Month: September 2023

Noah Kahan‘s fans are trying their hardest to get tickets to his upcoming We’ll Be Here Forever Tour, as the tickets go on sale today. However, they are experiencing a lot of trouble trying to buy from the Ticketmaster queue. While fans had presale codes, apparently the sale was so disastrous that scalpers were already reselling — or they had to encounter long waits.

This happened especially in Boston, where Kahan will play a show at Fenway Park next year.

“The fact that people were reselling Noah Kahan tickets for Fenway while I was still in presale queue is my villain origin story,” one user wrote.

“I’m getting f*cking Taylor Swift flashbacks trying to get Noah Kahan tickets at Fenway,” another added.

Others had issues with just how high the ticket prices were when they did make it to the seat selection — which has been a common complaint about Ticketmaster these days.

“I’m shaming both him and TM,” one fan wrote in response to another being upset about how high the cost was. “You can’t tell me the artist doesn’t have a LITTLE ounce of control over ticket prices, Ticketmaster is also greedy and can’t properly do a presale to save their life. Both are at fault I fear.”

Continue scrolling for some more reactions about Noah Kahan’s We’ll Be Here Forever Tour sale and Fenway Park.

Earlier this year, Boygenius made their anticipated full-length debut with their album, The Record, which arrived this past March. The supergroup comprised of Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers first formed in 2018 and have proven buzzy since. This October, the ladies of Boygenius will share a new EP called The Rest, which will complete the story of The Record with four new songs.

Last night (September 26), during the second of two consecutive concerts at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, the group previewed a new song called “Afraid Of Heights” from The Rest.

The song primarily features Dacus as the lead vocalist, the ladies, at various points in the song, join each other in unison, harmonizing in pure delight.

“When the black water ate you up / Like a sugar cube in a teacup / I got the point you were makin’ / When I held my breath ’til you came up,” the three sing on the song’s chorus.

This is the second song Boygenius has previewed from The Rest, the first being “Black Hole” at the previous Boston show.

You can see a clip of the “Afraid Of Heights” performance above.

The Rest is out 10/13 via Interscope. Find more information here.

The biggest story in sports and pop culture right now involves Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his flirtation with Taylor Swift. Kelce has made clear that he is … let’s say a fan of the most famous person in the world right now, and there sure seems to be a lot of smoke around the two of them dating, most notably that Swift went to the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears this week, sat with Kelce’s mom, celebrated when he scored, and left the game with him.

Kelce addressed the whole thing on the most recent episode of his podcast, but it appears that there is one person who thinks something smells funny here. That person is noted yeller Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, who took some time during his weekly First Take segment about stuff that made him mad to float his theory that all of this is about publicity.

“LOOK AT THIS!” Russo said, as eloquently as ever before — and maybe I am just not hearing this correctly — just screaming out a bunch of letters in combinations no one has ever put together before. He then got back on track.

“SHE WANTS TO ENJOY HER SON,” Russo said. “AND WHO TAKES THEIR GIRLFRIEND, TWO MINUTES INTO A RELATIONSHIP, TO VISIT MOMMY AND DADDY? NOBODY DOES THAT! AND THEN WE’RE GONNA SHOW ‘EM WALKING OUT? AND NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN, SHE’S A BIG KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FAN. SHE’S NEVER HEARD OF LENNY DAWSON.”

To be clear, he might have said someone other than Len Dawson and I just am once again not hearing him correctly, but really, that part is not important here. (Well, it is kinda important in that it’s crappy to pull the “I bet she has never heard of THIS athlete!” card.) (Also, Swift is a well-documented fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.) While Stephen A. Smith and Marcus Spears attempted to compose themselves, Molly Qerim prodded Russo a little bit.

“I can’t believe you’re mad about Travis and Taylor,” she said. “They found love.”

“FOUND LOVE?” Russo responded. “WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY? FOUND LOVE? ARE YOU NUTS? YOU CAN’T BELIEVE THAT. FOUND LOVE AFTER FIVE MINUTES? PLEASE. OH IT’S … FOUND LOVE? OH MY GOD, FOUND LOVE? YOU KNOW WHAT THEY FOUND? LET’S GET SOME PUBLICITY, THAT’S WHAT THEY FOUND.”

I am sure they talked about other things on First Take on Wednesday morning, but I am willing to wager that nothing else was this loud.

