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Sometimes the best new R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm-and-blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the best new R&B songs that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Since the last update of this weekly R&B and afrobeats column, we’ve received plenty of music and news from the genre’s artists. Beyonce teamed up with The Isley Brothers for “Make Me Say It Again, Girl” while Ari Lennox returned with “Hoodie” and also announced her sophomore album, Age/Sex/Location. Kehlani joined Babyface for the sultry “Seamless” and Flo released a video for “Summertime.” Lastly, Jessie Reyez announced her own new album Yessie with her latest single, “Mutual Friend.”

Alicia Keys — Keys II

Nearly a year after she released her eighth studio album Keys, Alicia Keys returns with its deluxe reissue. The new effort, titled Keys II, adds four more songs to the original body of work including collaborations with Lucky Daye and Brent Faiyaz. The former appears on “Stay” while the latter checks in on “Trillions.”

August 08 — Seasick

For his latest act, West Coast singer August 08 returns with his new album Seasick. The project is a combination of his previously released EPs, Towards The Sun and Towards The Moon, but it also arrives with two new songs, “Pieces” and “Minivan” which close out Seasick. In total, Seasick delivers 15 songs with features from Schoolboy Q, Joji, and Jhene Aiko.

Nakkia Gold — “Energy” Feat. Pink Sweats

After kicking off her 2022 year with “Low Profile” and “Sober,” South LA singer Nakkia Gold returns with “Energy.” The tender track features an appearance from Philly singer Pink Sweats as the two unite for a record dedicated to protecting the important things while also letting go of the past. Gold adds that the new song is about “about freeing yourself from toxic situations and being in control of yourself.”

Nesta — “City Of Angels” With Mereba

New York singer Nesta will release his new EP Hope It Gets Better early next month. For his latest preview of the project, he teams up with Mereba for “City Of Angels.” It’s a beautifully stripped-back song that leaves enough space for Nesta and Mereba to let their vocals shine. “I feel like it’s one of those songs that grow with you over time, the more you live the more it gives,” Nesta explains. “For me it’s about taking that next step towards becoming a better version of yourself.”

Jon Vinyl — “Entice Me”

Fresh off a JUNO Award nomination, Toronto singer Jon Vinyl returns with “Entice Me.” It’s a truly sweet and confessional track that Jon Vinyl uses to admit his undeniable feelings about a special woman. “I’m here to speak the words that a lot of people in relationships find hard to confront,” Vinyl says about the song, and with the deep feelings he explores in the track, he certainly accomplishes that.

Guordan Banks — “Tears Never Cried”

If there’s one thing Guordan Banks is for, it’s penning moving and emotional records. It’s something he does on his latest record, “Tears Never Cried.” Driven by a light drum beat, Banks shares his feelings about a relationship that failed to live up to its hype. He isn’t upset that things didn’t work out, but he remains honest about the whole ordeal all while healing through the heartbreak.

Jade Novah — “Trip”

With her third EP Moon In Pisces due for a release later this month, Jade Novah grants her fans another preview of the project with her new single, “Trip.” While she is on tour at the moment, the song details a journey of love and intimate exploration between her and her lover. as for Moon In Pieces, Jade describes it as “a musical reflection of love and accountability while healing.”

Kwaye — “Be Easy”

British-Zimbabwean singer Kwaye arrives with “Be Easy,” his first single of 2022. The song is described as a “self-care anthem.” Kwaye adds, “Putting mental health and mindfulness at its core, the record is a reminder that you are something worthy of celebrating.” Kwaye also notes that “Be Easy” will appear on his upcoming album, out in the fall.

Zinoleesky & Tiwa Savage — “Jaiye Foreign”

After kicking off 2022 with a pair of strong features alongside BNXN fka Buju and Naira Marley, afrobeats singer Zinoleesky has found a groove of his own in the second half of the year. After sharing “Loving You” a couple of months ago, he teams up with Tiwa Savage for “Jaiye Foreign.” With the summer winding down, this song should be happy to find space as a feel-good anthem at parties everywhere.

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

Red Hot Chili Peppers have been around for decades and through it all, they’ve had a number of different lineups. Now, though, the most storied RHCP group — Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and John Frusciante — is back together, reuniting for their new album from this past April, Unlimited Love (the band’s second No. 1 album). They’re not stopping there, though, as they have another fresh LP, Return Of The Dream Canteen, set to drop this October.

Today, they offered the first taste of it with the lead single, “Tippa My Tongue.” It’s a classic Chili Peppers tune, a funky and catchy rock track with a hint of psychedelia.

