The race to the 2023 Grammys is on. But, even after earning a No. 1 hit with the single “About Damn Time” and high praise from industry peers, including Missy Elliott, singer Lizzo wasn’t sure if her sophomore album, Special, would make the cut.
The singer stopped by SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show to discuss the multi-nominated project. When asked who she’s facing off with, the singer chuckled, “All of the greatest and biggest names in music: Beyoncé, Bad Bunny, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, you name it… God!”
Remaining humble, Lizzo shared, “I genuinely feel like a winner already. When I go to the Grammys, and I walk the carpet with f*cking gown and look f*cking amazing, and I go on that stage and perform my f*cking ass off, and everybody loves the sh*t out of it — I’m like, that’s my trophy. It really is.”
She continued, “And to be nominated in this goated year — I remember being like, what if they just completely overlook my album because Harry [Styles], Adele, Beyoncé, all of these big people, Kendrick Lamar drop, what if they overlook my album? Which could have easily happened. It’s the sophomore blues, they always say. Your second album kind of flops, and I did the opposite of that. I got a No. 1 [record] and six Grammy nominations. I’m winning. I’m good.”
That’s nothing to brush off, either. Lizzo is currently nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song Of The Year, Best Remixed Recording, and Album Of The Year.
In another portion of the interview, Lizzo also discussed the criticism her music receives for being “white-sounding,” saying, “[It is] very hurtful only because I am a Black woman. I feel like it challenges my identity and who I am. It diminishes that, which I think is really hurtful. And on the other end, I’m making funky, soulful, feel-good music that is so similar to a lot of Black music that was made for Black people in the ’70s and ’80s.”
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are going down on February 5, 2023.
Watch the full clip of Lizzo’s appearance on Stern above.
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
We, as a society, are entering the dangerous territory of the post-streaming landscape. On the one hand, “peak TV” is supposedly on the horizon, as it has been for the last three years or so. And now, more than ever, there are almost too many options when it comes to which sweaty TV guy you chose to watch after a long day of work. But, as the saying goes, with great power comes something else, and it seems like HBO Max is in its “taking responsibility” phase after a less-than-stellar year.
In case you weren’t aware, there are hundreds (thousands?) of shows and movies on HBO Max, and the titles change pretty frequently. But with all of the changes and new content, most of the time, original HBO shows would stay on the service, because where else would they even need to be, right? That’s not the case anymore, as more and more shows are being quietly yanked from the streamer after being canceled, with basically no other place to watch them.
Variety confirmed that former HBO hit Westworld, Anna Kendrick’s comedy Love Life, and Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series The Nevers would be removed from the streaming platform, in addition to the just-canceled Minx. This way, the streamer will save money by not paying the cast and crew residual payments, in addition to not continuing the shows at all.
Despite being pulled from the service, certain shows might get a second shot at life. Jake Johnson confirmed that Minx is still wrapping up its second season, which the cast and crew hope will air somewhere else. This is good because the world needs more Jake Johnson in a snazzy button-down top.
The biggest issue here is this: With original shows unavailable on other platforms, how will fans get to rewatch their favorite shows? Imagine if Netflix took Stranger Things off of its service. There would be riots until dawn. We might have to go back to watching shows the same way our elders did pre-streaming: by saving up all of their babysitting money to buy the entire DVD collection of Gilmore Girls at FYE. The current season of Westworld is currently on sale, by the way.
An ultrasound is typically the first opportunity for a new parent to visibly connect with their unborn child, but some parents don’t get to “see” their baby’s first image due to being blind or visually impaired.
This was the case for Ashton Johnson, an expectant mom from Nebraska, who also wasn’t able to see the glossy black and white print-out of the ultrasound due to her visual impairment. Traditional ultrasound pictures are slick when they’re printed, and without any ridges or bumps on the image, Johnson wasn’t able to visualize what the picture looked like.
But her OBGYN, Dr. Katie Sekpe, had a plan to help the mom-to-be “see” her ultrasounds, instead of relying solely on her husband’s descriptions. Dr. Sekpe contacted Dr. John Coté, another OBGYN, to ask him to create 3D prints of the couple’s ultrasound pictures.
