Month: August 2020

Though Ava Max has yet to release an album, the singer has already secured a major-label deal and shared a handful of successful singles. Now, Ava is gearing up for her debut record Heaven & Hell. Recently the singer shared the empowering and dancefloor-ready bop “Kings & Queens” but now Max reimagines the single by calling on singers Saweetie and Lauv to join in on the track.

For the alternate version of “Kings & Queens,” Lauv drops his signature lovelorn lyrical delivery to instead sing with an Auto-Tuned edge. “She’s a queen and I’m just lucky to get close to the throne / I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy, but she’s taking me home / No damsel in distress, don’t need to save her / She’s a goddess, I will never try to change her,” Lauv sings.

Saweetie’s verse arrives later and further contributes to the self-assured message. “Shout out to the girls from the ‘burb to the trap / I don’t need a man for shit, put myself on the map / And they thought I was done / I ain’t even hit my peak and I’m still on the run,” Saweetie spits.

Listen to “Kings & Queens Pt. 2” above.

Heaven & Hell is out 9/18 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Not unlike their time-traveling adventures, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted Theodore Logan are having a bit of a trouble landing a release date for the latest installment, Bill & Ted Face the Music. However, this time around, the most triumphant duo are actually hitting theaters earlier than announced.

In an interesting move given the significant amount of uncertainty around opening theater chains across the U.S., Bill & Ted Face the Music has bumped its release date up from September 1 to August 28. However, the highly-anticipated reunion is still doing a simultaneous VOD and theater release, so it’s not like Orion Pictures is banking too heavily on audiences flocking to theaters especially with high-profile films like Mulan and Tenet abandoning August.

Along with the release date change, Orion also dropped a brand new behind-the-scenes video that emphasizes the most excellent rapport between stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. According to the filmmakers, “every actor who could play 18-years-old” auditioned for the parts of Bill and Ted during casting for the first movie. Reeves and Winter were brought back the most and paired with other actors, but soon, the producers noticed that the two had a struck up a friendship and were constantly talking in the background. That’s when they knew they found their heroes.

The feature also shines a light on actresses Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine, who play Bill and Ted’s daughters, respectively. Taking after their dads, the two girls are aspiring musicians who hope to have better success than the Wyld Stallions. But perhaps the most fascinating part of the behind-the-scenes videos are the few shots of Lundy-Paine who is virtually a dead ringer for an early ’80s Keanu Reeves. If the John Wick movies are still around in 30 years, there’s your replacement right there.

(Via Orion Pictures)

Grammy Award-winning singer Lizzo is coming to a home theater near you. The “Good As Hell” singer has secured a first-look television contract with Amazon Studios, meaning Lizzo will be developing a project for them in the coming months.

According to Variety, Lizzo will be working with the streaming giant to draft and product an upcoming TV series. Though Lizzo has yet to unveil any more details surrounding the project’s storyline, the singer has confirmed the project has been greenlit.

In a statement about the deal, Lizzo expressed her excitement to make her vision come true: “I’m so excited to partner with the amazing team at Amazon. Thank you to Jen Salke and the rest of the team for making this dream come true. I can’t wait to get started and share my vision with the world.”

Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke echoed Lizzo’s anticipation about the upcoming series: “Lizzo is one of the most exciting, creative, joyful artists in the industry, and it is such a pleasure to announce this new deal with her. She has such a unique perspective and we’re so excited to hear her ideas for new content that our Prime Video customers are sure to love.”

If Lizzo were to star in the forthcoming project, it would mark her debut TV appearance. Lizzo made her big-screen debut in Hustlers, which also starred Cardi B and J. Lo, but the singer has yet to make an appearance in a TV show.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Pandemic or not, the 2020 MTV VMAs are going on, as the awards ceremony is set to take place at the end of the month, on August 30. So far, a lot of info has been revealed about this event, like who is nominated and who will be performing. Today, one more piece of the puzzle was revealed: The host for this year’s awards is Keke Palmer.

