Month: February 2022

With the upcoming Super Bowl LVI taking place in LA’s SoFi Stadium next Sunday, LA native Jhene Aiko has been added to the list of musical performers who will grace the mic during the event. While Dr. Dre and his compatriots Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg will be performing the Pepsi Halftime Show, Aiko will help… ahem… kick off the event with a rendition of “America The Beautiful” while Texas-born country singer Mickey Guyton will sing the national anthem.

Aiko was recently at SoFi to take in the NFC Championship game between the San Franciso 49ers and the hometown Los Angeles Rams with her boyfriend Big Sean when the couple was mistaken for another celebrity couple when they appeared on the Jumbotron. The caption accompanying their close-up misidentified them as Sarah Michelle Gellar and her husband Freddie Prinze Jr., something that all parties seemed to find amusing. While Sean and Jhene captured photos of the faux pas for posterity, Gellar posted it to her Instagram grid, joking, “@bigsean do you get mistaken for me as often as I get mistaken for you?” It turned out Gellar was at the game as well, just with her friend Elsa Collins, not Freddie.

The Super Bowl will take place Sunday, February 13 at 6:30 pm ET/ 3:30 pm PT.

Brian Flores was one of nine NFL head coaches to get fired during or after the 2021 season, as the Dolphins late charge to finish 9-8 wasn’t enough to save his job in Miami, despite back-to-back winning seasons for the Dolphins for the first time in nearly two decades.

Flores’ firing wasn’t a shock but was to many further evidence of the difference in expectations placed on Black head coaches in the NFL to succeed quicker and at a higher level than their white counterparts if they are to keep a job. The Dolphins called Flores’ issue one of “collaboration,” painting him as a coach who was difficult to work with, and Flores has spent the past month seeking new employment, interviewing with the Giants and Texans, where he was expected to be one of the frontrunners for the Houston job.

However, on Tuesday, Flores filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL alleging discriminatory hiring practices after a debacle involving the Giants, with an assist from Bill Belichick, that made him want to step out and speak out about the ridiculous sham of an interview he had in New York.

Flores included text messages from Belichick that the Patriots coach sent him that were meant for Brian Daboll, who was introduced on Monday as the Giants head coach, that he received the day before his interview congratulating him on getting the job. Belichick then apologized, saying he “fucked this up” and meant to text Daboll that he heard from Buffalo and New York the job was his, meaning Flores was heading into an interview for a job that had already been given to someone else — but the Giants needed to meet the NFL’s Rooney Rule by interviewing a Black candidate.

It is damning evidence of something that has long been assumed — that teams were not using the Rooney Rule in good faith but instead making decisions and giving minority candidates an interview just to meet requirements. Flores details the sham of the interview, knowing he wasn’t going to get the job, as well as a previous instance from 2019 in which he interviewed with the Broncos when John Elway and Denver’s leadership showed up late and “disheveled” for the interview.

Thus, on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, Mr. Flores was forced to sit through a dinner with Joe Schoen, the Giant’s new General Manager, knowing that the Giants had already selected Mr. Daboll. Much worse, on Thursday, January 27, 2022, Mr. Flores had to give an extensive interview for a job that he already knew he would not get—an interview that was held for no reason other than for the Giants to demonstrate falsely to the League Commissioner Roger Goodell and the public at large that it was in compliance with the Rooney Rule.

