Category: News

Boston Calling unveiled its stacked lineup for 2023, and it’s sure to have fans talking. The headliners for this year feature Paramore, Foo Fighters, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alanis Morissette, Queens Of The Stone Age, and The Lumineers.

Other acts on the lineup include Maren Morris, The National, Niall Horan, Chelsea Cutler, Bleachers, Teddy Swims, Noah Kahan, Mt. Joy, Fletcher, Genesis Owusu, Declan McKenna, The Aces, and many more.

The festival runs May 26-28, with Foo Fighters kicking things off on Friday — as they were originally supposed to headline in 2022. The band, who grieved the loss of their drummer Taylor Hawkins last year, teased over the holiday break that they still had plans to return for live performances and potential new music.

Currently, Boston Calling is offering four ticket tiers. 3-day General Admission starts at $299 with fees. There are also options for GA Plus, VIP, and Platinum packages that include upgraded restrooms and viewing areas, complimentary drinks, express entry, and other exclusive perks depending on the ticket tier.

Presale starts this Thursday (January 12) at 10 a.m. ET. If there are extra tickets, Boston Calling will open up a general on-sale. They also note that all tickets are non-refundable.

More information, along with the Boston Calling presale signup, is available on their official website here.

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

Keke Palmer is on cloud nine. With a baby on the way, she is more than elated to welcome in her bundle of joy. Yesterday (January 9), the Nope actress shared an elegant photo of her on Instagram, which depicts her standing on top of a globe in a bedroom, as her partner Darius Jackson looks at her in awe.

“its giving POETRY. it’s giving MICHAEL ANGELO. it’s giving SISTINE CHAPEL. it’s giving MASTERPIECE,” she said in the post’s caption. “behold, a mother, a father and the blessed baby we await in pure awe. the greatest gift from above we could ever dream. we can’t wait to meet you little one! we are so glad to be your earth parents as God’s hands are placed so gently over your life.”

She continued in the post, thanking rapper Nicki Minaj, who connected her with legendary photographer and music video director David LaChapelle to spearhead the maternity shoot.

Her post was met with an outpouring of support in the comments from rapper Baby Tate, actor Jabari Banks of Bel-Air, singer Justine Skye, and actress Ryan Destiny.

LaChapelle himself also took to the comments to thank Minaj, and also share some kind words and benedictions to Palmer.

“it was a privilege and pure pleasure to photograph you,” he said. “God Bless You & your family.” He added, “you are the Nicest person i’ve met in a long time.”

Check out the photo above.

A week-plus into 2023, the precursor to festival season has begun: festival lineup announcement season. Today (January 10), one of North America’s premiere annual events, Bonnaroo, has unveiled its lineup.

The fest runs from June 15 to 18 in Manchester, Tennessee, and leading the opening day on Thursday the 15th are Zeds Dead and Liquid Stranger. Heading up the first full day on Friday the 16th is Kendrick Lamar, while Odesza headlines on Saturday the 17th and Foo Fighters close out the event with a headlining slot on Sunday the 18th.

Aside from those acts, other highlights from the lineup include Lil Nas X, Paramore, Marcus Mumford, Pixies, My Morning Jacket, JID, Jenny Lewis, Baby Keem, Vulfpeck, Three 6 Mafia, Korn, Fleet Foxes, Sylvan Esso, Rina Sawayama, Alex G, Muna, Black MIDI, 070 Shake, Big Freedia, Petey, Dehd, Griz, Portugal The Man, Noah Kahan, Subtronics, AGI, Sampa The Great, Tyler Childers, Louis The Child, Yung Gravy, Remi Wold, Cory Wong, and The Beths. On top of that, the Superjam, Outeroo lineup, late-night sets, and more are set to be announced later.

Check out the lineup poster above. Information about Bonnaroo tickets is available on the festival website.

