Month: August 2024

This week in pop, Charli XCX dropped her “Guess” remix featuring Billie Eilish, and then she celebrated her 32nd birthday with Lorde after they “worked it on the remix” of “Girl, So Confusing.” Brat summer is eternal. Elsewhere, Maren Morris teamed with former Uproxx cover stars Muna for a bisexual anthem, and Suki Waterhouse fueled the anticipation for Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin.

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

Charli XCX Feat. Billie Eilish — “Guess”

Charli XCX scoffed when anyone dare suggested Brat summer was played out, and she proved why Brat has no expiration date by revealing a “Guess” remix featuring Billie Eilish. The Aidan Zamiri-directed video catches Charli dancing at a house party DJed by The Dare, who co-produced the song with Finneas, when Eilish plows through the wall with a bulldozer full of panties. It rains underwear while Eilish delivers her verse and tweaked chorus (“Kiss it, bite it, can I fit it? / Charli likes boys, but she knows I’d hit it”) with ease and immense confidence.

Suki Waterhouse — “Blackout Drunk”

Suki Waterhouse holds the trump card in “Blackout Drunk.” The single from Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin, Waterhouse’s forthcoming 18-track double album, finds Waterhouse foreshadowing how her trash partner is going to try to explain away his night of infidelity. She briefly wonders why she tells him she loves him before remembering she deserves better: “Sweet dreams can’t sleep it off / Wait till I wake you up / ‘Cause I can hardly wait to tell you all the sh*tty things that you’ve done.” Memoir Of A Sparklemuffin is due out on September 13.

Maren Morris — “Push Me Over”

Maren Morris’ newly released five-track Intermission EP only needs five tracks to assert the powerful transformations she’s endured over the past year, including a divorce. “I decided to hit the scariest reset I could have ever conceptualized, and there’s no looking back,” the multi-platinum-certified country-turned-pop star said in a statement. With “Push Me Over,” Morris embraces what she described to Billboard as her “bi-panic.” The charged, sultry song was co-written with former Uproxx cover stars Muna and produced by Muna’s Naomi McPherson. “Sittin’ on the fence / Feels good between my legs / The more that you come closer / Want you to push me over,” Morris sings in the chorus. She surely has never sounded better, and it sounds like she’s never felt better, either.

Mimi Webb — “Erase You”

“I have been playing ‘Erase You’ out on the road live since my last North American tour, and the reaction from the crowd is always so incredible,” Mimi Webb said in a statement. “It’s such a perfect song for the summer. Carefree and fun, just like the music video!” Period. Co-produced by Alexander 23 and Ryan Tedder, “Erase You” empowers upon impact with an exuberant soundscape and uninhibited lyrics.

Kacey Musgraves Feat. Leon Bridges — “Superbloom”

Kacey Musgraves is going to drag you deeper into that emotional well, whether you like it or not. Deeper Well: Deeper Into The Well arrived last week to add seven songs to her March album. “Superbloom” featuring Leon Bridges is a sweet song about finding safety in another person when everything else feels terrible. Feel free to add it to your “Help Me Feel Sane” playlist as the election draws nearer, and the world continues to come unglued.

Jessie Murph & Teddy Swims — “Dirty”

If you miss the early 2000s, you’ll love Jessie Murph and Teddy Swims’ “Dirty” video, directed by Erik Rojas. Murph appears on a fictional game show tasked with catching “all the most dirty douchey douchers in all of LA.” Murph’s vocals are much softer and soulful than the premise, making for an intriguing contrast. Two minutes in, Teddy Swims joins to defend himself, and his mesmerizing voice makes you want to believe him. Until Murph reminds everyone, “I got no mercy / You don’t deserve me, no / And you might be hurtin’ / But damn it, you hurt me.” Murph and Swims’ voices are infinitely more compatible than the relationship depicted in the song.

