As Swizz Beats and Timbaland’s Verzuz hits battle series on Instagram grows in popularity, their viewer numbers grow with it. After Babyface and Teddy Riley set viewership records for the show at around 500K viewers despite uncle-related technical difficulties, the first woman-oriented battle demolished the previous record, with Eyrkah Badu and Jill Scott’s battle/celebration of each other reaching a reported high of around 750K. The “battle” started off exactly as many expected, with both stars playing their versions of The Roots’ Grammy-winning hit “You Got Me,” as Badu projected a Bruce Lee movie on the wall behind her and Scott picked up the slack when Erykah’s connection dropped out.

Verzuz has become the in-home distraction de rigeur for many music fans during the extended quarantine as millennial music legends face off to play ten rounds of their greatest hits, share stories from the good old days, and occasionally talk sh*t during their livestreams on Instagram. While billed as a battle, they function more as history lessons and celebrations of stars’ careers and legacies, attracting both contemporary fans and younger ones curious to see what all the fuss is about. Fans have even begun speculating about which matchups they want to see, while stars themselves have taken to challenging each other, with Ja Rule and 50 Cent rekindling their rivalry, DMX challenging Jay-Z, and 2 Chainz issuing an open challenge that culminated in fans selecting Meek Mill as a worthy opponent (this battle has yet to happen, though).

The next Verzuz matchup between Ludacris and Nelly has been confirmed. See more here.

Billie Eilish has been enjoying her alone time in quarantine instead of catching up with friends on Zoom calls, but the singer is still staying productive. On top of Eilish launching a new radio show with her father last week, the singer is also devoting time to recording new music.

Eilish detailed the status of her new music in a recent interview on Apple Music’s Beats 1 with Zane Lowe. The singer revealed she has been spending a good amount of time in the studio with her brother/producer Finneas. The duo has completed an entire song so far, and have even more in the works.

“We’ve been in the ‘stu,’ which just means Finneas’ basement, basically,” Eilish told Lowe. “We actually, we wrote a whole song in its entirety — an entire song, which is kind of rare for us. I really love it. It was like exactly what I needed to say when we wrote it.”

Eilish continued that the track is a way for her to work through the landslide of emotions that she has experienced with the onslaught of the global pandemic. Though Eilish thinks she is supposed to be feeling despondent, the singer is actually enjoying a break from her the limelight:

“Honestly, I feel great. The song I was talking about earlier that we wrote a couple weeks ago that felt so right was … I wish I could sing it for you, but I can’t. It was just about, there was this part in it — I needed to say this — which was I know I’m supposed to feel unhappy right now because of this break and because I’m not seeing anybody … I feel like there’s this kind of thing that I feel like is floating around of like you’re supposed to be missing people. You’re supposed to be missing this person and be missing people in general. I kind of have this feeling of like, I miss my really close friends, I miss people, of course I do, but I also at the same time am liking the space.”

Listen to the full Beats 1 episode here.

Much has been said about X Æ A-12, the newborn son of Grimes and Elon Musk, in recent days. The baby’s unconventional name has certainly generated some attention, and people can’t get enough of the boy. Now, Grimes has pleased X Æ A-12 fans by posting the first publicly released video of the newest Musk.

Grimes shared the five-second clip on her Instagram Story last night, and the video shows X Æ A-12 curled up on Musk’s chest as he gently pats the baby’s back. Heart emojis were also put on top of the video.

This isn’t the first look the world has gotten of X Æ A-12, as Musk previously shared a photo of himself holding the child — his seventh, as he previously had six kids with his first wife, Justine Wilson. Sadly, their first son, Nevada Alexander Musk, died at ten weeks old due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Musk also took the opportunity over the weekend to shout-out Grimes on her first Mother’s Day as a mom. Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, shared a post expressing gratitude for her sons, and Musk shared the tweet and added, “Happy Mother’s Day to other mothers!! @Grimezsz,” followed by three heart emojis. Grimes responded by tweeting alternating heart and hedgehog emojis.

