Category: Worldwide

For years now, as a regular part of Flaming Lips concerts, Wayne Coyne has gotten into a giant plastic bubble and sang from within it. Now, during the pandemic, that concept is about as fitting as it has ever been. That fact isn’t lost on the band, as they have given a performance where everybody was in bubbles, both band and audience. Coyne shared a clip from the performance yesterday, and it’s certainly a unique sight.

The performance apparently had two purposes: To test the idea of doing a full-on bubble concert, and as a video shoot, according to Brooklyn Vegan. Setlist.fm notes the band only performed two songs and played each twice: American Head tracks “Brother Eye” and “Assassins Of Youth.”

In an interview last week, Coyne explained how the idea came about, saying:

“I made a little cartoon commentary of a Flaming Lips concert in 2019 where I’m the only one in a bubble and then a Flaming Lips concert in 2020 where everyone is in a bubble on stage and in the crowd. That was at the start of quarantine in March when we thought it would be over in a month. But The Late Show With Stephen Colbert got a hold of me and asked if we’d want to do one of these concerts where you play from home. So we said we’d do it in the space bubbles. It took us a month or two to figure out the logistics so we didn’t even really know if this would still be going on by the time it aired but that was in June, and after that I ordered 100 space bubbles to be made in China. It’s taken a while but I finally have them here, so a half-hour ago I was in a big venue where we set up a hundred space bubbles for 300 audience members to be in while we play a show.”

He continued to speak about the logistical challenges with this sort of performance, saying, “We, The Flaming Lips, already know how to do space bubbles and we know what people do when they’re in the bubbles. The part that we’re trying to get down is what does the crowd do about going to the bathroom and getting drinks? We don’t want this to be like that Smash Mouth [concert]. We want this to be safe and a great experience. Those are the things the venue is allowing us to set up so we can start to figure out how it will work. The part about playing in the bubble, we already have down. It’s how we get the crowd in and out without cross-contamination that we need to figure out, but they’re giving us a few weeks in this venue to figure it out. We’re thinking this will probably happen after the election.”

Watch a clip from the performance above.

The Flaming Lips is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

LaMelo Ball is expected to be a top pick in November’s NBA Draft, but he is wasting no time putting down roots in the apparel and sneaker industry. Ball is now officially a Puma athlete, the company announced Wednesday.

Under the partnership, Ball will work with PUMA to develop products that exist at the intersection of sports, culture, and fashion. The first release will be a PUMA x LaMelo Ball t-shirt and hoodie that is set to debut in the run-up to the draft on Nov. 18. Ball’s collection will come out under PUMA’s “Not from Here” creative concept, which Ball hopes will highlight his “one of one” path to the pros, which ran from California to Lithuania to Ohio to Australia.

“I am really excited to join the PUMA family,” Ball said in a statement. “I believe the brand is the perfect partner for me because PUMA will allow me to just be myself. I want to be 100-percent authentic, whether that’s playing basketball or showing off my personal style, and that’s what I want to do with PUMA.”

Ball will also partner with Puma on various charity programs centered on giving young people the opportunity to play basketball at a high level. The much-hyped play-maker joins a young roster of Puma athletes in the NBA that includes Kyle Kuzma, Michael Porter Jr., Deandre Ayton, and Marvin Bagley, as well as Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jackie Young in the WNBA.

All Pro cornerback-turned-free agent bust-turned-acclaimed actor is quite the career arc. Less challenging for Nnamdi Asomugha? Falling in love with Tessa Thompson.

In Sylvie’s Love, the former-Raiders and Eagles CB, who was once the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, plays Robert, a saxophonist who finds work at a record store where he mets Sylvie (Tessa Thompson). Romance quickly blossoms between the two, but they go their separate ways — she becomes a television producer; he grapples with the waning popularity of jazz — until reconnecting years later, feelings still intact.

