Senate Warns Ticketmaster Following Beyoncé’s Tour Announcement: ‘We’re Watching’
TAYLOR SWIFT
Taylor Swift’s Ex-BF Taylor Lautner Thought Kanye West VMAs Moment Was A “Skit”
In 2009, a Hollywood romance was taking over pop culture, but it was Kanye West who would dominate headlines. That year, Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner were the new “it” couple. The Pop star and her Twilight icon boyfriend were photographed by the paparazzi as they attempted to keep their relationship under wraps. However, that year, they attempted the MTV Video Music Awards together, where an infamous moment with West would take place.
We all remember when Swift won Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me.” It was then that West stormed the stage, took the microphone, and declared Beyoncé deserved that award. Lautner recalls presenting the triphy to his then-girlfriend and watching Ye unravel up close and personal.
Read More: Kanye West & Taylor Swift’s 2009 VMAs Moment Named Top 10 “Worst Decisions In Music History”
Lautner was a guest on his wife’s podcast when he was asked where he would go if he could travel back in time. He chose the 2009 VMAs and admitted he was “unaware that the Kanye thing was not a skit.” He said he gave Swift the award, “took five steps back,” and was only “five feet behind her.”
“In the middle of her giving her thank you speech, Kanye jumps up onto the stage,” he said. “I could barely hear it. I can’t see them. I’m just assuming this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit because why else would Kanye West be jumping on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense.”
“If you look back at it, I’m actually caught laughing and, like, giggling at it. I’m like, ‘I can’t hear them, but this is probably really funny right now,’” Lautner also stated. “He jumped off. She finished. The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. No. …That wasn’t good.’”
Read More: Kanye Talks Kim Kardashian & Taylor Swift, Smokes Blunt In “Drink Champs” Trailer
Lautner may have missed his opportunity to defend Swift, but it was rumored that singer Pink was heated about the encounter. She was said to have put West in his place and was “very upset” with his actions. In 2015, West and Swift buried the hatchet and hugged it out. However, after he dropped “Famous” with a line about making “that b*tch famous,” the rift was reignited.
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Taylor Lautner on Initially Thinking Kanye’s Taylor Swift VMAs Interruption Was a ‘Skit’
Taylor Lautner Thought Taylor Swift And Kanye West’s Infamous VMAs Moment Was Just A Bit Until He Saw Swift’s Face
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards are remembered for exactly one thing: Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to shout out Beyoncé. A less-remembered detail about that VMAs moment is that Taylor Lautner was on that stage, too, as he presented the award to Swift. Now, he has looked back on that day and revealed what was going through his head at the time.
In a recent episode of The Squeeze podcast, the host (Lautner’s wife, who is also named Taylor Lautner) asked if there was a moment Lautner would like to go back and change and he responded, “Probably the 2009 VMAs when I presented the award to Taylor and was unaware that the Kanye thing was not a skit.”
The host noted Lautner and Swift were publicly in a relationship at the time. Lautner continued, “I presented the award to her. I took five steps back and was standing five feet behind her. Kanye jumps up on to the stage. I could barely hear it, I can’t see them. I’m just assuming this whole thing was a practiced and rehearsed skit, because why else would Kanye West be jumping up on the stage interrupting Taylor Swift? It just didn’t make sense. If you look back at it, I’m actually caught laughing and giggling at them. […] He jumped off, she finished. The second she turned back around and I saw her face for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh. This… that wasn’t good.’”
Watch the Taylor Lautners recount the incident below.
@podcast.nation Show: The Squeeze
Hosted by #TaylorLautner and @Tay Lautner!
#twilight #taylorswift #vmas
After Botching Taylor Swift’s Ticket Sales, Ticketmaster Is Changing Its Policies For Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Tour
In terms of public opinion, Ticketmaster is perhaps at an all-time low right now. Zach Bryan recently released an album called All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster. Taylor Swift was infuriated after her The Eras Tour onsale through Ticketmaster went remarkably poorly. They just botched a John Mayer ticket sale, too. On top of all that, Congress is currently looking into them.
All this has Beyoncé fans worried: She just announced her long-awaited Renaissance tour and tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster. Apparently, though, the company is changing some things in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Swift fiasco.
As KTLA notes, the steps Ticketmaster is taking with the Renaissance tour includes staggering the on-sale dates for various venues and using membership systems like Verified Fan.
Ticketmaster shared a blog post with more detailed information about how to get Renaissance tickets. It explains in part, “Demand for this tour is expected to be high. If there is more demand than there are tickets available, a lottery-style selection process will determine which registered Verified Fans get a unique access code and which are placed on the waitlist. A Verified Fan access code does not guarantee tickets, it just gives you access to join the sale. All tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. If tickets remain, the lottery-style process will be used to invite more Verified Fans from the waitlist to join the sale.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Who Will Win And Who Should Win At The 2023 Grammys: The Big Four Categories
We are now just days away from the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5. (Here’s how to watch the show, in case you didn’t know, and here’s the full list of this year’s nominees.) The Recording Academy’s picks for who is going to win what awards are in, and all that’s left to do is wait and see who will be cement themselves in music history and take a golden gramophone trophy home.
