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Last winter, The Killers posted a tracklist on Twitter that featured 11 songs as well as the phrase “A-List” scribbled out in a colorful handwritten font. That tweet came six months after the band released their sixth album and it turns out that list would be the very songs present on their seventh album, Pressure Machine.

Throughout the project’s 11 songs, a lone guest appearance from Phoebe Bridgers was made on a track titled “Runaway Horse.” Just a couple of days after The Killers released their seventh album, the group brought their talents to Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform that same song. Brandon Flowers and Erica Canales lead the way for the performance as they and the rest of the band sit under dim lighting to complete their set on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Prior to the release of Pressure Machine, Flowers explained the band’s decision to include Bridgers on the album. “We definitely needed a female voice on ‘Runaway Horses,’” he said. “She has a history, I think, with not only that type of music but even in her lineage — her grandpa has rodeo ties. It just felt right.” Flowers added, “It was nice to know that she was also a fan of ours. It just kind of came together naturally. It was fast.”

While Pressure Machine is only two days old, The Killers have already begun the creative process toward their eighth album as they revealed during an interview with NME. “It’s a little bit more canyon rock, maybe a little bit more traditional Killers, I guess,” guitarist Dave Keuning said with drummer Ronnie Vanucci Jr. adding that the music is “a bit heavier and more clench-fisted” than Pressure Machine.

Pressure Machine is out now via Island Records. Get it here.

After a long, trying, and chaotic year, things are (slowly) getting back to normal. Malls are open. Restaurants are welcoming customers again — with many serving up hope alongside hors d’oeuvres — and employees across the country are returning to the office. This fall, our children will go back to school. But this return to “normal” is affecting the youngest members of our society in ways few expected. Case in point: Many children are struggling with separation anxiety, or an extraordinary fear of being separated from their parents or caretaker[s].

“All children and teens experience anxiety,” Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor at Yeshiva University in New York, tells Upworthy. “It is a normative process of development… [however,] there has been an uptick in separation-related anxiety due to the pandemic.”

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“Separation anxiety is when a child becomes fearful or worried when they are separated from their parent or caretaker,” Ben Barer — a licensed clinical social worker — adds. “The feelings that are commonly felt include excessive worry, nervousness, sadness, and loneliness.”

Of course, the response is — in many ways — unsurprising. Most children have been living under one roof for 17 months. They lacked structure, traditional schooling, playdates, and (in some cases) socialization and friends. Mommy and Daddy were all they knew. But as schools across the nation open their doors, and teachers welcome children back to class, fear is rising: fear of COVID, socialization, progress, and being alone.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on

“Separation anxiety happens when someone becomes co-dependent on another person and becomes excessively nervous when they are not within their presence,” Jacqueline P. Wight, the director of mental health at DotCom Therapy, tells Parade. “It is common in children with their parents/caregivers and is known to become increasingly worse during times of stress.” Like now. The pandemic has been a major stressor for parents and children alike.

So how can you cope with separation anxiety? How can you help your child get a handle on their fears — and manage stress? According to Barer, there are numerous things you can do to ease your child back into a “normal” routine.

“Depending on the child’s age, there are several helpful strategies that can be implemented at the time of separation so the child will be able to cope better with his or her feelings,” Barer says. “For example, if your toddler is starting daycare, visiting the daycare beforehand and doing a tour of the facility can be helpful for the toddler, as this will not be an entirely new experience for them when they get dropped off. If your child is around elementary age, having discussions about what drop off might look like, what feelings the child might feel when being separated, and even parents sharing their own feelings can be reassuring for the child. It helps them learn that feelings of worry and nervousness are completely normal. And teens can benefit from conversations like this, too.”

“Talking to your child and providing them with encouragement and support is imperative,” Romanoff adds — regardless of their age.

Photo by Torsten Dederichs on

Of course, there are other things you should do, too.

“Develop a routine for saying goodbye to your child,” Wight suggests. “This will look different for each child, but think of special, loving ways to say goodbye when you will be separated. Be honest with your child about the plan. If you’re picking them up at the end of the school day, say it. With the best of intentions, parents and caregivers might be inclined to share a plan that is easier for the child to hear, but not necessarily the truth. However, honesty is best. If your child is experiencing anxiety about returning to school, be sure that your child socializes with friends beforehand in order to ease the transition. If there is a specific situation that causes the anxiety (ex. school drop off), get lots of practice in advance.” And prepare them now for “alone time,” i.e. it’s necessary to expose your child to being separated from you.

