GoneTrending

Blackpink is one of the most esteemed groups in all of K-pop, which is why they’ve been on TV a lot over the past 24 hours: They were on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, then they stopped by Good Morning America earlier today.

On Kimmel, they performed “Lovesick Girls” on a colorful gas station-themed set and spoke with the host in an interview segment. Remotely from South Korea, they explained the meaning of their band name for Kimmel, with Rosé saying, “We kind of felt like those two colors represented us the most because we’re very girly, but at the same time, we’re very savage, too.” Jisoo, whose English isn’t as strong as those of her bandmates, revealed her favorite English phrase is, “That’s a pity.”

Then they made an appearance on GMA this morning. They also performed “Lovesick Girls,” although this rendition of it was set up to look like more of a concert environment. They chatted with Michael Strahan, and told the host they are surprised by the level of success they’ve achieved. They also explained why their new album is called simply The Album, saying, “We thought that our fans have been waiting for Blackpink’s album for such a long time that there was nothing better than to just name our album, Blackpink: The Album.”

Check out clips from the group’s TV appearances above.

Joe Biden shared his proposed tax plan this week. The candidate plans to raise taxes only on citizens making over $400,000 while cutting taxes for everyone making less than that — and 50 Cent isn’t happy. After finding out that the wealthiest people living in California, New York, and New Jersey could see up to 62% of their income taxed before deductions, credits, offsets, and loopholes under Biden’s plan, the rapper has decided to leave the US if the candidate wins the election.

50 shared his endorsement of Trump on Monday, saying he’s voting for the incumbent even if “doesn’t like black people.” Taking things one step further Tuesday, the rapper said he’s ready to pack up and move out of the US entirely if Trump loses his bid for a second term.

Announcing his plan on social media, 50 wrote: “explain 62% to me. I’m packing my bags everybody that has money is gonna move.”

While many of 50’s listeners have expressed their disappointment in his Trump endorsement, including his ex-girlfriend Chelsea Handler, Fox News host Tomi Lahren is welcoming the rapper to the Republican Party with open arms. After 50 said he would be voting for Trump, Lahren praise the rapper for joining her on the “Trump Train.”

Check out 50’s posts above.

Earlier this year, The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming just the seventh hip-hop artist ever to do so. While the pandemic may have stifled that news somewhat thanks to the official induction ceremony getting postponed as a safety precaution, Biggie’s accomplishment is being celebrated in other ways. In May, Statik Selektah shared an “unreleased” Biggie verse on Instagram, while the rapper’s “King Of New York” crown was auctioned off for close to a whopping half-a-million dollars.

Today, another piece of Biggie pop culture ephemera gets immortalized as Pepsi unveils its new ad featuring a rare, in-studio freestyle from 1997, set to colorful animation celebrating the rapper’s hometown. As Biggie raps about the virtues of Pepsi — clearly one of his favorite soft drinks, judging from the lyrics — a boombox blasts his words out into the New York streets as locals go about their day-to-day interactions, grabbing egg sandwiches from the bodega and dancing on the corner.

Pepsi’s bond with hip-hop is strong, as the brand continues to employ rappers as its spokespeople. Cardi B has appeared in multiple ads for the brand, while Missy Elliott remixed The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” for their 2020 Super Bowl ad. Biggie’s legacy is in good hands, especially since he rapped about how much he liked it long before rappers were receiving massive checks for doing so.

Watch Pepsi’s new ad above.

Matthew McConaughey is shirtless. A lot. Both in real life (like when he’s getting arrested while playing the bongos… naked) and in his movies. Fool’s Gold: shirtless. The Beach Bum: shirtless, obviously. Serenity: shirtless. Failure to Launch: shirtless. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: more like how to lose a shirt in 10 seconds. Magic Mike: I mean…

Point is, it’s weird seeing McConaughey wear a shirt, so I was surprised to discover that he’s not Hollywood’s most shirtless actor. He’s not even Hollywood’s second most shirtless actor. The first-time author is in third place. Bingo Sites, via CinemaBlend, crunched the numbers and discovered that “Daniel Craig nabs the crown as the most shirtless actor: the scenes in which he appears shirtless are equivalent to 1,278 seconds (or 21 minutes).” Behind him is Sylvester Stallone with 1,117 seconds, which feels like cheating because he’s Rocky and boxers are often shirtless (that’s like saying Michael Phelps is the most shirtless athlete), followed by McConaughey with 1,026 seconds. James Bond being Extremely Shirtless is not shocking, but more than this guy? Gasp.

Here’s the complete top 10.

