Month: December 2023

Jack Black in The White Lotus makes almost too much sense. The actor has a history with creator Mike White, who wrote and co-starred in School of Rock. Also, they both have colors for last names. Something to think about. But alas, Black denied that he’ll be in the next season of the HBO series.

“I’ll deny because that’s easy to tell the truth,” he told Vanity Fair. “I have to throw ice water on that sweet, sweet theory.”

The only confirmed cast member for season three is Natasha Rothwell, who played spa manager Belinda Lindsey in the show’s first season. Otherwise, it’s all speculation, so there’s still hope that the Muppets will visit Thailand.

Black also talked about his Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass being in the holiday classic Elf. “Kyle always reminds me that he’s got the biggest holiday movie,” he said. “He’s able to lord it over me — his residual checks continue to roll in for Elf.” Black’s filmography also includes a Christmas movie, The Holiday, and he’s waiting for writer and director Nancy Meyers to make a sequel. “Once in a while, I slide into Nancy Meyers’s DMs and say, ‘Holiday 2: Electric Boogaloo. Anyone with me?’” he joked.

As long as Kate Winslet gets to beat one of Tom Cruise’s records, I bet she’s down.

(Via Vanity Fair)

Rihanna fans have been waiting a few years to hear some new music from the pop star, but she has taken her time, running a beauty line and starting a family. However, in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, it seems there is a glimmer of hope, as she discussed her thoughts on touring again too.

When Will Rihanna Go On Tour Again?

Although Rihanna played the Super Bowl Halftime Show this year, she hasn’t actually toured since finishing her Anti World Tour in 2016. Next year would mark eight years, but it seems like she is still planning on coming back — it just depends on when.

“Well we’re always gonna go back on tour,” Rihanna told the outlet. “[But] I feel I want to do a tour when there’s new music. We already know what that’s gonna be, with the songs that I’ve performed on my last tour. That was a long time ago.”

“I feel like it’s only fair that my fans get what they’ve been waiting on, which is new music,” she added. “After that, lets just like, blow everything up.”

During the interview, she also mentioned that she felt like Anti was her “most brilliant album,” which has caused a struggle creatively to follow it with something new.

Check out Rihanna discussing touring and new music below.

The Golden State Warriors have been struggling to keep pace in the West playoff race this season, but picked up a huge win on Tuesday night by beating the East’s best team, the Celtics, in overtime on TNT.

Stephen Curry, who has been one of the few bright spots for the Warriors this season, was sensational down the stretch and in overtime, finishing the game with 33 points and six assists. Curry authored the dagger in the closing seconds of overtime, burying a ridiculous three over Derrick White to put Golden State up four and effectively put the game to bed.

Even in a down year for the Warriors that’s seen Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson struggle early (although Klay has been better of late) and Draymond Green dealing with an indefinite suspension, Curry has been tremendous and continues to sustain his level of greatness well into his 30s. That, along with his four rings, prompted Shaq to wonder on Inside the NBA why Steph isn’t “in the conversation” for more people in the never-ending GOAT debate.

Kenny Smith isn’t there yet, and asks Shaq if he ranks Steph above himself, to which Shaq takes no time to say he does. Shaq has long called Curry his favorite player in the NBA, and while Kenny thinks you can argue the point guard list between Steph and Magic Johnson, Shaq thinks he belongs in the overall conversation with LeBron James and Michael Jordan.

It’s an interesting conversation to have and, just generally, I like that Shaq wants to make sure we give Curry his appropriate due as a great player and not just as a shooter, because I think that gets lost sometimes in the discussion of Steph. The difficulty with putting him in the GOAT discussion is the resume of his contemporary, LeBron, features so much and he’s had so much longevity on top of the lofty peaks. That said, you can absolutely argue that Curry has had the biggest impact on how the game is played of anyone since Jordan, which certainly should be brought up when talking about the importance he’s had on the game.

While I doubt Shaq will get too many people on his side that don’t reside in the Bay Area, Curry isn’t done writing his story and as he continues adding records, accolades, and (if the Warriors can get it together again) possible championships, Shaq might want to circle back on this convo.

