Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino, had to postpone the Houston, Texas, show of his The New World Tour over the weekend due to illness. Now, the rest of the North American dates on the trek have been called off (for now), too.
“hey everyone. unfortunately i have to postpone the rest of the north american tour to focus on my physical health for a few weeks,” Glover wrote on X on Monday. “hold onto your tickets. ALL tickets will be honored for the upcoming dates in north america when they are rescheduled. thanks for the privacy. thanks for the support. thanks for the love.”
The New World Tour kicked off earlier this month, following the release of Glover’s final album as Gambino, Bando Stone & the New World. “It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done.’ It’s not fulfilling,” the Community star told The New York Times about retiring his long-time moniker. “And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.” He added, “Success to me is, honestly, being able to put out a wide-scale album that I would listen to. For this album, I really wanted to be able to play big rooms and have big, anthemic songs that fill those rooms, so that people feel a sense of togetherness.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun time but imperfect. It’s a wonderfully weird dip into the imagination of legendary director Tim Burton and a reminder that Michael Keaton is a highly esteemed comedy maniac. It also has a bunch of plot holes and is a tad overstuffed before Burton starts dropping new characters through escape hatches or rendering them mostly irrelevant. Still, the overall reception has been largely positive and the opening box office was stellar ($110M over three days). If Michael Keaton wants to play the title role in a third film and Burton is down to party, then a party they shall almost assuredly have.
What would or should a third Beetlejuice movie look like, though? Those questions are traditionally reserved for the filmmakers and people paying for these movies and not critics and bloggers, but why not waste some time and toss out a few ideas on a Monday?
One thing that may surprise audiences is that Keaton’s character isn’t exactly ever-present. At least not physically. Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz is haunted by the thought of him at the start and she tries her best to warn her wormy fiance (Justin Theroux) and eye-roll enthusiast daughter (Jenna Ortega), but Beetlejuice is held back for maximum impact later on. That strategy mirrors the first film, which was a team lift between Ryder’s character, Catherine O’Hara’s Delia, the house-haunting Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, who sat out the sequel), and Keaton’s “ghost with the most.”
It’s hard to argue with the results – maybe too much Beetlejuice would cause him to be over-exposed. But I kinda want to find out, preferably in a movie that’s more detached from what/who we’ve already seen across these first two films.
Don’t get me wrong: it was great to see Ryder reprising the role of Lydia and O’Hara absolutely EATS when given more opportunities to be scathing and ridiculous as Delia’s ultra-pretentious artist in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Without spoiling too much, each character also has something approaching a fulfilling arc, meaning I’m just not sure how much more there is to do with them within this franchise.
With the setting, it was also amazing to see the ghost house, the town of Winter River, and parts of the afterlife so lovingly recreated and gently expanded from the original, but now I have seen that. What’s next?
Interestingly, the answer may come from the non-canon lore of the franchise.
Launched in the aftermath of the first film and serving as a gateway drug into Beetlejuice for ‘90s kids (including myself), Beetlejuice the animated series feels, in reflection, like goth Rick & Morty. Sanding down Beetlejuice’s rough edges, he and his bestie Lydia go on adventures and pal around the netherworld with a bunch of extremely esoteric ‘90s animation characters including a French skeleton who wants to be a bodybuilder.
I am not suggesting a third Beetlejuice film faithfully adapt a PG 30+ year old cartoon completely. It’s more about building on the scenes in the most recent film when Beetlejuice helps Lydia – a fun, all too short pairing. Slightly pivoting the Beetlejuice character from antagonist into more of an uneasy trickster aly can be fun and won’t be too much of leap. Teaming him with Ortega’s Astrid would only add to it, giving us the chance to see Ortega (who as demonstrated in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and her title role in Wednesday, completely gets Burton material) play off of Keaton’s chaos wavelength while exploring the afterlife in a way that would make more sense for a newer character; one who is still processing her ability to see ghosts.
Break into “The Great Beyond” that’s oft mentioned in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – be it heavenly, hellish, or both. Mine another aspect of the “Handbook For The Recently Deceased.” Or, if Burton’s interest in the afterlife is more limited to its waiting room, crack open another part of Beetlejuice non-canon and let Beetlejuice finally, at long last, go Hawaiian, paying off the plans for a long-ago scrapped sequel that saw the shifty demon follow the Deetz family to paradise and the haunted resort they opened.
The point isn’t so much that Burton do these specific things, it just seems vital that a third film keep expanding on the idea of what a Beetlejuice movie can be. And based on things like claymation plane crashes and all-Italian black and white origin stories, it feels like Burton is pretty up to the task.
