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The creators of Glee have released a tribute for Naya Rivera, who was declared dead on Monday following a multi-day search for her body in California’s Lake Piru.

Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan praised the actress, who played breakout character Santana Lopez, for the “humor and humanity that she brought to Santana’s relationship with her best friend and eventual girlfriend/wife Brittany.” It was one of network television’s first depictions of a “openly lesbian, high school relationship,” and, they noted, “Naya always made sure that Santana’s love for Brittany was expressed with dignity, strength, and with pure intentions,” as seen in this performance of “Songbird.”

Rivera barely had any lines in Glee‘s pilot, which aired on May 19, 2009, but “it didn’t take more than an episode or two for us to realize that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with,” the creators wrote. “She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct, and a joy to be around.”

Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan also announced that they will create a college fund for Rivera’s four-year-old son Josey. You can read the entire tribute below.

We are heartbroken over the loss of our friend Naya Rivera.

Naya wasn’t a series regular when we cast her on Glee. She didn’t have more than a few lines in the pilot. But it didn’t take more than an episode or two for us to realize that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with. Naya could act, she could dance, and she could sing (could she ever sing!) She could nail a joke as well as she could crush you with an emotional scene. She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct and a joy to be around.

Naya is responsible for numerous iconic Glee musical performances — the Adele Mash Up, “Valerie,” “Songbird” — but her greatest Glee legacy is probably the humor and humanity that she brought to Santana’s relationship with her best friend and eventual girlfriend/wife Brittany (played by Heather Morris). It was one of the first times an openly lesbian, high school relationship was seen on network television and Naya understood what “Brittana” meant to the many young women who were seeing themselves represented on television for the first time. Naya always made sure that Santana’s love for Brittany was expressed with dignity, strength and with pure intentions. Naya was always moved by the girls who reached out to her to tell her how much Santana and Brittany’s love affected them. Naya’s obligation to them- and to all of her fans- was obvious. She had the rare combination of humility and endless confidence in her talent.

Naya was a real pro. Always on time, always knew her lines (which wasn’t easy considering the giant mouthfuls of dialogue we often gave her), always kept everyone laughing on the set. She was warm and caring and fiercely protective of the rest of the cast. She was tough and demanding. She was fun. She was kind. She was generous. There were ups and downs during the wonderful and stressful years we spent making Glee. We disagreed, we fought, we made up, then we fought some more, than we made up again. The kinds of things that happen in a family. Naya was more than just an actor on our show- she was our friend.

Our hearts go out to her family, especially her mom, Yolanda, who was a big part of the Glee family and her son Josey. The three of us are currently in the process of creating a college fund for the beautiful son Naya loved most of all.

-Ryan, Ian and Brad

(Via Variety)

Irish rapper Rejjie Snow isn’t exactly a household name in the US just yet, but the burgeoning talent has steadily raised his profile since releasing his The Moon & You mixtape in 2017 and Dear Annie album in 2018. His growing resume includes collaborations with fellow left-of-center talents like Portland rapper Aminé, Brooklyn trendsetter Joey Badass, and Chicagoan singer-songwriter Jesse Boykins III, as well as lo-fi star Clairo on her 2018 EP Diary 001. Today Rejjie returned to the spotlight with the release of his new single, “Cookie Chips” and its accompanying video.

Featuring Chicago producer Cam O’bi — with whom Snow has collborated extensively in the past — and English underground rap icon MF Doom, the nostalgic “Cookie Chips” finds Snow pining for simpler times with “Pokémons in book bag.” Meanwhile, Doom contributes a characteristically gymnastic verse, reminiscing about his own youthful experiences with love and noting there’s “still a ray of hope to live happily ever after though” despite the fact that “Disaster’s what I asked her for.”

In the press release for the new track, Rejjie says, “I love making music and creating moments. It feels good to bring out this song in such an unaccustomed time and begin this new chapter in a solid and happy place.” It’s a safe bet that happy place is soon to generate even more heartfelt music from the Irish MC soon.

Watch Rejjie Snow’s “Cookie Chips” video featuring Cam O’bi and MF Doom above.

The Sacramento Kings are among the five teams in the Western Conference that will enter the NBA’s Orlando bubble needing to make up some significant ground in eight games if they are to earn a shot at a playoff berth in a play-in series.

Prior to their departure for Orlando, Buddy Hield, Jabari Parker, and Alex Len all announced they had tested positive for COVID-19, with Hield and Parker having recently joined the team at Disney after getting cleared. On Tuesday, we learned that another key player on the Kings was not with the team currently, as Harrison Barnes announced on Twitter that he is in quarantine following a positive test, but hopes to join the team in Orlando once cleared.

