Month: January 2023

Ariana Grande returned as a guest judge on season premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race. On Friday (January 6), the pop superstar made quite the entrance dressed as a past drag queen icon. She also had invaluable advice for the contestants.

The season 15 premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race was split into two episodes. When the first batch of drag queens entered the Werk Room, Grande made a surprise entrance of her own. She channeled season six contestant Vivacious who had made her entrance with the foam head Ornacia. Grande donned an outfit that was similar to Vivacious’ iconic look with an Ornacia of her own. “Mother has arrived!” Grande said just like Vivacious eight years ago.

While meeting the drag queens, Grande talked about the first time she appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race during season seven in 2015. She filmed her episode right after shooting the “Bang Bang” music video with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, so she felt exhausted and didn’t get to fully enjoy the experience. Grande encouraged them to embrace the moment. She also highlighted the important work that drag queens are doing for LGBTQ+ representation around the world.

“I think drag is the most infectious and joyous art form that there is,” Grande said. “Thank you guys for bringing so much joy to the lives of the Drag Race fans and to everyone.”

While hanging with RuPaul, Grande added that she was excited to be a part of the season premiere and that her “p*ssy was on fire.” She also took pride in saying RuPaul’s catchphrase: “Good luck and don’t f*ck it up!”

Grande appeared on the second episode of the season premiere as well. Amethyst and Irene Dubois ended up as the bottom two drag queens of the week. They had to Lipsync For Their Lives to Grande’s smash hit “7 Rings.” Amethyst was deemed safe to stay for another week while Dubois became the first drag queen to sashay away this season.

M3GAN is sweeping the nation. The Gerard Johnstone-directed film centers around “a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally,” according to the film’s official synopsis. The murderous, terrifying doll was designed by a roboticist named Gemma (Allison Williams) and voiced by Jenna Davis — and the latter has a song on the official soundtrack.

In the movie, M3GAN’s chosen lullaby to serenade Cady (Violet McGraw) with is “Titanium” (as analyzed by The Daily Beast). The 2011 hit by David Guetta featuring Sia peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 over a decade ago, and apparently, one of M3GAN’s underrated abilities is that of reviving a dance-pop earworm.

Previously, at the December world premiere of M3GAN in Los Angeles, the titular doll aligned herself with Taylor Swift. More specifically, eight M3GAN-looking dancers made “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” way creepier than Swift likely ever intended. There was also some Meghan McCain discourse sparked by McCain tweeting, “I feel personally attacked by this movie and the entire premise.”

M3GAN hit theaters on Friday, January 6, and debuted with $30 million across North American box offices, per Variety. The full official soundtrack from Anthony Willis can be found here.

Coming into the 2022 NFL season, the Arizona Cardinals spent a lot of money locking in their quarterback, head coach, and GM to longterm deals. Kyler Murray inked a massive extension, while Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim each re-upped through 2027, as they were coming off of an 11-win season and a Wild Card appearance.

Exiting this season, the Cardinals are in disarray after a 4-13 campaign that saw them take steps back in just about every area, particularly on offense where Kingsbury is supposed to bring his expertise. After such a poor showing, the Cardinals decided on Monday they couldn’t bring Kingsbury back, firing him despite the long extension he just signed after a 28-37-1 record with the team through four seasons as head coach.

Along with Kingsbury, Keim will also depart Arizona, citing health concerns that forced him to take a leave during the season, meaning the Cardinals will be restarting in total with their lead decision makers in 2023.

The Cardinals now join the Texans (who fired Lovie Smith on Sunday night after he led the Texans to a Week 18 win that cost them the No. 1 pick in the Draft), Broncos, and Panthers as teams currently seeking new head coaches. With Kyler Murray likely out for most, if not all, of next season after tearing his ACL late in the season, it’s going to be a reset year in Arizona next season, as they’ll focus on retooling the roster and bringing in a new staff with an eye on 2024 as a big bounce back when Murray is fully healthy.

As for Kingsbury, his future will be interesting to watch as he never seemed to have the best handle on NFL head coaching duties, but would have plenty of suitors for his services as an offensive coordinator at the pro level as well as prospects to return to the college level as a head coach.

