Category: Worldwide

Megan Thee Stallion covers March’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar, but rather than celebrating the milestone, some of her fans instead took to social media to express their disappointment in the pictorial, shot by Collier Schorr and styled by Samira Nasr. Shot on blank backgrounds and styled in Alaïa, Chanel, Prada, and Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, the results are dripping in high-fashion taste but many fans seem bored with the final photos, calling them “bland” and comparing them to past shoots in GQ, Paper, and Time.

Because the internet, the original tweet from the publication got few responses — mostly negative ones — but when the photos were retweeted by another account, the reactions came rolling in, decrying Bazaar for its photographer’s direction and styling. “These photos are horrendous,” one account wrote. “Someone needs to be fired.” Considering photographers generally work on commission and Schorr has probably already been paid, this seems like an improbable outcome, but that didn’t stop fans from sharing the sentiment.

Others compared the “bland” photoshoot to similar ones that also received backlash featuring Simone Biles and Kamala Harris — both for Vogue — saying that the normally vibrant Megan looks “lifeless” and “washed out” in the photos. Some fans thought Meg’s own selfies from her iPhone on social media had better lighting and composition and while there are a few defenders of the Bazaar shoot, the general consensus is that it doesn’t adequately capture the “Cry Baby” rapper’s full colorful personality and style.

Check out the shots and fans’ reactions above.

After making and releasing her quarantine album How I’m Feeling Now at breakneck pace in May 2020, Charli XCX has taken a deserved break from the public eye. She’s back with new music today, though, hopping on a remix of Elio’s “Charger,” an emotionally charged synth-pop tune in which they debate going back into an awkward situation to retrieve their phone charger.

Charli has been interested in “Charger” from the very beginning. Elio shared a snippet of the track in mid-January and Charli retweeted a fan who wrote of the preview, “This has the power of a Charli XCX snippet leaked on Lanaboards so you KNOW it’s good.” That perhaps prompted Charli and Elio to make something happen with the song, because when Elio announced the song’s premiere in late January, Charli wrote, “MIGHT BE WORKING ON A LIL REMIX OF THIS SONG AS WE SPEAK! CHARGE UR PHONES AND GO LISTEN!” Then, the remix was announced last week, and now, here we are with the end product.

Elio previously told Apple Music of the song, “I wrote it with my friends Andy Seltzer and Brett McLaughlin, who’s Leland. I’ve lost my charger at a house, post-party or post-fight, and it’s a cheap iPhone accessory, but for some reason it’s so essential. I can risk going back and getting it, whether it’s going through another whole long goodbye at a party or going back in and being really awkward after having a fight. I’m so fascinated with people’s relationships with phones, obviously — I write about it a lot — but this was a lot less personal and it was a lot more like, ‘Everybody relates to this.’”

Listen to the Charli XCX-featuring version of “Charger” above.

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

(Spoilers from Marvel Studios and Disney+’s WandaVision will be found below.)

We’re now in Week 7 of WandaVision (with two more weeks to go), and it’s nothing less than stunning how Kevin Feige is pulling off the unexpected, over and over again. Not only did he deftly combine the Fox superhero universe and Marvel Cinematic Universe with one bold move, but each week is bringing us a brilliant example of storytelling. The show’s inventive, to the degree that it resembles nothing that we’ve ever seen before (in theaters or on TV), and honestly, as a Marvel fan, I feel spoiled (especially after not visiting a theater for nearly a year). Even more importantly: this effect wouldn’t have been possible without weekly episodes, and whereas The Mandalorian certainly used that structure to its own benefit (and sometimes for the monster-of-the-week thing), WandaVision‘s proving that a weekly format is essential to its success. The fans are eating it up on social media, too, with trending topics every week, and yeah, those cliffhangers are really something.

What’s especially surprising about this week’s ending is that it told us something that a lot of people suspected — Agnes is truly Agatha Harkness, a sorceress from the comics who helped Wanda come into her powers while training with HYDRA — but no one expected it to be revealed this way.

