Month: May 2022

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Sky Ferreira, Wilco, Bright Eyes, and more.

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Bright Eyes — Companion EPs

Bright Eyes are not only back on tour, but they also recently undertook the ambitious project of re-issuing all nine of their studio albums. Each will be accompanied by an EP that sees the band reworking older songs while inviting contributors like Phoebe Bridgers and Waxahatchee to lend their voices. This week, the Companion EPs A Collection of Songs Written And Recorded 1995-1997: A Companion, Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion And Fevers, and Mirrors: A Companion were released, offering a way for day-one fans to connect with their music in a unique way.

Wilco — Cruel Country

Despite nearly three decades as a band, Wilco still remains wildly prolific, as seen on their recent 12th studio LP Cruel Country. The 21-track album shows Wilco at their creative best and getting back to the heart of their earlier releases. Recorded mostly live, Cruel Country is both jammy and concise Americana music that examines our country through a critical lens.

Dehd — Blue Skies

Chicago post-punk trio Dehd dropped their fourth studio album Blue Skies this week. The rollicking album is full of sunny melodies, jangly chords, and playful refrains, pointing to the band’s refined songwriting and tangible chemistry.

Haai — Baby, We’re Ascending

After honing her sound over the last five years with a handful of singles and a 2020 EP, Haai’s technical skills are on full display in her euphoric debut LP Baby, We’re Ascending. The UK-based producer jam-packed glitchy and euphoric beats into the 13-track effort, collaborating with the likes of Jon Hopkins and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor.

Hovvdy — Billboard For My Feelings

Last year, Austin-based duo Hovvdy released the expansive album True Love. Now compiling a handful of songs written in that era that didn’t quite make it to the album, the band releases the four-track effort Billboard For My Feelings. The collection of tracks boast bright melodies paired with the group’s signature washed-out vocals.

Sky Ferreira — “Don’t Forget”

Making good on her promise to release new music this year, Sky Ferreira dropped the shimmering new single “Don’t Forget.” Her second song in nine years, “Don’t Forget” marks a pop-leaning return and points to her upcoming album Masochism. Combining slick synths and a crashing beat, “Don’t Forget” plays up an 80’s inspired sound.

Beabadoobee — “Lovesong”

Going back to her acoustic roots, Beabadoobee shares the tender lullaby “Lovesong.” Offering a contrast to her recent rock-leaning tracks, “Lovesong” displays the UK singer’s versatile songwriting. It was originally written for her second EP, but was the last track she recorded for the upcoming album Beatopia.

MUNA — “Home By Now”

Muna are just about a month out from releasing their self-titled release on Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory records. Sharing their fourth single ahead of the album, the band releases the shimmering track “Home By Now.” A pulsing beat and ’80s-inspired synths color the track as vocalist Kate Gavin sings of questioning choices following the end of a relationship. “While a lot of this album does seem to be about trusting my instincts, this song acknowledges the pain of not knowing if I left a relationship that I was meant to be in,” Gavin said about the single.

Ganser — “People Watching”

Chicago band Ganser are known for crafting dark and thrashing punk music, which they refined on their acclaimed 2020 sophomore album Just Look At That Sky. Now kicking off a new era with the upcoming EP, Nothing You Do Matters, Ganser share the propulsive track “People Watching.” A dizzying mix of moody guitars are layered underneath apathetic lyrics about the state of the world, pointing to the kind of cheerfully nihilistic music Ganser is expected to release on their new project.

Alex G — “Blessing”

After penning the soundtrack to the film We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, Alex G shows off his experimental side with the new track “Blessing.” Departing from his singer-songwriter catalog, the new song opens with a wall of discordant guitars before whispering vocals deliver lines that are surprisingly optimistic compared to the track’s haunting instrumentals.

Gordi — “Way I Go”

The last we heard from Australian songwriter Gordi, she had teamed up with pop star Troye Sivan for an electrifying single. But now, the singer is back to promote a new EP Inhuman, which is out later this summer. The project’s lead single is the wistful tune “Way I Go,” colored by the gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar and Gordi’s softly resonating vocals.