The highly anticipated The Boys spinoff, Gen V, is set to drop in a few days, and judging by the first batch of reviews, the college-based series will definitely tide fans over until The Boys Season 4 arrives. (Whenever that is.)

Set at Godolkin University, Gen V follows a burgeoning crop of young Supes who are dreaming of joining The Seven, the seemingly elite and righteous superhero team led by Homelander. However, as fans of The Boys know, The Seven are anything but righteous thanks to the machinations of Vought Industries. But if there’s anyone who can sniff out corporate bullsh*t, it’s college students.

The cast of Gen V will be put through the wringer as they learn the truth about The Seven and navigate their new powers through a sea of dong jokes and horror that only the world of The Boys can deliver.

You can see what the critics are saying below:

Kimberly Ricci, Uproxx:

Ultimately, Gen V will please The Boys fans as much as any spinoff possibly could without the physical presence of Homelander. And I understand why they’ve kept him away. His revolting charisma would distract the audience from getting to know a whole new roster of screwed-up Supes. Like the original, this spinoff is subversive and giddy and full of characters worth caring about as they cope with a deluge of bodily fluids that confirms that, yes, this is very much The Boys territory.

David Opie, Empire:

Bizarre sex scenes, a cascade of prosthetic cocks, and the kind of extreme violence Tarantino could only dream of all come into play — this is The Boys still, after all — but just like in the main show, these R-rated moments are grounded with real concerns that try to say something beyond mere shock value.

Alison Herman, Variety:

Is “The Boys” a satire of superhero franchises or a superhero franchise itself? Such is the question posed by a show that is, among other things, a cautionary tale about corporate monopoly that airs on Amazon. So far, though, the answer is both — a delicate balance “The Boys” has sustained through three acclaimed seasons, an animated anthology series and, now, a live-action spinoff, the college-set “Gen V.” The contradictions of success may eventually take their toll on the pitch-black comedy and its satellites, which portray so-called superheroes as pawns of the rapacious Vought International. But “Gen V” retains the edge, cynicism and (aptly) adolescent humor that make its parent show tick.

Joshua Rivera, Polygon:

Gen V hews closely to The Boys’ methodology of gleeful provocation in the service of existential angst, giddily pushing the boundaries of good taste in order to inventively present, say, a giant penis, or perhaps a new sexual organ invented for a throwaway gag, only to show how its characters press forward to find meaning in this horrible mess. If The Boys is about the corporate overlords of the media ecosystem, then Gen V is about its lifeblood: the young consumers and fans who aspire to have a part in that system, to carve out their own niche in the attention economy, to be a star on their own terms.

Ben Travers, IndieWire:

With Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters as showrunners (plus Kripke producing the series and co-writing the pilot), it all works well enough to satisfy franchise fans, though one has to wonder if that’s enough. “The Boys” clicked (in part) because it felt like an antidote to superhero fatigue; an outlet for everyone who’s grown frustrated with the same ol’ bloodless stories of angelic men in spandex crashing through buildings with zero consequences. “Gen V” may scratch the same irritated itch, but with “The Boys” Season 4 right around the corner, all that scratching will eventually draw blood.

Nick Schager, The Daily Beast:

Gen V skillfully juggles numerous plot threads without ever losing sight of its protagonists and their problems, most of which will be relatable to anyone who’s had to deal with body shaming moms, overbearing dads or guys eager to seize every opportunity to be date-rapey—the last of which is particularly worrisome when the creeps in question are MAGA-esque telepaths. For all its outlandishness, the show’s supe-populated reality never prioritizes insane spectacle over humanity. As a result, it routinely grounds what winds up being a wide-ranging quest by Marie and company to expose God U for its crimes, rescue victims of horrific abuse, maintain friendships, define identities, and achieve long-sought dreams.

Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter:

With the new spinoff Gen V, The Boys is at least briefly able to take a much-needed reset, bringing in a largely new group of characters, adjusting the satirical targets, and although the new series is still deeply invested in transposing our internal goo to the outside, it does some new things with its corporeal spatter. There’s no single performance as likely to earn accolades as Antony Starr’s ultra-intense take on Homelander, but the cast of relative newcomers is generally sturdy. If the series becomes frustratingly rushed as it progresses, within that rush and those choppy narrative choices, I kept finding enough moments of giddy inspiration to be entertained and sometimes more than that.

