Category: Worldwide

Janelle Monáe and Lupita Nyong’o are great friends, so much so that there have been rumors the two dated each other. Now, speaking to Rolling Stone for a new feature on Monáe, Nyong’o talked about it.

“She has magnetism that they were obviously picking up on,” she said. “She is that enigmatic. People are curious about enigmatic people. I was not surprised. And I don’t mind being associated with her in any capacity.”

Nyong’o also spoke about first meeting Monáe at the Met Gala, following her breakout role in the 2013 movie 12 Years A Slave. She said, “This world is still extremely new to me and unbelievable. [Monáe] came up to me and just gave me the realest hug. I think we may have swayed to the music. She was just like, ‘I’m so proud of you, and just thank you for being you.’ […] At some point, [Monáe] asked me for my phone, put her number in, and said, ‘Let’s stay in touch.’ She was like, ‘I really mean it. If you need anything, I’m here for you.’”

She also said despite their friendship, she doesn’t necessarily feel like she truly knows Monáe: “Just because you’re a close friend of hers doesn’t mean you get to know everything about her. I think that’s what makes her interesting as an artist.”

Read the full feature here.

The release of Lil Durk‘s eighth studio album Almost Healed is just days away and the Chicago rapper has at last revealed the album’s tracklist. In addition to the previously released J. Cole-featuring single “All My Life,” Almost Healed contains 20 more tracks with features from 21 Savage, Alicia Keys, Future, Kodak Black, and reunions with country star Morgan Wallen and late fellow Chicagoan Juice WRLD. Some of the notable producers featured on the album include ATL Jacob, Metro Boomin, Southside, Wheezy, and Zaytoven.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, Durk has been focusing on committing positive acts to benefit his community. After declaring that he’d no longer drop foes’ names in his music after the death of his artist King Von, Durk has donated $350,000 to education and met with the new mayor of Chicago to discuss “saving kids’ lives.” However, lest anyone think he’d completely turned over a new leaf, he recently made comments calling Gunna a “rat” for allegedly “telling” on Young Thug. The album’s title is, after all, Almost Healed. You can see the tracklist below.

1. “Therapy Session” Feat. Alicia Keys
2. “Pelle Coat”
3. “All My Life” Feat. J. Cole
4. “Never Again”
5. “Put Em On Ice”
6. “Big Dawg” Feat. Chief Wuk
7. “Never Imagined” Feat. Future
8. “Sad Songs”
9. “Before Fajr”
10. “War Bout It” Feat. 21 Savage
11. “You Got Em”
12. “Grandson” Feat. Kodak Black
13. “300 Urus”
14. “Same Side” Feat. Rob49
15. “B4L”
16. “At This Point We Stuck”
17. “Cross the Globe” Feat. Juice WRLD
18. “Dru Hill”
19. “Belt 2 Ass”
20. “Stand By Me” Feat. Morgan Wallen
21. “Moment Of Truth”

A weekend in Napa Valley sounds relaxing, but fans attending the 2023 BottleRock Napa Valley festival won’t have a second to themselves if they want to catch all the dynamic acts. This year’s headliners are Post Malone and The Smashing Pumpkins on Friday, May 26, followed by Lizzo and Duran Duran on Saturday, May 27, and capped off by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lil Nas X on Sunday, May 28.

BottleRock shared its full three-day schedule on May 11. (All times are local.)

The festival, which also promises “food, wine, and brew,” will feature four stages: JaM Cellars, Verizon, Allianz, and Truly. Posty’s Friday headlining set will be on the JaM Cellars Stage beginning at 8:30 p.m., just after The Smashing Pumpkins’ 8:05 p.m. start on the Verizon Stage. Earlier in the day, options include Yung Gravy (4:45 p.m.) Bastille (5 p.m.), and KennyHoopla (7:15 p.m.).

Lizzo’s Saturday headlining perform is penciled in for an 8:15 p.m. start on the JaM Cellars Stage. Duran Duran will go on at 8:20 p.m. on the Verizon Stage. The day’s slate also boasts the likes of Lupe Fiasco (3:45 p.m.), Sudan Archives (4:15 p.m.), Carly Rae Jepsen (4:45 p.m.), Leon Bridges (6:15 p.m.), Tove Lo (6:45 p.m.), and more.

