Month: February 2023

NBA fortunes and outlooks move swiftly. A week ago, the Phoenix Suns were floundering without Devin Booker and trounced by the Atlanta Hawks, 132-100, at home on national television. A week later, Booker is back in the lineup after a six-week absence because of a groin injury, Phoenix has won three in a row and sits fourth in the West, and superstar wing Kevin Durant is en route to the Valley.

Late Wednesday night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Suns were acquiring Durant and TJ Warren in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks and a 2028 first-round swap.

The move instantly shifts Phoenix from a middling Western Conference club jockeying for homecourt advantage to among the West’s elite. Averaging 29.7 points (67.3 percent true shooting), 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, Durant’s performed like an MVP candidate when healthy this season. He’s one of the five or so best players in the league and amidst the first year of a four-year, $194 million deal.

Phoenix will probably be shaky until Durant returns from a sprained MCL post-All-Star Break, but the West’s jumbled nature is a boon for its ability to stay afloat in the interim. When the 13-time All-Star does eventually don Suns purple and orange, his widespread talent will be an obvious windfall. More than that, though, his specific skillset addresses many needs that confronted Phoenix during its last two playoff defeats.

Broadly, the team relied far too much on Chris Paul’s pick-and-roll creation, which was stunted by the Dallas Mavericks last year and the Milwaukee Bucks two years ago. Rangy defenders took away his pull-up jumpers and passing windows. The pockets of space he covets and exploits dissipated. Both teams exploited his insufficient lateral movement defensively and attacked him in space on or off the ball. The Suns didn’t have a better option and needed to squeeze whatever offensive juice it could from his game, so it tried to weather his shortcomings.

Dallas’ exquisite hedging on Booker’s patented handoffs bothered him over the second half of the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals as well. Phoenix was left to keep trusting him because the alternative, Paul, could barely handle on-ball work at that juncture in the series. Booker’s a very good scorer and playmaker, but has gaps in his arsenal and the Mavericks pinpointed them.

Durant remedies those conundrums. Booker is not the lone legitimate creator anymore, nor is he the leading one; containing his DHOs will be second on the to-do list moving forward. Bridges is a stupendous role player, but the emphasis to bestow him grander on-ball duties this year stemmed from previous failures and spoke to the roster’s offensive limitations, though he displayed considerable progress the past few months.

Paul, who remains a brilliant passer, can drift into an even larger table-setter role and avoid being tasked with full-fledged initiating. He’s hoisting catch-and-shoot threes at his highest rate (11.9 percent) since NBA.com started tracking them in 2013-14 and has netted a sizzling 54.5 percent of them. His overall three-point rate this year (.400) is only exceeded by his two seasons with the Houston Rockets. As he presumably steps aside for Durant and Booker against stingy playoff defenses and continues to age, that subtle growth is worth monitoring.

Flowing off of pindowns, veer actions, ram screens, and other off-ball actions, Durant excels beginning possessions away from the play before commandeering things. Booker is similar. They’re by no means a one-to-one comparison, but there is undoubtedly significant overlap in some of their tendencies and deployment. Durant’s history operating alongside proficient off-ball scorers in Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry should accelerate his tango with Booker a bit. His own on-ball talents will enable Booker to be selective in his creation reps whereas Paul’s issues against Dallas and Milwaukee in the playoffs stripped away that optionality.

Much like ancillary cogs in Bridges or Paul were prone to let Booker boogie off the ball before punctuating possessions, Royce O’Neale and Ben Simmons often served a similar purpose for Durant. The two star scorers love operating on the move, most notably around pindown screens, and leveraging their high release point against mismatches. That transition will be seamless for Durant and the Suns as they become accommodated with one another’s inclinations.

Not only that, but he’s well-versed in operating out of Chicago action, Delay series, and Wide action. The Suns and Nets trust their bigs to facilitate these sets. Whereas Booker typically functioned as the handoff/screen recipient, Durant has the size and shooting chops to replace Bridges or Johnson as his pick man. Of course, he’ll fill Booker’s role regularly, but there’s a duality to his prowess. While he’s not the movement shooter of Johnson, his off-the-bounce jazz is far superior. The ethos of how Phoenix and Brooklyn utilize them are similar, albeit not identical in arrangement.

Durant eases the burden for Booker and Paul, and exponentially heightens the potency of this offense. That much is evident. He’s also comfortable fading into a smaller designation and enhancing sets with his off-ball game akin to Bridges and Johnson. Due to the sheer fact he is unable to be two players at once, he won’t mitigate the entirety of their departures. That said, he’s primed to periodically assume their jobs as floor-spacers, screeners, cutters, and secondary ball-handlers. He’s cozy working from the corner and reading defenses, a la Bridges. He’s a dynamite spot-up threat (98th percentile in points per possession, per Synergy), a la Johnson. He can puncture reckless closeouts as a driver or pull-up sniper, a la Bridges and Johnson. Booker and Paul will still garner their touches. When they do, Durant’s value won’t be erased. He’ll plug a hole elsewhere.

I’m curious to see how much of Bridges’ secondary scoring usage he gleans, given their commonalities as lanky wings with high release points and deft midrange touch. Bridges saw a good deal of focal point opportunities spearheading bench-heavy units. Those opportunities could be Durant’s in an array of manners, as well as posting mismatches like Booker and Bridges are known to do.