FLO — “Check”

In 2023, FLO won the BRITs Rising Star, becoming the “first-ever group” to earn the award. The R&B savants soared to another stratosphere with “Check,” their harmonious, uptempo “lover girl anthem.” Renée, Jorja, and Stella are each in thriving relationships, and their chemistry as a group is stronger than ever.

Khalid — “Heatstroke”

Khalid returned with Sincere, his third studio album and first LP since 2019. Simultaneously, the video for “Heatstroke” dropped, capturing a world on fire. Khalid told Zane Lowe that “Heatstroke” came from “a very, very, very passionate place through the years — becoming re-inspired by my music again.” In the upbeat song, the multi-platinum-certified genre-bending artist sings in his familiar melodic, silky cadence: “Even if we’re fakin’, even if we’re fakin’ / Thinkin’ maybe we can save us / Maybe we can save this, maybe we can save this / Maybe we can save this / Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” With Sincere, Khalid is done catering to what the industry wants from him, and it is wonderful.

Michelle — “Mentos And Coke”

“‘Mentos and Coke’ is for the person you can’t help but lose yourself to,” said Michelle, the New York-bred collective comprised of Sofia D’Angelo, Julian Kaufman, Charlie Kilgore, Layla Ku, Emma Lee, and Jamee Lockard. “The one you just can’t stand, and can’t stand to live without.” The breezy song contains explosive lyrics, using the real-life results of mixing Mentos and Coke to describe the addictive rush of a relationship: “You and I like Mentos and Coke / Stable if you like when we explode / Highest highs and lowest of lows / Better that than what I don’t know.” It’s a promising offering from Songs About You Specifically, Michelle’s forthcoming album due out on September 27.

Bazzi — “Anything”

Bazzi made “Anything” with Kevin White and Roark Bailey and wrote on Instagram, “I honestly don’t know what this song is or what genre it is. Like most things I make, I am just following where the feelings are taking me. they def took us somewhere crazy on this one.” The ethereal, feel-good tune finds Bazzi promising, “You could have the world ’cause it’s all for you / Anything you want.” His fans probably want a new album, which would be his first since 2022, and he seems aware of that.

American politics got turned on its head over the last few weeks, as the sitting President of the United States, Joe Biden, tried to save his flailing reelection campaign by getting his opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, to agree to an unprecedented June debate. Biden flopped, which led to a remarkable series of events by which he ended his pursuit of a second term in the White House and his Vice President, Kamala Harris, was elevated to the top of the ticket for the Democratic Party.

With the Democratic National Convention right around the corner, Harris — a well-documented fan of the Golden State Warriors — needs to pick her Vice President, with reports indicating it came down to two names: Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. And on Tuesday, it was reported that Walz will be the pick.

Not long after this, Harris announced on Twitter that she picked Walz.

Walz, among other things, is a big time football guy. Walz was a football coach at Mankato West High School in Mankato, Minnesota — as he explained during an appearance on Pod Save America, Walz was the defensive coordinator for a program that went 0-27 prior to his arrival.

“We ran a 4-4, where we read the guards at the time,” Walz said. “I had really good athletes and good linebackers … [my corners] were good, that was an age, when I was coaching, when it was unusual to see a 2,500-3,000 yard passer on the other side, but it was starting to come along … In high school, if you pull a guard, you pretty much know where the ball’s going. And if you can teach kids to do that. …”

Walz claims that people tell him that he got elected to Congress because he was on the staff that won a state championship, as in three years, they went from a team that went 0-27 to state champs. Apparently in that state title game, his team’s running back ran for 202 yards and three touchdowns, which is morally correct football. A quick skim through his Twitter account indicates that his love of football has not waned in the years since.

Unsurprisingly, as a Minnesotan, Walz supports the football program at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Vikings. He also, as is required, does not like the Green Bay Packers.

Walz is not just a Football Guy, though, as he also will put a first pitch at a baseball game right down the middle if you give him the chance.

It is unclear if any of this will help electorally, but at the very least, Tim Walz, if you are reading this, I’d love to discuss Randy Moss with you at any point between now and November.

Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser (you got that right) has plenty on his roster. He’s gearing up to portray Chris Farley in a biopic and picked up an undisclosed role in Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot. These bookings stand in addition to Hauser’s new career offshoot in MMA, for which he actually pulled out a crane kick as well as his version of Bruce Lee’s explosive one-two punch to score his first in-the-ring victory.

Meanwhile, Hauser also found the time for a quick Cobra Kai sixth-season appearance, in which he was a terrible texter but had clearly recovered from being a tool of Terry Silver’s manipulations. The Netflix series recently dropped the first third of the season while the creators are already talking future spin offs, but co-showrunner Jon Hurwitz took a social-media moment to express appreciation for Hauser and reveal how the Stingray character was born.

Of course the role was created with Hauser in mind, and a certain NEON film inspired the genesis of the overgrown man child crashing a dojo:

“I’ll never forget the guys and I watching the movie ‘I, Tonya’ seven years ago and saying to each other ‘We must write a role for that guy on Cobra Kai!’ Stingray was created with Paul’s specific comedic voice in mind. On set, he was immediately beloved — not just because he had us all busting out laughing with his genius improvs — but also because of the kindness he showed each and every person he came in contact with.”

And there you have it. Hurwitz further revealed that “the set was buzzing” on the day that Hauser surfaced on set for the final Cobra Kai season. Additionally, he refers to Stingray’s “final monologue in the woods,” which could be a suggestion that this will be the last that we see of Stingray, and surely, that ain’t so? However, Hurwitz does know what he’s doing when he dropped this: “Who knows? Maybe we’ll have a Stingray movie down the road.” Yes please.

You can read Hurwitz’s full post below:

And here’s a refresher on Hauser’s I, Tonya character, “mastermind” Shawn Eckhardt. This portrayal prompted effortless laughter every time Hauser appeared onscreen. He should be incredible as Chris Farley.

Florida International University’s football program plays in a 20,000 seat stadium in Miami. Recently, the university has been on the lookout for a new naming rights sponsor for the building — it is presently known as FIU Stadium after previously being known as Riccardo Silva Stadium from 2017-22, named after the Miami FC owner who wrote a check to take care of renovations. College football is, truly, an insane sport.

Anyway, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN, the stadium has a new sponsor, and once again, an individual’s name will be on it. This time, that person is Pitbull, the artist and Miami native who is affectionately known as Mr. 305. The stadium will be known going forward as Pitbull Stadium.

Thamel went on to report what both sides will get out of this deal, and the stipulations are pretty incredible.

As part of the deal, according to the documents, Pitbull will create an anthem for FIU, post about the school on social media 12 times a year and appear at one athletics fundraising event per year throughout the term of the agreement.

Pitbull will get use of the stadium 10 days per year throughout the term of the deal and the vodka company he owns will be the preferred brand distributed in the stadium. There’s also perks like two reserved suites for all home football games.

To return to something I said earlier: College football really is an insane sport. FIU football, which has only been a program since 2002, is coming off of back-to-back 4-8 campaigns, and has not made it to a bowl game since 2019. They’re currently coached by Miami native Mike McIntyre, who has been at the helm since 2022 and is well-known for his stints as the head football coach at San Jose State and Colorado. It is unclear if Pitbull has ever gone to an FIU game, but I hope he does sooner rather than later.

Bright Eyes is releasing a new album, Five Dice, All Threes, next month, on September 20. They also previously announced some tour dates for the rest of this year, and now there’s plenty more where that came from as the band announces 2025 tour dates for North America.

They also shared the new song “Rainbow Overpass,” of which Conor Oberst says in a statement:

“Alex [Orange Drink of The So So Glos] and I wrote a lot of the songs together, but ‘Rainbow Overpass’ is the only one he gets [to sing] a verse. He’s kinda like my hype man, getting a little Beastie Boys on the sh*t! They grew up on punk rock and the Beasties, so there are a lot of little bursts of other voices. I like that. It creates energy. Sometimes music can feel flat until you get into a live situation, when there’s adrenaline and raw energy. Instead of working in reverse, where that happens as we tour, I was trying to get some of that energy onto the record.”

