Category: News

“My great ambition is to be in a Fast and Furious movie. I so want to be a mad driver in a Fast and Furious movie.” That’s Helen Mirren back in 2015. Half of her wish came true: the Oscar winner — who, it’s worth repeating, claimed her “great ambition” in life was to be in a movie series that was originally about street racing and stealing old Panasonic televisions — appeared in both The Fate of the Furious and the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw as Magdalene Shaw, Deckard and Owen’s mother. But she did not drive in either film.

“I wanted to be driving, but unfortunately, I’m not,” she said before The Fate of the Furious came out. “Maybe that will come in the future, in Fast and Furious 12… I’m probably one of the few people on the set who know how to drive a gear shift car. I doubt The Rock knows. But I do. I know how to double declutch.” First off, Helen Mirren is one of the few people on Earth who can insult The Rock without fear of being flattened into a pancake. Also, Helen Mirren rules — and she’ll finally get to drive in F9.

When asked by Entertainment Weekly whether Mirren will appear behind a steering wheel in the ninth Fast and Furious movie (scheduled to come out on May 28), Vin Diesel replied, “You ask the right questions. Again, without giving away any spoilers… You know what, I’m going to give you a spoiler: Yes, she gets to drive.” He added, “It’s so awesome. She gets to drive and she gets to drive sleek.” It’s the only way she knows.

Congratulations to Helen Mirren for getting to be a “mad driver in a Fast and Furious movie.” And thank you for showing that dreams sometimes do come true.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

In an interview following last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol building, Nancy Pelosi nabbed an opportunity to shade Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during an interview with 60 Minutes. The tension between Pelosi and AOC has been part of an ongoing struggle between younger Democrats in Congress and the significantly older party leadership. However, those tensions seem to cool recently after AOC and the members of the Squad voted to re-elect Pelosi as Speaker of the House despite AOC previously saying that Pelosi needed to step down. In return, The Squad members were given more prominent committee assignments.

In Pelosi’s defense, the AOC shade popped up after 60 Minutes‘ Lesley Stahl broached the subject of age — or the “A-word,” as Stahl called it — during the final moments of an interview on last week’s Capitol attack. Via CBS News:

Lesley Stahl: Why does AOC complain that you have not been grooming younger people for leadership?

Nancy Pelosi: I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her– because we are.

When Stahl noted that Pelosi’s response was “kind of sharp” and dismissive of AOC’s concerns, Pelosi qualified her response and made it clear that she supports the next generation of Democratic leaders. “I’m not dismissing her. I respect her,” Pelosi said. “I think she’s very effective as are other– many other members in our caucus that the press doesn’t pay attention to. But they are there and they are building support for what comes next.”

You can see Pelosi talk AOC at the 11:32 mark:

Over the weekend, the “Just For One Night” David Bowie tribute livestream was held, albeit a day after originally scheduled due to technical difficulties and COVID-19 restrictions (it was initially set for January 8, Bowie’s birthday). Still, the show went on just fine, and among the highlights was Trent Reznor performing a pair of covers, “Fantastic Voyage” and “Fashion.”

On “Fantastic Voyage,” Reznor was joined by Nine Inch Nails bandmate Atticus Ross and Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson. Then, on “Fashion,” that trio welcomed Reznor’s wife and How To Destroy Angels bandmate Mariqueen Maandig Reznor into the fold.

Elsewhere during the show, other performers included Duran Duran, Adam Lambert, Peter Frampton, Andra Day, Mott The Hoople’s Ian Hunter, Yes’ Rick Wakeman, and a supergroup established specifically for this event, Ground Control (Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, and Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins).

Ahead of the performance, Reznor spoke about Bowie’s impact on him, telling Consequence Of Sound:

“I think in terms of chronology, it was the Scary Monsters album that I became aware of Bowie’s music. None of my friends were super-big Bowie fans. But there was something about Scary Monsters. […] And then over the next few years, I had the pleasure of going through Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust and Station To Station. He just really started to become the best archetype for someone who has a fantastic voice and was kind of an actor pretending to be a rock star, in a way, which seemed to give him the ability to reinvent himself in ways that just felt like it would take a lot of courage to have had success at something and then throw it away and try something new. […]

I still think about that dude all the time, and I still listen to him constantly. And I’m grateful that our lives intersected, and I’m grateful for, whether he knew it or not, how much he helped me in those dark times before I chose to get my sh*t together. And I can hear his voice. He penetrated through the layers of bullsh*t that I’d built around myself. I’m grateful for that.”

