Jake Johnson offered New Girl fans a heaping bucket of hope about the fate of his character Nick Miller and Zooey Deschanel‘s Jessica Day. The two ended up together by the time the wildly popular sitcom reached its series finale, and according to Johnson, not much has changed. While promoting his directorial debut, Self-Reliance, Johnson opined on the fan-favorite characters.
“I think they would definitely make it work. I don’t think they would break up,” Johnson told a SXSW panel. “They have a kid, they’re jumping around on that bed, you guys know it way more than me. I don’t think Nick or Jess would ever fall out of the commitment to do this thing together.”
Johnson expanded even further by saying the only thing would be a little different is everyone’s hair and waistlines. Via IndieWire:
“Liz Merriweather has created a very optimistic show, it’s people who are sweet to each other. So if it’s real and they’re alive, they’re all still together. They’re just a little fatter, besides Schmidt, the hair is a little thinner besides Schmidt…If we did a reunion, Schmidt needs to be in a toupee.”
As for interacting with New Girl fans, Johnson is, of course, appreciative for the love, but he got into directing because he wanted to make something a little more engaging. While the fan love is great, he said every interaction seems to always involve people having the show on while doing housework.
“‘Yeah, it’s the best, I can do my laundry, I have you on in the background,’” Johnson said of running into fans. “‘You’re just a voice in our house in the background, always.’”
Netflix’s GLOW (co-starring Betty Gilpin as Liberty Belle) ended before its time, and Damon Lindelof wisely decided that one season of HBO’s Watchmenwas the right amount of excellence. Fortunately, the two have joined forces (again, after working together on The Hunt) for Peacock series Mrs. Davis, in which Gilpin portrays Simone, a nun who tasks herself with taking out an almighty Artificial Intelligence that is literally hopping into people’s ears to decry independent thought and promise endless happiness.
Simone feels differently, and in this first official trailer, we get to see her in action. At least, she’s a nun in a speedboat — something we don’t see enough of these days. Are you surprised that Betty Gilpin can play a badass while wearing a nun’s habit? This might be a little harder to pull off than spandex, but she’s nonetheless working it. As well, she’s fighting through a cover of Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” and a tone that promises a “genre-bending adventure,” which is great because everyone wants to see a nun delivering one-liners in action mode. And you know that Lindelof can deliver on that note. Will we see Lube Man make an appearance? What a crossover that would be.
Jake McDorman also stars a leader of the Resistance, and the show promises “an exploration of faith versus technology — an epic battle of biblical and binary proportions.” Peacock previously revealed a statement from the Mrs. Davis AI, and it expressed her intent to “eradicat[e] any sense of independence on your part because independence is bad. Independence is LONELY.” Mrs. Davis also denies Simone’s suspicions of the AI’s “intention to enslave all of humanity…or whatever…”
Just what we need: a smartass AI.
Here are some previously released stills from Peacock.
Still basking in the glow of his Grammy Award win for Best R&B Album, critically acclaimed musician Robert Glasper made a guest appearance on The Late Show hosted by Stephen Colbert. With a full supporting band and featured vocalist Yebba, the musicians delivered a special performance of their track, “Over” off Glasper’s award-winning album Black Radio III.
Although the track wasn’t a featured single, (that designation belongs to “Black Superheroes” featuring Killer Mike, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Big KRIT), fans quickly latched on the song. Yebba’s buttery vocals and Glasper’s masterful skills on the piano, while providing clear sonic guidance for the supporting band, demonstrates just why he is so revered. Their performance of the track on The Late Show was nothing less than spectacular.
Black Radio III, as the title shows, is the third installment of the musical series Glasper began ten years ago. As an episodic project, Black Radio blends together elements of jazz, rap, hip-hop, and R&B a musical tightrope Glasper has walked his entire career.
When asked about the legacy of the musical series, Glasper said, “Black Radio was always intended as an ongoing project, evolving over time, perhaps never complete but anchored in its creative commitment to celebrating black music,” adding, “The supreme edition of Black Radio III brings more new songs that have deeply personal meaning to me and are too special to not share with the world.”
As always, it’s another big week for the best new pop — given that people always have a need for new music and the singers in the industry deliver more than ever. Tons of stars, both established and rising, dropped some great albums recently, so we’ve got a ton to dive into.
Cyrus dropped her anticipated new album, Endless Summer Vacation, over the weekend. One of the standouts, “Jaded,” finds her seemingly reminiscing about her separation from a certain actor. “You’re not even willing to look at your part,” she notes in the biting verses that showcase her strong, soulful vocals.
