The ultimate compliment an artist can pay to the Uproxx Sound Check challenge is “diabolical.” That’s how Wale describes it in our latest installment, as the recent Def Jam signee faces down one of our most wide-ranging sets of song choices yet.
Here’s how it works: Jeremy plays two songs for the guest artist, who has to choose one and explain their choice, giving Jeremy a chance to learn their musical taste. Jeremy then has to guess the artist’s life anthem, the song they’d take to a desert island, which the guest wrote down earlier on a piece of paper. Our production team has also given him a decoy song, and Jeremy has to guess which is correct based on what he’s learned in the previous rounds.
This time around, Wale — who has frequently talked about his inspirations in the past — has to choose between two of his biggest influences in Jay-Z and Black Thought, chooses a pre-game anthem between Camp Lo and Young Dro, and has to pick a favorite peer between Drake and J. Cole.
Watch Wale take on the Sound Check challenge above. New episodes of Sound Check drop every Wednesday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT on Uproxx’s YouTube.
UK noise rockers Mandy, Indiana had a critical hit with their 2023 debut album, I’ve Seen A Way. A new era is now loading: Today (November 12), the group announced a new album, Urgh, which will be their first release for their new label, Sacred Bones.
They also shared the punishing single “Magazine.” The group’s Valentine Caulfield says of the song:
“‘Magazine’ is the expression of the frustration and deep-seated violence I felt while attempting to recover from being raped. Just like most victims of sexual assault, I will never get justice, and just like most perpetrators, my attacker will never be punished. My therapist encouraged me to channel my anger into something productive, so here it is: my primal, screaming call for retribution. It is the only way I will ever get to say to my rapist: you hurt me, so I’m going to hurt you.”
A press release notes that much of the album was written “during an intense residency at an eerie studio house in the outskirts of Leeds and recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester.”
Listen to “Magazine” above. Below, find the Urgh cover art and tracklist, along with the band’s upcoming tour dates.
Clipse may have released their fourth studio album Let God Sort Em Out four months ago, but they’re keeping the rollout going to ensure it stays top of mind of Grammy voters for Best Rap Album of 2025.
Their latest effort to that end is the video for “F.I.C.O.,” the tongue-twisting collaboration with Syracuse rapper Stove God Cooks. The visual strings together stark, black-and-white imagery in collage with clips of the duo rapping their aggressive bars from the backseats of cars and the backrooms of seemingly abandoned buildings — exactly the sorts of places their grisly crime narratives would unfold.
“I remember late nights, pissy hallways / Driving me psycho / The money wouldn’t come fast enough / We was back and forth, down streamline / Moving weight was like lipo,” snarls Pusha T. Malice echoes, “Used to call me Windex ‘cause this thing I spray gon’ make you change minds / I done seen Hercules run / We was powerlifting 2.2’s / Nah, we ain’t throw gang signs.” Meanwhile, Stove God Cooks cooks on the chorus, “My shooter turn you inside out / I heard the Feds turned the crib inside out / Drop the roof on you *, let the inside out / Fresh Prince jacket, boy, I cook ‘em till they inside out.”
Holiday media is starting to roll out as we approach the middle of November. For instance, director Michael Showalter’s Christmas movie Oh. What. Fun. is set to hit Amazon’s Prime Video on December 3. It turns out that the soundtrack, which will be available the same day as the film, is pretty stacked, with covers of holiday classics from Fleet Foxes, St. Vincent, Jeff Tweedy, and many more.
A bunch of the artists on the soundtrack shared statements. Here’s Sharon Van Etten (whose rendition of The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” with her band The Attachment Theory is out now):
“I connected deeply with the underlying narrative from the mother’s perspective in this film. As a mother myself, I resonated with the constant seeking of perfection and the expectations that holidays inherently bring. It reignited the compassion I hold for my mother and mothers everywhere who aspire to provide a place for their families to feel loved, appreciated, needed and relevant. […] Oh. What. Fun. is a story of a mom finding herself again and reestablishing her connection with her family and what’s at the heart of it all. I am usually very wary of doing covers, especially a ‘holiday’ song — but I connected with the depth of the lyrics and how our feelings around the holidays can be complicated. I tried to honor Chrissie Hynde’s version by collaborating with my band, The Attachment Theory. I hope if The Pretenders hear it, they feel our appreciation and love for Chrissie, the band and this song.”
