Month: April 2022

New Post Malone music may be coming sooner than we think. According to his manager, Posty’s long-awaited fourth studio album Twelve Carat Toothache is set for release next month.

Malone’s longtime manager Dre London shared the news in a recent Instagram post. In a video, London is seen playing tennis, saying, “We out here on a Monday. Monday f*cking motivation. We making excuses, or we getting results. It’s either results or f*cking excuses.”

Though Malone doesn’t appear in the video, nor does the video seem to have much to do with Malone or the album, the video is captioned, “Results Or Excuses Choose Your Side! @postmalone album coming next month! What u want in life results or excuses!! #MondayMotivation.”

Though Malone has not confirmed the album’s release date, he is set to play a slew of festivals this summer, including Hangout Festival and Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash Festival, which has fans speculating that he may release new music beforehand.

This isn’t the first time London has implied that Post Malone is ready to release new music, Back in January, London took to Instagram to express frustration toward Republic Records for allegedly delaying Twelve Carat Toothache‘s release.

“Our sync & energy always on a Insane level!!,” London said. “Album has been done!! We Ready!! But seems @republicrecords @universalmusicgroup isn’t [shrugging emoji] Posty fans no more need to press me anymore we did our part!! Now it’s time for the label to get the business right before we drop BIG Album! Hit them up! We been ready like u are! #DreVision #2022 It’s Time!!!”

Also next month, Malone is set to appear in court alongside producer Frank Dukes, both of whom are being sued by Canadian musician Tyler Armes, who claims to have contributed a guitar tune to the song’s final composition.

The Fast & Furious franchise, at this point, heading into its tenth and allegedly final film, is limited only by its own imagination. Look at how far we’ve all already come. The first movie was about Vin Diesel and his crew stealing DVD players, which is kind of hilarious in hindsight. There was a nuclear submarine in the eighth movie. Ludacris and Tyrese went to space in the ninth. Han’s death was depicted on-screen two separate times with two separate explanations, and now he’s back, again, working alongside the man who tried to murder him, who is played by Jason Statham, whose mother in the franchise is played by Dame Helen Mirren. Charlize Theron plays a cyberterrorist who has had both braids and a bowl cut. Anything is possible here.

And so, if we accept that this is a universe where anything is possible, the logical follow-up question becomes: Where do we go from here? What can the final film do that would truly catch the audience off-guard in a thrilling way? My position on this is that Jason Momoa — recently added to the cast, of course — should play Satan and Vin Diesel should drive a muscle car to Hell and defeat him with a wrench. But there are other options. Lots of them. I have so many ideas. Like, for example, this one…

The time has come for at least one Muppet to join the Fast & Furious family.

I’m serious here. Kind of. I am kind of serious. Let’s toss one or more Muppets into the stew. The energy is the same in the two universes, with whimsy and chaos and death-defying stunts. Maybe that last one feels like a stretch to you. I assure you, it is not. Vin Diesel once flew across the Abu Dhabi sky in a stolen luxury car that crashed through windows from one skyscraper to another. Miss Piggy did this in The Great Muppet Caper.

My point here, to the extent I have one, is this: The Muppets and the Fast Family not so different, really.

But you probably want some suggestions. Right? You want a few ideas for simple ways to loop the Muppets into the Fast & Furious universe? Buddy, I sure hope so, because I have a bunch. A reasonable argument can be made that I’ve put more thought into this than I have into any present I’ve ever purchased for a loved one. I feel okay about it. Here we go…

— We add Animal and put him behind the wheel of a NoS-fueled neon Honda for a car chase and we put Tyrese next to him in the passenger seat so Tyrese can do his whole “Are you serious right now?” thing, where his character is always shocked by the events unfolding in front of him even though, once again, his character has been to outer space in a Pontiac

— Kermit shows up to a gala in Monte Carlo wearing a tuxedo and Michele Rodriguez becomes a little smitten by him — continuing a long tradition of humans falling in love with Muppets, with the most famous example being Charles Grodin and Miss Piggy, probably — and Vin Diesel begins raging with jealousy to the point that it almost tears the entire Family apart

— Alternatively, or possibly additionally, the villain Jason Momoa is playing could fall in love with Miss Piggy and she could be sent to an underground Tasmanian speedboat race to woo him and infiltrate his organization, possibly using a fake identity, possibly featuring a name like Jasmine St. Aspen or Veronica Ferrari, and yes, I do think Jason Momoa would be incredible at playing a villain who is lovestruck by Miss Piggy

