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This week in pop music saw a number of highly-anticipated releases. Olivia Rodrigo dropped her debut album Sour, Lil Nas X shared a more personal tune, and Lana Del Rey offered a taste of her upcoming LP.

Each week, Uproxx rounds up the best new pop releases. Listen up.

Olivia Rodrigo — “Enough For You”

Breakout star Olivia Rodrigo released her buzzyworthy album Sour this week after her debut single “Drivers License” made her one of the biggest stars to watch in 2021. The eclectic effort boasts a number of dancey tunes, but it also features a handful of lovelorn tracks like “Enough For You.” The acoustic number allows for Rodrigo’s radical honesty and showcases her soaring vocal range as she sings of finally realizing her self-worth in a relationship.

Lil Nas X — “Sun Goes Down”

Following the release of his his hip-shaking tune “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” Lil Nas X dropped “Sun Goes Down” ahead of his SNL performance as his most vulnerable track to date. Over a rolling beat, the musician details the insecurities he faced growing up and feeling like an outsider. He sings of coping with his demons and learning that life truly does get better.

Lana Del Rey — “Blue Banisters”

Though it’s only been a few months since the last Lana Del Rey album, the singer is already gearing up for another release. Without warning, Del Rey dropped three tracks from her upcoming project this week, including the title track “Blue Banisters.” The song goes back to her singer/songwriter roots as she delivers a tender piano ballad detailing real-life scenarios (she even name drops her two dogs Tex and Mex)!

Marshmello, Jonas Brothers — “Leave Before You Love Me”

Ever since the Jonas Brothers released their 2019 album Happiness Begins, they’ve more than made a comeback. Now, they are returning for their first single of 2021 (discounting Nick Jonas’ solo effort). The summer-ready jam “Leave Before You Love Me” is a groove-driven collaboration with producer Marshmello, dropped just ahead of their performance at the Billboard Music Awards.

BTS — “Butter”

After weeks of teasing, BTS‘ new single “Butter” is finally here. Complete with a captivating hook, grand chorus, and shimmering chords, it’s sure to be their next hit. It’s also their second-ever fully English language song, which follows the massive success of their first English track “Dynamite,” so this one is sure to be equally successful.

Anne-Marie — “Our Song” Feat. Niall Horan

With “Our Song,” Anne-Marie announces her upcoming album Therapy as a follow up to her 2018 breakout Speak Your Mind, which was the UK’s biggest-selling debut release of that year. The fluttering duet details the difficulty of being constantly reminded of a past relationship, a vulnerability that Anne-Marie shares elsewhere on her upcoming album. “My lyrics are my open diary to you all and writing this album has helped me focus and understand my feelings,” she said about the LP.

Marina — “Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land”

Marina returned to share another look at her upcoming album. This time, it’s the snappy and futuristic title track “Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land,” which features buoyant synths under Marina’s hypnotic lyrical delivery. “Our ancestors had to fight to survive / Just so we could have a chance of a life / We’re not here so we can blow it all / We could bear witness to the rise and the fall,” she sings, reflecting on her place in history and how our actions impact the earth’s future.

Oneohtrix Point Never, Rosalía — “Nothing’s Special”

The last we heard from Oneohtrix Point Never, he was collaborating with The Weekend and dropping the album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. Now, the musician has tapped Rosalía to add her vocals on his LP’s album closer “Nothing’s Special.” The reimagined track adds much dimension to the song. Rosalía’s moving vocals melt over drawn-out synths, evoking a certain melancholy as she sings of losing a friend.

Rebecca Black — “Worth It For The Feeling”

With her recent singles, Rebecca Black has been leaning into hyperpop territory. But her latest track “Worth It For The Feeling” offers a more sultry R&B tune. The song moves Black one step closer to her impeding album, which she said is going to be a reintroduction of her artistry. “This year has really been a reintroduction of not only where I’m at in my music but really everything surrounding that to create a full picture,” Black said. “It’s so fun for me to play sexy in a more unconventional and unusual way – and I want to keep challenging myself to disrupt the idea that people might have of the direction I am going in next.”

