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With two EPs to their name, Lutalo has already caught the attention of big names in indie music. Andy Shauf and Adrianne Lenker both invited them on tour, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold has sung their praise, and now, Claud linked up with them for a joint track. And for good reason. A masterful blend of folk, rock, and soul, Lutalo cuts through as a bright new voice in indie rock.

It’s been a couple months since Lutalo dropped the excellent Again EP, which veils biting social and political commentary under fuzzy chords. The wildly addictive earworm “PLHP” is a reference to The White House and “the struggles of navigating the political structure in America as a racially marginalized person/person of lower income.” Meanwhile the softer, fuzzy number “Push Back Baby” references stolen adolescence and the cycles of crime. “I want to help people question the way they’re living so we can create a better reality for us to exist in together,” Lutalo says about their music in a statement.

On the heels of their Claud collab, Lutalo sits down with Uproxx to talk a festival in a grocery story, P!nk, and sending billionaires to Mars in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Botanical, chemical, itchy, dense.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

Like a fish in a stream, on its way to the ocean. On its own journey, doing its own thing.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Hmmm, let’s go with one of my earliest childhood friends, Winnie the Pooh. Always so easy going and simple, I like that.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?

It’s bad but I honestly don’t remember a lot of food. I kinda eat just cause I have to. Food is good and all but it’s never that memorable for me.

Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.

Maybe not my best but the craziest was back in 2011 I believe, I was taken to go see P!nk in concert with my friend and his dads cause they had extra tickets. She was flying over the crowd in a harness doing flips and stuff while singing. Was wild. Never seen anything like that before, never seen anything like that since.

What song never fails to make you emotional?

“A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut” by Have a Nice Life.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

How squirrels ended up in cities.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

In the middle of a huge park in Munich.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?

Favorite is NYC and not a city but I’d love to make it to Ireland one day.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Learn to say no.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

Switch on Legend of Zelda and you’ll see.

If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?

I’d donate to getting the ultra wealthy to Mars. So they can stop messing up life on earth for everyone.

What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?

I don’t give it too much thought honestly. I feel like If you want to hear music from an AI, then maybe you have yet to find an artist that has made you realize why music or any art for that matter exists. But you know what, also you do you. If however, the concern is that your style of music is going to be stolen, then maybe we have to question why you want to make music in the first place. If you’re wanting a career, making music that’s so formulaic that AI can sum it up may not be the move.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.

Labor Siffre, Aphex twin, Fleetwood Mac, Deerhoof, Nina Simone. And let’s just pop it somewhere different. A grocery store perhaps?

Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?

My sister.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Cannot provide you with that as I actually don’t have any.

What is your pre-show ritual?

A pack of gummy bears and a shot of mezcal.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I honestly don’t know.

What is your biggest fear?

Being stuck here repeating.

Again is out now via Winspear. Find more information here.

Zac Efron was snubbed for an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Iron Claw. Maybe he can borrow Peter Farrelly’s?

Farrelly, who made There’s Something About Mary, Kingpin, and Dumb and Dumber with his brother Bobby before going solo with Green Book (which won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay), makes his return to R-rated comedies with Ricky Stanicky. The film stars Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler as three long-time pals who made up a best friend — the titular Ricky Stanicky — as an alibi for when they want to, for instance, party in Las Vegas without their girlfriends. But once suspisions are rasied about their fake BFF, they hire an actor (John Cena) to play him.

You can watch the trailer above. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this “friend,” Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to bring him to life. But when Rod takes his role of a lifetime too far, they begin to wish they’d never invented Ricky in the first place.

Ricky Stanicky premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 7th.

Coming off his performance in Elvis where he played the legendary crooner for Baz Luhrmann, Austin Butler notably continued to sound like the King in interviews and award show appearances. The actor was aware that his Elvis voice was becoming a thing, and he recently opened up to Stephen Colbert that he put in some serious work to get rid of it.

According to Butler, the Elvis voice was a serious issue heading into his latest performance in the sprawling World War II epic Masters of the Air.

“I had a week off after Elvis… it was almost too fast,” Butler told Colbert via The Daily Beast. “I was just trying to remember who I was, you know, what I like to do… all I thought about for three years was Elvis.”

Butler revealed that he ultimately had to turn to a dialect coach to stop sounding like the iconic singer, and we can confirm that he doesn’t sound entirely like Elvis in the new WWII fighter jet series. The actor threw himself just as obsessively into the role of Major Gale “Buck” Cleven to the point where he worked through a broken rib.

“There was a fight scene and yeah, my rib cracked. It hurt and then I had to keep fighting. And it hurts for a long time after because every time you breathe, you feel your ribs. But it could have been worse,” Butler recently told Variety. “The opportunity and the honor of playing these men who we owe such a debt of gratitude to — the privilege outweighed any daunting timeline of it or anything

(Via The Daily Beast, Variety)

The Divisional Round is always riveting in the NFL world, and that was the case a week ago. While not every game was elite, there was plenty of drama, including a memorable close to the slate with a tight one between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. In this space, we found reasonable success with a 2-1 record on a reduced slate, but there is also a hint of sadness in the reality of only three NFL games remaining this season.

