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Audrey Fix Schaefer remembers all too well the last concert she was able to attend in person: a raucous performance by punk godfathers the Dead Kennedys at 9:30 Club, the D.C. venue where she serves as communications director, on March 11th, 2020.

“I had a lot of tears that night,” she recalled during a recent phone call. “At the time, I thought it was going to be the last show I would see for 20 days. Because D.C. was going to flatten the curve. It was a moment where I was relishing being in the place that brings me so much joy. But there was also so much angst thinking about what happens to our employees. What happens to all the businesses around us? What happens to the bands?”

Over a year later, 9:30 Club, like thousands of venues around the world, remains closed. The bookers for the club have been forced to re-book some shows up to 10 times as they wait for that magical combination of COVID cases dropping, vaccination numbers rising, and the decision makers in the district and the federal government to finally give them the go-ahead to hold shows again.

The past month has shown some glimmers of hope that music fans hungry might be able to feel the waves of a PA rumbling through their systems before 2021 is over. Artists such as psych-grunge mainstays Dinosaur Jr. and pop-country duo SixForty1 recently announced tour dates. Bonnaroo, the outdoor festival held yearly since 2002 in Manchester, Tennessee, dropped the lineup for their 2021 edition (set for the weekend of September 2nd) that includes Foo Fighters, Megan Thee Stallion, Tame Impala, and Lizzo. Other festivals, like the roots-oriented DelFest and Americanafest, and the EDM-centric Electric Zoo, followed suit with their own lineup announcements.

Even 9:30 Club has dates listed on their calendar for as soon as May 25th of this year. It’s a positive sign but one that Schaefer and all the other bookers and venue operators around the world is approaching cautiously.

“One of these days we’re hoping that we’re going to get to open,” she said. “And we will. We just don’t know when it is.”

Concert venues, big and small, were some of the first places to close when the pandemic started spiraling out of control last year — and rightfully so, as, for most people, the need to protect themselves and others far outweighed any desires to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their fellow music fans. And those same clubs and theaters will likely be the last to reopen even as more people are vaccinated and infection numbers start to drop.

The impact of this global shutdown has been enormous. According to Pollstar, ticket sales in the first quarter of 2021 are down 99% from the year before. And that’s not even counting the loss of revenue still being felt by everyone from musicians to booking agents to bartenders. So the excitement about the prospect of shows, tours, and festivals happening again soon is understandable. But thankfully, most of the people involved with these events are being very careful and downright suspicious as they set about opening their doors and gates to fans again.

“We’ve got to get the ecosystem rebooted by the end of the summer or I’ll be out,” said Jim Brunberg, owner of three venues in Portland, Oregon, including Mississippi Studios, and the founder of the advocacy group Independent Venues Coalition. “And I’m one of the most solid and optimistic people out there. There has to be a rational and science-based approach to reopening. We can’t be fear-based and throwing darts at a moving target.”

The biggest challenge with that is that every state has their own protocols with regards to the pandemic. In New York, for example, Governor Andrew Cuomo is allowing venues to reopen at either 33% capacity or 100 patrons, whichever is highest, while in Texas and Florida, the restrictions have been completely lifted and venues can operate at 100% capacity if they so choose.

While that still does leave open plenty of possibilities for artists to perform, the spotty landscape for reopening presents challenges for anyone hoping to tour the U.S. any time soon.

“It’s a really long planning process in our business,” says Schaefer, who also serves as communications director for the advocacy group National Independent Venue Association. “You have thousands of bands trying to make their way to thousands of venues across the country. You’re not going to go to one town and then skip seven states to get to the next.”

It’s all still a bit of a mess, but there are plenty of positive signs out there that forecast a slow return to normal for the concert industry. Last weekend, City Winery NYC held their first shows in over a year—two performances by Old 97s leader Rhett Miller — with attendees safely socially distanced and mask mandates in place. And their concert calendar is filling up quickly with names like Patti Smith, Stephin Merritt, and Rufus Wainwright.

The Basement East in Nashville also reopened its doors this past weekend after a year that saw the venue hit not only with the pandemic but also a tornado that ripped a hole in the building last March. With repairs done and safety restrictions in place, the club welcomed 132 people for a sold-out show by local rockers Goodbye June, with future weekend shows already booked. Exciting, yes, but to hear co-owner Mike Grimes talk about, still a little bittersweet.