Bleachers — “Stop Making This Hurt”

Jack Antonoff has spent the last few years producing the biggest pop hits for artists from Taylor Swift to Lana Del Rey. But now, he’s reviving his band Bleachers with the effortlessly fun tune “Stop Making This Hurt.” While the song has been in Antonoff’s head for years, he said it came to light after missing playing life shows: “‘Stop Making This Hurt’ is what you get when we are not allowed to go play for our people. it’s a line that had been ringing in my head for years. i fell into a dark place after a loss and then starting to have that feeling of rage towards the depression — which is when you know there’s a way out. started looking at the people close to me in my life and finding all the ways we keep ourselves from breaking through.”

Banoffee — “Tapioca Cheeks”

With her first single of 2021, Banoffee melts heartbreak into a moody electropop tune. “Tapioca Cheeks” features skittering beats and Banoffee’s metallic-tinged vocals about a complicated relationship. “It’s about the fears that come with diving in with someone,” Banoffee said of the track. “How love can be awful as well as wonderful at the same time, because it’s just so damn scary. ‘Tapioca Cheeks’ is a dedication to someone, for them to feel loved and held even when they feel completely incapable or unlovable.”

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

When Hollywood needs to cast a good guy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt—the Hall & Oates-loving leading man from (500) Days of Summer (2009) and the boy who would become Robin (if only he’d had the chance) in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)—is always a fine choice. But he’s apparently pretty great at playing total a**holes, too. As Variety reports, Gordon-Levitt has just been cast as Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, a self-described “terrible person,” in the new Showtime series Super Pumped.

Originally announced in 2019, the plans for Super Pumped have changed a bit over the past two years. Most notably, it will now be presented as an anthology series, with the first season focusing on Kalanick’s meteoric rise and fall with the rideshare app, which ended in him resigning from the Uber board under pressure from investors.

Super Pumped’s first season is based on Mike Isaac’s book Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. Billions co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien will write, executive produce, and serve as the series’ showrunners alongside Beth Schacter.

“Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a remarkably intelligent and charismatic actor, embodying charm with an unpredictable edge,” Amy Israel, Showtime’s executive VP of scripted programming, said of the casting. “We are beyond excited to see what he will bring to the role of Travis Kalanick, the hyper-brilliant and controversial CEO whose ambition and reckless drive threatened the very enterprise he was determined to build.”

No release date has been announced.

(via Variety)

On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel gave a rundown of some of his personal picks for “worst person of the weekend,” and the competition was pretty fierce. First there was Ted “Kremlin” Cruz who, in comparing a Russian military recruitment ad to a U.S. Army one, decided that America’s “woke, emasculated military is not the best idea.” Though in Cruz’s defense, he’s definitely a man who knows about emasculation! Then there was Rand Paul, a guy so annoying that even his neighbor beat him up for just being him; Paul, of course, is still droning on about how he won’t get vaccinated—as if there’s anyone who cares to stand closer than six feet away from him. But neither of these jackasses could out-buffoon Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has quite possibly never read a history book in her life—or even watched Schindler’s List.

As Kimmel put it, “Klan Mom is very upset with Nancy Pelosi, who’s making her wear a mask to work—a restriction she compared to, that’s right, you guessed it, the Holocaust.”

Here’s what MTG had to say on Pelosi and the matter at hand:

“This woman is mentally ill. You know, we can look back at a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens. So much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany and this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”

It’s early, so let us put that another way: A congresswoman with no real experience whose main political agenda seems to be stalking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at work thinks that the state-sponsored annihilation of millions of people is the equivalent of being told to wear a thin sheet of fabric across your face while at work so that we can mitigate the total number of people who have already been killed by a virus that does not discriminate, and that has so far claimed the lives of 3.47 million people worldwide.

