While millennials and Gen Zer’s often get lumped together as the “young group,” they are certainly not the same. (Although, it is kind of hard to tell with all the Y2K fashion floating around.)
But speaking as a millennial, we definitely have different approaches to life, a lot of which seems to come down to a sense of self-assuredness. That goes for shopping, socializing, self expression…and even going to the hair salon, apparently.
Alexis Rex (@rex.artistry), hairstylist and owner of Rex Artistry Salon in Maryland, gave a brilliant (and hilarious) demonstration of some key personality differences between her millennial clients and her Gen Z clients in a now viral TikTok video.
First, Rex played her Millennial Customer.
Millennial Customer gently knocks on the door and immediately expresses her gratitude. “Hey girl! So good to see you! So excited!”
But at the same time, Millennial Customer wants in no way to be an inconvenience, so she immediately comes back with, “Where should I put my purse? It’s okay, I’m just going to shove it in my own personal space so it’s not in your way. At all.”
Never one to demand attention, Millennial Customer wants a very subtle hair color change. Really, “it shouldn’t even look like I got my hair done.” Not “super bold,” not “in your face.”
Then after flooding the hair stylist with compliments, Millennial Customer (ever wanting to be a good student) will ask a bunch of follow-up questions about how to maintain the style.
Gen Z Customer bolts through the door with a “Hey queen!” like a hurricane (who has time to knock?!) and is ready to plop her stuff down anywhere. Unlike her millennial counterpart, Gen Z Customer is perfectly fine to take up space unapologetically and even show up with hair that “hasn’t been brushed in a month.”
Gen Z Customer also knows exactly what she wants, and it’s anything but subtle. “I wanna do like in-your-face, bold contrast…I wanna look like a different f**king person. Let’s do it.”
The confidence…it’s…palpable.
Gen Z Customer has a different approach to complementing her hairstylist: “Oh my god! F**king Queen! You did that! God I love you.”
No further questions. Gen Z Customer already knows her brand of hair care products, and it’s “Olaplex. All Olaplex.”
Rex’s post quickly racked up 8.6 million views, generating literally thousands of comments discussing how spot on her imitations were.
Millennials in particular chimed in, many of whom couldn’t help but applaud its accuracy of depicting how millennials seem to constantly be apologizing for simply existing.
“I’m a millennial and once I missed the armhole for a sec when putting the cape on. I was convinced I had ruined the appointment,” wrote one person.
Another added, ‘I’m sorry for my hair. I’m sorry my hair takes so long. I’m sorry I had to move my head, omg I’m sorry. You offered me a drink? I will say yes. And then sorry.”
Many were also quick to applaud how Gen Zer’s seemed to have no issues in this arena.
“Gen Z just fully owning the ability to take up space,” one person commented.
“As a millennial I love Gen Z so much. They’re so free to be themselves and so open,” wrote another.
While there may be differences between generations, we can all learn something from one another. And we all enjoy getting our hair did.
By the way, Rex didn’t leave out her Gen X or Boomer clients. She has plenty videos of her imitating them, as well as some nifty style predictions on her TikTok, found here.
The Angel Studios film “Sound of Freedom,” released over the 4th of July weekend, has been a somewhat surprise box office hit, earning more than $90 million so far and earning a top spot at the box office.
If you follow conservative media, you may have gotten the impression that this film is an incredibly important, eye-opening look into the skeevy world of child sex trafficking and a hero who takes on the bad guys who snatch and enslave children into the sex trade.
If you follow more liberal media, you may have gotten the impression that this film is QAnon propaganda, with a starring actor who spews conspiracy theories about elites trafficking children in order to harvest their blood for youth-maintaining rituals and all manner of unspeakable debauchery.
So how did we get to a place where people who criticize this film are accused of being evil leftist pedophiles, and people who laud it are accused of being QAnon quacks?
As with most things poisoned by conspiracy theories and rank partisanship, the story is a bit muddled. I don’t claim to have all of the answers here, but I ‘ve interviewed Tim Ballard (the founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), the subject of the film and the driving force behind it), I’ve written about other organizations combatting child sex trafficking and I’ve done my best to debunk the QAnonsense that has unfortunately become entangled with this very real issue. So I’m familiar with the road that brought us here.
