Category: News

For his Yeezy Gap Engineered By Balenciaga line of clothing, Kanye West has received some criticism when it comes to the in-store presentation: The items are kept in large, black bags that have been likened by some to trash bags. Now, Ye has addressed the criticism, using a Fox News interview to do so.

On Fox & Friends today (August 18), the show’s Eric Shawn spoke to West at the Gap store in Times Square and asked, “Do you understand some people have felt that putting clothes in bags is insensitive, perhaps, to homeless and other people?” West answered, “Look, man: I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologize about my ideas. That’s exactly what the media tries to do: Make us apologize for any idea that doesn’t fall under exactly the way they want us to think.”

He went on to note, “This is, like, not a joke. This is not a game. This is not just some celebrity collaboration. This is my life, you know? I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”

Shawn also reported Ye told him his goal was to make clothing that’s “more egalitarian and not as pretentious,” and that people shouldn’t “clown the creators” because that will “make innovators and other designers” “less brave.” Shawn also noted that West wants to “make life easier and informal so that we can all, basically, dress in the dark.”

Check out the interview above.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Niki, also known as Nicole Zefanya, has the kind of voice that can put someone in a trance. The 88rising artist, though, has been changing up what she does with it. Her past albums focused on an R&B sound that brought her success; she has millions of followers on social media ready to support whatever she does, and her hit “Lowkey” is mega-viral at over 200 million Spotify streams. That track hypnotized listeners with rapped verses and an intimate chorus that flaunted her alluring lilt. But with her new album Nicole, she’s leaving the flows behind and turning to a vulnerable brand of alternative pop.

The singles all showcased a softer direction that zoned in on her knack for storytelling. “You hid me in your dorm room / It was Halloweekend, I just flew across the globe / Twenty-two hours just to see you,” she sings on the lead single, “Before,” which is also the opening track, immediately throwing the listener into her life without warning. She continues, “Just to barely fit on your twin-sized bed / And talk about your cool new friend / Who I never met, who you dated as soon as I left.” If you’re chronically online, this might bring to mind the notorious TikTok controversy known as Couch Guy, a college boy whose girlfriend surprised him by showing up at his school, which prompted a suspicious reaction from him as he seemed not very excited and had his arm around another girl (unless he actually didn’t, it’s hard to say, whatever). So this detailed mention of disillusionment and heartbreak is very relevant, and a perfect way to draw in Zoomers.

The following singles were “Oceans & Engines” and “High School In Jakarta.” Both are bittersweet and mid-tempo, with the latter having more energy with sputtering synthesizers and catchy melodies. That song, “High School In Jakarta,” is one example of Zefanya’s preoccupation with the past. It doesn’t come across as nostalgic or sentimental; “High School In Jakarta” watches her literally living in her teenage years: “You don’t text at all and only call when you’re off your face / I’m petty and say, ‘Call me when you’re not unstable’ / I lie and tell you I’ll be getting drunk at Rachel’s,” she intones, and it’s not hard to believe for a moment that she actually is inside of these moments. At 23, she’s not too far removed from them. But she’s wise for her age — she reflects on these memories with a newfound sense of maturity. “The Goo Goo Dolls are dead to me the way you should be, too / But you bring them up along with how much I f*cking miss you,” she confesses on the resentful “Backburner,” a song grappling with a relationship where love and hate are intertwined.

Many young pop stars make the mistake of trying to find hits in vague anthems full of generalizations in an attempt to be universal, but Zefanya is not interested in that. Through specificity, she connects with her fans and comes across as completely relatable, proving that despite fame she’s also just a person. And Nicole dives into the depths of her heart, even if what’s there isn’t totally pretty. “I wish I never met you / You are the worst thing that I’m still keeping tabs on / For some stupid reason,” she sings on the peppy “Keeping Tabs,” a track buoyed by an exuberant rhythm.

In the press release, Zefanya said, “During the pandemic I did a deep dive of the archived videos from the YouTube channel I started in middle school, and realized that those songs are where my heart is. I wasn’t trying to ace an assignment; I didn’t care what constitutes a radio hit.” These two elements — ruminating on the past and not aiming for radio hits — make Nicole an album that feels like a warm welcome. Her recollections of high school can make the listener feel like they’re her old friend, and Zefanya is catching them up on what they’ve missed. Her reckonings with love are often so simultaneously thoughtful and whimsical, approaching Taylor Swift-level genius: “I ripped my heart out and put it in your hands in hopes that you’d put up a fight / How paradoxical since now all I can think about is when will we stop trying,” she sings on the 1989-esque “Autumn.”

