The National have been a band for just over two decades, and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down. The band released the record I Am Easy To Find in 2019 and had big plans to tour this year, which have been canceled due to the pandemic. After setting up a relief fund for their touring crew, The National are making up for a canceled tour with a special gift to fans. The group released an official video accompanying their song “Hard To Find” seven years after the song was first released.

Accompanying the 2013 Trouble Will Find Me track, the “Hard To Find” video is a scenic underwater view. A man explores the ocean floor and encounters a seal on his journey.

Sharing the video to social media, the group wrote that the video consists of footage from an old hard drive. “Lost video for Hard To Find surfaces,” The National wrote on Twitter. “Director Michael Brown discovers lost underwater footage on old hard drive.”

Ahead of the video’s release, The National’s Matt Berninger spoke with Uproxx about their 2019 record. In the interview, Berninger said he doesn’t mind the “dad rock” label that gets attached to their music:

“The things that sound like insults, like dad rock — I like that. I like a lot of dad rock music, and even when I was a little kid, I liked the music my dad liked. Willie Nelson’s Stardust is a fabric of my DNA, because of my dad, my dad’s rock, or whatever. And I’m a dad, and I’ve been a dad for 10 years. I was writing about becoming a father way before I was, becoming a husband way before I even met my wife. ‘Slipping Husband,’ I wrote that about myself way before I met Carin. So, that doesn’t bother me. I mean, I don’t mumble that much, and I sing in lots of different registers. And I think I’m kind of funny, funnier even in the records. I’m not as funny as I think I am, but I’m funnier than other people think I am.”

Watch The National’s “Hard To Find” video above.

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.

This week saw Selena Gomez update her album from earlier this year and a reunion from three legends responsible for one of the biggest hits of the 2000s. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Selena Gomez — Rare (Deluxe)

Selena Gomez’s Rare was one of 2020’s first big albums, and now she’s back with more of it. The new deluxe edition of the album adds a trio of new tracks, including the infectious “Boyfriend.” Maggie Rogers couldn’t help but play the track on repeat, because “Boyfriend” really is the kind of song you want to play over and over.

The Strokes — The New Abnormal

It’s been a long time since 2013’s Comedown Machine, but now The Strokes have finally followed that album up with a new one, The New Abnormal. In many ways, it’s a return to form, like on the singles that preceded the album, like the synthy “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” and the traditionally Strokes-y “Bad Decisions.”

Read our review of The New Abnormal here.

Charli XCX — “Forever”

During this state of quarantine, Charli XCX is trying something different: Making an album with her fans’ help in real time. She recently shared samples of a song, solicited input from her followers, and what resulted was “Forever,” a classic example of Charli’s ability to blend upfront catchiness with synthy experimentalism.

Phoebe Bridgers — “Kyoto”

Phoebe Bridgers hasn’t had much time to herself in recent times, meaning that she has spent the past couple years focused on collaborations instead of the solo work that launched her career. She is returning to straight up Phoebe Bridgers albums soon, though, as she announced Punisher and shared the new single “Kyoto.”

Usher, Lil Jon, and Ludacris — “SexBeat”

“Yeah!” is undeniably one of the biggest and more memorable songs of the past two decades, and now the trio behind it is back. Usher, Lil Jon, and Ludacris have reunited on “SexBeat,” which was recorded over two years ago and revealed during a recent Instagram Live battle between Jon and T-Pain.

Rico Nasty — “Popstar”

Rico Nasty is one of the most predominant rising rappers, but she channels pop and rock on her her single, “Popstar.” Nasty plays an emo-indebted cover girl in the video for the catchy and hard-hitting track.

Gorillaz — “Aries” Feat. Peter Hook and Georgia

Gorillaz previously declared that their Song Machine series wouldn’t be shutting down due to the pandemic, and they made good on their word with “Aries.” Linking up with Georgia and Joy Division/New Order co-founder Peter Hook, the midtempo track strongly incorporates influences from their esteemed collaborators.

