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Last fall around the NBA, the only guys who seemed to get paid in free agency were stars on rookie contracts and, interestingly, shooting specialists. Two of the biggest deals given out were the Nets and Wizards re-signing their sharpshooters for $18-plus million annually, but the different situations in which Joe Harris and Davis Bertans ended up illustrate why shooting is more important to great teams, and why Harris is so valuable.

Even before Brooklyn traded for James Harden to be its new lead ball-handler, Harris figured to be among the more important pieces of the rotation. To understand why, consider the chasm between good and great shooters. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Harris has taken more than 1,000 threes and made more than 46 percent. Through 33 games this year, Harris has made a whopping 51 percent of his triples. There’s hardly any precedent for that type of shot-making in the history of the league. He takes every single kind of three for Brooklyn, and he hits them at a shockingly good clip.

At his peak, Klay Thompson worked with a much higher volume, but he never touched the 47 percent season Harris had in 2018-19, let alone the way Harris has shot the ball halfway through this season. Of course, Duncan Robinson just tore through the NBA last year by shooting 45 percent on more than 600 three-point attempts, but Harris still outpaces him. And because of how the Nets’ offense functions compared to the star-laden Warriors of that era, Harris may not be a core part of the scheme — when the team is cooking, he’ll be Brooklyn’s fourth option by some margin when he’s on the floor with their three All-Stars — but he is immensely valuable.

The Nets’ No. 1-ranked offense has been more than five points better per 100 possessions when Harris is on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass, and the Nets unsurprisingly take fewer threes when he’s on the bench. Isolation basketball is a fine plan when you have Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant on your team, but those numbers show that Harris’ shooting and the space he opens up for the stars has real value.

Steve Nash and the Nets coaching staff have smartly used Harris in sets that force defenses to respect his shooting ability in a manner that frees up the stars for good looks. Because teams can’t let him loose, Harris will often screen for Harden or Irving to give them a switch they want at the top of the key, setting up a drive to the basket. That simple concept set up a big Nets comeback in Phoenix last week, with Harden punishing the Suns’ switches to lead the way.

At the same time, the Nets are running more this season under Nash and using Harris as a weapon in those spots. A larger portion of Harris’ scoring possessions have come in transition this year, and he presents defenses a nightmare decision about whether to help on someone like Irving downhill or leave the best spot-up shooter in the NBA open in the corner. And remember, because each member of Brooklyn’s big three are elite 1-on-1 players, it would be foolish to do anything other than try to hide your worst defender on Harris, who can and will punish them.

Like Robinson or even Thompson (who as an all-around player is clearly an outlier in a list like this), Harris also brings enough size to not be a major detriment defensively. The Nets’ defensive ceiling has been a debate among NBA fans all season, but their best defense has come with the starters on the floor, and Harris has survived with those groups.

And it’s not as if the Nets can afford to hide Harris. Sure, he will occasionally guard opponents’ spot-up threats in a Spiderman meme sort of situation, but he also defends opposing play-makers more often than not. According to private defensive matchup data from BBall-Index, Harris defends primary or secondary creators 26.3 percent of the time, which is a big-time responsibility relative to other players like him around the NBA. Most teams have enough defensive talent that a limited athlete like Harris doesn’t have to extend himself like that, but not Brooklyn.

That can obviously backfire. Harris defended Paul George for 2:05 in a win over the Clippers on Sunday and George promptly scored 10 points in quick succession, shooting 4-for-6 when guarded by Harris. Those metrics aren’t bulletproof, but they show the limitations of Harris’ game.

Still, Harris remains one of the best role players in the NBA. His shooting is vital for the top-heavy Nets, and he can hold his own in other parts of the game. He’s built himself into a player who is a perfect piece for a great team, which makes him worth his contract. Washington may have buyer’s remorse on Bertans (who is also injured), because there’s a hard cap on the impact a shooter can have on a team that is losing, but Harris is serving his purpose perfectly for Brooklyn and is a key part of the budding championship contender on the far side of the East River.

Mastering an American accent has become a rite of passage for British and Australian actors, and assorted other former British colonies. It’s an interesting phenomenon: in America we send most of our young actors through the teenybopper homogenizing machine, which spits out enough semi-interchangeable over-coiffed influencers every year to fill Disney Channel sitcoms and country music contracts. The downside of which is that casting directors looking for someone “authentic” looking frequently land on actors born and raised thousands of miles away. Half of our superheroes are English and Australian.

This, in turn, has led to a class of actors so good at American accents that hearing their natural ones in interviews is downright shocking. This past month alone has seen the release of Judas And The Black Messiah, starring British actor Daniel Kaluuya as American revolutionary Fred Hampton, and now Cherry, starring Brit Tom Holland as an Ohioan with an opiate addiction (actually Holland’s second turn as an Ohioan after Devil All The Time). Kaluuya looks like a lock for a Best Actor nomination, but both are quickly proving themselves masters of the American accent, and American regional accents.

