Month: February 2023

Karol G’s highly anticipated new album Mañana Será Bonito is finally out today. One of the record’s many highlights includes “TQG,” for which she teamed up with the one and only Shakira. This follows her collaboration with Romeo Santos for “X Si Volvemos.”

The intense track comes with a cinematic music video that begins with Karol falling in a seemingly never-ending plunge as she sings. In one scene, she dons a revealing red dress while Shakira is clad in a stunning blue gown as the pair dance to the beat. There are many outfit changes throughout, of course.

In our brand new interview with Karol about Mañana Será Bonito, she discussed working with Shakira for this video, saying, “She was very sweet! All the photos we have together, we are literally laughing. There was a lot of pressure days before to shoot this video. I was super afraid of how the vibe and energy would be like, but when we were on set, it was incredible. We had a great time. We helped each other a lot. We had a lot of admiration for each other. When she was filming, I was there. When I was filming, she was there. We were cheering each other on. Everything has been special.”

Watch the video for “TQG” above.

A bombshell report from Kalyn Kahler, Mike Sando, and Jayson Jenks of The Athletic on Friday morning indicated that Russell Wilson’s trade to the Denver Broncos came not long after the veteran signal caller went to the ownership group for his old team, the Seattle Seahawks, and demanded major changes.

Primarily, Wilson allegedly demanded that longtime head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider were fired, and if he had his way, the team would hire the man who is now his coach in Denver, Sean Payton. Of course, none of that came to pass, as the Seahawks traded Wilson and kept both Carroll and Schneider.

Via The Athletic:

Wilson and Carroll had clashed in recent years over the quarterback’s role in the offense and the overall direction of a team that had gradually declined after back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. Convinced that Carroll and Schneider were inhibiting his quest to win additional Super Bowls and individual awards, Wilson asked Seahawks ownership to fire both of them, according to league sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details. Wilson also had a preferred replacement in mind: Sean Payton, who had recently stepped down from the New Orleans Saints.

Wilson’s attorney told The Athletic that this was “entirely fabricated,” while Wilson took to Twitter in the aftermath of the story and said “I never wanted them fired. All any of us wanted was to win.”

Denver, which agreed to a lucrative contract extension with Wilson before the season, went 5-12 during his first year at the helm. Before the campaign ended, the team fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

Cracker Island, the eighth studio from Gorillaz, is out now. Although leader Damon Albarn is open to the idea of eventually stepping down from the mantle for the right person, for the time being, the group is going to celebrate its latest release by dropping a new single, “Tormenta.”

The reggaeton and indie fusion track, whose title translates to “storm,” features one of Latin music’s biggest stars in Bad Bunny. On the outside, the credit for the crossover track belongs to Albarn’s daughter Missy and her friend Salima who introduced him to reggaeton. During an interview with The Sun’s Simon Cosyns, Albarn shared, “[Missy and Salima] grew up together and went to the Spanish school at the top of our road. So they’re attuned to Latin music and into reggaeton.”

The song chronicles the pre- and post-emotional dealings of deep romantic love. Bunny is a fierce rapper, but on “Tormenta,” his vocal abilities are the central focus as he sings, roughly translated roughly translates to, “And make the most of me today, because tomorrow I’m gone / And I don’t know when I’ll get back, if I get lost in your eyes / And make the most of mе today, because tomorrow I’m gone / And I don’t know whеn I’ll get back, if I get lost in your eyes.”

Albarn was overwhelmingly impressed by the music star’s talents, saying in the aforementioned interview, “Bad Bunny’s the real deal. He’s got one of those annoying voices, which is exactly right every time. So accurate and so consistent, it’s amazing,” before jokingly adding, “If I could sing like that, I would be the biggest artist in the world, but I can’t, so I’m not!’”

Take a listen for yourself. The full track is embedded above.

Cracker Island is out now via Parlophone. Get it here.

