Year: 2022

There is no shortage of drama coming out of the Los Angeles Lakers this season, as their well chronicled struggles that see them fighting for play-in position in the West has led to all manner of leaks and rumors about who’s in power and who’s on their way out throughout the season.

At the center of everything, fairly or unfairly, is Russell Westbrook. The former MVP has had a rough first season in L.A., one that very well may be his last as there is reported “mutual interest” in finding him a new team this summer. For now, they have to make it work despite the effort to trade him at the deadline, and it is leading to some fascinating dynamics within the locker room, coaching staff, and front office. Westbrook has been defiant about any time his role is diminished by the coaching staff, particularly when he’s left on the bench in the fourth quarter, and the tensions between Westbrook and Frank Vogel have risen to the surface a few times this season.

Vogel’s future is likewise in doubt, as the team has simply not responded to him as any franchise would like. The talent issue, which is an indictment of the front office, is undisputed, but the effort level being as low as it has so often this season certainly tells the story of a team that’s tuned out the coach. Rob Pelinka is also under fire for his work putting this roster together, namely the Westbrook trade (which came under the urging of LeBron James and Anthony Davis) which put the team in the position of being extremely thin and much older. All of it has been so bad that Phil Jackson has grown intrigued by it all, with Sam Amick and Bill Oram of The Athletic reporting on Monday that he’s been offering advice to Jeanie Buss all season because he’s fascinated by the Westbrook drama.

Sources say Jackson, the Lakers legend and ex-fiancé of Buss, whose presence at Saturday’s win against Golden State was highlighted by the team’s Twitter account, has been in frequent contact with Buss about team matters all season long. The complicated and often uncomfortable dynamics surrounding the Westbrook situation, in particular, are known to have drawn his interest. As unofficial consultants go, they don’t get much more experienced or credible than Jackson.

It isn’t a surprise that Jackson still has the ear of Buss given everything we know about how Jeanie runs the Lakers and is fiercely (or stubbornly, depending on who you ask) loyal to those she trusts. Still, it’s pretty funny that the thing that is getting Phil Jackson back into the mix is that he can’t help but see a dysfunctional star relationship and help himself but to get involved. Basically, this is Phil.

The good news for Jackson is that the Lakers have no shortage of mess to clean up, and as such there’s plenty to keep him interested for the moment.

The Batman smashed into theaters over the weekend, and now that fans have had a taste of director Matt Reeves‘ vision of Gotham City and the Robert Pattinson Batman that dwells within, the big question is how soon can we return to the gothic noir world. In the lead-up to The Batman‘s pandemic-delayed release, Warner Bros. announced two HBO Max spinoff series that would take a deeper dive into Gotham and presumably arrive before Reeves (presumably) gets another crack at a sequel. However, the state of those projects appear to be in flux, so here’s the latest update on where each of them stand on the heels of The Batman‘s release:

Penguin

In December 2021, Colin Farrell officially signed on to reprise his The Batman role in a Penguin spinoff series focused on his character. In a recent interview, The Batman producer Dylan Clark said the series will have a “Scarface” feel to it, which echoed what Farrell told Entertainment Tonight in late February:

“We have to get into what made him the man he is. And also, it will pick up where this film finished off I think. I think it’ll pick up a little short time after the last frame of this film,” Farrell teases of the series about Penguin, aka Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. “We’ll get to go on a little kind of left turn off to the world of Oz and how he’s beginning to kind of dream of filling a potential power vacuum that may exist.”

However, in the same interview, Farrell cautioned that the series is still in its “early days,” and judging by what’s happening with the previously announced Gotham PD series, things could quickly change.

Gotham PD/Arkham Asylum Series

Announced all the way back in July 2020, the untitled Gotham PD series was originally set to be a prequel that would explore how the department handled the first year of Batman kicking off his one-man war on crime. However, problems emerged quickly when showrunner Terrence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) exited the project just a few months later. There hasn’t been much in the way of updates on the series until very recently, and it appears to have drastically shifted focus — if it’s even happening at all.

