Month: May 2023

PartyNextDoor last released a new collection of music back in 2021 with the Partypack EP following his third studio album Partymobile. That album, which debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, updated the singer’s well-established formula but didn’t quite stick with fans the way his game-changing debut mixtape had.

Perhaps that’s why his next project will be PartyNextDoor 4, as confirmed by PND and Drake, who popped out to surprise fans at Party’s latest show in Toronto, telling fans, “I’m going on tour, but Party’s dropping PND4” in a singsong delivery that blended into a rendition of “Come And See Me,” the duo’s collaboration from Party’s second studio album, PartyNextDoor 3.

Drake announced his It’s All A Blur Tour with 21 Savage earlier this year, sparking a feeding frenzy for tickets that led to the duo adding no fewer than a dozen additional dates. Demand was still so high, another dozen dates were added in an effort to ensure that everyone gets to see the superstar when he rolls through the biggest markets.

Party himself, meanwhile, has been promoting his long-awaited new album with the single “Her Old Friends,” released in January this year.

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

Memorial Day might not be the official kick-off to summer (that title is reserved exclusively for the summer equinox, which will be right around the time No Hard Feelings hits theaters) but it’s the official weekend when everyone and their cousin will go to the movies because that’s when you will finally begin to utilize that fantastic movie theater air conditioning.

Last year, Top Gun: Maverick took the top spot for Memorial Day weekend, and this year, instead of flying high in the sky, audiences will be exploring the colorful depths of the ocean with The Little Mermaid. Even though the intended audiences are a little different, it seems like Ariel and her fishy friends will dominate.

The live-action remake is expected to earn upwards of $100 million from 4,300 North American theaters in its first three days of release and $120 million to $125 million by Monday. For reference, Top Gun took home $126.7 million on its opening weekend, which was a post-pandemic high. How many coconut cakes could you buy with that lump sum? Roughly a million. For Disney’s standards, it might seem a little low, considering The Lion King took home $191 million for its opening weekend in 2019.

The Little Mermaid is just the latest live-action remake that Disney has been churning out of its proverbial vault. Next up, a Greta Gerwig-scripted version of Snow White will head into theaters in March 2024, while a live-action Moana is currently in the works. Are the days of colorful animated features long gone? Hopefully not!

(Via Variety)

After reading a damaging new report from the Washington Post on the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough is convinced that Donald Trump is now in “serious trouble” and that the former president has to be aware that the situation just got very bad.

According to the WaPo report, the Department of Justice has evidence that Mar-a-Lago employees engaged in a “dress rehearsal” where they moved classified documents shortly before Trump’s office received a subpoena in May 2022. Federal reporters are reportedly “suspicious” and probing even deeper into the movement of the documents, which has Scarborough convinced that Trump has his back against the wall and knows it.

Via Raw Story:

“Donald Trump understands he’s in serious trouble here,” the MSNBC host told the panel. “And when you have a judge in this case that has already pierced the attorney/client privilege because — well, the only time a judge can do that is when they believe a crime may have been committed through that attorney/client privilege. — at that point, you get this information about the boxes being moved the day before the DOJ and FBI come down.”

Scarborough took things further by suggesting the trouble won’t be contained to just Trump.

“Donald Trump does understand, has to understand, and everybody around him has to understand, this is not going to end well for him or people that are close to him,” Scarborough said.

(Via Raw Story)

Welcome to our Yellowjackets Sting Meter. We’ll measure the erratic, unexplainable behavior of the show’s main lineup, ranking them according to how dangerous, deadly, and certifiably insane they appear in each episode. Who’s a whacky worker bee, and who gets crowned Mad Queen of episode nine’s “Storytelling”? Let’s find out.

In Yellowjackets’ season two finale, a frustrated Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), finding herself on the wrong end of the group’s ritualistic hunt, screams that the wilderness was never out there, it was in them all along. It’s the kind of self-reflection all the adult survivors have needed to display more of this season. But, instead of slowing the chase or stopping these knife-wielding women in homemade masks from killing their friend, Lottie pauses long enough to question, “Does it really matter?”

Does it matter whether the darkness was its own entity or something these girls-turned-women invented to survive the terrible choices they elected to make deep in those woods? Either way, it was there with them then, and it’s here now, warping their relationships and twisting their minds until they can’t function as normal members of society. When you’ve lived like an animal, civilization will always feel like a cage.