“Sound of Freedom” was still in production when I interviewed Ballard in 2018. At the time, he seemed like a full-blown superhero in my eyes, utilizing his Department of Homeland Security training and expertise to root out the traffickers who buy and sell children for sex—the worst of the worst things humans do to one another. I spent an hour talking with him and cried after I got off the phone. Child sex trafficking is horrific, it’s a real issue, the industry is bigger and more lucrative than most people might imagine and in order to combat it, someone has to be willing to go into the belly of the beast.
I learned a lot talking with Ballard, but notably missing from our conversation was anything QAnon-related. He mentioned nothing about pizza parlors or Hillary Clinton eating babies (remember Pizzagate?), nothing about Hollywood actors secretly being arrested for some global sex trafficking ring run by elites, nothing about adrenochrome or any of the other QAnon claims that were already well underway in 2018. The industry he talked about was similar to what other anti-trafficking organizations I’ve spoken to have described.
But in the years since I spoke to Ballard, following Ballard, I’ve been dismayed to see him and OUR tacitly courting of QAnoners who have completely wrong ideas about what child sex trafficking looks like. I’ve watched partisan politics play a bigger and bigger role in Ballard’s anti-trafficking messaging (and fundraising) and have been baffled by his and OUR’s seeming refusal to denounce any specific QAnon kookery—despite the comment sections of their social media accounts being filled with the stuff.
When fake claims that children were being trafficked through the Wayfair website by people ordering furniture with specific girls’ names started circulating, I was hoping Ballard would set the record straight. Instead, he tweeted, “With or without Wayfair, child trafficking is real and happening!!!” totally leaving the door open for people who believed the story, despite it being unequivocally false. He also said, “Children are sold that way…no question about it, children are sold through social media and on websites,” but that statement could easily be interpreted as him saying that kids are sold through major online retailers’ storefronts rather than simply through online channels. That’s false and misleading and plays right into the hands of QAnoners.
All I’ve ever seen from Ballard and OUR are vague statements like, “We don’t support conspiracy theories,” which is meaningless, because QAnon folks don’t see themselves as conspiracy theorists. When the big #SaveTheChildren push came about in 2020, with its skewed statistics and total misrepresentation of the scope and reality of child sex trafficking, neither Ballard nor OUR corrected the widespread misinformation QAnon followers pushed. Instead, they saw the attention as an opportunity.
“Some of these theories have allowed people to open their eyes,” Ballard told the New York Times. “So now it’s our job to flood the space with real information so the facts can be shared.”
That approach belies a naive-at-best and disingenuous-at-worst how QAnon-addled minds operate. No matter how much “real information” and “facts” OUR and Ballard share, by not directly correcting and denouncing outlandish claims about child sex trafficking, they allow conspiracy theorists to conflate the real with the fake. The comments under every OUR post reveals how deep and twisted the misinformation goes, but from what I’ve seen, OUR has allowed those comments go unchallenged.
The way Ballard and OUR have neglected to set the record straight with their QAnon following has directly led to the extreme reactions to “Sound of Freedom.” And frankly, it was totally predictable.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the lead actor in the film, Jim Caveizel, appears to have fallen head-first into QAnon quackery himself and that Ballard has fully embraced the right-wing media machine that makes every issue into a partisan, politicized fight between good and evil. I’ve been watching with interest as Mira Sorvino—who plays the lead character’s wife in the film and who has served as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Global Fight against Human Trafficking since 2009—has done damage control, explicitly denouncing QAnon and trying desperately to explain that child trafficking is not a political issue.
“Sound of Freedom” is a fictionalized film based on some real events. However, the ethical nature of the raids OUR has been involved in is certainly up for debate, and OUR’s tactics and credibility have been called into question multiple times. Certainly, the Rambo-style rescue narrative with the good guys busting in on the bad guys and saving the children can be, and has been, criticized for both sensationalism and shifting the focus away from victims and their stories.
For an excellent, in-depth rundown of the film and its issue, read this Slate article by Molly Olmstead. And if you are interested in learning more about child sex trafficking and organizations combatting it without the controversy, check out:
A little over a year ago, it was reported that Shakira was ordered to stand trial after she was accused Shakira of not paying 14.5 million euros ($13.9 million) on income taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014. Now, she’s being hit with another case.
According to Reuters, a Spanish court revealed on Thursday (July 20) that the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer is being investigated for alleged fraud on income and wealth tax in 2018. More information on the matter is forthcoming.
Last year, Shakira addressed the initial tax evasion claims in an interview with Elle. “First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all,” she said. “I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world. Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one.”
“I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor,” she added.
Shakira is expected to stand trial later this year.
