Category: News

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo went onto First Take on Wednesday morning, presenting the latest opportunity for him and Stephen A. Smith to yell at each other about stuff. And folks, we got a doozy this time around, as Mad Dog went on a rant about Odell Beckham Jr. getting removed from an airplane — which happened over the weekend before a flight from Miami to Los Angeles took off — that had Stephen A keeling over with laughter.

Here are the important things to know before you watch the video and you enter The Dojo Of The Mind Of Mad Dog: 1. He recommends that Odell purchases a private plane instead of flying on American Airlines, 2. He has a big issue, it appears, with Odell flying American, and also with him taking a morning flight when there is football on a few hours later, because he could be watching football instead, 3. There is a pronunciation of “Tahiti” that you will not believe, 4. There is an argument over whether or not Odell could have taken Ambien.

Alright, here ya go:

Around the 1:51 mark of the video, Marcus Spears — who is the second panel of the three-way split screen, which put him in the middle of this entire thing — asks “what is happening” a few times. The answer to that question, Swagu, is television at its finest. And loudest. This was very loud.

Coming in hot off the success of The Bear, which has definitely caused a “shift” in his career, Jeremy Allen White is currently at work on The Iron Claw, a wrestling drama about the real-life Von Erich family. Joining White is co-star Zac Efron, who has already been spotted looking absolutely jacked for the A24 film. White and Efron will star as two of the numerous Von Erich brothers, Kerry and Kevin respectively, and they’ve been hard at work beefing up for the roles.

According to White, Efron immediately reached out as soon as he was cast and sent him a “really lovely note” to get him pumped for the months ahead: “Get training, eat, keep doing what you’re doing, stay hard,” Efron wrote. Via GQ:

White will try to put on 40 pounds of muscle to play Von Erich. It feels like an unusual role for him, but what White most appreciates is that the wrestler has something in common with Carmy: a quiet discomfort with his surroundings, a sense that he doesn’t belong. “There’s something human about never feeling like you are really your own man,” says White. “All great drama is about family, whether it’s blood or not. It’s about acceptance, it’s about belonging, and just getting away from loneliness.”

White has his worked cut out for him because Efron has already set the bar pretty high. In early November, the actor showed off his transformation into Kevin Von Erich, and it’s clear that Efron took his own advice. The guy looked absolutely shredded in a still from The Iron Claw that he shared on Instagram.

(Via GQ)

Every year, Spotify users look forward to seeing the songs that got them through, as Spotify Wrapped puts together their most streamed songs in the form of a fun, colorful, interactive story. Most Spotify users seem to know that Spotify collects your streaming data over the course of a specific time frame, and therefore, they try to impact the algorithm by getting in some last-minute streams.

Unfortunately, if the listener tries to stream specific projects past a certain date, their efforts may be in vain.

Does Spotify Wrapped include your December listening history?

While Spotify says each user’s Wrapped reflects their listening habits over the course of a year, they have confirmed to several news outlets, as well as their own social handles, that November and December are not included in the data collected for Wrapped.

“We’re afraid that listening to a bunch of stuff right now won’t make any difference to this year’s or next year’s Wrapped,” read a Tweet from Spotify’s official customer service account. “This is because Wrapped only covers the 1st of January until the 31st of October for any given year.”

So you can relax and not worry about people seeing the ungodly amount of times you listened to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” But be sure to kick off the year wisely. The right song can make all the difference.

Once again, it’s that time of year when music fans look back at their listening habits over the past 12 months. Spotify Wrapped 2022 is here, and naturally, folks are having a field day sharing and comparing their personalized lists and graphics, which are as always broken down with cheeky captions and colorful statistics — and even messages from the artists themselves.

But, while it’s always fun to see what we’ve been listening to recently, some people may wonder how their playlists this year compare to those of the past. After all, our listening habits change over time and there’s always going to be interest in seeing that change — or at least, in going back to relive nostalgic moments from playlists past.

