It may not be the full TV show I campaigned for last week, but Saweetie’s new Amazon special, “Icy Season,” is a perfect snapshot of exactly the qualities that make the Bay Area star so fascinating onscreen. In addition to putting the live band treatment on her fan-favorite hits — including a holiday remix of her breakout song “Icy Grl” — Saweetie shows off her upbeat personality, plays piano (with claws, no less!), and answers fan questions while sitting down with co-hosts Symone from Drag Race and Instagram comic Rickey Thompson.
She also debuts for the first time in a wide-share format the new song “Icy Chain” from her upcoming album Pretty Bitch Music. While she’s performed the song onstage a handful of times at recent festival appearances, this is the first time it’s been played during a widely accessible show. During the show, Saweetie and her co-hosts also promote the Calvin Klein brand, making the special a bit of a cross between a talk show, a variety show, and the Home Shopping Network.
While it’s unclear whether this is the event Saweetie teased would “unfold during the holidays,” she still has an SNL performance coming up later this month, so it’s possible that the official release date for PBM is still forthcoming.
Emily Ratajkowski recently threw down a convincing theory about how “only other men” are confused about Pete Davidson’s attractiveness in the eyes of women, and she’s here to level the field on a more serious subject. That would be her revelation (as published in her My Body memoir) that Robin Thicke groped her on the “Blurred Lines” set, an account that was backed up by video director Diane Martel, who cut the shoot short after the incident. Emily visited with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, where she revealed what she’s gained in perspective from that experience.
Let’s just say that she likely did not set out to level Robin Thicke with her declaration, but that’s still part of the effect because her take is incredibly effective. She suspects that maybe Thicke felt powerless on the set (which was run by a female director and filled with women owning their sexuality, contrary to the song’s lyrics) and was acting out as a result. Yup, she said this, and Emily totally took the high road while responding to Noah’s question on how she views the experience through the lens of time:
“I think that I’m really not interested in blaming individuals. I think that we live in a culture that allows a lot of these situations to occur. [Not just in] professional settings but on dates. Again, not to beat the horse, but power dynamics is what I’m interested in talking about and really revealing because I think that, in some ways, maybe that was like an attempt at leveling the power for him, and I think we need to look at how many this culture if bad for both men and women.”
Again, Emily did not appear to set out with the intent of making Robin Thicke look like a disempowered presence on his own video set, but oh boy, that’s how it’s looking now. And it’s a powerful move on her part to make this observation, and it’s completely her prerogative to look at the situation as reflective of the whole culture. The entire The Daily Show interview is a fascinating one, and it began with Noah admitting, “This is one of the most interesting and complicated books I’ve read about the subject.”
From there, Emily discussed what empowerment really means and how our culture has commodified women. She sees this as extreme in society, to the point where the OnlyFans back-and-forth on whether to ban explicit material was a way for someone to attempt to take power from those women. She compares that situation to the “Blurred Lines” video, and she further says, “Every woman can relate to the experience of getting dressed and knowing, you know, sort of the negotiation of how tight to I want my shirt to be? How, you know, much do I want to cover up?” Emily Ratajkowski gets it.
Summer Walker has left her supporters in tears with her newly-released sophomore album, Still Over It, which details the singer’s struggles with love. To promote the new album, she stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform “Unloyal,” an early standout. A live band provided a jazzy touch to the performance while also covering for Ari Lennox, who appears on the official song but was not present for the appearance.
Walker’s performance came as she broke several records on Apple Music with Still Over It, which earned the biggest album debut ever, the biggest R&B album debut ever, and went No. 1 in 40 markets globally. She also responded to a recent report from Rolling Stone that claimed she signed a “brutal” record deal and described her as “effectively an indentured servant for a series of albums.”
“I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter online,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “I didn’t say anything because I wanted to stay focused on releasing my album. Yow let me clear the air. What that article said is not my current record deal. Over the years my deal has changed many times. I’ve always had my own representation and full support from LVRN. Thank you to my fans for always having my back and for all of the love ya’ll keep showing my new album. Appreciate y’all!!”
You can watch Summer perform “Unloyal” in the video above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Travis Scott was reportedly unaware that a tragedy took place in the crowd at the Astroworld Festival until quite a while it ended. A source connected to the rapper told TMZthat he was never notified about the deaths and injuries that occurred. As a result, Travis left the premises and headed to a nearby Dave & Buster’s for a party that was hosted by Drake. “Travis didn’t know the severity of the situation when he arrived at the party,” the source told TMZ. “As far as timing, this remains consistent with the fact that no one including the police had publicly confirmed the gravity of the events that had taken place.”
