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I have a theory that the worst two-week stretch on the music discourse calendar occurs in early February, when there’s the double-shot of overanalyzing the Grammys and overanalyzing the Super Bowl halftime show. On this week’s Indiecast, Ian Cohen and I tried to make sense of the “Rihanna was just okay, but on purpose” conversation, as well as the buzz about U2’s upcoming residency in Las Vegas.

In the meat of the episode, we reviewed two recent releases — the first is This Is Why, the first album in six years from the venerable emo-pop institution Paramore. In recent years, the band’s aughts-era music has been an obvious influence on a range of pop and rock acts. But on the new LP, Hayley Williams and co. attempt to pivot away from their traditional sound toward a more post-punk type vibe. Do they pull it off? Let’s talk it out.

The second album is Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, the latest from singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek. The album already has serious “Album Of The Year” vibes — yes, we’re already talking about this stuff in February — so why is it also reminiscent of Oscar bait films or prestige TV?

In our Recommendation Corner segment, Steve suggests checking out The Future Is Our Past, the new album by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while Ian talks about the new EP from shoegaze band Crushed, Extra Life.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 126 here or below 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.

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

(SPOILERS for this week’s BMF episode will be found below.)

In episode six of season two of BMF, titled “Homecoming,” Meech and Terry are back home in Detroit. They completed their mission in Atlanta and they’re back home to get things back in order with BMF. The good news is that Terry is back in the crew after some time away, but the bad news is that their war with Lamar is far from over as he continues to terrorize Meech and Terry’s family and well as BMF. Elsewhere, Charles continues down the path of infidelity and B-Mickie’s double life comes to an end.

The aforementioned events in the sixth episode of BMF season two, titled “Homecoming,” are soundtracked by songs that help to accentuate the emotions behind each scene. You can find a list of them belong as well as details about the scenes that they are heard in.

The following records were provided thanks to the Starz Public Relations team.

Run-D.M.C. — “Beats To The Rhyme”

We hear this song at the 0:20 mark as Meech and Terry are driving around neighborhoods looking for Lamar. The duo is strapped with firearms and this happens fresh off their return from Atlanta.

Stephie — “All Day A”

At around the 1:30 mark, Meech and Terry can be seee in the record shop base talking about Lamar getting to the Flenory house and B-Mickie’s whereabouts. Meech and Terry also give a vague update to the crew about their time in Atlanta and what’s next going forward.

50 Cent — “Wish Me Luck” Feat. Charlie Wilson

This is the theme song of BMF. It plays at the 3:30 mark in “Homecoming.” While it’s only 50 Cent and Charlie Wilson’s voices that are heard in this moment, the song also features Snoop Dogg and Moneybagg Yo.

Model 500 — “Future”

Model 500’s “Future” checks in around the 13:21 mark as Meech pulls up to the club to meet with the PA Boys. In this scene, we see a cameo appearance from Jalen Rose who plays himself and we see Meech jump into a fight with the PA Boys against their rivals.

Extreme — “He Is My Friend”

At the 20:07 mark, this record plays as Charles consoles Lucille as she sits at the dinner table upset over Terry’s decision to drop out of high school. To make things better, Charles says he’ll get dressed up and take Lucille out for dinner — something they haven’t done in a long time.

Dosey Doe — “Rock Your Body”

We hear this song around the 21:38 mark when Meech visits the nail shop that Nicole works at to get his nails done. He always uses the opportunity to make a deal with the owner and use the shop as a place to wash BMF’s drug money.

Oran Juice Jones — “The Rain”

This record plays around the 22:41 mark as Terry drives in the rain all to be followed by Detective Bryant and Jin because he ran a stop light. The stay behind him thinking he’s up to no good, all to see that he was only on his way to pick up Markeisha and her kids.

