Month: February 2022

Baltimore band Turnstile has just released a new music video for “Underwater Boi,” a cut from their third studio album, Glow On (which ranked near the top in the 2021 Uproxx Music Critics Poll, by the way).

Directed by Turnstile’s percussionist and drummer Daniel Fang, “Underwater Boi” sees singer Brendan Yates transform into a video game character, navigating the realm of Second Life, an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) from the early aughts. This isn’t the first time the band has embraced nostalgia. In January, Turnstile performed “Underwater Boi” as part NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, surrounded by several stuffed animals. The band also performed their songs “Blackout,” “Don’t Play,” “Mystery,” “T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection),” and “Alien Love Call.”

When recording Glow On, Turnstile worked with the likes of Blood Orange and producer Mike Elizondo of “In Da Club” fame.

“Mike is a stone-cold professional, like bro was Dr. Dre’s link, from what I gather, I think he was like the only one really allowed to touch the button in the studio besides Dre,” bassist Franz “Freaky” Lyons told Uproxx last year. “I was in the panic room a little bit. But it was everything you would want to comfortably step outside of your comfort zone. It was all a sick-ass learning episode.”

Check out “Underwater Boi” above.

Rumors of The Sopranos getting a spinoff series have been around since the show aired its controversial, fade-to-black ending in 2007. However, things kicked into overdrive when Chevrolet unveiled a new Super Bowl commercial featuring Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler kind of reprising their roles of Meadow and A.J. Soprano, respectively. In fact, the buzz of a Sopranos revival after the Super Bowl spot was enough that HBO’s Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys had to put a wet blanket on the whole thing.

According to Bloys, Sopranos creator David Chase is not working on a new show where Meadow and A.J. do crimes in electric cars, which honestly, pretty much writes itself. Via Deadline:

“I don’t think David has any interest in doing anything more with The Sopranos. The Sopranos is a terrific and classic show. I don’t think there’s any reason to open that back up. I think maybe the Super Bowl ad… was an indication that someone’s going back. As far as I know, I don’t think he has any plans to do that,” said Bloys.

Of course, Chase recently dipped back into The Sopranos world with The Many Saints of Newark, and while it seemed like that prequel was primed to pump out more Sopranos content, Bloys also had bad news on that front. “I really don’t know what [Chase’s] thinking but one thing I can say is I just don’t think anything with The Sopranos family is on the cards.”

Alright, HBO, we get it. More dragons, less gabagool. You made your point.

(Via Deadline)

The NBA’s All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio is right around the corner and while NBA players get the week off from a grueling 82-game season, some of the event’s participants have actually increased their activity in preparation for the festivities — including Cleveland native Machine Gun Kelly, who is apparently taking his selection to the celebrity game’s roster very seriously.

While the famous competitors in past iterations of the game have put previously existing hoop skills on display — Quavo, for instance, was a decorated high school athlete before his rap career took off — MGK has gone a step further, hiring celebrity skills coach Chris Matthews (aka @lethalshooter on Instagram) to help him brush up on his jumper before the game. Matthews, who has also worked with NBA players, WNBA players, and celebrities like
Anthony Davis, Candace Parker, and even Drake, posted a video of MGK running a shooting drill to his Instagram, which includes MGK sinking three (high school) three-pointers in a row and pre-emptively declaring himself MVP of the celebrity game.

Of course, MGK will have to outplay his teammate Quavo for that distinction — a tough sell, considering he’s been the game’s MVP in 2018 — as well as noted hoop aficionado Jack Harlow, who participated with Quavo in last year’s two-on-two event against Lil Baby and 2 Chainz, the WNBA’s Dearica Hambry, and former Harlem Globetrotter Crissa Jackson, among others.

“Hey, it’s Che Diaz!” has slowly turned into the biggest jump-scare of 2022, thanks to the Sara Ramirez’ And Just Like That character, who is almost universally hated by Sex And The City fans.

Ramirez has made it clear that “Che isn’t here to be liked,” but fans are still questioning why Miranda would shun Steve to turn to the podcaster. Nixon has been taken aback by the hate for the storyline.

“I think that’s a bizarre reaction,” the actress said in a new interview with Vogue. “First of all, I think Miranda is brave, and I think Miranda is charging forward. She doesn’t know where she’s going exactly, but she knows she has to go somewhere.” That somewhere is to follow Diaz to LA and leave her husband, which seems out of character for the headstrong Miranda that fans has grown to know and love.

