Hugo Weaving is one of those actors who’s been in more quality movies than you probably realize. He played Elrond in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, of course, but the British-Australian actor was also in V for Vendetta, cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Mortal Engines (whatever, it’s good), and he also worked with George Miller in Babe and the Happy Feet movies. Not bad! But Weaving’s defining role is Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy, and although he won’t be back for The Matrix 4, he spoke about the franchise being co-opted by the far-right.
“I am befuddled by it. It just goes to show how people don’t read below surfaces. They don’t read between the lines. They will take something that they think is cool and they will repurpose it to fit themselves when the original intention or meaning of that thing was quite the opposite,” he told the Daily Beast. Weaving thinks the Red Pill types have a “very, very shallow reading of the intention of [The Matrix]. That’s a problem with popular culture: these films are profoundly thought through, but it’s too easy to look cool, have a cool haircut, and have a gun, and you think that’s all you need to do in life.”
“They aren’t thinking about other people and are only thinking about themselves. Trump is the classic, most unbelievable example. ‘Narcissist’ is a stupid thing to say, it’s so obvious. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone else but himself. It’s just unbelievable that he’s the president.”
Kacey Musgraves and The Flaming Lips have a lot in common: They’re both beloved, they both wear colorful outfits on stage, and they both appear on the new Flaming Lips album, American Head, which is out today.
Musgraves actually pop up multiple times on the new record. Back in May, Flaming Lips shared “Flowers Of Neptune 6,” a classic Flaming Lips psychedelic-folk tune on which Musgraves provides uncredited (but not unrecognizable) backing vocals. Now, today marks the album’s release and therefore that of “God And The Policeman,” on which Musgraves also features (with a proper credit this time).
The duet sees Wayne Coyne and Musgraves telling two sides of a story of crime, with Coyne singing, “If God and the policeman are / Watching over me / They both know what I have done.” Musgraves then mirrors Coyne, “If God and the policeman are / Watching over you / They both know you’re on the run.” The band also shared a video for the track, a portrayal of the lyrics that takes place in and around a sunny dandelion field.
Watch the “God And The Policeman” video above, and revisit “Flowers Of Neptune 6” below.
American Head is out now via Warner Records. Get it here.
The Flaming Lips is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
No one could forget Jon Stewart’s 9/11 monologue on the first day that The Daily Show returned following the terror attacks. Stewart has spent a great deal of his so-called “retirement” fighting for 9/11 survivors, particularly those who’ve suffered lifelong health repercussions. He emotionally ripped into members of Congress when they failed to show up for related hearings. And in the above 2019 photo, he stood by with advocates (for first responders) after the U.S. Senate voted to renew permanent authorization of September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
The New York Daily News is now reporting that the Trump Administration has stealthily siphoned (for almost four years) money away from a fund championed by Stewart — the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program — to the tune of $4 million. For some unknown reason, the Treasury Department has been withholding these funds.
Program director Dr. Davie Prezant detailed the funds’ disappearance to the NYDN (in a situation that Long Island Republican Rep. Pete King is calling “disgraceful”) while explaining that the program hasn’t even received a letter to explain the defunding. Nineteen years after the attacks, the pandemic is making the New York City funding situation measurably worse for these first responders:
“Here we have sick World Trade Center-exposed firefighters and EMS workers, at a time when the city is having difficult financial circumstances due to COVID-19, and we’re not getting the money we need to be able to treat these heroes.”
For months, Rep. King has been attempting to get an answer from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to no avail. Nor has the White House responded to the NYDN‘s attempts to secure a remark. King, however, hopes to pull Mike Pence aside during the Tunnel to Towers event on Friday: “Forget the politics. I don’t want to sound naive, but this is terrible, absolutely inexcusable… for even $1 to be being held back is indefensible.”
The annual 9/11 anniversary is a time when people invariably turn to Stewart’s 9/11 monologue while reflecting on how hard he’s fought for first responders in the aftermath. As Rising with Krystal and Saagar host Saagar Enjeti wrote on Twitter, “Jon Stewart’s first tearful monologue after 9/11 is something I re-watch every year.”
Jon Stewart’s first tearful monologue after 9/11 is something I re-watch every year.
