Month: April 2022

Trevor Noah is set to host this weekend’s Grammy Awards (on Sunday, April 3), but the host isn’t the only one who speaks on stage. Others come on to present awards and now the Recording Academy and CBS have revealed who will be on hand to do that. The list includes Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Questlove, Avril Lavigne, Ludacris, Anthony Mackie, Billy Porter, Bonnie Raitt, Jared Leto, Joni Mitchell, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini, Lenny Kravitz, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez.

Aside from the presenters, also taking the stage to perform during this year’s show are Lady Gaga, Silk Sonic, Carrie Underwood, J Balvin, John Legend, Maria Becerra, BTS, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X with Jack Harlow, Brandi Carlile, Brothers Osbourne, Nas, HER, Jon Batiste, Chris Stapleton, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., and Rachel Zegler. Foo Fighters were previously included, but it was later confirmed they dropped out of the show after scrapping all their upcoming performances in light of Taylor Hawkins’ death.

The presenters have some 2022 Grammy nominations between them: Megan’s “Thot Sh*t” is up for Best Rap Performances, Questlove’s Summer Of Soul is up for Best Music Film, and Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) is up for Best Historical Album.

Find the full list of 2022 Grammy nominations here.

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

Last year, we took note of Tate McRae as a rising pop star, alongside Olivia Rodrigo and Remi Wolf, that everyone should keep their eyes on. So far, she’s been proving it by unveiling a bunch of attention-grabbing singles lately, like the emotive “Chaotic” and the envious “She’s All I Wanna Be.” Today, she’s finally announced her highly anticipated debut album, which will include those tracks: I Used To Think I Could Fly is out May 27.

When we spoke to her in March of last year, she discussed how she went from a dance superstar to an internationally famous singer. She was only 17 years old when she released her first EP All The Things I Never Said, which received acclaim from some of the most prestigious music publications. “The crazy thing is that I’m still trying to find my sound,” she said. “I think there are a million different ways that you can play around, and a different million different artists [to work with] that will shoot you in different directions. But I can’t really define what I do [musically]. I think it changes every month… You can do so many things nowadays.”

Check out the album art for I Used To Think I Could Fly below.

I Used To Think I Could Fly is out 5/27 via RCA Records. Pre-order it here.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe’s shocking death, and the circumstances around her fate have always been a mystery. Netflix’s latest documentary hopes to shed some light on the mystery. Though Monroe’s death was originally ruled a suicide, many fans believe that wasn’t the whole story.

The Mystery Of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes takes unheard recordings and phone calls to piece together the complicated life of the talented actress, who starred in almost thirty films during her career, which was cut short at the age of 36.

From executive producer Chris Smith and directed by Emma Cooper, the documentary promises to touch on every theory, including her alleged involvement with JFK, the FBI, and her infamous drug use. This documentary isn’t to be confused with the upcoming dramatization of Monroe’s life, Blonde, starring Ana de Armas, which is also slated for a Netflix release later this year.

As per the official synopsis:

Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe’s tragic death spawned conspiracies and rumors for decades, often overshadowing her talent and shrewdness. By piecing together her final weeks, days, and hours through previously unheard recordings of those who knew her best, the film illuminates more of her glamorous, complicated life, and offers a new perspective on that fateful night

The Mystery Of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes premieres on April 27th on Netflix. Check out the trailer above.

After years of bearing witness to Donald Trump at his Donald Trumpiest, that he would make an offensive remark—either intentionally or cluelessly—should really not be news. Yet he seems to constantly outdo himself in the “Wait, did he REALLY just say that?!” department, as he proved yet again this week.

As Newsweek reports, Trump’s latest woof of a comment came on Wednesday night at Mar-a-Lago, which was hosting a fundraiser for congressional candidate John Gibbs, a Republican from Michigan. Upon learning that representatives of the organization Gays for Trump were in the crowd, he asked for them to speak up. When one of the members told him “We’re over here,” the former president looked and stated matter-of-factly “You don’t look gay.”

The comment elicited lots of laughter from those in the crowd, which is hardly surprising. Nor did it seem to offend the organization itself. Newsweek spoke with Gays for Trump founder Peter Boykin via email, who said that his members “probably wouldn’t ‘look gay’ because it’s a stereotype that fits more with the typical ‘look’ of leftist LGBT,” whatever that means. “Otherwise it was a suit and tie event,” Boykin added. “So unless one of us was wearing a joker suit, meh.”

