“Queen Latifah is amazing,” Meg tells Glamour‘s Zandria Robinson. “She is all around someone I look up to because she took it further than music. She’s an all-around businesswoman who lets me know I can like more than one thing, and I can pursue more than one thing.”
Among the things Meg is currently pursuing is a degree in health administration from Texas Southern after switching from nursing and business. She recently completed all the coursework for her graduation this year and previously showed off her graduation cap on social media.“I’m making A’s now; I’m focused,” she says.
Meg also explains why she’s become such an outspoken advocate for women’s rights — especially Black women — to the point of using her 2020 SNL performance to call to “protect Black women” despite backlash from both fans and politicians. “The bigger I get, the bigger my platform gets, I start realizing that I’m not the only woman that goes through what I go through, and it doesn’t matter what scale it’s on,” she says. “Mine is just public because I’m a public figure. I want to bring things to light so other women don’t feel like they have to continue to be silent.”
Her lyrics? Sincere and captivating. Her timing? Unprecedented in its perfection.
If you hadn’t been paying attention to Olivia Rodrigo’s rise to global pop stardom, it may seem like she’s just been here all along. But, just a year ago, Rodrigo wasn’t a well-ingrained neural pathway in the pop culture conscious, but a one-line credit scrolling at the end of a Disney Channel show. So, it may seem fair to refer to Rodrigo, who happens to be barely 18-years-old, as an overnight success. But that qualifier borders on the offensive when you consider she’s been working since the ripe old age of 12.
Listeners aren’t the only ones who found Rodrigo’s warp speed success staggering, however. She recently told Rolling Stone that her transition from lesser-known actress to household name felt “super-quick,” adding “It definitely wasn’t overnight. But the ‘I’m writing songs in my bedroom,’ to ‘Oh, my gosh, lots of people know this song’ was really quick for me.” So, how did that rapid leap from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast member to expletive wielding, pop-punk resurrecting, generationally transcendent musical icon occur? It was a perfect storm of timing, talent, and even TikTok, that catapulted Rodrigo to stardom in a way we haven’t seen since the ‘90s and will likely never see again.
It was only last January that Rodrigo dropped “Drivers License,” a heartbreakingly relatable track that saw breakout success, becoming the most-streamed song on Spotify in just seven days and sitting pretty atop the Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks. Then in May, she released her album Sour, 11 tributes to love gone wrong which showed off her songwriting prowess, ability to effortlessly shift between genres, and scored her this year’s biggest debut. But it wasn’t just her music that magnetized listeners, Rodrigo’s honesty which seems to be present not only in her writing but her personality drew in a massive fanbase.
The success of pop stars like Rodrigo seems to be a reaction to the tight constraints and expectations society placed on chart-toppers of the past. Decades ago, stars like Christina Aguilera and pop’s pivotal cautionary tale Britney Spears were expected to handle the pressure of the limelight graciously, dealing with constant critique from the outside world, while walking away unscathed. But Gen-Z and its idols have no interest in perfection, and Rodrigo’s success reflects that. One example of this is her comfort in speaking about mental health. When asked about going to therapy by CBS Sunday Morning Rodrigo responded, “Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, you don’t need that. You have so much. Your life is so great. What are your problems?” She added, “I think that’s definitely a thing that sometimes older people can do to younger people, too — kind of trivialize what they’re going through just because, you know, ‘Ah, they’re fine, they’re just kids. They’ll get through it.’ But it feels so real when you’re in it. It’s so valid.”
That awareness of the validity of her emotions, and herself as an individual outside of her music also separates her from acts like Miley Cyrus and Lindsey Lohan who both dropped their Disney golden girl persona by way of tabloid-covered bad behavior. When asked about the difference between her and previous Disney darlings, including her fondness for F-bombs, Rodrigo told W “If that naturally sort of separated me from the Disney archetype? That’s cool.” That previously mentioned honesty and humanity of her songwriting also make her stand apart, she’s not afraid to be flawed, jealous, romantic, and resentful, or as she laughs in the beginning of her song “Brutal,” messy.
