Today (September 29), Halsey turns 26 years old. Ahead of the big day, the multi-Platinum singer teased that fans would get some treats this week, as she tweeted, “Tomorrow is my birthday so of course I have presents for you the whole week.” Now it looks like one of those has surfaced: She has released an expanded deluxe edition of her latest album, Manic.
A lot was added here. Most notably, there are two news songs: “Wipe Your Tears” and “I’m Not Mad.” Aside from those there are also a handful of songs Halsey released recently but that didn’t appear on the album: her Marshmello collab “Be Kind,” the Juice WRLD-featuring version of “Without Me,” and the Illenium remix of “Without Me.” Beyond that, there are acoustic and “stripped” versions of Manic cuts “Graveyard,” “You Should Be Sad,” “Alanis’ Interlude,” “Without Me,” and “3am.”
.@Halsey drops ‘Manic’ Deluxe edition in honor of her 26th birthday today!
It features two new songs, “wipe your tears” & “I’m Not Mad,” in addition to acoustic/stripped versions of her original tracks.
Last night, Halsey shared some early birthday tributes from her fans. In one impressive display, a group of South American fans created an interactive map, which shows birthday messages from fans and where they come from. Halsey was a fan, sharing the project and writing, “ohhhhhhhh my gosh this is sooo amazing!!!!!! I love it.” She added later, “stop my birthday isn’t until midnight and I’m already *tears*”
Disney+ officially launched its new GroupWatch feature on Tuesday, which allows users to share their viewing experiences with friends — provided they also have a Disney+ account.
The GroupWatch feature joins other streamers like Amazon and Hulu, which have capitalized on the lack of communal watching experiences thanks to the current quarantine conditions. But while those streaming platforms offer a chat feature, GroupWatch will only allow users to communicate via emoji. Given Disney+’s emphasis on family friendly entertainment, eliminating the chat feature ensures that younger viewers won’t be subject to the dangers and explicit content of online commenting. However, the GroupWatch feature works across several platforms including home computers, mobile phones, and streaming devices, so there are ways to still text and/or chat with friends while co-watching the latest episode of The Mandalorian together.
Open Disney+ on your iPhone, Android phone or on Disney’s website.
Search for a movie or TV shows.
Tap the GroupWatch icon (an outline of three people) on the Details page of their chosen content.
Invite up to six people who also subscribe to Disney+.
They’ll receive an invite to join your party.
Once everyone has joined, start the movie or TV show you want to watch.
Note: you only need to start the group on a phone or through the website. You can move over to a smart TV or a streaming device afterward. Just open the Disney+ app on your TV and then tap the group icon again.
Once you’re up and running, anyone can pause, rewind, or fast-forward whatever content you’re watching along. They can also fire off emoji during the viewing experience, which we’re guessing will involve plenty of hearts when Baby Yoda returns at the end of October. How do you not react to that little face?
Since Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released their collaboration “WAP,” the song has been everywhere. Just about everyone has offered their opinion on the raunchy track, like conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson and even the animal rights organization PETA. Now, Cardi is trying to cash in on the song’s recognition by securing a trademark for the phrase “WAP.”
According to TMZ, the rapper filed for a “WAP” trademark with the US Patent and Trademark offices last week. According to the publication, Cardi wants the place the phrase on every kind of merch item imaginable — headbands, clothing, jewelry, purses, shoes, posters, and even ‘WAP’-titled cocktails and soft drinks. Apparently, the rapper made sure to cover all her bases by also applying for the trademark on liquor, beer, sports drinks, soft drinks, fruit juices, and mineral water.
This isn’t the first time Cardi tried to get a trademark approved. Last year, the singer filed a trademark request for her catchphrase “Okurrr,” as she planned to use it to sell merch items like mugs, t-shirts, and posters. But her plan was foiled when the US Patent and Trademark offices denied her request, saying the phrase fell under the category of “widely-used commonplace expressions” and didn’t belong to a single individual.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Baton Rouge rapper Youngboy Never Broke Again — aka NBA Youngboy — was arrested Monday in his hometown, according to local news station WAFB9. Youngboy — real name Kentrell Gaulden — was among 16 people arrested on drug and firearm charges. Although the report is vague about what those charges may be, Youngboy is apparently facing several, including felony possession and stolen firearms charges. All 16 people arrested face similar charges.