“She’s a loose cannon, a very opinionated loose cannon.” Nixon added. “She’s always been a bull in a china shop and losing her temper and blowing things up then having to backtrack when she calms down.” Despite the hate of the character, Nixon insists that the show is keeping with a central theme of trying to be happy.

“[Miranda] gives up her very lucrative corporate job and goes back to try and make something more of her life. As Miranda says: We’re not old, we’re 55. I mean, you’re certainly closer to the end than to the beginning. But if you’re not happy with where you are, you still have a lot of time to make a change.” Nixon added. When in doubt, start dating a podcaster!

After Bob Saget’s cause of death was revealed to be head trauma, the late comedian/actor’s family filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block the further release of medical records related to his death. The family argued that “no legitimate public interest would be served by the release or dissemination of the Records to the public,” and a judge didn’t waste any time agreeing with them that the sensitive information would cause “irreparable harm” to the family.

On Wednesday morning, Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu temporarily blocked the release of Saget’s autopsy records, which were already being requested by media outlets. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

The lawsuit, which names the Orange County sheriff and medical examiner’s office, seeks to exempt from disclosure photos, videos, audio recordings and information relating to Saget’s cause of death. The family says releasing certain records violates their constitutional right to privacy and will cause them pain, anguish and emotional distress.

“Some of these records graphically depict Mr. Saget, his likeness or features, or parts of him, and were made by Defendants during Defendants’ investigation,” states the complaint filed in Orange County, Florida.

After Saget’s cause of death was announced, further information from the autopsy report revealed that the extent of his head injury was far more serious than a bump on the head. Medical examiners concluded that Saget most likely suffered an “unwitnessed fall backwards” that “fractured his skull.” His passing was mourned by his Full House co-stars as well as his fellow stand-up comedians and dear friends.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

As the March 4th release date for Nilüfer Yanya’s sophomore album, Painless, approaches, the surging British indie rocker has shared another track and video from the project. On the heels of two stellar drops in the breakneck-paced “Stabilise” and the heavenly “Midnight Sun,” comes the affirmational “Anotherlife” and its accompanying video.

Like all of Yanya’s best songs, “Anotherlife” is predicated on the guitar. This time, it’s a breezy groove, showcasing the seemingly infinite combination of sounds that she employs on the ax. In the clip, directed by Yanya’s sister Molly Daniel, she’s stolen away to an island locale to bask in therapeutic baths, decadent fruits, and the serenity of the locales. The video also hints at a feeling of malaise that this peace of mind might carry. “At the core of the song it’s just about being OK with things and accepting that this is where you are at,” Yanya said in a statement. “However, the ‘I’ll do anything’ line hints at a desperation of wanting to let that be known.”

Already a fast-arriving dynamic artist, “Anotherlife” is another welcome wrinkle in the scope of the upcoming Painless.

Listen to “Anotherlife” above.

Painless is out on 3/4 via ATO Records. Pre-order it here and get tickets for Yanya’s 2022 tour dates here.

Buddy is back and on his new song “Wait Too Long” he brings West Coast crooner Blxst along for an upbeat overture to a potential romantic partner. However, the woman in question is taking things slowly, and Buddy and Blxst offer plenty of reminders that they’re both in high demand with plenty of options, warning, “Don’t make me wait too long / Five liquor shots, I’m way too on / Time tickin’, I’ma bring my phone.”

The video opens with the aftermath of a party at Buddy’s place, with the Compton rapper taking a dip in the pool as guests sleep off their respective hangovers on the deck. Buddy grabs an old-fashioned phone (did you kids know phones used to have cords?) and uses it to stay in contact with an unseen paramour. Then, the video flashes back to the night in question, where a dinner party grows more debauched as the night continues, but Buddy remains unlucky in wooing any of the female guests.

“Wait Too Long” is the first single from Buddy’s newly announced album Superghetto, which is due March 25 on RCA Records and Buddy’s own Cool Lil Company. Superghetto will be the Compton rapper’s first full-length solo release since his 2018 debut Harlan & Alondra. Since then, he’s been a standout on Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III and released the joint mixtape Janktape Vol. 1 with fellow Los Angeles native Kent Jamz.

Watch the video for “Wait Too Long” above.

Superghetto is due 3/25 via RCA Records. You can pre-save it here.

