Music

04 Sep 2024

Rosalía Confirms She’s Working on a New Album: ‘It’s Been a Process’

It’s official: Rosalía is cooking up a new album! In an interview with Highsnobiety published on Tuesday (Sept. 3), the Spanish superstar confirmed that her fourth studio LP is underway.

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“It’s been a process. I’ve changed a lot, but at the same time, I’m still wrapping my head around the same things,” she told the German fashion and lifestyle magazine. “It’s like I still have the same questions and the same desire to answer them. I still have the same love for the past and the same curiosity for the future.”

The “La Fama” singer also discussed her new contract with Dior, her relationship with Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, how being in love feels like both “a disorder and a superpower” and more. She also mentioned that her biggest influences today are reading paper books.

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The 31-year-old artist has been hinting at a new album through a series of social media posts. She did so more directly when her merengue hit “Despechá” surpassed one billion streams on Spotify on June 9, and became the first solo Spanish artist to reach the milestone on that platform. “Hopefully life will allow me to share many more songs. For now I’m still working on the new album and I can only say that the wait will be worth it,” she wrote on the Instagram caption at the time.

The upcoming album will be her follow-up to 2022’s Motomami and 2018’s El Mal Querer, both of which earned her a Latin Grammy win for album of the year, becoming the first woman to win twice in that category.

Check out her Highsnobriety cover below.

Rosalía

Rosalía

Yis Kid/Highsnobiety

04 Sep 2024

Megan Thee Stallion Addresses Nicki Minaj Feud: ‘Don’t Know What the Problem Is’

Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj set the tone for a beef-filled year, with the reignition of their feud sparked by the Houston Hottie’s “Hiss” diss track back in January, in which she appeared to spray at Nicki, Drake, Tory Lanez and Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty.

The scathing “Hiss” would go on to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — her third chart-topping smash — and Minaj returned fire, punching back at her “Hot Girl Summer” collaborator with “Big Foot” days later.

Megan graces the cover of Billboard, and in her feature published Wednesday (Sept. 4), she addresses clashing with Nicki, and shares still doesn’t know what the root cause of the friction is.

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“I still to this day don’t know what the problem is,” she tells Billboard‘s Carl Lamarre. “I don’t even know what could be reconciled because I, to this day, don’t know what the problem is.”

Nicki and Meg joined forces when Minaj hopped on “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019, but things appeared to have gone awry since. Some theorize it’s because Thee Stallion has repeatedly teamed up with Nicki’s rival Cardi B.

Barbz chimed in on social media, speculating that the cause may be a time fans recalled Minaj on IG Live in 2019 with Megan, who allegedly continued to offer the “Super Bass” artist liquor while knowing she was trying to get pregnant.

With the Nicki relationship remaining icy, Megan is brushing things off and turning her focus to her plethora of lucrative endeavors going on in her busy career. If people are talking about her, Thee Stallion feels like she must be doing something right.

“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing,” Megan added. “If people feel like I’m somebody to aim at, then I must be pretty high up if you’re reaching up at me. I must be some kind of competition. That makes me feel good. That makes me feel like I could rap because if I wasn’t the s–t, y’all wouldn’t be worried about me.”

“Hiss” served as the second single for the Houston Hottie and carried her into her Megan album, which arrived in June and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 album-equivalent units sold in the first week.

04 Sep 2024

Jelly Roll Shows Off His ‘Redemption Chain’ Featuring Diamond-Encrusted Jail Key & Handcuffs

Anyone who has heard a Jelly Roll song is familiar with the themes of struggles and redemption that flow through the lyrics of tracks such as “Halfway to Hell” and “Son of a Sinner,” and his fans are well aware of the former Billboard cover star‘s own redemption story of going from an incarcerated teen to Grammy-nominated, CMA Award-winning country star.