In two recent interviews, Reeves signaled that the Gotham PD series is dead in the water. While talking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via The Wrap), Reeves basically said the show was not happening (especially anytime soon).

“One thing that we’re not doing that I was gonna do — so there’s the Gotham police show, which, that one actually is put on hold,” Reeves said. “We’re not really doing that.”

However, while talking to The Cyber Nerds podcast (via IGN), Reeves said the show has “evolved” and will now focus on Arkham Asylum:

“I really want Arkham to exist as a character, so that you go into this environment and encounter these characters in a way that feels really fresh. And so in our work on Gotham, that story started to evolve, and it started feeling like, ‘Wait, we should really lean into this.’ And that’s kind of where that’s gone.”

So for those keeping score at home, the two The Batman spinoffs in play are now the Penguin and an Arkham Asylum series in lieu of Gotham PD. Obviously, the situation is fluid, and with The Batman doing well at the box office, that could lead to Warner Bros. wanting more from the hit franchise. We’ll keep you posted.

The Batman is currently playing in theaters.

Vince Staples runs into some trouble during a house party in his new video for “Magic.” The video opens with Vince buying a bag of frozen vegetables at the liquor store, only revealing that he’s in a bad state as he reaches the counter. When the clerk asks if everything is okay, Vince stoically (but vaguely) replies, “Party down the street. You should have seen me.”

That’s when the video cuts back to watching Vince entering the party in a clever callback to his entrance to the liquor store. Things go left for Vince when he bumps into the wrong guy while trying to have a good time, resulting in him leaving the party with a different set of souvenirs than the ones he came for. The song’s producer, Mustard, also makes a cameo, shaking his head at the overt displays of machismo that ultimately result in Vince’s injuries.

“Magic” is the first single from Vince’s upcoming album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, which he first began teasing even before releasing its predecessor, the self-titled Vince Staples, last year. The single was first teased in a Beats By Dre commercial featuring Naomi Osaka. This year, he suggested that the album might finally be ready to go once he secured a beat from DJ Quik, which seemingly manifested the outcome he wanted; days later, he’d posted a photo from the studio with the iconic Compton producer. That would suggest (along with the tweet below) that Ramona Broke My Heart is complete and ready for release sometime this year.

Until then, enjoy the “Magic” video above.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s catastrophic war on Ukraine has produced footage that leaves TV viewers reeling, all while sitting U.S. senators potentially endanger Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by tweeting screencaps of Zoom meetings. Meanwhile, the Anonymous collective group of hackers quickly came together (while also apart, which is a key feature of their existence) to wage cyber war on Russia while taking down Russian state TV stations and government websites, where they breached and leaked database information from the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Over the weekend, Anonymous (they who customarily insert the “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. Expect us” mantra) claimed to have infiltrated Russian live TV channels (including Russia 24, Channel One, Moscow 24) and streaming services while inserting war footage. They then apparently posted a message against Putin’s war on Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent news outlet claims to have verified that this happened.

It’s important to note that Anonymous, given their (obviously) anonymous nature, doesn’t operate through verified Twitter accounts, so fact-checking can be difficult. However (and via Mediaite), a purported Anonymous account tweeted a link to an article that translates the following message:

“We are ordinary citizens of Russia. We oppose the war on the territory of Ukraine. Russia and the Russians against the war! This war was waged by Putin’s criminal, authoritarian regime on behalf of ordinary Russian citizens. Russians, oppose the genocide in Ukraine, “the text reads.

And while all of this is happening, Russian police detained another 4600+ civilians (most of whom are Russian citizens) during ongoing anti-war protests.

(Via Mediaite)

Post Malone wants a lawsuit against him over a songwriting credit on his hit song “Circles” dismissed, according to Rolling Stone. Post is being sued by Canadian musician Tyler Armes, who demands a share of the authorship on the song, saying he played a guitar tune that was eventually worked into the final composition. Armes says that Post’s management offered a five percent share of the publishing royalties but withdrew the offer when he tried to negotiate for a larger cut.

