Category: News

While Donald Trump is reportedly throwing an epic temper tantrum over the “humiliating” performance of the candidates he backed for the midterms, and allegedly even blaming Melania for encouraging him to back Jersey Boy Dr. Oz, there’s been no indication that he’s opted not to make whatever his “big announcement” might be on November 15th.

The guess, of course, is that the former president will officially announce his plans to run for president once again in 2024 — despite some conservative media outlets turning on their former MAGA god, who they’ve rebranded a “loser.” But Trevor Noah is desperately hoping that Trump’s dispatch from Mar-a-Lago will indeed be what we all think it is — mostly because he can’t wait to witness the carnage that will result from Trump’s escalating war of words with Ron DeSantis.

On Wednesday night, The Daily Show host noted that the “red wave” so many people predicted did not occur — he likened it more to the Republicans getting “the hand job version of ‘winning’” — and declared abortion rights the big winner. “And it looks like the big loser… was none other than Donald ‘Jump the Shark’ Trump,” Noah said. “Because so far it looks like many of the candidates he endorsed ended up being un-endorsed by the voters.” At the same time, Trump nemesis — and possible presidential challenger — Ron DeSantis delivered a scorching defeat to keep his seat as Florida governor with nearly 60 percent of the vote. As Noah explained:

It was a bad night for Trump and a GREAT night for his rival, ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ who absolutely crushed it in Florida. I mean like CRUSHED it — like bath salts crushed it. And judging by this post on his knock-off Twitter, Trump is not taking it well. He wrote: ‘Shouldn’t it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year — 5.7 million to 4.6 million? Just asking?’

Oh, wow! You see what you’ve done Ron DeSantis, huh? You see what you’ve done?! You made Trump so mad he’s doing math!… Even sounding like Shakespeare in that: ‘Shouldn’t it be said? And hitherto forth?’

Noah is admittedly really excited about how this rivalry will ultimately play out, because, as he explained, the combination of “DeSantis’ success combined with Trump’s failures is already causing chaos in the Republican party. Because now, Republicans are asking themselves: ‘What do we do? Do we stick with Trump, who has screwed up two elections now but still controls all of the hardcore Republicans. And is also completely toxic with everyone else? Or, do we go with Ron DeSantis, who’s clearly the upgrade of Trump?’ But then you risk losing Trump and then he burns down the entire GOP.

Noah loves watching conservatives — who only care about being on the winning side — try and work out this dilemma for themselves. And is already stocking up on popcorn in order to watch and see how it all plays out over the next several months.

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 5:00 mark.

Super Bowl LVII halftime performer Rihanna has pumped the brakes on album talk. “Super Bowl is one thing, new music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?” she told the Associated Press earlier this week. But there is some new music, which is more than we’ve been able to say since 2016’s chart-breaking ANTI album.

RiRi officially marked her return to music with the release of “Lift Me Up” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. The emotive ballad, a tribute to the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, was co-written by Rihanna, Tems, Ludwig Göransson, and director Ryan Coogler. “Lift Me Up” debuted at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.

And now, with Wakanda Forever hitting theaters tomorrow (November 11), we know that Rihanna double-dipped on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack. It was first reported following the highly anticipated sequel’s Los Angeles premiere that Rihanna had two songs listed on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack: “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again.” The initial soundtrack released to the public did not include “Born Again,” but the second ballad has since been added in territories where it’s already November 11.

“Born Again” was produced by Göransson and The-Dream, as noted by Genius, and it’s just as lyrically evocative as “Lift Me Up”: “I’d give my heart to this place / I’d give my whole soul and whatever it takes, never run away / And I’d relive this just to see your face again / I know that you’d do the same, born again.”

See early reactions to “Born Again” below.

Fever Ray hasn’t released an album since 2017’s Plunge, but the Karin Dreijer-led act is poised to make the next chapter in the band worth the wait. Fever Ray announced today the release of Radical Romantics, the band’s third album which is due out on March 10th of 2023. Radical Romantics marks the first time that Dreijer and their brother (and bandmate in The Knife) Olof Dreijer have written music together in eight years and the album’s crop of producers also features Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Along with the album announcement, the new single “Carbon Dioxide” is an apt figurehead for the album’s central themes of love and false notions of functional love. The song has an arresting club thump, with Dreijer’s abrasively evocative vocals singing on the hook, “Holding my heart, while falling.” It’s radical, but nothing less than what we’ve come to expect from the shape-shifting Dreijer and Fever Ray: Avant pop of the highest order.

