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Corook kicked off this year’s Pride Month with a bang. Their second EP, Serious Person, Part 1, arrived at the top of June, gifting us with six cozy queer pop tracks. Over the course of a 20-minute therapy session, the non-binary singer and instrumentalist homes in on the core parts of themselves — the good and the bad — and finds humor in their insecurities.

Their EP’s title track, “Serious Person,” details their relationship with their girlfriend, fellow musician Olivia Barton. Oftentimes, Corook finds it difficult to express their emotions and to handle rough patches in their relationship and makes this known from the very beginning of the EP.

“I’m not a serious person / When it comes to serious things / I’ll make a fart joke when we’re in a fight / Act like you hate it, but I see you smile,” they sing on the opening verse, over soft piano chords.

Corook can’t actually remember a time they’ve done this, but it’s not something they, or Barton, would put past themselves.

“I’m definitely the kind of person that is trying to lighten the mood at all times,” Corook says. “Especially when it’s hard. And maybe it’s inappropriate.”

They’re especially learning how to handle difficulty now that their career has taken off. Earlier this month, Corook performed headlining sets at Brooklyn, NY’s Baby’s All Right and Los Angeles, CA’s The Echo. This past weekend, Corook performed at Nashville Pride, where they are currently based.

On another standout line in “Serious Person,” Corook alludes to their sensitivity to overstimulation, singing “I don’t want you to cook while I’m watching TV.” But they admit that having Barton as their rock has made it easier to cope with newfound notoriety.

“I think [Olivia and I] are lucky to have each other,” Corook says. “This past year has been really overwhelming, especially in terms of my career, and I’m very much needing to learn in real-time how to take care of myself. Whenever I’m overwhelmed, I know I need to take care of myself. And whether that be cooking a meal at home, or staying home and playing video games at night, instead of going out. I try to listen to my body and listen to what’s going on, and act accordingly.”

Part of remaining grounded for Corook means keeping a small team of collaborators, most of which are close friends of theirs. One of the EP’s standout tracks, “Tiny Little T*tties,’ — a gut-punching encapsulation of the nuanced feelings of body dysmorphia — came together while Corook was on a trip to LA.

While in an Airbnb with two friends — Lauren Aquilina and Caroline Pennell — Corook had received a swimsuit that Barton, who was set to arrive at the Airbnb a week later, had ordered for herself, to be delivered to the house. The swimsuit was purchased from a brand called Youswim and was branded as one-size-fits-all gear.

“My friend Lauren — who has a very large chest — picked up the bathing suit, and she was like, ‘This is one size fits all?’ Like there’s no way,’” Corook recalls. “And I was like ‘You should try it on.’ And she tried it on, and she was like ‘Yeah, this doesn’t hold anything in,’ And that’s whenever she was just like, ‘I want to be a tiny girl, tiny little t*tties.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a song. Like, I know that you’re joking, but that’s a song.’ And I grabbed my guitar and then we made it into what it is.”

While Corook often turns to their close friends for inspiration, very rarely do they use the same approach when writing songs. Sometimes they have a beat playing on a loop in their head before they even pick up a guitar; sometimes, they’ll open up Ableton and lay down a percussion loop, and begin playing acoustic guitar over the track; sometimes, they’ll write a line down in their phone notes, and expand upon it when they get to the piano or guitar.

Similar to real life, Corook finds the beauty in the rough parts of their music, particularly via special plug-ins in their DAWs and MIDIs. Some of their favorites include “sketch cassette,” “baby audio,” and “Crystalline.”

“Really, I like anything that makes something sound kinda bad,” says Corook. “I kind of love it. Sketch cassette and RC 20 will make the sound wobble, make it sound old, and make it sound like you recorded it badly. That, I feel, adds so much character.”

And their unique craft has certainly paid off. Their viral hit, “If I Were A Fish,” which they wrote in the course of 10 minutes after receiving hate comments, has prompted several TikToks of musical circles, artists adding background vocals, and artists genre-bending the song.

But they’ve found that their other songs have resonated even more with members of the LGBTQ+ community, and they are happy to be the queer artist they needed when they were younger.

“I remember the first time I heard ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber, and I thought it was a girl singing, and my stomach dropped,” says Corook. “I was like, “Oh my God, it’s finally a girl singing about a girl.’ And it wasn’t a girl, but I just remember that feeling of like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s somebody that is like me, and I don’t have to be scared.’ And I’m glad that there are kids nowadays that are able to hear [LGBTQ+ artists].”

Corook is currently in the process of writing and recording their next EP, Serious Person, Part 2, which they say has been a rather “healing” process. They are also set to embark on a North American tour beginning in September.

While on tour, Corook is looking forward to seeing the fans who have resonated with their catchy-yet-poignant queer bops.

