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At the Golden Globes on Tuesday, January 11, Austin Butler accepted the award for best actor for his performance in Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis. In his speech, he sounded exactly like Elvis Presley. So much so that it felt like Butler intentionally accepted the award in character. But he wasn’t in character, and Butler claims that he is unaware that he sounds exactly like Elvis now.

“I don’t even think about it. I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot,” he told reporters at the Globes, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time and I had three years where that was my only focus in life. So I’m sure that there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.”

I didn’t do that well in science class but I agree that this is how DNA works. Elvis began production in early 2020 and picked back up later in the year, and hit theaters in June 2022 after premiering at Cannes in May. Although it’s been good two-ish years since Butler played Elvis, he is still very much in a place of Elvis. This has been going on for months now. Throughout the Elvis press tour, Butler sounded like Elvis. This was all in good fun and added to the film’s admirable chaos, but it’s also quite common: actors sometimes actors play up their roles a little bit while promoting a film, to sell their character more: Christian Bale spoke in an American accent while promoting his Batman films because he claims he is bad at accents, and because he didn’t think anyone would buy it if the actor portraying the character was British. Butler is, whether he knows it or not, taking this to an extreme by making the voice permanent. But this is, allegedly, out of Butler’s control, because he is unaware that he speaks like Elvis in an extremely obvious way.

A deep dive into Butler’s pre–pre-Elvis (before Elvis was on the horizon), pre-Elvis, circa 2019 when Elvis was on the horizon, and post-Elvis voices is a journey. In the pre-pre Elvis era, Butler spoke with no accent at all. His voice is deep but not definingly so. It’s soft and he draws out some words in an Elvis-y manner, but it’s not nearly as dramatic as what is to come.

At the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premiere in 2019, when Butler, a California native, was amidst the audition process for Elvis, his voice got deeper and he developed a southern drawl, marking the Pre-pre Elvis stage of his voice. He was working on the character, and his voice is changing, perhaps permanently as a result. Then there’s the post-Elvis era, aka the present. Butler straight-up sounds like Elvis. There’s almost no distinguishable difference between the voices of Butler and Butler as Elvis. Maybe Austin Butler is Elvis, DNA, and all.

It’s entirely possible that Butler is just committing to a bit. Or maybe he’s a Robert Pattinson-level liar and became so obsessed with Elvis that he’s just sticking with it. But voices can and do change over time, especially when you train yourself to speak in a certain way like an actor does. Like how DNA works, Butler is also not wrong about your surroundings changing how you speak: after I am around my family from Chicago, I have a midwestern accent for a few weeks.

The best thing that could happen to me, the world, and Austin Butler, is if Austin Butler’s Elvis voice sticks with him for the rest of his acting career. Later this year, Butler will appear as the villain Feyd-Rautha in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part II. It began shooting in the fall, which means it shot after Elvis, which means that the chance that Butler talks like Elvis in it is extremely high. Could you imagine a space desert Elvis speaking to Stellan Skarsgård’s wet blob emperor? To me, that is cinema. If Austin Butler talks like this in everything else he does, cinema could peak again. At this point, Austin Butler is living a life of camp, like Lady Gaga circa 2011 (remember that summer when she was an Italian man named Jo Calderone?)

Flo Rida is suing fitness drink company Celsius for over $30,000, claiming breach of contract, unpaid royalties, exclusion from stock options, and more. The lawsuit states, “Even Celsius’ top management publicly recognized that the partnership between Flo Rida and Celsius accelerated the introduction of the Celsius brand to millions around the world and allowed Celsius to finally succeed at new levels.”

The rapper is known for having a good time, and he has managed to bring that energy into the courtroom. As they played a snippet of his 2015 hit “My House,” he bobbed his head along to the rhythm. Afterward, he said, “I can perform better than I can talk,” prompting laughter from the room.

He couldn’t hold himself back when they played a clip of “Low” either. According to Miami New Times, some jurors were mouthing the words to the song.

The legal team for Celsius attempted to object to the playing of “Right Round.” The judge overruled them, and when asked about the popularity of the song, Flo Rida said that “just about everybody will know this record.” He bobbed his head some more, looking like he desperately wanted to start singing along. The video, of course, went viral on TikTok.

