Month: March 2022

This week was teeming with new releases, but the highlights included some of the pop albums we’ve been waiting for. Charli XCX finally unveiled Crash, an album that marks her return to bombastic, radio-friendly anthems like the polarizing “Baby.” At the same time, Rosalía unleashed Motomami, which had been all the talk for months because of its provocative artwork and its catchy singles. The up-and-coming Ethel Cain announced her debut album Preacher’s Daughter and released the haunting “Gibson Girl.”

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Normani — “Fair”

Former Fifth Harmony member has been working on her debut solo album for quite some time. Now, we at least have this sparkling, honest song “Fair,” which is addressed to an old lover and proves her skill at crafting music that cuts deep. While reckoning with their breakup, she asks: “Is it fair that you moved on?”

Gayle — “Luv Starved”

Singer of the gigantic TikTok hit “Abcdefu” Gayle dropped her debut EP, which includes that track as well as this emotionally charged, slower song “Luv Started.” It’s packed with plainly depressing lyrics contrasted against clever quips: “Swear to God imma change but I’m agnostic,” she drawls. Momentum builds at the end and turns into an anthem about no longer wanting to be “taken advantage of by sh*tty guys.”

Muna — “Anything But Me”

Along with the announcement of their forthcoming self-titled album, Muna shared the fed-up “Anything But Me,” which opens with the snarky line: “You’re gonna say that I’m on a high horse / I think that my horse is regular-sized.” Instead of resorting to anger or exhaustion, the song celebrates its newfound freedom and independence.

Charli XCX — “Yuck”

Though Crash has plenty of bangers, “Yuck” has an effortless groove to it as well as an amazing amount of attitude: “Put me on a pedestal / ‘Causе my love’s incredible,” she deadpans. For a little over two minutes, she carelessly revels in narcissism and it makes for an addictive listen.

Juice WRLD — “Sometimes”

Late rapper Juice WRLD’s second posthumous album Fighting Demons arrived in December, but was just updated with this new song “Sometimes.” It showcased exactly what made Juice WRLD rise to the top so fast — his honesty about his struggles, especially his feeling of loneliness and failure despite being rich and famous. It’s inspiring when he sings, “Nobody ever felt the pain I felt, so I share it / And put it out to the whole world, I ain’t embarrassed.”

Still Woozy, Remi Wolf — “Pool”

Still Woozy and Remi Wolf teamed up for this twinkly ballad that follows a complicated love story. The pair take turns with the chorus and the verses; both of their voices are tender and sincere, and the song reaches its peak at the end when they harmonize with one another beautifully.

Syd, Lucky Daye — “Cybah”

Syd and Lucky Daye joined forces for this new song, “Cybah,” which broods and sizzles with fiery, otherwordly synths. On the chorus, Syd repeats the pulsating question: “Could you brеak a heart?” It holds a lot of weight, but the meaning seems to change every time she croons it.

Ethel Cain — “Gibson Girl”

Ethel Cain seems to be on a mission to see how haunting she can make her songs. Her autotuned drawls on “Gibson Girl” are bone-chilling, and the words amplify that feeling: “Baby, if it feels good / Then it can’t be bad.” At nearly six minutes, the track is something of an exorcism of lust and leaves the listener wanting more.

Rosalía — “Candy”

Rosalía’s “Candy” is also haunted, but instead by a past lover. Their presence can be felt in the song; the tension is palpable and the complex longing in Rosalía’s voice is unmissable. Still, despite the layer of sadness, “Candy” is as danceable as any of her songs.

Love You Later — “Keepintouch”

Love You Later, the rising project of Lexi Aviles, released this lively track that grapples with the difficulty of navigating relationships when trying to take care of yourself: “I’m losing touch with everyone else / Trying to keep in touch with myself.” Her voice is genuine and soars mesmerizingly over the upbeat instruments.

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

Ted is the new Karen. Over the weekend, a video surfaced in which Ted Cruz seemed to be getting surly with an airline employee at the Bozeman International Airport in Montana after he missed his flight. While the words being exchanged are not audible, eventually law enforcement was called over to help sort out the mess—and it’s hard for anyone to take any of this seriously, given the Texas senator’s history with causing airport-related drama. Of course, it didn’t take long for people to make comparisons to Cruz’s infamous Cancun getaway, and the jokes began flowing like yards of beer at Señor Frog’s, with Jimmy Kimmel joining in the torment.

