It is very difficult to overstate Pharrell Williams‘ impact as a producer. While he’s become one of music’s top composers on his own, much of that impact came as a member of The Neptunes with Chad Hugo. A lot of The Neptunes’ most pivotal work came with two hip-hop acts whose trajectories couldn’t be more different: Jay-Z and Clipse, who were signed to The Neptunes’ Star Trak imprint in the early 2000s. Intriguingly, those two acts have rarely crossed over or collaborated despite their shared link to Pharrell… until now.
Pusha T, who’s since found some success as a solo artist and a businessman in his own right, has been promoting his upcoming fourth studio album, peppering the past few weeks with tracks like “Diet Coke,” “Spicy Fish Diss,” and “Hear Me Clearly.” While only the first is actually from the upcoming album, Push’s next single is sure to draw plenty of attention. For the first time since 2016’s “Drug Dealers Anonymous,” Pusha pleased coke rap aficionados by teaming up with Jay-Z on “Neck And Wrist,” a new song produced by none other than their mutual friend Pharrell. As he did with “Diet Coke,” Pusha announced the single’s impending release date via Instagram after teasing the song in an interview some weeks back.
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay made some of the best comedies of the 2000s, including Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and their masterpiece, Step Brothers. The creative partners even formed a production company together, Gary Sanchez Productions, but things got messy after McKay replaced Ferrell with John C. Reilly as former Lakers owner Jerry Buss in HBO’s Winning Time — news that Ferrell heard first from Reilly. “It was at this weird moment where Will and I weren’t exactly hugging each other, even though there was nothing that terrible, and [John] called Will and said, ‘Hey, McKay just came to me with this.’ And Will was very hurt that I wasn’t the one to call him, and I should have. I f*cked up,” McKay explained.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant also made some of the best comedies of the 2000s, including The Office and Extras, before they “drifted apart.” But unlike Ferrell and McKay, there was no ugly break up. “I get on perfectly well with Ricky. I think we just started doing slightly different projects,” Merchant told the Daily Beast‘s The Last Laugh podcast.
He continued:
I returned to stand-up after a long time. And that led to my show, Hello Ladies, which I ended up developing in the U.S. And Ricky had a couple of other projects, one of which was called Derek, which he was doing at the same time I was doing Hello Ladies. So we just sort of got out of sync, really. I’ve had enormous success and fun working with Ricky, but I was starting to enjoy working with different people and different collaborators and finding new territory that I don’t think would necessarily have appealed to Ricky. And so we just sort of drifted apart creatively really, but we certainly never had any big falling-out or big argument or anything like that.
Merchant describes Gervais as having a “punk-rock sensibility,” whereas he’d “like to be let into the Establishment, please.” But if he wants some punk-rock cred, Merchant should agree to host the Golden Globes next year. That would be a real middle finger to his former-writing partner.
Sometimes, you just need to yell at a giant gaping hole on a farm that seemingly shows up for no reason. Josh Brolin does just that in the trailer for Outer Range, which is shaping up to be a gripping supernatural western series, for fans of Yellowstone (and maybe M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 hit Signs).
Amazon Prime’s latest series Outer Range centers on Royal Abbott, played by Brolin, an isolated rancher who finds a supernatural force on his land which makes him question everything. As per the official synopsis:
Outer Range centers on Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin), a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness. A thrilling fable with hints of wry humor and supernatural mystery, Outer Range examines how we grapple with the unknown.
At the onset of the series, the Abbotts are coping with the disappearance of daughter-in-law Rebecca. They are pushed further to the brink when the Tillersons (the gaudy owners of the neighboring profit-driven ranch) make a play for their land. An untimely death in the community sets off a chain of tension-filled events, and seemingly small-town, soil-bound troubles come to a head with the arrival of a mysterious black void in the Abbotts’ west pasture. Wild revelations unfold as Royal fights to protect his family; through his eyes, we begin to see how time contains secrets held in the past and unsettling mysteries foreshadowed
The series also stars Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Lewis Pullman, Noah Reid, Olive Abercrombie, and Will Patton. The eight-episode series premieres with its first two episodes on Prime Video on April 15, followed by two new episodes each week. Check out the trailer above.