“I am just so looking forward to having rooms full of people that are like me,” Corook says. “I’ve been an opening act for the last year-and-a-half, and while being welcomed into those communities has been so awesome, I just had my first couple of headline shows. And it is so cool to be in a room full of people that understand my entire project, and understand the entire scope of what Corook is, rather than just ‘It’s Okay’ or ‘If I Were A Fish.’ The fans of this music are so sensitive and kind, and that is just a wonderful room to be in.”

Corook is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music artist.

Jay Rock hasn’t released a solo single since his 2018 album Redemption, but he’s back to put on for the “Eastside” with a rowdy new hometown anthem. Produced by frequent TDE collaborator Kal Banx, “Eastside” is full of allusions to Jay Rock’s rough upbringing in Watts, California, from blaring sirens to lyrical references to the shootouts his place of origin is all-too-well known for.

Although it has been a while since we last heard a song where Jay Rock is the lead artist, he’s infrequently popped up on tracks from labelmates and local peers over the past couple of years. Last summer, he appeared with fellow TDE artist Reason on “Is What It Is,” while in 2020, he lent an assist to Eastside neighbor Problem on “Nothin’” with Jack Harlow and fellow California native Anderson .Paak for a remix of “Lockdown” featuring Dreamville rapper JID and Chicago indie star Noname.

Also in 2020, Rock noted that his next album is “80 percent finished,” although a long delay before release can be typical with his label. Although Top Dawg artists don’t often release with the frequency of other indie acts, the wait is always worth it; Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, Kendrick Lamar, and SZA are all among the acts on the label that had a five-year gap between releases and all of their new albums were well-received last year.

Listen to “Eastside” above.

Melania Trump has been attempting to keep a low profile in regards to the Manhattan DA indicting Donald Trump for his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels for their alleged affair. The former First Lady has reportedly kept to a secluded area of Mar-a-Lago and ignoring her husband unless required to be seen together for “socializing duties.” In short, Melania wants nothing to do with the Stormy Daniels situation, but she might not have that option anymore.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former advisor to the First Lady, has confirmed an Associated Press report that prosecutors are seeking Melania’s emails in regards to the hush money case. Wolkoff also revealed that the First Lady used an encrypted messaging system, which is sure to raise a few eyeballs.

“Melania Trump used several email addresses, texts, and Signal to communicate with me and others while working in the White House and prosecutors want to see them,” Wolkoff tweeted along with a screenshot of the AP article.

On top of going after his wife’s emails, Donald Trump is looking at some pretty bad timing for the hush money trial. The case will reportedly go before a judge in March 2024, right as the Republican primary season is in full swing. Of course, that was a concern before he was indicted on federal charges for mishandling classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. That trial is now happening first and could be extremely damaging.

Trump is also facing potential charges for mishandling top secret intel in New Jersey, his involvement in the January 6 attacks, and allegedly interfering with election officials in Georgia. However, Trump remains a frontrunner in the Republican race as Ron DeSantis stumbles into one blunder after another.

(Via Raw Story)

The Atlanta Hawks finally traded John Collins after years of rumors around the high-flying forward, but didn’t get much in return for him. Utah absorbed most of Collins’ deal into cap space, sending only Rudy Gay and a future second round pick back for him.

It was a salary dump for the Hawks, putting them back under the luxury tax line as they get set for the offseason to begin in earnest, but they are still expected to be very active making more trades. They struck out on moving up to the 10th pick in last week’s Draft, and there have been rumors tying them to the pursuit of Pascal Siakam (thus far with no real traction). That hasn’t dissuaded them from continuing to shop around, with Adrian Wojnarowski and Jake Fischer bringing updates on Tuesday that the Hawks have basically made all of their veterans available outside of Trae Young — while looking to do another round of contract extensions for Dejounte Murray and Onyeka Okongwu.

That means De’Andre Hunter, Clint Capela, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are all on the table, with all three in the midst of longterm deals. Hunter, in particular, has found his way into a number of rumors, with Fischer reporting the Hawks had discussions with Indiana and Detroit prior to the Draft and could rekindle those talks as they look to move off of Hunter’s 4-year, $90 million extension.

The Hawks have also been active in conversations about trade opportunities for De’Andre Hunter … We’ll see if any of Atlanta’s other loose threads of trade talks, like the Hawks’ draft week negotiations with the Pistons and Pacers regarding Hunter, can regain momentum.

As for what the Hawks could get back for Hunter, it’s hard to quite figure out what his value is on a $90 million deal that’s just kicking in this year. Atlanta was hoping to see Hunter take a leap at some point, but he has more or less remained the same player he’s been since entering the league. The Hawks won’t want a Hunter deal to look like another salary dump, but it’s pretty clear there are financial pressures at play in shopping him as actively as they have been.

