Month: August 2023

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has been covered dozens of different ways. But you’ve never seen it performed like this.

As one of the most iconic songs in rock music, Bohemian Rhapsody is recognizable no matter how it’s done. As children, my brother and I used to belt out Galileos and Figaros in the backseat of our parents’ Volkswagon whenever the song came on (yes, just like in Wayne’s World). While other kids learned about Beelzebub in Sunday School, I learned about him from Queen’s perfect harmonies. If there were an anthem from my classic rock-filled childhood, it would be Bohemian Rhapsody.

It’s one of those songs that is hard to cover well, though it hasn’t stopped people from trying. I’ve enjoyed some renditions, but nothing has caught my attention or delight more than this kapa haka version from New Zealand.

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A Māori choir in native garb sang the song live in the Māori language, and it is something to see.

The group Hātea Kapa Haka performed the song on February 21 at New Zealand’s national kapa haka festival, Te Matatini, in Wellington. The festival brings 46 kapa haka (Māori performing arts) groups together to compete against one another.

Newshub reports that Hātea Kapa Haka collaborated with musical artist William Waiirua to create a “Bohemian Rhapsody” cover in the Māori language, both as a tribute to Freddie Mercury and to celebrate the Oscar-nominated movie about his life.

The group had previously created a music video for their cover, but seeing it performed live is something else. The voices, the harmony, the presentation—everything—is wonderful.

This kind of cultural mashup reminds us how small our world has become.

The contrast between Queen’s 1970s British rock and the Māori people’s traditional kapa haka could not be more striking. And yet, the melding of the two totally works. Music has the power to bring people together, and this performance is a great example of how it can bridge cultures with beautiful results.

Watch the live performance here:

And if you want more, check out the music video too:

William Waiirua got more help from Hātea Kapa Haka than he bargained for when his car broke down… For more Queen, check out this playlist: https://umusicNZ…

This article originally appeared on 03.01.19

Ariana Grande is celebrating a big career milestone. Over the course of the past week, Grande has been honoring her debut album, Yours Truly on its 10th anniversary, with special live performances. Today, in the first of two Q&As she has planned as part of the anniversary celebration, she revealed a secret about the video for “The Way.”

“The Way” dropped in 2013, marked a breakthrough single for Grande, and served as the lead for Yours Truly. But no one could predict the success of the song or the impact of its accompanying visual.

A fan asked Grande which of the album’s videos was the most fun to film, to which she responded, “The Way.”

In the video, she and Mac Miller, who is featured on the song, are seen dancing in front of a projector, as images appear on a back wall and balloons descend from the ceiling.

“We had no budget,” said Grande, responding to the fan. “Didn’t even tell the label we were gonna do it. Made it ourselves, and we said, ‘Listen, we have a camera, we have a projector, we have music, we have balloons, we got dancers…[The label] brought it up to me, they were like, ‘We need to shoot a music video.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, we already did it.’”

Grande will hold a second Q&A for fans this coming Monday (August 28), and fans will also be able to purchase a special vinyl edition of Yours Truly. Grande’s live performances of Yours Truly cuts will continue until Wednesday (August 30).

Donald Trump has been leaning into that mugshot, a first for any American president. It didn’t take long after it went public for him to start fundraising off it. But he wasn’t always so into the idea. During an appearance on MSNBC (as caught by Raw Story), Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell told host Katie Phang that he really fought against the pic, though he ultimately found a way to make peace with it.

“Ultimately when the mugshot came he decided fundraising would be the way out for him to kind of distract from, really, the indignity and humiliation of having to get a mugshot,” Lowell said. “But from our reporting, speaking to people in his inner circle for the days and weeks leading up to this surrender he was trying to get his lawyers to get an exemption so he wouldn’t have to take this mugshot.”

Lowell said that Trump’s had a “shift in mindset” over the last six months, claiming he was “very gung ho” about being treated like a crook before his first indictment in March.

“He thought it would be cool if I can get arrested, put in handcuffs, get a mugshot taken looking defiant but that has changed through the [multiple] indictments and by the time he got to Georgia he really did not want an indictment, really did not want to get a mugshot,” Lowell said.