In “Storytelling,” both the girls in the past and the women in the present confront the narratives they’ve created. To excuse their behavior. To distance themself from shame. To survive, to move forward, to make life worth living again. They don’t all succeed, and the pace of this episode is both confusing and frustrating, especially in how it treats its adult cast. But by the end of things, it feels like we’re getting somewhere in the larger arc of this show.

Queen Bee – Misty

Yes, we know the wilderness first chose Lottie, then Natalie to be its spiritual conduit but what does a sentient, unseen deity that turns teen girls into its own murderous avatars know anyway, right? The real Antler Queen has been Misty Quigley all along. She capitalized on the team’s tragic accident in season one to fuel her own sense of self-worth and she orchestrated a ritualistic hunt this season to not only save Lottie but also protect the group’s carefully crafted ecosystem that granted her a position of power. She committed morally-gray acts along the way, but never truly learned from the fallout they caused. Sam Hanratty said of Misty, “She never views herself as the villain in this story” which means she never questions her often deadly method of problem-solving. Will Nat’s death change that? Who knows.

Walter

A deranged Queen Bee needs a psychotic short king with the power to disassociate on her level and Walter Tattersaw is nothing if not that. We had so much fun watching him whistle show tunes and brew barbiturate-laced hot cocoa we almost forgot he killed a man and framed another to help out his crush – all without her even having to ask. Men, what’s preventing you from being Walter Tattersaw?

Lottie

Poor Charlotte Matthews went from running the kind of intentional community Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop team might praise as a sanctuary for the affluent-looking to connect with nature and embrace good vibes to the deranged patient of yet another mental institution in the span of a few episodes. Sure, Lottie may have lost it when she proposed a game of Russian Roulette with poisoned oolong tea – or maybe the “it” was lost before then, when she scheduled therapy sessions with an imaginary psychologist. But really, after witnessing Lottie’s horror at learning what the girls did to Javi in the past, and seeing how quickly she relinquished her title when it became clear the girls viewed violence as the answer to all their problems, can we place the blame for that whole cannibalism business solely on her shoulders?

Van

Van, like so many of the girls in the past, has had a crisis of faith that’s pushed her to new lows and actress Liv Hewson seems to be having a hell of a time tapping into her dark side. Young Van is menacing and remorseless in a way that feels shocking considering the sense of hope and optimism she started this season with. Her cancer diagnosis has clearly colored how she views Lottie’s mental breakdown in the show’s season finale – although perhaps the sacrifice of Natalie has taken care of that problem too. In any case, we have a sneaking suspicion Van’s only going to dive further into the deep end before this story ends.

Natalie

As shocking as Natalie’s death was in the present timeline, it feels achingly poetic that she would be crowned Antler Queen and sacrificed to the wilderness all in the same episode. Her survival instincts and aptitude with a gun make her an obvious leadership choice amongst a group of girls that might be dining solely on a diet of belt soup otherwise, but there’s a grit and determination in Nat that she can wield (for good and evil) and we’ve only scratched its surface. As sad as we are to see Juliette Lewis leave the show, her arc this season was disappointing, to say the least. On the brighter side of things, the lack of a tie to the present might free up Sophie Thatcher to go full boar on the floor next season.

Coach Ben

Coach Ben goes full Frankenstein in this episode, choosing to destroy his creation – Natalie, but to an extent, the entire team – rather than see it breed destruction. He can’t stomach the killing and cannibalism and views the girls as too far gone to save, but there’s a purely selfish motivation to his act of arson as well. If the girls found out about his cave or got a whiff of judgment on their choice to eat Javi, you can bet he’d be next on the butcher’s block.

Travis

Travis goes from cradling his brother’s frozen corpse to munching on his heart before tossing it into the frying pan and watching it sizzle like a slab of bacon – all in the span of a few minutes. So yes, Yellowjackets has taken “hangry” to a whole new level this season.

Taissa

Tai’s sleepwalking episodes seem to have slowed in the past – are they hunger-related? – but she’s got plenty to keep her worried in the present. Van’s teetering between viewing Lottie as clinically insane and suggesting her wilderness theories might not be too far off. Shauna and the rest of the girls are planning a faux human hunting session to trick their woo-woo witch doctor into being committed. She’s a newly-elected senator found in the middle of a crime scene at a cult compound deep in the woods. Honestly, we can’t wait to see how her PR team’s going to spin all this.