“To be transparent, doing shows in this context is rewarding but it’s not the same,” he said. “It’s rewarding and fun but not great for the people that can’t get up and go talk to somebody in another pod or hug a friend sitting at another table because all these protocols are in place.”

As well, nearly 2,000 tickets have been sold for Moon Crush, a five-day festival headlined by Sheryl Crow and Jason Isbell being held at the end of April in Miramar Beach, Florida. The event is almost like the experience of a cruise ship on land. Concertgoers are expected to rent a house or condo within walking distance of the venue and, with only three acts every night, there’s ample time for other activities in the area.

“We like to use the term ‘music vacation,’” said Andy Levine, the creator of the event. “We want you to get up and have your perfect day, whatever it is. And then we’re going to have five hours of music waiting for you.”

There are still plenty of restrictions in place. Anyone in attendance must have proof of a negative COVID test or vaccination, and they’re expected to keep to their designated viewing area at the venue every night.

That alone is an indication that we’re not nearly clear of this pandemic. Maybe we are only six months away from thousands of people being safe to bounce between stages at the farm where Bonnaroo is held every year. But for smaller spaces like Nashville’s hub for bluegrass and traditional country The Station Inn, there is no guarantee that they’ll be back in business any time soon.

“We’re not in the clear yet,” said Jeff Brown, the Station Inn’s marketing director. “As much as there’s optimism at the moment that it feels like we’re coming out of this thing, we’re not out yet.”

Amidst the holiday weekend, the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards rolled out its list of winners on Sunday evening. Among the notable list of recipients is the late Chadwick Boseman, who picked up a posthumous win for Best Male Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. His cast mate Viola Davis also walked away with Best Female Actor, so it was a big night for Boseman’s final film.

On the TV side, Schitt’s Creek star Catharine O’Hara locked down Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series while the entire show won for Best Ensemble. Other notable winners include The Mandalorian and Wonder Woman 1984, which both won awards for Outstanding Action Performance on TV and film, respectively.

You can see the full list of the 2021 SAG Awards winners and nominees below:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Winner
Da 5 Bloods
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
One Night in Miami

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) – Winner
Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Steven Yeun (Minari)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) – Winner
Amy Adams (Hillbilly Elegy)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

The Crown – Winner
Better Call Saul
Bridgerton
Lovecraft Country
Ozark

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman (Ozark) – Winner
Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us)
Josh O’Connor (The Crown)
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)
Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Gillian Anderson (The Crown) – Winner
Olivia Colman (The Crown)
Emma Corrin (The Crown)
Julia Garner (Ozark)
Laura Linney (Ozark)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Youn Yuh-Jung (Minari) – Winner
Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Helena Zengel (News of the World)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) – Winner
Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods)
Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Jared Leto (The Little Things)
Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Schitt’s Creek – Winner
Dead to Me
The Flight Attendant
The Great
Ted Lasso

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) – Winner
Christina Applegate (Dead to Me)
Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me)
Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)
Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) – Winner
Nicholas Hoult (The Great)
Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek)
Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek)
Ramy Youssef (Ramy)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) – Winner
Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America)
Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You)
Nicole Kidman (The Undoing)
Kerry Washington (Little Fires Everywhere)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Mark Ruffalo (I Know This Much Is True) – Winner
Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit)
Daveed Diggs (Hamilton)
Hugh Grant (The Undoing)
Ethan Hawke (The Good Lord Bird)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Wonder Woman 1984 – Winner
Da 5 Bloods
Mulan
News of the World
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series

The Mandalorian – Winner
The Boys
Cobra Kai
Lovecraft Country
Westworld

(Via Screen Actors Guild Awards)

Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) has stayed mostly out of the spotlight since releasing her beloved album Titanic Rising in 2019. She hasn’t been doing nothing, though. She featured on Zella Day’s “Holocene,” which dropped earlier this year. She also provided significant contributions to Tim Heidecker’s 2020 album Fear Of Death. Now she has taken a moment to look back on Titanic Rising by releasing a bonus cut from the album, “Titanic Risen.”

The song was previously released as a Titanic Rising bonus track but only on Japanese editions of the album. “Titanic Risen” made its debut in the US earlier this year, when it could be heard while exploring a sunken ship in the Roblox Titanic video game.

