Category: Viral

Drake is currently putting the finishing touches on his upcoming album, Certified Lover Boy, which should hopefully release by the end of the year. Showing just how much of a “lover boy” he’s been in his life, Drake revealed a past relationship with one of R&B’s favorite singers on his latest guest verse.

Joining 21 Savage and Metro Boomin on “Mr. Right Now” from the newly-released album, Savage Mode II, Drake revealed that he and SZA dated back in the day. “Yeah, said she wanna f*ck to some SZA, wait,” Drake raps before making the big announcement. “‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08 / If you cool with it, baby, she can still play.”

The year of their relationship comes just a bit before Drake hit it big and long before SZA did, so it’s no surprise neither of their adoring fans caught wind of their love. The new collaboration comes after Drake lent a verse to Bryson Tiller’s “Outta Time” from his new album Anniversary. “Mr. Right Now” also marks the fourth time Drake and 21 Savage have collaborated with the previous two being “Sneakin,” “Sacrifices,” and “Issa,” a track that failed to get officially released after it was leaked to fans.

You can hear Drake make the big reveal in the video above.

Savage Mode II is out now via Epic. Get it here.

Polo G and Fivio Foreign both saw their breakout moments in 2019 thanks to Polo G’s “Pop Out” effort with Lil Tjay and Fivio’s “Big Drip” release. Ensuring that their success lasted for longer than a summer, the two artists kept striving and pushing forward, a grind that eventually resulted in their inclusion in this year’s XXL Freshman Class. Bringing their talents together, Fivio and Polo G have a little fun on their new single, “Bop It.” Fivio has been teasing the Kenny Beats-produced for the past month and now that’s its here, his fans are quite delighted.

Somewhat following the rules of the handheld Bop It game for children, Fivio interpolates some of these instructions onto the song as he prompts his listeners to “Bop it, twist it, pull it.” Putting his own touch on the song, he adds some directions of his own by rapping, “click it, click it, hit it, run his block, spin it.” While the song seems is much more playful than most of their releases, Fivio’s and Polo G make sure to flex a little and show off what they got on the new song. Backed a video, Fivio, Polo G, and Kenny Beats take over what appears to be an empty mansion to host a summertime party featuring a group of women, water guns, and a bounce house.

The song arrives after Fivio lent a verse to DreamDoll’s “Ah Ah Ah” single as well as after the release of Polo G’s most recent single, “Epidemic.”

You can hear “Bop It” in the video above.

Lately, it appears Cardi B is on a musical world tour of sorts. Touching back with her roots last month, she linked with Anitta and Myke Towers to provide a Spanglish verse to their collaboration, “Me Gusta.” Now, Cardi travels halfway across the world to join the K-pop wave as she appears on Blackpink‘s new full-length project, The Album. The project finds Cardi and Blackpink connecting on a track entitled “Bet You Wanna.”

Following the success of “WAP” and the release of her most recent guest features, the question of where is Cardi’s sophomore album still remains. One thing the Bronx rapper will tell you is it certainly hasn’t been shelved. “Throughout this [break] people was making rumors, like, ‘Oh, she’s having problems with her label, her label is shelving her, her label is tired of her, they’re getting more female talent,’” she explained on a recent interview on Sirius XM. “Then it’s like, no, they’re never tired of me.” She did admit that comments like these can be quite bothersome, but she refuses to let it pressure her into releasing sub-par music.

“I’m like, ‘Yo!’ That type of sh*t started to get to me but I’m not gonna let that sh*t get to me to the point that I’m going to put out a song that I’m not really in love with.”

Press play on the video above to hear “Bet You Wanna.”

The Album is out now via YG Entertainment/Interscope. Get it here.

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

Flashback to 2018 and Ella Mai was undoubtedly the talk of the music industry. The London singer won the hearts of the music industry with her breakout single, “Boo’d Up.” After being no more than a bubbling R&B act with the three EPs she released before the single, Time, Change, and Ready, which is the original home of “Boo’d Up,” Ella finally saw her patience and hard work pay off. The song would give Ella her first Grammy Award in 2019 for Best R&B Song, but soon after she faded into the background and kept her appearances very limited. After going two years without a single, she makes her return with “Not Another Love Song.”