It’s rare for undrafted free agents to have a rise as meteoric as the one Austin Reaves has experienced. After going undrafted in 2021, Reaves has turned into a major contributor to the Los Angeles Lakers, as he earned a role in the team’s starting lineup on their run to the Western Conference Finals this past season and was able to parlay that into a 4-year, $54 million extension with L.A. this offseason.
As it turns out, Reaves came very close to plying his trade elsewhere and losing his title of being an undrafted free agent. As he explained during a cameo on the “All the Smoke” podcast, the Detroit Pistons were interested in taking him with the 42nd pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, but it was made clear this was not Reaves’ preferred outcome.
“We could have got drafted 42nd to Detroit, but declined that to put me in LA… I didn’t really have to hear my name called… It was all about playing the long game.”
Austin Reaves really bet on himself by going undrafted
“I knew what I was capable of doing, the skillset, IQ, stuff like that,” Reaves said of going undrafted. “So it was really just about — my agency put me in a good position to, you know, have all of that. We could got drafted 42nd to Detroit, but kind of declined that to to kind of put me in L.A. for a better spot.”
As Reaves explained, in the lead-up to the Draft, teams were tiered based on how good of a fit they would have been for what he could do. The Lakers, he said, were second on the list behind the Milwaukee Bucks, but regardless, Los Angeles was a tier one team for him.
“It was, like I said, really trying to put me in a position to be able to get a roster spot,” Reaves said. “We knew there was a high interest for a two-way, so we didn’t really have to press, and that’s what everything in the Draft would have been from 42 and on, would have been basically a two-way agreement.”
Reaves said that he wanted to hear his name called at the Draft, which did not happen, but our hunch is he’s pretty happy with how things turned out.
Chvrches leader Lauren Mayberry explained to Mark Hoppus on Apple Music’s After School Radio in 2021 that she was a “bad entry level journalist” in her twenties because “if you’re in a band, […] it’s hard to review other bands the way that people, critics, want you to.”
Music journalists will soon be able to review Mayberry as a solo artist for the first time, as she announced on Thursday, July 20. The Scottish artist posted a narrated video, tour dates, and an open letter, the latter of which says:
“This year is the 10th anniversary of the first CHVRCHES album. I met Iain and Martin when I was 23 — a little baby of a person, in hindsight. Looking back on what we’ve achieved together, so much of it doesn’t feel real or even possible. Thank you to every person who has been a part of that.
I am so proud of all the chapters our band has been able to have and I am so grateful to my bandmates for taking me on that journey with them. We are all confident that the CHVRCHES story has many more pages yet to be written.
For now, though, I am excited / terrified / bewildered to tell you that I have been working on my first ever solo music and will be able to start sharing it soon.
For a long time, I couldn’t imagine ever doing anything outside of CHVRCHES. Since I was 15 years old, I have always, only, ever been in a band. I always wanted so badly to belong somewhere — to be one of the boys, and to fit in. But as I sail / stumble through this era of my life (your 20s really do go by in a flash, kids), it has started to feel like there are things I want to write and say and do that need to be done on my own.
Thank you for being kind to us and for giving me the opportunity to do this. The first headline shows are now announced and on sale at 10am local tomorrow in the US and Monday in Europe. I guess here we f*cking go?!”
In the Instagram video, Mayberry says, “The only thing I ever really wanted as a writer, as a performer, was to connect with people. Being the only girl and the only woman in so many bands I’ve been in was a very lonely experience a lot of the time. I internalized a lot of things, and it’s strange to start unraveling some of that. It’s not an ending, and it’s not a beginning, but it would be a shame to let this moment go to waste.”
As Mayberry said, tickets for her North American headlining dates will go on public sale beginning on Friday, July 21, at 10 a.m. local time. UK and European dates will become available on Monday, July 24, at 10 a.m. local time.
Check out Mayberry’s solo dates below, and find more ticketing information here.
09/04 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09/16 — Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/18 — Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
09/20 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
09/22 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09/23 — Urbana, IL @ Pygmalion
09/25 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
09/26 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
09/28 — San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
09/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
10/05 — Glasgow, UK @ Oran Mor
10/06 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute 3
10/08 — Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
10/09 — London, UK @ Scala
10/11 — Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Oz
10/12 — Berlin, DE @ Lido
10/13 — Munich @ Strom
10/15 — Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
10/16 — Cologne, DE @ Luxor
10/17 — Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe
10/19 — Vienna, AT @ Flex
10/21 — Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
10/22 — Milan, IT @ Magnolia
10/24 — Barcelona, ES @ La Nau
10/25 — Madrid, ES @ Sala Capernico
Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.
