Category: News

Did you know that polls taken months after an election are not the same as months-old elections? Congratulations, you know more than election loser Kari Lake. Back in November, the former Trump-hating news anchor-turned-MAGA nightmare failed in her bid to become Arizona’s governor. Since then she’s pulled a Trump and claimed that she won. She’s provided no solid evidence of this, and she’s so desperate to claim she’s not a loser that she’s now saying a new poll shows she didn’t lose.

Lake posted a link to the far right outlet Gateway Pundit, which seized upon a recent Rasmussen poll in which over half of the participants said they voted for MAGA candidates, Lake included. Granted, casual polls like this aren’t the same as proper elections. For one thing, it’s safe to assume not everyone who voted in the election Lake lost participated in this poll.

But why would Lake let basic feats of logic get in the way of her continuing to claim she won something she lost? “The Red Wave happened in Arizona,” she wrote about a thing that never happened, possibly thanks to extremists like her and Trump. “They had to cheat and lie to install their frauds in office. We the People will never go away. We demand honest elections.”

Again, Lake has never offered concrete proof of her claims. She’ll almost certainly assume the job she never got, but saner Republicans are already worried that she’ll run for Kyrsten Sinema’s eventually open Senate seat, and lose all over again. On a positive note, at least she recently yelled at Piers Morgan.

(Via Mediaite)

Kenan Thompson has been pretty busy for the last two decades, what with him being the longest-running SNL cast member in the show’s history. His sketch show duties have presumably kept him from doing a full-on reunion with his old screen partner Kel Mitchell. Over the years they’ve done little reunions, including on SNL late last year. But now they’re finally getting back together for a sequel to their first big movie.

As per Entertainment Weekly, Kenan and Kel are teaming up for a sequel to Good Burger, their 1997 comedy where they played fast food employees. Here’s the plot, as per a press release:

“Dexter Reed [Thompson] is down on his luck after another one of his inventions fails. Ed [Mitchell] welcomes Dex back to Good Burger with open arms and gives him his old job back. With a new crew working at Good Burger, Dex devises a plan to get back on his feet but unfortunately puts the fate of Good Burger at risk once again.”

Thompson may be getting the old team back together, but he’s not done with SNL. He’s stuck with the show that’s made him even bigger than he was, though he’s open about thinking the show should finally come to an end when it turns 50 in two years.

(Via EW)

Manchester Orchestra recently appeared on Sirius XM in support of their recent album, The Valley Of Vision. While there, lead singer Andy Hull covered Cher’s classic 1998 hit, “Believe,” putting the band’s spin on the pop song.

This one took on a more somber tone, opening with a gentle piano and Hull’s calming voice echoing through the room. Basically put, the sound on this recording is top-notch. “Do you believe in life after love?” he asks, taking after Cher’s memorable lyric.

The video was also released in black-and-white, adding to the emotion put into this version.

“There’s a sense of calmness… The whole thing feels like it’s floating,” Hull recently told Alt Press about the band’s new album, which also doubles as a virtual reality film project. “It’s a moment of reflection and gratitude. I hope it’s something people can have that feeling from and help them, as well. It also feels like a bridge into this world that we’re still inhabiting and writing songs in.”

“It’s really a record after a pretty traumatic couple of years for us, personally,” he added. “The songs couldn’t have been written two years ago without going through that. I never really want to share exactly what it is because I don’t want anybody to limit what they’re thinking the story is.”

Check out Manchester Orchestra’s cover of Cher’s “Believe” above.

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

Metallica has accomplished another incredible career milestone. Earlier this week, the band purchased bought the controlling interest in Furnace Record Pressing, with the intention to better serve vinyl connoisseurs.

Furnace Record Pressing, which operates in Alexandria, VA, spans 70,000 square feet and offers standard and heavyweight pressings, color vinyl, special effect color vinyl, and custom vinyl etching.

Upon the news of Metallica’s acquisition of Furnace, Jack White, who owns the Nashville-based Third Man Records, took to Instagram to send the band a special shoutout.

“Huge congratulations to the boys in Metallica for purchasing their own vinyl record pressing plant!!!,” wrote White. “Metallica announced it bought the Furnace record pressing plant in Virginia today! Welcome to the cause gents! And thank you for putting your money to amazing creative use! “Here’s hoping the major labels will also see this as further proof, and finally start investing in themselves.”

In the comments, Metallica wrote White back expressing gratitude for his support.

