Month: February 2021

It’s not too often that a song debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It’s even less often that the song enjoys an extended run on the top of the charts. With that in mind, Olivia Rodrigo is making history: On the latest Hot 100, dated February 27, “Drivers License” is once again No. 1 for the sixth week.

That makes it just the eighth song ever to spend its first six weeks at No. 1. The most recent song to do so was Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”

Rodrigo recently spoke about the song’s surprise popularity, saying, “All the recognition the song has got is beyond my wildest dreams. Taylor Swift — [who] is my songwriting idol and I wouldn’t be half of the woman and a songwriter I am today without her — reached out and was so supportive of the song. I just found out the other day that Lorde likes it, Halsey likes it, all of these people that I have grown up listening to are saying they’re liking the song.”

Meanwhile, Swift also made some noise on this week’s charts thanks to “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” debuting at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. She and Dolly Parton are now the only two artists two top the chart with two different versions of the song (Parton did it with versions of “I Will Always Love You” in 1974 and 1982), and Swift if the first artist with a No. 1 song on the chart in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.

Since the advent of the pandemic, the shift toward virtual events has been swift, as has the desire to help support one another through a difficult time. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi has decided to seize the day on both fronts, teaming with the Youtube channel/social community of Cover Nation to host a virtual talent show and vocal performance challenge called Sing It Forward.

Hoping to provide creative support for young performers stuck at a crossroads during a time when live music has necessarily been paused, the competition will provide resources like a summer scholarship to the Berklee College of Music and access to professional mentors in the industry like Ingrid Andress, Pink Sweat$, and Tayla Parx.

Sing It Forward is presented by DioGuardi’s own non-profit, Inspired Nation, and will also raise funds and awareness for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which is forming a Youth Ambassador Academy to help young people advocate for mental health. “My hope is that Sing It Forward will help artists who are feeling isolated get the feedback and community they are craving from our caring celebrity mentors who have been in their shoes and want to help elevate their artistry,” DioGuardi said. “I am also excited that all monies raised will benefit youth advocating for their mental health through NAMI’s efforts.”

To participate in the competition, users simply need to post an original or cover song to YouTube, TikTok or Instagram and use the #SingItForwardChallenge hashtag, along with an explanation of “why the chosen song is important to them and their artistry.” There’s also an entry form on CoverNation.com all participants will need to submit. From the submission, judges will select eight semi-finalists to be paired with mentors spanning genres like alternative rock, R&B, country and pop. Finally, the competition will officially be live streamed this spring in a show hosted by Youtuber Kurt Hugo Schneider, with a judging panel that include DioGuardi, Bonnie Hayes, the Head of Songwriting at the Berklee College of Music, and Pete Ganbarg, President of A&R for Atlantic Records.

Cover Nation is a subsidiary of WMG, and SVP Scott Cherkin said he thinks the goals of Sing It Forward align with those of the Cover Nation community. “We’re happy to host Kara and Inspired Nation’s event to shine a light on mental health and the benefits of mentorship and guidance within the creative community,” he said. “Cover Nation brings together some of the most talented and creative people across social media and provides a space for community and connection. We’re excited to foster that support network and help these incredible artists move their careers forward.”

These are the official prizes for Sing It Forward:
— A summer scholarship to the Berklee College of Music
— An A&R advisory session with Pete Ganbarg
— A $1,000 cash gift card
— The opportunity to host a livestream session which will be broadcast on Cover Nation’s Takeover Tuesday content stream
— 1 year of free music distribution on Level, a platform for independent creators to easily distribute music globally on Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, TikTok, and more.

Get more information on how to enter Sing It Forward here. Entries must be submitted by March 16, 2021.

Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

With Donald Trump out of office and banned from Twitter, Republicans no longer have the luxury of a never-ending supply of scandals to knock their embarrassing moments out of the press. And no one is feeling that more than Ted Cruz who continues to be ruthlessly mocked for jetting off to Cancun last week while his constituents were left to freeze in their homes after a freak winter storm knocked out power and water for millions of Texans. In the latest round of humiliation for Cruz, a mariachi band was posted outside of his house on Sunday to troll the Senator for his Mexican getaway and draw attention to a GoFundMe page that’s raising money for a local children’s hospital. Via New York Post:

“Senator Cruz, being an amazing dad, dropped off his family in Cancun in the middle of a major crisis and came back to Texas to continue serving his constituents. We want to thank Senator Cruz for his leadership and pay for an amazing Mariachi band to perform for him. No one should go to Cancun and not listen to Mariachi,” reads the apparently tongue-in-cheek page, which raised $300 of its $1,000 goal.