The album, the singer has said, is about her first major heartbreak, followed by leaving her hometown for college. It pulsates with this youthful intensity — the way it feels like life-or-death at the time. The switch from high school student to university student is invigorating but also intimidating, and paired with a breakup it’s life-changing. It can feel like going through a weird metamorphosis. This sensation is present on “Milk Teeth,” a brief serenade that has the lush, gentle texture of Phoebe Bridgers’s Punisher The song portrays a relentless paranoia in the midst of deep love: “What if I make you pancakes / But you choose to skip breakfast / What if when you’re fully awake / You come to your senses?” She sounds as if she’s had her heart broken millions of times and has lived countless lives, with soft-spoken, sharp insights.

The record ends with the five-minute “Take A Chance With Me,” a ballad moved along by perky plucking and enchanting lyrics overflowing with affection. The chorus consists of Zefanya’s isolated, earnest vocals singing in something of a plea: “Why can’t we for once / Say what we want, say what we feel / Why can’t you for once / Disregard the world and run to what you know is real / Take a chance with me.” Zefanya is practically begging for communication and honesty in a way that’s endlessly relatable. After all of the songs dealing with frustration and longing, “Take A Chance With Me” is the perfect ending, finding the right words and saying them as clearly as possible. Though the lines are posed as questions, they feel like answers and resolutions that close the album on an inspiring, satisfying note.

WARNING: Spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 1 below.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has only been streaming on Disney+ for a few hours, and already, Marvel fans are freaking out over a revelation that was dropped in the end credits scene: Steve Rogers did not go into the ice as a virgin. Captain America got laid in his first movie, folks, and it’s now canon.

Early in the episode, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) goes on a road trip with her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) where she repeatedly brings up her theory that Steve Rogers was a virgin. Like most civilians in the MCU think Cap is dead or living on the moon following the events of Avengers: Endgame, which Bruch doesn’t correct because his cousin isn’t a superhero. Yet.

Following a car accident, Jennifer is exposed to Bruce’s blood transforming her into She-Hulk, and the two take off to his secluded beach cabin where Bruce tries to teach her to control her powers. Of course, this is easier said than done considering his student is a lawyer and Jenn’s transformation seems to be different than what Banner experienced. More importantly, in the first episode’s end-credit scene, a drunken Jenn is arguing her “Steve Rogers is a virgin” theory again. Only this time, she’s practically crying at the thought of “America’s Ass” never having sex. So Bruce lets her in on a secret.

Steve Rogers lost his virginity during a USO tour in 1943.

Here’s the thing: Jenn really wasn’t crying. She played her cousin, and triumphantly yells, “Captain America f—” right as the scene clips off the word that would’ve given She-Hulk a TV-MA rating. The moment went over huge with Marvel fans who have been freaking out on Twitter.

You can see some of the Steve Rogers reactions below:

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law streams new episodes Thursdays on Disney+.

Vladimir Putin would like everyone to believe that he’s swaggering through his Ukraine war, but the Botox-filled wannabe tsar isn’t having the easiest time toppling Volodymyr Zelensky and his people. Reportedly, Putin’s lost half of his army to death or serious injury, and that doesn’t even begin to account for the many top generals that have gone missing or have been killed. Not only that, but Russian troops also nearly blew away their top commander early on in the conflict.

In short, no one seems to want to fight in Putin’s war. Not only is he recruiting soldiers from Russian prisons known as “hell holes,” but troops also consider the actual conflict to be “hell” because everything is so poorly planned and executed. Clearly, it’s chaos, and a (speedy) new memoir from a Russian paratrooper further reveals how Putin’s guys aren’t really his guys. Via Business Insider, 33-year-old Pavel Filatyev wrote how “[s]omeone began to shoot himself in the limbs … to get 3 million rubles and get out of this hell.” The Guardian was first to report on the horrors to surface in this memoir:

Filatyev describes his unit, as the war dragged on, being pinned down in trenches for nearly a month near Mykolaiv under Ukrainian artillery fire. It was there that a shell blasted mud into his eye, leading to an infection that nearly blinded him.

As frustrations grew on the front, he wrote about reports of soldiers deliberately shooting themselves in order to escape the front and collect 3 million roubles (£40,542) in compensation, as well as rumours of acts of mutilation against captured soldiers and corpses.

