Actor and producer Donald Glover tried his best to walk away from his music persona Childish Gambino, but there’s still work to be done. The triple threat hinted that a new project was on the way during his appearance on Kimmel, but fans were in for a treat that new music was just the tip of the creative iceberg. In addition to the new music, Gambino released a new Amazon Prime Video series, Swarm, starring Chlöe and Dominique Fishback.
As with any great film or series, an original soundtrack is necessary, and Gambino released a full EP to accompany Swarm.
Childish Gambino and KIRBY lend their voices to singer Ni’Jah’s track “Sticky,” which serves as the lead single from the soundtrack. Heard in the series trailer, “Sticky” immaculately lays out the plot of a woman sick obsession with a pop star. Co-produced by Dylan Wiggins and Michael Uzowuru, the song is eerie in all of the same ways the series is.
The second verse of the song drives home the level of discomfort Cambino wants you to feel as you dive into this piece, as he and KIRBY sings, “I got a gun, I got the strap, I got the door locked / I gotta run, they in the back, “Hello” and the door knock / Lock on the car ‘Beep, beep’ / Blood on the bar, leak, leak / Cops finna come, sweet, sweet / Hoe, I look good, tweet, tweet / Hope I don’t get no blood on top of my weave / Ain’t got no beatin’, they ain’t no apostrophes /And I got my mask on (Hey) / Still twerk *ss to sad songs / Gotta keep the joy alive.”
Listen to the full track above and the full EP below. Swarm premieres today (March 17) on Prime Video.
All hail Keanu Reeves, the leader of the puppies who rules over his kingdom with a fuzzy paw. On Thursday, the actor dropped by The Tonight Showto discuss John Wick: Chapter 4 and sing “Hey Jude” by the Beatles, but we’ll get to that. First, if you watch the video above, you’ll be treated to Reeves being covered in adorable dogs during a game of Pup Quiz. “I am the puppy king,” he says at one point. Hopefully no one told the puppies about… y’know.
Earlier in the episode, Fallon and Reeves discussed a recent encounter they had. They were dining at the same restaurant in Los Angeles when Reeves “had the whole restaurant come over and sing me happy birthday,” the Tonight Show host said. “And it was not my birthday. It was not my birthday at all.” That wasn’t Fallon’s favorite part of the evening, though.
“Here’s the best move. You were leaving. There was a great guy who plays music, guitar at the restaurant. And so he starts singing ‘Hey Jude,’ and so I jumped up to sing with him. I thought you were gone,” Fallon told Reeves, who described his performance as “you just kept going.”
To celebrate the single-barrel 10-year-old bourbon release, I’m going to break down what’s in the bottle below. Spoiler alert — this is a great whiskey. It’s one of the most classic and quintessential bourbons on the shelf in the United States.
There’s a reason for that (though it’s a tad esoteric) — the care that both McKee and Wilson put into these expressions is apparent in the actual whiskey in the bottle. There’s a depth that goes beyond a well-built flavor profile into a ~ sense of something better and deeper ~ that just sings more on the senses and elicits a deep sense of feeling. From the first nose to the echo of the finish, you sense that there’s just more to this whiskey than your average one. And that’s what makes whiskeys like this so much more sought-after and, well, expensive.
Okay, that’s enough preamble. Let’s get to what’s actually in this new bottle of Michter’s.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
The whiskey barrels sourced for these single-barrel expressions tend to be at least 10 years old with some rumored to be closer to 15 years old (depending on the barrel’s quality, naturally). Either way, the whiskey goes through Michter’s bespoke filtration process before a touch of Kentucky’s iconic soft limestone water is added, bringing the bourbon down to a very crushable 94.4 proof.