Extreme — “Les Is More”

At around the 25:43 mark, we here this song as Charles and Lucille are eating dinner together. It’s here that Lucille admits that she thought Charles was cheating on her. While we know she’s not wrong, she was wrong about who she think he’s cheating on her think

Solo D — “Right There”

We here this song around the 28:27 mark during a sex scene with Terry and Markeisha. In an opposite hotel Detectives Bryant and Jin are watching Terry in hopes of catching him doing something illegal

Marley Waters x Fredro — “The Code”

This record plays around 32:04 mark as Meech pulls up in a brand new car to meet with Terry and the rest of the BMF crew. Shortly after, Terry is confronted by BMF’s Dink about bad product which leads to a fight after Dink steps to Terry. It ends with Terry and Meech jumping Dink.

Francene — “Do You Remember”

Francene’s record can be heard around the 34:45 mark as Charles visits Mabel to inform her that their affair must come to an end. His attempt is a failure as he and Mabel end up having sex once again.

Arman — “Trouble”

This song plays around the 35:18 mark when Nicole enters the nail shop to see Meech and Hoop meeting with the store owner to give her some money to presumably help them wash their BMF earnings. Nicole takes issue with this with the owner, but the owner dismisses her worries.

Cite — “Some Of This”

This song plays around the 36:54 mark when Terry returns to the hotel that he was staying in with Markeisha and her kids. He comes back to find out that Markeisha left and did so with a note saying that she can’t be with someone who has other responsibilities and may not be as financially supportive as she needs.

Osinachi — “Claps”

We hear this song around the 38:06 mark when Meech reconnects with K-9 to get new product and get things rolling again. It’s here that Meech learns that K-9 owes a Colombian connect $20 million and refuses to pay up.

SAB — “Paul Bun”

Around the 41:10 mark, this record plays as Meech and Terry are discussing their next moves. Meech wants to take advantage of K-9’s issues with Colombian connect while Terry wants to work the product that B-Mickie is offering Meech.

Don Cabán — “Defend My Reputation”

This record plays around the 45:10 mark as B-Mickie meets Meech at the record shop to give him new product. Meech informs B-Mickie that he bought burial plots for his mother and that he is giving him his own territory to be in charge of. While this is all good news, it’s ruined as B-Mickie is actually there undercover for Detectives Bryant and Jin. Meech makes a run for it and B-Mickie follows him shortly after.

Don Cabán & EHart — “Live By The Gun”

The episode closes with the song playing, starting at around the 49:20 mark. The episode ends on a cliffhanger of sorts as B-Mickie is seemingly kidnapped as he looks to make a run out of the city.

New episodes of ‘BMF’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

While it’s only been a few weeks since the season two finale of The White Lotus aired, it seems fans still can’t get the updated theme song out of their heads. Because of this, Tiësto and the song’s original writer, Chilean-Canadian composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, are credited together on the brand new remix.

It opens with the traditional noises that fans recognize from the theme song before being blended with an EDM rise, courtesy of Tiësto. The sounds mirror the same melody as the original, making it perfect for anyone wanting to bring their tv time to the club.

“As a huge fan of The White Lotus I couldn’t be more excited to be releasing the official remix” said Tiësto in a statement. “I was instantly hooked on the theme song so I had to put my spin on it for my live sets… every time I play it, the crowd goes crazy! I’m thrilled HBO wanted to partner and make it official.”

The new remix follows the DJ’s collaboration with Tate McRae last year on “10:35,” a song that’s set to be on his upcoming album, Drive.

Listen to Tiësto’s remix of “Renaissance (The White Lotus)” above.

(SPOILERS for this week’s BMF episode will be found below.)

Each week for the ‘BMF’ To Blowin’ Money Fast series, we’ll recap the episode by looking at a few key things to see how they hurt Meech and Terry’s money-making goals and overall well-being. Each item will be marked as a profit or a loss, the former keeping them in the black and the latter pushing them into the red. Throughout the course of the season, something that was once unprofitable could turn profitable, and vice versa, but we’ll have to wait and see what that might be.

