Month: November 2020

This week in the best new pop music saw some major releases from big artists. Ariana Grande shared her long-awaited album Positions, Dua Lipa offered an unexpected single, and Carly Rae Jepsen got ready for the holiday season.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop music. Listen up.

Ariana Grande — “Motive” Feat. Doja Cat

Ariana Grande dominated the internet this week when she dropped her sultry album Positions, earning Uproxx’s best new pop stamp of approval. The record also saw the anticipated collaboration with Doja Cat, “Motive,” where the two singers flex their vocal ranges over a shuffling beat while trying to figure out the intentions behind a suitor’s advancements.

Dua Lipa, Angèle — “Fever”

Though Dua Lipa released her sophomore album back in March, the singer has had no shortage of music in the last few months. After sharing an album of remixes, Lipa returns with the buoyant single “Fever.” The layered production boasts a medley of unconventional samples interlaced with Lipa’s soaring vocals and Angèle’s French musings.

Carly Rae Jepsen — “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries”

Carly Rae Jepsen offered her own take on the highs and lows of the holidays with the buzzing song “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries.” Explaining the meaning behind the track, Jepsen said: “I love the old-fashioned movies and the family traditions and the excitement of gifting presents and decorating the tree and and and… my list is endless. But each year the pressure to have the perfect Christmas always ends in tears. I call it ‘Christmas versus expectation.’”

Jonas Brothers — “I Need You Christmas”

The Jonas Brothers also ushered in the start of the holiday season this week with their soulful piano ballad, “I Need You Christmas.” “With having such a crazy year, we all really need something to look forward to,” they said in a statement. “The holidays [are] a time that brings us together and is something that brings us joy in the darkest of times. For us, this song stirs up memories of childhood snowball fights and finding the nearest hill to sled. It brings us back to spending time with family setting up the Christmas tree.”

Kai — “Get Me Good”

Kai has been working her way up in the music industry for several years and now, the singer has released her long-awaited debut EP Like Water and on it arrives the track “Get Me Good.” In a statement about her project, Kai wrote: “Like Water takes you on a visceral journey of a love found and a love lost with ebbs and flows in between. I believe that relationships are our greatest teachers. Some are meant to last forever, others are meant to teach us more about ourselves, even if only for a season.”

Benee — “Plain” Feat. Lily Allen, Flo Milli

After experiencing her global breakout this year, New Zealand musician Benee is gearing up for her debut album, Hey U, X. Sharing the Lily Allen and Flo Milli collaboration “Plain,” Benee said: “I wanted to make it a song someone could listen to when they find out their ex is with someone new. The feeling sucks, so I wanted ‘Plain’ to make ya feel like you have the upper hand. Lily and Flo Milli both have such cool sass, and both their verses really elevated the track!”

Bad Bunny — “Dákiti” Feat. Jhay Cortez

While Bad Bunny recently announced he was teaming up with the divisive shoe brand Crocs for a new design, it wasn’t the only collaboration the singer had in the works. This week, Bad Bunny tapped Jhay Cortez for the rhythmic single “Dákiti.” Over a low-key beat, Bad Bunny and Cortez trade verses about spending time with a love interest.

Wens — “Giant Bat”

Wens released her debut EP Lemoncholy earlier this year, but that hasn’t stopped the singer from releasing even more music. Sharing two tracks side-by-side this week, Wens explained that the double singles go “out to anyone who’s ever tried to or is currently trying to make long distance work. it’s hard as heck but if i could go back in time, i’d still do it all again.”

The Avalanches — “Interstellar Love” Feat. Leon Bridges

After cryptically announcing their next LP earlier this year, The Avalanches returned with a new single. Releasing the song “Interstellar Love” with Leon Bridges this week, The Avalanches’ Robbie Chater said: “Leon is an incredible singer, with just the most beautiful voice. He’s from Texas but we both happened to be in LA at the same time, which was lucky as he was on my all-time wish list. When we were in the studio, I told him the story about Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan and how her love-struck brain waves were sent out into space on the Voyager’s Golden Record. And this song came out of that.”

Empress Of — “You’ve Got To Feel” Feat. Amber Mark

Following her acclaimed record I’m Your Empress Of back in March, Empress Of launched her own label Major Arcana with the new single “You’ve Got To Feel.” Tapping Amber Mark to lend her hypnotic vocals, the single’s anticipatory beat offers a captivating juxtaposition to the lyrics which detail the pitfalls of our capitalistic culture.

