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The MTV Video Music Awards for 2023 are just a few weeks away, as they’ll be hosted at New Jersey’s Prudential Center on September 12. To give those either attending or watching an idea of who will be performing, they’ve unveiled the first round of musical acts.

Demi Lovato will be returning to the VMAs after six years, gearing up for the release of their album, Revamped. The project finds them putting a rock-inspired shift on the biggest hits across their career, complete with modern vocals.

Karol G is on the performance lineup for the first time. The musician is also nominated for three awards, including Artist Of The Year. Stray Kids will also be giving their first performance from the VMAs stage, performing their hit “S-Class” from their latest album, according to Variety. The song was also nominated for Best K-Pop.

Finally, rounding out the first drop of performers is Måneskin, who rose to prominence during the Eurovision Song Contest. The group found mainstream success with their hit “Beggin” and previously won a VMA for Best Alternative. Now, they are returning to promote a new single, “Honey (Are You Coming?).”

Fans can still vote through September 1 for who they want to win the awards in most categories. Find more information here.

Yesterday (August 21), Drake unveiled the official cover art for his forthcoming solo album, For All The Dogs. Another update came out today about the upcoming project. Although the initial post was taken down, Amazon Music’s official X (formerly Twitter) suggested that the body of work was slated to drop this Friday (August 25).

Rumors have continued to flood social media about what listeners should expect from the album, and somehow Apple Music’s Zane Lowe found himself wrapped up in a major one. According to the outlet Upcoming 100, Lowe hinted that Drake and Frank Ocean were working on a collaboration.

However, the journalist denied that he ever said such a thing. During an exchange with a user in a now-deleted post, Lowe shot down the claim, writing, “Never happened. I haven’t even been live on the radio for the last two weeks. Completely false [shrugging emoji].”

Not including the album’s cover art, the last major update Drake shared regarding For All The Dogs was around the release of his poetry book in June. “I made an album to go with the book. They say they miss the old Drake girl; don’t tempt me. For all the dogs,” the rapper wrote in a post promoting his literary work.

Optical illusions are universally beloved for how they trick our brains and blow our minds. There’s a reason we enjoy magic shows and Escher paintings and are mesmerized by fake oases in the desert. We love seeing things that bend our perceptions of reality, and the science behind the magic always proves fascinating as well.

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The Ames window is a pretty well-known optical illusion, but it’s always cool to see. When spun, the angled window appears to oscillate back and forth instead of spin all the way around. But this video adds a twist that makes the effect even more mindbending—our brains simply can’t process objective reality mixed with an optical illusion.

The YouTube channel Curiosity Show explains the science of the illusion and gives a DIY demonstration for making your own Ames window. But wait until the pen gets taped to the window and spun. This is some real-life magic right here. Mind. Blown.

This article originally appeared on 02.21.20

It’s amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.

Yet, here we are.

PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky’s mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend.

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“We were just talking about things we admire about each other and he said, ‘You courageously and radically refuse to wear a mask,’ like meaning that I’m undeniably myself. I thought that was a really poetic way of saying that,” Holland told Fox 13.

So, she had “courageously & radically refuse to wear a mask” tattooed on her left forearm. It’s a beautiful sentiment about Leah’s dedication to being her true self. It’s also a reminder for Leah to remain true to herself throughout her life.

However, the tattoo would come to have a very different meaning just two days later when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kentucky.

“It basically looked like I’m totally, you know, anti-mask or whatever, which is not the case,” said Holland.

Now, she was embarrassed to be seen with the tattoo for fear she’d be associated with the anti-maskers who either deny the existence of the virus or refuse to wear a mask to protect others. Either way, it’s a bad look.

So Leah started wearing long-sleeve shirts and cardigan sweaters whenever in public to cover up the tattoo.

On Monday, TikTok users asked each other to share their “dumbest tattoo” and she was pretty sure she had the winner.

@wakaflockafloccar #stitch with @hannanicbic I could NOT have had worse timing. #fyp #foryoupage #tattoo #worsttattoo #winner ♬ original sound – wakaflockafloccare

In her video, she talks about how her tattoo was about “not pretending to be something you’re not,” but then revealed it to show how — after a historical twist — it made her out to be someone she isn’t.

“I just kind of wanted people to laugh with me because I think it’s funny now, too,” said Holland.

Plenty of people on TikTok laughed along with her with one user suggesting she update the tattoo with the phrase: “Hindsight is 2020.”

“I was dying laughing. I’m like, I’m glad there are people that find this as funny as I think it is,” said Holland.

“It will be a funny story to tell years from now,” she said. “I don’t think it will ever not be a funny story.”