After years of #SixSeasonsAndAMovie seeming more like a myth and less like a prophecy, we finally got confirmation that there would in fact be a Community movie in the works. And now it seems like they are actually about to film it, so they can’t back down now, right?

Joel McHale recently stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his new Fox series Animal Control so, naturally, Kimmell brought out a bunch of dangerous animals to celebrate. Comedians! Don’t you love ’em? While they were messing around with real-life animals, Kimmell brought up the figurative elephant in the room–the Community movie.

Kimmel mentioned the monkey that was used in Community, prompting McHale to let everyone know that they are gearing up to film this summer. “We are, we’re making the Community movie in June, so… Thanks for remembering,” he confirmed.

Of course, McHale didn’t give any more information about the highly-anticipated movie, though he did say, “I can say Ken Jeong’s gonna be in it.” Hopefully, Jeong will get some time off from The Masked Singer. It might be good to put that show on the back burner for a little while.

Community aired from 2009 to 2015 and starred Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Jim Rash, Donald Glover, and Yvette Nicole Brown. While not all of the cast will be involved in the upcoming movie, it seems like they are doing their best to get everyone back together….besides Chevy Chase.

(Via Collider)

The Nets won their 18th game out of their last 20 on Sunday night in a 102-101 thriller over the Heat, but all eyes were on Kevin Durant and his longterm health after the star left with a right knee injury late in the third quarter after Jimmy Butler fell into him on a drive.

Durant missed time around this same portion of last season, having to relinquish his All-Star spot due to a knee injury, and the hope was simply that he had avoided anything major. On Monday morning, the Nets announced the results of an MRI which provided a brief sense of relief as Durant had suffered an “isolated MCL sprain” that would keep him out for at least two weeks, with a re-evaluation scheduled for late January.

That is, all things considered, a positive update on the 34-year-old who is in the midst of another MVP caliber season. One would expect Brooklyn to proceed cautiously with Durant, leaning on their recent hot streak to provide them with some cushion to give KD as long a runway as possible before his return — and also likely see some injury management absences on back-to-backs after he returns. In the meantime, Brooklyn will have to lean even more on Kyrie Irving and Jacque Vaughn will likely need to shuffle his rotation to lean more on some of his offensive-minded role players a bit more until Durant comes back.

As M3GAN blows past its box office projections, making her the new creepily dancing murder doll of the moment, writer Akela Cooper is already teasing an unrated cut that will reportedly up the body count far past the PG-13 version that’s currently playing in theaters. However, Cooper makes it clear right off of the bat that she’s totally fine with the theatrical version and she fully respects Universal for knowing they had a hit on their hands.

“No shade to Universal, love them, and I understand that once the trailer went viral, teenagers got involved and you want them to be able to see it,” Cooper said before teasing that an unrated cut could be arriving soon. She also revealed that she didn’t hold back on dropping any of the characters. Via The Los Angeles Times:

There should be an unrated version at some point. … I heard it is on the books. But yes, it was way gorier. Her body count in the script was higher than in the movie. It wasn’t a Gabriel [in ‘Malignant’]-scale massacre, but she did kill a bunch more people, including a couple of characters whom James was like, “I like what you did with those people, but I want them to live.” I was merciless, but again, that is me. My humor is extremely dark.

Despite January being a dumping ground for movies, M3GAN managed to trail just behind Avatar: The Way of Water to come in second at the box office for its opening weekend. The film was only projected to $17-20 million in box office. Instead, M3GAN racked up $30.2 mil, and naturally, a sequel is already in early development.

M3GAN is currently playing in theaters.

(Via The Los Angeles Times)

When you’ve lost Fox News’ Sean Hannity, that’s a sure sign that a good chunk of the GOP support could go with him. That’s the dilemma that Lauren Boebert now faces after Hannity called her out (last week) over her very public opposition to Rep. Kevin McCarthy becoming House Speaker. As it turns out, McCarthy did take the gavel after 15 rounds of voting, which means that this mess swallowed up most of the week on the House floor. A divided GOP did entertain social media, but also, it was a lot.

