Category: Viral

Sparkling Ice and UPROXX lit up festival season in a big way over the weekend, launching Sparkling Sessions 2.0 just minutes away from the Empire Polo Club. Corralling some of the coolest artists, creatives, partygoers, and influencers into the iconic Von Dutch Ranch, we created an exclusive desert oasis that doubled as an unforgettable music culture moment.

It all started with an electric set spun by Le Chev. Guests were welcomed with bespoke cocktails courtesy of Sparkling Ice — playful mixes like “Country Jam,” “Salty Dog,” and “Peachy Keen” that left partygoers refreshed as they lounged and danced the day away. Crowds outfitted in denim, cowboy hats, and custom-made Sparkling Ice bandanas cooled off near our “chilling pool,” vibing to to the beats while escaping the blazing sun as photo opps, taste testing challenges, Mexican street food, and Sparkling Ice flavored frozen treats kept the energy high.

With the music playing, drinks flowing, and fans buzzing, rising country star Jessie Murph took to the stage to ignite the crowd with a jaw-dropping performance of some of her biggest hits. Covered in rhinestones and packing powerful vocals, Murph proved why she’s poised to be the next big name in music, hyping the crowd through hits like “Wild Ones” and “Blue Strips.”

It was more than an event — it was an experience, sparking a new wave of music, connection, and celebration. And it’s just the beginning. Sparkling Sessions 2.0 is headed to NYC in June. Then the Bay Area in August!

Below, scroll through all the photos from UPROXX’s latest collab with Sparkling Ice and stay tuned to here for details on where we’ll show up next.

Last year, Bruno Mars’ gambling habits became the subject of an online rumor that posited the “Fat Juicy & Wet” singer was no less than $50 million in debt to the MGM casino in Las Vegas, home of his ongoing residency. Despite efforts by MGM Resorts to dispel the rumor, it’s persisted — mainly because it’s pretty funny to imagine Bruno working off his debt by performing there until his wheels fall off, a joke he’s all too willing to participate in himself.

Well, both the joke and Mars’ residency are getting just a little more life as Bruno has added new dates to his now seemingly endless residency. Nine new shows have been added, extended the residency — which began in 2016 and has included more than 100 shows at Park MGM and its sister venues — for another two weeks beginning in August and running through September. The new dates are August 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, and 31, and September 3, 5, and 6.

For what it’s worth, it seems like good work if you can get it, and it certainly puts off the need to do any house hunting for the foreseeable future. Bruno himself also seems to enjoy the “lore” surrounding his interminable stay in Vegas (which, let’s face it, he seemed almost destined to do back when he first showed up doo-wopping about catching grenades for his lover). “I love the lore that I am a Las Vegas lounge singer in debt to the mob,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I can work with that.”

You can find more info about Mars’ ongoing, endless Las Vegas residency here.

Indigo De Souza named her 2023 album All Of This Will End, which is technically true. All of this will end, but until then, De Souza is going to keep making acclaimed, insightful music.

On Wednesday (April 23), De Souza announced that she has a new album, Precipice, coming out on July 25. “Life feels like always being on the edge of something without knowing what that something is,” she wrote in a statement. “Music gives me ways to harness that feeling. Ways to push forward in new directions.”

De Souza also shared the album’s uptempo first single, “Heartthrob,” which she wrote as “a way to help process something that is often hard to talk about — the harmful ways I’ve been taken advantage of in my physical memory. ‘Heartthrob’ is about harnessing anger, and turning it into something powerful and embodied. It’s about taking back my body and my experience. It’s a big f*ck you to the abusers of the world. A sarcastic, angry cry for all bodies that have ever been touched in harmful ways.”

You can listen to “Heartthrob” above, and check out the Precipice album cover and tracklist below.

Indigo De Souza’s Precipice Album Cover Artwork

Indigo De Souza’s Precipice Tracklist

1. “Be My Love”
2. “Crying Over Nothing”
3. “Crush”
4. “Not Afraid”
5. “Be Like The Water”
6. “Heartthrob”
7. “Dinner”
8. “Clean It Up”
9. “Heartbreaker”
10. “Pass It By”
11. “Precipice”

Precipice is out 7/25 via Loma Vista Recordings. Find more information here.

