Month: August 2024

Netflix is not only the place where “concluded” shows go to find new life with a binge-happy audience and receive spin offs or get inexplicably resurrected. The streaming service is also where feature films of book adaptations get left in the dust when a series unlocks the full power of the source material. Such is the case for The Lincoln Lawyer, which will soon return for a third season and further eclipse the 2011 Matthew McConaughey movie. The show’s initial outing took over Nielsen streaming charts, and this series trounced The Witcher with a second season of the new Mickey Haller’s backseat manner.

No offense to McConaughey, but Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is the Mickey Haller of television, and viewers have watched this iconoclastic lawyer expand his professional settings as his practice progresses through Michael Connelly’s same-named book series. Let’s talk about what Mickey will do now.

Plot

LA’s most sensational defense attorney will begin a third season based upon Connelly’s fifth The Lincoln Lawyer book, The Gods of Guilt. As executive producer Ross Fineman hinted following the second season finale, Mickey will go up against “the toughest case he’s ever had,” and “and there’s a nagging sense that he might have been responsible in some way.” That suggests a shattering response to Mickey (in the book) receiving a “187” text message referring to the California penal code for murder. The victim will apparently be somebody that Mickey knows and has previously helped as a client.

As written by Connelly, the circumstances of the murder could actually be roundabout-connected to Mickey through “the ghosts of his past,” suggesting that he contributed to fatal circumstances through these connections. This, of course, sounds murky as can be, plotwise, but the narrative should propel a case through Mickey’s internal battlefield, which leads to the question of whether this case will be his downfall or a form of redemption. We’ll have to wait and see whether the show takes the same route, but the second season did end with Mickey learning of Glory Days’ death.

Of equal (or potentially even greater) interest to viewers is how much of Neve Campbell’s character, Maggie ^^^ (Mickey’s ex wife), will be in this season. As reported a year ago, Campbell was downgraded from series regular since her character does not substantially figure into The Gods Of Guilt book. As well, the show has already seen Maggie move to a different city for a new job, but she will appear somehow. Netflix did provide the above still as proof.

How much of Maggie will we see, and in what context? There were previous suggestions that this wouldn’t simply be a goodbye hug — which honestly could feel “off” considering that Mickey will be embroiled in a consuming case that could make or break his career — and Netflix’s Tudum blog let slip (about a year ago) that Maggie’s scenes will deliver “some insight into how Mickey Haller became Mickey Haller — not just the brilliant criminal defense lawyer, but the husband, the father, and the man that he would come to be” as well as “propel us into the rest of Season 3.” So, perhaps we see Maggie in the present, but it sounds more likely that we’ll see more of her from Mickey’s past. This could provide some important context on how he carries himself in this do-or-die case.

Cast

If you’re reading this, you know that Manuel Garcia-Ruflo has grabbed onto the Mickey Haller with McConaughey being an essential but distant memory. As already mentioned, Neve Campbell will also return in some way. Other returning cast members include Becki Newton (Lorna), Yaya DaCosta (Andrea), Jazz Raycole (Izzy), and Angus Sampson (Cisco), and Jon Tenney (Mickey Haller, Sr.). Other recurring faces include Fiona Rene (Glory Days), Elliott Gould (Legal Siegal), Krista Warner (Hayley), and Devon Graye (Julian La Cosse),

New cast additions include Michael Kirby (Mayans M.C.) as DEA Agent James De Marco. Don’t plan on seeing him become good friends with Mickey. Wolé Parks steps in as defendant David Lyons, and Maisie Klompus will portray witness Annabeth Stephens. New roles will also be portrayed by Allyn Moriyon, John Pirruccello, Merrin Dungey, and Philip Anthony-Rodriguez.

Release Date

The crowd-pleasing Netflix series will return on October 17, which keeps the show pretty darn close to a yearly release schedule again.

Trailer

Although Netflix hasn’t delivered a trailer yet, the show’s announcement teaser will do for now:

In his own words, Lil Yachty has had enough. Over the past few weeks, the “Sorry Not Sorry” rapper found himself in the focus of a public hate train. From backlash over his uncleared Mr. Hotspot sample usage and regrets over speaking on Drake & Kendrick Lamar’s beef to Karrahbooo leaving Concrete Boys, Yachty hasn’t left Twitter’s (currrently X) trending topics list.

Unfortunately, today (August 23) that won’t change as Lil Yachty seemingly suggested that he’s canceling his podcast, A Safe Place. Yesterday (August 22), during an Instagram livestream, Lil Yachty revealed that he and co-host Mitch weren’t in a good place after their interview with Key Glock, which was intensified when a viral tweet (viewable here) hinted at friction in their friendship.