Will Smith was front and center in the Super Bowl spot for Bel-Air, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot. In the spot, he led people around the globe in reenacting the original show’s theme song, and this spot coincided with Peacock’s premiere of the new show’s first three episodes. Given this heavy participation factor in promotional form, it’s only natural to wonder whether he’s actually appearing in the show, so what gives?

Well, anyone who hoped that Will would appear in Bel-Air will be slightly disappointed. No plans for such a move have been announced, and given that the reboot is darker and grittier than the neon-feel of the original show, it sure would be strange to pop the real Will Smith in as some sort of flashback vision later in the season. Adult Will Smith would also feel very out place here (next to Young Will, now played by Jabari Banks) unless the show’s heading towards time travel. But who knows? Anything is possible when it comes to TV writers’ imaginations.

Ultimately, Will Smith is acting as an executive producer on the rebooted show. So, he’s got plenty of input on the new tone and where the story will go after what happened on those West Philly streets. And according to Peacock’s synopsis, the show “dive[s] deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and biases that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format,” so expect plenty of drama to come. And it’s doubtful that we’ll see him in front of the camera, unless he does a cameo as a totally different character.

Bel-Air is currently streaming on Peacock.

As the second season of Euphoria nears its end, many questions are left unanswered. There is the obvious Nate/Maddy/Cassie love triangle that’s reaching its boiling point, as Rue’s tumultuous recovery journey continues. But the real question here is: what the hell is Lyla Garrity doing there?

Minka Kelly joined the cast of season two in a mysterious role specifically written for her by show creator Sam Levinson. Kelly recently told Vanity Fair that, as a huge fan of the HBO Max show, she was shocked to be offered a role as a mentor to Alexa Demie’s Maddy. Kelly told the mag, “I was like, ‘Sam Levinson knows who I am?’ To be invited on one of your favorite shows is such a surreal thing.”

Kelly is best known for her role of cheerleader Lyla Garrity on NBC’s sports drama Friday Night Lights, who also had her fair share of rollercoaster relationships and cheating scandals. (She currently dates Trevor Noah and previously dated Derek Jeter, Chris Evans, Donald Faison, John Mayer, and Wilmer Valderrama, among others.) Kelly identified with the role and wanted to be seen as a mentor for Maddy’s character.

“I love the idea of making sure that she didn’t have this misunderstanding that in order to have a healthy, functioning relationship as an adult, it means you have to live a perfect life,” Kelly said of their relationship. “You’re not defined by your teenage years in high school. This is the time you’re supposed to mess up. This is all just a period of discovery.” For Lyla Garrity, that discovery came in the form of destroying her father’s car dealership in Texas. Those years didn’t define her either.

When it comes to streaming hits, Philadelphia singer Pink Sweat$ is something of an expert. His breakout single, “Honesty,” racked up millions of streams across nearly every streaming platform, launching his successful career as a solo star after several years behind-the-scenes as a songwriter. Then, to prove that those numbers were no fluke, he nearly doubled them with his follow-up hit, “At My Worst,” and its remix featuring Bay Area singer Kehlani.

For the release of his Pink Moon EP, Sweat$ graciously agreed to a Zoom interview with Uproxx to reveal the secret to a streaming hit, what made each of his prior hits so special, and which songs from his new EP we should all be betting on to rack up the streams in the future.

We’re here to talk about what makes a hit, how to get a streaming hit. It’s something you should know plenty about what with your growing collection thereof.

Wow. Appreciate y’all having me, number one. To answer, I guess I would say it depends on what kind of hit you want, right?

Yeah.

Because I write and I produce, I try to steer people in the right direction, so it’s different kinds of hits. If you want a playful hit it usually can be tied to some sort of a movement, whether it’s a dance or some form of moving of the body that people can feel. And if you want more of a singer-songwriter hit, I think it’s just about the story and the storytelling ability because we all got a story, right? The way you articulate that story through a song, the effectiveness of it, that’s how you get ahead.

What do you think it was about “Honesty” that connected people? Obviously, you said songwriting, but each song kind of has its own personality. What do you think was the personality of “Honesty” that people were drawn to?

I would say it’s just the vulnerability and the relatability because I feel like the state of music, everything is like fantasy. Whether it’s rollies, chains, all these girls, all this overindulgence. That’s fantasy for a lot of people.

