Month: April 2022

Several years ago, when Psy made waves with his hit “Gangnam Style,” most listeners didn’t realize it was a breakthrough moment for K-pop. Now, returning with his collab with Suga of BTS, “That That,” and a new album, Psy 9th, the Korean star is discussing the way he was received versus the way artists like BTS and Blackpink are able to attain critical and commercial success now.

As Mashable points out, Psy did a press conference where he talked at length about the differences between how “Gangnam Style” was perceived and what artists are able to accomplish now.

“It was so exhausting at the time of its success [because] the song got popular so it wasn’t a ‘healthy hit,’” he said, according to translations into English by @modooborahae. “There were even people who thought my name was ‘Gangnam Style.’ Some people overseas who would say ‘Hi, Gangnam Style.’ There are cases where the song increases in popularity and cases when the [artist] increases in popularity, and longevity is that much longer in the latter.”

In Psy’s view, the reception for BTS and Blackpink is the “opposite” of his own viral status because of their “permanence and persistence.” And BTS going to the No. 1 spot with “Dynamite” in 2020 was also a huge deal, because as big as it was on Youtube, “Gangnam Style” still only ever went to No. 2. That speaks to another thing that separates Korean stars from their American and English counterparts, and that’s the language barrier. “Even for the famous BTS and Blackpink, the wall of American radio is very high because the songs are in a foreign language,” he said. “Our biggest weapon is YouTube.”

Finally, he praised both bands for making their country proud, and for acknowledging his influence on them: “If they continue like this, though they’re not doing music for the sake of raising national prestige, I think they’re giving [Korea] a lot of proud moments. I feel very proud that I had a role in being that trigger. BTS have thanked me for that part several times, so I’m proud of it.”

Practically ever since the group broke up, Destiny’s Child fans have been dying for the girl group to reunite. But after they actually did during Beyonce’s rather infamous Coachella headlining set, the hopefulness has been increased exponentially. And maybe after seeing the reaction to their return to the stage, this trio is actually considering a tour. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight about her new children’s book, Always With You, Always With Me, Kelly Rowland was put on the spot about the group, and though she’s an expert at dodging the question, still had at least a few things to say about it.

“We love everybody so much that we wouldn’t toy with it, but I do think that… you would deserve a surprise,” she said. “I feel like everything is just so planned so we see it before it happens and we see the process right after it happens. It’s just a lot, like, we deserve spontaneity, we desire to be surprised and I would hope Destiny’s Child would be a pleasant surprise.”

So, this is a Beyonce self-titled level of secrecy and when it drops we’ll all be that shocked? Is that what she said? Or was it just a coy brushoff… Well now that Kelly is done with this book, maybe it’s time to get back onstage.

The Gorillaz are very well-known at this point for collaborating with some of the best and brightest artists around, so it’s never any surprise when they add another joint track to their already impressive discography. All these frequent collabs also make for a great live show when Gorillaz do perform, because a lot of times, different artists will come out and perform their hits alongside the band. Well, that wasn’t quite the case last night, but fans did get the chance to catch a new track for the first time — this one a collaboration with renowned bassist and R&B star Thundercat.

During a set at the Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay, the band performed the new song and projected footage of Thundercat playing alongside them. Last night was the kick off for Gorillaz’ new world tour, and they played another new song as well, this one called “Silent Running.” Check out footage of the Thundercat collab both up top and down below, as well as some clips of “Silent Running.”

In other Gorillaz news, Damon Albarn has been a divisive force in pop lately, drawing the ire of Taylor Swift fans for questioning her songwriting in an interview, and praising Billie Eilish in the same breath. The latter led to a Coachella appearance for him, so at least some of those interview comments worked out.

A little over two years after she released her sophomore album It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, Kehlani returned with her third official body of work with Blue Water Road. The project is comprised of 13 songs with guest appearances from Blxst, Jessie Reyez, Syd, Justin Bieber, Thundercat, and Ambre. Blue Water Road is a companion album of sorts with It Was Good Until It Wasn’t as it captures the brighter days that took place after the unfortunate events on her sophomore album. Together with the release of Blue Water Road, Kehlani stopped by Apple Music’s R&B Now Radio to share some insight about her latest release.

