Month: August 2021

Comedian-actor-writer-producer-director-stoner-author-ceramic vase maker Seth Rogen has added another hyphenate: -podcaster. Storytime With Seth Rogen (available on Stitcher) has a deceptively simple premise — “Do you have a great story?” he asks potential guests, “And if you do, will you tell it on my podcast?” — but “each episode plays like a little audio documentary, a feature presentation unto itself, with supporting interviews and archival tape woven into each story with a rhythmic editing style.”

In an interview with Vulture about Storytime, Rogen gave an example of an episode — one that confirms everything you want to believe about Paul Rudd being a good person. His guest is writer, comedian, and author Quinta Brunson, who once considered giving up comedy after a bad breakup to become a Jehovah’s Witness. “Then one day, on a date with this guy where they’re going to see Inglourious Basterds, she meets Paul Rudd in the theater, whom she’s a huge fan of,” Rogen recapped. “He was very nice to her, and she told him about her dream of pursuing comedy; he told her if she was serious about it, she might as well do it. That conversation changes the course of her life.”

Rogen spoke to Rudd for the podcast in the hopes that he’d remember the interaction, “but he had no memory of it. He changed her life, and it was a result of him being a nice dude in general.” I can already hear the iconic laugh.

Storytime With Seth Rogen launches on October 6.

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, Sour, was a major success upon its initial release in May, as it quickly topped the charts and stayed on top for weeks. Now, it is once again No. 1 in the latest Billboard 200 chart, and that’s thanks largely to the recently released vinyl edition of the album. The vinyl edition, in fact, actually had one of the best sales weeks in the past three decades.

In the latest tracking week, 76,000 copies of Sour were sold on vinyl. That’s the second-largest sales week for a vinyl album since that data started to be tracked back in 1991. The top album in that regard is Taylor Swift’s Evermore, which moved a whopping 102,000 vinyl copies in a week earlier this year.

Ahead of the vinyl edition’s release, Rodrigo shared a video of herself excitedly opening one of them for the first time. She wrote at the time, “SOUR vinyl comes out this Friday and I couldn’t be more excited if I tried!!!!!! u can preorder them now on oliviarodrigo.com if ya like! I’ve discovered so many of my favorite albums through vinyl records and it’s the coolest thing in the world to get to hold one with songs I wrote.”

Revisit our review of Sour here.

After initially stammering during a select committee hearing in July and claiming to not recall if he spoke to Donald Trump during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan has finally confirmed that he spoke to the former president “more than once” after being evacuated to a safe room.

Jordan confirmed the Trump calls to Politico but he said he’d “have to think about it” when asked to corroborate sources who claim fellow Republican Matt Gaetz was also involved in conversations with the former president:

“Look, I definitely spoke to the president that day. I don’t recall — I know it was more than once, I just don’t recall the times,” Jordan told our Olivia Beavers. He later said that “I’m sure” one of the Trump-involved calls took place in the safe room “because we were in that room forever.” (For safety reasons, we are not disclosing the specific room where members were evacuated to, but that is the room Jordan is referencing.) Jordan would not get into the specifics of what he discussed with the president, though he said that like everyone, he wanted the National Guard to get involved.

Jordan’s admission is notable considering his prior testimony to Congress that he couldn’t remember what time of the day he had spoken to Trump on January 6. There was also a considerable amount of backlash from Republicans after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t pick Jordan to serve on the select committee because he was a “material witness.” That characterization appears to be holding up.

As for Jordan suddenly remembering that, OK, he did call Trump a bunch of times during the historic assault on the Capitol building, the Ohio congressman is getting roasted on social media for looking suspicious as hell.

