Category: News

Disney may have stolen the show when it came to announcements on Thursday, but FX made a bit of its own history thanks to The Gang. The network announced it’s already record-setting comedy It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is getting a bit closer to the “forever” one of its creators was shooting for, renewing the series for an additional three more seasons.

This comes after FX renewed Sunny for a single season in early 2020, which at a potential Season 15 already made it the longest-running live action comedy in TV history. But now FX made it official: Sunny will run at least 18 seasons thanks to Thursday’s news.

It’s a truly remarkable run in modern television, as comedies rarely last as long as Sunny has, let alone manage to stay as funny as it has over now nearly two decades. A streaming show can barely last four seasons on Netflix these days, so a Sunny inching closer to being of legal age to drink in Paddy’s Pub is really something.

One of the many reasons it has endured, of course, is that the show has been uniquely able to examine its own mistakes and own up to them on air. That’s involved seeing some characters change from their original intentions, and even admitting in hindsight that some episodes simply don’t hold up very well in the present.

And according to Variety, the show’s ratings have also managed to grow while it makes those changes.

The show has remained a significant ratings draw even this late in its run. The 13th season averaged just over 3 million viewers per episode in multiplatform viewing. That’s up from 2.2 million multiplatform viewers in Season 10.

Considering the show’s ability to grow and change, though, the news that more Sunny is on the way is very good all around. No matter what life looks like in 2023, somehow it’s tough to imagine It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia struggling to shine bright.

“Willow” is the very first song on Taylor Swift’s second surprise album of 2020, Evermore, and she sets the tone early on this stunning story ballad. In the clip, Taylor starts off in a white flowing dress with a headpiece that had fans wondering if the video was going to portray a wedding — but typical Taylor, it was a bait and switch and she was simply a magical nymph stuck inside a glass box. Even as she meets eyes across the room with her love interest, played by Taeok Lee, their story is already starcrossed due to her position.

Luckily, she finds a magical trapdoor in the bottom of the glass box, and emerges out in some wild and dark woods, where a magical ritual seems to be taking place. The dancers, cleverly, are masked as they perform the ritual — a clever way to incorporate pandemic safety — and eventually Taylor wanders off into the snowy wood following a golden string. Not quite invisible, but you get the gist. Once she steps through yet another portal, she ends up in a quiet cabin, where, eventually, Lee appears as well, and the two grab hands and step back out into the world, together. Plenty of visual callbacks to the “Cardigan” video in this one, watch it above.

There’s no stopping Chika in 2020. The Alabama native has been on an unstoppable streak since 2020 began and it’s in most part thanks to her major-label debut, Industry Games, which she shared back in February. The EP’s success opened a plethora of doors for the rapper, all of which she deserved to step through. Now that the year is just weeks away from ending, Chika returns with a new song, one that is bound to leave a good impression on listeners before they move on to the new year.

Entitled, “FWB,” which presumably stands for “friends with benefits,” Chika shares the heartfelt song that finds her speaking to someone she hopes to be romantically involved with. While her feelings are laid out on wax, she stops short of committing to a full relationship and poses the idea of a more secretive love, which focuses more on the physically intimate moments and leaves the emotional baggage at the door.

Chika’s new single arrives after she landed a nomination for Best New Artist at the upcoming 2021 Grammy Awards. It’s not the first time the Alabama artist has been celebrated for her work this year, either. This past summer, she was inducted into the 2020 XXL Freshman class along with Jack Harlow, NLE Choppa, Polo G, Baby Keem, and more.

Check out the “FWB” single above.

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

After announcing his next album would be titled Man On The Moon III: The Chosen back in October in a nostalgic promo video, fans were surprised that the next piece of news from Kid Cudi confirmed that the album would be in their hands in just a matter of days. The Ohio rapper revealed the third installation of the Man On The Moon series would touch down in early December and just a few days after revealing its cover and tracklist, the album is here and it boasts an interesting and unexpected collaboration between Cudi, Pop Smoke, and Skepta.

The track features drill-heavy production, something that Pop Smoke popularized during unfortunately short career. Despite it fitting right in Pop’s lane, Cudi and Skepta get comfortable with ease on the song, proving for a satisfactory collaboration from the trio. Prior to the song’s release, Cudi spoke to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about making the collaboration with Pop Smoke happen.