Unfortunately, even when the pandemic is over, Leah will still probably have to explain her tattoo. Because most won’t soon forget the COVID-19 era in America and there’s no doubt many will still feel passionate about those who refused to wear a mask.

This article originally appeared on 02.24.21

Have you ever ridden in an Uber or a Lyft and had the driver talk a lot when you felt like being quiet? Or not say a word when you tried to make conversation? Or play music you found annoying?

When you hop into a driver’s car, it’s a crapshoot what kind of ride you’re going to have. But at least one Lyft driver is removing the mystery a bit by letting passengers choose.

Facebook user Eric Alper shared a post that showed a photo of a piece of paper stuck on the back of a car’s headrest that read:

“Welcome to Cameron’s car!!!”

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“To ensure the best ride possible for you, I have prepared a menu of the various types of rides I offer. Just choose one (or don’t, that’s an option too) then sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. :)”

Then it listed the 10 ride options Cameron offers:

1. The Awkward Ride – You ignore this menu completely, then we will sit in silence for the remainder of the ride.

2. The Funny Ride – I tell you jokes or entertaining stories from my life.

3. The Silent Ride –

4. The Creepy Ride – I don’t say anything but I keep staring at you in the rearview mirror.

5. The Karaoke Ride – We rock out to hits from the 80s, early 2000s or literally whatever you want.

6. The Bubbles Ride – We blow bubbles the whole time.

7. The Small Talk Ride – We talk about how crazy the weather’s been lately and I ask if you caught the game last night.

8. The Therapy Ride – You vent to me about your problems and I listen.

9. The Drunk Ride – You throw up in my car.

10. The Cliche Ride – You ask me how long I’ve been driving for Lyft.”

OK, the Bubbles Ride sounds fun, but also maybe a little dangerous. And the Drunk Ride is the main reason I’ve never wanted to be a Lyft or Uber driver. I may have unintentionally taken a both a Therapy Ride and a Creepy Ride before.

But seriously, the concept is fabulous. People often want something different in a ride depending on their mood, so the idea of having options to choose from is brilliant. The list also directly addresses the awkwardness that is often present when you’re getting a ride from someone, so it makes a natural icebreaker and conversation starter—particularly helpful for folks who struggle with social anxiety.

People in the comments loved it.

“I’m sure this wasn’t the intention but this is a great example of disability accommodations that everyone can enjoy,” wrote one person. “Being able to choose how much energy I expend is so helpful.”

“There should be a feature on both Uber and Lyft indicating what type of ride a rider wants or expects,” wrote another. “I usually don’t talk, but sometimes the driver keeps persisting and I feel awkward at times.”

“It clears the air, takes the awkwardness out of it, and establishes expectations for the ride, on both sides,” wrote another. “Great idea.”

There are some more options I’d love to see added, though:

The Pep Talk Ride – You need encouragement? I’ll give you everything I’ve got to pump you up.

The Tour Guide Ride – I share interesting details about places we pass and offer advice on cool things to do around the area.

The Life Story Ride – We estimate how long your ride will be, set a timer, and each of us shares our life story for half the ride. (No questions, unless the ride goes longer.)

The Deep Questions Ride – We skip the small talk and get right to the big stuff—meaning of life, existence of God, our place in the universe, etc.

The High School Debate Ride – We pick a controversy, flip a coin to decide who will take which side, and debate regardless of our own personal views.

The Pretend Persona Ride – We each make up totally fake names and personas and converse as them so we can chat without actually getting personal at all.

So many possibilities. What kind of ride would you want to take?

This article originally appeared on 04.21.22

If we looked 60 years into the past, there are a lot of things that were accepted as “normal” that today most people find abhorrent. For example, people used to smoke cigarettes everywhere. They’d light up in hospitals, schools and even churches.

People also used to litter like crazy. It’s socially unacceptable now, but if you lived in the ’70s and finished your meal at McDonald’s, you’d chuck your empty styrofoam container (remember those?) and soda cup right out of the window of your car and onto the street.

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It’s hard to imagine that just 60 years ago spousal abuse was considered family business and wasn’t the concern of law enforcement.

It makes me wonder when people in the future look back on the year 2022, which things will they see as barbaric? Almost certainly, the way we treat the animals we use for food will be seen as cruel. The racial divides in the criminal justice system will be seen as a moral abomination. And I’m sure that people will also look at our continued reliance on fossil fuels as a major mistake.

A Reddit user by the name u/MEMELORD_JESUS asked the AskReddit subforum “What’s the weirdest thing society accepts as normal?” and the responses exposed a lot of today’s practices that are worth questioning.