On Monday night, Kimmel—who regularly finds himself at odds with Cruz—couldn’t help but laugh at the whole debacle. As he told viewers:

The big Ted story today… is a video shot at the Bozeman, Montana airport. A man who looks suspiciously like Ted Cruz has a heated exchange with an airline employee and then, after the airline employee, a police officer. Apparently, he missed his flight and demanded to speak to the manager of the airport about a dozen times to the point where they had to call in security.

He should stay out of airports, right?

Kimmel pointed out the irony of the incident in light of Cruz’s comments just a few weeks back, while meeting with the trucker convoy, that, “Almost without exception, every time I’m on an airplane, either the captain or a flight attendant will come up to me, will hug me and say, ‘Thank you for fighting for us.’”

But Kimmel’s not buying it: “There’s no way he’s getting spontaneously hugged. Can you imagine hugging Ted Cruz? Donald Trump hugs Eric more than flight attendants hug Ted Cruz.”

You can watch the full video above, beginning around the 2:00 mark.

The tension between Megan Thee Stallion and Carl Crawford’s 1501 Certified Entertainment flared up last month when the rapper sued the label over the classification of her latest project, Something For Thee Hotties. While Megan contends that she was told the release would count as an album off of her four-album contract with 1501, it appears 1501 instead classified it as a mixtape — as the label also did with Fever and Suga. Now, the label has issued a countersuit, according to Billboard, arguing that the project only constituted 29 minutes of new material.

The label’s attorney, Steven M. Zager, wrote, “MTS knows that each ‘album’ must include at least twelve new master recordings of her studio performances of previously-unreleased musical compositions. She also knows that 1501 gets to approve the musical compositions to be included on each album. And MTS knows that none of that happened here.” The countersuit blames Roc Nation, Megan’s management company, for “trying to persuade its management clients to leave their record labels.”

Megan was unhappy about the claims, expressing her frustration on Twitter. “First the man over my label said I don’t make him any money,” she wrote. “Now he counter suing trying to keep me on his label because he wants to make more money lol if I ain’t making you no money why not just drop me?”

She explained, “My lawyers asked him for an expense report(money 1501 supposedly has spent on ME)… why this grown ass man put his jewelry and chains on there… lord free me from this joke ass label… Carl I don’t wanna be signed to yo pill popping ass! You talking abt I ain’t paid for a show and you sound slow. Im the artist I don’t pay you directly maybe fight with THE MAN YOU SIGNED TO AND YOU MIGHT SEE SOME MONEY YOU FUCKING POWDER HEAD! You hiding behind JPRINCE. Carl you got a wholeeee contact with 300 and talking shit to me like I got yo fucking money! You are ATTACKING ME ..why? Bc you want to be FAMOUS NOT RICH. Ask KEVIN LILES WHERE YO MONEY AT STUPID.”

Megan also insinuated that she’d been in contact with 1501 artist Erica Banks, who some fans tried to pit against her, calling the “Buss It” rapper a “replacement” for Meg. Instead, Thee Stallion suggested that even Banks is fed up with 1501, writing, “I choose not to say nothing back abt court and address shit online but im getting tired of being painted the BAD GUY 2/47 the last girl on 1501 mad at this man too !”

Ahead of his upcoming Mathematics Tour, Ed Sheeran took to Instagram and Twitter yesterday to tease new music. In a series of posts, he recounted meeting Colombian singer/rapper J Balvin at a gym last year around Christmas.

“It was just me and him very early in the morning. I recognised his voice when he was on the phone so I just went up and said hi,” said the “Shivers” singer.

Included in the posts was a video with clips of the two in a recording studio, along with them on the set of what appears to be a music video.

Sheeran followed up the video clip, revealing he and Balvin later went for lunch and afternoon tea. The two would later take to the studio to write and record two songs — “Sigue” and “Forever My Love.”

“He wanted to bring me into his world, and I wanted to bring him into mine,” Sheeran continued “Was a proper challenge learning Spanish for this and I had so much fun doing it.”

Neither Sheeran nor Balvin have revealed an exact release date for their collaborations, however, Sheeran teases they will be out “soon” and he “absolutely” loves them.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kid Rock is many things: an anti-vaxxer, the owner of a restaurant that hosted Morgan Wallen’s first show after he was caught on camera using a racial slur, even occasionally a musician. But one thing he’s not is an expert on international relations (I’m as shocked as you are). But Donald Trump treated him like one.

