Month: January 2021

The first two episodes of WandaVision were inspired by 1950s sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show, but for episode three, the show moved forward to the late 1960s and 1970s. The colors, the fashion, the decor — “Now in Color” looked like an episode of The Brady Bunch, and even included an homage to one of the show’s most famous episodes.

In the season one The Brady Bunch episode, “Kitty Karry-All Is Missing,” Cindy loses her cherished doll, Kitty Karry-all. She blames her brother, Bobby, and in classic old-school sitcom fashion, their parents, Mike and Carol, hold a mock trial so the family can vote on the boy’s guilt or innocence. He’s innocent, obviously, and after some kazoo-based shenanigans, we learn who the real culprit is: Tiger, the family dog. There’s no dog on WandaVision (yet), but a familiar-looking doll did appear in the new episode.

The opening credits and staircase in the living room were also Brady Bunch-y…

… and there’s more TV homages to come. “I loved TV, and watched far too much The Dick Van Dyke Show and I Love Lucy and Bewitched and everything,” Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige told Empire. “We go up to the Modern Family and The Office style. The talk-to-the-camera, shaky-camera, documentary style.” It’s a shame that WandaVision flew past the early 1960s. Wanda’s vampire grandfather could have come to town.

CJ Camerieri has performed on music by people like Taylor Swift, Paul Simon, The National, and plenty more over the past decade or so. Now, his self-titled debut album as CARM is out via Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, and Justin Vernon’s label 37d03d. It features even more collaborations, including tracks with Vernon and Sufjan Stevens.

Those two artists bookend the album. It begins with the Stevens-featuring “Song Of Trouble,” a typically gentle Stevens-style song taken to a different level with Camerieri’s horns. Camerieri’s instrumentation similarly adds another dimension to his Vernon collab, the album-closing “Land.” Meanwhile, he also got Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan to join him on “Already Gone.”

Vernon has been singing the praises of the album over the past few weeks. In mid-December, he wrote of “Song Of Trouble,” “So I’m so excited you can hear this song, by Carm, I’ve listened to over and over for years now. These lyrics may actually be the strongest lyrics I’ve ever heard from the master Sufjan. Aaaand maybe just a bit on point for these times. Do yourself a favor and press play.” Yesterday, Vernon added, “Put the Carm album in your listening plans for tomorrow. A release that’s been years in the making.”

Camerieri broke down some music that influenced his new album in a Brooklyn Vegan interview and said of Vernon:

“Justin’s voice is a once in a generation instrument, and the way he uses each Bon Iver record to surround it with new sounds, technologies, and atmospheres to create completely fresh musical experiences for the listener is what every artist should aspire to achieve. I think of the way Paul Simon used wildly varied musical landscapes to make his poetry speak in different ways as the most apt comparison for what Justin is doing with the Bon Iver project.”

He also said of Stevens:

“Sufjan’s use of orchestral instruments set the stage for everything I’ve done in my career. He was the first artist I toured and recorded with after graduating from Juilliard and playing those incredible trumpet melodies every night was such a thrill. He brilliantly recognized the similarities between the trumpet and the human voice, utilizing the instrument’s vulnerabilities, expressive capabilities, and inherent strength to carry a song forward.”

Listen to “Song Of Trouble” and “Land” above and stream CARM below.

CARM is out now via 37d03d. Get it here.

Netflix is getting things done in 2021 as promised with an enormous amount of fresh content flowing every week and month. Thank goodness, too, since social distancing and staying home when possible is still the way to go. This week’s lineup of new stuff doesn’t get too serious (wait for that to happen, sort-of, next week). There’s a live-action adaptation of a comic about coming-of-age fairies, a Spanish comedy film about babies switched at birth, and a tale of an rags-to-riches for an unconventional setting. Oh, and there’s some serious bling involved, along with plenty of non-original series and films that come and go on Netflix on a regular basis. In other words, there’s no freaking way you’ll be bored while streaming.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

Fate: The Winx Saga (Netflix series streaming 1/22)

Based upon the Italian cartoon Winx Club (by Iginio Straffi), this live-action reimagining serves as a coming-of-age tale set in the Otherworld, at a magical boarding school. It’s essentially a journey for five young fairies at the Alfea school, and those with human parents don’t even know that this school doesn’t exist in the “real” world. Expect a lot of teenage drama as the young women hone their powers while dealing with all the usual stuff, like love, rivalries, and monsters.

The White Tiger (Netflix film streaming 1/22)

Priyanka Chopra Jonas stars in this film as Pinky, who’s one of the passengers for a young hero jockey who becomes a driver, Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav). He narrates this purportedly epic story about his darkly humorous rise from rags to riches in modern India. He’s cunning and ambitious and doesn’t want to sit in his socially acceptable box, and his journey takes an unconventional and somewhat rogue turn, which leads him to become a different type of master than, again, also socially acceptable. The film’s based upon the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name.

Daughter from Another Mother (Netflix film streaming 1/16)

In this Spanish film, officially titled Madre Solo Hay Dos, two women discover that their babies were inadvertently switched at birth, so they do what they have to do: develop a plan to unite as a single, very strange family.