During her sit down with Apple Music’s Nadeska, Kehlani explained what inspired the title Blue Water Road. “I actually started the album down the street on Blue Water Road at this house,” she said during the interview. “It was an Airbnb that we got for a recording trip that was supposed to be for the deluxe of my last album, and then I left and had a big spiritual … I don’t want to say experience, but I went to a couple ceremonies and came back, and it was just completely different to me. The album just didn’t sound like … Or mentally, I wasn’t in the deluxe of my last album.”

She continued, “Mentally, I was super far away from my last album in general. And a couple songs resonated with something, I guess, that felt just like whatever the next was. And we didn’t want to lose that, but we also knew we couldn’t just keep renting out this person’s house down the street. So we found a studio, luckily, really close, and it still felt the exact same as the house down the street, so we just stayed here and made the whole album here.”

Shortly after this interview aired, Kehlani shared a new music video for “Everything.”

You can watch Kehlani’s interview on Apple Music’s R&B Now Radio in the video above.

Blue Water Road is out now via TSNMI/Atlantic. You can stream it here.

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

This year’s Rock Hall of Fame ballot has seen quite a lot of drama already — because of Dolly Parton? It’s true! In another act of grandiose, self-aware grace, the country singer tried to decline her nomination to the historical hall because she felt that lots of other more “rock” oriented groups should get in before her. Unfortunately for Dolly, pretty much everyone on the planet disagreed. First of all, she’s a songwriting icon, and second of all, her constant decisions to put the good of other people first is so metal that it supersedes any genre distinction — she’s rock and roll, whether she likes it or not. Luckily, she accepted.

Anyway, voters definitely agreed, because after the Hall made it clear they were keeping Dolly on the ballot for the fan voted sections. She made the top five spots quite easily, following up Duran Duran, Eminem, Pat Benatar, and Eurythmics. Those who finished just outside those top five slots include Judas Priest, Carly Simon and Lionel Richie, so they won’t be nabbing one of the fan selected spots this year. Those votes from fans are taken into final consideration, but don’t necessarily guarantee an artist makes it into the hall: The top five artists, as selected by the public, will comprise a ‘fans’ ballot’ that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2022 inductees,” said the Rock Hall said of these selections.

Congratulations to Duran Duran, Em, Pat, Eurythmics and Dolly for the vote of confidence. The final announcement will come in May, with the induction ceremony coming shortly after.

The Memphis Grizzlies are headed to the Western Conference Semifinals for the first time in Ja Morant‘s career. Memphis beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night to win their first round series, 4-2, and as a result, the team will take on the Golden State Warriors with a spot in the conference finals on the line.

Morant had his ups-and-downs against the Timberwolves, averaging 21.5 points on 38.6 percent shooting from the field with 10.5 assists, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 37.1 minutes per game. After the team clinched their spot in the next round, Morant’s father, Tee, sat down with a reporter and gave his breakdown of how his son played.

“Ja played like trash,” Tee said. “Yeah, trash.”

The video made its way to Ja’s Twitter account, and after he propped this up as proof of some of his previous statements about his father being true, the league’s Most Improved Player expressed that he agreed with the sentiment.

“I really like the negative energy,” Morant said at the 2019 NBA Draft. “He hasn’t played against nobody, he’s too small, he can’t shoot. I love negative energy, it motivates me. It really doesn’t bother me, because my dad was my first hater, so if I could take it from him, I can take it from anybody.”

Tee Morant do not ever stop hating, because it is very obviously working.

It’s been 24 years since Fox debuted That ‘70s Show, a program set 22 years earlier. The cast was so large that it’s been tricky trying to get them back together. But reunions being all the rage now, it was inevitable that the gang would team back up, even if in a slightly compromised fashion. And so it has.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the forthcoming Netflix sequel, called (yes) That ‘90s Show, will feature guest appearances from of five original cast members: Topher Grace (Eric Forman), Mila Kunis (Jackie Burkhart), Ashton Kutcher (Michael Kelso), Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti) and Wilmer Valderrama (Fez). Actually, it’s more like seven: The show, which will revolve around the young daughter of Eric and Donna, also includes Eric’s parents Red and Kitty, played by Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp.

