Month: May 2023

Ed Sheeran, just days after releasing his new album – (Subtract), sat down with the record’s producer, Aaron Dessner of The National, for an interview on Amazon Music. It also had a sweet and funny preview that Sheeran posted to Twitter.

“The large portion of that album didn’t really take that long,” Sheeran said. “I’d say Aaron spent of a hell of a long time producing it, though.”

“Trying to keep it minimal and doing what was right for the songs, ’cause the songs are very emotional and fragile,” Dessner responded. “But we wanted to create a world.”

“For me, it’s lovely hearing songs come to life that we’ve written,” Sheeran continued. “We would obviously do them, record them, and then, I’d go off and just be like, ‘I trust Aaron. They’re gonna sound good.’ I don’t think I had any notes either. You just sent them and I was like, ‘Great!’”

Then, Dessner comedically corrects Sheeran’s recollection of events. “You would have notes. You probably don’t remember,” he added, putting it on par with the “Actually, Ellen, that’s not true” meme from Dakota Johnson.

“They’d be very specific and very helpful,” Dessner continued. “Like, ‘What if you dropped the bass drum on beat four?’” Sheeran cheerfully replied with an “Oh, yeah” as the memories all flooded back.

Check out the short clip from Sheeran and Dessner’s interview above.

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

After HBO pulled off an astounding feat — a masterful Deadwood movie that delivered the exquisitely profane finale that the series deserved — it was only a matter of time before FX decided to pull the trigger on a followup series for everyone’s favorite Wild West lawman, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. As such, we’re finally going to receive more of Raylan’s hat, eight years after it bid farewell to Boyd Crowder (in a scene that I still believe inspired a key Narcos: Mexico conversation), and its owner reminisced about digging coal. Raylan then did more of the unthinkable by getting out of Harlan alive and swaggering back to Florida, where he hopefully enjoyed a lot of ice cream.

Ahead of Justified: City Primeval (based upon more Elmore Leonard goodness), it’s obviously worth looking back at the series proper. However, there’s a reality that we must acknowledge. A full rewatch would be ideal, but I don’t have to remind you that TV series are in plentiful supply right now. Heck, Justified showrunner Graham Yost is currently promoting his newest show, Apple TV+’s Silo (which you might also enjoy). No matter what you are watching lately, you’re likely watching a lot of it, and I’ll operate under the assumption that you possess little TV catch-up time. So, if you only have time to revisit one episode before City Primeval arrives, make it “Long in the Tooth.”

Yes, it’s the “crazy dentist” episode of Season 1. Let’s talk it out.

This isn’t technically a bottle episode, although it has the same bonuses in my eyes. The show took Raylan (along with Rachel) out of the hollers of Kentucky and dropped him into Los Angeles for a one-shot story. There, we learned more about his lawman past from a carryover case. We received plenty of dynamic development and telling dialogue, along with seeing how people perceived Raylan, and how he accepted this information and reacted accordingly. We also saw how he handled failures and settled scores, and this primes us for the many conflicts to come in Justified‘s future seasons.

Additionally, this episode threads a few needles that reassure me how Raylan Givens’ ways should be fine, dandy, and not too problematic in 2023.

The Man, The Myth

Alan Ruck guest-starred as Rollie Pike, a fugitive who’s somehow transformed himself into a legit dentist with a fake name, Peter Oldham. All was going swimmingly with him for years. He was presumably a great dentist and waved away money in exchange for tamales. Yet on one fateful day, he snapped, pulling the gold fillings out of a rude and belligerent patient’s mouth in the parking lot. This splashed him all over CNN, and soon enough, the Marshals Service caught wind, and Art sent Raylan (with Rachel in the lead, at Art’s directive) to fetch Rollie, a cartel money launderer who once ducked out the door after Raylan trusted him to stay put.

Rollie was still on the scene when Raylan arrived, and his reaction — and almost fanboy gasp of recognition while uttering his almost-idol’s name — was unmistakeable. There’s respect amid the cat-and-mouse game, and it’s almost as though he has spotted a god. The mobsters who are on Rollie’s tail likewise spoke about Raylan in mythical terms. The legend was real, but this episode did poke fun at Raylan’s self-constructed image. That swagger might look natural, and it was, but the hat sent a message. It’s a statement that Rachel commented upon as well, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

Once the story moved to the border, we got to witness some wonderful banter between fugitive and Marshal (something that we later saw with the famous fried-chicken episode, “Blowback”). And there’s some mutual understanding, too, or at least, Raylan tried to understand why Rollie transformed into a dentist.

“You’re gonna laugh.” “That’s your biggest concern right now?”

