Some of Whitney’s members found themselves in a scary situation recently, as they were robbed at gunpoint last month. Everybody emerged from the incident unscathed, fortunately, and now they’re back to putting out new music. Today, the group has shared a pair of new covers, of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and of SWV’s “Rain.”

The Denver cover also features Waxahatchee, and she and the band turned the song into a duet, preserving the serene energy of the original song but Whitney-ifying it a little. The band’s Max Kakacek said of working with Waxahatchee, “We knew that Katie was destined to sing this with us. We both heard her live and she has this classic country vibe. Once we heard her voice on it, it was pretty much magical. Her contribution is perfect.”

Julian Ehrilch also noted of SWV, “My relationship with SWV goes back to my UMO days, when I was 19 in the van and listening to ‘Right Here.’ I’ve been obsessed with them since I was a teenager. The song interpolates Jaco Pastorious’ ‘Portrait Of Tracy,’ which is one of my favorite basslines ever.”

Listen to Whitney’s covers of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Rain” above.

And here’s why Swifties are freaking out.

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Too much of a good thing feels just fine when the rest of the world is as bleak as it’s been lately. So, when Carly Rae Jepsen announced to the quarantined masses last Friday morning that a surprise collection of more pop bops was on the way from their fav, it immediately registered as fantastic news. Following up on the same timeline she used for her last album cycle, Jepsen dropped the B-sides collection to the 2019 record, Dedicated, on the one-year anniversary of the original album’s release date.

“So yes there have been whispers and I’m bad at keeping secrets,” Jepsen wrote in an Instagram post last Friday morning. “Side B for Dedicated is out now babies and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share these tunes. I hope it makes yah dance your pants off! Thank you for all the joy you shared with me on this last year of touring. I owe ya one.. or like two albums turns out. For the record, I love all of you.”

Perhaps this release wouldn’t feel as rote if she hadn’t followed this exact same formula for the one-year anniversary of Emotion, and unlike that cult-classic record, Dedicated didn’t quite have a career-altering, critical-darling impact. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of sparkling, left-field jams on both B-sides that will have fans just as excited as her once-massive hit “Call Me Maybe.” And the pop star release schedule has been strained in 2020 due to the impact of a global pandemic, and with Lady Gaga and the Dixie Chicks both pushing big releases, there was a Carly-shaped-hole in the listening calendar — Dedicated B-sides slots there just fine.

Without huge stadium tours from the likes of Lana Del Rey — who may or may not have lost a bulk of ticket-holders due to her repeated rants over the last week — or Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, there’s even more attention to go around to new pop albums. And these deeper cuts from Carly are also a welcome balance to huge new singles like “Rain On Me” or the lingering impact of hip-hop focused hits like Doja Cat’s “Say So,” Megan The Stallion’s “Savage” remix with Beyonce, or Roddy Ricch’s “The Box.”

There is nothing there that will vie with any of those songs for a spot in the top 20, and even less that leans into the hip-hop sound that has become all but synonymous with radio dominance. But for those who are into the optimistic synth-pop sound that Jepsen has leaned into on her last two albums (or make that four releases, counting both B-side compilations), here’s another twelve songs that flit between wide-eyed innocent love, occasional fits of regret, and the kind of nights that make the constant vacillating between those two extremes feel completely worth it.

Returning to tried and true producers and co-writers like Ariel Rechtshaid, Jack Antonoff, and Dev Hynes, along with plenty of others in keeping with her proclivity toward an always eclectic sound, Dedicated B-sides has some moments that are even stronger than the namesake that preceded it. “Stay Away” is the addictive, glitchy sendup of the honeymoon stage with a new lover that’s great for a dance party anywhere, even alone in your bedroom, and “Fake Mona Lisa” contains the kind of strangely specific details that Jepsen fans quickly turn into wry inside jokes and memes, while the production is funkier and weirder than she usually gets, almost like a younger sister of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories era.

Then, there’s the knockout — every Jepsen album has one — “Comeback” showcases the feathery register of her voice that resonates so much more than when she belts. Joined on vocals occasionally by Antonoff, and with the only credited guest on the record, Antonoff’s project Bleachers, “Comeback” is the kind of uplifting epic that transcends romantic pain and gets into self-actualization. This song heads straight into Phil Collins territory and doesn’t look back, looping vocal tracks and synths into a glistening web of nonsensical lyrics that are nevertheless inspiring — “I am the keeper of that beat” will make sense to every music lover, regardless of context.

