Category: News

Vagabon is preparing to open on 16 dates of Weyes Blood’s In Holy Flux Tour, from March 13 to April 2, and she has a brand new song to add to her setlist. This morning, January 11, Vagabon released “Carpenter.” The introspective groove is a testament to patience — fitting, considering this is her first solo single since her 2019 self-titled album.

“I wasn’t ready to shut it down / I wasn’t ready to talk it out,” she sings. “I wasn’t ready to be let down / I wasn’t ready to hear you out / I wasn’t ready to move on out / I wasn’t ready for what you were saying / But I’m more ready now.”

Vagabond’s listeners have likely been ready to hear new music from her before now, but “Carpenter” is worth the wait.

Co-produced alongside Rostam, the song is “about that humbling feeling when you desperately want to be knowledgeable, you want to be advanced, you want to be mature, forward-thinking, and evolved,” Vagabond said in a statement. “It’s about being confronted with your limitations. It’s about that a-ha moment when a lesson from the past finally clicks and you want to run and tell someone who bore witness to the old you, ‘I finally get it now.’”

Per a press release, “Carpenter” is the first breadcrumb to a new Vagabond album due later this year. More details will be announced soon. In the meantime, watch the “Carpenter” lyric video above.

Wednesday is not only one of Netflix’s biggest shows ever. The Tim Burton-directed series also led to an overdue surge in popularity for The Cramps and Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” and an increase in tourism activity for Romania, where filming took place.

Jenna Ortega and her influence can be felt all over the globe:

Scenes in the ghost town of Jericho and the Nevermore Academy were filmed on sets in the Buftea studios in Romania, near Bucharest, which are now open to tours… [A] tour operator reportedly estimated a 55 per cent increase in hotel occupancy around Bucharest since Wednesday aired.

Flavian Dobre, who worked on Wednesday and now gives tours of where the gothic show was filmed, told Euronews (via NME), “It was a hefty production, that took over eight months to film, and involved beautiful people: people who have revived, who gave precedence to Romanian cinema and made everything happen here at the Buftea Studios, a place that has a very strong emotional, cinematic and cultural charge.”

Wikipedia tells me that other projects shot at Buftea Studios include the JCVD thriller Assassination Games and Sand Serpents, which I want to watch immediately. Maybe there’s where the Ortega-starring Jules et Jim remake can be filmed?

(Via NME)

With Deadpool 3 set to start filming later this year, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have been slowly trickling out details about the highly-anticipated sequel that will officially bring both Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth and Jackman’s Wolverine into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, Reynolds opened up about the challenges of bringing the powerhouse characters together considering they both have starred in films with wildly different tones. (Jackman’s performance in Logan is about as far away from Deadpool as it gets.)

“I think it’s a tightrope walk,” Reynolds told The Wrap. “I mean most of these movies are always a tightrope walk of tone, so in this instance, though, you have a collision of two pretty iconic characters that exist in the Marvel Ancillary Universe [laughs] — we’re in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point.”

However, Reynolds is confident that it will work out:

“It’s really kind of finding a way to service both of these characters that feels extraordinarily authentic to each of them, and I think these two wrongs actually will make a right in a pretty great way.”

Reynolds’ remarks jibe with what Jackman has shared about his role in the film. Back in December, the Wolverine actor revealed that the two characters will not be the best of buds at the start of Deadpool 3. In fact, it sounds like Jackman will be smacking Reynolds around, so no wonder he leaped at the chance to come back.

“We’re opposites, hate each other,” Jackman told the Empire Film Podcast. “I’m just talking from my perspective, [Logan’s] frustrated by him, wants to be a million miles away from him or wants to punch him in the head. Unfortunately, he can’t be a million miles away from him in this movie, so I’m probably going to punch him in the head a lot.”

Deadpool 3 hits theaters on November 8, 2024.

(Via The Wrap)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is one of those classic novels that feels almost too renowned and familiar to make into a movie for fear of it being bad. Listen, it’s happened before, and you want to make sure these things are in the right hands. So when Judy Blume hopped on to produce a movie based on one of her most celebrated novels, things became promising!

The classic coming-of-age story about sixth-grader Margaret Simon is really coming to theaters. She’s portrayed by Ant-Man’s Abby Ryder Fortson as she and her family move from the big city to the suburbs where she begins to learn about all the fun preteen topics that were rarely talked about in novels at the time, like pads, periods, and doing exercises to help make your chest grow. The ’70s were a wild time!

