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The list of the 10 highest-grossing music biopics of all-time includes Bohemian Rhapsody (#1), Straight Outta Compton (#2), Walk The Line (#4), Bob Marley: One Love (#5), I Can Only Imagine (#7), and Ray (#8). Some of those are perfectly fine films, but they’re also safe. Most music biopics are. They’re glorified Wikipedia summaries. But it appears we’re entering a new era for movies about famous artists and iconic groups that are willing to take weird risks.

When I first read about Piece By Piece, I thought it was a joke. A movie about the life and career of Pharrell Williams… told through Legos? But the more I thought about it (and once I triple-checked it was real), the more I liked the concept. For one thing, the guy who wrote and/or produced “Milkshake,” “Get Lucky,” “Happy,” “Alright,” “Hot In Herre,” “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and “Got Your Money,” songs so famous that I don’t even need to list the artist, absolutely deserves the biopic treatment. The Lego connection makes sense, too. Pharrell has synesthesia, which means that when he’s hearing music, he’s seeing it in color. “It’s the only way that I can identify what something sounds like,” he told NPR. “I know when something is in key because it either matches the same color or it doesn’t. Or it feels different and it doesn’t feel right.”

Piece By Piece is a playful extension of Pharrell’s unique way of perceiving the world. But why Legos, in particular? “It’s never too late for you to go pick up a Lego set and make things and be a co-creator. It’s never too late to wake up to that. It’s never too late to gain that self-awareness,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This is my dream, for people to have that.”

If your dream is to see a movie about Robbie Williams told from the perspective of a monkey, you’re in luck!

As a kid, I was confused by the popularity of Robbie Williams. I would read about how he was a massive star in Europe, but in the United States, it was crickets. Even now, I’m only vaguely aware of a few of his songs, so Better Man normally wouldn’t be something on my radar — until I saw the trailer, which has the only acceptable use of “I know what you’re thinking” in voiceover history. He’s right: what is with the monkey? Better Man is “based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams,” per the official synopsis, but instead of Robbie being represented by, like, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, he’s portrayed by actor Jonno Davies in a mo-cap suit to look like a CGI monkey. Obviously.

So, about the monkey: why? “I asked you [Robbie] if you were an animal, how would you see yourself? In your own words, you would refer to being dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey,” director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) said in an interview with the singer. “I immediately thought portraying you not as we see you, but how you see yourself… I am going to see you and relate to you in a way that is going to be more engaging than yet another musical biopic.” It’s a clever creative decision, as it depicts Robbie Williams how he perceives himself, and a smart financial one, too. “Do you want to see the Robbie Williams movie?” Eh, not really. “Do you want to see the movie where that pop star is played by a monkey?” I’m buying tickets now.

Piece By Piece, Better Man, Alex Ross Perry’s experimental Pavements, and before them, Baz Luhrmann’s King of Rock and Roll fever dream Elvis, aren’t the first weird biopics. There’s Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, an experimental short about The Carpenters singer, and I’m Not There, featuring six different actors playing Bob Dylan, both from director Todd Haynes. The hilarious Weird: The Al Yankovic Story literally has the word “weird” in the title! But in a post-Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story world, which brilliantly mocked every rise-and-fall trope, it’s nice to see familiar biopics told in unfamiliar ways. The generic Back To Black‘s of the world are always going to exist, but if Piece By Piece and Better Man do well (they’re both getting solid reviews), maybe we’ll get a Nine Inch Nails Broadway-style musical. Or a Stevie Wonder pixel-art animated movie. Or a Fleetwood Mac erotic thriller. Let’s get weird.

Piece By Piece is out in theaters on October 11, followed by Better Man on December 25

Shaboozey might have the bar song of the year. But, Vampire Weekend has something equally intoxicating. Yesterday (October 3), the “Gen-X Cops” musicians added an impromptu stop to their Only God Was Above Us Tour.

Ahead of Vampire Weekend’s back-to-back performances at Madison Square Garden, they literally took to the streets of New York City with a set worthy of sitting in traffic for. Outside of NYC’s latest hotspot — Time Again Bar, which is owned by fellow musician Despot — delivered a melody of their songs.