Actually, there’s another thing left to do, not a requirement but a fun thought exercise: make picks for who the Academy has likely chosen for the four major awards (Best New Artist, Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year) and who we think should win them.
Make your own selections if you’d like, but if you wouldn’t mind hearing another perspective before you do, I’ve come up with some predictions and opinions. It wasn’t easy, because New Artist, Song, Record, and Album categories are stacked this year; A lot of new artists made an immediate impact on the music landscape, a number of songs are already being hailed as classics, and some albums on this year’s list are all-timers (at least one is if you ask Questlove, anyway).
So, before the 2023 Grammys officially kick off, let’s take a look at who probably will win the big four awards and who probably should get them.
Best New Artist
- Anitta
- Domi & JD Beck
- Latto
- Måneskin
- Molly Tuttle
- Muni Long
- Omar Apollo
- Samara Joy
- Tobe Nwigwe
- Wet Leg
Who will win: Anitta
Who should win: Anitta
Really, it’s hard to call Anitta new. It’s been nearly a decade since the Brazilian superstar released her 2013 self-titled debut album, which went No. 1 in her home country. In recent times, though, she has profoundly broken out on a broader international level. Her 2022 album Versions Of Me was her first on Warner (previous releases came out via Warner Music Brasil) and its biggest single, “Envolver,” was a global hit: It’s her first solo track to place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (after the Cardi B and Myke Towers collab “Me Gusta” in 2020), it became a TikTok sensation, and it was the first song by a Brazilian artist to rank No. 1 on the daily Spotify Global Chart. Between all that and other viral moments, Anitta is currently the best version of herself and is only getting better. While the crop of Best New Artist nominees is strong, none of the others have yet reached Anitta-level success.
Song Of The Year
- Adele — “Easy On Me”
- Beyoncé — “Break My Soul”
- Bonnie Raitt — “Just Like That”
- DJ Khaled — “God Did” Feat. Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend, and Fridayy
- Gayle — “ABCDEFU”
- Harry Styles — “As It Was”
- Kendrick Lamar — “The Heart Part 5”
- Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
- Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”
- Taylor Swift — “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”
Who will win: Adele — “Easy On Me”
Who should win: Taylor Swift — “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”
The new expanded version of “All Too Well” quickly became one of the most storied songs in Swift’s discography, an oeuvre that has not been wanting of praise. Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield proclaimed the tune “sums up Swift at her absolute best,” and in the age of allegedly waning attention spans, fans have streamed the lengthy song over 450 million times on Spotify and made it the longest No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history. There’s a problem, though: The Grammys honor new music (relatively new, anyway; “ABCDEFU” came out in August 2021). “All Too Well,” which originates from 2012’s Red, isn’t exactly a brand new track. That may dissuade Grammy voters from giving it the trophy, but it also wouldn’t be a crime if Adele’s “Easy On Me,” another powerfully evocative former No. 1 single, ended up winning. Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is also worth noting here, as it’s far from a pop tune but has nonetheless had pop tune success and acclaim.
Record Of The Year
- ABBA — “Don’t Shut Me Down”
- Adele — “Easy On Me”
- Beyoncé — “Break My Soul”
- Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius — “You And Me On The Rock”
- Doja Cat — “Woman”
- Harry Styles — “As It Was”
- Kendrick Lamar — “The Heart Part 5”
- Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
- Mary J. Blige — “Good Morning Gorgeous”
- Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”
Who will win: Adele — “Easy On Me”
Who should win: Harry Styles — “As It Was”
First, an important note: The Recording Academy previously explained, “Record Of The Year deals with a specific recording of a song and recognizes the artists, producers and engineers who contribute to that recording, while Song Of The Year deals with the composition of a song and recognizes the songwriters who wrote the song.”
So, broadly, Song is about songwriting and Record is about the finished recording. That said, Harry Styles’ “As It Was” is a gorgeously executed recording deserving of the Record Of The Year title. At its core, it’s a summery pop-rock song that sounds a lot like some beach-faring indie music from years back. But, that aesthetic has been revived and refreshed just enough for modern day, yielding a tune that sounds warmly and breezily nostalgic while also slotting nicely into the current pop landscape. Headphone listeners are rewarded with the one, too, as there are a lot of production treats and intricacies that are hard to appreciate on an iPhone speaker but that give the song new dimension when you pay attention to them. The results really speak for themselves: “As It Was” is the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo artist in Hot 100 history and it appears not too long from now, it’ll become the first song from 2022 to eclipse 2 billion Spotify streams.
