Lowry described Miami as the “right situation” and “right fit” because his style of play fit a need for the Heat, who also had talent that appealed to him. Nonetheless, he said the decision to depart from Toronto was “bittersweet because (he) never wanted to leave. But it was more a sense of: ‘All right, my kids are getting older. I want to be somewhere where they can be stable no matter what.’ ”
That stability portion stems from the fact that Lowry said living full-time in Canada would require receiving Canadian citizenship. He added he didn’t think he’d live there the rest of his life, though he’ll “be able to go back” and it’s “still home” for him.
Lowry maintained that “there are no hard feelings” between him and Raptors president Masai Ujiri or general manager Bobby Webster. To this day, Lowry said he continues to talk with former teammates like Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell.
“We’ve created bonds that we will have forever,” he said. “Those are people, those are kids and guys that are men now that I’ll support and cheer for no matter what the situation is.”
Thus far, Lowry’s arrival has helped the Heat achieve an 11-6 record, just a game back of the East’s top seed. Through 15 games (he’s missed two), the veteran guard is averaging 12 points, 7.6 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals.
While promoting The Book of Boba Fett, the upcoming live-action Star Wars series arriving in December, Lucasfilm studio head Kathleen Kennedy took a minute to gush about the equally anticipated series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, which recently blew away fans thanks to a sizzle reel released during Disney+ Day.
Naturally, Kennedy didn’t reveal much about the plot thanks to Star Wars being as secretive as Marvel, but she did share her reaction to seeing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen reuniting on set for what’s shaking up to be an epic rematch between Obi-Wan and his apprentice turned Sith Lord Darth Vader. Via Empire:
“The thing that was most exciting was being on the set and watching the two of them get excited,” said Kennedy. “They hadn’t seen one another in a long time. I was surprised at just how incredibly emotional it was for each of them to find themselves back in these roles, and just realising how important Star Wars was to each of them. It was the beginning of their careers.”
While the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is a contentious topic, one of the highlights of those films was, of course, McGregor’s performance and the no-holds-barred lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. Can the two recapture that intensity all these years later? Judging by Christensen’s intense lightsaber training that was teased on Disney+ Day, we’re guessing these two are going to throw down when Obi-Wan Kenobi arrives in 2022.
Taylor Swift has broken new ground with her grand Taylor’s Version endeavors this week. Swift’s new Red album is her second Taylor’s Version project to debut on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart as of yesterday (after Fearless (Taylor’s Version)). Before today, none of the “Taylor’s Version” songs had gone No. 1, but now that has changed: On the Hot 100 chart dated November 27, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” debuts in the top spot.
Billboard notes that both the 5-minute, 29-second and 10-minute, 13-second versions of the song contributed to its No. 1 placement. It’s important to note, though, that that the longer version was the most-consumed version, as Billboard says it accounted “for 62 percent of all its [streams] and 78 percent of all paid downloads.” Because of this, “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” is now the longest No. 1 song of all time (and the first one over ten minutes long). It surpasses the previous record-holder, Don McLean’s 1971 single “American Pie (Parts I & II),” which runs for 8 minutes and 37 seconds.
This is quite the leap for “All Too Well,” as the original version of the song only managed a peak at No. 80 on the Hot 100.
“All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” is Swift’s eighth No. 1 song, following “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Cardigan,” and “Willow.” Of those, “Blank Space” had the longest reign thanks to the seven weeks it spent on top, a run that began on November 29, 2014.
Also worth noting is that Swift is now the first artist to have debuts atop the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 during the same week on three different occasions. In fact, she’s the only artist to do it multiple times (BTS, Justin Bieber, and Drake have all done it once). Folklore and “Cardigan” debuted on top of their respective charts on August 8, 2020 before Evermore and “Willow” did the same thing on December 26, 2020.
HBO Max is wrapping up 2021 with the gift we can all be thankful for: more original streaming content.
The Matrix Resurrections is the obvious headliner in this packed lineup as Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return to kick some a** and take us on another mind-bending journey. Another long-awaited sequel, And Just Like That …, also lands this month as the Sex and the City crew return to remind us love and life are just as complicated in ones’ 50’s.
For everything else coming to (and leaving) HBO and HBO Max this December, look below.
