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Last night, Gunna stuck the landing on the impressive rollout of his new album DS4EVER. The Atlanta trap star gave his Drip Season a fitting sendoff, launching a campaign to make “Pushin P” the latest adult-bewildering slang, trying out new visual formats for his videos like “Life Of Sin,” dropping a deluxe edition with four new songs, and pulling in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. With all those notches on his belt, he made one last stop at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City to deliver a mellow performance of “Empire” on The Tonight Show.

Appearing on a fog-shrouded stage wearing an all-white ensemble and accompanied only by his guitarist — also dressed in all-white, the supremely laid-back Gunna rapped his verses from a comfy-looking chair flanked by a classy, candle-bearing side table. Completing the cozy look was a pair of bright yellow house slippers for a pop of color. The only things missing were a Snuggie, a cup of hot tea, and a fluffy blanket — who knew Gunna could do lo-fi self-care so well?

Watch Gunna’s Tonight Show performance of “Empire” above.

DS4EVER is out now via 300 and Atlantic. You can stream it here.

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

Welcome to another installment of Ask A Music Critic! And thanks to everyone who has sent me questions. Please keep them coming at [email protected].

I know you are a huge CD collector. You probably already read the news of the first increase in CD sales since 2004. Do you think there is a new resurgence or revival of nostalgia towards this format as we have seen with vinyl in the last 10 years? — Rodolfo from Sonora, Mexico

Good to hear from you, Rodolfo. Of course I am aware of this news! Like you said, I am a CD collector and I have publicly defended the compact disc against legions of naysayers for the better part of a decade. I was in the pre-revival trenches back in 2014 when I wrote this:

Call it loyalty or lunacy, but the CD remains my preferred music delivery device. It’s more convenient than vinyl and more tangible than digital. I like the sense of continuity it gives my music collection, jumbling up records I bought in 1992 with 2003 and 2011 and yesterday. I like picking out discs for car rides and letting them collect over the course of weeks in the backseat. The rest I like looking at on display in my office — it’s part monument, part money pit, part mirror, part climbing hazard for my 2-year-old son.

My son is 9 now, by the way. But I still believe all of this. If you are a music fan who values a physical format, CDs sound great no matter where you play them, they are portable, and they are much cheaper than vinyl. And yet they’re regarded as an antiquated or even dead format. But you and I know better, don’t we, Rodolfo?

When I heard about the sales bump, I imagine my feelings were akin to being a fan of the Detroit Lions and seeing my team finally win a Super Bowl. We’ve taken a lot of L’s here in CD Nation, so a rare W must be savored. Now that people are talking about a CD revival, it appears that more people might be joining our side. Hallelujah!

But alas … something isn’t totally right here. If you look closely at the numbers — as much as it pains me to say this — the “revival” starts to look like a mirage. In 2021, CD sales were up 1.1 percent from the previous year, from 40.2 million in 2020 to 40.6 million. That’s not exactly a huge jump, though given that it was preceded by 16 solid years of decline, any increase seems impressive.

But if you look even closer at the numbers, you’ll see that Adele had the best sales week for CDs when she moved 378,000 copies of 30 immediately upon release. The week before that, Taylor Swift had the second best week for CDs when she sold 146,700 copies of her album, Red (Taylor’s Version). Unfortunately for the burgeoning CD revival, the two biggest pop stars in the world do not put out albums every year. Which suggests that this “surge” might be an aberration. Because guess what happens when you remove 378,000, and then 146,700, from 40.6 million? You get another year of decline for my precious format. [shakes fist at the sky] Going back to my Lions analogy, this isn’t like winning a Super Bowl at all; it’s like beating the Packers when they don’t have Aaron Rodgers. It’s a pity victory! The worst kind!

Having said all that, I still think there is hope for the CD revival. It’s just not with the mainstream. It’s with the underground.

I recently corresponded with another vocal CD supporter, the excellent guitarist and singer/songwriter Ryley Walker, about this very subject. Ryley runs a small record label called Husky Pants, in which he puts out his own albums as well as music by artists he believes in. Like so many indie rockers — as we’ve seen reported by various outlets — it’s become increasingly difficult for him to press his music on vinyl because of the expense and the long waiting periods that are now standard in the industry. We’re at a point now where many artists have to factor in a vinyl manufacturing timeline when it comes to planning when they can release music and tour. This is lunacy.

For Ryley, CDs are a sensible alternative.

“We’ve sort of been propagandized to believe LPs are the only pure form of music,” he told me. “I respect anybody’s choice to listen to music however they want. But LPs are just getting more expensive and pushing out the kids and true heads a.k.a. the people I want to hear the fucking music.”

