This week, Daysia discusses the #AaliyahisComing news while Hannah talks about Jungle Cruise. Plus, two weeks until Solar Power!

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Daysia and Hannah

This Week's Fixations

What’s taking up our brain space this week?

Daysia: Aaliyah’s discography is finally hitting streaming services starting this month. On one hand, it’s super exciting! Aaliyah is unequivocally the blueprint for contemporary R&B, sonically and aesthetically. EYE personally would love to be able to easily listen to her back catalogue without having to use my janky CD player to spin my mother’s decade-plus years old copy of I Care 4 U. It’s unfortunate that the only readily available music by Aaliyah is her debut, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, which has incredible hits (“Back & Forth”! “At Your Best (You Are Love)”!) but carries the darkness of R. Kelly with it. Finally, it seems the world, including a generation of people who hardly know Aaliyah given her untimely death and the decision to take her catalogue off-market, will be able to hear more of her iconic tracks.

However, at the center of this decision to release is a battle between family—Aaliyah’s uncle and Blackground Records owner Barry Hankerson who controls her masters fighting with Aaliyah’s mother Diane and brother Rashad who control her estate. The estate released a statement, expressing their dedication to protecting Aaliyah’s legacy and their frustration with a supposed lack of transparency on Hankerson’s part. It's hard to fully celebrate the release of Aaliyah's catalogue knowing that her family doesn't support it.

Regardless, the plan to release her music on streaming platforms appears to be in motion, with the first drop set for August 20. For more info, Billboard published a timeline of events leading up to this decision, including a potential plan for a new posthumous Aaliyah album with a bunch of star features which is… a choice.

Hannah: This weekend I watched Jungle Cruise and was surprisingly entertained. That could be because I love puns (basically every line out of Dwayne Johnson’s mouth was a pun) and have no problem suspending all notions of reality and historical accuracy to be entertained for two-ish hours. (Do I think a movie based on a theme park ride needed to be this long? Probably not but I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie at the cinema that was less than two hours.)

I thought The Rock and Emily Blunt had good-ish chemistry and the movie was a decent mash-up of National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean: the magical realism of the Nicholas Cage classic and the historical (in)accuracy of a movie where a large part of the humor comes from Johnny Depp’s character sharing a name with a monkey.

There were many things in Jungle Cruise that I found problematic or just an interesting choice, which shouldn’t come as a surprise: the characterization of Jack Whitehall’s character and the tribes in the Amazon and The Rock’s character in general (we’re just going to ignore his accent or the lack of one?). Overall, I do have to give Disney credit for making a movie based on their theme park rides, it’s a step up, in my opinion, from remaking one of their animated movies into a live action and not changing anything.

P.S. I highly recommend reading Rachel Handler’s interview in Vulture with a real operator of the Jungle Cruise ride who watched Jungle Cruise.

Has Lorde Dropped a New Album?

No, but we’re two weeks away! She continues on her press tour, blessing us with a “Diary of a Song” for “Solar Power.”

She’s also given us a rooftop performance of “Stoned at the Nail Salon.”

In the meantime… FINNEAS dropped the first single “A Concert Six Months from Now” from his upcoming debut album, Optimist.

Too Many Tabs

Anna Peele profiled our favorite zaddy (sorry) Chris Meloni and dove into the peculiarity of his current moment for Men’s Health (those pictures, c’mon!).

Sandra Oh and Amanda Peet discuss womanhood, Hollywood, the art of acting, and storytelling, as told to The Cut’s Lindsay Peoples Wagner.

Jael Goldfine chatted to everyone’s favorite reality TV show narrator Iain Sterling about his iconic comedic chops and voice in GQ.

Plus… this cringey Jason Momoa interview, new controversial Jeopardy! host’s dark past, Jessie J’s song audit and how there will never be another “Bang Bang,” He’s All That trailer, LET THE ROCK FUCK, DaDomino Effect that toppled DaBaby's festival season, a Love Islander giving MARGOT ROBBIE a Cameo??? (spoilies), and Miley revisits her Bangerz era (kinda iconic).