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‘The Boys’ Showrunner Let A Few Details Slip On Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Character (And Explained Why Tek Knight Was Never A Possibility)

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Since The Boys launched in 2019, Supernatural fans have been not-so-patiently waiting to see showrunner Eric Kripke re-team with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Unfortunately for these viewers, JDM has been busy Negan-ing on The Walking Dead and spin off Dead City, but as Kripke tells Entertainment Weekly in a new interview, it was only a matter of time before schedules permitted the duo to get back together again. Additionally, Kripke shut down speculation that Morgan was ever meant to embody Tek Knight, an old-school Payback member who parodies both DC’s Batman and Marvel’s Iron Man.

As Gen V viewers recently discovered, Tek Knight is portrayed in this universe by Derek Wilson as a sexually-obsessed true-crime host who really enjoys… bagels (for gross reasons). Sure, JDM could have pulled this character off without a doubt, and he did previously agree with the assertion that he makes the Prime Video (Amazon) show even filthier than it already was. However, JDM plays an entirely different character, and although Kripke wouldn’t divulge the full picture with EW, a few hints did drop:

“He is an old colleague of Butcher’s,” Kripke teases, referring to Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher. “I can tell you that he shares a lot of Butcher’s concern and hatred of superheroes. It really came from the notion of everyone else in The Boys is always trying to pull Butcher back. So what would happen if he started working with someone who wants to push him forward?”

Morgan feels the role he’s playing now is “a little bit more perfect” for him than the previous ones Kripke toyed with, though he doesn’t elaborate further.

So secretive. Previously, The Boys only offered a wonky photoshop to mess with everybody, so at least we’re seeing some progress. The world will find out more, however, when The Boys returns for a fourth season on June 13.

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Jeff Teague Told A Hilarious Story About Paul George Missing A Game-Winner After Saying He’s ‘Got To Get The Last Shot’

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At their best, player hosted podcasts provide fans with a glimpse behind the scenes of what it’s like playing in the NBA. Too often, they become a place for revisionist history, with players using a platform with little-to-no pushback to shift narratives and make outlandish claims.

Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast is among the absolute best when it comes to telling incredible stories without them being a self-serving attempt at laundering his reputation. If anything, Teague tends to be overly self-deprecating, usually telling stories about embarrassing moments he had on the court, laughing at his own misfortunes to the delight of his co-hosts. Other times, he gives refreshingly honest remembrances of things that happened he was a part of, as was the case in a recent episode when he discussed the Pacers getting swept by the Cavs in 2017 — with all four losses coming by single-digits.

In two of those games, the Pacers had a shot to win it, but missed both times. The first was CJ Miles missing a pullup from the midrange, which led to Paul George famously saying he’s “got to get the last shot” in those situations. Fast forward to Game 4 and PG got his wish, but bricked a three after Miles made sure to get him the ball. Teague recalled Miles having an incredible reaction after that Game 4 miss in the locker room.

I vividly remember that era of NBA Twitter when folks were quick to hit photoshop or a video editor after losses, and that Paul George Gatorade commercial where he proclaimed “ball game” was constantly popping up after Indiana losses. It’s hysterical Miles was scrolling Twitter to look at the reaction to PG’s brick and showing Teague that video in the locker room is a hysterical anecdote. That’s just the right level of petty in that moment as a teammate of George’s. You can’t go out and retweet that, but finding a confidant to share that with and having a laugh about it is the most human of responses after getting publicly called out by your star only for him to fail in the exact same moment.

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George R.R. Martin Found An Exception To His Rule That Adaptations Are Almost Always ‘Worse’ Than The Book

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It’s been suggested that George R.R. Martin wasn’t blown away in the most positive way by the Game of Thrones series finale. He isn’t alone, but (of course) Martin has a reason to take what materialized a bit more personally than the casual dragon viewer. And Martin, who is still heavily involved in adapting his many Westeros-based stories at HBO, isn’t afraid to air his general feelings on adaptations, although to be fair to HBO also, they didn’t exactly adapt an ending to the A Song Of Fire And Ice books because an ending doesn’t yet exist.

