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Coldplay announced a new album, Music Of The Spheres, today. Perhaps the most notable takeaway from the news is that some of the songs are titled only with emojis, which looks like it will cause problems with streaming services.

As shown on Coldplay’s website, Track 1 is titled with a Ringed Planet emoji, Track 4 is titled with a Sparkles emoji, Track 6 is titled with a Red Heart emoji, Track 9 is titled with a Globe Showing Americas emoji, and Track 11 is titled with an Infinity emoji. However, that may not be how the songs appear on streaming services, as the current Apple Music page for the album shows titles written with Unicode characters instead of emojis.

(To explain it simply, an emoji is a graphic that can take the place of a corresponding Unicode character. For example, the Grinning Face emoji corresponds to Unicode character U+1F600. In other words, the Grinning Face emoji is a representation of Unicode character U+1F600.)

The Apple Music titles for the aforementioned songs (on both the Apple Music website and in the Apple Music app for Mac), respectively, are “⦵,” “*✧,” “♡,” “❍,” and “∞.” Interestingly, while those are fairly accurate visual representations of the emojis, none of them actually correspond to the Unicode characters represented by the emojis used in the actual song titles (as seen on Coldplay’s website). So, technically speaking, Apple Music’s titles look similar to the real titles but are actually wrong.

Back in May, Chris Martin revealed that the band was having issues with streaming services and emoji song titles, saying, “We’re trying to figure this out right now: We’re trying to have the first album ever with some tracks that are just called emojis, but it’s proving tricky because of all the service providers. Some of them say, ‘We can’t do that.’ You literally have ten million songs in one box. Let us have a picture of an apple for a song or something like that.”

Music Of The Spheres is out 10/15 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here.

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

Basketball fans everywhere have been eagerly anticipating the upcoming NBA 2K22. After unveiling three covers it became clear that this 2K game was going to attempt something bigger than any game had before.

It turns out that big thing will depend on what console generation the player has. The MyPlayer experience has always been a big part of playing 2K, creating your own player, going through an NBA career, and exploring “The Neighborhood” is how many people exclusively play the series. This year though instead of just going through the typical neighborhood, 2K is giving owners of the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One the opportunity to play out their MyPlayer experience on a sailing cruise ship.

ALL ABOARD THE 2K CRUISE [PS4/XB1/NSW/PC] – On the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC platforms, NBA 2K gamers will show out and compete in an all-new, dedicated basketball community – a Neighborhood built on the spacious decks of a sailing cruise ship. Explore and hoop in nautical luxury, and when the cruise docks in exotic locales throughout the Season, make your way to the Excursion counter to participate in shoreside Events – all taking place completely off the ship!

Meanwhile, owners of the new generation of consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, will be going even bigger. MyPlayer has escaped the confines of the neighborhood and grown out into a huge city that players will be able to explore. This exploration will be less of an empty hub world and feature more parts to interact with such as NPC’s that give out quests. For years, the MyPlayer experience has felt more and more like a basketball RPG series and the addition of quests feels like them embracing this once again.

A LIVING, BREATHING CITY [PS5/XBS] – Step into an all-new City teeming with life, activity, and interactivity. NPCs (non-playable characters) populate the fresh City layout, while MyPLAYERs from all over the world compete in the highest level of playground basketball. An all-new Quest system for 2K22 engages MyPLAYERs with creative content while offering new ways to level up and earn rewards in this reenvisioning of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S basketball communities.

One aspect of MyPlayer that some players love, and others dread, is the narrative from MyCareer that it is frequently attached to. Usually, players are forced to go through a cinematic tutorial or play in one throughout their career with cutscenes and story segments. The quality of these stories has ranged from bizarre but fun to painful and grating. 2K is teasing that both console generations will have a narrative of some kind in the game, but how involved that narrative is right now is anyone’s guess.

While it’s great to know that MyPlayer and MyCareer will be getting the same level of attention it’s always gotten, there are many questions about how 2K plans to improve the WNBA portion of their game. While they didn’t unveil much in the current preview they did tease that new information will be available in September for MyPlayer, MyCareer, and MyWNBA. Considering they put Candace Parker on one of the covers it feels like a safe bet that we’re going to get even more WNBA involvement in 2K22. Hopefully, we’ll learn what exactly that involvement is by the September 10 release date.

On Tuesday, the first official images from NBA 2K22 were released and they show Candace Parker, the game’s first female cover athlete, looking more like herself than in previous editions.

That’s pretty spot-on! Down to the (probable) glare at a referee.