(Via Politico)

After months of delays — perhaps prompted by Drake and Kanye’s ongoing feud — Drake’s new album, Certified Lover Boy, officially got a release date when he made the announcement with an emoji-laden Instagram post. However, now fans are feeling skeptical about the album — or at least its ostensible cover art — after Ebro Darden confirmed on Twitter that the picture Drake posted is actually the album’s cover. Of course, Drake’s been roasted over questionable art before, but this picture — which features a grid of pregnant woman emojis in various skin tones and different colored shirts — doesn’t exactly scream “album of the year.”

Fans were quick to drag Drake’s decision to use, as one put it, such an “unserious” picture as his actual album cover. I’m old enough to remember the reaction to his Take Care album cover, which was derided for the exact opposite reason, so maybe this is Drake’s way of telling us this next album will be fun and lighthearted — or at least full of baby-making music that can be appreciated by people of all types. That hasn’t stopped some fans from being convinced that he’s “sabotaging his own rollout” and declaring that it’s “worse than the Donda artwork.” However, as Kanye recently proved with the chaotic release of his own recent release, these are two artists who exist in their own echelon, where rollout won’t matter as much as the music and the communal experience of streaming along with the rest of the word whenever the album drops. Check out more responses below.

Certified Lover Boy is due 9/3 via OVO and Republic.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Kanye West finally drop Donda and one his Ye’s adversaries team up with one of his collaborators. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Kanye West — “Hurricane”

Kanye West was reaching a point where, given all the delays, nobody was putting much stock in any potential Donda release date. Finally, though, West dropped the album, and it’s a 26-track, near-two-hour odyssey. Among the highlights is “Hurricane,” which, aside from featuring DaBaby, is the first collaboration between West and The Weeknd in half a decade.

Big Red Machine — “Birch” Feat. Taylor Swift

This is one on both the same and opposite ends of the spectrum as West: Taylor Swift and the rapper of course have their disagreements, but Big Red Machine’s Justin Vernon has collaborated with West on a number of occasions. Whatever the case, “Birch” is one of two Swift-featuring songs from the new Big Red Machine album, and here, Swift leans into a support role and does her job perfectly.

Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar — “Family Ties”

The biggest Kendrick Lamar news of recent days is the fact that he’s currently working on what will be his final album for his longtime label, TDE. He’s also been working on some collaborations outside of that, as last week saw him and Baby Keem drop “Family Ties,” the title of which makes sense since the rappers are actually cousins.

Halsey — “Honey”

Halsey has oven leaned into alternative-influenced music over the years, but she takes it to a new level on her latest album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which she made with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. They’re not the only collaborators who appear on the album, though, as Lindsay Buckingham contributed guitars to “Darling” and Dave Grohl got behind the drum kit for “Honey.”

Gorillaz — “Jimmy Jimmy” Feat. AJ Tracey

Damon Albarn hasn’t given himself much rest in recent years, as he’s rolling out a solo album right now and Gorillaz have also been busy. After last year’s Song Machine series, Gorillaz have returned with a surprise new EP, Meanwhile, a succinct three-track effort that features collaborations with Jelani Blackman, Barrington Levy, AJ Tracey, and Alicaì Harley.

BTS — “Butter” Feat. Megan Thee Stallion

BTS’ “Butter” doesn’t need any help, as it did a fine job remaining at the top of the charts for multiple weeks. Regardless, it got a breath of new life from Megan Thee Stallion, who contributes to a new remix of the track. She’s actually the one who needed help, as it took a judge’s ruling for the song to get released.

Meek Mill — “Sharing Locations” Feat. Lil Baby and Lil Durk

Lil Baby and Lil Durk are just months removed from their collaborative album, Voice Of The Heroes. The pair has already reconvened, though, this time joining Meek Mill on “Sharing Locations.” As for Meek, the song is hopefully a look at his next album, which would follow 2018’s Championships.