It’s a “damn near perfect” film. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Robert spends late nights playing behind a less-talented but well-known bandleader, as member of a jazz quartet. Sylvie, who dreams of a career in television, spends her summer days helping around her father’s record store, as she waits for her fiancé to return from war. When Robert takes a part-time job at the record store, the two begin a friendship that sparks a deep passion in each of them unlike anything they have felt before. As the summer winds down, life takes them in different directions, bringing their relationship to an end. Years pass, Sylvie’s career as a TV producer blossoms, while Robert has to come to terms with what the age of Motown is doing to the popularity of Jazz. In a chance meeting, Sylvie and Robert cross paths again, only to find that while their lives have changed, their feelings for each other remain the same.

Written and directed by Eugene Ashe, Sylvie’s Love arrives on Amazon Prime Video on December 25.

The Brooklyn Nets’ history is one marked by calling a few different places in the tri-state area home, but from 1977 until their move to New York City in 2012, the franchise resided in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On Wednesday, the team confirmed a bit of news that had been going around the internet for a minute about one way that they plan on paying homage to those Garden State Nets teams during the upcoming season.

During the 2020-21 NBA season, the Nets will wear a crisp red, white, and light blue uniform that the team famously wore during their days in New Jersey, specifically during the 1990-91 campaign. The team announced the news with a pair of tweets: A video that connected the current Nets back to those old teams by superimposing them in these unis, and another that highlighted images of the threads, which will serve as their Classic Edition uniforms for the upcoming season.

The 90-91 Nets struggled on the court, going 26-56, but included a few of players like Derrick Coleman and the late Drazen Petrovic who helped them become a playoff team the following year. The 20-21 Nets will, of course, hope to not follow in that team’s footsteps, and with the return of Kyrie Irving from injury and the debut of Kevin Durant, it seems likely that Brooklyn will be a dangerous team.

The future of streetwear labels in the era of COVID-19 is in flux as much now as it was in the first few months of the pandemic. Some retail giants and upstart labels have folded completely. Others seem to be adapting to the challenges of a market that is now largely direct-to-consumer. One label that’s managed to stay afloat — thrive even — in these tough times is Teddy Fresh, a brand that’s been a favorite of ours for some time, appearing fairly often in our weekly sneaker and apparel roundup. Chances are you’ve seen the brand on the backs of your most stylish friends, and some of their early pieces, like their pastel color-block hoodies, have inspired a range of copycats.

Teddy Fresh operates under a deceptively simple slogan, “Making clothes that you can wear.” While that mantra sounds almost head-slappingly obvious, the three-year-old label focuses on the subject of the sentence — “you.” Since its inception, the brand has been producing unisex streetwear staples like sweaters, hoodies, jackets, and t-shirts in sizes running from XS to 3XL in their signature playful, pastel-heavy aesthetic. Their collections truly feel built for everyone, no matter who they are or how they’re shaped — a stark contrast to how many streetwear labels operate.

But it’s not just the sizing that makes Teddy Fresh cool. Like the slogan, their clothes may appear simple, but there’s a hidden depth. Fast fashion shortcuts are eschewed for embroidered detailing and a commitment to sourcing quality fabrics. In a world where the fashion industry accounts for a considerable amount of waste, that approach — which obviously increases production costs — is bold for such a young brand.

This week, we linked up with the label’s head designer, founder, and CEO Hila Klein — who filled us in on where she’d like to take Teddy Fresh, what inspires her designs, and what needs changing in the streetwear scene.

One of the things I really love about Teddy Fresh is the label’s early commitment towards unisex clothing. Now that the brand is expanding and Teddy Fresh is able to do things like have a female department in the works, in a perfect world with unlimited resources — what clothing pieces would you love to design under the Teddy Fresh name?

NASA’s next-generation spacesuit? Maybe that’s out of our technical capabilities for now, but who knows in the next five years? On a serious note, we have been singularly focused on our production capabilities and feel like we can match any streetwear brand out there on quality and polish. We’d love to make furniture in our color blocking style — a couch or a coffee table — that’s something we’ve always dreamed about. We definitely have some really exciting things coming in 2021!

I know you have a background as an artist, but where does your initial interest in the fashion world come from and what led you to want to start the brand?

