Category: Worldwide

Julia Jacklin 2019’s emotional opus Crushing distinguished her from her peers like Phoebe Bridgers and Angel Olsen and proved her as a singular, marvelous voice in indie music. The Australian singer seems to effortlessly evoke heartbreak with every incisive line she lulls with passion and vulnerability; the album opener “Body” showcased her knack for storytelling, while the hit “Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You” displayed the power of her straightforward honesty in her public reckoning.

So, it’s a big deal to have her back with the just-announced album Pre Pleasure arriving this summer; The lead single “Lydia Wears A Cross” is out today, and watches her trade in her signature acoustic guitar for some pulsating synths.

“The song is about a lot of things but mainly being a 7yr old Jesus Christ Superstar fanatic attending catholic school trying to figure out which way is up,” Jacklin said about the new single. “The music video was filmed by my constant collaborator and friend Nick Mckk at Splitpoint lighthouse. I played a show close by recently and asked on stage if anyone could let me film inside. Someone in the crowd knew a guy and that was it. The rest was filmed in the streets of Northcote, Melbourne.”

Listen to “Lydia Wears A Cross” above. Check out the Pre Pleasure artwork and tracklist below.

1. “Lydia Wears A Cross”
2. “Love, Try Not To Let Go”
3. “Ignore Tenderness”
4. “I Was Neon”
5. “Too In Love To Die”
6. “Less Of A Stranger”
7. “Moviegoer”
8. “Magic”
9. “Be Careful With Yourself”
10. “End Of A Friendship”

Pre Pleasure is out 8/26 via Polyvinyl Record Co. Pre-order it here.

Know someone who’s over 60 and feeling lonely? Help is just a phone call away. Purina Cat Chow has partnered with two non-profits in order to bring senior citizens some much-needed virtual therapy cat visits.

Wait…that’s a thing?

When we think of the term “therapy animal,” most of us are probably inclined to picture a dog. After all, canines dominate the therapy animal field at 94%. Felines, on the other hand, make up part of the other 6% (that’s combined with other animals). Anyone who has experienced that special, soul-soothing bliss that comes from stroking a purring kitty in their lap will tell you: those numbers might be off. Although therapy cats make up a smaller percentage of this segment, cats offer a wide array of positive benefits that make them wonderful therapy animals.

Just ask Roger and Sal – a couple of registered therapy cats – along with their handler Tracy Howell.

Since 2016, Tracy and Roger have been working with Pet Partners®, a non-profit that matches volunteer therapy animals of all kinds with people in need of a furry friend visit, including nursing facilities, assisted living, hospice centers, and children’s hospitals.

Tracy and Roger in 2016; Photo courtesy of Tracy Howell

Sal is a mew addition to the team. But he’s already working very, very hard…putting his head on people’s thighs and letting them massage his paws. What a gig.

According to Pet Partners, who have had more than 1,500 felines registered in their Therapy Animal Program, certain populations prefer cat companions to dogs. For one thing: they’re more compact, and generally more quiet, making lap cuddles a much more Zen experience.

Plus, cats tend to be more particular about who they interact with, which can signal a nice little ego boost. “Cats have a reputation for being selectively affectionate. If a cat likes you, you’re special,” says Moira Smith, Pet Partners staff member, team evaluator, and cat handler.

Basically, it feels really good to be invited into the Cat Club. Some of Roger and Sal’s most loyal fans are, in fact, seniors – in particular, those with dementia.

“People think it must be hard to visit seniors with dementia, but it isn’t,” she told Upworthy. “They tend to repeat questions a lot so if you mess up your answer, chances are you won’t mess up the next time they ask. I’ve laughed so many times during our visits with seniors–just because you are older doesn’t mean you stop being funny.”

Photo courtesy of Purina® Cat Chow®

Where humor is not lost, connection is. With many of their family members passed on, living far away, or not allowed to visit due to COVID-19 restrictions, loneliness is a major issue seniors often face. This leads to depression, anxiety, and irritability.

