Category: News

Travis Scott’s Utopia rollout is the epitome of slowly, then all at once. After months and months of uncertainty, this week rewarded fans’ patience. On Friday, July 21, Scott dropped “KPop” alongside Bad Bunny and The Weeknd. Later that night, he dropped a new Utopia breadcrumb.

Someone tweeted at Scott, “I need Utopia bad @trvisXX [smiling with a tear emoji].” Scott quote-tweeted a promising response, writing, “Meet me here on Monday. We shall eat sooooonnn.”

Scott also hinted at what could be to come with an Instagram post of behind-the-scenes flicks from his “KPop” video with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd.

“K pop Outttt nowwwwww Ahhhhh doing fckkkking flipssssss Can’t wait to seeee ya in Utoppiaaaa In just some days we take the sonics uppppppppppppppppp a notchhhhhh,” he wrote in the caption.

Scott is scheduled to headline Rolling Loud Miami on Saturday, July 22. There has been confusing back-and-forth about whether Scott is still going to fully unveil his Utopia world by performing at the Pyramids Of Giza in Egypt on July 28, but despite conflicting reports, the latest official word from Live Nation, the show’s promoter, assured that “there have been no changes” to the much-hyped show.

Scott’s official website offers five different versions of Utopia for pre-order. Each one is billed as a “Topia Pack” and includes a unique custom printed mailer box and various merch items. Prices range from $50 to $150.

Watch the “KPop” video above.

The Gaslight Anthem’s first single in nine years was appropriately called “Positive Charge.” Almost exactly three months later, the relatively recently reunited New Jersey band are positively charging into an album rollout for the first time in nearly a decade.

“History Books” featuring Bruce Springsteen arrives as a single from History Books, due out on October 27.

“When Bruce Springsteen said I should write a duet for us, I think my head exploded,” lead singer Brian Fallon said in a statement about the title track. “It will never get old to me that one of the greatest songwriters in the world, and one of my hero’s voices, will forever be captured in a song I wrote at a small wooden desk, in October, in New Jersey.”

Directed by Kelsey Hunter Ayres, the accompanying video captures small-town Americana — driving down backroads and dancing in cornfields. “I’m keeping time / One day goes by / I try to live till the next one,” Springsteen sings in his signature gravelly tone. “But these history books / Full of haunted looks / From people I don’t want to see again.”

“None of us wanted to make a very somber or serious record showing how much we’ve matured,” Fallon added in his statement. “We’ve all changed and grown and learned so much, but the overall mood was a feeling of excitement to be back together and making music that means something to us.”

Watch the “History Books” video above, or check out the tracklist and upcoming The Gaslight Anthem tour dates below.

1. “Spider Bites”
2. “History Books” Feat. Bruce Springsteen
3. “Autumn”
4. “Positive Charge”
5. “Michigan, 1975”
6. “Little Fires”
7. “The Weatherman”
8. “Empires”
9. “I Live In The Room Above Her”
10. “A Lifetime Of Preludes”

07/29 — Richmond, VA @ Over The James*
08/12 — Washington, PA @ Four Chord Music Festival*
09/14 — Louisville, KY @ Bourbon & Beyond*
09/16 — Grand Rapids, MI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe
09/17 — Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest*
09/19 — Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues Cleveland
09/20 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
09/22 — Columbus, OH @ Bluestone
09/23 — Chesterfield, MO @ The Factory
09/24 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
09/26 — Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion
09/27 — Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion
09/30 — La Vista, NE @ Astro Theater
10/02 — Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
10/04 — Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
10/05 — Wheatland, CA @ Hard Rock Live Sacramento
10/07 — Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Boise
10/08 — Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory Spokane

*Festival appearance

History Books is out 10/27 via Rich Mahogany Recordings/Thirty Tigers. Find more information here.

The USWNT’s quest to become the first team to go back-to-back-to-back at the Women’s World Cup got off to a good start. While the team wasn’t able to score 13 goals like it did in its opener back in 2019, the Americans put forth an emphatic performance against Vietnam in Auckland that resulted in a 3-0 win.

From the jump, it was evident that the United States would be able to control the game against Vietnam, but they ran into a problem in just how compact their opponents were playing — Vietnam lined up in a 5-4-1 and were very clearly doing everything in their power to prevent the USWNT from embarrassing them. Fortunately for the Americans, they have a pretty good answer for that in Sophia Smith, who scored 14 minutes in off of a cheeky layoff by Alex Morgan.

