Pride parades might be canceled this year but you can still celebrate at home and support your LGBTQ neighbors at the same time.
Summer is here, and while things happening in the world might put a damper on some parts of it, people still crave warm tunes to dance to. Enter Charlie Puth, who just released “Girlfriend,” his first single of the year. The track keeps the proceedings relatively minimal on an instrumental level, letting Puth’s falsetto vocal harmonies do the heavy lifting. That said, Puth’s choices of synth and bass give the tune a nice dose of head-bobbing funk.
Puth has been teasing the song since as far back as April, when he started periodically tweeting “GF” and varying forms of those two letters. He also spoke about the song in a recent Instagram Live session, saying, “Every time I put out a new song, I always like to think of it as a little bit of a risk. […] I always get super nervous and lose sleep before I put out a song, and this is what’s kind of happening now with ‘Girlfriend.’ […] I think this is like one of my favorite songs I’ve ever made, and one that I’ve been sitting on for a really long time and just kind of perfecting the production and the vocal production over the year. I truly love this song more than anything. […] People are going to wonder what the message is behind it, like every song I put out, and there is a message behind it, but I’ll leave it to you. The whole intent is for you guys to relate to it at the end of the day. […] The meaning behind the song is buried in the melody and the chord changes, and it’s a very blunt lyric.”
gf
— Charlie Puth (@charlieputh) April 27, 2020
Puth is write about the lyrics being blunt, as he sings in the straightforward chorus, “Baby, would you ever want to be my girlfriend? I don’t wanna play no games / This is more than just a phase / Baby, would you ever want to be my girlfriend? / If you want it, let me know / We could make this official.”
Listen to “Girlfriend” above.
The boys are (almost) back in town.
After watching its premiere date get bumped nearly an entire year, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home is finally set to debut on NBCUniversal’s new streaming service Peacock when it officially launches in July. The Peacock Original is the second TV movie for the fan-favorite series that stars James Roday and Dulé Hill as Shawn and Gus, two no-longer amateur detectives who con their way into solving mysteries by pretending Shawn is a psychic.
This time around, Timothy Omundson’s Carlton Lassiter (the titular “Lassie” in Lassie Come Home) will have a more prominent role after Omundson had to sit out the first Psych movie after suffering a stroke. His character’s father will also play a central part in the mystery and is played by Joel McHale, who very briefly appears in the trailer in a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment.
Here’s the official synopsis:
In the second Psych film, Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn and Gus return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.
And you can check out the newest poster below:
Psych 2: Lassie Comes Home premieres July 15 on NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
(Via Peacock)
With NFL practices and preseason games scheduled to begin impractically soon, the league made a move that might in a few weeks be seen as an initial domino among many, canceling the annual Hall of Fame game that typically kicks off the preseason live from Canton, Ohio.
The game, scheduled for Aug. 6, would have been a fifth preseason contest for the Cowboys and Steelers, and with NFL owners meeting soon to discuss cutting the preseason slate down to two games, it would not have made sense to play the game, especially considering it comes earlier than the others.
However, the main reason for the cancelation seems to be protecting those who would have taken part of the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony that happens alongside the game, including former coaches Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, as well as ex-players like Troy Polamalu and Edgerrin James.
“The delay is obviously disappointing but completely understandable,” former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who also would have been enshrined told The Associated Press.
The game will instead be played on Aug. 5, 2021, and the enshrinement will take place in early August next year as well.
This decision should not be seen as an NFL schedule decision so much as a limit-mass-gatherings-of-old-people decision, but nevertheless, as more such decisions that are made, the question of why to try an NFL season at all will continually be asked.
The average Disney Parks attendee may not realize it, but Splash Mountain, one of the more popular attractions at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, is based on Song of the South. Disney tries to pretend the 1946 live-action/animated musical film never happened due to its “outdated cultural depictions” of slavery, which is why it’s not available on Disney+ and why Splash Mountain is ditching Br’er Rabbit for a frog.