Nate Richard, Collider:

While Gen V is able to retain The Boys’ knack for graphic violence and exposing corporate corruptness, it is also able to stand on its own two feet. For better and for worse, Gen V diverges from the more satirical elements of the flagship series and decides to tackle issues that many young adults in our everyday world face, including gender, sexuality, drugs, and eating disorders. At times, the series recaptures the snark of its predecessor. At others, the show resembles something closer to a CW series with a much higher budget.

Gen V premieres September 29 on Amazon Prime Video.

50 Cent is one of the biggest names in rap but how did he get that name? After all, “Curtis Jackson” — the rapper-turned-mogul’s real name — is a far cry from “50 Cent.” Lots of rappers have entertaining stories behind their rap names, so what is his?

How Did 50 Cent Get His Name?

Like many rappers who got their starts in the ’90s, 50 Cent was inspired by a personal hero. However, while stars like Wu-Tang Clan took their inspirations from kung-fu movies and comic books, and others, like Nas and Tupac, used versions of their real names, 50 Cent split the difference, creating his persona from a hero that was a little more grounded and close-to-home.

Kelvin Martin was a drug dealer and stick-up kid from Brooklyn, New York, which shares a phone area code with Queens, where Curtis Jackson grew up. While growing up, he heard stories about the exploits of Martin, who was nicknamed 50 Cent. There are conflicting accounts of how the original 50 Cent, Martin, got the title, from his readiness to rob anyone, no matter how much (or little) money they had on them at the time, to a supposed win in a dice game that started with 50 cents and ended with Martin $500 richer.

Unfortunately, Martin, who inspired Jackson’s eventual stage name, was shot to death at the age of just 23 years old. His greatest claim to fame outside of the neighborhoods he once terrorized is inspiring the rapper who went on to sell 11 million copies of his debut album. In past interviews, 50, who was also short early in his career but survived unlike Martin, explained, “I took the name 50 Cent because it says everything I want it to say. I’m the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means.”

The 146-day WGA strike has finally come to an end. We don’t yet know the total financial toll that the work stoppage has taken, and of course, the impact will be compounded by the still-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. For the moment, however, Hollywood will take any good news that it can get.

Writers will pick up pens again, late night shows shall soon return, and Drew Barrymore will begin attempting to forget the embarrassment from a backlash against her show firing up on filming weeks earlier than the rest.

What of the new WGA contract, though? Naturally, the document (which will be in effect from Sept. 25, 2023 to May 1, 2026) is lengthy, currently standing at 94 pages in its tentative form. The fine tuning will be ongoing, but the union has published a summary document with highlights that establish minimum pay rates (based upon job duration) and minimum staffing rates for writers rooms (in the interest of ending the whole “mini-room” phenomenon). A new bonus-based residual program will also apply to projects that release beginning on January 1, 2024.

Of particular interest to not only writers but anyone who fears the rise of AI and its effect on jobs, the summary contains a set of regulations for how studios can use AI on projects that fall under this contract:

AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights.

A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.

The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.

The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.

Variety further reports that the WGA’s negotiating committee is thrilled with the deal. “We can say, with great pride,” the committee wrote in an email to members. “[T]hat this deal is exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.”

The (eventual) final agreement will need to officially be voted in by members, but that seems to be a mere formality in this case. In the meantime, screenwriters are free to return to work, so let the storytelling recommence, and you can see the full temp agreement here.

(Via WGA, Variety & Reuters)

Lorde’s debut album, Pure Heroine, is celebrating its tenth anniversary today (September 27). In honor of the record that resonated with so many young fans at the time, the pop star had a few surprises in store.

First, she released a new merch collection tied to a full decade of the album. One of the shirts mimics the DARE logo, replacing it with “PURE,” and “Heroine” placed below. On the back, it reads “10 Years Clean” in bold letters.

The other is a long-sleeved top that is a CD image of the album — and appears to have a “With thanks to” dedication in tiny print on the back. Both are available to pre-order from Lorde’s website and will ship on December 1.

Lorde also released a special issue of her newsletter, where she unearthed some photos of herself as a sixteen year old and from that era.