Travis brought out Drake as a surprise guest at the festival, and the two performed songs including “Sicko Mode” and “Way 2 Sexy.” The TMZ report comes after Travis’ partner Kylie Jenner, who is currently pregnant with her second child with him, came to his defense about the festival.
“Travis and I are broken and devastated,” she wrote in a post to her Instagram Story. “My thoughts and prayers are with all who lost their lives, were injured or affected in any way by yesterday’s events.” She added, “And also for Travis who I know cares deeply for his fans and the Houston community, I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show, and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”
While each of Mac Miller’s six albums hit the top five in the Billboard 200 chart, it’s only his debut full-length, Blue Slide Park, that topped the chart. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, the album is a testament to the late rapper’s carefree, authentic persona. It shows how even though he had inner demons that tragically ended his life, he was always just a kid from Pittsburgh looking to have fun.
In concert with the album’s anniversary, Rostrum Records released a new visualizer to the track “Frick Park Market,” an ode to Miller’s local corner store that seemed to have “anything you need” on the shelves. The visual features animations by Shokka, in a colorful and psychedelic display of the store, and the personalities in its orbit, that fits the song perfectly. In fact, on the Blue Slide Park commentary, Miller even alluded to the song’s kaleidoscopic nature:
“That was the first single, that was the first thing we let people hear and I think that it really helps to represent what I’m doing with this album: how it starts out just fun and some things you’re used to hearing from me and it goes into something a little more trippy and a little more different and kinda takes you on an adventure.”
In the end, revisiting the track and hearing Miller drop lines like “I’mma feed the world you can put it on my tab / Run until my legs go numb, I don’t plan on lookin’ back,” it’s a warm reminder of his style, his disposition, and how much he’ll be missed.
Watch the visualizer for “Frick Park Market” above.
Mac Miller is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Ausar is a promising up-and-comer from the musically rich city of Chicago, and now the rapper has been granted a tremendous opportunity to make good on his potential.
In a new video from the Next Success series (presented by Uproxx and Sprite), Ausar gets the chance to work with Quincy Banks, an established creative pro in Los Angeles. The name may not be familiar, but his work certainly is: He’s contributed key visual elements to projects by artists like Lizzo, The Rolling Stones, and Charli XCX, among plenty of others. Needless to say, having Banks on your side isn’t something that should be taken lightly.
In the clip, the two meet up for the first time and quickly get to talking about the project at hand: a new video for Ausar’s song “Homies,” breaking down the track and what they want to accomplish with the visual for it.
To learn more about the behind the scenes process between mentor and mentee check out the above video. And check out Ausar’s completed music video and a bit more on his journey by checking out our Next Success hub [hub link].
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you were to say at this time last year, that in less than a year, we’d be able to hold large-scale music festivals that wouldn’t be a COVID-19 super-spreader event, you might’ve sounded like a crazy person. But by and large, as we’ve learned how change our behavior to help stop the spread of COVID-19, festivals like Lollapalooza and Outside Lands were executed remarkably. Requiring proof of vaccination and implementing a system to verify said proof was a major key, and tens of thousands of people have been able to revel in the grandeur of live music outdoors once again.
On Halloween weekend at Outside Lands festival, over 70,000 people a day came out to San Francisco’s sweeping Golden Gate Park, for what was nothing short of one of the best concert weekends of the year. Fans emanated gratitude for the experience just as much as artists did.
The live music industry was hit hard and for artists, it bore a big weight not just on their livelihoods, but on their creativity as well. Things got pretty dark there for a year and a half. And now with live music and music festivals back in action, there’s a welcome freshness from musicians on stage; thriving once again and needed for so many reasons. We caught up with five performers at Outside Lands 2021 — Albert Hammond Jr., Bartees Strange, Mxmtoon, ZHU, and Rexx Life Raj — to talk about what it means to be playing live shows for massive crowds again. Tap in.
Albert Hammond Jr. – The Headliner
Adrian Spinelli
The Strokes took a solid victory lap around the festival circuit this year, playing III Points Fest in Miami, Atlanta’s Shaky Knees, and even making a headlining stop at The Forum in Los Angeles before the band’s Friday night closing set at Outside Lands. Albert Hammond Jr. has been behind some of the most iconic riffs of the past 20 years and he most recently put out his fourth solo album, Francis Trouble in 2018. But in San Francisco, he was here to put it down with The Strokes, all while relishing in the launch of his sneaky delightful wine seltzer, Jetway.