Jeff Tweedy:
“The Band pulled off the impossible. They wrote a Christmas song that’s joyful and appropriate for the occasion while being strange, emotional, and poetic. Who else would call baby Jesus ‘the little stranger?’ To me, this song gets at what this season is about, at its best: the light. ‘Mary carried the light.’ How are we making ourselves a light to each other? How do I bring light into my life? I start with a song like this.”
St. Vincent:
“My favorite Christmas songs have an underlying sense of melancholy mixed in with the warmth of their familiarity. Sung by a person who is presumably alone, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ is a prime example: ’Next year all our troubles will be out of sight’… the holiday season and its festivities are a temporary refuge, a reprieve after a sh*tty year. Hopefully the year to come will be better.”
The Bird And The Bee’s Inara George:
“Greg and I were so delighted to be asked to be a part of this movie. It’s always flattering when someone chooses our music to be in their film, but it feels extra special to have been brought in on the early stages of the filming process. We’re excited!”
Empress Of’s Lorely Rodriguez:
“Was a blast making this cover of a classic for Oh. What. Fun.! This movie is such a good time and moms deserve the spotlight every Christmas!”
And lastly, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes:
“‘Angel in the Snow’ has always been one of my favorite songs by Elliott, one I’d always listen to around the holidays, so it was a huge joy to make this for such a sweet film. It wasn’t even my idea! Took me back to handing out ‘RIP Elliott’ flyers at my high school graduation in 2004. Elliott Smith forever.”
The movie stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Danielle Brooks, Dominic Sessa, Denis Leary, Havana Rose Liu, Maude Apatow, Devery Jacobs, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria, Joan Chen, and Rose Abdoo. An official description reads:
“Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the glue that holds her chaotic, lovable family together every holiday season. From perfectly frosted cookies to meticulously wrapped gifts, no one decks the halls quite like Claire. But this year, as her grown kids and distracted husband get swept up in their own seasonal dramas, they make one crucial mistake: they forget their mom. By the time they realize she’s missing, Claire’s already set off on a festive adventure of her own – one that doesn’t involve cooking, cleaning, or coordinating anyone else’s chaos. As her family scrambles to find her and salvage their Christmas, Claire rediscovers what the holidays mean when you’re finally free to put yourself first. [..] A wink to every overworked holiday host, the film celebrates family, freedom, and the unexpected magic of a Christmas gone off-script.”
Listen to Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory’s “2000 Miles” cover above. Below, find the Oh. What. Fun. (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) cover art and tracklist.
Oh. What. Fun. (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Album Cover Artwork
1. Gwen Stefani — “Shake The Snow Globe”
2. The Bird And The Bee — “The Things We Do For Love”
3. St. Vincent — “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
4. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory — “2000 Miles”
5. Fleet Foxes — “Angel In The Snow”
6. Uwade — “Step Into Christmas”
7. The Wang Family — “Silent Night”
8. Gwen Stefani — “Hot Cocoa”
9. Weyes Blood — “Snowqueen Of Texas”
10. Andy Shauf & Madi Diaz — “Christmas Eve Can Kill You”
11. The Bird And The Bee — “It’s My Life”
12. Jeff Tweedy — “Christmas Must Be Tonight”
13. Lorely Rodriguez (Empress Of) — “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy”
14. The Wang Family — “I Heard The Bells Of Christmas Day”
15. Dominic Sessa — “The 12 Days Of Christmas”
Oh. What. Fun. (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is out 12/3 via Sony Music Masterworks. Find more information here.
Summer Walker‘s mischievous Finally Over It rollout continues. After revealing the “guest list” of artists who will feature on the album — from Brent Faiyaz to Sailorr — Summer followed up just a few hours later with the tracklist revealing the song titles. Now we know which “guest” belongs to what song, and the excitement for Walker’s third album couldn’t be higher.
The tracklist is broken into two parts, For Better and For Worse, mirroring the wedding theme that has appeared throughout the album’s rollout. The cover art has Summer posing in a wedding dress alongside a much older white man, referencing a similar photo taken of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith at her wedding to businessman J. Howard Marshall in 1994.
The pic is a cheeky nod to the album’s theme; that modern relationships and the pursuit of romantic love just isn’t worth it — marry for money. Walker has had her fair share of romantic turmoil, but something tells me she’s actually still holding out hope — after all, life is long, and anything can happen. You can find the tracklist for Finally Over It below.