Tory Lanez — New Toronto 3

Tory Lanez has become on the biggest social media stars of the quarantine era thanks to his Instagram Live broadcasts, and aside from that, he has also dropped some new music. His versatile New Toronto 3 mixtape includes features from artists like Mansa and Lil Tjay.

Laura Marling — Song For Our Daughter

Laura Marling’s latest was supposed to drop this summer, but in light of the pandemic, she decided to move the release up, and here it is. She describes the record, “a strange story about the fragmentary, nonsensical experience of trauma and enduring quest to understand what it is to be a woman in this society.”

Read our review of Song For Our Daughter here.

Polo G — “DND”

In Polo G’s “DND” video, he finds himself on a solo nighttime drive, an appropriately self-isolating activity in this new world. He says on the introspective track, “I cut everybody off, keep hittin’ decline / I swear these painkillers got me on the deep vibe.”

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

When Megan Thee Stallion pointed to fans as the source of beef between female rappers, she had a point; many past feuds were fueled by rumors and hearsay from fans and press. In recent years, though, there’s one fan base that has been at the center of most of the controversy though: Nicki Minaj’s Barbz, who have tried to pit their favorite against Cardi B and are now apparently trying to do the same with burgeoning star Doja Cat.

After Doja Cat shared a fan’s drawing of herself, Megan Thee Stallion, and Nicki Minaj on the cover of Rolling Stone, a Doja fan suggested a minor change only to be challenged by one of the Barbz. Although it seemed to only be an innocent question on the face, Doja was clearly aware of some of the account or the tactics, advising her own supporter to “stop responding to them” because “they’re Twitter gangsters and they have nothing kind to say about you or anyone.” According to Doja Cat, Barbz “live and breathe being f*ckin immature.”

It didn’t take long for the tweet to garner the attention of the Barbz as a whole, who set about throwing a #DojaCatIsOverParty, which quickly trended on Twitter. However, Doja — who is no stranger to being “canceled” after taking flack over old tweets in the wake of her viral hit “Mooo!” — turned the tables on her critics, as many of the tweets in the hashtag are now dominated by Doja Cat supporters defending her from the “toxic” attacks from Nicki’s fans.

For her part, Doja seems to be ignoring the controversy, focusing instead on making “dank memes” and posting goofy TikTok videos eating Band-Aids.

Check out the tweets above.

In the run-up to its arrival on April 6, there was a lot of speculation over whether Quibi — the new, short-form streaming service founded by former Dreamworks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg — would succeed. Do people really want to binge short content? Do they really want to watch things on their phone? Is it perhaps terrible timing to have a quick bite service when much of America suddenly has gobs of time to kill while quarantining? Well, according to its CEO, Quibi defied the skeptics and had a great first week.

According to Deadline, Quibi head Meg Whitman claimed the service had seen 1.7 million downloads since dropping last week, which “exceeded company expectations.” She also noted 80% of viewers actually finished at least the first episode of any show they started. Earlier, preliminary data showed that 300,000 users had downloaded the app on its first day, and by day two, the total of users had grown to 530,000. (To put things in perspective, 4 million people installed Disney+ on its first day, though Disney was already, to put it lightly, an established brand.)

Right now, Quibi isn’t making money off its subscribers; rather than delay release till after the pandemic slows down, they offered a 90-day free trial. (After that, subscribers can either pay $4.99 a month with ads or $7.99 without.) It’s also worth noting that, as with Netflix, who claims huge viewership on certain titles without supplying any data, Whitman’s claim of 1.7 million downloads is just that. We also have no other figures to compare that to, especially since there’s never been a streamer whose content was as short as Quibi’s. Whatever the case, it appears that the streamer was not, as some expected, dead on arrival.

(Via Deadline)

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Deals to keep you cozy, full, and clean from Madewell, Sur La Table, Wayfair and more.

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A bunk room fit for queens.

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A classic quarantine move.

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There have been hundreds of confirmed coronavirus cases and dozens of deaths at nursing homes in Michigan, the Detroit Free Press has found.

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“Let’s all buy stamps and save the Post Office.”

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