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Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of 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 Miley Cyrus raise some eyebrows with a new single and Paramore approach their upcoming album with another cracking tune. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Miley Cyrus — “Flowers”

Here at the start of the year, Miley Cyrus is leading the charge for pop music. Her album Endless Summer Vacation is set to drop in March and ahead of then, she just unveiled “Flowers.” Fans immediately noticed the song has a lot in common with Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” which may or may not have something to do with Liam Hemsworth.

Sam Smith — “Gimme” Feat. Koffee and Jessie Reyez

Sam Smith is coming off a hot 2022 that saw him land his first No. 1 single with the Kim Petras collaboration “Unholy.” Now he’s once again emerged from the lab with a collaborative new song in tow. This time, it’s “Gimme” alongside Koffee and Jessie Reyez, a sexy dancehall tune that’s among Smith’s smoother cuts.

Paramore — “C’est Comme Ça”

Paramore’s This Is Why drops next month and so far, Hayley Williams and company have impressed with their advance singles. The same was true last week with “C’est Comme Ça,” which Uproxx’s Danielle Chelosky notes “continues the pattern of snarky and relentlessly infectious dance anthems.”

Offset and Hit-Boy — “2 Live”

Things have been tough for Offset since the untimely passing of Takeoff. He’s doing his best to press forward, though, and did so last week by teaming up with Hit-Boy on “2 Live.” As the title suggests, the track is an homage to 2 Live Crew on which Hit-Boy delivers the chorus, “Too live (too live), too live, b*tch, you too live / She get freaky like a Uncle Luke album.”

Logic — “Wake Up”

Remember when Logic retired from music? Well, it didn’t take too long for him to retire from retirement and now he’s rolling out College Park, his first album as an independent artist. Now he’s shared “Wake Up” and the track sees him reflecting on where he’s at right now, saying, “I took a ride through my city the other day / Wonder what would have happened if it all went the other way / Jump in the whip, now I reminisce / On the days when I was running round the Ave.”

Bizarrap and Shakira — “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”

There’s a lot going on here. The video for this one reportedly had the biggest debut for a Latin song in YouTube history thanks to an estimated 50 million views in 24 hours. Why? Because Shakira does not hold back while roasting ex-husband Gerard Piqué, like when she said of Piqué and his current girlfriend, “You traded in a Rolex for a Casio.”

PartyNextDoor — “Her Old Friends”

One of Toronto’s favorites is back. Last week, PartyNextDoor dropped “Her Old Friends,” their first single of the year and first since 2020. On it, he looks back on a former relationship with the knowledge of where things went wrong.

Vagabon — “Carpenter”

It’s been three years since a new Vagabon tune landed, but ahead of her opening slot on Weyes Blood’s tour, she returned with “Carpenter.” Vagabon says the Rostam-co-produced song is “about that humbling feeling when you desperately want to be knowledgeable, you want to be advanced, you want to be mature, forward-thinking, and evolved.”

El Michels Affair and Black Thought — “Grateful”

With his weeknights spent backing Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, it’s a wonder how The Roots MC Black Thought has time to do anything but late-night TV. Despite that, he stays busy and has found time to record a collaborative album with soul band El Michels Affair. They shared “Grateful” last week and it’s a reggae-sampling tune that sees Black Thought going in over a slinky instrumental.

Moneybagg Yo — “On Wat U On” Feat. GloRilla

Moneybagg Yo and GloRilla are labelmates, but their new collab “On Wat U On” is all about a toxic relationship. Uproxx’s Aaron Williams described the song, “Remember when Kendrick Lamar and Taylour Paige made fans very uncomfortable with their back and forth on ‘We Cry Together?’ Well, turn up the drama to 11, add some 808s, and pour in a strong shot of humor, and that’s the energy ‘On Wat U On’ is giving.”

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

In 2013, Sky Ferreira released her acclaimed debut album, Night Time, My Time. Since then, its follow-up has been frequently delayed. In late 2021, for instance, the project was included on a list of most-anticipated 2022 albums and she noted, “it’s actually coming out this time.” However, the album has yet to be released. Over the weekend, Ferreira took to social media to vent her frustrations about her musical situation.

