The Eastern Conference Finals have become something of a war of attrition, as both the Celtics and Heat have dealt with considerable injury absences since the start of the series, when Boston was down Marcus Smart and Al Horford and Miami was without Kyle Lowry in Game 1. In every game since, each team has been without a rotation piece for at least a portion of the game, whether that be Robert Williams and Derrick White for the Celtics, or Jimmy Butler and PJ Tucker for the Heat.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting these two teams at full strength for Game 4 either, as Sixth Man of the Year winner Tyler Herro was announced as out for Game 4 with a groin injury suffered in Game 3, which was why he sat out the fourth quarter as Miami clung to their lead to take a 2-1 series lead.
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro will not play tonight against Boston Celtics.
Herro had an ice pack on his thigh down the stretch on the bench, but most of the concern in the moment was on Jimmy Butler, who sat out the second half with knee soreness. Butler is expected to play, although still listed as questionable, which is critical for the Heat given how much he’s provided them offensively, but Herro’s absence is considerable as well since he is one of three players (including Lowry who certainly doesn’t seem at 100 percent with his own muscle issue) that can create for themselves on the Miami roster.
Billboard‘s Jewel Wicker reported on the case from the Fulton County court via Twitter, writing that a judge denied Gunna’s bond request as prosecutors described his alleged role in the suspected gang as a “command” role in which he’d “direct their troops” to commit violent acts. Wickers reports, “The judge said his biggest concern was witness tampering.”
In addition to denying Gunna’s bond request, the judge also set the rapper’s trial date: January 9, 2023.
I was just in court where a judge denied bond for Gunna and set his trial date for Jan. 9, 2023. Prosecutors allege YSL is a gang, not just a record label. They also alleged Gunna serves in a “command” role. More to come for @billboard
Prosecutors said Gunna is a “documented” gang member and that he and Williams “direct their troops” to commit violent acts. The judge said his biggest concern was witness tampering.
Gunna’s attorney can file a renewed motion for bond at a later date.
Gunna, real name Sergio Kitchens, was one of 28 suspected gang members arrested, along with fellow rapper and YSL Records founder Young Thug. The 88-page indictment against YSL cites 56 counts of various offenses ranging from armed robbery to murder, with both big-name rappers accused of conspiracy to violate the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, explicitly using lyrics from their records to show their ties to the group.
A new level of reggaetón music festival is hitting Grant Park in Chicago for the first time next month. On May 28 and 29, the Sueños Festival is bringing together acts who represent the genre’s legacy, present, and future. Among the heavy-hitters on the line-up are reggaetón legends Wisin y Yandel, Colombian superstar J Balvin, and Puerto Rican hit-maker Ozuna. There’s also a new wave of artists who are refreshing the genre and pushing it to new places like Jhay Cortez, Sech, and Blessd. It’s a massive undertaking, but not something totally new for founder Aaron Ampudia.
Ampudia is also one of the founders of Baja Beach Fest, one of the biggest reggaetón music festivals happening on Mexico’s Rosarito shores. After a few years of success with that event, he decided to bring the genre into the states with Sueños Festival. Sueños translates to “dreams” in English, something reflected in this lineup for reggaetón music fans.
“I feel super proud to be able to put on a Latin festival like Sueños in Chicago for all the Latinos and everyone else who enjoys our culture and music,” Ampudia says. “To my knowledge, Chicago has not seen anything like this in the Latin space yet, so it’s an honor to make this one happen with all our partners. It wouldn’t be possible without them.”
Sueños Festival will be one of the last times that reggaetón fans will be able to see Wisin y Yandel live as a duo. After nearly 20 years of hits together and helping put the genre on the map, they’re taking a final victory lap this year with La Última Misión (The Final Mission) Tour. Growing up in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, singer Jhay Cortez was a child of the genre who has seen artists like Wisin y Yandel, Daddy Yankee, and Don Omar break the mold for reggaetón.