Finally Over It Tracklist
Disc 1 (For Better)
01. “Scars”
02. “Robbed You” Feat. Mariah The Scientist
03. “No”
04. “Go Girl” Feat. Latto
05. “Baby” Feat. Chris Brown
06. “1-800 Heartbreak” Feat. Anderson .Paak
07. “Heart Of A Woman”
08. “Situationship”
09. “Give Me A Reason” Feat. Bryson Tiller
Disc 2 (For Worse)
01. “FMT”
02. “How Sway” Feat. Sailorr
03. “Baller” Feat. Sexyy Red, GloRilla & Monaleo
04. “Don’t Make Me Do It/Tempted”
05. “Get Yo Boy” Feat. 21 Savage
06. “Number One” Feat. Brent Faiyaz
07. “Stitch Me Up”
08. “Allegedly ” Feat. Teddy Swims
09. “Finally Over It”
LVRN
Finally Over It is out on 11/14 via LVRN and Interscope. You can find more info here.
There’s a term I like that’s common in the jam band world and (to my knowledge) nowhere else: “Couch tour.” It means you follow a band’s live shows, one by one, via livestreams or field recordings. Right now, I’m doing a couch tour with Radiohead’s run of dates in Europe. Four of them took place last week in Madrid, and the remaining itinerary of 16 shows resumes this Friday in Italy.
It’s great. Radiohead, if you haven’t heard, is a good band with good songs. My never-ending disappointment over not being absurdly rich flares up whenever I think about not attending one of these concerts, their first since 2018. But then I remember jet lag and my general distaste for leaving the house for any reason whatsoever and suddenly, the couch tour seems like a pretty decent deal.
(To the people who are shooting videos and posting them on YouTube: Thank you for making this possible. To the people standing behind those people at the shows: I’m sorry.)
Before I discuss the tour, let’s state the obvious: This is a weird era for Radiohead. By “era,” I mean “the last nine years,” though it might actually be longer than that. Consider that all the members are now in their mid to late 50s, with spouses and kids and (I’m guessing) nice houses and cars and wine cellars. And also realize that if Radiohead put out a new album tomorrow, it would be treated like an event. These things do not normally go together. There are plenty of respected middle-aged bands — Wilco, Spoon, Yo La Tengo — but their latest work does not start arguments on social media. Radiohead, however, does. Or at least they did, back when they still put out “latest work.”
For much of their “weird” era, I have assumed that Radiohead is no longer a functioning band. I have thought this because they (mostly) no longer function as a band. Their most recent record, A Moon Shaped Pool, came out in 2016. The Rolling Stones have released new music more recently than that, and those guys are in their 80s. But this slowing of creativity goes back longer than the mid-2010s. In the first 10 years of their recording career, 1993 to 2003, they put out six albums. In the 22 years since, more than double the time span, they have released half as many records. Outside of Radiohead, the five members have made around two dozen records on their own or — in the case of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood — as a duo as part of a whole other band. These guys still have things to say. They just aren’t using Radiohead to say them.
But unlike R.E.M. — who made a point 14 years ago to state definitively that they were breaking up and have since stayed broken up — the guys in Radiohead have been content to keep their band on sleep mode. They aren’t really a thing anymore in practice, but they still are technically. The most candid anybody has been about the current state of the group is Ed O’Brien, who admitted in a recent interview that the members no longer speak and that he even wanted to quit after their last tour. “It wasn’t great on the last round,” he told The Sunday Times. “I enjoyed the gigs but hated the rest. We felt disconnected, fucking spent.” It was only after coming out of a “deep depression” that he felt renewed by his love for his lifelong friends, O’Brien added, along with remembering that “we do have some stellar songs.”
They do indeed. But that might not have mattered if Radiohead wasn’t still (I hate this word but it’s nevertheless applicable) relevant. In 2025, this has manifested in positive and negative ways. “Let Down” — the fifth track from their third album, 1997’s OK Computer — re-entered the Billboard charts this year after catching fire on TikTok, like old songs do, despite never being released as a single or previously achieving any wider acclaim outside the province of Radiohead nerds. (A redundant term, I know.) And then there’s the matter of Jonny’s defiance of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has objected to his ongoing collaborations with Israeli musicians and his performances in the region. It’s an issue I am not going to discuss any further, for risk of derailing a column about experiencing a concert tour in my living room, but it’s fair to say the BDS controversy, coupled with the TikTok thing, have made Radiohead the rare ’90s alt-rock outfit that zoomers have passionate opinions about, one way or the other.
