Category: Viral

Being Dead is a band that indulges its members’ goofiest tendencies. For starters, the two core members’ (stage) names are Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy (né Gumball), and their excellent sophomore album, EELS, opens with a love song about Godzilla. The Austin band donsn’t shy away from tongue-in-cheek humor, but their delivery and execution remain fully earnest. Their dueling vocal harmonies convey similarly extreme levels of yearning as heard on 100 gecs’ breakup song about a tooth extraction.

EELS blazes forward with a gleeful, playful sense of levity. Assisted by legendary indie producer John Congleton, Being Dead adorn their brief yet hard-hitting chamber-punk tunes with gritty guitars, deft drumming, and two-part vocals that play to the duality that lies at the heart of the band itself: silliness and sincerity.

Following the record’s release in September, the group sat down with Uproxx to talk about The Velvet Underground, Cindy Lee, crashing at a sheep farm in Amsterdam, and more in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Songs for enjoying spaghetti.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

The only audio media left. Fingers crossed, they know how hot, strong and toned our muscles were!

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Velvet Underground because they are hardcore rockers who aren’t afraid to take it there.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?

In the kitchen of the ‘sad pad’ where we all wore diapers and feasted upon succulent duck! A delicacy and a delight!

Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.

Deerhoof at Wizard Rodeo 2023!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What song never fails to make you emotional?

“Power & Possession” by Cindy Lee.

What’s the last thing you Googled?

Definition of ‘squandered’

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

Sheep farm in Amsterdam. Incredible.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?

So far probably New York or London! But we’d love to play Tokyo. Las Vegas also seems like a trip lol but any city can surprise ya, huh?

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Invest in that Gamestop stock.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

Falcon is the fastest person in the band. She can beat mostly anyone in a footrace or swim race too.

If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?

Relief for those suffering in Palestine because of basic humanitarian reasons and the fact that we’re complicit as Americans.

What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?

Hmmm I don’t think it will get too out of hand but who knows the world is a pretty unpredictable place.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.

The Beatles, System of a Down, Neil Young, Daniel Johnston, Steely Dan on top of a beautiful, scenic mountain with cool natural water slides and sweeping meadows of lush green grass and trampolines and rainbows and all your best friends and family.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?

Patti Harrison.

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

Falcon tattooed Cody’s best friend’s name on his arse while we listened to Black Sabbath and drank whiskey.

What is your pre-show ritual?

We like to sit in total darkness and repeat, in a whisper: “we are worth it” and then pound 5 beers each and watch WWE.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Rachel Weisz from The Mummy / Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You.

You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?

Falcon would go to New Zealand and do some serious exploring, thru-hiking, eating, n’ playing!

What is your biggest fear?

Roaches (fuck em). And being locked in a box with 1 inch of space all around me so I can barely move but I never die… Kinda like in the movie Interview With A Vampire. I think that’s where it stems from.

EELS is available now via Bayonet Records. Find more information here.

The Halloween costumes have been pretty good so far this year. The stars are reaching into their genre bag, with Megan Thee Stallion’s Teen Titans costume earning the approval of DC Studios CEO James Gunn, and Halle Bailey channeling her namesake in her 007-inspired costume.

Halle posted photos of her simple but inspired costume on Twitter, showing off the iconic orange bikini and white knife belt of infamous Bond girl Jinx, from Die Another Die, as portrayed by Halle Berry (who Bailey sometimes gets mistaken for). The costume hails from Jinx’s second appearance in the film and one of its most recognizable scenes, when the NSA agent emerges from the ocean in the striking swimsuit — an homage to a prior Bond girl, Honey Ryder (portrayed by Ursula Andress) from the first 007 film, Dr. No.

Halle Berry is turning out to be a favorite of Gen Z stars’ 2024 Halloween costumes, as South African singer Tyla and rapper Coi Leray also donned costume sfrom the actress’ oeuvre, albeit much earlier in her filmography. Tyla went with an homage to Berry’s Flintstones character, Sharon Stone (ha), while Coi opted for Berry’s take on Catwoman from the oft-maligned (yet, somehow, much beloved) camp classic and favorite celebrity Halloween costume.

It was tough to tell which line at the Sabrina Carpenter concert was going where. They twisted around the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, like a tangle of cords. That could be for the box office… or maybe it’s for general admission? The only line that I knew for sure was the longest one: the merch line.