It’s all very impressive if the actor can pull it off. When they can’t, it’s easy to wonder if they might just be better off writing around it. Scot Sean Connery didn’t even attempt an Irish accent in The Untouchables, and for the most part, no one cared. The reverse is also frequently true, like Richard Gere refusing to sound British opposite Connery in the King Arthur movie First Knight. Peter Dinklage more recently split the difference in Game Of Thrones, opting for Mid-Atlantic. Schwarzenegger never needed to sound like anyone but Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was an interesting tidbit in the recent More Than Miyagi documentary, about Pat Morita. The American-born, American-sounding Japanese-American Morita (whose family ran a Chinese restaurant growing up) had modeled his accent as Arnold on Happy Days after a Chinese cook that he knew. But the union initially had a problem with a Japanese actor doing a Chinese accent. Solution? Morita invented a backstory that Arnold’s mother had sent him off to China when he was a boy for complicated reasons.

I guess my point here is that doing an accent is an impressive trick, but you can always just write in a one-sentence explanation too. As Rob Lowe’s character says when explaining how they could have characters smoke in space in Thank You For Smoking, “It’s an easy fix. One line of dialogue: ‘that’s why we invented the… you know, whatever.’”

Honorable Mention: Christian Bale

The big question we had while brainstorming this list: does Christian Bale count? Certainly, he’s played lots of American characters convincingly: Patrick Bateman, Dick Cheney, Batman, the fat guy in American Hustle. But did he really trick us into believing he was American? A seamless accent feels more like a character actor’s trick, whereas Bale seems more like a lead. His characters are more like unicorns than people you’d run into in everyday life, so their accents have kind of a hyperreal quality to them. He’s such an actor’s actor that you wonder if he even has a natural accent. That English thing he does in interviews seems like just as much a put-on. Bale was born in Wales with a South African father, which may have contributed to his dialectic fluidity.

Honorable Mention: Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie, in my mind, is a lot like a female Bale. Clearly, she’s an incredible actress and has convincingly played a number of different Americans, from Tonya Harding to the Batman lady who falls in love with the evil clown. But again: mostly a unicorn. Which makes sense: it’s hard to look at Margot Robbie and think, “Ah an average American woman.”

She’s also Australian, which would’ve made my entire headline a lie.

10. Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya Taylor-Joy has had the benefit of becoming famous (sorta) for American roles (in The Witch and Queen’s Gambit) before many people had heard her natural accent. Which is jarring to hear. And also… complicated. Her mother is English-Spanish, born and raised in Zambia. Her father is Scottish-Argentine, raised in Buenos Aires. Joy herself was born in Miami, and lived in Argentina speaking Spanish until she was six when the family moved to London. Incidentally, her father was an international banker turned powerboat racing champion which sounds like a Bond villain or Jason Statham character.

9. Imogen Poots

“Imogen Poots” belongs on the Mount Rushmore of British-sounding names alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (which is Ralph Fiennes’ full name). “Imogen Poots” sounds like some kind of Cockney slang for a queef. What do your friends call you when you’re named “Imogen,” anyway? Jen? Emo?

Uh, anyway… that fancy handle was a big part of the reason it was so shocking to hear that Poots had probably the most believable accent in Green Room, where most of the cast was American. In films like The Art Of Self Defense and The Father, Poots has continued to excel at… well, at sounding like someone named not “Imogen Poots.” Probably for the best.

8. Tom Holland

Tom Holland is 24 and very British-looking, so having a believable American accent was a must for playing Spider-Man. Holland plays Spider-Man slightly more “gee whiz!” than fellow British-bred Andrew Garfield, whose Peter Parker was more of a smart-alecky New Yawkuh. Of course, he wouldn’t be on this list just for being the second British Spider-Man (how about that, huh?). It was more his roles in Cherry and Devil All The Time, in which he’s begun developing an interesting niche as “British guy playing dysfunctional Ohioans.”

I genuinely hope for more roles in this vein. In The Devil All The Time, with a dynamite cast full of British and Australian actors playing Appalachian, Holland was rock solid as the lead. People notice Robert Pattinson for being weird, while Holland is right there next to him keeping the whole thing believable. Tom Holland acts so that Robert Pattinson can goof around.

7. Florence Pugh

When I was trying to brainstorm this list with friends and someone suggested Florence Pugh, of Midsommar and Little Women fame, my first reaction was “wait, she’s British?”

Let’s examine that: do you know how good your American accent has to be for people not to realize you’re British despite being named FLORENCE PUGH? That is David Blaine-level illusioneering.

6. Idris Elba

I remember hearing Idris Elba’s natural accent for the first time while I was binging The Wire and being shocked. It’s harder to remember now that he’s spent the last decade playing the character equivalent of a series of bowler hats filled with fish and chips, but there was once a time when you’d see Idris Elba and think, “That guy? British? No way!”

I considered leaving him off the list after Molly’s Game, in which Elba’s ability to sound American seemed to have regressed 15 years, but I think Elba has earned an off day after The Wire. We can blame Molly’s Game on Aaron Sorkin and keep it in the repressed memory file.

