Month: June 2024

Omar Apollo is releasing his second album, God Said No, and here’s when you can stream it on Spotify.

With a release date of June 28, the album will hit DSPs at midnight ET on Friday — just over 12 hours from this writing — so, if you live on the West Coast, you’ll be able to stream it starting at 9 PM.

Apollo announced the album in May, explaining that its title came from something a friend told him about a recently ended relationship. “I gave it my everything,” he said, “And God said ‘no.’”

The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with executive producer Teo Halm, with features from Mustafa and actor Pedro Pascal.

For more information about the album, including its tracklist and promo tour, see below.

Tracklist

1. “Be Careful With Me”
2. “Spite”
3. “Less Of You”
4. “Done With You”
5. “Plane Trees” Feat. Mustafa
6. “Drifting”
7. “Empty”
8. “Life’s Unfair”
9. “Against Me”
10. “While U Can”
11. “Dispose Of Me”
12. “How”
13. “Pedro”
14. “Glow”

Tour Dates

08/20 – Indianapolis, IN @ Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
08/21 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
08/23 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
08/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Highmark Skyline Stage at The Mann
09/03 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
09/04 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
09/06 – Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion
09/07 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/10 – Cincinnati, OH @ The ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park
09/11 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
09/13 – Charlotte, NC @ Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre
09/14 – Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
09/16 – Miami, FL @ FPL Solar Amphitheater at Bayfront Park
09/17 – Orlando, FL @ Orlando Amphitheater
09/19 – Houston, TX @ The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall
09/21 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park
09/22 – Irving (Dallas), TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
09/24 – Bentonville, AR @ The Momentary
09/26 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
09/29 – Vancouver, BC @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
10/01 – Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
10/02 – Troutdale, OR @ McMenamins Edgefield
10/04 – Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre
10/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/08 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
10/10 – Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
10/11 – San Diego, CA @ The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

God Said No is out 6/28 via Warner Records. Find more information here.

The Walking Dead devotees know that Norman Reedus’ fan favorite character didn’t appear in Robert Kirkman’s comics. Yet in a wonderful turn of fate, the Daryl Dixon spinoff turned out to be the most slam-dunk spin off of the current bunch and the most fast-tracked offshoot for a second season. That incongruity isn’t something that fans question (although Redditors do love to joke that Daryl was a do-nothing comic book character) because Reedus’ presence is indisputably part of the entire franchise’s enduring appeal.

Can you imagine how The Walking Dead could have existed so long if first-season showrunner Frank Darabont hadn’t created Daryl with Norman Reedus in mind? The pivotal “Cherokee Rose” moment — the backbone for the franchise’s most important friendship — would never have existed. Nobody would have whipped out a rocket launcher at Negan’s crew or calmly led a horde astray with a bike ride. And nobody else would have actually looked like they realistically existed (like Daryl) in a post-apocalyptic, walker-ridden world. And would Carol have believably pulled off her Terminus rescue mission if not for finding her true self, arguably as a result of growing alongside Daryl?

I don’t want to know the answer to that question, but indisputably, Daryl turned out to be The Walking Dead‘s indispensable, crossbow-wielding softie and the only character who could have washed ashore in France and had the audience thinking, well okay, let’s do this. With that said, the second season is coming, so let’s talk about viewers can expect.

Plot

A certainty: Reedus’ teeth from The Bikeriders will not carry over into The Walking Dead universe. As viewers will recall (and on a more serious note), Daryl spent the first season of his spin off helping Isabelle and Laurent reach The Nest, and then he was provided with safe passage back stateside. However, the final moments of the season finale showed that Laurent had followed Daryl and was surrounded by walkers in the process. And you know that Daryl wouldn’t leave him hanging, which probably destroys those theories that Laurent would be immune to walker bites.

Red herrings might abound on that subject, but this season exists to reunite Carol and Daryl, and the series finale contained a moment that revealed how she tracked Daryl’s stolen bike back to a junkyard where she gave the occupants no choice but to reveal where her friend went. The issue then will become how Carol crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and it seems likely that a new character, Ash (Danish Dayal), will fit the bill for providing a way (i.e., a single-engine airplane) for Carol’s will to happen:

Dayal will play Ash, an engineer from Boston who moved to the family weekend house in Maine after the onset of the apocalypse. Ash lives by a strict schedule based mostly around his daily flights in a retrofitted single engine plane and mysterious visitations to his backyard greenhouse.

Yup, it wouldn’t be far-fetched for a single-engine plane to hop across the pond to France. Will this happen quickly? Only those involved in making the series truly know, but Norman Reedus recently revealed that not only will there be a third season, but a fourth season is a strong possibility and would take place in Spain. Reedus also promised, “The finale of Season 2, the last episode, is the best one-hour of ‘Walking Dead’ television ever, like ever, in everything.”