Put all this together and it simultaneously makes sense and no sense at all that Radiohead is on the road. There is no album to promote. They are no longer sharing dressing rooms. It’s impossible to gauge if they will play more shows after this. It’s like a reunion tour without the reunion part. And yet, in spite of everything, they remain remarkably good at being Radiohead in public. And people still really want to see and hear them, from the couch and elsewhere. Because they are, ultimately, still one of the world’s greatest (functioning or not) rock bands. A lot has changed since the last Radiohead album, but that, thankfully, hasn’t.
About that couch tour: Some in the media have dubbed this Radiohead’s “Eras tour” because — in lieu of having new songs to play — they are performing numbers from throughout the catalog. It is funny how “playing a greatest show” has been retconned into yet another Taylor Swift innovation, but part of the fun of following the tour is Radiohead revisiting all their records (save for Pablo Honey, at least for now) and seeing what still works.
So far, there appears to be an obvious pivot point, and that is their sixth record, Hail To The Thief. The music from that album, and the ones that come after, have translated the best. Whereas the songs from before, particularly the ’90s material, have sometimes sounded a little creaky. Not that I blame them for that. Radiohead, like all of us, is older now. Video of Thom Yorke dad-dancing to “Idioteque” went viral last week, and while our guy has never been Prince or Michael Jackson, it was striking how much he looked, well, like me up there. Seeing Radiohead now is like catching up with high school friends you haven’t seen outside of Facebook or Instagram since you had your own kids.
When they play something off The Bends or even OK Computer, you can feel the tempos lag a bit, like they do for all bands where the musicians are transitioning from “middle” to “old” age. Which is why the idea of Radiohead dusting off “Planet Telex” or “(Nice Dream)” is somewhat better in theory than practice. It made me think of the excellent live record they put out this year, Hail To The Thief (Live Recordings 2003-09), which captures this band at the absolute height of their powers, when being in Radiohead was their full-time job. No slack tempos on that record, I can tell you. (Yorke’s voice, on the other hand, is remarkably well preserved.)
My mind also flashes on one of the most memorable quotes from that Sunday Times article, from the normally reticent Colin Greenwood, who says at one point, poignantly and honestly, “This music has very little to do with us anymore.” I imagine that’s especially true of the (still magnificent!) music they made in their 20s. So, it stands to reason that the music from the 21st century, while not exactly “recent,” comes off better. Their first show back, for instance, kicked into a different gear with the fifth number, the Motorik rocker “Ful Stop” from A Moon Shaped Pool, which segued beautifully into two Hail To The Thief tracks, “The Gloaming” and “Myxomatosis.” Later, a suite of songs from In Rainbows delivered another high, with the always stunning “Videotape” leading into the always stunning “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,” with a pit stop at “Everything In Its Right Place” before launching into a slinky “15 Step.”
As the shows have progressed, they have settled more or less into setlists heavy on post-2003 material, with occasional crowd-pleasers from before distributed throughout. The showstoppers are what you would expect — “Pyramid Song,” I apologize for ever saying any other Radiohead song is better than you — though it’s fun to remember the ones you forgot were also outstanding. (Talking about you, “Separator”). Watching the videos, it’s hard to discern how much these guys are truly vibing on one another or whether they’re simply operating on muscle memory. (The curious decision to open the concert from behind video screens that eventually rise above the band after about a half hour, Pink Floyd-style, makes them literally difficult to see at all.) But either way, they remain an incredibly potent and skilled live band, no matter their rustiness or wear on the tires.
Is that enough? Some of the press coverage (including this column, I suppose) have fretted about this being Radiohead’s “legacy band” phase, where they finally resort to subsisting on their history rather than grasping for new sounds, horizons, and challenges. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the material that’s worked the best so far happens to resemble the groovier, riff-heavy style of The Smile, the prolific Thom-and-Jonny band that’s made Radiohead feel like the side project this decade. Is a version of Radiohead that’s not trying to be innovative still Radiohead? Is it just a brand kept alive to sell tickets at this point? If not, what is the point of them still existing?
