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(Mega spoilers for The Boys will be found below.)

Are you still breathing after fourth season finale of The Boys? Everything has suddenly gone down hill for the vigilantes, and through no victory of his own, Homelander is now the de facto U.S. leader after the rapid presidential ascendance of the Speaker of the House, who pledged his allegiance to Homie of the Seven (thanks to Sister Sage). Homelander then declared martial law and deputized Supes to round up anybody who opposes them.

This, of course, is very bad for The Boys group, and in light of certain current events, Amazon/Sony Pictures TV issued a statement including, “The Boys is a fictitious series that was filmed in 2023, and any scene or plotline similarities to these real-world events are coincidental and unintentional. Amazon, Sony Pictures Television and the producers of The Boys reject, in the strongest terms, real-world violence of any kind.”

With that said, the episode was formerly titled “Assassination Run” but has since been changed to merely “Season 4 Finale.” Additionally, the Shifter’s assassination plot did get thwarted when Starlight escaped captivity. Butcher then showed up — Suped and tentacle’d to the gills — and ripped Victoria Neumann in half, followed by Sister Sage releasing a tape that took Robert Singer out of the White House. And so, Homelander is now in charge with most of the vigilantes taken into custody in the episode’s final moments. Now it’s time to rank where the characters ended up this season.

Unranked: Soldier Boy

Not much to work with here, but a credits scene set the stage for a Soldier Boy return. In response, Homelander appeared to grow emotional (oh boy), and also, there is the promise of seeing Jensen Ackles onscreen again.

18. Victoria Neumann

Cons: Began the season with Butcher sending her a disgusting “selfie.” Ended the season with Butcher tearing her in half after she was exposed to the world as a VP Supe. Not great. It’s officially over for her.

Pros: Presumably left a lasting legacy in her daughter, who might be back.

14-17. The Boys: MM, Frenchie, Kimiko & Hughie, At Least

Cons: Man, I hate rounding these characters up together because they deserve more (Butcher will come later), but their fate is a collective clusterf*ck, since they were rounded up and imprisoned. MM got a shoulder tap and a knockout from Love Sausage, Frenchie received a whisper from Cate, and Kimiko was strong-armed by Sam. Also, she overcame her trauma-induced muteness in the most heartbreaking way possible:

As for Hughie, god. The poor guy lost his father, was violated in Tek Knight’s lair, and was tricked into getting engaged to the Shifter disguised as Annie January. Prison might sound like a relief in comparison (for a few moments).

Pros: The group is screwed, but potential saviors exist out there.

13. Deep

Cons: Killed his new octopus girlfriend portrayed by Tilda F*cking Swinton before being rejected by Sage. Got kicked in the crotch (a long time coming) by Starlight and couldn’t successfully fight a woman.

Pros: Still alive because he knows how to bend the knee (literally).

12. Ashley

Cons: Mainlined Compound V, which did not go well, on a whim after being targeted for death by the remaining members of the Seven.

Pros: Perhaps she can Hulk Out while doing the dominatrix thing for a living? She’d surely enjoy that.

11. Starlight

Cons: Her boyfriend got engaged to a fake Annie January, and they slept together, well, under 20 times while the real Annie was imprisoned. She forgave said boyfriend, yet he’s now been rounded up for an internment camp.

Pros: Reactivated her powers in time to fly away when Cindy appeared out of nowhere to drop a boat on a highway. Now, it’s up to Annie to rescue The Boys, but she might find assistance from A-Train. Ashley, too? Maybe.

10. Black Noir 2.0

Cons: Killed the wrong Ashley after catching some serious air. Looks badass but isn’t nearly as interesting as a talking version of the character. Also, not too bright!

Pros: Actually managed to not be killed by Homelander this season.

9. Firecracker

Cons: Probably destroyed her long-term health by taking drugs to lactate for Homelander and still got ditched.

Pros: Acted as the forward-facing member of the Seven to celebrate Homelander’s victory. That’s probably all that she really wanted.

8. A-Train

Cons: Had an unlikely yet successful redemption arc. Must now hide forever. Yet he will probably get pulled back into the action to help rescue The Boys.

Pros: At least he got away alive and removed his tracker. Good for him.

5-7. Sam, Cate & Cindy

Pros: Got queued up for the next season of Gen V. Heck, maybe it’s time to send Cindy to college, too.

Cons: Not seeing any at the moment. These pro-Homelander Supes haven’t hit the skids with him (yet).

4. Ryan

Pros: At this point, Ryan might be the only option to kill Homelander. Although he went to the dark side in this season finale, it seems likely that he will switch sides again in the fifth season. Also, he is now (physically) free, although nobody could condone how he ended up that way.

Cons: Yup, he’s gonna have to kill his father.