Incredibly, this was not Mr. Flores’ first sham interview that was held only in an effort to comply with the Rooney Rule. Indeed, in 2019 Mr. Flores was scheduled to interview with the Denver Broncos. However, the Broncos’ then-General Manager, John Elway, President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis and others, showed up an hour late to the interview. They looked completely disheveled, and it was obvious that they had drinking heavily the night before. It was clear from the substance of the interview that Mr. Flores was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule, and that the Broncos never had any intention to consider him as a legitimate candidate for the job. Shortly thereafter, Vic Fangio, a white man, was hired to be the Head Coach of the Broncos

Flores’ lawsuit aims to increase the number of Black individuals involved in the hiring process for front office and coaching positions, as well as pushing the NFL to create a committee to seek out Black investors who can add more diversity to ownership groups, understanding that the issue with NFL hiring practices starts with the lack of diversity or belief in the importance of it from the ownership level. There are a number of other allegations in the lawsuit that are fascinating, as Dolphins owner Stephen Ross allegedly paid him $100,000 for every loss in his first season, as Miami wanted to tank for the top-overall pick and later tried to get him to tamper for a top quarterback (it’s assumed to be Tom Brady, but not outright stated) on a yacht trip.

What comes from this is unknown, but it’s at the very least terrible PR for the NFL on Super Bowl week and a pretty courageous thing to do by Flores who very likely will find himself out of coaching at the NFL level for this — or at least out of head coaching candidacy.

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 new track from Radiohead side project The Smile, a Euphoria song from James Blake, and the announcement of a demos EP from Squirrel Flower. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

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Pinegrove – 11:11

Montclair, New Jersey’s very own Pinegrove are back with a brand new album. 11:11 doesn’t stray too far from the formula that got Pinegrove on the map with 2016’s Cardinal, but definitely ups the ante in terms of production, courtesy of a mix from Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla. 11:11 is largely an album about coming to terms with the realities of climate change, and Evan Stephens Hall’s lyrics are more pointed and direct than ever.

Squirrel Flower – Planet EP

Squirrel Flower has been on a roll lately, releasing a new project every year since 2020 (which is wild to write, because it still feels like we’re in the middle of 2020). The new Planet EP is a compilation of self-recorded demos of songs that were recorded during the sessions for 2021’s Planet (i), and just goes to show that Ella Williams’ songwriting talents extend far beyond the confines of an album.

Why Not – Very Why Not EP

Minneapolis trio Why Not have finally arrived, with their (almost) self-titled EP. Spanning the full spectrum from math rock to alt-rock and pop-punk, Very Why Not is a uniquely modern take on the ever-evolving genre of alternative music. On this project, Why Not serve as a great example of flattening genre across the board.

James Blake – “Pick Me Up” (ft. Labrinth)

I recently caught up on Euphoria and have been delighted by the music throughout the show. The second season is off to an even greater start, featuring a new track from Lana Del Rey and now a beautiful new collaboration from James Blake and the show’s composer Labrinth. “Pick Me Up” “skews more towards Blake’s softer side, as it’s a piano- and string-driven track that sees him flexing his falsetto,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.

The Smile – “The Smoke”

Radiohead side-project The Smile made their live debut in a series of three livestream performances over the weekend, leaving many people online to wonder why these songs weren’t just released as Radiohead tracks. While the trio’s debut single “You Will Never Work In Television Again” was a more straightforward rocker, the new track “The Smoke” airs more in the experimental territory that recent Radiohead tracks occupy. “The first minute or so of the tune is all rhythm, with drums and bass setting the groove before Yorke’s vocals come in, after which the atmosphere gets filled with some brass, guitar, and other sounds,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.

Rex Orange County – “Keep It Up”

Rex Orange County has been a festival staple for years, making his major-label debut back in 2019. Now, he’s ready to unveil his fourth album, Who Cares?. The album’s first preview comes in the form of “Keep It Up,” which Derrick Rossignol describes for Uproxx as “a jaunty and string-laden tune that starts this album cycle off on an upbeat note.”

Toro Y Moi – “Postman”

Toro Y Moi was one of the pioneers of the chillwave movement, and is gearing up to continue building the legacy with his seventh studio album, Mahall, which is due in April. The lead single “Postman” features what Aaron Williams describes for Uproxx as “a stripped-down backbeat and a groovy bassline.”

