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For a quarter of a century, Ultra Music Festival has reigned as one of the world’s most iconic electronic music festivals, bringing legendary performances, surprise guests, and unforgettable pop culture moments to Miami’s Bayfront Park. This year’s 25th anniversary was no exception, if anything, it was even more chaotic, unpredictable, and history-making than ever before.

From Skrillex’s long-awaited return to the global debut of Anyma b2b Solomun that sent the crowd into a frenzy, Ultra 2025 delivered everything a raver could ask for: mind-melting drops, larger-than-life stage productions, and the kind of euphoric energy that keeps festival-goers coming back year after year. And just when we thought we’d seen it all, Mother Nature had other plans. A lightning storm on the final day forced attendees to evacuate, sending thousands of soaked ravers running for cover. A few hours later, the festival roared back to life, proving once again that ravers aren’t made of sugar — we’re made of bass, sweat, and pure adrenaline.

With so many legendary moments packed into one weekend, narrowing it down to just 25 was no easy feat. But from historic live performances to unexpected festival antics, here are the wildest, most unforgettable things that went down at Ultra’s 25th anniversary, plus a look at the best place to recover from it all.

The 25 Moments That Stuck Out To Us

1. Overheard mid-bass drop, “I had an epiphany. I don’t think I should marry this girl,” proving that Ultra is not just a music festival but also an existential crisis generator.

2. One guy took his festival spirit to the next level by holding up his prosthetic leg to rage during Skrillex’s set. The ultimate totem flex.

3. Jesus headbanging to Peekaboo. Because even the Son of God loves a filthy drop.

4. Zeds Dead debuted their new “Return To The Spectrum Of Intergalactic Happiness” set, remixing Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” into a spine-tingling bass anthem.

5. Afrojack, David Guetta, and Sia made pop history when they performed “Titanium” live together for the first time ever, sending the crowd into absolute euphoria.

6. Watching over 50,000 people attempt to squeeze through the General Admission gates was like witnessing an Ultra survival challenge.

7. Skrillex played his first solo set in a decade and brought out special guests Flowdan, Damian Marley, Naisha, and Young Miko for an unforgettable performance.

8. Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren = pure magic. Garrix closed out the festival by welcoming Armin on stage to premiere their massive new collaboration and was the first artist to close out Ultra with his own live vocals.

9. Carl Cox shut down the RESISTANCE Megastructure on Saturday with the debut of his Evolution live set, proving why he’s still the king of underground techno.

10. Solomun, Mau P, Four Tet, and Chloé Calliet joined forces for an unplanned but mind-blowing b2b session.

11. Anyma and Solomun teamed up for their first-ever b2b set on the Ultra Main Stage, creating an unforgettable moment for melodic techno fans.

12. Steve Aoki blurred the lines of music with his star-studded performance featuring Trippie Red, Swan Lee, and Mike Posner.

13. deadmau5 roasted the people who actually paid $500,000 for bottle service (yes, this was a real thing on the VIP menu).

14. John Summit and Dom Dolla’s “Everything Always” debut was kind of a letdown. The hype was unreal, but their set lacked the high-energy magic fans were hoping for (at least for me).

15. Tiesto proved he’s still the GOAT. His set was packed with bangers, reminding everyone why he’s been at the top of the game for decades.

16. Hard techno at the RESISTANCE stage turned into full-blown mosh pits that even metalheads would be proud of. Thankfully I did not get caught in one (otherwise we wouldn’t be here writing this).

17. The festival’s award-winning Mission:Home program returned for its fifth iteration with over 60 initiatives focused on pollution prevention, nature preservation, waste reduction, climate action, and community engagement, proving that large-scale music festivals can be intentional and proactive.

18. Feeling a sense of accomplishment for being an attendee at a festival that reached 100% recycling acceptance for the fifth year in a row.

19. Being tardy on Sunday but avoiding being one of the thousands of ravers that ran for cover as Ultra was temporarily shut down due to a lightning storm. But like true warriors (and with a little help from festival staff), everyone returned in full force once gates reopened hours later.

