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Last week, The Recording Academy and CBS revealed the first set of artists set to perform at this year’s Grammy Awards: BTS, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow, Brandi Carlile, and Brothers Osbourne. Now, they’ve added onto that list with another set of artist reveals today. So, also performing at this year’s show (on April 3 at 8 p.m. ET) are Foo Fighters, Nas, HER, Jon Batiste, Chris Stapleton, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., and Rachel Zegler.

Batiste was a no-brainer selection, as he has a whopping 11 nominations this year, which is the most this year and the second-most in a single year of all time: Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Album, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Best American Roots Performance, Best American Roots Song, Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and Best Music Video.

Foo Fighters is a headlining act in the rock categories, as they’re up for Best Rock Performance (for “Making A Fire”), Best Rock Song (“Waiting On A War”), and Best Rock Album (Medicine At Midnight). As for Nas, King’s Disease II is up for Best Rap Album and DMX’s “Bath Salts” (featuring Jay-Z and Nas) is nominated for Best Rap Song.

Find the full list of 2022 Grammy nominations here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As the Russian military continues to sustain heavy losses in its war with Ukraine, the Kremlin has concocted a bizarre new conspiracy theory to justify its invasion of a peaceful democratic country. And wouldn’t you know, it has something to do with Hunter Biden.

On Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry released a color-blocked diagram that looked to be made by a high schooler attempting to use Adobe for the first time. Within the infographic, the Kremlin made some baseless claims for why it invaded Ukraine. Initially, President Putin said the war was done with the Ukrainian people’s best interest at heart as the country needed to be de-Nazified (whatever the hell that means). Of course, since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is actually Jewish, that reasoning didn’t hold up for long to any person with a fully functioning brain. Now, Putin’s cronies are saying Russia attacked the country because it was working with the U.S. government to create bioweapons that specifically target Slavic people, which is also of course utter nonsense.

The official document released by the country’s defense ministry is titled “Coordination of Biological Laboratories and Scientific Research Centers of Ukraine and the U.S.,” and, besides some weird pictures of a smiling George Soros and a tab dedicated to implicating the entire Democratic party in this scheme, the main argument it makes is this: that a bunch of U.S. institutions have been funding Biolabs in Ukraine and secretly working on an “especially dangerous pathogen of anthrax.” The diagram accuses everyone from the Centers for Disease Control to the U.S. military to the George Soros Foundation to the Los Alamos National Laboratory of being involved in this secret plan to infect every Russian on the planet with anthrax.

But where does President Joe Biden’s son come in? Well, according to Russia, Hunter Biden’s investment firm, Rosemont Seneca, is responsible for financing the Pentagon-backed “military-biological program.”

Of course, there’s absolutely no evidence to back up these claims — and the idea that America is developing bioweapons to use against Russia isn’t even an original one. The Soviet Union made that same accusation decades ago, even accusing America of developing AIDS in a lab. And both Hunter Biden and George Soros are favorite targets of far right-wing conspiracy theorists, which is likely why Russia has started zeroing in on them both — it’s no secret the wild ramblings of these fringe groups have been the country’s preferred method when it comes to infiltrating American elections and destabilizing our democracy.

Still, we can’t help but think this new strategy of blaming President Biden’s son for the current war is going to make people like Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham especially happy. They’ve been giddily spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine for weeks under the guise of “just asking questions” and concern trolling this latest conspiracy theory feels juicy enough to milk for at least a handful of on-air rants. Everyone else might be tired of this war but those two certainly aren’t.

Via The Daily Beast

(Spoilers for Bridgerton will be found below.)

Bridgerton has returned for a new courting season, and you’d better believe that Lady Whistledown is watching. As viewers now know (after Season 1), the anonymous gossip-page writer is really Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), but none of the characters on the show know this yet. This season, Penelope will keep maneuvering to maintain her secrecy if at all possible, and it must be noted that fans should be pleased with this season as a whole. There’s a Queen-declared Diamond and a new set of lead characters, and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) is a lot more, well, human.

What of Lady Whistledown’s inspiration, though? Author Julia Quinn hasn’t explicitly stated who she is based upon, but there are plenty of possibilities out there since society has always loved to gossip, and there were undoubtedly pages like these before, during, and after the Regency era, in which the show is based. However, Town and Country magazine recently spoke with historian Catherine Curzon (who authored The Daughters of George III: Sisters and Princesses), and she’s got one name in mind:

“She does call to mind ‘Mrs. Crackenthorpe,’ billed as ‘a Lady that knows everything,’” Curzon told Town and Country. She went on to explain that Crackenthorpe was the pseudonym for whomever wrote a popular satiric gossip page in 1709 called Female Tatler. The author gossiped aplenty even though the publication only lasted about a year, but she also produced “a gem of satire, remarkable for being intended for women, and with a primary aim to educate — often through sharp observation.”