Despite the two year break, things for the most part stay the same with Ella as her new single speaks on the same topic as “Boo’d Up” did. Floating on a cloud nine cloud, she professes her love about her new love interest, but is hesitant to reveal her feelings to said person. As the feelings continue to grow, the pushes herself to share these feelings despite her fears of possibly ruining the budding relationship.

While Ella hasn’t shared a solo song in the past two years since her self-titled debut album, she has guest featured on a pair of songs, that being Mustard’s “Surface” with Ty Dolla Sign, Mahalia’s “What You Did,” and Usher’s “Don’t Waste My Time,” which she appeared in a video for.

Listen to “Not Another Love Song” in the video above.

Giveon surprised many at the top of the year when he joined Drake for their “Chicago Freestyle” collaboration. Many at first confused the Long Beach singer for Sampha due to their similar-sounding voices and even when the distinction was made, soon-to-be-fans were impressed with his baritone voice. Enjoying the fruits that his growing fame has brought him so far in 2020, Giveon unveils his second EP of the year with When It’s All Said, featuring a highlight collaboration with Snoh Aalegra on “Last Time.”

The two R&B souls work their magic to deliver a song that presents two lovers who know their love is no good for them. Opting to enjoy one last passionate night together before going on their separate ways, they fall into each others arms and let their emotions carry them for the night. The song is quite the collaboration as Giveon’s deep vocals blend perfectly with Snoh’s softer vocals. While they promise that this is the last night, it becomes more apparent that this “Last Time” is a simple excuse to delay the inevitable.

Listen to “Last Time” above.

When It’s All Said is out now via Epic. Get it here.

While controversy unfortunately continues to surround her, Megan Thee Stallion shows no plans of letting it interrupt her musical plans. Following the absolute mess that is Tory Lanez and his most recent project, which he uses to attempt to convince us that he was not the accessor in he and Megan’s July shooting incident, the Houston rapper pays him no mind, as she should, and makes her return with a new song and video. Sliding through with Young Thug, she delivers yet another southern collaboration with a video directed by Collin Tiley.

Prior to the song’s release, Megan Thee Stallion was nominated for a total on eight awards at the upcoming 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards in categories that include Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Hip-Hop Album Of The Year, and Best Collaboration, a category she received two nominations in. Days after she became one of few cover stars for the 2020 Time 100 Most Influential People issue, Megan announced that she would serve as the first musical guest on the upcoming 46th season premiere of Saturday Night Live which will be hosted by Chris Rock and air on October 3.

Watch the “Don’t Stop” video above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A few years ago, as Bryson Tiller relished in the limelight and success of his debut album, Trapsoul, a picture landed on social media that depicted the Louisville singer at a nightclub alongside Drake. Soon after, rumors began to swirl about a possible collaboration between the two. In the years that followed, said collaboration, outside a few leaks, had to yet to arrive.

All of that changed Friday night as Bryson unveiled his first official track with Drake, entitled “Outta Time,” which appears on his newly released album Anniversary. The song finds both artists in a reflective state as they both watch their respective relationships unravel due to arguments, dissatisfaction, and more. Accepting that the end has arrived, the two conclude that it is time to part ways from their love interests.

Bryson first previewed the song on Thursday night, when he played the entire Anniversary album for fans in a Zoom meeting. With fans anticipating a collaboration between him and Drake prior to the zoom session, their excitement once the collab was confirmed could easily be captured through social media as the wait had finally come to an end.

As for Drake, the song arrives after he tallied eight nominations at the upcoming 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards in categories including Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Collaboration.

You can hear “Outta Time” in the video above.

Anniversary is out now via RCA/Trapsoul. Get it here.

Darren Star can, by many standards, be considered the king of primetime soap-opera land. Of course, Aaron Spelling ran a production empire for decades alongside (and in conjunction with) Star, but Star’s proven that his magic touch knows few bounds as the creator and harnesser of zeitgeists with Beverly HIlls, 90210 and its spinoff, Melrose Place. Both shows ruled FOX for years and eventually inspired reboots, also involving Star, but he didn’t limit himself to drama. He comedically rode HBO’s first wave of original programming with Sex and the City (which still lives on through nightly E! syndication and HBO Max replays), and he wasn’t done yet.

