Category: News

In her latest visual from her album, Sometimes, Forever, Soccer Mommy takes a trip to the countryside.

Early on the video, Soccer Mommy, whose real name is Sophie Allison, hops into her pick-up truck, which is bedecked with stickers reading “A woman and her truck, it’s a beautiful thing,” “Goddess on the loose,” and a Buffy The Vampire Slayer sticker. She drives through the country, rides through the woods on a horse, and practices some solo live-action role-play.

On the song itself, Allison details the mixed emotions that come with getting older.

“I got a truck out in the drive / And it made me a hundred thousand miles / And it still runs good, yeah, she gets the job done / Drinkin’ regular from the gasoline pump / And I got a heart that beats too fast / And I shake in my hands and a pain in my back,” she sings on the song’s opening verse.

“‘Feel It All The Time’ is a song that felt really easy and honest for me as soon as I wrote it,” said Allison in a statement. “It uses this idea of an old truck to kind of compare this feeling of aging too fast. There are also these glimpses of light and freedom, from something as simple as the wind in your hair, that can make you feel alive.”

Check out the video for “Feel It All The Time” above.

21 Savage has been on a press campaign to promote his and Drake’s new album Her Loss for the past couple of weeks. The tour appears to be doing double duty as a shade campaign, though, as he’s found ways to annoy both fans of hip-hop greats like Nas and his own contemporaries, such as fellow XXL Freshman Kodak Black. After saying Nas “isn’t relevant” and that he’d “smoke” Kodak in a Verzuz hits battle, fans of both protested loudly on Twitter, prompting him to wonder, “Where all y’all fans be at when these n****s drop albums?” Savage, indeed.

While Nas has yet to respond, instead focusing on encouraging his successors not to fight over being the best, Kodak had time this week, posting a response on Instagram. “Homie, that ain’t gangsta,” he wrote. “You n****s know what I done been thru in this shit! Anddd you n****s had a whole consistent run with no hiccups fr and yall 30 years old plusss! Im a yung n**** doing this shit since I came in the game I was in and out of jail! And yall still aint really doing nun to where I gotta catch up. I’m doing pretty damn good for myself still like I ain’t never been nowhere! Imagined if I didn’t though. But let’s see how this sh*t go now that I been home and I’m consistent wit this sh*t.”

He’s … got a point. He has been “in and out of jail,” as he puts it, although to be fair, most of that was his fault. That’s just what happens when you are accused of sexual assault, burp your way out of court-mandated anger management (given in lieu of jail time), and try to transport guns across international borders (he’s also got a new slew of drug charges to deal with after receiving a pardon from Trump). Granted, Kodak hasn’t had too many mentor figures but considering his habit of lashing out anytime someone offered to play that role, again, most of this is on him.

Plus, it’s not like 21 has had the smoothest ride either. For the past few years, he’s lived under threat of deportation over an expired visa, curtailing his own ability to travel for work and losing a significant amount of tour time to his own lengthy detention in ICE custody. For what it’s worth, though, his last solo album, I Am > I Was debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 131,000 equivalent units, winning a Grammy Award for the hit single “A Lot,” so from a pure mass appeal standpoint, it’s easy to see why he feels the way he does.

For most people, friendships change when they reach their 30s and 40s. The carefree days of youth give way to new responsibilities such as marriage, family and career. Unfortunately, that pushes a lot of important relationships to the sidelines.

A 2012 analysis published in Psychological Bulletin found that friendship groups tend to expand until the age of 25 and then begin to contract rapidly.

Our relationships change as we get older, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important. According to Psychology Today, having meaningful social relationships is one of the biggest predictors of longevity.

Amy Weatherly, 39, a parenting blogger and author of “I’ll Be There (And Let’s Make Friendship Bracelets)” wrote a poignant Facebook post about how friendship changes in people’s 30s and 40s and it resonated with a lot of people. It makes the point that although relationships may begin to look different and happen in new places as we get older, they are still just as valuable.

“Friendship looks a little different in your 30’s & 40s than it used to,” Weatherly writes. “Now it looks like hanging out together on the bleachers at baseball games. … Now it looks like ‘I’ll come, but only if I can wear stretchy pants.’