“Y’all talking about Lil Yachty disrespecting his friend in front of Key Glock,” he said. “I didn’t even want to do a podcast bruh.”

He went on to say it was Mitch who presented the idea of “doing something in life,” to which Lil Yachty answered by helping to build him a platform starting with a podcast.

But that seems to be over as he yelled: “F*ck you and the podcast.”

Like thousands of users Mitch watched that video (viewable here here) and took to his X page to respond but to defend Yachty.

“Please don’t let that clip misguide you,” he wrote. “It doesn’t represent me and Yachty’s friendship at all. We joke around pretty harsh sometimes too much fr sometimes but irl it’s nothing but respect and love. I can’t even get on here and act like it’s not.”

He also shut down rumors of Yachty supposedly stealing money from him. “If you don’t hear it from me it’s not true,” he wrote. “Bro never stole from me and we don’t have no shady history or anything along that nature so that’s cap.”

The future of A Safe Place podcast is unclear. However, Mitch won’t be waiting around either. He shared that he is ready to launch a new project.

“I’m dead,” he wrote. “The next podcast will be epic ion even think we need a guest this time lol. see ya around.”

Don’t push play on Doechii‘s new single “Boom Bap” expecting its content to match its title. Instead of employing a Pete Rock-esque, jazz-and-breakbeat-sampling instrumental and spitting cerebral battle raps full of witty double entendres, the Florida native instead lampoons such expectations with a jokey, largely improvised vocal performance, scatting and freestyling her way through repeated chants of the title. It’s a wink at the reputation of her label, Top Dawg Entertainment, which for the past decade was largely defined by its roster of heady rappers like Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as production that favored ’90s-era styles.

Doechii, however, has done things differently since her first-ever single for the label, “Persuasive,” which employed house production and set her apart from her labelmates in some important ways (she’s also the only woman rapper signed to the label, although SZA’s pen skills have been praised as being very rapper-like). She returned to that style on recent single “Alter Ego” with JT of City Girls, putting her in conflict with Azealia Banks, but further establishing that she’s willing to do things her own way.

“Boom Bap” is due to appear on Doechii’s debut TDE mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, which is due on August 30. You can find more information here.

“I am my own validation. I am my only validation,” Taylor Tookes tweets just a few short weeks before New York Fashion Week. During her interview with UPROXX, she tells me she has plans for this years NYFW, but they’re under wraps at the moment. “I don’t know if I’m allowed, but I do have some things going on,” she laughs. “I don’t know if I can say with who.”

The 5’1” model and accidental manifestation coach (more on that later) has garnered an online following by showing people in real time how she’s created the reality of her dreams. She’s walked in a fashion show for Vans, graced the cover of Grazia, and is the first petite Black model to walk in NYFW history. These are massive feats for anyone but are made even more spectacular when you think of Tookes — a pint-sized Black woman taking up a space that once was saved for the Kate Spades of the world.

Tookes started modeling in 2020 and was quickly signed with an agency. However, not long after they stopped submitting her for jobs, citing her petite stature would only land her print and commercial campaigns. That’s when she decided to book her own work, applying to modeling jobs without help from the agency and ignoring naysayers who tried to keep her boxed in based on her height.

Not only has Tookes used her strategic positive thinking to create her own success, she’s now been passing it on through Height Revolution, an organization meant to advocate for the overdue inclusion of petite women in the fashion industry.

Tookes has also gathered a party of 35k followers on Twitter who read her tweets on the Law of Assumption — a manifestation-based belief system that your thoughts, what you believe and admit, manifest into reality. Unlike the countless TikTok and Twitter accounts pushing magical techniques (i.e. writing something down multiple times, drinking energetic water, etc.) to manifest, Tookes simply teaches that if “you think as if you already have what you want and don’t think against it,” it will become part of your reality.

Below, Tookes talk to UPROXX about creating the life of her dreams, breaking the glass ceiling as a petite Black model, and her plans for Height Revolution.

I started following you online for your manifestation content but then saw that you’d started an organization for petite models and I thought that was incredible. I’d love to touch on both aspects, but first, I want to discuss how your journey led you to becoming an entrepreneur.