3: Billy Butcher

Pros: Snagged the Supe virus, and he’s now in the wind, presumably aiming to commit Supe genocide and avenge Becca. (Leave A-Train out of this, man.) Even though these are “pros” for him, Butcher has now fully surrendered to the tentacled parasite inside of him and the devil on his shoulder. In other words, the Butcher vs. Homie fight now adds up to super villain against super villain.

Cons: That wicked brain tumor means that he’s still talking to Joe Kessler in this show’s take on Fight Club. That feels like the worst self-punishment, even if (physically speaking) Butcher surfaced with power.

2. Homelander

Pros: He’s apparently king of the free world now and still doing his best to fill that hole in his soul. That will never happen, but he did receive a few seconds of satisfaction by visiting his “home” lab and going on a murder spree.

Cons: This show cannot end without Homelander’s death.

1: Sister Sage

Cons: As prisoner of her own mind, she still can’t enjoy life without a lobotomy.

Pros: She’s on top of the world right now and might be the only living being with any strategic pull over Homelander. Hell, he owes her beyond any measure at this point because he would otherwise still be sobbing on the floor. Yes, she’s been doing massively evil deeds (for her own entertainment), but there’s always a chance that she could “Caesar” Homelander in the end.

‘The Boys’ fourth season can be streamed on Prime Video/Amazon.

Chappell Roan rolled through The Comment Section With Drew Afualo and opened up about the various ways her life is unrecognizable post-fame, especially recently after the release of “Good Luck, Babe!.”

She admitted she misses being able to do “drugs in public” and “making out with someone at the bar” without worrying about everyone watching her every move. Roan’s comments came across as lighthearted because her demeanor is so delightful, but her sentiment about the weight of fame got even heavier.

“People have started to be freaks,” Roan said, genuine disappointment palpable in her voice. “They follow me and know where my parents live and where my sister works — all this weird sh*t. I’m just like, this is the time when, a few years ago, that I said if [there were] stalker vibes or family was in danger is when I would quit. And we’re there. We’re there!”

The Missouri native continued, “I’m just kind of battle of — I’ve pumped the brakes on, honestly, anything to make me more known. It’s kind of a forest fire right now. I’m not trying to go do a bunch of sh*t.”

Listen to the full episode of The Comment Section With Drew Afualo here.

Today is, in a way, Donald Glover‘s last day as Childish Gambino. Bando Stone & The New World, which comes out on Friday, July 19, is being billed as Glover’s final album with the Wu-Tang Clan name generator-assisted moniker he’s had since the late 2000s. While appearing on Hot Ones, the Emmy-nominated Mr. And Mrs. Smith star discussed his decision to retire the name.

“I always knew like Childish Gambino was like a character, on some level I wanted it to end. I feel like the Childish Gambino character is almost like the boss from The Office,” he said, referring to Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell. “It’s like yeah, that worked 10 years ago. It’s like oh, it’s a little sad but it’s also like wow, the cycle kind of continues, which is great I think.”

It’s an understandable decision from Glover. Would you want to be associated with something you did in 2008? Probably not.

Later in the Hot Ones interview, Glover talked about the unlikely legacy of the lemon pepper wet wings on Atlanta. “When we did Atlanta and we had the joke about the lemon pepper wet… it was literally just like a silly joke,” he said. “I didn’t know culturally that it would take on that kind of life or that people even cared that much, but that was the whole Atlanta experience to be honest, like to make that. It was a really good lesson in not worrying about the destination and just enjoying the journey really.”

Bando Stone & The New World is out 7/19 via RCA Records. Find more information here.

The best thing I can say about Dynasty Mode in EA Sports College Football 25 doubles as the best thing that I can say about the game itself. Yes, it feels familiar. Yes, there are tons of ways that it feels like an extension of the EA Sports NCAA Football series that went away more than a decade ago. And yes, there are little things about this game mode that make it feel like you’re playing something new and fresh.

You ever go a long time without going to a restaurant, and in that time, they hire a new chef who prepares everything mostly the same? But you notice that things are just a little bit different, and for that reason, you feel like you’re getting a different (and better) experience from the one that you remember? That, essentially, is what Dynasty Mode in the newest college football release from EA Sports is like, and while it’s not perfect, you can’t help but love it if you are someone who has spent the last 11 years wondering when the heck you’re getting a new college football release.

Right after the game dropped, we published a few initial thoughts on Dynasty Mode, which is the backbone of the entire game. Today, we’re going to go in depth with the various elements that make up the mode, and identify what we like, dislike, and what we’d like changed and tweaked going forward.