Listen to “Rainbow Overpass” above and find Bright Eyes’ upcoming tour dates below.

Bright Eyes’ 2024 And 2025 Tour Dates

09/19/2024 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
09/21/2024 — Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
09/22/2024 — Omaha, NE @ Steelhouse Omaha
10/11/2024 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
10/12/2024 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether
10/13/2024 — Las Vegas, NV @ Best Friends Forever Music Festival
11/10/2024 — Wolverhampton, UK @ Wulfrun Hall
11/11/2024 — London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
11/12/2024 — Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
11/13/2024 — Ghent, Belgium @ Ha Concerts
11/14/2024 — Cologne, Germany @ Carlswerk Victoria
11/15/2024 — Berlin, Germany @ Tempodrom
11/16/2024 — Weissenhauser Strand, Germany @ Rolling Stone Beach
11/18/2024 — Stockholm, Sweden @ FållanY
11/19/2024 — Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret
01/16/2025 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
01/18/2025 — Del Mar, CA @ The Sound
01/19/2025 — Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
01/20/2025 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
01/21/2025 — Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
01/23/2025 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
01/24/2025 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
01/25/2025 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
01/26/2025 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
02/26/2025 — Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge
02/27/2025 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
02/28/2025 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
03/01/2025 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
03/02/2025 — Baton Rouge, LA @ Chelsea’s Live
03/03/2025 — Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
03/05/2025 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
03/07/2025 — Orlando, FL @ The Beacham Theater
03/08/2025 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
03/09/2025 — Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine
03/10/2025 — Richmond, VA @ The National
03/13/2025 — Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
03/14/2025 — Pelham, TN @ The Caverns
03/17/2025 — Memphis, TN @ Minglewood Hall
03/18/2025 — Little Rock, AR @ The Hall
03/20/2025 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
03/21/2025 — Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
03/22/2025 — St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
04/03/2025 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
04/04/2025 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
04/08/2025 — Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
04/09/2025 — Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
04/10/2025 — Toronto, ON @ History
04/11/2025 — Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo Riverworks
04/13/2025 — Portland, ME @ State Theatre
04/17/2025 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
04/18/2025 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues
04/19/2025 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
04/20/2025 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
04/22/2025 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre
04/23/2025 — Newport, KY @ MegaCorp Pavilion
04/24/2025 — Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
04/25/2025 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
04/26/2025 — West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom

Five Dice, All Threes is out 9/20 via Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

As if Taylor Sheridan isn’t busy enough overseeing his Yellowstone (and Mayor of Kingstown, and Tulsa King, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves) empire, he also has his eye on the big screen.

Billboard recently spoke to country music star Cody Johnson, who said that he and Sheridan have “tried a couple of times” for him to appear on Yellowstone, but “my schedule is too busy to put aside the time” (and now they’re out of time). However, “The Painter” singer still wants to work with Sheridan. “We’re looking ahead to the future,” he said. “There’s a few movie things were I’m like, look, if you guys give me the notice, I can make this happen.”

Johnson provided no further details, but before Yellowstone was the biggest show on television, Sheridan was an accomplished screenwriter. He wrote Sicario, Hell or High Water (which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay), and Wind River. He’s slowed down on the film side as his TV career has exploded, although it was announced earlier this year that he will write and direct a film based on Empire of the Summer Moon, author S.C. Gwynne’s book about “the four-decade struggle between the Comanche tribe and white settlers to control the American West.”

It will probably not be split into two movies. Sagas, if you will.

(Via Billboard)

As we learned last week, Usher has a new concert film, Usher: Rendezvous In Paris, on the way. Now, we have our first look at it via a new trailer, which combines concert footage with clips of Usher dramatically looking over and walking through Paris.

Usher previously said in a statement, “Paris was a special experience for me as an entertainer and for my fans. I hope those who weren’t able to make it in person get to experience how special it was. As for those of you who were, I hope you experience the show and see what it takes to get there through a different lens.”