Promises, promises. Is there a second-season synopsis yet? Oh yes:

The new season picks up where The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon left off, following fan-favorite characters Daryl Dixon (Reedus) and Carol Peletier (McBride). They both confront old demons while she fights to find her friend and he struggles with his decision to stay in France, causing tension at the Nest. Additionally, Genet (Anne Charrier)’s movement builds momentum, setting Pouvoir on a violent collision course with the Union of Hope in the fight for France’s future.

Carol needs a French vacation at the Nest, so I hope that she ends up there, but mainly, the audience needs to see more perfect hugs from the perfect post-apocalyptic friends.

Cast

Reedus and McBride will be front and center, although it remains to be seen how many episodes these two will spend apart before the official reunion happens. Clémence Poésy and Louis Puech Scigliuzzi will still be around as Isabelle and Laurent, respectively, and Manish Dayal will be the Bostonian engineer who will — and this is sheer speculation — possibly be the pilot who flies Carol over to France. Do we really think she’d take a boat when Dayal’s role and abilities have been teased so hard? Nope.

Release Date

Come fall (September 29), Daryl and Carol will be back in your living room.

Trailer

In this teaser, Daryl mulls over why he stayed in France while Carol begins searching for her friend.

For a show called One Piece, there are surely a lot of moving pieces! Based on the long-running Manga series, One Piece was first adapted into an anime series in 1999. A thousand+ episodes later, Netflix decided to take a shot at bringing the beloved pirate tale to life with a live-action series, as they have done before. Unfortunately, it has not always worked on in Netflix’s favor, but nevertheless, Netflix persists.

The first season of the live action adaptation landed on Netflix last summer and tells the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a quirky kid with a rare ability to stretch out his limbs à la Mrs. Incredible. Luffy and his crew sail around the seas in order to find the coveted “one piece” treasure.

A second season of the show was ordered last September, and now it’s finally starting to shape up. Here is everything to know so far.

Plot

Season one of One Piece introduced the world to Luffy and his pirate shenanigans, and at the end of the season, we learn that Luffy has a hefty bounty on his head as he continues to search for the One Piece. To do so, he and the gang must continue on the Grand Line ocean route in order to find the coveted treasure. But as they get closer, the obstacles become more deadly.

Joe Tracz joined season two as co-showrunner and writer. “I’ve been lucky to work on big adaptations of several beloved series and they don’t come bigger or more beloved than ONE PIECE,” Tracz told TUDUM. “I’m a huge fan of Oda-san’s incredible imagination and I was blown away by what the live-action team created in Season 1. So it’s a dream and a joy to come aboard the Going Merry as it enters the Grand Line for an even more giant Season 2.”

Cast

Luckily, the familiar faces of Luffy and co will return for another go around. Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and the straw hats gang, Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu), Nami (Emily Rudd), Usopp (Jacob Romero), and chef Sanji (Taz Skylar) are all set to return, along with some new faces. David Dastmalchian will make his debut as Mr. 3, while Daniel Lasker and Camrus Johnson will portray Mr. 9 and Mr. 5, respectively. Jazzara Jaslyn will play Miss Valentine, in addition to Werner Cester as Dorry, Brendan Murray as Brogy and Clive Russell as Crocus.

The second season will also introduce Dr. Kureha, a doctor/witch who resides on Drum Island, where the Straw Hat Gang are expected to visit. For the role, Matt Owens really wanted Jamie Lee Curtis. “When the Season 2 writers’ room got together, we knew how far we were going to get and that this character Dr. Kureha was going to be a big part of the season,” he told TUDUM. After her big Oscar win, Owens and the writing crew sent her a congratulatory figurine. “We’re writing this character for her, and so hopefully this comes to fruition, because the internet has spoken.” Curtis has not been confirmed to star in the series at this time, but we will see!

Release Date

In September 2023, Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios said that season two had already been written and could be ready “somewhere between a year and 18 months,” though that was before the strike delays of last fall. Filming is rumored to have begun this month, so it’s likely we will get season two sometime next spring.

Trailer

Still no trailer quite yet, but you can watch the season one trailer to get in the mood!

Militarie Gun is taking their signature “ooh ooh” to the ring.

The Los Angeles-based punk band, who released one of the best albums of 2023, provided a new lyric-free song as Post Malone‘s entrance music for the WWE 2K24 video game. “Gun Under The Gun (MFG)” has the trademarks of a Militarie Gun stomper, including a killer riff and, yes, a “ooh ooh.”

