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This morning, November 30, news broke that The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died at 65 years old. The iconic Irish rocker’s wife, Victoria Clarke, confirmed his passing on Instagram, and The Pogues released a statement on the band’s official Instagram account.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan,” it reads. “Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side. Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family. He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father, Maurice, family and a large circle of friends. Further details will be announced shortly but the family ask for privacy at this very sad time.”

An official cause of death has not been publicly confirmed, though MacGowan was discharged from the hospital last week (as relayed by NME) and had been “in and our of medical care” since a 2015 pelvic injury that compromised his mobility (again, as per NME last December).

Fans will likely mourn MacGowan this holiday season by listening to The Pogues’ classic Christmas song, “Fairytale Of New York.” (Born on December 25, it’s only right that an eternally played Christmas song is part of MacGowan’s legacy.) Below is a refresher course.

When Did “Fairytale Of New York” Come Out?

The Pogues released “Fairytale Of New York” featuring the late Kirsty MacColl in 1987. To celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2012, the song was re-released on iTunes (what a relic) and on limited-edition 7″ vinyl.

According to The Independent, “it took more than two years to perfect,” and “the title was chosen after the song had been written and recorded, lifted from the titleof Irish American author JP Donleavy’s novel A Fairy Tale Of New York.”

What Has Shane MacGowan Said About “Fairytale Of New York”?

In December 2012, MacGowan participated in an oral history of “Fairytale Of New York” by The Guardian and shared that the song started when Elvis Costello told him he didn’t think MacGowan could write a Christmas duet to sing with Costello’s wife, Cait O’Riordan, who was also The Pogues’ bass player. He also confirmed that Costello had initially suggested titling the song “Christmas Day In The Drunk Tank,” but MacGowan didn’t like the name.

This excerpt from The Guardian piece pulls back the curtain on the song’s meaning:

“‘The guy is a bum who is living on the street,’ says MacGowan. ‘And he’s just won on a horse at the unlikely odds of 18-to-one, so you’re not even sure he is telling the truth.’ He says that both characters are versions of himself. ‘I identified with the man because I was a hustler and I identified with the woman because I was a heavy drinker and a singer. I have been in hospitals on morphine drips, and I have been in drunk tanks on Christmas Eve.’”

In November 2020, MacGowan was asked by Metro why he had said he hated “Fairytale Of New York” in the film, Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan. He responded, “I don’t hate ‘Fairytale’! I’m just a bit sick of it.” He also told the publication he felt the censored versions were “ridiculous.” As per The Independent, Radio 1 removed “sl*t” and a homophobic slur sung by MacColl from radio play in 2007, and in 2018, MacGowan released a statement explaining the usage of crass language, which can be seen below:

How Has “Fairytale Of New York” Charted?

According to Billboard, “Fairytale Of New York” has made it “in the UK’s top 20 19 times since its release, perennially charting around Christmastime and peaking at No. 2 on the UK charts during the year of its release.” As for the Billboard charts, the quirky yet sentimental ballad peaked at No. 4 on The Official UK Singles Chart (in January 2019), No. 5 on Euro Digital Song Sales (December 2007), No. 5 on Ireland Songs (December 2022), No. 6 on UK Songs (December 2022), No. 8 on UK Digital Song Sales (December 2020), No. 9 on Alternative Digital Song Sales (December 2022), No. 22 on Holiday Digital Song Sales (October 2011), and No. 24 on Rock Digital Song Sales (January 2021).

Yesterday (November 29), Taylor Swift celebrated being Spotify’s Top Global Artist by finally giving her Midnights album track, “You’re Losing Me,” a proper streaming release. Before, it had only been available on a CD format. As part of the celebration for dropping the fan-favorite, her collaborator, Jack Antonoff, posted an Instagram story that sparked some serious Swiftie news.

Antonoff revealed that Swift wrote and recorded the breakup song on December 5, 2021, instead of it being a recent one after the news of her April split from Joe Alwyn. This significantly changed fans’ minds on the timeline of their relationship, and that it might not have been all they thought it was.

“How long could we be a sad song?” Swift sings, pointing out that things were “too far gone to bring back to life.”

Some fans have speculated that the pair might have broken up and then got back together — given they had been spotted throughout 2022, seemingly still going strong.

Others felt that the song represented Swift emotionally checking out of their relationship before they called it quits.

“Taylor Swift is ‘breaking up with him in my head months before I work up the courage to actually do it’ representation,” one user wrote.

