Barbieis universally beloved, except in the eyes of The Academy and Shakira. On Monday morning, April 1, Shakira was revealed as the latest Allure cover star. In the accompanying profile, writer Patricia Alfonso Tortolani asked Shakira if she’d watched Barbie. The Colombian icon confirmed she watched the movie, then indulged a “long pause” before giving her full review.
“My sons absolutely hated it,” Shakira said. “They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent. I’m raising two boys. I want ’em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society, and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”
“I was in the mud,” Shakira told Allure. “I had to reconstruct myself, to reunite all the pieces that had fallen apart.”
She added, “Making this music has shown me that my pain can be transformed into creativity. The songs are full of anecdotes and some very intense emotions I have experienced in these two years. But creating this album has been a transformation in which I have been reborn as a woman. I have rebuilt myself in the ways I believe are appropriate. No one tells me how to cry or when to cry, no one tells me how to raise my children, no one tells me how I become a better version of myself. I decide that.”
Eminem fans have impatiently awaited news of a new album from the Detroit rap icon for nearly four years. He last released new music in 2020 with his eleventh studio album Music To Be Murdered By and its extended edition, Side B. While that project totaled 33 songs, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy fans’ cravings for another complete collection. While Em has offered appetizers here and there — “Doomsday 2” and “Lace It” spring to mind — he hasn’t acknowledged the hunger for a full-length project until now.
Of course, your mileage with this “new album” may vary depending on your tolerance for revisiting catalog… uhhh… classics. And for April Fools’ jokes.
Oh yeah, sorry, Eminem fans but the “new album” the Rap God is pushing is actually the oldest one in his discography: his independently released 1996 debut studio album, Infinite, which was his introduction to the Detroit rap scene at large. However, the album didn’t receive much pickup outside the Motor City due in part to comparisons of the young Eminem to influences like AZ, Big L, and Nas. While it received mixed reviews at the time — and in retrospect — it offers a rare glimpse at an earnest, developing Eminem, without some of the quirks that would later become his signatures.
Fans have hoped that the album would make it to streaming, but it looks like Eminem’s joke remains a joke — at least, for now. Some are taking it well; others… not so much. Check out Em’s tongue-in-cheek trailer for Infinite‘s “release” below.
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Beyoncé drop 2024’s most-anticipated album so far and Camila Cabello experiment with her sound. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
At last: Cowboy Carter is here. Among the highlights of Beyoncé’s new album is her cover of “Jolene,” which is more of a reinterpretation of Dolly Parton’s original than a cover, as it makes some significant, tone-changing lyrical shifts.
Camila Cabello — “I Luv It” Feat. Playboi Carti
Are Camila Cabello and Charli XCX beefing? It doesn’t look like it, but the song at the core of that narrative just dropped: Cabello’s Playboi Carti-featuring “I Luv It.” The glitchy single sees Cabello embracing a more experimental pop direction that incites interest for what’s to come next.
St. Vincent — “Flea”
St. Vincent announced some tour dates last week in support of her upcoming album All Born Screaming. She also came through with new music from the project, handing Dave Grohl the drum sticks on the dynamic rocker “Flea.”
Doechii and JT — “Alter Ego”
Doechii and City Girls’ JT are helping put Florida on the hip-hop map in 2024, and now they’ve joined forces on a new collab, “Alter Ego.” The tune, built on a sample of “Show Me Love” by Robin S., is a dancefloor rager that’ll get you moving with an aggressive edge.
J-Hope with Gaeko and Yoonmirae — “Neuron”
This past week was a big one for BTS fans, as J-Hope dropped his Hope On The Street documentary and the accompanying Hope On The Street Vol. 1 mini album. The brief project sees him link up with a number of collaborators, like Benny Blanco and Nile Rodgers On “Lock/ Unlock,” his BTS bandmate Jung Kook on “I Wonder,” and Gaeko and Yoonmirae on “Neuron.”
Rico Nasty and Boys Noize — “H.O.T.”
Rico has consistently been one of the most creative and adventurous rappers in the game, and to that point, her new project, a collab with Boys Noize called HARDC0RE DR3AMZ, sees her exploring dance music. In a recent Uproxx interview, Rico spoke about her love for rave culture and its influence on her work, saying, “I travel a lot and do a lot of shows overseas and they still love to dance out there, so I just wanted to do something that I never did before and really dive into what that could sound like.”
1999 Write The Future and Rich Brian — “Pump It Up” Feat. TiaCorine
Mysterious 88rising-affiliated group 1999 Write The Future is back with another banger, linking up with Rich Brian and TiaCorine on “Pump It Up.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes the song “takes its name from the favored refrain of the jock jams of the ’90s and, appropriately, takes heavy inspiration from them, with synthetic laser blaps, echoing bass, and rapid tempo.”
DIIV — “Everyone Out”
When DIIV shared “Everyone Out” last week, they said the song “utilizes a softer and more textural sonic pallet.” That indeed is true, as the song, while bearing some shoegaze and slowcore influence, is far from heavy and instead creates an immersive but uncluttered aural environment over the course of five minutes.
