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19 Feb 2023

Jewel Performs the National Anthem at 2023 NBA All-Star Game

Jewel, a native of Utah, performed the U.S. national anthem ahead of the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.

Jewel, introduced as a “Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and actress from Payson, Utah,” sang her take of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Sunday night’s (Feb. 19) matchup between Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis. Guitar in hand, she strummed along and offered a folk rendition of the national anthem.

This year’s All-Star Game took place at Salt Lake City’s Vivint Arena.

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Jewel’s latest album, Freewheelin’ Woman, was released in 2022 via her own Words Matter Media.

Watch Jewel sing the national anthem below.

19 Feb 2023

P!nk Addresses Comments About ‘Shading’ Christina Aguilera and ‘Lady Marmalade’ Video Shoot

P!nk has responded to comments that she’s been “shading” fellow pop star Christina Aguilera.

The singer was recently asked by Buzzfeed UK to rank her music videos, and what she said about her apparently less-than-ideal personal experience filming “Lady Marmalade” — her 2001 single with Christina Aguilera, Mya and Lil’ Kim — got folks talking over the weekend.

“Well, there’s ‘Lady Marmalade,’” P!nk said in video interview, looking back at the supergroup collaboration from more than 20 years ago, which was a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. “I’m gonna put that down here at 12. It wasn’t very fun to make. I’m all about fun, and it was like a lot of fuss — and there were some personalities. Kim and Mya were nice.”

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After seeing people make assumptions about her choice of words, and her choice to leave out Aguilera’s name from her list of who was “nice” on set, she replied to tweets Saturday night (Feb. 18).

“Y’all are nuts,” she wrote. “Xtina had s— to do with who was on that song. If you don’t know by now- I’m not ‘shading’ someone by telling it over and over and over what actually happened. I’m zero percent interested in your f—ing drama. If you haven’t noticed- I’m a little busy selling.”

P!nk clarified, “And by selling- I mean tickets and albums and bake sales and s—.”

“Also- I kissed xtinas mouth. I don’t need to kiss her a–,” she added.

P!nk had previously admitted that back in the “Lady Marmalade” days, the pair’s egos had clashed.

“We were super young and super new at the whole thing, and I think I’m an alpha, and she’s an alpha,” she noted in a 2017 interview with Andy Cohen. “I’m used to taking my altercations physical and she’s used to having them verbal. We’re just very different, we’re very different. And we were very young and new.”

“You have to learn — women have to learn how to support each other,” P!nk continued. “It’s not taught to each other in the playground.”

P!nk said that the two had gotten past any bad blood, in time: “We became moms. We grew up. We hugged it out. It’s that simple. I feel so good about that.”

See a Buzzfeed UK TikTok clip of her talking about the “Lady Marmalade” video here and her tweets that followed below.

19 Feb 2023

Meta to Test Verified Subscription Service for Facebook and Instagram

Meta Platforms Inc. is launching a “Meta Verified” subscription service on Facebook and Instagram that allows users to verify their accounts with a government ID.

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The company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed Sunday (Feb. 19) on social media that the platform will begin testing the service in Australia and New Zealand. The authentication will also include proactive account monitoring for account impersonation, direct access to customer support and increased account visibility and reach.

The monthly subscription-based plan can be purchased on Instagram or Facebook for $11.99 on the web and $14.99 on iOS and Android. According to a news release, for users to be eligible, accounts must meet minimum activity requirements and submit a government ID.

Meta clarified that there will be no changes to already verified accounts as they test the new plan.

The news release said that the “Meta Verified” service was developed after the platform received an abundance of requests from creators for broader access to verification and account support. The release explained that the service’s goal is “to help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster.”

The company added that it hopes to expand the service globally soon.

Meta isn’t the first social platform to introduce a paid verified subscription plan. When Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, he re-vamped Twitter Blue, with a paid plan for users to sign up for $8 a month on the web and $11 a month for iOS. He also replaced the “official” label with a gold or gray checkmark, depending on the account.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

19 Feb 2023

Olivia Rodrigo Shares Photo From the Studio Ahead of 20th Birthday

Olivia Rodrigo is spending the day before her 20th birthday in the recording studio.

The Sour hitmaker checked in with fans on Instagram on Sunday (Feb. 19), wearing headphones and dark sunglasses while sitting next to a microphone.

“2day is my last day of being a teenage dirtbag,” Rodrigo wrote, referencing the 2000 Wheatus track that became a TikTok trend in 2022. “Teenage Dirtbag” had users uploading photos of their teen selves to their social media accounts, with notes of nostalgia and cringe.

The singer-songwriter, who’s turning 20 on Feb. 20, teased new music in January, on the two-year anniversary of her breakthrough single, “Drivers License.”