Watch Reznor perform for the Bowie tribute above.

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were shot back-to-back, and both movies are directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and feature much of the same cast. But they are two distinctly different blockbusters — one has Korg, one doesn’t have Korg — leading to an endless debate over which is better. Elizabeth Olsen is definitively Team Infinity War.

The actress, who has played Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch for the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, was recently asked by CinemaBlend to name which of Marvel’s two highest-grossing movies she prefers. “Well, I feel more connected to Infinity War, because I got to experience more of it. Endgame, I was confused. Because I was like, ‘Where did I just come from?’” Olsen replied, referring to the ambiguity surrounding where half of all life went when they got Snap’d. (She was probably stuck in a Janet-like void watching Full House re-runs 24/7. The horror.)

Scarlet Witch was originally going to survive the Snap, but “the problem was she’d gotten so much mileage and story in the first movie that she didn’t really have anything that equaled that in the second. So it was a step down,” Markus revealed. Luckily, Olsen will have a lot to do in Disney+’s WandaVision, which premieres this Friday, January 15.

(Via CinemaBlend)

While 2020 came and went without much new music from Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky, that may change sometime in this young year, as the 32-year-old MC sparked speculation about an imminent project by clearing his Instagram.

As you may well know, it’s a move that artists have used as a provocative suggestion to their fans to prepare for a wave of promotional content, which is usually attached to a collection of music. Drake, Future, and Kendrick Lamar have all used the tactic in the past, and just this year, both Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj used the move to make their first overtures, with Doja inviting fans to guess at the significance of the six followers she kept and Nicki prompting rumors of both a potential new album and beef with her own mom.

Of course, ASAP Rocky would be what many fans consider overdue for a new project; Testing, his last full-length release, dropped in 2018, going gold and peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart. No one can blame him for being preoccupied, though. It’s been reported that he started dating international superstar Rihanna, whose bad habit of trolling fans over her next album may be rubbing off on him.

In any case, ASAP Rocky was recently featured on grime artist Slowthai’s new single “Mazza,” appearing in the video through the magic of editing despite filming his segment an ocean away.

Following the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol building by Donald Trump supporters who were determined to use violent force to stop the certification of the 2020 election, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat down with 60 Minutes to detail her experience during the attempted coup. As a regular target of right-wing rhetoric even before Trump took office, Pelosi’s life was in significant danger, specifically as the intruders stormed into her private office. One of the insurrectionists, Richard Barnett of Arkansas, mockingly propped his feet on Pelosi’s desk and boasted to news outlets that he stole a piece of mail from her desk. He’s since been arrested by the FBI.

While touring the Capitol building with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl, Pelosi showed a room where her staff had barricaded the door and hid silently under a table for hours while attackers banged on the door. It was a harrowing situation that could’ve easily turned deadly. Via CBS News:

Nancy Pelosi: The evidence is now that– that it was a well-planned, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go get people. They were vocally saying, “Where’s the speaker? We know she has staff. They’re here someplace. We’re gonna find them.”

But despite the now historic assault on the Capitol building, Pelosi coordinated with Senate Leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer to still certify in the Capitol building as a “show of strength.” Vice President Mike Pence, who was targeted by Trump supporters chanting “Hang Pence,” backed the decision to finish the vote. However, even after the violent scene, Republican members of Congress still attempted to challenge the election results. “Shame on them,” Pelosi said before calling out two-thirds of the GOP House members who are still enabling Trump. “I remember when Republicans in the Senate went to see Richard Nixon and said, ‘It’s over.’ That’s what has to happen now.”

