The Most Anticipated Concert Tours Of 2023

The touring industry is exploding right now. In a blog post written earlier this year, Lorde astutely noted how basically all of the artists who couldn’t tour during the pandemic are now all hitting the stage all at once. And that massive influx of high-profile concert tours is continuing into 2023. From long-awaited concert tours to anniversary celebrations to high-profile comebacks, these are the most anticipated concert tours of 2023.

Arctic Monkeys

For the first time in nearly ten years, Arctic Monkeys released a new album. The Car, is a cinematic melodrama enacted as debonairly as possible in the way that only Alex Turner and company can. They’re set to make 22 tour stops in North America at the tail end of summer and Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. are opening for them.

Beyoncé

While Beyoncé hasn’t announced any plans to tour in support of Renaissance yet (or release any music videos from it for that matter) she dropped a $20,000 hint that a tour is coming this summer. You see, at the WACO Theater Wearable Art Gala in October, Beyoncé put up an extravagant package for the charity auction. For $20k, the package description included airline tickets and a meet and greet to, “Beyoncé’s Renaissance 2023 tour.” Shout out to the Bey Hive member who sussed out this caper.

Big Thief

In a year that saw them releasing another dynamite album in Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Big Thief announced an active schedule of concerts across four continents. But they really made waves this past week in laying out a plan to invite teachers and students to their soundchecks along the tour. The band wants to provide young people with opportunities to engage in learning experiences around creativity, music, playing shows, and songwriting. Awesome.

Blink 182

Not only is Blink 182 back, but guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge has rejoined the band making for a full reunion tour. Delonge, drummer Travis barker, and bassist/singer Mark Hoppus are also set to headline a slew of South American festivals, as well as the When We Were Young emo nostalgia fest in Las Vegas. Oh, and a new Blink 182 album is apparently on deck as well.

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are hitting the road in 2023 for the first time since 2017. Yet when news of the US tour dates hit, Ticketmaster’s flexible pricing model sent some seats soaring in the thousands of dollars range and fans were none too pleased. Springsteen answered the critics essentially saying that the imperfect system is what it is, but, “If there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.” They don’t call him The Boss for nothing.

Death Grips

For the first time in four years, horrorcore trailblazers Death Grips will be going out on tour. The experimental rap trio of Zach Hill, MC Ride, and Andy Morin put on an electric live show, with MC Ride an always visceral presence on the microphone.

Depeche Mode

It was a tough year for Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan and Martin Gore when longtime keyboardist Andy “Fletch” Fletcher died in May at the age of 60. But Depeche Mode are still planning on releasing their new album Memento Mori, this spring. “Fletch would have loved this album,” Gahan said. The Memento Mori World Tour begins in March in the US and only ends in August in Europe.

Ed Sheeran

With albums entitled +, =, ÷, and x Ed Sheeran is bringing the theme full circle with his North America megatour dubbed the Mathematics Tour. He’ll be playing gigantic stadium sets at venues like Houston’s NRG Stadium, Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and Detroit’s Ford Field. Meanwhile, he has curated a diverse set of tour openers in Khalid, Maisie Peters, Russ, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, and Dylan.

GloRilla

Hopefully, GloRilla is planning on giving her assistant a raise, because she’s going to be plenty busy with her first-ever headlining tour in 2023. The Anyways, Life’s Great Tour is tabbed as GloRilla “with friends,” so we’ll see who decides to pop up on stage with the Memphis rapper. Could one of those friends be Cardi B at some point? The pair collaborated on the track “Tomorrow 2” which hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2022.

Janet Jackson

When Janet Jackson announced the Together Again Tour for 2023, she also promised that “there will be new music.” Not that we really need any, considering how many #hits she’s turned out across the decades, but it definitely adds to the mystique of what the always explosive “That’s The Way Love Goes” singer does on stage. Ludacris is joining her as the opening act, cause why the heck not?

