Month: August 2023

Janelle Monáe put herself all the way out there with The Age Of Pleasure, their June 9 (yes, 6/9) album that Uproxx reviewed as “a comforting space for Monáe and her beloved ‘Fandroids’ to live out loud.”

Uproxx’s Aaron Williams additionally contextualized why Monáe’s bold rollout was necessary, encapsulating “the story of America, of being Black, of being queer, of being non-binary, and always fighting to be seen, to be heard, and to not just survive in a hostile world but thrive.”

Monáe is giving their people several opportunities for indulgence with The Age Of Pleasure Tour. The North American trek started in Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, August 30. According to setlist.fm, Monáe kicked it all off with “Float.”

Monáe and their openers will next visit Vancouver, BC on Thursday, August 31, and Portland, Oregon on Saturday, September 2. The leg’s finale is scheduled for October 18 at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California.

See all of the remaining dates here, and prepare ahead of time by reviewing the purported setlist below.

1. “Float”
2. “Champagne Sh*t”
3. “Phenomenal”
4. “Haute”
5. “Oooh La La”
6. “Django Jane”
7. “Q.U.E.E.N.”
8. “Electric Lady”
9. “Lipstick Lover”
10. “Water Slide”
11. “Know Better”
12. “Paid In Pleasure”
13. “Pynk”
14. “Yoga”
15. “I Like That”
16. “Only Have Eyes 42”
17. “Make Me Feel” (encore)
18. “Tightrope” (encore)

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

Haason Reddick’s first season as a Philadelphia Eagle couldn’t have gone much better. Reddick, a South Jersey native who spent his college years as a standout for Temple, decided to join the Eagles as a free agent in the lead-up to the 2022 campaign and set a career-best mark with 16 sacks. A force off the edge and a second-team All-Pro selection, Reddick was an integral part in Philadelphia mowing through the NFC and making it to the Super Bowl.

Of course, the Eagles got about as close as you can to winning the biggest game of the year without actually hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. A controversial defensive holding call with just under two minutes remaining begat a Harrison Butker field goal that gave the Kansas City Chiefs a 38-35 win, and while Reddick is proud of what his team accomplished — “everybody wants to get back,” he says — he understands that the team can’t rely on that as they move into 2023.

“You do have to take an approach of, what happened last year is what happened last year, and mainly that last year was a great year statistically, record-wise, in any way imaginable for the Eagles, but we have to let go of that because it is a new year and we have to go out there and work again,” Reddick told Uproxx Sports over Zoom. “We got to go do it all over again. So what happened last year, it does not matter.”

Recently, we sat down with Reddick to discuss some charity work he’s doing with Campbell’s, the Eagles’ offseason, why the team keeps turning to the University of Georgia to load up on defensive talent, and more.

What do you have going on with Campbell’s?

So, recently, I’ve partnered with Campbell’s and their Chunky brand for their Chunky Sacks Hunger program. And we’re trying to donate food across America. For this year, the goal is to donate 2 million meals across the nation, for each Chunky (microwavable) bowl that is purchased, we’re going to donate a meal. So, I’m extremely happy about that, extremely happy and blessed to be partnered with the brand and to be doing some good work across the nation.

Why was this an important thing for you to get on board with?

For me, man, I’m big on giving back to the community. I do a bunch of local work. This brand, Campbell’s Chunky, they do a lot of great work in the community, as well. I know from recent things that we’ve partnered on — not only that, they’re headquartered in my hometown of Camden, New Jersey, which means so much to me. And now we get the partner and try to tackle a food insecurity initiative across the whole nation, man. So, like I said, we’re partnered to do some great work.

So let’s talk football. Just generally, how’s the offseason been for you?

Offseason has been very well, it was very well for me. A lot of fun, but a lot of hard work, as well. But it’s been really good to me.

You guys were an incredible team last year, won the NFC, and then just ran out of time at the end of the Super Bowl. Getting that close, has that motivated you and the team this offseason? Or has the approach been, we’re going to flush that, we’re going to move on, we’re going to focus on this year?

A little bit of both, right? When you’ve come so close to hitting a goal like that, winning a Super Bowl, man, it’s hard to get to the Super Bowl. But when you’re talking about winning the Super Bowl, and you’re that close, you lose by three points, of course the goal is to get back, everybody wants to get back. But you do have to take an approach of, what happened last year is what happened last year, and mainly that last year was a great year statistically, record-wise, in any way imaginable for the Eagles, but we have to let go of that because it is a new year and we have to go out there and work again. We got to go do it all over again. So what happened last year, it does not matter.

One thing from last year is that you don’t often see guys go to a new place and immediately have maybe the best season of their career. What was it about being in Philly that got the best out of you?

