Month: June 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 the culmination of Janelle Monáe’s attention-grabbing album cycle and the continued unfurling of The Weeknd’s The Idol universe. 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 Life newsletters.

Janelle Monáe — “Champagne Sh*t”

After much skin, Janelle Monáe’s new album The Age Of Pleasure has arrived. While Monáe’s often-NSFW promotional cycle was the talk of the album lead-up, the music itself is strong. Among the highlights is “Champagne Sh*t,” which, like many other songs on the project, is full of confidence, fun, and warm summer vibes.

The Weeknd — “The Lure (Main Theme)”

Whether or not you’re into The Idol, at least the show means new music from The Weeknd. He plans to drop new singles from the show weekly, and last week brought “The Lure,” a meditative and dramatic theme for the show that sounds very much like the kind of distinctive, standout music HBO shows tend to have.

Sam Smith and Madonna — “Vulgar”

Madonna recently entered the world of The Idol with a Weeknd collab, but now she’s shifted gears by linking up with Sam Smith on “Vulgar.” Both artists have prominently dealt with detractors over the years, and they self-assuredly address them on “Vulgar,” which includes lyrics like, “Do you know how to spell my name? / B-*-T-C-H / Go f*ck yourself, you heard me, b*tch / Say our f*cking names.”

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit — “This Ain’t It”

The pop world popped off last week, but meanwhile, Jason Isbell had an achievement of his own: Weathervanes, a new album. He recently told Uproxx about how making this album compared to his previous one, Reunions. He said, “This one was a lot easier. And I think the main reason for that was that I just admitted to what was bothering me. It took a long time because I’m still learning this stuff. And I am still a man from Alabama at my core, so sometimes it can be a big challenge for me to actually be honest with myself and say, ‘Okay, you’re scared.’ But once I did that, things got a lot better, and it became much more enjoyable for me to write and record songs again. It’s something that I struggle with every single day: ‘What exactly am I feeling and how do I work up the courage to say that out loud?’ Because once you do, things just sort of magically start to get better.”

Rosalía — “Tuya”

Rosalía has found acclaim and an audience by being undeniably herself, which she continues on her latest single, “Tuya.” The track incorporates the reggaeton rhythms that are commonplace in her work, but she brings even more international flavor into the fold with the koto, the national instrument of Japan.

BTS — “Take Two”

BTS has been releasing a surprising amount of new music for a group on a hiatus. They couldn’t just let their tenth anniversary go by without celebrating, though, so they shared “Take Two,” a song that sees the group (all seven members are on the song despite their various commitments) showing love to the fans who have helped them reach the heights they have.

PinkPantheress — “Angel”

PinkPantheress became a genuine hit-maker earlier this year with “Boy’s A Liar,” especially via the Ice Spice-featuring remix. She further found herself in good company last week with her contribution to the stacked Barbie movie soundtrack: “Angel” stays true to her sound and is a bright tune that fits wonderfully into the perpetually sunny Barbie universe.

City Girls — “I Need A Thug”

It appears City Girls have a new album landing this summer, and they’re certainly getting ready for a strong season with “I Need A Thug.” It’s a perfect contender for a warm-weather party playlist and is memorable despite being over after just a couple minutes. (If you need more City Girls, they dropped another new song, “Piñata,” just hours later.)

J Hus — “Who Told You” Feat. Drake

J Hus has been a Drake associate for a few years now, since he popped up at one of his London shows just hours after being released from prison. Now they’ve linked up on a song: “Who Told You” has an undeniably fun rhythm and groove, while Drake’s signature vocal stylings only further the cause.

Sexyy Red — “SkeeYee”

How’s this for a pleasant surprise: Sexyy Red announced a new album, Hood Hottest Princess, last Tuesday and it was out by Friday. The timing for a new project is certainly good, as Red is riding the momentum of the viral hit “Pound Town” and its Nicki Minaj-featuring remix.

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

There are hard feelings between No Hard Feelings star Jennifer Lawrence and her middle school bully.