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So recently, Jelly Roll had some special jewelry made that symbolizes his journey. Having spent an ample amount of time in the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Tennessee, Jelly Roll was gifted a symbolic key to the jail by the Davidson County Sheriff. He commemorated the meaning behind the key by getting a replica attached to a handcuffs chain necklace and encrusted with 150 carats of diamonds. Each of the cuffs has a small plaque noting each time Jelly Roll had been behind bars.

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“The Nashville, Tenn., Davidson County sheriff gave me a key to the jail for all the work I do since I got out of there,” Jelly Roll said in the video shared by jewelry company Icebox, who designed the iced-out chain. “So I ended up with a key to the same jail that I was in.”

The company delivered the new bling to Jelly Roll ahead of the opening night of his headlining Beautifully Broken Tour, which launched Aug. 27 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“This is the redemption chain, baby, that’s what we’re calling this,” Jelly Roll said in the video. “A set of handcuffs for every time I’ve been in handcuffs.”

Watch the video below:

04 Sep 2024

Halsey Reveals ‘The Great Impersonator’ Release Date After Fans Uncover Main Album Cover

Halsey has dropped the curtain on new album The Great Impersonator‘s release date and main album cover after sending fans on a scavenger hunt across the world.

The 29-year-old singer shared the details on X Wednesday (Sept. 4), revealing that the project — which marks her fifth studio LP — is set to arrive Oct. 25. “I made this record in the space between life and death,” Halsey wrote. “And it feels like I’ve waited an eternity for you to have it. I’ll wait a bit longer. I’ve waited a decade, already.”

The three-time Grammy nominee also shared the album’s main cover art, which features a black-and-white close-up of them with rosy cheeks and a star-shaped sticker boasting its title on their forehead. “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen,” the sticker’s fine print reads. “Behold the marvel of a century. Witness the uncanny ability of a woman who can become anyone, anything your heart desires.”

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Halsey’s post comes in response to fans tracking down the mystery location of one of five time capsules hidden in cities all over the world based on clues posted by the “Closer” singer, the first of which they found at an International Magic store in London. Planted somewhere in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles and Sydney, the next four capsules will be themed around different decades and reveal variants of The Great Impersonator‘s cover.

“You must work together, as the next city’s clues will not be revealed until the previous city is found,” the About-Face Beauty founder cautioned when first announcing the scavenger hunt Tuesday (Sept. 3). “Don’t blink … or you’ll miss it.”

The Great Impersonator will mark Halsey’s first album since 2021’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. So far, they’ve released a few singles ahead of the new record: “The End,” “Lucky” and “Lonely Is the Muse.” On Friday (Sept. 6), a fourth single — titled “Ego” — is set to arrive.

See Halsey’s tweet and photos from the first mystery location below.

04 Sep 2024

Green Day Giving Away Custom ‘Holiday’ Video Convertible In Wheels For Wishes Sweepstakes

Green Day are about to make a wish — or hundreds of wishes — come true thanks to their latest collaboration with Wheels For Wishes. The charitable organization that raises money to help children via the donation of used vehicles has teamed up with Green day on their sold-out Saviors stadium tour by announcing a sweepstakes for the chance to win the 1968 Mercury Monterey convertible featured in the veteran band’s “Holiday” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” videos.

“Thanks to Green Day and their immense generosity, Wheels For Wishes will be able to grant hundreds of new wishes through Make-A-Wish chapters across the country,” said Randy Heiligman, co-founder/CEO of National Fundraising Management. “We want to thank Green Day and Propeller for helping us spread awareness of this sweepstakes and for giving up their iconic 1968 Mercury Monterey Convertible in the name of helping the ‘wish’ kids of Make-A-Wish.”

Wheels For Wishes is partnering with social impact group Propeller on the sweepstakes, which is the second time the band has worked with Wheels For Wishes after donating their restored Bookmobile tour bus in 2017. According to a release, as of July 2024, Wheels For Wishes has donated more than $114 million to Make-A-Wish kids, accounting for 13,672 wishes granted. The Propeller site notes that the car features custom upholstery, shift knobs and detailed interior, as well as the iconic heart-grenade hood ornament and custom BRKN DRM vanity plates.

