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One day, there will be a 4-LP boxed set of Bartees Strange’s debut album Live Forever. First recorded in the early months of 2019, the album has gone through many iterations, with songs added here and removed there, and the entire album being remixed and remastered more than once. The open-ended process of crafting Live Forever gave Bartees Cox the space he needed to imbue each song with its own meaning, and ultimately give 100% of his attention to every piece that went into creating the album.

Refusing to conform to any genre lines, Cox incorporates into Live Forever elements of punk, alternative, indie, hip-hop, R&B, and everything in between. It’s a record about resilience and power of the individual, with the main mission stemming from a desire to make sure that every person feels valued in life and that they are empowered to work toward their aspirations and live their fullest live.

Ahead of the new album, I chatted with Cox on Instagram Live to talk about the long road to Live Forever, his undying love for Adrianne Lenker, and the inspirational force that is Tyler The Creator, as part of our Fall Music Preview. Check out the full interview below

Live Forever is out October 2 on Memory Music. Pre-order the album here.

Kawhi Leonard isn’t associated with bright colors and cartoony imagery, as the Clippers superstar forward is best known for his stoic nature. Up to this point, New Balance has steered into that demeanor with its sneakers and apparel designed for his collection with the brand, such as their “Fun Guy.” campaign, with black and white shirts in Times New Roman font.

Most of his sneakers have likewise featured pretty straightforward colorways, but the next Kawhi collection from New Balance is going to be much more bold and colorful than anything we’ve seen from him. Leonard debuted the first of two Jolly Rancher colorways in Game 6 of the Clippers second round series with Denver, showing off a bit more of his personality. Jolly Ranchers are Kawhi’s longtime favorite candy, and as such New Balance partnered with the fruit candy to come up with something a bit more bold, but still very much Kawhi.

In late October (a firm release date is still TBD), New Balance will release a Jolly Rancher x Kawhi Leonard collection, featuring two colorways of Leonard’s KAWHI signature sneaker — the white and multi-color one he wore on Sunday and a blue raspberry colorway — along with slides and two pairs of lifestyle sneakers (the 327 and 480 Low).

The pops of bright colors are certainly a bit different for the Kawhi line, but I really like how New Balance still finds a balance between something bright and still being true to Kawhi’s personality. The Kawhi Leonard logo on the tongue of the sneakers features his name written in Jolly Rancher font with a collection of fruit cartoons, but they all feature a non-expressive look — a signature of Leonard.

It’s a cool collab and I’m particularly fond of the blue raspberry colorway. The KAWHI sneakers will run $160, with the slides going for $35.

Khalid dropped his second album, Free Spirit, last year, but now fans are wondering when his next one will arrive. Well, the singer hopped on Twitter today and shed some light on his upcoming record, answering fan questions about its release date and what it will sound like.

One fan asked how long they should expect to wait for Khalid’s next album, and he responded, “I’ll say early next year to be realistic lol.” Another fan followed up by asking if the record will sound similar to his recent single “Eleven,” and he replied, “No! Way different.”

He went on to reveal that he doesn’t have a new single in mind for the album yet, but he’s only planning on releasing one song from the record before it drops: “I don’t have one yet! Its super early but I’ll keep you guys updated and I’ll probably only release one song before the album tbh.” Khalid also provided a couple different answers to questions about the album’s sound, writing, “I just wanna listen to it in bed in the dark with my earphones in hahaha,” and, “late night drives on an empty freeway.”

Khalid also seemed interested in fan suggestions that he host a listening party for his new music, potentially an intimate affair over Zoom. However, he expressed concern about leaks. Ultimately, he concluded that he might consider the idea if participants signed some sort of non-disclosure-like contract.

Khalid’s first two albums, 2017’s American Teen and 2019’s Free Spirit, both arrived during the first few months of the year. That, combined with the fact that a two-year gap between albums has been par for the course for Khalid so far, suggests that an early-2021 album for Khalid isn’t that unlikely, as he says.

Peacock is new to the streaming game, so there’s not a ton of original programming yet (although you should watch the super-fun Psych 2: Lassie Come Home). But that’s about to change. The streamer will be the home of the gritty The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskins in a Tiger King series, and the return of MacGruber, as well as the upcoming premieres of Wilmore and The Amber Ruffin Show.

The former, hosted by The Daily Show writer Larry Wilmore, premieres on September 18, while the latter, out September 25, is one of our most-anticipated shows of the fall. Ruffin’s segments on Late Night with Seth Meyers are always a highlight, and it’s exciting that she’s finally getting a show of her own. “We are going to talk about the news, and we are going to be doofuses, so hopefully it’ll be a nice mix of the two,” she told Vulture about how her show will stand out from the crowd. “We will be like, ‘Well now this crazy thing is the law. Let’s examine what that might look like in a puppet show.’ God, it won’t be a puppet show. Sorry I said puppet show. In a song or whatever. So hopefully we will do something like a monologue and maybe that’ll cover the topical news and then maybe a sketch and a song… Any ideas for structure, please mail them to me.” You can reach her at [email protected].