Since the last update of this weekly R&B and Afrobeats column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists.
Coco Jones landed one of the biggest moments in her career thanks to a new remix of “ICU” with Justin Timberlake and Remble returned with Blxst for their new single “Child Of God.” Victoria Monét announced The Jaguar Tour and Jamila Woods announced her Water Made Us album with the “Tiny Garden” single. Elsewhere, Usher continues to serenade people at his Vegas residency, Ayra Starr announced her 21: The World Tour, Normani confirmed dating rumors with DK Metcalf, and Uproxx caught up with Mahalia to discuss her new album IRL.
Mahalia — IRL
It took nearly four years, but at long last, Mahalia is back with her sophomore album IRL. The British singer delivered the body of work complete with 13 songs and features from Joyce Wrice, Stormzy, JoJo, Kojey Radical, and Destin Conrad. Uproxx was also fortunate enough to interview her about IRL which you can read here.
Robert Glasper — “Back To Love” Feat. SiR & Alex Isley
Robert Glasper continues to treat fans of himself and the Run The Girls series with new music as he returns with “Back To Love” alongside SiR & Alex Isley. It follows “What Love Can Do” with Emily King and will be the first of many drops from Run The Girls season two.
Mack Keane — “Chance”
After kicking off 2023 with “Super,” LA singer Mack Keane seems like he’s closer to releasing the follow-up to his 2022 EP Intersections. His latest release. Keane returns with “Chances” which strikes as a slow jam built to capture the exact moment that one realizes they’re no longer in control.
Debbie — “No Way”
One of R&B’s best young voices can be found in British singer Debbie and her latest release “No Way” is proof of that. The powerful and passionate record is one Debbie uses to fight for love and prove that her potential replacement is nothing more than a downgrade.
Dee Gatti — “Timeless”
Dee Gatti is back! The Dallas native returns with her first solo single since 2021’s “Clear My Mind.” Gatti’s newest record “Timeless” takes a moment to honor and appreciate a new love that made her believe in romance again.
Tamera — “Division”
Following “Frozen,” a record she used to begin her 2023 campaign, London singer Tamera is back with “Divison.” The dark record is driven by her frustration with a bad relationship that is mainly unbalanced as she is the one who puts in the effort while receiving little to nothing.
Lekan — “Need Somebody”
Nigerian singer Lekan is just hitting his stride, something that’s undeniable through his new single “Need Somebody.” Lekan plays the role of a lover on the side on this song, something he’s okay with as he knows he provides more comfort and affection for a woman who’s in need of it.
LaVoyce — “Mad At Me”
Dallas singer LaVoyce is a name to pay attention to going forward, and it couldn’t come at a better point in her career as she prepares to release her upcoming project Lost, TX. The latest single from that is “Mad At Me,” a soulful and intense record that she uses to sift through the tensions and faults in a relationship all while showing off her charisma and wit.
Adekunle Gold — “Ogaranya”
Later this month, Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold will drop his Def Jam debut album Tequila Ever After which follows last year’s Catch Me If You Can. So far, there have been four singles from the album with the latest being “Ogaranya.” Per a press release, Tequila Ever After is a “love letter to the sounds of Africa that have recently taken the world by storm.”
Oxlade — “Intoxycated” Feat. Dave
After taking over last summer with “Ku Lo Sa,” Nigerian afrobeats singer Oxalde is back to possibly inject this summer with another anthem. This one is “Intoxycated” with British rapper Dave and together, they confess to wanting real love and something that’s intoxicating.
Nino Francis — “Bout You” Feat. Olu Vibez
Providence natives Nino Francis and Olu Vibez join forces for “Bout You,” their new record perfect for the remaining weeks of summer. While Olu takes goes down the afrobeats route, Francis flexes his bilingual chops for a verse that blends his English and Spanish. In total, “Bout You” caters perfectly to the demographic that they call home in Providence.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
G Herbo has pled guilty to federal wire fraud charges in Massachusetts and may face up to 20 years in prison as a result, according to the Chicago Tribune. Herbo was accused of using stolen IDs to purchase over $1 million worth of luxury items and services over a four-year period, including private flights, vacations, and even “designer puppies.” He also allegedly lied to federal agents about his activities, denying a friendship with another defendant. Although Herb initially pled not guilty to both sets of charges, it looks like he’s changed his tune in exchange for a lighter sentence.