The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros. Film Premiere streaming 12/22)
Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return to the Matrix in this sequel to the groundbreaking original trilogy. Neo is once again living life as Mr. Anderson in San Francisco 20 years after the final film. He’s going to therapy, suffering memory loss, and taking blue pills — that is, until Morpheus appears and takes him on another trip down the rabbit hole.
And Just Like That … (HBO Max original streaming 12/9)
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) are back for a new chapter in this fan-favorite HBO series. Now in their 50s, the women navigate love and friendship amidst the pandemic. Sadly, Kim Cattrall won’t be in this installment but we”ve been promised plenty of sex, more diversity, and maybe a resolution to the Carrie & Big drama of it all.
Landscapers (HBO series streaming 12/6)
Olivia Colman and David Thewlis star in this limited series based on a true story about a shocking series of murders in a quiet suburb of London. The pair play a seemingly-normal couple leading a quiet life who are thrust into the spotlight when two bodies are discovered buried in their garden.
Here’s everything coming to HBO and HBO Max in December:
Avail. 12/1
12 Strong 20 Feet from Stardom Adrienne, Documentary Premiere (HBO) A Perfect Murder All I See Is You All Rise, Seasons 1 and 2 The Answer Man Blade II Bolero Breakdown Changing Lanes Chicago Cloud Atlas Crazy, Stupid, Love. Days of Thunder Dragged Across Concrete Enough Said Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery Frontera The Good Doctor The Haunting In Connecticut The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Interview with the Vampire The Incredible Burt Wonderstone The Italian Job Jack The Giant Slayer Jackie Brown Jupiter Ascending The Lawnmower Man Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace Limbo Little Monsters The Mask Max Steel Miss Congeniality Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat: Battle of the Realms The Muppets Take Manhattan No Country For Old Men Percy Jackson Sea Of Monsters Pope: The Most Powerful Man In History Pulse R.I.P.D. Rubber Runner Runner Se7en Shark Night Surrogates Troll Hunter The Truman Show Two For The Money Two Lovers Viva War On Everyone The Wedding Singer The Wolfpack World’s Greatest Dad The Wrecking Crew!
Avail. 12/2 Music Box: Listening to Kenny G, Documentary Premiere (HBO) Odo, Cartoonito Season 1 Premiere Perfect Life (Vida Perfecta), Max Original Season 2 Premiere Santa Inc., Max Original Animated Series Premiere Space Jam: A New Legacy
Avail. 12/3 Breathe the Night Craig of the Creek, Season 3 Hood River Mike & Molly Yerba Buena
Avail. 12/4 The Last O.G., Seasons 1-3 At the Ready
Avail. 12/5 Kamikaze, Max Original Season Finale
Avail. 12/6 The Forever Prisoner, Documentary Premiere (HBO) Landscapers, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)
Avail. 12/7 The Slow Hustle, Documentary Premiere (HBO)
Avail. 12/9 A Thousand Fangs And Just Like That…, Max Original Season 1 Premiere Gossip Girl Season 1, Finale Music Box: Mr. Saturday Night, Documentary Premiere (HBO) The Sex Lives of College Girls, Max Original Season 1 Finale Summer Camp Island, Max Original Season 5 Premiere
Avail. 12/10 Dafne and the Rest (aka Todo lo Otro), Max Original Season 1 Premiere DC’s Stargirl, Season 2
Avail. 12/13 Succession, Season 3 Finale (HBO)
Avail. 12/14 The Murders at Starved Rock, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO)
Avail. 12/15 What’s New Scooby-Doo?
