While in Iowa for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race over the weekend, David Letterman dropped by a Hy-Vee supermarket in Grimes. “This is my first time in a Hy-Vee store. We don’t have them where I live and I’ve known of them through the racing team, but what I’ve known of them is the tip of the iceberg,” the former late-night host said, according to the Des Moines Register (he co-owns a race car sponsored by Hy-Vee). “So I walk in here and it’s the world of the future.”
Letterman spent roughly an hour in the store, where he “filmed a series of skits with two store employees, Caden Grimes and Elyse McIlhon. They played with a gumball machine, bagged groceries in the self-checkout area, and organized soup cans.” Letterman also ate (drank?) soup straight from the can, which should become a new tradition in the midwest.
Letterman posted about the experience on his Instagram. “I spent spent a considerable amount of my life in a grocery store in Indianapolis, and it was the last of the singular, independent owned grocery stores and I loved it,” he said in the video. And if I can give something back to the marketing community, I would like to do that – but I don’t have all day, of course.”
You can watch footage from the trip below.
I can’t wait to find out which random celebrity will be spotted pumping gas at an Exxon in West Virginia next!
As K-pop gets more and more popular stateside, more artists in other genres have become more eager to collaborate with K-pop stars to increase their own reach, and it’s paying off. The latest is Latto, who teamed up recently with BTS’ Jungkook (or Jung Kook, as he’s apparently presenting himself to US audiences) to release “Seven” — and in the process, reached her biggest career milestone yet.
The latest week’s Billboard charts have arrived and guess who’s landed at the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100. That’s right: Jungkook, Latto, and their collaboration “Seven,” which has become both artists’ first-ever No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart. That accomplishment has them overtaking Jason Aldean’s Jim Crow anthem “Try That In A Small Town” (I guess the power of diversity and globalism is still stronger than thinly veiled dog whistle racism).
“Seven” is, of course, thought to be the first single from Jungkook’s speculated solo debut; its success indicates that the appetite for said project is just as high as fans could expect from a solo member of BTS, one of the most popular boy bands in the world. It’s also just one of many crossovers between hip-hop and K-pop recently, including J-Hope’s J. Cole collab “On The Street,” FIFTY FIFTY’s Kaliii crossover “Barbie Dreams,” and Blackpink’s “Bet You Wanna” with Cardi B.
Christopher Landis, a choir director at Hingham Middle School in Massachusetts, didn’t tell his students he was engaged to Joe Michienzie three years ago. According to Inside Edition, whenever they asked who Michienzie was, Christopher would say, “That’s Joe. He’s my friend.”
Landis kept his relationship a secret in front of his students because he wasn’t sure how their parents would react. Sadly, even today, LGBTQ people still have to be discreet about their personal lives in some professions.
This is sad for the teachers who have to stay closeted and also for the LGBTQ students who miss out on having a positive role model.
However, somehow the secret got out and two mothers of Landis’ students, Margit Foley and Joy Foraste, approached Michienzie to see how they could get the students involved in their wedding.
“At the end of the summer, Margit and I heard he was getting married. He’s the best teacher, and he’s got this great energy, and he makes every school function fun. We thought, wouldn’t it be awesome to do something for his wedding?” Foraste said according to The New York Times.
The women emailed the other choir parents to see if their children could perform at their teacher’s wedding rehearsal dinner.
“We hoped we’d get at least 15 kids to do it,” Foraste said. But 50 of the 70 kids in the chorus said they’d be there to support their teacher’s wedding. They secretly rehearsed for four Sundays in a row at a local library so Landis wouldn’t catch a whiff of the plan they hatched.
The kids and their parents kept the secret for four months before the big day and had to get off school and travel 30 miles to the event. Landis had no idea what was about to happen but he felt something was up when people at the dinner started picking up their phones.
Out of nowhere, 50 kids filed into the room, songbooks in hand. After Dona Maher, a colleague of Landis’, banged out the first few notes of the French National Anthem on her keyboard, the kids began to sing the word, “Love.” It was the perfect song for the occasion, “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles.