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Interested bidders can visit the Propeller site for details, or to submit their entries; entries are 10 for $1, with the deadline for entries running out just before midnight on Nov. 6 for the Nov. 7 sweepstakes drawing. Entrants must be 18-year-old and show proof of insurance and a valid driver’s license. No purchase is necessary to win the vehicle with the approximate retail value of $45,000, and a purchase or donation will not improve odds of winning.

Check out the convertible in the “Holiday” video below.

04 Sep 2024

Inside Rex Orange County’s Most Ambitious Album Yet, and Why It Feels Like ‘Some Sort of End’

“My first few albums were all leading up to this in my mind,” says the English artist known as Rex Orange County, speaking of his intimate yet musically fierce forthcoming album. “This is exactly what I’ve always wanted to make.”

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Aptly titled The Alexander Technique, out Sept. 6 on RCA, the album does indeed feel like a defining work. Rex (born Alexander O’Connor) started the project back in 2020, around the same time he was crafting his third album, Who Cares?, on which he worked almost exclusively with Dutch musician and songwriter Benny Sings.

For Alexander, the 26-year-old artist took an entirely different approach. Enlisting his “two best friends,” Jim Reed and Teo Halm, Rex welcomed more collaborators than ever before – particularly musicians, including bass player Pino Palladino, keys players Cory Henry, Finn Carter and Reuben James and pedal steel guitarist Henry Webb-Jenkins. “Particularly those first couple albums I was very like, ‘Please don’t touch this, I know how it should be,’” says Rex. “This was the first time that I had different people’s ideas flying around – and way more songs.”

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Eventually, he realized that Who Cares not only had to be released first, but that The Alexander Technique deserved much more time, saying it “was more ambitious as a whole.” As a result, the artist has emerged with his longest album yet, boasting a tracklist of 16 songs compared to his usual 10. “I never did that before,” he says of the “intense” experience – describing what sounds like a thorough emotional purge. “That’s why it’s the technique.”

“I had this weird thing for the first three years of my career where every song that came out was every song I’d ever written,” he continues. “I had no reason to create one that wasn’t gonna [make it]. I thought it would just confuse me. Which, I’ll admit, it does. But [this album] has evolved so much over such a long time. The deeper you dig, the more you find.”

Since the release of his critically acclaimed debut album, Apricot Princess, in 2017 – which established Rex Orange County as a brutally honest songwriter and well-versed musician – his formulaic approach to album building has worked just fine. His 2019 project Pony debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and placed him at the forefront of a generation that blended indie alternative-pop with raw writing. 

And while Who Cares? (which debuted at No. 5 on the tally) took bigger pop swings to support its more positive lyricism, Rex assures that The Alexander Technique is where his more emotional writing from that period of time ended up. (In the fall of 2022, the artist pleaded not guilty to six charges of sexual assault; by that December, all charges were dropped.) “It felt like this album was maybe more of a diary entry – what I was getting into and the level of emotional depth,” he says. 

Elsewhere, there’s a personal favorite, “Guitar Song,” which was the first track he made with Reed and Halm. (“The way it sounds is pretty much the way it sounded on the day we made it in 2021 – it’s free and the ending is mental,” he says). He calls “Look Me In the Eyes,” on which he collaborated with James Blake, “the most heartbreaking song I’ve ever heard.” And on standout “Therapy,” he speaks of entering the industry at 17 and therapy at 22 – “and no, I don’t regret a thing,” he sings. “I came up, I fell down, and then I found peace.”

Despite the lengthy runtime, clocking in at just over 50 minutes, Alexander is a masterclass in being succinct, with its opening song “Alexander” – the first song Rex wrote for this album – as the most perfect example. On the near-five-minute song, Rex speak-sings over the piano, as if filling time in between songs at an intimate, dim-lit jazz bar. (Stevie Wonder is a favorite of his.) 