Although Canal Street has none of the theatrics of New York’s grandest stage, at least onlookers could actually could afford this set. Despite not have anything additional support, including their backing band spotted throughout their tour, that didn’t stop Vampire Weekend from giving their all. View snippets of Vampire Weekend’s set here.

Continue below for Vampire Weekend’s remaining tour stops.

Vampire Weekend 2024 Tour Dates: Only God Was Above Us Tour

10/05 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^~
10/06 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden #~
10/08 — Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavilion !
10/09 — Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater !
10/11 — Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater !
10/12 — Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park !
10/13 — Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit !
10/15 — St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre !
10/17 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center !

! with Cults
^ with Mark Ronson
~ with Turnstiles
# with The Brothers Macklovitch

Future puts on one hell of a performance on Ferg’s new single “Allure,” but some fans think that his verse has a particular target in mind with one line in particular: Gunna, who some rap fans still see as a supposed snitch after the Alford plea that helped him avoid the seemingly interminable trial against his YSL Records boss, Young Thug.

“I’m just a street n****, just rappin’, my day ones went fed / You done took a plea on my slime, won’t be surprise if you ended up dead,” Future raps. Some fans have interpreted this as a shot at Gunna, who has faced criticism from several former collaborators like Future, including Lil Baby and Lil Durk.

Fans who think Gunna and Future have beef — you know, the ones who learn about hip-hop culture on the internet instead of from real life — are overlooking a great many details, though, including that many, many, many rappers make the same generic threat in their music, and most of them don’t even know Gunna (and, if we’re being completely honest, aren’t even from the lifestyle they portray on their songs).

Gunna himself isn’t really sweating the speculation; after supposedly being removed from Future’s new album, Mixtape Pluto, Gunna denied any personal friction between the two. “It’s not personal,” he wrote on social media. “It’s just business.” Does that mean we’ll never see a sequel to “Pushin’ P” featuring the two? Listen, if Gucci Mane and Jeezy can put their differences aside — even if only temporarily — then their spiritual successors ought to be able to, as well.

We are rapidly approaching the meat of the college football season, and while Week 6 doesn’t feature a ton of marquee matchups in the same way Week 7 and 8 do, the conference slate always delivers some surprising results. Top teams can’t get caught looking ahead to bigger and badder opponents, or else they’ll find themselves in some deep trouble against a team that’s all the way up to face a ranked opponent.

Week 6 features some interesting opportunities for that kind of scenario, and also some games in the middle of the pack that could be very fun, even if they don’t have playoff implications. Here, we’ll take a spin around the slate to highlight games we’re watching, the top player performance from a week ago, and our best bet for Saturday.

The Game Of The Year (Of The Week): No. 9 Missouri vs. No. 24 Texas A+M (12:00 p.m. ET, ABC)

Mizzou has been a bit shaky to start the year, but still arrives at this game undefeated all the same. This will be the Tigers first road test and that might help wake them out of an early season slumber, as under Eli Drinkwitz they’ve been really good on the road. That said, College Station is as unique an atmosphere as there is in college football, and while it hasn’t always been pretty, the Aggies are 4-1 coming into this game, looking to get their first real statement win of the season. Both of these offenses have struggled to fully open it up, and whichever unit can figure out how to stretch their legs and create explosive plays will likely be the one to come out on top here.

Lock Into This One: SMU vs. Louisville (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN)

A classic ACC rivalry game between SMU and Louisville should be a lot of fun. The Cardinals were competitive in South Bend but made some back-breaking mistakes to lose to Notre Dame, but still have their sights set on a big year in the ACC. On the other side, SMU has shaken off its early season issues to become the high-powered offense everyone expected, putting up 108 points in their last two games against TCU and Florida State. This has a chance to be quite the shootout, where the last team with the ball might just be the one to win.

Under-The-Radar Banger: Pitt vs. North Carolina (12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2)

The Pitt offense is a monster (?!) this year, and they come into Chapel Hill where the Heels are on Quit Watch after blowing a 20-7 lead to Duke last week. UNC better be ready to score this week, because Pitt will be licking its chops after seeing this Carolina defense get lit up by James Madison to the tune of 70 a couple weeks ago. If the UNC offense shows up, this could be a barn burner. If the Heels have decided to shift attention to basketball season, it might just be their barn that gets burned.

