Category: News

Having co-produced nearly half of Drake‘s Honestly, Nevermind album, Gordo is having a breakthrough year. The Ecuadorian-American hit-maker is now working to bring more Latin talent into the EDM scene. On Friday (November 18), Gordo released the party-fueled video for his collaboration “Hombres y Mujeres” featuring Colombian singer Feid.

Gordo’s career in EDM spans over a decade. He received a big boost this past year when Drake tapped him to work on his first dance and house music album, Honestly, Nevermind. Gordo co-produced six tracks on the Canadian superstar’s LP, including the hits “Massive,” “Sticky,” and “Currents.”

“It was the biggest I’ve ever done,” Gordo told Uproxx. “Everyone loves Drake, but the fact that he doesn’t come from this world and he acknowledged that it. That he can make timeless house records. He really understands it and he really respects it. He got the best people and created this thing. He went out there and actually reached out to the right people.”

Before working together, Gordo had been friends with Drake for many years. Drake was inspired to include Gordo on Honestly, Nevermind after they listened the producer’s upcoming album together in the car while “lit.” With his LP, Gordo wants to include more Latinos like himself in the EDM scene. For his feel-good banger “Hombres y Mujeres,” he teamed up with Feid.

“It’s about time,” Gordo said. “With house music being so big right now, everywhere you’re listening, they’re playing it. With reggaeton being so big, that gap between the two genres hadn’t been fully bridged. Spanish tech house is really big and the majority of big records are all made by a bunch of white guys. It was time that we took it back home and actually made something that’s going to be the biggest one of them all.”

Backed by Gordo’s haunting house beats, Feid sings in Spanish about living his best life in the club. Feid shouts out his hometown Medellín, Colombia in the mix. Gordo also co-produced Nicki Minaj’s 2022 FIFA World Cup anthem “Tukoh Taka” featuring Maluma and Myriam Fares. He promises there will be more Latin acts featured on his new album.

“What I want people to take away the most from the Feid song is that I did it and I’m Hispanic,” Gordo says. “Feid’s Hispanic. Now I know there’s going to be so many more Hispanic artists that have hit me up already and I want them to reach out. I want everyone to find their Gordo. There’s so many of us. There’s so much talent, so why not keep it all in the family?”

After a rough start to the season, the Philadelphia 76ers have finally pulled themselves back to .500 at 8-8, thanks in large part to Joel Embiid’s return to MVP candidate form.

Embiid has scored 32 or more points in five of the Sixers last six games, including an unbelievable 59-point performance in a win over Utah a week ago. That run of play has allowed the Sixers to weather the storm as James Harden has missed the last seven games with a foot strain, but the injuries (specifically foot injuries) are starting to pile up. Tyrese Maxey suffered a foot fracture late last week that will cost him 3-4 weeks, and now Embiid will join his co-stars on the bench with a foot injury of his own, with the Sixers announcing he’ll miss the team’s upcoming back-to-back against the Nets and Hornets with a mid-foot sprain and be evaluated after that.

Obviously this puts a serious damper on the enthusiasm for Tuesday’s matchup with the suddenly full-strength Nets, which was set to be the first matchup between Embiid and former teammate Ben Simmons. Now, the Sixers will face Brooklyn and Charlotte without their three top stars, and any hopes that they would start to climb the East playoff rankings (currently in 8th) turn to concern they could face an extended stretch without their best players.

Given Embiid’s history of foot issues, including having to sit a chunk of this past summer with plantar fasciitis, there’s always an additional bit of concern when he’s dealing with a foot injury and the Sixers figure to be cautious with their superstar big man.

The White Lotus Misery Index is a weekly accounting of who and/or what is having the worst time in paradise in season two of the HBO series. The rankings are based on a number of factors, none of which can or will be quantified in any way. We are doing art here, not science.

UNRANKED: Portia (wanted an adventure and got one in the form of a rowdy English boy who makes unrelenting eye contact); Tanya (having a blast with Quentin and the boys); Bert (stumbled upon half-naked girls in his room and didn’t seem to mind); Matteo (just a terrific mustache on this guy, no notes); Cam (I don’t know why but I feel like he’s the one who ends up in that body bag we saw in the premiere); Jack the Naughty Nephew (there are worse things in life than traveling to beautiful resorts with your fun uncle and his friends and picking up cute American girls with your special underpants); Isabella at the Front Desk (we’ll get into this one more in a second); Rocco (I love him); the people who work at the jewelry store in town (between Dom and Valentina, they probably did real well on commissions this week).

