Month: November 2021

Adele’s “Easy On Me” got off to a slow start on the charts thanks to a technicality: It was released a few hours before midnight on Friday, meaning that the song’s actual first chart-eligible week consisted of just a few hours of tracking activity. It picked things up after that, though, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the next week and staying on top for the week after that. Now, the success continues, as on the Hot 100 chart dated November 13, “Easy On Me” is at No. 1 for a third week.

Adele’s hit also did well on the Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart, as it reached No. 1 this week, its fourth week of eligibility. For reference, that’s uncommon: This is the fastest a song has pulled that off since Adele’s own “Hello” reached the top of that chart in four weeks in November 2015.

Meanwhile, Glass Animals also had themselves a great week, as their 2020 single “Heat Waves” rose from No. 13 up to No. 10. The song was released on June 29, 2020 and has now reached the top 10 in its 42nd week, which is the longest trip to the top 10 in the history of the Hot 100 chart. It’s also the group’s first top-10 single (as well as their first single to chart on the Hot 100 at all).

Three Hours is our new series that will look to offer a recommendation on games. The average person usually doesn’t need too much time to understand if they want to keep playing a game or not. While many games have a moment where everything clicks, and the player decides if they’re going to go all the way to the finish or not, there’s usually a moment far earlier where we decide if we’re going to continue playing the game altogether. While there isn’t exactly a set amount of time that this happens, we’d guess that for the average game it’s probably about three hours in. By that time, players have had time to test out mechanics and make a decision on if they want to try and see the game through.

We want to try and help players understand if the games they’re interested in are worth giving a chance. As game prices increase, the decision to purchase a game is more important than ever, and we don’t want someone to potentially put down $70 for a game that they’re going to realize quickly they don’t like. As a result, we’re always going to put a minimum of three hours into a game we play. If we feel that we need more time to understand what a game is about (JRPG’s are infamous for this) then we’ll continue to play it until we feel we have a strong understanding to give a recommendation on if a game is worth the time or not.

Riders Republic

What is Riders Republic?

Riders Republic is a spiritual successor to the Steep series of games. The player is put into a large open world with terrains varying from forests to snowy mountains, to cliffs as far as the eye can see. This world is known as the Riders Republic and it’s an extreme sports playground where Riders can Bike, Snowboard/Ski, or Rocket Wingsuit their way around. There are competitions that players will compete in as they look to become the top rider in the world, but alongside those competitions are varying side activities such as stunts, collectibles, scenic viewpoints, and mass races.

While the “plot” of the game is going to push the player towards competitions, it’s more likely they’re going to be spending their hours exploring this huge world. It’s really fun just going around and seeing what new things you can find. The competitions shouldn’t be completely avoided though, because doing them unlocks new gear that makes traveling that terrain a little easier and more fun. It will also lead to new competitions as well, so it’s worth doing them whenever you feel like racing.

That equipment will come in handy when the player is competing in multiplayer events. While there’s some standard player vs. player multiplayer trick events such as racing or trick battles, the best event by far are the Mass Races. Usually, when the player is exploring the world they’ll see ghosts of other players riding around and doing their own thing. These ghosts are good, because they help the world feel alive and filled with people even if the amount of people on any given server is usually far smaller. However, competitions are usually against ghosts as well so the amount of player interaction in this open-world is pretty minimal without a strong group to play with. The Mass Races on the other hand are always real players and they are huge. 64 people all in one race vying for the top spot. It’s pure chaos.

That chaos is where Riders Republic is at its best though and it exemplifies the best, and worst, part of the game. Riders Republic is at its most fun when interacting with other players. That includes when exploring the world. While players are free to go off and do whatever they want on their own, with a party of other people you can compete against one another and that adds more stakes to those races. The “plot” of the game doesn’t do a very good job of adding motivation for the player and as a result it can get a little dull sometimes on your own.

Why You Should Play Riders Republic

-Huge open world
-Plenty to do
-Mass Races

A good group of friends can put a ton of time into Riders Republic. The open world is begging to be explored and anyone that is looking for a game to chill out to while they hang out with friends in a party or discord call will find this to be the perfect game. Players who get really into it will have a great time competing in the Mass Races. They’re chaotic but just skilled enough to make players feel good when they find themselves at the top of the leaderboard.

Why You Should Not Play Riders Republic

-Single player experience lacking
-Bad dialogue
-The fun won’t last forever

Riders Republic is a tougher sell for anyone that wants to play it on their own. There is fun to be had in this game, but that fun won’t last forever because the plot doesn’t do enough to push the player forward. Even with so much to explore, it’s just more fun as a multiplayer experience. Maybe wait for this one to hit Game Pass or drop in price before trying it out.

