Month: January 2022

Katy Perry has long been known for her sense of absurd humor. Just check out her video for “Not The End Of The World,” which plays on a longstanding running joke about her resemblance to actress Zoey Deschanel (the resemblance was so great that Perry would pretend to be Zoey to get into clubs before she was famous). Meanwhile, her other videos have embraced a cheerful, campy aesthetic that shows Katy doesn’t take herself too seriously — which makes her an excellent candidate for a double role in a sketch or two when she appears on SNL next week.

The official SNL Twitter account revealed her participation — as usual — setting fans speculating on a comeback. While usually, SNL guests use their appearances to promote their new albums and Perry’s most recent album was 2020’s Smile, Katy herself teased that she would “bring my slice of Sin City to the Big Apple (and ur TV),” referring to her current Las Vegas residency, which is inspired by goofy ’90s comedies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. It sounds like there will be some fun to be had with her performances, but here’s hoping the show finds time to let her comedy chops shine as well.

Katy Perry will perform on SNL, Saturday, January 29.

How I Met Your Father: Season 1, Hulu (Hulu series) — One of the bigger things to know about this particular franchise revival is that it includes Kim Cattrall, who opted out of another franchise revival (the Sex And The City continuation, And Just Like That). Cattrall portrays the future version of Hilary Duff’s Sophie, and of course, we’re going to hear all about how Sophie met her son’s dad, way back in 2022 when the realm of dating apps made looking-for-love even more complicated than in the IRL days. 87 Tinder dates in one year sounds like a total nightmare, right? Let’s live vicariously with this bingewatch.

The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman (Netflix series) — True crime fans can get a fix with this stunning story about Robert Freegard, who fleeced and conned several women and one man. These victims ended up believing that they were in, uh, operations for the secret service, and that they must comply for the safety of their families. Yikes.

Superman & Lois (CW, 8:00pm) — Clark admits that he’s struggling with his visions, and he knows there’s only one source of curing them. Elsewhere, Lana receives some surprise news.

Naomi (CW, 9:00pm) — Ava DuVernay brings us this story about a Naomi McDuffie, a comic-book addict and Superman superfan. She also happens to be an ace student and a skateboarder who’s attempting to make sense of a stunt in her hometown that causes unexpected consequences. This week, Naomi and her friends are digging into the weird sh*t happening in Port Oswego.

Judge Steve Harvey (ABC, 8:00pm) — Nope, the perpetual Miss Universe host is not a real judge, but he is doing the unscripted reality thing and making apparently binding decisions.

Black-ish (ABC, 9:30pm) — Dre ends up humiliating himself and looking for redemption after he gets real on a radio show. Bow is also attempting to bond with some young doctors and gets into his own mess.

Queens (ABC, 10:00pm) — JoJo’s future within the entertainment realm is a subject of much debate while Jill’s helping an underling, and Eric and Naomi fret.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Ricky Gervais, Maude Apatow, Kaytranada Ft. H.E.R

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Jeremy Irons, Hilary Duff, Jeff Wright, Daniel Fang

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got another taste of Mitski’s hotly anticipated new record, the announcement of a new Fontaines DC album, and a new Jack White track. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

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Grace Cummings – Storm Queen

After conquering the Australian theater stage as an actor, Grace Cummings is ready to make her mark as a songwriter on her self-produced sophomore album, Storm Queen. The album showcases Cummings’ raw songwriting and captivating vocal performances by minimizing the number of studio takes and empowering imperfection to elevate the relatability of the tracks.

Cat Power – Covers

22 years after releasing The Covers Record, Cat Power is back with another collection of renditions of her favorite songs. Covers features Power’s versions of tracks from across the musical spectrum, ranging from modern classics like Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion” and Lana Del Rey’s “White Mustang” to… classic classics like Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

Mitski – “Love Me More”

The latest preview of Mitski’s hotly anticipated new album Laurel Hell is also one of the more poppy tracks from the indie star. “Love Me More” is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx a “dramatic and energetic” number that reveals the full range of emotions that we can experience during the span of a Mitski song. What starts off as a relatively reserved and introspective affair soon becomes a full-blown synth-pop dance chorus.

