Over the course of his decades-long career, Eric Clapton has been no stranger to controversy. His latest batch of it has come in the wake of COVID-19, as he has taken an anti-vaccination stance. Now, Clapton is the subject of an extensive new Rolling Stone feature, and in it, the publication reports that Clapton has donated over a thousand dollars to anti-vax UK band Jam For Freedom, along with helping them in other ways.
Jam For Freedom founder Cambel McLaughlin, who describes himself as “pro-medical choice,” told Rolling Stone that he set up a GoFundMe campaign after a vehicle the band used was badly damaged. He was skeptical when he saw a £1,000 (about $1,364) donation from Clapton, so he emailed the account associated with the donation. Sure enough, he received a text from Clapton.
“It was something complimentary, along the lines of, ‘Hey, it’s Eric — great work you’re doing,’” McLaughlin said.
The pair later had a phone conversation, and Clapton offered the band a van to use as a temporary replacement for their non-functional vehicle. He also gave them money (McLaughlin didn’t say how much) to get a new van, and Clapton apparently has interest in performing with the group.
Check out the full Rolling Stone feature, which explores Clapton’s controversial past, here.
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Don Toliver reunite with a major early-career ally and James Blake drop an evocative new album. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Travis Scott was a major help in Don Toliver’s ascent, as Toliver had a memorable appearance on Scott’s Astroworld highlight “Can’t Say,” which is where a lot of now-fans heard Toliver for the first time. Now the pair is back together, but this time with Scott as the featured artist on Toliver’s “Flocky Flocky,” from his brand new LP, Life Of A Don.
Joyner Lucas — “Late To The Party” Feat. Ty Dolla Sign
Joyner Lucas has been on a hot streak with big-time collaborators lately: Over the past few months, he’s worked with Lil Baby, Rick Ross, Lil Tjay, and J. Cole. Last week, he added to that list perhaps the greatest collaborator ever: Ty Dolla Sign, who joined him on the energetic “Late To The Party.”
James Blake — “Coming Back” Feat. SZA
James Blake is fresh off the release of Friends Who Break Your Heart, on which he got help from some friends (who hopefully didn’t break his heart). One of the best guest appearances comes from SZA, who joins Blake on the soulful and hip-hop-inflected “Coming Back.”
Cordae — “Super”
In the grand scheme, Cordae has fared better than most rappers have. His career has gone well, a fact on which he reflects with his celebratory new single, “Super.” Success has certainly come Cordae’s way, a fact he thoroughly emphasizes on the hard-hitting track.
Big Thief — “Change”
Big Thief fans felt blessed last week as the band revealed they’re returning with a massive 20-song double-LP in 2022. After that news made the rounds, the band made things even more exciting by sharing a new track, “Change,” a relatively minimal tune that would have felt at home on Adrianne Lenker’s 2020 solo album Songs.
Mitski — “Working For The Knife”
Mitski is going on tour in 2022, but before that, she graced fans with a new track, “Working For The Knife.” It’s a deep one, too, as Mitski said of it, “It’s about going from being a kid with a dream, to a grown up with a job, and feeling that somewhere along the way you got left behind.”
The Alchemist — “6 Five Heartbeats” Feat. Vince Staples
Alchemist and Vince Staples spoke some this summer about a significant amount of collaborations the two have worked on. While fans wait for that to drop, the two have a new collaboration, “6 Five Heartbeats.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes the track sees Staples “spitting a ferocious verse in that languid delivery of his over a jazzy beat that belies the menace of Staples’ lyrics.”
Nas — “Big Nas”
Nas is teaching his own Masterclass, and to mark the occasion, he shared a new song, “Big Nas” (no relation to Lil Nas X). The track serves as a resume for the esteemed rapper, as it goes through his triumphs in music, business, family, and life more broadly.
Jesy Nelson — “Boyz” Feat. Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj let it be known last month that she was linking up with former Little Mix member Jesy Nelson for her next collaboration. Now, that joint effort, “Boyz,” has arrived. Built on a sample of Black Rob, Mark Curry, and Diddy’s “Bad Boy For Life,” the duo use the track to show their support for nefarious males.