“This one girl named Meredith handed me a stack of invitations to her birthday party, but I was not invited. She asked me to hand them out. Isn’t that so mean?” the actress said in a video with E! News. Lawrence claimed that she spit on them and “threw them in the trash,” although she might have been joking. What wasn’t a joke, however, is the time she pantsed someone.

“I was an accidental bully because I pantsed this kid named Tyler,” she confessed. “We were pantsing people at a football game, and I accidentally grabbed his underwear. He got really embarrassed and I feel really bad. I’m sorry.” Lawrence still checks in on Tyler to this day. “I sometimes Google him,” she said, “just to be, like, you alright?”

If your name is Tyler and you went to Kammerer Middle School in Louisville, Kentucky, today is a great day for you. If your name is Meredith and you went to Kammerer Middle School in Louisville, Kentucky, today is a horrible day for you. There goes your shot at attending the Oscars with Lawrence.

You can watch the video above. No Hard Feelings comes out on June 23.

ARMY was treated to “Take Two,” the monumental K-pop group’s single to commemorate their 10-year anniversary, and rumors are swirling that Jungkook is preparing to release a solo album. Even so, it appears Jungkook is using BTS’ hiatus for some much-needed rest.

According to various outlets and fan accounts on Twitter, Jungkook fell asleep during his recent Weverse live session.

The BTS Live YouTube account, which exists solely to capture each member’s activity on Weverse Live, posted a 45-minute video of Jungkook with captions translated to English. To start, he told viewers he’s “tired” and wanted to go to sleep but couldn’t because he kept thinking of ARMY.

After giving a demonstration of his pillow and how he usually sleeps on it, Jungkook reiterated he couldn’t sleep “when I think of ARMY” despite his level of exhaustion. Jungkook intermittently yawned and relayed, “There are times when I snore and times I don’t snore, but I think I will snore today.” Again, Jungkook told viewers he’d missed them.

“If I sleep like this? Then, the company will go crazy again,” he said, presumably referring to Big Hit Music. He added, “Since it’s morning, the company will be careless. That’s when I go for it.”

He rambled like this for a while before finally beginning to drift off around the 15-minute mark. There are differing reports as to how many people continued watching the live as Jungkook slept — most agree it was over six million, like Sportskeeda — but either way, it was a lot.

Just after the 24-minute mark, Jungkook relayed that he “had a dreamlike thought about how you guys can’t get hurt. We must be careful all the time. We can’t get hurt.” Then, he seemingly was out like a light this time.

Watch the full 45-minute video below.

In the heart of Pride Month, the LA Pride Festival & Parade went down in Los Angeles this past weekend. Janelle Monáe made sure to put her stamp on proceedings with their own float, from which they sang some songs from their new album, The Age Of Pleasure. She also took a minute to deliver a rousing speech about celebrating and protecting the LGBTQIA+ community.

They said, “We are here, we are queer! We are trans! We are the LGBTQIA+ community and we celebrate us right now! We celebrate all that we are from all different walks of life. We protect each other. We use our privilege to protect those who don’t have any. We use our voice. We use and exercise our right to vote to protect our trans family! […] We protect Black folks here. We protect brown and Black. All of us protect each other. We love each other and we create safe spaces for each other, ’cause there’s no pleasure without safety. So thank you for this safe space right now. I love you so much!”

This follows a recent interview in which Monáe said, “You respond by fighting back, by speaking out against, standing with our trans community, my siblings. As a nonbinary, queer, pansexual person, I am proud to be in this community. I will never sit back and be silent about the injustices that are happening against our trans community.”

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

Ron DeSantis got called out during last night’s Tony Awards as actor Denée Benton slammed the Florida governor for his aggressive education policies, which have targeted everything from so-called “critical race theory” curriculum to the now-infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law that’s locked him in a heated battle with Disney.

