Super Bowl LVIII is just weeks away, which means so is Usher’s Halftime Show performance. While fans speculate about Usher’s potential set (and possible guest stars) and marvel over his spartan diet, Usher and the NFL have announced an exclusive merch collection commemorating the impending performance, including pieces from brands like Mitchell & Ness, New Era, Riddell, and Wilson Sporting Goods.
According to a press release, the collection will include Mitchell & Ness jerseys, hoodies, jackets, and t-shirts, New Era headwear designed by Just Don, Riddell helmets, and a limited-edition Wilson football, all emblazoned with Usher’s signature “U” logo in a purple-and-pink colorway chosen specifically for Super Bowl LVIII.
You can purchase items from the collection at Super Bowl Experience in Las Vegas, or on the brands’ respective websites, beginning on February 7. You can also check out NFLshop.com/USHER to sign up to be notified when the collection goes live. See below for photos.
NFL
In his statement about the collection, Usher said, “I can’t wait to hit the stage at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show for a 30-year celebration of my music in Las Vegas. There is no better way to get fans pumped about the performance than with a one-of-a-kind merchandise collaboration with the NFL, with designs that embody my style. I hope to see all my fans decked out in pieces from the collection.”
Per Billboard, the list includes Christina Aguilera, Samara Joy, Lenny Kravitz, Maluma, Lionel Richie, Mark Ronson, Meryl Streep, Taylor Tomlinson, and Oprah Winfrey.
Ronson has a big night ahead of him, as aside from presenting, he has five nominations for his work on the Barbie movie soundtrack. Joy has a couple nods as well, for Best Jazz Performance and Best Arrangement, Instruments And Vocals. Maluma’s Don Juan is also up for Best Latin Pop Album and Streep has a nomination in Best Audio Book, Narration, And Storytelling Recording for Big Tree.
The 2024 Grammys broadcast will air live on CBS from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m ET (5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT). Learn more about how to watch the show, via the CBS broadcast or alternative methods, here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you were comfortable thinking there would be no evidence of your online activity while in Google’s Incognito mode, think again. According to a class-action lawsuit filed by Florida resident William Byatt and California residents Chasom Brown and Maria Nguyen, Google has been sharing your searches and selling your data, even while using Incognito mode.
On December 30, NPR reported that Google agreed to settle the $5 billion lawsuit that claims it misled users into believing that their activities weren’t being tracked while in Incognito mode.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers pointed out that Google never told its users it continued to collect data even when people were browsing in Incognito mode.
“Google’s motion hinges on the idea that plaintiffs consented to Google collecting their data while they were browsing in private mode,” Rogers ruled. “Because Google never explicitly told users that it does so, the Court cannot find as a matter of law that users explicitly consented to the at-issue data collection.”
Google now admits it tracks you in Chrome’s incognito mode following $5B settlement https://t.co/qP9WXnB2vd
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The settlement terms have not been made public and still need to be approved by a federal judge. The plaintiffs say they will send a final settlement agreement to a judge by February 24.
News of the settlement went viral on TikTok on January 18 thanks to a post by Thunder Keck (@thunder_keck) that has received over 435,000 views. According to his TikTok profile, he’s a Stanford football player who’s also an expert in the Dark Web.
“In the least shocking reveal of all time, it was proven that [Ingognito mode is] not that private. They’re still tracking you and selling your data,” Thender Keck revealed. “Incognito mode and private browsing on Safari is basically the same as clearing your history,” he added.
“And most importantly, anyone on your network with a tool like Wireshark can still see everything you’re doing, Even if you’re using a VPN,” he warned, “it will still deliver your packets and use fingerprinting to figure out what sites you’re visiting. And that’s getting way easier with AI.”
Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that allows users to see everything happening on a network at a “microscopic level.”
The post received many comments from people who fear their histories will be made public.
“I’m cooked,” schizophrenic idiot wrote. “It’s so over for me,” Aton agreed. “I hope my mom doesn’t find out,” elcee4 added.
After Google reached the settlement agreement, it doesn’t appear the company has changed its policies. Instead, it has changed the warning users receive in Incognito mode.
According to The Verge, here’s the new warning: “Others who use this device won’t see your activity, so you can browse more privately. This won’t change how data is collected by websites you visit and the services they use, including Google. Downloads, bookmarks and reading list items will be saved. Learn more.”
