Men's Journal's Blog, page 102

Taylor Swift Set a New Record After Appearance With Travis Kelce

Earlier this week fans were stunned to see Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version) make a surprise appearance in the latest Handmaid's Tale episode.

“I’ve been wanting to use a Taylor song for many years on the show, and we finally found the perfect spot for a track from her, and I’m so glad we waited because there could not be a more perfect song for a more perfect moment,” Elizabeth Moss said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about featuring the track.

“Taylor has been such an inspiration to me personally. As a Swiftie myself, and I think I can speak for Yvonne [Strahovski] and our entire cast, who are all Swifties, it’s such an honor to be able to use her music in the final episodes of our show. I said to my editor, Wendy [Hallam Martin], ‘I really want to find a place for a Taylor track in the last two episodes of the show,’ and we wanted to find a music queue for the opening of nine. All the credit goes to Wendy for picking this track for this moment!” 

The track appearing in the popular show added to the growing speculation she'll make her first public appearance since the Super Bowl at the American Music Awards on Memorial Day. As fans wait to see where she'll make her next red carpet appearance, they were treated to a few crumbs when she was spotted with boyfriend Travis Kelce on a dinner date.

Not long after the appearance, impressive Swift news dropped. According to a Swift fan account that tracks her Spotify streams, the 14-time Grammy winner has now surpassed seven billion streams in 2025 alone while also being the most-streamed female artist - without a new album out over the past year. 

📈"Taylor Swift" has now surpassed 7 BILLION streams on Spotify in 2025 alone—doing so in just 142 days.

She remains the most-streamed female artist this year so far, despite no new music in over a year.pic.twitter.com/Vtax6nefdO

— 🪩Folk⸆⸉✨️ Swift Charts📜 (@SwiftyRuza) May 24, 2025

Fans will have to wait until May 26 to find out if Swift will be in attendance at the American Music Awards where she holds the record for most award wins in her career.

Related: New Video of Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Turns Heads

Justin Bieber Joined SZA on Stage in Surprise Appearance

Justin Bieber left fans stunned on Saturday night when he joined SZA on stage for his first public performance in over a year.

Bieber had not performed a major concert since his September 4, 2022, concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after he abruptly canceled the rest of his Justice World Tour to prioritize his health.

He has since made a few smaller appearances on stage, but his most recent public performance was not since February of 2024, when he performed at a private event in Toronto, for the Drew House x Toronto Maple Leafs show.

Needless to say, fans were pretty stunned when SZA brought him out on stage to perform with her on Friday night.

SZA is currently in the middle of her "Grand National Tour" with Kendrick Lamar. On Friday night, she played her second of three shows in SoFi Stadium outside of Los Angeles.

During her performance of "Snooze," she brought out Bieber to perform with her.

Justin Bieber makes a surprise appearance at Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Grand National Tour” at SoFi Stadium to perform “Snooze” 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/BANoNoWwKl

— TMZ (@TMZ) May 24, 2025

Needless to say, Bieber's shocking appearance at the concert quickly turned heads from fans who offered their reactions on social media.

"Incredible performance for both," one fan wrote in a post on X.

"omg they ate that," another fan added.

"Magical performance," someone else wrote.

"SZA really knows how to flip a crowd moment into a memory. This one’s gonna live rent-free," another fan added.

"His vocals are so good!" someone else commented.

It's been quite a while since Bieber has released music or performed publicly, so this was quite a treat for the fans in attendance.

McDonald's Plans to Test New Beverages

It sounds like the McDonald's beverage menu is going to be getting a bit of a facelift in the coming months as the company is planning to test some new drinks in some of its restaurants across the nation.

On Friday, the company announced that it was closing all of its locations of its standalone beverage restaurant, CosMc's. The company opened CosMc's back in 2023 with the goal of testing new beverage concepts and ideas in a more isolated environment that would not impact the McDonald's experience in its standard restaurants.