“It was powerful because like I talked to Steven Victor [Pop Smoke’s manager] about this and he said, when he first recorded this song, he had thought of me on it,” Cudi said. “Steven had thought of me on it. The reason why I kind of got this record, Dot Da Genius and Plain Pat had worked with Pop, like before he blew up at the Brewery in New York, at Dot’s studio. And they had this record, they just never did anything with it. It was just something that Dot had on tuck, you know?” He went on to reveal that once Dot Da Genius played him the record, there was no way he could turn it down.
And I was chilling with them one day because Dot’s working on our album and he was like, “Yo, I got this record. I’m going to play it for you. Let me know what you think.” He plays this sh*t. And I’m like, “I need this. Like I need this, man.” I was like, “Nobody’s ever heard me on anything like this. Skepta sounds amazing. Pop Smoke sounds amazing. Like this would be so unexpected. I think I can be on this and I could hold it down and like do my thing.” And this is also another way I can, you know, showcase these bars.

You can listen to “Show Out” above.

Man On The Moon III: The Chosen is out now via Republic. Get it here.

Taylor Swift shocked the world again — her ninth album Evermore is out tonight, and it’s another folksy doozy with collaborators from The National and Bon Iver. It also includes plenty of other members of indie music royalty, like even more members of The National, Haim, and lots of other familiar and brand new additions to the Swift Industrial Complex. Check out the full credits for every song on the tracklist below, to be perused at your leisure as you’re up all night listening and realizing she’s already been hinting at this record.

1. “Willow”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, piano & electric, bass & acoustic guitars by Aaron Dessner
Synthesizers and drum machine programming by James McAlister
Percussion & drum machine programming by Bryan Devendorf
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Electric guitar by Josh Kaufman
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Glockenspiel by Jason Treuting
Flute by Alex Sopp
French Horn by CJ Camerieri
Keyboards & synthesizers by Thomas Bartlett

2. “Champagne Problems”
Written by Taylor Swift & William Bowery (Joe Alwyn’s pen name)
Piano, synthesizers, acoustic guitar, & synth bass by Aaron Dessner
Upright bass by Logan Coale

3. “Gold Rush”
Written by Taylor Swift & Jack Antonoff
Drums, percussion, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, piano, mellotron & backing vocals by Jack Antonoff
Dx7, electric guitar, nylon guitar, Rhodes & Celeste by Mikey Freedom Hart
Drums by Sean Hutchinson
Drums by Michael Riddleberger
Horns by Evan Smith
OP-1 by Patrik Berger
Violin by Bobby Hawk

4. “‘Tis The Damn Season”
Written by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, piano, synthesizers, and electric, acoustic * bass guitars by Aaron Dessner
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Keyboards & synthesizers by Thomas Bartlett
Hammond B3 organ by Nick Lloyd
Harmonium & lap steel by Josh Kaufman
Trombone & horn arrangements by Benjamin Lanz

5. “Tolerate It”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Piano, drum machine programming, bass guitar & keyboards by Aaron Dessner
Percussion, drum machine programming, keyboards and synthesizers by James McAlister
Drum machine programming by Bryan Devendorf
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Percussion by Jason Treuting

6. “No Body, No Crime” Feat. Haim
Written by Taylor Swift
Vocals by Danielle Haim and Este Haim
Mandolin, synthesizers, piano, field recording & bass, acoustic & electric guitars by Aaron Dessner
Lap steel, electric guitar, organ & harmonica by Josh Kaufman
Drum kit by JT Bates

7. “Happiness”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, keyboards, synthesizers, piano & acoustic, electric & bass guitars by Aaron Dessner
Allovers hi-hat generator by Ryan Olson
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Synthesizers & keyboards by Thomas Bartlett
Drum kit by JT Bates

8. “Dorothea”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Bass, electric & acoustic guitars, piano & tambourine by Aaron Dessner
Drum kit & percussion by JT Bates
Piano, keyboards & synthesizers by Thomas Bartlett
Modular synth by Benjamin Lanz
Electric & acoustic guitars by Josh Kaufman

9. “Coney Island” (Feat. The National)
Written by Taylor Swift, William Bowery (Joe Alwyn’s pen name), Aaron Dessner & Bryce Dessner
Vocals by Matt Berninger
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, synthesizers & bass, acoustic, high string and electric guitars by Aaron Dessner
Piano & pulse by Bryce Dessner
Drum kit & drum machine programming by Bryan Devendorf
Bass guitar & pocket piano by Scott Devendorf
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Drum kit & percussion by Jason Treuting

