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Larry Charles won’t be seeing the next Star Wars or Marvel movie.

The legendary Seinfeld writer and Borat and Masked and Anonymous director was Marc Maron’s guest on a recent episode of the WTF podcast, where he discussed the state of cinema.

“I try to make things like Dangerous Comedy or this movie — this movie’s a very low-budget movie,” Charles said about A24’s first musical, Dicks: The Musical, according to Variety. “Politically for me, ethically for me, I find it offensive when movies cost $250 million and the world is in the state that it’s in. So I’m also looking to make a statement in the way these things are made.”

Charles wants to continue making “radical work” — like, say, a musical where Megan Thee Stallion makes leashed men crawl on the floor like dogs — by “saying that I could do it for a little money, and the way [producers and directors] say yes to it is they think, ‘Oh, that radical little work that’s not going to cost any money is going to make money.’ Absolutely. That is the system.”

He added, “I haven’t been able, I’ve been doing stuff on YouTube, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get out of that, to move out of that. It’s very, very difficult to do. Because YouTube is owned by somebody, Instagram is owned by somebody. Everything, you know, it’s very hard to get your word out, your thoughts out.”

Dicks: The Musical is in theaters now. You can listen to the podcast below:

(Via Variety)

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 Drake finally come through with For All The Dogs and Megan Thee Stallion offer some newness of her own. 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.

Drake — “Daylight”

Adonis Graham does it all: He illustrated the cover art of his dad’s highly anticipated new album For All The Dogs, he co-starred in the “8AM In Charlotte” video, and how he’s offered his first verse on a Drake song via “Daylight.” The 5-year-old fires off bars that make some amount of sense maybe and it’s a fun and adorable way to cap off the track.

Megan Thee Stallion — “Out Alpha The Alpha”

Now that the Tory Lanez trial is behind her, Meg has been more publicly visible as of late: She reunited with Cardi B, she launched a mental health initiative, and she promises to pulverize the patriarchy on “Out Alpha The Alpha,” a new song from D*cks: The Musical (in which she also stars, by the way).

Janelle Monáe — “Champagne Sh*t (Remix)” Feat. Latto and Quavo

The Age Of Pleasure has been out for a minute now, but Monáe revisited the project last week with a new take on “Champagne Sh*t.” She brought Latto and Quavo into the fold for a remix, bringing some Atlanta flavor to the fan-favorite song.

Paramore — “C’est Comme Ça (Re: Wet Leg)”

Paramore just did something pretty cool with This Is Why: They released a new version of the album (Re: This Is Why) featuring reworks of the album’s tracks via artists like Bartees Strange, Panda Bear, Julien Baker, and others. Wet Leg came through with a particularly cool, laid-back-yes-rocking cover of “C’est Comme Ça.’

Sufjan Stevens — “Sh*t Talk”

It’s a bittersweet time for Sufjan Stevens right now: He just released Javelin, a new album that’s getting stellar reviews, but on the other hand, he dedicated the project to Evan Richardson, his late partner who died this past April. So, hopefully the success of the album is something Stevens can enjoy during a difficult part of his life.

Tems — “Me & U”

Tems recently found herself in the middle of a viral rumor, but now that we’re past that, the focus is back to music. Last week, the Nigerian favorite released the introspective “Me & U,” which is actually her first single in two years.

Jennie — “You & Me”

No, we didn’t do the same song twice. Blackpink’s Jennie offered a titular inverse to Tems’ comeback last week with “You & Me,” of which Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes, “Pulsating bass beats imitate the sound of a heartbeat as she can’t deny the euphoria she feels.”

Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist — “Vin Skully”

Earl and Alchemist went on an interesting release journey for their new collaborative project: Back in August, they dropped it exclusively as an NFT, and last week, they gave the album a proper wide unveiling as it made its way onto streaming services.

Omar Apollo — “Ice Slippin”

“Ice Slippin” is a vulnerable new one for Apollo as he explained, “‘Ice Slippin’ is about reliving the thoughts I had passing through my mind the winter I came out to my family. Receiving cold judgment as opposed to the acceptance I felt I deserved. This song is a reflection and reaction of all the emotions I had to face before and after I decided to leave the icy streets of Indiana.”

NewJeans — “Gods”

The League Of Legends World Championship is coming to Seoul this year, so K-pop icons NewJeans had to get in on the action. Their contribution is “Gods,” an in-your-face new song that reflects the drama and intensity of the game it represents.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If you’re among those who made Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s jersey sales spike approximately 400 percent (per The Associated Press) after Taylor Swift attended the September 24 game between the Chiefs and Chicago Bears and seemingly confirmed at least some sort of romance is brewing between her and Kelce, then you’ll likely also be interested in how to support her imminent 1989 (Taylor’s Version) release.