20. Ultra’s drone show over Bayfront Park stole spotlight each night. Hundreds of synchronized drones created pulsating visuals of Ultra’s iconic “U” logo, legendary DJ silhouettes, and the American Flag in the sky.

21. While Sullivan King was stuck in the Miami airport, NGHTMRE FaceTimed him and still had him onstage for what would’ve been their world debut b2b set.

22. Seeing the most insane post-festival traffic and prices for Ubers but deciding to walk 0.7 miles to get one half price and swerve all of the traffic.

23. Constantly asking yourself “what song is this?” as you very well know its an unreleased track ID or remix from Hardwell, 50 Cent, or Swedish House Mafia (yes these all happened).

24. Ultra premiered its first-ever psytrance stage takeover on the UMF Radio Stage with Vini Vici’s Alteza label, because who doesn’t love a little psytrance representation at the world’s biggest electronic music festival?

25. Knowing you were a spec on someone’s TV screen as the #ULTRALIVE reached more than 30 million impressions around the world. Hi mom!

Best Stay Of The Weekend: Eden Roc Miami Beach Resort

Eden Roc Miami Beach Resort has hosted legendary artists for decades, including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Nat King Cole, and the world’s best electronic music DJs. With its sophisticated mix of nostalgic glamour and modern luxury, the hotel proved to be the perfect retreat from the festival madness while still keeping the energy alive.

Eden Roc’s location is unbeatable, putting you right in the heart of Miami Music Week‘s action and just steps away from Winter Music Conference, which celebrated its 35th anniversary this year perfectly aligning with Ultra’s own 25th milestone. The oceanfront views from the spacious rooms are a dream, with oversized balconies that make it easy to soak in Miami’s golden-hour glow. Ocean Social serves up delicious food with an even better view, and the circular Lobby Bar makes one of the best espresso martinis in town that was deemed ideal for sipping on the go before heading out to Ultra. The hotel also caters well to seed-oil-free diets which is important to me, with in-room dining options that go beyond the usual fried festival fare (the key is to order your steak cooked in butter in a separate pan). I also really appreciated the hotel offered two water refill stations with filtered water, making sure guests were hydrated for free in the hot Florida sun. With three pools, plenty of green space for relaxing, and ample beach chairs, the hotel served to be the best place to recharge pre and post-festival.

If I had to complain and offer an honest bit of criticism, the elevators are frustratingly slow, which isn’t ideal when you’re in a rush to catch a set or catch a timely Uber. The lack of a mini fridge for personal use was also disappointing. You could rent one for $35, but the room’s existing fridge was already packed with overpriced drinks, leaving no space for leftovers, cold water, or medication storage. This is nothing new for a Miami hotel though.

That said, Eden Roc’s timeless elegance and prime location still made it the best spot to stay for Ultra and Miami Music Week.

More Photos From Ultra Music Festival’s 25th Celebration

After finding their “Inner World Peace,” Frankie Cosmos have announced a new album. The New York-based indie-pop group — led by the Taylor Swift-covering Greta Kline — will release Different Talking on June 6.

The entirely self-produced album is described as “a collection of fragments and memories, remembered places, and reinterpreted feelings that adds up to a lucent, humming whole: a sturdy, worldly indie-rock record about aging and the passage of time that nonetheless manages to feel sharply current.”

For sprightly lead single “Vanity,” Kline (who is joined by Alex Bailey, Katie Von Schleicher, and Hugo Stanley) said that she “started writing it one evening while I walked (~6.5 miles) from Tompkins Square Park to Sunset Park, speaking directly to the universe and pleading to be considered by it. It feels like it encompasses this push and pull between adult and kid, government and governed, planet and blade of grass.” Or as Von Schleicher put it: it’s “a f*cking pop anthem.”

You can listen to “Vanity” above, while the Different Talking album cover and tracklist can be found below.