1. The Archetypes

How do you want your coach to run his program? My favorite element of Dynasty Mode is how you can shape your coach by picking one of three archetypes. They are:

1. Tactician: “Puts players in position to succeed on gameday”
2. Recruiter: “Good at talent acquisition”
3. Motivator: “Culture setter who is strong in player development”

It’s like any other skill-based video game, where you get XP that leads to digital currency that lets you build out your coach’s abilities. Within each of those, you have the initial level and a secondary level that you unlock by building out your skill tree (spend 50 coins within each archetype) and by doing an archetype-specific challenge, whether that’s have a number of players drafted, win a number of top 25 games, or sigh top 5 recruiting classes. Those, respectively, are Scheme Guru, Elite Recruiter, and Master Motivator.

There are, additionally, three other archetypes you can make available for purchase:

1. Talent Developer, by having two players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft
2. Architect, by winning four rivalry games
3. Strategist, by winning four bowl games

If you do really well, you can get the opportunity to unlock the ability to get the Program Builder archetype by winning five Playoff games. And if you do so well that you win a pair of national titles, you can get the CEO archetype.

All of these are designed to give you a small but notable leg up. A Tactician, for example, can boost the skills for his players at each individual position, while a Recruiter can make it easier to scout and recruit each individual position, or a Motivator can do things like help players continue to stay hot through timeouts or get a boost in offseason training. It’s all up to you how you want to approach your coach’s archetype — do you want to kill it on the recruiting trail but not be as good in-game? Or do you want to have less influence over what happens on the recruiting trail because you want your current players to perform at the highest possible level?

I will say, I decided to go down the Tactician path, and recruiting can be brutal if you don’t have that extra support — your hours during the week are so limited, and being able to cut down on something like how long it takes to recruit a position is a big help. Having said that, once the games started, my players were basically performing at as high of a level as they could because I maxed out what I could. My approach was not the end all, be all approach, and as I run through Dynasty Mode again, I’ll 100 percent go down different avenues. And the fact that you can experience the mode in so many different ways is legitimately one of the coolest things about Dynasty this time around.

2. The Games

They’re pretty good! I won’t dive into gameplay, as you’ve probably already read gameplay reviews of CFB 25, but there are two things I’ll mention. Both came up in my early Dynasty Mode takeaways, and the first is a small critique: Even if you are a coordinator, you can control both sides of the ball. It’s up to you if you think that’s a good thing, but I think if you take an OC job, you should not be calling defensive plays, and if you take a DC job, you should not be calling offensive plays. Now, you can toggle this yourself before each game and play just offense or defense, but I don’t think it should even be an option — if for no other reason than to provide real differentiation between the jobs. This also applies to recruiting, which we’ll get to in a second.

The other is that EA Sports wanted to make your life hell if you start at a small school. This isn’t a bad thing in the slightest, I quite like that I had to get better at the game — at understanding how to throw and kick the ball, at seeing defenses, and knowing when to take risks and when to let loose — because I was using a smaller school going up against the big boys. If you take over a MAC school, you should go get your ass kicked if you play Ohio State in the Horseshoe, for example. Your audibles are wrong, your hot routes aren’t correct, you have coverage busts left and right. It’s reminiscent of, well, what happens when these teams play in real life, and I think it’s a nice touch. I hated every second of it, but I appreciated it.

3. Recruiting

I am a big fan of just how intense recruiting is in the game. It does feel just enough like recruiting in the NCAA series, where you have to scout the kid as part of your process of recruiting them. The general way it works: You have a certain number of hours in a week to divvy up among all of your recruiting responsibilities. After you extend a scholarship offer to a kid — which you can do before or after you scout them and determine just how good they are (recruits either get a green gem to indicate they’re better than their ranking, a red gem to indicate they are not, or nothing) — you are in control of how you want to approach their recruitment.

You can learn about them with one of four scouting methods: Search Social Media (5 hours a week), DM the Player (10 hours), Contact Friends and Family (25 hours), or Send the House (50 hours). This lets you know about their interest in 14 categories:

Academic Prestige
Athletic Facilities
Brand Exposure
Campus Lifestyle
Championship Contender
Coach Stability
Coach Prestige
Conference Prestige
Playing Time
Pro Potential
Playing Style
Proximity To Home
Program Tradition
Stadium Atmosphere

Recruits go from an open recruitment, to a Top 8, to a Top 5, to a Top 3. Once you get in the Top 5, you can bring them on a visit, where you choose which category you want to emphasize. And of course, you can try to Soft Sell (20 hours) or Hard Sell (40 hours) on pitches (which are set combinations of three categories), with the understanding that this could backfire. You can also try to Sway (30 hours) them on a category actually being more important than they previously thought to better align with your school’s strengths.

