Category: Viral

The 2023 Grammys are right around the corner. This year’s award show is set to be a historical one, as there are a ton of “firsts” among the nominations. Kendrick Lamar is the first artist to be nominated for Album Of The Year for four consecutive releases. Beyonce tied her husband Jay-Z as the most-nominated artist in history. BTS’s “Yet To Come” is the firrst Korean-language song to be nominated. And Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is the first Spanish-language album ever nominated for Album Of The Year.

In addition, Trevor Noah will host for the third time in a row, while the first round of announced performers includes Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Kim Petras, Lizzo, Luke Combs, Mary J. Blige, Sam Smith, and Steve Lacy, with a rumor circulating online that Jay-Z will join DJ Khaled to perform his fan-favorite “God Did” verse. More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

With all that history flying around, the Grammys will be worth watching… but how do you tune in?

The 2023 Grammys will air live on Sunday, February 5 at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. You can watch on CBS or stream from Paramount+ or the Grammys website.

In between filming Dune, drinking Aperol spritzes, and spearheading the Free The Nipple movement, Florence Pugh has also been working on something a little different for her next movie, A Good Person. While appearing on The Run-Through with Vogue, Pugh revealed that she is releasing her own music that is featured in Zach Braff’s upcoming drama.

“I’ve actually got music being released this year,” Pugh confirmed when asked about her 2023 projects. “I wrote music for [A Good Person] and that’s been a whole exciting experience that I’ve been desperate to do for years.” Pugh stars as a young woman named Allison who goes through a tragic loss at the peak of her career and finds an unlikely friendship with Morgan Freeman’s character. Her original songs will be featured in the movie, which hits theaters on March 24th (the same weekend that everything else is happening).

Pugh is no stranger to music, as she used to upload covers to her YouTube channel before she was a household name. “Ever since I was in school, I really thought I was going to be a musician before I was going to be an actor. And I think it just flipped along the way,” she explained, adding that she had taken time away from music for so long in order to focus on acting.

“[Music] is one of those things that can mean so much to you, and the less you do it the less confidence you have and you end up losing your heart in it,” the Dune actress explained, adding that Braff’s script inspired her to get back into it. “For years I was so scared of how to do it. And eventually, this opportunity arose and I read Zach’s script and I said ‘I’ve been inspired to write a song.’ And we put them in the movie.”

Pugh said that she’s really excited to release “real” music, so there is a chance that maybe one day we will witness her having her own pop star moment. “I’ve been able to dabble in it with some characters in some projects I’ve been able to sing, but never fully do it for real.” Not many people would consider releasing a song with Harry Styles as just a warm-up for making music for “real,” but Pugh certainly can!

OVO Sound’s rising rapper Smiley is affectionately known for his charismatic grill. But with a tattoo of high fashion brand Louis Vuitton’s signature monogram textile on his hand, his passion for fashion can’t be ignored. While both Beyoncé and Rihanna have made their marks in the fashion industry due to the success of their brands Ivy Park and Fenty, maybe Smiley would like to take notes in hopes of expanding his business portfolio.

The “Over The Top” rapper sat down with his to give his fashion opinion and financial investment tips for building their sneaker collection. While musicians such as Wale and DJ Khaled have gained notoriety for having rare items in their clothes, the Canadian native wants to let everyone know not every shoe is worth copping.

Of the hundreds of sneakers to discuss, Smiley gave his opinion on Nike’s SB Ben & Jerry’s low-top dunks, Travis Scott’s Air Jordan 1 collaboration, the Dior and Air Jordan 1 high-top, Golden Goose’s deluxe brand hi-star sneaker and the Nike MAGs from Back To The Future.

Outside of Buy or Bye, catch Smiley and his shoe game in his recent UPROXX Sessions performances of “Grammy” and “In My Zone.”

You can watch Smiley’s Buy or Bye for Uproxx Music above.

A new champion of the AFC will be crowned this Sunday and earn the right to play in the Super Bowl. It’s gonna be a fantastic matchup between the conference’s two most recent Super Bowl teams: the Chiefs and Bengals, led by Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, respectively. Both of these quarterbacks are playing some of the best football of their life right now and have a confidence to them that has helped them reach this point.

However, at some point before a game as big as this one, these two need to find a way to relax. For Burrow, that would be using his Saturday to do things that don’t involve film study. What does he usually do instead? Play Super Smash Bros. of course!

Of all the ways that someone can possibly relax before a game, there might not be a better option than Smash Bros. It’s ridiculously fun, the stakes are only as high as you want them to be, and it’s a chance to scratch that competitive itch. The true question on everyone’s mind though was which character was Burrow’s weapon of choice?