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“working on so many new songs I’m excited to show u! thank u for everything,” she wrote on Jan. 8.

Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour — which featured Hot 100 No. 1s “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U” — hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, spending five weeks on the top spot of the chart in 2021.

See Rodrigo’s pre-birthday post below.

19 Feb 2023

‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Wins 2023 BAFTA Award for Best Original Score

Volker Bertelmann’s score for All Quiet on the Western Front won a BAFTA Award for best original score on Sunday (Feb. 19). The awards were presented at Royal Festival Hall in London. The score is also nominated for an Academy Award in that category.

This was Bertelmann’s second BAFTA nomination, but his first on his own and his first under his own name. He was nominated six years ago for Lion, on which he teamed with Dustin O’Halloran. Bertelmann went by the name Hauschka at the time. He and O’Halloran were also nominated for an Oscar for that film, but lost both awards to Justin Hurwitz for La La Land.

The other scores nominated for a BAFTA Award this year were Babylon (Hurwitz), The Banshees of Inisherin (Carter Burwell), Everything Everywhere All at Once (Son Lux) and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Alexandre Desplat).

All of those scores except Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio are also nominated for Oscars. John Williams’ score for The Fabelmans is nominated instead at the Oscars. Oscar voting will conducted from March 2-7. The awards will be presented on March 12.

Unlike the Oscars, the BAFTAs don’t present an award for best original song.

All Quiet on the Western Front won in six other categories at the BAFTAs – best picture, best director (Edward Berger), best adapted screenplay, best film not in the English language, best cinematography and best sound.

Austin Butler won best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Elvis. Cate Blanchett won best actress in a leading role for Tár. The awards for best actor and actress in a supporting role went to Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, both for The Banshees Inisherin.

19 Feb 2023

Fans Choose P!nk’s ‘Trustfall’ as This Week’s Favorite New Music

P!nk‘s new album, Trustfall, has topped this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Feb. 17) on Billboard, choosing the veteran pop star’s ninth studio LP as their favorite new music release of the past week.

P!nk’s album brought in nearly 48% of the vote, beating out new music from Kelsea Ballerini (Rolling Up the Welcome Mat), Skrillex (Quest for Fire), Niall Horan (“Heaven”), Caroline Polachek (Desire, I Want to Turn Into You), and others.

Trustfall is the superstar singer’s first follow-up to her 2021 live compilation, All I Know So Far: Setlist. The new set was preceded by roller-skate-ready lead single “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” the anthemic title track and heaven-sent ballad “When I Get There,” which is dedicated to her late father. Trustfall also contains collaborations with The Lumineers, First Aid Kit and Chris Stapleton.

Ahead of the release, P!nk sat down with Billboard for an exclusive interview about how the album came together and explained the significance of its title.

“It was so easy to name the record,” she said. “I feel like getting out of bed, and getting dressed, and dropping your kids off at school, and being in a relationship, and parenting, and participating in elections — it requires a lot of trust. And most of the time, we feel like we’re falling backwards, and we don’t know where the ground is.”

This summer, P!nk will embark on her Summer Carnival 2023 stadium tour in support of Trustfall, with special guests Brandi Carlile, Pat Benatar & Neil Girlado, Grouplove and KidCutUp.

Trailing behind P!nk on the fan-voted poll was Ballerini’s post-divorce EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which brought in 24% of the vote. Placing third was Skrillex’s long-awaited sophomore album, Quest for Fire, with nearly 15% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.

19 Feb 2023

SZA’s ‘SOS’ Has Most Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Among Albums by Women in Seven Years

SZA’s SOS claims a ninth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Feb. 25) — the most weeks atop the list for an album by a woman in nearly seven years. The last set by a female artist to spend at least nine weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 25, which ruled for 10 nonconsecutive weeks between Dec. 12, 2015, and March 12, 2016.

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SOS earned 93,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 16 (down 7%), according to Luminate.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200: Paramore’s This Is Why debuts at No. 2 — the highest charting alternative album in eight months, while Rihanna’s former No. 1 Anti returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2016, following her halftime show performance at the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.

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. 25, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Wednesday (Feb. 22), one day later than usual, owed to Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday (Feb. 20) in the U.S. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of SOS’ 93,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 16, SEA units comprise 92,000 (down 7%, equaling 126.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 500 (down 1%) and TEA units comprise 500 (up 2%).

In the last 10 years, only three albums by women have spent at least nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: SOS, Adele’s 25 (10 in 2015-16) and Taylor Swift’s 1989 (11, 2014-15).

