Month: July 2021

There are plenty of absurd dating shows in paradise to watch these days, with the Bachelor franchise dipping into that aesthetic yearly and Too Hot To Handle horning it up on Netflix. But HBO Max wants in on the mix, which is why they sent Nikki Glaser to paradise with a bunch of dudes to film FBoy Island.

We now have a trailer for FBoy Island, and boy does it live up to the expectations the subject matter requires these days. There are hunky dudes in swim trunks, eligible ladies picking between them, and a “twist” of sorts: some of these guys are nice, while the other ones aren’t nearly as nice!

“He’s really cute but he looks like he’s going to ruin my life,” one of the three women tasked with nice guy-hunting says at one point.

There’s lots of fella footage here while Lizzo’s “Boys” fittingly plays in the background. And while there’s a montage of guys saying “bro” and astute observations like “he looks like a guy that has two phones” there’s also a brief clip of a man apparently smashing a mango, or some sort of stone fruit, with just his bicep.

I mean, what more do you really need to see here? Sure, there’s a cash prize on the line, which means deception and what will almost certainly be a thorough exploration of who is Here For The Right Reasons. But if we’re going to see fruit explode due to muscle twitches in the trailer, the sky’s the limit to the shenanigans here.

FBoy Island starts streaming on HBO Max on July 29.

On July 13 and 14, BTS will enjoy a two-night run on The Tonight Show, guesting on both the Tuesday and Wednesday episodes this week. It turns out that when they visit Jimmy Fallon tomorrow, the group will still have the No. 1 song in the country: On the newest Billboard Hot 100 chart, dated July 17, “Butter” is still No. 1 and continues its seemingly unending run.

The song is now in its seventh week in the top spot. During the tracking week reflected on the chart (ending July 8), “Butter” enjoyed 29.1 million radio airplay audience impressions (an increase of 6 percent) and 10.8 million streams in the US. Additionally, it sold 108,800 copies.

The band wrote on Twitter, “We can’t believe this is really happening to us [crying emoji] Thank you SO MUCH x.”

Aside from BTS, another group that’s excited about the success of “Butter” is the American Butter Institute. Alan Bjerga, the institute’s Chief of Communications, recently told Billboard, “My main reaction was, ‘Great!’ It obviously doesn’t hurt to have your product associated with the top band’s song of the summer. […] The future of US butter sales is in exports, and to have arguably the biggest band on the globe giving a thumbs-up in song can’t be anything but good.”

It’s always interesting to look at the best-selling spirits in the world. In part, because the numbers may surprise you. Case in point, the world’s best-selling American whiskey is outsold by White Claw almost six-to-one. To put that in a different light, that same whiskey was only the 14th best-selling alcohol or spirit in the world in 2020. American whiskey doesn’t even break into the top ten on the world stage. In fact, there are shingles from Kentucky and Scotland that seem huge but fail to crack the top 150 best-selling booze brands worldwide.

Today, we’re looking at the eight U.S. whiskeys among the top 150 brands sold, globally. This isn’t about hype or exposure. This is about the actual bottles of whiskey going out into the world and available on shelves.

We’re also calling out our favorite expressions from each specific brand, if the brand produces multiple bottles. Yes, that’s slightly confusing. Look at it this way: Beam Suntory is a company that owns a lot of distilleries. One of those distilleries is Jim Beam, which makes several brands of whiskey. The only one of those brands to make this list, according to global sales, is Jim Beam Bourbon, which has a few expressions it sends out under that exact brand name. (Whereas you might see all “Jim Beam” as one brand, the company doesn’t.)

If any of these expressions from the big brands pique your interest, click on their prices to give them a shot yourself. You know they’re all easy to find.

8. Wild Turkey (1.7 million cases) — Rare Breed

ABV: 58.4%

Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This is the mountaintop of what Wild Turkey can achieve. This is a blend of the best barrels that are married and bottled untouched. That means no filtering and no cutting with water. This is a classic bourbon with nowhere to hide.

Tasting Notes:

Crème brûlée greets you, paired with a nice dose of Christmas spices, mild pipe tobacco, orange zest, and a distant hint of fresh mint sprigs. There’s a pine resin nature to the woody flavors on the palate that accents the orange oils, spices, vanilla, and sweetness. The sip takes on a Christmas cake-feel late, with a velvet finish that embodies just the right amount of everything you want from a bourbon.