Chad Smith spoke with Apple Music’s Hanuman Welch and said of the song:

“The cool thing about our band is one of the things I think is kind of whatever we do, it sounds like the Chili Peppers. You got Anthony’s voice, is so identifiable. And then you got the band, which has a unique sound. Of course, having John Frusciante back in our band again, we’ve got that chemistry going and we just want to share it with everybody. I told Anthony, I said, often you try to figure out which song is the first one to come out of the record. I just said this one’s got more hooks than a fishing tackle box. It’s got some Hendrix-y riffs, and it’s got some P-funk and it’s got Chili Peppers. I love it. I just think it’s a great song.”

He also said of the upcoming album more broadly, “We’re just so happy to be making music again. Like most people, and creative people, and artists, to be able to have that opportunity to go out and play concerts and play new music. We wrote a lot of songs during the pandemic time and we recorded them all. We just wanted this next record to be an extension of ‘Unlimited Love.’ It stands on its own. We felt like we had so many songs that we love that we just need to have them all come out, and we don’t want to put them all out at once. Here’s the second batch and it’s just as important. And just as effervescent to use your word, and joyful and happy.”

Listen to “Tippa My Tongue” above.

Return Of The Dream Canteen is out 10/14 via Warner Records. Pre-order it here.

Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

With the first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law now streaming on Disney+, star Tatiana Maslany is opening up about becoming the newest MCU hero. Due to the nature of the show, Maslany has to do a lot of motion-capture work for when her character Jennifer Walters is Hulking out. While there were concerns about the CGI when the first trailer hit, the visual effects in the premiere turned out to be fine, but the process almost had an even bigger problem right out of the gate: Maslany couldn’t stop laughing.

“In all those scenes where we look great on camera, we’re actually both just in gray PJs with helmets on our heads and these cameras in front of our faces,” Maslany told Variety. Sometimes you’re walking on a platform, if you’re working with an actor who’s not also a Hulk, so that their eyeline is actually looking up at where your face would be. Or, alternatively, you’ve got this stick on your helmet that has like a frozen She-Hulk smiling face, and they’re talking to that.”

Maslany adapted to the motion capture process for her own performance, but when it came time to film her first scene across from Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, she couldn’t hold it together. It was just too funny.

“I completely forgot that there was one scene where we were in the lab, and Mark had that face on and I was having to talk to it and I couldn’t stop — I was laughing the whole time,” Maslany said. “Like, the whole scene, is me shaking. I couldn’t do it, because it is really destabilizing.”

Here we thought she’d be cracking up about Captain America’s sex life, but trying not to laugh at a piece of cardboard dangling off Mark Ruffalo’s face is pretty funny too.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law streams new episodes Thursdays on Disney+.

(Via Variety)

The Sandman fans must be thrilled with how things are shaping up for the iconic Neil Gaiman comic. Not only is the ongoing Audible production still bringing installments, but the Netflix series — which contains the most beautiful episode of TV this year — is a streaming hit. The show’s been sitting atop the streamer’s Top 10 charts for two weeks, and to celebrate, the show has released a bonus episode containing two stories.

Does this mean that no one would have seen this episode if the streaming numbers weren’t there? There’s no telling, but clearly, this is good news. One of those stories is the live-action “Calliope” installment, which aligns with the first story I ever picked up (it’s from the Dream Country collection). Neil Gaiman told us about how the episode transformed from a story about creative frustration and “the spiritual cost of making [things up in fiction]” into a story about someone very specific. And so, now the story has been rendered on the small screen to relate the plight of a captured Greek muse (mind you, this is a women’s narrative that begs for a trigger warning) and how Dream must rescue her after he’s managed to evade his own century-long imprisonment.

In addition, viewers can now watch “A Dream of A Thousand Cats,” which has been tucked into the bonus episode as an animated story. From a Netflix press release, here are the relevant streaming numbers:

The bonus episode is a surprise drop for fans who have been long-awaiting additional stories from The Sandman universe. The Sandman reigns #1 on the Netflix Top 10 TV list (English) for a second week in a row, amassing 196.98 Million hours viewed since its debut (Aug 5 – 14). The series also appeared in the Top 10 in 93 countries.

As of now, The Sandman hasn’t announced a Season 2, but all of this seems like a very good step in that direction.

In 2017, Björk released the album Utopia, and now she has announced the follow-up LP Fossora. In a new interview with The Guardian, she spoke about the record, mentioning it features Serpentwithfeet and vocals from her son.