Regardless of which political party you belong to, basic logic should tell you that those two things are not the same!

Kimmel, as usual, said what we’re all thinking when he concluded his MGT chatter by simply asking: “What’s wrong with this woman?,” then advised her to: “Go home. Go back to keying other parents’ cars at soccer games you monster.”

You can watch the full clip above (the Terrible Person segment begins around the 4:40 mark).

Fayetteville, North Carolina has long been renowned as the birthplace of superstar J. Cole but lately, a new rapper from the ‘Ville has been gaining steam as a star on the rise. Morray even recently appeared on Cole’s new album The Off-Season, providing a symbolic passing of the torch for the new Southern rap hero.

Capitalizing on the renewed attention, Morray returned to the promotion of his own debut mixtape Street Sermons, following up the video for “Trenches” with a new clip for “Nothing Now.” A heartbreak anthem that finds Morray coaching himself out of his regrets — the sort of negging pep talk many of us have given ourselves at some point or another — “Nothing Now” arrives with a video depicting the aftermath of the relationship’s breakdown, packing up his car, and driving off through the night to relocate, leaving his ex-lady behind to pick up the pieces.

Morray’s increased buzz hasn’t only put him on J. Cole’s radar. Before his surprise appearance on Cole’s new album, the North Carolina native also made his television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! performing his breakout single “Quicksand.”

Watch Morray’s “Nothing Now” video above.

Street Sermons is out now via Pick Six Records/Interscope Records. Get it here.

With the Friends reunion only a few days away, Matthew Perry has stirred up reactions with his latest round of merch. One shirt in particular contains a sly reference to his Chandler Bing catchphrase that promotes the COVID vaccines, and folks are having mixed feelings about the actor making money off anything pandemic-related, especially after landing a multi-million dollar payday from HBO Max for the Friends special.

In the tweet, Perry writes, “Could I BE Any More Vaccinated? Get your shot and then get your shirt,” before directing fans to his official webstore for Matthew Perry merchandise.

While the “Could I BE Any More Vaccinated” T-shirt does encourage people to get the COVID shot, the listing has no language about a portion of the profits going to any sort of charity, which led to some angry reactions on social media. On Instagram, where he also promoted the T-shirt, Perry was told, “I love you but this tshirt is not it haha,” while others dinged Perry for the profit-grabbing move.

However, Perry has received an overwhelming number of positive responses from Friends fans around the globe saying they love the shirt, and (more specifically) him.

Naturally, Perry also received flak for promoting the COVID shot from anti-vaxxers who accused him, and all celebrities, of being “propaganda machines for life.” These reactions were predominantly contained to his Instagram replies, where Perry was hit with the usual misinformation from conservatives and vaccine skeptics who refuse to get the shot and are holding back herd immunity levels. It’s safe to say they weren’t swayed by the Chandler-themed merch.

(Via Matthew Perry on Twitter)

In 2020, Primavera Sound was forced to cancel. The Spanish festival faced the same fate this year as well. Organizers are getting ready for 2022 in a big way, though: They unveiled the lineup for the massive 2022 event today, which takes place over the weekends of June 2 to 4 and June 9 to 11, along with some ancillary performances from June 5 to 8 and on June 12.

The lineup is stacked, but fans seemed most excited about the inclusion of Lorde, as she became a trending topic on Twitter this morning following the lineup reveal. Primavera Sound is Lorde’s first confirmed show in a while: Her last full live set came in November 2018 at the Corona Capital festival (according to setlist.fm).

Alongside Lorde, headliners include Massive Attack, Pavement, Tame Impala, Beck, The National, The Strokes, Gorillaz, Jorja Smith, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Tyler The Creator, Disclosure, Interpol, Jamie xx, Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The rest of the poster has too many artists to list, but some of the others include Charli XCX, 100 Gecs, Brockhampton, Big Thief, Jay Electronica, Brittany Howard, Clairo, Run The Jewels, and Slowthai.

