Back in February — when the world was only focused on a global pandemic and not a global pandemic and nationwide protests — Alicia Keys swung by the NPR offices for a Tiny Desk performance. Not that an Alicia Keys show needs anything extra to make it special, but she spiced up her set by performing a new song for the first time, “Gramercy Park.”

The song, which is set to appear on Keys’ upcoming album Alicia, is about changing to meet people’s expectations and losing yourself along the way. Keys sings on the hook, “I’ve been trying to fulfill you with your every need / Now you’re falling for a person that’s not even me.” She said while introducing the track:

“I love this song so much. It’s called ‘Gramercy Park.’ It’s on the Alicia album, and I love what this songs means. […] A lot of what I’ve been thinking about on my own personal journey is how much we contort and conform and adjust ourselves all the time… with the best of intentions, by the way! It’s from the most beautiful place. We want people to feel us and we want people to know how much we care about them. Somewhere along the line, we kind of lose ourselves in that and maybe can’t find our way back to ourselves, because we’re so concerned about how everybody else feels and we’re so concerned with making other people happy. It’s been definitely something that I’ve personally experienced, and I have a feeling a lot of you might have felt the same way. So this song, ‘Gramercy Park,’ really talks about how that happens.”

Elsewhere in her set, Keys performed “Show Me Love,” “Underdog,” and “Fallin’,” so watch Keys’ full Tiny Desk performance above.

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Our Longest Summer series will look at the eight teams whose seasons are now officially over, and will have to wait until mid-October to make decisions on what’s next and how to proceed after falling short of the cut-off for a continued 2019-20 campaign.

On the heels of a thoroughly puzzling 2019 offseason, the Knicks entered the 2019-20 campaign with mixed expectations. Some believed that New York’s patchwork additions might facilitate substantial improvement, while others feared the worst. When the campaign ended, the results were more to the negative side, with the Knicks posting a 21-45 record and “earning” an omission from the NBA’s planned 22-team restart in Orlando.

Once again, the Knicks enter the 2020 offseason with numerous questions to answer, and with a change in the front office and a new head coach coming in — with the expectation that it’ll be Tom Thibodeau — New York is as difficult to evaluate as any lottery-bound squad. Alas, there are methods to evaluate the madness, and the Knicks do have tangible decisions to make in the coming months.

2020 Free Agents

Bobby Portis (team option), Mo Harkless (UFA), Allonzo Trier (RFA), Damyean Dotson (RFA), Taj Gibson (non-guaranteed), Wayne Ellington (non-guaranteed), Elfrid Payton (non-guaranteed), Reggie Bullock (non-guaranteed)

2020 Projected salary cap space (assuming $115 million salary cap)

$36.1 million, per Early Bird Rights

Areas of Strength

It is, quite frankly, tough to find areas of genuine strength with the Knicks. New York did an excellent job on the offensive glass all season long, and with their wild investment in traditional big men and power forwards, the Knicks did have bulk on their side. Long-term, Mitchell Robinson looks the part of an intriguing starting center and while R.J. Barrett struggled at times during his rookie season, there is reason for optimism. All told, Julius Randle is also an interesting and productive player, even if one miscast as a legitimate No. 1 option.

Areas of Need

The Knicks were a genuine mess on both ends of the floor this season, and especially so on offense. New York landed near the bottom of the league in perimeter shooting (both frequency and accuracy) and the franchise continues to have no answer in terms of an offensive engine on the perimeter. Defensively, it wasn’t quite as porous, but it wasn’t as if the Knicks were anything special, or even average, on that end of the floor, with genuine interest on how the front office plans to fix what is a mismatched roster.

