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A new Blackpink era is upon us. Ahead of their upcoming sophomore album, Born Pink, the K-Pop group has dropped “Pink Venom,” their first single in two years.

On their single, the ladies deliver poison with their fiery bars and infectious vocals in both English and Korean, over a hypnotic, sitar-driven instrumental. The track calls back a couple of pop hits of the past, including Rihanna’s “Pon De Replay” and 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.”

Channeling their star power, Jennie and Lisa swoop in with a confident, braggadocious verse, rapping, “Black paint and ammo / got bodies like Rambo / Rеst in peace, please light up a candle /This the life of a vandal / masked up and I’m still in Celine Designer crimes or it wouldn’t be me / Diamonds shining, drive in silence / I don’t mind it I’m riding.”

In the song’s accompanying video, the girls dance in various locations, wearing lavish, fashionable outfits, while reigning supreme as pop music’s leading girl group.

Later this month, Blackpink will perform at the MTV Video Music Awards. Following their album release next month, the girls will embark on a 27-city world tour, kicking off in Seoul in October.

Check out “Pink Venom” above.

Born Pink is out 9/16 via YG Entertainment and Interscope. Pre-order it here.

For years, WNBA fans have hoped to see a full-strength matchup between the Mystics and Storm in the playoffs, and this year they got that wish in the first round as both teams finished 22-14 on the season, earning the 4- and 5-seeds in the postseason.

The best-of-3 series got underway on Thursday night in Seattle and delivered an instant classic, as both teams put forth their A-game, including some brilliance from the marquee names, sensational defensive efforts, and both teams making big runs as they battled back and forth in what became an 86-83 Storm win to hold onto homecourt and move one game away from the second round.

In her first game back in the playoffs in three years, the former two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne went to work early, scoring the opening bucket of the game and asserting her presence back without a minutes restriction after navigating the regular season with load management for her back issues.

On the other side, it was Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart who got things going for the Storm, as the stars went to work early in the paint.

In the second quarter the Mystics took brief control, as Ariel Atkins and Natasha Cloud gave them a lift from the backcourt, each scoring 16 points on the night.

Seattle would fight to keep things close, cutting the deficit to just two going into the half, and in the third quarter, the Storm started to find success with Breanna Stewart both as the scorer and as the initiator, as she started letting it fly from deep and dealing out assists from the middle of the floor.

The Mystics answered the Storm run by turning to Delle Donne, who at one point scored nine straight for Washington to push them back in front by one going into the fourth.

In the fourth, it looked for a moment like Washington might pull away, as Delle Donne continued to find space to score inside as their actions scrambled the Storm defense early in the period.

However, Seattle would settle down defensively and start to fight their way back into the game, clawing back to being down just one with two minutes to go, with some help on the way from Jewell Loyd who finally found the bottom of the net from three after a quiet night otherwise.

As was the case all night, Delle Donne had an answer to keep the Mystics in front, as she put forth an incredible performance, creating tough bucket after tough bucket.

The Storm kept hanging around as Loyd picked up her scoring, finding the range with 14 second half points after just two in the first half, including the go-ahead basket on a tough pull-up late in the clock.

Washington would have the chance to take the lead back, but after a hard double forced Delle Donne to kick it back out to the perimeter, Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins weren’t on the same page, resulting in a turnover to give the ball back to the Storm. Loyd would get the ball and get fouled, going to the free throw line for two makes that put Seattle up three with just over 24 seconds to play. A Delle Donne contested three would go begging off the backboard, with Stewart hauling in the rebound and getting fouled, making her free throws to ice the game with 14 seconds to play.

Delle Donne finished with a game-high 26 points in the loss, putting forth an incredible shot-making display but one that fell just short of the depth of the Storm. While Atkins and Cloud gave Washington a great boost early, the Mystics struggled in the closing minutes to create offense anytime Seattle was able to get set and send help at Delle Donne. On the other side, when Stewart, who led the way with 23 points and 12 rebounds, started to slow down late in the fourth the Storm were able to turn to Loyd (16 points), who turned it on as the lead scorer to push Seattle over the finish line.

Game 2 on Sunday figures to be a must-watch, as it now becomes a must-win for the Mystics if they want to force a winner-take-all Game 3 in Washington, while the Storm will be intent on putting a bow on the series in their home arena.

The world may not have wanted to hear from Offset more than this week when it was known that he was dropping a single and had been teasing a solo project. After months of speculation, rumors, and silence, the “Ric Flair Drip” rapper has shared his first solo offering in years in “54321.” If people were hoping for answers to one of rap’s biggest current mysteries, this record may just leave you with more questions.