“It’s always best to take small steps at first,” Wight explains. “Identify an adult that the child feels most comfortable with and have that adult watch the child for a short amount of time. If that goes well, slowly increase the amount of time. If there are one or two friends that your child is most eager to see, set up a time for them to play/hang out when you will not be present. Make it a time-limited activity and share the plan with the child so that they know what to expect. And if, at any point, the child struggles with an experience, consider trying that experience again with some more preparation, problem-solving, etc. prior to moving on to new experiences.” In short, take things easily. Slowly. Baby steps.

That said, while parents and caregivers can approach this issue with the best of intentions and the best (and most thorough) of plans, sometimes children need more. Parental support isn’t always enough, especially in cases of anxiety — when you’re dealing with the effects of a mental health. If you feel your child isn’t responding to the aforementioned suggestions as you would like and/or if they are still experiencing extreme feelings of nervousness, apprehension, sadness, or fear, you may want to reach out for additional support.

“Parents do not need to wait until their child’s struggle feels like a crisis to get help,” Wight explains. “In fact, it’s actually best to proactively seek support. And while parents know their children best, there are qualified and thoughtful professionals that can help parents and their children navigate through challenging situations.”

Toronto-based animator and video wizard Kevin Parry has gone mega-viral for his mind-boggling collection of videos where he turns himself into random objects.

In a series of quick clips he changes into everything from a pumpkin to a bright yellow banana and in most of the videos, he appears to suffer a ridiculous death. The videos combine studio trickery with a magician’s flair.

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Parry is a self-taught stop-motion animation expert who cut his teeth working at Laika, the animation studio best known for films such as “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” and “The Boxtrolls.” But he’s had so much success on social media he moved back to his hometown of Toronto to “do the YouTube/Instagram thing.”

A collection of me turning into random objects. https://t.co/ValPdPNJIj

— Kevin Parry (@kevinbparry)
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Parry told Newsweek that the secret to his videos is speed.

“The inspiration for these transformations was to create the shortest possible videos with the most impact,” he said. “I specifically made the balloon one to be 4-5 seconds long but to be as shocking and surprising as possible. That’s why it starts with me falling—I thought what could be more scroll-stopping than someone falling face-first into the floor.”

Craig Ferguson was the host of “The Late Late Show” on CBS from 2005 to 2014. He’s probably best remembered for his stream-of-conscious, mostly improvised monologues that often veered from funny observations to more serious territory.

In 2009, he opened his show explaining how marketers have spent six decades persuading the public into believing that youth should be deified. To Ferguson, it’s the big reason “Why everything sucks.”

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“In the 1950s, late ’50s, early ’60s, a bunch of advertising guys got together on Madison Avenue and decided to try to sell products to younger people. ‘We should try to sell to younger people because then they will buy things their whole lives,'” Ferguson explained.

The problem is, according to Ferguson, that young people are “kind of stupid.”

“So the deification of youth evolved and turned into the deification of imbecility. It became fashionable to be young and to be stupid,” he continued.

‘Why everything sucks’

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On a deeper level, Ferguson makes the point that exalting youth and inexperience over wisdom and experience runs contrary to the way of nature.

“Then what happened is that people were frightened to not be young,” he said. “They started dyeing their hair, they started mutilating their faces and their bodies in order to look young. But you can’t be young forever, that’s against the laws of the universe.”

Calling marketers’ war on the over-49 set the reason why “everything sucks” may be a bit of an exaggeration. But the takeaway from Ferguson’s monologue is spot-on. There’s no reason to feel bad about aging. You’ve got experience, wisdom, probably better credit, and have learned that Saturdays are a lot more fun after you’ve been to bed by 10:00 pm on Friday.

Lizzo’s fans were greeted with an awesome treat this past weekend as the singer released her first song in almost two years. Her newest release found her working beside Cardi B for their first-ever collaboration, “Rumors.” The song came with an elegant video that captured the pair using sarcasm to clown their haters about the unsupported and false claims people make about the artists.

While that was a notable aspect of the song, another one came when Lizzo name-dropped Drake. “Readin’ sh*t on the internet,” she says on the song. “My smoothie cleanse and my diet / No, I ain’t f*ck Drake — yet.”

During a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Lizzo explained what inspired her mention of Drake on the song. “I just thought it would be so funny to say,” she said. “I have a small relationship with him. He’s very cool. I just feel like women, there’s so many times where girls’ names get dropped in songs ’cause they’re fine.”

“Rumors” is presumably the lead single from Lizzo’s upcoming fourth album, which the singer hinted features work from Mark Ronson and Philip Lawrence of Bruno Mars’ songwriting/production team The Smeezingtons. Until then, fans can catch her perform the new track and more during upcoming festival appearances at Bonnaroo and Firefly.