According to a press release, the movie “incorporates the essence of his landmark cultural phenomenon Vegas residencies into a seductive French touch confession” and features the songs “Yeah!,” “My Boo,” “Love In This Club,” and others “performed with never-before-seen costumes and state-of-the-art lighting and special effects.” The movie also promises to give “audiences a glimpse inside life beyond the stage — creating a global moment that moviegoers won’t want to miss.”

The film is set for a limited run from September 12 to 15, playing in 2,000 theaters worldwide. Screening details and ticketing information is available on the movie’s website.

Watch the trailer above.

Jenna Ortega made her on-screen debut as “Girl” in the Rob Schneider sitcom Rob. Her career has slightly improved since then. The X, Wednesday, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actress is on the cover of next month’s Vanity Fair, where she talked about what got her into acting (it wasn’t a hope that, one day, she would be at the center of weird age-gap discourse).

“I’m so appreciative of my six-year-old self who wanted to be a president and an astronaut… because I realize now that I was always looking for a way out,” Ortega said. She found her way out after watching Man on Fire, the 2004 movie starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Ortega said the action-thriller “changed the entire course of my existence,” in particular nine-year-old Fanning’s performance, which inspired her to become an actor.

In an alternate timeline, Ortega watches Déjà Vu and devotes her life to going back in time. It’s probably good she saw Man on Fire instead.

Next up for Ortega is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice then season 2 of Wednesday. “I think the feel that we’re going for is a little bit more horror-inspired,” she said about season 2 of the Netflix hit. “Not to say that suddenly we’re the goriest show of all time. I mean, there’s six-year-olds watching.” Ortega gave an example of family-friendly horror: “We’re doing this thing now where Wednesday just kind of appears. She is a little bit of a jump scare herself.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in theaters on September 6, while Wednesday season 2 will hopefully premiere in 2025.

(Via Vanity Fair)

There’s definitely something happening in the world of The Weeknd right now. Ever since he announced a special one-off concert in São Paulo, Brazil (set for September 7) last month, The Weeknd has delivered strong indications that a new album is on the way via teaser videos. Now, there’s yet another new one.

The new teaser, titled “Unprepared certainty…,” runs for three-and-a-half minutes and features new music playing throughout, as we see CGI visuals of a little boy exploring a creepy and surreal house in a stormy environment. As for the song, it’s more of an interlude or an intro than a verse-chorus-verse-chorus song, but it’s certainly lovely and atmospheric.

A previous teaser said, “There are three chapters to this tale,” which appears to indicate that The Weeknd is getting ready to release the final album of a trilogy that began with After Hours and continued with Dawn FM. A new album has yet to be formally announced, but perhaps it will soon given all the teasing The Weeknd has been doing lately. Perhaps a more concrete update will arrive as we get closer to the big Brazil concert that’s now almost exactly a month away.

Check out the video above.

If the Olympics were smart, they would get history-making opening ceremony performers Gojira back for the 2024 closing ceremony in Paris, possibly in a duet with Celine Dion. But instead, they’re going for the next best option.

Who Is Performing During The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony?

French newspaper Le Parisien reports that Phoenix and Air “will play Sunday evening as part of this ceremony” as a way to “embody international French music with electronic accents.”

Phoenix formed in the 1990s in Versailles and found breakthrough success with their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, featuring hit singles “1901” and “Lisztomania,” while Air is touring behind the 25th anniversary of their monumental debut album, Moon Safari. The bands recently played together at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, with Phoenix frontman (and What We Do In The Shadows guest star) Thomas Mars joining Air to perform “Playground Love” from The Virgin Suicides soundtrack.

The closing ceremony at the 2024 Olympics will also feature an “epic stunt” from famously not-French actor Tom Cruise involving skydiving, the official Olympic flag, and proverbially (and literally?) passing the torch to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He’ll create an appropriate atmosphere.

The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony will broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock on Sunday, August 11, at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).