"It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes – without impacting the existing McDonald’s experience for customers and crew. By creating a Learning Lab – in a way that only McDonald’s can – the CosMc’s team was able to test-and-learn in real customer-facing environments, which allowed for greater agility and speed," McDonald's wrote in a statement.

After closing CosMc's, McDonald's announced that it will be testing “CosMc’s-inspired” drinks on its main menu at hundreds of stores across the country.

"Building on the insights gained from the pilot standalone locations, CosMc’s-inspired flavors will be landing at McDonald’s as part of the upcoming US beverage test, seamlessly blending out of this world tastes into the McDonald's experience. With our new dedicated category team focused on beverages, we know we can bring more delicious and innovative drinks to more fans," the company wrote in a statement.

It's not clear when the new CosMc's-inspired beverages will be coming to McDonald's menus or which restaurants will be testing the new beverages. But it's clear that some major changes are coming.

McDonald's Closing All Locations of CosMc's Spinoff Chain

Back in 2023, McDonald's debuted its standalone beverage spin-off, named CosMc’s. While it was instantly beloved by its customers, with lines reportedly reaching four hours long, McDonald's has decided to close all of its CosMc's locations nationwide.

McDonald's currently has five CosMc's locations open across the country – four in Texas and one in Illinois. However, the company announced on Friday that it planned to close all five of those locations by the end of June.

Despite the closure of the standalone beverage chain, McDonald's says it will test “CosMc’s-inspired” drinks on its main menu at hundreds of stores across the country.

"Building on the insights gained from the pilot standalone locations, CosMc’s-inspired flavors will be landing at McDonald’s as part of the upcoming US beverage test, seamlessly blending out of this world tastes into the McDonald's experience. With our new dedicated category team focused on beverages, we know we can bring more delicious and innovative drinks to more fans," the company wrote in a statement.

McDonald's explained that CosMc's allowed the company to test beverage options in a way that did not impact the rest of the McDonald's restaurant.

"What started as a belief that McDonald’s had the right to win in the fast-growing beverage space quickly came to life as a multi-location, small format, beverage-focused concept. It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes – without impacting the existing McDonald’s experience for customers and crew. By creating a Learning Lab – in a way that only McDonald’s can – the CosMc’s team was able to test-and-learn in real customer-facing environments, which allowed for greater agility and speed. Quick adds and edits to the menu based on feedback led to more focused choices for our fans as the test continued," the statement continued.

It remains unclear which CosMc's beverages will be tested in McDonald's locations, or when those drinks will be coming to those restaurants.

Jelly Roll Announces New Song With Alex Warren

Over the past several months, country music star Jelly Roll has quickly become one of the biggest names in the music industry, building a massive fan base and drawing massive crowds at his concerts. Given his soaring popularity, his fans will be excited to hear that he dropped some new music this week.

Last month, Jelly Roll and social media creator turned musician Alex Warren debuted their song "Bloodlines" during Jelly Roll's set at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California.

“When this young man called me about this song, he said, ’I want to write a song about breaking generational curses,’" Jelly Roll said on the stage as he introduced the song last month. "I come from a long family of alcoholics and drug addicts, and I am glad to be the one that didn't let my bloodline determine who I was as a human, and I broke that generational curse."

"And this young man broke that generational curse," Jelly Roll continued. "I'm proud to have a guy with one of the biggest songs in the world come out as my special guest in Chicago tonight. Mr Alex Warren is with me tonight, y'all!"

On Thursday, the pair announced the official release of the song on all streaming platforms, and the news turned heads.

"Well this is a dream," one fan wrote in the comments of the announcement on Instagram.

"Collab of the year! I’m calling it now," someone else wrote.

"The collab we’ve been WAITING for," another fan added.

"This song was better than I expected. Made me tear up and hate my family," someone else commented.

"Another amazing song!" a fan added.

Warren, who rose to fame over the past several years as a content creator primarily on TikTok and YouTube, stepped into the music industry recently and immediately released one of the most popular songs in the world with his hit song "Ordinary."

Needless to say, this is a pretty star-studded collaboration and people are quite excited.