Dr. Coté isn’t just a doctor who randomly owns a 3D printer, he’s an assistant professor and researcher at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He told KETV Omaha that giving moms a 3D print of their ultrasound increases their oxytocin levels and attachment to their babies. The research being done at the university is some of the first of its kind, according to Coté.
It’s obvious from the video that Johnson is beside herself with the joy of getting to “see” her baby for the first time at different stages of her pregnancy. Technology sure is amazing!
You may want to grab a tissue before you watch the video below.
Billy McFarland, known as the co-creator of the disastrous Fyre Fest scam, recently completed his prison sentence. In addition to planning another business attempt, McFarland appeared on The Diary Of A CEO series to discuss the Netflix documentary.
“I literally went outside, I think I was one of two people who wasn’t in the TV room watching the documentary, but I couldn’t do it,” McFarland said. “I think I was still in the combative phase where I just hadn’t come to reality with everything that had happened and I was too scared to hear allegations or comments by the people and not be able to respond.”
“I just hadn’t come to reality with everything that happened. I was too scared to hear allegations or comments by other people and not be able to respond,” he continued. “I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it, so I feel like I wasn’t stable enough or mature enough at that time to watch it, and probably still am not.”
McFarland’s upcoming PYRT (pronounced “Pirate”) business venture will be seemingly hosted in the Bahamas for a “handful of artists, content creators, entrepreneurs and any of you guys who end up joining the PYRT crew,” according to his TikTok. Just in case anyone still has Fyre Fest FOMO.
As Adele is almost a month into her Vegas residency, Weekends With Adele, she is getting very personal with her audience. This past weekend, she opened up about her divorce, and shared how she got through it (per NME).
She revealed to the audience that she’s been going to therapy, after having taken a pause following the process of the divorce.
“I started having therapy again because I went a few years without it. I needed to start,” she said. “Before, obviously, when I was going through my divorce I was basically having, like, five therapy sessions a day.”
She continued, saying, “I stopped holding myself accountable for my own behavior and the things I would say and it’s because I would always fall back on my therapist.”
In addition to helping her cope during her divorce, Adele said that therapy has helped her become more comfortable with performing live.
“My whole therapy session this week was really interesting. It was about these shows,” she said. “I always get so emotional. I love making music, but there is something about performing live that actually terrifies me and fills me with dread. That is why I am not a big touring artist. I did it last time to prove I could do it. But this experience of being in a room this size, I think I might be a live artist for the rest of my life.”
2022 has been a big year for Cardi B, even without an album. As the “I Like It” rapper agonized over the follow-up to her Grammy-winning debut Invasion Of Privacy, she still had some huge wins throughout the year, both musically and personally.
Her year started off with a win in court, as a jury ruled in her favor in her libel case against gossip blogger Tasha K. Then, she dropped her first new music of the year, but not quite in the way fans might have expected. Rather than releasing a single from her upcoming album, she contributed “The Seaweed Sway” to her daughter’s favorite cartoon, Baby Shark’s Big Show. Her show Cardi Tries… continued with more hilarious adventures, including a reunion with “WAP” partner-in-rhyme Megan Thee Stallion to learn how to play football with the Los Angeles Chargers.
But fans were still overjoyed to hear some new music from the star rapper, which came in the form of “Hot Sh*t,” a thumping collaboration with Chicago stars Kanye West and Lil Durk (this was before Kanye went full Clayton Bigsby). From there, Cardi picked up momentum, collaborating with rising star GloRilla on “Tomorrow 2” ahead of becoming the first female rapper with two 11-time Platinum songs. Another court win capped her year, this time in the lawsuit against her over her Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1 cover.
Hopefully, next year, she’ll be able to get past her sophomore album anxiety and follow up with new music, but either way, it’s fair to say that 2022 was a good year for Cardi.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Despite Hulu’s Pam & Tommy racking up critical acclaim, Pamela Anderson was not a fan of the production. The iconic Playboy model turned actress never signed off on the project, and she reportedly blasted the show for being a “cheap knockoff.” However, Anderson was emboldened by the attention to her infamous sex tape scandal and teamed up with Netflix for a new documentary that tells her story in her own words.
