Eleven-time Grammy winner and EGOT recipient John Legend is unfolding a new era of music. After sharing his powerful track “Bigger Love” back in April, Legend shares his eponymous album’s cover art, tracklist, and release date.

Based on his tracklist, the singer’s upcoming album boasts features from big-name artists like Jhene Aiko and Gary Clark Jr. In a statement alongside his Bigger Love announcement, Legend detailed his album’s inspirations:

“The songs are inspired by the loves of my life: my wife, my family and the rich tradition of black music that has made me the artist I am.

All of these songs were created prior to the world being rocked by a pandemic, prior to the latest police killings in the U.S. that sent so many to the streets in protest. During these painful times, some of us may wonder if it’s ok to laugh or dance or be romantic. Lately, the images of black people in the media have been showing us with knees on our necks, in mourning, or expressing our collective outrage. We feel all those emotions.

But It’s important for us to continue to show the world the fullness of what it is to be black and human. Through our art, we are able to do that. This album is a celebration of love, joy, sensuality, hope, and resilience, the things that make our culture so beautiful and influential.

I’m under no illusion that music can save the world or solve the world’s problems, but I’ve always turned to music to help me through tough times and I know many of you have done the same. That’s why I couldn’t wait to release this album to the world. I debuted in 2004 with an album called Get Lifted. And now, as we enter the summer of 2020, I hope this new album can get you lifted again, fill your hearts with love and inspiration, give you something to dance to, something to hold hands to, something to make love to.”

Check out Legend’s Bigger Love cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Ooh Laa”
2. “Actions”
3. “I Do”
4. “One Life”
5. “Wild” Feat. Gary Clark Jr.
6. “Bigger Love”
7. “U Move, I Move” Feat. Jhene Aiko
8. “Favorite Place”
9. “Slow Cooker”
10. “Focused”
11. “Conversations In The Dark”
12. “Don’t Walk Away” Feat. Coffee
13. “Remember Us” Feat. Rapsody
14. “I’m Ready” Feat. Camper
15. “Always”
16. “Never Break”

Bigger Love is out 6/19 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.

The Premier League is set to return to action in the UK next week and the jerseys — along with the empty stadiums and socially distanced substitute players — will look a little different. During the first 12 games of the restarted 2019-20 season, players will wear jerseys that feature the words “Black Lives Matter” on the back instead of their surnames, the league confirmed Friday.

After the first round of matches, the jerseys will have an embroidered BLM logo for the rest of the season. Additionally, a heart-shaped patch honoring the National Health Service for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic will also feature on the front of the shirts and teams will have a moment of silence before kick-off to remember those who died due to COVID-19.

In a statement, players from all 20 clubs wrote:

“We, the Players, stand together with the singular objective of eradicating racial prejudice wherever it exists, to bring about a global society of inclusion, respect, and equal opportunities for All, regardless of their colour or creed. This symbol is a sign of unity from all Players, all Staff, all Clubs, all Match Officials and the Premier League #blacklivesmatter #playerstogether.”

According to ESPN, Everton captain Seamus Coleman, Watford’s Troy Deeney and Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin led the decision to have the Black Lives Matter slogan above players’ numbers on the back of their jerseys. The League also wrote that it will “support players who ‘take a knee’ before or during matches,” and referees have been told to use their discretion when considering cautioning players who remove their shirt to reveal a slogan in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to The Guardian. While there have been calls to implement a similar rule to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview ethnic minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation roles, the League confirmed it will not enforce an analogous rule at this time.

Soccer players all over the world have spoken out in support of the BLM movement and against police violence against black people, and ESPN reported that several teams plan to take a knee before matches. Last month, England forward Jadon Sancho dedicated his goal to George Floyd in a 6-1 victory for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund. U.S. international and Newcastle defender spoke with Bellerin on a recent episode of his podcast about Floyd’s death and the protests that have taken place in the U.S. Watford’s Andre Gray opened up about his own experiences with racial profiling and racism in the UK, telling The Guardian, “It’s not just about George Floyd and the brutality that is going on in America. It is about what is going on in England and the rest of the world.”

While players are still fighting for social change both on and off the pitch, the games will surely look a bit different due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — no fans or ball kids will be allowed at matches, players have been encouraged not to break social distancing rules when celebrating goals and every player and coach will have their temperature checked before entering stadiums. Premier League action is set to resume on June 17 when Aston Villa and Sheffield United kick off against each other, and Liverpool can clinch their first league title in 30 years if they defeat Everton on June 21.

Tenet isn’t the first wide-release title during the summer movie season — the Russell Crowe-starring Unhinged and Selena Gomez-produced The Broken Hearts Gallery are — but it’s certainly the most anticipated. Even if no one knows what the heck it’s about. Something about inversions, I dunno? To keep Tenet‘s plot a secret, director Christopher Nolan hand-delivered the script to some of his actors, including Kenneth Branagh.