JayWood — “Thank You”

Winnipeg musician JayWood is readying the release of the forthcoming album Slingshot by sharing the upbeat new track “Thank You.” Co-produced by Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jacob Portrait, “Thank You” is both sunny and celebratory, mixing a groove-forward beat with lyrics about focusing on the positive. Dedicated to his late mother and other folks who aren’t in his life anymore, JayWood said the song “kinda wrote itself, it felt so easy to put together because I knew the core of what I was trying to get across.”

The Cleveland Cavaliers were among the NBA’s most pleasant surprises this past season, as the young Cavs came out of the gates as one of the league’s hottest teams and finished 8th in the East at 44-38, as injuries took their toll, ultimately dropping both of their play-in games to miss the playoffs.

Still, optimism abounds in Cleveland after Darius Garland made the leap to All-Star in his third season, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley became a formidable frontcourt force on both ends of the floor, and Kevin Love found himself revitalized alongside all that young talent. There’s still a ways to go for the Cavs to enter the contender realm in the top-heavy East, but they have undoubtedly taken the first big step in the right direction and it is incumbent on Koby Altman and the front office to continue building on that foundation.

This offseason will present some interesting options for the Cavs, most notably what they do with Collin Sexton (who missed most all season with a torn meniscus) as he will be a restricted free agent with a roster clearly needing more creation and scoring punch from the backcourt. There are other organizational moves to make, and on Tuesday we learned one of those would be bolstering their coaching staff with former Lakers and Kings head coach (and more successfully, Warriors assistant) Luke Walton coming on as an assistant for JB Bickerstaff.

Walton has not been successful as a head coach, but was highly regarded in Golden State as an assistant under Steve Kerr, so it’s possible that he’s just a better fit in a secondary seat on the bench rather than in that first chair.

A little over a week ago, Halsey went viral for — ironically enough — claiming on TikTok that her label, Capitol Records, wouldn’t give her new single a release date unless she went viral on TikTok. “Basically, I have a song that I love that I want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me,” the video read in the caption. “I’ve been in this industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can’t release [the song] unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”

Well, the viral moment may not have come the way the label wanted to (… or did it?), but today, Capitol announced, “We are committing to a release of ‘So Good’ on June 9th, 2022,” on Twitter. An additional statement read:

We are an artist-first company that encourages open dialogue. We have nothing but a desire to help each one of our artists succeed, and hope that we can continue to have these critical conversations.

Incidentally, Halsey wasn’t the only artist to complain about her label’s TikTok policy, and it wasn’t Halsey’s only complaint since moving from Astralwerks to Capitol proper. In a series of tweets, Halsey said that Capitol also blocked the release of her song “3am” as a single and cut the rollout for her album Manic short.

So, now, I guess we look forward to the release of “So Good” and hope the buzz hasn’t died down by 6/9.

There’s plenty to question about the U.S. Depp v. Heard trial airing on Court TV as it happened. The six-week production showcased what one expert (divisively) described as “mutual abuse” and, although this was a defamation trial, the testimony frequently dove into harrowing descriptions of said alleged abuse. However, the trial also devolved into tales of “human fecal matter” and peeing in hallways (accusations flung by both sides), along with testimony about death threats and wild money demands.

It’s safe to say that this was a chaotic yet triggering mess that, in execution, landed as something that SNL scathingly skewered as being “for fun.” And as if that wasn’t enough (and before a jury verdict even landed, given that Depp’s suing for $50 million, and Heard’s countersuing for $100 million), there will also be a documentary. This is the second such project with the first landing after Depp’s 2020 U.K.-based libel trial against The Sun, which ended with that court shutting down Depp’s claim and ruling that a tabloid’s “wife beater” claim about him was “substantially true.”

Via Variety, this project will come from Warner Bros. Discovery U.K., which produced the first documentary and has this planned for Number Two:

[T]he follow up will be focused on the recent and very high-profile legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, this time in the U.S. The two-part Discovery+ documentary will again look at the extensive evidence and testimony of both Depp and Heard. Each episode will present one side of the argument through legal teams, friends, family and key witnesses.