I’ve always felt there is a lack of really fun clothes that I would want to wear. The only thing that I ever find is either vintage or kids clothing. Why do kids get to have all the fun? Some of the kid’s clothes I see absolutely blows my mind in terms of color and creativity. The only place you see that kind of clothing for adults is in brands like Gucci, but our goal is not to be high fashion or inaccessible to most people because of the price.

As a fairly new label working in modern times, I imagine sustainability is something that is constantly weighing on your mind. What are some of the challenges of becoming more eco-friendly and what would help make it easier for labels to transition to more sustainable practices?

Small steps. For example, we just switched to fully recycled plastic shipping bags, and we are looking into recycled fabrics. The clothing industry is extremely wasteful though, and to be completely honest, I have a problem with the majority of the “eco-friendly” messaging you see from other brands. I feel like it’s just trendy to say but doesn’t really mean anything. The truth is that low quality and quickly discarded clothing is what is causing the majority of the waste.

The best thing a brand can do is make high-quality clothes that last. It’s an uphill battle though, as many consumers expect extremely low prices set by fast fashion companies, and when they see a hoodie for $85 they think they’re being ripped off. The difference is that our hoodie could last 30 years.

All that being said, we continue to explore this topic and educate ourselves so we can do our part as much as possible.

Teddy Fresh as a whole has a very light-hearted and colorful aesthetic. What are some of the inspirations behind your designs and approach to color?

I just want it to be fun. I want people to feel happy wearing our clothes. It’s clothing, it’s really not that serious. Being fashionable doesn’t need to mean looking like you are cruising through The Matrix, not that there’s anything wrong with that, either. I love The Matrix.

Can you walk us through your general process when it comes to working on a new design? Where does the inspiration come from, how do designs start out, and how do you know when a piece is finished?

I love color, I’ll usually have a color combo in mind and I’ll start by sketching in my sketchbook, and then take it to the design team where we workshop in many different ways, styles, colors until we think it’s as close to right as possible. It is a very collaborative environment and so I really gotta give a lot of credit to our design team.

I imagine it’s hard to pick, but what Teddy Fresh piece are you most proud of and why?

Colorblock hoodie. One of our first pieces, the colorblocking fad really hadn’t come back in fashion yet. It has remained our strongest piece for three years and people just can’t get enough of it. There is something magical about the color combination I really can’t explain. After that, I would say the Grandpa Jacket aka “My grandpa passed and all I got was this jacket” — which is a new item of ours.

I feel it represents our evolution of production capabilities. It’s beautifully constructed and classic but still has the Teddy Fresh spirit. Perfect, timeless, buy it, and love it or your money back. That is my Grandpa’s guarantee right now to you the reader.

The pandemic threw a lot of small labels’ futures in the air, but Teddy Fresh was able to persevere. What challenges did you face with COVID-19, and what has it taught you as the CEO of a brand?

Direct to consumer is king, and we are just lucky to have that be the vast majority of our business. We had an enormous partnership with Zumiez right when COVID was looming and we decided to part ways amicably with them because we wanted to bring everything in-house — simply because we did not know what the fate of in-person retail would be. It was extremely risky because we had to absorb all of the clothing that they had ordered into our inventory, but we are happy with the decision. Our fear was that they would have a ton of unsold clothing that would be going on clearance and we felt it was necessary to protect our brand.

In-house, it has been extremely difficult. We take COVID very seriously and don’t allow anyone in our office, except for an essential few, while wearing masks. But for the most part, we are all working remotely. It makes reviewing samples and creative workshopping so much more difficult. I miss everyone. I love our people so much, I want them to be safe, but we all just can’t wait for things to return to normal.

What would you like to see begin to change in the world of fashion and streetwear moving forward?

I’ve been seeing more independent artists and small brands rise through social media and selling online, and I love to see it and support it. People are making one-offs and selling them directly to their followers and it’s all really exciting to me. I want more of that!

What can Teddy Fresh fans look forward to in 2021?

The best clothing we’ve ever made. Female collections, instead of just unisex. Incredible collaborations. And of course NASA’s next-generation spacesuit.

