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Halsey is a singer, actor, painter, makeup mogul, and now, she’s a soon-to-be mom. Much to the pleasant surprise of her fans, Halsey announced she’s expecting her first child with screenwriter Alev Aydin.

Sharing the exciting news on Instagram, Halsey shared a handful of glowing photos of her baby bump. “Surprise,” she wrote with a few baby emojis. Halsey tagged Aydin in the photos, who wrote, “Heart so full, I love you, sweetness,” in the post’s comment section.

Halsey is getting ready to be a first-time mom after she previously suffered a miscarriage, which she penned her mournful Manic song “More” about. Speaking to Apple Music about the painful experience, Halsey said there was a time when she didn’t think getting pregnant was possible for her. “For a long time, I didn’t think that having a family was something I was going to be able to do, and it’s very, very important to me,” she said.

Just ahead of her pregnancy announcement, Halsey got was getting reflective about her tour life after canceling her Manic World Tour. Speaking to James Cordon on The Late Late Show, the singer recalled a 2016 show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden where her sound malfunctioned. “One time I was on stage, and everything stopped working — sound, lights, video, music, the whole thing, my brain,” she said.

“Everything malfunctioned, and I had to stand on the stage for two minutes talking to the crowd…. Two minutes in stage time is like a century.” Thankfully, things were able to get back up and running and Halsey decided to start her entire set over so that she could “do the whole thing with no mistakes.”

See Halsey’s glowing pregnancy announcement above.

A very funny story came out earlier this week when LeBron James claimed that he had a 21-point fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers because he was taunted by a member of the team’s front office after missing a shot to close the third. It was funny because you’d imagine if there was any one organization that would know you do not taunt LeBron James, it would be the Cavaliers, as they had front row seats to watching him do that to other franchises for years.

Instead, they decided to tug on Superman’s cape, which went approximately like this:

Twenty-one fourth quarter points later and James was the driving force behind a 115-108 win over the pesky Cavs. But still, it’s unclear exactly what happened that led to James sneering and scoring just under half of his 46 points in one 12-minute period. Fortunately the video ended up hitting the Twitterverse, and while we can’t get the audio, we can certainly see that James’ claim that he was prodded by someone who got real happy that he missed a jumper was, indeed, true.

Again, how a member of the front office of the team that LeBron James brought to four NBA Finals in a row doesn’t know better is a bit of a surprise, but hey, sometimes you have to learn things like this the hard way.

During its fourth quarter earnings call, AT&T CEO John Stankey defended the controversial decision to release WarnerMedia’s entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max by citing Wonder Woman 1984‘s success on the streaming platform. According to Stankey, the highly-anticipated sequel helped double HBO Max subscriptions (including “activations” by HBO subscribers who log into HBO Max for the first time) during the fourth quarter. The streaming service is now two years ahead of schedule in its quest to build a subscriber base that go toe-to-toe with heavy hitters Netflix and Disney+. While Wonder Woman 1984 obviously didn’t, and couldn’t, have a box-office haul in the billions like the first film, AT&T is pleased that its hybrid release strategy worked as planned and was the “right call” for the rest of 2021. Via Deadline:

“You’ve seen other studios have continued to snowplow releases in the second half of the year, which cements our view. We’ll see a crowded theatrical field in late 2021 and early 2022,” said Stankey, “We don’t believe that magically just because there’s more content showing up in theaters all at the same, that’s going to dramatically increase the moviegoing population at that time,” said Stankey.

However, despite the pandemic offering a boon to streaming services, HBO Max isn’t immune to a growing concern amongst top-tier providers: “churn.” According to a new Deloitte survey reported in the Los Angeles Times, 46% of subscribers have cancelled at least one streaming service in the past six months, and 62% of those users pulled the plug because the show or movie they watched was finished. In other words, as the number of streaming services increases, it’s becoming harder and harder to retain subscribers who don’t see the value in paying a monthly fee once they’ve already got what they needed from the service.

In HBO Max’s case, users could theoretically subscribe and unsubscribe based on whether there’s a Warner Bros. movie they want to watch that month or not.

(Via Deadline, Los Angeles Times)

Jenny Lewis was supposed to embark on a massive US tour supporting Harry Styles in 2020. But after the pandemic shook her plans, she hunkered down at home. While she was in lockdown, Lewis and Chicago rapper Serengeti began working on a new project together. The duo shared the resulting EP’s first track “Unblu” last December and have now follow-up with another bouncing track.