“Imagine that you’re a kid listening to Wisin y Yandel’s music, seeing their work and their trajectory,” Cortez says. “To be in the same place as them, performing on the same stage, and in front of the same audience, for me that’s major. Like the name of the event, it’s a dream for me to be a headliner.”
Two artists who were instrumental in ushering the second wind of reggaetón’s success in the past decade are also on the lineup: J Balvin and Ozuna. Ozuna has proudly represented reggaetón’s Caribbean roots and has managed crossover success with reggaetón fusion tracks with acts like Selena Gomez, Cardi B, DJ Snake, Megan Thee Stallion, and Blackpink’s Lisa. Likewise, J Balvin has led the Colombian wave of reggaetón stars that further globalized the genre like Maluma and Karol G. With his albums, 2016’s Energia and 2018’s Vibras, Balvin gave the genre an alluring electronic glow. The latter LP featured the global hit “Mi Gente” with French Producer Willy William that Beyoncé eventually jumped on. Balvin also helped jump-start Cortez’s career by featuring on a remix of his breakthrough hit “No Me Conoce” with Bad Bunny.
“It’s great to be on a line-up with my friends, like Balvin, who I vibe with and is like a brother to me for life, and like Sech, who I respect so much. It’s like a family,” Cortez adds. “The genre is like a family.”
Cortez, Sech, Myke Towers, and Blessd are among the new wave of reggaetón stars who are keeping the genre going strong, each with their own unique spin. Sech hails from Panama, another Caribbean country where reggaetón is rooted. With his soulful voice, he’s given the genre a fresh R&B spin in his global hits like “Otro Trago” and “Relación.” Myke Towers from Puerto Rico is giving reggaetón and Latin trap music an edgier sound with his fierce rapping skills and cool flow. Like J Balvin’s beginnings, Blessd is another Medellín native who is leaving his Colombian touch on reggaetón. Then there’s Cortez who is pushing reggaetón into a more electronica-infused direction. In 2020, his song “Dákiti” with Bad Bunny hit No. 5 on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100 chart. On his latest album Timelezz, he collaborated with Skrillex in “En Mi Cuarto.”
“I’m a loyal lover of deep house, so for me it was easy to combine those genres,” Cortez says. “We’re only getting started with that. I love to evolve. My set will be very active, very energetic. It’s for dancing. It’s going to include all my hits like ‘Sensual Bebé’ and ‘Dákiti,’ that whole rundown.”
Outside of reggaetón, Sueños Festival is including more Latin genres that are starting to make noise around the world. Among the top headliners is Dominican powerhouse El Alfa, who is helping globalize his country’s dembow sound. The rapper recently released his album Sabiduria, in which he’s got artists like French Montana featuring in “Máquina de Dinero” and Lil Pump in “El Jablador.” Tokisha is another rising star from the Dominican Republic who is extending dembow’s reach. Spanish pop star Rosalía tapped her for “La Combi Versace” on her MOTOMAMI album and J Balvin featured her on “Perra” on his Jose album. Mexico is represented on the line-up as well with Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida, who are pioneers in corridos tumbados, a movement that’s giving traditional Mexican corridos a hip-hop update and edge.
“People can expect a true, authentic Latin festival,” Ampudia adds. “This includes everything from the drinks and music to the activations, food, and, of course, lots of perreo! We take a lot of pride in making our festivals extremely unique for the fans, so I hope everyone in Chicago loves Sueños as much as we do already.”
Sueños Festival is one of the many Latin music festivals that have sprung up this year. With Latin music festivals happening all over the country now, it’s reflective of how music in Spanish and reggaetón, in particular, have captured a global audience, regardless of language or cultural boundaries.
“It’s been like 30 years and reggaetón won’t stop,” Cortez says. “It’s impressive. I want it to keep growing. It’s the youth who are keeping the genre alive by dancing to it in the clubs or going to events like this one [Sueños Festival].”