If you didn’t have a ticket for The Short N’ Sweet Tour (it’s a hot ticket), you could understand the vibe of the show just by looking at the official merchandise being sold outside the venue. There was “short” and “sweet” socks; lots of pleasing pinks and blues; a hoodie with red lipstick kisses; a shirt with “God Bless Your Dad’s Genetics” written on it; and a hat with “I’m Working Late” on the front and “Cause I’m A Singer” on the back. The more daring items were a “69” soccer jersey and a shirt that spelled out “ca-ma-ra-de-rie” with the pronunciation “kǝm-rit-on-me.” Go ahead. Say it out loud. If the goal was to convey the flirty aesthetic of multi-platinum singles “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” and “Taste,” the merch was a success.

As was the concert itself. The Short N’ Sweet Tour was one of the best pop shows I’ve ever been to. It begins with a video of Carpenter reacting to the camera while taking a bubble bath, like Margot Robbie in The Big Short, before an old-school announcer tells her the show is starting. She takes the stage in a bath towel, which gets dropped to the floor, revealing a sparkly bodysuit underneath. That winking charm remains throughout the entirety of the well-paced 90-minute set, which is part co-ed slumber party at Megan Draper’s dream New York City studio apartment, part television show. There are vintage cameras emblazoned with “​​SC” on either side of the stage; the band is introduced through late night talk show-style credits; and there are retro commercials to distract the 16,000-strong crowd during brief set breaks.

But when Carpenter is on stage, all eyes are on her. She’s very good at Being A Pop Star. Her practiced banter sounds off the cuff, and there’s a playful ease to the way she carries herself; she’s able to channel both innocent Sandy and “tell me about it, stud” Sandra Dee. Even (especially?) when she’s singing the Jack Antonoff-produced “Sharpest Tool” while sitting on a heart-shaped toilet.

As for the accusations that she’s lip-syncing: she’s not. In person, Carpenter has an appealing twang to her voice reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves in the Pageant Material era (she even referenced Kacey’s “I didn’t say f*cking yee”). It served her well for the spin-the-bottle cover of Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5,” which the parents in the audience happily sang along to with their tween-age kids. (The mom in front of me looked over nervously at her young daughter every time Carpenter told a dirty joke or made a double entendre or lost an item of clothing, which meant she was looking over a lot.)

The encore, naturally, was “Espresso,” the Billboard-charting hit that provided the opportunity for Carpenter to sell out arenas, and likely soon, stadiums. But the concert’s true ending was the song before it. During “Don’t Smile,” the “credits” for the concert were projected on stage. The names of the wardrobe, audio, set construction departments — they were all there, scrolling on the screen behind the performers. It’s really cool.

The final credit before Carpenter left the stage to prepare for “Espresso”: tour merchandise (shout out to Joe H and Chris V). This clever acknowledgment shows how much merch means to the Short N’ Sweet experience, and not just for the obvious financial impact. Sabrina Carpenter is working late ‘cause she’s a singer, but so is everyone putting fans in Sabrina Carpenter shirts and “69” jerseys. They did — as Carpenter herself would probably put it — a nice job.

The debate about what constitutes an album versus a mixtape has raged since the introduction of digital music. Denzel Curry is about to blur the lines even further with his next release. In July, he released King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2, a follow-up to his 2012 mixtape King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 1. Today, he announced the release date of King Of The Mischievous South, the album, which updates the tracklist of the July mixtape with five new songs and a new track order. The album is due on November 15.

The new songs on the album version will include “Act A Damn Fool” featuring Duke Deuce and Slim Guerilla, “Got Me Geeked,” “P.O.P.” featuring Key Nata and Sauce Walka, “Anotha Late Night” featuring 454, and new single, “Still In The Paint” featuring Bktherula and Laser Dim 700, which he released the video for today, as well. Original tracks like “Hot One,” “Black Flag Freestyle,” “Hoodlumz,” and “Set It” remain. You can watch the video for “Still In The Paint” above.

King Of The Mischievous South is out 11/15 via Loma Vista Recordings. You can find more info here. See below for the tracklist.