Alas, we’ll make the most of them. Or at least try to. Before we hand out some picks for Conference Championship Weekend, let’s check on the full-season work.

• Divisional Round Weekend: 2-1
• 2023 Season: 51-40-4

Come get these winners.

Kansas City Chiefs (+4) over Baltimore Ravens — DraftKings

Let me get this out of the way. I don’t love either side or total this week. If this was a normal week, I would punt on both games. But here we are. I think the Ravens are more likely to win the game outright at home, but if you’re giving me the full four points with Patrick Mahomes in what could be a low-scoring game, I’m taking them on principle.

Patrick Mahomes OVER 36.5 pass attempts— DraftKings

The Chiefs have wisely leaned more on Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce after the disaster that was their receiving corps for most of the year. Furthermore, this number has gone over in four of the last six games and, while the Over/Under total is not high here, I’ll be surprised if the Chiefs are trying to smash Isiah Pacheco into the line against Baltimore. This isn’t one that is likely to fly over in the third quarter, but I like the value.

Justice Hill OVER 12.5 receiving yards — Widely Available

Hill has been a more prominent part of Baltimore’s attack in recent weeks, including three of the last four games going over this number. The Ravens are going to have to sling it at some point here, and Hill should get a couple of screen calls to get us home.

Christian McCaffrey UNDER 19.5 rushing attempts — Widely Available

This was actually at 20 or 20.5 in some spots this week, and I hope you got it. San Francisco projects to throw more than usual in this game, at least in my view, and McCaffrey has only gone over this total four times all year. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll be prominently involved, but this number is inflated. Hopefully we’ll see Elijah Mitchell a couple of times.

Detroit Lions (+7.5) over San Francisco 49ers — PointsBet, DraftKings

Like I said above, I don’t love the sides, but when this nudged above seven in a couple of places, I took it. Those hooks are still available, and between San Francisco’s offensive line challenges, a hint of concern with Brock Purdy, and the injury concerns with Deebo Samuel, I’m leaning more toward Detroit. I don’t think the Niners are a terrible teaser leg, but the 7.5 is enough for me.

Megan Thee Stallion just released a new song, “Hiss.” On it, she appears to go after Nicki Minaj, rapping, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law / I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start / B*tch, you a p*ssy, never finna check me / Every chance you get, bet your weak ass won’t address me.”

Since Megan’s Law has to do with sex offenders, the lyric has been interpreted as a reference to Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty. So, what are Minaj’s thoughts on the situation?

Did Nicki Minaj Diss Megan Thee Stallion?

It really looks like it, yeah.

After “Hiss” was released, Minaj hopped on Instagram Live to play a snippet of an unreleased song, on which she raps, “Bad b*tch, she like six foot, I call her Big Foot / The b*tch fell off, I said, ‘Get up on your good foot,’” an apparent reference to Megan getting shot in the foot by Tory Lanez. Furthermore, she also mocked Megan’s rap flow, saying, “You have three Grammys and you have to learn how to rap on the beat and be comfortable in the music.”

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The girls are fighting: Megan Thee Stallion’s appearance on the Mean Girls soundtrack has reignited the fiery side of the rapper. On her latest single, “Hiss,” she’s officially taken the gloves off. While Megan has attempted to stay far away from conflict, her detractors don’t have that same sense of peace; thus, a music beef has been brought to the forefront.

On the record, co-produced by LilJuMadeDaBeat, Bankroll Got It, and Shawn “Source” Jarrett, Megan is done playing nice with former friend Nicki Minaj.

What Did Megan Thee Stallion Say About Nicki Minaj On ‘Hiss?’

Well, nearly the end of the song’s first verse, Megan takes an apparent jab at Nicki’s husband Kenneth Petty’s legal matters. “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” raps Megan, referring to Petty’s past sexual assault allegations and failure to register as a sex offender in the state of California. “I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start / B*tch, you a p*ssy, never finna check me / Every chance you get, bet your weak ass won’t address me / B*tches swear they G, but the G must stand for goofy.”

Shortly after the record was released, Nicki took to Instagram Live to preview a snippet of her response diss track.

But apparently, Nicki isn’t the only person Megan turns her pen on. Fans believe the record contains a slew of sharp jabs aimed at her ex-boyfriend Pardi, Drake, and even DaBaby.

Listen to “Hiss” below.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Today’s episode begins with a quick Sportscast in which Steven mourns the defeat of his surprisingly good Green Bay Packers and pays tribute to the lovable Detroit Lions. He and Ian also compare Detroit and San Francisco as music cities — it’s Bob Seger vs. Huey Lewis time! Then they do a quick update of the winter Fantasy Albums Draft, as it is a big day for Steven’s team with new releases by The Smile and Katy Kirby. Then they break down The Smile’s Wall Of Eyes, which sounds like a Radiohead album that’s 90 percent as good.