His potential as weakside release valve, popper in Double Drag and early offense angle pick-and-roll screener for Paul entice me. Bridges performed all three responsibilities. The nuance and timing of these plays were qualities Bridges mastered. It may be a bit before Durant settles in as snugly as Bridges did. He also has a much bigger margin for error in certain regards because he’s an all-time great.

Durant is a simple fit in so much of the Suns’ base schematic principles. They love to run sets from the elbows and out of Horns, areas in which he’s experienced. A bunch of Spain pick-and-roll variations are in the playbook. Aforementioned actions like Double Drag, Delay, and Chicago are mainstays; Durant is fluent there.

Exit screens as a primary choice or to grease up Paul-Deandre Ayton pick-and-rolls are common. To what degree can Booker or Durant emulate Johnson and Bridges as a movement shooter in those situations? Surely, opponents will worry as much about them as they did Johnson and Bridges. At least, that’s the hope for Phoenix, though not a make-or-break component of this partnership’s success by any stretch.

The former MVP also provides sought-after frontcourt creation and mismatch scoring. Ayton’s mercurial scoring approach presents problems when switches neutralize Paul and/or Booker. Bridges isn’t that level of bucket-getter at the moment either, despite his improvements. I like screening actions involving two of Booker, Durant, and Paul. The latter seems to be used more as a screener this season, but both he and Booker are quite good at it.

Booker and Durant will be a headache to switch against. Bigger defenders will grapple with Booker’s burst, deceleration, and quick vertical pop. Smaller defenders will wrestle with Durant’s blend of size, shooting, and mobility. The possibility of second-side actions involving Durant or Booker as Paul, Booker/Durant, and Ayton potentially lead the strong-side is intriguing.

Off-ball screening, such as flex actions or pindowns, between Durant and Booker hints at bountiful results, too. Delay sets where Durant sets a flare screen on the wing for Booker and they swing into an angle ball-screen could be a doozy for defenses. Capitalizing on their immense gravity and keen screen usage, while Paul’s historically good passing and processing locates ideal openings, feels paramount to maximizing all of them together.

Snug pick-and-rolls involving Durant and Ayton should be a feature. Durant is a stellar interior passer and developed rapport with Nicolas Claxton and Andre Drummond the past two years. He could amplify Ayton, foster synergy and render his play-finishing less dependent on Paul, whose on-ball aptitude has declined in recent years at key spots.

The Suns didn’t leave the 2021 and 2022 playoffs ringless solely because of offensive foibles. Its defensive rating against the Mavericks was 114.3. Its defensive rating against the Bucks a year prior was 114.9. Both marks were more than four points higher per 100 possessions than their regular season defensive ratings.

The existence of multiple rim protectors in the rotation has linked together some of the most effective postseason defenses over the past decade (2022 Warriors, 2021 Bucks, 2020 Lakers, for instance). The Suns didn’t holster that aspect until now. It was costly against dominant slashers, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Durant has been a sensational defender in a litany of avenues this season. I broke it all down a month ago here.

Among his exploits is secondary rim protection. Players are shooting 8.2 percent worse than their average within 6 feet of the basket when Durant is the primary defender. No longer is Ayton the lone representative on the backline. That’s a huge addition.

Durant isn’t of Bridges’ ilk as a perimeter stopper, particularly when wiggling around screens, but he’s quite good nonetheless. His 7-foot-5 wingspan allows him to slink off assignments without removing himself from their airspace. He’s constantly deterring or influencing shots against high-level dudes and touts dexterous limbs.

At their apex, Bridges and Ayton formed a premier defensive connection together. Durant and Ayton’s imprint will unfold differently and probably not as productively. Yet it could still trouble a bunch of good offenses if Ayton reaches pre-2022-23 levels again.

Durant’s a very good on-ball defender who does it across the positional spectrum, which bodes well with the Suns frequently switching 1-4. He even dabbles in the small-ball 5 world while retaining big man traits defensively. They shouldn’t be hesitant to embrace that wrinkle occasionally.

Durant’s arrival bolsters the Suns substantially. I do, however, wonder how they fill out the backend of the rotation — although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them be a player on the soon-to-be robust buyout market given their sudden stature as a favorite for players to hunt a ring with.

Torrey Craig, Damion Lee, Cameron Payne, TJ Warren, Darius Bazley, Jock Landale and Bismack Biyombo (among others) isn’t a group flush with trusty playoff players to construct spots 5-9. I don’t want to harp on that too much, but it’s a question to answer. People beyond Durant, Booker, Paul, and Ayton still have to absorb minutes and not be completely over their head deep into the playoffs.

Williams has gravitated toward bench-heavy units. Those must be exiled. Depth wasn’t a strongsuit of the roster before acquiring Durant. It’s very much not now. Constantly keeping two of the Big Four on the court and deciphering how to best stagger their minutes is imperative.

Nothing is ever perfect when building an NBA roster. That’s why winning a title is so rare and arduous. These are, though, the sorts of ambiguities a playoff team will gladly welcome to bring in Durant, a malleable megastar who reopens the Suns’ championship window and dramatically reshapes their identity for the better.

Get ready for one of those Hollywood stories that’s deeply satisfying and not at all surprising. Pam Grier has been legit since day one, so it’s no shock that she took her swagger into a meeting with the Broccoli family and other Bond producers when they were casting Octopussy and asked them to do better. Although initially reluctant to even take the meeting, Grier showed up and requested the character she was set to play be more than eye candy.