It all wraps on Sunday with Red Hot Chili Peppers, 8:15 p.m. on JaM, and Lil Nas X, 8: 15 p.m. on Verizon, with the soon-to-be-Rock-And-Roll-Hall-Of-Fame-inductee Sheryl Crow (3:30 p.m.), Teddy Swims (3:15 p.m.), Quinn XCII (4:45 p.m.) appearing earlier in the afternoon, and Warren G (Silent Disco) locked in at 8:45 p.m. on the Truly Stage.

See the full BottleRock lineup below, and find everything you need to know here.

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

Divorce is a terribly difficult process for families to go through. It can evoke feelings of despair, anxiety and loss. People also have to deal with emotional abandonment, the pain of being disconnected from children and financial stress.

Going through a divorce is so stressful that, according to the Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale, it is the second most stressful life event right after the death of a spouse.

A Reddit user with the username stefanfection shared a powerful letter his daughter wrote that’s given him hope while going through a painful divorce. “I went through a divorce recently and have been having a rough time,” stefanfection wrote on the MadeMeSmile forum. “I woke up to this this morning, from my daughter. It also helps. I just gained custody of her.”

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He uploaded a picture of a letter written by his daughter.

I went through a divorce recently and have been having a rough time. I woke up to this this morning, from my daughter. It also helps I just gained custody of her.
by u/stefanfection in MadeMeSmile

The letter reads:

“Hey dad, I know you are going through a hard time right now and I just want you to know that I will be here for you forever & always. I hope you become happy again because I would love to do a ton of fun things with you in the *summer* I love you tons & just remember that… I will always be here for you.”

The post inspired people to send messages of support for the father. The most popular was from Icouldusesomerock, who wrote: “She loves you more than words can express. You’ve done a fine job sir keep it up.”

“Thank you, I try my best and so does she. It feels good to hear that from you,” stefanfection responded.

Some people who had lived through divorce took the opportunity to remind stefanfection that it’s not his daughter’s job to be his emotional caretaker. “Remember to tell her it is not her job to take care of you even as you appreciate just how much she loves you,” mmlperiwinkle wrote.

“As a child who lived with unhappy parents who let me become their emotional ‘caregiver’ (at the expense of my identity for a very long time), I found this pretty distressing to read. This seems sweet on the surface but letting a child feel responsible for a parent’s emotions is devastating to the child,” tofuandsardines wrote.

However, stefanfection was adamant that he hadn’t placed any additional emotional burdens on his daughter and that they were undergoing therapy. “I have discussed this with her. We are going through therapy and getting all the necessary tools we need,” he wrote. “Although we do stuff together and I try to make it look like everything is the best, she can tell there is hurt. It’s just life.”

Others chimed in to remind the father that there is plenty of time during summer vacation to do some epic things with his daughter. A group of Redditors exchanged lines from the theme song to “Phineas and Ferb.”

“There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation

And school comes along just to end it

So the annual problem for our generation

Is finding a good way to spend it

Like maybe

Building a rocket or fighting a mummy

Or climbing up the Eiffel Tower

Discovering something that doesn’t exist

Or giving a monkey a shower”

The father’s post shows that even in the darkest times, there are wonderful people in this world who will help lead us to the light. In this case, it was his daughter. Even though no one knows how the situation will turn out, the dad seems to be doing the right thing by going to therapy with his daughter.

According to Psychology Today, up to 33% of children develop behavioral problems after their parents divorce. They can have academic challenges, mental health problems and engage in risky sexual behavior and substance use.

Clinical psychologist Patricia P. Martin tells Mass Live that parents and children should talk to mental health professionals while going through a divorce.

“This gives the children a neutral, supportive space to share the confusion, anger, sadness, frustrations they are feeling and to find constructive ways to deal with these emotions,” Martin told MassLive. “I recommend all children of divorce have at least two or three sessions with a mental health professional as a means of screening for problems as well as providing supportive education.”

In case you’ve forgotten, or haven’t seen any of Chelsea Handler’s stand-up routines, Handler and 50 Cent dated briefly about a decade ago. She’s alluded to this relationship in her routines, her books, and in various interviews over the years, and has nothing but love for the “In Da Club” rapper. But still, their longstanding friendship isn’t going to keep her from getting her jokes off.

