These days, Addison Rae is a legitimate part of the modern pop landscape thanks to songs like the viral 2024 hit “Diet Pepsi” and the more recent “Fame Is A Gun.” “Diet Pepsi” was the first song of this run, but it’s actually her second single overall. Her first one was “Obsessed,” which wasn’t exactly well-received upon its release in 2021.
Rae still has love for the song, though. In fact, she thinks it could one day earn an updated perception like that of Paris Hilton’s single “Stars Are Blind.”
On a new episode of The New York Times’s Popcast, Rae said, “I actually think one day, ‘Obsessed’ will get its ‘Stars Are Blind’ moment, you know? People will be like, ‘Oh, we actually love it.’”
She also discussed the impact the song’s lack of success had on her, saying:
“I felt definitely a little beaten down. I was like, ‘Oh, wait, I can’t just have fun and explore. People are not gonna allow that. I have too many people actually giving an opinion on this for it to be as free as I want it to be.’ So, yeah, it definitely hurt. I kept writing though. I didn’t let that stop me from writing.”
Watch the full interview above.
Addison is out 6/6 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.
Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.
1. Wednesday — “Elderberry Wine”
A kinder, gentler side of Wednesday. After the barbed-wire story songs of 2023’s Rat Saw God, Karly Hartzmann and the crew are back with this fulsome slice of country pop. It’s sort of a love song and sort of a daydream about escaping a small town. “Sometimes in my head I give up and / Flip the board completely,” Hartzmann sings, though that gently sighing pedal-steel lick softens the desperation a little. If this song is teasing an album — there’s no announcement yet, but one presumably looms on the horizon — it’s an interesting zag from “Bull Believer,” the furious bovine-sized rocker that previewed Rat Saw God. That song felt like a line in the sand; “Elderberry Wine,” meanwhile, is a warm-hearted invitation.
2. Florry — Sounds Like…
The Philadelphia band Florry first came across my radar in 2023, upon the release of their third album, The Holey Bible. Led by singer-songwriter Francie Medosch, who started the project when she was a teenager, Florry is part of the same country-rock solar system that includes Wednesday and MJ Lenderman (whose 2022 LP Boat Songs was put out by Florry’s label, the rising indie Dear Life Records). What set The Holey Bible apart was its ragged, blown-out sound. It was more like a bootleg of studio jams than a normal “proper” album. The aesthetic was summed up by the title of the first single: “Drunk And High.” And that carries over to the new Sounds Like…, which is slightly less anarchic but nowhere close to slick.
3. Friendship — Caveman Wakes Up
It’s been a big year for F-word bands. There’s Florry (who I just talked about) and Fust (who I talked about last month) and now Friendship. All of them are part of the Wednesday/MJ Lenderman Cinematic Universe, which is another plus. (You might have seen the video of Friendship singer Dan Wriggens doing “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” with Lenderman earlier this month.) And the drummer and bass player run Dear Life Records, the great indie label that acts as a hub for the scene. Is that enough bona fides for you? How about the album itself, one of the best of 2025’s first half? On Caveman Wakes Up, Wriggens plugs into the same wryly literate indie-country lane that David Berman pioneered in the ’90s, with stories of downbeat struggle rendered with wit and insight, courtesy of a barstool poet’s knowing eye.
4. Counting Crows — Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!
I have written enough on this band to confidently declare that I’m in the top .1 percent of music critics who are pro-Counting Crows. And not just the ’90s stuff, either. I have kind words for the entire catalog. While his songwriting pace has slowed considerably, Adam Duritz is quietly among the most consistent artists of the alt-rock generation. And that carries over to the latest album, which amends a 2021 EP with five (mostly great) new tracks. So, I say this with love: The album title is awful. And so is the cover. Why must you make my advocacy for your later period work so difficult, Counting Crows? Songs like “With Love, From A-Z” and “Boxcars” are as good as the phrase “Butter Miracle” is bad.