“Whatever you have to do, however you have to do it — make time for your friendships,” Weatherly concludes the post. “Make time for the people who feel at home, because they matter and don’t come around very often. We need them just as much now as we did back then.”

Friendship looks a little different in your 30’s & 40s than it used to.

— Now it looks like hanging out together on the bleachers at baseball games.

— Now it looks like “What kind of concealer have you been using? I need a good one.”

— Now it looks like a quick hug in the parking lot at school pickup time.

— Now it looks like “Hey, how was your mom’s surgery? I’ve been praying for you.”

— Now it looks like group texts that make you laugh out loud.

— Now it looks like “Ok, I’m coming, but I’m so tired I may fall asleep right in this glass of wine.”

— Now it looks like half-conversations at birthday parties that keep getting interrupted by screaming kiddos.

— Now it looks like “Was that really 5 years ago? Seems like yesterday.”

— Now it looks like hiding in your closet for a 3 minute conversation on the phone.

— Now it looks like “Hey, why don’t y’all grab lunch and come hang out while the baby naps?”

— Now it looks like quick little chats in the aisles at Target.

— Now it looks like “Girl, I know. I’ve been there too, and it is so hard. I’m here for you.”

— Now it looks like showing up in your rattiest sweatpants and not even flinching because you know they won’t judge you.

— Now it looks like Marco Polo messages and Snapchat pictures and tagging each other in memes on Facebook.

— Now it looks like “I dropped off a cup of coffee and a box of cookies on your front porch.”

— Now it looks like “I’ll come, but only if I can wear stretchy pants.”

— I’m coming over for coffee tomorrow and I’ll have a box of donuts. I really wanna see you. Does that work? I can even help you do laundry.

— Now it looks like “I’m not free until 2026.”

— Now it looks like “I miss you” and meaning it with your whole heart.

Whatever you have to do, however you have to do it — make time for your friendships. Make time for the people who feel like home, because they matter and they don’t come around very often. We need them just as much now as we did back then.’

Love, Amy

“It was honestly just a quick list of things that I put together, probably while I was sitting at one of my son’s baseball games, realizing how much I enjoyed that time,” Weatherly told Good Morning America. “Because yes, I love watching my son play baseball. But that is the only time that I had to connect with other women my age.”

What’s moving about the post is how even though the circumstances surrounding friendships may change, it doesn’t mean they should be seen as less valuable. In some ways, we begin to value time together more as we get older because it’s harder to get together. When free time is at a premium, who we choose to spend it with matters even more.

A lot of people tagged their besties in the post and used it as an excuse to make plans together or remind them of how much they are loved. “Let’s put something on the calendar,” Kelli wrote to Michelle.

“Angelica, bring me some donuts and coffee and do my laundry,” Stephanie wrote.

In the end, it’s worthwhile putting in the time to cultivate these friendships as we get older so they don’t fall by the wayside.

“I just want people to know you do have to be really intentional because that time is not going to fall into your lap,” Weatherly said. “I think people, with friendship, it’s like they want the tree but they don’t want to actually plant the seed and that’s not how it works.”

Horses often invoke feelings of passion, freedom, and graceful power. And though they might not get the title of “Man’s Best Friend,” horses share a special bond with humans.

Just ask Clare Staples, founder of mustang and burro rescue organization Skydog Sanctuary who recently raised a whopping $17K to help two horses —simply by writing a heartfelt post on Facebook.

“I grew up in England where there is a huge culture of horse loving people,” she told Upworthy. “When I was growing up I lived in a sort of imaginary land where I rode everywhere on an imaginary horse, which is a bit crazy, but my love of horses was born at such an early age. I’d be going on long car rides with my family and swiveling my head to look in every horse trailer or every field to see if I could see a horse.”

Growing up, horses became Staples’ “happy place.” In particular, she loved watching American TV shows like “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie”, along with other westerns where “you would see a band of wild mustangs gallop through and steal the mares.”