Sharing an old song teaser, she wrote in an Instagram Story:

“LOOK AT THE DATE. 2019. I TRIED TO PUT OUT THIS SONG FOREVER AGO. This is not my fault & it’s not a conspiracy or whatever. I am not a hysterical/lying/ lazy lunatic. I can pull up performances from 2014 of unreleased singles too This is beyond f*cked up I am so frustrated & over it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Being ‘difficult’ or ‘high strung’ doesn’t give people the right to damage & stall my career. I am in a DIFFICULT situation & I have to be ‘difficult’ to get through it. I have to protect my work & myself somehow? A lot of it is not being allowed to say or do anything I want/need without being it being dismissed. the thing I actively tried to avoid happens & it somehow gets reversed. I can’t think of a time in the last 7 years where I’ve been able to just focus on what I’m supposed to do & my work being presented the way I want it to or my shows being the way one needs it to be to perform & play well. Despite having to basically sacrifice every aspect of my life to make sure it happens & the amount of time/work I put into everything beforehand It’s not okay. If I’m not allowed to say something without consequence & the people who are supposed to do their job refuse to look out for me… how am I not going to be ‘difficult’?!?”

Also over the weekend, she shared a 12-second snippet of unreleased music and wrote, “I want to put this out.”

The most recent new music from Ferreira was her 2022 single “Don’t Forget.” Before that, 2019’s “Downhill Lullaby” was her first new music since 2014.

Anna Kendrick is currently working on her directorial debut, The Dating Game (it’s darker than the title sounds), but she found time to stop by Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, where the two discussed Alice, Darling, Anna’s new movie that will arrive in AMC theaters on January 20.

That film involves some difficult subject matter, given that Anna portrays a woman who’s embroiled within an emotionally abusive relationship, and her friends stage an intervention during a weekend away. Anna previously admitted that the film speaks to her own “experience with emotional abuse and psychological abuse,” and she did elaborate more while speaking with Shepard, but also, he let it be known that his wife, Kristen Bell, nurtures a jealous streak that applies to Anna only.

Via PEOPLE, Shepard revealed, “I’ve known Kristen [Bell] for fifteen years, she has only had jealousy over a single human, and it’s been you. I’d never saw it. It blew my mind.” The former Punk’d prankster did mention that Bell had granted “permission” for what he’s revealing, and he had even more to offer:

“Kristen was like, ‘Who is this other short person? Oh, so she can sing like that too? I’m already here. We got another one.’ … She monitored you, recognized how brilliant you were, lost some roles to you, and slowly processed the whole thing, and has nothing but wonderful feelings for you. But you’re the only person who ever made her jealous that I witnessed.”

Kendrick gave a candid response, which is that “I never felt that she liked me.” However, all is apparently good between the two actresses.

Also during the episode, Kendrick let loose a bit on her abusive ex, who she did not reference by name. She explained that they were together for at least six years, and (via HuffPost) “[w]e had embryos together, this was my person.” Kendrick relayed how, at a certain point, she felt that she was “living with a stranger,” and he became “increasingly hostile” to the point where “I’m curled in a ball, [he’s] screaming at me, I don’t know how we got here.” The two eventually went their separate ways (he’d also been cheating on her with a woman 20 years younger than him), and while Kendrick was struggling to overcome the effects of emotional abuse, her agent sent a certain script her way.

Alice, Darling will arrive in theaters on January 20.

(Via PEOPLE & HuffPost)

AMC recently revealed their extended plans for The Walking Dead universe, and let’s just say that the zombie-fueled franchise won’t be ending anytime soon. That’s the case despite the O.G. series ending in November 2022 and AMC announcing that Fear The Walking Dead would end with an eighth season.

As such, The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman’s comic book characters will continue with several spinoffs. One of those will be Daryl In Paris, which is my very bad twist on Emily In Paris but maybe not so far fetched? The series is actually entitled The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, but he does (perhaps inconceivably) end up in France. No explanation has been provided for how he commandeered his way across the Atlantic Ocean, but presumably, an answer will surface. Let’s talk about the timing of when this could take place.

First, FTWD will return on May 14 with the first of two blocks. Expect that final season to overlap with the Negan and Maggie spinoff (The Walking Dead: Dead City), which debuts in June 2023. Daryl is up next, and as Comic Book notes, the series really did film in France back in fall 2022. With any luck, we’ll see the younger Dixon brother in Fall 2023.

Next up, AMC will finally pick up with the Rick Grimes show, in which Andrew Lincoln will co-star alongside Danai Gurira as Michonne. Perhaps the ghost of Jesus will interrupt them at some point, but whatever the case, this will happen in 2024. And that will be over five years since Rick Grimes picked up with the helicopter people to launch reports of Rick Grimes movies, which got all hung up by the pandemic, but something better happened: a spinoff series materialized instead. In other words, the undead will keep entertaining for years to come.