— Gonzo shows up at the very beginning, stares dead into the camera, and proceeds to narrate the entire film to the audience in character as Charles Dickens, just like he did in The Muppet Christmas Carol, with Rizzo the Rat by his side

— Kurt Russell’s Mr. Nobody character explains that they can’t breach the villain’s compound without some high-tech spoofing device to get past the gate, and Ludacris says “Lemme talk to my guys in the lab,” and then blammo, smash cut to Ludacris with Bunson and Beaker, all holding blowtorches in an extended montage set to literally any Pitbull song

— During a break in the action, maybe on a private plane that is flying from one scenic location to another, Jason Statham’s character explains his entire arc — sworn nemesis who tried to kill everyone for what they did to his brother only to reverse course and join the Family later on even though he was thought to have murdered Han, who has actually secretly been alive the whole time — to an incredulous Fozzie Bear

— We keep everything about the film human-only and Muppet-free until the very last scene, where we catch up with everyone for one final Family barbecue and look over Vin Diesel’s shoulder as he’s saying grace and see that the grill is being manned by the Swedish Chef

These are just some possibilities. I can think up some more. I will almost definitely think up some more. It might be all I think from now until I see the movie. Vin Diesel, if you are still reading, please consider this. Please consider adding a Muppet to the Fast family. For me. For us. For everyone.

But mostly for me.

After the success of the heart-shattering series Normal People, Hulu has taken another one of Sally Rooney’s devastating novels and once again cast a bunch of hauntingly beautiful people in a new series, this time set to a new Phoebe Bridgers song.

Conversations With Friends stars Alison Oliver as a young college student who becomes entangled with a married couple, also while dating her best friend and roommate. So, the friends start doing a whole lot more than just conversing, clearly.

The series also stars Taylor Swift’s muse Joe Alwyn, Sasha Lane, and Girls’ Jemima Kirke as they all embark on relationships with other people and each other. The series is directed and executive produced by Lenny Abrahamson.“Conversations is really a coming-of-age story,” Abrahamson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Centering on Frances, who is trying to figure herself out… it’s prepared to challenge the viewer’s own sense of what is good or right in various situations.”

This is Rooney’s second TV adaptation after Normal People became an early pandemic hit, and Bridgers became an instant fan. Her song “Sidelines” can be heard in the latest Conversations With Friends trailer.

The twelve-episode series is set to premiere on May 15th. Check out the trailer above.

It might seem like Millie Bobby Brown has been around for a while, and that’s because she has been in the spotlight since she was twelve when she became the breakout star of Netflix’s smash show Stranger Things (and a short stint on Grey’s Anatomy where she out-acted her older peers). Despite landing a dream role on a TV show, Brown has been getting more transparent about the struggles of being a young woman growing up in the spotlight.

The actress, who turned 18 earlier this year, was on The Guilty Feminist podcast to discuss the upcoming season of the sci-fi series and addressed the downside of being a teen with millions of followers on her every move. “I deal with the same things any 18-year-old is dealing with: navigating being an adult and having relationships and friendships, and it’s all of those things,” the teen said. “Being liked and trying to fit in, it’s all a lot, and you’re trying to find yourself while doing that. The only difference is that obviously, I’m doing that in the public eye.”

Brown is no stranger to unwelcome comments about her look: when she turned 16, she pleaded with the internet to let her act like a kid without criticizing her every move. The Enola Holmes actress came under fire around the same time for her review of the Netflix series You which features a stalker-murderer who she was “obsessed” with. Social media tore her apart, without realizing that that was the whole point of the series: to show how easy it is for teenage girls to be manipulated.

On The Guilty Feminist, Brown continued that she was “overwhelmed” after turning 18. “Definitely seeing a difference between the way people act and the way the press and social media have reacted to me coming of age…It’s gross, and it’s true,” she said, “I think it’s just a very good representation of what’s going on in the world and how young girls are sexualized. And so I have been dealing with that, but also have been dealing with that for forever.”

The long-awaited season of Stranger Things will hit Netflix this summer, and many fans have noticed how different the main cast looks now in season four as opposed to season one which makes sense, as that was over 5 years ago. They are grown, but they are still kids! Let the kids be kids! They will be doing their taxes soon enough.

In case you missed it, Jimmy Kimmel has been feuding with the “Congressmonster” Marjorie Taylor Green for the better part of a week. Well, no, that’s not right. Jimmy Kimmel has been doing his job — telling jokes on TV — and Rep. Greene seems to be so bad at hers that she often ends up being the butt of said jokes.