You can watch the full interview between Lizzo and Lowe in the video above.

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

Since fans returned to stadiums and arenas earlier this year, we’ve seen what has felt like a lot more fights in the stands than usual. From the NBA to MLB and now the NFL, fans seem a bit too amped up to be back in the building for sporting events and some of that energy you can get away with talking wild online with strangers doesn’t fly in person.

Typically these fights happen between different fan bases, but on Saturday night in Los Angeles, the crosstown rivalry between the Rams and Chargers saw a brawl break out between internally in one group of supporters. At some point, a group of Rams fans got into it, with initially a lot of chestiness and talk before a beer thrown from behind sparked what became a massive, section-wide ruckus.

Trying to go 1-on-4 unsurprisingly didn’t work well for the man in the Aaron Donald jersey, as he started out throwing wild haymakers and somewhat holding his own before the damned numbers game (TM, Good Ol’ JR) just became too much and he got pulled over a row of seats to get absolutely pummeled.

That this happened at a preseason game of all things, when the Rams weren’t playing anyone of consequence makes this brawl even more incredible, because what are you even getting into heated arguments about? The brawl probably had nothing to do with football, but it is funny to imagine this all started because of a debate over who should win the 53rd roster spot between a fourth-string guard or a linebacker who is a special teams ace.

Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards will soon become Jeopardy! host Mike Richards, taking the mantle from the late Alex Trebek as full-time host when the show’s new season airs later this year. And while Richards and Sony have made it clear the former did not pick himself to host the show, there are some reports that he may have at least tipped the scales a bit.

Richards was made the official full-time host last week, with Mayim Bialik taking the prime-time duties for editions of the show airing on ABC. That decision was made amid a mess of controversies about who the show’s leadership picked, who they did not pick and how that selection was made. The most obvious issue with the selection process for many is the idea that Richards helped the powers that be decide he was right for the gig given his leadership role in the show. That’s been denied several times in a variety of ways, but there are reports that he did have some power to play with.

In a New York Times report that features two bylines and a quote from Ken Jennings comparing the selection to “choosing a pope,” sources said that Richards had more control over at least one part of the process than anyone at the game show had previously admitted publicly.

Sony said that while Mr. Richards initially led the hunt for Mr. Trebek’s replacement, he moved aside after he emerged as a candidate.

But as executive producer, Mr. Richards retained a key role in selecting which appearances by each prospective host would be screened for focus groups, whose reactions weighed heavily in Sony’s decision-making, according to three people familiar with the show’s internal deliberations. The other supervising “Jeopardy!” producers were excluded from that process, the people said.

Sony stressed to the Times that “he was not part of” the selection process, echoing a memo Sony’s TV chief, Ravi Ahuja, shared with staff when Richards’ selection leaked to the press. But that cherry-picking was previously unknown, and given the weight of many factors that influenced their decision — ratings, test audiences and overall comfort on camera among them — getting to pick which episodes to show test audiences is a pretty big deal. Especially if he’s hand-picking his favorite episodes from his own tapings.

There are a lot of indicators that Richards was a likely choice for the role all along, of course, so perhaps he didn’t need the help. And despite a report that Jennings was widely believed internally to be the heir apparent to Trebek, there was no signs of frustration from the self-described “company man” when speaking to the Times about the pick.

Mr. Jennings, who remains a consulting producer at “Jeopardy!,” praised Mr. Richards’s performance. “Mike was the only person up there with any game show hosting chops, and it showed,” he said.

That fact is certainly true, but it also seems true that Richards was the only candidate with any actual influence on that decision, too.

[via NY Times]

For an album that we know is more or less complete, barring any extreme changes, the process toward the release of Kanye West’s tenth album, Donda, has been an extremely drawn-out effort. While the wait has certainly tested the patience of fans, one could assume that the constant work behind the scenes on the album may be a nuisance for some collaborators and that appeared to be the case for producer and engineer Mike Dean, who is a frequent collaborator of the rapper.

Thanks to a string of tweets from Dean on Saturday, many fans concluded that he quit working on Kanye’s upcoming project, but the producer insists that’s not the case.

It all started when Saturday evening when Dean sent out a number of tweets that seemed to be rooted in frustration. They included brief messages like “F*CK THIS” and “good to be at the house!!!” as well as longer ones where he writes, “100000% FOCUS ON MY SHOW PRODUCTION FOR NEXT WEEK. GONNA BE LIKE COACHELLA IN A 650 PERSON VENUE!!” A Kanye fan replied and wrote, “Fine but then go help Kanye PLZ,” to which Dean answered, “Helping myself. Thx.” Another user mentioned the producer and said, “mike dean is more than just donda guys,” and Dean replied, “A lot more. Very much more.”

