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Looks like Martha Stewart never got the Brat summer memo last year. In a hilarious new teaser for Uber Eats’ upcoming Super Bowl commercial, the businesswoman lets Charli XCX know in no uncertain terms that she’s never heard of her before.
Sitting next to the “Guess” singer as they both take part in a trend called “We Listen and We Don’t Judge,” Stewart kicks things off with a gentle dig at her counterpart’s stage moniker. “Honestly, Charli, when my agent first sent me your name, I thought it was the wifi password,” the culinary guru says as the Grammy nominee chuckles.
But Charli immediately gives it right back to Stewart. “Well, when my agent told me you were doing this, I thought you’d be doing the catering,” she tells the author, who later asks the musician, “But seriously, who are you again?”
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Both Charli and Stewart will star in Uber Eats’ commercial airing Super Bowl Sunday, which this year takes place Feb. 9. Matthew McConaughey will also appear in the advertisement, leading the “Apple” artist and TV personality on quest to prove that football was invented just to sell food.
“It was cute filming my first Super Bowl campaign with Uber Eats!” Charli said of the commercial in a statement. “Matthew and Martha are obviously legends, so I felt right at home.”
The songwriter also filmed a solo teaser for the campaign that’s more in line with the vibes of her year-defining 2024 album Brat — which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — with Charli breaking down football positions in “club terms.” “The quarterback — he’s like the DJ,” she says, wearing sunglasses while sitting on a conference room table. “He controls the vibe. Bad quarterback, bad vibe.”
“The defensive lineman is sort of like a bouncer, I suppose — you have to get past him if you want to score,” she continues. “The tight end? No translation needed, babe.”
Watch Charli XCX and Martha Stewart’s Super Bowl ad teasers below.
Perplexity AI has presented a new proposal to TikTok’s parent company that would allow the U.S. government to own up to 50% of a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok’s U.S. business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The proposal, submitted last week, is a revision of a prior plan the artificial intelligence startup had presented to TikTok’s parent ByteDance on Jan. 18, a day before the law that bans TikTok went into effect.
The first proposal, which ByteDance hasn’t responded to, sought to create a new structure that would merge San Francisco-based Perplexity with TikTok’s U.S. business and include investments from other investors.
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The new proposal would allow the U.S. government to own up to half of that new structure once it makes an initial public offering of at least $300 billion, said the person, who was not authorized to speak about the proposal. The person said Perplexity’s proposal was revised based off of feedback from the Trump administration.
If the plan is successful, the shares owned by the government would not have voting power, the person said. The government also would not get a seat on the new company’s board.
ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Under the plan, ByteDance would not have to completely cut ties with TikTok, a favorable outcome for its investors. But it would have to allow a “full U.S. board control,” the person said.
Under the proposal, the China-based tech company would contribute TikTok’s U.S. business without the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app, according to a document seen by the Associated Press. In exchange, ByteDance’s existing investors will get equity in the new structure that emerges.
The proposal seems to mirror a strategy Steven Mnuchin, treasury secretary during Trump’s first term, discussed Sunday on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures — that a new investor in TikTok could simply “dilute down” the Chinese ownership and satisfy the law. Mnuchin has previously expressed interest in investing in the company.
“But the technology needs to be disconnected from China,” he added. “It needs to be disconnected from ByteDance. There’s absolutely no way that China would ever let us have something like that in China.”
The Perplexity proposal comes as several investors are expressing interest in TikTok. President Donald Trump said late Saturday that he expects a deal will be made in as soon as 30 days.
On a flight from Las Vegas to Miami on Air Force One, Trump also said he hadn’t discussed a deal with Larry Ellison, CEO of software maker Oracle, despite a report that Oracle, along with outside investors, was considering taking over TikTok’s global operation.
“Numerous people are talking to me. Very substantial people,” Trump said. “We have a lot of interest in it, and the United States will be a big beneficiary. … I’d only do it if the United States benefits.”
Under a bipartisan law passed last year, TikTok was to be banned in the United States by Jan. 19 if it did not cut ties with ByteDance. The Supreme Court upheld the law, but Trump then issued an executive order to halt enforcement of the law for 75 days.
Trump, on Air Force One, noted that Ellison lives “right down the road” from his Mar-a-Lago estate, but added, “I never spoke to Larry about TikTok. I’ve spoken to many people about TikTok and there’s great interest in TikTok.”