“It was written quite quickly, and that doesn’t always happen for me,” he says of the song, in which he recounts the true story of a frustrating visit to the doctor’s office in 2019. While there, he complained of ongoing back pain, only to be told it was more likely stress and anger and an unsettled mind that was causing him to hurt. “In a weird way, I feel like maybe he was right/I may be using my back pain to distract from the pain of life/Feel it all externally when really it’s just inside,” sings Rex.

“I don’t want a whole album of five-minute stories of me talking over piano, but I do want every song to feel this concise and thoughtful,” he says. “So I was setting myself up for quite a task.”

Ultimately, “Alexander” helped set the tone of the entire album, down to its double entendre of a title. While there is an Alexander Technique – known to help with inner balance, both mentally and physically as a focus of the practice is posture – Rex says that writing this album was what ultimately made him stronger in the end. “As much as I really do still have terrible posture, it was more so being honest – that’s my actual Alexander Technique,” he says. “Me being myself rather than Rex Orange County.”

He plans to translate that shift to his upcoming tour, calling it (much like the album) his most ambitious show to date. He’s been rehearsing since June, sharing that “2008” – a thumping upbeat song with glitchy falsetto harmonies – has been especially fun to play live, while “New Years” has come the most naturally. He also teases plans to switch it up at each show – and while that could mean anything from a different set list to a surprise song à la Taylor Swift, he keeps most details private for now.

The trek will hit select theaters in cities including Chicago, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and London for mini residencies – likely a one-off for this album, he says – allowing for a more involved set that will be “highly linked to one of the visual locations” seen in his music videos. “The stage is linked with where I’ve been wanting to transport you as a listener,” he says. “[To a] more relaxing state,” 

Considering how much of an artistic statement The Alexander Technique is, Rex admits it does “weirdly” feel like some sort of end. “You have a different perspective,” he says of being in his mid-20s and having worked in the industry for a near-decade. “It’s not the end of the era, but I definitely feel a different level of awareness and maturity, maybe,” he says. “I still love music and I want to keep making music – and I want to keep changing it up. That’s the most important thing to me.”

Seemingly tied for first place, however, is his newfound penchant for prioritizing himself. As he sings, succinctly as ever, on “Therapy”: “I recharged – and returned.”

04 Sep 2024

R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week: Doechii, Tyrese & Tamar Braxton, Erica Banks & More

Like clockwork, as soon as the West Indian Day Parade rounded its final Brooklyn block, the temperature dropped to unambiguously autumn levels. The teasing is done. Brat summer is over, and fall is here.

After dominating both the spring and the summer with Kendrick Lamar‘s string of Drake disses, TDE’s current roster is gracefully ushering us into the fall. Led by Doechii‘s dazzling Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape, TDE undoubtedly dominated the long weekend’s cultural conversation amid marquee releases from Big Sean, Muni Long and Destroy Lonely.

The biggest story of the past week has been the heated Billboard 200 chart battle between Sabrina Carpenter‘s star-cementing Short n’ Sweet LP and the ten-year anniversary wide release of Travis Scott‘s debut mixtape, Days Before Rodeo. Coming down to just a few hundred units, Carpenter ultimately trumped Scott, but not before the rapper put up the second-biggest pure sales week of the year across all genres (331,000 copies sold). The Houston-born rapper also debuted atop Top Album Sales and earned 2024’s biggest opening week for any rap album (361,000 units shifted).

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Few stories were able to break through that nail-biting chart showdown, but the ones that did were equally arresting. Buju Banton, Masicka, and Spice were some of the bigger winners at the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards last week (Aug. 29). Ice Spice found herself embroiled in an imploding friendship and working relationship with fellow Bronx rapper and Y2K! Tour opener Cleotrapa, and Playboi Carti graced Billboard’s latest cover.

With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Tyrese and Tamar Braxton’s heart-melting new reimagining of an R&B classic to Erica Banks and Skilla Baby’s sultry new collaboration. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.