So much, man. The people I was surrounded by — players, coaches, family, friends, that probably played the biggest part of it. I’m from here, I’m from the area, I’m a local guy. There’s nothing, when it comes to football and playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s nothing more important than putting on that uniform and representing my city, a place that I grew up in, born and raised. So, for me, those were the things that all helped in making last season as great as it was for me.

Yeah, I’m guessing when you were five years old playing in a backyard, seven years old playing Pop Warner, you were dreaming about one day playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Man, was I. That’s why when the opportunity came, it was just like, I couldn’t believe it almost. Because a lot of guys don’t even get to make it to the NFL. For the few that do get to make it, they don’t even get to play for their hometown team, if their hometown has a team. So, for me to be able to do both of those things within my career, man, it’s amazing. It’s a blessing.

The Eagles have such a good roster that it feels like practice, there just has to be an iron sharpens iron thing going on. That’s especially true with you going up against that offensive line. How does going up against Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Jason Kelce, all those dudes make you and the rest of the defensive line better?

When you talk about those guys, when you talk about Lane, Kelce, Jordan, you’re talking about some guys that are great at their position, if not the best at their position, right? Especially when you’re talking about Lane and Kelce. So, you get to go in there, I get to work against Lane every day, we talk. I ask Lane, hey, man, what did you see here? What did I give away here that I could do better so that I can get this off on somebody else or that I can be better? And he’ll do the same thing. So, like you said, it’s really iron sharpens iron, I look at it as I’m going against some of the best o-linemen. By the time I get to game time, I’m not nervous, I have no fear, because I’ve already gone against the best in practice each and every day.

Any fun stories of a back-and-forth that you might have had with those dudes after a really competitive rep in practice?

Man, we can get to jawing. But the crazy thing about it is that everybody is so focused on getting better, sometimes something will happen in a one-on-one, he’ll come over and be like, hey, what was that right there? Or I even go to Lane, or Lane will come to me and say, hey, and I think this has worked really good. If you do this, I like that move right there. I think you just need to tweak it and do this to get the offensive lineman to do that, move this way, so that way, you can complete your move. While we do have fun in practice, the best memories I have is getting to talk to these guys and ways of, how can we make each other better? How can we get better together?

The Eagles defense has been loading up on these dudes from Georgia recently. And I don’t need to give UGA any more recruiting material, but are there any common traits that Jordan, Jalen, Nolan, Nick, Nakobe, Kelee, all those dudes share that make them, you know, you get in, you can immediately say “Oh, I see why we’re going to that program to get defensive talent”?

Most definitely, man. They come in with the mindset of learning. All of those guys are on the defensive side of the ball, so I get to see them day in and day out. And one thing that I noticed amongst all of them was just their willingness to learn, their willingness to ask questions so that way they can do their part. When you have a championship organization like Philadelphia, you want to go out and get championship guys. And immediately, I could tell that Georgia was a championship program just based off of the four guys that we have on the team.

Nolan fascinates me the most, because even in college, you could tell his attitude and the way he’s wired, he seems like the kind of rookie that every vet hopes they get once in their career.

Oh, man, most definitely. He’s a bright kid and I love his approach to football, he just wants to go out there and hit things. You need that mentality, especially when you’re on the defensive side of the ball. So, to see how he’s been growing over training camp, and how he’s progressed, I’m just glad I get to be a part of that. I’m glad I get to see him, I’m glad I get to help him, because I’m hoping that he can have a very successful career and I’m trying to do my part and making sure that he does.

I think it’s pretty well documented Jordan Mailata is the best singer on the Eagles. Who is the second best singer on the Eagles?

Second-best singer? Man, to no surprise, I would have to say it’s somewhere between Jordan Davis … I’m gonna say Jordan Davis, Kelce, and Lane. And the reason why I say that is because, I don’t know if you know, but they did the Christmas album last year. And they’re gonna do another one this year. But Jordan Mailata and Jordan Davis, they both have like a duet on the album. So it’s crazy. All big fellas, but bring great, amazing singing voices.

Last month, Troye Sivan shared his new song “Rush,” which was not without controversy. A debate was sparked online over the video’s lack of body diversity. Even Charli XCX weighed in.

There is now a remix of “Rush” featuring PinkPantheress and Stray Kids’ Hyunjin. The clubby song is even more fiery with these new voices; it can be added to the list of addictive PinkPantheress collaborations, like “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” with Ice Spice, “Way Back” with Skrillex, or “Turn Your Phone Off” with Destroy Lonely.

“Rush” comes from Sivan’s highly anticipated forthcoming album Something To Give Each Other. About the song, he previously said, “‘Rush’ is the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a 2-hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer. Party after party after party after after party. All of my experiences from a chapter where I feel confident, free and liberated. Independent, yet somehow the most connected to the music and community around me.”