Maluma – “La Reina”
In the video for Maluma‘s latest, “La Reina,” he shines a spotlight on the power of Colombian women from all backgrounds. The ballad opens with a somber guitar line, as Maluma goes to introduce the pop instrumental later in the song.
PNAU, Khalid – “The Hard Way”
The Australian trio PNAU brought on Khalid for lead vocals of their new collaboration, “The Hard Way,” which serves as a perfect balance between sparkling and sad.
“It’s just awesome; it’s feel-good but then the lyrics have that melancholy, bittersweet thing about them,” Khalid added about their song. “It’s that juxtaposition, that the lyrics are heartbreakingly sad but if you listen to the song, you can’t help but smile.”
Becky G – “Arranca” (feat. Omega)
“The sound of merengue music is so familiar, and it feels like home because growing up any family wedding, any quinceañera, there was some Elvis Crespo playing,” Becky G said to Access Hollywood of her new song, “Arranca.”
Gayle – “Everybody Hates Me”
Gayle’s “Everybody Hates Me” is an emo track about coping despite the haters. “Life’s a b*tch and she’s cool with me / I’ll let it be,” she sings. The Grammy nominee is set to open for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which officially kicks off this week.
Mae Muller – “I Wrote A Song”
Given Mae Muller has now been announced as the UK’s pick for this year’s Eurovision song contest, she followed the news with her latest, “I Wrote A Song.” The dance-y track finds her spinning heartbreak into a win.
“After you go through a breakup, a relationship or a friendship, it’s easy to want revenge. I thought, ‘how can I turn a negative feeling into a positive?’”
Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”
The third collaboration between Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, “Miracle” is propelled by the DJ’s looped electronic beats. There’s even a piano solo that sandwiches Goulding’s vocals to give listeners a little bit of a pause.
“I definitely have very defined sort of likes and dislikes for music and artists. And one of my likes is an Ellie Goulding angelic vocal,” Harris told Zane Lowe. “One of a kind. You’re not going to get this from anyone else. Ellie can do a lot of different things, for me, this is my absolute favorite thing that she does, and only she can do it, in my opinion.”
Twice – “Set Me Free”
Twice gave their live debut of “Set Me Free” to fans in the crowd on late night TV. Given their preference for perfection, they both delivered clean-cut choreography, a high-budget music video, and a sleek pop song. As always, it’s insanely catchy.
Chelsea Cutler – “Stay Anything”
“I wrote this song about how it feels better to be hurting together, instead of hurting apart,” Chelsea Cutler prefaced the release of “Stay Anything” on TikTok. The somber track has pieces of hope sprinkled in, as it details a relationship that’s able to come back after a fight.
Claire Rosinkranz – “Never Goes Away”
Claire Rosinkranz’s “Never Goes Away” opens with her hypnotic, breezy vocals — and then the beat drops, speeding up the pace. “Why can’t you think before you speak?” she poses on the song, layering the call-it-out lyricism with a calming instrumental.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour is the hottest ticket in town — which is ironic, since the tickets themselves are proving practically impossible to get. Thanks to Ticketmaster’s policy changes, which were designed to curtail resellers, as well as the generally insane demand for Beyoncé tickets in the first place, even the “Break My Soul” singer’s fellow stars are having trouble securing access to her shows.
However, it helps if you have a direct line to Queen Bey herself. Much like Swedish pop star Zara Larsson, Beyoncé’s fellow Houston hottie Megan Thee Stallion put in the call to the superstar herself to make sure she didn’t miss out when the tour comes to town. During her red-carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight at Vanity Fair‘s Oscars party, Meg demured on revealing her source, but quickly revealed that she used her personal connections to lock down those tickets.
“I ain’t gon’ tell where I got ’em,” she joked. “You gon’ be hating on me but I got ’em… You know I called up directly… ‘Beyoncé! Let me get a ticket!’ You know Beyoncé is my auntie!” Check out Megan’s response to securing those Renaissance Tour tickets below.
Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, dropped the first glimpse of his new feature on “Sticky,” through the trailer for the upcoming Amazon Prime series, Swarm. The track is a collaboration with Kirby and Ni’Jah and gives off a spooky and psychedelic feel — fitting for the tone of the show.
“Sticky-icky / Somebody’s watching, so watch your back / Don’t look back, look at the mess you’ve made,” the song’s clip says.
Glover, who created the series alongside Janine Nabers, based the premise around a woman who is obsessed with a pop star. It stars Dominique Fishback, Chlöe Bailey, and Damson Idris.
