A24’s Materialists managed to squeeze the presences of Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans into the same frame without the world collapsing upon its access. That should be enough incentive for Celine Song’s Past Lives followup to help bring romance back to the movies.
The film’s setup presents a classic love triangle with a modern twist. Dakota Johnson is a matchmaker who meets a rich dude (Pedro Pascal) at a client’s wedding. Chris Evans happens to be there as well while portraying her working class ex, and of course the promo conveniently bypasses how exes are exes for a reason. Hence the following A24 description: “A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.” From there, the audience will be left wondering which man will win the matchmaker’s heart for good, and even better, this movie will not receive a too-obvious Valentine’s Day-themed arrival.
When Does A24’s Materialists Arrive In Theaters?
June 13. To build up to release, Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal recently talked via Elle about how Celine Song was inspired to write this movie by her previous work as a matchmaker, and Dakota talked about the dilemma presented by loving somebody:
“I’ve never dated anybody. I’ve had boyfriends, but I have never been on a dating app. I just don’t know that world. So, it was so interesting and intriguing. It’s the most beautiful side of humanity, but it can also be the most ugly. Loving someone is the most scary and beautiful thing you can do.”
She’s still dating Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, by the way, so Dakota’s doing more than alright in the romance realm. Is it trailer time? Sure. After this movie introduced a Japanese Breakfast tune, the latest trailer is a cute take on those “priceless” Mastercard credit card ads of yesteryear:
The Lox are the perfect act for a starring role in Red Bull’s ongoing Spiral Freestyle series. The trio is still going strong after 30 years — arguably, stronger than ever, as both independent artists and entrepreneurs — and are one of the few rap acts of their generation to be regularly invited on (and dominate) internet-favorite platforms such as Spiral, NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, and Verzuz. The latter could be called the origin point of their resurgence over the past few years, as it gave fans a front-row seat to experiencing the three rappers’ dynamic friendship, the core of their continued camaraderie.
While at Red Bull Spiral Studios to shoot the freestyle, Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P took some time out to chat with Uproxx about their impressive longevity in the rap business, the brotherhood that has kept the group together all this time, and which of the products from Styles’ health-focused Juice For Life bar would pair best with the titular energy drink.
What made you guys want to do the show? Like, somebody reached out to you and you were like, “This is a dope concept”? How did that whole process get started?
Sheek: Our manager, Mike Brink, had reached out saying you guys are interested in doing it. And everybody’s been hitting us to do freestyles, and we’ve been passing on everything. We just thought the Red Bull experience would be the dopest thing. The dopest sh*t, you heard?
Jadakiss: Also, we have a new project coming out, so it fits. It goes with the rollout.
What can you guys tell me about the new project?
Sheek: It’s dope.
Jadakiss: It’s fire.
Sheek: The content is incredible as far as our wordplay showing that we’re grown what we talk about, but not grandpa-ing it out.
Red Bull Spiral Studio
You guys have been recording and releasing music as a group for over 30 years now, and a lot of your peers either age out or they get into “grumpy old man” mode, and they don’t really stay relevant. But you guys stay relevant. You’re doing Spiral, you have the podcast, you guys did Verzus, and you guys showed that you were able to really connect with an audience that didn’t necessarily even up on your music the way I did. What’s been the secret sauce that kept you guys relevant?
Styles: I think it’s the fact that we are true emcees and true fans of what we do and true fans of hip-hop, so we respect our peers. We definitely respect those who came before us and we respect those who are coming behind us. So, I think our love and our craftsmanship gets us that extra nod.
Sheek: And we listened, too. We hear what’s going on out there.
Jadakiss: We embrace what’s going on. We ain’t put ourselves in a bubble. We have kids, we have sons and daughters and beautiful kids that also help us. They blasting out of their room what’s going on. They putting us on to what’s out there, what’s up and coming. Mixed with our knowledge and not getting in grumpy, grandpa old-man mode, that helps us create and helps us grow. Of course, we stay in our lane to stick to what we do, but just to know what’s going on is always helpful.
Speaking of what you guys do, obviously you guys are kind of that wave of very punchline-heavy, wordplay-heavy, lyrically focused artists. People my age, people your age, don’t really appreciate a lot of what the kids are doing. A lot of what the younger artists… yelling and screaming and rage music. Why is it so important, with where the kids are, for you guys to keep doing what you do?
Sheek: Guys like y’all, it’s a nation that needs us to keep going.
Styles: It’s a bunch, man.
Jadakiss: And it is what we learned. It is what we came up on. There’s always ways to evolve. You should never switch. You can’t switch the foundation. If you buy a house that’s a fixer-upper, you’re going to leave the same foundation and just change the roofing, then change the siding and change some things, but the foundation will remain and that’s how we feel about hip-hop. We love it, and we embrace it and this and that, but we stick to what we know. We just switching the seasoning in the cabinet a little bit.