“What am I going to do? Am I going to help rescue him? Is he rescuing me? A Bond girl is an afterthought, a CliffsNote, perhaps,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “I asked, ‘Am I challenging Bond? Am I out to kill him? Will I kill him before he kills me?’ They hadn’t thought of that. I gave them other ideas, which were much more profound and interesting than what they were doing.”

This was a full decade after she’d established herself as an action star making Blaxploitation flicks, so taking on a conventional Bond girl role would have been like asking Arnold Schwarzenegger to sit still and look pretty.

The role ultimately went to Maud Adams, and while the character Octopussy was slightly more active and involved in the plot (as much as a character named Octopussy can be), the film was one of the more cartoonish installments, coasting on the fumes of the 1970s. The armchair agent here might say that being a Bond girl might have done wonders for Grier’s career at the time. But would it, really? Why? It might have seriously watered down her public persona.

On the other hand, it would have been wild in 1983 to watch Foxy Brown rescue James Bond. If only they’d listened.

(via Entertainment Weekly)

Trade deadline week in the NBA began fairly quietly, as aside from Kyrie Irving getting moved to Dallas, there wasn’t a lot of indication that a massive flurry of deals was on the horizon.

Fast forward to 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, and the league has seen a seismic shift, as nearly every team made moves ahead of the deadline, including some truly massive trades — none bigger than Kevin Durant getting moved to Phoenix, seven months after his initial trade request.

The truth of the matter is, I think a lot of teams did perfectly fine and I fully understand what they were doing. Those teams won’t get a full mention here, but a lot of the West teams like Minnesota, Utah, Memphis, L.A. (Clippers), Golden State, and Denver made moves I understand or even like, they just weren’t moves that I think change their position dramatically — the Clippers, particularly, were very active but I’m not sure how much better they got. There are others that stayed quiet and I understand why. Teams like Sacramento and Cleveland are happy to just keep the good vibes rolling in their locker rooms, particularly given they’re a touch ahead of schedule.

We tracked who went where already, but now it’s time to grade out who did the best, whose deadline moves didn’t make much sense, and who fell behind by simply doing nothing.

WINNERS

Phoenix Suns

When you add Kevin Durant to your team, you are a winner at the deadline. They certainly gave up some depth in the process, but they are now, pending Durant’s health, firmly back in the title contender realm. Not only were they deadline winners, but I’d expect them to be buyout market winners as well, because players who get bought out that are looking to title hunt will zero in on Phoenix now as the best place to do that. On top of what it means for this season, adding Durant is a signal from new owner Mat Ishbia that this is no longer a franchise that will be run the way Robert Sarver ran them. The Suns now have a monster luxury tax bill and he happily will eat that to have a team that can contend. That’s all fans can really ask for out of ownership — well, that and not to be a despicable human — and Suns fans have to be thrilled about the beginning of this new regime.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers did quite well at the deadline, and for all of the roster building mishaps under Rob Pelinka, he deserves some credit here for making a few solid moves. It was a problem of their own creation that they did not have shooters around LeBron James, but they at least realized that was a losing formula and addressed it in a big way. Almost everyone they brought in is a shooter, headlined by D’Angelo Russell’s return, and they also add some much needed defense and rebounding juice in the form of Jarred Vanderbilt. The center rotation is still a bit of a question mark, as I’m not much of a Mo Bamba believer, but if Thomas Bryant wanted out, they did fairly well to get a potential locker room issue out and bring in players who will at the very least want to be there and should fall in line. We’ll see what all they can do with this group, but they should be a play-in team in the West. That’s all you can ask for at this point, and with LeBron James, any shot at the postseason means you have a chance at something.

Milwaukee Bucks/Philadelphia 76ers/Boston Celtics

The Bucks, Sixers, and Celtics all made smaller moves, with Milwaukee’s acquisition of Jae Crowder being the splashiest of the three, but all of them are winners just by virtue of how the rest of the East failed to make any ground-shaking moves. The Bucks will hope Crowder can be this year’s PJ Tucker in a 3-and-D wing that bolsters their title hopes. The Sixers flipped Matisse Thybulle for Jalen McDaniels, who is a better offensive fit for what Philly needs. Boston adds some needed frontcourt depth in Mike Muscala, who can space the floor and provide some minutes to take the load off of Al Horford and Robert Williams in the regular season. All three got a bit better, while also seeing the Nets bow out of contender status and no one else really make a move that should threaten the status quo at the top of the East.

New York Knicks

The Knicks made a solid move by adding Josh Hart, which had former Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson very fired up. Hart brings another versatile wing defender, which Tom Thibodeau will love, and it’s certainly an upgrade over Cam Reddish, who was not really part of the rotation. There were rumblings they were discussing a Zach LaVine trade, but instead just let teams around them get a little bit worse and now have to feel very good about their chances of a top-6 spot in the East with Brooklyn now expected to tumble considerably in the standings.

Guys Who Didn’t Sell Their House

There are a lot of players getting reunited with their former teams this week — D’Angelo Russell with the Lakers, Spencer Dinwiddie in Brooklyn, Gary Payton II with the Warriors, George Hill in Indiana, Eric Gordon with the Clippers, TJ Warren in Phoenix, Bruno Fernando with the Hawks, and Jakob Poeltl in Toronto. If any of those guys held on to their homes or condos from their past stints in those cities, they are a winner because that will ease the stress on trade movement.