Anderson .Paak joined Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show today to break down his Apple Music At Home With playlist and in the course of the conversation, shared a tidbit that will be truly exciting to hardcore .Paak fans. Apparently, like 21 Savage and Metro Boomin did earlier this month, Andy’s reconnected with one of his most revered production partners Knxwledge for a follow-up to their fan-favorite 2016 mixtape Yes Lawd! as NxWorries.

When speaking on the original NxWorries project, Anderson remarked, “It was fun taking Knxwledge out of his cocoon, because he’s very much introverted and just was making beats at the crib and hadn’t really done too [many] shows.” He compared the tour for that show with his most recent one, noting the contrast between touring with a full band as opposed to just a DJ. Then, he shared the info that NxWorries fans have been waiting on for nearly four years now.

“We’re working on a new [project],” he revealed. “I was just over there the other day. We’ve been getting it in. We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we’re really happy about. Just stay tuned y’all. This is going to be real nice. Shout out to Knxwledge, shout out to Stones Throw. We’re coming back.”

Elsewhere in the interview, .Paak discusses his love for J Dilla, working with Rick Ross on their “Cut Em In” collaboration, and how the pandemic renewed his appreciation for performing and inspired “Lockdown.”

Listen to the full interview here.

While Rostam only has one solo album out to date, the dreamy 2017 effort Half-Light, he’s worked with some of the biggest names in indie music. Most notably, the ex-Vampire Weekend member was Clairo’s producer on her debut Immunity, and also worked with Haim for their recent effort Women In Music Pt. III. Returning to expand his personal catalog, Rostam shares the misty single “Unfold You” alongside a serene video.

Under a lulling beat, mesmerizing saxophone licks, and shimmering keys, “Unfold You” speaks to Rostam’s willingness to be open to a new love. The accompanying visual, directed by Rostam himself, offers dazzling landscapes set to the single.

In a statement about “Unfold You,” Rostam described how it took him many years to finish the song. Speaking about how he was inspired by Nick Hakim’s music, Rostam wrote:

“In November 2017 I played a show with Nick Hakim at Cafe De La Danse in Paris. This was the first Rostam show outside of America. I wasn’t familiar with Nick’s music but I was immediately drawn to it. Later that night in my hotel room I was winding down after the show and listening to some of Nick’s records. The song ‘Papas Fritas’ came on, it’s an instrumental track, and I suddenly found myself singing a melody over it and recorded that in my voice memos. Anyone writing songs probably has a few hundred voice memos on their phone. I kept coming back to this one though, and when I returned from a North American tour in February 2018 I booked some days at my favorite Vox Studios in Hollywood.

That’s where I first met Henry Solomon, who came in to play sax on ‘Unfold You.’ I had written out some sax lines for a few sections of the song, but others we arranged together in the studio. I wasn’t exactly sure where “Unfold You” would land. I hadn’t finished writing the song, but I continued building out the track with Nick’s ‘Papas Fritas’ as its backbone. I decided I’d let the recording process take me where it would. […] In the summer of 2016, I was sitting on a park bench on Commercial street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I found myself in conversation with a stranger who left me with a piece of advice that has stuck with me. ‘Change is good,’ he said, ‘Go with it.’”

Watch Rostam’s “Unfold You” video above.

Throughout the NBA season, the Western Conference seemed primed for a showdown between the Los Angeles squads with the right to play for a championship on the line. The Lakers held up their end of the bargain, dispatching of the Houston Rockets in the conference semis, and following Game 4 of their series against the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers boasted a 3-1 lead and every reason to believe they’d punch their ticket in due time.

And then, the meltdown happened. Denver ripped off three wins in a row, oftentimes in come from behind fashion, to beat the Clippers in seven games. It was shocking to watch and led to a major change in the organization, as the team parted ways with longtime coach Doc Rivers. But to their fellow Staples Center residents, the whole thing was extremely funny to watch.

Lakers veteran Jared Dudley appeared on Bill Simmons’ podcast and, among other things, discussed watching the Clippers bow out of the postseason. As he explained it, the whole ordeal was met with laughter in the team’s locker room.