10. “Ivy”
Written by Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner & Jack Antonoff
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum kit, drum machine programming, synthesizers, percussion, synth bass & bass, acoustic, high string, rubber bridge & electric guitars by Aaron Dessner
Backing vocals, triangle, drum kit, banjo & electric guitar by Justin Vernon
Upright bass by Logan Coale
Lap steel by Josh Kaufman
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Trumpet by Kyle Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Trombone & modular synth by Benjamin Lanz
Synthesizers by Thomas Bartlett
Drum machine programming, keyboards & synthesizers by James Mcalister
Drum kit by JT Bates
Percussion & drum machine programming by Bryan Devendorf

11. “Cowboy Like Me”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, percussion, synthe bass, piano, keyboards, synthesizers & acoustic & electric guitars by Aaron Dessner
Backing vocals by Marcus Mumford
Drum kit & electric guitar by Justin Vernon
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Lap steel, harmonica & mandolin by Josh Kaufman
Upright bass by Logan Coale

12. “Long Story Short”
Written by Taylor Swift & aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, synth bass, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers & bass, acoustic & electric guitars by Aaron Dessner
Drum kit by Bryan Devendorf
Drum machine programming & synthesizers by James Mcalister
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Trumpet by Kyle Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Crotales & metal percussion by Jason Treuting
Electric guitar by Bryce Dessner

13. “Marjorie”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Drum machine programming, drone, synth bass, piano & acoustic guitar by Aaron Dessner
Backing vocals & Prophet X by Justin Vernon
Backing vocals by Marjorie Finlay
Drum machine programming & percussion by Bryan Devendorf
Allovers hi-hat generator by Ryan Olson
Chord stick & percussion by Jason Treuting
Vermona pulse by James Mcalister
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Cello by Clarice Jensen

14. “Closure”
Written by Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Piano, bass guitar, drum machine programming & synthesizers by Aaron Dessner
Drum kit & synthesizers by James Mcalister
Upright bass by Logan Coale
Piano by Bryce Dessner
Trumpet and no-input mixer by Trever Hagen
Drum kit & messina by Justin Vernon
Trumpet by Kyle Resnick
Cello by Gabriel Cabezas
Chord stick by Jason Treuting
Trombone by Dave Nelson

15. “Evermore” (Feat. Bon Iver)
Written by Taylor Swift, William Bowery (Joe Alwyn’s pen name) & Justin Vernon
Orchestration by Bryce Dessner
Vocals by Bon Iver
Drum machine programming, synthesizers & piano by Aaron Dessner
Synthesizers & field recording by Justin Vernon
Piano by William Bowery (Joe Alwyn’s pen name)
Upright bass by Logan Coale
Lap steel by Josh Kaufman
Crotales by Jason Treuting
Cello by Clarice Jensen
Cell by Gabriel Cabezas
Violin by Yuki Numata Resnick
Alto clarinet, contrabass clarinet & flutes by Stuart Bogie
Flutes by Alex Sopp

While many artists have spent the past few weeks preparing their best cover of a number of Christmas season classics, Dave Grohl has opted to spend the next week covering songs by Jewish artists as a way to celebrate Hannukah, which officially began at sunset on Thursday. The Foo Fighters frontperson will share a cover on each of the eight nights of the Jewish holiday as a part of The Hannukah Sessions and he began the series with a performance of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” with Greg Kurstin.

The two resorted to what appears to be a fairly small room to debut their performance of the group’s 1994 album Ill Communication. With Grohl on the drums and Kurstin on the keys, the two got busy for the electric performance that kicked off The Hannukah Sessions.

In a tweet that he posted to share the new cover, Grohl said, “As the only Rock and Roll Hall Of Famers with a lyric about kugel, we thought it would be a shanda to not kick off this party with New York’s (and Abraham’s) finest.” He added, “known by some as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego known by their Imas & Abbas as @beastieboys !”

In other news, Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters also have their own taco. The band teamed up with Casa Vega Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California for the limited-time-only tacos which launched on December 1. You can watch the duo’s first cover in the video above.

Disney’s big news Thursday had plenty of things to get excited about if you like, well, Disney things. But one of the more interesting, and mind-warping, was a new Buzz Lightyear movie that’s, at least in theory, from a canon that merely inspires Toy Story.

On Thursday, Pixar was part of the glut of new shows, movies and other content that Disney announced to the public. And while the movie is technically a new concept, it’s something many longtime Pixar fans are familiar with. The company dropped a 30-second teaser for Lightyear, a movie about a young test pilot who wants to go to infinity and beyond.

The tweet that followed the trailer showed a slightly different-looking Buzz Lightyear, most notably in that he did not look like a toy. And the news that he was voiced by Chris Evans was a bit of a surprise to Toy Story fans. Evans said “I don’t even have the words” when retweeting the announcement, which is a funny thing for a voice actor to say about a new gig. But he also did have some words to add, noting that the role is not the toy but the “origin story” of the “human” that the Buzz Lightyear action figure from Toy Story.

