Welcome to the Daily Lowdown podcast from HELLO!. In this episode, we're breaking down the biggest moments from the Super Bowl LVIII which took place in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The game between San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chief was the main event, but Usher stole the show when he hopped on stage for his Apple Music Half Time Performance. Later during the event, Beyoncé appeared in a Verizon commercial before dropping two new songs – officially launching her country era.
Away from the Super Bowl, Ozzy Osbourne and the estate of the late disco icon Donna Summer expressed their anger of Kanye West's alleged unauthorized use of their music on his new album and at a recent listening party.
Listen to the episode in full below…
Super Bowl Sunday was a jam-packed spectacle. Although the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs was the main event, Usher swooped in and stole the show with his epic Half Time performance. The RnB superstar took to the stage for a set full of his classic hits such as Caught Up, Confessions pt. II, Burn and Superstar.
Usher also welcomed some special guests during his slot including Alicia Keys for a duet on My Boo as well as Will.i.am to sing OMG, and Ludacris and Lil Jon who joined him for the final track Yeah! Usher's Half Time show will definitely be one to remember.
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Beyonce is entering her country era. It wasn't just Usher making moves during the Super Bowl because the Queen appeared in a Verizon commercial before officially launching her country era with two brand-new songs. Beyonce has been rumoured for a while now to be putting out a country album and now fans can enjoy the tracks, Texas Hold 'Em and 16 Carriages which are both out now. The new songs are set to appear on Act II, which is a follow-up album to 2022's Renaissance and will be officially released at the end of March. We're just hoping this means another tour.
In another major moment at the Super Bowl, the official first-look trailer for the upcoming Wicked movie was released. During the commercial breaks of the game, the teaser trailer was shared with millions of fans showing Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in their roles as Elphaba and Glinda respectively for the first time. The film is a remake of the Broadway sensation telling the untold story of the Witches of Oz. Jonathan Bailey and Michelle Yeoh also star and the first instalment of the two-part movie franchise will be released in November this year.
Ozzy Osbourne and the estate of the late singer Donna Summer have expressed their anger over Kanye West's new album and his allegedly unauthorized use of their music at his listening party. The Black Sabbath rocker took to X to furiously share that Ye had sought permission to sample a section of his 1983 live performance of Iron Man but that Ozzy had refused, citing Kanye's previous anti-Semitic comments as the reason. However, Ozzy then states that Kanye went ahead and used it anyway at a listening party. The sample was not used on the album version of the song Carnival, however, Ozzy remained furious and said he wanted no association with Kanye. Meanwhile, late soul and disco singer Donna Summer's estate also stated on social media that Ye had requested use of I Feel Love but was denied, however, recorded someone re-singing, stating this was still copyright infringement. Ye has not commented on either social media interaction.
And despite previous reports, it's been confirmed that actor Marisa Abela will be singing Amy Winehouse songs from start to finish in the upcoming biopic of the late singer. The film's director, Sam Taylor-Johnson confirmed that Marisa had undertaken vocal training in preparation for the role and learned all of Amy's back catalogue for filming and recorded multiple songs in Abbey Road, despite the crew initially considering using all of Amy's voice throughout. The movie will focus on the incredible life and career of Amy Winehouse, who sadly died in 2011 from alcohol poisoning. Back to Black will be released in April.