Monday marks the launch of Quibi, the new mobile streaming service from Jeffrey Katzenberg and former HP and eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Among the dozens of series debuting on the app are a handful of sports shows featuring some of the biggest names in the worlds of basketball, football, soccer, and more.

Some of the shows, such as Cam Newton’s Iron Sharpens Iron and Megan Rapinoe’s Prodigy, have previously dropped trailers that include looks inside what folks can expect to see — Newton’s show takes two athletes from different sports and has them discuss the methods they use to train, while Rapinoe’s looks at the stories behind some of the top young athletes on earth. They are, however, hardly the only two programs Quibi will feature the world of sports to one extent or another.

One such show is I Promise, which comes via executive producer LeBron James and gives a glimpse inside his school in Akron that shares a name with the program’s title. James isn’t the only member of the banana boat crew to appear on the platform: Carmelo Anthony makes a cameo on You Ain’t Got These, Lena Waithe’s look at sneaker culture that also includes cameos from Billie Jean King, Candace Parker, Jemele Hill, and Eric Koston.

Professional rally car driver Ken Block is one-half of the equation on Elba vs. Block, which pits him against Idris Elba in a collection of car-themed challenges.

Beyond the five aforementioned programs, personalities in the world of sports pop up in a handful of other Quibi programs. Anthony Davis and Aaron Rodgers make appearances on episodes of Jennifer Lopez’s Thanks a Million, in which celebrities give $100,000 to someone who is then tasked with giving away half of it, while The Miz, Big E, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Rob Gronkowski appear on Gone Mental with Lior, starring renowned mentalist Lior Suchard.

A trio of programs on the platform — The Replay by ESPN, Sports AM by TSN, and Speedrun by Polygon — will offer up sports and gaming news. Most of the aforementioned shows are available on Quibi as of its launch, with Elba vs. Block debuting on April 13 and Iron Sharpens Iron coming on April 20.

John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” channel has already outdone itself, and it’s only the second episode.

In case you missed it, Krasinski launched a YouTube channel dedicated only to positive, uplifting news last week, and it has gotten a rave response. We’re all craving good news right now, as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the planet. We all need some bright lights in the darkness.

This week, the original cast of Hamilton brought the bright lights of Broadway to “Some Good News,” and people are going gaga over it.

Those of us who can’t get enough of the unique genius of Hamilton are constantly clamoring to get our hands on every snippet of film that includes the original Broadway cast. And now, Krasinski has delivered a brand spankin’ new, socially distanced performance right into our living rooms. The whole gang—Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., Daveed Diggs, Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, etc.—gathered on Zoom to sing the show’s opening number, “Alexander Hamilton.” IT’S SO GOOD.

Zoom Surprise: Some Good News with John Krasinski Ep. 2

www.youtube.com

But what makes it even sweeter is that they surprised a young fan with it. A young girl named Aubrey’s family had tickets to see Hamilton, but the performance was cancelled due to the pandemic. Her mom tweeted that Aubrey decided to watch Mary Poppins Returns (starring Krasinski’s wife, Emily Blunt) that night instead, figuring a movie that included Lin-Manuel Miranda was the closest she could get to Hamilton. Oh, was she wrong.

The whole episode is worth watching, but the Hamilton part comes in at about the 8:27 minute mark.

Thank you, John Krasinski and Lin-Manuel Miranda, for making our quarantined Hamilton dreams come true.

Because sometimes it’s not as easy as just washing your face.

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Miller was escorted out of the building by staff, a source at the bar told BuzzFeed News.

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Today: How to let your friends without jobs know you want to give them money, as well as questions about redeeming gift cards and antiseptic wipes.

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will deputise for the prime minister where necessary.

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Queens-born Korean producer Yaeji unveiled her revved-up mixtape What We Drew last week. To celebrate her highly-anticipated release, Yaeji debuted an animated lyric video to the track “When I Grow Up” as a reflection on the themes of her early childhood.

Animated and directed by Luis Yang, the visual moves in alignment with Yaeji’s jarring synth beat. Each component of the animation somehow ties in with the theme of Yaeji’s mixtape. Dancing onions and flashing video game controllers float around the producer’s outlined alter-ego.