Frankie Cosmos’ Different Talking Album Cover Artwork

Frankie Cosmos’ Different Talking Tracklist

1. “Pressed Flower”
2. “One Of Each”
3. “Against the Grain”
4. “Bitch Heart”
5. “Porcelain”
6. “One! Grey! Hair!”
7. “Vanity”
8. “Not Long”
9. “Margareta”
10. “Your Take On”
11. “High Five Handshake”
12. “You Become”
13. “Joyride”
14. “Tomorrow”
15. “Wonderland”
16. “Life Back”
17. “Pothole’

Different Talking is out 6/27 via Sub Pop. Find more information here.

You just know a rapper’s rapper like Big Sean would have great taste in hip-hop and an irresistible urge to rap along to the likes of Eminem and Lil Wayne. But in the latest episode of Sound Check, our host Jeremy Hecht’s favorite rapper shows off a propensity for crooning along to classics from Maroon 5 and Michael Jackson, as well. Yes, in falsetto. It’s great.

In round one, Jeremy pits Common against Maroon 5 to determine which love song makes Sean swoon. Round two offers a choice between two lyrical titans, while round three gives the “IDFWU” rapper a pair of heartbreak anthems to choose from, including his collaborator on that song, E-40.

Next, Sean has to choose between two Michael Jackson classics (“from different eras”), then two of his own songs. Finally, it’s time for Jeremy to use what he’s learned to guess which song Sean chose as his “desert island” classic, and which is the decoy written down by our production team.

Big Sean is fresh off his recent collaboration with Will Smith, “Beautiful Scars” from the latter’s new album Based On A True Story, and hosting Big Sean Night with his hometown Detroit Pistons.

For more Sound Check with Jeremy Hecht, check out the G-Eazy episode here and the Rico Nasty episode here.

The Convenience indulged in synth-pop for their last album, Accellerator, but the duo of Duncan Troast and Nick Corson find themselves back in the realm of artistic punk on the upcoming album Like Cartoon Vampires, which is set to arrive on April 18.

A number of the songs from the album originated from freeform jam sessions, which the pair edited and added onto to create cohesive songs. This results in tracks sound exploratory while still maintaining an amount of structure that keeps everything feeling intentional.

Ahead of the album’s forthcoming release, Troast and Corson sat down with Uproxx to talk about Bo Diddley, the “hot fox” in Robin Hood, Topanga Lawrence, and more in our latest Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

I have no idea.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

I hope they think it’s as good as the bug burgers they are eating. Sadly not up to me though.

Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?

Bo Diddley because he gave us all the tools we need.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?

Tacos from Taqueria La Patrona in McAllen, Texas.

Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.

I saw this band called Mi Ami in high school at an art gallery in the mission in SF. It was one of the first DIY style shows I had been to and I just remember feeling so excited and inspired. The band was raging through these repetitive grooves, so raw and beautiful. People don’t really know their music but I still listen to them all the time.

What song never fails to make you emotional?

Troast: Night Swimming by REM
Corson: Wild is the Wind by Nina Simone

What’s the last thing you Googled?

311 band

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?

I love it so much but getting locked in The Pie Shop in DC is pretty weird, but they give you so much pot pie you don’t really need anything from the outside world so it’s all good. We also crashed with a pilot who was one of the kids that voiced Arnold from Hey Arnold and I still regret that we didn’t ask him to give us a sample.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?

Favorite city to play is Hamburg. Alhaus is the greatest venue in the world I think, such a beautiful bar with wonderful staff and food. Would like to play in Hong Kong.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

Don’t eat at that Rallys in Philly when you are 22.

What’s one of your hidden talents?

I can check into any Southwest flight and get a good boarding number.

If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?

I would send money to Gaza to aid those who are victims of the genocide taking place right now. Free Palestine.

What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?

AI is not very interesting to me. Good for funny stories on tour but a creative dead end. People will always make fascinating things, so I’m not worried about the future of music. I do think we should organize though and demand higher pay from these jackals at Spotify and Apple and all of the other streamers. Royalties are crazy low.

