Category: Trending

If you follow Uproxx’s The Best New Hip-Hop This Week, you might have seen last week when I went on a mini-rant about That Chick Angel’s underrated summer song “One Margarita” being so overlooked. That may soon change; after releasing a remix with Saucy Santana last week, TCA follows up this week with a “Ladies Remix” version to keep the party going, recruiting FendiDa Rappa, Flo Milli, and her raunchy rap counterpart Sexyy Red, who has been on a roll lately after her own freaky hit “Pound Town” became a smash in its own right.

The new verses hit all the main points — mainly, that inebriation will, to quote Flo Milli, “turn them to hoes.” That Chick Angel even sneaks in some subtly impressive rhyme play, pairing “amorous” with “scandalous,” and preemptively cuts off all the smoke the song is sure to receive. “I know you hatin’ sayin’, ‘You a mom,’ but / Give me four margarita’s I’ma be my husband’s slut,” she wisecracks, shutting down critiques of the song’s freaky material. The coup de grace is at the end, when she admits, “I’m lyin’. Imma be sleep,” because anyone in a longterm relationship knows how that goes.

This single is seriously “song of the summer” material, but it also has staying power — it’s authentic and clever and relatable and all the other things that can make a song a fan favorite — and even if it doesn’t get its due before the leaves turn, I can see it being a fixture at resort clubs far into the future. Check it out above.

Once upon a hatless time (or at least a hat-break time after HBO’s original Deadwood series), Timothy Olyphant auditioned to be part of a 2009 blockbuster movie ensemble and ended up in consideration for a bigger role in the project. After some time, the swaggery actor found out out that the larger role went to a different actor, and that was just fine because Justified debuted in 2010 with Raylan Givens clearly being the role that Olyphant was always meant to play. And we should all thank our hat-inferior stars that things turn out this way because no one else could pull off that legendary presence on screen, and now, we’ve been gifted with the City Primeval followup series.

What was that “the role that got away,” as The Hollywood Reporter phrased the situation (while relaying this revelation from Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast)? That would be Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film, which was eventually followed by two sequels with all three installments starring Chris Pine in that coveted role. Actually, Olyphant hadn’t even aimed in that direction, but Abrams told him, “I don’t have a Kirk.’”

Olyphant felt that “he might have been prepared to hire me, but they wanted somebody younger,” and the rest was history. And that history included hanging out at a swanky event bar with Pine, as Olyphant described:

“I have since then met Chris Pine and I am a huge fan of him, both on- and off-screen. I love that guy,” he said of Pine. “He’s a good dude.”

He continued, “This sounds very show business-y, but I had the honor — we’re going to say honor — to go to the Golden Globes one year … and I spent most of the evening at the bar with Chris Pine. Just really really adored him. What a good guy. And I really like his work. He’s one of those guys who makes it look simple and easy.”

Everything worked out as planned, too. If Olyphant had scored the Kirk role, then he’d have been signed for at least another two movies (a fourth installment from Abrams still hasn’t happened), and there would be no way possible for him to star on FX’s six Justified seasons and the current City Primeval that also streams next-day on Hulu. The hat would not exist as we know it, and I don’t even want to think about that possibility.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Barbie is expected to top the box office for a fourth weekend in a row, but Stephen King is thinking about another Margot Robbie movie.

“Maybe this says more about me than the film, but I thought BABYLON was utterly brilliant — extravagant, over the top, hilarious, thought-provoking. Might be one of those movies that reviews badly and is acclaimed as a classic in 20 years,” the author tweeted. He’s right to say it: Babylon is the kind of sprawling epic that doesn’t happen often these days (hopefully the success of Oppenheimer changes things). To quote a pre-Barbie Greta Gerwig movie, “They didn’t understand it.”

The Damien Chazelle film only made $63.4 million at the box office on a reported $80 million budget, but as King pointed out, it will find its audience — like a movie based on one of his own works.

“Babylon is a movie that absolutely shouldn’t work, but objectively does, three hours and nine minutes that didn’t bore me for a single second,” Vince Mancini wrote in his review for Uproxx. “Instead, it sails, on the crest of a glorious wave of blood, sweat, tears, tits, shit, vomit, and piss.”