“So unbelievable and grateful to be able to do this after all these years,” they said. “Who would’ve thought that this was even possible back in the day?! You have pioneered all of this, and we’re psyched to follow in your footsteps!”

Donald Trump has a lot to worry about. Sure, he has a new, KFC-stocked plane. He also has numerous criminal cases investigating his tomfoolery, which could lead to his doom. Which one will indict him first? It looks like it won’t be his alleged interference in Georgia’s role in the 2020 election, or even the new one involving possible money laundering. It will probably be the one done by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. It’s unclear if or when their indictment will be formally announced, but Trump himself claimed he knew exactly when he’d be the first American president to be arrested on criminal charges.

In an all-caps rant on his rinky-dink Twitter clone, Trump railed against D.A. Alvin Bragg, claiming he was “FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS” and that he was using an “OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE” to punish the “FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” He anticipated that he would be detained on Tuesday.

He also, predictably, called upon his violent supporters for retaliation, writing, “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

The last time Trump did that, everyone knows what happened. It’s scary to think of a repeat of Jan. 6 happening in New York City, his former home. But for now, there were lots of jokes.

Others found his call for MAGA heads to “protest” ominous.

While it’s possible no indictment could come down, there’s always all those other crimes of which he’s been accused that could finally give the big guy his comeuppance.

(Via CNN)

Some of today’s biggest country artists have honored The Rolling Stones in a tremendous way. Yesterday (March 17), producer Robert Deaton released a compilation album called Stoned Cold Country in honor of The Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary as a band. Featured on the album are country stars Koe Wetzel, Elle King, Little Big Town, and Maren Morris.

For Stoned Cold Country, Morris contributed a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.”

On Morris’ version, the song is more country-influenced, with twangy guitars and simple drum patterns throughout. She blesses the track with her signature country-pop vocals, giving it a sweet touch.

While primarily known for her work in country music, Morris has dabbled across a multitude of genres, from pop, to rock, to EDM. Last year, during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning ahead of the release of her album Humble Quest, she revealed she learned to stop apologizing for experimenting with various sounds.

“I think I’m always going to be a little bit of everything,” she said. “And I’ve just learned to stop apologizing for it, and just attempt to make music that makes me feel good, and hopefully makes others feel good.”

You can check out Morris’ cover of “Dead Flowers” above.

Taylor Swift‘s opening night of The Eras Tour started on an extremely high note, as the pop star took the audience through selections from each of her albums for over three hours. A little over halfway through the show, Swift ushered in the Folklore section of the show, where she kicked things off with “Invisible String.”

Ahead of the second song from this era, Swift took some time to address the crowd with a backstory about it.

“Okay, so sort of a running, recurring theme in my music is that I love to explain to men how to apologize,” Swift says as the audience cheers. “I just love it. It’s kind of my thing. I love to tell them step-by-step, ‘Here is how simple this is to fix things if you just follow these easy steps that I am laying out for you in a three-minute song.’”

She went on to play “Betty,” which has been described by her as one of the album’s songs about a fictional love triangle. This one finds the boy trying to make up past mistakes to the girl he really wants, hence the title.

Uproxx was in attendance at opening night. Read the official review of Swift’s concert here.

Taylor Swift kicked off her highly-anticipated Eras Tour last night (March 17) in Glendale, Arizona.

As she noted during the show, Swift would be taking the audience through her albums, era-by-era. She opened with Lover selections, using none other than the house from the title track’s music video as a backdrop.

From there, the stage setup shifted to sparkly yellow, signaling that Fearless was next. Other surprises were in store after that, including a special song unique to each show.

Swift also played for a staggering three hours, making it a truly powerful journey through over ten studio albums and two re-recorded ones.

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve been on tour,” Swift said, sitting at the piano. “We added four new records to the family… I also decided to re-record my first six albums… I missed you so much. I can’t even go into how much I missed you, because there’s no way to verbalize it.”

Most of these songs marked the first time Swift played them live. Uproxx was also in attendance at the show. Read the official review about her Eras stadium show here.

Continue scrolling to view the full first night setlist.

