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BTS may be on hiatus, but that’s not stopping the highly-anticipated solo projects coming through. Over the summer, we got J-Hope and his EP Jack In The Box. In October, we got Jin and his hit single “The Astronaut,” co-written with Coldplay. Now, we have RM with his first full studio album Indigo.

As last Friday marked the album’s release, promotions for tracks on the solo project are well underway. After the release of the “Wild Flower” music video, the BTS leader unveils the video to Indigo‘s second track, the Anderson .Paak-featuring “Still Life.”

In his Tiny Desk Concert on NPR last Friday, RM revealed the inspiration behind the track was based on a trip to a museum and coming across a painting of the same name.

“When I see ‘Still Life,’ like the canvas,” RM said on the series. “My life is like a canvas. I’m exhibiting my life to the whole world, everywhere.”

Throughout the music video RM moves and grooves through various still scenes. At one point, he’s stuck in time inside of a train and the other he’s in a blank space moving graphics with his magic hands.

The concept of “Still Life” follows the overall theme of Indigo, where the album acts as an art exhibit curated by RM.

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

Well, here’s some unexpected but very welcome news. After releasing the triumphant Sometimes I Might Be Introvert just last year, Little Simz has already announced its follow-up, No Thank You. Considered one of the best albums of 2021 Sometimes I Might Be Introvert helped earn the UK rapper a Best New Artist award at the 2022 BRIT Awards as well as the Mercury Prize — considered by many to be the highest honor for a British musician. Now, with a new album on the way, Simz’s one-woman British Invasion of the US will likely continue unabated — and that, my friends, is absolutely a good thing.

For one thing, it’ll give Simz a second chance at organizing a US tour. Unfortunately, she canceled the originally planned tour for SIMBI because the financial obligation would leave her worse off. Like many independent artists, Simz relies on touring and merchandise to make the majority of her income and like many of her peers, the continuing pandemic and the changes its forced on the industry, including other pre-existing trends that were exacerbated recently, her out-of-pocket expenses would have been greater than her revenue had she continued with the tour plans. Thankfully, she has a new album on the way, which will only generate more opportunities for her to cross the pond and raise her global profile with No Thank You.

You can pre-save No Thank You here.

Even though his schedule is filled to the brim with album promotion obligations, producer Metro Boomin still makes time for what’s important to him — family. The St. Louis native teamed up with the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation to launch the ‘Single Moms Are Superheroes’ initiative in honor of his late mother.

The outreach program provides financial assistance, community resources, and access to family programming for single mothers in the greater Metro Atlanta area where Metro Boomin is now based. The initiative’s first community event was held over the weekend (Sunday, December 4) at the Atlanta Falcons vs. Pittsburg Steelers game in Metro’s native Atlanta. Over two dozen program honorees and their children were invited to a VIP experience of the matchup.

The VIP experience included gifted Falcons’ swag, all-expense paid travel to and from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, tickets to the game, and access to the players’ tunnel ahead of the game.

Continuing their charitable work, the Harvey Foundation extended additional support to the families, including mental and spiritual counseling. To learn more about the Harvey Foundations’ other single-mother initiatives, click here.

We know Metro Boomin’s mother would have been incredibly proud of her son’s work with the Single Moms Are Superheroes initiative.

St. Vincent is taking us back in time with a new podcast. In a partnership with Audible and Double Elvis, St. Vincent will launch History Listen: Rock, a podcast detailing iconic moments within the realm of rock music.

Set to debut on January 12, 2023, History Listen: Rock will highlight artists like Big Mama Thornton, Bad Brains, and many others. Some stories will include the first time Jimi Hendrix and Patti Smith met, as well as detailed retellings of The Sex Pistols’ doomed US tour.

The podcast is set to dive into “key moments that formed legendary movements within the genre” and is fit for “music addicts and casual listeners alike.”

“It’s been so fun going back through rock history and revisiting some of my favorite artists and songs, including a bunch that don’t get the recognition they should,” St. Vincent said in a statement. “When you put it all together, you can see how history repeats and echoes through generations, how music links the past to the present, artist-to-artist. And some of these stories are absolutely wild.”

History Listen: Rock marks St. Vincent’s second podcast, her first being 2020’s St. Vincent: Words + Music.

You can check out a trailer for History Listen: Rock above.

When comedian Chris Farley was found dead from an overdose on December 18, 1997, he left behind an impressive body of work for someone so young. Farley was a breakout hit on “Saturday Night Live” from 1990 to 1995 and would go on to star in the comedies “Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep” and “Beverly Hills Ninja.”

Farley was beloved by his fellow cast members on SNL in the mid-’90s, many of whom went onto superstardom. including Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Mike Myers.

Even though Farley has been gone for 25 years, Sandler still hasn’t gotten over the loss, and on the latest episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, he admitted that he still gets choked up when talking about him on stage. Sandler has been playing the “Chris Farley Song,” a tribute to his late friend, during his one-man show since 2019.

He played an emotional version of the song in 2019 when he returned to SNL to host after being fired from the show 24 years earlier.