5. Matthew Rhys

Watching The Americans, you’d never guess that Matthew Rhys was an alumnus of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd in Wales. Yes, he has acted in Welsh. But consider what he’s pulling off in The Americans: a Welshman pretending to be Russian pretending to be American. It’s like the non-parody version of Robert Downey Jr. shouting “I’m the dude playin’ a dude disguised as another dude!” in Tropic Thunder.

4. Daniel Kaluuya

With Judas And The Black Messiah, it feels like Daniel Kaluuya has just about completed the transition to playing singular figures — unicorns, like the characters Christian Bale and Margot Robbie play. Fred Hampton isn’t just some random American guy, he’s a specific historical figure, a Black Panther from Chicago in the late sixties, with a distinctive way of speaking. Kaluuya nailed it, but this was only after Queen And Slim, Widows, and Get Out, which all required slightly different regional American accents. This from a guy who sounds like this when he isn’t working:

It’s hard to tell which version of Daniel Kaluuya is more compelling, Daniel Kaluuya in character, or Daniel Kaluuya as Daniel Kaluuya. After he gets his Oscar for Judas And The Black Messiah this year, I’d love to see a Schwarzenegger phase where instead of learning new accents, movies have to write in a character explanation for Kaluuya’s regular accent.

3. Hugh Laurie

To be honest, I never watched the House show. It was like Columbo or Matlock but a doctor and on heroin, right? America is a strange country: we don’t have universal healthcare, but you can find a show about a hospital on any channel any time of day.

Anyway, Laurie is one of those actors who tricked us into thinking he was American despite being named “Hugh Laurie.” Whose full name is apparently the even more British-sounding “James Hugh Calum Laurie.” Another thing I just learned about Hugh Laurie is that his father “was a physician and winner of an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.”

Jesus Christ, is there any British actor who wasn’t the spawn of a wealthy industrialist and/or champion of obscure sport? “Ah, yes, it’s Ashley Oxbridge-Twizleshire, the son of Quidditch Grand Dragon Marcus Oxbridge-Twizleshire and current star of CBS’s new primetime drama, Psychic Nurse.”

2. Damian Lewis

Damian Lewis (OBE) is a ginger-haired Englishman whose most famous roles are Major Winters in Band of Brothers, a Marine-turned-Muslim suicide bomber in Homeland, and Steve McQueen in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Not many British gingers could pull of Steve frickin’ McQueen. And yet the London-born Lewis (no industrialists or obscure athletes in his family tree, sadly) did it all, and despite his incredibly small mouth. A hero to disabled people everywhere.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis

If Bale, Robbie, and Kaluuya tend towards “unicorn”-type characters, Daniel Day-Lewis is the all-time king of unicorns. He never just does “American” accent, it’s always “misanthropic Gilded Age tycoon” or “Civil War-era homicidal nativist New Yorker,” or “Abraham Lincoln.” Luckily Daniel Day-Lewis is probably the greatest actor alive. Certainly the most insane. Technically Daniel Day-Lewis has dual British and Irish citizenship, but what even is he? I think his first language is “actor.”

And just to complete a stereotype, I should point out here that Day-Lewis’s father was the poet laureate of the UK from 1968-1972. It’s probably hard to get out from under your father’s shadow when he’s a poet laureate, but whatever the opposite of a failson is, that’s Daniel Day-Lewis.

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

After the live music industry shut down in 2020, The Flaming Lips’ vocalist Wayne Coyne thought up an inventive way to play live shows while keeping the audience safe: giant plastic bubbles. The band has already proved the method successful with a handful of in-person shows earlier this year. Now as schools across the country begin to reopen, one Washington public school is taking inspiration from Coyne’s plastic bubbles.

Eastmont High School in Wenatchee, Washington has been open since the end of January. The school had to find ways to mitigate the risk of possible infections by staggering student’s class schedules and restricting cafeteria tables. But bringing back band indoor band practice was a bigger challenge — until they came up with a clever solution. According to a report from The Wenatchee World, the school’s band teacher has placed a number of bright green individual tents in their room for students to play their instruments in.

Some tents clearly worked better than others, however. The photos show a number of students able to comfortably play instruments within the cramped space. But for one tuba player, it seems like the tent was not quite big enough.

Even still, the school’s principle Eric Anderson is excited for the students to be back in the halls, and he says the kids are equally as happy. “It is amazing the level of energy in the building, having adults interacting with kids but also the conversations of adults to adults,” Anderson said. “You get kids back in the building, you get a lot of smiles even with masks on. You can tell people are happy.”

Check out photos of the COVID-safe band practice above.

The Flaming Lips is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

NBA Top Shot seems to be the only thing that basketball fans are talking about right now, as the digital collectables are rapidly becoming the most highly in-demand thing in the world of hoops that we’ve seen since Giannis Antetokounmpo before he signed his supermax with the Milwaukee Bucks.

With this demand comes an unfortunate reality of internet commerce, but the folks behind the entire project are doing what they can to keep that being too much of a hassle. That has meant, unfortunately, that the company delayed a rare pack drop on Thursday after what it described as “botting activity.”