Denzel Curry’s King Of The Mischievous South Tracklist

01. “KOTMS II Intro”
02. “Ultra Shxt” Feat. Key Nyata
03. “Set It” Feat. Maxo Kream
04. “Hot One” Feat. TiaCorine & A$AP FERG
05. “Act A Damn Fool” Feat. Duke Deuce & Slim Guerilla
06. “Black Flag Freestyle” Feat. That Mexican OT
07. “Headcrack Interlude”
08. “G’z Up” Feat. 2 Chainz & Mike Dimes
09. “Lunatic Interlude”
10. “Sked” Feat. Kenny Mason & Project Pat
11. “Got Me Geeked”
12. “Cole Pimp” Feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Juicy J
13. “P.O.P.” Feat. Key Nyata & Sauce Walka
14. “Anotha Late Nite” Feat. 454
15. “Wishlist” Feat. Armani White
16. “Hit the Floor” Feat. Ski Mask The Slump God
17. “Still in The Paint” Feat. Bktherula & LAZER DIM 700
18. “Hoodlumz” Feat. PlayThatBoiZay & A$AP Rocky
19. “KOTMS II Outro”

Olivia Rodrigo‘s favorite movies include one where a woman gets covered in blood, and another involving blood suckers.

While walking the red carpet at the premiere of Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour, the arena rock star was asked to name her “Four Favorites” by Letterboxd. Her picks: Gone Girl, Lady Bird (“I remember watching that for the first time and just bawling my eyes out”), The Worst Person In The World (“I love that movie so much”), and Twilight. “I’m a Twihard girlie,” the “Vampire” singer explained. “I don’t even know what draws me into it so much, but it’s just so intoxicating and sexy and beautiful, and I love the goth aspect of it.”

Rodrigo also shared that she has a Letterboxd, but she won’t reveal her username. “I leave some pretty scathing reviews sometimes,” she said (we need to hear her thoughts on Cats). If someone wants to comb through every account with five-star ratings for both Gone Girl and Twilight, that should only take, oh, 13 hours. Or as long as Rodrigo sleeps while touring.

You can watch Olivia Rodrigo’s “Four Favorites” video with Letterboxd here. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour is also streaming now on Netflix.

Although Tory Lanez was convicted of shooting Megan Thee Stallion almost two years ago and sentenced to 10 years in prison, Megan is still dealing with the legal fallout of the case. According to Billboard, the Houston rapper has filed a lawsuit against a YouTuber named Milagro Gramz for allegedly spreading disinformation about Megan and the case.

The lawsuit accuses Milagro Gramz — whose real name is Milagro Elizabeth Cooper — of being a “mouthpiece and puppet” for Tory Lanez, using her platform to “denigrate, belittle, insult, and spread false statements” about Megan. The lawsuit also alleges that Cooper shared a pornographic deepfake of Meg, along with cyberstalking, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.

Among the disinformation allegedly circulated by Cooper was an assertion that the gun used by Tory to shoot Meg in the foot had gone missing. However, according to Meg’s attorneys, “The firearm remains in the custody of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

This isn’t the first time Megan’s legal team accused Tory of using surrogates to attack her in the media and undermine her credibility. Tory was found guilty of committing assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury; concealing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence after the July 2020 incident, which left Meg with bullet fragments in both feet. Despite this — or perhaps because of it — Lanez has amassed a more dedicated following of supporters who seem much more interested in trolling Megan than they ever did in streaming or buying Tory’s music.

Meanwhile, Meg isn’t the only rap star irritated by Gramz’s antics; in June, she also got into a Twitter tiff with Cardi over Cardi’s comments about the BET Experience in LA.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Various Artists, Cardinals At The Window

John Coltrane. Nina Simone. Thelonious Monk. Ben E. King. George Clinton. Doc Watson. James Taylor. Loudon Wainwright III. Emmylou Harris. J. Cole. Jodeci. Randy Travis. Eric Church. Flat Duo Jets. Archers Of Loaf. Superchunk. The Avett Brothers. Sylvan Esso. Wednesday. MJ Lenderman.

All of these artists and bands are among the musical natives of North Carolina. Clearly, this is a state that has given so much. Now, it’s time to give back. Cardinals At The Window — a massive 135-track compilation featuring unreleased songs by everyone from R.E.M. to The War On Drugs to Sharon Van Etten to dozens more — benefits flood relief in Western North Carolina. The people there are still trying to pick up the pieces. Help them along, and enjoy some incredible music in the process.

