One of the most unexpected collaborations of 2024 has turned out to be one of the most successful, as Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With A Smile” debuted in the top five of this week’s Billboard Hot 100. That’s a good thing, too, as Bruno allegedly has so much gambling debt that he’ll be working Vegas until the city becomes a seaside resort.
Or, at least, that’s what fans joked, despite an MGM Resorts rep refuting that particular rumor shortly after it spread online. Never forget that on the internet, jokes > facts… but at least this time, the star at the center of the rumors appears to be in on the joke. While retweeting fans’ posts about the new collab, which include fanart of scenes from the video, crafted figurines of Bruno, and even some truly spectacular nail art, he didn’t bypass a TikTok/Reel of a fan dancing with a caption reading: “Lady Gaga on her way to get Bruno Mars out of debt.” You can check it out below.
The two stars had been teasing the duet since June, when Bruno told Las Vegas Review a song with Gaga was on his bucket list. Then, in early August, Gaga herself threw fuel on the rumors, first posting a video of herself playing piano wearing a Bruno Mars T-shirt, then confirming not only the collab’s existence, but also its placement on her upcoming seventh album.
It has been over 35 years since Michael Keaton debuted his otherworldly entity known as Beetlejuice, and he didn’t really know if people wanted to see the character again.
“The only thing I worried about was, should we have left it alone? You know?” Keaton told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the premiere. “Should we have just said that: ‘Don’t touch it. Just walk away. Go make your other movies,’ which we did.” But still, Tim Burton and Winona Ryder were on board for a sequel, and it came to life thanks to the addition of Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe. All they needed was another supply of white face powder and some intense eyeliner to bring him back to the world of the living.
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega stars as Astrid, Winona Ryder’s stubborn daughter who unintentionally calls for Beetlejuice to return, which he does happily. The sequel seems to have hit a sweet spot with critics who agree that, hey, we didn’t need this, but it’s still kind of nice to have it anyway. Here is what the reviews are saying:
Tim Burton allows the cast of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to have fun, even if they’re all off in separate movies that barely overlap. Its story is intentionally robbed of dramatic weight, but this makes way for the goofy, imaginative practical effects of Burton’s early days, resulting in a small-scale legacy sequel that doesn’t take itself too seriously (because it doesn’t need to).
The first Beetlejuice in 1988 captured imaginations because it was new, unlike anything else and deliciously tasteless while being, to be honest, pretty clunky. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is not clunky. Yes, there are plenty of animation joins that haven’t been smoothed over by CGI. Some of the props look like tat Burton bought in a flea market. But it also has a proper plot, full of twists and turns; a terrific cameo characters supporting the impeccable main cast; a meticulous spoof Italian horror film in the middle of it all; and a climactic musical number in which key cast members mime to Richard Harris’ 1968 pop hit “Macarthur Park” while dancing around a giant cake with icing the exact green of snot.
When it steps back from reality and plumbs the depths of the afterlife, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a lot of fun. The final 10 minutes are tremendous (and tremendously ridiculous) while finally giving Betelgeuse his due, and Burton finds a pitch-perfect ’60s song to resurrect in glorious effect. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice possesses a lot of what has made the original movie a bonafide classic, even if the script forgets that too often.
The film is strongest when it remembers it’s a Tim Burton film and has licence to get weird. While it’s slicker and less homemade-feeling than the 1988 vintage, there are still flashes of B-movie brilliance: a stop-motion animation sequence, some delightful shrunken-head prosthetic effects, and two demented birth scenes with the most ghoulish prosthetic baby this side of American Sniper. It’s moments like this, when Burton lets his freak flag truly fly, that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earns its stripes.
The faint scent of intellectual property looms a little too large over Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to call it a true return to form for Tim Burton. But it’s unmistakably a return to joy for a legendary director, and that goes a long way in making this film stand out in a sea of ill-conceived sequels
There’s a lot of plot windup before Beetlejuice, the “trickster demon,” as Lydia describes him, shows up. But when he does, it’s like greeting a decrepit, kvetching old friend, the kind you keep around just for entertainment value. Michael Keaton clearly adores this character; once again, he pours pure love into Beetlejuice’s maniacal, depraved soul.
For a film very much anchored in the dominant Hollywood model of undead IP buried in legacy and lore, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” has an appealingly throwback quality – not just for the welcome return of long-missed techniques, but for a sensibility and sense of humor that doesn’t try to keep with the times.