Chvrches — “California”

Chvrches just dropped Screen Violence, and Lauren Mayberry told Uproxx of it, “It’s not about horror movies, but it was more like we can build a backdrop and a landscape that you can tell personal stories through. Once we’ve written a few songs and I had a few things under our belt and especially with the aesthetics and the visuals, it was more about the role of women in those stories and the role of women in horror. How can you take those tropes and ideas and use those to tell your stories? And what about being a woman feels horrific? What about it feels violent? How do you live in and around that violence, how can you live through it? What do you do with it when you live in this space? I think that’s been really fun to play with, especially like with the imagery on the record and the imagery in terms of the album artwork and the videos and the visuals. How can you take that genre and bend it to tell your stories?”

Kacey Musgraves — “Justified”

Kacey Musgraves is ready to follow up 2018’s Golden Hour, the album that fully transformed her into a crossover star. The Star-Crossed era has already begun, and she continued it last week with “Justified.” Uproxx’s Caitlin White notes that on the track, Musgraves “details the myriad of reactions that come after a breakup, tracing the journey from numbness, anger and sadness, to trying to connect with someone new, and even recounting some of what went wrong with the relationship.”

Griff — “One Night”

Griff has established herself as one of the UK’s brightest pop up-and-comers, and she continued to add to her resume last week with “One Night.” The track would feel right at home on top-40 radio, as it’s a catchy and anthemic pop tune with the sort of big retro- and dance-inspired hook that both plays well right now and is impossible to not get into.

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

Despite Mike Richards stepping down as the new host of Jeopardy! after a scandal-laden selection process revealed how little attention Sony paid to his background, the classic TV game’s show reputation is still in danger of being further tarnished. With Richards still serving as executive producer, former champs are speaking out with worries that the show’s reputation is in serious, well, jeopardy.

“It’s like looking at yourself in the mirror and shooting yourself in the face,” 11-time champ Arthur Chu told The Daily Beast. “You couldn’t intentionally sabotage the show worse than this.”

Chu, along with five-time champ Kristin Sausville, voiced their grave concerns with the direction that Jeopardy! is heading after the Richards’ debacle. Not only was his actual influence over the selection process downplayed, but the champs were stunned at how Sony was unaware of his podcast where he repeatedly made problematic comments about women’s bodies and borderline bigoted remarks. Via The Daily Beast:

Some of Sausville’s trivia friends, meanwhile, have said they’re no longer interested in auditioning for the show. She wonders “how women and Jewish people can feel safe on the set as contestants, as staff.”

Soon after we hung up, Sausville sent a written follow-up message: “J! has always been known for its integrity, which is critical for a show about facts,” she wrote. “It’s sacrificing that integrity by keeping Mike Richards as EP, and runs a real risk of long-term damage to its reputation and perception.”

While Sausville feels removing Richards will be a step in the right direction, Chu is less optimistic and feels that the Richards fiasco demonstrates Sony’s current view of Jeopardy!, which once maintained a sterling reputation for facts and knowledge.

“I think the really worrying thing about it is, what I sense from them is that they don’t have respect for that,” Chu said. “They kind of see Jeopardy! as a cash cow… When Alex died, they saw an opportunity to juice more ratings on top of that. And that’s a very tough thing to get over.”

(Via The Daily Beast)

After a bunch of delays, Kanye West finally released Donda on Sunday. West drummed up a ton of anticipation for the record ahead of its release, and while it’s far too early to tell where it and its songs will rank on the Billboard charts, we can tell already how well it has done on Spotify so far.

Indeed, it has thrived: On its first day of availability (August 29), the tracks on Donda racked up nearly 100 million streams globally (94,455,883, to be exact). According to Chart Data, that’s the second-largest album debut ever on the platform. The biggest debut of all time was had by Drake’s Scorpion, which enjoyed 132 million streams.

It’s worth noting that Donda was released at around 8 a.m. and not midnight like most albums are, so these figures are based on just 16 hours of streaming activity as opposed to the more common 24. So, if you scale Donda‘s streaming numbers up to 24 hours, it could be inferred that had the album been released at midnight, it may have delivered over 141 million Spotify streams.