I don’t know if I should call myself an entrepreneur. People do call me that, and I did create Height Revolution. It’s an Instagram community and organization for short women in fashion. It was basically a shower thought. I was so fed up. I saw some posts, the usual from an agency or casting call, that was like, “We’re scouting new faces, women 5’9” and up.” And I just got so fed up with that. I was like, absolutely not! No one’s using their voice continuously to speak out for shorter women. So if no one’s going to do it, then I’ll do it. I knew I wasn’t the only person who felt that way. I reached out to other models and said, “Hey, I’m doing Heart Revolution if you wanna join me.” Two voices are more powerful than one, three are more powerful than two. Two girls reached out and became co-founders. My current co-founder is Marissa Rose she’s 4’11” and the other one’s name is Faith Chan — she was a founder but she had to step away because she got very busy. It was the three of us. And it’s for women in the fashion industry. We’re advocating for them to have their rightful place in the industry because it’s 2024, and I feel like it’s time.

I know you were modeling and had a contract before Height Revolution. What was that experience like? And what was it about it that made you want to solve for the problem you were experiencing as a petite model?

I was modeling since I was 16, but I wasn’t taking it seriously because to be very real with you, I just didn’t care about anything at that age. I just wanted to be on my phone. Then when I was 20 or 21, during Covid, I started putting myself out there and started taking portfolio pictures and posting them on Instagram. I started getting noticed by big agencies, like Elite Modeling Agency commented on my picture and was like, “Wow, amazing. DM us to be scouted.” Then there was Wilhelmina … there were all of these huge agencies [reaching out] so I was like, I can totally do this. Then in 2022, there was an opportunity to walk in New York Fashion Week. It just fell into my lap. I didn’t know that I would ever walk in New York Fashion Week, but it was presented to me and I was like, sure. Mind you, I had no idea at the time until I finished that I would be the first Black short model to walk New York Fashion Week for the first petite brand to showcase ever in New York Fashion Week history. So, that aligned with what I wanted for myself.

How did it feel to know that you were the first Black petite model to walk in fashion week?

It’s a lot to carry, but it’s an achievement.

What were some of the biggest moments you’ve had so far. Moments when you realized that you were creating what you wanted in your career?

Probably when I first saw myself on Elle, Marie Claire, and Harper’s Bizarre. It wasn’t on the cover, but it was like on the website, and it was just of me walking, and I was like, Wait, I’ve never done this before. I’ve walked many shows before, but I was never published in something like that. So I was like, Oh my God, this is actually real life. And It gave me a lot of credibility. The same people who wanted nothing to do with me before because I was 5”1’ model, suddenly were all over me on my Instagram page and my DMs like, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t know that you were on Harper’s Bizarre. I didn’t know that you were in Elle didn’t know you walked New York Fashion Week.” And they were just like, “Do you wanna work together now?” I was still going to castings after that, like Miami Swim Week castings and New York Fashion Week. And I got recognized and people knew me and it was shocking because I’m not this big-time celebrity yet. They’re like, yeah, I love Height Revolution. I love what you’re doing.

I saw on your feed that people have questioned your success and questioned how it came about. Some people doubt your cover stories. How did you deal with those accusations?

It’s annoying. I just feel like it’s disrespectful because I’ve put a lot of work even aside from creating my reality and creating these opportunities. I was absolutely working toward becoming a known short model and putting short models into the spotlight. That’s all I’ve wanted to do. It just so happened that this is how it’s going down. I think InStyle was my first ever cover for a high fashion magazine and I do remember when Pop Crave tweeted that about me. People were like, “Oh, well she bought the cover or she just knows people!” And it’s like, well, no, that’s not how that works. That’s not how I work. It’s very annoying because they did reach out to me, and I think it was New York Fashion Week that put me on their radar, put me on Harper’s Bazaar radar, put me on Grazia’s Radar and they were like, “Hey, we love what you’re doing. Would you like to be on the cover of this magazine?” I’m not gonna say no.

Before we get into your beliefs on mindset, I’d love to talk about how you ignore the outer voices. It can’t be easy to go first or to go into rooms where they’ve said you’re not tall enough but you still do. How do you do that so confidently?

To be very real with you I think not caring is a superpower. I have absolutely never cared what anyone had to say about me. I think it comes from being raised by two very strong parents. I walk into a room where they’ve said you have to be 5’9” and up to be cast. And I’d go anyway because I don’t care. And I end up getting casted. You just gotta not care. Really standing firm on what you want and really not letting anyone else outside of you tell you you can’t do this or, it’s not your time yet or this isn’t for you. It’s like, Well, you don’t know me and you’re not the creator here. You don’t run my reality. I just put myself in that position knowing this is mine. I know I want this, and I know it’s meant for me. I know I’m gonna get this. And I just go in with that confident mindset, and it works for me every time.

What advice would you give to others who want to manifest the life of their dreams?

