Category: Worldwide

“Euphoria” is without question a heavy show. The teenagers at Euphoria High deal with abusive relationships, drug addiction, mental illness and the dark side of sexuality. There’s not one episode that feels comfortable. When I think of “easy viewing,” this is certainly not it.

The show has received a lot of backlash for its content, with critics claiming that it glorifies and glamorizes toxic behavior. Following “Euphoria”’s second season, D.A.R.E. issued a statement to TMZ saying “It is unfortunate that HBO, social media, television program reviewers, and paid advertising have chosen to refer to the show as ‘groundbreaking,’ rather than recognizing the potential negative consequences on school age children who today face unparalleled risks and mental health challenges.”

Though I understand the concern, I do not agree. I think “Euphoria,” and shows like it, can be vital viewing. They’re painful, intense and hard to watch. And that’s exactly why we need them, if we ever aspire to strengthen our compassion for those dealing with issues that often lurk under the surface.

As the central character Rue (played by Zendaya) struggles to gain control of her life, we feel her loneliness, her yearning, her despair … all of it. This is in part thanks to emotional empathy, a term coined by psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman, meaning to “feel physically along with the other person, as though their emotions were contagious.” When we engage in emotional empathy, we activate mirror neurons, the cells of the brain that fire up both when we perform an act and when we observe an act.

Think about the excitement you feel when your favorite team scores a winning goal, or seeing a stranger stub their toe and suppressing the urge to yell “ouch!” Though you are not experiencing a situation on the outside, you are definitely experiencing it on the inside. Compare this to cognitive empathy, which refers to “simply knowing how the other person feels,” which keeps things intellectual, abstract, distant.

Television impacts our culture with emotional empathy. Watching TV can be a visceral experience: We get invested in the outcomes of characters’ decisions, relate to them, seeing the world differently as a result. Quite often we feel what a character feels, without ever having lived a similar experience. “Euphoria” harnesses the power of story beautifully in this way. It’s incredibly painful to watch, but so is addiction. And I think we owe it to those going through it to witness their inner battles. We’ve already seen the importance of representation, after all.

Zendaya responds to D.A.R.E’s criticism of Euphoria:

“Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing. If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria … is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience” pic.twitter.com/rSz5tePSZX

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 7, 2022

Zendaya has been very candid that the intention of the show was never to make drug use and violence aspirational. “Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing,” she said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria, or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience and their pain. And maybe feel like they’re not the only one going through or dealing with what they’re dealing with.”

And to that end, the show has been successful. “I’ve had a lot of people reach out and find so many parallels from all ages, all walks of life,” Zendaya told EW. “So many parallels with Rue and her story and Rue means a lot to them in a way that I can understand, but also maybe in a way that I could never understand, and that means the most to all of us.”

Previously, the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” received similar criticism for glorifying teenage suicide. Though the show’s creators initially defended their decision to keep a scene that graphically depicted a young character taking their life, eventually the scene did get removed. According to Vanity Fair, this was at the urging of both advocates and health experts, after there was an increase of calls to suicide hotlines from teenage viewers.

I am not a mental health expert, but I cannot help but wonder: Rather than making suicide appear more attractive, could the show have inspired teenagers to express what was already going on inside? Could instead this be the first time these issues were out in the open, and therefore safe to talk about?

Even Netflix released a statement saying “We’ve heard from many young people that 13 Reasons Why encouraged them to start conversations about difficult issues like depression and suicide and get help—often for the first time.”

This reminds me of the third type of empathy that Goleman and Ekman identify. Compassionate empathy is when we ”not only understand and feel a person’s predicament, but we are moved to help as well.” Though by definition this is regarding being moved to act for somebody else, I think the principle still applies to both “13 Reasons” and “Euphoria.” People were moved to talk to someone about their mental health. That to me is a huge victory.

Empathy is one of the most valuable skills we can learn. It can defeat misunderstandings, derision and dogma while cultivating the best parts in all of us. That’s why we need stories, even the uncomfortable ones, to help us understand a different world as our own, so that we can remember we are all connected, and even, when possible, take compassionate action.

Shows such as “Euphoria” help those struggling with similar issues find unconditional love for themselves and their journey. It helps family members of addicts better understand what’s happening underneath the surface (this coming from a daughter of addicts, by the way). I think that anything created with this kind of heartfelt intention is a force for good. No matter how painful.

The first part of the Netflix Kanye West documentary Jeen-Yuhs has been out for about a day now, and as fans take in the episode, one scene, in particular, has sparked a wide-ranging Twitter debate between fans and industry professionals. The documentary follows Kanye as he bum-rushes the Roc-A-Fella Records office with his camera crew in tow to play “All Falls Down” for people during a busy workday.