On Monday, September 9, FKA Twigs wrote on Instagram, “do you feel alone? you’re not alone.
EUSEXUA is coming. the first offering, Eusexua, from my third studio album 13.09.24.”
The presumption is that “Eusexua” is the lead single and title track from FKA Twigs’ forthcoming third LP.
The British artist didn’t let August end without dropping more specific clues in an Instagram video showing FKA Twigs shaving her head before “EUSEXUA” flickered across the screen.
Last week, FKA Twigs an even more detailed Instagram video captioned, “Have you experienced EUSEXUA? Discover September 13.” In it, various people explain their definitions of the term “Eusexua.” For one, it’s “a feeling of ‘I’m that b*tch.’” For others, it’s “trust in your body” or “oxygen — the thing that makes me feel alive.” By all accounts, Eusexua appears to embody visceral experiences and sexual awakening.
Eusexua will be Twigs’ first LP release since Magdalene arrived in November 2019. Her Caprisongs mixtape dropped in January 2022.
“I moved to Prague a couple [of] summers ago, fell in love with techno,” FKA Twigs wrote on Discord this January, as per Rolling Stone. “The album isn’t techno but the spirit is there [for real].”
(SPOILERS for this week’s Industry will be found below.)
If you haven’t yet climbed onto HBO’s Industry train, the show’s currently barreling through the third season, solidifying its position as more addictive than Succession. Last week, some of the show’s focus was diverted off topic when Harry Lawtey surfaced as one side of Harvey Dent in a Joker 2 teaser, but after Sunday night’s episode, the focus is right back on the complex relationships of the series, including what has been going on between Marisa Abela’s Yasmin and Kit Harington’s Sir Henry.
Yasmin has obviously been having a god-awful season, and this week, she confessed to Rob (although he surely did not take this seriously) that she “killed” her father. Followup will not arrive there until next week, so for now, we’ll focus on what happened between Yasmin and Henry in the shower. She had already taunted him with the sound of a tinkle (after learning about his fetish), and now, Henry felt comfortable enough to ask her to do the deed on him while they are showering. “I’m not a pervert,” he insisted. “I’m practical. This is the one situation where I get to control my helplessness.”
Yasmin didn’t need much persuading, and the moment allowed Henry to express relief about his vulnerability. It was kind-of sweet, really. Of course, Henry still finds a way to be boorish later, but what’s important here is that Decider’s Meghan O’Keefe spoke with co-showrunners Mickey Down and Konrad Kay about the scene, and Konrad revealed that it was Harington’s idea to use the pee scene as a humanizing moment:
“You know, whenever me and Mickey’s big flights of fancy were kind of getting away from us, like the urine fetish, for example, he was always trying to tether it into some sort of truth about the person. The urine fetish being about control.”
“Because he even intellectualized it as, ‘I’ve lost my dad.’ This is one area where he even says, like, ‘This is where I can sort of understand my relationship with this person,’ through this weird fetish.’
No further comment necessary, other than that Kit Harington captured himself quite a role, and the coming weeks will further illustrate that point.
HBO’s Industry airs on Sunday nights and can be streamed on Max.
Community is one of the smartest sitcoms of the past 20 years, but one of its best jokes is very — and I say this with complete affection — dumb.
In the season 1 episode “Communication Studies,” Jeff (played by Joel McHale) and Michelle (Lauren Stamile) are having a conversation in the Greendale parking lot when she asks what’s the name of his blonde friend. “Bitter? Butter? Beetlejuice?” she wonders. That was the first time the Ghost With the Most was mentioned on Community, but not the last.
A season later, in the classic season 2 episode “Cooperative Calligraphy,” Britta (Gillian Jacobs) accuses Jeff of usually wearing “stripe-y turquoise Beetlejuice” underwear. That’s twice! If you can’t guess where this is going, well, then you haven’t seen season 3’s “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps.”
Early in the episode, Annie (Alison Brie) is going through Britta’s party playlist, which includes the Beetlejuice playlist. That’s three times! And a pay off to a joke years in the making. It’s never commented on, but if you look behind Annie’s shoulder in the scene, you’ll see a person dressed up as Beetlejuice walk by the study room.
You can watch it above.
Since the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Community‘s visual gag has resurfaced with many fews noticing it for the first time. “Wait I never noticed this but this video pointed out that Community has beetlejuice walk by in the background after the THIRD time he’s mentioned in the show, I love this tiny detail!” one person wrote on X, while another added, “I need more people watching and loving community because there is no other show more committed to setting up jokes over SEASONS, and the pay off is always great.”