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

The Grammy Award for Best World Music Album was introduced at the 1992 ceremony, but nearly 30 years later, the Recording Academy feels it’s time for a change. Yesterday, they announced that beginning with next year’s Grammys, the award will be known as Best Global Music Album.

The Academy explained the decision in a statement:

“As we continue to embrace a truly global mindset, we update our language to reflect a more appropriate categorization that seeks to engage and celebrate the current scope of music from around the world. Over the summer we held discussions with artists, ethnomusicologists, and linguists from around the world who determined that there was an opportunity to update the best world music album category toward a more relevant, modern, and inclusive term… The change symbolizes a departure from the connotations of colonialism, folk, and ‘non-American’ that the former term embodied while adapting to current listening trends and cultural evolution among the diverse communities it may represent.”

After the 2003 Grammys, the Best World Music Album award was split into two categories: Best Traditional World Music Album and Best Contemporary World Music Album. However, they were merged back into Best World Music Album for the 2012 ceremony.

This comes months after the Academy announced a slew of other changes, like the renaming of the Best Urban Contemporary Album category, which is now known as Best Progressive R&B Album.

Like many celebrities, Lady Gaga has been a vocal supporter of Joe Biden during this election cycle, and she helped give his campaign one more pre-election push by joining him at his Pennsylvania rally yesterday.

She performed solo piano renditions of “Shallow” and “You And I,” but before that, she gave an impassioned speech, in which she made reference to Trump’s infamous “grab ’em by the p*ssy” remark, saying, “Vote like your life depends on it, or vote like your children’s lives depend on it. Because they do. And to all the women, and all the men with daughters, and sisters, and mothers, everybody, no matter how you identify, now is your chance to vote against Donald Trump, a man who believes his fame gives him the right to grab one of your daughters, or sisters, or mothers, or wives by any part of their bodies. Vote for Joe, he’s a good person. Thank you.”

Watch the performance above and find the full text of Gaga’s speech below.

“Hello everybody. How are you feeling? I know, it’s a lot. This is a big one, Pennsylvania. So if you’re here, you probably already believe in Joe Biden. I know I believe in Joe Biden. You probably already believe he’s the right choice over Donald Trump. You don’t need me to tell you why. Because, like me, you’ve experienced the last four years and have all the evidence you need to look at this choice and know in your heart, without any doubt, that Joe Biden is the right choice.

So, I’m gonna keep this very simple. If you believe in Joe Biden, and you haven’t already voted, make a plan to get to the polls tomorrow. Turnout is going to be critical. Get there early. Get there as early as you can. Wait it out, pack food, dress warm. Anything you might need. If you’re standing, if you want to sit in line, charge your phone. Bring a friend, or two. Bring your neighbor. A member of your family. And together, cast a vote for your country and be willing to do whatever it takes to stand up for what you believe in. This is your vote.

And guess what? We need all of you to vote. I know you’ve seen the polls. The record number of early and mail-in votes. It’s tempting to feel comfortable and confident and sit back, but now is not a time to feel confident and sit back. Right now it’s time for action. It’s time to muster our energy. Every ounce of us, every ounce of hope and optimism and enthusiasm. Every ounce of fear and frustration and discouragement. Now is a time to show up and vote like this country depends on it, because it does.

I want to remind you. Listen to me, I want to remind you and all the people who are listening. We all know that this thing may come down to Pennsylvania. We need you. We need your family, we need your friends. We need your heart. Vote like your life depends on it, or vote like your children’s lives depend on it. Because they do. And to all the women, and all the men with daughters, and sisters, and mothers, everybody, no matter how you identify, now is your chance to vote against Donald Trump, a man who believes his fame gives him the right to grab one of your daughters, or sisters, or mothers, or wives by any part of their bodies. Vote for Joe, he’s a good person. Thank you.”

