GoneTrending

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 Janelle Monáe clearly own the moment and J. Cole come through with a guest verse. 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.

Janelle Monáe — “Lipstick Lover”

Monáe has been the talk of the internet over the past few days, and while that’s mostly been for racy reasons, ICYMI, she dropped new music, too. The song is “Lipstick Lover” and the smooth island vibes of the tune are perfect for ushering in summer.

Lil Durk — “All My Life” Feat. J. Cole

J. Cole turned up last week to deliver an uplifting message alongside Lil Durk on “All My Life.” The track features the pair reflecting on their pasts with an optimistic look at how far they’ve come and how well they’re doing these days.

Jonas Brothers — “Miracle”

The ongoing Jonas Brothers comeback has been a huge success. 2019’s Happiness Begins, their first new project in a decade, was their first No. 1 album. Now they’ve followed that up with The Album, an LP that borrows from a number of nostalgic styles, like on the funky album opener “Miracle.”

Arlo Parks — “Pegasus” Feat. Phoebe Bridgers

You know it’s a good week when you get new Phoebe Bridgers. She popped up on the latest from Arlo Parks, “Pegasus.” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes of the track, “On the song, Parks and Bridgers sing of a special kind of happy, queer love. The two get lost in each other’s sweet harmonies while taking each other on a whirlwind of emotions.”

Daft Punk — “Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)” Feat. Julian Casablancas

The Daft Punk vault has been opened: The now-defunct electronic duo dropped a deluxe anniversary edition of Random Access Memories last week, and it came with a bunch of extras. The most appealing of which is “Infinity Repeating,” another Julian Casablancas collaboration that’s welcomed new material from the group.

Queens Of The Stone Age — “Emotion Sickness”

It’s been nearly six years since Villians, the 2017 album that’s currently the latest from Queens Of The Stone Age. Josh Homme and company finally came storming back last week, though, when they announced a new album and shared the characteristically guitar-driven “Emotion Sickness.”

BTS — “The Planet”

Currently, BTS stands for “Boys in The Service,” since the group members are currently doing their mandatory military service in South Korea. They’re not leaving fans empty-handed, though: They just dropped “The Planet,” an upbeat, celebratory new single that’ll certainly help in holding Army over until BTS is back to music full-time.

Shakira — “Acróstico”

Shakira has had herself a year, starting notably with “Music Sessions Vol. 53” in January. Heartbreak is still on her mind, as she sings (translated from Spanish) on last week’s “Acrostico,” “You taught me that love is not a scam / and that when it’s real it doesn’t end / I tried that you don’t see me crying / don’t see my fragility, but things are not always as we dream.”

Jorja Smith — “Little Things”

After a relatively quiet 2022, Jorja Smith dropped her second single of the year last week, “Little Things.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes of the song, “Upping the tempo and incorporating elements of garage and Afrobeats, ‘Little Things’ finds Smith revealing all the small actions and details that turn her on in a romantic partner.”

aespa — “Spicy”

K-pop is huge right now and aespa has established themselves as one of the most dominant acts in the space. They had a new mini album, MY WORLD, last week and it features “Spicy,” a single that indeed has some spice, as well as some in-your-face synths that create an assertive but pop-friendly atmosphere.

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

Last week, macabre singer The Weeknd announced his intention to “kill” The Weeknd persona in favor of performing under his real name, Abel Tesfaye. “I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”

Over the weekend — you know, the one on the calendar — he took steps to further that plan on social media. Fans on Twitter noticed that he’d adjusted his handle on the platform; while he can still be found at @TheWeeknd (for now), the name above that reads Abel Tesfaye.

The change is just in time for Abel’s television acting debut in The Idol, which premieres on HBO in just a few weeks. The show has proven to be controversial for behind-the-scenes reports of production difficulties and sexualized, violent content, but Tesfaye hopes to silence his critics when it releases. It’ll also feature brand-new music from the evolving artist, who says that his next album as The Weeknd will be his last.