Video taken by the bartender at the event shows Landis unable to hold back the tears as his kids sang their hearts out. It was a beautiful moment of acceptance for a teacher who wasn’t sure if his kids and their parents would understand his love for his husband-to-be.
After the performance, Landis turned to the crowd with a huge smile and said, “These are my kids.”
“It was so wonderful for the kids to see him with his family and his close friends, and they saw him as a person, not just their teacher,” Foraste told The Patriot Ledger. “They saw how much it meant to him. He immediately started crying and the kids started crying. It’s something they’ll never forget.”
A quick-thinking 10-year-old boy escaped a woman trying to lure him by pretending that a local store clerk was his mother. ABC 6 reports that Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on Friday, November 11, when a strange woman started following him.
The woman “started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was,” Sam Green, the boy’s father, told ABC6. The boy didn’t know the woman but she insisted that she knew his family.
She tried to lure him into going with her by promising she’d buy him “anything he wanted” at Wawa, a local convenience store that sells shakes, sandwiches and other treats.
“She was like, ‘I’m going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where’s your family at?'” Sammy told CBS.
“She said she probably knew me and was going to Wawa and that he was supposed to go with her and he could get anything he wanted,” Sam Green said.
In an attempt to flee the suspicious woman, Sammy walked into Dani Bee Funky, an unconventional gift shop, where he went straight to 17-year-old Hannah who was working the register. “He was like, ‘Pretend like you’re my mom,'” Hannah told CBS, “and I was just like, ‘all right go to the back.’ He didn’t want to leave my side.”
Security footage shows that Hannah then calmly walked up to the store’s front door and locked it, preventing the woman from coming inside. After she was locked out, the woman walked away. “I was still shaking when I was in here,” Sammy said.
The security camera footage is hard for Sammy’s dad to watch. “When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it,” said Green.
u201cthat are so scary i glad he was able to get help nnA 10-year-old boy in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, escaped a woman who was following him.nnThe boy asked a cashier to pretend to be his mother nhttps://t.co/2WYLX9nQvNu201d
The shop’s owner has nothing but praise for Hannah’s calm way of handling the dangerous situation. “I am very proud of her. Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly,” Small said.
This story is a great reminder for parents to talk to their kids about what to do if they are approached by a suspicious person. The first thing they should know is that it’s OK to say “No!” as loudly as possible to a suspicious person. They should then scream, “Help! This is not my mom or my dad!” to alert the adults around them and then run. If they are grabbed by the person they should bite, punch and kick as hard as they can until they can get free.
Sammy’s dad is proud that his son remembered what he told him to do when confronted by a suspicious stranger. “Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it,” he reminded parents. “Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills.”
For the time being, Sammy is going to have a family friend walk him to and from school. The Pottstown Police have spoken with the woman and she is now getting help for mental health issues.
All people have a need to communicate, but the way we do that varies greatly from place to place. Every culture has its own communication peculiarities that make our human family delightfully diverse.
Not only do humans speak thousands of languages around the world, but we also engage in culturally specific speaking styles, speech patterns and body language, some of which are immediately identifiable.
Case in point: the Italian “finger purse.”
Italian people are known for using their hands a lot when speaking. Italian hand gestures can vary a bit between northern and southern Italy, but one of the most universally recognizable is the pinched fingers or “finger purse.” That’s the gesture in which the tips of the fingers and the thumb are pressed together (forming a purse shape) and pointed upward, often in a repeated back-and-forth or up-and-down motion, sometimes with one hand and sometimes with both. Along with the rhythm of punctuated emphasis on certain words, especially when speaking passionately, the finger purse is often used to convey a question with a sense of annoyance, exasperation or confusion.
