In a lawsuit, two women are accusing #TreySongz of sexual assault. The women say they met the singer at one of his concerts in June 2015, where they got invited to his after-party.
TMZ reports that the women were then invited to Trey’s home in August for a birthday party, but his birthday is in November.
In any case, the women said they were forced to give up their cellphones when they got the party and then pressured to drink alcohol from unsealed bottles. They said they later passed out with their clothes on and woke up naked with Trey forcing himself on them. One of the women claims he was giving her oral sex, and was overpowered when she tried to resist. The other said she woke up to him biting her nipples and forcing his fingers into her vagina.
Trey Songz’s lawyer, Michael Freedman, has since issued a statement, calling the suit “yet another example of nearly decade-old allegations being repurposed to take advantage of California’s constitutionally questionable new look back window.”
Nearly two decades after she went missing during a school trip in Aruba, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway has confessed to killing the Alabama teenager.
Joran van der Sloot’s confession comes after multiple arrests over the years in connection to her disappearance — he was released each time due to lack of evidence. In 2010, he murdered another woman, Stephany Flores, in Peru and is currently serving a 28-year sentence for that crime.
Peruvian authorities temporarily released the 36-year-old to the US in June to face extortion and wire fraud charges that stem from him trying to get Natalee Holloway’s family to pay him $250,000 in 2010 in exchange for information about the location of her remains. He pled guilty to those charges today, and in a proffer, confessing to the murder.
After reviewing the proffer, the federal judge presiding over the case, Anna Manasco, said there is a reason why Natalee’s body will never be found, but didn’t explain further. She then sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which will begin once he completes his 28 years in Peru.
Song lyrics sometimes serve as a timestamp , with references to technology, institutions and even pop culture events that indicate what was happening in the world when the song was made. Some lyrics remain evergreen, but more often than not, time renders them obsolete.
In fact, some lyrics not only become obsolete but actually age poorly. No song exemplies this like “Unbreakable” by Alicia Keys.
Co-written by Alicia, Kanye West and Harold Lilly, and based on a sample of Eddie Kendricks’ “Intimate Friends,” the song was released as the first single from Alicia’s live album, Unplugged. It is about an enduring love story that is, in a word, unbreakable. To drive this point home, the singer shouts-out some of the most famous couples in the world, including Bill & Camille Cosby; Oprah Winfrey & Stedman Graham; Will & Jada Pinkett Smith; Russell & Kimora Lee Simmons; and Joe & Katherine Jackson. There was also an extremely dodgy reference to Ike & Tina Turner (who had been divorced for decades), but we’re gonna leave that where it’s at.
Out of all of the couples in together, only Oprah & Stedman are still together and have given us no reason to believe that they’re unhappy.
Joe & Katherine Jackson never got divorced even though she filed (and then rescinded) twice, so they were indeed unbreakable on paper, but they had been separated since ’82 at the very latest. Also, Joe was in a 25-year relationship with another woman that started in ’73 — he and said woman also have a child together. Joe’s escapades have been registered in the history books with an iconic scene in The Jacksons: An American Dream.
Camille Cosby goes up for her man every chance she gets, but no couple where the husband has been accused of rape by more than 60 women is a happy one.
Russell & Kimora are not only divorced but they fight on Instagram. And then there’s Will & Jada, whose marriage has been showing cracks for years and who we now know are actually separated (and have been for seven years).
In 2023, “Unbreakable” is basically a musical obituary to marriages that were supposed to be great, but if you can ignore the lyrics, it is a fine R&B production that is extremely easy to sing along to. Click play.
According to Variety, notes from Amber Heard’s therapy sessions, which were part of the discovery in her defamation trial, have been made public after her Johnny Depp fans paid to have access to the court documents from the trial.
In the notes from a December 2021 session, the actress Aquaman costar Jason Momoa of trying to get her fired from the sequel and “dressing like Johnny.”
In a new interview with Today, Jada Pinkett Smith reveals that she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016. 😲
In a now-infamous Red Table Talk episode, the power couple discussed having an open marriage after August Alsina revealed that he had been in a relationship with Jada — which she famously called an “entanglement.” As it turns out, the marriage was open because it was practically over.
The revelation comes as part of the actress’ promo tour for her memoir, Worthy, which hits shelves in October 17. She also gave an exclusive interview to People, where she revealed that Chris Rock once asked her out on a date amid reports that she and Will were getting a divorce.
Elsewhere in that interview, she explains that Chris came to apologize to her right after Will slapped him at the 2022 Oscars. She also alludes to the men having personal difference that date back to the ‘80s.
The year was 2000 and Blaque was a year into game. After logging two top 10 hits from their debut album, including “Bring It All to Me,” the group was tapped to play supporting roles in and contribute to the soundtrack of the iconic teen movie, Bring It On.
“As If” was the one and only single from the movie’s soundtrack. The R&B-yet-pop track appeals very directly to the teen/tween target audience of the movie while maintaining just enough bop-factor to be a legitimate jam for a grown-up. Or perhaps I was too young at the time of the song’s release to actually make that call. Either way, a good song is a good song.
(Sidebar: The song’s remix extends the group’s working relationsip with *NSync, with Joey Fatone offering not just vocals but bars to boot.)
“As If” failed missed the charts altogether, but I remain ten toes down in my stance that it is the best from Blaque’s discography.
“Know Your Worth” has been the central theme of 2023, and in keeping with said theme, Roy Wood Jr. is leaving The Daily Show after eight years as a correspondent. His exit comes as Comedy Central execs search far and wide for a new host when the obvious choice is right under their nose. The show has been anchored by guest hosts, including Wood, since Trevor Noah’s departure last December.
In a statement to NPR, Wood said, “I can’t come up with Plan B is while still working with Plan A.” He also posted another statement to his Instagram page, where he thanked the network and said that he was “excited to nurture new ideas.”
The WGA strike may be over, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, three head writers on The Drew Barrymore Show — Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon and Liz Koe — are refusing to return because of the actress and host’s decision to resume production before the strike was over. That decision was quickly reverse after swift public backlash.
While current chart rules make it a little too easy for fake hits to climb up on and even top the charts, they also make it easy for songs that are truly impactful to dominate (no matter how long after their release).
In case you’re wondering, a “fake” hit is one that, for example, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 one week and is out of the top 10 two weeks later. A hit that is purely built on the star power of the performing artist has zero traction outside of the artist’s stans, and therefore, does not maintain “popularity” after the first week or so of its release. But I digress.
Back to the chart rules.
While album cuts and years old songs can chart now due to prevailing rules, back in ’98, a song couldn’t chart unless a physical single was issued for the song — even if a music video had been released for the song in question. As you can imagine, this basically shut independent artists out from the Hot 100, but it also made it impossible for songs that were popular at radio to chart. And in special scenarios where, for instance, an artist’s record label was run by her estranged soon-to-be ex-husband, the chart rules circa ’98 created a perfect opportunity for sabotage. Such is the story of multiple Mariah Carey songs from the Butterfly album.
In a filing made yesterday, attorneys representing Lizzo denied allegations made in the lawsuit filed by three former dancers — Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez — last month and asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which accuses the singer of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
Neama Rahmani, the lawyer representing the dancers, said Lizzo’s response “merely consists of boilerplate objections that have nothing to do with the case.”
All of this comes just a week after a former member of the singer’s wardrobe department, Asha Daniels, filed a lawsuit making similar allegations.