Warpaint – “Champion”

It’s been six long years since we last heard from Warpaint, on 2016’s Heads Up. The wait for new music ends in May, when the band’s fourth LP, Radiate Like This, finally drops. The band’s return is marked by “Champion,” a song about advocating for yourself and the people you love, anchored by what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “the band’s signature subdued groove and atmospheric sounds.”

Tomberlin – “idkwntht”

Two years removed from the release of her Alex G-produced EP Projections, Sarah Beth Tomberlin is back with a brand new track, hopefully indicating a larger release on the horizon. “idkwntht” features Tomberlin singing in a beautiful duet with Told Slant’s Felix Walworth and “opens with a somber saxophone nestled alongside gentle strings and piano,” writes Adrian Spinelli for Uproxx.

We have reached a critical point in history when the opportunity to hear live, first-hand accounts of the Holocaust are quickly dwindling. Those who survived it—and remember it—are now in their 80s, 90s and 100s, and every year their number grows smaller and smaller.

If you have the opportunity to sit down and talk to a Holocaust survivor, I highly recommend it. Many won’t have that opportunity, however, so the next best thing is bearing witness to these stories as they are shared on video. Not to discount the power of written accounts—those are vital, too—but there’s something to the human-to-human connection of hearing a person who lived through it speak about their experiences.

Some Holocaust survivors have traveled to give talks to students in schools. But at least one woman who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp is using a more modern means of reaching young people with her story: TikTok.

With the help of her great-grandson (one of her 34 great-grandchildren), 98-year-old Lily Ebert shares brief videos on her TikTok channel describing some of what she experienced during the Holocaust and answers questions viewers ask. She currently has 1.7 million followers.

Ebert was 20 years old when her family was taken from their hometown in Hungary to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps. Her mother, younger brother and younger sister were immediately taken to the gas chambers and killed. Ebert was sent to work in the camp where she spent four horrifying months.

“People would say ‘four months isn’t so long,'” she said in one of her videos. “But let me tell you something. Even four minutes was too long.”

Ebert bears the tattoo of the number she was given—A-10572—on her forearm. “We were not humans,” she said. “We were only a number.”

Ebert’s story is shared in small pieces on TikTok, which can feel somewhat jarring. But TikTok is where the young folks are and reaching them with personal stories like this might be one of the most effective ways of reaching them.

People ask Ebert lots of questions and she answers some of them in videos. For instance, someone asked if she was scared she was going to die. Her thoughtful pause is as telling as her answer.

“In Auschwitz you were not afraid of death,” she said. “You were afraid to live.”

Some people ask questions that we don’t see answered often—details that people might be curious about. In one video, Ebert talked about what it was like to use the bathroom. Toilets were rows of holes in the ground and they were told when they could use them—there was no privacy whatsoever.

She even answered a question about what women did about their periods, explaining that most women didn’t have their periods because the physical trauma they endured prevented it.

Someone else asked if there were Nazi women at Auschwitz. Ebert said there were—and that sometimes they were worse than the men.

Another person asked if she encountered any Nazi guards who indicated that they didn’t want to be torturing and killing people. Her answer was blunt: A person who was kind would not work in Auschwitz.

Some people might wonder how going through such a heinous experience impacts a person’s faith. Her great-grandson asked her if she still believes in God after everything she endured.

“Yes, I do,” she said. “Because God didn’t do it. So-called humans did.”

Ebert has been back to Auschwitz a few times since she was liberated. It’s hard enough for anyone to see the enormous piles of shoes from people who were murdered there. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like having seen and smelled the smoke coming from the crematorium there, knowing your loved ones were among those killed.

Ebert’s “ask me anything” posts have become a way for young people to interact with that harrowing chapter of human history in a rarely accessible way. She can choose which questions to answer and give some personal insight into what the Holocaust was like.

“What was the first thing you did after liberation?” someone asked.

Ebert said she lay down on the floor and fell asleep. Sleep was practically impossible at the camp and she was so tired.

Another person asked why she thinks she survived the hell of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

She said she didn’t know. “But maybe it was so that I could tell you and thousands of other people what happened there. To be a witness.”