A lot of the responses revolved around American work ethic and how we are taught to live to work and not to work to live. We seem to always be chasing some magical reward that’s just around the corner instead of enjoying our everyday lives. “I’ll get to that when I retire,” we say and then don’t have the energy or the inclination to do so when the time comes.

There are also a lot of people who think that our healthcare system will be looked at with utter confusion by people in the future.

Here are 17 of the best responses to the question, “What’s the weirdest thing society accepts as normal?”

1. Work-life balance

“Working until you’re old, greying, and broken then using whatever time you have left for all the things you wish you could have done when you were younger.” — Excited_Avocado_8492

2. Rest in comfort

“That dead people need pillows in caskets.” — Qfn4g02016

3. I.R.S. mystery

“Guessing how much you owe the IRS in taxes.” — SheWentThruMyPhone

4. You get the leaders you deserve

“Politicians blatantly lying to the people. We accept it so readily, it’s as though it’s supposed to be that way.” — BlackLetyterLies

5. The booze-drugs separation

“Alcohol is so normalized but drugs are not. It’s so weird. I say this as an alcohol loving Belgian, beer is half of our culture and I’m proud of it too but like… that’s fucking weird man.” — onions_cutting_ninja

6. Stage-parent syndrome

“People having kids and trying to live their lives again through them, vicariously, forcing the kids to do things that the parents never got to do, even when the kids show no inclination, and even have an active dislike, for those things.” — macaronsforeveryone

7. Priorities

“Living to work vs working to live.” — Food-at-last

8. ‘The Man’ is everywhere

“Being on camera or recorded any time you are in public.” — Existing-barely

9. Tragic positivity 

“‘Feel-good’ news stories about how a kid makes a lemonade stand or something to pay for her mom’s cancer treatment because no one can afford healthcare in America.” — GotaLuvit35

10. Credit score

“As a non-American, I am amazed at their credit score system. As a third-world citizen, credit cards are usually for rich (and slightly less rich) people who have more disposable money than the rest of us and could pay off their debt.

The way I see people on Reddit talk about it is strange and somewhat scary. Everyone should have a card of his own as soon as he becomes an adult, you should always buy things with it and pay back to actively build your score. You’re basically doomed if you don’t have a good score, and living your life peacefully without a card is not an option, and lastly, you’ll be seen as an idiot if you know nothing about it.” — BizarroCullen

11. The retirement trap

“Spending 5/7ths of your life waiting for 2/7ths of it to come. We hate like 70% of our life, how is that considered fine?” — Deltext3rity

12. Yes, yes and yes

“Child beauty pageants.” — throwa_way682

13. That’s not justice

“The rape of male prisoners. It’s almost considered a part of the sentence. People love to joke about it all the time.” — visicircle

14. Customers aren’t employers

“Tipping culture in the US. Everyone thinks that it’s totally OK for employers not to pay the employees, and the customers are expected to pay extra to pay the employees wages. I don’t understand it.” — Lysdexiic

15. Staring at your phone

“Having smartphones in our faces all day. This shit isn’t normal…imma do it anyway…but it is not normal.” — Off_Brand_Barbie_OBB

16. Homework on weekends

“Students being assigned homework over weekends and only having a two-day weekend. The whole point of a weekend is to take a break from life, and then you have one day to recover from sleep deprivation then one day to relax which you can’t because of thinking about the next day being Monday. And the two days still having work to do anyways.” — MrPers0n3O

17. Kids on social media

“Children/young teens posting on social media sites. I’m not necessarily talking about posting on a private Instagram followed by friends, I’m talking about when kids post on tiktok publicly without parental consent.” — thottxy

This article originally appeared on 03.11.22

The Tennessee Titans will finish their preseason schedule on Friday when they host the New Orleans Saints, but the focus at Titans camp on Tuesday was on something much more serious than football.

On Monday night, cornerback Caleb Farley’s home in Mooresville, North Carolina exploded, killing his father who was staying in the house and injuring one other according to authorities, who confirmed the death of Robert Farley to WJZY News. The explosion occurred just before midnight eastern, with neighbors telling WJZY they heard a loud explosion and could smell gas. The official cause of the explosion has not been determined by officials, with an investigation underway.

Farley returned to North Carolina on Tuesday morning to be there with his family as they deal with the tragedy. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel spoke after Tuesday’s practice said the team’s focus is on providing support for Farley and his family, noting the football side is “very trivial” in the moment.

Star running back Derrick Henry noted his shock at the news, saying he and Farley were in the locker room on Monday night hanging out and offered his prayers to Farley and his family.

It is a devastating tragedy and the Titans seem willing to give Farley the space and time he needs to take care of his family.