In a statement, Yaeji said the track is an acute reflection on her childhood: “‘WHEN I GROW UP’ is a song of two perspectives talking with each other. one is me from my childhood, wondering what it would be like when i become an adult. the other is me as an adult, breaking the truth to young me,” she said.

In a recent interview with Vice‘s Garage Magazine, Yaeji discussed her draw to visual art as a medium, which can be seen through her “When I Grow Up” video:

“I’ve always been way more comfortable with visual art for a very long period of my life,” she said. “I think the earliest memory I have is when I was four years old: I was painting a lot, and decided then that I would become a visual artist when I grew up, and I stayed pretty consistently on that path until college. I’m still really comforted by it. I would say my visual art making practice is really similar to music making in a lot of ways. I’m more of a process-based artist, and I’m really frantic and messy sometimes, and abstract and expressive. Often you have to just let it all out that way and then clean it up and organize it later, and understand the bigger picture of the messaging of it.”

Watch Yaeji’s “When I Grow Up” lyric video above.

What We Drew is out now via XL. Get it here.

Before Fleabag was turned into an Emmy-winning show, it was an acclaimed one-woman show. That woman: No Time to Die co-writer, Killing Eve creator, and guinea pig enthusiast Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who returned to London’s West End for more performances in 2019. One of those productions was broadcast into theaters last year (theatres, for my Hot Priest-loving friends across the pond), but if you missed it, Fleabag Live is being released online to raise money for COVID-19 charities.

“I hope this filmed performance of Fleabag can help raise money while providing a little theatrical entertainment in these isolated times,” Waller-Bridge said. “Thank you to all our partners and to the creative team who have waived their royalties from this production to raise money for such vital causes in this unbelievably challenging situation. All money raised will support the people throughout our society who are fighting for us on the frontlines and those financially devastated by the crisis, including those in the theatre community. Thank you in advance to those who donate. Now go get into bed with Fleabag. It’s for charity.” Pretty sure she’s specifically talking to Obama there.

Fleabag Live premiered today in the UK and Ireland on Soho Theatre’s On Demand streaming site, and will hit Amazon Prime Video in the United States beginning Friday, April 10; it will run for two weeks. A 48-hour rental costs five bucks.

(Via Deadline)

With so much music coming out all the time, great albums are bound to fall through the cracks. But that’s probably even more common for pop-leaning artists who are on indie labels, often eclipsed by the huge campaigns surrounding the massive pop stars, even if their music is just as good, if not better. Occupying this strange space between the ultra famous and more established indie stars can be tough for emerging artists — or career ones — who exist in the middle realm.

Luckily, it’s my job to keep a lookout for these albums that are bubbling just under the surface, and I’ve collected ten of them to get you through another month of staying indoors. Music is a great way to mark time, so maybe throw a couple of these records on this month to help make the days go by. There is an end in sight, and staying positively distracted with a good soundtrack is a good way to keep in a healthy frame of mind. Check out these records you might’ve missed below.

Anna Burch — If You’re Dreaming

It would be easy to describe the steady, peaceful pacing of Anna Burch’s second album, If You’re Dreaming as, well, dreamy. The twelve-track follow-up to her 2018 solo debut, Quit The Curse is a departure from the jangling, guitar-rock that put her on the map, pushing outward into slower and hypnotic tunes that are perfect for zoning out and stretching out. Written in part as a self-soothing exercise after many long months on the road and a series of tumultuous housing situations, these songs are beyond dreamy, they’re lullabies for a turbulent world. They’re more lucid than dreams, and better for it.

Half Waif — The Caretaker

Nandi Rose Plunkett’s exploration of loneliness and self-care unfolds on her surreal, swirling new album, The Caretaker, another strong entry — if not the strongest — into Half Waif‘s already formidable discography. Decamping from Brooklyn to live upstate on a rather remote estate, Nandi’s character of the caretaker is self-informed, but with enough room to bring the mesmerizing world of the country’s strange wildlife and mythology into play. This is an album full of such deft self-excavation that listeners might find themselves uncovering forgotten layers of themselves, too.