Miley Cyrus has spent her fair share of time on TV in her life, and she took to the tube again last night for a guest appearance on The Tonight Show. She was all over the program, as she performed a pair of songs, “Midnight Sky” and a cover of Hall & Oates’ “Maneater.”
On top of that, she chatted with Jimmy Fallon, remotely while seated upon a colorful, geometric chair. Fallon noted that “Midnight Sky” borrows from Stevie Nicks’ “Edge Of Seventeen,” and Cyrus told a story about how that came to be, saying:
“I have the coolest letter ever from Stevie. I sent her the song and I said, ‘You know, I have an alternate melody if you don’t want me to pay tribute to you and your greatness and how much you’ve inspired me,’ and she said, ‘You can borrow from me any time.’ Now, you ask me about new artists and what my advice would be for them, and one thing that I’ve just learned from her, from Dolly, Joan, all in the same, is that they’re so open and welcoming to the younger artists coming up and they offer their mentorship. It’s just been really incredibly important in my career, having someone like her to look up to. Everyone looks up to Stevie Nicks, but having that direct relationship, it’s been kind of life-changing and just so important.”
Elsewhere during the conversation, she chatted about her work ethic, Dolly Parton, and more, so check out clips from the show above and below.
“Found You” features a laid-back instrumental, and on the track, Luda and Chance give odes to a special someone. Ludacris opens the song, “God’s creation / No filters, no imitation / Observations, consistent, you’re amazin’ / So fine, wishin’ that you were mine, but that I’m quite patient.”
Chance provides the track’s hook, singing, “So soft, so soft to the touch / Type love that cause fools to rush / Type love that comes in the clutch / Hey yeah, hey yeah / I learned it’s all by design / So delicate, so fine / I was lost but you brought me right back / I just fell in your lap, I had to follow the map / Then I found you.”
Chance hasn’t hopped on a Verzuz session yet, but he’s paying attention to the conversation surrounding the series. Recently fans debated whether Elmo or Barney would come out on top in a Verzuz battle, and Chance passionately defended his position, that Elmo would reign supreme. Chance might be a little biased, though, since he has guested on Sesame Street before.
When Deftones broke out in the late ’90s, they were frequently lumped in with the era’s nu-metal acts. But the genre classification never fit comfortably, as Deftones drew from a much wider range of influences than just metal or hip-hop — including everything from electronic to shoegaze to classic ’80s alternative rock — and also because of their longevity. Around the time that many of their peers peaked on rock radio, Deftones put out 2000’s White Pony, an art-metal masterpiece that forever altered their career trajectory.
In the years since then, Deftones have continued to put out acclaimed albums that have put them outside the metal mainstream. Their latest, Ohms (due out September 25), is their strongest work in years, a return to form that finds them reconnecting energetically with their heavy, hard-rock roots. In a sense, Ohms is a literal return to the band’s early days — the well-pedigreed producer Terry Date (Pantera, Soundgarden), who oversaw the first four Deftones records, is back in the fold after an absence of more than 15 years. According to singer Chino Moreno, the band members also reconnected on a personal level after 2016’s somewhat disappointing Gore, hanging out more together than they have in a long while, before the pandemic made that impossible. “I miss those dudes,” he says. “I haven’t seen any of them in six months.”
When Moreno was asked to revisit Deftones’ catalogue, he didn’t hold back, candidly assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the band’s eight studio records. What’s clear, however, is that he remains committed to Deftones one quarter-century into their recording career. “Everybody firing on all cylinders,” he says. “There’s not one of us individually that was sort of sitting back just going along.”
Tamar Levine
Adrenaline (1995)
That was a long ass time ago, especially because we started the band pretty young. We were in 10th grade, and we started playing together in the garage just as friends and neighbors. I knew Abe [Cunningham], our drummer, from school. And I knew Stephen [Carpenter], he grew up down the street from me. We all skateboarded, so we all just hung out and talked about music all the time. Abe had been playing drums since he was a kid, but he was never in a band. And Stephen wasn’t really in a band either. He just more or less had a bunch of gear. I introduced those two dudes and we just started playing.
