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This week, indie-rock institution Wilco announced a new album. It’s called Cousin, and Steven and Ian naturally wondered: Is this a deliberate reference to The Bear? After all, the hit FX show is known for multiple Wilco needle drops. Did Jeff Tweedy return the favor? The verdict is “probably not,” but it’s fun to speculate about regardless.

From there, they take a hard left to talk about Utopia, the new album by rapper Travis Scott. Utopia is the sort of big tent rap record that used to be common, but in 2023 the genre seems more insular than usual. Is this a temporary blip or a sign of things to come? And is Utopia — an album that includes more than a few signifiers that evoke Kanye West — a conscious attempt to make the kind of album that achieves critical and commercial acclaim?

Another hard left: Steven tells Ian about “Young Love And Saturday Nights,” a (terrible) new country song by Chris Young that borrows the riff from David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel.” It’s part of a trend called “interpolation pop” where songwriters go to song publishers in advance to get permission to use the spare parts of classic tunes. After that, the guys talk about the recent controversy concerning Lizzo, and give the “yay or nay” treatment to the Semisonic reunion.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the new George Clanton while Steven recommends the recent four-part Spector music documentary.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 149 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.

Lollapalooza kicked off last night (August 3). With headliners like Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, Karol G, The 1975, and Tomorrow X Together, the festival is going to be a blast as it continues throughout the weekend.

The “Bad Guy” pop star played last night and it was nothing short of amazing. Her performances are always grand and emotional, whether she’s headlining a festival or on the stage at an awards show. Along with songs from her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and her sophomore LP Happier Than Ever, she gave her contribution to the Barbie movie soundtrack, “What Was I Made For?,” its live debut. It’s even more of a heartfelt tearjerker live than it is as a recording.

Upon sharing the video for the song, Eilish wrote on Instagram, “in january greta [Gerwig] showed me and finneas a handful of some unfinished scenes from the film; we had nooooo idea what to expect at ALLL… we were so deeeeeply moved.. that the next day we were writing and COULDNT shut up about it lolll andddddddddd ended up writing almost the entire song that night. to be real with you this all seemed to happen in a time when i really needed it. i’m so so thankful for that. this video makes me cryyyyy.. it means so much to me and i hope it will mean just as much to you. don’t have much to say other than that, i think it will speak for itself[heart emoji] :””) enjoy.”

Watch Eilish perform “What Was I Made For?” above.

Florence Pugh is cool. She’s cool when she’s causing an international scandal. She’s cool while wearing a flower crown, something I didn’t think was possible. She’s even (especially?) cool when accidentally cosplaying as Guy Fieri.

The Oppenheimer actress compared herself to the celebrity chef in an Instagram Story on Thursday. “Sometimes when I get out the shower I look like Guy Fieri and I love it,” she captioned the selfie. In another photo, she wrote, “Just saying.. could be the new mayor of flavour town. Or should I say… ‘Flo’ver town.” You can see the Instagram Story below.

If Fieri opened a restaurant in England, would it be called Flavourtown Kitchen, with the British spelling? I can’t explain why this makes me angry, but it does.

Pugh explained her decision to cut her hair short in an interview with the Radio Times. “I wanted vanity out of the picture. Hollywood is very glamorous — especially for women — and it’s hard for an audience to see past that. Whenever I’ve not needed to be glam or have a full face of makeup, I fight to keep it that way. It helps the audience,” she said, adding, “Vanity is gone. The only thing that people can look at then is your raw face.”

(Via Page Six)

Previews of new Taylor Swift music seem to pop up out of nowhere, and now it’s happened again. On today’s (August 4) new episode of the Amazon Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty, some of “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” can be heard during a scene. This is the first rerecording of a Reputation song that has been heard. Naturally, this would suggest that the Reputation (Taylor’s Version) album is in the works.

The Summer I Turned Pretty has actually been a valuable resource for Swift previews. In a 2022 trailer for the show, a snippet of “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” (originally from 1989) was teased. Then, about a month ago, some of “Back To December (Taylor’s Version)” popped up in a trailer for the latest season.