THE TORONTO RAPTORS TIER

Toronto Raptors

I genuinely don’t know what to think of the Raptors deadline. They got better on the court, because they added a very good center in Jakob Poeltl for a player who wasn’t part of the rotation in Khem Birch and some picks. They also were the team everyone figured would be sellers at the deadline, but instead became buyers and now have some awkward chemistry things to patch together after guys like OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Trent Jr. spent the last month-plus hearing their names in rumors. It seems that they’re banking on some other teams in the East getting worse (namely the Nets) and opening up a play-in spot for them, but they exist in their own tier given how wildly off script they went at the deadline.

LOSERS

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets held firm this summer after both of their stars tried to muscle their way out, but they apparently could not stop the inevitable from happening. I think they did fine in recouping some assets, particularly for Irving as did better than I expected given Kyrie’s off-court baggage and the fact that he’s a free agent at the end of the year. That said, any time you lose Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as the current 5-seed in the East, that is going to make you a loser. The roster is now a bit of a jumbled mess of wings because they made the Kyrie trade with still having KD in mind, only for KD to ask out (again) and them to have to get the best package possible from Phoenix, who only had wings to offer.

As such, they now have Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, Edmond Sumner, and Yuta Watanabe occupying the same two positions on the depth chart. That’s suboptimal, but it’ll be fascinating to see what Frankenstein lineups Jacque Vaughn pieces together for the second half of the season.

It’s fascinating to think how differently this would’ve gone had the Nets waited to find out where KD’s head was at after the Kyrie request, because it’s hard to imagine they’d have taken that Mavs offer over a more future-facing one knowing Durant also would get moved. Still, this isn’t a team that’s completely out of the play-in hunt given there’s still talent on the roster, albeit talent that doesn’t exactly fit together. Being unable to do more to clarify that situation on Thursday was, it feels like, a bit of a misstep, but they at least have a firm understanding of their future and no longer are beholden to the whims of their stars (until they trade for other ones with all those picks).

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls are in such a weird spot given they can’t actively tank because Orlando has their pick this year from the Nikola Vucevic trade, but the lack of activity from Chicago was still fairly surprising. This is a team that’s just got very little positive going for it and even just trying to shuffle something around could’ve brought a bit of freshness into the locker room. Instead, they stand pat and, while they’re still probably a play-in team, the complete lack of action at the deadline feels like punting on this season rather than trying to go in at least a slightly new direction, which isn’t inspiring for fans. That said, they didn’t make a panic move to make their cap or asset situation worse, so it’s not a disaster, just a disappointment.

John Collins

For the third straight year, John Collins remains with the Hawks through the deadline despite being on the block for months. The situation in Atlanta is not ideal for him and he’s on a contract that makes that production dip look even worse, which means if the Hawks are going to trade him, they have to do so for a package that makes them worse in the immediate. They aren’t willing to do that, which means we do this same song and dance over and over again. Collins’ biggest issue on the market is he’s a player that’s not a plug-and-play in any system or situation, and as such it further narrows the scope to find teams that will be interested in him.

I’m not putting the Hawks as a loser because they didn’t sell low on him and make themselves worse, although they also didn’t do anything to get better, but Collins has to be pretty tired of being dangled in trade talks only to have to continue playing on a team he doesn’t really fit on.

Houston Rockets/Charlotte Hornets/Detroit Pistons

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not even sure how much of this is a trade deadline issue or more that it reminded me how bleak the outlook feels for these teams outlook right now, which is why I’m just lumping them all together. All three are in play for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson, holding three of the four worst records in the NBA. However, that’s going to be a 14 percent chance at best, and all three teams made moves at the deadline that were just…confusing. For Houston in particular, at some point you have to start learning how to win — something they proved again on Wednesday night is just not a strength right now — and nothing they did at the deadline can address that and they didn’t exactly add considerable assets. The Rockets finally moved Eric Gordon and got a pick-swap out of it (as they can now swap their Milwaukee pick with L.A.’s, which should gain them at least a few spots in the 20s), but will buyout two of the four players they added at the deadline.

Brian Windhorst said it in a more blunt manner:

The Hornets’ situation feels arguably even more bleak, which is wild considering where they were a year ago as a team with a budding star in LaMelo Ball. They made two moves that brought in a couple of second rounders and Reggie Jackson, who (if he sticks around) feels redundant with Terry Rozier. Mason Plumlee was always on his way out, but moving Jalen McDaniels, a solid young player, for a couple seconds just raises questions about what the plan is in Charlotte. A not insignificant portion of the Hornets problems were caused by things out of their control, but they, like Houston, feel rather desperate for one of those top-2 picks, which will be far from a guarantee. This deadline wasn’t the cause of their problems — or a place that really presented great solutions — but didn’t do much to change the feeling that they are solidly at the bottom of the NBA pecking order.

The Pistons also get a mention here because I have no idea why they are adding James Wiseman, considering they already have a considerable amount invested in Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. It’s a very Troy Weaver move to add a former high draft pick who hasn’t panned out, but the track record of success Detroit’s had in trying out those reclamation projects is fairly low. Marvin Bagley has not impressed in Year 2 in Detroit after they paid him this offseason, and it’s hard to see Wiseman flourishing immediately with their guard situation sans Cade Cunningham. He should be better outside a Warriors system that is just a horrid fit for his skillset, but even so, it’s just a weird allocation of resources at a position they’ve already invested two first round picks in the last three years. On top of that, they didn’t move Bojan Bogdanovic, who maybe they re-sign this summer but will have to beat out other teams pursuing him as an unrestricted free agent to do so.