Yet Martin regularly renews his feelings on the subject, and a few years ago, he and Neil Gaiman indulged in a delightful onstage discussion in which Gaiman coaxed Martin into discussing Tywin Lannister’s bodily functions. In that conversation, the pair also discussed the potential horrors involved with seeing your literary babies be adapted for better or worse, and the subject still clearly weighs heavily on GRRM’s mind. In a recent Not-a-Blog blog post, Martin reflects on that conversation and doubles down, but don’t worry, he’s got a point coming as well:

“Everywhere you look, there are more screenwriters and producers eager to take great stories and ‘make them their own.’ It does not seem to matter whether the source material was written by Stan Lee, Charles Dickens, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Raymond Chandler, Jane Austen, or… well, anyone. No matter how major a writer it is, no matter how great the book, there always seems to be someone on hand who thinks he can do better, eager to take the story and ‘improve’ on it. ‘The book is the book, the film is the film,’ they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. Then they make the story their own.

“They never make it better, though. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, they make it worse.”

Martin goes on to point out which new series makes him feel differently about adaptations. That would be FX’s Shōgun, which GRRM binged and fully adored as an example of “[o]nce in a while, though, we do get a really good adaptation of a really good book, and when that happens, it deserves applause.”

Well, it’s a good thing — for widespread TV viewers along with GRRM — that there will be much more Shōgun coming. In the meantime, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is currently filming, and House of the Dragon will return to HBO on June 16. Hopefully, GRRM will be much happier with the way those series end than he perhaps felt with Game of Thrones.

(Via GRRM’s ‘Not A Blog’ Blog)

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DIIV Will Hit The Road For A Massive World Tour In Support Of ‘Frog In Boiling Water’

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DIIV is just days removed from the release of their latest album, Frog In Boiling Water. If you’ve listened and it sounded like something you’d want to hear live, you’re in luck: Today (May 28), the group announced an expansive world tour.

The trek runs from early June to mid-December. It starts with North American shows until early August, and after a few weeks off, it picks back up for a South American run, then another break, and then European/UK shows. Tickets are available now and more information can be found on the band’s website.

Find the full list of tour dates below.

DIIV 2024 Tour Dates

06/06 — Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
06/07 — San Francisco, CA- Regency Ballroom
06/08 — Roseville, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post
06/10 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
06/12 — Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
06/13 — Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall
06/14 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
06/16 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
06/18 — Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
06/19 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
06/20 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
06/21 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
06/23 — El Paso, TX @ The Lowbrow Palace
06/24 — Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
06/25 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
06/27 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
06/29 — Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
07/15 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
07/16 — Washington, DC @ Howard Theatre
07/17 — Richmond, VA @ The National
07/19 — Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm
07/20 — Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
07/21 — Miami, FL @ The Ground
07/23 — Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
07/25 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
07/27 — Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
07/28 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
07/30 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
07/31 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
08/02 — Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall
08/04 — Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
08/05 — Boston, MA @ Royale
08/07 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
09/06 — Lima, Peru @ Teatro Leguía
09/08 — Santiago, Chile @ Club Chocolate
09/10 — Mar Del Plata, Argentina @ Club TRI
09/12 — Buenos Aires, Argentina @ C Complejo Art Media
09/15 — São Paulo, Brazil @ Cine Joia
09/20 — Mexico City, MEX @ Foro Indie Rocks!
09/21 — Guadalajara, MEX @ C3 Stage
11/16 — Stockholm @ Slatkyrkan
11/17 — Copenhagen @ Vega
11/18 — Berlin @ Astra
11/19 — Munich @ Technikum
11/20 — Milan @ Circolo Magnolia
11/22 — London, UK @ Alexandra Palace with Fontaines DC
11/23 — London, UK @ Alexandra Palace with Fontaines DC
11/25 — Madrid @ Sala But
11/26 — Barcelona @ Sala Apollo
11/27 — Zurich @ Dynamo Saal
11/28 — Paris @ Bataclan
11/29 — Gent @ Vooruit
11/30 — Liège @ OM
12/02 — Brighton @ Chalk
12/05 — Bristol @ SWX
12/06 — Birmingham @ XOYO
12/07 — Glasgow @ SWG3 TV Studio
12/08 — Newcastle @ Newcastle University
12/09 — Manchester @ The Ritz
12/10 — Southampton @ Engine Rooms
12/12 — Rennes @ Antipode
12/13 — Esch @ Kulturfabrik
12/14 — Köln @ Kantine
12/15 — Amsterdam @ Paradiso

