Ahead of the release of her upcoming fifth album, Crash, Charli XCX has released the video for “Baby.” “Baby” follows the release of her rock-influenced track “Good Ones” and the Rina Sawayama-assisted “Beg For You,” which features a prominent sample of September’s “Cry For You.”
The chorus of “Baby” features XCX’s signature yell-singing on the chorus, catchily proclaiming, “I’ma make you my, I’ma make you my, I’ma make you my, I’ma make you my baby.”
In the song’s video, directed by Imogene Strauss and Luke Orlando, XCX is seen in lingerie rising from a bed, before being joined by two dancers. The three then perform an energetic, elaborate dance routine in the room.
On the upcoming album, Charli XCX takes a slight departure from her hyperpop sounds in favor of ’80s-inspired pop and rock. She also incorporates darker themes, inspired by demons and witchcraft.
“I was able to possess and persuade an incredible group of producers and collaborators to contribute to Crash by using my femme fatale powers and a multitude of dark spells and curses,” XCX said in a statement. “Some of these include A. G. Cook, George Daniel, Deaton Chris Anthony, Lotus IV, Caroline Polachek, Christine and the Queens, Oscar Holter, Digital Farm Animals, Rina Sawayama, Ian Kirkpatrick, Jason Evigan, Justin Raisen, Ariel Rechtshaid, Ilya, Oneohtrix Point Never, Jon Shave, and Mike Wise. They will all remain locked in my basement forever.”
Check out “Baby” above.
Crash is out 3/18 via Atlantic Records. Pre-save it here.
Charli XCX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
To promote just-released new book, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, Bob Odenkirk stopped by The View on Tuesday where he fielded questions about his decades-long comedy career, which included working with Chris Farley while the two were just starting out doing live sketches for Second City. The two eventually moved onto Saturday Night Live where Odenkirk helped create the classic sketch where Farley plays motivational speaker Matt Foley who “lives in a van down by the river.”
Thirty years later, the SNL sketch still left the ladies of The View dying with laughter, but when asked what was it like working with Farley, Odenkirk said nothing could beat their time together at Second City:
“There was nothing more fun than being on stage with him — or backstage. My daughter asked me the best time I had in show business, and I said doing that sketch with Chris every night on Second City. He wouldn’t stop until he made every performer laugh. He made the audience laugh right away. But he would grind you with his performance, and you couldn’t help it. It was pure joy.”
Of course, it shouldn’t a surprise that Odenkirk has fond memories of their pre-SNL days. In an excerpt from his book reported by the New York Post, Odenkirk revealed that he hated the now-classic sketch where Farley auditions to be a Chippendales dancer next to Patrick Swayze. The sketch would turn Farley into a comedy superstar, but Odenkirk never cared for the wrong lesson it taught his late friend.
“I know it confirmed Chris’s worst instincts about being funny, which was how he proved his worth — that getting laughed at was as good as getting a laugh,” Odenkirk wrote. “F*ck that sketch.”
This month will mark the 30th anniversary of Tool’s first EP, Opiate. It was the first glimpse people got of the post-metal band that would come to expand the notions of sound in hard rock and metal. To celebrate 30 years of the release, Tool — who are currently on tour — are putting out a short film on Blu-Ray with an accompanying 46-page book. They’ve just shared an… uhhh… re-tooled version of “Opiate,” entitled “Opiate²,” and it might just be the best thing you’ll hear today.
For starters, “Opiate²” is an extended version that checks in at nearly ten minutes, but it’s the proggier elements of this new studio recording that really make it pop. The newly reimagined bridge at around the 7-minute mark is when things get really sick. All of the sounds go hushed, except for Adam Jones’ guitar, that peppers into the bars while a distorted Maynard Keenan hypnotically sings the classic lyrics:
“If you want to get your soul to heaven
Trust in me, now don’t you judge or question
You are broken now, but faith can heal you
Just do everything I tell you to do…
Jesus Christ, why don’t you come save my life now?
Open my eyes, blind me with your light now”
It’s chill-inducing stuff. And the accompanying video in the deluxe release is made by visual artist Dominic Hailstone and Jones. It’s Tool’s first new video in 15 years.
Listen to “Opiate²” above and pre-order the deluxe release here.