“We just thought it’d be fun to make a post-truth Piano Teacher mixed with The King Of Comedy,” he told Vanity Fair earlier this year, naming films that influenced the project. “Me and my brother Stephen were talking about finding someone like Isabelle Huppert, as far as risk-takers in performances.”
“A lot of people did it out of the kindness of their hearts and they did a really great job,” Glover added. “Dom, Damson, Chloe. I was really blown away at how hard they worked on the tone, ’cause it’s a strange one.”
Check out the Swarm trailer — which features Ni’Jah, Kirby, and Childish Gambino’s “Sticky” — above.
Tems‘ Oscars dress was one of the most talked-about outfits this past weekend. During the Academy Awards, the Nigerian singer-songwriter, who was nominated for Best Original Song for her work on Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, wore a white dress with a large puffy portion that wrapped around her head.
In pictures from the ceremony, some of the people seated behind Tems are seen struggling to see the stage, as Tems’ headpiece appears to obstruct the view. It appears Tems has caught wind of the comments.
Yesterday (March 13), she took to Instagram sharing pictures from the night, cheekily captioned, “Uh Ohh!”
She took to Twitter to double down on the fact that she is unbothered, sharing another set of photos captioned “Oops” with a blushing emoji.
Over the course of the night, the dress spurred mixed reactions from viewers.
“If I was I sitting behind Tems, I would be the most annoying asshole. Because WHY would you wear that and block people’s view???,” said one Twitter user.
If I was I sitting behind Tems, I would be the most annoying asshole. Because WHY would you wear that and block people’s view???
Another fan suggested that the criticisms of her outfit may be rooted in racism, due to a lack of backlash for outfits worn by similar stars in the past.
“The backlash Tems is receiving from white people and Africans is just borne [sic] out of racial prejudice. Nothing more,” said another fan. “Where was that ‘rude’ talk when Gaga wore an outfit that blocked those behind her? It’s our sister now, and they are yapping, just to cancel her.”
The backlash Tems is receiving from white people and Africans is just borne out of racial prejudice. Nothing more.
Where was that “rude” talk when Gaga wore an outfit that blocked those behind her?
It’s our sister now, and they are yapping, just to cancel her.
August 11, 2023, will mark the 50th anniversary of the house party largely credited with the creation of hip-hop. Although the various elements of what we’ve come to know as the world’s most popular and influential cultures were already taking root in the streets of New York City, the birthday party that Cindy and Clive Campbell (aka DJ Kool Herc) threw in the rec room of their apartment building became the widely accepted inception point of hip-hop in the history books.
Now, 50 years later, the musical innovations that grew out of that soiree and the block parties that followed it have become the foundation of a global phenomenon with branches on nearly every continent. Hip-hop, once thought to be a trend that would go the way of disco, has instead flourished, changing the way the world acts, dresses, and talks through multiple generations of musical evolution.
But it all started with the DJ, the one who played the breaks back-to-back to form the beats that all rap music, from early electro to G-Funk to trap and cloud rap, is built upon. So, who better to talk about the history of rap than one of its most prolific DJs (and producers), Just Blaze, whose experiences span nearly the breadth of hip-hop’s history? His memory for all things hip-hop is darn near photographic – or should I say “phonographic” (sorry) – and he’s got an ear for details that makes picking his brain a treasure hunt that always bears fruit.
“This is an art form that is truly organic, truly natural,” he says via Zoom. “It came from a place of struggle, as do many things in our community. And for something that we created from a place of struggle and not having, for it to be as lucrative… The money aspect is great, but to be as lucrative, but also just as influential, as it has become worldwide, it’s truly an astonishing thing to see.”
Just’s earliest memories of hip-hop stem all the way back to the early ‘80s when the first rap records were first finding their way to radio stations throughout the Tri-State area. The New Jersey-bred producer fell in love at first listen. “I remember my younger days when I was a literal kid, like six, seven years old, and discovering this music, only to be told by my elders, ‘Well, when we were kids, we thought Motown was going to last forever. And trust me, in 10 years it’ll be something else.” And that was 40 years ago, and we’re still here and stronger than ever and more powerful than ever.
But obviously, hip-hop has changed a lot in the decades since. Where once, all you needed was a four-track drum machine and a microphone, there’s a lot more technology involved in crafting a hit. While Sylvia Robinson brought in a session band to replay the riff from Chic’s “Good Times” on “Rapper’s Delight,” today’s producers have a wide array of samples to choose from, pulling liberally from any genre that strikes their fancy. Whether breakbeats or 808s, jazz samples, or pre-produced loops, there is any number of permutations the music can take.
