Month: January 2023

SZA’s sophomore album SOS proves to be the gift that keeps on giving. Today (January 30), the album is No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Februrary 4, for a seventh total week.

With this latest feat, SOS becomes the first R&B/hip-hop album by a woman to top the Billboard 200 for seven weeks, since Whitney Houston’s 1987 album, Whitney, which spent 11 weeks on top upon its release.

SOS has spent the most weeks at No. 1 for any album by a woman since 2020, the last being Taylor Swift’s Folklore. It has also spent the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 within the span of a year for any album across all genres since the soundtrack to Disney’s 2021 film, Encanto.

Upon receiving the news, SZA took to her Instagram story to express her gratitude in a spiritual manner.

“7 is yemayas number,” she said. “I’m so thankful to everyone and God thank you.”

On this week’s top 10 is Swift’s Midnights, which placed at No. 2, now having spent its first 14 weeks in the top two. Trippie Redd’s Mansion Musik makes its debut at No. 3, and country-rock star Hardy’s The Mockingbird & The Crow arrives at No. 4, and Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains is now sitting at No. 5.

Drake & 21 Savage’s Her Loss, which temporarily dethroned Swift’s Midnights upon its release last November, is now at No. 6, pushing Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti to No. 7. Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album has fallen to No. 8, and “Something In The Orange” singer Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak album is now at No. 9. Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me, which became his third album to debut at No. 1 upon its release last year, is now sitting at No. 10.

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

The Last Of Us is one of TV’s early hits of 2023; The video game adaptation was renewed for a second season after just two episodes had aired. The third episode debuted last night and it has turned the spotlight onto Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame singer Linda Ronstadt, who was most professionally active from the late ’60s to the ’00s.

(Spoilers for the third episode of The Last Of Us are below.)

In the new episode (titled “Long Long Time”), Frank and Bill’s relationship is kicked into gear when the two of them play Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” together on an antique piano. Given the track’s prominent role in the episode, it got fans talking about Ronstadt, so much so that she became a trending topic on Twitter after the episode aired. Fans are happy to see Ronstadt get some renewed attention, especially when it comes to the streaming royalties that are surely coming her way.

Craig Mazin, series co-creator and episode writer, told IndieWire of choosing that song:

“I had the thought that this would happen, that there was a song that would be played, and that we would be surprised by who was good at it and who was bad at it. I remember saying to [series co-creator Neil Druckmann], ‘I’m not sure what the song is, I just know that it has to be this incredibly sad song about yearning for love, and never getting love, and just making your peace with the fact that you will always be alone. But it can’t be on the nose. And it can’t be a song that we all know.’”

I went through hours and hours and hours. And finally, I was like, ‘I know what to do: I’m going to text my friend Seth Rudetsky,’ who is a host on Sirius XM On Broadway, and has this encyclopedic knowledge of all music. I described what I needed and within 30 seconds, it was [incoming text noise] ‘Long, Long Time by Linda Ronstadt.’ I kinda remembered that song. I played it and was like, ‘Oh, my. There it is.’”

Listen to “Long, Long Time” and check out some more Ronstadt tweets below.

Linda Ronstadt is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are back to solve another whodunnit in the official trailer for Murder Mystery 2. Following up on the original action comedy, which proved to be a surprise hit for Netflix, the sequel finds the Spitzes attending an extravagant wedding, which quickly devolves into chaos following a murder and kidnapping. However, this time around the bumbling detective couple have some competition in the form of Mark Strong, who really seems like he knows what he’s doing.

More importantly, Murder Mystery 2 captures the magic of pairing veteran comedy pros like Sandler and Aniston and letting them do their thing for their third outing together.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Four years after solving their first murder mystery, Nick and Audrey Spitz (Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston) are now full-time detectives struggling to get their private eye agency off the ground when they’re invited to celebrate the wedding of their friend the Maharaja (Adeel Akhtar) on his private island. But trouble follows the Spitzes again when the groom is kidnapped for ransom soon after the festivities begin — making each glamorous guest, family member, and the bride herself a suspect. MURDER MYSTERY 2 sends Nick and Audrey Spitz on a high-stakes case that finally gives them everything they’ve ever dreamed of: a shot at their detective agency finally becoming successful… and their long-awaited trip to Paris.

Directed by Jeremy Garelick, Murder Mystery 2 also stars Mark Strong, Mélanie Laurent, Jodie Turner-Smith, Kuhoo Verma, with John Kani, and Dany Boon.