However, Post has countered with a new filing saying that Armes did not contribute anything significant or original to the recording or the composition of the song in the one recording session he was present for in August 2018. According to Post’s lawyers, Armes only played an “admittedly extremely commonplace guitar chord progression,” while also possibly singing a “fragment of guitar melody” that went unrecorded.

The documents filed in federal court split absolutely no hairs about it, reading, “Armes does not have a shred of affirmative evidence with which to meet his burden of proof that his alleged contribution to the guitar melody is original. Armes admitted that his contributions did not even rise to the level of originality, which is also required in addition to the fixation requirement. He either conceded that his ideas were commonplace musical devices or failed to meet his burden to demonstrate any originality otherwise. Armes thus cannot even establish the threshold requirement that he made a copyrightable contribution.”

Post and his co-producer/co-defendant Frank Dukes have requested that the case be summarily dismissed in an April 4 hearing. Meanwhile, Post’s manager has suggested that the singer’s follow-up album is being held back by his label.

International pop star and A Star Is Born celebrity Lady Gaga has just announced The Chromatica Ball, a 15-date summer stadium tour going through the US and Europe. It’s her first full run since 2017 following the release of her sixth studio album, Chromatica, which came out in 2020. It found her constructing an entire world of glittering, pathos-driven bangers; it was richer and more determined than Joanne or Artpop, both of which failed to live up to her previous material like the revolutionary albums The Fame or Born This Way. This tour is her return to extravagant, maximalist pop after focusing on jazz by collaborating with Tony Bennett for the album Love For Sale and doing a “Jazz & Piano” Las Vegas residency that’s taking place next month.

Check out her tour dates below and get more information here.

07/17 — Dusseldorf, DE @ Merkur Spiel Arena
07/21 — Stockholm, SE @ Friends Arena
07/24 — Paris, FR @ Stade De France
07/26 — Arnheim, NL @ Gelredome
07/29 — London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
07/30 — London, UK @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
08/06 — Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
08/08 — Washington, DC @ Nationals Park
08/11 — New York, NY @ MetLife Stadium
08/15 — Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
08/19 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
08/23 — Dallas, TX @ Globe Life Field
08/26 — Atlanta, GA @ Truist Park
09/08 — San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Park
09/10 — Los Angeles, CA @ Dodger Stadium

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 Dominic Fike with a truncated version of his viral Euphoria tune and Justin Bieber continuing to get his footing in the afrobeats world. 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.

Dominic Fike — “Elliot’s Song” Feat. Zendaya

Euphoria, being one of the biggest shows on TV right now, seems to go viral every week it airs. The same was true during the show’s final week and it was Fike who brought it to life thanks to the five minutes (an eternity in TV time) he spent performing a song on the show. Fike took the resulting memes in stride: “The internet remains undefeated,” he said. After that, he went ahead, pared the song down some, and shared a studio version of it.

Omah Lay and Justin Bieber — “Attention”

Justin Bieber has been more into making afrobeats music in recent times, and he did so last week by hopping on a new one from Omah Lay, “Attention.” Bieber’s pop-R&B sensibilities are nicely applied here as both artists find their times to shine on the rhythmic track.

Khalid — “Last Call”

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of Khalid’s star-making debut album, American Teen. Aside from sharing a retrospective virtual experience, he marked the occasion by releasing a new song, “Last Call,” which he said represents “the first few steps of another chapter for myself.”

Camila Cabello — “Bam Bam” Feat. Ed Sheeran

Camila Cabello packed a lot into her birthday last week: She confirmed the release date of her upcoming album Familia, stopped by The Late Late Show, and linked up with Ed Sheeran on “Bam Bam.” She told James Corden of the song, ““It’s something that my mom has always said to me. […] The song is about the cycles of falling in love, falling out of love; life has its ups and downs. You gotta roll with the punches, you gotta keep dancing.”

