Latest news with #Dopamine
Cosmopolitan
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
If you're loving The Couple Next Door S2, here's how to watch the gripping Scandi drama it's based on for free
If like us you're already hooked on the second season of The Couple Next Door and just need a little bit more of the drama, you're in luck! Unfortunately, this isn't a season three announcement (we'll let you know once we hear more about this). But, you may or may not already know that the second season of the Channel 4 thriller - which centres around heart surgeon Charlotte (Annabel Scholey), her husband Jacob (Sam Palladio) and their mysterious neighbour Mia (Aggy K. Adams) - is loosely adapted from the Danish series Dopamine - and you can watch it in the UK for free! Here's everything you need to know. Dopamine focuses on Maiken who works alongside her boyfriend at the University Hospital, where everything appears picture-perfect on the surface. But beneath the calm, she's grappling with a troubled personal life and a relationship that's slowly unraveling. When new nurse Ida joins the ward, their carefully balanced world is thrown into chaos, much like Charlotte and Jacob's. The series originally premiered in Denmark on the 31st March 2022 and is made by Kamikaze Film CPH. Speaking about the inspiration behind the second season of The Couple Next Door, the writer David Alison said: "In terms of the story, we took inspiration very, very loosely from a Danish series called Dopamine but we have had enormous creative freedom to develop it exactly the way we wanted and run in whatever direction we wanted to do, and hopefully that's what we've done." Dopamine is available to watch for free on Channel All eight episodes from season one are available to stream directly from there, and they're all about 30 minutes long, so you'll be able to binge the entire series in one afternoon. The episodes are also available to stream via Apple TV. Danish actress Amalie Dollerup stars in the lead role of Maiken. Below is a full cast list: The Couple Next Door season 2 is currently airing on Channel 4.
Cosmopolitan
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
What did The Couple Next Door's Alan do? Season 1 recap as he does community service in Season 2
ICYMI: The Couple Next Door is returning for a second season, this time with a whole new cohort of characters but the same twists, turns and explosive drama as the first series. While the first series was based on the Dutch show Nieuwe Buren, the show's writer has said that the second season is "very, very loosely" from a Danish series called Dopamine (which, btw, you can actually watch on Channel 4's iplayer). It's worth mentioning that, despite taking place in the same cul-de-sac, the second outing of the show has a completely new set of characters, including the femme fatale Mia, except for *one* returning character: Alan Richardson, played by Hugh Dennis (who also plays Pete Brockman in Outnumbered, FYI!). When we meet Alan, he is doing court-mandated community service around the what exactly did he do in season one to wind up this way? To answer this question and more, keep reading for your cheat sheet on Alan... In order to give you a refresher on where Alan is at for the second season of The Couple Next Door, here's his official character summary for series two: "Isolated and alone since Jean left him a year ago, Alan has had to suffer the scorn of the community, as his crimes towards Becka became more widely known. Now fully recovered from his stroke, he's been sentenced to community service, completing menial tasks around the local area to repay his debt to society. But has Alan really mended his ways? And if he has, will his past stop him ever finding love again?" So much drama! Speaking on his character's arc during season two, Dennis says: "My character arc is about redemption. I've seen the error of my ways and hope to turn out differently than expected. I've done my time for the crimes committed in the first series, but I'm still in the cul-de-sac with new neighbours. I'm good at noticing things and become aware of one new neighbour, wondering what's going on in her life." When we meet him in season one, Alan is a bookkeeper who is married to Jean, a woman with mobility issues who has been sleeping downstairs, and not in the upstairs marital bed, as a result. Jean hopes that a stairlift will help reignite some of the passion in their marriage and back in bed with her husband, however, unbeknownst to her, Alan has become a peeping tom and has developed an obsession with season one character Becka. Alan's obsession spirals into stalking: he compulsively scours Becka's social media, attends the yoga class she teaches, and even stares into her windows with a telescope. Things go in an even darker direction when Jean makes her way upstairs towards the end of the season, discovering his obsession and peering through his telescope only to see, in real time, that Alan has actually broken into Becka's house!! He is pleasuring himself in Becka's bedroom while watching (and recording on his own phone, for posterity) a video he has found of Becka and her husband enjoying a foursome. Alan then realises Becka can see him and has a stroke. However, Jean covers up for him, calling paramedics and claiming that he was in Becka's house in order to confront an intruder. The incident temporarily results in Alan having limited mobility and having to use a wheelchair. In this period, Jean discovers that Alan has also been lying about their financial situation: they have considerably more money than he has been letting on. With carers in place to look after Alan, Jean leaves with half of their full some of money and warned him that, when his health improved, the police would be coming round. "Actions have consequences, Alan," she said, in an amazing parting exchange. When we meet Alan, it's a year after the drama of the initial season. But it's worth wondering why, exactly, the creators chose this particular character to return to the show. According to writer David Allison, it's due to his nosy nature - and the fact he's curious about other individuals in the cul-de-sac. "So he does provide a kind of anchor to the street, he's quite nosy, he wants to get involved in other people's lives, so naturally he tends to insert himself into stories," Allison has explained. So, there you have it!