Although the Regency Era rolled into view later than Crackenthrope, Curzon seems pretty convinced that she’s the author who most resembles Whistledown’s ways. The entire Town and Country piece dives into some of the most popular subjects of the time, who were very rarely called out by name, but plenty of hints were dropped. So, “it was simply a matter of decoding some fairly basic hints about the people involved.” As in, a prince’s actual title would be vaguely masked, or maybe an actress would be referred to by some of the characters that she played.

Actually, that doesn’t sound so anonymous! We’ll soon see if Penelope/Lady Whistledown can keep a lid on her own identity.

‘Bridgerton’ returns to Netflix on March 25.

(Via Town And Country)

Megan Thee Stallion never stops. The rapper is coming off the success of her new collaboration with Dua Lipa, “Sweetest Pie,” which made a pretty significant chart debut at No. 15. Though she’s still dealing with embarrassingly misogynistic fallout from Tory Lanez shooting her, Thee Stallion is still steady rising.

On that note, today Roc Nation and Time Studios announced they’ve partnered on a documentary telling Megan’s story. The upcoming multi-part documentary will be directed by Nneka Onuorah, and includes a mix of archival footage and new material. A press release stated that “beyond amplifying the Houston native’s journey to success, the project will also touch on how Megan overcame various personal hurdles to thrive in her professional career.”

“We are thrilled to be able to work with Roc Nation to share Megan’s story with the world,” said Loren Hammonds, the Co-Head of Documentary at Time Studios, in a press release. “Millions of people are familiar with her as an entertainer, but this series will give her a chance to share her truth as never before. Her story is a powerful one, and the accomplishments that she continues to achieve are remarkable. We feel lucky to have this opportunity to capture her at a crucial moment in her life and career, as she continues to grow exponentially in both her artistry and global impact.”

Roc Nation echoed those sentiments, specifically noting this artist’s resilience. “Megan has quickly blossomed into one of the pre-eminent entertainers in the world and it’s a testament to her perseverance, resilience and professionalism,” said Desiree Perez, the CEO of Roc Nation, in a press release. “Her journey is inspirational and we’re proud to have partnered with Time Studios to highlight her personal and professional trajectory over the years. Our hope is that this documentary will inspire viewers to stay the course and pursue their passions through the ups and downs.”

Executive producers on the project include Time Studios’ Ian Orefice, Loren Hammonds, Alexa Conway and Mike Beck, and Roc Nation’s Desiree Perez and Lori York, along with the director Nneka Onuorah. No release date for the project has been shared yet, but keep an eye out for more information.

The 2021-22 season has not been kind to the Los Angeles Lakers. After losing to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, Los Angeles fell to 31-42 on the year, putting them in ninth place in the Western Conference. They’re currently two games ahead of the 11th-seed San Antonio Spurs, and while they’re in a play-in spot right now, the possibility of them missing the postseason altogether is very real.

Still, it’s not all bad for the Lakers. They still have LeBron James, which has historically been a pretty good way to win games in the playoffs, and Anthony Davis is expected to return from a foot sprain sometime soon. That second thing, in particular, has one Laker legend believing they’d take down the best team in basketball if they met up in the playoffs.

“I’m disappointed in my Lakers, a lot of people are,” Shaq said on The Big Podcast with Shaq. “We all forgot about their ages. ‘Ooh, Westbrook’s comin’, ooh, they got Carmelo,’ like, we’re used to having teams with big-name stars on them. So, you got a team with three Hall of Famers, you would think they’d be in six or seven, and then AD’s not playing. So, I doubt they even make the play-in game.

“But if they do, they have to win, and they will face Phoenix in the first round,” Shaq continued. “And then, if they make it to the eight spot, they will beat Phoenix.”

Shaq believes that the return of Davis will be the thing that pushes the Lakers over the top, and while he concedes that “Westbrook’s been playing bad,” he is holding out hope.

“All it takes is for certain people like that to just play good one or two games and then it snaps right back,” he said.

