Category: News

Lady Gaga’s 2011 hidden gem, “Bloody Mary,” first appeared on her album, Born This Way. However, over a decade later, the spooky song has seen a sudden resurgence thanks to Wednesday.

When Netflix dropped its first season of the Addams Family-inspired show, fans flocked to TikTok and made edits of the titular character — with Gaga’s song as the soundtrack.

Despite not being featured in the show itself or TikTok contributing to the chart impact, Gaga and Wednesday fans’ streaming result has proven still immensely successful for the pop star. The social media trend pushed “Bloody Mary” to debut on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 at No. 68.

In the original scene of Wednesday, the young Addams daughter (played by Jenna Ortega) dances at prom to The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” — which fans eventually swapped out for “Bloody Mary.” Gaga even wound up getting in on the viral dance craze in a video that’s amassed over 12 million views.

Unsurprisingly, Netflix recently announced they’d be renewing Wednesday for a second season and poked fun at the TikTok hype by even using “Bloody Mary” in the teaser reveal.

According to Luminate, Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” had 6.1 million US streams and 2,000 sold downloads between December 30 and January 5 — proving that TikTok scrollers are committing to their love for the resurgent hit.

The touring industry is exploding right now. In a blog post written earlier this year, Lorde astutely noted how basically all of the artists who couldn’t tour during the pandemic are now all hitting the stage all at once. And that massive influx of high-profile concert tours is continuing into 2023. From long-awaited concert tours to anniversary celebrations to high-profile comebacks, these are the most anticipated concert tours of 2023.

Arctic Monkeys

For the first time in nearly ten years, Arctic Monkeys released a new album. The Car, is a cinematic melodrama enacted as debonairly as possible in the way that only Alex Turner and company can. They’re set to make 22 tour stops in North America at the tail end of summer and Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. are opening for them.

Beyoncé

While Beyoncé hasn’t announced any plans to tour in support of Renaissance yet (or release any music videos from it for that matter) she dropped a $20,000 hint that a tour is coming this summer. You see, at the WACO Theater Wearable Art Gala in October, Beyoncé put up an extravagant package for the charity auction. For $20k, the package description included airline tickets and a meet and greet to, “Beyoncé’s Renaissance 2023 tour.” Shout out to the Bey Hive member who sussed out this caper.

Big Thief

In a year that saw them releasing another dynamite album in Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Big Thief announced an active schedule of concerts across four continents. But they really made waves this past week in laying out a plan to invite teachers and students to their soundchecks along the tour. The band wants to provide young people with opportunities to engage in learning experiences around creativity, music, playing shows, and songwriting. Awesome.

Blink 182

Not only is Blink 182 back, but guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge has rejoined the band making for a full reunion tour. Delonge, drummer Travis barker, and bassist/singer Mark Hoppus are also set to headline a slew of South American festivals, as well as the When We Were Young emo nostalgia fest in Las Vegas. Oh, and a new Blink 182 album is apparently on deck as well.

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are hitting the road in 2023 for the first time since 2017. Yet when news of the US tour dates hit, Ticketmaster’s flexible pricing model sent some seats soaring in the thousands of dollars range and fans were none too pleased. Springsteen answered the critics essentially saying that the imperfect system is what it is, but, “If there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.” They don’t call him The Boss for nothing.

Death Grips

For the first time in four years, horrorcore trailblazers Death Grips will be going out on tour. The experimental rap trio of Zach Hill, MC Ride, and Andy Morin put on an electric live show, with MC Ride an always visceral presence on the microphone.

Depeche Mode

It was a tough year for Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan and Martin Gore when longtime keyboardist Andy “Fletch” Fletcher died in May at the age of 60. But Depeche Mode are still planning on releasing their new album Memento Mori, this spring. “Fletch would have loved this album,” Gahan said. The Memento Mori World Tour begins in March in the US and only ends in August in Europe.

