Month: March 2024

Yellowstone opened a wealth of opportunity on television, not only for those who enjoy watching approximately 8,000 Taylor Sheridan shows but also those who hail the return of the Western atop the pop culture mountain. When it comes to Outer Range, sure, comparisons between the two realms have been made, and star Josh Brolin has pointed out why the Amazon Prime series stands far apart from the “imitator” label. The series actually qualifies as a neo-Western/sci-fi series that will appeal not only to lovers of Dad TV but also Lost and even The X-Files mixed up in a heady dramatic brew.

It’s worth noting that for all of Brolin’s very valid points (about this not being a Yellowstone knockoff even if it benefits or “piggybacks” off the trend), plenty of parallels do exist. The show revolves around a sprawling ranch, and of course an outside force wants to come and snatch that land. The joint also houses an expansive family with unresolved issues regarding tragedy, and people also tend to get killed. And there’s no peace to be found, only threats on the horizon, but in this case, one of those dark forces involves that yawning hole in the ground. So, the show has a blast with the similarities to Yellowstone but also veers into WTF territory.

That “WTF” to nothing do with the fact that Brolin recently shed his clothes while teasing the next season, and at least he did not lose the cowboy hat. Let’s get down to business on where the second season will pick up.

Plot

Brolin portrays Royal Abbott, which yes, will remind people of his turn in No Country For Old Men, although the menacing realities of the Texas range are far different than what Abbott finds in Wyoming. The giant void initially seemed alien-ish, but as viewers recall, the discovery coincided with the arrival of the mysterious Autumn (Imogen Poots), and the chess game that followed kept everyone on their toes. Before the season ended, the series posed plenty of questions about the nature of time travel. Royal had already been revealed as a time traveler from the 19th century who had popped up in the 1960s, and yes, that had to do with that hole. Revelations about Autumn added to the mystery, and Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk’s vision of Indigenous people was not entirely clear as far as when that took place (also tied to time travel).

In other words, this series truly ends up being far from Yellowstone in time, place, and tone (mountains actually disappear from view, y’all, so this is spacey), but some of the two worlds’ common themes do remain universal. So, what is on tap for this next season?

Filming has completed, and Brolin has been on the press circuit for Dune: Part Two. Brolin was cryptic and didn’t reveal too much but also stressed that he is enormously pleased with how this season turned out like he wanted the first season to be, which does sound thrilling:

“I was in a marketing meeting two days ago. We saw a couple of teasers for the entire season because I directed one of the episodes, and I was very happy to do that. And it was a very exciting process for me… It looks like I wanted it to look the first season. It looks incredible, and I’m very, very happy with it. Not that I was totally disappointed with the first season, I just felt like we were finding ourselves, and I feel like we found ourselves now.”

Brolin does come by his love of Westerns honestly, given that he grew up on a California ranch and also starred in not only No Country For Old Men but also True Grit. And Outer Range combines his love of producing and helping to craft the show and his ability to deftly portray laconic characters who do not show their hand and, in fact, can be several steps ahead of those who oppose them.

Of course, there were layers there as well, since Abbott had claimed that he hadn’t known about his time-traveling origins. By the end of the first season, the audience knows better, but that’s likely only the tip of the iceberg of secrets here.

Cast

Brolin wouldn’t miss being Royal Abbott for the world, and he’s also executive producing alongside Brian Watkins, head writer and creator. Imogen Poots portrays the incendiary Autumn Rovers, Tom Pelphrey steps in as Perry (son to Abbott), and Lili Taylor portrays Cecilia (wife to Abbott). The show also stars Sean Sips as Luke Tillerson and Noah Reed as Billy Tillerson. Do not forget about Tamara Podemski as Deputy Sheriff Joy Hawk.

Release Date

Amazon will bring the new season to viewers beginning in May 2024.

Trailer

No trailer has surfaced yet, but that should happen fairly soon. In the meantime, enjoy this intimidating poker session complete with a “feet” request and a distracting story about the Devil.

The Stranger Things team just dropped a behind-the-scenes photo that has fans melting down over the highly anticipated fifth and final season. In the new pic, Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin are back as Max and Lucas, but the setting is not exactly the most uplifting. Or is it?

