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Looking back on 2023 as the year comes to an end, it’s obvious to anybody who’s been paying attention that two concert tours stood out above the rest: Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. Given that those were the leaders in the space, the treks, and the artists behind them, were subject to months and months of comparisons. For her part, Swift didn’t love that.

Swift was named Time‘s 2023 Person Of The Year yesterday (December 6), and in the cover story, she shared her perspective on being compared to Beyoncé: “There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé. Clearly, it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”

She also noted of Bey, “She’s the most precious gem of a person — warm and open and funny. And she’s such a great disruptor of music-industry norms. She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices.”

Of course, the two have been clear when it comes to how they feel about each other: Beyoncé showed up to the premiere of Swift’s Eras Tour movie in October, and Swift returned the favor at Beyoncé’s own concert film premiere the next month.

Giannis Antetokounmpo turned 29 years old on Wednesday and got to spend the day in Las Vegas. Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are in the city ahead of the semifinals of the inaugural In-Season Tournament, where the team has a matchup on the horizon against the Indiana Pacers. The winner of that game will head to the final, where they’ll play either the Los Angeles Lakers or the New Orleans Pelicans.

Antetokounmpo is very excited to keep adding stacks of cash to his bank account as long as the Bucks keep moving on in the event, and as he joked while meeting with the media on Wednesday, the former league MVP is excited to accomplish something that some of the greatest to ever play the game have never done.

“It’s gonna be crazy, because whoever wins this whole thing is gonna have a one-up on Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe, Shaq,” Antetokounmpo said at the 1:41 mark of the above video. “So, I guess I’m better than them.”

Antetokounmpo made it a point to say that he was joking around here, and then stressed that the team has a difficult game on Thursday against the Pacers. But he did also make it a point to say that he thinks having a banner to celebrate winning the Tournament would be fun.

He certainly is right about the upcoming opponent being tricky, and he knows first-hand how difficult it can be to go up against Indiana — back in November, Antetokounmpo had 54 points and 12 rebounds against them, only for the Pacers to pick up a 126-124 win. Damian Lillard did not play in that one, though, so the Bucks will certainly hope to get a measure of revenge on Thursday.

Nicki Minaj was initially going to release Pink Friday 2 on November 17, but she delayed it and will instead drop it this Friday, December 8 — her 41st birthday. Last weekend, Minaj informed the Barbz that she would no longer perform at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in Chicago on Monday, December 4, because she needed to focus on finishing album preparation. On Wednesday, December 6, she was preparing the Barbz for Pink Friday 2‘s launch.

“Approaching #GagCity,” Minaj wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) alongside a 26-second trailer. The video shows a pink-lit “Barb Alert System” blinking with the message: “PREPARE FOR IMPACT Pink Friday 2 IS COMING.” It’s soundtracked by the unreleased Pink Friday 2 song “Big Difference,” as Minaj raps, “Like my hunnids blue / Bad b*tches, yeah, I keep ’em by the two / It’s a big difference between me and you / I ain’t nothin’ like you, you, you, or you.”

That post came roughly 10 hours after Minaj took to X to relay similarly themed instructions, writing, “As we begin to prepare for landing, please make sure your tray tables are put back up & your seat belts are tightly fastened. The captain has activated the ‘no bathroom’ sign. If you look out the window, you’ll begin to see the beauty…clear waters, pink dolphins…#GagCity #PF2.”

Pink Friday 2 is out 12/8 via Republic. Find more information here.

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks took care of business in a pretty emphatic way on Wednesday night. Doncic had a 29-point triple-double by halftime against the Utah Jazz — the first time in NBA history that a player has scored at least 25 points in a triple-double in one half — as the Mavs went on to win, 147-97.

Doncic’s night came to an end after only 32 minutes of work, one that ended with 40 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and a steal. But despite that, he came back out for a postgame interview where he was asked a pretty simple question: How important was it to step onto the floor and get a win in resounding fashion? His response was pretty simple, in large part because he derailed himself by swearing and felt the need to apologize.

“I said before the game, we just can’t f*ck around,” Doncic said. “And uh … ah, sh*t. My bad.”

