Category: Viral

As we learned last week, Usher has a new concert film, Usher: Rendezvous In Paris, on the way. Now, we have our first look at it via a new trailer, which combines concert footage with clips of Usher dramatically looking over and walking through Paris.

Usher previously said in a statement, “Paris was a special experience for me as an entertainer and for my fans. I hope those who weren’t able to make it in person get to experience how special it was. As for those of you who were, I hope you experience the show and see what it takes to get there through a different lens.”

According to a press release, the movie “incorporates the essence of his landmark cultural phenomenon Vegas residencies into a seductive French touch confession” and features the songs “Yeah!,” “My Boo,” “Love In This Club,” and others “performed with never-before-seen costumes and state-of-the-art lighting and special effects.” The movie also promises to give “audiences a glimpse inside life beyond the stage — creating a global moment that moviegoers won’t want to miss.”

The film is set for a limited run from September 12 to 15, playing in 2,000 theaters worldwide. Screening details and ticketing information is available on the movie’s website.

Watch the trailer above.

Jenna Ortega made her on-screen debut as “Girl” in the Rob Schneider sitcom Rob. Her career has slightly improved since then. The X, Wednesday, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actress is on the cover of next month’s Vanity Fair, where she talked about what got her into acting (it wasn’t a hope that, one day, she would be at the center of weird age-gap discourse).

“I’m so appreciative of my six-year-old self who wanted to be a president and an astronaut… because I realize now that I was always looking for a way out,” Ortega said. She found her way out after watching Man on Fire, the 2004 movie starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Ortega said the action-thriller “changed the entire course of my existence,” in particular nine-year-old Fanning’s performance, which inspired her to become an actor.

In an alternate timeline, Ortega watches Déjà Vu and devotes her life to going back in time. It’s probably good she saw Man on Fire instead.

Next up for Ortega is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice then season 2 of Wednesday. “I think the feel that we’re going for is a little bit more horror-inspired,” she said about season 2 of the Netflix hit. “Not to say that suddenly we’re the goriest show of all time. I mean, there’s six-year-olds watching.” Ortega gave an example of family-friendly horror: “We’re doing this thing now where Wednesday just kind of appears. She is a little bit of a jump scare herself.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in theaters on September 6, while Wednesday season 2 will hopefully premiere in 2025.

(Via Vanity Fair)

There’s definitely something happening in the world of The Weeknd right now. Ever since he announced a special one-off concert in São Paulo, Brazil (set for September 7) last month, The Weeknd has delivered strong indications that a new album is on the way via teaser videos. Now, there’s yet another new one.

The new teaser, titled “Unprepared certainty…,” runs for three-and-a-half minutes and features new music playing throughout, as we see CGI visuals of a little boy exploring a creepy and surreal house in a stormy environment. As for the song, it’s more of an interlude or an intro than a verse-chorus-verse-chorus song, but it’s certainly lovely and atmospheric.

A previous teaser said, “There are three chapters to this tale,” which appears to indicate that The Weeknd is getting ready to release the final album of a trilogy that began with After Hours and continued with Dawn FM. A new album has yet to be formally announced, but perhaps it will soon given all the teasing The Weeknd has been doing lately. Perhaps a more concrete update will arrive as we get closer to the big Brazil concert that’s now almost exactly a month away.

Check out the video above.

If the Olympics were smart, they would get history-making opening ceremony performers Gojira back for the 2024 closing ceremony in Paris, possibly in a duet with Celine Dion. But instead, they’re going for the next best option.

Who Is Performing During The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony?

French newspaper Le Parisien reports that Phoenix and Air “will play Sunday evening as part of this ceremony” as a way to “embody international French music with electronic accents.”

Phoenix formed in the 1990s in Versailles and found breakthrough success with their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, featuring hit singles “1901” and “Lisztomania,” while Air is touring behind the 25th anniversary of their monumental debut album, Moon Safari. The bands recently played together at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, with Phoenix frontman (and What We Do In The Shadows guest star) Thomas Mars joining Air to perform “Playground Love” from The Virgin Suicides soundtrack.

The closing ceremony at the 2024 Olympics will also feature an “epic stunt” from famously not-French actor Tom Cruise involving skydiving, the official Olympic flag, and proverbially (and literally?) passing the torch to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He’ll create an appropriate atmosphere.

The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony will broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock on Sunday, August 11, at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).

SZA is coming off a busy festival season that has seen her perform at Sol Blume, Primavera Sound Barcelona, Governors Ball, and just this past weekend, Lollapalooza Chicago and Osheaga. After that flurry of activity, though, it looks like we may have to wait some time before we see SZA on stage again.

Last night (August 5), SZA tweeted, “Yesterday was my last show for a while . Finally bout to get my life together thank u God .”

SZA’s website currently lists her next scheduled performance as being on November 20 at Al Dana Amphitheatre in Aş Şakhīr, Bahrain.