All three of these teams have a considerable talent — Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball, and Jalen Green (the most unproven of the three) — but none of them are building confidence that they can put a coherent roster around them to maximize their talents.

People Who Wanted To Go To Bed At A Decent Hour

Some of us thought it was safe to go to sleep before 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday night. The Lakers deal was done, all the games had ended for the night, there wasn’t even any indication another big trade was on the horizon. We woke up to learn Kevin Durant was a member of the Phoenix Suns (and, to a lesser extent, Jakob Poeltl was a Raptor again). It’s not a huge deal in the grand scheme, but some of us are just trying to get a healthy 8 hours out here, and Woj and Shams refuse to let that happen.

Emily Ratajkowski can’t help but attract attention everywhere she goes. However, she did point the finger at the paparazzi for making her dating life awkward when she was photographed with Eric Andre and Taco Bell spokesperson extraordinaire Pete Davidson. As to the latter, that was particularly a bummer (though I’m not speaking for Emily) because she previously told the world why ladies dig him. As Emily has also revealed (largely on her podcast, High Low with EmRata), she’s enjoying casual dating after divorcing Sebastian Bear-McClard in September 2022.

Emily would like the world to know, however, that none of her dating life has to do with Sebastian. She had previously told Tommy Dorfman that divorce is a much better thing than staying “unhappily married for a very long time,” and on a similar note, Emily told podcast guest Amber Rose that she finds it amusing when people (including one of her friends) think that her dating choices are about some type of revenge against her ex. Here’s that exchange, courtesy of ET Canada:

“Oh my god. I mean, my friend, she was like, ‘Oh damn, like you’ve been really getting your ex back, and I was like, ‘It’s so funny you say that because I’m not trying to,’” explained the model and entrepreneur.

“‘I’m just like living my life,’ because I was responsible for that person for so long and thought about them so much, all I wanna do is not have to consider them or think about them, so even when it comes to like getting them back, I’m like, ‘That’s exhausting. That would be me putting more energy towards them. Why would I do that?’

Rose shared the sentiment while declaring that she’s not going to “date people that I don’t want to date,” and “I don’t have to go and have a one up.” She called that “fake” and “not real life,” especially since “I just got out of a really, really sh*tty relationship.” That seems to be going around these days, and given that Amber Rose has experience with dating a piece of work, I’ll accept that she knows of what she speaks.

(Via ET Canada & High Low With EmRata)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

For nearly a decade, RAYE has been one of the most trusted names in songwriting. Having penned tracks for John Legend, Ellie Goulding, and Beyoncé, she’s built an impressive resume simply by doing what she does best – putting a wide range of vulnerable emotions on display. As she is known for wearing her heart on her sleeve, holding back on her feelings is not a hallmark of her craft or personality.

In 2021, after years of frustration due to not being able to put out a full-length album within the timeframe of her deal with Polydor that she signed seven years prior, she took to Twitter to out them for sitting on several albums worth of her music. She also noted that many songs she had written, which she wanted to keep for herself, had been given to other artists.

Shortly after, she parted ways with Polydor and began rewriting her story. Nearly two years after consciously uncoupling from her label, RAYE has finally dropped her long-awaited debut album, My 21st Century Blues.

When we catch up with RAYE just days before the album release, she is on her tour bus in the pure jubilee and happiness she fought so hard for. Just weeks before, her 070 Shake-assisted banger “Escapism” had reached No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Charts.

“It’s so exciting as an artist to have chart success or mainstream success, but that was never my main goal,” RAYE tells Uproxx. “My main goal is artistic integrity and just loving wholeheartedly what I share with the world and having some time to reassess that and make that the primary. It’s been a really beautiful, ugly, gorgeous, terrible, fun, and liberating process.”

These aforementioned feelings – beautiful, ugly, gorgeous, terrible, fun and liberating – describe the harrowing journey of My 21st Century Blues, which features Raye becoming more conscious in her choices, regardless of how difficult they may be. Shortly after the album’s intro, we are brought into “Oscar Winning Tears,” a soulful, jazz-inspired on which RAYE details the process of leaving an emotionally abusive and manipulative man. On the song, RAYE is fed-up with her ex feigning sadness in order to keep her by his side. No longer fazed by his “Oscar Winning Tears,” she makes an escape, and begins a new, liberated chapter in her life.

Now, all the wiser, she offers the following advice to anyone who is finding themselves with a gaslighter. “Run,” she says. “Run for the hills. Lock the door, book your car, and run.”

Throughout the course of the album, she grapples with toxic relationships in both romantic and professional contexts. She kicked off the My 21st Century Blues era last summer with “Hard Out Here,” on which, she addresses the toxic masculinity and patriarchal standards of the mainstream music industry.

“What you know about systems / About drugged drinks / F*cking nearly dying from addictions,” she sings over a thumping, punchy track, recounting the experience of so many women singers and songwriters.

RAYE had begun writing a version of the song when she was 19 years old, and she reveals the song originally had “a completely different top line, completely different lyrics, and a different melody on top of it.” She hadn’t been allowed to release it over the years, but when she was finally released from Polydor, she revisited the drafts of the song and took it back to the drawing board.

