Category: News

Stormzy’s new album This Is What I Mean is on the way, and to keep the momentum going, he’s released the third single, “Firebabe.” It’s a tender reflection on a life-changing partnership with a woman he calls a “miracle” and his “happy place.” In the video, Stormzy sits in a glass-walled house looking over the pool outside while crooning in a cozy sweater. Stormzy might be best-known for his gritty, big-man raps, but when he sings these sort of gentle ballads, he has the warmth to really make them work.

In a statement, he says of the single, “Debbie, George [Moore] and I got in the studio together and it was the most beautiful moment. It was a session I’ll never forget, for the rest of my life. It was extremely special and everyone in the room understood that. We were making something that hopefully, God willing, lives forever. Something that has soul and feeling and it came from a really pure place. We took a truth and made some art from it.”

Stormzy previously kicked off the rollout for This Is What I Mean in September with the video for “Mel Made Me Do It” and delivered the Afropop-flavored “Hide & Seek” in October. This Is What I Mean is due on 11/25 via 0207/Def Jam. Pre-save it here.

Watch the video for “Firebabe” above.

Unless you’re Matthew Perry, one of the movie events of 2023 is John Wick: Chapter 4. It was originally supposed to come out in 2021, but then the pandemic (and Tom Cruise) happened. The countdown clock wait was worth it, though, because folks: we’ve got ninjas. Also, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, and Rina Sawayama, but most importantly, ninjas.

The trailer above begins with John Wick (Reeves) and Caine (Yen) in a church. “Do you think your wife can hear you?” Caine asks. Wick doesn’t, so why bother? “Maybe I’m wrong,” he responds. Instead of a sympathetic reply, Caine says, “You’re going to die.”

From there, we’re treated to about 17 different moments that made me say “f*ck yeah,” including Skarsgård acting more evil than normal (which is impressive, considering he literally played cinema’s most terrifying clown); attack dogs; and Keanu Reeves doing donuts in a car while shooting bad guys with a gun. “Last words, Winston?” Wick asks the Continental Hotel owner. “Just have fun out there.” Good advice.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

​​John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uncovers a path to defeating the High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

John Wick: Chapter 4 opens on March 24, 2023.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is queen of the grammatical slip-ups, and she is apparently ultra-pumped up while the U.S. awaits election results in key races. We previously saw Greene nonsensically rant about Nancy Pelosi and “gazpacho police” and accuse Bill Gates of growing substitute meat in a “peach tree dish.” Tensions remain high, so it’s fun that Marjorie somehow one-upped herself on Twitter.

Granted, the typo in question actually wasn’t more egregious than her previous oddities. It’s about the same degree of WTF, but Greene saw the tweet-typo and corrected herself and still left the old one up, so that’s an extra layer of bizarreness. She began by declaring, “I’m sure our enemies are quacking in their boots while we are still over here trying to count ballots.”

The congressperson who’s batsh*t enough to be denounced by CrossFit soon modified the “quacking” to “quaking.”

And in case she decides to delete this madness, here’s a screencap. It’s a good thing that Elon hasn’t rolled that “edit” button out yet, right?

Yes, it sure looks like the “quacking” tweet is the more popular version, judging by the number of likes and retweets alone. People are enjoying this very much. You might enjoy it, too. These are stressful times. We take what we can get.

After pushing back his upcoming album, Me Vs. Myself — to the dismay of many of his fans — A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie has made an effort to make amends by returning to his roots with an intimate performance at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

The New York rapper announced via Instagram Thursday morning, hinting that this affair will be a night to remember.

“New York…This is going to be special,” he wrote with a black heart emoji. “Tickets on sale tomorrow 10am.”

After a series of album delays, beginning with Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss getting pushed from October 28 to November 4 (due to Drake’s longtime producer and collaborator Noah “40” Shebib getting COVID), the “Swervin” rapper didn’t want to compete and ultimately decided it was best to push his upcoming project back to December 9.

The rapper again took to social media to share the news with his fans, writing, “Sorry, but [the] album dropping in December now, Drake was dropping the same day and I’m not with that.”

A Boogie is definitely in album mode — along with the performance at the Apollo, the rapper recently released his latest single, “B.R.O. (Better Ride Out)” featuring Roddy Ricch, this past October.

