Category: News

It was first rumored in late July that Britney Spears was making her post-conservatorship musical comeback with an Elton John collaboration, a new rendition of “Tiny Dancer.” Shortly after that, Paris Hilton confirmed she had heard the song, and last week, John officially announced the track (titled “Hold Me Closer”), although he didn’t directly mention Spears by name. All this time, Spears hadn’t publicly acknowledged the song, but she finally did this weekend.

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Spears shared fan-made cover art for the song (by Instagram user @monalisaney81) and noted, “name of song is HOLD ME CLOSER.” She added, “And thank you so much for this incredible art @monalisaney81. I appreciate this and all of your support it means so much to me !!! I can’t wait for you all to hear what we’ve been working on [winking emojis].”

Before mentioning the song in the post, Spears wrote about expressing herself, saying, “Conservative Diplomatic Voice … I had everything but broken inside !!!!! I never wanted to be the girls who show their bodies !!! BULLSH*T !!! Try being covered for 4 months with no keys !!! I have the right to express my body, mouth, eyes , heart, and feet and show whatever I want !!! My body was manipulated, abused, and torn by people not my friends !!! I have beautiful friends who give me joy and lift my ass higher everyday … if my shallow smile approach offends anyone which I only have learned to COPY !!! So sorry !!!”

As for when “Hold Me Closer” is coming out, reports from Metro and South African radio station 5FM indicate it’s set to be released this Friday, August 19.

Megan Thee Stallion’s new album Traumazine is out now and with it, her latest single offering from it, “Her.” An uptempo track that borrows heavily from the Miami bass scene and fits right in with the current dance wave sweeping hip-hop, “Her” is also in line with Meg’s usual boastful perspective, as she upholds her own greatness while telling ” hater kiss both cheeks, ciao, bella.” In the new video for the single, Meg struts confidently in designer, turning herself into a work of art.

“Her” was one of two songs Megan performed in Central Park for Friday’s episode of Good Morning America. She also performed Traumazine lead single “Pressurelicious” sans the Future feature. Other songs she’s previously released from the album include the defiant “Plan B” and the bouncy “Sweetest Pie”; both are included on the final release. In addition to featuring on GMA for the album’s surprise rollout, she appeared on The Tonight Show to co-host alongside Jimmy Fallon, revealing that she cut the album’s 18 songs down from 50 and teasing Stranger Things actor Natalia Dyer over her character Nancy Wheeler’s fickle nature.

Watch Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her” video above.

Traumazine is out now via 1501 Certified/300 Entertainment. Get it here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has found the real victim of the so-called culture wars: white men. “I believe that white men are the most persecuted identity in America,” the far-right conspiracy theorist said in an interview with a college student. “Young white men are put bottom on the list of so many things.” She’s right for once: white people, in particular white men, finished at the bottom of this list of the most discriminated against groups.

Taylor Greene believes “white men are passed over for any kind of promotion or even for being hired in the job place,” despite evidence to the contrary, which leaves them feeling “lost” with a sense of “hopelessness” that can only be filled with butts and Mario Kart.

“They spend time, hours and hours, alone” without a job or hobbies to keep them distracted, Taylor Greene said, which “turns them to all kinds of bad things: porn on the internet, reading crazy stuff in chatrooms — and God knows who’s in there and saying what they’re saying — a lot of time playing video games.” She is literally describing porn and video game fanatic — and fellow GOP member —Ted Cruz.

Are there reasons why white men enjoy porn, besides discrimination? No comment.

Taylor Greene didn’t straight-up (emphasis on “straight”) call for porn to be banned, like J.D. Vance did, but the implication is there. Maybe she needs to be introduced to the right porn and the right video games. Luckily, there’s a “two birds, one stone” option in the gun porn that is Call of Duty, a favorite among — you guessed it — white men.

Shortly before The Boys became a powerhouse hit for Amazon, Billy Butcher himself, Karl Urban, continued his streak as a yeoman genre actor by appearing as Skurge in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. In the film, Skurge betrays his fellow Asgardians and aligns himself with Cate Blanchett’s Hela as she slaughters her way through the godly realm.

While Skurge doesn’t do a whole lot in the Taika Waititi movie that turned the Thor franchise around, Urban recently revealed that there are deleted scenes that give his character much more of an arc. Although, judging by Urban’s description, we can see why it was left out of the PG-13 Marvel film. Via The Independent:

The scene in question follows a moment in which Skurge chops the head off a young girl in the Asgardian town square, at Hela’s command.