While saluting the 2023 recipient of the excellence in theater education award, Florida student Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School, Benton noted that she’s also a native of the Sunshine State as she proceeded to refer to DeSantis as a high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Via Variety:

“I’m certain that the current grand wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state of Florida,” Benton said, to a roar of applause from the crowd at the historic United Palace Theater in Washington Heights. Benton seemed to nod to DeSantis’ legislative push in Florida to enact racist and discriminatory policies restricting school curriculums on American history, among other disturbing moves during his time in office.

The Hollywood Reporter tweeted a video clip of the moment.

In an effort to boost his culture war credentials before entering the 2024 presidential race, DeSantis has been at the forefront of notoriously sweeping education policies that have targeted LGBTQ educators and students as well as strictly limited teaching materials that grapple with America’s racist past and present.

While other red states have attempted similar measures, DeSantis’ administration has been notably successful in jamming through “anti-woke” measures that has made DeSantis a darling with ultra-right conservatives. However, those same conservatives are also extremely loyal to Donald Trump, which has forced DeSantis into awkward positions like denouncing the latest indictment against the former president.

(Via Variety & The Hollywood Reporter)

Few people would ever accuse (or praise) the The Idol of being anything less than an intentionally controversial hot mess. The second episode more than doubled down on the softcore-porn vibe with nudity galore and a particularly unsettling sex scene (a followup on the confusing counterpart of the pilot) between Lily-Rose Depp’s Jocelyn and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s Tedros. (I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that a different kind of choking was involved.) As viewers learned about the latter, he is apparently leading some kind of sex cult, and he’s succeeding at getting Jocelyn into his clutches. By the end of this week’s edition, he’s arranged to move into her mansion as her career is falling into tatters around her.

And that’s where the character of Dyanne comes back into focus. The back-up dancer character, who is portrayed by K-pop star Jennie Kim from Blackpink, already captured more YouTube views for one scene than the premiere initially racked up for HBO. Jennie later revealed that the choreography came pretty naturally, and it seems that everything that Jocelyn can do (dancing, singing, and “f*ck”-ing), Dyanne can do better.

In retrospect, this HBO tweet had some fun with what was to come: “Everyone needs a Dyanne.”

As it turns out, Dyanne was the reason why Jocelyn ended up at Tedros’ club. She’s also apparently coming for Jocelyn’s career, and by the end of the episode, she’s laid down a track for a record executive (played by Jane Adams) who sent Jocelyn home after her on-set meltdown.

Here’s a budding theory (about that leaked photo) that actually might not be too far-fetched, considering all that we are learning about this cult.

Amid all of the well-founded tweets complaining about the Jocelyn-Tedros sex scene, another refrain is becoming clear: people are enjoying the revelation that Jennie is portraying a villain. So, I imagine that a great deal of people who continue to tune in will do so solely for the Blackpink star.

HBO’s The Idol airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.

There’s no mystery over whether Kaley Cuoco performed her own sex scenes in the Peacock series Based on a True Story: she didn’t.

“I don’t roll that way. I need someone else to do that stuff,” the actress told USA Today about avoiding sex scenes and using a body double. “I’m past that. I’m not doing that anymore,” she adds. “Also, who wants to see that? Not my thing. I’d rather let someone else do it, and that’s what’s movie magic (is for). We don’t have to do those things anymore. We can have someone else do it, and we can fake our way through.” Cuoco added, “You think that Chris Messina played tennis? Please! He was terrible! That’s his double.”

Messina’s dance movies are the real thing, though.

The Flight Attendant star, who was pregnant while filming Based on a True Story, expressed appreciation for her body double, “I had to be on my feet a lot. It was a lot,” she said. “And by the end, I was nine months pregnant. So the fight scene at the end near [SPOILER], a lot of that was done by my double because it was like I was literally about to give birth, like any second.” It’s uncanny how much Cuoco and her body double look alike, although the bangs do half the work.

Based on a True Story is on Peacock now.

(Via USA Today)

Over the weekend, reports from Daily Mail and The Sun claimed Britney Spears’ family is concerned about her use of crystal meth. The reports quote Kevin Federline as saying, “I fear she’s on meth — I’ve been praying someone would make it public and that she wakes up. It’s terrifying. She is the mother of my boys. […] Every time the telephone rings, I fear that there will be devastating news. I don’t want the boys to wake up one morning and find their mother has taken an overdose.”