Bling Empire (Netflix series streaming 1/15)

This show revolves around a group of ridiculously wealthy, L.A.-based Asian and Asian-American friends. They’re shopping and traveling the globe, but there are secrets that are being kept and spilled, and soon, all goals will collide with frenemies positioning themselves for more opulent glory.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 1/15
Bling Empire
Carmen Sandiego: Season 4
Disenchantment: Part 3
Double Dad (Pai Em Dobro)
Henry Danger: Seasons 1-3
Hook
Kuroko’s Basketball: Season 1
The Magicians: Season 5
Outside the Wire
Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie
Pinkfong & Baby Shark’s Space Adventure

Avail. 1/16
A Monster Calls
Radium Girls

Avail. 1/18
Homefront

Avail. 1/19
Hello Ninja: Season 4

Avail. 1/20
Daughter From Another Mother (Madre solo hay dos)
Sightless
Spycraft

Avail. 1/21
Call My Agent!: Season 4

Avail. 1/22
Blown Away: Season 2
Busted!: Season 3
Fate: The Winx Saga
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Season 2
So My Grandma’s a Lesbian! (Salir del ropero)
The White Tiger

Avail. 1/23
Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce)

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 1/24
When Calls the Heart: Seasons 1-5

Leaving 1/26
We Are Your Friends

Leaving 1/29
Swiss Army Man

Leaving 1/30
The Hundred-Foot Journey

Leaving 1/31
A Thin Line Between Love & Hate
Braxton Family Values: Seasons 1-2
Death at a Funeral
Employee of the Month
For Colored Girls
Malicious
Mr. Deeds
Pineapple Express

Based on the first memes of the year, 2021 is off to a better start than 2020.

Bernie Sanders, looking like every parent waiting for their kid’s soccer game to be over, and his mittens took over the internet on Inauguration Day, and it’s still going strong. He’s been turned into a cast member from The Sopranos, the fourth Haim sibling, and a baseball card, but the Vermont senator didn’t immediately realize he had gone viral.

When asked if he was aware of his meme fame on Thursday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Sanders told host Seth Meyers, “Not at all. I was just sitting there, trying to keep warm. Trying to pay attention to what was going on.” Meyers, who praised the senator for not being a politician “who uses memes” (his Twitter account mercifully hasn’t exploited the meme; it’s still focused on real issues), wondered if Sanders’ staff showed him some of their favorites. “Yeah, I’ve seen them,” he replied while laughing.

Sanders also brought up the woman who made the mittens. “She is a schoolteacher and a very, very nice person, and she’s somewhat overwhelmed by the kind of attention that’s being shown to her mittens,” he said. As for the contents of his mysterious manilla envelope, he isn’t saying. “I’d love to tell you, Seth, but it’s top secret,” he told Meyers.

Watch the Late Night clip above.

Last month marked one year since Juice WRLD’s untimely death at Chicago Midway International Airport. Prior to the anniversary, fans received an ample amount of music from the Chicago rapper and that bounty continued through the one-year anniversary of his passing. The latest posthumous release from Juice WRLD comes in the form of a guest appearance on DJ Scheme’s “Buck 50.” The mellow effort lands on a re-release of the producer’s Family album and sees the “Lucid Dreams” act keeping it straight with his opponents while warning them that retaliation is in order if he or anyone in his crew is injured on their behalf.

The track stands as the only addition to the Family deluxe album and it also concludes with a guitar solo dedicated to Juice WRLD from Carlton McDowell, who grew up with and remained close friends with the late rapper. Juice’s contribution to “Buck 50,” comes after he and Young Thug delivered a menacing video for their long-awaited track, “Bad Boy.” That video was directed by Cole Bennett, who made sure to add a positive message from the fellow Chicagoan at the visual’s start. Prior to that, The Kid Laroi dropped his “Reminds Me Of You” collaboration with Juice on the one-year anniversary of his death.

Listen to “Buck 50” above.

Family (Deluxe) is otu now via Scheme Records/EMPIRE. Get it here.

While much of the music internet was frustrated today by the multiple delays of the Verzuz showdown between Ashanti and Keyshia Cole — initially postponed because Ashanti contracted COVID-19 and then airing over an hour after the posted start time tonight — one rapper was feeling just fine. 21 Savage was also feeling himself, happy to sing along to the R&B jams that populated tonight’s battle, going on Instagram live himself to let fans see him crooning along, albeit a little offkey, to some of the hits.

Fans on Twitter posted clips from the rapper’s livestream, where he belts with Keyshia on her song “Love”:

And then later on Keyshia’s “I Remember:”

While the Atlanta rapper is mostly known for sticking to bars and not venturing too far into the world of singing, hey, there’s nothing else to do right now… maybe Keyshia and him can link up to put something new together for us, she probably didn’t know he was such a fan before tonight! Other events during tonight’s show included O.T. Genasis reuniting with Keyshia to get back on good terms and join her for “Love.” This peacemaking is a little reminiscent of Gucci Mane and Jeezy appearing to squash their longstanding beef on their own Verzuz.