You can’t really serve two masters. You can’t be like, “Oh I’m, I’m the most famous supermodel in the world. Everyone loves me, I have millions of fans!” And then the very next minute you’re like, “Where are my fans? Why isn’t it picking up?” That’s just one major common theme. The second one is that they just don’t believe in themselves. I feel like they don’t actually think that they are a creator of their reality, or they can create this, or good things can happen to them, or they think it’s too good to be true. So getting past all of that … I’ve been there too, but getting past all of that, you’ll become unstoppable.

People overcomplicate it. Literally, if you want to speak in simple terms and just tell someone like they’re five years old, the only thing I would say is to think as if you already have what you want and don’t think against it. That’s literally it.

And what about more practical, day-to-day advice? On going into those rooms without worrying about rejection — what’s your advice for pushing towards what you want?

If you really feel pulled toward a job or if you really feel pulled toward an aspiration, then I think that you are absolutely meant to do that and that’s absolutely meant to be your calling. You should take that in and really tell yourself that because that changes everything when you tell yourself, I’m meant to be this, I’m meant to be here. It’ll automatically just dissolve all of the [feelings of]l I don’t belong here or am I really fit to be here or everyone elset. It doesn’t matter anymore because you know that this is meant for you and this is what you’re supposed to be doing. So when you really know that about yourself, and even if you don’t truly know it, you just keep telling yourself that anyway. You’ll feel this random surge of confidence such as, “Well I don’t care if I’m Black and everyone else is white, or I don’t care if I’m 5’1” and everyone else in the room is 5’ 11” and up. It doesn’t matter because I know I’m meant to be here, and I’m meant to create the space for other people as well. It’s also knowing that this world is so diverse. To tell someone that they’re not meant to be a room just makes someone sound insane.

What are your next goals for Height Revolution?

We want to make it into an agency specifically for short women, but also specifically for people of color who are short. In the past there were a few short models who were assigned to major agencies like IMG,Wilhelmina, but they all had one thing in common and they were all white, and they were all blonde with blue eyes. There have been times where there were petite models but they weren’t diverse. I want to spread the word that yes, petite models are a thing, but we’re not only white. We’re also Black, we’re also Indian, we’re also Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hispanic, we’re everything. There’s short girls everywhere. The average height in the entire world of women is 5’3”. So, just to represent the small, very tiny portion of women who are white, blonde hair, blue eyes is ridiculous. I am definitely speaking out more for people of color who are short and creating that space for them and creating opportunities for them. I’m also working on collaborating with a few agencies and designer brands who don’t have this prejudice against short models and creating something special with them as well.

Welcome to another installment of Ask A Music Critic! And thanks to everyone who has sent me questions. Please keep them coming at [email protected].

Chappell Roan went viral this week with two TikTok videos in which she talked about harassment from fans. It goes without saying that things like stalking or attacking a celebrity (verbally or god forbid physically) are beyond the pale. But what about approaching an artist you like because you want to tell them how much you like their work? I feel like that is a harmless act, and it even seems like a nice thing to do. But at least based on Chappell Roan’s comments, even that might be invasive. For instance, she complained about people asking to take a photo with her. I guess I don’t know where the line is drawn. What’s the right way to approach a celebrity? — Emily from St. Louis

This is a good and valid question. The Chappell Roan videos inspired a lot of conversation online this week. Some of it was good and insightful. Some of it was reactionary and lacking in empathy. Almost none of it was instructive. I truly believe that 99 percent of us want to be kind and normal when it comes to how we act around famous people we admire. But sometimes we don’t know how to be kind and normal. Clearly — as you said — nobody wants to be the Mark David Chapman-style fan. But it’s also possible to proceed with the best intentions and still end up acting like a complete jerk.

The problem is that the average person has no idea what it’s like to be famous. We think we have an idea, but the common perception of celebrity is mostly fixated on presumed wealth. We only imagine the luxury of being rich and make the money part the entirety of the fame experience. There’s even an increasingly common belief that celebrities work for us, and therefore owe us certain consideration should we ever encounter them face to face. We gave you all the money you have, the thinking goes, so the least you could do is give me a few minutes of your time. Social media has accelerated this by collapsing the perceived space between artist and fan. These people are so present in our minds that we are deluded into a false sense of intimacy.

Also: Being rich is not the same as being famous. You can be rich without being famous, and you can be famous without being rich. (The latter is way more common in the music business than fans believe.) For those who are rich and famous, there’s an expectation from the public that the former status ought to pay for the burdens of the latter status. I don’t think that expectation is totally wrong, though it shouldn’t cause the rest of us to completely disregard the very real strangeness of living in the public eye.