Doncic is something of a master at swearing on live television after getting asked about a basketball game, which is legitimately one of his most endearing traits, because he clearly feels terrible about it when it happens. Anyway, if Doncic keeps putting up 40-point triple-doubles, I am sure no one will have that big of a problem with him occasionally swearing on television.

Kevin McCarthy hasn’t had a great 2023. It started badly: He nabbed his coveted Speaker of the House gig, but only after a humiliating 15 votes (and a near-fight involving his main tormentor, Matt Gaetz). His reward: trying to control a bunch of MAGA brats who are only in Congress to sow chaos. McCarthy’s reign came to an inglorious end in October, when he became the first House Speaker to be removed in the chamber’s 234 years. How to top that? By quitting.

And how to top that? Being dragged on Twitter/X’s Community Notes.

On Wednesday, mere hours after McCarthy bravely announced his plan to ditch Congress at the end of the year, a Community Note was attached to an old tweet McCarthy dropped on Sept. 19, about two weeks before he got booted from his illustrious job. McCarthy captioned it “I never quit,” and attached was a video of him vowing to stay in office while speaking to reporters.

“I never quit,” McCarthy said in the video. “I’m not working for some member sitting in my conference. I’m working for this country and I’m never going to give up on the American people. I’m going to work every day. And you know what? If I come up short today, I’m going to work harder tomorrow. That’s what I do.”

Some two-and-a-half months later McCarthy would quit. That prompted Twitter/X folks to add a little annotation, which read, “He just quit.”

The note was eventually removed, as that’s how things roll under Elon Musk’s leadership. But not before many screengrabbed it for posterity.

Maybe McCarthy is making the right move. Perhaps, by leaving his longtime workspace, where he could please neither the old guard nor the MAGA saboteurs, he’s not really the glutton for punishment he seemed to be. But surely he’ll get struck in the kidneys a few more times before his tenure ends in but a few weeks.

(Via Mediaite)

Tyla is on fire with her breakthrough single “Water,” which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week. In mid-November, the South African artist added to the song’s sprawling influence with a remix featuring Travis Scott last month. And on Wednesday, December 6, Complex shared an interview with Tyla in which she explained how the eye-popping collaboration came together.

“I didn’t really think of doing a remix,” she said. “I was like, ‘Nah, like, let’s just have ‘Water.’ It’s cool. Whatever.’ But then, people were reaching out, and I was like, ‘Oh my word, oh my word.’ And I started getting excited, and then Travis reached out, and I literally couldn’t — like, I could not say no. His music is crazy. I’ve always loved his sound and just his vibe in general. So after he reached out, we sent him that open verse, and he came back and he killed it, you know. He killed it.”

Tyla and Scott’s “Water” remix will be on Tyla’s self-titled debut album, due out March 1, 2024. She will also embark on a self-titled headlining tour, beginning in Oslo, Norway on March 21, 2024 and snaking through Europe before staging a North American leg from April 22 to May 28.

“Everything that’s happening has surpassed anything I could have dreamt of,” Tyla captioned her Instagram post announcing the album last week. “African music is going global and I’m so blessed to be one of the artists pushing the culture. I’ve been working on my sound for 2 years now and I’m so ready for the world to hear it. I cannot wait for the world to experience an African Popstar.”

Tyla is out 3/1/2024 via Fax/Epic Records. Find more information here.

Last month, Doja Cat sat down for a spoof interview with her alter ego, and the results were chaotic — fitting because that’s the word she used when Ice Spice, for Instagram’s Close Friends Only, asked her to describe her 2023 in one word. Ice Spice posted that clip on Wednesday, December 6, but Billboard dropped a separate clip from their conversation that put Ice Spice on the spot.

In the clip, Doja asks Ice Spice to identify her first-ever celebrity crush. “Ugh, it’s so embarrassing,” she responded. After some coaxing from Doja, Ice Spice finally said, “I’m just gonna say it. It was Usher. I saw him at the Met Gala for the first time I ever seen him. I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. It’s him.”

“He’s beautiful,” Doja said, and Ice Spice agreed, “Gorgeous man.”

Doja Cat was recently serenaded by Usher at his Usher: My Way The Las Vegas Residency. He performed his 100th and final show last Saturday, December 2, so Ice Spice missed her opportunity to join the likes of Doja, Keke Palmer, and Saweetie as recipients of Usher’s viral serenading. Luckily, Usher will perform the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024.