There have been people who mentioned that you can swoop in and get a 4 or 5-star kid at a lesser school if you wait long enough and give them a scholarship offer. In my experience, I did not get to do that — EA mentioned that might be fixed in its first patch after the game is released, so perhaps I just got unlucky. The much bigger problem, in my experience, was one of bugs in the game where I could not use recruiting hours on, say, trying to Soft Sell a recruit for no reason. Right before I typed this out, I tried to use 20 of my 95 hours this week to Soft Sell one kid on my board, but got told I don’t have enough hours for that. This was a major reason why I only had four kids signed at Early National Signing Day. More than anything, that was my big frustration with recruiting, and hopefully it gets patched soon, because it straight up keeps you from being able to sell recruits on your program.

Getting locked out on some recruits is also something you’ll have to get used to, and is something that might need some tweaking from EA. Basically, this manifests in two ways: The easy one is recruits make their Top Whatever and you’re not in it. The other: Some recruits decide what singular category is most important to them, and if you do not meet the bar, you’re locked out. That’s fine, but I would continue to be locked out on kids where I was their No. 1 school, and would remain so throughout the process, which feels strange — why are recruits even putting you that high on your list? Anyway, be warned of that.

My final recruiting critique: You are tasked with putting together an entire recruiting class. It’s a bit strange to be a coordinator and have to recruit on both sides of the ball, but there isn’t an alternative as opposed to the game control selection options.

4. Coach Carousel

It’s fun, and essentially what it sounds like. At the end of the season, jobs open up, and you have to go through whichever ones end up getting offered to you. For me, after one year as an alright offensive coordinator at Akron, I got an offer for a head coach job, turned it down, simulated a week, and got a head coach offer at Southern Mississippi, which I took.

From there, you build out a staff. If you’re a Tactician, do you want to lean even farther into that bit and have blind spots on your staff as Motivators and Recruiters? Or you want to try and compensate for the stuff you don’t do especially well? I went down the route of a Tactician head coach with a Master Motivator offensive coordinator (with less prestige, but some good recruiting chops) and a Motivator defensive coordinator (with more prestige and similar recruiting ability). You also adopt the team’s entire recruiting class and recruiting board, which you get the chance to tinker with a bit once it’s transfer portal time.

5. Transfer Portal and Encourage Transfers

As the season goes on, you get a sense for which kids will and will not enter the transfer portal at the end of the year. And once you get through the coaching carousel, you see which kids hop into the portal and why, citing things like Playing Time and Playing Style. As an added bonus, you are told how likely it is that you can persuade them to change their mind.

And then, it comes time to play the portal game. It’s the same thing that you do with recruiting, although in a fun twist, you get to go after both uncommitted kids and transfers as you try to build out your roster. It’s up to you to determine what you’re going to prioritize — do you want the immediate boost of more ready-made transfers, or do you want to continue to try and build up your program with high schoolers? There’s no right or wrong answer here, and it’s probably pretty closely tied to how badly you want to stay at your current job.

While it’s not a portal thing, you can, uh, let some kids know that their services are not needed before the season begins. I did not have to do that because my roster was not too big for the roster limit of 85 players, but if you decide you want to trim some fat — say, a junior fullback who is a 61 overall — you can nudge them in that direction.

6. Custom Conferences and Schedules

At the end of every year, you can tweak which team goes into which conference. This wasn’t a big priority of mine, so I didn’t fiddle around with it too much, but I was able to put Vanderbilt in the AAC, because why not? You can also trade schools between conferences, which is what happened when I then took Vanderbilt and put them back in the SEC, in exchange for Alabama going to the American. (I put Bama back, don’t worry.) Again, this wasn’t a huge priority of mine as I went through Dynasty Mode, but I’m sure if you wanna see what, say, Florida State and Clemson would look like in the SEC, you could do that very easily. You can also fiddle with the conference rules: Whether or not there are divisions (and, if you so choose, their names, so I immediately made the Big Ten the Leaders and Legends again), how many conference games there are, if there is a conference championship game, where it’s located, and what criteria is used to pick the CCG participants.

And of course, before the year ends, you get to build out your schedule — well, your non-conference schedule. It’s about as straightforward as anything, as you can pick between every FBS team (so long as they have an opening) or a collection of generic FCS teams.

7. Overall?

I love Dynasty Mode. In the previous version of this series, I probably sunk more time into that than I did anything else. That was not just the case for NCAA Football, as I spent more time with Dynasty Mode than I did any other game mode in any other video game.

I say all that to say: This is exactly what I wanted Dynasty Mode to be in the new college football video game. Like, to a tee. It scratches the itch that I haven’t been able to scratch in 11 years, all while feeling like a new and unique video game. It’s to the point that I haven’t even taken any other game mode for a spin, because I have been sinking all of my time into Dynasty Mode. If you’re on the fence about getting this game, Dynasty alone is going to make it worth the investment. Why are you still reading this? Go buy the game now and get started.

Tom Cruise has been desperately trying to get each and every person on the planet to a movie theater for years by jumping out of planes and doing way too much in the name of cinema. But it turns out that all theaters needed was a vessel for some overly priced popcorn. This could have saved Cruise a lot of time and energy.