With nine games left in their regular season, it’d take quite the turn of events for the Lakers to catch up to the Clippers, which have a 4.5-game lead on the 8-seed and have the tiebreaker between the two teams. As such, the overwhelming likelihood is that Los Angeles’ path to the playoffs would require winning the 9/10 game, then beating the loser of the 7/8 game, then beating a Suns team that bounced them last postseason four times in seven games. It would be quite the turn of events if they could pull this off, but at least Shaq is optimistic.

Yesterday, Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li finally followed up her last (and arguably best) album, So Sad So Sexy with a new single called “No Hotel.” We got the Still Sad Still Sexy EP in 2019, but she hadn’t released a full-length project in a minute, so the news that will be changing this year is welcome. She’s officially announced that her next record will be called EYEYE, and according to a press release, Lykke wanted to pursue a completely different, very analogue approach to this album.

“There were no clicktracks, no headphones, and no digital instruments,” the release stated. “The vocals were recorded on a handheld $70 drum mic, often in the moment of composition, giving the lyrics the still-beating sound of fresh heartbreak being whispered into your ear.” In her own words, Lykke said she “wanted the record to have the intimacy of listening to a voice memo on a macro dose of LSD.” Based off this first track, she seems to have achieved all she was looking for. The analogue setup also continued to the mixing stage, as this album was mixed to tape by Shawn Everett.

Today she’s shared a visual component that will set the album apart, too. Directed by Theo Lindquist and shot on 16 millimeter film by cinematographer Edu Grau, seven one-minute visual “fragments” will accompany the music. Lykke stars in the clips alongside Jeff Wilbusch, and you can watch a preview of the films up top. “We wanted to capture the beauty and grandeur of a three-hour European arthouse movie, while making something native to modern media,” Lykke said. “The intention is to deliver the full impact of a movie in sixty seconds on a phone screen, which is where most of our emotional experiences happen now anyway.”

EYEYE will be out on May 20 and she will embark on a tour behind the project beginning in September of 2022. Check out the tracklist for the record below.

EYEYE tracklist:
1. “No Hotel”
2. “You Don’t Go Away”
3. “Highway To Your Heart”
4. “Happy Hurts”
5. “Carousel”
6. “5D”
7. “Over”
8. “ü&i”

During a panel discussion on Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s Senate confirmation hearing, Whoopi Goldberg once again came out swinging at Republicans for their line of questioning that smacked of hypocrisy. In a move that fellow The View co-host Sara Haines called a “dogwhistle to QAnon,” Republicans have been aggressively grilling Jackson over her sentencing in a child pornography case. Sunny Hostin, a former prosecutor, noted that the sentencing was well with the “guidelines,” but Goldberg could not stand the ridiculous of it all given the GOP’s penchant for looking the other way when it comes to their own. Specifically, Matt Gaetz who Goldberg had no problem name-dropping while blasting the Republican’s sudden concern for underage sex crimes.

Via Mediaite:

“Why didn’t they want to hear the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh?” Goldberg asked. “Why weren’t they interested in that? Why — why didn’t they condemn Matt Gaetz, who is being investigated for allegedly sex trafficking. Allegedly. I just want to make sure y’all heard me say allegedly.”

The host then pointed to the allegations against Roy Moore, adding, “I always bring him up, and they didn’t say boo.”

As for the details of the case that has Republicans up in arms, again, Hostin explained that the situation involves an 18-year-old gay teen who looked at gay porn online of other teens, some of whom were not of age yet. He was sentenced by Jackson to three months in prison. “Those are the facts,” Hostin explained. “This is not someone that participated in creating pornographic images.”

(Via Mediaite)

Writer and illustrator Aubrey Hirsch jokingly asked her followers on Twitter what’s a “universal thing that most men like?” because she was writing a comic and “just realized I don’t actually know any men in real life.” The tweet inspired an avalanche of funny responses.

Hirsch is the author of “Why We Never Talk About Sugar,” a collection of short stories, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Child, American Short Fiction and Time.

The interesting thing about the responses is that they weren’t the typical stereotypes about men. She didn’t get a ton of people talking about sex, sports or toxic masculinity. Instead, there were a lot of folks that mentioned very specific male behaviors as if they were talking about a bizarre species they discovered in the wild.

Whatu2019s a universal thing that most men like? Iu2019m making a comic but I just realized I donu2019t actually know any men in real life.

— Aubrey Hirsch (@Aubrey Hirsch)
1647902733

There were two things that got the most comments on her post. First, men enjoy throwing heavy objects into bodies of water. Preferably, the larger the rock, the deeper the body of water and from the highest vantage point possible.

The other is watching construction sites. Evidently, the phenomenon is so popular in Italy that there is a specific word for this type of person in Italian.

