Set aside the obvious misogyny fueling much of the protest in support of Lil Baby after he failed to bring home any major awards at shows like the Billboard Music Awards and the AMAs. Those protestors did have a point: The establishment let the Atlanta rapper down in a huge way this year. After his sophomore album, My Turn, dominated the Billboard 200, his mid-year single “The Bigger Picture” peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100, and the rapper himself was featured on seemingly every hip-hop album released between February and November of 2020, you would think he’d at least warrant a Best Rap Album nod at the upcoming 2021 Grammys.
But no — instead, Lil Baby was “snubbed” at every opportunity, losing awards in Best New Artist at the AMAs to Doja Cat and Album Of The Year at the BET Hip-Hop Awards to Megan Thee Stallion. While the fans who took to Twitter to rail against these offenses did give off a distinct air of disdain for the female competitors — no coincidence, as hip-hop has presented sexist double standards as the standard operating procedure for the better part of the last three decades — they did make some salient arguments. While Megan Thee Stallion’s “album” Suga was marketed and described as an EP — a not very well-received one, at that — Doja Cat’s been around since 2014 at least (although she and Lil Baby have arguably risen in parallel, as both truly broke out in 2018 with the releases of their respective debut albums). However, no matter what the awards shows and cultural gatekeepers may think, Lil Baby has proven to be the people’s champion, with the stats and public support to back his claim.
After dropping an album, a mixtape, and a collaborative mixtape with Gunna in 2018, Lil Baby hibernated for much of the next year, sporadically poking his head out of his recording studio burrow to contribute a feature verse here or a loose single there. He established his working chemistry with similarly-named North Carolina rapper DaBaby on “Baby” from the Quality Control compilation, Control The Streets, Vol. 2, continued it on DaBaby’s sophomore project Kirk, and dropped “Out The Mud” with Future that summer, offering fans the first inkling of what would become his star-making sophomore album eight months later.
The long lead offered a masterclass in rolling out one’s album. The “Out The Mud” marketing featured no mentions of an upcoming album, allowing Lil Baby to work in relative peace while still stoking fans’ hunger for another full-length. The first hint he gave that the album might be close to completion was November’s lead single “Woah,” which signaled that the album, now tentatively titled My Turn, was coming soon. Baby slowly accelerated the pace, releasing singles in shorter and shorter intervals until he finally unveiled the new project, which beat the utter breakdown of the music industry by a little under a month — and somehow outlasted the initial lockdown, a summer of civil unrest, and the seeming formation of a whole new status quo.
Not only was Lil Baby’s songwriting improvement apparent from the breakout of atypical topics (for him) on “Emotionally Scarred” and “The Bigger Picture,” but the latter song also became an unofficial protest anthem. In the process, Lil Baby became an accidental revolutionary despite shying away from the spotlight, which he’s even prone to do during his own performances. Meanwhile, Drake admitted that he wanted to put the younger rapper on his TikTok-dominating single “Toosie Slide,” Kanye West confessed that he wanted to collaborate as well, and everyone from rising stars to established vets reached out to secure a placement from him, even as he boasted that his asking price had reached six figures.
Here’s a short — and likely woefully incomplete — list of the artists whose projects Lil Baby popped up on this year: 42 Dugg, 6lack, Big Sean, Blac Youngsta, Blueface, City Girls, Davido, Fivio Foreign, Future, Gucci Mane, Gunna, Iann Dior, Jack Harlow, Moneybagg Yo, Lil Durk, Lil Keed, Lil Mosey, Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty, Mulatto, Nav, NLE Choppa, Polo G, Pop Smoke, Rich the Kid, RMR, Rod Wave, Tee Grizzley, and T.I. all put in the call and secured the feature in 2020. That’s not bad for a guy Young Thug says he once had to pay to take rap seriously.
In fact, that may be the only reason he may have been overlooked for some of the bigger honors. Lil Baby doesn’t quite seem like the guy who shows up to industry mixers to press flesh with the movers and shakers of the music biz. Nor has he fully embraced the expectations of fans. He spoke openly about avoiding politics after the success of “The Bigger Picture,” demurring on the opportunity to become a leader when he’s just getting a handle on being a coveted rap star. And while he’s had impressive commercial success, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, the two artists who bested him at recent awards shows, do have Hot 100 chart-toppers to their names — something Lil Baby has yet to accumulate even with all his newfound stardom.