10. Zac Efron (694 seconds)
9. Leonardo DiCaprio (724)
8. Colin Farrell (730)
7. Charlie Hunnam (799)
6. Christian Bale (833)
5. Michael Fassbender (853)
4. Jake Gyllenhaal (913)
3. Matthew McConaughey (1,026)
2. Sylvester Stallone (1,117)
1. Daniel Craig (1,278)

Congrats to hunks everywhere. As for nude scenes, Eva Green is number one by far (she’s at 1,730 seconds, while Helen Mirren ranks second with 1,496 seconds; Ewan McGregor is the most in-the-buff male with 1,103 seconds), while “women spent an average of 10 seconds of scene time per hour in the nude, while men bared some or all of their bodies for just 5.9 seconds per hour,” which is not surprising. Between this important intelligence, and the Ringer learning that Keanu Reeves is at the top of the Hollywood Sex Symbol Leaderboard, we’re living in the golden age of Horny Data.

(Via Bingo Sites and CinemaBlend)

Chet “JR” White, who was best known half of the indie band Girls and as a producer, has died at 40 years old. A representative of True Panther, the label that released Girls’ music, confirmed the news to Pitchfork. Additionally, Stereogum reports that according to True Panther founder Dean Bein, White died on Sunday at his family’s Santa Cruz home after his heart stopped during the night. No other details are publicly known as of press time.

Christopher David Owens, White’s Girls bandmate, mourned the loss, tweeting, “I hope you feel nothing but peace now my brother. I love you, and thank you for believing in me, and for what you brought to the table. Always and Forever, and I’ll always be proud of you… I’ll always remember you protecting Liza, Patrick, myself and Beta from the jerks.”

White and Owens formed Girls in 2007, and before disbanding in 2012, the group released three albums: Album (in 2009), Broken Dreams Club (2010), and Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011). All three releases earned critical acclaim. Following Girls, White was respected as a producer and worked on the 2013 Cass McCombs album Big Wheel And Others and the 2015 Tobias Jesso, Jr. album Goon. He also recorded material with Diiv in 2013 that hasn’t been released.

In a 2013 Paste interview (with Uproxx’s own Philip Cosores), White discussed his love of producing, saying, “I do like making music, but at some point I realized that I like producing better. I really do like to help people realize their music as they imagine it, or being another set of ears to help them realize something that they haven’t thought about. It’s a really interesting way to be a part of music and art, almost the sneaky, backdoor way of being in a band.”

With his new album Featuring Ty Dolla Sign dropping this Friday, October 23, Ty Dolla Sign appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform the album’s single “By Yourself” with guests Jhene Aiko and Mustard. Standing on a sky bridge over a green-screened ocean view, Ty, Jhene, and Mustard give an enthusiastic performance while keeping a safe six feet of distance between them.

While Ty has fittingly kept himself near enough to the spotlight with a string of features throughout the early part of the year, including appearances on albums from Thundercat, Russ, Big Sean, and Jhene Aiko, perhaps the best promotion for his album came from a two-year-old Wiz Khalifa song that went viral on TikTok thanks to a dance craze that took over the video app throughout the spring and summer.

Of course, Ty’s singles with Kanye, Murda Beatz, Nicki Minaj, and SZA also helped, as well as his simmering performance alongside Brandy for the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. With a loaded guestlist for Featuring Ty Dolla Sign including 6lack, Anderson .Paak, Future, Kehlani, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, and more, the album promises to be an eclectic mix that lives up to Ty’s tongue-in-cheek title.

Watch Ty Dolla Sign perform “By Yourself” above.

Featuring Ty Dolla Sign is due 10/23 via Def Jam Records.

Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Internet can be an ugly place. (Shocking, I know.) Things got especially messy over the weekend, though, when the “Worst Chris” Twitter fight heated up again over the weekend. Perhaps the news that many Avengers (other than Chris Pratt) were onboard a Joe Biden fundraiser didn’t help, but yep, Chris Pratt ended up “winning” the title this time around. Katherine Schwarzenegger felt the need to defend her husband, and people were bringing up Pratt’s political and religious beliefs (and that cat story), and yes, all not very fun stuff. Some O.G. Avengers are now defending Pratt, which (in turn) is now stirring up another controversy: why didn’t they step up for Brie Larson?

Yep, a few of Pratt’s Marvel Cinematic Universe co-stars are stridently supporting Pratt. Namely, they’d like everyone to know that it’s not cool to call Pratt “worse” than the other Chrises in unwitting contention (Evans, Hemsworth, and Pine). Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., hopped into view with a vigorous statement that does not defend Star-Lord (who genuinely is the worst) but the man who portrays him.