The QAnon-loving Congresswoman got so riled up over a recent joke Kimmel made following the Oscar incident — he suggested Will Smith should’ve slapped her instead — that she filed a report with the U.S. Capitol Police.

“You may have heard, the Congressmonster is not happy about a comment I made about her on the show,” Kimmel explained to his audience Monday night. “She even called the cops on me. Me, she would like arrested, but the people who attacked the Capitol? It’s time to drop that already.”

Greene also took to Twitter to call out Kimmel for his “racist” and “misogynistic” comments, claiming she’d received multiple death threats from his violent leftist fans. The irony is ripe considering Greene recently gave an impassioned speech describing women as the “weaker sex” and has supported taking up arms against Democrats in the past but this whole thing has reached a new level of idiocy thanks to, who else, Matt Gaetz.

The disgraced Florida rep. invited Greene onto his podcast where the two skewered Kimmel for his “attacks on women,” and the late-night host found the situation so bizarrely amusing that he aired Gaetz’s comments on his show.

“Jimmy Kimmel is a total jerk,” Gaetz said in a clip Kimmel played for his audience. “And it seems that his trend is to attack women, which is particularly troubling.”

Kimmel pointed out that Gaetz is currently under investigation for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl before airing the rest of his rant.

“His critiques of you and our colleague Lauren Boebert are highly gendered,” Gaetz continued. “Because he’s [saying], oh, you’re a ‘Klan Mom,’ right? So, he’s attacking you as a mom and as a woman. And he attacks Lauren Boebert and says, ‘oh, she looks like stepmom porn.’ See how he does that?”

And even though Gaetz is practically salivating for a pat on the back for his ass-backward defense of women, Kimmel had to burst his bubble by reminding the alleged criminal that he’s been the subject of some of the show’s biggest burns.

“That’s not fair at all,” Kimmel responded. “I make jokes about men too. I made jokes about you, in fact. Remember when I said I feel bad for you because you didn’t have a girlfriend in high school until you were 30? Remember when I said your political background will come in handy when you’re a registered sex offender because you’re used to knocking on strangers’ doors to introduce yourself? Apology accepted, Matt”

You can watch the full clip below:

(Via Mediaite)

While music has long been a part of the Tim And Eric formula, Tim Heidecker has been taking non-comedic music more seriously in recent years. In 2020, he dropped his well-received album Fear Of Death and now he’s getting ready to share another: Today, he announced High School is set for release on June 24.

Heidecker produced the album with Mac DeMarco, Eric D. Johnson (best-known for being a member of Fruit Bats, The Shins, and Bonny Light Horseman), and Drew Erickson (who just this year has worked with Lana Del Rey, Father John Misty, and Florence And The Machine). Also involved with the project is Kurt Vile, who features on a song called “Sirens Of Titan.”

This comes after Heidecker also had an impressive lineup of indie collaborators on Fear Of Death, which featured contributions from Weyes Blood, Stella Mozgawa 0f Warpaint, Brian and Michael D’Addario of The Lemon Twigs, and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, as well as audio engineering from Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties.

Heidecker also announced a new tour, which will consist of both musical performances (alongside the Very Good Band) and stand-up comedy.

Watch the “Buddy” video above. Below, find the High School art and tracklist, as well as Heidecker’s upcoming tour dates.

1. “Buddy”
2. “Chillin’ In Alaska”
3. “Future Is Uncertain”
4. “Get Back Down To Me”
5. “I’ve Been Losing”
6. “Punch In The Gut”
7. “Stupid Kid”
8. “Sirens Of Titan” Feat. Kurt Vile
9. “What Did We Do With Our Time?”
10. “Kern River”

07/05 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/08 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/09 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/10 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/11 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Elysian
07/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Palace of Fine Arts
07/15 — Portland, OR @ The Aladdin
07/16 — Vancouver, British Columbia @ Vogue Theatre
07/17 — Seattle, WA @ The Neptune
07/20 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fitzgerald Theater
07/21 — Madison, WI @ Barrymore Theatre
07/22 — Chicago, IL @ The Vic
07/23 — Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
07/24 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian
07/25 — Toronto, Ontario @ Danforth Music Hall
07/27 — Boston, MA @ The Wilbur
07/28 — Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
07/29 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
07/30 — Washington, D.C. @ Capital Turnaround
07/31 — Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre
08/01 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
08/03 — Houston, TX @ The Heights Theater
08/04 — Austin, TX @ The Paramount
08/05 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory Studio
08/07 — St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
08/08 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
08/09 — Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
08/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
08/12 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
08/24 — Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House

High School is out 6/24 via Spacebomb. Pre-order it here.

