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Unless you’ve been doing something other than sitting in the house, you’re likely aware of singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo’s hit single, “Drivers License.” The 17-year-old — who rose to fame for her role in Disney+’s mouthful of a show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — released the song at the top of 2021 after months of teasing. Soon after, it made Spotify history as the service’s most-streamed song in 24 hours, and as of press time, it has held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for four weeks.

The emotional, piano-heavy pop ballad follows a teen with a fresh driver’s license riding around aiming to forget a lost love. Whether you’re in the newcomer’s target demographic or have experienced the pain of teen heartbreak, Rodrigo’s song hits home in one way or another. Yet outside of “Drivers License” being well-liked and genuinely well-constructed, rumors have been swirling about its possible real-life inspiration.

In what feels like a modern version of the Disney love triangle of 2004, “Drivers License” is said to be inspired by Rodrigo’s experience with her ex and co-star Joshua Bassett. Social media claims that the “blonde” mentioned in the song is Bassett’s alleged new flame, fellow Disney girl Sabrina Carpenter. (Although “Drivers License” reportedly referenced a “brunette” in its early stages.) Shortly after the release of Rodrigo’s song, Bassett and Carpenter released songs of their own, “Lie, Lie, Lie,” and “Skin.” Both have lyrics seemingly alluding to “Drivers License,” with “Skin” featuring the particularly-pointed line “Maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme.” (Carpenter says the lyrics are about several personal affairs.)

Whether Rodrigo’s hit is about the supposed situation or not, she’s certainly made her mark as a songwriter and storyteller. Artists have used their experiences with pain and heartache to write and sell songs for decades, and while real-life drama doesn’t always make songs more popular, it definitely keeps listeners hanging on, especially if it’s a work of art.

Carly Simon says her 1971 hit “You’re So Vain” is about three ex-lovers; while two have never been outed, Simon admits actor Warren Beatty is the subject of the second verse. Fleetwood Mac’s iconic 1977 album Rumours largely deals with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ breakup, especially in “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams.” Alanis Morrisette’s Grammy-winning breakup anthem, 1995’s “You Oughta Know,” is widely believed to be about her ex-boyfriend, Full House star Dave Coulier. (However, Morissette said in 2020 that the song is a “revenge fantasy.”)

Public interest propels breakup songs like “Drivers License” to new heights. Our sheer preoccupation with celebrity pushes certain heartbreak hits further than others, and depending on the status of the pop star — especially in the 21st century — a breakup song may become must-listen content in order to get “clues” and draw conclusions.

Justin Timberlake’s incessantly rude comments about Britney Spears after their split in 2002 bolstered interest in his debut solo single “Cry Me A River.” Beyoncé references Jay-Z’s infidelity throughout her 2016 opus Lemonade, which the rapper owned up to on his 2017 album, 4:44. Olivia Rodrigo’s idol Taylor Swift has released thinly-veiled tunes about headline-making relationships throughout her career, such as “Forever And Always” (likely about Joe Jonas) and “Dear John” (presumably about John Mayer, who called it “humiliating” and “cheap-songwriting”). All songs and projects faired extremely well both commercially and critically, proving that good music and nosiness are a winning combo.

It’s also important to note that, much like breakups themselves, these songs don’t have to be petty or shady to sell. Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” turns heartache into a disco jam about resilience. The nuanced lyrics in Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” are overshadowed by the song’s production and duo’s vocal delivery, which make you forget it’s about a breakup. The simplicity of Adele’s reflective “Someone Like You” provides relief in a mature way. Ariana Grande’s “Thank U Next” is an upbeat kiss-off to her old beaus in order to make room for the person she loves most: herself.

Although backstories bring awareness and interest to otherwise private situations, the key reason behind the success of breakup tunes is the catharsis they may provide both the artist and the listener. Sometimes, we need to verbalize our feelings in an effort to move on, and artists bringing vulnerability into their work is clearly therapeutic. While Olivia Rodrigo likely couldn’t have predicted the amount of buzz she’d receive upon the release of “Drivers License,” she certainly did what she set out to do: heal her aching heart and uplift those who have experienced the same pain.

“I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” she said in January. “[‘Drivers License’ is] resonating with people because of how emotional it is…to have this really painful moment in my life, and turn it into something beautiful that can maybe help people through a tough time that they’re having, like I was having a tough time — it’s just so empowering.”

