Category: News

Last month, Rihanna announced that she would be making her return to performance in the most dramatic fashion. Revealing that she is the Super Bowl Halftime Show performer next year, she sparked fan speculation that her long-awaited ninth album would follow shortly thereafter with an accompanying tour. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her on stage and fans are rightly excited by the possibility of doing so again sometime in the upcoming year. Given her profile, fans are pretty sure that she’d be playing no less than stadiums on such a tour, with no fewer than nine albums worth of material to choose from.

Will Rihanna go on a stadium tour in 2023?

According to a report by industry insider site Hits Daily Double, Rihanna is among the big-name superstars most likely to make their returns to touring next year — a list that includes Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift. With her planned Super Bowl performance in February, the time would be right to release a new album — which would, of course, mean the perfect time to push a new tour, as well.

Rihanna hasn’t toured since 2016 when she released her Grammy-nominated album Anti, so fans would undoubtedly scoop up tickets almost as soon as they went on sale. They have been clamoring for a new album for the past few years (and growing ever more impatient), which Rihanna herself has referenced in joking interviews and social media responses. She’s been teasing new material for quite some time, telling Associated Press in 2021, “You’re not going to expect what you hear.” Earlier this year, she reiterated this statement in an interview with Vogue but remained vague about details such as producers, collaborators, release dates, or even a title.

HDD has posited, though, that she may not want to do these things after her Super Bowl halftime show set; instead, a residency would allow her to stay close to home (and her new baby), while her non-music ventures — Savage X Fenty, Fenty Beauty, and collabs with Puma — might ultimately be much more lucrative than risking fans’ ire by putting out a potentially disappointing project. However, the way things are going in Stan World (aka Twitter), that might not matter. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

While visiting a group of middle school students in New York City ahead of his show at Madison Square Garden, Roddy Ricch received a special citation for his community service from New York State Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman.

The “High Fashion” rapper surprised the students of the Middle School Of Marketing And Legal Studies and shared some words of inspiration with the students. Ricch even hung out with the students after the event was over, posing for photos and offering autographs, according to TMZ.

“We just wanted to come by and show y’all some love and be active in the community and just let y’all know that there’s somebody out there that care for y’all,” Ricch said in the school’s auditorium. “Everything we do is for the kids. We here for y’all. I was once y’all.”

In recent years, the rapper has been a voice against gun violence plaguing the streets of Los Angeles. After PnB Rock’s unfortunate passing, Ricch spoke out against the senseless murder encouraging his community to do better.

“It’s too much senseless violence. Too much opportunity and motivation to take things other people work hard for. It’s too much life to live to take someone else’s life away,” he wrote in a past Instagram Story post. “I love my city, but we can’t keep going out like this. Before you know it, it’ll be nobody left to take from or kill.”

On a lighter note, when it comes to music, the rapper released his new single, “Stop Breathing.” The track is likely to land on the third installment of his upcoming mixtape series, Feed Tha Streets.

No release date has been shared at this time.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Donald Trump once claimed that his “two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” Both are in question after he formed a new company in response to the Trump Organization being accused of “significant” fraud. The company’s innocent, crime-free, nothing-to-see-here name, you ask? The Trump Organization II.

The New York Times reports that days before New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit, the increasingly paranoid former-president’s bumbling legal team “created a new company in Delaware. The new company’s name had a familiar ring to it: the Trump Organization, the same name as his old company, now threatened by the lawsuit. And on Sept. 21, the day the suit was filed, the new Delaware company filed paperwork in New York, seeking to be recognized there as the Trump Organization II.”

James is seeking “several measures” to “stop Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s ongoing fraudulent scheme and ensure funds are available to satisfy any disgorgement award, including prohibiting the Trump Organization from transferring any material assets to another entity without court approval,” she wrote in a statement. Trump (who predictably moaned about the attorney goal’s investigation) is already guilty one thing: picking the obvious name possible, one that’s being mocked on social media.