Album Of The Year
- ABBA — Voyage
- Adele — 30
- Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti
- Beyoncé — Renaissance
- Brandi Carlile — In These Silent Days
- Coldplay — Music Of The Spheres
- Harry Styles — Harry’s House
- Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
- Lizzo — Special
- Mary J. Blige — Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)
Who will win: Adele — 30
Who should win: Beyoncé — Renaissance
Like many Grammy categories, pitting the nominees against each other is like comparing apples and oranges… and hammers and beach balls and secret family recipes. By what metrics do you measure products as wildly different as Album Of The Year nominees from Brandi Carlile, Adele, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar when they’re all up for the same award? It’s a task so impossible, it’s a wonder the Recording Academy is able to come to a decision at all year after year.
Annually, though, they do come up with a pick, one that makes fans mad regardless of who won. However, Beyoncé’s Renaissance would be a hard (but not impossible, as haters will prove should the album win) pick to hate, no matter your disposition. The LP has elements of dance, house, disco, pop, R&B, and probably dozens of other musical styles too numerous to mention here, all delivered by the incomparably confident, capable, and charismatic Beyoncé. Even putting her star power aside, Renaissance is a spectrum-spanning album that is full of mind-blowing musical moments. Here’s something that’s hard to make an argument against: Renaissance defined music in 2022 (and more importantly, during this year’s eligibility window from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). That sounds like the Album Of The Year to me.
Find the full list of 2023 Grammy nominees here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Consequence Says That Kanye Thought His Career Was Over After Taylor Swift VMA’s Incident
Kanye’s Taylor Swift VMA’s incident is one of the most talked about and infamous moments in hip-hop history. The incident even caught the attention of former President Barack Obama who called Ye a “jackass” for getting on stage and saying Beyoncé should have won. The backlash Kanye got from the incident was overwhelming, causing Ye to go into isolation for over a year while he crafted what he called his “apology” album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. While most people look back and laugh, and even agree with Ye, at the time, it looked like Ye’s career might’ve never recovered. According to Consequence, Ye even thought his career was over after the incident.
In an interview with HipHopDX, Consequence shared some insight into Kanye’s mindset after the incident, and thought that his actions cost him his career after “Power” failed to garner the same attention as other singles like “Gold Digger,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and “Stronger.”
“To be 100 percent honest, ‘Power’ is ‘Power’ now, but that was the first record off that cycle and ‘Power’ was kinda the first time it didn’t go all the way,” Cons said. “It didn’t do what ‘Gold Digger’ did, it didn’t do what ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ did, and it didn’t do what ‘Stronger’ did.
“So it was kinda like, ‘What we gonna do?’ We ain’t got no out-the-gates smash. We got a single and they playing it, but it wasn’t that one. That’s how G.O.O.D. Fridays come about.”
He added that this situation made Kanye change his rollout strategy, and ended up creating G.O.O.D. Fridays, where he would release a new song every Friday until MBDTF released.
“It doesn’t eradicate the Taylor Swift incident. It’s not big enough to K.O. that. Brands ain’t gonna forget that, touring ain’t gonna forget that, so forth and so on. So which put Kanye in a corner, and he came out flying with G.O.O.D. Fridays.”
The post Consequence Says That Kanye Thought His Career Was Over After Taylor Swift VMA’s Incident appeared first on The Source.
Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift Disaster Subject of Senate Hearing
Miffed Swifties Can Tune Into The Ticketmaster Senate Hearing Via Livestream This Week
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing regarding Ticketmaster and its presumed monopoly on live entertainment ticketing has been set for Tuesday, January 24, 2023, and will live stream at 10:00 am ET.
Ticketmaster has come under scrutiny within the past several months as the comeback of several marquee artists at once highlighted the ticketing platform’s frustrating policies. With Bruce Springsteen tickets reselling for upwards of $5,000 in July and Taylor Swift fans practically crashing the site in November, authorities now have plenty of questions for Ticketmaster’s leadership.
It’s 2023 and @Ticketmaster is still robbing people. $80 for tickets. $59.20 in service fees. No thanks
pic.twitter.com/LatnUxJoLs
— // Bill Kill
(@timmyg43) January 22, 2023
The situation with Swift’s tickets got so bad, Ticketmaster was forced to cancel the general sale of her The Eras Tour tickets, prompting the singer’s fury and sparking a general outcry against it from the likes of Springsteen, Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff, and country star Zach Bryan.
why is ticketmaster calling people and changing their seats i’m scared pic.twitter.com/o8eF041Zjw
— mariah ✧ eras 5/5 (@alltooriah) January 14, 2023
In response, Swifties filed not just one but two class action lawsuits alleging misleading business practices, arguing the company “intentionally and purposefully misled millions of fans into believing it would prevent bots and scalpers from participating in the presales,” but instead allowed “14 million unverified Ticketmaster users and a ‘staggering’ number of bots to participate in the presales.”
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster was fined in Mexico for allegedly ruining a Bad Bunny concert by overselling the venue, although Ticketmaster claimed the problem was fake tickets, not its practices.
You can watch the live stream here.
Taylor Swift Shouts Out SZA’s ‘SOS’ as “Anti-Hero” Remains Atop Billboard Hot 100