Following their brief foray to Atlanta in episode five, “Moment Of Truth,” Meech and Terry are back in Detroit for episode six, “Homecoming,” and they’re back to re-establish BMF as a force in Detroit and seek revenge on those who tried to tear them down. In “Homecoming,” Terry has fully committed to BMF, a decision that has greatly upset his parents Charles and Lucille. On the other hand, Meech is very happy about Terry’s return as it means the brothers can get back to the way things used to be. One of their most important tasks is tracking down Lamar to kill him as he still remains a huge threat to them. Meech and Terry struggle to find him, but Lamar has no issue tracking them down as he kills one of BMF’s Sockie. Elsewhere in the episode, Charles continues to be unfaithful in his marriage and B-Mickie’s double life comes to an end in a way that he couldn’t even have imagined. Let’s get into some of this week’s main characters on BMF.

Meech

PROFIT

Per usual, Meech does a great job of rolling with the punches. He and Terry return to Detroit, and Meech is completely focused on getting BMF back up and running as well as finding Lamar and killing him once and for all. It’s exactly the mindset that you need from a leader, especially for a team that’s experienced a string of losses. Those losses continue in this episode as BMF’s Sockie is killed by Lamar in a surprise attack. It’s this that pushes Meech to orchestrate a deal with a local crew, the PA Boys, for their help in moving product as well as killing Lamar. It’s a smart move, but one that ultimately proves to be unsuccessful as Lamar is able to kill two of their members. As Monique said, you can’t take down a man from the streets by thinking like a man of the streets. So as soon as Meech understands that, wins should begin to fall his way.

Lamar

LOSS

Lamar has by far been the worse enemy to BMF throughout the show’s two seasons. He’s impeded the group’s progress on several occasions, and if he hasn’t physically distributed them, his mere presence and continued life has brought fear to BMF, whether they’d like to admit it or not. In “Homecoming,” Lamar smiles at the news that Meech and Terry are being loud and clear in their search for him. This essentially gives him the green light to act as he pleases which we see throughout the episode. He kills Sockie as well as two members of another crew that Meech hired to take him down. As long as Lamar is alive and somewhat well, he’ll continue to torment BMF at the very least as his ultimate goal of taking down Meech remains on his checklist.

Terry

PROFIT

Terry is officially back in BMF! Seeing him rocking the icy BMF chain in “Homecoming” was a happy sight to see, especially to Meech. After spending this season, and the last half of season one, going back and forth about his desire to be in the group, Terry fully commits to it in episode six. He starts by telling his high school teacher, and his parents at the same time, that he will not return to school to complete his classes and graduate. It’s shocking news to his parents, and though they object to his decision, he doubles down and says there’s nothing they can do to change his mind. Terry’s return to the crew and his return as Meech’s right-hand man couldn’t come at a better time as B-Mickie’s presence in and commitment to the crew is up for question, especially with the ending of “Homecoming.”

Charles

LOSS

Even when Charles sets out to do right, he still manages to do wrong. After a brief sexual encounter with Mabel, Charles storms back to her house to say that they must bring their fling to an end. His little strong moment comes to a quick end as Mabel drops her robe, and before we know it, Charles slips right into her trap and finds himself having sex with her on her couch. We can assume that Charles’ infidelity will catch up to him eventually, as it does for most people, and it’s unfortunate because the good things he’s done for Lucille, like being more emotionally present and taking her to dinner, will be wiped away. All it’ll take is a flirty look from Mabel at church or something minuscule like that for Luccille to catch on. At that point, the Flenory family will be at its most fragile point and that is something that will surely bring stress to both Terry and Meech.

