Month: February 2023

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 Ariana Grande help resurrect a The Weeknd classic and Gorillaz link up with one of today’s biggest stars. 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 Flash newsletters.

The Weeknd and Ariana Grande — “Die For You (Remix)”

It’s been over six years since The Weeknd dropped “Die For You” as part of his 2016 album Starboy, but it’s never too late to resurrect it, especially if Ariana Grande wants to hop on a remix. She hasn’t been particularly active in music lately, so the song receiving renewed attention on TikTok recently was apparently the perfect opportunity for her to get back in the studio and hop on a remix.

Gorillaz — “Tormenta” Feat. Bad Bunny

Gorillaz have been collaborating with pretty much everybody in recent years, and they did some more of that last week by linking up with global superstar Bad Bunny on “Tormenta.” The song dropped as Gorillaz’s new album Cracker Island released and it expertly blends reggaeton and indie sounds for a smooth result.

Karol G and Shakira — “TQG”

Speaking of big-time link-ups, Karol G (who just set a new Spotify record) and Shakira (who finds herself back in the spotlight after “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53“) teamed up for “TQG” last week. It wasn’t a “don’t meet your idols” situation for Karol G, as she was effusive about how great a time she had working with Shakira.

Quavo — “Greatness”

Quavo is still understandably mourning the loss of Takeoff, and he channeled his grief into “Greatness,” a new tribute song in honor of his late Migos bandmate and relative that he dropped last week. He raps, “Came in, swept the game like a storm with the motherf*ckin’ flow, Take’ did that / So don’t ask ’bout the group, he gone, we gone… it can’t come back.”

DDG — “Way Too Petty”

DDG has been at the center of some rumors lately and he addressed them directly on last week’s “Way Too Petty.” Indeed, he was direct with lyrics like, ““Hoes screenshotting, that sh*t lame / Keep her on the side, she could never be my main,” and, “She just wanna make it, she be f*cked for the fame / Posting pictures naked, baby, you should be ashamed,”

The Kid LAROI — “I Guess It’s Love?”

As The Kid LAROI’s star-making project F*ck Love is approaching three years old, he’s prepping his first proper studio album, The First Time. That’s set to drop at some point in 2023 and he previewed it last week with “I Guess It’s Love?,” on which he’s a full-blown romantic over the course of two minutes.

Kali Uchis — “Moonlight”

Uchis had Red Moon In Venus dropped at the end of this week, and before it did, she blessed last week with a preview of the album in “Moonlight.” Uchis sings about wanting to live in the moment while living in two languages, singing in both English and Spanish on the track.

Don Toliver — “Private Landing” Feat. Justin Bieber and Future

Don Toliver called on some big names to assist on his new album Love Sick, and on just “Private Landing,” he landed Justin Bieber and Future. Meanwhile, appearing elsewhere on the stacked project are James Blake, GloRilla, Kali Uchis, Lil Durk, Tisakorean, Wizkid, Charlie Wilson, Brent Faiyaz, and Toro y Moi.

Chlöe and Chris Brown — “How Does It Feel”

On “How Does It Feel,” Chlöe goes in on an ex, reminding them of what they lost after he, as the kids say, f*cked around and found out.

Gracie Abrams — “I Know It Won’t Work”

Nepo baby or not, Gracie Abrams is killing it. She earned acclaim with EPs in 2020 and 2021 before dropping her debut album, Good Riddance, last week. She ushered the LP into the world with “I Know It Won’t Work,” of which she delivered an evocative performance on Kimmel.

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

Drake and Lil Yachty sat down for a 35-minute interview that served as the premiere episode of Yachty’s “A Moody Conversation” from his FUTUREMOOD brand. The conversation dropped on Friday, February 24. Within the first 10 minutes, Drake opened up about an eventual “graceful exit” from the rap game and which aspects of his music haven’t necessarily aged gracefully.

“I feel like I’m kind of introducing the concept in my mind of a graceful exit,” Drake told Yachty. “I feel like a lot of people that I’ve watched as the years have gone on, it’s a really addictive, competitive space, and oftentimes, you’re addicted to the competition itself. And so, sometimes it’ll baffle you. Like, why are these people still making attempts at trying to present in the space? And then you’ll realize, like, their needs and desires and their soul was probably fed for so long off of being a guy or the guy that they can’t let it go.”

He continued, “I guess what’s left for me is just to find a way to gracefully — like, I’m not ready now, but to gracefully continue making projects that are extremely interesting and hopefully cherished by people, and then to find the right time to say, ‘I can’t wait to see what the next generation does.’ I’ll still be around to work with people or do a show here or there, but I’m not going to force myself to compete.”

This reminded Yachty of Drake referencing his plan to retire by 35 years old on the 2016 Views track “Weston Road Flows. (Drake turned 36 last October.) The Toronto icon immediately cringed. “Nah, I hate hearing that sh*t. I heard it the other night when we were at the club,” he said before noting he thought 35 was “really old” back then.

