Month: April 2022

When Kendrick Lamar moves, the world moves with him. After a whopping five years since the release of his lauded fourth studio album, DAMN., the Compton rapper has finally given listeners the news they’ve been waiting to hear for months: New music is on the way. Announcing the release date for his new album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Lamar didn’t share a teaser song or word of a new single with the album news. That record will drop on Ma 13, and it will be Kendrick’s last at his longtime label home, TDE, as he is now expanding into his own company, pgLang.

But none of that seems to have fans worried in the slightest. Even without as much as a teaser for a single, the album’s projection numbers for first-week sales are already massive. The music industry insider blog, Hits Daily Double, has already predicted the record will move over 350,000 copies during its first week. “The forecast is in the vicinity of 350k,” the blog noted, reminding longtime listeners that DAMN. moved almost double that when it was released, around 600,000. All-time sales numbers for DAMN. have now reached 11 million. But for an artist like Kendrick, pure sales come alongside the push from streaming, and that’s what makes this notable.

Since the album is dropping relatively soon, hopeful some preview of it will also be imminent.

Following an iconic half-time performance by Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, and Anderson .Paak, a signed Wilson leather football used in Super Bowl LVI is going up for auction. The ball will contain the signatures of the lattermost five and will be sold by Heritage Auctions.

The sale will run from May 12-14. At the time of writing, the ball has a bid of $2,600. “This leather Wilson ball is signed by Dre, Em, Mary J, Anderson Paak, and Kendrick in bold black ink,” reads a description of the ball on Heritage Auctions’ website. “The autographs were acquired by our consignor at the Big Game and is one of the finest collectibles we’ve seen from the legendary show.”

Super Bowl LVI took place this past February in Los Angeles, for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg kicked off the halftime performance of “The Next Episode” from Dre’s 1999 album, 2001, before transitioning into a performance of Tupac’s “California Love.” 50 Cent then made a surprise appearance, performing “In Da Club,” recreating the song’s music video. Mary J. Blige then performed the Dre-produced “Family Affair” and the title track from her 2001 album, No More Drama. Joined by Paak on drums, Eminem then performed “Lose Yourself,” before Snoop and Dre closed out the show with a performance of “Still D.R.E.”

Mary J. Blige is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A couple weeks ago, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated April 16, Harry Styles went ahead and had himself a No. 1 debut with “As It Was.” That initial run didn’t last long, though, as the track was overtaken by Jack Harlow’s “First Class” the next week, knocking Styles down to No. 2. Now, though, Styles has managed to swap with Harlow and regain his peak position: On the new Hot 100 chart dated April 30, “As It Was” is once again No. 1, for a second total week, while “First Class” is No. 2.

“As It Was” represents a major milestone for Styles, as it’s now his first song to spend multiple weeks at No. 1; “Watermelon Sugar” enjoyed a single week on top in August 2020. This means Styles is the first former One Direction member to have a multi-week No. 1 song on the Hot 100; The only other 1D member with a No. 1 at all is Zayn with “Pillowtalk” in 2016.

Elsewhere in the top 10, controversial country star Morgan Wallen had the week’s biggest debut as “Don’t Think Jesus” enters the chart at No. 7, making it his third top-10 single.

This comes after a big past week-plus for Styles, who was one of the biggest names at this year’s Coachella festival. He spiced up his performances with some cameos from Shania Twain and Lizzo.

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

Music can be therapy, but sometimes, you just need to talk to somebody about your problems. That’s the theme of Lute’s new video for “Eye To Eye” from his 2021 album Gold Mouf. Featuring fellow Dreamville rapper Cozz, “Eye To Eye” finds Lute and Cozz recalling their various issues, from their traumatic experiences to their relationships with women, determining to do better than they have in the past. Incidentally, the song’s release nearly coincided with both admitting to seeking therapy.

So it fits that the theme of the video reflects the theme of the song, putting both the rappers across from a therapist, who helps them with those problems — Lute individually, Cozz with his partner. The video finds each man reflecting on his respective situation through a variety of scenarios including a studio session, late-night visitations with their respective partners, and meditating in a room full of plants. The end of the video breaks the fourth wall, as the video wraps and they leave their adjacent sets, dapping each other up and hugging it out.

Although both released records in 2021 (Cozz released his Fortunate EP in December), neither sat still for too long, joining their labelmates in contributing to Dreamville’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz mixtape.

Watch Lute’s “Eye To Eye” video featuring Cozz above.

The creators of the greatest thing to grace television screens in modern times, the Roku screensaver, have ordered a slew of dating shows to keep us all entertained during The Bachelorette’s off-season. Not one but three unscripted dating shows are in the works, with one from Reese Witherspoon’s Happy Sunshine executive producing.

