Pop

Lizzo Pops Champagne To Excitedly Celebrate ‘About Damn Time’ Becoming Her Second No. 1 Song

by
Lizzo Sirius 2022
Getty Image

This week is a big one for Lizzo: On the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, “About Damn Time” rose to No. 1, making it Lizzo’s second chart-topping single after “Truth Hurts” reached the summit in 2019. Naturally, Lizzo has some celebrating to do.

After the news broke yesterday, Lizzo tweeted, “We got the #1 song in the country YALL!” A little bit later, she shared a video of herself and a friend happily popping bottles of champagne in celebration. She wrote, “IMA BE DRUNK BY 5.”

On TikTok, she also posted a video of herself flashing this week’s Hot 100 top 10 graphic and excitedly dancing to her song “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready).”

@lizzo

WE GOT A NUMBER 1 SONG YALL

♬ 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) – Lizzo

She was similarly pleased after learning a day earlier that her new album Special debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it her highest-charting album so far and 2022’s highest-charting LP by a female artist. She tweeted, “WE BEAT THE PROJECTIONS B*TCH!!! MY HIGHEST EVER CHARTING ALBUM YET!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you for loving #special.” She also shared on Instagram, “I know I need to charge my phone… BUT THIS IS MY HIGHEST CHARTING ALBUM. THANK YOU FOR LOVING SPECIAL.”

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

Nickelodeon Announces Its First-Ever Music Festival, Featuring The Kid Laroi, Beabadoobee, And More

by
The Kid Laroi 2022
Getty Image

Nickelodeon has long had a strong connection to music. Successful artists like Ariana Grande and Nick Cannon got their starts on the network, and Nick regularly gets top-tier performers to take the stage at the Kids’ Choice Awards, like Kid Cudi and Jack Harlow did a few months ago. Now, they’re getting into the music festival game: Yesterday, they announced NickFest, their first-ever music festival.

The inaugural edition is set to go down on October 22 and 23 at Los Angeles’ Rose Bowl and tickets are set to go on sale on July 26 at 10 a.m. PT. The event will feature headlining performances from The Kid Laroi and Monsta X. Other highlights from the lineup across its three stages include Beabadoobee, Kyle, 24kGoldn, Joshua Bassett, G Flip, and Alec Benjamin.

Beyond the music, there are also set to be “special experiences” featuring some of the network’s hottest current franchises, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Loud House. On top of that, there will also be “appearances by” beloved Nick characters past and present, like SpongeBob‘s Patrick Star, Chuckie Finster and Tommy Pickles from Rugrats, Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Odd-Parents, Dora The Explorer, Avatar Aang from Avatar, and others.

The NickFest website describes the event, “NickFest is the messiest music festival ever. A 2-day extravaganza of music’s biggest acts, Nickelodeon characters and stars IRL, family-friendly activities and experiences, exceptional food, and a ridiculous amount of slime. Lovers of Nick nostalgia will be in heaven. Kids will have a blast. And moms and dads will earn the most ‘cool parent’ points allowed by law. Whether you’re 5 or 105 — get ready to let your Nick flag fly!”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lizzo Says Her Playful (And Sometimes Sexual) Chats With Rihanna Have Halted Since She Became ‘Mommihana’

by
Lizzo BET Awards 2022
Getty Image / Paras Griffin

Lizzo is far from coy about her sexual liberation. A track called “I Love You B*tch,” from her latest album, Special, is evidence of this, as she tells her best friend, “I want to text you these fire nudies.” While she didn’t specify the nature of her conversations with her peers in the music industry, she admits that she and Rihanna occasionally DM from time to time.

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen (per Yahoo), a fan called in and asked if they could ever expect a collaboration with Rihanna.

Lizzo then asked the fan, “Okay, did the army send you? Rihanna was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll be a Lizzbian for a day.’” (“Lizzbian” is the stan name for fans of Lizzo.)

The “About Damn Time” singer continued, saying that the two will playfully flirt with each other, and occasionally talk about sex.

“We don’t talk about sex a lot, but we’re just always giving it to each other,” Lizzo said. “We don’t talk about work, it’s all play with me. But not since she’s been, you know, mommy. ‘Mommihanna.’ So congratulations to her and ASAP Rocky.”

Additionally, Cohen asked Lizzo about other celebrities who have slid into her DMs. She didn’t call anyone out by name, but she implied that several big names have tried to shoot their shots.