Few would mistake “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” for a confessional or particularly self-revealing work, but it does hew closer to that original artistic spark that dimmed once the director became a trademark.
The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks was a little less excited:
For all its spilling intestines and head-spinning demon babies, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels underpowered and throwaway. It’s a likable exercise in nostalgia; a joyride through old haunts. Burton’s underworld caper contains plenty of second-hand spirit; what it craves is fresh blood. What it needs is some substance.
If you feel ready to take on Beetlejuice, you know what to do: just say his name a few times and see if you can get Michael Keaton to show up. He probably will!
Who is ordering the salad at Olive Garden aside from the people who get the Endless Soup, Salad & Breadsticks meal, and are therefor forced to get salad? Seriously, when the server asks “Would you like soup or salad?” with your order the answer is always soup. Always.
It’s an easy answer too because the Olive Garden salad leaves a lot to be desired (its best ingredient is cheese), I mean c’mon, iceberg lettuce? Why?!
But we aren’t here to roast the Olive Garden salad. That would be too easy. We’re here to talk about the soup, and considering each of the soups has something to offer, choosing between the four can be tough. Each soup is so different that it might take you longer to decide on which soup to order than it took to choose which pasta dish you want.
So we’re taking some of the guesswork out of the equation for you. We’re here to rank each of the Olive Garden soups and lay out why and when you should order each.
I won’t lie, ranking these soups was hard work because I think all four are delicious, but some soups are better as a side, and some are better as a meal (something Jerry Seinfeld would disagree with). Let’s soup!
4. Minestrone
Dane Rivera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
This was a tough one for me because the Olive Garden Minestrone is my go-to. It’s light, healthy and the only soup on the menu that is vegan-friendly. The soup features fresh veggies like squash, carrots, onion, celery, and tomato with white and kidney beans, and pasta shells in a tomato-based broth.
The flavor is this wonderful mix of vegetal flavors with a blast of bright umami-forward tomato notes, some sweet onion savoriness and a whole lot of texture. Elevating this soup is pretty easy, add fresh cheese, and a few cracks of pepper and you’ve got a soup with a lot of depth and character.
So where does it fall short? It’s just not as indulgent as the three other soups. But sometimes you’re not looking for that out of your soup! So it’s a viable option.
When To Order It:
When you’re ordering a heavy dinner. This is the only soup that really works as an appetizer to your meal. If you’re ordering a heavy pasta dish, get the minestrone so you don’t get too full before the main course arrives.
3. Pasta e Fagioli
Dane Rivera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The Pasta e Fagioli tastes very similar to the Minestrone, only, you know, fun. Rather than that tomato-based broth, this soup goes with a savory beef broth and packs a mix of ground beef, white and red beans, tomatoes, and a good handful of tubetti pasta. It has this wonderful beefy rich flavor. It’s hearty, almost stew-like, and with a bit more heat could come across like a straight-up chili. And you could push it more in that chili territory by asking for some crushed red peppers, which many don’t know Olive Garden has on hand.
Definitely add the red peppers and have the server pile the cheese on high for extra decadence.
When To Order It:
As an accompaniment to a fish or chicken dish, or anything with white sauce. This soup will work as a nice hearty counterbalance to your main dish.
2. Chicken & Gnocchi
Dane Rivera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The way this ranking is falling might make it seem like I have a preference for cream-based soups — that’s not really the case when it comes to soup in general, but at Olive Garden the creamy soups are the way to go! I’m a bit torn on the Chicken & Gnocchi though, because I think what works in this soup really works, but it has one fatal flaw: the chicken.
The chicken comes across as pretty low quality and under-seasoned. In fact, I think the best way to enjoy this soup is to actively avoid the chicken as much as you can. That’s a pretty big flaw, but the creamy broth, spinach, and potato dumplings? Perfection!
This soup is so rich and creamy and the spinach adds a nice touch of bitterness. But the clear highlight is the gnocchi. It’s soft and perfectly pillowy and soaks up the rich broth perfectly, causing an explosion of savory flavor in your mouth with each bite.
When To Order It:
During a round of Endless Soup, Salad & Breadsticks. This is Olive Garden’s heaviest soup, which means it’s an absolute meal killer if you’re also ordering a full-sized pasta dinner. That makes it a great option for Soul, Salad, & Breadsticks unless you’re cool with taking home a lot of leftovers.
1. Zuppa Toscana
Dane Rivera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
When I said this ranking was tough, what I meant was it was hard to place numbers 2-4. The Zuppa Toscana was always the obvious winner. It’s not only the best tasting soup at Olive Garden, it’s the most versatile and easy to pair with any main dish, from light to heavy.
