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Still hot off the release of her second major label album, Special, Lizzo is opening up to Elle UK. In an interview for their upcoming September issue, the “About Damn Time” singer opened up about her childhood in Houston.

Lizzo was born in Detroit, but moved to Houston with her family when she was 10 years old. During that time, Destiny’s Child was a household name across the city. In her interview, Lizzo recalled cutting class to meet the girl group.

“Growing up in Houston, the impact that Destiny’s Child had on me making a decision to become an artist was incredible, mostly because I felt like we were so close to it. Everyone had their, ‘I saw Beyoncé when…’ or, ‘I saw Destiny’s Child at this party…’ stories. And that made it seem more accessible. Like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this too, if I worked hard enough and had the right people around me.‘ They had an album-signing event at a Wal-Mart and I skipped school to go see them. I listened to them sing their gospel medley. I’ve seen Beyoncé maybe up to 10 times live now, and she continues to give me that feeling,”

Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child played a big role in Lizzo’s formative years. Last month, she appeared on The Late Late Show‘s “Carpool Karaoke” segment, where she revealed that Beyoncé’s music has been a source of comfort for her in her most trying times.

“When I was shy, or when I didn’t think I was cool, and when I was getting picked on, I would listen to Beyoncé in my bedroom, and it would transport me,” Lizzo said. “I would feel something. I would feel like my life is going to be better. There’s hope for me. When I dropped out of college and I was really depressed, I listened to [Beyoncé’s sophomore album] B’day on repeat. I would just sing B’day all the time, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna be a singer, I’m gonna be a singer.’ The way she makes people is how I want to make people feel with music. She’s been my north star.”

Special is out now via Atlantic. Stream it here.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Sydney McLaughlin has once again set the record in the 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin, the 22-year-old American and reigning Olympic gold medalist in the event, broke the record for the fourth time in the last 13 months with her performance on Friday night at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, throwing down a preposterous 50.68 to leave the rest of the field in her dust.

The New Jersey native’s best time — and, by extension, the fastest anyone has ever won the race — came last month when she ran the race in 51.41 seconds at the U.S. championships. This time around, McLaughlin put on an even better performance.

The competitor who came in second, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, ran the race in 52.27, while McLaughlin’s fellow American, Dalilah Muhammad, picked up the bronze with a time of 53.13. Muhammad held the world record prior to McLaughlin beating it for the first time when she ran the race in 52.16 back in 2019.

McLaughlin’s performance was the 19th fasted 400-meter time in the world this year, with the 18 times ahead of her all coming in races that did not include hurdles. Perhaps McLaughlin will compete in the 400 meters sooner rather than later — NBC Sports noted that McLaughlin’s coach recently indicated that she will start running that race sometime in the future.

After a month-long delay, Joey Badass‘ third studio album, 2000, has arrived. While he is known for taking a long hiatus between projects, Joey reminds from the very beginning that he is among the greats, and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

On 2000‘s opening track, Joey lets us know that he believes that he, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole are currently the best rappers alive.

“F*ck your favorite, I’m the greatest / They never could degrade us and I did it with no major/ I made a lane for [rappers] by going my own way / I paved the way for a lot of these rappers you see today / So act like you know, b*tch, I’ve been had the flow, penetrating souls / Who the best MCs? Kenny, Joey, and Cole / The holy trinity, it’s that nine-fives in affinity / Energy knowing when I’m gone and forever remember me,” he raps over a piano-driven Erick The Architect-produced track.”

Neither Kendrick nor Cole have responded to the track, however, fans have noticed that the line is reminiscent to a line from “Where I’m From,” a cut from Jay-Z’s 1997 album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, in which Jay raps, “Who’s the best MCs, Biggie, Jay-Z or Nas?”

Check out “The Baddest” above.

2000 is out now via Columbia Records. Stream it here.

Barbz, rejoice! It appears we finally have a release date for Nicki Minaj‘s long-anticipated comeback single. “Freaky Girl,” which samples Rick James’ classic single, “Super Freak,” will arrive next month.