You can listen to the song above, and watch Post Malone’s entrance video below.

Militarie Gun singer Ian Shelton talked to New Noise Magazine about how the collaboration with Posty (who’s a fan of the group) came to be.

“I focused on finding iconic elements and figuring out how to make it my own. A wrestling intro needs to start big and iconic, get more aggressive, and then go heavier. That’s how the song ended up — starting big and spacey, then more aggressive, and finally half-time for a total beatdown,” he said. “It’s such a strange crossover and an even stranger song to accompany such a crossover. It’s a very fun thing to put out into the world and see what people think.”

As for why Malone didn’t use one of his own songs as his entrance music, Shelton thinks it’s because “he wanted something that sounded like a wrestling intro, something aggressive, which his own catalog doesn’t necessarily have. He gave us the shot because he believes in us.” Maybe Militarie Gun can join him on the F-1 Trillion Tour?

Kendrick Lamar fans are convinced they found a J. Cole-related Easter egg in their replays of Kendrick’s Pop Out — Ken & Friends concert. You may remember that at the outset of the titanic conflict between Kendrick Lamar and his longtime rival Drake, J. Cole was actually the one who took up the gauntlet thrown down by Ken on “Like That” first. However, Cole bowed out relatively quickly, leaving the other two stars to battle it out over the course of several increasingly vitriolic diss tracks, including the megahit, “Not Like Us.” So…

Did Kendrick Lamar’s Pop Out Concert Have A J. Cole Reference?

According to some fans, yes. During the intro to Kendrick’s 2015 anthem “Alright,” fans swear they noticed an ad-lib that isn’t on the original, meaning that the backing track played during the show was likely taken from “Black Friday,” a double single released by Kendrick and Cole in 2015 on which they rapped on each other’s beats (Ken used Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive track “A Tale Of 2 Citiez.”

Now, as for why Ken’s DJ would throw on that version of the backing track… who knows, really, other than Kendrick and his DJ? Maybe in pulling together the instrumentals for the performance, they dropped the wrong song in the folder. Or perhaps it was a nod and a wink to J. Cole himself, acknowledging him for withdrawing from the fight for his own personal reasons. Honestly, it was such a tiny moment (heck, it took people a week of rewatches to notice it in the first place), maybe it means nothing.

But the way the battle between Drake and Ken played out shows that the Compton native is nothing if not supremely calculating, so there probably is a reason… he’s just not going to tell us about it.

In February, Killer Mike scored three wins at the 2024 Grammys, but his celebration was interrupted. The Hollywood Reporter‘s Chris Gardner posted footage of Killer Mike being taken away in handcuffs, causing confusion and speculation as to why the Atlanta icon had been put in handcuffs. TMZ eventually reported Killer Mike was “booked for battery on a citizen’s arrest […] after he allegedly got physical with a security guard at the venue.” Shortly thereafter, Killer Mike’s lawyer confirmed to Variety that he had been released and “will be celebrating his sweep tonight.”

Now, Killer Mike can firmly put it all behind him.

On Wednesday, June 26, TMZ exclusively reported that Killer Mike won’t face any charges from the peculiar incident.

“Prosecutors in the L.A. City Attorney’s Office tell us they will not be filing charges against Mike for his confrontation with an event security guard, back in February, which led to his citizen’s arrest,” TMZ relayed. “We’re told he successfully completed his city attorney hearing … after which he agreed to do some community service with a non-profit organization of his choice. That said, the City Attorney’s Office added the Grammy winner needs to stay out of trouble for the next year, or they could reopen the case.”

One week after the 2024 Grammys, Killer Mike appeared on The View and downplayed his arrest, as seen in the clip below.

The third season of The Bear just dropped, and just as has been the case with previous seasons, the new one is being touted for its use of music. In particular, they called upon some music score heavy-hitters for the season premiere: As BrooklynVegan points out, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross created the score for the episode.

The score hasn’t been released yet, so as of now, the only way to hear it is to watch the episode.

Elsewhere in the season, the show’s connection to Pearl Jam leader Eddie Vedder is strengthened: The second episode opens with Vedder’s cover of The (English) Beat’s 1982 favorite “Save It For Later.” Pearl Jam’s “Animal” and “Come Back” were used in previous The Beat episodes. Vedder has shared his “Save It For Later” cover outside of the show, check it out:

Taylor Swift, who was become a plot point in the show, makes an appearance via song, too. In the season’s fourth episode, swift’s “Long Live” from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) can be heard.

Meanwhile, the duo of Reznor and Ross received acclaim earlier this year for their score to Challengers: Uproxx recently named a remixed version of it one of 2024’s best albums so far.