The Zuppa Toscana features spicy, fennel-forward Italian sausage, kale, hearty potatoes, and a light but creamy broth. It’s not as heavy as the Chicken & Gnocchi, but just as rich. The sausage in this soup is perfect, it has this spicy and licorice-like depth to it, while the kale brings in some earthiness, counterbalanced by the buttery flavors of the stewed russet potato.
Every component of this soup works in perfect harmony here, and while I think cheese and black pepper help to elevate the dish a bit (and I wouldn’t turn down red pepper flakes either), this is the only soup you can eat without any alteration whatsoever. It’s that good.
When To Order It:
With anything. It’s rich enough that a couple of bowls could make a meal, but light enough that it won’t totally ruin your heavy pasta main course. The Zuppa Toscana pairs great with everything on Olive Garden’s menu. It’s the quintessential soup and one of Olive Garden’s best dishes, period.
Anderson .Paak and Cordae‘s third J. Cole-produced single, “Summer Drop,” is a nostalgic ode to the year’s warmer months — and the easygoing joys they brought in simpler times. The three rappers previously collaborated on “RNP” from Cordae’s debut album, The Lost Boy, while 2023’s “Two Tens” saw them reunite and tease that they had enough songs for a full EP. However, the release of “Summer Drop” brought something even more exciting with it: The announcement of Cordae’s third album, The Crossroads. While no release date was given, it’s expected to be out this year.
“Summer Drop” constitutes Cordae’s second single from the upcoming album, after he released “Saturday Mornings” in July. That song featured another older rapper, Lil Wayne, with whom he reunited after trading bars on “Sinister” from his second album, From A Bird’s Eye View. The Maryland native also tag-teamed with the late Juice WRLD on “Doomsday” from Lyrical Lemonade’s album, All Is Yellow, which dropped in January of this year. He also appeared in the video for “Doomsday 2” by his hero Eminem from the same album, creating something of a full-circle moment for him after his initial breakout with a freestyle over Eminem’s debut single “My Name Is.”
You can listen to Cordae and Anderson .Paak’s “Summer Drop” above.
Kelce will make a cameo appearance in the movie after manifesting it by saying he’d do anything to be a part of the sequel. While it sounds like Kelce’s role in the actual film will be making a cameo appearance as himself, Sandler says they initially kicked around the idea of having Kelce playing a very different role. Sandler joined Travis and Jason Kelce for the season premiere of their New Heights podcast (which is now owned by Amazon after they inked a $100 million deal), and said when they started writing the script they thought it’d be hilarious if they got Kelce to play Happy Gilmore’s son.
“We were talking about you playing my son literally like six months ago,” Sandler told Travis. “We were like, imagine if Travis was my first baby how funny that would be. Just a badass.”
It would be a great bit if the 6’5 Kelce showed up as Happy’s son, and perhaps they can still make it happen as Travis has been working on his Happy Gilmore swing that had Sandler quite impressed. Like any weekend golfer, Sandler was amazed (and infuriated) by how far Kelce can hit the ball — “consistently 320 yards” — and it seems like we might see Kelce hit some bombs on the bit screen whenever Happy Gilmore 2 finally is complete.
Most of HBO and Max‘s biggest 2024 shows have already premiered, but there’s still a few left. The Batman spin-off limited series The Penguin comes out in September, followed by under-the-radar critical favorite Somebody Somewhere in October. There’s also Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble’s The Sex Lives Of College Girls, which returns in November. But is star Reneé Rapp, who has found crossover success as a singer, still on the show?
Last year, Variety reported that Rapp, who plays Leighton, won’t be returning as a series regular in The Sex Lives of College Girls season three. However, she’s not off the show entirely.
“[She] definitely still has some lessons and room to grow ahead of her,” Noble told Teen Vogue about Leighton’s multi-episode character arc in season 3. “She’ll be faced with a couple of big choices and she’ll have to make a couple of big decisions in all aspects of her life.”
The green slime thirst trap queen recently had her set at the Reading Festival cut short due to the weather and technical issues. “Guys, I really really really wanna give you a good show. Um… we are drenched. Some of our equipment is f*cked,” she told the crowd during the show. “But we do really wanna give you a good show. So, if you’re down, we will restart with ‘Not My Fault.’ And if I slip and fall, it is not my insurance. I’m not paying for that sh*t.”