Listen to the “Rush” remix above.

Something To Give Each Other is out 10/13 via Capitol Records. Find more information here.

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

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan

Zach Bryan opens his new album with a poem. “I’ve learned that every waking moment is enough,” he says, “and excess never leads to better things. It only piles and piles upon things that are already abundantly in front of you.” His delivery on the track, titled “Fear And Friday’s (Poem),” is down-home and conversational. As he strums his guitar, it sounds as though he is sitting in a bedroom somewhere and speaking into a tape recorder. It’s an arena-filling superstar caught in an intimate moment, only it’s presented via the least intimate vehicle — a probable smash hit LP — imaginable.

2. Buck Meek, Haunted Mansion

While I admired his two previous solo LPs, 2018’s Buck Meek and 2021’s Two Saviors, the latest record from Big Thief’s guitarist feels like a real breakthrough. A self-described collection of on-the-road love songs, Haunted Mountain adds layers of instrumental muscle to Big Thief’s lean and sparse folk-rock template, with Meek’s gnarled guitar supported by the supple, countrified warmth of his long-time backing band. The result is a record that rocks a bit harder than much of Big Thief’s output, while retaining the band’s hopeful, mystical spiritualism.

3. Florry, The Holey Bible

I had given up hope that an indie rock group in 2023 would take cues from early ’70s Rolling Stones records like Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. And then I heard this album, and my faith was restored. This Philadelphia band fronted by singer-songwriter Francie Medosch was previously a more conventional indie-sounding outfit before they zeroed in on the irreverent country-rock side of the Stones, and combined it with the deliberate, chemically addled sloppiness of “ditch” era Neil Young. What that means is an abundance of slide and lap steel guitar attached to songs that lumber amiably as if they have been consuming Jack Daniels and honey slides for the past 12 hours. The good shit, in other words.

4. Cory Hanson, Western Cum

Really good guitar jams, very unfortunate album title. Western Cum is the year’s best classic rock homage that I am also the most embarrassed about recommending. But whatever, right? We’re all adults here! We can take a reference to (lowers voice) semen if we’re also receiving a bounty of hooky songs with bitchin’ guitar solos! Hanson’s easygoing vocal style — he sounds like David Gates of Bread on quaaludes — contrasts with his invigorating instrumental attack, which evokes the Allman Brothers as produced by Boston’s Tom Scholz.

5. Greg Freeman, I Found Out

I’m late on this one — it’s my favorite album of 2022 that I discovered in 2023. (In my defense most critics have slept on this album. That will hopefully change soon.) A reader online recommended that I check it out due to my constant evangelizing for M.J. Lenderman, and that person was dead on. Like Lenderman, it’s obvious that Freeman has worshipped at the altar of the late, great Jason Molina, though he also brings his own influences (particularly ’90s indie rock in the form of Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided By Voices) to the table. What I’m saying is that this is yet another blown-out country-rock record that sometimes delves into pure noise. (I can’t get enough of this formula lately.)

6. Died Pretty, Free Dirt

Speaking of discovering albums late, I became semi-obsessed this month with this Australian indie band who started putting out music in the ’80s. I came to Died Pretty for the saddest possible reason — their lead singer Ron Peno died on Aug. 11, and after reading some online tributes I was moved to check out their 1986 debut album, Free Dirt. What I discovered was a band that capably draws on ’60s rock sounds — the Velvet Underground, The Doors, Bob Dylan — and filters it through an ’80s indie sensibility. The result is a great example of the “big sky” sound that so many fine Australian rock bands share. While Peno is no longer with us, he left behind a deep catalog I’m still working through. Better late than never!

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

As Afrobeats continues to rise in prominence both stateside and abroad, Burna Boy has been the Afrobeats artist at the forefront of the movement. Earlier this year, he became the first Nigerian artist to headline a US stadium after also headlining the NBA’s All-Star Game halftime show and J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival while demand for his guest verses skyrocketed among contemporaries like J Hus and Byron Messia.

His popularity is such that J. Cole even compared him to Tupac. Sitting with the Rap Radar Podcast, Burna recounted how he ended up in the studio with J. Cole and a group of “tall as hell” basketball players, where the North Carolina rapper said, “This n****’s Tupac reincarnated in Africa” after hearing Burna “going off” for a few minutes. The bashful Burna says he shrugged off the comparison, but it wouldn’t be totally unfounded.

Although Burna hasn’t talked about it much recently, he’s been a proponent of the “One Africa” movement and refused to perform in South Africa for political reasons in 2020. Meanwhile, like Tupac, he’s been outspoken about authoritarian abuses, best embodied in his video for “Monsters You Made.” The two artists’ shared Pan-Africanist views are likely what prompted Cole to make the comparison, although they also share similar cultural impact and popularity as well.