Top Shot had a originally planned pack drop for Thursday afternoon at noon ET. After some log-in issues popped up for users, an announcement came out that the drop would be pushed back a few hours.

And then, the single-biggest issue in purchasing collectable things on the internet became a headache: bots. In an attempt to keep this from becoming an issue, Top Shot announced that this pack drop would be postponed indefinitely, citing “botting activity on the platform.”

Dapper’s founder also addressed the delay on Twitter, noting that for many users it would be their first “rare” drop and the company wanted to make sure its release was fair.

According to the Top Shot Discord, the company doesn’t plan to try the drop until at least “business hours” on Friday, so collectors won’t have to lose sleep over potentially missing it if problems get fixed. The company hasn’t had a major pack drop since February 15, instead opting for the occasional “stress test” that usually sees 5,000 packs sold with nearly 100,000 people waiting in queues to buy them. The product, which is still in Beta, is constantly getting tweaked in real time, even as its user base has soared in recent weeks and flooded its marketplace with activity.

As anyone who has, say, used the SNKRS app or tried to purchase an Xbox Series X knows, bots that gobble up merch can end up being a disaster that excludes folks from getting in on these sorts of drops. Trying to get out ahead of bots overwhelming the platform is an admirable intention, but those who use bots are awfully good at building them in such a way that they can skirt any sort of regulatory framework a place puts into effect, so now that this first step is being taken, Top Shot will have to continue to stay out in front of botting for as long as it’s in the hoops zeitgeist.

Jean Dawson found himself on many people’s radars last year thanks to his eclectic and well-received sophomore album Pixel Bath, which features everything from hip-hop to punk music. He’s a relatively new face to a lot music listeners, meaning there’s still a lot about him we don’t know.

Now, Dawson has filled in some of those gaps with his new short documentary, Burnout. In the 7-minute video, Dawson incorporates a lot of creative visual elements and talks about his past, being “anti,” getting happier as he gets older, and more.

In a recent interview with Uproxx, Travis Barker cited Dawson as one of his key musical discoveries of 2020, saying, “That record is amazing, and he’s still kind of slept on. Not that many people know about him, and hopefully you and I talking about him helps get his name out there even more. He made an incredible album. […] He’s someone that’s really taking genres and throwing them all together and doing something different, in a time where so many people determine what their sound is gonna be like by whatever’s popular on the radio. And then you have a fresh breath of air like Jean Dawson. Like, thank God, you know?”

Watch the Burnout documentary above.

Seattle rapper Macklemore is trading in those thrift store duds for something a little fancier (but just as retro) with the launch of his Bogey Boys clothing label, which remixes the type of looks you’d expect to see on the green (circa ’79-82) and puts them more in line with what you’d see on the streets. If you’re wondering “why golf?” we’ve got an answer. As Macklemore recently shared on Uproxx’s People’s Party with Talib Kweli, he’s become an avid golfer during the pandemic.

As far as golf-playing celebrities go, Brad Pitt’s Cousin is actually pretty damn skilled, too. He recently won a five-hole match at AT&T’s Every Shot Counts Charity Challenge — well, technically he tied with Alfonso Riberio, who literally seems like the inspiration for much of this line.

Bogey Boys feels like a big, wild, fun maximalist vintage golf adventure, but it doesn’t feel like some white-label cash grab. Macklemore told Hypebeast, “Design has always been an integral part of the creative process… all the tech specs of the work have been a journey and definitely a new endeavor… It’s something that I’ve been passionate about and definitely has been in my wheelhouse.” In short, Macklemore’s merch, artwork, and music video concepts have always come from in-house, so pivoting to apparel isn’t that surprising.

Remember, the dude got huge on a song about clothes!

The full Bogey Boys collection consists of polo shirts, button-ups, jackets, sweaters, pants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, and hats — everything you’d need for a dope golf fit — and is now available at the Bogey Boys webstore. The whole thing takes on a sort of colorful Golf Wang vibe, but a little more mature. Check out some of the Bogey Boys lookbook photos below and head over to Bogey Boys to shop the full collection.

The Boston Celtics entered this season hoping to build on an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in the Bubble, following the lead of their two young stars on the wing in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Those two earned All-Star nods this week, but the team success hasn’t matched up, as Boston has scuffled to a 15-17 start as the end of the first half of the season nears.

Most recently, the Celtics fell flat against the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night, a third straight loss that dropped them to ninth in the East and into play-in position. On Thursday, Tatum spoke with Dime as part of his new Ruffles Chip Deal, and the two-time All-Star is remaining optimistic about this season, noting that he’s taking comfort in the fact that the conversations they’re having are productive and everyone on the team is on the same page of wanting to turn this season around in the second half.

You’re in a rough patch right now as a team and, I know you’ve been asked a million times, ‘How do you fix it?’ and if you had an answer, y’all would do it. But what are the conversations you guys are having about what you need to do to figure out what’s going on and the adjustments that y’all need to make to get back on track and get back to where you guys were at the end of last year?