Like Russell Westbrook, who announced he had tested positive and was not with the Rockets on Monday, Barnes’ positive test came prior to his arrival in Orlando and as such he must clear quarantine protocol and two consecutive negative tests before he’s able to head to Disney to join the team. With just over two weeks to go until games begin, Barnes will not have much in the way of a camp to get ready for the season if he is able to get cleared and head to Orlando, but the Kings will hope he can join them for the playoff push as he’s one of four players on the team that appeared in all 64 games this season (starting all 64) and is their third-leading scorer at 14.7 points per game.

20-year-old Beabadoobee has built a lot of deserved buzz for herself over the past couple years, and it’s been on the strength of a handful of EPs. Now, though, she is ready for her debut album: Today, she shared a video for “Care,” the lead single from Fake It Flowers. On the nostalgically rocking track, she moves on from a relationship as she sings on the hook, “I don’t want your sympathy / Stop saying you give a sh*t / ’cause you don’t really / care, care, care, yeah.”

Beabadoobee said in a statement of the song and video, “This song has end-of-a-90s movie vibes, like you’re driving down a highway. It is pretty much me being angry at society, or people around me who I just don’t think know me and don’t care. I don’t want you to feel f*cking sorry for me. I just want you to understand what I’ve been through. I never expected to be making the first video from my album during a pandemic! I was so lucky to be locked down with the bedroom guys, it feels like it turned out as one of the most personal, real videos I’ve made. I’m so excited to share it!”

Fake It Flowers does not yet have an announced release date, but it is expected to be released later in 2020.

Last week, Beabadoobee offered fans an update on what she’s been up to, which included a status report on Fake It Flowers. She said in a video:

“I’ve been recording an album in this little studio in southwest London. It’s small but it reminds me of home. It’s just like really wholesome and warmly lit, and the couches are really comfy. It’s a bit dusty at times but it’s really pretty.

The first single on the album is called ‘Care.’ I remember it was one of the first songs I demo’d for the album, and I’m just really excited for it to come out. It kind of describes the sound I want to have as a whole. It’s like the best type of nostalgic and warm feelings I want when people listen to my music. For the guitar sounds, I wanted it to sound a bit jangly. We got a really cool guitarist to come in, to kind of find a good lead, guitary sound. […]

Writing this record was probably one of the easiest ones to do. There was a gap after Space Cadet where I could kind of just relax and live in the writer’s block and just kind of understand that I couldn’t write anything. […] The songs on this album are one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written so far. I spent so f*cking long, writing and like going through it emotionally, and it just means a lot to me, and I just can’t wait for people to see that side of my life, and for people to listen to the music, rock out to the music, and cry, and just kind of understand me more. Just really excited for it to come out.”

Aside from all that, it’s been a productive year for Beabadoobee so far. In June, Powfu’s “Death Bed,” on which Beabadoobee features, became the first track to top Billboard‘s new Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Also last month, she recorded a new version of her song “If You Want To” for Soccer Mommy’s singles series. She was also set to open for The 1975 on tour this year, but, of course, those shows are no longer happening as planned.

Watch the “Care” video above, and check out Beabadoobee’s update clip below.

Burger King has just unleashed a truly insane ad campaign where a small child emerges from western-style double doors swinging between a cutout cow’s butt singing the words, “When cows fart and burp and splatter, well it ain’t no laughing matter, they’re releasing methane every time they do. And that methane from their rear goes up to the atmosphere, and pollutes our planet, warming me and you!” It’s a song that is entirely too catchy for an ad about new sustainability measures taken by the burger chain, which include adding lemongrass to the diet of cows used for Burger King’s Whoppers in an effort to get them to fart less. (You don’t have to check your calendar, it’s not April 1st.)

According to AP, Burger King believes it can reduce a cow’s daily methane emissions by nearly 33 percent in an effort to reduce bovine contributions to climate change, the burger chain announced Tuesday.

AP reports that Burger King worked with scientists from both the Autonomous University in Mexico and the University of California, Davis, to develop and test a diet that would help cows release less methane. According to National Geographic, methane gas is 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth due to the gas’s chemical structure, which is very effective in trapping heat.

Cows, together with other grazing animals, contribute 40 percent of the world’s annual methane budget, so any reduction of cow flatulence is a good thing, even if it won’t solve our biggest climate issues. Also, we have to admit, it’s quite the bold move to try and sell burgers while bragging about cow farts.

They’ve also announced a Reduced Methane Emissions Beef Whopper at select restaurants in Miami, New York, Austin, Portland, and Los Angeles, which is made from beef sourced from these lemongrass eating cows.