However, maybe all that he has accomplished is enough for him. He’s certainly making money, which seems to be his primary motivation, and his fans are numerous and vocal. If Lil Baby had any interest in Grammys, he’d have put more effort into making the kind of music the Academy rap voters seem to value — see this year’s nomineesD Smoke, Freddie Gibbs, Jay Electronica, Nas, and Royce Da 5’9, the very antithesis of the vibey, hypnotic trap music contemporary fans currently champion. While it’s clear that there might be a little intellectual (and decidedly anti-Southern) bias at play in this year’s nominees, Lil Baby has far surpassed each of them commercially and possibly even culturally. The streams, the tweets, and the records booming out of vehicles at top volume as they cruised through near-deserted streets don’t lie. Whatever the “industry” thinks, Lil Baby is the 2020 People’s Champion of hip-hop. Take that to the bank.
Uproxx asked for each of the critics filling out our 2020 Uproxx Music Critics Poll to list out their favorite song of the year. More than 230 voters participated this year, resulting in more than 100 song selections, including several choices from the likes of Fiona Apple, Freddie Gibbs, Giveon, Arca, Taylor Swift, Lil Baby, and Pop Smoke. Below, we’ve listed out the top 11 vote-getters as well as a playlist with the entirety of the selections, along with which critic voted for each. Enjoy digging in and hopefully finding some new tunes to throw in the rotation.
6t. Waxahatchee — “Lilacs”
Katie Crutchfield has ranked among the finest singer-songwriters working in indie rock for years. But Saint Cloud felt like a new peak in terms of her honing craft down to the most essential elements. On “Lilacs,” she sings against a simple yet soulful instrumental bed of keyboards, jangly guitar, and a relentlessly ticking drum that simulates the passage of time. It could be mistaken for a free-spirited slice of sunny Americana, but the charming packaging contains insightful writing about the fight to feel centered in a world that won’t stop spinning.–Steven Hyden
Critics Votes: Zach Schonfeld, Ellen Johnson, Patrick Hosken
6t. Bartees Strange – “Boomer”
“Boomer” is an eclectic highlight of Strange’s stunning debut album Live Forever, but he told Uproxx the song almost didn’t make the album: “I thought it showed that I didn’t take myself too seriously. I felt like it was true to who I am, where I’m from, the people I’m from. It’s just like a punk gospel country outro on top of a Thao & The Get Down Stay Down chorus and a DaBaby style rap verse, like starting right on the one when the song starts.”–Derrick Rossignol
Critics Votes: Tatiana Tenreyro, Ted Davis, Chris Payne
6t. Soccer Mommy — “Circle The Drain”
On her second official album, Sophie Allison wanted to recreate the music from her childhood, but with a sense of degradation that comes with the harshness of everyday life. “Circle The Drain” is a perfect example of this goal, a warm and breezy track on the surface, but with lyrics that are not subtle in their message: “I’ve been falling apart these days,” Allison sings. “Split open, watching my heart go round and around.”–Zac Gelfand
Critics Votes: Kayleigh Hughes, Brady Gerber, Tom Whitcomb
6t. Roddy Ricch — “The Box”
There are Billboard number ones, then there’s phenomena that transcends metrics. The latter was the case with Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” a single from this 2019 Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial project. Roddy shows out on both verses — and yes, with his uninhibited “hee her” adlib, but it’s “The Box’s” resounding, impossibly catchy chorus that had TikTok, and the rap world in general, on fire during the simpler days of 2020.–Andre Gee
Critics Votes: Tommy Monroe, Al Shipley, Bryson Paul
6t. Phoebe Bridgers — “Garden Song”
The introduction to the second Phoebe Bridgers album came long before the news of the record itself, lilting toward us through muffled, music box melodies and surrealist lyrics that were novelistic in their detail. “Garden Song” established the expansive nature of Bridgers’ songwriting universe on Punisher, half-nightmare, half-daydream, a blue lullaby for one of the darkest years on the books. But in Phoebe’s sweetly sharp voice, the flicker of hope exists no matter how twisted the story gets.–Caitlin White
