Month: May 2023

On September 18, 2020, Ava Max released her debut album, Heaven & Hell. Around that time, she celebrated the project’s release with a launch party. The event didn’t take place in some personally meaningful place like her hometown, or in a major city among the big lights. Instead, it happened on Roblox.

Some context: Earlier that year, the COVID-19 pandemic (you might be aware of it) forced the world to essentially shut down. This put the live entertainment industry on pause. Concerts and other in-person events were temporarily no more. Oof!

More context: Roblox, an online game creation platform, launched in 2006 and has grown substantially since then. It was reported in 2022 that Roblox had 57 million daily users (and that half of them were under 12 years old).

So, with both of those things in mind, Ava Max and her team decided to launch Heaven & Hell on Roblox. On September 25, the event began. After a countdown, a pre-recorded video message from Ava Max played, in which she spoke about the event, discussed her new album, and answered some questions. She then sang two songs before the video ended.

It was a neat experiment, as IRL events weren’t super possible at the time. So, Ava Max made the best of the situation and came through with something intriguing and different. Different, but also something of a return to normalcy: While the music industry was on hold, Ava Max pressed forward via the means available to her and delivered as close to a familiar experience as was possible.

It was also just the start.

A few weeks later, Lil Nas X got in on the Roblox fun. On November 14 and 15, the rapper put on quite the show. He opened with a performance of “Old Town Road” before a digital costume change and a rendition of “Rodeo” as bats flew above him. The environment allowed for some fantastical elements not possible in a real-life concert. As the Roblox Wiki describes, the show involved tornadoes, a shift to a futuristic setting, Lil Nas X levitating in front of the moon, and a black hole.

Those were the first two concerts experiences on Roblox, and from there, artists like Elton John, Mariah Carey, aespa, Soccer Mommy, Saweetie, and others hosted their own virtual events. Were they worse than in-person shows? Well, that’s hard to say.

Leaving the house, bringing your physical body to a different environment, and seeing artists in front of your face isn’t something that can be replicated on a phone, computer, or game console. It’s a special experience than can really only be felt that specific way. The thing is, though, that virtual concerts don’t need to be that. In terms of what an in-person show offers, virtual shows can’t do it. They just can’t. In other ways, however, they can present much more.

Stage design for major tours can be incredible, but Lil Nas X isn’t getting functional tornadoes and black holes on a real-life stage. Roblox has long been an open forum for imaginative expression for its users and the same has been true when it comes to virtual concerts. It’s an opportunity for artists to put on a concert in ways they could never pull off otherwise. Give the world’s most talented and creative entertainers a limitless environment and special moments are bound to result.

Furthermore, sometimes, committing a few hours to going downtown, finding parking, getting to the venue, watching a concert, and making your way home is a lot. Nights when that seems overwhelming are the perfect occasion to just open an app on your phone/computer and catch some more convenient live entertainment, to still get the feeling that you’re watching something grand unfold in the moment.

Worth noting is that as novel as this whole thing may seem, a Roblox virtual concert isn’t a completely new idea (and not just because Fortnite did it before them, like with the Marshmello event in February 2019). Roblox events represent what the live entertainment business has long been about: meeting people where they are.

Really, performers have been bringing their shows to the people for a long as it’s been possible: Shortly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, circuses started traveling to the western half of the US. People were in their hometowns and most of them presumably didn’t have the means for significant travel (especially for leisure), so the entertainers went to them.

From there, music tours eventually became a major business, and some performers went beyond even just showing up in people’s cities. In the ’90s and ’00s, music lovers young and old spent a lot of time at the then-thriving malls. So, artists like Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne got set up between Claire’s and the food court to get a performance in. That’s where the people were, so that’s where the artists were.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought more popularity to remote-friendly practices like working from home and consuming the majority of entertainment online. Folks were in their rooms and on the internet, so that’s where the artists went.

Again, Roblox isn’t the first video game platform to host a virtual concert: Shout out to Duran Duran for performing a Second Life show in 2006. Roblox was, though, a leader in bringing them to the mainstream at the perfect time. It’s where the people were, and it’s where the artists could be whatever they wanted to be.

In 2023, the live entertainment industry is at the point where concert tours have long been back in full swing. This doesn’t mean virtual events should go back and hide in their hole of obscurity, though. Video games and other online products are as popular as they’ve ever been, and musicians are more open-minded and creatively free than ever before when it comes to self-promotional strategies.