The two joked as though witness protection was still an option, and Rollie weighed his options before choosing to be killed by a sniper, rather than lead a miserable life. Yet we also received a wonderful story about how Rollie’s time with Raylan (along with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) had actually inspired him to become a dentist and help people. Yet unlike Raylan, Rollie happened to do so on the other end of the law.

Bonus: This episode gave us an early mention of Raylan’s ice-cream fixation as the reason why Rollie could initially give him the shaft.

The Lawman

Look at this gunslinger stance. It embodies everything that bubbles up from Justified‘s themes. And as Art later summed up in Season 2, Raylan is a “lousy Marshal but a good lawman.” That is to say, Raylan always eventually takes out the bad guys, but he’s likely going to break some rules and disobey authority to get there. He has no hesitation in shooting first, and in this scene, he took out those two goons who referenced the very first scene of the series: he’s “the cowboy marshal who did Tommy Bucks.” Heck, these guys were so busy gawking over Raylan to even notice that he slid into their backseat earlier in the episode before merrily chit-chatting about Tommy Bucks with them.

This border scene, though, was the show’s first real illustration — through a longer scene buildup than we saw with Tommy Bucks — that Raylan is no bullsh*tter. He does not make idle threats, either. As soon as one mobster even began to take a step forward, ignoring his warning, Raylan took him out. He drew so fast that the camera wouldn’t have had time to show him shooting, even if the production had chosen to do so. One of the goons then showed a glimmer of respect with a “you sure did rough me up here, Marshal” before succumbing to his wound.

This would put the series into a potentially grey area, if Raylan wasn’t truly dealing with reprehensible characters. And it’s perhaps the only reason why Justified hasn’t aged poorly. Raylan also does not punch down during his lawman dealings. He does not pick on the disenfranchised. Thus, his actions, as the title suggests, are generally “justified” as interpreted by the show.

And The Telling Dragging Of Raylan:

This is where I want to point out that Justified was slightly ahead of its time in dragging the hell out of the white cop who gets away with everything. The roasting was done playfully here with Rachel letting Raylan (who wasn’t thrilled about her leading this case) know how aware she was of his privilege. Could she get away with wearing a hat like that? No way, and she called him out for busting into the Lexington field office like he owned the joint:

“You did cut to the front of the line.”

“You ever consider that I happen to be good at the job?”

“And you being a tall, good-looking white man with a sh*tload of swagger, that has nothing to do with it?”

In the end, Rachel did try that hat on, as seen above. It didn’t fit, though.

A full decade later, this scene was echoed in Law & Order: Organized Crime, where Chris Meloni’s cop with a checkered past received similar comeuppance from his Black female partner. The conversation was damn near identical in sentiment, although Elliot Stabler has been much more of a problematic, loose-cannon presence than Raylan Givens. Stabler’s past use of excessive use of force was never as cut-and-dried/good-evil as Raylan’s adventures.

The way that Justified walks that fine balance gives me faith that City Primeval won’t have to change anything about Raylan for him to maneuver (within the setting of Detroit) in 2023. It’s almost time to head into another “garden of a**holes.”

Justified: City Primeval will debut on FX sometime this summer.

Austin City Limits Festival returns this year with headliners Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, and Mumford & Sons, along with a lineup that includes some of the biggest names in music. The 1975, Alanis Morrissette, Shania Twain, and Hozier fill out the big print on this year’s flyer, while the rest of the roster runs the gamut from hip-hop to pop to rock, with dreamy singers like Kali Uchis and Lil Yachty, unapologetic rappers such as Coi Leray, GloRilla, and Little Simz, and genre-benders like Rina Sawayama taking the stage October 6-8 and 13-15. A message from ACL’s Twitter touts that this year’s ticket price will include all fees and shipping costs upfront so fans know what they’re getting without a Ticketmaster-style jump scare at checkout.

Austin City Limits’ latest lineup continues its tradition of diverse but stacked artist curation; last year, the festival was headlined by Lil Nas X, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and SZA. This year’s fest will also be available to stream on Hulu thanks to a partnership with C3 Presents that will stream the 2023 events of ACL, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza on the popular platform. In a statement, C3 Presents co-founder Charlie Walker said, “The demand for live music is at an all-time high and the live experience has never been more connected to digital. By expanding our partnership with Hulu, even more fans will be able to tune into each of these incredible festival experiences in real-time and enjoy live performances from their favorite artists with the fans on-site.”

You can get more information about this year’s ACL Festival here.

Lil Yachty is hitting the road beginning this fall to support his latest album, Let’s Start Here. Since its release, the “Strike” musician has received praise from fans and other musicians for its innovative approach. The 14-track project even debuted atop the music charts. Now, supporters have the opportunity to the album live as Lil Yachty just revealed his Field Trip Global Tour kicking off this fall.