On the global chart, 16 of the day’s top 25 songs were from Donda. That dominance was even greater on the US chart, where 22 of the top 25 were Donda tracks, including the entire top 10. On both charts, the most popular Donda songs were “Jail,” “Hurricane,” and “Off The Grid.”

Jon Stewart’s return to TV fast approaches, and it could be argued that he’s never been needed more on TV than this particular moment. That was the case when he finally surfaced (in 2021) on Twitter to express fury over the GameStop/Robinhood stock fiasco. Expect him to offer more of the same vibe on his upcoming Apple TV+ current events show, The Problem With Jon Stewart. Previously, the show’s synopsis revealed that the series “won’t have a nightly or even weekly cadence,” but Hollywood Reporter updates the situation to reveal that we should expect a new episode every two weeks.

In the above teaser, Stewart appears to reference how it’s been a long freaking six years since his The Daily Show retirement. He’s seen in sharp-dressed man mode while dressing for his impending return to the small screen before he does a double take that matches his steadfast reputation. “What the hell happened to my face?!?” he screams into a mirror. “Why would I go back to a visual medium?”

Aside from humor and according to Apple TV+, viewers can expect Stewart to go deep on a single subject per episode with a “solutionary” approach:

“Stewart will be in discussion with the people who are impacted by the issue — as well as those who have a hand in creating the impact. Together, they will discuss tangible steps that can lead to a solutionary path forward. The companion series podcast will extend the conversation from each episode, featuring staff members from across the show who will bring us interviews with activists in the space, the facts on the issue, and yes, lots of jokes.”

Oh, we need the jokes. Hopefully, they’ll be less confusing than the moment when Stewart recently appeared to go all-in on the controversial “lab leak” theory (while noting that COVID may have originated in a Wuhan lab and somehow escaped) as Stephen Colbert maintained a skeptical stance. That gave the right-wing plenty of conspiracy-theory fuel, though Stewart still hasn’t clarified his (surely?) satiric stance on the subject. Meanwhile, his Apple TV+ show will do its thing in front of a live studio audience, so get ready.

The Problem With Jon Stewart debuts on September 30.

The Ted Lasso Power Rankings are a weekly analysis of who and/or what had the strongest performance in each episode. Most of the list will feature individual characters, although the committee does reserve the right to honor anything from animals to inanimate objects to laws of nature to general concepts. There are very few rules here.

Season 2, Episode 6 — “The Signal”

HONORABLE MENTION: Keeley (quiet week, still a delight); Higgins (mind your business, nerd); Jane (could very much see this maniac cracking the top ten at some point); Luca the Hot Idiot (sometimes I am envious of gorgeous dummies like him, just floating through life nude in kitchens); Nate’s ex-girlfriend Nadia Shookums (will take me a while to get over that name); Rebecca’s mom (get it together, lady); Secret Sandwich Switcheroo (the most dangerous game of all); Finn the Underwear Model (homewrecker)

10. Dr. Sharon (Last week: Unranked)

Things are about to pick up in a big way for Dr. Sharon, for reasons that have been predictable for a while now and that we will discuss about three sections from now, when we get to number seven. It will be nice to see exactly how Dr. Sharon goes about her job, how she operates, after a little over a month of her just kind of hovering around and popping up in various hallways for what appeared to be the sole purpose of unsettling Ted.

But for now, for this moment in time, let’s just state for the record that Dr. Sharon is probably a blast at a pub or a bar. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see her have that one drink. I bet she would have ordered, like, a dirty martini with extra olives and then done a karaoke version of “Purple Rain” that brought the house down. Dr. Sharon is an iceberg. We have not yet begun to discover what lies beneath the surface. I suspect it is much funkier than most of us are picturing.

