In recent months, John Legend has dropped an exciting slew of collaborations, including “Dope” with JID, “Honey” with Muni Long, and most recently, “All She Wanna Do,” with Saweetie. All of these collaborations will appear on his upcoming album, Legend, which is set to drop next month.
“Until this point, I’ve never used an aspect of my name as the title of an album,” he said in a statement. “I had to earn that, to live up to it by delivering in the performance and the music. And this is me saying I’m proud of who I am, I’m confident in the work I’ve done, and I’m just going to declare it.”
Check out the full tracklist below.
ACT 1
1. “Rounds” Feat. Rick Ross
2. “Waterslide”
3. “Dope” Feat. JID
4. “Strawberry Blush”
5. “Guy Like Me”
6. “All She Wanna Do”
7. “Splash” Feat. Jhene Aiko & Ty Dolla Sign
8. “You”
9. “Fate” Feat. Amber Mark
10. “Love” Feat. Jazmine Sullivan
11. “One Last Dance”
12. “All She Wanna Do” Feat. Saweetie
ACT 2
1. “Memories”
2. “Nervous”
3. “Wonder Woman”
4. “Honey” Feat. Muni Long
5. “I Want You to Know”
6. “Speak in Tongues” Feat. Jada Kingdom
7. “The Other Ones” Feat. Rapsody
8. “Stardust”
9. “Pieces”
10. “Good” Feat. Ledisi
11. “I Don’t Love U Like I Used To”
12. “Home”
Despite the fact that the Boston Celtics are fresh off of an appearance in the NBA Finals and used this offseason to remedy some of the biggest issues on the roster, one of their two All-Star players saw his name pop up in trade rumors recently. According to reports, the Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets discussed a potential deal for Kevin Durant that would see Jaylen Brown headline a package going in the other direction.
Neither side agreed to anything, and there hasn’t been much movement on that front since the day that report went public. But in the immediate aftermath, Boston’s other star wing, Jayson Tatum, spoke out against them and made clear that he doesn’t believe those reports hold water. That continued to be the case earlier this week, when Tatum appeared on the Celtics Lab podcast and expressed his frustration with trade rumors as a whole.
On the latest episode of the @CelticsLab Podcast, @justinquinnn asked Jayson Tatum about how he personally deals with trade rumors and noise. #Celtics
“That’s the world we live in, right?” Tatum responded when asked by Justin Quinn how he deals with seeing them. “It always comes from an anonymous source, but it always makes ESPN or Twitter or whatever, and everybody sees it. So you never know what is true and what’s not true, but it gets people to talk about it, and I guess that’s the idea. They got what they wanted out of the deal — for people to talk about it and make speculations and this, that, and the third. If you pay attention to everything you see on Twitter or TV, you’ll drive yourself crazy. I think that’s just something that you have to learn just to keep your own sanity and your own peace. They will literally say anything, and some of it might be true, and then there’s other things that just couldn’t be further from the truth.
“But, the average fan at home doesn’t know the difference, and they just might believe whatever they see,” he continued. “And it doesn’t help that people on the sports talk shows talk about it every day and we don’t know who said it. So, just control what you can control, and that’s what I always kind of live by.”
It’s not rare for NBA players to express frustrations when they see trade rumors involving their team get kicked around, but even then, it’s interesting to see Tatum speak this emphatically on the subject.
The world is just one week into Beyoncé’s Renaissance, or a week and a half for those who listened to the leaked album, but the movement truly began back in June. The dance-inspired “Break My Soul” shook the game up and is still a force to this day. Beyoncé decided to capitalize on the single’s momentum earlier this week with an EP full of remixes, and she has now upped the ante with “The Queens Remix” to “Break My Soul” featuring Madonna available for purchase on her website.
In a tweet from earlier today (August 5), @shopbeyonce shared “Break My Soul (THE QUEENS REMIX) by Beyoncé & @Madonna. Available now” with crown emojis, a link to the website, and a disc showing the two legends’ names. The track is priced at $1.29 and will be delivered to buyers’ emails immediately upon purchase.