Sprinkle in several seasons of TV Land’s Younger, and Star’s now firmly entrenched with not only Gen X and also Gen Z but those who land in between. He’s now advancing onto Netflix with his first streaming-platform show, Emily In Paris, which arrives this Friday. The series, starring Lily Collins, does in fact see its protagonist transplant to France, where she enjoys a much cheerier turn of events than Carrie Bradshaw’s disappointment in the City of Lights. Yet there’s more beneath the surface because this show is full of heart and humor, and it provides a respite from our current situation.

Yes, Emily In Paris wasn’t intended to provide pandemic escapism, but it sure gets that job done. For those of us who are sleeplessly dream-browsing travel websites at 1:00 AM, this show will hit the spot while also featuring an international cast who delivers punch lines and bittersweet lessons. Wanderlust and literal lust combine in this series, and Emily In Paris turns into a breezy, stress-free watch. Star was gracious enough to tell us how this show came to Netflix, and how he managed to captivate while steering clear of his previous brand of pretty-people-behaving-badly drama.

I’m delighted to see that Emily’s experience in Paris is very different than that of Carrie Bradshaw.

Oh yeah. Well, it’s two different shows, and two different people.

So, how did this show land at Netflix? That wasn’t the original plan.

Originally, it was based at Paramount Network, and after it was completed, we talked about why Netflix just might be a better fit for this series.

This does seems like an impossible fit for Paramount Network, which is known as Yellowstone territory.

Right, that’s exactly what I think of, too. They’re incredibly successful with Yellowstone. In light of that, I really felt that Netflix would work better for Emily because this show has such international appeal. Not only that, but the opportunity to have a live premiere in over 190 countries simultaneously was really fantastic and tempting.

You’re known for shows with longevity, going up to 10 consecutive seasons, with loads of episodes per season. How did you downshift with episode quantity?

Sex and the City was originally twelve episodes a season, then eighteen episodes per season, so coming from doing 34 hours of Melrose Place per season to Sex and the City, I loved it. I really felt like it gave me so much time to focus on scripts to kind-of gel it. I really enjoyed fewer episodes in the seasons, and that’s the case with this new show [which has 10 episodes per season].

This show’s something different than what people expect from you. And you like mixing it up, even avoiding some spinoffs, despite the success of Melrose Place. You said no to Models Inc. back in the day.

Yes, that one was one spinoff too many. Also, like in the case of Models Inc., it was the network’s idea. It wasn’t my idea, so it wasn’t a show that I felt connected to. Whereas Melrose Place was in many ways inspired by my own experiences of being in my 20s in an apartment building with a courtyard and a pool. Not unlike Melrose Place, everybody who lived there was in their 20s, straight out of college, and I understood what that show was, but when the idea of Models Inc. was presented, I thought it didn’t feel like a show that I was that interested in.

Your instincts were correct. It only lasted one season and ended on a cliffhanger. Now I’ll never know who the sniper killed at the altar.

Oh nooooo. [Laughs] And I wasn’t involved, so I don’t know either.

Emily In Paris also has a cliffhanger. It’s not literally explosive like Melrose Place, but you’re still dangling those carrots.

Right. There are definitely ideas at work for where we can go. I like the leave the door open to different complications for the characters, which I think we did at the end of this Emily In Paris season. There’s lots of places we can go.

And there are a lot of secret weapons in the cast, like Ashley Park and Kate Walsh.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I really do think that there’s so much potential there and hope we can explore it with future seasons.

I keep saying that this show tastes “like a sugar cookie.” It could have gone sideways, easily. How did you bypass the ugly American stereotype with Emily?

Well, I wanted to create a character who was career-driven and self-confident but maybe overly self-confident, who had not really traveled overseas and was going to Paris for a career opportunity, not really because she was so excited to see Paris. Her life was really well mapped out for her in Chicago, so I think she comes in with a sense of naiveté, but she’s maybe a little too overenthusiastic, with a real sense of purpose and drive.