TikTok briefly shut down in the U.S. a week ago, but went back online after Trump said he would postpone the ban. Trump had unsuccessfully attempted a U.S. ban of the platform during his first term. But he has since reversed his position and has credited the platform with helping him win more young voters during last year’s presidential election.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew attended Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, along with some other tech leaders who’ve been forging friendlier ties with the new administration.
Congress voted to ban TikTok in the U.S. out of concern that TikTok’s ownership structure represented a security risk. The Biden administration argued in court for months that it was too much of a risk to allow a Chinese company to control the algorithm that fuels what people see on the app. Officials also raised concerns about user data collected on the platform.
However, to date, the U.S. hasn’t provided public evidence of TikTok handing user data to Chinese authorities or allowing them to tinker with its algorithm.
Katy Perry is bringing her Lifetimes Tour to the U.S. this spring and summer. On Monday morning (Jan. 27), the singer announced the first American dates for the tour in support of her 143 album, which will kick off with a May 7 show at the Toyota Center in Houston.
The outing will then swing through Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Las Vegas and Austin, TX before hitting Dallas’ American Airlines Arena on May 21. June will find Perry playing a string of previously announced arena gigs across Australia, before she makes her way back to the U.S. for July stops in Phoenix, Anaheim and Inglewood, CA and San Francisco before wrapping up that leg at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on July 21.
The rest of the summer is a mix of previously announced Canadian shows in late July and early August and yet another run of U.S. gigs in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Neward, Baltimore, Raleigh, Nashville, Atlanta and Tampa, winding down on August 23 at Keseya Center in Miami. After that, Perry heads down to South America and then back to Europe in the fall for a run currently slated to wrap up on Nov. 5 at the Accor Arena in Paris.
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Tickets for the U.S. dates of the Live Nation-promoted tour will be available starting with Citi and Verizon presales beginning on Tuesday (Jan. 28) at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday (Jan. 3) at 10 p.m. local time; click here for Citi ticket info and here for Verizon ticketing info. The general onsale will begin at 10 a.m. local time on Friday (Jan. 31) here.
Katy Perry 2025 Lifetimes Tour U.S. dates:
May 7 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
May 9 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
May 10 — Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
May 12 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
May 13 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
May 15 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
May 17 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
May 20 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
May 21 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 12 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
July 13 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
July 15 — Inglewood, CA@ Kia Forum
July 18 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
July 21 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 3 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
August 6 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena (newly announced Canadian show)
August 8 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
August 9 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
August 11 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 14 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
August 15 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
August 17 — Raleigh, NC @ Lenovo Center
August 19 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
August 20 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
August 22 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
August 23 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
On Sunday (Jan. 26), it was Travis Kelce‘s turn to sing in the spotlight. As Taylor Swift looked on from the field, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end celebrated his team winning the AFC Championship following a tight battle with their frequent rivals, the Buffalo Bills, with a little ditty. After Kelce and the gang […]
Manchester-based rapper Aitch has fired back at Central Cee after the latter dissed him on his recently-released album Can’t Rush Greatness (Jan. 24).
On the LP’s “5 Star,” Central Cee (real name Oakley Neil Caesar-Su) came for Aitch in a line that referenced the latter winning a BRIT Award over him at the 2023 ceremony. Aitch triumphed in the hip-hop/grime/rap category over Central Cee, Dave, Loyle Carner and Stormzy. Central Cee has been nominated for the award a number of times and has yet to grab the prize
“I felt like a p—k when I went to the BRITs and they gave the award to a guy called Aitch/ I had my acceptance speech prepared like, ‘Long live F’s,’ I’m goin’ insane,” he said. The latter line references Central Cee’s close friend Fernando “FDot Johnson” who was murdered in January 2023.
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Later that afternoon (Jan. 24), the Manchester rapper responded to the diss with a track “A Guy Called?” which was uploaded directly to his Instagram with the caption “leave me alone” alongside a picture of his BRITs trophy. On the track’s opening line Aitch claims that Central Cee is an “influencer” and that he will “jump in the booth for something to do.”
