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Considering last year was a curveball that no one expected, 2021 seems destined to deliver double the music we hoped for in 2020. That is, if pop stars who are happy to do it themselves have anything to do with it. Yes, pop has traditionally been the genre of sold-out stadium shows and producer-packed studio sessions, but with the rise of laptop production, TikTok fanbases, and an eager young audience stuck at home and looking for distraction, bedroom pop is back in a big way. And just because it was made at home doesn’t mean some of these stars aren’t headed for massive stages, either.

As we all navigate the transition between pandemic life and post-quarantine bliss, there’s going to be a sweet spot for artists who aren’t quite supernovas but were never meant for the world of indie after all. Expect the barriers that Billie Eilish broke down to change a lot about what we expect from female stars, whether that’s how they sing or how they look, act, and dress, and there’s lots of other changes on the horizon, too. Like self-correction for diversity and inclusion of all genders and races, and a creeping hint of rock and other forgotten sounds making their way back into the mainstream. So whether they’re collaborating with established icons, blowing up on social media, or changing the way we think about a trip to the DMV, here are our picks for rising pop stars to watch this year.

Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo barely needs an introduction anymore. In just a few short weeks, Olivia Rodrigo went from a well-known Disney+ actress in High School Musical: The Series: The Musical to one of the most exciting voices pop music has heard in years. With her debut single “Drivers License,” Olivia broke Spotify records, earned co-signs from other massive stars like Taylor Swift, Halsey, and Cardi B, and ignited the kind of music industry gossip that only fuels the fire when it comes to new stars. With her first EP slated for sometime in the next few months and a dedicated following on TikTok that’s growing by the minute, Olivia isn’t just a rising pop star to watch, she’s the one to watch.

Jessia

This Vancouver songwriter who is breaking out in a big way thanks to streaming, and thanks to the TikTok-first snippet of a frustrated declaration “I’m Not Pretty,” that rejected the impossible beauty standards women are expected to conform to. When Jessia turned those viral snippets into a full-length track, it became the kind of hit that turned heads at Spotify. Spotify Canada senior editor Gregg Henderson told Hits Daily Double that his team had a close eye on the unsigned artist. “We were instantly blown away by ‘I’m Not Pretty,’” he said. “We added it to various Canadian pop playlists upon the song’s release on 1/8 and quickly saw that it was reacting with fans and had big potential. We worked closely with our Global Hits team, who then added the song to our biggest playlist, Today’s Top Hits, as well as putting Jessia on the cover of Pop Rising. We always strive to spotlight local emerging artists on a global level and are excited for fans around the world to discover Jessia through Spotify’s worldwide reach.”

Ashnikko

What if Suicide Squad was a pop star? Then it would be Ashnikko, a twenty-something musician raised in North Carolina on a steady diet of country music, Slipknot, and M.I.A who moved to Estonia with her family during high school. Speaking of Suicide Squad, one of Ashnikko’s first big industry looks was when a song she co-wrote for Doja Cat, “Boss Bitch,” was included on the all-female Birds Of Prey soundtrack in early 2020. Before that, she was going viral on her own in with the Yung Baby Tate-featuring standout single “Stupid” in 2019, while opening for Danny Brown and appearing on Brooke Candy’s debut album, Sexorcism. More recently, she collaborated with Grimes on the bubblegum electroclash track “Cry,” which appears on her early January 2021 released Demidevil. That project also includes Kelis and Princess Nokia, if you needed any more convincing. With her colorful, Tokyo-influenced hair, raunchy rap lyrics, and lots of bubblegum giggling, Ashnikko is poised to be pop’s next anti-heroine. Deal with it.

Ingrid Andress

Country’s latest crossover star is a Colorado songwriting sensation who took Nashville by storm — and didn’t stop there. Her breakout hit “More Hearts Than Mine” went to No. 3 on the Country Airplay charts and also hit No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, establishing it as the kind brilliant story-song that supersedes genre. Andress’ Atlantic records debut, Lady Like, went on to break streaming records as the biggest debut by a female country artist, doubling down on her potential as the next country artist to break into the mainstream, walking in the footsteps of other pop-leaning artists like Kacey Musgraves and Taylor Swift. And when your name is getting mentioned in that company, who cares about genre anyway?

Joshua Bassett

One of the after-effects of Olivia Rodrigo’s sensational songwriting is that the person the song is rumored to be about — her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star, Joshua Bassett — has been drawn into the spotlight as well. Not like he wanted to be anywhere else! Bassett is now rumored to be dating another Disney+ star, Sabrina Carpenter, but the gist of his own 2021 single is that somebody isn’t telling the truth about him. “Lie Lie Lie” might not totally make sense as a response to “Drivers License” (and let’s hope for his sake that it’s not because none of us can look into Olivia’s misty eyes and believe she’s lying), but it’s got a killer hook and the kind of bouncy, golden melody that is working for male pop stars these days. If he can give us a couple more tracks as good as this new one, Josh is well on his way to a solo career of his own.

Jensen McRae

Jensen McRae has been on the radar of LA tastemakers for quite some time now, even is she’s not big enough to have her own Wikipedia page yet. But if she did, the first entry would probably be this uber viral “cover” she made of a Phoebe Bridgers song summing up a very 2021 experience of hooking up in a car, in line to get a COVID-19 vaccine at Dodger Stadium. Please don’t stop at the hilarious social media content though, McRae’s own original music is just as stellar, particularly the standout “Wolves,” which has over a million streams on Spotify since release last spring. The song is about the psychic violence women face at the hands of men, a chilling reflection set against a beautiful melody, with devastating lines like “I was 19, still fun at parties.” McRae’s songwriting doesn’t just evoke Phoebe, but elements of other greats — the pathos of Mitski, the deadpan blues of Soccer Mommy — to let us into her universe. If I had a label in 2021, this is who I would sign. She’s said on Twitter that an album is coming this year, so keep an eye out for more music.