It’s a gesticulation most of us associate with a classic Italian grandma or grandpa, but when you see it coming from a tiny little Italian person, it’s utterly hilarious. A viral video, originally shared by @guiseppe_matilde on TikTok, shows a preschooler engaging in a passionate rant that is unmistakably Italian, both in the actual language she’s speaking and in her hand gestures.
u201ci absolutely need to have an italian baby who gesticulates with the passion of a 64 year old sicilian manu201d
According to Italian speakers in the comments, the little girl is conveying a story about how someone commented negatively about her wearing a miniskirt. u/shykawaii_shark on Reddit shared:
“Rough translation for English speakers. Not a literal translation, I made it easier to comprehend
Mother: What kind of sense does that make!
Daughter: They told me ‘What sense does going out with a miniskirt make?’ Like, think for yourself! I can wear my miniskirt, and you mind your own business!
Mother: Exactly!
Daughter: Think about your own miniskirt, not mine!”
Got a feisty little feminist here.
The full video on TikTok is even better (but it doesn’t have the Italian subtitles):
Secondo voi ha ragione matilde ? #foryoupage @Giò Canaletti seguitela tutti su istragram matilde_vaccar
As adorable as this video is, it’s also an example of how culture gets passed on from generation to generation. An Australian study found that young humans across different cultures imitate adults in ways that animals don’t. Animals will imitate adult behavior to the extent that it’s efficient and necessary to perform a task, whereas humans will mimic even silly or frivolous behaviors that have no purpose whatsoever.
“Animals focus on getting the job done,” Mark Nielsen, a psychologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, told Science. “Humans seem to almost forget about the outcome and copy everything we see.”
That mimicry of unnecessary actions may contribute to the complexity of human cultures. After all, it’s not really necessary to do the finger purse to make a point, but Italians do it anyway. Little Italians pick it up from adult Italians, and so the classic Italian communication style is passed on.
And thank goodness it is, because babies gesturing in Italian is absolutely adorable.
What started out as a lighthearted class presentation quickly turned into a fabulous humanities lesson for all.
A teacher under the pseudonym Larry Lexicon has 1.8 million followers on TikTok, where they tune in to catch the funny-yet-inspirational interactions Lexicon has with his students.
Recently, Lexicon had his class rolling with his meticulously crafted PowerPoint explaining what certain Gen Z words mean.
“All year long I’ve been listening to you and making a list, which I’ve compiled here for you — the Gen Z Term Dictionary,” he told the class, saying that they should speak up if anything was inaccurate.
Here’s what he came up with.
He took “bruh,” (aka the “staple of their generation”) to simply be the alternative for “bro,” except that “bruh!” can also be used as an exclamation. That was correct.
Although the word “Rizz,” was fairly new to him, he also correctly guessed that this was short for “charisma,” and thus refers to someone who has the ability to charm.
“You can use it in all kinds of ways. Like I’m the Rizzard of Oz!” he joked.
“Bussin” he took to mean that something was good, particularly food. Also correct. He even knew that “bussin’ bussin’” meant that something was really good. Clearly, Lexicon had done his homework.
However, a few people pointed out in the comments that many terms have roots in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). So in his third TikTok, Lexicon chose to make some revisions, and explained to the class why those revisions were important.
“I know you think you came up with a lot of these words, but you didn’t, and they’ve been around for a long time,” Lexicon said, noting how parts of AAVE language are at first “looked down upon by society as uneducated or thuggish” yet nonetheless sneak into daily vocabulary through pop culture.
“What happens is it makes its way into like, white suburbia, and you get a middle-aged dorky white dude mislabeling it just for a whole generation as a term dictionary,” he said. “And it ends up erasing the importance of it.”
Lexicon then admitted that it was a mistake made by his own ignorance, which was okay, because he was able to take feedback, learn and act on it to grow.
“Being ignorant’s OK, but being willfully ignorant and not doing anything about it — not so OK.”
Viewers who have been following Lexicon’s series applauded him for taking the time to make even a silly little powerpoint into an important conversation for everyone involved.
“I love how you’re learning it and then teaching it! This is education!” one person wrote.
“The fact that you came back and showed HOW TO LEARN and that it’s OK NOT TO KNOW but not ok to be willfully ignorant,” added another.