Considering the image as a “romantic symbol of the American West,” Staples was shocked and sad to later discover that the American mustang’s reality was much less glamorous. As she explained, mustangs who run free on public lands get rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management, making more room for mining and livestock interests. “It makes the American government a lot of money and wild horses don’t.” These captured horses and burros receive a Bureau of Land Management “BLM” brand, then get sent to kill pens or get auctioned off.

Staples became determined to offer her hooved friends a place of refuge, so she founded Skydog Sanctuary—a 9,000 acre ranch near Bend, Oregon where wild mustangs and burros can live out their lives peacefully in their natural habitat. The sanctuary also has an 11 acre location in California. In addition to rewilding equines, Skydog aims to raise awareness about the plight they face, in order to bring about change.

Earlier this year, two young mustangs caught Staples’ eye, as they bore an uncanny resemblance to one of her own horses from Skydog. Sure enough, by looking up their BLM IDs, Staples confirmed they were related. She then posted a Facebook fundraiser to get the siblings reunited.

Within only two weeks, people rallied enough support to reunite the two mustangs—now named Rising Sun and Presley, in homage to Elvis—with their native family.

With around 220 horses and 50 burros to look after, and no grant money, Staples relies heavily on her ever-growing social media community. Luckily, Facebook doesn’t take a percentage of their fundraisers, which gives people all the more incentive to donate, since they know exactly where their money is going. Plus, the platform has expanded Skydog’s reach tenfold—with nearly half a million followers, and fundraiser videos racking up nearly 20 million views.

Staples is especially excited for Giving Tuesday, when Meta, Facebook’s parent company, matches funds up to a total of $8 million dollars. “It means a lot to our followers to know if they donate $10 we’re actually getting $20. Every year we just break records for ourselves. It’s a really fun day. I feel like Facebook are our partners, because they’ve helped us grow and then [GivingTuesday] is a real day where we can celebrate them too.”

Connecting with people who care and want to help, combined with the power of social media, gives Skydog the resources needed to rescue horses from the very worst of situations. And for Staples and her followers, “seeing them come back to life and watching them heal on this land is just the most beautiful thing. Rewilding them and giving them their freedom and space back is one of the most extraordinary experiences. It never gets old.”

Landon Donovan’s bonafides in the world of American soccer are unassailable. He’s worn just about every hat one can wear, as the greatest player to ever wear the red, white, and blue consistently did it for club and country before moving on to a number of other endeavors in the sport. Currently, Donovan spends his time with the USL club San Diego Loyal SC, for which he is the manager, co-owner, and executive vice president of soccer operations.

But like all great footballers, Donovan’s most well-known moment involves the World Cup. Back in 2010, the United States needed a win against Algeria to wrap up group play and move on to the knockout round. Try as they might, the Americans could not find a goal as the game entered injury time in the second half. Tim Howard saved a headed attempt, sprung a counter-attack with a pristine ball to Donovan, and after a Clint Dempsey effort was denied, Donovan was there to clean up the mess. The rest of the American squad put Donovan at the bottom of a celebratory dogpile while Ian Darke famously screamed “goal, goal, USA!”

It is almost certainly the most well-known moment in American soccer history, the sort of clip that pops up in compilations and on Twitter whenever the United States is about to participate in a World Cup. That, of course, is only a few days away — the 2022 World Cup in Qatar begins on Sunday, and the USMNT will kick off its tournament on Monday afternoon against Wales.

Before that happens, we caught up with Donovan through his partnership with Autotrader to discuss this American side, his advice to USMNT talisman Christian Pulisic before his first World Cup, what it’s like to score a goal on this stage, how USL can play a major role in growing the sport in the United States, and much more.

What do you have going on with Autotrader?

Well, little did I know, a few weeks ago, my wife told me she … we have a 2008 BMW we were trying to sell. And I leave those things to her, and she said, “This was pretty amazing, I went on Autotrader and was able to sell it within a few minutes.” As you’re getting ready for the World Cup, there’s a lot of things you’re trying to check off the list, and that was one of them. So, that started the process for us, and it was an easy and fun process. Of course, the problem was, then she spent the next hour searching for cars, and we don’t need a car, but that’s generally what happens with these kinds of things. But it was an easy, enjoyable process for her and anything that makes her life easier makes me happy. So, it was an easy partnership to come together.