Sheek: We understand that assignment, man. Hundred percent. You know what we going for.
Red Bull Spiral Studio
Jada, do you have a favorite Sheek Louch line? Do you have a favorite Styles P line? Styles: Do you have a favorite Sheek line? Do you have a favorite Jada line?
Styles: I can answer you: no.
Jadakiss: I do not have a favorite line. I mean, we really like family, we just happen to be a group. We don’t sit around and listen to each other’s songs like that. We help each other. We compliment each other, and we salute each other and use each other as crutches.
Sheek: Exactly what he said. “You murdered that verse, man. We got off. But you murdered that verse.” We say some shit like that to each other.
Styles: We here for the cause of the group. There’s always going to be inside friendly competition. That’s what makes the songs good, but at the same time, you trying to make some capital and gain some equity and do some shit big around here.
What’s the best part about being in a group that has been around for so long? What are some of the benefits to your careers that being able to say “The LOX” as a name still means something after 30 years of having done this together?
Styles: I mean, for me to come in and be able to share a lifestyle with your brothers that you imagined and dreamed of making it together, and then making it together and then conquering land and taking over the world together. You have a story that you could look back on and laugh and enjoy times and say who you enjoyed it with. That’s the whole purpose of this hip-hop shit.
Sheek: I actually love the fan reaction when we do shows. It’s packed, and it’s sold out, it shows that, like, “Man, you guys still love us.” That’s when you know. They sing it word for word, and we keep doing bigger things, and even when we switch it up, let’s say like a Tiny Desk, and you on a show with a live band and all that, and they still love it, and they still want certain things from us.
Red Bull Spiral Studio
Since you guys are at Red Bull, you’re doing the Red Bull Spiral and you guys are big into juicing, smoothies and all that, what kind of juice or smoothie really pairs best with a Red Bull?
Jadakiss: A bark!
Styles: Nah, with a Red Bull, if I was going to drink something with a Red Bull, I’d make it like a lemon grapefruit ginger mixed with the Red Bull.
Sheek: That’s kind of what I was thinking. Can’t be an Armageddon. Grapefruit, ginger ale… can’t be no peanut butter.
Jadakiss: You heard that? Lemon, grapefruit, ginger, Red Bull. No peanut butter, no bananas, none of that.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with me. If you guys have anything else you want to talk about, now is the time.
Sheek: New album coming soon!
Jadakiss: New LOX hats online.
Styles: Make sure you cop Kiss Café, make sure you cop Farmacy For Life. Make sure you cop Juices For Life. Make sure y’all take care of yourselves, and we love y’all.
Red Bull Spiral Studio
You can check out the Red Bull Spiral freestyle above.
For the past couple of months, British soul singer Joy Crookes has been releasing the new singles from her upcoming second album, Juniper. Starting in January with “Pass The Salt” featuring Vince Staples and following up in February with “Mathematics” featuring Kano, the rollout continued in March with “I Know You’d Kill” and finally, earlier this month, with “Carmen.” Today, Crookes revealed the title and release date of Juniper: September 26, as well as a slate of UK tour datesto support the new album — her first since 2021’s breakout debut, Skin.
Ahead of the announcement, she wrote on Instagram, “To try and explain this album has proved way more difficult than I thought, and I think that’s essentially because this album narrates an extremely difficult time in my life. To say it was full of ups and downs would be an understatement, this was a violently turbulent time full of moments of total hedonism where I felt extremely alive but also sadly full of periods of pretty crushing despair and extreme anxiety. Ultimately I had to confront darkness, drag myself out of the trenches and work so hard to get to a better place. It was painful and at moments seemingly impossible, but I did it, I’m here and once again music was my savior. The silver lining to a really dark cloud is ‘Juniper’, a body of work that I love and am very proud of. I’m so grateful for my relationships, my connection with music, my collaborators and my mates. I found a lifeline and solace in all these things. I can’t wait to set this album free into the world.”
Juniper is out 9/26 via Speakerbox/Insanity. You can find more info here.
While Janet Jackson and Rod Stewart received career awards at the 2025 American Music Awards, the performances and award wins themselves gave audiences a look at where music is heading for the foreseeable future. That’s both a figurative and literal characterization: multiple artists, including Alex Warren, Benson Boone, and Reneé Rapp, used their performances to promote their current projects (both Boone and Rapp have albums coming this summer, while Warren is riding the wave of his September release, You’ll Be Alright, Kid).