Final Fantasy is one of the most influential franchises ever created. The long-running JRPG franchise is credited with not only turning Square Enix into the giant publisher it is today but also popularizing an entire genre in the western parts of the world. It’s possible that without games like Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VII we would have never seen JRPGs grow the way they did.

While no single person is responsible for the popularity of Final Fantasy, a lot of credit goes to Hironobu Sakaguchi. He is frequently credited as the creator of Final Fantasy and while he hasn’t touched the series since 2003 his influence on it can’t be understated. Even now his influence can be seen in places like Final Fantasy XIV where, despite him not actually working on the game, he has accidentally created his own clothing line.

Sakaguchi is a big fan of Final Fantasy XIV and has been tweeting about his adventures through the smash hit MMO. However, not only does he make no effort to hide his username, but he used his own name so it would be easier for players to recognize him as they go about the world.

While this is very cool for fans of the franchise, it created an accidental market inefficiency in the game when Sakaguchi would craft items. In Final Fantasy XIV, player crafted items have their name attached to them so when players would buy items from Sakaguchi they would eventually get resold at higher prices because of the name recognition He essentially created a clothing line for himself by complete accident, one that has been dubbed the “sakaGUCCI” line. Since Sakaguchi did not want to break the economy of a game he enjoys he had to find a way around it. He explained what he did in an interview with IGN and also talked about his new potential as a clothing designer.

“Pieces I craft have my name on them, so if I put them on the market they’ll get resold, destroying the game’s balanced economy… But that also means I’m handicapped by not being able to sell what I craft on the market,” he explains.

Sakaguchi’s solution is to make players bind the items to themselves. As a result, players can’t sell the item on the market, but in effect it means that the item is now priceless. Sakaguchi has been conducting giveaways in-games, with some items going to acquaintance and others going to a handful of players, allowing him to put his own unique mark on the world of Final Fantasy 14.

Indeed, Sakaguchi’s career as a fashion designer may be just beginning.

“Please, IGN,” he jokes, “help me collab with the real Gucci.”

The entire interview with IGN is a real treat to read because it lets us see how much Sakaguchi still loves the franchise he helped create despite not working on Final Fantasy anymore, and who knows maybe this is the first step towards him getting an actual Gucci collaboration some day.

Just weeks away from their third studio album Blue Water Road, Kehlani has revealed the star-studded tracklist. With the album intro “Little Story” already setting the stage for a cohesive body of work and the album’s lead single “Altar” demonstrating Kehlani’s powerful vocals, Blue Water Road is promising to be their most intimate work to date.

Earlier this month, Kehlani dropped their Justin Bieber collaboration “Up All Night,” showcasing a groovy musical chemistry between the two. Upon the album’s release, we’ll hear collaborations with LA singer Blxst, Jessie Reyez, and Syd.

Kehlani recently collaborated with Syd on “Out Loud” from her sophomore album Broken Hearts Club. The two first collaborated on “Birthday” from electronic duo Disclosure’s 2020 album, Energy.

On the album’s closing track, “Wondering/Wandering,” Kehlani shares the bill with Thundercat and Ambre, the lattermost they collaborated with on a 2016 single called “No Service In The Hills.”

Check out the tracklist below.

1. “Little Story”
2. “Any Given Sunday” Feat. Blxst
3. “Shooter Interlude”
4. “Wish I Never”
5. “Up At Night” Feat. Justin Bieber
6. “Get Me Started” Feat. Syd
7. “Everythin Interlude”
8. “More Than I Should” Feat. Jessie Reyez
9. “Altar”
10. “Melt”
11. “Tangerine”
12. “Everything”
13. “Wondering/Wandering” Feat. Thundercat and Ambre

Blue Water Road is out 4/29 via Atlantic. Pre-save it here.

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

Kim Kardashian has a new TV show to promote. With the premiere of The Kardashians coming to Hulu on April 14th, Kim is making the press rounds and sparking juicy details about her life (hello again never-ending Kanye West and Pete Davidson drama!) to drum up interest for the new show. Would you expect anything else? So In a recent interview on the celebrity gossip podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat, Kardashian opened up about not talking to Ye for an extended period of time following their divorce, and how Davidson was quickly on the prowl for her heart as soon as he found out she was single again.