According to an Instagram post from Minaj herself, she plans to give the Barbz two gifts in August. On August 11, she will air a new episode of her radio show Queen Radio via Amazon’s Amp app. On the following day, August 12, she will release the new single.

Minaj teased the single earlier this month via a clip on social media. The song is a catchy, randy cut, on which, she raps, “I can lick it, I can ride it while you slippin’ and slidin’/ I can do all them little tricks and keep the d*ck up inside it / You can smack it, you can grip it, you can go down and kiss it / And every time he leave me alone he always tell me he miss it.”

Ahead of the upcoming single, Minaj has taken to Twitter to tease a new alter ego, Nick James.

“#NickJames is coming to do what the girls SHOULD’VE done,” she said. “#NickJames is coming to show the girls why they should’ve just sat there & ate their foods. #NickJames is coming to show the boys how to REALLY gag the girls. Pauz #NickJames is coming to restore hope in mankind.”

Needless to say, we can’t wait.

Losing the ball in the lights at Fenway Park has been an issue for the Boston Red Sox in recent games. Earlier this month, Red Sox outfielder Christian Arroyo lost track of a pop fly during a game against the New York Yankees, which allowed the Bronx Bombers to score a pair of runs on what should have been a pretty standard fly out to right field.

This issue popped up once again on Friday night in Beantown, but this time, it led to an extremely rare inside-the-park grand slam. It was the top of the third inning and the Toronto Blue Jays held a 6-0 lead when Raimel Tapia stepped up to the plate. He launched the ball high into the night, and Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran had more than enough time to get under it.

The issue Duran ran into was, well, the lights at Fenway made it hard for him to track the ball. So while he was in centerfield scanning the sky, the ball dropped on the warning track and bounced against the wall. Duran was visibly frustrated, walking towards the ball while left fielder Alex Verdugo came sprinting in. Tapia, meanwhile, got on his horse, and before the Red Sox got the ball to home, Toronto’s centerfielder slid head-first across the plate.

This was the third inside-the-park grand slam this millennium, per ESPN, so unsurprisingly, the Jays had some fun with this.

The Red Sox might want to do something about the lights at Fenway if this keeps happening.

J.J. Redick has turned into perhaps the most prominent advocate for the current generation of NBA players on television. That’s not a huge surprise, as Redick played in the NBA as recently as 2021, but whether it’s been through his podcast or his appearances on ESPN, Redick has brought a unique perspective to a world that is largely filled with people who never played in the NBA or players/coaches who retired a long time ago.

Redick’s support of the modern NBA led to him coming under some fire from older fans and players when, during a conversation about Chris Paul, he told Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of First Take that Bob Cousy played against firemen and plumbers. Cousy was unsurprisingly not a fan of his comments, and during a cameo on Sirius XM NBA, Jerry West wondered what made Redick an authority on these sorts of matters.

“Obviously the game is completely different, the athletes are completely different, and I know J.J. just a little bit,” West said. “He’s a very smart kid and everything, but tell me what his career looked like? What did he do that determined games? He averaged what, he averaged 12 points a game in the league. Somewhere along the way, numbers count. At that point in time, the players aren’t what they used to be. J.J. certainly wasn’t gonna guard elite players, and so you can nitpick anyone — and the only reason I’m talking about him is because he was not an elite player, but he was a very good player. But he had a place on the team because of his ability to shoot the ball.

“But those players of that era — and again, that was when I started to see the difference in athleticism — my era, I was an athlete way before my time,” West continued. “I had a huge vertical, probably no one in the league was much faster than me, and certainly the competitive part of it, I would put myself among any player that played the game, today also. Winning is all that mattered, that’s what drove me. And I subtly got better every year, we didn’t have the facilities to get better, we had to work in the summers to support our family. But J.J. should be very thankful that he’s made as much money as he’s made, and Bob Cousy — who I played against a couple of years, not very long — I just think it’s very disrespectful to say.”

Generational debates in basketball are nothing new, and Redick has gone into why he finds the conversations that venerate players in the past at the expense of guys playing now “annoying.” Still, it seems like this has really touched a nerve with Cousy and West.

