Category: News

The rubber-burning rollout of the F1 soundtrack has seen some impressive pairings, but perhaps none is more unexpected or seemingly unusual than that of DJ Tiësto and St. Louis ratchet rap purveyor Sexyy Red. Their collaboration, “OMG!” combines the qualities each is best known for into a thumping, hypnotic club banger. While it’s tamer than fans might be used to hearing from Sexyy, and a little slower than Tiësto’s signature songs, the alchemical combination creates plenty of energy and the perfect complement for the upcoming racing thriller.

Sexyy’s EDM experiment is far from her first foray outside the realm of trap-influenced X-rated rap. She recently teamed up with rising country star Jessie Murph for a remix of Murph’s breakout single “Blue Strips,” added her unapologetic flair to Tommy Richmans’ “Actin Up,” and turned heads by collaborating with Bruno Mars for “Fat Juicy & Wet.” But she’s still at her best when she’s speaking to and for the streets, as seen in her remix to Pluto, her successor apparent’s, breakout jam “Whim Whammie.”

The F1 soundtrack has also paired Don Toliver with Doja Cat while also highlighting pop (Rosé and Tate McRae), EDM (Dom Dolla), and even country (Chris Stapleton), reflecting the international and cross demographic appeal of F1.

Listen to Sexyy Red and Tiësto’s “OMG!” above.

F1 The Album is out 6/27 via Atlantic Records. You can find more info here.

F1, the movie, is out in theaters 6/27.

When last we heard from elusive alt-hip-hop mystery man Kevin Abstract, he had followed up the norm-breaking Lil Nas X collaboration “Tennessee” with “Big Dog,” a reflection on lost love, oddly still credited to his now-defunct band Brockhampton. But it looks like he’s ready to return with new solo work (sorta), as he emerged today with “Geezer,” a collaboration with his longtime friend and fellow genre-bender, Dominic Fike (with whom he last linked up on Arizona Baby.

In the “Geezer” video, the two artists perform their verses over their shoulders into a camera positioned in the backseat of a car. The mellow, guitar-driven song calls to mind the slacker alt-rock of the mid-90s (think OMC’s “How Bizarre” and the like), introducing what Kevin described on Twitter (never calling it “X”) as “a group, think The Hillbillies.” Geezer, the group, also appears to be part of a larger group called Blush, which is also the title of an upcoming album.

Blush, the album, will see Abstract collaborating with an all-star cast of genre-agnostic misfits — including Danny Brown, Jpegmafia, Quadeca, Sekou, and Truly Young — alongside burgeoning Houston talents he discovered on his return to Texas.

Watch Kevin Abstract and Dominic Fike’s “Geezer” video above.

Blush is coming later this month. You can find more info here.

We still have a ways to go until we hear Ed Sheeran’s new album Play, as it’s set to drop in September. Thankfully, he’s been generous with sharing singles leading up to the release, and today (June 5), he’s back with another new one: “Sapphire,” which arrives alongside a video.

The video was shot in India (an appropriate choice given some of the song’s instrumentation), and it serves as a love letter to the country, similarly to how his “Azizam” video paid homage to Persian weddings.

He says of the song:

“Sapphire was the first song I finished for Play that made me know where the album was heading. It’s why I finished the recording process in Goa surrounded by some of the best musicians in India. It was an incredible creative process. I shot the music video with Liam and Nic across my India tour earlier this year, we wanted to showcase the beauty and breadth of the country and its culture. The final jigsaw piece for me was getting Arijit on the record. It was a journey to get there and such an amazing day of music and family. Me and him have done a full Punjabi version of the song that will come out in the next few weeks, which has a lot more of him on it. This is the album version of the song, and my favourite song on the album. Hope you guys love it. X.”

Sheeran also previously said of the album, “Play was an album that was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life. Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolour, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India, and had some of the most fun, explorative creative days of my life. It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, it encapsulates everything that I love about music, and the fun in it, but also where I am in life as a human, a partner, a father.”

Watch the “Sapphire” video above.

Play is out 9/12 via Gingerbread Man Records/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Uproxx cover stars aespa will be back soon: Today (June 5), they teased a new single called “Dirty Work,” set to arrive shortly. The 30-second teaser video, above, is an animation of jewelry being melted down and pouring to form the song’s title, which then snaps into a new diamond-encrusted piece.

Per a press release, the single, which is getting a physical release, is set to drop on June 27 at noon ET, and it’ll feature three tracks: The title track, an English version of it, and an instrumental version. The release is available for pre-order now, here.

The song will be the group’s first release of the year, and their first since unveiling the mini-album Whiplash in October 2024. They preceded that release with SYNK: Parallel Line – Special Digital Single, which included solo songs from the group’s members: Karina’s “Up,” Giselle’s “Dopamine,” Ningning’s “Bored!,” and Winter’s “Spark.”

This comes after a major 2024 for aespa, which saw the group release their debut album, Armageddon. Earlier this year, they also enjoyed a run of North American and European tour dates. In March, the group was also honored at Billboard Women In Music 2025 as the Group Of The Year, and they also performed “Whiplash” at the show.

There are a handful of couples in the pop sphere, and among them are Tate McRae and The Kid Laroi. Laroi seems to be especially appreciative of the life he and his superstar Canadian girlfriend are sharing.

In a new interview with Elle, when asked if there’s one female artist who has “imparted some wisdom” to him, he responded:

“Definitely my girlfriend. She’s the hardest working artist I’ve ever met in my entire life. And I don’t say that because she’s my girlfriend. Seeing how hard she works inspires and encourages me to follow along and do the same. There’s something really, really motivating about that — and really attractive as well.”