Sad news for Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans. The cop comedy series will end when its eighth and final season wraps up in 2022. For B99 fans keeping track, yes, that’s the eighth season that should’ve been airing now, but has been even further delayed due to pandemic cases rising over the holidays. Brooklyn Nine-Nine was one of several NBCUniversal productions that required an extended hiatus towards the end of 2020 when COVID cases drastically spiked and now, when the show finally returns, it will be for the last time. Showrunner Dan Goor issued the following statement to The Wrap:

“I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for eight seasons. They are not only among the most talented people in the business, they are all good human beings who have become a family. But most of all, I feel lucky that we have had the best fans in the world. Fans who literally saved us from cancellation. Fans who fill us with joy. Ending the show was a difficult decision, but ultimately, we felt it was the best way to honor the characters, the story and our viewers. I know some people will be disappointed it’s ending so soon, but honestly, I’m grateful it lasted this long. Title of my sex tape.”

Unlike the last time when Brooklyn Nine-Nine was unceremoniously canceled by Fox only to be saved by NBC after a massive fan campaign, this ending is clearly more permanent. However, when Brooklyn Nine-Nine does return for its final 10 episodes, the series promises to tackle the complicated feelings of being a police officer in light of the George Floyd protests. Terry Crews revealed over the summer that the writers literally trashed the scripts for the first four episodes of Season 8 and started from scratch following the Black Lives Matter protests. Nine-Nine stars Andre Braugher and Andy Samberg also made statements about how the show will strive to offer a “realistic” portrayal of the NYPD, so it will be interesting to see how the series juggles making a “morally okay” police comedy in its final stretch.

(Via The Wrap)

It’s been less than a year since Victoria Monét released her stunning album Jaguar and she has a baby due in just a few weeks, but that’s not stopping the singer from releasing new music. Earlier this month, Monét shared the sultry track “F.*.C.K.” and now, she’s followed up the single with a cinematic video.

Directed by Kee Hwang, Monét’s “F.*.C.K.” video is a modern take on a western film. Monét plays the part of cowgirl on the run, riding into a dusty town and passing wanted posters plastered with her face. A barkeeper recognizes Monét as she walks in and immediately phones a bounty hunter. But to the bounty hunter’s surprise, the barkeeper is actually in on Monét’s plan. The two team up to take his money before riding into the night as newly rich women.

Alongside the single’s release, Monét explained her intended meaning behind the track: “‘F.*.C.K.’ is a nod to the millennial and gen Z mindset. We do not have to be confined to traditional commitment ideals, and instead, embody the freedom to be intimate when and with whom we mutually, please! I wanted to give that non-binding friendship intimacy an official name…the way we see it, if you’re never in a relationship, you technically can never break up. It’s forever fun, it’s playful, it happens. So…F.*.C.K. it!”

Watch Monét’s “F.*.C.K” video above.

QAnon-loving Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) recently lost her committee seats after spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories and spouting dangerous enough conspiracy theories that even Sean Hannity distanced himself from her wackiness, which included claims that “Jewish space lasers” were to blame for California wildfires. Don’t worry though, because Greene will still (like it or not) make headlines, which is exactly what’s happening at the Daily Mail.

Mind you, this is one juicy headline: “EXCLUSIVE: Embattled QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘openly cheated’ on her husband of 25 years with a polyamorous tantric sex guru and then moved on to another affair with the manager at her gym.”

The headline nails the gist of this mess, and there are photos at the source of the “tantric sex guru” in question, Craig Ivey (who does have an Instagram page, if you dare), and fitness gym manager Justin Tway. Reportedly, these affairs haven’t hurt Marjorie’s marital relationship too much because there’s no traceable divorce proceedings there, but Marjorie (who is described as a “fitness finatic”) previously worked at this gym, and the reactions here are interesting:

Neither man denied the affairs when approached by DailyMail.com.

Craig Ivey, the tantric sex practitioner, said: ‘I will not respond to anything about this,’ while the other man, Justin Tway, said: ‘I have no interest in talking about anything to do with that woman. Everything with her comes to no good.’

But others say the new representative from Georgia’s 14th Congressional District was brazen about her affairs which she carried on a decade ago while working in gyms in Alpharetta, Georgia, some 35 miles north of Atlanta.

Normally, it might not be worth writing about this story without Greene weighing in with a response, but oh, she definitely responded:

In response to DailyMail.com’s request for comment, Taylor Greene called the story ‘ridiculous tabloid garbage spread by an avowed Communist,’ and ‘another attempt to smear my name because I’m the biggest threat to the Democrats’ Socialist agenda.’