“Going back through all of this has reminded me of something that feels important to point out, whether you make art or not: everything starts out as a bunch of bullsh*t in a laptop,” she wrote to fans. “Pure Heroine was a handful of Photo Booth selfies and emotional Word documents and Tumblr posts (and a gorgeous over-decorated bedroom) before it was even one song. I had no reason, on paper, to believe that I was capable of anything.”

Check out some of the photos below.

It’s been a while since Cardi B released an album. More than five years, to be exact. But it looks like her sophomore effort — the follow-up to her 2018 debut Invasion Of Privacy — may be arriving soon. Her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, “Bongos,” has shown to be a viral hit, with its dance-heavy music video. And with potentially more music on the way, fans are curious about the logistics of a new project and what her new era entails.

Who is Cardi B signed to?

Cardi B is currently signed to Atlantic Records. She signed her deal in 2017, months before the release of her single, “Bodak Yellow,” which would later change her life.

The song was the second solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 by a female rap artist, the first being “Doo Wop (That Thing)” by Lauryn Hill, which had topped the charts 19 years prior.

She would earn another No. 1 with her J. Balvin and Bad Bunny collaboration “I Like It,” also from Invasion Of Privacy.

In 2020, the viral “WAP” collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion would earn Cardi her third No. 1, and her solo single, “Up,” would become her fourth in 2021.

Though nearly six years have passed since Invasion Of Privacy, it looks like Cardi’s new era is upon us. In an interview on DJ Whoo Kid’s Whoo’s House podcast, Cardi revealed that she’s “still kinda working” on her second album, but she has a release “date in mind.

With four No. 1 hits to her credit, as well as a No. 1 album, it’s safe to say she’s in good hands at Atlantic, and that this next rollout will prove promising.

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

As K-pop’s… well… popularity has grown in the US, it’s been no surprise to see some of Korea’s biggest stars linking up with rappers. After all, K-pop takes a lot of inspiration from hip-hop; the crossover of audiences can also be mutually beneficial, with the K-pop stars benefiting from rappers’ stateside fanbase and rappers getting to see some more international support.

The latest rapper to jump on the K-pop collab trend looks to be Jack Harlow, has begun teasing a collaboration with BTS member Jung Kook. The Korean singer’s label, HYBE, also shared a teaser of the music video, which appears to have been shot in Harlow’s hometown, Louisville, Kentucky. You can check that out above.

Harlow is the second American rapper to collaborate with Jung Kook this year after Latto contributed a verse to his insanely viral, UK garage-inspired hit “Seven.” Meanwhile, as a member of BTS, he also worked with Megan Thee Stallion on a remix of their 2021 hit, “Butter.” Likewise, another BTS member, J-Hope, recently worked with a top rapper, J. Cole, for “On The Street.”

Jung Kook and Jack Harlow’s “3D” is due September 29.

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

Jeff Bezos has made no secret of wanting his own Game Of Thrones among Amazon Originals. Between Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power and Wheel Of Time, he’s captured a good chunk of the fantasy-loving audience, but if we’re talking about comparative juggernauts, The Boys is the slam-dunk of the streaming service. The 2019 arrival of the superhero-skewering franchise felt as timely as it did when Garth Ennis penned the source material in the aughts. Since then, the MCU and DCU have fatigued their own audiences, but The Boys feels even stronger for lighting those worlds on fire from the show’s inception.

In fact, The Boys has been such a subscription driver for Amazon that they swiftly greenlit spinoffs for the superhero-skewering franchise. The first of those, Diabolical, was an animated placeholder (including backstories) between seasons. The first live-action spinoff, however, is much more than a placeholder. The college-set series fits neatly into the current timeline of this franchise. That is, Gen V‘s events happen in between The Boys third season and the upcoming fourth round of Homelander’s homicidal escapades.

Also, let’s get this out of the way upfront: No franchise has successfully pulled off (or even attempted) as many penis-focused stunts as The Boys. Never forget what Mother’s Milk lived through in the “Herogasm” episode.

Thankfully, there are at least two significant dong-focused moments — which will cause a mixture of “oh my god,” “ew,” and “thank god this show exists” — within the first handful of Gen V episodes. These are stunts that somehow don’t come off like stunts, and this show manages to pull off what The Boys does, which is simultaneously going too far into depraved territory without it feeling like too much. That careful tightrope walking is down to the continued guidance of franchise creators Evan Goldberg, Eric Kripke, and Craig Rosenberg, along with Seth Rogen as a producer.