Unlocking Vietnam’s defense proved to be tricky, because while the U.S. had a whole lot of the ball, the ultra-defensive approach Vietnam took mixed with the fearlessness of goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh looked like it was going to limit the Americans to only one goal before the break. That was especially the case after Morgan was denied from the penalty spot right before injury time.

Once again, though, Smith was able to find a breakthrough. While it needed a lengthy VAR review to determine Morgan was not offside on a ball Naomi Girma played into the box, Smith was able to get a shot off from near the top of the box that found its way through a collection of bodies and into the back of the net.

The second half followed much of the same script, as the United States had chances but couldn’t find a third. But once again, Smith’s involvement led to a goal, as she managed to get behind Vietnam’s defense and pulled the goalkeeper out of the net. Instead of attempting a shot, though, she decided to play the ball back to the penalty spot, where American captain Lindsey Horan was waiting. Smith’s work gave and Horan’s understanding of where the space would be as a result gave the captain more than enough time to take a touch, get her feet right, and score.

Vietnam generally managed to do what it set out to do — their best chance at getting something out of this was to muck things up, never open up defensively, and prevent the Americans from scoring in bunches — but ultimately, all three points went to the two-time defending champions, even if they certainly created enough champions to score more goals. Next up for the United States is a rematch of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final against the Netherlands, which will kick off at 9 p.m. EST on July 27.

Meet Me @ The Altar dropped their poignant debut album, Past // Present // Future, in March.

“Even if it’s bad in the moment, life is so fluctuating,” bassist Téa Campbell told Uproxx at the time, “and it will get better and there’s some peace in knowing that when you’re in those tough moments.”

That sentiment extends to “Give It Up,” the first of four new tracks included on Meet Me @ The Altar’s forthcoming Past // Present // Future (Deluxe) album. The single and album announcement were simultaneously revealed on Friday, July 21.

“‘Give It Up’ is a song about frustration,” Meet Me @ The Altar said in a collective statement. “It’s about feeling lost, confused, and indecisive about which way to go. A big takeaway from this song is that sometimes you need help figuring it out. Even though we love this song so much, we didn’t think it fit sonically with the initial tracklist of Past // Present // Future. We wanted the deluxe release to be a glimpse into another side of us, giving you a sound that’s fresh, new, and different.”

Past // Present // Future (Deluxe) will also include a cover of “Take Me Away” from 2003’s Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Before Past // Present // Future (Deluxe)‘s September 29 arrival, Meet Me @ The Altar will open for 5 Seconds Of Summer on tour.

Listen to “Give It Up” above, and check out the Past // Present // Future (Deluxe) tracklist as well as the band’s upcoming dates.

1. “Say It (To My Face)”
2. “Try”
3. “Kool”
4. “T.M.I”
5. “Same Language”
6. “A Few Tomorrows”
7. “Need Me”
8. “It’s Over For Me”
9. “Thx 4 Nothin’”
10. “Rocket Science”
11. “King Of Everything”
12. “Give It Up”
13. “Take Me Away (Freaky Friday Cover)”
14. “Strangers”
15. “Changes”

08/10 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
08/12 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
08/13 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
08/15 — Toronto, CA @ Budweiser Stage
08/16 —Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
08/18 — Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
08/19 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann
08/21 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
08/23 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
08/25 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
08/26 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
08/28 — Minneapolis, MN @ Armory
08/30 — Indianapolis, IN @ TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
09/01 — Franklin, TN @ Firstbank Amphitheater
09/02 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheater
09/03 — Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
09/06 — David Zell Trailer Park, FL @ Hard Rock Live
09/09 — The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
09/10 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
09/13 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
09/14 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
10/01 — Columbia, MD @ All Things Go*

*Festival appearance

Past // Present // Future (Deluxe) is out 09/29 via Fueled By Ramen. Find more information here.

Meet Me @ The Altar is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lionel Messi’s debut for Inter Miami ended the only way it possibly could, with Messi providing a moment of magic that only he could create. After coming on in the second half of the club’s Leagues Cup game against Mexican side Cruz Azul, Messi was nothing short of magnetic, with the crowd at DRV PNK Stadium cheering any time he got on the ball.

Cruz Azul’s players struggled to take the ball off of him — which, in fairness, happens to just about everyone who has to try and take the ball off of Messi — and with the game tied up at 1-1 in injury time, a crunching tackle on Messi gave him a free kick just at the top of the box. There was no doubt that he would take it, he got it up over the wall, and there was absolutely nothing that Cruz Azul goalkeeper Andres Gudino could do, as Messi placed the ball perfectly into the top corner.