Critics Votes: Davy Jones, Hannah Zwick, Kate Flynn
6t. Bob Dylan — “Murder Most Foul”
In an alternate timeline, Bob Dylan is kicking back in his Malibu mansion, counting his millions and resting on his incredibly esteemed laurels. Thank goodness we live in this timeline — how often has anyone said that this year? — because this Bob Dylan somehow is still innovating, surprising, confounding, and thoroughly thrilling all of us on his wavelength. In his nearly 50-year career, he’s never mustered anything quite like “Murder Most Foul,” a 17-minute epic about JFK, America, mortality, The Eagles, and about a million other things. He even scored his first No. 1 with this song with no discernible melody! A wizard.–Steven Hyden
Critics Votes: Bailey Pennick, Grayson Haver Currin, Daniel Kohn
5. Run The Jewels — “Ooh La La” Feat. Greg Nice and DJ Premier
Leave it to El-P and Killer Mike to turn one line of Greg Nice’s verse from Gang Starr’s “DWYCK” into a certifiable banger. Trading belligerent, battle-ready bars over a beat that sounds like a piano falling off a cliff during the apocalypse, Run The Jewels ups their RTJ4 lead single’s cool factor by bringing in Gang Starr’s own DJ Premier to scratch the hell out of the song’s eminently danceable 30 second outro.–Aaron Williams
Critics Votes: Ryan O’Connell, Kyle McGovern, Ben Kaye, Tim Grierson
4. Megan Thee Stallion — “Savage” Feat. Beyonce
Classy, bougie, ratchet. Those are three words to describe Megan Thee Stallion’s explosive “Savage” 2020 takeover thanks to the power of TikTok and dance creators Keara Wilson and the Nae Nae Twins. While the “Savage” dance has been done by millions of Hot Girls and Hot Boys across the globe upon the release of Meg’s Suga EP, Beyonce ignited new life into the movement with a sign-o-the-times verse for the remix to an already infectious smash hit. “Hips tick-tok when I dance / On that demon time she might start an Only Fans,” Queen B spits on the certified platinum hit, before gathering more momentum with essential life quotes such as “If you don’t jump to put jeans on, baby you don’t feel my pain” and “I can’t argue with these lazy bitches I just raised my price.” The song now lives on Meg’s debut album Good News, which made its debut on the Billboard 200 charts at No. 2. If nothing else goes right in 2020, at least we got the “Savage Remix” with Houston queens Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion.–Cherise Johnson
Critics Votes: Lauren Mitchell, Charley Ruddell, Sydney Gore, Andrew Sacher, Sama’an Ashrawi, Kelsey Barnes
3. The Weeknd — “Blinding Lights”
As he’s done numerous times throughout his career, The Weeknd brought forth a new era in his music for his fourth album After Hours. The project saw a shift to synthwave for the Canadian singer, which is highlighted on “Blinding Lights.” The track topped the singles chart and became the singer’s fifth song to do so. “Blinding Lights” also took a number of awards this year and grew to be the most successful single of The Weeknd’s career.–Wongo Okon
Critics Votes: Spencer Patterson, Candace McDuffie, Vanessa Franko, Alex Frank, Neil Z. Yeung, Jarred Howard, Kent Wolgamott
Critics Votes: Kim Kelly, Kiana Fitzgerald, Joe Lynch, Mosi Reeves, Emily Reily, Insanul Ahmed, Tyler Eveland, Simon Vozick-Levinson, Ashley Naftule, Alex Macpherson
1. Phoebe Bridgers — “I Know The End”
Only Phoebe Bridgers could fit a sweeping three-part suite into less than six minutes, tracing the burnout of bedroom ennui and toxic relationships to the fleeting euphoria of windows-down doomsday drives, and finishing it all off with a cataclysmic orchestral breakdown. Written long before the strange terrors and slow, deadly suffocations of 2020, the song feels oddly prophetic and cathartic at the same time. All we could ask for in a pandemic year, and whatever lies beyond.–Caitlin White
Critics Votes: Ilana Kaplan, Roz Farrell, Caitlin Wolper, Chloe Gilke, Joshua Kirk, Mark Wesley, Shannon Carlin, Justin Curto, Joseph Kain, Trace William Cowen, Konstantinos Pappis, Lexi Lane
Check out our playlist below of each song that received a vote, and after that, find a list of those songs, in alphabetical order.