Jordana — Classical Notions Of Happiness

Initially released on Bandcamp as a collection of the early thoughts, feelings, and musical ideas of 19-year-old Jordana Nye, Classical Notions Of Happiness quickly caught the ear of the internet, and after co-signs from Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop and Pitchfork, Nye landed herself a record deal with the New York-based label, Grand Jury. The label not only re-released Nye’s DIY demos, but incorporated three new tracks from the wunderkind, who is quickly outgrowing her dewy bedroom synths for some freewheeling psychedelic warbling on the album’s closer, “Crunch.” On Happiness, Nye contains multitudes, and listening to her expand feels almost like doing it yourself.

Shoffy — Flash

An Uproxx fav from 2018, LA-based producer Shoffy is back with another collection of electro-pop that undeniably grooves. His last release, Lenses, was a completely independent album, with no guests or features, but this year’s Flash includes a number of welcome — and surprising — guests. From emerging R&B singers like Sabrina Carpenter, who sings on two songs here, to the Soundcloud veteran producers RAC, the new voices and sounds help Shoffy build on his smart, sweet synth-pop sound.

Galantis — Church

Galantis is the kind of EDM group who can bring together everyone, from Dolly Parton to Passion Pit. The DJ duo of Christian Karlsson (of Miike Snow) and Linus Eklöw know how to craft the kind of epic dancefloor hit that can turn your living room into the club — at least until the end of the song. Throw this on for ultimate jams that are catchy and ebullient enough to make the outside world disappear, and make dance the universal language of recovery. Sometimes, all you need to survive the night is to dance till the drop hits.

Allie X — Cape God

Allie X is one of the unsung pop stars of our time, but she comes through like the world’s biggest star on her newest album, Cape God. With features like Mitski (!) and Troye Sivan, the Toronto-raised/LA-based singer/songwriter released her second studio album in February of this year, quietly building momentum off the gloomy pop bops like “Devil I Know.” Writing songs from the perspective of characters in the 2015 documentary, Heroin: Cape Cod, this sometimes dark, sometimes campy pop exploration is as weird as Lana, and as experimental as St. Vincent.

Caribou — Suddenly

Every record that Dan Snaith releases as Caribou seems to top the one before, and Suddenly was a welcome addition to the producer’s oeuvre. It’s hard to say anything tops his last record, Our Love, but maybe because it’s been six years since that one dropped, it makes Suddenly all the sweeter. No one can spin a single synth sound and a whisper-sung lyric into a soothing, soulful song like Snaith can, but the moments on this album that get jittery and weird are just as welcome, like when “Sunny’s Time” ventures into a strange jazz freakout. Standout track “Home” brings an old soul sample in alongside glitchy and comforting production that never veers off course or gets too heavy-handed, a feat only Snaith could pull off.

Caitlyn Smith — Supernova

Walking the tightrope between the folk/country and indie/pop worlds is harder than it looks, but Caitlyn Smith has pulled it off to great success on her latest album, Supernova. With fiery anthems like “Damn You For Breaking My Heart” and bleary, string-laden ballads like the title track, Smith showcases her work as an inventive, flexible songwriting who pens songs that supersede genre. Smith knows how to make songs smoke and let them burn, but she’s also an expert at barely stoking the embers, and letting a song’s heat catch flame at just right moment, as showcased on “I Can’t,” a brassy sigh of exasperation that I’ve been returning to during crises big and small.

Elliot Moss — A Change In Diet

Following up his impressive debut, Highspeeds in 2015, Elliot Moss has been racking up comparisons to the likes of Bon Iver and James Blake as one of the great emotion-driven songwriters who can convert those feelings into electronic production. Following up the shorter EP-length release Boomerang in 2017, his second full-length, A Change In Diet opens up his songwriting and production even farther into post-Yeezus territory. Falsetto vocals, slithering beats, and flickering synths make this a must-listen for rainy nights and long, grey days.

Torres — Silver Tongue

After splitting with her former label, 4AD, Mackenzie Scott quickly signed with the legendary North Carolina label Merge Records, and prepared a full departure from her 2017 release, Three Futures. This year’s Silver Tongue is best described by Scott herself: “I feel like I’ve lived an entire lifetime in the three years since recording Three Future. This new record documents the significant fruits, for better or worse, of some terrifically delusional pursuits.” While it might be more meandering and abstract than some of her past work, it’s a gorgeous, strangely dark reminder of what a songwriting force Scott has always been. Listen for mythic, dark-pop reflections on just about everything.

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