Rodrigo’s emergence would also be impossible were it not for the singer-songwriters who preceded her. Artists like Taylor Swift who Rodrigo told NME she’d “always looked up to,” who found similar success through candid diary-like songwriting. Rodrigo’s music also gleans inspiration from the petulant energy of the pop-punk provocateurs who pushed boundaries before her and she’s done this without fear she’d lose the audience who fell in love with the soulful ballad that first gave notoriety. That ability to embrace multiple soundscapes can be attributed to the internet generation Rodrigo was raised in, one that could easily access any song at any time, one that has allowed her to create music without worrying about boundaries because. As she told The Face, “I feel like music is becoming increasingly genreless.”
Although Rodrigo proudly wears her inspirations on her sleeves, not all imitation has resulted in flattery. She was called out by Hole’s Courtney Love, who alleged Rodrigo stole the teenage prom queen aesthetic seen in Sour’s promo photos, from the cover of the band’s album Live Through This. Olivia has also given up millions in publishing royalties to people who’ve influenced her work, like Williams and Josh Farro of Paramore, for the interpolation of their song “Misery Business” into her track “Good 4 U.” She also now shares writing credits with her idol, Swift, along with Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Jack Antonoff for her single “Deja Vu” which she openly admits was inspired by the song the trio wrote, “Cruel Summer.” Despite this, Rodrigo has somehow stayed out of the drama, coyly telling GQ in response to Love’s comments, “To be honest, I’m just flattered that Courtney Love knows that I exist.”
Another surprising player in Rodrigo’s meteoric success is the pandemic. Bored and isolated, listeners started consuming and sharing music via TikTok, giving artists a new and engaging way to share their music and also granting fans a way to become critics, adding their own context and opinions to the app. When word got around that “Drivers License” was possibly based on a love triangle between Rodrigo, her HSMTMTS co-star, Joshua Bassett, and singer Sabrina Carpenter, the app became overrun with theories, opinions, and luckily for Rodrigo, her hit song. Even Rodrigo has shared that without the pandemic she doesn’t know if she would have been able to share her songs with the same confidence. She told Rolling Stone, releasing her music during quarantine was a blessing, sharing, “I honestly loved it. I put out my first song, which did really well, and I didn’t expect any of that sort of success so early on. I think had I not just been doing the same thing that I had always been doing and writing songs in my bedroom, maybe I would have gotten a little more in my head about it than I did.”
The most important element of Rodrigo’s success, however, has been her innate talent. It’s her ability to write vulnerably and with excruciating detail about first-hand experiences while pulling in listeners under a relatable guise that makes them wonder if she’s in fact writing about them. It’s also her voice, an instrument she uses to show stress through vibrato, resentment through amplification, joy through laughter, and love through breathlessness. Yes, the timing of Rodrigo’s spotlight was astonishingly perfect, but all of her success was possible thanks to her readiness to step into it.
Celebrities go viral every day for things like questionable Halloween costumes or raunchy music videos, but it’s not as common that they go viral for surviving a wild boar attack. That’s exactly what happened in late September to Shakira. She was out for a stroll with her son in a Barcelona park when all of the sudden, wild boars came out of nowhere and made a beeline for her purse. The singer previously noted she “stood up” to the animals, and has now shared the full story.
Shakira recently sat down for a cover interview with Glamour UK to talk about her upcoming music and her fight against climate change. But, of course, the conversation kicked off with the singer providing more details about what exactly went down the day she was attacked by wild boars this fall. The singer said it all happened thanks to an innocent sandwich:
“I was taking my son, Milan, for a walk in the park and I got him a little ice cream. We sat on one of those park benches and we were just minding our own business. And then two huge wild boars came from the back and ambushed [us] and took my purse! And I was like, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’ and screaming, because they were taking it away, with my phone in it, my car keys, everything! Like they could understand me! And people were just watching and they weren’t doing anything! They started digging inside my purse… Obviously my son’s sandwich was inside the purse, so that’s why they were so interested. So they took the sandwich and walked away and left my purse. It was wild.”
