Pop Shots – Goin’ Places

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Cardi B heading to Miami, to Flavor Flav showing up at an Oscars afterparty, to Ciara preparing for Pittsburgh, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Cardi B just released a new single titled “Enough (Miami).” You know who can’t get enough Miami? THIS GUY …

* Olivia Rodrigo brought Sheryl Crow on stage for the Nashville date of the Guts World Tour, and the two did a duet of Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy.” I give an A+ to Rodrigo for providing four minutes of enjoyment to all the parents who had to chaperone kids to the show, and bonus points for giving those parents an opportunity to embarrass the kids by loudly singing along to a classic.

* Flavor Flav caught up with Billie Eilish at an Oscars afterparty, and gave her a Barbie-themed diamond clock chain, matching his own. I was going to make a generational joke regarding Public Enemy, but then I realized I can make myself feel even older by reminding everyone that when Flavor of Love debuted on VH1 Eilish was just four years old.

* In an interview with Billboard, R&B singer Tank discussed his upcoming tour – which features Keri Hilson, and Carl Thomas as support – saying, “We will make a lot of memories on this tour.” They’ll be making memories, while countless members of the audience will be making babies.

* Madonna called out a fan for sitting during a recent concert, until realizing the fan was in a wheelchair. If her face could show emotion, Madonna would’ve looked remorseful over the gaffe. Instead, she continued to look like a wax figure version of herself that was left out in the desert heat for four hours, and then returned back to a temperature controlled room.

* Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spent a 19th nonconsecutive week at #1 on the Billboard 200, breaking the record for the most weeks at #1 for a country album that was set by Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ the Wind back in 1991-92. Brooks, however, still holds the far more important record of never using the n-word.

* Ciara celebrated her husband Russell Wilson signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers by leaving black and yellow heart emojis in the comments section of his Instagram post about his new team. In a related story, there’s a pretty good chance a plethora of members of his new team already follow Ciara on Instagram, and may have some awkward DMs to explain on the first day of OTAs.

* Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s ten year old daughter, North West, is reportedly working on her debut album, titled Elementary School Dropout, an obvious homage to her father’s debut album, The College Dropout. There’s no word on how many messages R. Kelly has left on Kim and Kanye’s voicemails looking to collab, but I’m guessing friends and family are hearing, “The person you are trying to reach has a mailbox that is full.”

* Finally, in sad news, Eric Carmen, the man who gave us the hits “All By Myself,” and “Hungry Eyes,” passed away at the age of 74. It goes without saying that Dirty Dancing wouldn’t have been the same without Carmen’s musical contribution to the film.

That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.