Rachel McAdams stars as Barbara, Margaret’s mother, while Kathy Bates plays grandma Sylvia. Benny Safdie (!!) also stars. As per the official description:

11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is uprooted from her life in New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, going through the messy and tumultuous throes of puberty with new friends in a new school. She relies on her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the big city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates), who isn’t happy they moved away and likes to remind them every chance she gets.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret hits theaters on April 28th. Check out the trailer above.

As the controversial racketeering trial against Young Thug and his YSL crew proceeds, more observers are sharing their opinions on everything that has happened in the case so far. The latest is Harlem rapper Jim Jones, who shared some of his thoughts during an interview with Atlanta’s DJ Univercity on the latter’s podcast. Specifically, he called out the members of YSL who accepted plea deals in exchange for their freedom ahead of the trial; they include Gunna, YSL co-founder Walter Murphy, and Young Thug’s brother, Unfoonk.

Faced with the possibility of incurring double-digit prison sentences due to their connection with YSL Records, these members accepted so-called “Alford pleas,” in which they maintained their innocence and did not offer up any specific information, but pled guilty to lesser counts (mainly racketeering) and had their sentences commuted to time served, allowing them to leave Fulton County Jail without bond. This means they are obligated to appear in court if called as witnesses but reserve their ability to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights. Unfortunately, this can make it appear that they agree YSL is a gang — which is, of course, the prosecution’s whole strategy in extending these offers.

It can also give the appearance to outside observers — especially those not particularly well-versed in criminal law — the impression that they “snitched” in order to avoid longer sentences. Each member to accept a plea has maintained that their cooperation was limited to pleading guilty and that they won’t testify if subpoenaed. That didn’t stop Jim Jones from criticizing them and comparing their circumstances to his own brushes with the law.

“From where I come from, taking a plea when you have co-defendants is really not the thing you supposed to do,” he said. “If you up against a case by yourself and sh*t like that, that’s something different. But when you’re taking a plea it’s a touchy thing.” He continued, “I can say this: None of my n****s took a plea. They all in jail right now doing the time. They accepted what they did, they accepted who snitched on them, they accepted it all, and they all sat down and did their time… Nobody tried to take a plea, nobody tried to go around. N****s even went to trial — they did everything they could but do that.”

You can watch the full interview above.

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

Shakira‘s highly-anticipated collaboration with Bizarrap arrived last night (January 11). The Colombian superstar name-checks her ex Gerard Piqué and seemingly his current girlfriend Clara Chía Marti in the explosive video for “BZRP Music Sessions #53.”

Bizarrap is the most-streamed artist on Spotify from Argentina. The producer has over 35.2 million monthly listeners on the platform. Last year, Residente released his J Balvin diss track “BZRP Music Sessions #49” with Bizarrap. Now Bizarrap is teaming up with Shakira as she goes in on Piqué. Shakira and Piqué announced their split in June of last year after the soccer star reportedly cheated on her with Marti.

In “BZRP Music Sessions #53,” Shakira howls throughout the chorus while revisiting her “She Wolf” persona from 2009. Piqué has gotten dragged online since the news of his split from Shakira. In Spanish, she sings, “I understood it’s not my fault that they criticize you.” Shakira then evokes Piqué’s name in some clever wordplay with the Spanish word “salpique.” “I only make music, sorry if it splashed (salpique) you,” she sings. Shakira then apparently calls out Marti’s first name Clara in some wordplay with the Spanish word “claramente” (clearly).

Shakira also seemingly touches on her alleged tax evasion claims in Spain. “[You left me with] the press at my door and a debt with the Treasury,” she sings in Spanish. The most striking line of Shakira’s empowering kiss-off anthem is when she sings about channeling her heartbreak into her music. “Women no longer cry / Women get paid,” she belts out in Spanish.

Paramore‘s new album arrives next month and the singles so far, “This Is Why” and “The News,” have been explosive. They’re back today with “C’est Comme Ça,” a track that continues the pattern of snarky and relentlessly infectious dance anthems.

“I’m trying to get un-addicted to a survival narrative,” Hayley Williams said about the song in a statement. “The idea of imminent doom is less catastrophic to me than not knowing anything about the future or my part in it. The guys and I are all in much more stable places in our lives than ever before. And somehow that is harder for me to adjust to.”