Despite the January 6 hearings doing a number on the insurrectionist attack, and more damningly, on Donald Trump‘s chances of running for president again, a performance art piece at this weekend’s CPAC event in Texas is trying its best to play the martyr card. On Thursday night, freelance journalist Lauren Jedeed captured video of a man sitting inside a fake jail cell at the conservative event. While wearing a MAGA hat, the cell’s occupant didn’t once break character as he attempted to highlight the harrowing plight of the January 6 rioters who have been jailed for, well, rioting on January 6.
“Hello I would like to share with you the most astonishing thing I have ever seen,” Jedeed tweeted. “At this CPAC booth you receive a silent disco headset that plays harrowing testimony from people arrested for participating in J6. Instead of dancing, you stand around and watch this guy cry.
“What I need you to understand is that I stood here for about half an hour yesterday and this guy NEVER broke character. He wept sitting on the bench. He wept sitting on the floor. He tallied days on a chalkboard set up for the [purpose].”
What I need you to understand is that I stood here for about half an hour yesterday and this guy NEVER broke character
Seems very dramatic, right? Well, here’s the thing: According to Mediaite, the “performance artist” was later identified as Brandon Straka, who did participate in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. However, Straka notably did not serve any jail time because he ratted out his fellow rioters to the Feds. Yup.
In the memo, Dornan said Straka provided “significant information” to federal investigators over three interviews with the FBI following his arrest. In one interview on March 5, 2021, Straka, according to Dornan, provided information about “individuals who were inside of Nancy Pelosi’s office; individuals who were inciters at the Capitol; and organizers of the Stop the Steal movement.”
He also listed the names of individuals Straka spoke to the FBI about. Those names include rally organizers Amy and Kylie Kremer, Cindy Chafian and Ali Alexander — who Dornan described as the “preeminent leader of the Stop the Steal movement.”
So to answer the question in Straka’s performance art piece, “Where is everyone?” They’re in real jail because you turned state’s witness. Enjoy the conference!
Jennette McCurdy is a former child actress who was once a Nickelodeon staple. She starred in iCarly and its spinoff series Sam And Cat alongside a then-unknown Ariana Grande, before leaving television altogether.
Since leaving the acting world, McCurdy has been open about her struggles growing up in the spotlight and having to support her family financially beginning at the age of 11. The former actress is gearing up to release her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died, where she details alleged abuse and inappropriate behavior from a man she nicknamed The Creator. While he is never named in the book, McCurdy seems to imply that the man is the executive producer creator of iCarly, Zoey 101, Sam and Cat, Drake and Josh, and others. More on that shortly.
In a new excerpt from her book, McCurdy details her last few days working on Sam and Cat, when The Creator was allegedly not allowed on set with the actors after getting “in trouble” for alleged emotional abuse on set. McCurdy mentions her struggle with both an eating disorder and alcohol before retelling the story about the day her show was canceled, when she was offered money to not talk about her experience on set.
What the f*ck? Nickelodeon is offering me three hundred thousand dollars in hush money to not talk publicly about my experience on the show? My personal experience of The Creator’s abuse? This is a network with shows made for children. Shouldn’t they have some sort of moral compass? Shouldn’t they at least try to report to some sort of ethical standard?
Not only did the actress recall being offered money after the series, but she also goes into details about The Creator, who would allegedly offer her alcohol at age 18 and massage her.
“You’re about to star in your own TV show, for crying out loud. You know how many kids would kill for that opportunity? Every last one of them.”
I nod along. He reaches out and places his hand on my knee. I get goose bumps.
“You’re cold,” he says, concerned.
I don’t think that’s why I got the goose bumps, but I agree. It’s always best to agree with The Creator.
“Here, take my jacket.”
He takes his coat off and drapes it around me. He pats my shoulders and then the pat turns into a massage.
“Oof, you’re so tense!”
“Yeah . . .”
“Anyway, what was I saying?” he asks while he keeps massaging me.
My shoulders do have a lot of knots in them, but I don’t want The Creator to be the one rubbing them out. I want to say something, to tell him to stop, but I’m so scared of offending him.
While The Creator is never named, many are speculating that she is referring to Dan Schneider, who “parted ways” with Nickelodeon in 2018, after nearly two decades with the network. Sources told Page Six at the time that there were numerous complaints among his staff about his temper and how he treated young actresses.