Lewis and Serengeti shared the alluring single “Vroom Vroom” Wednesday. The accompanying visual, directed and edited by Lewis herself, is stitched together with a handful of silly selfie videos taken on both of their phones and includes a cute cameo by one of Lewis’ furry friends.

Alongside their previous single, Lewis and Serengeti shared a note about how they first started making music together:

“Jenny met Dave down a long hallway in a former Communist Media Center in East Berlin during the People Festival of 2018. Dave asked Jenny to sing on a song about Tom Selleck passing on the part of Indiana Jones. Can you imagine a world where Tom Selleck is Indiana Jones?

A fast friendship was born as they skulked about, cracking jokes and chatting about their mutual love for boxing.

Jenny threw a show for Dave at Dino’s in East Nashville when they returned from Europe. The bartenders said it was the best show they ever had. Jenny was among the 9 fans that attended and danced their asses off.

To cap the torrid evening, Dave said ‘J, I need 7 tracks! Just piano or guitar or whatever!’ Jenny inquired if one would do?

Then the world shut down and Jenny & Dave hunkered down in Los Angeles & Chicago, respectively. Jenny smoked weed every day and Dave stayed totally sober.

The result is five songs made on Jenny’s iPhone, for Dave. Beats, bass, drums, digital tanpura & topline, sent via text, ripe for Dave’s poetry. To accompany the music, Jenny made videos on her phone during the witching hours, editing while under the covers.”

Watch Jenny Lewis and Serengeti’s “Vroom Vroom” video above.

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

Summer Walker puts her baby bump on full display in the pensive video for her latest Over It single, “Body.” The mostly black-and-white clip sees the singer enjoying the solitude of an oceanside villa, soaking up the sun, and contemplating the view. The simple video lets the track — which Summer has described as her favorite from the 2019 album — take center stage as Summer herself peacefully poses for the camera in curve-hugging black loungewear.

Walker first confirmed her pregnancy with a post on Instagram (which has since been deleted) shortly after rumors circulated online that she and on-again-off-again partner London On Da Track were expecting a child. Meanwhile, a baby isn’t the only thing the singer has been working on recently; in December last year, she announced the launch of her own record label, Ghetto Earth, and its first signee, Over It collaborator NO1-NOAH.

Although Over It was initially released in 2019, Walker shared a deluxe version in 2020 with 13 new tracks, including live, acapella, and instrumental versions of fan favorites like “Come Thru,” “Nobody Else,” and “Playing Games.” She also appeared on LVRN’s holiday album, Home For The Holidays, covering James Brown’s “Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto” as “Ghetto Christmas,” and Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby.”

Watch Summer Walker’s “Body” video above.

Anybody who has listened to music over the past few years knows who Billie Eilish is, but that wasn’t always the case. She had an early supporter in Jared Leto, though, and he revealed that before Eilish was with a record label, he considered signing her himself.

Speaking about Eilish and Finneas with James Corden, the actor and Thirty Seconds To Mars leader revealed that the sibling pair once performed at a small dinner party at his house and impressed his guests, including Leonardo DiCaprio:

“They weren’t signed and I thought that maybe I would try and sign them. They were so incredibly talented and just special people. The music is one thing, but I think they [are] just incredibly intelligent, really empathetic, just really good people. I quite like them a lot. At one point, they played at my house. I had a little dinner for like 12 people and I said, ‘Hey, will you guys come and play a couple of songs,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ and they showed up with like a Guitar Center PA and played the most heartbreakingly beautiful music with, like, you know… it shouldn’t have sounded that good, it was impossible that it sounded that good. I remember Leo DiCaprio was there and a couple of other people and they were just like, ‘How did you find these people and, like, who are they?’ Everyone was just jaws on the floor, 12 people max at my place in the hills. Yeah, just great people. I’m huge fans, too.”

Watch the full interview below.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! premiered on ABC 18 years ago yesterday. In that time, Jimmy Kimmel has made a lot of Donald Trump jokes. In fact, he’s probably made more cracks about the former-president than any other public figure in his nearly two decades as a late-night host, with the exception of Matt Damon. During Tuesday’s episode, Kimmel looked back at the first Trump joke he told — and yes, “it is about his hair,” he cracked.