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

It’s starting to look like The Mandalorian won’t be going away anytime soon. While promoting the upcoming Season 3, Jon Favreau revealed that the show is maybe halfway through its tale. In fact, Favreau and showrunner Dave Filoni haven’t even decided upon a finale, which flies in the face of rumors that the bounty hunting series would end after four seasons.

As Favreau explains, he hopes The Mandalorian lasts for a while, and he doesn’t feel like the series is getting close to an “endpoint.” Via Total Film:

“I think the beauty of this is that it’s a middle chapter of a much larger story. And though we’ll have resolution over time with these characters, I think that how these characters fit into the larger scope and scale, but it’s not like there’s a finale that we’re building to that I have in mind. Quite the contrary, I love for these stories to go on and on. And so these characters potentially could be with us for a while, and I really love telling stories in their voice, and I love the way the adventures unfold and I’m looking forward to doing much more.”

Favreau’s comments arrive at an interesting time for Disney+. The streaming platform has been under intense scrutiny from returning Disney CEO Bob Iger, who’s reportedly concerned with how much is being spent on original series and whether it’s worth the investment. That dynamic has already caused a slow down on releasing Marvel series. However, it appears the opposite is happening with The Mandalorian, which has been a juggernaut hit for Disney+. People freaking love that Baby Yoda, and Pedro Pascal is cool, too, we guess. He can stick around.

The Mandalorian Season 3 premieres March 1 on Disney+.

(Via Total Film)

Atlanta ended only last year, but Donald Glover is already back with a new show. Created by Janine Nabers and Glover, Swarm follows Dre (played by Dominique Fishback), a fan of the world’s biggest pop star — who definitely isn’t Beyoncé — and how her obsession takes a dark turn.

You can watch the stressful trailer above.

“We just thought it’d be fun to make a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King of Comedy,” Glover told Vanity Fair about Swarm, referring to the 2001 Michaele Haneke and 1982 Martin Scorsese movies, respectfully. Nabors added that “we were really interested in creating an anti-hero story,” like the ones seen on Mad Men and Breaking Bad, but “through the lens of a Black, modern-day woman.”

Glover compared Fishback to Isabelle Huppert, “as far [as] risk-takers in performances.” While shooting the final scene in the pilot, “every single person stopped what they were doing and gave Dom a standing ovation for three minutes,” Nabors said. “I’ve been doing TV for a long time and I’ve never seen that. That was the moment that Donald and I looked at each other and we were like, all right — we got something right.”

Swarm premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 17.

Vladimir Putin is in an odd spot, which admittedly is an odd thing to say about a man who launched a war that he thought was swiftly winnable but is still racking up thousands of deaths, month after month. Now, the Russian president is “celebrating” the one-year mark since he invaded Ukraine, and that lack of victory recently inspired him to throw a tantrum and pull out of a nuclear pact because the U.S. won’t recognize his prowess. Yet Putin has a new plan, according to U.K. intelligence, which says that Putin (via HuffPost) intends to “eventually exhaust” President Zelensky’s troops because Russia can’t seem to achieve straight-up victory on the ground or in the air.

Reuters also reports that Putin delivered multiple speeches leading up to this anniversary, for which he (by Reuter’s accurate description) arrives “empty-handed after a bloody winter offensive,” and he’s got a bunch of plans for launching intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2023. However, Putin’s only real plan appears to be hanging on until Kyiv decides that it’s weary and surrenders. That doesn’t seem like it will happen, however:

Moscow’s forces have made progress trying to encircle Bakhmut, but have failed to break through Ukrainian lines to the north near Kremmina and to the south at Vuhledar, where they have taken heavy losses assaulting across open ground.

Ukrainian forces repelled 90 Russian attacks in the northeast and east over the past 24 hours, the military said early on Thursday. Ukrainian military spokesperson Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said Moscow was trying to use its advantage in troop numbers to exhaust Kyiv’s forces. “The enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut,” he said.