The actress, singer, and TV personality made the announcement in a way that is sure to please fans of ’00s Nickelodeon. Bringing back her titular character from her show True Jackson, VP, she (as herself) got on a video call with Jackson (herself). As the two versions of herself caught up, Keke told Jackson about her hosting gig, which made Jackson do a spit-take. Palmer asked Jackson to help her with her look for the show, then she launched into an informative rap and dance about her hosting gig.

Jackson will be far from the only star in attendance. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande will both be a big part of the night, as they co-lead the nominations with nine each, followed by Billie Eilish and The Weeknd, who each have six nods.

Watch the announcement video above, and find the full list of this year’s nominees here.

After postponing the Mulan reboot indefinitely, Disney has officially moved what was intended to be a late March blockbuster onto Disney+ as a premium ($29.99) VOD rental offering on September 4. Even though the movie will also theatrically debut in select countries like China, as one might imagine, most theater owners are not thrilled by the decision, and a French cinema owner recorded a video to make his perspective clear.

Tensions are certainly high after months of shuttered doors on multiplexes, and following the Mulan announcement, CNBC quoted Doug Stone, president of Box Office Analyst, as saying, “Every exhibitor I have contact with feels like this is a sucker punch to the gut…” And Deadline’s Tom Grater tracked down this cinema owner, Gerard Lemoine, who runs an indie joint, Cinepal in Palaiseau, south of Paris. He at least seemed pleased with his burgeoning viral notoriety (at over 600,000 views and counting):

“My video exceeds my expectations a little… By losing Mulan, we lost the possibility of offering our audiences a long-awaited film that would have helped us after these past hard weeks. It is also a bad message to send to the public [who had been expecting a theatrical release].”

Lemoine further explained how disheartening it has felt to lose the release after helping to promote Mulan for months, to no avail. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is still planning on rolling out Tenet globally, including in some U.S. markets, beginning in a few short weeks, so Lemoine’s fingers are undoubtedly crossed on that front.

It’s worth nothing that CEO Bob Chepak classified Disney’s decision as a “one-off” and in no way a predictor of how the studio will handle streaming and theatrical windows in the future, with any other individual movie or beyond the pandemic. As of now, Black Widow‘s still scheduled for a November release in theaters.

(Via Deadline & CNBC)

UPROXX Sessions‘ latest star is Dax, who comes through with an uplifting performance of his single, “Black Lives Matter.” Dax hails St. John’s, Canada and has built a following on YouTube dropping remixes of popular songs like Tupac’s “All Eyez On Me,” Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady,” and XXXtentacion’s “Look At Me.”

However, he often flips the grim subject matter to project a more positive message, which has made him popular among his subscribers and a family-friendly fixture at events like celebrity basketball games, where he shows off the skills he developed playing point guard for Newman University. Artists with whom he’s worked in the past include Hopsin and O.T. Genasis, and he’s even had a short-lived spat with Tory Lanez.

As is probably clear from the title, “Black Lives Matter” finds Dax addressing current events like the recent increased scrutiny on police brutality and calling for unity. It’s certainly a bit of a departure from the mischievous performances of recent guests like Bino Rideaux and Guapdad 4000, but Dax delivers with his own upbeat brand of positive energy.

Watch Dax’s “Black Lives Matter” performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s new performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

The battle royale game Fortnite is as synonymous with popular dance moves as TikTok, which perhaps is why many dances you see on the social media network invariably end up in the video game. But on Thursday, one TikTok star called out Fortnite for what appears to be a use of a dance she made up and posted to social media.

As the leaked emote appeared online, many noted the similarities between Ana Coto’s viral TikTok of her roller-skating and dancing to Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Jenny From The Block,’ which has gone viral a number of times in 2020 on various platforms.

Coto, an actress who appeared in Ouiji, has a huge platform on TikTok, in part thanks to the video’s massive popularity. The impact of Coto’s 10-second TikTok is tough to quantify, but she’s largely credited with the explosion of popularity of roller skates while people passed time in quarantine. So when the tweet about the Freewheelin’ emote spread, Coto herself saw it and amplified the video both on TikTok and Instagram.

“Flattered but no dance credit,” Coto wrote, mentioning Fortnite directly while adding a nonplussed emoji. The dance is extremely similar to Coto’s, which sees her skating and moving her arms around basically in time to the leaked Freehweelin’ emote.

But curiously, the emote appearing without dane credit would come weeks after Epic credited another dance inventor for their work when the Renegade dance was added to Fortnite. That dance, which also was popularized on TikTok, got some run at the NBA All-Star Game — though creator Jalaiah Harmon wasn’t initially credited and featured. The game maker even had a TikTok dance contest recently, with a winner getting a licensed emote in the game as well.

According to The Verge, Epic wouldn’t comment on whether they have gotten in touch with Coto about the dance, and judging by her posts on social media she’s upset they mimicked her moves without approval. The Freewheelin’ emote isn’t in the game just yet, though, so it’s unclear what will happen before it’s officially launched.

[via The Verge]

LeBron James’ comments about the Lakers’ .500 record in the Bubble got the most attention, but it was Anthony Davis who put it most aptly. Whereas James remarked on “things you can’t control” off the floor, Davis was pretty plain in his analysis: The Lakers have much less margin for error because of their thinned-out Bubble roster.

“Especially now when we’re not making shots on a consistent basis, the chances are not in our favor when we (LeBron and Davis) aren’t playing well,” Davis said.

Maybe this was always true. Los Angeles, even with Avery Bradley (opt out) and Rajon Rondo (hand surgery), revolved around James and Davis. Having to rely on Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith, who haven’t played much basketball over the last calendar year, is not ideal during a championship run, and their adjustment period is certainly part of the reason the Lakers are missing open shots. But overall in Orlando, the Lakers are shooting 27.5 percent on open shots — those with four or more feet between the shooter and the closest defender. That’s hard to overcome.

When the numbers are that skewed, most of it can be attributed to bad luck. The Lakers will regress back toward their fifth-ranked effective field goal percentage before long. And James, who is shooting 42 percent at the Wide World of Sports, will certainly get nearer to his standard level of efficiency for the playoffs.

It was also Davis who acknowledged the obvious in this regard:

That doesn’t mean the solution is just as obvious.

Take Wednesday night’s 19-point loss to Oklahoma City, in which Waiters played a devastating 26 minutes. On a simple fast break — the Lakers’ bread and butter this season — Waiters effectively waved off an open James in the corner and tossed up a lazy layup that grazed the blackboard before giving the Thunder an advantage going back the other way. The Lakers lost Waiters’ 26 minutes by nine points because of moments like these.

While the scoring guard has the same first step and handle he’s always had and can still get inside pretty easily, he hardly knows what to do with the ball once he’s there. That makes it all the more glaring that the ball is not in James’ or Davis’ hands. Other Lakers role players like Alex Caruso, Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — heck, even JaVale McGee — know how to find and take their own shots in the rhythm of the offense. The ball doesn’t stick in their hands, because, again, they’re on the same team as two Hall of Famers.

It makes you realize how much the Lakers also miss Bradley. The team outscored opponents by 7.4 points per 100 possessions when Bradley played this season, and he was a key 3-and-D piece of their effective, nontraditional starting lineup. Without him, every lineup feels just a bit off.

Yet as Donny McHenry noted at Lakers Outsiders, Los Angeles is merely 19th on the season in three-point efficiency. This has been a weakness of the team all year, relative to the elite squads they’ll face in the postseason. And it’s not something we should trust Waiters or Smith — two guys who haven’t played in over a year — to fix.

The good news is there’s plenty to believe in going forward. Caruso, Caldwell-Pope and Green have all made fewer than a quarter of their threes in Orlando. Those are players you can definitely trust to nail open shots more consistently. They’ve all done it all season with this same core. It could just be a matter of getting their legs under them.

The recipe for James’ teams for over a decade has been simple: Play smart and when the ball is in your hands and no one is around, make the damn shot. There’s a reason guys like Deron Williams and Kyle Korver were on the court for Cleveland in the NBA Finals in their 30s. That reason is James. While shot-making is a relatively solvable problem, it’s also the top thing you have to do when you play with James.

What may be less solvable is whatever James was hinting at after the Lakers’ loss to Oklahoma City. Any guess is reasonable. It could be the strange routine of days in the Bubble, playing without veterans like Bradley and Rondo, or whatever it is Dwight Howard has been saying lately. James is a creature of habit, and this is unlike anything he’s faced.

