Welcome to the Daily Lowdown podcast from HELLO!. In this episode, we're talking about The Critics Choice Awards where Taylor Swift got a shout-out even though she wasn't in attendance. Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach picked up the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in comedy series The Bear and gave the Anti-Hero hitmaker a mention, referring to her as his "scene partner".
Not only that, The Weeknd has reason to celebrate after hitting a major streaming milestone with his hit Blinding Lights, which has now been streaming four billion times on Spotify.
Listen to the episode in full below…
She might have been busy at her boyfriend Travis Kelce's football game, but Taylor Swift got a shout-out at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. The superstar was namedropped by The Bear actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach who picked up the award for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his role as Richie in the series when he took to the stage and thanked his scene partner, Taylor Swift, as well as actress Olivia Colman and his family.
The singer didn't feature in the film but Ebon had a memorable scene which saw him singing along to her music. Elsewhere at the star-studded awards, a big surprise came when Paul Giamatti picked up the award for best actor over Cillian Murphy, Barbie won best original song – much to the surprise of Ryan Gosling, and Succession swept the board again with Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin both picking up wins for their roles as Shiv and Roman Roy respectively.
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© Getty ImagesMeanwhile, also at the Critics Choice Awards was music producer Mark Ronson who – as well as picking up the award for Best Song with his track, I'm Just Ken, sung by Ryan Gosling – was keen to defend the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic. The producer worked closely with Amy throughout her career before she passed away aged 27 in 2011, and Mark stressed that when he read the script the film had captured her razor-sharp sense of humour brilliantly. The biopic will focus on Amy's life and career and will star Marisa Abella as the late singer.
The Weeknd has reason to celebrate because he has hit a huge milestone on Spotify – becoming the first ever artist to hit four billion streams thanks to his hit track, Blinding Lights. The song came out at the end of 2019 but rose to prominence in 2020, and it is dubbed one of the biggest pop songs of all time. As well as streaming success, it also broke many records on the charts, spending the most weeks within the top five and in the top 40, too. The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, said he was humbled by the achievement.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDoja Cat has seemingly teased the tracklisting for her follow-up album, Scarlet 2. The rapper posted a photo of a whiteboard of song titles, which fans are convinced will feature on the new album, before writing S2, seemingly a nod to the new record. A sequel will go down well with fans and the news comes only four months after Doja dropped the first Scarlet album. Although there's no word on when fans will be able to listen to the new material.
And Holly Willoughby returned to screens on Sunday evening for the first time in three months. The former This Morning presenter made a comeback on the hit show Dancing on Ice where she presented alongside its new star, Stephen Mulhern. Holly has been keeping a low profile in recent times after waving goodbye to her role on This Morning, which came shortly after fellow co-star Phillip Schofield stepped down from ITV after 20 years after admitting to lying about an affair. Holly said she was so thrilled to be back on the greatest show on ice and we're glad to have her back on our screens!