1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift’s fourth re-recorded album, is due out on October 27. Late last week, a full-blown merch collection appeared on Swift’s official website store. A photo of the collection can be seen below (as per Taylor Nation via email):

Accessory and clothing options range from several graphic tees and sweatshirts, including a seagull-themed crewneck, to a light blue tie-dye hoodie, taupe dad hat, and cream-colored sunglasses. The miscellaneous merch items include a 1989-branded viewfinder, photo coasters, tote bag, blanket (with seagulls printed on it), and patch set.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Swiftian release without a clever play on numbers, so all of the prices all end in 89 cents instead of rounding to the nearest dollar. Similarly, Swift set her ticket prices for her upcoming Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film at $19.89 for adults and $13.13 for children and seniors (pre-tax and for standard screenings).

The movie’s advance global ticket sales eclipsed $100 million last week, as confirmed by AMC Theatres and reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) is out 10/27 via Republic. Find more information here.

The Dallas Cowboys went into San Francisco on Sunday night and got absolutely obliterated by the 49ers. In what was billed as a matchup between two teams with Super Bowl aspirations, San Francisco was dominant on both sides of the football en route to an emphatic, 42-10 win that very well might have established them as the team to beat in the NFC.

As for Dallas, one thing was guaranteed after this high-profile of a loss: Stephen A. Smith was going to have some fun with it. Immediately after the game, a very cozy looking Stephen A. posted this video to his Twitter account and made clear that he’d have plenty to say on First Take on Monday morning.

In his intro to the show, Smith showed up with his usual cowboy hat and cigar, and this time, he added something else: a number 88 jersey for his former colleague, Michael Irvin.

“Evidently, while the Cowboys while in Santa Clara, I believe, last night, they were looking for a playmaker,” Smith said. “They were looking for somebody to make plays. They were trying to figure it out. And they couldn’t find it … Well guess what? The Playmaker’s right here.”

Shannon Sharpe seemed to find this all very funny, in large part because it’s all very funny.

Clearly back in full force now that the writers’ strike has been settled, John Oliver hit former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson with a new nickname during the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.

While going deep on the weaponization of homeschooling that’s ramped up thanks to issues like critical race theory the increased rash of book bans, Oliver had actually had something positive to say after showing a clip of a teen who was genuinely able to learn better after escaping the bullying of public schools.

“That’s great. That is very nice. And I know that’s not something you usually hear me say after a clip on this show,” Oliver said via Deadline. And that’s when the drive-by nickname happened.

“It’s usually a variation of ‘That’s horrible’ or ‘That’s heartbreaking,’” Oliver said as Carlson’s face appeared on the screen, “Or shut the f**k up you baby bi**h lawn dart.”

(You can see Tucker Carlson get his new nickname at the 3:20 mark above.)

Oliver has only been back for two episodes, and the late night host is clearly relishing the opportunity to go after the targets he missed because of the strikes. In a new interview with NPR, he called being back “joyful” and opened up about how he and the writers stayed sharp by joking with each other Zoom calls.

“We were checking in with [the writers] a bunch and whenever we were on those Zoom calls and they were making each other laugh, part of the sadness was, ‘Oh, it would be really nice to direct these incredible senses of humor at the targets that you want to direct them at,’” Oliver said. “And so, yes, it was very, very fun to give them assignments and to watch them excel and make us laugh. It was utterly joyful.”

(Via Deadline, NPR)

On October 7, the Tribe Of Nova trance music festival was held in Re’im, in southern Israel near the Gaza border. What was supposed to be a fun event full of music and dancing ended in tragedy, though: As BBC News noted in a report shared yesterday (October 8), “Palestinian militants stormed the festival and opened fire as part of huge surprise attack on Israel. More than 260 bodies have reportedly been recovered from the festival site.”

The deadly event has garnered international attention, including from U2, who took a moment on stage to acknowledge what happened.

As the band performed at The Sphere in Las Vegas yesterday (as The Jewish Chronicle reports), Bono paid tribute to those who lost their lives, saying, “We sing for our brothers and sisters, who they themselves were singing at the Supernova Succot festival in Israel. We sing for those. Our people. Our kind of people. Music people. Playful, experimental people. Our kind of people. We sing for them.”

The Associated Press shared first-hand accounts from survivors of the festival, and one attendee noted, “We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation. For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.”

Dua Lipa delivered “Dance The Night,” the Barbie movie theme song that became Lipa’s fifth-career top-10 Billboard Hot 100 hit (peaking at No. 6), and portrayed Mermaid Barbie in the Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon. She would be excused to taking the rest of the year off, but instead, Lipa has taken on a new role: Mysterious Barbie.

On Monday morning, October 9, people noticed that Lipa had wiped her Instagram and TikTok grids clean — usually an artist’s signal that a new era is loading. She also changed her profile picture on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to an aqua kaleidoscope-esque image. On Facebook and X, her header photo is still in the kaleidoscope lens but displaying more of a determined-looking Lipa’s face.