The Bottle:
Michter’s large-format bottle for their 10, 20, and 25-year releases is hefty and iconic for the brand. They stand out on shelves and feel like bottles that you keep around after all the liquid is gone as a decanter or rose vase. Moreover, they are waxed dipped — adding some serious class.*
*Thankfully, the team at Michter’s has the good sense to add a useable pull tab in the wax for easy opening. This is not a universal truth in whiskey bottle wax dipping. As someone who has to open bottles constantly, I really appreciate this small touch.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a peppery sense of cedar bark and burnt orange next to salted caramel and tart red berries with a moist and spicy sticky toffee pudding with some brandy butter dancing on the nose.
Palate: The palate blends vanilla tobacco with salted dark chocolate-covered marzipan while espresso cream leads to new porch wicker and black peppercorns.
Finish: The end has a pecan waffle vibe with chocolate chips, maple syrup, blackberry jam, and minced meat pies next to old tobacco and cedar with a sweet yet toasted marshmallow on the very end.
Bottom Line:
Yup, delicious. This is a stellar sipper neat, blooms nicely with a little water (it takes on a creamy sense of dark chocolate and marshmallow with almonds almost like a scoop of really well-made rocky road ice cream filtered through spicy bourbon), and absolutely kills in an old fashioned.
How To Buy:
This is an allocated bottle. That means that high-end bars and restaurants are going to be the best bet to drink this in the real world. Nottles will be on shelves at liquor stores behind glass or behind the cash register but very fleetingly so. It won’t be impossible to find, but you’ll have to put in the legwork in your region to find it.
There is a pretty big aftermarket for this online and at high-end whiskey shops. Expect to pay three to four times the MSRP though.
Ranking:
91/100 — This is excellent bourbon. It’s versatile and deep. That all said, it’s obviously not Michter’s 20-Year Bourbon — that bottle offers pure whiskey transcendence. Still, this is much more approachable as a stone-cold classic bourbon that’s just essential.
It was confirmed yesterday (March 16) that the rumors are true about Billie Eilish appearing in Donald Glover‘s Prime Video series Swarm. Now, actor Jason Sudeikis brought her up on Late Night With Seth Meyers to discuss how she’s influenced his kids.
Seth Meyers asked him about his children making music together. “As I’m coming up the stairs, I can usually hear a keyboard, and I bought two karaoke setups for me and [Will] Forte. But they’ve now figured out how to turn them on. And they’ll just be making up songs. And I truly believe it’s because I had the wherewithal to watch the Billie Eilish documentary. So when we see Billie and her older brother Finneas making music together and making each other laugh, it’s kind of similar to when I would visit my Uncle George on the Cheers set and be like, ‘This is a job? You guys all joking around?’”
“I was just curious because Daisy and I were gonna go to the concert and I wanted her to have a little more context because you gotta understand why she’s a bad guy.” He continued: “The beat is great, the lyrics are interesting, but why is she a bad guy?”
After it premiered at midnight last night (March 17), Swarm has taken over the internet. The new Amazon Prime Video series from Donald Glover and Janine Nabers is notable for a number of reasons, including a recently revealed appearance from Billie Eilish. She’s not the only music star in the show, as Chlöe also has a role, and there’s one scene in particular that is making waves online: the sex scene.
We won’t share it here (it’s easy enough to find, though, either via clips on Twitter or in the actual show), but for about 30 seconds in the first episode’s opening minutes, Chlöe and Damson Idris’ characters (Marissa Jackson and Khalid) have sex with each other as they talk dirty and make sexual noises. Partway through, Khalid notices Dominique Fishback’s character (Andrea “Dre” Greene) watching them from the doorway, but he continues and even flashes her a smile before Dre walks away.
Naturally, the explicit scene has drawn so many reactions on Twitter.