Avail. 12/16 2nd Annual HA Festival: The Art of Comedy, Max Original Comedy Special Diego, The Last Goodbye (Diego, el ultimo adios), Max Original Documentary The Cut (aka O Grande Look), Max Original Season 1 Premiere Finding Magic Mike, Max Original Season 1 Premiere The Fungies, Max Original Season 3 Premiere Music Box: Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss, Documentary Premiere (HBO) Station 11, Max Original Season 1 Premiere
Avail. 12/17 A Forbidden Orange, Max Original Premiere
Avail. 12/20 You Keep the Kids (Mama o Papa)
Avail. 12/21 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Season Finale (HBO)
Avail. 12/22 After the Sunset The Matrix Resurrections, Warner Bros. Film Premiere
Avail. 12/23 40 Means Nothing (aka 40 No es Nada), Max Original Season 1 Premiere Beforeigners S2, Max Original Season 2 Premiere The Suicide Squad
Avail. 12/24 Black Jesus
Avail. 12/26 Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 11 Finale (HBO) Insecure, Season 5 Finale (HBO)
Avail. 12/30 Young Justice, Max Original Season 4 Part A
Avail. 12/31 How to With John Wilson, Season 2 Finale (HBO)
Here’s everything leaving HBO and HBO Max this December:
Leaving 12/18 The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO)
Leaving 12/19 King Richard, 2021
Leaving 12/24 Fifty Shades Of Black, 2016 (HBO)
Leaving 12/31 Abuelos (Aka Grandpas), 2019 (HBO) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jr., 2009 Alpha And Omega 2: A Howl-Iday Adventure, 2013 American Graffiti, 1973 (HBO) Assault On Precinct 13, 1976 (HBO) Beautiful Girls, 1996 (HBO) Black Christmas, 2019 (HBO) Blackhat, 2015 (HBO) Bratz: The Movie, 2007 Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, 2004 (HBO) The Cable Guy, 1996 Casi Famoso (Aka Almost Famous), 2019 (HBO) Cats, 2019 (HBO) The Collection, 2012 (HBO) Cousins, 1989 (HBO) Curse Of The Pink Panther, 1983 (HBO) Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO) Dear Christmas, 2020 Dim Sum Funeral, 2009 (HBO) Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, 1991 (HBO) The Doors, 1991 (HBO) Downhill, 2020 (HBO) Dr. Strangelove, 1964 Emma. (2020), Employee Of The Month, 2006 (HBO) The English Patient, 1996 (HBO) Eve’s Bayou, 1997 Flashpoint, 1984 (HBO) Friends With Money, 2006 Gandhi, 1982 God’s Not Dead, 2014 (HBO) Gods And Monsters, 1998 (HBO) He Said She Said, 1991 (HBO) Heaven Help Us, 1985 (HBO) Hitch, 2005 Ira & Abby, 2007 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003 (HBO) Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2004 (HBO) Kramer Vs. Kramer, 1979 Leapfrog: Math Adventure To The Moon, 2010 Leapfrog: Numbers Ahoy, 2011 Leapfrog: The Letter Factory, 2003 Like Mike, 2002 (HBO) Like Mike 2: Streetball, 2007 (HBO) Los Futbolisimos (Aka The Footballest), 2018 (HBO) Lucky, 2017 (HBO) Machine Gun Preacher, 2011 (HBO) The Manhattan Project, 1986 (HBO) Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, 1939 My Left Foot, 1989 Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, 2020 (HBO) The Pallbearer, 1996 (HBO) Perpetual Planet: Heroes Of The Oceans, 2021 The Pink Panther 2, 2009 (HBO) The Pink Panther Strikes Again, 1976 (HBO) The Pink Panther, 2006 (HBO) The Pink Panther, 1964 (HBO) Pups United, 2015 The Raven, 2012 (HBO) Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO) Reds, 1981 (HBO) Return Of The Living Dead III, 1993 (Alternate Version) (HBO) Return Of The Pink Panther, 1975 (HBO) Revenge Of The Pink Panther, 1978 (HBO) The Sessions, 2012 (HBO) Shakespeare In Love, 1998 A Shot In The Dark, 1964 (HBO) Snake Eyes, 1998 (HBO) Son Of The Pink Panther, 1993 (HBO) Trail Of The Pink Panther, 1982 (HBO) Twelve Monkeys, 1995 (HBO) Vaca, 2018 (HBO) Volunteers, 1985 (HBO) Won’t Back Down, 2012 (HBO) xXx, 2002 xXx: State Of The Union, 2005
On “Suburbia,” the debut NoSo single for Partisan Records, Abby Hwong reflects on the absurdity of a certain type of suburban upbringing, juxtaposed with loving memories of friendship and nostalgia. Rife with reverb-soaked guitars and shimmering synth lines, Hwong recalls their upbringing in a predominantly white suburb of Chicago that Mean Girls was based on, while also embracing the multitudes of simultaneous experiences.