Our Take

We had a ton of fun with Riders Republic when we previewed it back in August. A lot of that same joy was still there, but it felt a little more muted the second go around. It didn’t feel as fresh and it was screaming for some friends to play with. That said, it was still plenty of fun and a game we put well over three hours into — not because we needed more time, but because we wanted to keep playing.

With the COVID vaccine finally given an emergency authorization for children aged 5 through 11, Sesame Street did what Sesame Street has done for decades and promoted public health by sending out a tweet from Big Bird to allay kids’ fear of getting the shot. While it should’ve been an adorable moment that no doubt helped parents with anxious grade-schoolers on their hands, Republicans did what Republicans do and started firing off nutso tweets about “government propaganda.” By Saturday evening, Big Bird was trending as another full-on battle in the culture wars broke out.

Among those attempting to dunk on Big Bird was Ted Cruz, who has a well-documented history of tweets blowing up in his face, and this time was no different. After getting widely mocked on Twitter, the ladies of The View tore into Cruz on Monday morning.

“He clearly, clearly has never watched Sesame Street and didn’t do any homework to find out,” Whoopi Goldberg said to kick off the panel. “Because Big Bird has been talking to children about immunizations, and all kinds of things. So why you pickin’ on Big Bird, man?”

As the panel continued, the rest of the co-hosts continued to hammer Cruz and reiterate Goldberg’s point that Sesame Street has been telling kids to get vaccinated going all the way back to the ’70s when Big Bird promoted the measles shot. Goldberg wrapped up the segment by telling Cruz to knock it off. Via The Wrap:

“Here’s the thing to remember: this is Big Bird, talking to little kids about getting this shot in their arm,” Whoopi said. “They’re not gonna walk up to the doctor’s office and say ‘Give me a shot!’ A parent has to bring them. An adult has to bring them. But kids need to know what’s happening and why. And that’s what Big Bird does, so leave Big Bird alone!”

As for whether Cruz will back off, the Texas senator was retweeting Big Bird memes as The View was airing, so don’t expect him to do any soul-searching on why he’s now pot-committed to attacking one of the most beloved children’s TV characters of all time.

(Via The View on Twitter, The Wrap)

On Saturday night at The Forum, Playboi Carti broke every rule of performing I’ve come to expect from a live rap concert. Carti’s set was more like a DJ set at a rave; instead of witnessing athletic feats of breath control or charismatic interplay between the artist and his fans, we essentially watched a silhouette dancing through the fog, occasionally punctuated by the flamethrowers at the front of the stage

Fans couldn’t even see him for most of the concert. The production must have melted a metric ton of dry ice for smoke effects. He could’ve had a body double for all anyone could tell (a possibility for which there is a non-zero chance, considering his comments about being inspired by MF DOOM, who was known to pull that trick a few times in his day). But If it sounds like I’m down on the performance, I promise it isn’t because I am. If anything, I was impressed. Here was an artist creating atmosphere, wresting full buy-in from his fans by sheer force of will, personality, or mind control.

I can attempt to posit reasons for what I saw as a disproportionate response to the apparent level of effort going into the performance. My first guess is that Carti’s fans, which from my observations mainly seemed to hail from zoomers and the younger end of the millennial spectrum, come from an era where like 75 percent of their lives are lived online. Again, this isn’t a diss; this is a generation that has barely known a world before Netflix, YouTube, UberEats, or the big 3 of social media (Instagram, Twitter, TikTok). Hell, most of them probably never had a Myspace page.

Maybe for them, the appeal isn’t in watching how artists transform their works on stage, it’s just in seeing them in real life. In concert, this person with whom they engage largely as an abstract concept via text, images, short video clips, and an inch square profile picture becomes… well, real. Three dimensional, dynamic, tactile. Perhaps rather than coming to be entertained, they’re coming simply to connect in a world that seems to be constantly so but is really more isolated and individualistic than ever before.

They aren’t just here to watch, they’re here to commune, to participate. And maybe Carti is, too. After all, artists are every bit as subject to the lonely experience of existing in a digital world as anyone — maybe even more so, because of the nature of life spent locked in studios or on the road.