Lorde recently teased, “I just wanted to say hi because everything is about to change and these are really the last moments where it’s just us, which is crazy [laughs]. But so right, I’m so ready. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to say that, but I am. I’m so thankful for your patience. I’ve felt your love, I’ve felt you right there. And yeah, this is gonna be crazy. You have no idea [laughs]. OK, I love you so much. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Then, the single “What Was That” followed, and now we’ve gotten the inevitable news: Today (April 30), Lorde has announced a new album, Virgin. A tracklist has not yet been revealed, but the project will presumably include “What Was That.” The album is set for release on June 27.

A press release says the project “promises a bold evolution in her sound and storytelling.” Additionally, Lorde’s website notes she produced the project alongside Jim-E Stack, and that it features Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, Buddy Ross, Dan Nigro, and Devonté Hynes.

In an email sent to her newsletter subscribers, she also wrote:

“The colour of the album is clear. Like bathwater, windows, ice, spit. Full transparency. The language is plain and unsentimental. The sounds are the same wherever possible. I was trying to see myself, all the way through. I was trying to make a document that reflected my femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc.

I’m proud and scared of this album. There’s nowhere to hide. I believe that putting the deepest parts of ourselves to music is what sets us free.”

Check out the album cover below.

Lorde’s Virgin Album Cover Artwork

Virgin is out 6/27 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

This week, Sound Check‘s Jeremy Hecht goes mobile for a fun on-location episode from Dreamville Festival. His guest: Ludacris, one of the biggest names in hip-hop, who shares his picks backstage ahead of his hit-packed performance. Although this time around, Jeremy doesn’t get to guess Luda’s “desert island” pick from a pair of choices, he does get a strong sense of the hitmaker’s musical taste, and still gets a chance to stump the star, reciting one of Chris’s own verses back to him (“Which song is that?” Luda wonders).

Among the choices Ludacris faces in this special episode are his favorite bar-for-bar verses (UGK’s “Wood Wheel” vs. OutKast’s “Elevators (Me & You)”), a pick between two of rap’s GOATS (Jay-Z’s “D’Evils” vs. Lil Wayne’s “Mr. Carter”), and a pair of songs from movies that Luda himself appears in (Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” from Furious 7 and Three 6 Mafia’s “Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from Hustle & Flow). He even has to make a pick between a pair of his unlikeliest collaborators: Justin Bieber and Sum 41.

Watch Sound Check with Ludacris at Dreamville Festival above.

Previous episodes of Sound Check include challenges from Big Sean, The LOX, and OhGeesy of Shoreline Mafia.

Samara Cyn has been rapidly rising since the release of her 2024 EP, The Drive Home. The 10-track project put the 26-year-old Murfreesboro, Tennessee native on plenty of radars, and her joining Smino on his ongoing Kountry Kousins Tour is putting her on even more.

That makes the timing of her latest release, the introspective single “Bad Brains,” perfect as more eyes and ears than ever are on the lookout for Samara Cyn. Over a slowed-down sample of Thee Sacred Souls’ viral hit “Can I Can You Rose?” Samara contemplates her current situation through a stream of consciousness that includes slick punchlines, devastating realizations, and references to viral memes (“I’m a bad b*tch — you can’t kill me!”).

Samara Cyn’s 2025 breakout even included a crossover with one of the year’s other major rap breakouts, Doechii. At the same Jazz Fest concert where Lauryn Hill bestowed Doechii with her co-sign and a duet performance, Hill also knighted Samara Cyn, sealing her as one of the most exciting artists coming up today. Stay tuned.

Listen to Samara Cyn’s “Bad Brains” above and see the remaining tour dates for Kountry Kousins below.

5/01 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo Hall
5/02 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues Las Vegas
5/05 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
5/07 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
5/09 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
5/10 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
5/11 – Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
5/14 – New Orleans, LA @ The Joy Theater
5/16 – Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live
5/17 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
5/18 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
5/20 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
5/22 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
5/24 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
5/28 – Washington, DC @ Echostage
5/31 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
6/03 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
6/05 – Hartford, CT @ The Webster Theater
6/07 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
6/10 – Toronto, CA @ REBEL
6/13 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
6/14 – Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple
6/15 – Newport, KY @ MegaCorp Pavilion
6/17 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre and Ballroom
6/19 – Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle
6/21 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
6/22 – Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park

For Kacey Musgraves, there’s no place like home. Both her home state of Texas and her musical home, Lost Highway Records. The label signed Musgraves in 2011, but before she could release her debut album, 2012’s Grammy-winning Same Trailer Different Park, it was absorbed by Mercury Nashville.

