While Lana Del Rey is gearing up for her new country-inspired album, Lasso, she is also taking time to focus on other musical projects. As part of the Jack Antonoff-organized soundtrack for Apple TV+’s new show, The New Look, Del Rey covered “Blue Skies.”
Del Rey is a perfect fit, as she brings the retro vibes over a gentle jazzy instrumental that eventually picks up the pacing. If fans are looking for a possible comparison, it feels more like Honeymoon or later albums in Del Rey’s discography. Yet, even with that, it’s quite different to anything the pop star has released herself.
Originally written by Irving Berlin in 1926, the song eventually gained popularity later that year by appearing in the Broadway musical, Betsy, according to Stereogum. From there, a ton of jazz icons put different spins on the track throughout the decades.
This is also the second preview from Antonoff’s soundtrack for The New Look, as The 1975 dropped “Now Is The Hour,” an original song.
Check out Del Rey’s “Blue Skies” cover above.
The New Look premieres on Apple TV+ 2/14 with three episodes, and additional episodes streaming weekly.
The New Look soundtrack is out 4/3 via Shadow Of The City and Dirty Hit. Find more information here.
Welcome to another installment of Ask A Music Critic! And thanks to everyone who has sent me questions. Please keep them coming at [email protected].I was thrilled to see Oasis nominated for the Rock Hall recently. In reality, though, how likely are they to actually get in on this first nomination? They have so much rock ‘n’ roll cred that I feel they’re a sure thing. But I’m still worried, especially given the relative lack of actual rock bands inducted into the Hall lately. Not to mention the fact that no one in the Oasis camp has acknowledged the nomination, barring Liam tweeting about how the Hall is full of “bumbaclarts.” At least I know you’ll be voting for them! — Brianna in Kansas City
First things first: Congratulations on the Super Bowl! I hope you celebrated the win with a hearty platter from Gates Bar-B-Q. (I have fond memories of that place from the last time I was in KC.) For the rest of the country, there was simply nothing better than watching inevitable winners win yet again. Sunday was a big day for your team, Taylor Swift, death, and taxes. Cheering for the Chiefs was like rooting for my skin to slowly wrinkle before completely wasting away. At least I know I won’t be surprised!
Now that I have those jokes and KC references out of my system, let’s talk about two of my favorite subjects, Oasis and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame. I am a Rock Hall voter, and I normally don’t like to tip my hand on who I am voting for until I write my annual Rock Hall Ballot column. But I did already announce my intentions to vote for Oasis, since anyone who cares at all about my musical opinions knows this is a foregone conclusion. Though I am also inclined to support all alt-leaning rock bands from the 1980s and ’90s, as these groups have struggled to get inducted over the years, even the ones (like Oasis) that sold millions of records and garnered billions of streams. As you suggest, Brianna, there’s been a focus in recent years on inducting artists from genres outside of rock with the (noble) intention of broadening the Rock Hall’s scope. There’s also a (factually inaccurate) belief that all of the significant rock acts have already gone in, so why not induct Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson? These trends obviously hurt Oasis’ chances.
I’m going to save my case for why Oasis should go in for my Rock Hall Ballot column. For now, I’ll stick to the specifics of your question and focus on whether Oasis will make it. I’m going to keep my opinion out of it and dispassionately prognosticate the hell out of this.
Let’s start with what Oasis has in their favor.
No. 1, the Rock Hall has a heavy bias in favor of commercially successful acts, and Oasis ranks among the best-selling rock bands of their era. They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and currently have 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify, a solid showing for a rock band of their vintage. “Wonderwall” alone has 1.8 billion streams on the platform, making it one of the most popular rock songs by that metric ever. Voters who care about that sort of thing — and it seems like many of them do — will see this as a huge plus.
No. 2, Oasis has remained relevant for younger generations. Contemporary rock stars regard them as an archetype for a bygone era of coolness that nobody now seems equipped or even interested in emulating. They have aged into being a classic rock band without diminishing their “working class cocaine freaks” mystique. If they reunited next week, they would likely play arenas in the United States and stadiums in Europe. Voters will care about that, too.
