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Taylor Swift has fans once again wondering about her past relationship with ex Joe Alwyn after she made a speech before her performance of “Betty” at a recent Melbourne concert. The track featured on her 2020 album, Folklore, was written in quarantine, and Alwyn had writing credits on various other songs.

However, despite seemingly spending time songwriting together, Swift still described herself as a “lonely millennial woman covered in cat hair, drinking my weight in white wine” during that period.

Swift reflected on their relationship during her Time Magazine interview as well, where she felt regret for all the time she spent shutting herself off from going out in public and having fun.

Since Swift’s recent announcement of her upcoming new album, The Tortured Poets Department, it has put a lot of Alwyn’s behavior under close inspection from fans online. Many believe the title was inspired by a group chat that Alwyn previously said he had with actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, which was titled the “Tortured Man Club.”

Then, there’s the question of the album’s cover. Over the weekend, fans had wondered if Alwyn had cheated on Swift after finding an old Instagram story from the actress Emma Baird it was allegedly with. Last year, Baird posted photos of Alwyn shortly after the news of the breakup had happened, which fueled the rumors at the time. In typical Swiftie fashion, it’s also been suspected that Swift’s release date of April 19 is possibly tied to being just one day after Baird’s post was made.

Some of Swift’s recent Melbourne surprise songs had a common theme of cheating as well.

Continue scrolling for some more fan rumors about Swift and Alwyn’s split.

Usher was a major force in helping get Justin Bieber’s pop star journey off the ground, as he and Scooter Braun created the label Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG) to sign Bieber and manage his career. Justin Timberlake was also pursuing Bieber at the time, and Usher looked back on this “bidding war” in a new People interview.

He explained:

“When you are at the top of your game, some of the greatest things will be presented to you, and it was, I think, right after [my album] Confessions that I was introduced to Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun. I presented Scooter an offer that I felt like he couldn’t resist. […] We built a friendship, but this would obviously create a partnership that would span us forever, and it was a bit of a bidding war between me and Justin Timberlake. […] I was like, ‘I’m not certain that I could understand each and every producer that this artist could benefit from, but what I can tell you is I’m going to give you my passion, and I’m going to give you every bit of what I have to offer.’”

For the record, there seem to be no hard feelings toward Timberlake from Usher, as he said, “I’ve always wanted to do a record with Justin, and I have reached out many times, but we’ve never managed to make it happen.”

Read more from the interview here.

Since the start of The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has devoted a small, two-song chunk of her set to a pair of songs that she’d perform acoustically. These songs would change nightly, and Swift would shy away from playing the same song more than once at any point on the tour. Now, though, Swift has revised her self-imposed rule.

In Melbourne, Australia yesterday (February 18), Swift explained, “I’ve just been kind of re-thinking, I’ve been thinking, I want to be as creative as possible with the acoustic set moving forward. And I don’t wanna limit anything and I don’t wanna just say, ‘Oh, if I’ve played a song before I can’t play it again.’ So from now on, I’m just gonna… I don’t wanna take any paint colors out of the paint box of colors. I don’t want to take any tools out of the toolbox… what’s the metaphor I’m looking for? I want to be able to play songs more than once if I feel like it, and I wanna be able to make changes to songs.”

Back on March 17, 2023, Swift explained of her initial approach, “The plan, the goal, would be to play different songs every single night and never repeat one. Right? So that when you heard one on this tour, you would know it’s the only time that I was going to play it in the acoustic set, unless — caveat — unless I mess it up so badly that I have to do it over again in some other city.”

Things are different now, though, since all songs are back in the mix when it comes to the surprise portion of the Eras Tour set.

Subtle, condescending sexist remarks such as “When are you going to have children?” and “You’d be so pretty, if you tried” are heard by women on a daily basis. Like water torture, what’s subtle and persistent can become debilitating over a lifetime.

Making things more difficult is the contradicting nature of many sexist clichés that women are subjected to starting in childhood, such as “Is that all you’re going to eat?” and “You eat a lot for a girl.” Then there are the big-time, nuclear bomb sexist remarks such as “Don’t be a slut” and “What were you wearing that night?” that are still shockingly common as well.

It’s hard for men to truly grasp this never-ending barrage of sexism because it’s not in their faces. That’s why The Huffington Post created the video “48 Things That Women Hear in a Lifetime* (*That Men Just Don’t),” in which women of all ages share the most common sexist comments they hear—but which men never do.

This article originally appeared on 8.8.21

Giannis Antetokounmpo has drawn plenty of criticism for how long it takes him to shoot free throws. For years, Antetokounmpo has pushed the limit of the 10-second count that comes with every free throw attempt, which has led to plenty of crowds (and, on occasion, opposing players) counting along in an effort to get the refs to call an infraction.

With the 2024 All-Star Game happening in Indianapolis — a city whose fans don’t have a ton of love for the former NBA MVP — it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Antetokounmpo faced this treatment once again. But in a fun twist, Antetokounmpo decided to lean into the bit. Antetokounmpo got a big smile on his face as fans counted during his first attempt at the charity stripe in the third quarter, and during his second free throw, he stood there and nodded his head as everyone counted to ten.

The whole thing was hilarious, as evidenced by the fact that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, and Nikola Jokic were cracking up over the whole thing. But things also worked out pretty well for Giannis, because after he missed, he grabbed his own rebound and managed to get a layup out of the whole thing.

Luka Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA, but he has never been good in the All-Star Game because he cannot bring himself to care much about the midseason exhibition.

Doncic is apathetic towards the game is to a comical degree, even compared to the rest of the All-Stars that are just enjoying themselves out there and trying not to get injured. This year, Doncic took it to another level as late in the second quarter he took the inbound pass and proceeded to toss up a three-quarter court shot with more than 30 seconds left on the clock.

