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J. Cole‘s album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was well acclaimed — enough to earn him a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album in 2016. He lost to another beloved project in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, though.

However, in a new interview on ESPN’s Lead By Example With Bob Myers, the musician opened up about while the accolade was important to him at the time, just making the record great meant more in the long run.

“It was so important to me,” J. Cole said. “Had I had won it early on, I think it would have validated all those feelings I had for it. Maybe it would have felt like a championship at that point, I’m not sure. The fact that it didn’t happen and then it didn’t happen and it didn’t happen, it allowed me to reflect.”

“There was an album that felt like a championship,” he added. “The making of this album I got called Forest Hills Drive, and the releasing of it and the tour. That was a championship run in a way I would look at how the Bulls look at The Last Dance. That was the feeling. Guess what, that album didn’t win a Grammy. A Grammy didn’t increase my enjoyment or decrease my enjoyment. If that album had won a Grammy, it wouldn’t have changed my experience. The fact that it didn’t win didn’t change my experience. That was what a championship felt like to me.”

Cole eventually did go on to win a Grammy for his “A Lot” collab with 21 Savage in 2020.

Chlöe and Halle Bailey are having a big year — both as a group and as individuals. We are just over a week away from Chlöe’s solo debut album, In Pieces, and in May, we will see Halle take the big screen in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

While we are excited to see what the sisters bring to us individually, fans wonder what their future as a duo entails.

While promoting her new campaign with Zyrtec (per PopSugar), Halle revealed that she and Chlöe are excited about this new era in each of their lives. But she also made it known that fans haven’t seen the last of them as Chloe x Halle.

“This journey has been a really beautiful one,” said Halle. “My sister and I are so close, she’s like my arm. […] And she’s my biggest supporter. I’m her biggest supporter. We’re just really excited to be able to be doing all of this together and for this all to be happening. I’m so proud of her. And her album comes out March 31, In Pieces, and everyone should be so hyped for it. But people should definitely know that we are not finished making music together.”

In Pieces is out 3/24 via Columbia and Parkwood. Find more information here.

The Little Mermaid is in theaters 5/23.

Doja Cat’s third studio album, Planet Her, continues to make streaming history, but fans are desperate for another body of work as the project approaches its two-year anniversary. Although the recording artist has been having a ball as one of the newest fashion it girl, she hasn’t abandoned music just yet.

Taking to Twitter, Doja shared that progress has been made when it comes to her forthcoming album. In a tweet, the musician wrote, “DC4 has a title now,” confirming that her upcoming album has been given an official title.

Before fans could guess what the title would be for her fourth album, Doja appeared to have spilled the beans, tweeting out the hashtag, “#hellmouth.”

But some fans weren’t buying it, replying to her initial post to share their skepticism.

On the other hand, some fans excited about the news began to fish for more information about the album’s directions. As they inquired about the project’s sound many were shot down as they took a guess at the genre.

One fan tweeted that it would be a rap album, and although Doja Cat didn’t confirm the fan’s guess, by liking the tweet, that was enough to send fans into a spiral.

In a conversation with Elle that the record will be “predominantly rap.” The last update the musician gave fans was that she was heading in “a more masculine direction,” i.e. punk. But it looks like based on her tweets, she’s landed back on rap… for now, at least.

This past weekend, Amanda Byrnes pulled out of a scheduled booking at a 1990s-based convention event, where one of her All That co-stars, Kel Mitchell, sent prayers her way without providing further details. On Monday, TMZ reported that a distressed Bynes had flagged down a pedestrian in Los Angeles, where she had wandered the street unclothed. TMZ further detailed how Bynes declared that she was “coming down from a psychotic episode” and called 911 of her own volition, and she was placed on psychiatric hold while doctors evaluated her condition. Additionally, her parents were reported to have ruled out pursuing a new conservatorship while also expressing their concern for the situation.

TMZ now follows up with word that doctors will keep Bynes on 5150 hold for now, and this will possibly be the case for up to two weeks. The outlet also details her whereabouts in the days leading up to her call to 911:

Sources close to Amanda tell us they’re still putting the pieces together, but at this point believe she could’ve been living on the streets for several days. We’re told Amanda’s car was towed on March 15 in Long Beach, about 40 miles from her home … and 25 miles from downtown L.A., where she popped up Sunday.

From Long Beach, our sources believe Amanda hitchhiked or took public transport to get around. She was spotted in Hollywood on March 18, appearing out of it but still clothed. At one point, we’re told, Amanda got a ride to Beverly Hills from a stranger but then asked to return to Hollywood.

TMZ adds that doctors are reportedly noting “improvements” in Bynes’ condition, although they did see fit to extend the psychiatric hold beyond the initial 72 hour phase. Prior to this incident, Bynes was reportedly making strides after her conservatorship (related to her bipolar diagnosis in 2014) ended one year ago and had been attending (via Page Six) cosmetology school after stepping away from Hollywood several years ago.