No. 3, in terms of the historical “museum” aspect of the Rock Hall, Oasis are an important part of the British rock lineage. A case could be made that, along with Radiohead, they are the most important British rock band that didn’t originate in the ’60s or the ’70s. Certainly, it’s hard to argue against Oasis being the link between The Smiths (who are not in the Rock Hall and maybe won’t ever make it?) in the ’80s and Coldplay (who I suspect will eventually make it, probably?) in the ’00s. (Admittedly, voters might not care about this.)
No. 4, perhaps most crucially, there aren’t any slam dunks on the ballot this year. Mariah Carey and Sade seem like near-locks, but I don’t think there is any single act that on paper looks like a unanimous “must vote” choice like Tina Turner was a few years ago. That could open up a lane for Oasis to sail on through.
Seems like a strong case, no? Not so fast, Brianna. Let’s talk about what Oasis has going against them.
No. 1, there’s a common perception about Oasis that they put out two great albums in the mid-’90s and then fell off a Grand Canyon-sized cliff. Now, I happen to think that’s wrong, but I’m keeping my opinion out of it for the moment. Less-educated voters — which is a sizable voting bloc, I’m afraid — might even classify Oasis as one-hit wonders based on how “Wonderwall” towers over the Oasis catalog in the public consciousness. This might cause some to think that Oasis doesn’t have the resumé to deserve induction.
No. 2, the Rock Hall has a very weird bias against alt and indie-leaning rock bands. This is an under-discussed blind spot for the institution, because the focus (deservedly) has been on the lack of representation for women and artists of color. But the fight to fix gender and racial prejudice shouldn’t completely overwhelm the still-prevalent generational prejudice that hampers the Rock Hall. This year, Peter Frampton and Foreigner are nominated, two just-okay classic-rock acts that were never considered the best or even the most popular acts of their era. (Frampton Comes Alive! sold tons of copies, but so did a lot of other live records in the mid-’70s.) This falls in line with the ongoing trend of nominating B and C-tier artists from the ’60s, ’70s, and early ’80s rather than honoring A-listers from later eras.
I’ve banged on this before but it’s worth doing it again. Consider that not one band written about in Michael Azerrad’s definitive tome about ’80s indie rock, Our Band Could Be Your Life, is in the Rock Hall. Not a single one! That’s 13 bands: Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission Of Burma, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi, Mudhoney, and Beat Happening. All nada, zip, nope.
It gets worse! For the ’90s, here’s a partial list of very successful and/or critically acclaimed alt-rock acts not in the Rock Hall: Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Hole, Blink-182, Blur, Ween, Tori Amos, Stone Temple Pilots, and Tool. On the indie side, there’s Pavement, PJ Harvey, Björk, Fugazi, Wilco, Liz Phair, Guided By Voices, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate, Flaming Lips, Built To Spill, and Yo La Tengo.
The worst part of this mass-snubbing is that it’s self-perpetuating. Even for people who like voting for rock bands, there seems to be a tendency to not vote for a new nominee because “X band that preceded them” is not already in. For Oasis, this might mean a voter doesn’t cast their ballot because The Jam or The Stone Roses (or The Smiths!) haven’t already been inducted. That kind of thinking is fine in a vacuum, but it ultimately keeps rock bands out of the Rock Hall. And it’s a very real problem for Oasis’ chances.
To sum up: Oasis is a very successful band that people still care about! But the Rock Hall still seems only fitfully interested in rock bands that started their careers after 1983! Good and evil are evenly matched in this arena!
So, what’s my verdict? I’m going to say that Oasis will make it, but it will be closer than it should be. Take that, bumbaclarts!
Otherwise, he’s a total mystery. Even that third item comes with a “reportedly.” According to TMZ, Evans “was among many recognizable faces out and about in Vegas during Super Bowl weekend — but many people noticed he was hanging out a ton with Melissa Stratton… who’s a bona fide adult film star, cam girl, and model. And yes, she does explicit content.”
Here’s more:
Melissa had been posting a ton of photos of her and Sean all weekend across various social platforms of hers — and in a lot of them… they look awfully cozy… almost couple-y, in fact. Her captions also suggested there may be some romance afoot — even though there wasn’t any straight-up PDA shown between them in any of the pics she posted.
Melissa Stratton is also a big Kansas City Chiefs fan, which explains why they were at the game. Well, that, and Evans is hopefully trying to book Chiefs coach Andy Reid for Hot Ones. Unlike recent guest Sydney Sweeney, he could take down Da Bomb, no problem.