Message Board Meltdown Game Of The Week: No. 10 Michigan vs. Washington (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)

Michigan is a short dog on the road as a top-10 team. Washington is coming off a hideous loss to Rutgers. Michigan has won back-to-back games that ended up closer than they probably needed to be against USC and Minnesota, and their inability to pass the ball is genuinely fascinating to watch. Washington got pushed around by Rutgers in their welcome to the Big Ten, and now they’ve got to deal with a much bigger test in the trenches in the form of the Wolverines. Someone is going to be MAD after this one, and I’m not sure who that ends up being.

Who Won The Heisman Last Week?: Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

I really wanted to say Ryan Williams so I could post the catch and run against Georgia (he’s 17!) but come on, it’s Jeanty, who is a monster. He should 100 percent be the Heisman winner if it was given out today, and his performance against Washington State was a good example of what makes him such a special player: 26 carries, 259 yards, four touchdowns. When he was handed the football, he ran for a first down. There is nothing else you can say other than is insane.

Best Bet (2-3): Indiana (-13.5) at Northwestern (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN)

I love Northwestern’s stadium on the lake, but even the power of the tiny stadium on the shores of Lake Michigan won’t be enough for the Wildcats to keep it close with Indiana. The Hoosiers are on a mission to beat down any team worse than they are this year and they do not let up. Last week, it took a half to figure it out against Maryland but once they did they never let off the gas. I expect something similar against Northwestern, where once they find the weak spot they will just pour it on because Curt Cignetti smokes it through the filter.

The University of California doesn’t have a football program many would consider a powerhouse, and there wasn’t much fanfare when they (and Stanford) joined the ACC this season.

However, after a 3-0 start that included a stunning win at Auburn, the college football world was introduced to Cal Twitter, a delightfully insane group that has been posting increasingly unhinged memes each week. The Calgorithm, as they call themselves, was not deterred by a narrow loss at Florida State, and continue to roll along in full force coming into their biggest game from a national perspective in some time, with No. 8 Miami coming to Berkeley this Saturday. Not only are the Canes coming to town, but so is ESPN’s College Gameday, with Cal legend Marshawn Lynch as the celebrity guest picker.

Much of the Calgorithm’s work this season has been AI-generated memes of things like bears in Cal shirts passing out books of Critical Race Theory at Auburn or dubbing FSU’s stadium “Woke-Campbell Stadium”. However, they’ve truly outdone themselves with a Chappell Roan “Hot To Go” parody song, “Ott To Go”, that a group of Cal fans wrote about star running back Jadyn Ott.

This has no business being as good and catchy as it is, but if we’ve learned anything this football season, it’s to never underestimate the abilities of Cal — both in football and in creating catchy parody songs.

Jack Harlow first started his partnership with New Balance back in 2021, with a joking anti-endorsement of the sneaker brand’s 11th version of the 1080 running shoe (“I hate running,” he says in response to the upbeat voiceover). The ongoing endorsement deal would find Harlow playing pickup with Clippers star Kawhi Leonard (not so unrealistic, it turns out) and throwing together special edition colorways of the brand’s staples, but today, his first-ever collaboration with New Balance hits the shelves.

The 1906R “Rose Runner” is a modern update of a classic silhouette, with Harlow taking control first the first time of aspects like materials and construction, rather than just colors. The color and floral print gives the “Rose Runner” its name, while the Kentucky native adds some dashes of playful luxury with velvet on the tongue and laces. They also come with custom packaging and will retail for $180 on NewBalance.com and at select New Balance stores. You can find more information here. The shoes go live at 9 am PT/ 12 pm ET. Jack also shared an energetic preview video on Instagram.

Harlow hasn’t put out much new music lately, but he has had a busy year, as his long-awaited film with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, The Instigators, made its premiere on Apple TV, Jack joined the ownership group of Racing Louisville FC, his local NWSL team, and his late 2023 hit, “Lovin On Me,” reached No. 1 to start the year.