That’s where Roger and Sal come in. A typical therapy cat visit consists of lap cuddles with warm blankets, nap time, and a bit of TV watching. Sometimes the seniors will tell Tracy about their own cats they once had, and how much they loved them.

During the pandemic, Roger and Sal have even excelled at their virtual visits. While nothing replaces the emotional engagement of one-on-one interactions, research has indicated that virtual animal content still brightens the mood.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Howell

Tracy agreed that even though they were not able to be in person, the trio has still been able to make a connection and keep people smiling and happy. Roger even performed a few tricks. Perhaps the affinity cats have for interrupting Zoom calls can come in handy after all.

The online visits have been so impactful that for Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Cat Chow, Pet Partners and the Institute on Aging are working together to get more seniors, over the age of 60, connected to virtual therapy cat visits. By calling 800-616-5152, seniors can schedule one of 50 free virtual therapy cat visits with a Pet Partners therapy cat team. That means kitties like Roger and Sal are going to have VIP status, Very Important Pets, that is.

The whole project has been made possible by Purina Cat Chow, a company that knows all too well the healing powers of cats. During the entire month of May, for every Cat Chow Complete purchase, Purina will donate two cents per purchase, up to $25,000 to Pet Partners in support of their Therapy Animal Program. This donation will help more cats like Roger and Sal ensure more people have access to the therapeutic benefits of cats.

If you’re a cat-lover who would like to show support, you can find out more at catchow.com/therapy.

Photo courtesy of Purina® Cat Chow®

Ever since hip-hop’s humble beginnings at underground parties in the Bronx, New York, hip-hop fans have debated which rapper is the best. Over time, that debate has evolved into different formats such as the “top five” rappers or the rap Mount Rushmore. Then there’s the GOAT (greatest of all time) debate, which is widely accepted as distinct from the “best rapper alive” question. All these debates basically amount to the same thing, but they all mean different things to different people.

That said, whenever a rapper throws their hat in the ring to compete for one of these coveted titles, it doesn’t take long for those debates to heat up. The latest to do so is Florida rapper Denzel Curry, fresh off the release of his eclectic new album, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future. In a new interview with XXL, Denzel unequivocally declared himself the top dog of the rap business. “Just look out for me,” he said. “Look out for any of the next projects that’s ’bout to come out. I’m ’bout to shake the whole game up. I don’t care what anybody got to say, bro. I’m the best rapper alive. Point blank, period.” This is a far cry from when he declared “I hate rapping” in 2020.

Unfortunately for him, on Sunday — after he did the interview but before it was published — the consensus favorite for the best rapper title, Kendrick Lamar, returned with a new video for “The Heart Part 5” ahead of the release of his long-awaited fifth and final TDE album. Even Denzel had to acknowledge that if he wants that crown, his work is cut out for him. “I just finished this new Kendrick video,” he mused on Twitter. “I gotta step my game up n****s is built different.”

With Dwight Howard steadily fading out of his NBA career, it’s become time for Shaq to find a new big man to prod from his perch on the TNT set. While he’s become a fan of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, offering up chiefly praise for the three torch bearing big men of today’s NBA, there is one center Shaq finds himself wanting more from in Jazz big man Rudy Gobert.

The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has had to grow fairly accustomed to criticism from all over the league, whether it be Shaq or Draymond Green or just fans in general, who have grown tired of the insistence that he’s the most dominant defender in the NBA despite not being able to back that up with playoff success. Whether that’s more an indictment of Gobert or the Jazz’s perimeter defenders depends on who you ask, but despite his clearly elite defensive skills, the playoffs almost always end with Gobert at the butt of jokes.