But now Lost Highway Records has returned with backing from Interscope Geffen A&M, and on Wednesday (April 30), it was announced that Musgraves signed with the Nashville-based label.

Musgraves said in a statement:

“Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe. In 2011, when other record labels questioned my songwriting and my more traditional country sound, Lost Highway believed in me, signing me to my first label deal and helped me take my music around the world. That journey has now come full circle in such a special way with [chairman & CEO] John Janick and Interscope and I’m deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home.”

Appropriately, her first single for Lost Highway is a cover of “Lost Highway,” a song made famous by Hank Williams. You can listen to it above (the adorable cowboy hat-wearing armadillo in the artwork wants you to).

For years, NBA referee James Williams has carved out a special place in the intersection of basketball and hip-hop, ever since fans noticed that he bears a striking resemblance to Gucci Mane. Now, finally, the two have met.

On Instagram yesterday (April 29), Mane shared some photos from his time at Miami’s Kaseya Center, for one of the Heat’s first-round playoff games against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Williams was one of the game’s officials, so sure enough, the last photo is of him and Mane of them standing on the court, with Williams beaming as he looks at the rapper.

Speaking about the resemblance in 2023, Williams said, “I am Gucci Mane. At this point. that’s who I am. I’m actually shocked when somebody on the floor calls me James. Nobody calls me James. Everybody calls me Gucci or Guwop. I’ve really just embraced it. It humanizes us. Referees who are just cops out there, I’m not a big fan of because that’s not how I referee. I go out there, I like to have fun. Engage the players, the fans, the coaches. While we have a job to do, you should still have fun while you’re doing it.”

Once, NBA star Ja Morant even requested a photo with Williams, later sharing it and captioning his post, “Me & gucci,” with some laughing emojis.

To paraphrase one of her biggest hits, Bonnie Raitt gives Chappell Roan something to cry about.

In an interview with W Magazine, “The Giver” singer was asked to name the song that makes her shed tears when she hears it. “‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ by Bonnie Raitt, makes me cry every time,” Roan replied. It should be illegal for radio stations to play that track without warning — it’s hard to drive when you’re sobbing.

Roan also said that Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning Roma had her bawling, as did the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice. “I cried at the end because she has Parkinson’s disease and she lost her voice,” she shared. “It just put so much in perspective, like: f*ck everything; I have the ability to use my voice! She’s one of the greatest vocalists of all time, and to see her struggle was gut-wrenching.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Roan revealed her biggest pet peeve (“When people name-drop”), first kiss (“In my parents’ driveway. I was 15”), and favorite Halloween costume. “I am not a Halloween girl,” she said. “My favorite Halloween costumes I admire from afar, because I’m always the b*tch who has the cat ears on and that’s it. My work outfit is like Halloween! But when I was a child, I was a red M&M for three years in a row.”

Barbra Streisand has been at it for decades and the legend isn’t stopping now: Today (April 30), she announced The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two, a new album filled with collaborations.

She shared the Hozier meet-up “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” today, and the tracklist also features Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande joining Streisand on one song, as well as other tracks with Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Laufey, Sam Smith, and more.

Streisand says in a statement:

“I’ve always loved singing duets with gifted artists. They inspire me in unique and different ways… and make our time in the studio a joy! My new album, The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two, gave me the chance to work and play with some of my old friends, label mates, and new artists too. I admire all of them… and I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to our collaborations as much as I enjoyed recording with all of my wonderful partners.”

Listen to “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” above and find the The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two cover art and tracklist below.

Barbra Streisand’s The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two Album Cover Artwork

Barbra Streisand’s The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two Tracklist

1. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” with Hozier
2. “My Valentine” with Paul McCartney
3. “To Lose You Again” with Sam Smith
4. “The Very Thought Of You” with Bob Dylan
5. “Letter To My 13 Year Old Self” with Laufey
6. “One Heart, One Voice” with Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande
7. “I Love Us” with Tim McGraw
8. “Secret O’ Life” with James Taylor
9. “Fragile” with Sting
10. “Where Do I Go From You?” with Josh Groban
11. “Love Will Survive” with Seal

The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume Two is out 6/27 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.