But on the other hand, despite zeitgeisty wins for SZA and Eminem, many of the breakouts involved artists who appear to be flying under the radar while still having outsized impacts on young audiences. As one of the few fan-voted award shows, unlike, say, the Grammys, which require professional connections, annual dues, and cultural cachet for participation, the AMAs are a slightly better way to place a finger on the pulse of where listeners are — Twitter Stan wars meddling with certain results notwithstanding.
Consider Gracie Abrams’ surprising New Artist Of The Year award win over chart dominators like Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, and Tommy Richman, or Billie Eilish’s Artist Of The Year win over cultural attention magnets like Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen, and Sabrina Carpenter. Doechii’s win for new category Social Song Of The Year with her TikTok-favorite hit “Anxiety” also continued the Swamp Princess’ fascinating rise to the upper echelons of rap and the streaming and sales charts.
However, the show having so many categories begs the question of which awards are televised and why. For instance, Favorite Country Duo Dan + Shay were actually in attendance to collect their award, but Favorite Male Hip-Hop Artist Eminem(??????) was not, while neither Favorite Male nor Female Country Artist (Post Malone, Beyoncé) was broadcast, and Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist (it was Megan Thee Stallion) also went unaired. Meanwhile, the Album and Song of the Year categories are both new, so it’s understandable that they weren’t part of the broadcast… but then, why were they added to the slate? Billie Eilish won both, by the way.
However, setting aside those questionable decisions, the other half of the performances, those honoring musical legends like Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, and Rod Stewart (and yes, even Jennifer Lopez, who has been a megastar in the past 20 years, despite her down year) were immaculate showcases of the sorts of talents that many of the younger honorees should hope to be. While some on social media found J. Lo’s six-minute dance medley confusing, it was also exactly the vehicle to display the sort of technical craftsmanship that even allows someone to share the stage with artists 25 years junior over 30 years into a career.
Some other fascinating trends of the evening: The era of the single genre star may just be at its end. In nearly every genre category, if a crossover artist was nominated, they won. Beyoncé and Post Malone took home country awards (Favorite Female Country Artist and Country Album Of The Year for her, Favorite Male Country Artist for him), while Lady Gaga was declared Favorite Dance/Electronic Artist for her work on Mayhem. Also, I’m not sure The Weeknd necessarily qualifies as R&B, but there he is, atop the Favorite Male R&B Artist category, along with an R&B Album Of The Year win for Hurry Up, Tomorrow.
It certainly looks like the future will continue to be dominated by genre dilettantes, by earnest singer-songwriters and vulnerable, yet tough rap queens, and somehow, inexplicably, by Eminem’s faceless gagge of Mountain Dew swilling fanboys, who refuse to acknowledge any other MC no matter how corny his concepts get (truly, we are in Trump’s America now). Benson Boone will keep backflipping into America’s hearts, Reneé Rapp and Chappelle Roan will continue their all-out assault of grrrl-powered, bi-panic-baiting outcast anthems, and Beyoncé will continue doing anything she damn well pleases. The American Music Awards will continue to live up to their name: the music that largely represents America, sincere, diverse, hopeful, maybe a little bit cheesy, and always ready to put on a show.
In 2017, Grizzly Bear released Painted Ruins, and a few years later, in 2020, they went on hiatus. There hasn’t been much news out of that camp since then… until today (May 27): The band is reuniting for a brief run of US tour dates, they announced.
In October and November, Grizzly Bear is set to perform in Brooklyn (for three nights), Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland. The general on-sale for tickets starts May 30 at 10 a.m. PT, and there are various pre-sales as well. Find more ticket information here.
In 2023, the band’s Ed Droste spoke with GQ about his decision to step away from music, saying:
“It was something that was bubbling underneath for a while for me. It was just a couple long stints on the road where I had a look-in-the-mirror moment being like, ‘Do I still really want to be doing this in the next five years?’ I slowly came to terms with the fact that I wanted to try something different. I don’t want to sound like I wasn’t having fun. I still enjoy making music and I enjoyed performing, but there were some negative aspects of it for me that started to outweigh the positive for my mental health and my physical health. I just decided to take control of my life, and this has honestly been so much healthier for me, and that’s just a me thing. That was just something I needed to do for myself.”
Check out the list of tour dates below.
Grizzly Bear’s 2025 Tour Dates
10/13 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
10/14 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
10/16 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/08 — Chicago, IL @ Salt Shed
11/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium
11/18 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
11/19 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of Gorillaz‘s self-titled debut album (which gave us one of the most inventive music videos of the 21st century), but the virtual band is getting the party started early with a series of one-off shows in London. The Damon Albarn-led group will play their first three albums, Gorillaz, Demon Days, and Plastic Beach (complete with visuals!), along with a mystery show, at Copper Box Arena.