The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least eight weeks atop the list was Drake’s Views, which 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (May 21-Oct. 8, 2016). SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks, all consecutively, at No. 1 in 1991. (Honorable mention to the Whitney Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.) SOS has the most weeks at No. 1 for an R&B album by any act since Usher’s Confessions ruled for nine nonconsecutive weeks in 2004. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)

Paramore scores its highest-charting album in nearly a decade, as This Is Why debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It’s also the highest-charting alternative album in almost a year. This Is Why is the band’s first album since After Laughter was released in May 2017; it debuted and peaked at No. 6. The group’s last album to go higher was its self-titled 2013 release, which debuted at No. 1 on the April 27, 2013-dated list.

This Is Why begins with 64,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 47,000, SEA units comprise 17,000 (equaling 21.3 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was ushered in by the album’s title track, which became the act’s first No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart (in February) after 11 previous entries going back to 2007.

This Is Why is the highest-charting alternative album on the Billboard 200 since Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Unlimited Love debuted at No. 1 on the April 16, 2022-dated chart. (Alternative albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart.)

Swift’s former No. 1 Midnights falls 2-3 on the Billboard 200 with 60,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%).

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 4 with 44,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%). Dangerous has now accumulated 107 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It now solely has the third-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956, surpassing the 106 weeks tallied by the soundtrack to the film West Side Story. Dangerous continues to have the most weeks in the top 10 for an album by a single artist. The all-time top 10 record-holder is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60. See list, below.

Albums With Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart (March 24, 1956-onwards)

Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10

173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956
109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965
107, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021
106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962
105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 1960
90, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 1958
87, Original Cast, Camelot, 1961
87, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 1956
85, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 1962
84, Adele, 21, 2011
84, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984
(through the Feb. 25, 2023-dated chart)

Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti rises 7-5 with nearly 44,000 equivalent album units (down 4%); Metro Boomin’s former leader Heroes & Villains falls 5-6 with 43,000 units (down 5%); and Drake and 21 Savage’s former No. 1 Her Loss climbs 8-7 with 40,000 (down 7%).

Rihanna’s chart-topping Anti roars back into the top 10 for the first time since its release year, 2016, as the set vaults 50-8 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned (up 166%). The album, Rihanna’s most recent studio effort, surges back up the list following Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show performance on Feb. 12, where her setlist included the album’s hit single “Work.” (She also wove in elements of the album’s “Pose” and “Kiss It Better” into the performances of “All of the Lights” and “Rude Boy,” respectively.)

Anti was released a little over seven years ago, on Jan. 28, 2016, and spent two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 (Feb. 20 and April 2, 2016-dated charts). It was last in the top 10 on the Oct. 16, 2016 chart (No. 9) and last at No. 8 or higher on the Sept. 24, 2016-dated list (when it was also at No. 8).

Anti is Rihanna’s longest-charting album on the Billboard 200, with 355 weeks on the list. That also marks the most weeks ever on the chart for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman or R&B album by a woman.

Closing out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 are a pair of former No. 1s: Harry Styles’ Harry’s House is stationary at No. 9 with 33,000 equivalent album units earned (down 13%) and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION falls 3-10 with 32,000 units (down 33%).

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.

19 Feb 2023

Megan Fox Returns to Instagram, Addresses Machine Gun Kelly Cheating Rumors

Megan Fox is setting the record straight about cheating allegations against Machine Gun Kelly.

The Jennifer’s Body actress returned to Instagram on Sunday (Feb. 19) to share a note stating that there was no cheating involved in her relationship with the pop-punk star, who she got engaged to in January 2022.

“There has been no third party interference in this relationship of any kind. That includes, but is not limited to…actual humans, DMs, AI bots or succubus demons,” Fox wrote. “While I do hate to rob you of running random baseless news stories that would have been much more accurately written by ChatGPT, you need to let this story die and leave all of these innocent people alone now.”

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Last week, Fox deleted all of her Instagram photos with MGK and posted a video of a burning envelope with a caption quoting “Pray You Catch Me” from Beyoncé’s Lemonade, an album dedicated to the pain of being cheated on. Shortly after the post, the actress deactivated her IG account altogether.

The couple’s rumored split led some fans to speculate that Kelly, born Colson Baker, had cheated on the actress with musician Sophie Lloyd, who plays guitar in his band. But Lloyd shut down those rumors in a prompt statement issued by her management team.

“Sophie Lloyd is a professional, accomplished musician who has been needlessly dragged into the media based off of meritless accusations made by social media,” read a statement on Feb. 15, according to People. “Any suggestion that she has ever acted in an unprofessional manner or stepped out of her relationship are untrue.”

“It’s disrespectful to her as a female artist and poor journalism and social commentary to be reporting anything else,” the statement concluded.

The breakup rumors certainly felt sudden to fans who’ve kept up with MGK and Fox’s romance, considering the pair had just appeared together at the 2023 Grammys in early February. After the “My Ex’s Best Friend” singer, who was nominated for best rock album, walked away empty-handed that night, Fox posted a sweet message on Instagram praising him for handling the loss with “a grace and maturity that I haven’t seen from you before and I’m so proud of you.”