(Via the New York Times)

Issa Rea might have a multi-million dollar deal with WarnerMedia that includes her current hit series, Rap Sh!t, but that’s not about to stop her from calling out its newly-formed parent company for protecting Ezra Miller. For most of the year, The Flash star has been the subject of numerous headlines following a series of arrests and reports of allegedly disturbing behavior. However, that hasn’t stopped Warner Bros. Discovery from continuing to move forward with the film because it’s tested well with audiences.

Miller has offered up a mea culpa and reportedly entered treatment, but Rae is not a fan of the message that the situation sends to women. Via Elle:

It starts with a backbone. While I don’t support people jumping to immediate conclusions and I think it’s entirely fair for investigations to happen, I think it’s extremely important to, like the mantra says, ‘Listen to women.’ I’m gonna be real, the stuff that’s happening with Ezra Miller is, to me, a microcosm of Hollywood. There’s this person who’s a repeat offender, who’s been behaving atrociously, and as opposed to shutting them down and shutting the production down, there’s an effort to save the movie and them. That is a clear example of the lengths that Hollywood will go to to save itself and to protect offenders.

Rae’s comments were part of a larger discussion on the #MeToo movement, to which she offered a simple solution: Stop protecting offenders like Miller.

“So, don’t do that, and women may be able to thrive,” Rae said. “They won’t have to live in fear of keeping silent because it’ll ruin their careers. It’s just a constant pattern of abuse that’ll only persist if Hollywood continues to insist on being this way.”

Rap Sh!t Season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max

(Via Elle)

Death Cab For Cutie just released their 10th album, Asphalt Meadows, last month. And the Seattle band began the Asphalt Meadows Tour shortly after the album came out on September 16th. There is a slew of tour dates left in the US in 2022 before the band picks it back up stateside in 2023 and then heads on a lengthy European jaunt. The Ben Gibbard-led band has tabbed a number of different openers for the Asphalt Meadows tour dates. But who are they?

Who Are The Openers On Death Cab For Cutie’s 2022 Tour?

In 2022, Thao (of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down) is supporting Death Cab on the band’s last midwest tour date of 2022 on October 13th in St. Louis. Then, indie rock stalwarts Yo La Tengo join the band for a half dozen tour stops in California. For the band’s two homecoming shows in Seattle on October 26th and 27th, Seattle dance music riser Chong The Nomad will be the support act.

Come 2023, Brooklyn indie duo Momma will be the opening act on every Death Cab For Cutie US tour date. Once the band heads to Europe, psych-rock band Slow Pulp will take over as the opener.

Check out all of Death Cab For Cutie’s remaining tour dates below and get tickets here.

10/13 — St. Louis, MO @ The Factory ^
10/15 — Austin, TX @ ACL Festival
10/17 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
10/18 — Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues Anaheim #
10/19 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl #
10/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre #
10/22 — San Diego, CA @ venue TBA #
10/23 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater #
10/24 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater #
10/26 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
10/27 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
01/27/2023 —Louisville, KY @ Old Forester’s Paristown Hall &
01/28/2023 — Birmingham, AL @ Iron City Bham &
01/29/2023 — Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium &
01/31/2023 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live &
02/02/2023 — Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live &
02/03/2023 — New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater &
02/04/2023 — Little Rock, AR @ The Hall &
02/06/2023 — Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theatre &
02/07/2023 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom &
02/09/2023 — Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater &
02/11/2023 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum &
02/14/2023 — Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium &
03/01/2023 — Milan, Italy @ Fabrique *
03/02/2023 — Zurich, Switzerland @ X/Tra *
03/05/2023 — Copenhagen, Denmark @ Den Grå Hal *
03/06/2023 — Stockholm, Sweden @ Filadelfia *
03/07/2023 — Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene *
03/09/2023 — Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle *
03/10/2023 — Tilburg, Netherlands @ 013 *
03/11/2023 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso *
03/12/2023 — Cologne, Germany @ E/Werk *
03/14/2023 — Antwerp, Belgium @ De Roma *
03/15/2023 — Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Atelier *
03/16/2023 — Paris, France @ Salle Pleyel *
03/18/2023 — Nottingham, England @ Rock City *
03/19/2023 — Dublin, Ireland @ Bord Gais Energy Theatre *
03/21/2023 — Birmingham, England @ 02 Institute *
03/22/2023 — Edinburgh, Scotland @ Usher Hall *
03/23/2023 — Glasgow, Scotland @ Barrowland *
03/25/2023 — Manchester, England @ O2 Apollo *
03/27/2023 — Brighton, England @ Dome *
03/29/2023 — London, England @ Royal Albert Hall *