Vampire Weekend — “Mary Boone”
Vampire Weekend is nearly back after years away; Their most recent album is 2019’s Father Of The Bride. Only God Was Above Us arrives in a matter of days, though, and they previewed it with another single last week, “Mary Boone.” The track sees the band continuing in its more experimental direction, but that doesn’t mean “Mary Boone” is without its catchy moments.
d4vd — “Feel It”
For the new season of Prime Video’s animated superhero series Invincible, d4vd dropped of “Feel It.” What we’re feeling here is “good,” as it’s a groovy and upbeat tune that sees the singer in a positive spot with their romantic life.
This year, Adult Swim‘s tradition of April Fool’s Day pranks that are actually funny (what a concept!) was themed around Smiling Friends.
Created by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, the weird and wonderful animated series follows the employees at Smiling Friends Inc., which aims to make people smile. The first episode of season two premiered, but the prank was Adult Swim airing three episodes from season one, all remade with puppets.
You can watch those below.
The season two premiere isn’t currently available online, so if you missed it, you’ll have to wait until May 12 at midnight on Adult Swim (or the next day on Max) to watch it. Here’s the trailer.
The idea for Smiling Friends came from a shared love of shows like South Park. “Zach and I both grew up loving South Park and other similar cartoons,” Cusack told Animation Magazine. “I used to love drawing as a young kid, and I’ve dabbled in filmmaking, but I got into animation in my early 20s and I made some shorts for YouTube. Yes. Zach and I actually met online, and we both realized we had common interests in making silly little cartoons. And we both loved the idea of making a purely comedic show like Smiling Friends.”
Hadel added, “Our goal was to have a show featuring a group of loveable characters, with a simple kind of concept, which we could take anywhere we wanted to.”
Coming off of his first MVP campaign, Joel Embiid picked up where he left off to start this season, dominating opponents and averaging 35.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, the star big man was in and out of the lineup with a nagging knee soreness issue and at the end of January he suffered a torn meniscus when Jonathan Kuminga fell into his leg late in a loss to the Warriors.
After having surgery at the beginning of February, the hope was that he’d be back by the playoffs, but that would be dependent on his rehab going smoothly with no setbacks. That has happily been the case, as Embiid has steadily hit all of his checkpoints in rehab and gotten back into on-court work, and on Monday word broke that he is expected back in the Sixers lineup this week, with Tuesday’s showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder as a real possibility for his return.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is nearing a return and expected to play this week. The reigning MVP has been out since January 30 with a left meniscus injury. His status for Tuesday vs. OKC is expected later today. pic.twitter.com/Rn4mb6Qizv
76ers star Joel Embiid is nearing comeback as soon as Tuesday’s home game vs. OKC Thunder, sources tell @TheAthletic@Stadium. The reigning NBA MVP has positively completed multiple five-on-five scrimmage sessions in recent days. pic.twitter.com/IUGW23995l
This is obviously a big deal for the Sixers and for the Eastern Conference playoff race as a whole. Philly is currently in eighth in the East, 1.5 games back of Miami and 2 games back of Indiana for sixth. It would likely require a perfect 7-0 finish to the season to have a chance at passing both teams in the standings to get a guaranteed playoff berth, but if the Sixers have Embiid they’ll be the favorites in any Play-In matchup. Should that be where they end up, if Embiid is indeed at full strength (or close to it), the Sixers would be quite the draw for either the Celtics or Bucks in the first round.
After delivering thought-provoking and critically-acclaimed features like Ex Machina and Annihilation, Alex Garland is dropping a new kind of film in this month that could be his last directorial outing. In Civil War, America has become a modern-day warzone as the states of California and Texas join forces to fight the federal government.
Given the country’s increased politicization that’s already being heightened heading into the presidential election, Civil War is already embroiled in controversy, but that’s not why Garland has announced that he’s “not planning to direct again in the foreseeable future.”
While Garland still plans on writing — he’s returning to the 28 Days Later series he started with Danny Boyle — he has no interest in directing for quite some time, or ever again. However, his reasonings don’t have to do with his films often being misunderstood or the increased pressure of working with higher budgets. It comes from not wanting to disappoint his actors.
“The pressure doesn’t come from the money. It comes from the fact that you’re asking people to trust something that, on the face of it, doesn’t look very trustworthy.” He gives, as an example, sitting in a car park outside Atlanta, asking his Civil War cast to believe that one day the VFX blue screen behind them will be a night sky lit up by mortar fire. Or on Ex Machina where, “Alicia [Vikander] and Sonoya [Mizuno] are trusting that nudity is going to be dealt with thoughtfully and respectfully … [when] cinema leans towards not doing that.”
Heading into Civil War‘s theatrical release, Garland is increasingly zen that the film will generate a whole lot of weird reactions and that there’s not much anyone could do about it.
“It all could and will be misunderstood,” he told The Guardian. “It would be out of your control as it is out of mine.”
Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in April. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.
Friday, April 5
A Lily — Saru l-Qamar (Kewn Records)
Annie-Claude Deschênes — Les Manières De Table (Italians Do It Better)
Azalia Snail — Powerlover (Cloud Recordings)
bad tuner — look at me through me EP (Foreign Family Collective)
Babebee — whatislove2u? EP (Epitaph)
Beatenberg — The Great Fire of Beatenberg (Leafy Outlook)
We’re now just days away from the 2024 edition of Dreamville Festival, which is set to go down on April 6 and 7 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shortly before the event, though, there have been some significant lineup changes.
In a message shared on social media this morning (April 1), Dreamville organizers wrote, “We are excited to share that 50 Cent and Hunxho have been added to the lineup! See you this weekend! Due to unforeseen circumstances, Chris Brown and Muni Long are no longer performing at Dreamville Fest.”
Worth noting is that today is April Fools’ Day. However, it seems there’s nothing particularly funny or prank-like about the lineup change, so it would appear this news is legitimate.
Aside from 50 Cent and Hunxho, the Dreamville lineup features SZA headlining the first day alongside 50, while J. Cole and Nicki Minaj lead Day 2. Elsewhere on the poster are JID, Lil Yachty, Schoolboy Q, Sexyy Red, Jeremih, Rema, Jeezy, Monica, Rae Sremmurd, Key Glock, EarthGang, Teezo Touchdown, Amaarae, Lute, Luh Tyler, Domani, Bas, Cozz, Omen, TiaCorina, and Chase Shakur.
Check out the new lineup poster below.
We are excited to share that 50 Cent and Hunxho have been added to the lineup! See you this weekend!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Chris Brown and Muni Long are no longer performing at Dreamville Fest. pic.twitter.com/U8n4cGco7N
In the latest episode of his inexplicably popular podcast, Joe Budden mused that Drake is being paid to hang out with St Louis rapper Sexyy Red, whose career has been booming since the release of her viral hit single “Pound Town.” “You think [Drake] just likes being around Sexyy Red?” he challenged.
Big Sexyy isn’t sweating Joe’s hater energy though (that man needs to take more naps). After seeing a clip of the episode on Twitter, she only had three words to respond: “They so dumb.”
She wasn’t the only one to point out the absurdity of Joe’s conspiracy theory. YesJulz of all people had a very reasonable take, writing, “Drake has always embraced rising talent organically. He probably does like being around her that much- she seems to be fun and have good energy. This perspective says more about the commentator than the subjects.”
Drake has always embraced rising talent organically & yeah, he probably does like being around her that much- she seems to be fun and have good energy
This perspective says more about the commentator than the subjects imo https://t.co/wfjsAdhTHk
Meanwhile, another fan’s take was a bit more acidic but cut right to the bone of how goofy Budden’s reaches have gotten. “two rappers doing one song together plus a few concerts and a video cameo is now suspicious activity we need to analyze with great scrutiny…everything is so stupid and corny,” he wrote.
two rappers doing one song together plus a few concerts and a video cameo is now suspicious activity we need to analyze with great scrutiny…everything is so stupid and corny https://t.co/cBMnp9igRc
And while Drake’s ongoing friendship with Sexyy Red could have any number of motivations, Budden’s beef with Drake is probably a lot easier to figure out.
Sunday (March 31) was a good day for Metro Boomin. His and Future’s collaborative album We Don’t Trust Youdebuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — Metro’s fourth-career No. 1 album and Future’s ninth, according to Billboard. The album earned 2024’s largest week by any album, with 251,000 equivalent US album units, as per Luminate.
Hours later, ESPN’s Omar Raja recorded LeBron James rapping Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Like That” during the Los Angeles Lakers’ warmups ahead of their game at the Brooklyn Nets. James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, proceeded to do what he does in the Lakers’ 116-104 win. The 39-year-old logged 40 points on 13-of-17 from the field with nine three-pointers. Per ESPN, James tied his career high for threes in a game and joined Michael Jordan “as the only players in NBA history with multiple games of 40 points or more after turning 39.”
Metro Boomin was delighted, posting on X (formerly Twitter), “bro was warming up to Like That then went 9/10 from 3 and 13/17 for 40 points [exploding head emoji, three steam-from-nose emojis, flexing emoji] #WEDONTTRUSTYOU.”
By the time James was spotted spitting “Like That,” he and the Lakers had already run onto the court to “Ya Ya” from Beyoncé’s newly released Cowboy Carter, as seen in a video posted by Jasmine (@hausofJazzy) on X.
LEBRON JAMES AND THE LAKERS CAME OUT TO “YA YA” BY BEYONCÉ FROM #COWBOYCARTER
Cowboy Carter debuting at anything lower than No. 1 next week would be a bigger upset than James’ Lakers winning the West, and then it can almost already be penciled in that Metro and Future’s We Don’t Trust You sequel album will recapture No. 1 after its April 12 release date.
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(@hausofJazzy)