“You know, they’ll always be like, ‘Man, you playin’.’ ‘Hey, what’s up, Lizzo?’ Like, I always see that, and I see their name. I’ll be like, ‘Not today,’” Lizzo says.

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

A Man Died At The Weeknd’s Philadelphia Concert After A Big Fall

by
The Weeknd 2021 iHeart Awards
Getty Image / Kevin Winter

On July 14, The Weeknd kicked off his After Hours Til Dawn tour at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. There was a heartwarming story from that show, as The Weeknd flew out a young fan, who was seen heartbroken outside of The Weeknd’s canceled Toronto concert.

However, the Philadelphia concert also had some tragedy: CBS3 Philly reports a 32-year-old man, who a friend identified to the station as Hugo Sanchez, died at the show. Officials say just before 11 p.m., Sanchez was sitting on an escalator rail and fell about 40 feet. He was rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. Per officials, the incident appears to have been an accident but an investigation is ongoing.

According to a previous CBS3 report, the station reached out to promoter Live Nation for a statement but had yet to hear back, while Lincoln Financial Field representatives declined to comment out of respect for Zanchez’s family.

The Weeknd has yet to offer a public statement about the incident. After the show, though, he did share a gallery of photos from it on Instagram and write, “Philadelphia … we finally did it. thank you for helping me ring in the tour. last night was emotional for all of us. i could feel every single one of you. next stop NEW YORK !”

Post Malone Will Play ‘Apex Legends’ On Four ‘Gaming For Love’ Charity Livestream Events

by
Post Malone 2022
Getty Image

Post Malone loves gaming in all its forms, whether he’s playing party games like beer pong, card games like Magic The Gathering, or video games like Pokémon. Now, Malone is going to try his hand at being a video game streamer with a run of charity livestreams.

Dubbed “Gaming For Love,” the streams are scheduled to take place on July 18, 20, 22, and 24 on Malone’s Twitch, with each stream starting at 6 p.m. PT and set to run for six hours apiece. During that time, Posty and pals will be playing Apex Legends, and Apex developer Respawn Entertainment will be donating $10,000 during each stream. Viewer donations will benefit different non-profits for each broadcast: Human Rights Watch (July 18), Project HOPE (July 20), United Way (July 22), and The Trevor Project (July 24).

Malone said in a statement, “Tune in as I game for love & raise money for Human Rights Watch, United Way, Project HOPE, & The Trevor Project. And shout out to Apex Legends & Respawn Entertainment for their support. Donate & spread love.”

Video game livestreams have proven to be an effective way to raise money for worthwhile causes: The recent Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) event, which ran from June 26 to July 3, raised over $3 million for Doctors Without Borders. Meanwhile, this year’s Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), which took place from January 9 to 16, brought in over $3.4 million (the most ever for a GDQ event) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Noah Schnapp Still Has Love For Doja Cat After Their Interaction: ‘I’m Like The Biggest Fan Of Her Music’

by
noah schnapp stranger things 2022
Getty Image / Kevin Winter

By now, everyone’s sick of hearing about Doja Cat’s interaction with Noah Schnapp, including the stars themselves. While the idea of Doja contacting the 17-year-old Stranger Things actor for his co-star Joseph Quinn’s info has been polarizing, Schnapp revealed to Variety that the two have since made up since their squabble.

“I’m super unserious on social media and pretty goofy,” Schnapp said, “so I posted that not thinking too much of it, but obviously it hurt her feelings. So, as I should, I apologized and she was totally okay with it, and was like, ‘I’m sorry how I reacted.’ It was all good. I love her. I’m like the biggest fan of her music, and I told her that. I was like, you’re literally my role model. It’s all good. People make such a big deal out of everything when it’s on the internet, but, like, in reality, it’s like a two-minute thing.”

Doja has kept fairly quiet on social media since Schnapp shared screenshots of the conversation, however, not before calling him out on Instagram Live, saying, “That’s like borderline snake sh*t. That’s like weasel sh*t. I’m not saying that encapsulates his entire personality. I wouldn’t imagine he is. Maybe he is, like, a whole snake. But I didn’t see him that way. I made an assumption that he was gonna be chill about it and he went and shared information that I didn’t feel comfortable with him sharing.”

Stranger Things will return for a fifth and final season at a yet-to-be-specified date.