You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.

Lou Reed
Nico
John Cale
Mo Tucker
John Coltrane
at Max’s Kansas City

Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?

Ringo Starr

What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?

My only tattoo is a lizard wearing a cowboy hat playing the piano in the desert. We saw it scrawled on the wall in the bathroom at a venue in Portland. The artists name is Loretta, hit us up if you see this!

What is your pre-show ritual?

Light meal and a walk around the neighborhood

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Corson: The hot fox in robin hood
Troast: Topanga Lawrence

You have a month off and the resources to take a dream vacation. Where are you going and who is coming with you?

I love Paris very much and it would be a luxury to have a whole month to explore the city. Sitting in cafes is my preferred state and they really have that figured out over there. Everyone is invited!

What is your biggest fear?

That people won’t think I’m funny and also death.

Like Cartoon Vampires is out 4/18 via Winspear. Find more information here.

Lady Gaga has headlined Coachella before, but it came with an asterisk. In 2017, she was picked to replace Beyoncé, who dropped out after announcing she was pregnant with twins. Gaga and her team had all of two weeks to put together a billboard-worthy set; it was still a spectacle, but she didn’t have the time to fully realize her vision.

Lady Gaga is ready this time.

Fresh off releasing her exhilarating new album Mayhem, Lady Gaga is headlining both weekends of Coachella 2025, beginning this Friday, April 11. I recently spoke to Mother Monster about her plans for America’s most prestigious musical festival, as well as the song from Mayhem she’s most excited to perform live and whether we might hear the return of Ally Maine.

What made you decide this was the right time to headline Coachella?

I’ve been lucky that I’ve had some real success since the last time I performed at Coachella. But also, I love my new album so much, and I’m so excited to perform it live. I can’t wait. So this felt like a great opportunity to do something creative and artistic and just bring my full vision to life.

Is there a song on Mayhem you’re most excited to perform live?

I think I’m really excited about “Killah.” I really love that record. It’s the Gesaffelstein feature. It’s ultra confident, ultra funky, super unique, and cool. I’ve never done anything like it before, so that’s making me feel really excited just to do something I haven’t done yet before.

Is there a temptation to lean towards crowd-pleasing hits instead of deep cuts when putting together the setlist for a music festival compared to one of your own headlining shows?

You know, whether I’m performing at one of my own concerts or a festival, I think people always want to hear your hits. That has to be a part of it. But also, you know, I’ve actually never been someone that will shy away from my artistry given the venue. I think Coachella is an opportunity to do something unique and special. People being able to experience that idea around the world is also really cool. With the way the world is today, I think people worry about outputting content so much, and quickly. And I feel like my art is something that once I do it, I want to make sure as many people as possible can see it, because it takes me a lot of time and thought to put it together. So yes to the hits, but also yes to high artistry.

This is me politely nudging you to play “Hair,” my favorite song of yours.

Michael [Polansky, Gaga’s fiancé] loves “Hair,” too.

Did you consider any other album titles for Mayhem?

I almost called the album Perfect Celebrity, which is the name of another song on the record, but it didn’t end up being right for the album, because the album really is not about fame. That’s one piece of my personal mayhem, but it’s not the whole thing. So it ended up being not indicative of the whole theme of the record, which is like personal mayhem, mayhem in the world, the chaos of life, and how we build resilience and dance through it.

Perfect Celebrity, as a title, could come across as satirical. But that’s not what this album is.

There’s definitely some funny lyrics, some angry lyrics, sort of poking at this idea that there’s two us’s all the time. There’s the real us and the clone us. I think that’s where society has moved. It’s interesting. I feel like earlier in my career, what I did with creating Lady Gaga was seen as very performative, but that’s a lot more normal now.

I’ve always felt like your albums have a “mission statement” song, the track that really sums up the themes of the record. Like on Joanne, I think it’s “Mission Reasons.” Do you there’s a song on Mayhem like this?

