Month: September 2022

About a month ago, it was reported that a video for Elton John and Britney Spears’ collaboration “Hold Me Closer” was in the works. At the time, no timeline for when the video would arrive was given, but now we know: The clip premiered today (September 27).

Spears and John themselves don’t star in the clip. Instead, it features dancers going through smooth and kinetic choreography in diverse and colorful environments. On Instagram, John noted the clip was shot in Mexico City by director Tanu Muiño and that it “beautifully [captures] an immeasurable feeling of intimacy so missing from the world through the turmoil and chaos of recent times.”

Muiño — whose filmography includes the videos for Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero,” and Cardi B’s “Up,” among others — also offered a statement in a press release, saying:

“This was an emotional one for me as I grew up with Britney. After seeing ‘Slave For You,’ I decided that I wanted to become a video director. Elton John is an icon that I and the world grew up listening to. Going into this video, I knew there would be a lot of emotional expectations the audience and fans would have. With this responsibility, I had to do something different and unexpected. The visuals had to be different. The dance had to be forward-thinking to raise eyebrows and make Elton and Britney proud. To capture this magic, we shot around all my favorite architectural locations in Mexico City and brought on choreographer Jacob Jonas who does the best contemporary choreography today. Getting the best dancers, crew, and access to some of the most private locations in the world was simple as everyone wanted to work with Elton John and be part of his legacy.”

Ahead of the song’s release, Spears offered some excited praise of John, writing on Instagram, “You can bet your bottom dollar that THIS collaboration will heighten my year by joining your brilliant hands of play. Thank you for your [generosity] and just thinking of me to join you on such a brilliant song !!! How cool is it to be a background voice ON YOUR song !!! Sir Elton I did it thanks to your genius, creative, and legendary mind !!! I am so grateful !!!”

John later said in an interview, “I’m so excited to be able to do it with her because if it is a big hit, and I think it may be, it will give her so much more confidence than she’s got already and she will realize that people actually love her and care for her and want her to be happy. That’s all anybody in their right mind would want after she went through such a traumatic time.”

Watch the “Hold Me Closer” video above.

The 2023 NBA Draft is expected to be as good of a crop of young talent as we’ve seen come into the league in some time — which is saying something considering the depth of young stars in the NBA currently. Atop current big boards are two names, French star Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite.

Both players have been on the NBA radar for some time, with Henderson finishing high school early to join the G League Ignite as a 17-year-old, while Wembanyama has been heralded as the best prospect in a decade-plus for his combination of length (7’4 with an 8′ wingspan) and skill as a ball-handler, shooter, and shot-blocker. There is plenty of excitement around those two (among others), but given the two play in different professional leagues there wasn’t much expectation we’d get to see them on the same floor to evaluate them at the same time.

However, last month the G League Ignite and Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama’s French squad, agreed to face off in a pair of preseason games in Las Vegas, which will be played on October 4 and 6. They figure to be filled with scouts, but given the profiles of the two young stars in the game, there’s plenty of fan interest as well. Thankfully, the NBA recognized that and announced on Tuesday as part of their rollout for the new NBA app that the games will be broadcast live for free on the app.

That’s excellent news for those wanting to get a good look at Henderson and Wembanyama, and the league will draw some additional eyeballs to its new app to hopefully show off the improved video quality it promises. The league’s new app will also house the (reduced priced) NBA League Pass and promises “higher video quality, lower streaming latency and a seamless user experience.” Those are all things fans who have dealt with League Pass frustrations in the past have been asking for, and hopefully the new app will deliver those, with a test-run coming in the form of the showcase games for the presumptive top two picks in next year’s draft.

Last year, when filming the final season of Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk collapsed on set and was rushed to the hospital. He claims he would have been dead if it weren’t for his co-stars who helped revive him. Soon enough, Odenkirk was back on the saddle delivering one of the best performances of the last year (which the Emmys will maybe recognize next year).

After the close call, Odenkirk said that he had a “new lease on life” and is ready to take on plenty of projects that are sent his way. He is set to star in AMC’s upcoming series The Straight Man, and now he will star in a new comedy movie (from his writer/actor buddies Andrew Friedman and Michael Naughton) titled The Making Of Jesus Diabetes.