Titled Pamela, A Love Story, the documentary will focus on Anderson’s “lifelong pursuit of love,” which resulted in some wild romances and a few scandals. Via Netflix:
“When you’re not looking for love, it finds you,” Anderson tells Tudum. “And I guess I’m easy to find.”
Anderson says that taking control of her story was an intimidating but necessary step toward sharing her truest, most unfiltered self with the world. “I was very hesitant, but looking back, I feel empowered,” she says. “And I hope that [my story] inspires people to have a great fucking time and not worry so much.”
Pamela, A Love Story will reportedly feature “never-before-seen personal photos, journal entries and thoughtful introspection” as it recounts Anderson’s meteoric rise through Hollywood. The model/actress previously confirmed the documentary’s existence back in porch in an Instagram post featuring a handwritten letter on Netflix stationary.
“My life, A thousand imperfection, A million misperception, Wicked, wild and lost, Nothing to live up to, I can only surprise you, Not a victim, but a survivor, And alive to tell the real story,” Anderson wrote in the lipstick-adorned post.
Pamela, A Love Story streams January 31 on Netflix.
Talk about a left turn. On her second album, softCORE, New Jersey singer/rapper Fousheé eschews the moody R&B of her debut, Time Machine, to vent some frustrations about life, love, and current events. Anyone expecting a redux of her breakout “Deep End” wouldn’t be disappointed, just surprised. In just 12 tracks, the New Jersey singer runs the gamut from screaming pop-punk to squeaky-voiced cloud rap, defying categorization and pushing against the boundaries arbitrarily foisted upon Black musicians.
Part of this experimental evolution is the legacy of her upbringing in the suburbs of New Jersey. “Somerville is where I started writing and my dream of being a singer started,” she recalls via Zoom. “We lived at this spot on Cliff Street. It was the coolest shit I’d ever seen. It looked like a castle. We had a sound system with a karaoke mic and a piano with stock sounds. I used to go crazy. I used to throw concerts there. I was writing songs. I put together a group. It was a really grounding place for me. I was dancing, I was singing, I was having a ball.”
While living in Somerville gave her place to start, a later move to Bridgewater was disorienting. Without any other Black kids to relate to, Fousheé felt set adrift to discover who she wanted to be, bereft of the cultural models that can provide a sense of belonging, safety, or security from which to base her future growth. “There wasn’t a lot of cultural examples for me,” she laments. “People would feel kind of weird around me because I looked different and ask me questions about being Black, like, ‘Why your hair look like that?’”
This sense of ostracization became both a gift and a curse. While her surroundings led to a relatively narrow musical education, her influences wound up being what you might call “well-rounded” simply from exposure to an alternative viewpoint. “I was in this lyrical poetry class actually where it was all about Bob Dylan and didn’t know who it was and I was really frustrated,” she says. “And now I appreciate it.” The influence of the more folksy side of music is evident in the slower moments of softCORE such as the album’s closer, “Let U Back In” and “Unexplainable,” with often more abrasive examples elsewhere in the set.
softCORE is peppered with aggressive songs like “Bored,” “Supernova,” and “Die,” which lean heavily on the pop-punk influences Fousheé picked up on Z100 as a teenager at the turn of the millennium. “I tried to take the type of topics that I would hear in hip-hop and rap and put it in a punk setting,” she explains. “I just tried to make it honest, talk about how I feel, have it more like stream of thought.” As far as why she chose to go with the hardcore aesthetic after making her debut with a much more elegant, gentle style, she says that metal and punk fit the content, themes, and feelings she wanted to convey.
“I was tired of crying to these slow guitar songs, and I wanted to rage and have fun when I perform,” she expounds. It started from me just expressing anger, and that’s one of the best foundations on which to express that type of emotion. Metal and punk is so carefree and so releasing. And I wanted that for my audience, too. As a Black woman, we don’t get to express those feelings a lot without it being shunned in a music setting. You don’t see that many Black women raging. There’s Rico [Nasty], and way back, Kelis, but it’s so few and far between that I think more of us should and we all feel this way, so we should have resources that express that. And I want the Black girls to mosh at my shows and everyone to mosh at my shows.”
