It will hopefully be a very long time before we hear Eject, Ed Sheeran’s planned posthumous album. We do have new music now, though, as Play is out today.
Sheeran celebrated the release with a video for the new single “Camera.” He stars alongside Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor, with he and her enjoying life moments together. Sheeran explained the process behind making the video, writing on social media:
“My original Camera music video idea was using private home footage of mine and Cherrys key moments of our relationship. But as you guys know, we are an intensely private couple, and some things we wanted to keep just for us. So I recreated a few key moments of our relationship for the music video with the wonderful @phoebedynevor. It was so fun shooting this video, almost felt like a holiday for the whole shoot. It was all done on iPhone, and directed by the wonderful @emilnava. Hope you guys love the song, and the video. Both mean the world to me.”
Watch the “Camera” video above. Find the Play cover art and tracklist below.
Steven and Ian begin with a quick conversation about living in a time of political violence and horrific videos popping up freely on social media feeds. From there, they do a hard pivot to a conversation about the recent MTV Video Music Awards (which continue to exist for some reason) and the rapid ascent of the pop-rock singer Sombr, whose recent LP I Barely Know Her dropped last month.
After that, they do a “yay or nay” segment on freak folk. They also find time to finally dip into the mailbag, where they answer emails about the best “day” bands and whether it’s okay to wear a band T-shirt to that band’s concert.
In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about emo band Algernon Cadwallader and Steven goes for the Michigan rock outfit Liquid Mike.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 256 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
The unveilings have been this week’s biggest tech news and Apple made it even bigger in partnership with Dua Lipa, for a new “Shot On iPhone” campaign.
Lipa partnered with Apple for a new video, which was filmed on the iPhone 17 Pro, that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Radical Optimism Tour. It starts with Dua waking up and getting ready on the morning of a concert. From there, she heads to soundcheck and prepares for the evening with her team. Then, there’s the concert footage, which really shows off what the new device is capable of. Of particular note is the camera’s 8-times zoom capabilities, which even at its maximum captures some impressive on-stage detail.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, says in a statement of the new phone, “iPhone 17 Pro is by far the most powerful iPhone we’ve ever made, with a stunning new design rebuilt from the inside out to maximize performance and deliver an enormous leap in battery life. With three 48MP Fusion cameras, a new Center Stage front camera experience, and pro-level video features, the creative opportunities are endless. iPhone 17 Pro sets a new standard for the smartphone industry and is a massive upgrade for our most demanding users.”
Ed Sheeran’s new album Play is out tomorrow (September 12). Sheeran is thinking much further into the future than that, though, as per his will, fans will one day have a posthumous album titled Eject.
Sheeran talked Apple Music’s Zane Lowe through it in an interview shared yesterday (September 10), saying:
“It’s actually in my will and Cherry [Seaborn, his wife] gets to pick the tracks for it. It’s fully, like… it’s in there if I were to go tomorrow. […] My will of wishes is to make a record out of all the songs from the age of 18, so when I pass away. Choose the ten best. And it’s like, imagine if Paul McCartney dies and there’s early 16-year-old Beatles recordings and then right up to it, the ten best of his entire career. Lots of people won’t like that of me, but there’ll be lots of my fans that would find that super interesting.”
He elaborated on the reasons behind his planning, saying, “You know how posthumous albums come out but they’re sort of unplanned? I want to sort make a planned one. And I’ll talk to Cherry throughout my life, like, “I really I like one, I really like this one, I really like this one.’ […] I don’t want to go and someone just to jumble up stuff and put it out. I want it to be planned.”
Watch the full interview above. Find the Play cover art and tracklist below.
A week ago, Gorillaz apparently debuted a whole new album during their phone-free show in London, which fans only learned about through setlist.fm after the fact. It turns out, though, that we didn’t have to wait long to find out more about the album, as the virtual band — the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn — announced the new album’s title and release date today.