Mabel

PROFIT

There is a flip side to the Mabel-Charles affair. Their sudden spark — if that’s what we’ll call it — has provided a new thing for Charles to stress about. This most likely means that it will force him to place his energy into figuring that out as opposed to other things. Maybe, just maybe, Charles will be distracted enough to get off Meech and Terry’s back and allow them to do what they truly want to do. The Flenory boys aren’t going to change their minds, so having their father let them be is certainly helpful rather than having to fight him off every now and then. Elsewhere, Mabel’s time with Charles is a win for her. She spotted what she wanted and successfully got it without much effort. Charles’ vulnerable state and emotional frustration certainly caused him to fall into her trap, but he’s also a grown enough man to stay faithful to his marriage and work out the problems within it rather than run away from it. But, we see that’s not the case.

B-Mickie

LOSS

Terry’s return to BMF has, for lack of a better term, pissed off B-Mickie. In his eyes, Terry walked away from the crew and he was welcomed back without no repercussions and given back a top spot at that, a position that B-Mickie had for so long. B-Mickie expressed his frustrations with Meech who dismissed them and instead told him to drop the issues. Things only get worse for B-Mickie when he agreed to trap Meech for Detective Bryant and Jin, only to change his mind and run off with a furious Meech and escape from the city. B-Mickie says goodbye to his mom and looks to head out of Detroit, but he’s seemingly kidnapped by someone who possibly won’t be revealed until episode seven. Regardless, B-Mickie’s inability to run from Detroit and Meech’s knowledge of his cooperation with the police won’t be good for him going forward, but it could also mean more bad things for BMF in the future.

New episodes of ‘BMF’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am EST and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm EST.

Just days away from hitting the road with SZA on her upcoming SOS tour, Omar Apollo has shared some new music. On his latest, “3 Boys,” the openly queer singer/songwriter details the feelings of holding onto a special kind of love, but not wanting to share it with anyone else.

While Apollo seems to entertain the idea of polyamory or ethical non-monogamy of some sort, he immediately realizes that he cannot do it, as he is only drawn to one person in the hypothetical triad.

“Three boys would work if I wasn’t so tethered to you / What should I do? / I can’t even choose / I’m tethered to you,” he sings on the song’s chorus, over a smooth, hypnotic beat.

In a recent interview with Billboard, Apollo revealed that as he’s been putting out more and more music, he’s become more comfortable expressing his sexuality.

“I wasn’t super open about my sexuality, but people were hearing things,” he said. “In Indiana people were saying, ‘He’s not even gay, he’s just doing that to be artist-y.’ I always thought it was funny because the reality of my life is not that; it’s not a choice, it’s just what I am. You have to laugh at things like that.”

You can listen to “3 Boys” above.

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

Flo Milli is back with her brand new song and another bad b*tch anthem in the form of “Nasty Dancer.”

Throughout the track, she carries with some heavy-hitting lines. “I made him take me to Turks / He spent a cheque so this p*ssy be makin’ him surf / Give ’em a reason to lurk / F*ck up his life then I take him to church (Hallelujah),” Milli rhymes in the second verse.

In addition to the not-so-subtle bars, there is a fun reference to fellow rapper Doja Cat thrown in when the song first opens. “In love with the cat, give him Doja,” she cheekily references.

Milli also makes some time to remind everyone out there, especially her haters, what the situation is and who is in control. “I ain’t been countin’ my haters but I swear, I’m countin’ this cash,” she adds.

Ahead of the song’s official drop, Flo Milli had teased it with a recreated Tamar Braxton scene from Braxton Family Values, down to the similar costumes and all.

It also follows her “Conceited” remix that dropped last month and brought both Lola Brooke and Maiya The Don onto the track.

Check out Flo Milli’s “Nasty Dancer” with the skit above.

Hot off of Future’s One Big Party tour, Polo G has teamed up with his fellow rap star for a powerful new collab. On “No Time Wasted,” Polo G encourages those around him not to give up.

Over a triumphant beat produced by Southside, Polo reminds us where he came from and that he still sees himself becoming even more monumental.

“I know you waitin’ / Getting fed up, you runnin’ out of patience / Just keep your head up, I told you we would make it,” sings Polo on the song’s chorus.