In the middle were two controversial lawmakers, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, who eventually did flip their votes. Boebert, especially, showed herself to be willing to keep the clock running. To say that many lawmakers felt fed up would be an understatement, given that they flat-out jeered when she attempted to give a speech instead of voting. There are shades of Ted Cruz’s fake filibustering here, which isn’t the best vibe to aim for. In an AP report also published by one of Boebert’s nearly-hometown papers, The Denver Post, some of her constituents sound like they’re over her:

“Tone down the nasty rhetoric on occasion and just stick with the point at hand,” said [Debbie] Hartman, 65, a veterinary tech assistant.

…..

“She tapped into what Trump was doing, and she maybe took it too far in some instances,” said Alex Mason, 27, adding that Boebert, whom he supports, is still more tactful than former President Donald Trump.

In response, Boebert issued some statements, which included acknowledging that her “slim victory” had an effect, which was that “it opened my eyes to another chance to do everything that I’ve been promising to do.” As well, she re-upped her recent swing at those “space lasers,” meaning that she fired a shot at Marjorie Taylor Greene’s propensity for spreading conspiracy theories.

“I have been asked to explain MTG’s beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. … I’m just not going to go there,” Boebert declared (although it’s unclear whether she was prompted to do so). “She wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it.”

Boebert also added this perception of her critics: “Look at your election, are you going to tone it down, little girl?” So, she does not appear to be toning it down. In fact, she’s doing the opposite.

(Via Denver Post, Associated Press & CNN)

On Valentine’s Day in 2017, Lola Brooke quit her job as a hotel worker. In her own words, she did it all for “the love of the music.” A day dedicated to expressing appreciation and commitment toward someone you love is one that Brooke used to embrace her burning passion and begin a new chapter that had no telling where it would bring her. Truthfully, the Lola Brooke we know today might not have existed if not for her mother who pushed her to pursue her passion. “She told me to leave my job,” Brooke says about her mother over a Zoom call before speaking about the first time she heard her rap. “She was like, ‘One day I sat down and I was like wait, she is really rapping,’” Brooke recalls. “Then after I was telling her, ‘Ma, I really want to go for it but this job is stressful. I can’t really get into my creativity knowing that I have to make it to work on time in the morning.” Her mother’s response? “You might as well leave.” She also promised to support and lift her daughter’s dreams. “I got you if you need some help, you’ll be aight,” she added. “Just leave, this is your dream. Go for it.”

Lola Brooke did as her mother said and she never looked back.

Almost six years later, Brooke is one of hip-hop’s most exciting newcomers who overflows with potential and shines with riveting spirit for the genre. Need proof? Just look to the weekend before Christmas when A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie brought Brooke out as a special guest during his concert in Connecticut. Brooke sprinted out from stage left to roars from the crowd of 8,000 people as her hit song “Don’t Play With It” blasted from the speakers, along with the crowd who recited it word for word. She was all but fazed by the moment, in fact, she went head-on at it. She pierced through the performance with combative energy and a stage presence that left you to say “damn!” in the end.

“On the way there, I remember somebody saying ‘arena,’ something like that,” Lola says. “So I’m excited from that alone.” In the end, her performance and the moment it was granted her everything that she asked for. “I had fun,” she adds. “It was a good experience. I always said to myself that all I ever wanted was to be in an arena and hear the audience recite my lyrics. So that was one of my goals that I got off my bucket list.”

Lola Brooke’s success in 2022 allowed her to check off plenty from her bucket list. Much of her achievements are tied to “Don’t Play With It,” her hit song that caught fire in the second half of 2022 despite its original release coming the year prior. Brooke’s trademark aggression and fearless raps are live and direct on the track, one she used to air out frustrations about her career at the time. “I was being overlooked!” she says. “Since a little girl I’ve been saying that I wanted to be this entertainer. Sometimes you get discouraged because when you don’t receive the good feedback [that you wanted], it just means that you got to keep working.” Negative feedback wasn’t going to stop Brooke, and neither was the thought of competing. “[There’s] a lot of people that you going up against that want that same spotlight, so regardless if you’re not in competition with everybody else, the people will make you in competition with everybody else. So you got to find a way of being different so that you won’t get caught up in the drama and still win.”