One of the knocks against CDs is that the format is associated with a bloated era of the music industry in the late ’90s and early ’00s, when record labels made gouging customers a core part of their business plan. For millennials and zoomers old enough to remember a pre-Spotify world, CDs are those over-priced plastic coasters that they stopped buying when cheaper and more convenient technology emerged. There’s nothing cool about them.

Vinyl, meanwhile, is the format that several generations discovered from their parents or the cool music fans in their friend groups. It is linked with romantic notions of an “authentic” past, when you could simply sit back and relax in your living room with an album and absorb music in 20-minute intervals without all of the distractions that make modern life maddening. Vinyl — a format that otherwise is absurdly inconvenient and sounds good only if you have a good (and often expensive) turntable — is all about cool.

A roadblock for a real CD revival is that the media for years has essentially written off the format as a product for Luddites and nostalgists, while consistently providing the vinyl market with boosterish coverage. That was already true when I wrote my CD defense eight years ago, when vinyl sales were a fraction of what they are now. The glorification of vinyl (and the marginalization of CDs) didn’t just begin in the past few years. It’s been an ongoing project, I suspect, that all along has been quietly cheered on by the music industry, given the CDs are relatively inexpensive and have minimal cachet. Meanwhile the prestige of vinyl makes it easier to justify pumping up prices up higher and higher. That includes the resell market — on eBay from 2007 to 2017, the average vinyl price rose a staggering 490 percent. Anyone who buys records knows this trend has continued in the years since then.

And then there’s the cost of manufacturing vinyl. Ryley estimates that, at minimum, the unit cost per vinyl is about $5, which can go up if there are color inserts, a gatefold and other accoutrements. CDs, meanwhile, cost about 90 cents per disc if you order 1,000 units, with the price going down even further as you manufacture more discs, he says.

The math here isn’t complicated. If you want to support indie artists by buying a physical product, CDs are cheaper to produce and ship, and they don’t require the amount of lead time — which now can be many months in advance of a release date — that vinyl requires.

“CDs are not just nostalgic for me or something, it’s literally the thing that could save independent music,” Ryley argues. “I’m all about records and have tons but the bubble is bursting. It’s not niche anymore or sustainable. It’s bloated as fuck. And I mean that with all due respect to the wonderful pressing plants around the world busting their ass to make it work. I wish nothing but success for them.”

Like Ryley, I’m not arguing that people should stop buying vinyl. Fans derive real pleasure from collecting records, and it deepens their relationship with the music they love. I’m only suggesting that you also consider buying CDs if you aren’t already. CDs offer a similar “deep listening” experience that’s a refreshing change of pace from the constant churn of streaming. And buying CDs alleviates the pressure on bands with vinyl-loving constituencies to stock up only on the most cumbersome and impractical format. (Remember: It’s not Adele or Taylor Swift’s fault that there’s a vinyl shortage. It’s the demand from vinyl buyers who will only ever buy vinyl.) If that happens, maybe we can have a real CD revival.

I’ve always liked your Five Great Albums Test from your AV Club days. My question is: Who is currently a contender to pass the test? Who is on the “watch list” of three or more consecutive great albums? — Todd from West Lafayette, Indiana

Hey Todd! I am always down for some Five Albums Test talk. We recently welcomed The War On Drugs into the fold upon the release of their fifth album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, last October. Looking ahead to 2022, there are two very strong contenders on the near-horizon: Big Thief will release their fifth album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, on Feb. 11; and Father John Misty will drop his fifth joint, Chloë And The Next 20th Century, on April 8. I have promos of both records, and while I am legally prohibited from publicly stating an opinion about them at this juncture — not really, but I’d probably annoy my editor — I will say that I think that Big Thief and FJM are both well-positioned moving forward.

Another band with a new album due out next month is Beach House — the LP is called Once Twice Melody, and it comes out Feb. 18 — who I think might have already passed the test, though I’m not in a position to judge because I’m more of a casual fan. But my sense is that their run began with 2010’s Teen Dream, and continues through 2018’s 7, one of their most acclaimed records. The potential catch here is 2015’s Thank Your Lucky Stars, the quickie followup to Depression Cherry, though again I’ll defer on that to a more informed fan.

As for the “watch list” of prospects, I’m curious if Mitski can continue the three-album winning streak that began with 2014’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek upon the release of Laurel Hell on Feb. 4. Frankly, I haven’t loved the singles, but I am enough of a Mitski fan to hope that the songs shine brighter in the context of the album. I also have to shoutout Wild Pink, whose first three albums have ranked among my favorites of recent years. I have faith they can bring it home with at least two more great records.

