Category: News

Back in 2017, Taylor Swift received a lawsuit over her 2014 chart-topping hit “Shake It Off.” The suit, which was filed by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, was for copyright infringement towards “Playas Gon’ Play,” a 2001 song by JLW that the pair wrote. A year after Hall and Butler filed the lawsuit, a judge dismissed their case on the grounds that their lyrics were no more than “short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection.” However, in 2019, a federal appeals court overturned that ruling, and despite another attempt to have the case thrown out, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled that the matter will indeed go to trial.

According to Billboard, Judge Fitzgerald noted that while there are some differences between “Shake It Off” and “Playas Gon’ Play,” there are also enough similarities that would require the matter to be decided by a jury. “Even though there are some noticeable differences between the works, there are also significant similarities in word usage and sequence/structure,” Judge Fitzgerald wrote. “Although Defendants’ experts strongly refute the implication that there are substantial similarities, the Court is not inclined to overly credit their opinions here.” Judge Fitzgerald made this decision despite noting that Swift’s team made “persuasive arguments” to have the case thrown out, but unfortunately it was not enough.

“Shake It Off” is the lead single from Swift’s 2014 album 1989. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and proceeded to spend 50 weeks on the singles chart which is tied with “You Belong With Me” for the longest-charting single of Swift’s career.

(Via Billboard)

When Sonic Frontiers was revealed during The Game Awards it surprised everyone, but not because a new game was getting announced. Everyone was surprised because the game that was being shown was an open world game. Sonic in an open world? How is that going to work?

While we’re obviously excited to find out and see how it all goes, the trailer also made everyone immediately think about another very popular open world game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While it’s not very fair to call every open world game a BOTW clone, it was hard to not see the similarities with this one. They even used one of the same camera shots.

Since there were some clear similarities between this new Sonic game and BOTW, the jokes immediately came flying out about the possibility that Sonic had just copied it.

There is one downside to immediately comparing Sonic to BOTW though and it’s that we might be getting a little too lazy with our comparison. Giant open world? Lots of grass everywhere A character standing upon a cliffside? Obviously, that means any game with grass is a BOTW clone.

That said, anyone that’s played BOTW probably knows the true reason this isn’t going to be a straight up BOTW clone. The story around BOTW is maybe a little too depressing for a Sonic game.

We like our Sonic games positive and happy, thank you. So let’s hope that BOTW comparisons are in style only and not in plot.

Sonic had a big evening during The Game Awards on Thursday night. After unveiling the trailer for his new movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it wasn’t long until another trailer was announced starring the blue blur. This time it was for his upcoming game also set to come out in 2022.

The trailer opened in a way we’re used to when it comes to Sonic. He was running extremely fast away from a pack of enemies, but where things got weird is what happened after Sonic managed to elude his pursuers. He turns around and has a confused look on his face almost as if he’s in a place he doesn’t recognize. The trailer then cuts to what looks very similar to an open world environment and it certainly seems like a safe bet to say Sonic Frontiers, his next game, is going to be an open world game.

This was honestly a big surprise. Sonic has always been a franchise about going from Point A to Point B in an incredibly quick amount of time. There have been slight changes to that formula here and there, but that’s always been what we can expect out of Sonic. So finding out that he’s going to be exploring an open world instead was a surprise out of nowhere that we aren’t entirely sure how to comprehend yet.

On one hand, Sonic in that type of environment could be really fun if handled correctly. His trademark speed can be put on display as he travels, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a traditional linear section here and there. On the other hand, Sonic has a rather rocky history when it comes to trying new gameplay styles. Either way, we’re excited to see what this means next for our favorite hedgehog.

For the first time in program history, Purdue was atop the AP men’s college basketball poll, after 380 weeks of being ranked and 11 times finding themselves at No. 2.

At 8-0, the Boilermakers entered Thursday night as one of the last unbeaten teams in the country, and made the trek to the East Coast for a Big Ten matchup with Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey. At 4-4 with losses to UMass and Lafayette, few anticipated the Scarlet Knights being the ones to dethrone the Boilermakers in their first week at No. 1, but strange things happen in college basketball, particularly when a team has a player as good as Ron Harper Jr.