And maybe, because artists like Carti and his peers largely owe their success to the internet rather than the hard-earned grind of growing a fanbase through grueling live performances at tiny venues and developing over time, they’ve never learned to appreciate the technicalities or nuances that prior generations did. I hate to say it, but maybe that’s okay. I once wrote that Carti doesn’t really deserve to be trapped into the box of expectations that the rapper label comes with. Perhaps that includes the ones that say rappers must perform all of their own vocals without support, that they must be experts at talking to the crowd, that everything has to be curated and polished to the point of making it all appear seamless and easy.

On the other hand, maybe Carti really just has mind control over these kids, like the vampires he often references in his public communique. Maybe he just really is tapped into a different wavelength that tickles the basic instinct to wild out and move around and the fact that I remember AOL chat rooms just makes me old as hell. But as he closed out his set to deafening chants of his name, I was struck by a sense that I had just glimpsed the future… If not of hip-hop as an institution then of some as-yet-unnamed wave of pop culture fueled less by virtuoso than vibes.

One thing that was heartening to see: kids having fun safely. In the wake of the Astroworld disaster in Houston the night before, I could sense the tension of concern that this Carti show could get out of hand in the same way. After all, just weeks before, Playboi Carti fans had torn up his venue in Houston when the concert was canceled at the last minute. Yet on Saturday at The Forum, the chaos was controlled and fans’ youthful exuberance was encouraged. It showed that you can still have this kind of show if you maintain a certain level of respect and consideration. By all means, wild out. Just know where the line is, and keep all your toes on one side.

The Narcissist Tour continues Tuesday, November 9 at Gallagher Square in San Diego, CA. You can see the remaining tour dates here.

Sunday night, Cordae dropped by Desus & Mero to talk about his new music and his recent physical transformation posts on social media, but because it’s Desus and Mero, the conversation was quickly sidetracked into NSFW discussions about adult film, McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and of course, the inescapable juggernaut of popularity that is Netflix’s Korean drama Squid Game, which Cordae thinks is “oversaturated.”

“That’s like a head ass, now,” Cordae said of the show when asked whether he’d watched it recently. “N****s overdid Squid Game so much.” While he allowed that “a lot of n****s did some dope sh*t with it,” he adamantly rejected Desus’ suggestion that he make an album based on the show. He did, however, seem interested in a parody of the show mentioned by the host. “I gotta check that, just for curiosity,” he quipped.

On a more serious note, Cordae explained how he lost so much weight in the photos he recently posted. He admitted that “I was just eating terrible. This is my first time getting money like this and we eating steaks, going to Mastro’s every day, getting chefs to pull up.” He says that he was able to shed the extra pounds by “just staying disciplined.”

Watch Cordae’s wild Desus & Mero interview above.

The Boston Celtics stumbled out of the gate to start the season at 2-5 and it didn’t take long for frustrations to become apparent. Marcus Smart called out Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for not wanting to pass late in games and allowing the offense to be too predictable, which in turn resulted in the players getting together for a tense meeting in Orlando.

Since then the Celtics have played better, picking up a pair of wins in Florida before losing a heartbreaker to the Mavs, and it seemed as though they might be pulling themselves from the funk they were in the first two weeks. However, the task to continue their climb out of the early hole they put themselves in will only get more difficult, as they will spend the next week or two without the services of Jaylen Brown, who is sidelined with a hamstring strain.

Brown has been one of the true bright spots for the Celtics this season, averaging 25.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on 49.3/39.7/78.0 shooting splits. Without Brown, Boston will be hoping that Jayson Tatum can shake free of his early slump and they will need guys like Smart and Dennis Schröder to take on a bigger scoring load. If there is some good news it is that the schedule this week isn’t particularly heavy, as Boston is off until Wednesday when they play host to the Raptors, followed by the Bucks on Friday and a trip to Cleveland for games Saturday and Monday. It’s possible Brown would only miss those four games, but if his injury keeps him out on the longer end of the timetable given, he could miss three or four more games with games against the Hawks, Lakers, Thunder, and Rockets coming the following week.

It was one year ago today, November 8, that Alex Trebek died at 80 years old. Jeopardy! still hasn’t settled on a full-time host since his passing (it was Mike Richards, until it wasn’t, and it DEFINITELY won’t be Aaron Rodgers), so Ken Jennings will fill in for the next three weeks. This is his second stint as host, which is a “very tricky job,” he told USA Today. “The mechanics of hosting Jeopardy! are daunting. There’s a lot going on at once, and Alex made it all look so easy. But I can tell you firsthand, it’s not easy.”