With only six days remaining in the 2021-22 regular season, very little is settled at the top of the Eastern Conference. By virtue of a timely four-game winning streak, the Miami Heat are the clear leaders for the No. 1 overall seed, with Jimmy Butler and company holding a two-game lead with only three games remaining. Even Miami must keep a close eye on things, however, with the potential that the dangerous Brooklyn Nets, or even the reigning Eastern Conference finalist Atlanta Hawks, could be lurking in the No. 8 spot and the reality that the Heat haven’t been dominant from wire to wire.
From there, the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers are separated by only a half-game from No. 2 through No. 4. That leaves a great deal of uncertainty, with FiveThirtyEight projecting Boston and Philadelphia for 51 wins and Milwaukee for only 50 at this juncture. Some of that relative negativity toward Milwaukee could be schedule-related, with road trips to Chicago and Cleveland wrapped around a pivotal home game against Boston. Milwaukee is the reigning champion, though, and even if they slip to No. 4 overall, it’s not as if any team will be salivating to face Giannis Antetokounmpo at the peak of his powers.
The Celtics and 76ers have uncertainty of their own, with Boston now navigating life without Robert Williams, at least for a while. The Celtics have been unbelievable for a few months now, but the absence of Williams leaves a sizable hole in athleticism, rim protection and rim pressure on offense, with the Celtics putting a lot of stock in an elite defense. Philadelphia famously pushed chips into the middle for James Harden, and it is easy to see why, but the Sixers will need the absolute best from Harden and Joel Embiid. The Sixers do have a (very) easy remaining schedule, with Indiana (twice) and Detroit on the horizon to inform a 3-1 projection that could turn into 4-0 quite easily.
Bizarrely, the Play-In results may do more to inform things than the order of 1-4 in the East, simply because no one wants to see Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at full strength in a best-of-seven series. Homecourt can come in handy in round two and beyond, though, and that provides a carrot for all four teams at the top to keep the pedal on the ground for most of the week, or at least until things are settled in official fashion.
What does the pecking order look like in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s find out.
1. Phoenix Suns (62-16, Last week — 1st)
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The list really begins at No. 2. Phoenix is in the top three of the NBA in offense and defense while leading the league in net rating and win-loss record. The Suns have lost two in a row, but they are clearly pedaling off and getting ready for the second season.
2. Memphis Grizzlies (55-23, Last week — 2nd)
As explored last week in this space, the Grizzlies are somehow 20-2 without Ja Morant in the lineup. It can’t be overstated how crazy that is, and Memphis beat Phoenix this week. Obviously, the Grizzlies don’t have the overall profile of the Suns, but they are a clear No. 2 right now, especially in light of an active seven-game winning streak.
3. Boston Celtics (49-30, Last week — 3rd)
There is a temptation to flip Miami into this spot after Boston lost to the Heat this week. It wouldn’t be crazy to do. Still, the Celtics are 26-6 in the last 32 games with a positive net rating well into double-digits. It’s fair to worry about Boston for as long as Robert Williams is out, but perhaps they can last long enough in the playoffs to facilitate his return to action.
4. Miami Heat (51-28, Last week — 7th)
A four-game winning streak works wonders under any circumstances. For Miami, it comes after a severe downturn and the last three victories came on the road against quality opponents. The Heat can still bog down on offense, but they feel dangerous and have the inside track at the No. 1 seed in the East.
5. Dallas Mavericks (49-30, Last week — 5th)
It was a weird week for Dallas so it makes sense to leave them in the same spot. The Mavericks lost to the Wizards by 32 points, only to follow it up by beating the Bucks. Dallas should also be favored in the last three games, and a 52-win season would be rather impressive after a 16-18 start.
6. Milwaukee Bucks (48-30, Last week — 4th)
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Milwaukee lost by 34 points to the Clippers this week, but a closer look at that game reveals that the Bucks… didn’t play anyone. The head-to-head loss to Dallas (at home) causes the drop but, candidly, Milwaukee is still the team that should garner the most trust in the East as the playoffs approach.
7. Golden State Warriors (50-29, Last week — 11th)
After losing seven of eight, the Warriors stopped the bleeding with a comeback win over Utah and a road victory over Sacramento. Golden State is still in the same predicament, though, as everyone can see that the Warriors are not a real contender without Stephen Curry. It’s a waiting game until he returns, but the expectation is he’s back for their first round series.