Incidentally, this seems to be a theme reflected in the recent release of another New Jersey singer primarily known for R&B, SZA (who hails from Maplewood, a 90-minute train ride away). On SZA’s new album, SOS, she forays into punk on “F2F”; the surprising shift garnered a positive response on Twitter. Meanwhile, both SZA and Fousheé’s intricate songwriting has been compared to battle rap — a connection that Fousheé can trace to their shared home state and its proximity to the New York battle rap scene.
“Plainfield, that’s where they listen to a lot of D-Block and underground rappers and there’s their own set of rap heroes there,” she reminisces. “There are so many independent rappers coming out of Plainfield.” She describes Somerville as her “middle point in creativity and experimentation,” again citing Bob Dylan influences that set her apart from a typical rap head or R&B singer. “That’s where I was introduced to Bob Marley, and Celine Dion, and dancing while singing, and this idea of artistry. So, that, and then maybe even a little Bob Dylan from Bridgewater and Z100, the more rock and folky influence.”
The thing she wants listeners to take away from this melange of influences and sounds is “that vulnerability and rage can coexist,” she says, opening up more space not just for Black voices in hardcore scenes, but also for freer expression of these emotions in Black music. It doesn’t all have to be just one thing; nor should anyone feel alienated because they don’t fall neatly into a prescribed box, category, or genre based solely on their ethnic or cultural background. “I don’t want to do what anyone expects,” she declares. “I like to keep people guessing.” But for anyone who expected a less challenging experience, she recommends giving softCORE a chance to grow on them. “Please listen to it at least three times. By the third time, you probably might have a different favorite song, or you might hear something different. Listen to it three times.”
After spending several months on their massively successful Blue Water Road Trip tour, Kehlani returns home jaded. The “Altar” singer is not upset about ticket sales or their performance, but rather an inappropriate interaction with an attendee.
The Oakland native is all for a good time seen in the video clips of them dancing with Wakanda Forever actress Letitia Wright, so long as it is consensual. But, unfortunately, one concertgoer didn’t get the memo. Following their performance in Manchester, England, at the O2 Victoria Warehouse, the singer uploaded a video message to their Instagram Story revealing they had been sexually assaulted.
Kehlani eventually deleted the video, replacing it with a written message detailing what happened after to close of the European leg of their tour. The “Little Story” singer opened with why they pulled the video down, writing, “I’ve made video after video after video and deleted it because I don’t want any video of me as angry, triggered, crying upset as I am anywhere.”
oh my god kehlani :(( no one should ever have their boundaries disrespected like this i’m truly disgusted for them. y’all are sick. pic.twitter.com/Xk0r23BWqQ
The musician continued, “I don’t care how sexual you deem my music, my performances, my fun with my friends dancing at clubs, or me, that does not give any of you the right to cross a boundary like sticking your hands up my skirt & pulling my underwear to touch my genitals as I am being escorted through a crowd after performing.”
As a past sexual assault survivor, Kehlani closed with, “This sh*t made me sick to my stomach. [Especially] as a victim of sexual assault, I am endlessly triggered and mindblown.”
Kehlani is on a touring break but is scheduled to resume in January. However, there’s, there’s no word on whether or not the singer will cancel their remaining 2023 tour dates.
Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Following SZA’s release of her sophomore album, SOS, and her Saturday Night Live performance, she also revealed today that she’ll be heading on tour in 2023. The newly-announced North American dates include a number of arenas, signifying her growth — with NYC’s Madison Square Garden, LA’s Kia Forum, and Boston’s TD Garden being just a handful of shows.
“Time to take this sh*t on the road,” SZA shared.
Omar Apollo is set to open for her during the new tour. Earlier this year, he released his album, Ivory, which made an appearance on Uproxx’s Best Pop Albums of 2022 list.
SZA’s North American tour kicks off in February in Columbus, OH, and will run through the end of March. Tickets go on sale starting December 16. More information is available here.
Continue scrolling for a complete list of SZA’s SOS tour dates.
02/21/2023 — Columbus, OH @ The Jerome Schottenstein Center
02/22/2023 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
02/24/2023 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
02/25/2023 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
02/27/2023 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
02/28/2023 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
03/02/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
03/04/2023 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
03/07/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
03/09/2023 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
03/10/2023 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
03/13/2023 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
03/14/2023 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
03/16/2023 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
03/18/2023 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
03/19/2023 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
03/22/2023 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Kia Forum
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