Much of the criticism focuses on then-head-of-marketing Chaka Pilgrim’s stonefaced reaction to Kanye’s antics as he commandeers her CD player and proceeds to perform the song in her face. Meanwhile, the narration provided by the documentary’s director and longtime Kanye cheerleader Coodie depicts this moment as a deflating one for Kanye, who believes that he should be signed to the label as a rapper and not just a producer.

Today’s fans are aghast that the denizens of the office seem less than enthused by the record, which went on to peak at No. 7 on the Hot 100, receive a double Platinum certification, and was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards. However, some industry professionals — at least one of whom was actually in the office on the day in question — have responded to the backlash hoping to set the record straight.

By way of context, Wayno Clark, who is the current VP of A&R for Quality Control Music after holding positions all over the music industry for the past two decades, offered his take as one of the people who were in the office on the day in question. “He played this song in the office and did this with a camera crew like 10x,” he explained. “How many times can you have a crazy reaction to something you’ve heard 10x? It was kind of annoying at that point.”

So, Kanye, in a nutshell.

“Y’all also gotta realize this is at a time when phones ain’t even have cameras on em,” he further elaborated. “He came with a camera crew all the time recording everything. People weren’t used to that, Chaka hair ain’t even done you think she was happy to be on camera?”

Other industry vets also weighed in on the intrusion, explaining that it was not only a workday but that the folks in the office were busy ensuring that Roc-A-Fella’s existing roster of potential hits got out to the world at large, as well. That didn’t stop fans from replying with their fan goggles firmly in place, berating industry pros — y’know, the people whose jobs entailed making sure that the music was put out and marketed well enough that it could do all those things listed above — for basically not doing their jobs — which, y’know… they did.

It’s a prime example of “not everybody deserves a platform to share their opinion” but alas, here we are. Social media gives everyone a megaphone — including Kanye, who spent the last week or so abusing his by using it to harass his ex-wife — and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But there comes a certain point when you really should listen to the experts. Fortunately, they’ve got megaphones of their own. Check out more responses below.

Considering Georgia elected Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress, the bar for elected officials from the Peach State is pretty low right now. So it was pretty impressive when Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor barreled into the political scene on with a wild campaign slogan that has Twitter tripping over itself with jokes.

In a tweet promoting her tour schedule on Thursday, Taylor showed off a picture of her campaign bus that’s adorned with the words “Jesus Guns Babies.” She also promised to paint the state “Taylor RED,” whatever that means.

To be clear, “Jesus Guns Babies” is the cornerstone of Taylor’s campaign and isn’t just an unfortunate placement of words on her tour bus. Taylor fully incorporates the phrase on her campaign website where the educator vows to clean up Georgia:

Dr. Taylor is married to Ryan Taylor, and together, they share three school aged children. She is passionate about the working class, mental health, less government overreach, education, small business growth, gun rights, our farmers, the economy, right to life, and election integrity. Put simply, Jesus, Guns, and Babies! When asked what made her decide to run, she responded, “I can’t complain about what is going on if I’m not willing to do something about it. The Governor’s budget is 60% education, and who better to clean things up than a public school educator who knows where and what to cut!”

After catching wind of the “Jesus Guns Babies” slogan, Twitter went to town on the awkwardly worded phrase that seemingly suggests Jesus shoots babies on top of being a jarring example of the current state of the Republican Party.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Kandiss Taylor on Twitter)

It’s tempting to compare Succession and The Righteous Gemstones, as they’re both extremely good HBO shows about rich families with emotionally-stunted children who are trying to oust their influential fathers from power. Also, the Roys and Gemstones both own theme parks. But here’s the thing: Succession is a drama with comedic elements; The Righteous Gemstones is a comedy with dramatic elements. Big difference.

Edi Patterson, who plays season two MVP Judy, told Variety that she recognizes the “skin deep” similarities between Succession and The Righteous Gemstones, but “those are two very different looking bodies.” Judy/BJ and Shiv/Tom are also two very different couples, as Patterson’s co-star (and Comedy Bang Bang legend) Tim Baltz explained.

“With Judy and BJ, there is a love that runs incredibly deep,” he said. “That is not a marriage of convenience; they are two weirdos who happen to have complementing frequencies that you can’t quite explain. It’s unconditional. With Tom and Shiv, I never really felt that.” Patterson added, “That sh*t’s cosmic.” It’s kind of a cosmic gumbo, really.