You can watch the trailer for The Amber Ruffin Show above, and for Wilmore below.

Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors has reportedly joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If further accompanying details are true, his upcoming role could make him the next Thanos-level villain.

Majors is onboard for one of the “lead roles” in Ant-Man 3, and according to sources for Deadline, he is likely playing Kang the Conqueror, a major time-traveling villain from the comics who’s had many epic battles with The Avengers. However, it should be noted that Majors’ role has not been confirmed by Marvel, nor has there been official word that the role would extend beyond the third Ant-Man film:

The studio had no comment, but sources close to the project say he is likely to play the super-villain Kang the Conqueror.

Sources add that like with so many new characters in the MCU, there could be a twist with how the character is featured in future films, but as of now he is likely to be one of the main villains in the next installment in the franchise.

Marvel fans have been waiting for Kang to show up in the MCU, and the likelihood of the classic villain finally making his debut only increased after the events of Avengers: Endgame. That film saw the heroes manipulate time to defeat Thanos. More specifically, The Avengers used Quantum Realm technology created by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), which would certainly explain Kang’s presence in Ant-Man 3.

Majors’ casting also arrives on the heels of Ant-Man director Peyton Reed recently talking up the next installment. “I think the third Ant-Man movie is going to be a much bigger, more sprawling movie than the first two. It’s going to have a very different visual template,” Reed told The Jess Cagle Show in late August. He also confirmed that Evangeline Lilly will still be a major presence in the film and share top billing with Paul Rudd, despite her controversial remarks about not social distancing her children during the early days of the pandemic.

(Via Deadline)

Kanye West wants his fans to help him root out an imposter on his roster, tweeting that he found a fake employee on his payroll and wondering if anyone had ever heard of such a person. Posting a screenshot of a what looks to be a blank profile picture from a job site with the name “Lauren Greenfield” and title “Music Consultant,” Kanye asked, “Has anyone ever heard of this person? I just found a fake employee on my payroll!!!”

While most of the responders, including good friend Chrissy Teigen (who is an absolute delight on Twitter most days), seemed clueless, a few theories did emerge. One reply posited that it could refer to photographer Lauren Greenfield, who apparently photographed Kanye’s wife Kim when she was 12 years old. Another hilarious theory was that the employee “was real until July 24th, but when the album didn’t drop she vanished because a music consultant was no longer needed.” Then, of course, there were the usual over-the-top memes and obnoxious stan tweets, proving that maybe Kanye should have kept this particular investigation in-house.

In the meantime, if Kanye’s worried about wasteful overhead, he might want to look into how his campaign money is being spent. It was recently reported he’s spent over $6 million on his wonky run for President, which has resulted mostly in his name being rejected on ballots all over the country due to false signatures. Good thing for him he’s the highest-paid male entertainer for 2020 or the money he’s spent on this and his 2019 Sunday Service concerts would have him in the poorhouse in no time.

J.K. Rowling’s spat with, well, just about everyone but Prager University over her anti-trans comments and fear-mongering has taken a new turn this week. What was mostly online rhetoric and back-and-forth over her trans-exclusionary comments about gender has seen some impact on her work, mainly actors from the Harry Potter movie franchise and those inspired by her books actively distancing themselves from Rowling and denouncing her comments.

Some Harry Potter fan sites have denounced her as well, and comments from authors like Stephen King and others have made her return a humanitarian award she won in 2019. But the latest controversy about Rowling is something very different, as critics say her anti-trans thinking has now directly influenced her writing. Word spread over the weekend that Rowling’s latest book — notably published under her male pseudonym Robert Galibraith — has a notably anti-trans plotline, in which a murderous, cisgendered man dresses up like a woman to kill other women.

The Telegraph published a tepid review of the 900-page novel, Troubled Blood. The review notes both the plotline and that it is likely to further anger those already aware of Rowling’s concern trolling about similar issues regarding trans rights. As many pointed out online, one common trope of anti-trans logic is that men will pretend to be women to gain access to spaces like women’s restrooms in order to commit violent crimes. As word spread about the review, many people expressed their outrage online that Rowling had included these tropes in her work.

The news may actually explain why some at the publishing house working on the new book reportedly threatened to stop working on it earlier this year when she began making a series of comments online that drew considerable attention. Given the actual plot and material in the book, their frustration makes more sense. And social media was soon flooded with critiques of the work, as well as sadness and frustration that Rowling continues to reinforce stereotypes many in the LGBTQ+ community find harmful.

A lot of people had Harry Potter references to make.

Some just had very online jokes to make.

