly in the world of Megans. The American rapper first got attention for her freestyling videos on social media, and has since become a Grammy-winning recording artist. Since her first studio album Good News came out in 2020, Megan has influenced culture with her style and music, particularly with her Cardi B collab “WAP” which inspired most and angered conservatives who don’t know how to have a good time. While she was racking up award after award in 2021, she got a degree in healthcare administration from Texas Southern University.

1. M3gan from M3gan

She is titanium. She is a mother. She is a father. She can sing. She can dance. She can murder and she will do it to children as well as the box office. She always wears tights and a cute little dress. Even when her hair is a mess, she is chic and terrifying. Megan is a true bestie and the best Megan of them all.

With a nearly four decades-long career, you would think that LL Cool J would have a movie about his meteoric rise. Sadly, he doesn’t. However, that may change soon. The OG rapper and Kennedy Center Honoree recently took to social media to tease the idea of making a biopic about his life. One actor in particular has made it known he would love the opportunity to portray the legendary hitmaker.

“Should I do a biopic?” LL Cool J tweeted on Thursday (January 12).

Following the post’s reaction on social media, fans immediately started suggesting who could play the rap lothario. But one choice stands out from the rest. Former The Wire actor and 90210 star Mack Wilds quoted the tweet making an official plea for the possible role, saying, “I mean… what are we talking about?” he wrote with a smiley face emoji.

In a recent interview, the actor gushed about paying the iconic rapper.

“Hell, yes! I’d love to play LL,” Wilds told HipHopDX. “I’ve been trying to figure out if he’d do a biopic for years.”

Wilds then recalled when his father took him to his first concert, and LL Cool J was performing, noting that his love of the rapper-turned-actor began there.

“LL was my very first concert,” he explained. “He did a free concert at Wingate Park in Brooklyn. My dad took me ’cause he saw I really connected to his music. He was my first understanding of stage presence.”

What can’t Tom Cruise do? Last summer he turned 60 and he’s still doing death-defying stunts, sometimes just for holiday videos. He even had his biggest-ever moneymaker just last year, over four decades into his storied career. Cruise is a fount of positivity, working on his birthdays and generally paying it forward. Now we’re learning he helped save a highly acclaimed movie from being butchered by one of the most notorious Hollywood execs.

The New Yorker profiled Tár director Todd Field, who made his directorial debut over 20 years ago with 2001’s In the Bedroom. The drama premiered at Sundance and it got picked up by a powerful distributor. Unfortunately that distributor was Miramax, whose then-honcho Harvey Weinstein was notorious for cutting up films in an attempt to make them more palatable to wide audiences. Field was afraid that would happen to his film, too.

“I was weeping in the bathroom,” Field recalled. But he had an even more powerful friend, with whom he’d acted in Eyes Wide Shut (and whose cousin, William Mapother, had a major in the film).

“I called up Tom Cruise and said, ‘Something terrible has happened,’” Field remembered. “He basically said, ‘This is how you’re going to play it. It’s going to take you six months, and you’ll beat him, but you have to do exactly what I’m going to tell you to do, step by step.’ ”

What was the plan? To let Weinstein slice and dice it up, wait for it to test badly. After that, Field would remind him of all the raves it got from Sundance, saying they should release it in its original form.

That’s what he did, and that’s one reason why In the Bedroom went on to gross several times its budget and accrue five Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture.

Field also rehashed a story he’s told elsewhere: That it was Cruise who encouraged him, then an actor, to get into filmmaking. You’re going to make movies,” Cruise told him over dinner. Field told him a dream project was a film of Andre Dubus’ short story “Killings,” but he was worried he couldn’t get the rights. “You’re just making excuses,” Cruise told him. “Figure it out.”

The lesson: If you ever have a problem or need a word of encouragement, just contact your good pal Tom Cruise.

(Via The New Yorker)

It looks like a new Kelly Clarkson is arriving this year. In an Instagram live stream on The Kelly Clarkson Show‘s account, she shared so many details about the album.

“I have an album coming out this year. I swear,” she said. “I know I’ve been talking about it, but look, I’m going to be really honest with you.”

This upcoming album would mark her eighth album, and her first in six years, not including her holiday albums. This also marks her first album since divorcing her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock in 2021.

“It took a minute for me to be able to release this album,” Clarkson continued. “Because I just had to be over it, through it, all around it. I had to get past it in order to talk about it.”

While it’s certainly been a long time since she released an album, Clarkson admitted that she’s glad she spent a long time working on the project, and said that one of the last songs she wrote may end up being one of the singles.

Though she did not directly mention her divorce during the live stream, she said that the album tells the story of a relationship arc.

“It’s not all sad or bad, but it’s in there,” she said.

Elsewhere in the stream, Clarkson said that the photoshoot for the album was the most fun she ever had on set.

She concluded the stream apologizing to Atlantic Records for divulging so many details about the upcoming record.

You can watch Clarkson’s recorded live stream above.

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