Pop Shots – Starring Roles

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 Sabrina Carpenter starring in a video game, to the Bay Area’s music scene starring on the San Francisco Giants’ uniforms, to Duran Duran starring in the fragrance section of your local department store, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Sabrina Carpenter has become a playable character in Fortnite. Since I haven’t played video games consistently in decades, I have to assume this means she’s a plumber attempting to save a princess.

* During a recent podcast appearance, Ed Sheeran revealed he’ll be releasing new music every two to three weeks. And here I thought we had laws against making threats like this.

* Metallica will be teaming up with the Red Cross for blood drives on select dates of the band’s upcoming spring tour. With all due respect, wouldn’t GWAR have been the more logical go-to for blood?

* The San Francisco Giants revealed their City Connect uniforms for 2025, and the threads pay homage to the Bay Area’s historic music scene. This is not to be confused with how Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis payed homage to the Bay Area’s historic music scene back in 1970, when he took a bunch of LSD and threw a no-hitter.

* Adam Levine says Maroon 5 will be releasing new music this year. Once again, I thought we had laws against making threats like this!

* Duran Duran collaborated with luxury Italian perfume house Xerjoff for two unisex scents – NeRio, and Black Moonlight. This has the potential to inspire other ‘80s musical icons to create scents of their own, but in unfortunate news for Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow already has the vagina scent market cornered.

* Shaboozey will be headlining the invite-only FanDuel Kentucky Derby Party, which will take place on May 2nd at Paristown Arts & Entertainment District in Louisville. He hopes to still be relevant at that time.

* Cypress Hill has a new graphic novel titled Cypress Hill: Black Sunday. There’s no word on if you can use the pages to roll a blunt, but you have to figure they took that into consideration, right?

* Kelsea Ballerini took a brief time out during her recent show in Tulsa, OK, to help a fan announce their pregnancy. One has to imagine had smartphones been around back in the ‘70s Foghat would’ve been inundated with requests to announce mid-concert conceptions.

* Justin Bieber posted on Instagram asking his artist friends to DM him if they’d like to work on new music together. Drake was quick to slide into his DMs, but later revealed Bieber never replied. In a related story, Kendrick Lamar can’t wait to write about this.

* Finally, in sad news, Blondie drummer Clem Burke passed away at age 70 following a private battle with cancer. May the tides be high in his honor.

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