Entertainment
Maren Morris Leaves a ‘Small Town’ Behind in Her New Music Videos on September 15, 2023 at 3:10 pm Us Weekly

Maren Morris won’t try that in a small town – because it is burning to the ground.
On Friday, September 15, Morris, 33, shared the videos for “The Tree” and “Get the Hell Out of Here,” the two songs from her new EP, The Bridge. In the visual for “The Tree,” the country music star finds herself in a miniature model small town – literally. She walks through the recreation of a stereotypical country town, with signs reading “Don’t Tread On Me,” “Go Woke Go Broke” and “I Believe in God & Guns.” At the center of the town is a dead tree, and after trying to water the nearby plants, Morris decides she’s had enough.
“I’m done fillin’ a cup with a hole in the bottom,” she sings. “And screamin’ the truth to a liar / Spent ten thousand hours tryna fight it with flowers And the tree was already on fire / Yeah, the tree was already on fire.”
As Morris tries to water the plants around the tree, the tangled roots wrap around her feet and prick her skin with thorns. As she sings, “the rot at the roots is the root at the problem,” and recognizing that there is no salvaging this dead garden, she lights a match. Yet, she realizes that the tree is already ablaze, and she decides it’s time to go.
Morris crosses a bridge to leave the small town as the tree burns. The fire continues to burn and consume the village, as seen in the music video for “Get The Hell out of Here,” the second track on The Bridge. In that video, Maren sings in a green pasture, safe and sound while the “Small Town” gets buried in ash.
“‘The Tree’ is about a toxic ‘family tree’ burning itself to the ground,” Morris said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. The country music star added that halfway through, she “realize[d] it’s burning itself down without any of my help. This song evokes the pain of exhausting all your love and time for this person or ‘entity’ but realizing it’s just a draining, transactional relationship that isn’t nourishing in any healthy way. By the end of the song, I give myself permission to face the sun, plant new seeds where it’s safer to grow, and realize that sometimes there is greener grass elsewhere.”
The second song – “Get the Hell Out of Here,” is about Morris “quite literally [being] burned out,” she says in the statement. “This is a story of me feeling pulled in every direction, needing everyone else’s understanding and acceptance but my own and how self-destructive that ultimately became. I relinquish control of trying to change everyone’s mind or bad behavior and focus on my own power going forward. Doing the right thing can feel lonely at times, but there are more friends than foes, so I finally quit making myself one of them.’”
Morris announced the project on September 12. She said the two songs were “a tender duo and bridge to my next album.” Instead of saving the tracks for her next full-length, she realized “these two songs deserved a moment on their own – a story in their own right, written a day apart from each other.”
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“These two songs are incredibly key to my next step because they express a very righteously angry and liberating phase of my life these last couple of years but also how my navigation is finally pointing towards the future, whatever that may be or sound like,” Morris said in the statement. “Honoring where I’ve been and what I’ve achieved in country music, but also freely moving forward.”
When Morris first posted a teaser for the two music videos, fans suspected she was shading her country music rival Jason Aldean. Aldean, 46, topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his controversial song, “Try That in a Small Town.”
He and Morris clashed in August 2022 when he and his wife, Brittany Aldean, commented about transgender people. “I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase,” wrote Brittany, 36, a not-so-subtle dig at parents offering gender-affirming care to trans youth. Morris, a fierce LGBTQ+ ally, reacted by writing, “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?”
Maren Morris won’t try that in a small town – because it is burning to the ground. On Friday, September 15, Morris, 33, shared the videos for “The Tree” and “Get the Hell Out of Here,” the two songs from her new EP, The Bridge. In the visual for “The Tree,” the country music star
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Entertainment
What We Can Learn Inside 50 Cent’s Explosive Diddy Documentary: 5 Reasons You Should Watch

50 Cent’s new Netflix docuseries about Sean “Diddy” Combs is more than a headline-grabbing exposé; it is a meticulous breakdown of how power, celebrity, and silence can collide in the entertainment industry.
Across its episodes, the series traces Diddy’s rise, the allegations that followed him for years, and the shocking footage and testimonies now forcing a wider cultural reckoning.

1. It Chronicles Diddy’s Rise and Fall – And How Power Warps Reality
The docuseries follows Combs from hitmaker and business icon to a figure facing serious criminal conviction and public disgrace, mapping out decades of influence, branding, and behind-the-scenes behavior. Watching that arc shows how money, fame, and industry relationships can shield someone from scrutiny and delay accountability, even as disturbing accusations accumulate.