9. Colin (Last week: Unranked)

Congratulations to Colin on cracking the top ten for the first time this season. And, one imagines, barring a truly remarkable series of events, the last. There’s lots of business to get to in these last few weeks. I just cannot foresee a situation where young Colin gets a meaty enough story to slide back in here, not with the various Ted/Roy/Jamie/Rebecca/SAM of it all. But it’s nice to have him in here now. And there’s no point in getting too far out ahead of ourselves. It’s nice to just live in a moment sometimes, you know?

So, good for Colin. He’s not a piece of shit. Not everyone can say that. It’s a great place to build from.

8. Sam aka LDN152 (Last week: Unranked)

Well, I do not think I saw that coming, the secret Bantr beau situation with Rebecca. Maybe I should have. The Ted thing was probably too obvious, in hindsight, and too clean. They kept nodding toward it and nodding toward it and if I wasn’t such a dense optimist I would have seen right through it. Of course it wasn’t going to be Ted.

And if it wasn’t Ted, then, yeah, Sam checks out, investigatively. He’s also a sweet man who loves corny sayings and seeing the bright side of things. He’s a catch, too, what with the whole “attractive famous single millionaire who is successful in his chosen field” thing, if you’re into that.

It is going to make for an awkward reveal down the line, in part because there’s an age difference there that I don’t think Rebecca expects (I bet Sam would happily date an older woman), and in part because the owner of a professional sports franchise dating a player raises all sort of conundrums related to ethics and power dynamics. I don’t know how that all plays out, not yet at least. The only thing I know for certain is that Higgins is going to absolutely shit his pants about it all. I kind of can’t wait.

7. Ted (Last week: 8)

See, here’s the thing about this show and the entire Discourse that almost swallowed it whole over the last week: It was always coming to this. Ted is, at his core, a little broken right now. The show has never really hidden that. He was sad on Christmas and temporarily pulled out of it with carols. He misses his family and he’s lonely and the team wasn’t winning. He discovered this week that his hokey Midwesterning actually hurt Jamie as a player. He got a disconcerting phone call. Most of this season has been Ted frantically heaving buckets of water out of his sinking lifeboat. We just missed it sometimes because he looked so happy while he was heaving. Always remember to check on your strong friends, too.

But now we’re here. Ted is sad and hiding out in Sharon’s darkened office after fleeing the pitch in the middle of the game’s most pivotal moment. He’s doing bad and he can’t hide it anymore. The lifeboat is headed toward the ocean floor and he’s flailing for a flotation device or maybe even a passing helicopter. Dr. Sharon is the helicopter pilot in this scenario. I bet she can pull off the sunglasses and helmet, too. Easily. She might even really fly helicopters in her free time. Very little could surprise me about this woman.

Next week will be interesting. There’s a lot to unpack behind that mustache. I’m both excited and nervous. I feel like karaoke could help. Maybe I just have karaoke on the brain after the Dr. Sharon section. Couldn’t hurt, at the very least.

6. Mina the Cleaning Lady (Last week: Unranked)

Would you watch a web series — not a full-length thing, like four or five little eight-minute episodes — where Mina met up with her friends for brunch/drinks and proceeded to gossip relentlessly about the things she saw in Rebecca’s house? I would. So would you.

Do not lie.

5. Rebecca (Last week: 4)

We covered most of the Rebecca situation in the section on Sam, so let’s just go to the bullet points to knock out what’s left:

• Not many people can pull off that style of hat without looking like a doofus, so I’m very happy for her that her bravery paid off that well
• I like that she invited all her friends out to grift lunch from her mom, if only because it is primo rascal teen behavior and that should always be recognized
• I hope she finds something more fulfilling in her love life than Luca The Hot Idiot, but in the interim, I mean, good for her, you know?

You know what? I hope she and Sam get married. There, I said it.

4. Roy (Last week: 2)

Coach Roy is a revelation. I thought I would be sad to lose him as a sports pundit, and I still am, a little, if only because it was so much fun to watch him raise that one eyebrow and then say something that was as profane and devastating as it was brief. But that loss was immediately cushioned by the thing where Coach Roy might be even better.