Shauna

Shauna Shipman has suffered too much this season so it was nice to see that, despite drawing the Queen’s card and having her friends turn on her for no damn reason, she wasn’t sacrificed to some made-up tree god. In fact, the hunt ends up working in her favor, stalling the police and giving Walter time to set up a fall guy and a clever cover-up for her lover’s murder. But none of that makes witnessing a scared and broken teenager have to cover her eyes in order to bleed a boy dry because none of her other friends can stomach the mess. Shauna might feel invisible to her teammates, but they wouldn’t survive a day without her and we hope she wields that truth to her benefit next season.

Callie

We apologize for everything terrible thought we’ve ever directed Callie’s way because she became a low-key hero in this episode. She saved her mom from a pack of rabid, middle-aged women in animal masks. She stood down a cop who tried to intimidate her and turn her against her family. And she didn’t lose it when she discovered her mom’s friends were into cannibalism and ceremonial knife play. But how will all this death and bloodshed affect her going forward? If the look Melanie Lynskey gives her in that final scene is any indication, it’s not going to be good.

Jeff

“The American family is crumbling, you try making a living in sectionals.” Never change, Jeff Sadecki.

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are doing their part to bring back raunchy comedy with Platonic, which stars the pair in an Apple TV+ buddy comedy series about two ex-best friends who lost touch. This tends to happen when people start adulting, and after a pivotal event in one of their lives, they strike up their bond again like a day has never passed. Or do they?

As it turns out, these two friends end up essentially exploding their own lives due to their combined chaotic energy. It’s going to get messy, given that Rose Byrne’s character is not only married but a mother, which doesn’t exactly jibe with the old lifestyle of taking shot after shot at the neighborhood dive bar. Rest argued, though, that this show is what it’s intended to be: breezy fun.

Platonic‘s first season weighs in at 10 episodes, and on the “breezy” note, they each run about 30 minutes in length.

Also, you might think that you know where this show is going, but the chaos is even more maddening than one would expect. As mentioned above, this show is aiming to bring back those decadent laugh fests that were in plentiful supply during Rogen’s earlier career, and Byrne of course starred in one of the raunchiest films of recent memory: Bridesmaids.

Now, however, horse tranquilizers are in the mix. Oh boy.

Platonic premiered on May 24 with three episodes and weekly drops to come.

After the Celtics blew out the Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals to extend the series back to Miami, the Inside the NBA crew closed the show with a segment where they all tried to read sentences in aggressive Boston accents.

Charles Barkley’s sentence featured Ernie at Fenway Park eating chowder on top of the Monster, which saw him mostly fumble over trying to say “Ernie” in a Boston accent, but also led him to discover there are seats on top of the Green Monster. It was at that point that he decided that’s a new goal of his, saying he “would love to sit on top of the monster,” which sent the world’s largest teenage boy, Shaquille O’Neal, into a hysterical fit of laughter.

Kenny Smith was also cracking up, realizing that Chuck was making yet another accidental viral moment with his phrasing, while Shaq nearly fell over on the other side of the desk. Ernie eventually realizes what’s happening and does his usual “c’mon Shaq” routine, while Chuck sits there oblivious as to what’s happening. Shaq even had a terrific callback to last week, asking for another tweet from “Jenna,” referencing when he delighted in Charles reading a Twitter user’s name of “Jenna Tuhls” in what was the closest thing you can get on TV to a Bart Simpson prank.

Shaq can never help himself in these moments, and while this one is pretty funny I’m not sure it is quite on the level of the all-time Inside the NBA phrasing moments with “when a guy’s banging you in the post” and “I smash Trix.”

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Little Mermaid.

With any modern remake, there will inevitably be some differences between the newer and older versions. With 2019’s The Lion King, the biggest difference was that Beyonce existed in lioness form, while 2017’s Beauty and the Beast introduces a gay character, which definitely did not happen in the 1991 animated version. The 2022 version of Pinocchio implied the wooden toy has a love interest, but that’s a whole other conversation. So with the new Little Mermaid tale, there are bound to be some differences as the story is updated for modern audiences.

The latest remake stars Halle Bailey as the rebellious mermaid who just wants to live among the humans and their silly little forks. One of the biggest (and perhaps most controversial among Disney die-hards) changes is the lyric switch in the popular song “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”

The song is sung by the evil sea witch Ursula, played by Melissa McCarthy, who tricks Ariel into giving up her voice. Composer Alan Menken wanted to switch out some of the lyrics because Ursula’s original song “might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn.” So, the lyrics to the iconic song were altered, even though Ursula is clearly not someone who you should take life advice from.