For the past couple of weeks, The Daily Show has been counting down President Donald Trump’s 100 most tremendous scandals. Narrowing the list down to only 100 scandals must have been difficult, because as correspondent and segment host Roy Wood Jr. put it, “Scandals. Every president’s had one. But while most presidents are only known for one big scandal, Donald Trump has truly changed the game.” The list began with Trump trying to buy Greenland, and we’re off with “remember that” moments! Other highlights from four years of the Trump administration: picking a fight with teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Melania’s war on Christmas, breaking clearance protocols for his daughter and son-in-law, encouraging police brutality (only #57!), calling U.S. soldiers who died in combat “losers” and “suckers,” and tweeting all the goddamn time.

On Monday, the night before Election Day, The Daily Show finally got to the top 25. “These are the big ones. These are the scandals that are going to cement Donald Trump’s place in history books,” Wood, Jr. said. “Assuming history books are still allowed after November.” These are Donald Trump’s 10 most tremendous scandals.

10. Skipping intel briefs.
9. Attacking mail-in voting.
8. Encouraging Russian meddling.
7. Obstruction of justice.
6. Protecting Khashoggi’s killers.
5. Sexual assault.
4. Separating families at the border.
3. Ukraine quid pro quo.
2. Coronavirus response.
1. HE’S SOMEHOW STILL PRESIDENT.

Happy Election Day, everyone! You can watch 1-25 above, and the other 75 below.

You know what today is, right? It’s a big day for all of the US&A! By the end of the night, we may or may not know who won the presidential election — it actually seems unlikely that we’ll have a definitive answer — but it’s guaranteed to be a chaos-filled showdown until the end. And Borat (whose prank against Rudy Giuliani shook up the little world of Trump’s personal attorney) is here to help and hurt matters all the same time.

Here’s Sacha Baron Cohen’s Kazakhstan journalist character tossing out a final plea in an Election Eve video. He’s asking women not to vote, of course, because that might hinder Trump’s chances at reelection victory.

Granted, nearly 100 million Americans already headed to the polls (which is about two-thirds of 2016’s total voting turnout), including loads of women, so it sure looks like Borat’s plea has come too late. Yet isn’t he a breath of satirical fresh air? 2020’s been a beast, and Baron Cohen couldn’t possibly hold the antidote to all that ails us, but he (once again) succeeded at making millions of people laugh.

This shall be a confrontational election no matter how one spins things, and we’ll be providing election coverage when the polls close. Do join us while you’re glued to cable TV tonight (with or without a box of wine in tow).

Lil Pump has come under fire in recent days after he expressed his support for Donald Trump last month. Over the weekend, he attended a Trump rally in Florida, and he then followed the president to his rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan last night/this morning and got on stage after Trump invited him to speak (and after Trump called him “Little Pimp”).

At the rally at around 1 a.m. this morning, Trump noted, “Speaking of sound, music, and other things, one of the big superstars of the world, Little Pimp…” He trailed off as he spotted the rapper in the crowd before continuing, “There he is. How’s it going? Do you want to come up and say something? Do you want to? Come on. Little Pump, come on, come on up here. Does everyone know who he is? Do you know how big he is?”

Pump got on stage, shook the president’s hand, got behind the podium, and spoke briefly, saying, “Hello everybody, how you guys feeling? I come here to say: Mr. President, I appreciate everything you’ve done for our country. You brought the troops home, and you’re doing the right thing. MAGA 2020 20, don’t forget that! Don’t forget that, and do not vote for Sleepy Joe at all!” Pump and Trump then shared a brief exchange as the rapper left the stage.

Watch the video above.

Tucker Carlson’s unusual behavior over the past week or so has taken another turn. Most recently, the Fox News host appeared to gain some humanity while deciding that it’s time to leave Hunter Biden alone. This change-of-heart went down after an extensive misadventure over a missing (and alleged) “smoking gun” package that Tucker seemed to believe would have been an October surprise big enough to definitively win the election for Trump. Well, the wind might have been taken out of Tucker’s sails, but he’s now got reason — I guess? — to celebrate: a montage of Trump busting out his butt-shaking and other random dance moves to the Village People’s “YMCA.”

You may have scrubbed that recent memory from your brain already, but Tucker’s here to help you relive the, uh, magic. Clearly, the MAGA-loving host is feeling good about airing this 90 seconds of footage, and he introduces the montage as “perhaps the most important video we’ve seen in quite some time.”