Jack White – “Love Is Selfish”

Jack White is set to release two new albums in 2022. We’ve already heard the rollicking “Taking Me Back,” which hearkens back to his days in the Dead Weather. Now, White has shared “Love Is Selfish,” a softer acoustic song that sounds more like what he was getting up to on his early Blunderbuss solo work. If nothing else, it would appear that Fear Of The Dawn is once again going to illustrate White’s full dynamic range of songwriting, which is very exciting in and of itself.

Fontaines DC – “Jackie Down The Line”

It’s been just under two years and approximately zero live shows since the release of Fontaines DC’s sophomore album A Hero’s Death. The lack of touring, however, gave the Irish post-punks space to work on new material and now the band is prepping their new album Skinty Fia, which is due in April. “Jackie Down The Line” is a brooding track that sets the stage well for an album that is a statement on staying true to your roots while also expanding your horizons, which is something I spoke about at length with the band’s guitarist Carlos O’Connell back in 2020.

Tears For Fears – “Break The Man”

It’s always fun when a legendary band returns and the music is legitimately great. Tears For Fears are getting ready to drop their first album in 17 years, and “Break The Man” is a beautiful return to form for the British synth-pop duo and showcases what we came to love about them in the first place forty years ago. Thematically, the track is about “a strong woman, and breaking the patriarchy,” Curt Smith said in a statement.

Aldous Harding – “Lawn”

New Zealand’s Aldous Harding, who Adrian Spinelli calls for Uproxx “one of the few artists in our attention deficit world who can render an entire concert crowd silent in awe of her impeccable performances,” is set to release a new album called Warm Chris on March 25. The album’s lead single, “Lawn,” is a shimmering and polished track that puts on full display what makes Harding such a mesmerizing artist, while charting a beautiful path forward.

Kevin Devine – “Albatross”

Although Kevin Devine hasn’t released a full-length solo album since 2016’s Instigator, he has been more or less prolific across a variety of different projects over the years. Now, he’s set to release his tenth studio album, Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong, on March 25. The project is previewed by “Albatross,” a song about letting go and reframing your worldview to fit the unnavigable reality within which we are all living.

Talker – “Don’t Want You To Love Me”

We’ve had our eye on LA-based songwriter Talker (real name Celeste Tauchar) since she started rolling out a series of increasingly impressive singles. Now, she’s ready to unveil a new EP called In Awe Of Insignificance, and the new single “Don’t Want You To Love Me” is a vintage-sounding alternative pop smash with a massive chorus that will get stuck in your head after first listen.

String Machine – “Touring In January”

Pittsburgh’s String Machine has a massive number of people playing instruments, which means that the songs have an incredible amount of depth. Their latest single “Touring In January” is no exception, with horns and piano and enough vocal harmonies to rattle around your brain. The group’s forthcoming album, Hallelujah Hell Yeah not only has a great title, but will certainly mark a turning point for the band when it drops in February.

Silverbacks – “A Job Worth Something”

With their new record Archive Material due out later this month, Irish post-punkers Silverbacks have shared the final single in the form of “A Job Worth Something.” The new offering is what Adrian Spinelli calls for Uproxx “a self-reflective look at the roles that matter most in our society, and it’s presented with rad guitars and driving rhythms.”

Anais Mitchell – “On Your Way (Felix Song)”

After partnering with Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner on last year’s Big Red Machine album, Anais Mitchell is prepping her first new solo album in over a decade. “On Your Way (Felix Song)” is an ode to a lost friend, and showcases the very best of Mitchell’s Americana songwriting and storytelling chops through sparse instrumentation and pointed lyrics.

Short Fictions – “Don’t Start A Band”

Three years after releasing their debut album Fates Worse Than Death, Pittsburgh emo outfit Short Fictions have announced their signing to Lauren Records and shared a new song telling listeners to do the opposite of what they did in pursuing music. “Don’t Start A Band” is a driving alternative rock track that focuses on socialist issues in songwriter Sam Treber’s community, while also showcasing the faults of a capitalistic music industry over increasingly intricate guitar riffs and even horn flourishes.

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

Dan Crenshaw has been trending for most of Tuesday, and not in a good way. In a sign of continued in-fighting inside the Republican Party, the Texas congressman lost his cool during a Tea Party event on Monday night, and the whole thing was caught in video.