Sasha Sloan

At 19, Sasha Sloan moved to Los Angeles to be a songwriter. A few short years later, she was on national television performing “Older” on The Late Show With Steven Colbert. Working with DJs like Kaskade and Kygo as a featured vocalist, Sloan co-wrote tracks for Camila Cabello (“OMG” and “Never Be The Same”) and worked with Charli XCX (“Track 10” off Pop 2), before releasing her own debut EPs Sad Girl and Loser in 2018, and disrupted the self-deprecating theme in 2019 with a third EP called Self Portrait. With one foot in the EDM world and another in the realm of soft songwriting, on her debut full-length, last year’s Only Child, she finally began to meld the two, bringing whispers of a drop and other energy-shifting elements to sparse, acoustic tracks. Recently, she’s collaborated with Charlie Puth on a remix of Only Child‘s cheeky standout “Is It Just Me?” and the vocal chemistry between these two might finally land Sloan a hit of her own. In the meantime, if you’re looking for 2020 gems that got overlooked, her debut is definitely one — and it’s more than likely the follow-up will be even better.

Alaina Castillo

When I interviewed Alaina Castillo last March, she was already becoming a global superstar off the strength of her moody, mesmerizing songs, influenced by hymns and Latin music. Hearing Alaina’s voice and her penchant for mixing R&B with both trap and vocal runs, it’s impossible not to see her as the natural heir to Ariana Grande’s throne, and she’s just continued building her in the last year, releasing her mostly acoustic EP The Voicenotes in English and Spanish, Mensajes De Voz, and slowly tackling more adult themes in more recent singles. Plenty of emerging artists decided to put most of their plans on hold last year, and odds are Alaina will have a lot of new music dropping in 2021.

Holly Humberstone

Nobody does haunting like the British, and Holly Humberstone nails bluesy, end-of-the-road ballads like Adele before her, with a touch of Lorde’s itchy midnight percussion thrown in for good measure. Though Humberstone came up performing during intermissions at Lewis Capaldi shows, she’s heads and shoulders above him in both material and delivery, and her debut EP, last summer’s Falling Asleep At The Wheel, hit like a ton of glass bricks. The songs are both blocky and iridescent, lightweight but strong enough to build a career upon. “Overkill” has enough indie rock in it to perk up fans who have been missing guitars in the pop world, but my enthusiasm for the title track, “Falling Asleep At The Wheel,” hasn’t diminished at all since I heard it last August. Add in a Radiohead cover, and a self-deprecating Instagram presence, and Holly’s future success is all but clinched. While I hope we get more new music from her soon, I have a feeling this is the kind of artist who will make us all remember why live shows are so essential to this business.

Remi Wolf

Last summer, Remi Wolf’s “Monte Carlo” became an inescapable earworm — a song about driving around and flexing for no reason was the perfect soundtrack for a time when most people had little to do but drive around. Game recognize game, and fellow high-pitched, glitterati-pop connoisseur Tune-Yards hopped on a remix to show her appreciation for the song’s brilliance. With a history as a former American Idol contestant, a remix of her track “Hello Hello Hello” appearing in an iPhone commercial, and with her latest EP, I’m Allergic To Dogs! released through Island Records, it’s only a matter of time until Remi is a household name. And I’m looking forward to plenty more I Love Lucy references in her subsequent hits.

Claud (Formerly Toast)

Endorsed by Phoebe Bridgers and friends with Clairo, what more does a rising indie songwriter need? How about dreamy hooks, conversational verses, and a vulnerability that so many artists try to reach but never really achieve? Fans of King Princess will love these sad subjects done up in sparkling pop melodies, and the chance to hear from a queer artist grappling with issues of identity, isolation, rejection, and, eventually, self-sufficiency. Their debut album Super Monster is the first release on Bridgers’ new label imprint, Saddest Factory Records, and is already shaping up to be one of 2021’s early gems. Look for it dropping in mid-February, right before Valentine’s Day, and get used to hearing about Claud Mintz — their unassuming songwriting just grows and grows with every listen.

Tate McRae

It’s going to be impossible to talk about incoming pop stars for a few years without mentioning Billie Eilish, and Tate McRae is the entry on this list that is the most directly connected to Billie and her crew. The 17-year-old Canadian star has been in the entertainment industry for years now, dancing on Justin Bieber’s Purpose tour, appearing on So You Think You Can Dance (and placing third!) at the tender age of 12, all while populating her own Youtube channel with dance videos and songs since 2011. One of those songs, “One Day,” broke out in a big way in 2017, and eventually led to RCA Records signing her in 2019. She released the All the Things I Never Said EP in late 2019, featuring lead single “Tear Myself Apart,” co-written with Billie and Finneas. But things are moving so fast for Tate now that her 2020 material — even the TikTok hit “You Broke Me First” — is already being eclipsed by her latest material, namely “Rubberband,” which only came out five days ago and already hit well over a million views. Since Tate came up as a dancer first, expect that to tie into her songwriting and music videos in a way that sets her apart from most modern pop stars.

