Month: October 2021

Even when things get a little apocalyptic, Kim Petras never loses her focus. The pop star just released a new single — her first after signing with Republic Records — and the tone her next era is decidedly futuristic. Aptly titled “Future Starts Now,” the song gave us a peek into Petras’ new sound, a sleek, bombastic take that’s on the cooler side, but still in line with the massive warmth of last year’s epic love song, “Malibu.” Back then, Petras said the song introduced her new era of “superstar pop,” and she’s certainly doubled down on that with the video for “Future Starts Now.”

In the clip, Petras is Parisian chic in a beret at a party, slowly turning the gathering into a dance performance. But, elsewhere, the Eiffel Tower is floating and the weather is wrecking havoc on everything — except Petras’ dancing. Of the video, she said that it was inspired by all the chaotic events of the last few months:

“The ‘Future Starts Now’ video is inspired by going into the unknown, having the world change and break under you, and celebrating that change and the future after what feels like the end of the world. I was very into this amazing anime called Japan Sinks and, since I was so inspired by Europe when making my new music, I thought, ‘There’s no better way to do this music video than to have the Eiffel Tower sink.’ When I think of Europe, the first thing I think about is the Eiffel Tower. It’s a metaphor for life: Things are going to change whether you want them to or not and you can either roll with it and make the best out of it or let it drown you. The pandemic changed the world in bad ways but good ways too. It’s about not letting life sink you and to have fun and celebrate the world — whatever it becomes.”

Check out the video above and keep an eye out for more new music.

Things haven’t been going particularly well on the field for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team has gotten off to an 0-4 start this season, with their most recent loss coming last Thursday to the Cincinnati Bengals. But in recent days, all of the attention has been on the actions of head coach Urban Meyer, who stayed in Ohio and traveled to his old stomping ground of Columbus after the team flew back to Florida and was caught with a woman who isn’t his wife dancing close to his lap.

Meyer issued up an apology at his weekly press conference on Monday, while there have been high-profile calls for him to lose his job. And on Tuesday, veteran NFL reporter Mike Silver brought word that the situation in Jacksonville is reaching the point of being untenable.

Silver went on to report on how Meyer handled this with his players, and apparently, he wasn’t exactly convincing with his explanation of how things went.

Shortly after this report, Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a statement on the matter. While he appreciated Meyer for his explanation of what happened, he went on to say that the team’s coach “must regain our trust and respect.”

The Jaguars are scheduled to play host to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. They will then pack their bags and head to London for a game against the Miami Dolphins before their bye week.

During a fiery rant on Tuesday morning’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg expressed zero sympathy for Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema who was followed into a restroom by angry constituents. In fact, Whoopi said if she was an Arizona voter, she’d be right there in that restroom demanding answers from Sinema, who was elected to work for her constituents, not delay vital fixes to roads and infrastructure for reasons that no one can seem to determine.

After ringing a bell, which seems like a feature should’ve had handy when Meghan McCain was around, Whoopi tore into Sinema and backed the voters who confronted her over the weekend:

“When it is something someone wants, they find the money. They find the money. And if this doesn’t get done now, it’s not going to get done. It’s just not gonna happen. Your roads, all of this stuff is not gonna get fixed. So, it’s very simple to me. I’mma follow you wherever you are if you’re not responding to me as someone who elected you. I’m trying to keep you in office because I tell ya, when I start voting and you’ve been null and void and nowhere to be found, you’re out. ‘Cause you’re not taking care of business.”

It was yet another solid rant from Whoopi who snatched up NBA star LeBron James for not endorsing the COVID vaccine last week. If going after King James doesn’t concern Whoopi, she’s certainly not going to lose sleep calling out Sinema.

“This is your job,” Whoopi said while wrapping up her contribution to the panel discussion. “Your job is not to play with Manchin. Your job is to take care of what we need in Arizona. That’s why we put you in, ’cause we thought you could do it better. And here you are blocking stuff.”

(Via The Chat on Twitter)

When Olivia Rodrigo dropped her debut album Sour last spring, it not only topped the charts in a record-breaking way, but it showed off her versatile songwriting. Because she catapulted into the mainstream pop sphere during the pandemic, many are wondering what’s next for the musician/actor. But instead of having concrete plans for the next year, Rodrigo is trying to keep from being “pigeonholed” into doing just one thing. That’s why the singer said she doesn’t want to rush her next album.