Magdalena Bay — “Hysterical Us”
LA duo Magdalena Bay has built a colorful universe for their new album Mercurial World to live, and a couple days ahead of dropping the album, they offered a final preview of it with “Hysterical Us.” The video is vibrant and the music, a smooth and bubbly electro-pop tune, is equally so.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
John Oliver’s still enjoying his return to a live audience, and this week, he fired shots at Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade for his most awkward obsession, but before that happened, the Last Week Tonight host wasn’t afraid (as he never is) to spare some words to skewer some right-leaning actions of current HBO parent company AT&T. Only one month ago, Oliver took aim at the multinational conglomerate for making political donations to Texas legislators who worked to pass Texas’ insane new abortion law. And last week, a Reuters investigative report revealed how AT&T played a massive role “in creating and funding OAN,” the conservative news network (and Fox News competitor) that continues to peddle baseless (and dangerous) election-fraud and pandemic-centered conspiracy theories.
As Oliver put things, AT&T has been “up to some sh*t.” This follows Reuters’ reporting of testimony from OAN CEO and founder, Robert Herring Sr., who stated (during a deposition) that AT&T executives “told us they wanted a conservative network.” To that, Herring says that he jumped at the offering, and Oliver is not impressed because AT&T reportedly funds 90% of what’s essentially a far-right-wing factory at Herring Networks.
“AT&T is still technically our business daddy,” Oliver explained while beginning his rant. “Making OAN our business step-sibling, and not in a hot way.” In the end, this grew very dramatic. “You’re a terrible company. You do bad things. and you make the world worse.”
Earlier in the segment, Oliver outlined how AT&T’s deep pockets have nurtured OAN, and “with that help, OAN has grown into the toxic network it is today, one that’s happy to give a platform to batsh*t election fraud theories from America’s most out-of-breath pillow fetishist.” That’s a shoutout to MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell, and Oliver certainly wasn’t buying AT&T’s denial that they have any OAN financial interest, especially while showing a host declaring that those who ran voting machines in 2020 were guilty of “treason” before calling for what Oliver sums up as a “mass execution.”
As entirely absurd as that sounds, as the Daily Beast previously reported, this really happened on OAN airwaves. This led Oliver to gleefully declare how happy he was that “AT&T told us Direct TV respects the editorial independence of the channels it carries.” That means that not only does AT&T support editorial independence for OAN, it also does so for WarnerMedia shows including Last Week Tonight. And with that, he decided to “offer some constructive feedback to AT&T.” Here come some new slogans:
“Take its recent campaign, ‘More for your thing. That’s our thing.’ which is, respectfully, complete gibberish. It sounds like Yoda pitching a penis-enlargement device. It is so nonsensical, I have to assume something was lost in communication, which actually would be more appropriate slogan for the company. And if you don’t like that slogan, AT&T, don’t worry, I’ve got more.”
How about, ‘AT&T, all the savvy business savvy of Quibi without the courtesy of committing corporate suicide’? Or ‘AT&T, if you run a cable out the back of your headquarters and plug it into T-Mobile’s network while they aren’t looking, that’s legal, right? Asking for a friend.”
Of course, AT&T is currently still aiming to spinoff into a deal with Discovery, and Oliver asked them to please not “bother keeping in touch” following the merger. Then came the kicker: “Although that really shouldn’t be a problem for you. You’re AT&T, it’s not like your messages will go through anyway.”
Despite being dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct in the past, former Donald Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski has pushed the limits of his creepiness so far, that Trump has reportedly made him persona non grata in the GOP world. The final straw was Lewandowski’s behavior during a Republican event in September where he allegedly assaulted longtime MAGA donor Trashelle Odom, who came forward with her story. That unleashed a torrent of new accusations against Lewandowski, which were too creepy even for Trump. Via The Daily Beast:
In recent days, two of these sources said, Trump has made a point of telling close associates and Republican allies that they should avoid inviting Lewandowski to public events or “parties,” particularly if alcohol is flowing or if the event is held at one of the ex-president’s prized private clubs.