Listen to “Carbon Dioxide” above and check out the album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “What They Call Us”
2. “Shiver”
3 “New Utensils”
4. “Kandy”
5. “Even It Out”
6. “Looking for A Ghost”
7. “Carbon Dioxide”
8. “North”
9. “Tapping Fingers”
10. “Bottom Of The Ocean”

Radical Romantics is out 3/10/2023 via Mute Records. Pre-order it here.

When Friends released its series finale, ending its 10 year run as one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, Matthew Perry‘s Chandler Bing delivered the final line, and it was by request. According to his new memoir, Perry personally approached series creator Marta Kauffman and asked if he could be the one to cap off the NBC series. Fittingly, he shared the moment with Jennifer Aniston, who Perry admitted he had a crush on during Friends mammoth run.

Via Deadline:

“Before that final episode, I’d taken [co-creator/EP] Marta Kauffman to one side,” Perry wrote in his memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing”. “‘Nobody else will care about this except me,’ I said. ‘So, may I please have the last line?’ That’s why as we all troop out of the apartment, and Rachel has suggested one last coffee, I got to bring the curtain down on Friends.”

As fans of the show know, the finale ends with the gang in Monica’s now-empty apartment. Realizing she has some time to spare before moving into her new home, she asks if everyone wants to get coffee. To which Chandler sarcastically replies, “Sure. Where?” It was an entirely on-brand moment, and Perry will never forget co-star David Schwimmer‘s reaction to the final line.

“I love the look on Schwimmer’s face as I deliver that line — it’s the perfect mixture of affection and amusement, exactly what the show Friends had always given to the world,” Perry wrote.

(Via Deadline)

At the moment, social media is in chaos. More specifically, Twitter is in chaos: Ever since Elon Musk became the platform’s official owner, he’s been making changes, most of which have not been well-received. Most notably, verification is now a feature that users can pay for, which led to funny/misleading posts from checkmark-bearing accounts posing as entities like LeBron James and Nintendo.

On a somewhat related note, Grimes, with whom Musk has two children, just shared an interesting theory on social media and the impact it has had on literature.

Last night, a Twitter user wrote, “Most of the time I don’t like starting fiction books (that aren’t sequels to books I’ve already read). This is true even when I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the book ~50 pages in. I’ve tried skimming and it’s fine but doesn’t really solve the issue. Anyone have more ideas?” Grimes responded, “I think social media has given us emotional investment burnout. We’re only supposed to know 150 ppl how are we meant to become emotionally invested to the degree a novel demands. Was easier b4 all this. Nonfiction still readable for this reason.”

These thoughts on social media are about the closest Grimes has come to publicly commenting on Musk’s Twitter takeover, as she hasn’t shared any thoughts about it yet.

To raise awareness about the environmental crisis that is only going to get worse, Rainn Wilson has changed his name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson. No, really. “With the help of my scientist friends at Arctic Basecamp, I’ve changed my name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson. This is not a joke, I’m as serious as the melting Arctic, which amplifies global risks including extreme weather events around the globe,” The Office star said in a video posted on Arctic Basecamp’s social media.

Wilson, who recently appeared as Dr. Demento in the brilliantly stupid Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, did the (temporary?) name change to bring “attention to this growing… er, melting issue. We need world leaders at COP27 to take notice and take action. The Arctic is melting at millions of liters per second, yet this problem can’t seem to make a name for itself, so it’s up to us to make a name for it.”

Arctic Basecamp is led by a team of Arctic experts and scientists. The body has physically set up a real basecamp in the Arctic and uses its findings to raise awareness about the environmental crisis. Wilson encouraged people to also modify their name to bring attention to the issue, using the Arctic Basecamp “name-changer” on website ArcticRiskName.org.

If you’ve ever said “bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica,” which is basically everyone (or, y’know, you care about the Earth), you might want to check it out.

(Via Deadline)

It was Anne-Marie’s turn to own the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge today (November 10). The UK pop star welcomed Aitch to perform their September single “Psycho,” a top-10 it in the UK, and when she covered “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, a surprise guest appeared.

After Anne-Marie finished singing the track, Smith walked out to greet her. “Hey! Anne-Marie!” they said. It took a moment to get Anne-Marie’s attention, but once she turned her head and saw them standing there, she giddily laughed and screamed. “You sound gorgeous. You sound absolutely beautiful,” Smith said while hugging Anne-Marie. “Well, the song’s banging, so…,” she responded.