One thing Trump was adamant about keeping from the public was his personal details, including his weight. He pushed his lawyers to negotiate with the Fulton County, Georgia DA and sheriff’s office, and given that his weight and height were self-reported, they got that part, at least. Otherwise they didn’t get any special treatment, which was when, Lowell said, “they recalibrated and said, ‘Fine, if we have to do this we’ll fund-raise off it.’”

When Trump’s alleged weight was made public, at 215 pounds, few bought it, not the least someone who’s shared a bed with him. The former president’s weight was listed at 239 pounds in 2019 and 244 the following year. So maybe he did shed nearly 30 pounds in three years.

You can watch Lowell’s MSNBC appearance in the video below.

(Via Raw Story)

Miguel is currently gearing up to drop his fifth studio album. It’s been almost six years since he dropped a full-length project, however, upon the release of his latest single, a collaboration with Lil Yachty called “Number 9,” Miguel has confirmed that he plans to release a new album this fall.

Last night (August 25), Miguel performed four songs from his upcoming album, which TMZ reports is called Viscera, at a listening event at Sony Studios.

During a performance of a song reportedly titled “Rope,” Miguel appears to get two piercings in the skin of his back. Assistants then put hooks into his back. They then attached literal ropes to the hooks, lifting Miguel as he performed the song. He performed in the air for approximately four minutes, before he was descended to the ground to cheers from the audience.

While its been some time since Miguel released a full-length album, his songs have proven to stand the test of time. Nearly 13 years after its release, his breakthrough single, “Sure Thing,” has had a resurgence on TikTok over the course of the past year.

As of now, there is no reported release date for Viscera.

You can see a clip from the show above.

It’s incredible to imagine that Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. “The Red Vineyard” sold in Brussels a few months before his death for just 400 Francs.

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Now, he’s celebrated as one of the greatest artists who ever lived.

In this incredible clip from “Dr. Who” we get to see what his reaction may have been if he saw his art today.

Vincent Van Gogh Visits the Gallery | Vincent and the Doctor | Doctor Who

www.youtube.com

This article originally appeared on 02.21.20

Bob Barker, the longtime daytime game show host who lorded over The Price is Right and Truth or Consequences, has died, as per Variety. He made it to 99.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker has left us,” said Barker’s publicist Roger Neal in a statement.

Barker hosted multiple shows over his decades-long career, but he was most famous for the 35 years he spent on The Price is Right, the late morning game show where cash-minded contestants duked it out for prizes. For years he was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most consecutive game show appearances before he was unseated by another legend of the field, Alex Trebek.

The Price is Right wasn’t Barker’s only big show. From 1950 to 1956, he had his own show, The Bob Barker Show. After that he hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 through 1975. He took over The Price is Right in 1972.

With his euphonious baritone, Barker was an unfailingly charming and convivial host, never losing his cool. (Although there was that time he almost did.)

Given his long stint on arguably the most popular daytime game show, tributes inevitably poured in. Many people remembered watching The Price is Right as kids on sick days or during the summer.

Many noted that Barker made it to 99, which seemed apropos given that not going over 100 was a key game on The Price is Right.

Others remembered him for his delightful cameo in Happy Gilmore, in which he dukes it out with Adam Sandler.

Some honored his tireless pet advocacy.

Others simply paid tribute to a legend.

(Via Variety)

Ed Sheeran is committing to his Autumn Variations era. This fall, he will release his sixth studio album, Autumn Variations, which marks his first major label solo album without a mathematical symbol in the title. And of course, Sheeran is ringing in the fall in the most autumnal way possible — with pumpkin spice lattes, of course.

In a video shared to Sheeran’s Instagram page, the “Eyes Closed” singer is seen working as a barista in a Seattle Starbucks, slinging out pumpkin spice lattes left and right.

In addition to serving up drinks, Sheeran also gifted customers with a new nickname, in true Starbucks barista fashion.

“Thanks for having me @starbucks,” said Sheeran in the post’s caption. “[I]f you gave me your name I gave you a new one, for I am the barista of joy.”