Yachty has shared how difficult planning the tour has been, but so far, it looks like everything worked itself out. Launching in Washington, DC on September 21, the Field Trip Global Tour has quite a massive schedule. Currently billed as a 39-date run, Lil Yachty will make his way around North America before hitting Europe in mid-October. At this time, no supporting or opening acts have been revealed; however, ticket sales are currently live.

Beginning at 10 a.m. local time today (May 9) in North America and at 1 p.m. BST in Europe, fans with access to Lil Yachty’s artist presale were able to snag tickets over the next few days. While general ticket sales begin on Friday, May 12, at the same time.

Check out the dates for Yachty’s Field Trip Tour below and find more information here.

09/21 — Washington, DC @ Echostage
09/22 — New York, NY @ SummerStage in Central Park
09/24 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
09/25 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
09/27 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
09/29 — Wallingford, CT @ The Dome at Oakdale
10/01 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre
10/02 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
10/04 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
10/08 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
10/09 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
10/11 — New Orleans, LA @ The Fillmore
10/15 — Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
10/17 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA
10/21 — Vancouver, BC @ UBC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
10/22 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
10/26 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
10/27 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
10/29 — Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
10/31 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
11/02 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fillmore
11/04 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
11/05 — Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
11/22 — Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
11/24 — Stockholm, SE @ Fryhuset
11/25 — Copenhagen, DK @ KB Hallen
11/27 — Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
11/28 — Cologne, DE @ Palladium
11/30 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Victoria Warehouse
12/01 — London, UK @ OVO Wembley Arena
12/03 — Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy
12/04 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy
12/06 — Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel
12/08 — Tilburg, NL @ Poppodium013
12/10 — Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
12/12 — Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz
12/14 — Milan, IT @ Fabrique
12/16 — Zurich, CH @ Komplex 457
12/17 — Vienna, AT @ Gasometer

Piers Morgan just delivered a hot take for the ages. Despite the latest episode of Succession sparking demand for Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen to score Emmy nominations for their brutal balcony fight scene, Morgan thinks the show is lacking after shockingly killing off Logan Roy only three episodes into the final season.

In an oddly worded tweet, Morgan praised Brian Cox as the show’s “hot sizzling meat” and complained that the hit HBO series is suffering without him.

“Succession without Logan Roy sucks,” Morgan tweeted. “Got to Ep 7 and really struggling to maintain interest. It’s become vegan TV … missing the hot sizzling meat.”

Naturally, Morgan’s tweets was quickly pounced on by Succession fans who have been enjoying the new dynamic that Logan’s absence brings to the final season. With the media mogul gone, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Snook) have been forced to fill their father’s shoes, and it’s been a disaster every step of the way.

The three can’t stop betraying each other through self-serving backroom deals, tenuous alliances, and in the case of Kendall, a deep-ceded penchant for self-betrayal. The dramatic tension has been peak Succession, and fans wasted no time calling out Morgan for crying about a lack of “hot meat.”

You can see Morgan get roasted for his bad Succession take below:

(Via Piers Morgan on Twitter)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scoring big numbers at the box office and mostly positive reviews with critics. If there’s been one criticism, or word of warning, it’s that the movie is pretty damn dark — and PETA, for one, appreciates that.

As The Wrap reports, PETA is praising James Gunn for offering an uncensored look at the cruelties of animal testing via some pretty disturbing scenes that show us Rocket Raccoon’s backstory. Via senior VP Lisa Lange, the animal rights organization offered a statement to the media about the latest chapter in the MCU:

“Through Rocket, James Gunn has put a face, a name, and a personality on the millions of vulnerable animals being cycled through laboratories as we speak. PETA is celebrating this as the best animal rights film of the year for helping audiences see animals as individuals and suggesting that just because we can experiment on them doesn’t mean that we should.”

As disturbing as the scenes in question are to some viewers, they’re integral to the plot of the movie, which traces Rocket’s road to becoming a Guardian.

“The flashbacks build to a climax where Rocket confronts the abusive scientist who is both responsible for putting him on the road to becoming a hero and putting him and his friends through unspeakable pain, resolving in the end to prevent other animals that he was once just like from suffering the same fate,” writes The Wrap’s Jeremy Fuster, adding that: “It’s an ending that PETA praises for “reminding viewers that all animals deserve a life of freedom under the open sky rather than confinement to laboratory cages.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters now.

When Donald Trump was arrested last month (even though it feels like years ago), people wondered what the former president would be allowed to say on social media about the hush money case. We now have an answer: NBC News reports that Judge Juan Merchan “issued an order restricting the former president from posting about some evidence in the case on social media.”

The order reads, “Any materials and information provided by the People to the Defense in accordance with their discovery obligations… shall be used solely for the purposes of preparing a defense in this matter.” Furthermore, anyone with access to evidence in the case “shall not copy, disseminate, or disclose” the material to third party platforms, including Truth Social and Twitter, “without prior approval from the court.” This severely limits Trump’s ability to go one of his classic early morning rants about Stormy Daniels.