“This is a hell of an example for your students,” read the top comment.
In case you’re curious, here are all the words gathered so far for the newly re-titled “AAVE-inspired Gen Z term dictionary.”
“Delulu”— delusional.
“Eepy”— really sleepy.
“Be so for real”— “Are you serious?”
“Witerawy”— “Literally,” but with emphasis.
“Baddie” — “A pretty girl, typically very curvy and independent.” But can also be a guy.
“Gyatt” — A substitute for “gosh darn!” typically used in response to seeing a baddie.
“Getting sturdy” — A dance usually used when winning, kind of like a touchdown dance.
“Bet” — Another way of saying “OK” or “alright.” Likely a shortened version of “you bet.”
“Slaps” — a verb for when a song is really good. Or food. Maybe? Debate’s still out on that one
“Cap” — A lie.
“No cap” — The truth.
“On god”— undeniable truth.
Lexicon plans to add new words each week throughout the remaining weeks of school. If you’d like to follow along, he can be found on TikTok.
Rootin’ tootin’ Lauren Boebert frequently behaves like the MAGA defender of the Second Amendment. She recently held up a t-shirt that labeled guns as hole punchers of humans, and her firearm-happy ways are so infamous that SNL parodied her, and of course, Boebert acted triggered in response. So while it was sad to recently see Boebert nonchalantly trash a pin that meant to commemorate an Uvalde shooting victim, it wasn’t exactly a shocker, given that she frequently tweets about her opposition to gun control.
As originally shown in a video posted by Sarah Fishkind, Boebert swiftly disposed of a pin that depicted the Converse sneakers of 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez. Recently, Boebert posted a sort-of apology video via Patriot Takes, and as seen below, Boebert claimed that she had no idea what the man handed her, only that she recognized him for behaving “aggressively” during a previous “press conference.” She continued:
“If anyone thinks that I was disrespecting a child who tragically lost their lives at the hands of an evil, evil person, I want to apologize for the appearance of that. But that’s not at all what it was. I simply didn’t want to receive anything from this aggressive man who was harassing me and my office.”
Lauren Boebert apologized for “the appearance” of “disrespecting a child” killed in the Uvalde school shooting after a video of her throwing away her memorial pin went viral.
Boebert partially blamed throwing the pin away on wearing AirPods and claimed the man was “aggressive.” pic.twitter.com/otyk9XPaxa
Brett Cross, the uncle of Uzi Garcia (and who was raising the child in his home), isn’t buying that this video is any form of an apology. In the below response video, he declares that Boebert “don’t give a rat’s ass” and accused her of lying with her explanation. Cross maintains that the “aggressive man” was a very different person than the man who handed Boebert a pin. And he wasn’t done.
“Nah, see you’re apologizing because you got caught, and it’s on camera” Cross argued. “That’s why, not for the ‘appearance’ of anything. You got caught, and instead of just being adult enough to be like, ‘You know what? I really don’t care,’ because we know you don’t, you’re gonna try this bullsh*t.” Here, you can watch the video, which ends with Cross exclaiming, “F*ck her.”
Tequila is the ideal summer spirit. It’s bright, flavorful, ideal for shooting with some friends during a backyard bbq, perfect for mixing into bright cocktails (juicy strawberry margarita, anyone?), and is super sippable (if you spring for the good stuff). No matter what kind of drinker you are you can get a lot of mileage out of tequila, so why settle for your tried and true brands?
To help guide you to the best under-the-radar (or semi-under-the-radar) bottles for the rest of summer, we’re shouting out a range of expressions for shooting, mixing, and sipping. Every expression of tequila — your blancos, reposados, añejos, extra añejos, and even cristalinos — will get some shine here. The only parameter is that these are all bottles that we’ve sampled and loved this year and still have in rotation in our bar carts.
Astral is produced at NOM 1607, Grupo Solave, home to Kendall Jenner’s 818 and similar to that brand, Astral shares easy drinkability that makes for a smooth and bright tequila.