Some critics argue there is a certain generality to Jepsen pop songs, and she’s been faulted for that before, but within the broad strokes she paints — and occasional idiosyncratic, wildly specific motif — listeners can fill their own colors in between the lines. It’s why the last four albums have resonated so deeply with her core fanbase, even if the charts and the mainstream at large have never connected as strongly with her as they have with other pop stars. For those who see and hear themselves in a Carly Rae Jepsen song, even the most nonsensical phrase has the sheen of unassailable wisdom. These dedicated ones, we are the keeper of that beat.

Dedicated is out now via Schoolboy/Interscope Records. Get it here.

As one of hip-hop’s hottest rising stars, YBN Cordae can already boast of having a handful of hit records, a Grammy Award nomination, and a successful tour under hit belt. Soon, he may be adding the co-sign of a rap icon to that list of accomplishments — as well as a verse from said icon.

During the latest episode of Lil Wayne’s Young Money Radio podcast, the host sprinkled his interview with Cordae with high praise for the younger rapper. “He’s one of the newer artists that I f*ck with, for real, for real,” he said. “He be spittin’.”

That praise went both ways. “You already know how legendary you are,” Cordae told Wayne. “I just can’t start this sh*t without telling you how much your music means to me as a human being and how much that sh*t inspired me.” After the show of mutual appreciation, Wayne asked about Cordae’s new album, which Cordae revealed is still in very early stages. “I’m like 50 songs in,” he said. “I’m just trying to cut it down.”

Wayne then offered the highest praise a rap legend like himself could give a successor. “All you gotta do is text me the song, I’ll murder it and send you the finger so you know it’s dead,” he joked. “Say no more,” Cordae replied. That album can’t come soon enough.

Watch YBN Cordae’s interview with Lil Wayne on Young Money Radio above.

YBN Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A week ago, Phoebe Bridgers shared a new song, “I See You.” In addition to releasing the new track, she also revealed that she would be embarking on a “world tour,” with a heavy emphasis on the quotation marks. Instead of traveling the world and performing to large audiences during a time when it isn’t really safe to do either of those things, the “venues” for her tour will instead be various locations around her home. The tour kicks off tonight, and ahead of that, Bridgers shared a hilarious teaser video for it.

The video combines clips of massive arena crowds with footage of Bridgers performing on stage, and a dramatically deep voice goes over the details of Bridgers’ upcoming performance. The narrator says, “Performing in her kitchen, bathroom, bed, and, by overwhelming, a second performance in her bed. Don’t miss your chance.”

Those are the real venues for Bridgers’ upcoming livestreams. Tonight, she’s performing from her kitchen. Her next live date will be a May 28 bathroom show, and this brief run of performances will wrap up with two performances from her bed, on June 4 and 6.

Watch the teaser video above, and check out the equally dramatic tour poster below.

The streaming universe will grow even more vast with HBO Max‘s May 27 launch, which arrives with a 10,000+ title library of movies and TV shows. The catalog will go a long way toward rivaling the likes of Netflix and Disney+, and waves of original programming should prove to be an enticing addition for anyone on the fence about subscribing. This will also be the only place to watch the future “Snyder Cut” of Justice League, so it’s safe to say that HBO Max is serious about offering an experience like no other streaming service that currently exists.

You may have questions about whether your existing HBO subscription will get you in the HBO Max door at no extra charge, and we’ve got answers for you here. Right now, though, it’s time to talk about what we’re excited about watching. There’s almost too much to choose from. No really, it’s a lot: HBO’s full catalog, Warner Bros. movies and TV shows, in addition to titles from Comedy Central, Studio Ghibli, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, and more. But never fear, as our TV experts have dug through the vast content mine and made their top picks.