To celebrate the new track, Hwong sat down to talk living in South Africa, Kate Bush, and Freaky Friday in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
nostalgic, wistful, ambient, hopeful
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
that I had something to say and other people felt seen by the lyrics
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
I went to South Africa when I was 16 through a Carnegie Hall songwriting contest – we were sorted into bands and played at a music festival in White River, Mpumalanga. It was unbelievable. That experience jump-started my motivation to pursue music, so I’d love to perform there again someday
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
my younger self – I never thought I’d have the courage to write about vulnerable topics regarding my identity, mental illness, etc., and becoming more open/brave about it is an ever-evolving process. I always have past versions of myself (and future ones) in mind when I’m writing.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
My grandma’s house and every visit has been the best meal of my life. To make a savory Korean gelatin dish (dotori-muk), she literally harvests her own acorns and the process takes days, it’s amazing.
What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
I haven’t been on a full tour yet but when I go I’ll blast Carly Rae Jepsen’s masterpiece Emotion on repeat.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
apartment listings lmao
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush, or any Prince album.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
I anticipate staying at very weird places and know my annoying persona will romanticize the shit out of it.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
My first tattoo is an outline of my house in Chicago that i lived in for 16 years drawn by my friend Bella Porter. After I got the tattoo, that night we spontaneously went to a concert and also booked flights to Seattle – such fun chaos.
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Paramore (from any era) and Rina Sawayama.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
I went on a picnic and felt silly preparing so much but the other person one-upped me – she didn’t know what kind of food or drinks I like so she brought like five options of everything. That was very endearing.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD!!! THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS AGEIST!! ENJOY BEING IN COLLEGE, SOAK IT UP! YOU ARE A CHILD OH MY GOD
What’s the last show you went to?
I saw Phoebe Bridgers play at a USC coliseum locker room literally two days before everything shut down
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
Freaky Friday or Booksmart.
What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?
I can make really good egg sandwiches and smoothies!
“Suburbia” is out now via Partisan Records. Listen here.
Kevin Spacey was fired from Netflix’s House of Cards after the actor was accused of sexual harassment and assault. He now has to pay over $30 million to the show’s production company MRC over breach of contract. The Wall Street Journalreports that “under the terms of the ruling, MRC was awarded nearly $31 million, comprising $29.5 million in damages and $1.4 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. The arbitrator’s ruling was made in October 2020 and Mr. Spacey’s appeal was denied earlier this month.”
In its claim, MRC said it had to scrap the first two episodes it was filming that featured Mr. Spacey and scramble to rewrite the entire season, which added significant costs to the show. MRC also said it had to reduce the number of episodes it had committed to Netflix to eight from 13, or it would have been unable to meet its deadlines with the streaming service. That greatly reduced the license-fee revenues the company was expecting from Netflix.
Since being fired from House of Cards, Spacey has booked a role in The Man Who Drew God, an Italian film about an blind artist who is wrongly accused of sexually abusing a child, and released a string of bizarre Christmas videos. It’ll be tough for him to top last year’s installment, titled “1-800 XMAS,” but I’m sure he’ll try.
In October, Adele revealed that at that point, one of the only people who had heard her then-unreleased album 30was Drake. It turns out the two are quite close, with Adele going as far as to say that Drake’s friendship is “one of the biggest gifts of my entire career.”
She spoke about Drake and herself with Q‘s Tom Power, noting of their status in the music industry, “We are a dying breed. […] There was like ten of us. You know, I don’t think there will ever be that many of us again, at the top doing it the way we were doing it. We came out before streaming. We came out before all the social media frenzies of, like, you know, ‘You’ve got five seconds to entertain; otherwise, get the f*ck out.’ We existed in the old school.”
Adele says she and Drake are a dying breed in music and you’ll probably never see another artist accomplish what they’ve been able to accomplish, mostly due to the fact that the both came up pre-streaming. pic.twitter.com/AwDsK3iM50
She added, “I can say something to him, and he won’t judge me for it, you know? […] So to have access to someone that’s in the same position as [me] is, like, one of the biggest gifts of my entire career.”