I am not a famous person, but I think I have a very small sense of what that strangeness feels like. This summer, I did a handful of readings for my latest book. I had a wonderful time, and I met lots of very cool people who are kind enough to buy and enjoy my books. I didn’t have a single bad experience at those events. But I did have one slightly weird one.

It was nobody’s fault but my own. Before my event in Brooklyn, I had to use the bathroom. The bookstore had one commode, so I had to wait in line. Unfortunately, the bathroom was located near the front door, so anyone who walked in could see me standing there, waiting to whizz. Now, it’s not like this is a big deal. I didn’t wet my pants waiting for my turn or anything like that. But I could tell that the people passing by recognized me, and then I remembered that everyone in this room knew who I was. Which is not a common experience for me, obviously, but this was the rare instance where I was famous within the walls of this particular store. And here I was, in front of all those folks, waiting to urinate. And I’ll be honest: In that moment, I felt a little self-conscious!

I am not at all likening this silly anecdote to the meteoric rise to fame experienced by Chappell Roan in 2024. I’m just saying that we all go through the world with a cloak of invisibility that we take for granted. You can technically be out in public and know that nobody will pay attention. You can shop for toilet paper, pump your car full of gas, ride your bike around the neighborhood, or walk your dog. It’s all the same. Nobody cares! You are always visible, but never really seen. You get to be insignificant in your own skin.

That’s the sort of thing you never think about as a luxury until you lose it. Which is precisely what Chappell Roan was talking about. When you’re famous, you constantly meet strangers who already know who you are. And those strangers have a highly developed relationship with you in their minds. They might even expect you to be aware of that pretend relationship and — if they’re really crazy — to reciprocate it.

Again: I think 99 percent of us want to be kind and normal. But how do you do it? Here are five rules for approaching a famous person you admire.

Rule No. 1: Never Approach A Person Who Is Eating

Simple common courtesy that applies to famous and non-famous people. Nobody wants to be bothered while picking away at a Caesar salad.

Rule No. 2: Never Approach A Person Who Is Already In Conversation With Someone They Clearly Know

I call this “The John C. Reilly Rule,” as I saw John C. Reilly once in a bar in Austin during SXSW. He was talking with an attractive woman, but I decided to walk up to him anyway and attempt to shake his head. He gave me the old “dead fish” handshake in return and looked at me like I was Alfred Molina in Boogie Nights. Just complete and utter disgust and contempt. And I deserved it!

Anyway, please learn from my mistake.

Rule No. 3: Don’t Ask For A Photo, Don’t Ask For A Hug, Don’t Ask For Anything You Wouldn’t Ask Of Any Other Stranger

I repeat: Famous people do not know you! Your parasocial relationship is one-sided and centered on a public image that is only loosely connected to that person’s private life. Honor their personal space, you freak!

Rule No. 4: Always Keep It Positive, aka This Is Not The Time To Air Your Personal Grievances About How This Person Has Disappointed You

To reiterate an earlier point: There is an increasingly common mentality people seem to have where they feel “owed” some sort of interaction with an artist they like. This is at a time when most people don’t actually buy albums or movies or books, but rather stream them for an absurdly low fee. And yet, investing less has made people feel more entitled.

That’s crazy! Celebrities are not our employees. They are, at best, contractors. You pay them to perform a specific task, and that’s it. If you don’t like their service, treat them the way you would a plumber. Complain about them on the internet, and never to their face.

Rule No. 5: Keep Your Comments Short And Sweet

If you feel strongly compelled to approach a famous person, give yourself two sentences max. Repeat after me: “Big fan! Thanks for all that you do!” That’s all you need to say. Anyone will appreciate hearing that, and you will feel good about spreading positive vibes.

Remember: It only takes one person to ruin another person’s day or week or month or year or even life. Try not to be that person!

Uproxx’s How I Blew Up aims to emphasize the intriguing details of how a seemingly overnight sensation put in years of work before anyone was watching their every move. Justine Skye embodies taking advantage of circumstance and tirelessly pursuing organic curiosity. Now, millions of people are aware of Skye from hit songs such as “Collide,” a 2014 song rejuvenated by TikTok, or “Whip It Up” and her magnetic social media persona, but Skye has been developing her voice since her adolescence embedded in the New York City arts scene.

On the latest installment of How I Blew Up, Skye traces it all back to “a friendly competition” to attract followers on Tumblr, which led to Skye experimenting with unfiltered self-expression and seeing the rewards. Skye doesn’t necessarily claim the “nepo baby” label, but she does recognize her mother’s career as an entertainment lawyer and how it helped her learn the ropes earlier than most. Ultimately, however, Skye still had to earn her stripes, such as spontaneously singing at an industry event to land her first record deal.

