Month: November 2020

In case you missed today’s bad news, Scooter Braun has sold Taylor Swift’s masters — once again, not to her. This is bad news because an artist should have the right to own their own music, especially when they have the necessary fortune to buy it back. Taylor alleges that before she even had a chance to bid on her work, Braun hit her with the kind of NDA that silences women forever, one that Taylor’s legal team described as reminiscent of sexual assault accusers hush money cases. Overreaction much?

Anyway, as we all know Taylor, she would clearly never sign something like that, and a company called Shamrock Holdings, which is affiliated with Disney, now owns Taylor’s work. It sucks for Taylor and her fans, but the situation also sucks for fans of Scooter’s other pop star clients, namely Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. These fans have to figure out where they stand given Scooter’s behavior. Some are reacting by not wanting to listen to Demi or Ari’s music since they’re staying silent about the situation:

Others wonder if Scooter would abuse his power like this with Taylor, why not with those he has even more control over? Or if those artists have already signed an NDA that prevents them from speaking out:

There’s plenty of gray here, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the most important thing to remember is there’s zero reason to pit Ariana and Taylor against each other for a man’s behavior. His connection to Ariana aside, she doesn’t have to be held accountable for his actions, and her and Taylor have never had bad blood, remember?

If fans are disappointed Ariana and Demi aren’t speaking out, that makes sense too, but boycotting their music is probably not the way to help Taylor here. Now, we wait and see what else happens in this saga.

Is there a modern rock hero more heavily associated with the guitar than Jack White? Wait, don’t answer that, no reason to start a turf war when the point is simply to discuss the one and only Jack White and his guitar obsession. Catapulted to mainstream fame during his work with The White Stripes, Jack has since become known for a plethora of other bands, like The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, and his solo work, not to mention his record store and label Third Man Records — and for collaborating with plenty of other artists, notably Loretta Lynn and Bob Dylan.

But the thing that Jack might be best known for (at least after this video), is his obsession with guitars. In a new lighthearted clip posted to Youtube via The Raconteurs, Jack talks the audience through all the many tricks and “contraptions” that his Three Wheel Motion Low Rider Telecaster has been outfitted with. It’s pure guitar nerdery, but done with such earnest excitement, and with changes and updates offered over the course of a few months, that it’s hard not to get sucked in. The video has the slapdash feel of quarantine-driven fun, and hey, it’s nice to know famous musicians are getting a little silly while they’re cooped up, too.

Of course, listening to Jack’s music it’s clear that he’s doing things on a guitar most musicians can’t, but actually seeing him walk through some of the elements is pretty mind-blowing. And then of course, there’s the plug for a Raconteurs song at the end — this guitar can be heard on last year’s track “Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying),” which you can also stream below.

The Milwaukee Bucks are going all in on this upcoming season after yet another disappointing playoff exit. With Giannis Antetokounmpo’s supermax deal looming as the biggest decision in the NBA this offseason, Milwaukee is doing everything it can to ensure he knows they’re committed to building a winner.

Late Monday night, word broke that Milwaukee was sending a haul of three first round picks, two pick swaps, Eric Bledsoe, and George Hill to New Orleans to land star combo guard Jrue Holiday. However, the Bucks weren’t done there, as they reportedly executed a sign-and-trade to bring Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings to Milwaukee. The rumblings of that interest was first reported by Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, with Adrian Wojnarowski offering the first report that a deal was indeed done — with Justin James also going to Milwaukee to make the deal work.

The Bucks, who exhausted their draft capital in the Holiday trade, managed to get the Kings on board by sending Ersan Ilyasova’s expiring contract to Sacramento along with Donte DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson. DiVincenzo is the centerpiece of the deal for Sacramento as he’s emerged as a reliable 3-and-D wing, with Wilson as a stretch big that some believe was underutilized in Milwaukee.

For the Bucks, they add more wing help that they seriously needed and suddenly have a robust starting five of Holiday, Khris Middleton, Bogdanovic, Giannis, and Brook Lopez that they hope can make them the top team in the East and compete with the Lakers and other top teams in the West for a title. Bogdanovic is a terrific shooter, hitting 37.4 percent of his threes on his career (on impressive volume) and is also a capable secondary ball-handler. He will add serious offensive punch as a tertiary option alongside Middleton and Giannis, further spacing the floor and giving them someone who can be a lead option in bench minutes when needed — which is especially important for Milwaukee given Mike Budenholzer’s propensity for keeping his stars’ minutes fairly low.

