Pop Shots – Unusual Things
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 Karol G’s unlikely initial musical love, to Nicki Minaj potentially working for the White House, to the Golden Globes finding Michael dramatic, and since this is Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* Karol G, in a conversation with actress Salma Hayek for Interview Magazine, revealed one of her first loves in music was Eminem, even though she didn’t know what he was saying. Depending on which songs she was listening to, there may be a correlation there.
* If Nicki Minaj is looking for a new gig, White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X that he’d be cool with her being the new White House Press Secretary. Here’s a live look-in at every teacher in America …
* Miranda Lambert will perform at halftime of the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day game versus the Eagles at AT&T Stadium. No matter how she sings, her performance is already guaranteed to be the least embarrassing thing to happen on the field that day.
* The Golden Globes’ awards committee will not allow the Michael Jackson biopic Michael to be in the “Musical or Comedy” category at the 2027 ceremony, and have instead placed it in “Drama.” Hey, we’re all good as long as they keep it the heck away from any children’s categories!
* Ryan Gosling has revived his long dormant rock duo Dead Man’s Bones. If you’re going to have a midlife crisis, reviving your rock band really is the way to go.
* Drake became the first artist to surpass 350 million RIAA-certified units, and now owns 18 diamond plaques, the most for any artist in history. Call me a hater, but since the vast majority of of this came from streaming, rather than sales, I think those diamond plaques should be cubic zirconia.
* Taylor Swift has tied Rihanna for the most songs reach the Top 10 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, which each now having 30. I’m sure she’ll celebrate this by releasing some sort of commemorative merch that will be wildly overpriced, and her fans will buy in droves.
* Tate McRae’s “Housewife” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Global 200, and Billboard Global Excl. U.S., charts, with 55.9 million streams, and 6,000 sales globally. While the streams are impressive, the sales number is brutal. To put it in perspective, over ten million people purchased the single for Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time.” What a time to be a pop star!
That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.
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