UPI
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Morgan Wallen's 'I'm the Problem' tops U.S. album chart for 5th week
Morgan Wallen's "I'm the Problem" has topped the Billboard 200 chart for a fifth week. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo June 28 (UPI) -- Country star Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem is the No. 1 album in the United States for a fifth week. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Saturday is Ateez's Golden Hour: Part 3, followed by Lil Tecca's Dopamine at No. 3, SZA's SOS at No. 4 and Wallen's One Thing at a Time at No. 5. Rounding out the top tier are Sabrina Carpenter's Short n'Sweet at No. 6, Brandon Lake's King of Hearts at No. 7, Kendrick Lamar's GNX at No. 8, Wallen's Dangerous: The Double Album at No. 9 and PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake's $ome $exy $ongs 4 U at No. 10. Glastonbury Festival 2025 rolls on with big performances Alanis Morissette at the Glastonbury Festival in Glastonbury, England, on June 27, 2025. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lil Tecca Explains Why He Changed Creative Direction and How ‘Grand Theft Auto' Influenced His New Album
Lil Tecca has come a long way from his 'Ransom' days. The 2019 breakout hit, which is now 7x platinum-certified by the RIAA, is uncharacteristically bubbly compared to the vibe of his latest album Dopamine. In retrospect, Tec was just 16-years-old when he made that song, springing from bar to bar with a hopeful exuberance only found in childhood. 'I want all the diamonds, I want that s—t to weigh a ton,' he croons. Well, now at 22, with four top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 to his credit, he very much has the diamonds. But aside from some pearls draped around his neck during his visit to the Billboard offices, Lil Tecca opts for a more relaxed demeanor. As Dopamine explores through its seedier backdrops, the realities of fame aren't as glamorous as 16-year-old Tec had been led to believe. 'Been a while, I been goin' through the bulls—t,' he raps on 'Hollywood.' More from Billboard U.K. Prime Minister on Kneecap's Glastonbury Set: 'I Don't Think That's Appropriate' Fans Choose KATSEYE's 'Gabriela' as This Week's Favorite New Music Jay-Z Joins Beyoncé for 'Crazy in Love' & More in Surprise Duet in Paris His 2025 hit 'Dark Thoughts' — which brought him back to the Hot 100's top 40 for the first time since 'Ransom,' peaking at No. 28 thusfar — continues those trends, driven by a funky bassline more than a SoundCloud-era hi-hats. Dopamine itself flows more like a never ending radio station, embalmed with the sounds of disco, funk, Afrobeats, R&B and more. The sequencing of it was very intentional, with Tecca admitting he has been consuming a lot of music from classic alternative bands like Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Bad Brains and L7 to stay in the Dopamine mindset. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto. 'There were little details that they added to their soundtrack that I'm like, 'Okay, this is what makes a collection of songs a world,' Tecca said, admitting he pulled heavily from Vice City's radio stations. 'Like the interpolations in the middle, where the [DJ] is setting the tone, setting the mood, setting the stage, so that these roller coaster drops and rises aren't abrupt.' Lil Tecca sits with Billboard to talk his new album GTA, and how it feels being one of the youngest rappers in the game. On 'Dark Thoughts' you rap: 'My life changed so fast, that I don't even recognize myself from last year.' What was going on between and ? How exactly did your life change? We just learned a lot, [and] applied what we learned through the process to create Dopamine itself. World building aspects, leaning towards our own pleasures, overall just being more authentic to what we were putting out. What kind of music were you consuming during e's early days? There's a lot of different influences on this project. I was really listening to the Vice City soundtrack the whole time. Like ? How did you stumble back onto that? Yeah, Fever FM and Flash FM! Flash FM had all those discos vibes on it. I was just looking for soundtracks originally, and then once I stumbled on the Vice City soundtrack I just stuck with it throughout the process. How important was it to add those different influences to Dopamine? If I wasn't making it, I was just making sure I was consuming it. So it came off natural, cause that's where my taste was existing at that point. Off the wake up, I'm turning on the Vice City soundtrack. So by the time I get to recording, I already got my vibe set in a