I mean, look at what we had this week, in our first real run at seeing Coach Roy. He fixed Colin with technical advice and he fixed Jamie with psychological advice. That’s… that’s a lot. It’s pretty much all you can ask for out of a coach. There’s a non-zero chance he ends up getting hired away by another team at some point. Think about that for a while this week. Think about how you’d feel about seeing Roy on the opposite sideline. I would hate it a lot!

For now, though, this is fun. It’s left me wondering if there’s any job I wouldn’t like watching Roy Kent do. Picture him as a sommelier at a fancy restaurant. Picture him as a high school teacher. Picture him as a fish and game warden in Yellowstone. Picture him as a tour guide in the Louvre. He’s a fascinating man. I love him.

3. Jamie (Last week: Unranked)

Two Jamie notes, which we go back to the bullet points for, because the bullet points are efficient and fun:

• He does this thing where you can see him like visibly inflate upon hearing good news and visibly deflate upon hearing bad news, and it is becoming one of my favorites parts of the show
• His accent delights me, the way words ending with a long E sound come out as an “-eh,” as they did in the above screencap when Roy made him call himself “an ugleh, ugleh boy”

I’m glad Jamie is back to being a prick. Sometimes. A tactical prick, if you will. It just feels right.

2. Nate (Last week: 3)

This marks two weeks in a row that we’ve seen Nate flourish, first at the restaurant and now at his job. I like that. I like to see Nate succeed, especially after all the trouble he had early in the season, with the yelling and the overdoing it in general, like an angry little Napoleon. It’s good that the team’s wonder kid has found a balance. Assertive Nate is a good development. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the spitting.

This marks two weeks in a row that Nate has spit before leaping into action. Last week, it was at himself the mirror. This week, it was on the grass before taking charge. It’s like it gives him strength somehow, like it’s the trigger that unlocks his confidence. I hope he does it all the time from now on. I hope he does it forever. I hope he meets a nice girl and they get married and he gets very nervous and so he spits on the floor of the church before saying his vows. I would like that. Maybe he and his old girlfriend Nadia Shookums can patch things up. I told you it would take me a while to get over that name. Nadia Shookums. Come on.

1. Coach Beard (Last week: 1)

Weird week for Beard. On one hand, the situation with Jane does not seem healthy in any substantial way and it’s getting to the point where it’s affecting his job, as we saw with the yawning and the thing where his coworkers are spending kind of a lot of time discussing if and how to intervene. It’s not ideal, both because it is dragging him down and because I like it when Beard is a mystery, not a mess. Fix it.

On the other hand, I do like that Ted uses him as like a human Google when there’s a question that needs answering (might try to sneak “flaneur” into a sentence later this year), and the GIF of him giving that thumbs down is going to be incredibly useful to me going forward. So…

Yeah. Still the king.

If there is one thing that will never change about music, it’s that people will spend non-trivial amounts of time ranking the best artists, albums, and songs and then debating those rankings. It seems like every other day, somebody makes headlines because they ranked the best rappers or the best artists in another style. Now Lizzo has decided to enter the conversation, doing so by declaring the “king,” “queen,” “prince,” and “princess” of various genres.

She began by declaring in a tweet that Usher is the “king of R&B,” and from there, she decided to hand out similar superlatives in subsequent tweets. Her picks include Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and others:

“King of Pop- Michael Jackson
Queen of Pop- Janet Jackson
Prince of pop- Bieber
Princess of Pop- Britney Spears
The Pop princess- Rihanna
Queen of music- Beyonce
Queen of soul- Aretha
Queen of R&B- Mariah
Queen of hip hop soul- Mary J
Queen of rock & roll- Tina Turner.”

Notably, she didn’t touch on rap. She responded to a fan asking why she did that, writing, “Pop is easier to speak on rap got too many variables– I have my opinions tho…. But Ima mind my business.”

Find Lizzo’s tweets below.

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