According to Billboard, “The full podcast episode of Close Friends Only, produced in collaboration with The Unwell Network, will go live across streaming platforms including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and YouTube on Thursday [December 7].”

Watch the clips below.

One cool thing about the NBA right now is how you can, on any given night, see a guy do some of the most ludicrous stuff you have ever seen out of a professional basketball player. Sure, you’re not guaranteed to see incredible performances all the time, but the level of play league-wide has never been higher, and there are more players than ever capable of completely taking over a game.

Few are better at this than Luka Doncic, who will frequently stuff the stat sheet over the course of a basketball game. On Wednesday night, he only needed a half to do just that, as Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks into the locker room during their game against the Utah Jazz with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

It is, quite frankly, hilarious how good this guy at the game of basketball. As you can guess, Doncic set a little history here, as he became the first player in NBA history to get a 25-point triple-double over one half of play. He’s also the fourth player since 2000 to record a triple-double by halftime of a basketball game.

You will not be surprised to learn that, thanks to Doncic, Dallas held a 74-51 lead at the half.

Offset answers to no one. His sophomore solo album, Set It Off, made it on Uproxx‘s “Best Albums Of 2023” list because of his fierce commitment to authenticity and his fearless embrace of hard-earned luxury. His freshly dropped video for “Blame It On Set” encapsulates those qualities.

The Maya Table-directed video begins with Offset in the dull, soul-sucking environment more commonly associated with 9-to-5 office jobs than multi-platinum-certified rappers. But there Offset is, sitting alone at a desk, constantly checking the clock (relatable), stapling papers, and piling them up.

It appears that he’s done for the day, but a very obnoxious and unkempt boss comes in with a new stack for Offset to staple. He’s yelling while chewing a jelly donut, leading to jelly grossly falling onto Offset’s desk. That’s the final straw. Offset clenches his fist but chooses to fight back by rounding up his coworkers, rocking high-fashion fits, and spitting confident bars.

The “Blame It On Set” video follows similarly elaborate visuals for fellow Set It Off tracks “Jealousy” with Cardi B (and Jamie Lee Curtis), “Fan,” and “Say My Grace” featuring Travis Scott. Offset and Don Toliver also performed “Worth It” for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Watch the “Blame It On Set” video above.

Cardi B and Don Toliver are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Was the fourth GOP presidential debate even necessary? Have any of them been? After all, none have boasted the guy who’s always crushed the polls: Donald Trump. Those candidates who have shown up — and then there were four — have barely talked about the orange elephant in the room. Really, it’s just been one: Chris Christie, an old buddy-turned-arch-nemesis, who’s made the central fixture of his campaign to try (maybe in vain) to save his party from the orb guy.

At Wednesday’s debate, he turned his ire towards his fellow nominees.

After fielding a tough question from moderator Megyn Kelly, who lit into his poor marks, Christie instead mostly ignored it and tore into today’s GOP instead.

“Well look, Megyn, it is often very difficult to be the only person on stage who is telling the truth and the only person who is taking on what needs to be taken on,” Christie thundered. “I look at my watch now. We’re 17 minutes into this debate, and except for your little speech in the beginning, we’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy who doesn’t have the guts to show up and stand here, he’s the one as you just put it is way ahead in the polls.”

He then came up with a good insult for Trump that damns his fellow nominees as well.

“Yet I’ve got these three guys who are all seeming to compete with Voldemort, He Who Shall Not Be Named. They don’t want to talk about it,” Christie zinged. He continued:

“The fact is when you go and say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody, whether they have given great service or not over time, who dares to disagree with him, then I understand why they’re timid to say anything about it. Maybe they have future aspirations. Maybe those future aspirations are now or maybe four years from now. But the fact of the matter is the truth needs to be told.”

Instead of doing the debates, Trump instead has been granted ego-stroking solo town halls, fielding softball questions from lackeys. The night before, he joined Sean Hannity for some Fox News action, where he made the startling admission that, yes, if re-elected he would be a “dictator,” but, you know, only on the first day. And it’s always a good idea to trust someone who says they’ll be a dictator to keep their promises.

(Via Raw Story)