(Via AP News)

Shkoryah Carthen has spent half of her life working in the service industry. While the 32-year old restaurant worker quickly sensed that Covid-19 would bring real change to her daily life, Carthen hardly knew just how strongly it would impact her livelihood.

“The biggest challenge for me during this time, honestly is just to stay afloat,” Carthen said.

Upon learning the Dallas restaurant she worked for would close indefinitely, Carthen feared its doors may never reopen.

Soon after, Carthen learned that The Wilkinson Center was desperately looking for workers to create and distribute meals for those in need in their community. The next day, Carthen was at the food pantry restocking shelves and creating relief boxes filled with essentials like canned foods, baby formula and cleaning products. In addition to feeding families throughout the area, this work ensured Carthen the opportunity to provide food for her own.

“The food banks also offer to help the workers out with food if we need it, and a lot of us do,” Carthen said.

Her new job was created by Get Shift Done, an initiative launched by Dallas business and community leaders Anurag Jain and Patrick Brandt with the support of their respective companies, community leaders, restaurant owners and nonprofit organizations. Get Shift Done provides food and service industry workers in need of supplemental income with jobs at food banks and other nonprofits.

Courtesy of Get Shift Done

Even before many restaurants were mandated to shut down, Jain and Brandt considered the imminent impact of diminished work opportunities for hospitality workers. This uncertainty in the industry prompted them to fill the gap and connect those in the service industry to non-profits that need help — especially as a growing demand for services moved against a shrinking pool of available volunteers.

While the pandemic hit the livelihoods of hospitality workers especially hard, they quickly became essential workers — assisting the food banks, pantries and schools in need.”60% of Americans have less than two weeks’ worth of savings,” Brandt said. “So if you think about somebody that’s lost their job in this environment, there’s a likelihood that losing their job could put themselves into food insecurity. Pre-Covid, one in six Americans were already facing food insecurity. We’re working to mitigate that rise.”

While Brandt initially expected the company to provide temporary relief for 10 to 12 weeks, Get Shift Done has grown from a North Texas startup to national relief organization — assisting 11 cities with more than 11,000 workers registered.

“We’ve provided over 18 million meals,” Brandt said. “I’ve never been a part of something that’s scaled quite like this.”

This rapid growth has brought far-reaching assistance with funding from partners like Capital One. The financial institution has committed 50 million dollars to support communities during the pandemic and as part of its investment, Capital One has equipped Get Shift Done with the funding and social capital needed to turn a startup into an organization feeding communities throughout America. Support for the work started in North Texas, but Capital One’s partnership quickly expanded this initiative nationally into 10 additional markets including Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Austin and beyond.

Courtesy of Get Shift Done

“Capital One has been an incredible partner in providing not only financial support but insight and connections to markets across the country, allowing us to grow nationally and offer a critical service for communities who desperately need it,” said Brandt.

Jain added, “It is a beautiful model of partners coming together to create something bigger and more impactful than we would have dreamed possible.”

This assistance will help Get Shift Done continue to impact communities on a large scale even as life during the pandemic becomes the new normal.

“At Capital One, we are focused on swiftly addressing the evolving needs of our communities and supporting those impacted by COVID-19,” Andy Navarrete, head of external affairs at Capital One. “As a national partner of Get Shift Done, we see power in their workforce development model, and believe harnessing such ingenuity will be what gets us through our collective recovery.”

For Shkoryah Carthen, all that matters is that she’s helping her community adjust as she helps herself. “I’ve been told by several different food banks that we have been a blessing,” Carthen said.

Only four people have won an Academy Award for acting and had a number-one album on the U.S. Billboard charts: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand, and Jamie Foxx, who accomplished the former with the Michael Mann-directed Ray and the latter with 2005’s Unpredictable. Others have gotten close, like Lady Gaga and Rihanna (I assume she was nominated for Battleship), but only that quartet has succeeded. Foxx is especially proud to share the rare feat with Babs, who he “used to do these impersonations of,” the Soul and Project Power star told Entertainment Weekly. “Then we actually got a chance to sing on stage with each other.” He continued:

“I’m always thankful, happy, humble to be even mentioned in that [company]. There’s a lot of work to be done, to make sure that when they do mention it, they say, ‘Okay, it all makes sense.’”