It was rather incredible to witness, but making it even funnier is that Doncic decided to hop on his phone at halftime while in the West locker room and respond to a tweet about it, explaining that he was just making the right analytics play to get the West a 2-for-1 opportunity.

It’s a very good tweet from Luka, and honestly they should let the guys have their phones on the benches to post throughout the game as an added element if they want.

Amazingly, the three-quarter court shot and tweet might not even have been the funniest Luka moment of the night. During a timeout in the first half, he stood on the floor and intently watched the on-court entertainment of a lady doing hula-hoop tricks on a giant exercise ball.

We also might’ve learned in the third quarter why Doncic doesn’t try to join in on the All-Star fun the rest of the guys have, as he tried an off-backboard alley-oop to himself on a fastbreak and hilariously bricked it.

Doncic might not be the most locked in guy in the All-Star Game, but he is highly entertaining.

Many performances of the national anthem are unforgettable for being really good. The other side of that game comes from the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, where Fergie tried to put a unique spin on the song and it just didn’t work. Perhaps the most memorable part of her performance came when the camera panned over to Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, who started laughing extremely hard and started a chain reaction where a bunch of other players joined in.

Green isn’t participating in the 2024 edition of the game, but he is part of an alternate simulcast alongside Charles Barkley for Turner. In a conversation with Taylor Rooks, Green brought up Fergie’s performance and told the story of what happened, specifically that it’s Damian Lillard’s fault that he laughed so hard.

“You know how you start spiraling, and you gotta get out of it? You just gotta get to the edge?” Green said. “And she kept going, like, deeper and deeper. And I was like, oh, she’s done. And then she starts spiraling more, I couldn’t believe it. And then, when I really started laughing, Dame was next to me, he was like, ‘They got you, dog.’ So then I really couldn’t hold it in, it was crazy.”

Anyway, if you’d like to watch the full video of Fergie’s rendition of the national anthem, click here.

When Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign announced their joint album in October 2023, it immediately raised a few eyebrows. However, following their star-studded listening parties around the world helped to build a buzz around the project. Now, it appears that all of the musicians’ promotional efforts have paid off. Today (February 18), it has been revealed that Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 1 has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Despite accessibility issues, the outlet confirmed that the controversial body of work pulled in significant numbers. According to Billboard, the metrics for Vultures 1 are 148,000 total units for the week ending on February 15. This number comprises 129,000 streaming-equivalent album units (equaling 167.78 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), 18,000 album sales, and 1,000 track-equivalent album units (album or song downloads).

Vultures 1 was initially released on February 9 after multiple delays. After its release, fans quickly took to social media to report having difficulties playing the 16-track project on streaming. By February 15, Vultures 1 was removed in totality from Apple Music. That wasn’t the only problem surrounding the project. Ozzy Osbourne slammed West’s sample usage of his song “War Pigs.” Donna Summer’s estate accused West of copyright infringement for including elements similar to the late singer’s record. Even, Nicki Minaj refused to clear a verse for the album.

None of this seems to have derailed Kanye West’s vision as he announced plans to release two more editions of the album.

As the trade deadline approached, LeBron James made some waves with a cryptic hourglass tweet that he left to the imagination of fans, the media, and even other teams. Naturally that led to a round of rumors about LeBron and his future with the Lakers, but despite the efforts of a few other teams, the Lakers quickly rebuffed any offers made by other teams for the 20-year vet.

The most interesting of those was the Golden State Warriors, as they apparently made an attempt to engage the Lakers in trade talks prior to the deadline to pair LeBron with his longtime rival, Stephen Curry. Those talks never made it far, but it did beg the question of how intrigued LeBron was by the possibility. He got asked that by Ernie Johnson prior to the All-Star Game on Sunday night, and insisted that he was unaware there had even been a call and he learned about it all when the reports became public.

Now, while there are countless examples of players being blindsided by trade talks, that does not particularly happen with players the caliber of LeBron James. That could mean one of two things happened in this situation. One is that the Lakers simply asked James, generally, if he was happy being in L.A. and got the confirmation they needed and quickly shut down all calls without bringing specifics to the star. The alternative is that James is not exactly being truthful here and simply doesn’t want to get into it all.

In his press conference prior to the game, LeBron did indicate that he’s “happy and [have] been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way.” He also said he’s not sure how many more years he has left or what uniform he’ll be in when he does retire, but the end is coming soon. In any case, this summer will certainly be fascinating regarding what James chooses to do, but for now Lakers fans can feel a bit more confident about his near-term future with the team.

Rod Stewart confessed that he doesn’t know any of Ed Sheeran’s songs. Users online pushed back against the claim, questioning Stewart’s discography. However, a supposed nine-figure deal suggests that the “The First Cut Is the Deepest” singer doesn’t have that problem, at least in the eyes and pockets of music bigwigs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, on February 15, Rod Stewart sold his back catalog, which includes his publishing catalog and recorded music, as well as a stake of his likeness plus image rights for nearly $100 million. The deal was inked with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group. In a statement provided to the publisher, Stewart raved about the agreement.

“Irving and I are a couple of old-timers,” he said. “I believe we have a mutual respect and admiration for each other. My life’s work is in safe hands with him.”

As the former CEO of Ticketmaster, Azoff’s relationship in the music industry runs deep. Iconic Artists Group has reportedly already acquired a back catalog of artists like Cher, The Beach Boys, and Dean Martin. After pulling out of past negotiations with Hipgnosis, Stewart joins the long list of entertainers who have dedicated leverage their works as investment capital.

The details of the agreement have not been revealed. So, it is unclear if any of his work with former groups like Faces was roped up into the venture. Read more about why artists are selling their catalogs here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.