Category: News

As on Friday, November 22, the most-watched show in the world on Netflix isn’t A Man on the Inside or Cobra Kai or, I don’t know, a sudden random spike in popularity for the Tom Brady roast. It’s The Cage.

The French drama follows aspiring fighter Taylor (played by Melvin Boomer), who dreams of going pro while training at a local gym owned by Boss (Franck Gastambide). “One day, Taylor agrees to compete in an arranged match at the gym against Ibrahim [played by rapper Bosh], a volatile and dangerous pro fighter,” according to the Netflix logline. Minor spoiler ahead:

“Despite Boss telling Taylor it’s a bad idea — Taylor doesn’t have Ibrahim’s experience and has yet to fight professionally — the two go head-to-head. Taylor knocks out Ibrahim, who then barely ekes out a victory. When a video of the match goes viral, Ibrahim gets fuming mad. Taylor, on the other hand, becomes an overnight sensation, and now he’s more determined than ever to make it into the UFC.”

All five episodes of The Cage premiered on November 8. But will there be a season 2?

“What we have seen in this sport, in recent months… is that the public is uncompromising with the fighters,” creator Franck Gastambide told French publication Technikart Magazine, according to a translation provided by The Direct. “The one who is at the top of the hype in a defeat… will be the one who is mocked, the one we lose interest in. Finally, what could be interesting to deal with in season 2 of The Cage is that the biggest violence for a fighter is not ultimately in The Cage, it is much more now in the media world, in the networks, and in the public who is uncompromising. So maybe that could be the continuation of The Cage, violence outside the cage, too.”

If The Cage continues to be popular, a second season is increasingly likely. For now, you can watch the season 1 trailer below.

Charli XCX had an incredible 2024 thanks to the culture-defining success of Brat, and she just capped the year off with a terrific and hilarious stint of hosting Saturday Night Live.

As for what Charli has cooking for 2025, it least some of it involves more Brat: Today (November 22), Charli announced a quick run of arena concerts. The currently announced shows run from April 22 to May 1 and consists of stops in Austin; Minneapolis; Rosemont, Illinois; and two nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

The sign-up for the ticket pre-sale is open now and it closes on November 25 at 10 a.m. ET. The pre-sale itself starts on November 26 at 10 a.m. local time. The general on-sale begins on November 26 at 2 p.m. local time. More information can be found here.

This comes shortly after Charli took over Times Square for surprise performances of “360,” “365,” “Apple,” and “Von Dutch.” Meanwhile, it was reported recently that she has been cast in Sacrifice, a film inspired by Joan Of Arc. Yung Lean is also set to appear, as are Anya Taylor-Joy (playing Joan), Chris Evans, Salma Hayek Pinault, Sam Richardson, Vincent Cassel, John Malkovich, Ambika Mod, Jade Croot, Jeremy O. Harris, and Miriam Silverman.

Check out the tour dates below.

Charli XCX’s 2025 Tour Dates: Brat

04/22/2025 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
04/26/2025 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
04/28/2025 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
04/30/2025 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
05/01/2025 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center

Adrianne Lenker has had a busy 2024. She released the album Bright Future, went on a solo tour, and debuted a new Big Thief lineup. Lenker isn’t done with this year yet, though, as her song “Feel Better” was just unveiled with the release of Transa, a new compilation album.

Beyond Lenker, Transa also includes tracks from André 3000, Bartees Strange, Clairo, Faye Webster, Fleet Foxes, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Julien Baker, Moses Sumney, Perfume Genius, Sam Smith, Sharon Van Etten, and Yaeji. In all, the project boasts 46 tracks.

Of the project, Red Hot’s Dust Reid explains that the seeds for it were planted after Sophie’s death in 2021:

“We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts. We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing. […]

One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility. Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.”

Listen to “Feel Better” above.

Transa is out now via Red Hot. Find more information here.