Last week, macabre singer The Weeknd announced his intention to “kill” The Weeknd persona in favor of performing under his real name, Abel Tesfaye. “I’m going through a cathartic path right now,” he said. “It’s getting to a place and a time where I’m getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter. I’ll still make music, maybe as Abel, maybe as The Weeknd. But I still want to kill The Weeknd. And I will. Eventually. I’m definitely trying to shed that skin and be reborn.”

Over the weekend — you know, the one on the calendar — he took steps to further that plan on social media. Fans on Twitter noticed that he’d adjusted his handle on the platform; while he can still be found at @TheWeeknd (for now), the name above that reads Abel Tesfaye.

The change is just in time for Abel’s television acting debut in The Idol, which premieres on HBO in just a few weeks. The show has proven to be controversial for behind-the-scenes reports of production difficulties and sexualized, violent content, but Tesfaye hopes to silence his critics when it releases. It’ll also feature brand-new music from the evolving artist, who says that his next album as The Weeknd will be his last.

The Succession Report Card is a weekly recap feature where we attempt to assign grades to the important people, things, and themes from each episode of Succession. The grades are entirely subjective and the criteria for scoring will change from week to week and occasionally mid-week. Someone might get detention. It’ll probably be Roman.

SEASON 4, EPISODE 8 – “America Decides”

Roman

I am not a violent person but I spent most of this episode hoping someone would punch Roman in the face. Which was weird, kind of, after a season where he has been the most human and sympathetic of the Roy children. I know, I know. This is not a high bar to clear. A baby could crawl over it. We have discussed this before. But still, just an infuriating and disappointing performance on election night from this guy. Let’s recap:

• Did everything in his power to swing the election to a potential fascist who might make life awful for many people around the world but also, specifically, his niece and nephew
• Did that first thing for no real ideological reason, or any reason at all beyond “the fascist promised to blow up the deal his daddy negotiated to sell the company and he has no sense of value and no clue who he is if he’s not The Son Of Logan Roy and he might actually have to figure those things out if he can’t sit in Logan’s office and crash toy trains together”
• Was the worst brat you’ve ever seen about all of it, whining and bullying and shouting people down to get his way like an 8-year-old who is tired and hungry and not processing either of those things very well at all

I… I hate him. I really do. We had been making such progress. The truth here is that Logan’s death mangled him in ways we — and he — haven’t fully sorted through, and under many circumstances, I would feel bad for him that his entire personality is basically a big box filled with broken children’s toys, but it’s a little hard to give the benefit of the doubt to a billionaire who just stomped on the levers of democracy to swing an election to a dude like Mencken. Roman and I both have a lot of soul-searching to do right now.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Knocking it off. Most of it. Almost all of it, really.

Shiv

I feel like I say this every week butsometimes I forget that Shiv is just as incompetent as her brothers. I’ll watch Kendall and Roman bumble around and trip over their own shoelaces and fall into piles of mud with a loud “splooop” and I’ll find myself thinking “these two bozos are no match for Shiv if she ever comes gunning for them.” I don’t know why I think this. I think some of it is related to posture. Shiv has confident shoulders. At least compared to her spineless brothers. Maybe that’s it.

But then you look up and she’s losing arguments with both of them and watching her secret maneuvering with Matsson blow up in her face because her family got a fascist elected and having her “fake the phone call with the political operative she almost blew up her marriage over before it actually blew up for other reasons but not before she got pregnant with a fetus she keeps feeding champagne” ruse blown up in a way that also blew up the aforementioned maneuvering because freaking GREG of all people had discovered it while out doing cocaine with a Swedish billionaire and you’ll be like “oh right, Shiv is a chump, too.”