Rodrigo recently talked about the status of her sophomore LP in a lengthy interview with Teen Vogue. The singer contemplated the next steps in her career, saying she’s thought about heading to Nashville to learn from the country music greats. She also wants to follow the lead of her hit track “Brutal” and lean more into rock collaborations, taking a page out of Halsey’s recent album made with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The singer said that Jack White is her hero, but she’s not quite ready to reach out to the rock legend.

Though she’s not certain what move to make next, Rodrigo is sure that a follow up to her Sour album won’t be coming any time soon. “I’m gonna take my time to figure out exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it,” she said about writing new music.

Read Rodrigo’s full interview with Teen Vogue here.

The fallout from DaBaby’s disastrous Rolling Loud Miami set continues to settle, as more voices enter the chat to debate his demerits. While the majority of the reactions to DaBaby’s comments have deplored his ill-chosen words, Dave Chappelle has a different question on his mind. In his new Netflix special The Closer, which debuted today, Chappelle juxtaposes the backlash to DaBaby’s homophobic comments with the rapper’s violent lyrics — which aren’t all stereotypical rapper bluster.

Chappelle leads into the observation by cheekily addressing the backlash to his own recent sets, on which he seems to have specifically targeted queer people in order to point out what he sees as discrepancies in the way they are treated in comparison to Black people (setting aside the fact that people can be … both). “All the questions you might have had about all these jokes I’ve said in the last few years, I hope to answer tonight,” he says. “And I’d like to start by addressing the [LGBTQ] community directly. I want every member of that community to know that I come here tonight in peace and I hope to negotiate the release of DaBaby.”

After some additional preamble, he reminds the audience that before DaBaby’s rise to fame (in fact, almost immediately before it) the rapper was involved in a fatal shooting, in which he claimed self-defense. Then, Dave poses his observation: “In our country, you can shoot and kill a n***a but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings.” It’s doubtful that anything’s as simple as that — queer people are often the targets of just as brutal crimes for little other reason than being queer — but to his credit, Chappelle promises to address the nuance in the special. We’ll see if he does.

DaBaby, meanwhile, has continued to address the fallout himself, meeting with organizations dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness and sneering at some of his critics in his return to the stage at Summer Jam.

Watch the trailer for Dave Chappelle’s The Closer, which is now streaming on Netflix, above.

With the start of the NBA season right around the corner, ESPN is reportedly getting its plans in place for its pregame show, NBA Countdown. Following a summer of turnover, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that the Worldwide Leader will turn to two of its steadiest hands as it moves forward.

Mike Greenberg is slated to become the next host of the show, while Stephen A. Smith will get his apparent wish and appear on the show alongside Magic Johnson (who “will be on pretty frequently, though less than the other top ESPN analysts”) and Michael Wilbon. The only holdovers from the previous edition of the show are Jalen Rose and Adrian Wojnarowski — while the former will continue to appear on the show as a panelist, Marchand reports that Wojnarowski “will remain on nearly every big show, however he will provide breaking news and information as opposed to opinions.”

While that group will largely take over for marquee games broadcast by the network, Marchand says that the midweek edition of the program is going to look a bit different.

ESPN’s Wednesday Countdown shows will also have a new look with “SportsCenter’s” Michael Eaves handling the hosting duties, joined by Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins and Chiney Ogwumike.

Besides Wojnarowski, Malika Andrews and Marc Spears will be featured reporters on Countdown.

At the conclusion of the 2021 NBA Finals, Countdown host Maria Taylor left the network to join NBC Sports. Her departure came on the heels of a leaked audio clip from the NBA’s Orlando Bubble in which Rachel Nichols expressed her belief that Taylor got the Countdown hosting gig over her because of ESPN’s “crappy longtime record on diversity.” Nichols is still with the network, although it has been previously reported that she will leave at the conclusion of her contract.

Cordae released his debut album The Lost Boy a little over two years ago, and fans haven’t stopped clamoring for a follow-up since. Among those fans are starstruck veterans of the game like Lil Wayne, who offered to feature on the younger rapper’s next album, and Jadakiss, who recently praised Cordae in the most recent episode of The Shop, where he appeared alongside Cordae’s girlfriend, tennis champion Naomi Osaka.