^ with Thao
# with Yo La Tengo
% with Chong the Nomad
& with Momma
* with Slow Pulp

Death Cab For Cutie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In today’s music landscape, where nostalgia and a good ’90s or 2000s sample can propel a song into popularity, there’s no question that today’s Sessions guest has a hit on his hands. AAP Deno graces the bathroom set with his take on Ray J’s 2005 cult record, “One Wish.”The Arlington, Texas rapper’s “Wishin” performance isn’t what you’d expect from a song inspired by an R&B classic. There’s no begging and pleading but a high-energy, drill-inspired beat — fitting for a song originally recorded with B-Lovee.

The allure of the song and AAP’s Sessions performance are their ability to make listeners dance. The song is not only growing in popularity on TikTok since its release in early August, but creators on the app have several unique dance routines to pair with the trending sound. Between the studio recording, today’s UPROXX Sessions, and the song’s presence on social media, it’s clear that AAP Deno and “Wishin’ are here to stay.

Watch AAP Deno perform “Wishin” for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Almost three years (to the day) ago, Sons of Anarchy creator/showrunner Kurt Sutter called himself an “abrasive dick” while announcing that he’d been fired as co-showrunner of the biker-based spinoff, Mayans M.C. This development was a stunning one (not that Sutter has ever shied away from being abrasive), given that the franchise was Sutter’s baby, and in the weeks that followed, we learned that he pushed back against FX’s then-new owners, the Walt Disney Co., and he’d even injected an anti-Disney joke in an exchange between EZ and Coco of the Mayans.

Subsequently, The Shield writer alluded (from time to time) via social media that he had other projects in the works, and although Netflix isn’t swiftly renewing shows or announcing new ones these days, Sutter’s return to TV earned that call. He’ll act as showrunner/executive producer for The Abandons, which will be a Western action-drama in the days when there’s a huge TV audience for the subgenre. As an interesting side note, former Sons of Anarchy cop Taylor Sheridan co-created Yellowstone, so that’s a nice little pop-cultural intersection. One can probably expect The Abandons to not appeal as much to a conservative audience, though. From the Netflix logline:

“As a group of diverse, outlier families pursue their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out. These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, ‘justice’ is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law. The Abandons will explore that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets, as this family fights to keep their land.”

As of now, there’s no articulated timeline for The Abandons, although the project’s been in development for nearly a year, and Netflix ordered up a full 10-episode season. I don’t think anyone would be mad if Charlie Hunnam made a cameo (and it sounds like Hunnam wouldn’t be opposed, either), and hopefully, the always-blunt Sutter will be much happier with this non-biker endeavor than he was with The Bastard Executioner.

(Via Variety)

Jim Beam is the world’s best-selling bourbon whiskey. But even with something as ubiquitous and recognizable as a white-label bottle of good ol’ Jim Beam Bourbon, it’s still not a monolith. Jim Beam has eight core straight whiskey expressions under the “Jim Beam” shingle, which is part of the wider James B. Beam Distilling family featuring several different brands of American whiskey, bourbon, and rye. That in turn is then part of Beam Suntory, which is a massive multi-national spirits conglomerate that makes and distributes booze from all over the world.

I’m not here to break down every bottle of whisk(e)y made by Beam Suntory or even every bottle made at the James B. Beam Distillery, that’s a monster project for a later date. I’m here to rank all eight bottles of Jim Beam that you can pick up on pretty much any shelf, nationwide (and internationally), right now.

Look, these bottles are crazy cheap all things considered. It’s 2022 and a good $20 bottle of whiskey is getting a little harder and harder to find these days. What’s amazing about Jim Beam is that you could go to your local liquor store and buy all eight of these bottles and still spend less than what you’d likely pay for a single “premium” expression which, honestly, isn’t going to be that much better. Bourbon might get crazy expensive these days, but there’s a ceiling on how good it can be. Yes, there’s some amazing stuff that costs $200 a bottle. There’s also great juice that costs $20 per bottle (see below).