An American Pickle

HBO Max is banking on the universal appeal of Seth Rogen to make its first streaming film a success. It’s not a bad business move, especially when Rogen, who’s capable of injecting a bit of humor into even the dullest of storylines (here’s looking at you, Green Hornet), but he should have an easier time making us laugh with this movie based on a short story by Simon Rich. Rogen will play a 1920s immigrant named Herschel Greenbaum who comes to America in pursuit of a dream, ends up falling into a vat of pickles, his body brined and preserved for 100 years, until he finally wakes up to find modern life — including his lone descendant — is not what he expected. Rogen pulls double duty here, but he’s joined by an impressive roster of supporting players including Succession’s Sarah Snook and PEN15’s Maya Erskine. — Jessica Toomer

The “Snyder Cut” Of Justice League

I actually like a lot of the Joss Whedon-finished theatrical cut of Justice League. Moreso upon rewatch. I also like Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman. It sorta sucks that the theatrical cut will now forever have an asterisk attached to it or be thought of as “less than.” On the other hand, this means more Cavil as Superman and Affleck as Batman — which we weren’t going to see again. More Gadot, more Momoa, more everything! Based on Snyder’s estimates, only about one-quarter of the previously released film counted as his, so we’re going to essentially get a completely new Justice League in a few months time (2021, to be exact) while, before this announcement, it didn’t seem like there were any firm plans with Superman or future DCEU team-up films. This is going to be three hours of escapism made with other people’s money — let’s all take the W. — Jason Tabrys

Looney Tunes Cartoons

In a more perfect world, this would be “the entire Looney Tunes archive plus new episodes,” because there are hours/days/weeks of classic Looney Tunes content just sitting out there waiting to be archived. You’re telling me you wouldn’t watch an hour of Wile E. Coyote flattening himself or Bugs Bunny being an unrepentant carrot-chomping rascal? Don’t lie. Do not lie. But this could be cool, too, and it could bring a whole crew of fun characters to a new generation of kids. Something they can share with their parents. The Looney Tunes are the best. Bugs, especially. Every generation should get to experience Bugs Bunny. This solves that problem. And if it’s popular enough, maybe I’ll get my archive eventually, so that would solve that problem, too. There is no better way to spend a Saturday morning. — Brian Grubb

The Matrix Trilogy

More than 20 years after the Wachowskis launched their 1999 sci-fi juggernaut, I’m full of anticipation for the fourth installment starring O.G. duo Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss (even though we almost certainly won’t be seeing Laurence Fishburne making a comeback). Yet because most film release dates are up in the air, I’m feeling the urge to revisit the trilogy now more than ever. They’re still thematically relevant pieces of art, but even more than that, these are the films that made Keanu an honest-to-god action star. There would probably be no John Wick franchise if not for The Matrix, and let’s not forget that Moss is as much of an ass-kicking badass as her leading male co-stars. Catsuits and leather coats and cooler-than-cool sunglasses can’t be beat here, so dodge that bullet and enjoy the kung fu fighting all over again. –Kimberly Ricci

Americanah

For those wondering why Danai Gurira left The Walking Dead after ten seasons, it was partially to work on Americanah, a television series that Gurira created and wrote. Gurira is a successful Tony-nominated playwright, and in Americanah, she reteams with Lupita Nyong’o (Us), who starred in Gurira’s Eclipsed. Corey Hawkins (Gurira’s co-star in The Walking Dead) and Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black) also star in a story about pair of young Nigerian immigrants who face a lifetime of struggle while their relationship endures. It’s based on the award-winning novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and it’s the kind of prestige project for which HBO is best known. — Dustin Rowles

Studio Ghibli

HBO Max’s biggest star isn’t the Bazinga guy, or Zack Snyder, or some unholy Rachel/Monica/Phoebe/Chandler/Joey/Ross/Marcel the Monkey hybrid. It’s Totoro. HBO Max acquired the U.S. streaming rights to the Studio Ghibli library for the first time, making it that much easier for children (and adults) to watch some of the most majestic animated films of all-time. And all it took was Hayao Miyazaki needing lots of money to make his next masterpiece! There’s Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Ponyo (did you hear she loves ham?), and My Neighbor Totoro. No offense to Disney+, but Totoro is way better than the mouse fellow. — Josh Kurp

Search Party

Search Party is, for all intents and purposes, the spiritual predecessor of shows like Russian Doll. A just-as-bleak, equally funny romp that stuffs murder, mystery, and the meaningless of life into a too-cool package. But now that it’s moving to HBO Max, people might actually watch it and discover addictively delicious it is. I’m not sure how I feel about that as I like to horde my underrated shows like Smaug hordes a dwarf’s treasure, but I’ll welcome people on the bandwagon if it means this cast — including Alia Shawkat, John Early, Meredith Hagner, and John Reynolds — and this story, about a group of out-of-touch Brooklyn hipsters-turned-clueless-millennial-P.I.’s gets the recognition it deserves. The show’s second season went a bit off the rails (an accidental murder can do that), but HBO’s planned third season seems to have righted itself, with the gang on trial for their respective crimes, dealing with the fallout of their misadventures. — Jessica Toomer