The next popcorn bucket to hit the market will be a giant Xenomorph head to celebrate Alien: Romulus. The bucket will be available at certain Cinemark locations, though the price is TBD. Luckily, the bucket does not include those high-pitched screaming sound effects that signal when you are about to die.

It’s not really a bucket so much as a hollowed-out head which seems logistically challenging to eat effectively in a dark and crowded movie theater. Sure, they could have made it a Xenomorph egg, which would have been the optimal shape for a container, but that would be too convenient. You need to sit through the entire 120-minute movie trying to balance the bucket on your lap. Good luck.

This popcorn bucket trend seemingly began when with the infamous Dune popcorn bucket back in March. After going viral, it became apparent that every new movie needs a collectible popcorn bucket because who doesn’t want a decapitated Garfield head lying around their house?

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16.

Post Malone picked up the blue Bud Light cowboy hat, one unseen fan’s token of appreciation chucked onto the stage. He coolly placed it on his head without skipping a beat while singing “I Had Some Help” — his and Morgan Wallen’s omnipresent Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper from Post’s forthcoming F-1 Trillion country album. Malone moved so seamlessly that it could have passed as rehearsed choreography. But nothing about Post Malone is calculated. That’s why 1,400 people flocked to his Bud Light-sponsored A Night In Nashville concert at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday night, July 16.

Some slept overnight outside of the venue, some camped out in miniature pools, and some flew from Denmark. All of them sought proximity to Post Malone’s relentless authenticity.

Before the show, Lori Sutton unexpectedly met Malone backstage. Her husband, the Grammy-winning bluegrass/country acoustic guitarist and Nashville session musician Bryan Sutton, played on F-1 Trillion and strummed behind him at Marathon Music Works. Malone’s perpetual humility has impressed Lori. “I just told him, ‘You’re a joyful ray of sunshine,’” she said of their backstage interaction. “Because he is!”

One fan named Jordan recalled discovering Malone as Justin Bieber’s opening act on the 2016 Purpose World Tour — back when Malone’s disruptive Soundcloud rap/trap 2015 debut “White Iverson” was his only mainstream song. She and her friend, who had won tickets from Bud Light’s A Night In Nashville contest, cited Malone’s genuine demeanor as the crux of their longstanding fandom. His first country album release on August 16 will just be icing on the cake. “It’s the cool thing for artists to try to go country right now, but his album will be the one that sticks,” Jordan said.

“Posty!” chants broke out when the lights cut out, and the cheers amplified when Malone casually jaunted on stage, waved, and perched on his chair behind a cooler. The nine-time-diamond-certified star opened with a mesmerizing arrangement of the 21 Savage-assisted “Rockstar,” his first of six Hot 100 No. 1 hits. The rest of his set reasserted that no one so endearingly embodies star power quite like Post Malone, whether it be at the world’s largest festivals or in a setting as intimate as this. (It does not hurt that “ladies and gentlemen,” “yes, ma’am,” or “y’all” occupy a high percentage of his sentences.)

Malone donned a Chateau Marmont camouflage trucker hat, tucked-in Western shirt, carpenter jeans, and cowboy boots. He intermittently took drags from the cigarette affixed to his fingers and initiated a toast with his audience by raising his beer. Malone’s appeal has never been bound to genre, though everything he touches turns to pop — I can confirm that Gwen Stefani danced and fist-pumped to Malone and Blake Shelton’s country duet “Pour Me A Drink” with equal fervency as to Malone’s past crossover staples “Sunflower” and “Circles” — because his signature genre-blending has always resonated as a natural extension of his heart.

After Malone welcomed Blake Shelton to the stage, Shelton proclaimed, “It’s a Post Malone world we’re livin’ in!” before they launched into “Pour Me A Drink” and Shelton’s 2004 Billboard Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Some Beach.” Shelton posed an indisputable claim, but Malone still thoughtfully redirected admiration toward Shelton and his following guests.

Malone also welcomed Joe Nichols, Sierra Ferrell (“possibly the best singer I’ve ever heard in my entire f*cking life”), and HARDY (“one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever met”). He lauded Nichols for “one of the best-written songs” he’d ever heard and enjoyed the hell out of performing Nichols’ 2002 chart-topper “Brokenheartsville.” He played unreleased F-1 Trillion tracks “Never Love You Again” and “Would You Hide My Gun” with Ferrell and HARDY, respectively. He politely, almost sheepishly, asked whether they’d stick around to rip through covers of “Jackson” and “Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die).”

To Lori Sutton’s point, Malone emanated joy throughout the night, even while debuting the sentimental ballad “Yours” dedicated to his two-year-old daughter and foreshadowing how he’ll feel on her wedding day. But singing those classic country covers left him beaming like he was Austin Post again.