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 Saweetie and Doja Cat link up in a most delightful way and 100 Gecs put their spin on some classic 2000s music. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Saweetie and Doja Cat — “Best Friend”

Even before Saweetie and Doja Cat dropped their “Best Friend” video, they faced some accusations of plagiarism, which Saweetie ultimately didn’t take seriously. What was serious, though, was how much fun it looked like the two video stars had in the clip, which is a perfect visual accompaniment to the upbeat song.

Taylor Swift — “It’s Time To Go” and “Right Where You Left Me”

Physical releases of Taylor Swift’s new album Evermore came with some bonus tracks that were exclusive to those formats. Last week, though, Swift unleashed them into streaming services, meaning that some fans finally got to hear them for the first time. Interestingly, fans think Swift takes shots at some of her adversaries on the tracks, including Scooter Braun and Karlie Kloss.

Linkin Park — “One Step Closer (100 Gecs Remix)”

Linkin Park celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hybrid Theory last year, but the group is planning on keeping the party going into 2021. They did so last week by recruiting 100 Gecs to remix “One Step Closer,” and the idiosyncratic duo put their frenetic, electronic spin on the nu-metal classic.

Rhye — “Come In Closer”

Rhye has a new album, Home, dropping in a couple weeks, but ahead of then, he previewed it last week with “Come In Closer,” a characteristically smooth and subtly funky tune. Furthermore, the single was accompanied with an adorable video that shows a pair of kids leading the cutest lives.

Jazmine Sullivan — Heaux Tales EP

After a decade-plus of being one of R&B’s premiere artists, Jazmine Sullivan did something different: She released her first EP, Heaux Tales. It’s a bit of a concept album, as throughout its runtime, it tells stories of different sorts of women, showing off Sullivan’s powerhouse vocals all the while.

Dvsn — “Use Somebody”

On Dvsn’s first single of the year, he made an interesting move by re-contextualizing a pair of 2008 Kings Of Leon hits, “Use Somebody” and “Sex On Fire,” into smooth R&B. In fact, the members of Kings Of Leon are the only writers credited on the track, and it is basically a cover, albeit of two songs in one. Dvsn doesn’t really miss, so perhaps both unexpectedly and unsurprisingly, it works tremendously well.

RMR — “Her Honeymoon”

RMR became one of 2020’s most entertaining breakout stars thanks to the strength of his “Rascal” video, and now he’s back with another attention-grabbing visual. This time, with “Her Honeymoon,” RMR tells a tale of betrayal, but he had multiple ideas for how to end the narrative, so he went ahead and showed three different conclusions.

Russ — “Ugly” Feat. Lil Baby

Russ, who managed to thrive in 2020 while other artists weren’t as set up for success, started his year by linking up with Lil Baby on “Ugly.” Coming off huge years, both artists have a lot of reasons to be confident, so there’s a lot of justified flexing on their new joint effort.

Slowthai — “Mazza” Feat. ASAP Rocky

Slowthai pondered delaying his new album Tyron, but ultimately decided that he “cannot allow this virus to keep holding us back.” On the same day he made that declaration, he also dropped a new track called “Mazza,” an upbeat tune featuring ASAP Rocky.

Open Mike Eagle — “For DOOM”

MF DOOM’s death, which was only announced months after it actually happened, was a peculiar and unpleasant surprise to cap off a decidedly not great year. The influential artist had a profound impact on many, and that includes Open Mike Eagle. He decided to pay tribute with his “For DOOM” freestyle, and on the touching track, Mike’s lyrics include lines like, “Fool, you’re bout to sell more masks than Dr. Fauci / I’m copping one off Etsy to rock it proudly.”

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

It’s easy to imagine that Melania Trump’s ready to get the hell out of dodge, even if President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago neighbors really don’t want his chaos back in the neighborhood. Still, the current FLOTUS decided to address a matter that was getting under her skin, a few days before Donald leaves office. That would be the report that, unlike with Christmas decorations, Melania cares a lot about rugs in the White House and was (also reportedly) leading a photo shoot to capture those floor adornments during last week’s MAGA insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

Melania has now broken her silence, several days later, and one could suspect that the resignation of Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s chief of staff, might have something to do with the slow pace of of a FLOTUS response. However, the content of the statement is, well, oh boy. Melania is now pushing back at that report with an official statement from her website, in which she didn’t exactly invoke her “Be Best” platform, but close. After Melania expressed condolences for the families of those who died (she lists deceased rioters before late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick) when a Trump-following mob carried out a siege on federal property, FLOTUS turned to condemning gossip:

“I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week. I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me – from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda. This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain.