10. (tie) Daphne (Last week: 10)

Has trouble making female friends because they all talk behind her back. Had a decent time with Harper doing edibles in a luxurious villa and then Harper went back to the hotel and… talked about her behind her back. Husband woke up next to two prostitutes who he couldn’t pay in full and will have to leave an envelope for after he goes to the bank. Knew a guy who dropped dead running a 5k. Really just a lot going on behind those massive sunglasses of hers.

And yet, despite all that, despite the cheating and the subterfuge and her targeted exploitation of her husband’s crippling FOMO, they ended the episode snuggled in bed and smooching like it was all fine. They either have the most healthy relationship on the show or the least, depending what prism you look at it through. They fascinate me very much and I do not want to spend a single minute with them in person.

10. (tie) Valentina the Manager (Last week: 9)

It is probably not the best thing for the manager of a hotel to start showering her cute front desk employees with jewelry and attention and longing looks that imply a borderline infatuation. I say probably only because I do not know if the rules are different in Italy. I suspect they are not. Valentina has been having a weird go of it so far between feeding local cats and chasing away various prostitutes and male suitors at coffee shops and yelling at poor Rocco, and now she needs to find a new piano player too, at least in the short term, which, in a way, still involves chasing away a prostitute.

She’s got a lot on her plate. I’m going to cut her some slack with the inappropriate gift-giving. For now. But this will get more weird before it gets anywhere near normal. Poor Isabella.

9. Mia (Last week: Unranked)

Mia is:

• Getting kind of into the idea of prostitution
• Sneaking into people’s rooms for a shower and then giggling a lot when they barge in on her in various states of undress
• Trying to have sex with creepy piano players in empty churches in a very sad attempt to further her singing career because, like, how many connections could Giuseppe have when his career has topped out at “playing a rotating list of standards in the restaurant of a hotel in Sicily while wealthy people ignore him between bites of pasta”?
• Just shoving pills into the guy’s face with little regard for what they are or do or interact with each other
• Immediately angling for the gig as the lounge singer as the man she basically poisoned was being hauled out by paramedics

This has been quite the ride for Mia. She might start strangling cats by the end of the season. I’m a little terrified of her.

8. Dominic (Last week: 7)

One of my favorite things so far this season has been just watching the faces Dom makes as everything around him goes sideways. The man might sigh more than anyone else on television right now. He has his reasons, too, I guess, between his dad constantly peppering him with terrible advice and his son having open contempt for him and everything he stands for. And then there’s the thing where his sweet son was making out with one of the prostitutes he hired, in the middle of the bar, in front of a lot of people who know she’s a prostitute, a few of whom she has slept with, without any knowledge that she has in the past slept with people for money.

I am already cringing about the reveal here, where Albie discovers that the nice Italian girl he just met and had a fun fling with had, as recently as a few days ago, participated in a jacuzzi threesome with his father. I am almost certain Bert is going to be the one who spills the beans. It’s going to be very awkward. I might look away.

7. Falling under the spell of a person with an English accent (Last week: Unranked)

This is a real thing that happens to Americans. We hear someone with an English accent and we just start melting into puddles on the floor. Any kind of English accent. Look at Tanya talking to Quentin and just adoring this lovely gay gentleman with the fancy way of speaking. Look at Portia get all sparkly in the eyes when Jack the Naughty Nephew starts chatting her up with his streetwise turns of phrase and diabolical sexy underpants. Neither of them ever stood a chance.

But yeah, we can’t deal with that. I don’t know why. It’s a thing. An attractive English woman could walk into my kitchen today and steal my oven and be like “I’ll just be off with this then, love” and I don’t think it would dawn on me to report it to the police for two or three days.

6. Lucia (Last week: Unranked)

Lucia and Mia are kind of like two lines on a graph crossing each other to make a big X, with Mia going from shy/sweet to kind of murdering piano players and Lucia going from streetwise call girl to meeting doe-eyed American boys and hooking up with them in bars in part to make other girls a little jealous. She just wants to open a store and settle down. It’s kind of like she’s having a midlife crisis, which is not super ideal considering she’s like 22 years old. We will continue to monitor this.