Are you a big car person? Or are you someone who got keys to one car when you were 18 years old and went “alright, that’s it, I’m going to be a BMW person forever”?

I’m not a big car person. Although now, I drive a Tesla and I probably will never drive another car in my life. I generally just want something that gets me from A to B. My wife, on the other hand, as I said, can spend hours on the Autotrader website and look for cars. My job then is to convince her that we actually don’t need a car. But when you have the largest selection of cars sitting in front of you, it makes it challenging.

Let’s talk a little bit of soccer, the World Cup starts for the United States one week from today, how you feeling about the team?

I guess excited and nervous. It’s hard to know, because this World Cup is so unique, what to expect. It’s unique, obviously, in the time of year, but the most important factor, I think, is that the teams have very little time to prepare. So, in past World Cups, if the team wasn’t playing great in the months leading up, you would have about three or four weeks together as a team to iron out any issues, play a couple of friendlies, feel good about yourself going into the tournament. But this time, they will not. The U.S. team arrived — some of them arrived over the last week and a few of them arrived today, I believe. They have no real time to prepare as a team, no friendly matches. So, it’s going to make it very challenging in that way. But hopefully, this group of players has had a lot of experiences together over the last couple of years, and hopefully that that comes in handy as we start.

I know over his time, Gregg Berhalter has really hammered “we have our core group,” and you basically have to hope that core group has played together so much that they’re able to fend off any issues that might pop up with how quick this turnaround is.

Yeah, in that way, I don’t know if that was intentional or not. But I think that’s really smart, because you just don’t have time to integrate one or two new players. And there were a few players who really made a push to be part of the roster, either through their performances with the national team or with performances with their club team. But Gregg was pretty consistent in saying, “I have the group of guys that I trust, and we’re going to stick with them.” And I think that will be helpful for them.

I want to get your thoughts on the roster — was there anything that really surprised you? When you think about the fact that Gregg has had the guys that he’s viewed as his core group, do you look at that and go, “oh, yeah, everything there sounds about right”?

You can make a case for anyone to be on — well, not anyone, but a lot of guys to be on the roster and not be on the roster. I think a couple that surprised me, a couple of omissions, the Zack Steffen one is interesting. I can see, now that I’m a coach, I can understand from Gregg’s perspective, last thing you want in a World Cup is a situation where you have basically two number one [goalkeepers], so that if one goalkeeper has the smallest mistake, now the pressure piles on to play the other, and you just don’t want to deal with that. But Zack Steffen is a top, top goalkeeper, so it’s hard not to have him on the U.S. roster.

The other one that is a little bit of an outlier, but that I thought would have been a perfect fit in a 26-man roster — which is different now, in the past, it was 23-man and now it’s 26. So, you have a few other guys who basically you can bring along knowing that they likely won’t play, but are really good in the locker room, good in training every day, and really help you. And for me, Paul Arriola would have been a guy to bring for that reason. If he does play, no problem, you can trust him. If he doesn’t play, he’s never going to complain about it, never gonna rock the boat, gonna show up and train hard every day and [be] really good in the locker room. So, that would have been one for consideration.

Everyone always wants to ask about the players who didn’t make it, but on the players who did make it, is there an individual, a collection of players, a certain position, anything that you’re most excited to see over the next three — or a few more than that — games?

The strength of this team is through them through the midfield, I’ll say. I’d say if there’s weakness, it’s a little bit in the defensive part of the field, and then with just a pure number nine, nobody’s kind of grabbed that and made it their own.

But through the middle of the field with Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Timothy Weah, Luca de la Torre, Kellyn Acosta, just really, really good depth and really good players all through the midfield. So, I think as that midfield goes, so we will go, and if our midfield is is really good, then we can absolutely succeed in the World Cup.

I spoke to Stu Holden a week or so ago and he also said the midfield. For the fan who just gets into soccer during the World Cup, what is it about this midfield that you think makes it so special?