Recently, Gobert came up on Shaq’s podcast when someone noted he’d score just 12 points on the big man, to which Shaq fired back “Yeah, in three minutes.” That made the rounds on social media, and Rudy decided to hop in Instagram comments to reassert that he would “lock his ass up.” Naturally, that ended up being some fodder for the Inside the NBA crew, with Charles Barkley loving the opportunity to rile Shaq up by siding with Gobert, telling Shaq that Rudy would be eating “black BBQ chicken” and “hurt kids in the stands blocking your shots.”

Normally that’d be the type of thing to get Shaq going, but even the big fella couldn’t help but just laugh at Barkley’s prodding — while still insisting that he’d just go right through Rudy’s “skinny ass” and dunk on him when Kenny pointed out he wouldn’t be able to get a jump hook off. As is always the case here, there’s no real way this gets settled considering it was a question of Shaq in his prime against Rudy in his prime, and as such both guys should absolutely assert they would win because there’s no way to prove it wrong.

That said, Dwyane Wade is something of a mediator here as a minority owner of the Jazz and a longtime friend of Shaq’s, and his idea is to settle it at All-Star next year in Utah.

As the promotional machine for the next Marvel blockbuster, Thor: Love and Thunder, kicks into overdrive, director Taika Waititi is gushing about he, somehow, scored both Christian Bale and Russell Crowe for the God of Thunder’s fourth outing. In the new film, Bale plays Gorr the God Butcher, a formidable foe introduced to the comics by writer Jason Aaron. In the source material, Gorr goes on a killing spree slaughtering Asgardian gods across time while wielding All-Black the Necrosword, which has deep ties to Venom.

Naturally, Love and Thunder will take some liberties with Gorr, and in true Marvel style, Waititi isn’t divulging what those changes are. But he is making a bold claim that Bale could be the best MCU villain yet.

“I think personally, he’s probably one of the best villains that’s Marvel’s had in their films. He’s very layered,” Waititi told Entertainment Weekly before gushing about Crowe’s performance as Zeus. And, yes, that’s Zeus as in Zeus the Greek God of Olympus, which is another interesting curveball for Love and Thunder.

Waititi is even more secretive about Russell Crowe’s role as the god Zeus, but teases that Crowe plays the role in “a way you’ve never seen Russell before.”

“I consider Russell a friend, and I forget that there are some friends I have who are really incredible at what they do,” Waititi says with a laugh. “When I was on set with Russell, I was like, ‘Oh shit, that’s right! You’re Russell Crowe! You’re a really amazing actor!’”

Also in the mix is Natalie Portman as The Mighty Thor who, much to Thor’s surprise, is wielding his old hammer Mjolnir that was destroyed by Cate Blanchett’s Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. Could this be an after-effect of Loki rupturing the Multiverse or something else altogether? Marvel fans will find out soon when Love and Thunder strikes into theaters on July 8.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Apparently, the new version of hip-hop’s beloved “top five rappers” debate is the “rap Mount Rushmore” question. Basically, which four rappers would be on your personal Mount Rushmore? It’s a fun hypothetical because not only does it narrow the field, forcing commenters to be even more intentional with their picks, it also comes with a silly visual. Just image Future replacing Teddy Roosevelt or something. Hilarious!

During a recent interview with The Breakfast Club, Ja Rule was asked for his take on the rap Mount Rushmore conversation and offered some unconventional picks. He also had some insightful things to say about the debate itself, pointing out how difficult it can be to provide an answer, given how many different eras and styles of rap have come along since 1979.

He demonstrated that difficulty himself; after nailing his first three — Jay-Z, Tupac, and The Notorious B.I.G. — he struggled with the fourth spot, naming a few possibilities. “Either Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim, or [KRS One] because of what they did for the culture and what they meant to the culture,” he posited, before throwing out a curveball. “We never put the ladies in there… MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa.”

“They’re the reason other women picked up a microphone, period,” he explained. “How can you leave them off? You gotta [pick] one of them and put them on there.” He’s right; the current surge of female talent at the forefront of rap in pop culture today is built at least partially on the foundations laid by the original first ladies of rap. They may get overlooked — something that isn’t uncommon even for today’s stars — but their contributions are as critical to rap’s dominance as anyone’s.