The events of Stranger Things 4 left Max in the hospital, and clearly, Lucas is still by her side as fans wait to see if or when the character recovers from her truly horrifying ordeal that did not look great. While it’s sure to be an emotional experience, Sink and McLaughlin seem to be having fun filming the somber scene, which you can see below:

However, one particular detail jumped out at Stranger Thing fans: a Kate Bush tape on the bedside table. “Running Up That Hill” played a pivotal role in Stranger Things 4 as the song helped Max escape Vecna during the emotional fourth episode that nearly saw her leave the Hawkins Crew for good. Unfortunately, Max had less luck during a second encounter with Vecna in the season finale, and now sits in a coma that she may never wake up from.

You can see more reactions below as fans are all up in their feels over Lucas never giving up on Max:

(Via Stranger Things on Twitter)

As she’s often done and will continue to do, Beyoncé sparked an integral social conversation in response to her world-stopping work. In early February during the Super Bowl, the announcement of her rumored forthcoming country album “Act II” — lead by the plucky single “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and the stripped-down ballad “16 CARRIAGES” — raised several points surrounding the genre’s diversity issue. Both songs feature production, writing, and instrumental assists from Black artists. (“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” features Black folk musician Rihannon Giddens on banjo and viola, while roots music steel guitarist Robert Randolph can be heard on “16 CARRIAGES.”)

Despite the songs’ rapid popularity following their surprise release, a post on X alluded to an Oklahoma country radio station refusing to play “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” stirring allegations of racism. It was later clarified that the station was unaware that Beyoncé had released music within this genre. (Early metadata also suggests that the songs were initially placed under her typical labels — Pop, Hot AC, Rhythmic, Urban, R&B — rather than country, which it was eventually serviced to.) Regardless of whether these songs will get airtime on country radio or not, the notion that the genre is attempting to shut out Beyoncé because of her perceived lack of country street cred has loomed largely.

But we’re missing the forest for the trees. Bey’s place in country music ultimately turns the genre’s proverbial mirror inward, in order to highlight a larger issue regarding the longtime exclusion of the genre’s Black female artists by both institutions and fans. These artists are integral to the foundation of country music, but seldom get the respect or visibility to compensate for the contributions they’ve made. Whether this was Beyoncé’s intention or not, “Act II” is both an album release and a social experiment. She’s helping to apply pressure on a machine designed to exclude certain acts from certain genres in order to force a change.

“I want to recognize that I do not know of any Black female country artists and I do think that this is a problem,” says Jane*, a country music fan from Massachusetts, when asked if she actively listens to country music by Black artists. “There is no representation for Black female artists in country music, and very little representation for Black male country artists. I think that Beyoncé’s two songs are highlighting this major fault.”

Despite “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM”s supremacy on both the country charts and the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, country’s fiercest advocates have taken umbrage with the idea that the Houston-bred icon is threatening “traditional” country music, identified by simple production and thematic-yet-unifying lyricism. This is due to the sonic je nais se quoi that makes a Beyoncé song, a Beyoncé song. (Unparalleled vocal runs, harmonies, and layered production.) As we saw with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” in 2019, 2017’s “Meant To Be” by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line, and even Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” in 1997, this isn’t the first time a discussion about “what country sounds like” has occurred.

“I think it is inevitable that [genre cross-pollination] happens,” says country fan Xavier, who not only names Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin as some of his favorite acts, but performs country music in NYC. In the last 15 years especially, pop, hip-hop, and trap beats have infiltrated the genre by acts such as Morgan Wallen (“Wasted On You”), rapper-turned-country star Jelly Roll (“Unlive”), and Florida Georgia Line (“Lil Bit”). Purists may also condemn these artists, but it seems that casual fans — and the charts — don’t seem to mind.

But the “sound” of some songs doesn’t negate the fact that there are Black women country acts, producers, and songwriters who are fighting to have their work heard, regardless of whether they’re releasing genre-bending takes or “pure” country tracks. What ultimately stifles these voices in the mainstream is the genre’s deeply rooted racism, inherent misogynoir, and the demonstrated unwillingness of fans and higher powers to dive deeper into the diversity country offers outside of what is already being pushed.

“Chris Willman did a really great article in Variety, and he included a quote about how [country] programmers have been searching for this amazing Black woman that is an incredible singer, has charisma, has the right voice, the right song… but they just haven’t found her,” explains country music star Rissi Palmer over Zoom. “There have been more than 50 years of Black women trying to be in the genre…not one?” With her 2007 song “Country Girl,” Palmer became the first Black woman in 20 years to have a song hit Billboard’s country music chart. She is also the host of Apple Music’s radio show “Color Me Country with Rissi Palmer,” where she highlights non-white acts within country.