Speaking of Ursula, the rules for Ariel’s deal are also different, as Ariel doesn’t remember that she has to kiss Eric in order to seal the deal and make her human. Rob Marshall told UPROXX that the change was to avoid a superficial outcome. “I didn’t like the idea that she knew that she had to kiss him because it feels very superficial,” Marshall admitted. “I like that it actually makes what I call the three amigos – our three amigos, Scuttle and Sebastian and Flounder – I love that they have to do the work then.”

Besides the various lyric changes, there are also a few more characters introduced, including Eric’s mother, and he gets a little more backstory that helps round out his character and his motives. His mother discourages him from exploring the waters, which just makes him want to explore even harder. Parents just don’t get it!

(Via Vox)

(WARNING: Spoilers (or maybe not?) for this week’s Power Book II: Ghost episode will be found below.)

The turbulent third season of Power Book II: Ghost has finally concluded thanks to its finale episode that was released. For the past ten weeks, we endured shocking deaths, plot twists, new relationships, and more to bring us to this final episode that featured the return of Tommy Egan and a new war between Tariq and Brayden vs. the Tejadas and Effie. We’re left on quite the cliffhanger to end this season, and while we have many questions, there’ll indeed be answered in season four. Speaking of Power Book II: Ghost season four…

Is There A ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ Season 4 Release Date?

There isn’t a confirmed premiere date for Power Book II: Ghost season four, but we know there will at least be a fourth season. The show was renewed for a fourth season before the season three premiere which is always a good sign. For the upcoming season, Michael Ealy will join the cast as Detective Don Carter, “a rising NYPD officer who was on track to become Police Commissioner, until his wife was killed in a crossfire between rival drug gangs. Vowing to make the streets safer, Carter traded in his tie for a kevlar vest and now leads an elite NYPD drug task force that elicits concrete results against drug related violence.”

Stayed tuned for more on Power Book II: Ghost season four and make sure to check out our season three finale recap here.

‘Power Book II: Ghost’ season three is available to watch on the STARZ app.

Doja Cat has said her new record will be influenced by rave music, then that it’d be R&B, then predominantly rap. Similarly, she’s continued to backpedal on album titles. It started with Hellmouth, then became Moist Holes, and then First Of All.

At the Patrón El Cielo launch party in New York City, the “Woman” singer discussed her new album more. Insider asked her how she picks an album title, and she predictably answered, “Good God. I don’t know.”

She elaborated, “I put my ADHD kind of on display — by accident, I guess,” she said. “I thought that Hellmouth was the name of the album, but then it wasn’t. But I’m good at doing things last minute. So I’ve been firing off random stuff and reading comments and seeing how people receive it and then, you know, saying ‘no’ a lot. ‘Just kidding.’”

“I do think that I finally have a title,” she said, “It’s not First Of All.”

Later in the interview she explained her aesthetic. “It fluctuates. I can’t really define what it is,” she said. “But musically, I’ve been trying to go back and sort of pull from things that were huge influences to me as a kid. You know, like jazz influences and stuff like that. So that’s been a big inspiration for me lately and sort of a defining characteristic of my music.”

The “Top 5, dead or alive“/ Mount Rushmore of Rap conversation resurfaces online every few months, giving fans another opportunity to debate the best lyricists the genre has produced. However, one rapper feels that he’s been unfairly left out of the discussion. Ludacris was a dominant force throughout the 2000s, with a slew of hits and respected guest verses, but recently revealed he doesn’t think he gets enough credit for his lyrics.

Appearing on the All The Smoke podcast, Luda told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that Jay-Z once offered a theory for fans’ resistance to giving him his flowers. “Jay-Z was one of the ones that said, you know, he don’t think I get the lyrical credit that I deserve because of the visuals,” Ludacris recalled. “People ask me, ‘Why don’t you think get the credit?’ Because I played too goddamn much, that’s what I do! And I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s why my name is Ludacris because it’s beyond crazy, it’s wild, it’s ridiculous.”

Jay may have a point. Ludacris garnered plenty of attention with his eye-popping, humorous music videos. Whether he was floating upside down through the streets of Atlanta, mauling obnoxious partygoers with cartoonishly muscular arms, or carrying a literal little person on his necklace, Luda went out of his way to make sure the videos for many of his biggest hits were memorable. But maybe they were so memorable for their comedy people forgot to remember that he was rapping his ass off in the songs themselves.

However, he still enjoyed tremendous success in his day, and continues to receive accolades like a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame — albeit for his acting rather than his rapping. That’s kind of fitting when you think about it. Of course, I have a controversial theory of my own, which I shared here.