The clip comes from the January 13, 2004 episode, where Kimmel is discussing how “it’s going to be the coldest week in two decades on the East Coast. It’s supposed to be minus eight in New York over the next couple of days… It’s so cold in New York, Donald Trump’s combover broke off.” Maybe not the finest joke, but as Kimmel noted, “It was a simpler time.” What was Trump doing in 2004? That was the year The Apprentice debuted on NBC. It’s also when he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “in many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.” Again, a simpler time.

As for Kimmel’s first Biden joke, that happened in August 2008. “Barack Obama’s freshly-minted running mate, Senator Joe Biden, also spoke tonight. I have to say, after all the name-related problems this campaign has had, why Obama would pick a vice president with the last name ‘Biden’ is beyond me,” he said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with the name ‘Biden,’ [but] it’s like they’re trying to make their ticket sound as much like Osama Bin Laden as possible. We found the two guys in America whose names matched up most closely with the person we hate more than anyone in the world and they put them on the bumper stickers.” Hm, maybe the time wasn’t so simple after all.

You can watch the monologue above.

Lil Nas X has so many awards at this point that he’s constantly looking for his next project: He recently joked about moving his Grammys to the basement to make room for his new Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and said he got tired of “Old Town Road” while it was at No. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks. Briefly pivoting from music earlier this month, Lil Nas X released the children’s book C Is For Country. The book ended up being so successful that Lil Nas X has officially become a best-selling author.

Though the illustrated book was released less than a month ago, it’s already appearing on the New York Times‘ best-sellers list. C Is For Country lands at No. 8 on list and follows titles like Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, which has remained near the top for an impressive 27 consecutive weeks. If C Is For Country is anything like his “Old Town Road” hit, it’s sure to stay on the list for several weeks to come.

Illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, the book is intended for ages 3 to 7 and was described by its Random House publisher as “a celebration of song and the power inside us all.” It’s an ABC picture book which follows the story of the illustrated rapper and his trusty pony named Panini as they embark on a journey through the alphabet.

Layton Greene’s start in the mainstream world came in 2019 thanks to the release of her “Leave ‘Em Alone” single with Lil Baby, City Girls, and Pnb Rock. Carried by a sparkly sample of Ciara and 50 Cent’s “Can’t Leave ‘Em Alone,” Greene’s breakout earned her an adoring collection of fans who quickly learned that there was more to the singer than the summery track that admitted to her unwavering attraction to a new lover. Down the line, the East St. Louis, Illinois-born singer would combine the weight of a traumatic past and a promising future as she launched her career.

As the R&B princess of Quality Control, Greene fought through numerous amounts of adversity to claim the position that she currently sits on. In an interview with Billboard, she described her childhood as “lonely” and “sheltered” while recounting some of the experiences, including sexual abuse, that she endured in her youth. Despite these struggles, she knew she was destined for a path that would lead her towards success in music. “God gave me this voice for a reason, and he already had my path set,” she said. “I just didn’t know when or how it was going to happen with all I was going through.”

Months after her breakout, the Midwest singer would unleash her debut project, Tell Ya Story, to her growing fan base. The seven-track effort was a completely solo body of work that Greene dropped off for the world to enjoy as they learned more about the singer. From the mislabeling of a poor living situation as karma on “Blame On Me” to a commitment towards love amid turmoil on “I Choose,” Greene’s debut EP is a representation of who she was, what she’s grown to become, and what she’s destined to be.

With her debut album set to arrive later this year, Layton Greene sat down with UPROXX to reflect on her 2020, speak about her goals for the new year and explained how for her, vulnerability and honesty will always be her policy in music.

How’s everything been with you in the new year so far?

Honestly, it’s been pretty good. I feel like I’ve been starting the new year off with a good mindset, I told myself I was going into this year with a better vision. I feel like 2020 was a rough year for me personally [but] I feel like my mindset’s been good this year so far. I’ve been on the right path, I’ve been really working, I’ve been just working towards my goals and yeah, it’s going good. I feel like it’s going to be the best year for me honestly.

You said you were working towards your goals, do you have any New Year’s resolutions for 2021?

Yeah definitely. Just basically getting my album out, I’m working on that, I’m almost done with it actually. I know it’s gonna be amazing and I’m really excited about that. I’m really just trying to get myself together, mentally, physically, everything. Like I said, 2020 kinda just threw me off a little bit and yeah, that’s in the past so really two main things that I’m focused on right now.