Around this time last year, Mering shared a video for “Wild Time” and noted that she was working on a new album that she intended to release in 2021, writing, “In other news, as you may have assumed, I am canceling all of my headline shows for 2020, but I’m beginning to work on my next album that will come out in 2021 — a different time, when hopefully we can see each other face to face once again.”

Listen to “Titanic Risen” above and revisit our review of Titanic Rising here.

Throughout her entire career, Thandiwe Newton has allowed her name to be misspelled. Not anymore. In a new interview where the Westworld actress goes deep on the racism and sexual harassment she’s faced over the years, Newton opens up about how she’s begun to assert herself in the past decade for herself and for her daughter, up and coming actress Nico Parker, and how she will “talk until the cows come home” if she sees any type of abuse from Hollywood. Regaining her confidence has prompted Newton to no longer be complicit in pretending race doesn’t exist.

“The thing I’m most grateful for in our business right now is being in the company of others who truly see me. And to not be complicit in the objectification of Black people as ‘others’, which is what happens when you’re the only one,” Newton told British Vogue before revealing her name will be correctly spelled as “Thandiwe” from here on out:

All her future films will be credited with Thandiwe Newton, after the W was carelessly missed out from her first credit. Now she’s in control. Many lives lived and she’s come out triumphant, preserved in the magic of the mist and sun that made her, and wanted her to shine. “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”

In case it was’t clear how committed Netwon is to not taking anymore crap, last summer, the actress called out her Mission: Impossible 2 co-star Tom Cruise, who is easily one of the biggest names in Hollywood. To Newton’s shock, people were here for it. “I was surprised by the appreciation I had got,” she told Variety and iHeart’s The Big Ticket podcast. “I thought that I would be in trouble because that’s kind of what I’m used to.”

(Via British Vogue)

Before and after the release of 2013’s Artpop, Lady Gaga spoke on multiple occasions about the possibility of a sequel of the album. In 2012, she suggested that a second volume of Artpop would feature experimental material from the album’s sessions. The Artpop sequel ultimately never materialized, but fans haven’t forgotten about it.

Over the weekend, a fan started a Change.org petition titled “Release ARTPOP Act II and give Lady Gaga full creative freedom over her art.” The petition was started in response to DJ White Shadow (aka DJWS), who co-produced and/or co-wrote the majority of the songs on Artpop, telling fans they “gotta petition Gaga” if they want to hear the Artpop sequel. In just a few days, the petition has nearly 30,000 signatures.

Now, DJWS has shared a lengthy response on Instagram, in which he explains the difficulties both he and Gaga experienced while Artpop:

“Making music and delivering it the way ARTPOP was made and delivered was particularly difficult. Imagine it as if you were going skydiving and you are stuck in a free fall for what seems like forever. Then, smashing into the ground after your parachute doesn’t open, and having to do it again and again and again. Then imagine a bunch of people just standing on the sidelines watching you, and stealing your wallet from your lifeless body every time you hit the ground. There are SO many stories I can tell you about what it took to get ARTPOP into the world, and one day I might. […] I am ready to get back in. I am ready, and whenever LG is, we can get after it. That being said, try and be nice to her. She has feelings (like any other normal person) and this ‘era’ was a hard time for her too.”

He then noted, “I am sure she will be ok with revisiting it one day and building on it when the time is right. I will continue to push for those songs you want so badly, that LG and I did, and I hope you will get to hear them. Don’t let them die. Continue to get your message to the people in charge. You have the power, don’t give up.”

DJWS concluded that he has actually gotten in touch with Gaga about the petition, writing, “Oh, and I sent LG a text. I don’t feel right about sharing our private talks but I promise you all I did. :).”

Find DJWS’s post below.

“First off let me say how grateful I am for all of you. You are completely badass and some of the most incredibly loving and rabid fans in the world. I love you all dearly, even when you hate me most. I made an April fools day joke about ‘Tea’ (sorry) and am amazed how much you all still care about that era, and about some songs you have never heard. I can only say to you that I am humbled every day that I am able to share some of myself with you and for it to be loved in such a special way.

