Category: Trending

Even if certain family members aren’t going to, superfans aren’t the only ones supporting pop star Britney Spears following the news of her divorce from Sam Asghari. On Wednesday (August 16), during the Detroit stop of her Summer Carnival Tour, Pink seemingly gave a nod to the singer by changing the lyrics to one of her songs.

While performing on the Comerica Park stage, Pink tweaked the line “Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears,” featured in her 2001 song “Don’t Let Me Get Me.” Instead, Pink sang, “Tired of being compared to sweet Britney Spears,” continuing, “She’s so pretty / That just ain’t me.”

The track featured on Pink’s sophomore, Missundaztood, has been widely criticized by Spears’ fans. But during an interview with People, Pink told the outlet it wasn’t meant to be that way. “People think I was picking on Britney on ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me,’ but I’ve always felt like a big sister to her. I’m very protective of her, and she’s the sweetest person in the world,” said the recording artist.

Spears hasn’t released a public statement regarding the end of her marriage. However, her soon-to-be ex has. “After six years of love and commitment to each other, my wife and I have decided to end our journey together,” Asghari wrote on social media. “We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other, and I wish her the best always. Sh*t happens. Asking for privacy seems ridiculous, so I will just ask for everyone, including media, to be kind and thoughtful.”

Just when you thought it was safe to swim again, the otters are back. The belly eaters (to any otters out there reading this, I say this with love — and jealously) have been stealing surfboards and causing chaos in California this summer, as an actress who was on Succession learned the hard way.

“I felt something on my back side and on my leg,” said Crystal Finn, who appeared in a season four episode of the HBO series, told the San Fransisco Chronicle. She was swimming in the Feather River near Plumas National Forest when she “started looking around and yelling out and [the otters] popped up right in front of me. Then they dove down and started going at me again.”

Finn went to a nearby hospital, where she was told by doctors that they had recently treated another victim of an otter attack. “I could see the bites on my legs and knew I had been bitten on my butt — that one was the worst, but I couldn’t see it,” she said. “The bites really hurt.”

Moments after the attack began, three otters appeared on the surface of the water about six inches from her face, she said. While the relationship between the otters was unclear, Finn theorized it was a mother protecting her two offspring. Startled, Finn hurled herself toward the shore of the narrow riverway. The otters “dove back down” and began biting her again. Fighting the trio with her feet, she scrambled onto a rock for safety. The otters disappeared.

Humans and otters need to come to a compromise. We get the land, they get the rivers. The oceans belong to the sharks, the skies to the birds. Snakes can do whatever they damn please. We can make this work.

(Via the San Fransisco Chronicle)

A lot of musicians have praised Jack Antonoff for his producing skills. “I think that guy has a reputation for being busy, but I can tell you, he’s just good. He’s so good,” Matty Healy said last year. He’s produced for Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more. However, it started with Taylor Swift.

On Time‘s Person Of The Week podcast, Antonoff discussed how Swift encouraged him to engage in producing. “She’s the first person who recognized me as a producer,” Antonoff said, mentioning “Sweeter Than Fiction,” as well as his contributions to 1989.

“A lot of people are afraid to sign off on something that isn’t done by a proven person,” he said. “I had written lots of songs and produced them, but they would always sort of go somewhere else… So the label or whoever could say, ‘Oh, we had this person produce it. ‘I put my heart and soul into that song and she said, ‘I love it.’”

“I had played her that track, and I remember, we were at my apartment in New York,” he continued. “And sometimes she gets this look in her eye where she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going in’… But on that one, I just remember watching her and being like, ‘Uh-oh. We’ve got a live one!’”

Listen to the episode below.

Steven was on vacation for part of the week, so he was checked out of the discourse. When he returned, he kept seeing the same face in his social media feed — the “Ginger Mumford” himself, Oliver Anthony. The folk-country artist went mega-viral this week with his right-wing, anti-welfare song “Rich Men North Of Richmond.” Steven asked Ian if he’s heard the song, and about the recent upswing in reactionary hits and whether this is a path forward for new artists looking for a way to break.

After that, the guys talk about Ian’s recent list of the greatest blog rock albums of all time. They debate Ian’s choices, and compare that mid-aughts era when amateur curators were obsessed with hyping obscure bands with today’s safer, superstar-obsessed era. Have things gotten better or worse?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the indie-pop band dreamTX while Steven recommends the Philadelphia country-rock outfit Florry.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 151 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

There are a few reasons why Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a three-hour long drama for adults, has made $657 million (and counting) at the worldwide box office. For one thing, it’s a very good movie from one of the few directors who can sell a project on his name alone. The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon has also helped, with tens of thousands of same-day double features of Barbie and Oppenheimer (or the correct order, Oppenheimer then Barbie).

But one side effect of Oppenheimer coming out the same day as Barbie is that it’s never reached #1 at the box office. It’s been stuck in the pole position or, during the weekend that Meg 2: The Trench came out, third place. In fact, Oppenheimer is now the highest-grossing domestic movie of all time to never reach the top spot at the box office. It beat, of all things, Sing.

Oppenheimer added another $2.6 million on Wednesday, which brought its domestic total to $272.6 million. Since it constantly had Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie holding it back from taking first place, it’s now the current holder of that strange record to have. Similarly, Sing [which made $270.3 million] had the behemoth Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to compete against when it was released in December 2016.

The other big grossers that never hit #1 include My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Nolan must be thrilled to be in such great company.

