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With just a little over a month until it swoops into theaters, The Batman has released a new TV spot that delves deeper into The Riddler‘s plan more than anything we’ve seen before. In the new clip titled “The Game,” Robert Pattinson‘s Bruce Wayne is directly in the crosshairs of Matt Reeves’ serial killer take on the quizzical villain. The new promo also shows Pattinson’s Batman working closely with Jeffrey Wright‘s Commissioner Gordon. However, upping the stakes is the fact that it very much seems like The Riddler is aware of Batman’s secret identity, which is going to make things complicated, but also highlights how the film will tackle a Dark Knight who’s just starting out and not always making the best moves.

While The Riddler seems to be cementing his place as a fierce opponent in the same vein as Heath Ledger’s Joker and Tom Hardy’s Bane, there has been speculation that the character’s identity might not be who the marketing material is suggesting. Paul Dano is believed to be the villain, but eagle-eyed Batman fans can’t help but notice The Riddler’s face has never been shown in any of the teasers or trailers that have dropped in the past few months. But don’t look for that mystery to be solved anytime soon. Warner Bros. recently revealed that The Batman‘s funtime will be clocking it at just under three hours, making it the second longest superhero movie ever behind Avengers: Endgame. That’s a whole lot of Battinson.

The Batman will smash its way into theaters on March 4.

(Via Warner Bros. Indonesia)

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 Megan Thee Stallion busting out another risque and catchy track and Lana Del Rey returning for Euphoria. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters.

Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion — “Lick”

Shenseea has stacked her resume big-time lately, as she recently landed appearances on Ye’s Donda album and now she has teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion on “Lick.” Like “WAP” before it, the catchy tune comes accompanied by a hyper-sexual video that’s full of both flesh and innuendo.

Lana Del Rey — “Watercolor Eyes”

Euphoria fans got a surprise last week when a new Lana Del Rey tune popped up in a trailer for the show, and now Del Rey has release the whole song, “Watercolor Eyes.” This one ought to please fans of Del Rey’s early work: Uproxx’s Caitlin White notes that while the tune is “slightly more wispy, and her voice is a little wavery,” the “classic strings and piano behind her melodies” are “vintage Lana.”

2 Chainz — “Pop Music” Feat. Moneybagg Yo and Beatking

2 Chainz is close to releasing Dope Don’t Sell Itself, the album that will represent his first full-length release in nearly two years. He offered a look at the project last week with “Pop Music,” a quick tune that runs for just about two minutes but uses that time wisely, letting 2 Chainz and Moneybagg Yo flex on a simple but hard-hitting instrumental.

Conan Gray — “Jigsaw”

2020’s Kid Krow was a major debut for Conan Gray that established him as one of pop’s most appealing up-and-comers, and he kicked off his 2022 with “Jigsaw.” On the slow-burning, anthemic, rock-inspired tune, the young singer gets vulnerable about changing himself to appease others, a practice he intends on leaving behind.

Nilüfer Yanya — “Midnight Sun”

Yanya is similar to Gray in a way, in that her debut album 2019’s Miss Universe came out in the recent past, it made a lot of eyeballs fix themself in the rising star’s direction, and it made fans eagerly anticipate what’s coming next. For Yanya, that’s her sophomore album Panless, which she previewed last week with “Midnight Sun.” Describing the tune as having a tempered beat, Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes, “Guided by heavenly strings, ‘Midnight Sun’ sees Yanya rising further on her quest to self-actualization.”

Rich Brian and Warren Hue — “Getcho Mans”

Rich Brian says his new Brightside EP represents “how the past year has accelerated my growing-up process as an artist and a person.” Indeed, “Getcho Mans” shows that his flow is razor sharp, as both he and Warren Hue offer dexterous, rapid-fire verses on the track.

Khruangbin and Leon Bridges — “Chocolate Hills”

Khruangbin and Leon Bridges, both Texas favorites, showed off their perhaps-unexpected chemistry on their joint 2020 EP Texas Sun. Now, they’re coming back with more new collaborative material with the Texas Moon EP. They previewed it last week with “Chocolate Hills,” on which Bridges finds himself in his pocket singing about love on a sweet tune.

Russ — “Remember (Remix)” Feat. Hailey Knox

Russ’ latest song — “Remember (Remix),” part of his weekly singles series — is a shining example of how the internet has changed the world and especially the music industry. This rework of the song came as a result of Russ putting out a challenge for others to remix the tune, and he liked Knox’s contributions so much that he included her on the new remix.

