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When the nominees were announced for the upcoming 64th Grammy Awards yesterday, Taylor Swift received just one nomination. But it was a big one, as Evermore received a nomination for Album Of The Year, alongside albums from Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, HER, Jon Batiste, and Ye.

Swift — who currently sits at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart — took to Twitter to congratulate her fellow nominees and posted an incredibly opulent clip of her singing next to Aaron Dessner on piano, on the set of the style out session for an upcoming video for the song “Champagne Problems.”In the artistic black and white overhead shot, Swift is seen wearing a decadent wedding dress that’s creating an angelic barrier around her behind Dessner, who plays the tune as the pair sit at the bottom of a staircase in an atrium.

“I wanted to share this video with you from when @aaron_dessner and I were doing our fittings for the video and there was a piano, so ofc this happened,” Swift said in the Tweet. “SO stoked evermore has been honored like this. Congrats to all our fellow nominees #GRAMMYs.”

It’s a glorious short clip that also serves as an exciting preview for the video. From Evermore (of course), “Champagne Problems” is a song about a young couple who’ve been in love, but the song’s protagonist turns down a wedding proposal at holiday time, shocking her family. The song addresses mental health issues and small town ideologies, and it looks as if Swift is leaning into the character for the upcoming video for sure.

Aaron Rodgers has a toe injury that bugged him so much during the Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings earlier this week that he went to the locker room prior to halftime. Speaking to the press after the game, Rodgers made clear that the ailment has been quite the thorn in his side in recent weeks.

“I’m just going to have to get to the bye and hope I can get some healing over the bye week,” Rodgers said, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “Probably the same schedule next week. Was in a lot of pain. Went in at halftime early to get it checked out. It’s very, very painful. Got stepped on the first half, and that kind of activated all the symptoms I was having. It’s going to be another painful week and next week, and then hopefully start to feel a little better on the bye.”

Rodgers has previously said that the injury is “a little worse than turf toe,” and believes that it is related to his recent bout with COVID-19. And on the Pat McAfee show earlier this week, Rodgers went into some more detail about what he’s going through.

Now, this comes with the caveat that Rodgers hasn’t exactly been a beacon of straightforward and accurate scientific information regarding the novel coronavirus in recent weeks, but a recent piece by Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal indicates that this is, indeed, a thing that happens to people.

Covid Toe is a casual name for something medically known as pernio or chilblains, which is a condition that causes symptoms such as discoloration and lesions. It can be extremely painful and turn the toes purple.

The shred of good news, when it comes to Covid Toes, is that they’re a sign of the body’s strong immune response to the virus.

You can just get vaccinated against COVID-19 if you want to greatly reduce the risk of this happening to you. Anyway, the Packers lost, 34-31, but Rodgers still played pretty well, going 22-for-33 with 385 yards and four touchdowns.

After taking the world by storm with their music and earning several No. 1 singles, BTS have finally landed their first-ever Grammy nomination. On Tuesday, the Recording Academy revealed the K-pop supergroup had been nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their track “Dynamite.” To celebrate, the boyband returned to The Late Late Show With James Corden to deliver a rendition of one of their other hit songs.

Taking the stage against a colorful screen to the wild screams of the live audience members, BTS gave a showstopping performance of “Permission To Dance” complete with very intricate choreography. The performance proves that, like BTS say in the song’s lyrics, they “don’t need to talk the talk, just walk the walk” — and they definitely did.

The song was released earlier this summer and, like several of their other songs recently, soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track was co-written by Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol, and while BTS have collaborated with Sheeran on two occasions in the past, they’ve never actually gotten the chance to meet him. “We can’t believe that we haven’t met him yet and this is the second project with him, but we never met him,” they said in a recent interview.

Watch BTS’ “Permission To Dance” performance on The Late Late Show above.

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

Making comparisons to Donald Trump’s White House and the one that Joe Biden has created isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, nor is it even an apples-to-oranges situation (though bad apples-to-oranges could work). As we head into the holiday season, which has historically been a very festive time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we’re reminded of the important role the First Lady plays in celebrating the season—and just how unalike in every way Jill Biden is from Melania Trump.