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Stephen Curry scored 31 points and dished out 11 assists in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals to lead the Warriors to a 3-0 stranglehold on the series against the Mavericks, but the talk of the NBA world afterwards was not about the future Hall of Famer but instead Andrew Wiggins, who continues to impress this series, playing as arguably the Warriors second best player.
Wiggins had 27 points and 11 rebounds in Game 3, including six on the offensive glass as he led the way for another big night of second chance opportunities for Golden State, who are just outworking the small-ball Mavs on the offensive boards through three games. His defensive effort as the primary defender for Luka Doncic has been noted, making it at least hard work for Doncic to put up a 40-point night, but he’s really shined offensively as the most consistent secondary scorer to Curry, as Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson have been a bit streaky in this series.
On Sunday night, Wiggins put forth his best game and punctuated it with one of the best dunks of the season when he threw down the hammer on Luka Doncic — who fell to the floor to accentuate Wiggins off arm hitting him slightly on his way by.
That initially drew a foul, but Steve Kerr wisely challenged it and won, reinstating Wiggins dunk and kindly giving us an excuse to watch it over and over again on the broadcast. It was an exclamation point in the fourth quarter, albeit not the dagger as that belonged to Jordan Poole in the final minute after the Mavs cut the lead to five, and after the game even Doncic had to give Wiggins his props.
Doncic notes that he did get hit, trying to dodge the flopping allegations, but notes it was an incredible dunk and, like all of us, notes that “I wish I had those bunnies.” We all do, Luka. We all do.
After three very long, pandemic-filled years, Stranger Things 4 is finally arriving on Netflix this week, and if the first reviews are anything to go by, the show is absolutely swinging for the fences as it prepares to bring its epic story in for a landing in Season 5. However, in The Duffer Brothers’ quest to deliver what they call they’re “Game of Thrones season,” the episodes in Stranger Things 4 are significantly longer than usual.
This time around, the average Season 4 episode runtime for Part 1 is around 75 minutes, which stretches even further in Episode 7, the “midseason finale” if you will. That episode clocks in at 98 minutes, and things only get longer from there. When Stranger Things 4 returns for Part 2, those final two episodes will be 85 minutes and 2 hours and 30 minutes, respectively.
The good news is that the reviews for the first batch of Stranger Things 4 episodes are mostly positive. That said, there are some notable concerns about the episode lengths and what they say about the creative direction of the series as a whole. While diehard Stranger Things fans probably won’t mind the extra runtime, others might be missing the tighter episodes of previous seasons, which generally clocked in around 50 minutes. It’ll be interesting to see the audience reaction when the highly anticipated season drops this Friday.
In the meantime, you can check out what the critics are saying about Stranger Things 4 below:
Three years is a long time to wait in the world of television. But, as with the new series of Stranger Things, the show about supernatural goings-on in the small American town of Hawkins, Indiana, there are some things that are definitely worth waiting for. … Throughout these first six episodes given out for review, threads and storylines from previous series are coming together, finally giving fans some answers to long-asked questions about just what on Earth is going on.
In this fourth installment though, Stranger Things embraces a newfound sense of itself as something more than a stylized tribute to the creature features and coming-of-age classics that packed theaters decades ago. Stranger Things 4 is bigger, bloodier, and much more intense than the seasons that came before it, but it also feels like a natural evolution of the sprawling epic the Duffer Brothers have been telling from the very beginning.
When season 4 volume 1 — seven episodes, all but one over 70 minutes long — dropped in my Netflix press account, I’ll admit that excitement was not my first emotion. What a pleasure it is to be wrong. Fresh locales, appealing new characters, and a rewarding expansion of the mythology give the new season of Stranger Things a jolt of joyful energy, just when the series needed it most.
The fourth season of Stranger Things is the biggest, scariest, most ambitious Stranger Things season yet. It’s also the least charming, least funny and least inventive season yet, which doesn’t mean that those elements are wholly lacking, just that the effort to concentrate on moments of human relatability often gets overwhelmed by the attempts at scale.