The 2021 NFL season has been memorable in many ways, including a bizarre Wild Card weekend, but only seven games remain on the calendar. Four of the seven arrive during the Divisional Round this weekend and, in advance of kick-off on Saturday, former New York Giants wide receiver and Super Bowl hero David Tyree chatted with UPROXX to look at the slate. Tyree co-hosts a new sports betting show called “Odds With Ends” that airs on MSG Network every Friday from 5-6 p.m. ET, joining former Giants teammate Mathias Kiwanuka on the program. The duo brings a great deal of background experience from years of service in the NFL, with the show touching on picks, game breakdowns and much more.

This week’s slate of winners will follow in a moment, with a hat-tip to David, but first, let’s check on the progress for the season.

• Last Week: 2-3
• 2021 Season: 54-40-1

Come get these winners.

Tennessee Titans (-3.5) over Cincinnati Bengals

The Titans had the week off after earning a bye, but it doesn’t feel like it in the discourse. Cincinnati covered (narrowly) against the Raiders last week and all of the talk is about Cincinnati’s offense. Meanwhile, the Titans have the rest advantage, home-field advantage and the edge in experience. Throw in the fact that the world is on Cincinnati and we have ourselves a “fade the public” favorite pick.

Tyree’s take: “I had two early-season sleepers and it was the Titans and the Cardinals. You hope that the rest works for them, especially in light of Derrick Henry getting rested and coming back. Their defense has been playing lights-out. In my personal opinion, Mike Vrabel has probably been my Coach of the Year… I’m always going to lean experience over talent, too, and that is a case against the Bengals.”

Green Bay Packers (-5.5) over San Francisco 49ers

We were on the wrong side of the Niners last week. That was a mess of a game, but San Francisco getting points was the correct play. At any rate, this is a different animal for the Niners, going to Lambeau Field where the Packers haven’t lost this season. If you follow this column regularly, it’ll seem crazy that I have two favorites in a row, but I think this number should be seven. Lay it.

Tyree’s take: “I picked Green Bay-Tennessee as my Super Bowl matchup. I honestly thought Dallas would beat San Francisco, but I do think it’s going to be an iconic NFL matchup. This is something the NFL is looking for and people should be excited about it. I think the Green Bay defense is a strength, but my hand is tipped at the quarterback position with Aaron Rodgers. It’s Green Bay for me all day.”

Los Angeles Rams (+3) over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This isn’t a number I love in any direction, but we give out five games per week here, so it’s on the card. Tampa Bay’s injury issues swing the pendulum for me, and facing the Eagles isn’t going to get the Bucs ready to see a much different offense in the Rams. The game might come down to whether Los Angeles can get pressure and disrupt Brady’s timing. I’m betting they can.

Tyree’s take: “I do lean toward experience and what Tom Brady and the Bucs have shown is that there is no amount of adversity they can’t overcome. They decisively beat a young Philadelphia team and I think they know how to win.”

Chiefs (-1.5) over Bills —- Chiefs and Bills UNDER 54 points

Two plays on this game! I think we have to take the Chiefs laying less than a field goal, simply because of market concerns. Buffalo’s beatdown of New England changed the perception for many, and the Bills also beat the Chiefs earlier this season. As such, we’re getting at least one point, maybe more, of value on Kansas City at home. As for the under, it’s more of a principle play than anything else. This is a ton of points in an outdoor venue with two competent defenses involved.

Tyree’s take: “I didn’t expect Buffalo to destroy New England, even if I thought they would win. But the way Kansas City is playing as a team right now is really impressive. I think there are a lot of layers to it and it feels like a toss-up. We’ll see where the line might go before Sunday.”

In May 2018, Ariana Grande visited The Tonight Show and during her conversation with Jimmy Fallon, she busted out an impressive impersonation of Jennifer Coolidge, specifically from her role in Legally Blonde. While it was a fun moment, it probably didn’t have a major impact on Grande’s career trajectory. The same can’t be said for Coolidge, though, as she credits Grande and that impression for helping to revitalize her acting career.

Coolidge was on Fallon last night and the host got her reactions to a couple of people impersonating her on the show (Grande and Saturday Night Live‘s Chloe Fineman). Coolidge said of Grande’s impression, “You should know that it was sort of the beginning of a lot of cool things that happened for me. I was going through a dead zone, not much was going on, and then Ariana did this imitation on your show and you encouraged her, and then this ball got rolling.”

