Innholdsfortegnelse for Monday December 17 2018 i The Hollywood Reporter

BEST PICTURE A Star Is Born Actor-director Bradley Cooper’s take on the classic Hollywood story is continuing to resonate with every awards group, landing a field-leading four Screen Actors Guild noms as well as nine Critics’ Choice noms from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and five Golden Globe Awards noms. Vice This late-breaking dramedy from Adam McKay landed a field-leading six Globe noms but did not bag a widely expected best ensemble SAG Award nom; both groups nominated lead actor Christian Bale and supporting actress Amy Adams, who are now frontrunners in their respective categories. ACTRESS Emily Blunt Mary Poppins Returns For her interpretation of this iconic character, she snagged her sixth Golden Globe nom, fifth and sixth Critics’ Choice noms (for both actress and actress in a comedy) and…

Big Deal It’s beginning to look a lot like a studio. Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s Quibi has brought two more top Hollywood executives into its fold: former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson and onetime Viacom Music and Entertainment Group president Doug Herzog. They join former THR editor Janice Min, and the three will comprise the shortform video venture’s leadership team on the content side alongside Katzenberg. In a few months, Quibi has quietly assembled an elite roster of senior execs from digital, streaming and traditional media backgrounds, including Instagram’s Blake Barnes, Pandora’s Tom Conrad and Snapchat’s Joe Burfitt and CJ Smith (who all will work in product), Hulu’s Rob Post (as head of engineering) and WndrCo’s Steven Greitzer and Snapchat’s Brian N. Tannenbaum (strategy). Joining as content execs are Vice’s…

In its never-ending quest to be a cut above the crowd, even on the road, Hollywood has taken its automobile obsession to a new level. That includes alternative, highly modified vehicles. Vanderhall Motor Works, based in Provo, Utah, creates four models of its three-wheeled autocycle. “In a word, Vanderhalls are fly,” Jamie Foxx says of the alt-vehicle with a price tag that starts at $29,950 and is permissible on freeways. “I have become a car guy in the past few years, and the Vanderhall is something different.” So obsessed is Foxx with his Venice in Raven Black Metallic, he invited Vanderhall director of marketing Daniel Boyer as his Oscar night plus-one this year to Byron Allen’s viewing party, where they sat with Quincy Jones. Featuring a pair of open-wheeled front…

Robolights “A holiday spectacular on a big estate. Ken Irwin, the genius who runs it, makes robots out of discarded junk.” 1077 E. Granvia Valmonte, Palm Springs We Care Spa “Great place to start the new year with a cleanse. All this pampering, and the colon therapists there are fantastic.” 18000 Long Canyon, Desert Hot Springs Nature’s Health Food & Cafe “My go-to is the eggplant sandwich. Pick up a bag of the crunchy seaweed to munch on the trip back to L.A.” 555 S. Sunrise Way #301, Palm Springs…

In January 1986, after years of negotiations with Rupert Murdoch, the printers that serviced his British newspapers went on strike after Murdoch demanded that they sign a new contract in which striking itself was forbidden. Almost 6,000 workers left their jobs, bringing publications from The Times of London to News of the World to a standstill. What they didn’t know was that this was part of a calculated move by the Australian press baron to get rid of them all. Murdoch, then 54 and still at the dawn of his international career, had been seeking to modernize his papers by using offset litho technology rather than “hot metal.” In other words, reporters could type their stories directly into a computerized system, bypassing the middlemen who had previously laid everything out.…

Most startups follow a pretty standard route when they go public, raising funds by issuing new shares to institutional investors that then sell them to the public. But Spotify circumvented that process in April when it listed its existing shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange. “Spotify has never been a normal kind of company,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a blog post about the decision. Being abnor price just short of $166 per share and didn’t exhibit any of the volatility that some experts feared. The direct listing is “now a viable option,” says Renaissance Capital IPO strategist Matt Kennedy, but he adds, “Just because Spotify pulled it off doesn’t mean any company can.” THR weighs why it worked. Reference price Advisers Citadel and Morgan Stanley’s reference price of…