It’s incredibly ambitious – and are there a few moments where you can feel it struggling under the weight of that ambition? Sure. But for the most part, it very much works by leaning on a lot of what’s paid off in previous seasons while also taking some exciting new swings that prevent it from feeling like a greatest-hits rehash.
After becoming Netflix’s first real behemoth of a pop culture hit, the Duffer Brothers’ increasingly ambitious series both echoed the rapid expansion of its network and clearly informed the way it moved forward with other projects that might scratch similar itches. … Season 4, given all the time and money it could want, represents just how exponentially “Stranger Things” has grown and how much it’s allowed to indulge its every instinct, so long as it keeps subscribers logged in just a few (hundred) minutes more.
Arguably, the scariest part of “Stranger Things 4” is how thoroughly it embodies the worst habits of the streaming era — with the only real competition being how much time it takes to fit them all in. Prolonged Season 4 episodes have been sold as an attribute when they’re anything but; splitting the season in two may “event-ize” Netflix’s blockbuster series, but — with only two super-sized episodes left for Part 2’s release in July — it’s no favor to fans.
For the first time since its breakthrough inaugural season, Stranger Things makes some big changes to its formula. The show expands its story to a number of locations outside of Hawkins and puts characters together in groups that remain segregated from each other throughout the season’s first seven episodes. It also cranks up the series’ more horror-based elements, giving us a central villain who is closer to Freddy Krueger than he is the Lovecraftian, beast-like monsters of the show’s earlier seasons. Stranger Things 4 actually feels like a real sequel and not just a slightly remixed version of what’s come before.
This year, The xx’s Oliver Sim has been focusing on himself as he’s so far released two solo singles: “Romance With A Memory” and “Fruit.” He dropped another new one, “Hideous,” today, along with a substantial personal reveal: Sim, who is 32 years old, has been living with HIV since he was 17.
In a lengthy statement about the song, Sim writes in part, “Two thirds in, having a good idea of what the record was about, I realised I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame. My HIV status. I’ve been living with HIV since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself, and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life.”
Beyond that, he also revealed his upcoming solo album is called Hideous Bastard and it’s set for release on September 9.
Check out the song above and find the Hideous Bastard art and tracklist below. Also read Sim’s full statement below.
Young
1. “Hideous”
2. “Romance With A Memory”
3. “Sensitive Child”
4. “Never Here”
5. “Unreliable Narrator”
6. “Saccharine”
7. “Confident Man”
8. “GMT”
9. “Fruit”
10. “Run The Credits”
“Early on in the making of my record, Hideous Bastard, I realised that I was writing a lot about fear and shame.
I imagine that might paint a picture of a dark, ‘woe is me’ sounding album, but in recent years I’ve become a firm believer that the best antidote to these feelings can be bringing them to the surface and shedding some light on them.
I haven’t written the record to dwell, but rather to free myself of some of the shame and fear that I’ve felt for a long time. So, I hear a lot of the music as joyous, because the experience of writing and recording it has been the complete opposite of what fear and shame have been for me.
Two thirds in, having a good idea of what the record was about, I realised I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame. My HIV status. I’ve been living with HIV since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself, and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life.
So, quite impulsively, I wrote about it on a song called ‘Hideous.’ I thought I could release it into the world and be done with it. After playing the song to my mum, being the protective and wise mum that she is, she gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. She suggested that I spend some time having conversations with people in my life first. Either people I hadn’t told yet, or people I had told but hadn’t wanted to talk much further on it with. Since writing Hideous, I’ve spent the past two years having those conversations, which was difficult and uncomfortable to start with, but has allowed me to feel a lot freer and has only strengthened my relationship with myself and with the people in my life.
One of the most special relationships I’ve gained from this has been with Mr. Jimmy Somerville. I knew for Hideous I wanted a guardian angel to appear in the song and sing to me the words I needed to hear. Not only has Jimmy been such a powerful voice around HIV and AIDS for decades, but the man quite literally sounds like an angel. I reached out to him as a complete fan boy, but now consider him a real good friend. He encouraged me to do the song for myself. He taught me ‘glamour’ is a Scottish word. And, most importantly, he reminded me to not take myself too seriously, no good comes from that!