In the now viral clip, a young woman, who’s age has been unverified but reports cite her as being between 10-12 years old, asked Crenshaw about a quote he recently gave on a podcast where he named Jesus, Superman, and Rosa Parks as “societal hero archetypes.” However, simply reciting his own words back to him caused Crenshaw to snap at the young woman and accuse her of questioning his faith. Via Houston Chronicle:

After reciting Crenshaw’s words, the woman said: “I can’t wrap my head around this.”

“Well, I’ll help you: Put a period after Jesus and don’t question my faith,” Crenshaw responded as the crowd erupted in a smattering of boos and cheers.

“You guys can ask questions about all of these things and I will answer them,” Crenshaw continued. “But don’t question my faith.”

The woman responded that she wasn’t questioning his faith. “This is what you said,” she said.

A video of the heated exchange quickly went viral on Twitter the next morning, where people couldn’t get over seeing Crenshaw lose his cool after getting heckled by a grade-schooler. He was also booed by the pro-MAGA crowd, who apparently is starting to turn on Crenshaw presumably following his criticism of rising MAGA stars like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who he’s repeatedly referred to as “grifters.”

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Houston Chronicle)

Rico Nasty loves performing on stage to her fans. The rapper has made a name for herself with her wildly energetic and captivating stage presence. But there are times that being on stage in front of thousands can be frustrating, particularly when people in the crowd ask her to twerk.

The Nightmare Vacation rapper recently sat down for an interview with XXL where she called out how “disrespectful” it is to be in the middle of a set and see people in the crowd holding up their phones and asking her to twerk. “This is probably the worst thing that you could put up while a female rapper is performing, even if she is gonna twerk, even if that is what she does, even if you’re at a club and someone’s hosting and she’s just an IG baddie,” Rico said. “This is so disrespectful. […] It’s not what I do. You go on my Instagram right now, do I have any videos on [twerking]? There’s people that do, and they look great doing it, but I don’t do this so you’re at the wrong stage, bro.”

The rapper went on to clarify that she sees twerking as a double standard for a woman artist:

“And for all my young girls, who, I mean, you do what you want to do and it’s lit and it’s fun. I’m just trying to make art and perform my songs and go. I’m not trying to be something that I’m not. You shouldn’t try to make somebody something that they’re not. Because once I do succumb to the standards of beauty and what you guys want me to be and I get ‘the look,’ then you’ll say that’s all that I am. I’ve seen you do it to all of these talented, beautiful people. They do the image you want, that you thought would go, and then they’re nothing more than that.”

Watch Rico’s full video with XXL below.

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

It’s been nearly two years since Omar Apollo released his standout album Apolonio and seeing as the LP debuted while the live music industry was effectively shut down, the singer was forced to postpone a previously planned tour. But seeing as this year has seen a hopeful return of shows, Apollo has both rescheduled and expanded his Desvelado tour.

The 29-date tour kicks off in early April in Portland, Oregon before coming to a close in June in the UK. His tour now includes several new stops including two performances at this year’s Coachella festival, as well as shows in Eugene, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, New Orleans and Orlando.

Check out Apollo’s Desvelado 2022 tour dates below.

04/05 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom*
04/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom*
04/07 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox*
04/09 — Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre*
04/10 — Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre*
04/12 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades*
04/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre*
04/15 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/19 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl*
04/20 — Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst*
04/22 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Shrine*
04/30 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren*
05/01 — Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf*
05/03 — Denver, CO @ The Ogden*
05/05 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre*
05/07 — Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall*
05/08 — Detroit, MI @ The Majestic*
05/10 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts*
05/11 — Boston, MA @ Big Night Live*
05/12 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
05/14 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club*
05/17 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse*
05/19 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s*
05/20 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall*
05/21 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
05/22 — Dallas, TX @ House of Blues*
05/24 — New Orleans, LA @ Republic*
05/26 — Miami, FL @ Space Park*
05/27 — Orlando, FL @ House of Blues*
05/31 — Mexico City, MX @ Auditorio BB
06/14 — Madrid, ES @ BUT
06/15 — Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo
06/16 — London, UK @ KOKO

* with Deb Never

Tickets to Apollo’s tour go on sale 1/21 at 10 am local time. Get them here.

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

Chuck D is a key figure in the history of hip-hop. There’s no denying that. In Jeff Chang’s seminal 2005 book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, — arguably the definitive document on the history of hip-hop culture — The Public Enemy MC is featured prominently as a source and Public Enemy are justifiably a major part of the book’s comprehensive tracking of hip-hop’s sociopolitical shift in the late-80’s and early 90’s. So it’s fitting that Chuck D is now bringing The Story Of Hip-Hop With Chuck D, a four-part docuseries for TV that will document the history of hip-hop and air on PBS.