In Umma, Amanda (played by Killing Eve‘s Sandra Oh) is raising her daughter on a farm in rural America when she receives an unexpected visitor. A man arrives with the remains of her deceased mother, and that “her anger will grow as long as she remains in this box.” After unceremoniously dropping her mom’s ashes in a grave, things start to get… let’s just say, it’s a horror movie produced by Sam Raimi. Things get weird.
“Umma is the Korean word for mother. It’s what I call my mom. There’s obviously a lot of movies about mothers and motherhood, [but] for me, I just never got the experience of watching a movie that explored that theme in the way that I have always experienced it and viewed it,” Umma writer and director Iris K. Shim told Cinema Blend.
The trailer, which you can watch below, is not for the faint of heart: an adorable baby chicken gets crushed by a foot (to say nothing of the corpse-like hands that grab Oh), and a nine-tailed fox demon, or Kumiho, appears to be munching on some organs at the 2:04 mark. It’s terrifying… but I want one?
This exclusive trailer for Umma might make you rethink the way you talk back to your mom… Sandra Oh stars in the original horror film — in theaters March 18th! pic.twitter.com/W39P4rS2oO
You know what Ukraine doesn’t need right now? A former action star trying to stage a convincing “both-sides” argument to downplay the current Russian invasion killing its citizens.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Monday, Steven Seagal shared his thoughts on pal Vladimir Putin’s attack on the democratic nation. Seagal, who has expressed his support for Putin and Russian policies in the past, lamented the fact that the two countries were at war, hoping for a peaceful resolution to the conflict before suggesting a wild conspiracy theory to absolve his dictator bestie from any blame.
“Most of us have friends and family in Russia & Ukraine,” Seagal said. “I look at both as one family and really believe it is an outside entity spending huge sums of money on propaganda to provoke the two countries to be at odds with each other.”
We’re not sure whether Seagal is suggesting the conflict is just fake news or he’s saying Putin is just idiotic enough to be duped into launching a full-scale invasion of another country. Either way, it’s a bizarre take on the situation, especially since, in the past, Seagal has been more than happy to support his martial arts buddy’s plans for world domination. Seagal was granted a Russian passport in 2017 and was appointed as a special envoy to the United States by the country a year later. His dual citizenship prompted Ukraine to ban him from the country for five years after Seagal publicly endorsed Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea. He would later appear at a Crimean concert put on by a pro-Putin biker club with ties to the separatist movement in Ukraine.
So, it seems pretty clear which side Seagal — who we’d like to remind everyone was born in Lansing, Michigan — falls on.
(Mild spoilers for Super Pumped will be found below.)
Start-up disasters are all the rage on TV right now and Showtime’s Super Pumped is, arguably, the biggest entry in the genre so far.
The limited series starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Uma Thurman, and Kyle Chandler recounts the early days of Uber — the ride-sharing platform destined to become a billion-dollar tech behemoth in just a few short years. Based on a best-selling book by Mike Isaac, the show chronicles the rise and fall of Silicon Valley’s prodigal son, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, whose success eventually, led him on a self-destructive path that would end with his ousting from Uber and multiple lawsuits — all narrated by Quentin Tarantino. Yes, that Quentin Tarantino.
Before the show, which premiered Feb. 27th, gets too deep into the inner-workings of tech’s once most-promising venture, let’s break down who the main players are and what’s really at stake.
Showtime
What Is Super Pumped About?
The show promises eight episodes of “ripped from the headlines” drama, all focused on Kalanick and the financial powerhouses that backed him. The early days of Uber see Kalanick fighting against Silicon Valley titans to get funding for UberCab, a company he was originally brought on to in an advisory role before taking the reigns and becoming CEO. UberCab would then transform into Uber, a ride-sharing platform that partners with local operators in most major cities, receiving a commission from each booking. Kalanick employed a “work hard, play hard” attitude that resulted in numerous lawsuits being filed against the company by drivers, passengers, and employees as the company came under fire for everything from sexual harassment allegations to price-fixing, data breaches, and attempts to evade local regulations. Fans can expect the series to lean heavy into the drama happening behind the scenes with the show’s trailer promising a look into Kalanick’s psyche as his world quite literally crumbles around him.
Showtime
Who Is In Super Pumped?