Elsewhere, a fan who took notice of Dean’s tweets concluded in posts of their own that Dean’s messages were about his work on Donda. The Twitter user labeled the album’s process as “toxic” and “the weirdest rollout over.” The producer then slipped into the Twitter conversation and wrote, “Toxic. That’s it.” There was another message from Dean that called for fans to direct their album questions to the artists rather than to their collaborators.

“Don’t ask me about utopia or any other albums drop date,” Dean wrote referencing Travis Scott’s highly-anticipated fourth album. “Ask the artists. I’m not the decision makers here !!

Despite all of this, Dean returned to Twitter on Sunday morning to clear the air and assure fans that he has not stepped away from any projects. “I haven’t quit anything,” he shared in a tweet. “The album continues. Lol. People read too much into tweets. Lol.”

Hello, sweet sun bums. I hope you’ve reapplied sunscreen and rehydrated since Summer Vacation Watch season officially began, because we are truly just getting underway. This week, we’ve got Klay Thompson riding summer’s vibe on just about every vehicle there is, including that of the indomitably chill human spirit, plus hoopers in race cars, infinity pools, the ocean, at ball games and on boats. Summer is going full swing and my eyes are, as always, peeled and safety behind sunglasses at all times.

Klay Thompson

Klay is on vacation in Mexico and thank god. We started strong last week but I’d hate to have the calibee of vacations fade in just the second week. Wait, what am I saying? Summer’s a vibe and you gotta ride it, precisely like Klay is — on a boat, on a boogie board, on a jumper, out the passenger window of a speeding car. If you’re looking for a way to squeeze the juice out of the fleeting-est season then look no further, because Klay is summer. Easy, breezy, wearing the bare minimum of sleeve options on his limbs. Like, while none of us could hope to get where he is mentally, in terms of summer vacation certainty, he’s a bright light to look to, with sunglasses on.

Rating: Klay might also have the power to singularly make the song “Fast Car” not cripplingly depressing, should he choose to play it in the background the next time he hangs out the window of one.

LeBron James

While we may never get LeBron alone in Mexico again smoking a cigar and singing at the beach bar for the afternoon, we do have here LeBron alone in a bucket hat, slowly swaying, alone, in what I want to say his backyard. I also don’t mean to be rude, but close inspection of this bucket hat leads me to believe it’s just your average, everyday bucket. It’s not a streetwear bucket, it’s not an imported bucket, it’s a bucket that says, “I forgot my hat on vacation and this is what the hotel gift shop could offer me for $25.” So, maybe this bucket was purchased on the solo Mexican beach bar trip, and in that way we’ve got a vacation continuation on our hands.

Rating: See? Summer vacation really is forever, if you want it.

Serge Ibaka

Serge is also in Mexico, enjoying himself immensely, but in a yin demure way to Klay’s more kinetic yang. Serge is the kind of person who plans fits for vacation rather than throwing in several pairs of shorts and whatever sleeveless shirts are clean and leaving. He probably travels with a small clothes steamer. Can you blame him? Not when you see him in these silk shorts, you can’t. He looks off in the middle distance, presumably toward the ocean, he gets closer to the ocean in an infinity pool (still staring), and finally, he makes it to the ocean. It’s brief, he runs right out, but I’m choosing to believe it’s because he’s getting his reps in, rather than being taken by the majesty and terror of the sea.

Rating: Maybe he just didn’t want to get those shorts wet.

Bradley Beal

Ok, bear with me. Who hasn’t made plans for a jam packed summer day, out on the water, out at the beach, out at some kind of park — amusement or trees — and had the day hit them all at once the second you step back inside the house? Sun stoke or no, it’s those kinds of summer days that can feel guiltily good, recovering with A/C blasting the body in its restorative strength, blinds drawn so no one can see you doing an unfortunate Bane impression while sprawled weirdly on the couch at such an angle that your neck gets absorbed into your sternum.

Rating: He was doing the voice guys, that’s why the subtitles are on.

Justin Holiday

Justin took to the speedway, the blacktop, the hot revvin’ tar (made that one up), to sit pretty excitedly in an Indy car then toot around in a pace car for the day, fully decked out in a crew jumpsuit he matched his chucks to. He looks so happy the entire time that I hope Rick Carlisle harnesses this joyful summer energy and has him warm up in this suit all next season.

Rating: Please note the “Fast 8” caption, which we have to take to be Justin’s fav of the Fast franchise. Intrigue, romance, betrayal, a nuclear Russian submarine threat for some reason, this one had it all.