The mandate, per Woj, is for the Hawks to make roster improvements, but there’s not exactly a clear path to doing so with a lack of draft assets to move after sending so many to San Antonio a year ago for Murray. Still, expect the Hawks to keep making deals to try and shuffle the deck around Young, and hope that Quin Snyder can bring out a different level in the team they assemble for him this summer.

The Armed is returning with a brand new album announcement for their next record, Perfect Saviors. Welcoming fans into the new era, the band also shared the lead single, “Sport Of Form,” which is a collab with Julien Baker.

The track details the competitive human nature, with a rollercoaster of an instrumental. In the music video, Iggy Pop also makes an appearance.

“Too much information has made us dumb and confused,” vocalist Tony Wolski shared about the album in a statement. “Too many ways to connect have inadvertently led to isolation. And too much expectation has forced everyone to become a celebrity. Predictable primal dangers have given way to newer social ones. And the result is a world that is confounding and terrifying—but ultimately still beautiful. We hope this record is exactly all of that, too.”

Starting in August, The Armed will join Queens Of The Stone Age on their The End Is Nero Tour. Then, in October, they will head out on a headlining tour of their own — with the dates for this listed below. Find additional information here.

Check out The Armed’s “Sport Of Form” (feat. Julien Baker) above. Continue scrolling for the Perfect Saviors cover art and tracklist.

1. “Sport Of Measure”
2. “FKA World”
3. “Clone”
4. “Modern Vanity”
5. “Everything’s Glitter”
6. “Burned Mind”
7. “Sport Of Form”
8. “Vatican Under Construction”
9. “Liar 2”
10. “In Heaven”
11. “Public Grieving”

10/19 — Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
10/21 — San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/23 — Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
10/24 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/16 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
11/18 — Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
12/15 — Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
12/16 — Chicago, IL @ Metro

Perfect Saviors is out 8/25 via Sargent House. Find more information here.

Sean Hannity is a die-hard MAGA devotee, no doubt about it. He’s been known to wildly divert from damning Trump stories to the point where it’s beyond parody, including that time that he cut to a high-speed car chase after Fox News confirmed that then-President Trump attempted to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump is now tangling with another special counsel, Jack Smith, over those boxes of classified documents (which he allegedly mishandled for who knows what purposes) kept in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. On Tuesday, possible smoking-gun audio footage emerged of Trump bragging about these documents and rambling about how he can no longer declassify them: “See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

The ex-president in full-on braggadocio mode (which he always is, whether he’s telling the truth or not) as well while audibly shuffling papers. So, Hannity is now attempting to convince the world that maybe Trump was simply being a blowhard and making sh*t up, so maybe that will get his pal off the hook?

“That does not confirm for me whether or not specifically this document was declassified or not,” Hannity argued to his guests, including former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “Was that actually the real document, or was it a story he was telling?”

That is one high-flying, cheese-stuffed pretzel act. I’m not sure that Hannity truly believes that Fox News viewers will believe this tactic, but he sure is trying hard. And he didn’t even resort to a high-speed chase to distract everyone. That’s not progress, mind you, but it’s notable all the same.

Rappers are always competing musically, borrowing each others’ flows and competing to see who’s the best lyricist, but Lil Uzi Vert appears dead set on starting a new type of rivalry with ASAP Rocky. While on the red carpet for the 2023 BET Awards this Sunday, Uzi named a few of their inspirations for Billboard, but couldn’t resist getting in a dig at Rocky, their style inspiration.

“Mike Jones really helped me be not repetitive in a bad way,” Uzi reflected. “Kendrick [Lamar] helped me with my flow, [and] ASAP Rocky helped me with my clothes. I’m flyer than ASAP Rocky nowadays. He can’t touch me nowadays… he know I got them pieces in the corner, but shoutout to Flacko, though.”

Uzi’s style has been one of the 27-year-old rapper’s hallmarks throughout their career, drawing attention and criticism from fans for challenging gender norms and steering clear of fashion conventions and trends for a unique look. In 2019, Uzi admitted to shopping for clothes in the women’s section due to their slight stature, and Uzi’s distinctive hairstyles and facial piercings have drawn inspiration from anime and gone to eye-popping extremes. Rocky has also been considered a style icon, popularizing brands like Hood By Air and Raf Simons while remaining a fixture at the Met Gala alongside his boo Rihanna.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After a multi-day rescue mission, it was confirmed that the Titanic-exploring submersible carrying five passengers suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing everyone on board, including a teenager who did not want to be there. You probably don’t need to see what happens when a human (or in this case, a human made out of nasty pig parts) in the deep sea implodes, but just in case, a newly-viral clip from a 2009 episode of MythBusters has you covered.