2. The Hard Quartet, The Hard Quartet

There are few terms in the modern musical lexicon more loaded than “supergroup.” It denotes an assemblage of well-known musicians, but what it actually communicates is “likely underwhelming short-term marriage.” I have no idea if The Hard Quartet — the new group featuring Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly — will last beyond their self-titled debut. But the wonder of this album is how un-supergroup-like it is. It feels homey and lived-in, more like it’s the fourth or fifth LP in the catalog than an introduction. And there’s a certain modesty in how the various singers and songwriters complement each other — Malkmus’ slack surrealism, Kelly’s laconic cool, and Sweeney’s campfire croon already sound like they have coexisted for the better part of a decade.

3. Styrofoam Winos, Real Time

This Nashville trio reminds me a lot of The Hard Quartet, only the members aren’t indie-famous. However, they do occupy a similar space of loose-limbed guitar music that can meander without losing the lyrical and melodic plot. Perhaps what I’m trying to say is that both bands remind me of American Water — Malkmus playing on American Water helps, obviously, but Styrofoam Winos residing on the same “approachably eccentric and impressively erudite” side of the Nashville divide also matters. The larger point remains: “Music that remind me of American Water” is one of my favorite subgenres.

4. Bon Iver, SABLE

Justin Vernon has long treated his most famous music project with a certain weariness. As Bon Iver releases have become less frequent, it seemed reasonable to assume that he might eventually mothball the brand name for good. So, the arrival of this EP registers as a surprise on multiple layers. One, because it exists. But more important, this has to be the most straightforward and accessible music he has ever put out as Bon Iver. Singing in his natural, lower register and mostly eschewing the terror-techno digital distortions of his late-2010s work, Vernon more or less sounds like the man who shaped our curent generation of sad-guy superstar singer-songwriters. (I refer to you, Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan, among many others.)

5. Wild Pink, Dulling The Horns

This Brooklyn band has been saddled with the dubious “critic’s favorite” tag for so long that it must feel like a hindrance at this point. Not that it has affected the music in any discernible way — this is their fifth very good-to-excellent album released in the past seven years. (Congratulations on passing The Five Albums Test, fellas.) It might also be their most purely enjoyable record to date. After the emotionally taxing ILYSM, which was informed by frontman John Ross’ cancer battle, Dulling The Horns feels palpably lighter, even as it rocks much harder. At heart, Wild Pink remains an expert heartland rock band at the top of the post-Lost In The Dream class, though their embrace of noisier sounds on Dulling The Horns gives their music extra grit and power.

6. Good Looks, “Chase Your Demons Out”

Speaking of post-Lost In The Dream heartland rock: Good Looks’ Lived Here For A While has stayed in my regular rotation for months now, and in October they kindly issued two more songs, presumably from the same sessions. Both are great, but “Chase Your Demons Out” immediately belongs with their top-tier material, spotlighting the alchemy of Tyler Jordan’s heart-tugging songwriting and the inspired improvisations of guitarist Jake Ames.

7. Kelly Lee Owens, Dreamstate

The previous work by this Welsh producer could be classified as “thinking person’s” dance music, no matter how dumb that sounds. (I’m trying not to use the even cornier “IDM” tag.) I’ve enjoyed her past albums, but Dreamstate hits the hardest for me, mostly because it actually sounds like a record you could dance to. Not that I would dance to it, because nobody wants to see that. But I can theoretically dance to this album for sure. My Indiecast co-host Ian Cohen describes this as her “basic” album, and he means it as a compliment. And so do I.

8. Peel Dream Magazine, ‘Rose Main Reading Room’

I became a fan of this L.A. band after hearing their second record, Agitprop Alterna, in 2020. Based on that album, I had them clocked as proponents of drone-pop in the mold of Stereolab. Turns out Peel Dream Magazine couldn’t be so easily categorized. Their next album, 2022’s Pad, shifted to a more orchestral, Pet Sounds-inspired sound, while their latest release refines that aesthetic a bit, alluding to Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois and Air’s Moon Safari. This is catchy, sophisticated and well-composed pop music made to luxuriate in.