Pharrell Williams’ plate is always filled with a new creativity venture. Although this year’s installment of his Something In The Water Festival has been postponed until 2025, the “Airplane Tickets” musician has kept busy with others things. Most recently, his Lego Movie about his life, Piece By Piece, is heading to theaters soon.

But his exploration into animated worlds is far from over. Today (October 4), Pharrell teamed up with Lil Yachty, and Swae Lee for the futuristic new single, “Doodleverse.” On the track, each entertainer lets their imagination run wild while bringing in listeners to an already established animated universe.

“On the other side when you realize that nothin’ is unobtainable / On the other side when you realize that nothin’ is unachievable / On the other side when you realize that dreams are reality / And all the Doodles live happily / And colors blend together magically,” sings the trio.

Pharrell and Lil Yachty expand on that positive momentum on the song’s bridge, singing: “So many things get lost in grey / Like details and things that we’re tryin’ to say / All colors come from black and space / And then make white when they pixelate.”

Listen to Pharrell’s new song “Doodleverse” featuring Lil Yachty and Swae Lee above.

A new Glamour feature shared yesterday (October 3) put the spotlight on mothers of some of today’s biggest stars: Tina Knowles (mother of Beyoncé and Solange), Donna Kelce (Jason and Travis Kelce), Maggie Baird (Billie Eilish and Finneas), and Mandy Teefey (Selena Gomez). During the conversation, Baird went ahead and addressed something she hears sometimes: Due to her history with acting, Eilish and Finneas are apparently nepo babies.

Baird’s filmography features some big-name shows, like Walker, Texas Ranger, The X-Files, and Friends. But, she describes herself as a “working class actor,” not the kind of celebrity who would have the sort of pull to launch her children to stardom. She says:

“I think it’s hilarious. Because that came out, and it was like, ‘Oh, Billie is a nepo baby.’ And I’m like, ‘Did you know that I got that episode of Friends because I was about to lose my health insurance?’

My husband and I are working class actors. We eked out a meager living, and it afforded us a lot of time with our kids, which was awesome. But the industry is primarily people like us or even people not even like us who couldn’t even do that. So when all of this happened to our kids, we’d never been on that side of it. I think that people don’t really understand there’s a whole industry of people who are creative and they’re working and they’re struggling, and they make perfectly happy lives, and they feel creative, and they feel fulfilled. But that’s a very different life than on this side of the door where you’re suddenly playing in this different arena.”

Read the full feature here.

Charli XCX announced Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat last month, and the tracklist (which hasn’t been fully revealed yet) features Troye Sivan, Lorde, Robyn, and other hopping on remixes. Over the past few days, it has looked like Charli is using billboards to tease additional remixes, and the latest one is big.

As Pop Crave points out, a Brat-style billboard featuring Ariana Grande’s name was spotted in Boca Raton, Florida.

Other names that have been teased so far include Tinashe, Bon Iver, and The 1975.

Find the Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat cover art and tracklist (as of September 12) below.

Charli XCX’s Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat Album Cover Artwork

Charli XCX’s Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat Tracklist

Disc 1
1. “360 Featuring Robyn & Yung Lean”
2. “Track Two”
3. “Track Three”
4. “Track Four”
5. “Talk Talk Featuring Troye Sivan”
6. “Von Dutch A.G. Cook Remix Featuring Addison Rae”
7. “Track Seven”
8. “Track Eight”
9. “Track Nine”
10. “Girl, So Confusing Featuring Lorde”
11. “Track Eleven”
12. “Track Twelve”
13. “Track Thirteen”
14. “Track Fourteen”
15. “Track Fifteen”
16. “Guess Featuring Billie Eilish”

Disc 2
1. “360”
2. “Club Classics”
3. “Sympathy Is A Knife”
4. “I Might Say Something Stupid”
5. “Talk Talk”
6. “Von Dutch”
7. “Everything Is Romantic”
8. “Rewind”
9. “So I”
10. “Girl, So Confusing”
11. “Apple”
12. “B2B”
13. “Mean Girls”
14. “I Think About It All The Time”
15. “365”
16. “Hello Goodbye”
17. “Guess”
18. “Spring Breakers”

Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat is out 10/11 via Atlantic. Find more information here.