(Via TMZ)

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler have known each other since they were babies. OK, they were actually in their early 20s when they met at a Los Angeles deli, but as a mid-30-something, all 21 year olds are children to me. Anyway, in the decades they’ve spent tonight, has Sandler — make that Mark Twain Prize for American Humor winner Sandler — given Aniston any advice?

“If I get anything from him, it’s ‘what are you doing?!’ Usually based on someone I’m dating,” she told host Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show. “But I very much likes to take care of him. He’s so concerned with taking care of everybody else, which he really does, and he doesn’t take care of himself. I’m sorry for calling you out on national television, but you have to know this.” I don’t know, I’d say Sandler is treating himself just fine.

Aniston continued, “I have a little arsenal of herbs in my trailer and I make him smoothies when I can and give him all sorts of Chinese herbs when he’s exhausted.” If Sandler had been murdered during the making of Murder Mystery 2, Aniston, with her “mobile pharmacy,” would be the top suspect.

You can watch The Tonight Show clip above.

At least once every few weeks, it seems, there’s some sort of news about a potential Oasis reunion, whether or not the news makes one seem more or less likely. There’s now somewhat of a new update on that front, this time via Liam Gallagher making an accusation against brother Noel.

In a tweet shared today (March 22), Liam wrote, “Here’s how I see it the little fella aka potato has done a lot of damage to Oasis as a band / brand he’s got a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans the people that put us where we are tday as you were LG x.”

As for where the possibility of a reunion stands now, it seems to have gone back and forth lately. Last October, Noel said, “As funny as this sounds, Oasis sell as many records now per year as we did when we were together. We’re as popular now in the eyes of the people as we ever were, and I’m happy with it. If we got back together, it would be a circus and there’s no point.”

Then, in January, both brothers individually suggested they’re open to the possibility of a reunion. So, it’s hard to say what they’re thinking now.

In 2018, an 8-year-old girl named Isabella McCune was badly burned in an accident and was hospitalized at Phoenix’s Arizona Burn Center. She had hoped to see Taylor Swift perform in Glendale but was unable to. She had a plan, though: She recorded a video that April calling out to Swift, saying, “I heard you were here, and I wanted to visit you but maybe you can come and visit me. So maybe that can happen.”

A few days later, Swift actually did visit, and while there, McCune told Swift how her music has helped her through the tough times she had faced. Swift wrote a message for McCune: “Isabella! I hope you feel better soon and I’m honored you’ve been listening to my music. You’re so awesome and I can’t wait to have you at a show!! Stay strong, gorgeous.”

Swift did have to wait to have McCune at a show, nearly five years. Now, though, Swift has made good on her promise by gifting McCune four tickets to the second of her Glendale Eras Tour concerts this past weekend.

McCune, who is now 13, told Arizona’s ABC 13, “Not only the fact that I’m able to go and I got these tickets gifted to me, they’re from Taylor Swift and her team and they remembered me, and thought of me to give me these tickets.”

Watch McCune tell the story herself in the video above.

A review of the fourth and final season of Succession, presented via Good News and Bad News…

GOOD NEWS: Succession is back, finally, over a year after the third season ended with various family members dropping bombs on each other, figuratively if not literally, at least for now. Tom and my sweet boy Cousin Greg sided with Logan and left the three primary children — Shiv, Kendall, and Roman (sorry Connor) — flailing in the breeze, detonating marriages and friendships and what little parent-child bonds remained, to the extent any ever existed. The show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, included a very nice note with the first clump of screeners released to critics in which he politely asked us not to reveal too much of what happens or why and when it does, but I think I can say this much safely: Season four picks up in the aftermath of all that, with everyone scrambling to look for an edge amid the chaos, and, to quote Jesse, the show has “some big moves coming.” Yes. Yes, it does. There are going to be so many screencaps of devastating lines of dialogue. I am going to make more of them. People in my group chats are going to get so sick of it. This will not deter me at all.

BAD NEWS: This is, as we have discussed, the final season of the show, both for better (go out on top instead of slowly fading away, fire all your bullets fast and win the gunfight as quickly as possible, etc.) and for worse (BUT I WANT MORE). This is going to amp everything up quite a bit. Things are going to mean more because we can see that end date coming. These goons have been trying to destroy each other for three seasons now and, if they’re ever going to do it, this is the time. It also increases the pressure to bring things in for a landing in a way that works, whether that’s something that’s satisfying or deliberately unsatisfying to the viewer, and the aforementioned big moves that happen in the first half of the season are going to raise those stakes quite a bit.

GOOD NEWS: At some point, unless the trailer lied to us, Cousin Greg will be riding a bicycle through New York.