Adele also talked about her relationship with fame, saying that it’s complicated: “My hobby became my job. I was unable to differentiate the two. So why do I want to go and do my hobby when my hobby is my job? […] Fame scares me. And, you know, fame comes with my job.”
Amid Sunday’s mid-game skirmish between the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons, Russell Westbrook was assessed a technical foul. Apparently, though, the hoopla surrounding the entire ordeal overshadowed that announcement making its way to him while the officials announced LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart were ejected for their roles in the fracas.
When a reporter asked him the officials’ explanation behind that decision post-game, Westbrook was just then learning he earlier received a technical foul and couldn’t believe it.
“That’s just being Russell, I guess…I don’t know what I did but whatever.” Russ didn’t know he had a tech. pic.twitter.com/7OPw6LleiI
“I got a tech? Oh, wow,” Westbrook said, staring at a copy of the box score in front of him. “Why’d I get a tech? I didn’t know I got a tech.”
Westbrook continued to scan the box score for a few seconds before reaching a conclusion.
“Wow, that’s interesting. Well, you know, that’s just being Russell, I guess,” he said. “When you’re Russell Westbrook, they just try to do anything, apparently. But, whatever. I don’t know why — I don’t know what I did. But, whatever, they gotta put it on somebody.”
The reasoning, surely, was Westbrook squaring up as Stewart charged towards the Lakers after breaking free from his teammates and security, which was ruled as “escalating” the situation — although some would argue that’s just good preparedness in case Stewart did breach the last line of security.
When both James and Stewart were ejected in the aftermath of the altercation, the Pistons led 78-66 early in the third quarter. Westbrook, with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals, and Anthony Davis keyed a comeback following that moment to snap the Lakers’ three-game losing streak and secure their ninth win of the season.
J.K. Rowling’s controversial comments about trans people (including “if sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased”) has led to years of backlash for the Harry Potter author. The resulting criticism also sourced from franchise star Daniel Radcliffe, who voiced disagreement with Rowling’s outlook. Likewise, Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne, followed suit. Rowling’s publisher, Hatchette UK also felt the strain when employees threatened to stop working on a newer Rowling title, and several authors fled Rowling’s agency out of protest against Rowling’s stance against trans rights.
Let’s just say that there are no winners in J.K. Rowling’s ongoing beef with the trans community, and she’s remained unapologetic, even penning a lengthy essay to claim that “accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people” while detailing “five reasons” why “the new trans activism” worries her. Fast forward over a year, and Rowling has come forward to slam activists who posted photos of themselves in front of her family home. Rowling believes that they were “carefully positioning themselves to ensure that our address was visible.”
Last Friday, my family’s address was posted on Twitter by three activist actors who took pictures of themselves in front of our house, carefully positioning themselves to ensure that our address was visible. 1/8
In a Twitter thread, Rowling thanked Scottish police and Twitter for providing support to her while she worked to get the images removed from the Internet. She further spoke about other women who share her view on trans activism, and Rowling condemns any doxxing action against them. The author claims that these women have been “subject to campaigns of intimidation” that include threats and doxxing, and she adds, “None of these women are protected in the way I am.” Rowling further revealed, “I’ve now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out.” She then declared, “Perhaps – and I’m just throwing this out there – the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us.”
You can read Rowling’s Twitter thread below.
I want to say a massive thank you to everybody who reported the image to @TwitterSupport. Your kindness and decency made all the difference to my family and me. I’d also like to thank @PoliceScotland for their support and assistance in this matter. 2/8
I implore those people who retweeted the image with the address still visible, even if they did so in condemnation of these people’s actions, to delete it. 3/8
but who’ve contacted me to relate their experiences, have been subject to campaigns of intimidation which range from being hounded on social media, the targeting of their employers, all the way up to doxing and direct threats of violence, including rape. 5/8
None of these women are protected in the way I am. They and their families have been put into a state of fear and distress for no other reason than that they refuse to uncritically accept that the socio-political concept of gender identity should replace that of sex. 6/8
I’ve now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out. Perhaps – and I’m just throwing this out there – the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us. 8/X
Long before it was hailed by NME as “the best live show of all time,” David Byrne’s American Utopia existed just as a series of innocuous programmed drum beats sitting on Brian Eno’s hard drive. Like a jazz drummer, there were some variations here and there, but the groove maintained. During a casual get-together, Eno played the beats for his friend David Byrne, and, in that uncanny and indescribable way that it just happens, an idea was born. “Eno’s drum tracks were so energetic, and exciting sounding, I thought, ‘Man, this would be really great if you could do a live show with a bunch of marching drummers,’” Byrne explains over the phone from his New York City apartment during a short reprieve from signing limited edition copies of his forthcoming book of illustrations.