This is just the third time in the franchise’s history that WNBA players will be featured in the game. In NBA 2K20 and NBA 2K21, there were several issues with player appearances, shot mechanics, and skillsets. Now, with the cover athlete featuring one of the league’s best-ever players, there’s reason to be confident that women’s basketball in video games is set for a major leap.

Here’s what Parker looked like in 2K21:

And here’s a side-by-side of her in 2K20 and 2K22:

Parker’s 2K22 image has also quickly become a meme. Please indulge as WNBA Twitter does what is always does.

Watch out, 2K Shaq.

In a release, the 2K franchise said more details about the game’s MyWNBA mode would be available in September. Hopefully, every player and coach will get the same treatment the Chicago Sky star has. WNBA fans have long been waiting for a realistic version of their favorite sports league.

‘NBA 2K22’ is set to release on September 10 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

Ludwig Dieter is back in the first images for the upcoming Army of the Dead prequel Army of Thieves, and he’s bringing a whole lot of romance, thievery, and pictures of vaults with him. In addition to the aforementioned safes, the first stills from the film also provide us with a better look at the Netflix original movie’s main cast of misfit thieves, which includes Matthias Schweighöfer reprising his role as Ludwig Dieter, Nathalie Emmanuel as Gwendoline, Guz Khan as Rolph, Ruby O. Fee as Korina, and Stuart Martin as Brad Cage. As of right now, Army of Thieves is slated to hit Netflix late 2021, giving you plenty of time to watch Army of the Dead if you haven’t yet.

However, if you already caught Army of the Dead and are expecting more of the same zombie-filled action, producers Zack and Deborah Snyder have stated the upcoming prequel has a fairly different tone than the first entry in the series According to Deborah, Army of Thieves is best described as “a romantic comedy heist film.” She then further elaborated on the film, stating the following:

“It stands alone, and [while] you could watch it because it’s the history of our safecracker, it’s also just this really sweet, funny film. It’s set in our same timeline, but it’s not like a zombie movie…. It’s more like ‘The Italian Job,’ but it takes place in a world where these zombies exist in America and it’s causing instability in the banking institutions. They’re moving money around, so it’s the perfect opportunity for a heist.”

As of right now, not much else about Army of Thieves is known, though rest assured you can catch more information about the film during its Comic-Con panel Sunday, July 25 at 2 PM PT. Until then, here’s some first-look images from Netflix:

(Via Netflix & Indiewire)

Shortly after celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Since I Left You, Aussie electronic pioneers The Avalanches have announced a 2022 North American tour kicking off early next year and running through March. This news also follows the band’s third studio album, We Will Always Love You, which was released late last year. Likewise, the duo — Robbie Chater and Tony DiBlasi — released a deluxe reissue anniversary edition of Since I Left You just last month.

Last month, Chater had this this to say about recording their debut album: “I remember very clearly a few things. We decided to not have any of our voices on it, which made it last because it’s a kind of transmission; nothing date-stamps it to that time.” He added, “Looking back, I’m proud of this record as a pure expression of joy and love, heart on its sleeve and is free from irony.”

Check out the tour dates below.

02/17/22 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
02/18/22 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02/19/22 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of Living Arts
02/20/22 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
02/22/22 — Toronto, CA @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
02/23/22 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
02/24/22 — Chicago IL @ Metro
02/25/22 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre
02/27/22 — Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
03/01/22 — Vancouver, CA @ Commodore Ballroom
03/02/22 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
03/03/22 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
03/06/22 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

Since I Left You (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) is out now via Modular Recordings. Get it here. Tickets to The Avalanches’ 2022 tour go on sale 7/23. Grab yours here.

After dropping his sixth studio album No Pressure last year, Logic announced he would be stepping away from music. His son had just been born and the rapper wanted to focus on his new role as a father. While Logic did end up taking an extended hiatus from his music, it wasn’t long before the rapper returned to announce new songs. Logic unveiled “Vaccine” earlier this month to mark his return to the limelight, and he’s now followed up the song with a rowdy visual.

Directed by Mike Holland and Justin Fleischer, Logic’s “Vaccine” video is a fitting return for the rapper. The quick-paced visual shows the rapper and his crew hitting the streets to have a good time while sporting shirts that aptly read “vaccine.” The video occasionally cuts to share behind-the-scenes videos and photos from Logic’s personal life, depicting him both in the studio and playing with his son. The song itself speaks to Logic choosing to prioritize his family as he fires off verses about spending time at home. “I got happiness, ain’t no need to repeat, I got number ones / Ain’t got time for these rappers, I only got time for my son / Him and his momma the one,” he raps.