Fun family.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: It cannot be stated strongly enough that Shiv’s big plan was thwarted by KENDALL AND GREG, possibly the two people on television least likely to thwart anyone in any situation

Kendall

Hmm. Let’s see…

• Spent all night so crippled with indecision about everything that he let himself get bullied by Roman, the most bullied boy alive
• Did everything he could to get a creep elected based solely on the fact that the creep promised to let him keep his daddy’s company, even though said creep supports and loudly advocates policies that would make life difficult at best and dangerous at worst for the daughter he swears he is trying to protect
• Still, despite the first two things here, appears to be trying to wrangle power for himself in a situation he is not suited to handle and does not seem to enjoy, even when things are kind of okay, which they super are not

The thing about Kendall, as opposed to Roman, is that I think he realizes he’s screwing up and is in over his head with everything that is happening right now. I just don’t think he has the first idea how to control or fix any of it despite deeply — desperately — wanting to be the type of person who has things under control and fixes things when they are not. It would be sad if it weren’t so pathetic and it would be pathetic if he didn’t wield so much power.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Reasonable arguments can be made that the world would be a better place if he woke up at noon every day and played video games until bedtime

Tom

Tom is:

• In charge of a news organization that just made a very questionable call during an election that made a creepy racist authoritarian one of the most powerful people in the world
• Accusing the mother of his unborn child of maybe faking the very real pregnancy to use as a negotiating ploy and/or emotional guerilla warfare
• About to get yelled at by a lot of very powerful people who have his phone number
• On cocaine while all of this is happening

It’s not great. And, on top of all that, the touchscreens are breaking during the election coverage. I have yet to figure out why Tom wants any of this. He could just stop. I feel like someone should tell him that.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I mean, look, if someone tells you they’re carrying your child, even if that person and you have a complicated relationship based on years of financial and emotional manipulation, maybe don’t jump straight to “I think you are lying” and “you killed your father”

Connor

Spent $100 million on a presidential run that had zero chance of success and all he has to show for it is a handshake deal for an ambassadorship in a small/smallish country somewhere in Eastern Europe. Probably not how he saw this all playing out when he bought all the balloons and streamers to kick it all off.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: If you’re gonna get left with a second- or third-tier ambassadorship, at least try to finagle your way into a country with a nice beach or some ski slopes

Shiv and Tom’s unborn child

Take maybe five or ten minutes this week and think about all the ways this poor sucker is hopelessly screwed. Yes, he or she will be rich in ways most of us cannot fathom. Yes, everything he or she wants will be available with one word or ring of a bell. Yes, every door in the world will be flung open and held by some servant to provide him or her access to any room he or she wants to walk into.

But.

This baby’s parents will be Shiv Roy and Tom Wambsgans.

This child is doomed.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I suppose it’s not really reasonable to expect a fetus to figure out how to get itself adopted by a nice couple who lives in… oh, let’s say Portland, but it sure would help

Darwin the Numbers Guy

Got bullied and overruled into calling Wisconsin for Mencken even though a lot of ballots were ruined in a fire that was probably started by Mencken’s goons and/or supporters. Negotiated it to be a “pending call” that he could explain on the air then watched as things spiraled out of control so fast that the whole national election got called before he could do any of that. Spent the whole episode looking sad and worried, about everything from his personal reputation to the state of the country to the sanctity of the very numbers he holds dear. I feel like, somewhere off-camera, maybe between episodes, a stranger is going to find him shuffling around in a raincoat on a cloudless day mumbling about absentee ballots to a duck named Archibald that no one else can see.

It’s really funny that his name is Darwin.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Choice of career

Various Karls, Franks, and Karolinas

Funny to think about the progression here: Kendall and Roman decide they want to keep running Waystar because they don’t know what else to do —> they try to tank the deal with Matsson —> they do this by getting a supergoon elected president —> Karl isn’t going to get his beloved golden parachute —> Karolina is going to have to explain everything ATN did to the press —> Frank will probably have to keep working there for these two dummies

I could have put any number of more important characters in the top image of this report card, but I stuck with Karl — who was barely in the episode at all — because I could not stop thinking about how sad all of this would make him.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I think I would have enjoyed a shot of Karl whipping a glass of scotch at a television screen, if only to have as a GIF I could use going forward

Democracy, generally

Once again, just to be clear: Two idiot failsons manipulated the entire election process to make a fascist creep president solely because they did not want to sell their dad’s company to a weirdo European billionaire. That’s… it doesn’t feel great. I don’t love it. Let’s not talk about it anymore!