You can watch the full interview above.

Ahead of her Future Nostalgia tour, Dua Lipa linked up with Megan The Stallion to record their sugary collaboration, “Sweetest Pie.” In a profile on Lipa for Vogue, Megan, who is opening for Lipa on select dates of the Future Nostalgia tour, recalled working with the “Levitating” singer on their collaboration.

During their sessions, Megan said she and Lipa formed a friendship that felt natural.

“When somebody is so gorgeous and established, you don’t know what to expect,” Megan said. “A lot of ladies can be divas. But Dua is just so nice. She felt like a familiar spirit. We have an unspoken bond, it’s not even anything we need to discuss. Sometimes people get the wrong idea about me, too. But once you meet me, you’re like, Oh! This is my homegirl.”

Also in the profile, “Sweetest Pie’s” co-writer Clarence Coffee, who also co-wrote “Levitating,” took time to speak on Lipa’s craft.

“I wish more people could see how she is as an artist in a room,” Coffee said. “She has incredible ideas, she’s a great lyricist, and she’s a beast with melodies.”

Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion are Warner Music Artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert’s feeling tooted up in a new way, which is perhaps a natural turn in events (after tweeting to a user named @CatTurd2) because she’s actually tweeting about tooting. Yes, it’s all coming full circle.

To briefly recap Boebert’s adventures, she’s very excited about Elon Musk buying Twitter and putting “free speech absolutism” into motion. She’s also all fired up about the leaked Supreme Court draft indicating that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and that led (coupled with her distaste for the term “birthing person”) to a sarcastic Sunday tweet to the effect of “Do we still need to be a biologist to wish moms a Happy Mother’s Day?” She’s certainly not brushed up on the U.S. Constitution, but that doesn’t deter Boebert as she sets her sights on the November midterms.

The Rifle Republican has been bashing the Left even more than usual while reacting to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement of a new Office of Environmental Justice. Yes, these sorts of things are always greeted with some skepticism. I mean, look at Trump’s famed Space Force branch of military, which Boebert readily embraced. She has, however, decided that the Biden administrative’s addition is dumb and decided to greet it with a fart joke, “What’s the ‘Office of Environmental Justice’ even going to do, issue cow flatulence fines?”

Classy as always. As Reuters recently reported, however, satellites recently discovered that cow burps (especially in the Joaquin Valley) are an even bigger source of methane emissions than cow flatulence. So, wrong kind of toots! People had receipts for Boebert, too.

When ESPN poached Joe Buck and Troy Aikman from Fox this offseason to finally give them a high-profile Monday Night Football booth, it appeared Fox might be the odd man out in the NFL analyst arms race. Tony Romo had recently re-upped with CBS on a monster 10-year, $180 million deal, Aikman got the same annual money (on five years instead of 10) with ESPN, and for better or worse, NBC had locked in Drew Brees after his retirement.

With Peyton Manning locked in to his ESPN deal to do the Manningcast 10 times a year with brother Eli, there didn’t appear to be a lot big fish left to catch (with Sean Payton getting some buzz but nothing coming of it), particularly with Tom Brady headed back to Tampa for at least one more season. However, while moving forward this year with Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen as the lead booth, Fox wasn’t willing to give up that easily on landing a splashy name, and on Tuesday announced that Brady would be joining their crew as the lead analyst whenever he really did retire for good.

It’s huge news for a few reasons, one that they got Brady to do what Manning wouldn’t, which is commit to being on the road every week during the season. Part of why Manning remained the white whale of the NFL TV business is that he didn’t want that much commitment to the grind, and many wondered if Brady would have a similar outlook on retired life. Money talks, even to someone who has piled up plenty in career earnings, and according to Mike McCarthy of Front Office Sports, Brady will become the highest paid analyst in the NFL at $20-25 million per year, with an expected contract length of more than five years.