“In the show’s science experiment, a human-shaped mannequin was recreated from pig parts including bones, muscle, fat, skin and guts,” the New York Post explains. “It was then sunk about 300 feet underwater — where pressure is roughly nine times greater than at sea level — and its diving suit was depressurized.”

What follows is… not pretty, but “the reenactment has very little in common with the last moments of the doomed Titan sub passengers, who authorities have said were instantaneously killed at much greater depths and under much higher pressure.” It’s thought that the sub imploded in 40 milliseconds, so everyone on board “probably would have had no idea what happened,” associate professor Eric Fusil, director of the Shipbuilding Hub at the University of Adelaide in Australia, told ABC News. So, that’s comforting (?).

You can watch the (potentially disturbing) Mythbusters clip below.

(Via the New York Post)

Following years of building up anticipation, Travis Scott’s forthcoming album, Utopia, finally received an official release date. Thanks to a few high-flying advertisements displayed throughout Los Angeles, California, we now know to expect either the project or a single from the project to hit streaming platforms on July 21. Incidentally, that’s the day before his Rolling Loud Miami performance.

Both billboards point out the same string of numbers. The first display, which features stone figures, takes the shape of an analog clock point at the seven o’clock hour and just after the 20-minute mark, with the line, “Is it in the Chateau?”

The second graphic is much more straightforward, as a lock shows the numeric sequence, each number is locked in, but the space indicating the month is stuck between 7 and 8. So, fans believe it’s the rapper’s way of saying something big will happen in July and August. To theorize briefly, the album could drop in July, with a tour announcement dropping the following month — or a single release in July with the entire project to follow.

During an interview with PinUp Magazine, the entertainer spoke about the meaning behind the project’s title. “Utopia is something that people feel is so far-fetched and out of reach, some perfect state of mind. But you create it yourself. There are people who achieve utopia every day. They may not be the richest people with the dopest cribs, but it’s a utopia wherever they are, and that’s the most you can have,” said Scott.

He added, “With every album, I live in these worlds in my mind — I’m trying to show people experiences where utopian things can exist, and you can enjoy yourself and have a good time. They can create energy that spews out magical things — new cures, new buildings, new avenues for people to move forward. People need to see that utopia is real.”

After the NBA Draft came and went without a Deandre Ayton trade materializing, word came this weekend that the Suns were planning on keeping Ayton, with the party line being that they valued him greatly and were excited to see what he could do paired with their trio of stars.

That, to many, felt like both damage control with Ayton in case he did have to return and an effort to seem less desperate to move him to the rest of the league. Ayton’s value is not particularly high around the league given his max contract and questions about his desire to fit into the role that’s likely best suited for his skillset and position — which is a rim protector on defense and pick-and-roll finisher primarily on offense. Ayton seems to want a larger role and has had a propensity to get frustrated and allow his energy and effort on the defensive end wane when he isn’t getting the touches he feels he should get on offense. Those touches only figure to decrease with another high usage guard in the fold in Bradley Beal, so it’s fair to wonder if Ayton, despite being theoretically a perfectly good fit with Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant, is the right center to put them with.

On Tuesday, we got our first concrete reporting on what Ayton trade talks transpired at and after the Draft, with Marc Stein bringing word that Phoenix and Dallas were in talks that advanced far enough to have a proposed swap in place, but with the Suns backing out at Dallas insisting on having JaVale McGee going back to Phoenix.

The Phoenix Suns engaged in advanced discussions to trade former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton to the Dallas Mavericks last week during the NBA Draft before the talks stalled, league sources say. The proposed deal, sources tell The Stein Line, would have sent Ayton to Dallas for Tim Hardaway Jr., Richaun Holmes and JaVale McGee — but the Suns balked at McGee’s inclusion.

McGee’s last solid season came in Phoenix, but that was playing with Chris Paul who has made just about every center that walked through Phoenix’s doors look good in pick-and-roll. In Dallas, he looked old and struggled to get on the floor for a team that had serious frontcourt depth issues, indicating that he might simply be cooked. Still, for a team that’s having to dig deep to fill out its roster, its a bit surprising the inclusion of an expiring was enough to make them walk away, but Stein also notes it’s possible for these talks to resume. The Suns also wouldn’t get any draft capital out of the deal, but would get two rotation players to fill out depth that right now they simply don’t have.

For Dallas, they’d be banking on Ayton being the pick-and-roll partner that Luka Doncic hasn’t had yet in his career as a lob threat as a roller — with Kyrie Irving likewise benefitting from that kind of big man. The question, of course, is whether playing with Doncic and Irving would keep Ayton engaged enough to be the player they need him to be, but — again, in theory — he is the kind of big Dallas wants. For now, this is all just a “what could’ve been” scenario, but we’ll see exactly how dug in the Suns are on keeping Ayton and whether Dallas is willing to alter this deal’s structure to try and get it across the finish line at a later date.