Check out some fan reactions about “You’re Losing Me” and whether it’s about Joe Alwyn.

Thanksgiving has come and gone in the NFL, and we’re left with a Week 13 slate that features six (!) teams on bye. From the standpoint of unearthing five selections, that makes life difficult, but Week 12 was quite solid at 3-2 overall. Admittedly, Week 13 isn’t the strongest, but here we are anyway and we’re bringing a strong 12-week sample with us.

In fact, let’s peek at the progress before handing out the Week 13 action.

• Week 12: 3-2
• 2023 Season: 32-25-3

Come get these winners.

TEASER: Dallas Cowboys (-2.5) over Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets (+8.5) over Atlanta Falcons — FanDuel

It’s important to move through two key numbers on both sides here, and it’s a very sound Wong teaser in theory. Dallas is unbeaten at home this season and, while Seattle can be dangerous, I jump at the chance to get the Cowboys laying less than a field goal with how the Seahawks are playing. On the other side, Atlanta is the better team, and I get that, but the Falcons have been quite shaky on the road. The Jets also remain stout defensively, and this has the feel of a rock fight with a total in the low-to-mid 30’s. Is it gross to financially invest in a team led by Tim Boyle? Absolutely, but here we are.

New Orleans Saints (+4.5) over Detroit Lions — FanDuel

This goes against the grain to be sure. The Lions are coming off a high-profile home loss on Thanksgiving, and many are forecasting a bounce-back. That makes sense on some level, but Detroit’s defense has been quietly shaky for several weeks. Acknowledging that the NFC South stinks, this could also be something of a “last stand” for the Saints in an effort to avoid a seventh loss. I think this is a good number to grab on a frisky home underdog.

Los Angeles Chargers (-5.5) over New England Patriots — Widely Available

This is gross. The Chargers have lost three in a row and they are wildly disappointing. But at the same time, I’ve always liked Los Angeles more away from home (from a betting perspective) and the Patriots seem to be utterly dead on the offensive side. Lay it.

Washington Commanders (+9.5) over Miami Dolphins — Widely Available

I can’t believe I’m doing this again with Washington, but here we are. At least the Commanders are at home this week, but this line is just too high. Miami did wreck the Jets last week, but Sam Howell isn’t Tim Boyle. Washington can get in the backdoor if we need it.

TEASER: Philadelphia Eagles (+8.5) over San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars (-2.5) over Cincinnati Bengals — FanDuel

My inkling was to continue to fade Philadelphia. The Eagles have walked through the raindrops this season, including a narrow win last week, and a lot of sharp action has gone against them with projected regression. Then, the line came in with the 49ers favored by 2.5 points on the road in Philadelphia, which isn’t a number that I can justify. I also think moving through two key numbers and nabbing a (very) good Eagles team at 8.5 points is strong process. On the other side of the teaser, sliding the Jaguars to 2.5 at home is appetizing. Jacksonville is pretty good. Cincinnati has Jake Browning on the road and clearly isn’t the same team at this stage. If you removed the Bengals history and evaluated that team with only its available roster, I think the line would be 10.

T.I. and his kids have been in the headlines a bit lately (one kid in particular), so fans might be looking for more details about his family in general. The trap rap godfather has quite the brood, but just how many kids does he have?

T.I. parents seven children with his wife Tiny: Zonnique, Messiah, Domani, Deyjah, King, Major, and Heiress. Two of his sons, Messai and Domani, come from a prior relationship with Lashon Dixon, while his daughter Deyjah comes from another with Ranniqua Brannum. Tiny’s daughter Zonnique also comes from a previous relationship with Zonnie Pullins. The couple have had three children together since the early 2000s: King, Major, and Heiress.

Zonnique Pullins

Zonnique is the oldest, born in 1996. She’s a member of the girl group OMG Girlz, and has one daughter of her own.

Messiah Harris

The second oldest of T.I.’s kids was born in 2000 and has several film credits to his name while performing as a blues singer.

Domani Harris

T.I.’s third child, born in 2001, is in the family business with four albums since 2017. He’s a really good rapper too!

Deyjah Harris

T.I.’s oldest daughter was also born in 2001 and has unfortunately been subject to a lot of scrutiny as the result of her dad’s ill-advised joke.