Freshest Find: Doechii, “Denial Is a River”

Real ones have been locked in with Doechii for a minute now, and after she got a taste of top 40 success with 2023’s Hot 100 hit “What It Is” (No. 29), now the whole world has no choice but to get on the train. Alligator Bites Never Heal, her first mixtape under Capitol/TDE, won the weekend, arriving as one of the year’s best hip-hop projects — with its sleek blend of boom-bap and house-inflected melodic rap. Boom-bap reigns supreme on “Denial Is a River,” the tape’s buzziest cut, in which Doechii recounts a head-spinning tale of betrayal. In short, she found out she was being cheated on… while she was in the middle of a therapy session. “Took a scroll through his IG, just to get a DM from his wifey/ I was so confused, what should Doechii do?/ She didn’t know about me and I didn’t know ’bout Sue,” she spits over a crisp, Iain James & Joey Hamhock-helmed beat. The track is a masterclass in both hip-hop storytelling and the infinite powers of shifting intonation to denote different characters and timelines. It’s one of the best rap performances of the year, plain and simple.

Tyrese & Tamar Braxton, “Neither One of Us”

For those who have been paying attention, Tyrese has been dropping small teases of that good ol’ soulful R&B with each pre-release single from his new Beautiful Pain album. Now that the full set is finally available on DSPs as of last Friday (Aug. 30), the standout cut is undoubtedly his and Tamar Braxton’s moving rendition of Gladys Knights & The Pips’ 1972 classic, “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye.” Tyrese buttery timbre marries with Tamar’s piercing soprano to deliver a luscious blend of goosebump-inducing harmonies that beautifully color their dynamic interpretation of the track. The best thing about “Neither One of Us” is that neither artist’s vocal performance sounds labored; their takes have an ease and earnestness that add some earthy elements to complement their sometimes superhuman riffs and belts.

Syleena Johnson feat. Twista & Shawnna, “Burning in My Soul (Just a Freak)”


https://youtube.com/watch?v=MngrHpGsFLs&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

Just a few days after Billboard and Tres Generaciones counted down their top Chicago “get up anthems,” R&B diva Syleena Johnson has a late entry of her own. Recruiting fellow Chicago music stars Twista and Shawnna, Johnson delivers a crash course in Chicago music history. For the first half of the track, Johnson’s voice sits at the intersection of soul and rock n’ roll, with voice ripping through the line “I’m on fire baby,” just as raucous guitars crash into the arrangement. Twista gifts her a characteristically rapid-fire voice before Shawnna comes in on the song’s back half — parenthetically titled “Just a Freak” — with a Beenie Man-referencing verse that blends hip-hop and soul with a small dash of reggae. In one of the lighter moments on her moving Legacy album, Johnson still finds time to speak to R&B’s preoccupation with love and pain while giving her late father a well-deserved send-off.

Erica Banks & Skilla Baby, “One Wish”

Erica Banks returned with her Cocky on Purpose 2 EP, and as always, the Dallas-bred rapper is unapologetically expressing herself with brash rhymes. However, she takes a more gentle approach for the pensive “One Wish,” which finds Banks opening up about a temporary fling, but she’s here for a good time not a long time. “Could I f–k you out here on the spot/ Could I smoke while you giving me top/ He gon’ think I’m in love but I’m not,” she softly raps. The ball bounces to Skilla Baby, who helms the guy’s perspective. He’s had an affinity for making romantic records the ladies enjoy, and adds another to his resume here. “I’m not playing when it come to you/ I just want to see you comfortable/ Spit in your mouth when I’m f–king you,” he flows in his raunchy assist.  

YTB Fatt, “Free Bank”

YTB Fatt kicks off his On Zai deluxe EP with a jail phone call recording featuring his friend Bankroll Freddie, who is popping his s–t from behind bars. Fatt reflects on signing to Moneybagg Yo and the vultures surrounding him like a cousin who wants him dead. Trust means a lot to the Arkansas-bred rapper. He brushes off the women who deaded his messages, and vows to bless anyone who lent a helping hand in his journey to stardom. “I was down bad on my d–k, every b—h I wanted, they left me on read/ My broke days over, I put a chain on every n—a that gave me a bed,” he raps over the thrilling production, which could score an action movie scene. 