Fossora, she said, is for “people who are making clubs in their living room.” She talked about her video call with Ican Harem and DJ Kasimyn, on which she told them she was making her “mushroom album.” She continued: “It’s like digging a hole in the ground. This time around, I’m living with moles and really grounding myself. I don’t know if that’s too farfetched for you guys, but I have to speak in this sort of music lingo.’ And they were like: ‘Oh, it’s funny you say that, but last week we took some gamelan drums and dug them in the ground and played them there and recorded it. So, yes, we know what you mean.’”

Earlier this year, Björk went out on the Cornucopia tour, bringing her experimental, theatrical live production to California. “I wrote áróra on sibelius software I got in 1999 and fell in love with and have used ever since,” she wrote at the time. “I am excited to have the original harp arrangement played by both harp and 32 string players in pizzicato.

Donald Trump has offered numerous excuses for why he “borrowed” classified documents from the White House and brought them to his tacky Mar-a-Lago kingdom, leading to an FBI raid. Planted evidence, “political persecution,” he packed in a hurry, etc. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah thought that last one was the “greatest excuse of all-time”, but here comes Rudy Giuliani (of course) with a whopper of a justification.

“Really, if you look at the Espionage Act, it’s not really about taking the documents,” the f*cked around and found out former-mayor said while appearing on Newsmax on Thursday. “It’s about destroying them. Or hiding them. Or giving them to the enemy. It’s not about taking them and putting them in a place that’s roughly as safe as they were in in the first place.” Trump wasn’t doing anything duplicitous with the “nuclear secrets,” he was keeping them safe, you see. And what place is safer than the “Winter White House” with its overpriced salads and tacky decor. Don’t fall into a sinkhole on the way out.

Giuliani previously said that Trump was “doing great” after the raid, despite all evidence to the contrary. You can watch the clip below.

(Via the Huffington Post)

Nardwuar has interviewed so many major artists over the years he’s been conducting his unusual but endearing conversations, and now he’s added another one to his ever-growing list of interviewees: Harry Styles.

The newly shared conversation took place around this year’s Coachella festival and Styles was delighted by the nuanced questions and specific gifts. At one point during the conversation, Joni Mitchell came up and Styles spoke about singing at her house, saying:

“I did go to her house. She had like a Christmas carol sing-along thing one time, and I was invited by the wonderful Brandi Carlile, and it was very fun. […] I wasn’t gonna sing anything, and then Brandi kind of volunteered me to sing ‘River,’ which was one of the more nerve-racking moments of my life, singing ‘River’ in front of Joni Mitchell, but it was pretty special.”

Maggie Rogers seemingly discussed that same moment in a recent interview, saying, “Last time I heard somebody sing ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell, it was Harry Styles covering it in Joni Mitchell’s living room before the pandemic, and that is what I’m going to think about every time I ever hear that song again.”

Watch Styles’ interview with Nardwuar above.

Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus had a major health scare in June 2021… or rather, that’s when he first made the world aware of it, revealing he had been diagnosed with cancer. Things went well on that front, though, as that September, he announced he was cancer-free.

Shortly after that, he gave his first post-cancer performance, joining Travis Barker on a livestream show. Now, Hoppus has taken the stage in front of a live audience for the first time since January 2020 by popping up at a Beauty School Dropout concert.

Hoppus features on “Almost Famous,” a new song from the SoCal band from their just-released debut album, We Made Plans & God Laughed. So, he joined them for a live performance of the track yesterday (August 18).

Meanwhile, Hoppus recently hinted at a potential Blink-182 reunion with Tom DeLonge, saying, “I keep writing music, and I’m open to whatever the next phase of Blink is. I’m hopeful for the future. I’m just damn glad to be here.” He also noted of the members’ relationships with each other, “It’s actually better than it used to be. There was no agenda. There were no lingering grudges. It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room.”

Watch Hoppus perform with Beauty School Dropout above.

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

The biggest commercial and popular success of Maren Morris’ career so far came in 2018, when she teamed up with Zedd for “The Middle.” The song would manage a peak at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and go on to be one of the year’s defining singles. (It was also just certified 6-times Platinum last week). Now, the pair has reconvened (along with Beauz) in hopes of landing another hit with their new single, “Make You Say” (which Charlie Puth also co-wrote).

Morris says of the song, “I loved working with Zedd again on ‘Make You Say’ after such a thrill ride with ‘The Middle.’ It’s such a vibey melody and making the music video was definitely a first for me as far as choreography and animation go. The fans are gonna flip.”