1. “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince”
2. “Cruel Summer”
3. “The Man”
4. “You Need To Calm Down”
5. “Lover”
6. “The Archer”
7. “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”
8. “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)”
9. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)”
10. “Tis The Damn Season”
11. “Willow”
12. “Marjorie”
13. “Champagne Problems”
14. “Tolerate It”
15. “Ready For It”
16. “Delicate”
17. “Don’t Blame Me”
18. “Look What You Made Me Do”
19. “Enchanted”
20. “22 (Taylor’s Version)”
21. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor’s Version)”
22. “I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor’s Version)”
23. “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”
24. “Invisible String”
25. “Betty”
26. “The Last Great American Dynasty”
27. “August”
28. “Illicit Affairs”
29. “My Tears Ricochet”
30. “Cardigan”
31. “Style”
32. “Blank Space”
33. “Shake It Off”
34. “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)”
35. “Bad Blood”
36. “Mirrorball” (acoustic)
37. “Tim McGraw”
38. “Lavender Haze”
39. “Anti-Hero”
40. “Midnight Rain”
41. “Vigilante Sh*t”
42. “Bejeweled”
43. “Mastermind”
44. “Karma”

For a week or so, social media has been flooded with people reflecting on the last three years, the time between March 2020 and today. It’s been a time of unprecedented change and loss in society, one that saw many of us leave the office and then return to the office, that saw people mask up and then mask off. Few would look back at this time with nostalgia, but it was more about endurance, survival, and empathy. The best of us learned how to take everyone’s needs into account before making even the smallest of decisions. The worst of us seemed to learn nothing at all.

For Taylor Swift, the pandemic age has undoubtedly been its own singular experience — extremely few can relate to being the biggest musician in the world. After releasing Lover in the middle of 2019, she was barely able to support it at all, with her planned European festival run and Lover Fest series becoming one of the ultimate “what ifs” in rock and roll history. And while many of us were baking banana bread and riding Pelatons, Taylor was working, releasing five collections of material during what will likely go down as the most prolific period of her career. She offered up the incredible folklore and evermore albums as surprise releases that comforted us all in the darkness of 2020, “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings of Fearless and Red in 2021, and the return-to-big-ticket-pop of Midnights in 2022. She’s stretched herself as a director — including the award-winning short film for the long-rumored extended version of “All Too Well” — and welcomed new collaborators like Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon into the Swift Extended Universe. She even became the first woman to win Album Of The Year for a third time at the Grammys.

But, one thing that the last few years did not afford Taylor Swift was the opportunity to travel the globe and look her fans in the eye. Sure, the time between her Reputation Tour’s end in 2018 and the beginning of the Eras Tour — which took place last night in Phoenix, Arizona — might not seem that long in the grand scheme of things, but consider that the 14-year-old that got Lover for their birthday is now in college before seeing any of those songs live. While Swift certainly has fans of all ages and demographics — her stadium show ran the gamut of grownups dressed as full willow trees to a kid near us that just started watching YouTube videos on full blast during the set — time moves differently for her large, young base. They’ve been waiting a good portion of their life for this moment.

That’s not even to mention the Ticketmaster debacle that many had to endure to get tickets to see Swift. She alluded to it multiple times in the night, but if anything, it was the performance that showed how much the time and effort that her audience put into attending meant to her. Over more than three hours of music, Swift set out to, simply put, play the most impressive stadium show ever conceived. For an artist that has always put her fans first, this was the ultimate way to say thank you, to leave every bit of energy on stage to the point that it is hard to believe that she will do it again tomorrow, and over and over throughout the entire year. She’s full-on in her Pearl Jam/Springsteen/McCartney age, only with costumes and dancing and moments of pure theater. Pop stars don’t typically do shows like this. But she’s not a pop star, or a classic rocker, or anything that has come before. She’s Taylor Swift.

Before Friday night, there was much speculation as to what the Eras Tour might actually entail. And in practice, Swift gave exactly what the tour’s name implied, performing songs from each of her albums, arranged as chapters and presented together. Some of the albums only got slight representation — Speak Now saw the lone, grand “Enchanted” and her self-titled debut got an acoustic piano version of “Tim McGraw” — while albums such as folklore, Midnights, and Lover all received pretty massive selections. In all, 44 songs were performed, many in their entirety, including all 10 minutes of “All Too Well.” Swift would occasionally disappear for a costume change, but never for more than a couple minutes.