Back in 2019, a Nicki Minaj and Juice WRLD track titled “Girl With The Blonde Hair” was leaked online. Following Juice WRLD’s tragic death, the collaboration fell by the wayside until now. Today (November 22), the record has officially been released as part of Minaj’s commemorative The Pinkprint (Tenth Anniversary) drop.

Renamed “Arctic Tundra,” the track is a delightful blast from the past. Juice WRLD’s signature melodic cadence previously heard on the leak seems to be untempered with. “I f*ck the blunt up / then f*ck your momma / My VVS cold like an arctic tundra / The .40 on me, woah, you don’t want no problems / And you best proceed with some caution / This song for the girl with the blonde hair / Suck me up good, give me Becky, like yeah,” sings the late musician.

Although this posthumous collaboration follows “All Girls Are The Same 2 (Insecure),” during an exchange with a fan on X (Twitter) Minaj has been sitting on this record for a while.

“Written/recorded before I was preggers,” she wrote.

With Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 – The Hiatus slated to hit streaming platforms on December 13, fans wonder if there is another archival goodie on the way.

Listen to “Arctic Tundra” above.

The Pinkprint (Tenth Anniversary) is out now via Republic. Find more information here.

After what feels like a decade-long press tour, Wicked is finally here. Part one, at least. The movie-musical, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, is out in theaters now. To celebrate the occasion, Grande shared a note to her “sweet, sweet fans” in an Instagram Story (seen here).

“i’m feeling incredibly emotional today (who’s surprised?) and i wanted to just thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she wrote. “often when we meet in person, you tell me that you’ve grown up with me or about the impact that my work has had on your life but i feel like i don’t really get the chance to tell you enough about the impact that you’ve had on mine.”

Grande is “grateful” for “the many ways in which you’ve held me over the years…. you have held my hand and helped mend my heart time and time again over the past ten years and i would never be here without you. i mean that in every way you can interpret it. thank you for your patience with me. i know i disappeared into this project for a long, long time (i believe you all called it ‘the drought’!) and i know that was hard for you all.”

The “Ordinary Things” singer wants to thank all the Arianators for “your fierce protection, your passion, and your ability to see me and love me as i evolve alongside all of you. I will never take your love, support or the irrevocable connection that we share for granted. from the days of doing many hour long meet n greets in the garage, when it was just us, til i am old lady Peaches, i will love you this same way.” She ended the note by calling the connection she has with her fans “one of the greatest joys and gifts of my life.”

Generative artificial intelligence is getting pretty good, especially considering it’s a relatively young technology in terms of being a consumer-facing product. But, in terms of AI-made art being indistinguishable from human-created works at first glance, it’s not quite there yet. Fine details are often off, and it’s not yet at the point where it consistently portrays text in images correctly. The latter is why it sure looks like Kesha used AI for a new single cover.

Kesha recently announced a single called “Delusional,” and she did so by sharing the cover art on Instagram. The image features a bunch of leather handbags, with the word “delusional” spray-painted on them, strewn about a street. It seems whoever approved the art didn’t inspect it too closely, though, as the word is frequently spelled incorrectly, sometimes even written with characters that aren’t quite real letters.

Many people picked up on the AI-ness of the situation and shared their thoughts in the post’s comments. One user wrote, “why did u choose AI,” and another replied, “this AI is ruining our lives.” Somebody else commented, “Girl a selfie would’ve been better than AI art,” and another user said, “new single cover please mother shot by a human being.”

This comes after Tears For Fears faced backlash for using AI in a cover of their own in September.

Steven and Ian begin this week’s episode with some shocking news: It looks like Steven is going to win the Fantasy Albums Draft this quarter! Big help comes courtesy of new albums out today from Michael Kiwanuka and Kim Deal of the Breeders, which have been very well reviewed. Then the guys talk about candidates for “Album Of The Year” according to critical consensus, including Charli XCX’s Brat, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, MJ Lenderman’s Manning Fireworks, and Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee. Then they dive into the new album from Father John Misty, Mahashmashana, and how it compares to his previous records.