Others close to Trump have already told subordinates, as well as fellow players in the party and in the conservative movement more broadly, to remove Lewandowski (at least for now) from invitations and emails for upcoming GOP and MAGA festivities, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
According to The Daily Beast, Trump was also “rankled” by Lewandowki’s attempt to shake down MAGA world by demanding a six figure payout to go away. The former top aide was reportedly given a “hard no,” which is a bold move considering Lewandowski is allegedly bragging to people that he stabbed a man to death. Nice guy.
Hayley Williams has been online for a long time, as Paramore was huge in the blog and Myspace era (here’s an archived version of their page from 2006, in case you want a quick nostalgia trip). Now, though, Williams is changing her relationship with the internet, as she declared over the weekend that she’s taking a step back from social media.
Williams shared a message on Instagram, in which she notes that while social media “has been a useful and mostly beautiful part of the job,” she’s moving away from her personal accounts due to her “interest in keeping a boundary between a public and a private life… and wanting to spend more time looking up and out, rather than down.”
Find Williams’ message in full below.
“I’ve been on the internet and more specifically, social media, since I was 15. Maybe even younger. It started with the blog sites… then Myspace. Then Paramore became a thing and social media wasn’t even just for my can personal use anymore but it was part of the job. It has been a useful and mostly beautiful part of the job. I crave connection and the internet is a pretty good tool for that when it’s not tearing us apart.
The thing is, connection is and will always be a part of my job (thankfully). As for my own personal experience with social media, I just don’t want it anymore. I’ve carefully considered this decision for almost a year now. Now I know for sure that my desire to move away from personal accounts (yes, even my finsta) is based on nothing more than my interest in keeping a boundary between a public and a private life… and wanting to spend more time looking up and out, rather than down.
No judgement to anyone who loves their social media. Just a huge encouragement to anyone needing permission to create more boundaries and space to grow — sometimes ‘no’ is the kindest thing you can say… to anyone!… even yourself.”
Finally, if you’re lookin for me, don’t look here. Follow @paramore.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Matrix Resurrections doesn’t come out until Christmas time, but if you looked closely in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, you might have seen a sneak peek. Both films, which otherwise have little in common (although I would love it if someone replaced Keanu Reeves’ iconic “woah” with a “yummy”), filmed in San Francisco at the same time. In fact, in the scene where Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock scales the Coit Tower, the helicopters flying through the air in the background were actually filming for The Matrix 4.
“Lots of stuff impacted filming. A lot of our driving shots went away because Matrix controlled all of downtown,” Venom: Let There Be Carnage location manager Christopher Kusiak told Screen Rant. “We ended up moving a stunt up onto the top of the parking garage because we couldn’t get to the areas we wanted because of The Matrix. But if we would’ve been there first, it probably would’ve gone the other way.” He added, “The helicopters were actually on the Matrix movie. The Matrix was filming at the same time so we were catching part of their activity on camera.”
You know what this means? There needs to be a Neo vs. Agent Smith-style fight in The Matrix Resurrections, except every Agent is Venom. It’s only fair.
The Matrix Resurrections comes out on December 22.
Charli XCX has in recent months spent some time talking up her next album, and she did some more of that recently. She declared a few days ago that it’s dropping around early 2022, and now she says that it’s both “sexy” and “demonic.”
In an interview on Apple Music 1’s The Chart Show, Charli explained how her recent single “Good Ones” relates to the rest of her upcoming album, saying:
“It definitely sets the palette for the rest of the album. It is heavily ’80s-inspired. There are a lot of uptempo tracks. It’s dark, it’s kind of sexy and sexual and sort of demonic at points, I suppose. But then there are lighter moments, too. But yeah, I think the whole record is about my relationship with relationships and sex and power. But the song itself, I suppose, it’s about falling for a toxic person, being always ready to put myself in the most dangerous positions, just to feel something, which I guess it’s kind of the whole record, but I feel like we’ve all been there at points in life.”
She later added, “The fans can expect an overload of sexiness. I want it to all feel sexy. Like the music, the sounds, the tour, the videos, the clothes, the way they feel. So that’s kind of my hope really that everyone just discovers they’re in a sexy demon and it all comes out.”