Diany Dior & Fivio Foreign, “Sex Love Demons”

There’s something in the water in The Bronx, because the charisma of any BX resident will change the temperature of any room. Diany Dior can attest as one of the queens of the sexy drill movement led by fellow Bronxite Cash Cobain. Brooklyn drill sergeant Fivio Foreign tangoes with the “Favorite Lady” rapper for their hedonistic “Sex Love Demons” collab. “I could f–k you in Paris but I’m not a French kisser,” Fivio cheekily raps. Dior grabs the mic and boasts about flipping the script on an ex. “I made him leave his side b—h/ First I was his baby, now I made him my b—h,” Dior brags. Check out the rest of The Bronx firecracker’s Big Dior debut project, which arrived via GoodTalk.

04 Sep 2024

Katy Perry Explains Why She Worked With Dr. Luke After ‘Woman’s World’ Controversy

Katy Perry is finally talking about it. After going months without addressing her controversial decision to work with Dr. Luke on her comeback single “Woman’s World,” which dropped in July, the 39-year-old pop star opened up about her reasons for working with the producer Kesha accused of sexual assault in 2014 on the latest episode of Call Her Daddy.

In the podcast episode posted Wednesday (Sept 4), Perry acknowledged that the collaboration “started a lot of conversations.”

“He was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with,” she continued of Dr. Luke, who helped craft “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream” and several more of her biggest hits over the years. “But the reality is, it comes from me. The truth is, I wrote these songs from my experience of my whole life going through this metamorphosis, and he was one of the people to help facilitate all that. One of the writers, one of the producers.”

“I am speaking from my own experience,” Perry added. “When I speak about ‘Woman’s World,’ I speak about feeling so empowered now as a mother, as a woman, giving birth, creating life … I’m still a matriarch and feeling really grounded in that. That’s where I’m speaking from. So I created all of this with several different collaborators, people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from the Teenage Dream era, all of that.”

Word that the “Roar” singer had enlisted Dr. Luke for “Woman’s World” emerged shortly before the singer dropped, leading many to criticize Perry for doing so in spite of the producer’s nine-year legal battle with Kesha. After the “Tik Tok” artist accused the Kemosabe Records founder of drugging and raping her at a 2005 party, which he strongly denied, he countered with a defamation lawsuit that the two parties eventually settled in 2023.

Other critics also pointed out the irony of “Woman’s World” — which Perry branded as an ode to female empowerment — being produced and written by a team of mostly men, with a male director helming its music video. Luke also worked on the singer’s followup single “Lifetimes,” which dropped Aug. 8.

The interview comes a few weeks ahead of Perry’s new album, 143, which is set to arrive Sept. 20. Her conversation with Cooper also spanned the American Idol alum’s relationship with husband Orlando Bloom and how they’re raising their 4-year-old daughter, Daisy. At one point, Perry apologized to parents of kids who innocently sang along to her cheeky track “Peacock” in 2010 — because now she’s going through the same thing with her own child.

“Even now my daughter sings the song ‘Peacock’ — dancing around the house — that I wrote as a double-entendre, funny song about dicks,” Perry said, laughing. “And I’m like, ‘Don’t sing that song!’ My karma has now served me.”

Listen to Perry’s episode of Call Her Daddy below.

04 Sep 2024

Diplo Dips His Cup For a Glacial Water Taste Test, Proclaims It ‘Ludacris’

Diplo isn’t afraid to take a taste on the wild side. After Ludacris gained traction last month for checking a major item off his bucket list when he sampled some pure Alaskan glacial water, Diplo figured if it’s good enough for Luda, it’s good enough for me.

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In a 20-second video posted on Tuesday night (Sept. 3) the DJ/producer is seen bundled up and kneeling on a glacier as a he dips a silver cup into the clear blue water in an undisclosed location. “Gonna try this glacier water,” he narrates as he dunks his glass in for a healthy fill-up. “Oh that’s good boy, bottoms up!”