In the mailbag, the guys address one of their all-time best questions: Who is the most “dudes rock” quarterback of all time?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the Philly indie band 22° Halo while Steven stumps for the cult singer-songwriter Lee Baggett.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 216 here 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 X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Lil Nas X has a life-altering crush in his new single “Need Dat Boy.” Over a slowly morphing beat that goes from moody ballad to an uptempo, drum-n-bass beat, Nas describes the feeling of yearning, admitting, “I been lookin’ for a muse, need a new persona / Put your picture on my wall, you my new Madonna.” However, as he reveals in the second verse, it isn’t just about satisfying his physical needs, but also kick-starting his creativity. “Man, f*ck this pity party,” he sneers. “When I’m back up I’m shootin’ shots at everybody.”

He already got started on that goal, clapping back at Azealia Banks after she called him washed up. Even before this, Nas wasn’t shy about supporting his claim in “Need Dat Boy” that “a lot of y’all are just my peers, y’all ain’t my friends,” noting that only Jack Harlow was down to collaborate with him after he came out.

Still, it seems the goal of his new album, Dreamboy, is more to recenter himself, seeking his own validation rather than that of peers, partners, or fans. His Dreamboy trailer and the album’s first single, “Light Again,” addressed this goal, and from the sounds of things, he’s well on his way.

You can listen to Lil Nas X’s new single, “Need Dat Boy,” above.

Dreamboy is coming soon via Columbia Records.

If anyone has the right to brag about having “the biggest” year in rap, Bossman Dlow certainly has a claim. The Port Salerno, Florida native had his biggest career break yet this year when his single “Get In With Me” became a runaway hit on TikTok in January, leading to his first placement on the Billboard Hot 100, just five years after starting rapping professionally. He followed up in February with “Mr Pot Scraper” and in March with his third mixtape, Mr Beat the Road. His latest single, “The Biggest P. 2,” celebrates all of that success while predicting even more ahead.

Bossman Dlow first started taking rap seriously in 2019, fresh off a stint in county jail. His debut mixtape, Too Slippery, came out in January 2023, leading to a record deal with Alamo Records that summer. In December, Too Slippery was re-released as 2 Slippery, while “Get In With Me” was initially released this year as a freestyle on Kreepin Through the Streetz, a Jacksonville-based YouTube series. The resulting buzz led to Dlow landing on the 2024 XXL Freshman class, being tapped as a feature Ciara, Nardo Wick, and Rob49, while singles like “Come Here” with Sexyy Red, “Finesse” with GloRilla, and “PJ” with Lil Baby helped further solidify Bossman Dlow’s rise.

Watch the video for “The Biggest, Pt. 2” above.

Blackpink member Rosé is building up to the release of her solo album, Rosie, and her latest video makes her intentions clear: She wants to be your “Number One Girl.” As the second single from her album, it’s also the second co-written by Bruno Mars, who also appeared on the lead single, “APT.” This time, though, they go in a different direction, delivering a heartfelt ballad, assisted by collaborators Amy Allen, D-Mile, Omer Fedi, Carter Lang, and Dylan Wiggins.

“APT.” was already a history maker, debuting at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Rosé the first female Korean solo artist to chart in the top ten. Meanwhile, it’s also been a worldwide hit, appearing on the Global 200 and holding the top spot for the past four weeks. Ahead of the album’s release, Rosé explained the album’s title: “Rosie is the name I allow my friends and family to call me. With this album, I hope you all feel that much closer to me.”

Meanwhile, the rollout for Rosie has brought the K-pop star to some unexpected places, like the set of Hot Ones, where she gave a shout-out to her dog, which is named after actor Tom Hanks.

You can watch the video for Rosé’s new single “Number One Girl” above.

Rosie is due on 12/6 via Atlantic/The Black Label. You can find more information here.