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

After the cast of Stranger Things received breakout success for their roles in the popular Netflix series, many of them went on to release music. Joe Keery, who portrays Steve Harrington in the show, is currently making music under the moniker Djo and is a former member of Post Animal. Maya Hawke, who portrays Robin, released her debut album Blush last year. And after his previous band Calpurnia broke up, Finn Wolfhard (aka Mike Wheeler on Stranger Things) has been releasing music with his childhood friend under the band name The Aubreys.

The Aubreys released their debut EP Soda & Pie back in 2020, but it didn’t take long for them to share even more playful tunes. They teamed up with indie band Lunar Vacation earlier this month for the chilled-out track “No Offerings” and they’ve now returned with a cutesy video.

Speaking about the visual’s creation, Wolfhard, who edited the animation, described its creation process:

“We were looking for a way to do a video for the song without being in the same room all together. So I did some research on animated videos in the public domain. I found this video, and thought it was really great. Clay Frankel of the band Twin Peaks was the person to tell me to invert the colors and make it look trippy and weird to make it a little more interesting. I’m excited for people to see it!”

Watch The Aubreys’ “No Offerings” video above.

LA’s Cecil Hotel is an ominous place for historically established reasons, all of which receive the spotlight in Netflix’s upcoming true crime series, Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel. The project hails from Ted Bundy-obsessed director Joe Berlinger — he directed Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy and created Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes — who’s now tackling a different and also sinister mythology. His new project hopes to launch a documentary franchise that will dive into mysteries surrounding locations where infamous crimes took place. In this first season, the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles gets profiled for its many untimely deaths and being a refuge of sorts for serial killers (including Richard Ramirez, who recently got the deep dive treatment in Netflix’s Night Stalker).

In particular, this series digs into the 2013 disappearance of a college student, Elisa Lam, at the notorious building, which is surrounded by Skid Row. Internet sleuths mobilized and stirred up a media frenzy, and what’s even more chilling is that this is only one of the hotel’s countless sinister happenings over the years. From the synopsis:

For nearly a century the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles has been linked to some of the city’s most notorious activity, from untimely deaths to housing serial killers. In 2013 college student Elisa Lam was staying at the Cecil when she vanished, igniting a media frenzy and mobilizing a global community of internet sleuths eager to solve the case. Lam’s disappearance, the latest chapter in the hotel’s complex history, offers a chilling and captivating lens into one of LA’s most nefarious settings.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel streams on February 10.

When Snoop Dogg expressed his concerns about Cardi B’s “WAP” lyrics, he was rightfully called out by fans for evoking a double standard that has persisted in hip-hop and society as a whole for far too long. However, judging from a recent interview Snoop gave to Fatman Scoop, it wasn’t motivated by maliciousness but rather it possibly stemmed from his own experiences in changing his lyrics after realizing the power of his words in the wake of his 1993 murder case.

As he explained during the stream, “On my second album, Tha Doggfather, when I beat my murder case, I redirected my pen to write life because I felt like I had wrote death all up until that point.” This was seen most strongly in his 1993 single “Murder Was The Case,” which preceded his actually being charged with murder when he was accused of committing a drive-by on a rival gang member alongside his bodyguard.

“Around that time, me, Tupac, Biggie, [Ice] Cube—all of the rappers that was rapping around that time, we was writing what we was living,” he elaborated. Some of us was writing life, and some of us was writing death, but that’s what we was living.” He says switching up his style cost him fans but that he was willing to accept the loss if it meant turning his career around.

““When I started writing Tha Doggfather, I lost a lot of fans, I lost a lot of homies, because they wanted me to keep it gangsta after beating the murder case,” he said. “They wanted me to glamorize and glorify, but I was like, somebody’s life was lost. My life was changed. This is a real situation.”

Snoop not only turned around his lyrics but his life as well, becoming more of a role model and using his positive influence to make more of a difference, including in getting Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris pardoned after almost 30 years in prison.

Watch Snoop’s interview with Fatman Scoop below.

Jake Paul tried valiantly to goad Conor McGregor into a boxing match over the past few months, but after McGregor’s loss to Dustin Poirier — and with McGregor looking for his next boxing fight to be with Manny Pacquiao — the YouTube star turned boxer has found another former UFC fighter to step in the ring with him.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported on Tuesday morning that recently retired Ben Askren has agreed to fight Paul on Triller Fight Club pay-per-view on April 17, with a card that, much like the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. card from late last year, will feature a mixture of celebrity fights and actual fighters from boxing and MMA. It will be an 8-round fight with the anticipated weight class being 185-190 pounds — which isn’t a real boxing weight class, but, then again, that’s never stopped Paul before. Paul, of course, gained more notoriety for his knockout of Nate Robinson on the Tyson-Jones Jr. undercard, and has decided after two bouts against non-fighters he’s ready to take on the real thing.

As for Askren, he retired in late 2019 after two consecutive losses, citing a hip injury among other things, but UFC allowed him to take this fight despite remaining under contract. Askren told Helwani that he plans on putting Paul’s boxing “dreams to an end,” in this fight.

“I know Jake Paul is enjoying pretending he is a fighter,” Askren said. “I think on April 17 he is going to have a rude awakening to what being a fighter is really like. Jake has led a privileged life and doesn’t really know what the meaning of being a fighter is. I’m going to put his dreams to an end.”

The full card will be unveiled in the coming weeks, and given Paul’s status as a villain you can be sure plenty will tune in hoping to see Askren come through on his promise to deliver a rude awakening.

The vaccination effort is ramping up in states across the country and soon, there will need to be large-scale vaccination centers. That’s where the live music industry comes in. In a recent letter penned to Joe Biden, venue organizations and associations across the country offered their locations and services as vaccination centers in the coming months.