Murder Mystery 2 starts streaming March 31 on Netflix.

A Philly hometown hero joined the Philadelphia Eagles as they walked out into the stadium yesterday (January 29): Kicking off the NFC Championship game in which the Eagles took on the San Francisco 49ers, Lil Uzi Vert walked out with the Eagles as their hit single “Just Wanna Rock” played throughout.

Perhaps Uzi proved to be a good luck charm for the Eagles, as they ended up beating the 49ers 31 to 7. Next month, the Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LVII. That game will take place on Sunday, February 12, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game will broadcast live on Fox at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Uzi has always held their hometown close to their heart. Last year, during an interview with Jazzy’s World, they said that without Philly, there would be no Uzi: “I was always around a very different crowd, very diverse. […] It just made me who I am today and I really took from it. If it wasn’t for Philly, I wouldn’t be Uzi.”

Check out the clips of Uzi’s NFC Championship walkout with the Eagles above.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Back in 2018, Meghan Trainor, the musician and TV personality who has appeared on shows like The Voice and the new season of Australian Idol, married Daryl Sabara, the actor who is best known for playing Juni Cortez in the Spy Kids movies. In February 2021, Trainor gave birth to her and Sabara’s first child, a baby boy named Riley. Now, she is once again expecting and has a second kid on the way.

She made the announcement this morning (January 30) on Today, while making a virtual appearance on the show to announce/promote her upcoming book Dear Future Mama (the title being a play on her hit song “Dear Future Husband”). A minute into the segment, Hota Kotb opened a copy of the book they had in studio, which made the pregnancy announcement with photos of Trainor’s ultrasound taped to the inside of the book.

Trainor, who has a hit with her recent single “Made You Look,” also made an announcement post on Instagram:

She also recently shared a TikTok video of herself breaking the news to her family (but not yet revealing to her online audience what the news was):

Meanwhile, press materials describe Trainor’s upcoming book:

“Dear Future Mama, which will be released on April 25, 2023, with Harper Horizon, is a heartfelt and humorous guide for expectant mamas and their partners inspired by Meghan’s own journey into motherhood. The book also offers expert insights from Meghan’s own personal trainer, registered dietitian, husband, and ob-gyn.

Yes, pregnancy and motherhood are miracles — but even a miracle can freak you out sometimes. Dear Future Mama offers future mamas a place to relax, laugh out loud, and get the pep talk they need to know that they are absolutely not alone. No shame, no judgment — just straight talk (and laughs) from a bestie who’s been there. Trainor shares her TMI guide to the good, bad, and WTF of conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. The book includes advice about everything from ovulation apps to breastfeeding as well as Meghan’s personal stories about body image, mental health, and navigating her career path as a mother.”

We’re less than two weeks until Super Bowl LVII. The teams are set (go Chiefs), the halftime performer is booked, and the commercials are rolling in. For the eighth time, Avocados From Mexico, which Variety amusingly describes as “an entity created to promote the popular produce item,” ponied up the big bucks for an ad during the game. Last year, it was Andy Richter as Julius Caesar; this year, it’s naked Anna Faris as Eve in the Garden of Eden. I wonder which of the two will be more popular!

“When I realized that the wardrobe in my trailer was a tiny little thong and these jelly-like bra things, I guess they’re just nipple covers, I thought to myself, all right, this is what my beautiful day is going to look like,” the actress told People. “I felt really proud that I’m kind of at this place in life where I could spend a lot of time feeling modest and insecure, or I just embrace it.” The House Bunny star was surrounded by “other minimally dressed young, very beautiful people,” so “I just thought, I’m just accepting this is just rad.”

A 30-second ad during Super Bowl LVII went for $7 million, plus however much the avocados cost. Probably another $7 million what with inflation these days. That’s why Faris is naked: there was no wardrobe budget.

The commercial hasn’t been released online yet, but you can watch a teaser here.

(Via People)

Back in December 2022, Shania Twain took the stage at the People’s Choice Awards to perform a medley of her hits. When it came to “You Don’t Impress Me Much” and the famous lyric about Brad Pitt, Twain made a shift. Instead of Pitt, she referenced a different actor, one who was in the audience that night: “OK, so you’re Ryan Reynolds: That don’t impress me much,” she sang.

Reynolds was pretty pumped about it, writing in an Instagram Story shortly after, “This may be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Now, Pitt has offered a reaction of his own.