Cordae teased the upcoming follow-up to The Lost Boy during a recent livestream on Twitch with gamer Adin Ross, freestyling over the beat to Drake’s recently released, tongue-in-cheek hit single, “Way 2 Sexy.” “Every year, I look more richer and sexy / Stackin’ my Millie, that Richard is heavy / My album is coming, you n****s ain’t ready,” he raps. Ross seems suitably impressed, exclaiming “Oh my god!” as Cordae drops punchline after punchline without missing a beat. You can watch the video courtesy of Cordae’s Hi-Level Records Twitter.

Meanwhile, fans who’ve been impatiently waiting for that follow-up album have still gotten plenty of new material this year, including his Just Until EP, his feature on Eminem’s “Killer” remix, Nas’ Spotify single “Life Is Like A Dice Game,” and Cordae’s single, “Taxes.”

Watch Cordae freestyle over the “Way 2 Sexy” beat above.

Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

WarnerMedia’s European HBO Max launch event yielded plenty of goodies stateside as well. We got to see the first House of the Dragon teaser trailer with many Targaryen wigs and John Cena’s Peacemaker character catching hell, just as he deserves. And now, we’re seeing what went down following the Succession Season 2 finale, which ended with Jeremy Strong’s Kendall betraying Brian Cox’s Logan, and Logan actually letting loose with a smile. Was it a smile of pride or a smile or respect or… something else?

We’ll have to wait for Season 3’s October 17 debut to find out more hints about that question. In the meantime, this clip shows Kendall in the aftermath of his press conference with Cousin Greg (who is saying a lot with all of his “no comment!” comments) in tow as they burrow through a media firestorm. As the trailer indicated, Logan will go “full f*cking beast” at some point, and the poetic language of this show can’t be beat, so we get to hear Kendall label his flee-mobile as “the righteous vehicle.” We don’t get any Roman (boo, but we saw a very telling character portrait), and Shiv is obviously elsewhere, too, but this clip does sate some thirst. From the synopsis:

Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall at the end of season two, Logan Roy begins season three in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war.

Succession returns to HBO on Sunday, October 17.

Justin Bieber may get his weed from California, according to a verse in his No. 1 track “Peaches,” but he wants his fans to get their weed from him. The singer has now partnered with an LA-based cannabis company to collaborate on a strain of flower inspired by his sunny Justice track.

The pop star’s new endeavor is his way of breaking into the lucrative cannabis business. He teamed up with the cannabis company Palms to deliver a “high-end line” of limited edition pre-rolled joints inspired by his recent hit single. Each of his Peaches pre-rolls comes in a pack of seven and is accompanied by a custom designed lighter. Per a report from Billboard on Bieber’s business venture, both he and Palms will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their Peaches pre-rolls to two charities, the Last Prisoner Project and Veterans Walk and Talk.

In a statement given to Bloomberg, Bieber explained his initial interest in the cannabis collaboration. “I’m a fan of Palms and what they are doing by making cannabis approachable and helping to destigmatize it — especially for the many people who find it helpful for their mental health,” he said.

Check out a sneak peak of Bieber’s Peaches pre-rolled joints above.

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is rightly considered a masterpiece of blockbuster filmmaking and one of the great movie trilogies ever. But a lot of things had to happen to get there — or not happen, in the case of Harvey Weinstein’s involvement.

The Hollywood mega-producer and convicted sex offender agreed to work with Jackson and make his The Lord of the Rings movies under the Miramax banner, but only if he condensed J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material into two films with a $75 million budget… total. “Eventually, the Weinsteins started asking for changes that Jackson and [writer and producer Fran] Walsh couldn’t make. The primary breaking point came when they asked Jackson to consolidate everything into one four-hour film,” according to Polygon. Jackson refused, so he “was free to take the film anywhere else as long as the next studio was willing to pay Miramax everything they’d already spent, as well as enough to make Harvey feel good about the time they wasted.” The Lord of the Rings ended up at New Line Cinema, where it became a Best Picture winner that made nearly $3 billion at the box office. And included a hearty “f*ck you” to Weinstein.

While appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard, star Elijah Wood revealed that one of the movie’s hideous orcs was made to look like Harvey. “This was recently spoken about because Dom [Monaghan] and Bill [Boyd, who played Hobbits Merry and Pippin in the trilogy] have a podcast, The Friendship Onion. They were talking to Sean Astin [who played Samwise] about his first memory of getting to New Zealand,” he said. “He had seen these orc masks. And one of the orc masks — and I remember this vividly — was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a f*ck you.”

Wood added, “I think that is OK to talk about now, the guy is f*cking incarcerated. F*ck him.” You can listen to the actor’s Armchair Expert episode below.

(Via Indiewire)