Unfortunately for Youngboy, this constitutes yet another setback in a career that’s seen enough for a lifetime — and it arrives at the worst possible time for the 20-year-old rapper, just when he has an album to promote. His debut album, Top, was just released a few weeks ago, climbing to the top of the US Billboard 200 with 126,000 equivalent units sold/streamed. He was only just released from probation stemming from his 2018 battery/kidnapping case after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery. He was caught on tape slamming his then-girlfriend to the floor in a hotel hallway and dragging her back to his room.
He spent some time in prison in 2019 after an altercation at another hotel and after violating his previous probation by using social media. He was released in August and placed on house arrest, only narrowly avoiding more prison time. With yet another arrest on his record, it’s entirely possible his luck is soon to run out.
Youngboy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
Bartees Cox, Jr. — an instinctive pleaser who learned as a child to quickly assimilate while moving from home to home frequently — remembers the moment when Bartees Strange — a rambunctious, extroverted indie-rocker — was born. It is not a happy memory.
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At the time he was a teenager living outside of Tulsa. His father worked in the military, and his mother was an opera singer. Before the age of 12, he had lived in England (where he was born), Germany, Greenland, and various points in the United States before settling in Oklahoma. His rootless childhood made him adaptable to various communities and social situations. But it also caused an identity crisis. Who was he, exactly? Did he really know his true self, or was he merely a series of affable facades designed to keep him protected in uncertain situations?
“I’ve never talked to anyone about this,” Strange confided during a phone conversation earlier this month, “because when I was in high school I was a pretty depressed person. And I tried to kill myself by taking a bunch of pills. I went downstairs the next day — I didn’t die obviously — and my mom, she says, ‘Oh, you look strange.’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And then I just went to football practice.
“That was where Bartees Strange originated,” he added softly. “That interaction and me being glad I didn’t die, and taking on this new focus of just really living my life the way I want and not putting limitations on myself just because someone may see me in one way.”
In 2020, the 31-year-old singer-songwriter has defined himself as one of most exciting emerging artists in indie by releasing two startling albums. In March, he put out Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy, a collection of mostly covers by one of his favorite bands, The National, plus a handful of excellent originals. In Strange’s hands, The National’s nervy, cinematic dirges are transformed — “Lemonworld” is remade as a melodramatic emo-rock anthem, and “All The Wine” becomes a glitchy, atmospheric electro-ballad. All the while, Strange’s casual prolificacy with melding guitar rock with R&B, hip-hop, and EDM styles is stunningly showcased.
Strange takes this approach even further with Live Forever, an album written entirely by Strange that he considers his proper debut. While Live Forever clocks in at a relatively brisk 36 minutes, it feels more epic than that, moving from the rousing synth-rock of “Mustang” to the murky space-soul of “Mossblerd” to the rambling, desolate folk of “Far.” It’s a showcase for an artist who seems equally capable of sounding like The National, Frank Ocean, James Blake, or the dozens of artists that fit in the wide-open space between those reference points.
On the eve of Live Forever‘s release, the Washington D.C.-based Strange is brimming with confidence, sounding like a man liberated from a life he did not want — before becoming a musician, he held an administrative position in the Obama administration — who now finds himself, finally, on his proper path.
“I see bands The National and I’m like, ‘These dudes, they’ve got families and relationships and great friendships and they tour the world and they make whatever they want. I want that.’ It took me years to be able to say it without feeling foolish but I aspire to that. I feel like I’m entitled to that.”
Why did you put out a covers album before Live Forever?
The National thing happened super organically. I was actually shopping Live Forever when I was meeting Brassland. I had the idea for The National thing, and I’d literally just gone to the show at The Anthem. I just pitched the idea pretty blindly. And I think two weeks later I sent him pretty much the whole EP. I called [my manager] Jamie and I was like, “Maybe we should rethink everything because nobody knows who I am and this might be a good way for people to get an understanding for me and my story and what I’m trying to do before my record comes out.”
Do you think reinterpreting someone else’s songs will influence your own songwriting?
I mean, it definitely allowed me to try some things. I love beatmakers and I love dance music and I love house music. That’s actually one of the reasons why I love The National so much, because of Aaron Dessner’s integration of low-tempo rhythmic electronic shit, I love that stuff so much. And I’d always wanted to make more songs that leaned on that and so with “About Today” and “All the Wine” and a lot of the songs on Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, I was like, “Yeah, let’s explore this.” I’m producing my next record now, and there’s a lot of that Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy feel on those songs, mixed with all the rock stuff I do.