It’s not clear what SZA meant by getting her life together, but she does have two sets of new material in the pipeline. In March, she offered an update saying that she intends to release some previously leaked tracks soon. Meanwhile, her upcoming album Lana, which was previously set to be a deluxe edition of SOS before expanding into its own project, is also on the way.

She also recently spoke about how she’s perceived in music, saying, “The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black. It’s almost a little reductive because it doesn’t allow space to be anything else or try anything else. Justin Bieber is not considered an R&B artist; he is a pop artist who makes R&B, folk music, or whatever his heart desires. I simply just want to be allowed the same opportunity to make whatever I want without a label, [without it being] based on the color of my skin, or the crew that I run with, or the beats that I choose.”

Beyoncé’s devoted super fans (the Beyhive) reportedly served as the inspiration behind the Donald Glover co-created series, Swarm. Now, Taylor Swift’s Swifties appear to be the inspiration behind M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, Trap.

However, there are two special musician cameos that are stealing the show (sorry, Josh Hartnett). Kid Cudi and Russ are featured on the movie’s official soundtrack. But, they lent their star power to the project as well. So, what role do they play? Continue below for more information.

Who Do Kid Cudi & Russ Play In M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap?’

According to IMBD, Kid Cudi and Russ traded their musical persona for a fictional rock star.

Without giving too much of the plot away, Kid Cudi’s role is listed as “The Thinker.” Russ, on the other hand, is cast as “Parker Wayne.”

Both entertainers took to their respective social media pages to discuss their appearance in the motion picture. “TRAP is out now, and I couldn’t be more proud,” wrote Cudi. “Such a wonderful time with the most beautiful people. M. Night Shyamalan, thank you for your embrace, your love, and support. I told you this was a dream come true for me, and I appreciate you for giving me the chance to come take the ride.”

Russ focused his gratitude on the soundtrack placement, writing: “I’m on a song in the new M. Night Shyamalan movie insane.”

View viewers’ reaction to their onscreen appearance below.

It is gradually becoming more challenging for artists to keep their projects locked away. Many recording artists, including SZA and now Asap Rocky, have found themselves fighting off music pirates.

Still, the “Highjack” rapper is moving full steam ahead with the release of his highly-anticipated album, Don’t Be Dumb. During his recent appearance on Apple Music’s New Music Daily, Asap Rocky addressed the recent leaks. In the chat with Zane Lowe, Asap Rocky confessed that any things floating around online won’t make the final project.

“And once it’s leaked it’s just like, nah, it’s not on the project,” he said. “I might perform it here or there, but it’s leaked. It is what it is. It’s out already. A lot of these records didn’t make it because they got leaked at some point.”

Asap Rocky doubled down on his decision while shaming the leakers. “It’s very important and special if it makes it on the album,” he said. “Most of the songs that I usually perform and sh*t like that, motherf*ckers leak it.”

Back in June, Asap Rocky seemingly confirmed the project’s release date. If plans haven’t changed, fans should expect it at the end of the month.

Watch Zane Lowe’s full interview with Asap Rocky for Apple Music above.

Don’t Be Dumb is due on 8/30 via ASAP Worldwide, Polo Grounds, RCA. You can find more info here.

In hip-hop, Drake appears to be public enemy number one. Thanks to Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping diss track, “Not Like Us,” the Toronto native fell out of favor with hip-hop lovers around the world.

Even public displays of support from Lil Wayne and Lil Yachty, could win Drake over cool points. However, despite it all, future NBA Hall of Famer, Stephen Curry, hasn’t turned his back on his friend. In fact, according to him, he is “a big Drake guy.”

In an interview with GQ, Stephen Curry showed his love for the “Family Matters” rapper.

After being asked about his thoughts on the vicious Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, Curry made it clear as to which side he stands on.

“I’m a big Drake guy,” he said. “I’ve been for a long time.”

Curry went on to seemingly agree with the public’s declaration that Kendrick Lamar took home the victory in their beef. Still, that hasn’t swayed Curry’s support in any way.

“I think obviously you know what it is for the rap industry to have that,” he said. “But I still rock with Drake. Absolutely. Absolutely.”

As transplant representative for the West Coast, maybe Stephen Curry can encourage the rest of California to ease up on Drake.

Author and crime victim advocate Lindsay Schraad Keeling, 32, has people laughing and also feeling a little creeped out after sharing a sympathy card she made for a teacher when she was 7 in 1999. The card shows that even though Keeling’s heart was in the right place, she had yet to grasp how to tactfully bring up a loved one’s death at that age.

Keeling is the author of the upcoming, “The Funeral Director’s Wife” and co-author of the award-winning “Where the Trail Ends: The Kenny Suttner Story.”

It all started when the principal at Keeling’s school announced to her class that the computer teacher’s mother had passed away, so they’d have a substitute teacher that day. “He didn’t ask for any drawings or sympathy cards or anything, but when I got home, I decided I wanted to do something nice for my teacher,” she told People. “I had just learned about death as a child after our pet died and my mom read me a book about dying.”

The self-proclaimed “emotional child” made a sympathy card for her teacher and showed it to her mother after she was finished. “I’m sure I was very proud of it because I excitedly showed it to my mother — who was wise enough to gently take it from me so I couldn’t give it to my teacher,” she told Today.com.