“I was really not sure that I would stay alive,” Ebert told CBS News. “It is a miracle that I am here. But I promised myself, however long I will be alive, and whatever I will do in life, one thing is sure, I will tell my story.”

Ebert was recently interviewed on “Good Morning Britain” and was asked if she’s ever thought about having the tattoo of her number removed. She said she had never thought about it.

“I want to show the world because to see something or to hear about it makes a big difference. And the world should know how deep they cut, how deep humans can go.”

Thank you, Lily Ebert, for being willing to answer questions to help educate younger generations on the realities of the Holocaust so we can strive to make sure humanity never allows such atrocities to happen again.

India.Arie is the latest in a flurry of artists who are taking their music down from Spotify following the lead of Neil Young. While Young cited the ongoing vaccine misinformation being purveyed by Joe Rogan on Spotify’s popular The Joe Rogan Podcast as to why he’s removing his catalog from the platform, Arie finds Rogan problematic for more than his views on the COVID vaccine. Namely his language on race.

Arie is not only removing her solo recordings from the platform but also her podcast Songversation from the platform. She joins Young, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash in actively taking a stand with regards to their Spotify presence. Arie issued a scathing statement on her Instagram feed and wrote the following:

“I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify,” Arie said in an Instagram post. “Neil Young opened a door that I must walk through. I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than his Covid interviews. For me, it’s also his language around race. What I am talking about is RESPECT – who gets it and who doesn’t. Paying musicians a Fraction of a penny? and HIM $100M? This shows the company that they are and the company that they keep. I’m tired.”

It’s an impressive statement from Arie, a four-time Grammy winner and multi-platinum selling artist. The dominoes seem to keep tipping for Spotify, whose new “content advisory” warnings, are clearly not enough of a move to satisfy the valid concern of a growing number of artists.

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

As one of today’s biggest stars, Taylor Swift’s decade-and-a-half-long career has had an undeniable impact on the country music genre. As someone who started her career in the genre, Swift’s country success story will be on full display at the Country Music Hall Of Fame’s new exhibit, which also highlights contemporary songwriters like Luke Combs, Mickey Guyton, and Brandi Carlile.

“American Currents” is a reoccurring exhibit that’s returning to the downtown Nashville museum. Opening to the public March 4, country music fans will peruse an array of artifacts, photographs, and footage giving insight into the current state of the music genre. Part of the exhibit, titled “Unbroken Circle,” draws connections between contemporary country hitmakers and their predecessors. It shows how artists like Reba McEntire paved the way for breakout stars like Brittney Spencer.

The Country Music Hall Of Fame also has a number of digital features fans can browse from home. Their current online exhibits Dylan, Cash, And The Nashville Cats: A New Music City and Suiting The Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter include in-depth storytelling and curated clips made specifically for digital viewers.

Check out the Country Music Hall Of Fame’s exhibits here.

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

The internet has finally found something to agree on: hatred for Che Diaz.

The And Just Like That… podcast host, who has one of the “worst sex scenes in the history of television” with Miranda, has been called “TV’s most hated character,” “the worst character on TV,” and a “real nightmare”. But Michael Patrick King, who created Sex and the City and the HBO Max spin-off, has a different take on Che.

“I said in the writing room, ‘Uh, get ready. Because what’s coming is outrage about Miranda calling out her marriage.’ Whoever is in the activating of that will be an issue. But the real issue is — and I say this with love — 90 percent of long-term relationships are watching television, sharing dessert, and talking about kids,” he told Variety.

King blames the Che Diaz backlash on people looking for a “villain.”

“Che is, in my estimation, honest, dangerous, sexy, funny, and warm. What everybody else is projecting on that character has a lot to do with what they want to have happen to Miranda in the story. It has so little to do with Che.”

And Just Like That… viewers might disagree:

For better or worse, there’s only one more chance to hate Che Diaz: the And Just Like That… season (series?) finale premieres on February 3.