I would say that every song on Mayhem needs each other, for sure. To make it all make sense and be cohesive all together, it all needs each other. I would say “Vanish Into You” sums up the album in a lot of ways, because it’s a celebration of a style of music that is very much me, but it’s also done in this both joyful and apocalyptic way. The lyric is: “Saw your face and mine in a picture by our bedside / It was cold in the summertime / We were happy just to be alive / Can I vanish into you?” It’s this beautiful, fun dance song, but it’s also a bit sad. I think the chaos of that is a part of this album.

But you know, every song on this record is very different from the next, and that’s the beauty of it. Maybe the other record I would choose is “Shadow Of A Man,” because that song is about facing the fact that I was usually the only woman in the room all the time for most of my career, and I had to learn how to dance in the shadow of men. And I did. There is an element of that to Mayhem as well. It’s the mayhem of being a woman in the music industry.

This will be your return to Coachella since filming A Star Is Born. Is there a chance that we might hear one of Ally’s songs?

I genuinely don’t want to give anything away about Coachella. I know that is heartless of me, in a way, but I could honestly cry on the phone with you just thinking about how excited I am to do this show, and I want it to be a total surprise, and want everyone to have as much fun as possible.

If your current self could tell early-era Lady Gaga that she will be one of the few people to headline Coachella more than once, what do you think her reaction would be?

“When can I get started?”

Sydney Sweeney is one of the popular actresses of her generation; she’s even been immortalized in song. The latest track named after the Euphoria actress comes from Chicago-based group Smut in the lead single from their just-announced album, Tomorrow Comes Crashing. “Syd Sweeney” is a crackling blast of indie punk with a vital message.

“Women in entertainment are exceptionally talented, smart and beautiful, because they have to be,” Smut vocalist Tay Roebuck said in a statement. “Sometimes they want to explore sexuality and vulnerability in their work. Then the pitchforks come out, how dare they be amazing AND sexual? You can only be one or the other! Why is talent and hard work seemingly erased once you’ve seen a woman naked?”

Roebuck (who is joined by guitarists Andie Min and Sam Ruschman, bassist John Steiner, and drummer Aidan O’Connor) continued, “It makes sense then to interpret it as a horror film, where we have the dividing tropes of final girls and sexy bimbos who die first for being too damn sexy. We put the sexy woman in the movie so we can see her be sexy and then kill her for it. It’s a lose-lose. Being a woman in art is to be objectified one way or the other. Success is the monster chasing you, waiting for you to be a little too sexy, knife ready.”

You can listen to “Syd Sweeney” above. Also check out Tomorrow Comes Crashing‘s album cover and tracklist and Smut’s 2025 tour dates below.

Smut’s Tomorrow Comes Crashing Album Cover Artwork

Smut’s Tomorrow Comes Crashing Tracklist

1. “Godhead”
2. “Syd Sweeney”
3. “Dead Air”
4. “Waste Me”
5. “Ghosts (Cataclysm, Cover Me)”
6. “Burn Like Violet”
7. “Touch & Go”
8. “Crashing In The Coil”
9. “Spit”
10. “Sunset Hymnal”

Smut’s 2025 Tour Dates: The Tomorrow Comes Crashing Tour

04/12 — Chicago, IL @ Not Not
04/25 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole *
04/26 — Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar *
04/28 — Austin, TX @ Parish *
04/29 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
04/30 — New Orleans, LA @ Santos *
05/02 — Atlanta, GA @ The EARL *
05/03 — Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle *
05/04 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage *
05/06 — Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
05/09 — Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
05/12 — Detroit, MI @ El Club *
05/13 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *

* with Spellling

Tomorrow Comes Crashing is out 6/27 via Bayonet Records. Find more information here.

Every year, new recordings are added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for the preservation of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” sound recordings reflecting life in the United States.

This year, a trio of Brits headline the entries, including Amy Winehouse‘s 2006 album Back To Black, Sir Elton John‘s 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Brian Eno‘s Microsoft Windows 95 startup chime.