“Myself and my friends [musicians Denitia, Madeline Edwards, Tiera Kennedy, Miko Marks, and Sacha] went to the Opry to support Camille Parker,” she continues. “In the group you have a variety of colors, shapes, size, perspective, sound. Every one of these women has put music out into the world, several of them are signed to major labels…not one [fits the criteria]?”

Race played a major factor in the distribution of music during the beginning of the recording era, around the 1920s. Black art was relegated to “race records,” while white acts played “hillbilly music.” Both “types” of music featured instruments that Black artists are often credited with bringing to the forefront, such as the banjo, which was long associated with slaves. “Race records” would eventually evolve into rhythm and blues, and “hillbilly music” — presented as more “marketable” to rural whites — would birth country music. With this said, music scholars often acknowledge country’s Black roots and overarching influence. However, its segregated foundation contributes to a present-day aversion to change, and the continuation of Black artists being overlooked or ignored.

These days, country radio remains overwhelmingly white and male. Per PBS: “A recent study from the University of Ottawa found a mere .03 percent of all songs on country radio from 2002 to 2020 were by Black women. Less than 1 percent of the 411 artists signed to the three major country music labels are people of color.” Linda Martell was the first Black woman to hit the country charts with “Color Him Father.” When her singles hit Billboard’s country charts, Beyoncé became just the eighth Black woman to have her work appear there, joining Martell, Ruby Falls, Pointer Sisters, Nisha Jackson, Dona Mason, Palmer, and Mickey Guyton.

“I think that country is an American art form,” Palmer notes of the importance of Black country artists. “It borrows from Celtic tradition, African tradition, Mexican tradition, and Native American tradition. You bring all these things together, and it makes this art form that is truly unique and special to the experiences of this country, and that’s what should make it inclusive.”

“I really hope people realize that country is such a diverse genre and that it shouldn’t be defined by any stereotypes,” country fan Xavier adds regarding the importance of inclusivity in country music. (He was born and raised in China.)

Perhaps more than any other genre, country music thrives on the pertinence of storytelling. Now more than ever, Black women deserve just as much of a chance as anyone to share their stories. As a country composed of the descendants of individuals from all over the world, there is nothing more American than art chronicling these diverse experiences. Julie Williams’ “Southern Curls” highlights Black beauty. “Seeds” by Rissi Palmer exemplifies the power of community. Mickey Guyton’s “Black Like Me” earned a Grammy nomination in 2020, christening her as the first Black woman to be nominated for “Best Country Solo Performance.” (“These are valid stories, these are country stories,” Palmer affirms.)

But such is life — these voices remain muffled rather than amplified, not just because of the genre’s diversity issue, but also perhaps as a means to turn a blind eye to reality. This creates barriers between Black art and consumers. So, how do we continue to bolster these voices in country music?

Support them. Listen to their stories. Shine a light. Give them your time. Because not only have they been here doing the work, they’re not going anywhere.

Songwriter and performer Frankie Staton made waves during the ‘90s by leading the nationally recognized Black Country Music Association, which had an aim to educate the masses and form community within the country music space. Music journalist and artist manager Holly G founded the Black Opry in 2021, an in-person community of Black artists and fans that commune to celebrate the art form. Equal Access, now entering its third year, is an initiative that strives for equity among artists, executives, and management in country music. Per USA Today, its cohorts have been about 60 percent Black women. There’s also CMT’s Next Women of Country, where women of color (including Denitia and Tanner Adell) reportedly make up 12 percent of the artists in the program.

Plus, there’s a plethora of radio shows and podcasts like “Color Me Country” that speak to the non-white experience in the genre, as well as playlists that highlight country music from minority groups. (Don Flemons’ Tennessean playlist is a robust exploration of Black country music, while Spotify’s “Country Frequency” and “Country Latino,” and Apple Music’s “Boots & Mocs” highlight country, roots, and Americana music from Black, Brown, and Indigenous voices.)

“I remember during the election in 2020…somebody said that the motto of Black women is: ‘Forget it, I’ll do it,’” Palmer laughs. “We’re doing that [within country]! We always make a way when we have to. Plus, Google is your friend. You’ve got the same Google that I do.”

What does this moment mean for the future of Black women artists in country music? Palmer (as well as Xavier, Jane* and likely many other country advocates) are hopeful that these conversations allow both new and longtime fans to expand their horizons when it comes to their idea of country music.

