The coronavirus pandemic is keeping people inside, and musicians are finding new ways to pass the time, whether they’re working on new music or performing livestream concerts. Ariana Grande previously expressed that she “can’t wait to get back to work,” so she decided to sort of get in on the new livestream concert phenomenon. Grande didn’t go live, but she did share a video of herself performing “My Everything.”

Grande was joined (virtually, of course) by producer Tommy Brown on piano, and she captioned her post, “tommy n i sending u some virtual love. hope you’re all staying safe, sane, healthy and as creative as possible.”

Grande’s mother Joan Grande was a fan of the performance, as she tweeted, “I’m going to say it… and I don’t care… Ariana, you have the greatest voice in the world, this one and all the other ones, parallel and other universes.. there is nothing else to say!!”

Grande recently offered an update on how she has been doing during the pandemic, writing,”i’m fine. i’d be an asshole if i complained. just watching things, calling friends, cooking and looking for ways to help ppl who don’t have it as easily as i do rn. if any of y’all need anything, any help at all pls tell me to check DMs.”

Grande also recently made donations to multiple organizations to help people who have been adversely affected, and has even given money directly to some fans.

Watch the performance above.

The Strokes’ upcoming album The New Abnormal is set to drop this upcoming weekend, and ahead of then, the group has shared one more taste of the record: The curiously-titled “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus.”

Julian Casablancas get nostalgic on the song, which appropriately works a New Wave influence into The Strokes’ signature sound. Casablancas says at one point, “And the eighties song, yeah, how did it go? / When he said, ‘This is the beginning of the best years,’ even though / False, break.” Right before the second chorus, he sings, “And the eighties bands? Where did they go? / Can we switch into the chorus right now?”

In a recent interview, Casablancas explained a big battle The Strokes have always faced, saying, “Since the day The Strokes got signed, it was this wrestling match between doing cool creative things and smart marketing things. It’s a dance, and I respect the dance, but that’s why right now, pop music is king over art and quality, because it’s all been scientifically worked out. That’s why cars are ugly, because if someone makes a cool car, they’ll make slightly less money.”

Listen to “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” above, and check out our ranking of The Stokes’ songs here.

The New Abnormal is out 4/10 via RCA. Pre-order it here.

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After lengthy legal proceedings and some time spent in prison, Tekashi 69 is finally a free man. Well, somewhat: Last week, he was granted an early release due to coronavirus concerns, and now he is serving the remainder of his sentence on house arrest.

Tekashi’s house arrest comes at a time when plenty of people around the world are also spending a lot of time indoors due to the pandemic. Like a lot of folks, Tekashi is passing some of the time by using his phone: Over the weekend, Tekashi made his first activity on social media since his release, by commenting on a post about snitching.

The Shade Room shared a post on Instagram about recent comments from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The image was a photo of him with the headline “Los Angeles’ Mayor Is Offering ‘Rewards’ For Snitching On Businesses Violating The City’s Stay-At-Home Order.” Garcetti said, “You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.”

Tekashi apparently liked what he saw, as he took to the comments and wrote, “Coming to the rescue.” As of this post, Tekashi’s comment has over 200,000 likes. There doesn’t seem to be an official list of the most-liked comments in Instagram history, but the 200,000 likes Tekashi got seems to be one of the all-time highest figures, as suggested by a Reddit thread from last year.

Of course, Tekashi has been accused by many in the hip-hop community of being a “snitch,” by people like Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and others.

Check out The Shade Room’s original post below.

For the past two weeks, John Oliver has devoted much of Last Week Tonight to the coronavirus pandemic, and how it brings out the best and worst in humanity. But during Sunday’s episode, Oliver turned his attention to a news (“news”) network that’s become an increasing presence during Donald Trump’s recent press conferences: OAN.

The One America News Network, or OAN, is a far-right news network founded by “conservative millionaire and sun-dried Jake Gyllenhaal” Robert Herring that’s replaced Fox News as Trump’s favorite source for information. “When you hear the kinds of questions that they ask,” Oliver said, “you begin to see why Trump calls on them so much.” Questions like, “Your approval ratings have been the highest they’ve ever been, as well as the ratings on your handling of the virus, yet there are some networks that are saying they’re debating whether or not to carry these briefings live. Do you think there’s a link between the two?” Trump’s response: “That’s a nice question, thank you.”

As Oliver put it, “The whole selling point for OAN is that they are Fox News with even less shame and even fewer scruples,” and while it’s tempting to mock “bullshit” tweets like this, now’s not the time for misinformation. “I know that it is easy to dismiss OAN as just a stupid, little-watched, borderline self-parody,” Oliver said. “The problem is, if we’re learning one thing right now, it’s that toxic things that start small can get big fast, and it’s dangerous to ignore them.” Except for when they cover “transgender penguins”:

“In the best of times, you can laugh at an almost Anchorman-esque parody of right-wing news, but much like the problem with Anchorman 2, it’s just not the right time for Ron Burgundy right now. OAN’s weird combination of far-right-wing talking points and dirt-stupid reporting is incredibly dangerous at a time like this.”

Watch the clip above.

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Plants make everything ~succ~ a little less.

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“This pandemic isn’t an excuse for polluters to ignore the law and for EPA to let them get away with it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.

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