Astral’s Blue Weber agave is tahona extracted, utilizes agave fibers during fermentation and is copper pot still distilled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Nail polish remover at the onset with thyme and green pepper qualities.
Palate: Luckily that strong chemical smell doesn’t migrate to the palate, which is dominated by flavors of roasted agave, spearmint, and bright orange zest.
Finish: Smooth and sweet with prominent vanilla flavors.
The Bottom Line:
Smooth and inviting, Astral’s tequila Blanco is an ideal shooting and mixing tequila. For the price, it’s bright and spiky while still offering an ease of drinkability.
Produced at NOM 1438, Destiladora del Valle de Tequila, home to a jaw-dropping 176 brands, Nosotros cooks its mix of lowland and highland agave in stone brick ovens extracting the juices via a roller mill. The result is very zesty and bright.
The brand has taken home a Double Gold at San Francisco World Spirits and serves as one of the best tequilas in this price range. The brand also makes Tesla Tequila (which is just aged Nosotros Blanco) so if you’ve ever been curious about what that tastes like… start here!
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Bright green and grassy, this tequila has a very natural and vegetal smell.
Palate: The flavor begins with a refreshing cool mint infusion before moving into the celery and asparagus realm.
Finish: Floral jasmin with prominent zesty citrus qualities.
The Bottom Line:
The ideal party tequila. La Historia de Nosotros Tequila is perfect for shooting in celebration or mixing into a big vat to keep the party rolling.
Calling your tequila brand “Casa Azul” when there is a super popular “Clase Azul” brand that sells very iconic bottles is… setting yourself up for a challenge. But don’t hold that strikingly similar (and impossible to Google) name against the brand, Casa Azul delivers!
Produced at NOM 1480, Tequila Las Americas, Casa Azul utilizes organic single estate agave that is cooked in stone brick ovens, roller mill extracted, and distilled in copper coil stainless still pot before being aged in American oak bourbon casks for 12-13 months which helps give it a mellow whiskey like quality.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Brown sugar molasses and roasted agave with hints of warm oak.
Palate: Cracked black pepper dominates the palate with hints of minerality with some nutty roasted notes peaking in an out.
Finish: Toasted oak and roasted agave dominate the finish with a sort of wet leather taste that lingers.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a sweet slow sipper. I love it on a summer night with a cool breeze on the balcony. If you don’t have a balcony, hit the roof (or just go outside) — there’s something about watching the sky while sipping this one that enhances the experience.
La Caza claims its highland agave is cooked and fermented for over 90 hours to “the sounds of Mozart’s classical music.” Does that have any effect on the flavor? No, but we’re happy the workers at NOM 1414, Feliciano Vivanco y Asociados, have something nice to listen to.
The classic music-infused agave is cooked in stone brick ovens, roller mill extracted, and aged in American white oak barrels for four months. We’d love to see Mozart take a shot of this stuff.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A mix of maple, hazelnut, and floral jasmine greets your senses, activating the salivary glands before you even take your first taste.
Palate: Fruit and caramel dance on the tongue with a steadily growing spice that increases in intensity the more you drink it.
Finish: Sweet, smooth and a bit oily.
The Bottom Line:
A well-balanced and full-bodied versatile reposado that you can shoot, mix, and even sip, preferably to the sounds of Mozart.
I try not to judge any bottle of tequila before I drink it, but I couldn’t help myself with Hijole! The Tequila is the official partner of the Mets, the Denver Broncos, the San Antonio Spurs, the Henderson Silver Knights, and the New Jersey Devils — meaning that this is stadium sports tequila. My expectations were low, as I’d never had a great cocktail at a sporting event, but I was wrong!
Produed at NOM 1614, Tequilera Tap, Hijole! Scored Double Gold at this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition and uses agave harvest at six years maturity and cooked for 24 hours, roller mill extracted and fermented in stainless steel tanks.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Warm roasted agave and smooth vanilla worth savoring. You can taste hints of honey before it actually hits your palate.