Now, though, both Spears and Federline have lashed out at the reports.

In a post on Instagram from yesterday (June 11), Spears seems unsure if she believes the stories. She wrote, “The fact that people are claiming things that are not true is so sad … This may not even be them saying such things because it doesn’t make any sense to me for them to be saying that … With Preston saying ‘she needs to listen to us before it’s too late’ … Do you remember every visit you came to my home, you went into your room and locked the door ??? I never saw you guys … Jayden played the piano and we made music together … But the day I told him I wanted to see you guys more, I never saw you again. It makes me sad because I tried so hard to make things nice for you and it was never good enough. So you guys go behind my back and talk about me … it breaks my heart and the news is so low … l’ve always felt like the news bullies me … It’s sad because everyone sits back as if that’s ok to make up lies to that extent … Why am I told I have to sit back and rise above ??? When they all go so low ??? Hopefully it is just the news being hateful and Kevin nor Preston said any of those things either way I will be fine working out to Throb !!!”

Federline also spoke up in a post on his Instagram Story by addressing the author of the posts directly. He wrote, “It saddens our family that Daphne Barak and Erbil Gunasti have decided to fabricate lies and publish the heart ache our family has endured, along with the trauma of our minor children in the Daily Mail and The Sun. We did allow Daphne & Bill into our home because we trusted them, but that trust was lost and we severed ties back in March for many reasons we choose not to go into here. It is very distressing that she continues to harass our family when we have repeatedly asked her to leave us alone. As was previously published, our family did speak with Ms. Barak and Mr. Gunasti a few times, and this was done in a respectful way with love & compassion for Britney and the Spears family. The lies and attempts to exploit minors as click bait is another repulsive example of where, unfortunately, certain journalism is today.”

Last month, Keith Urban turned up at a Taylor Swift The Eras Tour concert in Philadelphia. Like thousands of other people there, the country icon got a video of himself, and wife Nicole Kidman, singing and dancing along to the show. Unlike other concertgoers, though, Urban inadvertently got a video of Phoebe Bridgers and Bo Burnham seemingly making out that sent the internet into a frenzy. Now, he’s taken a minute to share his perspective on the situation.

When asked about the video by ET’s Rachel Smith at CMA Fest 2023 this weekend, Urban said, “Yeah, yeah. Oh I found out, don’t worry. Phoebe, I’m so sorry.” He then responded after being asked if Bridgers has reached out to him about the video, “Well, I guess in her own passive way, yeah.” Urban then joked, “Don’t be on camera, Phoebe. What were you thinking?”

He continued, “It felt very awkward. I felt bad. I… we were just digging on the concert, you never know what’s gonna happen.”

Elsewhere, Urban spoke about the “really, really good” show, saying of what stood out to him, “Just watching where she’s ascended to as a performer, songwriter. I mean, seriously: She’ll be among the greatest songwriters period, she really will be, when it’s all said and done, with any of them.”

The best advice isn’t always obvious, or else we would have thought of it ourselves. It often comes out of left field and can be counterintuitive. When it comes to marriage, the best advice tends to be centered around keeping a focus on the long game.

One of the best pieces of marriage advice I ever received was, “Buy her a bottle of shampoo from time to time without her asking.” Now, that doesn’t mean to get shampoo specifically, but just pick up something here and there to show you care and are thinking about her.

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Marriage, if done right, is forever, so that often means taking a loss in the short-term to enjoy the long-term benefits of a happy life with someone. This is great as a concept but in practice can be pretty darn hard, day in and day out.

Hence why about 50% of American marriages end in divorce.

Reddit user thecountnotthesaint put out a call to the AskMen forum for some of the best marriage advice that “sounded absurd” but was actually helpful.

The question was inspired by some advice the Reddit user had received from their father, who claimed that a king-sized bed is the key to a happy marriage. “I’ll be damned if that wasn’t one of the best decisions we made aside from getting married and having kids,” they wrote.

