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Kelsea Ballerini has officially added more ink to her body, bringing her grand total to four tattoos — or “little baby tats” in her own words. The country singer hopped online for an “Ask Me Anything” session via her Instagram Stories, and revealed her new body art.
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A fan during the Q&A session asked, “new tattoos?” in the AMA box, to which the “Hole in the Bottle” singer shared a picture of her posing in the mirror in a green bikini, showing off her new body art: a tiny wave.
“I got a little wave on my hip,” she told the inquiring fan. And apparently, the new ink has been a long time coming — “I’ve been wanting it since 2016 and just randomly one day did it. it’s my fourth little baby tat. kinda want more. kinda don’t want my mom to kill me,” she added.
The singer shed light on how she got her first tattoo in a 2021 interview with Shape. “This is a story I’ve never told publicly. The day before my first photo shoot, I panicked because I wanted a tattoo but didn’t have one yet,” she said. “And I was like, What if this single [‘Love Me Like You Mean It’] works and people start to follow me? Then all of a sudden, I get a tattoo. People will be like, ‘She’s going off the deep end.’”
That first tattoo, Ballerini revealed, ended up being the “how sweet the sound” lyric from “Amazing Grace” on her left forearm. “It was just this youthfully innocent way of saying, ‘I’ve got to be who I am from the beginning of this,’” she added. “A lot of artists and public people have a persona that they step into, but I can’t do that. I don’t want any surprises. I just want it all to be out there.”
See Ballerini’s new tattoo below.
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Mariah Carey might not officially hold the title of the Queen of Christmas after a fierce trademark battle, but her performance on the Billboard charts certainly suggests otherwise. On Tuesday (Dec. 27), the singer reacted with glee after finding out that her holiday hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” hangs atop the Billboard Hot 100 for an 11th total week, extending Carey’s record for the most weeks of an artist ranking at No. 1 on the chart: 90 throughout her career.
“I can’t even handle this news.. I’m jumping up and down in the snow..! Meanwhile Cha Cha is swimming around and Mutley is howling like a kid running around in circles feeling our energy,” Carey captioned photos of the song crowning the Hot 100, the Global 200 and the Global Excl. U.S. charts, along with Christmas tree, snowflake and wrapped gift emojis.
While the holiday classic leads for a third week this holiday season, it’s far from the first time it has achieved this feat — “Christmas” has topped the Hot 100 during the holidays each year since December 2019. Meanwhile on the Global 200, “Christmas” earned a 12th total week at No. 1, along with a seventh week atop Global Excl. U.S., dating to the charts’ inceptions two years ago.
Carey also scored another major achievement for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on Christmas Day. On Twitter and Instagram, the singer shared a boomerang style video of her hiding her face in disbelief while holding up her phone, which stated that “‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ breaks the record for the biggest streaming day in global Spotify history” with a 21.26 million streams on the music platform.
“Merry Christmas everybody!!! Did not expect to wake up to this amazing surprise!!!!” she captioned the post, which came amid a series of fittingly Christmas themed content from her social accounts.
See Carey’s reaction below.
Britney Spears has a confession to make. On Tuesday (Dec. 26), the “Hold Me Closer” singer revealed that when she’s not online posting suggestive photos, she’s actually a major geek.
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“I try to be sexy and s–t on Instagram but those of you who really know me …. ‘Nerd of the Century,’” the pop star captioned a picture of her with glasses and holding a thumbs up, followed by a series of nerd with glasses emojis to drive her point home. “But hey I think I pulled it off !!!! Well not really …. or s–t maybe I did!!!!”
The glasses picture served as a break from Spears’ NSFW Instagram posts — the most recent Spears’ body baring snaps which arrived on Dec. 20 with a caption that claimed “Instagram doesn’t like posts of people revealing their bodies anymore.” Spears’ husband, Sam Asghari, revealed that he is not the biggest fan of the images, but previously defended her decision to post them and states that he dislikes seeing her get bullied for the posts via social media.
“The only person in the world that gets bullied for posting things like this,” the 28-year-old actor wrote in an Instagram comment, which he also reposted to his Stories on Dec. 16. “I personally preferred she never posted these but who am I to control someone that’s been under a microscope and been controlled for most of her life.”
See Spears’ new post about her nerdiness via Instagram below.
On Friday night (Dec. 2), Britney Spears raised eyebrows among her fans when she posted a loving tribute to her estranged sister Jamie Lynn Spears, with whom she’s been in a public war of words for a year.