Guapdad 4000 — “I Need Bands”

Guapdad 4000 kicked off his 2022 by looking backward, as his first song of the year, “I Need Bands,” is built on a sample of LL Cool J’s 1987 favorite “I Need Love.” With how prevalent throwback aesthetics are in today’s culture, though, it doesn’t sound out of place, especially with the song’s modern touches.

Griff and Sigrid — “Head On Fire”

Griff and Sigrid are two of pop’s favorite rising stars, so the recent rumors that the two would be collaborating were especially appealing. Thankfully, the link-up actually came to be, as a few days ago, the pair dropped “Head On Fire,” a thumping and energetic synth-pop tune that delivers a big, catchy hook.

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

It’s almost the end of the first month of 2022 and it didn’t take long for us to already have plenty of video games to play. While there haven’t been too many new releases yet, we’ve had plenty to choose from whether it’s getting through our backlogs or making our way through Game Pass.

It’s Game Pass, in particular, that has been helping the year get off to such a strong start. Not only have we had a couple of brand new releases already hit the service, but it’s been adding some absolute powerhouse titles to the service throughout the month. Even better is we have more to look forward to! Unfortunately, we also have a handful of titles that are on their way out by the end of January. If all of this seems overwhelming then don’t worry, because we can point you in the right direction. These are the games that we think everyone should be playing this month.

One New – Death’s Door

One of the best games of 2021, Death’s Door hit Game Pass on January 20 and reminded everyone about how fun that game is. Everything about it from the incredibly smooth combat, to the atmospheric music, to the hysterical writing makes you want to keep playing no matter how often you die. And you will die. A lot. Death’s Door isn’t an impossibly difficult game, but it’s definitely no cakewalk and enemies will respawn anytime the player chooses to return to the hub world. It’s not a souls game, but there are some elements that definitely feel inspired by that genre. As a result, many fans of games like Dark Souls gravitate to Death’s Door. This makes the game a great entry point into the genre, or just a great game to play on its own. It’s at a minimum worth trying out.

One Leaving – Cyber Shadow

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Cyber Shadow around this time last year, but good times can’t last forever and it’s going to be leaving Game Pass by the end of the month. The NES inspired platformer may feel like an homage to Ninja Gaiden, but make no mistake this is its own game and it does a lot of what it wants to do extremely well. Control feels tight, and levels are a fair challenge, but it does suffer from some drawbacks that unfortunately made most people forget about it as last year went on. It’s a fun time, and only takes 10 hours max to beat, so it’s the perfect game to spend the final week of the month on. Anyone that really enjoys NES style games should give it a try.

One Staying – Banjo Kazooie

Banjo Kazooie recently released to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. This is of course a big deal because Banjo hasn’t been available on a Nintendo console since the Nintendo 64 it originally released on. Of course, the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion pack deal can feel expensive for what you’re getting out of it, and has had a few emulation issues since launching. It’s probably not worth spending the extra money on it if all you want to do is play Banjo Kazooie, or maybe you don’t own a Switch and have a case of FOMO. If that’s the case, then play the Xbox 360 port of the game through Game Pass! It’s largely the same game and even has achievements to collect for the completionists out there. It’s one of the best 3D platformers ever made and is a delight the entire way through so we give it a strong recommendation.

Games Coming To Game Pass

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Availalbe Now
Nobody Saves the World (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available Now
Death’s Door (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20
Hitman Trilogy (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20
Pupperazzi (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction (Cloud, Console, and PC) – January 20
Windjammers 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – Available Now
Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Console and PC) – January 27

Leaving On January 31

Cyber Shadow (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Nowhere Prophet (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Prison Architect (PC)
Xeno Crisis (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Ari Lennox has had enough of being trolled online every time she stands up for herself. The Washington, DC native called out her detractors and expressed a wish to get out of the spotlight altogether in the wake of backlash over a recent interview that left her vowing never to visit South Africa.

During the interview with the Johannesburg-based Podcast And Chill podcast, host Mac G pulled a line from Ari’s own song “Pop” to ask “Is someone f*cking you good right now?” Caught off-guard, Ari was nonplussed during the interview but later tweeted that she wished she had responded differently, as the question felt disrespectful. However, fans of the podcast and others trolled Ari, calling her overly sensitive and blaming the salacious question on her own image.

Over the weekend, she addressed how the constant backlash made her feel, tweeting, “I want to be dropped from the labels. I’m done and tired.” Ari is currently signed to Interscope via J. Cole’s Dreamville Records.