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I SAID I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

Getting wasabi in your eyes

Two things are true here.

The first is that, sometimes, when the situation calls for it, the grades in this report card are distributed on a curve.

The second is that… I mean, it says a lot about everyone who got an F that “getting wasabi in your eyes” is getting a D, you know?

GRADE: D

MUST IMPROVE: AHHH IT BURNS AHHHH NO WHY AHHHHHHHHH

Matsson

Good news and bad news for this guy…

GOOD: If Mencken follows through and blocks the deal, Matsson can escape this snake pit and never deal with these wishy-washy demons ever again, which is all I want for most of the secondary characters on this show, especially Karl. Also, those funky numbers for GoJo’s subscribers look like they’re gonna get dumped out the day after the United States elected some sort of crazy wingnut, so they’ll get bumped off of the front page and maybe just slide by unnoticed completely.

BAD: Still a weird dude who does Nazi-adjacent tweets.

GRADE: C-

MUST IMPROVE: I think he should grow a little handlebar mustache, just to see how it works on his face

Cousin Greg

Greg is:

• Massively hungover from a night of partying with Matsson and his team, which involved a lot of cocaine and drinks that were not drinks, whatever exactly that means
• On cocaine again
• Somehow in charge of security on the newsroom floor, which is just a hilarious thing, in general
• Pouring lemon La Croix into people’s eyeballs
• Wielding secret information like fine wine and deploying it to hose Shiv, like a real big boy cutthroat businessman

It is still my position that the funniest thing that could happen in these last few episodes is all the Roy children shooting themselves in the foot and freaking Cousin Greg being the last person standing.

GRADE: C

MUST IMPROVE: Getting addicted to drugs

Willa

It’s fun to watch Willa’s face whenever Roman is talking, especially after the thing last week where he yelled at her a little bit. None of this is what Willa pictured when she started dating Connor. She expected swimming pools and galas, not diplomatic responsibilities in Eastern Europe. She does seem to be making the best of it, though. I don’t know. I like Willa.

GRADE: B

MUST IMPROVE: Marrying up

Jess Jordan

Jess Jordan barely appeared in this episode. Her biggest contribution was the thing at the end where she just, like, stared at Greg with confused horror when he told her that he — Cousin Greg, a human Gumby with a knack for attaching himself to anyone with a reasonable amount of power, a man who was about 35 percent cocaine at this point — was responsible for delivering the news about the election being called for Mencken to the newsroom floor. Jess Jordan spoke for all of us in that moment.

I hope she writes a book.

GRADE: B+

MUST IMPROVE: I’m tempted to say “poker face” here because she has none and you can see the panic in her eyes whenever something bad is happening, but I actually like that about her so… forget I mentioned it.

Gerri

Did not have to deal with any of this on account of Roman kind of impulse-firing her the other week, which will probably result in her receiving a massive check with many commas in it. Gerri did great this week. I like to imagine she spent the whole day in a private villa in Aruba getting massages and sipping rum drinks. Good for her.

GRADE: A

MUST IMPROVE: No notes here

The Succession Report Card is a weekly recap feature where we attempt to assign grades to the important people, things, and themes from each episode of Succession. The grades are entirely subjective and the criteria for scoring will change from week to week and occasionally mid-week. Someone might get detention. It’ll probably be Roman.