5. Alien Boy — You Wanna Fade?
It’s been a while (too long!) since 2021’s Don’t What Know What I Am, which made my best of list that year. But I’m happy to report that these canny Portland power-poppers have justified the wait with an even better record. While Alien Boy is often classified as emo, You Wanna Fade? shows that they’re really just a great pop-rock band with a stealth knack for melodramatic grandiosity. The melodies come fast and furious, but the moody guitar tones ground the music in a kind of magnetic melancholy, like Fountains Of Wayne if they sounded more like Disintegration.
6. The Convenience — Like Cartoon Vampires
My podcast co-host Ian Cohen sometimes talks about resisting bands that seem almost too well-suited to his tastes. It’s a natural critical impulse: Do I really like this thing, or do I like the things this thing is referencing? This thought crossed my mind after hearing The Convenience, a duo from New Orleans who essentially make straight-up “normal guy” indie rock in the vein of Spoon and Parquet Courts. But I didn’t dwell on it for too long. This kind of music always seems easier to make than it actually does, and the craft on Like Cartoon Vampires is just impossible to deny.
7. Home Is Where — Hunting Season
This Florida band has made some of the most thematically ambitious emo records of the 2020s. But songwriter Bea MacDonald has always been a closet Bob Dylan head, though that influence has typically been more theoretical than tangible. Hunting Season marks the point where MacDonald’s Dylan worship becomes more overt. While the delivery of the songs is as impassioned and punk-fueled as ever, the country-flavored instrumentation and MacDonald’s Rolling Thunder Revue-style howl pull Home Is Where in a ragged folk-rock direction. Play it fucking loud, indeed.
8. Goose — Everything Must Go
Jam bands aren’t supposed to make well-crafted albums. But Goose is making a habit of it. Their primary influences (aughts-era indie pop like Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, and Bon Iver, as well as, of course, prime-era Phish) are readily apparent, as is the beefed-up production courtesy of long-time collaborator D. James Goodwin. But unlike Goose’s previous studio LP, 2022’s Dripfield, Everything Must Go also affords ample space for jammy instrumental interludes. (All of the tracks are at least five minutes long.) The result is the band’s heftiest and most satisfying studio effort yet.
9. Eli Winter — A Trick Of The Light
This Chicago composer and guitarist truly gives equal attention to both sides of that equation. The 16-minute album opener “Arabian Nightingale” is a full-on exploration of mood and texture, with Winter’s probing guitar working in conversation with wild saxophone wails. It sounds like an improvised jam, but Winter also writes real songs, which is evidenced by the album’s shorter tracks that are no less expansive even if they seem more, well, composed.
Mariah Carey’s focus lately has been on a 20th-anniversary edition of The Emancipation Of Mimi, and the package includes some great extras. That includes fresh remixes from some familiar faces, like this Kaytranada rework that dropped in April.
The full reissue is out now, so we can finally hear Solange’s remix of “Say Somethin’,” which gives the song a bit of a woozy chopped ‘n screwed vibe. The remix is exclusive to the Digital Deluxe Edition.
Another new track of note is “When I Feel It,” which isn’t exactly new: It was intended for the original album but was ultimately scrapped due to clearance issues (it samples The Dynamic Superiors’ “Here Comes That Feeling”), but now it’s finally available. Fans are pretty excited.
Carey previously said of the reissue, “I’m really happy to celebrate ‘Mimi’s Emancipation’ with this special anniversary re-release. While working on this edition, I got to relive all the memories from this pivotal moment in my personal and professional life. This album has some of my biggest hits to date, as well as some personal favorites that are very special to me. Forgotten gems, unreleased bonus tracks and different remixes with incredible collaborators — all of these and more are now available in one place for the first time ever!”
Listen to “Say Somethin’ (Solange Southern Star Remix)” above.
The Emancipation Of Mimi (20th Anniversary Edition) is out now via Def Jam/UMe. Find more information here.
After releasing one of 2024’s best albums with Orquídeas, Kali Uchis is already back with another one: Sincerely, from earlier this month. She just got to show the project off on national TV, too: Last night (May 30), she delivered a dreamy performance of the doo-wop-inspired “All I Can Say” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
In a recent interview, Uchis said of her new album, “The album is about the complexities of life and finding ways to find joy in life despite the world. Finding ways to appreciate every moment and not take life for granted. Treat every day special. It’s my most existential and honest work. It’s definitely the most beautiful body of work to me, and it’s going to be, for me, the most meaningful and impactful.”