They complement each other well. So, between Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Kellyn Acosta, you have three players who are athletic, can get around the ball, and around the field really well. But then, certainly in Weston’s case, you also have guys who can attack the box and get on the end of crosses and score goals. When you add in Aaronson, Pulisic, Reyna, those guys are more vertical, more runners. Yunus Musah I missed, Yunus Musah. All those guys can pick up the ball and carry it 30, 40, 50 yards and make a play, and are all really dynamic and explosive in the way they play.

And so, the key for Gregg will be, which guys do you get on the field together? What’s the best pairing to get them on the field? And then how do you spread around enough minutes so you give guys enough opportunity to have an impact on the game, because they’re all really, really talented players.

As you know, heavy is the head that wears the crown. And for the United States, the number 10 is Christian Pulisic. If you get five minutes with him before the World Cup to just talk to him about what’s coming, what are the things that you would want to say to him about this experience that he’s going to have for the first time in his career?

My hope for Christian is that he plays freely, and not worried about the outcome and the pressure. And it’s easy for me to say, but my experiences when I was 20 years old in a World Cup, I played free, and it was probably my best World Cup and some of the best performances. I didn’t care about leading, I didn’t have to worry about pressure, I wasn’t responsible for the results. I was just out there playing freely, and that’s when I was at my best. And when Christian does that, he is electric, and he’s really, really good. So, my hope is that he can do that, and play from that headspace. And if he does, I think we have a really, really good chance to be successful.

I’ve always thought with Pulisic, for club and for country, you can tell when he’s just out there playing and when he’s putting that pressure on himself, because he’s such a competitive guy.

Yeah, you can see it on his face, right? It’s clear. And so I hope that he can play carefree.

I want to ask about scoring a goal at the World Cup, because the list of Americans who have done that is short, but you’re on it and you’re at the top of it. The gravity of doing that, is that something that hits you right away? Or is it just another goal in that moment, and you don’t really give yourself time to think about how you’ve done the thing that you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid until after the game?

It’s a great question. If you go back and watch, my first goal and in a World Cup is in Korea in 2002, and we’re losing to Poland, I think it’s 3-0 at the time. And I score to make it 3-1. And my first instinct is such pure joy, because I realized I scored a goal in a World Cup. And then within a second, I realize, oh, we’re getting our ass kicked. [Laughs.]

So, generally speaking, it depends on when the goal is scored and what the score is, how it feels in that moment. But there was at least one or two seconds where I had such pure joy. But mostly, once I got that monkey off my back, it was just pure elation, because you were able to really enjoy it and appreciate it, but also, all within the context of what the score was. So, depending on what the score was, and when the goal came, was a different feeling.

Soccer in the United States, you’ve experienced it in so many different ways — as a player, manager, television, front office, all these sorts of ways. When you look at the kind of existential crisis that people had about men’s soccer in America in 2018, where do you think things have come the farthest over the last five years?

Ushering in a new group of players. Very young, inexperienced, but a new group of players that will hopefully play in the next three, including this one, the next three-plus World Cups. So, we had just gotten to a point where it was time to move on and move to a new generation of players. And that’s what Gregg has done so well, there’s [so many] players under 25 years old who will now be a part of this roster, hopefully for the next three World Cups. So, I think that’s where we needed to go. It doesn’t mean that you bring in new players and all of a sudden you’re gonna succeed, there’s a process involved. But there are now so many young, talented players playing all over the world, in MLS and Europe, who are going to be a big part of this roster for years to come.

I want to ask about USL, and I swear to God, this is not a pro/rel question because lord knows that debate is tired. But how does USL — and just how unique it is and how many communities it’s in — become a league like the Championship or 2. Bundesliga, where it’s this really prominent, really popular division in the United States that is maybe in communities that MLS isn’t getting into?

The challenge with our country is just its size, right? So, you need to touch as many communities as possible. If the ultimate end goal is to, I always say not win a World Cup, but be realistically competing for a World Cup every time, competing to win every time, you have to exhaust every community in the country to find the best players, the best talent, and then have enough good coaches, infrastructure, etc. to develop that talent.