Agnes is revealed to have been pulling strings in Westview “all along,” and to make her even more dastardly, she offed Sparky the dog, too. This makes her the most evil MCU villain of all time, in my book. Move over, Thanos.

The cliffhanger aspect, and the anticipation of what Agnes will do next after this Modern Family-style episode, keeps on proving that the weekly format could be King again.

As for what exactly this means, I’m not completely sold (yet) on Agnes pulling every string in Westview. She could still be training Wanda, in a way, or we’ll see Wanda join forces with her. We saw that Agnes orchestrated Pietro’s return (though he was “recast,” apparently by Wanda, as Evan Peters rather than Aaron Taylor Johnson), but I still can’t guess whether Pietro is completely under Agnes’ control. He hasn’t been acting like the Pietro (or the Peter) that we’ve known before, and it’s entirely possible that this is by Agnes’ design. Still, I’m wondering if his devil-horned hair from last week points toward him secretly being Mephisto, the MCU’s version of the Devil.

Yet it is still entirely possible that Agnes Husband is really Mephisto (and that he’ll be played by Al Pacino). See how wonderful this show is? It’s got us talking, really talking, on a weekly basis. And what are we to make of Pietro’s confirmation of Monica (who discovered evidence of Agnes as witch) during the post-credits scene?

His statement could be purely innocuous (Pietro is a curious type these days), or he could be defending Agnes while under her control. Or he could be Mephisto! This is nuts, simply nuts. And we must also acknowledge that Monica’s eyes are glowing after her exposure to the Hex, which could point toward mere reflection or the emergence of her own superpowers (which will likely include flying, superspeed, and being able to manipulate energy). Some strong Photon comic-book vibes are coming our way.

Another highlight of this episode: Darcy and Vision’s chaotic team-up energy. This dynamic could make for a fantastic buddy comedy if Marvel Studios and Disney+ run out of show ideas one day.

In the end, though, we’re left with questions about where Wanda stands, and a lot is left wide open. Earlier in the episode, she struggled to maintain control while fretting over her family (the weekly easter-egg ad was all about antidepressants, in Mother’s Little Helpers kind of way), and Agnes stepped in like Auntie Agnes to take care of the twins, and I feel like the ending doesn’t set up Agnes as the big bad but merely one of them. I’m guessing that they join forces with Wanda as Agnes’ trainee, and I could be wrong, but that would be the perfect setup for Wanda’s (significant) role in the next Doctor Strange movie. Only two more episodes to go and this show could go anywhere.

Disney+’s ‘WandaVision’ streams new episodes on Fridays.

This week, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are discussing two of the most exciting indie releases of the week. First up is a passionate discussion of Open Door Policy, the new album from veteran rockers The Hold Steady. Hyden appreciates the band’s long-running arc and recent comeback, while Cohen has never connected with the Beat-style of what he calls “dude writing.”

Next up on the docket is A Billion Little Lights, the new effort from Wild Pink’s. Led by singer-songwriter John Ross, who moved to Brooklyn after college to be a film composer, Wild Pink’s latest is undeniably cinematic and meditative, a stubbornly un-flashy affair that was originally intended to be a double album about the American West, but was eventually condensed to a lean 10-track affair.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is vibing with New Music And Big Pop, the debut album from Another Michael, while Hyden is enjoying Call In The Mess, the forthcoming sophomore album from New York outfit Nervous Dater.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 27 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

While conservative commenters like Meghan McCain had the wherewithal to distance themselves from Republican Senator Ted Cruz and his tone-deaf trip to Cancun in the middle of a statewide emergency where Texans are literally freezing to death in the aftermath of an unprecedented winter storm that crippled the state’s power infrastructure, Donald Trump Jr. has gone the opposite direction by rushing to Cruz’s defense in the most Don Jr. way possible. In poorly written tweet, Don Jr. seems to insinuate that Texas Governor Greg Abbott is a Democrat, which is a hilarious blunder for someone who’s attempting to set himself up as the next “kingmaker” of the Republican Party. Also, it’s just plain dumb if you know even the bare minimum about the political landscape in Texas.