On Feb. 22, the world got perhaps its first, really close look at Janelle Monae. The day that the debut single off her Grammy-nominated Dirty Computer album dropped, the accompanying “Make Me Feel” music video showed Monae seemingly laid bare: a mature woman, flirting with both sexes (including pal Tessa Thompson) and playing guitar in bejeweled chainmail befitting her late mentor, Prince. What happened next was even more revealing, when the famously private multihyphenate started speaking candidly about herself and her sexuality in the media for the first time. “It’s uncomfortable for me, because I’ve always been a private person,” says Monae, who recently turned 33. “But when you make art that’s so personal, folks wonder how much of this is your real life versus the concept.” The singer, actress…

1. AMERICA TO ME If Peak TV is a movable feast, Steve James’ Starz docuseries was 2018’s main course. Chronicling a year at Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School, it’s a poignant, provocative look at race, class and gender in public education; a spark for important conversations about the state of our nation; and an emotional and hilarious set of character studies. 2. ATLANTA The second installment of Donald Glover’s FX opus was a gripping descent into the titular city’s Dante-esque inferno, combining urban paranoia, Lynchian absurdity and clearvoiced wackiness. 3. SUCCESSION This HBO standout cut right through our glut of dyspeptic chronicles of the wealthy with the blackest of comic streaks and a cast that found heart in TV’s most repugnant family. 4. THE AMERICANS The final…

Mark Shapiro/Ari Greenburg Endeavor and WME both get new presidents, respectively, as the veteran executive and TV agent are promoted within the company by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Leslie Moonves CBS concludes its former leader committed “willful and material misfeasance” in covering up sexual harassment and denies him a $120 million severance. Drake The rapper ends 2018 with eight tracks from his Scorpion album on Billboard’s year-end Top 100 songs list, including its No. 1, “God’s Plan.” Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings legend’s brand couldn’t help his protege, director Christian Rivers, avoid a flop as the $100 million-plus Mortal Engines debuts to a dismal $7.5 million domestic. Showbiz Stocks ↑ $19.12 (+4%) IMAX (IMAX) Investors applaud the giant-screen movie exhibitor’s decision to dramatically scale back its expensive VR…

FILM Chris Pratt (UTA, Rise, Sloane Offer) and Octavia Spencer (WME, Jackoway Austen) will voice star in Pixar’s Onward, along with Tom Holland and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Scott Derrickson (WME, Brillstein, Ziffren Brittenham) will return to direct a Doctor Strange sequel for Marvel. Issa Rae (UTA, 3 Arts, Hansen Jacobson) has signed a multiyear production pact for her ColorCreative banner with Columbia Pictures. Constance Wu (UTA, Principal, Gotham Group, Hansen Jacobson) is in talks to star in an untitled romantic comedy for Sony’s Screen Gems and director Kimmy Gatewood. Neon has picked up Aretha Franklin doc Amazing Grace. Legendary has acquired the film rights to cult classic Toxic Avenger. Writer Brian K. Vaughan (Verve, Ziffren Brittenham) has signed a three-year overall deal with Legendary for film and TV. TELEVISION Dancing With…

The Heavens (GROVE PRESS, FEB. 12) BY Sandra Newman AGENCY UTA Outlander for the activist age, the story centers on Kate as she begins to fall in love in 2000-era New York. But a recurring dream that she is a mistress in Elizabethan England begins to overwhelm her until it’s not clear what is real and what is dreamt. The Gilded Wolves (MACMILLAN, JAN. 15) BY Roshani Chokshi AGENCY Hotchkiss Daily A classic heist story (ragtag group of misfits and all) is at the center of this YA fantasy book, set in late-1800s Paris in the full swing of the Industrial Revolution, as a treasure hunter is charged with uncovering a hidden artifact.…

“My show could have run another five years.”CYBILL SHEPHERD The actress, on SiriusXM’s Michelle Collins Show, claiming that Cybill was canceled prematurely after she spurned a sexual advance by then-CBS chief Les Moonves. “I wasn’t going to fall at all for Les.” “It was time to quit.”KEITH RICHARDS The rocker, 75, telling Rolling Stone that he needed to cut back on drinking after decades of hard living (though he admits to “a glass of wine occasionally, and a beer”). “I’m supporting something different.”KATHRYN MURDOCH The wife of Fox News parent 21st Century Fox’s James Murdoch, tweeting her endorsement of The Correspondent, a progressive news site promising to combat “stereotypes, prejudice and fearmongering.” “He thought I was Bruce Wayne.”CHRISTIAN BALE The Dark Knight actor, on the red carpet premiere of Vice,…