8. Philadelphia 76ers (48-30, Last week — 9th)
It was a very good weekend for the Sixers, with Philadelphia absolutely throttling Charlotte and then defeating Cleveland the next night. That doesn’t erase some of the worry about James Harden’s relatively ordinary play, but having Joel Embiid helps in myriad ways.
9. Denver Nuggets (47-32, Last week — 8th)
Nikola Jokic has been even more ridiculous than usual lately. He is averaging 34.8 points and 16.2 rebounds per game over the last five, shooting 70 percent in the process, and Jokic is still averaging more than eight assists per contest. Denver is 4-1 as a result, but the worry with the Nuggets headed into the playoffs might be that they are 31-7 against sub-.500 teams and just 10-25 against tougher competition.
10. Toronto Raptors (45-33, Last week — 10th)
Toronto’s five-game winning streak ended with a tight-fought loss to the Heat over the weekend. There is no great shame in that, and the Raptors have the chance to get that one back with big home games against Atlanta and the Philadelphia in the next few days. Oh, and it seems like absolutely no one wants to play the Raptors in the first round for several reasons, ranging from customs to vaccination requirements to the presence of Nick Nurse and a talented, flexible roster.
11. Minnesota Timberwolves (45-34, Last week — 12th)
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The Wolves haven’t won 48 games or more in a season since 2003-04. They have a chance to do it this week. Minnesota has home dates with Washington, San Antonio, and Chicago, and that is pretty manageable. Either way, it’s been a very, very good season in the Twin Cities, with an outside shot at leaping into the top-6 in the West.
12. Atlanta Hawks (41-37, Last week — 16th)
The remaining slate will be interesting for Nate McMillan’s team after a five-game winning streak put the Hawks into a much more favorable position than they were in a few weeks ago. Atlanta has two very winnable games (home for the Wizards and at the Rockets) but also two challenging spots in Toronto and Miami. Can they finish 3-1 or 4-0? If not, the Nets might catch them for No. 8 and send Atlanta back to the 9-10 game against Charlotte.
13. Brooklyn Nets (40-38, Last week — 6th)
Brooklyn has suddenly lost four of six at an inopportune time, ceding control of their play-in destiny to Atlanta in the process. Kevin Durant’s 55-point eruption went for naught over the weekend, and the Nets also gave one away to Milwaukee. There is still appropriate fear of the Nets, but it’s not as if they are red-hot right now.
14. Utah Jazz (46-32, Last week — 13th)
The Jazz are 1-6 in the last seven games, giving up more than 1.2 points per possession over that sample. Utah can’t seem to hold a double-digit lead, and they are squandering the league’s best offense, at least to some degree. With potential turmoil on the horizon in the offseason if they don’t right the ship in a hurry, this is a tense time and a top-6 seed is no longer assured.
15. Chicago Bulls (45-33, Last week — 14th)
If you want to know why the Bulls are this low, it’s a few things. For one, Chicago is 1-12 against the top four teams in the East, and that says a lot. The Bulls are also just 6-12 in the last 18 games, making it fair to say they aren’t exactly playing their best basketball down the stretch.
16. Charlotte Hornets (40-38, Last week — 17th)
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The 30-point beatdown Charlotte suffered in Philadelphia was a pretty harsh reminder of the East’s hierarchy, but the Hornets are still in fine shape. They will be heavily favored in two of the final four games, and the Hornets have a puncher’s chance against any possible play-in opponent.
17. L.A. Clippers (39-40, Last week — 18th)
With Paul George in the lineup, the Clippers are 2-1, and L.A. has absolutely nothing to play for this week as the No. 8 seed is locked up. That can give Ty Lue some team to prep his playoff approach, and the Clippers are dangerous.
18. Cleveland Cavaliers (43-36, Last week — 15th)
The Cavs are 8-15 in the last 23 games and they desperately need reinforcements. Cleveland has only a 1.5-game lead over the red-hot Hawks for 7th, and the Cavaliers are in danger of having a once-promising season end in the lottery.
19. San Antonio Spurs (33-45, Last week — 19th)
San Antonio has won six out of seven, building a two-game lead over the No. 11 seed Lakers. Four of those seven wins came over Houston and Portland, which doesn’t tell you much, but the Spurs held serve. It’s a good thing they did, too, as the Spurs close with the Nuggets, Wolves, Warriors and Mavericks, meaning nothing is assured.