The Showtime series has recruited some big names to fill in for the tech titans at the center of this scandal. Levitt plays the boy-wonder-turned-Silicon-Valley-pariah, introducing Kalanick as a man with a singular vision. Kalanick would drop out of college to work for a start-up called Scour — a peer-to-peer file sharing service — that would eventually go bankrupt after a dispute with investors. In the show, Levitt’s Kalanick is suspicious of venture capitalist investors, sometimes downright hostile towards them, because of his earlier experiences. It’s what also leads the tech executive to assume an almost tyrannical level of control over the company, something that dissuades employees from speaking out against abuse and rampant mismanagement. He’s a wannabe playboy with a complicated family life and an oversized ego that seems to attract trouble.
Another major player in the game is venture capitalist Bill Gurley, an early investor in Uber who served on the company board until 2017. Played by Kyle Chandler, Gurley is a shrewd businessman and something of a pessimist — he’s not wholly convinced of Uber’s “unicorn” status but he’s willing to back Kalanick’s vision, to a point. The two men had a close working relationship that eventually soured so badly that Gurley would essentially launch a coup, leading the charge for Kalanick’s forced resignation down the line. While Chandler and Levitt will likely have contentious contact on-screen, Kalanick’s relationship with advisor and mentor Ariana Huffington (Thurman) was fairly maternal. After the death of his own mother, Huffington became an emotional support system for the embattled CEO, defending him to the press amidst numerous scandals. Thurman’s take on the female tycoon is reserved, calculating, and perhaps, a bit naive considering the faith she seems to have in the show’s de-facto villain.
Other main characters popping up throughout the season include Emil Michael (Babak Tafti), Uber’s former chief business officer; Apple CEO Tim Cook (played by Hank Azaria); and Elizabeth Shue as Kalanick’s mother, Bonnie.
Check out the trailer for Showtime’s Super Pumped below:
Bock might be the German word for goat, but this popular spring beer’s name actually came from a colloquial mistake. Originally brewed in the German city of Einbeck as long ago as the 1300s, it eventually gained popularity and made its way south to Munich. That’s where the subtle difference in pronunciation changed the name “Einbeck” to “Einbock” which means “Billy goat” in German. The name stuck — explaining why so many bottles and cans of bock beer are adorned with goat images.
Traditionally released in the late winter or early spring, bock beers are usually caramel in color, bottom-fermented, fairly rich in malt flavor, and light in hops. Part of the reason bocks are released in the spring is due to religion. Historically, monks would brew this beer style in the fall and early winter and then bring out this higher proof, flavorful, hearty beer while they’re fasting during lent. History aside, we look forward to this rich brew each year because its arrival means the end of winter, meaning that the spring thaw is close.
Since we’re always on the lookout for different bock beers to try, we asked a handful of craft beer experts, brewers, and beer professionals for help finding them. They were nice enough to tell us some of their favorites to drink while they await the end of this dreary, dark season.
Weihenstephaner Vitus is a fantastic weizenbock. It’s semi-fruity with some clove and a little banana. Vitus has the full mouthfeel of a bock but also the drinkability of a wheat beer. It’s a very multi-dimensional flavor.
Ayinger Winter Bock is my pick. What flavors make it great? I do tend to believe when it comes to world styles, it’s best to go to the source. So here, that means Germany. This is smooth, strong, and malty without too much hop bitterness and almost no hop aroma. When people say beer is liquid bread, I think they mean styles like this because if they meant IPAs then people are eating some really messed up bread.
My favorite bock beer is the Troegs Troegenator with its rich flavors of caramel and chocolate. This one is eagerly awaited each winter and spring for good reason. I miss my East Coast beers.
My pick is Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock. Korbinian is one of many delicious German doppelbocks that are relatively easy to find locally. I’ve always been partial to this one due to its drinkability. It is clean and malty with the rich Maillard flavors one would expect. This one has a slightly lighter body and a drier finish without sacrificing flavor.
Once you have a steinkrug of this beer at their monastery beerhall overlooking the Bavarian countryside, it’s hard to imagine a better place to drink a bock beer. The beer itself is perfect. A celebration of liquid malt, it’s silky smooth with a creamy finish.
Augustiner Maximator is big and rich with sticky sweet malt flavors throughout, but it’s not cloying. We had a blind doppelbock tasting this winter and this one was the consensus winner. You could put a few other German ones in here without skipping a beat though, these are such fun, delicious, complex beers.