“I do think that anyone regardless of race, gender, or background can create a song that includes many country aspects,” Jane* says. “Anyone can make any kind of music they want to, [and] mix country with whatever you want to. I don’t think that my opinion of country music should limit anyone to stay in a box.”

There’s also the wish that Black women country musicians, songwriters, and producers seize the opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, but continue to stay true to who they are.

“I’m not looking at this like ‘Beyoncé has swooped down to save all of us and to take her with us,’ because it’s not her job,” Palmer explains. “It doesn’t start with Beyoncé, it doesn’t start with Charley Pride, it goes way further than that, and that’s the story that needs to be told at this moment.”

“There’s a lot of really great music,” she continues. “If people just take the time to look it up, they will find a treasure trove. Whatever it is that you’re looking for, whatever style [of country music] you like, it’s out there.”

The late Johnny Cash’s hit song “Ring Of Fire” is a musical staple.

Due to country music fans’ deep love for the track, some musicians may stay far away from it. However, Lykke Li isn’t afraid of covering a cult classic (just listen to her take on Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive“). So, when Netflix came calling for her to put on spin on the track for its upcoming film, Damsel, she eagerly jumped at the opportunity.

No version will top Cash’s, but Li’s smokey rendition, produced by Andrew Sarlo, isn’t so bad either. In a statement, Li opened up about her love for the record crediting its original songwriters June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore.

“I respect her songwriting so much,” she said. “You realize just how powerful it is when you can sing her song in any way. A song of that quality can be a lullaby, it can be a hymn, it can be a country song–and it just stands the test of time.”

Netflix’s Damsel starring Millie Bobby Brown and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is due out on March 8. Find more information here. View the full trailer here.

Listen to Li’s “Ring Of Fire” cover above.

For the most part, when people get tattoos, they tend to keep them at neck-level or below. It seems that increasingly, though, tattoos on the head or face are becoming more and more commonplace. Kid Cudi is part of the head tattoo club now, as he just revealed.

Cudi shared some photos of his latest piece on Instagram today (March 1). The tattoo is of a flower crown in black ink, and it looks to be about a couple inches tall. The ink doesn’t venture onto Cudi’s forehead, but other than that, it goes all the way around his skull. Per Cudi’s tag in the post’s caption, the tattoo was done by Los Angeles tattoo artist Dr. Woo.

Meanwhile, Cudi recently revealed what he plans for his next couple years to look like. On X (formerly Twitter) a few days ago, he shared the outline, writing, “My next album is already about 80% done, and itll be out in 2026. As always, were takin it someplace new. Just wanted to let yall know, expect an album from me every other year. next year is all about filmin. Got a bunch of stuff I need to get done. Film and tv. So I take a year off of music to do it all.”

The music video-to-Oscars pipeline has been a recurring phenomenon for decades now. David Fincher, known for a classic filmography that includes Fight Club, Se7en, and The Social Network, got his start directing videos for everyone from Rick Springfield and Aerosmith to Madonna and Billy Idol. Spike Jonze directed iconic videos for Sonic Youth and the Beastie Boys before he went on to make full-length feature films like Being John Malkovich and Her. Paul Thomas Anderson, the auteur behind Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, and Phantom Thread, has a storied history with Fiona Apple, Radiohead, and Haim.

More recently, though, that phenomenon has become even more prevalent. Last year, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, together known as the Daniels, swept the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with their universe-hopping action comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once. Before they became Oscar darlings, they were music video directors, famous for “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, “Simple Song” by The Shins, and several Manchester Orchestra videos. At this year’s Oscars, there’s another music video director in the midst. It’s the guy who made Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity.”

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest is up for a total of five Oscar nominations, including Best Sound, Best Director, and the coveted Best Picture. The WWII-era film, adapted from Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, follows the Hӧss family, whose patriarch, Rudolf, is a commandant of Auschwitz. They move next to the camp itself in an idyllic house that looks like it was plucked straight out of the suburbs, complete with a verdant garden and even a small swimming pool. Although we never see the inside of the concentration camp itself, it frequently lingers at the edge of the frame, the electric fences and gray concrete walls juxtaposing the domestic pleasantries. It’s a harrowing, disturbing watch, one where the most atrocious scenes are never leveraged for sheer spectacle but instead relegated to literal background noise.