That’s not most people’s every day, but most of us are questioning who we are. Do we deserve this thing called love? Are we capable of loving? And I feel like it’s one of those things that we fill our day in a certain kind of way where we don’t have to think about it. We always got to be busy. Because sometimes when you’re sitting alone by yourself, you start wondering like, “Dang, is this how I want to choose to live my life?”

The first line of a song is “She said, ‘Baby, I’m afraid to fall in love.’” I feel like right there, you got people. It’s like, “Oh this is about to be a story. Like, where is this going?” Who’s not afraid to fall in love? Who’s not afraid to be vulnerable? Most of us are. It’s very few people that are just always jumping right in, and we always judge those people like, “Man, you love too easy.”

Absolutely. Now, “Honesty” was of course a smash, but then, you had to knock it completely out of the parking lot with “At My Worst.” What was it that drew people to “At My Worst?” And what kind of an effect did you see when you added Kehlani to the remix and that exploded even more? I always say that song is going to be our friends’ kids’ wedding song. They’re going to dance to that at their weddings.

Well that song, honestly, it was just me. I was tapping into what I know people wanted from me, and then I just elevated it. I wanted to give a perspective that was super vulnerable, but while the lyrics are vulnerable, but at the same time, the music is happy. It takes your guard down with the music. But then the words are seeping into you where it’s like, “Whoa!”

You know, I’m in a position in my life where things are well, I’m able to take care of myself, I’m able to help people, things like that. But at the same time…Someone can see me and be like, “Yo man, he living,” but you don’t really know the things that I deal with, because money can’t solve everything. But my partner does. And it’s like, I always wanted somebody to love me, despite my problems, my internal issues, the things that I struggle with mentally.

So it’s her not judging me, and I feel like, for a lot of people, we want that. We want to be loved at our worst, because it’s easy to say, “Yo, you’re up, you’re doing your thing. He got his mind on right. He got his bread right. He got a car. He got his own place.” It’s easy to do all of that. I feel like, especially for me, being a Black man, we’re always taught to go out and chase things and accomplish something, and then the world would be yours, but that’s the win and the downfall. Because of that pressure of, “Hey, well what if I can’t keep it all together all the time? Is somebody going to still love me?” So that’s what I wanted to get across, but I didn’t want it to be as heavy as me just saying it just now.

So you got your Pink Moon EP coming out. If you could pick two of the songs to blow up from this EP, that you think are going to be the ones, which ones would they be? And would you be surprised if it were a different one?

That’s a great question. I would say “Real Thing,” since that’s the first song I made for the project. Me and Tori Kelly on that, and then another one is called “Better,” me and one of my favorite artists, her name is Kirby. Those are the two that I really, really, really love. And I got another one. I know you didn’t ask me three, but the third one is the Blxst song. It’s called “For Me.” That’s just because it’s like a manifestation song and also a letting-everything-go song. I feel like when I wrote that song, I was in a place of stress where it’s like, having conversations with my label, having conversations with my peers, trying to understand the climate of music, because it’s always changing. I was just stressing myself out and it was like, “I never do this, why am I tripping? What’s for me is for me.”

Blxst is on a roll. Everything he’s on is just like, it knocks to the high heavens. Yeah, man. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this thing does.

I want to get a gospel award for that song, because technically, that’s an inspirational song. I’m putting that out in the atmosphere for sure.

Of course, “Nothing Feels Better” seems to have taken off. Again, what do you think that one says that people are tapping into, and how do you intend to take that momentum forward into the next one? Do you go left or do you stay the course?

I feel like that’s like an adoration song. I’m just showing mad love to my partner, where it’s like all the things in the world that can go right, they don’t really feel the same as just knowing that at the end of the night, I got somebody to turn to. All the things that I deal with throughout the day, just having somebody to go through all those ups and downs with, that’s like a euphoric feeling. We might argue one day, then in the same day we’d be laughing about, “What was we even… It wasn’t that deep. Nothing feels better than this.” The certainty of love.

I feel like it’s not really a lot of songs that popularize adoring people and telling them how great they are. It’s always about tearing somebody down or doing some drugs or something. To each their own, but I just feel like I want to just mix it up. I’m not trying to say “get rid of this” or “get rid of that.” I’m just saying we need some more of this too. It’s like putting all the salt in food, but maybe put some pepper in there. Maybe use a little honey. I don’t know, but we need more than just salt as an ingredient. We need to mix it up.

Pink Sweat$ is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.