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All The Best New Music From This Week That You Need To Hear

Keeping up with the best new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw a surprise release from Taylor Swift (featuring a surprise collaborator) and a pair of J. Cole singles. Yeah, it was a great week for the best new music. Check out the highlights below.

Taylor Swift — Folklore

Taylor Swift usually executes album rollouts in a traditional way, but not this time. She announced the existence of Folklore, and less than 24 hours later, it was out. That wasn’t the only way in which Folklore departed from Swift’s usual fare: It featured heavy involvement from The National’s Aaron Dessner, a first-time Swift collaborator. The results are inarguable, as the album has already sold over a million copies and will more than likely be another No. 1 debut for Swift.

Logic — No Pressure

There really is no pressure for Logic here because this is his final album. He said so himself when he announced it, but this won’t be the last fans will see of Logic, as he’s moving on to twitchier pastures (he’ll be streaming on Twitch). As for why Logic decided to drop the mic once and for all, he’s “over it, man.”

Gunna — Wunna (Deluxe)

Releasing a deluxe edition of an album quickly after the original version has become a new musical standard in 2020, and Gunna is the latest to hop on the bandwagon. The expanded edition adds about 20 minutes of music to Wunna, including collaborations with Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, and Future.

J Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and Tainy — ‘Un Dia’

In a time when hope can be hard to find, J Balvin has offered a dose of it with “Un Dia.” Joined by an all-star cast of collaborators — Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and producer Tainy — he squeezes light out of the darkness, and Dua expresses romantic optimism: “One day you’ll love me again / One day you’ll love me for sure.”

Gorillaz — “Pac-Man” Feat. Schoolboy Q

Gorillaz’s Song Machine project rolls on, and the latest collaborator to be brought into the fold is Schoolboy Q. He joined the virtual group on “Pac-Man,” which truly is about the titular video game, as 2-D sings, “I’m a mad Pac-Man / Living in leveled world / Everywhere I go / I don’t know where I am.”

Jaden Smith — “Cabin Fever”

Jaden Smith has been confidently out of his father’s shadow as an artist for some time now, and he has proven so again with “Cabin Fever.” The track is a bit of a stylistic departure for the often experimental artist, as “Cabin Fever” is about as close to straight-up pop as Smith has gotten.

J. Cole — “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice”

After a beef with Noname that didn’t go so well, Cole is focusing on his upcoming album. He previewed the forthcoming effort with a pair of new songs last week, “The Climb Back” and “Lion King On Ice.” Whenever Cole’s next effort drops, it will look to extend the rapper’s famous “platinum with no features” streak.

Headie One and Drake — “Only You Freestyle”

Headie One is a rising star who has become a face of UK drill in recent years, so much so that he caught the attention of Drake. The Canadian rapper gave Headie a co-sign by hopping on “Only You Freestyle,” which features threatening verses from the rappers and a classically hip-hop video featuring fancy cars and posses on standby.

Guapdad 4000 — “Orgasm Full Of Pain” Feat. Deante Hitchcock

Guapdad has been restless lately, and he continues his productive streak by recruiting Deante Hitchcock for the colorfully titled “Orgasm Full Of Pain.” Although the pair both appeared on Revenge Of The Dreamers III, this is their first collaboration, and the hard-hitting result is welcomed.

Flo Milli — “Weak”

The 20-year-old breakout star recently released her debut EP, Ho, Why Is You Here?, and she celebrated the release by dropping a video for a favorite from the collection, “Weak.” The song is anything but what its title suggests, and instead sees Milli going after men who aren’t so strong.

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

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Earthgang’s Olu Covers Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ In A Sweet Tribute To His Late Father

Although Dreamville duo Earthgang is primarily known as inventive rappers in the vein of fellow Atlantans Outkast and Goodie Mob, on many of their tracks they’ve shown some impressive singing chops as well. Today, group member Olu really showed off his eyebrow-raising range with a tender cover of Marvin Gaye’s classic hit “What’s Going On,” dedicated to Olu’s late father Milton Ahdwele Fann. Olu explained why he chose the song and released the cover in a guest editorial on DJBooth.