(Via Gold Derby)

The latest episode of the Dua Lipa: At Your Service dropped today (August 18), and Lipa’s guest is none other than Billie Eilish. At one point in the conversation, Eilish explains how her mother, Maggie Baird, has been the “key” to her career.

She said, “Everything that I’ve experienced and being able to get through it is just all my mom. My mom is, like, the key to my career, and not like she’s a momager, she’s just a support system that is why I’m not completely a loony now.”

Eilish then noted of her relationship with her family, “My closest friends really, truly are my brother and my parents. I mean, it’s just the way that it is, and I’m fine with it. I think there was a period where I was maybe insecure, like, ‘I’m really close with my family. Hmm, am I a loser?’ [laughs] I’m much more fine with it now. I really love my family.”

She also spoke about how Finneas helps keep her grounded, saying, “When I’m with my brother and I kind of complain about sh*t, he’s like, ‘Shut up, snap out of that. Don’t do that. We’re not going to do that.’ [laughs] And I always appreciate that. There’s certain times when I really appreciate Finneas’ ability to be my brother, my sibling, and just be straight up with me. And he also makes me laugh more than anybody. We just… we get through it together. I don’t know how I would have done any of this without my brother, and without my mom.”

Check out that clip above and the full At Your Service episode below.

Earlier this week, when reports of Britney Spears and Sam Asghari’s divorce first surfaced, there were other reports that Asghari was, as a source that spoke to Page Six put it, “attempting to negotiate concessions beyond his prenup and threatening to go public with extraordinarily embarrassing information about Britney unless he gets paid.”

According to people in Asghari’s camp, though, that claim is untrue.

Asghari’s rep Brandon Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter, “There are many claims that Sam is challenging the prenup and threatening to exploit his ex-wife with videos. However, all these claims are false, as no negative intention has ever been directed towards her and never will be. Sam has always and will always support her.”

Asghari also shared a statement of his own confirming the separation, writing in a post shared on his Instagram Story yesterday (August 17), “After 6 years of love and commitment to each other, my wife and I have decided to end our journey together. We will hold onto the love and respect we have for each other and I wish her the best always. Sh*t happens. Asking for privacy seems rediculous [sic], so I will just ask for everyone, including media, to be kind and thoughtful.”

Spears has yet to publicly address the situation.

Jessie Reyez and Miguel are turning up the heat. Tonight (August 18), the two have dropped “Jeans,” a spicy, x-rated new collaboration.

The two have been teasing the collab via social media over the course of the past few days, and as always, Reyez’s pen proves to have made the song worth the wait.

“You fit / Better than a pair of jeans, baby / Fill me up better than a feast, baby /Don’t think I could ever let you leave, baby…Stroke makin’ me forget to breathe, baby / That face lookin’ like a seat, baby,” sings Reyes on the song’s chorus.

Miguel then chimes in with erotic, poetic wordplay of his own.

“And I see the way of your eyes / I know / I’m doin’ it right I love how you coach me when I’m close to the peak,” sings Miguel.

Both acts are having an exciting summer. Miguel is currently enjoying a viral resurgence of his 2011 breakthrough single, “Sure Thing,” while gearing up for a comeback of his own, beginning with his Lil Yachty-assisted single, “Number 9.”

Meanwhile, Reyez is currently on tour with Sam Smith, and is set to release her first poetry book, Words Of A Goat Princess this fall.

You can listen to “Jeans” above.

Known to craft her art on her own terms, Tinashe is laying down the law with her new single. Tonight (August 18), Tinashe is kicking off a new music project of hers with “Needs.”

As the song’s title suggests, Tinashe makes her needs known on the track, delivering suggestive yet sexy lyrics over a pulsating beat.

“Don’t be a tease / Grab them keys / Afterparty in between the sheets / Top floor shawty in a penthouse suite / I make you say, ‘Please’ / Please / I’m not easy, but I’m feenin’ / I’m just human, we all got needs,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

In the song’s accompanying video, Tinashe and her crew dance their way through an empty supermarket. In one spicy scene, Tinashe is seen naked, covered by cold-cut meats.

The track comes from her upcoming album, BB/ANG3L, which she will release via producer Ricky Reed’s Nice Life Recordings.

“For BB/ANG3L I was very inspired by the concept of identity,” said Tinashe in a statement. “Exploring both how I self-identify and also challenging the perceptions of others. I believe how we identify in this world is ultimately our own personal choice; and I’ve enjoyed stripping back layers of aesthetic fluff, smoke, and mirrors, and white noise to get down to the core of myself. Who we are at a core level, when we are alone – raw and unfiltered, is what I want this album to reflect.”

You can see the video for “Needs” above.

Davido and Latto aren’t here for the games. Tonight the afro-fusion hitmaker has teamed up with one of the hottest voices in raps for a remix of one of his hits, “Unavailable.”

On the fiery remix, Davido maintains his unavailable status, while Latto doubles down—both of them distancing themselves from the B.S. of trifling people.

“Unavailable, unapproachable, out of reach / I got ninety-nine problems and it’s never me / I have dragged that wagon like a f*cking chief / You took everything from me, but accountability,” raps Latto on her verse.

The song’s original version has become a global hit for Davido, and with Latto tearing up the charts in both the pop and hip-hop realm, it’s only fitting that she adds her magic touch to the remix.

“I am so excited to see how far ‘Unavailable’ has gone globally and seeing everyone hop on the dance across the globe has been awesome,” said Davido in a statement. “To have Latto, an incredible artist who we all love jump on the record, bringing her incredible energy to this song is pretty special and I can’t wait to see everyone having a good time all year round to this song.”

You can listen to the “Unavailable” remix above.