Bottom Line:

While Wild Turkey’s line is full of greats, this really is the best of the best. This is one of the most sippable, deeply flavored, and accessible bottles on this list. It’s also easily half the price of what it should/could be for the quality alone.

7. Bulliet Frontier Whiskey (1.8 million cases) — Bulleit 10

ABV: 45.6%

Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This is classic Bulleit Bourbon that’s aged for ten years. The juice is still sourced (likely from Four Roses) and is crafted by Bulliet’s master blenders in-house. There’s really not much more to say than that those extra years really dial this bourbon into something unique and very tasty.

Tasting Notes:

This is bourbon with a capital “B.” There are rushes of Christmas spices next to savory herbs, butter-soaked sourdough, and cinnamon-baked apples in maple syrup. Hints of vanilla, toasted oak, and maybe even dried flowers lurk beneath the surface as all that spice, buttery toffee, and soft-yet-sweet fruit fill your senses.

Bottom Line:

This is an easy-sipper to have on hand. It has those classic bourbon characteristics that will feel familiar while still offering a little more.

6. Seagram’s 7 (1.9 million cases) — Seagram’s 7 Crown Blended Whiskey

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $15

The Whiskey:

Seagram’s 7 Crown is an old-school blended whiskey. The blend is 25 percent bourbon cut with 75 percent neutral grain spirit. That’s then vatted and cut down to a very palatable 80 proof.

Tasting Notes:

This is a little warm on the nose with touches of Granny Smith apples, cinnamon sugar, and a touch of lemon oil. The flavor stays hot on the tongue with a little bit of that citrus coming through, not unlike a vodka, with a touch of the apple. The end is short and hot and leaves you with a tinny bitterness.

Bottom Line:

This has its place as a mixer with sugary soda and… that’s about it. It tastes and feels like it was created for a different era and it’s hard to go back that far to understand why.

5. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey (2 million cases)

ABV: 35%

Average Price: $38 (one-liter bottle)

The Whiskey:

Jack Daniel’s starts by making a honey liqueur. They then add in their signature Tennessee whiskey to create a mixing liqueur with a touch of whiskey taste.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a lot of vanilla cream on the nose. In fact, it’s almost exactly like a box of Jell-O vanilla pudding but thin like it was made with skim milk. The taste is not that at all — it’s all about the very sweet honey hard candies. The mid-palate lurches back towards that vanilla cream which doesn’t feel quite right with the honey candy. The end is very short and very sweet but more vanilla than honey.

Bottom Line:

If you dig overly sweet-flavored whiskey, then this might be your jam. It is sweet but does have clear notes of both honey and vanilla that feel very real. Still… it’s saccharine as Saturday cartoons.

Note: Jack Daniel’s Tennesse Honey is actually a standalone brand with only one expression to its name. In fact, stand-alone brands from Jack Daniel’s actually make the list four times (two of them are ready-to-drink premixes), affirming Jack Daniel’s power worldwide to still pull serious name recognition.

4. Maker’s Mark (2.4 million cases) — Maker’s 101

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $42

The Whiskey:

This is Maker’s Mark classic wheated bourbon that’s bottled at “a higher proof” to bring about a “richer flavor.” Well, that’s what the label says anyway.

Tasting Notes:

This is a bowl of stewed apple over vanilla ice cream that’s been drizzled with extra caramel. The taste really focuses on that caramel, with hints of oak next to roasted almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and dry wicker.

Bottom Line:

This wheated bourbon really shines with a higher proof. The classic Maker’s elements are all in play but are slightly brighter. This is also a great crossover whiskey between on the rocks sipper and a wonderful cocktail base.

3. Evan Williams (3 million cases) — Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $18

The Whiskey:

The juice is standard Evan Williams that’s barreled in a federally overseen warehouse. Then, after those barrels are blended, the juice is just brought down to 100 proof, allowing a bit more of that Heaven Hill craft to shine in the bottle.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a dry cornmeal base next to salted caramel, rich vanilla, and a touch of oak. The palate adds in whiffs of black pepper next to musty cellar wood and a hint of spicy, chewy tobacco. The end is short-ish while highlighting the sweet cornmeal, spicy tobacco, and rich vanilla.

Bottom Line:

You can’t go wrong with this cheap, everyday bottle. It’s a great shooter, highball base, and cocktail mixer. It also wins in that you can drink it on the rocks and never be disappointed.