Me Vs. Myself is out 12/9 via Atlantic Records. Pre-save it here.

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

While Donald Trump is reportedly throwing an epic temper tantrum over the “humiliating” performance of the candidates he backed for the midterms, and allegedly even blaming Melania for encouraging him to back Jersey Boy Dr. Oz, there’s been no indication that he’s opted not to make whatever his “big announcement” might be on November 15th.

The guess, of course, is that the former president will officially announce his plans to run for president once again in 2024 — despite some conservative media outlets turning on their former MAGA god, who they’ve rebranded a “loser.” But Trevor Noah is desperately hoping that Trump’s dispatch from Mar-a-Lago will indeed be what we all think it is — mostly because he can’t wait to witness the carnage that will result from Trump’s escalating war of words with Ron DeSantis.

On Wednesday night, The Daily Show host noted that the “red wave” so many people predicted did not occur — he likened it more to the Republicans getting “the hand job version of ‘winning’” — and declared abortion rights the big winner. “And it looks like the big loser… was none other than Donald ‘Jump the Shark’ Trump,” Noah said. “Because so far it looks like many of the candidates he endorsed ended up being un-endorsed by the voters.” At the same time, Trump nemesis — and possible presidential challenger — Ron DeSantis delivered a scorching defeat to keep his seat as Florida governor with nearly 60 percent of the vote. As Noah explained:

It was a bad night for Trump and a GREAT night for his rival, ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ who absolutely crushed it in Florida. I mean like CRUSHED it — like bath salts crushed it. And judging by this post on his knock-off Twitter, Trump is not taking it well. He wrote: ‘Shouldn’t it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year — 5.7 million to 4.6 million? Just asking?’

Oh, wow! You see what you’ve done Ron DeSantis, huh? You see what you’ve done?! You made Trump so mad he’s doing math!… Even sounding like Shakespeare in that: ‘Shouldn’t it be said? And hitherto forth?’

Noah is admittedly really excited about how this rivalry will ultimately play out, because, as he explained, the combination of “DeSantis’ success combined with Trump’s failures is already causing chaos in the Republican party. Because now, Republicans are asking themselves: ‘What do we do? Do we stick with Trump, who has screwed up two elections now but still controls all of the hardcore Republicans. And is also completely toxic with everyone else? Or, do we go with Ron DeSantis, who’s clearly the upgrade of Trump?’ But then you risk losing Trump and then he burns down the entire GOP.

Noah loves watching conservatives — who only care about being on the winning side — try and work out this dilemma for themselves. And is already stocking up on popcorn in order to watch and see how it all plays out over the next several months.

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 5:00 mark.

Super Bowl LVII halftime performer Rihanna has pumped the brakes on album talk. “Super Bowl is one thing, new music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?” she told the Associated Press earlier this week. But there is some new music, which is more than we’ve been able to say since 2016’s chart-breaking ANTI album.

RiRi officially marked her return to music with the release of “Lift Me Up” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. The emotive ballad, a tribute to the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, was co-written by Rihanna, Tems, Ludwig Göransson, and director Ryan Coogler. “Lift Me Up” debuted at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.

And now, with Wakanda Forever hitting theaters tomorrow (November 11), we know that Rihanna double-dipped on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack. It was first reported following the highly anticipated sequel’s Los Angeles premiere that Rihanna had two songs listed on the Wakanda Forever soundtrack: “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again.” The initial soundtrack released to the public did not include “Born Again,” but the second ballad has since been added in territories where it’s already November 11.

“Born Again” was produced by Göransson and The-Dream, as noted by Genius, and it’s just as lyrically evocative as “Lift Me Up”: “I’d give my heart to this place / I’d give my whole soul and whatever it takes, never run away / And I’d relive this just to see your face again / I know that you’d do the same, born again.”

See early reactions to “Born Again” below.

Fever Ray hasn’t released an album since 2017’s Plunge, but the Karin Dreijer-led act is poised to make the next chapter in the band worth the wait. Fever Ray announced today the release of Radical Romantics, the band’s third album which is due out on March 10th of 2023. Radical Romantics marks the first time that Dreijer and their brother (and bandmate in The Knife) Olof Dreijer have written music together in eight years and the album’s crop of producers also features Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Along with the album announcement, the new single “Carbon Dioxide” is an apt figurehead for the album’s central themes of love and false notions of functional love. The song has an arresting club thump, with Dreijer’s abrasively evocative vocals singing on the hook, “Holding my heart, while falling.” It’s radical, but nothing less than what we’ve come to expect from the shape-shifting Dreijer and Fever Ray: Avant pop of the highest order.