There’s a cliche about debut albums that artists spend their whole life up to that point writing them. Had you been thinking for a long time about what Live Forever would ultimately sound like?
A couple of his songs are definitely like that. I can listen to my songs and hear shit I was doing when I was 14 years old, you know? You’re just watching these songs grow with you. “Mustang” and “Boomer” and “Stone Meadows,” those rock songs, I’ve been picking at those songs for years but never really figured out what they were supposed to do until I had the unifying vision for what I wanted the record to be. “Mustang,” the first time I wrote that song it sounded like Gene Autry, super slow, big drawl. That was when I was 20 years old, first picking on that song. And then other songs like “Flagey God” and “Mossblerd,” “Ghostly,” “Far,” those songs I wrote specifically for this, that I had when I was in other bands and I was like, “No, I’m going to sit on this one for a while, I’m going to use that.”
Aesthetically, you’re working in many different genres and making them fit together. How deliberate were you about that? Was that a conscious goal — to make this musically omnivorous album – you had going into the project?
It’s funny that you phrase it that way, because I’ve always thought of it the other way. I hear this song one way, a rock song with a hip-hop verse and a pop chorus, but no one’s going to get that so I need to just make it a rock song. I’ve always tried to walk myself back to make it more digestible for other people. And with this record I was just like, “I’m just going to make the stuff I like. These are the sounds that come natural to me.” I never go into the song thinking, “Oh, I want to rap on this and then sing on the chorus and then have a country outro.” I just write it and I take a bunch of shots at it. I remember looking at the record at the end and I was super intimidated by it. I remember we recorded “Boomer,” I didn’t want to record that song because I thought it was too much and I’m really glad we did. But it’s a part of the record thematically, too, letting yourself be yourself, letting yourself shine through.
Can you elaborate on that? What was it about “Boomer” that initially made you unsure about putting it on the record?
Because of the outro. I thought people would think it was corny. I loved it. I thought it showed that I didn’t take myself too seriously. I felt like it was true to who I am, where I’m from, the people I’m from. It’s just like a punk gospel country outro on top of a Thao & the Get Down Stay Down chorus and a DaBaby style rap verse, like starting right on the one when the song starts.
You’ve talked about how you moved around a lot has a kid. How do you think that shaped the person you became?
It taught me how to fit in quickly. If I wanted to have friends I needed to quickly assimilate. I’ve told my partner this all the time: There was a period of time really up until my mid-20s where I don’t think I even knew what I liked or enjoyed. I just did the things that I felt would fit me into the communities I thought I needed to be in. It was a way to stay safe and to keep my head down, you know? And I feel like that was something I learned moving all over the world, which is you get there, you figure out what people are into, and you do that. And that just makes it easier on everybody. I think that’s a good thing and a bad thing, in a way.
How did you finally get over that? Was there a turning point for you where you were like, “Well, I don’t want to just fit in, I want to be myself.”
When I was in Oklahoma I did everything I could possibly do to get out. Everyone knows me as a musician but in college I interned a lot. I was the kid who had internships every semester, working a full-time job, going to school full-time. I was dead set on finding a way out of there. And I got an internship in D.C. and just hit the ground running, I had a really hard time here just getting money and getting my first job and finding a place to stay. I was homeless here for a little while, just slugging it out, trying to make things work. And then I got a job that led to another job that was ideally like my dream job: I was working in the Obama administration, I was a press secretary at the FCC, I was working on net neutrality. All of these things that I thought I wanted and I just absolutely hated it and I hated myself. It was so miserable and I knew that I wanted to be playing music and I knew that I wasn’t letting myself because of all these, honestly, genres. All of these things that I told myself I’m supposed to be, or this person I’m supposed to become. And I quit that job about as fast as I got it and moved to New York and started playing in bands all the time.
You’ve talked about how genres can be limiting, and how you’ve always heard music as a combination of different sounds from different places. As a Black artist working in the indie sphere, do you feel especially susceptible to being narrowly classified? It seems that Black artists are almost automatically called R&B or hip-hop, regardless of what their music actually sounds like.