That certainly says a lot about how Russian troops feel flat-footed and ill-prepared, likely through no fault of their own. Early reports of stranded Russian convoys (who ran out of fuel because they didn’t think they’d need that much, meaning that they probably didn’t think they’d meet much resistance) still prevail, and Ukraine has been going in hard within Crimea because Putin considers this to be a “holy land,” especially after illegally claiming the Black Sea peninsula back in 2014.

In other words, Russia’s easy win isn’t so easy, and even his troops don’t want to be there, suggesting that Putin’s planned fall victory is anything but certain.

(Via The Guardian & Business Insider)

In recent years, much has been made of the mandatory military service that must be carried out by able-bodied men in South Korea between 18 and 28 years old (or 30 if you’re a K-pop star) due to the impact this has on BTS, whose members are in that age range. Now, though, a prominent South Korean politician has proposed the group be granted an alternative to, but not exemption from, the service.

As NME notes, Park Heong-joon — the mayor of Busan, South Korea’s second-most populous city with about 3.4 million people — has made a formal proposal, requesting the presidential office consider granting BTS members an alternative form of military service that’s already available to athletes and artists who have “helped elevate national prestige or cultural advancement.”

Part of Park’s enthusiasm about the issue is due to BTS’ role as ambassadors for Busan’s bid to host the World City Expo in 2030, arguing their involvement in an “aggressive promotional drive” would give the city an edge over its “increasingly fierce” to host the Expo.

Park said, “I do not mean to give BTS the privilege of exemption from military service. If BTS is allowed alternative military service, its members will be assigned with national duties as heavy as military service and will serve the nation in their unique capacity. [I am] very well aware of the symbolic meaning of military service in Korea.”

Soccer Mommy‘s latest album Sometimes, Forever was a sprawling exploration of experimental sounds — so who better to remix a track from it than the glitchy, idiosyncratic Magdalena Bay? The hyperpop star helped make a new version of the stunning single “Shotgun,” transforming it into a pulsating, otherworldly song with synthesizers warping it and an exuberant beat giving it an extra kick.

Sometimes, Forever was unveiled in June and was produced with Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never. In our interview with singer Sophie Allison about the album, she explained the meaning behind “Shotgun”: “It’s about this sense of fear and the overhanging of something bad because it’s about the beginning of falling in love — the really exciting feeling, but also you don’t know where it’s going. But that kind of sense of just giving your heart over to someone — it feels not too scary, just intense in general. I compare it to uppers — this kind of sense of heart racing, on edge, never knowing what’s going to happen next. There’s this uncertainty and nervousness and fear. But it’s also just supposed to be about that fun feeling, that excitement.”

Listen to Magdalena Bay’s hypnotizing remix of “Shotgun” above.

Donald Trump is the only former-president of the United States who’s also part of the WWE Hall of Fame (there’s still time, Jimmy Carter). During the 2013 ceremony, he called the induction a bigger honor than “having the highest ratings in TV, being a best-selling author, or getting a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” Trump conveniently left out the part where he refused to let founder Vince McMahon touch his hair.

Trump’s most notorious WWE moment came during WrestleMania 23, when he and McMahon took part in the “Battle of the Billionaires.” Both of the slimy rich men had a wrestler — Bobby Lashley for Trump, Umaga for McMahon — fight for them; the winner would get to shave the loser’s hair. But according to the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Trump had his associates review the contract to ensure that under no circumstances would Mr. McMahon be allowed to shave his head, even if Mr. Trump’s wrestler dropped dead in the ring.” It’s like the Fast and Furious “no one can lose” clause, but with hair.

A person who reviewed Mr. Trump’s contract for the WrestleMania appearance said that Mr. Trump directed Mr. McMahon to send a $4 million appearance fee to Mr. Trump’s charity. After the event, Mr. Trump boasted that his appearance had been such a success that Mr. McMahon agreed to give him an additional $1 million.

That’s the same charity that was dissolved after it was discovered that Trump used it as his personal piggybank. Also, the Wall Street Journal notes, “an attorney for WWE didn’t dispute that the contributions were related to Mr. Trump’s appearances but challenged the notion that $1 million was a bonus for the success of the event.”

I, for one, expect more integrity from Trump and McMahon. Oh wait, no, I don’t.

(Via the Wall Street Journal)

Welcome to another installment of Ask A Music Critic! And thanks to everyone who has sent me questions. Please keep them coming at [email protected].

We are now almost 22 years into the 21st century. It’s been a pretty weird couple of decades! But rather than dwell on the many disasters of our era, I’m going focus on something positive: Music. Also: Lists! Here’s a big question for you: What is the best album of the 21st century so far? — Kenny from Little Rock, Arkansas

That is a big question, Kenny! And one that I feel like is impossible to answer definitively, because it can be answered in so many different ways.