Maybe Micheal Keaton can make a cameo in the Community movie (yes, it’s actually happening), or better yet, Troy and Abed can show up in the inevitable Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. ♪ Troy and Abed are in mourning ♪
Now that Las Vegas residencies are cool again, it seems every artist of a certain stature either has one scheduled or is rumored to be working on one. The Killers just completed a run of shows for the 20th anniversary of Hot Fuss, Janet Jackson will finish out the year and open the next with a slate of shows at Resorts World, and Nas, who took his own advice in getting out of his comfort zone with three shows with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, has just announced his return to the Encore Theater at Wynn after that successful debut.
The dates for the new shows are February 5, 7, and 8, 2025. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, September 13, 2024, at 10 AM PT. The press release for the new dates notes that during his show on August 31, Nas said, “I could get used to doing this Vegas thing. I might extend it.” You can find more information here.
As with many of his peers’ residencies, Nas’ collection of shows celebrates the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Illmatic, with classical renditions of its instrumentals performed by the Las Vegas Philharmonic orchestra — a concept he pioneered at the Kennedy Center in 2018. Nas will continue to get out of his comfort zone this year with a pair of potentially eyebrow-raising projects: a Broadway adaptation of Beat Street, and a concept album inspired by the cult film The Warriors produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame.
Obviously, awards are supposed to be given out to the best and brightest in entertainment, but sometimes, a few deserving candidates can slip through the cracks. Awards don’t really matter, after all, at least until your favorite actor wins one. So it’s surprising that The Idol, a universally panned series that was not given a second season, managed to secure a Creative Arts Emmy, which is salt in the wound for shows that changed the course of television, like, for instance, Better Call Saul.
Over the weekend, The Idol was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming. The show was up against Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building, Apple TV’s Physical, and Apple TV’s Palm Royale. This is the award-winning choreography in question.
The Idol, starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd, was created by Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson and premiered last summer, only to be met with disastrous reviews. But, hey, they had some good dancing, and that’s something nobody can take away from them.
On the other hand, Better Call Saul was never given a proper choreographed sequence, if it had, it surely would have been nominated. But, despite 53 (!!!) nominations, the series was never granted an official Emmy. It’s actually an impressive stat that nobody has reached before. But it still hurts, and the fans were just given another reminder of how much Bob Odenkirk should have gotten a little gold statue.
One fan wrote, “The Idol having an Emmy and Better Call Saul having 0 is grounds to cancel the awards entirely” while another said, But Better Call Saul is on television for seven years and can’t win anything, what a f—ing joke.” Others posted sad gifs of Jimmy/Saul, while many seemed straight-up confused by the choice.
Meanwhile, the Anne Rice fans are still desperately hoping for a single nomination one of these days. There might not be another opportunity for Jimmy McGill, but maybe we can campaign for Bob Odenkirk to show up as a dancing vampire to secure a nom at some point.
All the way back in November 2022, Rolling Stone relayed that Selena Gomez planned to “have some writing sessions, round out the 24 songs she’s already written for her next album, which she says she may start recording by the end of the year.” Nearly two years later, Gomez has yet to release a new album.
Don’t hold your breath, either.
On Monday morning, September 9, Vanity Fair revealed Gomez as its October 2024 cover star. The accompanying profile by Yohana Desta included an update on Gomez’s musical output, as excerpted below:
“The musical part of Emilia Pérez came easier. Gomez dove into the singing and the often intense choreography, which meant tapping back into her pop persona. ‘I can sing Spanish really well,’ she says, having released several songs in Spanish, including the 2021 EP Revelación. She enjoyed recording the songs for this film, which were written by French singer and lyricist Camille with Clément Ducol, but wants fans to know she doesn’t have plans to release any new music of her own at the moment.
‘I don’t know if I’m ready, you know?’ she says. ‘It’s a vulnerable space. Acting has always been my first love. Music is just a hobby that went out of control. Now it is a part of who I am, so I don’t think I’m going anywhere. I’m just not ready yet.’”
Earlier this year, Gomez said on the SmartLess podcast that she felt like she “had one more album in me,” but “would probably choose acting” if she had to do only one for the remainder of her career.
Gomez released Rare in 2020 as her most recent LP, but her Revelación EP was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 2022 Grammys.
Gomez is currently starring in the fourth season of Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building. Emilia Pérez is due out in select theaters this fall before hitting Netflix on November 13, as per Netflix.