“What a world…” Downey wrote. “The ‘sinless’ are casting stones at my #brother, Chris Pratt… A real #Christian who lives by #principle, has never demonstrated anything but #positivity and #gratitude… AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value. If you take issue with Chris,,, I’ve got a novel idea. Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of #character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness.”

Mark Ruffalo then Hulked-out on Twitter to declare Pratt to be “as solid a man there is.” He added, “I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now.”

Ruffalo has a point. The world is burning while a pandemic rages, and U.S. racial tensions are at an all-time apex in 2020, and people are piling onto the Chrises as a contest. It is silly and mean, yes. However, people aren’t exactly thrilled with how this situation compares to what Brie Larson has endured since signing onto Captain Marvel. The film was fake-review bombed by sexist trolls that endlessly harassed Larson, who couldn’t even pick up the Thor hammer without making some nerds angry. It’s true that Don Cheadle and Chadwick Boseman stepped up to support Larson, but people are wondering why the O.G. Avengers stayed relatively quiet.

It’s a fair argument: why defend one co-star but not the other? Regardless of what happens next — 2020, please calm the heck down soon.

2018 saw Julien Baker link up with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus to form Boygenius, and now she’s ready to come back with her first new project since then. Today, the musician announced her third solo album, Little Oblivions, with a video for “Faith Healer.”

The track marks a musical expansion for Baker, as it’s more instrumentally fleshed out than her previous material. Press materials note that Baker played almost everything herself, too: “Baker’s tactile guitar and piano playing are enriched with newfound textures encompassing bass, drums, synthesizers, banjo and mandolin, with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker.”

Baker says of the song:

“Put most simply, I think that ‘Faith Healer’ is a song about vices, both the obvious and the more insidious ways that they show up in the human experience. I started writing this song 2 years ago and it began as a very literal examination of addiction. For awhile, I only had the first verse, which is just a really candid confrontation of the cognitive dissonance a person who struggles with substance abuse can feel — the overwhelming evidence that this substance is harming you, and the counterintuitive but very real craving for the relief it provides. When I revisited the song I started thinking about the parallels between the escapism of substance abuse and the other various means of escapism that had occupied a similar, if less easily identifiable, space in my psyche.

There are so many channels and behaviors that we use to placate discomfort unhealthily which exist outside the formal definition of addiction. I (and so many other people) are willing to believe whomever — a political pundit, a preacher, a drug dealer, an energy healer — when they promise healing, and how that willingness, however genuine, might actually impede healing.”

Watch the “Faith Healer” video above, and find the Little Oblivions art and tracklist below.

1. “Hardline”
2. “Heatwave”
3. “Faith Healer
4. “Relative Fiction”
5. “Crying Wolf”
6. “Bloodshot”
7. “Ringside”
8. “Favor”
9. “Song in E”
10. “Repeat”
11. “Highlight Reel”
12. “Ziptie”

Little Oblivions is out 2/26/2021 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Harry Melling knew next to nothing about chess before they took on roles in Netflix’s upcoming limited series, The Queen’s Gambit. Nearly a year after filming, they still wouldn’t label their play as particularly “good.” Of course, creator Scott Frank (Logan, Godless) didn’t need them to be grandmasters to play two men caught up in the unpredictable whirlwind of a young chess prodigy played by Anya-Taylor Joy – their characters Benny (Sangster) and Harry (Melling) end up losing to Joy’s Beth more times than naught. No, he needed them to make the game look good. Exciting. Maybe even a bit sexy.

We can’t believe we’re saying it, but they succeeded. The Queen’s Gambit takes a classic, stuffy boardgame and transforms it into a thrilling vehicle for exploring everything from addiction to obsession to sexism, friendship, and childhood trauma. We chatted with Sangster and Melling about the series, their lengthy careers, and what drives their own obsessions outside of work.

Did you guys intend to make chess sexy with this show because if so, mission accomplished?

Harry: [Laughs] Couldn’t help it. That was, in fact, the only thing I wanted to achieve [with] this entire job, was to make chess look sexy.

The gameplay is so intense. It’s the most chess I’ve ever seen actually played on screen. What’s the trick for memorizing those moves because I’m assuming you’re not all Grandmasters?

Thomas: I’m not entirely sure what the trick to it is. It’s just another memory lesson, really. I mean, the guys that were teaching us chess, mid-scene would try to explain why you moved that bishop is because you’re protecting that queen from the opponent’s knight and you go, “Okay, that’s all really very, very interesting, but that’s not enabling me to memorize it very well. Just show us the moves. That black one goes to that white square there. And that one then moves there.” That was how I did it. I loved all that psychology behind it, but on the day, you’re just trying to move the pieces around the board and look good doing it.