“Post that scene, there’s a scene which didn’t make the final cut, is he absolutely sickened to the core,” Urban revealed. “We find him in some corner. And he’s actually being physically sick by what he’s done. And that was really sort of the genesis for this turn that he takes, and the guilt that he feels about what he’s done, and how he’s going to, at the right point in time, make it right.”

Urban may not have had a chance to shine in Thor: Ragnarok, but he hit the jackpot with The Boys where he’s now clocked in three seasons as Billy Butcher in the Amazon series that’s definitely not afraid to go places. After wrapping up its brutal third season, The Boys is already hard at work filming Season 4, which the show’s official Twitter account with these photos of the cast on set:

The Boys is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

(Via The Independent)

Back in 2000, journalist and documentarian Louis Theroux, in an episode of his show Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, tried his hand at rapping. Earlier this year, on an episode of the YouTube interview series Chicken Shop Date, he reminisced about that rap and gave an off-the-cuff performance of it. That has now been heard by many an internet user: It’s the one with the opening line, “My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds.”

The track was famously remixed by DJ duo Duke & Jones, and Theroux later recorded a new version of the track (dubbed “Jiggle Jiggle”) with the duo earlier this year. The song remains popular online today, so much so that it even found its way into a recent Coldplay concert.

During Coldplay’s August 12 performance at Wembley Stadium, before launching into “Politik,” Chris Martin was seated at the piano and fired off an impromptu rendition of “Jiggle Jiggle,” singing the now-classic lyrics as he played along on piano, which got some laughs out of the audience.

Coldplay is in the midst of their Music Of The Spheres tour, on which they are joined by HER, who recently delivered a lovely backstage a capella rendition of “Fix You.”

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

Nearly six months have passed since Vladimir Putin waged his imperialistic invasion on Ukraine. Since that time, he’s lost so many top generals (those whacked by a sniper are no joke) and demonstrated (for all the world to see) that his military has been much less better equipped than he imagined. Not only that, but the Russian economy’s struggling to deal with global sanctions, and they’re stealing gold to finance military operations, but all is most decidedly not well.

And I’m not simply talking about how Russian troops nearly blew up one of their generals. Rather, Putin apparently regrets the larger picture, including putting his whole plan into motion. According to former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis there’s no way that Putin doesn’t realize that he’s made a (to quote Arrested Development in a very inopportune place) huge mistake. Via Business Insider, Stavridis spoke out on WABC New York’s “The Cats Roundtable” program over the weekend:

Asked whether Putin knew the invasion of Ukraine was a mistake, Stavridis said: “I think in the dark, quiet hours at two o’clock in the morning when he wakes up, he realizes he’s made a mistake. Publicly, he’ll never admit that. Never.”

Stavridis said Putin would maintain the “fiction” that Neo-Nazis run Ukraine and that he was forced into the conflict by NATO, rather than choosing to invade. “I think he knows it in his heart, he’ll never admit it publicly,” he said.

Not only that, but Stavridi’s own observations (and given the stalled Russian convoys that are common cable-news knowledge, it’s not a leap) show that he’s “burning through capability” without the ability to keep things going for the long haul. But more than that, this report points towards Putin knowing that he’s flat-out mistaken with this ongoing invasion, but he’ll never admit as much, even though there’s more loss of life (on both sides) to come. Apparently, his desire to look like a Peter The Great-eque figure is far more important to him. Putin’s also put a nine-month goal on winning this war, and we’ll see if those Ukrainian grandmas can keep their fight going, too.

(Via Business Insider)

What’s the worst thing that Jimmy McGill / Saul Goodman / Gene Takovic has done over six seasons of Better Call Saul? Was it attempting to ruin Howard Hamlin’s reputation? Was it drugging rich guys to steal their information? Was it hiding a battery in his brother’s pocket? No, no, no. It was lying to poor Marion, played by the legendary Carol Burnett, who just wants to watch her cat videos in peace. Instead, she’s part of Gene going deep into his “craziness,” as Bob Odenkirk put it in an interview with TV Insider.