He also revealed what a weekend together usually looks like for them, saying, “We’re homebodies. Sometimes it’s nice to go out and do stuff like that, but most times, we’ll just be like, ‘Yo, should we go out for dinner? Let’s just order something. Let’s make something. Let’s watch something.’ The new Black Mirror just came out, so we’ve been watching that. The new Love On The Spectrum. That’s one of the best shows ever — Connor is, like, my favorite person of all time.”

Read the full interview here.

Benson Boone was all over The Tonight Show yesterday (June 4). He was there from the very start of the episode: In the cold open sketch, Fallon claims he can do a backflip like Boone, but when he tries, he ends up just crashing into a food-covered table.

During an interview with Fallon, he also discussed the origin of his “moonbeam ice cream” lyric from “Mystical Magical,” explaining:

“I write pretty much everything, me and this guy Jack [LaFrantz]. We are very unserious when we’re together. When we work, even the song I’m singing tonight, ‘Momma Song,’ it’s a very serious song, but that session the day we wrote that song, you would’ve thought we were trying to not write ‘Momma Song.’ We connect so well, and we were just kind of having a day. […] As we get on through the session, we kind of came to what’s called writer’s block, and it’s when you have a melody already, but, you cannot think of a lyric.

Jack’s sitting there, and we’re kind of goofing off, and he just goes, ‘You know, what if you just did this?’ And it looked like he was gonna say something really good, and we’ve been sitting there for an hour, I’m like, ‘This is it,’ and he goes, ‘Moonbeam ice cream / Taking off your blue jeans.’ […] It’s a placeholder, at least. […] It was a placeholder for the day, and then we went home and listened to it, and I was like, ‘You know what? Moonbeam ice cream.’”

At the end of the chat, he fulfilled Fallon’s to do a backflip off his desk.

Elsewhere during the show, he performed his touching recent single “Momma Song.”

Check out the clips above.

Lorde is all in on the Virgin era, with her new album set for release later this month. So, she’s ready to look back at Solar Power and admit that the persona she cultivated didn’t necessarily feel authentic to herself.

On a new episode of Therapuss, Lorde explained:

“It was also so crazy touring Melodrama. I found it very intense for that whole time to be in this hardcore music [atmosphere] every night. I don’t know, for some reason I found it pretty intense and I just wanted something that felt very light and easy after that. It was cool. I love ‘Solar Power’ so much, and I truly needed to make it. I wouldn’t be here with another album if I hadn’t made Solar Power.

But I think it showed me that you sort of have no choice but to be who you’re supposed to be. Me sort of disappearing and being all wafty and on the beach, I was just like, ‘Actually, I don’t think this is me.’ I think I just am this person whose meant to make these bangers that f*ck us all up, that just rip across a festival ground. I’m supposed to do that to our bodies. I don’t think I’m supposed to vibe out.”

Watch the full interview above.

Breakout R&B star Leon Thomas built on the momentum of his hit song “Mutt” with a deluxe reissue of the album of the same name, Heel, last Friday, adding nine new songs to the tracklist. They included a new version of the titular track, two collaborations with Big Sean, and the focus track, “Not Fair.”

To commemorate the deluxe album’s release, Thomas stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to play “Not Fair” live, just four months removed from making his official television performance debut on The Late Show with “Mutt.” As with his previous performance, Thomas took the stage with his band, playing guitar and showing off his powerful vocals, this time amid a tangled coil of various audio cables (way more than could reasonably be expected for the current band set up). A background visualizer on the screen behind him played a distorted, closeup waveform, reminding me a little bit of those old Winamp visualizers. The performance offers an intriguing alternative listening experience for fans (similarly to The Weeknd’s “Open Hearts” video from January).

Watch Leon Thomas’ Jimmy Kimmel Live! performance of “Not Fair” above.

Mutt; Heel is out now via EZMNY Records and Motown Records. You can find more info here.

This week, West Coast living legend Too Short is the latest artist to stop by Uproxx Studios to try to psych out Sound Check host Jeremy Hecht. Jeremy pitted two remakes of his classic 2006 song “Blow The Whistle” against each other in his quest to glean Short Dawg’s taste, playing Saweetie’s “Tap In” alongside Drake’s “For Free.” Jeremy also had Short choose between “Still D.R.E.” and “The Message,” “The Ghetto” and “Atomic Dog,” and two songs that make great use of Too Short’s favorite word. Can he figure out Too Short’s life anthem?

Here’s how it works: Jeremy plays two songs for the guest artist, who has to choose one and explain their choice, giving Jeremy a chance to learn their musical taste. Jeremy then has to guess the artist’s life anthem, the song they’d take to a desert island, which the guest wrote down earlier on a piece of paper. Our production team has also given him a decoy song, and Jeremy has to guess which is correct based on what he’s learned in the previous rounds.

Watch Too Short take on the Sound Check challenge above. New episodes of Sound Check drop every Wednesday at noon ET / 9 PM PT on Uproxx’s YouTube.

Addison Rae is getting her shine as a pop star these days, but it was her time working with Charli XCX during the Brat era that felt like a formative moment for her.

Explaining during a new Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe that the session to write the “Von Dutch” remix was “a really big turning point” for her, Rae said that she was “still pretty insecure in my songwriting abilities.” Speaking about a note of lyrics she sent to Charli, she continued:

I sent her that, and she was like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to use all of this. We need to use all of this in the song.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, are you sure you don’t want to like change it up or make this better? You’re amazing, and I trust you. This is your song and I just want to aid your artistry and your vision on this.’ […]

I felt very seen. Then I had hummed out that hook melody, ‘You just want to scream my name,’ that little melody that we do for the hook of the song. I hummed that out in my car and I sent it to her and she was like, ‘Great, this is the hook.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, I had never felt so seen and understood, and also just trusted.’ I think she trusted me so strongly with what I thought was cool for that, which really gave me confidence in my taste.

Watch the full interview above.