Frog In Boiling Water is out now via Fantasy Records. Find more information here.

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The Most-Watched (Non-Sports) TV Show Of The 2023-2024 Season Got There With Help From Taylor Swift

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TV ratings ain’t what they used to be. In 1994, the highest-rated scripted series on TV was Seinfeld, which averaged over 30 million episodes. Thirty years later, TV’s biggest non-sports show barely gets 10 million viewers — and that’s with a Super Bowl-assisted bump.

With data provided by Nielsen, Variety shared the list of the 100 most-watched TV shows of the 2023-2024 season. NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football is number one for the sixth year in a row with 19.8 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s NFL Monday Night Football, and Amazon Prime’s NFL Thursday Night Football. Finally, at number four, comes the first scripted series: CBS’ Reacher-lite action-drama Tracker with 10.7 million.

According to Variety, it’s the “first time a first-year TV series was ranked as the No. 1 show since Survivor premiered as an instant phenomenon in 2000,” although that’s partially due to Tracker premiering after the most-watched TV event in decades. The Taylor Swift Effect can be felt in unexpected places.

Here’s the top 10 for total viewers:

1. NFL Sunday Night Football (NBC) (19.8 million)
2. NFL Monday Night Football on ABC (ABC) (11.9 million)
3. NFL Thursday Night Football (Amazon Prime) (11.9 million)
4. Tracker (CBS) (10.7 million)
5. NCIS (CBS) (9.6 million)
6. Young Sheldon (CBS) (9.1 million)
7. FBI (CBS) (8.9 million)
8. Chicago Fire (NBC) (8.7 million)
9. Blue Bloods (CBS) (8.4 million)
10. 60 Minutes (CBS) (8.2 million)

The full top 100 list can be found here. How many shows do you watch? Or better yet: how many shows have you even heard of? You can’t convince me that 2.5 million people watch something called Farmer Wants a Wife every week. It’s simply impossible.

(Via Variety)

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Glen Powell Likened Sydney Sweeney To Batman While Revealing How They Decided To Deal With Those ‘Anyone But You’ Affair Rumors

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It’s not that unheard of for two romcom stars to date while filming, but only few of them can win the coveted MTV Best Kiss Award. However, Syndey Sweneey and Glen Powell’s on-set romance was a little more ambiguous.

While the two were filming Anyone But You last year, Powell and Sweeney were rumored to be dating, despite the pair both having other partners. Then, Powell and his girlfriend split, and it got even more messy, with rumors that Powell had cheated on his girlfriend with Sweeney.

In a new interview, Powell told GQ that the frenzy (and subsequent media attention) was extremely stressful for him. “At the time, [the rumours] were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out! I was going through a real breakup at the time. It was stressful,” he said.

But instead of denying the rumors, Sweeney thought they should embrace them. “She’s dealt with the public eye before, she’s so much more comfortable than I am. She’s so in on the joke, man,” he told the mag. Her idea was to play up the rumors in order to keep the people talking. It worked– the romcom became a modest box office hit and now there are talks of a sequel.