5. Giuseppe the Piano Man (Last week: Unranked)

We covered most of his day in the section about Mia — tried to have sex with a prostitute in a church, couldn’t perform, took a handful of unmarked pills she gave him, ended up getting hauled out of the hotel by EMTs after collapsing on the floor — but the biggest and funniest kick in the pants in all of it was all the guests looking at him as he dumped sweat off his entire head and butchered the song “L-O-V-E” and being like “ugh, he’s even worse than usual tonight.”

4. Albie (Last week: 6)

Quick run through Albie’s day:

• Got blown off by Portia for their little hangout date and watched her get all wobbly-kneed in front of Jack and his tattoos
• Was described by Portia as “so sweeeet” with the same tone of voice one would use to describe a cute little woodland creature
• Got openly pressured by his dad to fix his parents’ message
• Hooked up with a fun Italian girl who as recently as a few nights ago slept with his father

This poor goof. Even when he has a good day, it’s only a matter of time before the guillotine hanging over him falls. I hope he snaps and starts getting a bunch of aggressive tattoos. Maybe a leather jacket. Sunglasses. Starts walking around with a snake wrapped around his arm. Anything to mix it up a little.

3. That Swedish Lady Who Got Heaved Into the Ocean By the Mafia (Last week: Unranked)

Please do not throw me onto the rocks and steal my island. I do not think I would enjoy that. Yes, sure, technically I do not own an island right now, which makes that first sentence I typed kind of a moot point. But still. Maybe I will someday. Probably safe to get this one on the record now, just to be safe.

2. Ethan (Last week: 1)

The problem Ethan has here is twofold. The first part is that Harper found that condom wrapper in the couch and is now extremely suspicious that her shy/nice husband is falling under the spell of Cam and his wandering groin and the two of them are going to start having wild nights with champagne and women and all the things she despises in the world, even though in reality, Ethan did the right thing and turned down Mia’s advances and went to bed while Cam entertained both girls. Which is not ideal.

The second part of this problem is that he’s dealing with this first thing between bouts of hangover-induced nausea. This is also not ideal. He doesn’t even realize how much trouble he’s in yet. He will, though, as soon as he goes to puke again and see the wrapper on the sink. And then he’s going to have to try to sell “No, actually I didn’t do anything with either of the prostitutes but I still lied about it because Cam said ‘bro code’ even though both of us and Daphne know he cheats a lot.”

Ethan’s vacation is going to get a lot worse very soon.

1. Harper (Last week: 2)

That is not the face of a woman who is having fun in Sicily.

At the beginning of the year, Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox had a brief whirlwind romance with Kanye West. At the time, there was no small amount of speculation that the relationship wasn’t real, given Kanye’s ongoing obsession with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, who was dating Pete Davidson at the time. Fox was also routinely accused of dating Kanye for clout. However, in a recent TikTok video, she’s since confessed that there was an ulterior motive to getting together with the rapper, but it’s not for the reason that people believe.

While revealing that she’s always been a huge fan of the Kardashians, particularly after they bought clothes from her fashion line 10 years ago, Fox admitted to her followers that the real reason she dated Kanye was so he’d stop harassing Kim. The rap star had already been texting Fox, who was ignoring him at the time because celebrities are always “boring” to date. That’s when she saw an opportunity. Via Elle:

But then I had this thought: I was like, oh my god, maybe I can get him off of Kim’s case. Maybe I can distract him, just get him to like me and I knew if anyone can do it, it’s me because when I set my mind to something, I do it. And I will say that that month that we spent together, he wasn’t on Twitter first of all. He wasn’t on any forms of social media. He didn’t even talk about his relationship. We only really talked about clothes and weird ideas and plans for the future and our hopes and dreams for childhood and education. And it was really beautiful, guys.

Once Kanye started tweeting, Fox said she was out. “Dude, I’m not going to stick around for this shit,” she claims to have told Kanye during their breakup. Fox now realizes that there was no fixing the problem. She still respects Kanye as an artist, but Fox also made it a point to distance herself from his antisemitism.