Meanwhile, Charli recently hinted at a collaboration between Christine And The Queens, Caroline Polachek, and herself.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show recently took aim at Ainsley Earhardt for her most obnoxious habit (mentioning “my friend” in countless instances to support her points, whether these friends exist or not). This week, HBO’s Last Week Tonight takes aim at another Fox and Friends host, Brian Kilmeade, during an episode that aired on the eve of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. That newly Biden-installed federal holiday, of course, runs concurrent to what the U.S. still recognizes as Columbus Day, and no one is more excited about Christopher Columbus than Brian Kilmeade.
Kilmeade, who once claimed to have read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampfin high school, is absolutely obsessed with his hero, Christopher Columbus. On that note, John Oliver was thrilled to introduce this exhaustively repetitive montage called “Brian Kilmeade likes Christopher Columbus way, way too much.” It ended with the kicker of Steve Doocy (who’s used to this by now) smiling and nodding while Kilmeade admitted, “I was Christopher Columbus for Halloween, no pictures available.” To which Ainsley Earhardt responded, “I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
That followed a barrage of Kilmeade excitedly repeating (in different contexts) how Columbus’ explorer deeds were “like going to the moon, today, in the 1960s, only more dangerous.” The continued “more dangerous” claims only grow more ridiculous, so then, it was time for Kilmeade to claim that the Fox News morning show is “going to be the Christopher Columbus of knockerball.” And then comes Kilmeade bragging, “I was almost the Christopher Columbus of this show.” He also defended his hero to Steve Doocy as “totally Italian. Couldn’t be more Italian.”
In the end, Kilmeade declared, “If you read one reputable book on Columbus and still don’t think we should have a Columbus Day, you’re not paying attention.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times has published a primer on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The supporters of this federal holiday are pushing back against the holiday that celebrates a navigator who arguably paved the way for genocide and colonization, which in turn, has fostered continued discrimination against Indigenous peoples.
This past summer, Rolling Loud became one of the first major music festivals to hold a showcase after the pandemic all but the industry down. The Miami edition of the festival took place in late July 23-25 at Hard Rock Stadium, boasting headlining performances from ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott, and Post Malone. Elsewhere Lil Baby, 21 Savage, DaBaby (as controversial as his set was), Young Thug, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Roddy Ricch, Rod Wave, Lil Tjay.
For those who were unable to attend the festival, Rolling Loud has an alternative: Organizers recently released an “aftermovie” that captured all the wild and fiery moments of the Miami show. The 10-minute video features many of the aforementioned names, as well as others like The Kid Laroi, City Girls, Lil Yachty, Rod Wave, Morray, and more.
The video arrives less than three weeks before festival organizers bring the showcase to New York for a festival headlined by J. Cole, Travis Scott, and 50 Cent. Other performers for the New York show include Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Lil Durk, Jack Harlow, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Polo G, Moneybagg Yo, Joey Badass, Playboi Carti, Wale, Young Dolph, and Griselda Records.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
There’s a Willy Wonka prequel, because of course there is. And it stars twentysomething Timothée Chalamet, because of course it does. The young actor, about to be seen headlining the latest cinematic stab at Frank Herbert’s Dune, personally dropped the first look at him as the iconic Roald Dahl character on social media. And it inspired a lot of different reactions, because of course it did.
Chalamet took to both Instagram and Twitter to drop two separate images. One shows him in a raspberry turncoat and old-timey hat, looking very serious. Apparently it will take some doing for him to evolve into the weirdo eccentric embodied by Gene Wilder in 1971 and Johnny Depp in 2005. The other picture was a close-up on his signature cane, which boasts a tiny wrapped gift, presumably containing chocolate.
It was an unexpected Sunday surprise, and while many were delighted to see everyone’s favorite floppy-haired young movie star taking on the beloved chocolatier of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it also inspired a lot of yuks.
timothee chalamet willy wonka is what happens when a hollywood focus group tries to create a tumblr sexyman. pic.twitter.com/k0Neh1DkwC
Some wondered if they’ll wind up modernizing a classic character in creative ways.
William Wonka Jr. uses his inheritance to buy the Wonka Factory, layoff the Oompa Loompas for trying to unionize, and rebrand WonkaVision, a subscription-based streaming service with an emphasis on diversity, inclusivity, political discourse, and TikTok influencers pic.twitter.com/TBA2uwYMGo
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