Pop Shots – What It Takes

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 Bad Bunny taking over The Tonight Show, to Ice Spice taking her time getting to the stage, to Diplo taking something hallucinogenic before going on live TV, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Bad Bunny will be appearing on The Tonight Show this evening as the musical guest, and co-host. My lone concern is that after all of Puerto Rico sees Jimmy Fallon they may no longer want to become a state.

* After on-stage altercations with lead singer Perry Farrell, the three other members of Jane’s Addiction are currently working on new music without their frontman. If they follow Linkin Park’s lead they’ll find a Scientologist to replace him, and act like everything is normal.

* Bono was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom. You can be sure he took his private jet to attend the ceremony, then immediately flew back home, before getting ready to lecture us on saving the environment.

* On Christmas Eve, Post Malone gave a $20,000 tip to the single mom who was tending bar at The Railyard in Houston. While that’s a nice story, why was Post Malone, who is the father of a two year old, out drinking on Christmas Eve?

* Ice Spice performed for just five minutes of her planned 30 minute set after arriving late at the Wildlands Festival in Brisbane, Australia. Personally, that’s still five too many minutes of Ice Spice for me.

* Ice-T got into a heated exchange with a New Jersey police officer during a traffic stop, and ended up receiving four tickets. Gotta say, it’s pretty bold of an officer to pull over the guy who wrote “Cop Killer.”

* Lupe Fiasco will be joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute as a visiting professor teaching a rap course as part of the university’s new four-year hip-hop program launching in 2025. He’s going from being a backpack rapper, to being at a place where everyone wears a backpack … it’s like the mothership is calling him home.

* After Kesha performed “Tik Tok” on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest the song had its most-streamed day ever on Spotify, and saw a 98% spike in streams over first two days of the new year. Ah yes, who doesn’t love a little nostalgia for – checks notes – 2009.

* Speaking of our most recent holiday, while appearing on CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, Diplo openly told everyone he was on LSD. Hey man, I’d have to be bombed out of my mind to enjoy one of those New Year’s Eve shows, too.

* Carlos Santana had to postpone his Las Vegas residency due to a broken finger. Personally, I’m kinda surprised he couldn’t call on a “Black Magic Woman” to heal him.

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