Produced by BBC Studios, the series is set to trace the history of hip-hop over the course of the past 40 years and will feature appearances from hip-hop legends like Run DMC, Queen Latifah, and LL Cool J. Chuck D, who developed the series with his manager Lorrie Boula shared a statement on the project:

“The hip-hop community has, from the start, been doing what the rest of media is only now catching up to,” said Chuck D. “Long before any conglomerate realized it was time to wake up, hip-hop had been speaking out and telling truths. Working with PBS and BBC is an opportunity to deliver these messages through new ways and help explain hip-hop’s place in history and hopefully inspire us all to take it further.”

The Story Of Hip-Hop With Chuck D is entering production and no word on yet on when it will be released.

For years, organized religion was mostly a source of derision for mainstream Hollywood, and, justifiably, for liberals in general. Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell spent much of the 80s and 90s weaponizing evangelicals against progressive causes far and wide, even on issues that didn’t seem to have much to do with God, Jesus, or the Bible. It was also rich with irony, considering Falwell’s Moral Majority was formed in 1979 expressly to get Jimmy Carter out of office, even though Carter was a born again Southern Baptist from Georgia and Reagan a Hollywood actor whose wife had a personal astrologer (not that pointing this out ever accomplished much).

The split only seemed to grow, through abortion, AIDS debates, and the satanic panic in the 80s and 90s, and on into the Bush/Ashcroft era, when being born-again was practically a prerequisite for a Republican candidacy. In return, the prevailing attitude among the moneyed liberal camp, which has long been closely associated with the creative class in the movie industry, was a Neil DeGrasse Tyson-esque kind of pedantic scorn, a teacherly identifying of holes in religious logic and flaws in the ideology. This seemed to peaked with the release of Bill Maher’s 2008 documentary Religulous and the publication of Richard Dawkin’s 2006 much-read book The God Delusion. Organized religion and erudite professional liberalism seemed permanently at odds.

Yet the “smug atheist” eventually turned into as much of a punchline as the 80s church ladies had been. Even in times of plenty, professional class liberalism failed to offer adherents much in the way of meaning. Sure, we could clown the born again and skewer their hypocrisy, but what did we get for being right? An Office Space existence of blandly comfortable corporate servitude? Like many a rural overachiever, I went from feeling hemmed in by the “Bible thumpers” I grew up surrounded by as an adolescent to begrudgingly envying their sense of community as an adult.

This idea of bland suburban living being its own kind of comfortable hell was rampant in late 90s cinema, from Fight Club (1999) to Donnie Darko (2001). 9/11 seemed to postpone that mass soul-searching, in those early days offering a sense that maybe this tragedy would sow the seeds of the kind of shared purpose that we assumed our WWII-generation grandparents had had (Dan Taberski’s 9/12 podcast brilliantly explores this phenomenon).

That hope quickly faded, and it was all but gone by the time we got bogged down in Iraq. In “Johnny Cakes,” perhaps my favorite episode of The Sopranos, released in Spring 2006, Patsy Parisi and Burt Gervasi try to shake down a Starbucks-esque coffee shop for protection money, under the guise of “The North Ward Merchants Protective Cooperative.” The manager patiently explains that “every bean has to be accounted for” and everything has to go through corporate. If they beat up this manager, the remote higher-ups will just replace him with another local stooge. A defeated Parisi exits the coffee shop, shaking his head sadly and grumbles, “It’s over for the little guy.”

It’s a hilarious sentiment coming from a professional extortionist, yet hard to argue with the inherent truth of it. It’s easy now to get nostalgic about the days when Starbucks, Jamba Juice, and Blockbuster (the latter of these also appear in “Johnny Cakes”) were the big villains of the day. But even in those times of relative prosperity that prosperity seemed crushingly bland.

Astute pedantry felt like a much more viable ideology when times were good. My generation entered adulthood being told that a decent work ethic and a good education promised at least a comfortable existence, if not necessarily a fulfilling one. The bloom came off that rose some time around 2008, when even the educated classes lost any guarantee of security.