No word yet on whether any drama related to James Franco or Elon Musk challenging Depp to a “cage fight” will be involved. The good news, though, is that we haven’t heard news of a third trial happening. Humanity has been through enough already.

(Via Variety)

Say what you want about Kanye West’s creative output lately, but he’s shown himself to be an incredible benefactor to the new artists he supports. For instance, after Fivio Foreign appeared on Donda, Kanye returned the favor, granting him the single “City Of Gods” for his debut album, B.I.B.L.E. Likewise, Louisville rising star Vory, who has been working behind the scenes since 2016, also lent his vocal expertise to three Donda tracks and has now received his own blessing from the production icon.

Vory’s new single “Daylight” was originally intended for Donda, but after some reworking, now appears destined for the Louisville rapper/singer’s upcoming debut album, Lost Souls. Built over a sample of Dione Warwick’s 1973 single “You’re Gonna Need Me” (notable for appearing on Usher’s Confessions track “Superstar” and J Dilla’s “Stop!” from Donuts), the new song finds the two artists facing their anxieties and seeking comfort in one-night stands, accompanied by plenty of soul-searching.

“Daylight” is the second single to be released ahead of Lost Souls, which is scheduled for a June 3 release. The first single, “Do Not Disturb,” was released on May 13 and featured Bleu and Nav. Other artists due to appear on the album include Memphis singer/rapper Fresco Trey, Atlanta rap-crooner Landstrip Chip, and Jamaican genre misfit BEAM.

Lost Souls is due 6/3 via UMG.

A few days ago, Michelle Zauner (aka Japanese Breakfast) had the honor of throwing out the first pitch at a game between the New York Mets and her hometown Philadelphia Phillies. These moments can often live on in infamy, but fortunately for Zauner, her throw was relatively uneventful: It was wide left and it two-hopped to the catcher, but it wasn’t a superlatively awful throw that will be forever included in compilations of hilariously bad first pitches.

What did stand out, though, was Zauner’s attire, as on the field, she wore a nice Mets jersey with “Jbrekkie” on the back, right above the number 69. In a new interview with Spin, Zauner speculated that she got away with the number choice due to a funny misunderstanding.

She said, “They asked me what I wanted on my jersey and what number and so I just figured I should do ‘Jbrekkie’ and the only number that came to mind was 69 [laughs]. I was surprised they let me do it, actually. But then I also found out that the Mets won the World Series in ’69, so maybe they thought it was an homage to them. It was.”

Indeed, the Mets won the first of their two World Series titles in 1969, with their second coming in 1986. They also appeared in the championship round in 1973, 2000, and 2015. So, it’s possible that whoever is in charge of coordinating first pitches really did think Zauner was showing love to the franchise’s first title. It could also just be that they saw was Zauner was doing and let her have some fun for her big moment.

She also described her throw, “I’m obviously very much an indoor kid and I knew that I was not going to do a great job — and I didn’t get to practice very much, because we found out a week-and-a-half before or something and I was supposed to practice with [drummer and producer Craig Hendrix] and then SNL came in and all of our attention went to SNL. Then we got there at 3:00 and they said I was going to be able to have practice on the field with the baseball players or whatever, but it was raining. So I didn’t get to practice at all and when I did practice, it was not as far away as the mound was to the plate. Everyone was like, ‘You can stand as close as you want,’ but then the catcher kind of gave me sh*t, like if you don’t do it from the top of the mound, it doesn’t count. I was like, ‘I’m not doing that, no way,’ and so I was kind of trying to get him to come closer but he wasn’t having it. I blame him.”

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Wilco, Cruel Country

I played Wilco’s 21-song double-album opus a lot this month when I needed a break from news stories about school shootings, overseas wars, and eroding civil liberties. In the ’90s, musicians like Jeff Tweedy dug into the roots of America’s musical past to find a narrative that was more open-minded and sympathetic than the depressing stories we all heard in history class or on the evening news, which were always centered on political dynasties and endless military conquests. At its best, this music reminded people born into modernity that there was a rich heritage buried underneath the toxicity of institutional American history that we all could inherit as part of our birthright. We just needed to know where to look and how listen for it. A record like Cruel Country can, I hope, remind a new generation that there’s a version of America rooted in art, love, community, and joy. It is, at heart, a batch of folk songs replete with lovely pedal steel guitars and warm organ fills. But the album also carries a harder, more pessimistic truth. It’s the one you hear in “The Plains,” in which the place that vows to give all who live here the world might in fact, in the end, take our souls.