Yeah. And I feel like narrow definitions translate into actually painful realities. For example, growing up the only Black people I saw on TV were rappers. It was a crime, it was some horrible news story. It wasn’t always a super positive connotation, as much as I love hip-hop and everything around it. I think it’s powerful and super empowering, but it limits your worldview of what you think you can do with your life. I didn’t know any Black kids that were studying abroad or doing anything like that. I had a very narrow vision of what I could accomplish because of what I had seen.
I attribute a lot of that to genres, what’s being fed to us and how people are categorized. There’s a part in “Mossblerd” when I start talking about my nephew and I’m watching him, he’s just running around Hidden Valley, selling drugs, toting a gun. He’s 16 years old, he saw that on TV. He’s been fed that that’s his place in the world, is to be that person. And I feel like genres have a big role to play in that and how Black people see themselves and what we’re told we can accomplish and where we fit in.
So that song is about that, how in the industry, genres, they keep us in our boxes. I’m basically saying Tyler The Creator, he put out a pop record, the best fucking pop record to come out in 10 years, and he’s getting classified as this urban artist and it’s hitting his pockets. I think about stuff like that. It’s interesting. I think I’m still playing around with those ideas, how to clearly draw the line between genres and representation and how it actually matriculates into day-to-day life for the people who look up to these people. I did my best to explain that clearly, but it’s still hard for me to explain.
There’s such a long history about that thing you’re talking about, how genres are defined by race. I wrote a book a couple of years ago about classic rock history, and there’s a chapter about how classic rock radio, when that first started, just defined what classic rock was along racial lines. There were virtually no Black artists on classic rock radio. And it’s like, why aren’t the Isley Brothers on classic rock radio? Why isn’t Stevie Wonder on classic rock radio?
Or The Gap Band.
Ernie Isley is an incredible guitar player! One of the greatest of all time.
Of all time.
Or Funkadelic. Who from the ’70s rocks harder than Funkadelic?
Or fucking Rick James, man. I look at Rick James and Led Zeppelin, I’m like, “Yo, Rick James was a monster.” All those bands. It’s interesting to look at Diana Ross, and if you just thought of her as a singer/songwriter and you just put her right up next to Stevie Nicks. Their records, I feel like, are evaluated completely differently. Looking at her as an R&B queen or a disco queen, I feel like it limits the breadth of her genius. Like all of these people, it puts them in a little weird box.
Live Forever is out October 2 on Memory Music. Get it here.
The Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings have both closed their facilities after Tuesday morning brought word from the NFL of eight new positive tests within the Titans organization — with three players and five team personnel testing positive after Sunday’s 31-30 win over the Vikings in Minnesota.
The Vikings have not had any positive tests yet, but given the incubation period of the virus can take days, they will be hoping that remains the same. For Tennessee, they are in a much more precarious position with three players testing positive and five staff members, as they were already without outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen on Sunday due to a positive test, but his removal from the traveling party seems to have not been able to keep there from being an outbreak within the team. The team is working to confirm the tests as positives, with there seemingly being some hope of this being an issue of false positives, but if not the league and team have some serious decisions to work out.
After multiple positive COVID tests in their organization , the Titans are halting in-person work today and made this announcement: pic.twitter.com/2LDjIBgyor
For now, that outbreak is minor and the hope is that they caught it early enough to keep it that way, but the next week of testing will be crucial for the Titans in learning whether their efforts will be successful. Tennessee is scheduled to face the Steelers on Sunday in Nashville, and while the NFL has not given an indication of whether that game is in jeopardy, one certainly has to think more positive tests would lead to a postponement, as they’d be unable to field a full team or get enough practice work in this week to prepare. Minnesota is scheduled to play in Houston on Sunday, and likewise will be awaiting testing results in the coming days to determine their next steps.
Recently, Lil Yachty was living life in the fast lane, although he was moving far too quickly for even that part of the road. He was recently arrested after driving over 150 miles per hour in Atlanta, news which was made public yesterday. As part of the legal process, Yachty had a mugshot taken, and it’s not his favorite photo of all time.
In a TikTok post yesterday, the rapper expressed his hope that his unflattering photo wouldn’t emerge. While looking at a news report about his arrest, Yachty says, “Well, we’ve come to this. Um, yeah, it happened. But not today, this was like two weeks ago, or like a week ago. I don’t know how it happens. God forbid the mugshot comes out. Hopefully it doesn’t. Slow down, kids.”