Future delivers the song’s second verse, where, more than 10 years in the game, he still is grateful for how far he’s come, and the fact that he is able to get his loved ones whatever they desire.

“Went from a trapper to livin’ like a popstar / I done got so rich, I’m feedin’ my lil’ kids caviar / My b*tch don’t want for sh*t, she get whatever she want / My shooter walk you down, stand over you, make sure it’s done.”

Polo previously teased the song in an Instagram post, where he prompted his followers to guess who would feature on the track. Also in the post, he revealed that fans can expect an “album soon.”

You can listen to “No Time Wasted” above.

Latto is back with another dance floor anthem. On her latest track, “Lottery,” she lays down the law with persistent men, reminding them that she only accepts advances with the stroke of luck.

Joined by singer Lu Kala as the two sing and rap over a groovy, disco-inspired beat, the pair display magical musical chemistry, while delivering an early contender for the song of summer.

“If I let you put your hands all over me / If I let you unwrap all this in the sheets / If I tell you all my dirty fantasies / You won the lottery, you won the lottery,” sings Lu Kala on the song’s chorus.

On the song, Latto delivers scorching verses, rife with lottery puns, spinning off the rules of the game.

“I need a real boss / Somebody who don’t care what the bill cost / Smooth skin, thick thighs, you can feel on / If he hit this then he hit the Mega Million / Play him like a scratch-off, if he gettin’ lucky / Jackpot, baby, if I ever let you touch me,” she raps.

While this continues a hot streak of bangers for Latto, Lu Kala, who has been putting out music since 2018, is looking forward to seeing where this inevitable hit takes her.

“Get ready to see this Black Pop Stars face everywhere!!!,” said Kala in a tweet ahead of the song’s release.

You can listen to “Lottery” above.

Niall Horan has announced The Show, his first album in three years, with a new song, “Heaven.” The track serves as a rejection of the things Horan feels is expected of him, whether it’s society’s standards or things imposed by those closer to him. Instead, he wants to just live in the moment with a growing relationship.

“God only knows where this could go / And even if our love starts to grow outta control / and you and me go up in flames / Heaven won’t be the same,” Horan sings on the chorus.

Propelled by a thrilling drum beat, he shows how much stronger his voice has gotten. This is most present on the bridge, when the instrumental briefly disappears completely.

“There’s so much pressure for people to hit certain milestones by a certain age – you get married at this age, buy a house at that age, have kids at some other age,” says Horan. “But I’ve never conformed to those ideas, and so I wanted to write about how we all should just focus on enjoying our lives and doing what feels right, instead of worrying about what might be expected of us.”

Listen to Niall Horan’s new song “Heaven” above.

The Show is out 6/09 via Capitol. Pre-order it here.

While the Phoenix Suns battled the L.A. Clippers in the final game before the NBA’s All-Star Break, the league announced a schedule change to the national TV schedule for next week’s return to action.

Those same Suns, who acquired Kevin Durant at the trade deadline, would be moving back onto the national TV schedule for a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder — booting the reeling Chicago Bulls and Durant’s former team, the Brooklyn Nets, off of ESPN’s airwaves, with Miami-Milwaukee remaining on as the early game.

This would certainly seem to indicate that ESPN, at the very least, believes that Kevin Durant will be making his Suns debut on this night. Durant, who has missed just over a month after Jimmy Butler fell into his knee in a game on January 8, still had no official timetable for his return, but he was recently doing on-court work in Phoenix after being traded to the Suns. For ESPN, booting the still frisky but starless Nets and the freefalling Bulls off of the national TV schedule for KD’s potential debut on his new squad isn’t a hard choice. Still, it’s not often a game with the Thunder, despite being quite competitive this year, gets picked for the national spotlight. That said, the last time they were was a little over a week ago when LeBron James broke the all-time scoring record but the Thunder picked up a win.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will get the opportunity to play spoiler once again with all eyes on the Suns, hopefully as a complete unit for the first time.