Next comes Steven’s most anticipated part of the episode — it’s an Ian Cohen pop quiz where Steven lists off 10 albums and asks Ian if he reviewed them for Pitchfork. This is taking “Remember Some Guys” to a whole new level. Then the guys address the discourse around Alex G’s recent signing to RCA Records and whether he has the potential to become “Boygenius big.” In the mailbag, a listener asks about the recent commercial featuring a Das Racist oldie and an “explanation” of Hozier’s success.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the latest from the British band Courting and Steven reiterates Ian’s recent rave for Glass Beach.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 173 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Jimmy Kimmel and Ted Cruz do not see eye to eye on much. They don’t even agree that “I 2 I” is the best song from A Goofy Movie (Ted is more of a “Lester’s Possum Park” guy). Cruz and Kimmel are usually at odds with each other; the late night host has ripped into the stepmom porn fan for being a “lyin’ little bitch,” “scumbag,” and “the senator version of Nickelback,” while the Texas senator loves to remind people that he “kicked [Kimmel’s] ass” in basketball. But they finally found something to agree on: hating Trump.

“Ted Cruz does not like Donald Trump. He pretends to — he kisses his ass constantly — but on this show, Ted Cruz told me if he had a chance to run Donald Trump over with his car, he would,” Kimmel said during Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. He admitted that Ted is “no dummy,” and in a “quietly evil way,” he’s trying to get Trump to take a cognitive test.

After playing a clip of Cruz saying that “Trump will whip Biden’s ass,” Kimmel joked, “That’s his sexual fantasty.” He continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever said this, but I agree with Ted Cruz. Let’s fire up those tests. Let’s make a round robin tournament out of it: Trump vs. [Nikki] Haley, and the winner faces Joe Biden… I want to see the guy who stared directly into an eclipse, I want to see the guy who can’t plead the Fifth without using his fingers, the guy who spells KFC with two E’s, take this test on television.”

You can watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live clip above.

Today (January 26), Megan Thee Stallion released a new single, “Hiss.” Nicki Minaj did not like that.

On the new track, Meg raps, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law / I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start / B*tch, you a p*ssy, never finna check me / Every chance you get, bet your weak ass won’t address me.”

Per Cornell Law School, Megan’s Law is “the federal law that ‘require(s) the release of relevant information to protect the public from sexually violent offenders.’” This has been interpreted as a reference to Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty, who in 2022 was sentenced to a year of house arrest for failing to register as a sex offender.

Minaj caught wind of the new song and didn’t waste time with her retort.

After the song dropped, Minaj hopped on Instagram Live for a broadcast, during which repeatedly played a snippet of an unreleased song featuring lyrics apparently aimed at Meg. Minaj raps, “Bad b*tch, she like six foot, I call her Big Foot / The b*tch fell off, I said, ‘Get up on your good foot.’” The foot lyrics are an apparent reference to Megan getting shot in the foot by Tory Lanez.

During the broadcast, Minaj also made fun of Meg’s rapping skills, saying, “You have three Grammys and you have to learn how to rap on the beat and be comfortable in the music,” then doing a mocking impression of Meg’s flow.

On top of that, Minaj also liked posts about Megan getting shot, and posted a photo of her feet on X (formerly Twitter).

In what has been interpreted as Megan’s response to this, she took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of herself laughing.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Justin Timberlake has a lot going on right now. He just released his new single “Selfish,” he’s performing on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and he just announced his new album, Everything I Thought It Was. He was also a guest on The Tonight Show yesterday (January 25), and there, he and Jimmy Fallon revealed some big news.

Towards the end of the first segment of the interview, Fallon and Timberlake talked about JT’s recent performances before egging the audience and each other on about some mystery piece of news. Eventually, Timberlake revealed that he’s going on tour, then Fallon offered some more concrete info after the commercial break. An official announcement via press release was shared the following morning.

The tour, dubbed The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, launches in Vancouver on April 29 and will run through to July. General onsale for tickets starts February 2 at 10 a.m. local time, via justintimberlake.com. Citi and Verizon presales start January 30.

Check out clips from Timberlake’s Fallon interview above. Below, find Timberlake’s 2024 tour dates.

Justin Timberlake’s 2024 Tour Dates: The Forget Tomorrow World Tour

04/29 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
05/02 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
05/06 — San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
05/10 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
05/14 — San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego
05/17 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
05/21 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center
05/29 — San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
05/31 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
06/04 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
06/06 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
06/10 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
06/12 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
06/14 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
06/15 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
06/21 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
06/25 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
06/29 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
07/03 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
07/04 — Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
07/07 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
07/09 — Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena

Everything I Thought It Was is out 3/15 via RCA Records. Find more information here.