To answer a couple of the questions and in an effort to clear some stuff up with some honesty I wanted to tell you a couple things. Making music and delivering it the way ARTPOP was made and delivered was particularly difficult. Imagine it as if you were going skydiving and you are stuck in a free fall for what seems like forever. Then, smashing into the ground after your parachute doesn’t open, and having to do it again and again and again. Then imagine a bunch of people just standing on the sidelines watching you, and stealing your wallet from your lifeless body every time you hit the ground. There are SO many stories I can tell you about what it took to get ARTPOP into the world, and one day I might. So many scum bags trying to latch on to the train I had worked so hard to get out of the station. So much transition and turmoil. Let me tell you that I have never been so broken as a human being the day when that record was turned in. I was nearly dead. I felt trampled on, and finished with music. At times I felt finished with life. This is not an exaggeration. In the years to follow, actually, largely up until last year, I have been trying to undo the trauma of completing that phase of my life. Some still lingers.

That being said, I am much better now and much better for having gone through it. I am strong and can hear the music with a happy heart finally. While I want you to hear the ‘extras’ that you guys want to hear, I would also like to make you some new things. l am 100x better at what I do now, and am at an all time creative high. I have eliminated all the dirty rat f*cks that were in my life and have surrounded myself with joy and love. I am ready to get back in. I am ready, and whenever LG is, we can get after it.

That being said, try and be nice to her. She has feelings (like any other normal person) and this ‘era’ was a hard time for her too. I am sure she will be ok with revisiting it one day and building on it when the time is right.

I will continue to push for those songs you want so badly, that LG and I did, and I hope you will get to hear them. Don’t let them die. Continue to get your message to the people in charge. You have the power, don’t give up.

Lastly, thank you to Nick and Dino and Dave Russell too. I wouldn’t be sh*t without you guys.

Oh, and I sent LG a text. I don’t feel right about sharing our private talks but I promise you all I did. 🙂

[heart emoji] P.”

“Here’s Negan,” the stand-alone installment of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic, has been talked about as a television adaptation since the day it was released. It tells the origin story of Negan, of his baseball bat Lucille and his leather jacket, and it explains why Negan became the man that he was when he recruited and led the brutal Saviors. As we have learned in 10 seasons of The Walking Dead, bad people like Negan or even The Governor do not always start out as bad people. Grief, guilt, trauma, and shame can do a powerful psychological number on the human mind.

Negan got a heavy dose of all four, which transformed him into the brutal, sadistic, dictatorial clown-show that he would eventually become before having his throat slashed by Rick Grimes and spending roughly years inside of a prison cell. Negan’s story began pre-apocalypse when he was fired as a high-school gym teacher for beating the hell out of a man who wouldn’t keep it down while Negan played he and his wife’s song in a bar on the jukebox. His wife is Lucille (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife, Hilarie Burton), and their song was “You’re So Beautiful,” by Joe Cocker, and it meant a lot to Negan.

Seeing red and beating up that man, however, led to Negan getting fired as a gym teacher, and it also meant that his wife, Lucille, had to pay for the lawsuits, even as Negan racked up a $600 credit card charge for a leather jacket that Lucille snatched away from him pre-apocalypse but gifted back to him later. As if Negan didn’t feel enough guilt about losing his job and the lawsuit, he was also having an affair while Lucille was at the doctor learning that she had been diagnosed with cancer. Negan called off the affair immediately, but that’s when the guilt and the shame nevertheless began to take over.

Lucille was midway through chemo treatments when the apocalypse began, which meant that Negan had to figure out how to complete the chemo treatment while trapped at home and surrounded by zombies. Unfortunately, Negan forgot to turn the generator that kept his wife’s chemo treatments cool back on after he’d turned it off because it was attracting walkers. That led to even more guilt.

Against his wife Lucille’s wishes, Negan set out to find more chemo treatments for her because (as he later admitted) he was too much of a coward to stay and watch her die. It took him six weeks to find the treatment (thanks to the help of Laura, who gave him a baseball bat to protect himself, and who would later become one of his most loyal Saviors before Beta killed her earlier this season). When he finally retrieved the meds he needed from a mobile medical van, he was abducted by some bad men who beat Negan (until he revealed the location of the med van) before letting him go.

By the time he made it back home, however, it was too late. Lucille could no longer take the pain of cancer, and she’d killed herself. Negan walked in on his zombified wife tied up in bed with a plastic bag wrapped around her face. If that doesn’t turn you into a supervillain, I don’t know what would. Negan — now saddled permanently with the guilt of cheating on his wife, spoiling her chemo medication, and leaving her while she died — took that baseball bat that Laura had given him, wrapped barbed wire around it, and beat the living hell out of the bad men who abducted him and kept him from his wife.