You don’t have to worry too much about spoilers with Netflix, but when you planned this with Paramount Network, was it going to be weekly?

Yes, it would have been weekly. I think I always think about an episodic format like we’re going weekly. You always wanna have that drive and keep the audience tuning in. The challenge is there when it’s a weekly series because it’s not necessarily going into the next show. You really have to sort-of give the audience something to wanna come back for. It certainly also suits the streaming mindset, but even when you do a show on a network now, and even cable, you should work around the idea and imagine that a lot of people will be finding the show on a streaming service and seeing the episodes in season-long chunks.

So, I’m talking to the guy who pitched the scene in Melrose Place where Kimberly whipped off her wig to reveal a surprise skull scar. How do you tone that tendency down but still keep people coming back for more episodes? This show’s addictive once you start watching.

I’m glad to hear you think that! I just focused here on becoming emotionally involved with the characters and not being as dramatic in Melrose Place. In this case, you know, just being involved in Emily’s journey and finding a character that you wanna stay with and find out what’s next.

In closing, if you could have Emily be best friends with any of your previous characters, who would it be?

Hmmmmm. I think she’d really enjoy hanging out with Carrie Bradshaw. I think Lily sort-of discussed with me that Emily was probably a fan of Sex and the City.

She certainly seems to have learned some of that show’s lessons.

For sure, she did. And I think Emily would love to step into that world.

Netflix’s ‘Emily In Paris’ streams on October 2.

Though Week 4 of the NFL season will not feature 16 games as previously scheduled, there is still room for intrigue on what is essentially a full slate of contests. To that end, that means opportunity for handicapping interest and, in this space, the 2020 season has been at least relatively kind through three weeks. That extends to a winning card in Week 3 but, before we get to the Week 4 agenda, let’s take a moment to reflect on where we’ve been.

• Week 3: 3-2
• 2020 Season: 10-5

Come get these winners.

Washington Football Team (+14) over Baltimore Ravens

We may be jumping in front of the wrong train here, but Washington is getting two full touchdowns… at home. I know home-field isn’t what it used to be in this strange season, but the narrative is out of control. Baltimore is significantly better than Washington and they should win comfortably. We still can’t ignore the principles that got us here, and that involves taking a two-touchdown NFL underdog when the opportunity presents itself.

New York Giants (+13) over Los Angeles Rams

I don’t know what to even say about this, other than we are playing the number, not the team. The Giants are bad. The Rams are probably pretty good, if not better than that. This is still an example of the line getting away from where it should be, especially with some built-in overreaction to the disastrous performance from New York last week. The line should be 9 or 10. We’ll take the 13.

Las Vegas Raiders (+3.5) over Buffalo Bills

Home underdogs forever. The Bills are riding high after avoiding the blown lead from hell last week, and now they have to go to the Pacific Time Zone to face a solid Raiders team. Las Vegas led us to a win in a similar spot against New Orleans, and we’re going to back to the well with the hook to boot.

Philadelphia Eagles (+7) over San Francisco 49ers

The Eagles have disappointed everyone, including us, this season, and that helps to explain this point spread. Still, it seems a little bit aggressive to have this incredibly banged-up 49ers team laying a full touchdown against a squad with talent like the Eagles have. Carson Wentz might be bad, Philly has documented flaws and this might bite us, but give me the dog on Sunday night.

Atlanta Falcons (+7) over Green Bay Packers

Part of our brand in this space is giving out picks that the public hates. This pick is testing that limit. The Falcons might be un-bettable after the last two weeks, imploding in historic fashion on the way to epic losses. However, this line is just a touch too high according to basically any metric or power rating and the entire world will be on the favorite in prime time on Monday. Atlanta might lose and, frankly, they should be the underdog in this game, but the full seven is enough for me. Prayers appreciated.