Sure enough, the mugshot did find its way into the public sphere, and indeed, the rapper doesn’t look as presentable as he usually does in public venues. He reiterated his lack of love for the photo, as after it was released, he tweeted, “God I look homeless and janky in my mugshot.”
The Hallmark Channel released its lineup of holiday-themed programming last week, includingJingle Bell Pride (“A wedding planner ends up in a remote Alaskan town and falls in love with its Christmas pageantry, as well as the local man helping her find a rare flower”), Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater (“A single mother takes in an unexpected guest over Christmas, and the two quickly form a strong connection”), and USS Christmas (“A reporter on a Tiger Cruise over the holidays meets and falls for an officer aboard the boat, and uncovers a mystery along the way”). I wish all those white people in sweaters drinking from oversized mugs the best of luck, but there’s only one Christmas movie for me this season: Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.
The Netflix musical features 14 original songs from Parton and stars The Good Fight‘s Christine Baranski as a “rich and nasty woman who returns to her small hometown of Fullerville after her father’s death to evict everyone and sell the land to a mall developer, right before Christmas.” Enter Treat Williams as an old flame and Parton as an angel “made of blonde hair, white chiffon, light, and love,” according to TVLine, to teach the rich, nasty woman the true meaning of Christmas (buying Dolly’s Favorite Cookie Mix).
The poster is incredible.
Heading home for the holidays with our collective mom @DollyParton!
Directed by @msdebbieallen, DOLLY PARTON’S CHRISTMAS ON THE SQUARE will star Christine Baranski and Jenifer Lewis. Coming to Netflix 22 November pic.twitter.com/JYLVLdmb6d
Directed by famed choreographer Debbie Allen, Christmas on the Square premieres on Netflix on November 22. It’s the one thing your family can agree on this Thanksgiving.
The 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards are set to air Tuesday, October 27, and today, the nominees were announced. North Carolina rapper DaBaby leads the way with 12 nominations, while fellow 2019 breakout artist Roddy Ricch is right behind him with 11. Perennial contender Drake brings it in at third place with eight nominations, which ties him with one last 2019 favorite, Megan Thee Stallion.
DaBaby, who dropped two albums in 2019 and one early this year, is double-nominated for Album Of The Year (Blame It On Baby and Kirk), Best Collaboration (“Rockstar” with Roddy Ricch and Jack Harlow’s “What’s Poppin” remix), Best Video, and Song Of The Year (“Bop” and “Rockstar” in both categories). DaBaby won Best New Hip-Hop Artist last year, so he’s no stranger to racking up awards, and his 12 nods this year highlight just how successful his last 12 months have been.
Watch the 2020 BET Hip-Hop Awards 10/27 at 9 pm ET/PT. The complete list of nominees is below.
Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year
DaBaby
Drake
Future
Lil Baby
Megan Thee Stallion
Roddy Ricch
Best Hip-Hop Video
DaBaby — “Bop”
DaBaby feat. Roddy Ricch — “Rockstar”
Drake — “Toosie Slide”
Future feat. Drake — “Life Is Good”
Lil Baby — “The Bigger Picture”
Roddy Ricch — “The Box”
DaBaby, Blame It On Baby
DaBaby, Kirk
Future, High Off Life
Lil Baby, My Turn
Megan Thee Stallion, Suga
Roddy Ricch, Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial
Justin Vernon has kept busy lately. Aside from doing his part to get out the vote by promoting the cause with a nationally televised performance, in recent times, he also provided a remix of a Brittany Howard song, got Bruce Springsteen and others to guest on Bon Iver’s “AUATC,” and helped Taylor Swift with her new album. As evidenced by the aforementioned endeavors, Vernon has been in a collaborative mood lately. Today, he has again partnered up with a musical peer, this time lending his talents to Jim-E Stack (who co-produced Bon Iver’s “PDLIF“) for his new single “Jeanie.”
Stack is more of a producer, so he lets Vernon do the vocal heavy lifting here. The song sounds like a poppier and more upbeat version of Bon Iver’s recent output, carried by punchy drums and distorted vocals from Vernon.
The song will appear on Stack’s new album, Ephemera, which is set to drop on October 30. Aside from Bon Iver, the album also includes collaborations with Empress Of, Octavian, Dijon, Kacy Hill, Bearface, and Ant Clemons. As for Vernon, this is another instance of him lending his vocals to a track in recent weeks: In August, he featured on The Japanese House’s “Dionne.”
Listen to “Jeanie” above.
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