So yes, for most artists, in-person events will return to their spot as the live entertainment priority. There’s no reason why virtual concerts can’t be a piece of the puzzle, though. While they had to fill in as the main feature for a little bit, really, they’re a different side of the same coin, one that offers its own unique value. It’s all just meeting people where they are, and as where they are changes, artists, as they always have, adapt and push the industry in exciting new directions.

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

The Writers Guild of America’s ongoing strike against labor conditions could be changing Americans’ viewing habits for the foreseeable future, but that isn’t the only thing it’s affecting. Many peripheral industries will feel the effects in the coming weeks and (potentially) months as the WGA fights for fair wages and job protections from networks and studios amid a changing media landscape and record profits.

For instance, musical guests Foo Fighters, Labrinth, and Lil Uzi Vert have had their upcoming guest appearances on Saturday Night Live canceled along with immediate show episodes. According to Variety, the show, which normally runs through May before the summer hiatus, won’t produce any new episodes until the strike ends. This week would have seen former cast member Pete Davidson return as host with Lil Uzi Vert as the musical guest — a dynamic duo if ever there was one — while Entertainment Weekly reports Foo Fighters’ first appearance since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins was canceled along with Jennifer Coolidge’s hosting debut. Labrinth would have appeared in an episode hosted by Kieran Culkin.

Artists that would have appeared on other late-night variety shows will also need to find alternative promotion, as the only show running through the strike is (of course) Fox News’ Gutfield!, a show I just learned exists five minutes ago. Even so, recording artists are still showing solidarity with their fellow writers, with Snoop Dogg comparing screenwriters’ pay to streaming royalties.

Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar are two of A24’s highest-grossing films, with box office totals of $81.2 million and $46.7 million, respectively. His third feature, Beau Is Afraid, will be lucky to crack $10 million: the “Jewish Lord of the Rings“ has only made $6 million since coming out in April, despite good reviews and a leading performance from Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix.

Will Beau Is Afraid be a bigger hit on streaming? Yes (the 179 minute runtime likely kept people at home), but no date hasn’t been announced yet. Based on previous A24 films, however, you can except it to premiere on VOD in June or July. If you can’t wait until then, Beau Is Afraid is still in theaters.

“I was told from someone in college that there was this college thread amongst friends, a challenge they were going to take mushrooms and go see this movie,” Phoenix told Fandango about Beau. “And I just wanted to make a public service announcement and say do not take mushrooms and go see this f*cking movie.” Another good reason to watch it at home instead of in public.

Here’s more:

A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster.

You can watch the trailer here.

As the Denver Nuggets got ready for this past offseason, they faced the hardest question in professional sports: How do we make the leap from good to great?

They had their core, with two-time MVP Nikola Jokic at the center, paired with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., both returning from injuries. They had a high-level fourth starter in Aaron Gordon, who had embraced his tertiary role and thrived alongside Jokic in the frontcourt. But the rest of the roster was murky, a collection of fine regular season players who weren’t necessarily reliable in a 16-game setting.

General manager Calvin Booth — who ascended to the position after Tim Connelly went to Minnesota — decided to consolidate the roster, stripping a bit of regular season depth away in favor of a stronger playoff rotation. It was a gamble on his stars staying healthy, but then again, there wasn’t a path to a title without that, anyway. His first big move was trading Monte Morris and Will Barton, two longtime cogs in the Denver machine, for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith. The latter was a downgrade at backup point guard, but the former was a proven postseason commodity and the exact sort of two-way wing Denver needed to complete its starting five, a player capable of spacing the floor and knocking down shots while also being a solid perimeter defender. From there, he made one of the best value signings of the summer, bringing in Bruce Brown to reprise his role from two seasons ago in Brooklyn as a jack-of-all trades defender who could, at times, become a small-ball big.

Along with trading Morris and Barton (who started 155 combined games a year ago, including all 10 playoff games), the Nuggets let JaMychal Green, Austin Rivers, Bryn Forbes, DeMarcus Cousins, and Facu Campazzo leave in free agency. All of these players averaged more than 10 minutes per game in the playoffs. Bones Hyland was traded at the deadline for Reggie Jackson, who has barely seen the rotation. In all, Denver entered this postseason without seven players from last year’s 10-man playoff rotation, and have trimmed this year’s postseason rotation down to eight players.