What ended up on the first record, at that point it was our life’s work. Those are basically some of the first songs we wrote. The fact that we got a record deal was pretty scary, for me especially. I still didn’t really consider myself a singer or an artist in any way. The way I approached everything was pretty much trial by error.
We probably drove [Terry Date] crazy because we were just punk skateboarder kids. I think we were hard to wrangle. I remember I couldn’t commit to any words. Maybe a third of that record, there’s no lyrics on it, because I was so nervous. As a songwriter, I didn’t know how to write lyrics. I would just make stuff up and then he would keep it. If I ever had to go back on something, it would be different every time. That’s probably why some of the record makes me cringe a little bit.
I think it came out okay. Maybe good. It’s probably one of my least favorite records of ours. My confidence as a vocalist, it hadn’t really blossomed at all. Sometimes there’s beauty in that, when you don’t know what you’re doing. There are some moments in there that are pretty special. But yeah, I hear our youth in that record.
Around The Fur (1997)
Adrenaline was obviously not a mainstream album at all, but it was successful enough where the record company gave us the opportunity to make another record. At that point, I felt like we’d grown. We toured a lot for Adrenaline and I felt like we were just a way better band at that time. There was a lot more confidence going in to making that record. Shoot, we wrote and recorded and mixed everything from start to finish in four months. Considering the record before, like I said, we spent years making it. This was like we just caught this energy, like a “lightning in a bottle” kind of thing.
We were all pretty much in our early 20s, and just full of energy. More than anything, confidence, I think, when you hear that record, that’s the one thing that stands out. That probably is one of my favorite records of ours, because of that reason.
White Pony (2000)
That was a whole other animal. Having success with Around The Fur, I felt like we were on top of our game in a lot of ways. But the climate in music had gotten really polluted at the time with a lot of bands making this formulated riff-driven radio rock kind of stuff. I didn’t really despise it, but I wasn’t really a big fan of it. I just knew that I wanted to take what we just did, with that confident vibe, and see where we could go.
At that time, I was listening to more electronic, breakbeat stuff, like DJ Shadow records, UNKLE records, trip-hop. More drum-forward music. We all were, actually. I think we wanted to dive into that a little bit, and see how we can really bring some of these sonics into our sound. When we were done with the record, I remember us being proud of it. But I also remember a lot of our fans not liking it, or maybe not getting it. They were just like, “Where are the old Deftones at? Where’s the screaming?” It was a slow grower and there was a lot more to take in.
I knew that we liked it. But I didn’t know where it was going to fit in in the times. To be honest, it really didn’t fit in. We didn’t really get much radio play.
Deftones (2003)
That’s probably one of our darkest records. By the time we were done touring with White Pony, everybody was a little spent. Because we had been going nonstop basically since Adrenaline, with touring and then right into the studio again and then more touring. Not really having any time off. A few of us got into bad habits, and it just really seemed like this dark cloud was over us.
Because we were successful with White Pony and we went against the grain, I was thinking, “Oh, we can just do that again and we’ll just make another great record.” That formula just doesn’t exist. What you put into something is what you get out of it. That sort of dragged down the record making process for a while. As far as the music, I actually really like it: It’s heavy, and it’s big sounding, and it’s really dark. White Pony was more fantasy kind of lyrics, and not really looking inward, and just writing about random shit. Where this one, even though the words are metaphorical, I was writing a lot about what I was going through at the time.
I was a little out of my mind, with drugs or whatever, and just sort of in a dark place. That record is really heavy in that way. It’s probably one of our only records that when I listen to it, I get a weird feeling. Some of the stuff’s not comfortable for me to listen to.
Saturday Night Wrist (2006)
That record is probably our most fragmented piece of work. Everybody was sort of in their own realm. We rarely were even in the room together when we wrote it. Chi [Cheng] would lay down a bass line, and then Abe came in and put drums to it. Stephen would come in later and put a guitar to it, whatever. Some of it was recorded in Malibu, some of it in New York, some of it in Sacramento. We recorded some of it at my buddy’s house in LA. Like I said, fragmented.
In our minds, maybe we thought we were utilizing technology in a cool way. But a lot of times we weren’t on the same page. We had to learn the hard way. From the time we started and the time we finished it was three years. That was our longest time spent on making a record.