Adia Victoria — “South Gotta Change” (Ian Bremner)
Alejandro Fernandez — “Caballero” (Josh Langhoff)
Algiers — “Dispossession” (Kevin Korber)
Arca — “Afterwards” Feat. Björk (John Wojtowicz)
Arca — “Mequetrefe” (Spencer Kornhaber)
Backxwash — “Spells” (Tom Beedham)
Bad Bunny — “Safaera” Feat. Jowell & Randy and Ñengo Flow (Stefanie Fernández, Andrew Casillas)
Bartees Strange — “Mustang” (Tony Inglis)
Beauty Pill — “Instant Night” (Glenn Francis Griffith)
Benny The Butcher and Freddie Gibbs — “One Way Flight” (Andre Gee)
Bill Callahan — “Pigeons” (Justin Barney)
Blinker The Star — “Juvenile Universe” (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni)
Bo Bundy — “Mi Barrio” (TJ Kliebhan)
Bob Dylan — “I Contain Multitudes” (Jeremy Shatan)
Bob Mould — “American Crisis” (Michaelangelo Matos)
Bobby Bare — “Great American Saturday Night” (Kaleb Horton)
Bonnie Light Horseman — “Deep In Love” (Tiffany Wong)
Brent Cobb — “Shut Up And Sing” (Bobby Moore)
Brent Faiyaz — “Been Away” (Mikala Horne)
Brett Eldredge — “Sunday Drive” (Craig Manning, Mark Grondin)
Bullion — “We Had A Good Time” (Nathan Mattise)
Busta Rhymes — “Look Over Your Shoulder” Feat. Kendrick Lamar (Matthew Perpetua)
Cable Ties — “Sandcastles” (Stewart Mason)
Charli XCX — “Anthems” (Julia Gray, Patrick Lyons)
Chris Stapleton — “Starting Over” (Stephen Thompson)
Christian Scott — “Guinnevere” (Raymond Cummings)
Christine And The Queens — “People, I’ve Been Sad” (Melissa Locker, Clarke Reader)
City Girls — “Pussy Talk” Feat. Doja Cat (DeMicia Inman)
Coheed and Cambria — “Jessie’s Girl 2” (Dan Caffrey)
Curtis Roach — “Bored In The House” (Aaron Williams)
Cuushe — “Hold Half” (Zachary Corsa)
DJ Suede and Immarkkeyz — “Lose Yo Job” Feat. Johnniqua Charles (Dan Weiss, Jason Gross)
Deftones — “Ohms” (Dan Bogosian)
Dogleg — “Kawasaki Backflip” (CJ Simonson, Ian Cohen)
Doja Cat — “Say So” (Jeff Benjamin)
Don Toliver — “After Party” (Alex Ashford)
Dua Lipa — “Don’t Start Now” (Steven J. Horowitz)
Dua Lipa — “Levitating” (Ethan Shanfeld)
Ela Minus — “Megapunk” (Max Freedman)
Empty Country — “Marian” (Maff Caponi)
Eyelids — “The Accidental Falls” (Sean Titone)
Fiona Apple — “Fetch The Bolt Cutters” (Courtney E. Smith)
Fiona Apple — “I Want You To Love Me” (Doug Nunnally)
Fiona Apple — “Ladies” (Eve Barlow, Oliver Hollander)
Fiona Apple — “Shameika” (Joey Daniewicz)
Fiona Apple — “Under The Table” (Scott Recker)
Four Tet — “Baby” (Ben Yakas)
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist — “God Is Perfect” (Dusty Henry)
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist — “Scottie Beam” Feat. Rick Ross (DJ First Class, Dean Van Nguyen)
Gazpacho — “Space Cowboy” (Jordan Blum)
Giveon — “Like I Want You” (Gregory Castel)
Giveon — “The Beach” (Wongo Okon)
Giveon — “World We Created” (Tatiana Ferdinand)
Grimes — “Delete Forever” (Spencer Dukoff)
Gunna — “Dollaz On My Head” Feat. Young Thug (Jason Lipshutz)
Haim — “I Know Alone” (Jack Roskopp)
Haim — “The Steps” (Zac Gelfand, Alex Suskind)
Harry Styles — “Watermelon Sugar” (Tom Lane)
HER — “I Can’t Breathe” (Jem Aswad)
Hum — “Step Into You” (Rachel Brodsky)
Hundredth — “Bottle It Up” (Terrance Pryor)
Jack Harlow — “What’s Poppin’” (J’na Jefferson)
Jaden — “Cabin Fever” (DC Hendrix)
James Blake — “Are You Even Real?” (Jackie Reed)
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit — “Be Afraid” (Chris Thiessen)
Jay Electronica — “Ghost Of Soulja Slim” Feat. Jay Z (Eddy “Precise” Lamarre)
Jayda G — “Both Of Us” (Arielle Gordon)
Jeff Rosenstock — “Scram!” (Michael Tedder, Ethan Gordon)
John Prine — “I Remember Everything” (Holly Gleason)
Kareem Ali — “Changed My Life” (Elias Leight)
Kes and Iwer George — “Stage Gone Bad” (Erin MacLeod)
Kevin Morby — “Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun” (Carolyn Droke)