As Jason Lemon wrote for Newsweek:

Trump has faced substantial criticism from many in the LGBTQ+ community since he launched his 2016 presidential bid. However, the former president courted LGBTQ+ voters by waving a rainbow flag during an October 2016 event in Colorado. The flag had the words, “LGBTs for Trump” written on it. Some openly gay individuals also served in high-level positions within the Trump administration.

The White House under Trump also took numerous anti-LGBTQ+ stances on various legal cases making their way through the courts. In particular, Trump voiced support for several anti-transgender measures being pushed forward by Republican leaders in conservative states.

You can watch the interaction play out below, via Patriot Takes:

(Via Newsweek)

While performing his second comedy show in Boston since being slapped by Will Smith at the Oscars, Chris Rock shut down a heckler who tried to start another round of chants cursing Smith. During Rock’s first show on Wednesday, he reportedly did not engage with the crowd as it fired off its profanity-laced thoughts about Smith. But on Thursday night, Rock took a different approach and stopped the chants dead in their tracks. Clearly, the comedian didn’t want it to become a thing.

Via PEOPLE:

After Rock took the stage on Thursday, dressed in an all-white ensemble much like the night before, he began his set by once again addressing the weekend. … However, at this particular show, an audience member yelled out, “F— Will Smith!” Rock, who did not engage with “Will Smith” chants the night before, responded this time around by immediately shutting it down. “No, no, no, no, no…” Rock replied.

Much like his previous performance, Rock only briefly addressed The Slap by once again saying, “I’m still kind of processing what happened.” However, as conflicting media reports continue to pop up left and right about what went down in the aftermath of the assault, Rock did add, “I haven’t talked to anyone, despite what you heard.”

Presumably, Rock is referencing claims from Diddy that he and Smith “settled their beef” after the Oscars ceremony. Rock’s brother, Tony Rock, already said on Twitter that Diddy was lying, and it seems Rock himself is making it clear that he hasn’t worked things out with Smith yet.

(Via PEOPLE)

Sometimes, SNL promos can be very silly. This occasionally works to their benefit, especially when one or more of the trio of stars making them gets to play the unassuming straight man. Usually, this is the musical guest and the effectiveness of the bit depends on how game they are. Some guests are super good at this, like they’re in on the joke, while some (coughcoughBadBunnycoughcough) aren’t great. Shockingly, this week’s musical guest, Gunna, falls into the former category, mostly by pretending he’s going to land in the latter one ’til the last second.

Of course, guest host Jerrod Carmichael does the necessary setup, introducing Gunna, and hands it off the Heidi Gardner, who lights the fuse. “Guys, let’s a promise right now that we’re all gonna bring our A-game this week,” she says, somehow keeping a straight face. “Jerrod gonna,” Jerrod replies. Heidi maintains that straight face, even though we all know what’s coming: “You know Heidi gonna.” Both expectantly side-eye the stone-faced rapper, who looks for all the world like he resolutely refuses to make the joke.

… A loooong pause…

“Gunna gonna.”

You know, as hard as I tried not to, I laughed. Good for Gunna. Good for Heidi. Good for Jerrod. Great for all of us. A job well done.

Watch the SNL promo above and check out Gunna as the musical guest on Saturday night.

The uphill Morbius: The Living Vampire battle might be taking an unexpected turn for what many assumed would be a Marvel Cinematic Miss for Sony. Hey, that’s show business, baby.

The Jared Leto-starring picture — in which he vamps out because he can’t stand to not pile on the makeup or prosthetics — has answered to absolutely brutal reactions and the dubious most-delayed movie record of the pandemic. Granted, the masses had a lot of fun with this advance fallout because Leto irked plenty of people with his Worst Joker, so a 19% rotten was something that people loved to see.

Add that to an oddly selected release date (April 1), and none of this boded well for the brilliant-scientist-turned-bloodsucker story, which critics called “bad” and “sloppy” with “insulting” post-credit scenes from a comic-book lover standpoint. However, there’s a new wrinkle in the equation: moviegoers carried Morbius to a surprisingly solid Thursday night preview. As The Hollywood Reporter reveals, things look “promising”:

Jared Leto’s new movie Morbius — centering on the character known as “The Living Vampire” in the Marvel comic books from whence he hails — flew to a promising $5.7 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office.

The Sony pic could open anywhere from $33 million to $40 million-plus for the weekend. The studio is being uber cautious and stressing the $33 million estimate. Insiders at Sony note that Morbius isn’t a traditional superhero pic, but more of a genre film based on one of the many Marvel characters Sony holds the rights to.