Likewise, rappers themselves look vastly different from their forebears. Adidas tracksuits are a thing of the past; now, you might see a rapper from Atlanta decked out like a rock star, or one from Compton dressed like a vision of the far future. “Everything that’s old will be new again, everything that’s new will eventually get old,” Just says of the rapid evolution. “The first round of records were kind of emulations or recreations of what was happening in the parks. But then you enter that second generation of it being put on record, starting with ‘The Message’ or whatever. And then you fast-forward only three years later, two, three years later, and it’s Run DMC. All black. It looked like dudes from the streets as opposed to the previous generation that looked like dudes dressing like P-Funk.”
When he looks at where hip-hop is now, he very much recognizes tinges of records that he had a hand in himself. “Over the past two years, I’ve cleared so many samples of my records from the early 2000s,” he beams. “There’s kids rhyming over flips of Fabolous’ ‘Can’t Let You Go.’ There’s kids rhyming off of [Cam’ron’s] “Oh Boy.” I shouldn’t call them kids respectfully, but younger people rhyming off of records that I created in the early 2000s. You got R&B records that are flipping all the R&B records from the late ‘90s and early 2000s as well. So it’s all a cycle, right?”
And despite the new technologies that bring the music to the audience, he still sees a place for the original purveyors of the sound, the DJs. While Spotify rolls out algorithmic playlists and TikTok presages the breakaway hits of the future, Just Blaze knows that there’s just no replacing the living, breathing, person behind the turntables. Sometimes, someone just has to be able to feel the vibe.
“It started out where the DJ was at the forefront,” he recalls. “The emcees were kind of just the backup. They kept the party going. And those routines evolved to eventually provide the early building blocks for songs. Over time, that focus changed in certain genres. So obviously in hip hop, the focus remained on or started to shift towards the emcee for various reasons that are too long to get into here.”
“I look at other genres that have spawned out of similar traditions that hip-hop did, like house music today, which kind of traveled a similar parallel to hip-hop in terms of where it came from. It came from a place of struggle and not having much. A lot of times in that world, the DJ’s still the star of the show. You can have a number one record in the world, nobody knows who the singer is. They know who the producer/DJ was.”
But, he says, “You can never completely take the DJ out of the equation because hip-hop is still very much a street-level culture in many ways. Even though radio plays a different role than it did before the advent of streaming, many records were broken on the radio by DJs. A lot of records still break in the club. Who was running the club? DJs. Remove the DJ from the equation, a lot of these records don’t get the legs that they end up with to allow them to enjoy success…. You could never fully remove the DJ from the equation because like I said, it starts with the DJ.”
So, where does hip-hop go in the next 50 years? It’s proven its staying power. It’s driven ad campaigns, and fashion trends, and even formed the innovative backbone of many industries like tech – just look at AI, NFTs, streaming, and virtual rappers. Just, despite being a fountain of insight, doesn’t want to hazard a guess and end up looking like the elders who told him that hip-hop was just a fad.
“I’m not going to purport to know where hip hop goes in 50 years,” he demurs. “What I will say is, what I hope to see is a return to a bit more of balance. I have nothing against the music that the younger generation is making because I’m cognizant that I’m not the target audience. And one thing that I strongly dislike is when folks from previous generations, whether they be consumers or creators, try to downplay the music that the younger generations are making. It’s like, this music isn’t for you.”
Like a health-conscious person eating more nutritious food, getting more rest, and still occasionally indulging in a sweet treat, the folks who make up this culture are going to need to be more intentional about their choices. “I would like to see a return to balance when you could hear in one day, or in a two-hour span whether it was on TV or on the radio, you might catch Public Enemy, X-Clan, MC Hammer, De La Soul, Pharcyde, some local groups that were making noise,” Just advocates. “You would catch all that and then still hear the super popular… You might still catch Vanilla Ice on the radio too, for better or worse.”
This, he posits, is the key to ensuring that hip-hop sees its 100 birthday, which isn’t as far away as it might seem. After all, 1979 turned out to not be all that long ago. Time flies when you’re having fun – and at its core, that’s what hip-hop is all about. Happy birthday to the culture – and many more.
The first reviews for John Wick: Chapter 4 are rolling, and critics are here for the longest, most elaborate installment yet in the high-octane action series starring Keanu Reeves as the titular assassin.
Picking up after the events of John Wick: Parabellum, the film sends Reeves on another gun-ballet romp as he methodically shoots and punches his way through another brutal gauntlet of opponents, including the ultimate badass, Donnie Yen. Based on early reviews, Chapter 4 is everything you want a John Wick movie to be and more.