Odenkirk will star and write in the film, which is based on Naughton and Friedman’s original sketch characters. The story will follow two brothers who attempt to make a movie about diabetes to honor their late mother. Odenkirk will play Leo, a “shifty man with a dark past.” The movie will be co-produced by Michael Day, who declared, “Jesus Diabetes is a refreshingly funny script from start to finish.” He added, “With this cast and this script, it’s a recipe for laugh-out-loud entertainment.”

This will be a mini-reunion for the crew: Friedman and Naughton both appeared on a season four episode of Better Call Saul as employees of Neff Copiers, who Jimmy tries to scam, in a classic Jimmy fashion. Filming is expected to begin next spring.

(Via Deadline)

Happy bloody birthday, BIBI.

Korean R&B princess BIBI rings in a new year by dropping a music video to her pre-release single, “Animal Farm,” ahead of her highly-anticipated studio album Lowlife Princess — Noir.

What starts off as a fancy dinner of masked men and men with pig snouts surrounding a long dinner table, as BIBI is propped up like the “main course” at the center, ends with a complete blood bath. Staying true and unapologetic with her vision and music, BIBI stays consistent by taking on themes of exploring one’s self as well as subtle jabs on society’s views on sex, sexuality, and class. With “Animal Farm,” the Korean soloist seems to seek revenge to those who hinder her from being herself, and objectifies, or even sexualize, her instead — “Welcome, well done / Shameless friends of mine / Who’s next? / Hang my pretty head in your room / Where is love? Where is my sympathy? / What have we lost? / Is it a farm? Is it society? / Am I a tiger or a gazelle?”

According to a press release, BIBI channels her theatrical side by presenting her envisioned alter-ego, “Al the Low-life Princess,” as a precursor to her debut full-length album that is yet to come (but coming soon). “Al” is said to portray a more sinister side of BIBI in the new album, something fans and followers have yet to see aside from her quirky past releases.

As fans wait for the full-length album, BIBI is set to perform at 88Rising’s Head In The Clouds in Jakarta, Indonesia on December 3rd and 4th, and will also star in a Korean noir film titled Hwaran with actor Song Joong Ki.

Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine grows more disastrous by the day, and his mobilized troops are reportedly being given nothing to keep them alive. More of this terrible news arrives amid leaked audio footage of a frontlines soldier referring to Putin as a “f*ck face,” and those 300,000+ drafted troops will soon feel that frustration and more. Putin has threatened prison sentences against those Russian men (of fighting age) who refuse those draft papers (some of which were given to protesters), but if those soldiers expect any sort of humane treatment, they’re out of luck.

As such, being shipped over to Ukraine is essentially a death sentence for Russian troops, after half of the initial supply had already died by mid-summer. Via The Daily Beast‘s Julia Davis, this Nexta video shows soldiers being told to “get your girlfriends and wives to get sanitary pads, the cheapest pads, plus the cheapest tampons… you shove it right into the bullet wound.”

And as Newsweek further relays, men are only really receiving a military uniform. There’s no armor, no tourniquets, and these soldiers are being told, “Guys, take care of yourselves.” They’re also reportedly being denied access to bathrooms with no food to be found. How Putin expects them to have energy to fight all remains a mystery.

It’s no wonder that Russian troops have been disguising themselves and doing everything that they can to flee Ukraine. And from the very beginning, these troops made it clear (while also threatening to blow up their general) that they were sent in without a plan or the means to execute any plan, which again, didn’t exist. Now, Putin has decided that more bodies are the way to go (without any training, just pulled off the Russian streets), and unfortunately, those bodies will almost 100% not survive the trip.

(Via The Daily Beast & Newsweek)

Rap fans logging into Twitter this week have been confronted with trending topics including Cardi B and Akbar V and might be confused to learn that the two rappers have been beefing for the past 24 hours. For one thing, who is Akbar V? Why does she have a problem with Cardi B? And what does Nicki Minaj have to do with all this? Here’s a quick primer to help you get up-to-date.

Who Is Akbar V?

For the uninitiated, Akbar V is, like Cardi B, a rapper with an origin rooted in the Love & Hip-Hop universe. Hailing from Atlanta, this 33-year-old rapper has had a rough childhood but has been using the exposure from the show to slowly build an audience for her music to turn her life around. She currently has a little under 18,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and a little over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube. While none of her songs has yet broken the million-streams mark on any platform, she recently received a big look when Nicki Minaj tapped her to appear on the “Super Freaky Girl” “Queen Mix” alongside JT of City Girls, BIA, Katie Got Bandz, and Maliibu Miitch.