SEASON 4, EPISODE 8 – “America Decides”

Roman

I am not a violent person but I spent most of this episode hoping someone would punch Roman in the face. Which was weird, kind of, after a season where he has been the most human and sympathetic of the Roy children. I know, I know. This is not a high bar to clear. A baby could crawl over it. We have discussed this before. But still, just an infuriating and disappointing performance on election night from this guy. Let’s recap:

• Did everything in his power to swing the election to a potential fascist who might make life awful for many people around the world but also, specifically, his niece and nephew
• Did that first thing for no real ideological reason, or any reason at all beyond “the fascist promised to blow up the deal his daddy negotiated to sell the company and he has no sense of value and no clue who he is if he’s not The Son Of Logan Roy and he might actually have to figure those things out if he can’t sit in Logan’s office and crash toy trains together”
• Was the worst brat you’ve ever seen about all of it, whining and bullying and shouting people down to get his way like an 8-year-old who is tired and hungry and not processing either of those things very well at all

I… I hate him. I really do. We had been making such progress. The truth here is that Logan’s death mangled him in ways we — and he — haven’t fully sorted through, and under many circumstances, I would feel bad for him that his entire personality is basically a big box filled with broken children’s toys, but it’s a little hard to give the benefit of the doubt to a billionaire who just stomped on the levers of democracy to swing an election to a dude like Mencken. Roman and I both have a lot of soul-searching to do right now.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Knocking it off. Most of it. Almost all of it, really.

Shiv

I feel like I say this every week butsometimes I forget that Shiv is just as incompetent as her brothers. I’ll watch Kendall and Roman bumble around and trip over their own shoelaces and fall into piles of mud with a loud “splooop” and I’ll find myself thinking “these two bozos are no match for Shiv if she ever comes gunning for them.” I don’t know why I think this. I think some of it is related to posture. Shiv has confident shoulders. At least compared to her spineless brothers. Maybe that’s it.

But then you look up and she’s losing arguments with both of them and watching her secret maneuvering with Matsson blow up in her face because her family got a fascist elected and having her “fake the phone call with the political operative she almost blew up her marriage over before it actually blew up for other reasons but not before she got pregnant with a fetus she keeps feeding champagne” ruse blown up in a way that also blew up the aforementioned maneuvering because freaking GREG of all people had discovered it while out doing cocaine with a Swedish billionaire and you’ll be like “oh right, Shiv is a chump, too.”

Fun family.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: It cannot be stated strongly enough that Shiv’s big plan was thwarted by KENDALL AND GREG, possibly the two people on television least likely to thwart anyone in any situation

Kendall

Hmm. Let’s see…

• Spent all night so crippled with indecision about everything that he let himself get bullied by Roman, the most bullied boy alive
• Did everything he could to get a creep elected based solely on the fact that the creep promised to let him keep his daddy’s company, even though said creep supports and loudly advocates policies that would make life difficult at best and dangerous at worst for the daughter he swears he is trying to protect
• Still, despite the first two things here, appears to be trying to wrangle power for himself in a situation he is not suited to handle and does not seem to enjoy, even when things are kind of okay, which they super are not

The thing about Kendall, as opposed to Roman, is that I think he realizes he’s screwing up and is in over his head with everything that is happening right now. I just don’t think he has the first idea how to control or fix any of it despite deeply — desperately — wanting to be the type of person who has things under control and fixes things when they are not. It would be sad if it weren’t so pathetic and it would be pathetic if he didn’t wield so much power.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Reasonable arguments can be made that the world would be a better place if he woke up at noon every day and played video games until bedtime

Tom

Tom is:

• In charge of a news organization that just made a very questionable call during an election that made a creepy racist authoritarian one of the most powerful people in the world
• Accusing the mother of his unborn child of maybe faking the very real pregnancy to use as a negotiating ploy and/or emotional guerilla warfare
• About to get yelled at by a lot of very powerful people who have his phone number
• On cocaine while all of this is happening

It’s not great. And, on top of all that, the touchscreens are breaking during the election coverage. I have yet to figure out why Tom wants any of this. He could just stop. I feel like someone should tell him that.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I mean, look, if someone tells you they’re carrying your child, even if that person and you have a complicated relationship based on years of financial and emotional manipulation, maybe don’t jump straight to “I think you are lying” and “you killed your father”