(Via Variety & Comic Book)

Over the weekend, Britney Spears was described by TMZ as having had a “‘manic’ episode” in a Los Angeles restaurant (Joey in Woodland Hills), a scene that included her “yelling and talking gibberish” and husband Sam Asghari getting “visibly upset” before storming out. Now, Spears has responded.

In an Instagram post shared last night (January 15), Spears wrote in part:

“I watched ‘NATURAL BORN KILLERS’ this morning and damn I got ENLIGHTENED … and HOLY SMOKES SH*T BALLS I’m sure I brought a billion SMILES to me LOOKING LIKE SHREK at a restaurant. Even my best friend couldn’t WAIT TO SEND IT TO ME, THEY DON’T THINK TWICE because we are all natural born killers … I know the news is all hyped about me being a little drunk at a restaurant … it’s like they’ll be WATCHING MY EVERY MOVE [eyes emoji] !!! I’m so flattered they talk about me like a maniac THEN have the balls to talk about all the negative things that happened in my past !!!”

In a now-deleted post from earlier, she also wrote, “It’s funny somebody said I acted manic at a restaurant. Geez … all I can say is I was flattered the waiter brought me a sophisticated champagne glass for my red bull. I am so fancy yall [shrugging emojis].”

Meanwhile, Twitter account #FreeBritney Live claims to have spoken with the Joey waiter who served Spears and Asghari, and they refuted TMZ’s version of events. The waiter said Spears didn’t have a “manic” episode but was frustrated by other patrons filming her, and that Asghari just went to the restroom and didn’t “storm off.” The waiter apparently offered to move Spears and Asghari to a more private part of the restaurant, but at that point, they had finished their meal. The patron who filmed Spears is apparently now banned from the restaurant.

Find Spears’ post below.

“I watched ‘NATURAL BORN KILLERS’ this morning and damn I got ENLIGHTENED … and HOLY SMOKES SH*T BALLS I’m sure I brought a billion SMILES to me LOOKING LIKE SHREK at a restaurant. Even my best friend couldn’t WAIT TO SEND IT TO ME, THEY DON’T THINK TWICE because we are all natural born killers … I know the news is all hyped about me being a little drunk at a restaurant … it’s like they’ll be WATCHING MY EVERY MOVE [eyes emoji] !!! I’m so flattered they talk about me like a maniac THEN have the balls to talk about all the negative things that happened in my past !!! Honestly it would be safer for me to compliment this world and f*ck up because if I become a prophet and don’t create history, we might have something y’all… I’m just KIDDING, but it’s a good thought [thought bubble emoji] I know y’all are rooting for me and all and make sure you check out the shocking Shrek picture of me … I was like damn that’s horrific yet there were two pics where I was normal [thinking emoji] … either way honestly I know nobody gives a flying f*ck what I do !!! I’m just bored writing this paragraph like a damn idiot [yawning emoji]”

The Baltimore Ravens came literal inches away from beating the Cincinnati Bengals as heavy underdogs in the NFL Wild Card round on Sunday, as a fourth quarter Tyler Huntley QB sneak at the 1-yard line became a 98-yard fumble return TD for Sam Hubbard and the Bengals.

That was the only scoring play of the final period, breaking a 17-17 tie and ultimately giving Cincinnati a 7-point win. It was a brutal moment for the Ravens, who played an otherwise incredible game, as Huntley tried to reach the ball over the line and got it punched out.

What made the play all the more painful is how well Baltimore ran the ball overall, particularly J.K. Dobbins who has 13 carries for 62 yards, adding 4 catches for 43 yards and a touchdowns. After the game, Dobbins didn’t hold back with his frustration in his lack of touches, especially in the red zone and that he was not given a carry over Huntley’s sneak attempt, as he touched the Ravens in his post game scrum with the media.

Nothing Dobbins said was particularly wrong, as he was certainly the most effective back Baltimore had but had the same number of carries as Gus Edwards, who only had 39 yards. However, it’s not often a player offers this kind of direct commentary from players on coaching decisions.

His frustration doesn’t even seem to lie with Huntley, although the “we would’ve won with Lamar” quote (while likely true) will stand out for many. Instead, he’s mad the coaching staff didn’t let him have more chances (or any chances) to carry the ball inside the 5 after he’d produced a TD catching the ball out of the backfield earlier.