Charli XCX — “Baby”

After her recent planned appearance on Saturday Night Live was canceled due to COVID (save for playing a rock and roll bird in a sketch), Charli XCX actually got to perform on the show this past weekend. She had a new song in tow, too, as she had dropped “Baby” — a bright, funky, and catchy pop tune — earlier in the week.

Kurt Vile — “Hey Like A Child”

A couple weeks ago, Kurt Vile announced a new album, Watch My Moves, and dropped the lead single from the project, “Like Exploding Stones.” He returned with another advance look at the LP last week with “Hey Like A Child,” a languid rocker that’s right in Vile’s wheelhouse.

Machine Gun Kelly and Lil Wayne — “Ay”

Expert headline-maker Machine Gun Kelly debuted a very pink new look last week, which also made an appearance in the video for “Ay,” his collaboration with Lil Wayne. Kelly is obviously pursuing a more pop-punk-influenced direction these days, but “Ay” serves as a bit of a bridge between his current aesthetic and the hip-hop that made him famous.

Kevin Morby — “This Is A Photograph”

After delighting with his late-2020 album Sundowner, Kevin Morby is already gearing up for more. This Is A Photograph is set for May, and when he announced the LP last week, he also shared the title track, a progressively swelling tune that patiently unfolds. Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes of the tune, “The lead title track single is a portrait of heartland nostalgia, featuring backing vocal harmonies by members of Memphis’ Stax Academy Of Music. The interplay of guitar and banjo speaks to Americana and highway rock and roll.”

Nilüfer Yanya — “The Dealer”

Nilüfer Yanya fans have eaten well over the past few years: After her beloved 2019 album Miss Universe, she dropped a couple 2020 EPs — Feeling Lucky? and Inside Out — and returned with a new album, Painless, last week. Before dropping that, she shared her final pre-album single, “The Dealer,” another rhythmic rocker that slots nicely into her oeuvre.

Nigo and Pusha T — “Hear Me Clearly”

DJ/fashion designer Nigo has an album, I Know Nigo, on the way, and he’s got some talented friends on board the project, as it’s set to feature Tyler The Creator, Lil Uzi Vert, ASAP Rocky, Kid Cudi, and others. That “others” also includes Pusha T, as he features on “Hear Me Clearly.” Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes of the tune, “The track is driven by cut-throat raps from Pusha T, who uses the song’s haunting production to deliver a scathing lyrical attack.”

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

A band both of their time and before their time, Le Tigre blended art, punk, and politics with dancefloor electropop, all in service of reminding the world that it’s okay to be angry and joyful at the same time. The group also unknowingly provided a pretty solid model for the next 20-odd years of queer and feminist indie acts.

Founded in 1998 in New York, Le Tigre was initially composed of Johanna Fateman, visual artist Sadie Benning, and former Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna, who’d just come off creating solo material for her pseudonymous project, Julie Ruin. Frustrated about her inability to perform solo cuts live, Hanna sought Fateman, who she’d once lived with in Portland, and Benning, who she’d made a music video with in Chicago. The trio began sharing tapes of demos through the mail (Benning was still in Chicago, while Fateman and Hanna were in New York), picked a band name, and Le Tigre was born.

When it was released in October of 1999, Le Tigre’s self-titled debut set the punk world on its ear. Using its tight 34-minute run time to do everything from calling Rudy Giuliani a “f*cking jerk” to schooling the world about dot-happy artist Yayoi Kusama long before her aesthetic became Instagram candy, Le Tigre acted as the perfect fusion of music and message for so many listeners.

Though social activism through music is hardly an unheard of concept, Le Tigre’s danceable quest for justice has throughlines to tons of recent bands like The Linda Lindas, who wore Bikini Kill shirts during their viral performance in an LA library, and Lil Nas X, who has been so wildly successful with tracks like “Montero” and “Industry Baby” that it’s easy to forget that his very presence in the rap scene could have been viewed as a novelty mere years before.