With your upcoming album, it seems like things for it are starting off with “Chosen One.” What was the creative process and inspiration for you with that single?

So I got introduced to Nova Wav and they’re a group of talented girls producing [and] writing and they came up with this song and I fell in love with it. I loved the concept, just the female taking control and I felt like that’s where I kind of was in my life, or even what I wanted to be. I just love the message behind the song and that’s basically a man — I feel like I’ve dealt with a few men that have been kind of hesitant in really showing me love. I felt like that fell back on their past and the past relationships and what they probably did in the past with other females and how they treated them. They didn’t really want to fall into something that was real and genuine because honestly, I’m real and genuine. They may be hesitant about that. I just love the song, I love the concept, and I wanted to just speak on something different other than just heartbreak. I wanted to be the one in control.

What’s the overall theme or summary of this chapter in your life that you’re going to give us on your debut album?

It’s a lot, I want to touch on a lot. Overall, it’s just being honest. The ups, the downs, and just speaking on heartbreak, I went through a lot. Even with signing to QC, just speaking on that, I feel like I haven’t spoke on that, how that changed my life — signing with them and them becoming a second family to me, I want to speak about that. Just coming where I come from, I feel like in my first EP, me just being open and honest and seeing how many people could relate and how many people really just messed with my vibe just off the strength of me just being honest and telling my story. I just want to continue that and yeah, that’s just what it is. My story and maybe your story, I know a lot of people are going to be able to relate.

What do you feel has gotten easier or harder with creating this new album in comparison to creating your debut EP, Tell Ya Story?

Just to be honest, when I came out with my first EP it was easier to be open and honest, but once you put it out you get the good and the bad. I’m very much an overthinker, so just seeing how some people took it in with me being open and honest kind of took me back like, “Damn, do I really want to be this vulnerable?” or do I want to be something that I’m not. I felt like there was a time where I was making music that I didn’t even relate to myself and just trying to be something that I’m not and I feel like that’s why my album is taking so long right now. [In] 2020, I didn’t release a project and I didn’t want to put anything out that didn’t feel genuine to myself and I didn’t want to let people hear that. 2021 I’m just trying to get back to myself, get back to not caring, and just doing me. I see how far that got me and I know that it’s gonna get me further, I know everything that I’m going through right now is for a purpose and I’m gonna speak on it and I’m gonna talk about it.

You mentioned that you started second-guessing the vulnerability you had in your music, at what point did you push that aside and decide to stay true to yourself?

I just saw how I was falling off as a person, as a human being, just me being me. I just felt like I was falling off and I saw how my artistry was falling off. I wasn’t really posting on social media, I wasn’t being myself, and I would get DMs all the time like and my label, QC, they would call me, Pee would call me all the time like, “You need to step this up.” It was so hard, but I just had to step back and know that I have people on my side that believe in me, I have fans that believe in me. I mean, I remember myself when I believed in me and I just knew I couldn’t let myself slip any further and I just couldn’t care no more. At this point, I just wanted to be honest and open cause now I’ve been writing music, I’ve been feeling free, I’ve been feeling like music is my getaway, music is my outlet.

Last year was a difficult 12 months for us all, and you alluded to it earlier in the interview, but what about 2020 was the hardest for you?

The hardest thing I would say was just being secluded in the same place for so long. I got used to a life of traveling, going to places, and now that coronavirus has hit — I was living in LA when it had happened and now [I’ve been] in the same house for months. That’s why I feel like I had time to reflect on things that were really affecting me. At that point I felt like I had distractions, I had music to get out, I had friends to be around. I was just thinking about the negatives, I was thinking about my past and just being in a secluded place. Like I said, I was an overthinker — well, I am an overthinker — I didn’t have no distractions, I feel like as a creative, I wasn’t even able to be creative. Most creatives feel like “I have time to be creative,” and do this and do that, but I was just so out of it. It really wasn’t the best time for me.

Through all these hardships, what kept you afloat and focused on the positives?

I just know that I’m in a situation where I can change a lot of things for not only myself but for my family and even for the people around me and the people that’s been supporting me. I didn’t want a situation like that to really just allow me to lose it all and I just knew I had the talent. Like I said, my label and my fans and people that just really believed in me and told me that I am enough because there was a moment where I was questioning myself, but I just looked at the support that was around me.