Messi has a penchant for doing this sort of thing, as he’s shown time and time again in his professional career that his sense of the moment is unparalleled in the sport. Now, he’s doing it in the United States, and as a result, Miami was able to pick up a 2-1 win.

Whether you’re a horror aficionado or your scary threshold is at a level 2, you’re bound to be familiar with at least a couple of iconic horror movies. The horror genre is a huge part of our culture, allowing us to explore the darkest depths of the human psyche within the safety and comfort of home—or a theater, if you dare.

As counterintuitive as it might sound, watching horror movies can be more than stimulating entertainment for some people. It can act as a form of exposure therapy, helping reduce anxiety levels. Of course, this is not the case for everyone, but it certainly helps explain why the genre is so well loved and continues gaining popularity. Even in 2020—arguably an anxiety-inducing year for everyone—horror movies were the only ones to actually see a surge in ticket sales. Sometimes it’s just more cathartic to see an actual monster wreaking havoc in a fictional world than it is to think about all real-world worries that haunt our imaginations.

Still, not everyone can shake off that scary feeling that a horror movie elicits, and therefore might not partake in watching. Nonetheless, they might enjoy seeing the edge taken off with a bit of lighthearted humor. After all, it’s often recommended to watch a little comedy after a horror flick to clean out the heebie jeebies.

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Jimmy Fallon asked folks to “take a horror movie and add one word to change the plot and tag it with #AddAWordRuinAHorrorMovie for his ever-popular Hashtags segment on “The Tonight Show.” Granted, some people took liberties with the rules—occasionally replacing a word in the title, for example—but nonetheless, grammatical fun was had. And well-known horror movie plots did undergo hilariously drastic changes.

Below are 23 of the best ones. Enjoy, because even those who can’t handle anything too scary deserve a little spooky entertainment.

1. “The Blair Witch Project Manager” – @ ite_mumma

2. “House of Brazilian Wax” – @omg_is_oscar

3. “Awkward Smile” – @jimmyfallon

via GIPHY

4. “Zoom Interview With A Vampire” – @Sohnzie

via GIPHY

5. “The Snore Ring (you’ll never sleep again)” – @Janasvox

6. “The Hills Have Googly Eyes” – @DunLahfAtMae

7. “Freddy vs Jason Bateman” – @richg6

via GIPHY

8. “The Craft Room” – @EvelynRobinson

9. “See SAW” – @BruceCountyGal

10. “Silence of the Lamb Chops” – @EfrainRSosa

pic.twitter.com/x33wU72EsY

— Stephen Poplar (@spoppy74) October 6, 2022

11. “Children of the Candy Corn” – @DjDubay

12. “Man-childs Play” – @DantheDad87

13. “The Amityville Hoarder” – @PamelaMelnick

The Amityville Hoarder pic.twitter.com/nNEwyGCnZ9

— Pamela Melnick (@PamelaMelnick) October 5, 2022

14. “Carrie Groceries” – @mitchbytes

15. “Hellraiser Burn” – @blumspew

16. “Invasion of the Body Shapers” – @LaughOutLander

Invasion Of The Body Shapers #AddAWordRuinAHorrorMovie pic.twitter.com/7M5IeIOOwA

— LaughOutLander (@LaughOutLander) October 6, 2022

17. “Final Destination Wedding” – @EmWilsonMartin

18. “The Invisible Man Bun” – @ryanBartholomee

19. “The Babadook Ellington” – @taradublinrocks

The Babadook Ellington #AddAWordRuinAHorrorMovie pic.twitter.com/7nUrGnHpLN

— 🧛‍♀️☠️ The Terror Of Dublin 🎃👻 (@taradublinrocks) October 5, 2022

20. “Beetlejuice Cleanse” – @Sohnzie

21. “Rosemary’s Baby Shark…doo,doo,doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.” – @seamirac

22. “Nightmare on Elmo Street.” – @elise_milsssss

via GIPHY

@Cantabrana_ added:

“Somehow, this is much scarier.”

23. “The Shoe Shining” – @LauraLizVids

This article originally appeared on 10.25.22

Maisie Peters is Uproxx’s July 2023 cover star, and she lit up when discussing her “The Band And I” track from her freshly released album, The Good Witch.

“Immortalized forever are all these little things. I literally describe exactly what we were all doing [in March 2022], and we all are still doing it,” the surging UK-bred pop star said, in part.