Ed Sheeran

With albums entitled +, =, ÷, and x Ed Sheeran is bringing the theme full circle with his North America megatour dubbed the Mathematics Tour. He’ll be playing gigantic stadium sets at venues like Houston’s NRG Stadium, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and Detroit’s Ford Field. Meanwhile, he has curated a diverse set of tour openers in Khalid, Maisie Peters, Russ, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, and Dylan.

GloRilla

Hopefully, GloRilla is planning on giving her assistant a raise, because she’s going to be plenty busy with her first-ever headlining tour in 2023. The Anyways, Life’s Great Tour is tabbed as GloRilla “with friends,” so we’ll see who decides to pop up on stage with the Memphis rapper. Could one of those friends be Cardi B at some point? The pair collaborated on the track “Tomorrow 2” which hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2022.

Janet Jackson

When Janet Jackson announced the Together Again Tour for 2023, she also promised that “there will be new music.” Not that we really need any, considering how many #hits she’s turned out across the decades, but it definitely adds to the mystique of what the always explosive “That’s The Way Love Goes” singer does on stage. Ludacris is joining her as the opening act, cause why the heck not?

JID and Smino

Both JID and Smino dropped albums in 2022. JID’s Forever Story places him in the conversation of today’s best, while Smino’s incredibly unique Luv 4 Rent features A-List featured guests like J-Cole and Lil Uzi Vert. Now the Atlanta and St. Louis connection will come to fruition on the 32-date cross-continent Luv Is 4Ever Tour.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Are King Gizzard the most prolific band in the world right now? The Aussie psycho rockers did just drop five albums in 2022. They’ve certainly become one of the most cultiish live bands on the planet regardless. They’re June 2023 tour begins at The Caverns Underground in Tennessee and ends with a three-hour “marathon set” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Metallica

The pioneering metal band from San Francisco have a new album due out on April 14th called 72 Seasons and the corresponding tour will stretch far beyond 2023. Metallica will be hitting the road this year, making stops in both Europe, the US, Canada, while picking it up again for a slew of 2024 dates in Europe and all of North America including Mexico. The shows will feature them playing 2 nights in cities, with no song repeats and an in-the-round staging.

Paramore

Paramore’s much-hyped sixth album, This Is Why, is due out on February 10th and the Hayley Williams-led band have a tour ready to rock for the summertime. Beginning in May, Paramore will be touring all throughout North America and have an illustrious cast of support acts in tow in Bloc Party (whom they cite as a primary influence), Foals, The Linda Lindas, and Genesis Owusu.

The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie

Not only is The Postal Service embarking on a 20th Anniversary Tour for their cult-classic album Give Up, but it’s a double bill with Death Cab For Cutie. Ben Gibbard will be pulling double duty, but he’s the quintessential rockstar on stage and can more than handle it. And as great as Death Cab’s latest album, Asphalt Meadows, is, the vibes will surely be highest as soon as Jenny Lewis joins Gibbard on vocals for Give Up’s opening track, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.”

SZA

Sad hotties rejoice, SZA is going on tour! After an unfathomable number of teasers and delays, SZA’s new album S.O.S. finally dropped last month and she’ll be supporting it on tour with Omar Apollo as the opening act. We got a preview of SZA’s S.O.S. stage setup at Outside Lands festival 2022 in San Francisco this past summer and it’s thematic to the album to say the least.

Taylor Swift

Following the release of Midnights, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will mark her first stadium performances in five years. By now, you’ve surely heard about how Taylor damn near broke Ticketmaster when tickets went on sale and the tour has already netted over a half billion dollars in sales. This will mark the largest run of US dates for Swift, so do what you have to do to get into the stadium. And if all else fails, maybe her cat can put you on the guest list?

The Walkmen

A decade since The Walkmen went on an “extreme hiatus,” the indie rock staples announced a comeback for 2023 with a limited number of shows in only New York City at first. The tour has since expanded to add multi-night residencies in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington D.C. in addition to New York City. This could potentially mean that Hamilton Leithauser, Peter Bauer, and company might finally have a new album by The Walkmen on the horizon. The plan will surely unfold on this long-awaited slate of live performances which begins in April.