For instance, I wrote a book a few years ago called This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ And The Beginning Of The 21st Century. (Have I somehow not mentioned this before? It is still available wherever you buy books!) The thesis of This Isn’t Happening is that Radiohead’s fourth album is an overture for the 21st century, in that it captures how it feels to be alive during this moment in history better than any other record I can think of. What I’m arguing, I suppose, is that it’s the most important album of the past 22 years, which is usually how music critics contextualize a “best album” for a particular period of time. It’s understood that for an album to be designated “best” it must have the following qualities (aside from being musically great, of course): cultural import, widespread influence, lasting relevance across generations, an ineffable “meatiness” or “weightiness” that suggests a certain towering stature. Kid A to me fits the bill better than any other album released during the 21st century.

But I am only one person! Clearly, there are people for whom the idea of a British rock band making the best album of this century is laughable. Didn’t British rock bands stop impacting culture in a major way after the last century ended? I can’t say I have a compelling argument to refute that. If the standard then for “best album” is wider critical consensus, I would say that the best album of the 21st century is a toss up between Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly. I’m basing this on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time, published in 2020, in which those two albums placed the highest (No. 17 and 19 respectively) of all the albums released this century. This is an imperfect metric, I know, but anecdotally those two records (along with Beyonce’s Lemonade and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black) seem like the most canonical records of recent times.

But what about influence? I’m not sure if any of those records are as influential as Daft Punk’s Discovery or Frank Ocean’s Blonde in terms of how pop music in general sounds in our era. If we’re talking strictly about Kanye West records, you could make a case that 808s And Heartbreak changed hip-hop more profoundly than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, paving the way for Drake, Kid Cudi, Post Malone and so much Soundcloud rap.

How about the populist angle? If we judge “best” strictly on the basis of record sales — an insane proposition, I know, but let’s proceed with the thought experiment anyway — then the top record is easily Adele’s 21 — it’s moved a staggering 31 million units! — followed by Eminem’s The Eminem Show, Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me, Adele’s 25, and Evanescence’s Fallen. How’s that for a list to make you regret that music continued to exist after Y2K? The list of most streamed albums is somewhat better: Ed Sheeran’s ÷ is No. 1, followed by Post Malone’s Beer Bongs And Bentleys, Dua Lipa’s Dua Lipa, Post Malone’s Hollywood Bleeding, and Ed Sheeran’s x.

Finally, I guess I’ll just go with my gut: My favorite album of the 21st century so far is probably Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs. I can’t say it’s the best based on the aforementioned criteria, but it’s the one I’ve played the most, and maybe that’s enough.

As we’ve watched tours from 2020 finally get off the ground in 2022, I can’t remember a time when so many bands face possible tour-destroying injuries. I personally was present for Pearl Jam’s recent Oakland shows where Matt Cameron had Covid and they had a rotating cast of drummers helping them out. Recently, My Morning Jacket had to cancel shows due to Jim James contracting Covid. Now Rage Against The Machine canceled their European tour due to Zack De La Rocha’s torn achilles. Fans are obviously bummed, especially with “destination” shows like Red Rocks. The financial pressure to keep these tours going must be immense. We’re so used to injuries in sports, but now it seems like music is experiencing its own DL. Do you see the way bands tour changing in the future? — Scott from San Jose
Hey Scott, this is an interesting question. Before now I hadn’t really considered that not touring for a few years might have been especially detrimental to aging legacy bands whose members aren’t as limber as they once were. All of that downtime might have really softened up those old bodies! In the future, these bands might have to start touring with a bench of support musicians who can step in should one of the starters pull a proverbial hammy and have to go on the DL. That’s basically what happened this summer during the Dead & Company tour, when drummer Bill Kreutzmann exited a show in Cincinnati and was swiftly replaced in the second set by substitute drummer Jay Lane.

Obviously, RATM can’t just plug in another singer when Zack De La Rocha goes down. (They already tried that with Chuck D in Prophets Of Rage.) So, how can bands avoid these types of costly and frustrating cancelations in the future? I imagine one of two scenarios will unfold, and possibly at the same time. One, bands will continue to tour in a bubble, in which interactions with anyone outside of the tour party will be all but eliminated. That’s been the rule with a lot of tours post-Covid, though it hasn’t always kept Covid out of the inner circle. Two, Covid will slowly be normalized to the point where it’s equated with the flu, which means if you feel well enough to play you will go on stage in a mask.

