#_author:wendy geller

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Alexander Skarsgård just did a 5-minute suitcase commercial. We've got questions.

Ever wondered why you might need a $600+ performance suitcase? If that question has been weighing heavily on your mind, you’re in luck: Luggage brand TUMI has just released an epic, 5-minute commercial starring Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, Big Little Lies) that will have you ready to justify that purchase in no time flat.

That is, if you’re able to make sense of the commercial. It’s touting TUMI’s newest premium, hard-shell solution, the TUMI Latitude, which according to a press release is “built to handle any journey with the utmost class.”

Skarsgård silently (really, he doesn’t utter a word throughout) exhibits this by wielding his trusty case through a variety of adventurous locations, including Hungary, Lake Como (no, he doesn’t visit the Clooneys, unfortunately), the Pacific Northwest, and Mongolia. Along the way, the case receives some wear and tear, but remains functional and stylish. 

Alexander Skarsgard lounging on the job. (Photo: Courtesy: TUMI)

All fine and well? Ready to plunk down your credit card? Well, not so fast. There are so many unanswered questions about this mysterious ad that we are almost worried about the overall credibility of the product, and whether this mysterious, classy suitcase will actually do all that it is touted to do.

The first question is: What is this, besides a pleasant extended video of Skarsgård looking hot? It might not actually be an ad at all. Could it be a James Bond audition in disguise?

Then there’s the simple matter of logistics. Does he really need to have his case with him at all times? Why would anyone deliberately dip a $600+ piece of luggage in the water? And if the case never leaves his side, and he’s not afraid of getting it wet, where did the case go during that steamy make-out moment in the lake?

YouTube/TUMI

And there’s more! Why is he using the case as a pillow in a barn, when there’s a much more comfortable-looking bale of hay available? What is it about this case?

And, aside from the case, how does Skarsgård manage to keep that nice light-colored suit looking so clean and crisp throughout the entire journey through remote locales? 

One has to wonder: Is it the case itself, or the adventure that makes it all so sexy and worth the money? Is a suitcase on wheels actually sexy? Will the suitcase still be as glamorous of a chick-magnet if the only place it travels to is one’s parents’ house in the Midwest, or is this seductive attractiveness only potent in scenic locations?

And… the biggest unsolved mystery of all: WHAT IS IN THE CASE?

We may never know. But you can, indeed, buy the piece and see for yourself if it works out as well for you as it did for the Emmy-winning actor. Let us know how it goes.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

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Watch Jay Z fan out over Eminem and Snoop to David Letterman

Wondering what the secret is to rising to the top in the competitive genre of hip-hop? If anyone knows the key, it would be rap mogul Jay Z. And he’s got an idea where to start: “You can have a great voice, and you can say just about anything,” he says.

In this first look at David Letterman’s interview with Jay Z from his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the rapper explains just what it is about two of his genre’s most iconic stars — Snoop Dogg and Eminem — that makes their sound unique.

Jay Z explains rap to David Letterman. (Courtesy: Netflix)

To illustrate Snoop’s “great voice,” Jay fires off that famous “one, two, three, and to the four” opening line from Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin But a G Thang,” to the delight of the audience. “It’s just like ‘oh my God!'” he grins.

As for Eminem, Jay praises his “amazing cadence” and flows right into a Slim Shady-worthy demonstration to prove his point.

“There’s multiple ways to be good, and some people really just have it all,” he concludes.

You can catch the full Jay Z episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman on Friday, Apr. 6. The series features the host sitting down with legendary names from various walks of life, including former President Barack Obama, George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, and Tina Fey. 

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

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Tove Lo on gender inequality in music: 'Nobody questions a man singing about these things'

Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum, 2 billion-streaming artist Tove Lo stopped by BUILD Series in New York City to discuss her latest album, Blue Lips. The highly anticipated set, which comprises the final phase of her “Lady Wood Era,” trilogy, continues a unique thematic journey through the stages of a relationship, all delivered with unedited honesty.

Indeed, it’s that honesty that initially gained her body of work so much attention. The singer is known for being frank about her sexuality and sexual health in general (she declared in an interview with NME earlier this month “We just need to stop judging anyone who is an openly sexual and happy person”). However, she says that she feels by now she has passed the point of mere shock value with her confessional and sometimes explicit lyrics.

“I think that if it’s the first time, if you’re just discovering my music, people are like ‘what the f***? What is she doing?’ But if you know me and you know my music, you don’t get shocked — you just hopefully get excited!”

Still, she admits that there is a divide between how female vs. male artists are perceived when discussing such subject matters in their music.

“There’s definitely a difference,” she says. “I find myself kind of defending myself right now, like why do I have to explain myself about this? Because nobody questions a man singing about those kinds of things. Nobody asks those questions to a male artist.

“I do check in with my male artist friends,” she muses. “Like, ‘here’s some questions that I got today, do you ever get these?’ And they’re like, no.”

“I don’t mind getting the questions. I don’t mind explaining a little bit about why I write and express myself the way I do. But I like it more when it’s more curiosity than accusation, if that makes sense.”