20. New Orleans Pelicans (34-44, Last week — 21st)
The Pelicans haven’t clinched a Play-in berth just yet, but it’s close. They are 7-4 in the last 11 games and still have Sacramento and Portland on the schedule. Honestly, it’s a remarkable turnaround after a hideous start, and they could threaten a spot in the top eight given the variance associated with the single-elimination format.
21. New York Knicks (35-44, Last week — 20th)
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It was far too little and too late, but the Knicks are 10-6 in the last 16 games. New York’s net rating (+6.6) has been good as well, and R.J. Barrett may be making at least a mini-leap from a production standpoint. For a dose of reality, though, the Knicks did lose at home by double figures to both Cleveland and Charlotte this week.
22. Washington Wizards (34-44, Last week — 22nd)
In rather typical Wizards fashion, Washington isn’t losing games that would probably help them in the lottery mix, even after being eliminated. The Wizards are on their way to a win total in the 34-38 range, and few things are more on-brand than that.
23. Los Angeles Lakers (31-47, Last week — 23rd)
This feels unbelievable, but the Lakers have the second-worst record in the NBA since early February. They are 5-19 over that sample with a terrible defense (119.5 points allowed per 100) and six straight losses might ensure an early start to the offseason. They’re not dead yet, but Los Angeles is two games out of the Play-in with four to play. It’s been a disaster.
24. Sacramento Kings (29-50, Last week — 24th)
Since our last edition, the Kings are 2-1. That is more wins than losses! Nevermind that the wins came against Houston and the loss was by 19 points at home. 2-1!
25. Detroit Pistons (23-56, Last week — 25th)
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Detroit is now eliminated from the No. 1 spot entering the lottery after three straight wins. That is fitting for a team that has been more than 10 points per 100 possessions better since than the All-Star break. That doesn’t mean the Pistons are a lock for a playoff jump next year, but they have been frisky for a long while and Cade Cunningham is showing why he was last summer’s consensus top pick.
26. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-55, Last week — 27th)
With the bevy of injuries and tanking management, the Thunder have been sending out rosters that, without hyperbole, belong in the G League. Still, they have picked off a win or two and, once again, Mark Daigneault has gotten a lot out of a terrible roster situation. They’re still bad, but it’s something.
28. Houston Rockets (20-59, Last week — 28th)
Houston won three of four in late March, and it was like they realized what the ramifications could be if they kept winning. Four straight home losses ensued even if, to be fair, they were largely competitive.
29. Orlando Magic (20-59, Last week — 29th)
Orlando was frisky-ish for a while, but the tank is on. The Magic lost by 30 to the Knicks, at home, on Sunday to keep pace with the Rockets for pole position in the lottery race. Neither team can “afford” to win again.
27. Indiana Pacers (25-54, Last week — 26th)
The Pacers have been deploying some laughable active rosters for the last few weeks. Indiana is a on a seven-game losing streak, giving up 128.7 points per 100 possessions. That should be tough to do, but it actually matches the defensive talent the Pacers are utilizing in their current state.
30. Portland Trail Blazers (27-51, Last week — 30th)
It helps the organization long-term to pick up a top-five pick, and that has to be said. What also has to be said is just how bad Portland has been for nearly two months. The Blazers are 2-17 in the last 19 games with the worst defense in the NBA by more than three points per 100 possessions. It’s notably bad, even if Portland isn’t in the basement of the actual standings.
Ambulance is honestly everything I ever wanted from a movie titled Ambulance. (To the point, this one time, I openly admit the title of this piece is fully set up on a tee to be quoted on an Ambulance poster.)
When the pandemic started, oh, I don’t even know how long ago now, I wound up rewatching a lot of action movies from the late ’80s and early ’90s. Now, these are movies I knew I liked, but, rewatching them – like, actually, rewatching them; not in a passive, “it happens to be on cable” way, but, instead, “sit down and watch it from start to finish” way – something weird happened. They weren’t just something I enjoyed. They were now glorious. After 20 some years of over-the-top CGI stunts (that, somehow, seems to be getting worse), as opposed to real stunts, seeing movies that had actual car chases and stunt work made my brain short circuit a bit. Because I’m so used to seeing fake-looking CGI, my brain rarely responds. But when I watch those older movies with real stunt work – say, something like Speed – my brain thinks it’s real and starts releasing adrenaline and I feel really good. Micheal Bay’s Ambulance made me feel like this again. I watched this movie in an almost empty screening room and there were times I found myself applauding. (Bay admits the little CGI in this movie, he’s not happy with it.)