Travis Scott’s in the middle of his Circus Maximus Tour for Utopia, which has included highlights such as Travis performing fan favorite “Fe!n” 10 times in Tulsa and performing with his daughter Stormi in Los Anggels

However, at his show Tuesday night in New York (December 19), he almost added a moment to his blooper reel thanks to the elaborate stage design. While much of his stage is dressed as a cratered moonscape, there are also props like a massive reproduction of his head, which swings slowly across the stage on a pulley. Unfortunately for Travis, he forgot where it would be swooping down and found himself in its path.

While it didn’t bowl him completely over, it did result in his having to jump to a lower platform to avoid being knocked down. Naturally, though, fans caught the moment while filming and posted it on social media. At least it wasn’t worse; Travis has decent enough reflexes that he’s got fans posting things like “W save” instead of head puns.

Travis’ tour will continue through the rest of the month and up to the end of January. You can see the remaining dates below.

12/21/2023 — New York City, NY @ Madison Square Garden
12/22/2023 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden *
12/23/2023 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
12/26/2023 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
12/28/2023 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena *
12/29/2023 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
01/03/2024 — Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
01/06/2024 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
01/09/2024 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
01/12/2024 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
01/14/2024 — University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
01/17/2024 — Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum
01/20/2024 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
01/22/2024 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
01/23/2024 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
01/28/2024 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
01/31/2024 — Orlando, FL @ Amway Center

The next time you publicly ogle Sydney Sweeney and/or Glen Powell, be aware that they might see it.

BuzzFeed had the Anyone But You co-stars read thirst tweets about themselves. In response to “sydney sweeney DISTRACTS me!!!!! i’m sitting here doing nothing but suddenly i have to stop doing NOTHING so i can think about her BOOTY!!!!!” Sweeney said, “Thank you for giving my booty love, for once. It’s always my boobs.” Someone else wanted Sweeney to “bite my head off” like a praying mantis. “It’s kind of hot,” Powell admitted, although he doesn’t “usually bring bugs into the bedroom, you know what I mean?”

Don’t worry, the Top Gun: Maverick hunk got objectified, too, including one tweet that imagined the “academy award winning sound of glen powell’s abs flexing in the sun.” When Sweeney expressed surprise that they make noise, Powell shared that it sounds like scooping coconut oil. Here’s more:

“top gun IS propaganda. glen powell being sexy propaganda!!”

“Something about Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell makes me feel bisexual af”

“sydney sweeney could spit on me and call me trash and i’d thank her. sydney sweeney if u see this i’m free sundays”

“i am no better than a man… just a hole for sydney sweeney”

She was particularly flattered and horrified by that last one, which Powell joked is going to “haunt us all.” You can watch the video above.

Last night (December 19), the 2023 Ally Coalition Talent Show was held at the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in NYC. As the annual event is co-founded by Jack Antonoff, there was no shortage of surprise guest musicians throughout the evening. A lot of the lineup consisted of performers who were returning for another year, and it benefitted a great cause, with all proceeds going to helping unhoused LGBTQ+ youth.

Clairo dropped by to perform her song, “Blouse,” alongside Bartees Strange and Antonoff’s band Bleachers. As her second song, she also covered Vashti Bunyan’s “Winter Is Blue.”

Bartees Strange would return as well to play Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

Then, there was St. Vincent, who performed her 2017 track, “New York,” from her standout album, Masseduction — which Antonoff produced. The two would join forces, as she sang “At The Holiday Party” while he played piano.

Jason Isbell was there too, deciding to honor the late John Prine with a cover of “Hello In There.”

As another Antonoff-produced song, Claud treated the crowd to a cover of Taylor Swift’s “Betty” — proving the pop star was still there in spirit. (She had performed at the Talent Show back in 2018.)

Check out some clips from the 2023 Ally Coalition Talent Show’s performances above.

Shortly before Foo Fighters took the stage at the Sea.Hear.Now Festival this year, Dave Grohl created a pair of interesting illustrations, both of which can now be yours via a charity auction.

One of the items is a four-panel instructional comic detailing how to use a cassette tape to sneak hash into a concert. Grohl’s first step is to remove the screws from the cassette and pop it open. Then you take the spool of tape out, then you fill the empty spaces with hash, and then you put the cassette back together without the tape inside, this turning your cassette into a DIY hash container.

Grohl’s other poster offers his instructions for a DIY beer bong, which utilizes a plastic funnel, 2.5 feet of clear plastic tubing, two metal ties, and an on/off valve. Grohl explained he used to draw that diagram for runners at concerts, so they could go to a hardware store and pick up the supplies for them.