She continued:

“My friend who’s like her age, Theresa, she was like, ‘Hey, you know, you should DM Ariana and just say, you know,’ because I thought it was such a good imitation. I was like, ‘No! She’s got like 260 million followers, those are robots. The robots answer the DMs. We will never, ever get to her.’ And then I did it anyway, and then this response came back, and then next thing you know, I was going to her house, getting a wardrobe fitting for ‘Thank U, Next.’ So that was all because of Jimmy Fallon.”

As Coolidge noted, after Grande’s impression, she went on to make a memorable appearance in the “Thank U, Next” video. Over the past few years, Coolidge has acted in the popular series The White Lotus and movies like Promising Young Woman and the upcoming Shotgun Wedding.

Watch Coolidge on The Tonight Show above.

Louie Anderson, a longtime fixture in the stand-up comedy scene and a beloved TV personality and actor, has died at 68 after being hospitalized for cancer treatment earlier in the week. The Life with Louie star and creator’s death was confirmed by his publicist to Variety, which paid tribute to his career:

A seasoned stand-up with a career spanning over three decades, Anderson broke through as a comedian in 1984, when he performed a set on “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.” From there, he performed a comedy special on Showtime in 1987, made regular TV appearances on late-night shows, and appeared in movies such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in 1986 and “Coming to America” in 1988.

Prior to Anderson’s death, Pauly Shore, a longtime friend of the comedian, had tweeted on Thursday evening that the family had been called in to say their goodbyes:

After becoming a TV game show fixture, Anderson recently returned to acting with a critically acclaimed role in the FX series, Baskets, starring Zach Galifianakis. Anderson also made a return to his ’80s roots by appearing in the Coming to America sequel Coming 2 America. The return to his role from the original opened an opportunity for Eddie Murphy to explain how Anderson ended up being the only white guy in the first film, and it’s a testament to the love for him in the stand-up community.

“[T]he whole cast is Black — and this was back in the ‘80s — so [Paramount] was like, ‘We have to have a white person! There has to be a white person in the movie,’” Murphy told Jimmy Kimmel back in March. “So it was, ‘Who’s the funniest white guy around?’ And Louie, we knew him. We was cool with him. So that’s how Louie got in the movie.”

(Via Variety)

The Netflix documentary series about Kanye West, Jeen-yuhs, has been highly anticipated since it was announced last year after months of rumors and with the recent release of the trailer, that anticipation has reached a fever pitch. Unfortunately, it looks like the one person at the center of the maelstrom is unhappy with the arrangements for its impending premier. In a post to his Instagram, the notoriously fickle Ye demanded more creative control over the project, which he’s apparently worried could paint him in an unflattering light (he knows we all saw the last five years, right?).

“I’m going to say this kindly for the last time,” he wrote. “I must get final edit and approval on this doc before it releases on Netflix. Open the edit room immediately so I can be in charge of my own image. Thank you in advance.”

While such a demand is par for the course for Kanye, it’s not all that unusual for Netflix either. The company recently honored an impassioned public request from Dave Chappelle to remove episodes of his Comedy Central sketch show from the service over a royalty dispute, and it likely extended every courtesy to the subjects of recent shows about athletes Colin Kaepernick and Naomi Osaka. However, with the Jeen-yuhs premiere date less than a month away, Netflix may not have time for Ye’s usual last-minute shenanigans. Certainly, if he gets to edit the film himself, it’ll probably end up being a much more sanitized affair — and let’s face it, with this subject, that would be a loss for fans of cinema, Kanye, and hip-hop history.

Full disclosure: I personally do not understand the Pete Davidson “thing.” And when other people, who do get it, have attempted to explain it to me, they’ve also had a difficult time articulating just what it is about the comedian that people find so appealing. Now Davidson himself is even claiming he doesn’t understand how or why he’s been so successful in attracting a bevy of beautiful women—though something leads me to believe that playing coy is a key part of his Kavorka-like charm.

As US Weekly reports, Davidson, who was previously engaged to Ariana Grande and is currently trying to keep up with Kim Kardashian, joked about his ladies’ man reputation during a stand-up show earlier this week as part of the Patrice O’Neal Comedy Benefit Concert in New York City. “There seems to be a curiosity about me, is what my friends tell me,” Davidson explained. “I was trying to figure out how to explain myself to someone because I was doing an interview.”