At one point, I was like, “I’ve got to get out of here.” I vamped out for six months and I just didn’t talk to anybody. I had a Team Sleep record that I’d already been working on that was finished. And I was like, “I’m going to go tour on this and get sober too.” That was one thing that really helped me. I went to Europe, and it wasn’t like I could just go there and find drugs. I was with those dudes in the band who were all pretty straight. I got sober and I just went out and played shows.
At the very end, I picked the best of what I thought was there and built the record out of it, and just put lyrics over it in the last minute. The record really sounds like that to me when I listen to it. Maybe it doesn’t to everybody else, but I think me, because I know that, the record has that feel to it.
Diamond Eyes (2010)
We were all starting to really really get along. We got really close again. You know that board game Risk? We’d play games of Risk for hours. Playing poker. Sitting around, talking shit. And we were just really hanging out a lot of times. Music was sort of secondary. But I think it was really important as far as us reconnecting and having fun and hanging out together. It was great.
Right in the middle of all that, I was working on vocals (for the unreleased album Eros). Most of the music was done. And that’s when I got a call in the morning that Chi had been in an accident. At that point, obviously, the band was secondary . We were all pretty shook up, and we didn’t know what our future was going to be. It wasn’t until maybe six months or so later, Chi was still in a coma and we all met up at our studio in Sacramento and just sat around to talk about our future.
Before we even talked, everybody just went over to their instruments and we just started jamming. From that day we started writing what would become Diamond Eyes. Obviously we got Sergio [Vega] to come in. He’d filled in for Chi once before, years ago when Chi had broken his foot. He was a good friend.
That ended up being our fastest record we ever produced. We wrote it in a month and recorded it in a month. I really felt like we captured lightning in a bottle. At that point we were probably the closest we’d ever been as a band. Obviously when something like that happens tragically to one of your best friends who you grew up with, that really puts things in perspective.
I’m not really quite sure (if Eros will ever come out). It would take basically going in and finishing it. Any time we get together we’re always sort of looking forward, or creating something in the moment. So that would be more of a nostalgic kind of thing there. To open up those files would probably be heavy too. Emotionally heavy. Just because it’s the last thing that Chi played on. Not saying that we won’t do it, but we haven’t made any plans any time in the near future to do so. That’s probably as clear as I can answer that.
Koi No Yokan (2012)
Nick Raskulinecz produced Diamond Eyes and he did a great job being present and helping us remember what we’re doing. One thing about us when we’re writing songs, we jam a lot together. We’ll start somewhere playing an idea, and an hour later we’ll be completely on another planet, unless someone’s there recording us saying, “Hey, go back 30 minutes here and listen to what you did here.”
So we did another record with him, and he wasn’t as present. He was finishing up a Rush record, and right after us he was starting an Alice In Chains record, I think. Or vice versa. At the beginning of the writing, he wasn’t really there much, and at the end of recording, he wasn’t really there much. We were left with his engineer, Matt Hyde. We finished the record though, and we were pretty proud of it.
To me I feel like it’s a reprise of Diamond Eyes in a way. They seem very similar to me. Both those records I think compliment each other.
Gore (2016)
That’s a tough one. This was going to be our third record with Sergio, and it was to be the third record with Nick Raskulinecz. At that time, Nick was pretty busy. So we decided, “You know what? We’ll just kind of do this DIY. We’ll get Matt Hyde who engineered the Koi record, just to help us record. But we’re going to do it ourselves.” It was a learning process. We never really had any direction or someone to help us make sense of what we were doing.
One of the biggest things that happened was Stephen sort of checked out for a lot of the writing process. Though he was there, physically, he was not showing much interest in jamming along with it. Later towards the end of the process, he took me aside and said, “Hey, I’m sorry that I wasn’t really there mentally.” Obviously he was going through something, and his head just wasn’t in it. I get it. I’ve been in that place before. It’s not like I was mad at him for it. But at the same time, it’s not like we were going to start all over again and make another record. The record kind of was finished, and it is what it was. But the biggest thing is, I think in the end, his presence wasn’t felt as strongly as we all wished it would’ve in that record.