Twelve live entertainment organizations, including Live Nation and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), wrote Biden to say they share his “vision of expedient, equitable, and widespread vaccine distribution.” Since the live music industry is currently shut down, venues have offered their empty spaces, unemployed staff, and expertise in crowd control to assist vaccinations:

“Dear Mr. President, Congratulations to you and Vice President Harris on an inauguration signifying the unity and hope necessary to move America forward. As you set about achieving the ambitious goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in 100 days, we wish to offer the full support and resources of the live event industry. We share your vision of expedient, equitable, and widespread vaccine distribution. It is our duty, as businesses rooted in communities across the nation, to do our part to set America on a positive path during this time of crisis. We stand ready to work with Federal and State governments to save lives and get America back to work and school.

We represent businesses, workers and entertainers that make up the majority of the live event industry. While we have been effectively shuttered by the pandemic, we have vast resources that, if fully utilized, could provide invaluable mechanisms in our country’s vaccine distribution. In fact because we are shuttered, we are able to offer the full weight of our industry to support vaccine distribution beginning immediately.

We are here to help. In fact, many venues are already working on the State and Local level to implement vaccine programs. Our industry has thousands of venues throughout America that are under mandated closures and sitting empty. Event venues make ideal community vaccination sites: they are located in most urban, suburban and rural communities, often near transit lines and with easy access to parking. Our interiors are clear span with bright work lights and empty standard refrigeration systems. Due to the nature of our business, our buildings and workforce are accustomed to patron queuing and crowd management.”

The letter continued to say that venues are the “best prepared, best equipped” to handle the vaccination effort:

“Live events is one of the best prepared, best equipped, most experienced industries in America to manage and control large crowds in a rapid, organized fashion. Moving people in, out, and around a public gathering space swiftly and safely is the foundation of our industry. Additionally, our familiarity using ticketing systems for advanced notification, timed entry and crowd management can greatly improve patient experience before and during vaccination as well as on-site management. There are several thousand companies in the live event industry which own the equipment and infrastructure required to build vaccination sites. An estimated 95% of live events industry businesses and workers have lost nearly 100% of their revenue, and are ready and willing to get to work immediately. These organizations can design, deliver, and manage the infrastructure as well as the people needed to staff them.”

In a statement attached to the letter, board President of NIVA Dayna Frank said: “Since the pandemic shuttered our industry almost a year ago, our buildings and our co-workers have been paused, unutilized, and struggling. These vaccines are our best chance at putting COVID-19 behind us, and our experiences organizing events and managing crowds now put us in the unique position of being the best prepared and most qualified industry to support the vaccination effort and get this country on the road to recovery.”

Read the full letter here.

Oh, this has been a long past year since the U.S. officially detected its first COVID-19 case. Last March, a bizarre twist came from Jared Leto, who revealed on social media that he was probably one of the last people to know that the virus had been declared a pandemic. He had recounted how he emerged from a “silent meditation” retreat to find that the world had essentially shut down. While speaking with Jimmy Kimmel (to promote The Little Things, a crime drama that will stream on HBO Max), the Oscar winner and rocker reflected more upon his stark reentry to Los Angeles.

As Leto told it, the retreat was literally designed to be a silent affair, which lasted about two weeks. No TVs or phones were in use, but apparently, the teachers were aware of what was happening and didn’t wish to disturb the attendees’ experiences. The My So-Called Life actor didn’t even know what was happening until he’d almost arrived home because he purposely didn’t turn on his phone to enjoy a peaceful, zen-like drive to civilization. As it turns out, two weeks can change the world:

“When I went away, there were about 150 cases. And just in that short amount of time, when I came out, there was a shutdown, a state of emergency and the whole world had changed… The idea is that you go away, you get rid of your phone, you get rid of distractions, you get rid of everything and you just meditate… But when we were in there, they didn’t tell us.”

Leto then remarked that his “great tool to deal with stress and things and life” had taken a “shocking” twist because no one could have truly prepared for the scale of this pandemic, which has brought great suffering to many millions of people. It sounds like Leto, who previously described the situation as “mind blowing,” wouldn’t mind another silent retreat when all of this is finally over. But first, we’ll see him return as The Joker for Zack Snyder’s Justice League director’s cut in March. And that’s guaranteed to be a performance that’s either silent nor retreating.

Last Updated: January 26th, 2021

Finding the best food or cooking show has never been easier. Between all of the streaming services, you have hundreds of choices of both old and new shows in every sub-genre — from reality TV cooking competitions to stand-and-stir standards to the umpteenth permutation of Bourdain’s “walk, taste, talk” concept.

And Hulu is one of the best places to find shows all across this broad spectrum. Perhaps second only to Netflix.

The 20 shows below are our favorite food-related shows streaming on Hulu right now. There’s a broad range represented, from classic travel-focused food shows to down-and-dirty cooking competitions with cutthroat contestants vying for supremacy. Hopefully, you’ll find the show that suits you and dive in.

And don’t forget to try out a few new recipes after your binge!

20. Beat Bobby Flay

4 seasons, 47 episodes | IMDb: 6.3/10

This is a great concept overall. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay invites home chefs into his studio kitchen to battle it out for a finale round to cook against Flay. Where the show works is in chef Flay’s ability to engage and encourage the home chefs as they battle each other. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of trash-talking too, amping up the fun factor. And, yes, Flay often wins in the finales but not always, making this a very addictive watch.