Olu says that “What’s Going On” was one of his father’s favorite songs, but that singing was cathartic for him as he struggles with the dark thoughts brought on by a seemingly endless coronavirus lockdown and rising racist sentiment both online and IRL. “This cover is my gift to my father and anyone separated from loved ones, or feeling low or apathetic about the current state of our world,” he writes. “Y’all keep your heads high and your spirits higher. We will get through this and love more and more on the other side.”

“We all had plans for 2020. We all had goals to better our lives,” he continues. “And here we sit, fighting a global disease, struggling to eat, struggling to keep a roof over our head, struggling to educate our children and keep them safe, struggling to save the world from climate change while fighting racism, sexism, classicism, and individualism… It’s a lot to deal with. It’s a lot to process. So singing becomes this cathartic activity when you can’t cry because you aren’t exactly sure what you are feeling.”

What Olu is feeling, he says, is a sense of hope inspired by the words of Mr. Gaye. “It’s a reminder that somewhere, some of us, most of us do care. We see with our hearts and think with them, too. That even if we’re trapped in the rat race, we know this isn’t the answer. We know there is more love in us.”Watch Olu’s sweet cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” above.

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The Goldman Sachs CEO Opened For The Chainsmokers This Weekend In Something Straight Out Of ‘Succession’

Over the weekend, The Chainsmokers headlined an installment of the “Safe & Sound” concert series, a drive-in fundraiser show that went down in the Hamptons. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the event, though, was a performance that draws immediate parallels to that moment from Succession: One of the openers was Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, performing as DJ D-Sol.

Bloomberg described the scene:

“Solomon was on stage for an hour, just him and a turntable on an elevated platform, mask around neck, surrounded by animations of cherries and his deejay name, D-Sol, in flashing bubble letters. He put his hand up in the air, playing electronic dance beat takes on popular songs — not unlike the Chainsmokers, with more Fleetwood Mac than Coldplay. Giant plumes of smoke went up in front of the stage as the sky turned pink and orange.”

The publication also reports that among the “couple of thousand people” in attendance were the Winklevoss twins (Cameron and Tyler), and that parking spots to watch the show cost “as much as $25,000, with the top tier including an air-conditioned RV and private bathroom.”

Solomon’s performance wasn’t actually as anomalous of an event as it may seem. Solomon has been active as DJ D-Sol since 2018, and he has performed all around the world, in New York, Miami, the Bahamas, and other places. DJ D-Sol has over 30,000 followers on Instagram, and on Spotify, he boasts upwards of 625,000 monthly listeners. His most popular release on the platform, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop,” has been played nearly 8 million times.

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

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These Aerial Photos Of New South Wales, Australia Will Inspire Dreams Of Post-Pandemic Travel

Editor’s Note: UPROXX is not encouraging people to travel internationally during a pandemic. But the desire to travel, the thirst for adventure — it never goes away. With that in mind, we’re going to continue to profile places you might visit when COVID concerns are finally gone.

Great travel photography is transportive. It’s able to surpass its 2-D limitations and convey the feel of a certain place — the taste of street food, the sounds of a city square, or the power of crashing waves. It goes beyond the visual level to act on all of the senses.

That’s where Australia-based photographer Eugene Tan (aka ::Uge) excels. His sweeping shots of the tranquil turquoise waters of Bondi Beach have more in common with the mid-19th century Hudson River School art movement than with your run-of-the-mill IG photos. He possesses a distinct ability to breathe life into static images, even when the point of view is high above the action, a distinct trademark of the photographer.

These days, we all need a little digital transportation — if only to escape the absolute boredom that being quarantined during summer brings. So we reached out to ::Uge to take us on a visual tour of some of his favorite spots in Australia’s New South Wales. These are landscape he knows well. The photographer, who founded Bondi Beach’s Aquabumps Gallery, has been documenting and exploring the twists and turns of Australia’s wild crags and endless beaches since he was nine years old.