Ohms (2020)
As a band, we were all getting along very well, and we were having fun. Even before Terry came in, I just hit up Stephen on the side, I was like, “Hey man, let’s go hang out in LA. I’ll fly down, me and Abe. Let’s just play together.” I really wanted it be to like how it was when we were kids in the garage, making something out of nothing together.
It wasn’t that we didn’t want Sergio or Frank [Delgado] there. I really just wanted to break things down to the core of us three, to get us all really on the same page. So we started writing. We did maybe a week or so together, came up with a few ideas. But I think that process really really helped.
There’s this public perception that Stephen and I are at odds, you know what I mean? A lot of people think, “He’s the metal guy.” And I’m the opposite of that, and we’re always going at each other because I want it one way and he wants it another way. That’s really not the case. When that was the case was probably more when we were doing White Pony. I think that helps the process, because you’ve got two people who are fighting to get the best out of what we have.
He’s been my friend since I was 10 years old. We’re older now and we live in different cities. We don’t hang out as much. With this, I just wanted to go hang out with him. If we make some music, great. If not, we’re just spending time together. Bonding. That’s always been a strong point I think of our band in general. Why we’re able probably to still make records is because we have a friendship that goes deeper than just making records, you know?
It takes work. It’s not like you can just get on your skateboard and ride over to your friend’s house and sit on the porch and talk about shit. For us to get together to even just sit and rehearse even, at this point, Sergio’s got to fly from New York. I’ve got to fly, I live in Oregon. So I’ve got to fly from Portland. Abe and Frank, either we’re going to Sacramento or we’re going to LA. So those two, you’ve got to fly, or Stephen’s got to fly in.
I guess that just comes with getting older. But it’s something that I definitely miss. I miss those dudes. I haven’t seen any of them in six months. Obviously I talk to them on the phone a lot. Because of what’s going on right now, it’s probably the longest that I’ve been where I haven’t been hanging out with them.
“Heavy” is kind of subjective, you know? The last thing I ever want to do is be quoted saying, “This is our heaviest record!” The first thing that’s going to happen is some dude’s going to be like, “No way dude! This is …” You know what I mean? It’s kind of subjective. But I do feel like it’s got a little more energy. I think that is attributed to everybody being engaged completely. Everybody firing on all cylinders. There’s not one of us individually that was sort of sitting back just going along. Everybody was very present physically and emotionally, ready to work and to put the work in.
Ohms is out on September 25 via Warner Records. Get it here.
Netflix kicks off the month of September with a bit of a weirder lineup than we’re used to. A hybrid-doc warning us of the dangers of social media is here to convince us to put down our phones — and appreciate Vincent Kartheiser’s post-Mad Men trajectory — while The Babysitter gets a terrifying sequel that doesn’t feel quite as fun as the original.
Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix this week of September 10.
The Social Dilemma (Netflix film streaming 9/9)
Yes, we’re struggling to survive a pandemic, climate change, and a truly incompetent government but this new docu-hybrid is here to remind us that Facebook is probably worse than all of that. Vincent Kartheiser (yes, Pete Campbell from Mad Men) plays an A.I. controlling the brain of a kid named Ben in the fictionalized portion of this film, directing him on which emojis to send and how to sext with a girl at the dinner table. Meanwhile, the doc side of things interviews big names in the tech world — people who invented the like button, the “more of this” video watching feature on Youtube, etc — to understand why they regret their creations and fear where we’re headed with this new social media age. It’s all bizarre and also, completely on-brand for 2020.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen (Netflix film streaming 9/10)
This sequel to Netflix’s campy The Babysitter feels more over-the-top and less-fun than its predecessor but if you’re trying to get into the Halloween mood a bit early this year, it’s an ok watch. Cole is now a high school junior target by the same whacky cult intent on using him for a blood ritual. Bella Thorne plays the leader of that now-dead group, but they’ve got some new enemies to contend with, and even more horrors to try to survive.