JID and Smino

Both JID and Smino dropped albums in 2022. JID’s Forever Story places him in the conversation of today’s best, while Smino’s incredibly unique Luv 4 Rent features A-List featured guests like J-Cole and Lil Uzi Vert. Now the Atlanta and St. Louis connection will come to fruition on the 32-date cross-continent Luv Is 4Ever Tour.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Are King Gizzard the most prolific band in the world right now? The Aussie psycho rockers did just drop five albums in 2022. They’ve certainly become one of the most cultiish live bands on the planet regardless. They’re June 2023 tour begins at The Caverns Underground in Tennessee and ends with a three-hour “marathon set” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Metallica

The pioneering metal band from San Francisco have a new album due out on April 14th called 72 Seasons and the corresponding tour will stretch far beyond 2023. Metallica will be hitting the road this year, making stops in both Europe, the US, Canada, while picking it up again for a slew of 2024 dates in Europe and all of North America including Mexico. The shows will feature them playing 2 nights in cities, with no song repeats and an in-the-round staging.

Paramore

Paramore’s much-hyped sixth album, This Is Why, is due out on February 10th and the Hayley Williams-led band have a tour ready to rock for the summertime. Beginning in May, Paramore will be touring all throughout North America and have an illustrious cast of support acts in tow in Bloc Party (whom they cite as a primary influence), Foals, The Linda Lindas, and Genesis Owusu.

The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie

Not only is The Postal Service embarking on a 20th Anniversary Tour for their cult-classic album Give Up, but it’s a double bill with Death Cab For Cutie. Ben Gibbard will be pulling double duty, but he’s the quintessential rockstar on stage and can more than handle it. And as great as Death Cab’s latest album, Asphalt Meadows, is, the vibes will surely be highest as soon as Jenny Lewis joins Gibbard on vocals for Give Up’s opening track, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight.”

SZA

Sad hotties rejoice, SZA is going on tour! After an unfathomable number of teasers and delays, SZA’s new album S.O.S. finally dropped last month and she’ll be supporting it on tour with Omar Apollo as the opening act. We got a preview of SZA’s S.O.S. stage setup at Outside Lands festival 2022 in San Francisco this past summer and it’s thematic to the album to say the least.

Taylor Swift

Following the release of Midnights, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will mark her first stadium performances in five years. By now, you’ve surely heard about how Taylor damn near broke Ticketmaster when tickets went on sale and the tour has already netted over a half billion dollars in sales. This will mark the largest run of US dates for Swift, so do what you have to do to get into the stadium. And if all else fails, maybe her cat can put you on the guest list?

The Walkmen

A decade since The Walkmen went on an “extreme hiatus,” the indie rock staples announced a comeback for 2023 with a limited number of shows in only New York City at first. The tour has since expanded to add multi-night residencies in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington D.C. in addition to New York City. This could potentially mean that Hamilton Leithauser, Peter Bauer, and company might finally have a new album by The Walkmen on the horizon. The plan will surely unfold on this long-awaited slate of live performances which begins in April.

Wizkid

Weeks after dropping his latest album, More Love Less Ego, Wizkid already started teasing a new album called SaiLess. The promise of even more new music from the world-sweeping Afrobeats star will certainly drive the interest North American Tour. Beginning in March, Wizkid will be playing arena-sized venues like Houston’s Kia Center and Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

Zach Bryan

A noted critic of Ticketmaster’s purported monopoly and the exorbitant fees that they tack on concert tickets, Zach Bryan has decided to take matters into his own hands for his upcoming tour. “I’ve decided to play a limited number of headline shows next year to which I’ve done all I can to make prices as cheap as possible and to prove to people tickets don’t have to cost $450 to see a good and honest show,” the country music rising star said on Instagram. The dates have yet to be announced but Bryan has promised them “soon” and you’ve just got to admire the stance he’s taking.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

GloRilla Reveals She Spent Time In Jail (And It’s Not For What You Think)

GloRilla‘s meteoric rise to fame hasn’t been easy. The Memphis rapper has been open about her journey to where she is today. Last month, a funny clip of the rapper working the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant resurfaced. Recently, another clip turned up. It was an older interview with the Grammy nominee in which she revealed that she had been in jail for nearly three years for the unlikeliest crime: stealing cereal.