“I’ll tell you how I got the script. The door knocked, I opened the door and standing at the door was an international film director called Chris Nolan. He had an envelope under his arm… ‘I’ve come to deliver the script to you.’ It doesn’t get more personal then that,” Branagh told Collider. “[I asked], ‘How will we talk about this?’ [Nolan said], “24 hours from now, sir, I will give you a telephone call and we will discuss it.” It’s [that] simple.”

It’s fun to imagine that, upon receiving the phone call 24 hours later, Branagh told Nolan, “Boy, this thing is a steaming pile of dung. Yeesh.” Seems unlikely, though.

Anyway, just remember, the next time you hear a knock on door, it could be “international film director” Christopher Nolan on the other side. Or more likely it’s Amazon dropping off the socks you ordered. But they’re Batman socks, so it’s kind of the same thing.

(Via Collider)

The Wednesday Night Wars continue to be tilted in AEW’s favor, although this week’s battle proved to be one of the closest in recent memory.

As reported by Showbuzz Daily, AEW Dynamite came out on top this week, with a total of 677,000 viewers — down 53,000 viewers from last week. In the 18-49 key demographic, AEW’s ratings continued to slide, down to a .23 from last week’s .29 (and .32 two weeks ago). This week’s Dynamite featured Orange Cassidy being beaten with a bag of his namesake, as well as Jon Moxley doing his best Adam Cole impersonation with a car windshield. The show was the 14th highest rated cable show on Wednesday.

Coming off TakeOver: In Your House, complete with a main event title change, this week’s episode of NXT still lost against Dynamite, however the margin was razor thin — the yellow ropes scored 673,000 viewers this week, down from 715,000 last week, putting the two shows within 4,000 viewers of each other. NXT’s 18-49 demo number was .19, down .01 from last week and equal to two weeks ago. This week’s NXT featured a dramatic unmasking of the (interim) cruiserweight champion, Robert Stone being thrown into a trash can and William Regal live via Zoom. NXT was the 39th most-watched show on cable Wednesday night.

After Showtime submitted their name for Emmy consideration in 2017, nonbinary Billions actor Asia Kate Dillon made headlines by challenging binary-gender conventions and asking to be nominated under the supporting actor category as the term “actor” is a gender-neutral description for theater players. This move led to Dillon gratefully having their identity recognized by the Critics Choice Awards who included them in the supporting actor that same year without requiring a formal request.

However, Dillon’s activism is far from over. After being selected to serve on the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Motion Picture Nominating Committee, they wrote an open letter in Variety asking the SAG Awards to end the practice of separating actors into binary-gender categories. According to Dillon, the notion behind the categories is antiquated and fails to prevent discrimination.

The distinction between male and female acting categories was implemented as a means of combating the chronic and systemic overlooking of cis-women, particulary white cis-women, when it came to acting awards. This was despite the fact that there were no other categories similarly revised (as in directoress, best female or best male director/cinematographer/sound designer, etc.) I say “particularly white cis-women” because it’s important to note how dangerous it has been to defend the separation of male and female acting categories, as well as other awards shows’ use of the actress category, as being motivated by wanting representation for all womxn (cis and trans alike). In fact, Black, POC, indigenous, trans, and disabled womxn are still the most underrepresented groups at any awards show.

As Dillon notes, gender-neutral categories have already been implemented at the MTV Movie & TV Awards where the actor had the honor of presenting the first gender-neutral acting award to Emma Watson. If SAG were to make a similar move by abolishing binary categories, it would send a powerful message to “non-binary and gender non-conforming members.” But until that decision is made, Dillon will not be participating in the nominating committee. As of this writing, the Screen Actors Guild has yet to comment.

(Via Variety)

The number of NBA players reportedly disenchanted with the league’s momentum toward a return to play is growing, according to new reports from across the NBA media. Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report indicated players wanted to reiterate to league stakeholders what their stance is on this moment of political revolution in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and unify behind it.

Rooks’ Bleacher Report teammate, Howard Beck, added to that reporting to specify the call could include up to 200 players, and that increasingly, it has been Nets guard Kyrie Irving leading the charge against the league’s plans. Beck called Irving a “driving force” behind raising concerns over playing out the season amidst social unrest and while the country attempts to get a handle on the coronavirus pandemic.

Over at Yahoo! Sports, Chris Haynes added to his earlier reporting on the “bad optics” of the NBA return to indicate Irving has organized a call in which players are expected to consider the possibility of not playing at all.

Despite the memes and silliness that often surround Irving’s public comments, the ability to rally hundreds of colleagues around an issue of this magnitude is admirable. As the Nets’ representative in the players’ association, Irving has been part of the conversations from the jump, but it appears he was the one willing to risk bothering other players, owners, and league officials by starting a dialogue about the hesitancy on many players’ minds. Even if all of these issues end up getting worked out, it is important that they get addressed as soon as possible, and it’ll be fascinating to watch what happens in the coming days and weeks on this front.

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