2. The Smile, A Light For Attracting Attention

The title of this LP could be taken as ironic, given that The Smile appears to be an antidote to the fanatical anticipation that typically greets Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s work with their “regular” group. The Smile, in contrast, feels like a deliberately low-stakes affair, having come together during lockdown after 40 percent of one of the world’s most beloved bands decided to work on music together with highly regarded jazz drummer Tom Skinner. If anything, adopting The Smile moniker is a means of attracting significantly less attention than a proper Radiohead release inevitably would. Backed by Skinner’s technically brilliant but unobtrusive timekeeping, The Smile present themselves on that song as the most un-Radiohead-like of propositions — a guitar-driven power trio! — that happens to sound, tantalizingly, like a version of Radiohead that Radiohead no longer is apparently interested in being.

3. Say Sue Me, The Last Thing Left

My friend and podcast co-host Ian Cohen likes to say that at least 25 percent of his indie rock promo pile at any give moment sounds like “Alvvays without the tunes.” This South Korean band reminds me a bit of Alvvays, but they definitely have the tunes to go with the sad-eyed, indie-pop trappings. The melancholy bop of The Last Thing Left has soundtracked my late spring, as I’m a sucker for taking walks in the fresh air while taking in trebly guitars and alluringly doleful vocals. Sumi Choi — Say Sue Me’s singer, guitarist, and songwriter — really is the star of the show here, striking a perfect balance of knowing sorrow and ingratiating charm on songs that zip in and out before the heartache can set in.

4. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Endless Rooms

Briskly strummed guitars, ping-ponging baselines, relentless motorik drum beats that usually linger between 160 and 170 bpm — Australian quintet Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever definitely have a formula when it comes to writing songs. But the wonder of the band’s consistently great output is how they find new ways to package those elements into insistently tuneful guitar-pop gems. While I remain partial to their breakout 2017 EP The French Press, I’m starting to think that their latest effort might be their best. The problem with this band is that I tend to think that whichever record I’ve heard most recently is their best. Like fellow Aussies AC/DC, these guys just make the same record over and over. But it’s always a really good record, so I’m really just complimenting their top-notch quality control.

5. Sharon Van Etten, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong

Speaking of consistency, few artists in the indie sphere have been as reliable in the past decade as Sharon Van Etten. Only she hasn’t stuck to a particular sound in that time. Her previous album, 2019’s Remind Me Tomorrow, was a full-on rock record with genuine anthems, a shift of startling boldness for an artist who sometimes seemed too shy to actually step on stage at the beginning of her career. I loved the evolution, and Remind Me Tomorrow remains my favorite Van Etten record. But her latest LP can hardly be considered a letdown. Rather, it finds Van Etten showing off both her recent aggressiveness (particularly on the flinty “Headspace”) as well as the familiar sensitivity of her early work. With an artist as dependable as Van Etten, it’s easy to take a record like We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong for granted. It’s “merely” another very good release from a very good artist. (I wonder if her decision to not release any advance singles might have damped the buzz.) But I have a feeling this one will continue to sink in for me as the year unfolds.

6. Craig Finn, A Legacy Of Rentals

The evolution of the Hold Steady singer’s solo career has been a welcome surprise. After a brief dalliance with Americana singer-songwriter moves on his 2012 debut Clear Heart Full Eyes, he teamed up with producer Josh Kaufman (of the excellent folk-rock band Bonny Light Horseman) for what he later classified as a trio of albums — 2015’s Faith In The Future, 2017’s We All Want The Same Things, and 2019’s I Need A New War — that impressively diverged from his regular band’s guitar crunch and toward dynamic soundscapes that put the focus squarely on Finn’s narratives about middle-aged burnouts. While Finn retained Kaufman for his new album, A Legacy Of Rentals really does feel like the beginning of a different saga. Working with a string section and muted electronics, Finn has crafted a record that feels like his version of Tunnel Of Love, with the fine singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins acting as his Patti Scialfa vocal foil. The mood is sad and reflective, with characters who have been around the block more times than they can count reflecting on how the hell they got here.