Here’s a full list of what’s been added in the last week:
Avail. 9/7 Midnight Special My Octopus Teacher
Record of Youth
Waiting for “Superman”
Avail. 9/8 StarBeam: Season 2
Avail. 9/9 Corazón loco / So Much Love to Give
Get Organized with The Home Edit
La Línea: Shadow of Narco
Mignonnes / Cuties
The Social Dilemma
Avail. 9/10 The Babysitter: Killer Queen The Gift: Season 2 Greenleaf: Season 5 The Idhun Chronicles
Julie and the Phantoms
Avail. 9/11 The Duchess
Family Business: Season 2 Girlfriends: Seasons 1-8 How to Train Your Dragon 2
Pets United
Pokémon Journeys: The Series: Part 2 Se busca papá / Dad Wanted
And here’s what’s leaving next week, so it’s your last chance:
Leaving 9/14 Cold Case Files: Season 1
Leaving 9/15 Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
Now, this is a story all about how The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air premiered 30 years ago this week. To celebrate the occasion, the Fresh Prince himself Will Smith shared photos from the show’s upcoming HBO Max reunion, which just began filming (your move, Friends). “Today is exactly 30 YEARS since The @FreshPrince of Bel-Air debuted! So we’re doin’ something for y’all… a for real Banks Family Reunion is comin’ soon to @HBOmax! RIP James,” Smith wrote, referring to his on-screen uncle, James Avery.
But the rest of the main cast from the sitcom, which aired for six seasons on NBC, was in attendance, including Tatyana Ali (Ashley), Karyn Parsons (Hilary), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey), Daphne Maxwell Reid (the second Aunt Viv), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton), and DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jazz). Smith and Ribeiro are always reuniting on The Tonight Show, or whatever, so that’s not a big deal. The real news here is that the original Aunt Viv, Janet Hubert, agreed to take part in the reunion, 27 years after she and Smith, who once said that “Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel-Air Show,” last spoke.
“There will never be a reunion… as I will never do anything with an asshole like Will Smith,” Hubert said back in 2011. “He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.”
While it doesn’t appear that Hubert will join the rest of the cast for the reunion, her segment with Smith, an “emotional reunion and a candid conversation,” will be part of the televised event, HBO Max said in a news release.
The Fresh Prince reunion is expected to premiere on HBO Max around Thanksgiving.
It’s a question posed by one of two lead characters to the other in Luca Guadagnino’s new HBO show, We Are Who We Are. And it’s a set of words that instantly evokes, at least in my mind, the title phrase of the director’s 2017 film, Call Me By Your Name. The context between the two pairs of leads, however, differs greatly. You won’t be left in tears by the HBO series (at least, not in the first half of the season that was screened for critics) like you may have been during the love story between Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet’s characters. Rather, Guadagnino’s first stab at drawing something out beyond feature-length carries lower emotional stakes than expected. It’s less of a gut punch and something that feels more akin to an experiment. And since we’re talking about Guadagnino, he knows we’re expecting an immersive experience.
Granted, there are multiple surface similarities between the two projects at work. A sun-drenched, often-picturesque Italian setting for one thing; the idea of non-Italians living temporarily in Italy; an exploration of the adolescent experience; two leads who recognize something crucial in one another and forge an unshakable bond. In this case, we’re talking about Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer of Shazam! and Andy Muschietti’s It movies) and Caitlin (Jordan Kristine Seamón, a newcomer with presence), two U.S. Army brats whose lives are at once well-traveled but insulated, and isolated… together. Guadagnino enjoys playing with such contradictions. Sure, he’s lending his audience some beautiful landscapes, too, but really, he’s exploring America from afar. Since this a U.S. military base, we overhear an aside: “This is America.”
Yup, the base actually functions as a microcosm of American society. Fraser’s the newcomer by way of NYC with his two moms, Sarah (Chloe Sevigny) and Maggie (Alice Braga). Sarah’s picking up colonel duties, and she doesn’t have the finest-tuned motherly instincts. Whereas Fraser’s an occasional loose cannon, full of angst and sometimes slightly insufferable, yet understated during most moments. He meets Caitlin, whose mysterious aura churns out more questions than answers for a few episodes, after which it becomes apparent that these two will be significant players in each other’s lives, however fleeting their time together on the base might end up being.