In May 2022, following the release of her mega-hit “F.N.F,” the CMG rapper chatted with social media comedian Funny Marco on his YouTube series about the journey to her success. Throughout the hilarious conversation, she opens up about what led her into rap, her “rachet a** friends,” and more.

However, there was one moment when things got a little intense. Marco boldly asked the “Tomorrow 2” about her criminal past, including a situation where she was arrested and jailed for stealing cereal out of a K-Mart, to which she replied, “yes.”

Since then, the rapper has come a long way. Big Glo snatched two of the hottest songs last year with “F.N.F,” earning a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance, and “Tomorrow 2” featuring Cardi B. She’s also released her debut album, Anyways Life’s Great… and recently made her debut performance at the 2022 American Music Awards alongside Cardi B.

Check out the full video below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Which Artists Got Their First Gold Or Platinum Award In 2022?

2022 was an unusual year for music. Despite more records being released than ever before, there were only a handful of new hits; Billboard recorded only a dozen new No. 1 singles, while only new 23 albums reached the top of the Billboard 200. Those numbers reflected a dip from prior years, thanks to many of the songs and albums that topped the charts reigning for weeks at a time.

Meanwhile, the Recording Industry Association of America recently welcomed its “class of 2022” — the artists who earned their first Gold or Platinum certification last year. Among the 39 performers are TikTok favorites like Armani White, Bella Poarch, and GAYLE, while runaway success GloRilla stayed “F.N.F.” all the way to her own first certification. International artists also broke in a big way stateside with Afrobeats crooners Fireboy DML and Rema joining K-pop girl group TWICE in racking up the plaques.

A Gold certification denotes 500,000 units sold, while a Platinum record has sold 1,000,000 units. In the streaming era, one album sale is calculated as 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams, which also counts as 10 track sales. In order for a qualifying track or album to be certified, often a label must request certification, so technically there might be one or two songs out there that qualify but were not certified. You can see the full list of singles courtesy of RIAA’s Twitter account below.

GloRilla & Her Team Under Fire For Alleged Shady Business Deals

GloRilla was undeniably one of the hottest breakthrough stars of the year in 2022. This is thanks to a couple of viral hits, including “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and “Tomorrow 2” with Cardi B.

These songs, along with her charisma and commanding presence on the mic, have helped to turn her into one of the most promising acts in the game.

GloRilla performs onstage during the BET Hip Hop Awards 2022 at The Cobb Theater on September 30, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/Filmmagic)

However, some business owners are calling out the Memphis native and members of her team for allegedly scamming their brands. A video report about the allegations is now on The Shade Room‘s Instagram account.

Specifically, the owner of a small hair and body care business, Kimberley Renfroe, says she paid $1,000 to a man claiming to be GloRilla’s manager. The payment was supposed to be for an endorsement deal in which the 23-year-old rapper would promote some of her business’ products. Once the man received the payment, he subsequently asked for more cash and then ultimately ghosted Renfroe.

A choreographer claims she had a similar experience. She says the Memphis native and her team are responsible for reaching out to her for a five-hour dance lesson for $1,500. Once the class allegedly happened, she says she never got her money.

However, the “Blessed” rapper claims that these are cases of scammers pretending to be members of her team.

“I was made aware that an individual has been impersonating members of my team and deceiving people for money as part of a scam. I’m looking into the issue, but I’d like to encourage all my fans and supporters to be very careful with how they communicate with online strangers. It’s important to do research and take the appropriate steps to prevent yourselves from being victimized by cybercriminals posing as celebrity teams,” she says in a statement to FOX13 Memphis.