Kind is the best word to describe Mark,” says Alan Nierob, president of Rogers & Cowan, who knew Mark Morrison for almost 40 years. The veteran entertainment journalist recently won a National Arts & Entertainment award for the THR multimedia feature “Hollywood Legacies.” Says Nierob: “I first met Mark at Us magazine. We booked a story on Valerie Perrine for Can’t Stop the Music in 1980. Valerie was a free spirit. She had a beautiful house in the hills of Studio City. I walked in to find Mark in the guest bathroom near the front door, and he was standing on top of the toilet, petrified of Valerie’s barking Great Danes and mastiff. When Valerie was ready, her assistant, a French woman named Beatrice, got us, and there was Valerie,…

Top Chef always challenges its contestants to take some diner comfort food like mac ’n’ cheese and create an elevated version that pays homage to the original. That’s what’s happening today with the blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Originally, these films — such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, Shaft, Super Fly, Trouble Man and Cleopatra Jones — were cheaply made action genre movies featuring well-dressed black protagonists with a badass attitude and kickass fighting skills. Both attitude and fists were aimed at the villainous rich white “honkies” and smarmy black “jive turkeys” who made their fortunes off the backs of the black community. It was an obvious metaphor for standing up to the systemic oppression of blacks. Recently, we’ve had a mini-revival of the classic blaxploitation genre with films such as…

OMG GIVENCHY! After Meghan Markle’s wedding gown, Givenchy’s Clare Waight Keller (who received top honors from the duchess at the British Fashion Awards) is becoming a Hollywood force. Longtime Gucci girl Dakota Johnson donned Givenchy at the Marrakech Film Fest (above) and A Private War nominee Rosamund Pike could wear it to the Globes. HOLLYWOOD LIKES HEDI SLIMANE’S CELINE (EVEN IF THE FASHION WORLD DOESN’T) When Hedi Slimane debuted his first collection for Celine at Paris Fashion Week in October, fashion critics and devout customers of the old Celine, designed by Phoebe Philo, took issue with his decision to gut her legacy. Slimane excised the accent from the Celine name and showed a lineup true to his own rock ’n’ roll aesthetic, rather than the modern minimalism the brand was…

It took Nanette, a droll but wrenching routine with a “take this job and shove it” message to the stand-up community, for Australia’s Hannah Gadsby to finally crack the U.S. But if her acclaimed Netflix comedy special, which dropped June 20, has indeed given her heat, instead of riding the wave like so many others before her, Gadsby is content to let it all cool down. “I don’t recognize my life anymore,” says the 40-year-old writer, who grew up in rural Tasmania. “I’ll probably be an icicle in Hollywood by the time I’m done casing the joint.” A break seems like a healthy move for Gadsby. Nanette shed an ugly light on the underlying pain of self-deprecating humor, and its 18-month tour saw Gadsby lay out her experiences with homophobia…

You can’t grow up in the U.K. and not be aware of Doctor Who. You’re practically born knowing what a Dalek is. But whenever there have been rumors about Doctor Who being played by a woman, there was resistance. People would write to the BBC and complain. I thought it was crazy: Who says Doctor Who can’t be a woman? So when I watched this season’s premiere with my mom — she’s a huge Whovian, even before I was on the show — it was emotional. Jodie Whittaker knocked it out of the park. She has elements of Matt Smith and David Tennant — that manic energy, brain going 100 miles an hour — but she made it her own. And that’s the great thing about the role — it…

Sandra Oh is so damn excited. Even eight time zones away, phoning Los Angeles one December morning from her last week of shooting season two of Killing Eve in London, it’s clear that she is jazzed about the Golden Globe Awards — which will see her nominated for her work on the BBC America drama and serving as host alongside Andy Samberg. The emcee gig, however, is something the 47-year-old actress doesn’t seem to have fully processed. I don’t know what to congratulate you on first. What is even going on? A bunch of stuff is coming my way, so I’ll just say thank you. You won a Golden Globe for Grey’s Anatomy in 2006. What do you remember about that night? I think I drank like five bottles of…