“I just vented on the microphone,” she says. “And I didn’t move until it was done. I just wanted to remind myself that no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and I’ll bounce back out of the place that I was in that moment and that I will be okay. I just wanted to create something that made me feel strong and empowered, and you don’t f*cking know the half of it. It was definitely medicine.”

With “Hard Out Here,” RAYE’s newly independent status proved her a promising act. This was further cemented with, “Escapism,” a break-up anthem, detailing an alcohol and drug-fueled night of dancing, crying, and sexcapades. Despite hardly remembering the events that inspired “Escapism,” RAYE provides a detailed account of a debauched night, which led to “drunk calls, drunk texts, drunk tears, drunk sex.”

“I think as a woman when you’re processing such things in life, there are not really any healthy outlets for it,” she says. “I think women do stereotypically face a lot of pressure to seem like they’ve got everything together – to be polite, to be smiley, to be kind, and grateful, and all of this stuff. So I wanted to create a story that was very blunt and honest about that time in my life.”

The video is equally as raw, corresponding to the events RAYE describes in the song, and juxtaposed with haunting visual effects. At one point, RAYE’s eyes become mouths with teeth, and at the bridge, her face morphs into that of her collaborator, 070 Shake.

RAYE reveals that like the recording process of the song, the cinematic process of creating the video was indie in every sense of the word, especially when filming 070 Shake’s verse – which took place in RAYE’s living room.

“Independent artists, you know, we have to cut corners,” she says. “We had a lighting ring and blacked out the room. I was literally on my hands and knees taping bean bags to the windows, to block out the light.”

As the album progresses, we continue to hear more poignant, heartbreaking tales. “The Thrill Is Gone” encapsulates the hurt of realizing the love she shared with someone no longer exists; “Ice Cream Man” details various excruciating stories of sexual assault; and, as its title suggests, “Body Dysmorphia,” puts into words the struggles RAYE feels within her body. On the lattermost, she sings, “Lately I’ve been thinking ’bout the ways to rearrange my face / I wanna cut pieces off / Looking in the mirror / want to take a pair of scissors, sadly dear.” As many of the songs ring personal to RAYE, she has fears not only for herself, but for the state of the world.

This is evident on tracks like “Environmental Anxiety,” on which she calls out corporations for poisoning bodies of water, Boris Johnson for his negligence and incompetence, and social media for implementing unrealistic body standards. RAYE says the song was partially inspired by David Attenborough and his documentaries.

“I love his voice, and the way he describes things and obviously, he’s so passionate about the planet,” she says. “And I’m not a politician, I’m a musician. I have zero power to make any kind of difference, and I think a lot of people feel like that. I think it’s overwhelming and I think that I just wanted to make a chaotic song.”

Even amid the chaos, RAYE is the happiest she’s been in years. Finally having an outlet to share her feelings unrestricted and unfiltered has proven therapeutic for her. Later this month, RAYE will kick off her European and North American tour in support of My 21st Century Blues, and in April, she will support Kali Uchis on her month-long Red Moon In Venus tour.

But despite her finally seeing major success at the forefront, rather than behind the scenes, RAYE says the most beautiful part of this new chapter in her life is finally being able to act on and maintain her own artistic integrity.

“I think as artists, we have got instincts and convictions,” RAYE says. “And it’s so important to be able to trust them. That, in and of itself, is just such a gift.”

My 21st Century Blues is out now. You can stream it here.

The stalker hit You returns this week for another round of morally ambiguous fun, this time set in London! You follows killer/talker/book lover Joe Goldberg and his various aliases as he embarks on dangerous relationships in order to escape his even darker past.

Ortega was one of the rare characters to make it out of You alive. She starred in season two of the stalker drama as Ellie, Joe/Will’s young neighbor who lives with her sister Delilah. Ellie is one of the few characters that Joe feels protective of and manages to look after her despite partaking in his killing ways.

Ellie didn’t appear in season three of the show, but it seems like they were planning on bringing Ortega back for the fourth season, only she had something else to do. “We wanted to bring Ellie back and we heard, ‘Oh, Jenna is doing some show,’” season four showrunner Sera Gamble recently told IndieWire. “Some show” turned out to be Wednesday, one of Netflix’s biggest titles. So she had a good reason to sit this one out.

Even though her storyline didn’t continue in season four, the door is always open for her to return and potentially face off against Joe. Gamble added, “It’s been just such a pleasure to see Jenna this year. We have ideas for Ellie if her schedule allows her to visit us again.”

By the end You season two, Delilah ends up missing and Joe gives Ellie money and has her take off on her own so she won’t be taken in by the foster care system. So there is always a chance she can make her way back. As Gamble pointed out, “Any character who’s not dead who knows anything about Joe, it’s fair game to try to exert any justice.” Who’s to say Ellie didn’t take off and head straight to New York City? Maybe Ghost Face is the only person who can really stop Joe.

(Via IndieWire)

The second season of The White Lotus featured a tragic pair of returning characters from season one, one of whom is history’s greatest monster. It was almost four, however.

Last December, we learned that Lukas Gage was going to reprise his role as White Lotus employee / rimjob recipient Dillon during the scene in the Italy-set season where Tanya (played by Emmy-winning national treasure Jennifer Coolidge) was high on cocaine. But the actor’s cameo with another White Lotus alumnus got cut.