There’s a sex, drugs, Brad Pitt, a pooping elephant, old school Hollywood glamour, Jean Smart as a gossip columnist, and Margot Robbie doing the wildest dance since Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. What are you waiting? Babylon is available on Paramount+, among other streaming options.

(Via Twitter/Stephen King)

A Utah man was killed this week after pulling a gun on federal agents who confronted him at his home for making a series of violent threats against Joe Biden and other government officials. The FBI had a warrant for Craig Deleeuw Robertson of Provo who allegedly threatened to kill Biden with a sniper rifle ahead of his visit to Utah. Roberston also openly plotted to assassinate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for prosecuting Donald Trump.

In an ironic twist, Trump’s MAGA-based social media platform Truth Social tipped off the FBI about Robertson’s online activity.

Via NBC News:

The senior law enforcement official said the Secret Service initially referred Robertson and his threats to the FBI.

Truth Social, the social media site Trump founded and uses regularly, also alerted the FBI in March about Robertson’s threats against Bragg on the site, a second senior law enforcement official said.

According to NBC News, Robertson was shot after he “pointed his weapon at agents and did not respond to their commands” while being served a warrant on Wednesday morning. Biden was due in the state later in that day.

Little else is known about the confrontation, which has sparked a hotbed of conspiracy theories. Some right-wing social media users have started equating Robertson with Ashli Babbit, the January 6 rioter who was shot while attempting to breach the U.S. Capitol. Others have accused the Biden administration of having Robertson “killed for his views,” according to NBC.

(Via NBC News)

Noname is back and even more radical than ever. Her five-year hiatus between projects left her with a slew of topics to address on her new album, Sundial. The first item up for discussion is several musicians’ alignment with the NFL. On her fiery Slimwave-produced track “Namesake,” Noname directly aims at Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Kendrick Lamar for lending their talents to the National Football League.

Noname doesn’t mince words in her diss when the track opens, rapping, “Read in between the line at the crime scene / I ain’t f*cking with the NFL or Jay-Z / Propaganda for the military complex, the same gun that shot lil’ Terry / Out West, the same gun that shot Senair in the West Bank / We all think the Super Bowl is the best thing.” In this line, Noname calls out Jay-Z for entering into a partnership with the sports league despite the criticism it has faced over the treatment of its majority Black players, including former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Following in the line of attack, Noname turns her pen towards Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar, who at one point spoke out in support of Kaepernick’s sideline activism. Somehow, later they both performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. For Kendrick Lamar, that was in 2022. Rihanna was this year’s headliner. Beyoncé seemingly used her 2016 performance to advocate for police reform, but in the eyes of Noname, it is simply performative.

“Go, Rihanna, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high / War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time / Go, Beyoncé, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high / War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time / Go, Kendrick, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high / War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time,” raps Noname.

To be fair, those aren’t the only entertainers to feel Noname’s vicious sting. She also delivers a gut punch to herself in the line, “Go, Noname, go! Coachella stage got sanitized / I said I wouldn’t perform for them, and somehow I still fell in line f*ck!” No one is beyond reproach on the track, not even Noname.

Listen to the “Namesake” above.

Sundial is out now via Noname. Find more information here.

Last month, it was reported that Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro, who got engaged in March, broke up. Alejandro is now back with a song called “Hayami Hana,” which seems to very obviously be about Rosalía.

“And I don’t blame you, the life we lead is not for everyone / The press, social media, group pressures,” he raps (as translated by Genius). “Long distance is tougher, it’s easier if we’re close / We work non-stop, but to what extent?”

He also confronts the rumors of infidelity head-on: “I am a lot of things, but not a cheater / She always had my phone’s password.” He previously addressed it in an Instagram Story, writing (in Spanish), “There are thousands of problems that can cause a breakup, but in our case, it was not because of third parties or infidelity.”

It was also reported last month that Alejandro is dating Camila Cabello, just days after the breakup was revealed.

Rosalía acknowledged the breakup by writing on an Instagram Story (translated via ChatGPT), “I love, respect, and admire Raul very much. I don’t pay attention to the gossip; we know what we’ve lived through. This moment is not easy, so thanks to everyone for understanding and respecting it.”