These are all relevant questions. But they’re not the ones I am most interested in at the moment. That one is simply: Can this tour please come to America?
2020 was a huge year for BTS. They released two albums — Map Of The Soul: 7 – The Journey and Be — and had three No. 1 singles — “Dynamite,” “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) (BTS Remix),” and “Life Goes On.” Aside from a few more No. 1 singles in 2021, though, it’s been mostly quiet since then as the band members have been busy fulfilling their military service requirements in South Korea.
Their comeback is getting closer and closer, though. The guys have met their obligations to their country and had a bit of a reunion at a J-Hope concert this past summer. Rumors then surfaced that the group was set to return in March 2026.
New music is indeed in progress now: In a tweet shared yesterday (November 11), RM wrote (translated from Korean), “Above all, the music is really coming out great!! Everyone is working hard. Look forward to it. 2026 Bulletproof Army Fighting.”
Back in July, the band also said in a statement, “We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music. Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.” They added, “We’re also planning a world tour alongside the new album. We’ll be visiting fans all around the world, so we hope you’re as excited as we are.”
Before she was known for hits like “Espresso” and “Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter first gained prominence starring on the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World. However, after all her success in music, she’s making her return to the screen soon, with one of her upcoming projects announced today via The Hollywood Reporter.
Carpenter is teaming up with a Wicked producer to produce — and star(!) — in a musical based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland for Universal Pictures. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is a “passion project” for Carpenter, who is said to have brought the idea to the studio herself, complete with “specific ideas and a lookbook.”
Lorene Scafaria, best-known for writing and directing the Jennifer Lopez-starring crime movie Hustlers, and Marc Platt, producer of both the stage and screen adaptations of Wicked, were both brought on by the studio, along with Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton of Alloy Entertainment, which produced Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.
It sounds like Carpenter is going to be fairly busy with film projects for the time being; she’s also billed for inclusion in Seth Rogen’s upcoming The Muppet Show revival. But she’s still got a few musical obligations coming up; she’s nominated for six awards at the upcoming 68th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
With federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds tied up in a political tug-of-war between opposing factions of the legislative branch, US residents are picking up the slack to help feed their neighbors.
Among them: superstars like SZA, who is teaming up with a fixture of her adopted home, Los Angeles, to help feed local SNAP recipients. On Monday, November 10, the “Kill Bill” singer announced she’s partnering with local Italian chain Jon & Vinny’s to offer 1,400 free meals to residents who aren’t receiving their SNAP benefits. “Yall know how much I love Jon and Vinny’s,” she wrote. “But it ain’t no fun if the Homies can’t have none!!”
The restaurant chain itself, meanwhile, explained, “Last week @sza reached out to us with an idea and now, with her help, it’s a reality. Over the next 7 days we are partnering with her NOT Charity to provide 1400 free meals (100 dinners for 2 per day) for Los Angeles community members who receive SNAP. Each meal will be available as takeout from our Slauson location from 3pm-5pm on 11/11-11/17.”
If you are a Los Angeles-based SNAP recipient, you can email [email protected] to sign up for a meal (up to 4 allowed per family), and their team will assign you a pickup time.
Red Bull Spiral Freestyle is rapidly becoming one of pop culture’s lightning rods, generating viral buzz as performers use the platform to start beef and prove their rap chops via its unique, one-take format.
The latest artists to take spin on the Spiral are West Coast gangsta rappers YG, Mozzy, and Jay Rock. Besides being united by their shared affinity for the color red, all three have collaborated with each other at some point in the past decade or so, with YG and Mozzy joining forces on Kommunity Service in 2021, and Mozzy appearing on Jay Rock’s last album, Redemption, in 2018. And as for Jay and YG, they last linked up on “I Just Wanna Party,” from YG’s debut album, My Krazy Life.
The time apart hasn’t dulled the trio’s chemistry at all, as all three deliver some of their strongest verses in years in the cipher. YG opens up, decked out in his now-signature black suit, with Mozzy taking his own cues from his Compton compatriot’s semiformal attire. Eastside Johnny, however, clearly had to be talked into matching with his lyrical peers (I think he’s wearing the jacket from Mozzy’s suit). But good on him for showing some team spirit.
Watch YG Mozzy and Jay Rock’s Red Bull Spiral freestyle above.
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