Gage explained what happened in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “Fred [Hechinger, who played Quinn] and I did a scene for season two. When Jennifer is with the gays in Palermo, she originally opens a door in the villa and sees a shot of me doing drugs that turns out to be an illusion,” he said. “It got cut because it didn’t work with the show, but I didn’t care because I got a free trip to the Four Seasons. And now for season three, I’m literally writing [creator Mike White] every day like, hey, remember me!”

It’s hard to forget his big scene. It sounds like it will also be hard to forget a certain “golden” scene from season four of You, which Gage also stars in. “I’ll say it was my idea to wear the googles,” he said. “With that scene, and in The White Lotus, I wasn’t doing it to be sexy, but for comedic value. I didn’t think it was going to be hot for people. But I did want to go as far as possible. It can’t be a half rim job, or a half golden shower — although we did use a water machine with yellow food coloring.”

Acting is a weird profession.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Patrick Stewart could be making another appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as a multiversal variant of Professor Charles Xavier, Stewart could be pulling a similar trick in Deadpool 3, which will see his X-Men co-star Hugh Jackman make his first appearance MCU appearance as Wolverine. However, don’t expect Stewart to spill any Marvel secrets. He knows the game by now.

“I’ve been told to standby,” Stewart told Comic Book when asked if he’s returning for another stab at Professor X. “I know nothing more than that, honest.”

Stewart’s possible addition is an interesting development considering both he and Jackman seemed content with making the critically-acclaimed Logan their final performances as the fan-favorite characters. However, Stewart was first to crack that seal, and Jackman wasn’t far behind. In fact, the Wolverine actor revealed that he immediately regretted hanging up his claws after the first 20 minutes of Deadpool.

“I was like, ‘Ah, damn it!’” Jackman told Variety shortly after the Deadpool 3 announcement. “All I kept seeing in my head was ‘48 Hrs.’ with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. So it’s been brewing for a long time. It just took me longer to get here.”

Jackman also shot down rumors that Marvel had to use some sort of trick (or a bundle of cash) to convince Jackman to come back. “Come on, I make my own decisions brother,” Jackman responded to an online fan video.

Deadpool 3 slashes into theaters on November 8, 2024.

(Via Comic Book)

The feud between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj has cooled off since their open conflict in 2018, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. Now, it’s more of a Cold War, as we saw last year when they renewed hostilities mainly through proxies like Akbar V and JT after Nicki apparently demanded a blood oath in exchange for a slot on the “Super Freaky Girl (Queen Mix).”

Likewise, most observers have remained cautiously neutral (although that hasn’t exactly been a winning strategy either). There is, however, one exception: 50 Cent, the king of controversy himself. Never one to shy away from a hot take or a chance to stir the pot, 50 weighed in on the feud between the two in a new interview with Billboard celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album.

At first, he feigns reluctance to choose a side, saying, “Hip-hop culture makes you battle. I love Nicki Minaj, but the funny sh*t is, I like watching her when she’s upset… When Cardi B came, I thought she was dope… When her and Nicki clash, I go, ‘Oh, sh*t, it’s going to be interesting to watch how it plays out.’ Lyrically, I won’t say anything competitively about the two of them.”

It didn’t take him long to throw in with his fellow Queens native, though, admitting, “… I love Nicki. I don’t have anything against Cardi. I think anyone who comes now, she is going to check their temperature. Nicki is going to check if this b*tch is friendly or looking to take over the sh*t.”

Nicki certainly does that, although in more recent years, she’s mellowed out to the point of working with Coi Leray, Doja Cat, and the Queen Mix crew. However, it doesn’t look like she’s revising her longstanding policy anytime soon, and for some — especially those who, like 50, relish the battle side of hip-hop — that’s just fine.

To Leslie, a film directed by Micheal Morris in his feature debut, is in the news lately these days, mostly because its star, Andrea Riseborough, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress despite the film earning a little more than $27,000 at the box office (yes, thousand). Some people cried foul (presumably the ones behind competing For Your Considerations campaigns), leading to some hilarious headlines like “The Academy is reportedly looking at whether or not Andrea Riseborough’s grassroots campaign violated Oscar campaign rules.”

Hilarious because a “grassroots” campaign could only be considered beyond the pale in something as thoroughly corrupt and cronyist as the For Your Consideration business. Every year, studios schedule screenings, mail out screeners and swag, and underwrite some of the worst entertainment writers on Earth (I’m speaking mostly, though not exclusively, of the professional awards season prognosticators) with their For Your Consideration ads. Which helps (or maybe it doesn’t! the magic of advertising is that no one really knows or can know) determine which films and actors get nominated for prestigious awards.

Granted, “grassroots” does feel like a bit of stretch here. The campaign was led by Riseborough’s management team and To Leslie director Michael Morris’s wife, actress Mary McCormack, who “emailed and called tons of members of the Academy’s actors branch…” resulting in “dozens of influential stars—Gwyneth, Jen, Howard [Stern], Cate, Amy Adams, Ed Norton, and many, many more—singing her praises and helping win her the coveted nomination.”

Edward Norton wrote that Riseborough’s performance “just knocked me sideways.” Winslet called it “the greatest female performance on-screen I have ever seen in my life.”

Some of the stars even hosted their own screenings and Q&As for the film. Supposedly the furor was over whether the campaign had violated the Academy’s arcane rules about who can email whom (including unwritten rules, such as when composer Bruce Broughton had his nomination rescinded in 2014 after emailing other members of the Academy’s music branch) and how lavish a “screening” reception can be. The latter guidelines include a rule about “providing non-excessive food and beverage at the time and place of a screening,” — a rule the Academy created all the way back in… 2016.