Palate: Caramel and coconut, this tequila has a warm slightly tropical vibe that matches the summer season.
Finish: Coconut and vanilla with some toasted almond and a hint of tobacco leaf.
The Bottom Line:
I don’t generally sip blanco tequilas, but some Hijole! Over a big cube of ice on a hot day is a nice way to experience this bright and vegetal tequila. Aside from that, it’s ideal for shooting and mixing, but we lean toward the latter for this particular bottle.
El Tequileño is a fantastic brand with a variety of expressions that come out of Nom 1108, Jorge Salles Cuervo y Sucesores, where it is the only brand in production. Given its popularity and quality, I was extremely curious to see how the beloved brand would tackle a polarizing expression like Cristalino, and I’m happy to say the brand knocks it out of the park.
This additive-free tequila is rested for four months in American Oak barrels before being filtered to a cristalino state, offering a balance of mellow notes and bright agave flavors.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich vanilla begins your journey before notes of brown sugar take over, like fresh cookies baking in the oven.
Palate: Charred wood greets the palate before those vanilla notes peak out and morph into a delicate oak flavor mixed with coconut flesh.
Finish: Surprisingly not smoothed out to oblivion. A common criticism of Cristalino is that the filter negates the aging process, but what we have here is something that is mellow yet still bright and zesty. It’s got layered flavors and never get boring.
The Bottom Line:
If you have friends who still haven’t given in to the Cristalino trend — or if that’s you — give Tequileño’s Cristalino a try, the depth of flavor is striking and may make a believer out of you.
In many ways Cierto feels like the tequila brand of the year — this label has been incredibly hyped lately winning a total of 97 awards including Tequila of the Year 2019 at Intl. Spirits Competition NYC, Best Reposado at Craft Distillers Spirits Competition in 2022, and Double Gold at both the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the SIP awards this year.
I’m sorry to say that this premium tequila lives up to the hype, sorry because the price tag is steep, and — given its accolades — it’ll likely stay that way. The tequila is produced at NOM 1146, Tequileña. The repo is aged for 11 months in French Limousin Oak barrels.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Warm roasted agave notes dominate the nose but there is the slightest hint of chili pepper lingering. It’s inviting and sweet.
Palate: Bright mango notes mixed with chili powder with a balance of vegetal qualities and the more mellow notes of oak.
Finish: Chocolate and oak, this tequila finishes with that barrel-aged flavor but doesn’t come across as too woody, there is a lot of sweetness here that owns the finish.
The Bottom Line:
It’ll be an expensive, premium cocktail, but the shifting flavors of this outstanding reposado tequila make it one of the best-tasting bases to build a cocktail atop. If you can’t stomach diluting a $100+ reposado, we feel that, but at least treat yourself to one cocktail with this bottle.
I really like LALO for its obsessive commitment to a single expression, I’d love to see more tequila brands laser-focused on a specific style of tequila rather than trying to cover all the bases.
LALO cooks its Blue Weber agave in stone steam ovens for 20-32 hours, letting it rest for an additional 18 hours, and ferments the product in a proprietary champagne yeast. The flavor is bright, direct, and pure.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Lots of zesty citrus, it almost tickles the nose in a sneeze-inducing way.
Palate: Bright and buttery with some light caramel undertones and a grassy green quality.
Finish: Supremely vegetal and pure, this is a spiky and bright tequila but smooth and pleasant enough that you don’t need a chaser or any lime.
The Bottom Line:
LALO is great for all occasions, shoot it, mix it or sip it, it doesn’t disappoint no matter how you drink it, but we suggest savoring the nectar here — this is one of the best blanco tequilas out right now for the price.
We couldn’t close out this list without talking about, in our opinion, Cierto’s crown jewel expression, the additive-free Extra Añejo. Aged for 48 months in French Limousin Oak, this is the sort of tequila you reserve for special occasions and deserves to be savored with the slowest sip imaginable.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A very pleasant bouquet of maple, honey, vanilla, and nutmeg tantalizes the senses. It comes across like dessert in a glass.