Of course, this story arrives shortly after the Memphis native made headlines for seeking a personal assistant. She was offering $550 per week for the position.

In other news surrounding the 23-year-old, an old video of her recently began surfacing online. In the footage before the fame, she confesses her love for Chief Keef. A picture of the “Love Sosa” rapper appears in the background while the Memphis native lip-syncs to pre-recorded audio.

“This is your man? the audio asks. “Yeah,” she promptly pretends to reply. After the audio states to “look at the screen,” she does so with admiration and says, “That’s mine.”

What are your thoughts on the situation? Comment down below. Finally, make sure to check out GloRilla’s interview with HNHH here.

[via] [via]

GloRilla Pens A Inspirational Message To Fans About Not Giving Up

GloRilla‘s meteoric rise didn’t come easy. Despite the seemingly overnight success with the release of “F.N.F” last summer, the Memphis rapper wasn’t always sure how things would pan out. Before her rap career, the hitmaker was a fast food worker. In an Instagram post on Tuesday, the “Blessed” rapper shared a heartfelt, inspirational message about her journey in the music industry and not giving up on her dreams.

“2022 was Everything,” she wrote in the caption. “God kept his hands on me.”

The rapper said that she “never imagined” she would go on to make a breakout hit, win a BET award, and earn a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance for “F.N.F.”

The CMG rhymer also had her debut performance at the 2022 American Music Awards alongside her “Tomorrow 2” collaborator Cardi B. GloRilla noted she is thankful for all her success and is excited to see what the new year brings.

” [In] the beginning of last year, I would’ve never imagined that I would be making a breakout hit, signing to CMG, winning a BET award, making billboard top 10, performing at the AMAs with Cardi, getting nominated for a Grammy & the list goes on,” she continued. “You had to be there to know what I was going thru & what I went thru & that’s why I’m always smiling because weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning & THAT’S WHY I LUV TOMORROWS. I can’t wait to [see] what 2023 brings. LET’S GOOO.”

GloRilla Shares Encouraging Messages She Received from Gangsta Boo Throughout Her Career

gangstaboo

Hip-Hop is mourning after news broke on New Year’s Day about the death of Gangsta Boo. Tributes have poured in across social media, including a new post from GloRilla, who shared messages she received from her fellow Memphis native.

“I normally don’t post screenshots but the fact that she reached out to me before anybody else had a clue who I was she always supported me & the girls way back before we blew up A REAL LEGEND there will never be another Gangsta Boo,” GloRilla wrote on Instagram.

In the messages, Gangsta Boo would encourage GloRilla, including praise for the young star’s AMA performance.

“Glo, u killed the AMA Mane,” Boo wrote. “Ur like legit great at what you for you to be so new, trust me. I know. Take hoes years to figure it out. Go off hoe! And yessss me and chat love you.”

You can see the full run of messages below.

Gangsta Boo, the Queen of Memphis and former Three 6 Mafia recording artist, died on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 1), according to DJ Paul, who broke the news to followers on Instagram.

Memphis According to Fox 13 News, Gangsta Boo, real name Lola Mitchell, was discovered dead in Memphis at 4 p.m. CST. At the time of publication, there is no official word on the cause of death.

On Saturday evening, Gangsta Boo was spotted on Instagram stories attending a New Year’s Eve party. Following the news of Boo’s death, artists around the country expressed their condolences on social media.

Gangsta Boo was the second female member of Three 6 Mafia, a legendary Memphis rap group that also included DJ Paul, Juicy J, and Crunchy Black. Boo, who joined the group at the age of 15, is well known for the Dirty South hits “Where Dem Dollas At” and “Yeah Hoe.” She left Three 6 Mafia in 2002 to pursue a solo career that many of today’s female hip-hop performers look up to.

The post GloRilla Shares Encouraging Messages She Received from Gangsta Boo Throughout Her Career appeared first on The Source.