Powell then compared Sweeney to Bruce Wayne, who is also famously sneak, because of her business moves. “She’s a businesswoman, and she understands that who she is in the public eye and who she is in reality are two separate people. It’s Bruce Wayne and Batman. You can shoot Batman as many times as you want, it’s not gonna affect Bruce Wayne.”

Even though the two playing up their non-romance was just a tactic, Powell says it all paid off. “That insane circus around it took a normal romcom and made it IP,” he says. “It was the electricity that kept that movie going. And we made the hell out of that movie. I’m really proud of it.”

Not only did the movie make bank, but Sweeney and Powell have vowed to work together again, which means more fake dating. This is all because of Madame Web! Thanks, Dakota Johnson.

(Via GQ)

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Dave Pasch Shared Some Hysterical Texts Bill Walton Would Send Him While He Was Calling Games

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The basketball world lost one of its true characters on Monday, as Bill Walton died at age 71 after a long battle with cancer.

The two-time national champion at UCLA, two-time NBA champion in Portland and Boston, NBA MVP, and Hall of Famer had a stellar on-court career, but he is remembered by most for his unique personality that we got to see across his broadcasting career for over 30 years. Walton called NBA games on NBC and ABC, including five NBA Finals, before becoming the voice of Pac-12 basketball — or as he always called it, the Conference of Champions — for ESPN.

He was often partnered with play-by-play man Dave Pasch, who spent 12 years alongside Walton at the broadcast table, trying desperately to keep the broadcast focused on the game at hand while Walton took the audience on a journey through his mind. After the news of Walton’s death, fans began posting their favorite memories of Bill, many of which were clips of him attempting to drive Pasch crazy. Pasch went on ESPN to talk about his longtime friend and broadcast partner, offering some incredible anecdotes about Walton that were both touching and hysterical.

On Tuesday, Pasch woke up still thinking about his friend and wanted to share more about Walton with the world, so he posted screenshots of the texts Walton would send to mess with him while he was calling games.

As Pasch noted, getting to share this with the world and seeing the reaction from fans is cathartic in this moment of grief, and I know fans appreciate Pasch giving us this glimpse into who Bill was. There was no act from Bill Walton when he was on air, he simply was himself, and even the bits he played out with Pasch extended to when they weren’t on camera, with Walton constantly asking “who is this?” as he texted his friend.

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All The Best New Indie Music From This Week

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Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week, we got new music from Clairo, Been Stellar, DIIV, and more.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Youth Lagoon – “Lucy Takes A Picture”

Heaven Is A Junkyard was one of the best albums released last year, and Trevor Powers, who records spectral, gossamer indie rock as Youth Lagoon, has (ever so softly) kept his foot on the pedal. Back in January, he shared the excellent one-off single, “Football,” and now he’s back with another excellent one-off single, “Lucy Takes A Picture.” Inspired by a random note Powers found stashed between the bars of a metal bench at a bus stop, the Idaho musician took its message to heart: “This is the tale of my resurrection. I died so I could live again.” With its echoing percussion and gentle piano motif, “Lucy Takes A Picture” contains all the beautiful mystique of its epistolary muse.

DIIV – Frog In Boiling Water

With the contemporary resurgence of shoegaze, DIIV seems serendipitously primed to win over some new fans. Frog In Boiling Water, the follow-up to 2019’s Deceiver, is as great an entry point as any. It astutely captures what makes the New York four-piece such an incredible band, from the foreboding harmonics on “Everyone Out” to the enveloping, ethereal soundscape on “Somber The Drums.”

Horse Jumper Of Love – “Wink”

Slowcore is a quiet subgenre hinged on diaphanous arrangements, glacial BPMs, and barely audible drums. Boston trio Horse Jumper Of Love are a slowcore band, but they approach it differently: They’re not afraid to actually get loud. “Wink,” their new single, is proof of concept. While band members Dimitri Giannopoulos, John Margaris, and Jamie Vadala-Doran relish in, of course, slow tempos, their mezzo-forte dynamics are a key differentiating factor. As simple as it sounds, its effect is palpable. It’s like the three-piece, alongside Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman, is slowly scaling a mountain, making progress toward its peak step by step.