Biggest Decisions

In simple terms, the Knicks have a ton of roster decisions to make, even before considering free agency and the draft. Bobby Portis has a lucrative team option that the team should certainly consider declining. Then, New York has non-guaranteed deals for productive, yet overpaid, veterans in Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton and Wayne Ellington. Then, you get into young players on fringes (Trier, Dotson) and realize that the Knicks could be yearning to keep the decks clear for 2021. Could they generate big-time cap space this summer? Absolutely. Would it be better to go hunting for stars in 2021? Probably, but the Knicks have been down that road (unsuccessfully) many times before. It would help with clarity if the Knicks got lucky in the lottery with a path toward LaMelo Ball but, if not, this could go any number of directions.

Overall Offseason Focus

One year ago, the Knicks bundled together an allotment of competent, yet ill-fitting veterans in an attempt to make the team better in the short term. On the bright side, New York didn’t thoroughly damage long-term flexibility in the process, but the team didn’t make things easy on Barrett or Robinson from an evaluation standpoint. This time around, the Knicks do have the ability to follow different avenues, but, at the moment, New York has only a few concretely positive assets on the roster and a shortage of cohesion that is striking. It’s time to fix that, albeit with a measured approach.

Is life finding a way? While Alex Trebek is advocating for Jeopardy! to become one of the first shows to resume filming after pandemic interruptions, Universal’s pushing forth to make Jurassic World: Dominion the first major studio film to fire production back up in the U.K. — in a matter of weeks. In a plan detailed by Deadline, the official date to resume on-set production has been set as July 6. Actual filming at U.K.-based Pinewood Studios is anticipated to begin by mid-July at the latest.

How will this happen? Universal has outlined its $5 million investment in new safety protocols (which purportedly go beyond both the UK’s British Film Council and U.S. unions recommendations) to finish up the final 12 weeks of filming. Not only will cast and crew be repeatedly tested, but there will be a private medical facility in place, as well as staggered schedules and these measures:

Covid training for all cast and crew; on-site doctors, nurses and isolation booths; 150 hand sanitizer stations; nightly anti-viral ‘fogs’; more than 1,800 safety signs put up around Pinewood; and ‘Green Zones’ for shooting cast and crew. Masks will be obligatory other than for actors while performing. Scroll down for more detail on the studio’s protocols.

A Universal executive also confirmed that anyone who displays symptoms will go into isolation, and the studio’s not concerned with additional costs, only to finish the film in the safest manner possible. Will it work? One can only hope. And it looks like Universal’s insurance policy, as it was written before, is somehow going to “remain in place without exclusions,” which isn’t the case across the Hollywood board. Also, the production has faced mounting holding fees from Pinewood, which is only further incentive to get the ball rolling again. Seriously though, let’s hope that life really does find a way here, and everyone involved can stay healthy.

(Via Deadline)

Mike Will Made-It is one of the more prolific producers in hip-hop these days and even his mind was blown by the productivity and work ethic of his collaborator Swae Lee. The Atlanta-based producer and EarDrummers Entertainment CEO tweeted his astonishment at Swae’s ability to churn out new music for his upcoming album, writing, “This man Swae Lee just submitted 733 songs to choose from for his album.” Just to drive home the point, he even added the “mind blown” emoji as well as the trio of symbols representing his label and crew.

Swae announced that he’d be releasing his first “official” solo album, Human Nature, during a livestream concert way back in March after promising to use his time in quarantine productively. Apparently he lived up to the first promise if he was able to sketch out enough songs to impress his label’s head honcho. He even had time to crank out a cover of Diddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You.”

Of course, now the EarDrummers collective must cut down the available pool of choices to something more manageable before release — although album tracklists have ballooned in recent years, it’d likely still be a stretch to ask fans to sit through over 700 songs. We’ll see what they come up with, but if that figure is totally accurate, Swae Lee may have enough material left over for a few dozen new Rae Sremmurd albums as well.

Check out Mike Will’s astonished tweet above.

Keeping up with the best new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of new music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw a timely remix of DaBaby’s No. 1 song and a young duo showing great maturity. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the rest of the best new music this week below.