Surprisingly, wild boar attacks are more common that you might think. They are actually considered an invasive species in Europe and have an estimated population of over 10 million in the continent. Apparently, Barcelona has a particular problem with the animals and has received over 1,100 phone calls about wild boar attacks since 2016 alone.
With the new Morbius trailer released into the wild on Tuesday morning, Marvel fans naturally started sifting through the preview of the Jared Leto vampire flick with a fine-tooth comb for Easter eggs, but what they found has them more confused than ever.
To set the stage, a day before the new trailer hit, Sony unveiled a featurette where Leto not so subtly says that Morbius opens up a “web of opportunity,” which is an obvious reference to Spider-Man. So when the new Morbius trailer dropped, fans were expecting at least a few nods to Tom Holland‘s hero, and those were definitely there in the form of Michael Keaton’s Vulture and references to Mysterio being “murdered” in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Going off of those clues, it would seem that Morbius is set in the current MCU. Not so fast.
In a noticeable move to prop up Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, Venom is referenced twice in the trailer. First, in a subtle line about San Francisco, and then less subtly, by Leto’s Morbius joking about being Venom. Considering Venom isn’t part of the MCU (yet), this is a wild addition to the trailer. And things get even weirder as the trailer includes visual nods to both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Spider-Man.
With so many conflicting Easter eggs bouncing around, Marvel fans are more confused than ever as to what universe Morbius is actually in, but it should be noted that the film arrives after Spider-Man: No Way Home, which will undoubtedly disrupt the status quo as Spidey and Doctor Strange get in way over their heads by messing with the multiverse.
You can see some of the Morbius reactions below:
The new Morbius trailer references Venom, we see Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Tobey’s Spider-Man painted on a wall and the Oscorp logo is from the TASM universe.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Swathes of tinny guitars and the hollow drums build from a low lull to a thunderous roar in the first few seconds of Geese’s debut album Projector, creating a soundscape that’s both haunting and energizing. The concise production and hypnotic riffs make it nearly impossible to tell that, just a year ago, the Brooklyn five-piece was accepting their high school diplomas.
The fact did become abundantly clear when a quintessential teenage boy’s bedroom was revealed on camera as lead singer Cameron Winter and bassist Dom DiGesu opened Zoom for our interview, an act they were all-too-familiar with after their second half of high school went fully remote. An ever-recognizable Jim Morrison poster was plastered on the opposite wall, situated beside an equally massive Mets flag and a shelf riddled with childhood knick knacks that propped up a number of stacked guitar cases.
A lot has changed for the band members/best friends recently. Just one year ago, they were quarantined in the same rooms I was looking at over the Zoom screen and stuck in virtual classrooms. But now, they’re having run-ins with James Murphy in the studio, talking about vinyl logistics with a record label they secured after a brief bidding war and now share with post-punk icons Idles and Fontaines DC, and daydreaming about getting the chance to leave the country for the first time (they’re sarcastically expecting a hoard of Geese fans to be waiting for them at the Swiss airport).
Their current lives weren’t even a distant fantasy while they were actually writing Projector. Rather than romanticizing the grittiness of tour van life or writing songs about the energy of their now-sold-out shows, the tracks on Geese’s incredibly strong debut effort are an intelligent and candid reflection of the absurdity of the teenage condition. Songs like “Low Era” mark a return to the heyday of early aughts Brooklyn post-punk, bursting at the seams with an urgency that’s mirrored in Winter’s pitch-bending lyrical delivery, drummer Max Bassin’s up-tempo inflections, and guitarist Gus Green’s cascading chords. Other tracks like “Exploding House” reflect the band’s early inquisitive experimentation, layering instruments and switching up rhythms in a way that’s both disorienting and mesmerizing.
While the album isn’t thematic in nature, each of its nine songs are a snapshot of Geese’s pre-pandemic lives. The tracks are filled with understandable anxiety about climate change and the future, frustrations with crushes, and, of course, the tangible comradery of their meaningful friendship. Their ethos is to simply make music for the love of making music, and despite all their recent hype, Winter and DiGesu are earnestly humble about their talents. Even when reminiscing about their first post-label signing performance, which was actually one of their first proper shows, they were less impressed with completely selling out tickets and more focused on how their live sets are “more exciting” than their recorded music. “One silver lining about the pandemic coming right as labels were interested in us is that they couldn’t see us play live,” Winter said. “Because holy crap, we sucked a year and a half ago. Luckily, we’ve had nothing to do but practice for a year and a half. So now, we’re decent.”