Two other major differences between Succession and The Righteous Gemstones: BJ does not have a Greg (he can borrow Keef from Kelvin?) and Shiv, as far as we know, does not own a magnifying glass to solve mysteries with. Maybe in season four.

(Via Variety)

LPB Poody returns to UPROXX Sessions this week with a heartfelt performance of his I’m The One standout, “Eiffel Tower.” After performing the title track in his previous appearance, he switches things up this time, delivering a soulful rendition of the moody cut, which shows off his thoughtfulness and impresses as the Florida rapper details his rough life experiences.

Poody’s career has been flourishing since his 2021 track “Batman” picked up steam on TikTok, exposing him to a new audience far outside his Orlando stomping grounds and putting him in perfect position for a breakout year. I’m The One, released in December of 2021 capitalized on the attention, showcasing Poody’s growing talents and pairing him with a number of big-name stars including Lil Wayne, Moneybagg Yo, Yung Bleu, and his fellow Florida native Rick Ross.

Watch LPB Poody’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Eiffel Tower” above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Yes, yes, I know. Wordle, Wordle, Wordle.

The world has been thoroughly Wordle-ized for the past couple of months. By now you’re either a dedicated daily player or are trying your best to ignore the yellow and green boxes that flood your social media feed each day. As a self-professed word nerd, I’m a fan. Word games are my jam, and Wordle is just challenging enough to be fun without being too taxing. It’s a light little exercise to get my brain moving over coffee in the morning and a fun little collective endeavor to share with my fellow humans.

But we couldn’t just remain satisfied with our sweet little Wordle game, right? Of course not. Why let a good thing be when we can drive ourselves batty with something else?

Friends, allow me to introduce you to Quordle. You’re either going to love me or hate me for this—I’m still not even sure how I feel about myself for being sucked into it. It’s awesome and terrible and I can’t stop playing.

Quordle, you might guess from the name, means four Wordles. But you’re guessing at all of them at the same time with a single word. You get nine tries total to correctly guess all four words.

It’s both glorious and torturous. You’re welcome. And I’m sorry.

Let me show you what it looks like.

First of all, there are two modes of playing. There’s the Daily Quordle, which is the same four words for everyone, one game per day, just like Wordle.

But there’s also Practice Quordle, which basically just means you can play as many times as you want. Dangerous.

I’ll show you a practice one so I don’t spoil anything. Here’s what it looks like when you start a practice round:

As you can see, there are four “quadrants” where words get entered. The only thing that stinks is that you really can’t see all of the rows at once. There are more blank rows for the bottom two words that you have to scroll to see, but it really isn’t that big of a deal while you’re playing.

Whatever word you enter on each round gets put into all four quadrants. Then, just like in Wordle, the right letters in the wrong places turn yellow and the right letters in the right place turn green. Letters that aren’t used remain gray.

Here I am four guesses in (in two different images, since I had to scroll down to see the bottom two quadrants). As you can see, I guessed TONIC correctly for the top right word on the third guess and SLANT for the bottom left word on the fourth guess.

And as you can see, the keyboard shows which quadrants contain the letters you’ve guessed, either in the wrong place (yellow) or the right place (green).

The main goal is to get all four words in nine tries or less, but the lower any of the numbers, the better. I did quite well in this particular practice round, getting all four words in six total guesses.

(In fact, this practice round was a bit of redemption after only getting three of the four words in the Daily Quordle today. I had two possible choices for my ninth guess and picked the wrong one. Argh.)

Like Wordle, the Quordle interface is super simple; there are no ads or anything extraneous. Also like Wordle, Quordle was created by some guy (his name is Freddie Meyer) who had been playing Dordle (a two-word Wordle challenge) with some friends in January. Another guy in their group, David Mah, came up with Quordle and Mayer perfected it. Now it’s got a million players. (Meyer says on the website that he has no plans to monetize Quordle. Maybe he’ll end up selling it to The New York Times for seven figures like the Wordle guy did, and if he does? Hey, more power to him.)

This is what humans do, right? Create cool things? Improve and innovate on what came before? Make our brains hurt and drive one another nuts in the best way? Yay, humanity.

So, fellow word nerds, give Quordle a try and see what you think. Again, you’re welcome and I’m sorry.

When Justin Bieber’s Justice World Tour kicks off this week, it’ll mark the beginning of nearly 100 concerts for Bieber in 20 countries worldwide. It’s a dizzying thought, considering how complex his stage production is and that all of these shows are happening in arenas in front of tens of thousands of people. The Canadian pop star is taking advantage of the platform that the tour will provide for him, and has announced the “Justice In Action” initiative, which will raise awareness for social justice and environmental issues in multiple ways (as Billboard notes).