The project received its title during a moment of euphoria at a 2017 Chance The Rapper concert, which Byrne remembers as “a very positive show, a wonderful feeling in the crowd at that show,” and American Utopia dropped in March of 2018. Listeners latched on quickly, and the album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, marking the first time that Byrne’s work ever broke the Top 10. With American Utopia finally out in the world, it was time for Byrne to embark on a series of tests and experiments working toward delivering to the stage the unique vision that popped into his head that evening at Brian Eno’s house. Once Byrne and his band eventually hit the road, it wasn’t very long before Broadway producers started to take notice and express interest in bringing the show to the “proper” stage.
After the tour wrapped, Byrne immediately turned his focus to this new adventure. “I said, ‘I want to try that. If it fails, it fails, but at least I’d be trying something new instead of just sticking with exactly what I’m doing.’” He enlisted the help of choreographer Annie-B Parson and Broadway veteran Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge, Oh, Hello! On Broadway) to restructure the set, add some more monologues, and build out a story, all whilst retraining his performing brain for a new type of show. “We’re used to judging how we’re doing by whether people get up and dance. It took a while for us to figure out, ‘Oh, they’re really listening, their heads are moving. If anything, they listen more than a concert audience listens.”
With stellar reviews and numerous awards, including a Grammy for the album and a handful of Emmys for the Spike Lee-directed film adaptation, I have to admit that I feared American Utopia couldn’t possibly live up to the hype it has generated over the last several years. I made a point to not watch the film on HBO Max, knowing full well that I should take advantage of being a New York resident and see the show live when it returned after the COVID-induced Broadway closure. After nearly two years without an indoor concert, I put on two masks and headed to the St. James Theatre, daring David Byrne and American Utopia to prove my doubts wrong.
Geez, was I proven wrong — and quickly, too. My uncertainties were remedied within the opening number, which revealed Byrne alone on the stage sitting at a table in front of a model brain. He then proceeded to detail the parts of the brain that we use to go about our everyday lives, and the parts that help us to derive joy, and I was fully sold. Running just under two hours with no intermission, the show is nothing short of a marvel, quite unlike any live music experience out there. Through the construction of American Utopia, David Byrne has mastered the art of making you feel without telling you how or what you should be feeling. It’s an absolute masterwork in musicianship, an unmatched technological feat, and an all-encompassing product of one of the most important creative minds of our time.
Our conversation with Byrne has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
I’d love to hear a little bit more about the intentionality behind the show’s choreography. When I was watching it, I was thinking, “Why did you move your hand in that certain way?” Or, “Why did the band spin at that time?”
It doesn’t always have a logic to it, but what we discover is that as a viewer, in our brains, we tend to connect things that happen at the same time. If somebody moves a certain way and the music’s doing this, and the words are saying this, your brain puts it all together and it tells you that somehow that movement has some connection with what’s being said. It may not have been originally conceived that way, but it ends up happening. I’m not going to say none of it makes any sense, but there’s not a super logical connection between all the movement and what the songs are saying.
I came away understanding that you were trying to illustrate the beauty of shared human experience and the ways that humans can almost thrive off the kinetic energy of others. How would you say that the pandemic changed the approach to this narrative?
The things we’re talking about, about human connection and being together with other people and stuff like that, everybody’s thinking about that now. We just went through a whole thing where we couldn’t be together and how insane that was. People had mental and psychological issues because they couldn’t be with other people. We all realized how important that is.
It seems like the version of the show that I saw was probably different than what you were performing prior to the closure. Do you consider it to be an ever-evolving piece, or are you just adapting with the times?