You can watch videos of the mariachi band outside Cruz’s house below:

Of course, the mariachi band is pretty mild compared to John Oliver’s brutal takedown of Cruz’s attempted vacay. The Last Week Tonight host tore into the unbelievable optics of a man who hopes to be the 2024 Republican nominee. “I mean that’s just incredible,” Oliver quipped. “Ted Cruz — who remember, wants to be president — told the world he was bullied into international travel by twins, then got cyber-bullied into coming home by the internet, leaving his wife to solo parent two kids on vacation in another country while trying to figure out who in her mom group doxxed her. It’s all amazing.”

(Via New York Post)

It’s time to make a margarita (always, but particularly today — National Margarita Day). Depending on your experience level, you might be thinking of a frozen drink, served in plastic cups. Or maybe you envision an alcoholic hipster smoothie, made with endless ingredients and negligible levels of tequila.

To which we say, “Know how to read sheet music before you try to improvise.” The margarita ought to be an un-complicated drink. At its basic level, it’s got just five ingredients: tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, salt, and ice. That’s all you’ll need to make your own.

The margarita’s progenitor, the “daisy” cocktail (margarita is Spanish for daisy) was made with brandy, originally. France, Spain, and Germany’s colonization of Mexico over the centuries brought that spirit in. But as those European powers waned, the drink shifted from a brandy-based one to a local tequila-based drink. Clearly, we’re all better off for it.

The recipe below is a classic margarita with just five ingredients. I’m not salting the rim either. For one, it’s wasteful. But I’d also argue that it oversalts the drink, setting the balance of tequila, citrus, and savoriness off-kilter. If you want to salt your rim, no one is stopping you. But maybe try it this way first.

Let’s get shaking!

Classic Margarita

Ingredients:

• 2-oz. reposado tequila (plus a splash from the bottle)
• 1-oz. fresh lime juice
• 1-oz. orange liqueur
• Pinch of salt (about the size of a lentil between your fingers)
• Lime wheel
• Ice

I like to use a reposado in my margaritas. It adds a little extra depth to the whole drink. A plata, blanco, or silver is perfectly fine but can get lost in the mix. I had a bottle of Sierra Reposado already on my shelf, collecting dust, so that’s what I used. Generally, I’d go with an Altos Reposado or a Casamigos, if I want to get really fancy.

For the most part, the fresh juice from one lime will be about one-ounce. So I usually just squeeze the lime directly into the shaker. But if you’re going to be shaking all night, get a bag of limes, squeeze and sieve them, and store the juice in a bottle or jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Lastly, there’s the orange liqueur. Cointreau is the most noted one to use. That’s fine, but a little spendy. A solid triple sec will also get the job done. I’m using a mid-range triple sec from France that’s very bright-orange forward and costs about half the price of Cointreau in my liquor store. The point is to find a good orange liqueur that’s not one of those cheap plastic bottle mixers just called “triple sec.”

What You’ll Need:

• Rocks glass
• Cocktail Shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Juicer
• Sieve
• Pairing knife
• Jigger

Method:

• Add ice to the rocks glass, set it aside.
• Add tequila, lime juice, orange liqueur, salt, and ice to a shaker.
• Affix the lid to the shaker and shake until the outside of the shaker is ice cold and frosted over.
• Strain the margarita into the waiting rocks glass over the fresh ice.
• Garnish with a lime wheel.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

It’s really hard not to love this drink. It’s salty, full of bright and layered citrus, and carries that distinct agave/tequila flavor while being light and f*cking crushable. The best part is that you can make two at a time. Just double up the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and salt and get shaking.

This is the sort of no-nonsense margarita that transports you straight to a thatched hut on a sunny Mexican beach, eating fish tacos for a $3-per-plate. It’s simple, delicious, and easy to make. A perfect classic to have in your cocktail-making repertoire.

After a long history as a beloved Youtuber while he was growing up, Conan Gray broke out in a big way over the last few years, initially releasing the Sunset Season EP and following it up last year with his debut full-length album, Kid Krow. Though he was slated for an international tour and appearances at huge festivals like Coachella, Gray understandably had to put his live show on hold due to the restrictions of the pandemic, but that hasn’t slowed him down in the least.

He appeared on Corden last year to perform the Kid Krow track “Heather” live, and released a brand new song earlier this month in “Overdrive.” The song itself is windows-down, scream-into-the-night pop, and now it has a similarly serotonin-inducing video to go with it. In the clip, Conan and a best friend go on the kind of adventures that are guaranteed to be fun no matter what as long as the right person is by your side. Instead of simply a car-driving video, the pair dance in kitchens and bedrooms, ride bikes and take trains, along with speed through the city at night in a convertible. It’s the perfect joyride video to cure quarantine blues, a bit of catharsis for all those who have been stuck inside. Watch it above.

2020 was a year mostly without music festivals, and so far, it remains to be seen how 2021 will pan out on that front. Glastonbury has already called off its 2021 event and it looks like Coachella may get the axe as well. Boston Calling canceled its 2020 fest and now it is repeating that this year, as organizers announced today that the 2021 event will not be happening.