You can see a montage featuring clips from Sheeran’s day as a barista above.

Sheeran’s upcoming album, Autumn Variations comes just four months after the release of his fifth album — (Subtract). Like —, Autumn Variations will be co-produced by Aaron Dessner.

Autumn Variations is out 9/29 via Gingerbread Man and Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

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

Bob Barker, the former host of The Price Is Right and a longtime advocate for getting your pets spayed or neutered, passed away at 99 years old on Saturday. The news came by way of his spokesperson, who accurately described Barker in a statement as “the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived.”

It’s hard to sum up a life as magnificent as Barker’s, but there is one thing that can and should be highlighted in the aftermath of the news: No one has ever had a funnier cameo in a sports movie. Back in 1996, the Adam Sandler-led film Happy Gilmore hit theaters, and in a famous scene, Gilmore teams up with Barker during a celebrity pro-am. Gilmore’s rival on the tour, Shooter McGavin, pays for a heckler to mess with him, which leads to him playing a terrible round of golf.

Barker, who was known for his affable presence in the 30-plus years that he hosted The Price Is Right, grew impatient with Gilmore having a terrible day that led to them finishing in last place because some dude kept calling him a jackass. Gilmore throws a right hand, and after Barker gets up, he famously says “I don’t want a piece of you, I want the whole thing.” The two then fight. It is hilarious, and as Sandler recently revealed, this was never supposed to happen.

“We initially wrote it for Ed McMahon,” Sandler said in an interview earlier this year. “Ed McMahon said he was busy and we were like, imagine if Bob Barker did it, he’ll never do it. Next thing you know, Bob Barker, whose neighbor was Chuck Norris at the time, and Chuck and Bob used to spar, and Bob was like, ‘Yeah, if I get to fight, if I get to throw punches, I’m doing it.’”

Adele is certainly not coy about her Beyhive status. The “Easy On Me” hitmaker has publically declared her Beyoncé fandom on various occasions and even shared her Album Of The Year Grammy Award with her at the 2016 ceremony. Taking inspiration from the Queen Bey and her current Renaissance World Tour, Adele decided to hit her audience at her Vegas Weekends With Adele residency with an “everybody on mute” challenge on mute.

For context, when Beyoncé has performed her song “Energy” during her Renaissance World Tour, she’s been challenging the audience to get quiet for a brief amount of time, after she recites the lyric, “look around, everybody on mute.”

Last night (August 25), Adele attempted to see how this challenge would pan out among her fans. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem the audience caught on.

In a clip, Adele is seen instructing the audience, “everybody on mute,” though the audience remained in talkative bouts.

“You f*cking failed miserably,” said Adele. “When I sing ‘everybody on mute,’ you have to be f*cking quiet.”

She then alluded to a fan video taken from a Beyoncé concert, where someone in the audience didn’t go mute, “and everyone was like ‘wah!’”

All-in-all, Adele and fans had a good laugh about the ordeal.

You can see a clip above.

Richard Lewis has been with Curb Your Enthusiasm from the start. He was in the 1999 TV movie that kicked it off. Over the last near-quarter century he’s swung by for 41 episodes, playing a version of himself. He and Larry David are tight. But they weren’t always that way.

In a new interview with the British magazine Spectator (as caught by Deadline), Lewis confessed that the first time they met didn’t go so hot. Granted, they were kids then.

“I disliked him intensely,” Lewis recalled. “He was cocky, he was arrogant. When we played baseball, I tried to hit him with the ball: we were arch-rivals. I couldn’t wait for the camp to be over just to get away from Larry. I’m sure he felt the same way.”

But the pair — who were born a mere three days apart, both in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital — got a mulligan about a decade late when they were working NYC’s comedy scene. They almost didn’t recognize each other.

“I looked at his face and I said, ‘There’s something about you, man, that spooks me.’” Lewis remembered. David replied, “You’re Richard Lewis!” “You’re Larry David!”

In the most recent season of Curb, Lewis was only able to appear in one episode due to health reasons. Earlier this year he revealed he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Despite that, he was able to return for the forthcoming twelfth season.

(Via Deadline)