Post spent the bulk of his adolescence in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, Texas. His father, Richard Post, told CBS Texas that Post often played country covers at Napoli’s Italian Café in high school. The lore truly began when a baby-faced, tattoo-free Post wearing an American flag-print collared shirt covered “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and posted it to YouTube under Austin Richard in October 2013.

F-1 Trillion has been framed as Malone’s “pivot” or “transition” into country. That language feels much too abrupt. They say someone’s thirties return them to their formative passions with renewed perspective, and that seemed to play on his mind at Marathon Music Works.

“As of July 4, I’m 29 years old,” Malone told his crowd. “I’ve been doing this sh*t for just about ten years, and I’ll never forget [that] at the beginning, everyone had so much to say. Everyone called me a one-hit wonder — had nothin’ nice to say about me. I just wanted to say thank you to each and every single one of y’all tonight for coming out. Thank you for your love, and thank you for your support over all of these years, ladies and gentlemen.”

Malone paused, giving the impression that he really wanted to get this next part right. He took one last drag from his cigarette and stubbed it out.

“I know that there might be some people out there that might not feel as supported and as loved as you actually are,” he continued. “You are loved more than you f*ckin’ know, ladies and gentlemen. I know it gets f*ckin’ hard, and I know it gets f*ckin’ rough. I just wanted to say I love you so f*ckin’ much. If you ever see anyone that’s going through a hard time, never be scared to reach out and say, ‘Hey, man, I f*ckin’ love you’ and give ’em a big-ass hug. Do whatever the f*ck you want to do in this life and in this world. Express yourself and just be yourself because there’s no one on this planet that’s cooler than who the f*ck you are.”

Malone’s sentiment lingered as he segued into “Congratulations,” his earnestly self-aggrandizing Stoney anthem featuring Quavo. His words held weight because he spoke from experience. He knows the unique freedom found only internally — away from fleeting trend or external pressure. Post Malone trusts what he loves, from beer pong and Raising Cane’s to the Dallas Cowboys and perhaps every human being he encounters. Everybody, including my jealous Uber driver, adores Post Malone, so why wouldn’t they follow him into country? He was at home in Nashville, the heart of country music, because he’s at home within himself.

During Malone’s “I Had Some Help” grand finale, he hopped atop a stack of speakers, shimmied in uninhibited bliss, and waved at his fans in the front row. It was all he could do to wait until the song’s end to jump down to the floor and embrace them. Malone had technically fulfilled his obligation, but that’s not how he operates. He spent the next hour patiently walking down the entire front row to pose for photos, sign cowboy hats (and cowboy boots, bare skin, homemade posters), and passed on even more sincere encouragement. As such, he confirmed the up-close Post Malone they were meeting matched the Post Malone they’d believed they knew from afar.

One Marathon Music Works employee jokingly stated that Malone had a hard out and wondered how long it would be before she could go home. Usually, she said, artists rolling through the venue don’t spend this much time with fans afterward. “He’s just so nice,” she said. All available evidence from Marathon Music Works suggests that, if it were up to him, Post Malone would have cracked open his fifth Bud Light, lit another cigarette, and connected with each person into the early hours of the morning. Fortunately, they can always find him in the music.

Uproxx was hosted for this event by Bud Light. However, Bud Light did not review or approve this story. You can learn more about the Uproxx Press Trip policy here. Check out a exclusive images from the event below.

Each week our staff of film and television experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

15. Presumed Innocent (Apple TV Plus)

Presumed Innocent is guilty… of having an all-star collection of talent! Created by David E. Kelley and produced by Gracie Abrams‘ somewhat famous father, the legal thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a chief deputy prosecutor who is suspected of murder. Per Apple TV Plus: “The series explores obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.” Fun fact: Gyllenhaal’s character was played by Harrison Ford in the 1990 movie of the same name.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

14. House of the Dragon (Max)

Before House of the Dragon premiered, I was concerned that it would be nothing more than a shameless extension of the Game of Thrones brand. A DLC to check out but not engage with. Those fears have been unfounded. House of the Dragon quickly proved itself a worthy successor to Thrones (which, disappointing finale aside, is still one of the best shows of the 2010s). It exists on its own terms; it’s possible to enjoy the high-budget soap opera without prior knowledge of Westeros. House of the Dragon won’t be the monoculture behemoth that Game of Thrones was. No show will anymore. But it doesn’t need to be. House of the Dragon is doing just fine out of Game of Thrones’ dragon-shaped shadow (you can read our review here).

Watch it on Max

13. The Boys (Prime Video)

We will stay short and not-so-sweet with random thoughts that I had while absorbing the entire season a few days ago. First, here’s a book-end approach:

– The first thought I had when the premiere-episode credits rolled: “Well, I’ve never seen that body part on a TV show before now.”