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Here’s an excerpt of the lyrics to “Chris Farley Song” by Adam Sandler:

On a Saturday night my man would always deliver

Whether he was the bumblebee girl

Or living in a van down by the river

He loved the Bears and he could dance

That Chippendales with Swayze

When they replaced his coffee with Folgers

He went full-on crazy

The sexiest gap girl

Without him, there’d be no lunch lady

In lunch lady land

Oh, I’m thinking about

I’m thinking about my boy

Chris Farley

“The first few times we played that song, I would tear up and I couldn’t really sing it well because I’d get so emotional and then I felt it and was able to get it out there,” Sandler told “Happy Sad Confused” host Josh Horowitz. “It’s weird, but when that song starts, I go, ‘Oh f–k, alright, don’t cry and don’t do that’ still. I’ve sang it maybe a hundred times already, but it rocks me.”

He misses him deeply because he knows him as much more than a performer.

“I think it’s because we show a video of Chris and I see his face,” he said, referring to a montage that plays behind Sandler as he sings. “And I remember his dad and I’m friends with his brothers and his mom and everybody and they still miss him a lot. So yeah, it gets me.”

It’s hard for Sandler to talk about Farley but it’s wonderful to hear how much he is still loved.

“I love hearing the crowd go nuts for Farley,” he said, adding, “Every show I do, by far the biggest applause of the night is talking about Farley and any time I mention his name, the audience goes nuts. It feels great.”

Sandler said that when he and his friend David Spade, who was also Farley’s comedic partner, went on tour together, he had a hard time hearing the song. “He’s like ‘Man, sometimes I can’t listen, I gotta walk away because I get so upset,’” Sandler said of Spade. “We loved him. We loved him so much … He was as cool as it gets.”

Farley’s life ended in tragedy, but his memory lives on through his work and friends like Sandler and Spade, who keep his memory alive. It’s a testament to the love that these friends had for Farley that his memory still brings up such strong emotions. It’s a testament to his talent that audiences are still overjoyed when they hear his name.

Reports of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s documentary-oriented project have swirled since around the time that the Duchess of Sussex visited a Uvalde memorial for schoolchildren slain through gun violence. It should be noted that Netflix reportedly postponed the six-part docuseries’ release after some particularly potent The Crown criticism (following Queen Elizabeth’s death and Charles’ ascendance to the throne). This hasn’t quelled the accusations from royal fanboy Piers Morgan, who accused the couple of timing the Harry & Meghan trailer specifically to overshadow a recent U.S. tour from Prince Wiliam and Duchess Kate.

In the trailer, Meghan made her objectives clear: “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?”

However, the docuseries is landing sooner than projected on December 8. Further, there’s been a fair amount of negative chatter over what appear to be clumsy creative decisions at some level. As Deadline notes, a few of the trailer’s key paparazzi shots — meant to communicate the media’s intrusion upon the couple’s privacy — were not presented in an accurate way. Deadline does point out, “Alternative images and clips are undoubtedly used in multiple trailers but it is the combination of the doctoring and the subject matter that is causing such a stir.”

In other words, royal fans (and Sussex detractors) are pouncing all over those inconsistencies, which include an image from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 premiere. Deadline points towards those photos, which won’t quell the detractors from social media posts that drag the docuseries’ claims to provide “the challenges that led to [Harry and Meghan] feeling forced to step back from their full-time roles in the institution.” Liz Garbus (of HBO’s I’ll Be Gone In The Dark) directs, and the series arrives a few years after the couple’s infamous Oprah interview, in which Meghan alleged racism and poor treatment from inside the Royal family.

Harry & Meghan will arrive in two parts: Part One (Eps 1-3) on December 8, and Part Two (Eps 4-6) on December 15.

Keke Palmer has had quite a year: she starred in Jordan Peele’s summer blockbuster Nope, judged her own game show, and ended her whirlwind 2022 by hosting Saturday Night Live. On top of all the career milestones, she is also expecting a baby, who will likely inherit her impressive work ethic.

“Honestly this has been the biggest blessing, and I am so excited. Guys, I’m going to be a mom,” Palmer said during her Saturday Night Live monologue. “Even though some people feel a little weird about me having a baby cause I was a child actor, I just wanna say, look, I’m 29, I’m grown, I have sex, I own a home, I stormed the Capitol on January 6, you know? Things adults do.” Palmer joked after showing off her pregnancy.

Palmer has been dating her current partner Darius Jackson since they were reportedly introduced at Diddy’s Memorial Day Party in 2021. The pair had kept a low profile since then, only posting the occasional photo of one another on social media (they have since been deleted).

Just a few years ago, Palmer told Harper’s Bazaar that she likes to keep her love life separate from her work. “I don’t really do relationship stuff online, mainly because I don’t know how I would do it without looking, like, cheesy or something, you know?” But when Palmer met Jackson in early 2021, her outlook changed.

Palmer told Bustle in March of this year that she didn’t want to “hide” anymore when it came to her personal life. “This is the happiest I’ve ever felt with someone. So why would I go out of my way to hide this person? That’s a lot more work than just living in my life and being in my life.”