“The hypocrisy of those trying to cancel Ted Cruz who have been totally silent on their Democrat Governor’s incompetence is telling,” Don Jr. tweeted. “My thoughts on the Cancún Cruz fauxoutrage! #Cruz #CancunGate is fake.”

After firing off the badly written tweet, Don Jr. was instantly roasted on Twitter for not knowing that Abbott is a Republican:

As for his defense of Cruz, Don Jr. has become a frequent user of the video-sharing app Rumble in the past 48 hours, which his where he posted his thoughts on Ted’s Cancun trip, and awkwardly tried to imitate his dad’s knack for handing out nicknames. Via Newsweek:

“Now, if I were a Trump, which I am, I’d come up with a nickname for something like this, like Cancun Cruz. It’s funny,” he said. “I can’t get on this bandwagon trying to cancel the guy. It’s totally ridiculous. It’s absolutely absurd.

“In the grand scheme of things, he’s a senator. He doesn’t manage crises in states,” he added. “That’s a governor’s job. He’s a federal employee, they mostly vote on things.”

After returning to Texas on Thursday, Cruz has since admitted that he planned to stay in Cancun until the weekend and that he regrets getting on the plane. “It was obviously a mistake, and in hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it,” Cruz told reporters.

(Via Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter)

I listen to a lot of celebrity interview podcasts, from WTF to Marc Maron to Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard to Life is Short with Justin Long to Literally! With Rob Lowe, and in the last couple of months, Matthew McConaughey has stopped by all of them (and more) to promote his memoir, Greenlights.

I have listened to them all, and I’ve heard a lot of McConaughey stories since last October, so many in fact that I feel like I already know most of the content of his book. McConaughey is an interesting guy, obviously, although the more I hear him, the more I realize how out there he is. One story that seems to get repeated on every podcast, however, is how his father died. I think I have heard Matthew McConaughey say the phrase, “Called his shot” at least a dozen times.

The phrase refers to his father, who “called his shot,” so to speak, in the manner in which he would die. According to McConaughey, his father repeatedly told him that he would die while having sex with McConaughey’s mother, and that is exactly what he did. As sad as it is to lose a father — and McConaughey was close to him, although he was complicated — that particular story is clearly a huge part of the McConaughey family lore, and it’s given his father a mythic quality.

“He called his shot, man,” McConaughey said on Rob Lowe’s podcast. “He called his shot!” It was something his father had told him numerous times. “He’d say, ‘Boys! When I leave this place, I’m going to be making love to your mother … when I get on outta here, I’m going to makin’ love to your mother!’ And damned if he didn’t. Six-thirty in the morning on a Monday, he wakes up frisky. He and my mom make love, and as soon as he finishes, heart attack. On top of her.”

There’s a post-script to the story, however, that is not included in his memoir. “As my mom tells it,” McConaughey continues. “She calls the paramedics, and we’re living in this cul-de-sac in this little neighborhood in Southwest Houston. All the neighbors have come out at 7 in the morning to see what’s going on. There’s an ambulance across the street at the McConaugheys. They’re out in the driveway, and they’re rolling [my father] out on the gurney.”

“My mom is still in her nightie,” McConaughey says. “They have a sheet over [my father], right? That would be the nice thing to do, right? Guess who is pulling the sheet off of him and yelling, ‘No you’re not going to cover him up. I want the world to see why he was known as BIG JIM.’”

The neighbors were shocked, but McConaughey’s mother continued, yelling, “He did it! He did it! He said that’s the way he was going to go!”

Sure enough, it was exactly as Jim McConaughey had written it up.

Is it true? McConaughey says it is, and he’s had a wild enough life that I absolutely would not doubt it.