“I was delusional,” she said. “I thought I could help him. Anyway it didn’t work and now we’re here. But that being said, really, deeply respect the man as an artist. I don’t want to sh*t on that. I don’t want to reduce his whole career to his really bad moments, you know? But that being said, I stand with the Jewish community, period.”

(Via Elle)

Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Brockhampton bid farewell (twice) and Roddy Ricch once again bless the end of the year. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.

Brockhampton — “RZA”

We have reached the end of Brockhampton and the group is going out with a bang. They dropped their supposed “final” album in The Family on Thursday, announcing at the same time that it’d be followed with another new project, TM. The latter album’s arrival was also accompanied by a gun-toting video for “RZA.”

Pharrell and Travis Scott — “Down In Atlanta”

Pharrell has a new album, Phriends, Vol. 1, on the way and it would seem that his new Travis Scott collaboration, “Down In Atlanta,” will appear on it. The tune has a slinky groove and vocals from Scott, on which he, as Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalaz puts it, “details a vivid, debauched account of an adventure in the ATL.”

Roddy Ricch — “Twin” Feat. Lil Durk

As has become tradition for Roddy Ricch, he’s blessed the final weeks of the year with a new project, with the 2022 installment being a new mixtape, Feed Tha Streets III. He prefaced the tape with “Twin,” an in-your-face tune featuring Lil Durk.

Saweetie — “Don’t Say Nothin’”

For a while now, Saweetie has been promising new music to wrap up 2022, and sure enough, she delivered some last week with a new EP, The Single Life. Before the project dropped, Saweetie shared “Don’t Say Nothin’,” which sure seems like it’s about Lil Baby.

Nicki Minaj, Maluma, and Myriam — “Tukoh Taka”

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is officially underway, and Nicki Minaj, Maluma, and Myriam’s contribution is a new song, “Tukoh Taka.” It’s the Official FIFA Fan Festival Anthem that inherently delivers a message of international unity, with lyrics in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Weyes Blood — “God Turn Me Into A Flower”

Weyes Blood’s fifth album — And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow — is out now and a clear highlight is “God Turn Me Into A Flower.” The six-minute track is a warm and meditative tune, thanks in part to keyboards from Oneohtrix Point Never.

Phoebe Bridgers — “So Much Wine”

With Halloween a distant memory and Thanksgiving just days away, it’s time for the new Christmas recordings to start rolling in. Indeed, they have, including Phoebe Bridgers’ contribution, “So Much Wine.” The recording is a cover of The Handsome Family’s original and Bridgers’ latest in her annual drop of melancholy holiday tunes.

Romy and Fred Again.. — “Strong”

Shortly after dropping Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022), Fred Again.. is already back to putting new material out there, via the Romy collaboration “Strong.” Uproxx’s Adrian Spinelli notes of the tune, “Inspired by Ibiza house and trance, Romy’s vocals soar in familiar fashion, but they’re paired with beats that have that finger-on-the-pulse feeling of Fred Again..’s world-smashing electronica.”

Fousheé — “Spend The Money” Feat. Lil Uzi Vert

Uproxx cover star Fousheé has been a major up-and-comer in recent years and her debut album, Softcore, is finally here. It features the Lil Uzi Vert collaboration “Spend The Money,” of which Uproxx’s Lexi Lane notes, “The track brings a completely experimental beat, as it blends elements of electronic, rock, rap, and more.”

PinkPantheress — “Do You Miss Me?”

It’s hard to call PinkPantheress anything but obsessed on her latest single, “Do You Miss Me?” On the Kaytranada-produced tune, she sings, “I can’t let go of your hand / I can’t even breathe without you / I don’t think you understand  / I love to watch you as you speak / And you say the words ‘I love you’ / Tell me, when you fall asleep.”

With wealthy Russians all about finding those loopholes to escape Vladimir Putin’s draft and increasing reports of his inner circle plotting to find a successor, it sure sounds like the walls are closing in on the imperialistic president. This has followed an incredibly deadly war, which has encompassed most of 2022 and hasn’t turned out like Putin would have dreamed. That’s what happens when most Ukrainians, including grandmas with homemade explosives, stand up and push back while a majority of Russians seem to want nothing to do with heading to Ukraine to fight.