Watch Uchis perform “All I Can Say” above and for more of her live, check out her upcoming tour dates below.
Kali Uchis’ 2025 Tour Dates: The Sincerely, Tour
08/14 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
08/15 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
08/17 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
08/18 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
08/20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Kia Forum
08/23 – Palm Desert, CA @ Acrisure Arena
08/24 – San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena
08/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ PHX Arena
08/28 – El Paso, TX @ UTEP Don Haskins Center
08/30 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
08/31 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center
09/02 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
09/04 – Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
09/05 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center
09/07 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
09/08 – Raleigh, NC @ Lenovo Center
09/11 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
09/14 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
09/16 – Laval, QC @ Place Bell
09/17 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
09/19 – Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
09/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
09/23 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
09/25 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
Sincerely, is out now via Capitol Records. Find more information here.
Steven and Ian begin this week’s episode by noting the returns of two indie-rock favorites from the 2000s — Grizzly Bear and Fiery Furnaces are both returning to the road later this year. (Given that Grizzly Bear’s Shields was recently inducted in the Indiecast Hall Of Fame, could this be evidence of the vaunted Indiecast bump?)
The guys also talk about an upcoming fall tour from Modest Mouse and Built To Spill, and weigh the catalogs of these iconic bands against each other. Then they discuss the latest song by Alex G, a teaser for his upcoming RCA Records debut LP. In the mailbag, a listener asks whether being a music critic makes it harder to be a music fan. The guys also answer an email about Sleep Token, which makes this the second consecutive episode with Sleep Token discourse.
In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the latest from the UK band Caroline and Steven goes for the Chicago guitarist Eli Winter.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 241 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.
Now, all of that culminates with the announcement of his debut album, the fittingly titled League Of My Own, accompanied by his next single, “Booted Up.” You can listen to “Booted Up” below. The song also appears in the trailer for the album, which you can check out up top.
Gelo’s path to rap stardom has been longer and more winding than most; he first rose to prominence not as a recording artist, but as a basketball prodigy, the middle child of the lauded Ball brothers. But while his older brother Lonzo and his younger brother LaMelo both went to the NBA, he wound up unable to gain a toehold after a couple of stints in the Association’s developmental G-League. However, after “Tweaker” took over locker rooms throughout the league this winter, he found his way to the NBA’s All-Star floor — albeit, as a musical performer rather than as one of the featured athletes. He also secured a record deal with Def Jam, which will result in his upcoming album, and performed at Rolling Loud California in a well-received set that proved he could hang with the rappers.
League Of My Own is due 6/27 via Def Jam. You can find more info here.
For the past couple of months, the incipient Song Of The Summer hopeful, “Whim Whammiee,” has steadily been rising in acclaim and recognition. The song, the creative fruit of a collab between Atlanta ratchet rap upstart Pluto and her homegirl YK Niece, is a weave-wagging, butt-bobbing sledgehammer of a street banger in the vein of GloRilla‘s “FNF” or Sexyy Red‘s “Pound Town.”
So, it’s only right that the one to seal the song’s ascent is the latter, who contributes her signature flair to Pluto’s “Whim Whammiee (Remix).” “Se-Sexyy gettin’ money / Sexyy gettin’ paid,” she yowls. “Shake my nyash, show that coochie, throwin’ bloods all in his face.”
Ever since its release in March, “Whim Whammie” has had all the hallmarks of a big breakout; it has generated over 12 million views on YouTube, sparked viral chatter all over social media, and spawned a slew of remixes from a bunch of Pluto’s soon-to-be peers, including Latto and Lizzo.
Pluto (and YK Niece) might be a relative unknown right now, but with those heavy hitting co-signs, the ascendant Atlanta native could very well be one of rap’s next big it-girls, just like the ones who’ve been remixing her hit record.
Listen to Pluto’s “Whim Whammiee (Remix)” featuring Sexyy Red above.