Stargirl shall soon make her debut to pass the superhero torch onto a new generation after, well, something bad happens to Starman. He’ll be portrayed by Joel McHale, who’s still somehow sarcastic in tights (imagine that) as we saw in the previous trailer, when he told his former sidekick, Pat Dugan/S.T.R.I.P.E. (Luke Wilson), that he’s not fit to hold the cosmic staff. Now, we’re receiving a formal introduction to the TV show’s first-season antagonists, the Injustice Society. Where you’ll be able to see this prolonged CW Network fight play out is slightly confusing, but never fear if you don’t subscribe to the DC Universe streaming service. Stargirl episodes will premiere weekly there starting on May 18, but they’ll follow each Tuesday on the CW and its app.

The main character of Stargirl shall be high-school student Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger), who’s miraculously able to wield Starman’s staff, and she’s pumped to assume her new alter ego. Her stepfather is Pat, who’s somewhat mockingly referred to as “Stripesy” in this series, and although he attempts to caution the fledgling hero from waltzing into danger, she can’t be stopped. As we see above, the Injustice Society has taken root, including Icicle (Neil Jackson) and Brainwave (Christopher James Baker). And in the series, Stargirl’s New Justice Society will include Hourman (Lou Ferrigno Jr., who grew up with The Incredible Hulk at home, so it really is a new generation here) and Wildcat (Yvette Monreal).

Meanwhile, Amy Smart will step in as Stargirl’s unaware mom, and the special effects are looking pretty decent for the small screen, at least from what we can see in quick glimpses. Stargirl premieres on May 18.

The casts of NBC’s incredible mid-2010s Thursday night lineup have reunited in recent weeks: The Office, for a Zoom wedding dance; Parks and Recreation, for a new episode that raised millions for charity; and Community, for a virtual table read. (Still waiting on 30 Rock, although Tiny Fey and Alec Baldwin both appeared on the SNL finale.) The table read, for season four’s “Cooperative Polygraphy,” hasn’t happened yet, but in an interview with The Wrap, creator Dan Harmon discussed how it came together and hinted that the second half of the #SixSeasonsAndAMovie hashtag might finally happen:

“I can tell people for sure that the enthusiasm for Community, both for all of this time and the resurgence of it [on Netflix], there’s always an aspect of that affects the marketplace,” Harmon said. “And when the marketplace gets affected, conversations happen. And when conversations happen, things happen.” Things like human beings (Human Beings) remembering that Community was one of the best shows of the 2010s.

“I mean, when you’re part of the Community family, you learn never to raise expectations, keep ‘em nice and low and then be pleasantly surprised. So I can say that there are conversations happening that people would want to be happening and that I’m very, very excited about the coming months.”

Maybe if enough people watch Dean Pelton’s peanut rap on YouTube, it will trend, and hit the Billboard Hot 100. Then they’ll have to make a Community movie! If nothing else, it’ll free up a lot of time for the cast. They’ll never have to answer “so, what’s the latest on the Community movie?” ever again. Reason enough to make it, I say.

(Via The Wrap)

It looks like all that time Lil Uzi Vert spent pump-faking fans about the release of his follow-up to Luv Is Rage 2 was very productive because no sooner had he finally released Eternal Atake than he was chasing it with another full-length album, Lil Uzi Vert Vs. The World 2 (released as a super-sized deluxe version of EA). Now, the Philadelphia spitter is threatening to drop another album, which could release as early as the end of this month, according to a tweet he sent to fan.

The fan, replying to a now-deleted tweet from Uzi, requested confirmation on their assumption that Uzi would have performed all of Eternal Atake at the now-postponed 2020 JMBLYA Festival set for the beginning of May. Not only did Uzi confirm that he was going to perform EA but he also hinted at an entirely new album he said was “coming soon.” Since three-day, traveling JMBLYA was set to begin May 1 in Dallas, that likely means the new album was scheduled for completion before then and there’s a high chance that it’s done already.

