Pop Shots – Good Moves, Bad Moves

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 Shakira shaking it some more in Madrid, to Chappell Roan rebuffing a child, to Jay-Z wanting to cut beef from hip-hop’s diet, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Shakira added three more dates to her residency in Madrid. In a related story, I am changing the name of my living room to Madrid.

* Afroman came out on top in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by the cops that raided his home. Now that we know what we can pull off versus the boys in blue, I feel like Cop Mock should be a new genre of music.

* During an episode of The Voice, two of Adam Levine’s singers teamed up for the duet “Leather and Lace” from Stevie Nicks’ 1981 album Bella Donna. This prompted Levine to reveal he sang the song with Stevie Nicks herself at his wedding to Behati Prinsloo. I love the idea of having the original artist at the wedding for the duet, which makes me wonder … how much advance notice do you think I need to give Bloodhound Gang for a duet of “The Bad Touch”? Oh, and I’m also looking for a bride who’d be cool with this.

* Chappell Roan had yet another terrible interaction with a human being when she reportedly had one of her security guards intimidate an 11 year old girl who dared to walk by her and smile while Roan was having breakfast at her hotel. Ya know, if you don’t want to be bothered while eating breakfast, I hear hotels have these magical places with four walls, and a door that locks. You can even have your food delivered, and you’ll only have to see the room service guy. Not only do I think this would be good for Chappell, I think it would make the world a safer place for the rest of us.

* Post Malone has been announced as the headliner for the final day of the 2026 March Madness Music Festival. This would be the complete opposite of “One Shining Moment.”

* Police body cam footage from Justin Timberlake’s 2024 DWI arrest was released to the public. In a related story, he’d really appreciate it if someone could pass him Afroman’s phone number.

* Jay-Z told GQ magazine that he felt the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake went too far, and that he doesn’t know if battling needs to be part of hip-hop anymore. Yes, this the same Jay-Z that put a childhood photo of Prodigy up on the Summer Jam screen, and who booked Kendrick Lamar for the Super Bowl halftime show, where Kendrick had an entire stadium rap along to a lyric implying Drake likes underage girls. Jay-Z complaining about battling, and beef, is like an arsonist complaining that the room is getting hot.

* Moby lashed out at The Kinks’ 1970 song “Lola,” calling it “gross and transphobic.” I gotta say, it’s really amazing that a musician can hear a song and not understand what it’s about AT ALL, but Moby has managed to do that. Maybe if he’d spent a little more time with Lola he wouldn’t have had to pretend he dated Natalie Portman.

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