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The Instagram post, shared on Britney’s 41st birthday, included two pics of Jamie Lynn — one of her holding a guitar and one of her posing in a kitchen — and gave photo credit to the younger Spears sister in the caption.
“It’s my b-day but you’re my heart so I’m thinking about you,” the caption reads. “Congratulations on being so brave, inspiring, and showing guts and glory in your show !!! You ain’t alone … if anybody knows what that feels like … I get it. My baby sister !!! I love you !!!”
The show the caption is likely referencing is the celebrity reality competition series Special Forces: The Ultimate Test, which premieres next month on Fox and features the younger Spears and other familiar faces competing in the same challenges used in the military’s special forces selection process.
The Spears sisters have been publicly estranged for the past year, with Britney calling out the release of Jamie Lynn’s tell-all memoir Things I Should Have Said and bringing up other grievances in lengthy Instagram captions. “Please please stop with these crazy lies for the Hollywood books !!!” Britney wrote in one such post back in January.
Britney’s fans aren’t convinced that the new Instagram post signals a truce for the feuding siblings. In fact, they’re more convinced that the elder Spears isn’t in charge of her own Instagram account. Billboard has reached out to a rep for Britney Spears to confirm that Britney is behind the new post.
See Britney’s new post and some of the confused fan reaction below.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL BRITNEY IS RUNNING HER INSTAGRAM ANYMORE #freebritney— Sailor Mars (@DanceDee) December 3, 2022
not jamie lynn spears hacking britney’s instagram😭— pl4yboy (@wh0r3vatic) December 3, 2022
Whoever is running the Instagram of Britney Spears right now needs to knock it off…they really are doing bizarre work over there right now. #FreeBritneyIG— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) December 3, 2022
Is Dua Lipa getting ready to release a single with another veteran rock musician? Signs point to… maybe. On Saturday (Nov. 26), the “Levitating” singer shared a photo of her posing in the studio next to the Rolling Stones‘ frontman Mick Jagger.
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“Sweeeet weeeek,” the pop star captioned a carousel of pictures of her smiling with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, including one with a pair of Polaroids of the two sitting atop a music studio’s soundboard controls.
Neither Lipa nor Jagger gave a definitive statement as to what the photos together indicate, but fans in the comments section of the pop star’s post were buzzing with excitement over what the images could mean. “OMG Mick and you in a studio my body is shaking,” one fan wrote underneath the studio pics, while another added, “MICK JAGGER???? Oh we’re getting HITS.” Other fans speculated that it means Lipa’s follow up to Future Nostalgia is nearing, with one Instagram user simply asking her “DL3 when.”
If Lipa’s pictures with Jagger results in a collaboration, it won’t be the first time she has teamed up with a veteran musician for a song. The “Levitating” singer most notably worked with Elton John for their “Cold Heart” collaboration. The PNAU remix version was a big success for the pair, spending an entire calendar year on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 7, as well as 36 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
See Lipa’s photos with Mick Jagger on Instagram below.
Travis Barker is officially 47! To celebrate, Barker’s wife Kourtney Kardashian took to Instagram on Monday (Nov. 14) to share a series of intimate photos to her feed, wishing the rocker a very special day.
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“I am beyond grateful for the day you were born. Happy birthday to the husband of my dreams, my soulmate @travisbarker you have changed my life forever,” she captioned the series of snaps, which featured her in a black corset top and matching underwear while her husband wore a white tank and sparkling black fringe pants.
The Blink-182 drummer hopped in the comments and replied, “My soulmate, I love you forever” with a simple red heart emoji.
The Poosh founder was not the only one in her family to wish Barker a happy birthday — her sisters Kim and Khloé both posted well wishes to the rock star via their Instagram Stories on Monday.
Kim shared a photo of her with the Barkers enjoying time at the beach together and captioned the Story post, “Happy birthday Trav!!!!! I hope you are celebrating and doing something you will never forget!” Meanwhile, Khloé wished Barker a happy birthday along with snaps of him with Kourtney from their wedding. “I wish you a lifetime of love with my Kourt. Thank you for all the love and happiness you share with us all,” the Good American founder wrote, adding in later Story posts, “The beginning of many more years of love and blessings” and “Cheers to the best dad out there.”
Even the drummer’s mother-in-law couldn’t help but chime in on the birthday love. Kris Jenner shared a series of family photos to her Instagram account with a very kind message attached.