In a recent stand-up routine, Handler performed a bit about anal sex. During the bit, she noted that while the idea of anal sex might be daunting, it gets easier when you have a partner of the ideal — um — size.

“It’s a big pill to swallow in the beginning, but when you warm up to the idea, and you pick the right candidate, right?” Handler said of anal sex. “Small or medium, you know, you’re not going to, like, do that with 50 Cent.”

50 caught wind of the bit and shared a clip of it to his personal Instagram.

“Yo she is so crazy [laughing emojis],” said 50 in the post’s caption. He continued, calling Handler “hand[s] down the funniest.”

Meanwhile, 50 is currently gearing up for his Final Lap Tour, which will see him commemorating the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Get Rich Or Die Trying. The tour will kick off in July in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Lightning In A Bottle Festival will stage its 20th anniversary from Wednesday, May 24, to Monday, May 29, promising “five days of music, art, yoga, talks and workshops, camping, and more” in Buena Vista Lake, California. That’s a vast bill.

Last year’s lineup featured Glass Animals, Kaytranada, Little Simz, and Purity Ring. This year’s lineup is headlined by the likes of Diplo, 070 Shake, Sampa The Great, Tobe Nwigwe, Zhu, and an overwhelming amount of other performers.

The bad news: The five-day schedule is intimating. The good news: It definitely contains all the information you could possibly need, and that’s before even mentioning the separate schedule for Learning & Culture, Art & Interactivity, or Yoga & Movement lineups.

The music portion of the festivities will be divided across six stages: Lightning, Thunder, Woogie, Grand Artique, The Junkyard, and The Stacks. The marathon begins tomorrow, May 24, with Beau Sebastian (6-7:30 p.m. local time), Armando Kroma (7:30-9 p.m.), Marcos (9-10:30 p.m.), Cody Lee (10:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.), and Saand (12-2 a.m.), all at The Junkyard.

Thursday, May 25, kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on the Junkyard stage with Blake Rudolph and will rage on until 2 a.m. with Evan Hatfield (12:45 a.m.-2 a.m.) on Grand Artique and a surprise guest slated from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. at The Stacks.

Friday’s slate features 070 Shake (9:30-10:30 p.m.) on the Lightning stage, Diplo (12-2 a.m.) on the Woogie stage, and two surprise guests back-to-back from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. at The Stacks.

Come Saturday — how could anybody possibly have any energy left? — Rogelio will get the day started at 11 a.m. at The Junkyard, and that set will be bookended by Zhu on the Lightning stage (12:30-2 a.m.) Finally, Sunday, May 28, will welcome two more surprise guests and the likes of Sampa The Great (8:10-9:25 p.m.), LSDream (11:30 p.m.-12:45 a.m.), Tale Of Us (12-2 a.m.), and Littlefoot (1:15-2:40 a.m.).

See the rest of the packed schedule as well as other pertinent information below.

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

Lauren Boebert recently confirmed that she (shockingly) filed for divorce from her husband of two decades, Jayson Boebert, whom she met when she was 16 years old and worked at Burger King. Since that time, the congresswoman has found time to slam hoodies and Target, although she has also shut down reports about her husband’s alleged behavior while greeting a process server. Boebert has defended Jayson, saying that he’d never drink Bud Light or sit around cleaning guns, and for his part, Jayson has not only denied being belligerent with the process server but also admitted being heartbroken.

The Daily Beast now reports that Lauren now finds herself in the awkward position of denying rumors of an affair. Mind you, these rumors are completely unsubstantiated, but people leaned into the gossip while wildly speculating that there could be something between Boebert and Sean Feucht, an ultra-right wing Christian rock singer and sometimes preacher who also dislikes Target for its Pride merch. Feucht and his streaming blonde locks are married to his high school sweetheart, with whom he shares four children. On Twitter, he has resolved to get his lawyer involved if people do not “retract and apologize” for the “false” and “defamatory” affair claims within 24 hours.

Boebert issued a statement to the Daily Beast, in which she also denied affair rumors and joked, “How can I be with a man with better hair than me?”