While Uzi hasn’t given an exact date of its release, he’s been baiting his fans for a while now as he and Playboi Carti taunt one another back-and-forth. Uzi previously tweeted that he would drop when a mysterious “he” dropped — “he” meaning Carti in many fans’ estimations — so perhaps the release of this forthcoming project really is just contingent on Carti sharing his own album, Whole Lotta Red.

Check out Lil Uzi’s latest single, “Sasuke,” here.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Like many festivals, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound decided months ago that the best decision would be to postpone the event. So, the fest was pushed back from June to August, but it turns out that wasn’t enough of a delay: Primavera Sound has announced today that its 2020 festival, which was set to be a 20th anniversary celebration, has been canceled outright.

The fest wrote in its announcement today:

“Today, Primavera Sound announces the most difficult decision in its history: finally we will not be able to celebrate our 20th anniversary during 2020. In the face of the evolution of the Covid-19 health crisis, we find ourselves obliged to postpone the next edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona, for reasons of force majeure, until next year: from 2nd to 6th June 2021.

We are devastated and are terribly sorry for the inconvenience causes but the health and well-being of our festivalgoers and of all the people involved in the festical has always been and is still our absolute priority. We cannot thank you enough for your patience, love and understanding in this uncertain scenario. We will never forget this.”

The post goes on to note that refunds will be available, but tickets for this year’s festival will be valid for 2021 “and will include special benefits for those who decide to keep them.” Additionally, the lineup for the 2021 festival will be announced on June 3.

Read the full announcement below.

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BBC America’s ‘Killing Eve’ first framed itself as procedural: a show about assassins and the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service that attempts to take them down. More than that, though, the show tangoed through an elaborate cat-and-mouse game between Jodie Comer’s assassin and Sandra Oh’s MI6 agent. This season, that game evolves for the better, and our weekly coverage will keep an eye on how this show’s transforming, and it (along with those kills) is only growing bolder with the passage of time.

Killing Eve took a break this week from its usual format at an unexpected time, right after Niko’s possible death due to Dasha-Magda’s pitchfork-surprise attack. We don’t know whether he survives (it doesn’t look good) or how Eve will react to this attempted murder on her estranged husband. Will this inspire her to push harder into investigating The Twelve and/or truly drive a wedge between the former MI6 agent and her assassin-love? That’s a decent question, but the series has pressed the “pause” button on answers, so that Villanelle can take Konstantin’s findings on her family to pursue the past.

Yet, right as Eve hits a pivotal moment that could propel her character away from that inertia that’s plagued her this season, we’re getting a Villanelle bottle episode, and one with an origin story. Given that she’s an established villain, it’s a fascinating prospect for viewers once the realization sets in that this is happening. In the end, Villanelle rejects the story of her origin (as told by her mother) and literally sends it up in flames. And we really don’t know whether we can trust this story either, since mom’s an unreliable narrator and overall shady character. Of course, it seems fitting that this episode aired on Mother’s Day, but that wasn’t the original plan — this season got bumped up a few weeks due to a pandemic schedule shuffle on behalf of The Walking Dead.

Clearly though, Villanelle’s been curious about her childhood for a while, and the show’s been sending up blatant signs of this preoccupation lately: (1) A rare, physical display of her vulnerability (those hiccups when Konstantin teased the fruits of his research); (2) Her choice to spare a baby from death, although she kidnapped him; (3) Her bedtime interrogation of Konstantin about whether she was cute as a baby (and she admits in this latest episode that her head was indeed “bulbous” as he claimed). Yet we also saw a longing for her childhood back in Season 2 with that sticker fixation in the hospital. So, how does Villanelle’s trip back to Mother Russia go? Not too well, in the end.