Ness is weird, floaty, and racks up damage in ways you would never expect him to. More power to Ness players out there, but you have to be committed to learning how to play someone like that. Maybe that’s why Burrow has so quickly become one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Can someone please ask Patrick Mahomes what his main is?

This weekend, dance like nobody’s watching.

Actually. Scratch that. Dance like you’re Anne Hathaway and everybody’s watching.

After a quiet 2022 (her only film role was in the quickly forgotten Armageddon Time), Hathaway was everywhere this week at the Sundance Film Festival, where she was promoting the well-received thriller Eileen, and Paris Fashion Week.

ET Online reports that the “actress let loose at the after-party for the Valentino Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week show,” where she was recorded singing and dancing to “Lady Marmalade.” I believe @PopCulture2000s, who shared the video that was originally filmed by TikTok user @kerosenne, put it best: “ANNE HATHAWAY.”

It’s how we all think we look in the club, when actually we’re more like Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story.

“I’m so lucky that my life has always been very, very full and fortunate. But I’m in a place where I’m able to enjoy it differently,” Hathaway previously told ET Online about attending events. “I used to come to these things and I would truly tremble. I would be so anxious. It is a little sad that I was able to be in all those wonderful places and the only thing I could feel was scared… I’m just living life a little differently now and I’m enjoying it. I’m so focused and connected to my gratitude.” Time to blast some Robyn.

(Via ET Online)

Christian Nodal is embracing bolero with his new single “Por El Resto De Tu Vida.” The Mexican singer teamed up with Argentine pop star Tini for the romantic music video that was released today (January 27).

Though Nodal is known as one of the Gen-Z superstars in regional Mexican music, he has gone global thanks to his interesting genre mixtures. In 2021, he added an element of hip-hop to his sound with “Botella Tras Botella” alongside Mexican rapper Gera MX. Now his is blending bolero with trap music influences in “Por El Resto De Tu Vida” with Tini.

“It’s a very special song for me that I composed with Edgar Barrera and Elena Rose in honor of love,” Nodal said in a statement. “All of us at some point in our lives, or several, feel so in love that we only dream of spending the rest of our lives with that person. It’s about celebrating love in the most genuine way, the same love I also feel for all of you, my fans, whom I love so much.”

“Por El Resto De Tu Vida” is a soaring love song where Nodal and Tini trade verses about a taking blossoming relationship to the next level. In the vibrant video, the two singers beautifully translate that romance from the song to the small screen. Tini looks like a goddess as she belts the ballad alongside Nodal.

“Por El Resto De Tu Vida” will be included on Nodal’s upcoming album Forajido2. His EP #1 Forajido is nominated for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano) at next month’s Grammy Awards. Tini’s Cupido album will be released on February 17.

In a situation that should surprise absolutely no one, Truth Social users are proving to be easy marks for shady online ads, and they’re reportedly pleading with Donald Trump to do something about it. Thanks in no small parts to those users, who are extremely right wing and dwindling by the day, Truth Social isn’t exactly a desirable target for brands.

The predicament has forced the platform to be overrun with questionable ads for “alternative medicine, diet pills, gun accessories and Trump-themed trinkets.” Case in point: One ad boasted a gold $1,000 bill that Trump was supposedly giving to his supporters free. It was not free or made of gold.

Via The New York Times:

Devin Nunes, the chief executive of Trump Media, said in an announcement last year that the company’s ad strategy would help it “displace the Big Tech platforms” as a major way to reach Americans. But ad experts say the wariness from prominent brands on far-right social networks, which have positioned themselves as free-speech alternatives to Silicon Valley giants like Meta and Google, is driven by the kinds of conspiracy theories and hyperpartisan politics often found on the sites. In addition, they say, Truth Social has a relatively small user base and many older users, who are less desirable for the brands.

The situation has reached a boiling point as the few remaining users on Truth Social have reportedly turned on Trump. One user even hopped into the former president’s replies to plead for his help.

“Can you not vet the ads on Truth?” the frustrated user wrote. “I’ve been scammed more than once.”

However, thanks to the demographics of Truth Social and it’s less than helpful tracking system, the ad problem is probably not improving anytime soon or at all. There are also reports that Trump could leave the platform once his contract his up, but Devin Nunes has denied that’s the case. For whatever that’s worth.

(Via The New York Times)

Okay, so, first of all: I’m sorry for the video above. But you can’t write about Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and not Rickroll your readers. So, enjoy.