Skye speaks to everything happening when and how it’s meant to happen — preparing her for her purpose. Now a fully independent artist, she trusts that more than ever: “I feel like it’s the beginning of the beginning for me.”

Watch Justine Skye’s full How I Blew Up story above.

Selena Gomez was finally nominated for her performance on Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building, but even if she wins, it won’t be the most prestigious award she’s earned this year. The female leads of Emilia Pérez — Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, and Gomez — took home Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for Jacques Audiard’s crime musical about a feared cartel leader who embraces her true identity as a woman.

“Women together — that’s something we wanted to honor when we made this award,” Barbie director and 2024 Cannes jury president Greta Gerwig said of the split win. “Each of them is a standout, but together transcendent.”

Following the positive critical response to Emilia Pérez at the film festival (it’s currently at 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it was acquired for distribution in the United States by Netflix. But when will you be able to watch it? And what’s this about it being a “crime musical”? Here’s everything to know about Emilia Pérez, including plot details and whether there’s a release date.

Plot

Directed by Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez is about a Mexico City lawyer named Rita, played by Zoe Saldaña, who is hired by a dangerous drug kingpin named Mantis (Karla Sofía Gascón) to stage their own death so they can undergo sex reassignment surgery and begin life anew as Emilia Pérez. But years later, Emilia misses her family, including wife Jessi (Selena Gomez), and “the past begins to creep back, threatening to undo everything she and Rita have worked so hard to achieve,” according to the plot description provided by the Toronto International Film Festival.

Did I mention Emilia Pérez is a musical? Because it is. “I didn’t know if I can sing or act in the way it required,” Saldaña told The Hollywood Reporter about breaking into song. “I didn’t know I could do it but I had a decent conversation with a filmmaker who heard me, and I felt him. He was guiding me through it, and we read through a couple of scenes together, just him and I. I wasn’t sure I could follow with the songs because I’m a little tone deaf now that I’m older. He said I could do it however I wanted. I felt a connection with him and I felt it could go somewhere. When he asked me to be a part of his film, it was an opportunity for me to branch out and just showcase everything that I live with that I desire to continue accomplishing as an artist. It was so liberating.”

Audiard said that his intention for Emilia Pérez (which is loosely based on Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute) was “about the transition identity,” and even outside of the plot, it shows in how the film transitions between genres.

“I wanted the film to be set in Mexico, which I believe is a bit of a schizophrenic country, and these two elements, somehow the transition of Manitas Del Monte was Emilia Pérez, the change of gender was to be matched, in my opinion, with a change in the genre,” he explained in an interview with Collider. “Because I wanted it to be a soap opera and a musical comedy, a narcos film, something where you could not really grasp a label, something that was still very fluid. I really tried to do that in a film that was selected in Cannes, a drama that kept on changing and not being labeled.” He also had no idea that Selena Gomez was such a big deal. He does now!

Cast

Emilia Pérez stars Karla Sofía Gascón (who made history as the first trans performer to win Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival), Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Édgar Ramirez, Adriana Paz, and Mark Ivanir. Both Gascón and Gomez are getting legitimate Oscars buzz for their performances.

Release Date

Netflix hasn’t officially announced when Emilia Pérez will be available to watch, but reports have said it could be November.

Trailer

Below, you’ll find the Emilia Pérez trailer from French distributor Pathé.

The blog era of hip-hop has been revered as a pivotal moment in time for the genre (at least for millennials). But the tail end of that time period gifted the culture some monumental mixtapes, including Travis Scott’s Days Before Rodeo.

In honor of the body of work’s tenth anniversary, at Fanatic Fest NYC, Scott announced that it would be re-released onto streaming services. Well, today (August 23), he delivered on his promise.

But that wasn’t the only oldie the “Fe!n” rapper treated fans to. On the deluxe version (exclusively available on Scott’s personal website here), purchasers were gifted several bonus track, the most notable being “Yeah Yeah” featuring Young Thug.

True Travis Scott fans are very well acquainted with the song. Similar to Kanye West (Ye) and Ty Dolla Sign’s record “New Body” formerly featuring Nicki Minaj, a rough version of “Yeah Yeah” was leaked and continues to float around online. Although “Yeah Yeah” isn’t available on streaming (yet), Days Before Rodeo (Deluxe) owners now have the finished track in the collection.

According to NFR Podcast, yesterday (August 22) during the Days Before Rodeo anniversary concert held at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia, Scott performed the track for the among others to lock in the nostalgic moment.

Listen to “Yeah Yeah” above.