9. Tim Heidecker, Slipping Away

The tricky balance between “media-skewering comic genius” and “low-key and earnest singer-songwriter” seem to get a little easier in 2022 with High School, a warm and witty song cycle supported by a well-received tour backed by the aptly named Very Good Band. Heidecker’s latest brings the spirit of the tour to wax — Slipping Away is an old-school, “live in the studio” effort in which Heidecker sets his suburban dad musings to rollicking country-rock that evoke Gram Parson and the twangiest numbers by the early ’70s Rolling Stones.

10. 2nd Grade, Scheduled Explosions

Power pop is such a hard genre to master because there’s nowhere to hide — you either have the tunes or you don’t. Most bands of this ilk tend to keep on making records well past the point of losing their melodic touch. Thankfully, that’s not yet true of this Philadelphia outfit, whose previous effort, Easy Listening, was one of my favorite LPs of 2022. Scheduled Explosions doesn’t have the same hit rate as that record, but it doesn’t seem like it was supposed to. This is a deliberately messy record, like if mid-’90s GBV had tried to sound more like The Monkees. Which, of course, is a pretty awesome thing to be.

11. The Voidz, Like All Before You

I’m mentioning this record, in part, because I feel like practically nobody has acknowledged its existence. And those that have generally think it’s trash. But I have a soft spot for Julian Casablancas’ bonkers side project, where he gets to indulge in his most stoned and least coherent ideas. Hence Like All Before You, a sorta-political and quasi-philosophical treatise on Buddhist texts and religious cults and other such miscellanea conveyed via a confusing mishmash of discount synths and shredding Megadeth-style riffs. Is it good? As always with The Voidz, I honestly don’t know. But I can’t stop listening.

Ari Lennox released her latest single, “Smoke,” earlier this month. Apparently, she’s not pleased with the level of reach the song has achieved, or more specifically, she’s upset with how her label, J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, handled the release. In fact, Lennox is at the point where she wants to be done with the label.

In a recent Instagram Live broadcast (archived here), Lennox spoke at length about her issues with Dreamville. At one point, she declared her desire to be dropped from the label, saying:

“I wish I had a label that wouldn’t have me out here trying to explain why I need advertisement, why I need advertisement for my record. […] You cannot expect an artist to be anything without advertisement. Like, you can’t. You can’t. Why am I begging for advertisement? Why am I paying for my own Google ads? No, it’s not OK.

So, I just want to be released, and it’s just that simple. And I’m tired of being nice, and I was trying to do everything the right way, but now I’m pissed. This was my final straw. I have communicated effectively and no one cares, so now we’re here in toxic-ass social media world, or this is how I’m deciding to express myself in a toxic way. But, we’re here, and I don’t know how else to get it through people’s thick head. Like, stop playing with me.”

Later, she continued, “I love making music. I loved every moment of making ‘Smoke.’ It was my freedom song, and I dropped it, and the label neglected me. They left me there by myself. […] Dreamville literally is telling me to my face they don’t believe in advertisements, they don’t believe in Google ads. What am I supposed to do with that information?”

For the record, this is a long-festering situation between Lennox and Dreamville, as Lennox also said in 2022 that she wanted to be done with Dreamville.

If you spent too much time watching Toonami in the early 2000s, you are already familiar with Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. For everyone else, it’s the anime companion film for Daft Punk‘s 2001 album Discovery about the abduction of an alien music band by an evil human character who has dark plans, as told through songs like “One More Time,” “Digital Love,” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”

Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is a lot of fun. The animation from Toei Animation (and overseen by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto) looks great, and it’ll look even better when a 4K remastered version of the film is released in theaters for one night only on December 17.

“We’re excited to bring Daft Punk’s iconic Interstella 5555, now fully remastered in stunning 4K, to cinemas for this one-night-only global event,” Trafalgar Releasing CEO Marc Allenby said in a statement. “This is a rare opportunity to experience the film on the big screen, along with accompanying Daft Punk music videos, and we can’t wait to share it with audiences everywhere.”

To find out more information on Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, including how to buy tickets beginning November 13, click here.

Every WWE star is looking for their breakout moment. Occasionally that happens when momentum builds with the support of fan involvement, a spoken line in a segment catches fire, or the visual of an instance transcends the moment to become an iconic image. But sometimes, it’s simply serendipity, where suddenly everything connects in ways that even the superstars don’t anticipate.