Jennings wasn’t aware that his return as host would coincide with Trebek’s death anniversary. The crew knew, but “they didn’t want to put that in my head,” he explained. “So I was not told until after that it was the November 8 show.” Trebek’s passing will go unmentioned during the episode, outside of “possibly a [title] card,” but Jennings said that he “did wear Alex’s cuff links that week, that his wife, Jean, had been kind enough to leave for me. So I do have a little kind of souvenir.”

Jennings’ debut as the inaugural guest host was a huge success — during the first week of his six-week stint, he brought in an average of 10.3 million viewers, second this past season only to Trebek’s final week as host, the Deseret News reported. Of all the 16 guest hosts who would fill in for the show’s 37th season, Jennings had the highest ratings.

Jennings and Mayim Bialik will continue to rotate as hosts for the foreseeable future.

(Via USA Today and Deseret News)

In much the same way Facebook became uncool once your angry uncle started logging on, Ted Cruz is doing his best to tank the most popular slogan of the right-wing conservative set right now.

Is it Senator Cruz’s fault that he’s the physical manifestation of the word “cheugy”? Probably not, but he had to know that his endorsement of the new anti-Biden chant preferred by fellow Republican blowhards like Representative Lauren Boebert would seriously hurt its stock value. Before we get into the Cancun Cruz-ness of it all, let’s recap: the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant first originated thanks to an on-air-interview-gone-wrong at a NASCAR race in Alabama. An NBC reporter was chatting with driver Brandon Brown after his win when the crowd launched into a chant he first interpreted as a celebration of Brown’s win. The reporter suggested the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon”. In reality, they were chanting “F*ck Joe Biden.” The phrase took off from there, with everyone from Republican representatives to Southwest Airline pilots co-opting the Biden dig. It got so bad that even NASCAR tried to distance itself from the phrase.

Of course, Cruz couldn’t let the chance to snag a bit of headline-making controversy pass him by, so he made his own contribution to the “Let’s Go Brandon” movement in the form of this very unfunny tweet:

Political leanings aside, this kind of trolling is just lazy. It’s obvious Cruz pulled the photo from someone else’s socials, didn’t tag them, and then added his own commentary. It’s some real “F for Effort” sh*t-posting on his part but, then again, the guy hasn’t had a vacation in *checks watch* a month? So really, give him a break.

Or don’t. He left millions of his constituents to freeze to go sunbathing on the beaches of a country he regularly rants about for political clout. Twitter certainly didn’t give him any mercy in response to his bandwagon-hopping post:

Today, Dave Grohl continues his apparent effort to dominate every area of the entertainment and media industry. He’s of course a music legend, his new memoir is a best-seller, and now, he and the rest of Foo Fighters announced that they’ve made a new movie, Studio 666. While Grohl and the band have experience with documentaries, this project is a different beast, as it’s a horror comedy film in which they also star.

Aside from Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee, the BJ McDonnell-directed movie also features Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Will Forte, Jenna Ortega, and Jeff Garlin. The movie is set to hit over 2,000 US theaters on February 25, 2022, while an international release date will be announced soon.

Press materials describe the film, “In Studio 666, the legendary rock band Foo Fighters move into an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock and roll history to record their much anticipated 10th album. Once in the house, Dave Grohl finds himself grappling with supernatural forces that threaten both the completion of the album and the lives of the band.” Deadline also notes of it, “Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters bandmates star in a film they shot in secret, about what happens when the legendary rock band rents an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock and roll history, to record their 10th album [Medicine At Midnight]. Trouble is, frontman Grohl is creatively blocked, and when evil forces in the house sink into his consciousness, the creative juices begin flowing, but so does the blood. Can Foo Fighters complete the album, with the band still alive to tour?”

Dave Grohl says of the movie:

“After decades of ridiculous music videos and numerous music documentaries under our collective belts, it was finally time to take it to the next level… A full length feature horror comedy film. Like most things Foo, Studio 666 began with a far fetched idea that blossomed into something bigger than we ever imagined possible. Filmed at the same house where we recorded our latest album Medicine At Midnight (told you that place was haunted!) we wanted to recapture the classic magic that all of our favorite rock and roll movies had, but with a twist: hilarious gore that f*cking ROCKS. And now, with the help of Tom Ortenberg and the team at Open Road Films we can finally let this cat out of the bag after keeping it our best kept secret for two years. Be ready to laugh, scream, and headbang in your popcorn. Studio 666 will f*ck you up.”