The Weeknd Flew A 6-Year-Old Superfan Out To A Concert After They Missed A Postponed Toronto Show

by
the-weeknd-super-bowl-getty-full.jpg
Getty Image

Last week, thousands of The Weeknd fans were upset to learn that his show at Toronto’s Rogers Centre was postponed last-minute. The reason was due to a nationwide outage impacting Rogers Communications, which meant that some essential venue operations were a no-go. The Weeknd wrote at the time, “I’m crushed & heartbroken. Been at the venue all day but it’s out of our hands because of the Rogers outage. Operations and safety are compromised and I tried my absolute best.”

There was one fan who took the news particularly hard, as a young boy, donning a slick After Hours-era red suit outfit, was photographed crying outside the venue. The Weeknd himself saw this, shared the photo, and tweeted, “can someone please find him for me?”

The boy is 6-year-old Phoenix Prince, whose father, Blake Prince, later told CBC, “Phoenix was getting attention with his suit. We had a breakdown moment. He got upset over the fact the show was postponed and somebody captured a picture.”

It turns out The Weeknd ended up coming through for Phoenix. Last night, he performed in Philadelphia and flew Phoenix and Blake out for the show, where Phoenix met The Weeknd, got his red jacket signed, and spent some time checking out backstage and other behind-the-scenes areas.

Sharing some photos from the day, Blake wrote on Instagram, “I wouldn’t be able to put this last week into words if I tried. We are forever grateful for this moment in time. We are beyond thankful to Abel and his beautiful crew for their friendship, hospitality, generosity and for spending day with Phoenix and I today. He will cherish this experience forever. Thank you a million times over.”

Check out the photos below.

Lizzo Sings Her ‘Best Vocals With A Sinus Infection,’ Which She Did On A New ‘Special’ Song

by

Being sick — especially when the symptoms impact the mouth, nose, or throat — can have a noticeable impact on how our voices sound. For Lizzo, she sees some instances of that as a positive: She actually recorded “Naked,” a song from her new album Special, while she had a sinus infection, which she insists is when she’s at her vocal best.

First, Lizzo told Apple Music that the song was partially inspired by seeing Solange live:

“Initially, I wanted to write a song about how comfortable I’ve become with myself, but then I evolved as a person. And as I’ve evolved, ‘Naked’ has undergone a lot of rewriting. It has evolved with me. So now it’s like, ‘How accepting are you of me?’ It’s very intimate. I saw Solange perform a couple years ago now at the Lovebox Festival in London, and I was in awe of her set because she had so much nuance. Meanwhile, I’m all bravado. I’m in-your-face, loud-loud-loud, full-throttle. I was like, ‘Man, on my next album, I want nuance.’ Because there’s nothing like the control that she has, the power she has in the quiet.”

She then added of her singing on the song, “So on ‘Naked,’ I’m in a half-falsetto for most of the song. I’m ad-libbing here and there. I’m having a little chat. It’s under your breath. Also, I had a sinus infection when I sang this, and frankly I give the best vocals with a sinus infection.”

Listen to “Naked” above.

Special is out now via Atlantic Records/Nice Life. Get it here.

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

Lizzo’s ‘I Love You B*tch’ Was Prompted By A Cardi B Tweet

by

When you’re writing music (or creating anything, really), inspiration can come from anywhere. When it comes to “I Love You B*tch” from Lizzo’s new album Special, it came directly from a Cardi B tweet.

Lizzo explained to Apple Music:

“‘I Love You B*tch’ came from a tweet, and it’s not the same as ‘Truth Hurts,’ so don’t come at me for royalties, Twitter. Shortly after ‘Rumors’ with Cardi B dropped, Cardi tweeted that she wanted to hear a love song from me next. And I was like, ‘OK, if Lizzo did a love song, what would it be? ‘I love you, b*tch?” It was one of those rare times where I had the title before the song. I got in the studio with Omer Fedi and Blake Slatkin and told them about my idea. Omer started playing the guitar, and I started freestyling to it. I’m from Houston, and there’s this Houston rapper named Z-Ro who has a song called ‘I Hate U B*tch.’ Suddenly I was like, hold up, what if I sang the ‘I Hate U B*tch’ melody but said ‘I love you, b*tch’ instead? It just came out, and it might be the greatest thing we’ve ever done. As I was writing the lyrics, I realized that I wanted to write a universal love song — one you could sing to the person you’re f*cking and your best friend, to your family or to someone you just met at a bar.”

As for the tweet Lizzo’s talking about, it’s as she described it: On October 19, 2021, Cardi tweeted, “I want a love song from Lizzo next.”

Listen to “I Love You B*tch” above.

Special is out now via Atlantic Records/Nice Life. Get it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.