According to the source: “Along with all his success, for years Schneider had been under a cloud of suspicion over the treatment of some younger stars of his shows. Among the things that have raised eyebrows are his tweeted photos of the toes of his young female stars . . . Schneider has had well-documented temper issues for years.”
Despite this, McCurdy never publicly named Schneider in her book, but it’s clear that working with the network traumatized her for most of her childhood, as she would often chronicle in her 2013 Vines while filming the show.
She famously did not reprise her role as Sam in the 2021 iCarly revival and has been working on her career as a director instead.
It’s August and it’s hot. Clearly, you need something to quench your summer thirst. Water is the OG, of course, but we’re here to talk about beer. Specifically the hazy style of IPA. Whether it’s a New England-style IPA or another type of hazy, we love them — especially this time of year.
“There is a constant exploration in this space,” says Parker Penley, lead innovation brewer of Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland. “Just don’t overlook the ‘Northwest Hazy IPAs’ — which typically have a little more of a kick to them by way of bitterness and citrus-resinous hops.”
If you need help finding a few great hazy IPA options to finish out this summer strong (and juicy), we’re here to help. We asked a few well-known craft beer experts and brewers to tell us their favorite hazy IPAs available right now. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks and then grab a cooler, fill it up with ice and hazies, and have yourself a summer. There’s still time!
Working Draft Justified
Working Draft
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone® and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
Why This Beer?
If you’re into IPAs, then you know there’s been a recent uptick in breweries making west coast style IPAs. Justified is a hazy version of a west coast style brewed by Working Draft Beer Company. Not only do you get the tropical haze you expect from a hazy IPA (guava and blueberry in the aroma and flavor in particular here), but you also get dank tropical fruit aroma and flavor without the resin being too over the top.
Firestone Walker Mind Haze
Firestone Walker
Jeremy Marshall, brew master at Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California
Just like you can’t generally go wrong with anything from Firestone Walker, you just can’t go wrong with Mind Haze. First off, whether fortunate or not, humans drink with their eyes, and this is an attractive beer with an attractive color. It is kind of a glowing golden hue but not too hazy to the point of two very unfortunate flaws of hazies (hop burn )—it is very well done. Then you bring that glowing nectar to your lips and your nose will stop you to enjoy the fruit orchard that jumps out.
Mind Haze knows it takes seven different dry hops to form that level of complexity, and they even throw in Idaho 7 as one of the seven.
BKS Artisan Ales keeps making a lower ABV hazy called Tiny Clouds. It has a great tropical juicy punch and tons of other hop notes including citrus and apricot. I love this hazy maybe because of my proclivity for German-style beer. I tend to choose beers that I can drink more than one of, and for me, Tiny Clouds is a hazy IPA that I will order not just two of, but maybe three because of the lighter body and crisper finish.
Hazies can be all over the place but done well they’re a tremendous example of how beer styles continue to evolve. The burst of fruit on the nose, the pillowy soft mouthfeel, and the light bitterness on the backend, really distinguish this style. Offshoot’s Relax Hazy is a great example. Heavily hopped with Citra, Simcoe, Centennial, and Amarillo hops, it’s hazy, juicy, and has a nice mix of citrus and tropical fruit flavors.
The NEIPAs (and all the other beers honestly) coming out of Charles Towne Fermentory in Charleston, South Carolina are amazing. Perfect examples of the style. Always have a great body and massive fresh hop aroma. Luxurious without being out of control. Made with Carolina-grown and malted grains and Citra hops, it’s a juicy, hazy explosion of mango, tangerine, and pine.
When GABF judges gave Le Jus from Alarmist and Beezer from Old Irving gold medals, they weren’t wrong. Both of those beers have amazing hop character without going too far overboard. If I have to pick one of the two, it would be Old Irving Beezer. This Citra and Mosaic hop-fueled New England-style IPA is hazy is very fruity with notes of ripe peach, mango, and other tropical fruit flavors.
Solace Suns Out Hops Out
Solace
Josh Radigan, director of food and beverage at Viceroy in Washington DC
I love Solace Brewery’s Suns Out Hops Out. You get that creaminess and texture but not that over-powering piney resin in the nose. Brewed with Citra and Mosaic hops, it’s hazy, juicy, and full of resinous pine and bright, tart citrus flavors. A great example of the style if you get a chance to try it.