The First Lady did go on to condemn the riot: “Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable.” She did not, however, mention the president in this context or address criticism that he incited his followers to violence against Congress while they certified the Electoral Vote. Let’s just say that this isn’t going over well, both for Melania making this about herself with the rug-gossip subject, and for her naming those who died while attacking democracy ahead of a slain police officer.

It’s worth nothing that Melania also included a goodbye note of sorts, which included, “It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your First Lady.” And she’s almost left the building.

(Via WhiteHouse.gov)

As if Kamala Harris doesn’t have enough to deal with already…

The Vice President-elect is on the cover of Vogue‘s February issue, but her team claims “the cover photo of the country’s soon-to-be No. 2 leader isn’t what both sides had agreed on,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The first African-American woman to be elected vice president is on the cover in a casual black jacket and Chucks that she occasionally wore during the campaign. That image was supposed to appear inside the issue, with this photo of Harris wearing a blue suit in front of a gold background on the cover; instead, Harris was “blindsided” and it’s led to a backlash against the publication.

“Kamala Harris is about as light skinned as women of color come and Vogue still fvcked up her lighting. WTF is this washed out mess of a cover?” one Twitter user wrote, while another added, “Folks who don’t get why the Vogue cover of VP-elect Kamala Harris is bad are missing the point. The pic itself isn’t terrible as a pic. It’s just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn’t put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it’s due. Disrespectful.” Many even questioned if the cover was real.

In a statement, Vogue representatives explained that they “loved the images Tyler Mitchell shot and felt the more informal image captured Vice President-elect Harris’s authentic, approachable nature — which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden/Harris administration. To respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward, we’re celebrating both images of her as covers digitally.” But it’s the image with the black jacket that appears on the more-prestigious print cover, which as the Washington Post‘s Robin Givhan notes, doesn’t “give Kamala D. Harris due respect” for making history. “It was overly familiar. It was a cover image that, in effect, called Harris by her first name without invitation.”

Harris styled herself. She chose her ensembles. But it was ultimately Vogue and its editor in chief, Anna Wintour, that selected the cover… A bit of awe would have served the magazine well in its cover decisions. Nothing about the cover said, “Wow.” And sometimes, that’s all Black women want, an admiring and celebratory “wow” over what they have accomplished.

The reactions continued to roll in:

(Via the Los Angeles Times)

Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet has proven on a few occasions that she got her father’s musical genes; She has shown off her superlative vocal abilities during multiple performances with her father over the past few years. Now it looks like she may be interested in making an album, and if that’s the case, her dad would love to be on it.

In a recent interview with Sunday Times Culture (as NME notes), Grohl said, “I did ask her the other day, ‘If you were to make a record, how do you imagine it would sound?’ And she said, ‘You know, I think somewhere within that shoegaze thing. Oh, and Dad, I need to get this new guitar pedal. It’s called Loveless, and I want my guitar to sound like My Bloody Valentine.’ I was, like, ‘Yes. Yesss!’ [My] next reaction was, ‘Can I be on your record, please?’”

Grohl went on to praise Violet’s musical taste and abilities while also admitting that being his daughter might not be the best thing for her potential music career, saying:

“She’s 14 and already in a deep Bowie phase. I’m not talking about Eighties Bowie or Nineties Bowie — she hasn’t even got to Berlin. All she does is listen to live bootlegs of the Station To Station tour. Or I’ll hear Cocteau Twins coming out of her bedroom. And the Passions. Remember them? ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star.’ She was born with perfect pitch and a soulful voice and a musical memory that is photographic. She has all the tools she needs. She writes, I see her notebooks and the lyrics she’s written. Part of the thing about becoming a musician is the drive that gives you the desire to do it. In that sense, I may be her biggest handicap. Like, she’s got to be my f*cking daughter? So I try to stay away.”

Find the full interview here.