Love Life

The first wave of HBO Max Originals is upon us, and Anna Kendrick delivers a pitch-perfect performance in this romantic dramedy series alongside the always great Scoot McNairy (as a wealthy, martini-sipping entrepreneur) and the scene-stealing Zoë Chao (as far more than the stereotypical BFF in these type of stories). At first, the anthology series superficially resembles some shows and movies (unrealistically lucrative job and ridiculously nice NYC apartment for a 20-something) that you’ve seen previously, but there’s a fresh, “case study” approach that celebrates growth and transformation and everything that a lot of romcom heroines really don’t experience. Kendrick, as Darby, digs deep while undergoing a series of different formative relationships. It’s slightly tart, escapist fare that still feels grounded in reality, in a mostly pleasant way. –Kimberly Ricci

Grease: Rydell High

Two things are important here:

1. Grease: Rydell High is a kind of series continuation of the popular musical and movie, with the same 1950s setting and musical style. It’s not the first time that the powers that be have tried mining this story in recent years, as there was that live musical a few years ago, too. A series-length musical is hard, though, especially an earnest one, so best of luck to everyone involved. If this all sounds like a half-hearted recommendation, that’s because I’m writing this blurb solely because of the second thing, which I’m about to get to right now and would like to apologize for preemptively to you and to everyone involved with the making of the show.

2. Until they announce the cast, we simply cannot rule out the possibility of a 66-year-old John Travolta reprising his role as teen bad boy Danny Zuko. — Brian Grubb

Best Picture Winners

One quarantine activity that I can’t recommend enough: watching every Best Picture winner. It takes forever to accomplish (92 films and counting), but that’s not a bad thing right now, and HBO Max can help get you there. The Best Picture winners on the streaming service include Gone with the Wind, Casablanca (and hopefully the Looney Tunes parody, “Carrotblanca”), An American in Paris, and Ben-Hur. Million Dollar Baby isn’t on there, but 1952’s Million Dollar Mermaid is, and let’s face it, depressing boxing movies could use more mermaids. HBO Max will also have a lot of movies that should have been nominated for Best Picture, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Not A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, though. Maybe a Golden Globe nomination, but not an Oscar win. — Josh Kurp

The Fresh Prince

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down and I’d like to take a minute just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.

In West Philadelphia, born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool and shooting some b-ball outside of the school. When a couple of guys who were up to no good, started making trouble in my neighborhood. I got in one little fight and my moms got scared, she said you’re moving to your auntie and uncles in Bel-Air.

Okay, so that was from memory because I don’t think I’ve seen an episode of Fresh Prince in probably 20 years. But perhaps now is the time to re-experience the origins of The Carlton Dance, watch that time Geoffrey thought he won the lotto, absorb the dad wisdom of Uncle Phil, rage RAGE against the oppression of youth with Ashley, ponder the purpose of Avery, and cry with Will when Ben Vereen abandons him, perhaps triggering thoughts about your own disappointing father-son situation. If nothing else, you can get that earworm theme song STUCK. The classics never lose their luster. — Jason Tabrys

Doctor Who

Like AMC, BBC is one of the few free agents in the streaming wars, meaning that their shows do not automatically align with a particular studio-owned streaming service. With 11 seasons and new generations of Who fans coming on board every year, landing Doctor Who is a big coup for HBO Max. It is the holy grail of sci-fi series. It’s a hugely bingeable series that turns its cast over every few years, which makes it almost impossible to stop watching. This deal will also be good for Doctor Who in America, as it will give potential fans who don’t have BBC America their first opportunity to watch the series. — Dustin Rowles

Tom Cruise makes it his mission to defy death in all the Mission: Impossible movies with increasing levels of “world-topping sh*t.” Back before he was clinging onto the side of an airplane and scaling a Dubai skyscraper, he pulled off some daredevilish, stomach-dropping rock-climbing moments in the John Woo-directed second installment for the franchise. Now, one of that movie’s writers, Ronald D. Moore has opened up to the Hollywood Reporter about how he helped retool the movie following the departure of Oliver Stone and previous writers. To no one’s surprise (nowadays), the rock climbing inspiration came straight from Cruise’s recreational moments. Yet the best nugget in this interview delivers a spark of morbid humor, given that Cruise had shared his random encounter with Dr. Death himself.