For Bronson Reed, attacking Seth Rollins wasn’t enough of a statement just two months ago. The 300-pound Aussie dropped Tsunami after Tsunami on The Visionary as the audience roared and social media was set ablaze. Eventually, Reed left Rollins laid out in the middle of the ring after landing six Tsunamis. That moment was a turning point for Reed as he transcends to the main event of Monday Night Raw with hopes of claiming an elusive world title.

“The Austin 3:16 promo is one of those pivotal moments that, unfortunately, not everyone has that one moment in their career where things sort of change,” Reed tells Uproxx Sports. “I feel like the six Tsunamis is that for me. Since then it has been different, and I’m going in the right direction that I want to be. Hopefully I can keep that momentum up and we will look back at the six Tsunamis as that turning point. But now it’s making sure that I deliver in the match (at Crown Jewel). We’ve had all the attacks and everything with Seth and now it’s about actually delivering an in-ring match that’s worthy of a (PLE).”

As Becky Lynch once told me, these moments are when preparation meets opportunity. The pressure has built for Reed over the last two months after his crushing beatdown of Rollins. He’s continued to be a highlight of weekly episodic television with viral moments, whether he’s smashing Braun Strowman on a car or forcing a table to explode five feet into the air.

As Reed prepares for arguably the biggest match of his career on Saturday against Rollins at Crown Jewel, he isn’t getting caught up in the pressure that comes with rising up the card though. He understands the path to the top, and he’s built confidence in his in-ring abilities over the span of about half of his life at this point.

“I think a lot of people, when they have these moments, they want the trajectory just to go straight up,” Reed says. “But in our business, it’s definitely more of a roller coaster. You’re always going to have those highs and lows, but it’s just trying to make sure whenever you have those highs that you deliver. Those things start adding up and it’s not just this one pivotal moment. It’s all these things building up together. So that’s what I’m trying to do is have a body of work where you can go, ‘Oh, look at everything that he did in the year.’”

The journey to Saturday’s showdown has been one with plenty of bumps along the way. After being released from WWE in 2021, Reed spent just a year away before his return. During his time away, Reed says it was one of those moments that reaffirmed his love of wrestling.

“I think it’s a good thing to learn that you still have passion for the business that you love. I’ve always been a huge wrestling fan and I’ve loved it since I was a kid. And I feel like something like this could crush certain people and they might not ever wrestle again or they might do something else,” Reed says. “But it was one of those moments where I’m like, ‘I love this. I’m not going to change what I do.’ But it was reassuring to me that I can do this elsewhere, that I can be a commodity elsewhere. So in the hands of WWE, I should be an even bigger commodity. And I kept that in my mind coming back.”

Continuing to build his confidence in and outside of WWE has helped Reed reach the next level. In his return, he needed to be patient before his time to step into the spotlight would come. He says it was good that he wasn’t propelled right away into a prominent position, rather it was a slow burn where he was able find his feet, understand who he is, and turn the volume on his character all the way up.

He’s not overthinking things. He’s simply creating chaos.

“I’ve realized that in the moment, just to go with what I think will work and generally that’s been working for me,” Reed says. “But also I feel like the Bronson Reed character, you can have more fun with it because I’m a big, indestructible sort of guy that just goes out there and destroys things, almost a Godzilla-like figure. And I remember seeing a quote from an artist, I don’t remember who, and they said ‘I don’t create art, I create chaos.’ And that’s what I think of every time when I step through the curtain is Bronson Reed isn’t here to create five-star wrestling matches, he is here to create chaos.”

Following in the footsteps of pro wrestling’s great big men, Reed is moved by comparisons to the likes of Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader, who he says he’s drawn inspiration from. While WWE has historically been the land of giants, the amount of monster big men who move the way Reed does reaching the top of the mountain are few and far between. For Reed, that’s the long-term goal, breaking the mold and claiming WWE’s top crown.

“These guys were never the champion. You look back at history, Vader never became WWE champion, Bam Bigelow never reached those heights. Those people in the same sort of body type that I am, even a Dusty Rhodes was not a WWF champion at the time,” Reed says.

“So I want to break that mold and eventually, I’ve told people, I want to be world heavyweight champion. I want to be WWE champion. I remember speaking to Mark Henry and he was telling me obviously he had a great career, he became champion and he said, ‘This doesn’t happen for guys like us all the time, so make sure you keep doing what you’re doing, give it a hundred percent and you’ll be that next big man.’”