Drake then elaborated on his two music-related regrets in hindsight:

“I think that and sometimes when I’ve said girls names in songs, maybe those are the two things that I look back on and I’m like, ‘Ah, maybe I could’ve done without sh*tting on people for age or disrupting somebody’s life.’ The lyrics are never with ill intent, but I had somebody say one time, ‘You know, it’s not necessarily what you’re saying about me; it’s the fact that you said it. Just in the sense of, ‘You don’t know what it does to me. You don’t know who my boyfriend is at the time. You don’t know what my family or doesn’t know, and if you express any form of [ill will] for me in a song and call me by name, then all of a sudden, I’m left to pick up the pieces of my own life that I’ve tried to build up for myself.’”

Drake added that he’s “tried my best” to stop naming his ex-girlfriends in songs, but his affinity for honest music makes it a “push and pull” balancing act. Yachty admitted that he used to think his friend was making girls’ names up, and Drake confirmed he doesn’t think he’s “ever made a girl’s name up, ever in life.”

Watch the full “Moody Conversation” premiere above.

The Last of Us once again took a touching detour into the past, but this time around, Ellie (Belle Ramsey) was the focus of the episode as the HBO series adapted the “Left Behind” DLC from the video game. In the flashback tale, which occurs shortly a badly-wounded Joel (Pedro Pascal) tells Ellie to leave him following last week’s cliffhanger ending, viewers get to see Ellie as a FEDRA trainee whose rebellious streak has her on a one-way ticket to nowhere. However, when the head of the training school recognizes Ellie’s untapped potential and intelligence, he offers her a path to becoming an officer.

Ellie accepts the offer, but she’s still haunted by a feeling of loneliness from her missing roommate and closest friend Riley (Storm Reid). That loneliness is short-lived as Riley sneaks back into the FEDRA facility to reunite with Ellie and take her for a fun-filled trip to an abandoned mall. After having a teenage night of exploring a strange past and their true feelings for each other, Ellie and Riley’s escape from their post-apocalyptic reality comes crashing down when they’re attacked by a Clicker.

Despite Ellie dispatching the infected with a brutal stab to the head, the girls discover they’ve both been bitten. While we know that Ellie will survive, she doesn’t know that she’s immune and neither does Riley. As far as the two are concerned, they’ll be turned into infected within hours. With time running out, the two hold each other until the very last second.

The show jumps back to the present where Ellie is about to leave Joel as he instructed, but decides against it after remembering her final moments with Riley. (Ellie also revealed earlier in the show that her greatest fear is being alone.) With a new determination, she ransacks an abandoned house and finds thread to stitch Joel’s wounds. She races back to sew him up, and this time, he doesn’t tell her to leave. Ellie quickly gets to work, and it’s clear from her efforts that she’s dead-set on not losing someone she loves again.

The Last of Us airs new episodes on Sunday on HBO.

If you can’t get enough The Last of Us between the TV show, video games, and discourse (OK, you’ve had enough discourse), the official soundtrack is out now. The album includes the score from Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla and David Fleming, as well as Nick Offerman, who was in one of the season’s best episodes, covering “Long Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt.

“Creating the music for the HBO series based on the video game The Last of Us was, in a way, an expansion of what we have developed and recorded for the first installment of the game,” Santaolalla said in a statement. “Once again, the emotion at the heart of the score this time driven by the vision of Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin and by the power of this amazing story.”

Here’s the tracklist:

1. The Last of Us – Gustavo Santaolalla
2. Reflections – Gustavo Santaolalla
3. Get Out – David Fleming
4. All Gone – Gustavo Santaolalla
5. The Quarantine Zone – Gustavo Santaolalla & Jake Staley
6. Don’t Look – David Fleming
7. Forsaken – Gustavo Santaolalla
8. Breaching the Wall – David Fleming
9. Cargo – Gustavo Santaolalla, Jake Staley & Juan Luqui
10. Radio Silence – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
11. Hope – Gustavo Santaolalla
12. Greater Purpose – Gustavo Santaolalla & Jake Staley
13. Haven – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
14. Set Everything Right – Gustavo Santaolalla
15. Hive Mind – Gustavo Santaolalla & Jake Staley
16. Resolve – Gustavo Santaolalla
17. Shortcut – David Fleming
18. The Swarm – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
19. Invited – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
20. Long Long Time – Nick Offerman
21. There Is No Girl – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
22. It Can’t Last (Sunset) – Gustavo Santaolalla
23. Raiders – David Fleming
24. Longing – Gustavo Santaolalla
25. All Gone (Affliction) – Gustavo Santaolalla
26. Surveillance – Gustavo Santaolalla & Jake Staley
27. Vanishing Grace – Gustavo Santaolalla
28. All Gone (Purpose) – Gustavo Santaolalla
29. Stockpile – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
30. All Gone (Isolation) – Gustavo Santaolalla
31. Salvation – Gustavo Santaolalla
32. Warning Signs – David Fleming
33. The Last of Us (Prevail) – Gustavo Santaolalla
34. All Gone (Reunion) – Gustavo Santaolalla
35. Bravery – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
36. Subterranean – David Fleming
37. Murals – Gustavo Santaolalla & Juan Luqui
38. Endure – David Fleming
39. Survive – David Fleming
40. A Great Man – Gustavo Santaolalla
41. All Gone (Promise) – Gustavo Santaolalla
42. All Gone (Flashbacks) – Gustavo Santaolalla
43. The Last of Us (Protection) – Gustavo Santaolalla
44. Never Let Me Down Again – Jessica Mazin
45. Left Behind (Together) – Gustavo Santaolalla
46. Fleeting – Gustavo Santaolalla
47. Vanishing Grace (Devotion) – Gustavo Santaolalla
48. Vanishing Grace (Radiant) – Gustavo Santaolalla
49. Refuge – Gustavo Santaolalla
50. The Choice – Gustavo Santaolalla
51. Left Behind – Gustavo Santaolalla
52. All Gone (Embrace) – Gustavo Santaolalla
53. Collateral – Gustavo Santaolalla
54. Resolve (Isolation) – Gustavo Santaolalla
55. Complications – David Fleming
56. Uncertain Course – Gustavo Santaolalla
57. Breathless – Gustavo Santaolalla & Jake Staley
58. Unbroken – Gustavo Santaolalla
59. All Gone (Elegy) – Gustavo Santaolalla
60. Wounds – Gustavo Santaolalla
61. Safe Surrender – David Fleming
62. The Last of Us (Vengeance) – Gustavo Santaolalla
63. All Gone (In Vain) – Gustavo Santaolalla
64. All Gone (Ephemeral) – Gustavo Santaolalla
65. The Settlement – Gustavo Santaolalla
66. The Path – Gustavo Santaolalla

You can listen to the soundtrack below.

Arnold Schwarzenegger never really leaves us, even if he’s not ubiquitous on the big screen like in the 1980s and ’90s. We hear about him all the time, like when James Cameron name drops him while promoting an Avatar sequel, or Sylvester Stallone talks about their old beef, or when Dascha Polanco expresses an unexpected wish that she has as an Arnold fan.

Oh, we also hear about his reactions to the gigs held by his son, Patrick. He recently appeared in HBO’s The Staircase and will star in Amazon’s The Boys college-age spinoff. When Arnold saw set photos from Gen V, he uttered a “What the f*ck are you filming?” From there, one can marvel at such a Dad-style reaction from a star of the most graphic 1980s actioners in existence, but fortunately, Arnold is getting back in the saddle again. Yes, this seems like a very Dad-like return, but Dad Shows are in demand these days. As seen in the above teaser, he’s “back,” and here’s why he’s doing so:

“Everywhere I go, people ask me when I’m going to do another big action comedy like True Lies. Well, here it is. FUBAR will kick your ass and make you laugh – and not just for two hours. You get a whole season. It’s been a joy to work with Nick, Skydance, and Netflix to give my fans exactly what they’ve been waiting for.”

As the synopsis for this show indicates, Arnold plays a close-to-retirement CIA operative that gets pulled back in “for one last job,” and you know how that goes. Hopefully, we receive a sea of unending one liners in the process.

Netflix’s FUBAR streams on May 25.

This weekend, Jake Paul was in Saudi Arabia for his boxing match against Tommy Fury, a fight that Paul ended up losing in a split decision. However, there might be an asterisk on Paul’s first professional boxing L: Drake bet $400K on Paul to win, and as we know, the “Drake Curse” (the apparent tendency for teams and athletes to lose after Drake publicly supports them) is real. After the fight, Paul himself addressed this.

In a post-fight press conference, a reporter mentioned Drake’s bet and ask if Paul thinks the “curse” impacted him. He laughed and said, “F*ck, This is Drake’s fault! Drake, bro! Why you do this to me?!”

He continued, “Nah, it’s my fault, but $400,000 is nothing to him, so… he’s won a lot of money betting on me before, so he’s probably about even now. Sorry, Drake. I’ma get that W in the rematch.”

Drake’s $400K bet was for Paul to win the fight by knockout. As TMZ notes, had that happened, Drake would have found himself about $1.4 million richer. Apparently, though, that wasn’t part of God’s plan. Drake performed better with his Super Bowl gambling, though, taking home $1.4 million after placing around $1 million in bets.