Such a difference in perspectives is to be expected when Putin’s forces are diminished due to death, grievous injury, and desertion, and all of that heavy artillery (including tanks) is simply left on the streets for Ukrainians to put to use. With all of that in mind, the Newsweek now passes on word from independent Russian news outlet Meduza, which reveals how Putin’s finally losing his country’s “elites,” who cringing like crazy over what looks like an undeniable loss:

Sources close to the presidential administration (AP) and the Russian Federation called recent events “very painful.”

“There is an understanding that we lost the real war,” said elites and entrepreneurs described as being part of Putin’s inner circle. “People begin to think about how to live on, what place they would like to take in the future, what bet to make, what to play. [On the one hand] there will be revanchist sentiments. On the other hand, there will be a request for normalization and stabilization.”

From there, Putin’s also facing the embarrassment for not even being able to provide medical care for deployed troops, long after word spread that soldiers grew so frustrated that they threatened to turn their general into smithereens. It’s not a great look when video emerges of Russians being told to raid tampon drawers because that’s the only way that they’ll be able to stop their own bleeding after being shot. Yep, no wonder this has turned into an undeniable disaster, but Putin keeps hanging onto the fight.

(Via Newsweek)

The 2022 American Music Awards was mostly a lighthearted affair last night (November 20), but it would have been negligent to overlook the overwhelming tragedy of Takeoff’s November 1 murder. Host Wayne Brady slowed down the proceedings to honor the beloved 28-year-old Migos rapper.

“During tonight’s show, we’ve celebrated the artists and songs we love, but we also wanted to pay our respects and show our gratitude to the artists who have left us with a beautiful legacy of their art,” Brady said, standing before a projected photo of Takeoff. “We recently just lost Kirshnick Khari Ball, better known as Takeoff. One-third of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Migos. On behalf of all of us that love hip-hop and music all around the world, we thank you, Takeoff, for your artistry. And tonight, we honor your memory.”

He added, “Guys, we have to stop this senseless and terrible gun violence. Just yesterday, there was a mass shooting in Colorado Springs, and our hearts go out to all of the victims’ families. That’s from the show. Personally, I just want to say, I love you all and my heart is with you, and God bless you.”

Late Saturday night (November 19), a gunman entered Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, and opened fire. He killed at least five people with dozens more reportedly injured.

Takeoff was shot and killed while attending a private event at 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston with Quavo, his uncle and Migos collaborator. Houston Police confirmed that shots were fired after tensions rose during a dice game. Two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The search for Takeoff’s killer is ongoing, as a suspect has yet to be publicly identified.

Takeoff’s celebration of life was held on Friday, November 11, at State Farm Arena in his hometown Atlanta. Chloe Bailey, Justin Bieber, Yolanda Adams, and Byron Cage each performed, while Quavo and Offset of Migos and Quality Control’s Pierre “P” Thomas and Kevin “Coach K” Lee all gave heartbreaking eulogies. Others in attendance included Cardi B, City Girls, Drake, Gucci Mane, Lil Yachty, and YG.

Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Jesse Eisenberg recently made the courageous jump to television to star in FX’s Fleishman Is In Trouble, a drama based on the 2019 best-selling novel of the same name. Eisenberg plays the titular Toby Fleishman, who is going through a messy divorce with Claire Danes when she suddenly disappears, leaving him a newly single dad of two in New York City, who relies on his two close friends for help while piecing together exactly what went wrong in his marriage.

While we are all used to Eisenberg’s fast-talking characters, Fleishman’s thoughts are actually narrated by someone entirely different: his friend Libby, played by (fellow Now You See Me alum!) Lizzy Caplan. Libby chronicles Fleishman’s story while also navigating her own personal life.

Caplan revealed earlier this year that she was drawn to Libby after becoming a mom for the first time. “In many ways, I identified with Libby more than I’ve identified with any other character I’ve played,” Caplan told Vanity Fair. “[Libby] feels very trapped in her life, and I started shooting the show when I was a new mother to my first baby…I was getting to have this very fulfilling acting gig at the same time that I was fulfilling these lifelong domesticity dreams that I kicked down the road for so long.” Caplan’s onscreen husband is played by Josh Radnor.

Fleishman is in Trouble airs new episodes on FX on Hulu every Thursday.

