Ice Spice has every reason to be proud of what she’s accomplished early in her career. With a string of hit singles, major collaborations, and sold-out tours, she’s become one of the standout names of the 2020s. Still, her journey hasn’t been without its share of challenges and criticism. The New York drill rapper has had to deal with plenty of negativity along the way.

A lot of that noise has unfortunately been centered around her body, which is disappointing to see. For quite some time, fans expressed sadness and even frustration after noticing her weight loss. Before she focused on fitness and dieting, her supporters — and many admirers online — were captivated by her thick thighs and curvy figure.

Many begged her to return to her previous shape, while others unfairly accused her of taking Ozempic. Watching those conversations unfold online was disheartening, as it clearly showed how inconsistent people can be when it comes to body positivity.

Despite all of that, Ice Spice held her head high and stayed committed to her fitness goals. She deserves a lot of respect for standing by her choices and not letting the criticism get to her.

That said, those who preferred her fuller look were thrilled when she appeared to have regained some of her curves around March of this year.

Ice Spice Cardi B Beef

While addressing those who criticized her changing figure, Ice also admitted she’s happy to have her curves back. In a clip shared by No Jumper, the “Baddie Baddie” rapper posted an Instagram video of herself twerking and wrote, “so happy to be thick asf again.”

The comment section was full of supportive reactions. One person wrote, “I think we are all happy to see you again,” while another added, “My girl had to go back to factory settings [praying hands emoji].”

More than anything, it’s great to see that Ice feels confident, comfortable, and healthy in her own body again.

She even revealed in September that she’s been eating more meat to achieve her current look. “Protein is great for you. I love protein. I try to get a lot of protein in, to be honest. That’s the key to being thick. You can’t be thick without mad protein. I swear.”

In other updates, Ice has been busy in the studio. She recently released “Pretty Privilege” as she gears up for her next album. The track sparked plenty of discussion, especially because some listeners believe it includes a subtle dig at her rival Cardi B. The two have rekindled their feud since the release of AM I THE DRAMA? “She might talk sh*t on the ‘Gram, but she won’t talk it to my face,” Ice raps on the single.

James Acaster has officially introduced his new band, The Wow! Scenario, alongside their debut song, ‘Zacuti’, featuring BC Camplight. More information about the project can be found below.

The Wow! Scenario began two decades ago and has now been brought to life by Acaster with his friend Graeme Wicks, BC Camplight and Emma Daman.

Their first album, ‘Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus’, will arrive through Bella Union on October 23. Preorders are available here.

Listeners have also been given an early preview of the album through the jazz inspired lead single ‘Zacuti’, which is available to hear below.

Acaster and Wicks formed the group in Kettering in 2004. According to a press statement, they had already chosen to end the band by the time they recorded their full collection of songs with producer Chris Hamilton in December 2007.

The statement also revealed that the group’s name was inspired by an intoxicated audience member who tried to say they lacked “the X factor”. However, the person repeatedly used the wrong phrase and told them: “You don’t have the wow scenario, guys. You need to get the wow scenario”.

The musicians revisited the recordings with Hamilton in 2018, removing the original singing and replacing the vocal melodies with saxophone, clarinet and fiddle. At that stage, they planned to release the material as an instrumental record.

After deciding they were not satisfied with that version, the group returned to the studio for a third attempt in March 2023. BC Camplight and Emma Daman provided vocals for the new sessions, while the album was eventually mixed and finished in March 2025.

The tracklisting for ‘Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus’ is: 

1. ‘Diving!’
2. ‘Once More!’
3. ‘Golf Socks!’
4. ‘Alpaca Spinner!’
5. ‘Reality!’
6. ‘Instructions!’
7. ‘Zacuti!’
8. ‘The Curse!’

Acaster previously created the music project Temps, which brought together a collective of 40 performers, including Quelle Chris, Xenia Rubinos, Shamir, NNAMDÏ and Seb Rochford.

When the collective was first revealed, the comedian and Off Menu podcast host discussed its origins during NME’s ‘In Conversation’ interview series.

“I was doing bands when I was a teenager into my early 20s, and I was like, ‘This is gonna be my entire life, all I’m gonna do is music,’” Acaster said. “When the band split up I started doing stand-up as a placeholder, and then I fell in love with stand-up and got really obsessed with that.

“I’d never made an album from scratch that didn’t exist yet – recording it and writing it at the same time – and I’d never produced anything before, or mixed something as intensely as this one. There’s a lot of new things – if I had been doing it on my own, I don’t know how long I would have lasted.”

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