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

Welcome to the first Best New Pop roundup of 2023. After a (hopefully) long and lovely holiday for everyone reading this, music releases are returning from their short breaks, too. Lots of major artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Kali Uchis, and many more are teasing their eventual appearances on our weekly list. Meanwhile, other rising stars like Gracie Abrams have announced new albums and tours. There is a lot to look forward to in this new year.

For now, here’s this week’s list of some new pop jams that we’re extremely grateful for.

NewJeans — “OMG”

The K-Pop girl group NewJeans have already become a major force, amassing over 18 million streams on their brand new single, “OMG,” so far.

“I was really hoping that he will come through,” Hanni and Danielle sing on the chorus. The band, who previously released their first EP last summer, are continuing to raise the bar — not even a full two weeks into 2023.

Skrillex feat. PinkPantheress & Trippie Redd — “Way Back”

Another collaboration between Skrillex and PinkPantheress, “Way Back” also sees Trippie Redd joining the mix as he tackles the opening verse. As a teaser from the DJ’s first new album in almost a decade, it brilliantly utilizes PinkPantheress’ uniquely captivating vocals.

Shania Twain — “Giddy Up!”

A bonafide country song from the Canadian icon, Twain’s new song, “Giddy Up!” will instantly be stuck in listeners’ heads with a catchy instrumental, layered chants, and just a ton of carefree energy.

Mckenna Grace — “Ugly Crier”

Grace’s “Ugly Crier” opens with a dreamy-but-emotional retelling of those around her dealing with problems before bursting into a pop-punk-influenced track. However, she pulled the song’s inspiration from a personal experience of feeling like an outsider.

“I wrote this song after I went to this Hollywood party with a bunch of celebrities and felt completely out of place,” Grace said via Broadway World. It serves as the lead single ahead of her debut EP.

Sigala, MNEK — “Radio”

Before releasing their upbeat EDM collaboration, “Radio,” DJ Sigala had wanted to work with MNEK as a vocalist on a track for a long time. The result proved to work out, as MNEK apparently wrote the disco-meets-2000s inspired song in 20 minutes, according to RetroPop.

Juliana Tucker — “The Great Indoors”

“‘The Great Indoors’ is about finding comfort in solitude and learning how to look within ourselves for happiness rather than finding it elsewhere,” Tucker shared about the emotional ballad. “It’s a song for anyone who lives life for themselves rather than living life to please someone else.”

Caye — “A Door”

Caye brings the chill vibes on “A Door,” which he both wrote and produced. As he describes, the song’s intention is for listeners to take some space to meditate on the world around them — which the calming nature of the instrumental allows. It appears on his forthcoming February debut album, We Love, that also will drop just before a headlining tour.

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

Rappers continue to be really bad at retiring. Logic, who announced his own retirement in 2020 with No Pressure, has since released two albums and two mixtapes, and recently announced his third is on the way. College Park follows 2022’s Vinyl Days and looks to continue the Maryland rapper’s tradition of packing his projects the brim with appearances from famous supporters. In this case, he dropped an Boondocks-style animated teaser to reveal the album’s title and guestlist, which includes RZA, Redman, Joey Badass, Norah Jones, and even Seth MacFarlane, creator of the long-running animated sitcom Family Guy.

When Logic first announced his retirement, he explained in a video interview, “I just wanted to retire because I’m over it man. Not even in a negative way, I’m just over it. I love music and I’m gonna continue to make music on my own. I can’t not just make music. It’s a journal for me. It’s how I express myself. It’s how I heal, but with Logic, I’m stepping away.” Of course, that retirement only lasted a few months; he quickly broke his silence in January 2021 — albeit in a roundabout way — with the mixtape Planetory Destruction, released under an alter ego, Doctor Destruction. He followed up with the YS Collection Vol. 1 compilation showcasing the roster he’d put together for his label, Visionary, then dropped the mixtape Bobby Tarantino III a few months later. Just ahead of the new year, he returned with a freestyle, asserting that for him, rap is “not a contest.” Whether that’s true or not, it seems he just can’t leave the game alone.