It was the birth of the “Negan” we know from the All-Out War. He became viciously, brutally loyal to those he sought to protect to the exclusion of everyone else. The whole ordeal warped his mind, and until he spent all those years in prison, he was unable to un-warp it. It was not a normal reaction to the death of a loved one, but in the context of everything else, it kind of makes sense.

Does that redeem Negan? Not exactly, but at least we can understand why he became the man that he was. He’s also spent the last couple of years trying to undo what he had done to Alexandria. Maggie, however, has every reason to continue hating Negan, because he brutally murdered her husband. But given the strength of his loyalty, he’s also a good guy to have on your side.

Beyond the origins story, the episode was also bookended by the present day, which is interesting in and of itself. Carol and Daryl banished Negan from Alexandria and sent him packing to Leah’s old house, which is exactly what happened in the source material. He was barely ever seen again in the comics. At the end of the television episode, however, Negan — having re-examined his life — decided not to accept the banishment. He returned to Alexandria.

“If you stay here, [Maggie] will kill you,” Carol tells him. “I just didn’t want your death on my conscience, and now [that you refused to accept your banishment] it’s not.”

“Fair enough,” Negan says, as he flashes that old-school Negan smile and metaphorically winks at Maggie in the distance. What does it mean? I have no idea. All we do know is that Negan unburied his bat, Lucille, and burned it, so the old Negan is gone, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to be a pushover. According to showrunner Angela Kang, that smile basically said, “I’m here, we are going to have to deal with each other and I belong here and I have a place here.” Negan has made Alexandria his new home, and it’s clear that he’s not willing to give that up, even if it means that the threat of being killed by Maggie will constantly hang over him.

It’s a fitting end to the season, and a great teaser for the final season, which returns this summer. Despite the woeful last couple of episodes, “Here’s Negan” sets the series back on the right path toward its last 24 episodes, which will begin airing on Sunday, August 22nd.

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

Success is never a guaranteed thing. No matter the task, it’s never promised that one will complete it on the first try. This doesn’t mean that it’s unlikely, but rather, it’s a logical expectation when the absolute random ways of the world and how things can play out are taken into consideration. With that being said, we like to think that success will arrive at some point along the way. Even if it takes a million tries, the eventual accomplishment proves that we are capable of getting it done. Unfortunately for Gallant, this self-serving moment doesn’t arrive for him on his latest body of work.

The singer’s Neptune EP presents eight elegant songs that float freely in the spacious night sky. On it, Gallant repeatedly comes up short in tying down a longtime partner for the tumultuous ride that is life. Whether it slips through his hands or flies by when he lets his guard down, he repeatedly plays from behind on Neptune in an attempt to gain ground and capture the very thing that’s escaped him too often.

As elusive as love can be, Gallant’s inability to experience the best of it is due to his faults. Blocking your shot can be extremely frustrating, especially when it occurs as a reflex, and the annoyance of it all only skyrockets when the stakes of said shot are realized. In what sounds like a file uprooted out of Usher’s early 2000s hard drive, Gallant confesses to his wrongs on “Comeback” with the hope that his exiting partner will do just that: return his now-prepared arms where he offers a much better experience for her. “I shouldn’t have ever listened to the demons,” he admits, adding, “You can come back / There’s no better time / I’ll leave on the lights.”

Gallant’s blunders continue with “Julie.” The free-floating track, which could very well be classified as “singing in the rain” music at some points, presents the singer as a klutz whenever love comes his way. Despite these neverending mistakes, he still finds himself in short-lived moments of intimacy with a partner who is very much skeptical about his abilities to not ruin yet another chance with her. While her hesitation is still present, she seems a bit more open to a second stab at it than the partner she sings about on “No More Tries.” Back by a guest appearance from VanJess, who play the role of his exhausted companion, Gallant’s journey towards a fulfilling love is cut short by their command to turn around and take him and his inconsistencies to someone else. “Even if we try / It would only end up causing us more pain,” they sing. “’Cause your love was enough for me until / There was nothing left for both of us to lose.”

It’d be criminal to paint a picture of Gallant’s perceived loneliness as something of his own doing. The singer stumbles across individuals who ruin the few moments he has it together. Take “Dynamite” with Brandy, for example, Gallant deals with a woman who’s both insecure and blinded by the fame and money that surrounds her. Blowing up their lives to the most basic element would be nice but it’s highly unrealistic, something he accepts in the song. Gallant even deals with his frustrations on “Scars.” The uptempo, dance-friendly track is enwrapped with both the physical and emotional pain that the singer carries on his shoulders. He balances nonchalance with discontent with a track that ultimately finds him moving one to the next awaiting soul who is hopefully ready for what he has to offer.

