Lil Baby has been releasing new tracks every week recently under the auspices of his “WHAM Wednesdays” campaign (named after his January album). Beginning with “All On Me” featuring G Herbo three weeks ago, and continuing with “Plenty” featuring YTB Fatt and YFN Lucci, “Try To Love,” and “Otha Boy,” the releases have fulfilled the Atlanta rapper’s promise to drop a “Song & Video Every Wednesday For The Rest Of The Year,” the tradition continues with “Real Sh*t.”
Produced by4 3Juice and SouliMadeIt, “Real Sh*t” is a cascading stream of consciousness freestyle from Baby, all in one verse, with no hooks. In it, he touches on all the usual topics, painting harrowing tableaus of poverty in Zone 6. “Had Fannie watchin’ my food savings while she was pregnant with dude baby,” he recalls. “But it wasn’t no food savin’, whole lotta green sh*t / Tryna shake my demons, keep callin’ the lean man / Keep rollin’ this weed up, I been through some real sh*t.”
The flurry of activity could either be a rollout for a new project, or it could be considered a mea culpa after he canceled the impending release of Dominique for unknown reasons. Either way, it’s a welcome consolation, even if it isn’t that heavily anticipated project. You can watch the video for “Real Sh*t” above.
Labrinth’s fourth studio album, Cosmic Opera: Act I, arrives January 30 via Columbia Records, and today, the production powerhouse shares the latest single, “Implosion.”
Like its predecessors, “S.W.M.F.” and “Orchestra,” “Implosion” finds Labrinth blending symphonic sensibilities with electronic impulses for a boisterous, bold blend of both spacey trap and dubstep with the operatic foundations implied by the album’s title.
It isn’t like he didn’t warn us this was coming; in September, he dropped an eight-song EP titled Prelude, and as we all know, the term refers to a short piece of music that often serves as an introduction to a longer, more complex composition. Labrith used his EP in much the same way, setting the stage for a display of the composer at his full powers.
In a message on social media introducing “Implosion” and announcing Cosmic Opera: Act I, the 36-year-old Brit wrote, “I’ve been wanting to create this for a long time… I hope that it will heal me in my pursuit of letting go of what no longer serves me. Some of the words sound like I’m ready to end it all… but in actual fact it’s a celebration of freeing my soul by confronting my grief.”
“I know many of you have been through your own version of this process and I thank you for participating in mine as my supporters. I love you and thank you for bearing witness.”
You can listen to “Implosion” above.
Cosmic Opera: Act I is out 1/30/2026 via Columbia Records. You can find more info here.
In 2018, The War On Drugs hosted the first edition of A Drugcember To Remember, a series of benefit shows to help The Fund For The School District Of Philadelphia, a nonprofit that boosts Philly public schools. The band hasn’t done it the past two years, though, but in 2025, they’re coming back: Today (November 19), they’ve announced the event’s return.
The shows are set for December 18, 19, and 20 at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. Tickets will be available starting November 21 at 10 a.m ET, via the band’s website.
“Another Drugcember to remember! This has been a year end highlight for me since we started doing it in 2018. Three rock shows at our old local hangout benefitting the Philadelphia school system. This band wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the vibrant Philadelphia community that has supported us since the beginning and we are very grateful for it.”
Per a press release, The Fund For The School District Of Philadelphia “is responsible for aligning philanthropic dollars with innovative, transformational, and equitable solutions that spur academic achievement for all children in Philadelphia’s public schools. The organization exists to harness community support for public education and eliminate the impact of underfunding as a barrier to student success.”
Find the band’s upcoming dates below.
The War On Drugs’ 2025 & 2026 Tour Dates
12/18/2025 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
12/19/2025 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
12/20/2025 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
07/08/2026 — Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
07/09-11/2026 — Oeiras, PT @ NOS Alive
You would think it would be much harder to agree on a “lifetime anthem” as a group, but nope — Earthgang, The LOX, and now, Atmosphere, our latest Sound Check guests, all claim it’s pretty easy. “Easier than I thought it’d be,” Slug tells our host, Jeremy Hecht.
Of course, that doesn’t make things any easier for Jeremy himself, who has to figure out what that song might be with our production team trying to trick him. To help him hash things out this time around, Jeremy comes armed with seven rounds of classic tracks to pair off, including Kool G Rap vs. MF DOOM, KRS ONE vs. Ice Cube, Clipse vs. JID, and Run-DMC vs. A Tribe Called Quest.
Here’s how it works: Jeremy plays two songs for the guest artist, who has to choose one and explain their choice, giving Jeremy a chance to learn their musical taste. Jeremy then has to guess the artist’s life anthem, the song they’d take to a desert island, which the guest wrote down earlier on a piece of paper. Our production team has also given him a decoy song, and Jeremy has to guess which is correct based on what he’s learned in the previous rounds.
Watch Atmosphere take on the Sound Check challenge above. New episodes of Sound Check drop every Wednesday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT on Uproxx’s YouTube.
Summer Walker is going all-out with her new album. Just days after releasing Finally Over It, her third studio album and the completion of a trilogy she started with Over It and continued with Still Over It, she’s released not just one, but two deluxe editions of the new album — which was already a double album, to begin with.
Cocktail Hour includes “Session 32,” “Session 34,” and a slew of Apple Music-exclusive content, including a video of her recording fan favorite “Go Girl.” Meanwhile, The After Party makes a pair of songs available on streaming that were previously only available on vinyl releases, “Take Me Out This Club” and “Drown In My Love” featuring Foggie Raw. There’s also a solo version of “1-800 Heartbreak.”
Walker has had an outstanding 2025; in addition to releasing the long-awaited Finally Over It, she got some arena performance experience as the opening act on Chris Brown’s Breezy Bowl tour, working with the production studio See You Later to bring her intergalactic vision to life. She also lit up Essence Festival in New Orleans, and assisted Cardi B on her own long-awaited album release, for Am I The Drama?, appearing on the songs “Dead” and “Shower Tears.”
You can listen to Finally Over It (The After Party)here. You can check out Finally Over It (Cocktail Hour) exclusively on Apple Music here
The bad news is, Clairo, Don Toliver, Men I Trust, Sombr, Tems, and The Alchemist were forced to forego their scheduled sets. However, there’s some good news too: their replacements are Flog Gnaw favorites, including Blood Orange, Fakemink, Geese, Gia Fu, and Kali Uchis. Tickets are also back on sale for the rescheduled event after initially selling out.
The festival was postponed last week as an “atmospheric river” formed over LA, threatening to dump several inches of rain over much of the county. According to the Weather Channel “rainfall records were broken in locations across Southern California on Saturday” and per The Guardian, the resulting floods floods and mudslides — which were exacerbated by hillsides depleted of vegetation after January’s wildfires — caused at least seven deaths.
The new set times for the revamped lineup have not yet been announced, but you can probably expect most of the changes in the late afternoon/evening time slots, with DJ Gia Fu playing during the afternoon.
Earlier this month, sisters Allison and Katie Crutchfield (the latter better known as Waxahatchee) formed a new band, Snocaps, and released a surprise self-titled debut album. (MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook also perform on the album.) With the release, though, came the note that after some upcoming concerts, the siblings will “put the project on ice for the foreseeable future.” So, on The Tonight Show yesterday (November 18), the band gave their first late-night TV performance, which could very well also be their last.
For their time on the air, they went with “Coast.” This was their first time playing together live, but the group is full of seasoned pros, so it didn’t sound like there were any growing pains. Seeing Lenderman playing a drums is also a sight.
Watch the performance above and find the band’s upcoming tour dates below.
12/01 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (with Cloakroom)
12/02 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (with Graham Hunt)
12/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom (with Slippers)
12/05 — Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom (with Mike Krol)
12/07 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (with Brennan Wedl)
12/08 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (with Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band)
Snocaps is out now via ANTI- Records. Find more information here.
Zach Bryan has never been afraid to say what’s on his mind. What he’s been thinking about lately is some heavy stuff. Specifically, Bryan has confronted his relationship with fame, anxiety, and alcohol.
In an Instagram post shared last night (November 18), Bryan wrote in the caption, “In no way is this a greater than thou sentiment and I’m aware I am one of the luckiest men alive. I pray people don’t take this as me taking my blessings for granted. I wanted to share this because I feel like a lot of people go through mental struggles at times and feel alone in them, which leads plenty to suffer in silence. Here’s me on mental health. I hope it helps someone struggling to find words when they’re down on their luck.”
The post itself is a letter from Bryan, in which he reveals he’s been sober for two months. It starts, “Recently, I went on a motorcycle trip across the country. For 20 days, I camped and rode looking for a solution. At the end of this ride, I was sitting in a parking lot in Seattle, Washington thinking, ‘I really need some f*cking help.’” He later writes, “I haven’t touched alcohol for nearly two months now- something I had to do for my own personal clarity. I needed to see the world objectively. My family supported every step I took. Conversations about the future, kids one day, my health and Sammy’s happiness made me prioritize not only myself, but my entire family.”
Read the full letter below.
“On mental health,
Recently, I went on a motorcycle trip across the country. For 20 days, I camped and rode looking for a solution. At the end of this ride, I was sitting in a parking lot in Seattle, Washington thinking, ‘I really need some f*cking help.’
Being in the military for a decade and then thrown into a spotlight that I hadn’t fully comprehended the scope of, had some subconscious effects on me as a person. I was not content but I also feared showing weakness because that’s not who I am or how I was raised. To charge forward and to never settle was the motto.
I was stuck in a perpetual discontent that led me to always reaching for alcohol, not for the taste, but because there was a consistent black hole in me always needing its void filled.
I had been lied about and doxxed on the internet, I was helping a close friend through a severe mental break, one of my other best friends was put into a coma by a motorcycle accident, and I was touring the country playing five, sometimes six nights a week.
I was having earth-shattering panic attacks. The anxiety I felt was paralyzing and I thought since I was successful, had the money I always longed for, and had great friends, that I could tough anything out.
All that said; I went out of my way to find a therapist and made the conscious decision to do something about my toxic relationship with booze and how I cope with major life changes.
I haven’t touched alcohol for nearly two months now- something I had to do for my own personal clarity. I needed to see the world objectively. My family supported every step I took. Conversations about the future, kids one day, my health and Sammy’s happiness made me prioritize not only myself, but my entire family.
I feel great, I feel content, I feel whole. There is nothing I need to get me by anymore. If you or any of your friends are too tough, too scared or too stubborn to reach out, know that the most stubborn dumbass on the planet did and didn’t regret it.
I don’t believe in absolutes. One day maybe, I’ll learn to control my habits, but for now; I just want to say it is okay to be weak at times and need help. God speed everyone! I pray this helps somebody.”
This time of year, I don’t have to look at the calendar to know what time it is. I can already feel it in my bones. The urge to eat pumpkin pie and start making my year-end albums list tells me all I need to know.
I have been doing both things for most of my life. I’m not sure if either is good for me, and yet I persist. When it comes to the second thing, I also start thinking about what other music critics are going to put on their lists. And then I go into prognostication mode about annual critical consensus.
A lot of albums come out in any given year. It’s impossible to say how many — somewhere between 98 and a million, I suppose. But anyone who reads year-end lists knows that a certain coterie of records pop up, time and again, with a select few routinely showing up at the top. (Or the bottom, as most of these lists unfold in descending order, for the sake of showmanship.) Last year, you didn’t have to be an expert to predict that Charli XCX was going to come out ahead. Charli, after all, saucily declared the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris be “brat,” a prescient move for sure, as we are all now living under the Kamala Harris administration. (That’s my assumption, I haven’t followed politics closely this year.)
In 2025, there is no clear-cut frontrunner. This makes the year more interesting, of course, which is good. But it is also makes writing this column more difficult, which I resent. Thanks for nothing, President Harris!
Here is how I see the field of potential “Album Of The Year, According To Critical Consensus” candidates shaking out, listed from most to least likely to get the nod.
1. Rosalía — Lux
Pro: For much of my career as a music critic, the stock reference people would make when they wanted to rag on “music critic music” was to the era’s most recognizable “arty and intellectual” indie (or indie-adjacent) act. In the 2000s, it was inevitably Radiohead. In the 2010s, it was Bon Iver, The National, or anyone else who spent time in a recording studio with at least one Dessner brother. But by the 2020s, this joke was terribly out-of-date and inaccurate. This decade, the stand-in for “music critic music” might as well be Rosalía. Her 2022 album Motomami has a staggering Metacritic score of 94, an extremely high integer typically reserved for box sets that compile previously unreleased outtakes by respected legacy artists like Jesus Christ, Mohammed, and Buddha. Her 2025 effort, somehow, has an even better score, logging in at 97. It helps that Lux is a big artistic swing, with nods to classical music and opera.
Con: Forget the Metacritic score — do people really like this more than Motomami? I have no idea, though I don’t think it will matter much in the end. This is the closest thing to a lock this year.
2. Bad Bunny — Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Pro: Despite what you might have read in a “state of music criticism” thinkpiece, music critics in 2025 are not automatically rubber-stamping every big-ticket pop record as a masterpiece. (The bitchier notices written about this year’s Taylor Swift album/data dump bear that out.) It is true, however, that at least one big-ticket pop record always seems to do really well on year-end lists. And that record this year will likely be by Bad Bunny, perennially one of the most-streamed artists in the world. Plus, he’s playing the Super Bowl this year, which might inspire some scribes to give his record an extra nudge.
Con:Debí Tirar Más Fotos came out a long time ago, way back on January 5, which might as well be 1983 as far as insect-brained music critics are concerned. Probably won’t hurt him a ton, but it certainly doesn’t help.
3. Geese — Getting Killed
Pro: The indie album of the year! According to me! And probably all the other writers who still care about guitar music. Getting Killed occupies the same spot that MJ Lenderman’s Manning Works had last year, as the “guitar music indie album” with the highest enthusiasm quotient among supporters in the media. If you like Getting Killed, you love Getting Killed. You love Getting Killed so much that it makes agnostics hate Getting Killed. So be it. My advice to Geese, as borrowed from a great philosopher: Let your haters be your waiters at the table of success.
Con: Remember what I just said about “arty and intellectual” indie music? Also, there’s a decent chance the Geese vote will be split by writers who instead go with Cameron Winter’s solo album Heavy Metal, as a make-up call for missing it after its December 2024 release. They are free to do what they want, but for the record, I’ll just say: This is blatant disregard for the calendar and, in terms of the space-time continuum, totally unacceptable.
4. Dijon — Baby
Pro: As my Indiecast co-host Ian Cohen likes to say, the north star for modern music critics (aside from Rosalía) is somewhat left-of-center R&B, with “weird” or “experimental” overtones. This record feels like 2025’s version of that. It sounds a bit like a Bon Iver record, only without a bearded Wisconsinite at the center. For critics, that’s like catnip to an Abyssinian. Plus, he was great in one of the best scenes — the “hairless Mexican” one — from One Battle After Another.
Con:Baby is a really cool record that deserves the attention it has gotten. But it might not have a high enough profile to compete in this field.
5. Hayley Williams — Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Pro: Think about your favorite band from the aughts. Zero in on their most famous member. Nine times out of ten, that person is less critically acclaimed now than they were then. Hayley Williams is the one out of ten. Paramore had some supporters in the 2000s, and that legion grew in the press in the 2010s. But in the 2020s, Hayley Williams is like Neil Young or Tom Petty in the ’90s, as the reverent notices for Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party have borne out. This is weird to say about a person who is only turning 37 in December, but Williams feels like a respected elder at this point for a certain generation of musicians.
Con: But what about other generations? Hayley Williams polls great with millennials, but Gen-Xers and (younger) zoomers might not have any idea this record exists.
6. FKA Twigs — Eusexua
Pro: It’s a really good record, for one. And it was made by an artist who’s always in the mix for this sort of thing. She is a modern paragon of the “somewhat left-of-center R&B” lane. She might be more famous than popular — Dijon has more monthly Spotify listeners, which doesn’t feel correct but is nonetheless true — though that is actually an advantage here. Her album came out in January, but she just put out a second record, which will remind critics that Eusexua exists without threatening to displace it.
Con:A prevailing trend for 2025 is that releases by 2010s era indie stars were generally underwhelming and, in many cases, swiftly memory-holed. That doesn’t really apply to FKA Twigs, but she might end being collateral damage if writers want to turn the page on that decade.
7. Oklou — Choke Enough
Pro: This French producer and singer has been putting out EPs and mixtapes since the mid-2010s, but Choke Enough is her first proper album. The long build-up to the full-fledged LP statement has set up this electronic artist for a proper coronation. The smartest music writers you’ve heard of under the age of 30 will no doubt be giving this record a lot of love over the next several weeks.
Con: But what about the oldsters drooling into their keyboards? They might not hop the bandwagon until 2026.
8. Wednesday — Bleeds
Pro:A brilliant critic recently called them “a definitive band of the 2020s,” for the ways that they straddle two of indie’s most important subgenres, shoegaze and alt-country. On Bleeds, Wednesday built on that reputation with subtly beefed-up production and refined songwriting that balances Karly Hartzman’s keen eye for lurid small-town detail with more personal expressions of romantic loss. In less music critic-sounding terms: They kept on rockin.’
Con: Similar to the Rosalía question: Is this an improvement over the last record, Rat Saw God, the consensus choice for best indie album of 2023? If it’s not, it’s hard to see Bleeds topping any of the records I’ve already named. It will be acclaimed, but not the most acclaimed.
A couple months ago, My Chemical Romanceannounced a huge run of shows for 2026, continuing their The Black Parade tour. That wasn’t quite all they had in store, though, as today (November 18), they’ve added two special shows to the run.
They’re both at the Hollywood Bowl, making it five straight performances there, which makes MCR the first band to perform five shows there. The concerts go down on Halloween and the day before. The October 30 show will be with The Used while the October 31 performance will be with Thrice. A press release notes these will be the final shows of the tour.
For tickets for the news shows, there’s an artist pre-sale, and those interested can sign up before November 19 at 11:59 a.m. PT here. The general on-sale starts November 21 at 9 a.m. PT, here.
Check out the full list of dates below.
My Chemical Romance’s 2026 Tour Dates: The Black Parade 2026
01/22/2026 — Bogotá, Colombia @ Vive Claro
01/25/2026 — Lima, Peru @ Estadio Nacional
01/28/2026 — Santiago, Chile @ Estadio Bicentenario
01/29/2026 — Santiago, Chile @ Estadio Bicentenario
02/01/2026 — Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Estadio Huracán
02/05/2026 — São Paulo, Brazil @ Allianz Parque
02/06/2026 — São Paulo, Brazil @ Allianz Parque
02/13/2026 — Mexico City, Mexico @ Estadio GNP Seguros
02/14/2026 — Mexico City, Mexico @ Estadio GNP Seguros
04/18/2026 — Incheon, South Korea @ Paradise City Culture Park
04/22/2026 — Bangkok, Thailand @ Impact Challenger Hall
04/25/2026 — Bulacan, Philippines @ Philippine Arena
04/28/2026 — Singapore, Singapore @ Indoor Stadium
04/30/2026 — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia @ National Stadium Bukit Jalil
05/01/2026 — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia @ National Stadium Bukit Jalil
05/03/2026 — Jakarta, Indonesia @ Hammersonic Festival
05/10/2026 — Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville
05/14/2026 — Columbus, OH @ Sonic Temple
06/30/2026 — Liverpool, United Kingdom @ Anfield Stadium
07/04/2026 — Glasgow, United Kingdom @ Bellahouston Park
07/08/2026 — London, United Kingdom @ Wembley Stadium
07/10/2026 — London, United Kingdom @ Wembley Stadium
07/11/2026 — London, United Kingdom @ Wembley Stadium
07/15/2026 — Florence, Italy @ Visarno Arena
07/18/2026 — Madrid, Spain @ Iberdrola Music
08/09/2026 — New York, NY @ Citi Field (with Franz Ferdinand)
08/13/2026 — Nashville, TN @ Nissan Stadium (with Pierce The Veil)
08/18/2026 — Washington, DC @ Nationals Park (with Modest Mouse)
08/21/2026 — Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park (with Iggy Pop)
08/24/2026 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Field (with Sleater-Kinney)
08/27/2026 — Denver, CO @ Coors Field (with The Breeders)
08/30/2026 — San Diego, CA @ Petco Park (with BABYMETAL)
09/06/2026 — Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field (with Jimmy Eat World)
09/12/2026 — San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome (with The Mars Volta)
09/18/2026 — Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life
10/21/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/23/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/24/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/30/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl (with The Used)
10/31/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl (with Thrice)
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