And that’s what USL has done very well so far, and will continue to do. Between the USL Championship and USL League One and League Two, you now have, I don’t know the exact number, but 80-plus communities across the country that were not being looked at when only Major League Soccer was involved. And casting that net wider and wider is really valuable, and it’s not just the USL first teams, it’s then what do their academy players look like, and how are you developing those players, and then moving them on so that they compete at the highest level? And I think USL has done that really, really well.

And then my last question, I want to head back to the World Cup and take a little bit of a bigger picture look. Who do you have winning the whole thing?

It’s a boring pick, but it’s hard not to pick Brazil. Just historically, in a hot weather climate, European teams really struggle, or at least struggle when they get to the end. And it’s not because they’re not good enough to compete against Argentina or Brazil, but it’s more over the course of seven games in a month, you just really get worn out with playing and training in that kind of weather.

Now, the one advantage for those European teams is that there’s no travel involved. So, if you play in England your whole life, and all of a sudden you go to Brazil, and it’s 88 degrees, and you’re traveling three hours here, four hours there, that’s not anything you’ve ever been accustomed to, and you’re going to struggle and suffer. So, that challenge is taken away with the travel. But the heat factor, I think, is very real, and that makes me think Brazil is gonna win.

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump officially launched his latest campaign to avoid being indicted for his various crimes by officially launching his 2024 presidential campaign. While the last week has seen one-time MAGA allies turning their backs on the twice-impeached former president — and Trump nemesis Ron DeSantis seemingly becoming the right wing’s new golden boy — Trump can rest assured that he’s got at least one sniveling toady still in his corner: Lindsey Graham.

Shortly after Trump officially announced his intention to run for president for a third time, Graham took his nose out of Herschel Walker’s ass just long enough to stick it (back) into Trump’s, and wax pathetic about how he believes the orange-tinted golf enthusiast can “restore a broken America.”

The irony here is that earlier in the week, Graham was calling on Trump to not announce a run for the 2024 presidency. At least not yet.

“I don’t think Trump should announce tonight,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, adding that he believes a majority of Republican senators think the former president should hold off.

“I think most people in the conference would prefer President Trump not to announce tonight,” he said.

It didn’t take long for social media to do its thing, and give the South Carolina senator a proper roasting for his predictably effusive praise of Trump.

(For You)r Consideration is a weekly column breaking down the rappers and singers doing it RIGHT on TikTok and the viral trends and top songs taking over your FYP.

What Is That Melody?

A sound featuring four words and backed by a harmonious violin is TikTok’s favorite this month. Users are asking, “what is that melody,” and going back in time to reminisce about the classic songs that stunned them upon first listening. User @_shakinahs remembers the melody behind “…a song about trying to escape mental and emotional pain with meaningless distractions and credit card debt…” Can you guess the song? If not, check out the video below!

Babyface Ray x Pretty Boy Swag

Soulja Boy’s 2010 hit, “Pretty Boy Swag” is no stranger to the FYP. In late September, TikToker @yeaclarkie posted a video where she and a friend swayed their hips and churned their arms to the lyrics “I’m lookin for a yellow bone long-haired star / Thick, in the hips come, get in my car.” The trend used the two bars from Draco, alternating frames and text overlaying each clip to highlight a relationship between best friends, coworkers, a mother-daughter relationship, or any other dynamic duo. Detroit’s Babyface Ray hopped on the trend to show off his “spoiled rotted” daughter and himself, who spoils her. Watch below.

To The Tune of ‘Lethal Weapon’ x Baby Smoove

The opening melody on Baby Smoove’s ” Lethal Weapon” is a familiar one featuring the saxophone loop from Jay-Z’s “Show Me What You Got” and “Show ‘Em Whatcha Got” by Public Enemy. It’s catchy and snazzy and instantly hooks you upon first listening, making it the perfect TikTok sound. With just under ten thousand views, “Leathal Weapon” and its famous saxophone sample from Smoove’s October 2022 album, Im Still Serious 2, is making waves on the app as the score to moody photo swipes, OOTD videos, and more. Our favorite? TikToker @itslialoserr documented her tattoo session backed by the menacing track.