Of course, that only led to more trolling tweets from followers who only wanted to provoke more reactions from the distraught singer. She addressed them without replying to any in particular. “For Christ sakes,” she wrote. “I realize I have no hits. I realize you all can live without hearing my music. I realize my complaining is so aggravating to y’all. I don’t ask blogs to post me when I’m at my worst. You judgemental self-hating parasites wouldn’t last a day as a signed artist… Complaining that I’m complaining about the sh*t I’m going through meanwhile in real life you’re just as unhappy just as f*cked up. You crying in the car too. Somebody calling you insensitive and dramatic too. You could never be honest about your demons.”

Lennox has been in this position before after she posted her thoughts about Lizzo winning Album Of The Year at the Soul Train Awards over her debut Shea Butter Baby and after she called out a troll who said she resembled a dog.

With 27 movies and five TV shows (with many more likely to premiere by the end of the year), it can be hard keeping track of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s timeline. Maybe not Fast and Furious difficult, but difficult nonetheless. Iron Man was released before Captain America: The First Avenger, but Captain America: The First Avenger takes place before Iron Man, as does Captain Marvel, even though it came out 11 years later. Even Disney+, the home of most (but not all) of the MCU movies, couldn’t keep it straight.

The MCU timeline on Disney+ previously listed Black Panther as taking place before the events of Black Widow, but that’s not the case. The grievous error has been corrected, although, as Comic Book points out, “both films take place just a few days after the events of Captain America: Civil War. But it appears Black Widow is set just a little earlier than Black Panther.” Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

Here’s the correct timeline:

Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain Marvel
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Thor
Marvel’s The Avengers
Thor: The Dark World
Iron Man 3
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Black Widow
Black Panther
Doctor Strange
Thor: Ragnarok
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers: Endgame
Loki
Marvel’s What If…?
WandaVision
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
Hawkeye

For the best (Marvel and non-Marvel) TV shows on Disney+, head here.

(Via Comic Book)

Tobe Nwigwe returned with a new Get Twisted Sundays release this week, deciding to address some of his online detractors in the “Undressing Criticism” video. This time around, Tobe takes a sharp left turn from the usual aggressive vibe of songs for a tender reflection on his and his wife Martika’s — aka Fat — relationship, which recently came under fire online after the two opened up about their rocky start in a confessional video years ago.

After an interview with Erykah Badu brought renewed attention to the old video, commenters, gossip bloggers, and YouTubers lashed out at the honest way the couple presented their story. One reaction video is titled, “Why Black Women Will Always Be An After Thought [sic],” while comments on the original video suggest that viewers feel Tobe said he settled for her because he did not originally want a relationship.

However, here the couple is, four years, three kids, and a viral rise to stardom later, and Fat remains central to Tobe’s music, often contributing verses or vocals to his Sunday single releases and nearly always popping up in the videos for songs like “Fye Fye” and “The Truth,” and performing with him on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In “Undressing Criticism,” he calls out those critics, rhyming, “How the hell is one offended when presented with someone’s genuine experience that don’t make or break you doing you?” Fat even comes in at the end with a spoken-word piece encouraging the people in the peanut gallery to find healing so that don’t feel the need to lash out over someone else’s story.

Watch Tobe Nwigwe’s “Undressing Criticism” video above.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

The sheer elegance of Tahliah Debrett Barnett’s dancing skills have, up until this point, frequently eclipsed her voice. Barnett, who performs under the name FKA Twigs, uses her body to communicate in ways that most of us can only dream of. A breakout video for the artist, “Water Me,” used Twigs’ face like a puppet, with giant, oversized eyes blinking in a tightly shrunken face, her expression conveying more in those blinks, or the slight curl of her lip, than in the timbre of her voice. Her vocals were exquisite, but her body kept score. In the clip, she describes a distanced lover, who tells her she is “so small.” Her rebuttal? Water me.

In subsequent videos, her body was showcased in the consensual BDSM of “Papi Pacify,” the faux pregnancy and woodland voguing of “Glass & Patron,” and, most notably, the absolutely arresting pole dancing that dominates her 2019 single, “Cellophane.” It wasn’t that the music on Twigs’ glitchy debut, LP1, or its very formal, very sad follow-up, Magdalene wasn’t excellent, it always was, but there was a sense of remove in her songs even when the lyrics reveled in vulnerability. That entire dynamic has flipped on Caprisongs, a brand new full-length release from Twigs, who has frequently used shorter EP style releases when she wasn’t in album mode instead of the more casual mixtape style.