As the set made it apparent the scope of what would be presented, the attention to detail really began to stand out. Some notes:

• Each era’s costumes were lavish and harkened to the album being performed, be it from previous tours or music videos. But the witchy seance of “willow,” with Swift in a cape and her dancers throwing glowing orange orbs, might have been my favorite.
• Reputation has never been a critical darling, and it was wild to hear the crowd erupt during the first appearance of the album-signifying snake. That said, “Look What You Made Me Do” was given a pretty incredible visual treatment, with all the eras of Taylor trapped in boxes on the giant screen and Swift strutting all over her catwalk, winding up on the ground to yell the “Taylor’s dead” line.
• Every show of the tour will get a unique acoustic number performed at the end of the catwalk. For the kickoff, Phoenix got “Mirrorball,” a pretty fortuitous selection if I do say so.
• Taylor never really lets the seams show in her performance, but if you watch closely, you can catch bits of deserved pride shine through. During “Delicate,” she did a little skip into a twirl that ended with a smile that exclaimed a bit of that pride, reminding anyone paying attention of the hours of rehearsals that go into these things, that every song is filled with countless marks to hit and multitudes expressions and moves to memorize. She deserves to be proud of herself.
• She addressed the crowd several times, and the most revealing moments were when she set the record straight on evermore, a record she likes despite what they say on TikTok. Later, she gave a hilarious monologue about how many of her songs are about teaching men how to apologize. As someone that was there with my wife, I felt seen and will study the lyrics more closely going forward.
• Some of the songs that were big surprises, like “tolerate it” and “the last great american dynasty,” were given full theatrical treatments, with Taylor showcasing her acting chops and genuine sets being employed on stage. This felt like Swift the director, the actor, and the musician all meeting in a perfect Venn diagram center, and took the show to unexpected heights.

As the Eras Tour starts making its way across the country, complete with largely female opening bills that range from Paramore and Gayle in Phoenix to Haim, Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadoobee, Gracie Abrams, and many more in cities to come, expect to see timelines flooded with the kind of praise being heaped here. But payoffs like this are rare in life, where the thing that you’ve waited years for manages to exceed all expectations and set the bar even higher. It’s not so much that Taylor Swift has put all other musicians on notice in how to give people far more than their time and money’s worth after years of hardship. It’s that she’s made us all feel like we deserve it, like this is just her doing her job. But this is not just another pop tour, not just another day at the office. We’re lucky to witness an artist like Taylor Swift in her prime, pushing herself to her limits. It made the wait worth it.

Setlist:
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince
Cruel Summer
The Man
You Need to Calm Down
Lover
The Archer
Fearless
You Belong With Me
Love Story
’tis the damn season
willow
champagne problems
tolerate it
…Ready for It?
Delicate
Don’t Blame Me
Look What You Made Me Do
Enchanted
22
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
I Knew You Were Trouble
All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
invisible string
betty
the last great american dynasty
august
illicit affairs
my tears ricochet
cardigan
Style
Blank Space
Shake It Off
Wildest Dreams
Bad Blood
mirrorball
Tim McGraw
Lavender Haze
Anti‐Hero
Midnight Rain
Vigilante Shit
Bejeweled
Mastermind
Karma

Taylor Swift‘s Eras tour is already proving to be one of the most exciting tours of the year, and the first night of the tour hasn’t even concluded yet. Today (March 17) Taylor kicked off the Eras tour in Glendale, AZ, which temporarily renamed itself “Swift City.” Joining her on opening night was “Abcdefu” hitmaker Gayle, as well as Paramore.

During Paramore’s set, lead vocalist Hayley Williams recalled the first time she reached out to Taylor. In a clip shared by Variety, Williams said she first saw Taylor perform at the Grammy Awards when she was still a teenager. It was then that she was given Taylor’s number.

“I was like 18 at the time, and it felt kind of lonely, to be that young and to be doing things, like the Grammys and all that.,” Williams said. “And I met someone as I was leaving. And she said to me, ‘My daughter, she just played, she’s just getting started and she doesn’t really know anybody in the business. And I just really want her to be around people her age that are doing the same thing, and so I got her number.”

The woman she’s referring to is Taylor’s mother, Andrea Swift.

Williams continued and shared the moment she decided to reach out to Swift, hinting that it was after the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when she was infamously interrupted by Kanye West during her acceptance speech for Best Female Video.

“Because I’m like, the shyest freak when I’m not on stage, I did not text [Taylor] until a certain VMAs scandal,” Williams said “That was the first time that I felt like I have to reach out, because this person is really cool and did not deserve that. So around that time is when I got to know Taylor Swift. And the guys and I have been able to watch her as we’ve been playing shows and touring the world, we’ve got to watch her trajectory. And I’m sure you know this, because you’re here tonight, so you obviously get it, but there are moments when I talk to people and I’m like ‘I am not sure that you get how f*cking incredible this artist is.’”

You can see the clip above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.