Source: Literally! with Rob Lowe

While Ted Cruz was doing things like going on Fox News attempting to defend his “good dad” trip to Cancun to spinelessly flee a once-in-a-generation storm that left millions of Texans without power, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was helping to raise money for those in need. “Team AOC is launching relief efforts for Texas starting today. Our first effort is a partnership w/ 5 Texas orgs getting on-the-ground relief to Texans ASAP. If you’re able, please donate here – it’ll split your contribution to all 5,” the New York congresswoman tweeted, adding that 100 percent of proceeds will go to the organizations. They are: the Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, Ending Community Homeless Coalition (ECHO), Family Eldercare, Houston Food Bank, and Feeding Texas, all of which are “working around the clock to assist houseless, hungry, and senior Texans in Travis and Dallas County, and beyond.”

AOC tweeted that at 5:42 p.m. EST. By 9:17, over a million dollars had been raised.

“Holy smokes. Our Texas relief mobilization has already raised $325k for food, housing, elder care & direct relief straight to vulnerable Texans. This might be a little crazy… but can we raise $1M by midnight?” she wrote, soon after followed by, “Wow. We officially raised $1 million for Texas relief at 9:17 p.m. Thank you all so much. I’m at a loss for words. Always in awe of movement work. 100 percent of this relief is going straight to Texan food assistance, homelessness relief, elder care, and more.” Ocasio-Cortez was thanked by former-Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who helped set up over 700,000 phone calls to senior citizens, for her fundraising efforts.

Meanwhile, the last thing Ted Cruz tweeted was himself on Fox News.

If you wish to donate to the Texas relief efforts, you can do so here.

Cardi B’s music career origins have been well-documented, since before she came to rap on a professional level, she was an internet celebrity and a cast member of Love & Hip Hop: New York. Now, though, she has discussed the moment she actually decided to really try being a rapper.

Cardi got nostalgic on Twitter yesterday, sharing an older photo of her in a room surrounded by dollar bills, presumably from her days as a stripper. She captioned her post, “I miss the ghetto.” She followed that up with an old Instagram video of her rapping a capella and explained, “I really just used to play around making rhymes up when I was bored till my manager at the time told me why don’t you try to rhyme on a beat …I was like [rolling eyes emojis] ok I guess then I actually made some rhymes into a song.” She then shared another old rapping video and wrote, “Me when I used to throw shots at b*tches [crying laughing emojis] I will really put lil rhymes together for fun …Now it’s my and It took me a long way.”

It’s fair to say that things have worked out well for her since then, as she has a No. 1 album to her name with Invasion Of Privacy and a handful of chart-topping single, the latest among them being “WAP.”

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

Ed Sheeran reached a major milestone this week, but it had nothing to do with streaming numbers or album sales. Rather, on Wednesday, he turned 30 years old. Part of his celebration included hopping on Instagram and teasing a new album coming at some point in 2021.

Sheeran shared a photo of a pirate caterpillar birthday cake alongside a childhood photo of himself dressed as a pirate. He captioned his post, “30 today. Thank you for all your wonderful messages, I feel very loved. Currently dressed the same as I was on my 3rd birthday about to chow down on Colin the pirate caterpillar, poor bloke. I’ll be back online with the 4th instalment in the series later this year, until then xx.”

With “the 4th [installment] in the series,” Sheeran is presumably referring to his mathematically titled studio albums: 2011’s + (aka Plus), 2014’s x (Multiply), and 2017’s ÷ (Divide). Assuming that Sheeran follows the same naming convention with his next album, it would seem his upcoming album will be called –, aka Minus or perhaps Subtract.

This news comes after Sheeran announced at the end of 2019 that he was taking a break. Indeed, the artist had a quiet 2020, although he did end the year with a new song, which he made clear is “not the first single from the next album.”