To Paris For Love: A Reality Rom-Com, Match Me in Miami, and The Marriage Pact are the three new reality shows ordered by the Roku Channel. Paris will feature “three single friends, ready for the journey of a lifetime in the City of Lights. The friends travel to Paris for two weeks in search of one thing: true love.” Think Emily In Paris, but “real.” Sara Rue, Sue Kinkead, Witherspoon, Mariel Saldana, Zoe Saldana, and Cisely Saldana executive produce.

The Marriage Pact, which sounds like a Lifetime movie but isn’t, will follow longtime friends who made a pact to marry if they are both single by a certain age. Finally, Meet Me In Miami will follow a matchmaking agency in Florida as they couple up elite singles in the city.

Head of alternative originals at Roku, Brian Tannenbaum, said the following:

Our latest Roku Original productions To Paris for Love: A Reality ‘Rom Com,’ The Marriage Pact, and Match Me in Miami offer up fun, fresh, and innovative spins on the dating and relationship genres. As we continue to build our Roku Originals slate, it’s a privilege to partner with the incredible production teams behind these projects to deliver premium, original series to The Roku Channel.

In today’s only Elon Musk news, the space billionaire will have a New York Times Presents special airing next month on Hulu and FX, though he probably won’t be too happy with the topic.

Elon Musk’s Crash Course will investigate the Tesla technology that insists self-driving cars are the way of the future, despite the questionable results and Musk’s “outlandish” claims. The official description, as per the press release:

Drawing on first-hand accounts, the film traces how Autopilot has been a factor in several deaths and dozens of other accidents that Tesla has not publicly acknowledged. It details pressure Elon Musk put on government officials to quash investigations and features inside stories from several former Tesla employees, who speak out against Musk for promoting a self-driving program that they believe was perilous.

Elon Musk made his name, and fortune, taking bold risks and betting on the impossible, but the story of his pursuit of self-driving has put Musk on a crash course with both the business realities and technology’s limits. Yet, even after years of unfulfilled promises, Elon Musk continues to double down on his Full Self Driving service, once again, with questionable results.

The special will air Friday, May 20th at 10 pm ET simultaneously on both FX and Hulu, unless Musk tries to buy them out too, which isn’t that far-fetched. Past New York Times Presents documentary topics include Britney Spears’ conservatorship, Janet Jackson’s infamous Super Bowl performance, and the rise of electronic cigarettes.

It was all of last week when Marjorie Taylor Greene testified under oath that she has no memory of whether she told former-president Donald Trump to invoke martial law to remain in power. But on Monday, CNN reported that it combed through 2,319 texts then-chief of staff Mark Meadows and “Trump’s inner circle, supporters, and Republican lawmakers,” including one where Taylor Greene discusses the possibility of “Marshall law.” (She was not referring to Raylan Givens… because that’s spelled “marshal.”)

“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law,” Taylor Greene texted on January 17, 2021. “I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”

This isn’t Taylor Greene’s only message to Meadows. “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything,” she wrote on January 6, 2021 during the failed coup on the Capitol building. Later that day, she added, “Mark we don’t think these attackers are our people. We think they are Antifa. Dressed like Trump supporters.” On January 7, she continued to spread the debunked Antifa conspiracy theory (“Antifa was mixed in the crowed”). But it’s the “Marshall law” text that could get Taylor Greene in trouble — if anyone was ever held accountable for anything, that is, which they’re not.

(Via CNN)

Beabadoobee is fresh off performing back-to-back weekends at Coachella. Now that that’s behind her, she’s gone ahead and dropped a new single, “See You Soon,” a relatively serene, but still propulsive, slice of summertime bedroom-pop.

Beabadoobee told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of the song, “This song is about a really personal time in my life where I had to spend some time by myself to realize a lot of things and it’s one of the dearest songs that I’ve written. It’s got this uplifting feeling and shows another side of what I do and what we can expect from my new album Beatopia. I’m so happy for you guys to hear it!”

Speaking of Beatopia, Beabadoobee previously described the album’s sound, “It’s a lot of different vibes. There’s not one song that sounds the same as the others. I’ve been really getting into a band called Stars, and I’ve always loved Stereolab as well. I’ve been working with my guitarist Jacob and using a lot of teenage engineering, drum machines, mixtures of guitars. It’s been really fun. I don’t know how to explain it, but it sounds very 2006 [laughs]. I feel like this new album is what I am meant to sound like.”

Listen to “See You Soon” above.

Beatopia is out 7/15 via Dirty Hit. Pre-order it here.

Jason Momoa must have finally recovered from “f*cker” Michael Bay making him cry (twice) during Ambulance because the See front man was back in form for Earth Day. And nobody does Earth Day like Momoa. This is to be expected, given his general level of enthusiasm and how he treats causes that are near and dear to him (he even faux-threatened to pause Aquaman 2 to halt construction on a sacred Hawaiian mountain). And in case you missed how he addressed Earth Day this year, you are in for a treat.