Whether a star-driven FYC campaign is more “grassroots” than a studio marketing budget-driven is a debate for another time, along with the one over which types of influence campaigns are most “fair.” The Academy, in any case, ultimately “declined to take punitive action.”

Keep in mind, all this fuss was over the process of trying to win an Oscar — an award originally created Louis B. Mayer as a union-busting scheme. “I found that the best way to handle [moviemakers] was to hang medals all over them… If I got them cups and awards they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted. That’s why the Academy Award was created,” goes Mayer’s now-infamous quote.

Basically, the To Leslie furor consisted of cronies calling other cronies cronyist over their methods of campaigning for a cronyist, anti-union award. If you could keep track of enough of the esoteric details, it was pretty funny.

These days, To Leslie is available to rent on demand, where we can all judge for ourselves. So the question becomes: is it any good?

First and foremost, To Leslie strikes me as an extremely movie kind of movie, the kind of movie that used to exist mostly to win acting awards. Michael Morris is a theater director, and most of To Leslie‘s plot seems like an elaborate, largely transparent ruse to give its actors license to deliver rather “big” acting performances. It’s not shocking that a bunch of actors would love this movie, and this performance.

Riseborough plays Leslie, who we see in some stock local news footage at the beginning winning $190,000 (what a weird amount!) in the lottery. “Everyone’s drinks are on me!” Leslie shrieks into the microphone.

Even in this framing device scene set in the presumably innocent past, Leslie seems like a bit much. Her shy young son seems embarrassed of her. Cut to six or ten years later (I can’t remember the exact number) and Leslie is even more than that. She’s in the midst of getting booted from her fleabag motel, alternately pleading and castigating everyone around her for not helping her. She’s out on the street and ultimately shows up to her now-grown son’s (Owen Teague) shared apartment in “the city” (left unnamed, but presumably Austin since we later find out we’re in Texas).

With the whole thing shot on grainy, gritty, seventies realism-style film stock (similar in some ways to Funny Pages, shot on Super 16mm) Leslie seems humble and apologetic at first. But before long she’s stealing money to buy the booze she promised not to and going on benders. When her son inevitably kicks her out, she washes up on the doorstep of Dutch and Nancy (unspecified family or acquaintances played by Stephen Root and Allison Janney) where the same basic cycle begins again. Basically, Leslie is an ungrateful, untrustworthy, irredeemable pain in the ass, who becomes the problem of anyone who takes pity on her until they realize she’s not worth the trouble.

This is the kind of movie that feels “old fashioned,” partly because indie actor’s showcases rarely get seen anymore (see: $27k box office) and partly because, in the age of streaming, where indie actor’s showcases mostly end up nowadays, To Leslie all but dares you to switch channels. It feels distinctly designed for the theater audiences, where the barrier to ducking out early is higher than it is for streaming. To Leslie assumes the audience will stay for the whole thing, which is to say that it makes you wonder why anyone would care about this awful woman for a good 45 minutes of screen time.

Clearly, it’s setting up a character arc, just going about it deliberately. Eventually, Leslie meets a hotel manager played by Marc Maron and she turns it all around just in time for a crowd-pleasing, legitimately heartwarming ending.

As someone who watches movies for a living, Maron’s performance was probably a bigger surprise than Riseborough’s. I never expected that the guy I knew mostly as the origin of “who’re your guys” jokes and podcasts beginning with pathos-filled, 10-minute soliloquies would someday make me happy every time he shows up in a new movie or show, but here we are. Maron is… well, he’s great. He brings a hang-dog, patient dad energy to the role that it’s hard not to be charmed by. Andre Royo, aka Bubbles from The Wire, is an equally welcome sight in another supporting role.

Riseborough is great too, because she mostly always is. She plays a character who’s had her emotional restrictor plate removed, the kind of role all actors dream of, and nails it in a way they all dream of doing. The only reason she hasn’t been nominated for an award before now is that she tends to show up unrecognizable in movies for film nerds. When your aunt asks “Andrea Riseborough, what’s she been in?” you end up having to fumble for answers like “…Possessor? Nocturnal Animals? Mandy?”

One reason Riseborough’s performance may stand out in To Leslie is that the script (Ryan Binaco) barely justifies her character transitions. She’s a self-destructive, self-hating alcoholic because… she won the lottery and it didn’t turn out the way she planned? Okay, sure. She decides to stop being that because… well, who can say, really. Ultimately she’s good enough that you stop asking why and just enjoy the process. And what’s a clearer mark of a great performance than that?

Actors turning out to make To Leslie an Oscar contender feels partly like a nostalgia play. The current movie production, and especially distribution, environment doesn’t leave much room for middling movies with standout performances anymore. These are the kinds of movies that used to dominate awards season, and now they mostly end up forgotten. A movie with brilliant turns by Riseborough, Maron, and fellow always-greats Stephen Root and Allison Janney deserves better than that. If pretending the movie they’re in is better than it actually is can get more people to see it… why not?

Of course actors want to believe that a great effort in a movie that isn’t a smash hit can still be recognized. Anyone tangentially involved in the movie business wants to believe that. As a movie, To Leslie isn’t a thrill-a-minute ride nor will it change your conception of what movies can be, but it can transport you back to 1997 when a movie like this still could make someone’s career.

‘To Leslie’ is available on demand now. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read more of his reviews here.