Before he officially released his debut album Withered, alternative rock-R&B singer d4vd created music via the digital audio workstation app BandLab, sharing tracks like “Romantic Homicide,” “Take Me To the Sun,” “Unrequited,” and “Where Did You Go?” via the tool’s social media functions. While many of those songs eventually made their ways to streaming via d4vd’s EPs Petals to Thorns, the latter two were never given official releases outside BandLab — until now.
While longtime fans might have been disappointed to not see “Unrequited” and “Where Did You Go?” on the Withered tracklist, that disappointment will turn out to be short-lived. d4vd has added both songs as bonus tracks to the album, making the former exclusives widely available on all DSPs for the first time.
“Unrequited” is a spacey, hazy reflection on a one-way crush, which he “can’t let go / ‘Cause my heart won’t say ‘no’.” Meanwhile, “Where Did You Go?” is a plaintive ballad wondering why “I’m still looking for an answer that will never come / You left me alone in an empty bed with songs you never sung.”
You can listen to “Unrequited” up top, “Where Did You Go?” below, and find d4vd’s Withered Tour dates here.
Withered is out now via Darkroom / Interscope Records. You can find more info here.
Nearly a year after announcing the title of their long-awaited reunion album, Let God Sort Em Out, Pusha T and Malice — collectively known as Clipse — have announced the album’s upcoming release date: July 11. To commemorate the occasion, the Brothers Thornton have released the album’s first single, the gritty, menacing “Ace Trumpets,” which is produced by longtime Clipse collaborator, Pharrell Williams — just like the rest of the album.
In addition to reuniting with Virginian classmate Pharrell for Let God Sort Em Out, the duo also once again taps graphic designer Kaws, who provides the album art and other design elements. Meanwhile, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is the distributor, building on Pusha’s working relationship with the Brooklyn music impresario.
Fans have been anticipating the Clipse reunion since the duo began performing a series of joint shows after nearly 15 years of working separately, beginning with Pharrell’s 2022 Something In The Water Festival. Last year, Pusha told Vulture, “I think the album shows the supreme maturation of a rap duo. I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler. This music is curated. This is a high taste-level piece of work. You can only have that level of taste when you have the fundamentals down to a science.”
His sentiments were echoed by his brother, who said, “This is smart basketball. It’s fundamentals. And not only that, it’s authenticity. It’s what rap should look like if you’re real about your craft, real about your experience, real about your storytelling. It’s bringing the fans along to see the growth, not trying to fit in or fabricate.”
You can listen to “Ace Trumpets” above.
Let God Sort Em Out is due 7/11 via Roc Nation. You can find more info here.
Tennessee rapper Samara Cyn is on the cusp of one hell of a come-up, receiving high-profile co-signs from the likes of Lauryn Hill and St. Louis rapper Smino, who put her in his “Maybe In Nirvana” video and on his Kountry Kousins Tour, which is currently making its way across the nation.
After dropping the introspective “Bad Brain” last month, Samara returned the favor with “Brand New Teeth,” her latest single, which features a thoughtful rumination on the lofty status grills hold in Southern Black American culture over a beat that goes from mellow jazz, to full-on classical orchestration. She boasts (or bemoans) spending a full rent payment to ice out her smile, while Smino delivers a narrative verse about a onetime acquaintance nicknamed “Chains.” The result is a moody reflection on the trappings of wealth, and just how quickly they can become a trap for those who pursue them.
“You could say Brand New Teeth is about pressure,” she says in the press release. “Delusional pressure. Of the world, society, the way things are vs. the way we may like them to be. I started writing this after hearing a lot of ‘just enjoy the process’ type responses to me venting about struggling. Like how? I need things now. I need food now; I have bills now; I have dreams now. How do I let it go when the stakes feel high? Then Smi came in and just murked the entire record with incredible storytelling that really sealed the song and topic.”
The release of “Brand New Teeth” accompanies the announcement of Samara’s new project, Backroads EP, with which she’ll not only follow up on her breakout debut LP, The Drive Home, but also wrestle with the effects and expectations that have fallen on her shoulders since its release.
Watch Samara Cyn’s “Brand New Teeth” video featuring Smino above.
Backroads EP is due on 6/20 via VANTA Records.
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