Fortunately, seeing previous years’ Spotify Wrapped playlists is as easy as clicking a link. While you won’t be able to grab the old graphics and streaming breakdowns, you can see how Spotify compiled some of your favorite albums, artists, and songs. Just click on any of the links below.

Spotify Wrapped 2016
Spotify Wrapped 2017
Spotify Wrapped 2018
Spotify Wrapped 2019
Spotify Wrapped 2020
Spotify Wrapped 2021

For more year-end fun, you can also check out the Instafest app, which generates a mock festival lineup based on your listening habits over the past year or all time.

I’ll save you a Google search for “star wars f*ck” (don’t do it, especially if you’re at work… believe me): the word “f*ck” has never been said in the Star Wars universe. “Ass,” yes, as well as “crap” and “hell,” but never the f-word. Unless the f-word is “feed the Sarlacc,” which is apparently slang for “to use the toilet,” then it has.

But Andor almost made some swear word Star Wars history. While discussing Maarva’s stirring speech in the season one finale, actress Denise Gough, who played Imperial officer Dedra Meero, told Empire, “[Fiona Shaw’s] voice was over all of us. Except, at the end, she didn’t say, ‘Fight the Empire!’ She said, ‘F*ck the Empire!’ Which we were all really excited about. But we weren’t allowed to keep it, obviously.”

Oscar Isaac tried to drop the first f-bomb in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (allegedly), but was rejected. Now this? Disney+ needs to lighten up and let Baby Yoda say f*ck.

Gough sure isn’t afraid to let a drop a well-timed “f*ck,” however.

One thing’s certain, though: the pantheon of all-time-great Star Wars villains has a new fixture [in Dedra] — and appropriately she’s a rogue one. Not a Sith Lord, not power-hungry, just single-minded and fearsomely fanatical. She’s as smart as her Rebel enemies (“She thinks exactly like them – she is a Rebel!”), entirely disdainful of her inferior superiors, and ready to make life even more difficult for Cassian Andor and company. In Gough’s own words? “I am going to Dedra the f*ck out of the second season,” she warns.

Andor season two can’t get here soon enough (but we’ll have to wait until 2024).

(Via Empire)

Stormzy, fresh off releasing his new album This Is What I Mean, sat down for an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. During their conversation, the rapper shared how Adele helped him out with some genuine advice after he left social media: “You need to walk away and you need to take a break. You need some space. Protect your energy,” he explained.

The pair would eventually go on vacation together to Jamaica, as a way of escaping the pressures of the music business and life’s troubles. He noted that he and Adele have deep conversations often, which sparked her reminding him that sometimes an escape to a place of “peace and silence” is necessary. The trip was exactly that.

“Adele, I love her deeply. And we’ve always had amazing conversations. And that’s a true friend of mine, that’s not like a music friend. So whenever we kick it, we’ve had really beautiful and deep conversations,” Stormzy added. “And at that time it was like we weren’t going on holidays, we weren’t enjoying the fruits of our labor. Do you know what I mean?”

“It changed my life,” Stormzy said of the trip. “It was the most beautiful… I can’t even explain, it was really, really beautiful, and really healing, and really peaceful. God was on that trip. God was with us.”

Watch Stormzy’s full interview above.

This Is What I Mean is out now via Def Jam/Interscope. Buy/stream it here.

At some point this year, you probably heard everyone calling each other “chef” or buying up all of the Hanes white t-shirts, and that could only be described as the Jeremy Allen White effect! White’s stint as Carmy on The Bear made everyone think they could make some high-quality spaghetti while addressing their own inner demons. Plus, everyone and their neighbor dressed as the chef for Halloween, and that’s how you know this show is big big.

But the attention is not something White is used to. Even though he spent 11 seasons on Shameless, White was catapulted to stardom after the FX series became a major hit. In a new interview with GQ, White explains that he wasn’t quite ready for that type of stardom. “It was just like instant attention,” he told the mag. “I felt like that pretty girl who just hadn’t taken her glasses off yet,” White explained, suggesting he was unprepared for that level of fame.