No Beyoncé era arrives without its controversy, and her latest is no different. This past Sunday (February 11), Bey kicked off the era of her new album, Act II, which, given the sounds of the pair of singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em,” sounds like it will be a country album. Still, at least one country station was seemingly reluctant to play the new songs.
Yesterday (February 13), an X (formerly Twitter) user shared a note from an Oklahoma-based radio station on social media. The note was a response to a request to play “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which read, “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.”
However, Entertainment Weekly has now reported that KYKC has added both “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” to its rotation. According to Entertainment Weekly, a representative from the station’s parent company, S.C.O.R.E., said that station manager Roger Harris “was removed and didn’t know otherwise” that Beyoncé had shared new country music.
Harris in an email to EW, “Up until now, she hasn’t been a ‘country artist.’ So..we responded to the email in the same way we would have responded to someone requesting a Rolling Stones song on our country station.”
KYKC themselves confirmed via X that Bey’s new music had been added to their docket, following an outpouring of requests from the Beyhive.
Lots of call coming in for Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s coming up in minutes pic.twitter.com/w9hZ24w4aw
The Boston Celtics comfortably hold the NBA’s best record at 42-12 as the league gets set for a week off for the All-Star break. Boston is hoping that this year they can finally snap their title drought, as they’ve been a perennial contender in the East for the last seven years, making five conference finals, but they’ve only reached one NBA Finals and fell short in that series against the Warriors.
Part of the problem the Celtics have faced in the past is their late-game offense can get stuck in the mud, which was the impetus for going out and getting Kristaps Porzingis this summer. The idea was to have a better third-option scoring the ball next to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who can impact the game both inside the paint and outside the arc. The results have been terrific so far with Porzingis in Celtic green, but there are plenty of people taking a wait-and-see approach with this Boston squad, not being willing to fully buy-in to their greatness until they prove it in the postseason.
A regular complaint about the Celtics (particularly from former players on television) is that they are too reliant on three-pointers. Kendrick Perkins recently went on ESPN’s NBA Today and said he thinks Boston should post-up more with their perimeter players. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla saw that clip and decided to poke some fun at Big Perk after Boston’s latest win over the Nets on Tuesday, deadpanning about needing to post-up more before having to explain that was a joke and the Celtics are second in post-up frequency and first in post-up efficiency.
It’s a pretty funny moment from Mazzulla, who has made it very clear that he believes in his system and the Celtics process on offense, and it’s hard to blame him for that right now with the results they’re having. They’ve been better in close games this year and while things can still feel a bit sticky, they are more dynamic in clutch situations with Porzingis.
As for the post-ups, I will give Perk this, if you’re first in efficiency it might not be a bad idea to push the needle a little more and add a few more chances per game, even if you’re already second in frequency. That said, I don’t think Boston’s particularly interested in changing their approach that has them four games clear of the Timberwolves for the best record in the league and they certainly put the ball on the block more than most think.
Madame Web might not be very good (in fact, it’s being called one of the worst comic book movies ever), but at least we got a Dakota Johnson press tour out of it. The actress has frequently dunked on her own film, called her single-episode appearance on The Office the “worst time of my life,” and failed to grasp what’s so funny about the iconic line “he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.” To top it all off, Johnson had a hard time naming any of the recent Spider-Man movies.
I have never liked her more.
In an interview with Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz, Johnson was asked if she knew the titles of the MCU’s Spidey trilogy. Her guesses: Spider-Man: Here He Comes, Spider-Man: And He’s Back, and The Goblet of Spider-Man. Eh, close enough. Besides, it’s confusing how all three movies have the word “home” in the title. Spider-Man should take a page from the Planet of the Apes book and name the fourth movie (TBD) something like Escape from the Spider-Man or Battle for the Spider-Man. That’ll clear up the confusion.
Surrounding Usher’s big weekend performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show were reports that the R&B icon had married Jennifer Goicoechea, with whom he has two children. The two apparently got a marriage license in Clark County, Nevada on February 8, and a representative later said, “We can confirm that Usher and Jennifer Goicoechea took the next step in their relationship and did get married on Sunday night [February 11] in Las Vegas surrounded by close friends and family.”