The bad news about Ambulance is, from my experience, the human body cannot release enough adrenaline to keep up with the movie, so it just kind of putters out and there’s nothing left by the end. I honestly left this movie exhausted. Not in a negative, “I didn’t enjoy this and now I’m exhausted,” kind of way. But more, “I spent all day playing touch football, or whatever, and I had a great time and now I want to go to bed.”
If you’ve seen the trailer for Ambulance, maybe you’re thinking, oh, I bet they saved most of the action scenes for this. No. Ambulance clocks in at 136 minutes and I would guess around 70 percent of those minutes are devoted to an intense car chase. Or, more specifically, an intense Ambulance chase.
There is a plot. I will explain it. Yahya Abdul-Mateen plays Will, a veteran who has been denied insurance coverage for an experimental surgery for his wife, who is desperately in need of money. The good news for Will is that his adopted brother, Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal, who is having the time of his life), is a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Will, Danny won’t just give him the money – Danny said it’s all currently tied up in this new heist being planned – but invites Will to join the team for a bank robbery and a split of their bounty.
As you may have guessed from the trailer, things do not go smoothly. Surrounded by police (led by Garret Dillahunt who is very good as “the person who knows what to do and how to get things done”), Danny and Will hijack an ambulance. Along with the ambulance comes an EMT named Cam (Eiza González), who is considered the best at her job. And her patient, Zach (Jackson White), a police officer bleeding out because he was shot by Will. (There’s a particularly gnarly scene halfway through this movie where Zach’s spleen explodes (I said, “Oh good god,” out loud by myself when this happened) and Cam has to perform surgery on Zach in an Ambulance that is currently involved in a car chase. What a movie.
Even going back to Armageddon, Michael Bay seems to be fascinated with people who are “the best at what they do.” Bruce Willis’s Harry Stamper was the best driller in the world, so he’s the only one who can save Earth. In Ambulance we have the best bank robber, the best EMT, the best former military soldier, the best LAPD captain, and the best bank-robbing task force FBI agent. Everyone is THE BEST. Admittedly, when everyone has been touted as the best, it did create a situation where I didn’t know quite how this movie would end. Even though a movie like this, it should be reasonably easy to guess the ending. But if everyone is the best, how can anyone fail?
If you’re looking for a movie with deeper meaning and a statement on the world today, Ambulance probably isn’t going to satisfy that urge. If you want an almost two-hour-long car chase, with real stunts and sweeping drone shots and Jake Gyllenhaal going for it as much as he’s ever gone for it before in his career, that has no ties to any existing IP or franchise (though Bay can’t resist making references to both The Rock and Bad Boys) you will like Ambulance.
Look, I’m not a scientist, but, again, chances are, during this movie, you will just run out of adrenaline. Your body will say, “sorry, tapped out, you’re on your own.” So my advice is you might want to pre-schedule in some time for a nap right after. Please make more movies with real stunts. Please make more movies like Ambulance.
This is one convoluted mess, so let’s work through it. Jon Stewart recently pushed back at conservative writer Andrew Sullivan, who had taken umbrage following his appearance on The Problem with Jon Stewart. Sullivan was quite upset and accused the Apple TV+ booker of tricking him into a panel meant to discuss racism, with Sullivan standing alone in his perspective. He claimed to feel “ambushed,” and Stewart pushed back, calling Sullivan’s claim “nonsense” while holding onto the stance that Sullivan was fully informed of the panel’s subject matter. The former The Daily Show host also accused Sullivan of “high maintenance shenanigans” and asked, “[C]an we stop with the lazy ‘woke’ sh*t anytime someone disagrees with a conservative”?
Well, Fox News host Laura Ingraham isn’t here for stopping with the “woke” criticisms, so she torched Stewart on primetime while branding him a “race clown.”
Via Mediaite, she ranted, “The only thing funny about Jon Stewart these days is how blissfully self-unaware he is.” Then she added of the Sullivan panel, “Now, this guy was so afraid of debating Andrew Sullivan one-on-one that needed to have the whole situation be like a three against one.”