Why Is Akbar V Beefing With Cardi B?

Over the weekend, Cardi received a ton of attention for featuring on buzzing Memphis rapper GloRilla’s new song “Tomorrow 2.” While the song had plenty of fans, it’s also found its detractors — one of whom is Akbar V. The Atlanta rapper tweeted, “If @chartdata ain’t say it we ain’t believing the CAP,” referring to the song’s hype and the popular account that aggregates album song performance listings from DSPs and Billboard‘s charts. It seemed to some — including Cardi — that the tweet was meant to shade the supposed success of “Tomorrow 2,” since the track had been released in close proximity to “Super Freaky Girl.”

After catching wind of the tweet, Cardi made a few comments of her own. “Count all the times chart data posted u,” she wrote. “I don’t really like the internet games… My dms is open and also the streets!” Cardi apparently reached out to Akbar privately to inquire about the tweet, but Akbar clearly didn’t feel like settling the matter behind the scenes. In a string of tweets of her own, she complained that someone “gave this ho Cardi B my number” and shared a screenshot of their text exchange, accusing Cardi of threatening her.

Akbar then went on a long tirade, proclaiming her fealty to Nicki Minaj — with whom Cardi has had a long history of friction — denouncing Cardi’s success. “@NICKIMINAJ is the #QueenOfRap and @iamcardib u are the peasant ho ..” she wrote. When Cardi made a pointed comment about taking care of her kids — a shot at Akbar, who has five children of her own — things escalated into full-blown conflict. When Akbar replied, “U was in the strip clubs i was in the streets ..how is it any difference… you still talking but bringing my kids into it,” Cardi let her have it, contrasting their situations. “I won’t put my kids in the same hoods I was I raised in let alone ABANDONED THEM ..u had that choice to make as well not once but FIVE TIMES,” she wrote.

The back-and-forth continued with a slew of responses from Akbar, to which Cardi replied by sharing a video from Akbar’s leaked sex tape. “Now my kids got to watch this again @iamcardib u dead wrong for uploading that porn stuff about me again u scoop so low but kool,” the Atlanta rapper replied. “U just threw me back into anxiety.” Cardi deleted the tweet, but later retweeted a notice from a fan that Akbar had used a screenshot from the video as a single cover on DSPs. “WAIT A DAMN MINUTE…she lied to me?” Cardi wondered.

The two rappers continued to trade insults into the evening, with Akbar accusing Cardi of having her husband Offset call her to and daring Cardi to take it to the street. Cardi exasperatedly predicted the next steps: “Let’s guess the next step …a diss track that’s going to be mass bought on iTunes and going to chart on twitter… I should of never argue with this deadbeat , I should of just left it at this.”

They might still be going, but at some point, Akbar’s Twitter account was suspended for unknown reasons. Incidentally, it’s not the first time her account was suspended. Meanwhile, Cardi B has gone back to promoting “Tomorrow 2,” while Nicki Minaj, the apparent motivation behind the whole Twitter spat, went back to promoting her own new video for “Likkle Miss (Remix)” featuring Skeng after going off on YouTube for age-restricting it.

Kanye West has finally taken a break from his daily social media antics, from asking us all to band together to fight the Adidas and Gap machines to sharing the intimate details of his messy divorce with Kim Kardashian, to share a snippet of new music.

The last we heard from Ye was an underwhelming feature verse on Cardi B’s “Hot Sh*t” and a better ‘feature of the year’ contribution on “City Of Gods” with Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys. But we have yet to hear any new music from Mr. West himself since Donda 2 was released back in February.

During his appearance in the UK for London Fashion Week, at what looks like an intimate event, Kanye leaves fans in a frenzy begging for him to play more of a head-bopper featuring London native James Blake.

Blake took to Twitter to address speculation that the song is not an “Always” sample but rather an entirely new track. In another tweet, Blake reveals that he also produced the song and received the best birthday gift ever. “It’s my birthday and kanye west is playing tracks we made I’m good for presents thanks,” he said, followed by a series of heart-faced emojis.

Hopefully, Ye will reveal more new music in the weeks to come instead of another black screen referencing losing his queen like London did Queen Elizabeth II.

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

Donald Trump has a bizarre way of doing, well, just about everything — from closing an umbrella to disposing of classified documents. He also, as Seth Meyers pointed out, has a very strange way of discussing nuclear weapons.