In addition to sharing the “Vaccine” video, Logic has teased a few potential project. The “Vaccine” single features some vague lyrics about the impending release of Bobby Tarantino 3, the third installment of his mixtape series. On top of that, Logic has continued teasing a joint project with Madlib.

Watch Logic’s “Vaccine” video above.

After launching his successful Blue Origin flight on Tuesday morning, you’d think Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would be the talk of social media for making it to the edge of space on the heels of Richard Branson, and that’s happening to a degree. However, people have been actively highlighting that his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott has been donating literally billions to charity while Bezos has been financing what even he has admitted is a “joyride for the wealthy.”

It also didn’t help that following Blue Origin’s mission, Bezos made some apparently tone deaf references to Amazon employees, who have attempted to unionize amid allegedly unsafe and grueling work conditions to power the pervasive online shopping empire.

“I wanna thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this,” Bezos announced after the extremely expensive launch. Oof.

Of course, it should be noted that the praise for Scott was already pouring in before Bezos basically thanked the little people for footing the bill for his 11 minute space ride, but his remarks only made Scott’s philanthropy look even notable.

While the vast majority of the tweets about Scott focused on the persistent concerns that Bezos and Branson’s space race is a use of resources that could be used to fix actual problems on Earth like the ongoing pandemic, global warming, systemic inequality, and a laundry list of issues, there were also some jabs about the joy of watching your ex get strapped to a rocket and blasted into space. That had to feel good.

This article originally appeared on 08.09.18

Recent polls suggest that Republicans and Democrats have slightly different tastes that have nothing to do with politics.

If you like cats, The Beatles, and Starbucks, you tend to vote Democrat. If you’re into Toby Keith, Budweiser, and Dunkin’ Donuts, you tend to vote Republican.

But an interesting new quiz claims to be 98 percent effective at determining people’s political affiliations by asking questions that have zero to do with politics.

Click here to take the quiz.

So how does it work? (Don’t read the answer if you haven’t taken the quiz yet.)

According to ChartsMe, recent studies have found that people who were more prone to disgust are more conservative. This leads them to more closely align with the Republican Party.

Some scientists believe it’s ancestral and that the adverse reactions to conditions we’d label “disgusting” were used to protect primitive ancestors from contamination and disease. This way a person wouldn’t confuse drinking water with dirty pond scum. But if the test told you that you’re a Republican, you probably won’t accept that explanation because studies show you probably don’t believe in evolution.

Click here to take the quiz.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got the the anticipated new album from Clairo, two surprise EPs from Gang Of Youths and Yves Tumor, and an epic new single from Foxing. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.

While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.

Clairo – Sling

On her sophomore album, Clairo dials back the lo-fi bedroom pop sound she perfected on her debut, instead favoring a sparse singer-songwriter approach. Sling is a fully-formed project that feels like it emerged from the Laurel Canyon scene, a mature and ambitious step forward for the young artist.

Willow – Lately I Feel Everything

Willow’s debut album proves that pop-punk isn’t going away anytime soon. Featuring contributions from Travis Barker and Avril Lavigne, Lately I Feel Everything feels simultaneously nostalgic for the mall punk of the early 2000s and forward-thinking in its delivery.

Gang Of Youths – Total Serene EP

Australian rockers Gang Of Youths are roaring back this year after nearly four years of silence. The band returned earlier this month with a new single “The Angel Of 8th Ave,” then unleashed the full Total Serene EP without any warning. The EP contains four songs, including the previously-released single and a cover of Elbow’s 2001 track “Asleep In The Back.”

Yves Tumor – The Asymptotical World EP

Less than a year after dropping Heaven To A Tortured Mind — one of 2020’s best albums — Yves Tumor is back with even more music. The six-track The Asymptotical World “boasts skittering beats, mind-melting electric guitars, and layered production Tumor has perfected on their previous efforts,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.

Hovvdy – “True Love”

In the two years since the last full-length Hovvdy album, both of the band’s members got married, and one has since become a father. On their new album True Love, the duo returns to make sense of the changes, and creating the title track was a particularly cathartic experience for songwriter Charlie Martin, who wrote in a statement, “it feels so good to express love and appreciation when you really fucking mean it.”

