Category: News

Elton John is the latest of beloved public figures who have opted to leave Twitter. Many Twitter users have chosen to make a departure from the app following its takeover by Elon Musk. Though John cited the rapid surge of misinformation on the social platform as his reasoning for leaving.

“All my life I’ve tried to use music to bring people together,” said John in a tweet. “Yet it saddens me to see how misinformation is now being used to divide our world. I’ve decided to no longer use Twitter, given their recent change in policy which will allow misinformation to flourish unchecked.”

Back in November, White Stripes vocalist Jack White also announced he was leaving Twitter, saying, “you’ve gone too far and are now using your power to promote horrible, violence-inducing liars, who are taking the country and the world backwards and endangering the democracy that made you rich and successful in the first place,” in an Instagram post directed at Musk.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails revealed he was leaving Twitter, saying, “We don’t need the arrogance of the billionaire class to feel like they can just come in and solve everything.”

Justin Bieber, Madonna, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, and Post Malone are just a few of the artists/celebrities that have been named as defendants in the lawsuit against Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT creators. The claim details that Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT’s, used the celebrity endorsements to increase the value and cause losses for buyers, according to Rolling Stone.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Stephen Curry, Kevin Hart, Serena Williams, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show‘s production companies, Adidas, Future, Diplo, and more are also named as defendants in the filing. However, as the article notes, Bieber allegedly bought one of the Bored Ape NFT’s for $1.2 million before the value fell to $69,000 in January 2022. Hilton also promoted the Bored Ape NFT’s on Fallon’s talk show.)

“Defendants’ promotional campaign was wildly successful, generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales,” the lawsuit states, “The manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions regarding the launch of an entire BAYC ecosystem (the so-called Otherside metaverse) were able to artificially increase the interest in and price of the BAYC NFTs during the Relevant Period, causing investors to purchase these losing investments at drastically inflated prices.”

The lawsuit also notes that Guy Oseary, an entertainment manager known for his relationship with NFT-enthusiast Madonna, partnered with Yuga Labs to “leverage their vast network of A-list musicians, athletes, and celebrity clients.”

It’s unclear if this lawsuit will head to trial yet, as the cases against cryptocurrency promotions unfold — especially in the wake of FTX.

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

Phoebe Bridgers had a wild night yesterday. In addition to being featured on SZA’s new album, the indie star made her debut as Sally in the live adaptation of The Night Before Christmas. Held at London’s OVO Arena Wembley for two nights (December 9-10), Bridgers’ fans were immensely impressed by her performance as the spooky character.

During the show, she tackled all of Sally’s vocals, from “Sally’s Song” to “Kidnap The Sandy Claws.” On the film’s original soundtrack, Sally was voiced by actress Catherine O’Hara, of recent Schitt’s Creek fame.

Danny Elfman, who played the original Jack Skellington in the animated 1993 feature, and Ken Page (Oogie Boogie) both returned to play their respective characters once more. The shows also featured the BBC Concert Orchestra, led by John Mauceri and joined by vocals from Greg Proops, Randy Crenshaw, Fletcher Sheridan and Sandy Cameron, per Billboard‘s original news about the event.

Last year, during the Los Angeles iteration of the live The Nightmare Before Christmas rendition, Billie Eilish played as Sally. It now carries on a fun tradition with popular performers getting cast as the character.

Continue scrolling to view some fan videos of Phoebe Bridgers as Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

While Brazilians all over the country are reeling following the national soccer team’s heartbreaking World Cup quarterfinal loss to Croatia, perhaps some rogue citizens objected to Harry Styles’ support of the Argentina squad and took matters into their own hands? I kid, but Brazil and Argentina are fierce soccer rivals and one of Styles’ Love On Tour vans was hijacked at gunpoint early Friday morning in Brazil, as reported by Brazilian outlet G1.

According to the report, the driver told authorities that three armed men robbed the van. Styles was not in the van, as this particular vehicle was carrying merch to be sold at his next show. The robbery happened in Campina Grande do Sul, just outside of the Curitiba metropolitan center in the state of Paraná. Styles is scheduled to play in Curitiba on Saturday, December 10th.