“We went about eight months without even speaking to each other at the beginning of the divorce,” Kardashian told host Amanda Hirsch. “And then, you know, we started talking again and I went to the Donda premiere. He would still see the kids and stuff, just him and I took a minute of not talking. And I think it all, in relationships, it’ll be like that. I only hope for, I hope we are the ‘co-parenting goals’ at the end of the day.”

You gotta admire Kardashian’s optimism to want to be model parents, despite all of the very public and very messy details of their divorce, which recently included Kanye searching for legal loopholes to stall the finalization of the filing. She spoke about how fan bases and the public influence the perception of what they’re still going through, but added that, “I’m always really hopeful and he’s also an amazing dad.”

Kardashian also spent time talking about her relationship with Pete Davidson and how he was trying to get her number pretty soon after she and Kanye began their divorce process. “His story is that he had been asking around for my number,” she said. “And everyone wasn’t sure, you know, ‘Is she going through a divorce?’ And he just wanted to wait a little bit.”

Listen to the whole episode of Not Skinny But Not Fat with Kim Kardashian above.

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 new albums by Jack White, Father John Misty, Orville Peck, Wet Leg and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Jack White — Fear Of The Dawn

The last album we got from Jack White 2018’s eclectic Boarding House Reach. But with his latest LP Fear Of The Dawn, White both rocks harder and leans into his experimental side. Some song like “Eosophobia” and “Fear Of The Dawn” are laced with frantic guitars while other tracks like the Q-Tip collaboration “Hi-De-Ho” try out a new sound.

Father John Misty — Chloë And The Next 20th Century

Over the last decade or so, Father John Misty has carved a space for himself in indie music with cerebral ballads and tongue-in-cheek social commentaries. Now back with his fifth studio album Chloë And The Next 20th Century, FJM continues to satirize modern life while drawing inspiration from melancholic film scores.

Orville Peck — Bronco

Famed masked country singer Orville Peck officially dropped his album Bronco this week, which he released as a series of EPs. The 15-track project continues his discography of lustful country ballads, trading in sparse instrumentation for bold production and colorful percussion.

Wet Leg — Wet Leg

UK band Wet Leg proved they live up to the hype with their anticipated debut album, Wet Leg. As a whole, the album is playful and infectious, combining shimmering chords with bouncy riffs and genuinely funny lyrics.

The Linda Lindas — Growing Up

Teen (and pre-teen) rockers The Linda Lindas became ones to watch after a performance of their song “Racist, Sexist Boy” went viral. Now signed to Epitaph, The Linda Lindas release their debut album Growing Up. All ten of the cathartic tracks are a way for The Linda Lindas members to release their angst over ripping chords and catchy choruses.

Good Looks — Bummer Year

Austin-based four-piece Good Looks’ debut album Bummer Year is dreamy-yet-honest. As self-described “blue-collar bad boys being blatantly vulnerable,” the band reckon with loss and depression with twangy guitars, washed-out chords, and wistful lyrics.

Florist — “Red Bird Pt. 2”

LA-based band Florist shared the touching track “Red Bird Pt. 2” this week, a tender rumination on love, loss, and the natural world. The song officially announces Florist’s self-titled LP, which according to vocalist Emily Sprague is “an album journey very much about the celebration of the people in our lives and the massive importance of connection.”

Hovvdy — “Town”

It hasn’t been long since duo Hovvdy released their 2021 album True Love, but they’ve continued rolling out new music with the nostalgia-inducing track “Town.” The melodic track purposefully focuses on its instrumentals rather than its lyrics, with band member Charlie Martin saying, ” “With ‘Town’ I wanted the instrumental to do the heavy lifting, leaning less on storytelling.”

Charlie Hickey — “Dandelions”

Phoebe Bridgers-cosigned songwriter Charlie Hickey has proved himself one to watch with his recent singles. Now releasing the tender track “Dandelions,” Hickey delivers a thoughtful ballad over a gentle, rolling beat.

Giant Waste Of Man — “Jumpsuit”

LA indie rockers Giant Waste Of Man dropped the effortlessly breezy tune “Jumpsuit” this week, the second single following their 2019 album The Politics Of Lonely. The song starts off with warm and jaunty tones before breaking out into a shoe-gazey mix of fuzzy guitars.

Porridge Radio — “The Rip”

Following up on their 2020 Mercury Music Prize-nominated breakthrough album Every Bad, Porridge Radio has been previewing their upcoming LP Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky with a handful of rousing tracks. “The Rip” is no different, combining urgent lyrics with eerie guitar distortion and an explosive bridge to create an impactful song.