McDonnell also said, “Studio 666 is a perfect combination of all things I love. Rock, horror, and comedy all tied together in a very thrilling motion picture. I am so excited to have teamed up with the Foo Fighters to create an old school ‘Band’ movie. It’s been years since we’ve seen something like the Beatles’ Help!, The Monkees’ Head, or Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park. Take that 60’s/70’s old school band film fun, mix it with horror and Studio 666 is born! I am so ecstatic for audiences of film and music to come together and enjoy our film.”

There’s no trailer or additional info yet, so for now, the poster the band shared (check it out above) is the first and only look at Studio 666.

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 Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak unleash a rare single and two of the biggest chart titans of recent years teams up. 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.

Silk Sonic — “Smokin Out The Window”

Not long ago, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak declared their debut Silk Sonic album An Evening With Silk Sonic is set for a 2022 release, but last month, they changed that to November 12. Ahead of that rapidly approaching release date, the duo shared what is presumably the final pre-album single, the soulful (and spiteful) “Smokin Out The Window.”

Post Malone — “One Right Now” Feat. The Weeknd

If there was a chart or streaming record set or broken over the past few years, there’s a good chance Post Malone or The Weeknd were involved in the feat. Now, for the first time, the two generational forces have linked up on a song, and that song is “One Right Now,” a synth-forward tune that sounds like both a natural extension of the After Hours era and something not too far from Posty’s usual wheelhouse.

Lorde — “Helen Of Troy”

Lorde made an earthy pivot with her 2021 album Solar Power, and for those who couldn’t get enough of it, the good news is that there’s now more to be had. Lorde dropped a deluxe edition of the album last week and it came with a pair of low-key bonus tracks: “Helen Of Troy” and “Hold No Grudge.”

Summer Walker — “No Love” Feat. SZA

There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Summer Walker’s hotly anticipated sophomore album Still Over It, and a SZA collaboration is certainly an appealing one. On the smooth “No Love,” Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes the pair “both admit that if they received a do-over, they’d make sure to be more protective of their hearts with” an unappreciative ex.

Jenny Lewis — “Puppy And A Truck”

Life got you down? Fortunately, Jenny Lewis’ breezy new single “Puppy And A Truck” offers a roadmap to the perfect pick-me-up: “Like a shot of good luck / I got a puppy and a truck / If you feel like giving up / Shut up / Get a puppy and a truck.”

Charli XCX — “New Shapes” Feat. Christine And The Queens and Caroline Polachek

Charli XCX has been dropping off-hand descriptions and other sorts of breadcrumbs about her upcoming album for months. Last week, though, she finally came through with concrete info: The album is called Crash and it’s dropping next March. Furthermore, she also shared her previously rumored collaboration with Christine And The Queens and Caroline Polachek, the synthy pop banger “New Shapes.”

Snoop Dogg — “Murder Music” Feat. Benny The Butcher, Busta Rhymes, and Jadakiss

Snoop Dogg’s list of artists he’s collaborated with is basically just a list of every musical artist ever, and he dug into that roster last week with “Murder Music.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams sees the song as Snoop returning to his vintage “menacing” ways and notes, “just in case his Corona commercials softened up his image too much to be taken that seriously, he smartly calls on some of rap’s past and current prime purveyors of murder music — namely, Griselda’s Benny The Butcher, the resurgent Jadakiss, and the eternal Busta Rhymes.”

Snail Mail — “Forever (Sailing)”

In his review of Valentine, Uproxx’s Steven Hyden noted that the new Snail Mail album sees Lindsey Jordan returning with a broader musical palette, writing, “The arrangements on Valentine are more expansive than on Lush, most notably on ‘Forever (Sailing),’ in which Jordan sings about an obsessive relationship over a bed of piano, synths, a sneaky-jazzy bassline, and drum machines.”

Radiohead — “Follow Me Around”

Every super-dedicated artist fan base has its favorite unreleased songs they hope will someday make it out into the world in an official capacity. For Radiohead stans, “Follow Me Around” is one of those, and finally, Thom Yorke and company have finally given the decades-old track a proper release as part of the new Kid A reissue, Kid A Mnesia. They even shared a video for the acoustic track and it stars Mare Of Easttown and Memento actor Guy Pearce.

Mariah Carey — “Fall In Love At Christmas” Feat. Khalid and Kirk Franklin

In case you weren’t aware, Mariah Carey is a fan of Christmas. While she’s been riding the success of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” for decades, she’s not done busting out original holiday tunes. Her latest is another romantic yuletide jam, as she linked up with Khalid and Kirk Franklin for “Fall In Love At Christmas,” which, if it’s anything like her aforementioned hit, will top the charts in 25 years.

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