‘Am I Hideous?’ feels far less like a question I’m asking the world now. I know the answer. As scary as it still feels, I’m excited to share this music with you, and I hope you enjoy it. Lots of love, Oliver xx.”
Hideous Bastard is out 9/9 via Young. Pre-order it here.
Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Chloe x Halle, and 5 Seconds Of Summer have signed Global Citizen’s new open letter to end extreme poverty, which is part of its 2022 campaign. It calls for “breaking systemic barriers that keep people in poverty” and “empowering young women and girls across the world,” demanding that global leaders focus on these urgent issues, especially climate change.
Other celebrities who signed the letter include Adam Lambert, Alessia Cara, Alok, Bill Nye, Billy Porter, Camilo, Cathy Freeman, Connie Britton, Criolo, Cyndi Lauper, DJ Cuppy, Duran Duran, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Femi Kuti, Finneas, Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness, Lali, Lang Lang, Made Kuti, Måneskin, Muzi, Nancy Isime, Nile Rodgers, Nomzamo Mbatha, Padma Lakshmi, Rachel Brosnahan, Ricky Martin, Sabrina Elba, and Tropkillaz.
Eilish in particular is known for her devotion to bringing awareness to climate issues. Next month, she’ll be hosting a climate change seminar in London that will span six days and include fellow musicians like Vivienne Westwood, Girl In Red, Glastonbury co-organizer Emily Eavis, and more. She also had an inspirational ad campaign that addressed how young people can use technology for good by connecting with each other, inspiring grassroots activism, and pressuring large corporations to be more sustainable. “We all have the potential to make a positive impact on our planet, and I’m hopeful our generation will use their platforms to collaborate and communicate and make a difference,” she said in a video.
Today, Time revealed the 2022 Time100 list made up of the 100 most influential people in the world and music was well represented. Mary J. Blige, Jazmine Sullivan, Questlove, Adele, Jon Batiste, Miranda Lambert, and Michelle Zauner have all been selected for this year’s grand recognition. For the list’s 19th iteration, each nominee has been paired with a guest contributor tapped to write about them, and that list also boasts some big names in James Corden (Adele), Quincy Jones (Jon Batiste), Nas (Mary J. Blige), Elle King (Miranda Lambert), Amber Riley (Jazmine Sullivan), Jimmy Fallon (Questlove), and Bowen Yang (Michelle Zauner).
Blige, the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,” has been selected as one of the cover stars, joining Zendaya, Tim Cook, Mia Mottley, and Simu Liu. “Mary came up the way we all did. She was a voice for us, but she wasn’t like other R&B artists at the time. She became a household name early because she was a hip-hop artist who also sang. The industry needed someone like that,” Nas wrote of Blige. Jon Batiste is set to be one of the speakers at the Time100 Summit on June 7 in New York City. Oprah Winfrey, Quinta Brunson, Zoe Kravitz, and Ketanji Brown Jackson are among other notable names, as this year’s list features 49 women. Check out the full list here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After six episodes of buildup, Jimmy and Kim will enact their plan / scheme / chicanery against Howard during tonight’s midseason finale of Better Call Saul. But if you’re wondering, “Uh, what is Jimmy and Kim’s plan / scheme / chicanery again? I mean, I totally know. I’m just asking for a friend,” we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything we’ve learned about what Jimmy and Kim — and their desire for revenge fueled by anger, resentment, and a multi-million dollar Sandpiper payout — have in store for Howard.
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The first time the Howard plan comes up this season is in the premiere, when Kim tells Jimmy, “I think there’s a way to get Sandpiper settled and leave him standing. Bruised, maybe, but still standing. Maybe the trick is, we’re not working on Howard, not at first. Maybe we start with Cliff Main.” Jimmy isn’t so sure about the idea, but Kim is determined. The plan has to be paced right, it has to make sense, and it has to stand up in court. “There has to be a reason for everything,” she says.