In a note shared on social media, organizers wrote:

“After exploring all possible options for hosting Boston Calling this year, we have made the difficult decision in conjunction with local and state authorities to cancel the 2021 festival. The health and safety of our entire community is always out top priority, and there was no appropriate scenario under which we could provide the Boston Calling experience you love and deserve.

While we are sad to go another year without the festival, we have set our sights on 2022 — mark your calendars for Memorial Day weekend. We look forward to sharing more information around headliners, lineup and vendors as we get closer to the 2022 festival. […] Stay safe, we look forward to seeing everyone again soon.”

While Boston Calling was one of the last major 2020 festivals to be called off, they have made the decision early this year. Now, music fans wait to see if this latest cancellation will be indicative of a larger trend for festivals in 2021.

Find Boston Calling’s full note about this year’s cancellation below.

Juice WRLD‘s posthumous video for “Conversations,” the latest single from his album Legends Never Die, features a CGI giant and some impressive motocross tricks interspersed with footage from Juice’s tours and performances. He also freestyles on his tour bus at the end of the video, highlighting the impressive skills that endeared him to his fans even more during his life.

The CGI monster in “Conversations” is just the latest use of the technique in a posthumous Juice WRLD video. Previously, he and Trippie Redd were digitized to fight apocalyptic zombies in the cartoon-ish video for Internet Money’s “Blast Off,” while Juice teamed up with The Weeknd in the animated video for “Smile.”

Meanwhile, the real Juice WRLD appeared alongside Young Thug in the “Bad Boy” video directed by Cole Bennett, which was filmed before Juice’s passing in 2019. As more videos come out, it’ll be interesting to see what other techniques will be used to keep Juice’s image and memory alive. Could a deep-fake video or hologram eventually perform for him in the future? Maybe, but for now, the animated avatars and archival footage have done more than a serviceable job of providing fans a visual component as they continue to enjoy his music after his death.

Watch the “Conversations” video above.

Lana Del Rey has been having a rough time of it lately. Recent comments by the singer of the last year or so comparing her victimized pop songs to the empowered work of female artists who were predominantly women of color led to a deserved backlash of epic proportions, and then Del Rey doubled down on tone deaf commentary when it was time to announce the cover art for her forthcoming album, Chemtrails Over The Country Club.

She’s still readying that album for release next month, but as NME points out, in a recent print issue of Mojo magazine, Lana said she’s already recorded an entire album of country covers. Additionally, she pointed out an Americana tone in some of her older music, one that is carrying through into what she’s writing now, a collection of “other folk songs.”

“I went back and listened to “Ride” and “Video Games” and thought, you know they’re kind of country,” she said. “Maybe the way “Video Games” got remastered, they’re pop — but there’s something Americana about it for sure. So let’s see how these things come out. I’m not going to have pedal steel guitar on every single thing, but it is easy for me to write.”

Maybe these folk and country leanings are connected to the album White Hot Forever she teased the day that Norman F*cking Rockwell was released? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but a Lana country record seems like a good step toward getting past her recent downturn.

French toast feels like it’s simple, but it’s also insanely easy to screw up. The type of bread you use is a key factor, sure (thickness, etc.). Then there’s the custard or creamy egg wash for dipping said bread in — some recipes are closer to a scrambled egg wash while others are almost eggnog (plus there’s the matter of how long you soak the bread). Finally, there’s what you put on your French toast to give is that x-factor and really make it pop for Sunday brunch or a date night sleepover.

When it comes to bread, you want it thicker-than-a-regular-whitebread-loaf but not overly thicc. That way, you can get a crispier edge while holding onto a softer middle, adding a textural counterpoint. I love the heft of challah but you can really use anything you prefer. I’ve had French toast made with King’s Hawaiian Rolls before, which came out pretty great. (If you go with bread that’s full of seeds, know that the flavors of those seeds will be drawn out by the heat of your pan — do with that knowledge what you will.)

The next most important factor is the custard you soak the bread in. I like to go almost full eggnog with my French toast custard. That means egg yolks, heavy cream, a lot of brown spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice), plenty of bourbon, and dark sugars with a nice dose of vanilla. But really, this depends on your palate. Maybe use my recipe as a baseline, then find the balance you like and stick with that.

Lastly, there are the toppings. There are so many directions you can go from fruit and whipped cream to butter and syrup to peanut butter and jam (trust us, it’s good) to ham, turkey, and cheese to make a goddamn Monte Cristo. You can even go super luxe and top your French toast with avocado, poached eggs, Hollandaise, and caviar if you want (trust us, again … it’s delicious). You do you.

All of this is to say that the recipe below is a jumping-off point and not a French toast mandate. Good luck!