In these days of fractured, expanded universe culture war, Donald Trump has somehow become the unifying champion of evangelicals. This despite being a queeny, twice-divorced New Yorker who, when asked his favorite Bible passage, famously responded: “two Corinthians, that’s the whole ballgame, right?”

It would be a very girl’s-dorm-art choice of scripture, even if he hadn’t bungled the title. He quite plainly has never been religious and probably even most of his evangelical supporters would admit this.

All of which is to say that the conditions were ripe for Hollywood to form a less adversarial relationship towards religion. There are signs that this is already happening, or at least that liberals want it to. Mostly overlooked in the debate over Adam McKay’s climate change satire, Don’t Look Up, was its treatment of religion. (Even I glossed over that aspect of it, it just didn’t fit into a review).

About halfway through the film, the hero, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), a doctoral student who discovers the planet-killing comet, meets a squinty little skater named Yule, (Timothee Chalamet). After hooking up on a pile of pallets behind a liquor store, Kate asks if he believes in God. “Yeah, I mean my parents raised me evangelical,” Yule answers. “And I hate them, but I found my own way to it eventually.”

He swears her to secrecy. “I won’t tell anybody,” she says “Actually, I think it’s kind of sweet.”

Later, after the billionaire tech magnate’s plan to mine the killer comet fails and it’s about to destroy the Earth, Kate and Yule get together with Dr. Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) at Dr. Mindy’s house for one last family dinner. With little experience in the saying-grace process, the irreligious scientists turn to Yule, who closes his eyes and earnestly asks God for his love to soothe them through these dark times as they all join hands. “Wow, Yule’s got some church game,” Oglethorpe beams.

In a movie that was otherwise, and maybe crucially, lacking in sweet moments, this one lands. It’s hard to think of a more obvious symbolic olive branch between secular Hollywood and evangelicals than this scene — essentially a tacit admission that “science is real” (in the words of that obnoxious yard sign) is cold comfort when you’re actually facing extinction.

Sure, liberals have long had crystals and bee pollen and cold-pressed juices (their own forms of magical thinking), but Don’t Look Up invokes evangelism, specifically and by name.

The sequence preceding the dinner is equally loaded. Dr. Mindy receives a phone call from President Orlean (Meryl Streep) who informs him that Earth is about to be destroyed — but she has saved seats for his family on a spaceship built by the Jeff Bezos-esque tech magnate (Mark Rylance). Top figures in government and the tech industry plan to escape the ruined planet and freeze themselves until they find a new habitat. Dr. Mindy tells her thanks but no thanks, choosing instead to die with friends and family rather than potentially live with the rich and the powerful on some new unspoiled rock out in the galaxy.

I’m old enough to remember when the dominant rejoinder to evangelicals, at least among the artistic class, was something along the lines of “if Heaven is full of joyless assholes like you, I’ll take hell.”

It was a sentiment to which I probably would’ve subscribed myself at the time, and yet this scene turns it on its head with elegant symmetry. Dr. Mindy effectively skewers the new secular religion with a ruthlessness that would’ve made George Carlin proud: “If colonizing space and repopulating humanity means living forever among the alabaster princelings of the metaverse like Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, I’ll die on Earth.”

In a movie that doesn’t always work, with satire that occasionally feels dated, Don’t Look Up‘s final few scenes feel both cathartic and prescient.

While Don’t Look Up is a movie with new ideas about the role of religion in the present, another film attempts a fresh look at the past. To that end comes The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, a biopic of Tammy Faye Bakker directed by Michael Showalter, originally released in September but which just hit HBO Max this month.

When I was growing up, I remembered Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker as, basically, weird freaks, consciously or subconsciously folded into the “greedy pastor/sex hypocrite” file along with so many other demagogues. “Crying TV evangelist” was its own kind of cliché. And again, this wasn’t without justification, given Jim Bakker’s conviction for fraud, the rape allegations against him by Jessica Hahn, his possible homosexuality, etc. The Righteous Gemstones is a winningly absurd portrayal of basically the same milieu.

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, written by Abe Sylvia, based on the 2000 documentary of the same name, urges us to consider a more sympathetic view. It largely sidesteps the thorniness of Jim’s legacy by focusing on Tammy Faye, who at least has a modicum of plausible deniability for her husband’s antics. In Showalter and Sylvia’s hands, Tammy Faye becomes the painted face of what evangelical Christianity could look like, unshackled to political conservatism as it has become. The centerpiece of the film is Tammy Faye’s 1985 interview with a gay pastor named Steve Pieters, who was battling AIDS at the time.

