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During a recent interview with The Sun at London’s 2022 Broadcast Music Inc. Awards, music duo Right Said Fred — best known for their 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” — opened up about how they really felt about Beyoncé interpolating the song in her Renaissance dance track “Alien Superstar.”

“Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person,” Right Said Fred members Fred and Richard Fairbrass said. “She just had probably thought, ‘Come and get me,’ so we heard about it after the fact, when you did.”

“We can’t stop it. There is nothing we can do. It is sh*t,” they said. “You are going to get into a conversation with someone who has a lot more presence and power and money than we do. And that won’t go well. It’s best to let it go. If you’re not careful, you spend your life looking back. We keep looking forward the whole time.”

Just a few months earlier, Right Said Fred had shared that they were included in Beyoncé’s Renaissance writing credits, even claiming that it was “nice.” Now, they feel she should’ve done more to ask permission — but aren’t planning legal action.

“We’re delighted Beyoncé is using our melody, a simple ‘please’ or ‘may I’ would have been nice,” they shared on Twitter.

They noted that while the song has been interpolated in recent years for a number of hits, from Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” and Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” those artists approached them to ask permission.

“99.9% of journalists know f*ck all about music and the most basic terminology,” Right Said Fred added on Twitter. “Irrespective of what has been written. The song usage with Taylor Swift, Drake and Beyoncé does not involve samples of our songs. The usage is all related to publishing, ie: the songwriting.”

Early on in Beyoncê’s Renaissance release cycle, Kelis also was credited for an interpolation of her song “Milkshake.” She eventually asked to be removed. “It’s not a collab it’s theft,” Kelis replied to an Instagram comment about it in August.

View Right Said Fred’s posts below.

In August, Beavis And Butt-Head premiered on Paramount+ and proved they were still hip to pop culture by having the two main characters watch a BTS video in an episode. “Yes! This song kicks ass! And the video kicks ass, too,” Beavis said about “Dynamite.”

Now, the two goofballs have been introduced to the ubiquitous pop star Olivia Rodrigo — more specifically her hit “Good 4 U.” Beavis said of the video, “These cheerleaders don’t seem all that great, you know?” Butt-Head agreed: “Yeah, really. The cheerleaders at our school are better than this and half of them are pregnant.” About the song, Beavis said, “I would love to have a girl be this mad at me because this means that I scored with her before, you know?”

In May, the singer celebrated a year since the release of that album, Sour, writing, “It’s been almost a year since Sour‘s come out. So much has happened in that year: I graduated high school; I went to the White House, which was amazing; and I won three Grammys, which is absolutely insane. This past year, it’s been, you know, a lot of career milestones and stuff, but I’m freshly 19, there are so many things that I’m learning and just normal teenager milestones that I’m going through every day.”

Watch the clip from Beavis And Butt-Head above.

Way back in May, we heard that Vladimir Putin’s inner circle was maneuvering to install a successor while they grew concerned about his mental (and physical) health. Fears about the former are increasingly coming to the forefront around the world, although it surely seems that Putin has been able to push back any resistance to his Russian rule as time wears forth. He’s also insisted upon ignoring reality (Ukraine’s making major advances as troops take back territory) and formally “annexing” parts of Ukraine, and amid this hot mess, spectators increasingly worry about Putin’s nuke-happy vibe. This week, President Biden declared that Putin is “not joking” when he talks about using nuclear weapons, especially “because his military is — you might say — significantly underperforming.”

That underperformance has apparently led Putin to approach his 70th birthday while “isolated deep inside nuclear bunkers,” according to The Daily Beast. The piece quotes people who have known Putin over the years, as well as a high-school student who participated in Putin’s recent Zoom broadcast (for Teacher’s Day), in which he went on an “insane” rant “from some bunker about Nazis.” The student expressed fear about Putin deciding to go nuclear, and here’s more from The Beast:

Putin’s whereabouts is often a subject of fascination in Russia. When he holds his meetings on Zoom it is hard to figure out where he is, but during the pandemic it became obvious that he has at least two identical offices, one in Moscow and the other in his residence on the Black Sea, in the city of Sochi.

Gennady Gudkov, an exiled former Russian parliamentarian, told The Daily Beast that the president was taking precautions as the war in Ukraine spirals out of control. “Putin is going to hide in a bunker in case of a nuclear war,” he said. “But he is not safe there either; he will be destroyed — that’s what Biden should tell Putin clearly now.”