In a truly creative approach to getting Beliebers involved with Justice In Action at each show, the initiative gives them chances to win tickets and VIP experiences by participating in the movement. Bieber has partnered with Propeller and Live Free to help connect Beliebers with local and national social justice organizations. The effort pushes fans to interact with, donate, and follow organizations on social media like the REFORM Alliance, National Resources Defense Council, Fund For Guaranteed Income, and Last Prisoner Project. The more fans interact, or participate in on-site trainings, the more opportunities they’ll have to win perks.

Bieber’s camp issued a statement on the whole effort:

“Justin’s goal by the end of the Justice World Tour is to inspire millions of individual actions, help connect his fans to important causes, and provide participating groups with a new foundation of supporters, all while registering voters and raising awareness and funds for critical local and national justice efforts,”

While predicated on giveaways, this appears to be an effective approach to engage young people in taking action on social issues. And it’s an important trend for pop stars to use their massive platforms to educate fans about greater issues in the world.

While Troye Sivan’s professional focus has been mostly on music in recent years, he hasn’t left his acting career behind by any means. In fact, his latest movie, Three Months, premieres on February 23. Naturally, Sivan got involved with the soundtrack, for which he recruited Jay Som to collaborate on “Trouble,” which was shared today.

Sharing the track today, Sivan wrote, “Revisited my full 17 year old 2011 tumblr-core mindset to write this song for Three Months.” Jay Som also showed gratitude for Sivan, writing, “Feeling super grateful to be featured on this song called Trouble written by @troyesivan for the movie Three Months.”

Aesthetically, the tune lies somewhere between the breezy indie of Jay Som’s music and the more pop-leaning stylings of Sivan, making it a lovely melding of both artist’s strengths. Sivan opens the song, “Accidental lover, what’d you do with all my common sense? / You came in undercover when I didn’t even want a friend.”

That line plays off one of the movie’s themes, as the official summary of Three Months reads, “Coming-of-age film about Caleb, a South Florida teen. On the eve of his high school graduation, everything changes when he’s exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, he finds love in the most unlikely of places.”

Listen to “Trouble” above. Also check out a trailer for Three Months below.

Drake’s jewelry collection grew yet again but this time he didn’t pay a cent. TMZ reports that the latest addition to the rapper’s collection — which was partly designed as a tribute to his son Adonis — was given to the rapper by celebrity jeweler Alex Moss as a gift rather than a purchase.

The ring, consisting of 14 karat gold and 15.7 carats of diamonds, features a rendering of the OVO owl logo with the number “11” set behind it. October 11, of course, is Adonis’ birthday (just 13 days before his dad’s), highlighting the four-year-old’s importance to his famous pops. The overall value of the piece is reportedly $77,000 — a small price to pay for the publicity that seeing Drake wear such a piece would bring to the jeweler.

Of course, Drake’s been doing just fine showing public displays of affection for his son on his own. For Adonis’ most recent October 11, Drake threw a racing-themed birthday party and posted photos online; he’s also shared videos of his son learning the game of basketball (something else Drake takes pride in sharing with him), playing around on Christmas Eve, and giving him an impromptu French lesson, which the toddler used to troll his famous dad. Drake’s certainly come a long way from “hiding a child” as he was once taunted by Pusha T.

“You Oughta Know” was a major moment for a young Alanis Morissette (yes, the one from The Great North): As the lead single from 1995’s Jagged Little Pill, it was the world’s first look at Morissette’s new rock-leaning direction. Now, the single has been taken on by another rising artist on the verge of big things: GAYLE has covered the song in a Cover Nation-exclusive performance.

Aside from a virtual rhythm section and other digital instrumental accompaniment, GAYLE tackles the song on her own with an electric guitar, busting out a rendition that packs all the angst and energy of her own rocking hit, “ABCDEFU.” She really shows off her vocal range here, too, hitting some satisfying notes and turning in a real clean performance.

Even if you’re not quite familiar with Gayle yet, you’ve almost certainly heard her work, as “ABCDEFU” has absolutely taken over TikTok and other online spaces in recent months. While most fans are hearing the song on the internet, the live performances she’s given of the breakout hit (including one on The Tonight Show in January) have shown off how capable of a performer she is outside of a studio environment. Shortly after that performance, she dropped off her similarly spirited follow-up single, “Ur Just Horny.”

Watch GAYLE cover “You Oughta Know” above.

GAYLE is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.