In a message on the auction page, photographer Danny Clinch explains:

“Every year at Sea.Hear.Now, we collect art from musicians who are playing the festival to showcase and sell in our Transparent Clinch Gallery Pop Up Art Tent in order to raise money for local charities. This year, I asked Dave Grohl to create some art for our cause. Dave was immediately excited about the opportunity and started throwing out some creative ideas. As the festival grew closer, I would text Dave to remind him that we would need to collect the art soon. Being one of the busiest people that I know, he arrived at the festival with a Sharpie and ready to make art. As we were looking for some poster board for his art, a runner came back with some ‘Prohibited Items’ corro board signage from the festival fences. Dave Grohl loved this and began creating these one of a kind drawings moments before taking the stage in front of 30,000 people at Sea.Hear.Now 2023 in Asbury Park. Now that you’ve seen the drawings, it only makes the story and the art more ironic and iconic.”

As of this post, the beer bong poster auction is up to $6,501 and the cassette tape one is at $5,100. Aside from the posters, winners of each auction will also get “an 11×14 Fine Art Print of Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters set at Sea.Hear.Now 2023 captured and signed by Danny Clinch.” Proceeds from the auction will support a variety of nonprofits.

Learn more about the auction here.

There’s a lot of pressure that goes into producing a Taylor Swift album, especially when arranging the tracklist. Over the years, Swifties have come to know that the fifth track on any Swift record is going to be an emotionally charged ballad. Take “All Too Well” from Red, or “The Archer” from Lover, or “My Tears Ricochet” from Folklore.

In an interview with Vulture, Swift’s frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff talked about one of his favorite “track 5s” from Swift’s repertoire.

When working with artists, Antonoff says “someone’s vulnerability in a song” stands out to him. He named the fifth track from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights as an example.

“The end of ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’ is one of those moments for me,” said Antonoff. “I remember, she wrote that right in front of me and then we put it down, and I was completely punched in the gut. Beautiful.”

Toward the end of “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” Swift manifested the Swifties and their camaraderie at the Eras Tour.

“There were pages turned with the bridges burned / Everything you lose is a step you take / So make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it / You’ve got no reason to be afraid,” she sings.

Fans can relive the Eras Tour at home by renting the concert film on Prime Video.

As the racketeering trial against Young Thug and YSL continues, one person connected to them stood up for Gunna amid the snitching accusations against him. While rappers such as Lil Baby and Lil Durk have made their feelings known about Gunna taking a plea deal in exchange for his freedom after nearly a year of incarceration.

But Young Thug’s dad Jeffery Williams Sr., who previously defended Gunna from such accusations, saying, “Gunna hasn’t done anything whatsoever that can hurt us on this case,” expressed his feelings on all the “snitch” talk.

“[Lil Baby] need to shut the f*ck up, ’cause he don’t know what’s going on,” he said in a new interview. “He going off of what he heard. Ask Lil Baby has he ever come to a court date. That’s what I want y’all to ask these goddamn rappers and these bloggers with this snitch sh*t. When have y’all went to a court date to support Slime?…Go on their social media pages and say, ‘Why in the f*ck haven’t you been to the courthouse to support your dude?’ And I guarantee you won’t get an answer.”

You can see the interview below.

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

Back in 2022, Metro Boomin dropped his Heroes & Villains album — and has been hard at work since. During the MTV Video Music Awards in September, he appeared to tease a new collaborative record with Future. “Me and Pluto album on the way,” he said, according to All Hip Hop.

Since then, fans have been waiting to hear more about the details behind it.

Here’s what to know.

Are Metro Boomin And Future Making A New Album Together?

As a new update about the album that Metro Boomin and Future are working on together, Metro provided some insight in a recent social media post. On Tuesday (December 19), he shared a photo of the two from the studio, with the caption “COMING SOON” and quite a few eagle emojis.

Throughout Future’s career, the two have been longtime collaborators. Metro Boomin served as the producer for some of Future’s biggest songs, including “Mask Off” and more.

It also makes sense if the music arrives early in the new year, as Metro Boomin and Future are set to play Rolling Loud California in March 2024. More information and tickets for the festival can be found here.

Until then, not much else is known about what the two have been working on.