Dorian Electra thrives when it comes to satirical videos. In several visuals alongside their My Agenda album, the musician has parodied sword-slinging incels, the Joker, and toxic masculinity. But now, they’re taking on their most unsettling character yet: a Christian, autumn-loving, Pumpkin Spice latte-drinking cisgendered woman.

Electra takes on the role in their “F The World” video. With a Christmas-themed Starbucks cup in tow, Electra frolics in fallen leaves and coddles their precious pumpkins as the song’s disorienting synths simmer in the foreground.

Ahead of their “F The World” video’s release, Electra discussed the song and their My Agenda album in an interview with Uproxx. Describing how they come up with their distinctly unique sound, Electra said:

“I figure out what would be the most unexpected combo or the most dramatic, jarring combo. I’m very desensitized to a lot of that. So I have to figure out how to switch it up even more for my next step, but I always love something unexpected. I love things that reclaim sounds that have been considered uncool. Also, things that reclaim genres of music that have become super masculine, like dubstep becoming ‘brostep’ or being associated with frat bros and becoming uncool. But it’s actually a really cool sound of music. Then something like black metal, which is a really amazing and cool genre of music, that’s unfortunately been co-opted by a lot of people on the far right that are white nationalists and white supremacists.”

Watch Electra’s “F The World” video above.

My Agenda is out now via Dorian Electra. Get it here.

Since early November, rumblings have existed that the New Orleans Pelicans were examining the trade market for standout guard Jrue Holiday. Though the Atlanta Hawks were reported as a potential suitor, a lot of the attention for Holiday centered on ready-made title contenders and, on Monday evening, word broke from Shams Charania of The Athletic that the Milwaukee Bucks were able to land Holiday to bolster their already impressive roster.

Charania also notes that the Pelicans will acquire Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and draft compensation from Milwaukee to complete the deal. It will be interesting to note what the draft compensation looks like, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski later noting it will be three first-round draft picks of some kind and Charania indicating it will also include two pick swaps.

In addition, both Bledsoe and Hill are valuable players that the Pelicans can integrate, all while potentially adding future value through the draft.

Holiday’s contract situation was at least part of the impetus to move him on the side of New Orleans, as the 30-year-old guard is owed $26.2 million for 2020-21 before deciding on a player option for the 2021-22 season. With all signs pointing to Holiday opting out of that final year, the Pelicans would turn him into Bledsoe, who is a strong player that is also under team control for two additional seasons.

For Milwaukee, this is an “all-in” move and the connection to the state of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract status cannot be ignored. The two-time NBA MVP can decide on a super-max contract in the coming days, and the commitment by Milwaukee (in the form of this draft compensation) is significant, while upgrading with the addition of Holiday in the short term.

This kind of trade certainly could swing the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, as Holiday is a tremendous player to pair with Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez. At the same time, the Pelicans extract significant value for Holiday on what was effectively an expiring contract, and New Orleans is now set up in a positive way for the future.

The Houston Rockets have been at the center of the basketball universe in recent days following reports that both James Harden and Russell Westbrook would like to get sent elsewhere. Time will tell what happens with those two, but on Monday night, word came down that the team is planning on moving one of their most important role players.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, three-and-D ace Robert Covington is headed to the Portland Trail Blazers. In exchange, the Rockets will receive the No. 16 pick in this week’s NBA Draft, a future first, and a former Rocket, Trevor Ariza.

Bobby Marks of ESPN laid out the financials behind this move.

Ariza’s a solid role player who was an important piece of the Rockets’ puzzle during his tenure there — he averaged 12.2 points per game and connected on 35.7 percent of his threes from 2015-18 — and he helped the Blazers following his acquisition during the back half of last season. The move, at least from Houston’s perspective, seems to give them some much-needed Draft capital after much of it was burned in the deal that they made to acquire Westbrook last year.

As for Covington, he’ll serve as a stout perimeter defender and shooter for the Blazers team that desperately needed those last season. He spent time with the Timberwolves and Rockets last year, averaging 12.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Musicians’ name changes have been the source of some media attention lately after Lady Antebellum and The Dixie Chicks altered their monikers to distance themselves from racist connotations. But there are many other reasons why artists decide to change their titles. Shady Records signee Boogie is now in the latter camp after the rapper has reportedly slightly altered his name.