The Emmy-nominated actor obviously wouldn’t give away him any specific details about the Saul series finale, which airs tonight, but he did share the movie that was on his mind while filming the final batch of episodes. “At a certain point, he was driven by self-destruction. I thought a lot about that movie, Leaving Las Vegas, this most recent round of Jimmy’s scam that included Marion,” he said, referring to the 1995 Sin City-set addiction drama starring Nicholas Cage, who won his only Oscar for his performance, and Elisabeth Shue, who was nominated for an Oscar. Odenkirk continued:

“The crime regarding getting these rich guys drunk and stealing their private information. That was the round of Jimmy/Saul scamming that was just unhinged. I feel bad that he made that choice, but I will say this. I feel wonderful and excited and thrilled about what the writers came up with regarding the finale.”

The final episode of Saul better have at least one Sheryl Crow song.

(Via TV Insider)

Back in January, Adele postponed her Las Vegas residency, “Weekends With Adele” (rescheduled dates for which were announced in July). She broke the news to her fans with an emotional video, and it turns out those weren’t crocodile tears coming from her eyes: In a new Elle feature, she calls postponing those shows “the worst moment in my career, by far.” She added, “I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.”

She explains that something about the show as it was at that point didn’t feel right, saying, “There was just no soul in it. The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy. And maybe I tried too hard to give it those things in such a controlled environment.”

The impact of postponing the shows lasted well beyond the initial announcement, as Adele said, “The first couple of months was really, really hard. I was embarrassed. But it actually made my confidence in myself grow, because it was a very brave thing to do. And I don’t think many people would have done what I did. I’m very proud of myself for standing by my artistic needs.”

She elaborates on the postponement further and discusses other topics in the feature, so check it out here.

Earlier this month, Doja Cat went ahead and shaved her head and eyebrows, explaining at the time, “I don’t like having hair. I’ve never liked having hair. I cannot tell you one time, since the beginning of my life, that I’ve ever been like, ‘This is cool.’ I just do not like to have hair.”

This whole thing and reaction to it later prompted Doja to assure fans that she’s “fine,” but it seems that didn’t stop comments from coming in, based on Doja’s social media activity from over the weekend.

Yesterday, she took a moment to share a frustrated message about the expectations her fans have of her (presumably related to her new look), tweeting, “I won a grammy and traveled the f*cking globe i’ve had a #1 and i went platinum. I make hit after hit after hit and you all want me to look f*ckable for you so that you can go home and jerk your c*cks all day long while you live in your mothers basement. Go f*ck yourselves.”

A Twitter user responded, “Honestly Doja I think you are ungrateful, We support ur music n we want you back to music that all. Just leave Social Media n go focus on music gurl.” To that, Doja replied, “you’re so miserable that you have to label yourself as a ‘we’. You aren’t part of any collective. You’re just another asshole that doesn’t know how to read a room.”

As far as Doja’s appearance, since shaving her eyebrows off, she has taken to drawing/painting artistic new ones in their place, so check out a few examples of that below.

Multiple times per week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts and ratings) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

TIE: 10. The Bear (FX series streaming on Hulu)

This first season’s got a long tail as a breakout hit, and if you’ve managed to resist this intense portrayal of kitchen-based drama, then it’s time to give up that fight. Not even an exploding toilet could stop Jeremy Allen White‘s Carmy and the rest of the Chefs from delivering the goods at their sandwich shop, and although there’s still one enormous question that will hopefully be answered in Season 2, this show’s also a snowball of a watch that one can take on twice and rediscover the (enjoyable) stress of this story all over again. Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri still haven’t received enough credit, and the cameos (not spoiling) will truly surprise you.

TIE: 10. Jurassic World Dominion (Universal Pictures film streaming on Amazon Prime & Apple TV+)

Alright, so not everything that’s popular is also a critical hit, and that’s fine. This sequel’s heavy on the locusts, which is a little odd, but the movie still manages to be a blockbuster that you can enjoy in your own living room. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return with O.G. stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum in tow, finally all back together. For whatever reason, these characters will all never learn to stop f*cking with dinosaurs because “life will find a way” to destroy us all. And this short-sighted struggle will somehow never grow too tired for people to stop watching.