While she undoubtedly wears her heart on her sleeve in the rap game, Brooke also wears Brooklyn on it as well. She’s called the city home for all of her life, and though her success may pull her to different corners of the world, she knows that some things will never change. “Brooklyn is in me, and I’m proud to wear that skin every day,” she boasts while also noting its undeniable presence in her music. “I write about what I see – who I am, and it all traces back to where I’m from,” she adds. “You have to visit Brooklyn to understand why I am how I am, the way I’m boisterous, the way I talk, the way I feel. That’s why I have tough skin, because of what I’ve seen or been through.”

So at every moment she can, Lola Brooke reminds us about how long she’s been putting in the work to stand in the spotlight she’s in now. “This is the same flow that I used in 2017,” she quips, for example, in her “Fire In The Booth” on Charlie Sloth’s Apple Music radio show. Win or lose, there was no stopping Lola Brooke, even when others tried to knock her off her spot. “Music is made to make you feel good,” Brooke notes as she reflects on the hard times. “I had to remember that because in the beginning — I’ve always felt like that — but some people they come in and they just want to have a voice just to say that there’s a reason you did something.” Knowing how to control and value the outside noise and not let it affect her too much, proved to be essential for her mindset and staying leveled. “People always want to be a part of your story, but it’s not just being a part of the story, you have to actually help me through the process.”

As for what’s next in the process, Brooke confirmed a project is in the works for 2023, but as for a more specific timeframe, well, that’ll be up to her fans to help her determine. “I’m gonna let my fans choose that energy,” she says. “Imma feel it from my fans to know that yes, it is time to put out a project.” Outside of music, however, her goals for the year are clear. “I just really want to buy my family a big house so that we could just all be in one place at one time every time I come home from work.”

Just a few days after I spoke to Brooke, she earned herself another highlight moment for 2022. Future brought her out as a guest at his Barclays Center concert (another arena) in her hometown of Brooklyn. Just as we saw during her appearance at A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s concert, Brooke had to crowd in the palm of her hands in Barclays. Stage presence, energy, and crowd control; it was all there without a flaw or misstep. There’s a saying that goes as follows: “once you’re lucky, twice you’re good.” The proof is in the pudding and Lola Brooke is certainly the latter.

“I got a lot in store,” Brooke says toward the end of our conversation. “Just don’t play with her. It’s always gonna be don’t play with her, no matter what I do. That’s it.”

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Before football fans everywhere learned of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, he had founded a brand and non-profit organization — both named Chasing Millions. One of his clothing designs boasted the phrase, “Love Me B4 They All Do.” The 24-year-old Pittsburgh native never could have imagined that he’d become a household name by suffering cardiac arrest on the field during the first quarter of last week’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, and Hamlin probably prefers it didn’t happen this way, but he also doesn’t intend to waste his newfound platform.

Since last week, Hamlin’s annual Chasing M’s toy drive has received over $8.5 million in donations as he slowly recovers in the ICU at the UC Medical Center in Cincinnati. By Thursday, January 5, Hamlin had awoken and “demonstrated that he appears to be neurologically intact.” The doctors caring for him held a press conference later in the day and additionally relayed that Hamlin had been able to communicate via written word, and the first thing he did was ask, “Did we win?”

Hamlin’s lungs were healed enough to have his breathing tube removed on Friday, January 6, allowing him to FaceTime his Bills teammates and tell them he loved them. The following day, Hamlin soaked up love from Meek Mill and Michael Rubin — like Hamlin, they’re known for their philanthropic efforts — on Saturday, January 7. Rubin tweeted that the call “made my year.”

The NFLPA separately shared an Instagram Reel recapping all of the league-wide tributes, appropriately soundtracked by Meek Mill’s “Hot” featuring Moneybagg Yo and reposted by Meek to his Instagram Story.

