Month: October 2024

Pharrell Williams’ plate is always filled with a new creativity venture. Although this year’s installment of his Something In The Water Festival has been postponed until 2025, the “Airplane Tickets” musician has kept busy with others things. Most recently, his Lego Movie about his life, Piece By Piece, is heading to theaters soon.

But his exploration into animated worlds is far from over. Today (October 4), Pharrell teamed up with Lil Yachty, and Swae Lee for the futuristic new single, “Doodleverse.” On the track, each entertainer lets their imagination run wild while bringing in listeners to an already established animated universe.

“On the other side when you realize that nothin’ is unobtainable / On the other side when you realize that nothin’ is unachievable / On the other side when you realize that dreams are reality / And all the Doodles live happily / And colors blend together magically,” sings the trio.

Pharrell and Lil Yachty expand on that positive momentum on the song’s bridge, singing: “So many things get lost in grey / Like details and things that we’re tryin’ to say / All colors come from black and space / And then make white when they pixelate.”

Listen to Pharrell’s new song “Doodleverse” featuring Lil Yachty and Swae Lee above.

A new Glamour feature shared yesterday (October 3) put the spotlight on mothers of some of today’s biggest stars: Tina Knowles (mother of Beyoncé and Solange), Donna Kelce (Jason and Travis Kelce), Maggie Baird (Billie Eilish and Finneas), and Mandy Teefey (Selena Gomez). During the conversation, Baird went ahead and addressed something she hears sometimes: Due to her history with acting, Eilish and Finneas are apparently nepo babies.

Baird’s filmography features some big-name shows, like Walker, Texas Ranger, The X-Files, and Friends. But, she describes herself as a “working class actor,” not the kind of celebrity who would have the sort of pull to launch her children to stardom. She says:

“I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, ‘Oh, Billie is a nepo baby.’ And I’m like, ‘Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?’

My husband and I are working class actors. We eked out a meager living, and it afforded us a lot of time with our kids, which was awesome. But the industry is primarily people like us or even people not even like us who couldn’t even do that. So when all of this happened to our kids, we’d never been on that side of it. I think that people don’t really understand there’s a whole industry of people who are creative and they’re working and they’re struggling, and they make perfectly happy lives, and they feel creative, and they feel fulfilled. But that’s a very different life than on this side of the door where you’re suddenly playing in this different arena.”

Read the full feature here.

Charli XCX announced Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat last month, and the tracklist (which hasn’t been fully revealed yet) features Troye Sivan, Lorde, Robyn, and other hopping on remixes. Over the past few days, it has looked like Charli is using billboards to tease additional remixes, and the latest one is big.

As Pop Crave points out, a Brat-style billboard featuring Ariana Grande’s name was spotted in Boca Raton, Florida.

Other names that have been teased so far include Tinashe, Bon Iver, and The 1975.

Find the Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat cover art and tracklist (as of September 12) below.

Charli XCX’s Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat Album Cover Artwork

Charli XCX’s Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat Tracklist

Disc 1
1. “360 Featuring Robyn & Yung Lean”
2. “Track Two”
3. “Track Three”
4. “Track Four”
5. “Talk Talk Featuring Troye Sivan”
6. “Von Dutch A.G. Cook Remix Featuring Addison Rae”
7. “Track Seven”
8. “Track Eight”
9. “Track Nine”
10. “Girl, So Confusing Featuring Lorde”
11. “Track Eleven”
12. “Track Twelve”
13. “Track Thirteen”
14. “Track Fourteen”
15. “Track Fifteen”
16. “Guess Featuring Billie Eilish”

Disc 2
1. “360”
2. “Club Classics”
3. “Sympathy Is A Knife”
4. “I Might Say Something Stupid”
5. “Talk Talk”
6. “Von Dutch”
7. “Everything Is Romantic”
8. “Rewind”
9. “So I”
10. “Girl, So Confusing”
11. “Apple”
12. “B2B”
13. “Mean Girls”
14. “I Think About It All The Time”
15. “365”
16. “Hello Goodbye”
17. “Guess”
18. “Spring Breakers”

Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat is out 10/11 via Atlantic. Find more information here.