7. Dehd, Blue Skies

I got into this Chicago trio after becoming entranced by their breakthrough third record, 2020’s Flower Of Devotion. While they can be broadly labeled as a post-punk band, Dehd doesn’t fall into the usual clichés of that subgenre — they are no monotone, talky vocals that wryly deconstruct the low-key madness of modern existence. This band is way too romantic for that. There’s a reason why so many critics namecheck Roy Orbison and The Cure when describing them — they specialize in jangly, reverb-heavy fatalism that earns the melodrama of the lyrics by putting you squarely in their goth-kid frame of mind. Forget the sunny title: This record makes me want to smoke clove cigarettes in a depressive 23-year-old’s crappy apartment on a gorgeously rainy night.

John DiMaggio’s pay dispute with Disney did not end happily ever after.

Earlier this year, Deadline reported that Futurama would return (for something like the 12th time) with new episodes on Hulu, minus one key member of the cast: DiMaggio, who voices surly, alcoholic robot Bender. At one point, there was even talk of replacing the voice actor, which caused a riot among fans of Futurama, animation, and everyone with the common sense to not side with multi-billion dollar corporations. Eventually, the dispute was resolved with DiMaggio tweeting, “I’M BACK, BABY,” but as he revealed at the Phoenix Fan Fusion convention over the weekend, he returned without a pay raise.

“People are like, ‘I’m so glad you got more money!’ I didn’t get more money,” DiMaggio said, according to Slashfilm. But what I did get was a lot of respect, and a lot of head nods from people who are like, ‘Yo bro, I see you and thank you.’” He called “trying to get money out of Disney is like trying to get blood from a stone — you ain’t gonna get it.”

There was also talk of testicles:

“But listen, this was the best thing about that fight: I had Disney, Hulu, I was holding on to their collective testicles so hard that they couldn’t, y’know, there was nowhere for them to go. But there was also nowhere for me to go, and who wants to hold on to those for that long?”

Ultimately, DiMaggio (who wanted a raise for the entire cast, not just himself) decided that he would rather “[have] a nice Thanksgiving dinner” than “[stand] across the street in the freezing rain watching everybody eat.” Those nachos don’t pay for themselves.

Futurama returns in 2023.

(Via Slashfilm)

Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.

Whatever you might be into, Vinyl Me, Please has a new vinyl-adjacent offering for the connoisseurs among us: The Abbey, a new knife made in partnership with The James Brand that was designed specifically for opening new vinyl records.

Each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody and naturally, some stand out above the rest. So, check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of May below.

Olivia Rodrigo — Sour

Olivia Rodrigo is perhaps pop’s biggest vinyl supporter (she even got the Jack White stamp of approval on that front). So, as her debut album Sour turns a year old, it’s not surprising Rodrigo is celebrating with fresh vinyl: For the anniversary, Rodrigo has re-issued the album in some new colored pressings, including the light blue version pictured above.

Get it here.

Taking Back Sunday — Tell All Your Friends (20th Anniversary Edition)

Taking Back Sunday’s 2002 debut album is one of the most esteemed emo releases ever and it turns 20 years old this year. To celebrate, Craft Recordings has dropped a reissued version of the album, which includes newly remastered audio and four previously unreleased demos of “Mutual Head Club,” “Bike Scene,” “The Blue Channel,” and “Great Romances Of The 20th Century.” On the vinyl version, those demos comes on a bonus etched 10-inch disc.

Get it here.

ABBA — Vinyl Album Box Set

Abba (who somehow only just picked up their first-ever Grammy nomination, by the way) have a storied discography and now you can own it all thanks to a new box set. It features each of the band’s nine albums — including their latest, last year’s comeback LP Voyage — along with ABBA Tracks, which includes non-album singles and B-sides.

Get it here.