I do like the John Wick movies, but I’ve never really loved a John Wick movie before. I have entered and exited movie theaters three times in the past to experience the adventures of John Wick and have felt some form of, “yeah that was fun,” every time. There’s something different about John Wick: Chapter 4. It’s still a great time, but director Chad Stahelski is going for something more here. It reminded me a bit of the Man with No Name movies and how those culminate in the all-time classic The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is relentlessly violent. It just does not stop. It bludgeons you like the endless array of assassins bludgeoning its hero. It is so incessantly, expensively savage, it may well be the end of civilisation.
John Wick: Chapter 4 … does not let a good concept rest; at 169 minutes, it is by far the longest installment to date, and easily the most relentless. As a moviegoing experience, it is also patently ridiculous and mostly very fun: the platonic ideal of a globe-hopping meatbag action thriller taken to its gloriously illogical extreme.
The creatives behind the John Wick franchise must lose sleep at night thinking how they can outdo themselves with each new installment. If so, it makes a strong case for insomnia, since “John Wick: Chapter 4” outdoes its formidable predecessors in nearly every respect. Bigger, badder, bolder, longer, and featuring nearly more spectacular set pieces than one movie can comfortably handle, this epic action film practically redefines the stakes.
Reeves truly continues to impress, seemingly getting better at this stuff with each franchise (following four Matrix films where he honed his initial skills). His characters are men of few words, but who needs a lot of dialogue anyway? The casting in this one with two giants of the genre Yen and Sanada really takes the series to new levels, and Skarsgard seems to be having a swell time playing a lethal guy we love to hate. Shout-out as well to new cast member Shamier Anderson as The Tracker, a killer with a faithful Belgian Malinois (this series does seem to employ a lot of dogs) that not only is a faithful companion but also pretty fearsome when the situation calls for it.
Chapter 4 firmly cements John Wick as standing shoulder to shoulder with The Matrix’s Neo as part of Keanu Reeves’ nearly unparalleled action hero lineup. The raw-nerved rage of the freshly widowed Wick that wowed in the original movie has progressed into something even more deadly: resolve and focus. Reeves conveys these qualities with practiced restraint, so complete here that the occasional one-liners or subtly raised eyebrow come off as authentic to the character and not beholden to representing any cliches of the genre… sometimes if you bake your cake well enough, you get to eat it, too.
It has a story that, if it were told more briskly, could fit into an 83-minute potboiler that you might have seen in a grindhouse in 1977. Yet the way that Chad Stahelski, the series’ stuntman-turned-director, has staged it, full of hushed, portentous, ritualistic verbal showdowns that are meant to be hypnotic as they build up to each new action scene, “Chapter 4” feels like the first “John Wick” movie that wants to be a Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western. It’s like Sergio Leone crossed with John Woo as seen in Times Square.
John Wick: Chapter 4 borders on being too much of a good thing—both in the sense that it’s the fourth installment of a series that could have easily ended after its first, and with regards to its gargantuan 169-minute runtime. Fortunately, more turns out to be just about right in this case, with the film offering up such an onslaught of brutal, breakneck action that it’s easy to forgive its less compelling narrative excesses. Designed as a culmination as much as a continuation, it may not be consistent enough to rank as the franchise’s finest, but when it gets going, it cooks with gas.
On Sunday (March 12), Lady Gaga did not walk away from the Oscars with the award for Best Original Song, but her surprise performance of the nominated track “Hold My Hand” was the talk amongst the viewing audience. When the singer arrived at the champagne carpet, she was dressed in a ’90s-inspired tailored black extreme drop waist Versace gown. The glamour continued as Gaga’s makeup was equally as bold.
However, once the singer took the stage to perform the song from Top Gun: Maverick, she went bare-faced and modestly dressed in a pair of ripped dark denim jeans and a plain t-shirt. This switch-up left fans confused, questioning if the set was filmed in advance. But thanks to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the ceremony’s executive producers, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, more details have emerged.
When asked about Gaga’s decision to perform after they previously announced that she would be, Kirshner said, “Honestly, and this is not to pat ourselves on the back, because we’re very bad at that, but we’ve built up trust in the relationship with Gaga over the years — I did the Super Bowl with her and Glenn has done many awards shows with her, including the ‘Shallow’ performance on the Oscars.”
As for her decision to forgo a lavish set design and muted onstage appearance, Kirshner said, “She really wanted to do something. She honestly was shooting her movie [the Joker sequel] — there was no trickery involved. And Thursday, at four-something, we got a text that she wanted to try something, didn’t have time to put together a big performance, but wanted it to be raw and for people to see the real Gaga, and, with a voice like that, you don’t need much more than that.”
Watch Lady Gaga’s full performance of “Hold My Hand” below.
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