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Jimmy plants a bag of “white powder” in Howard’s locker, so Cliff sees it falls out.
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Jimmy and Kim pitch potential (fake) ways of getting Cliff to take a meeting, “but not the case,” when Kim comes up with an idea that Jimmy is going to hate: the Kettlemans. Betsy and Craig are now running a shady tax preparation service, which Jimmy and Kim use to their advantage. Jimmy tells the Kettlemans that Craig didn’t receive “proper counsel” from Howard because he may have been using a “certain illegal powder” at the time. The magic phrase is “ineffective assistance of counsel.” The Kettlemans take the claim to Cliff, but he declines to take their case. So do three other lawyers.
Betsy thinks she’s figures Jimmy out, that he’s using her and Craig’s name to “character assassinate” Howard (she’s not wrong!), but that’s only the carrot. Kim brings the stick: if Betsy and Craig don’t forget the name “Howard Hamlin,” she’ll report them — and the refund scam they’re running — to the IRS. “You think you’ve lost everything?” she tells them. “You have no idea.” Don’t come between Kim Wexler and her own scam.
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Jimmy and Kim (with help from Huell) obtain a copy of the keys to Howard’s car. After completing his assignment, Huell wonders why Jimmy is going through all this when he makes decent money as a lawyer. “I know, from the outside, this looks like just another scam. But you’re not seeing the bigger picture,” he says, adding, “Trust me, we’re doing the Lord’s work here.” Huell is not convinced, and neither is Jimmy, honestly.
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While Howard is in a therapy session, Jimmy “borrows” his car, picks up a sex worker named Wendy, and speeds past Cliff, who’s in a meeting with Kim. He kicks Wendy out of the vehicle in sight of Cliff, making it appear that Howard is a sex-crazy, drug-addicted speed maniac. (Jimmy is also dressed as Howard at the time, which is truly unsettling.)
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The plan to make Howard come across as an unreliable drug addict with a secret seedy personal life is working so far. Cliff confronts Howard about his problem. Howard agrees, he does have a problem: a Jimmy McGill problem. He attempts to solve this problem by challenging Jimmy to a boxing match at a local gym (Howard wins).
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Kim meets with her former-paralegal from Schweikart & Cokely, Viola (Lane from Gilmore Girls), to catch up over a friendly lunch — or so Viola thinks. Kim is actually using her to get information, specifically the name of the mustached judge assigned to the Sandpiper case, Rand Casimiro.
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Howard has hired a private investigator to follow Jimmy, who is caught taking out $20,000 in cash.
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Jimmy tests out a drug that he and Kim plan to use in their scheme at the veterinary office of Dr. Caldera (he of the Little Black Book).
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Jimmy has receptionist Francesca call Hamlin, Hamlin, and McGill to get the conference call number for the Sandpiper cast meeting. We also learn that the mediation session will take place at the HHM office, where Jimmy and Kim enjoy a late-night picnic together the night before D-Day.
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Uh oh. Cliff invites Kim to a luncheon in Santa Fe to meet with folks from the Jackson Mercer Foundation, which helps fund justice reform programs. Kim agrees, but the meeting is the same day as D-Day, a.k.a. when her and Jimmy’s plan is supposed to go into effect. Jimmy tells her to take the meeting (“Was Eisenhower at Omaha Beach? No!”), but on D-Day, he sees Judge Rand Casimiro at the liquor store with a broken arm. This is a problem. Jimmy and Kim hired a Rand lookalike to pose in a series of incriminating photos involving the cash that Jimmy took out from the bank to presumably discredit the actual Judge Rand Casimiro, but their doppelgänger isn’t injured. There’s no cast. Jimmy proposes trying again on another day, but Kim isn’t having it. “It happens today,” she says before turning the car around. So long, Santa Fe.