19. Guy’s Grocery Games

7 seasons, 72 episodes | IMDb: 6.5/10

This is a bit of an outlier when it comes to food competitions. Hosted by the mayor of Flavortown himself, Guy Fieri, the show is very bombastic and likely rigged to make sure the craziest ingredients are thrown at willing contestants as they try and execute something fun and hopefully edible. Overall, this isn’t necessarily a show to draw recipes from. But it is a show that’ll keep you very entertained.

18. Eater’s Guide To The World

1 season, 7 episodes | IMDb: 6.7/10

This very highly anticipated food and travel show dropped right in the midst of the global pandemic, making it the perfect candidate for scratching both that wanderlust and foodie itch. And … it’s solid. The show hits very well-trodden foodie destinations around the world. It looks great (even if it doesn’t really offer much new). The saving grace of the show is the on-point and engaging narration by Maya Rudolph.

Though even then, you’re left wishing you’d just watched Rudolph actually hosting the show and enjoying all this food herself.

17. The Great Food Truck Race

2 seasons, 12 episodes | IMDb: 6.6/10

Do you love food truck culture? Do you love cooking show competitions? Then this is the show for you. The show follows a fleet of food trucks as they race to make the most sales in a single day with the lowest earning truck getting eliminated. It’s straight-forward, fast-paced, and full of mouth-watering food. You can’t really ask for more from a unique food competition show.

16. Tasty 101

4 seasons, 33 episodes | IMDb: 7.2/10

This is a great show to get into immediately if want to up your kitchen skills. This is more an informational program than a “show” per se. Each episode offers you a skill — like chopping or knife sharpening or cast iron use and care — or a recipe. It’s direct, educational, and will help you master some serious skills and recipes in little time.

15. MasterChef

10 seasons, 205 episodes | IMDb: 7.3/10

Chef Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef has proven to be one of the most fun watches out there in food TV land. We’d also argue this is the most watchable show from the deep roster of Ramsay-led television shows (with MasterChef Junior coming in at a close second).

The show pits home chefs against each other in the same kitchen to see who can perform under pressure. The show brings along a wide range of well-known celebrity chefs to test the mettle of the home cooks as the fast competition sheds fledgling home chefs very quickly. A bonus here is that Ramsay’s often acerbic nature is dialed back and he’s able to show a much more empathetic side. It’s very refreshing.

14. Iron Chef America

2 seasons, 18 episodes | IMDb: 7.1/10

Iron Chef America is one of those cooking competitions that looks and sounds intense, dizzying even. Then you start watching episodes and three hours will go by before you realize it. Put simply, these are a thrill to watch, as celebrity chefs duke it out in the octagon-like kitchen for Iron Chef glory.

It’s fast-paced, engaging as hell, and always has you on the edge of your seat.

13. Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern

5 seasons, 27 episodes | IMDb: 7.7/10

Chef Andrew Zimmern took a concept proven by Anthony Bourdain — that travel and food go hand-in-hand — and expanded it to include breaking down xenophobic ideas about food. Let’s face it, it’s easy to “other” food from cultures that don’t fit in our own norms. It happens all too often. Zimmern set out on a quest to show the world that we all eat things that are unique to our cultures and locations, and no, it’s not weird. Well, maybe sometimes it is, as Zimmern pointed out in his “scrapple” episode.

12. Jamie: Keep Cooking and Carry On

2 seasons, 26 episodes | IMDb: 7.4/10

Chef Jamie Oliver has an affability that makes him the perfect stand-and-stir cooking host, especially in these hard times. This is a great cooking show for anyone looking to get into cooking but who also feels intimidated by it all. This is a straightforward show that’s meant to highlight easy home-cooking that anyone can execute. Plus, Oliver’s excitement and down-to-earth mentality really sell that you can execute any of these recipes tonight in your own kitchen.

11. Bong Appetit

3 seasons, 30 episodes | IMDb: 7.9/10

Cannabis has changed food culture drastically in places it’s legal. Food as a delivery system for THC and CBD is a natural fit, and chefs have built entire brands around just that. This stoner food show travels around the country and dives into everything cannabis and food. Again, there’s no reinventing the wheel here when it comes to travel/food shows. But who cares? Get some THC in your body and set it on autoplay.

10. Chopped

16 seasons, 197 episodes | IMDb: 7.5/10

Chopped is the home chef’s answer to Bravo’s Top Chef. Aspiring home cooks gather to compete in a high-pressure cooking competition for cash. There are secret ingredients, sharp-tongued-yet-helpful judges, and tear-jerking backstories from the contestants. This is the sort of show where you’ll realize you’ve watched an entire season of without really noticing.

9. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

5 seasons, 56 episodes | IMDb: 7.3/10

This show might be the easiest binge on the list. You can just put it on in the background and dip in and out for hours. Whenever you do dip in, you’re going to see something truly delicious being cooked for Guy Fieri that he’ll be eating shortly. The show also serves as a fascinating window into American food culture for the working and middle classes where quality is directly related to “bang for the buck.”

This is America, fam.

8. Make This Tonight

4 seasons, 21 episodes | IMDb: N/A

This is a really useful show from Tastemade. Chefs offer classic stand-and-stir instructions for easy-to-make at-home meals. A lot of Top Chef alums pop in for step-by-step dinner recipes that look and sound great while still feeling doable. The fact that there’s a new chef in almost every episode also keeps things very fresh while providing a wide culinary net.

Give it a shot and then try a recipe or two yourself.

7. Food Wars!

2 seasons, 37 episodes | IMDb: 8.2/10

Let’s shift gears for a moment. The show is a great respite from the usual in-studio food shows or travel-based foodie romps. This is a narrative anime that has food at the center of every episode. The show follows a budding young chef as he tries to save his father’s restaurant, navigates Japan’s most elite culinary school, and invents recipes that wow his friends, diners, and family.