So far, the whole Taylor’s Version albums endeavor has been a massive success. She’s released three so far since 2021 — Fearless, Red, and Speak Now — and they’ve all topped the Billboard 200 chart. “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” from Red (Taylor’s Version) was even a No. 1 single on the Hot 100. In fact, it’s the longest chart-topper ever and the first one that’s over 10 minutes in length.

Check out the The Summer I Turned Pretty clip above.

Never did I think, for a moment, that I’d ever see Brian Kilmeade halfheartedly trying to get down on TV.

I will say, however, that this is a fantastic maneuver to keep his spirit from deflating on live TV after his MAGA hero got indicted yet again. His sad-spirit vibes got real with round two, and Fox News didn’t totally ignore this third round, but man, all of this has to be so awkward for Fox And Frenemies.

That’s not only the case because Fox News is in the position of now covering Trump’s criminal charges surrounding his efforts to overturn the election, but the conservative cable news network is also still attempting to recover from that massive Dominion Voting settlement after certain personalities went several extra miles to promote the Big Lie. It’s a different day now, however, and while transitioning (as one can see from the chyron in this video clip) from the latest Trump legal mess, Steve Doocy and the gang decided to do some type of dance move. Well, alright!

Granted, this moment is not contextualized to the full demeanor of this episode, but here, at least Brian Kilmeade doesn’t look nearly as depressed as he did about Trump’s previous courtroom adventures. Given that he went full-on cheerleader for Trump in the past, this is quite a shift. Maybe he worked some stuff out, you never know.

It was a day of mixed emotions for Donald Trump. On Thursday, the thrice-indicted former president flew from his New Jersey golf club to a courthouse in Washington D.C. to plead not guilty on felony charges accusing him of trying to overturn the 2020 election results. He was on Truth Social before arriving, and he was Truth Social after his court appearance, as well, to complain about how “dirty” the nation’s capital is.

“CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT I HAD TO FLY TO A FILTHY, DIRTY, FALLING APART, & VERY UNSAFE WASHINGTON, D.C., TODAY, & THAT I WAS THEN ARRESTED BY MY POLITICAL OPPONENT, WHO IS LOSING BADLY TO ME IN THE POLLS, CROOKED JOE BIDEN, IT WAS A VERY GOOD DAY!” he wrote, not quoting Ice Cube. But behind the scenes, Trump was in a sour mood.

“I’m learning tonight that Trump left here in a sour and dejected mood. He was, quote, ‘pissed off,’ according to someone who spoke to him,” CNN host Kaitlan Collins said on Thursday night, Mediaite reports. “I am told that the former president, one thing that irked him particularly, was during that hearing today that lasted about 27 minutes, was when the magistrate judge referred to him as simply ‘Mr. Trump.’ That may not sound odd to anyone else, but he is still referred to by his former title ‘President Trump’ when he’s at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, as he is tonight, or at Mar-a-Lago.”

“Mr. President, you’re in big trouble.” Is that better?

(Via Mediaite)

Last night (August 3), Taylor Swift started her run of The Eras Tour concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (technically Inglewood). During the show, she shared a special moment with Bianka Bryant, daughter of late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant: Swift gave Bianka her “22” hat and a big hug.

Kobe had a ton of respect for Swift, saying in a 2019 interview:

“I think it’s important to listen to people who do great things. […] Taylor’s been at the top of the game for a very, very long time. How and why? How did she write? How did she get into that mental space to be able to create things over and over and over? I mean, it’s a lot of pressure for her to follow up a No. 1 album with a better album. I don’t care if you like her music or you don’t like her music: Look at what she’s doing. It’s frightening stuff, it’s unbelievable to be able to pull that off over and over and over and over. So I’ll look at things like that to try to learn from them as much as I can. […] She’s a sweet kid. I mean, she was a sweetheart to my girls before she even blew up and became Taylor Swift, so that’s why I’ll always… if she needs anything from me, I’m always there. But you can’t have that level of consistent success and not be a killer. It’s impossible.”