Through 22 minutes of play and three quarters of game action on Tuesday, Franz Wagner was staring at 14 points and 12 shot attempts. A frame later, he’d ended the night with 29 points on 20 shots to headline the Orlando Magic’s 109-106, wire-to-wire road victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

During the first three periods, Wagner predominantly functioned off the ball and selectively identified his ball-handling chances, thriving on cuts and in transition with the occasional half-court creation rep. As the fourth quarter arrived, he morphed into Orlando’s crunch-time scorer, converting a trio of slithery drives and a pull-up triple. In typical fashion, he added a spot-up three and dashed inside off the ball for a bucket as well. All night, he showcased precisely the sort of duality that’s come to define his enticing offensive arsenal and enables him to succeed across any lineup configuration.

“He constantly understands his role in certain situations,” head coach Jahmal Mosley said.

The Magic are flooded by young dudes who warrant or require on-ball investment and are best with such usage, namely fellow starters, Paolo Banchero and Markelle Fultz. When they pilot possessions, Wagner can drift into an ancillary role and maintain substantial value. When Orlando needs him on the ball to stave off the late charging Blazers, he can seamlessly initiate ball-screens 25 feet from the rim and produce fruitful results.

According to Synergy, he ranks in the 71st percentile in points per possession as a pick-and-roll firestarter and 79th percentile on cuts. He’s also drilled 44 percent of his catch-and-shoot long balls. To the benefit of himself, his teammates, and Orlando’s schematic optionality, his scoring chart is a kaleidoscope of worthwhile usage.

“It helps the game flow because the ball doesn’t stick when it’s in his hands. He’s going to look to make the right play,” Mosley said. “His teammates trust him to make the right play in those situations, whether he’s coming off a ball screen, or whether you saw the back-cut to the basket, just being able to read and understand the defense.”

Wagner’s second year has been an emphatic encore to an All-Rookie First Team campaign. The 6’10 wing is averaging 20.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on 59.4 percent true shooting (.490/.353/.860 split). His true shooting is 1.7 points above league average (improving on a minus-0.7 last season), despite assuming a significantly grander creation load. He’s playing like someone worthy of genuine All-Star consideration.

According to Cleaning The Glass, his usage has swelled from 20.8 percent to 24.7 percent, while his rate of unassisted makes has spiked from 41 percent to 52 percent. Most notably, he better applies his frame to play through physicality inside the arc and continues to expand his driving game, predicated on deft footwork and touch around the rim. Last year, he shot 60 percent at the hoop (24th percentile). This year, he’s shooting 67 percent (71st percentile). He loves Euro-steps and ambidextrous, sweeping hooks, will swirl shots around gangly rim protectors, and kisses finishes into the cup from funky angles off glass. There’s an elusive slipperiness to his slashing. His use and recognition of angles are economically precise.

“I just kind of look at the defender’s feet and hips. A lot of times I’m attacking a bigger defender and I’m trying to move them side to side,” Wagner said. “At the rim, I think just my length helps me a lot. And a lot of big guys aren’t used to contesting high layups from a taller guy like me. I think that helps me a lot finishing around the rim.”

Wagner possesses functional and rare flexibility for someone of his size. He can crouch low to shield the ball from pressure and wiggle through cramped areas. On multiple occasions pre-game Tuesday, while most Magic teammates were warming up with an array of jumpers, free throws and layups, he was in the background performing various stretching exercises.

At one point, he also sharpened his footwork, rapidly hopping on two feet front to back and side to side. A ball, nor the hoop, were near his reach. The intricacies of his game sat centerstage, revealing in part how he immediately entered the league primed to venture where he wishes as a ball-handler.

“For most guys, it takes a little learning period to understand how to manipulate the game, how to get to your spots, how to finish over bigger, stronger defenders,” Terrence Ross said. “He seems just to have that knowledge already with him. He’s been doing it out the gate since he got drafted.”

Orlando selected Wagner eighth overall in 2021, a pick it received from the Chicago Bulls as a component of the Nikola Vucevic deal. The other half of that return was Carter, who starred alongside Wagner on Tuesday with 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and one block.

Dating back to the early days of Wagner’s rookie season, the duo promptly established an extensive, lethal two-man game that will serve as a bedrock of the Magic’s offense for years to come. Whether it’s flowing out of dribble handoffs, curling around ball-screen actions, or Carter diming up Wagner on his patented backdoor cuts, they’ve long enhanced one another offensively. Nobody’s assisted Carter more than Wagner (91 times) the last two seasons.