Much of Le Tigre also identified as queer, and its music was a reflection of that. Tracks like “Hot Topic” shouted out queer icons like Vaginal Creme Davis and Billie Jean King, while “Viz” was Samson’s ode to lesbian visibility. The group also took queer openers out on tour, like Seth Bogart’s then-band Panty Raid or old Portland buddies The Need. It can be hard for Gen Z to imagine, but at the turn of the 21st century, there were precious few spaces for outspoken queer art, or even just queer joy.

Le Tigre also inspired conversation. On “What’s Yr Take On Cassavetes,” Le Tigre uses lyrics to debate the issue of art vs. artist, wondering if notorious actor/director John Cassavetes is a misogynist or a genius, a messiah or an alcoholic. Though the song was recorded over 20 years ago and reflected a chat that had been happening in feminist circles and women’s studies classes for about as long, it foretold a discussion that, today, we find ourselves having almost daily as we struggle to reckon with our once enthusiastic love of Michael Jackson, Woody Allen, or the TV series Louie.

That’s not even considering the countless debates we’ve had and acted on involving less well-known performers and businesses. When SoCal punk label Burger Records faced accusations of sexual abuse by its artists and management, fans quickly turned their backs, saying they wouldn’t support a place where women were maligned, hurt, and discriminated against. Bands like SWMRS, The Growlers, and The Buttertones have all faced assault and abuse allegations themselves, leading to whole scenes of musicians banding together to call out creeps who will no longer get a pass, a record sale, or even a show (There’s even a TikTok movement). The music business is at least trying to move forward into a more righteous era like the one Le Tigre envisioned.

Le Tigre also moved punk and indie rock further into the art world. Though music and art have long been fairly cozy bedfellows, Le Tigre added dimension to what smaller club bands could do at live shows, often running quirky visuals behind them as they performed. Part of this push forward could have been due to technology — projectors, quality camcorders, and editing software were becoming more widely available at the time — but the band used art even before it could afford a video projector, enlisting then roadie Samson to project individual slides from the back of the room.

The group’s fusion of art and music didn’t come out of nowhere — Benning was and is still a very well-known artist, having exhibited at places like MOMA — but the group’s insistence that one could fuel the other or that both could fuel activism in tandem seemed like a novelty at the time. It’s the norm now, with acts as varied as Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and Childish Gambino relying on an intense fusion of art and music to promote their visions for the future. Even smaller artists have gotten in on the act, with groups like Crumb, George Clanton, and Wand using outlandish or otherworldly visuals to take their live tracks to another level.

When it was announced late last year that Le Tigre was reuniting for This Ain’t No Picnic, a Goldenvoice festival coming to the LA area later this summer, skeptical viewers could have seen that announcement as a cash grab. Though they never technically broke up, Le Tigre haven’t played together in over a decade. Seeing as how Bikini Kill’s reunion tour sold-out dates across the country in 2019, it’s easy to understand how Hanna and co. could look at an offer and see big dollar signs.

What that supposition misses, though, is that Le Tigre remain as vital now as they have ever been. It’s sad, but tracks about female oppression, bodily autonomy, and the everyday microaggressions experienced by queer people, women, and minorities are as vital now as they were then. Audiences need to hear their frustrations voiced, and they need reminders that there can be a brighter tomorrow if we all work together. Bands like Le Tigre have helped fuel that fire, and those who have learned from them will be the ones to keep it burning.

Every cinematic detective story needs a montage in which the protagonist rummages through evidence and covers their home in the research. In Matt Reeves’s The Batman, Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson), the billionaire descendant to the Wayne empire, peruses old files in his family home, searching for answers that could connect to the murders The Riddler is committing throughout the endlessly corrupt city of Gotham. Bruce opens file cabinets and sprawls photos and newspaper clippings on the floor while the score builds and builds to an aha moment. It’s all very standard, except for the fact that Bruce Wayne is shirtless and his greasy, dark emo Peter Parker-inspired hair falls into his face the entire time. Superheroes – including Bruce Wayne/Batman – have been seen shirtless on screen to show off their ripped biceps and torsos, and a shirtless man is not the sexiest thing you could show in a movie. But the specific choice to have Robert Pattinson act out this entire montage shirtless instead of in a t-shirt, sweater, robe, or hoodie elevates the film’s erotic, sexual undercurrent. In an era when major motion pictures are completely devoid of the concept of sex, The Batman is practically bursting with sexual energy.