Momoa, who has been reported to be spending time in a tricked-out RV after splitting from Lisa Bonet, shot a highly entertaining video in a Sprouts parking lot while championing the need to “unplastic the sh*t out of this planet.” He pretended to awaken, gave himself a makeshift shower, brushed his teeth, and declared, “I know I normally don’t look like someone who smells good.” (Spoiler Alert: He smells just fine in person.) Then came the slow-mo deodorant application with the obligatory utterance: “Oh yeah, good tight shot of my armpits.”

Yes, Momoa put his hair in a towel and donned a bathrobe before taking grocery aisles by storm. And yes, he wreaked havoc. If you need joy in your life today, then watch this:

Now, I hear what you’re saying. Perhaps I’m exaggerating because Momoa’s not a full-time activist, but seriously, he entertained while spreading a much needed message. He also seemed to do it all without plastic, so good on ya, Momoa. And since these two are self-professed brothers, you might be wondering what Lenny Kravitz posted on Earth Day. Here you go, and every day is Earth Day for Lenny.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Megan Thee Stallion solving problems with a tried-and-true solution and Ed Sheeran continuing to pad his list of collaborators. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Megan Thee Stallion — “Plan B”

After stripping down and getting in a bathtub to announce “Plan B,” Megan Thee Stallion unveiled the track on Friday. As the title suggests, the tune is about an alternate solution, in this case being literal Plan B, aka the “morning after pill,” as Meg raps about utilizing the emergency contraceptive to rid herself of a connection with a former lover.

Ed Sheeran — “2Step” Feat. Lil Baby

Ed Sheeran has always been a willing collaborator but that’s been especially true lately. Just last week, he linked up with Lil Baby for a remix of “2Step,” with the rapper adding a new verse to the upbeat tune.

Pusha T — “Rock N Roll” Feat. Kanye West and Kid Cudi

On his new album It’s Almost Dry, Pusha T found himself in the middle of a developing hip-hop beef, between former collaborators Kanye West and Kid Cudi. Well, they’re former collaborators now, as they both feature on “Rock N Roll,” but Cudi vowed the song was completed pre-beef, he gave it his blessing as a favor to Pusha, and he declared it will be the last time he and Ye appear on a song together.

The Kid Laroi — “Thousand Miles”

The Kid Laroi is ready to move on from his F*ck Love mixtape after releasing three total versions of it, as he’s now gearing up for a debut album, Kids Are Growing Up. In fact, he officially launched the new era last week with “Thousand Miles,” another fine slice of pop-rap sure to satiate fans of his hit Justin Bieber collaboration “Stay.”

Southside and Future — “Hold That Heat” Feat. Travis Scott

Southside and Future’s “Hold That Heat” is a convergence of two of the year’s biggest story lines: Future (alongside Gunna) has perhaps 2022’s most viral song with “Pushin P” and now, “Hold That Heat” is Travis Scott’s first new music since the fatal Astroworld Festival tragedy. As for the new song, Uproxx’s Wongo Okon describes it as “a gloomy effort that features lengthy verses from Future and Travis while the former handles the song’s hook.”

PinkPantheress and Willow — “Where You Are”

After emerging as an alt-pop favorite in 2021, PinkPantheress is continuing to build on her massive potential here in 2022. Her latest is “Where You Are,” a smooth and rhythmic collaboration which melds PinkPantheress and her guest’s vocals for a delightful stylistic contrast. Willow’s the only credited feature on the track but not its only collaborator, as Mura Masa and Skrillex joined PinkPantheress in co-producing the song.

Florence And The Machine — “Free”

After laying relatively low recently, Florence Welch and her The Machines launched their return towards the start of the year. Now, they have a new album, Dance Fever, on the way and the latest taste of it, “Free,” arrived last week. The driving, propulsive tune is classic Florence And The Machine, and as a bonus, it arrived alongside a video co-starring Bill Nighy.

Soccer Mommy — “Unholy Affliction”

Sophie Allison is getting more experimental on her upcoming album Sometimes, Forever, as evidenced by her enlisting Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never as the project’s producer. That spirit also shines through on last week’s “Unholy Affliction,” which shows Allison venturing far from the bedroom indie-rock on which she initially made her name.

Blxst — “Every Good Girl”

In a recent interview, Blxst told Uproxx of the influences behind his new album, Before You Go, “I think just my day-to-day experiences: traveling, managing family time, personal time, and self-care. That’s pretty much what I pulled my inspiration from, those challenges, those hurdles I was facing, and facing that transition of also becoming an executive outside of just being an artist. Looking at success from a different perspective. I think I had a mind shift over this past year from the success of No Love Lost. You’ll hear that in the music, you’ll hear the growth for sure.”

Daniel Caesar — “Please Do Not Lean” Feat. Badbadnotgood

The past few years have been quiet on the Daniel Caesar front, although he changed that last week with “Please Do Not Lean,” his first single since 2019. The song is a collaboration with Badbadnotgood, so naturally, Caesar’s silky vocals are paired with the Canadian band’s R&B and jazzy sensibilities for an undoubtedly successful link-up.

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