– And when the season-finale credits rolled: “I feel utterly destroyed. And invigorated. And destroyed. God, I love TV” (you can read our full review here).

Watch it on Prime Video

12. Problemista (Max)

If you write “Papyrus,” you can get Tilda Swinton to be in your first movie, too. Problemista stars writer and director Julio Torres as Alejandro, “an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream,” according to the A24 plot synopsis. Would you believe Tilda plays the erratic outcast? You would? Actually, yeah, that makes sense.

Watch it on Max

11. My Lady Jane (Prime Video)

Meet your summer TV obsession. My Lady Jane is a “radical retelling” of the life of Lady Jane Grey, who was the queen of England for nine days in 1553. She was executed soon after. But what if none of that happened? My Lady Jane, which stars Emily Bader in the title role, is “an epic tale of true love and high adventure, where the damsel in distress saves herself, her true love, and then the Kingdom.” Also, shape shifters (with some Buffy thrown in there, too).

Watch it on Prime Video

10. The Bear (Hulu)

The most stressful show on television is back. The Bear season 3 begins soon after the events of the season 2 finale, with Carmy, Syd, Richie, Natalie, various Faks, and the rest of the gang getting ready to open a new fine-dining restaurant. There is yelling (SO much yelling), food porn, and yes, Taylor Swift songs. Gorge on the 10-episode season all at once, or savior it over the course of a few weeks. There’s no wrong way to enjoy The Bear.

Watch it on Hulu

9. The Imaginary (Netflix)

Studio Ponoc’s affectionately animated The Imaginary is about a young girl named Amanada and her make-believe friend, Rudger. Together, they visit a magical world filled with “creatures and places never before seen until a sinister force threatens to destroy their imaginary world and the friendship within it,” according to Netflix. The Imaginary is written by Yoshiaki Nishimura (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, When Marnie Was There) and directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, who also worked on a few films you might have heard of: Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away. This one isn’t to be missed.

Watch it on Netflix

8. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

Beverly Hills Cop is an action-comedy classic (the Blank Check podcast’s insightful episode with Bad Boys: Ride or Die directors Adil & Bilall is a good listen). Beverly Hills Cop II is pretty fun, while the less said about Beverly Hills Cop III, the better. Even star Eddie Murphy agrees, which is one of the reasons why he wanted to make Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. A lot of familiar faces are back in the fourth installment in the series, including Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon are new additions to the cast. But there’s really only one reason to watch Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F: Eddie Murphy. Even without the laugh.

Watch it on Netflix

7. Sunny (Apple TV Plus)

Vulture recently pointed out that Rashida Jones has never hosted Saturday Night Live despite a) being friends with a lot of SNL folks, and b) she has the comedic chops. The campaign to get Rashida Jones in Studio 8H (with musical guest Vampire Weekend?) begins… as soon as I finish watching Sunny. The Apple TV+ series stars the Parks and Rec actress as Suzie, an American living in Japan who is gifted a robot following the disappearance of her husband and son. Together, they attempt to find out what happened to her family.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

6. Sausage Party: Foodtopia (Prime Video)

Sausage Party, the 2016 movie that was the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all-time until Demon Slayer: Mugen Train came along, has been reheated as a streaming series. Prime Video’s proudly vulgar Sausage Party: Foodtopia is set after the events of the movie, with Frank, Brenda, Barry, and Sammy, the characters voiced by Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, and Edward Norton, respectively, attempting to build their own society. The rest of the voice cast includes Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Yassir Lester, and Natasha Rothwell. Expect lots of food puns and orgies.

Watch it on Prime Video

5. My Spy: The Eternal City (Prime Video)

My Spy isn’t the first movie you would use to make the case for why Dave Bautista is the best wrestler-turned-actor, but it’s a surprisingly fun action-comedy. Now, Bautista and Chloe Coleman are back for another family-friendly adventure that involves fanny packs, the Vatican, and a terrorist plot.

Watch it on Prime Video

4. Abigail (Peacock)

Longlegs this, Longlegs that. But don’t forget about another 2024 horror movie gem: Abigail. The film follows a group of kidnappers — played by Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, and Angus Cloud (in one of his final roles) — who are trapped in a house with a ballerina vampire, as one does. Abigail leans on the comedy more than the horror, and it’s a blast. Why isn’t Kathryn Newton in everything? She really should be.

Watch it on Peacock

3. Lady in the Lake (Apple TV Plus)

Created by Alma Har’el (Bombay Beach, Honey Boy), Lady in the Lake is a noir thriller about a housewife-turned-reporter (played by Natalie Portman) who becomes fixated on the death of Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram), causing “a chasm [to open] that puts everyone around them in danger.” This is Portman’s first starring role in a TV show, and if she’s even half as good as she was in last year’s brilliant May December, add it to your watchlist.