Gallant will eventually figure it out, or hey, maybe he won’t. It’s all up to the singer to tie his laces and finally stop tripping over himself on this winding road towards companionship. At least, in that case, he’ll limit his failures to outside circumstances like inapt companions or just sheer bad luck. Despite these missteps, it’s admirable that he at least recognizes his faults, and with each admission comes the claim that he’s fixed them and is far better. Neptune is filled with ear-pleasing music that encapsulates Gallant’s versatility as a singer. From traditional R&B to alternative sounds and everything in between, Gallant proves that his talents span as wide as the distance between Earth and the planet in which this project was named after.

Neptune is out now via EMPIRE. Get it here.

St. Vincent was the musical guest on this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, but the show began with nods to Britney Spears and Lil Nas X.

The SNL cold open skit was a talk show hosted by Spears (wonderfully portrayed by Chloe Fineman). Her first guest on the program was Lil Nas X (played by Chris Redd), who spoke about his “Satan shoes” and his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video. He explained the backlash to the video, “People are afraid of me because I’m different, but really, I’m just your typical gay, black, country-rap sneaker entrepreneur.” Then, at Spears’ suggestion, she brought out God and Nas gave him a lap dance to “even things out.”

Not long after the skit, Nas took to Twitter to share his thoughts. He tweeted a screenshot from the sketch and offered a tongue-in-cheek caption: “snl going to hell.”

Now that Nas has been parodied on SNL, he just has South Park left. He tried to will an episode of the long-running cartoon about his Satan saga into existence last week when he tweeted, “this gone be a good ass south park episode lmao.”

Watch the Saturday Night Live skit below.

“Do you really believe in this Loki Variant?” “Luckily, he believes in himself enough for the both of us.”

That’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character speaking to that of Luke Wilson’s Time Variance Authority officer, and yes, those two lines are quite encouraging for the Loki standalone series coming to Disney+. Not only will Loki be made to atone for his time crimes — in particular, the fine mess he’s made by snatching the Tesseract during Endgame — but the God of Mischief have to help fix them, too.

In other words, Loki is still burdened with glorious purpose. The timeline, of course, is a bit confusing here. We know that the show takes place following the events of Avengers: Endgame, but we also know that this show’s entire theme has to do with time, so expect some extra theatrics on that subject. Yet we also witnessed time-travel shenanigans at the end of Endgame, and Steve Rogers presumably fixed some things, but obviously not everything. Hey, Steve was distracted by returning to Peggy, so cut him a break.

With that said, we know that Thanos killed Loki at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Yet we saw the Trickster reappear and snatch that Time Stone at the end of Endgame. So, it’s impossible to know Loki’s true essence here — is he the somewhat reformed version, or nah? — and we rarely truly know what’s going on inside of that unlikely Frost Giant exterior. Whatever the case, he’s bound to keep us on his toes.

Loki will debut on Disney+ on June 22.

People thought Charlize Theron was just another model-turned-actress. They were shocked when it turned out she was good. Then they were shocked when it turned out she could be funny. Then they were shocked she could be serious. Then they were shocked when won an Oscar. Then they were shocked that she could do action. Then they were shocked that she could do villains. They were even shocked that she could almost literally turn into Megyn Kelly.

Perhaps some people are still shocked whenever Charlize Theron pivots for the umpteenth time, revealing yet another skill she’s mastered, yet another innate talent. To be steadily employed by Hollywood, as Theron has for some 25 years, and especially if you’re a woman, requires being good at everything. If one hustle dries up, find another. When that dries up, another — and so on and so forth. The people who last in the industry — not just the big stars but those who’ve simply been on screens consistently for decades, such as the recently late George Segal — know this all too well.

It would be easy to say Theron got her foot in the door thanks to her looks, but that’s unfair. And it’s untrue. On the surface, her breakthrough did treat her like eye candy. She first caught attention during the post-Pulp Fiction avalanche of generic imitators, with 1996’s 2 Days in the Valley, in which she played a moll to James Spader’s casually amoral assassin. Spader’s character treats her like an object, like a living air doll. The movie’s ad campaign featured her prominently, scantily clad, beckoning horndogs who’d seen Reservoir Dogs too many times.