From there, one wonders whether intervention is possible, although Putin doesn’t take kindly to criticism and even jails his critics on a long-term basis (ask Alexei Nalvany how terribly that goes). Russia has grown increasingly isolated (other than befriending the Taliban and holding onto Iran and China) following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Zelensky’s army is now driving Russian tanks down streets after pushing Putin’s troops out of supposedly annexed territory. It’s not going great for Putin over there, but let’s hope he doesn’t lose it and push the wrong button.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Some bands are sprinters; they release new material with impressive speed. But other bands are more like marathon runners, taking their time with each release. Canadian indie pop group Alvvays are the latter since their new album Blue Rev is their first in five years. In this week’s Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen review marathoners Alvvays’ latest release as well as Björk‘s mushroom-inspired LP Fossora.

The biggest music news of this week was a pleasantly surprising No. 1 single. It’s Steve Lacey’s R&B hit “Bad Habit,” which dethroned Harry Styles’ long-running “As It Was” No. 1, and it seems like a very organic ascent. In other news, indie music celebrated the 10th anniversary of a majorly influential album: Tame Impala’s Lonerism. While the idea of celebrating album anniversaries is a relatively new phenomenon, it does encourage younger listeners to revisit classic albums in an age when we’re constantly introduced to new music.

This week’s recommendation corner has Ian urging listeners to check out his recent interview with Will Sheff and his band Okkervil River’s new album Nothing Special. Steven suggests Zach Bryan, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter whose 34-song LP American Heartbreak is one of the year’s most sprawling albums.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 108 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

The Golden State Warriors, fresh off of their first NBA championship since 2018, are dealing with a training camp controversy surrounding do-everything forward Draymond Green and high-scoring guard Jordan Poole. According to reports, Green and Poole got into an altercation recently in practice that saw Green swing at the youngster, although it was unclear what exactly led to the two going at it.

The one thing that was reported — Poole’s attitude during camp as he is on the verge of an extension has been less than ideal — got rebuked by both Steve Kerr and Steph Curry. And on Friday morning, TMZ published a video of the incident, which appears to show the two players standing on the court, Green accosting Poole, Poole responding by shoving him away, and Green throwing a punch that made Poole hit the deck.

There is still plenty that remains unclear about the incident, particularly what happened or was said between the two players that led to things starting and, eventually, Green throwing a punch. Reports indicated that Green’s actions were going to lead to some sort of internal discipline. Green has also apologized to the team, and per Kendra Andrews of ESPN, is expected to rejoin them on Saturday after the entire team has a day off on Friday.

Last night’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (October 6) was a win for visual learners. Jack Harlow and Fallon hooped with pumpkins, perpetuating White Men Can’t Jump, and Quavo and Takeoff reinforced that they really are moving on as a duo without Offset with a hypnotizing performance of the ironically titled “Nothing Changed.”

They were doused in their usual ice, owning the stage and comfortable forging their new path forward. “Don’t nothin’ change but the chains,” Quavo rapped in the chorus, before referencing Migos’ 2016 track “Can’t Go Out Sad” in his verse, “I’m the Huncho to my people, and I cannot go out the saddest.” Takeoff garnered applause from the Tonight Show audience after his pristinely delivered verse.

“Nothing Changed” is a track off Quavo and Takeoff’s new album Built For Infinity Links, which boasts a tracklist featuring Birdman, Gucci Mane, Gunna, Mustard, Summer Walker, and Youngboy Never Broke Again. In the lead-up to the album’s release, they addressed their split from Offset for perplexed Migos fans. (Offset recently announced his next solo album will drop November 11.)

“I just feel like we want to see our career as a duo because we just came from a loyal family,” Quavo said alongside Takeoff on Revolt’s Big Facts podcast with DJ Scream. “Sh*t that was supposed to stick together. Sometimes, when sh*t don’t work out, it ain’t meant to be.”

“Only time will tell, but we always family now. Ain’t nothin’ gonna change,” Takeoff added, before Quavo jumped back in: “We just stand on loyalty. We stand on real-deal loyalty. Sometimes, that sh*t ain’t displayed, and this ain’t got nothing to do with no label, no paperwork, no QC, no nothin’. This got something to do with three brothers. And sh*t, it is what it is. Right now, we gon’ be the duo ’til time tell.”

But no matter how many times Quavo and Takeoff tell us that they’re a duo away from Migos, it will take repeatedly seeing them perform together without Offset for it to sink in that the groundbreaking Atlanta trio may be finished.

Watch Quavo and Takeoff perform “Nothing Changed” above.

Only Build For Infinity Links is out now via Motown Records. Get it here.

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

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law has not been shy about pulling from Marvel’s deep bench of characters. In Episode 8, the Disney+ series introduced the MCU version of Leap-Frog, an amphibian foe who first tangled with Daredevil all the way back in the ’60s.