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges — “Texas Sun” (Eric Swedlund)
Khurangbin — “So We Won’t Forget” (David Ma)
King Von — “Took Her To The O” (Justin Hunte)
Kylie Minogue — “Say Something” (Mark J. Marraccini)
Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande — “Rain On Me” (Evan Sawdey, Marcus Jones)
Laura Marling — “Song For Our Daughter” (Sarah MacDonald)
Laura Stevenson — “Time Bandits” (Sean Craig)
Lil Baby — “Emotionally Scarred” (Cherise Johnson)
Last weekend, in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissal of a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the Proud Boys gathered in Washington D.C. for a “Stop the Steal” rally. The irony in the slogan being lost on them, the far-right group took to the streets, and in the process, showed the world that they really are as racist as they are accused of being.
The Proud Boys frequently insist that they are not racist and not the same as white nationalists. They are a male-only group that describes themselves as “Western chauvinists,” which essentially means they whine about equality movements infringing on their identity as the obviously superior descendants of Western Civilization’s founders—which is a roundabout way of saying “yeah, we’re pretty much racist.”
The group tries to shield itself from accusations of racism by highlighting the racial identity of their Afro-Cuban chairman, Enrique Torres, in the organizational equivalent of “I can’t be racist—I have Black family members!” But considering the fact that a previous Proud Boy member posted a whole screed about staging a coup in the group to officially recognize it as anti-Semitic white nationalists…welp.
Besides, it’s pretty hard to argue that you’re not racist when you gleefully vandalize Black churches, tearing signs that say “Black Lives Matter” off of them and then celebrating as you desecrate them. The Proud Boys engaged in this vandalism at two Washington D.C. churches, including the oldest Black Methodist church in the city. They ripped down large Black Lives Matter banners, breaking some apart, stomp all over one of them, and setting another one on fire.
Proud Boys, white supremacists, and Trump supporters rip a #BlackLivesMatter sign down from Metropolitan AME church… https://t.co/SPgavHH3SH
Asbury United Methodist Church issued a statement from Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Ianther M. Mills that highlights the history of racism with the church, which was founded decades before the Civil War. It’s a beautiful message of resilience, but it’s infuriating that it had to be written in the first place. It reads:
Since 1836, Asbury United Methodist Church has stood at the corner of 11&K Streets NW, Washington, DC. We are a resilient people who have trusted in God through slavery and the Underground Railroad, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement, and now as we face an apparent rise in white supremacy.
Last night demonstrators who were part of the MAGA gatherings tore down our Black Lives Matter sign and literally burned it in the street. The sign burning was captured on Twitter. It pained me especially to see our name, Asbury, in flames. For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings. Seeing this act on video made me both indignant and determined to fight the evil that has reared its ugly head. We had been so confident that no one would ever vandalize the church, but it has happened.
We are a people of faith. As horrible and disturbing as this is for us now—it doesn’t compare with the challenges and fears the men and women who started Asbury, 184 years ago, faced. So, we will move forward, undaunted in our assurance that Black Lives Matter and we are obligated to continue to shout that truth without ceasing. We are assured that our church is surrounded by God’s grace and mercy.