Watch it on Apple TV Plus

2. Love Lies Bleeding (Max)

Here’s one for the freaks (I’m one of you). Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding can briefly be described as a love story between a gym manager (Kristen Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian), but it’s much more than that. It’s also about organized crime, steroids, and Ed Harris in full creep mode. Love Lies Bleeding has a daring ending that needs to be seen to be believed.

Watch it on Max

1. Cobra Kai (Netflix)

What Cobra Kai has pulled off over the years is nothing less than magical. The underdog spin off (which revived a franchise that celebrates underdogs) has accomplished what few TV shows or movies could have ever hoped for: successfully rebooting a 1980s entity while appealing to Gen Z to an even greater degree than capturing the original The Karate Kid audience. (You can read the full review here.)

Watch it on Netflix

Big Sean went in with his freestyle on On The Radar Radio, and people interpreted several bars to be shots at Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West (known as Ye since legally changing his name in 2021). DJ Hed posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he spoke with Big Sean, and the Detroit rapper was not taking shots at Lamar. “Bar was directed at a different Gemini,” DJ hed wrote.

So, Ye?

On Wednesday, July 17, someone going by “bigseandon811” online allegedly leaked Big Sean’s upcoming album and said, “Ye told me to leak it.” Please, take that with the most substantial grain of salt.

Regardless, Big Sean addressed it hours later. “Might as well start droppin, before they leak it all, got damn [cry-laughing emoji],” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “BIG SEAN x THE ALCHEMIST soon [fire emoji].” Sean posted a similar caption on Instagram. Both posts included a 55-second teaser video showing Big Sean rapping alongside Alchemist in an open field.

Last year, Sean was a featured artist on “Palisades, CA” from The Alchemist and Larry June’s joint album, The Great Escape.

Big Sean’s upcoming album will be his first LP release since 2020’s Detroit 2. He will also publish his self-help book, Go Higher, in October.

Maren Morris showed off more than she meant during a recent show. While performing at Willie Nelson’s Fourth Of July Picnic (which was held in New Jersey, not Texas, for some reason), the “Circles Around This Town” singer wore an outfit that Billboard described as “a denim skirt with a severe side slit giving audience members a clear look down there.” We won’t link to the video, but it’s easy enough to find on social media.

Instead of getting angry, Morris laughed off the wardrobe malfunction. “Hey guyz did anything weird happen today?!?!” she wrote in a TikTok set to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP.” Morris captioned the video, “I think I’ll frame the skirt,” and cannily included a plug for her upcoming EP, Intermission.

The first single from Intermission, “Cut!” featuring Julia Michaels, is about “me holding myself together through the day, looking well-rested, not a hair out of place, not canceling any plans with friends because that’s how well I want you to think I’m doing,” explained Morris. She added, “It’s a cathartic release that doesn’t require secrecy, but there are worldly expectations to keep it together despite your feelings. This song gives me permission to fall apart.”

Intermission comes out on August 2. Until then, you can watch Morris address her wardrobe malfunction below.

Following 2022’s Who Cares?, Rex Orange County is back: Today (July 18), he has officially announced a new album, The Alexander Technique, and shared a pair of songs and accompanying videos: “Alexander” and “Guitar Song.” The album is set to drop on September 6.

Rex says of the project in a statement, “The Alexander Technique is very much a look into my own brain and experiences over the last few years — it’s almost a diary. I’ve made a lot of love songs over the years, and I feel as though this is the first time I’m trying to make a project about everything in life. In my mind, it’s exactly what I’ve always wanted to make.”

A press release notes of the album, “The Alexander Technique is named for a therapeutic practice in which back pain is treated in order to address deeper health problems, and it’s an apt name for Rex’s most raw album to date: what may have begun as a simple exercise in changing the purview of his writing ended up becoming his most confessional, open-hearted album. Stripping back his sound to a skeletal mixture of stream-of-consciousness R&B and indie-folk, while retaining the orchestral lushness that’s become his trademark, The Alexander Technique marks the beginning of Act Two of Rex Orange County’s career: a new chapter on which he lays everything bare, no matter how painful that might be.”

Listen to “Alexander” and “Guitar Song” above. Below, find the The Alexander Technique art and tracklist.

Rex Orange County’s The Alexander Technique Album Cover Artwork

Rex Orange County’s The Alexander Technique Tracklist

1. “Alexander”
2. “Guitar Song”
3. “2008”
4. “Therapy”
5. “4 In The Morning”
6. “Jealousy”
7. “The Table”
8. “Pure”
9. “One of These Days”
10. “Carrera”
11. “Much Too Much”
12. “Sliding Doors”
13. “Lost For Words”
14. “Look Me In The Eyes” Feat. James Blake
15. “New Years”
16. “Finally”

The Alexander Technique is out 9/6 via RCA Records. Find more information here.