When a 4-year-old wanted tattoos that looked just like his mom’s, mom gave him the full tattoo experience.

People could not get enough of Korrin JB and her son Coleman after seeing Coleman’s decked out kiddie-style “tattoo parlor.” The wholesome video quickly amassed 4.5 million views and got a lot of love online.

JB shared with “Good Morning America” that the idea came as she and Coleman were brainstorming potential summer activities. Coleman pointed at JB’s tattoos and inspiration struck.

Lucky for Coleman, his mom was once a tattoo parlor apprentice, and “a little extra,” as she describes herself in the video. She set up a bona fide tattoo table, threw on some blue rubber gloves and got to work. Don’t fret—no actual ink was involved. Coleman’s “flash sheet” consisted of temporary tattoos.

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By the end of his “appointment,” Coleman’s tiny arm was full of fun cartoons …even a spider to match mommy’s.

Though JB has full sleeve tattoos, she let everyone know in the caption that, “Coleman decided a half sleeve was good enough,” as “tattoos take longer than he thought.”

“Had to break it to him [that] real ones take a wee bit longer,” she joked.

@korrinjb Creating this tattoo parlour was definitely a core memory for this summer 🌞 Coleman decided a half sleeve was good enough saying tattoos take longer than he thought 😂 had to break it to him real ones take a wee bit longer #pov #summervibes #tattootiktok #temporarytattoo #halfsleeve #tattoolovers #emo #fyp #tattoogirl #mommylife #diy #momandsontiktok #momandsonfun #momandsongoals #mindfulparenting #highvibetribe ♬ Choking on Flowers – Fox Academy

Unsurprisingly, the sweet video received a ton of praise.

“This is the most ADORABLE thing I’ve seen today,” one person wrote.

“Man sat like a champ” added another.

One commenter noted how this sweet activity was actually a vital lesson in disguise. “This is so cool! So many kids grow up being told they’re not allowed tattoos. It’s important to let your child know they can express themselves.”

A parent who watched the video shared that their son didn’t like finding out that kid tattoos wash off. JB admitted in a follow-up TikTok that Coleman had also been “pretty upset” when he discovered his tattoos “wouldn’t last forever like mommy’s.”

However, JB gave him the explanation, “You know how one week you like ‘Paw Patrol,’ and the next week you like construction? This way you can experiment…and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you actually want on your body, and what you really don’t.”

I’m sure there are a lot of adults out there with ink remorse who wish they tried this method beforehand.

Coleman’s tattoos might be temporary, but JB hopes the experience they shared will create something much more permanent.

She told GMA, “When you’re a kid, you just see all the magic to life…Once you’re an adult, all that magic fades away so quickly. So I really just want to make the most impactful and fun childhood so that when [Coleman] looks back, he’s always going to have just such bright, fun, constant memories.”

Way to go JB and Coleman! This might be one of the coolest summer activities of all time. It’s certainly made a mark on our hearts.

DVSN‘s new single, “If I Get Caught,” is already one of the buzziest songs of the summer, despite only having dropped a day ago. Ahead of the song’s premiere, the R&B duo promoted the song by sharing screen grabs of a conversation with Jay-Z, whose song “Song Cry” is sampled throughout, as well as holding focus groups evaluating the group’s “honesty” on the track.

Yesterday, DVSN hosted a YouTube Live interview, alongside sex therapist Dr. Tammy Nelson and Nick Cannon. The lattermost revealed that he is a proponent of ethical non-monagamy, and even engages in the practice.

“I’ve practiced monogamy, I’ve been a cheater, I’ve been toxic,” Cannon said. He continued, saying that while many might describe his habits as a form of polyamory, he prefers not to label his lifestyle. Rather, he believes open and honest communication is the way to go, in all sorts of relationships.

“It all starts with honesty,” he added. “It’s really just surface, basic stuff. One of my therapists coined what I do as consensual non-monogamy. Because to even pretend like I’m in a monogamous relationship, that would be misleading. Because, as we know, monogamy defines one thing — and people like to classify what I do as polyamory or polygamy, but even that, I always say to define me is to confine me.”