The theme of stability in the song is ironic considering the sonic chaos. Against Interpol-like riffs and a new wave rhythm, Williams deadpans acerbic lines in an almost Dry Cleaning fashion: “I’m off caffeine on doctor’s orders / Said it was gonna help to level out my hormones / Lucky for me I run on spite and sweet revenge / It’s my dependence on the friction that really hinders my progression.” For the chorus, she sings in frivolous French and it sounds like a call to get up and dance.

Listen to “C’est Comme Ça” above.

This Is Why is out 2/10/2023 via Atlantic. You can pre-save it here.

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

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a nine-minute video to “reach my dear Russian friends” and educate them on “terrible things you should know about.” The Austrian action-movie icon and former California governor relayed what his Nazi father had experienced during World War II as a cautionary tale. Predictably, Russian state TV did not like it. But, Schwarzenegger won’t be silenced as the war in Ukraine rages on.

Ukrainian rap group Kalush Orchestra shared the video for their single “Shchedryi Vechir” on Wednesday, January 11, and it begins with a voiceover from Schwarzenegger: “And that is a great message for all Ukrainian people, especially now in this very, very difficult time. That everyone can have a dream, and you can make this dream become a reality.”

Kalush Orchestra’s YouTube description of the video further contextualizes, “Yo, when we were in the US on tour, we shot a video for one of our songs. We didn’t even think that it would be such a cool video. We used to run through these streets in the game [Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas], and now we made our own interpretation of Shchedrivka there, + visited Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

The end of the video features a cameo from Schwarzenegger simply saying the song’s title, which translates to “Generous Evening.”

Kalush Orchestra has contributed significantly to their home country during this horrific time, according to their Instagram post from December 30.

The group summarized a “very productive” 2022, which included raising 60 million in Ukrainian hryvnia and spreading Ukrainian music across “half the world.”

Watch the “Shchedryi Vechir” video above.

Now that all the controversies surrounding Don’t Worry Darling have passed (I will not be recounting them), let’s focus on what matters: Florence Pugh!

Whether it’s Midsommar or Little Women or The Little Drummer Girl (which you should really watch), Pugh has proven time and time again that she’s one of the best actresses of her generation. She’s also been outspoken about “vulgar” body-shaming trolls.

In an interview with Vogue (the second time she’s been on the cover, a prestigious honor for anyone but especially someone who’s only 27), Pugh discussed the nipple fiascos she’s found herself in. “I’ve never been scared of what’s underneath the fabric,” she said. “If I’m happy in it, then I’m gonna wear it. Of course, I don’t want to offend people, but I think my point is: How can my nipples offend you that much?” Pugh continued:

“It’s very important that we do this. I know that some people might scoff at me saying that, but if a dress with my breasts peeking through is encouraging people to say, ‘Well, if you were to get raped, you would deserve it,’ it just shows me that there’s so much more work to do.”

You can read the rest of the profile here. And enjoy a new “Cooking with Flo”!

(Via Vogue)

In 2022, Rufus Taylor, member of The Darkness and son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor, was one of the drummers given the honor of performing with the surviving Foo Fighters members at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts. (That’s part of the reason why some fans think he should be Foo Fighters’ new drummer going forward.) Now, he admits all the star power on the bill left him extremely nervous before rehearsals.

In a recent MusicRadar interview, Taylor said:

“I was sh*tting myself a little bit going into the rehearsals, because I knew that it was gonna be a room full of the best drummers in the world, like Omar Hakim, Dave [Grohl], and Stewart f*cking Copeland, all these monster players. Obviously, I know Dave, but Stewart and Omar, all those guys — me and Taylor used to talk about them all the time. So now I suddenly have to go in and play a nine-minute solo in front of them! I still hadn’t mapped it out in my head. I didn’t know what was gonna happen. But it all kind of went really smooth in the end.”

He also noted about how he feels Hawkins’ influence in his own drumming, saying, “When I was touring with The Darkness in the States, there were a lot of times immediately after [Hawkins’ death], I would do these flams and little fills here and there and I’d go, ‘Oh my God. I stole that from him years ago.’ I’ve always been doing it and I never thought about it. It was very weird. But seeing the Foos guys — they are like family to me — seeing them in rehearsals and then doing what my guy always did was quite surreal. But I had to just think, ‘If he was in the room, would he be proud? What would he say?’ He would just be egging me on, I know it. So that kind of thought got me through it. But yeah, it was nerve-wracking.”

Check out the full interview here.