Lo went on to relate that, although she had a comfortable upbringing and didn’t want for anything, she was always seeking something more. This led to her being drawn to music with an honest or confessional angle. “The music I connected to growing up were the songs that were telling the truth. And it didn’t mean it had to be sad or dark. It would have a meaning to it that wasn’t edited or altered to not upset people, or adapt to as many people as possible.

“I think there’s a need for that, because we can polish and fix and filter everything.”

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Tori Amos speaks out on sexual assault: 'We have to tackle it with the grownups'

For much of Tori Amos’s solo career, the pianist, composer, and singer has always fearlessly navigated the passage between the personal and the political. On her latest album, Native Invader, Amos adds a third element, bringing in the increasingly strip-mined Earth as both imperiled muse and guiding light. Her 15th album is an intense feast of melody, protest, tenderness and pain.

Amos, one of the most successful, prolific and influential artists of her generation, recently visited BUILD to share her process creating the album, as well as many other subjects on her mind.

Amos, who has a wry sense of humor — throwing in some commentary about her favorite varieties of chocolate, and making jokes about knife-fighting with her husband (“we’re still married”) — had an important and timely message for the audience regarding the nation’s current discussion swirling about sexual harassment.

The singer, who famously wrote 1991’s “Me and a Gun” about being raped at the age of 21, has been involved with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) since 1994. When asked her feelings about the timely controversy of abuse of power in Hollywood and beyond, Amos had plenty to say.

“RAINN has received more calls in the last week — the numbers have gone up hugely. And they’ve had to call on resources because it isn’t going away,” she noted. “It’s something that we just really need to be aware — when [2016’s documentary about teenage sexual assault] Audrie and Daisy came out, and it was explained to me that this was now something that was not only in our high schools but our middle schools…it’s not a surprise that it’s in Hollywood and Washington, but in our middle schools?

“Well then, we have to trace it back to the root. We have to tackle it with the grownups,” she continued. “And we have to come forward and realize that if we’ve looked the other way, or if we were afraid to speak up when we were seeing it in the office, well — now is the time to make the change.

“And so yes, there’s grieving going on, the scabs are off with some people, there’s pain and there’s anger and there are all these things. But to really make a change, that is a continued conversation, and that is about boundaries being put in place in the workplace.

“And even if we have some of those pervs still on board, or at the top of the food chain — because there will be pervs, that will still get those jobs — there is a protocol on how to behave and we accept nothing less, or they get called out. There are consequences to acting out on that behavior.”

Watch the full interview with Tori Amos below:

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How Kip Moore turned burnout into gold with new album, 'Slowheart'

Making a name for oneself in Nashville is a daunting task for any artist — Music City is notorious for being the tip-top pinnacle for sonic talent — but few musicians have worked harder than Kip Moore at maintaining success. The singer received massive critical acclaim for his 2012 debut Up All Night, but his follow-up, 2014’s Wild Ones, threw his career for a loop. Despite underperforming by label standards, the record raged as something of a cult phenomenon, attracting a growing fan base despite its lackluster stats on paper.

Moore took this unexpected turn to heart, throwing himself into plans for his third record, Slowheart, and considering the path he wanted to take. As might be expected, this caused him a considerable amount of stress — but he found an unusual way out of the forest. The singer chose to take an extended break prior to the release of Slowheart, trekking through Costa Rica and Iceland, giving himself a badly needed mental break from the rigors of the music industry.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to come back. I struggled with it,” he admitted. “Even before my career took off, all I was doing was chasing music. For so many years, it was working odd jobs, working to make ends meet, writing and recording and always trying to prepare for when it did take off. It’s all I’ve done for 13 years … I haven’t really had a moment to myself to sit and think.”

While abroad: “For the first time in ages I found myself sleeping. I was sleeping through the whole night without waking up and my mind going crazy,” he notes. “I was at such peace. I was surfing every morning. I was rock climbing. And I had this easiness about me. So it wasn’t that I wasn’t ready to get back making music — I was scared to get back into that rut that I was in.”

The vibes of peace and freedom Moore experienced during this time sonically seeped their way into the new set, as he worked on a full half of the record following his trip. “The music was always where I found joy,” he clarifies. “It was all the travel and the sleepless nights that were stacking up and beginning to be hard for me.”

Upon returning, Moore entered the studio and tracked several songs, which he said felt “magical” to him upon completion. “I turned them into the label and said ‘Hey, I’ve been just kind of messing around, what do you guys think?’ And it was the most exuberance I’d ever seen at my record label!”

“I worked on this record for over a year, so to finally have it out, it’s definitely a heavy weight that I’ve been carrying – holding these songs and not being able to play them live.”

“I told myself a long time ago, I want to lay my head on my pillow at night and know that I did this journey the way I wanted to do it, and not be influenced by all the outside pressures,” he says. “For me this record embodies so much of who i am and what I’m about and what I’ve wanted to say for a while.

“These are the songs that I’ve been waiting on me to write, and I had to go through all that I went through to get there.”