The issue, really, is the execution, as going over the top with a shorter QB like Huntley doesn’t make a ton of sense and opened them up for catastrophe.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Ravens respond to this, because that’s not usually something that goes over well. That said, Dobbins is an important player for the run-heavy Ravens and many fans at least will have his back.

The Baltimore Ravens were more than a touchdown underdog on Sunday night on the road against the Bengals, in large part due to the absence of Lamar Jackson. In his place was Tyler Huntley, who for more than three quarters played a spectacular game and had the Ravens tied going to the fourth quarter with the football.

After orchestrating a gorgeous drive, including a long run to get them down inside the 5, the Ravens tried a QB sneak to finish it off from the 1. Huntley tried to pull off what Trevor Lawrence did in Jacksonville’s comeback over the Chargers, reaching over the line for the goal line and a touchdown. Unfortunately, Huntley is not 6’6 like Lawrence and his effort to go over the top got stoned by the Bengals, with Logan Wilson punching the ball out where it bounced right into the hands of Sam Hubbard, and the big fella rumbled 98 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Mark Andrews made quite an effort to try and prevent Hubbard from getting all the way to the end zone, but just couldn’t get there. Cris Collinsworth made the point on the broadcast that if Huntley is going to go over the top, the Ravens can’t all be pushing from behind leaving no one there for that scenario — it’s possible going up and over wasn’t planned and was just a decision Huntley made.

In a game where Cincinnati’s offense found itself stuck in the mud for the second and third quarters, the defense came up with the play of the game and Hubbard stamps his name in the NFL record books with the longest fumble return in NFL Playoffs history (among other records).

The first episode of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation kickstarted a different kind of zombie apocalypse, setting the stage for an epic and terrifying cross-country adventure and leaving fans with plenty of questions to mull over before next week’s installment airs.

“When You’re Lost In the Darkness” introduced fans to Pedro Pascal’s Joel, a hardened smuggler living in a Boston Quarantine Zone (known as the QZ) in the year 2023. Joel – and really all of mankind – has been put through the wringer thanks to a fungal pandemic that threw the world into chaos 20 years earlier. The infected – humans whose minds and bodies have been hijacked by a strain of fungi from the Cordyceps genus — roam the country unchecked while the living herd themselves into city pockets run by dictator-like governments.

And while the main conflict is between humanity and serial killing fungi, there’s another war brewing between those in power – known as FEDRA – and those willing to stand against them. Here’s everything we know about The Fireflies.

Who Are The Fireflies?

When the Cordyceps Brain Infection, or CBI, first breaks out, the government declares martial law to restore a sense of order and protect the uninfected. This sounds like a reasonable plan of action until we witness soldiers carrying out orders to kill innocent civilians at the end of the show’s first episode. It appears that, whatever this new world order is, it’s harsh and unforgiving and more than a bit tyrannical. The military runs the QZs unchecked while the uninfected work odd jobs for ration cards and live in squalor.

It’s unclear at the moment how the Fireflies first formed, but they seem to be a band of rebels that have been working for decades to put an organization known as FEDRA in check. They have their own network of spies and militia that extend beyond the Boston QZ (and likely all the way to the West Coast) and they’re run by a woman named Marlene (Merle Dandridge), dubbed by Tess (Anna Torv) as the “Che Guevara” of the Boston QZ.

What Do They Want?

One obvious demand of the rebel group is for the military to have less might and for citizens to have more say in how the QZ is run. We know that penalties for breaking laws are fairly unjust after witnessing a hanging in the town square in episode one. That kind of unchecked power has made life untenable in the QZ so, naturally, the Fireflies want people to rise up and form a true democracy in which everyone has a say in how things are run.

But more freedom is just a part of the group’s overall plan.

After Marlene discovers Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) immunity to CBI, the Fireflies focus on their main mission, which is to find a cure for the fungal pandemic. In the games, it’s been something the group has been working on for years with no progress. In the show, we’re not sure how long Marlene and company have been waiting for a break like Ellie, but she quickly becomes priority number one which is why they’re so eager to smuggle her out of Boston.

Whether the group can actually be trusted is still up in the air – although Joel would probably say no.

It’s clear the Fireflies want to create a better world, despite this fungal apocalypse reducing everyone to their baser instincts, but Marlene seems gung-ho to sacrifice any and everything to hold onto Ellie and the hope for a cure. When someone with power has that kind of tunnel vision, it’s rarely a good thing.