The previous message reads: “Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won’t see your activity. However, downloads, bookmarks and reading list items will be saved. Learn more.”
Boise’s Treefort Music Festival has unveiled the third and final wave of artists that are joining their lineup. Alongside the fest’s headliners Channel Tres, Briston Maroney, Neko Case, and more, several new global performers have been added to the stacked list.
In the final lineup reveal, Treefort’s picks span a range of genres. There’s the Grammy-nominated Cimafunk, the LA-based folk-pop performer Kate Bollinger, an “an eight-piece psychedelic cumbia band” called Los Chapillacs, the Aussie pop group Blusher, and many more, according to a press release.
There will also be a comedy section running at the fest, with Janeane Garofalo being among the one-night-only headliners.
Given that the festival will run from March 20 to 24, it allows attendees more than enough time to catch all of their favorite acts. Tickets are currently on sale, with prices expected to raise on March 1. Right now, a five-day General Admission ticket is $295.
Treefort also offers options ZIPLINE (front-of-line access) and U21 (under 21) pass options for different prices. And, if you only want to go one day, those tickets are available, too.
For more information about Treefort Music Festival, visit their official website.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Arriving under a veil of mystery that accidentally (or purposefully?) roped in Taylor Swift, the new spy thriller Argylle is having a rough go with critics. Directed by Matthew Vaughn and featuring an all-star cast that includes Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, and Henry Cavill with an inexplicable haircut, the film is apparently loaded with plot twist after plot twist that proved to be way too much for most critics.
However, Uproxx‘s Mike Ryan found himself surprisingly won over by Argylle‘s clever misdirection as he gave into the film’s conceit:
I’m always wary of anything approaching an all-star cast. You know, one of those movie that boasts a bunch of great actors, but they are all barely in it and the movie has no actual main characters. Argylle is not that. Argylle‘s main characters are very much Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell (which, come to think of it, might come as a surprise to some peeople). And Argylle is a such a knowingly ridiculous movie that, around 45 minutes in, I had been beaten into delight.
Unfortunately, Ryan appears to be one of the few critics sold on Argylle. Although, at least one other review didn’t entirely write the film off:
At 160 seconds, the film’s ridiculous trailer gives a reasonable idea of what to expect, but that off-putting amuse bouche leaves out how the human brain starts to adjust to such an unabashedly kitschy approach when immersed in it for nearly as many minutes (in what’s becoming an exhausting norm among Apple co-productions, “Argylle” runs well over two hours). While common sense and good taste may be inclined to resist Vaughn’s garishly over-the-top style at first, the movie eventually finds its groove.
But things only went downhill from there as critics were clearly not feeling Argylle and the cavalcade of twists crammed into its unnecessarily long runtime:
What could have been a fun movie is instead self-admiring with a dull meta-narrative, phoned-in cameos and an awful lead performance. The rectangle of the screen itself seems to bend and twist into a giant self-satisfied smirk for an unbearably smug caper from director Matthew Vaughn. It has all the interest of a men’s magazine cover-shoot: thin, flimsy, lumbered with a dull meta-narrative and dodgy acting, and boasting a blank parade of phoned-in cameos from the supporting cast. Argylle is a high-concept elevator pitch stuck between floors.
Although allegedly made with a $200m budget and featuring what looks on paper like a fancy-pants cast, Argylle may mark a new low, with jokes that struggle to land; an attenuated running time that tests patience; cartoonish, stylized violence that is, almost literally, little more than smoke and mirrors; and Apple product placement so aggressive it feels like a kind of assault.
As a director, Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, the Kingsman series) is like a brasher, more cartoony version of Guy Ritchie, all “crazy” badass bluster and pop genre posturing, and he doesn’t alter his over-the-top ways with Argylle, a scattershot and empty-headed spy story that futilely tries to tap a Romancing the Stone (or even The Lost City) vein. Its comic touch almost as heavy-handed as its slow-motion-drenched action is dull, it seems primarily designed to answer the question, “How many movie stars can one fiasco squander?”