Wizkid

Weeks after dropping his latest album, More Love Less Ego, Wizkid already started teasing a new album called SaiLess. The promise of even more new music from the world-sweeping Afrobeats star will certainly drive the interest North American Tour. Beginning in March, Wizkid will be playing arena-sized venues like Houston’s Kia Center and Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Zach Bryan

A noted critic of Ticketmaster’s purported monopoly and the exorbitant fees that they tack on concert tickets, Zach Bryan has decided to take matters into his own hands for his upcoming tour. “I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show,” the country music rising star said on Instagram. The dates have yet to be announced but Bryan has promised them “soon” and you’ve just got to admire the stance he’s taking.

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

The new Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania trailer dropped during the NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship game, and with it, came the biggest look yet at the epic film that will force Paul Rudd‘s Ant-Man to deal with Marvel’s newest big bad: Jonathan Major’s Kang the Conqueror.

In the trailer, which will officially kick off Marvel’s Phase 5, Scott Lang (Rudd) finds himself locked in a destructive deal with Kang after he and his family are sucked into the Quantum Realm. While it’s not clear what Kang is after, he presents Scott with a tempting offer: More time. Thanks to the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame the hero lost five years with his daughter, Cassie, and he’s apparently willing to do anything to get that time back. Although, by the time the trailer ends, Scott has clearly realized he may have help start something that could destroy reality as he knows it: The Kang Dynasty.

Oh, and also M.O.D.O.K. showed up.

As for what the murderous robot is doing in his live-action MCU debut is anyone’s guess. However, the film is laying the groundwork for Marvel’s next big event(s), so it’ll be interesting to see what other seeds are being planted. Maybe even a fantastic one in the form of William Jackson Harper‘s mysterious character?

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters February 17, 2023.

Midsommar and Hereditary director Ari Aster is bringing the world a new nightmare, one that’s fraught with both beauty and genuine horror and, apparently, one man’s battle to exist in the outside world. Joaquin Phoenix takes another breather from Todd Phillips’ Joker projects to pop in as a lead in a film that’s delivered a nightmarish first trailer, along with surrealist tones and pops of color that are so vivid they might set off a color bomb in your mind. One that happens to cross generations, quite literally.

That surely doesn’t bode well for the title character, Beau, who is described as “[a] paranoid man [who] embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film.” As well, we see Phoenix’s character at stages both older and young, including what is suggested to be an awful childhood, and Aster sure does enjoy throwing “difficult” (to put it mildly) mothers into the mix. For anyone with a hint of paranoia, there’s bound to be some anxiety in watching Phoenix fight has way home, and it might be too early in the morning for this type of adventure.

Tone-wise, the trailer emphasizes the comedic nature of Phoenix’s nightmares, and god only knows how much of this is literal when Beau ends up being struck by a car and held by Nathan Lane. Also on the scene: Amy Ryan, and the film also stars Parker Posey, Patti LuPone, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Hayler Squires, and Denis Ménochet of Inglorious Basterds.

Beau Is Afraid has been shrouded in secrecy until now, although some suspected that the project would relate to Aster’s Beau short film, which does potentially check out.

Beau Is Afraid arrives in theaters on April 21.

Over the weekend, Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker Of The House. It took four days and 15 votes to get here, but here we are. Now the late-night shows have gotten a hold of the news and run with it on their Monday (January 9) episodes, including The Late Show. Steven Colbert’s staff’s take on the situation made use of some choice DJ Khaled clips.

The brief segment is introduced, “And now, a summary of Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker Of The House, featuring DJ Khaled.” From there, a Khaled-style instrumental played under news clips about the McCarthy proceedings, and as the various anchors share news of each subsequent vote, a Khaled clips interjects with one of the producer’s classic catchphrases: “Another one.” The video ends with an anchor noting, “The concessions to the right that led to his victory could leave him the weakest Speaker in modern history.” To that, clip Khaled responded, “Congratulations: you played yourself.”

As for what Khaled has been up to lately, he was recently pretty happy after buying Eminem’s Nike Air Jordan 4 “Encore” sneakers. Meanwhile, looking forward, he’s one of the most-nominated hip-hop artists at the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards.