The card reads:

By Lindsay, to computer teacher
Sory teacher.
I am so sory computer teacher that your mom had to die. Sory.
But everybody hasts to die some day.
And today it was your mom’s turn to die.
Love love is in your hart.

@authorlindsayskeeling

Replying to @CassieMae Ask and you shall receive 💀 #fyp #sympathycard #childhood #childhoodmemories #scarystories

The card eventually found its way to a box of mementos and Keeling wouldn’t see it again for another 25 years. When she returned to her family’s home in Oklahoma after her grandfather’s passing, her mother showed her the card to cheer her up.

“I was very upset, and my mother wanted to cheer me up, so she went through a box of keepsakes she’d been keeping for 25 years and showed me the ‘sympathy card’ I’d made for my teacher,” Keeling told People. Later, she posted images of the card to TikTok, where it’s been viewed over 3 million times.

Many people in the comments thought the card was unsettling, especially coming from such a young child. “This reads like you’re the one who did it,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “A Sympathy card apparently written by JIGSAW,” referencing the killer in the “Saw” franchise.

@authorlindsayskeeling

Replying to @karleyr0se Let me know in the comments if y’all want to read them with me! #booktok #bookish #childrensbook #childrensbooks #childrensbookauthor #sympathycard #funny #author

The story inspired many people to share the “unhinged” sympathy cards they’ve seen children write. “My grandma died. A student gave me a card. They drew her in the casket,” a teacher wrote. “My grandpa died in December, and the card my 8-year-old made him when he got sick said, ‘I hope you enjoy your life while it lasts,’ with a picture of a gravestone,” another commenter added.

Ultimately, Keeling’s curious card from 1999 brought smiles to many faces and also helped cheer up some people who could use a sympathy card themselves.

“The feedback I loved the most — besides all the funny comments — was a person who said their mother had passed away recently and this was ‘the first time they had laughed in weeks,’” Keeling told Today.com. “I was so grateful that I could bring joy to people who were grieving like me.”

When it comes to love, thoughtfulness is a far more important ingredient than spending lots of money. Sometimes having a nice bubble bath drawn for you at home feels just as lavish as any spa date. Sometimes when your partner says “I picked up this one special snack for you cause I know it’s your favorite” feels just as special as a fancy meal out.

There’s something just so personal about these moments, and that’s what makes them magical.

And it was this kind of moment recently shared between a husband and a wife on their 10 year anniversary, which they chose to celebrate with Taco Bell.

Turns out, there’s a very sweet story behind this unexpected meal choice.

In a reel posted to her Instagram, Ashley Olson shared that in April 2014, she and her now husband Willie got married at a courthouse at 23 and 25 years old.

It had been raining on their drive home, so “naturally” they drove through Taco Bell. Once back at the “cheap lil motel” they were staying at, they fashioned a table out of the room’s ironing board, and thus, their first meal as husband and wife was had.

Flash forward to their 10th year anniversary, which happened to fall on their kid’s spring break. The family had enjoyed a big trip to Europe the previous year, so nothing was really planned for the milestone. Or so Ashley thought.

Ashley had taken the kids to her parents to stay for their break, while Willie stayed home. After putting the kids down for the night, she noticed lights flickering out on her parents pier and went to check it out.

That’s when she saw an ironing board, covered in candles, and Willie (who had driven over five hours to get there) with a bag of their favorite Taco Bell items.

See on Instagram

“We laughed, cried, ate our food, drank cider, and danced to our wedding song at the end of my parent’s pier,” Ashley recalled, adding, “10 years + 2 kids later this man still pursues me, still dates me, and still surprises me.”

Ashley wasn’t the only one moved by her husband’s sweet gesture.

“Not me shouting ‘THE IRONING BOARDDD’ 😭😭😭😭 my heart cannot with this,” one person wrote, while another said “Not me sobbing over Taco Bell 🤧”

Still another commented, “Well…this guy is forcing the rest of us to up our game!! 😂”

A few had their own similar simple, yet poignant love stories…involving fast food. One person said, “My marriage has started of similar too, but it was us eating Chick-fil-A in the car with our witnesses. I love my wife so much more than a grand wedding. She’s my world.”

A few others noted how this way of celebrating seemed more attractive than other more traditional (i.e. expensive) approaches.

“Crazy how this marriage outlasts a lot of couples who had big beautiful extravagant weddings just for them to divorce a few years later. 🤣🤣👏🏼👏🏼 good for you two 🖤,” one person said, perhaps citing a study from 2014 that did indicate that people who splurge on wedding were more likely to divorce.

Another reflected, “I understand when people get married for logical, and financial reasons. But if I ever get married, this is what I want my marriage to be based on. Love, pure joy of being around your partner. Seeing their face and having a reason to smile. That natural, genuine love.”

There can be so many unspoken expectations in relationships, but at the end of the day—as long as you’re celebrating the love you have for one another in the way you both want, that’s what ultimately matters.