With Kendrick Lamar and Drake leading all nominations for the 61st annual Grammy Awards (Feb. 10 in L.A.) and developing female artists including H.E.R., Kacey Musgraves and Cardi B in contention in the top categories, Recording Academy voters have elected the most diverse slate of candidates in recent memory. Upping the nominees from five to eight in the four marquee categories — album, song and record of the year and best new artist — proved the path to the inclusiveness the organization has sought, especially after Recording Academy president and CEO Neil Portnow’s remarks that women needed to “step up” if they wanted to be better represented in the music industry, a remark for which he later apologized. Many of the top noms announced Dec. 7 come from film, including…

1. ANGELS IN AMERICA Rarely has a landmark drama so cogently bridged the distance between its original time frame — the mid-1980s, height of the AIDS crisis — and our own as in Marianne Elliott’s thrilling revival of Tony Kushner’s masterwork, its superb cast led by Andrew Garfield as reluctant prophet Prior Walter and Nathan Lane as Roy M. Cohn. 2. GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY In his tapestry of Depression-era Minnesota, playwright Conor McPherson draws a line connecting the haunted souls of his own work to the lovers and dreamers of that state’s famous son Bob Dylan — and beyond, to the folk balladry of Woody Guthrie. An alt-musical of melancholy beauty. 3. THREE TALL WOMEN Glenda Jackson came roaring back to Broadway after a 30-year absence, the ideal…

Source: The week’s most active and talked-about entertainers on leading social networking sites Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for the week ending Dec. 11. Rankings are based on a formula blending weekly additions of fans as well as cumulative weekly reactions and conversations, as tracked by MVP Index.…

ICON AWARD Glenn Close The Wife CAREER ACHIEVEMENT CHAIRMAN’S AWARD Regina King If Beale Street Could Talk THE VANGUARD AWARD Director Peter Farrelly and stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali Green Book DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD Bradley Cooper A Star Is Born SONNY BONO VISIONARY AWARD Alfonso Cuaron Roma BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE AWARD Rami Malek Bohemian Rhapsody SPOTLIGHT AWARD Melissa McCarthy Can You Ever Forgive Me?…

It’s a time when the strongest brands will survive.” That’s how FX CEO John Landgraf describes the state of Peak TV. English-language scripted originals in 2018 grew to another record (495, up eight from 2017). While 2018 was the year of lowest growth in scripted in almost a decade (1.6 percent, down from its 7 percent average gain), Landgraf had predicted originals would surge to 520 for 2018. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was basic cable’s massive retreat from the pricey genre, he tells THR. Viacom networks TV Land and CMT joined NBCUniversal’s E! in pulling out of the scripted game, contributing to a massive reduction in basic cable originals (down 31 from 2017). That marked basic cable’s biggest year-over-year decline since FX began its survey on the state of…

On Dec. 14, CBS This Morning executive producer Ryan Kadro told the show’s staff what they had already read in the news two days earlier — that he’ll leave the network when his contract expires at the end of the year, in the wake of anchor turmoil and a worrisome ratings drop. Kadro’s exit, following the ouster of longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager in September, means that two of the news division’s most important — and profitable — programs are without a permanent leader. For venerable CBS News, it marks an extraordinary amount of upheaval. The uncertainty was set off more than a year ago by sexual misconduct revelations leveled at CBS This Morning anchor Charlie Rose, which led to his expulsion. And the ouster in September of CBS…

Deal of the Week Real estate is experiencing its own “Netflix effect.” Buoyed by continued record-breaking production — and streamers for the first time accounting for the biggest share of scripted TV programs — real estate firms are capitalizing on L.A.’s production boom. “The streamers are putting pressure on traditional studios to find space, and some are feeling the pinch,” says Mikel Elliott, CEO of Quixote Studios, which is about halfway through a $40 million development project in the north Valley’s Pacoima for a 6-acre facility with five soundstages and almost 20,000 square feet of office space. CBS’ $750 million sale of its historic CBS Television City lot on Fairfax to Hackman Capital Partners is part of the real estate giant’s strategy to blend class-A offices — and the lucrative…