Bon Iver hasn’t released an album since 2019’s i,i. Which isn’t to say that founder Justin Vernon hasn’t been busy. He’s collaborated with everyone from Taylor Swift to Travis Scott to Zach Bryan, and he and The National’s Aaron Dessner put out How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? as Big Red Machine in 2021. But it appears Bon Iver is about to return in a big way.
On Monday, Bon Iver’s social channels shared a black and white video of Vernon appearing behind a clapperboard. There’s no dialogue, but there is a link to the band’s website. It’s unclear if what’s being teased is a song or an album or something else, but you can pre-save whatever it is here.
Vernon rarely gives interviews these days, but in 2020, Dessner told Pitchfork how his collaboration with Swift, Folklore standout “Exile,” came together. “I sent him the song and he was really into it. He tweaked some parts and added parts as well — the bridge where he says, ‘Step right out.’ The end, too, and his choral parts,” he said. “It was fun because Justin and I work on a lot of stuff together, so it was very easy and natural. At some point I felt like a superfan, hearing two of my favorite singers.” Tim Walz’s kid probably liked it, too.
While the announcement that Kendrick Lamar would perform the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans was met with general excitement from fans, some fans questioned the pick, believing that local artist Lil Wayne would have been a better selection. So, why wasn’t Lil Wayne chosen to perform at the Super Bowl?
First things first: There’s never been a rule that the Super Bowl halftime performers must be local acts. That’s a recent development from hip-hop fans online after a “wouldn’t it be cool if…” proposition evolved like the monsters from an Alien movie into something far less innocuous.
In the last five years, we’ve had Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, who are most notably not from Miami; The Weekend, who is not from Tampa; and Rihanna, who is not from Arizona. The first show to be performed entirely by locals in pretty much the whole modern history of the Super Bowl Halftime Show was 2022’s combination of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar in Los Angeles, and they were joined by two New Yorkers and a Detroiter.
Of course, coming off an impressive showing by Usher in Las Vegas this past February, it only makes sense fans would want the newly minted “tradition” to return. However understandable it is, though, Roc Nation, the NFL’s music partner, hasn’t ever had an obligation to hometown performers (and when you think about where all the NFL has teams, let’s all just be thankful for that).
Kendrick’s pick also meets pretty much all the criteria Roc Nation would be looking for in a performer. To let Audiomack co-founder and longtime industry insider Brian Zisook tell it, K. Dot’s available, popular, and culturally impactful, with enough hits to fill up the 15-minute performance slot and a penchant for showmanship that will translate well both live and on TV.
Cam’ron and Mase insinuate that “somebody in the selection process” is hating on Lil Wayne and is the reason he wasn’t selected to perform at halftime of the Super Bowl.
Now, as to why Lil Wayne was not selected. While some fans — and even some veteran performers like Cam’ron and Mase — would rather believe in elaborate conspiracies about Roc Nation founder Jay-Z holding a decades-long grudge against Wayne, the truth is probably a lot simpler: Wayne just doesn’t meet the above criteria.
While his popularity is undeniable, it’s equally undeniable that the peak of that popularity is past him; for contrast, Lil Wayne hasn’t had a top-ten-charting single in the past five years (2019’s “Don’t Cry” featuring the late XXXtentacion). And while he’s got more than enough hits to fill the allotted set time, Wayne’s always been a meat-and-potatoes kind of performer; he certainly isn’t going to break out roller skates and costume changes, let alone construct a whole hall of mirrors on the field or hover on a platform above it.
Meanwhile, we aren’t even sure Wayne would be available to perform next February; he could have a tour booked, he could be working on new music, or be involved in one of a thousand other projects. As a hardcore sports fan, he may be planning to take in the show from the stands. Or, on the other hand, perhaps he is available, does have the desire, and actually is part of K. Dot’s plan for the show — although their respective relationships with Drake make this outcome unlikely.
After all, Wayne’s one of Kendrick’s biggest inspirations aside from Kurupt, and it’s not like the Compton native is averse to including guest stars in his sets. It’d probably be far easier for Wayne to appear for a verse of “A Milli” than put together a whole show for a national audience who may not even be all that familiar with his work (try to remember that country music is the most popular genre on the charts this year, so there may not be much demand for a “Bling Bling” performance outside Wayne’s existing audience).
So, while we can’t say for sure why Wayne wasn’t picked to lead the show, we do know that there are plenty of good reasons for Kendrick Lamar’s selection. And, since we can’t completely count out a Wayne appearance, it seems premature to call it a snub. We don’t even know who’s playing the actual game yet, so maybe a little patience is warranted — and could pay off when halftime actually hits.
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