Let’s talk about the setup and what this season actually does. Because the bodily fluid quotient remains the same, but Gen V brings something new to the table. And it resembles what I have observed by being in close proximity to a few key Gen Z-ers. These younger Supes are somewhat jaded after watching older-generation Supes. Most importantly, they are aware of the f*cked-up world that grownups are handing them while being participants within the machine, too. These young adults landed at Supe-friendly Godolkin U shortly after Homelander received a resounding ovation for killing a civilian in broad daylight — inspired by the bragging from a certain real-life public figure — and it doesn’t take a stretch to imagine that it has affected some perceptions.

Additionally, the events of the Season 3 finale left some vacancies in The Seven. Those include Queen Maeve, who is hopefully enjoying her secret retirement on an upstate farm somewhere, and Starlight, who fully went rogue and is officially considered a dissident. So, there’s competition for spots among the younger characters, who also attend parties that go off the rails when someone’s showing off their powers, and it doesn’t go well. That’s entertaining, but this show is a crucial puzzle piece in the grander scheme of The Boys. What we see transpire at Godolkin makes it very easy to imagine the process of how Maeve became as world-weary as she did.

Gen V also never forgets that this franchise is satiric, so the spinoff maintains those undercurrents. One of those, obviously, is that Compound V has always been a substance that ultimately makes a ton of money due to the marketing of Supes. We have also seen, particularly from Starlight’s history, how some parents were all too willing to inject their kids with that garbage in exchange for cash and fame. And it’s no wonder. The super-speedy A-Train rakes in endorsement deals, and as such, Jessie T. Usher makes a handy cameo for this spinoff. The show hasn’t shied away from revealing who else makes appearances, so expect to see varying quantities of Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy, Colby Minifie’s Ashley Barrett, and Chace Crawford’s The Deep.

Speaking of The Deep, it’s fair to say that his “powers” (which include f*cking an octopus), so to speak, are the most standout (and draggable) among of The Seven. At the very least, his abilities are more individualized, whereas a lot of The Seven rely upon more “classic” super-abilities like laser eyes, super strength, and so on. Well, Gen V gives the core characters highly individualized powers. And that’s part of what keeps this series — even without the franchise’s most depraved anchor on the scene — intriguing.

In many cases, these younger characters’ “powers” are also the source of inner turmoil. That paradox is something that has already been captured in The Boys as far as the vigilantes, not the Supes, go. What gives Hughie and Butcher and Mother’s Milk their drive is the traumas that they’ve experienced at the hands of the Supes. Similarly, the Gen V Supes have experienced their own (relative) traumas in the past, and some of them have come to recognize their powers as a source of self-loathing and pain. The struggle with these abilities also being worthy of renown adds more layers. In other words, come for the impressive variety of penis jokes, and stay for the characters who might climb inside of your own soul.

Then there’s Golden Boy. He would probably be the closest thing to a Homelander in terms of PR potential, and it’s no coincidence that Patrick Schwarzenegger was on the shortlist for the role that made Antony Starr a gleefully horrifying household name. Also, Patrick has gone on record to reveal that his dad (who’s no stranger to gore and once pretended to kill an entire army without reloading) freaked out over seeing set photos and wondering what the hell his son was filming. It’s fun to imagine Arnold’s face while watching some of the more disgusting scenes go down.

For sure, the show wastes no time in diving into raunch and gore as the character feel their way around the U. We meet Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) whose powers involve blood-bending as both a weapon and a healing mechanism. Her roommate, Emma Meyer (Lizzie Broadway), is known as Little Cricket for her ability to dramatically shrink (the better to climb into orifices). A gender-bending Supe, Jordan Li, is portrayed by both London Thor and Derek Luh. Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo) is a party tricks kind of guy, but he eventually shows depth, too. Also, we get to not see a Translucent-like Supe, an extreme empath, and more explorations of the variants that are often part of The Boys background pieces.

Ultimately, Gen V will please The Boys fans as much as any spinoff possibly could without the physical presence of Homelander. And I understand why they’ve kept him away. His revolting charisma would distract the audience from getting to know a whole new roster of screwed-up Supes. Like the original, this spinoff is subversive and giddy and full of characters worth caring about as they cope with a deluge of bodily fluids that confirms that, yes, this is very much The Boys territory.

Amazon’s ‘Gen V’ premieres on September 29.