Murray and Porter’s returns were the headliners, and for good reason. Murray showed in Game 1 how he can go toe-to-toe with the best scorers in the world when he’s rolling, while MPJ is capable of becoming a flamethrower at any moment. However, what’s different about this year’s Nuggets squad is that they are not dependent on having their top-3 play at their best to win playoff games. Murray was, for 44 minutes of Game 2, dreadful. Porter was a non-factor, scoring five points. And yet, they beat the Suns by 10 because they finally have “others” capable of filling the gaps.

Jokic’s 39 points carried them, but he got help in the form of KCP scoring 14, including a trio of threes in the fourth quarter to help Denver take control of the game. Brown was able to step in for MPJ and provide a defensive lift, most notably blocking a Kevin Durant jumper with three minutes to play. Jeff Green and Christian Braun fill out the eight-man rotation, but it’s the ability to lean on Caldwell-Pope (33.4 minutes per game) and Brown (26.3 minutes per game) in these playoffs that has made all the difference for this year’s Nuggets team.

For a great example of what happens when you can’t round out your roster beyond your stars, look no farther than Denver’s current opponents. Depth in the playoffs is a wholly different thing than depth in the regular season, and the Suns have been desperate to find anyone who can complement their top-4 guys while praying those dudes stay healthy, which is currently coming back to bite them in a big way. The 82-game schedule is a war of attrition, requiring a team to go 10-12 deep in order to just keep the wear and tear off their stars.

Those players are playable because game plans in the regular season are skeletons compared to what teams face in the postseason, where opponents will hone in on a weakness and exploit it over and over until you make the correct adjustment. We have seen so many teams in these playoffs, like Phoenix and Cleveland, that have the top-end talent but have struggled to find those fifth, sixth, and seventh guys that can be trusted in a rotation. Denver was once one of those teams, but by valuing quality over quantity in terms of depth, there are fewer weaknesses for opponents to exploit.

There is always spacing on offense, in part because Jokic is a freak, but also because five of the other seven in the rotation are shooting above 38 percent from three in the playoffs. Brown and Green are the weak links in the shooting realm, but they almost never share the floor together, are willing to let an open look fly, and are good connectors and passers. Defensively, MPJ is the weak link on the wing, but Caldwell-Pope, Gordon, and Brown are all good enough that they can either leave MPJ on the bench when he’s cold, as they did in Game 2, or keep him paired with at least two strong wing defenders and hide him on a non-threat in the corner. As a unit, they all are active (MPJ aside when he’s not engaged) and have length at each position, which makes up for some of their individual deficiencies.

Their biggest issue is a lack of rim protection, as they don’t have a functional backup center behind Jokic. In this series, that’s a non-factor because the Suns almost never go to the rim, but even against Minnesota’s two-big lineups, they were able to mitigate that issue by putting in work early with their activity and disrupting passing and driving lanes. Squads like the Celtics, Lakers, or Sixers would represent the biggest test of their defense’s weak point, but that’s a bridge to cross if they run into those teams.

In the past, the Nuggets had to make the difficult decisions so many teams face in the playoffs, which is whether to sacrifice defense for offense or vice versa. With the additions of Brown and Caldwell-Pope, Michael Malone has better players at his disposal to run out there for high minute loads, without having to do what Monty Williams is about to in Game 3, which is start throwing things at the wall in hopes they stick. For Booth, their performance is proof positive that his approach this summer in sacrificing some regular season depth in order to gain playoff depth was worthwhile and done with a keen eye for filling the needs of this team in the postseason.

Ed Sheeran left court today with a weight off his shoulders. A jury found Sheeran not guilty of copyright infringement in a lawsuit brought by the estate of Ed Townsend claiming that Sheeran’s 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud” copied parts of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic “Let’s Get It On,” which Townsend co-wrote. Sheeran said he was “very happy” by the decision but “absolutely frustrated” by the fact he had to go to court in the first place, especially because he missed his grandmother’s funeral as a result.

Before the trial, he echoed that sentiment in an interview with Apple Music, telling Zane Lowe, “The thing with these cases, it’s not usually songwriters that are suing songwriters. I feel like in the songwriting community, everyone sort of knows that there’s four chords primarily that are used and there’s eight notes. And we work with what we’ve got, with doing that.”