Perhaps the strangest thing about Argylle is that throughout its derivative, distended spy adventure, it does manage to nevertheless feel like a passion project for Vaughn. It’s premiering in theaters before heading to Apple TV+, and it has that carte-blanche-from-a-streamer energy, excitedly creating a new world and hinting at baffling new installments to come in a mid-credits scene. Yet for an expensive indulgence, Argylle is shockingly drab (every color but gold appears muted) and unpolished; the passion derives from the fact that it got made at all. This would-be wild ride tries to make heart-eyes at its own absurdity. Instead, it shrugs and reverts to upping the body count.
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
Since the last update of this weekly R&B column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists.
Justin Timberlake announced his sixth album Everything I Thought It Was, released its lead single “Selfish,” and revealed the dates for his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour. Lovers & Friends Festival announced its 2024 lineup with Backstreet Boys, Usher, and Janet Jackson as headliners and Halle Bailey announced a masterclass for The Recording Academy’s Grammy Week events. Elsewhere, T-Pain revealed that he almost had a song with Michael Jackson and Usher, but one person ruined it.
Here are some more releases on the new music front that you should check out:
SiR — “No Evil”
It has been over a year since SiR delivered a single, but the Inglewood native ended the drought with “No Evil.” The TDE crooner swaps his croons for a gritty and tough record that SiR says “is for the misunderstood.” It was paired with a video that SiR pays homage to D’Angel’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” visual.
Trevor Jackson — “James Dean”
Trevor Jackson went viral, for better or for worse, for his covers of popular but now he’s back with an original. He returns with “James Dean” which is the first release ahead of his upcoming EP and one that, according to a press release, “reflects on the journey from the country roads and cornfields of Indiana, serving as a badge symbolizing the challenges overcome to reach where I am now.”
Sinead Harnett — “Say Something”
Sinead Harnett is back with her first new song in a couple of years. “Say Something” arrives ahead of her upcoming album Boundaries and it’s a tender and dreamy record that captures one’s yearning desire for reciprocated love from her partner. “The weight of your absence is far more than gold,” she says. “Tell me I’m patient or tell me I’ve lost control / Why won’t you / Say something, say something to me.”
Emotional Oranges & Nonso Amadi — Blended
Emotional Oranges and Nonso Amadi first collaborated on the former’s “Not Worthy” from their Still Emo. That initial collaboration showcased a unique chemistry between the artists and one that they took advantage of to create their collab EP Blended. The project bares just four songs to its names, but it’s just enough proof for why Emotional Oranges and Nonso Amadi are great collaborators.
Sekou — “Crying”
Next month, UK R&B singer Sekou will hit the road with Renée Rapp and Towa Bird for the former’s Snow Hard Feelings Tour in Europe. In addition to that news and the 2023 release of his Out Of Mind, Sekou is also back with new music. He returns with “Crying,” a song he uses a canvas to paint the raw and emotional he holds following a tough break-up that left him “crying and driving, wildin’ and crying.”
After closing 2023 with “Florida Water,” Moreno Valley, California singer Asha Imuno kicks off his 2024 with Tempest and Westside Boogie by his side. The trio connect to discuss their individual experiences with a partner and the magnetizing intimacy that they share and also struggle to break free from.
Blk Odyssy — “Want You”
There’s no slowing down for Blk Odyssy. After releasing Diamonds & Freaks last year, the singer quickly gets back to work in 2024 with “Want You.” On it, Odyssy fires off pleas for intimacy over thumping drums and guitar strings, both of which are the backdrop to his airy vocals.
Alicia Creti — “Self/Less”
On February 16, Montreal singer Alicia Creti will release her project Self/Less. Ahead of its arrival, she released the project’s title which strikes as a moving and eloquent ballad inspired from a conversation with her brother and dedicated to her decision to put herself first and and chase her dreams. It joins “Crazy,” Guilt Trip,” and “Oity Party” as Self/Less singles.
Breez Kennedy — “Who’s Been Your Mind”
Breez Kennedy’s run continues into 2024 with his new single. His first entry in the new year is a pleading record that captures the 17-year-old singer’s realization that his partner is moving on to someone else. He’s noticed the changes and desperately wants to get to the bottom of things so he can either fix things or close this chapter and move on.
Reggie Becton — “Bad M’fkr”
Reggie Becton brings his Sad Boy era into 2024 with the release of “Bad M’fkr.” He looks back at a relationship where he was done wrong by his partner, and despite all of that, he still craves more from there. “Can’t help but need it / Got me fiendin,’” he sings. “Now I’m speedin’ / Lost control / (I’m sleepin’ in the danger zone).”