The son of the former Chicago Bulls point guard had a monster night with 30 points and 10 rebounds, going 5-of-7 from three-point range to carry the Scarlet Knights down the stretch. After hitting a turnaround jumper in the paint to give Rutgers their first lead since the early second half, Purdue got a bucket inside to go back up one. Rutgers found Harper Jr. on the ensuing inbound with under four seconds to play and he navigated his way just past halfcourt and put up a prayer that found nothing but net.

It’s the first win in program history over a No. 1 ranked team, and they reacted accordingly, with fans storming the court immediately and pandemonium setting in at Jersey Mike’s Arena. For Purdue, it’s a brutal way for their undefeated season to come to a close, as they executed their final possession perfectly, but left just enough time for Harper to dart into range for a last second heave.

Earlier this year, months before she released her debut single “Have Mercy,” Chloe showed off her impressive vocals by covering a series of tracks from the past and present. After a break from doing so, the singer returns with a passionate cover of Adele’s “Easy On Me.” Chloe shows no issue in being able to take on the difficult track. In addition to once again impressing with her vocals, Chloe also added some whistle notes and quality vocals runs to make her rendition of the former No. 1 song all that much better.

Chloe’s rendition of “Easy On Me” joins previous covers she’s delivered in 2021. They include Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open” and Cardi B’s “Be Careful,” which left the rapper smiling from ear to ear. She also took on Rihanna’s “Love On The Brain,” Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” and Drake’s “Marvin’s Room.” All of that was great promotion for Chloe’s “Have Mercy,” which arrived in September. She later performed the song at the MTV VMAs, on The Tonight Show With Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the 2021 AMAs.

The singer is also working on her debut project which she spoke about in August. “I’m wrapping it up with such bad-b*tch energy,” he said to Billboard, adding, that it’s “the most liberated and happy that I have felt.”

You can watch Chloe cover “Easy On Me” above.

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

Wonder Woman is one of the most well known superheroes in the DC Universe. The famous superhero Amazonian is known for her super strength, speed, and is nearly invincible. She’s also one of the members of the Justice League. All of this is to say, that people really adore Wonder Woman and she is someone that could be perfect to play in a video game.

Someone over at Monolith Productions and DC must have agreed, because it was revealed during The Game Awards on Thursday that Wonder Woman would be receiving her own game. We, unfortunately, didn’t get too much info as the reveal was not much more than a teaser, but it was enough to get us excited about the upcoming game.

Wonder Woman is the latest superhero to be announced for an upcoming game. We’ve already seen other superheroes like Spider-Man and Batman see success with their own video games, and we know a Wolverine game is on the way, so it’s exciting to see this trend continue with Wonder Woman.

What’s also exciting is the development team working on it is Monolith Productions. Most recently, Monolith made a name for itself with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, an exciting game that took place in the Lord of the Rings universe. We’ve already seen them do a great adaptation with one universe so we can be confident in the development team’s ability to make magic happen again with another.

Wonder Woman is one of the most well known superheroes in the DC Universe. The famous superhero Amazonian is known for her super strength, speed, and is nearly invincible. She’s also one of the members of the Justice League. All of this is to say, that people really adore Wonder Woman and she is someone that could be perfect to play in a video game.

Someone over at Monolith Productions and DC must have agreed, because it was revealed during The Game Awards on Thursday that Wonder Woman would be receiving her own game. We, unfortunately, didn’t get too much info as the reveal was not much more than a teaser, but it was enough to get us excited about the upcoming game.

Wonder Woman is the latest superhero to be announced for an upcoming game. We’ve already seen other superheroes like Spider-Man and Batman see success with their own video games, and we know a Wolverine game is on the way, so it’s exciting to see this trend continue with Wonder Woman.

What’s also exciting is the development team working on it is Monolith Productions. Most recently, Monolith made a name for itself with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, an exciting game that took place in the Lord of the Rings universe. We’ve already seen them do a great adaptation with one universe so we can be confident in the development team’s ability to make magic happen again with another.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is already off to a better start than Sonic the Hedgehog: the trailer above is a Creepy Human Teeth-Free Zone (it’s next to Green Hill Zone). The Sonic sequel brings back Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, and adds Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails (she’s the voice of the flying fox in the video games, too) and Idris Elba as Knuckles. When asked to tease his performance as the Poochie of the Sonic universe, The Wire star said, “Honestly, I cannot say. Contractually, I cannot say anything. But I wouldn’t say he was sexy. I don’t think I’m going for that.”