Check out the Colbert segment above.

Back in the early 2000s, Britney Spears was the face of Pepsi after signing an $8 million deal with the soda company in 2001 and starring in ads like the iconic “Joy Of Pepsi” spot and numerous others. Since then, though, she’s spent time on the Coke side. In 2013, it was reported that Spears sold some Coca-Cola stock, while Pepsi was not in her portfolio at all. Now, she’s again representing Coke… at least in her new thirst trap.

In a video shared on Instagram last night (January 9), Spears wears a red two-piece outfit, consisting of a mini skirt and a tube top, the latter emblazoned with the Coca-Cola logo across the front. In the video (which is scored by Normani and Cardi B’s “Wild Side”), Spears dances and strikes poses for the camera.

In her caption, she explained, “Here’s me going through my closet realizing outfits I have never worn !!! I am a practical shopper but I was really surprised going through my closest and what I found !!! […] Anyways, here’s me modeling RED outfit number 1 !!! That means there are way more to go … 7 is my favorite !!! I will SHARE with you lovely people !!!”

She also wrote about the photos with Paris Hilton that recently surfaced, saying, “Also have no idea about these pics of me from a birthday party … I haven’t been to a bday party in forever !!! And as for the pics, those have to be from years ago !!!”

Revisit the aforementioned Pepsi ad below.

In January of 2022, Meek Mill teamed up with Kevin Hart and Michael Rubin to donate $15 million to 110 Philadelphia schools for the 2022-2023 school year. Now that it’s 2023, they’re supporting the city again by donating $7 million in scholarships to Philadelphia private schools.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the money will go toward scholarships at 60 “private and parochial schools in need,” helping kids from low-to-moderate incomes. It will also go toward funding laptops, tablets, and WiFi connections.

Mill and Ruby both launched the non-profit organization Reform Alliance alongside Jay-Z in 2019, which just recently posted bail for 20 women incarcerated at Philadelphia’s Riverside Correctional Facility. “The women, who were unable to afford bail, will now be able to spend the holiday season with their families and loved ones. Five women were released today and will be reunited with their families, with the goal of 15 more women being released in the coming week,” the organization wrote on Instagram.

“For families impacted by the criminal justice system, the holidays can be an extremely challenging time,” Mill wrote in a statement. “No one should have to spend the holidays in jail simply because they can’t afford bail, and no child should be without their parents during this time if we can do something about it. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help these women be with their families and loved ones during this special time of year.”

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It was all good just a week ago, quite literally, for rapper Meek Mill. During the musician’s visit to Accra, Ghana, for Afrochella, the “Going Bad” rapper made good on his promise to deliver cinematic new visuals in the new year. Unfortunately, one of those visuals has landed the Philadelphia native in hot water. The initial overwhelming warm embrace he received from the Ghanaian people didn’t stop fans in the region from quickly checking Meek for filming a music video inside the country’s presidential home.

After posting the official visual to social media, the Ghanaian people called out Meek Mill and the Ghanaian government for being careless. The visual, which featured aerial shots of the grounds, could present a potential security risk to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s safety.

As the tweets began to flood in, Meek Mill quickly acted by removing the visuals from all of his platforms and immediately issuing an apology. “No video I drop is ever meant to disrespect the people of Ghana,” he wrote.

Meek later apologized to President Akufo-Addo’s office, ensuring that he wasn’t aware of the harm he brought to him. Meek asked for forgiveness for his ignorance from the Ghanaian that despite his hiccup, he’s “still gonna push to make the connection between Black people in America and Africa.”

Based on the responses to his apology, it seems his Ghanaian fans as willing to forgive him. But just in case, Meek may want to delete his social media accounts again, at least until it blows over.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Sunday, a mere two days after the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the event got its first major copycat. Thousands of supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolisanaro, who lost re-election last fall (and then had to go pantsless), stormed the nation’s Congress. It was eerily similar to the events that happened in D.C. in the final weeks of the Donald Trump presidency: battles with police officers, barricades attacked, civilians flooding the inside of the building. (One big difference: There were immediately hundreds of arrests.) The incident met with widespread disdain. But the insurgents had one predictable defender.