There are two AWOL cast members. Lisa Robin Kelly, who played Eric’s sister Laurie, died in 2013. Meanwhile Danny Masterson is awaiting trial on three counts of rape, accusations he has denied.

It’s unclear whether all five main cast members will appear together or be peppered throughout the show’s first season. In the meantime, given that show is set in 1995, get ready for jokes about Bill Clinton, the early embrace of the information superhighway, the O.J. Simpson trial, and — who knows? — maybe a Waterworld joke or two.

(Via THR)

Lucky Daye is just a few days removed from completing his tour in support of his sophomore album Candypaint. The New Orleans singer set out on the road for a string of shows that kicked off in mid-March. West Coast singer Joyce Wrice also accompanied him on the tour. Daye’s final stop on the Candypaint Tour was in New York City and it appears that he used that opportunity to also give a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. There, Daye delivered a stirring performance of highlight record “Over,” one that accounts for his struggles with moving on from an inconsistent partner.

This year has been a pretty big one for Daye so far. He earned his first entry on the Billboard 200 with Candypaint which peaked at No. 69. Daye also earned his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Over,” a record that peaked at No. 77 earlier this month. However, Daye’s most exciting moment in 2022 came when he earned his first Grammy award for a win in the Best Progressive R&B album category thanks to his Table For Two EP.

You can watch Daye’s performance of “Over” in the video above.

Candypaint is out now via RCA and Keep Cool. You can stream it here.

The strange, uncomfortable drama between Pete Davidson and Kanye West, that erupted after Pete began a relationship with Kanye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, had the internet glued to their screens. Throughout the unsettling videos and diss tracks Kanye was releasing, and incessant social media posts, Pete mostly kept his mouth shut, refraining from any response or joking about the rapper on SNL. Since then, Kanye has left social media, canceled his headlining Coachella performance, and reportedly gone off the grid somewhere to seek healing. That’s great!

But last night, during a performance at the Netflix Is A Joke festival in Los Angeles, Davis did discuss what he went through during that time. According to a report from Entertainment Tonight, Davidson kicked off his set with “jokes about the rapper telling Davidson that Davidson had AIDS and that he believed West because West is a genius.” Later on, he mentioned that “being humiliated is weird when you can’t do anything about it.” He also recalled a basketball game with Chris Rock in December 2021, which he referred to as “before life was over,” referencing the very public events that befell both men a few months after.

Finally, Pete noted that he doesn’t have any ill will against his friend, Jack Harlow, for collaborating with Kanye — but joked that if his King Of Staten Island co-star, Bill Burr, attended one of Kanye’s Sunday Services, that would be “a different story.” Some of those jokes sound like they’d be pretty funny delivered in Pete’s signature deadpan, but hopefully the prodding doesn’t bring Ye back with Twitter fingers blazing.

Earlier this month, the live streaming platform, Moment House, announced that they would be hosting a performance from Vince Staples. The Compton rapper will be performing songs from his latest album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which featured singles like “Magic” and came out in early April.

The streams will be tomorrow and Monday, and according to a post from Moment House, Vince will not only be performing songs from his new album for the first time, but also including cuts from his entire catalogue. “On 5/1 & 5/2, join us with @vincestaples for the premiere of Ramona Heart Broke My Heart THE MUSICAL, an immersive Moment featuring Staples as he performs his new album along with music spanning his entire catalog,” reads the caption of the Instagram post previewing the event. “Tickets available now, link in bio.” Check out a preview of the set above.

It looks like the partnership will also include exclusive merch from this era:

Please note for those who might not be familiar — Moment House offers digital experiences, this is not a show that fans can physically attend, but would watch at home on their own devices. Tickets are available here, the show is scheduled to start at either 4 PM or 7 PM PST, based on time zones.