In the comics, Leap-Frog is Vincent Patilo, a down on his luck inventor who uses his technical skills to build a leaping suit to commit crimes only to be stopped by Daredevil. Years later, his son Eugene would try to restore the family time by donning his father’s costume and renaming himself “Frog-Man.” Committed to a life of doing good, Frog-Man became an ally to several heroes including Iron Man and Spider-Man, but he was more of a punchline than anything else.

In She-Hulk, both versions of the character are condensed into Eugene Patilo, a spoiled rich kid who purchased an expensive suit from superhero designer Luke Jacobson in an attempt to be the latest costumed vigilante. However, being something of an idiot, Eugene misused the suit by filling the boot rockets with jet fuel and caught himself on fire. Retaining She-Hulk as a lawyer, he attempted to sue Jacobson in court. However, that plan spectacularly failed as Jacobson had retained Matt Murdock (a.k.a. Daredevil) as his lawyer who literally sniffed out that Patilo used jet fuel.

Angered by this turn of events, Leap-Frog kidnaps Jacobson and demands he make him a new suit. However, he’s easily thwarted at his “Lily Pad” base by She-Hulk and Daredevil because, again, Eugene is an idiot. Case in point: He tried to jump out a window with no rockets and broke his legs on the street below. Like his comic book counterpart, he’s not the brightest bulb.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is available for streaming on Disney+.

When headlines and social media seem to be dominated by the negative, we all need reminders that the world is full of wonderfulness. Joy connects and inspires us and can be found everywhere—if we keep our eyes open and look for it. One of our goals at Upworthy is to make that search a little easier by telling stories that highlight the best of humanity and sharing the delights, large and small, that unite us.

Each week, we collect 10 things that made us smile and offer them to you to enjoy and share with others. We hope this week’s list tickles your heart and brings a smile (or 10) to your face as well.

1. Tico the parrot is a master vocalist. Not even an exaggeration.

@ticoandtheman

On a dark desert hwy, cool wind in my hair…

We’ve shared some delightful parrots in these roundups before, and each one somehow seems to out-entertain the last. I did not see Tico’s vocal skills coming, though. The intonation! The vibrato! Even my music major daughter was blown away by this singing bird.

You can see more of Tico singing with guitarist Frank Maglio on YouTube and TikTok.

2. Mom navigates adorable toddler questions about her pregnancy.

@kadynsmithsmith

😂🥰🤍 #pregnant #momtok #momsoftiktok #toddlertok #toddlersoftiktok #baby

Three-year-old Blakely is going to be a big sister for the second time, but this time she has questions. Every parent felt that weighty pause when she asked how the baby got into Mommy. (You just never know when that question is coming, so it’s hard to be prepared with the right answer for the age and maturity of the kid asking.) Little Blakely sure is a doll, though. Read the full story—and get some expert tips for how to field kids’ questions in an age-appropriate way—here.

3. People are sharing simple ways to practice kindness daily.

A Reddit user asked for ideas of kind acts people can do every day, and people shared their thoughts. Some of the ideas were profoundly simple, and not necessarily things we might think of, like being aware of how we’re impacting those around us or leaving a place a little better than we found it. See the whole collection of acts of kindness here.

4. Woman finds out her best friend named her baby after her and it’s a roller coaster of emotion.

See on Instagram

Meeting a brand new human being is always a special moment, and when it’s a loved one’s baby it’s even more special. But Mireya meeting her best friend Morgan’s baby pushed special into a whole other stratosphere when she found out she’d become a namesake. That second when it sunk in and then the disbelief. “What? No, you did not.” Oh yes, she did. So much love here.

5. Little chimpanzee kiddo is greeted with hugs from his new family.

See on Instagram

Oh, the hugs for Beckley! This is almost too much sweetness for one video.

It was shared by Liberia Chimp Rescue & Protection, a sanctuary and conservation center in Liberia that rescues baby chimps from the illegal bushmeat and pet trades. While most of the chimpanzees the workers rescue and rehabilitate aren’t able to be returned to the wild, they do get to live their life in a protected forest with other chimps. You can read more about their work here.

6. The Onion filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court and it’s seriously hilarious.

It’s a real brief with a real argument for a real First Amendment case, but it’s unlike any other court filing you’ll ever read. The satirical news site is petitioning the Supreme Court to review a case of a man who was arrested and prosecuted for creating a Facebook page parodying the Parma, Ohio, police department. After the man was acquitted by a jury, he sued the police for violating his constitutional rights, but his case was thrown out because the police were granted “qualified immunity.” In defense of the man’s—and everyone’s—First Amendment right to parody, The Onion filed a 23-page brief utilizing the very parody it’s defending, and it’s a brilliant and hilarious read. I mean, who else could call the federal judiciary “total Latin dorks” while making a solid argument? Read the full story here.