On her first mixtape, Caprisongs (a play on her astrological sign, Capricorn), she reveals a side that fans have rarely seen. Listeners have known Twigs, the creative perfectionist with an inferiority complex, on Caprisongs they meet Twigs the Capricorn, Twigs the giggly friend, Twigs the “rockstar girlfriend.” (“I’m not the rockstar’s girlfriend, I’m the rockstar girlfriend, do y’know what I mean?” she asserts, during one conversation snippet.) Created in the timeframe directly following her choice to go public with the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse she received at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf, the tape is a decidedly communal offering. Like many other trauma survivors, Twigs is taking comfort in finding support in others, letting shared experience stand-in for the specifics of her own life. But snippets of dialogue with friends and collaborators, and a more relaxed, linear style in the songwriting gives a deeper look into Twigs’ psyche than her past work.

Kicking off with the bodacious “Ride The Dragon,” the “Water Me” narrative has reversed; no longer is Twigs the rejected woman, not good enough for her unrequited crush, but she’s a confident, sex-positive partner: “Really wanna kiss me? Kiss me, Do it quickly, do it,” she demands. In an interview with Variety, Barnett described her past projects as touching on “personal, very specific things,” and this new tape as something she created with others in mind. “I think it was the first time as an artist that I felt the desire to create something for other people,” she explained. “It would be naïve to believe that it made them feel better… but I did want to provide truth, honesty, light and joy to people, to remind them what we had, and are grateful for.”

That lightness and joy comes through in spades on songs like “Meta Angel,” where Twigs uses cathedral vocals during a quest for spiritual support, leaving the door open for a celestial being to fly through. On a track like “Oh My Love,” Twigs includes stories from other women about the distress they’ve experienced in relationships with men, along with uplifting monologues encouraging self-love in each other. Not every aspect is cheerful — one of the tape’s earliest singles, “Tears In The Club” with The Weeknd, is, ostensibly a song about being miserable on the dancefloor. But, in this era, it’s got enough bass to make it actually danceable — something of a departure for Twigs (or, at least, danceable enough for the rest of us non-professionals dancers out at the club).

Embracing the effortless diversity of her native London, and arguably even tapping into her father’s Jamaican roots, there’s plenty of dancehall inflections on Caprisongs, like the standout “Papi Bones,” a true celebration of the freedom of dance and what it represents. Again, anyone who has seen Twigs perform has experienced her feelings about the artform on some level, but this song lays out the subject within the accompanying monologue. Another pair of standouts, “Jealousy” and “Honda” similarly embrace a more blunt, carefree song form, mixing afrobeat and dancehall in the way that mainstream chart-toppers have recently. “Which Way,” track that sounds like early Grimes, gets into the uncertainty and disillusionment that most women who have worked in the music industry will relate to, and, as an antidote, “Lightbeamers” is a lullaby for the burnt out.

As far as Twigs’ place in a grueling industry goes, her recent signing to a US deal with Atlantic Records indicates that the visions she has for her career might’ve expanded past the disillusioned phase. Though she’s always been an under-the-radar force, if Caprisongs is an example of what’s coming next, the sky’s the limit for this artist’s appeal. “It was time for me to move on,” Twigs told Variety of the shift. “Going to Atlantic, I feel as if this could be a brilliant home for me. It’s OK for me to strive for more. That’s what Caprisongs is for me: an OK for me to learn laugh and smile.” But even on the most mainstream Twigs release, there’s still room for the avant garde. Her formerly darker production style is decidedly back for two Arca collabs: “Tears In The Club” and closer “Thank You,” where she goes as far as discussing her own suicidal ideation. The latter is a chance for her to put voice to her darkest feelings, finding hope in the act of voicing them. Building into a towering, Imogen Heap-esque electrified hymnal, this song’s blazing scope is, in itself, an argument for life.

Filled with interludes, brief, minute-thirty sonic snippets, and joyful fleets of harmonies that reappear throughout like summoned angels, the project hearkens back to a mixtape culture. Her patchwork framework lets licks, rewinds, sped-up vocals, and slurry, downtempo voices construct the emotional architecture of this song collection. And, unsurprisingly, the ethos of the whole tape can be summed up in a piece from one of the “Oh My Love” monologues, when the speaker asserts: “I love you, and I wish you could see in you what I see in you, what everyone sees in you!” before continuing: “Because that’s the golden stuff right there.” And in that sample, Twigs’ voice couldn’t be louder.

Caprisongs is out now via Atlantic Records. Get it here.