Earlier this week, Dr. Biden, wrapped up in a cheery red coat, smiled for the cameras and chatted with the crowd as she oversaw the delivery of the White House Christmas tree—an impressive 18-foot Fraser fir that made its way to D.C. from North Carolina.

As Newsweek reports, Dr. Biden inspected the tree, which arrived via the traditional horse and carriage, and sounded like she meant it when she declared: “It’s beautiful—it’s magnificent, actually.”

This, of course, is a far cry from Melania’s views on Christmas celebrations. For her first holiday at the White House, she opted for all-white firs. Then, in 2018, there was the infamous “Blood Red” Christmas scheme that had people comparing the White House to a scene from The Handmaid’s Tale.

While Melania defended her choices by explaining that she liked them, her worst holiday gaffe came just a few weeks ahead of her final holiday in the presidential residence when one of her former aides released a recording of a very Grinch-like Melania sharing her true feelings about the holiday. Which amounted to: “Who gives a f**k about Christmas stuff and decoration?”

Finally, Melania has gotten a definitive answer.

(Via Newsweek)

It’s Thanksgiving and it’s pretty likely you’re going to need a cocktail before the long weekend is over. Maybe more than one. Our pick this year — our official Thanksgiving cocktail, no less — is a modern classic, the Black Manhattan.

The beauty of this cocktail is the rush of botanicals that mix with a good and herbal rye whiskey. The herbal notes, sweetness, and bitter spices all pair wonderfully with a big holiday meal. Another great aspect is that — and this is true of all Manhattans — you can easily batch this cocktail. Just times each ingredient by, say, six and you’ll have enough for everyone around the table to enjoy.

Okay, we all know we want to get to the good stuff, so let’s get mixing!

Black Manhattan

Served in Coupe and serves 1

Ingredients:

• 2-oz. rye whiskey
• 0.75-oz. Averna Amaro
• 0.75-oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 dash Orange Bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• Luxardo cherry
• Orange peel
• Ice

Yes, I’m using Michter’s 10-year Single Barrel Rye. There’s a tradition in my house of making $50 Manhattans on Thanksgiving with this rye because it’s delicious. It’s also more herbal and botanical than “spicy,” which makes it a great base spirit for both sweet vermouth and Averna Amaro (both of which are botanical in different ways — one sweet and one woody and bitter). Knob Creek Rye is a solid option if you’re looking for something a lot more affordable (especially if you’re making batches).

As for the vermouth, I’m using Carpano Antica. The rest — bitters and cherries — you’ can easily source at any liquor store or delivery service.

What You’ll Need:

• Cocktail glass/jug
• Cocktail strainer
• Barspoon
• Jigger
• Fruit peeler

Method:

• Prechill your glass in the freezer.
• Add the bitters, Averna, vermouth, and rye to a mixing jug and then add ice and stir until the jug is ice cold to touch.
• Remove the glass from the freezer and strain the cocktail into the glass.
• Express the orange oils from the peel over the cocktail and rub the peel around the rim of the glass and stem.
• Drop a Luxardo cherry in the cocktail and serve.

Bottom Line:

I can’t overstate this: The better alcohol you use in your cocktails, the better they will taste. Michter’s 10 Rye is a phenomenal whiskey and makes a stellar cocktail. This is so nuanced, sweet, herbal, bitter, soft, citrusy … I could go on and on.

I tested this on a bartender friend today and their reaction was, “Oh! That’s amazing.” Trust me, this drink rules. And again, if you want to batch it, just multiply the main ingredients by the number of people you want to serve. So let’s say you want to make six at a time, then 2-oz. of rye, 0.75-oz. of Averna, and 0.75-oz. of sweet vermouth becomes 12-oz. rye, 4.5-oz. Averna, and 4.5-oz. sweet vermouth. I’d keep the Orange bitters at six dashes, but I’d dial back the Angostura Bitters to maybe nine dashes instead of 12 as the Averna is already doing a lot of that spicy botanical work while adding a bitter edge. Just taste as you go and you’ll be fine.