For this ranking, I’ve adhered to Jim Beam’s main line. I’m not adding in Knob Creek or Booker’s. I’m also leaving out special releases you find at Duty-Free or on international shelves. This is about the Jim Beam that you can actually get everywhere.

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Put A Whole Bunch Of Bourbons To A Giant Blind Test And Discovered Some Absolute Gems
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

8. Jim Beam

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $15

The Whiskey:

This bourbon is made with Beam’s classic low-rye mash bill and special yeast that was pulled from the window seal in James B. Beam’s kitchen back in the 1930s. That heritage is the core of every Beam product. This straight bourbon is aged for four years before the barrels are blended/batched and it’s all cut down to 80 proof.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a classic sense of “bourbon” on the nose with notes of mild caramel, buttered popcorn, peanut brittle, vanilla pudding, mild Cherry Coke, and a dash of apple orchard. The palate largely leans into the nose’s vibe with a deep sense of cherry/vanilla pudding next to candy corn and dry straw. The end is light and short thanks to that proofing water but does carry notes of cherry tobacco, old tobacco leaves, and a hint of dry oak with a sense of maybe some pecan-chocolate clusters lurking in there somewhere.

Bottom Line:

This is basic bourbon at its best. It’s not going to challenge you or linger. But it delivers a classic profile that’s not overly steely or sweet (for a bourbon). It doesn’t feel as cheap as a lot of other bourbons at this price point.

All of that said, this is for shots and mixing highballs. You don’t need to take your timing nosing and rolling it around your mouth to find the nuances — though I’m not stopping you.

7. Jim Beam Repeal Batch

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

This bourbon was released in 2018 to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. To do so, the team at Beam recreated the first batch of bourbon made by James B. Beam after “our long national nightmare” ended in 1933. The juice is largely the same as the standard Jim Beam White Label with a few tweaks in the distilling, batching, and proofing process. The bourbon was a hit and has become a yearly release from the brand.

Tasting Notes:

Bananas Foster with a lot of vanilla, brown sugar, and butter draws you in next to a vanilla malt with a cherry on top and a touch of caramel drizzle. The palate adds a sweet grits vibe with honey and cinnamon sugar next to a woody sense of apple and pear. The end is full of woody spices over buttery apple pie filling and Cherry Coke with a hint more of that banana, though now it’s more a banana bread with nutmeg, cinnamon, and walnuts.

Bottom Line:

This is a nice step up from the standard Jim Beam White Label thanks to that little bit of higher proof. There’s a tad more fruit and spice at play that makes for a good cocktail or highball base, but we’re still far from neat sipping territory.

6. Jim Beam Devil’s Cut

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

The “angel’s share” is the distillate that evaporates into the air as the spirit ages. The “devil’s cut” is what’s left in the barrel at the end. For this expression, that “devil’s cut” is a six-year-old Jim Beam that’s batched and proofed down to a sultry 90 proof for bottling.

Tasting Notes:

A hint of that charred oak comes through on the nose with a sense of creamed honey and Bing cherry next to apple skins and maybe some spicy apple cider with a mild sense of vanilla cream and maybe some poppy seeds. The palate is lush like a cream soda spiked with cinnamon-cherry syrup and paired with salted apple chips and dry chewing tobacco with a whisper of old oak. The end leans into the woody spice and tobacco with layers of vanilla husk, cornmeal, and cherry pits with a warming finish.

Bottom Line:

This has a pretty solid throughline of cherry and spice with a touch of wood. It’s not bold but it’s not washed out either. It’s just easy to drink and offers a solid overall flavor profile. I actually don’t mind this on the rocks with a dash of bitters. Though I still mostly use it for basic cocktails.