way. I knew ever since I heard the station on YouTube in its entirety that it was gonna be on top of the transitions. When you hear, like, the Fever FM and he's talking in the middle s—t I wouldn't even repeat on here, but it's very much you're not listening to the songs, you're listening to Fever FM. I wanted to implement that same vibe. You're not just listening to Dopamine, you're listening to a soundtrack. When did the creative direction of really start to show itself? We were making music from the point when Plan A was finished, but we didn't have the name Dopamine probably until, I'd say six months ago. That's really when the umbrella was formed. I've always just been interested in the brain and how it works and why it works and when I stumbled upon Dopamine that was where my interest peaked, honestly. With music being one of my forms of pleasure, calling it Dopamine was kind of my way of packaging all of that up into one body of work. So the process was really smooth. It was really authentic to all of us that were working on it. I think this was the fastest we got the album done. The transitions here from song to song feel very intentional. How important was the flow of the project when you were putting the album together? It was essential honestly, we had a certain amount of songs we thought was the sweet spot: which was 16. Regarding actually getting the track list done and quantifying how much we had left, that made it easier. 'Cause it was like, 'Okay, we have five songs that we really love. We know they're not coming off the track list, that means we just got nine more to make, or seven more or whatever the case may be.' So we were just checking off certain vibes as the process was flowing. The Afro vibe, R&B vibe and of course 'Dark Thoughts' was kinda a new sound for what Tecca is. So it sort of lifted the boundaries on what turns we could make this time around, on what's considered experimental. That's when you get the 'Favorite Lie' or the 'Irish Goodbye' because it's like, 'Okay, they like it, let's try a little bit more.' I love how it turned out. It turned out naturally. When it comes to talking about your music I feel like how young you are always becomes a part of the conversation. What's your relationship to your age and how people perceive your art based on your age? Do you ever feel it puts you in a box? No, not really. I did come up at a very young age but I don't even know if I see myself as a child prodigy by comparison. It doesn't annoy me at all, it's cool to me. With this pivot in sound, were you at all worried your fans wouldn't pivot and grow with you? I knew they would love it, and I knew that it was time to pivot in certain directions to show what we have to offer. In the booth we have so many different vibes and so many different sonic identities that we tap into, but I thought it was definitely time to show a different side and I feel like the fans perceived it really well. Why is Ken Carson the only feature on the project? You don't really tap into features that often on your projects. I make a lot of my music just in my room, and to me music is a really personal thing. I'm not against features at all. I just let things happen when the time is right. I actually know Ken in real life, so it's a little bit different. It didn't just feel like we were just putting someone on the album. How do you feel about the state of rap right now? I haven't even sat down to think about it honestly because I've just been creating so much. But I would definitely say it's in a cool place, things are changing faster than ever right now, but that's just what rap is. Coming out of the SoundCloud era, do you ever worry about getting left behind because things are changing so quickly? I just kinda try to do my own thing. When you're in your own lane, you can choose when to speed up or slow down, but when you're in traffic you gotta swerve around and find your way through. When you alienate the people that won't understand, on the other side it might be hate or whatever the case might be, but it only lets the people that truly understand you gravitate towards you more. What have you learned about yourself and your music just from going from 16 to now? You can only learn so much at once. A lot of lessons come through one bit at a time. You just gotta charge it to the game a lot of the times. You might run into an obstacle that at the time you don't have the tools to hop over, and you might fall. Just make sure when you get up, you don't fall twice from the same thing. Coming in this at a young age, we don't have any big bros or OGs to tell us, 'This is what's gonna happen when you do this.' So a lot of the times, keep going and when you fall get back up. We just make sure we don't fall twice, because obstacles are unavoidable. We just make sure to learn these lessons one at a time. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Hans India