Chloe Bailey getting her back blown out in this new show? hold up lemme go check it out pic.twitter.com/sSV6tls63R
In a recent Deadline interview, Chlöe spoke about filming the scene, saying, “I remember when I first read the script, I was like, ‘Oh, this is insane, this is incredible,’ and I cried, and then I realized, ‘You gotta do that sex scene, girl.’ And as open and liberal as I am with my body, I was very scared because I haven’t had that many partners, I’m not like that… that sexual and open. […] Damson made it really comfortable. You know, there were limited people on set, it was a closed set. We were laughing in between. We literally had a bouncy ball in between us. […] I have to give a lot of kudos to him as a man for making me as a woman feel comfortable being literally raw and naked.”
Chloe Bailey on how Damson Idris made her comfortable filming her first love scene in ‘Swarm’ #SXSWpic.twitter.com/jKhKmlTHj4
The demand for Drake and 21 Savage’s It’s All A Blur Tour tickets is so high, they’ve added a slew of extra dates. After fans trying to get in on the presale complained of high ticket prices, the two rappers announced 12 new shows on the tour to alleviate the pressure as the general sale opens up.
Dates in Dallas, DC, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Montreal, Philly, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver were doubled, while Brooklyn, Manhattan, and LA all received third shows. Meanwhile, the dates for Drake’s hometown, Toronto, will be announced in the future.
The general sale for It’s All A Blur tickets begins today, Friday, March 17 at noon local time. You can get more info here and see the full list of tour dates below. New dates are in bold.
6/16 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
6/19 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
6/21 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center 6/22 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
6/24 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center 6/25 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
6/28 – Miami, FL @ Miami-Dade Arena 6/29 – Miami, FL @ Miami-Dade Arena
7/01 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
7/02 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
7/05 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
7/06 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
7/08 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena 7/09 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
7/11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
7/12 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
7/14 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
7/17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
7/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center 7/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center 7/23 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
7/25 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
7/26 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
7/28 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena 7/29 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
7/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center 8/1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
8/12 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
8/13 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum 8/15 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
8/18 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center 8/19 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
8/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
8/22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
8/25 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena 8/26 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
8/28 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena 8/29 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
9/01 – Las Vegas, NV @– T-Mobile Arena 9/02 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
9/05 – Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena
Hollywood producer Steven DeKnight has significantly back tracked after calling Jenna Ortega “toxic” and “entitled.” DeKnight, who worked on the Netflix series Daredevil and Jupiter’s Legacy and directed Pacific Rim: Uprising, blasted Ortega for her remarks about changing her lines on Wednesday and criticizing the writers in public.
“I love talking with actors about their lines/stories. But by the nature of the beast, they don’t have the full picture (in TV) of where the story is going and why some lines are needed for the whole to make sense. She’s young, so maybe she doesn’t know any better (but she should). She should also ask herself how she would feel if the showrunners gave an interview and talked about how difficult she was and refused to perform the material.”
“This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic,” DeKnight concluded. “I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.”
This kind of statement is beyond entitled and toxic. I love her work, but life’s too short to deal with people like this in the business.
However, DeKnight later changed his tune as his remarks about Ortega spread.
“My comments were about breaking the trust that we all have on set and during the production process that our creative differences will stay in the family,” DeKnight wrote in response to a tweet calling him out for “s**tting” on Ortega. “It was never about her creative concerns, which were valid. Or about her performance, which was fantastic. I sincerely hope that clears it up.”
Or about her performance, which was fantastic. I sincerely hope that clears it up.
In response to a now-hidden tweet, DeKnight continued to massage his remarks and blamed the pending writer’s strike for heightening tensions.
“Again, I can’t stress this enough: She’s an amazing talent,” DeKnight tweeted. “It was just an unfortunate situation to expose creative differences publicly, and also I’ll admit that writers are on edge because of the impending strike, myself included. A perfect storm.”
Absolutely! Again, I can’t stress this enough: She’s an amazing talent. It was just an unfortunate situation to expose creative differences publicly, and also I’ll admit that writers are on edge because of the impending strike, myself included. A perfect storm. https://t.co/hQw6qBseIn
The producer wrapped up his apology tour by encouraging everyone, including himself, to be better.