Palate: Strong warm roasted agave notes with some savory butter notes with some cinnamon.
Finish: A pleasant burning oak finish that slowly morphs into chocolate as whatever is left stains your tongue.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a slow sipper, drink it completely neat and savor the combination of sensations you get from the nose, palate, and finish.
I’ve been singing the praises of Mijenta for a while now and if you have given this brand a try yet, start with the Añejo if you’d like to be blown away by a premium sipping tequila.
Produced at NOM 1412, Destiladora de Los Altos, Magenta’s agave is cooked in low-pressure autoclaves before being roller mill extracted and fermented in stainless steel tanks, double distilled in a stainless still pot and aged for a minimum of 18 months in French Oak, American White Oak, and Cherry barrels and Acacia casks.
The tequila is certified additive free.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There is a lot going on with the smell alone, I’m getting prominent chocolate notes over shifting caramel, roasted agave, cinnamon, and anise qualities.
Palate: The flavor begins in juicy sweet cherry territory before morphing into slightly bitter roasted black tea and caramel and a gentle dusting of nutmeg.
Finish: A mix of oak and coffee with a warm melted chocolate flavor that rests on the tongue and grows in intensity between sips.
The Bottom Line:
An ideal sipping tequila that is deliciously aged offering a deeply complex flavor that is a true joy to savor.
Last month, it was reported that Spotify would be raising its prices soon. It turns out the reports were true, as today (July 24), Spotify announced that prices will indeed be going up.
“Since launching in 2008, Spotify has innovated and invested to build the best audio experience for you and your favorite artists and creators. We have continually revealed new opportunities for fans and creators to connect through the power of our platform, from discovery tools like our new AI DJ, to fan-favorite shared experiences like Blend and the introduction of podcasts and audiobook content.
With 200+ million Premium subscribers, we’re also proud to be the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, giving Premium users access to on-demand and ad-free music listening, offline music downloads, and quality music streaming. The market landscape has continued to evolve since we launched. So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets around the world. These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform.”
It then outlines the new prices for its various plans in the US: $10.99 for Premium Individual, $14.99 for Premium Duo, $16.99 for Premium Family, and $5.99 for Premium Student. The post also links to an FAQ page with more information, which notes in regards to when the new pricing will go into effect, “Existing Spotify Premium plan subscribers will be notified via email and given a one-month grace period before the new price becomes effective, unless they cancel before the grace period ends.”
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the new prices for all plans are now $1 greater than before, except for Premium Duo, which jumped by $2. The increased prices put Spotify on par with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music, all of which are also currently $10.99 per month.
Remember the whole kerfuffle over entertainment industry nepo babies a few months ago? It feels like you could write a whole article about them for the children of rappers. However, unlike in Hollywood, where name recognition can keep earning you roles you might otherwise miss out on, in rap, fans actively hold your parentage against you (plus, either fans like and stream the music or they don’t).
That makes Coi Leray‘s breakout all the more impressive, even if her dad, former Source magazine owner Benzino, didn’t help her out much along the way. In fact, he’s never even been to one of her shows, according to a backstage interview the father-daughter pair gave at Rolling Loud in Miami over the weekend. After Coi called her dad over and revealed it was his first time ever seeing her perform, he gave his assessment.
“You can say I’m biased,” he admitted, “But honestly, I don’t see nobody else doing that. She’s amazing.”
This is a far cry from some of the comments they’ve previously made. Coi has admitted to downplaying their relationship in the pursuit of her own rap career, even going as far as tweeting, “I NEVER WANTED ANYBODY TO KNOW!!! I’M EMBARRASSED TO BE YOUR DAUGHTER.” Meanwhile, Benzino himself had critiqued her career and even nearly accidentally sabotaged her by revealing her collaboration with Nicki Minaj before it was ready, prompting Nicki to consider pulling the plug.
It’s nice to see the pair in a better place.
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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
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