“We were laughing. We were laughing, in the sense like, ‘I can’t believe it,” Dudley said, per The Score. “I picked them to win Game 7. There was no way I thought they were going to lose. Our whole mind was, we gotta beat the Clippers. We want the Clippers. They wanted us. It was the trash-talking that happened.

“Pat Bev ‘check ball’ during the pandemic, ‘Playoff P’ talking about he the best — him and Kawhi,” he continued. “Kawhi with the commercials, the crown, we’re seeing all these billboards up here. So when we go to practice every day, there’s a Kawhi billboard.”

Dudley did go on to say that he viewed it as “unfortunate” that we didn’t get the matchup “the world needed to see,” but posited that the Clippers didn’t really want to be in the Bubble. He is right that a Clippers-Lakers series would have been a blast to watch, we just might have to wait a year until it happens. And if it does, the Lakers will proudly stroll into that matchup as the defending champs.

Billie Eilish went viral today, but it was for an unfortunate reason: A Twitter user shared a body-shaming post about her, so her fans swooped in the stand up for the singer and tell that detractor off. Now Eilish herself has offered a reaction to the tweet, and although it’s an indirect response, it seems clear that Eilish is either addressing this specific situation or the general types of comments she sees about this sort of thing.

On her Instagram Story last night, Eilish shared a video from content creator and social media personality Chizi Duru, in which she calls for people to start “normalizing real bodies.” In the video that Duru shared to her 170k Instagram followers on October 7, she says, “Y’all gotta start normalizing real bodies, OK? Not everybody has a wagon behind them, OK? Guts are normal, they’re normal. Boobs sag, especially after breastfeeding. Instagram isn’t real.” Duru also captioned the post, “In case someone needed a reminder…. Instagram has warped a lot of y’all into thinking NORMAL bodies are abnormal. NO. Not every black girl has a shelf behind them. Stomach pudge is completely normal. Most boobs SAGGGG. And to all my mamas out there, it’s ok! You brought LIFE into this world sis.”

The tweet in question featured a paparazzi photo of Eilish and declared that she “has developed a mid-30’s wine mom body.” The backlash against that Twitter user was severe, with one person summing up the tone of the responses with their tweets: “Body-shaming Billie Eilish is the main reason she wears baggy clothes. This sh*t is just weird and objectively wrong. She looks beautiful and most importantly, healthy. Let people develop confidence… on God most people wish they looked like her, like damn y’all see a lil tummy and people think you obese… this MAN is pushing 30 as well. Embarrassing.”

Eilish responded to a similar situation in April, after she had shared videos of herself in a swimsuit. She was frustrated, saying in an interview, “It was trending. There were comments like, ‘I don’t like her anymore because as soon as she turns 18, she’s a whore.’ Like, dude: I can’t win. I can not win.”

David Crosby turned heads this week during an AMA session on Twitter. As fans and artists were still reeling over the death of Eddie Van Halen, one user asked Crosby his opinion on the musician. The veteran singer answered the question with a “meh,” and his unexpectedly cold response instantly prompted backlash. On Wednesday, a few days following the incident, Crosby backtracked on his statements and admitted that he had been insensitive.

Addressing the backlash, Crosby conceded that his statement was “not cool,” writing, “yes you Van Halen fans I did just toss off an answer that was not cool …the even more embarrassing truth is ..I didn’t even remember he had just died or I would have kept my mouth shut….I do make mistakes …no offense intended.”

Shortly after Crosby’s original “meh” tweet, the singer doubled-down on his statement, saying Van Halen’s music just wasn’t for him. “many of you loved Van Halen ….and the one time I met he was nice ….and he was talented,” he wrote. “meh to me means I don’t care that much ….and I don’t …doesn’t mean he wasn’t good, he was but not for me.”

Seeing as Van Halen passed away just a few weeks ago, people were not happy with Crosby’s statements. One fan replied and said the tweet was “rude, unkind and totally lacking empathy.”

Read Crosby’s full statement above.