He isn’t wrong; according to copyright expert Naima Cochrane, the rights to “Let’s Get It On” are owned by Structured Asset Sales, which acquired a portion of Townsend’s estate, and when it filed the initial lawsuit in 2018, it was actually stuck down by a judge. SAS then acquired a live recording of “Let’s Get It On” and refiled the suit against that version.

However, as both Cochrane and Sheeran have both pointed out, SAS’s claim was dubious from the beginning; here’s a clip that’s been circulating on TikTok pointing out why many songs can “sound” similar to each other using the “four chords” principle cited by Sheeran above:

The reason such lawsuits have become more commonplace in recent years is partially because of Marvin Gaye as well. In 2013, Gaye’s estate — which is still administered by his family — issued a copyright claim against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over their 2013 single “Blurred Lines,” citing its similarity to Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got To Give It Up.” When Pharrell and Thicke sued for a declaratory judgment that it did not infringe on the copyright, the case went to court, and ultimately, they were ordered to pay over $7 million in damages. An appeal upheld the decision in 2018, which many believe opened the door for similar lawsuits based on similar “feel” rather that duplicated compositions.

In Sheeran’s case, the suggestion that he’d copied Gaye and Townsend’s work irked him to the point of saying he’d quit music if found guilty. Fortunately for his fans (and his label, which is releasing his fifth album, – [Subtract], this week), he wasn’t, despite SAS bringing in a musicologist — whose testimony Sheeran refuted by playing his guitar on the stand.

This likely won’t be the end of such cases, but this case does demonstrate how easy it is for rights administrators to bring lawsuits against artists, and shows how better protections are needed on both sides to ensure fairness in future proceedings.

Shortly after Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News, a report claimed that the conservative news network is reportedly sitting on a massive “oppo file” that will presumably prevent Carlson from doing anything retaliatory. Since then, a steady stream of damaging text messages and video footage has been conveniently “leaked” to the media that sheds the light on the former Fox host’s behavior behind the scenes.

In the latest video obtained by Media Matters, Carlson can be seen asking a makeup artist about “pillow fights” in the “ladies room” and what really goes on in there.

“I’m not speaking of you, but more in general with ladies, when they go to the ladies room and ‘powder their noses,’ is there actually nose-powdering going on?”

The make-up artist replies, “sometimes,” to which Carlson responds, “Oooh, I like the sound of that.”

“Most of the time, it’s lipstick,” she adds.

Carlson then asks, “Do pillow fights ever break out?” quickly adding, “You don’t have to, you don’t have to.” After she says “not in the bathroom,” he replies, “OK. Not in the bathroom. That’d be more [of] a dorm activity.”.

You can watch the video below:

As for whether the leaks are keeping Carlson in line, not so much. According to a new report from The Washington Post, Carlson is itching to get back into the media as soon as possible, even if it includes giving up millions from his Fox contract. Carlson’s ambitions are so lofty that he’s reportedly trying to become a major voice in the 2024 elections by moderating his own GOP presidential debate and has already reached out to Donald Trump to get the ball rolling.

(Via Media Matters)

Bees are probably one of the most confusing insects right now because they’re endangered, but also your instinct is to slap them away if they get too close. Bee stings hurt and their being on the endangered list doesn’t make their stings any more pleasant. But with warm weather and flowers come bees ready to carry pollen on their furry bee legs and make delicious honey.

As long as they conduct their business away from people with exposed body parts, people tend to leave them alone. Again, being stung kinda sucks. Unfortunately, humans and bees cross paths fairly often, and for one mom in Arizona, that meant she and her children experienced a terrifying ordeal when running into a swarm.

The mom was trying to get pictures of her daughters in a field of flowers after Arizona had a “super bloom,” when they were attacked by a swarm of bees.

Being attacked by a swarm of bees is enough to make just about anyone panic, but this mom’s protective instincts immediately kicked in. The mama bear scooped up both of her children and got them into the car, shutting the door so the bees wouldn’t get to them, but in doing so she was trapped outside being repeatedly stung.

The mom, who was likely now in a great deal of pain, did the one thing she could think of and that was to call her own mother, who then called 911.

“My daughter can’t get in the car, she’s being attacked by bees,” the worried grandmother told the dispatcher. “My granddaughters are with her, please send some help.”

Thankfully, the mom’s quick thinking saved her daughters, and when firefighters arrived in full protective gear, they were able to get everyone to safety and spray the bees with foam to subdue them. The mom was stung 75 times and was hospitalized after the incident but is reportedly doing now well.