“Happy birthday to my son in law @travisbarker,” she wrote. “You are the most amazing dad, stepdad, husband, uncle, son, and friend! You are so kind, thoughtful, generous, creative, talented, and I’m so happy to have you as part of our family! You make @kourtneykardash so happy and I love you and appreciate you and hope you have the most amazing day ever!!!”
See Kourtney Kardashian and Kris Jenner’s birthday posts to Travis Barker below.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported $27.7 billion in second-quarter revenue, down 4 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago, continuing a trend of ad-supported tech companies feeling the pain of a tougher macroeconomic environment and renewed competition from competitors like TikTok.
However, the company beat Wall Street expectations for revenue. The company had previously forecast revenue of $26 billion–28.5 billion for the quarter, so it met its own guidance.
Going forward, however, things look tough. The company forecast Q4 revenue of $30-32.5 billion, below Wall Street expectations, sending its share price lower after hours.
Meta net income fell by 52 percent to $4.4 billion, while its daily active user base rose by 4 percent to 2.93 billion.
The company is in the midst of a strategic pivot toward the “metaverse,” which it seems to define as being driven by virtual reality and augmented reality. However, its early efforts in the space remain niche, even as it has committed billions of dollars toward investing in the space.
In its Q3 earnings report, the company said it was making “significant changes across the board to operate more efficiently,” including shrinking some teams and keeping others flat, so that it is “investing headcount growth only in our highest priorities.”
Those priorities will include developing its AI discovery engine, its ads and business messaging platforms, and its future investment in the metaverse.
In the near-term, the company expects savings as it “rationalizes” its office footprint.
The AI discovery engine is particularly relevant to Meta’s TikTok competitor Reels, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is stealing time spent from the other app. Reels is now a $3 billion annual run rate business, he added.
When the discovery engine is built out, the company will be able to “recommend photos, text, links, communities, short and long form videos, alongside posts from family and friends,” Zuckerberg said, differentiating it from TikTok.
“While we face near term challenges on revenue, the fundamentals are there for a return to stronger revenue growth,” Zuckerberg added in a statement. “We’re approaching 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company.”
Still, on the company’s earnings call, Zuckerberg also projected some optimism, telling analysts that “our product trends look better from what I see than what some of the commentary suggests.”
On Facebook specifically, the number of people using it each day is the highest it has ever been,” he added, noting that it now has nearly 2 billion users, and that WhatsApp’s fastest-growing region is now North America.
Meta’s quarterly report follows similarly disappointing results from Snap and Alphabet, which have also been feeling the pinch of the advertising environment. Snap cut about 20% of its staff last quarter, and saw its losses widen, as it seeks to restructure. It did, however, see double digit user growth.
Alphabet, the owner of YouTube and Google, also missed expectations, with YouTube revenue falling year-over-year for the first time since it was broken out by the company.
This article was originally published on THR.com.
Miley Cyrus has settled a copyright lawsuit a month after she was sued for posting a paparazzi photo of herself to Instagram, according to court documents filed Wednesday (Oct. 18) and obtained by Billboard.
In the original complaint, filed on Sept. 12 in Los Angeles federal court, photographer Robert Barbera claimed that Cyrus reposted his 2020 image of her without a license or permission to do so. In the snap, the “Midnight Sky” singer is seen waving to fans as she exits a building.
In his complaint, Barbera claimed Cyrus has an “immense presence” due to her millions of followers on Instagram, and that posting the image “crippled if not destroyed” his ability to make money licensing it.
According to court documents, the lawsuit was subsequently dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning Barbera cannot refile the same claim again in that court.
The lawsuit against Cyrus is not the first Barbera has filed. The New York-based photographer previously filed copyright complaints against Ariana Grande in May 2019 and January 2020, and Justin Bieber in October 2019, though both cases were later settled on confidential terms. Earlier this summer, he filed another lawsuit against Dua Lipa that at the time of publication is still pending in court.
Though these cases may seem unfair, the law is on the side of photographers like Barbera, as they own the copyrights to the images that they take — and using those photos without a license constitutes infringement. Simply appearing in an image does not give a celebrity co-ownership of it, nor does it give them a right to repost it for free.
Had the court found that Cyrus had infringed Barbera’s copyright, the singer could have faced damages totaling as much as $150,000. For that reason, most celebrities accused of infringement by photographers opt to settle out of court, likely for a smaller sum, in order to avoid the time and expense that come with continued litigation. Though the terms of these settlement deals are nearly always private, for a single photo, amounts likely range in the tens of thousands of dollars.