BAD NEWS: It’s going to be much harder to root for Greg in these last few episodes, owing to the thing where he sided with Logan and Tom in the season three finale and embraced his Corporate Goon turn in full, complete with suits and a haircut and a new position in the company. I kind of hate it. But it does make sense. Everyone on this show is a cretin or a weasel or both, in some way. Logan is a crotchety old dinosaur who loves to manipulate people for his own interest and sometimes uses slurs, but he also built something important that he doesn’t want to watch crumble if and when he steps away. The kids are a little sympathetic in that they’ve all been broken in different ways by their domineering father but they’re also all entitled brats who seem to think they’re owed a whole lot on account of their DNA. I can talk myself into and out of who I hate most three or four times every episode. My weekly Report Card recaps read like a man in crisis.

GOOD NEWS: Good Lord, this show can still turn a phrase like nothing else on television. Examples from the new season include, but are not limited to:

• “Rummage to fruition”
• “Butter my beanpole”
• “He looks like a ballsack in a toupee”

There is also a scene that opens with one character saying “Nobody tells jokes anymore, do they?” and leads to a few minutes of the most uncomfortable squirming you’ve ever seen, by both the people on the screen and anyone watching it at home. Very few shows can do more to advance a story with these little scenes between the action than Succession. Conversations about nothing become vital to the proceedings because of what they reveal on a deeper level. It’s kind of like Seinfeld in that way, and yes, I do believe this makes me the first television critic to compare Succession to Seinfeld. I feel okay about it.

BAD NEWS: There is some heavy stuff ahead. I suppose that’s not really “bad news” when you’re talking about a television drama. It’s part of the deal, really. But with things all wrapping up and everyone at each other’s throats after last season, there has to be some fallout coming. The obvious stuff is with Tom and Shiv, on account of Tom straight-up betraying his wife for his father-in-law, for reasons that aren’t entirely unreasonable if you dig a little, but still. I don’t think it’s really spoiling anything to tell you that there’s danger on the horizon there. Same with Logan and the three kids. This show is fun and preposterously watchable but it’s also a show about broken people walloping each other with the scraps of a personality they have left. Buckle in.

GOOD NEWS: You don’t have to wait much longer for any of it, and I don’t have to keep all this information inside either, as the new season debuts this Sunday, March 26.

BAD NEWS: That’s still like three or four whole days away.

GOOD NEWS: You can watch the trailer 10 times a day until then if you want. And drive around with the theme music blasting. You have options. That’s the point.

Grief is the yellow Starburst of deeply penetrative emotions. No one necessarily reaches for it, but when it is forced upon you, you have no choice but to stomach it. Indie rocker Alicia Bognanno, better known as Bully, knows this all too well. After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the musician has made a more conscious effort to find an outlet for her emotions. Bognanno’s previous track, “Lose You,” was a cathartic demonstration of that, but it was only the beginning.

On her latest single, “Days Move Slow,” off her forthcoming album, Lucky For You, Bognanno is forced to reach down even deeper as she pours the grief of losing her beloved dog and best friend on the track in under three minutes. When asked about her grief process, she told Flood Magazine, “As someone who has spent the majority of my life feeling agonizingly misunderstood, there is no greater gift than experiencing true unconditional love and acceptance,” adding, “I waited my whole life for the bond and irreplaceable companionship I had with Mezzi. She was my best friend and my only constant through some of the most pivotal moments and phases of my life. I was a stranger to the level of love I now know exists because of Mezzi.”

That pain is felt through the grayscale video, which is heightened by the fact that the visual was captured on film rather than digital.

Filmmaker Alex Ross Perry, the video’s director, shared that this emotional pulling was at the center of the visual inspiration. “Right away, it seemed striking to make a piece as stark and measured as possible, not to make a video that replicates the song’s sonic energy but to visualize the emotional weight and feelings of loss and grief depicted in the lyrics,” said Perry.

Watch the full video for “Days Are Long” above.

Lucky For You is out 6/2 via Sub Pop. For more information, click here.

For over a year now, the family and fans of the late rapper Young Dolph have grieved his tragic death. To build upon his musical legacy, the recording artist’s estate has continued to produce projects under his Paper Route Empire label, the latest being Key Glock’s Glockoma 2. But that hasn’t stopped his supporters from spinning the label’s tribute project to him, Paper Route Empire Presents: Long Live Dolph, or his posthumous album, Paper Route Frank.

The most popular track off the album, “Love For The Streets,” produced by Dun Deal, has become yet another sobering reminder of his absence. To honor his memory, his estate blended archival footage of Dolph in his zone (in the recording studio, on stage, and riding around in one of his tricked-out foreign cars Memphis) while beaming with hometown pride. Throughout the video, several notable rappers make an appearance, including fellow Memphis native Juicy J.

The video blends together past clips with current clips of the community returning the love as murals, street sign dedications, and more flash across the screen.

Fans of the late rapper flooded the comment section with tribute posts. One user wrote, “Rest Easy, Dolph. Ima always support cause I know your kids own them masters to all yo music, so we gotta run it up for them, and you we watching every video back to back to back every time yo songs come on, we thumbs it up and never skip. Rest easy big bro.”

Another user wrote, “Legendary sh*t y’all don’t know how much this means to his fans,” and thanked the team for pulling together the footage for the video.

Watch the full video above.