Watch the College Park trailer above.

Kim Kardashian has been known to benefit from publicity (both good and bad), which might be the understatement of the year. She’s been accused of smoke and mirrors since emerging into public life, way before she studied for the bar exam and also went through some stuff with Kanye West. It’s not a diss to say that her entire career heavily depends upon appearances, and back in the day (a full decade ago, actually), TMZ originally reported on a “flour bombing” incident that ended up being blamed on a reported sympathizer of PETA.

PETA, for its part, denied any responsibility when Christina Cho allegedly doused Kim (who may or may not have been wearing leather pants at the time) with flour while she was promoting a Kim K. perfume. E! Online relayed Kim’s response, which included, “That probably is the craziest, unexpected, weird thing that’s happened to me.” At the time, Kardashian sisters Khloe and Kourtney also stepped up to defend Kim on social media. Alas, this was allegedly a ruse. Via The Daily Beast, a former PR rep is dishing:

Sheeraz Hasan, a PR expert who used to work for Kardashian, claims the whole thing was staged. Hasan, who first worked with the reality star in 2005, said he and Kardashian discussed that she was “willing to get flour bombed” before the event to promote her True Reflection perfume in West Hollywood. “You’re going to be fine, you’re going to be safe, but we’re going to create a media moment,” Hasan said he told Kardashian at the time, according to the British Channel 4 documentary The Kardashians: Billion Dollar Dynasty. “Are the team in on it? Of course, they’re in on it,” Hasan added.

However, the New York Post has spoken with “sources” who claim that “Kim was never aware of the move,” if it was a move at all. And this story ultimately ends up being fluffy and inconsequential, but it possibly inspired future flour bombers and maybe even the sugar bombing (which did result in an arrest) of Adam Levine. So strange, man.

(Via TMZ, The Daily Beast, New York Post)

Like millions of others, Seth Meyers was up into the wee hours of Saturday morning watching House Republicans fail at the very first task they had: to name a Speaker of the House. While it was a terrible week for American democracy, it turned out to be a great week for C-SPAN. At one point, according to The New York Times, more than 1.2 million people were watching the typically hella-boring news network’s YouTube livestream of the Capitol shenanigans. The network also received a record number of downloads to its mobile app and was even a trending topic on Twitter. For Meyers, it basically became the politically aware adult’s version of porn.

“By the way, this all unfolded into the late hours of Friday night and into Saturday morning,” Meyers explained of the tense few moments in which House Republicans finally managed to come to a majority consensus and name Kevin McCarthy as SOTH. “Generally speaking, that is not the sign of a healthy democracy. Nothing good happens after midnight on a Friday. If you’re that old and you’re up after midnight on a Friday, you’re probably drunk and buying something real dumb off QVC.”

But like so many of us, Meyers could not look away at the chaos we were witnessing in real time. Which, in some ways, he thinks might just show his age. As he explained:

When I was a kid and I was up late watching TV, it used to be stuff like horror movies or Cinemax or, let’s be honest, Taxicab Confessions. Oh yeah, baby! Give me 20 minutes of an Eastern European couple in weird disco outfits coming down from cocaine and hitting on a bemused cab driver! It wasn’t much, but before the internet? It was the closest you could get to porn without finding a Penthouse Forum in the woods behind the school.

Now things are so insane that if I’m up late watching TV, it’s not softcore porn — it’s C-SPAN! Because that sh*t has been hardcore! If you were watching C-SPAN as all this unfolded, you got to see some intense and surreal images from a night that was unprecedented in American political history.

You can watch the full clip above.

English post-punk band Dry Cleaning is quickly becoming one of the most exciting acts to watch. Since breaking into music in 2017, the group — comprised of vocalist Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton — displayed all the signature elements of rock throughout their musical releases, including their latest album, 2022’s Stumpwork.