Sabrina Carpenter is short, but there’s nothing sweet about what she does to Jenna Ortega in the music video for “Taste.” The third single from her new album, Short n’ Sweet, stars the two former Disney Channel actresses as two women going after the same two-timing guy who murder each other over and over again. But they eventually make out — and make up.

You can watch the video above.

While appearing on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show, Carpenter told host Jimmy Fallon that the music video “was inspired by one of my favorite films, and [Jenna] was a huge fan of the film. And also, I’m so excited for you guys to see the video, you have no idea. I think it’s my favorite one I’ve ever done.” That’s high praise, considering her last video involved boyfriend Barry Keoghan, bank robberies, and handcuffs.

“I’m 900 inappropriate jokes away from being a Disney actor, but people still see me that way,” Carpenter told Variety about her Disney past. “I’m always extremely flattered to be grouped in with the other women and girls who I’ve idolized and looked up to who came from that, but I feel very distant from it.”

Short N’ Sweet is out now via Island Records. Find more information here.

AFROJACK has been around the block. He has 22 years of DJing and 25 years of producing music under his belt. Yet he can still look back and remember the feeling of getting on stage for the first time and having reality play out like a movie.

Scratch that. From the outside, AFROJACK’s life seems too dreamy to work as a feature film. The DJ and GRAMMY award-winning producer has long been considered one of the most sought-after and innovative artists in dance music, being one of the first DJs to secure a Las Vegas residency over a decade ago and getting placed on Forbes “30 Under 30” list. Throughout his two-decades-long career, he has traveled all over the world to play on the most coveted stages of dance music – most notably Tomorrowland, ULTRA, and EDC Las Vegas – and has lent his production skills to tracks and co-created major hits for artists like Beyoncé, Will.i.am, Lil Jon, David Guetta, and Pitbull.

Following the 2011 generational smash “Give Me Everything,” AFROJACK once again reunited with Pitbull and NE-YO to deliver a 13-years-in-the-making summer hit for 2024, “2 The Moon.” The new track instantly takes flight as a classic Pitbull banger, while AFROJACK lays down his signature production with tropical grooves punctuated by NE-YO’s intoxicating hook.

To commemorate this long-anticipated reunion between the three powerhouse artists, we caught up with AFROJACK to talk about the creative process behind this new 2024 summer anthem, his WALL Recordings headquarters, mitigating burnout, his travel essentials, and more.

It’s been 13 years since you released “Give Me Everything” with Pitbull and NE-YO, what sparked the long-awaited reunion with the new single, “2 The Moon”?

Pitbull started a new tour and they said, “Yo, let’s finally do this record.” A lot has changed in these 13 years, of course, for me personally, because back then my career was just getting started and I was learning everything about the music industry. Back then when we put out the record, it was like you make it, you send it out to radio, and then from there on it starts to live.

Now there is Spotify, TikTok, and all these social media outlets that really influence the perceived success of a record. I remember back then when the record went high up in Billboard, that was a measure of success. Now, no one actually knows how to define what is a successful hit record. For me, the only thing I care about right now is just making fun music and making music that brings people together.

What was the creative process behind “2 The Moon” and was there always a plan to release a reunion single?

No, but of course you continue to work with the people you have fun working with, so we had some things laying around. I have a few other records with NE-YO laying around still! Everyone is not necessarily focused on just releasing a song because 100K songs get uploaded to Spotify every day. It’s crazy. So even if you are one of our monthly listeners, sometimes one single doesn’t get to the listener anymore. Fans want a story with every song. These days we get so spoiled through social media by always getting a story with a song. It’s amazing that you can’t get away with faking it anymore. Your music needs to be heartfelt and the story needs to be right.

How do you personally define success with your music?

If the song is getting played in my friend circle and the dance music culture, that’s very important to me personally, and it’s a marker for success. I think for a lot of people it’s the numbers, tracking the streams, skip rate, and chart position. For me, if my friends know about it and think it’s cool, then it’s a success.

You’re coming fresh off the stage from ULTRA Europe. How do you mitigate the effects of burnout and jet lag while traveling?

You deal with it. You do what you have to. You try to pay attention. I used to drink a lot, but I really noticed that in order to keep the longevity and to keep yourself fresh, drinking less makes it a lot easier. You get better sleep, you stay fresher, and have more time to make music and focus. The way I look at it is if I go to a psychologist and they give me the definition of having burnout, then it makes it real. But as long as I don’t go and I just continue working, my physical or mental situation isn’t subject to external definition, which then allows me to define how I’m feeling day by day.

So I try to stay fresh. I try to be healthy. I try to play some PlayStation or some video games. If I’m feeling stressed or I feel like I need a breather, I go on vacation with my wife a few days here and there in between work. I listen to my feelings and emotions, and if it’s too much, I might do a little bit less of a great performance, but I at least know my limits so I don’t overwork myself.