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Harry Styles dominate the music conversation and Tame Impala link up with a legend… thanks to the Minions franchise. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
For nearly two months now, “As It Was” was really the only taste of the highly anticipated new album from Styles, Harry’s House. At last, though, the full LP came out a couple days ago and Styles marked the release by sharing the album’s second single, “Late Night Talking,” a bit of jaunty R&B-pop that goes in a more soulful direction than the indie-synth-pop-leaning “As It Was.”
Diana Ross and Tame Impala — “Turn Up The Sunshine”
For a minute there, it looked like Diana Ross and Tame Impala made an album together with a bunch of guests. In actuality, they simply teamed up for a new collaborative song, “Turn Up The Sunshine,” as part of the Minions: The Rise Of Gru soundtrack. The two work well together, as Kevin Parker’s increasingly soulful and funky production is a natural pairing with the Motown legend’s iconic vocals.
Unc And Phew — “Hotel Lobby”
Is Migos breaking up? It actually seems like that might be the case after Offset unfollowed Quavo and Takeoff on Instagram last week. The latter two are definitely exploring what an Offset-less career would look like, as the pair teamed up last week, as Unc And Phew, on “Hotel Lobby,” a Murda Beatz-produced track that’s very Migos-ian in its themes of wealth and doing whatever you want.
Hayley Kiyoko — “For The Girls”
Hayley Kiyoko — “lesbian Jesus,” as she is sometimes called — continued to proudly represent the LGBTQ+ community last week with “For The Girls.” The song’s video is a great time, as it features Kiyoko as the star of a queer The Bachelorette parody, where female contestants compete for Kiyoko’s rose.
Rina Sawayama — “This Hell”
Sawayama’s self-titled breakthrough album came out two years ago and now the Japanese-British singer is getting ready to capitalize on all the hype with a newly announced album, Hold This Girl. Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes lead single “This Hell” (which Sawayama just performed on The Tonight Show) “culls from both country music and glam rock influences” and is “propped up on an electrifying guitar riff and is lyrically tongue-in-cheek without giving up any fire.”
Soccer Mommy — “Bones”
Soccer Mommy has teamed up with Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never for her new album Sometimes, Forever, so you know she’s going to be trying stuff on a sonic level. However, her latest single, last week’s “Bones,” is actually true to the bedroom-pop sound that Soccer Mommy was founded on, albeit with a new layer of polish.
070 Shake — “Body” Feat. Christine And The Queens
070 Shake has come into her own since appearing on some of Kanye West’s 2018 projects. Her sophomore album, You Can’t Kill Me, is set for this summer and fans can’t wait. She held them over last week with “Body,” which Uproxx’s Armon Sadler calls “a whirlwind of sonic experiences, opening with a sultry nature before everything heightens and becomes frantic” He continues, “Eventually, the song becomes simultaneously haunting yet beautiful but through the jarring transitions, the New Jersey artist and guest star Christine And The Queens vocally command the space with ease.”
The Notorious B.I.G. — “G.O.A.T” Feat. Ty Dolla Sign and Bella Alubo
Last weekend (May 20, to be specific) marked what would have been the late Notorious B.I.G.’s 50th birthday. To mark the occasion, his estate dropped a new song, “G.O.A.T,” which samples a Biggie classic (“I Love The Dough”), adds some afrobeats flavor, and features Ty Dolla Sign and Bella Alubo.
Ravyn Lenae — “Xtasy”
Chicago’s Ravyn Lenae has finally followed up her 2018 EP Crush with a debut album, Hypnos. That dropped last week, but not before a final preview of the album, the smooth single “Xtasy.” Kaytranada has production duty here, so sonically, it’s about what you’d expect from the exemplary producer, who plays well with the up-and-coming singer here.
Lykke Li — “Over”
Fans of vintage Lykke Li rejoice this week with the release of Eyeye, as the Swedish singer-songwriter’s new album sees her reuniting with Björn Yttling, who produced her first three albums. Eyeye is her fifth LP and among the highlights is “Over,” a brooding, slow-burning bit of nighttime pop that’s propelled forward by Li’s vocals.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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