The conversations are productive. You know we have … we’re in good spirits. We enjoy being around each other. We got good chemistry. We care. We want to fix the problem. So I think that’s a good sign. It’s not like guys don’t enjoy playing with each other or not gettin’ along, this and that and chemistry issues. We all want better and want to fix it. So, I think that’s the positive that I’m taking from it. That we care. The guys in the locker room, they care.

For yourself, something I talked with with Damian Lillard about before this season is once you get to the All-Star level, it’s all about being willing to be self-critical because that’s where you can really start to target weaknesses that that exist in in small parts your game and continue to grow. What are the things that you’ve learned over the last couple years about that process, and really learning to kind of pick your own game apart so that you can continue to find ways to get better?

Yeah, I think that’s the goal for each and every season. Obviously, you know, bein’ an All Star twice is a big deal at this age and something that I’m proud of, but it’s far from you know the end goal. It’s far from where I want to be. This is just, you know, something I’ve always dreamed of and something I always told myself that I was going to do. And I’m always setting goals for myself that I’m trying to achieve and check off the box. So I know that it can’t stop here. I can’t be satisfied here, that I still got a ways to go.

Are there things that you can point to that you’re particularly proud of being able to add to your game since you’ve come in as a rookie and that are part of that process that you’re going on?

I mean, I think I feel like I’ve gotten better in all aspects. I’ve gotten, with my body, I’ve gotten stronger. I think mentally I understand the game a lot better now than I did when I first got drafted. Play-making for others, being a two-way player. I think the list can continue going on and on.

Obviously this season is one that’s not like anything that you’ve been through. Can you explain the differences, particularly when you’re on the road, and what it’s like with the traveling and the protocols and the testing and everything that you go through and the adjustments that you have to make to changing your routine to kind of fit into this new world?

Yeah, it’s different. We take the service elevator and kind of go through the back. You got to get tested and wait an hour for your results in the morning before we can be around each other to go for shootaround and the team meeting. Then you gotta get tested after the game, you know, before you leave the arena. You can’t go out to eat. You can’t go see friends or have someone come see you as if you have family in a certain city. So it’s definitely different.

I remember the video last year from the Bubble of when Deuce and your family were finally able to come in. What does it mean for you being a father and being able to go home to that, even when you have a tough game or like this season it’s been a little more difficult, but you have that at home and how does that kind of shift your perspective, even when there might be a rough patch on the court?

That puts things in perspective of kind of what’s really important in life, and whether if I have a good game or a bad game, he doesn’t know. When I come home and it’s just all about, you know, daddy’s home and let’s make a slushie, or let’s read a book, or let’s play. And it just it really takes my mind off everything else, and I’m very, very happy that I’m in that position.

You’ve got this new partnership with Ruffles. How did that come about, as you’re the second one joining Anthony Davis in getting a chip deal?

Yeah. For me, you know when I’m doing a partnership, I like to do things that are natural and genuine and organic. You know I love chips, and I’ve been eating chips ever since I was a kid. I remember going to stores, when I was younger and grabbing, you know, bags of Ruffles chips. Like you said, I remember last year when Anthony Davis had his chip partnership and I remember seeing it especially at All-Star, and I just thought that was really really cool. And I was like, you know, if that opportunity ever presented itself that I would love to be a part of it and it did. And I’m super grateful and thankful to be a part of the Ruffles family.

You’re doing the Own Your Ridges campaign about embracing being yourself. When you come into the league you have so many demands and people coming to you for stuff, what have you learned about just making sure that you stay your authentic self, on and off the court as a pro?

Yeah, talking about Owning Your Ridges, and I think it has a lot to do with how you were raised how you were brought up. You know I think being from St. Louis has a lot to do the type of person that I am. My mindset, how I approach things on and off the court and just having a good, stable family foundation around you. Good, genuine people that have the best interest for you and care about you. You know cause there’s a lot of, obviously, there’s a lot of things that could bring you down when you kind of get to this level. So just having a good support system.

You’re launching the Flamin’ Hot BBQ Ruffles and I just have to ask how that flavor combo works?

Yeah, you know, they’re delicious. For me personally, I love spicy food. Anything I’m eating that I could give it that extra kick to it, you know I’m all for that. And I’m from St. Louis and St. Louis is known for barbecue, so mixing those together make for a great combination.

TMZ has released a graphic video of Lady Gaga’s assistant being shot in a robbery in Hollywood earlier today which was captured by a nearby porch camera. In the video, viewers can see a white sedan pulling up alongside the assistant, Ryan Fischer, and two men jumping out to threaten Fischer with a gun. Fischer apparently tried to fight back, yelling for help just before being shot by the assailants. The robbers grab two of the dogs, while the third runs back to Fischer.

Gaga agreed to release the video in the hopes that it helps police capture the robbers and recover the dogs. The neighbor who provided the video says that the vehicle was a Nissan, either an Altima or a Sentra. Gaga has also offered $500,000 for the dogs’ return — which may have been the whole point of the theft in the first place. Gaga’s bodyguard retrieved the third dog, while Fischer was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Lady Gaga is said to be in Rome to shoot Gucci with Ridley Scott, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, and Adam Driver. The film is based on the story of Patrizia Reggiano, who was convicted of murdering her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci.