6. F*ck, That’s Delicious

4 seasons, 41 episodes | IMDb: 8/10

Rapper and former pro-cook Action Bronson is the perfect fit for a Bourdain-esque travel and food show. Bronson has a stoner affability that leads to quelling munchies all over the world as he tours. The show has a knack for bridging the food of the streets with the food of the higher-classes without making one feel superior to the other. Overall, this is a breeze to watch and has some serious FOMO moments.

5. Worth It

6 seasons, 54 episodes | IMDb: 8.7/10

This series from Buzzfeed has a great concept. The hosts land in a city and try differently priced versions of the same foods and then reconvene to judge whether the $100 luxury version of something in a starred restaurant was really better than the $1 street food version of that food. It’s a fun watch that’ll have you reconsidering where you spend your food dollars when you arrive in a new city.

4. Top Chef

16 seasons, 246 episodes | IMDb: 7.6/10

Top Chef is the gold-standard of cooking show competitions. The show invites around 16 professional chefs on each season to cook-it-out on TV for the title “Top Chef,” a purse of $125,000, and features at the Food & Wine Festival in Aspen. The show set the bar for which all other cooking shows reach. It’s fast-paced, dramatic, and mouth-watering fun.

3. Alice in Paris

1 season, 8 episodes | IMDb: 8.8/10

This fictional-narrative food-focused show was a revelation. It follows the titular Alice, a young Parisian, as she navigates life, friends, and living in Paris one meal and trip to the market at a time. There’s a real heart to the show in how much Alice cares about the food she cooks or dines out on with her friends and family. The whole show is built around the beauty of Paris’ farmer’s markets, hidden food gems, bistros, and food culture that Alice frequents and discovers.

The whole show is populated with real-deal restaurants, chefs, farmers, bartenders, and markets all around the city (and France). And that — combined with the easy-going nature of the narrative — creates one hell of a food show that feels so real (even if you haven’t made it to Paris yet).

2. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

2 seasons, 32 episodes | IMDb: 8.4/10

Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations is the show that changed food and travel shows forever. There are many imitators out there. But this is the OG travel and food show that’s a must-watch while it’s still available. Bourdain’s ability to blend travel, food, and culture into the single, watchable format without pandering and upping the format’s style will always be a great watch or even rewatch if you haven’t visited the series in a while.

1. Taste The Nation with Padma Lakshmi

1 season, 10 episodes | IMDb: 8.3/10

This was the best new food show of the last year. Period.

Long-time foodie, cookbook author, and Top Chef co-host Padma Lakshmi took the format of traveling America to find the heart of its food culture to new levels. The majority of the episodes deal in the migrant food that dominates 99 percent of the American food conversation while also asking what was here before all of that. That narrative thread provides a window into America’s Indigenous cuisines that is both revelatory and ground-breaking.

Overall, this show hits all the right marks of being engaging to watch (thanks to the beautiful food on display), highly educational (about America’s Indigenous and immigrant foodways), and genuinely approachable (thanks to Lakshmi’s ease with the people she meets along the way).

Like Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and “Driver’s License” singer Olivia Rodrigo, Zendaya got her start on a Disney Channel show.

Shake It Up was about best friends and dancers, Rocky Blue (Zendaya) and CeCe Jones (Bella Thorne, famous for different reasons), who got into various Disney-approved hijinks; the Emmy winner would later play the lead role in the teen spy series K.C. Undercover, which was still on when Spider-Man: Homecoming took her into another level of fame. The actress is now on Euphoria, one of the least kid-friendly shows on television, but she looks back at her Disney days with fondness.

When asked by Promising Young Woman star Carey Mulligan whether she thinks of herself as a “Disney kid,” Zendaya replied, “The thing is, I am. And to a degree, I am grateful for that. That’s where I started, and I learned so much from that experience. It’s just kind of been this slow progression, and I am happy that it’s all been to prove it to myself and not to anybody else, you know? I embrace it a little bit. It’s part of my heritage to a degree.” As is this hilarious-in-retrospect Kidz Bop music video.

Zendaya also told Mulligan that there’s still “a lot left to do” for the next Spider-Man movie. “It’s like running from aliens and things you can’t see. Part of that is kind of fun. A lot of what we do is escapism, just being able to play a teenager again,” she said. Spider-Man 3 (not that one, but this one) is scheduled to come out on December 17. For now.

(Via Variety)

More than four months have passed since the L.A. Clippers imploded in the Western Conference Semifinals. Many weighed in on the autopsy of the Clippers blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets, and the Clippers also overhauled their on-court product in the offseason. Tyronn Lue is now at the helm, the roster features Serge Ibaka, Luke Kennard, Nic Batum and others in key positions, and the Clippers are now flying under the radar, at least to some extent. However, the Clippers still feature the dynamic pairing of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, with that duo fueling everything for the organization.

Through 17 games, the Clippers sport a 13-4 record that features an active seven-game winning streak. Even while acknowledging that the schedule has been reasonably soft during the winning spree, L.A. boasts a tremendous statistical profile. The Clippers are No. 2 in the NBA in offense, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions, and they have a top-three net rating (+7.7) in the early going. L.A.’s offensive explosion isn’t too shocking in the aggregate, but the Clippers lead the NBA in three-point shooting (42.3 percent), and the team is generating a ridiculous 122.1 offensive rating during the seven-game winning streak.