New Glarus Cabin Fever
New Glarus
Brian Jaszewski, director of product management at Sprecher Brewing Co. in Glendale, Wisconsin
I’m going with New Glarus Cabin Fever from New Glarus, Wisconsin. The addition of honey to the brew kettle — allowing for a bit of caramelization — provides a depth of mouthfeel and aroma that can’t be matched. This is why so many breweries do it, including us here at Sprecher.
KC Bier Weizenbock
KC Bier
Jeremy Ragonese, president of Uinta Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah
I haven’t had it in a while, but if memory serves KC Bier Co. makes a wonderful Weizenbock, and I believe it even took home a GABF medal a few years ago. Whenever I think of bock beers, I naturally think seasonals, and Weizenbock is a great beer. It’s simple, bready, and flavorful with traditional aromas of banana and clove, but not overpowering.
It’s a perfect pairing for burgers, brats, and everything that goes with them.
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
Aecht Schlenkerla
John Swanson, brewing supervisor at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina
Oh boy, this is a no-brainer for me, albeit potentially contentious amongst the greater beer drinking community. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock straight from the source at the old brewery in Bamberg is unmatched by any other bock beer. Rauchbier (smoke beer) is an acquired taste but done correctly, as they do in Bamberg, it is exquisite, especially when it is fresh. The smoke flavors are so mellow and creamy.
Darkhorse Perkulator
Darkhorse
Brad Bergman, brewing director at Sycamore Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina
I’m not a big bock fan in general – they are often heavier and sweeter than I typically enjoy – but the best one that I’ve ever had was the Perkulator Coffee Doppelbock from Dark Horse. Those sweet, rich malt flavors are very nicely balanced with the coffee bitterness. So the sweetness is tempered to a degree.
The coffee flavors mesh nicely with the heavier caramel, bready notes of the beer.
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock has herbal and nutty aromatics lead to a rich but balanced palate. There are also notes of dried fruits, caramel, and a malty sweetness that makes you want to crack open a few bottles in one sitting.
Maibock from Lake Placid Pub and Brewery is my pick. It was my first taste of what a Maibock could be. It’s really difficult to restrain the flavors in such a high alcohol beer. When done well, there’s a right amount of fruity esters and it’s deceptively easy to drink.
New Glarus Gyrator
New Glarus
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
Hands down, the best bock I’ve had is New Glarus Gyrator Doppelbock. I know, my Wisconsin is showing, but there’s harmony in the rye bread, plum, biscuit, and toffee flavors. It’s also thin but rich with its malty date-flavored finish.
Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that part of the world isn’t exactly somewhere people are flocking to right now. Given the unrest in the area, music acts who were planning on performing over there are understandably deciding to change their touring plans and skip Russia. Green Day was one of the first major artists to announce canceled Russian shows a couple days ago, and in the past 24 hours or so, a good handful of artists have taken a similar stance.
The Killers were set to perform at Moscow’s Park Live Festival this summer, but a representative for the band tells TMZ they’ve pulled out of the event. Franz Ferdinand also canceled shows they had lined up for this summer and wrote on social media, “We are cancelling our Russian shows that are scheduled for this summer. The only reason for this is the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian state. […] We know you see the madness of your country’s leadership. We know you do not want war. We do not want war. Despite the tragedy of this situation, we still burn a flame of optimism in our hearts and look forward to the day when we can return in a time of peace to share the joy of music together again.”
In light of this news, the band became a trending topic on Twitter today, as many users drew a connection between the current Russian invasion and Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, after whom the band is named and whose assassination in 1914 is considered to be a major catalyst for World War I.
Artists like Nick Cave, Louis Tomlinson, Health, Yungblud, and Måneskin shared similar news, with Måneskin not canceling shows but delaying news of upcoming shows. Check out their posts below.
Despite our desire to give you updates regarding the European and Italian tour by March the 1st, we are not able to define and share the new dates in this moment of tension for Europe and for the whole world. We are closer than ever to all the people plagued by war right now. pic.twitter.com/chfec541AB
If Victoria Spice still isn’t ready to reprise her role as Posh Spice on a subsequent Spice Girls Tour, Megan Fox is ready to heed the call as “BDSM Spice” should the phone ring. In a pair of selfies posted to her Instagram yesterday, the actress, styled in a black mesh top and immaculate hair and make-up, effectively put her name in the hat for future Spice Girls consideration.