Cheers!

In the world of video games, there are three companies that stand tall above all others as the reigning kings of console-making: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. However, back in 1999, one of these studios tried their hardest to make that three into two with a pretty ambitious (and ultimately naïve) proposition. In 1999, Microsoft tired to acquire Nintendo.

In an oral history of Xbox published by Bloomberg earlier this year (via Eurogamer), it was revealed that prior to the release of Microsoft’s first console — the original Xbox — the Seattle-based company actually reached out to Nintendo with an offer to purchase them. According to Kevin Bachus, Microsoft’s former director of third-party relations, Nintendo found the very idea of selling off the company hysterical.

“Steve [Ballmer, ex-Microsoft CEO] made us go meet with Nintendo to see if they would consider being acquired,” Bachus said. “They just laughed their asses off. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went.”

Now, as a part of Microsoft’s 20th anniversary celebration for the Xbox, the company has created a browser-based Xbox interactive museum, where a letter sent during the companies’ 1999 negotiations now rests on display. While much of the document is concealed, the start of the letter can be made out and sounds pretty in line with how we recently learned things went down between the two tech giants:

“Dear Jacqualee, I appreciate you taking the time to try to arraign a meeting with Mr. Takeda and Mr. Yamauchi to discuss a possible strategic partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft on future video game platforms,” the letter begins. “I understand Mr. Takeda’s concerns about the possible partnership and will try to [obscured] the guidelines that he has requested…”

Despite this rejection, however, Microsoft ultimately made a second attempt at working with Nintendo the following year. According to then head of business development Bob McBreen, the two companies met up again in January 2000 to work through the details of a new joint venture in which Microsoft would develop hardware for Nintendo if Nintendo helped work on software for the Xbox.

“We actually had Nintendo in our building in January 2000 to work through the details of a joint venture where we gave them all the technical specs of the Xbox,” then head of business development Bob McBreen said. “The pitch was their hardware stunk, and compared to Sony PlayStation, it did. So the idea was, ‘Listen, you’re much better at the game portions of it with Mario and all that stuff. Why don’t you let us take care of the hardware?’”

While in Microsoft’s eyes, the acquisition was somewhat mutually beneficial, as Nintendo was arguably behind the times when it came to hardware and Microsoft lacked games for their upcoming system, Nintendo still refused to budge — which honestly makes sense when you consider the sheer success of the company in the 90s. While pondering what could have been certainly is amusing, it feels pretty safe to say things worked out for the best, as both of the companies continue to thrive and bring very different qualities to the games industry. And hey, huge kudos to Microsoft for now being able to laugh the whole thing off.

While promoting his new film, The Power of the Dog, which grapples with a main character who apparently embodies the term “toxic masculinity,” Benedict Cumberbatch challenged men to “shut up and listen” when it comes to criticism of their gender. Cumberbatch made the remarks in a new interview, in which he essentially said that men need to stop pushing back when their masculinity is questioned and reflect on how they act.

“[There’s] this denial, this sort of childish defensive position of ‘not all men are bad.’ But, no, we just have to shut up and listen,” Cumberbatch said. “We need to fix the behavior of men. You have to kind of lift the lid on the engine a little bit.”

Cumberbatch expanded on his thoughts by tying the abusive nature of toxic masculinity to his role as a ruthless rancher in The Power of the Dog. Via Sky TV:

“There is not enough recognition of abuse, there’s not enough recognition of disadvantages and, at the same time, somewhere along the line – maybe not now, but somewhere along the line – we need to do maybe what the film does as well, which is examine the reason behind the oppressive behaviour.”

The actor also praised director Jane Campion (The Piano) for using her artistic talents to shed light on the subject of men’s toxic behavior, and Cumberbatch feels the problem won’t get better until we see more equality.

“Until there is equal pay, a place at the table, equality across the board of every kind, we still have to have that conversation,” Cumberbatch said.