Tickets go on sale on June 1, so learn more about tickets and the 2022 festival here.

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

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a chance to shine a light on cultures that are often pushed to the margins in American society. This is just as true in the music world as anywhere else, where artists of Asian and Pacific Island ancestry can struggle for visibility despite making some of the most groundbreaking and engaging art out there. In honor of API Heritage month, Uproxx and Warner Music’s API employees wanted to share just a handful of the incredible artists currently catching their attention, showing just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amazing API tunes being created today. The hope is that this resource introduces you off to your next favorite singer or band, and that it sparks a fire to dig deeper at the countless API acts crafting great music.

ANJL

With an absolutely gorgeous voice and music/lyrics that are deeply relatable, this Indian-Filipina songwriter and producer is a paradigm for talent that deserves massive recognition.

Asian Kung Fu Generation

Some classics never go out of style. This throwback will sure to bring a sense of nostalgia if you first found their music on YouTube in the mid-2000’s, but it’s also not too late to discover them for the first time now.

Hollis

Hollis pulls you into her songs with her dreamy vocals and lyrical imagery. Her greatest strength is in her ability to put emotions into words that listeners often feel but cannot describe. She is also an activist and uses her platform for social change.

Jay Som

Jay Som is strongly influenced by her Filipino roots and expresses her identity and emotions through breathy vocals, funky band production, and romantic music. Plus, she has a new collaborative project with Palehound, called Bachelor, out next month.

Khushi

Khushi’s music is the personification of intellectual conversation with a loved one while you’re snuggled in bed with some coffee. Intimate, sultry, and thought-provoking all at once.

Prateek Kuhad

This Mumbai-based singer-songwriter has already been shouted out by President Obama, but his folk-infused craftsmanship is now ready to be heralded by audiences far and wide.

Raveena

Raveena beautifully blends her South Asian heritage with contemporary, dreamy bedroom pop productions that just wraps you up and comforts your soul.

Rei Ami

With a name based on anime characters who both have very different personalities, this Korean artist creates songs that reflect that dichotomy through a dynamic structure where they can be high energy in the first half and dark in the second half. Or, the other way around. She also has awesome music videos.

Rina Sawayama

If you’re not listening to Rina Sawayama already, what are you waiting for? Rina masterfully blends together pop, rock, and Japanese Visual Kei among many other influences into witty social commentary, heartfelt ballads, and full-out f*ck you anthems.

Tiffany Young

A veteran of the K-pop scene, Tiffany has come a long way from her Girl’s Generation days. Her vocals and creative direction have matured and she is truly shining as a solo artist.

Umi

Umi’s rich voice draws you into her soulful productions. Heavily influenced by her Black and Japanese heritage, her songs are deep and unique but at the same time universal – evoking emotions that anyone can resonate with.

Yerin Baek

Yerin Baek embodies versatility. A Korean singer-songwriter, the music can cover ground from jazzy compositions to more alt and electronic music as well.

Yeek

Yeek is not new to the music scene, but the music is so dang sexy it still feels revolutionary. Blast it up and get someone to cuddle with.

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

“Hi, I’m Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Jackass.”

With those immortal words (and one cannon blast), the Jackass franchise was born. Over three seasons of an MTV show, spin-offs, movies, and a video game, Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Wee Man, the late Ryan Dunn, and Dave England have been taking nut shots, filling a limo with bees, and getting launched into the air in a revolting port-a-potty for our perverse enjoyment (I will never forget the visceral reaction in my theater to “Poo Cocktail Supreme”). Jackass 4 can’t get here soon enough.

But as Knoville revealed to GQ, it will be his final Jackass project.