Putin’s tactic appears to be the same one that a child would employ after asking for the same toy, over and over again, at the store. Eventually, some parents will decide to give into the kid, although that’s obviously not a strategy that works well long-term or for the betterment of society. Will Putin get his way, though? We may eventually find out.

(Via Reuters)

The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t make any big moves at the trade deadline. While they swapped out Matisse Thybulle for Jalen McDaniels, Philly didn’t do anything close to the trade they made at the deadline last year, when they turned Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and draft capital into James Harden and Paul Millsap in a move with the Brooklyn Nets.

That continuity has played a big role in the Sixers’ success this year, as the team is 39-13 and three games out of the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference. Harden, of course, has been excellent for them this year, but as Georges Niang explained during a radio hit on Friday morning, Simmons no longer being around has had a big impact on the team.

As Niang went on to explain, Simmons not playing for the team despite being on a max contract meant that the front office had to figure out “where other role players have to step up and replace the passing, dribbling, rebounding, defense.” He also pointed out how difficult it was for the locker room to have no idea if Simmons would come back and join them at any point during the year.

“The team aspect is very important,” Niang said. “I think Doc Rivers does a good job buying into the team. So, when you don’t know who you’re gonna have, night in and night out, is he coming back? Is he this? I feel like the updates we were getting about him was, like, when I’d turn on my TV, I was listening to Stephen A. Smith. ‘He’s gonna be at practice tomorrow,’ and I was like, ‘Well, there he isn’t.’

“So, last year was difficult because you didn’t know who you had,” he continued. “And then the trade deadline’s coming up, and everybody’s walking in like, ‘Well, who’s being attached to him that’s going?’ So it’s just like, you had that uneasy feeling. Now it’s like, alright, yes, we did trade Matisse and we got Jalen, but you know who you’re going into war with every single night. And I feel comfortable with the pieces that we have, because we do have some great players in this locker room.”

Here at Upworthy, we have a handful of famous folks who regularly make our headlines for their consistent, continued awesomeness. The legendary Dick Van Dyke is one of them. The legend-in-his-own-right Kevin Bacon is another.

Both of these gentlemen are featured in this week’s roundup of joy, and we couldn’t be giddier about it. Is it possible to see Dick Van Dyke’s bright-eyed grin and not smile? Doubtful. Could someone watch Kevin Bacon sing with Kyra Sedgwick and a screaming goat and not be tickled? Unlikely.

This week’s list has plenty of additional delights as well, from a hilarious crash course in sibling rivalry to an unexpectedly stunning piano performance to an unassuming, crowd-pleasing kid named George and more. So many opportunities to smile! Enjoy!

1. Delighted crowd cheers louder and louder for a kid named George at his first hockey game

See on Instagram

Aw, yay for George. So fun to see some hive mentality put to positive use. George has a core memory being formed right there.

2. Woman who was an only child asked what it’s like to have siblings, and her friends launched an immediate crash course

@lonnieiiv

Don’t ask, just bring it

Welp, she definitely learned. Too real and too hilarious. Read the full story here.

3. Blind, neurodiverse 13-year-old blows everyone away playing a challenging Chopin piece on the piano

u201cThis is the incredible moment Lucy, a 13-year-old who is blind and neurodiverse, played a highly-complex Chopin piece, leaving @MikaSounds and @Lang_Lang speechless. nnThe Piano, presented by @ClaudiaWinkle, starts tonight at 9pm on Channel 4. nnStream Free on All 4. #ThePianou201d

— Channel 4 (@Channel 4)
1676480402

Beautiful. Even professional pianist Lang Lang was amazed at how she played the deceptively difficult Nocturne in B minor. Read more about Lucy and her extraordinary abilities here.

4. Dad surprises his daughter with a day out, just the two of them, and it’s so joyful

See on Instagram

Her disgust with fishing turned to sheer delight real fast. A day she’ll never forget for sure. (And Dad, too.)