What results is an ephemeral and rootless take on adolescence. The viewer can soak in dreamy sights and get carried away by the pair’s respective escapes into their headphones. Sounds of waves crashing and Guadagnino’s meandering approach to following his characters around is, you know, rather comforting right now. The not-much-happening-all-at-once vibe could never feel as cool as Tarantino made it feel in his last film, but the show takes an inventive approach to structuring episodes. Two installments essentially follow the same events from different perspectives, and one entire episode follows a debaucherous all-night party that would feel right at home on Euphoria. It must also be noted that this goes down with a more literally euphoric feel and less nihilism than the Zendaya-starring series.
HBO
We Are Who We Are also grapples with issues, including gender identity. Yet it never takes a heavy-handed approach to a coming-of-age story, preferring instead to casually sway between feeling at once youthful and far beyond its years. Time languidly unfurls, stretching out over lazy summer days that seemingly go nowhere while these teens, unavoidably, are hurtling toward adulthood. The unknown future looms, and they’re simply biding their time without fully grasping that change (and real responsibility) lies ahead for all of them. (I’m not sure how Francesca Scorsese’s gregarious character — being carried to sea, above, and she is a hoot — will possibly handle adult life, but it sure as hell won’t be a dull affair.)
I don’t want to overemphasize this next detail, though it feels necessary to mention: these events take place against the backdrop of the 2016 election. There’s not a lot of emphasis there over four episodes, although I gotta say that it was jarring to see Kid Cudi’s role, as Caitlin’s father, including a MAGA hat. Yet that scene mostly acts to reinforce that the military generally operates in support of the conservative powers that be, which (unsurprisingly) do not necessarily reflect the behavior of all who reside there.
Ultimately, We Are Who We Are gives its audience an escape with a reassuring sense of structure — on a military base with surrounding picturesque sights and sounds — and it’s Luca Guadagnino’s gift to viewers, ultimately reassuring and meditative, like a beachy blanket to spend some hours before returning to the “real” America. The director also is at one with his audience here. He realizes that if we’re into his work, we probably dig a little bit of pretension, but not too much. We probably wouldn’t mind a weird food metaphor tossed in for good measure, either. This show brings a sense of dark humor at times, although, nope, no peaches (and I don’t have to stress over Elio’s bedroom probably attracting ants as a result).
No ants. That scores points from me, but I also enjoyed the vibes of this show. It doesn’t go anywhere, really, only stays right where it is, but still, it’s quite a trip to get there.
HBO’s ‘We Are Who We Are’ debuts on Monday, September 14 at 10:00pm EST.
Debuting her third verse in as many months, Nicki Minaj aims to keep her Barbs happy as they await her upcoming album with her guest feature alongside Mr. Eazi and fellow Nigerian act K4mo on Major Lazer’s “Oh My Gawd.” The track combines Major Lazer’s EDM world with Mr. Eazi and K4mo’s Afrobeats sound while allowing Nicki to thrive in the best of both worlds on the hip-shaking track. The song is slated to arrive on Major Lazer’s upcoming fourth album, Lazerism, and was originally teased for a July release, but a few delays pushed the song away from a mid-summer arrival.
The song arrives just weeks after Nicki Minaj joined Ty Dolla Sign for their “Expensive” collaboration. The track, which is set to appear on Ty Dolla Sign’s upcoming Dream House album, honors the high-class and materialistic woman, a role Nicki plays on the song. Other songs with a Nicki Minaj feature that have arrived include ASAP Ferg’s “Move Ya Hips,” which also features MadeinTYO, and Tekashi 69’s “Trollz,” a song that gave Nicki her second career Billboard chart-topping single following. Nicki’s first No. 1 single arrived with her and Doja Cat’s “Say So” remix. In conjunction with its release, Mr. Eazi also spoke on the song and how it came together.
“This record was really fun to make, and it’s crazy how it went from hearing a K4mo intro in the studio with Fred Again, to me jumping on it and then Diplo hopping in! And Walshy hitting me up to say it’s a banger—next thing Nicki is on it! Been a journey really, like two years in the making and I can’t wait to perform it at my next festival!”
Press play on the video above to hear “Oh My Gawd.”
Ty Dolla Sign is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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