“Boogie is such a poised player. For him to be so young, it’s very surprising,” Carter said. “When he’s in those pressure moments, coming off of DHOs, coming off of pick-and-rolls, he doesn’t let the pressure dictate what he’s going to do. He’s great at seeing the floor. Even though things may be going fast, I feel like for him, things are really slow. That’s a very, very special trait to have.”

In the minutes following Wagner’s fourth-quarter scoring flurry, a reporter asked if he gravitates toward those types of pressurized opportunities. Wagner plays the sport for chances like that, he said. But his mind wandered elsewhere. He fixated on the “small, little things.” Sure, scoring is critical, yet it’s not what he singled out for Orlando’s victory.

That approach is evident in his on-court ethos, especially defensively. While Wagner’s star shone brightest because of his scoring, he amplified the Magic defense, which held Portland to a 109.3 offensive rating.

On the ball, he battled with all three of the Blazers’ 20-point scorers, Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, and Jerami Grant, for periods. Off the ball, he primarily roamed the weakside as a low man, properly pinging between tags on the interior and closing out against shooters.

His devotion to the “small, little things” announced itself, as it’s done for years. Wagner is a high-level, malleable defender. Fluid on the ball, he’s comfortable wrangling against a gamut of assignments. His body control and discipline on closeouts belie his 21-year-old status. He’s attentive and well-positioned in help. His utilization of angles extends to the defense. He’s constantly anticipating angles before ball-handlers can frequent them. The club of star two-way wings is eyeing another member.

When the Magic drafted Wagner, Ross watched his new teammate’s collegiate highlights. He saw a different player than the one who’s existed through 1.5 NBA seasons. Rather, he witnessed a spot-up shooter, cutter, and defender, not a go-to scorer. Ross didn’t deem Wagner incapable of such an outcome, he just didn’t see it on film.

“Even in Summer League, he didn’t really showcase that as much. But, man, right out of the gate, I was like, ‘Damn, that was a good move,’” Ross said, with an aura of bewildered admiration in his voice. “His footwork and understanding of how to get to his spots, his up-and-unders, and selling fakes, it’s really impressive. I was just like, ‘Where the hell did this come from?’ But then, he just builds on it.”

Nestled in the underbelly of the Moda Center are a pair of small locker rooms divided by a narrow hallway. To the left, opposing coaches and players conduct pre- and postgame interviews, as the Magic did Tuesday. To the right, a children’s art easel, decorated only by a few colorful scribbles, was stationed in the entryway that day.

One by one, Mosley, Wagner, and Carter filed into the room on the left. All of them, in some fashion, discussed Wagner’s performance. Mosley and Carter praised it, with an undercurrent of its gravity being augmented by his youth and long-term potential. Carter spoke last. He concluded his media appearance assessing Wagner’s year-to-year progression and punctuated it with an effusive truism: “The sky’s the limit for him.”

Then, he exited the quaint locker room and passed by that vacant easel, its own canvas a promise of possibilities, and headed toward his teammates, Wagner included.

“I’ve played with a lot of players, a lot of good guys,” Ross said. “There’s a sense sometimes where guys can score. But there’s only been like a few guys I felt comfortable enough like, ‘OK, give him the ball. Let him create.’ Franz is definitely one of those guys.”

It wouldn’t be a proper Friday the 13th without a good spook, which Showtime graciously delivered in the form of the Yellowjackets season two teaser trailer!

The second season of the survival/coming-of-age cannibal cult drama will arrive in March, picking up right where we left off at the end of season one, now with Elijah Wood! “Kidnapping, cults, death. Your friendships are a little more complicated than most,” Wood’s character Walter says to Christina Ricci’s Misty. Maybe she will finally bring home an Emmy this year.

The teaser hints that the ladies explore hypnosis in order to piece together what really went on out there in the wilderness all those years ago. Meanwhile, Walter and Misty conduct their own investigation.

Season two is expected to be darker, and judging from the trailer, a lot colder (both literally and figuratively). “We are going into the wintertime when the season ends with that first snowfall. This season will cover the winter months,” star Steven Kreuger, who plays Coach Ben, told TV Insider last year. He teases more drama as the stakes get higher and the air gets colder while the teens are trying to make it back alive.