The concert promoter told G1 that while the van was headed to the Pedreira Paulo Leminski venue, that gear, instruments, and — most importantly — the talent, were not travelling to the venue by van. They also added that new merch was being shipped to the venue in Curitiba in time for the Saturday show. It’s a highly prudent decision to not have stars like Styles travelling on Brazilian highways, as hijackings and kidnappings are far more common than they should be in the South American country.

On the heels of the release of her sophomore album, S.O.S., SZA sat down with Audacy’s Check-In podcast. The interview took place after last Saturday’s episode of Saturday Night Live, where she was the musical guest.

During the aforementioned Saturday Night Live episode, there was a sketch in which ex-flings of rapper Drake formed a union called “The United Tingz Of Aubrey.”

SZA herself was not in the sketch, however, the irony was not lost on fans. In a song called “Mr. Right Now” from 21 Savage & Metro Boomin’s 2020 mixtape Savage Mode II, Drake alludes to a past relationship, as he raps, “Yeah, said she wanna f*ck to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08.”

During her podcast episode, SZA noted that she wasn’t aware of the sketch until the episode’s airing.

“In a strange way, I was like, ‘Did they know?’” she said. “But they didn’t ask me to be in it. Nobody said anything. … I feel like Drake has a Regina George quality to him where it’s just kind of like, ‘Have you or anyone you know been personally victimized?’ He’s like a cool kid, you know. When you’re the popular kid in school, it’s entertaining. It’s entertaining, but you sometimes are taking losses in the midst of that entertainment. The honesty, I respect that. But I definitely laughed real hard…I cackled.”

Despite the comparison to the Mean Girls bully, SZA insists that it’s all love between her and Drizzy.

“We’re cool. And we’ve always been cool,” she said. “It’s never been weird. It didn’t come completely out of the blue when he let me know. I didn’t know it was a song with 21 [Savage] or anything like that. But anytime he’s ever mentioned me, it’s always been positive. He’s never said anything negative about me. I’m grateful for that. I think highly of him…He’s King Drake.”

The year was 2007 and French house duo Justice were blowing the minds of hipsters and party bros alike. The Bloghouse era was thriving amid the emergence of electro acts like Chromeo, Simian Mobile Disco, and The Bloody Beetroots, and no song was as anthemic for the NYC-born scene quite like Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” A rallying cry back to the dance floor; there was a future for the convergence of indie and electro house that wasn’t only up to Daft Punk anymore. The fulcrum of Justice breakthrough album, Cross (spelled out with simply a symbol for a cross; one that the duo accused Justin Bieber of ripping off), “D.A.N.C.E” now has a brand new remix featuring Logic that stands out amid a 15th anniversary Deluxe Edition of the album.

Cross effectively ushered in a new era of DJ culture. Justice’s Xavier De Rosnay and Gaspard Augé became huge and other DJ personalities followed suit. Just as “D.A.N.C.E.” represented the rise of indie-electro, the reprised version with Logic shows how hip-hop eventually seeped into the culture as well. Logic is thrust into the mix, but helps carry the beat as if it were a brand new spin. It’s part of six new tracks in a second disc that features demos and an unreleased Justice track called “Donna.”

Listen to “D.A.N.C.E.” featuring Logic above. Check out the album artwork and tracklist for Cross (Deluxe) below.

Disc 1: † Original

1. “Genesis”
2. “Let There Be Light”
3. “D.A.N.C.E.”
4. “Newjack”
5. “Phantom”
6. “Phantom pt. II”
7. “Valentine”
8. “TThhEe PPaARRtTYY”
9. “DVNO”
10. “Stress”
11. “Waters of Nazareth”
12. “One Minute to Midnight”

Disc 2:

1. “The Party (Demo)”
2. “Valentine (Demo)”
3. “D.A.N.C.E. (Demo)”
4. “Donna”
5. “B.E.A.T. (Instrumental)”
6. “Justice ft. Logic – D.A.N.C.E.”

Cross (Deluxe) is out on 12/15 via Ed Banger Records/Because Music.

Nick Carter is denying sexual assault allegations regarding an incident that allegedly took place in 2001. Earlier this week, a woman named Shannon “Shay” Ruth claimed that the Backstreet Boy raped her on the band’s tour bus when she was 17 years old after a concert in Tacoma, Washington. Ruth has since filed a lawsuit against Carter.