Drake and 21 Savage continued their It’s All A Blur Tour in Los Angeles over the weekend — and keeping with the trend of bringing surprise guests. While Kendall Jenner and SZA have already popped up at past LA dates, the recent celebs had the crowd going wild.

None other than LeBron James and his son Bronny (who is doing “great” after his recent health scare) joined the rappers on stage. On the way through the crowd to get there, Drake also signed a fan’s copy of his poetry book. The Toronto performer was also paying tribute by wearing the Lakers colors.

Then, when Drake was on stage, he gave a heartfelt speech to LeBron. “The gentleman that walked me to stage tonight is my brother,” he said. “In 2009, when nobody believed in anything I had going on, that same guy showed up to a release party for a mixtape that was called So Far Gone.”

“He came all the way to Toronto, Canada to support me, when I was trying to figure out how I can live my dreams,” Drake added.

Drake and LeBron have continued to stay close for a while. Back in 2018, he appeared on an episode of LeBron’s HBO series, The Shop, where he opened up about his son, Adonis, and the two dads bonded over raising their kids.

A few years later in 2020, Drake went with LeBron to watch Bronny play at his high school basketball game. “My young demons doing numbers,” Drake posted when Bronny’s team won, according to HotNewHipHop.

This makes the fact that LeBron brought his son to Drake’s show all the more special.

Check out Drake entering the stage with LeBron and Bronny, and his speech, above.

Anticipation for Slow Pulp’s sophomore album, Yard, is at an all-time high. So far, the band has shared three records from the project, including “Cramps,” “Slugs,” and “Doubt.” But their latest single, “Broadview,” is the Chicago-based act’s most emotionally moving release.

The track, produced by the band’s guitarist Henry Stoehr, is a tenderly guided approach to opening your heart back up to love. As bassist Alex Leeds and drummer Teddy Mathews layer their indie instrumental offerings, musicians Peter Briggs and Willie Christianson incorporate Americana elements through their harmonica and banjo flares.

Lead vocalist Emily Massey drives home the delicate nature of the record, singing, “Am I wrong? / Or is it OK to stay inside / And out of love? / Tell me I’m wrong / I’m just gonna give it a try / And hope that it’s enough.”

In a statement, Massey opened up about the inspiration behind the track, saying, “This song is about letting yourself fall in love for the first time in a long time. After being hurt in previous relationships, I was trying to decide if making the jump was worth it. Turns out it was.”

Watch the official visualizer for “Broadview,” crafted by Melanie Kleid, above.

Yard is out 9/29 via ANTI-. Find more information here.

Most people remember their first concert. Mine was TLC and Boyz 2 Men, and no, I’m not talking about their comeback tour. It was the 90s and I almost broke my leg trying to climb over folding seats in the pouring rain trying to get under the venue’s awning. Pretty sure we only had lawn seats and were probably breaking some sort of law climbing to better seats.

Either way, going to a concert can be an exhilarating experience but it can also be a bit overwhelming. Everything’s loud. The music. The people. Everything. When you’re a child, not yet old enough to head off to a concert with friends, it can be even more overstimulating than it is for adults.

One little girl found herself feeling a bit upset while attending a concert with her parents for the heavy metal band “Disturbed.” But it was what happened when the lead singer noticed the frightened girl that’s melting hearts across the internet.

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The lead singer, David Draiman, could’ve just continued the show, not giving the upset child a second thought. Instead he went to comfort her across the barricade, speaking directly to her through the microphone he was still holding.

“I’m very proud of you. You’re awesome,” Draiman says before reassuring the girl. “It’s okay, baby, it’s ok. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

With every calm affirming sentence the crowd cheers. Draiman then stands on what appears to be a step on the barricade and addresses the audience.

“I love that Disturbed concerts have become a family affair. I love it,” the singer says. “And this little girl has been singing her heart out the entire show. She knows so many of the songs.”

Judging by the comments, the band is known for being kind.

“And they’re not kidding. Every single disturbed show we’ve been to made us tear up. They’re the best band I’ve seen live. Love them,” one fan writes.

“I was there. It was my first time seeing Disturbed in concert but it was definitely the most accepting and uplifting concert I’ve ever been to,” another person says.

“As a long time Disturbed fan this is unsurprising but wonderful in equal measure. They have always held such wonderful inclusive values,” someone writes.

What a beautifully kind moment caught on video showing everyone that kindness goes a long way. Watch the sweet interaction below.

@disturbed

Everyone who comes to a Disturbed concert is welcome and accepted and loved 🖤 #disturbed #takebackyourlifetour #livemusic #familyaffair #inclusive #rock #metal #weareone #united #humanity