Further references in the track allude to Cench’s BRITs barb, saying: “Little boy is just there to be spun, gettin’ mad at the BRITs, there’s bare to be won.” Later in the track, Aitch adds: “Bringin’ the BRITs up two years later, f— my life, you should go live yours.”
Elsewhere Aitch alleges that Central Cee employs ghostwriters (“All your songs get wrote by Clint, in the booth, one mic, two c—s”) and makes reference to Central Cee’s ethnicity (“Clint was p—d ’cause Cench got beat by a white MC, Cench is as white as me”). Speaking to British Vogue in 2024, Central Cee said that he was born to an English mother and a father of Guyanese and Chinese ancestry.
A number of their U.K. rap contemporaries including Kairo Keyz, ArrDee and M1llionz have commented on Aitch’s Instagram post. Central Cee responded to the track by commenting “fair enough” alongside a flame and laughing face emoji. Listen to the track below.
Aitch released his debut album Close to Home in 2022 and which reached No. 2 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
Central Cee is nominated once again in the hip-hop/grime/rap category at the 2025 BRITs which take place March 1, where he will go up against Dave, Ghetts, Little Simz and Stormzy for the prize.
It was almost head-to-toe Louis Vuitton for Taylor Swift at the Chiefs-Bills game Sunday evening (Jan. 26). She attended the NFL AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in support of Travis Kelce, tight end for the Chiefs. Sunday’s playoff game determined which team will play the Eagles at this year’s Super […]
Timothée Chalamet hosted SNL for a third time and starred in six sketches that made it to air Saturday night (Jan. 25) in an episode that also had him on the bill as musical guest. Pulling double duty as host and music act, Chalamet seamlessly shifted between being himself in his monologue and embracing his Bob Dylan […]
Tate McRae‘s “Sports Car” has emerged as the winner of this week’s new music poll, which highlights fresh tracks from a variety of artists across genres.
The song was voted the top new release by music fans in a poll published Friday (Jan. 24) on Billboard.
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“Sports Car” took home 25% of the vote, narrowly beating other notable new releases like Sexyy Red and Bruno Mars‘ “Fat Juicy & Wet,” Djo‘s “Basic Being Basic,” Travis Scott‘s “4×4” and Central Cee‘s Can’t Rush Greatness, among others.
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“Sports Car” crackles with energy, much like the pop star’s recent singles, with a whispered chorus that draws listeners in before sending them into a danceable frenzy. Co-written by McRae, Ryan Tedder, Grant Boutin and Julia Michaels, the song will appear on her upcoming third album, So Close to What, set for release on Feb. 21 through RCA Records.
“Sports Car” follows McRae’s recent singles “2 hands” and “It’s ok I’m ok,” the latter of which topped Billboard’s Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart.
In March, the singer-songwriter will launch her Miss Possessive Tour, which will travel across South America, Europe, the U.K. and North America. The Live Nation-produced trek begins March 18 at Mexico City’s Pepsi Center and will wrap up on Sept. 27 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Benee will support on all European/U.K. dates, while Zara Larsson will join McRae for the U.S./Canada leg of the tour.
Taking second place in the poll is the “other” category, which garnered nearly 24% of the vote. Sexyy Red and Bruno Mars’ “Fat Juicy & Wet” secured third place with 22% of the vote. The track marks Mars’ third collaboration in recent months, following his Billboard Hot 100-topping “Die With a Smile” with Lady Gaga and “APT.” with Rosé.
Check out the full results of this week’s poll below, and head over to Billboard’s Friday Music Guide for more must-hear releases.
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos captures a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 1), earning 151,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 23 (down 26%), according to Luminate. Of Bad Bunny’s four chart-topping albums, it’s the second to spend more than a single week at No. 1; his 2022 set, Un Verano Sin Ti, has collected the most weeks atop the list, with 13 weeks, nonconsecutively.
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Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Mac Miller’s from-the-vaults release Balloonerism debuts at No. 3, marking the eighth top 10-charting set for the rapper, who died in 2018. The set’s songs date back to 2014, but the project was shelved in favor of other releases.
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The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Feb. 1, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 28. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of the 151,000 equivalent album units earned by Debí Tirar Más Fotos in the week ending Jan. 23, SEA units comprise 146,000 (down 25%; equaling 198.78 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it’s No. 1 for a third week on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 4,000 (down 46%; falling 8-11 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 30%).