The Mountain is due on March 20th, 2026, belying the group’s initial 2025 release vow, and will feature appearances from Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Anoushka Shankar, Asha Puthli, Bizarrap, Black Thought of The Roots, IDLES, Johnny Marr, Jalen Ngonda, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon of The Clash, Yasiin Bey, and more. The band also released the album’s first single, “The Happy Dictator,” which features Sparks, along with a visualizer punctuated by WWII-era aesthetics and lyrics captioned in Devanagari. This lines up with one of the accounts of the album’s sound online, which promised, “The album was heavy on Indian tunes. The orchestra was quite large: four strings, four backing vocalists, three Indian instruments, etc.”
You can listen to “The Happy Dictator” above.
The Mountain is due on 3/20/2026 via Parlophone/Warner. You can find more info here.
Gorillaz The Mountain Tracklist
01. “The Mountain” (feat. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash)
02. “The Moon Cave” (feat. Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda and Black Thought)
03. “The Happy Dictator” (feat. Sparks)
04. “The Hardest Thing” (feat. Tony Allen)
05. “Orange County” (feat. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar)
06. “The God of Lying” (feat. IDLES)
07. “The Empty Dream Machine” (feat. Black Thought, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar)
08. “The Manifesto” (feat. Trueno and Proof)
09. “The Plastic Guru” (feat. Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar)
10. “Delirium” (feat. Mark E. Smith)
11. “Damascus” (feat. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey)
12. “The Shadowy Ligh”t (feat. Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Ajay Prasanna, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash)
13. “Casablanca” (feat. Paul Simonon and Johnny Marr)
14. “The Sweet Prince” (feat. Ajay Prasanna, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar)
15. “The Sad God” (feat. Black Thought, Ajay Prasanna and Anoushka Shankar)
Sombr‘s debut album, I Barely Know Her, finds a confident 20-year-old star who writes and produces his own music, incorporating intros, outros, and bridges, and taking creative risks that bet on his own prodigious talent. And the world is reacting, with a sold-out world tour that runs into 2026, cool-kid alignment with a booking at Tyler, The Creator‘s Camp Flog Gnaw, and hismindblowing VMA performance/win.
Sombr’s growth is undeniable.
Check out the stats:
– +33% Spotify listeners in 90 days (56.3MM+)
– 241MM YouTube views
– 138.8MM TikTok likes
– 150% viewership increase
But his fans aren’t just streaming or spending money on concert tickets. They shop often. They share loudly. They blur the lines between fashion, lifestyle, and music, shaping the next wave of youth culture while over-indexing for H&M, Prada, Levi’s, Starbucks, Netflix, and Coachella.
Check out our recent Linkedin breakdown showing why Sombr is more than just an artist; he’s the face of a new youth movement and see how UPROXX STUDIOS can uniquely align you with Sombr in authentic and impactful ways.
The 2025 VMAs proved what we’ve known all along: music videos belong on TV.
The show posted a 42% year-over-year surge, with 5.5 million viewers across CBS, MTV, and Paramount+, its best performance since 2019.
That’s the influence and impact of music videos. These aren’t “content” made to be lazily engaged with and fill feeds. These provide significant connections to fan-favorite artists and songs, as well as substantial statements from iconic creative visionaries.
Music videos command attention and fuel obsession. Because fans care, they watch, remix, and debate. They show up on prime time not just for spectacle, but because they’re emotionally invested.
And the VMAs translated that energy. That full-choir moment with Alex Warren? That was a cultural moment made possible by music videos – their reach, their resonance, their relevance.
Even up against a network juggernaut, music videos performed, going head-to-head with Sunday Night Football. Most shows would’ve been buried, but music videos gave people a reason to choose culture over sports competition.