This 7% ABV, hazy, New England-style IPA is one of the best examples of the style you can find today. Brewed with German Pilsner malt, German malted wheat, and American wheat flakes as well as Citra, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops, it’s cloudy, juicy, pillowy, and loaded with flavors like ripe peach, mango, guava, pineapple, and resinous, dank pine. It’s one of the most well-balanced hazy IPAs on the market.
Maybe the best show on TV right now is Better Call Saul. The Breaking Bad spin-off has been praised by fans of both the original show from which Saul Goodman came and those who never saw it, with its originality and gripping storytelling receiving praise. Some fans are even saying it has surpassed Breaking Bad altogether.
While fans are always going to be able to debate which show they like more, what can’t be argued is that Breaking Bad never received a game on the Nintendo DS. It did get a mobile game back in 2019, but it wasn’t available on the DS like this fan mod of Better Call Saul.
The game itself seems very simplistic, but it’s impressive that someone managed to mod a playable game out of a modern-day TV show using an old DS. The most anyone ever did with Breaking Bad was create a fake game intro — funny enough, that also was for the DS.
It’s fun to think about what a genuine Better Call Saul video game would be like today, but unfortunately, the days of licensed tie in games went the way of the dinosaur long ago. Maybe once the show wraps up its final season we’ll see a developer give it a try. Someone on Reddit already gave them a great starting point for how it would play.
The WNBA announced on Friday morning that this year’s All-WNBA teams will be selected independent of position. That means if five guards, forwards, or centers prove to be deserving of every spot on each team, the voters could make it as such. This is an excellent decision from the league — players of all archetypes, positions, and sizes are anchoring either side of the ball. Positions defined by stature should not inform or inhibit who is eligible to make all-league teams.
Kudos to the WNBA for nailing this decision. The hope is that it continues moving forward and that the NBA soon follows suit, as quickly as the 2022-23 season. I understand the argument and belief All-NBA teams should line up logically. Two guards, two wings, a center, that’s a traditional lineup structure. But my push back comes from the fact these teams are never actually taking the court in a meaningful basketball game. We need to eradicate antiquated positional requirements.
All-NBA and All-WNBA teams should be an insightful snapshot into each season. Recognizing the five, 10, and 15 best players outright rather than the best at specific positions is how you enable these teams to be the most insightful seasonal snapshot possible.
This topic has especially held premium standing in the lexicon over the last two NBA seasons, as Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, a pair of centers, have finished first and second in MVP voting during that span. Jokic is the back-to-back winner; Embiid is the back-to-back runner-up. Jokic owns two All-NBA First Team appearances; Embiid, generating the vast majority of his All-NBA buzz at center, carries zero.
Embiid’s misfortune is not the first time an MVP finalist has been squeezed by rigid All-NBA criteria. In 1974, Bob McAdoo finished second in MVP voting and made All-NBA Second Team. The third-place finisher, Bob Lanier, and fourth-place finisher, Dave Cowens, didn’t earn a spot on either of the two All-NBA Teams (a third has since been added).
In 1974, Bob Lanier finished 3rd in MVP voting and didn’t make an All-NBA team.
MVP runner up Bob McAdoo landed on the 2nd team.
(There were only 2 teams back then, so the 4th-place finisher Dave Cowens also missed out on All-NBA.) https://t.co/uo7ydOjqTV
Those occurrences are equally as absurd as Embiid’s recent situations. This dilemma should not happen or exist! If you put together a dominant enough season to be an MVP candidate, let alone the runner-up, you should be a First Team member that year. There is no way around it, and the WNBA deserves credit for rewarding excellence like this. Given the contract incentives tied to some of these honors in the NBA — which is a faulty stipulation as is — broadening the flexibility of the voting process and ensuring the best of the best are on their deserving teams is paramount.
The NBA has aimed to avoid these developments the past two years, granting Embiid and Jokic eligibility at forward. But those are tepid amendments when they have to garner enough votes at forward to make the team as one. It is not total votes that you earn you a spot, it’s votes at a specific position of guard, forward or center. Many media members are rather stringent in their criteria, which is an issue itself, and will not tab Embiid or Jokic as a forward, rendering the alteration ineffective altogether.