Take a break from your existential dread for a minute and let’s dive into this visual tour of New South Wales — with captions from ::Uge himself.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

White Silica: Hyams beach in the NSW South Coast, 2.5 hours from Sydney. Famous for its crystal blue waters and fine white sandy beaches. Has to be seen to be believed.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Azzurro: The infamous Bondi Icebergs – taken on a summer day from a helicopter. My signature style of photography being capturing beach life from above in a helicopter and below the ocean.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Colors of Bondi – shot on the 1st of Jan, a famous day for beachgoers kicking off their year doing what the majority of Aussies love – hitting the beach for a swim, surf, or a laze on the sand. Shot from the bird!

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

The infamous Bondi Lifeguards on a beautiful October morning just after sunrise where the light is warm and golden. This time of year in Bondi is magic.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Moonscape: Mungo National Park, located in south-western New South Wales, is noted for the archaeological remains discovered in the park. The remains of Mungo Man, the oldest human remains discovered in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest known human to have been ritually cremated, were both discovered within the park.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Narooma on NSW’s far south coast. Shot from the bird – where you get to see just how blue the water is and how white the sand is against it.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Pass Lines: The famous Byron Bay pass this summer 2020. Home to longboarders and loved for its gentle long rides.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Byron Sets: We’re spending more and more time at Australia’s most Easterly point of Australia, Byron Bay. It’s where my wife spent much of her youth and our kids love this spot ‘the pass’, famous for its consistent gentle waves that wrap the point and go forever. At sunset here is magic and you will often surf with dolphins in the waves.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Lone Swimmer – my first ever helicopter ride, given to me by my wife for Christmas. I captured this at the north end of Bondi of a woman swimming off the rocks and it’s one of our most popular images of all time!

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Bronte Bathe: Peak summers day in Sydney – shot mid-afternoon. This shot reminds of a Slim Aarons moment. Australia is famous for our ocean pools, as they wrap the coast from North to East and are a popular spot from swimmers and families.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Aussie Bush in the NSW mid-north coast – a famous Aussie outlook for many living in the country with the rich light of sunset against the gum trees. Nothing like being in nature.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Coogee Pastels – early swim in Summer on Coogee Beach.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Kombi – shot on one of my morning sunrise wanders, in winter when the beaches are quiet and the car park at Bondi had one lone Kombi sitting there – very rare for Bondi.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Bogey Hole: The swimming hole at Bronte Beach, Sydney, captured from the helicopter – ‘I love shooting this angle for the colors of the water and the swimmers who all look like miniature people enjoying what we all love about warm sunny days of summer. This is a special spot for swimmers and families.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Sea Cliff Bridge: Clifton NSW, just south of Sydney. Shot from the heli, I loved the line of the bridge over the wild ocean below.

::Uge (Eugene Tan)

Spirituality: Mackenzies Bay at Tamarama, Sydney. On my daily sunrise shoot, I was stopped in my tracks by a pod of dolphins who put on a show for the passers-by and surfers. Buses pulled over – people gasped, it was magic.

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Logic Revels In The Joy Of Fatherhood In His Tender ‘DadBod’ Video

Logic has billed his latest album as his last and now, he’s giving fans a glimpse into the reason he’s kissing the rap game goodbye. In his new “DadBod” video, home movies provide the bulk of the footage as he reflects on the joy of fatherhood, playing with his son and showing off the new domestic lifestyle he’s settled into with his wife Brittney and their new baby.

Things are looking up for Logic as he kicks off the next chapter of his life outside the public eye. Ahead of the release of his final album, No Pressure, he revealed that he had joined an exclusive deal with streaming platform Twitch for “seven figures.” Under the terms of the contract, he will stream for a set number of hours a day, giving him plenty of time to be a stay-at-home dad.

His swan song is also garnering a favorable reception on social media as fans and peers say farewell to Logic after his near-decade in the spotlight. One of those fans is NBA superstar LeBron James, who noted on Instagram that he “left in great fashion” with No Pressure.

Watch Logic’s ‘Dad Bod’ video above.

No Pressure is out now via Def Jam Recordings and Visionary Music Group. Get it here.