“It’s going to get dire out there with little food and the challenge of staying warm and alive,” Kreuger added, saying that season two will be even more out-there. “A good general overall birdseye view of the second season is it feels like producers loved we were the crazy show on TV and want to take that and double down. If you thought Season 1 was crazy, just buckle your seatbelts for Season 2. It doesn’t let up.”

Season two of the Showtime series will premiere for subscribers on March 24th before airing two days later on March 26th. Check out the teaser above.

Shakira is shattering records with her “BZRP Music Sessions #53” music video featuring Bizarrap. As of last night (January 12), the Colombian superstar now holds the record for the biggest debut for a Latin song on YouTube in its first 24 hours.

On Wednesday, Shakira surprised the world with the release of “BZRP Music Sessions #53,” which turned out to be her diss track about her ex Gerard Piqué. In the electronica banger, she name-checks Piqué and his current girlfriend Clara Chía Marti with clever wordplay in Spanish. Her lyrics, especially the empowering one that says, “Women no longer cry / Women get paid,” generated countless memes this week. The song was helmed by producer Bizarrap who is the most-streamed Argentine artist on Spotify.

The “BZRP Music Sessions #53” video certainly had people talking and watching. Within its first 24 hours of release, the video amassed an estimated 50 million views on YouTube. That easily broke the record that was previously held by Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” remix with Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber which reached 25 million views in that same time frame. Shakira and Bizarrap doubled that amount of views on their video’s first day out. The video included a brief homage to A-Ha’s classic “Take On Me” when Shakira is shown performing the song in sketch animation.

Santa Clarita Diet fans might still be salty after Netflix cruelly cancelled Mr. Ball Legs after Season 3, at which point Timothy Olyphant said that he’d keep filming that show anyway. I guess he (sadly) gave up on that quest, but the good news is that Justified is making a real comeback, eight years after the O.G. series swaggered into the sunset following six seasons of extrajudicial justice upon baddies from Raylan Givens. Expect to see Justified: City Primeval on FX sometime in Summer 2023.

The Elmore Leonard-revival production itself has been plagued by bizarre instances of real-life violence smashing into the Chicago set, but all was fortunately well with the cast and crew. During this week’s Television Critics Association presentation (where FX also announced that Mayans M.C. will end with a fifth season), Olyphant attended with executive producers Graham Yost and Michael Dinner. And Olyphant had no issue telling the world that he would definitely want to do a continuation past the upcoming limited series, which is largely set in Detroit, rather than Raylan’s previous stomping grounds of Harlan and Miami. From Deadline:

“I would show up,” exclaimed Olyphant.

Yost beamed, “Michael (Dinner) has been pitching since year one that it would take place in Italy or Hawaii!”

“He was in a position to make this one in Italy!” responded Olyphant enthusiastically.

Justified: The White Lotus really sounds too irresistible to ever be true. However, if Graham Yost, Michael Dinner, or any other interested parties (ahem, Quentin Tarantino) need some ideas, our own Brian Grubb previously plotted out several examples for their convenience. “All I Do Is Wynn” does sound like a ratings extravaganza.

(Via Deadline)

As icons of their respective generation, and icons of K-pop overall, they know they got that vibe.

After a six-year hiatus from music, Taeyang returns to the scene today (January 13) with his highly-anticipated single “VIBE” featuring Jimin of BTS. Following BIGBANG‘s release last May with “Still Life,” the second-gen ace gets back to his solo groove and tapped the BTS member who was known to be influenced and inspired by him.

With “VIBE,” Taeyang takes it back by meshing some of the genres he personally loves and placing them into his new song. Working with Teddy Park, the founder of TheBlackLabel and the in-house executive producer for YG Entertainment, the two concocted an energetic track that blends retro, New Jack Swing, and old-school R&B beats deriving from the ’90s and early 2000s.

Donning matching outfits throughout the music video, Taeyang and Jimin each take a verse to show off their pipes and footwork. The harmony between the two K-pop legends comes to life towards the end of the music video as they dance side to side.

According to various reports, Taeyang has teased plans for an album release in the future.

The release of “VIBE” follows Taeyang’s departure from his former label, YG Entertainment. The Korean artist signed on to its label affiliate, TheBlackLabel, which houses other top-tier acts like Jeon Somi, Zion.T, LØREN, and more.

