These past two weeks were filled with big moments and releases. From the 61st Annual Grammy Awards to Netflix’s new release of “The Umbrella Academy,”  there’s a wide variety of things to check out during this upcoming long weekend.

1. 61st Annual Grammy Awards

This year’s Grammy Awards were filled with many surprises, wins and “firsts” for the music industry. Cardi B was the first female to win Best Rap Album of the Year for her album “Invasion of Privacy,” Childish Gambino won both Song of the Year and Record of the Year for his song “This Is America,” making it the first hip-hop song to win both awards and BTS once again made history by being the first Korean band to receive a Grammy nomination.

The biggest wins of the night in addition to those above included Kacey Musgraves who won four awards including Album of the Year, Ariana Grande’s win for “Sweetener” in Best Pop Vocal Album and Dua Lipa’s win for Best New Artist. In addition to the awards there were multiple performances by the artists nominated and tributes to famous musicians such as Dolly Parton, Motown, Aretha Franklin and more. You can click above to watch a video covering some highlights or if you missed your favorite artist’s performance or speech, most can be found on YouTube.

2. Thank U, Next

Sticking with music, Ariana Grande’s fifth album, “Thank U, Next” was released this past Friday on Feb. eighth. This album comes just six months after her fourth album “Sweetener” and features her singles  “thank u, next;” “break up with your boyfriend, i’m bored” and “seven rings” in addition to nine other songs. The album explores Grande’s desires and wants for things as she grows into the person she’s becoming as well as expressing how she feels about incidents that have occurred in her life such as Mac Miller’s death and breaking off her engagement with Pete Davidson.

As of this week, the album is currently at number one on the iTunes chart, “seven rings” is topping Billboard’s Top 100 Songs and “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” is currently at number two on the iTunes chart. While this is an achievement all in itself, mix that with the fact that the Grammys just came out and it’s still in the number one spot on the charts, and it’s proving to be one of Grande’s best albums yet.

Favorite Song: While I like a multitude of genres, pop music has never really been one I’m too fond of but this album is amazing. Ariana Grande has a beautiful voice that she explores in a number of ways that creates a beautiful collection of songs and a powerful message. While her singles are great and I love “break up with you girlfriend, i’m bored” I think my favorite song is “imagine,” the first song of the album. The pace of the song and her voice when she hits the higher lyrics that lead into the chorus are beautiful. It’s one of those songs I can put on repeat and not get annoyed of for a while. The whole album is amazing though and I highly suggest it.

3. Investigating Conspiracies with Shane Dawson

On the last Take Five we recommended Shane Dawson’s conspiracy theories but this video might be one of the best Shane and Andrew have ever made. Unlike the last video, Shane focuses in on three theories about Chuck E Cheese pizza, creating digital voices and the insane story of fellow YouTuber Brittani Louise Taylor.

Shane and Andrew have increasingly gotten more creative and unique with their editing and it definitely shows in this video. By switching from topic to topic quickly they keep the viewer interested at every given second. While the three topics range from light to dark, they manage to keep the video as a whole fairly light. Personally I believe this is one of Shane’s best videos and think it furthers the reason why Netflix or Hulu needs to hire Shane and Andrew to create these full time. If you didn’t watch the first part you don’t need to to understand the content in this video and if you were on the edge, I highly recommend this video.

4. Happy Death Day 2U

In Oct. 2017, “Happy Death Day” was released, telling the story of Tree Gelbman as she tries to survive a specific day without being killed in a “Groundhog Day” like fashion. As with any movie that does well, there was bound to be a sequel made. On Feb. 13th, “Happy Death Day 2U” was released in theaters, inviting fans of the first film to revisit Tree as she makes her way through a parallel universe.

While the movie still follows the plot of her dying each day, reviews for the movie say it’s a fun and entertaining movie with a deeper explanation as to why this is happening to Tree and has left many audiences wanting more.  “Happy Death Day 2U” is in theaters now and you can click here to buy tickets from Fandango.

5. The Umbrella Academy

If you grew up like I did the in the early 2000s or you knew people like me, you probably know about Gerard Way, the lead singer of the infamous emo band “My Chemical Romance.” Gerard, in addition to being a member of the band, created a comic book series titled “The Umbrella Academy.” The story is set in an alternate universe in which John F. Kennedy was never assassinated and takes place primarily in 1977 when 43 unrelated women become pregnant and give birth on the same day. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, or as he is commonly referred to as The Monocle, adopts the only seven children that survive and possess supernatural abilities.

The show will follow the storyline of the first comics that were released in 2007. The kids adopted by The Monocle grow up and part ways, but will come back together when he dies and discover the apocalypse is coming. The show will feature actors like Ellen Page, Robert Sheehan and Mary J. Blige. The show will be released on Feb. 15 on Netflix and the comics are available now.

Featured Image Citation: “Grammy Statuettes” by Prayitno on Flickr is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. No changes were made to the image. Use of this photo does not indicate photographer endorsement of this article.