(Via Sky TV)

After starring on Game of Thrones for all eight seasons, Sophie Turner knows how to drop a body, which is apparently something her husband Joe Jonas should’ve prepared for when she was invited to roast him for Netflix. While taking the stage for The Jonas Brother Family Roast, Turner ruthlessly dragged Jonas for the infamous “purity rings” that he and his brothers wore during the height of their pop star fame. The rings essentially symbolized that the brothers would abstain from sex until they got married, and Turner didn’t hold back on the “laughably, toe-curlingly lame” gesture.

“This was about faith. This was about principle. This was about taking a stand and setting an example,” Turner said while appearing to go easy on the purity rings, until she didn’t. “Look, Joe Jonas wasn’t just sticking his fingers in some dumb metal rings. He was sticking his fingers in costars, actresses, and even a supermodel or two.”

That last line got a huge reaction out of Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas who were also on hand to roast their respective Jonas spouses.

But Turner wasn’t done there. She took one last swing at the purity rings and the entire Walt Disney Company in the process. Via Mediaite:

“To be honest, Joe and the purity ring thing was kind of like a modern-day Cinderella,” she continued. “Joe tried to find a match for his purity ring a few times, but finally the finger fit me. And it’s also like Cinderella because most of the girls he tried it with were under contract to Disney.”

The Jonas Brother Family Roast is currently streaming on Netflix.

(Via Netflix & Mediaite)

At a recent concert, Jack Harlow had a reunion with a day-one fan and the story behind it is a good one.

A few days ago, ahead of a show in Birmingham, Alabama, Harlow shared a photo from his first-ever concert, a photo that didn’t feature more than a couple dozen people in the audience. The rapper wrote, “This is a photo of me performing at the very first show on my first tour ever. I was in Birmingham, Alabama in January 2018. Tonight is the last show of the tour I’m currently on…and we are finishing in Birmingham. It’s sold out. Thank u.”

Well, at his latest Birmingham show, one of the people pictured in the original photo was in attendance. The fan — Bryce Jones, a meteorologist for WDRB News in Louisville, Kentucky — shared a TikTok video that summarizes the story and includes a photo of himself and others with Harlow at the 2018 show.

He also included footage of Harlow pointing him out during the more recent show. Harlow spoke about the photo he shared and said, “There was probably 19 people in the building. I thought I was famous: I wasn’t. But I just realized that this fan in the [University Of Kentucky] hoodie is right there! […] Make some noise for my man right here. I love you, man. Thank you so much for sticking with me.”

Jones ended his video with a newer photo of himself and Harlow. It’s a great full-circle story, so check out the video above.

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

Rachel Maddow is pointing out the obvious when it comes to The Proud Boys and suggesting a nickname that they might like better? Or not.

The Proud Boys (along with the Oath Keepers) haven’t had a fantastic week, given that the House Select Committee that’s investigating the insurrection dropped subpoenas on them, and the groups won’t like what MSNBC ratings superstar Maddow has to say about their chosen monikers. It’s an amusing turn, given that these white nationalist groups apparently want to be perceived as tough, and the Southern Poverty Law Center describes them as an “alt-right fight club” while the Anti-Defamation League calls them a “right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda” who are “misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration.” And it’s hard to argue against Maddow’s take on their nicknames, as she related to Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word.

O’Donnell began by admitting that he really didn’t want to say these groups’ names aloud because “those Boys have nothing to be Proud of,” yet that’s the name also used in the subpoenas. Well, Maddow offered her take, which is that these groups have owned themselves. As she put it, the groups’ names “sound really gay.” She elaborated while reasoning that they really didn’t think things through:

“They both seem like they are referring to gay stuff, whether it is the Proud Boys in terms of gay pride or the Oath Keepers thing if you’ve read a lot around the politics around gay marriage and about being able to say your ‘I dos’ with your beloved. Both of those things, they have such a poorly-derived sense of camp and understanding about American subcultural text… I’ve always felt like they’re kind of playing themselves.”

She makes a valid point: the Proud Boys really didn’t see it coming with gay men began appropriating their hashtag for Pride, and it made them so very mad. And they won’t enjoy Maddow’s replacement suggestion, which would be “Lesbian Avengers.” Oh boy.

Well, good luck with those subpoenas, anyway?