Saturday also saw Hamlin post his first public messages since the near-fatal event, which continued into Sunday, January 8, when the Bills defeated the New England Patriots in their regular-season finale. Hamlin watched the game from his hospital bed. He announced newly designed “Did We Win?” tees, with the proceeds going toward first responders and the UC Trauma Center.

See some of Hamlin’s recent posts below.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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 Drake bless the new year with a feature and Quavo mourn a tragic loss. 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.

Popcaan — “We Caa Done” Feat. Drake

Drake had a massive 2022 with both Honestly, Nevermind and Her Loss, but here in the first days of 2023, he’s not taking his foot off the gas. Popcaan and Drake blessed the first new music Friday of the year with “We Caa Done,” a warm new dancehall tune that comes with a Kevin Durant-featuring video.

Quavo — “Without You”

The last few months have been tough for Migos and associates after the November death of Takeoff. Offset and Quavo have offered occasional looks at how they’ve been doing since that tragic day, and now Quavo has done so through music via “Without You,” on which he grieves, “Tears rolling down my eyes / Can’t tell you how many times I cried / Days ain’t the same without you.”

Skrillex, Fred Again.., and Flowdan — “Rumble”

In terms of albums, the last we heard from Skrillex was his 2014 debut album Recess. That was about nine years ago now, but he’s getting ready to drop a new project this year. He previewed it last week with “Rumble,” a brief team-up with Fred Again.. and Flowdan. But that’s not all…

Skrillex, PinkPantheress, and Trippie Redd — “Way Back”

…as he also came through with another collaboration, a team-up with PinkPantheress and Trippie Redd dubbed “Way Back.” It’s another quick-hitter, a two-minute tune that is carried by PinkPantheress’ serene verse over a gentle-but-rapid-fire instrumental.

Ice Spice — “In Ha Mood”

Ice Spice ended 2022 as one of the hottest emerging rappers in the game and now she starts 2023 by keeping up the intrigue with another new drop, “In Ha Mood.” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes of the tune, “Complete with a drill beat and R&B-sounding vocal samples, Ice maintains a fiery flow throughout, as she reiterates her confidence.”

2KBaby — “Don’t Love Me Now” Feat. Charlieonnafriday

Speaking of rising rappers, 2KBaby also started out the year with some heat, linking up with Charlieonnafriday on “Don’t Love Me Now.” On the song, as Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes, Baby “teams up with singer Charlieonafriday to address his doubters, haters, and naysayers, noting that he made it this far without their support.”

French Montana and DJ Drama — “The Oath” Feat. Chinx

After the holiday new music lull, it usually takes a minute for the music world to get some momentum going again. French Montana got things going last week, though, with the collaborative DJ Drama mixtape Coke Boys 6. Tragically, the release was overshadowed by a shooting on his music video set that reportedly had ten victims.

Russ — “Put You On Game”

More than most rappers, Russ has done a terrific job at forging his own path and making things happen for himself. So, aspiring MCs would be served by listening to his advice, of which he has plenty on “Put You On Game“: “Lemme put you on game / Don’t listen to people who lose, or you’ll do the same / Stop talkin’ to people who don’t give a f*ck what you say / Stop spendin’ your money on weed, go hop on a plane / Stop pointin’ the finger and start takin’ some of the blame.”

Queen Naija — “Let’s Talk About It”

Let’s leave f*ckboys behind in 2022. That seems to be a stance Queen Naija can get behind, anyway, like on her new song, “Let’s Talk About It.” She says on the track, “Always think you know it all / You don’t know what’s best for you / Why you scared of therapy? / Probably can’t accept the truth,” and the video is even more direct.

White Reaper — “Pink Slip”

In a recent interview, White Reaper’s Tony Esposito told Uproxx of the band’s upcoming album Asking For A Ride, “There were definitely lots of times when I was like, ‘What’s the point of even doing this?’ Like, as soon as we make a decision, we’re going to get some email that’s going to blow everything up and push it back another month. And that just happened time and time again. Like I said, it was dark times there for a minute, but I’m glad that we stuck it out and finished, because it feels great now.”

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