Yeah, she didn’t find the connection to her roots that she desired, which was inspired by an ache to find what’s been missing in her life. Who survived the fire? Villanelle made sure that younger half-sibling Bor’ka wasn’t in the house before she lit the flames. The way that she did so was remarkably tender, for her, since she left a note (which also reminds us that her own handwriting differs from the note on Dasha’s pitchfork) leading to money for him to buy Elton John concert tickets.

Another brother, Pyotr, was also sleeping in the barn; Villanelle knew that he’d be close to his anger-couch, and he showed kindness during her visit, so presumably, she intended to spare him as well. As for the others who didn’t show warmth toward her (or sided with mom during conversations), she wished for them to perish after the fatal confrontation with mom. And the fleeting display of fondness between Villanelle and Bor’ka and Pyotr might be the closest thing we ever see to softness from this sociopath, who appears to be quite broken on her trainride back to… London?

Probably London, yep, which means that she’ll be close to Eve and the swirling, ongoing mess of The Twelve. The anxiety-music that’s playing during the end scene (while Villanelle’s choking back tears) does not bode well for what’s to come. Villanelle’s been chasing her own identity, and now she might fully funnel that into her ambition to become a keeper, but here’s how her current state of crushed disappointment happened:

After an episode full of Villanelle embracing life in her family’s Russian village — a game-filled festival, singing and dancing around the dinner table, arguing over whether mankind went to space — everything hinged upon what happened while Villanelle was chopping veggies in the kitchen after everyone else went to sleep. Her mom, who’d placed “Oksana” into a orphanage, instructed her to leave the family home, which turned into an argument about the source of “darkness” in their relationship. Both are convinced that the other is the source of their misery, and Villanelle’s incensed by the idea that not crying as a baby meant that she was inherently “bad from the beginning.” There was another beef, as well, with the revelation that Villanelle’s father favored her, along with more talk of the darkness and mom’s jealousy.

Well, Villanelle wasn’t about to let her allow her history to be authored in such a way, so she burned it all down: the story, the house, everything. It was somehow worse, even, that mom didn’t appreciate this gesture of humor from daughter.

Ultimately, Villanelle realized that she wasn’t going to find the connection that she sought with mom, who ended up being the episode’s main kill, and she was fine with tossing in collateral damage — the others who did not embrace her in Mother Russia. No peace has arrived from her quest, and the assassin will likely be even more alternately unhinged and calculating once she returns to “civilization.” I can only imagine the fallout that Dasha and Konstantin will witness in the weeks to come. We’ll also be waiting to see what Eve does about the attack on Niko, and of course, we haven’t heard the end of how the MI6, the Bitter Pill, and Eve will continue to dig into Kenny’s death. How will Villanelle deal with finding out about Dasha’s strike on her connection with Eve, and will this lead us to more revelations about The Twelve? This season’s setting up a pretty big score to settle as it continues to unfold.

BBC America’s ‘Killing Eve’ airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM EST with simulcasting on AMC.

Last week, there were reports that Drake’s surprise new release, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, might not debut at No. 1, a feat that has been accomplished by a bunch of Drake projects before it. Drake’s latest faced stiff competition from Here And Now, the 19th album by country music legend Kenny Chesney. Now the numbers are out, and Chesney managed to beat Drake for the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart dated May 16.

It was a real close call: Here And Now earned 233,000 equivalent album units in the US for the week ending May 7, while Dark Lane Demo Tapes managed to rack up 223,000 units.

This release was a big one for Chesney, as this No. 1 placement has tied him with fellow country icon Garth Brooks for the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 for a country act, with nine. Here And Now had the third-biggest sales week of the year so far, following the debut weeks of projects from BTS and The Weeknd. The album also had the biggest week for a country album in over a year, since Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty back in September of 2018.

As for Drake, Dark Lane Demo Tapes is his 12th top-10 release, joining every other charting release Drake has put out. Drake earned his ninth straight No. 1 release last year with Care Package, and Dark Lane Demo Tapes could end that run if it doesn’t find its way to the top of the chart in the coming weeks.

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