That’s a serious commitment to the booth, and while we don’t really know how good Brady will be, it’s a safe bet that he will at least draw eyeballs given his stature as arguably the best to ever play the quarterback position.

This week had a lot going on, from the Met Gala where Billie Eilish enjoyed judging her fellow celebrities and Lizzo played a flute on the red carpet, to a batch of awesome releases. Bad Bunny unveiled his highly anticipated album Un Verano Sin Ti and Taylor Swift sent waves of excitement through the internet with “This Love (Taylor’s Version).”

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Lady Gaga — “Holy My Hand”

“When I wrote this song for Top Gun: Maverick, I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Lady Gaga said on Instagram. This depth and passion are evident in her heartfelt, rich vocals as she sings words of devotion: “But if you decide to, I’ll ride in this life with you, I won’t let go ’til the end.” It’s one of her most powerful, poignant songs yet.

Carly Rae Jepsen – “Western Wind”

Carly Rae Jepsen is back with her first new material in two years. She’s more tranquil than ever on this new song “Western Wind,” cooing against tame, free-floating rhythms, and walking through a field in the music video. There’s almost a sense of spirituality: “First bloom, you know it’s spring / Reminding me love that it’s all connected,” she sings softly, as if she’s reached a kind of nirvana.

Sigrid – “A Driver Saved My Night”

Norwegian singer Sigrid has been an unstoppable force lately. From eclectic collaborations to the release of her new album How To Let Go, she’s on her way to world domination. Her music, though, speaks for itself; this track “A Driver Saved My Night” is an addictive spurt of alt-pop, similar to Marina or Sir Chloe. It has exciting melodies and a memorable personality.

Chappell Roan – “My Kink Is Karma”

Chappell Roan is not holding back at all on this new track “My Kink Is Karma.” It’s startling from the start as she sets the scene, singing: “We broke up on a Tuesday / Kicked me out with the rent paid / Ruined my credit, stole my cute aesthetic.” The song is buoyant and groovy; her vocals are unforgiving as she rolls out diss after diss: “You’re losing it lately / Moved back with your parents / And date girls who’re eighteen.”

Bad Bunny – “Moscow Mule”

Picking just one notable song from Bad Bunny’s new album isn’t easy. But “Moscow Mule” is catchy and immersive for all of its four minutes, and it comes with a compelling — and quite revealing — music video as well. Its summer vibes will surely have radio stations playing it on repeat.

Taylor Swift – “This Love (Taylor’s Version)”

After teasing the song, Taylor Swift generously shared the sprawling new version of the 1989 track “This Love,” which started off as a poem. She sings patiently and weightlessly, making every word count and imbuing the song with a sense of higher stakes.

Tove Lo – “No One Dies From Love”

Tove Lo’s futuristic new song “No One Dies From Love” is about dedication, “No one dies from love / Guess I’ll be the first,” she repeats. She sings to an AI robot in the music video, dancing with the metallic being and even playing tennis with it. It’s a self-proclaimed “musical sci-fi love story,” which also sums up the sound of Tove Lo’s music pretty well.

Stonebwoy – “Therapy”

Stonebwoy is a Grammy-nominee praised for his Afro-pop songs. This track is a great example of his talent at crafting layered, beautiful music that’s buoyed by soft rhythms that make the listener want to move with gorgeous vocals to top it off. It clocks in at three minutes, reveling in its brevity and simplicity.

DNCE – “Move”

Every time DNCE release a new song, the world is blessed with a new summer anthem. The feel-good vibes are endless. Against a ’70s sound, the band sings: “All I’m trying to do is make you get up out that chair and make you move, / Make you move,” which is their perpetual mission. They succeed.

Lehla Samia – “Call On Me”

Lehla Samia’s voice can make anything sound amazing, making “Call On Me” seem effortlessly perfect. Her proclamations of love are magical when she sings: “You’re the one for me / Baby you’re the one for me,” and the sound overall is engaging and exuberant, full of excitement for the future.

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