During a recent Babylon press junket, he was asked how he felt after Reynolds “stole his thunder” in Twain’s performance and he responded, “He didn’t steal it. I think we can share the wealth there. Yeah, Ryan’s a good egg, too. He deserves some love. I think they ought to pass it on down, and next time she ought to sing it to Austin Butler… maybe Leo [DiCaprio] in between and then Austin Butler.”

Meanwhile, Twain recently spoke about how it felt posing topless for a cover photo, saying, “I think the best fashion is confidence, and whatever you wear — if you’re wearing it with that, it’s fashionable. I am a woman in my late 50s, and I don’t need to hide behind the clothes. I can’t even tell you how good it felt to do nude shooting. I was just so unashamed of my new body, you know, as a woman that is well into my menopause. I’m not even emotional about it; I just feel OK about it. It’s really liberating.”

Yesterday was the NFL AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals, with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs emerging victorious and earning a trip to the Super Bowl. There was something tucked into the broadcast for music fans, too, though: an on-air promo revealed that Harry Styles has been added to the performance lineup at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

He joins a performance lineup that already included Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy, Lizzo, Kim Petras, and Sam Smith. The show is set to start on February 5 (this upcoming Sunday) at 8 p.m. ET.

Styles has plenty of reasons to be in the building, as aside from his performance, he’s nominated for six Grammys: Record Of The Year (“As It Was”), Album Of The Year (Harry’s House), Song Of The Year (“As It Was”), Best Pop Solo Performance (“As It Was”), Best Pop Vocal Album (Harry’s House), and Best Music Video (“As It Was”).

Let’s hope Styles’ performance goes better than some nights of his current tour have. Just a few days ago, for example, he split has pants on stage and in front of childhood crush Jennifer Aniston, no less.

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

For the third time in the last four seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to the Super Bowl. Kansas City got a measure of revenge on the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon, as the Chiefs avenged last year’s AFC Championship Game loss by picking up a thrilling, 23-20 win over Joe Burrow’s team.

This marked the first time that Burrow lost to the Chiefs, as he entered the game 3-0 in his career. It led to a joke getting cracked approximately a billion times in the lead-up to the game, as Kansas City’s home building — GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium — was called Burrowhead Stadium. Well, apparently, the Chiefs head this a few times (in fairness, it would have been very hard to not hear it), and immediately after the game, Travis Kelce interrupted Patrick Mahomes’ postgame press conference to get something off his chest.

“Burrowhead my ass!” Kelce exclaimed. “Wooooooo! It’s Mahomes’ house!”

Kelce was not done, as he called out Cincinnati’s mayor after he released a video attempting to talk trash in the lead-up to the game.

Mahomes took a slightly more reserved approach but he, too, acknowledged he heard the Burrowhead bit.

“This team, man, we played together,” Mahomes said. “I said it from the beginning, when we were in the locker room, I said we got to be together. And this team stepped up against a great football team, and we showed this place, it’s Arrowhead, it’s not Burrowhead out here.”

[This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode three]

The Last of Us did the unthinkable: it made me care for a conspiracy theory-obsessed survivalist.

Episode three of the HBO series, “Long Long Time,” largely sidelined Joel and Ellie heading west in favor of introducing Bill (played by Parks and Recreation star Nick Offerman) and Frank (The White Lotus favorite Murray Bartlett). They have the cutest of meet cutes: Frank falls into one of Bill’s traps outside of his otherwise deserted compound. It’s a familiar story from there: Bill threatens to shoot and kill Frank if he doesn’t leave, but instead ends up making him dinner. By the end of the night, they’re playing Linda Ronstadt songs on the piano and having sex. Twenty years later, they’re still together.

It’s a lovely, emotional episode, with incredible casting. The Last of Us co-showrunner Craig Mazin was inspired by another prestige drama when he offered the part of Frank to Offerman. “Well, I remember Vince Gilligan, who is, you know, even though I’ve never taken a class with Professor Gilligan, I’m happy enough to know him, and I’ve studied his work,” he told TV Insider. “And one of the things that Vince Gilligan has always said is when in doubt, hire funny people, cast funny people.”

Bryan Cranston going from Malcolm in the Middle to Breaking Bad is the definitive example of this, but Offerman (who was also excellent in Devs) entered the funny guy-in-a-dramatic role pantheon after one episode — and only one episode, as Frank and Bill decide take their lives on the same day. “You were my purpose.”

“Long Long Time” (named after the Ronstadt song) has people emotional.