A lot of the advice was about being careful not to escalate small disagreements into larger arguments that could turn personal and ugly. A lot of people think that to have a successful marriage means being able to compromise and to let things go quickly.

Here are some of the best responses to the question, “What random marriage advice sounded absurd but was actually spot on helpful?”

1.

“Dad said ‘Be kind even if you’re not feeling it. Maybe especially if you’re not feeling it.’” — semantician

2. 

“At my wedding, my wife’s Grandmother offered so funny, weird, solid advice. She said, ‘If you get angry with each other, go to bed naked and see if you can resolve it before you go to sleep.’ So far, so good. Anniversary on Monday!” — drizzyjdracco

3. 

“The advice I’ve given people is this: if you can go grocery shopping with your person and have the best time ever, you have yourself a keeper. It’s all about making the best of the mundane things, because after years of being together, life becomes predictable. You’ll need to keep the spice going, regardless of what you’re doing. Source: married 15 years.” — LemonFizzy0000

4. 

“My grandfather told me ‘Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.’ What I learned is that he would always help my grandma and that is when they did their most talking.” — t480

5. 

“When our kid was about to be born, someone told me to change the first diaper. If you can handle the first one, the others will be easy.’ So I did. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I asked the nurse at the hospital to teach me, and I changed the first several few diapers while my wife recovered from a difficult labor. The advice was correct, no other diaper was as disgusting as the first one. It got very easy and I never minded doing it, and my wife was really really grateful. And I loved that I could take on some of the parenting chores, since there was so much that she was the only one… equipped to provide.” — wordserious

6. 

“Focus on tackling the problem, not each other.” — bobbobbobbobbob123

7. 

“Don’t have too high of expectations. My dad told us that, but we found most of our early fights were when one or the other had unspoken expectations of the other or marriage. It is positively life changing to be married, and an amazing experience, but still life goes on.”— nopants_ranchdance

8. 

“Marry him for who he is. Not his potential.” — There-is-No-beyond

9. 

“My stepmom just passed away, and dad said something that has profoundly changed my attitude: ‘The little things that annoyed me are the things I now miss.’ So, like, yea for some reason she squeezes a massive glob of toothpaste which mostly falls into the sink basin and she doesn’t wash away the toothpaste spit. If/when she’s gone, that little constant annoyance that reminds me she’s there will be gone too. Don’t nag on the little things, rather, embrace them. (still, let her know she has made progress on other things I’ve pointed out, as I try to adapt to her wishes).” — drewkungfu

10. 

“Say thank you for day to day things, even taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, or folding laundry. Audibly hearing thank you reinforces the feeling of being appreciated.” — BVolatte

11. 

“Randomly give your partner a cold beverage on a hot day. It’s the little things that show you care.” — Purple12Inchruler

12. 

“You don’t just marry her, you marry her whole damn family.” — crazypersn

13. 

“One of my colonels told me: ‘Just buy two damn pizzas, instead of arguing over the toppings.'”— MgoBlue702

14. 

“Be honest. Don’t lie to your partner.” — Mikeydeeluxe

15. 

“Don’t marry a woman whose dad calls her ‘princess,’ because she probably believes it. Much to his regret, my brother ignored this advice from our dad.” — Toadie9622

16. 

“My fiance always says that ‘just because’ flowers are the best kind of flowers.” — agaribay1010

17. 

“My Gramps who was married for over 50 yrs said: ‘tell her you love her every single day.’ Kind of obvious, but I definitely took it to heart.” — sorellk

18. 

“Love isn’t about having ‘nice feelings for each other.’ It’s about acting for the betterment of someone else, even if you don’t feel like it. Emotions will change. Your willingness to treat your spouse a certain way doesn’t have to.” — sirplaind

19. 

“Bill Maher said “The three most important words in a relationship aren’t ‘I love you’, they’re ‘let it go.’ Oddly, this has proven to be some of the best relationship advice I’ve ever heard.” — KrssCom

This article originally appeared on 05.30.22