This is a balance because I also know if you push yourself to the fullest, to the maximum, you will burn out. I try to read the people around me. I try to have the people around me be honest and transparent. I think this is very important to have transparent people around you, to tell you if you’re being unreasonable and you’re super high strung and stressed state. This is also a part of what we teach with the academy.

So when you are traveling, what are some of your travel essentials that you always travel with that help you stay centered and happy on the road?

I think my number one thing is my laptop. I use my laptop to make music, but I also use my laptop to play video games. So it’s the perfect combination. I love [playing] Final Fantasy. I grew up with Final Fantasy, so I always play that. I used to play Call of Duty a lot, but that became a little bit too much. It makes you think you’re doing something very efficient but you’re actually just throwing away a lot of time. I play League of Legends sometimes, any of the “old” games. Sometimes I play Sonic the Hedgehog or Mega Man.

I think the second thing which really streamlined my travel over the last years, I created a checklist. I read The Checklist Manifesto and it showed how in hospitals and with airplanes that by having a checklist, it can change the error ratio from 5% to 0%. So now I have a little checklist that includes my passports, my wallet, and all the important things. Since I started using this checklist, I never lose anything. I never forget anything in a hotel.

You also travel quite frequently with your “vacation puppy” Leia. Is she part of the checklist?

When my wife [Elettra Lamborghini] and I go on vacation together, she always comes. So I guess you can say she is part of the checklist. She’s been to Miami, Marbella, Ibiza, basically everywhere. My wife tours as well, so Leia comes with me or she comes with her, but she’s never alone. She’s our mascot. She sleeps with us, she lives with us, and we even trained her to use the shower as a toilet since she’s a super small dog. Very convenient for hotel rooms.

It has been about two years since you opened the doors to your WALL Recordings headquarters in Belgium. What prompted you to open this up?

So I started my artist development company around 2015 when I split with my management at that time. I had a place in Holland for a while then later moved [WALL Recordings] to Belgium about two years ago. Recently, I started the Wall Pro Academy with Tomorrowland which features 40 hours of content of me explaining everything I know about the music industry, from music production across genres, music management, legalities, taxes, and financials. I’m trying to level out the playing field for young, upcoming producers. A lot of producers when they first start out go to YouTube to find tutorials, but it’s only the basics of how to make music. It’s important to teach people how to successfully make music, how to successfully be a DJ, how to get gigs, how to get songs that perform, and how to create a fan base.

Our studios in Belgium are a multiplication of that. If someone can solely focus on their passion for a year and see what comes out of it, it’s usually success. We have a few artists that are being picked up by labels, by DJs getting supported internationally, some DJs performing internationally. Basically, I see it as a dream factory. People come with dreams and we turn them into a tangible thing.

I love that you have that terminology for it, the Dream Factory. Would you say that you are out scouting these artists or are people coming to you and asking to travel out to the studio?

There are thousands of people always wanting to come. In the beginning, I was scouting actively all the time. And then a few years ago, I started doing live streams and doing demo listening and giving feedback. And through that, I’ve accidentally stumbled across a lot of new talent. To me, it’s not how far are you in your journey but it’s how fast do you learn if someone gives you critique or gives you feedback. How fast can you develop that into making a better song or making better music?

I see artists that are making big room EDM for festivals, and then we have a conversation on the live stream and tell them to try some tech house. Three weeks later, this kid who never made a tech house song suddenly gets his record released on a big tech house label, gets supported all over the world by the biggest tech house DJs, and is now starting to get booking requests. Things happen fast just by changing your mindset. It has nothing to do with skill. It has only to do with changing the strategy of what it is that you’re doing with your music career.

There’s a lot of people that have success, but they cannot create a sustainable career out of it. I think that also has to do with knowledge and experience of how to handle success. No one is below you in the food chain, we’re all on the same level. It’s an even playing field, and especially now in the days of transparency of social media, you won’t get away with bullshitting anyone. Everyone always says fake it until you make it, and that it doesn’t really work anymore. It’s like people smell the fake a mile away.

It’s not just for the music community, it’s also for myself. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been DJing for 22 years and producing music for 25 years, and I noticed that getting on stage continuously in front of 10,000, 20,000, or even 100,000 people is always fun, but the first time is like a movie. Giving the movie experience to young people is worth it way more than getting on the stage again myself. To be able to give someone that experience of changing their perception of what’s possible with reality, that’s worth so much more. To really bring someone else on stage and change their life or change their perspective of life, that’s an experience money cannot buy. It’s special.