Who really knows if Tucker was entirely serious (or partially sarcastic) with his description but he sure thought it was a great idea to swallow up some airtime with Trump’s jerky movements that have been (unfavorably) compared to Seinfeld‘s Elaine dance. The timing, of course, must be meant to send Fox News viewers into a patriotic tizzy for Election Day. Yet one cannot forget that Trump’s joy-filled moves continue to happen as the U.S. passes 231,000 official COVID deaths and counting.

On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted the montage out as well, and as it turns out, it’s an official campaign thing. Yikes.

Previously, the Village People asked Trump to please stop using their music for his campaign events, and the irony of Trump choosing gay anthems to play at his rallies was not lost upon the general public or CNN’s Anderson Cooper in October. His incredulous live reaction to hearing that Trump was also playing “Macho Man” was priceless. As Nikki NuVogue wrote on Twitter, “Anderson Cooper is every gay man in America right now when he hears Macho Man playing at a Trump Rally. The irony of a gay anthem playing at a Trump Rally is lost on the crowd.” And the irony is lost on Tucker Carlson.

Back in August, it looked like new downloads of the popular app TikTok were going to be banned in the US. Fast-forward just a few months later, and it now seems that the app will actually be expanding its reach. TikTok just signed a music licensing deal with Sony, meaning popular songs by artists like Beyonce, Travis Scott, and many more will soon be available for use in videos.

According to a report from Bloomberg, TikTok is shelling out quite a bit more money for the new deal compared to previous contracts. On top of allowing their artists’ music on the platform, Sony’s deal with TikTok will foster emerging artist discovery. “We believe that we should share value with the music industry,” TikTok’s head of global music Ole Obermann said in a statement. “As we grow, the value of the industry should grow.”

TikTok has shown that it has powerful influence in the music industry. Lil Nas X became a global superstar when “Old Town Road” dominated on the app, Doja Cat scored her first No. 1 single after her track “Say So” went viral, and New Zealand artist Benee experienced her global breakout following the explosion of her song “Supalonely” among users.

The new deal allows thousands of more artists to get a shot at promoting their music on the app. Because TikTok has now secured the rights to music by Sony artists, that means musicians on the label’s imprints, including RCA and Columbia, can now make their catalog available for use in videos.

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

Ever since Britney Spears shared a video nonchalantly explaining that she burned down her home gym, the #FreeBritney movement has seen a second wave. Spear’s father and legal conservator, along with several of the singer’s lawyers, have continuously denied claims that she’s being controlled. Now, Spears is speaking directly to her fans about her wellbeing for the first time since the #FreeBritney movement’s revival.

In a video posted to Instagram, the singer assured fans that she is safe and happy. “So I know that there have been a lot of comments, a lot of people saying a lot of different things about me,” she said in the video. “But I just want to let you guys know that I’m fine. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life and I’m sending all of you guys a lot of prayers, wishes, and a lot of love.”

Britney’s brief message comes soon after her former estate manager Andrew Wallet claimed that the conservatorship is in her best interest. “Britney is in a conservatorship for good reason, but a lot of the Free Britney people have no experience with the law,” Wallet said, adding: “The most important question is whether the conservatorship is in her best interests. That’s what you always have to ask yourself and I absolutely still believe that the conservatorship is in her best interests.”

See Britney’s video above.

With the live music industry taking a major hit this year, festivals and artists have been forced to get creative. Many festivals, like Coachella, postponed their event several times before canceling altogether. Rather than wait until it’s safe to have large gatherings, several have instead pivoted to online platforms in lieu of in-person performances — and that’s exactly what Reykjavík festival Iceland Airwaves has elected to do this year.

Iceland Airwaves recently announced their livestream Live From Reykjavík would take the place of their in-person festival. Streaming November 14-15, the virtual festival boasts a lineup of local Icelandic artists, including Of Monsters and Men, Ólafur Arnalds, Ásgeir, and many more.

In a statement about the online event, festival director Ísleifur Thorhallsson said: “We wanted to find a way to shine a spotlight on the vast talent of the music scene here in Iceland, as well as support the larger industry and show some innovation. To have all these artists in Iceland at the same time is a ‘lighting strikes once’ moment, and we wanted to seize it with both hands.”

Watch the Live From Reykjavík livestream teaser above.

Live From Reykjavík kicks off 11/14 at 7:30 p.m. local time, with tickets starting at $40 for single-day passes. Get them here.

Revisit our review of Iceland Airwaves 2019 here.