2. Jim Beam (10.7 million cases) — Jim Beam Bonded

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This bourbon is Jim Beam’s high watermark when it comes to Kentucky bourbon. The juice is aged in a bottled-in-bond facility for four years where it’s also bottled at 100 proof with no bullshit. This is the standard Beam bourbon mash bill (77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and ten percent malted barley) but there’s just something extra happening that makes this expression shine.

Tasting Notes:

This bourbon beckons you in with notes of toasted oak, red cherry, and vanilla. That leads to fresh honey, sweet caramel corn, rich toffee, bold vanilla, crisp apple, more of that red cherry, peppery spice, and a note of fresh mint. With a little water, the dram edges towards bitter dark chocolate with a nice billow of pipe tobacco while holding onto the mint, toffee, and vanilla oakiness.

The end is long, meandering, and full of warmth, fruit, spice, and bourbon goodness.

Bottom Line:

This takes Beam to the next level for a seriously cheap price. It’s refined in the sense that it knows exactly what it is and holds on tightly to its signature Beam characteristics while making each one shine a little more vividly.

1. Jack Daniel’s (12.3 million cases) — Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

ABV: Varies

Average Price: $65

The Whiskey:

Where the Single Barrel Select is cut with soft limestone water to bring it down to proof, this is the straight juice from the barrel. These barrels are all hand-selected from the rickhouses. What’s left from the angel’s share then goes straight into the bottle.

That means the ABVs and tasting notes for this bottle will vary depending on which bottle you snag.

Tasting Notes:

Expect an experience that’s full of rich vanilla, caramel, and toasted oak, next to a rush of spice. The sip should have a mix of that vanilla, oak, and spice with a nice dose of bright fruits and a texture that’s more velvet than liquid. The end really holds onto that vibe as the mild spice, toasted oak, rich vanilla, and almost maple syrup sweetness slowly fade across your senses.

Bottom Line:

There’s a fair amount of Jack Daniel’s to sip on (and mix) out there. This is the high-water mark from the entire company. This bottle is endlessly sippable and just affordable enough to make for a killer mixer for any cocktail.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Shohei Ohtani has become baseball’s biggest star in 2021, as he does things for the Angels that no one has done in MLB since Babe Ruth, leading the league in home runs with 33 while posting a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts on the mound. He is a two-way superstar, earning an All-Star nod as both a pitcher and position player, and is also going to compete in the Home Run Derby, making it one of the most anticipated Derbys in recent history. He’s also going to start as the American League’s pitcher and bat leadoff on Tuesday.

All of this is to say, Ohtani is a superstar and every time he hits another mammoth home run it gets shared far and wide across social media. With ESPN set to carry the Derby where he is the undoubted face, one would think they’d look to their biggest program to build more excitement for the Ohtani show. However, on First Take, the debate on Monday wasn’t about Ohtani’s skills on the field but instead Stephen A. Smith offering a xenophobic argument that it’s bad for baseball that he’s the face of the sport when he communicates to English-speaking reporters through an interpreter.

The full segment, which can be viewed here, isn’t any better, and Smith’s comments immediately went viral for all the wrong reasons and have brought rightful fury his way for trotting out old, racist tropes about foreign players. ESPN’s Joon Lee, in particular, offered a thread explaining exactly why Stephen A.’s comments were so hurtful and wrong.

Others also chimed in, pointing out how dreadful the First Take segment was and how Smith’s comments also were just flat-out wrong given the immense popularity of Ohtani and how he’s brought more eyes to baseball by the sheer magnetism of his play on the field.

Many pointed out that Smith had a segment on his ESPN+ show last week talking about how baseball wasn’t doing enough to market Ohtani, and then turned around on the show where he has the biggest platform and trotted out this horrible argument as to why it’s bad for baseball that Ohtani could be the face of the sport.

There are a lot of things that could’ve been said in this space that would’ve been far more productive. Hell, just talking about how great Ohtani is for five minutes over clips of all of his ridiculous home runs and his filthy pitching would’ve done plenty to help out baseball in marketing its best player, which Smith seems so incredibly concerned about. That he at one point even asks how many times they’ve talked about him on the show only further proves how disingenuous his point is, as they could very easily talk about Ohtani more if they simply wanted to.

Instead, they crossed the line into the ugliest side of the sports discourse in America when it comes to foreign players, which so often focuses on language barriers when what we are told is so great about sports is that it transcends boundaries and backgrounds. What you do on the field is supposed to be the thing that matters the most, and Ohtani does things no one has seen in this lifetime, so why not celebrate those and enjoy that he is clearly a larger than life personality who has such clear joy for the game while on the field that we don’t need him to necessarily articulate that to us afterwards — which he also happily does through an interpreter, which isn’t a difficult thing to deal with at all despite what some will try to tell you.