DaBaby — “Rockstar (BLM Remix)” Feat. Roddy Ricch

DaBaby previously previewed a remix of “Rockstar” with new lyrics about current events, but now he has officially released the “BLM Remix” of his chart-topping single. Addressing the nationwide protests, DaBaby raps, “Rockstars, n****, just watch the news, they burnin’ cop cars, n**** / Kill another n****, break the law, then call us outlaws, n**** / What happened? Want us to keep it peaceful.”

Pop Smoke — “Make It Rain”

While last week brought the announcement that Pop Smoke’s posthumous album has been delayed, it also brought a new track from the late rapper. On “Make It Rain,” Smoke secured a feature from Rowdy Rebel.

RMR — Drug Dealing Is A Lost Art

RMR emerged as a meme with his expectation-subverting “Rascal” video, but he quickly established himself as more than a novelty. Now, he has given fans more to sink their teeth into with his debut EP, which features appearances from Future, Lil Baby, and Westside Gunn.

Lil Keed — “Fox 5” Feat. Gunna

Lil Keed and Gunna had a bit of an incident at their recent video shoot (for which Young Thug took the blame), but they managed just fine. In fact, they emerged with a clip for “Fox 5,” on which they attest that, despite the headlines they made while filming the clip, they wouldn’t be finding themselves on the news.

Lil Baby — “The Bigger Picture”

On the latest from Lil Baby, the rapper, like many others, is seeking systemic change in light of what’s happening in the US at the moment. What has changed already is the chart status of Lil Baby’s new album, as My Turn just found its way back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

NLE Choppa — “Shotta Flow 5”

People’s homes are their safe haven right now… unless you’re NLE Choppa in his new “Shotta Flow 5” video. In the clip directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett, Choppa wakes up to an intruder in his closet, and the chase gets pretty wild from there.

Kid Laroi — “Go” Feat. Juice WRLD

Juice WRLD had popped up on a number of tracks since his death about half a year ago now, and he has emerged again on another one. “Go” is the latest single from Kid Laroi, and the 16-year-old got a big-time assist via a verse from Juice, who previously served as a mentor for the young Australian rapper.

Gorillaz — “Friday 13th” Feat. Octavian

Gorillaz’s Song Machine carried on last week with another collaboration for the group, the Octavian-featuring “Friday 13th.” Octavian takes the lead here, dominating vocally on the relaxed groove from Gorillaz.

Michael Stipe And Big Red Machine — “No Time For Love Like Now”

The R.E.M. leader first previewed the latest song from Big Red Machine a couple months ago via a late-night television performance, but now he and the Aaron Dessner/Justin Vernon group have shared the official track. On the contemplative song, Stipe’s lyrics resonate in a way that’s relevant to modern times.

Chloe X Halle — Ungodly Hour

The Bailey sisters kicked off their joint musical careers as children, but they’re adults now, both in their 20s. As such, they bring a more pronounced sense of maturity on their latest album that shows just how far they’ve come in their young careers.

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

Who’s killed more people over the years: Stephen King or Jason Voorhees? It’s King (The Stand alone wiped out 99.4% of the world’s population), so let’s re-frame the question: who’s killed more horny teens, King or Voorhees? Now it’s a toss-up. The horror author has published over 60 novels and hundreds of short stories, but on Sunday night, he was preoccupied with the “best novel” he “never wrote.” It’s about Jason.

That would up both their body counts, horny teens or otherwise.

“The best novel idea I never wrote (and probably never will) is I JASON, the first-person narrative of Jason [Voorhees], and his hellish fate: killed over and over again at Camp Crystal Lake,” King tweeted to his 5.9 million followers. “What a hellish, existential fate!”

King continued, “Just thinking about the legal thicket one would have to go through to get permissions makes my head ache. And my heart, that too. But gosh, shouldn’t someone tell Jason’s side of the story? Blumhouse could do it as a movie.”

Happy Death Day meets Friday the 13th? Would watch.