FKA Twigs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As Finneas has ascended to fame thanks to his work with Billie Eilish, producing/writing for other artists, and his own solo music, he has rubbed shoulders with some big-time players in the music industry. An encounter with Taylor Swift, though, was actually one of his most embarrassing moments.

Over the weekend, a fan on Instagram asked Finneas for his “most embarrassing moment,” and Finneas responded, “I said ‘thanks for coming’ to Taylor swift at her own birthday party- Meant to say ‘thanks for inviting me’ or whatever obviously.”

Finneas shouldn’t feel too bad, as a fan noted that Swift herself actually had a similar moment with Troye Sivan. Swift invited Sivan to sing on stage with her, and after the song, Swift said, “Thank you so much for having… for being here.”

He recently described another peculiar incident he had with a different celebrity: Questlove of The Roots. On The Tonight Show in November, Finneas told Jimmy Fallon about his and Eilish’s first time on the show, saying of the moment immediately after their performance, “I’m clapping, I’m looking over, and you guys [The Roots] do your crescendo at the end. I’m just smiling and clapping and looking at Quest, and Quest put his sticks in one hand, and he pointed right at me, and he flipped me the bird.”

WARNING: Spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett below.

After dropping its fourth episode, “The Gathering Storm,” last week, Star Wars fans can’t get over what seems like a pretty significant plot hole in The Book of Boba Fett. In the latest episode, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) finally connects with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in a flashback scene that ties into the first season of The Mandalorian. After the two bounty hunters form a partnership, they set off to rescue Boba’s Firespray ship from Jabba’s Palace, which they naturally pull off due to their innate badass-ness.

However, here’s where things get weird. After using Boba’s ship to exact some revenge on a local speeder bike gang, the two zip on over to the Sarlacc Pit to look for Boba’s armor. There’s just one small problem: The very first episode of the series showed Boba Fett clearly escaping the Sarlacc with his armor intact. In fact, he couldn’t have done it without the flamethrower on his gauntlets. He’s also conscious when the Jawas strip him of his armor not long after bursting out of the creature. (The Mandalorian fans know it later falls into the hands of the imminently handsome Timothy Olyphant.)

It’s an awkward sequence of events, and ever since the fourth episode aired, Star Wars fans have been highlighting the plot hole on social media.

While the sequence is awkward considering the audience knows where Boba Fett’s armor is, and presumably he should, too, because again, he couldn’t escape without it, there is a rumbling as to whether Boba was conscious after escaping the Sarlacc.

Of course, this raises another question. Does Boba Fett think the Sarlacc somehow crawled out of his hole and re-ate his armor? Because that’s the only explanation that would make sense.

(Via The Independent)

Evan Rachel Wood came forward in 2021 to name Manson as the alleged abuser that she had spoken about for years, including while testifying for legislators on behalf of abuse survivors. She (along with Amy Berg) has also been putting together a documentary (that debuted at Sundance and will appear on HBO), in which she details her allegations (including terrorizing, grooming, and horrifically abusing her during their relationship) against him. The two-part film, Phoenix Rising, includes statements from other women who have accused Manson of sexual assault and abuse.

The subject matter is as raw and emotional as can be expected, and Wood revisits the controversial Heart Shaped Glasses video, in which she co-starred with Manson. Back when the video surfaced in 2007, there was much debate over the presumably simulated sex scene (and whether or not it was simulated); and in the documentary, Wood makes the situation clear. She agreed to simulate the sex act, and Manson allegedly decided to make it a real sex act without consent. Via Rolling Stone, Wood declared, “I was coerced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses.” She added, “That’s when the first crime was committed against me. I was essentially raped on-camera.” Wood continued:

“It’s nothing like I thought it was going to be,” Wood says in the Amy Berg-directed film. “We’re doing things that were not what was pitched to me. We had discussed a simulated sex scene, but once the cameras were rolling, he started penetrating me for real. I had never agreed to that … It was complete chaos. I did not feel safe. No one was looking after me. It was a really traumatizing experience filming the video. I felt disgusting and that I had done something shameful and I could tell that the crew was uncomfortable and nobody knew what to do.

Wood further detailed how Manson allegedly instructed her to say that the video was a “great, romantic time and none of that was the truth.” She explained that she complied because “I was scared to do anything that would upset Brian in any way,” and from there, the “violence” continued to “escalate” for the duration of the relationship. Berg previously told Variety that this documentary was already in the works until Wood made the decision to publicly name Manson, and at that point, the project doubled in length.

The LA Sheriff Department’s sexual assault investigation against Manson is ongoing.

(Via Rolling Stone)