It’s relevant, though! The song’s at the center of a lawsuit filed by the English singer against emergent Minnesota rapper Yung Gravy. Gravy’s breakout song “Betty (Get Money),” is based heavily on an interpolation of “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but according to Billboard, Gravy went too far despite licensing the song for interpolation purposes. Here is the video, which YouTube actually brings up when you search for “Rick Astley”:

If that’s a little confusing, here’s my interview with industry vet Naima Cochrane in which we talk exactly this subject and Cochrane breaks down the differences between interpolation and sampling. Basically, if a musician reproduces parts of an original recording, it’s an interpolation. If they use the original recording, it’s a sample, even if they manipulate it.

In Astley’s lawsuit, filed Thursday (January 26), Astley claims Gravy so closely imitated Astley’s voice, that it basically counts as a sample, if it already isn’t actually one, and this violates Astley’s right of publicity because it fooled the public into thinking it was actually Rick on the newer song (the YouTube search results might lend some credibility to that one).

The suit reads, “In an effort to capitalize off of the immense popularity and goodwill of Mr. Astley, defendants … conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley’s voice throughout the song. he public could not tell the difference. The imitation of Mr. Astley’s voice was so successful the public believed it was actually Mr. Astley singing.”

Now, Gravy and his producers cleared the instrumental from “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but couldn’t license Astley’s voice. So, they hired Nick Seeley, aka Popnick, to imitate Astley — but his imitation might have been too good, opening the door for Rick to submit this suit.

The precedent for the suit comes from a 1988 federal court ruling that Bette Midler’s right of publicity was violated by the Ford Motor Co. after Ford used an impersonator in a series of television commercials. Although Ford cleared the song, it did not get permission to use her performance; trying to circumvent this with an impersonator still amounted to using her likeness, according to the court.

In some bad news for Gravy, the litigator behind the suit is Richard Busch, who helped the Marvin Gaye estate win its case against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for “Blurred Lines.” You may remember that song was criticized for sounding a lot like Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.” Gravy’s defense better be rock-solid or his signature hit could end up being a black mark on his career.

And if you remember Gravy telling Billboard that Astley “f*cks with the song” last year, here’s some bad news: Astley says in his lawsuit, “These statements were all false.” Yikes.

Super Bowl LVII isn’t the only Roman numerals-based event happening in early February. The first trailer for Fast X, the 10th film in the Fast and Furious franchise, will be released on February 10th, two days before The Big Game between the San Fransisco 49ers or Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cincinnati Bengals or Kansas City Chiefs (there will also reportedly be a TV spot during the Super Bowl).

Vin Diesel teased the Fast X trailer in an Instagram post. “Two weeks away from the FastX trailer launch!!!!” he wrote. “Blessed to be a part of a Saga that encourages such great work from the many amazing artists that have made this the world’s Saga! A still from set after an intense, week long scene with my brother @prideofgypsies.” Diesel also shared a photo where he’s fist bumping his aforementioned brother, Jason Momoa.

Meet your Fast X villain… Jesus Christ?

Dudes rock.

Fast X, which also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, John Cena, Brie Larson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Michael Rooker, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Cardi B, Rita Moreno, and Charlize Theron (you know the cast is stacked when Charlize Theron gets the “and” credit), comes out on May 19.

(Via Instagram)

Earlier this week, Karol G announced her upcoming album Mañana Será Bonito. Typically, an artist tours an album after dropping it, so that could be the case for the Colombian superstar’s new LP as well.

Mañana Será Bonito will the follow-up to Karol G’s KG0516 album, which was released in 2021. Off that success of that breakthrough album, she actually launched multiple tours. Later that year, Karol G toured theaters across the US with the Bichota Tour. She then toured Latin America with the Bichota Reloaded Tour.

Karol G returned to the US last year with the Strip Love Tour. For the first time, she toured and sold-out arenas in the states. The Strip Love Tour became the highest-grossing US tour by a female Latin act in history by grossing $69.9 million, as reported by Billboard. A bit of disheartening news for those expecting a tour is Mañana Será Bonito is that Karol G expressed last October that she will not be touring in 2023.

“In the coming year [2023], there won’t be a tour,” Karol G said in Spanish during a concert. “I won’t be touring. I have a concert at Puerto Rico’s El Choli colosseum. I invite you there.”

Karol G’s concert in Puerto Rico will take place on March 12. Earlier this month, she sang her hits like “Provenza” and “Gatúbela” at Calibash in LA. Next month, Karol G will perform at the Viña Del Mar International Song Festival in Chile. It looks like Karol G could be taking a well-deserved break from touring this year or maybe she might have a change of heart with Mañana Será Bonito.