So much for the speculation that Sabrina Carpenter doesn’t sing live.

Earlier this week, the “Taste” singer responded to a TikTok video that accused her of lip-syncing during the Short N’ Sweet tour. “i sing live every show 100% would you like to speak to my audio engineers,” she commented. But just in case anyone still doubted her, Carpenter performed “Espresso” on Thursday’s episode of The Tonight Show with a new, lounge-club arrangement that proved, without a doubt, she’s working late ’cause she’s a real-deal singer.

You can watch the video — which includes Carpenter climbing on Fallon’s desk (thankfully, he was off screen) – above.

In a recent interview with Time, Carpenter discussed why she’s honest in her songwriting but also doesn’t take herself too seriously. “I like the fact that I just put out a song that starts with ‘I can’t relate to desperation,’ and then I’m putting out the most desperate possible sounding chorus I could in my life,” she said. “The idea is like: if everything is super calculated, then the second you make a statement, that’s who you are for the rest of your life — as opposed to it being like: or you can be super confident one day and then the most emotional wreck the next day.”

Coldplay’s latest album, Moon Music, is out now. Lately, the band has generated some attention by noting that this album, their 10th, will be one of their last, as they intend to only release 12 albums. Not only have they planned that, but the group knows exactly the sorts of albums they want their final two releases to be.

Ahead of Coldplay’s appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, Chris Martin was one of Jimmy Fallon’s interview guests on The Tonight Show yesterday (October 3). During the chat, Fallon brought up all the talk about Coldplay’s final albums, and Martin explained, “It’s just always been very clear to me that we’re supposed to make 12 things. And this is No. 10, and No. 11 is a musical, and No. 12 is a very tiny album, kind of back in our bedrooms.”

Fallon then wondered if the band would still be inspired to create after the 12th album, and Martin compared it to Fallon’s career timeline, saying, “I think so, but I think we’ll find other… You were on this show, then you were on that show, then you were on… you know?”

Martin spoke about this in more detail during a recent NME interview, saying:

“It is 12 albums for sure, but we’re going to be a bit later than [2025]. There’s one more thing, which is a musical. [That’s] album No. 11, but that might have to come out after album 12 because of how long musicals take to animate.

Our last single is on this album, and that’s called ‘All My Love.’ That’s the last ‘single’ single. We have the musical thing, then an album just called Coldplay, which is the final one. I think that will be a year late — I know it will be.

The 12 album thing is very real, and it’s a nice feeling. It doesn’t mean we won’t tour or finish some compilation things or outtakes or whatever. It just means that the main story is told. That’s just what feels really right. Just knowing that’s happening supercharges all the work we’re doing now.”

Watch clips from Martin’s Tonight Show interview above and below.

Steven and Ian begin this week’s episode by discussing Ian’s upcoming trip to London, which is quickly interrupted by a quick rant by Steven about the (improving!) state of tour T-shirts. Then the guys commence a conversation about Pitchfork’s recent list of the best albums of the 2020s, and what some notable exclusions and slights say about the changing critical narrative for the decade. After that, they take stock of a big release day for albums and review the latest from Wild Pink, former Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep, and the new supergroup The Hard Quartet fronted by Stephen Malkmus.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the emo band Ceres and Steven reps for the fine indie-heartland rock group Trace Mountains.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 209 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Lil Durk has begun the rollout for his upcoming project, Love Songs 4 The Streets 3, in earnest with the video for “Monitoring Me.” In typical Durkio fashion, the Windy City rapper taunts his enemies for their lack of bonafides, while touting the work that his own crew has put in on the streets of Chicago. As he once promised, though, he keeps the details on the low, convinced that there’s a possibility that, well, someone is listening.

Durk’s a year removed from his introspective and motivational Almost Healed, on which he boasts the benefits of going to therapy and getting clean. However, when it comes to giving the fans what they want, he has no qualms about going back to the “Old Days” and reminding listeners that he really comes from some dark circumstances — and somehow, he makes those harrowing tales just as entertaining as they are tragic.