You can view the video of the robbery here.

R&B singer Ayanis is a walking ball of energy. It’s a quality that jumps out in her music as well as her overall personality. We spoke to the Texas-born, Atlanta-bred singer just months removed from her sophomore project, Yani, and this enthusiasm and exuberance flowed with ease throughout our half-hour phone call.

Despite all the hectic aspects of 2020, Yani stood as a bright spot for Ayanis. The 11-track project saw her working with some of today’s most recognizable names: Wiz Khalifa, Mulatto, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Jack Harlow, and Queen Naija. Despite this, Ayanis doesn’t fade to the background because of her co-stars, instead, she shines just as bright beside them.

Coupled with the album’s most popular tracks “Ecstasy” and “Lil Boi (Big Talk),” there are many moments where Ayanis stands out on her own. “New ” is a sultry number that captures the renewed love with an old flame and “Good Music” a triumphant track that reaks of the New Orleans background her parents grew up in.

With a new year ahead of her plenty of opportunities to grow as well, we sat down with Ayanis to discuss Yani, her childhood, and what her ultimate goal in the industry is.

You ended 2020 on a high note with the release of your Yani project, what was your reaction to the way it was received and what are your goals musically for the new year?

Yani got a really great response and I took my time on it so I was proud to see that people are really supporting the record. People haven’t seen me with features before, so having features on the project — people being able to see me collaborate — sees me in a different light, and then my music has grown from my first project, Directions to Yani. So, you know it’s like me being grown, sexy, and very confident, but the response has been great, and as far as this year? I want to get my first plaque for sure — plaques with an s — I wanna go platinum. Billboard, that’s a goal for myself, top 40 — I really want to get the No. 1 on Billboard for real. Put out another project as well and just continue to grow.

What was the difference behind your intention in creating your 2018 project Directions compared to Yani?

So the intention of Direction was discovery. It was me figuring out, okay what do you like? What don’t you like? What do you sound really good on? It’s basically like an experiment in a way with Direction. It was me trying to figure out what works, okay let’s try this but I’m down to experiment with sounds and different types of production and when I got to Yani, I really found myself. I really put a stamp on it and said Yani is my alter ego. You know me as Ayanis, but Yani can be bold, she can be sensual, she can be confident, she can talk a lot of sh*t. Direction was like my younger self, it’s like an introduction basically. The intent was the introduction to let people know, she’s a singer, she’s a dancer, she’s an entertainer, and then when you get to Yani it’s like, “Oh! Alright!” You know what time it is. Just settling in myself as an artist and my confidence, I think the intent was there just because of me growing as a person and as an artist for Yani.

I know it might be too early to tell, but what do you think your intention will be with your next project?

I think I made it very clear that I call my genre “R&Bop.” I like to do uptempo, I like to do music that I can dance to and that people will feel good cause, that’s what I felt like, is missing a little bit R&B, like the music that people can dance to and be with their friends with and be with their family with and be hype on top of also having the vulnerability in the songs That’s why I call it “R&Bop” cause it just really pushed the rhythm and blues. So for my next project, I think it’s too early to say because it’s like I just start recording in the recording process and then I figure out where I want to take it, but it’s going to stay within the genre of “R&Bop.” It’s gonna have those records that you can dance and feel good to while also talking my sh*t for the ladies, I always have to do that. I have to speak for the ladies first and foremost.

Moving back to Yani, how would you describe this project to a listener who hasn’t discovered you yet? What experience do you think these 11 songs bring?

You’ll experience great energy, I want that first and foremost. The energy of being fun and exciting and feminine but also Southern. I have a certain twang when I talk, I have certain lingo because I was born in Texas and my family’s from New Orleans, and I lived in Atlanta, so everything is Southern. Yeah, it’s energy, we’ve got songs on there like “Ecstasy” that are sensual and “One Night” as well. Then you have me having fun like in “Gumbo” or “Good Music,” which is like something you can vibe out with your friends and your family. You also have a vulnerable side, a relatable side, which is me discussing being afraid of relationships or still dealing with the same person like with “New.” It’s just the energy of how you feel when you’re most confident and also when you’re sitting at home alone and you’re like, “Oh sh*t,” you know when you think about your life that night. It’s the energy first and foremost, I think it takes you through the experiences of every emotion really.

Let’s talk about some of the songs on the album, starting with “Drip,” what made that the perfect song to start the project with and how was the chemistry between you and Mulatto as you both worked on it?