Cardi B Defends “Fighting Over D**k” Lyrics From “Tomorrow 2”

GloRilla and Cardi B made a huge hit when they dropped “Tomorrow 2” earlier this year. But some fans felt that they couldn’t relate to a certain lyric from the Bronx-born rapper. 

Recently posting online, Cardi B tried to defend her “fighting over d**k” line in a video clip. 

“If a b***h go through your purse and she steal some of your money, you not gonna fight that b***h?” she asked. “Yeah, b***h. You gonna fight for your money, right? So if a n***a is providing for you, giving you money, paying your bills, doing all that sh*t, and a b***h go take him from you, you not gonna fight over that d**k? ‘Cause that’s your money.”

READ MORE: Cardi B Fires Back At Criticism For Not Releasing New Album

“‘Cause I’m fighting with teeth,” the “Bodak Yellow” rapper continued. “I’m biting you b***h. Over my n***a. Yes, I am fighting you over that d**k.”

“Now if it’s a broke n***a, b***h I can’t help you,” Cardi B then joked.

The mother of two also addressed the lyric in a tweet posted Thursday, writing, “Y’all talkin bout y’all won’t fight over d**k but y’all be fighting over celebs online all the time ….somebody lying.”

After going viral with her early 2022 hit “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” GloRilla proved her staying power by teaming up with Cardi B for “Tomorrow 2.” Racking up views on YouTube along with streams and radio play, the hit went on to sell over one million units in the U.S. alone.

The song also peaked at #9 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

Showing her appreciation for the “WAP” rapper, GloRilla recently gifted Cardi B a Patek watch for her 30th birthday.

What’s your favorite line from “Tomorrow 2?” Sound off below in the comments.

[Via]

The Most Anticipated Hip-Hop Albums Of 2023

While some of hip-hop’s biggest names made big comebacks in 2022 – and many wound up on Uproxx’s Best Albums of 2022 list – there were a few notable names promising new albums that didn’t quite manage to put anything out before the new year, leaving us with a host of anticipated hip-hop albums for 2023.

After long hiatuses, TDE artists like Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and SZA all dropped their new albums this year, receiving a warm response from fans and critics alike (Kendrick is on our Best Albums list; Soul and SZA just missed the cutoff). Drake dropped two albums – one very dance oriented and one with 21 Savage – while Megan Thee Stallion addressed her rocky 2021 with a solid second effort.

However, there were a few A-listers whose names were not included in the rolls for the year-end roundups, including Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and Travis Scott. While we’ll get into the various reasons for their absences below, it’s worth noting that the release schedule was already jam-packed, and having 2023 pretty much wide open can only help them lock down the time and attention their profiles deserve. There are a few rising stars on that list too, including Baby Keem, Doja Cat, and Saweetie. Here are the most anticipated hip-hop albums of 2023.

ASAP Rocky – Don’t Be Dumb

It’s been a minute since we last heard from ASAP Rocky with 2018’s Testing. Since then, he’s become a father, he’s been a hilarious meme, he’s expanding his acting credits, and he’s even starred in a video game. After dropping the new single “Sh*ttin Me” and teasing more Metro Boomin contributions, he finally announced that the album was done with just a few weeks left to go in the year. With a lot to talk about (cough, cough, Sweden) and what sounds like a lot more focused musical direction with Metro’s involvement, Don’t Be Dumb could very well return the Harlem rapper to the top of the charts and reveal new facets of his personality.

Baby Keem

The most mysterious of the bunch, Keem’s the only one who hasn’t outright announced an album. That hasn’t stopped Keem fans from sniffing out any and every available clue that he could be working on one. And given his and cousin Kendrick’s tendency to surface suddenly and without warning, that could be all the reason to be on the lookout for a follow-up to The Melodic Blue sometime in the next 12 months.