Foxx also discussed his long-in-the-works biopic of boxer Mike Tyson, which he’s been training for (“Listen, all you can do is tell your story”), and about the time Tom Selleck’s kids visited his house while he was hosting another artist who knows what it’s like to release a #1 album, Drake. (How long before Drake joins Sinatra, Foxx, etc. by winning an Oscar? And why wasn’t it for Charlie Bartlett?) Hanging with the “Toosie Slide” singer is nothing to Foxx, but the Magnum, P.I. star? “Who’s bigger than Tom Selleck?” he asked, without a hint of irony. Someone remake Collateral with Selleck and Foxx ASAP.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Over the course of its run, the cast of The Sopranos committed their fair share of murders, but one particular death is still infuriating fans, both old and new, to this day.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Beast for their new podcast Talking Sopranos, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa opened up about their time on the hit HBO series and revealed which murders absolutely incensed viewers. While discussing how execs at HBO initially balked when showrunner David Chase wanted Tony Soprano to pull off a hit early in the first season while taking his daughter on a college visit, Schirripa explained that viewers had no problem with any of the characters killing humans. They expected it. But when it comes to canines, forget about it.

Schirripa: HBO didn’t want him to kill the snitch when he took his daughter to college. And they said, there’s no way, a leading man never murdered someone before, we’ll lose the audience. And David Chase said, no, if he doesn’t kill the guy we’ll lose the audience because that’s what he does. And like Michael has said, he’s taken heat for sitting on the dog, killing the dog, but not for killing, how many people did Christopher kill, Michael?

Imperioli: Tons. A lot.

You got more shit for sitting on the dog than anything else?

Imperioli: I do, yeah. Fans take that very personal and get angry.

If you haven’t seen the show, or it’s been a while, during season four, Imperioli’s character Christopher Moltisanti gets high on heroin and unknowingly sits on his girlfriend Adriana’s dog and passes out, leaving the poor little pooch to suffocate. The incident is revealed in an intervention, which incenses Tony and the other members of the Sopranos crime family despite the fact they’re actual murderers. But as Imperioli and Schirripa note, the death of the dog was also a bridge too far for many viewers, and as a new generation has been discovering the show while trapped in quarantine, the line of angry animal lovers keeps chugging along.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got a brand new album from My Morning Jacket, another epic track from Sufjan Stevens, and the sophomore LP from The Beths. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

While you’re here, make sure to follow the official Indie Mixtape playlist wherever you listen to music.

My Morning Jacket — The Waterfall II

It’s been five years since Jim James started talking about The Waterfall II. The album was written and recorded in late 2013, but feels especially poignant today. “Much of the record is composed of bleary-eyed, pedal steel-laced ballads that dwell ruefully on loss and aspire gorgeously to a state of healing, creating an all-too-relatable vibe of heartsick restlessness driven by a desperate desire to believe that tomorrow will somehow be better,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.

The Beths — Jump Rope Gazers

It’s official: The Beths have avoided the sophomore slump. With Jump Rope Gazers, the group have managed to even further fine-tune their already impressive knack for writing pop rock hooks, delivering some of their catchiest music to date. The ten-track effort reinforces The Beths as a band whose focus on songwriting will always pay off.

Julianna Barwick — Healing Is A Miracle

Julianna Barwick’s music feels more like a cinematic soundtrack to life than a traditional album. This is especially the case on Healing Is A Miracle, which fully envelops you into Barwick’s world through an array of otherworldly and ethereal, orchestral arrangements, supplemented by guest appearances from the likes of Mary Lattimore and Sigur Ros’ Jonsi.

100 Gecs — 1000 Gecs And The Tree Of Clues

The new album from 100 Gecs is essentially a deluxe, expanded version of their debut album. The 19-track effort features remixes and live tracks, making for the ultimate Gecs experience, featuring Charli XCX, Rico Nasty, Fall Out Boy, and more. Dive in an experience the madness.

Sufjan Stevens — “My Rajneesh”

“My Rajneesh” is an epic 10-minute track that appears as the B-side to Sufjan Stevens’ epic 17-minute track “America.” By the looks of it, it appears that Stevens’ upcoming solo album The Ascension is going to be his most expansive (and longest) to date. The track is cinematic in scope, featuring “multiple sections, which, like ‘America’ before it, is similar in style to the music Stevens made during the The Age Of Adz era,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.

Nana Adjoa — “No Room”

Along with the announcement of her debut album Big Dreaming Ants, Nana Adjoa has shared the eclectic “No Room,” a funky track that checks off many genre boxes at once. A thumping bass guitar builds a foundation upon which finger-picked guitars float, allowing for Adjoa’s layered vocals to move about the sonic space. It’s a solid entry point for Adjoa, making the upcoming Big Dreaming Ants an anticipated release.