Harmeet K. Dhillon later joined Ingraham before tweeting a clip to accuse Stewart of “disgraceful pandering to race huckster Lisa Bond” during the Sullivan panel.
I joined @IngrahamAngle tonight to discuss Jon Stewart’s disgraceful pandering to race huckster Lisa Bond. It’s not ok for Americans to engage in this racial demagoguery — at the workplace, on television, in reparations legislation, or otherwise. It’s divisive and un-American! pic.twitter.com/QZkyFM1ZjV
Well, Ingraham wanted a response, and she got one. “Hello @IngrahamAngle Thanks for taking a quick break from scaring the sh*t out of old people to cancel me!” he declared. “Don’t think of my panel as a 3 on one ambush…think of it as my new show ‘The Four’. You’re network is…how did you describe Zelensky…Pathetic!”
Hello @IngrahamAngle Thanks for taking a quick break from scaring the shit out of old people to cancel me! Don’t think of my panel as a 3 on one ambush…think of it as my new show “The Four”. You’re network is…how did you describe Zelensky…Pathetic!
It’s kind-of wild for Stewart to be weighing in on Twitter, since he resisted joining for so long. Presumably, he’s doing so because his show is semi-weekly, not nightly (slightly inconvenient for sure). Regardless, one can expect Ingraham to do some more firing back soon.
Texas-based folk duo Hovvdy released the enveloping True Love last year on the first day of fall. Now it’s spring and they’ve unveiled a rich, jangly ballad called “Town.” Though Charlie Martin and Will Taylor are most known for their storytelling lyrics, the layered, coruscating instrumentals make the song some of their best material yet.
“Writing and recording ‘Town’ helped me break out of a relatively dark place,” Martin said about the song. “There was catharsis in almost every layer — I remember crying recording the mellotron flutes. I’m not sure why, but with ‘Town’ I wanted the instrumental to do the heavy lifting, leaning less on storytelling. In that way, the song’s meaning isn’t terribly specific, but for me it’s about missing your friends and hoping they miss you.”
The emotional intensity is embedded into the soaring guitars and the dynamic harmonies.
In our interview with the band in October, we asked them if they had any moments as a music fan when they were listening to a song and thought, “Oh, I can do this too.” Martin said, “Just realizing that, as long as you’re kind of decent or can fumble yourself through some stuff on guitar and keyboard and drums, and realizing that it’s about the layering and the chemistry of a recording. That was, I think, something we both discovered in that early bedroom pop phase.”
If one word could sum up the charm of Hovvdy, it’s “chemistry.”
Tory Lanez was arrested during today’s court hearing in his ongoing assault case after a judge found that he violated Megan Thee Stallion’s restraining order against him. Rolling Stone‘s Nancy Dillon, reporting on the case from the Los Angeles court, reported via Twitter.
“Tory Lanez was handcuffed in court and remanded to custody until he posts new bail of $350,000 in Megan Thee Stallion felony assault case,” she wrote. “Judge found him in violation of discovery protective order and personal contact order.” In a follow-up tweet, she continued, “Judge David Herriford heard nearly an hour of argument about Lanez’s tweets and said some ‘seem to be clear messages’ to Megan. He added new condition to Lanez’s release that he’s ‘not to mention the complaining witness in this case in any social media.’ Trial date set for 9/14.”
Tory Lanez was handcuffed in court and remanded to custody until he posts new bail of $350,000 in Megan Thee Stallion felony assault case. Judge found him in violation of discovery protective order and personal contact order.
Judge David Herriford heard nearly an hour of argument about Lanez’s tweets and said some “seem to be clear messages” to Megan. He added new condition to Lanez’s release that he’s “not to mention the complaining witness in this case in any social media.” Trial date set for 9/14.
The court issued a protective order against the Canadian rapper in October of 2020 after Megan accused him of shooting her in her feet. Tory was also ordered to surrender any guns he owns and ordered to pay $190,000 bail. He previously violated the protective order in 2021, when he appeared as DaBaby’s surprise guest at an eventful Rolling Loud festival in Miami. While he has maintained his innocence in the shooting, he’s also been accused of trying to manipulate public opinion via social media proxies such as DJ Akademiks.