In April, the former president was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, related to alleged attempts to pay two women hush money to stop them from coming forward during the 2016 presidential campaign about their alleged affairs with Mr. Trump. One of the payments involved Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 12 days before the election.

Daniels has said that she doesn’t think Trump’s “crimes against me are worthy of incarceration,” but if he was found guilty of, say, attempting to overturn the election, then he should absolutely be sent to prison.

(Via NBC News and the Independent)

While Grimes has been one of the loudest advocates of people using her voice for AI recreated music, it seems she might be having second thoughts after hearing some of the songs that have spun out of the generations.

“I am actually kinda stressed that ppl r starting to make competitively (or maybe better??) quality grimes sounding songs than I do but it’s also the most wonderfully poetic way to die and respawn in another career,” she tweeted yesterday (May 8).

Last night, she had reacted to an AI Grimes track that someone produced and tagged her in. “the bangers are starting to roll in fr,” she noted. Another tweet found her seemingly giving approval to two other posts about how her original album artwork was better than AI — and that human artists can “be insane” when computers can’t.

Still, Grimes has her post from a few days ago pinned to her profile, where she made her stance about AI clear — in the wake of the Drake and The Weeknd AI collaboration being pulled from streaming platforms.

“I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings,” Grimes said.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert only just raised the subject of her GED a day ago, and here she is, giving people an opportunity to bring it up against a point that she is attempting to make. That point would be the GOP lawmaker’s comparison of student loans to an already existing comparison of car loans and debt ceiling talks.

This actually isn’t the first time that Boebert has riled up holders of student loans or those who are, for whatever reason, in favor of some student loan forgiveness. In her most recent GED reminder, she had criticized the VP’s public speaking skills, and now, she’s playing the false-equivalence card while pouncing upon White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s aforementioned likening of a car payment to debt ceiling matters.

Jean-Pierre’s point (as shown in the below clip) was that Congress is negotiating a debt ceiling for already-spent money. Boebert decided to hop on it and tweet, “Can we play this clip when they talk about student loans, too?”

Naturally, this is only giving people more of a chance to bring up that GED, which Boebert received a few months before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Boebert has since advocated for eliminating the education department, and she’s also proposed a longer duration for lawmakers to be able to read bills.

On the subject of financial matters, Boebert may not have room to talk, given allegations that she has illegally used campaign contributions to pay rent and utility bills on her now-defunct restaurant, Shooter’s Grill. Additionally, former employees of that establishment have aired grievances that included accusations of Boebert splurging on luxury items while their paychecks reportedly went missing.

With all of that in consideration, people are pushing back at Boebert’s latest student-loan tweet, given the “complicated” nature of student debt, which verges on predatory lending in many instances. As well, users are bringing up that GED and the alleged campaign fund debacle.

And the subject of the debt ceiling continues to loom with hope that lawmakers can come to some type of compromise.

The first reactions to The Little Mermaid are in, and the vibe is overwhelmingly positive for the live-action remake starring Halle Bailey as the iconic Disney princess. There’s also lots of love for Melissa McCarthy who plays the villainous sea witch Ursula.

While critics are blown away by the lead performances, particularly when it comes to the musical numbers, The Little Mermaid‘s visual effects are mentioned several times, and the overall consensus is they’re iffy. However, that doesn’t seem to detract from the rest of the film, which is racking up near-universal praise in the first batch of social media reactions.

“#TheLittleMermaid was an ABSOLUTE gem! @HalleBailey IS Ariel, no matter what anyone says,” The Illuminerdi writer Stephanie Ramirez tweeted. “She brings in the charm and personality of Ariel to life. Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was just *chef kiss*. This film was such a joy to experience.”

“The Little Mermaid is magical,” Tessa Smith wrote. “Halle Bailey is absolutely phenomenal. That girl has some pipes! Scuttle & Sebastian are hilarious & had me laughing the whole way through. Love the new songs & added plot points! Some CGI issues, but they don’t take away from it.”

“I was blown away by #TheLittleMermaid,” Brandon Lewis tweeted. “Some visual issues aside, it’s the most romantic and, dare I say, magical Disney has been in years. The best live-action remake by a mile. Daveed Diggs is the MVP. Halle Bailey is a superstar, and her Part of Your World is a showstopper.”

“#TheLittleMermaid makes it pretty close to being the best live action Disney movie, however it still struggles in the villain department,” Felicia Wade wrote. “Halle Bailey IS Ariel and I had literal chills throughout her performance. This is a little mermaid retelling like you’ve never seen before.”

You can see more reactions to The Little Mermaid below:

The Little Mermaid swims into theaters on May 26.