Feucht has further declared, “The Enemy wants to distract us with LIES and ATTACKS, but he’s not gonna stop us from PRAISING God and chasing REVIVAL for our Nation!” He added that he has forgiven “those that have slandered my family and my name with no evidence whatsoever.” However, “[Y]ou really need to give your life and your hate to Jesus.”

Meanwhile, Jayson Boebert has been further opening up about his disappointment about the divorce. He recently told Westword that his wife’s time in D.C. has “been a difficult time,” and they both work long hours while he takes care of their sons while she is away. Jayson insisted that neither he nor Lauren have been unfaithful, and he previously revealed to The Daily Beast that he never expected to be served divorce papers.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Before she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Florence Pugh was an indie favorite. After she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, well, she’s still an indie favorite, but not everyone was thrilled that the star of Lady Macbeth and Midsommar was now making superhero movies.

“So many people in the indie film world were really pissed off at me,” Pugh told Time. “They were like, ‘Great, now she’s gone forever.’ And I’m like, no, I’m working as hard as I used to work. I’ve always done back-to-back movies. It’s just people are watching them now. You just have to be a bit more organized with your schedule.” Pugh has effectively balanced starring in blockbusters, like Oppenheimer and Dune: Part Two, with smaller projects, like The Wonder and A Good Person. Also, she voiced Goldilocks in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a shockingly good movie that everyone should see.

Besides, even the snobbiest Criterion Channel subscriber is probably excited for Dune: Part Two. “I needed people who have the necessary charisma,” director Denis Villeneuve said about the sequel to 2021’s Dune. “I think Florence, Zendaya, Timothée [Chalamet], and Austin [Butler], they will be the new power in Hollywood. These strong, charismatic figures will drag people back to the theater.” Indie theaters and multiplexes alike.

(Via Time)

The Weeknd and Sam Levinson’s HBO series The Idol had its debut at Cannes yesterday (May 22), and during a press conference, Levinson and Lily-Rose Depp addressed speculation that Depp’s character is directly based on Britney Spears.

“We’re not trying to tell a story about any particular pop star,” Levinson said. “We’re looking more at how the world perceives pop stars and the pressure it puts on that individual. And I think that that’s what… you know, it’s a lot of pressure, to constantly have to be on, and to be what everyone wishes you to be. It’s a lonely life. We can all pretend that everyone is looking out for someone’s best interests, but I think fame really corrupts, and I think it’s very easy to surround yourself with myth makers who just continue to prop up.”

Depp then reaffirmed Levinson’s answer, saying, “I think something we wanted to do with the character is make her feel simultaneously like a pop star of our time, but also like she existed in her own plane, in a way.”

In a recent interview with W Magazine, Depp said, “Of course I’m a Britney fan! Who doesn’t love Britney? But I was also thinking about Beyoncé, Mariah [Carey], and every huge pop star of our time. I wanted Jocelyn to be the kind of woman who can dominate a room, someone who doesn’t ever shy away from their sparkle.”

Spears, by the way, previously said she was working on something called The Idol and was later seen with Levinson and The Weeknd.

Last month, Jamie Foxx suffered a “medical complication.” His family hasn’t revealed what happened, but the Oscar-winning actor released a statement saying that he’s “feeling blessed,” and he’s already lined up a new TV show while in recovery. The status of his long-gestating Mike Tyson biopic is unknown, but the real Iron Mike may have revealed what happened to Foxx.

“He’s not feeling well. They said a stroke. I have no idea what happened to him,” Tyson said on the Valuetainment podcast. “Hey, listen, we can’t anticipate our next breath. We don’t know when we are gonna die. … After we leave, this bad stuff can happen.”

The actor, 55, has been treated at a facility in Chicago, which specializes in treatment for adults with “severe complex conditions” including stroke recovery… Jamie is understood to have arrived at the facility in late April and is “recovering well” after first getting treatment at a hospital in Atlanta. Shortly after Jamie’s “stroke,” sources claimed that he [was] “lucky to be alive.”

As for the biopic, which Foxx got ripped for, the boxer added, “I don’t know what’s going to happen now. But, you know, it’s a strong possibility. Because, you know, Jamie’s closer to my age, so in order to do him, they were going to do what they did with [the movie] Benjamin Button. They were going to make him look younger.”

(Via the Daily Mail)