(Via CinemaHolic)

The craft beer world in the US has exploded over the past decade. But beer drinkers still aren’t shying away from cheap, easy-to-find, grocery store lagers. Sure, beer geeks might go crazy about their local microbrewery’s fruited sour, milkshake IPA, or barrel-aged stout. But walk into any grocery store from Olympia to Orlando and you’ll find the coolers filled with bargain-priced lagers — people drink them and occassionally even like them!

Since the holidays are upon us and gatherings are a pretty sure bet, the time is right to find a few great, easy-drinking lagers to bring to get-togethers. That’s why I decided to blindly nose and taste eight of the most popular, cheap lagers available pretty much anywhere. Keep scrolling to see how everything turned out.

Here’s the lineup:

• Corona Extra
• Coors Light
• Bud Light
• Miller High Life
• Natural Light
• Busch
• Heineken
• Pabst Blue Ribbon

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

This beer smells kind of skunky. There are also notes of wet grass and cereal grains. Maybe a little citrus and floral aroma as well. The palate is a mix of skunk and sweetness with more earthy, herbal hops and sweet, caramel malts, and corny sugar. The finish is dry, crisp, and refreshing.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This beer starts with a nose of bready malts, cereal grains, and citrus. That’s it and it’s all fairly muted. I had to try really hard to find anything. The palate is really sweet and sugary with just a little bitterness at the end. It doesn’t really taste like much.

It’s the epitome of barely yellow, fizzy water.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Aromas of sugary sweetness, corn, cereal grains, and wet grass greet you before your first sip. The palate continues this trend. There’s a ton of sugary sweetness right off the bat as well as sweet corn, cereal grains, and herbal, grassy malts. There’s no bitterness whatsoever. This beer is sweet on sweet.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Sweet corn, caramel malts, honey, lemongrass, and slight earthy, grassy hops are prevalent on the nose. The palate is centered on flavors like corn sweetness, bready malts, honey, citrus peels, cereal grains, and slightly bitter, floral hops. It has a nice mix of malt sweetness, corn, and piney hops.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

Notable aromas include sweet corn, cereal grains, caramel malts, and floral, herbal hops. Drinking it reveals a mix of sweetness and hops with sweet corn, toffee, citrus peels, and earthy, herbal hops making an appearance.

The finish is dry, sweet, and leaves you wanting more.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

The nose is sweet malts, cereal grains, corn, and nothing else discernable. It’s surprisingly fizzy for a beer. It tasted more like a malty, slightly hoppy hard seltzer or flavored sparkling water than an actual beer. It’s borderline flavorless.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

Sweet corn, cereal grains, wet grass, caramel, and floral, herbal, earthy hops were the overwhelming aromas on the nose. Sipping it revealed corn syrup sweetness, honey, citrus peels, and more earthy, herbal hops. The finish is crisp, sweet, and thirst-quenching. Not overly exciting, but it does its job.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

Sweet corn, sugar, citrus, and slightly bitter hops are found on the nose. Honestly, I couldn’t find anything else to mention. The palate continues this trend with sugary sweetness, sweet corn, cereal grains, and light citrus taking center stage. It’s fairly water and fizzy but refreshing.

Part 2: The Ranking

8) Natural Light (Taste 2)

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $12.99 for a 12-pack

The Beer:

It’s safe to assume people don’t drink Natural Light for the overwhelming flavor. They drink it because it’s refreshing, light, and low in alcohol, calories, and carbohydrates. It helps that it’s ridiculously inexpensive.

Bottom Line:

I’m convinced that Natural Light is popular because drinkers are trying to be ironic. It’s more a fizzy, flavorless novelty than an actual beer.

7) Bud Light (Taste 6)

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $6.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Bud Light is America’s favorite light beer. It’s a favorite of people who see that it’s the cheapest beer at the bar and think, “Sure, why not? It’s still technically beer, right?”

It’s low in alcohol and equally low in flavor.

Bottom Line:

Bud Light is a real head-scratcher of a beer. It’s almost flavorless, but it’s tremendously popular. You can thank over-the-top advertising for that.