Connor

Spent $100 million on a presidential run that had zero chance of success and all he has to show for it is a handshake deal for an ambassadorship in a small/smallish country somewhere in Eastern Europe. Probably not how he saw this all playing out when he bought all the balloons and streamers to kick it all off.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: If you’re gonna get left with a second- or third-tier ambassadorship, at least try to finagle your way into a country with a nice beach or some ski slopes

Shiv and Tom’s unborn child

Take maybe five or ten minutes this week and think about all the ways this poor sucker is hopelessly screwed. Yes, he or she will be rich in ways most of us cannot fathom. Yes, everything he or she wants will be available with one word or ring of a bell. Yes, every door in the world will be flung open and held by some servant to provide him or her access to any room he or she wants to walk into.

But.

This baby’s parents will be Shiv Roy and Tom Wambsgans.

This child is doomed.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I suppose it’s not really reasonable to expect a fetus to figure out how to get itself adopted by a nice couple who lives in… oh, let’s say Portland, but it sure would help

Darwin the Numbers Guy

Got bullied and overruled into calling Wisconsin for Mencken even though a lot of ballots were ruined in a fire that was probably started by Mencken’s goons and/or supporters. Negotiated it to be a “pending call” that he could explain on the air then watched as things spiraled out of control so fast that the whole national election got called before he could do any of that. Spent the whole episode looking sad and worried, about everything from his personal reputation to the state of the country to the sanctity of the very numbers he holds dear. I feel like, somewhere off-camera, maybe between episodes, a stranger is going to find him shuffling around in a raincoat on a cloudless day mumbling about absentee ballots to a duck named Archibald that no one else can see.

It’s really funny that his name is Darwin.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Choice of career

Various Karls, Franks, and Karolinas

Funny to think about the progression here: Kendall and Roman decide they want to keep running Waystar because they don’t know what else to do —> they try to tank the deal with Matsson —> they do this by getting a supergoon elected president —> Karl isn’t going to get his beloved golden parachute —> Karolina is going to have to explain everything ATN did to the press —> Frank will probably have to keep working there for these two dummies

I could have put any number of more important characters in the top image of this report card, but I stuck with Karl — who was barely in the episode at all — because I could not stop thinking about how sad all of this would make him.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I think I would have enjoyed a shot of Karl whipping a glass of scotch at a television screen, if only to have as a GIF I could use going forward

Democracy, generally

Once again, just to be clear: Two idiot failsons manipulated the entire election process to make a fascist creep president solely because they did not want to sell their dad’s company to a weirdo European billionaire. That’s… it doesn’t feel great. I don’t love it. Let’s not talk about it anymore!

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: I SAID I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

Getting wasabi in your eyes

Two things are true here.

The first is that, sometimes, when the situation calls for it, the grades in this report card are distributed on a curve.

The second is that… I mean, it says a lot about everyone who got an F that “getting wasabi in your eyes” is getting a D, you know?

GRADE: D

MUST IMPROVE: AHHH IT BURNS AHHHH NO WHY AHHHHHHHHH

Matsson

Good news and bad news for this guy…

GOOD: If Mencken follows through and blocks the deal, Matsson can escape this snake pit and never deal with these wishy-washy demons ever again, which is all I want for most of the secondary characters on this show, especially Karl. Also, those funky numbers for GoJo’s subscribers look like they’re gonna get dumped out the day after the United States elected some sort of crazy wingnut, so they’ll get bumped off of the front page and maybe just slide by unnoticed completely.

BAD: Still a weird dude who does Nazi-adjacent tweets.

GRADE: C-

MUST IMPROVE: I think he should grow a little handlebar mustache, just to see how it works on his face

Cousin Greg

Greg is:

• Massively hungover from a night of partying with Matsson and his team, which involved a lot of cocaine and drinks that were not drinks, whatever exactly that means
• On cocaine again
• Somehow in charge of security on the newsroom floor, which is just a hilarious thing, in general
• Pouring lemon La Croix into people’s eyeballs
• Wielding secret information like fine wine and deploying it to hose Shiv, like a real big boy cutthroat businessman

It is still my position that the funniest thing that could happen in these last few episodes is all the Roy children shooting themselves in the foot and freaking Cousin Greg being the last person standing.