The Batman establishes its underlying sensual vibe instantly as it opens with an erotic thriller signature: cinematic voyeurism. The film’s consistent moody atmosphere combines sexiness and looming death. Most scenes take place at night, or in darkness. It is almost always raining. A majority of the film’s rousing action sequences take place in the shadows, the only light coming from alternate sources such as nightclub strobe lights, the fire from a gun, or a scoreboard. The film’s dark and neutral color story uses colors such as the deep, passionate blood-red all over the film’s marketing intentionally and sparingly, which adds to the sexual mystery; a sharp contrast to an overwhelming amount of black (and black leather). A titillating score and quiet, patient dialogue amplify The Batman’s erotic visuals.

The slightly antagonistic but instantly deep connection between Batman and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) is the emotional heart of the film, but also its sexual center. Pattinson and Kravitz don’t have to do much to exude eroticism. Their presence alone – especially in skin-tight black leather costumes – brings the heat. Even if Pattinson and Kravitz were wearing Uncle Baby Billy wigs and teeth, they would be hot. Like the leads in an erotic thriller, Batman and Catwoman are drawn together despite their differences and even though they know they are bad for each other. While Batman and Catwoman do not have sex on a bed of money, scenes between the two characters are shot up close and include shots of their mouths, which are desperate to touch. Longer shots place them against gorgeous city landscapes at the top of a building overlooking the dimly lit gothic architecture of Gotham at sunset or riding motorcycles through a graveyard.

Even The Batman’s supporting cast adds to the eroticism, albeit more subtly. Jeffrey Wright, who plays Batman’s literal bestie Lieutenant James Gordon, adds to the film’s sensuality with a muted but significant performance that adds a mystical element to the character. Wright’s performance calls to mind David Fincher’s Zodiac, another stunning crime thriller that has a similar sensuality due to its style and performances. John Turturro, whose effortless performance as the cruel but charismatic crime lord Carmine Falcone feels as if he made up his lines on the fly, is seductive and stunning in tinted glasses and standing over a pool table. Colin Farrell, meanwhile, is very ironically the antithesis of the film’s eroticism as the Penguin.

The Batman’s story, themes, characters, and technical elements make it more erotic thriller than superhero film. Although the film does not include any fucking, it suggests that its hero fucks, a sadly unique and new element to the genre. In doing so, the film plays with the idea that superhero movies (such as those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) do not have to be sexless copies of each other. The Batman is not only proof that a comic book movie can be sexy, but an indication that the long-gone genre that defined Hollywood in the 80s and the 90s is making a slow but sure comeback.

Olivia Rodrigo fans can’t get enough new music, and it turns out fans will get some when Rodrigo releases her Driving Home 2 U documentary/concert film on March 25: In a new Rolling Stone interview, she says the movie’s end credits will feature a previously unreleased song.

Rodrigo says of the track, “I was listening to some of them and heard it and thought, ‘Oh, it’s kinda good!’ With the film, I wanted people to have a new bit of Sour content with it.” Rolling Stone describes the tune as “a scrapped and still in-progress iPhone demo that still doesn’t have a name.”

Elsewhere, she explained the philosophy behind the film, saying, “For a year, I filmed a show [High School Musical: The Musical: The Series] in Salt Lake City. So I started writing there and ended writing and producing [the album] in LA. You get to see the beautiful scenic drive.”

That drive includes spots like the Mojave Airplane Boneyard and the Red Rock Canyon State Park.

The feature also notes in the film, Rodrigo performs with an all-female band and that most of it should be joining her on her upcoming tour. Rodrigo said, “I think it’s so cool to watch women in rock, and I feel like there’s probably not enough of that shown in the media.”

Find the full interview here.