As you may expect, Leonard and George are playing at a fantastic level. Both are sporting 50/40/90 shooting lines and, when the two play together, the Clippers are outscoring opponents by a blistering 17.7 points per 100 possessions. George was harshly criticized for his playoff downturn but, after shooting just 40 percent from the floor and 33 percent from beyond the arc in the postseason, he has captured his old self on the offensive side.

Beyond the top two, L.A.’s new acquisitions are doing damage. Batum has been an unexpectedly positive story, scoring 10.0 points and grabbing 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 45 percent from long range. Those numbers may not continue, but the Clippers acquired the veteran forward at a bargain-basement price, and he fits well in the team’s scheme as a versatile player defensively and an effective, low-usage ball mover offensively. From there, Ibaka’s arrival is paying real dividends, and the addition of Kennard helps to take some heat away from early-season struggles from veteran Lou Williams.

Within the 17-game sample, there is some statistical noise that indicates (slight) regression could be in the offing for the Clippers offensively. At the same time, they are absolutely bludgeoning the opposition when their best players are on the floor, and that includes a +25.4 (!) net rating with their starting lineup deployed together. That kind of dominance may not persist in full, but there is reason to believe that the Clippers are, in fact, the dominant team that simply evaporated for a few days in the 2020 playoffs.

Like the Milwaukee Bucks in the East, the Clippers are at a point where only the postseason “matters” for their broad evaluation, and that makes the regular season feel less significant. Beyond that, the Clippers may not be at full strength for a while, with both Leonard and George currently in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Still, it is undoubtedly encouraging to see L.A. playing at an obscenely high level to begin the 2020-21 campaign, and they remain the biggest threat to the Los Angeles Lakers in the West as a result.

Where do the Clippers land this week in our DIME power rankings? Let’s explore the space.

1. Los Angeles Lakers (14-4, Last week — 1st)

The Lakers were actually threatened by the Cavs on Monday but, eventually, LeBron did LeBron stuff. Los Angeles remains the clear favorite to repeat and, even if they weren’t, the Lakers have the best record in the league. There is no reason to drop them.

2. L.A. Clippers (13-4, Last week — 2nd)

L.A. may not be able to maintain their current form while George and Leonard are sidelined. In the grand scheme, all that matters is how they look when the full crew is available, and the early returns are exceptional.

3. Utah Jazz (12-4, Last week — 3rd)

Utah made a big leap last week and they haven’t slowed down. The Jazz came out this week and won all three games by double-digits, extending their winning streak to eight games. That seems pretty good and, at present, Utah is a top-five team on both offense and defense.

4. Milwaukee Bucks (10-6, Last week — 5th)

Milwaukee’s won five of the last seven, with the only losses to the Lakers and Nets. The Bucks also maintain the NBA’s best offensive rating and they have the best statistical profile in the East right now. In other words, things are pretty normal.

5. Brooklyn Nets (11-8, Last week — 4th)

It was kind of a weird week for Brooklyn. The Nets were swept (?) by the Cavs, but then bounced back to sweep the Heat in a two-game set. Monday’s win over Miami wasn’t exactly a portrait in beauty, but the Nets made the plays they needed to make and, obviously, the talent is undeniable.

6. Philadelphia 76ers (12-6, Last week — 6th)

A cursory look at Philadelphia’s profile would reveal an eyebrow-raising loss to Detroit in their last outing. I would simply point out that Joel Embiid didn’t play in Detroit. Otherwise, the Sixers won the three previous games, including a two-game sweep over Boston.

7. Boston Celtics (10-6, Last week — 7th)

Jayson Tatum is back and the Celtics are in a solid position despite all kinds of weirdness in the early going. Boston did lose both games to Philly this week, though, so they can’t jump over the Sixers in our rankings.

8. Denver Nuggets (10-7, Last week — 14th)

Denver had a fantastic week. The Nuggets are 4-0 since our last check-in, with three straight road wins over Phoenix and Dallas. That is quite impressive, and Denver is now third in offensive rating and fifth in net rating this season. The early-season struggles seem to be behind them.

9. Memphis Grizzlies (7-6, Last week — 8th)

Unfortunately, Memphis didn’t play all week due to postponements and Wednesday’s scheduled game is already postponed. The Grizzlies are still technically on a five-game winning streak, though, so that’s something in the encouraging column.

10. Indiana Pacers (10-7, Last week — 12th)

The Pacers are a top-10 team in net rating that is slightly above-average on both ends of the floor. Is there anything more Pacers than that? Indiana also picked up a nice win over Toronto on Monday, even with Domantas Sabonis leaving the game early with a knee issue.

11. Phoenix Suns (8-7, Last week — 9th)

Phoenix has technically lost four of five, with three postponements in between. There is no reason for panic, as the last two losses came to the scalding-hot Nuggets. From there, the Suns still have a solid statistical profile and a deep, talented roster. That usually helps.

12. San Antonio Spurs (9-8, Last week — 13th)

This isn’t a new phenomenon, but the Spurs have been flat-out better without DeMar DeRozan and/or LaMarcus Aldridge on the floor. San Antonio’s net rating is -6.5 with Aldridge and -5.5 with DeRozan, though the team’s overall net rating is positive on the way to 9-8. Maybe it’s early-season noise, but it’s not ideal to be worse with your most prominent players on the court.

13. Golden State Warriors (9-8, Last week — 11th)

Steve Kerr shook things up on Monday in bringing James Wiseman off the bench. That probably wasn’t the reason Golden State toppled hapless Minnesota, but it’s something to watch. Oh, and Steph Curry remains pretty good.