As Moore relates, Cruise got pretty candid behind the scenes, telling stories while they worked on fine-tuning the script at the Top Gun: Maverick star’s home. Apparently, Kevorkian used his notoriety as a joke about sort-of recruiting Tom for his own cause when they bumped into each other at a Time magazine event. Cruise had been sitting close to Henry Kissinger, which sounds surreal enough, and then Kevorkian threw out his sales pitch of sorts:

Moore recalls Cruise saying that Kevorkian approached the actor. “Tom goes: ‘Kevorkian shakes my hand and says, “So, how you feeling?” And Tom laughs and says, ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ And Kevorkian snaps his fingers and goes: ‘Ah, too bad.’”

Hmm, was this a standard Kevorkian opening line or something that Jack crafted especially for the A-list actor? It’s tough to say, but recycling a line for Tom Cruise seems like something that even Dr. Death (who passed away in 2011 from natural causes) wouldn’t do.

Yet it’s slightly sobering to recall that M:I 2 (which is still maligned by franchise fans) did in fact have a plot beyond the stunts. In the movie, Ethan Hunt worked against the clock to halt the a deadly virus before it landed in terrorist hands. Perhaps we can call in Hunt to repair our current situation, sooner rather than later? And then M:I 7 can unleash production once more and get everyone safely back into movie theaters.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Colonial America is an era that’s rich with history that echos to this day. The footholds of British, French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, and Portuguese colonization and pursuit of ungodly wealth drives everything from the languages we speak to the food we eat to how we still treat Indigenous Americans to the way we treat our environment. It’s ripe territory for storytelling.

Annie Proulx — probably best known for penning Brokeback Mountain — dove deeply into the colonial American well with her much-lauded 2016 book Barkskins. The name is a slang-term for loggers back in the colonial era and logging is at the center of her novel. The story follows 300 years of colonization and deforestation through the eyes of a family of mixed Indigenous and European backgrounds as they fight for survival in an ever-changing world, leading up to the environmental disasters of the present day. Just based on that pitch alone, it’s no wonder that NatGeo jumped at the chance to make it into a TV series.

The reins of the show were given to Elwood Reid (The Bridge, The Chi) who set out to tell the story the right way — with respect for the cultures and people at the heart of it all. Along the way, Reid hired writer Migizi Pensoneau. Pensonseau is from small-town Minnesota and the Ojibwe nation. Pensoneau and other Indigenous consultants were brought in from the jump to assure that this show wouldn’t tokenize Indigenous characters but, instead, add a layer of realism and humanity to the Indigenous roles in the film.

Our conversation with Pensoneau touches on how Barkskins does representation right while also delivering a raw and spellbinding show. It touches on the state of entertainment, how we should expect more truth in our story-telling, and how freakin’ cool it was to work in a functioning late 17th-century village in “New France.”

So, let’s dive into the book first. Had you read the book before getting involved?

I didn’t read the book. I was put in contact with Elwood Reid, who had read some of my stuff. What interested me about the project was that Elwood had already reached out for Native folks’ involvement from step one. He’d already been talking to David Treuer who wrote The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee and had already been in contact with some of the Nation leaders up in Wendake with the Wendat up there.

When he started working on the project he approached the Wendat and asked them, “This is what we’re doing. How can you be involved?” And when I had found all that out and that I wouldn’t have to be the guy to be like, “Hey, we really need Native involvement…” I knew this was something I wanted to be part of. Elwood was just like, “We just need a writer, man. We need an Indigenous voice in the room.” I was like, “Well, let’s get into it.” And then I read the book.

Right. So when you got into the writer’s room, did you feel like there were any barriers to bringing to life Indigenous voices, or were you just trying to break stories?

We were just trying to bring stories, man. For real, I didn’t have to be the Indian authority guy in the room. Everybody was really conscious of what we were doing and they just wanted to tell a good story where everybody’s humanized. Everybody. As we know, Natives have backstories. We made sure that those characters didn’t exist solely as foils to the non-Native folks in the story. They’re just a part of the world. So I just got to sit in, break stories, and hang out and live in this world. And, I think that more people are starting to recognize and to know that — Elwood definitely is — the way people consume content is completely different.