I know that the project had to start with “Drip” because the production is so big and so triumphant, shoutout to the producer, [DJ] Hardwerk, he’s incredible, he also produced “Flex.” When I heard the production I was just like, “Woah.” If this was the first song on a project, you would keep listening to the next song and the next song and the next song. So I wanted to start it on such a high note, I think on my first project I started it with a slow tempo song and then I gradually went into more uptempo, but this project like I said, for me with the energy so I wanted to let people know I’m here, that was why it was first. Having Mulatto on the record, she’s also from Atlanta, we’re both from the southside of Atlanta, so it’s dope that she did the record with me. She’s so talented and she’s been working for such a long time, we actually met a long time ago when we were both younger and to see her now flourishing and doing her thing is amazing to me. I just want to have another triumphant boss-ass female on the song and she was perfect. We’re both from Atlanta, we’re both from the southside of Atlanta, it was dope having her on there.

One of my favorite songs on the project is “One Night,” the music video has 3.3 million views right now. How did the collab with Wiz Khalifa come about?

Shout out to the producer J. White, he’s incredible. He’s worked with Cardi B, did “Bodak Yellow,” he’s done a lot of amazing stuff. So, how the “One Night” with Wiz Khalifa came about was that I met him at the Christmas party that Atlantic [Records] has annually. He was in the section right next to me and I got his information and then he was like, “Hit me up if you ever hear a song idea,” and I was thinking to myself, oh yeah, I’m definitely gonna have something that I can hear you on. I want to say I already had the song, I’m pretty sure I already had cut at the time and I thought about it and I was like Wiz would actually be perfect for this because he’s so versatile and I’ve really been a fan of him since high school [too]. I sent him the record and literally, he sent it back. I wasn’t expecting to send it back so soon cause I’m a new artist and he’s probably really busy, so the fact that he sent it right back I just really appreciated that. But yeah, it was because of the Christmas party to make a long story short.

A track like “Lil Boi (Big Talk)” overflows with confidence, but so does the whole EP. What’s the source of this confidence for you?

I’ve always been a very confident person, I would say because I’ve always known what I wanted to do. I think knowing my purpose is what helps me be confident because I always feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I feel like I’m living my dreams out because it’s my purpose. So, I think that’s probably why I’m confident, on top of whenever I stay in certain situations, I always think in my head like, “I’m gonna bounce back from this, it’s all good.” If a guy tried to play me? Ha, he played himself cause now I’m on ten like now let’s go make a song about it. I just have that mentality to keep going and keep pushing the envelope and keep bettering yourself, that’s for sure what pushes my confidence just because I’m a super passionate person.

Was it hard creating a project in the midst of a pandemic? If so, how did you overcome some of these creative obstacles?

Well, some studios were closed at the beginning of the pandemic, but it didn’t stop anything because I’m always finding ways to be creative, no matter the situation. We already had some records, because I’m literally always recording. When we got back in it was like, I think I was just so excited and eager. I had ideas, I had things I wanted to talk about, I had time. To me, it was kind of a blessing, because you have time to think about what you want to do next. Usually, it’s go, go, go, go go, if you have a second to think like, alright, what’s your objective? What do you wanna leave the impression with for this next project? How do you want people to feel or? What do you want to experience? I think it was a blessing, in a way. In another way, I want to perform. In that aspect, I miss being able to perform and meeting people because I want to actually see people in real life. Do the interviews in real life, from that spectrum it’s like, damn. On the other hand, being able to record, that’s been great. I just missed real-life interactions as an artist, being able to meet people, see people and talk to them in person.

What’s a dream collaboration that you hope to make a reality in your career?

I have a few, but I’ll just give you like three. Drake, Missy Elliot, man I have so many, Beyonce and Rihanna [too].

Being that you were born in Texas and raised in Atlanta, what are some artists that had a huge impact on your artistry.

Oh man, being from the South, there’s so much influence, especially between Texas and Atlanta. As far as Texas goes, I was listening to Beyonce growing up — I love Beyonce. I lived in Texas until I was six and then I moved to Georgia, my dad’s in the military. It’s that and New Orleans influences too cause my family’s from there. Atlanta, so many [influences] too, there’s TLC, there was Monica, there’s Outkast. When I was in middle school, Travis Porter, they have such a fun, vibrant sound to their music. Then R&B, you have Ciara — there’s a lot of really amazing, talented people between Texas and Atlanta that influenced me. I got to work with Jermaine Dupri and he’s from Atlanta.

How was that?

Amazing! He really is hands-on and he can stay up. I know I could stay up, but he can stay up. He’ll be working on a beat and then we’ll be writing songs. He’s incredibly talented, very hands-on. He brings in the right people, he brought in Johnta Austin and Dallas Austin, it was incredible.

What was Ayanis like as a young girl?

Oh my gosh. She was not afraid to try anything, she’s really the same [now]. I think she still lives in me for sure that’s how I’m here. My mom used to always have this camera, this VHS, and she always used to put it in all of our faces and be like, say hi. I would sing or dance or [be] like, “Look at me!” I knew exactly what I wanted to do, even back then. My mom would tell me all the time, “She’s confident, the girl don’t sit down. She never sits down.” That’s what she always used to tell me. “Girl you always moving around, when are you gonna sit down?” I’m like, “Never!” I’ve been that way, fun, not afraid, and confident, a dreamer [too]. That’s how I got here. When I was younger, I used to always say, “I’m gonna be a singer when I grow up.”