There’s a lot of gossipy hearsay at the Daily Mail article, and lots of accounts detailing how there are plenty of times that Marjorie was seen in a car with Craig, etc., who allegedly would often say that “he had things to do with Marjorie” when people would ask him to socialize. Who really knows whether this story is true or false? Still, it seems like a good time to post Marjorie’s gym-shutdown-protest video from last year, when she was outraged about closed CrossFit facilities in D.C., so she decided to share her hotel room workout. Take that, “Democrat tyrannical control!”

(Via Daily Mail)

Seth Curry has always, to use a very technical term, been able to shoot the ever-loving sh*t out of the basketball. He is a Curry, after all, and dating back to his college days — first at Liberty, then at Duke — shooting has been the prominent tool in his aresenal. Even though he went undrafted and had to work his way through the G League, it seemed like a safe bet that Curry’s sheer gravity as a shooter would get him a look somewhere.

It took him a few years of bouncing around — he’d never stayed in one place for more than one year — but last season, Curry signed the first lengthy contract of his career when he put pen to paper on a four-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Even with his gaudy stats, averaging 12.4 points per game and connecting on 45.2 percent of his triples in 64 games with 25 starts, Curry yet again found himself on the move this offseason. Dallas, in an attempt to shore up its defense, and Philadelphia, desperate for some shooting, agreed to a Curry-for-Josh Richardson swap that made sense for both sides, even if the general sentiment is that Richardson is a better player on the whole in a vaccum.

That last thing was what made the trade so interesting from the Sixers’ perspective. Richardson never quite fit in alongside his trio of big-money teammates in Philly (Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons) and their major free agent signing that summer (the likewise-jettisoned Al Horford). But he is still a good player, and if someone wanted to take a more macro perspective of this deal, it theoretically could serve as an interesting data point in the value of fit vs. the value of talent.

So far, the returns have been quite good for Philly. Just looking at lineups that feature Embiid, Harris, Simmons, and Curry/Richardson, via Cleaning the Glass, two things stick out. The first: The Sixers’ offense went from really bad at scoring last year (106.9 points per 100 possessions with an effective field goal percentage of 51.2 percent, good for the 21st and 23rd percentile, respectively, of lineups) to incredibly good at it this year (125.1 and 62.1 percent, respectively, both in the 99th percentile). There are obviously other mitigating factors — for example, the most-used lineup with that quartet last year also included Horford, while this year, he’s been replaced with Danny Green, giving the team more floor spacing and off-ball movement — but the general sentiment of “Curry has played a major role in transforming the Sixers’ offense” is not off-base.

We’ll dive into him, specifically, more, but the thing I find particularly interesting is this second point. Curry is a worse defender than Richardson. Green is a different defender than Horford. The entire idea behind last year’s Sixers was to be bigger and stronger and nastier than other teams on defense, and have that carry the team through offensive slights. And despite this, the lineups with Embiid, Harris, Simmons and Curry have not experienced a gigantic drop-off compared to when Richardson was plugged in. Last year: 102 points per 100 possessions, 50.6 effective field goal percentage allowed. This year: 103.2, 51.6 percent. Their turnover percentage is slightly up even if it is in the same ballpark (11.9 percent last year, 13.9 percent this year), same for their offensive rebounding percentage (19.7 percent up to 20.1 percent). Their free throw numbers, again, are fairly similar — a 16.6 free throw rate last year, up to a 17.8 free throw rate this year.

Basically, Philly could afford to surround Embiid and Simmons with shooting, bolstering their offense and giving those two (particularly Embiid, an MVP frontrunner) space to work because it is extremely hard to be bad on defense when your basketball team has Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons on it. Besides, it’s not as though the Sixers added guys who are completely incapable on that end. Green is a solid defender, Harris has size, length, and is active (three things that help you get by on that side of the ball even if you’re not exactly Gary Payton), and Curry is good at using his inherent high hoops IQ as a Curry to his advantage.

Among their starting five, Green has given them good shooting (36.2 percent), while Harris is hitting triples at a career-best clip (43.8 percent). Curry, though, is torching teams with his ability to hit from downtown. He’s connecting on 50.7 percent of his triples, the best mark in the league. Funny enough, a higher percentage of his field goal attempts are from two (52.8 percent of them) than from three, and he’s hitting half of them, as well. He doesn’t get to the free throw line a ton, but when he does, he does not miss. Curry is, much like a revered ESPN docuseries, 30-for-30 from the charity stripe this season.