Foxing – “Draw Down The Moon”

The rollout of Foxing’s fourth studio album Draw Down The Moon has been an impressive journey full of puzzles, riddles, and incredible music. The album’s title track is the latest entry in a string of awesome singles, showcasing the band’s knack for massive hooks and pop-rock song structures.

Pet Symmetry – “Pet Sympathy”

Chicago emo supergroup Pet Symmetry is finally back with brand new music after a painful absence. Comprised of Evan Weiss (Into it. Over it.), Marcus Nuccio (Ratboys), and Erik Czaja (Dowsing), “Pet Sympathy” is the first taste of the trio’s new album Future Suits, a breezy and groovy number that serves as a clever disguise for lyrics that illustrate the various horrors of 2020.

Shortly – “Science”

For the debut Shortly album, songwriter Alexandria Maniak stepped into the producer chair alongside Hop Along’s Joe Reinhart to flesh out song sketches revolving around themes of dysphoria, codependence, and grappling with a sense of belonging. “Science” is the first taste of what to expect with Dancer, the long-awaited full-length effort from one of Michigan’s best songwriters.

Soccer Mommy – “Rom Com 2004”

Although there is no word on when Soccer Mommy will follow up the acclaimed 2020 LP Color Theory, Sophie Allison has been rolling out a handful of standalone singles over the last few months. “Rom Com 2004” is the latest entry in the series, a track that “sounds like one of the breezy, poppy tunes from one of her last two albums, but there are times when it sounds like the device used to play the track is malfunctioning, resulting in some dissonance that keeps you on your toes and wondering what’s going to happen next,” as Derrick Rossignol writes for Uproxx.

Turnstile – “Alien Love Call” (ft. Blood Orange)

A few weeks after dropping the explosive and versatile Turnstile Love Connection EP, the Baltimore hardcore band has officially announced their forthcoming full-length project. Glow On is due out in August, and alongside the announcement, the band shared another new song in the form of “Alien Love Call,” which shows the full spectrum of the band’s melodic ability and features guest vocals from Blood Orange.

Vial – “Something More”

I included a track from Vial in this column a few weeks back, and the latest release from the Minneapolis quartet is an even more impressive entry. “Something More” is an infectious love song that employs fuzzy guitars and bouncing percussion to evoke a sense of longing.

Torres – “Thirstier”

The title track from Torres’ forthcoming LP is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “a blistering, full-bodied single” that serves as an exciting preview for an album that comes from a more joyous place and anything Mackenzie Scott has released to date.

Alexa Rose – “Human”

“Human” is the second sampling of Alexa Rose’s sophomore album Headwaters, a sparse and meditative number that gives Rose’s gorgeous vocal full range to explore and anchor the track. In a statement, Rose explained that the song is “about the ways we try to show up when we’re just not equip, and how we contort ourselves to provide abundance for others when we don’t even feel it within ourselves.”

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

How does that old saying go? Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but those who attempt to learn about history from Donald Trump might be out $100 and think Frederick Douglass is still alive? Yeah, that sounds about right. On Monday night, Seth Meyers dug into the talk surrounding the sluggish ticket sales for Trump and Bill O’Reilly’s so-called “History Tour,” where they’ll undoubtedly chat about fake news and the rigged 2020 election. But will anybody be listening?

Quoting a Politico article from last week, Meyers explained on Late Night with Seth Meyers how the not-so-dynamic duo are having trouble moving advance tickets for their shows, a claim which O’Reilly is vehemently denying to the point where he’s threatening a lawsuit against the article’s author. The story made specific mention of a show at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, which has the capacity to host 20,000 people. According to Meyers, a box office employee of the arena (who opted to be quoted anonymously) said there are still a lot of tickets left for the December event and that “We have concerts that are doing a lot better than this.” Meyers’ response?

“I’m sure they do. First of all, it’s in Orlando. There’s a wealth of theme parks. Why go to a Trump/O’Reilly History Tour when you can learn more about U.S. history at the Hall of Presidents or even Space Mountain? Hell, even SeaWorld could probably be a better use of your time… Who the hell wants to go see a so-called ‘History Tour’ with a disgraced former cable news host and a man was just quoted as having said: ‘I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me.”

Let’s put that into context: One of the few sitting presidents to lose a reelection bid not only believes that he could beat both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in a presidential election, but has actually spent time pondering what would happen if Washington and Lincoln were brought back from the dead? (Though, from his quote, it’s not completely clear whether he knows that Lincoln was assassinated more than 150 years ago.) Meyers said it best when he described a history tour with Trump as “the opposite of a Ken Burns documentary.”

You can watch the full clip above.