“Just gathering with people is very important to being a human being. But even besides me, where my career is playing live music and recording, I can see it in people that they want to be around other people. People want to f*ck, man! [laughs] I’m kidding obviously, but I mean that in how people want to interact… It’s a very human thing. And If we’re just home, things start to fall apart.”
Bartees Strange – A Big Realization
Adrian Spinelli
Washington D.C.-based indie rocker Bartees Strange’s career is on the up. His 2020 album Live Forever proved to be a critically-acclaimed breakout hit and its surging artists like him who relish in the number of people at a music festival who are witnessing him and his music for the first time. He delivered one of the most inspired and positively-charged performances of the weekend on the Sutro Stage, and being back out on stage and playing to big festival crowds helped him re-focus on why he makes music to begin with.
“For the last 15 years, I’ve just been playing music and playing shows. And then all of a sudden it just went away. But I kept writing… but then I kinda forgot why? I was like ‘No one is ever gonna hear this?!’ And then I had to remember that I was always writing for myself anyways. And I found a lot of peace in that. And now that I’ve come back out and I’m playing to bigger crowds, it’s exciting to watch everybody react to the music, and I feel really good about being happy with myself. It’s a beautiful thing to come to realize, at a point where I don’t think I would’ve ever had that realization if things wouldn’t have stopped. So it’s been really amazing to be in front of people and to be perceived, and I feel very solid, which is nice.”
Mxmtoon – From The Bedroom To The Big Stage… Finally
Adrian Spinelli
Mxmtoon not only built her music from her bedroom, but she also built a massive fanbase. The Oakland native has close to a billion Spotify streams across all of her quaint folk-pop songs and is a TikTok sensation with more than 2 million followers. She launched a pop culture-friendly history podcast called 365 days with Mxmtoon, where she’s had guests on like Carly Rae Jepsen, Jon Batiste, and Julien Baker. And this past September, she put out the True Colors EPin conjunction with the Life Is Strange adventure game series. Suffice it to say, the 21-year-old had a lot of material to share on stage and she said that being back at a festival in her backyard means “everything” to her.
“I started making music by myself in my room and I think to have an opportunity to bring the pieces of work that I’ve been making for the last three years really, to a live stage and just play it to an audience that’s so close to my heart in the Bay Area? It’s so cool and something I’ve been waiting to do for years at this point. And I can’t really believe that it’s actually happening, it feels really surreal. I can only hope to keep having experiences like this and hopefully for people to see that there is a light at the tunnel through all of this and that live shows are back and hopefully here to stay.”
Rexx Life Raj – The Hometown Rapper Back Where He Belongs
Philip Cosores
Few people made an entrance at Outside Lands quite like the gregarious and gigantic Rexx Life Raj. On Halloween afternoon, he came out mounting a literal T-Rex, clad in a Jurassic Park-style safari vest that his whole team on stage was also wearing. It was not only a testament to his larger-than-life persona, but also to the team mentality that Bay Area hip-hop is founded on. In true Bay Area fashion, the man knows how to relax, and after his set, sipped an Aperol Spritz (at the branded “Aperol Piazza,” of course) and reflected on not just being back on stage, but doing so to a hometown crowd.
“It literally feels insane, but insane in a good way. I knew I missed it, but I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I was on stage and was like, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be.’ And just being around this many people? I haven’t been around this many people in a year and a half, two years even. it just feels good to be at home here and see friends and family, and just to be able to perform is really tight.”
ZHU – The Electronic Music Heavyweight
Wilson Lee
Living in the shadows has always been a part of ZHU’s persona. The electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist initially came up as a mystical figure in EDM with an unknown identity. He’s since stepped out from behind the curtain to become one of the most crucial voices for Asian-Americans in electronic music, and released the excellent Dreamland 2021 this year. A San Francisco native, he headlined the Twin Peaks Stage on Saturday night following his fellow SF-er 24KGoldn’s performance. The pair would perform their hit “I Admit It” together at the festival and for someone who plays electronic festivals all over the world, a return to the normalcy of being back on the road and on stage was beginning to set in.
“I think that it was a transitional period for all of us. For me, it really didn’t hit until even last week when I was in Miami playing to 10,000+ kids and for the first time, I had the realization that we’re really back. It’s not a minimal capacity. People were ready and it’s great for the culture.”