Also included: the Hamilton original cast album, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman,” Mary J. Blige’s My Life, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” Tracy Chapman, a 1913 recording of “Aloha ‘Oe,” and even the Minecraft: Volume Alpha soundtrack (appropriate, what with the movie hitting theaters last week).

Non-songs/albums selected for preservation include 1960 World Series’ Game 7 radio broadcast and music historian Harry Urata’s field recordings of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii’s sugar plantations singing traditional folk songs (Holehole bushi).

In a press release, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said, “These are the sounds of America – our wide-ranging history and culture. The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation’s playlist. The Library of Congress is proud and honored to select these audio treasures worthy of preservation, including iconic music across a variety of genres, field recordings, sports history, and even the sounds of our daily lives with technology.”

It’s nice to know that at least one art of the government still works the way it should. We need to enjoy this, before those dorks in the White House bring their slash-and-burn tactics to the Library and the only thing left in there is Hitler speeches.

Last month, Megan Fox gave birth to her and Machine Gun Kelly’s first baby together (who is not named Celestial Seed). Given that the pair are frequently in the news for one reason or another, the comedic masterminds at The Onion recently came up with a terrific fake headline about them: “Megan Fox Confirms She And New Baby Will Co-Parent Machine Gun Kelly.”

MGK clearly got a kick out of it, as he shared an Instagram post of the headline on his Story yesterday (April 8), adding some crying-laughing emojis.

Here are some excerpts from the full post:

“LOS ANGELES — Expressing relief that they were both on the same page about custody, Megan Fox confirmed Friday that she and her new baby would be working together to co-parent Machine Gun Kelly. ‘The coming months are going to be exhausting, but knowing that I have this newborn by my side to help set a good example for MGK makes it a lot less scary,’ said the Transformers actress.”

“‘I’d almost forgotten how bad the late nights and the smell of vape smoke can be when you’re caring for a 34-year-old white pop-rapper, so it’s nice to feel emotionally supported by someone more mature for once.’”

“‘It was a lot of work to Machine Gun Kelly-proof this house, but the baby and I are just happy that, for now, he still has all his fingers and toes.’”

The headline is presumably a play on reports of Fox’s supposed thoughts about co-parenting with MGK.

Black Mirror premiered in 2011, the same year that Google+ and Siri were also introduced. Technology has changed a lot since then (Google shuttered its attempt at a social network due to consumer indifference and Apple’s digital assistant seems quaint compared to the rising threats of our AI overlords), and yet, Black Mirror is still on — with no end in sight.

“Hopefully [it will run and run]. Selfishly, it’s a fun job,” creator Charlie Brooker told BBC. “Technology is developing in the real world very quickly. That means there are more sources of inspiration, and… the viewer is experiencing more [technological] things in their everyday life. We can do stories that I wouldn’t have thought of 10 years ago, and also, you don’t need to explain some of the concepts to people because they’ve got it in their phone.”

Black Mirror extends this week on Netflix with the premiere of season 7, which Brooker described as “a little bit OG Black Mirror” and “back to basics in many ways.” Here’s everything you should know.

Plot

The TL;DR logline for Black Mirror season 7 is: technology is great, but also evil. Roll credits! But if you’re looking for a few more details about what to expect, here is the synopsis (and an image!) for all six new episodes:

“Common People”

When a medical emergency leaves schoolteacher Amanda fighting for her life, her desperate husband Mike signs her up for Rivermind, a high-tech system that will keep her alive — but at a cost.

“Bête Noire”

Maria is a high-flying development executive at a chocolate company. Everything is going well for her until someone she hasn’t seen since school — a woman named Verity — shows up for a focus group tasting session. It could be the chance for a heartfelt reunion, except there’s something very odd about Verity, and Maria seems to be the only person who notices.

“Hotel Reverie”

Hollywood A-list actor Brandy Friday is thrown into an unusually immersive high-tech remake of a vintage romantic movie. She’s got to stick to the script if she ever wants to make it home.