6) Busch (Taste 8)

ABV: 4.3%

Average Price: $6.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Sure. I could have picked Busch Light instead of regular Busch, but I wanted to mix it up. This adjunct lager is brewed with (according to the official website) premium hops, barley malt, grains, and water, it’s known for its crisp, easy-drinking, no-frill flavor profile.

Bottom Line:

This is definitely not an exciting beer. It’s muted, watery, and boring. It does have a little more depth than some of the light beers on the market though.

5) Corona Extra (Taste 3)

ABV: 4.6%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The most popular Mexican beer, this beach-centric lager is brewed with simple ingredients like water, barley, non-malted cereal grains, and hops. It’s known for its sweet, light, refreshing flavor without a ton of substance.

Bottom Line:

Corona Extra is always shown with a lime wedge sitting snuggly in the neck of the bottle and for good reason. Without this added citrus, it’s an overly sweet, sugary mess.

4) Heineken (Taste 1)

ABV: 5%

Average Price: $8.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

One of the easiest-to-find, most popular imported lagers in the world, Heineken is the kind of beer that’s always there. This European pale lager from The Netherlands is known for its earthy, fruity, hoppy flavor.

Bottom Line:

Heineken has a rather unique aroma and flavor. Even the freshest bottle or can has a little dank, skunk flavor to it. If you can get past that, it’s a refreshing, malty, floral sipper.

3) Coors Light (Taste 5)

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $6.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

As light beers go, Coors Light has a little more going for it than most of its counterparts. This 4.2% ABV light lager is brewed with 2-row lager malt, hop extract, lager yeast, and corn syrup. It’s cold lagered, cold-filtered, and even cold-packaged. Everything about this beer is cold.

Bottom Line:

Coors Light doesn’t mess around. It lists corn syrup in its ingredients. It’s not concerned with what you think as long as you crack open one of its ice-cold bottles or cans. And, truth be told, they’re pretty okay.

2) Miller High Life (Taste 7)

ABV: 4.6%

Average Price: $6.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Miller High Life is one of those beers that you’re just as likely to find at a college party as you are at a retirement party. It’s a throwback in a glass bottle that never seems to go out of style. Plus, the beer inside is crisp, refreshing, and hits the spot every time.

Bottom Line:

Miller High Life is well-known for its crisp, refreshing, easy-drinking nature. It might not be the most complex beer in this world of over-the-top beers, but it serves its purpose and it does it well.

1) Pabst Blue Ribbon (Taste 4)

ABV: 4.7%

Average Price: $5.99 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This classic bowling alley beer has been brewed the same way since its inception way back in 1844. Its popularity rose a decade or more ago when hipsters and young people began drinking it ironically. There’s nothing ironic though about this smooth, crisp, Noble hop-driven lager.

Bottom Line:

PBR deserves all of the attention it gets. It’s a classic, crisp, no-frills throwback beer. It tastes exactly the way you expect it to taste when you see its iconic label.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

It’s not easy to blindly taste cheap, grocery store lagers. They’re either crisp, refreshing, and memorable or watery, bland, and highly forgettable. It feels like there is no in-between.

You’ll find the first part of the list is filled with forgettable, bland beer and the second half is populated by bargain bangers.

About midway through The Walking Dead series finale, I turned into the Leo pointing meme. To prevent a violent conflict among the living, as opposed to fighting the real enemy (zombies), Daryl Dixon gives a Rick Grimes-like speech. “What the hell you doing? We all deserve better than this. You built this place to be like the old world. That was the f*ckin’ problem,” he said. “We got one enemy. We ain’t the walking dead.”

Norman Reedus said the thing! But it took some convincing.

“I didn’t want to say it, I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t want to say it, and they kind of talked me into saying it,” he told Vanity Fair. “But if you remember way back when Rick says it, he was like, ‘We are not the walking dead,’ and he made such a big thing of it that I was like, ‘Well, I can’t make a big thing of it now because that’s what Andy did way back then.’ So I kind of just incorporated it into the dialogue, and I didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops, because that’s what he did.” Instead, Reedus “figure[d] out a way to just make it part of the sentence without making it a poster,” he added.

AMC may differ. There’s a 75 percent chance that you’ll be able to buy a “we ain’t the walking dead” poster at Hot Topic (are there Hot Topics in France?) by Black Friday.

(Via Vanity Fair)