Harry: It’s all pretend.

Who would be the best chess player in this cast?

[Note: Reader, note we said “best.” Harry Melling thought we said “worst.” We blame this next bit of mild trash-talking on the fickleness of Zoom chats.]

Harry: I guarantee you it’d be me.

It would be you?

Harry: Easy. It would be me, easy. Thomas did you play, Jacob [Fortune-Lloyd]? Because Jacob was good. Jacob was really good.

Thomas: I didn’t. He played properly.

Harry, why are you so confident that it would be you?

Harry: Who would lose?

You would lose or you would win?

Harry: No, I’d 100% lose.

Oh man, I was seriously impressed with your confidence for a minute there.

Harry: [Laughs] Oh no. I misunderstood. I didn’t know how to play chess before this so I was really learning from scratch. And as Tom said, it was very much “this bigger piece goes to this square here.” And of course, after that, you get the feel of it and you can sort of talk to the chess team about why certain things would go places. It was fascinating. The number of sequences they have in their head at one time was just unreal. But I would lose. I would lose to probably every single person on that film set I think — happily and easily.

The good thing is this show isn’t just about chess. It dives into obsession and how it can control your life in unexpected ways. Has either of you been as single-minded about something as Beth is about this game?

Thomas: Maybe not to that extent but I will get obsessed about one particular thing. I like to build things and craft things. I’ve got into my mom’s garden or work on my motorbikes, or twiddle away on wood and things. But in that moment, that’s all I will concentrate on. I can’t think about anything else whatsoever, which gets very frustrating if you’re trying to go out with me, or if you’re trying to be a friend of mine, or if you’re trying to be an agent of mine because my mind only kind of really focuses heavily on one thing. But when it’s focused on that one thing, it works very well at that one thing.

Harry: I don’t think I’m particularly good at spinning many plates at the same time. I’m very sort of, I’m doing this now. Please, can everyone leave me alone whilst I do this thing? Maybe it’s a sort of actor related thing? I’m not sure, but [it’s] not to the extent of where Beth goes in the story. The emotional cost of what it is to sort of operate on that level all the time must be really tough.

Beth gets to a point where she questions what’s next for her. You both have been acting for a long time. Have you ever had that thought when it comes to your career?

Thomas: Yeah. I think that’s just a healthy way of looking at it, really. I often questioned myself and make sure that I’m doing things for the right reasons. Whether I still have love for what I’m doing, because that’s all that matters, is whether you love it. And when you’re getting something from it, because as soon as you stop getting that, then don’t put your full effort in. Especially with something that’s as exposing as acting, you have to put everything in because an audience expects that. That’s where you get that trueness from. It comes from a person throwing everything that they have into something. And even if you’re playing someone who’s completely ridiculous you have to have that grounding. That grounding comes from within you as a person and that only can exist if you love it. So it’s very important, I think for everyone to always assess what they do and why they do it, and whether they love it and also, to branch out and make sure that they expand their minds to include all sorts of other things, to exercise their brains in very different ways, so they don’t become one dimensional.

We’re all realizing the need for more hobbies right now, I think.

Thomas: I know. That’s what’s interesting about this moment, actually. I think it’s really cool for all the big agents and producers that just live life at a fast pace — I think it’s great that they’ve all had to just stop for a second. I think that’s healthy for the world.

Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ premieres on Oct. 23rd.

All the iconic directors are crafting Netflix movies these days, and David Fincher is now joining them. Even more notably for cinephiles, he’s doing so with a 1930s Hollywood throwback to the days of Orson Welles, and when social critic/alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. “Mank” Mankiewicz scrambled to put the finishing touches (and his name) on the Citizen Kane screenplay. If Fincher’s prowess and Gary Oldman in the title role weren’t enough to get you onboard for Mank, then perhaps hearing that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the musical honors will be the final enticement you need.

As if we weren’t already hungry enough for the filmgoing experience, right? Between the sounds and the sights (sumptuously rendered through flawless black-and-white visuals), those who love movies are in for a treat. The Gone Girl and The Social Network director is essentially bringing us his own Citizen Kane for the Internet crowd. It’s mind-boggling to consider in such meta-terms, so it’s probably best to simply enjoy the experience.

Along with the swaggery Oldman, the ensemble cast includes Amanda Seyfried as Hollywood siren Marion Davies and Lily Collins as burlesque queen Rita Alexander. Viewers will also enjoy performances by Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, and Charles Dance.

Mank will stream on Netflix on December 4.