According to the Tribune, wire fraud carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, but thanks to his plea and federal sentencing guidelines, he’ll probably serve between two and three years in prison. Among the evidence collected are text messages between Herb and Antonio Strong, who Herb previously said he didn’t know, conspiring to “finesse” hotel rooms and purchase a pair of Yorkshire terrier puppies from a breeder in Michigan. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Herb must pay $140,000 in restitution to various alleged victims, including $10,458 to the breeder.
Herbo’s legal troubles continue; earlier this month, he was arrested for misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon in a public place; in that case, he paid bond a day later.
Shapeshifting Florida rapper Denzel Curry may have gone to therapy on his last album, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future, but don’t get it twisted — he’s still more than willing to get grimy when the situation calls for it. Case in point: His new single “Blood On My Nikes,” which goes full Three 6 Mafia, right down to its horror movie beat and a bone-chilling Juicy J impression on the hook. These are compliments, by the way; I wouldn’t mind turning up to this one steamy night (but my 38-year-old knees disagree).
“Blood On My Nikes” is Denzel’s first new solo single since Melt My Eyez, but the multi-talented Florida rap pioneer hasn’t been idle since then. Last June, he made his debut on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, and this year, he contributed to new singles from Armani White and Midwxst while gearing up to release the sequel to his 2020 EP 13LOOD 1N + 13LOOD OUT. The project saw Denzel get back to his hardcore Raider Klan roots, with street gothic imagery and themes reminiscent of early ’90s horrorcore and shock rap (think Bone Thugs N Harmony or yes, Three 6 Mafia). If the follow-up reflects that, the future for Denzel Curry looks dark — in the best way.
Watch Denzel Curry’s “Blood On My Nikes” video above.
Usher’s ongoing My Way The Las Vegas Residencyis getting more attention for the celebrities Usher is serenading than for what songs he’s actually singing.
Whether it’s the celebrity sightings or the songs, John Mulaney recently told Jimmy Kimmel that everyone should “do whatever you need to do to go see Usher” in Vegas.
Anyone planning on taking Mulaney’s advice can study Usher’s residency setlist below (as logged by setlist.fm in April).
1. “My Way”
2. “Caught Up”
3. “U Don’t Have to Call”
4. “Love In This Club”
5. “Party” (Chris Brown cover)
6. “Lil’ Freak”
7. “Lovers And Friends” (Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz cover)
8. “Good Love” (City Girls cover)
9. “I Don’t Mind”
10. “Bad Girl”
11. “Good Kisser”
12. “My Boo”
13. “Superstar”
14. “Can U Handle It?”
15. “Dance (A$$)” (Big Sean cover)
16. “I Don’t F*ck With You” (Big Sean cover)
17. “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”
18. “I Need A Girl” (Diddy cover)
19. “Trading Places”
20. “U Remind Me”
21. “You Make Me Wanna…”
22. “Throwback”
23. “U Got It Bad”
24. “Nice & Slow”
25. “Climax”
26. “Burn”
27. “Confessions”
28. “Confessions Part II”
29. “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love”
30. “OMG”
31. “Yeah!”
32. “Without You”
The Shaman (real name: Jacob Chansley) had pleaded guilty to “obstruction of an official proceeding,” which landed him in prison before being moved to a halfway house. However, despite already being released, Chansley sought to have his conviction vacated using Carlson’s footage as “evidence.” A federal judge was not having it.
Not only did U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth find that the Shaman made the right move by “quite sensibly” pleading guilty, Lamberth proceeded to blast Carlson’s footage for leaving out a whole lot of key details.
“These videos are decidedly not exculpatory, especially when viewed in context with the ‘miles and miles of footage’ recorded of Mr. Chansley on January 6, 2021,” Lamberth wrote before laying into Tucker.
“Such footage, conveniently omitted by the March 6, 2023, program shows nearly all of Mr. Chansley’s actions that day, including: carrying a six-foot long pole armed with a spearhead, unlawfully entering the Capitol through a broken door, disobeying orders from law enforcement on more than a half-dozen occasions, entering the Senate chamber, climbing onto the Senate dais, sitting in the Vice President’s chair, and leaving a threatening message for the Vice President.”
Not quite finished with Carlson, Lamberth later noted that the former Fox News personality’s broadcasts are “replete with misstatements and misrepresentations … too numerous to count.”
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