Basketball is constantly and rapidly evolving. The limits size, athletic gifts, and other factors impose on the role and style players can adhere to are routinely being shattered. The reigning NBA MVP is a center, its reigning Defensive Player of the Year is a guard. Arguably, the NBA’s three premier offensive players are a ground-bound, 6’11 big man; a jittery, 6’2 guard; and a wily, 6’7 wing who win in contrasting manners. Jokic, Embiid, and Giannis were the MVP finalists this past spring. They all wield distinct signatures.
Some teams thrive with small-ball, others thrive with tall ball — look at the 2022 NBA Finals! Some are spearheaded offensively by giants, others by ball-handlers I could look in the eye without standing on my tiptoes. Superstars and the sport itself are wildly multidimensional. The WNBA has gotten it right, and it’s long past time All-NBA teams better reflected and celebrated the game’s eclectic nature.
Champagne gets talked about a lot around the holidays — New Year’s Eve especially — and then sort of drops off the radar for a lot of folks. Not us. Around these parts, it’s always champagne time. Seriously, you should have a bottle of champers in the fridge year-round ready to be popped at any time. Especially during the dog days of summer, as champagne is the ultimate thirst-quenching summer refresher.
Today, I’m calling out ten bottles I like to keep on ice this time of year. But before we dive in, some context — champagne is a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. And since real champagne is an appellation product (legally tied to a region), there are some serious rules that make the sparking wine “champagne.” Very generally, the grapes have to be either Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or Pinot Meunier grapes. After barrel aging, the juice needs to age in a cellar for a year and a half (at least) of secondary fermentation in the bottle with more yeast and rock sugar added. During that time, the bottles need to be “riddled” or rotated daily to help the wine mature properly.
Naturally, there are bazillion other minutiae level rules that apply. But that’s a good start for now.
For this ranking, I’m simply going on taste. And, look, I’m a Bollinger ride-or-die fella. I have a bottle of their Brut and Rose in my fridge pretty much 365. I guess that’s a bit of a spoiler alert for later. That said, I enjoy a lot of champagne in between my everyday pours for a lot of different reasons (from making cocktails to breaking the monotony of sipping whiskey over and over). So let’s dive right in and find you a great bottle of champagne for some late summer sipping!
Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months
The Mumms (a German wine-making family from the Rhine) moved their whole operation and family to Champagne to make this now iconic sparkling wine back in the early 1800s. Today, Mumm Grand Cordon sources around 100 crus from the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Meunier fields around Champagne, France. Those wines are mellowed in large oak vats until they reach just the right point of aromatics and texture.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this one is like walking through a peach and apricot orchard on a warm summer day with hints of vanilla, dried yeast, and a little fresh honey. On the palate, stone fruit dries out a bit as a tart and an almost creamy sense of pineapple drive the taste towards a fruit salad vibe. The finish is fruity, slightly dry, and bright.
Bottom Line:
This is the ultimate entry-point champagne for anyone looking to dip a toe in. The juice is very baseline with a good dose of fruitiness that helps this shine as a summer sipper. It’s fresh and bright and very easy-going.
This expression from the massive Veuve Clicquot line is all about the soft and sweet summer vibes. The juice is inspired by the Russian court’s love of sweeter champagne and was crafted with the help of the world’s top bartenders. The wine is created by blending 45 percent Pinot Noir, 40 percent Meunier, and 15 percent Chardonnay with a dose of rock sugar when bottling.
Tasting Notes:
That sugar rises to the top of the nose and dampens the drier yeasty edge, allowing the brioche and apricot jam to shine through. The palate leans into a lemon meringue pie with rich citrus curd, plenty of creamy vanilla, and a hint of butter with a whisper of clove. The finish is sweet and creamy with a faint echo of white wildflowers and white pepper.
Bottom Line:
This is devised for refreshing champagne cocktails. Pour it over ice and add in a bit of grapefruit oil, hibiscus, or even Earl Grey. It’s the perfect summer cocktail.
Nicolas Feuillatte Rose is a summertime classic with deep roots in the Champagne region’s cooperative of winemakers. This is also a fairly new brand (relatively), dating back to the 1970s only. The juice in the bottle is made from 45 percent Pinto Noir, 45 percent Meunier, and a scant ten percent Chardonnay wines.
