FEATURES
The Crown Season 5 Review: Tragedies to Come Hang Heavily Over the Penultimate Installment
The Pitch: In Season 5 of The Crown, one unifying theme stands out — being royalty is not a good time. The stately Netflix drama’s penultimate run of episodes has now clearly reached the beginning of the end, as Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton, succeeding Olivia Colman) faces her age, Prince Charles (Dominic West, succeeding Josh O’Connor) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki, succeeding Emma Corrin) face their infamous divorce, and Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce, succeeding Tobias Menzies) faces… getting really into carriage racing. As grey and somber as ever, the fifth season continues the show’s march towards the one seismic event that will shake Britain to its core. But it takes its time, while continuing to explore both the symbolic power of the royal family — as well as the diffi...
Song of the Week: Avril Lavigne and YUNGBLUD Team Up for the Tender “I’m a Mess”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Avril Lavigne links up with YUNGBLUD for an heartfelt anthem. Fresh off dozens of US tour dates in support of Love Sux — as well as a major appearance at last month’s When We Were Young Festival — Avril Lavigne has returned with a new song, “I’m a Mess,” featuring fellow pop punk juggernaut YUNGBLUD. Avril’s 2022 album may have been titled Love Sux, but “I’m a Mess” is a love song through and through, and finds both Lavigne and YUNGBLUD longing for each other (or their respective partners) in a s...
20 Questions with R&B Singer-Songwriter Ambré Ahead of Her The Wild Magnolia Tour: ‘I’m Looking Forward to Having Fun’
Singer-songwriter Ambré made noise in 2015 with her debut project Wanderlust and has been working nonstop since, following up with 2090’s in 2016. In 2019, Ambré finally signed to Jay-Z’s record label Roc Nation, dropping her EP Pulp, a soulful project that showcased her songwriting, producing, and singing abilities. Additionally, she earned a Grammy for best R&B album for her contribution to H.E.R.’s self-titled project at the 2019 Grammys. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Now, the 26-year-old Ambré is back with her 3000° project, which was released in June. The project is an ode to a pair of New Orleans classics – Juvenile’s 400 Degreez and Lil Wayne’s 500 Degreez. The album’s Jvck James-featuring single “I’m Ba...
Rap Song of the Week: BROCKHAMPTON Celebrate the End on “Big Pussy”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, BROCKHAMPTON return with their new single, “Big Pussy.” BROCKHAMPTON have announced their final album, The Family, and on lead single “Big Pussy,” Kevin Abstract builds a funeral pyre and sets the band on fire. The track begins with a sample containing the words, “Fuck you,” and while it doesn’t appear to be directed at anyone in particular, if there were any doubt about Kevin’s feelings, he opens his first verse the same way: “Fuck you to anyone that claim that they got me/ When my heart was low, it turn to kami-kami-kamikaze.” With those words ringing in your ear, “Big Pussy” starts to feel like a final suicide mission. It’s one of the few BROCKHA...
Best New Tracks: Brockhampton, JID, Yves Tumor and More
As the week in music comes to a close, HYPEBEAST has rounded up the best projects for the latest installment of Best New Tracks. This week is led by Brockhampton, who have delivered the first single from their final album The Family, as well as Sigrid with a cut from the deluxe edition of her new LP, “Everybody Says They’re Fine.” JID added the song “2007” to The Forever Story, while Jason Derulo teamed up with Australian DJ duo SHOUSE. Additional selections in the mix come from Yves Tumor, North Ave Jax, Lil Tjay, Dej Loaf, Selena Gomez and more. Brockhampton – “Big P*ssy” [embedded content] Long-running music collective Brockhampton is gearing up to drop their seventh and final album, The Family, on November 17. Most of the project has been kept under wraps but they’ve shared the first s...
Suki Waterhouse on Her “Surreal” 2022 and What’s in Store for Her First Headlining Tour
For actress, model and singer-songwriter Suki Waterhouse, 2022 can be best summed up in one word: busy. Between the release of her debut album I Can’t Let Go back in May, touring at iconic North American venues with Father John Misty, and releasing a music video for her single “Nostalgia,” Waterhouse has made the most of her year thus far. Speaking by Zoom, Waterhouse tells Consequence that 2022 has been “an incredible whirlwind,” with these last few months featuring some of her “most surreal experiences” of her life. After going from shows with a capacity of 200 to doing sound check at Radio City Music Hall, this year has seen the multi-talented Waterhouse become a star in yet another medium beyond acting and modeling. But the year isn’t finished yet, nor is Waterhouse, who is based in Lo...