After having to postpone last year’s “Tour For You” due to the pandemic, Tinashe has announced “The 333 Tour,” kicking off this September. Rei Ami will join the R&B star as an opener on all dates. The experience also be available to watch for those not in attendance; wrapping up the dates will be a “worldwide digital experience,” aka “a full-length creative production specially crafted for at-home fans around the world, in partnership with Moment House.”

Last week, Tinashe released “Pasadena” featuring Buddy, the duo’s second collaboration following last August’s “Glitch.” In the press release for the video, Tinashe said she “felt a very strong calling to release music that feels like joy, excitement, and freedom” after the past year “to contribute positive energy to the universe.” “I wrote and recorded the song Pasadena in my home in Los Angeles with a bold, bouncing tempo that makes me want to dance,” she recalled. “The song is about growth, family, and the feelings I get when I visit the area I grew up in — energetic and nostalgic, but hopeful.”

Tickets to ‘The 333 Tour’ go on sale starting 7/16, and pre-sale tickets & VIP packages go on sale 7/13. Get tickets here and find the full list of dates below.

09/16 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
09/18 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
09/19 — Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
09/21 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
09/22 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
09/24 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
09/27 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
09/28 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre
09/29 — Boston, MA @ Big Night Live
09/30 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
10/03 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/06 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
10/07 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
10/09 — Denver, CO @ Summit
10/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
10/12 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
10/14 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
10/15 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory
10/16 — Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
10/17 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Novo
10/19 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
10/21 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SODO
10/24 — worldwide @ Moment House

Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, Black Widow was noticeably free of Avengers cameos as the film stood strong on its promise of delivering a truly standalone story featuring Scarlett Johansson‘s Natasha Romanov. Well, as standalone as you can get in the Marvel Cinematic Universe considering the movie takes place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. That’s a delicate needle to thread, but director Cate Shortland pulled it off as she weaved a tight family drama into the backdrop of the MCU.

In a new interview, Shortland praises Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige for making the call to not burden Black Widow with MCU cameos, which were in the mix. Notably, there were online reports of Robert Downey Jr. making an appearance, and more fittingly, Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye was also rumored to show up in a flashback that would explore the infamous Budapest mission that was referenced in the first Avengers film. Ultimately, neither cameo happened, and Shortland explains why the movie was stronger for it. Via Total Film:

“Initially, there was discussions about everything, about all of the different characters,” she tells GamesRadar+ and Total Film. “What we decided was, and I think Kevin was really great, he said, ‘She doesn’t need the boys.’ We didn’t want it to feel like she needs the support. We want her to stand alone. And she does.”

To Feige and Shortland’s credit, Black Widow flew into theaters and immediately knocked out F9 to become the highest-grossing movie since the pandemic started. It also brought an impressive haul on Disney+ with Premier Access, which could have a big impact on hybrid release strategies and theatrical windows moving forward.

(Via Total Film)

Bradley Beal has become one of the NBA’s best scorers over the past few seasons, as he continues to morph his skillset from when he entered the Draft known primarily as a three-point shooter into being one of the best finishers at the rim in the entire league.

Because of his stature as a rising star entering his 10th season on a team that has struggled to build a contender around him, Beal’s name constantly comes up in trade rumors, no matter how many times he insists he wants to stay in Washington. As Beal explains, that’s just life in the NBA and he’s accepted rumors as just the part of the deal for getting to play “the best sport in the world” for a living.

Right now, Beal is in Las Vegas for USA Basketball camp before the Tokyo Olympics, where he and much of the roster will make their debut on the Olympic stage later this month. Late last week (prior to the team’s loss to Nigeria in exhibition action), Beal spoke with Dime on a Zoom call on behalf of Rockin’ Protein about his USA Basketball journey from U-16s to the Olympics, adapting to a different role on Team USA, the good and bad of this Wizards season, learning to play through rumors, and much more.

Let’s start with USA Basketball camp. This is going to be your your first Olympics. What went into your decision to join the team and what this means to you to be able to play in an Olympics for Team USA?

I mean, one it’s a blessing. I’m definitely honored to be here. You don’t — it’s a very prestigious fraternity as we like to call it. You know it’s a very elite group but it’s hard to get into. I’m thrilled and happy — I’ve always been a part of USA Basketball since I was 15 years old. I played in the U-16 and the U-17, played in the Hoop Summit, and been through the Select Team process and now had several chances to try out for the national team. And now I’ve officially made it so, you know, it means the world. It’s a dream come true.

