21 Savage Plays to His Strengths With Deadpan Wit on ‘American Dream’: Album Review

21 Savage has revealed that the trailer for the biopic about his life is fake.The rapper hinted to fans that a biopic about his life, entitled American Dream, was on the way earlier this month – dropping a new music video that also doubled up as a film trailer.The clip, which was co-directed by Atlanta collaborators Stephen Glover, Jamal Olori and Fam Udeorji, alongside Luis Perez, featured Donald Glover and Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin playing 21 Savage at different ages.It began with a young Savage (played by McLaughlin), depicting the rapper’s experience of being bullied in school before entering the rap scene. From there, Savage is seen in what looks like an interrogation room, talking to McLaughlin as he eventually becomes Glover, who plays an adult version of him.Now, the rapper has confirmed in a new interview that there will not be any upcoming biopic and the trailer shared was a hoax.“No, that was a parody,” Savage told Shannon Sharpe when asked about the project during an interview with the podcast Club Shay Shay on Wednesday (January 24).Alongside starring Glover and McLaughlin, it also featured a cameo from Natasha Lyonne and an accompanying movie poster.While Savage confirmed that a film based on his life won’t be arriving in cinemas any time soon, he did reveal that he hasn’t written off the possibility of a project arriving in the future.“It’s the American dream.

Alex Ritman U.K.-based film production and distribution company Sovereign is expanding across the Atlantic with the launch of a distribution arm in the U.S. With a plan to release two to three titles a year theatrically and across VOD platforms, the first film slated for release from the new entity is Laurent Nègre’s World War II thriller “A Forgotten Man,” which Sovereign also produced. Set in 1945 after the surrender of Nazi Germany, the story follows the Swiss ambassador (played by Michael Neuenschwander) after he leaves Berlin, but finds himself haunted by his past.

Philadelphia and Memphis top the list of metropolitan areas with the highest incidence of STDs in the United States, according to an annual analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The seventh annual study, by Innerbody Research, the largest online medical and wellness testing guide, drew its data from the CDC’s latest STD Surveillance data, ranking the top 100 metropolitan areas based on the number of cases, per 100,000 population, of HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. The latter three diseases are among the most commonly reported new sexually transmitted infections.According to the analysis, the top 10 cities with the highest STD rates were:The data — marking the first from the post-COVID-lockdown period — shows that Philadelphia jumped from having the fifth-highest STD infection rate in last year’s study to the highest rate in this year’s study.

Prince Archie's former nanny, Lorren Khumalo, has shared that her first meeting with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was quite "surprising". Lorren, a paediatric nurse and consultant, was hired by the Sussexes to care for their first child, Archie, just months after his birth. At the time, Harry and Meghan were living at Frogmore Cottage, before they announced their decision to step back from Royal duties and move to the US.

A nanny who was hired to look after Prince Archie by Harry and Meghan said she had a "surprising" first meeting with the couple before she started duties.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Here we are, three weeks into January, and the Sundance Film Festival has delivered what promises to be the year’s most uncomfortable date movie: a grubby New York-set fable about a facially distinctive actor (modeled on Adam Pearson) who undergoes an experimental procedure that leaves him looking like Sebastian Stan — presumably an improvement, until he realizes that under the skin, he’s still the same miserable loser. The kind of oddball satire only indie studio A24 would dare to produce, Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” asks what it means to be “normal,” and whether, if we could wave a magic wand and “correct” those qualities that set us apart, that’s really something we’d want.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The opening minutes of “A New Kind of Wilderness” promise some kind of documentary advertorial for off-the-grid living. Over idyllic shots of her hippy-hunky husband Nik and their three cherubic children camping, foraging for food and literally hugging trees in verdant Norwegian woodland, photographer Maria Vatne’s voiceover soothingly espouses the liberating virtues of “getting out of the rat race” and “being free and full of love.” It all looks wonderful, like “Swiss Family Robinson” updated for the era of Instagram cottagecore, and a cynic might say that it hardly seems sustainable.

A.D. Amorosi Green Day has a real knack for showing off its distaste with the sociopolitical landscape and its disgust for growing up with curt, caustic humor and seductively contagious melody — most of all in the handsome bookends of 2004’s “American Idiot” and, now, “Saviors.” The Bay Area post-punk trio couldn’t have done better for a real or imaginary sequel to the preceding Bush-era classic than this week’s bruising, culture-bashing release.

Cassyette has announced details of her debut album, titled ‘This World Fucking Sucks’ – listen to two new singles below.The album will land on August 23 via 23 Recordings, and its announcement follows the recent teasing of new single ‘Why Am I Like This?’.‘Why Am I Like This?’ has now arrived alongside another new track, titled ‘Ipecac’, and details of a 2024 headline tour of the UK and Europe.Speaking about her debut album, Cassyette said: “I’m so excited for the release of my first album. I’ve put in so much work and I’ve collaborated with so many amazing and talented people and I’m so grateful to see it brought to life.

Peacock has set May 2 as the premiere date for The Tattooist of Auschwitz, the streamer’s original limited series based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Heather Morris. Additionally, the series will air on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the same day.

Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire have extended their Sing A Song All Night Long Tour into the first half of 2024 – see the new dates below.The pair’s joint tour kicked off last year with a 20-date run around the United States, and they have now extended it for 13 more shows this spring.The new dates will begin on May 23 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and run through cities including Jacksonville, Memphis, Orlando, San Antonio and Louisville, before it ends on June 16 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Richie will then go straight into a Las Vegas residency that will take him through until the middle of November.Tickets for the new dates go on general sale here at 10am local time on Friday, January 19. See the full list of gigs below.Back by Popular Demand! Sing A Song All Night Long with me and Earth, Wind & Fire.