While Boogie recently released “Boxed In” as his first single of 2020, the song may have been his last under the name. According to a report from HotNewHipHop, the rapper is looking to be known as Westside Boogie in an official capacity. The news of the name change was made clear by his contribution to the LVRN Home For The Holidays compilation, which sees him credited under the new moniker.

The rapper’s decision to adopt the new name reflects his Compton roots, but also comes at an apt time. Not only will his new title save the rapper from an A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie mix up, but Westside Gunn recently announced his decision to leave the Shady Records family. That means Boogie now has the opportunity to be the sole Westside on his label.

Check out the Home For The Holidays tracklist above.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ice Cube has seen an abundance of controversy in the past few months. The rapper recently had to clarify that he wasn’t a MAGA supporter after he was criticized by fans for working with the Trump administration. Cube was also flagged for sharing an antisemitic meme just a few weeks before that (which he later claimed was posted by a hacker). But it now looks like Cube is trying to smooth things over with a head-scratching gala appearance.

Cube has apparently been booked to headline the annual gala of the Zionist Organization Of America (ZOA) at the end of next month, according to NME. The virtual event will also see a speech from Jon Voight, who has similarly faced criticism for backing Trump.

The rapper’s appearance at the gala was secured after he formed a friendship with the ZOA’s president Morton Klein. Cube and Klein were in contact following the rapper’s controversial tweet and the two apparently had a two-hour-long eye-opening conversation about the NAACP and civil rights. Klein detailed his chat with Cube in a tweet posted back in July. Along with mentioning the that two condemned racism and antisemitism in their chat, Klein said: “Cube told me he thanked Jews for starting NAACP, many Black schools & fighting for Black civil rights.”

The second season of His Dark Materials promises more. More fantasy. More adventure. And more mature storytelling. The show, an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s best-selling fantasy series, enjoyed a critically well-received first go-round with Dafne Keen playing the feisty young protagonist Lyra Belaqua, who has a terribly important destiny and is surrounded by morally-questionable adults (played by names like Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda). Season 2 sees Lyra partner with a young boy named Will (Amir Wilson), traverse multiple worlds, and confront philosophically-complex ideas like the concept of Original Sin.

It’s… a lot. But it works, thanks to the show’s commitment to its source material and its charismatic cast. We chatted with His Dark Materials writer Jack Thorne on the twists of Season two, exploring darker storylines from the book, Fleabag fanfiction, and yes, Baby Yoda.

For fans who maybe came to the show and haven’t read the books, what are some things that you’re excited for people to see this season?

The first season we were constantly on the move, we were never really allowed to sit still. She was constantly making and forming new relationships. This series is much more about her being in one place and chartering the journey of one relationship, one very significant relationship, which is the relationship with Will. She is not the girl we met in series one. In series one, she was always anxious for what was next. What’s the next adventure? Here she’s had an adventure and it’s not turned out well and she’s battling demons that have been brought to her by her parents.

We always described it as a series about trust. Will and Lyra are learning to trust each other. Will has never trusted anyone because he’s a teenage carer that’s had to look after his mum. That’s had to act as sort of her protector for a very long time, from a very young age. Lyra is someone that did trust easily and now, in terms of that trust, [it’s] really basically broken by her uncle, who she subsequently discovered was her father, who did the worst thing possible towards her.

You had a planned stand-alone episode with James McAvoy that got scrapped because of COVID. You were editing this earlier in the year. Has what’s been going on with the pandemic affected the tone of the show in any way?

The bit that we didn’t get to film would have been — we all had pandemic in our heads then. But I mean, we hadn’t heard of COVID-19 when we were making this show. It’s interesting that this show deals with an empty town where adults are all petrified of creatures they can’t see. So, a virus they can’t see, whereas the children are seemingly less affected by [it]. In our world, children do seem to be able to move around a bit more than adults can. So that is fascinating for us. I firmly believe that Philip Pullman is a wizard, but I don’t think he necessarily prophesized this.

Speaking of darker themes, the second book in Pullman’s series is heavier, more mature. How do you strike a balance between the material and the audience you’re trying to reach?

It’s hard. For HBO and the BBC, we’re a family show — that’s one thing that they are most excited by. Because those sorts of shows aren’t in abundance right now. So it’s important that we are a show that young people can watch with their parents and that they won’t go to bed with nightmares. Getting that balance right is tricky. It’s tough. We are constantly discussing it. It’s not just a matter of how dark we go. It’s also how much conversation do we allow? Where’s the bit that will make the nine-year-old boy sit forward; the nine-year-old girl sit forward? As well as where are the bits that will appeal to the 45-year-old who’s watching it on their own? Do you know what I mean? And getting that, doing that 9 – 90 thing is the biggest challenge of the show because there’s so much temptation to descend towards the darkness, because the darkness is so thrilling.