How so?
When people get invested now, they get really invested. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it myself or I’ve heard other people say, “I don’t know, I don’t really want to watch that” or “I don’t really want to get invested in something this big” or something like that. That’s because, I think, people recognize when something doesn’t feel really genuine or like the real deal. They’re smarter in what they choose to watch.

That means you have to be authentic in your storytelling. You can’t half-ass it anymore. You can’t sell short your characters or your story. There’s less room, I think, for something that’s not done in the proper way in terms of representation, or even just in terms of storytelling and characters. You can’t short your audience anymore. There’s a backlash that happens when that happens. People call it out when stories don’t feel true.

I feel that. Let’s look at the story a little bit. The breadth is just massive. The book packs in generations and literal centuries. The first season has a focus on the late 17th century and, what I would call, the chaos of early European colonization. How did it make you feel to characterize and bring emotion to the world of that era?

Oh, it was exhilarating, man. Even writing it, I was loving the characters that we were writing. We had the chance to infuse humor and humanity that I hadn’t really seen in a historical fiction context. For the last 10 years, I’ve been writing with the 1491s [an Indigenous comedy troupe] and have been doing comedy. So it was really important for me to bring real humor to all of this. Then there’s the humanity of these characters. There are a lot of leads, like ten leads. Two of them are Native characters who exist as more than just a proxy for their tribes. They’re just people trying to make their way.

That’s what was really thrilling. I felt comfortable writing within those confines because we were just writing people. I wasn’t writing a documentary about the Wendat story. That’s not something I could do or would feel comfortable doing. We were just writing people trying to get by.

When you’re actually on set and seeing this world come to life, how did that make you feel seeing people in that era who are recreating this world and your words?

I remember one bit of the script that I was helping to shape and the scene work was like, “Oh, it’s an Indian village like we’ve never seen on screen before. A 30, 40-foot tall wall surrounding a camp that’s alive and breathing, and people are living in there.” And I think there was some cynical part of me that was like, “Are we really doing this? Is this really going to be something that we show?” And then I walked through the gates of the Wendat village set and they had given just as much attention to detail as they did to the village of Wobik.

I was like, “Whoa.” It took my breath away. There were these massive longhouses and the people were dressed and looked amazing. We were showing that people actually lived here, worked here, and just trying to get by, man. We also tried to bring in as many Wendat extras as we could to give another layer to the realism. It was also amazing watching them walk in and be like, “Whoa.” This thing had been reconstructed for their people. Those are their structures. They were hearing their language. Seeing these things was … it was literally awesome.

Takes your breath away?

You walk in there and it takes your breath away and it was like that the whole way through. As we started shooting, we had people come out and say some words and put some tobacco down and do a little blessing and ceremony for us. We had the whole crew stop what they’re doing, hundreds of people, and come and listen to the people that have been on that land for thousands of years before our story is told. Having the Wendat come in and welcome us as a crew to tell their story was awe-inspiring.

That sounds like something truly special to be part of, man. I dig what you’re saying about people just trying to get by. I think we try to pull all these big heavy moments from history and look at these big moments as our stories. But, really, it’s the day to day of us just trying to get by that is the story.

Yeah. I think there’s always a lot of pressure, especially because there’s just generally not a lot of representation in terms of Native folks. Almost every time you see some character Indigenous to the Americas, they have to be a representative of all of the tribes, or at the very least the representative of their tribe, or at the very worst a representative of nature. And, thankfully, we didn’t have any of that. These people were just people. It was really cool to write something in that vein.

Did you feel you had to stray from the book to do that?

Annie Proulx’s book is very much about figureheads and they’re representative of an idea. I’m not saying that we threw that aside or anything, but the reason that we stayed back is that we just wanted to focus on the ins and outs of these people at that time. I think if we were to focus on how this is going to affect the future, it wouldn’t work. The effect is inherent because we live in the future and we know. When you see trees leveled in a field or forest, you already get it. So we were just able to stay in the past and focus on the characters that we were living with.

There’s a bit of beauty in that presence. It’s very heartening. It feels positive that this exists.

There were definitely times where you walk onto this giant French village from the 1600s where people are bringing to life some of the work that you wrote and you’re like, “Whoa.” That’s pretty special. Those people are giving respect to the thoughts and ideas we wrote. Hopefully, this is a part of this shift or a trend where if you’re going to tell a story that has Indigenous people in it, you really need to include people that are from the people about whom you are talking.