Personal Trainer – “Round”

Willem Smit, the Dutch mastermind behind art-pop project Personal Trainer, uses various subgenres like a textile artist uses fabrics. As the leader of his seven-piece band, Smit stitches ’00s indie rock, ’70s funk, and Dadaist dance music into a woozily woven, delightfully absurd tapestry. On “Round,” Smit once again distills his oddball tendencies into a song that’s impossible to ignore, not that you would ever want to.

Clairo – “Sexy To Someone”

With each album, Clairo has taken something of an auteurist’s approach by enlisting the faculties of a single producer. Rostam Batmanglij helmed her infectious debut, 2019’s alt-pop opus Immunity; the omnipresent Jack Antonoff was behind the boards for its follow-up, 2021’s hushed, toned-down Sling. Her forthcoming third album, Charm, sees her working with Leon Michels. Lead single “Sexy To Someone” strikes the middle point between Clairo’s previous two releases, not completely stripped down nor completely blown out, but serving as the connection tissue, conjoining those two ends. It’s a reminder that, even with Clairo selecting a producer for each of her records, she is at the center of it all, the true auteur herself.

Sinai Vessel – “Best Witness”

“I’m my best witness,” Caleb Cordes sings in the main hook of “Best Witness.” As the lead single for his fourth album as Sinai Vessel, it’s a fitting thesis. On I Sing, out July 26, the Asheville, North Carolina musician issues a proud declaration of selfhood. He holds up introspection as a pillar for living a more meaningful life, a vessel for his art that equally evokes fellow indie rockers like Wild Pink, Hovvdy, and Youth Lagoon. Built on a palette of muted percussion, melodic guitars, and Cordes’ quiet vocal tone, “Best Witness” is a stunning rumination on what it means to truly understand yourself.

Young Jesus – The Fool

In John Rossiter’s music as Young Jesus, his gentle, affecting songs about heartbreak, youth, and companionship take on lives of their own. Rossiter’s carefully rendered worlds are Springsteenian in sentiment yet intimate in scope. The Fool, the seventh Young Jesus album, tactfully blends Rossiter’s predilections for grand narrative and lived-in warmth. It’s a difficult balance to manage, but on songs like “Gods Plan,” “MOTY,” and “Brenda & Diane,” he pulls it off effortlessly.

Been Stellar – “Pumpkin”

Next month, the NYC post-punk five-piece Been Stellar will share their debut album, Scream From New York, NY. And they’ve given us another preview of it, “Pumpkin,” which gradually picks up steam from its muted, subdued palette; the volume steadily increases, and just as a moment of catharsis seems like it’s about to hit, everything withers away, exhibiting Been Stellar’s canny self-restraint, indulging in only what they deem fit.

Fashion Club – “Rotten Mind”

Pascal Stevenson has worked with countless indie artists. Her resume includes names like Sasami, Girlpool, and Cherry Glazerr, just to name a few. But she also makes wonderful music of her own as Fashion Club. “Rotten Mind,” featuring the Buffalo songwriter Julie Byrne, belies its tender instrumentation with an excoriating critique of bigoted hypocrisy. “It’s not love / It’s just a filthy habit you can’t wish away,” she sings toward the song’s end, her voice rising ever so subtly with each word.

Marina Allen – “Deep Fake”

You’d expect an artist with a song like “Deep Fake” would largely be concerned with the burgeoning dystopian milieu we all live in, interrogating technological malfeasance and the surveillance state embodied by modern life. But Marina Allen doesn’t go full doom-and-gloom on Eight Pointed Star, her forthcoming album out June 7. “Deep Fake,” rather, is a paean to self-love and how that inner compassion can be realized through confronting our nefarious, societal mechanisms, like the song’s namesake. “Deep Fake” is urgent, but it conveys that urgency with a reminder to grant yourself some kindness.