GRADE: C

MUST IMPROVE: Getting addicted to drugs

Willa

It’s fun to watch Willa’s face whenever Roman is talking, especially after the thing last week where he yelled at her a little bit. None of this is what Willa pictured when she started dating Connor. She expected swimming pools and galas, not diplomatic responsibilities in Eastern Europe. She does seem to be making the best of it, though. I don’t know. I like Willa.

GRADE: B

MUST IMPROVE: Marrying up

Jess Jordan

Jess Jordan barely appeared in this episode. Her biggest contribution was the thing at the end where she just, like, stared at Greg with confused horror when he told her that he — Cousin Greg, a human Gumby with a knack for attaching himself to anyone with a reasonable amount of power, a man who was about 35 percent cocaine at this point — was responsible for delivering the news about the election being called for Mencken to the newsroom floor. Jess Jordan spoke for all of us in that moment.

I hope she writes a book.

GRADE: B+

MUST IMPROVE: I’m tempted to say “poker face” here because she has none and you can see the panic in her eyes whenever something bad is happening, but I actually like that about her so… forget I mentioned it.

Gerri

Did not have to deal with any of this on account of Roman kind of impulse-firing her the other week, which will probably result in her receiving a massive check with many commas in it. Gerri did great this week. I like to imagine she spent the whole day in a private villa in Aruba getting massages and sipping rum drinks. Good for her.

GRADE: A

MUST IMPROVE: No notes here

Last fall, Maren Morris unexpectedly found herself on Fox News, when a graphic on Tucker Carlson’s show labeled her “lunatic country music person” due to her support of the trans community. Morris didn’t seem bothered by the situation, as she took the attempted insult and turned it into a massive fundraiser for the Peer Support & Crisis Hotline for trans youth, by selling a “lunatic country music person” t-shirt.

Last month, meanwhile, Carlon and Fox News parted ways last month and Morris didn’t hide her excitement, writing, “Happy Monday, MotherTucker.”

Now, Morris may have just put the final nail in the coffin of her Carlson beef.

During the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday (May 6), Morris accepted the Excellence In Media Award, and during her speech, she said, “OK, fine: Maybe I felt a little badass taking Tucker Carlson’s calling me a lunatic for standing up to transphobia, turning it into a t-shirt, and raising $150,000 for LGBTQ+ charities, yeah. That made me feel a little cool, but I don’t want to gloat.”

Her closing jab then got a big cheer from the audience: “I would never insult the recently unemployed.”

Check out Morris’ full acceptance speech at the GLAAD Media Awards above.

Last fall, Maren Morris unexpectedly found herself on Fox News, when a graphic on Tucker Carlson’s show labeled her “lunatic country music person” due to her support of the trans community. Morris didn’t seem bothered by the situation, as she took the attempted insult and turned it into a massive fundraiser for the Peer Support & Crisis Hotline for trans youth, by selling a “lunatic country music person” t-shirt.

Last month, meanwhile, Carlon and Fox News parted ways last month and Morris didn’t hide her excitement, writing, “Happy Monday, MotherTucker.”

Now, Morris may have just put the final nail in the coffin of her Carlson beef.

During the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday (May 6), Morris accepted the Excellence In Media Award, and during her speech, she said, “OK, fine: Maybe I felt a little badass taking Tucker Carlson’s calling me a lunatic for standing up to transphobia, turning it into a t-shirt, and raising $150,000 for LGBTQ+ charities, yeah. That made me feel a little cool, but I don’t want to gloat.”

Her closing jab then got a big cheer from the audience: “I would never insult the recently unemployed.”