Country Music Star Gavin Adcock Arrested in Tennessee

A country music star was arrested on Wednesday in Tennessee on charges of reckless driving and violation of open container laws.

According to The Tennessean, which cited a police report, 26-year-old Gavin Adcock was arrested early on Wednesday morning after he was pulled over on the Interstate.

"As confirmed by The Tennessean, the underground-to-mainstream-favored Georgia native was arrested May 21 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol after being pulled over on Interstate 40 at mile marker 229 in Wilson County. He was charged with reckless driving and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, and he posted a $1,000 bond and was released around 4:34 a.m. on May 22, according to the Wilson County Sheriff's Office," Marcus K. Dowling and Craig Shoup reported for The Tennessean this week.

The arrest came just a few days after Adcock sold out Nashville's The Pinnacle on back-to-back nights, highlighting his recent rise from a relatively unknown underground country artist to a mainstream star.

Adcock is one of the rising stars in country music, recently passing 1 billion total streams on Spotify thanks in large part to his hit songs “Deep End,” "A Cigarette," and “Ain’t No Cure.”

Despite the arrest, The Tennessean reports that Adcock is still planning to continue his “Need To” tour in Grant, Oklahoma, on Saturday.

Major Burger Chain Giving Away Free Food a Week

National Hamburger Day is right around the corner, and one fast-food chain is royally spoiling its customers in honor of the holiday.

Burger King is offering a week's worth of freebies for customers in honor of National Hamburger Day, which falls on Wednesday, May 28. The week-long promotion kicked off with a free cheeseburger on May 22 and includes a variety of the burger chain's signature menu items.

“Burger King is keeping the flames burning and the grill sizzling in celebration of National Hamburger Day to give Guests what they deserve – a week full of piping hot deals!,” the food chain said in a statement announcing the promotion.

To qualify for the free item each day, customers first have to make a purchase of $1 or more. Between BOGO burgers, free nuggets and frozen drinks, customers are sure to get their fill of freebies before Nation Hamburger Day even hits.

Check out the full list of free items BK is offering below:

May 22: Free Cheeseburger with the purchase of $1 or more.May 23: Free Whopper Jr. with the purchase of $1 or more.May 24: Free Frozen Fanta Strawberry with the purchase of $1 or more.May 25: Free four-piece nuggets with the purchase of $1 or more.May 26: BOGO Whopper.May 27: Free Original Chicken Sandwich with the purchase of $1 or more.May 28: Free Hamburger with the purchase of $1 or more.

Burger King is also offering Royal Perks members a chance to score a hamburger for half of the usual redemption points on the app. For only 125 "crowns" (aka loyalty points), customers can add an additional free burger to their order and save even more. The deal lasts through the month but can only be redeemed once per Royal Perks account.

As a reminder, you must be a registered member of Royal Perks (Burger King’s rewards program) and place an order in the BK app or online to take advantage of the deals.

Huckberry's Bestselling Slim-Fit T-Shirts That Are Perfect for Travel, Hiking, and Daily Wear Are All $20 Off

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We’re right in the middle of the Huckberry Memorial Day Sale. Thus far, we’ve found rare watch deals, tech pants that are great for travel or work, a fantastic Filson hybrid bag, and well-made pocket knives with rare discounts. But you can't shop the sale without looking at Proof's 72-Hour T-shirts—they might seem like ordinary shirts at first, but they're a perennial bestseller with a big secret, and they're $20 off in all colors.

The Proof 72-Hour Merino T-Shirt is just $58 during this sale, which lasts through Monday. It’s received around 700 five-star ratings from customers and has a nearly perfect review score. At this point, only two of the six available colors have most of the sizes still available—a testament to how beloved this style is by shoppers—but we expect all sizes from XS to 3XL to sell out completely by Monday.