Zedd also notes, “I started working on this record with Beauz about three or four years ago. We went back and forth slowly, refining the production over the years, and then Charlie and I got in the studio and wrote the topline for the track. Maren recorded a demo of it and sounded phenomenal, so I met her in Nashville, and we recorded the final vocal to ‘Make You Say’ and she took the song to a whole new level. ‘Make You Say’ is the kickoff of a new chapter for me and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.”

Listen to “Make You Say” above.

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

It’s fitting that House of the Dragon premieres less than a week after the Better Call Saul series finale. Both shows are prequels to two of the most critically admired, award-winning, and popular TV series of the 21st century. The key difference, besides the dragons (don’t worry, we’ll get to them), is that after the unexpected success of Breaking Bad, AMC was playing with house money with Better Call Saul. If it worked, great. If it didn’t, well, no one expected the show about the Lionel Hutz-ass lawyer from Breaking Bad to be good, anyway. (The fact that Better Call Saul ended up being arguably better than Breaking Bad is a twist no one saw coming.) Meanwhile, HBO needs the “very big, very expensive” House of the Dragon to work. Game of Thrones is to Warner Bros. Discovery (rolls off the tongue!) as Marvel and Star Wars are to Disney; if the prequel is a bust following the unsatisfactory (to put it lightly) reaction to the Game of Thrones series finale, that puts the franchise’s reputation puts the 43 other spinoffs in limbo.

So… is House of the Dragon good? I’m happy to report: yes!

Set 172 years before the birth of the Mother of Dragons, House of the Dragon centers on the “Dance of the Dragons,” a civil war that pitted the Targaryen family against each other after King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) names a woman, his dragon-rider daughter Rhaenyra (the younger version is played by Milly Alcock; the older version is portrayed by Emma D’Arcy), as his heir. Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) believes he’s the rightful successor to the throne, while Rhaenys (Eve Best), the so-called “Queen That Never Was,” has a chip on her shoulder after she was passed over for the throne.

There are non-Targaryens in the show’s orbit — including “Sea Snake” ally Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), hand of the king Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), and his daughter, Alicent (Emily Carey / Olivia Cooke), who is described as the “most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms” — but they’re also impacted by the succession decision. (If creator Ryan Condal’s pitch to George R.R. Martin for House of the Dragon wasn’t “what if Game of Thrones plus Succession,” it really should have been.)

Viserys. Rhaenyra. Daemon. Alicent. Rhaenys. Corlys. Mysaria. Jacaerys. Rhaena. There are a lot of names (and wigs) to process in House of the Dragon (it doesn’t help that the Targaryens frequently reuse or only slightly tinker first names), and in later episodes, there’s a time-hopping element, too. But it’s not as confusing as it seems. Would I recommend keeping this cast and character guide handy while watching the first few episodes? I would. But House of the Dragon patiently takes its time introducing the main players in the game of thrones, and because the action is largely centered around one family, instead of an entire continent, it’s easier to keep track of everyone’s schemes.

So far, the biggest disappointment, although that’s too harsh of a word, is the lack of a Tyrion Lannister-like breakout character. Whether it was the small but fierce Lyanna Mormont, or the audience surrogate Samwell Tarly, or the stoic Davos Seaworth, Game of Thrones had a robust ensemble of scene stealers. House of the Dragon is well cast, but there’s no one who immediately pops with as much charismatic gusto as, say, Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell. (Although, to be fair, I have only seen the first four episodes.)

Otherwise, House of the Dragon gets more right than wrong. There’s a lot of lore for the hardcore A Song of Ice and Fire book readers, but it’s not so dense as to bore casual Game of Thrones fans (yes, other familiar families pop up here and there). The show looks like a million bucks — or more accurately, 20 million per episode bucks — and it’s not lacking in violence. There’s less sex than on Game of Thrones, but more dragons, so that’s a toss-up. I can’t imagine enjoying House of the Dragon if you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, a person that I assume exists out there. Otherwise, if you liked Thrones, especially the talkative wheeling and dealing scenes in big rooms, you’ll enjoy House of the Dragon, too. It may not match the highs of Game of Thrones, but with the way the show is structured, it’s doubtful that it will sink to the lows, either.

To paraphrase Olenna Tyrell, the world is overflowing with horrible things, but House of the Dragon is not one of them.

House of the Dragon premieres on Sunday, August 21, at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.