But watch her performance. She’s alive, hungry, more thirsty than the men who lust after her. It’s even her first brush with action: She gets into a show-stopping melée with Teri Hatcher that ends in tragedy. She spends her final minutes expiring slowly and agonizingly, tearfully begging for her life with each short breath. Allowing Theron the space to give a great, painful death scene is maybe the movie’s only smart and novel move. But this is more than a better-than-the-movie-deserved performance. It’s Theron’s future career in miniature: She excels at a lot, sometimes with limited resources, all without breaking a sweat.

Less than two months later audiences learned another thing about Theron: She’s hilarious. Tom Hanks had the foresight to cast her in That Thing You Do!, his chronicle of a ‘60s one-hit-wonder. Theron’s role is small: She’s the girlfriend of Tom Everett Scott’s drummer protagonist — at least for a while. On paper she’s a sexist stereotype: impossibly vain, unenthusiastically going to his gigs and spending more time touching up her makeup than rocking out. But Theron makes an art of it. She’s just not that into him, perhaps sensing — rightly, it turns out — that he’s not going anywhere beyond a brief dance with fame. The best scene finds her stuck on the phone with him as he brags about a successful show. Bored by his boasting, she casually hangs up the phone without saying goodbye. It might be the funniest thing Theron has ever done — unexpected, perfectly timed, perversely badass.

There was a period early on when Theron was treated as a mere pretty face. But she always brought gravitas and wit. It’s devastating to watch her come slowly and epically undone in the over-the-top trashy The Devil’s Advocate, where she delivers another heartbreaking death scene. And there are early signs of the durable and versatile Renaissance Person that would soon become impossible to ignore. Theron won her Oscar for Monster, from future Wonder Woman steward Patty Jenkins, in which she uglied herself up and struck gold. But her work doesn’t seem calculated just to win trophies. It seems that by literally transforming her face, she thought she’d finally get the plaudits she’d always deserved.

Still, she might be even better in another, less auspicious movie from that year, the remake of The Italian Job. Everyone else — Mark Wahlberg, Jason Statham, Mos Def — is having a blast, but she’s not. The movie begins with the baddie (Edward Norton) murdering her father (Donald Sutherland), and while the boys are cracking jokes and stealing minis, she’s furiously committed to furious vengeance — a turn as serious as her raw nerve work in the movie that made her an Oscar-winner.

That pain is really what unites Theron’s characters, across genres and across types. They’re all dealing with something dark, even in the lightest comedies. Sometimes they can’t deal with it (The Devil’s Advocate). Sometimes they stew, hilariously, in their misery (her twin Jason Reitman-Diablo Cody movies, Young Adult and Tully). Sometimes their pain makes them tough (most of her action movies, and let’s not forget when she stole Seth MacFarlane’s spoof A Million Ways to Die in the West without a single joke). Sometimes it fills them with righteous fury. Speaking of which, there’s Furiosa, the real star of Mad Max: Fury Road — a supremely damaged woman who has quietly planned her vengeance against the men who wronged her.

Fury Road was when Theron officially added action to her arsenal. She’d done it before — not just 2 Days in the Valley but also the big-screen take on the MTV Liquid Television staple Aeon Flux — but here is when she became a real ass-kicker. It’s not like it came out of nowhere. In Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard, she was drawing on yet another talent: She’s a trained dancer. She’s a natural at fight choreography, but she doesn’t have the ego that comes with a perfect ass-kicker like Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris. In the more strenuous parts of her action films, she loves getting hurt, receiving as good as she gives.

Right now action is Theron’s main business, but not her only one. She can juggle kicking butt with being even funnier than Seth Rogen in Long Shot. Or getting an Oscar nomination for playing a justly wronged Fox News host everyone otherwise despises. The business that hesitantly welcomed Theron, that assumed she was just another hubristic looker who would be quickly put in her place, does not remotely resemble the one today. But she’s endured and evolved in part because she knows that you can’t just be good at one thing. She’s a model not only to those who want a sturdy Hollywood career, but to anyone in today’s weird economy, where cushy full-time gigs are rare and patchwork existences, sometimes culled from different skill sets, are becoming the norm. Who knows that life better than an actor? And who knows how to be great at lots of things more than Charlize Theron?