Genesis is great, but he’s got nothing on Savage.

After a month worth of delays, Keyshia Cole and Ashanti finally had their long-awaited Verzuz battle on Thursday night. The singers brought out their vocals as they traversed through 20 of the best songs from their respective catalogs. While the night was filled with memorable moments that included Cole showing up more than an hour late to the battle as well as the odd sponsorship combination from Ciroc and Doritos, one of the best moments of the Verzuz matchup came when O.T. Genasis made a surprise appearance on the livestream to an exuberant performance of “Love” with Cole.

You may recall that in 2019 Genasis shared a comedic “Cuz” remix of Cole’s classic 2006 track. While many fans enjoyed the new take with the rapper’s poor high notes, the R&B singer herself was not a fan of it. During a 2019 episode on her talk show, One On One With Keyshia Cole, she expressed her distaste with the remix. “I would like my classics to be left alone,” she said at one point. “How I’m going to get paid, you know what I’m sayin’, if you making new lyrics and you ain’t sent me out a check or anything like that?” Afterward, the two sent a few more jabs in each other’s direction but now it seems like all is well between them both.

You can watch their duet above.

O.T. Genasis is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After a month worth of delays, Keyshia Cole and Ashanti finally had their long-awaited Verzuz battle on Thursday night. The singers brought out their vocals as they traversed through 20 of the best songs from their respective catalogs. While the night was filled with memorable moments that included Cole showing up more than an hour late to the battle as well as the odd sponsorship combination from Ciroc and Doritos, one of the best moments of the Verzuz matchup came when O.T. Genasis made a surprise appearance on the livestream to an exuberant performance of “Love” with Cole.

You may recall that in 2019 Genasis shared a comedic “Cuz” remix of Cole’s classic 2006 track. While many fans enjoyed the new take with the rapper’s poor high notes, the R&B singer herself was not a fan of it. During a 2019 episode on her talk show, One On One With Keyshia Cole, she expressed her distaste with the remix. “I would like my classics to be left alone,” she said at one point. “How I’m going to get paid, you know what I’m sayin’, if you making new lyrics and you ain’t sent me out a check or anything like that?” Afterward, the two sent a few more jabs in each other’s direction but now it seems like all is well between them both.

You can watch their duet above.

O.T. Genasis is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Thursday night was a relatively quiet one in the NBA, as only three games were on the schedule, headlined by a Lakers-Bucks tilt that saw the defending champs take down Giannis Antetokounmpo and company in Milwaukee. The nightcaps featured two games that, ultimately, got out of hand as the Jazz rolled past New Orleans for a seventh straight win and the Knicks blowing out the Warriors in San Francisco.

However, the latter of those two results was directly impacted by what became the story of the night, as Draymond Green was tossed at the end of the first half for yelling “f*ck that” at rookie teammate James Wiseman as they got set on defense and the referee thinking that was meant for him and giving him his second technical foul. Green immediately was pointing at Wiseman to indicate he wasn’t yelling at the refs but the rookie, and Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry were both left dumbfounded by the decision. It was both absurd and hilarious from an objective point of view, but given the clear impact of Green on this Warriors team, their second half struggles were, at least in some ways, tied to the absence of their star big man.

After the game, Green sent a text to Marc Spears of The Undefeated to ask a few questions about why his technical couldn’t be discussed as a crew and taken away, which is a fair question.

As for the official explanation from the referees, well, there wasn’t much of one as the pool conversation with crew chief Ben Taylor didn’t exactly yield much that will satisfy anyone.

That the referees didn’t at least consider coming together and talking through the technical is one of the great frustrations players have with officiating in the league. Just like the players, officials are going to make mistakes, but the hard stance they sometimes take in refusing to acknowledge that and taking the time to possibly fix that mistake in real time drives players like Green crazy. It was a critical moment in the game and while the Knicks, who are riding a three-game win streak of their own, may very well have won, for an 8-7 team in the West like Golden State, each game is critical to their playoff hopes as Green noted.

A trifecta of new pop songs has sparked what appears to be the most exciting pop drama in many years. As the story goes, Olivia Rodrigo wrote a song called “Drivers License” about her breakup with Joshua Bassett, who wrote a song calling her version of events a “Lie Lie Lie,” and then tonight Sabrina Carpenter dropped a song she wrote about how Olivia is not getting under her “Skin” now that Sabrina is with Joshua.

Did you get all that?

Well, obviously the internet is having a field day with this one, a welcome pop culture bit of drama that is totally calorie-free and a world away from the stress and horror of the pandemic, or the brutality of politics that have otherwise dominated the last few months. The primary reaction is that both Olivia and Sabrina are way out of Joshua’s league, but plenty of people are eager to take sides or weigh in on the best display of petty 2021 has seen so far! I mean, we’re barely into the year but I still don’t see a lot of people getting into it with more flair than these three have.

In case you wanted my pick, I’m firmly Team Olivia. And that’s mostly because her song is lightyears better than the other two. Check out some of the best responses to the situation below.