The Last of Us airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a great zombie apocalypse show must be in want of a military dictatorship to serve as its main villain. (We’re pretty sure Jane Austen wrote that about HBO’s The Last of Us.)

In the first episode of the Neil Druckmann-penned video game adaptation, a fungal pandemic turns most of the world’s population into undead spore generators capable of decomposing human flesh, hijacking our brains, and spreading at a dizzying pace. In other words, zombies. The fungus turns people into zombies.

But, as terrifying and nauseating as that visual is, the Infected aren’t the only enemy the show’s main characters – Joel, Ellie, Marlene, Tess, etc. – are facing. In fact, when we pick up some 20 years after the initial outbreak in episode one’s “When You’re Lost In the Darkness,” these fungi avatars are low on the threat level watchlist. With most of the living residing in Quarantine Zones run by the firm and ominous hand of a shadowy government, it’s the United States military – or, what’s left of it – that might be the real big bad of this season.

Here’s what we know about FEDRA on HBO’s The Last of Us.

What Does FEDRA Stand For?

FEDRA stands for the Federal Disaster Response Agency and yes, the similarities that can be drawn between it and another, real-life government disaster organization are completely intentional. Though the agency is more of a background villain in the games – an excuse for rebel alliances to forge and cause problems for main characters – they feature a bit more heavily in the first episode of HBO’s show.

When Did FEDRA Form?

The timelines between the video game and the TV series are a bit skewed so it’s hard to tell when the FEDRA of HBO’s The Last Of Us formed. We do know that when the outbreak wreaked havoc in Texas in 2003, forcing Joel and company to flee their home, the Army was responsible for rounding up the Infected and disposing of them. In the show’s first episode, the military blocked off roads and cordoned zones and even killed innocent civilians in an effort to curb the fungi’s spread.

By 2023, when we check in with Joel at the Boston QZ after a 20-year time jump, FEDRA has established a stronghold, replacing elected officials with military leaders that run other quarantine sights and use violent force to ensure the uninfected stay in line.

What Does FEDRA Want?

When FEDRA formed soon after the outbreak, the agency likely wanted what we’d all want when faced with a parasitic fungus that could invade our brains and use our bodies like a beat-up Chevy – they wanted order, a safe space for the living, and a way to beat back the infected hordes. But, as they rose to power, their obsession with keeping it might have influenced some of their more questionable and downright barbaric practices.

Without spoiling too much, it’s clear from how FEDRA runs the Boston QZ that they’ve devolved into a full dictatorship with the military enforcing punishments that range from unlawful detention centers to public executions. While most citizens work for ration cards and try to scrape out some kind of existence, soldiers can be seen dealing on the Black Market and wielding their authority unchecked.

If FEDRA is looking for a cure for the Cordyceps Brain Infection, the Fireflies and citizens of the QZ aren’t aware of it. In all likelihood, considering FEDRA takes orphans like Ellie and trains them to be soldiers from a young age, the group is probably content to keep to the new status quo, ruling a defeated remainder of mankind rather than waging any real war against the virus.

The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO at 9 p.m. ET.

[This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us]

The trailer for HBO’s The Last of Us was set to “Take on Me” by a-ha. That song will eventually factor into the TV show’s plot, as it did in the video games, but it was another 1980s classic that had major implications on tonight’s series premiere.

After Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) gets tasked with smuggling Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of a quarantine zone, they take refuge in an apartment, where she discovers author Fred Bronson’s book, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. It’s an essential read for any pop culture fanatic, but in the universe of The Last of Us, it’s important for a different reason. Inside the book is a sheet of paper with a code scribbled on it below the initials “B/F,” standing for Bill and Frank: a 1960s song means “Nothing In,” a 1970s song equals “New Stock,” and a 1980s song, well, a 1980s song has a red “X” on the note.

“So, who is Bill and Frank?” Ellie asks when Joel returns to the apartment. He doesn’t respond, but she figures out the significance of an 1980s song by claiming that Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” played while he was napping. “Shit,” Joel mutters. It was a trick. “Gotcha,” Ellie says while cracking a smile. “’80s means trouble.”

The next time a song comes on the radio, no one’s in the apartment; Joel, Ellie, and Tess (Anna Torv) are on the other side of the quarantine zone wall. That song, which plays over the credits of the episode, is “Never Let Me Down Again” by Depeche Mode, which came out in… 1987. Uh oh. There’s trouble coming. That’s bad news for Joel and Ellie but good news for us. We get to enjoy some Depeche Mode!