“She of course wanted to protect her babies, which most moms would, and to have the foresight to pick them up and get them in the car under that much duress is really impressive,” Ashley Losch, Public Information Officer for Arizona Medical and Fire Authority, told Good Morning America.

Watch the report below:

Unlike the rest of the Marvel universe, Guardians of the Galaxy has a relatively straightforward timeline. Sure, the crew ends up in some Avengers scenes in between their universe hopping, but their actual adventures all exist in their own mediums with a pretty standard timeline that doesn’t involve millions of different Loki variations running amuck. But, as with any franchise, you want to be sure you have all of the context before heading to theaters for the upcoming installment.

If you’re looking for the cinematic experience, Guardians of the Galaxy is the first place to start. The first installment came out in 2014 and kickstarted the ragtag team of space misfits. From there, the sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was released in 2017. The gang also appears in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame where the timelines start to falter a bit, but they are not the main focus. Of course, they are still worth watching when it comes to character development, but they aren’t standalone Guardians movies.

Next up is The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a one-off special that dropped on Disney+ in November 2022. While it’s not integral to the storyline, it does bring back the gang for a festive adventure set before Vol. 3 which hits theaters this week.

But it doesn’t stop there: taking place in between the events of Vol 1 and 2 is I am Groot, a limited Disney+ series that follows the titular tree, voiced by Vin Deisel. But “voiced” is a bit of a stretch, considering the fact that he says only three words. He must have been resting his voice before Fast X. I Am Groot doesn’t advance the plot in any major way, but it’s a fun series of misadventures with Groot and Rocket.

Finally, if you’re already well-versed in the Guardians and need more adventure, the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series ran for three seasons and is currently streaming on Disney+, along with another animated series Rocket and Groot. While it consists of one-off adventures not integral to the central storyline, it will give you enough content to last until a potential new Guardians chapter…assuming that ever happens.

Fear The Walking Dead will return on Mother’s Day (oh, the timing) for an eighth and final season, and after that wildly oscillating show takes the last of its bizarre turns, the dream team of Negan and Maggie will return for The Walking Dead: Dead City spinoff.

Actually, the team is not such a dream, at least at the beginning. Goodbye to the tenuous truce worked at the end of the principal series because Maggie will never forget who bashed her husband’s brains out with a baseball bat. Because of Negan, Hershel Rhees is growing up without a father, and that’s where a new batch of footage (which you can watch at Entertainment Weekly) begins, with Maggie coming at Negan in her giant truck and then threatening his neck with her knife. However, she needs assistance finding said son.

Somewhere along the way, Negan ends up tagging along as Maggie heads over to New York City via a speedboat. Stranger things have happened throughout the franchise, but this still cannot possibly top Daryl in Paris.

Still, showrunner Eli Jorne has not only promised to reveal the most “awesome, disgusting, terrifying walkers” in franchise history but also more layers of the Negan and Maggie dynamic. I hope she gives him hell the whole time, though. He deserves it and, in fact, expects as much.

The Walking Dead: Dead City premieres on June 18.

Back in early March, Jenna Ortega made some controversial remarks about the scripts for Wednesday, and clearly, some of the writers currently on strike did not forget about the issue.

During an appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert Podcast, Ortega revealed the she changed her lines and repeatedly had to put her foot down on set when it came to how Wednesday would act.

“There [were] times on that set where I even became like, unprofessional in a sense, I just started changing lines,” Ortega said. “The script supervisor thought that I was going with something and I would have to sit down with the writers and they would be like, ‘wait, what happened with the scene?’ And I would have to go through and explain why I couldn’t do certain things.”

Those remarks sparked an immediate backlash from TV writers, and now, they’re getting in a few jabs on the picket line.

“Jenna Ortega better be back from NY for her afternoon shift on the picket line,” BoJack Horseman writer Nick Adams tweeted.

“Rewriting is writing! See you at the line, Jenna!” The Bear writer Karen Joseph Adock added.

Variety also spotted a picket sign that read, “Without writers, Jenna Ortega will have nothing to punch up!”

However, as the Ortega jokes began to go viral, We Bare Bears writer Branson Reese took issue with the way the situation was being presented by the media.

“I’ve seen these signs in person, they’re the most playful and harmless stuff imaginable,” Reese tweeted. “This is a bald faced attempt to weaponize an actress’s fandom against a union. F*ck off with this. Eat sh*t, in fact.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)