Check out the full live stream session above.

Dvsn is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

This year is shaping up to be a big one for Paramore fans. On top of a fall tour, and a much-anticipated new album, fans can rest assured that their money is going toward a good cause. Ahead of their upcoming tour, the band has announced that a portion of proceeds from their ticket sales will benefit reproductive care.

“We are outraged by the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion, affecting millions across the country,” said the band in an Instagram post. “$1 of every ticket sold for our US Fall 2022 shows will be donated to ARC Southeast, an organization that provides funding and logistical support to ensure Southerners receive safe and compassionate reproductive care including abortion services.”

Paramore’s upcoming fall tour marks the band’s first tour in four years. The band will tour across North America performing at various venues and festivals.

Earlier this year, Rolling Stone reported that the band was working on a new album — their first in five years. In January, they were reported as being in California, cutting the record there.

“Studios just feel like studios, ” said lead vocalist Hayley Williams, “but we brought a ping pong table and there’s a kitchen that I say I’m going to use. My Postmates bills are humiliating…We go into the studio around 10 a.m. and leave around 7 or 8 p.m., like a bunch of dads. I’ve been trying to get SZA to come hang with us ‘cause I want to be friends in real life, but we leave the studio to eat and sleep and she’s still carpe-ing the diem.”

Tickets for Paramore’s upcoming tour are available for purchase here.

There’s nothing like the magic of new motherhood, when you find yourself spending hours marveling at the incredible being you helped create and gazing at their impossibly tiny and adorable features.

It’s sweet when humans do it, but seeing animals have those kinds of tender moments with their babies is so endearing.

Sekali, a Sumatran orangutan who lives at the Toronto Zoo, gave birth to a baby in April. In a video shared by the zoo, the baby gets some “tummy time” while Sekali gently strokes and cuddles him.

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“Sekali continues to take excellent care of her little one, and he appears to be more alert and mobile,” the zoo shared. “Keepers are seeing the baby standing up while holding onto mom and sitting up on his own now, so he is growing stronger each day.”

The little guy is cute cute cute, but Sekali picking up his foot and “kissing” it is the sweetest darn thing ever.

Orangutan TummyTime

People gushed over the video on the zoo’s Facebook page.

“LOOKS LIKE ALL MOMMA’S COUNTING THOSE LITTLE TOES AND FINGERS…. SHE APPEARS TO BE SUCH A TENDER MOM!! I LOVE THIS!!!! ” wrote one commenter.

“Clearly his Mom just adores him so much,” wrote another. “She is such a good Mom………he’s so sweet and bright-eyed …..a happy and content little guy.”

“I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but, that little one is cuter than a lot of babies!!!! Just look how gentle she is with baby!!!” shared another.

The story isn’t all sunshine and roses, however. Sekali and her baby’s species is in trouble.

In 2017, Sumatran orangutans were moved from the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species’ “endangered” category to “critically endangered,” with their habitat in the wild threatened by deforestation, primarily due to palm oil plantations replacing rainforests. According to the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, there are only around 14,000 orangutans left in the wild.

Orangutan breeding in captivity is not without its controversy, however. The purpose of captive breeding programs like the Orangutan Species Survival Plan is not to release the animals into the wild, but rather to maintain genetic diversity, enable research and educate the public about these magnificent creatures. Zoos have come a long way in recent decades, creating habitats that look and feel much less like cages and more like the wild, and studies have shown that zoos have a positive impact on people’s interest in conservation. Orangutans in human care, like Sekali, may help motivate more people to care about what’s happening to the species in their home habitats.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome this new addition to the Toronto Zoo family,” said Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong. “This orangutan baby is an important contribution to a genetically healthy Sumatran orangutan population in human care. Meanwhile, Sumatran orangutans are under increasing pressure in the wild due to habitat loss and the palm oil crisis, which we are working with partners to address. We are proud to play an important role in the conservation of this amazing species.”

If you’d like to learn more about orangutan conservation and how to help, visit the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme or check out the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy.