Month: October 2020

A significant part of Future Islands’ appeal is the band’s abilities as live performers, particularly singer Samuel T. Herring. He’s as enthusiastic as anybody who has ever held a microphone on stage, and his energy is infectious. Sadly, the pandemic has robbed the group of the chance to tour behind their upcoming album As Long As You Are, but they got a live performance in last night on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Backed by rainbow-colored lighting, the group ran through “For Sure,” with Herring being his typically animated, evocative, and delightful self.

Meanwhile, Herring recently spoke about his famous Late Show With David Letterman performance, admitting, “It’s taken me six years to come to terms with Letterman.” He didn’t always love the reaction he and the band received for their viral performance, but now he has come to appreciate the moment: “Lots of people said: ‘This guy dances like nobody’s watching.’ But no. I was dancing like I knew everyone was watching. I was actually holding back. That’s what was going on in my head — don’t go too far. […] These days, you’re bombarded with what everybody else thinks. It can really affect how you feel about yourself, and it did for years, but now I know that performance meant a great deal to a lot of people. I can’t dispute the fact that it revolutionized our careers. It did so much for us, I should see that as a positive.”

Watch Future Islands perform “For Sure” above, and revisit our recent interview with the group here.

Grammy Award-winning musician St. Vincent wants to impart all she’s learned about the art of writing a great song. The singer has just announced her first course on the virtual learning site MasterClass, where she aims to teach students performance, songwriting, and studio tips.

Throughout the lesson, St. Vincent will break down her song “Savior” off the album Masseduction as an example on how to craft a song from start to finish. The singer also shares a handful of reassuring tips as seen in the course’s trailer, like, “Take something good and bludgeon it until it’s great,” and, “Make shame your friend because there’s no way to get good at something without being bad at it first.”

Speaking to Billboard about the endeavor, St. Vincent said she wants to highlight her song “Savior” in the class because it was 20 years in the making, saying, “I chose ‘Savior’ because it illustrated this point that I wanted to make that there’s no wasted effort. Even if you have an idea from 20 years ago, if it’s still circling around in your head, that means it’s worth something. It will find its way into something.”

St. Vincent added that songwriting doesn’t have to flow perfectly every time in order to be successful: “I think being a creative person in this time requires more forgiveness of yourself. Some days you’re going to be just grinding and it’s going to be flowing and it’s going to be that thrilling thing where you catch lightning in a bottle and then some days you might not leave bed. I find that there’s not a lot of middle and way more polarity in process during this time.”

Watch St. Vincent’s MasterClass trailer above.

After being a fixture of the Southern hip-hop scene for nearly three decades, Houston rap legend Scarface put out an unusual plea on Twitter that highlighted just how bad America’s healthcare crisis has become and why Kanye’s arguments for ownership in the music business might not be so far-fetched, after all. “I need a kidney y’all any volunteers?” Scarface appealed to his followers. “B+ blood type.” His request prompted an outpouring of well-wishes and supportive messages and even some donor offers but also showed just how bad things are for anyone without access to government-provided care.

By the way, that’s one thing Scarface has in common with Donald Trump: Both apparently contracted the COVID-19 coronavirus and while Trump tried to downplay the virus’ severity and effect on his health, ‘Face was much more honest in his description of its effects when he revealed his diagnosis in April. “I’ve been to the point where I just felt like I was going to die, bro,” he admitted. “I threw up so much until it was just hot sauce. Like your gasses and the sh*t in your stomach, your acids. I didn’t have no food in my stomach.” It was at this time he also revealed he had kidney failure and was receiving dialysis treatment. However, his condition has apparently progressed to the point that only a transplant can save a hip-hop hometown hero.

If I may get up on my soapbox here for a second, this is exactly why we need universal healthcare. Scarface has undoubtedly made plenty of money over the course of his 30-year career, but the out-of-pocket expense of these sorts of treatments can deplete anyone’s savings. Also, it’s super unlikely that the average person could put out a call for help on Twitter and expect such a strong response that comes from having millions of fans from that long career. And the way the music industry pays artists means that Scarface may not have quite the financial reserves that would allow him to outlast both COVID-19 and kidney failure — especially without being able to tour this year (as tours are where the majority of artists make the majority of their money). A lot of reform is needed, which is why you — yes, you — need to vote for candidates in this year’s election who support those reforms, all the way down the ballot to your local leaders. You may not think it will help, but progress is slow and hard, and you have to start somewhere.

In The Boys TV show on Amazon Prime, Shantel VanSanten’s Becca Butcher meets a different fate than the character did in Garth Ennis’ comics (which quickly killed her off). Becca, of course, is the wife of Karl Urban’s rage-filled vigilante, Billy. His hellbent crusade against the Supes (and, in particular, Antony Starr’s Homelander) for what happened to Becca years ago. His assumption — that Homelander killed Becca — was shattered during the closing moments of Season 1, when the show revealed that Becca had been living in seclusion while raising Homelander’s son. As such, Becca had not been “fridged” but, instead, had chosen to stay hidden from Billy and the world.

Of course, viewers didn’t know exactly what happened until late in the Season 2 game, when Becca revealed that Homelander had, in fact, raped her. She had determined to lead a non-public life with the goal of raising a well-adjusted son. Yet as Season 2 showed, Homelander’s feeling rootless. He killed his mother figure and decided that bonding with his son was in everyone’s best interests, which put Becca in another unenviable position: witnessing her son being thrown off roofs while being told to “fly” and finding no help from Vought International. Becca also forced herself to push Billy away again, and it’s a real mess leading into this week’s finale.

Shantel was kind enough to talk with us about her character’s difficult choices, what it’s like to raise a Supe’s son, and where Becca and Billy (can’t) go from here.

What was it like to come onboard The Boys late in the first season game, and for Becca to create such a stir when the show was already popular?

Both exciting and terrifying. There are big shoes to fill on the show, but the best part about it was that I had already worked with Eric Kripke before, and that made it an experience that wasn’t as daunting and overwhelming as it can be when you’re a guest star coming onto a giant show. I also, during Season 1, came in and shot my part at the very end, so they had already been shooting for six months and had all their inside jokes and developed relationships, and I would pop in for a few days, here and there, to shoot my scenes for Season 1. And it felt like, “What in the world is this show that I’m in?” I didn’t get to read any episodes that I wasn’t in, so I had no idea, but I got to watch it and became a superfan, and I’m so grateful that my role this season is even bigger, and I get to be more involved in the world. It’s such a smart and entertaining show, and you don’t always get those. Sometimes you get really entertaining, and sometimes you get really dark and intelligent, and I think that The Boys challenges us as well as entertains us.

You’re isolated from almost adult but Homelander for most of your scenes. Yet Becca choosing to hide and raise her son alone makes her pretty selfless.

I feel so protective of the characters I play, even if they’re imperfect humans that I can’t really read people’s opinions and commentary because I realize that we all have a different perspective. The hopeless romantic in me, for a moment, didn’t really understand why she wouldn’t choose her soulmate and the love of her life. They’re so meant to be together and save each other, and then I realize during conversations with Eric Kripke, as he said, that I “was raising the second coming of Christ, basically.” This boy that would hopefully redeem Supes, and doing that through mothering and nurturing and being selfless. And I was reminded of that because, as humans, I have my own selfish moment of wanting Becca to be able to have it all and watching her didn’t feel fair. And there was a lot in Episode 4 that ripped my heart out.

The idea of Becca hiding out for years, even from Butcher, to raise Homelander’s son, man, that is rough.

And to play the turmoil that was happening (over a season in a half) in three scenes during one episode was really tough. But I hope that I did it justice, and for somebody who chooses her child and chooses mankind, if you will, because she’s truly trying to undo the injustice of what happened to her and redeem Supes for Vought. And show that there’s a different way, that teaching through nurturing and empathy and compassion, we can choose superheroes that hopefully will use their powers for good and not be so egocentric.

The young actor, Cameron Crovetti, who plays your son — he kind-of specializes in shows (Big Little Lies, Dirty John) where a lot of grown-ups are behaving badly. How does one navigate keeping him levelheaded on a show like The Boys?

[Laughs] It’s so interesting, I remember when they asked him to say the F-word, and we were all like, “Can we do that… is that okay?” His mom was like, “I think he’s seen and heard worse!” I always feel protective of the kids I work with. This is not the first kid that I’ve had, of course, I’ve had many sons. I don’t think I’ve had a daughter on shows, and there’s a part of me that wants to mother and be like, “In real life, we don’t say this, right?” And make sure to be on my best behavior around them, but luckily, everyone is very aware that there’s a kid on set and isn’t cussing and those types of things.

Cameron also witnessed Meryl Streep’s bloodcurdling scream in Big Little Lies, so he must be well-adjusted to handle that stuff.

Yes, and I think it’s important to grow a bond. We would shoot a lot of our scenes with Antony, myself, and Cameron, and we all would sit in the basement together. And whether he was reading a book or studying, you kind-of just get involved because there’s a bond in that way or talk about movies or shows that they’re watching. You just become more familiar to them, and it just creates something deeper, but their parents are already on set, and also, Cameron is such a great kid. He’s fantastic and up for anything.

Well, Becca could use a vacation. If she could journey into another superhero realm, where would you want her to visit?

Oh, gracious. Oh my. I mean, to be honest, I would like to put her into the Marvel Civil War movie, and I would want her to have a cape and be the 30-something mom and not a 20-year-old but somebody who’s lived life and has her superpowers. Listen, I would be Wonder Woman’s sidekick any day. I’m totally fine with that.

Which side in Civil War, Tony Stark or Cap?

I would like to think Tony Stark because I like his sarcasm and his no-BS approach to things. He doesn’t take it too seriously.

Yeah, he and Billy Butcher do have those things in common.

I’d like to explore that side and see that Becca used to be that way. I saw something where people were like, “How were Becca and Butcher ever together?” And it’s hard because we only got these really small glimpses into what their life was, but I think she was fiery and feisty and challenged him, and now, this is ten years later. When we think about what we were like ten years ago, we were different. Now she has this experience of this bubble that she has to live in, and the persona that she has to put on is not necessarily, authentically, who she is. Yet it’s best for her son, and it’s a sacrifice that she makes. Listen, she would love to be smoking pot and eating Cheetos on the couch every day.

Lady, I’m with her on that dream. We should all do that right now.

Unfortunately, Becca can’t do that, but I think that’s something that we missed out on seeing, which was the past with her and Butcher and why they connected. But also seeing how much she really did sacrifice. It wasn’t just the love of her life; it was everything that she loved as well.

Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ streams episodes each Friday with the season finale coming on October 9.

The Rock may be stuck at home, but that doesn’t mean he can’t slap on a tux to accept his latest accolade. In this case, becoming the “#1 Followed Man in America” after racking up over 300 million followers across all of his social media channels. While looking dapper in a shirt tux and bow-tie, The Rock celebrated the news on Instagram where the bulk of his viral fame lies. He recently passed 200 million followers just on that channel alone.

Naturally, the wrestling champ turned actor’s personal brand of tequila, Teramana, was along for the ride in a celebratory video where The Rock thanked his millions of fans for rewarding him for speaking his truth, which he promised to always do. “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for giving me the space to speak my truth,” The Rock wrote in the caption. “You have my word, I’ll always do my best to speak my truth with dignity, respect, empathy and GRATITUDE. That’s my lesson I’ve learned.”

The Rock also revealed that he’s broken a Guinness World Record for being the “#1 followed American man in the world,” and if you’re surprised that that’s a real thing, The Rock is right there with you.

You can watch the full below:

If The Rock seems genuinely shocked at this latest development, it’s for good reason. He recently made the unprecedented move of endorsing a presidential campaign. “In this critical election, I believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best to lead our country,” The Rock told his fans. Given the divisive nature of American politics, particularly this close to an election, he could’ve easily lost a sizable chunk of his followers after backing the Democratic ticket. Instead, he’s now the #1 Followed Man in America.

(Via The Rock on Instagram)

A common sentiment about the upcoming election is that it’s a pretty important one. Consequently, entertainers have used their gigantic platforms to encourage their fans to vote. Now, two of the biggest pop stars have done so while promising some new music as well.

Yesterday, Ariana Grande was busy going through the final steps of working on new material when she decided to give fans a peek behind the curtain. She shared a sideways out-of-focus selfie and wrote on Twitter, “turning in these mixes and reminding u again to register to vote if u haven’t already / to vote early.”

The US isn’t the only place with consequential upcoming elections. New Zealand has an election on October 17, and Lorde implored her fellow New Zealanders to vote with the promise of new music. She wrote in an Instagram Story yesterday, “If you’re 18+, it’s time to VOTE! We know we live in a special place. And adding all of our voices to the conversation, speaking up for communities or organisations that mean something to us — that’s what helps us keep it that way.”

She went to to share voting details and added, “This was honestly incredible difficult to format and I hope you can repay me with the humble act of VOTING. Do it for our beautiful country and for me. And next year I’ll give you something in return.”

Meanwhile, a bunch of musicians have shared their thoughts about last night’s vice presidential debate, so check those out here.

The Antetokounmpo brothers are joining forces to take on a new sport: football. In a video posted to the official Madden Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon, some sort of project in which Giannis Antetokounmpo and EA Sports’ longtime football video game joined forces appeared to be on the horizon, although it was unclear exactly what was going on.

The news ended up becoming official on Thursday morning, when EA Sports announced that Giannis, along with brothers Kostas and Thansis, will enter Madden 21 as playable characters in its brand new game mode, The Yard. While that will be the only place where you’ll see Kostas and Thanasis, Giannis will also pop up in the game’s Superstar KO mode.

The addition of the Antetokounmpo brothers to the game marks the first time that NBA players will appear in Madden. The trio will also get custom gear that pays tribute to their childhoods in Greece.

This is the latest in what has been an eventful year for the brothers. Thanasis joined Giannis on the Milwaukee Bucks this season, with the latter winning the league’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards while leading the team to the best record in basketball. Kostas, meanwhile, is currently with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, and is currently one win away from becoming an NBA champion.

Last night, Vice Presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris participated in their first debate of the 2020 election. While reactions among the music world were varied, one artist was particularly riled by Pence’s response to a question about whether “justice was done” in the recent Breonna Taylor police shooting case. While Harris didn’t believe that it was, Pence said that he “trusts our justice system.”

Megan Thee Stallion, who just this past Saturday used a live television performance to directly address the case and share a “Protect Black Women” message, erupted on Twitter upon hearing the reply. “Pence’s response to the question ‘did Breonna Taylor receive justice’ was disgusting,” she tweeted. Meanwhile, Harris, the junior senator from California and the state’s former attorney general, had a different view of the Taylor case. “I am a former career prosecutor, I know what I am talking about,” she said. “Bad cops are bad for good cops. We need reform of our policing in America and our criminal justice system.”

Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron has been criticized for his handling of the Breonna Taylor case, especially after announcing the outcome of the grand jury inquest into the 26-year-old EMT’s death. Only one of the three officers under investigation for shooting and killing Taylor after serving a warrant at her home was indicted, and then only for “endangering” Taylor’s neighbors by shooting from outside the apartment. Many online have taken this as more evidence — along with Megan’s own recent shooting, allegedly by Tory Lanez — that the justice system doesn’t do enough to protect Black women.

See Megan’s tweet above.

While filming Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (I will type the full title every time), Sacha Baron Cohen attended a gun rights rally in in Olympia, Washington, in character. Not as Borat, but as the “leader of a political action committee who wanted to sponsor the rally.” The actor “brought his own security team who prevented organizers from kicking him off stage once he began singing and turning off the power to his microphone,” Variety reported, as it did not take long for event organizers, who later admitted they had been “catfished,” to realize what was happening. It was long enough, however, for Baron Cohen to get attendees to sing along to a satirical ditty with racist lyrics about Obama and the “Wuhan flu.” But once the jig was up, things got dangerous.

“While filming my latest Borat film, I showed up as a right-wing singer at a gun-rights rally in Washington State. When organizers finally stormed the stage, I rushed to a nearby get-away vehicle,” Baron Cohen wrote for Time magazine in an article about the dangers of misinformation and conspiracy theories. “An angry crowd blocked our way and started pounding on the vehicle with their fists.” He continued:

Under my overalls, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it felt inadequate with some people outside toting semiautomatic weapons. When someone ripped open the door to drag me out, I used my entire body weight to pull the door back shut until our vehicle maneuvered free. I was fortunate to make it out in one piece. The next few weeks will determine whether America will be so lucky.

Here’s footage from the event.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm premieres on Amazon Prime Video on October 23.

(Via Time)

To many people’s surprise, the 2020 Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris turned out to be… entertaining? Yes. The American people are so stressed out that Pence’s grody “pink eye” became a huge topic of conversation before that massive fly (literally) invaded his headspace, which allowed Joe Biden’s campaign to troll like bosses. The Fly felt like a stress-relieving balm after so much of, well, 2020, and people would like to keep that feeling alive.

The man who can keep it going, of course, would be the star of David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986): Jeff Goldblum. The Jurassic Park star soon began to trend heavily, which led to this recirculated clip of him “finding out” the news that he “won the #VPDebate” (it’s actually footage from the D23 red carpet, where he was the last to find out about the Marvel Studios-Sony Spider-Man divorce). It’s satisfying stuff.

Bob Saget chimed in with a dad joke about The Fly getting its own Netflix show.

Given that SNL returned to the studio last week, debate viewers soon began to demand that Lorne Michaels seize the opportunity and extend an invite for, say, a cold-open appearance. Last week’s ratings bump could only continue as a result.

Of course, someone started to spread the rumor that the deal had already been sealed.

Cronenberg references on Twitter aren’t something you see every day, but they’re welcome.

However, perhaps this Jurassic Park reference said it best, though.