Through tears, Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain, in easily her best role) asks Pieters (Randy Havens) about coming out to his parents. “I think it’s very important that we as mom and dads love through anything,” Tammy Faye crackles, her face shining with both tears and garish makeup. “And that’s the way with Jesus, you know? Jesus loves us through anything.”

“Jesus loves me,” Pieters replies, earnestly. “Jesus loves the way I love.”

Whatever else the movie glosses over about Tammy Faye (I’m sure it’s plenty), it’s hard to argue the bravery of interviewing a gay Christian with AIDS on Christian TV at the height of the AIDS scare. (The way the movie tells it, Jerry Falwell, a man in part responsible for evangelism’s association with modern conservatism, was just off-camera, trying to pull the plug the whole time). The obvious question the whole scene raises is, why is it so hard to imagine an evangelical preacher preaching this kind of acceptance today when it already actually happened almost 40 years ago?

Is the movie a case of Hollywood trying to retcon evangelical Christianity in its own image? Certainly, to some extent, it is, but there seems to be sufficient justification. That Pieters, who was diagnosed with both full-blown AIDS and terminal cancer in 1985, is still alive today seems miraculous, even to the secular.

Tammy Faye also makes for a refreshing kind of hero. Jessica Chastain plays her as someone who mostly seems like a nightmare to be around — the “too loud” girl in the choir in every situation — but paradoxically the kind of person society could probably use more of. In the age of uncompromising, win-at-all-costs boy and girl boss protagonists (which is to say, most of Aaron Sorkin’s output and most of Chastain’s filmography), a terminal oddball with superpowered empathy is a nice twist. She wins not because she’s calculating or worldly than anyone else, but simply because she’s nice.

I’m not naive. I know this isn’t the first time Hollywood has dabbled in humanizing evangelicalism. Nor do I imagine that this is the first chapter in some glorious future where evangelical Christians and secular artists walk hand in hand toward an edifying, less judgmental conception of God. It feels more like what we’re witnessing is simply mass culture starting to acknowledge the limits of the “smarter management” brand of liberalism. That maybe the way to win an argument with someone who appeals to baser emotions isn’t to fact check them.

It’s hard to be optimistic about much these days, but I feel at least slightly hopeful about the signs that, after years of back and forth lib and MAGA ownership, maybe we’re starting to realize that these aren’t appreciable assets. Or maybe billionaire, utopian tech lords and divisive opportunists just make better villains than your average dope trying to find meaning in their existence.

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

The friction between Gunna and Freddie Gibbs continued through the weekend, as Gibbs undercut Gunna’s self-serious shot at him on the Atlanta rapper’s new album with a series of posts on his unofficial Instagram. You may remember that Gibbs’ original account was banned from the platform due to his constant flouting of the Terms of Service, but that didn’t stop him from starting a new, lower-key account. Over the weekend, Gibbs used the new account to troll Gunna for both his substandard diss record and for trying to kick off a new slang term with “Pushin P.”

Adopting Gunna’s newfound habit of replacing the letter “P” in his social media with a bright blue emoji of the letter, Gibbs poked fun at Gunna’s shape and again accused him of snitching, captioning posts “That ain’t P” and “Pushin Paperwork.” In another post, he flips through a menu while misquoting Gunna’s shot at him, humming, “I can’t f*ck with Freddie Gibbs / N****s eating ribs.” He also roasted one of Gunna’s Instagram fit pics, writing, “It’s giving hotel carpet.” Meanwhile, Gunna, who recently explained the origin of their feud and accused Freddie of reaching out to collaborate with him, seems to be more focused on celebrating the fact that his new album DS4EVER debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, edging out The Weeknd’s Dawn FM.

Freddie also recently showed off his comedic chops in a more official capacity, appearing in an SNL sketch that was cut for time.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Welcome to Euphoria Style Watch, your one-stop shop for where to cop the latest episode’s best fits. Sunday’s “Out of Touch” wasn’t quite as stylish as the premiere, since there weren’t any huge house parties for the cast to attend. But a lot of characters went bowling and in the process looked ridiculously stylish for a bunch of teenagers who are… you know, bowling.