Sadly, we must point out that if this was a marauding group of men of color going through the city, and destroying property, they would have been followed and arrested. We are especially alarmed that this violence is not being denounced at the highest levels of our nation and instead the leaders of this movement are being invited to the White House.
Asbury United Methodist Church abhors violence of any kind. We call upon all to join us in prayer for our community, church, and the people who are responsible for this hateful behavior. We believe this is a wakeup call for all to be more vigilant and committed to anti-racism and building a beloved community, and we invite you to join us. Our congregation will continue to stand steadfast—”we will not be moved.” We press on in the name of the Lord!”
The question of whether these acts are racist isn’t up for debate. If your understanding of Black Lives Matter is so skewed that you decry it as a “Marxist” organization or movement—which is how Tarrio himself describes it—then you either haven’t been listening to enough voices in the anti-racism world or you’ve been taken by racist propaganda. And if you do understand that the phrase Black Lives Matter literally just means that Black people’s lives do not matter less than other people’s, and you choose to destroy any and all expressions of that phrase, that’s most definitely racist. There’s a reason the incidents are being investigated as hate crimes.
Mayor Bowser on Proud Boys’ actions at churches: “To see those men burning a Black Lives Matter sign in the middle… https://t.co/A6b4PZOSdc
For those who feel tempted to say, “Well what about the destruction of property that ANTIFA/BLM engaged in?” here are some thoughts on that whataboutism:
First, let’s be clear that the Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA movements are two entirely separate things. And Black Lives Matter isn’t one monolithic thing, but rather a broad movement that includes some organizations that bear the name, and a whole lot more people who support the message of anti-racism. As far as violence, the BLM protests this spring and summer were enormous, widespread, and almost entirely peaceful. The individual spates of rioting and looting, despite being broadcast all over the media and pushed hard by certain right-wing outlets, were not a defining feature of the BLM movement at all—especially considering how much of the violence was actually carried out by white supremacists and Boogaloo Bois intent on undermining the BLM message.
ANTIFA, on the other hand, is its own movement with its own ideology and methods. For those who don’t understand what those are, the gist is “Fascism needs to be fought by whatever means necessary.” You don’t have to agree with their methods—I myself don’t—but being against ANTIFA’s ideology is basically like saying “Nah, fascism is fine!”
While all acts of violence and destruction are wrong and ultimately counterproductive, they’re not all equivalent. Some acts of violence are just dumb humans being dumb humans, regardless of identity or ideology, but some are purposeful statements. There’s a difference between a historically oppressed people making a statement about ongoing injustice by desecrating a symbol of their historical oppression, and a group of people making a statement by desecrating messages of equality and justice from the churches of historically oppressed people. One is an expression of liberation from the chains of injustice; the other is an intimidating rattling of those same chains. While I don’t condone violence or destruction of any kind, it’s disingenuous to create false equivalencies between people who are fighting for equality and justice and people who are fighting against it.
And for a final look at how the Proud Boys operate, check out how they reacted when they thought people who actually think Black lives matter were coming toward them.
A group of Proud Boys have taken another BLM banner and proudly march their reward down the road, only to be confro… https://t.co/g6Lu76Vyfr
If this is what “being proud of Western Civilization” looks like, that’s a sad statement about Western Civilization. These actions should be condemned by all.
Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin released his brooding album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never back in October and it featured some big-name stars. Caroline Polachek lent her vocals on “Long Road Home” and The Weeknd hopped on the dreamy track “No Nightmares.” Following up the album’s release, Lopatin tapped a longtime collaborator to share an animated visual alongside his The Weeknd-featuring track.
Directed and animated by Nate Boyce, the “No Nightmares” visual takes the viewer on a journey through a dream-like state. It opens with a character waking up from a dream and astral-projecting into a different plane of consciousness. The Weeknd makes a brief CGI cameo in the visual, depicting his head as an old-fashioned movie projector.