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All The Best New Pop Music From This Week

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Taylor Swift did not release new music, but she still had a hand in this week’s best new pop because her omnipresence is undefeated. Charlie Puth told Rolling Stone that he “probably wouldn’t have had the courage” to release “Hero” without Swift name-checking him in her The Tortured Poets Department title track.

Elsewhere, Muni Long recruited pop royalty for a “Made For Me” remix, Romy Mars enjoyed a pop girlie coronation, and Alexander 23, Jeremy Zucker, and Lauv channeled Step Brothers for their “Cozy” video.

Check out all of that and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.

Charlie Puth — “Hero”

Charlie Puth’s musicality is well-documented. In some ways, he’s an artistic tactician — known now for documenting how he pieces together a song’s multi-layered production on TikTok — which makes “Hero” all the more refreshing because it serves as a reminder that Puth’s songwriting is as resonant when paired with a light, more simplistic pop soundscape. “I just wanted you to know I f*cking care, she said,” Puth sings, weaving between his familiar melodic delivery and soaring high-register runs. “I don’t need a hero, I don’t want to be saved (I don’t want to be saved) / But I said I’ll be here every night and day.”

PinkPantheress — “Turn It Up”

PinkPantheress’Turn It Up” further validates Usher’s son, in Naviyd, loving PinkPantheress so much that he just had to hack into his father’s Instagram to let her know. PinkPantheress wrote on Instagram that she had “been sitting on this track for a while, but, honey, I am so glad it’s out into the world. I hope everyone loves it [because] it feels like a special track to me.” No notes.

Alexander 23, Jeremy Zucker & Lauv — “Cozy”

Alexander 23, Jeremy Zucker, and Lauv did what needed to be done. Their “Cozy” video scratches the itch for the ever-elusive Step Brothers sequel, except Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s raunch is replaced by endearing comedic moments during the best sleepover ever. Alexander 23, Lauv, and Zucker built their respective artistic reputations on relatable, sentimental songwriting, so it checks out that “Cozy” is extra sweet — like a three-headed cuddle bear. “And I don’t know what it is, it’s like you know me,” they sing in the chorus. “And there’s a thousand reasons why / We should stop and say, “Goodnight” / But I don’t care ’cause you’re so damn cozy.”

Romy Mars — “Stuck Up”

Romy Mars is much more than her viral TikTok about her famous parents grounding her. The seventeen-year-old made her musical debut with two Claud-produced songs, “Stuck Up” and “From A Distance,” presented as a double A-side single. “Stuck Up” particularly stands out, with Mars’ descriptive lyrics about a fleeting, intense summer romance complemented by an upbeat soundscape.

RM — “LOST!”

The direction of RM’s solo career is anything but lost. Across Right Place, Wrong Person, his freshly released solo sophomore album, the BTS superstar blends genres and allows the music to breathe. Standout track “LOST!” crams those characteristics into a hypnotic four-minute sprint that gives the listener no choice but to get lost in RM’s world. The video, creative directed by San Yawn, is additionally enticing, generating over 4.8 million views in three days.

Muni Long, Mariah Carey — “Made For Me (With Mariah Carey)”

Mariah Carey’s remix tour continues. Earlier this year, Carey hopped on Ariana Grande’s “Yes, And?” remix. And last week, Carey put her fingerprints on Muni Long’s recently platinum-certified R&B groove “Made For Me.” Long’s remix with Carey is still peak R&B, but any song that features Carey’s iconic high-pitched vocal automatically qualifies as pop.

“When I got the call from [Jermaine Dupri] to work on the ‘Made For Me’ remix, I said yes immediately,” Carey said in a statement, per Rolling Stone. “Muni is an amazing writer and performer, and this collaboration is a match made in heaven!”