On Thursday, Disney announced that Splash Mountain will be re-themed around the 2009 Oscar-nominated hit The Princess and the Frog, which notably features the first African-American Disney Princess. “We pick up this story after the final kiss, and join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure – featuring some of the powerful music from the film – as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance,” according to a press release. “Tiana is a modern, courageous, and empowered woman, who pursues her dreams and never loses sight of what’s really important. It’s a great story with a strong lead character, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou.” There’s already a New Orleans Square in Disneyland, so “it feels natural to link the story and the incredible music of The Princess and the Frog to our park.”
There is no mention of Song of the South in the press release. The closest the ever-cautious Disney gets to mentioning the controversy is noting how the re-theming of Splash Mountain, which debuted in 1989, is “of particular importance today. The new concept is inclusive – one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by, and it speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year.”
“Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” is an undeniably catchy song, and it’ll be weird not hearing it after the flume drop, but it was long past time for Disney to ditch the Song of the South concept. “Friends on the Other Side” is a better song, anyway.
(Via Disney)
On Thursday morning, a hashtag attempting to cancel Cardi B was trending. The #cardibisoverparty hashtag was flooded with posts by Nicki Minaj fans, who have had longstanding beef with the rapper. The posts claimed Cardi runs a private Instagram account solely dedicated to dissing other female musicians, like Megan Thee Stallion and Ariana Grande. Cardi was quick to dispel the rumors and took time to express gratitude to fans who have always had her back.
Upon seeing the trending hashtag, Cardi jumped to her own defense in a recorded statement posted to Twitter. Cardi denies that she has a fake Instagram account, saying she has no issues with other female musicians. “I don’t know, these people must think that I’m a 15-year-old girl,” she said.
Girl lies that these weird people trying to do . https://t.co/6slh0KjN9h pic.twitter.com/VWuzGy4gcc
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) June 25, 2020
Cardi then turned her attention to her fan base, thanking them for all the support she has received: “I’m seeing so much love from, not only my fans, but just random people that are not fan account pages, are just having my back and realizing how f*cked people could do certain sh*t. It’s crazy how that sh*t backfired on the devil. I’m so thankful, I’m so grateful for you guys. Thank you for making those other hashtags trend. When I wake up, I’m going to ask some of my main Cardi fan pages on twitter which fan pages, other fan pages, I should follow on Twitter. Because I see a lot of you guys want me to follow you guys but I’mma see if you are trustworthy. So I’m going to ask my other fan pages, ‘Are y’all trustworthy?’”
Listen .I love yaaa. pic.twitter.com/WGIoUxqEN8
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) June 25, 2020
Listen to Cardi’s full responses above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which will be coming to your home via Netflix this weekend, Dan Stevens plays Russian contestant Alexander Lemtov … and he is an absolute riot. Is it even worth getting into the plot of this movie? I mean, as you might expect, it’s based on the ever-outrageous European talent contest that has a reputation of being over the top, and this movie certainly has a lot of that.
Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams play Icelandic contestants, and huge ABBA fans, who wind up getting into the competition under, let’s say, unusual circumstances. Stevens’ Lemtov is an old pro and is the favorite of the competition and serves as a perfect foil. And all of this comes together in this kind of fever dream of a film, and in no better moment then when, at a pre-show party, all the contestants perform a singalong to ABBA’s “Waterloo” that is pure, concentrated joy. Ahead, Stevens takes us through the madness.
So Eurovision, this movie is crazy. Tell me everything.
It’s pretty crazy. Were you familiar with it as a competition?
Somewhat. It’s one of those things I see everyone on Twitter talking about, then watch for a little bit.
I mean, growing up in the UK, you know it exists. It’s just a cultural thing that happens every year. And I grew up watching it with my mom and dad. When I met my wife, we were both really into it and we would host screening parties. And it’s just one of those nights where you can just have a lot of fun because it is so bizarre. It’s so varied. There’s always something crazy and it’s tricky to describe to anybody who hasn’t seen it. And particularly an American audience who sort of don’t understand perhaps why an act might not want to win and might submit something kind of subversive or ridiculous. I guess the aim is sort of European unity, and you’re going for a song that is going to perhaps unite the block. But it’s just really fun.
Oh, see? We need that here. That would be nice.