The Sex Lives Of College Girls season 3 premieres on Max in November.
Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis has always loved Fela Kuti, especially his drummer in Africa 70, Tony Allen. When the opportunity arose in 2016 for Philippakis to collaborate with Allen, he jumped at it. Over the years, the two musicians would jam together from dusk to dawn, drinking whiskey and bonding over records.
When Allen died at the age of 79 in April 2020, Philippakis knew that he needed to finish the project that he started with his late, legendary friend. Under the name Yannis & The Yaw, that project has become fully realized as Lagos Paris London, an EP that Philippakis culled from their various recording sessions together. Mixing Afrobeats, funk, and indie rock, Lagos Paris London is a relic of one of the greatest drummers to ever do it.
Ahead of the EP’s release this Friday, Philippakis sat down with Uproxx to talk about Jai Paul, gardening, and Geordie Greep in our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Searching, intense, beautiful, true.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
My father.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?
Chupa Chups at the Chupa Chups Factory.
Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.
I dunno about best but Jai Paul was a recent highlight.
What song never fails to make you emotional?
“Horses In My Dreams” by PJ Harvey.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
Best pub walk in Somerset.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
A pool table in a squat in Liverpool.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Do your thing but maybe lose the lip ring.
What’s one of your hidden talents?
Gardening.
If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?
Mental health services in the UK.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.
Under the Acropolis in Athens:
Tony Allen
Wu-Tang Clan
Arthur Russell
Steve Reich
Prince
What is your pre-show ritual?
Listening to music, warming up, drinking, watching boxing matches.
What is your biggest fear?
Heights.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
With the utmost reverence.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?
I love playing in London where even the kebabs sing along. I’d love to play in Dubai for a chic sheikh who’ll bury us in bugattis.
What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?
I say bring it on you deep fake dillweeds.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?
Yesterday (August 27), Oasis announced a long-awaited reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25. Even before that, though, there was speculation that the band would play the Glastonbury festival in 2025, with the Daily Mail quoting a source as saying, “All the speculation about this reunion can get a bit tiresome. But there’s a genuine feeling that next summer’s Glastonbury will be too much of an attraction for Liam and Noel to turn down. They have been made aware of the headline slot that’s open for them next summer. Now it’s all down to them.”
Oasis has decided to go ahead and nip that in the bud: Today (August 28), they shared a statement on social media that reads, “Despite media speculation, Oasis will not be playing Glastonbury 2025 or any other festivals next year. The only way to see the band perform will be on their Oasis Live ’25 World Tour.”
As for shows that actually are confirmed, check out Oasis’ upcoming tour dates below.
Oasis 2025 Tour Dates: Oasis Live ’25
07/04/2025 — Cardiff, UK @ Principality Stadium
07/05/2025 — Cardiff, UK @ Principality Stadium
07/11/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/12/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/19/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/20/2025 — Manchester, UK @ Heaton Park
07/25/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
07/26/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/02/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/03/2025 — London, UK @ Wembley Stadium
08/08/2025 — Edinburgh, SCO @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
08/09/2025 — Edinburgh, SCO @ Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
08/16/2025 — Dublin, IRE @ Croke Park
08/17/2025 — Dublin, IRE @ Croke Park
Tinashe’s debut single, the Schoolboy Q collaboration “2 On,” was a top-40 favorite. After that, though, she had a Hot 100 dry spell that she just ended recently with the viral hit “Nasty.” Between those two events, though, Tinashe continued to make well-respected art and build a fan base for herself. As for why it took this long for her to enter the mainstream pop conversation, she’s not quite sure.
Tinashe and Kaytranada had a conversation for Interview, and Kaytranada asked, “So a lot of fans seem to be confused that you haven’t broken through as a mega pop artist until now. Why do you think that is?” Tinashe answered:
“I’m not sure why the zeitgeist has kept me in some type of niche category. But I’m in a great position. I have fans that love me, I’m able to tour, I’m able to make the art I want to make. So I’m pretty satisfied. As much as I want all the success and the accolades, I have such a great career, so I’m thankful. But I don’t know why. It could be the universe. It could be the way society’s set up. Being a Black woman in music is difficult. There’s been a lot of discrepancy over how to market me. In my early days, people were confused by my genre hopping and my lack of commitment to an urban direction.”