Proof 72-Hour Merino T-Shirt, $58 (was $78) at Huckberry

Courtesy of Huckberry

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Like other Proof 72-Hour gear, the magic of this T-shirt comes from its blend of 87% merino wool and 13% nylon. Merino wool is meant to be worn close to the skin, naturally resists odors, and is quite breathable. The Proof 72-Hour blend is also, as the name suggests, good for continuous wear without needing frequent washes, and is even rated UPF 30+ for sun protection. When put all together, this material makes the Proof 72-Hour Merino T-Shirt feel incredibly soft and comfortable, whether you’re out for a hike or wearing it for travel.

One shopper discussed the quality of the fabric, assuring that it is “exactly what it says it is.” They said, “I had an upcoming trip, so I bought myself a 72-Hour Polo and a 72-Hour T-shirt to keep the packing a bit lighter. I had to try wearing it for 72 hours, and yeah, it works. I even slept in it, and it looks good, smells fine. The wool blend is great quality and looks like it will hold up over time.”

Proof 72-Hour Merino T-Shirt, $58 (was $78) at Huckberry

Courtesy of Huckberry

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Another shopper talked about how it holds up throughout the day, as well as imparting some practical upkeep advice. “It’s a versatile shirt that is light and comfy. Pretty good against wrinkles," though they noted that "it does shrink when placed in the dryer,” so make sure to let it air dry.

Based on our experience of past sales, we expect this Proof 72-Hour T-shirt to sell out before the sale ends, so if you want one for $58, don’t hesitate to get your order in soon.

Wendy's Announces Special Offer That Only Costs a Penny

Wendy's is celebrating National Hamburger Day by offering the food chain's classic Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger for just one cent. The deal runs from May 28 to June 1 and is valid with any purchase after applying the digital offer, available exclusively in the Wendy’s app. (Limit one per customer, per the Wendy's website.)

The JBC is a staple at Wendy's and features the restaurant’s signature square beef patty and Applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, American cheese and mayo. 

The special is the start of 100 Days of Savings promotion the restaurant is running over the summer, which features new offers every week on the app. 

Next on the list of Wendy's sizzling summer specials is the $1 Dave’s Single with any purchase (also limited to one per customer), and is available every Saturday from June 7 through July 26, so fans of Wendy's "always fresh, never frozen" patties have another burger special to look forward to following National Hamburger Day. 

Adding to the summer hype, the food chain also recently added two new items to the menu that will pair perfectly with the Summer of Savings deals - the Frosty Swirls and Frosty Fusions debuted in April and May and are the perfect addition to the company's summer promotions. 

Again, the Summer of Savings offers are only available through the Wendy’s app, so make sure you download the app and register your account if you want to redeem the offer. You can join Wendy’s Rewards here.

These delicious specials are only offered for a limited time, so mark your calendars and keep an eye out for more of Wendy's 100 Days of Savings specials this summer. 

Netflix Will Stop Working for First-Generation Fire TV Devices on June 3

Millions of people get their entertainment fix by watching Netflix and the media company's original programs and other offerings. Currently, more than a billion people in more than 190 countries and 50 languages are subscribed to the service.

Netflix might seem like it just popped up a few years ago, but it actually got its start back in 1997. The company was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph and "initially gained popularity when it disrupted the Blockbuster video-rental model," according to Britannica.

When the two started the company, "they envisioned it as an alternative to the local video store," Privacy Journal adds. "For a per-rental fee, users ordered DVDs from the website, got them in the mail, and sent them back when they were done watching."

Netflix is known for being a one-stop place for users to stream films and television shows on one single platform. Plus, Netflix has earned a reputation for creating its own original works, which have been nominated for awards.

But, if you watch Netflix on certain devices, you will be cut off on June 3. Those devices are first-generation Fire TVs.

Netflix has announced that starting on June 3, you'll no longer be able to use Netflix on any first-generation Fire TV devices, including the Fire TV, the Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote control. So, make note if you have been watching your favorite programs using any of these devices.

There's no word on why Netflix is stopping usage for first-generation Fire TV devices, but it's the reality. So, those who are stuck without their Netflix fix due to the change will need to upgrade to one of the newer Fire TV models that support 4K resolution support, such as the Fire TV Stick 4K or Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

Related: HBO Announces Major Change for the Summer