Publishing date: Jan, 20, 2023
If you’re anything like us, we see an interesting headline during our daily scroll—pause to read it—but then keep scrolling without reading the actual story. So at the end of each week, we’re rounding up all the buzziest, news-worthy headlines you might have missed. Think of it like the “saved” feature on Instagram but for news instead of aesthetically pleasing photos. Drake flaunts $3.3M worth of Pharrell’s jewelry in “Jumbotron Shit Poppin” video, Frank Ocean teases plans for a new album, and Kali Uchis drops single “I Wish you Roses” and its video counterpart—this is what you missed.
#1
Drake Flaunts Pharrell’s Jewelry in New Music Video for “Jumbotron Shit Poppin”
Drake is going to Lenny Kravitz gigs, nursing espresso martinis, and rapping in front of a red Lambo in the solo cut of his new music video for “Jumbotron Shit Poppin.” The song is one of a handful of Drake-only tracks off of Her Loss, his collaborative album with 21 Savage released in November 2022. Directed by Tristan C-M, the video follows 72 hours of Drake and some of his notable affiliates—casually shopping for a Rolex with London rapper Central Cee and later linking up with Lil Baby, French Montana, and Mike Tyson. Spliced clips run through eye-catching luxury goods like a golden PSP, the aforementioned Rolexes and Lamborghini, jewelry, jewelry, and more jewelry. This isn’t just any jewelry. Drake hypnotizes us with access to Pharrell’s custom 22-karat golds, diamond pendants, and rare stones. The impressive collection of jewelry—consisting of Pharrell’s Jacob & Co 14K three-tone N.E.R.D Pendant Chain (USD 2,184,000), a white gold Brain Pendant Chain (USD 725,000), the Skateboard Pendant Chain (USD 103,750), and different variations of the Brain & BBC Pendant chain (another USD 300,000)—is worth over USD 3.3M. If there is a record of how much drip someone could flaunt in a music video in just over 2 minutes, Drizzy has got it in the bag. In addition to his efforts kicking off 2023, Drake joined Popcaan on his new song “We Caa Done,” which will appear on the dancehall artist’s upcoming album Great Is He, released on January 27 via OVO Sound label.
#2
Lovers & Friends Fest Announces its Y2K-Core Lineup with Missy Elliott, Nelly, Usher & More
Calling Y2K natives and newcomers, Lovers & Friends Fest announced their star-studded 45-act 2023 nostalgic lineup, presented by Usher himself. The one-day-only festival is planned on taking place May 6 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds and sounds too good to be true. The festival pulls on your 2000s-obsessed heartstrings—Walkmans and Baby Phats not included—and doubles as a Y2K education starter pack. While last year’s plans brought an onslaught of confusion with artists backing out of the performance before the festival was postponed altogether due to COVID-related setbacks. The show eventually went on in May 2022 with acts Lauryn Hill, Lil Jon, Ludacris, Jodeci, Snoop Dogg, Ja Rule, and Ashanti, & more, making for a memorable event. Lovers & Friends Fest keeps the ball rolling with their impressive lineups this year with their smörgåsbord of iconic artists. The lineup features artists and groups including Usher, Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Nelly, Busta Rhymes, Flo Rida, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Beenie Man, Ginuwine, JoJo, En Vogue, Blackstreet, Next, Boyz II Men, 702, &—believe it or not—more. All this to say, if you’re saving your coin for a big music festival this year and had your sights set on Coachella, you may want to reconsider.
#3
Frank Ocean is Teasing a New Album on Latest Blonded Merch
The man, the myth, the legend Frank Ocean is seemingly sending a cryptic message to fans in a promotional poster from his latest Blonde merch, potentially alluding to a new album drop. Even if you’re not an Ocean fan, you’ve probably seen similar headlines like this before where any slight activity from the artist was turned into speculation of new project releases. Granted that most turn out to be false alarms, the message written on the backside of the most recent Blonded poster seems promising. On the back side of said poster, Ocean refers to himself as “the Recording Artist” and says that the model of one-off tracks is “outdated.” He goes on to say that “the Recording Artist has since changed his mind about the singles model, and is again interested in more durational bodies of work.” For the six years since Blonde dropped, Ocean released loosies like the 2017 classics, “Chanel,” and “Provider”, and 2019 hits like “DHL,” and “In My Room” which was potentially initially intended to be on a full album. He managed to keep listeners just a sliver away from total starvation but clearly, that wasn’t enough to prevent the new-music-deprived fanatics from turning into private investigators and theorists. It looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel for Ocean fans and now, with the announcement of him playing at 2023 Coachella, there just might be new music underway. All this to say, check on your Frank Ocean fan friends, they are going through a turbulent time.
#4
Kali Uchis Drops Single “I Wish you Roses”
Valentine’s Day came early this year when Kali Uchis dropped her new single, “I Wish You Roses”. This sultry single follows the singer’s “No Hey Ley” from last Fall and brings us to a floral paradise full of Uchis’s brand of romantic riffs and dreamy vocalizations. Directed by Cho Gi-Seok from South Korea, the video visuals are highly reminiscent of the flower shower scene from “American Beauty”. The singer transformed into a rose in both a metaphorical and literal sense to tell us one important aspect of love, which is to let people go. In a statement, Uchis says the song “is about being able to release people with love. It could be a friend, a lover, or someone else, but the point is to celebrate releasing people from your life without being resentful or bitter.” This single marks the first new release from Uchis in 2023, in which she promised fans that there would be more to come. In April last year, she took to Twitter to announce that she’d wrapped up the production for her third and fourth albums, one in English and the other in Spanish. Then at the cusp of the new year, she dropped the news that both of the albums would be released in 2023, causing an immediate frenzy amongst fans. Just weeks earlier, she rediscovered and released a live performance video for her 2015 hit, “Melting,” and went viral on TikTok, staggering over three million views. The superstar power of Uchis cannot be tamed, and we’re here for it.
#5
Phoebe Bridgers’ Supergroup boygenius Is Back
Phoebe Bridgers has the ultimate BFF goals. After joining forces with some of the biggest artists—think Taylor Swift, SZA, and The 1975—on their respective albums, she is returning with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus as boygenius. The supergroup is the lovechild of the trio’s mutual admiration for each other and first dropped their self-titled debut EP back in 2018. Since then, they each went on to do solo activities but heard the call of the need to serve the community that misses them dearly. Assembling like the avengers of the music industry, boygenius releases a collection of demos on Bandcamp and donated all of the proceeds to charities to support artists impacted by the pandemic. They also performed at a benefit concert for the Bay Area nonprofit, Bread & Roses, to bring free live music and performances to local children, teens, and adults alike. Besides doing charitable work, the supergroup joins Hayley Williams, the lead vocalist of Paramore, on her song, “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris.” Now, it looks like they are ready to come back in full force, with the announcement of their first full-length album, The Record dropping on March 31. To those who can barely wait for the release, the trio has three singles out today to help you ease the pain. Each written by a member of the group, “420,” “Emily I’m Sorry,” and ‘True Blue” highlight the unique yet interwoven style known as boygenius. If the album is reflective of the three singles, we’re all in for a treat.