14. Atlanta Hawks (8-8, Last week — 16th)

After a badly needed three-game winning streak, the Hawks ran into a buzzsaw in Milwaukee on Sunday. Of course, Atlanta could point to the absences of Trae Young and Clint Capela in that game to explain the double-digit defeat. Now, though, the Hawks face an interesting back-to-back against the Clippers and Nets on Tuesday and Wednesday, even if the first match-up lost some luster with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George sidelined.

15. Toronto Raptors (7-10, Last week — 15th)

Toronto is rounding into form with five wins in the last seven games. No one should’ve been worried that the Raptors were suddenly terrible, but they’ll need to continue this upward trajectory to get where they want to go. For one thing, Toronto is only league-average on defense so far this season, and that will need to improve.

16. Portland Trail Blazers (9-7, Last week — 10th)

Losing to Oklahoma City at home on Monday isn’t the end of the world, but it maybe wasn’t the best sign for Portland. The Blazers are going to struggle without CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. The only question is just how much they’ll struggle and how it will impact their overall pursuits.

17. Houston Rockets (6-9, Last week — 24th)

We’re giving the Rockets a bump after what they did to Dallas in a 25-point win on Saturday. It’s quite possible (likely?) that Houston will go back to the bottom-10 next week, but DeMarcus Cousins put together a 28-point, 17-rebound effort that was a lot of fun in that matchup.

18. Dallas Mavericks (8-9, Last week — 17th)

Dallas is 2-5 in the last seven games. More troubling, though, is the fact that the Mavericks essentially have a league-average offense right now. After leading the league comfortably in offensive rating last season, that is a problem. Dallas has to be very good, maybe even elite, on that end to enjoy the success they’re seeking.

19. Miami Heat (6-10, Last week — 18th)

It is hard to flat-out punish the Heat for losing to the Nets (twice) and Raptors on the road. However, Miami’s slow start continues at 6-10 and they may be digging a hole that will impact them in the playoffs. Jimmy Butler’s return will help, but the Heat have been a bad team statistically this season, which is worth acknowledging.

20. Cleveland Cavaliers (8-9, Last week — 21st)

Cleveland turned some heads in challenging the Lakers on Monday evening, but LeBron put the game away late to end some of the excitement. Prior to that, the Cavs suffered a (very) ugly loss to the Celtics but, even then, Boston is a good basketball team, and Cleveland opened the week in beating Brooklyn twice. Cleveland is 25th in net rating, but they are better than that.

21. New York Knicks (8-10, Last week — 22nd)

New York’s season has been marked by runs. After starting 2-3, the Knicks won three in a row. Then, the Knicks lost five in a row, only to win three in a row, and then arrive here by losing the last two games. The baseline is somewhere in the middle, of course, but this is still a top-five defense statistically and that helps a lot.

22. Chicago Bulls (7-10, Last week — 20th)

This might just be what the Bulls are. There have been ebbs and flows, but Chicago is 7-10 and on the fringe of play-in contention. That almost feels right, especially with a net rating (-3.5) that is currently 24th in the Association.

23. Charlotte Hornets (7-10, Last week — 23rd)

It’s been a little bit rough for the Hornets lately. Charlotte has lost five of six, with the only win coming against Orlando, only to give it back the next game. That isn’t the end of the world, but they were closer to moving down the rankings than moving up this week.

24. Oklahoma City Thunder (7-9, Last week — 25th)

Oklahoma City’s second unit is pretty rough and this team probably isn’t going to win more games than it loses. The Thunder are still competitive, though, and they showed that again with a win over Portland on Monday. Oklahoma City did lose five of the previous six games, but even those losses came to playoff-caliber teams. They’re respectable.

25. Orlando Magic (8-10, Last week — 27th)

We could focus on Orlando’s bottom-five offense and real creation issues on the perimeter. Those are worthwhile conversations. Instead, we’ll spin it positive to showcase the stellar play of Nikola Vucevic. The standout center is carrying Orlando’s offense to the tune of 23.5 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, and he’s connecting on 43.5 percent of his three-pointers. Imagine where the Magic would be without his tremendous contributions.

26. Washington Wizards (3-9, Last week — 26th)

The Wizards have taken the floor for one game in the last two weeks. It was a road loss to San Antonio. Washington is still without several key pieces, and it is really difficult to evaluate their on-court product when taking everything into account. We’ll learn more about the Wizards in the coming days.

27. Sacramento Kings (6-10, Last week — 28th)

Sacramento is still in a tier of their own defensively, and not in a good way. The Kings have the worst defensive rating in the NBA by four points per 100 possessions, and that explains their overall performance. There wasn’t much to take from this week, though, as Sacramento split its only two games due to postponements.

28. Detroit Pistons (4-13, Last week — 29th)

Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak with a win on Monday and it was a microcosm of their season. The Pistons lost all four games by single digits and, while they have the worst win-loss record in the NBA, Detroit is only 22nd in net rating (-3.0). Make no mistake, the Pistons are pretty bad, but they aren’t completely wretched.

29. New Orleans Pelicans (5-10, Last week — 19th)

The Pelicans lost to the Wolves this week so, honestly, I thought about putting them 30th. That is an ugly sign overall for a team that had real expectations, but three losses in a row puts New Orleans closer to the bottom than the playoff picture. There is still talent on the roster and time to right the ship, but it’s not going all that well.

30. Minnesota Timberwolves (4-12, Last week — 30th)

In 132 minutes, the Wolves have a +6.1 net rating when Karl-Anthony Towns is on the floor. When he’s off the floor, the team’s net rating craters to -11.9, and KAT has been out for a while. As such, Minnesota has the worst statistical profile in the league and they remain in the basement this week.