9. Reservation Dogs (FX series streaming on Hulu)

This show’s a magnificent victory that’s roaring through second-season mode of an Indigenous showrunner, writers, cast, and crew all telling their stories the way that they want to tell them. Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s principal rascals are still weaving through rural Oklahoma (filmed both in Muskogee and Tulsa) in this story of comically low-stakes criminals dodging ridiculous rivals and simply attempting to make it, somehow and someday, to California.

8. Paper Girls (Amazon Prime series)

This adaptation (of Brian K. Vaughan’s comic book series) is slightly more forgiving to some characters than the source material, and Stranger Things fans will love it, as will Yellowjackets devotees who cannot wait to find out more about the past and the future, all warped and wrapped up within themselves. Here, we’ve got more kids on bikes in the 1980s, but they leap forward in time to greet their future selves, and not all is as anticipated. The sci-fi isn’t as stellar as the story itself, which revolves around friendship and the importance of not ignoring one’s inner dialogue, all while saving the world.

7. Power Book III: Raising Kanan (Starz series also streaming on Hulu)

50 Cent’s hit saga continues with a second season of this spinoff. This round’s all about the family ties that bind, and those ties grow complicated with the expanding drug operation, personal lives of brothers and mother, and more blows to the family business due to the record label. Issues of trust swirl, and the inner dynamics grow strained beyond belief. 50 Cent is also currently shopping his brainchild around for future seasons, so stay tuned for that drama, too.

6. Harley Quinn (HBO Max series)

This show’s reportedly safe from the chopping block that’s potentially going to go down at Warner Bros. Discovery, and hopefully, Harley, King Shark, Ivy, and the rest will be around for future seasons. In the meantime, gather round for more Harlivy and enjoy how this show’s jam-packed with more uproarious jokes than one could ever expect from an animated series that a lot of people slept on a few years ago. Goodbye, Gritty Gotham, and hello, gloriously profane, bat-filled (on a few notes) mayhem.

5. Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head (Paramount+ series)

These slackers are still everything that you need them to be: mindless, largely harmless idiots who shall never change, no matter what. And thank goodness for keeping the brand strong. Mike Judge’s music-video loving buttmunches were sorely missed, and they’ve got nothing new to bring to the table, and that is simply glorious news. Don’t call it a reboot (thank you, LL Cool J), these guys have remained within our consciousness for all these years, and all hail the Spirit of Cornholio. Maybe hold out for some Daria as a guest appearance, too.

4. Prey (Hulu movie)

Quick and down and dirty and with a total badass of a female protagonist. The Predator franchise has arguably never been better. And don’t mess with a female Comanche warrior who’s not only fighting against the alien creature who’d like to kill every human for the hell of it. She’s also fighting against those who’d hope to bring colonialism to take over her tribe, and then there’s the force of nature itself. She’s got her work cut out for her, alright, but fortunately, she kicks some serious tush.

3. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu series)

Is it finale time again already? Almost. This could very well be Steve Martin’s final project before he heads into retirement, and both he and Martin Short are total hoots here. Do not sleep on Selena Gomez’s performance. She’s as underappreciated by the Emmys as she’s been throughout her career in in Hollywood, but if you would like some more of her irresistible, sometimes deadpan magic, head over to HBO Max and watch the bounty of Selena + Chef episodes.

2 Better Call Saul (AMC series streaming on AMC+)

Holy hell, this prequel (and this universe) is coming to an end, and none of us are ready for this. Jimmy/Saul/Gene’s fate is still up for grabs, and Kim Wexler ain’t doing so great, but she’s alive, and this finale might very well destroy us all, but at least we know that Walter White and Jesse Pinkman are still next in the timeline. Let’s have more Cinnabon, Cinnabon, Cinnabon while hoping that Kim can somehow be happy, given that she lost that baggage, but let’s get real: there could be some prison sentences coming for the formerly-and-mutually chaotic duo.

1. The Sandman (Netflix series)

Finally, Neil Gaiman’s legendary and lugubrious comic book series — beloved by legions — has arrived in all of its breathtaking glory. If you were worried that this three-decades-in-the-making adaptation would disappoint, you can let go of that fear. The entirety of this project (thus far) was surprisingly worth the wait, and “The Sound Of Her Wings” turned out to be the most beautiful TV episode of the year. Tom Sturridge plays Morpheus in all of his angular glory, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste is remarkable as Death. That’s only the beginning of the ensemble cast who really brings it, so enjoy this gorgeous tapestry infused with mythology, which floats in like a Dream.