What do you hope to be or become as you grow older in this industry?

I think just because of the way I was raised, I always want to be a good person and treat people the way that I want to be treated, as a person. No matter how big I become, I’m gonna always try to remain humble because I think that’s important. Things are given to you, that doesn’t mean that you get to be a d*ckhead. I know what happens. I definitely believe what I see for myself, I believe I’m gonna have a huge career. I’ve been working towards it and I’m gonna continue working towards it for years, so I’m definitely in it for longevity. I want to be a platinum-selling recording artist, I want to be able to travel the world when it opens back up, the world tours, give back, just [be] a big superstar. Touching people with my music, with my talents, and being able to give back to people and making them feel something and inspire other people to believe in their dreams.

Yani is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.

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

Are you the receptionist in a doctor’s office? Or a doctor? Or really anyone in your particular place of business who has the authority to make decisions about the television in your waiting room without getting reprimanded and/or fired? If you are, I need you to do me a favor. I’ll lay it out in three simple steps:

• Find the remote control
• Point it at the television
• Switch the channel from cable news to Food Network or HGTV

Do it now. Do it right now. Stop reading this paragraph. Keep this page open while you do it so other people in the office can see it. Send it to the office-wide email list and start the Reply-All anarchy. We need as many eyes on this as possible. It’s very important.

Do you need reasons? Do you need to justify this to a higher-up somewhere? Fine. I have reasons. Let’s start with the most obvious: cable news is bad. It’s really just terrible. There is not enough news to fill 24 hours of dead air every day — at least not the news they want to blabber about — so it ends up being like two hours of actual news with 22 hours of people speculating and/or yelling about that news while they show archival footage of politicians walking into and out of elevators. I will never understand why anyone would choose to watch it on purpose. The only exception is in the upsettingly rare situations where there is live footage of law enforcement officers chasing one or more recently escaped zoo animals, and even then you should watch it on mute.

Waiting rooms are stressful enough. No one likes waiting for anything, especially not the things you have to wait for in a waiting room. Adding the element of cable news does not help this, at all, even in its most benign form, before you factor in the thing where cable news channels have become important symbols in political fights among people who have made the opinions of various blowhard haircuts a significant part of their personalities. I do not want to get into an argument about cancel culture while I am waiting to have my teeth cleaned. I do not want to even overhear one. I don’t even want to think about it, to be honest, ever, let alone before a person I barely know sticks a sharp object into my face. I do not think this is unreasonable.

I do understand the motivation behind it, though. These offices want something they can flip on in the morning and leave running all day. They don’t want to be getting up every 30 minutes to look for something to put on a television that people will watch for a few minutes at a time. They want, for the most part, white noise to occupy people who are terrified of silence. The key is to find something that is inoffensive and not stressful.

Hey, do you know what is inoffensive and not stressful? Guy’s Grocery Games.

This applies to any of the other shows that Food Network marathons during the daytime, too. Same with HGTV and their slate of shows about people renovating their kitchens. I know this because one of my doctors made this switch recently and it has been delightful. I mentioned it to the woman at the check-in desk a couple of visits ago and she said they’ve received more positive feedback about it than almost any other decision they’ve made since she started working there. I started an actual conversation — with a stranger, on purpose! — one time because Guy Fieri was eating an intriguing sandwich. It was lovely. I was actually kind of sad when a nurse came out and called his name. I had more sandwich opinions to share with my new friend. Tell the doctor to wait.

Also acceptable: Game Show Network. Who the hell wouldn’t want to watch 10-20 minutes of a crazy daytime game show while they’re waiting? Game shows are great and you probably never think to watch them. They’re good when they’re good and they’re even better when they’re bad. I cannot think of many things that would be more enjoyable to watch before, oh, let’s say “getting the results of some bloodwork” than a contestant flubbing an answer on Family Feud. Was this last sentence just an excuse to post the “really loud hamburger” clip? Perhaps. I stand by it.

People are fried, man. The last year has been hard. The last five years have been hard, if we’re being really honest about it, in large part due to the increasingly divisive nature of the discourse, a situation cable news networks exacerbate by dumping gasoline on it between commercials about pillows and gold. Some people consume too much of it and spend all day itching for a fight over something that is supremely trivial in the grand scheme of things. Some people work hard to avoid it and do not want it shoved into their eyes and ears while they are basically trapped in a room for an indefinite period of time. Blasting cable news into a room filled with strangers is almost guaranteed to ruin at least one person’s day.

But food and home renovation? These things unite people. People love to talk about food and home renovation. Go up to a stranger and ask them about their favorite breakfast order. You could very well make a friend for life. At the very least, food shows and home renovation shows are easier to ignore while scrolling through stuff on a phone, which is all most people really want to do anyway. Making this switch is the easiest decision you will make all day and it will improve the lives — even just briefly — of most of the people who are affected by it, even if they don’t realize it in the moment. Do it. Do it now if you didn’t do it earlier. Never look back.