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ESPN Has Added 13 More WNBA Regular Season Games To Its Schedule

The first weekend of the WNBA season was a success from just about every possible viewpoint. The league drew record numbers on its national TV broadcasts, produced some thrilling games and tremendous performances by its top stars, and players used the platform afforded to them to continue speaking out on social justice issues, police brutality, and systemic racism — most notably continuing to call attention to the fact that the police that killed Breonna Taylor in Louisville have not been arrested.

That first point is of particular note, as the league’s fans have clamored for years for the WNBA to be given more national exposure and when given that this weekend, people took note and watched. ESPN also has apparently taken heed of that, announcing on Monday that they would be adding 13 more regular season games to their schedule, bringing the total of nationally televised games on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC to 37 — by far the most the network has every carried.

Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo, as well as Pam Ward and LaChina Robinson, will continue to be the two broadcast teams calling Wubble action remotely from Bristol, Connecticut, with Holly Rowe on site at IMG Academy in Florida. A number of the remaining games on the schedule will be ESPN2 broadcasts, but it’s hard not to see ESPN’s decision to beef up their live WNBA broadcast offerings as part of potential mitigation of losing baseball broadcasts as MLB deals with an outbreak on the Miami Marlins that has already caused two games to be postponed.

Adding Wubble games gives ESPN more live sports to show no matter what, but also gives them an opportunity to pivot those games to ESPN proper should MLB continue to see postponements or an outright stoppage as they attempt a season without a bubble environment.

The full ESPN WNBA schedule can be found below:

ESPN

ESPN

ESPN

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The Sixers Announced A Line Of Apparel To Raise Money For A Philly-Based Charity

The Philadelphia 76ers are teaming up with Lapstone & Hammer, an apparel company based in the City of Brotherly Love, to launch a capsule of gear that strives to raise money for a local charity. The squad debuted the apparel on Monday morning with the help of a number of individuals, including starting forward Tobias Harris and rookie wing Matisse Thybulle.

“The 76ers Crossover was designed to celebrate what makes the city of Philadelphia unique with a focus on art, fashion, food and culture,” Philadelphia 76ers Chief Marketing Office Katie O’Reilly said in a statement. “We are thrilled to launch the next phase of our Crossover with this one-of-a-kind capsule to create unique merchandise for our fans to enjoy as we celebrate the return of basketball.”

The Sixers dropped a video to highlight the gear that will appear in the capsule, which includes apparel from the streetwear brands streetwear brands Eric Emanuel, Arena x New Era, Needles, New York Sunshine, Everest Isles, LQQK Studios and Blackstock & Weber.

The money raised by the collection will go towards the Philly-based charity Urban Affairs Coalition, which per its website, looks “to improve the quality of life in the region, build wealth in urban communities, and solve emerging issues.” The line of gear is slated to drop on August 1 at 10 a.m. ET. It’s the same day that the Sixers will begin their eight seeding games in the NBA’s Orlando bubble league — that game, against the Indiana Pacers, tips off at 7 p.m.

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Gordi Brings ‘Our Two Skins’ To The Sydney Opera House For A Gripping Live Performance

Gordi, the moniker of Sophie Payten, explored the themes of death, introspection, and sexuality in her spectacular sophomore album, Our Two Skins, which was released in June. The Australian singer can’t tour behind the record for obvious reasons, so she instead took the grand Sydney Opera House stage in a livestream to perform several tracks from her recent record.

Payton filled the large, empty Opera House with an 8-track setlist which included the numbers “Unready,” “Sandwiches,” and “Aeroplane Bathrooms.” After giving a rendition of her album opener, Payton said: “I did think the first time I’d be here there’d be a few more people in the crowd. But I’m imagining you all. But I’m imagining you as an NRL match’s cardboard cutouts. It is a true dream to be here.”