The Dandy Warhols have today (January 16) shared a new single ‘Dancing With Myself’ that they’ve worked on with Pixies‘ Frank Black – check it out below.Speaking abut the song, which is taken from their new album, ‘Rockmaker’, the band’s Courtney Taylor-Taylor said “it started with a riff that either sounded like Misfits or Danzig and then got slowed down.”Over time, Taylor-Taylor added, the play on words “became the [song’s] working title, and then we couldn’t change it. I mean, come on… ‘Danzig with Myself’?!”The new album – the band’s twelfth – will be released via Sunset Blvd. Records on March 15 and you can pre-order it here.The new single also features Pixies’ Frank Black.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The NBA on MLK Day pays tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a slate of games that promote equality and activism.

Shed Seven have earned the Number One spot on the Official Albums Charts with their sixth LP ‘A Matter Of Time‘.The band – comprised of Rick Witter, Paul Banks, Tom Gladwin, Tim Wills and Rob Maxfield – have also made history as the British rock group with the longest gap between their debut album and first Number One album.They earned the title with 26 years and three months between the first Official Albums Chart appearance of their 1994 debut ‘Change Giver’ –which peaked at Number 16 – and landing at Number 1 with 2024’s ‘A Matter of Time’.Shed Seven’s frontman Rick Witter recently told NME: “I think it’s gonna be a big year for us, starting with the release of our brand new album in the first week of the 30th anniversary of our debut ‘Change Giver’. If you’re a Shed Seven fan I think you should buckle up because you’re gonna be in for a good ride.

Thania Garcia Kali Uchis has built her career on taking risks. With “Orquídeas,” her second Spanish-language album (and fourth overall), Uchis asks her collaborators — which range from global superstars Peso Pluma, Rauw Alejandro, El Alfa and Karol G to JT from the City Girls — to match her level of fearlessness, urging them to step outside of their comfort zone on a playground of pop, merengue, reggaeton, house music and more.

21 Savage has unveiled a new TikTok filter, designed specifically for immigrants, which gives access to a preview of the rapper’s new music.21 Savage announced his new album ‘American Dream’ earlier this week (January 9), posting a picture of the album’s cover alongside emojis of British and American flags, seeming to reference his own immigrant status in America.The rapper, born Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was born in London to British nationals with Caribbean roots, and eventually moved to Atlanta with his mother at the age of seven.Now, the TikTok filter, which you can try out here, allows TikTok users to access a sneak preview of new music, after answering the question of whether they are “an immigrant who dares to dream” or not.The filter features an animation inspired by the American green card, which allows individuals to live and work permanently in the country.The announcement of the new album followed the release of a trailer to the rapper’s upcoming biopic, American Dream: The 21 Savage Story.

One of Jeffrey Epstein‘s victims, Virginia Giuffre, is saying he paid her a large sum to have sex with Prince Andrew.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Just a day after posting a trailer for his debut film, 21 Savage has announced his third solo album “American Dream,” releasing on January 12.

Shed Seven have shared their collaboration with Pete Doherty, ‘Throwaways’ from their new album ‘A Matter Of Time’.The track, which you can listen to below, sees The Libertines man share vocals with frontman Rick Witter.Speaking about how the collaboration came about, Witter recently told NME: “We played just before The Libertines on the main stage [at the Bingley Weekender in 2022] and while we were doing our set, I just looked at the side of the stage and discovered that Peter was stood there with my family watching the gig and he was singing every word.“So after we’d finished our gig, I went over and he was telling me that in the ’90s – pre-Libertines – he’d sit on his bed with his guitar and learn Shed Seven songs, which I thought was pretty cool. I just said, ‘Look we’ve got this song, we’ve got another couple of guests on our record, we might as well throw the boat out here, would you fancy jumping on?’ And he said, ‘I would absolutely love to’.”The song is the band’s sixth to be shared from their record after ‘Talk Of The Town’, ‘Starlings’, ‘Kissing California’, ‘F:K:H’ and ‘In Ecstasy‘ which features Happy Mondays singer Rowetta.Their new LP, which arrived last Friday (January 5), is currently on course to claim this week’s UK Number One album.It is ahead of this week’s chart topper – Lewis Capaldi‘s ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent’ and the latest version of Busted‘s ‘Greatest Hits 2.0’, according to the Official Charts Company.Witter recently told NME: “I think it’s gonna be a big year for us, starting with the release of our brand new album in the first week of the 30th anniversary of our debut ‘Change Giver’.

Pedro Pascal has singled out the actor that he considers to be “the greatest American actor in our lifetime”.The star of The Last of Us and The Mandalorian was speaking at a ceremony in Hollywood yesterday (January 8) for the unveiling of a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.The star being unveiled was for the actor Willem Dafoe, and in his speech to the audience at the event, which also included Guillermo Del Toro, Patricia Arquette and Mark Ruffalo, Pascal lavished his fellow actor with praise.“I saw Platoon in the movie theatre with my father and he made me cry so hard my dad sent me to the bathroom,” Pascal said.“He redefines the concept of rebel and originality by making it about generosity, integrity, kindness and fun. Willem is a good time and an amazing friend.”“He has been my greatest teacher,” Pascal continued about Dafoe, with whom he co-starred in the 2017 film The Great Wall.