A few eyebrow-raising lyrics included the Atlanta rapper saying “Takeoff,” his group member’s name after the countdown in the hook. Of course, he could have easily been reimagining a space shuttle liftoff but the following line “Touch my brother, pull a gun.” There are also multiple allusions to him being in a group but no direct commentary on his status with Migos.

For Offset, “54321” follows his appearance on Trippie Redd’s “Big 14” also featuring Moneybagg Yo. It’s been a feature-heavy year for ‘Set, also delivering bars on “Step 1,” “Cake,” and “Rockin A Cardigan In Atlanta (Remix).” While Quavo and Takeoff do songs, interviews, and performances as just a duo, Offset seems unbothered as he pushes along.

Perhaps Quavo wasn’t lying about them simply pursuing other ventures but still remaining a group. We wouldn’t know otherwise as only one side is speaking on the matter.

Check out “54321” above.

When Fivio Foreign says “viral” and “movie” one cannot help but believe him. He takes his cinematic disposition on the road in his new video for “London Freestyle.”

Fivio Foreign is coming off of an incredible last 12 months, starting with his alliance with Kanye West evolving into their Donda collaboration “Off The Grid” also featuring Playboi Carti. They joined forces once again, this time with Alicia Keys for NYC anthem “City Of Gods” which kickstarted the momentum for Foreign’s debut album B.I.B.L.E. The LP featured the likes of Quavo, Coi Leray, A$AP Rocky, Lil Yachty, Yung Bleu, and more.

Prior to B.I.B.L.E and much like his recent run, Fivio was primarily known for big collaborations and those remain to this day. Just this year he has linked up with Chris Brown for “C.A.B,” City Girls for “Top Notch,” and Nicki Minaj for “We Go Up.” One can only imagine if fans and Fivio himself could have foreseen such a banner year after his 2019 breakthrough single “Big Drip” and being one of the first to innovate the Brooklyn drill wave.

Drake surely took notice when he tapped the “bulletpoint rapper” along with Sosa Geek for “Demons” in 2020, but the Drake feature only puts artists under more pressure to sink or swim. Fivio Foreign has his breaststroke and freestyle intact, as shown in this new record.

Check out “London Freestyle” above.”

What would be more stress-free than getting together to share a vacation with another family?

Director Christian Tafdrup’s Speak No Evil takes this not-at-all-fraught social situation and ramps up the anxiety to 11, testing the will (and social graces) of two parents as they try to co-exist with another couple who does things a bit differently. The horror film which shocked and delighted Sundance attendees will see theaters September 9th via IFC Midnight before streaming exclusively on Shudder September 15th. Just in time for Fall gatherings!

In the film, Danish husband and wife Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) meet Dutch couple Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) on a holiday in Tuscany. The Danes are a bit more conservative, and the Dutch a bit more wild, but they hit it off and soon reunite on Patrick and Karin’s home turf, where their children, Agnes (Liva Forsberg) and Abel (Marius Damslev), can run loose while the parents bond. Those expectations of a blooming friendship are blown up quickly, and both Bjørn and Louise must find the line between staying polite to welcoming acquaintances and getting the f*ck out of a scary situation.

Starting a trip by insisting a vegetarian take a bite of your wild boar because you’re the host? Chef’s kiss. Speak No Evil looks just as awkward as it does frightening.

Vacationing with other people, especially those who you don’t really know anything about, is a minefield even before you haggle over who’s going to Venmo whom. By all accounts, Tafdrup’s satirical horror has captured that social fear with pristine beauty and abject WTFness. Why not watch it with another family you’re just getting to know?

On the heels of her critically acclaimed album, I Blame The World, singer/songwriter Sasha Alex Sloan has dropped a new video for “Thank You.” In the video, she is seen doing an interview, however, her adorable dogs, Frida and Dory, can’t help but interrupt.

Over the course of the video, directed by David Od, Sloan pays visits to various people and their dogs, as the song plays throughout.

“Thank you / For loving me when you don’t have to / Right by my side when I get in my head / or have a bad day / You stitch me up / when you could walk away / So thank you / For loving me when I forget to,” she sings on the song’s chorus.

In an interview with CelebMix, Sloan revealed she began working on the album two years ago, when she had fallen into a deep depression.

“I knew I wanted it to talk about how I was feeling at the time…but I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to present it,” Sloan said. “It started off more folky, but as the album progressed I was craving tempo. My favorite songs are ones that feel happy, but are lyrically sad and that’s what I tried to do with this record.”