What Ever Happened to the Kids from A Christmas Story?
Each month, Clint Worthington’s What Ever Happened To… catches us up with some of our favorite faces from our pop-culture past. It was updated in November 2022. We’ve all seen 1983’s A Christmas Story. The Bob Clark-directed holiday tale of little Ralphie and the many misadventures surrounding his ninth Christmas started out as darkly comic counterprogramming to the sunniness of traditional Christmas movies, only to become an annual tradition for most yuletide households. No one born after 1997 has ever had to seek out A Christmas Story; just walk past any random TV playing TNT on the day itself, and you’ll catch a glimpse of Ralphie shooting his eye out with a Red Ryder BB gun or Darren McGavin marveling at his leg lamp. As you read this, some TV somewhere is probably playing A Chri...
I’m a Former Video Store Clerk and I Think Netflix’s Blockbuster Deserves to Go Bankrupt
It’s not a good sign that Blockbuster, a workplace sitcom set inside a literal metaphor for late-stage capitalism, feels the need to call out the problem with its premise seven minutes into the pilot episode. “Isn’t it ironic that the small business taking a stand against the big corporation in this scenario is actually a franchise of a once-huge corporation, named after the exact type of big corporate movies that killed off smaller movies?” Blockbuster employee Eliza (Melissa Fumero) says, as her boss Tim (Randall Park) tries to rally his underdog staff. I’m admittedly coming to the show with a bias, as a former video store clerk who spent about two and a half years behind the counter of independent stores — stores that always struggled to compete with the Walmart of the industry. But des...
Remembering Takeoff: 10 of the Rapper’s Hardest-Hitting Verses
Takeoff was the quiet catalyst of the Migos, the glue between Quavo’s flamboyance and Offset’s bluntness. Thoughtful and precise, he was a rapper’s rapper — the member of the group who had the most intricate take on the “triplet” flow that they popularized, rhyming three syllables over one beat while stuffing between nine and 12 syllables in a single line. He could stack, chop and remix the flow he popularized at ease too, as indicated by his vicious LA Leakers freestyle ahead of the release of Culture III in 2021. Having a ghostwriter was a foreign concept to the rapper born Kirsnick Khari Ball, as he’s listed as a lyricist on nearly all of Migos’ tracks — meaning he wrote his own bars. In tribute to Takeoff’s skill, influence and impact, we’ve rounded up 10 of his most hard-hitting verse...
“His Fans Are Unlike Any Other Fans”: 5 Harry Styles Openers on What It’s Like to Open for Harry Styles
There’s nothing else quite like a Harry Styles concert. As anyone who has found themself in Harry’s House over the years can attest, these events have their own distinct color. There’s rituals and inside jokes, like the conga line during “Treat People With Kindness.” There are consistent accessories, no matter what city Styles has set up in — boas, sparkles, glitter, and phenomenal suits tend to abound — and the sense of community from arena to arena is tangible. Before the moment Harry Styles steps (or is rolled) onstage, another act has a critical role to play. A support act for Styles has the responsibility of setting the tone and kicking things off for the enormous, eager crowds, often filled with people who have been waiting in their claimed spots in the pit for hours already. As Styl...
Here’s 5 Tips to Help You Level up Quickly in ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′
Last week, Activision released its highly-anticipated sequel to its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise. C.O.D. fans have been patiently waiting for a revitalized version of the game since its first revival in 2019 and now the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game is officially out for the world to enjoy. Since its release, Activision has announced that its worldwide sell-through for the first three days passed $800 million USD, which is more than the previous record holder: 2011’s Modern Warfare 3, managed in five days. The game has been thoroughly enjoyed by players since its release with its fast gameplay and multi-player features and professional U.K. streamer, BennyCentral, thinks more of the same. Speaking to Hypebeast about Modern Warfare 2, he said: “The gameplay pacing is inc...
The Dream Setlist for Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ Tour
How is Taylor Swift going to pull this off? Her new “Eras” tour, promising a journey “through all the musical eras of my career,” was announced Tuesday (Nov. 1) and will visit U.S. stadiums beginning in March 2023. But to consider what this tour’s setlist might resemble is like trying to understand the true size of our galaxy — there’s just so much … of everything. There are synth-pop bangers, the acoustic slow burns, the twangy throwbacks, the fan-worshiped deep cuts — not to mention the fact that Swift has dropped six No. 1 albums totaling 86 new or previously unreleased songs since her last roadshow, the Reputation Tour, in 2018. Where does one even begin to cobble together an ideal setlist that can represent her prolific catalog and celebrate her latest world-beater in Midn...