The limited-capacity residency kicks off with Gorillaz on Friday, August 29, followed by Demon Days on Saturday, August 30; Plastic Beach on Tuesday, September 2; and lastly, the mystery show on Wednesday, September 3.
The shows mark the final week of the House Of Kong exhibition. Here’s more:
“Visitors to House of Kong will take a jaunt behind the curtain of Gorillaz’ extraordinary world. A journey through the band’s life of misadventures, musical innovation and ground-breaking virtual ways since these four outsiders — bassist Murdoc Niccals, singer 2D, drummer Russel Hobbs and guitarist Noodle — first came together to blow up a pre-digital world with the release of ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’ in 2000. An exhibition like no other, House of Kong is an experience for the brave and bold.”
It’s been about a year and a half since Pink Friday 2, the latest album from Nicki Minaj. That’s not that long, but it may not be that much longer before we get another LP from Minaj. At the very least, what is confirmed is that one is definitely in progress.
In a new interview with Vogue Italia, Minaj said of her next album:
“I’ve got a bunch of really strong tracks, but I don’t want to rush. I want the record to mean something, both for the fans and for me. I’ll never be one of those people who puts out songs just to put them out. I love music. I respect it.”
Of touring, she added, “[I want] to experience it all again, as soon as possible. For me, and for the Barbz.”
She was also asked about new artists she likes and she said, “Sabrina Carpenter. I didn’t know she’d been around that long when I started listening to her. A breath of fresh air. I like Billie Eilish. I love everything she does. Then there’s a dancehall artist… his name’s Skeng.”
A few days ago, Jennifer Lopez revealed that while rehearsing for a 2025 American Music Awards performance (she hosted the show, too), she sustained an injury. It ultimately wasn’t serious and she looked unscathed when it was finally time to take the stage.
Fans who liked that are now met with some great news: Also last night, Lopez took advantage of the spotlight that was on her to announce Jennifer Lopez: Up All Night Live In Las Vegas, a new residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Lopez shared a promo image on Instagram and wrote, “SURPRISE JLOVERS! We’re back! I’m doing a residency in Las Vegas! Join me for Up All Night Live In Las Vegas At The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.” She also told Las Vegas’ 8 News Now:
“We just feel things out. There’s not a… you know, like, ‘We’re going to do this at this time.’ I just feel like I’m ready to perform again. I had to cancel my tour last year, and so I’ve been thinking of performing a lot, and I had such a great time when I was here in Vegas.”
As Variety notes, performances are currently set for December 30 and 31, 2025; January 2 and 3, 2026; and eight additional dates between March 6 and 28, 2026.
Disappointed by Swift’s absence and the lack of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) update, Swifties took to social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) to air out their frustrations.
“Mini ‘rant’ over, WHERE TF IS TAYLOR SWIFT, AND WHY DID THE AMA’S END EARLY,” wrote one user. “AND WHERE. IS. REP. TV.”
“Watched the entire AMAs and Taylor Swift didn’t even show up and announce ‘Reputation TV,’” penned another.
“Propaganda I unfortunately fell for: Taylor Swift announcing ‘Rep TV’ on the AMAs,” chimed another.
“How much did they pay Taylor Swift to drive AMA viewership up for her to announce NOTHING ,” sarcastically joked another.
Taylor Swift’s mission to own all of her masters is nearly over. The only pieces missing are the re-recordings of (or Taylor’s Version) her 2006 self-titled debut album and 2017’s Reputation.
In the eyes of fans, Shaboozey is a country music rookie. However, before his “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” success, Shaboozey’s career dated back to 2014. His love for the genre runs even further back.
But tonight (May 26), Shaboozey’s knowledge of country was put to the test. During the 2025 American Music Awards, Shaboozey took to the stage as a category presenter. Before handing off the award for Favorite Country Duo Or Group, co-presenter Megan Moroney informed Shaboozey of some country music history and the genre’s supposed founding family–the Carters.
“That same year, Favorite Female Artist went to Lynn Anderson, and this award [Favorite Country Duo or Group] went to the Carter family,” said the singer. “Who basically invented country music.”
But based on Shaboozey’s hilarious reaction (viewable here), he does not seem to agree with Moroney’s declaration. While Shaboozey is familiar with the Carter family as a Cowboy Carter collaborator of Beyoncé (Knowles-Carter), he appears to have some hesitation in crowning the other Carters (the Carter Family, Carter Sisters, June Carter Cash, or Carlene Carter).
Well, Shaboozey is going to need a double shot of whiskey soon now that the momentary facial reaction has sparked a viral debate across social platforms such as X (formerly Twitter).
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,” sarcastically 