I mean, it would be interesting to see. It would be interesting to see all 50 up states come up with a song. It’s a very long night as well because you have the performances, and then you have the voting, which is almost as entertaining and can get very, very political.
What do you think is the closest thing you can compare it to in the United States? As far as cultural influence, maybe Saturday Night Live? Because when I speak to friends in other countries it’s always, “that is just not a thing here,” as opposed to other American culture.
Yeah, I mean, I didn’t grow up with Saturday Night Live in the same way. I mean we would occasionally get the “best of” VHS, it would sort of make their way over. I mean, this is kind of more epic in a way because it has kind of, I mean, it can have sort of political consequences. Very few of the songs will make their way into the charts. But very often the song, it doesn’t have that much of a life outside of the competition. But there are obviously a few notable exceptions. And Celine Dion, one of her early appearances was at Eurovision. And obviously ABBA, more famously. But, yeah, and the other thing we’re saying is that it is live, a bit like SNL. Just the usual chaos ensues and so it can be a very entertaining, weird night of television.
And not to spoil any plot points, but what we see happen in the movie with voting sounds like it could maybe happen in real life?
Yeah. I mean, listen, you can get a lot of ironic votes flying around. But each country does generally have a competition within their country before the Eurovision song contest to decide. And I think recently, the UK decided that some record company was just going to pick an act and it’s going to be that. It’s more hassle than it was worth. But I think that’s also a really entertaining process if you follow the competition for the weeks running up, all the months running up, you get to see some really weird stuff, because that’s the stuff that doesn’t even make it to the final.
I feel like this is a movie that people will either love or not be into. I am on the love side.
Sure. Yeah, listen, we weren’t out to make sort of high art cinema. We were out to make something pretty joyous and silly and fun. And it has a lot of heart, thanks in most part to the lovely Rachel McAdams.
Yes. She is so good in this.
She is. And Will, he’s brilliant and just very sweet and silly. And I think that is very much in the spirit of Eurovision. It’s a sweet, silly, hopeful thing that brings people together with some great music and some terrible music. And, I’d think it’s a very difficult thing to capture in a couple of hours, but they do a reasonable job.
Maybe a better way to word it is that there are going to be people who just “get it.” Like the scene where you are in the group singalong of “Waterloo,” it’s pure joy.
Yeah. I mean, it was incredible just to get to meet all those contestants. To get to sing with them in that kind of party atmosphere. And I mean, that sequence, as bonkers as it is, really does kind of encapsulate the sort of spirit of both our film, but also of Eurovision. Just sort of bringing such a diverse range of performers together, weaving all these kind of greats from past decades together in this sort of amazing arrangement.
What was that singing voice? I wasn’t expecting that. It’s very deep.
Sadly, the singing voice, we didn’t manage to get into the studio to record because obviously COVID struck. And so we actually went with the temp track, which is a Swedish baritone, who is great. In terms of his spoken voice, that becomes more from some of the sort of wealthier Europeans that I’ve met over the years. And, in particular, I had an interesting moment with the model Irina Shayk once. I met her in Manhattan and she asked where I live. And at the time I lived in Brooklyn and she said, “Brook-lyn,” and she just had this real kind of disdain for anything that wasn’t within her defined circle of sort of luxury and opulence. And I said, “Well, where do you live?” And she said it like in one phrase. She just said, “West Village, best place.” And I really kind of, I had that phrase in my head a lot for Lemtov. He just thinks that he knows the best things: If they’re covered in gold, whatever you’ve got going on. And there’s a weird kind of snobbery to that mysterious European wealthy elite that I think is just ridiculous and ripe to be poked fun of.
That baritone voice, I know it wasn’t yours, but it just adds to the delightful-ness of it. It’s just kind of surreal.
Maybe one day I’ll get to go and record that song for real. It was a lot of fun. I was singing along with it, and certainly at the singalong I had to sing it for real. And some of that singalong might be me. But, yeah, sadly “The Line of Love,” we didn’t get to go and lay down the final version, but it’s a really funny style and it’s a very real style as well.
Between this and Call of the Wild – you’re really going for it in that one, too – you seem to be having a lot of fun lately.
That’s what’s it’s all about.
You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.