Philly is doing a phenomenal job of getting Curry the easiest sorts of looks, and he is doing an even better job knocking them down. He’s getting just a tick under three catch-and-shoot triples a game, which makes up about a third of his shot profile, per NBA.com’s stats site. He’s hitting 57.7 percent of them. On triples classified as “open” (nearest defender is 4-6 feet away) or “wide open” (6+ feet away), he’s hit 53 percent of his attempts. These make up 41.5 percent of the shots he takes. My favorite Curry number: He has been ridiculous on corner threes, where he’s not shooting a ton (a little more than 21 percent of his three-point attempts are in the corner) but he is connecting on 81.3 percent of those looks from the corner.

It helps that Doc Rivers has realized that keeping Curry on the floor alongside Embiid and Simmons would make everyone a little better. It’s easier for Embiid to set up shop inside the three-point line when Curry is there to space the floor, and Simmons has more room to work when the person defending Curry is unable to help off of him. Curry, meanwhile, obviously benefits from playing alongside the best or second-best center in the league (Nuggets and Sixers fans, debate among yourselves) and a 6’11 point guard who can see any sliver of light and pick a pass.

Cleaning the Glass indicates that Curry has played 1,038 possessions this season. Of those, 54 have come with both Embiid and Simmons off the floor, 152 have come while Simmons is resting, and 191 are sans Embiid. In the least shocking thing you will ever read, the numbers back up the benefit of having Curry out there with them:

Here’s a pair of very simple examples of how Curry helps both of them out. Starting with Embiid, look at this moment against the Kings from earlier this week. The big man has the ball in the corner with Curry standing just above the break. Embiid puts the ball on the deck and Buddy Hield, despite looking directly at Embiid, decides it’s not worth trying to slide down to poke the ball away, because doing so would leave Curry wide open. While Harrison Barnes eventually helps from the weakside, letting Joel Embiid get into the paint unperturbed is a really good way to let the Philadelphia 76ers score two points. This is exactly what happens.

With Simmons, here’s a moment of him and Curry working on a two-man game from the same tilt against the Kings. Simmons gets the ball on the block against Barnes and begins to back him down, but springs out to the perimeter, dumps the ball to Curry, and sets a screen on De’Aaron Fox. Barnes can’t get out there quick enough, and the combination of Simmons’ hoops IQ and Curry’s savvy and quick release gets three-points for the Sixers.

Curry and Simmons forming a fun little pick-and-then do something game isn’t a big surprise — Simmons as a screener and Curry running off of it creates quite the pick your poison scenario. Give Curry any space at all and the above is going to happen, give him too much respect and you’re running the risk of this happening.

A basketball team going from where Philly was last year — listless, stuck in the mud, extremely injured, etc. — to where it is now doesn’t happen because one player came in and did one thing. It’s a collection of things piled on top of one another paying off in the form of better basketball. The Sixers went through, more or less, a top-down reshuffling, with changes to the front office, coaching staff, and roster. Curry is merely one of a number of changes that have gotten them to this point, but having said that, a whole lot of NBA teams make changes every offseason, and not all of them work, not by a longshot.

Adding Curry, though, has paid off in a big way for Philadelphia. Things just make more sense for them when he is on the floor, in large part because he has reciprocated their faith in his ability to make life easier on Embiid and Simmons by knocking down shots at a torrid rate. Perhaps it will fall off a bit — hitting 81.3 percent of his corner threes is gonna be hard to keep up! — but at the very least, any falling off he might suffer would merely take him from “potentially historic shooting season” to “remarkably good shooting season.” The Sixers would, assuredly, be happy with that.

Valentine’s Day is this weekend, but it’s probably going to be a different sort of day this time around than it was last year. Thanks to the pandemic, getting a table at a fancy restaurant may not be as easy or possible as it was in 2020. Still, the show must go on, and Cardi B has offered some Valentine’s help by laying out her personal gift-giving policy.

Cardi insisted that in a relationship between a man and woman, the men should get a Valentine’s gift, but it has to be cheaper than what the woman was given. Cardi then gave a hilarious example. She wrote, “Yes ! Men do deserve to get gift as well for Valentine’s Day,but the gift have to be less expensive then the girls gift . Soo if he buys you flowers you buy him grass.”

It turns out that Cardi actually has a number of gift-related policies. Back in 2017, she tweeted, “I’m not giving NO ADULTS NO Christmas gift.” That’s a view she apparently still holds, as she reiterated this past December, “I know I said this before …But I don’t buy adults Christmas gifts.ONLY THE KIDS!” She does think that women should treat their men with gifts at least annually, though, as she wrote in December, “You gotta atleast give a gift one time a year.You have Nikkas paying bills,shopping for you ,expensive birkins,diamonds,cars like it’s only right.Plus I always go crazy wut gifts tho.”