Check out Morris’ full acceptance speech at the GLAAD Media Awards above.

As promised, Corinne Foxx has delivered a “work announcement” after shutting down rumors that her father Jamie Foxx is dying. According to a new report, Corinne and Jamie have already locked down a new game show for Fox after stepping away from Beat Shazam to deal with Jamie’s medical complication.

The new series will be called We Are Family and will reportedly premiere sometime in 2024, which will hopefully give Foxx plenty of time to recuperate from his undisclosed health issues.

Via Deadline:

Showcasing non-famous relatives of celebrities performing duets with their hidden famous family member, We Are Family will feature a studio audience entirely comprised of 100 contestants playing through multiple rounds of clues and gameplay to win up to $100,000 each by correctly guessing which celebrity the performer is related to before they are revealed.

The network also released a statement cementing its continued relationship with father and daughter Foxx.

“Jamie and Corinne are important partners to the Fox family,” said Allison Wallach, President of Unscripted Programming. “Their boundless energy and charming interplay with contestants are irresistible, which make them the perfect hosts of We Are Family. This series joins Fox’s fast-growing list of premium music-centric competition series.”

Corinne dropped a surprise update last week after rumors began to run wild that her father was on his deathbed from suffering a “medical complication” that was believed to have him left hospitalized for over a month. However, Corrine revealed on Instagram that Jamie had been home “for weeks” and playing pickleball.

Corinne thanked everyone for the “prayers and support” before teasing a new work announcement, which she quickly delivered on.

(Via Deadline)

As promised, Corinne Foxx has delivered a “work announcement” after shutting down rumors that her father Jamie Foxx is dying. According to a new report, Corinne and Jamie have already locked down a new game show for Fox after stepping away from Beat Shazam to deal with Jamie’s medical complication.

The new series will be called We Are Family and will reportedly premiere sometime in 2024, which will hopefully give Foxx plenty of time to recuperate from his undisclosed health issues.

Via Deadline:

Showcasing non-famous relatives of celebrities performing duets with their hidden famous family member, We Are Family will feature a studio audience entirely comprised of 100 contestants playing through multiple rounds of clues and gameplay to win up to $100,000 each by correctly guessing which celebrity the performer is related to before they are revealed.

The network also released a statement cementing its continued relationship with father and daughter Foxx.

“Jamie and Corinne are important partners to the Fox family,” said Allison Wallach, President of Unscripted Programming. “Their boundless energy and charming interplay with contestants are irresistible, which make them the perfect hosts of We Are Family. This series joins Fox’s fast-growing list of premium music-centric competition series.”

Corinne dropped a surprise update last week after rumors began to run wild that her father was on his deathbed from suffering a “medical complication” that was believed to have him left hospitalized for over a month. However, Corrine revealed on Instagram that Jamie had been home “for weeks” and playing pickleball.

Corinne thanked everyone for the “prayers and support” before teasing a new work announcement, which she quickly delivered on.

(Via Deadline)

Martha Stewart, 81 years young, has joined the likes of Elle Macpherson, Kathy Ireland, and Heidi Klum on the cover of Sports Illustrated for its annual swimsuit issue. “When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good, I’m going to be the oldest person I think ever on a cover of Sports Illustrated.’ And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic,” she said.

The previous oldest cover model was 74-year-old Maye Musk, Elon’s mom. Don’t be surprised if in five years, he buys Sports Illustrated and puts her on the cover again, to reclaim the record.

Stewart, who knows a thing or two about thirst traps, wanted to be in the issue to prove age is just a number. “Age is not the determining factor in terms of friendship or in terms of success, but what people do, how people think, how people act, that’s what’s important and not your age,” she said.

The other 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers belong to actress Megan Fox, singer Kim Petras, and model Brooks Nader, but you know it’s Martha’s cover that Pete Davidson is buying and — if he’s like me in high school — getting in trouble for bringing it to school and showing my classmates.

You can see Stewart’s cover below.

(Via Sports Illustrated)