5. Old Tub

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Back in 2020, Beam decided to release this “distillery-only” expression nationwide. The classic Jim Beam juice is a tribute to what the brand was before Prohibition. “Jim Beam” used to be “Old Tub” as a brand back then. Anyway, the juice in this bottle is Beam’s low-rye bourbon that’s batched to comply with Bonded laws, meaning the barrels are from one distilling season, from one distillery and distiller, and bottled at 100 proof.

Tasting Notes:

Milled yellow corn meal with a slightly butterscotch edge mingles with raw honey, vanilla pods, cherry bark, sweet Saigon cinnamon, eggnog, and a hint of sawdust on the nose. The palate has a caramel corn vibe that leads to toffees and Almond Joys next to black cherry tobacco and woody broom bristles. The end has a touch more of that dry sawdust next to spicy cherry tobacco with a hint of apple core and stems, burnt orange, and dry lawn furniture.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the better cocktail whiskeys on the list. Part of that is that the 100 proof is perfect for cocktailing. That said, this does work well on the rocks with a little bitters or a splash of fizzy water.

4. Jim Beam Double Oak

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Originally only released on the international market, the expression became so popular that customer demand led to it hitting U.S. shelves a couple of years ago as well. This is standard Jim Beam that’s aged for around four or more years that’s then re-barreled into new oak barrels for another, shorter, rest. Finally, those barrels are batched and proofed for bottling.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a hint of dry firewood sitting in black soil on the nose that leads to more classic Beam notes of cherry vanilla cream soda, dry apple, buttery caramel sauce, and a hint of old oak staves. There’s a sweet sense of creamed honey on cinnamon toast on the palate that leads to singed marshmallows and spiced-cherry tobacco leaves with a hint of cedar lurking behind it. The end has a nice sense of woody vanilla pods and cherry bark next to dark chocolate laced with cinnamon and tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is really nice for a $20 bottle of bourbon. There’s nuance and depth here. It’s on the lighter end, sure. But this isn’t a barrel-proof product. It’s an easy drinker that delivers some good flavor notes for cheap. What else could you want?

Fine, it also makes a nice old fashioned.

3. Jim Beam Rye Pre-Prohibition Style

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This rye was designed by Master Distiller Fred Noe as a return to the bigger and bolder days of rye before Prohibition defanged a lot of the industry and its recipes. The juice is a throwback recipe to the 1920s version of Beam’s rye, giving the whiskey a fruitier and spicer edge in the process. Beyond that, the recipe and details on aging are whispered but not really known.

Tasting Notes:

Tart berries and sourdough apple fritters dusted with cinnamon sugar mingle on the nose with a sense of candied cherry and lemon pepper. The palate opens with a lush vanilla base next to butter toffee before a hint of rye bread crust leads to a whisper of black pepper and caraway with a twinge or star anise. The end pops with sweet floral honey next to salted black licorice and mint chocolate chip with a hint of dry sage and plum pudding.

Bottom Line:

This punches so far above its price point that it’s almost unbelievable. It’s not mind-blowing rye whiskey but it’s damn good rye whiskey. It also makes a solid Manhattan or Sazerac.

2. Jim Beam Black Extra-Aged

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $19

The Whiskey:

This expression replaced the old Jim Beam Black Label 8 Year, which was a huge favorite amongst the old-school Beam heads. The whiskey in this bottle is aged longer than your average four-year-old Beam, but there is no age statement on exactly how long. I’ve heard things, but only rumors. The best way to think of it is that it’s aged for as long as it needs to be before batching, proofing, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

A clear sense of expensive vanilla beans next to apple cotton candy, honey-buttered cornbread, soft oak staves, and Dr. Brown’s Cherry work through the nose. The taste has a hint of sourdough apple-cinnamon old-fashioned doughnuts next to vanilla pound cake with a hint of poppy seed and orange zest, a whisper of clove and anise, and a smidge of pecan pie. The end has a dried vanilla tobacco vibe by way of spiced apple cider and old cinnamon sticks next to a hint of raisins and bruised peach skins.

Bottom Line:

This is another bottle that has no business only costing $20. Beam could easily charge $30 or $40 for this and I doubt anyone would bat an eye. Not that I want that to happen, that’s just commentary on where bourbon whiskey is in 2022.