Maybe he hasn’t taken off his glasses, but he has mastered something even more important: his perfectly curated messy hair that looks like it smells like marinara sauce. His secret? “Water and sweat.” You can DIY this look at home!

White is gearing up o star alongside Zac Efron in A24’s highly-anticipated The Iron Claw. Despite the fact that he has been in the industry for over a decade, White says he is just beginning. “I definitely feel like I’m taking a step up,” he says, “which is a scary feeling for sure.” On the bright side, now he can cook something carby to eat with Zac Efron.

(Via GQ)

On her latest single, “Boy’s A Liar,” PinkPantheress details the downfall of a relationship with a man who wasn’t who he presented himself to be. Over a thumping Mura Musa beat, the elusive siren taps delivers her soft-tinged vocals, as she mourns the man who she thought was her everything.

“What’s the point of crying? / It was never even love / Did you ever want me? / Was I ever good enough? / Thе boy’s a liar / The boy’s a player / He doesn’t see ya,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

With its painfully relatable message and its all too hypnotic electronic track, “Boy’s A Liar” makes for a perfect anthem for the heartbroken to dance the pain away.

PinkPantheress blew up throughout the pandemic by way of catchy, genre-transcending bops. Back in October, she joined Paramore onstage at Austin City Limits to perform the band’s breakthrough song, “Misery Business.” In a recent conversation with Bree Runway for Interview, PinkPantheress spoke about how she’s adjusting to her rapidly found fame.

“It’s very exciting knowing that people are listening, people care, people are actually interested,” she said. “When I came into it, not to be cringe, but I did it for the music. I wasn’t trying to have myself out there like that. But when things started picking up, it became uncontrollable. If anything, all of it has been one big learning experience. I’ve grown up more in one year than I have the last ten years.”

Check out “Boy’s A Liar” above.

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

If you’ve been on social media today, you probably already know this: Spotify Wrapped 2022 is here. The annual summary of users’ listening habits dropped this morning, and of course, so too have the memes about it.

One particularly viral post has around 190k likes (as of this post) and reads, “I already know what my Spotify Wrapped is going to look like.” The accompanying photo shows two books: a dull-looking one titled Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down and a more colorful one called Homosexuality: Speaking The Truth In Love.

The Twitter account for the Empire State Building also got in on the fun with a fabricated Wrapped graphic that pays tribute to New York and architecture. The top artists are Commodores, Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, Calvin Harris, and Jay-Z, while the top songs are “Brick House,” “Brick In The Wall,” “New York, New York,” “Giant,” and “Empire State Of Mind.” As for the top genre: “concrete.” That post has since been deleted, but they also shared this morning, “My #SpotifyWrapped is just ‘Welcome To New York’ over and over and over again.”

Other users addressed the annual wave of complaints about how Wrapped posts take over social media.

As for some more serious data, Bad Bunny was the world’s most-streamed artist of 2022, followed by Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, and BTS.

Check out some more Spotify Wrapped tweets below.

There are a lot of great benefits to the boom of music festivals for indie artists but there are also some drawbacks. For instance, up-and-coming rappers who land a slot on a Rolling Loud lineup can expand their audience and get their feet wet performing for the first time. However, things can also get a little awkward because these artists are often so new, they don’t have much music to perform — or many fans to perform for.

That’s what happened to Philadelphia rapper Eem Triplin at Rolling Loud New York this autumn. Triplin was booked for one of the earliest time slots, and the crowd had yet to arrive in earnest. This meant that he had to perform for a “crowd” of just 13 people. At the time, he seemingly took the mishap in stride, tweeting, “Gotta start somewhere.”

This chapter of his story has kind of a happy ending, though. On Monday (November 29), he posted photos of a package he got from the festival’s organizers containing a new Xbox and a card that read, “Hopefully, you get 20 people next time.” Rolling Loud reposted the photo on Instagram, writing, “Glad you like it.” At least he didn’t get his set canceled by the NYPD.