Anjimile — “Maker”

On their upcoming album, Anjimile takes a fresh approach to the tropes of folk music, and “Maker” is a great example of what you can expect from Giver Taker. What starts out as a very sparse number builds into a full-band affair wherein Anjimile is rooted in the depths of self-reflection, asking “Have you ever seen anything quite like this?”

Into It. Over It — “Living Up To Let You Down”

Four years since Standards, his last full-length release, Evan Weiss is back with new Into It. Over It music. It doesn’t take long for “Living Up To Let You Down” to remind us what made Into It. Over It’s unique and hook-driven approach to emo so invigorating in the early 2010’s. The intricacies of the percussion here, combined with the floating synth lines, make the track a welcome return for Weiss’s namesake project.

Lomelda — “Wonder”

It’s always a good day when there’s new Lomelda music. “Wonder” is the first taste Hannah Read’s new album called… Hannah, and takes on a more expansive feel than the previous work from Lomelda. “Wonder is about working hard,” Read said in a statement. “It is my most fun song to play. And I got to play drums on it, so it’s my favorite Lom song forever. May it motivate you to move and smash like it does me.”

Slow Pulp — “Idaho”

Many of the songs on Slow Pulp’s forthcoming debut LP Moveys were written on tour with Alex G, and you can tell on “Idaho.” The new single takes on a dreamy feel in its heavier intro and chorus, while the verses are more direct with a compressed acoustic guitar and unfiltered vocals. It’s a track about finding a paradigm shift that allows you to finally accept love, and unfolds in a dramatic and emotional way.

Baseball Game — “See You Tomorrow”

Previewing their self-titled debut EP, Baseball Game’s “See You Tomorrow” features an impressive vocoder arrangement that makes the track stand out, drawing similarities to experimental folk rockers Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. The track is about “how much people’s presence adds to who we are and when those people are no longer around how much we change without them,” the band wrote in a statement. “This song takes place a couple months after losing someone and wondering what it would be like to see them again.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Will Butler is best known for his work with Arcade Fire, but he has made some wonderful work solo as well; His Emma Stone-starring “Anna” video is particularly memorable. That single came from Butler’s second and most recent solo album, 2016’s Friday Night. Today, he announced that he is ready to follow that album up with another solo record: Generations is set for release on September 25 via Merge.

He also shared a video for the album’s lead single, “Surrender.” The jaunty tune is accompanied by a video that doubles as a behind-the-scenes clip and a vlog. After sharing footage of some of the song’s recording sessions, the remainder of the visual goes back and forth between B-roll Butler speaking to the camera (muted and subtitled, with the song playing over his words).

Butler begins, “Jesus Christ what a year. Just watching that pre-quarantine footage completely melts my brain. I can’t comprehend it. I’m in Brooklyn, finishing this video, about four months into some kind of lockdown, and a little over six weeks into the protests over the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and Elijah McClain, and— I don’t know, man.” He goes on to discuss the increasing number of prison inmates in the US and criticisms of this country’s law enforcement systems.

In a press statement, Butler said of the song:

“‘Surrender’ is masquerading as a love song, but it’s more about friendship. About the confusion that comes as people change–didn’t you use to have a different ideal? Didn’t we have the same ideal at some point? Which of us changed? How did the world change? Relationships that we sometimes wish we could let go of, but that are stuck within us forever.

It’s also about trying to break from the first-person view of the world. ‘What can I do? What difference can I make?’ It’s not about some singular effort–you have to give yourself over to another power. Give over to people who have gone before who’ve already built something–you don’t have to build something new! The world doesn’t always need a new idea, it doesn’t always need a new personality. What can you do with whatever power and money you’ve got? Surrender it over to something that’s already made. And then the song ends with an apology–I’m sorry I’ve been talking all night. Cause talking like that, man, not always useful.”

He also said of Generations more broadly, “My first record, Policy, was a book of short stories. Generations is more of a novel–despairing, funny, a little bit epic… A big chunk of this record is asking: What’s my place in American history? What’s my place in America’s present? Both in general–as a participant, as we all are, in the sh*t that’s going down–but, also extremely particularly: me as Will Butler, rich person, white person, Mormon, Yankee, parent, musician of some sort, I guess. What do I do? What can I do? The record asks that question over and over, even if it’s not much for answers.”

Watch the “Surrender” video above” and check out the Generations art and tracklist below.

1. Outta Here”
2. “Bethlehem”
3. “Close My Eyes ”
4. “I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know”
5. “Surrender”
6. “Hide It Away”
7. “Hard Times”
8. “Promised”
9. “Not Gonna Die”
10. “Fine”

Generations is out 9/25 via Merge. Pre-order it here.