Speaking about the visual in a statement, Boyce explained the concept behind the visual:
“Dan initially sent me an excerpt of ‘Fear Of The Inexplicable’ by Rilke as a prompt to start working on our idea of a debased animation. Abel and Dan traverse psychoanalytically charged scenarios and spaces that evoke a lurid mix of art and architectural references. Eventually I started to associate the implications of the Rilke poem to the biblical story of the Binding of Isaac, an anxiety inducing story I hated as a kid that became a subtext for the latter half of the piece. Despite the fact that Abraham is thwarted by divine intervention, I was terrified by his incomprehensible zealotry and willingness to sacrifice his own child, who I identified with. This story ensured my eventual atheism, but also my ongoing fascination with how these archaic stories, symbols, and motifs have continued relevance even now, and in many ways still structure our experience. So, as it happens in the animation, this process of individuation through archetypal projection starts with heroic ideations that devolve into anxiety and fear, culminating in a carnivalesque mockery of the faith required to confront these fears.”
Watch The Weeknd and Oneohtrix Point Never’s “No Nightmares” video above.
Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is out now via Warp. Get it here.
Afro-fusion star Burna Boy is a model of success in his celebratory “Way Too Big” video, which continues the promotion cycle for his 2020 album Twice As Tall. Opening with a shot of a young boy in Lagos, Nigeria encountering a statue of Burna Boy as a boxer, the video imagines an entirely different path for the African Giant, who defeats an opponent in the ring, becoming the same massive star he is now. As he sits atop a billboard in Lagos, traffic stops to take in the sight. The message is clear: No matter what his path, Burna believes he’d have been a success story.
He has exhibited that same confidence throughout his album’s rollout, from the “Real Life” video to the “Monsters You Made” video. Burna’s goal is to depict different models of leadership for African youth and speak out for a unified continent strong enough to become a major world power. He also speaks out against injustice on the album, and in the song “20:10:20,” with which he decried the Nigerian Police Force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad and its legacy of violence and suppression.
Watch the “Way Too Big” video above.
Twice As Tall is out now on Atlantic Records. Listen to it here.
Burna Boy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The first reviews for Wonder Woman 1984 are rolling in, and critics seem to be here for the latest outing from director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot. Thanks to the pandemic, the highly-anticipated sequel has seen its release shifted a few times before becoming the first Warner Bros. movie to break the seal on a simultaneous HBO Max and theatrical release, which would soon become the studio’s controversial strategy for its entire 2021 film slate. But now that it’s here critics seem to agree that Wonder Woman 1984 is a much-needed dose of escapism during a time when audiences need it the most (as of this writing, the reviews of the film are 89% positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes). The film is also being favorably compared to the ’80s classics of yesterday like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Richard Donner’s Superman.
But don’t take our word for it. Here’s a sampling of what the reviews are saying, and don’t worry, each excerpt is spoiler-free.
Wonder Woman 1984 is like eating dessert. There’s really nothing here that’s particularly healthy or substantial – even for a superhero movie. There’s no secret green bean hidden under all the gooey, colorful, and brightly lit frosting. No, Wonder Woman 1984 is pure sugar. But here’s how I’m looking at it: Dammit, we all deserve dessert right now.
Wonder Woman 1984 learns from the critiques of its excellent predecessor, delivering a much more contained finale by comparison to its extravagant and over-sized blow-out third act in the first movie. … The team delivers an exciting and inspirational new tale, with a surprising level of worldly commentary considering when it was shot, along with a much-needed message of hope.
Wonder Woman 1984 accomplishes what we look to Hollywood tentpoles to do: It whisks us away from our worries, erasing them with pure escapism. For those old enough to remember the ’80s, it’s like going home for Christmas and discovering a box full of childhood toys in your parents’ attic.
A funny, sweet-natured, brightly-coloured standalone adventure, it is so reminiscent of the likes of Raiders of The Lost Ark and Ghostbusters in its jokes, its plotting, its locations and its general atmosphere that it fills you with the same warm feelings that they did – one of those feelings being wonder.
Throw in a soaring Hans Zimmer score and together the two lovebirds [Gadot and Pine] give the film an exciting, earnest vibe that’s the closest recent DC superhero projects have come to Christopher Reeve’s original Superman.
Who better to swoop in and remind us of the thrill and possibility of movies, to offer us hope right here on the precipice of a much newer New Year than most, than Wonder Woman herself? That may sound like an unfair demand of a film that was finished before 2020 began, intended for a traditional release in a traditional year. But if any movie is up for the task of taking on more, this would be the one.