“Plaything”

An eccentric loner named Cameron, who harbors an obsession with a mysterious ’90s video game, is arrested in connection with a grisly cold case — and his interrogation soon goes to places the police weren’t expecting.

“Eulogy”

An innovative system that enables users to literally step into photographic memories of the past leads a lonely man to re-examine a heartbreaking period from his past.

“USS Callister: Into Infinity”

Robert Daly is dead, but the crew of the USS Callister — led by Captain Nanette Cole — find that their problems are just beginning.

Yes, that last one is a sequel to fan-favorite episode “USS Callister” starring the always-great Cristin Milioti. It might not be the only one in the show’s future. “We’ve done a sequel for the first time this season,” Brooker told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re now looking at old episodes and thinking, ‘How could you revisit that idea?’ As long as it’s interesting, I’m allowed to make it and people continue to f*cking watch, I’d like to keep making the show.”

Cast

It’s a lengthy list, but here are some highlights: Rashida Jones, Chris O’Dowd, Tracee Ellis Ross, Siena Kelly, Rosy McEwen, Ben Bailey Smith, Issa Rae, Awkwafina, Emma Corrin, Harriet Walter, Peter Capaldi, Lewis Gribben, James Nelson-Joyce, Michele Austin, Paul Giamatti (!!!), Patsy Ferran, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Milanka Brooks, and Osy Ikhile.

Will Poulter and Asim Chaudhry will also reprise their roles from interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. “It’s always so fun,” The Bear guest star told Tudum. “[Charlie] writes such spectacular episodes, and I was so grateful that he brought Colin back.” Poulter added that he’s excited for viewers to “meet the newest creations that are part of a secret project within Tuckersoft!”

Release Date

Black Mirror season 7 premieres on Netflix on April 10.

Trailer

Check out the trailer for season 7 below.

The song titles are a tip-off. With a Bon Iver album, they can be a difficult proposition. Ever since 2016’s 22, A Million, the tracklist for a Justin Vernon LP reads more like a menacing letter from a Zodiac-inspired serial killer than a rundown of songs. Random numbers and strange symbols are plentiful. Easily pronounceable words are not. But there is a method to the madness. When it’s a challenge to put a name to a song, that song becomes hard to pin down and decipher. Even when contained on a record by one of the biggest indie-rock stars of the last 20 years, the song remains elusive and enigmatic. And, by association, so does the artist.

But on SABLE, fABLE (the first Bon Iver album in six years, and the fifth overall), the song titles are shockingly comprehensible. Yes, there’s a song called “Speyside” — one of three tracks carried over from last year’s SABLE, EP — which is stylized in all caps with a space between each letter, a move designed to taunt typesetters everywhere while also possibly confusing Scotch liquor enthusiasts. And don’t overlook “There’s A Rhythmn,” with the intentional misspelling that may or may not reference the state of Minnesota, just because that seems like an extremely Bon Iver thing to do.

But what about one of the new album’s standouts, a duet with Danielle Haim called “I’ll Be There”? Vernon titling a song “I’ll Be There” is like Frank Zappa naming one of his sons John Frederick Zappa. It’s a weird act of uncharacteristic normalcy. And yet it suits the track, an art-rock love song with churchy chords and bedroom-sultry vocals that sounds like Luther Vandross as produced by Godley & Creme or Peter Gabriel after an intense six-month Sade phase. Vernon and Haim’s voices are distorted, but not as much as you might expect, and the disheveled rhythm track rubs up against the yacht-rock electric piano licks in a manner that’s warm and sensual rather than disorienting. It’s a vibe that evokes another relatively straitlaced song title from SABLE, fABLE: “Everything Is Peaceful Love.” Another high point of the LP, this song finds Vernon playing full-on with the sort of feel-good ’90s R&B he’s only hinted at on previous releases, and only via a mile-deep layer of effects, noises, and other assorted digitized alienation devices. This time, however, everything does instead seem peaceful love.