“Unholy” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 8 before climbing to No. 2 for the following two weeks and finally unlocking the No. 1 spot in late October. It’s a historical No. 1, too: Smith became the first publicly non-binary solo art to hit No. 1 on the chart, and Petras is the first publicly transgender solo artist to achieve the feat. The song also sat at No. 1 for four consecutive weeks on the UK chart.

On October 17, Smith announced Gloria, their fourth LP, will arrive January 27, 2023, and they will embark on a subsequent tour.

See clips from Anne-Marie’s Live Lounge below.

It doesn’t matter if he’s on a fishing boat or a TV studio, Jason Momoa loves to get nearly naked. Can you blame him? If I looked like Jason Momoa, I would be strutting around without a shirt 24/7. The Dune actor appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday to discuss his new movie, Slumberland, and photos where he’s wearing a traditional malo and nothing else. “Are you wearing this under your clothes right now?” Kimmel wondered. “Of course,” Momoa replied, before showing off the goods.

Jimmy had the best seat in the house:

It’s like he’s wearing nothing at all…

Slumberland is Momoa’s first starring role in a family-friendly comedy. It was also his first time working with a kid actor. “Marlow Barkley is amazing,” he said about his young co-star. “I’m really excited for the world to see what this little girl does. She steals the show.”

In Slumberland, Momoa plays Flip, “an eccentric outlaw on a mission to help a young girl travel through dreams and flee nightmares, in hopes of reuniting with her father,” according to the official plot summary. The film, which is directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games) and also stars Kyle Chandler (presumably as a tough but supportive father) and I May Destroy You‘s Weruche Opia, premieres on November 18.

Earlier this year, Kid Cudi dropped The Boy Who Flew To The Moon, Vol. 1, a greatest hits album. Included as a bonus track is a song called “Love,” which he previously released on SoundCloud in 2015. Now, though, the song is at the center of a situation.

Yesterday (November 9), a Cudi fan tweeted a screenshot of the SoundCloud version of “Love” and wrote, “I fkn love u @KiDCuDi thank you so making this masterpiece.” Cudi shared the tweet and replied, “U know i released this officially right?” Another fan replied, “The OG version on SoundCloud hits different [crying emoji].” (As XXL points out, the new version of “Love” has a “cleaner” mix and misses some instrumentation included in the SoundCloud version.) Cudi shared that tweet as well and wrote, “Taking it off.”

Indeed, the SoundCloud version of “Love” is no longer available. People had thoughts about this. One Twitter user wrote, “kid cudi took love off soundcloud cuz a fan said they enjoyed that version more than the official release… dude lame af for that.” Somebody else wrote, “i love kid cudi whole heartedly but that fool be acting like a whole ass b*tch sometimes.”

Cudi apparently caught wind of the discourse, as he tweeted, “Anybody switchin up and talkin sh*t about me taking off my song on soundcloud thanx for showin who u truly are. Its one of the reason i dont want to do music anymore. (Some) fans can be toxic and not cool sometimes. And this app really be showin some of yall true colors.” He added in another tweet, “Ill be happy when I stop makin albums so I dont have to deal w this madness anymore.”

He also continued, “Dont get it twisted either im happy and this is not a rant before headlines make it that haha just being honest w everyone. I have a lot of blessings happening in my life and I wont let anything get me down becuz life is so great right now [smiling emoji].”

A few days ago, Aaron Carter passed away at 34 years old. Before his death, he was working on a memoir, which, despite being incomplete, is set to come out soon (as Billboard reports).

The book is titled Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story Of An Incomplete Life and comes from over three years of interviews between Carter and author Andy Symonds.

In a statement, Symonds said, “Aaron was an open book during the writing process. It’s a tragic irony that his autobiography will never include all his stories, thoughts, hopes, and dreams as he intended.” Publisher Ballast Books also noted in a statement, “In the book, Aaron is honest, funny, irreverent, and self-aware with amazing recall about the stories that shaped a childhood star into a troubled but talented adult.”

The book touches on various topics, including how making beats saved Carter’s life when he was at low points. He told Symonds, “I was always suicidal, especially through those years. I never attempted suicide but never had anyone to talk to about it. But I knew I loved life too much to actually do it. Hopefully I won’t do it. Having lost my own family, I want to have my own. That’s the best feeling.”