Here are 19 of the best responses to the question, “What’s a universal thing that most men like?”

1.

It’s so common in Italy that there’s a name for ithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umarell

— James Billot (@James Billot)
1647938793

When asked why men enjoy watching construction sites so much, a poster on Reddit named justdaps had the perfect response. “I just find it really satisfying and interesting to see the process behind things being built,” he wrote.

2.

https://t.co/SpjqBiViFr

— Daniel Larkin 🌹🏴 (@larkin721) March 22, 2022

3.

Me: Thinking intently trying to come up with a good answer.nAlso me seeing this tweet: Ooh, yeah, this is a good one. A good deep sounding sploosh with a big splash. Yeah, this is a good one.nWe aren’t complicated.

— Michael Miller (@Michael Miller)
1647967400

pic.twitter.com/33W9wqOYP4

— Uhtred Ragnarson (@Iskander861) March 22, 2022

Skipping a stone an unexpected number of times on a lake

— Van Weasel (@vanweezer) March 21, 2022

4.

standing while watching tvhttps://t.co/RJBUGPyJBw

— Russ Shanahan (@russshanahan) March 23, 2022

I have seen dudes do this and I have done it plenty of times myself. I usually stand while watching TV when I want to really focus on what’s happening and do not want to be distracted. This usually happens while watching sporting events or the news. It’s also a great way to use your body language to let other people know that there is something very important happening on the television.

5.

https://t.co/mlTq6HmYBJ

— Randojoeblow (@randojoeblow) March 21, 2022

6.

My work life got a lot easier when I started saying “I don’t know enough to have an opinion on this subject”. Life changing.

— PG (@PG)
1647907387

7.

A man will buy a knife, and if there is another man, he will ask to hold and admire it for 4 seconds and then give it back and say: “Nice.”

— Nathan (Elemeno P) (@realNathanWheat) March 22, 2022

8.

https://t.co/b56zP1KrTx

— AreaMantis, Hat Guy 👒 (@AreaMantis) March 23, 2022

9.

If a guy walks under a low hanging sign he will jump up and try to tap the bottom of the sign as he passes.

Guys like being asked to open jars.

Power tools. Give a guy a new drill and he’ll wander around looking for stuff that needs holes.

— Alan Morgan (@lettersndigits) March 21, 2022

When we do this 99% of the time we’re pretending that the sign is 10 feet high and that we have the ability to dunk a basketball. There are two types of men, those that can dunk and mere mortals.

10.

Memorizing favorite lines from their favorite movies, then reciting them with their friends (or even strangers) who’ve also memorized them, doing entire scenes. Extra points for using accents. A true source of unparalleled amusement & male bonding.

— cautiously optimistic 🙏🏼✌🏻 (@BethCal84918882) March 22, 2022

As a man, this one is near and dear to my heart. I can’t tell you the number of hours I have spent with my friends just throwing lines from “The Big Lebowski” back and forth.

“Nice marmot.”

“The Dude abides.”

“Say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, Dude. At least it’s an ethos.”

A movie that’s running up the ranks of being among the most quotable is another dude buddy pic, “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood.”

“All right, that’s too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?” … “Rick, it’s a flamethrower.”

11.

Right, no-one else has posted this yet, I know my duty: pic.twitter.com/HPwd8qwgUP

— Katie (@ZiziFothSi) March 22, 2022

12.

Talking about their athletic glory days pic.twitter.com/9LmaG2oEiD

— Ben Ross (@BenRossTweets) March 21, 2022

13.

Dining tables made with resin pic.twitter.com/3WQOjEjvcK

— 🌹Robin Isomaa🐕 (@RobinIsomaa) March 22, 2022

14.

Using tie down straps to secure a load in the back of a truck, then twanging the straps and going “that’s not going anywhere”

— Gom Jabbarjaw (@SensitiveWigi) March 22, 2022

15.

When my dad had to chainsaw branches off a dead tree, neighbor men just gathered with various saws from all corners of the subdivision. It was like a siren song.

— Liz (@WarmestRegardss) March 21, 2022

16.

Posing for photos while holding fish.

— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) March 22, 2022

17.

Given a wood fire and a long branch, 100 of 100 men will find a reason to poke the fire every few minutes. Just, you know, to make sure things are burning evenly.

— Patrick Fessenbecker (@pfessenbecker) March 21, 2022

18.

explaining things to women

— ˗ˏˋ Hayley DeRoche ˎˊ˗ (@hayleyderoche) March 21, 2022

Unfortunately, this is true and men do far too much of it.