“Back to work. Try, as always, to be kind to each other even when we vehemently disagree,” DeKnight said. “And yes, there are times that I need to heed my own advice. We are all emotional works-in-progress. Love to all of you.”
Back to work. Try, as always, to be kind to each other even when we vehemently disagree. And yes, there are times that I need to heed my own advice. We are all emotional works-in-progress. Love to all of you.
Vladimir Putin is taking his shots where he can get them these days while Russia essentially disintegrates in the aftermath of his Ukraine invasion. He’s recently attempted to guilt-trip Russian billionaires into propping up the economy with no takers yet. His private army is recruiting on Pornhub, and eyebrows are finally starting to raise regarding how his critics and detracting associates tend to fall out of high-story windows, totaling in the dozens.
How is the Russian president blowing off steam? He decided to fine a politician for essentially pulling a Marjorie Taylor Greene, which is ironic, given that she seems to favor Putin if that’s the cost of slamming Biden. Yet Putin showed no patience for a (silent) heckler when Mikhail Abdalkin decided to take a stand by placing spaghetti on his ears while virtually spectating a Putin speech. Well, Putin heard about the resulting viral video and tossed over a $2,000 fine. Via Reuters, Vlad as steamed that Abdalkin was “discrediting the armed forces.”
The noodles were apparently a statement that Abdalkin believes that Putin’s speeches are filled with lies.
Putin didn’t take kindly to this move, obviously, yet as NPR reports, he seems to be much happier about the statement recently made by two Russian fighter pilots who took down an unmanned U.S. drone. Accordingly, the Russian Defense Ministry has honored the pilots while deeming the American aircraft to be an “intruder.” Further and as NPR relates, Russia claims, “The Russian aircraft did not use onboard weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their home airfield.” The no-contact claim appears to be completely false, as shown by Pentagon footage (via CNN) that shows the jets pouring fuel upon the drone. It’s not exactly a Lex Luthor move, but it’s not playing fair by any stretch.
In this week’s episode, Ian and I review new albums by M83 (which we like) and 100 Gecs (which we are mixed on but are intrigued about). But before that, we delve into the week’s biggest controversy: That tweet from a political writer about how The White Stripes would have been better with a more technically proficient drummer.
Now, this is obviously a bad take. But why do we get so upset about bad takes stated by random people we don’t know or care about? This is the mystery of social media — how does it warp our brains and goad us into arguing with ghosts? Perhaps this why the goddess Meg White has disappeared from this world in the first place, and is now enjoying a quiet life in retirement.
Later in the episode we take a deep dive into our mailbag to address questions about other important issues, including: Will Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois will work as a musical? What are the best ’90s rap skits? And why is it so hard to make a good music biopic?
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 130 here or below 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 Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
The latest trailer for The Little Mermaid has over one million downvotes on YouTube. Compare that to other live-action remakes, like The Lion King (45,000) and Beauty and the Beast (10,000), and something is, ahem, fishy.
Josh Gad took to Twitter to criticize the racist and “pathetic” trolls who are mass disliking The Little Mermaid, which stars Halle Bailey as Ariel. “Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of… a make-believe singing mermaid,” the frequent Disney actor wrote in response to a Call to Activism tweet about “the controversy surrounding Halle Bailey’s casting” and how he important thing is “that we remember a beautiful and talented actress won the role. We can’t allow racism to ever be normalized.”
Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of… a make-believe singing mermaid. https://t.co/7F6F8LT2b9
“I definitely think that because I love this movie so much, and I’ve treasured it since I was a little girl, I did put a bit of pressure on myself,” Bailey said about playing the gadgets and gizmos-loving mermaid. “Just because I want to deliver all of the feels that I saw when I was a little girl… Knowing that gave it my all and gave 110 percent into everything of this film, I am really proud of myself.”
The Little Mermaid comes out on May 26th.
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