Clifford “King” Harris

The kid you might have heard the most about recently, T.I.’s namesake was born in 2004. He apparently had some sort of run-in with the law last year and seems to be chafing a bit at his privileged upbringing (T.I. suddenly finding himself in the Keith David role from ATL is some kind of ironic, right?).

Major Harris

Born in 2008, Major hasn’t been in the public eye much outside of the show T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle.

Heiress Harris

The baby of the bunch was born in 2016 and undoubtedly has the most fun name to say.

The Young Thug RICO trial is finally underway after months of delays, but that hasn’t put an end to the pattern of disruptions that caused those delays in the first place. The latest interruption to the proceedings came yesterday (November 29), when Judge Ural Glanville was forced to ask media members in attendance not to record video after one of their social media posts captured members of the jury.

Although, the videos in question only displayed the jurors for seconds at most, social media lit up with reports that jurors were being identified online — which could have disastrous impacts on the trial. Accounts such as No Jumper reportedly wrote headlines like “Fans on Social Media Are Already Identifying Jury Members in Young Thug’s Trial After Cameras Accidentally Revealed Their Faces,” which raised concerns of jurors’ safety and the potential for a mistrial (which would only see Thug locked up for even longer as new jurors were selected for a retrial).

While there are alternate jurors for such cases, it’s still yet another incident of confusion for a trial that already faces major scrutiny over its questionable use of the defendant’s art as evidence.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The late Anthony Bourdain has previously made headlines for his devastatingly spot-on opinion of Vladimir Putin and his side-eye for those who praise the British monarchy. In light of the divisive Henry Kissinger’s death, as well, Bourdain’s withering words are now making the rounds again.

For reasons known mostly to D.C., of course, ex-Secretary of State Kissinger (under Nixon and Ford) was coddled with the utmost respect despite his legacy of greenlighting attacks and invasions that led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Cambodia and Bangladesh. During Bourdain’s travels, he witnessed the lasting effects of these horrors, and in his early aughts book, A Cook’s Tour, he let his thoughts on Kissinger fly:

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia — the fruits of his genius for statesmanship — and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to [Serbian President Slobodan] Milošević.”

He wasn’t done yet. In this clip from CNN’s Parts Unknown, Bourdain discussed how he’d love to give Kissinger a good sucker punch:

Additionally, The New Yorker notes how Bourdain bristled at the idea of being referred to as “a statesman” for his informative travels.

“I’m not going to the White House Correspondents’ dinner. I don’t need to be laughing it up with Henry Kissinger,” he insisted while adding, “In my view he should not be able to eat at a restaurant in New York.”

Going back to the first quote mentioned above, Bourdain reflected upon his words in early 2018 (a few months prior to his own death) while writing, “Frequently, I’ve come to regret things I’ve said. This, from 2001, is not one of those times.”

These remarks have been resurrected in the wake of Kissinger’s passing. Some are even calling them a “eulogy” that was ahead of its time:

Also, it looks like there might be a void to be filled now:

Just a few weeks after U2 kicked off the opening of the Las Vegas Sphere venue with their residency, fans now know who the next performers will be: Phish.

Here’s what to know about when they will take the stage.

When Is Phish Performing At The Sphere?

Today, Phish announced that they will be doing four shows from April 18 to 21. These are currently the only dates the band is scheduled to play at the venue.

According to a release, the jam band’s run will feature “completely unique setlists and visuals” and “mark the beginning of a new relationship between Phish and Sphere.”

“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” Trey Anastasio says. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”

Fans interested in getting tickets can request now until noon on Monday, December 11. From there, a general sale will take place for any remaining tickets on Friday, December 15 at 1 p.m. ET. More information can be found here.

Until then, U2 will be playing the Sphere until February.

Others who can’t make it to the Sphere next year can catch Phish at their New Year’s Eve run at Madison Square Garden in NYC, their 2024 concert vacation in Mexico, or the return of their camping festival next August in Dover, Delaware.

Barbie made well over $1 billion at the box office, which is also how many gallons of pink paint was required to make the film. Or so it seemed.

One of director Greta Gerwig’s requirements for Barbie was for “the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.” Production designer Sarah Greenwood took the job seriously, telling Architectural Digest that “the world ran out of pink.” She was being hyperbolic, but only slightly.

“There wasn’t enough pink paint [to begin with],” Greenwood clarified about her “off the cuff” comment in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. “Yes, we found this color after lots of investigation into the perfect pink. So we go to Rosco, this amazing film company that makes this beautiful pigment… but of course, nobody was using pink until we came along. And so therefore, there wasn’t enough pink paint. We said, ‘Oh, we want 200 liters of your pure pigment.’”