Natalie Portman appears to be, like other Oscar winners, happily reaping the pluses of the streaming realm. She recently popped over to Netflix for May December, and now, she’s stepping onto Apple TV+ for the adaptation of one of Laura Lippmann’s most popular novels, Lady in the Lake.

Lippmann’s books tend to dip into modern noir in an irresistible way (Sunburn, which pays homage to Double Indemnity, will not be leaving my head anytime soon), and with Lady in the Lake, Apple TV+ is adding to its collection of suspense-thriller adaptations. It goes without saying that this is the way, so to speak, to harnessing an enthused audience. Let’s get down to business on what to expect from this limited series.

Plot

The series follows Natalie Portman as a seemingly privileged 1960s housewife, Maddie, who leaves her lackluster marriage and starts poking around in the unsolved murder of a Black woman. The series’ full trailer, as with the book, suggests a metaphorical echoing of Maddie’s struggles in the case of Cleo Johnson (portrayed by Moses Ingram), who went missing (in the novel, of which Stephen King was a fan upon release) after a date. Her body went undiscovered for at least a full season before becoming known as the “Lady in the Lake,” due to Maddie’s investigative efforts.

It remains to be seen how closely the series will adhere to the book’s setup, which can be distilled as a crime story if a reader squints hard, but the stills provided thus far suggest ghostly dives into the past and a willingness to lean into the surreal.

Apple TV+ has billed this series, directed by Alma Har’el, “as a feverish noir thriller and an unexpected tale of the price women pay for their dreams.” That hits hard, and here’s more from the series synopsis:

When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore on Thanksgiving 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course. Maddie Schwartz is a Jewish housewife seeking to shed a secret past and reinvent herself as an investigative journalist, and Cleo Johnson is a mother navigating the political underbelly of Black Baltimore while struggling to provide for her family. Their disparate lives seem parallel at first, but when Maddie becomes fixated on Cleo’s mystifying death, a chasm opens that puts everyone around them in danger.

Cast

Natalie Portman will portray Maddie Schwartz, and Moses Ingram picks up the mantle of Cleo Johnson.

Release Date

This series will debut on July 19, 2024 with two episodes with weekly one-episode drops thereafter.

Trailer

The next few minutes begin in unsettling-mystery mode, and then somehow, fish tanks start exploding. Looks riveting!

Zendaya has now appeared in more Jeopardy! clues than episodes of Euphoria since the end of 2022.

During Tuesday’s episode of the game show, the $1,000 clue in the “Stars In The Making” category read, “Before somehow making tennis steamy in 2024, this single named star guested on Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie.” Contestant Staci Gardner, a teacher from Chicago, correctly buzzed in “who is Zendaya?” but fans watching at home didn’t love the phrasing of the clue.

They had no issue with the “steamy” reference — it’s an accurate description of Challengers — but rather, the second part. It’s true Zendaya “guested” in a single episode of Good Luck Charlie, but she was the star of Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover. Why not go with one of those shows instead? The phrasing of the clue seemed to throw people off, even though it’s technically correct.

“@Jeopardy just said Zendaya was on Good Luck Charlie?? The one crossover episode?” one user on X wrote, while another incorrectly claimed, “jeopardy just falsely stated that zendaya starred in good luck charlie.”

Again, it’s important to read the clue closely.

This is the objectively correct way to respond:

Following a busy first half of 2024 where she starred (not guested) in Dune: Part Two and Challengers, Zendaya doesn’t have anything on the schedule, other than possibly Euphoria season 3. But there’s no guarantee it will actually happen.

From divorce rumors to a canceled tour, Jennifer Lopez has definitely faced some downs in 2024. Well, the saga continues.

A few days ago, TMZ shared photos and video of Jennifer Lopez on a commercial flight from Naples to Paris. The footage shows Lopez occupying a window seat, a bodyguard taking the aisle seat, and an empty seat between them.

Reactions to the situation have been mixed. There are those who decided to mock of criticize Lopez. TMZ themselves joked in their headline, “Jenny from the Cabin.” In the comments of their Instagram post, some users saw Lopez’s chosen mode of transport as a plea for attention or relatability. One user wrote, “PR team working overtime trying to make seem relatable.” Another said, “She wants to regain likability. No one likes her anymore because of her persona. Pure Marketing.” Somebody else wrote, “Oh please !! This is just to pretend she is humble !! But naaaah ! We know we know , SHE IS NOT.”

However, some came to Lopez’s defense. One user wrote, “Do random people really be taking photos of her and selling it to tmz? Damn.” Another said, “Leave this woman alone!” Another person wrote, “but if she flew a private jet ppl would be roasting her for killing the environment.. these celebs can never win.”