French Toast

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of dry white bread
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups heavy cream (32%)
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-oz. bourbon
• Pinch of salt
• Zest from one orange
• Unsalted butter (for cooking)

This time around, I’m using large-format Italian white bread they use for deli sandwiches down in Italy. It’s mildly sweet and already comes out of the package slightly dry. It’s good leftover bread that’s pre-cut about 1/2-inch thick. Again, if you can source day-old challah, use that.

When it comes to thickness, there’s a lot to go back and forth on. Too thick and your custard will be surface-level at best (or you’ll soak your bread for so long that the custard inside won’t cook). Too thin and that custard will completely disintegrate your slice. I like a thinner slice, but that’s just me. With a 1/2-inch but lightly stale slice of bread, you can get that custard into the body of the slice without it falling apart. It also allows for crisp edges with a soft middle — which is ideal.

Toppings/Syrup:

• Unsalted butter
• Handful of roughly chopped pecans
• 1 cup Maple syrup
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• Pinch of salt

Again, this is personal. I like pairing the slight touch of bourbon in the custard with a hit of bourbon in the syrup. Plus, this is a great exercise to help you realize how easy it is to amp up your average bottle of maple syrup. You really just have to put everything in the pot and let it simmer for about 15 minutes while stirring occasionally until it has a nice, syrup-y consistency. Then you have bourbon-infused maple syrup with softened and candied pecans and a touch of salt.

It’s a winner.

What You’ll Need:

• Shallow bowl or glass baking dish (for the custard dipping)
• Large non-stick frying pan or griddle
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Baking sheet
• Wire rack
• Small pot

Method:

• Preheat over to 250f/120c.
• In a bowl or shallow glass baking dish add the cream, yolks, spices, sugar, vanilla, bourbon, salt, and orange zest from an orange and whisk together.
• Heat two large tablespoons of butter over medium heat until it just starts to foam.
• Soak the bread in the custard mix for about five to ten seconds on each side depending on the slice’s thickness.
• Add the custard-soaked bread to the pan.
• Brown the toast on each side until golden brown — about three to four minutes on each side.
• Remove the French toast to a wire rack and place it in the oven to keep warm and continue cooking, creating a more fixed crust to the toast.
• Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of toast.

Pecan Bourbon Maple Syrup:

• Add the maple syrup to a small pan, bring it to a light simmer.
• Add in the pecans and bourbon with a pinch of salt.
• Bring back to a light simmer while stirring.
• Once the syrup starts to rethicken slightly (while stirring periodically), remove it from heat.

Put Everything together:

• Fetch your french toast from the oven.
• Stack them up and top with a pad of unsalted butter and drizzle with the syrup.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

What can I say? This is pretty damn good and incredibly easy. It’s decadent but not “I feel like I really shouldn’t eat for the rest of the day”-level rich. My version here isn’t perfect. I would have preferred challah for my bread base, but they were already out when I hit the bakery.

The overall flavor was pointed and lush. The bourbon and orange really stood out with a nice note of nutmeg. The syrup really was the brightest spot. The maple remained prominent but the bourbon really helped mellow it while the pecans added a nice earthiness and textural crunch.

If you like to cook, this is a nice one for your repertoire. Perfect for slow mornings after big nights (yes, we know “big nights” aren’t a thing again yet, but they will be soon enough.)

It’s not every day that an Academy Award winner begins selling vibrators. But even rarer is when a vibrator-selling Academy Award winner claims that she’s the one who popularized people wearing masks. Gwyneth Paltrow is making history, folks.

The Shakespeare in Love actress and Goop tycoon was interviewed by the New York Times last week about her company’s sold-out “Double-Sided Wand Vibrator.” It retails for $95, which is shockingly reasonable compared to the $75 vagina candle. After answering whether she’s, um, tested her product (“I think you’ve made me blush. I’ll just leave it at that”), Paltrow was asked about her pre-pandemic selfie where she’s wearing a mask. “This is a familiar pattern in my life. I do something early, everyone is like, ‘What is she doing? She’s insane.’ And then it’s adopted by the culture,” she responded. It’s Paltrow claiming that she invented yoga all over again, and she’s rightly being mocked.

Paltrow, who contracted COVID-19 “early on” and still has “some long-tail fatigue and brain fog,” is also selling supplements, hiking shoes, and a $500 blanket on Goop’s website. “I’ve always been into oils, but this one’s got amazing clinical results: You see fewer wrinkles, firmer skin, softer skin. But layer it on over the vitamin C serum and I’m telling you, the glow is next-level,” she wrote about some fancy oil, even though “a study published [last] week found that vitamin C and zinc don’t really make a difference in COVID-19 symptoms,” according to the Huffington Post. No matter. “Do that every morning and your skin is going to look great no matter what,” Not-a-Dr. Paltrow claims.

But that would require removing your culture-adopted mask! It’s a tough choice.

(Via the New York Times)