Oh, also, Maddy rocked a bikini while lounging on a pool floaty in the middle of January. So if you watch Euphoria regularly and feel like the show doesn’t make any sense — you’re right, it doesn’t. The entire internet spends each Sunday night talking about how their high school experience doesn’t match up with the chaos of your average episode, but I’m just sitting here wondering what state this show takes place in (Euphoria‘s East Highland is a fictional town).

Anyway, let’s talk about this week’s best fits. We might not have had any high glamour party outfits but a few styles still caught our eye, here is episode two’s best dressed.

Rue —Aries Tailored Column Jacquard Trousers

So far this season Rue has been rocking a whole lot of vintage pieces that aren’t quite as easy to find as the rest of the cast’s fits. If the Euphoria stylists are trying to tell us this is because Rue is on the grungier side and picks up most of her clothes from thrift stores we have one question: where the hell are these thrift stores?

Seriously, most of Rue’s clothes are old, but they’re all coveted vintage pieces worth hundreds and even thousands! Vintage wear aside, Sunday’s episode also saw Rue wearing these easy-to-find tailored jacquard coursers from Aries. Made of 100% cotton, these tailored pants feature a high waist with button fly fastening, with crimson jacquard patterning.

If you’re looking to complete the look Rue is also rocking Vans socks and Converse Chuck Taylors. Classy.

Pick up a pair of Aries Tailored Column Jacquard Trousers at FarFetch for $476.

Fezco — Dolce & Gabbana Maiolica Tile-Print Polo Shirt

Fezco stepped up his game this week by ditching his usual brand, Palace, for some high-end luxury threads. His outfit’s centerpiece was this Dolce & Gabbana Maiolica all-over print polo. The luxurious polo shirt (which is a bit of an oxymoron isn’t it?) features an all-over print of the god Neptune and looks more like something that should be hanging in a fine art museum than the closet of a teenage drug dealing liquor store owner.

Pick up the Dolce and Gabbana Maiolica Tile-Print Polo Shirt at Neiman Marcus, or aftermarket sites like Grailed.

Lexi — Her Whole Damn Outfit

I think we can all agree that no character has stolen our hearts this season quite like Maude Apatow’s Lexi. Her scenes with Fezco are so full of warmth it’s hard not to smile when they share the screen together and she’s the only character this season that seems likable and not about to enter a downward spiral of bad decisions (looking at you especially Cassie and Rue).

On Sunday’s episode, Lexi rolled up to Fez’s liquor store in one of her best outfits to date, a modest and simple cardigan, pants, and short heel combo that is equal parts classic and adorable. It’s not as out there as some of the usual Euphoria fits, but it reflects the more reserved character (so far) perfectly.

For the long sleeve ribbed cardigan, hit up Calle Del Mar, the flared Luca Plaid Pants by Rachel Come can be found here, and try Ssense for the Nodaleto Black Bulla Cara Heels.

Maddy — Chanel Dress/ Rome By Falize Bikini

In truth, we could’ve run an entire article just on Maddy’s looks from Sunday’s episode, but the two pieces we think people are going to be most hyped for are the vintage Chanel dress she wore during the closet montage scene, and the green Rome by Falize bikini she rocked during the pool scene. I’d like to point out once again that given the current timeline of the show this pool scene takes place in January.

Swimming pools. In January. Does nothing from this Euphoria universe line up with our own?! Are we getting a covid episode?

The dress is a vintage piece from Chanel’s 1997 Spring/Summer season and features a pastel graffiti-style floral print and can be found at designer vintage outlets like Cara Mia Vintage and Etsy. The Rome by Falize light green bikini bottoms, top, and skirt can be found at Rome By Falize.

Kat — Danielle Guizio Mohair Cardigan/ Miu Miu Frames

Kat hasn’t gotten a whole lot of screen time so far in season two but she’s definitely delivered the most relatable moment in the show’s history. Who amongst us hasn’t laid in bed depressed while snacking on Goldfish crackers? That’s been everyone’s experience at one point during this pandemic! I can’t personally say the same for that Dothraki sex fantasy she had though.

This week Kat’s best fit featured this ribbed moss-colored mohair cardigan over a vintage Cramps graphic t-shirt. Later in the episode, Kat was seen rocking some pale-gold cat-eyed frames by Miu Miu eyewear.

The cardigan is by Danielle Guizio and can be found here, and the Miu Miu cat-eyed frames can be found here or here.