During his more-rigorous-than-usual press tour for SABLE, fABLE, Vernon has hinted that the album might mark the end for the project he launched nearly 20 years ago as a last-ditch vehicle for his emotionally charged and sonically adventurous indie-folk songs. His label, Jagjaguwar, has even called the record an “epilogue,” though the exact meaning of that, by design, is unclear. The fact is that every Bon Iver album since the second one, 2011’s Bon Iver, has been predicated to some degree on Vernon’s ambivalence about the popularity of Bon Iver. After the self-titled record made him even more successful, 22, A Million arrived as an actively hostile “anti-fame” response that, importantly, did not actually diminish Vernon’s celebrity all that much.

It helps that Vernon’s literal words have never mattered all that much to his art. Undoubtedly one of the most influential singer-songwriters of his era, Vernon’s innovation was to de-emphasize the centrality of lyrics in his songs and persona, at least as far as them being interpreted as direct statements about his life and well-being. Instead, he has expressed himself largely through sound — namely, the sonic texture of his music, of course, but also the way his voice can articulate feelings without being attached to discernible words with specific definitions. Which is another way of saying that his lyrics frequently make no bloody sense on the page, and yet nevertheless they communicate intuitive feelings and truths when sung. It’s how a Bon Iver song can instantly telegraph heartache and psychic turmoil to the listener while also being called “666 ʇ.” This approach also explains why Bon Iver has endured as many mid-aughts indie-folk acts have faded, and why he’s such a malleable influence for contemporary writers across so many genres, from Zach Bryan to Lil Yachty to Phoebe Bridgers to Mk.gee.

So, Justin Vernon can imply, once again, that Bon Iver might be finished. But the way he says such things always matters more. And with SABLE, fABLE, the feeling that he is more comfortable in his own skin than he’s been, maybe ever, in the Bon Iver guise is palpable. The songs from the SABLE, EP — yes, the comma is supposed to be there — announced this new “straightforward” Justin Vernon, and they are the most arresting songs here. Particularly the album-opening “Things Behind Things Behind Things,” his most enchanting slice of Bruce Hornsby-esque soft rock since “Beth/Rest.” (On that count, he nearly matches that track with “Home,” a beguiling gospel-Americana number.)

On “Things Behind Things” and elsewhere throughout SABLE, fABLE, Vernon returns to singing in his natural lower register, which automatically gives the songs a more grounded feel. While Vernon took his career to another level when he embraced his spine-tingling falsetto, using his “real” voice, as it were, seems like the most critical evolution of his “mid” career. Way back in 2008, when I interviewed him for the first time, he spoke disdainfully of that voice, saying it made him “sound like Hootie And The Blowfish.” But now, as a man in his 40s, he’s finally leaning into the brawnier aspects of his music.

“I think the last couple of years, I’ve been getting out of the hazy and trying to come more into the concrete,” Vernon recently told The New York Times, using Bob Seger as an example of the newfound directness he’s going for. “I’m not saying nothing bad about the old stuff, but now I’m just much more like, ‘Hey, we don’t got much time left to live — let’s be sexy.’”

My one quibble with that classification of SABLE, fABLE is that the previous Bon Iver record, 2019’s i,i, contains some of his most approachable music. The difference is that i,i felt like a “band” record intended to be performed live in arenas, in a way that the decidedly more intimate and homemade-sounding SABLE, fABLE does not. Working with producer Jim E-Stack, he’s given songs at the core of the record like “From” and “Day One” a lo-fi fuzziness that makes them sound almost like voice demos shared on the sly by a close friend.

Are these farewell messages? SABLE, fABLE closes with an atmospheric mood piece called “Au Revoir,” which sounds like something that you might hear over the closing credits of an art film you didn’t understand but nevertheless feel moved by. Naturally, there are no lyrics. But the message nevertheless comes through loud and clear.

SABLE, fABLE is out 4/11 via Jagjaguwar. Find more information here.