Kind of adapting to the times. I knew that coming back after the pandemic, it was the elephant in the room. You couldn’t ignore it, at least in a show like this. If you’re doing Lion King, you’re not going to stop in the middle and say, “Let’s talk about the pandemic. Here in the jungle…” No. But in this show, because I talk directly to the audience, like a standup comedian almost, I can address the world as it changes, which is really nice.
You’ve been doing two shows in a span of just a couple of hours on weekends. How do you keep each show interesting for yourself and the band? Do you do anything to shake it up from performance to performance?
When we’re touring of course, you’re in a different city, so it’s a completely different theater, different audience, everything like that. In this case, just the audience changes, so it’s a little more subtle. A different audience reacts differently. It’s amazing, sometimes some of the lines I say one show will get a laugh, and the next show silence. I can vary the things I say a little bit depending on how an audience is responding. If they respond a lot to one thing, I can push that a little bit further, add a line or two. If they don’t, then I just move on. So I can adapt a little bit.
This show is of course comprised of songs from throughout your career — how did you select specific songs to be included? Did you ever feel like you were fitting a square peg into a round hole to include certain songs? Or alternatively, did you uncover that your songwriting throughout your career has had these inherent thematic threads that hold the show together?
I think more the latter. I have enough of a catalog that I could choose songs that helped create a narrative thread. Of course, some of the songs are well known to the audience, some are not. The good thing for me is, yes, some of the audience reacts instantly to a song that they know, but they’re also paying attention to the other ones too. A song like “Psycho Killer” might be popular with the audience, but it doesn’t belong in the show.
It seems like a lot of your work recently has revolved around reminding people of the beauty of being alive, both with this show and Reasons To Be Cheerful. Do you feel like you have a responsibility to serve as a reminder that things aren’t really so bad?
I feel like I have a responsibility to myself. I’d feel pretty bad if I didn’t cling on to some grain of hope or possibility, whether it’s in the show or with the news stuff that we report. Yeah, I feel like I have to. There’s so much toxic stuff out there and I feel like, for my own sanity, I have to find an antidote to that.
On the other hand, though, you take some of the monologue portions of the show to emphasize, for example, the importance of voting and to remind young people like me that we’re fucked. Or even perform a rendition of Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout.” How do those aspects of the show factor into your mission of maintaining that nice things are, in fact, happening?
We started doing the Janelle song when we were doing the concert tour. I used to end my shows with a cover version of something. It was just this happy, “We all know this song. This’ll be fun.” And I thought, “We’re living in pretty dire times.” And part of our responsibility as citizens is to acknowledge what’s going on in the world and not just escape from it. And so I thought, “We have to acknowledge the reality of the world.” But then, in a certain way, we present an alternative to it.
I was reading your recent Rolling Stone interview with Lorde and you guys talked a bit about the intersection of clarity and mystery in art. I have always found myself simultaneously fascinated and frustrated with someone like, for example, David Lynch, where it’s so clear that in his head he gets what’s going on but I’m just like, “What is happening?”
[Laughs] I don’t blame you. I kind of feel the same way. Sometimes the imagery is really beautiful and mysterious, but sometimes I think this just was a cool image he had in his head and he wanted to put it in.
But I didn’t have that reaction to American Utopia, which you’ve just said yourself is a little bit more random in its visual representation. So how do you figure out how to find the middle path between clarity and mystery in art?
We don’t want to be too obvious in what we’re saying. Give the audience some credit that they can fill in the blanks and figure it out. Maybe not in an extremely literal way, but they can get it from the feeling of the song. Sometimes that understanding is hard to put into words, because it’s not literal storytelling, but I feel like that works and it gives enough wiggle room so that a listener can apply it to their own life. I also never like to be didactic about stuff, never like to tell people what to think.
Ok, I have one big final question for you. What I’ve always loved about your work is the clarity of message and your ability to stay focused on the topical north star. When you sit down to accomplish a creative task, how do you keep yourself organized and motivated to present the thesis in a way that’s both clear and understandable?
Wow. My house is messy, but my thoughts are very organized.
David Byrne’s American Utopia is back on Broadway, and tickets are available here. If you’re not in New York, you can always watch the film on HBO Max.
David Byrne is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group
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Russ didn’t know he had a tech. 