However, there’s one distinctive twist that sets them apart — Florence’s unique vocal delivery. Instead of the standard high-energy vocal belt heard through the genre, Florence has opted for a much more delicate approach. The band stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to display their talents with an exceptional in-studio performance. With a handful of singles to choose from on the album, including “Don’t Press Me,” “Anna Calls From The Arctic,” and “Gary Ashby,” the South Londoners choose to perform “Hot Penny Day.”

Florence nearly emotionlessly sings the introspective song, but this creative choice works so well due to the steep contrast between the song’s lyrics and her vocal cadence. Contrarily, her bandmates go full-on punk in the background with overly facial expressions and grandiose full-body physical jesters.

Watch the full “Hot Penny Day” performance above.

Stumpwork is out now via 4AD. Get it here.

It’s going to be a good year for fans of Death Cab For Cutie. Later this month, they are set to hit the road on tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album, Transatlanticism. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the album, Give Up, from Death Cab lead vocalist Ben Gibbard’s electronic pop side project, The Postal Service.

While Give Up has become a cult classic in its own right, The Postal Service — which was comprised of Gibbard on vocals, Jenny Lewis on background vocals, and producer Jimmy Tamborello — has never reunited for a follow-up record. In a recent interview on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast, Gibbard revealed he has no plans to make a follow-up to Give Up, his reason being that the way artists produce music has evolved greatly over the past two decades.

“Anybody who’s been asking a second Postal Service record, like really ask yourself, after 20 years, do you really think that there’s gonna something we could make that could even satisfy half of the desire you have in your mind as to what this record would be like? Twenty years — a lot of technology has changed,” Gibbard said. “A lot of how we make music has changed dramatically since then. It wouldn’t be the same.”

He continued, saying, “I think often, when we think about the music that we love the most and the eras of a certain artist or a band that we love the most, we’re as much thinking about the sound. It’s not just the songs or how you were driving around in high school listening to it, wishing you could be anywhere other than the town that you’re living in — it’s the sound of it. Whatever we would make now would sound dramatically different than what we made 20 years ago, and I think it would be a disappointment even if we tried.”

This isn’t the first time Gibbard has ruled out the possibility of new music from The Postal Service. Back in 2021, he revealed to NME that while the supergroup attempted to make a follow-up record in 2004 and 2005, it just never came to fruition, and probably won’t.

“You want to never say never, but no one should be holding their breath waiting for Postal Service music coming any time soon,” Gibbard said. “We haven’t worked on anything. We stay in touch as friends, but that’s kind of the extent of it.”

The Postal Service will, however, reunite as part of the joint tour with Death Cab, which kicks off on Friday, January 27.

You can check out the full Kyle Meredith With… interview above.

Ben Gibbard and Death Cab For Cutie are Warner Music Artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lady Gaga’s 2011 hidden gem, “Bloody Mary,” first appeared on her album, Born This Way. However, over a decade later, the spooky song has seen a sudden resurgence thanks to Wednesday.

When Netflix dropped its first season of the Addams Family-inspired show, fans flocked to TikTok and made edits of the titular character — with Gaga’s song as the soundtrack.

Despite not being featured in the show itself or TikTok contributing to the chart impact, Gaga and Wednesday fans’ streaming result has proven still immensely successful for the pop star. The social media trend pushed “Bloody Mary” to debut on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 at No. 68.

In the original scene of Wednesday, the young Addams daughter (played by Jenna Ortega) dances at prom to The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” — which fans eventually swapped out for “Bloody Mary.” Gaga even wound up getting in on the viral dance craze in a video that’s amassed over 12 million views.

Unsurprisingly, Netflix recently announced they’d be renewing Wednesday for a second season and poked fun at the TikTok hype by even using “Bloody Mary” in the teaser reveal.

According to Luminate, Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” had 6.1 million US streams and 2,000 sold downloads between December 30 and January 5 — proving that TikTok scrollers are committing to their love for the resurgent hit.