The results of Burna and Cole’s collaboration will can be found on Burna’s new album I Told Them…, out now via Spaceship Records and Atlantic Records.

Thanks to leading the charge in Donald Trump‘s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani has been mired in a non-stop morass of legal woes that only get worse with each day that passes.

On Wednesday, the disgraced attorney suffered a significant loss in the defamation suit filed against him by two Georgia election workers. The judge overseeing the case ripped Giuliani up and down for failing to provide discovery materials and put him on the hook for the election worker’s legal fees, which already totaled $90,000. The damages, that have yet to be decided by a jury, could be financially ruinous for Giuliani who’s not doing so hot, according to NBC News Ken Dilanian.

Via Raw Story:

“It’s a big blow to Mr. Giuliani. Of course, it’s one of a long line of things he’s facing, including criminal liability. You know, there are reports he’s got a debt of $3 million in legal fees.”

“His life essentially is falling apart,” Dilanian said. “He is losing his license to practice law. Just add this to the list of legal woes for Rudy Giuliani.”

Giuliani’s financial trouble has been reportedly exacerbated by Trump’s refusal to pay Rudy for the legal work he did in the aftermath of the 2020 election. However, in a recent and telling development, Trump has reportedly agreed to host a fundraiser for Giuliani’s mounting legal fees.

According to inside sources, Trump has become increasingly concerned that his codefendants in the Georgia indictment will flip on him. Three already have, and the last thing he needs is Giuliani turning state’s evidence. He presumably knows a lot about Trump’s election interference plot, provided Rudy wasn’t drunk the whole time, of course.

(Via Raw Story)

Ticketmaster may very well never live down the Taylor Swift The Eras Tour Pre-Sale Debacle Of November 2022 (working title), which led to a full-blown Senate Committee hearing and prompted Swift to go scorched-earth.

Though the company made adjustments for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, it experienced a bit of déjà vu in July when tickets went on sale for Swift’s 2024 The Eras Tour stop in Paris, France.

AMC Theatres wants no part of it.

On Thursday morning, August 31, Swift announced (with help from Good Morning America) that her Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film will enjoy a full-fledged theatrical release beginning on October 13. Tickets are available here, and AMC is prepared for the Swiftian rush — or, so they said.

“In anticipation of this announcement, AMC has upgraded its website and ticketing engines to handle more than five times the largest influx of ticket-buying traffic the company has ever experienced before,” AMC said in a statement, per Variety. “But AMC is also aware that no ticketing system in history seems to have been able to accommodate the soaring demand from Taylor Swift fans when tickets are first placed on sale.”

It continues, “Guests wanting to be the first to buy their tickets online may experience delays, longer-than-usual ticket-purchase waiting-room times and possible outages. AMC is committed to ensuring any delays or outages are addressed as quickly as possible.”

Ticket prices begin at $19.89 for adults and $13.13 for children and seniors.

Watch the movie trailer above, and see the announcement below.

Last year, Madonna turned a lot of heads with her bizarre appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “This interview is going to be all about flirtation and seduction,” the “Like A Prayer” singer said before later sliding onto Fallon’s desk, pushing his mugs aside, and laying her body out while Fallon bashfully yelled at her to stop.

On Sirius XM’s podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera, Anderson Cooper discussed his own weird experience with Madonna in 2015. The pop star invited him onstage at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn and began spanking and humping him during “Unapologetic B*tch.”

“That [moment,] I choose to forget. I’m mortified,” he told Kelly Ripa. “I mean, I loved the whole idea, I love the experience of it. I don’t love the video that exists of it, the reality.”

“I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” he continued. “I was terrible. I danced terribly. It was mortifying.”

“We all watch people perform at these stages and they make it look like it’s all so natural and normal,” he said. “Even the way they’re like dancing, running, walking down the stage. I [was] like, ‘I don’t, do I skip?’”

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

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Oprah Winfrey have joined forces to raise money for those affected by the devastating wildfires in Maui, Hawaii.

“We’re honored to announce the People’s Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires,” the Moana star tweeted. “As @Oprah and I have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and we’re here to ensure with 100% guarantee that your donations will go directly into the hands of Lahaina residents. Every adult resident who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1200 per month to help them through this period of recovery.”

In a statement, Winfrey added, “I have been meeting with people throughout the community that were impacted by the fires over the last few weeks, asking what they most needed and how I could be of service. The main thing I’ve been hearing is their concern about how to move forward under the immense financial burden. The community has come together in so many wonderful ways, and my intention is to support those impacted as they determine what rebuilding looks like for them.”

The People’s Fund of Maui kicked off with a $10 million donation from The Rock and Winfrey. If you want to contribute, you can do so at PeoplesFundofMaui.org.