As for De La Rocha, rock laws might have to be changed so that singers over the age of 50 are no longer allowed to jump around on stage.

Curious to hear your take on Cass McCombs, who to me is only getting better as time goes by. He seems to be the guy that your favorite artist will namecheck, but will never get that same level of props. He literally seems like he stepped out of a Topps baseball card from the ’40s. Does he pass the Hyden Five Album Test? It might be eight or nine for me, depending on the new one. I know. I’m a nerd for this guy. — Justin in Los Angeles

Hey Justin, your question is very well-timed, considering that “the new one” from Cass McCombs — it’s called Heartmind, and it’s his 10th record — is out on Friday and it’s very, very good. If you like the jammy turn that his albums have taken in recent years, you’ll definitely enjoy this record, though there is less of an emphasis on guitar solos than there was on 2019’s excellent Tip Of The Sphere.

For me, he definitely passes the Five Album Test — including Heartmind, he’s put out six albums in a row that I flat-out love, going all the way back to the 2011 double-shot of Wit’s End and Double Risk. I’m admittedly not as familiar with his aughts-era work, but it’s safe to say that he’s never made a less than good album. And I agree with you — I think he’s definitely getting better over time. The problem (in terms of his career anyway) is that he’s a pretty unassuming person with a reputation for being a difficult interview. (Though when I spoke with him in 2019 I found him to be perfectly pleasant and engaging, if also deeply thoughtful and prone to long silences as he pondered his answers.)

Here’s an idea: We need a new version of the Traveling Wilburys made up of eccentric, brilliant, and very middle-aged singer-songwriters from the indie world. Enlist McCombs, Dan Bejar, Will Oldham, Bill Callahan, and Damien Jurado. This tour will take over 1,500-cap rooms across the nation!

Jimmy Fallon has really been sharing his Tonight Show desk lately: Megan Thee Stallion co-hosted the show last week, and last night (August 17), Demi Lovato joined Fallon in co-piloting the program.

Throughout the episode, Lovato appeared confident and comfortable, which isn’t surprising given her years of TV and hosting experience on shows like The X Factor and her Roku series The Demi Lovato Show. She first popped up during the monologue to deliver topical jokes with Fallon before helping him interview The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and Saturday Night Live‘s Kenan Thompson.

Elsewhere during the episode, Lovato and Fallon played a game called “Can You Feel It?,” in which they had to reach their hands into a box and try to figure out, by touch only, what was inside. Fallon started by getting completely freaked out by a Big Mouth Billy Bass, while Lovato got squeamish touching a Troll doll in Jell-O, the latter of which she managed to correctly identify.

Lovato has been getting used to the Tonight Show set recently, as she actually was all over the previous episode (on August 16), too. On that show, she sat down for an interview, played a game of “Quicktionary,” and performed “Substance.”

Check out clips from last night’s episode above and the previous Lovato-featuring episode below.

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

What is going on at HBO Max? Good question!

After Warner Bros. Discovery scrapped plans to release Batgirl and removed the Martin Scorsese-produced Vinyl, the Kathryn Hahn-starring Mrs. Fletcher, and the delightful At Home With Amy Sedaris from its catalogue, even more shows now exist in streaming purgatory. Variety confirms that over 30 titles will be pulled from HBO Max as soon as this week, including two of the best animated shows in recent years: Infinity Train, which parents (and, uh, child-less adults; I speak from experience) will enjoy as much as their kids, and Close Enough, from Regular Show creator J.G. Quintel. Also, something called Ellen’s Next Great Designer, but nothing of value was lost there.

Here’s the full list:

HBO Max Originals

“12 Dates of Christmas”
“About Last Night”
“Aquaman: King of Atlantis”
“Close Enough”
“Ellen’s Next Great Designer”
“Esme & Roy”
“The Fungies!”
“Generation Hustle”
“Generation”
“Infinity Train”
“Little Ellen”
“My Mom, Your Dad”
“Odo”
“Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness”
“Summer Camp Island”
“The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo”
“The Runaway Bunny”
“Theodosia”
“Tig n’ Seek”
“Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs”

HBO Originals

“My Dinner with Herve”
“Share”

Cartoon Network

“Dodo”
“Elliott From Earth”
“Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart”
“Mighty Magiswords”
“OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes”
“Uncle Grandpa”
“Victor and Valentino”

Acquired Titles

“Detention Adventure”
“Messy Goes to Okido”
“Mia’s Magic Playground”
“The Ollie & Moon Show”
“Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures”
“Make It Big, Make It Small”
“Squish”

Check out Infinity Train while you can.

(Via Variety)