Kelly and Fox first met in spring 2020 while they were filming the movie Midnight in the Switchgrass in Puerto Rico. The pair began officially dating that summer and later got engaged in January 2022. Fox was previously married to actor Brian Austin Green, with whom she shares three young sons. Kelly has a teenage daughter.

See Fox’s post about MGK’s cheating allegations on Instagram below.

19 Feb 2023

Jayson Tatum Unveils His 1st Signature Jordan Brand Sneaker Tatum 1

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Jayson Tatum x Jordan Brand ‘Tatum 1’

Jayson Tatum is one of the most electrifying basketball players in the NBA today, culminating in his being a starter in the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, Utah. The St.Louis native unveiled his first signature shoe as a member of the Jordan Brand slate of athletes, the Tatum 1, with a design with adults and younger folks in mind.

Jayson Tatum, 24, shared his excitement of getting his own sneaker under the revered Jordan Brand offering of sneakers in a statement. The motivation for the sneaker and its innovative design transported Tatum back to his younger days as he admired other basketball legends and their signature shoes.

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

“I want people to feel like they can connect to me,” Tatum said in a statement. “I remember being a kid, walking into the store, and looking for the signature shoes of my favorite players. The moment I saw the shoe or put the shoe on, I felt like I was in sync and closer to them in a way. So, I want this shoe to be a bridge between my fans and me to bring us closer together.”

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

As shared in a press release from Nike, the Tatum 1 was designed with Tatum’s comfort in mind as one of the most athletic players we’ve seen in the game in recent times. With a secure connection to the foot reinforced by a lightweight TPU frame, the shoe is surrounded by ground-contact foam that featured an integrated traction pattern. The shoe has very little rubber on the toe and ball of the foot, styled for how Tatum plays off his forefoot.

Via the trade-off in the design, the Tatum 1 is the lightest Jordan Brand shoe in its vast lineup and also houses an uncage Zoom Air bag in the forefoot that provides some bounce back but still fosters a connection to the court floor. The collar of the shoe is padded to support the ankles and the mesh knit upper of the shoe is well-made but light in weight.

The Tatum 1 “Zoo” colorway was inspired by Tatum’s young son, Deuce, and their trips to the zoo hence the animal prints on the outside of the sneaker.

The “St. Louis” colorway features the colors of his hometown baseball team and has “Archer Ave,” the street where he grew up, stitched inside the tongue of the shoe.

The “Barbershop” colorway, only available in adult sizes, gives a nod to Tatum’s always crisp lineup and fade and how he feels most confident after a cut.

Lastly, the “Pink Lemonade” colorway is a salute to Tatum’s favorite beverage.

Other flourishes to the shoe are the words “Living Proof” on the outer part of the rubber, which is a hat tip to fellow St. Louis native, Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards. The words “I Just Didn’t Quit” are located on the TPU portion of the outsole, and Tatum has that same phrase tatted on his calf. The TPU piece also features the coordinates of St. Louis.

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

Tatum has often expressed his deep respect for the late, great Kobe Bryant, who inspired his all-around All-Star game. Just as the Black Mamba inspired him, Tatum hopes to serve as a beacon for other up-and-coming players and all of those who are chasing dreams.

“Kobe inspired me to follow my dreams, dedicate myself to my craft, and ultimately become the person I am today. Today’s kids are our future, and one of my main responsibilities is to inspire the next up. Whether I get to meet them or they’re inspired by me from afar, my hope is that my journey and my story can impact people to go after whatever they want in life,” Tatum added.

The Tatum 1 will go to retail on April 7 with the “Zoo” colorway coming in both adult and kid sizes along with the additional aforementioned colorways coming as well.

Tatum 1 Jayson Tatum Jordan Brand

Congratulations to Jayson Tatum!

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Photo: Jordan Brand/Nike

19 Feb 2023

RIP Munch: Actor Richard Belzer Passes Away At 78

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Actor and comedian Richard Belzer, famed for playing the police officer John Munch on Law & Order: SVU and Homicide: Life on the Street and across multiple shows, has passed away. He was 78.

Actress and friend Laraine Newman was reportedly the first to break the news of his death.

Belzer’s acerbic and conspiracy theory touting character of “Munch” quickly became a fan favorite. “Munch” would then be seen prominently in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit but also appeared in multiple shows, and networks, including The X-Files and since the character was a Baltimore native, The Wire on HBO. Belzer began playing the role in 1993 before retiring from acting in 2016.

The Twittersphere quickly reacted to news of Belzer’s death with peers and fans saluting the legend and giving him his props for a life well led. See reactions in the gallery.

Rest in powerful peace Richard Belzer.