Khem Birch

Rare baseball crossover here in these hallowed basketball halls (again!) but look how relaxed Khem looks to be tossin’ the ball out at the Blue Jays game. This is exactly the energy I look for in baseball, which is why I don’t watch it.

Rating: Has a person who’s thrown the ceremonial ball out to start the game ever been so good at it they’ve gotten signed?

Rudy Gobert

Rudy heads will be happy to know this is the first of two appearances he’ll make in my summer vigilance, they’ll also be happy to know that I’m following this story closely in hopes of revealing where this adventure takes him. My guess is south of France, but those distant hills also look Gibraltar-y, but really until we get a closer look at the mineraloid matter of that island it will be impossible to say for sure, and I don’t peddle in half divulgences.

Rating: The punctuation of the caption worries me, quite frankly.

Jae Crowder

Here’s Jae, an enforcer on the floor and an enforcer of the strictest summer codes on the open water — no shoes, no shirt, but no flair? That’s gonna be a problem.

Rating: It might be vacation, but you can never take time off from respecting yourself.

Bogdan Bogdanovic

If you’ll remember, last week we saw Bogdan on a boat, more of a pleasure barge really, dipping his hand in and out of azure waters. This boat looks a lot faster judging but its wake but before you get worried about him, don’t. He’s clearly not.

Rating: When someone says treat summer like your job this is certainly one interpretation, standing with the same expression you’d have taking the elevator up to whatever floor on a Wednesday afternoon for another meeting with the chucklers in accounting.

Alex Caruso

Caruso got a pretty cute puppy that gnawed on his hands while he watched, fascinated.

Rating: It must be so weird to come out of the self-perpetuating, vainglorious navel gaze of the Lakers liturgic earth ship to realize there is an entirely other world out there, one with living, breathing, soft, and cute things.

Tyler Herro

Tyler Herro took his basketball on a private jet, just to show he has both? I guess?

Rating: Good luck to Tyler Herro, soon playing with a backcourt that will take one look at excess expenditures in life and on the floor with and total disdain.

Dennis Smith Jr.

Backflips into water will never not be impressive. You don’t need to be an Olympic high diver getting up into your requisite handstand dive to get your entry into water on the SVW radar. You just need to commit and fling your whole body into it, exactly like Dennis Smith Jr. did here.

Rating: Extra points for the hype man in the back with his hands up.

The Olympics (Are Over)!

Yes, it’s true, the Olympics are over and however you feel about them can give it a rest, too. Who won’t be giving it a rest anytime soon, though, are your NBA Olympic medalists! Rudy Gobert held his honkin’ silver medal, somehow not made smaller in that dream crushing swatter of a hand, while in contrast and at this angle, Evan Fournier’s looks to be about as big as half his head.

Here we have Bam Adebayo and JaVale McGee pretty much beaming showing off their golds. Another member of the Olympic gold medal squad, Draymond Green, arrived at Summer League with his around his neck, hopefully not betting it later at the craps table.

And then, two bonus JaVales: First, regarding a hologram of himself, maybe a representation of his psyche, both winners. Second, a side-to-side look at his mom, Pamela McGee’s, gold medal and his own, 37 years apart. It’s really nice!

While Trevor Lawrence’s first appearance in a game for the Jacksonville Jaguars was a struggle, perhaps no one had a worse time than his tight end in his first ever game at the position. Former quarterback and minor league baseball player Tim Tebow is trying his hand at the position this year, and his first game with the Jags saw one play in particular go viral on Saturday night.

According to the Associated Press recap of Jacksonville’s 23-13 preseason loss to the Cleveland Browns, Tebow was “cheered every time he stepped onto the field.” And he almost had a catch! But despite years of talk about how Tebow’s body type would make for a great tight end, at 34 years old he struggled to find his way in an entirely new position.

One clip in particular made the rounds on Saturday, as Tebow showed pretty brutal technique on a blocking attempt and then somehow ended up blocking his own player.

That got a lot of reaction from people who were skeptical of Tebow playing tight end in the first place.

Even Shannon Sharpe got into the mix.

A single grainy highlight of Tebow weakly attempting to throw a block and then planting his helmet into his guard’s chest may be an oversimplification of his abilities and potential at the position. But so, too, is it an oversimplification to assume an out-of-work quarterback and struggling minor league baseball player can become a professional tight end in the National Football League.

How long this experiment lasts is entirely up to Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer, which means that it may last longer than it should based on his aptitude on the field. But no matter how many cheers Tebow gets, the results to justify a roster spot may be tough to come by over the next few weeks.