Not everyone is excited about Harry Styles‘ upcoming third album, Harry’s House. That includes Noel Gallagher, who called Styles’ music “worthless” and accused Styles of not writing his own songs in a recent interview with Daily Star (as Yahoo notes).
“You’re not telling me Harry Styles is currently in a room somewhere writing a song,” Gallagher said. “With any joy, he’ll be surrounded by a lot of girls. I can assure you he’s not got an acoustic guitar out trying to write a middle eight for something.”
It’s worth noting that Styles is credited as a co-writer on every single track on both of his previous albums, Harry Styles and Fine Line, and on the Harry’s House lead single, “As It Was.” The former One Direction member has also penned tracks for the likes of Ariana Grande and Bleachers.
The former Oasis member also decried reality music competition shows like The X Factor, saying “The X Factor is a TV show, it’s got nothing to do with music, it’s got nothing to do with music whatsoever, and anything that has come from that, that’s got nothing to do with music.”
This week was, in case you haven’t heard, an important week for music with the Grammys taking place on Sunday night and featuring performances from monumental stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, and more. However, it was also just a great week for releases. Harry Styles returned with “As It Was,” his first new material since 2019’s critically-acclaimed Fine Line; Caroline Polachek followed up her recent, mesmeric single “Billions” with a cosmic collaboration with Flume, “Sirens.” And those are just some of the highlights.
Though Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s split was amicable, Mendes recently started showing his more vulnerable side, opening up about the pain of heartbreak. “When You’re Gone” dives straight into that ache; it’s as honest as it could possibly be, yet the sound is relentlessly upbeat and invigorating. Despite the sad situation, the song has a texture of hope.
5 Seconds Of Summer – “Take My Hand”
The pop-punk boy band have been unleashing some killer singles recently, including this resonant, existential anthem. Living is not easy, and sometimes the years just fly by without you even realizing it; 5 Seconds Of Summer capture this disillusioned feeling well on this track, singing: “Shallow hearts for shallow minds / That ache to be alive.”
Surfaces – “I Can’t Help But Feel”
This groovy, ’70s-influenced song that bursts with unapologetic excitement and an urge to move is perfect for springtime. Its energy is absolutely contagious during a time where we all collectively need a reason to get up and dance away our problems.
Flume, Caroline Polachek – “Sirens”
This collaboration between Flume and Caroline Polachek is overdue. The Australian DJ’s intense electronic sound mixes perfectly with Polachek’s idiosyncratic pop; together, they’ve created this otherwordly song that sounds completely singular and unique.
Glass Animals – “Solar Power” (Lorde Cover)
“Heat Waves” singers had big shoes to fill with this cover of Lorde’s “Solar Power,” the anthem that kicked off her return to music last year. They did the song justice, though, using the charisma that emanates from their own music. It’s a celebration that gets bigger with each second, and by the time it ends you have no choice but to hit repeat.
Kehlani, Justin Bieber – “Up At Night”
This Kehlani and Justin Bieber collaboration is another crossover we never knew we needed. Both singers have a knack for an alluring, hypnotic blending of R&B and pop, and this combination is better than ever with both of their voices on top of it.
Harry Styles – “As It Was”
Though this song has people freaking out, it’s very tame and breezy, like Wallows or Dayglow. It’s bittersweet, lamenting the passage of time and the way things — feelings, people, places — change. The longing, though, is still here: “I want you to hold out the palm of your hand / Why don’t we leave it at that?” he sings.
Ezekiel – “I’ll Be Okay”
Hyperpop stalwart Ezekiel did not disappoint with this glitchy, disorienting track that feels like traveling to another planet in just two minutes. The different sounds and voices blend together into an addictive, hallucinogenic mélange that you can dance to at the club or listen to in your bedroom when you’re feeling down.
Sadie – “Nowhere”
This anthem by Sadie is as eccentric as Polachek and Ezekiel; her autotuned vocals are bewitching against weird sonic landscapes in a Bladee-like way. Her forthcoming EP is produced by Joe Valle (Wet) and Maya Laner (True Blue, Porches), so she’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Lilyisthatyou – “All About Me”
Lilyisthatyou is here to wreak havoc. That’s exactly what this unhinged anthem is looking to do, and it works: “Everywhere I go bring the drama / Blame it on my ego or your karma,” she quips in an intoxicating drawl. It brings to mind stars like Slayyyter or Kim Petras.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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