19.

When shopping at a grocery store, leaning forward with your forearms on the handle of the carriage, while you walk up and down the aisles

— Joe DellaGatta (@JoeDellaGatta) March 23, 2022

Evidently, after reading the responses, Hirsch knew what was going to happen next. No need to feel ashamed about going viral. It just means you created something that people love.

I really feel for the poor Buzzfeed intern currently searching for the perfect gifs to turn this into an article that will support 8 ad spots.

— Aubrey Hirsch (@aubreyhirsch) March 22, 2022

For those too young to remember, Hipster Runoff was a popular indie music blog that ran from 2007 to 2013. Perhaps the site’s most enduring claim to fame is coining the term “chillwave” in the early ’00s. A not-so-chill moment in the site’s history is when it was the victim of a cyber attack in 2012, about which Carles, the site’s anonymous creator and writer, told Motherboard at the time, “My hosting company and support team say that there are signs of foul play on the server, and some of the last actions before it crashed are very suspicious.”

Now, it looks like we know who perpetrated the attack, as Grimes is claiming responsibility.

In a recent Vanity Fair video, Grimes tell the story behind a 2012 photo of her and a female friend kissing. She explains:

“Back in the day, before the woke era, like, I actually got canceled for this, which is so crazy. I was just at a party with my friends, somebody took this photo, and it got leaked to this website called Hipster Runoff. And then he [Carles], like, ran this story, and this was, like… I was trying to be like all integrity and, you know, like, start my career. And it was, like, ‘Grimes gone wild’ or something. And it was just this, like, super wack, like, mean story. And it was, like, this meme that was going all over the internet.

But my friend who worked for — I will not say which video game — had access to… OK, well I don’t wanna get him in trouble, but, anyway, we were actually able to DDoS Hipster Runoff and basically blackmail them. We were like, like, ‘We’re not gonna let you run your… put your site back up until you take the story down.’ And he did, in fact, take the story down, and it was like my coolest hacker moment. So, yeah, that’s the story of this photo.”

Cloudflare defines a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack as “a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. DDoS attacks achieve effectiveness by utilizing multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. Exploited machines can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices. From a high level, a DDoS attack is like an unexpected traffic jam clogging up the highway, preventing regular traffic from arriving at its destination.”

Pitchfork notes DDoS attacks are illegal in the US and continues, “The attacks are deemed unlawful conduct per 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A): ‘Whoever — knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer… shall be punished [with]… a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years.’”

Arriving this May is Mxmtoon’s new album, Rising. On Rising, Mxmtoon writes letters to her younger self, creating electrifying instruction manuals for surviving as a teenager.

Mxmtoon got her start by posting covers in a guest room in her parents’ Oakland home in 2017 at 17 years old. Now, at 21, the queer singer/songwriter has become an indie-pop sensation, drawing in listeners with infectious electronic beats and poignant anecdotes.

Ahead of Rising, Mxmtoon has released a new single called “Sad Disco,” a groovy synth and drum-infused coming of age song which sees her finding joy in her own company.

“I was 17 years old when I wrote my song ‘Prom Dress,’” said Mxmtoon in a statement. “Four years later, I sat and listened to it, wondering if the lyrics and ideas still resonated with my now 21-year-old self. I decided that it did, and it also didn’t. I’d grown up since I wrote that song and realized I wanted to make something that felt current to my individual. “Sad Disco” was the resolution to that desire. A song built with the same bones that “Prom dress” was made from, but more reflective of the growth I’ve experienced in my own life since. It’s a song meant to make you find joy in the quiet, to emulate that feeling of being alone in your bedroom, blasting music through a pair of headphones in the middle of the night. In a way, it feels like an answer to the girl who wrote “Prom Dress” in the first place. Serving as a reminder that she isn’t stuck on the floor with tears streaming down her face forever, but that she’ll grow up, and the loneliness she sometimes feels won’t define her. She can still choose to dance and have her own “Sad Disco.”

Last month, Mxmtoon showed off her ukelele chops on another Rising cut called “Mona Lisa.”

Check out Rising‘s tracklist below.

1. “Mona Lisa”
2. “Learn To Love You”
3. “Victim Of Nostalgia”
4. “Sad Disco”
5. “Frown”
6. “Florida”
7. “Scales”
8. “Growing Pains”
9. “Dizzy”
10. “Haze”
11. “Dance (End Of The World)”
12. “Coming Of Age”

Rising is out 5/20 via AWAL. Pre-save it here.