This fall, the fourth of the Jackass films will be released, a project that Knoxville told me will be his last contribution to the franchise. When we spoke, he was finishing work on the movie, marveling at the absurdity of what he had just put his body through — and feeling fortunate to simply be upright

“You can only take so many chances before something irreversible happens,” the Bad Grandpa star explained. “I feel like I’ve been extremely lucky to take the chances I’ve taken and still be walking around.” Knoxville was hospitalized while filming Jackass 4, on top of all the other injuries he’s suffered over the years. He had “four concussions, broke my hand, busted my meniscus, whiplash, stitches over my right eye, [and] lost a couple of teeth” while making Action Point alone. No wonder the 50-year-old is ready to throw in the towel. (The towel is covered with razor blades and pepper spray.)

Jackass 4 comes out on October 22.

(Via GQ)

Rand Paul is pointing the finger at a 1980s pop star, who he believes inspired someone to send a mysterious package to his Kentucky home. That’s quite a sentence, and certainly, no one should condone violence; and Paul has already been the victim of violence outside his home, way back in 2017 when a neighbor attacked him and broke six of the senator’s ribs in what appeared to be some sort of curb-appeal dispute. Four years later, Paul is calling out Richard Marx (the 1980s crooner with hits including “Right Here Waiting” and “Don’t Mean Nothing”) after a package containing white powder arrived at his Bowling Green residence.

The accusation, of course, has to do with Twitter, as do many feuds these days. It must also be mentioned that Rand Paul has put himself forth as a polarizing figure during this pandemic, and this week, the physician-senator declared that he won’t be taking the COVID vaccine because he caught the virus. That’s a stance that other medical professionals are warning is both wrong and dangerous. This may or may not have anything to do with the suspicious package, and this is all a muddled mess, during which Marx tweeted, “If I ever meet Rand Paul’s neighbor I’m going to hug him and buy him as many drinks as he can consume.”

That tweet isn’t in great taste, obviously. And then there’s Fox News’ report that the suspicious package contained a threat (“I’ll finish what your neighbor started, you m*therf*cker”) while referencing (in an illustration) the aforementioned 2017 attack. Well, Paul’s statement (as revealed by Washington Post) singled out Marx’s tweet: “Richard Marx called for violence against me and now we receive this powder filled letter.”

In response, Marx sarcastically wrote on Twitter (in response to a Rand Paul supporter who came for him), “Yeah… I’m the only person on Twitter who’s ever referenced Rand Paul’s neighbor. Must have been me. This was also a day after that traitor made a public showing of refusing the vaccine.” Marx also tweeted a link to an article about Rand Paul testing COVID-positive last year after hanging out at the Senate gym and attending luncheons: “You know who actually put multiple people’s lives at potential risk?”

Marx has continued tweeting while referring to hardcore Trump fans as the “nameless, faceless, gutless” and the “ultimate snowflakes.” Paul was one of several Republican senators who publicly opposed the second impeachment effort against Donald Trump following the January 6 insurrection. And there are no winners here.

Dave Grohl has more projects to promote right now than just about anybody. There’s the What Drives Us documentary, the From Cradle To Stage TV series he made with his mother, his upcoming memoir The Storyteller, and of course, Foo Fighters’ latest album, Medicine At Midnight, was just released a few months ago. One late-night TV guest appearance apparently wasn’t enough to get all that across, so last night, he co-hosted The Tonight Show alongside Jimmy Fallon.

On the program, Grohl did typical late-night things, like join Fallon for the opening monologue and make jokes about current events like the pandemic, Phil Mickelson’s historic PGA win, and news oddities. Elsewhere, he and Fallon played a game called “Off Songs, Song Off.” Grohl and Fallon had to identify what popular song The Roots were performing, but the catch was the band changed something about the songs to make them harder to identify.

He also sat down for a more traditional interview, where he spoke about his various upcoming projects and bringing his mom on tour with him.

Furthermore, he and Fallon interviewed Lil Nas X about his SNL wardrobe malfunction, and Grohl performed the repetitive meme version of Foo Fighters’ “Best Of You.”

This actually wasn’t Grohl’s first time hosting a network late-night show: In 2017, he guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Check out clips from Grohl’s Tonight Show guest-hosting stint above and below.