I also know from experience that this is what Fred Noe, Beam’s legendary Master Distiller, drinks at home. If it’s good enough for someone at that level of whiskey, it’s good enough for everyone.

1. Jim Beam Single Barrel

ABV: 54%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

Each of these Jim Beam bottlings is pulled from single barrels that hit just the right spot of taste, texture, and drinkability, according to the master distillers at Beam. That means this juice is pulled from less than one percent of all barrels in Beam’s warehouses, making this a very special bottle at a bafflingly affordable price.

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with classic notes of vanilla sheet cake, salted caramel, wintry mulled wine spices, and a sense of cherry pie in a lard crust next to a hint of dried corn husk, old broom bristle, and dark chocolate pipe tobacco. The palate layers in floral honey and orange zest next to sticky toffee pudding, old leather, and cherry tobacco layered with the dark chocolate with this lingering sense of coconut cream pie lurking somewhere in the background. The finish leans into more woody winter spices (especially cinnamon bark and nutmeg) with rich toffee and that cherry-chocolate tobacco braided with dry sweetgrass and cedar bark.

Bottom Line:

This is the high water mark of Jim Beam. Again, this is bafflingly affordable for a single barrel bourbon whiskey in 2022. It’s not perfect or life-changing, but it tastes great and goes down easily while delivering an actually deep flavor profile.

It’s great on the rocks, in cocktails, and even offers some fun neat in a Glencairn as a slow sipper.

The Dan Auerbach-led supergroup The Arcs put out the dreamy, soul and and vintage rock album Yours, Dreamily in 2015 to much acclaim. Along with The Black Keys singer, the lineup of The Arcs included Big Crown Records co-founder Leon Michels, the dearly departed and highly influential producer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift, Menahan Street Band’s bassist Nick Movshon, and Dap Kings drummer Homer Steinweiss. It’s a stable of retro-minded aces and they’ll all appear on The Arcs upcoming second album, Electrophonic Chronic — even Swift — due out on January 27th on Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label, and co-produced by Auerbach and Michels.

“This new record is all about honoring Swift,” Auerbach said in a statement. “It’s a way for us to say goodbye to him, by revisiting him playing and laughing, singing. It was heavy at times, but I think it was really helpful to do it.” Electrophonic Chronic promises more crate-digging soul, retro-pop and vintage rock. The new single, “Keep On Dreamin’” is a gorgeous, melodic, and trippy revivalist number. The accompanying video is a journey through a psychedelic pinball world.

Watch the video for “Keep On Dreamin’” above and check out the album artwork and tracklist for Electrophonic Chronic below.

1. “Keep On Dreamin’”
2. “Eyez”
3. “Heaven Is A Place”
4. “Califone Interlude”
5. “River”
6. “Sunshine”
7. “A Man Will Do Wrong”
8. “Behind The Eyes”
9. “Backstage Mess”
10. “Sporting Girls Interlude”
11. “Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”
12. “Only One For Me”

Electrophonic Chronic is out 01/27/2023 via Easy Eye Sound. Pre-order it here.

Sorry, HYBE: It wasn’t you who coined “Borahae.” It was Kim Taehyung, best known as V of BTS. And the whole world knows it.

(Even the non-ARMY who know V as the “guy on the Right,” or “guy next to Ariana,” or the “guy in the red bandana” know that the sweet, infamous phrase meaning “I purple you” — or BTS‘ way of saying “I love you” — was created by the dashing debonair.)

So that’s why when the group’s label HYBE tried to trademark and obtain the rights to the purple saying last summer (June 2021), it was rejected by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

According to a recent report from Naver via Soompi, it was revealed KIPO stated HYBE Corporation “applied for trademark rights even though they know that it is a trademark used by V.” Rejecting the trademark application was done in “the principles of good faith” knowing “HYBE is not V” and the music giant has “a partnership and employer-employee relationship with Kim Tae Hyung.”

The phrase “BORAHAE” first made its appearance in a BTS fan meeting back in November 2016, when V used it as a way to express love and adoration to their fans, ARMY. The message is simple yet incredibly wholesome: “Just as purple is the last color of the rainbow, I will trust and love you until the very end.”