Listen to “Hayami Hana” above.

Every summer, the music press tries to figure out the song of the summer. For Steven, this can be a tedious exercise that feels like one of those fake holidays made up by greeting card companies to sell product. Nevertheless, the discourse is welcome during an otherwise dead time of the year. So Steven and Ian are getting down to the task this week of determining the defining track of the season.

Before that, the guys discuss the latest dust-up between musicians and music critics to unfold online. What is at the heart of this conflict, and can it ever be resolved? Also, there’s a conversation about memorable review-related feuds that Steven and Ian have had over the years, including the time that Donald Glover threatened to beat Ian up. (Steven never tires of hearing this story.)

Along with talking about the song of the summer, Steven and Ian also talk about patio music, a concept that has particularly interested Steven during the summer months. What makes a good patio music album? And is it possible to appreciate this concept if (like Ian) you don’t have a patio and live in a place where it’s always warm?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the new release from Spirit Night while Steven recommends an overlooked album from 2022 by Greg Freeman.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 150 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.

Olivia Rodrigo has become a major hitmaker quickly, with three No. 1 singles since 2021: “Drivers License,” “Good 4 U,” and “Vampire.” The latter song is the lead single from Rodrigo’s upcoming album Guts, and now Rodrigo has offered another taste of it with another new one, “Bad Idea Right?.”

The song arrived alongside a video, and fans couldn’t help but notice that the clip, directed by Petra Collins, seems to include direct references to a couple of hit shows: Euphoria and Glee.

Press materials also note of the visual, “With its aesthetic partly inspired by early-’90s B-movie horror-comedy, the video for ‘bad idea right?’ follows Rodrigo on a journey to an ex’s house, equal parts surreal and harrowing and fantastically absurd.”

Rodrigo said of the song in a statement, “‘Bad Idea Right?’ started with us making a joke song about me hooking up with an ex-boyfriend, but then we realized we were actually onto something. We were throwing the weirdest things at the wall — in one of choruses there’s a part that sounds like an instrument in the background, but it’s me gradually screaming louder and louder.”

Watch the “Bad Idea Right?” video above.

Guts is out 9/8 via Geffen. Find more information here.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg‘s fight is going to be [2011 voice] epic.

On Friday, while Zuckerberg was eating his third McGriddle of the day, Musk shared details about their alleged cage match. “The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC). Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all. I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location,” he tweeted. There is a good chance that Musk spoke with a Wario accent during the call. I’m putting it around 70 percent.

Musk also shared that “everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy,” so the fight will definitely not be sponsored by Olive Garden.

Zuckerberg hasn’t said anything on social media about the cage match; he’s been busy going to Taylor Swift concerts, getting a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and annoying his wife with a “backyard octagon.” Musk’s training for the billionaire brawl involves “lifting weights throughout the day” because he’s too busy destroying Twitter to work out and complaining about the word “patriarchy.”

If he gets his ass handed to him (he will), it will somehow be Barbie‘s fault.

Greece’s hopes of making a run in the 2023 FIBA World Cup took a gigantic hit on Friday morning. The country’s superstar forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo, announced on his Twitter account that he won’t be able to participate in the tournament after consulting with Greece’s medical staff.

As Antetokounmpo explained, he’s been pushing himself since the end of the NBA postseason to get his body right with an eye on representing his country in the tournament — the two-time NBA MVP got a procedure on his knee in June. His status for the tournament was up in the air, and in his post, Antetokounmpo explained that he just was not ready to get healthy in time.

“But after months of work and multiple meetings with medical staff it is clear that i am not ready to compete in the level that I need to be to participate in the World Cup,” he wrote. “This was not a choice but my only option in ensuring I get back to the level of basketball I have worked so hard to achieve so far in my career. I am extremely disappointed in this outcome but this was a decision made with the medical staff.”

Antetokounmpo expressed his hope that Greece is able to qualify for the Olympics next summer. Now, Antetokounmpo will watch as Greece attempts to navigate a tricky group at the World Cup, as the team was drawn into Group C against Jordan, New Zealand, and the United States.