Brendan Fraser was not impacted by SNL spoofing The Whale, and in fact, he’s still collecting awards for his performance as a morbidly obese gay father attempting to fight his way back to, well, everything. It’s a movie that (as our own Vince Mancini wrote) is a rare case where art-house stunting truly works, and Fraser was informed early on — and grew emotional as a result — that people are rooting for him during this “comeback.” He’s remained tearfully grateful, and that trend continued at the SAG Awards.

The George of the Jungle star beat Adam Sandler, Austin Butler, and Colin Farrell to win Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role, and he took the mic with his speech-plan, courtesy of a Gods and Monsters co-star: “Ian McKellen told me to be good, be brief, and be seated.”

From there, though, the tears start to roll again, and Brendan did mention that he finally felt like he belonged to a tribe when gaining his SAG-AFTRA card during the early 1990s. And here’s Fraser’s still-shocked reaction to have made a Hollywood “comeback”:

“I never would have believed I would have been offered the role of my life in this character, Charlie in The Whale, he’s someone who is on a raft of regrets but he’s in a sea of hope. I’ve been at that sea, and I’ve rode that wave lately and it’s been powerful and good and I’ve also had that wave smash me right down to the ocean floor and drag my face along there and wind up on some strange beach in a different world, wondering ‘where am I now?’”

Watch the full speech below and maybe look forward to more at the Oscars. Fraser will also be seen in Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Aubrey Plaza, along with the rest of her The White Lotus co-stars, took home Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2023 SAG Awards. But that wasn’t the most eventful thing to happen to the actress.

Plaza presented an award with Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, her fellow “disaffected, witchy Latina,” as @catrcardenas joked. The pairing made almost too much sense. After nearly 10 seconds of silence standing at the podium while presenting the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series, Plaza finally said, “I don’t know why they paired us up together.” Ortega replied, “I know, we have nothing in common.”

Plaza suggested finding the people who did this, and both her and Ortega — doing their best April Ludgate and Wednesday Addams — said at the same time, “And curse their families and watch as misfortune follows their bloodline for the next seven generation.” Suddenly, them presenting together made sense.

Later in the ceremony, Plaza seemed to nearly suffer a wardrobe malfunction.

Aubrey, who plays leading character Harper, stood in the background of the ensemble cast as F. Murray Abraham delivered his speech — and she looked visibly annoyed the entire time… Firstly, Aubrey appeared particularly angry right after her costar Jon Gries, who plays Greg Hunt, held onto her arm and whispered something in her ear that prompted her to readjust her cutout dress. Some people theorized that Jon was warning Aubrey of a potential wardrobe malfunction, which might’ve thrown her off and left her feeling super uncomfortable.

Plaza did look annoyed, but it could have been a bit, because, well, it’s Aubrey Plaza. Judge for yourself below.

(Via BuzzFeed)

Ozark favorite Julia Garner was set to play Madonna in a biopic about the pop legend. However, after Madonna decided to go on a world tour, the movie was canceled. Earlier in the casting process, though, it turns out that Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan was asked to audition for the starring role.

In a recent interview with Inked, Jordan spoke about her involvement in the upcoming movie I Saw The TV Glow, which also features Phoebe Bridgers, Fred Durst, and Sloppy Jane’s Haley Dahl. She explained, “They hit me up. The same week I got asked to audition to be Madonna in the bio flick. I mean, I didn’t get it, but it was still just weird. I was never asked to be in anything but that week, things came rolling in.”

She then spoke about the Madonna movie audition process, saying:

“I’m a huge Madonna fan. I had to come up with a dance routine based on one of her music videos — I had to look at what she was doing but not imitate it, but be inspired by it. She’s a dance legend. I watched a documentary. I was watching interviews with her. I was taking notes and I had to do three scenes. It was a good learning experience. I didn’t think I’d get the role, but if I didn’t work hard I’d feel bad for not giving it my all.”

Read the full interview here.

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

Only Murders In The Building star Martin Short seems like a real nice guy, and that was certainly Chance The Rapper’s takeaway after his recent run-in with the actor, who did a nice thing for his daughter on a flight.

In a tweet shared yesterday (February 26), Chance explained, “So I just got on this plane with my daughter, and found out our seats weren’t next to each other. I really ain’t wanna inconvenience anyone by asking them to swap seats, but before I could say anything this kind older gentleman offered his seat to Kensli so we could sit together. We both said thank you and as he stands up, I realize it’s THE Martin Short!! So cool and Kensli freaked out cause she’s obsessed with The Santa Clause 3. What an awesome person! SHOUTOUT TO JACK FROST.”

A Twitter user asked Chance if Short knew who he was and he responded, “Definitely not, which made it way cooler. He just a nice dude ig.” Somebody else joked (or perhaps not), “My daughter could have sat by herself. Marty would have been a delight.” Chance replied, “‘Oh thanks so much but the little girl will be fine where she is… *opens laptop* ANYWAYS this a lil script I’ve been working on it’s called ‘Four Amigos!””