King’s idea has the support of comedian Patton Oswalt, who offered his own horror novel suggestions. “Aaaaaaaand… I want this novel RIGHT NOW,” he tweeted. “Let’s do one of those Ace paperback ‘doubles.’ My half will be either LEATHERFACE: HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT or MICHAEL MYERS: BABYSITTERS, CLUBBED.” C’mon Patton, Pinhead should obviously be the one to teach how to make a quilt.

Alas, it’s unlikely King’s I, Jason will ever hit bookstores, as the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise have been stuck in a place scarier than actual Hell: legal hell.

It was a big weekend for Sia, but not in a good way. She confused Nicki Minaj for Cardi B on Twitter, and given the public spats those two have had over the years, fans of the rappers did not take that well.

In a now-deleted tweet, a fan posted a picture of Minaj and asked Sia if she would like to collaborate with the rapper. Sia, mistaking Minaj for Cardi B, responded, “I love @iamcardib and although this isn’t a collaboration, I would love to COLLAB with her any day!”

Thinking she sparked a feud between the two, Sia wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “Hey @iamcardib @NICKIMINAJ you aren’t thinking about a feud right now are you? We are focused on the problem of systemic racism.” She added in another tweet that was also deleted, “I don’t give a sh*t about feuds, George Floyd was f*cking murdered. Breonna Taylor. Murdered. Come on let’s rise in unity. You think @iamcardib and Nikki are so petty that they would want you focusing on a silly feud instead of REAL NEWS.”

This also caused blackface allegations to re-emerge due to old photos of Sia with black coloring on her face. Sia didn’t comment on that over the weekend, but she previously addressed it in 2019, sharing a performance video from 2011 and writing on Twitter, “For the swift fans trying to make out that I would ever do blackface please see this video. I was painting myself into the backdrop, it was a pre cursor to the wig…” Sia addressed the images then because Taylor Swift fans brought them up, after Sia tweeted a message of support for Scooter Braun in mid-2019.

Later, Sia apologized for her Minaj-Cardi mix-up, tweeting, “I totally misunderstood a tweet earlier that has resulted in me making a buffoon out of myself. Sorry @NICKIMINAJ and @iamcardib if you hear about it. Can I just like you both?”

Sia’s busy weekend on Twitter came not long after she guested on The Tonight Show and performed “Together.”

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

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It’s never surprising to see John Oliver remind his audience that he not a fan of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. Yet when Oliver fixates upon something (just ask Adam Driver), he can really get going, and that’s exactly what’s happening with his Carlson distaste. For the third consecutive week, Oliver’s taking on the “sentient polo mallet” after not one but two “f*ck you”s, and this time, it’s a particularly comedic affair.

In the opening moments of Last Week Tonight (which HBO has declined to post on YouTube, although the deep dive on facial recognition is available), Oliver highlighted Carlson’s raging fit over Sesame Street taking a stance against police brutality and in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement. Carlson, as ludicrous as it sounds, lashed out last week over a pair of puppets, who were ultimately discussing why institutionalized racism has led to protests. He was entirely outraged to see this happening on a kids’ TV show — “Got that, Bobby? America is a very bad place and it’s your fault … So no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain” — and Oliver is here to tell “giant baby” Tucker to simmer down:

“F*ck off, Tucker, you one-man homeowner’s association … that unspecified ‘they’ in ‘what they do to you when you grow up’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. There’s basically two options for what that could mean. One, that Tucker and his viewers have benefited from a racist system that renders any specifications of who they are unnecessary. Or two, that his show is a badly written piece of garbage.”

This led to Oliver asking, “So which is it, Tucker? Are you a racist or are you a total f*cking moron?” And of course, Oliver conceded that the answer could be “both,” so there you have it. We might never see a Tucker-Elmo face off on the red puppet’s upcoming late-night talk show on HBO Max, but at least John Oliver got the ball rolling for the HBO team.

You can watch Sunday night’s Facial Recognition deep dive below.