The clip, which features a text overlay reading “this glacier water is ludacris,” also has the disclaimer: “it’s clean everyone, it’s literally clear.”

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The stunt came a few weeks after Ludacris drew concern, and some condemnation, following his recent trip to Alaska, which included a sip of Alaskan glacial water. “Half of the world’s glaciers are here in Alaska. I couldn’t come here and just have a show. You know I got a bucket list — or as I like to call it the f— it list,” Luda said in his video. ” I’ve never tasted fresh glacial water in my life and this is a first. Here we go.”

After taking his slug, Luda ended the video with a cliffhanger in which he said, “Oh my God.” Commenters noted that glacier water can reportedly contain some dangerous bacteria, parasites and viruses, which are invisible to the eye and can cause serious health issues if ingested without purification.

Luda gave an update a few days later, assuring fans that as a “water snob” he could definitively say it was the, “best tasting water I’ve ever had in my life and as I drank it I felt like every cell in my human body was being hydrated and rejuvenated at the same damn time… Listen man, I’m here. I feel like Superman.”

Commenters on Diplo’s post had similar concerns, including: “Hows it clean if everyone walks with dirty boots?,” “Diplo about to be dumplo for 2-5 weeks,” “But what if a polar bear just dipped his b–ls in it?” and “how’s the diarrhea bud?”

Check out Diplo’s video below.

04 Sep 2024

The Weeknd Reveals Title of Final Album in ‘After Hours/Dawn FM’ Trilogy

The Weeknd is gearing up for the final chapter in his After Hours trilogy. The singer (who now goes by his birth name, Abel Tesfaye) revealed the name of the third album in the series on Wednesday (Sept. 4) in a dramatic video setting up the denouement of his musical story arc.

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Though Hurry Up Tomorrow doesn’t currently have an official release date yet, Tesfaye set up the follow-up to After Hours (2020) and Dawn FM (2022) with yet another elaborate backstory filled with intrigue and vague menace.

“Yesterday was fourteen years ago… We held our breath, falling into a shimmering sea in the after hours of the night,” began the scroll in an Instagram video backed by spare, ominous instrumental music that teased his next era via phrases from earlier songs.

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“Attempted to cleanse the wounds with melodies and lights, a bulletproof bandage to shield what lies beneath,” he continued. “In a place where the seasons never changed, where time ceased to exist. But therein lays the problem. Today has felt like an endless spin, I keep distorting the truth, immune to the dizziness, numb to the nausea. What lies beneath — screams in silence.”

The spooky story continued with more allusions to the songs that came before, with the crawl adding, “I look in the mirror and feel both old and new, stuck in limbo and unable to move. I still haven’t faced myself. More songs could help, but what do I have left to say? Woe is me in my gilded cage, right? The very thing that once made me invincible failed me on the world stage. A new trauma surfaced, opening floodgates… when today ends, I’ll discover who I am.”

According to a press release announcing the album, it represents “the creative apex of the project, serving as the third and final chapter crafted with existential and self-referential themes as seen with the latest visionary teasers that have set fans ablaze with anticipation for this concluding installment.”

Last month, Tesfaye posted a cryptic three-minute CGI-heavy teaser featuring a digitally animated toddler crawling through a creepy mansion. A previous teaser from July featured the vague promise that “There are Three Chapters in this Tale” along with a trailer in which a digital toddler runs through a field and eludes danger before ascending to heaven.

The singer is performing a special one-off concert at Estádio Morumbi in São Paulo, Brazil on Saturday (Sept. 7) which will be livestreamed on YouTube; 10% of the proceeds from all merch sales at the show and online will go to the Brazilian Soul Fund of BrazilFoundation, which supports communities affected by natural disasters and economic hardship in southern Brazil.

Tesfaye is also about to open the “Halloween Horror Nights” experience at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, “The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy,” which opens on Thursday (Sept. 5) and runs through Nov. 3.

Check out the preview below.