In a recent interview with Uproxx ahead of her album’s release, Payten said she wanted to make songs fit both for introspective moments and to share with friends:

“I wanted to make a couple of songs that you can listen to on your own. And I wanted to make a couple of songs that you listen to with others. The songs that you listen to on your own come more naturally to me, I feel like I’ll write those for the rest of the time. But I find that I have to be more careful with my sonic choices when I’m making songs like ‘Unready’ or ‘Sandwiches,’ because it’s not always my natural instincts. My natural instincts are those quieter moments like ‘Aeroplane Bathroom,’ or something. And all of those songs, like ‘Aeroplane Bathroom,’ ‘Volcanic,’ ‘Radiator,’ they all took the least amount of time because it felt very natural.”

Watch the full Sydney Opera House performance above.

Our Two Skins is out now via Jagjaguwar. Get it here.

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DaBaby And Stunna 4 Vegas Make Their Own Fun In Their Irreverent ‘No Dribble’ Video

DaBaby and his North Carolina protege Stunna 4 Vegas are back with another irreverent video for their new song “No Dribble.” Trading rapid-fire verses over a SVNDS and Retro Future-produced, flute-driven beat, the NC duo once again employs Reel Goats to produce the visuals for their latest tag-team effort.

The two conduct a locker room turn up and dribble a basketball down an alley while also giving each rides in a grocery cart and cruise around looking for trouble to get into, courtesy of some provocatively obvious green screen. DaBaby and Stunna 4 Vegas maintain their characteristic energy, making goofy faces at the camera and generally resembling a pair of rambunctious middle schoolers let loose after a long day of desk-bound boredom.

DaBaby has been enjoying a continuation of his mighty 2019 breakout this year, even with COVID-19 precautions putting a damper on his income. He’s ruled the charts thanks to his Roddy Ricch collaboration “Rockstar,” he helped breakout star Jack Harlow’s “What’s Poppin” reach impressive new heights, and his new album, Blame It On Baby, was an albums chart topper despite receiving criticism from skeptics. Meanwhile, Stunna 4 Vegas raised his own profile with standout performances on Polo G’s “Go Stupid” and his own “Do Dat” video.

Watch DaBaby and Stunna 4 Vegas’ “No Dribble” video above.

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Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Sets A New Global Release Date, With A U.S. Rollout To Begin Two Weekends Later

Less than a week ago, Warner Bros. pulled Christopher Nolan’s Tenet off the release schedule on an indefinite basis, and it felt like we wouldn’t hear updates for a little while, given that the U.S. has begun to (in certain areas) rollback state reopenings. Then accordingly, AMC delayed reopening its theaters without the massive tentpole on the calendar, but it looks like Warner Bros. is forging ahead with an official global release for Nolan’s latest epic project, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson.

It must be noted, however, that the new release date applies to countries other than the U.S., where selected cities will see the movie two weekends later, beginning on Labor Day weekend. Via Hollywood Reporter:

Tenet will now open first overseas in more than 70 countries starting on Aug. 26, followed by select U.S. cities on Sept. 2 in advance of the long Labor Day weekend … the major foreign territories where Tenet will open include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain and the U.K. It also has a Sept. 18 release date in Japan.

One can imagine that the U.S. (where Tenet was originally scheduled for July 17) will see a highly staggered rollout for this movie, along with other tentpoles, until the pandemic subsides, either through a viable vaccine or otherwise. Major markets like New York and Los Angeles keeping their theaters shuttered will impact the box-office take, and it’s likely that Texas, Arizona, and a handful of other states won’t be opening multiplexes on Labor Day weekend. Yet clearly, Warner Bros. feels good enough about their new plan to start doing this thing for real, beginning outside of the U.S.

The arrival of Tenet, overall, has been quite a rollercoaster for audiences and everyone involved with the film, far eclipsing the intentional mystery that ordinarily surrounds a Nolan project before (and sometimes even after) release. At least, along the way, we’ve been able to enjoy interviews from noted chaos agent Robert Pattinson, who has admitted that he didn’t fully understand the movie. He may or may not have been teasing us, since his offbeat interview style goes back to him denying ever washing his hair during his Twilight days. Whereas in Tenet, his grooming is on point, and with any luck, people (again, not in the U.S.) can finally see Tenet stick a landing date.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)