Showtime is back in Los Angeles. Led by NBA megastar LeBron James, the Lakers are once again among the hottest tickets in town. While regulars including Jack Nicholson, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Floyd Mayweather (who gambles on the games with his large entourage) have remained Staples Center stalwarts during five years of postseason drought, they are now joined by a rotating corps of stars and insiders who’ve restored the cachet to courtside. And it’s not just James’ hot hand that lures the A-list: With production deals across Hollywood, from projects at HBO, Starz and Netflix to a star-producer role in Warner Bros.’ Space Jam reboot, he’s building a deep bench of industry partner-fans. “He’s made basketball a destination again,” says SportsCenter anchor and longtime Lakers fan Cari Champion. “It’s the LeBron…

Oprah Winfrey was at Beauty & Essex in L.A. … Chadwick Boseman checked out Atrium. … Adele, Mila Kunis, Cameron Diaz, Nicole Richie and Zoe Saldana sat together at Sushi|Bar. … Michael Fassbender had breakfast at Republique. … Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and John Lithgow were at Hamasaku separately. … Paradigm’s Adam Kanter and Rand Holston lunched with lawyer Bruce Ramer at The Grill. … Jami Gertz shared the room with Endeavor’s Christian Muirhead at Dan Tana’s. … In Miami during Art Basel, Bono, Leonardo DiCaprio and Serena Williams were at Casa Tua. Openaire The Quick Pitch Santa Monica’s fine dining don Josiah Citrin (Charcoal) expands to Koreatown with a takeover of Roy Choi’s former greenhouse space at The Line hotel. His classical French culinary background melds with the neighborhood…

On Dec. 8, Sean Bailey flew from Los Angeles to Stockholm to celebrate with his stepmother, Frances Arnold, as she received the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Days earlier, he drove a relative nanosecond to Pasadena’s Caltech, where he’s on the board, to watch the landing of NASA’s InSight craft on Mars. Bailey, 49, has never abandoned his scientific roots — his late father was a chemical engineer — but his day (and night) job is chief architect of Disney’s liveaction film studio, where the most classic of animated films are being reimagined, including box office behemoths The Jungle Book (2016) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). Mary Poppins Returns (bowing Dec. 19) is the next in a murderers’ row of movies marking Bailey’s biggest test yet since taking the top…

Like many of you, I spend a lot of time on the road, but this year, thanks to the scheduling gods, Daddy is coming home! After my wife and I share gifts with our beautiful family, we get to step out on the town. Here are the L.A. places I’m looking forward to visiting the most. FOR DINNER Dama in the fashion district is one of my newest favorites. Vintage Latin vibes, indoor-outdoor seating and tropical plants make you feel like you’re in Cuba. I spent an evening at Dama when I was last home and wound up having a chat with co-owner Steve Livigni. He opened a mezcal that I’d never tried. I’m hoping he still has some left. FOR DRINKS Apotheke is just beautiful. I’ve been going to…

The past still feels very present in the desert,” says Berkshire Hathaway’s Markus Canter of the Rat Pack’s enduring impact on local real estate: Homes where Frank, Dean, Sammy and company once lived always pull a premium. On the Market 447 W. Mariscal Road, Palm Springs The Agency’s Brandi Pratt has the listing on this onetime home of Dean Martin. The modest single-story, 2,300-square-foot three-bedroom has a pool and outdoor seating area — and even comes with a baby grand piano that Martin once performed on. 70300 San Lorenzo Road, Palm Desert Frank Sinatra’s 7.5-acre rustic “Villa Maggio” compound sits 4,000 feet above the Coachella Valley and includes a 3,878-square-foot, five-bedroom main residence, guest house, pool, pool house, tennis court and a helicopter pad. Canter shares the listing with Cristie…

There was a moment at the end of 2017, while Disney was in the thick of negotiations for its industry-rattling deal to acquire most of the assets of 21st Century Fox, when then-chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer realized that he needed to get on a plane. Mayer and general counsel Alan Braverman had already commandeered a conference room on the Disney lot in Burbank as they tried to hammer out an agreement with Rupert Murdoch’s dealmakers. But Mayer knew it was time to take the negotiations to a new level. “I told Bob [Iger], ‘I’m flying to New York tonight and I’m not leaving until this deal’s done,’” he reflects from his office in early December, almost exactly one year later. “For 10 days, it was late nights and early…