Listen to “Carbon Dioxide” above and check out the album artwork and tracklist below.

1. “What They Call Us”
2. “Shiver”
3 “New Utensils”
4. “Kandy”
5. “Even It Out”
6. “Looking for A Ghost”
7. “Carbon Dioxide”
8. “North”
9. “Tapping Fingers”
10. “Bottom Of The Ocean”

Radical Romantics is out 3/10/2023 via Mute Records. Pre-order it here.

When Friends released its series finale, ending its 10 year run as one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, Matthew Perry‘s Chandler Bing delivered the final line, and it was by request. According to his new memoir, Perry personally approached series creator Marta Kauffman and asked if he could be the one to cap off the NBC series. Fittingly, he shared the moment with Jennifer Aniston, who Perry admitted he had a crush on during Friends mammoth run.

Via Deadline:

“Before that final episode, I’d taken [co-creator/EP] Marta Kauffman to one side,” Perry wrote in his memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing”. “‘Nobody else will care about this except me,’ I said. ‘So, may I please have the last line?’ That’s why as we all troop out of the apartment, and Rachel has suggested one last coffee, I got to bring the curtain down on Friends.”

As fans of the show know, the finale ends with the gang in Monica’s now-empty apartment. Realizing she has some time to spare before moving into her new home, she asks if everyone wants to get coffee. To which Chandler sarcastically replies, “Sure. Where?” It was an entirely on-brand moment, and Perry will never forget co-star David Schwimmer‘s reaction to the final line.

“I love the look on Schwimmer’s face as I deliver that line — it’s the perfect mixture of affection and amusement, exactly what the show Friends had always given to the world,” Perry wrote.

(Via Deadline)

At the moment, social media is in chaos. More specifically, Twitter is in chaos: Ever since Elon Musk became the platform’s official owner, he’s been making changes, most of which have not been well-received. Most notably, verification is now a feature that users can pay for, which led to funny/misleading posts from checkmark-bearing accounts posing as entities like LeBron James and Nintendo.

On a somewhat related note, Grimes, with whom Musk has two children, just shared an interesting theory on social media and the impact it has had on literature.

Last night, a Twitter user wrote, “Most of the time I don’t like starting fiction books (that aren’t sequels to books I’ve already read). This is true even when I’m pretty sure I’m going to like the book ~50 pages in. I’ve tried skimming and it’s fine but doesn’t really solve the issue. Anyone have more ideas?” Grimes responded, “I think social media has given us emotional investment burnout. We’re only supposed to know 150 ppl how are we meant to become emotionally invested to the degree a novel demands. Was easier b4 all this. Nonfiction still readable for this reason.”

These thoughts on social media are about the closest Grimes has come to publicly commenting on Musk’s Twitter takeover, as she hasn’t shared any thoughts about it yet.

To raise awareness about the environmental crisis that is only going to get worse, Rainn Wilson has changed his name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson. No, really. “With the help of my scientist friends at Arctic Basecamp, I’ve changed my name to Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson. This is not a joke, I’m as serious as the melting Arctic, which amplifies global risks including extreme weather events around the globe,” The Office star said in a video posted on Arctic Basecamp’s social media.

Wilson, who recently appeared as Dr. Demento in the brilliantly stupid Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, did the (temporary?) name change to bring “attention to this growing… er, melting issue. We need world leaders at COP27 to take notice and take action. The Arctic is melting at millions of liters per second, yet this problem can’t seem to make a name for itself, so it’s up to us to make a name for it.”

Arctic Basecamp is led by a team of Arctic experts and scientists. The body has physically set up a real basecamp in the Arctic and uses its findings to raise awareness about the environmental crisis. Wilson encouraged people to also modify their name to bring attention to the issue, using the Arctic Basecamp “name-changer” on website ArcticRiskName.org.

If you’ve ever said “bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica,” which is basically everyone (or, y’know, you care about the Earth), you might want to check it out.

(Via Deadline)