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

The cast for HBO’s House of the Dragon is coming together. Variety reports that Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, and Sonoya Mizuno have joined the Game of Thrones prequel series, which is expected to debut next year. Mizuno, best known for her performances as Oscar Isaac’s dancing parter in Ex Machina and Lily Chan in FX’s Devs, will play a character named Mysaria, who “came to Westeros with nothing, sold more times than she can recall. She could have wilted… but instead she rose to become the most trusted — and most unlikely — ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.” Matt Smith was previously announced to play Prince Daemon.

As for the rest: Toussaint was cast as Lord Corlys Velaryon, the “Sea Snake” who “built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world,” Ifans will play Otto Hightower, who “loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm” as the Hand of the King,” and lastly, Best will appear as Princess Rhaenys Velaryo, a dragonrider who “was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council because the realm favored her cousin, Viserys, simply for being male.” It’s good to have casting descriptions with the word “dragon” in them again.

House of the Dragon will begin filming in April.

(Via Variety)

For 25 years, record label Jagjaguwar has been a home for venerable indie artists like Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Bon Iver. So to celebrate their quarter-century birthday, the label has tapped several musicians and artists — both on and off their roster — to collaborate for a special year-long anniversary project.

Titled Jag25, the initiative will arrive in the form of four separate Jag Quarterly releases. The label describes each Jag Quarterly issue as “collections of music, creative endeavors and partnerships that span physical mediums.” Some of the artists who have signed onto the project include Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Gia Margaret, and Moses Sumney.

Jagjaguwar released a preview of the inaugural project, Dilate Your Heart, on Friday with “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude.” The 14-minute track features a spoken word poem by Ross Gay over ambient music by Bon Iver. Along with Dilate Your Heart, each of the four mixes are titled after mantras from the label’s past: This Is A Mindfulness Drill, Join The Ritual and Jagjaguwar’s original motto, Sentimental Noise.

Listen to “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude” above and find the Dilate Your Heart cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude” Feat. Bon Iver
2. “Burial” Feat. Mary Lattimore
3. “To The Fig Tree On 9th & Christian” Feat. Angel Bat Dawid
4. “Poem To My Child, If Ever You Shall Be” Feat. Gia Margaret
5. “Sorrow Is Not My Name” Feat. Sam Gendel

Dilate Your Heart is out 3/26 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

Today, Dallas rapper Yella Beezy makes UPROXX Sessions history as the first return guest. Beezy appeared in “season one” of the show to perform his gruff “No Cap” and now, he’s come back to switch up the vibes with “Intoxicated,” a brand new, midtempo love song. In his latest performance, he looks right at home, confidently swinging through a melodic verse, his grin belying his comfort with the Uproxx Studios crew.

Of course, a lot’s changed for him since his last performance, with the biggest being the birth of his second son Dallas in January this year.

Even though he’s been having fun hanging out with his newborn, however, he’s also stayed on his grind. He elevated his profile with his new single “Star” featuring fellow emerging Dallas rapper Erica Banks, who is at the height of her popularity thanks to the “Buss It Challenge.” He’s also continued work on his 2021 album, Blank Checc. As he told BET in an interview earlier this year, the last year has taught him to “put more time and thought into the process of creating this art.” From the looks of things, it’s paying off.

Watch Yella Beezy’s UPROXX Sessions “Intoxicated” performance above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Ryley Walker’s last solo album of original material came in 2018 with Deafman Glance. He’s been plenty busy since then, though. In 2019, he released a Dave Matthews Band covers album, The Lillywhite Sessions. Also that year, he and Charles Rumback collaborated on the album Little Common Twist. Now, he’s soon to be back with another solo record: Walker has announced Course In Fable, which is set to come out on April 3 via his own Husky Pants Records.

Rylee has preceded the album with a lead single, “Rang Dizzy,” a free-flowing tune that incorporates some jazz influence into the mix. Like the album as a whole, the song was produced by Tortoise’s John McEntire.

As Walker noted, he doesn’t have any fancy new press photos for this album cycle yet, as he tweeted, “i didn’t have time to go to the woods or an alley to take press photos of me looking away from the camera cause im packing records. this is all i got.”

Listen to “Rang Dizzy” above and check out the Course In Fable art and tracklist below.

1. “Striking Down Your Big Premiere”
2. “Rang Dizzy”
3. “A Lenticular Slap”
4. “Axis Bent”
5. “Clad With Bunk”
6. “Pond Scum Ocean”
7. “Shiva With Dustpan”

Course In Fable is out 4/3 via Husky Pants Records. Pre-order it here.