Obai — Svnteen
Obai, an 18-year-old singer from Phoenix, steps out into the spotlight with his debut project Svnteen. Through nine songs, the young singer blends pop, R&B, and neo-soul to deliver stories about young love, his teenage life, and his experiences with family.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
While the band had their reasons for the breakup, and one member expressed relief, fans can’t help but continue the search for more rarities and unreleased gems. As it turns out, there’s one doozy of a motherlode out there: A fifth album was apparently completed but now exists in a “limbo” according to drummer Quinn, who collaborated with them on fourth and final album, Random Access Memories.
In an interview with alt.news 26:46, Quinn says he helped the duo record an unreleased album in 2018 which is “supposedly coming out of the locker.” While he says he hopes “they do something with it,” he also admits he doesn’t exactly know what’s happening with it. Much of the interview is dedicated to describing the wildly experimental recording process and how the musicians played off of each other. It’s in “limbo,” he says, but he did make sure it was okay to talk about with the band, which is at least a positive sign that they aren’t just vaulting it forever. You can watch the full interview below.
“The bespoke arena will feature a combination of seated grandstands and standing areas with capacity for 80,000 people per night,” a statement about the venue read, according to Variety. This is basically going to be massive, and a way bigger experience than the capacity of her Vegas shows.
Here’s what to know about how much you should be saving to attend.
How Much Are Tickets For Adele’s 2024 Concerts In Germany?
Right now, it’s unclear how much the tickets for Adele’s Munich concerts will be. As a comparison, her Vegas residency tickets were sold out, leaving the only options being through StubHub and other resale sites. There, according to one Rolling Stone article, the lowest they happened to find was $430 — but the ticket prices will likely be higher than that.
The typical amount seems to be around $900-$1,100 per ticket for Adele’s shows currently.
Fans can register for presale ticket access until February 5 at 6 p.m. CET. The presale then opens on February 7 at 10 a.m. CET. More information can be found on Adele’s website.
Larry David‘s favorite episode of Seinfeld is “The Contest,” but what about Curb Your Enthusiasm? Maybe “The Doll” (the one with the most uncomfortable ending in the show’s history), or the introduction of Leon Black in “The Anonymous Donor,” or maybe the Seinfeld reunion in the season seven finale. All great options, but at the premiere of the 12th and final season of the HBO comedy, David told Variety his favorite: “Palestinian Chicken.”
The season eight episode, directed by Robert B. Weide and written by David, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, has Larry becoming obsessed with a Palestinian restaurant — and a gorgeous Palestinian woman who works there — that’s next to a Jewish deli. “This would be a fantastic place for Jews who are cheating on their spouses to come to,” he tells his buddy Jeff at one point. “Because no Jews ever come here. They’d be so safe.”
“Palestinian Chicken” ends with Larry torn between his religion (and his friends) and his love of chicken and women who offer to have threesomes with her and her sister. The episode is also the origin of this meme. That’s probably not why it’s Larry’s favorite, but it doesn’t hurt.
Curb Your Enthusiasm season 12 premieres on February 4.
Over the past few months, internet users have discovered Bobbi Althoff — a social media personality who gained traction by interviewing rappers like Drake and more celebrities. Her deadpan personality raised questions as to whether she actually liked the people she was speaking to.
This was elevated when fans had noticed that Drake unfollowed Althoff shortly after their interview, as she had also been spotted at his concert — in a viral moment where she does the same deadpan expression. Their interview was also eventually removed.
Here’s what to know.
Do Drake And Bobbi Althoff Have Beef?
According to Althoff, no, they don’t. She recently appeared on Keke Palmer’s podcast, where she was asked about Drake and the unfollowing.
“He’s a very nice person,” Althoff added. “Him and Funny Marco. Both of them definitely changed my whole entire life.”
She also answered that the two speak quite a bit, with the last time she talked to Drake being “a couple weeks, maybe a month ago.”
Later in Althoff’s interview with Palmer, the two touched on the rumors about her being an “industry plant,” as they joked about sharing the same manager. “I don’t have any ties, though,” Althoff said. “I feel like my life would have been a lot easier if I had ties.”
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