Not everybody has this opportunity, it comes every four years. You know, guys are getting better and better, and guys are getting older and older too, so time sure enough passes you by, but I’m definitely happy that I’m able to represent our country.

Yeah, and obviously this year there’s there’s a lot of turnover from the the 2016 team — I think KD and Draymond are the only two that are holdovers. What is the atmosphere in camp because it is a lot of new faces and a lot guys that I’m sure it really excited for their first opportunity?

It’s been intense. One, it all starts with Coach Pop, and he’s just — his philosophies, how he carries himself and what he expects of us and his is accountability for everybody, man, it just trickles down. He has a high standard for us, and he just tries to emphasize how we didn’t do so well in [World] Cup in 19. So we want to really change that around and be better and understand that we have to respect all of our opponents. So we have that mentality every single day in practice: we go super hard, competing at a high level, and it’s been great. It’s been really good. It’s been an adjustment, because none of us have played together. We’re all on different teams, versus, you know, teams from their respective countries, they’ve been together for years, they’ve been playing together for years. So, it’s gonna it’s an adjustment for us, but you know we have to get it done.

Something that guys talk about when they come out of the USA Basketball process is it changes how you play or at least changes your perspective, because you have to adapt to different roles. Because you’re all stars but it’s not like an All-Star game where it’s a one game thing. Like, you’re coming together for a long run here, and are you already seeing that, where you’re kind of learning how to play in different roles than you ever really have in the NBA?

A hundred percent. Like with my team, I have to go score 30 for us to win, and I don’t have to do that with this team. Everybody over here can score 30. So, like, I can focus on defending. Let me go guard the best player on the other team, let me go guard the best guard, whatever the case may be. Let Dame rock, you know, let KD get — I mean, come on, man, like come on I’m not gonna get in his way [laughs]. Let Jason rock.

So, we have so many scorers, and that’s not going to be our problem. It’s going to be, can we defend, can we rebound, and can we do all the little things that we need to do in order to make sure that we win. We don’t want any close games, we don’t. We want to win, we want to win big. So, you know, we have to be attentive to that because it won’t be easy.

Yeah, and then looking back on this season for you and the Wizards, obviously it started slow and you guys had injuries and COVID things, but getting into the playoffs and getting through the play-in and all that, what, when you look back now and you’ve had had a little bit of time, what’s your perspective on how this season was obviously just a unique season and in good and bad ways, and where your approach is going into next season?

That’s kind of how I see it, it was like a good and bad season. It was just that, you know, it was like, yeah, it was good but I wasn’t satisfied at the end of the day. So the biggest thing was, we didn’t come off to a good start. Granted, we can blame COVID, we can blame the million things because those things did happen and, like, half of our team did get infected we had new guys we have implement, we didn’t practice for two weeks. It was, it was tough, so there was adjustments along the way. But, you know, for the most part when we were healthy, we still had our inconsistencies, but eventually we did turn them around and we win a huge amount of games post All-Star. So, you know, to get us into the playoffs, we won outright, and got the 8-seed. So that was very telling in a lot of ways, but at the same time we had higher expectations for ourselves coming into the year.

From a mental standpoint I want to ask you something because you have been in rumors for years. Learning to play through the noise, what are the things that you’ve been able to kind of lock out some of that and being able to separate the things that you get asked about, things that people are writing and people are saying, and learning how to deal with that? Because I have to imagine the first time you go through it, it’s got to be tough and obviously you’re pretty experienced with it at this point.

For sure, it’s just all about training your mind, bro. I think it’s at the end of the day, everybody’s gonna critique you, everybody’s gonna have, you know, something to say. But at the end of the day you have to realize that comes with it. We make a lot of money, we play the best sport in the world, and to whom much is given much is expected. So, I always say, don’t make the noise bigger than your job, but the noise is always going to be there.

People are always going to have their opinions, people are always going to tell you what to do, what they think the team should do, how you should play, but you just have to train your mind to what’s important to you. Why do you play the game, and never lose sight of it.

You’re always one of the league leaders in minutes per game and you play a ton of games each season. What have you learned about taking care of your body and the things that you need to do with that, and how does this partnership with Rockin’ Protein factor into your process, especially coming off of this season and now coming into an extra season basically with USA Basketball that’s got to be additionally taxing?