Eddie Vedder — Ukulele Songs (Reissue)

The Pearl Jam leader dropped a new solo album, Earthling, earlier this year, and in his solo discography, that LP was preceded by 2011’s Ukulele Songs. That album was just reissued in standard and deluxe edition vinyl pressings, the latter of which was pressed on high-grade 180-gram black vinyl and comes with a 16-page booklet and a special lithograph.

Get it here.

Atmosphere — Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP’s (20th Anniversary Reissue)

In 2001, Atmosphere — an institution in the well-respected Minneapolis hip-hop scene — dropped Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP’s, which compiled Ford One, Ford Two, and The Lucy EP into one release. That was two decades ago, so now the duo is celebrating with a reissue on vinyl, which actually marks the first time this fan-favorite compilation has been pressed on vinyl.

Get it here.

Rolling Stones — Live At The El Mocambo

In March 1997, the Rolling Stones, at the long-running height of their power, played two secret concerts at Toronto’s The El Mocambo, a 300-capacity club. Now, for the first time, audio from those sets has been released in full — specifically, the full March 5 set and three songs from the previous day’s performance. Previously, just four of the songs had made it onto the band’s Love You Live album. The vinyl edition comes in black and neon pressings, each consisting of four LPs.

Get it here.

The Clash — Combat Rock/The People’s Hall (Special Edition)

The Clash’s Combat Rock is a classic album for multiple reasons: It’s the final Clash album from the group’s classic lineup — Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon — and it features two iconic singles, “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.” Now, 40 years after the album’s original release, it gets a fresh vinyl reissue, alongside a selection of 12 additional tracks (the The People’s Hall part of the reissue’s name).

Get it here.

Roxy Music — Stranded (Reissue) and Country Life (Reissue)

Roxy Music has popped up in this space recently because they’re in the midst of a series of vinyl reissues. The latest albums to get that treatment are two big ones in the Roxy Music oeuvre: 1973’s Stranded was their first No. 1 album in the UK while the next year’s Country Life is often considered to be perhaps the group’s best album.

Get Stranded here. Get Country Life here.

The Cranberries — Stars: The Best Of 1992-2002 (Reissue)

The Cranberries were one of the toasts of the ’90s thanks to a run of memorable albums and singles. That era was encapsulated in a greatest hits collection, which has now been reissues on vinyl. In addition to hits like “Zombie,” “Dreams,” and “Linger,” the collection also includes two songs not available on other albums: “New New York” and “Stars.”

Get it here.

Justice — † (Vinyl Me, Please Reissue)

Justice came hot out of the gate with their 2007 debut album (also known as Cross), as it was among the year’s most revered albums and it earned the French electronic duo a handful of Grammy nominations. Now, Vinyl Me, Please has a striking reissue of the album, pressed on gorgeous “gold nugget” vinyl.

Get it here.

With less than a month until the 2022 NBA Draft, teams are starting to lock in on their favorites and get their big boards in order. Most of the early entrants into the draft that remain at this point are committed to staying in through the entire process, but on Tuesday morning, word emerged of one notable process backing out of the draft and announcing his intentions to return to the college ranks.

Terquavion Smith, a guard out of NC State, had vaulted up boards to be a projected first rounder for many, but has decided to return to Raleigh for his sophomore season, telling ESPN’s Jonathan Givony that he wants another year as a college student.

“I have to be honest and admit money has never been at the center of my thoughts,” he said. “My agent explained to me that teams as high as the late teens, through the rest of the first round, all have me ranked as a first-round talent. It’s exciting to hear that. But I told him I have more work to do. I like school and my college in particular. Remember, my last two years have been so strange, thanks to the pandemic. I just want one more season to get everything right and just be a college student.”

It’s not often that a projected first rounder returns to school, but there are some recent instances where a late first rounder has maneuvered himself into lottery contention with a strong sophomore season at the collegiate ranks. One would expect Smith will also be landing some NIL money that, while he insists money’s not at the center of his thoughts, will probably mitigate some of what he’s missing out on in terms of NBA earnings this coming season.

This is obviously great news for the Wolfpack as they look to bounce back from a tough 2021-22 season, while NBA teams enamored with Smith will have to shuffle their big boards now that he’s no longer an option.