As an Indigenous writer, what has the show meant to you?

So for me, this was a show where I didn’t have to be Mr. Indian Authority. It was a place where trust and respect were given to me by Elwood, by NatGeo and Fox. It was an incredible experience. I’ve worked hard to come to this point, but it was some of the lessons that I’ve learned traveling around Indian Country with the 1491s that I was able to bring to Barkskins. The show was just on a bigger scale.

When I tour with the 1491s, we go to communities to tell jokes but we also take the time to talk to people when we land. We try to figure out what the world is like there and be respectful of the community we’re in because we’re guests.

With Barkskins, we were able to go into these communities and talk with people and get help from the people who are actually there, whose stories we’re telling. It was an amazing realization of a lot of work I’d done before Barkskins where I’d spent a lot of time in Native communities learning how to be as respectful as possible. To do that on a larger scale that then the whole world can watch was really gratifying.

Barkskins premiered on NatGeo May 25th, 2020, at 9 pm Eastern Time.

If you asked 10 people to name Steve Buscemi’s definitive role, you could get 10 different answers: Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, Tony B from The Sopranos, the McDonald’s breakfast fanatic from Big Daddy, Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs, the “Marietta Mangler” from Con Air, “How Do You Do, Fellow Kids” from 30 Rock, the voice of Randall from Monsters, Inc. And so on. The best chance for two people giving the same answer might be Buscemi’s character in the Coen Brothers classic Fargo, affectionally known as The Guy Who Gets Fed Into a Wood Chipper. It’s a part the actor might not take today, though, because as he told GQ, he’s over getting murderered:

There is one recurring theme from Buscemi’s previous work that he is determined to leave behind. “I don’t have the tolerance for violence that I used to,” says the man whose most famous of many cinematic deaths involved getting hacked to bits with an ax and then shoved into a wood chipper in Fargo. After he got whacked on The Sopranos, he made a half promise to himself that he would stop taking on roles where he was murdered. (“Where does it go after you get killed by Tony Soprano? That should be the cutoff.”)

Getting killed by Tony Soprano is like catching a touchdown pass from Peyton Manning. You’ve peaked. Buscemi also isn’t overly fond of playing the killer, either. “It was hard for me to divorce myself from the feelings that it was actually me doing it,” he said about a scene from Boardwalk Empire where Nucky shoots a teenager. Luckily for him, the New York City hero will be saving lives in The King of Staten Island, the Pete Davidson-starring comedy where he plays a firefighter. It will be released digitally on June 12.

(Via GQ)

SZA apparently has a bunch of music sitting on hard drives, and now she wants to unleash some of it: Yesterday, she took to Twitter to reveal that she wants to release a compilation of unreleased songs from the past few years.

She wrote, “So like a music dump .. similar to a photo dump but not an album .. this concept make sense to anyone? Has anyone ever done it ? Asking for me.”

Somebody suggested SZA was describing an EP, to which she responded, “Nah an Ep is like 4-5 songs .. a music dump would be like 20 from over the.l Course of the last 6 years.” Somebody else thought she meant a mixtape, and SZA said, “A MIXTAPE!! .. doesn’t that have beats from like other artists songs on it tho? Like member when mixtapes were unofficial remixes .. 40 of em ? lmao.”

A follower suggested the nature of the “dump,” writing, “just a massive compilation of all the songs you’ve held back bc of ur perfectionism and u could call it perfectionism OMG THATS A CONCEPT.” SZA was on board, responding, “Oooooouuuuuuuuu it’s like even the sh*t that leaked ain’t the throw aways that’s the throw aways leftovers so I might as well.”

She then asked her fans about what unreleased songs they’d like to see included in this endeavor: “Okay dead ass THIS IS NOW A COLLECTIVE EFFORT EVERYONE IF U HAVE A SNIPPET IN MIND PLACE IT IN THIS THREAD I DONT REMEMBER ALL OF THEM SO GATHER WHAT U WANT AND ILL SEARCH THE HARDDRIVE TODAY.”

SZA also added, “Def tryna sell it for charity .. too many ppl hurting to make a dollar rn.”

So, in summary, fans could soon be getting a trove of previously unreleased SZA songs, with proceeds going to some sort of good cause. That would certainly be welcomed, since SZA’s debut and most recent album, Ctrl, dropped back in mid-2017.