And that’s led so some semi-guilty sounding reactions on Twitter, including, “No it’s not an April Fools, I genuinely really liked Morbius.”

This is not a standalone take, either. People are pouring in, wondering if they are “crazy” for liking Morbius and asking why the movie got slammed so hard. Granted, this will be no billion-dollar movie, but hey, to each their own when it comes to vampire flicks.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks went into Brooklyn on Thursday night and picked up a thrilling 120-119 overtime win over the Nets. After the game, Antetokounmpo dropped a line in his press conference that served as a callback to an old criticism of his game that he once received from a now-former Nets player.

Antetokounmpo was asked about passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the Bucks’ all-time scoring list, something he achieved when he forced overtime by doing something we haven’t seen him do all that much in his career: hitting a stepback, off-the-dribble three.

As he explained, Antetokounmpo did not know this bucket gave him a record, but enjoyed how this played a role in how he’s “changing the narrative.”

“I don’t want to be the guy only that dunks and runs, I can make a three,” Antetokounmpo said with a smile on his face. “But no, it doesn’t really matter, because at the end of the day, if you don’t have a successful season and if you don’t try getting better and staying humble and staying happy, to play all the way until May, June, nobody is going to remember this.”

The dunks and runs line was famously used by James Harden back when he was a member of the Houston Rockets. Harden came in second to Antetokounmpo in MVP voting during the 2018-19 season, and the following year, Harden expressed some frustration about the whole thing, telling Rachel Nichols of ESPN that “I wish I could just run and … seven feet and run and just dunk. That takes no skill at all. I gotta actually learn how to play basketball and how to have skill.”

Harden, of course, was a member of the Nets until this past trade deadline, when he was sent to Philadelphia along with Paul Millsap for a package of players and picks headlined by Ben Simmons. Regardless, Antetokounmpo saw a chance to remind everyone of that old criticism of his game and decided to run with it.

Last year’s Willow’s album Lately I Feel Everything marked her deep dive into feverish pop-punk. Aside from exploding with catchy hooks and riffs with sharp edges, it also featured Travis Barker, whose influence is becoming more and more ubiquitous, as well as Avril Lavigne, who just released her bombastic LP Luv Sux. Since then, the “Meet Me At Our Spot” singer has proved that this shift to heavier music isn’t just a phase; she joined Machine Gun Kelly for the infectious, guitar-heavy “Emo Girl” off his recent album Mainstream Sellout.

Willow is taking things to the next level with this new single, “Purge,” with influencer Siiickbrain. Dramatic drawls, caustic riffs, screams, trap beats, lyrics like depressed poetry… not to mention the music video, which has lots of black lipstick, cigarettes, piercings, and black eyeliner. The song itself is more aligned with the kind of merging of pop and nu-metal that Poppy and Mothica have been experimenting with; it disposes of the buoyancy of pop-punk and instead takes on discordant, disruptive heaviness. At its core, though, it’s an anthem for goth girls who just want to wallow in their pain and cause trouble for fun.

Watch the chaotic video for “Purge” above.

While Republicans across the country are scrambling to viciously refute Madison Cawthorn’s claims that wild, cocaine-fueled orgies are all part of the GOP playbook, Alex Jones is talking about how they are indeed a real thing. And that, hell, even he’s been invited to them.

While Cawthorn has since admitted that the stories he told on the Warrior Poet podcast about “key bumps” of cocaine and regular invites to “sexual get-togethers” were lies, the shouty InfoWars host is blowing up the North Carolina congressman’s spot. On Wednesday, in addition to noting that Cawthorn “had a super-hot wife” (who may or may not be a Russian spy), Jones encouraged his listeners to believe everything that Cawthorn originally said:

“This is ridiculous. I’ve been invited to these things. I haven’t gone to them, ‘cause I don’t want to be, you know, whatever, blackmailed… I’m not into that. I’m happy. But I’ve been invited not just to those—I’ve been invited to the really weird stuff. Not with kids or anything, but with the whole occultic stuff. So, I can tell you folks: The Eyes Wide Shut things go on as well.”

Even more terrifying than the “not with kids or anything” line? Roger Stone lording over Jones like an Orwellian nightmare.

The duo, of course, didn’t let the conversation end there. They then went on to talk about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has perhaps been the most vocal Republican to take Cawthorn to task for his comments. Though they took their conversation in another direction…

(Via Ron Filipkowski)