7. Kids casually chatting with scientists is the cutest thing everrrr.

See on Instagram

Kids are naturally curious, which makes them the perfect people to ask questions about science. Upworthy and Pfizer have been inviting kids to chat with scientists and there’s just no way to predict where their conversations will go. Precious Marcelo here with his “I’ve got like 27 more years” to think about a career while chatting with virologist Vidia Roopchand was just so delightfully real. You can find more of these kid chats on our Instagram channel.

8. Four-year-old sings The Isley Brothers with his whole soul.

See on Instagram

Goodness. “Driftin’ on a nemberee…all we need is candlewight…” He’s putting his entire self into singing that song. Beautiful voice from her, too.

9. The Rock’s daughter pranks him with a water balloon as he’s waking up.

See on Instagram

“Good Morrrnniiiiing!” HA. She knows how to get her dad good.

Not gonna lie. I would not have the good-natured patience of The Rock if my child broke a water balloon over my face in bed. But this isn’t the first time he’s played the “Daddy, close your eyes!” game, so he knew something was coming. See more of Jazzy’s pranks on her pops here.

10. Let’s welcome the weekend with the exuberance of this ball-fetching doggo.

u201cDog does happy dance for his self-fetch toy…ud83dudc36ud83dudc3eud83cudfbeud83dude0dud83dude05u201d

— ud835udd50ou0334gu0334 (@ud835udd50ou0334gu0334)
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Even without the bouncing in anticipation, the tail wag says it all. Pure joy. Bring it.

That’s it for this week! Come back next week for another round of joy on us. And if you’d like more stories like this in your inbox, subscribe to our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.

Tonight (October 7), Jack Harlow performs at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Ahead of that, though, he had something else to take care of while he was in the area: co-hosting The Tonight Show alongside Jimmy Fallon yesterday.

Harlow assisted on a “Hashtags” segment, with the theme being #AddAWordRuinAHorrorMovie. As they read tweets and made quips about them, Harlow radiated his signature calm confidence as he played off of Fallon and came up with some amusing banter.

Elsewhere, NBA legend Dwayne Wade was the episode’s guest and Harlow mostly took a backseat during the interview. He had his moments, though, like when Wade was talking about how hard it can be for him to watch basketball games as a former pro. Wade then noted that Harlow (who participated in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game earlier this year) plays ball and asked if he thinks about what he would do if he watches the NBA. Harlow answered, “Well, I think, ‘Wow, I’d like to do that.’” Then, the NBA fan in Harlow shone through when he quickly asked Wade of the Utah Jazz (which Wade co-owns), “Are y’all rebuilding?” Wade clarified, “We’re reshaping.”

Harlow, Fallon, and Wade also played a round of “Random Object Shootout” during the episode. Fallon interviewed Harlow, too, so check out clips from the show above and below.

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

Last night, Taylor Swift uploaded all of the track reveals for the remaining songs on her upcoming album Midnights. Between using her bingo roller to unearth her famous track five (“You’re On Your Own, Kid”) and announcing a collab with Lana Del Rey (“Snow On The Beach”), Swift also shared a separate video to explain the meaning behind the album’s opening song — “Lavender Haze.” The initial inspiration for the title came from a surprise TV show.

“I happened upon the phrase ‘Lavender Haze’ when I was watching Mad Men and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it was a common phrase that was used in the ’50s where they would just describe being in love,” Swift said. “Like, If you were in the ‘Lavender Haze,’ that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow, and I thought that was really beautiful.”

She continued to explain how this moment, even though the show was set in the ’60s, connects to both the modern era and her longtime relationship.

“I guess theoretically when you’re in the ‘Lavender Haze,’ you’ll do anything to stay there and not let people bring you down off of that cloud,” she added. “And I think a lot of people have to deal with this now — not just, like, quote-unquote public figures — because we live in the era of social media and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re gonna weigh in on it.”

The Mad Men scene itself happens during season 2 episode 12, when a minor character tells Don Draper that he’s in “the lavender haze.” Draper, who at the time was feeling that way about Betty (which Swift also has a song called) according to Reddit, reacts with a shy smile. So, by association, Taylor Swift is in her Don Draper era. The good one.

Watch Swift’s full video about “Lavender Haze” above.

Midnights is out 10/21 via Republic. Pre-order it here.