During an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News on Monday night, the white trash rapper-turned-heartland rocker spoke about his 2017 visit to the White House with Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent. “I was there with [Trump] one day when he ended the caliphate,” he said, referring to the Islamic State. “He wanted to put out a tweet… I don’t like to speak out of school. I hope I’m not. But… the tweet was, and I’m paraphrasing, but it’s like, you know, ‘If you ever joined the caliphate, you know, trying to do this, you’re going to be dead.’ He goes, ‘What do you think?’ [I said] ‘Awesome. I can’t add any better.’ But then it comes out and it’s… reworded and more political, to look politically correct.”

Trump also asked for “uncancelable” Kid Rock’s thoughts on North Korea.

He also said he and Trump were once “looking at maps. I’m like, you know, like, ‘Am I supposed to be in on this shit?’ Like I make dirty records sometimes. I do.

“‘What do you think we should do about North Korea?’ I’m like, ‘What? I don’t think I’m qualified to answer this.’”

In four years in office, Trump both threatened and met with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. No progress was made in ending the US standoff with the nuclear-armed dictator.

If only Trump had reached out to Uncle Kracker. He would have found a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Middle East.

(Via Guardian)

It’s been a year and change since Olivia Rodrigo became a global music superstar thanks to “Drivers License” and the revered singles and album, Sour, that followed. Now, she’s getting ready for her first-ever tour. Rodrigo seems to realize how much energy is needed to put on full-blown concerts for months at a time, so she’s preparing for the trek by getting her physical fitness up.

In a recent Variety interview, she said, “Yesterday, I actually ran on the treadmill and sang my songs, because sometimes when you’re running on stage, you get really winded. I did such a bad job running on the treadmill, it was so hard [laughs]. I feel so sorry for my friend that had to listen to me while I did that because I sounded terrible.”

She also said the unreleased song she previously noted will appear in her Driving Home 2 U film probably won’t get an official standalone release, saying, “I was just looking at a bunch of my old voice memos when we were making the film, and I found that one and I was like, ‘Oh that’s really good!’ It never came out, so I thought, let’s just put it as a voice memo in the film and maybe it’s something that people will like. But I don’t actually think it will ever come out, which I think is kinda cool. It’s a little treat at the end of the movie.”

Find the full interview here. Yesterday, a minute-long clip of Rodrigo performing “Jealousy, Jealousy” from Driving Home 2 U was shared, so check that out below.

On Monday night, The Atlantic editor and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum wondered aloud why he hasn’t heard of a single Fox News employee resigning in protest over the network’s pro-Putin coverage following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Granted, not all of Fox News has been pushing Russian talking points, but Tucker Carlson has been such a notable and reliable source of pro-Putin commentary that the Kremlin has demanded that clips of his show play on state TV.

“I’m trying to recall a single instance of a resignation of conscience at Fox News over the network’s support for Putin’s war,” Frum tweeted on Monday night. “Marina Ovsyannikova risked life and liberty to tell her viewers the truth. Is there one wealthy Fox director or employee willing to forgo a single check?”

Frum’s tweet must’ve gotten under Fox News host Geraldo Rivera‘s skin who, to his credit, has challenged pro-Putin comments from his co-workers live on the air. However, instead of citing his record of going against the network’s narrative, Rivera went straight for the F-bomb.

“F*ck you,” Rivera tweeted. “You don’t know me. Do you even have a job?”

In fairness, both men have a point. Frum is right to question why Fox News employees haven’t taken a principled stand against the network for airing pro-Putin commentary, and Rivera is right to get angry that Frum isn’t aware that some of the on-air talent actually are pushing back on Russian propaganda in a way that viewers will actually see.

(Via Geraldo Rivera on Twitter)

In November of last year, power couple Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello announced their breakup via Twitter. Their statements read, “We started our relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”

Despite the hopeful sentiment in those words, it looks like the separation wasn’t as easy as we all think. Mendes posted a vulnerable Instagram video over the weekend, opening up about heartbreak, “A lot of the thing that also is like resonating in the lyric for me is like, ‘Oh f*ck.’ You don’t realize when you’re breaking up with someone, you like, think it’s the right thing. You don’t realize all the sh*t that comes after it,” he said.