Taylor Swift may be the self-proclaimed anti-hero, but her presence alone made Matty Healy adjust his normal tour behavior. From sucking a fan’s thumb and getting a tattoo on stage to making out with fans (after id checking them, of course), The 1975 frontman’s rockstar behavior has sparked numerous concert etiquette conversations on social media.

However, due to Swift’s attendance at the indie rocker’s latest show, not only as a fan of the group but an exceptional guest performance, Healy was sure to be on his best behavior at London’s O2 arena. Concertgoers were surprised to see Swift perform a song from her chart-topping Midnights album. Swift also joined in as the band performed an acoustic version of their 2012 Facedown EP single “The City.” But fans were even more surprised when Healy forwent what had become a signature part of the show.

Healy took to the mic to explain why, exclaiming, “I’m not kissing anyone in front of Taylor Swift. In front of the queen? Have some respect.”

The singer may have been on his best behavior, hoping Swift would drop their unreleased collaboration in her musical vault. But instead, the band will return to the O2 arena for their final London show. Who knows what Healy will do during tonight’s show to make up for yesterday’s tameness?

The OnlyFans craze among hip-hop artists may have died down a bit since the pandemic caused a boom in stars joining the popular content platform, but there’s apparently one star looking to mine the opportunities it offers. Iggy Azalea, who promised some “scandalous sh*t” earlier this month, is not only planning to start an account now, she says she’s also offering content that will be “hotter than hell” — as in the name of her new “mixed media project” consisting of photos, videos, artist collabs, and merch. She shared a steamy teaser on social media:

This move certainly constitutes an unexpected about-face for the Australian star, who once tweeted, “I think onlyfans can be really empowering for people, But I WILL NEVER, EVVVER join. I don’t want to make that type of content & it only f*cks up the bag for ppl on there who really bout that life. Shoutout to the baddies tho!!!!” She was likely referring to the backlash against Bella Thorne, who received criticism for joining OnlyFans to “research a role,” taking away possible subscribers for existing creators. That tweet has since been deleted, but that doesn’t mean Azalea has to completely go back on her word.

At the height of the OnlyFans craze, plenty of hip-hop stars like Bhad Bhabie, Cardi B, Rubi Rose, and Tyga joined. And although the platform’s established user base had a reputation for using it to post X-rated content, there aren’t any rules that say creators must produce this kind of content, and indeed, many don’t (this annoyed some subscribers to rappers’ content as they believed they’d be getting, shall we say, more than what they paid for).

Meanwhile, Variety reports that OnlyFans is not offering any funding — this is Iggy’s project and she said in a statement she joined because she felt like other platforms had “creatively limiting censorship,” a valid concern after Elon’s disastrous Twitter takeover and the mess that is Meta’s Instagram Reels rollout.

Don’t get it twisted, though, Iggy isn’t doing this because rap didn’t work out. In 2022, she opened for Pitbull for 85 sold-out shows while selling a portion of her publishing for a reported eight figures. She certainly isn’t hurting for money; whatever “Hotter Than Hell” entails, she’s doing it because she wants to, not because she needs to.

Paul Ryan delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump this week as the former House speaker gave the Republican Party a bit too much credit for its current relationship with the one-term president. During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Ryan offered his blunt assessment of Trump’s political future following his recent string of failures.

“He’s fading fast,” Ryan said. “He’s a proven loser who cost us the House in ’18, he cost us the White House in ’20, he cost us the Senate again and again, and I think we all know that.”

However, Ryan painted a more rosy picture of the GOP who he claims is “moving past” Trump. “I can’t imagine him getting the nomination, frankly.”

While Ryan is correct about Trump being an albatross around the Republican Party’s neck, he offered an unusual take on last week’s chaotic House speaker vote that stretched on for days. Ultimately, Kevin McCarthy won after 15 rounds of voting, but he had to make a lengthy number of concessions and Trump reportedly made several calls behind the scenes on his behalf.

“Most of that wasn’t personal,” Ryan told Tapper. “Most of that was about fiscal responsibility. Most of that was about spending, inflation, and debt. That’s great.”

Did Ryan not see an entire four day circus where Matt Gaetz and a handful of fringe members held Congress hostage for days as fights broke about who or who wasn’t still loyal to Trump? Because that doesn’t look like a party who’s “moving past” the former president.

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter)