The past two years have been about as great a time to be a Taylor Swift fan as any time before. In the summer of 2019, she released her seventh album, Lover, which she quickly followed with another new album, Folklore, less than a year later. To top it all off, this morning, she revealed that yet another new album, Evermore, is coming, and it’s dropping at midnight tonight. While announcing her latest effort, she explained how her lucky number 13 plays into it.
Swift made multiple posts sharing the album art and some of its backstory, at one point explaining that she wanted to release an album around her 31st birthday (which will be on December 13) because the digits of 31 mirror those of 13. Swift wrote:
“Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.”
Elsewhere in her posts, Swift explained how Evermore came to be, writing, “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in. I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.”
Evermore is out 12/11 via Republic. Pre-order it here.
Taylor Swift’s latest album, Folklore, came out of nowhere, as she released it just hours after it was announced. Now, she is doing the same with her next album, and it’s arriving a lot sooner than anybody expected: Evermore, which Swift describes as “Folklore’s sister record,” will be released in a matter of hours, on Friday, December 11.
Swift announced the album by sharing the front and back cover art along with a message about the record, explaining that the album came about because she and her Folklore collaborators “just couldn’t stop writing songs.” She wrote:
“I’m elated to tell you that my 9th studio album, and folklore’s sister record, will be out tonight at midnight eastern. It’s called evermore. To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in. I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them. And I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon. We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around…
Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.”
The album features appearances from Folklore collaborator Bon Iver, as well as all of The National (not just Aaron Dessner) and Haim. Also at midnight, Swift will be releasing a video for the song “Willow,” the first track on the album.
Check out the Evermore art and tracklist, as well as Swift’s posts about the album, below.
Taylor Swift
1. “Willow”
2. “Champagne Problems”
3. “Gold Rush”
4. “‘Tis The Damn Season”
5. “Tolerate It”
6. “No Body, No Crime” Feat. Haim
7. “Happiness”
8. “Dorothea”
9. “Coney Island” Feat. The National
10. “Ivy”
11. “Cowboy Like Me”
12. “Long Story Short”
13. “Marjorie”
14. “Closure”
15. “Evermore” Feat. Bon Iver
16. “Right Where You Left Me” (bonus track)
17. “It’s Time To Go” (bonus track)
Evermore is out 12/11 via Republic. Pre-order it here.
For Karl-Anthony Towns, it’s been a year of unimaginable tragedy. It would be enough to break anyone. Early in the pandemic, Towns announced the devastating news that his mother had died from COVID-19, one of the early casualties of the fatal illness that was spreading across the nation and would eventually send the country into indefinite lock-down.
But the heartache didn’t stop there for Towns. Last week, he divulged that since his mother passed earlier this year, six more family members have been lost to the virus. Yet, amid it all, Towns has been a constant presence in the ongoing fight against racial injustice around the country this year.
In fact, Towns showed up at the George Floyd rally in Minneapolis just weeks after his mother died. Towns, along with new teammate and close friend D’Angelo Russell, have each been a visible presence at these types of gatherings in their respective communities, and Towns has said it was his mother who inspired him to take action, despite the enormous grief of her loss.
Looking back, Towns said, “My mom would have wanted for me to be there.
“It gave me the push, the motivation to go. I found strength in myself to do something for others even when,” said Towns, 25. “I told D’Lo [Russell] when he asked me, ‘It’s always easy to do the right thing when it’s easy for you. But it’s very hard to do the right thing when it’s very inconvenient for you.’ And that is why I went. I knew it was the right thing to stand up for racial injustice and to find ways to help the youth and spread the message that this police brutality and racial injustice has to stop. Especially in a community that has given me the opportunity to live the life I live. …
“But I really just feel like it was the strength of my mother that gave me the strength to even get out of the house and go outside.”
As both Towns and Russell look forward to their first full season together as teammates and everything they want to accomplish on the court, they also have set their priorities about remaining active in the fight for social change. That could mean a lot of different things in the coming year all across the league, but one thing for certain is that theirs and other players’ devotion to the cause will not waver as there is still plenty of work to be done.
We have Travis Scott to thank for so many things: Astroworld, Stormi Webster, additional production on Yeezus, and now, for influencing Kid Cudi’s new music, too. After the two worked together on the collaborative track “The Scotts” earlier this year, Cudi told Zane Lowe in a snippet from their upcoming interview that Trav set him straight on what his next album needed to include — bars. Read his whole perspective about being undervalued as a lyricist:
“Before I started working on this sh*t I was like, my next sh*t’s gotta be bars. Like I knew that. I remember Travis saying something to me about my raps. He was just like, ‘Your raps, man. I love when you rap.’ I kept that in mind. I was like, okay, like, Travis is saying my raps are good. That must be something the kids like. I’ll keep that in mind. I just wanted to give him exactly what he loved about Kid Cudi and for him, it was these bars. But I felt like, in hip-hop, I’m slept on as a rapper. As a lyricist. I really wanted to elevate my whole sh*t on that front on this project. And I did that with the rapping and singing. Everything has kinda evolved. And added those sprinkles of adlibs. Something I’ve never really done before.”
Troye Sivan and Kacey Musgraves have been hinting at new music together for a minute, and earlier this week Troye revealed that he’d be joined by both Kacey and Mark Ronson on a new version of his track, “Easy.” The new collaboration comes complete with a video, starring both Kacey and Troye, cavorting through Nashville’s seedy underbelly.
Instead of presenting the formal remake of “Easy” as a remix, Troye Sivan simply added Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson to the song, and boy do those two make a great addition. Yes, Kacey has her own verse, and joins Troye to sing along with plenty of choruses after her appearances. Plus the whole soundscape of the song has been reimagined in flickering Ronson fashion that perfectly suits the Nashville nightlife vibes of the new video.
As the teaser promised, Troye does have a green mullet, and Kacey has plenty of hair tricks up her own sleeve in some motel scenes, before popping up in immaculate fur at a local bar, and then the two hang out in front of the infamous Tennessee haunt, Jenna’s Toy Box, an adult sex toy shop. Hey, local businesses could use this kind of look right now, and I’m sure a sex toy store is no different. Check out the playfully noir clip above, and perhaps there’s more collaborations from this trio on the way? We can only hope.
For the most part, Travis Scott took a back seat in the music world this year, but he was still able to find success in it over the past 12 months. The Houston native landed two No. 1 singles thanks to “The Scotts” with Kid Cudi and “Franchise” with Young Thug. He also joined Big Sean, Kanye West, Gunna, and Future on tracks from their respective 2020 albums. Despite this, his biggest musical accomplishment in 2020 comes off his Astrowrld album which he released back in 2018. Two years after its release, Travis Scott landed his first diamond single thanks to “Sicko Mode” with Drake.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the single as diamond on Wednesday, confirming that it crossed 10 million sales mark. The song also has 1.2 billion streams on Spotify and its music video 735 million views on YouTube. The diamond certification of “Sicko Mode” joins Travis’ impressive 2020 resume that also includes successful brand partnerships with Fortnite, McDonald’s, and PlayStation. His Fornite saw him hold his own virtual concert within the game while connecting with McDonald’s produced three separate merch collections, his own meal, and more. Lastly, his partnership with PlayStation saw him receive the title of creative director while the two teamed up to debut a new pair of Nike Dunk Lows.
In more recent news, Travis reportedly made about $20 million while working with McDonald’s this year. The rapper is also rumored to be working on his own PlayStation game.
Shortly after the release of his third mixtape, Confetti, in 2019, Jack Harlow struck gold with his single “What’s Poppin,” with its remix, with DaBaby, Tory Lanez, and Lil Wayne, peaking at No. 2 on the singles chart. He’s now readying the release of his debut album, That’s What They All Say. With less than two days left until the project drops, the Louisville rapper shared the project’s full tracklist.
The album contains a total of 15 tracks, as well as guest appearances from Lil Baby, Chris Brown, Adam Levine, EST Gee, the late Static Major, Bryson Tiller, and more. Harlow also shared the album’s third single, “Way Out,” featuring Big Sean, hours before unveiling the tracklist.
Earlier, Harlow said that he didn’t remove Tory Lanez’s verse from his album, saying, “I don’t think I’m God.” He added, “I don’t have no room to judge anybody. I wasn’t there when this and that happened, I don’t know anything,” and mentioned that there is “a certain integrity you have to keep as an artist.”
You can check out the artwork and full tracklist below.
Atlantic
01. “Rendezvous”
02. “Face Of My City” Feat. Lil Baby
03. “21C/Delta”
04. “Funny Seeing You Here”
05. “Way Out” Feat. Big Sean
06. “Already Best Friends” Feat. Chris Brown
07. “Keep It Light”
08. “Crème”
09. “Same Guy” Feat. Adam Levine
10. “Route 66” Feat. EST Gee
11. “Tyler Herro”
12. “Luv Is Dro” Feat. Static Major & Bryson Tiller
13. “What’s Poppin”
14. “Baxter Avenue”
15. “What’s Poppin (Remix)” Feat. Da Baby, Lil Wayne, & Tory Lanez
That’s What They All Say is out 12/11 via Generation Now/Atlantic. Pre-order it here.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
2020 has been a really strange year for everyone, as we’ve all had to come to terms with life in the midst of a pandemic that, nine months in, is only getting worse in the United States. In the sports world, the attempt to carry on seasons has been quite difficult, with the need to either enter a bubble environment or accept the fact that there will be various stoppages throughout the season as teams deal with internal outbreaks and have to pause activities.
College basketball is among the sports that have returned and teams are trying to navigate their way through the first major indoor sports season since the pandemic started. Unsurprisingly, they’ve encountered numerous cancellations and bumps in the road. Far less importantly, but still something that matters to coaches and players, is the impact the pandemic has had on their ability to carry on certain team traditions and celebrations.
For example, Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team celebrates road wins by stopping at a gas station and getting the entire team snacks and candy, something they can’t really do right now as they try to limit exposure to the outside world as much as possible. After beating Nebraska on the road on Wednesday, Tech coach Josh Pastner decided to get his team some candy a different way, by lobbing out a coronavirus shaped pinata — yes, like, a spiky, virus shaped ball — and had them smash that to get the candy inside.
Honestly, I’m shocked this is the first time I’ve seen a coach have his team break a coronavirus pinata, because that is something I could very easily have seen a college football coach doing to help his team “visualize beating the virus” this season or some other extreme Football Guy reasoning. Instead, it’s Pastner’s way of having his team continue a tradition in a pandemic, and now I have to wonder how many of these pinata’s he’s ordered and if this will continue on an every road win basis this season or if he’ll just eventually shift to just handing out candy from his cooler of Airheads that he apparently keeps close by.
It’s only been a few weeks since Megan Thee Stallion released her long-awaited debut album Good News. Apart from its already popular songs, it also features “Girls In The Hood” which has been the subject of a viral trend on TikTok. The videos find TikTok users dismissing a phone call because they are “busy doing hot girl sh*t.” Next, Megan’s song starts to play in the background and the videos show the TikTokers comically getting back to their important tasks once they are off the phon. These tasks include playing video games, dancing in the mirror, watching Netflix, and more.
One video finds a TikTok user shifting their focus to a game of Minecraft as the song plays in the background, while another one nervously texts a close friend for advice on how to respond to their crush’s “hey” text. Other posts to the platform show a young woman flaunting her sub-par parking skills in her own video while another absolutely crushes a game of “Flow Free.”
At the time of this post, there are over 587,500 TikToks that used “Girls In The Hood.” This is also not the first time Megan Thee Stallion has had one of her songs go viral on the service. This past summer, her No. 1 hit and Grammy-nominated single “Savage” was among the most-used songs on TikTok, thanks to an accompanying dance that was featured in the many videos.
You can check out additional posts below and dive into the trend here.
For many drinkers, IPAs are like cilantro. Either you love them in all their dank, resinous, piney glory, or you absolutely hate them for making your mouth taste like the inside of a bong. The average IPA won’t annoy anyone (except for drinkers who feel like the style overshadows other types of beer), but once you get into double, triple, and imperial IPAs things turn divisive.
“Brewers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should,” he says. “Triple IPAs are the epitome of excess and, in my humble opinion, they serve no purpose in the arsenal of drinks available to those who imbibe. They’re not good by themselves and they’re not good with food.”
Criticism from drinks experts doesn’t hinder the popularity of DIPAS, TIPAS, and beyond. And if you like them, who are we to deny you a few ounces of pleasure in this perilous age? So we reached out to a handful of our favorite bartenders and asked them to name the best IPAs for drinkers who just can’t get enough palate wrecking hops. Most of them answered with hop bombs, as requested, while a few snuck in more nuanced IPA picks.
Equilibrium Straight Outta the Laboratory
Felipe Muñoz, head bartender Sweetleaf Cocktails in Long Island City, New York
My favorite would be Straight Outta the Laboratory from Equilibrium Brewery. It is chewy and a bit heavy on the palate, which is good to stick to your bones for winter but still full of fruit — maybe some vitamin C?
90 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head Brewery out of Delaware. It’s hoppy, but not over the top like most double or triple IPA’s. It’s floral, refreshing, and bold.
Due South Category 5
Eric Vincent, bartender at Sparrow in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
As a south Florida native, I will throw in Due South’s Cat 5 into the category. It has a beautiful amber color with aromas and flavors of perfectly ripe stone fruit. The malt sweetness is backed up quickly with the pleasant bitterness.
The best IPA I’ve had in recent memory is being brewed at Crooked Stave out of Colorado. These guys changed the game with native yeast cultivation, barrel aging, and every-which-way you could approach a sour. This IPA shows you a delicate side instead of beating you over the head with bitterness.
Every brewer should aspire to Crooked Staves’ top-notch execution and vast versatility.
Bayou Teche Techeticles
Seth Falvo, bartender at The Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, Florida
When I lived in New Orleans, Bayou Teche was one of my favorite regional breweries. I recently received a bottle of their triple IPA, Techeticles, from a friend in South Louisiana and I was extremely impressed. Despite its 12% ABV, this beer is incredibly smooth, with the hops providing tons of apricot and candied grapefruit flavor with plenty of vanilla and tropical fruit on the nose. It’s perfect for the fall because the body isn’t too rich and the flavors, while strong, aren’t too heavy, making it an ideal beer for the cooler, but not quite cold temperatures we’re experiencing this December.
Bell’s Hopslam is palatable for such an aggressively hopped beer. It’s a great choice for anyone who enjoys their beer with a crazy amount of floral and piney hops.
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
Dan Marlowe, mixologist at Modena in Washington, DC
While admittedly I am a stout fan, especially in the fall and winter, I do enjoy the 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head. This floral IPA sits at 18% abv and had an almost syrup viscosity. Refreshing on the sip and warming on the swallow. Perfect for a brisk fall evening.
Long Live Three Times a Lady
Frederic Yarm, USBG bartender in Boston
Three Times a Lady by Providence’s Long Live Beerworks that they did in collaboration with Deciduous. It’s perfect for the season given its warming strength yet offers a tropical escapist element with its mango, pineapple, orange, melon, and resiny flavors and aromas.
Writer’s Picks:
Tröegs Perpetual IPA
This 7.5 percent ABV imperial IPA is dry-hopped to perfection and filled with pleasing flavors of juicy orange, fresh pineapple, subtly bitter and piney hops, and a nice cereal backbone.
Pure Formless Reflections
This murky, juicy IPA was made with Hull Melon, Nelson, and Mosiac hops. It’s filled with tropical fruit flavors and enough resinous hop presence to appeal to the biggest hop heads.
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