At the rate that Big Sean and Hit-Boy are dropping videos for their new EP, What You Expect, they’ll have one for every one of the project’s five tracks by this time next week. The dynamic duo kicked off the rollout for the EP with the eyebrow-raising video for “What A Life” in which Sean allowed himself to be covered in bees. Then, they dropped the “Loyal To A Fault” video featuring Bryson Tiller and Lil Durk, taking over a bowling alley for a private party.
Now, they have followed up with the short-and-simple video for “The One,” which finds the two collaborators working on tracks in a bedroom studio with a view of the hills through a floor-to-ceiling window — honestly, that’s way more inspiring than the usual, dungeon-like setup. Shot in black and white to highlight its simplicity, the video gets straight to the heart of what makes their connection work so well: A shared love for the process of making music, pushing themselves by doing what each does best.
Although it has been a couple of months since Eminem’s casting as Detroit figure White Boy Rick in 50 Cent’s BMF series, fans were still excited to actually see him in the role. However, when they did get a glimpse, it was a week sooner than it was supposed to be thanks to a “glitch” at Starz that caused the episode to air a whole week early. While the episode was taken back down, 50 Cent was not happy about the situation, venting his frustration on Twitter.
“Starz is a sh*t show, they better sell it fast,” he raved. “They put the f*cking BMF show on, then took it down. What network does shit like that? They just ruined the anticipation of the episode I directed. I WORKED HARD ON THIS. I can’t work with these people anymore.”
Starz is a shit show, they better sell it fast. They put the fucking BMF show on, then took it down. what network does shit like that? They just ruined the anticipation of The episode i directed, I WORKED HARD ON THIS. I can’t work with these people anymore. pic.twitter.com/m8whw6ARBG
The producer also shared a screenshot of the episode actually depicting Eminem as White Boy Rick, thanking his friend and mentor for appearing on the show while lamenting the mistakes Starz made. “Episode 7 of BMF is the best work I have done directing to date,” he wrote. “I’m disappointed that STARZ handled this so poorly. I used my personal relationships to make things happen they couldn’t have made happen. @eminem thank you for doing this for me. I love you bro.”
Episode 7 of BMF is the best work i have done directing to date.I’m disappointed that STARZ handled this so poorly. I used my personal relationships to make things happen they couldn’t have made happen. @eminem thank you for doing this for me. I love you bro. pic.twitter.com/rxgCALkGuz
50 also explained how the episode got aired by mistake, saying that Starz wanted to hold the episode for a week so it could be connected to Power, his other drama on the network (presumably, the storylines, which are set in the ’80s, would have crossed over). “They called me saying they wanted to hold episode7 back a week so we can roll right into GHOST,” 50 elaborated. “I said cool. Then these sh*thead people put the f*cking episode out for 3 hrs & take it down. This is not ok. When I get uncomfortable I make everybody uncomfortable. Now who getting fired?”
They called me saying they wanted to hold episode7 back a week so we can roll right into GHOST.I said cool.Then these shithead people put the fucking episode out for 3hrs & take it downThis is not ok when I get uncomfortable i make everybody uncomfortable now who getting fired? pic.twitter.com/GmJlagpCtd
Starz explained the misstep as “a technical glitch” that allowed Starz app users to access the episode at midnight. The episode will air normally this weekend on Sunday, November 14.
Teyana Taylor is about to retire from her music career. The singer is making sure she’s going out with a bang with one last show-stopping tour, The Last Rose Petal Farewell Tour, which kicked off this week and comes to a close at the end of November. Along with making sure fans have a special time seeing her perform one last time, she also wanted to ensure their safety. That’s why she stopped her show mid-set to check up on a fan in the crowd who wasn’t looking too hot.
Taylor was performing at LA’s The Novo theater when she paused the show. As seen in videos captured by the audience, Taylor walked over to a fan who was slumped against the crowd barrier. She asked if the fan was okay and instructed security guards to pull them out of the crowd and sit them down. “I’m about to retire, you ain’t finna sue me, baby,” she said into the mic.
Taylor’s comment about a lawsuit might have been referencing what went down over the weekend at Astroworld festival. A crowd-control disaster led to a massive stampede of people, tragically causing eight deaths and several injuries. The event has also led to a number of lawsuits, with several Astroworld concertgoers suing Live Nation and Travis Scott for $1 million in damages.
Watch fan-captured footage of Taylor’s concert above.
This is not ok when I get uncomfortable i make everybody uncomfortable now who getting fired? 
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