While he hasn’t put out a wealth of new music since Almost Healed, Durk has made himself visible in the run-up to the release of Love Songs 4 The Streets 3, appearing on “Ghetto” from Mustard’s new album along with Young Thug, as well as tag-teaming with fellow Chicago rapper Polo G on “We Uh Shoot.”

Watch Lil Durk’s video for “Monitoring Me” above.

Back in 2016, Harlem rapper Ferg (then known as ASAP Ferg) and Atlanta rapper Future hooked up to create an absolute monster — no pun intended. Their collaboration “New Level” absolutely flattened the hip-hop club scene, and still goes up at the function to this day.

Today, they reunited for another spirited collaboration, “Allure,” which attempts to recapture the chemistry that had every car in every hood blasting “New Level” at all hours of the day or night. They come pretty close, with a Mike Will Made-It-produced beat custom-built to knock the subs out of your speakers.

The song’s accompanied by a visualizer of the recording process, which took place in an unconventional studio setting. Ferg and Future dance under the mood lighting and mug the camera as their engineer makes the necessary tweaks to ensure maximum impact of those Mike Will 808s.

“Allure” is set to appear on Ferg’s upcoming album, Darold — yes, Ferg’s real name is Darold Ferguson Jr. In preparation of the rollout, Ferg has made his presence known a bit more lately, collaborating with both frequent rap partners like Denzel Curry and hip-hop neophytes like the NBA’s Jaylen Brown. Stay tuned for more from Ferg, including a release date for his upcoming album.

Check out the visualizer for Ferg’s “Allure” featuring Future above.

Millennial nostalgia is in full swing lately, and K-pop sensation Lisa joins the trend with her funky new single, “Moonlit Floor.” If that title lit up the pleasure centers in your brain with memories of Dawson’s Creek or She’s All That, you’re in luck. “Moonlit Floor” absolutely does take its title from the memorable descriptor in Sixpence None The Richer’s 1998 bop.

However, where that song was a folksy, low-key ballad, “Moonlit Floor” delves into another contemporary trend: The nu-disco sounds that have driven songs like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” to the top of the charts.

Lisa had been teasing the song for the past month — a K-pop tradition at this point — so its release has been warmly received. The Blackpink member has been the breakout success from her quartet, recently collaborating with Rosalía on “New Woman” and performing it alongside her song “Rockstar” at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. She also won the award for Best K-Pop at the VMAs for “Rockstar.”

The Thai singer is also set to make her US acting debut after being cast in season 3 of the returning HBO favorite, The White Lotus. In a recent interview, she compared the experience to being in music videos with her group.

Listen to Lisa’s “Moonlit Floor” above.

The Falcons were on primetime for the third time in four weeks on Thursday night, facing the Bucs for early positioning as the first place team in the NFC South. Atlanta was 1-1 in their two primetime thrillers prior to this, beating the Eagles and then losing to the Chiefs in dramatic fashion — and walked off the Saints on a long field goal a week ago in the closing seconds.

Thursday night did not bring a reprieve from the drama for Falcons fans, but once again the dirty birds managed to pull out a wild win, this time in overtime. Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield had quite the passing duel on the night, with Mayfield going 19-of-24 for 180 yards and three touchdowns. On the other side, Cousins had the most prolific passing night of his career (and Falcons franchise history) throwing for 509 yards and four touchdowns (with one INT).

The last of those TDs was of the game-winning variety in OT, despite looking like it’d be a run of the mill short gain at first. Cousins hit KhaDarel Hodge on a 5-yard hitch, but a Bucs DB jumped over Hodge trying to make a play on the ball, allowing him to turn upfield and out run the entire Bucs defense for the winning score.

It’s truly insane for that pass to turn into a touchdown to win the game, but credit to Hodge for making a quick turn, seeing a lane, and turning on the burners to blow past every single Tampa defender on his way to the end zone. With the win, the Falcons moved to 3-2 on the season and first place in the division, and had Cousins doing his best to hit a swag surf after the win.

Cousins rather famously said he liked “the song about the swag, the surf” after the Falcons win over the Saints, and it appears he got a tutorial this week that paid off.