Summer Walker had some thoughts about yesterday’s Grammy nominations for the forthcoming 2023 awards show. Particularly, about the fact that she feels snubbed for a second year. Her 2021 album, Still Over It, wasn’t included. Or her “Unholy” collaboration with Ari Lennox, which has proven to be a fan-favorite.

“& as for the grammys for a 2nd time, the math is literally not mathing…” she captioned. “I was gone post some numbers but it’s ok, atleast the streets fuq with me. y’all always pack out every show & support every time I drop so thanks for the love I do receive.”

“Thanks for all the overflowing love in my DM’s,” Walker added, complete with a heart emoji.

Still, it appears Walker did get her first Grammy nomination in a different way. According to RapUp, she is included for her work on “Purple Hearts” from Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Lamar is nominated for Album Of The Year, and by association, so are those who contributed to the record.

Walker isn’t alone in this year’s snubs either. Artists like Nicki Minaj, Kehlani, and Megan Thee Stallion were also noticeably missing from any Grammy nominations for 2023, adding to the disappointment among fans.

Continue scrolling to view some fan reactions to Summer Walker’s post.

Ben Simmons hasn’t looked like himself for much of this season. The former No. 1 overall pick and All-NBA guard has struggled to get used to life as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, while his first time stepping onto the basketball court since his tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers came to an end following the 2021 playoffs has featured a player, unsurprisingly, needing to work off a ton of rust.

According to a new report by Sam Amick and Shams Charania of The Athletic, this has started to ruffle some feathers within the Nets organization. Amick and Charania report that “frustration surrounding Simmons had been building in recent weeks” over his “availability and level of play.” It has gotten to a point that Simmons’ “passion for the game” has been called into question.

Simmons apparently was a point of emphasis during a recent players-only meeting, per the report, with Markieff Morris singling him out and stressing how important it is that he plays at a high level if the team is going to have success.

The level of exasperation toward Simmons bubbled to the surface on Oct. 29 when the Nets held a players-only meeting following a loss to the Pacers at Barclays Center. Sources with direct knowledge of the meeting, but who were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely say that in that meeting, Markieff Morris — a veteran leader on these Nets — spoke up in front of all of his teammates about how they need Simmons to succeed and that he has to respond when he deals with adversity on the court. Those sources all described a meeting where Simmons appeared to take Morris’ words in stride and was responsive and attentive throughout.

Simmons has played in 10 of the Nets’ 15 games this season due to lingering knee issues. His last four appearances have all come in a role off the bench, and in 28.6 minutes a night, Simmons is averaging 5.8 points on 48.1 percent shooting with 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. All of those numbers are career-worst marks.

In a conversation with The Athletic, Simmons unsurprisingly pushed back against all of this, saying that he’s dealt with swelling in his knee. Among the list of things he’s needed to try and get it right are platelet-rich plasma injections, while he’s had blood drained from it recently.

“I get (the skepticism), but I think the one thing with me is that I’m a competitor,” Simmons said. “I want to win and play. So I’m gonna do what I can to get out there.”

Back in October, Willow released her fifth studio album, COPINGMECHANISM, and delivered a killer performance on Saturday Night Live. Earlier in the year, her Tyler Cole collaboration, “Meet Me At Our Spot” became a viral hit on TikTok, despite being released two years ago.

It’s safe to say it’s been a busy year for Willow, who has accomplished a lot in the realm of music, however, is often labeled as a “nepo baby.”

The term “nepo baby” (short for “nepotism”) is often used by art consumers to describe actors, musicians, and other notable entertainers who are believed to have received their platform by way of nepotism. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Willow, who is the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, was asked how she feels about the label.

“I don’t focus on how other people feel about me,” she said in response. “If you love me, amazing. If you hate me, fantastic. That’s none of my business. I was put on this planet to be someone who uplifts the lives of people with my art and my words and that’s it. That’s pretty much how I feel. Anyone can feel how they feel, and I don’t mind.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Willow revealed that she doesn’t care to be described as a “pop star.”

“I love doing weird sh*t that pushes the envelope and inspires people to perceive life and music and themselves in a grander, wider point of view,” she said. “That’s how I see myself. And sometimes a pop hook does that really well.”