Throughout the film, you can faintly hear gunfire, screams, and barking orders from Nazi officers. These disquieting noises soundtrack everything from a petty argument between Rudolf and his wife, Hedwig, to a tour that Hedwig gives to her mother of her expansive, lush garden. Glazer’s use of contrast — gorgeous visuals with disturbing sounds — is masterful. The Zone Of Interest, solely from an audiovisual perspective, is a tour de force. Mica Levi, who first worked with Glazer as a composer for his eerie sci-fi film, 2013’s Under The Skin, reprises their role. For Glazer’s latest, Levi has created yet another disquieting score that augments the director’s multisensory fixations. There’s much to be said about the banality of evil, a concept coined by philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt that underlines the mundanity that so much systematic harm requires. It may feel like a cliche at this point, but that doesn’t make it any less true; you can see it today with the general apathy people have for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, for example. Glazer’s ingenious use of audiovisual components keeps the film from ever feeling trite.

The English filmmaker honed those chops while directing music videos, including ones for Britpop mainstays Blur, The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, and Jack White and Alison Mosshart’s The Dead Weather. As an art form, the music video is a fortuitous combination of sound and sight, and Glazer’s decade-plus foray into the medium feels like foreshadowing for his latest work. For instance, take his 1998 video for “Rabbit In Your Headlights” by Unkle and Thom Yorke, in which a man staggers through a tunnel, walking in the middle of the road, as cars whiz past him. He mutters something unintelligible, repeating it like a mantra as if to save himself from getting hit by one of the many cars on the road. Here, the song itself almost feels like it’s in service of the video itself, rather than the other way around. Yorke’s spectral vocals ring out into the distance, secondary to the loud automobiles that graze (and often kill) our protagonist repeatedly. In the “Rabbit In Your Headlights” video, Glazer implies that sound design is nearly just as important as the visual storytelling itself.

In his 1996 video for Radiohead’s The Bends closer, “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” Glazer’s black-and-white aesthetic mirrors the night-vision sequences in The Zone Of Interest. Although he doesn’t specifically use thermal imaging, its eerie, barren landscape offers little to look at. He accomplishes a similar feat in the video for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ plaintive, piano-led “Into My Arms,” and this time the background is a complete black void, save for Cave’s pallid, otherworldly figure and other recurring characters. Just as Glazer centers the lone girl placing apples in the trenches in The Zone Of Interest, he focuses on the people in “Into My Arms” and nothing else. His penchant for brutal heartbreak and isolation is perhaps best captured in his 2006 video for “Live With Me” by trip-hop luminaries Massive Attack, which opens with a brief black-and-white prologue before segueing into something darker: a young woman who drinks herself into a stupor alone in her apartment. It makes Terry Callier’s crooning vocals hit that much harder: “I’ve been thinking about you, baby / I want you to live with me.” Like The Zone Of Interest, it’s not easy to watch. It’s a painful but accurate portrait of the perils of alcoholism and addiction in general.

Still, it would be difficult for Glazer to pull off the contrast he does in The Zone Of Interest without first establishing a sense of visual splendor, such as the beautiful close-ups of Hedwig’s flowers that slowly morph into a blood-red screen. His most famous and influential video, the one for “Virtual Insanity” by Jamiroquai, is by and large the best example of Glazer’s capability to, frankly, show off a bit. There’s no Nolan-esque, “look-at-this!” showboating to be found in The Zone Of Interest, but that doesn’t mean Glazer doesn’t know how to flaunt his filmmaking prowess. “Virtual Insanity” is a technical marvel; even when you know how it works, it doesn’t make the video any less impressive. As vocalist Jay Kay dances around the room, his gaze fixed to the camera, the floor and couches move seemingly of their own accord. It’s an optical illusion. There are a lot (amazingly software-free) technicalities at play here, and even then, it’s hard to wrap your head around it. Glazer ensures that you never doubt his skill for [ahem] visual insanity.

Glazer may just be the latest addition to an ever-growing legacy of Oscar-nominated filmmakers with a background in making music videos, but he has carved out his own niche within that realm. As The Zone Of Interest shows, no one quite possesses his eye, nor his ear, for affecting contrast. His variegated skillset as an artist, especially when it comes to juxtaposing aural and aesthetic themes concurrently, is unmatched. If anything, he reinforces the music video as an essential art form in its own right, one where two senses, sight and sound, can enhance the other’s meaning. He has been honing his cinematic signifiers for a while now in his music videos. In The Zone Of Interest, Glazer weaves them into an unnerving whole.