He then asked if she felt “pressure to cater to certain tastes,” and she answered, “I used to. Now I have the freedom to do whatever I want. But I did in my early days, like when I was signed to RCA after having just made my first mixtapes. I don’t think it was insidious, but over time I started making more and more compromises. They had these expectations of what kind of artist I was, and the type of music that I was making wasn’t aligning with their vision of either a pop star or an urban star. […] My first song was ‘2 On,’ basically. So right out the gate, the first thing I put out already felt like it was pigeonholing me in all these different ways that I immediately wanted to rebel against. And so, it all went down in such an interesting way.”
Jenna Ortega has put in the time, and she’s only 21 years old.
The actress made her on-screen debut in a cute video that her mom shared to Facebook when she was seven, followed by a series of commercials (including one for McDonald’s as “nugget girl”). Small roles in films and TV shows followed: a single episode of the blissfully forgotten Rob Schneider sitcom Rob; a brief appearance as the vice president’s daughter in Iron Man 3; young Jane in The CW’s wonderful Jane the Virgin. Ortega was doing enough — in a variety of mediums — that she caught the attention of Disney, which cast her in the lead role in the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle.
The family-friendly show about a creative young girl ran for three seasons, and Ortega could have easily graduated from Disney shows (she also did voice work in programs like Elena of Avalor and Big City Greens) to Disney movies. But it didn’t sound like the easiest work environment. “Kids would randomly start fighting because their parents were fighting,” Ortega shared on a 2023 episode of the Armchair Expert podcast. “So even though the kids had no problem with each other, because the parents did, they would side with one another. We had therapy sessions, like collectively, cast therapy sessions.”
After dealing with all that, no wonder she pivoted to horror.
“I love horror films. I don’t know what it is about having blood thrown on your face and running around screaming bloody murder, but it really is so therapeutic.”
Ortega knew at a young age what she wanted to do (if you didn’t watch the video from before, please do so now), and she’s drawn to others with a similar level of determination for their craft. “Everyone who works on horror sets loves horror,” she said with admiration on The Tonight Show. 2020’s horror comedy The Babysitter: Killer Queen was followed by the confusingly titledScream, the Foo Fighters-starring Studio 666, bloody satire American Carnage, and Texas Chain Saw Massacre-meets-porn slasher X, all in 2022. She was in her scream queen era, and it was another horror project that catapulted her to the A-list.
Fan castings are wishful thinking at best and “John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic” at worst, but Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams is the rare exception to the rule: the actress not only looked (and danced) the part, she also perfectly embodied the character’s sardonic morbidity.
The first season of Wednesday remains Netflix’s most popular English-language series of all-time, and second biggest overall behind only Squid Game. But more importantly, it got Ortega on the radar of the show’s frequent director and producer, Tim Burton, who cast her in the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the daughter of Winona Ryder’s goth girl icon, Lydia Deetz.
I recently re-watched the original Beetlejuice and was struck by Ryder’s pose at such a young age. She was only 15 while filming the comedy-horror classic, and while Ortega was older while making the sequel, she has a similar command of the screen; she seems wise beyond her years. Ryder locked on to this, and she was “warm and welcoming and kind and inviting” to Ortega and provided advice as her career was taking off.
Ortega won’t reveal the specific guidance she got from Ryder, but it was probably something along the lines of: take chances. In 1990, when she was around the same age as Ortega is now and having already starred in Beetlejuice, Mermaids, and Edward Scissorhands (with performances in Martin Scorsese, Gillian Armstrong, and Francis Ford Coppola films soon to come), Ryder was informed by her agents that if she starred in Heathers, her career would be over. So what did Ryder do? She changed agents. “It’s so simple,” she said. “You do what makes you proud.”
Ortega is doing what makes her proud, whether it’s starring in horror flicks, wading into riskier material, or murdering and making out with Sabrina Carpenter. Like Ryder before her, she won’t let herself be pigeonholed as just one thing: Hollywood’s resident goth girl. There’s nothing wrong with that (there is always a need for goth girls!), but as Ortega told Who What Wear, “I want to expand my muscles as an actor, and I want to grow.”
That’s clear from her upcoming projects beyond Wednesday season 2. There’s science fiction (Klara and the Sun, director Taika Waititi’s adaptation of author Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel), dark comedy (A24’s Death of a Unicorn, about a father and his daughter, played by Paul Rudd and Ortega, who accidentally hit and kill a unicorn), and whatever Krisha and It Comes at Night filmmaker Trey Edward Shults is cooking with The Weeknd (a “loose remake” of Misery???).
Ortega will continue making horror movies “until I die,” but her willingness to seek out other genres is an exciting evolution in the career of one of Hollywood’s best young actresses.
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