One highlight for you last year was getting nominated for Best New Artist at the Soul Train Awards.

I definitely didn’t expect it. I was with my sisters when I found out and when I got the message, I was like, “What!?” cause I hadn’t put nothing out that year. That was another thing, people still recognize me even [with] the project that I came out with in 2019, it was just amazing. That feeling definitely unexplainable just to be recognized and thought about is definitely amazing, stuff like that just keeps me going. That’s what it’s all about. And being nominated with those that I was nominated with, it was just like “Damn.” I’m in a lineup with Snoh, I love Snoh Aalegra, Giveon, I love them, everybody.

Speaking of your fellow artists in the R&B world, Tell Ya Story was a completely solo effort. Will we see features on your upcoming album?

Yeah, there’s going to be features, I don’t want to speak on them just yet, but there’s definitely going to be features. I got some stuff coming.

How is the experience of working with someone as you create a project been for you?

It’s dope just seeing how other creatives work. I’ve gotten into the studio with a few and just seeing and getting to know the artist and the person you’re collaborating with face-to-face and not texting or FaceTiming, it’s a different experience creating a song together and just talking about your experience and my experience in the song that we’re coming up with. It’s just super dope seeing how they work and you’re getting a little something from them and I’m sure I’m rubbing off on them. It even helps my artistry and helps me get better, it’s super dope. I can’t wait for y’all to hear who’s on the album.

I read in an interview that Mary J. Blige is one of your inspirations and we recently celebrated her 50th birthday. Do you have a specific moment in your life that has to do with her?

After I had signed with QC, I went with Pee where she was performing and I got to see her, I actually opened up on the same stage with Lil Baby, that’s when I had dropped “Leave Em Alone.” She was performing that same night and I saw her perform live, but I would say the most memorable is anytime anyone brings Mary J. up. My daddy put me on [to] Mary J. Blige, and in a lot of interviews I say this, my daddy used to listen to Mary J. Blige faithfully. I feel like he was the one that put me on to love — just like, made me fall in love in music — because anything that he was doing, he was listening to music. He literally loved Mary, he knows every Mary J. Blige song, and anytime that was playing I would run in the same room, I’m singing “I’m Goin Down.” Even that’s a memorable moment for him, he always brings it up. Anytime he’s listening to Mary, he’s calling me like, “I’m listening to our girl!!” I just have a strong connection with Mary, even just through my childhood not even realizing what she was talking about, I felt her.

Is there anything you want to say to your fans as the wait for new music from you continues?

I love y’all, thank you for the love and support, even through 2020 and me not so being open and me not even posting on social media and just going ghost I feel like for a while. Y’all still understood, y’all stood there holding me down, and just know that 2021, this music is gonna be better than ever. I’m still gonna be that honest and vulnerable me that I’ve been. I’m excited, I love y’all, and let’s get it!

GOP Senator Marco Rubio has had quite a handful of years. He lost the 2016 Republican primary to a guy that dubbed him as “Little Marco,” and then Rubio spent four years ingratiating himself to the GOP’s MAGA crowd, almost up until the very end of Donald Trump’s White House days. It seemed pretty obvious that Rubio always felt unease at supporting Donald but also feared rocking the boat on his own political career. What will Rubio receive for that display of (obviously troubled and reluctant) loyalty? It doesn’t sound like a “thank you” in any shape or form.

Ivanka Trump is rumored to be considering a run for Rubio’s seat, and the very thought of a challenge by Donald’s daughter is a slap in the face, to say the least. When confronted with this prospect by Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, here’s how that went:

Cavuto: “You do know that next year you could be facing a primary challenge? There’s talk that Ivanka Trump is interested in running against you. What do you think of that?”

Rubio: “Bu bu bu but… All of us are elected. Any one of us can be primaried, every single one of us can have a primary challenge.”

Cavuto: What would you think of it was Ivanka Trump?

Rubio: I would… I would… I like Ivanka Trump.

Rubio’s not too great with confrontation, even from a mild-mannered Cavuto. That’s a little strange coming from a senator, but we’re also talking about the same guy who’s turning off Twitter replies to avoid seeing a deluge of negative responses. And in the process, he’s silencing voices that he may very well represent from his Florida district. Then again, Ivanka has flat-out deleted tweets that receive a backlash, so uh yes, expect these debates to be a hot mess, if Ivanka actually steps up to challenge him.