Well, you’re 100 percent right, man. Like what you put into your body as an athlete is always important, just as much as lifting and recovery and all the other things that you may do in your training. So what you intake into your body is just as important if not more so, I teamed up with Rockin’ Protein because, man, one it tastes really good. So that’s an obvious, but they have a high quality amount of protein, and it’s all natural nutrients from real milk from Shamrock Farms.

Growing up I was always a big milk kid, my kids, I have two boys now, they absolutely love milk, and so it was for me, versus a lot of products out there, they’re not necessarily made with real milk — some have lactose, some have a lot of added sugars and things that your body doesn’t need to perform at the level that you need. So, there are different variants of, you know, their protein builders, their recovery drink, their energy drink. It gives you different options as an athlete and just as a person who just likes to work out and take care of their bodies. So it was a no brainer for me, and they’re an unbelievable company they’ve been awesome to work with, and their product is my go to.

At the top of June, Goldenvoice announced that two of its biggest festivals, Coachella and Stagecoach, would make their return in 2022. The country-focused Stagecoach is set for the weekend of April 29 to May 1, and now organizers have revealed next year’s lineup.

Headlining the 2022 fest will be Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Combs. Rounding out the lineup are Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Orville Peck, Midland, Brothers Osborne, Margo Price, Tanya Tucker, Ingrid Andress, Molly Tuttle, Yola, Lee Brice, The Black Crowes, Smokey Robinson, Cody Johnson, Locash, Rhiannon Giddens, and The Mavericks. Other goings-on set to take place during the festival include “Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse” and “Diplo Late Night In Palomino.”

Fieri has become a regular presence at Stagecoach, and in 2018, he told Uproxx of the festival, “If they would’ve told me that I could come to Stagecoach and park cars, I would’ve come park cars. Okay? It’s unbelievable. I mean, if you’re interested in any aspect of country-bluegrass, old country, new country, country rock, whatever it is, it’s here. It’s so much different. You’ve got such a diversity of music and such a diversity of experiences. I mean… there’s an ice cream shop. There’s a tent full of barbecue. There’s a Ferris wheel. It’s a great family experience and a great outdoor experience. And they said, ‘Hey, you want to come and curate a barbecue experience for people?’ I’m like, ‘Come on, you want to ask me twice?’”

2022 Stagecoach tickets go on sale July 16 at 10 a.m. PT, so learn more about that here.

While establishing herself as one of pop’s most acclaimed rising stars over the past few years, Empress Of has also been something of a fashion icon. Whether she’s performing or making a public appearance, she’s usually wearing something striking. It actually all started with her mother — Reyna Dubon, also known by the fantastic nickname Latina Knowles — making her stage clothes early in her career. Now, the pair have come together for the latest episode of On Repeat (presented by Uproxx and Straight Talk), in which they transform some jeans into something more eye-grabbing.

As the two work to turn the pants into a stylish top, Empress Of explains how her mother helped her out in the fashion department as her career took off: “I did not have enough money to look the way I wanted to look. When I started thinking about what to wear on stage and I couldn’t afford stylists, I couldn’t afford to buy costumes, I asked my mom to start designing my costumes for stage. After the first album, I was like, if I go on stage wearing a certain thing, I feel a certain way.”

Dubon added, “A costume doesn’t need to be expensive. It can make a big difference in an artist, you know?”

Aside from the task at hand, the video also offers a heartwarming look at the relationship Empress Of and her mother share. While teaming up on the project in front of them, the two tell stories together, joke with each other, and engage in some light back-and-forth teasing. Through it all, their mutual admiration and love for each other is beyond clear and a joy to witness.

The video is a delightful watch for a number of reasons, so check it out above.

During a show in Miami over the weekend, an enthusiastic Doja Cat headbanged a little too hard to her song “Tia Tamera” and wound up falling on the stage. She took the fall in stride, continuing to dance from her new position on the floor, and seemed uninjured, but she wasn’t about to let an opportunity to mine for comedy gold slip by. Asking her fans to provide a video of the slip, she knew exactly what would happen and seemed delighted at the prospect of another fan roast session like the one that resulted from a transcription error on her lyrics from Saweetie’s “Best Friend.”

Her fans did not disappoint, coming through with not only videos but also some colorful descriptions of her fall. One fan joked that she fell “like a pencil,” which tickled Doja’s funny bone.

Another said she could make a beat of the sound, prompting a retweet from Doja. Others just posted videos of other legendary falls to compare. And still others just shared their unique views of the off-beat moment.