Astrid S — “I’m Sorry, I Love You”

I’m not sorry; I love this song. Astrid S’ Joyride is perfectly titled, as she described it on Instagram as her “mini summer roadtrip album,” and “I’m Sorry, I Love You” is begging to be blasted at sunset while driving with the windows down. The song is actually biting, with the Norwegian singer-songwriter calling out a selfish lover (“Can’t admit you’re not right, you’re not able / But when I get out the shower / There’ll be gas station flowers on the table”) and feeling unfairly confined, while maintaining a free sonic spirit.

Nelly Furtado, Tove Lo & SG Lewis — “Love Bites”

Direct any questions about Nelly Furtado’s impact to Taylor Swift, who gushed to Furtado about “I’m Like A Bird” at the 2023 MTV Music Video Awards. Furtado performed “I’m Like A Bird” and other iconic Timbaland-produced hits during her newly posted NPR “Tiny Desk Concert,” but she isn’t relying on nostalgia. “Love Bites” with Tove Lo and SG Lewis proves Furtado didn’t lose her fastball. Lewis’ high-energy dance-pop beats adds an extra charge to Furtado and Tove Lo’s empowered lyrics about indulging in lust.

NewJeans — “How Sweet”

K-pop powerhouse NewJeans dropped their How Sweet EP, comprised of “How Sweet” and “Bubble Gum” as well as instrumental versions for each track, and “How Sweet” warrants title track stature. NewJeans’How Sweet” video is extremely ’90s coded, which is always a winning strategy. The song combines English and Korean lyrics, displaying Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein’s collective world-beating versatility.

Bbno$ — “It Boy”

Frankly, I’ve just had this stuck in my head for a week: “I-T B-O-Y, B-B-N-O-dollar sign / That’s me, that’s right / That’s me, that’s right / I-M H-I-M, the Gen Z Eminem.” Bbno$ has perfected crafting unapologetically braggadocious yet slightly self-deprecating hooks, and “It Boy” shows him firmly in his bag.

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The ‘It’s All A Blur Tour’ Makes A Brief Return As Drake Joins 21 Savage On Stage In Toronto

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21 Savage’s ongoing American Dream tour is a solo run following his 2023 tour alongside Drake, dubbed the It’s All A Blur Tour. Now, those worlds have collided.

In Toronto last night (May 28), 21 brought out Drake towards the very end of his set for a brief It’s All A Blur Tour reunion. Drake joined for two songs: “Knife Talk” and “Rich Flex.”

Check out the show’s full setlist below (via setlist.fm).

21 Savage’s American Dream Tour Setlist: May 27, 2024 At Budweiser Stage In Toronto

1. “No Heart” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
2. “Jimmy Cooks” (Drake cover)
3. “On Bs” (Drake & 21 Savage cover)
4. “Don’t Come Out The House” (Metro Boomin cover)
5. “Peaches & Eggplants” (Young Nudy cover)
6. “Dangerous”
7. “Née-Nah”
8. “Topia Twins” (Travis Scott cover)
9. “Who Want Smoke??” (Nardo Wick cover) (with Nardo Wick)
10. “Red Opps”
11. “X” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
12. “Bank Account”
13. “Runnin” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
14. “Glock In My Lap” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
15. “Many Men” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
16. “10 Freaky Girls” (Metro Boomin cover)
17. “Ball W/O You”
18. “​Should’ve Wore A Bonnet”
19. “Prove It”
20. “Rich N**** Sh*t” (21 Savage & Metro Boomin cover)
21. “Spin Bout U” (Drake & 21 Savage cover)
22. “Rockstar” (Post Malone cover)
23. “Creepin’” (Metro Boomin cover)
24. “Dark Days”
25. “All Of Me”
26. “A Lot”
27. “Knife Talk” (Drake cover) (with Drake)
28. “Rich Flex” (Drake & 21 Savage cover) (with Drake)
29. “Redrum”