You’re about to see a mountain of Halloween-related content pouring onto the streaming sites. That’s a great thing, obviously, since staying inside and binging is a lot safer than going to any holiday gatherings, but whittling down all the options isn’t so simple. Fortunately, Hulu’s Monsterland handily earns a place in the spooky-priority queue while diving into an episodic-anthology structure, which is all the rage again with CBS All Access’ Twilight Zone revival and Shudder’s successful Creepshow. That’s more intense than Hulu’s seasonal-anthology horror show, Castle Rock, since each Monsterland episode has a fresh cast and must accelerate tension within a new story, and so on. Well, the show does a fine job of executing scares with at least half of these attempts.

This might not sound like an entirely positive review so far, but I believe that, overall, Monsterland is worth a binge. It’s a hell of a challenge to pull off eight stellar episodes with eight different directing personalities, even if creator Mary Laws also penned several of the screenplays. What I really think is happening is that each of these episodes will appeal to many audience members, but by design, not all of them will appeal to all horror lovers. Those fans can be pretty picky, after all. Some viewers prefer less shock and more suspense, some dig gore, and then there are the fans of a slow burn, which is almost impossible to pull off while packaging a story in an hour-long format. The good news is that the stories are inspired by the best-selling short-story collection, North-American Lake Monsters, which embraced the something-for-everyone approach.

Describing the set-up is simple enough. Each episode dives into a penny-dreadful (emphasis on the dread)-style tale that layers on complex manifestations of monsters that source from human shortcomings. Stories get named after the story’s setting, and in particular, the New Orleans and NYC-set episodes integrate the local architecture, sights, and sounds. That’s especially the case with the NOLA episode, which stars Nicole Beharie (Sleepy Hollow) and will not only rattle your eardrums but your soul.

There are a lot of familiar faces, like Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi), who stars in the “Iron River, MI” episode, where she plays a neglected daughter who forges a new life (and identity) for herself that’s eerily reminiscent of a dead frenemy. And the below creature (I’ll refrain from naming the episode to avoid spoiling) is portrayed by an actress from a wildly popular, long-running series from another streaming service.

The season begins strong with the “Port Fourchon, LA” episode starring Kaitlyn Dever, who’s beloved in so many projects, including Booksmart, Unbelievable, and Justified. Her performance as a down-and-out waitress with a nightmare of a daughter is one of the best of the season. Dever’s character is world-weary and has seen some sh*t, and she’s overwhelmed in the same ways that all single mothers are overwhelmed with several additional stressors at work. And Dever does more-street-smart-than-her-years better than almost any young actress out there. She’s so compelling that Mary Laws knew damn well that Dever shouldn’t be confined to only one episode. So, I’m pleased to report that she briefly surfaces in a few other places throughout the season.

I highly encourage you to have fun with the sport I just invented called “Dever-spotting.”

Many of the episodes work well. A few of them are fantastic, even. I did not love all of them, but again, that’s down to horror-taste (mine happens to sway toward psychological horror and morally ambiguous reckonings, and those boxes do get checked) more than matters of execution. There’s a major humans-are-more-monster-than-monsters-themselves component at work, and that’s a well-treaded approach, but there are enough creative twists to keep things fresh. Some stories will stick with you for awhile while inviting you to debate who the “monster” might actually be. And the show prefers to place more emphasis on how humans handle monstrous threats, rather than the actual monsters. Some of these creatures are figurative and/or symbolic, too, with pieces of puzzles sliding together in the most unsettling of ways.

Don’t get me wrong, though, there are definitely some literal monsters and other freaky creatures. If that’s your jam, no worries there. Yet even more notably, these stories are often challenging — not in a sense that they’re overly intellectual but that many of these stories arrive in a way that might make you second-guess who you’re rooting for and why. The end result with Monsterland is frequently emotional, often cerebral, and favors an insidious sense of dread over the cheap-and-easy jump-scare-type tactics. Shadows are often more frightening than what lurks within them, and if you’re a horror lover, you’ll be challenged (and possibly frustrated) but ultimately rewarded for your efforts. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s an engrossing one. I also strongly believe that everyone will be able to find something in this season of horrors that will scare the bejesus out of them and keep them up at night. Monsterland is all over the map, literally, but it’ll burrow into your American skin.

Hulu’s first ‘Monsterland’ season streams on October 2.