The reaction online was so intense that Twitter had to issue a correction when a hashtag, #RIPJKRowling, started trending. The site actually wrote “No, JK Rowling isn’t dead” under it on its What’s Happening board.

And as many pointed out, this isn’t the first time the author has been accused of anti-trans writing in the series. Troubled Blood is the fifth book in series called Cormoran Strike, which has had other instances critics have pointed to as unfairly depicting trans characters. In the series’ second book, The Silkworm, a trans character is described as “unstable and aggressive” and stalks Strike, eventually trying to stab him. There are other comments made by other characters about Pippa, the trans character, that several critics found offensive.

[via PinkNews]

The second weekend of DC FanDome, dubbed “Explore the Multiverse,” wasn’t as eventful as the first. There were no new trailers for Wonder Woman 1984, the Snyder Cut of Justice League, or The Batman, and no Sinbad jokes, either. But it wasn’t a total dud, either, because it had Margot Robbie discussing an “insane sequence” from The Suicide Squad that she called one of the hardest things she’s ever done.

About the James Gunn-directed film, the Birds of Prey star said, “I don’t want to give it away. When you watch the movie, it’s probably about halfway through. There’s an insane sequence that Harley does which was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever shot on-screen. And we shot it in like four days and I remember looking at the schedule and being like, oh my god, we’re not going to be able to do this. This is gonna be impossible.” She survived working with Peak Method Actor Jared Leto — nothing is impossible:

“And we did it, but it was hard and I was really beat up by the end of it. James was texting me before and said, ‘That scene looks amazing.’ That whole sequence apparently looks really cool. When you see the movie, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Please let King Shark be involved, please let King Shark be involved, please let…

The Suicide Squad is scheduled to open on August 6, 2021.

(Via Syfy)

Queendom Come is the leading lady on BeatKing‘s viral TikTok hit “Then Leave” and it isn’t the first time Queen has set off a record with her infectious hook either. Clubgod Zilla and Queen bubbled on the Billboard charts with their rump-shaking anthem “U Ain’t Bout That Life” back in 2012 and years later their magical twerking formula still seems to work as evident by the love Cardi B, Lizzo, and countless other celebrities have shown to her hook dealing art.

In fact, she gives credit to Cardi for shooting the songs streaming numbers up towards tremendous proportions after the Grammy award-winning rap star posted a TikTok of her reciting “Then Leave”‘s hypnotizing hook, “Get that head, get that bread, then leave. Peace out!,” before Offset bogarts his way into the frame to rap BeatKing’s part. The moment consequently went viral.

“We just start hitting those mills on YouTube every week,” she recalled during our Fall Music Preview Instagram Live Q&A on Friday (September 11). “We would go up like an extra mill. Even her post got more than 14 million views on her post just from seeing that from people who may have never heard it maybe. Then they really tapped in after that.”

Now as everyone has their eye on Queen, the Houston-based rapper is getting ready to share her solo talent with the world and is preparing to release a freestyle on Tuesday (September 15) in the form of a music video with cameos from YBN Almighty Jay and Lil Jairmy. Of course, this song will be backed by another BeatKing production.

“BeatKing has been saying in a lot of his interviews, ‘Queen, she can rap, rap so don’t get it twisted,’” she said. “She’s the hook dealer but she’s also pretty good on the music and I appreciate that. So, we were in the lab again and he cooked up a track and he was like, ‘Nah this you. You need to get on this, you need to rap.’ Shout out to him again, he can pull the best out of you when you’re in there vibing and I stepped on it.”

Check out the full interview with Queendom Come below.

Chris Hemsworth has declared that he won’t be done playing Thor after Thor: Love And Thunder, but before the MCU gets production underway again, he’s (fortunately) down under where wise people are getting cases of you-know-what under control again. He popped up over the weekend on a weather report for Australia’s The Today Show, for which he forecast a mostly-sunny day with (sadly, given the context) no thunder to be found. While meteorologist Lauren Phillips may have been aware that he was on the scene, her colleagues clearly had no idea.

“I’m in the horse capital of Australia, but I was yet to find a horse, so I thought I should open it up to one of the horse studs,” Phillips told hosts Rebecca Maddern and Richard Wilkins before Hemsworth popped into view. Wilkins stayed understated while observing the demi-god before his eyes, but Maddern was clearly stunned, and who could blame her? Nothing can spice up an otherwise uneventful bout of weather like an A-lister.

According to News.com.au, the booking happened with almost zero notice, to the point where a group of competitive cheerleaders got sidelined and rescheduled for a later date. One father of two cheer members wasn’t pleased, but one can’t blame Hemsworth for the scheduling mess-up. According to Entertainment Tonight, he had been attempting to spread the word for a conservation cause, and producers ran with that ball. Hopefully, they’ll make good with the cheerleaders soon, too.