Now, thanks to People, we know some more about what the wedding was like, and it was very Las Vegas. The publication notes the two got hitched at Vegas Weddings’ drive-thru wedding chapel The Fast Lane, which is just miles away from Allegiant Stadium, the site of Usher’s big Super Bowl performance.
People also got exclusive photos from the ceremony and they note, “Usher is dressed in an abstract, asymmetrical black and white tux, while Goicoechea rocks a chic all-white, off-the-shoulder pants suit with white designer glasses and sparkly nailed cream gloves to match.” They also report, “For the ceremony, the bride has a long, white veil draped over her short black bob, and the sheer material has the words ‘Mrs. Raymond 02.11.24’ in large embroidered writing across the front, as a nod to her taking the star’s last name and their wedding date.”
Daryl Morey is known for being one of the NBA’s more ambitious executives, and apparently, this meant checking in on whether he could pull off a move at the trade deadline for arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. A new piece by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN laid out the Golden State Warriors’ efforts to acquire LeBron James at the deadline, and apparently, Morey thought it’d be worth trying to get in on the fun, as well.
You might remember that James tweeted out an hourglass emoji in the lead-up to the deadline amid the team’s struggles to consistently win games, which certainly gave pundits plenty to talk about. Morey, however, took things a step farther and actually called up Lakers executive Rob Pelinka to see if he could work something out. That, uh, didn’t happen, because Pelinka just turned around and asked if he could trade for Joel Embiid.
After seeing James’ cryptic social media post of an hourglass a week before the trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Pelinka to probe on a James trade and was immediately told that James wasn’t available. In fact, Pelinka responded by asking Morey if Joel Embiid was available, sources said. And that ended that brief conversation.
Kudos to Morey and Pelinka for all of this, because it’s very funny. But hey, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, so we can’t blame either of them for trying.
The last decade of the NBA has been defined by the battles between LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors. While they’ve been hotly contested and frequently have determined which team wins the NBA Finals, there’s always been a mutual respect there, and apparently, Golden State was interested in trying to bring James on board at the trade deadline.
A new piece by Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN lays out an “unsuccessful bid” the Warriors made to acquire James last week. While it’s unclear what Golden State would have offered Los Angeles to make this happen, there were conversations involving major decision makers from both teams, which started with Warriors owner Joe Lacob contacting Lakers owner Jeanie Buss about whether they could work something out and Buss referring him to Rich Paul, who represents both James and Warriors star Draymond Green.
If the Lakers ever wanted a temperature check on James’ commitment, here was his chance to tell them. In the end, that answer for the Warriors and Lakers returned resoundingly on the eve of the trade deadline: Rich Paul told Lacob and Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., that James had no interest in a trade and wanted to remain a Laker, sources said. When Dunleavy Jr., reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka in those pre-trade deadline hours, Dunleavy Jr., had been told the same: the Lakers wanted to keep James, sources said.
There was a rumor in the lead-up to the deadline that the possibility of James getting moved was very real, although Paul eventually said that he would remain in Los Angeles. It is almost impossible to imagine James suiting up in San Francisco alongside Green, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson, but that certainly didn’t stop Golden State from trying to make that happen.
West seemed pretty happy about that. On Instagram last night (February 11), West took to his Story to share a tweet making note of the achievement, offering no additional context or opinions beyond the unadorned screenshot.
West’s Spotify win, though, didn’t last long: On the charts dated February 12 and 13, Swift had returned to No. 1. So, by the time West shared the news, it was outdated. Worth noting is that this all happened right after West dropped an anticipated new album, while Swift is currently getting by on months-old material.
This follows a report that Swift got West kicked out of Super Bowl LVIII this past weekend. As HipHopDX notes, former NFL player Brandon Marshall claimed that West had purchased tickets that would have placed him right in front of Swift. Marshall then claimed, “Taylor Swift gets pissed off, she boom boom makes a call or two. Everybody’s involved. He gets kicked out the stadium! He was trying to leverage her celebrity. […] That’s what he tried to do: he tried to sit in front of Taylor Swift.”
The publication notes, though, that despite what Marshall said, West was seen in the stadium multiple times, like when he was spotted in a luxury suite with Ty Dolla Sign and Anderson. Paak.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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