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Julian Casablancas’ band that isn’t The Strokes, The Voidz, just released a new album, Like All Before You, in September 2024. Even still, they’re ready with every more new material: Today (March 3), they shared a new song, “Blue Demon.”

A press release calls the track “a sonic rebellion that fuses electric sonics, jagged guitar riffs, Julian’s signature, eerie falsetto, and, as always, a propulsive drum rhythm.” The single is the first taste of a new EP that’s set to be released “this spring,” but a title and specific release date haven’t been revealed yet.

Shortly after the latest Voidz album, Casablancas indicated he prefers working with The Voidz over The Strokes. He also said of the latter band, “I think I put political thoughts now in Strokes songs, too. I always have to some degree. I definitely think a lot of Strokes fans don’t get that about it so much, which is maybe why I’ve kind of stepped away a little bit. But it’s a very cool day job that I’m honored to have, so I don’t feel negatively about it. If it was wasting so much of my time that I couldn’t do anything positive, then I would. But I don’t let it get to that point. At least I don’t think so. I could be lying to myself.”

Listen to “Blue Demon” above.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Blackpink’s Lisa expand her solo empire and Lizzo make a big comeback. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Lisa — “Fxck Up The World”

It’s Lisa season: She’s in the new season of The White Lotus and the Blackpink star just released her debut solo album, Alter Ego. The K-pop star goes hard on “Fxck Up The World,” which arrived in both a solo version and one with Future.

Lizzo — “Love In Real Life”

Lizzo has remained mostly out of the spotlight since facing controversy in 2023. 2025 is her comeback year, though, as she proved last week with “Love In Real Life,” a rock-inspired song that sees Lizzo confront some of her recent roadblocks.

Djo — “Delete Ya”

Stranger Things star Joe Keery is looking to follow up a massive 2024 for his music alter ego Djo; He had one of the ten most-streamed songs in the world on Spotify last year. He started his 2025 last week with a new single, “Delete Ya,” which is another example of Keery’s superlative ability to bring retro inspirations to present day.

Halsey — “Safeword”

This is Halsey at her most provocative. In the video for “Safeword,” her first new song since last year’s The Great Impersonator, there’s plenty of leather and spanking, all set to the extremely riot grrrl song.

Tate McRae — “Siren Sounds”

McRae made her debut as an SNL musical guest in 2023, and she came back for her second go this past weekend. Before that, though, she went ahead and dropped a deluxe edition of her new album So Close To What, including the anthemic pop ballad “Siren Sounds.”

d4vd and Kali Uchis — “Crashing”

d4vd is prepping the release of Withered, and while the project is a couple months away, it sounds like a winner so far. He previewed it last week with “Crashing,” a chilled-out Kali Uchis collab.

2hollis — “Style”

After a breakout 2024, 2hollis is starting 2025 strong with “Style.” The new single runs for well under two minutes, but it’s a fun mish-mash of electronic and hip-hop while it lasts.

Jane Remover — “Dancing With Your Eyes Closed”

Jane Remover has a new album coming out at some point in the near future, and while the release date is uncertain, what we do know is that it’ll include last week’s “Dancing With Your Eyes Closed.” The digicore number is a real blast from the past that’s also absolutely welcome in 2025.

Julien Baker & Torres — “Tuesday”

Baker and Torres are in their country era and they indulge in the genre’s storytelling tradition with “Tuesday.” Last week’s single sees the pair singing about a love that starts song before meeting some tragic controversy.

Little Simz — “Flood”

UK rap favorite Little Simz is, thankfully, readying her first new album since 2022’s No Thank You. She announced the project last week, when she also shared “Flood,” a menacing, tense, drum-driven number that serves as an appealing continuation of Simz’s hip-hop experimentation.

Fast-rising K-pop girl group Babymonster made their U.S. concert debut last week at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. That wasn’t the only opportunity for the Monstiez (as their fanbase is known) to see Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rami, Rora, and Chiquitain live, however. Babymonster has announced additional North American dates for Babymonster 1st World Tour (Hello Monsters), including stops in Atlanta, Fort Worth, and Seattle.

Tickets for the newly added shows will be available beginning on Friday, March 7, at 3 p.m. local time. Fans can also purchase VIP Packages. You can find more information here.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Rami said, “It hasn’t even been a full year since we debuted with our mini-album, Babymons7er, but we are so happy with how everything has turned out and incredibly grateful to have received so much love from the beginning.” Rora added, “Babymonster plans to work as hard to continue this momentum and spread K-pop and Korean culture to the whole world.”

You can find the Babymonster 1st World Tour (Hello Monsters) North American dates below.

Babymonster’s 2025 North American Tour Dates: Babymonster 1st World Tour (Hello Monsters)

08/30 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
09/02 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
09/05 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
09/07 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
09/10 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
09/12 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena

Elton John didn’t win an Academy Award on Sunday night; “Never Too Late,” his song with Brandi Carlile for the Disney Plus-streaming documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, lost to “El Mal” from Emilia Pérez.

Something tells me the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” legend isn’t too bitter about it, though, since A) he already has two Oscars (for The Lion King and Rocketman), and B) later that night, he performed with Chappell Roan at his annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party.

Roan performed an 11-song set at the party, ending with a cover of “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” and her own “Pink Pony Club,” both with John.

You can watch the footage here.

John is a huge Chappell Roan fan. “It’s been a long time since I’ve witnessed someone master the art of performing so early in their career. Congratulations, Chappell Roan, you smashed it!” he wrote on Facebook following a 2024 performance at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.

On his Apple Music radio show, Rocket Hour, John also told Roan, “I rang you the other night and said, ‘Listen, I’m not stalking you, but I’m as excited about your album’s success as you are.’ It’s wonderful to see true talent being recognized.”