18-06-2025
- Health
- Hans India
Can't put down phone or abandon online shopping cart with dopamine
Ever find yourself unable to stop scrolling through your phone, chasing that next funny video or interesting post? Or maybe you've felt a rush of excitement when you achieve a goal, eat a delicious meal, or fill your online shopping cart. Why do some experiences feel so rewarding, while others leave us feeling flat? Well, dopamine might be responsible for that. Here's what it does in our brains and bodies. It's a chemical messenger Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – a chemical messenger that facilitates communication between the brain and the central nervous system. It sends messages between different parts of your nervous system, helping your body and brain coordinate everything from your movement to your mood. Dopamine is most known for its role in short-term pleasure, and the boost we get from things such as eating tasty foods, drinking alcohol, scrolling social media or falling in love. It also assists with learning, maintaining focus and attention, and helps us store memories. It even plays a role in kidney function by regulating the levels of salt and water we excrete. Conversely, low levels of dopamine have been linked to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Pursuing pleasure: Dopamine is not just active when we do pleasurable things. It's active beforehand and it drives us to pursue pleasure. Say I go to a cafe and decide to buy a doughnut. When I bite into the doughnut, it tastes fantastic. Dopamine surges and I experience pleasure. The next time I walk past the cafe, dopamine is already active. It reminds me of the doughnut I had last time and how delicious it was. Dopamine drives me to walk back into the cafe, purchase another doughnut and eat it. From an evolutionary perspective, dopamine was incredibly important, and it ensured survival of the species. It motivated behaviours such as hunting and foraging for food. It reinforced the pursuit of finding shelter and safety and keeping away from predators. And it motivated people to seek out mates and to reproduce. However, modern technology has amplified the effects of dopamine, leading to negative consequences. Activities such as excessive social media use, gambling, consuming alcohol, drug use, sex, pornography and gaming can stimulate dopamine release, creating cycles of addiction and compulsive behaviours. Dopamine levels can vary: Our brain is constantly releasing small amounts of dopamine at a 'baseline' rate. This is because dopamine is crucial to the functioning of our brain and body, irrespective of pleasure. Everyone has a different baseline, influenced by genetic factors such as our DRD2 dopamine receptor genes. Some people produce and metabolise dopamine faster than other people. Our baseline levels can also be influenced by sleep, nutrition and stress in our lives. Given that we all have a baseline of dopamine, our experience of pleasure at any given time is relative to our baseline rate and relative to what has come before. If I play games on my phone all morning and get a dopamine release from that, then I eat something tasty for morning tea, I may not experience the same level of fulfilment or enjoyment that I would have had I not played those games. The brain works hard to regulate itself and it won't allow us to be in a constant state of dopamine 'highs'. This means we can build a tolerance to certain exciting activities if we seek them out too much, as the brain wants to avoid being in a state of constant dopamine 'highs'. Healthy boosters: Thankfully, there are healthy, non-addictive ways to boost your dopamine levels. Exercise is one of the most effective methods for boosting dopamine naturally. Physical activities such as walking, running, cycling, or even dancing can trigger the release of dopamine, leading to improved mood and greater motivation. Research has shown listening to music you enjoy makes your brain release more dopamine, giving you a pleasurable experience. And of course, spending time with people whose company we enjoy is another great way to activate dopamine. Incorporating these habits into daily life can support your brain's natural dopamine production and help you enjoy lasting improvements in motivation, mood and overall health. (The writer from the University of Technology, Sydney)