“Offering myself to the spice girls if they are in need of a new member. BDSM spice,” read Fox’s caption.
And while the Spice Girls haven’t toured since 2019’s Spice World Tour, Mel C (Scary Spice) recently said that the famed British girl group talk about it “constantly” and that it was “always” the plan to reunite again. “We did these amazing stadium shows two years ago,” she told Lea Michele, who was filling in as the host of Ellen. “It was the best thing we’ve ever done. The creativity was so incredible. We had the best time. But we’ve got to come back because we love the US. Our fans are amazing.”
Fox, who got engaged to her partner Machine Gun Kelly earlier this year, has been leaning in to the BDSM aesthetic lately. She said that she and MGK “drank each other’s blood” when they got engaged and MGK gave her an engagement ring that was designed to be painful when removed. If BDSM Spice ever materialized, then Fox would definitely score points for authenticity.
We’re positively hyped for our March round-up of artists to watch. This column looks at artists from across the cultural spectrum that are rising in unique ways. And this month, we’re jumping from indie pop to electro soul, to Chicago R&B and a rapper on the tip of The Weeknd’s tongue. Check it out.
Deb Never
You might’ve already heard the commanding Korean-American vocalist on “Push” from Slowthai’s album Tyron, or perhaps you peeped last year’s sneaky excellent Where Have All The Flowers Gone? EP. Now Deb Never just dropped her first new tune of the year, “Crutches,” a hopeful, happy-go-lucky indie-electro pop jam about embracing your individuality and channeling your inner-drive. “No matter what they say ya, better hold your head up. No way out,” the now LA-based Never sings on the anthemic track over a shower of effects, strings and thunderous drum and bass that invite you to express yourself.
Yeat
When The Weeknd was celebrating his birthday in Vegas earlier this month, a clip surfaced of him singing along to Yeat’s “Get Busy.” The track, with its syrup-soaked video game beat, features the now-viral lyric “This song already was turnt but here’s a bell,” followed by clanging church bells. Portland-raised and now LA-based, Yeat’s career was born from SoundCloud, and then blew up on TikTok with tracks like “Sorry Bout That” and “Money Twërk.” His latest album, 2 Alivë, came out on February 18th and features appearances from Young Thug (on the melodic drums and bells of “Öutside”) and Gunna (on the woozy keys-driven “Rackz Got Më.) Unsurprisingly, the album’s LA listening party prompted a shutdown for crowd control issues illustrating that the hype is real. Now signed to Field Trip/Geffen, all the elements for a continued breakout are here.
On both Classical Notions of Happiness and Something To Say To You, Jordana’s first two releases, we were introduced to a witty songwriter, with an intrinsic knack for cynical, tongue-in-cheek indie pop. Now the 21-year-old has announced her proper debut studio album, Face The Wall, (out May 20th on Grand Jury) and she’s armed with an even sharper pop music knife. “Catch My Drift” is a catchy, glitzy jam with buoyant vocals that she says is “about going back and forth with your feelings for someone when they make you question whether they are even reciprocated.”
Khazali
When we highlighted Khazali’s track “Passion Controller” last month, we called it “a good fit for both the dance floor and the afterparty.” And the deeper I dive into the UK electro-soul singer’s catalog, the more he feels like a worthy star student of Sampha and Sbtrkt’s breed of vocal productions. But there’s a far more rhythmic step from Khazali and his second EP, The Rush, is made up of pieces of his dream journals expressed in the sonic universe of the romantically-woven characters he’s created. His latest jam, “Dance In The Rain,” is a liquid groove that further builds the anticipation for the release of The Rush, out March 11th via Kitsuné Musique.
Kaina
A Chicago native of Guatemalan and Venezuelan descent, Kaina’s take on R&B celebrates love, lineage, and heritage. The silky-voiced singer recently signed with City Slang and her latest two singles, “Casita” and “Apple,” were both co-written and co-produced with fellow Chicagoan Sen Morimoto. “Casita” is a bi-lingual ode to being with family and friends in simpler times, with Kaina singing “I’ve always dreamt about a place, big enough for us all to stay, so that we could be together.” While “Apple,” with a video that links it to a linear story that begins to unfold on “Casita” — has an upbeat swing over Morimoto’s guitar and Kaina’s layered vocals. She’ll be joining Helado Negro on tour in May and we’ll be keeping tabs on more heat from Kaina no doubt.
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