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

Netflix can’t technically keep us warm, but it’s sure gonna try to do this weekend as the United States (hopefully) begins to recover from a devastating ice storm that ripped through several states, including Texas. If you’re lucky enough to have power (and we hope you are), then there are plenty of fresh offerings to keep everyone entertained while huddling under the blankets and crossing fingers for spring to be lurking around the corner. First up, there’s a cunning duo in a Rosamund Pike-Peter Dinklage team-up. Then there’s an interactive adventure special from the guy who will probably drink his own pee, and there’s a suspense series and a Kevin James show. No matter which one of these is your particular ballgame, we encourage you to get your binge on.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) the streaming platform this week.

I Care A Lot (Netflix film streaming 2/19)

Rosamund Pike’s got the Gone Girl hair again, which sends out some palpable vibes to be certain. She portrays a court-appointed guardian for elderly wards, and she’s siphoning their assets in an elaborate racket. However, she meets her match in a gangster played by Peter Dinklage, who’s got his own game while representing a mark (Dianne Wiest), who has no living heirs or family but has ruthless designs of her own. Dinklage has got a stare that can bore straight into your soul, and Pike can be as cold as they come, so this movie should be a deliciously dark treat for all.

Animals on the Loose: A You vs. Wild Movie (Netflix interactive special streaming 2/16)

Bear Grylls digs these interactive specials, in which he allows viewers to choose his fate in a Bandersnatch sort of way. How, exactly, did he end up in the above scenario, and is it real? I can’t even begin to guess the answer to either of those questions, but I imagine that he’ll be drinking his own pee at some point. In addition, expect Bear to help track down missing animals (including a hungry lion and a mischievous baboon) from a wildlife sanctuary. Chose well (or poorly) for him because, you know, he’s doing this to himself.

Amend: The Fight for America (Netflix docuseries streaming 2/17)

This six-part docuseries will dive deep into the Fourteenth Amendment that’s promised liberty and equal protection for all since 1868. Along the way, expected to hear form luminaries including Mahershala Ali, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Pedro Pascal, Yara Shahidi, and more. They’ll read speeches and writings from Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Andrew Johnson; and the series welcomes hosts Will Smith and Larry Wilmore for a powerful journey through U.S. history.

Behind Her Eyes (Netflix series streaming 2/17)

This series follows a single mother who has an affair with her boss, who happens to be a psychiatrist, and then his wife ends up in her circle of friends. Naturally, this leads to a web of secrets and lies and so much drama, all from the producers of The Crown.

The Crew (Netflix series streaming 2/15)

The Crew (Netflix series) — Kevin James has his own Netflix show, y’all. He plays a NASCAR crew chief who must step up when the owner steps down. James must resist all efforts to “modernize” his team, and there are members of The King Of Queens and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 production teams behind this show, so all those Kevin James followers out there will know the drill.

Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:

Avail. 2/15
The Crew

Avail. 2/16
Animals on the Loose: A You vs. Wild Movie
Good Girls: Season 3

Avail. 2/17
Behind Her Eyes
Hello, Me!
MeatEater: Season 9 Part 2

Avail. 2/18
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan

Avail. 2/19
I Care A Lot
Tribes of Europa

Avail. 2/20
Classmates Minus

Avail. 2/21
The Conjuring
The Conjuring 2

Avail. 2/23
Brian Regan: On The Rocks
Pelé

Avail. 2/24
Canine Intervention
Ginny & Georgia
Two Sentence Horror Stories: Season 2

Avail. 2/25
Geez & Ann
High-Rise Invasion

Avail. 2/26
Bigfoot Family
Captain Fantastic
Caught by a Wave
Crazy About Her
No Escape
Our Idiot Brother

And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:

Leaving 2/19
Bates Motel: Seasons 1-5

Leaving 2/20
A Haunted House

Leaving 2/21
Trespass Against Us

Leaving 2/24
Dolphin Tale 2

Leaving 2/26
The Frozen Ground

Leaving 2/28
A Walk to Remember
Basic Instinct
Easy A
The Gift
GoodFellas
Gran Torino
Haywire
LA 92
Little Nicky
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games
Retribution
Saving Mr. Banks
Sleepover