What Davidson—who, in recent years, has been spotted with actresses Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qualley, Cazzie David, and Phoebe Dynevor as well as supermodel (and dead ringer for her mom, Cindy Crawford) Kaia Gerber—came up with is that he’s very much like one of the DVDs you might find in a movie discount bin at Best Buy. Specifically, he compared himself to Ben Stiller’s 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder, which Davidson described as a “classic… [that] doesn’t belong in the trash.” Which is just how he’d describe himself: “I’m Tropic Thunder. I’m the diamond in the trash. It’s a steal.”

While this description does nothing to further my own personal understanding of Davidson’s allure, Hollywood is clearly full of much bigger fans of Tropic Thunder.

(Via US Weekly)

In April of 2011, LCD Soundsystem performed a monumental three-and-a-half hour show at Madison Square Garden that was billed as their final show ever. Fans flew from all over the globe to say dance themselves clean and say goodbye to the dance-punk outfit that made a name for themselves with self-referential lyrics and impressive electronic arrangements. A little less than a year after the band waved goodbye, in January of 2012, a documentary called Shut Up And Play The Hits premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that their final show and interspersed with sections featuring frontman James Murphy reflecting on the band with prompts from Chuck Klosterman.

A decade later, that Madison Square Garden gig turned out to be more of a “see you later” than a “goodbye.” LCD Soundsystem returned to the stage in March of 2016 before headlining Coachella that same year, and they even dropped a new record in 2017’s American Dream. Everything that has transpired in the 10 years since Shut Up And Play The Hits was released greatly affects — and perhaps completely undermines — the film’s context and one’s ability to appreciate it as a swan song. On this week’s episode of Indiecast, Steve and Ian try to come to terms with the legacy of the film, and LCD Soundsystem as a whole.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging Pedro The Lion’s new album Havasu, which came as a surprise earlier this week. Steve is urging people to check out Elvis Costello‘s The Boy Named If, which is the 32nd studio album from the legendary songwriter.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 73 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

The world recently learned that Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet are splitting up, which was a surprising (and mildly crushing) development, but the antidote might have arrived: Love Life star Anna Kendrick and Barry assassin Bill Hader have been secretly dating for about a year. The former Noelle co-stars were apparently (and this was a fitting prerequisite) “both single at the same time,” according to Us Weekly and are “really into each other and make each other laugh — a lot.”

It’s actually almost shocking to think that these two lovely people haven’t dated until now. They seem pretty perfect for each other, although heck, maybe the competitive comedic timing between them could be exhausting? Nah, they probably know how to turn it off during private time. Regardless, there’s a heck of a lot of people out there who are still waiting for news on Barry‘s return to HBO. The last we heard, Season 4 had been written, even though Season 3 hadn’t started filming yet. Other shows have already roared into production again (Love Life Season 2 filmed and released during the pandemic), so yeah, let’s hear some more updates on Barry. In the meantime, people are cracking jokes about possible crossovers and also commenting on how this dating development is possibly too adorable.

Then there are a few Twitter users who may have had a premonition (?) a few days early. Bill Hader, Pete Davidson, Colin Jost = “What a time to be an SNL man.” Yep.

With the film still fresh in people’s mind thanks to its annual non-stop marathons, A Christmas Story sequel is officially coming to HBO Max, and this time, with original star Peter Billingsley reprising his role as Ralphie. The sequel will be directed by Clay Kaytis (The Christmas Chronicles) with a script from Nick Schenk who recently wrote the Clint Eastwood vehicles Cry Macho and The Mule. Along with his longtime partner Vince Vaughn, Billingsley will also serve as executive producer for the follow-up to the holiday classic that sees a grown Ralphie return to his childhood home.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

While the original movie followed Ralphie, a nine-year old boy who desperately wanted a Red Ryder BB rifle and was set in 1940, the new story will take place in the 1970s and sees an adult Ralphie return to his house on Cleveland Street to deliver his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had growing up. The studio is hoping to recreate the same real-life tone of the first movie to show the now-father reconnect with childhood friends, reconcile the passing of his Old Man, and callbacks to the initial film.

Production on the film is already set to start in Hungary in February, so there’s a good chance HBO Max is looking to have this offering ready for the 2022 holiday season. However, this isn’t the first time a sequel to A Christmas Story has been attempted. In 1994, Succession star Kieran Culkin starred in My Summer Story (originally titled It Runs In The Family), which was a direct follow-up to A Christmas Story. Almost two decades later, A Christmas Story 2 was released straight to DVD. If you have no recollection of these films, that’s because they were awful and completely whiffed capturing the charm of the original. We probably shouldn’t even have mentioned them.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)