(Via Variety)

Tegan And Sara have let nostalgia drive their recent endeavors. They’re currently turning their memoir into a TV series and their 2019 album Hey, I’m Just Like You consists of songs they initially wrote in high school. Now, they’re at it again: They’ve announced Still Jealous, a reimagining of their 2004 album So Jealous, and it’s set for release on February 11.

The hook of this project is that either Tegan sings an acoustic version of a song that Sara wrote, or vice verse. The idea was first imagined in 2020 ahead of a Tegan And Sara Foundation fundraiser, when Sara recorded an acoustic version of the Tegan-penned So Jealous song “You Wouldn’t Like Me.”

Sara says of the project, “When I was done, it was clear to us both that the project was more than background music for the fundraiser. Over the next few months, we let our interpretations of each other’s original songs become more experimental and fluid. It was comforting to live inside of familiar music during such a destabilizing time. Performing each other’s songs became a salve during the longest period that either of us has gone without an audience to sing for.”

The aforementioned sort-of-cover was shared on YouTube last summer, but now, to mark the album announcement, they’ve released it onto digital platforms, so check it out above.

Still Jealous is out 2/11 via Sire Records. Pre-order it here.

Tegan And Sara is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Just minutes after the comeback lineup for the 2022 edition of the DMV area’s Broccoli City festival was announced, one of the biggest names on the flyer and hometown hero, Wale, announced he was no longer performing at the festival. Wale, once of the area’s most popular artists and a mainstay of the Washington DC rap scene for years, quote-tweeted a fan’s post about how good the lineup is, responding “I’m pullin out this show.”

Although Wale has yet to explain the decision, fans have gravitated toward the theory that the rapper — who could arguably be considered one of the first major rappers to put the DC scene on the map, paving the way for future stars like IDK, Shy Glizzy, and fellow Broccoli City performers Rico Nasty and Masego — felt slighted by the fact that 21 Savage, a native of Atlanta, was billed as the headliner instead opposite Ari Lennox, another DMV local hero.

Reactions ranged from fans empathizing with his supposed position to others criticizing Wale’s perceived sensitivity, for which he’s drawn fire in the past. However, whenever Wale has seemed upset about things on Twitter before, he usually shakes it off within a few days. Perhaps that’ll be the case here — after all, the organizers have until May 7 to sort things out.

For the first time ever in the festival’s history, Coachella is selling lifetime guest passes to the event, and it’s happening via an NFT called the Coachella Keys Collection. Ten tokens will be auctioned off that includes passes to the fest every April and VIP experiences in 2022 — which features headliners Billie Eilish, Kanye West, and Harry Styles — like front row views at the Coachella Stage, on-stage access at the Sahara Tent, and a celebrity chef dinner in the Rose Garden.

“We’ve all seen how NFTs enable true ownership of art and media on the internet,” Sam Schoonover, Innovation Lead for Coachella, said in a statement. “We wanted to take it one step further and use NFTs to enable ownership of experiences in the real world, too.”

In addition to the Coachella Keys Auction, which starts this Friday, Coachella is also offering two NFT collections that feature digital collectibles and physical posters and photo books, all through the FTX crypto exchange. There are 10,000 each of the Sights & Sounds Collection ($60), which features 10 digital festival images and a physical print of one of the ten. There are also 10,000 NFTs in the Desert Reflection Collection ($180), which includes 1 of 10 digital renditions of a Coachella poster by Emek and a copy of the photo book, Coachella | The Photographs 1999-2019.

FTX US’s President Brett Harrison added, “Not only are we excited to partner with a progressive forward-thinking music festival in Coachella, but also working together to make the world a better place.”

Lofty goals aside, it’ll be interesting to see how much the 10 Coachella keys NFT’s fetch at an auction. The sales go live online on Friday, February 4 at 10 a.m. PT through Friday, February 11 at 5 p.m. PT at nft.coachella.com.