Lipa’s last album was the Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia, arriving in March 2020 and housing monster pop anthems like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating.” The 28-year-old has been teasing her third album since early 2022 when she told Elton John on her Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast that it was “maybe 50 percent of the way” finished. By the end of last year, she told Variety that the project had “taken a complete turn,” and she planned to keep writing in early 2023.

This August, Lipa covered The New York Times’ T Magazine and gave yet another update on the fruits of her 2023 labor — this time, confirming her next album is due out in 2024. The profile’s author, Kurt Soller, provided context for what fans might be able to expect, as detailed in the following excerpt:

“The next record will still be pop, she says, lest her ‘fans have a meltdown.’ She doesn’t want to ‘alienate’ them, although she’s developing a new sound that may be informed less by the house and disco beats beneath songs like ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ than by 1970s-era psychedelia. She’s working with a smaller group of songwriting collaborators, supposedly including Kevin Parker of the Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala, a rumor she all but confirms by denying: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she says, then looks away and laughs a little. Lipa’s dressed — almost studiously — in pop star-off-duty drag: Ugg slip-ons, baggy white jeans, an old Elton John T-shirt, a few diamond-encrusted hoops in each ear.”

Based on the reactions to her social media movement, Lipa has done anything but alienate her fans. See some of the best reactions below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Dua Lipa delivered “Dance The Night,” the Barbie movie theme song that became Lipa’s fifth-career top-10 Billboard Hot 100 hit (peaking at No. 6), and portrayed Mermaid Barbie in the Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon. She would be excused to taking the rest of the year off, but instead, Lipa has taken on a new role: Mysterious Barbie.

On Monday morning, October 9, people noticed that Lipa had wiped her Instagram and TikTok grids clean — usually an artist’s signal that a new era is loading. She also changed her profile picture on Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to an aqua kaleidoscope-esque image. On Facebook and X, her header photo is still in the kaleidoscope lens but displaying more of a determined-looking Lipa’s face.

Lipa’s last album was the Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia, arriving in March 2020 and housing monster pop anthems like “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating.” The 28-year-old has been teasing her third album since early 2022 when she told Elton John on her Dua Lipa: At Your Service podcast that it was “maybe 50 percent of the way” finished. By the end of last year, she told Variety that the project had “taken a complete turn,” and she planned to keep writing in early 2023.

This August, Lipa covered The New York Times’ T Magazine and gave yet another update on the fruits of her 2023 labor — this time, confirming her next album is due out in 2024. The profile’s author, Kurt Soller, provided context for what fans might be able to expect, as detailed in the following excerpt:

“The next record will still be pop, she says, lest her ‘fans have a meltdown.’ She doesn’t want to ‘alienate’ them, although she’s developing a new sound that may be informed less by the house and disco beats beneath songs like ‘Physical’ and ‘Hallucinate’ than by 1970s-era psychedelia. She’s working with a smaller group of songwriting collaborators, supposedly including Kevin Parker of the Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala, a rumor she all but confirms by denying: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she says, then looks away and laughs a little. Lipa’s dressed — almost studiously — in pop star-off-duty drag: Ugg slip-ons, baggy white jeans, an old Elton John T-shirt, a few diamond-encrusted hoops in each ear.”

Based on the reactions to her social media movement, Lipa has done anything but alienate her fans. See some of the best reactions below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Drake is one of the most accomplished and beloved musicians working today, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to criticism. He’s not letting that bother him, though, and in fact, he seems to actually be having a great time checking out some old comments about Take Care, his 2011 sophomore album.

On his Instagram Story yesterday (October 8), he shared a screenshot of an old online comments section, presumably from a post about the album. Drake wrote, “Reading these comments from when Take Care dropped [crying laughing emoji].”

As for the feedback, one commenter wrote, “i agree with the review Drake lost some respect with this one, in my own opinion he should had back dated the release day and done a better Cd.” Another said, “I think his album was weak, repetitive, boring at times.. Nothing new, nothing exciting.. Same ole, same ole.. Blah!” Somebody else commented, “thank me later > take care… features went harder on TML, classic verses from all of them… the rapping was better and no track had to be skipped, take care has a few I don’t really like… good album but not great.”

Given that Drake decided to take this trip down Memory Lane shortly after the release of his new album For All The Dogs, perhaps this is his way of dismissing whatever hate his new project may be subject to at the moment.

Sophie Turner shared her first post on social media since confirming the end of her marriage to Joe Jonas (as E! Online notes). Over the weekend, the actress posted a photo of a friendship bracelet that reads “FEARLESS” in an Instagram Story. It’s seemingly a reference to the Taylor Swift song and album of the same name. “And I don’t know how it gets better than this / You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless,” Swift sings in the chorus.

Fearless is meaningful to Turner for at least two reasons: one of the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) vault tracks is allegedly about her ex-husband, and she and Swift are good friends; the pop star even let the Game Of Thrones star stay at her place in New York City during her (messy) divorce proceedings.

In a joint statement that was released last month, Turner and Jonas wrote, “After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage. There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”

You can see Turner’s Swift-inspired Instagram Story below.