Tasting Notes:
This is a berry bomb from the nose to the finish with ripe raspberry brambles mingling with tart black currants, woody huckleberries, and soft strawberries on the nose and on the palate. The palate does build out further towards a dry hay vibe with a hint of apple stems and creamed butter (but it’s super faint). The end boils everything down to a red berry jam with a nice balance of tart, sweet, and dry that’s a little light-handed.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect berry-forward champers for summer. This is the epitome of a backyard sipper. It’s a little light on the finish and kind of just fades away but that’s being really nit-picky.
Pol Roger goes back to the mid-1800s (like so many on this list). The wine was so beloved that it received a “royal warrant” to become the official champagne of the court of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That tradition carries on today as it now has the “royal warrant” for the British Crown, in large part thanks to Winston Churchill insisting that he only drank this champagne for decades.
Translation: It’s really good stuff.
Tasting Notes:
The champagne draws you in with this medley for bright wildflowers next to a brioche folded with stewed apple and a touch of vanilla and jasmine. The palate revels in apricot jam, stewed plums, and more vanilla before a bright and slightly burnt orange oil arrives with hints of figs, anise, and beeswax candle wicks.
Bottom Line:
There is a little deeper/heavier vibe to the flavor profile, I love using this one for cocktails. That said, I love this ice-cold on a hot day too. It’s a versatile and refreshing pour, is what I’m getting at.
Louis Roederer is one of the oldest Champagne houses that also happens to be one of the few fully independent shingles. The wine really made a name as the champagne of the Russian Royal Court pre-revolution. As those royals ran for their lives in the early 20th century, they spread the love of Louis Roederer to Paris, London, New York, and Shanghai, helping make the wine a truly international brand.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a real sense of an orchard full of stone fruits next to lightly roasted nuts with a hint of a warm croissant on the nose. That butter and yeasty bready fades as ripe apricot and gooseberries counterpoint a deep dryness and light bubbles. There’s very little sweetness at play as a touch of oaky vanilla pops on the very end to counter the dry yeast notes.
Bottom Line:
This is crisp, crisp, crisp. It’s also a favorite order of mine when sitting outside my favorite bar on a hot summer day. A bottle of this with friends as the sun sets is sublime.
Perrier-Jouët (pronounced with a soft “et” at the end) is a classic wine house that dates back to the early 1800s. The wine has a storied history of royalty and British Prime Ministers loving the wine over the years — like so many wines on this list. The juice in the bottle is 20 percent Chardonnay with 40 percent each Pinot Noir and Meunier.
Tasting Notes:
That Chardonnay really comes through on the nose with a rush of buttery brioche next to apple blossoms and fresh honeycombs with a hint of pineapple upside-down cake with plenty of real vanilla in the mix. The palate lets the butter from the brioche create an extra creamy mouthfeel as apricot jam on scones mingle with wildflowers and orange-laced honey. The end is crisp and full of citrus-laced creamy butter.
Bottom Line:
This will transport you to an orchard on a sunny day with a beautiful piece of cake in front of you as your lounge under a shady fruit tree. It’s refreshingly light yet deep with a brightness that’s hard to deny.
Lallier dates back to 1906 and has since become the heart of Aÿ — a village in Champagne that has been designated a Grand Cru region in part thanks to this wine. The sparkling wine in the bottle is a 2016 vintage containing 44 percent Chardonnay, and 56 percent Pinot Noir.
Tasting Notes:
White peach and yellow pears lead the way on the nose with support from almost creamy hazelnuts and almonds with a hint of clove and orange and this very distant echo of sweet balsamic. The palate is lush with stewed plums and creamy caramel just touched by vanilla and orange oils. The end is soft and carries a hint of limestone and maybe even wet slate countering the ripe peaches and pears laying in green grass after falling from the tree.
Bottom Line:
This is special stuff. There’s a deeply rooted sense of the terroir (ground, place, plant) in the sip that’s never overpowering but just … there.
Moët & Chandon (also pronounced with a soft “et”) is iconic. The wine goes back to 1743 and the court of Louis XV and remains one of the most popular and largest producing winemakers to this day. The wine in their Rosé Impérial is around 40 to 50 percent Pinot Noir, 30 to 40 percent Meunier, and ten to 20 percent Chardonnay with 20 to 30 percent of the blend coming from reserve wines.