Surprisingly, most of Projector was recorded in just one take. Each Friday night, they would meet up in a basement to both learn and record a new song on the spot. “We wouldn’t even practice the song once without recording it,” Winter said. When asked how difficult it was to juggle school while writing the album, DiGesu clarified, “Well, that was the fun part.” Getting together and noodling around on instruments was their idea of the perfect Friday night — homework was a concern for Saturday.
But making music didn’t always happen so smoothly for Geese. Their early projects were halted by the fact they brainstormed, wrote, recorded, and mixed each song as a group. One of their early four-track EPs took a full year-and-a-half to make. “We’ve been really good at making bad music, or music that definitely sounded like it had been recorded and mixed by 15 year olds,” Winter said. But that also meant their “time of sucking,” or the growing pains of being self-taught artists, had come to pass before they took on Projector. So when they decided to push the boundaries of their comfort zones with the crushing ballad “First World Warrior” or the swirling album closer “Opportunity Is Knocking,” they pressed “record” and the rest came naturally. Projector’s expedited recording process was also helped by the fact they actually had a deadline this time, and it was an important one: high school graduation.
The buzz around Geese has altered the plans each band member had when they first made Projector. After graduation, they were all set to go in different directions. Winter and DiGesu were going to move to Boston for college, with DiGesu committing to Berklee College of Music. Now, their breakout success coupled with the realities of the pandemic have led them both to withdraw from courses. College had always been a way to get a job so that they could work up to the point where music was their main gig. So when a big record deal presented itself to them, they figured they could skip a few steps. “We got really fortunate. We worked hard, but we got lucky as well in that we could skip the [college] debt part of it,” Winter said.
Now armed with an incredibly impressive debut album and a number of adoring fans across the world, Geese are firmly ready to take on what comes next. That includes a sophomore album, which, according to Winter, will sound “very different.” Despite the impending success of Projector, Geese aren’t concerned with replicating anything they’ve ever made before. Instead, they hope to keep expanding their creative comfort zones — and continue making music and screwing around with their best friends.
Projector is out now via Partisan Records/Play It Again Sam. Get it here.
Saweetie’s brand continues to grow, adding another new partnership to her ever-expanding compilation of them. Her latest big-money team-up is with Beats By Dre; Saweetie appears in the latest campaign for the noise-canceling Beats Fit Pro headphones arriving this Friday, November 5. In addition, she contributes a new song, “Get It Girl,” which plays over the ad. She struts the streets of LA with the headphones on, tuning out the world with the noise-canceling turned all the way up.
Hopefully, Saweetie’s extracurricular activities won’t cause any further delays to her debut album, though. She says it’s finished and teased that something will “unfold during the holidays,” so perhaps we’ll be hearing more new music from Saweetie very soon — no commercial needed.
Watch Saweetie’s Beats By Dre ad above.
Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Dwayne Johnson has regrets about making his “candy ass” feud with Vin Diesel public, but he admits that he “shouldn’t have shared that. Because at the end of the day, that goes against my DNA. I don’t share things like that. And I take care of that kind of bullsh*t away from the public.” It’s not too far away from the public, though, as two of The Rock’s movies have referenced his Fast and Furious co-star. First, it was the Florence Pugh-starring Fighting with My Family (“Yeah, and I’m Vin Diesel, mate”), and apparently there’s also a Diesel joke in Red Notice, Netflix’s most expensive movie ever.
“The jokes never end. People were asking me about [making Diesel jokes] and they just, they find a way, and you know, what’s interesting is, you know, these Vin Diesel jokes, which play great by the way to the audience, which is always a good thing because it’s all about [the audience],” Johnson told SiriusXM (via IndieWire). He continued:
“But, people think these jokes come from me and they actually don’t. I mean, you’d be surprised at how many people come to me with ‘I got a great one.’ I’m like ‘OK.’ ‘I got another great Vin Diesel joke.’ ‘I’m sure you do.’ [Laughs] Always funny.”