With feel-good love stories like Set It Up and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Netflix delivered a romantic comedy run this summer that breathed new life into a fading genre. And as co-heads of the platform’s indie film group under Scott Stuber, Matt Brodlie, 50, and Ian Bricke, 43, unintentionally heated up the rom-com market. “It’s becoming more competitive,” says Brodlie. Netflix has at least three new rom-coms poised for a similar breakout in the queue for 2019 — Gina Rodriguez’s Someone Great, Ali Wong and Randall Park’s Always Be My Maybe and K.J. Apa’s The Last Summer — with no plans to slow down. As Bricke puts it, “Who doesn’t love love?” What made you hone in on rom-coms, and the YA kind? BRICKE When we were…

FOR TWO WEEKS IN THE FALL OF 2017, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR JAMES ELLROY RE-INVESTIGATED THE 1976 MURDER OF SAL MINEO, the Oscar-nominated actor from Rebel Without a Cause who died at 37 in the carport outside his West Hollywood apartment. Together with Glynn Martin — a retired 20-year LAPD veteran — Ellroy pored over seven boxes of files at the L.A. Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau that detailed more than two years of painstaking detective work leading to the arrest and conviction of Lionel Williams. “There was missing material,” says Ellroy. “We never saw the crime scene photographs, I put those together from descriptions.” And based on his decades of experience writing about crime in fiction (L.A. Confidential) and nonfiction (LAPD ’53, coauthored with Martin), Ellroy extrapolated and “stitched together” what was missing to…

A my Adams accomplished a rare feat, earning acting Globe and SAG Award nominations in both film (Vice) and TV (Sharp Objects). She also picked up a third Globe nomination for producing the HBO limited series. What helped you get into character to play Lynne Cheney in Vice? I didn’t gain as much weight as Christian [Bale], so it’s easy to not notice mine. Christian also lost all of his — maybe I hung on to some of my weight, I’m OK with that. It ended up probably being around 12 or 15 pounds. The weight gain was great because I felt that Lynne was somebody who was very grounded and had a lot of gravitas in the way that she walked; she was not flirty or light in any…

Is Michelle Obama free on Jan. 6? The former first lady is a most popular Golden Globe Awards date, with three nominees — Marti Noxon, Rachel Brosnahan and Connie Britton — citing her as their No. 1 choice. “I would cease to exist when she arrived to accompany me,” says Brosnahan. Others said they would bring a VIP who influenced their projects but is no longer alive — with Barry Jenkins choosing James Baldwin (“it would be an excuse to pick his brain for an hour and a half”) and Rami Malek wishing he could take Freddie Mercury (“Can you imagine him at one of those parties?”). Succession’s Kieran Culkin, however, had the most unexpected choice: “Vlad the Impaler, just because I’d love to see somebody from that era just…

1. THE AMERICANS How could this FX masterpiece not be my number one? It’s a Hall of Fame top-five drama, and the final season stuck the landing — right through the heart. 2. PATRIOT The best drama you’re not watching, this melancholic, hilarious, inventive Amazon series’ second season was just as brilliantly imagined as its first. Sad spies have never been so entertaining. 3. COUNTERPART I only hope the recently kicked-off second season of Starz’s paranormal espionage thriller (starring a peerless J.K. Simmons) can keep up the pace, plot and worldview of the remarkable first season. 4. THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD Netflix’s lean tour de force (20-minute episodes!) put others that are swollen with pointless scenes to shame. It’s a pitch-perfect, darkly funny look at teen isolation and…

1. PUSHA T/DRAKE BEEF Virginia-bred Pusha Treleased a strong summer album, DAYTONA, on which he used a photo of Drake in blackface as cover art for one track and, in the same song, revealed that Drake has a secret son. Was it a ploy to sell records? Or two rappers on very different ends of the genre’s world duking it out in one of the all-time great rap conflicts? No matter; the resulting back-and-forth felt as raw and rude — and real — as anything in 2018. 2. ARIANA TAKES OVER Whether it was her whirlwind romance with Pete Davidson, her triumphant album Sweetener or the late arrival of “Thank U, Next,” this was the year the virtuoso vocalist’s space in the culture became undeniable. 3. PAINFUL PASSINGS The industry…