That’s his problem to sort through, but in the meantime, we should listen to Davis. It would go a long way if the Lakers could just knock down open jumpers.

Rex Orange County went from recording songs in his bedroom to leading a sold-out UK tour. The singer’s 2019 Pony marked his major-label debut but the singer has been making music since he was young. Rex self-released his debut album Bcos U Will Never B Free in 2015 when he was still in high school and he’s celebrating his five-year career anniversary by releasing the effort on vinyl.

About his debut album, Rex said he never could have imagined how far he’s come since the 2015 effort: “I remember being 16, midway through my final years of school and feeling like I had a lot I wanted to say. I didn’t have a strong intention with the release of Bcos U Will Never B Free, I just felt determined to make something and put it out into the world. But with it came the idea and belief to pursue music as a career. I could have never predicted that I’d end up playing some of those songs to the people in all the places I’ve toured since. And I feel so lucky to still be making music 5 years on.”

Check out the Bcos U Will Never B Free album cover and tracklist below.

1. “Rex (Intro)”
2. “Paradise”
3. “Belly (The Grass Stains)”
4. “Corduroy Dream”
5. “Japan”
6. “Portrait Of Ned”
7. “Green Eyes, Pt. II”
8. “A Song About Being Sad”
9. “Know Love”
10. “Curfew…”

Bcos U Will Never B Free is out 9/4 via Sony. Pre-order it here.

When it comes to whiskey, it seems like there’s always a new, hot, hard-to-find bottle that was once widely available for $30. Almost overnight, seemingly random expressions become more popular than Members Only jackets in ’85. There’s no real mystery here. It happens because the right people agree on the quality of a certain dram and shower it with praise, then websites and magazines amplify that love.

Suddenly you have a shortage and people selling bottles on aftermarket sites. Then it shortens its aging to meet demand, gets dubbed overrated, and the cycle begins anew.

That’s exactly what happened in March of 2019, when Henry McKenna Single Barrel Bourbon won “Best in Show, Whiskey” at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. This reasonably easy to find $35 bourbon suddenly became the hottest whiskey in America. More than a year later, it’s still not easy to get your hands on a bottle. And it’s happening again right now.

The 2020 Ultimate Spirits Challenge saw Stagg Jr. Kentucky Straight Bourbon — a whiskey that retails for an extremely reasonable $49.99 — was awarded a 98 out of 100. Bourbon enthusiasts already knew that this was an underrated bottle, but after it was given such an incredible score the whole country has taken note.

There’s about to be a huge rush on this highly nuanced, complex whiskey expression. Check our tasting notes and get it while you can.

Stagg Jr. Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 64.2%

Distillery Name: Buffalo Trace

Average Price: $59.99

The Story:

While George T. Stagg seems like a made-up name, he actually did exist. The native Kentuckian was selling whiskey in St. Louis when he met E.H. Taylor and the duo collaborated to open one of the most well-known distilleries in the 1800s (now known as Buffalo Trace).

For his efforts, Stagg not only got one bourbon named after him, but two. The first bourbon called George T. Stagg was so named to pay homage to the whiskey innovator. It’s uncut, unfiltered, and is aged in new charred oak barrels for at least 15 years. The second whiskey to bear his name is also uncut and unfiltered but spends just a hair under a decade maturing. Clearly, less time aging didn’t stop the judges at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge from noticing that this is a truly special dram.

Tasting Notes:

From the first sip, you’ll understand why the judges loved this expression. Right off the bat, there’s a sweet, caramelized brown sugar flavor that slowly walks its way into rich, well-aged leather. That’s just the beginning of the Stagg, Jr. flavor rollercoaster. Just when you think you’ve reached the depths of its flavor; you’re met with rich cocoa sweetness followed by subtle Christmas spices before finally ending in a crescendo of creamy maple candy and toasted oak.

Don’t ruin this dram by mixing it or even adding ice. Simply open it up with a few drops of water and sip on it slowly while you let the rest of the world pass by unnoticed.