What do you think The Rock hears more, “I have a great Vin Diesel joke for you” or “here’s a supplement that will make you even more muscular”? It’s a dead heat. If I could tell him one thing and one thing only, it would be, “New Scorpion King movie, when?”
You can watch Johnson’s interview above. Red Notice comes out November 12.
One of the contestants, Sasha Allen, gushed to Sheeran about his lyricism, saying, “You are, like, top two songwriting inspirations. Like, the reason I started writing songs.” Grande responded to being excluded from the compliment with a playful jab at her hit 2016 single “Side To Side,” saying, “I’m a bit offended that ‘Boy, you got me walking side to side’ didn’t earn me a spot as top lyricist.
Grande previously shared her thoughts about how enjoyable it was to film the show, writing on Instagram, “hello and screaming !!!! cannot wait for everyone to see our first promo tomorrow for season 21 of @nbcthevoice !!! it’s ….. the most ridiculous and fun. i adore these humans so much and am already an emotional wreck worrying about saying goodbye to everyone the day of the finale and nothings even happened or aired yet. but yes ! tomorrow ! first promo. i love these people and this crew and my TEAM OH MY GOD and everything about this. i can’t say anything else. but… simply cannot wait til we get started.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
There was a time on The View when it seemed like Meghan McCain brought up how much she loves Yellowstone almost every single episode, so it’s not exactly a total surprise to see that the former co-host chose characters from the show for her family’s Halloween costume this year. McCain showed off the family portrait on Instagram where she and her husband, Ben Domenech, were dressed as Yellowstone power couple Beth and Rip Dutton. Along for the ride, was their one-year-old daughter, Liberty, who was dressed as an adorable deer.
“Rip and Beth forever. And a Dutton ranch baby fawn! (We had to!) Happy Halloween!” McCain wrote in the caption.
Just to put a point on how much McCain loves Yellowstone, earlier in the year, The View panel was getting especially hot and steamy while talking about Regé-Jean Page’s Duke on the hit Netflix series Bridgerton. However, McCain was the only co-host who wasn’t into the series or Page’s character and she kept trying to steer the conversation towards, you guessed it, Yellowstone.
However, in a rare moment of compromise, McCain did make a deal with co-host Sara Haines. If Haines agreed to watch Yellowstone, McCain would watch Bridgerton to see what all the fuss is about. And then she she shut the whole thirst fest down. “That was not what I agreed to talk about on air. Meghan does not want any more topics like this,” McCain said, but it wasn’t enough to stop Whoopi from getting in one last joke about how she’s sending all the ladies vibrator. Gotta love Whoop.
Over the years Cardi B has become as well-known for her boisterous personality as her club-friendly music. According to Billboard, she’ll soon apply that personality to the task of hosting the upcoming American Music Awards. The show, which will air live on Sunday, November 21 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, has been kind to Cardi since her 2017 breakthrough with “Bodak Yellow,” giving her five wins at previous shows along with three nominations this year. She also performed “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin at the 2018 AMAs.
In a statement, Cardi said, “When I received the invite to host the AMAs, I was so excited. I’m ready to bring my personality to the AMAs stage! Thank you to Jesse Collins, ABC, and MRC for making this happen.” Cardi’s selection makes her the fourth Black woman to host the AMAs in five consecutive years. In 2017-18, the show was hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross; in 2019, Ciara took over hosting duties; and last year’s show was MC’d by none other than Taraji P. Henson.
The nominees, which were announced last Thursday, include Ariana Grande, BTS, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd, who are all nominated for Artist Of The Year, while the show’s host Cardi B is nominated for Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist alongside Coi Leray, Erica Banks, Megan Thee Stallion, and Saweetie.
The 2021 American Music Awards will air live at 8:00 pm ET on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu. You can still vote for various awards here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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, wtf is going on 
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