The show had a big writer’s room change in Season 2. You were able to bring on a handful of voices to help flesh out certain storylines. How does that change manifest on screen?

We knew that I wasn’t going to be able to write anymore, that we just didn’t have the time to do it that way. So I wrote all the drafts on my own and then the writers came in and they took the first drafts that I wrote and then transformed them. I needed to lay out the story. When you’re chartering the relationship between Will and Lyra, you want to make sure that we’re not jumping to places too quickly. That we’re seeing that relationship develop, so I just wanted to make sure that was in place, and then this incredible team came in.

You think, “Well, their job is to take on and develop and do things.” And of course, what they do instead is they transform. In one case, they did so much work on the script, that it didn’t feel right for me taking credit at all anymore. But yeah, I’d say that the storyline, in particular, it felt like they took on and ran with was the witches. We always knew we wanted to bring Ruta in and I’ve written Ruta in. And I’ve written the relationship between and Ruta and Serafina, but they just deepened it and needled it, and just brought it to a much more worthy and interesting place.

You’ve also brought on a couple of new faces, Andrew Scott being the big one. And we get a mini Fleabag reunion later in the season. How did you convince Phoebe Waller-Bridge to do that?

We offered and Phoebe said yes? [Laughs] She’s lovely. I’ve worked with Phoebe a few times. We made plays together. I think maybe it was her second play, but we started out together in our 20s. And obviously, she loves Andrew, and she has always loved these books. So, she was delighted to be asked and we were beyond delighted and she said, “Yeah, sure.” We’re very lucky.

I hope you know having Hot Priest and Fleabag working together to destroy God is going to spark a lot of fanfiction once the show premieres.

Fantastic.

Another new character is Simone Kirby’s Dr. Malone. What’s her relationship with Lyra this season?

Well, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I love Mary. I think she’s an interesting character from here onwards. Whether or not she is good for Lyra? I think that’s a really key question for Philip, and I wouldn’t want to answer it yet.

The Mandalorian Season 2 is out. If it’s a fight between Pan and Baby Yoda, who’s cuter?

[Laughs] I think it depends on what form Pan is in.

He’s an adorable red panda this season. You knew what you were doing.

There’s an advertisement in Cittàgazze for a drink and that all comes from that. That’s how that sort of thing happened. But yeah, no, I think he’s unbearably cute, the red panda.

Take that, Baby Yoda.

I wouldn’t want to fight Baby Yoda, to be honest. The idea of being in competition with that thing is beyond us.

HBO’s ‘His Dark Materials’ returns on Monday, November 16.

As the NBA’s offseason frenzy approaches, deals are already being made, including the high-profile transaction to send Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns. While the Houston Rockets haven’t been involved just yet, all indications are that things are coming to an impasse between James Harden and his current team, with the latest reporting taking the developments to a new level.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski brings word on Monday evening that Harden “has made it clear to ownership that he’s singularly focused on a trade” and his preferred destination is the Brooklyn Nets. Though it is important to note that ESPN’s reporting also notes that the two teams “so far have engaged in no meaningful dialogue,” these kind of discussions can often escalate quickly.

The Rockets are in a challenging position in that Harden remains a top-flight player and the team is likely dreading the potential of moving him elsewhere. In addition, this kind of public posturing for one particular destination can damage the market for Harden and, with Houston still trying to compete, they may choose to hang on to Harden through the beginning of the upcoming 2020-21 season.

As an additional wrinkle, Wojnarowski reports that Houston recently offered Harden a contract extension that would add more than $100 million in total cash over two additional seasons. If Harden were to accept, he would be owed more than $240 million over five years, but Harden’s reported insistence on moving to Brooklyn seemingly wasn’t overcome by the financial commitment.

It remains to be seen as to how this will play out, but the Rockets reportedly aren’t overwhelmed by the prospects of a deal with Brooklyn specifically. Given that the Nets would seemingly be intent on avoiding the inclusion of Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant in any offer, Brooklyn would have a package centering on strong pieces like Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie and Jarrett Allen, but none would qualify as “stars” at this juncture. From there, the Nets don’t have top-end draft capital to offer, which could leave the two teams without an obvious common ground on a deal.