Carter’s lawyer, Michael Holtz, provided a statement to CNN today (December 9).

“This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick – and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time.”

During a press conference held in Beverley Hills this past Thursday, Ruth stated, “The last 21 years have been filled with pain, confusion, frustration, shame, and self-harm that are a direct result of Nick Carter raping me.”

This isn’t the first time Carter has been accused of sexual assault. Back in 2017, Melissa Shuman from girl group Dream accused Carter of rape while they were filming a movie in 2002.

As a result of the most recent allegations, ABC has pulled the upcoming Backstreet Boys holiday special, “A Very Backstreet Holiday” from its scheduled broadcast. It was set to air Tuesday, December 14, however, ABC will now reportedly play reruns of comedy episodes in its place.

Last night, at Sharon Van Etten’s concert in Melbourne, she was joined by a famous lead singer — who just also happens to be touring in Australia with his band. The Killers’ Brandon Flowers appeared at Sharon’s show to perform a duet of “Like I Used To.” While Angel Olsen traditionally tackled the part of the song, Flowers got his flowers by doing a fantastic job. In general, the two musicians just jammed out — and the fans who attended the gig loved it.

“Had such an amazing 2nd show tonight here in Melbourne and the epic Northcote Theatre,” Van Etten posted on Twitter. “Thank you, @BrandonFlowers for being such a sincere , humble , beautiful person. Loved singing with you – and @AngelOlsen gave her blessing. Hope to do it again sometime. X”

The Melbourne surprise marked Van Etten’s second night at the Northcote Theatre. Tomorrow night, she takes the stage at the Meredith Festival before heading to New Zealand for shows in Auckland and Wellington.

As for Flowers, The Killers will continue their Australian run in cities like Sydney and Melbourne until mid-December. The band is then set to return to Las Vegas for a sold-out New Year’s Eve show at The Cosmopolitan. Oh, and because they never slow down, fans can also catch them on a US tour again next spring. More information is available here.

The 1975 returned today with a new music video for their poppy romantic song, “Oh Caroline,” from the band’s recent acclaimed album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language.

While they are currently still touring across the US as lead singer Matty Healy causes more chaos onstage, this latest video finds him wreaking emotional havoc instead. Donning full prosthetics to transform into an old man reminiscing on a lost love, Healy lets fans literally see what his grandpa era will look like.

The video for “Oh Caroline” pans between the past and present, as Healy (in his younger, current form) performs the song with the rest of the band at a club. Alluding to grief, there is also a powerful dancing scene that finds Healy with a female performer before he remembers the same choreography in old age — except he is alone.

In traditional fashion, there’s cigarette smoking and dancing on tables. At the end of the day, she was probably put off by Healy’s meat-eating shenanigans.

“You don’t need to have lived a story to write one,” Healy told Apple Music about the song. “Caroline is whoever you want it to be – you can change that name in your head.”

Watch The 1975’s new music video for “Oh Caroline” above.

After Croatia’s stunning victory against Brazil in the World Cup quarterfinal, Zach Lowe went on NBA Today decked out in a Luka Modric Croatia jersey. Lowe, a Croatia supporter who tweeted his excitement about the win, has been sporting the jersey on the show during the World Cup, and after the win over the favorites in the tournament, he took a second to flex.

At one point, Lowe just straight up started ripping shots, because the World Cup is an incredible thing that just does this to people.

Croatia entered the match as significant underdogs to a Brazilian side that had danced their way through the tournament. Brazil couldn’t crack the Croatian defense through 90 minutes, and in extra time, they finally broke through with a brilliant goal by Neymar that looked to be the decisive moment that would put them through to the semifinal.

However, in the 117th minute, Bruno Petković scored an equalizer on a shot that deflected off of Brazilian defender Marquinhos — if the NBA Today producers want an Emmy, we highly recommend that they find and air footage of Lowe watching and reacting to the goal.

In penalties, the Croatians calmly converted four, while Brazil missed their first and Marquinhos hit the post in brutal fashion to send them home for good. Croatia will move on to face Argentina — which likewise won a thriller — in the semifinal, while Lowe gets to sport the Croatia jersey on air for another week.