SZA’s former No. 1 SOS rises 3-2 with 90,000 equivalent album units (down 12%).
Mac Miller’s Balloonerism bows at No. 3 with 81,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 41,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 40,000 (equaling 51.56 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s sales were bolstered by its availability across six vinyl variants, a CD, digital download album and cassette tape.
In total, Balloonerism is Miller’s eighth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200. It follows Faces (No. 3 in 2021), Circles (No. 3, 2020), Swimming (No. 3, 2018), The Divine Feminine (No. 2, 2016), GO:OD AM (No. 4, 2015), Watching Movies With the Sound Off (No. 2, 2013) and Blue Slide Park (No. 1, 2011).
Kendrick Lamar’s former leader GNX is a non-mover on the Billboard 200 at No. 4 (59,000 equivalent album units; down 8%) while Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us surges 10-5 (52,000; up 42% after the release of a deluxe version across three vinyl variants and a CD).
Three former No. 1s are next, with Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet steady at No. 6 (43,000 equivalent album units; down 9%), Lil Baby’s WHAM dipping 5-7 (39,000; down 30%) and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time rising a notch to No. 8 (37,000 down 3%).
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft falls two rungs to No. 9 (nearly 37,000 equivalent album units; down 8%), and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department climbs 12-10 (35,000; down 3%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Universal Music Group and Spotify have struck a new direct deal, impacting both the company’s recorded music and publishing royalty rates, the companies announced today (Jan. 26). In a statement, UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge said that the deal is “precisely the kind of partnership development [UMG] envisioned” as part of its idea for “Streaming 2.0,” the company’s proposed changes to revamp streaming royalty rates and improve remuneration for its artists on streaming platforms.
Under the new agreement, UMG and Spotify “will collaborate closely to advance the next era of streaming innovation,” according to a press release. “Artists, songwriters and consumers will benefit from new and evolving offers, new paid subscription tiers, bundling of music and non-music content, and a richer audio and visual content catalog,” the press release continues. The deal also includes continued protection for UMG through Spotify’s fraud detection and enforcement systems.
Importantly, the agreement includes a direct deal between Spotify and Universal Music Publishing Group, the first direct deal between Spotify and a publisher since the passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2018. One top publishing executive tells Billboard that this change “sounds like Spotify is raising the white flag” about the so-called “bundling” dispute which has soured relations between many publishers, writers and Spotify since it launched last year. In March, Billboard reported that Spotify’s payments to music publishers and songwriters would be cut significantly to account for Spotify bundling in audiobooks as part of its premium tiers. Instead of paying out royalties for these tiers purely to music publishers and writers, Spotify began splitting the payments between music and books publishers.
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Billboard estimated the losses to be about $150 million in the first year the bundled audiobooks took effect. Now, nearly a year later, Universal Music Publishing Group appears to be back in a better position with Spotify. One source familiar with the deal said it has improved royalty payments for UMPG songwriters, although the two companies declined to state the specifics of how the new publishing royalty model (or the one for recorded music) works.
“Spotify maintains its bundle, but with this direct deal, it has evolved to account for broader rights, including a different economic treatment for music and non-music content,” a Spotify spokesperson clarified in a statement to Billboard.
“[This deal] makes sense,” the publishing executive tells Billboard. “[Spotify is] despised in the songwriting industry. Their main competitor, Amazon, has already left them isolated and alone. And they claim to want to expand into more videos but can’t get deals done. It was monumentally stupid for them to put themselves in this position but perhaps they are finally trying to get out of the bind they put themselves in.”
Grainge said, in his complete statement about the deal, “When we first presented our vision for the next stage in the evolution of music subscription several months ago — Streaming 2.0 — this is precisely the kind of partnership development we envisioned. This agreement furthers and broadens the collaboration with Spotify for both our labels and music publisher, advancing artist-centric principles to drive greater monetization for artists and songwriters, as well as enhancing product offerings for consumers.”
“For nearly two decades, Spotify has made good on its commitment to return the music industry to growth, ensuring that we deliver record payouts to the benefit of artists and songwriters each new year,” Spotify founder/CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement. “This partnership ensures we can continue to deliver on this promise by embracing the certainty that constant innovation is key to making paid music subscriptions even more attractive to a broader audience of fans around the world.”