2. Never-Before-Seen Footage Shows How Narratives Are Managed
Exclusive footage of Diddy in private settings and in the tense days around his legal troubles reveals how carefully celebrity narratives are shaped, even in crisis.
Viewers can learn to question polished statements and recognize that what looks spontaneous in public is often the result of strategy, damage control, and legal calculation.
3. Survivors’ Stories Highlight Patterns of Abuse and Silence
Interviews with alleged victims, former staff, and industry insiders describe patterns of control, fear, and emotional or physical harm that were long whispered about but rarely aired in this detail. Their stories underline how difficult it is to speak out against a powerful figure, teaching viewers why many survivors delay disclosure and why consistent patterns across multiple accounts matter.
4. 50 Cent’s Approach Shows Storytelling as a Tool for Accountability
As executive producer, 50 Cent uses his reputation and platform to push a project that leans into uncomfortable truths rather than protecting industry relationships. The series demonstrates how documentary storytelling can challenge established power structures, elevate marginalized voices, and pressure institutions to respond when traditional systems have failed.
5. The Cultural Backlash Reveals How Society Handles Celebrity Accountability
Reactions to the doc—ranging from people calling it necessary and brave to others dismissing it as a vendetta or smear campaign—expose how emotionally invested audiences can be in defending or condemning a famous figure. Watching that debate unfold helps viewers see how fandom, nostalgia, and bias influence who is believed, and why conversations about “cancel culture” often mask deeper questions about justice and who is considered too powerful to fall.
Entertainment
South Park’s Christmas Episode Delivers the Antichrist

A new Christmas-themed episode of South Park is scheduled to air with a central plot in which Satan is depicted as preparing for the birth of an Antichrist figure. The premise extends a season-long narrative arc that has involved Satan, Donald Trump, and apocalyptic rhetoric, positioning this holiday episode as a culmination of those storylines rather than a stand‑alone concept.
Episode premise and season context
According to published synopses and entertainment coverage, the episode frames the Antichrist as part of a fictional storyline that blends religious symbolism with commentary on politics, media, and cultural fear. This follows earlier Season 28 episodes that introduced ideas about Trump fathering an Antichrist child and tech billionaire Peter Thiel obsessing over prophecy and end‑times narratives. The Christmas setting is presented as a contrast to the darker themes, reflecting the series’ pattern of pairing holiday imagery with controversial subject matter.
Public and political reactions
Coverage notes that some figures connected to Donald Trump’s political orbit have criticized the season’s portrayal of Trump and his allies, describing the show as relying on shock tactics rather than substantive critique. Commentators highlight that these objections are directed more at the depiction of real political figures and the show’s tone than at the specific theology of the Antichrist storyline.
At the time of reporting, there have not been widely reported, detailed statements from major religious leaders focused solely on this Christmas episode, though religion-focused criticism of South Park in general has a long history.
Media and cultural commentary
Entertainment outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Slate, and USA Today describe the Antichrist arc as part of South Park’s ongoing use of Trump-era and tech-world politics as material for satire.
Viewer guidance and content advisory
South Park is rated TV‑MA and is intended for adult audiences due to strong language, explicit themes, and frequent use of religious and political satire. Viewers who are sensitive to depictions of Satan, the Antichrist, or parodies involving real political figures may find this episode particularly objectionable, while others may view it as consistent with the show’s long‑running approach to controversial topics. As with previous episodes, individual responses are likely to vary widely, and the episode is best understood as part of an ongoing satirical series rather than a factual or theological statement.
Entertainment
Sydney Sweeney Finally Confronts the Plastic Surgery Rumors

Sydney Sweeney has decided she is finished watching strangers on the internet treat her face like a forensic project. After years of side‑by‑side screenshots, “then vs now” TikToks, and long comment threads wondering what work she has supposedly had done, the actor is now addressing the plastic surgery rumors directly—and using them to say something larger about how women are looked at in Hollywood and online.

Growing Up on Camera vs. “Before and After” Culture
Sweeney points out that people are often mistaking normal changes for procedures: she grew up on camera, her roles now come with big‑budget glam teams, and her body has shifted as she has trained, aged, and worked nonstop. Yet every new red‑carpet photo gets folded into a narrative that assumes surgeons, not time, are responsible. Rather than walking through a checklist of what is “real,” she emphasizes how bizarre it is that internet detectives comb through pores, noses, and jawlines as if they are owed an explanation for every contour of a woman’s face.
The Real Problem Isn’t Her Face
By speaking up, Sweeney is redirecting the conversation away from her features and toward the culture that obsesses over them.
She argues that the real issue isn’t whether an actress has had work done, but why audiences feel so entitled to dissect her body as public property in the first place.
For her, the constant speculation is less about curiosity and more about control—another way to tell women what they should look like and punish them when they do not fit. In calling out that dynamic, Sweeney isn’t just defending herself; she is forcing fans and followers to ask why tearing apart someone else’s appearance has become such a popular form of entertainment.