“Consider what is happening tonight in Brazil,” thundered Tucker Carlson on Monday night’s edition of his Fox News show. He even parroted some of Bolsonaro’s baseless accusations. “Thanks to what was very clearly a rigged election, a convicted criminal – Lula da Silva – is now the president of the most important country in South America. Millions of people in Brazil understand exactly what happened. They know that their democracy has been hijacked, possibly forever.”

Carlson’s allusions to Lula’s criminal background were, of course, misleading. Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2011, was convicted of corruption. What Carlson left out was that that conviction was later annulled by a high court. Lula has claimed the conviction was politically motivated.

After spreading a conspiracy theory and misleading his audience, Carlson then downplayed the insurgency’s participants, calling them merely “protesters.” He did compare what happened to the U.S. Capitol riot, but only so he could downplay that, too.

“What’s happened in Brazil is likened to Jan. 6,” he continued. “And of course, populist leaders in this country are being blamed for it. ‘Oh, it was Trump and Steve Bannon who did it.’ That’s not true, but even if it were true, it would be just the tail-end of the story. It’d be the result of something that happened before. The obvious question is why are protestors in Brazil so angry?”

Carlson then alleged Lula “has eliminated their most basic civil liberties.” How? He didn’t say.

After his tirade, Carlson spoke with journalist Matthew Tyrmand, who spread his own conspiracy theories. He alleged that amongst the throngs were “many an agent provocateur.” He then recklessly said it “looks like this is turning into a Reichstag fire,” a reference to the 1933 arson at the German parliament that the Nazi leadership exploited to further curtail civil liberties and increase their power.

Recently Carlson admitted that he fumbled his predictions for the threatened “red wave” during last year’s midterms that never happened, but only because liberals made him hate them too much. “That loathing clouded my judgment,” he claimed.

(Via Mediaite)

When it rains, it pours. Rapper Gucci Mane knows this, unfortunately, all too well. After his label’s 1017 Records, rising act Pooh Shiesty was sent to prison in April 2022, Bigg Scarr, another artist on his roster, unexpectedly passed away days before Christmas. As the Atlanta musician attempts to pick up the remaining pieces of his label, he has announced his upcoming So Icy Boyz: The Finale album. Unfortunately, his attention has been shifted elsewhere instead of focusing on the project.

The “So Icy” rapper has found himself amid a feud with his late artist’s siblings. Initially, Quezz Ruthless, Scarr’s younger brother, took to Instagram to share that despite Gucci’s promise to pay for the funeral arrangement, the family hasn’t received any assistance. In an Instagram live broadcast, Quezz said, “You said to [the family] you was finna pay for the funeral, then you lied,” later adding, “You didn’t have to lie! You ain’t have to go ghost, either. It was gonna get paid for either way. You could’ve just said you ain’t have the money. You don’t get no type of respect for that.”

Quezz alleged Gucci requested that Scarr’s 1017 chains be returned, to which he replied, “You not getting them chains. You ain’t even text and check on the family, but you text about some chains. I can’t believe you.”

Alexandra Woods, Big Scarr’s sister, seconded her brother’s claims on social media, saying, “Yes [Gucci] asked for the chains back, and no, he not getting them back!”

Gucci Mane’s wife, Keyshia Ka’oir, took to her Instagram stories to upload a picture of a receipt for a payment to N.J. Ford & Sons Funeral in Memphis, Tennessee. In the post’s caption, Ka’oir wrote, “Payment directly to funeral home. Leave my husband alone.”

Woods later confirmed Ka’oir was telling the truth. Still, their contributions did not cover the entire funeral service. Stating in an Instagram live, “Yeah, Gucci sent $10,000, and somebody else had another $10,000. So it was $20,000 in all. We ain’t get the flowers. I don’t give a f*ck what nobody says. Like I said, Gucci ain’t help with sh*t.”

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.