He added, “Which is like, ‘Who do I call when I’m like in a panic attack? Who do I call when I’m like, f*cking, on the edge?’ And I think that’s the reality that kind of hit me: ‘Oh, I’m on my own now.’ Now I feel like I’m finally like, I’m actually on my own. And I hate that. That’s my reality, you know?”

Mendes then previewed a new song “When You’re Gone,” which contains the lines, “It’s hard for me to let go of you, so I’m just trying to hold on / I don’t want to know what it’s like when you’re gone.” He revealed last night that the song will be dropping on March 31.

(Spoilers for Netflix’s Bad Vegan will be found below.)

Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restauranteur who fell from grace in Bad Vegan, took umbrage with the show’s ending, and the director’s now stepping up to defend what transpired. This vegan-beef is different from the other one (how Sarma felt “sick” over how Netflix was marketing the show, by “mocking” her belief in the dog-immortality claim) that we recently discussed. Lots of vegan-beefs! Let’s get down to business.

The series ended with an audio transcript of Sarma on the phone with Anthony Strangis (who previously operated as “Shane Fox”). Even though the show made clear that this call had happened “22 Months After Prison” (Sarma took a plea deal, as did Shane, and she served time at Riker’s Island), it wasn’t made explicit that this call had taken place back in 2019. If people weren’t paying close attention to the timeline (Sarma’s tabloid appearances involving the pizza-order busting took place in 2016 when the two were caught as fugitives), then yeah, it’s easy to assume that the call was pretty close to present time. And that irked a lot of people (on social media), who watched how the two defrauded Sarma’s investors and shafted her employees for paychecks.

Sarma made clear that she wasn’t thrilled, writing how “the ending of Bad Vegan is disturbingly misleading; I am not in touch with Anthony Strangis and I made those recordings at a much earlier time, deliberately, for a specific reason.” Now, series director Chris Smith and executive producer Ryann Frase have spoken with Newsweek to defend their call to, well, include the call in the way that they did:

“The inclusion of the last phone call isn’t to imply that Sarma and Anthony were still close. The call is dated “22 Months After Prison”–and Anthony clearly says at the end of the call “it was nice to hear your voice”–which we feel shows that communication between them is not common.

“In this call, we found Sarma to be confident and strong—making fun of the tales Anthony had spun, telling him that he had to show up on a unicorn for there to be any reconciliation (meaning there is no reconciliation)… Lastly, this call was one of the few pieces of audio we found of them communicating in a way that helped us understand their relationship in the first place.”

It’s a fine line there, and again, it’s easy to see how people would have been misled without a clear “2019” label. And they’re pouncing on Sarma, who did some very Bad Vegan things, yes, but she did claim to use the money from Netflix to pay back her employees. That doesn’t fully fix things, obviously, but yeah, there are no winners in the Bad Vegan story. So to sum up, Sarma insists that she and cult-leader-esque Anthony “Meat Suit” Strangis aren’t in contact. Hopefully, it stays that way.

(Via Newsweek)

Sandra Bullock has been in some stinkers over the years. This is not an insult; when you’ve been a working actress for as long as she has (her first credited role was in 1987), of course there’s going to be some duds in there. Like, Miss Congeniality 2 – Armed and Fabulous, and Two if by Sea, and Murder by Numbers. But there’s one movie in her filmography that she regrets starring in more than any other.

When asked by TooFab about whether she has any professional embarrassments, Bullock replied, “I have one no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in. It’s called Speed 2. I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island,” she replied, adding, “That’s one I wished I hadn’t done and no fans came around.”

1997’s Speed 2: Cruise Control was the Keanu Reeves-less sequel to 1994’s Speed, and while it made $164.5 million at the box office, it also cost $110-160 million to make; meanwhile, the original film made $350.4 million on a roughly $30 million budget.

Bullock’s The Lost City co-star Daniel Radcliffe tried to cheer her up, claiming that Speed 2 has “a kind of cult love,” but nope. “Very quiet. Like 5 people,” she said. “Him [the interviewer] and the other four 12-year-olds who were watching the slow boat going towards the tiny island.” Maybe it would have been a success if producers had gone with the original title: Speed 2: The Boat That Couldn’t Slow Down.

(Via TooFab)