Bear with me for a second here if you’re confused: the film Disney announced with a June 17, 2022 release date is technically an origin story for a character that first appeared in 1995, but in toy form. In theory, this is the kind of movie about a humanoid that would inspire the kind of toy line you see Tim Allen voice in the original Toy Story. So Evans isn’t taking Tim Allen’s job, he’s taking the role that would inspire Allen’s toy to exist in the first place.

It’s important to note that character, a toy, spends most of the film not understanding that he’s even a toy, which has in-canon commercials and supporting characters and an extensive line of toys and memorabilia that was then replicated in the real world thanks to the Toy Story movie. Allen has voiced Buzz Lightyear in four Toy Story films, but now there’s finally a standalone Buzz Lightyear. He’s just, you know, a human. Who does things that will inevitably justify a toy get made of him that happens to become a blockbuster star all on his own.

The 2020 Game Awards have come and gone! As time has gone on these awards have become more and more focused on the trailers that take place during the awards show rather than the awards themselves. Especially in a year like 2020 where the biggest showcase event of the year, E3, was cancelled.

Of course, there’s still a lot of excitement on who will win Game of The Year so it still lives up to its name. What’s important to remember is that this night is meant to be fun. Trailers are teasers more built to create excitement over what’s coming rather than showing us any real gameplay. This is a celebration of games and the hard work that goes into them. So let’s look back at some of the best trailers and moments that occurred during the show itself.

Game of The Year: The Last of Us Part 2

There was a little bit of controversy with this one as many people were fans of Ghosts of Tsushima and Hades, but The Last of Us Part 2 won multiple awards throughout the night and was the clear favorite game going in. Critically acclaimed and well enjoyed by many, it’s one of those games that many will use as an example of how games should be taken more seriously as an art based medium. To say any more would be going into spoiler territory, but you should go play The Last of Us, or Hades, or Ghosts of Tsushima, or Animal Crossing! All the games nominated were great and worth your time.

The Return Of Mass Effect

The definition of a teaser, this trailer showed us only one thing. “Mass Effect will return.” and despite that, it was one of the most exciting moments of the entire night. Mass Effect as a franchise felt like it was never going to come back after the disaster that was Mass Effect: Andromeda. While we have no idea how long it’s going to be before another game in the series is released, or if it manages to make it through development, we can be excited for the future of the franchise again. That’s something many Mass Effect fans haven’t had for a long time.

Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Game Awards led off with a bang by unveiling the next character for Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Despite originally being a crossover of Nintendo franchises the title has grown beyond that with the most recent iterations. Games that aren’t known for being on Nintendo consoles have been joining the roster ever since Final Fantasy 7‘s Cloud broke that barrier on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Well, this year saw the release of Final Fantasy 7 remake, and maybe Nintendo saw that as a sign to dip back into that franchise to bring in another extremely popular character. Sephiroth, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy 7 is making his debut in Smash Bros. and while this may have been an odd choice in the past it is oddly fitting these days. With Super Smash Bros. going from a Nintendo crossover to a video game crossover in general it really does fit even if an image of what appeared to be Sephiroth impaling Mario, in that trailer, is unintentionally one of the funniest pictures ever.

New Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark is one of the original console first-person shooters. It was made by Rare for the Nintendo 64, and for some fans of that era, it’s an even better game than the legendary Goldeneye. Long thought to be a dead franchise it looks like we’re finally seeing a return. FPS games have changed a lot over the years. Let’s see if they’re up for the challenge of modernizing it.

Back4Blood

You know what rules? Left 4 Dead. You know what doesn’t rule? The overabundance of zombie games we’ve been getting for over a decade now. So when you first see the trailer for Back4Blood your first indication might be to zone out and wait until it ends. That is until you realize it’s actually a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, a franchise we haven’t gotten a new game in since 2009.

This looks exactly like a modern day version of Left 4 Dead which is really all we wanted. With so many zombie games it can be so easy to forget the fun of just mowing down an army of zombies with friends. Many of the devs working on this worked on Left 4 Dead all those years ago so if anyone remembers the spirit of those games it will be them.

Dragon Age

Probably one of the worst kept secrets in games, a new Dragon Age has finally been unveiled. We last got one of these with Inquisition in 2014, but ever since then the franchise has laid dormant. During that time their developer, Bioware, has not exactly been setting the world on fire with their releases. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem were both flops from the once legendary developer. With this being one of their major franchise they can’t afford for it to fail.