Beyond the Broadcast
What happened on CBS was only the start. The real story played out across YouTube, where fans surged to Warner Music Group artist channels powered by UPROXX:
– Sombr: video views up +150%, from ~80M in a typical week to 200M+ weekly views
– Alex Warren: up +43%, hitting 25M+ weekly views as he took home Best New Artist
– Busta Rhymes: up +23%, climbing past 15M weekly views tied to his Visionary Award moment
These aren’t background bumps — they’re massive spikes in video consumption tied directly to cultural heat. The broadcast made headlines, but the viewership wave carried across platforms.
Why Brands Should Care
Music videos have become the new sports highlights (only better): short, high-impact, replayed endlessly, and commanding full-screen attention. On Connected TV, they turn the living room into a stadium of sound and visuals.
But unlike sports, music videos don’t follow a rigid schedule. They’re evergreen and breaking news at the same time, giving brands the chance to plug into culture every week, not just during a 17-game season.
WMG Artist Domination
The awards themselves reinforced it: Warner Music Group artists swept the night. Song of the Year – ROSÉ & Bruno Mars “APT.” Best New Artist – Alex Warren Best Collaboration – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars “Die With A Smile” Best Alternative – Sombr “Back to Friends” Best Rock – Coldplay “All My Love”
These are the same superstar artists that anchor UPROXX’s premium CTV and YouTube inventory — the cultural gravity brands can tap into every week.
The Bigger Picture
Missed the VMAs? You didn’t miss the movement.
Music videos don’t happen once a year on CBS — they happen every day, every week, and they live forever. With UPROXX, brands don’t gamble on adjacency. They get guaranteed access to the Warner Music Group catalog — Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Cardi B, Linkin Park, and more.
If sports own Sundays, music videos own culture the rest of the week. And with UPROXX, your brand gets front row access.
Maryland rapper IDK is well-known for loving to infuse his gritty street raps with ’90s-esque jazz flair. His albums like F65 and Bravado + Intimo have often employed plenty of brass and loose drumming inspired by the greats, and today, he gets to return the favor to one of jazz’s hottest rising stars.
In Theo Croker’s new “My Friend” video, IDK wanders the streets of Los Angeles, his adopted home, reeling off his ruthless worldview, in which ski masks are a necessity, not a hypebeast’s accessory. Meanwhile, Croker and Sector 202, the band that backed IDK’s most recent NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, continue to push the boundaries of their blend of jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music, building to a magnificent crescendo.
“My Friend” is the latest single from Croker’s forthcoming Dream Manifest (Deluxe). It’s due on October 24 via Dom Recs, with features from anaïs, Theophilus London, Nosajthing, Natureboy Flako, and more. The original version of Dream Manifest, released on June 13 this year, is also now available for the first time on vinyl via Fat Beats. Meanwhile, the Grammy-nominated trumpeter, composer, and producer will return to Los Angeles in December for two nights at the recently opened Blue Note Jazz Club.
Watch Theo Croker’s “My Friend” video with IDK above.
Dream Manifest (Deluxe) is due on 10/24 via Dom Recs. You can find more info here.
Kelly Osbourne is currently hosting the new TV series Lego Masters Jr., which premiered in August. Of course, she’s also going through a difficult time at the moment with the recent death of her father, Ozzy Osbourne. This week’s episode of Lego Masters Jr. was surely an emotional one for her to watch back, then, as Ozzy makes a cameo. Billboard notes this is Ozzy’s first posthumous TV appearance.
Reality Club FOX shared the clip on TikTok. In the scene, Kelly recruits her dad, who appears remotely via video, to give contestants a warning that they have one hour left to finish their current build. She asks her father, “Hi dad, we need someone to scare a few of the kids. Would you mind?” With some menacing laughs, Ozzy tells the kids about their remaining time as the on-set lights turned a scary red.
Meanwhile, Kelly recently addressed her emotional status with an Instagram Story post of her with a bird perched on her hand. She wrote over the photo, “In all my sadness & grief I have found something that truly makes me happy! I never thought I would find my smile again through falconry but I did. I absolutely love being with the birds!”
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Song of the Year – ROSÉ & Bruno Mars “APT.”