Note: do not look up “sexy Knuckles” on Google Images.

The original Sonic was released in February 2020, meaning it was a lot of people’s last movie before theaters were shut down due to the pandemic. Is there someone out there — possibly the same someone who went against my advice and looked up “sexy Knuckles” on Google Images — who has been waiting to go Back to the Movies until Sonic 2 comes out? Considering Sonic’s famously intense fans, almost assuredly.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which also stars James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Shemar Moore, opens on April 8, 2022.

For the first time since the tragedy at his 2021 Astroworld Festival last month, Travis Scott sat down for an interview to speak about the incident. He spoke with radio show personality Charlamagne Tha God for a 50-minute conversation where he said he’s been on an “emotional rollercoaster” since learning about what took place at last month’s festival. “It gets so hard because, you know, I always feel connected with my fans,” he said. “I went through something and I feel like fans went through something and people’s parents went through something, and it really hurts. It hurts the community, it hurts the city. There’s been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, and just trying to wrap my head around it.”

According to TMZ, hours after this interview was shared, an attorney that represents the family of one of the Astroworld victims spoke out and criticized Travis Scott’s sit-down with Charlamagne Tha God. “Axel Acosta and the many others killed or injured are the victims,” Tony Buzbee, the lawyer for the family of 21-year-old Alexa Acosta, said. “Travis Scott, his entourage, handlers, promoters, managers, hangers on and everyone else who enable him are the problem. Everything that Travis Scott has done or said since ten people died and hundreds of others were injured at his concert has been lawyer-driven and calculated to shift blame from him to someone else.”

Buzbee also said that he doesn’t believe that Travis could not see the chaos that was occurring in the Astroworld crowd. “He now says he had an earpiece in, and was not told what was going on in the crowd,” Buzbee said. “Did he have an earpiece in his eye? Why did he purposely ignore the death and mayhem occurring literally feet from him?”

Travis’ interview and Buzbee’s come after 1,500 additional lawsuits from Astroworld victims were filed, bringing the total number of court cases for the tragedy to nearly 3,000.

(Via TMZ)

(Obviously, spoilers from the Sex And The City revival, And Just Like That… will be found below.)

Samantha Jones might not be dead (and simply enjoying her dudes with a side of tea and crumpets), but another O.G. Sex And The City character bit the dust. The new chapter (which doesn’t involve the show’s original creator, primetime king Darren Star) got a little morbid right away. A lot morbid? Well, maybe so, but it’s also a somewhat expected development given the character’s history of culinary debauchery.

Mr. Big, portrayed by Chris Noth, showed up in the premiere while still married to Carrie Bradshaw. That part’s surprising, since their road was never smooth, and then Big lovers (there’s gotta be some of them out there) were subjected to a Big shock: the eternal cad hopped onto a Peloton bike and apparently didn’t make it through the whole ride. Even making it onto the leaderboard would be no consolation because he bit the dust. Carrie discovered him, and in fitting with her trademarked narration full of puns, she declared, “And just like that, Big died.”

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Peloton wasn’t aware of what would go down involving one of its bikes, and it “didn’t pay for the bike to appear on the show.” Further, US Weekly relayed a statement from Peloton’s Health & Wellness Advisory Council cardiologist Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, who pointed out that Big had an appetite for the finer things in life, which likely contributed to this situation. He did, in fact, suffer from a heart condition in the original show (Carrie famously grew emotional over it while helping him recover). Here’s what Steinbaum said on behalf of Peloton:

“I’m sure SATC fans, like me, are saddened by the news that Mr. Big dies of a heart attack. Mr. Big lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle — including cocktails, cigars, and big steaks — and was at serious risk as he had a previous cardiac event in Season. These lifestyle choices and perhaps even his family history, which often is a significant factor, were the likely cause of his death. Riding his Peloton bike may have even helped delay his cardiac event.”

Steinbaum added that “[t]he good news is Peloton helps you track heart rate while you ride, so you can do it safely.” Well, Big also listened to too much Sinatra, but that’s beside the point. Ultimately, the franchise killed off Big with a pun, so I guess he lived as died. Or he died how he lived. R.I.P Big.

(Via US Weekly & Wall Street Journal)