When Kobe died in 2020, Swift tweeted, “My heart is in pieces hearing the news of this unimaginable tragedy. I can’t fathom what the families are going through. Kobe meant so much to me and to us all. Sending my prayers, love, and endless condolences to Vanessa and the family and anyone who lost someone on that flight.”

Doja Cat is no stranger to controversy. Last month, her social media posts regarding her fans proved polarizing. But perhaps the ruffled feathers are something she lives for. On her new single, “Paint The Town Red,” Doja seemingly alludes to the emotional consequences of the superstardom she’s achieved in recent years.

Over a jazz-influenced, Dionne Warwick beat, Doja addresses everything — fame, opulence, and pop-star status.

“Yeah, b*tch, I said what I said / I’d rather be famous instead / I let all that get to my head / I don’t care, I paint the town red,” she raps on the song’s chorus.

Elsewhere on the song, she seemingly alludes to the incident in which she said she didn’t love her fans, rapping, “Fans ain’t dumb but extremists are / I’m a demon, Lord / Fall off what? I ain’t seen a horse.” However, the title “Paint The Town Red” first appeared on an alleged tracklist Doja shared back in April, so it’s likely the song was written and recorded a long time ago.

Perhaps her anti-fan tirade was part of the song’s promotional campaign?

Who knows? But this new era of Doja sounds promising. Whether she wants it to or not.

In the song’s accompanying video, she channels the devil she’s constantly made out to be, conquers demons — both internally and within the video’s universe — and lays down the law of the land.

You can see the video for “Paint The Town Red” above.

Following a critically-acclaimed performance as Ariel in Disney’s live-action version of The Little Mermaid, Halle Bailey is finally putting out music of her own. For over a decade, Halle Bailey — who is simply going by Halle for her solo era — has been putting out music with her sister, Chlöe as the superstar duo, Chloe X Halle. Now, with her solo single, “Angel,” she is entering the landscape with her solo commercial debut.

On “Angel,” Halle reflects on growing up in the spotlight, and the painful words she received on the way. Over a piano-and-string-driven ballad, she rises above the heartache, and encourages others to follow.

“Heaven knows your wings can weigh you down / but angels make a way somehow,” Halle sings on the song’s chorus.

“Angel” is accompanied by an empowering visual directed by Wendy Morgan, which further cements Halle’s mission to uplift girls and young women like herself.

“This song for me is so very special and near and dear to my heart,” said Halle in a statement. “With everything I’ve gone through the past 3-4 years, suddenly finding myself in this bubble of all these eyes and new opinions, it was easy for me to feel doubt in myself and who I was. This song for me was my climb out of those feelings, a mantra and promise to myself that the work I’m doing here on earth matters and that I matter. I wanted to be able to embrace and be proud of myself and who I am naturally through and through. I hope other brown and Black girls and everyone in general feel embraced, respected, and inspired hearing the words of this song.”

You can listen to “Angel” above.

While Cordae and his longtime girlfriend, tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, are still going strong, he has just dropped a situationship anthem for the summer. On the breezy “Make Up Your Mind,” Cordae shows off his lowkey R&B chops, tapping into a more rhythmic sound.

Over a thumping, percussive beat, Cordae tries to read the signals delivered to him by an elusive lady.

“I said she love me / She love me not / But she don’t got no damn clue about what she want,” he rap-sings on the song’s chorus.

While most of us can relate to the song, the groovy beat makes it easy to brush off any nebulous relationships, and just go with the flow.

“I just wanted to make a timeless song that makes people feel good,” said Cordae in a statement.

Outside of this particular song, it’s been a pretty busy summer for Cordae. Back in July, he and Osaka welcomed a baby girl. Beginning today (August 4), Cordae will also be supporting rapper NF on his Hope Tour, which kicks off in Glendale, AZ.

You can listen to “Make Up Your Mind” above.

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