Tasting Notes:
Bing cherries, white strawberries, red currants, and a twinge of gooseberry lead the way on the nose. The palate adds in some peaches and cream with a flake of salt as a hint of pepper lurks in the background. The end really leans into the brightness of the fresh red berries with a nice balance of tart, sweet, and lush as a final note of fresh mint sneaks in.
Bottom Line:
This is incredibly well-rounded and then goes a little past just being a fruit bomb thanks to that mint and spice. And it’s those notes that make this a great summer sipper with real complexity — hence, its ranking in the top three.
Billecart-Salmon is a mid-sized, family-owned Champagne house that dates back to 1818. Since then, Billecart-Salmon has become one of the most respected and awarded champagnes on the market. This expression is made from 40 percent Pinot Meunier, 30 percent Pinot Noir, and 30 percent Chardonnay and includes up to 60 percent reserve wines in the blend.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the balance on the nose and palate with an opening full of soft notes of scones, creamed butter, apricot jam, raspberry jam, and fresh floral honey. The palate is all about green pears with a bite to them next to green apple skins, a dash of buttery vanilla, and a hint of allspice (and maybe some nutmeg). The end leans into the floral side of the honey with more bright and ripe pears and peaches popping on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is bright but soft. It’s super easy drinking and feels like summertime in a glass. The spice notes are a little more nuanced than the last entry but not overpowering in any way. This is just a good sip of champagne.
Bollinger is the other champagne from Aÿ that helped the region become so revered. It’s also one of the most celebrated wines in the world from royal courts to the pages of James Bond adventures. The juice in this bottle is hewn from 62 percent Pinot Noir, 24 percent Chardonnay, and a mere 14 percent Meunier with over 85 percent of the wines coming from Grand crus and reserves. The achieve the faint rose color, about five percent red wine is added. Lastly, this wine is aged twice as long as the average champagne in general and every other one on this list.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a distinct subtly at play that’s damn near divine as notes of wild strawberry mingle with mild woody and savory salal berries, sour cherries, tart black currants, and seedy blackberries as minor notes of red peppercorn and fern leaves sneak in. The palate has a hint of soft oak that’s dipped in a tart blackberry cordial before a thin line of cherrywood drives the taste toward more salal and huckleberry with a dash of allspice lurking in the background. The end is pure silk with a tart brightness, a whisper of dryness, and a twinge of that woody and savory forest berry.
Bottom Line:
This is like walking through the woods and picking berries on a sunny day. It’s just freaking delicious and fresh and a little funky. This is the champagne you should be drinking right now.
The Eye features music’s best rising artists in a bare-bones studio space to perform renditions of their top songs with only one camera, one microphone, and one take. Featured on the latest installment is Prateek Kuhad, a quickly ascending Indian favorite.
Kuhad only started playing guitar in his late teenage years and honed his craft throughout high school and his time at New York University. The singer-songwriter later returned to India and launched his career and did well early, winning the Best Indian Act award at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards off the strength of his 2015 debut album In Tokens And Charms. His breakout hit, “Cold/Mess,” even found its way onto Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs of 2019. In 2020, his songs, and the angelic voice with which he sings them, landed him a deal with Elektra Records, making him the first Indian artist ever signed by the storied and long-running label.
Now, he finds himself performing for The Eye, turning in three minimal performances for the session of “The Last Time,” “Just A Word,” and “Co2.”
Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Kuhad goes through “The Last Time” by playing a finger-picked melody to set the table for his undeniably pure and beautiful voice. He goes about the other two songs in pretty much the same way because the approach isn’t one that needs tweaking. Kuhad’s vocals are a world-class asset worth putting front and center, so The Eye turned out to be an ideal showcase for them.
These songs have really helped Kuhad establish his identity on a larger scale: In an interview with The Line Of Best Fit from earlier this year, he said, “Even just six, seven years ago, it was a completely different situation. I would actually get asked in an interview if I could play the sitar, and now that doesn’t really happen anymore. I think people are more informed in the past few years.” He also noted of his latest album, this year’s The Way That Lovers Do, “Listening to it top to bottom is really quite an experience.”
Watch Kuhad perform “The Last Time,” “Just A Word,” and “Co2” for The Eye above.
Prateek Kuhad is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Watch Podcast: 
LISTEN: 
by 