Jackson works as a fitness instructor and actor, and Palmer explained in a 2021 interview with Tamron Hall that he is “industry-adjacent,” meaning he understands the demands of Palmer’s life and job. “I’ve always been somebody that hasn’t wanted too much industry stuff in my life, he’s very industry-adjacent, meaning he understands it but that’s not what he’s about,” she explained. Jackson is also the brother of Sarunas Jackson who starred in Insecure, where Palmer also had a brief guest starring role.

Even though not much is known about Palmer and Jackson’s relationship, Palmer is clearly excited to be a mother…even if she jokes about the timing. “I was trying so hard to keep it on the down low, because I’ve got a lot of stuff going on. People kept coming up to me [saying] ‘Congratulations,’ I’m like ‘Shh! Can y’all stop, I’ve got a liquor sponsorship on the line. Let the check clear, then we can get to the damn baby shower.”

(Via People and Bustle)

No, Metallica has not gotten into Crypto. Following the announcement of their new album, 72 Seasons, last week, it appears the metal rockers are the subject of several crypto giveaway scams — to the point where they’ve now warned fans not to fall for it.

“In the wake of last week’s exciting news of our new song, new album, and new tour, unfortunately the ugly side of social media made an appearance. Many of you have let us know about YouTube channels and live streams, as well as websites, claiming to offer Metallica Crypto giveaways in conjunction with last week’s announcement,” they posted.

“Let’s be as clear as possible. These are scams,” it continued. “They’re being streamed on fake YouTube channels posing to be ours and all pointing to websites that we do not run. Please remember – all of our official social media channels are verified. Always look for official verification before believing something wild and crazy to be true. We thank all of you who have been vigilant in reporting these live streams to YouTube and to us… please don’t let up!”

One of these scams was spotted by a fan on Twitter three days ago after a fake Metallica YouTube account used a band interview from 2020 to encourage people to send in their Crypto earnings under the guise of a “giveaway.” And sadly, some have fallen for it. A 51-year-old man lost $25,000 in the Bitcoin transfer that Kansas police are now investigating.

If anyone here is considering sending in your Crypto to the fake Metallica… Just don’t.

Some songs are what you might call “infuriatingly catchy.” You know the ones. You don’t want to like them. You resist them for as long as possible. Then, one day, out of the blue, you find yourself humming the chorus or quoting the intro and the song has evolved into a full-blown guilty pleasure. (Here’s some old head advice: Skip the process. Like the thing. No one can judge you, and if they do, who cares? They’re miserable, you’re having fun. You win.)

Aqua’s 1997 Europop hit “Barbie Girl” was one of those songs. It dominated MTV and radio, it drove music snobs crazy. But it was fun and a little dumb but irresistible in the way so many things were in the late ’90s. I still like it a lot. Saweetie — whose music has been subject to the above-mentioned phenomenon in its own way — knows a thing or two about repurposing the inescapable hits of yesteryear in her own music. In fact, that’s when she’s at her best, according to many fans, and it’s the thing that’s been missing from recent attempts to recapture the public’s imagination.

Well, Sample Saweetie just might be back with her next big swing for the top of the Hot 100. During an Instagram Live “cyber party” stream with fans, she debuted a striking new look and previewed a potential hit called, fittingly, “Icy Girl, Icy World” which samples “Barbie Girl” and might just be her next infuriatingly catchy smash. Fans are already expressing approval and — provided we can all follow the old head advice from above — “Icy Girl, Icy World” might just bypass all the negativity that has been swirling around Saweetie’s long-delayed debut album and return her to rap fans’ good graces — or at least skip their nonsense and find a pop audience ready and willing to give something new a try.

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

As the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery looks to significantly shift its streaming strategy, HBO Max is reportedly returning to Amazon Prime Video Channels. HBO content had been pulled from Amazon Prime’s ecosystem back in September 2021 following contentious negotiations with HBO Max’s previous corporate overlords AT&T. However, new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is attempting to right some of the wrongs of the previous regime through aggressive spending cuts and refocusing the company’s overall approach to streaming, which had previously put HBO Max at odds with key device providers like Amazon and Roku.

Via Variety:

Business terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. In a statement about the new Prime Video Channels deal, Bruce Campbell, Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief revenue and strategy officer, noted that “Warner Bros. Discovery is committed to making HBO Max available to as broad an audience as possible while also advancing our data-driven approach to understanding our customers and best serving their viewing interests. Today, we are thrilled to take an important step forward by announcing that HBO Max is returning to Prime Video Channels.”

Of course, this news only affects Amazon Prime Video subscribers, which is a pretty sizable audience. According to Variety, HBO Max lost five million subscribers when the content was pulled from Prime Video Channels last year. However, now that the two companies have reached a tentative agreement until the end of 2024, Prime users can once again subscribe to HBO Max through Channels. (Think adding a premium package to your cable service.) That subscription will allow Prime users to access HBO Max content directly through the Prime Video home screen without having to use a separate HBO Max app.

(Via Variety)