The mission to find more pink paint involved movie studio executives calling paint company executives. “And then everybody pulled together and we found pink paint in every sort of backyard workshop,” Greenwood added. “We did get there in the end. But no, we didn’t cause the world to run out of pink paint.”

At least until the sequel.

(Via Yahoo! Entertainment)

A song is never too old for TikTok. At the beginning of this year, Miguel’s 2011 single “Sure Thing” reemerged on the Billboard charts (and radio stations) due to a resurgence on TikTok. Around the same time, The Weeknd’s “Die For You” similarly benefitted. Add Australian indie rock band Ocean Alley to the never-ending list of TikTok darlings, and their 2018 breakthrough single “Confidence” is enjoying a delayed second wind.

Let Billboard explain:

“Clips of live performances of ‘Confidence’ have gained ample traction on the band’s official TikTok page for years, but a slightly pitched-up and sped-up version of the song used in the band’s Nov. 2 TikTok commemorating two sold-out Brisbane shows has catapulted ‘Confidence’ into the hearts and minds of millions of new listeners. According to Luminate, ‘Confidence’ has collected over 1.9 million US on-demand streams during the period of Nov. 10-16; that’s an eye-popping 182% increase from 700,000 streams during Nov. 3-9. In turn, that Nov. 3-9 figure is a 433.7% increase from just over 131,000 streams during the period of Oct. 27 to Nov. 2.”

Additionally, “Confidence” has debuted this week at No. 21 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock Songs chart and No. 27 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. It also topped Spotify’s Viral 50 — USA chart.

So, who are these guys? Below is a crash course.

What Is Ocean Alley?

According to Ocean Alley’s artist page on Lonely Lands Agency’s website, Ocean Alley are “Australia’s beloved psychedelic-surf-rockers.” This October, bass player Nic Blom told Australia’s Tracks Magazine that “pretty much everyone [in the band] surfs besides our drummer,” Tim O’Brien. Lead guitarist Angus Goodwin added, “We all grew up on the northern beaches of Sydney.”

Who Is In Ocean Alley?

Alongside Blom, Goodwin, and O’Brien, Ocean Alley is rounded out by lead vocalist Baden Donegal, keyboardist and vocalist Lach Galbraith, and guitarist Mitch Galbraith.

When Did Ocean Alley’s “Confidence” Come Out?

“Confidence” was the standout single from Ocean Alley’s 2018 album, Chiaroscuro. According to the band’s official website, “Confidence” finished 2018 at No. 1 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 in Australia. The song is platinum-certified by The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), while Chiaroscuro is gold-certified in Australia and New Zealand — or, at least, that is the highest certification it had reached when Ocean Alley’s website was last updated.

As Billboard laid out above, “Confidence” entered the international zeitgeist when Ocean Alley used a sped-up version to soundtrack a TikTok on November 2. In the comments section, someone named Chase Moulder said, “Y’all gotta release this sped up version.” Two weeks later, the full sped-up song hit YouTube.

“Confidence” has also been given new life in Australia, as it popped from No. 95 to No. 40 on the ARIA Singles Chart as of November 28 (as per Australia’s The Music Network).

What Is Ocean Alley Doing Now?

Five years is a long time, and Ocean Alley have not been one-hit wonders. Since their 2018 sophomore effort, Ocean Alley have dropped Lonely Diamond in June 2020 and Low Altitude Living in October 2022.

“Low altitude, being by the beach is where we all have the most peace,” Donegal said of Ocean Alley’s most recent LP, as per the band’s official website. “So naming the album Low Altitude Living made a lot of sense. The title of the album doesn’t necessarily represent any one song in particular, or tie them all together. But it does tie our band to the music. I feel like it’s more of a title that describes why we sound like Ocean Alley.”

Ocean Alley is also a very active touring act. On November 22, the band captioned an Instagram carousel, “Australia!!! We just wanted to thank every single one of you who came to a show on our recent tour. These were the biggest shows we’ve ever played anywhere in the world and you were all bloody incredible. We capped it off with 2 crazy nights at Riverstage in Brisbane!! What a way to properly celebrate our 4th album Low Altitude Living and 10 years of our debut EP Yellow Mellow.”

Their official website lists all of their upcoming dates, including six festivals across Australia and New Zealand before the end of the year.