Peters’ lyricism is vivid, but her fans don’t just have to take her word for it anymore. The video for “The Band And I” arrived on Friday, July 21, and it’s loaded with endearing, camcorder-style footage.

Peters further explained its significance in an Instagram caption, which can be read below:

“last year, the band and i went on our first big american tour and i wrote a song about it <3 dom made all these tour diaries so i asked her if she’d want to edit her favourite footage + the best unseen stuff from it into a special music video for the song, and luckily for us all she’s on summer break from juliard [sp] so she was down and look how wonderful it came out :’)

it just makes me so so excited for round 2 with the good witch north american tour that starts NEXT MONTH can u BELIEVE it – there are still some tickets left so make sure u get them asap (link in my bio!!!!) and come make new core memories with us all”

Peters’ headlining North American tour begins on August 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and wraps on October 11 in Boston, Massachusetts. Sandwiched between, she will serve as an opener on Ed Sheeran’s North American leg of his Mathematics Tour — a role she also held last year across Europe, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Watch “The Band And I” video above, and see her forthcoming North American dates below.

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

There’s still time for this to be the summer of Snoh Aalegra, whose last album was 2021’s Temporary Highs In The Violet Skies. She supported it with a subsequent headlining tour across North America in early 2022 but has largely kept quiet.

Aalegra awakened her fans on July 19, posting a cinematic teaser video for “Be My Summer” on Instagram. Someone in the comments correctly assessed, “It’s giving 90s rnb and I’m READY.” Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton left a heart and praising hand emojis, and Omar Apollo and Stormzy also couldn’t contain their excitement.

The slow-burning single arrived in all its glory on Friday, July 21, with an accompanying lyric video and visualizer that presumably sets the initial aesthetic for a forthcoming project.

“Be my summer / Protect me from the rain,” Aalegra sings. The first verse finds her coming to terms with how far she’s fallen (“I tried to run away / There’s no escape, you’ve taken tenure in my heart”). By the second verse, Aalegra is feeling abandoned but won’t be discouraged by “all these walls that you’ve built” because “I know you’ve tried but you couldn’t forget me.”

“Be My Summer” is Aalegra’s first drop since “Do 4 Love” in late 2021.

Listen to “Be My Summer” above.

Omar Apollo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The greatest to ever step on a soccer field and arguably the greatest to ever step on the hardwood met up on Friday night in Florida. Lionel Messi, the highest-profile player to ever join a Major League Soccer team, made his debut for Inter Miami CF on Friday in a League Cup game against Mexican side Cruz Azul.

Messi, whose move to Miami became official earlier this week after he announced he’d join the team following his contract with Paris Saint-Germain coming to its conclusion, started the bench on the game. This was announced in the lead-up to the game, and LeBron James managed to take advantage of this. James made his way down to area next to the team’s bench at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and went right over to Messi, making it a point to show him some love before the game.

James, of course, knows what it’s like to make a highly publicized move to a team in Miami, as his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers came to an end when he decided to join the Miami Heat back in 2010. There’s no word on whether James used this meeting as an opportunity to try and convince Messi to join Liverpool, the Premier League side in which he owns a stake, but unfortunately for James, that ship has probably sailed.

Ozuna is slated to headline Baja Beach Fest 2023 at Rosarito Beach in Mexico next month. Hopefully, he’s considering putting his “Soso” remix with Omah Lay on his setlist. Lay released the deluxe version of his 2022 Boy Alone album last month, and the Ozuna-boosted “Soso” received the video treatment this week.

The three-minute visual begins with Lay walking up to a luxurious villa at night. A woman stands out in the dark. We see Ozuna approaching a different woman. She’s tending to her horses before Ozuna (literally) sweeps her off her feet, and they start dancing. Later, Lay has his chance to impress his romantic interest. They slow dance atop a building overlooking a lush, tropical landscape.

As described in a press release, “The visual stands out as his most stunning and cinematic yet. … Balancing two extremes, it combines intimate vignettes and expansive vistas. Most importantly, it illuminates the chemistry between these two global superstars, uniting styles and cultures all at once.”

Uproxx named Lay’s Boy Alone among “The Best Afrobeats Albums of 2022,” lauding, “It takes a certain kind of strength to be as openly vulnerable as Omah Lay is, and to his benefit, his will to do so helped him to create a great body of work.”

Watch the “Soso” video above.

Omah Lay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.