During Monday night’s “A Closer Look,” Meyers discussed Vladimir Putin’s ongoing threats to unleash Russia’s alleged arsenal of nuclear weapons, and noted how different the responses to these unhinged warnings have been from Joe Biden and his presidential predecessor. Whereas Biden’s only word for Putin was a gravelly, John Wayne-ish “Don’t!,” Trump went an entirely different — and wholly confusing — way with the nuke talk. As Meyers explained:

Biden has been stern but quiet about how the U.S. would respond. Trump, meanwhile, has been speculating wildly at rallies and other events about insane ideas, like bombing Russia but blaming it on China by putting Chinese flags on our U.S. fighter jets. That’s a real thing he actually said; it’s one step removed from Bugs Bunny dressing up as a lady to trick Elmer Fudd… And then this weekend, at a rally in North Carolina, he brought up the topic of nuclear weapons in the weirdest and most uncomfortable way possible.

Trump’s exact quote was as follows: “Now Putin mentioned the N word. You know what the N word is?”

Meyers admitted that he had to imagine “there was some percentage of that crowd, no matter how large or small, that heard that sentence and thought to themselves, ‘Oh my god! It’s finally happening!’”

“To be fair,” Meyers added, “it seems like Trump sensed what his crowd was thinking, too. Because he quickly had to clarify himself.”

Trump did indeed explain that the word he meant was “nuclear,” a word the former president said is “not supposed to be mentioned” because “You could end up in World War III, and this will be a war like we’ve never had before. It won’t even be close, because we’re being run by stupid people.”

Meyers, for once, had to agree with Trump and admit that the U.S. is being run by a lot of “stupid people — like the kinds of people that refer to the word ‘nuclear’ as ‘The N Word.’”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 3:20 mark. And in case you’re wondering, Trump is still trying to make this a thing, for some ungodly reason. Happy Tuesday!

Former Fox News anchor Eric Bolling is firing shots at his old network, specifically at Tucker Carlson for his continued defense of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. During Monday night’s episode of Bolling’s Newsmax show, the anchor covered reports that clips from Carlson’s shows are being used in Russian propaganda to drum up support for the failing invasion. Bolling blasted Carlson as an “alleged American” before calling out the Fox News host for airing claims that Putin would cause the “total destruction” of the Western world.

Via Newsweek:

“I am very worried about a world war, a nuclear World War III where nobody wins,” Bolling said on his show. “So when I see a fellow conservative making statement that could incite a world war, a nuclear war, I have to call him out.”

“When I see our arch enemy Russia and the sociopath Putin using that same conservative for Propaganda,” said Bolling, “you should know about it and maybe get to him and tell him to stand down.”

As Bolling continued to call out Carlson, he pushed back on any narrative that attempts to paint Russia as the victim and Ukraine as the aggressor. A tactic that Carlson has repeatedly used, as recently as last week. Bolling also criticized Carlson for attacking America’s efforts to help Ukraine end the invasion.

“Last Thursday, Tucker Carlson again blamed Ukraine for starting the war,” Bolling said. “And he continues to claim America should cut off all funds and military support to Ukraine.”

(Via Newsweek)

We’re nearing the end of BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month, and Rina Sawayama is making sure it goes out with a bang. The British-Japanese singer-songwriter belted out a transfixing rendition of Billie Eilish’s ubiquitous single “Happier Than Ever,” the title track of her sophomore album and namesake of her nearly wrapped world tour.

“covered one of my favey songs ever Happier Than Ever by @billieeilish on @bbcradio1 Live Lounge !!!!!!!” Sawayama captioned a clip on Instagram posted Tuesday (September 27). “aaaaaaa a dream to do live lounge.”

The 32-year-old also performed “Hold The Girl,” the title track of her sophomore LP that dropped via Dirty Hit earlier this month and boasts singles “This Hell,” “Hurricanes,” and “Phantom.” Sawayama will launch her headlining Hold The Girl US tour in Brooklyn on November 1, and she will perform three dates in Japan at the top of 2023. While with BBC Radio 1, Sawayama dished on making her film-acting debut in the forthcoming John Wick: Chapter 4.

As for other notable covers performed on Live Lounge this month, Lewis Capaldi took a crack at Britney Spears’ “Everytime,” and Sam Smith delivered their version of Sam Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under.” And back in May, the indomitable Harry Styles gave us a “Wet Dream” cover.

Watch Sawayama sing “Happier Than Ever” above.