There was a world where MGK enthusiast Bob Dylan could have presented, and even performed, at the 2025 Oscars yesterday (March 2). That world wasn’t meant to be, but it wasn’t due to a lack of trying: Per The Hollywood Reporter, Dylan was asked to both present and perform, but he was apparently unable or interested.

As NME notes, Dylan had a presence at the ceremony via some jokes about him.

Mick Jagger made an unannounced appearance to introduce the Best Original Song category, and he quipped, “The producers wanted Bob Dylan to do it, but Bob didn’t want to. ‘The best songs this year are obviously in A Complete Unknown. You should find somebody younger.’ OK, I’m younger than Bob! So here I am.”

Host Conan O’Brien also joked during his opening monologue, “Dylan wanted to be here tonight, but not that badly.”

The Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was up for a whopping eight awards last night: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actress for Monica Barbaro, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton. Despite how much Chalamet wanted it, though, the movie went home with no wins.

Find the full list of this year’s Academy Award winners here.

In the end, this year’s Oscars ceremony was (almost) all about Anora.

That’s an exaggeration, of course, but our own Josh Kurp called it early (last September) while labelling Sean Baker’s movie as a Best Picture frontrunner, which is (in the words of indie distributor NEON) “a f*ckboi fairytale” that has now taken The Academy by storm. This tragicomedy, revolving around an exotic dancer who briefly marries a Russian oligarch’s son, cleaned up with the Best Picture award and Best Actress honor for Mikey Madison.

This followed Baker’s three other wins for Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Screenplay. During his multiple times at the mic, Baker roasted himself while also thanking his dog (for editing tips) and sex workers for their stories, which he used to help craft his rollicking, screwball, and at-times heartbreaking movie. The film came together on a mere $6 million budget and emerged as the Palme d’Or-winner at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Below, you can watch Mikey Madison’s speech, in which she declared her intent to “continue to support and be an ally” to the sex worker community. She added, “All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this incredible experience.”

And the Best Picture award speech for Anora is here as well.

Conan O’Brien began his Oscars hosting gig by crawling out of a replica of Demi Moore’s torso in The Substance, and he kept the jokes coming steadily throughout the broadcast. And because he apparently could not resist, the evening had to include a “Say Drake”-style joke to reference Kendrick Lamar’s diss track performance of “Not Like Us” at Super Bowl LIX.

Kendrick’s Big Game performance was ultimately larger than Drake, but of course, O’Brien went for the primetime punchline: “Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.” He then added, “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up” You can watch the bane of Drake’s existence continue at this video link.

In the aforementioned song, Lamar’s lyrics made reference to Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album title, which brought a live audience response that was even louder in stadium (including the “a minor” lyric) than it appeared on TV. For his part, Drake has issued multiple responses to Kendrick’s lyrics (which appear to accuse Drake of sexual misconduct) both within his own lyrics and in defamation-lawsuit form against his label, Universal Music Group.

In response to Drake’s lawsuit, UMG has characterized Drake’s defamation claims as “illogical” and the lawsuit as “frivolous litigation.”

As for O’Brien’s continuance of the “Not Like Us” jab, Drake hasn’t issued a public response… yet.

With the news that the 007 franchise has passed hands from longtime stewards, the Broccoli family, to Amazon/MGM, everyone’s favorite spy has a new home and enters into a new era. At the 97th Academy Awards, the Oscars paid musical homage to the past 60+ years of the womanizing superspy with the license to kill, recruiting K-pop star Lisa, pop-rap diva Doja Cat, and rising British soul icon in the making Raye to become the latest Bond girls. They performed renditions of some of the franchise’s most iconic theme songs, from eras featuring the franchise’s most iconic Bonds.

The medley opened with a dance sequence performed by Margaret Qualley (whose film The Substance is nominated for Best Picture), prompting speculation that she may be participating in the franchise soon. Then, Lisa delivered a daring rendition of the titular theme song from 1973’s Live And Let Die, which was originally performed by Paul McCartney.

Next, Doja Cat took on Shirley Bassey’s instantly recognizable “Diamonds Are Forever,” from Sean Connery’s 1971 Bond bow of the same name. Finally, Raye stole the show, singing “Skyfall” so well, Adele must have felt proud (or ready for a diva battle, considering how things have done lately). You can watch the full tribute above. And hey, for the fun of it, check out the three singers’ new collab, “Born Again,” as well.

“God if you saw that footage 0 I saved this film in the edit. Trust me! That director should never work again,” said Sean Baker while accepting his Best Editing award for Anora at the Oscars.

Previously while accepting Best Screenplay, he declared the following: “I want to thank the sex work community. They have shared their stories. They have shared their life experiences with me over the years. My deepest respect. I share this with you.” You can watch that video below.

The 2025 Academy Awards are underway, and got one gravity-defying launch (sorry), courtesy of Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Performing a medley of Oz-inspired songs, their rousing performance prompted a standing ovation from the audience, thanks to some eye-misting nostalgia and the fierce battle-cry that has taken on a life of its own.

Grande took the stage first, performing the signature song from the 1939 adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” Then, Erivo performed “Home,” from the 1978 version of The Wiz, nodding to its status as a staple of Black American pop culture. Finally, naturally, came the duet from the most recent adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic, Wicked, “Defying Gravity.”

The soaring note at the end confirmed that Erivo’s mic was very much ON, thank you very much, and brought the crowd to their feet with both anticipation (we all knew it was coming) and appreciation (it knocked us all out anyway).

Wicked is nominated for 10 awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Erivo, and Best Supporting Actress for Grande. As of this writing, it’s already won one, Best Costume Design. You can follow along with the winners here, and watch Grande and Erivo’s performance above.†