Sexyy Red is, for lack of a better term, an absolute menace for anyone in a relationship with her — at least judging by her musical output so far. While dating Red promises frequent trips to “Pound Town,” it apparently also comes with jailhouse drama, a “Rich Baby Daddy” she doesn’t seem too fond of, and other assorted mess that comes from dealing with an unabashed “Hood Rat” who truly doesn’t give a… you know.

Her new video for “I Might” with Summer Walker details her latest misadventures in romance, threatening to call up her side piece when her baby daddy starts acting up. She even takes sinister glee in pitting the two men against each other, which in the song means chuckling that her baby daddy “gon’ leavе you leakin’ in a alley” if he finds out about her infidelity. In the video, she takes the mischief a step further, cackling from the sidelines with her third option as her jilted boo thang confronts her number two, only to find himself swiftly outnumbered and surrounded by his rival’s fellow hooligans. Cinema, truly.

Summer Walker turns out to be a perfect pairing, as she’s always been with starting a fight on record, but brings the softness to the track that makes it deceptively catchy. Seriously, it’s a great song, but if I ever run into either in person, I’m running the other way.

Watch Sexyy Red’s “I Might” video with Summer Walker above.

Uproxx cover stars Paramore’s latest visual masterpiece has arrived. The group’s single new “Thick Skull” was a fan favorite from their album This Is Why. Thanks to the directorial work from Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, the video is available for all to enjoy.

Paramore’s music is known for its stinging punch, so the visual for “Thick Skull” had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem for the band or Yates. Across the video, Paramore finds themselves in a series of unfortunate events, but isn’t that the reality of life? As they gear up to begin their journey, the coast appears clear, but they are on a crash course by the end.

The visual ends both viewers and the group in a wreck. No resolve. There is no fairy tale ending. You know, because sometimes things just don’t work out for your good. This depressing ending drives home the core of the record.

In a statement, singer Hayley Williams shared the true metaphoric meaning behind the record. “Just like a house can be a metaphor, so can a band,” she said. “Paramore has been the vehicle by which me and my friends have learned our toughest lessons. It has kept us close, and it has nearly killed us. You also have these metaphors in your life: What holds you back — what gives you courage — what force compels you to grow even when it’s uncomfortable or embarrassing.”

Williams went on to talk about the group’s recovery from the wreckage. “As for Paramore, the band, not the metaphor: We have crashed the van,” she said. “We’re finding new ways. We have new maps. We are starting from point zero. And this time, we’re reading the fine print.”

Watch the “Thick Skull” video above.

This Is Why is out now via Atlantic. Find more information here.

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

Our skyscraper-sized boys are all grown up. In Godzilla vs. Kong, Kong punched Godzilla in the face, and Godzilla clobbered him right back. Now, in the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, they realized they’re not so different, you (big lizard) and I (giant monkey), and Godzilla gives Kong a ride.

I’m so proud of them. The clip comes from a new promo for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which better have at least one song on the soundtrack where a comically large animal roars over a Green Day song. I will also accept Kong and Godzilla riding (and potentially jumping off) a Dune sandworm.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

The epic battle continues! Legendary Pictures’ cinematic Monsterverse follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure that pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which stars Godzilla, Kong, and some humans (including Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, and Kaylee Hottle), opens in theaters on March 29.

Camila Cabello, Normani, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane, and Ally Brooke wrapped up their time together as Fifth Harmony in 2018 (Cabello left the group a little before that, in 2016). Since then, there have been murmurs here and there about a reunion. On that front, there is some promising news.

Will Fifth Harmony Reunite In 2024?

Page Six reports that according to “a source,” the five-piece is “in talks to reunite,” and that Cabello is included in these conversations. The artists’ interest in reuniting was apparently sparked after songs like “All In My Head (Flex)” went viral on TikTok.

The relationship between Cabello and her former bandmates wasn’t great after she left the group, but in 2022, she said, “We have been supportive of each other through like DMs and stuff. I’m in a really good place with them.”

Then, in an October 2023 interview, an E! News host said to Brooke, “I do feel like, in the future, we’ll get all the girls together.” Brooke responded, “A hundred percent. We may be working on something.” Brooke later clarified on X (formerly Twitter), though, “I’m thrilled to see there’s a lot of interest surrounding Fifth Harmony. Reunion has many meanings and while there’s no official band reunion happening at the moment, some beautiful friendships and relationships are slowly reuniting in a healing and empowering way.”

If the reunion doesn’t end up happening, at least Normani and Cabello have new solo music on the way.