Wonder Woman 1984 hits theaters and HBO Max on December 25.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will be with the Milwaukee Bucks for the foreseeable future after putting pen to paper on his 5-year, $228 million supermax extension, with an opt-out for the fifth year. Giannis joins a short list of players that have signed the supermax deal and puts to rest the rumors that have swirled for a year-plus about his potential future outside of Milwaukee.
That incessant conversation on sports television, radio, and beyond has been frustrating for many fans who have grown tired of the constant discussion of a star player’s future, particularly those in small or non-glamorous markets who are so often projected to leave for the league’s flagship franchises. So, when SportsCenter called up Jay Williams for his thoughts on Giannis’ extension, Bucks fans found themselves rolling their eyes when the conversation turned to whether he can win a title in Milwaukee.
Williams responded with something that is very viable, which is for the next few years LeBron James and Anthony Davis stand in the way of anyone looking to win a championship, but his discussion of the Lakers depth took a decidedly shocking twist as he brought up second-year man Talen Horton-Tucker, who has been great this preseason but, again, it’s the preseason.
Again, the general premise here isn’t wrong. The Bucks won’t be favorites this year or, likely, any year until after they’ve won a championship already or made another big move, simply because the Lakers exist and have two of the league’s five best players. That said, when discussing why the Lakers are an impediment to anyone’s title dreams, I beg of you, the first name out of your mouth cannot be Talen Horton-Tucker, who seems to be a nice young player but figures to be maybe the 11th man off the bench in L.A. this year.
Annie Clark has kept busy with one endeavor or another since releasing her most recent St. Vincent album, 2017’s Masseduction. She has confirmed now, though, that a follow-up to that album is finally coming in 2021.
In a new interview with UK magazine Mojo (via r/indieheads on Reddit), Clark confirmed a new album currently planned for late spring or summer, saying:
“It’s locked and loaded, and I’m American so I will only use gun metaphors. [The album marks] a tectonic shift. I felt I had gone as far as I could possibly go with angularity. I was interested in going back to the music I’ve listened to more than any other — Stevie Wonder records from the early ’70s, Sly And The Family Stone. I studied at the feet of those masters.”
She also noted in the piece that she thinks her next tour is going to look different than he previous one, saying, “My last tour was a whole bunch of production and high-concept video and razzle-dazzle and I can’t go any further with that. I’m going to come down and just play. I don’t think high-gloss sheen is going to be that resonant with people because it will feel very much ‘let them eat cake.’”
St. Vincent re-confirmed the news on Twitter today, writing, “The rumors are true. New record ‘locked and loaded’ for 2021. Can’t wait for you to hear it.”
The rumors are true. New record “locked and loaded” for 2021. Can’t wait for you to hear it.
The Jurassic World movies (and the Jurassic Park installments that came before them) can’t go wrong by continually returning to one core certainty. That is to say, much like Jeff Goldblum finding a way to unbutton his shirt and life finding a way, people will find a way to keep f*cking with nature. And nature will f*ck with them right back, which is why Netflix’s animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series put its collection of Isla Nublar campgoers in peril with a cliffhanger. As I wrote of the show’s first season, it’s a visual feast and thrill-ride for (almost) all ages, and Netflix has rallied with a second season that will arrive mere months later (in January).
Surprise, surprise. The trailer picks up with the kids awaiting rescue after the camp’s destruction when the dinos all escaped from their cages. The kids are dodging dinosaurs who are alternately doing their best Zoolander faces and trying to gobble up humans in their path, and it’s a disaster. Somehow, the kids realize that they’re not all by their lonesome, too. Has help arrived, or does the logline’s description of something that “not only threatens their rescue but may uncover something more sinister” give us a better clue? This series takes place at the same time as the first Jurassic World flick, so let’s hope that the “sinister” thing isn’t a pair of Bryce Dallas Howard’s old high heels.
Once again, the show’s arriving on Netflix with visuals that are courtesy of DreamWorks Animation (at the behest of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment). It’s a gorgeously rendered series, and Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow, and Frank Marshall are all on board as executive producers. One certainly can’t complain about the swift TV pace here, given that franchise fans won’t see Jurassic World: Dominion in theaters until June 10, 2022.
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Season 2 arrives on January 22, 2021
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