5. A kid wrote to Costco’s CEO to ask for help with a school fundraiser. He personally responded.

We already knew Costco was awesome, and CEO Craig Jelinek just pushed that awesomeness over the top with a literally humongous donation. Read the heartwarming story here.

6. 97-year-old Dick Van Dyke brought a judge on ‘The Masked Singer’ to tears with his surprise reveal

Nobody expected it to be him behind the gnome costume. What a legend. Read the full story and see his performance here.

7. Shelter kitten pushes its sibling out of the way when a potential adopter stops by

Cutest sibling rivalry ever. Definitely gotta take them both. Read the full story here.

8. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick sing a duet of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ and they could not be cuter

See on Instagram

Total #couplegoals. The screaming goat is the icing on the cake. Read about how their 35-year marriage has survived Hollywood and how they often sing with real goats here.

9. Speaking of goats, you may not think you need to see goats eating tomatoes, but really you do

See on Instagram

New goal in life: Enjoy anything as much as these goats enjoy downing whole tomatoes.

10. May we all dance with the self-assurance—and the support—that this kiddo has

See on Instagram

Let’s allow ourselves to dance without embarrassment or apology like this little man and also remember how much it means to be someone’s backup dancer. Just goodness upon goodness.

Hope that brought some smiles to your face! Come back next week for more. And if you’d like to have these posts delivered to your inbox each week, you can subscribe to our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.

With Shazam: Fury of the Gods set to hit theaters next month, Helen Mirren stopped by The Graham Norton Show to promote her performance as the villainous goddess Hespera. There was just one small problem: Mirren has no idea what the movie is about. She knows she plays some sort of vengeful goddess alongside Lucy Liu, and that’s pretty much where here knowledge of the film taps out.

“Don’t ask me about the plot, it’s too complicated,” Mirren told Norton via Insider. “[Lucy Liu and I] are angry goddesses wearing unbelievably heavy costumes. It was very hot and uncomfortable and in fact, Lucy said at the end of the first day’s shooting, ‘They are trying to kill us,’ in all seriousness.”

As for how Mirren ended up playing a DC Comics villain, she was one of the millions of people who made the original film a surprising success.

“I wanted to do it because I loved the first ‘Shazam!’” Mirren said. “It was sweet and funny. I am not a big superhero-type person, but I loved the idea of it and happily signed up for the second one. It is great.”

Not for nothing, Mirren isn’t a stranger to blockbuster filmmaking. The iconic actress has become a permanent fixture in the Fast and Furious films, and she’s even confessed that she begged Vin Diesel for a part (and to maybe drive one of the cars).

“He found this great little role for me, which was perfect,” Mirren told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “I’d just never done anything like that before — one of those big, big movies. And, in my vanity, I just loved driving and really wanted to do my own driving in a fast car.”

Shazam: Fury of the Gods opens March 17 in theaters.

(Via Insider)

Indiecast is an indie rock podcast, which I feel like needs to be reiterated because of episodes like this one. In this episode, we discuss some very un-indie rock topics.

For instance, Ian and I go deep on Rolling Stone‘s recent article about the current state of Live, the ’90s grunge band famous for songs like “Lightning Crashes” and “I Alone.” Why are we talking about Live in 2023? Because things are bananas in Live-world at the moment! You have con men, QAnon conspiracy theorists, the AVN Awards, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Then we talked about Skrillex, who is back with two new albums, and the rise of early 2010s nostalgia. Oh, and we also answered a listener question about Incubus. Again, this is an indie rock podcast!

In the “meat” of the episode, we inducted four new albums into our Indiecast Hall Of Fame — in this round, we honor LPs released by Sunset Rubdown, The Elected, The Good Life, and The Fresh & Onlys. Finally, in our Recommendation Corner segment, we shouted out new records by Philip Selway and Model/Actriz.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 127 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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