The trailer itself is cool and exciting, but its doesn’t really reveal that much. We’ll know more as time goes on, but it’s a good teaser to get us excited.

The Callisto Protocol

Fans of Dead Space should be excited for this one. A handful of the original developers have gotten together to release a spiritual successor to that franchise. While Dead Space 2 and 3 got a little too action focused for many fans liking, this one is being touted by developers as an attempt to make one of the scariest games ever made. Let’s see if they can hit on that promise.

Ark 2 With Vin Diesel

Yes, you read that correctly. Not only are they making a sequel to Ark, but it’s featuring Vin Diesel. If the trailer is anything to go by then he may have a prominent role in this one — Either him or the child.

The trailer is exciting, lots of action, and at one point Vin Diesel is taking on a T-Rex head on. It’s absolutely absurd, but one of the best trailers during the entirety of The Game Awards just because of how much it stood out.

Among Us Time Traveling

This was an odd choice. Among Us is absolutely one of the best games of this year and is an incredibly fun time. The problem? Among Us came out in 2018 and not 2020. This didn’t stop it from winning the best Multiplayer and Best Mobile Game of The Year awards. This feels like it’s bending the rules a bit to get a popular game into the awards, but the genuine excitement of the developers receiving their awards more than makes up for it.

Despite only putting out one song this year, “WAP” was such a hit that it happened to win Cardi B the honor of Woman Of The Year at Billboard‘s Women in Music event. Seems a little strange to not instead give the honor to the song’s other artist, Megan Thee Stallion, who had multiple hits this year and also released her debut album Good News… but nobody asked me. Anyway, Cardi B took her moment during the virtual event, delivering a speech that once again roasted Republican’s collective pearl-clutching over the song. Read her whole heartfelt speech below via Billboard.

This year, when it came to music, I had so many things planned. I had so many projects that I wanted to come out. Unfortunately, due to COVID, I couldn’t put out the visuals the way that I wanted, it messed up my creative space. You know, I think everyone this year was just messed up. So I’m just grateful and thankful that the song that I actually did put out this year, which was “WAP,” featuring Megan Thee Stallion, not only was it an amazing song that broke so many records, but it was a conversation that I never thought was going to be so big. I mean, it pissed off a whole bunch of Republicans for no reason, you know what I’m saying? It was just weird. [Laughs]

I want to say thank you, everybody, and I want to say to all the girls out there that are just like me, or just regular girls, when I came into the music industry, I didn’t know if these people were going to accept me. Throughout the years, if you listen to my mixtapes and you listen to my music now, I have progressed because I wanted to progress. I want to be the best I can at anything I do and, you know, you got to put your mind to it.

When I first became an adult — I always wanted to be an artist, but you know, when bills come, situations come, you’re just like, ‘Damn, what am I going to do in the next five, four years?’ And you’re just working to survive and pay bills and everything, and that’s not what life is about. Life is about making your dreams come true, but in order to make your dreams come true, don’t think that it’s gonna come and fall from the sky to your lap. You actually gotta put in the work. You gotta be ambitious. You gotta network. You gotta become great at what you do. You gotta be able to take criticism — believe it or not, y’all be saying I don’t take criticism, but yes I do. That’s why when people be like, ‘Oh, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ I practice so I can become better and better. There’s hope. There’s hope for your dreams.

Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for the support, thank you for the love. Thank you for always uplifting me when I’m going through stuff in the media or not, thank you for always loving my music, thank you for loving me, and I love you guys. And [click] bye! [Laughs]

Disney shared its news in bulk on Thursday night, dropping news item after news item about the future of Marvel, Star Wars and all the other properties in the mega-corporation’s grasp. But one property it had some very specific details about was Loki, the Disney+ series starring Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s trickster brother. Disney revealed a trailer for the show that gave us a bit more detail about what we’ll see streaming next year.

The six-episode first season is expected to fill in the gaps on Loki’s story between the last Avengers movies, and the opening moments of the trailer recreate the moments in the films that led up to his escape. He then wakes up in a remote desert, but is later taken captive by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), who we learn Owen Wilson’s character works for. There’s a lot of time and reality-bending hints, and quite frankly you see Loki in more suits than you might expect.
There’s even a bit of D.B. Cooper action in the closing moments, as well as a scene where Loki is wearing what looks like campaign buttons for, well, himself. It’s no WandaVision, but it certainly has a lot of intrigue and the ability to surprise. We’ll know more about Loki soon, Disney revealed the series will debut on Disney+ in May of 2021.