Check out “Thank You” above.

I Blame The World is out now via RCA. Stream it here.

JID is officially in album mode with the recent single “Dance Now” featuring Kenny Mason out now and the announcement that The Forever Story is looming. A sad reality for many album cycles comes in the form of difficulties clearing samples, which often hinders the inclusion of certain records entirely or the way the artist would like them to. Today (August 18), in lieu of sample issues on his upcoming album, JID shared “2007,” which was meant to be his album outro, featuring his father, labelmate J. Cole, and Dreamville President Ibrahim Hamad.

The Atlanta rapper primed listeners for the moment by requesting they turn on his post notifications for 8:00 P.M. EST. He then shared multiple promotional videos followed by the official link to “2007.” This is a special release for many reasons, namely the fact his father has a snippet on the song the very same day they are celebrating his birthday.

Additionally, Ib and Cole both speak about discovering JID and how he has evolved over the years. And, of course, JID has yet another impressive display of lyricism and storytelling. The wait for The Forever Story appears it may be more than worth it after this drop.

Check out “2007” above.

The Dallas Wings faced an uphill battle in their first round series against the WNBA’s 3-seed in the Connecticut Sun, as they were going to start the playoffs without star guard and leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale, who had core muscle surgery and was slated to miss, at minimum, the entire three-game series.

Without Ogunbowale, the Wings were going to have to get creative offensively, particularly against a very good defensive squad in the Sun. Allisha Gray, Marina Mabrey, and Satou Sabally, all double-digit scorers on the season, were going to have to pick up their production further with their star out, and Sabally did her best early on to fill that void in the most improbable of ways.

With the Wings down six in the closing seconds, the Sun missed a layup that came off the rim to Sabally, who turned up the floor and could only get just one stride past the Sun’s three-point line before needing to put up a heave to beat the buzzer, that somehow rattled home through the rim to keep Dallas within a possession after one.

It’s not often that a shot from that deep goes through without a kiss off the glass — particularly with how much rim that caught — but the Wings will absolutely take all the buckets they can get, and no matter what happens in the series, Sabally will always remember that playoff moment.

’90s R&B sensation Tevin Campbell has confirmed he identifies as a gay man. He opened up about his sexuality on an episode of People‘s Every Day Podcast, noting that although he doesn’t think of himself as a “sex symbol” for the ladies, he is proud of the hits he made.

“I didn’t hide anything about me. I didn’t try to act a certain way or anything,” he said, while indicating that in R&B, “You just couldn’t be [gay] back then.”

During his interview, Campbell also revealed that he had first come out to his loved ones ages ago, however, felt more comfortable as a member of LGBTQ+ community when he landed the role of Seaweed in the Broadway musical, Hairspray, as he was surrounded by other LGBTQ+ people.

“When I came out to my family and friends [at] about 19 or 20, that was it for me. And then I went on the road of discovering myself. I didn’t know who I was,” he said. “Being around people who were like me, LGBTQ+ people that were living normal lives and had partners. I had never seen that,” he says. “That was a great time in my life.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he praised Frank Ocean and Lil Nas X for being open about their queerness and expressed gratitude for the fact that children will grow up with those role models.

“It wasn’t like that in the ’90s, but I’m glad I get to see it. I’m glad that’s changing,” he said. “There are a lot of kids, especially young Black boys that need to see representation. They’re not being taught to love themselves because of who they are.”

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

In 1978, Grease made a promise to all of us that we would be together forever. Chang chang. Changity chang shoo bop.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC Theaters is making good on that promise by releasing the timeless musical about hair gel and sexual innuendos into 135 movie theaters this weekend. To honor Olivia Newton-John, who passed away earlier this month from breast cancer, the chain will donate $1 of the $5 ticket price for the special event to their charitable wing, AMC Cares. Those funds will be spent on breast cancer research.

Since her death, tributes have poured out for the singer/actor, including concert covers by The Chicks and Coldplay, and it will be nice to have the opportunity to see her croon and swoon on the big screen again. This also calls for a retrospective screening of Xanadu (are you listening, theater programmers?).

Fans who hit theaters to see Grease this weekend can marvel at Newton-John’s fantastic acting instincts and powerful pipes, even as they wonder what the film would have been like had Henry Winkler accepted the role of Danny Zuko. If you can’t make it to theaters, you can always donate to breast cancer research on your own at the national and local level. Wah-oooh, yeah!

(via The Hollywood Reporter)