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Elvis's daughter Lisa Marie Presley remembers growing up at Graceland

It’s been 40 years since the King of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley, passed away tragically at age 42 in his iconic Graceland mansion, but his legacy and the fascination surrounding it have never faded away. Every year following his death, new facts are uncovered about Presley — including even some of his unexpected musical tastes.

In an interview with Yahoo Music conducted at Graceland’s Peacock Room in 2013 — a rare instance when a camera crew was allowed inside the late legend’s home — Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie, recalled her father’s preoccupation with one of these: fellow multi-decade icon Elton John.

“The last Christmas I remember here, I was getting Elton John records,” she noted. “[My dad] wanted to know who he was, and why was I listening to him. He wanted to get a record so he could hear it. I think it was the Yellow Brick Road album, or the one before that. He really, really wanted to know who this was that I was listening to that was not him!”

Apparently, John reciprocated Presley’s fascination — even going so far as to wear a suit reportedly given to him by the King during his mid-’80s Breaking Hearts tour.

Elvis, Priscilla, and Lisa Marie Presley (Photo by Magma Agency/WireImage)

Lisa Marie added that — her Elton album collection notwithstanding — there was also plenty of listening to her father going on at Graceland as well, in the famously Polynesian-themed Jungle Room. “There’s a red light that would go on when he was [recording],” she recollected. “‘Moody Blue,’ I remember him doing that in there [in 1976]. I remember him singing ‘Little Darlin” in there. I was right outside. … Everybody had to be quiet and the red light would go on. Everybody was dead quiet. It was very exciting.”

The elder Presley’s penchant for performing was clearly a trait his daughter inherited — long before she started her own musical career in adulthood with her solo albums To Whom It May Concern, No What, and Storm & Grace. She remembered a special moment in her dad’s bedroom where she was caught practicing her chops: “I don’t remember what I was singing, but it was upstairs in his room. It was in his closet; he has a walk-in. There’s a closet in between my room and his room. He has a big three-way mirror, and I was standing there. He was in the hallway looking through the door in the crack. I could see his form through the crack. I was just going at it, and my hair brush, singing away in the mirror. I must have been 3.”

When asked what professional advice she might have received from her father, had he lived to witness her own musical career, she mused, “I really feel that he would be really sensitive to and concerned over people comparing me to him. … I know that he would be probably really protective and probably gearing me up to deal with that criticism which is going to happen. … I think that he would have been very, very concerned, sensitive, and protective about that with me, because he knew that it would come with the territory.”

Elvis’s bedroom is located on the second floor of Graceland, which is kept private from fans and tours. The singer died on Aug. 16, 1977, in the bedroom’s adjoining bathroom, due to what was officially ruled a heart attack. The funeral was held in Graceland’s Peacock Room the following day.

“A lot of the funerals were all in this room,” recalled Lisa Marie as she sat with Yahoo Music in the historic home and pointed behind her. “So I think of those things. My grandfather and my father, they were right in here.”

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Video Premiere: Paper Monsters Debut 'Red Light'

Manchester, NH natives Paper Monsters have a knack for blending alt-rock and pop as well as mixing up acoustic and electronic instrumentation. The band’s name is representative of the demons we encounter in our daily lives and to remind us that they are mostly in our heads; made of paper, and that we should tear them up and throw them away. Taking this meaning one step further, Paper Monsters have a unique trademark: Pieced-together one-of-a-kind paper masks which they utilize in everything they do, including their live show performance.

Yahoo Music is excited to debut the video for “Red Light,” which is the third single from the band’s debut EP, With Riddles.

Frontman Matt Blanchette explains of the single: “The song ‘Red Light’ is about the Red Lights in everybody’s lives, and in my own especially. Things that hold us back from pursuing goals or passions that interest us and motivate us; usually a girlfriend or a job, anything that makes us feel complacent or settled. The Red Lights we encounter are less about brick wall barriers and more de-motivational issues that stop us from striving.”

If you’d like to keep up with Paper Monsters’ schedule, be sure to check here.

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Adele Wins Album of the Year, Gives All Credit to Beyoncé

By the time superstar vocalist Adele took the stage at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards to accept the most coveted award of the night, Album of the Year (for her release 25), the singer had already accepted four other awards honoring her work. Still, despite being so richly lauded, the singer had definite ideas about where to dedicate her final thank-you speech.

After making a few notes about her difficulties adjusting to motherhood (” I struggled and I still do struggle being a mom. It’s really hard”), Adele took an unexpected turn — offering her win up to whom she felt should have received it, namely fellow pop diva Beyoncé.

“I can’t possibly accept this award,” she brokenly noted, her voice choked with tears. “I’m very humbled and very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé…the Lemonade album was so monumental, and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul bearing.

“We all got to see another side of you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that,” she continued. “And all us artists [expletive] adore you. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. And I love you. I always have. And I always will.”

Both Beyoncé and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, looked on and clapped in the audience, with moved expressions on their faces.

Adele was the big winner of the night, taking five awards, including album, song, and record of the year.  Beyoncé, who was the most-nominated artist of the night, took home two. The 2017 Grammy Awards were aired live from Los Angeles on Feb. 12.