Cardi B

Cardi was one of the artists that fans most looked forward to hearing from in 2022, but aside from some inflammatory singles, it wasn’t to be. She did give us “Hot Sh*t” with Kanye West and Lil Durk, which was well-received, but given Kanye’s issues and an inability to promote the song the way she wanted, Cardi moved on from the single fairly quickly. She had better luck with GloRilla’s “Tomorrow 2,” which offered an instant classic Cardi verse, but she later admitted that she’s been feeling a lot of anxiety and pressure from the potential reception of her long-awaited follow-up to Invasion Of Privacy. She did say she wants to get that album out in the new year, though.

Doechii

After an impressive breakout in 2022, TDE’s latest signee still remains a refreshing question mark for the new year. Her EP, She/Her/Black Bitch, showed some promising signs that she’s got a clear direction and isn’t afraid of taking creative risks. And the response to singles like “Persuasive” and “Crazy” indicates that fans may wind up being a bit more receptive to her left-field mashups of hip-hop and house than they were ten years ago when “212” was dominating playlists and sync licensing placements. If nothing else, she’s got the TDE machine on her side, which means that when she does drop, she’ll have the full support of her label, something not every artist gets to enjoy.

Doja Cat

After an absolutely explosive 2021 thanks to Planet Her and its seemingly endless string of fan-favorite hit records, anticipation was high for Doja to follow up her debut. Doja herself was more than happy to feed into that feeling from fans, teasing permutations of the project that included a 9th Wonder-produced rap LP, an R&B album, and even a euro-house edition. However, she was unable to do much recording after having throat surgery, which forced her to pull out of The Weeknd’s After Hours stadium tour and confined her to home for recovery. The content she did share – namely, a lot of selfies of her new bald look – has ironically generated even greater fervor for new music, since she’s clearly feeling newly freed and more creative than ever.

GloRilla

Rap’s undisputed rookie of the year exploded in popularity thanks to her summer smash “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” but unlike plenty of other viral favorites, she was able to maintain her momentum with follow-ups like “Tomorrow 2” and the … Anyways, Life’s Great EP. Now, more than anything, fans want to see whether her natural charisma can carry a full-length project. She’s got more than enough viral moments over the past year to keep her name red-hot (and comfortingly uncontroversial) and with one of her hometown’s biggest stars giving his backing, it’ll be interesting to see where she ends up next.

Ice Spice

If GloRilla took the crown for the year’s biggest breakout, it’s only because Ice Spice didn’t manage to get her project out under the wire. Like Glo, she saw much of her impact come from the TikTok popularity of a single song: “Munch,” which launched seemingly a million memes and almost got the Cardi B treatment as well. It also drove attention to prior Ice Spice videos like “Name Of Love” and “No Clarity.” The resulting hunger for more of the Spice life led to a follow-up, “Bikini Bottom,” and the New York rapper being put on the fast track to stardom, with Rolling Loud appearances and homage tracks from other artists galore.

J. Cole – The Fall-Off

While Cole has seemingly returned to his self-imposed hibernation from the rap game following a few stints of professional basketball, I don’t think for a second he’s forgotten about his commitment to deliver the magnum opus promised a few years ago at the end of KOD. He’s even said The Off-Season was more of a warm-up (if only he hadn’t already used that name) or practice session, sharpening his tools before attempting to sum up his incredible, decade-long career.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj maintained a chokehold on the hip-hop discourse this year by sheer force of will (and the efforts of her ever-dedicated fanbase), and with a few strategically-placed singles and guest appearances. In the first half of 2022, she joined forces with rising star Coi Leray on “Blick Blick” (seemingly an extension of her 2021 strategy of teaming up with Doja Cat and finally ending her self-imposed moratorium on collabs with up-and-coming female rappers). Then, she dropped “Super Freaky Girl,” harkening back to her “Anaconda” era to garner her first-ever solo No. 1. She even dropped a remix with a whole peck of rap girlies, extending her influence and driving curiosity to see what other new avenues remain to this venerated veteran.

Saweetie – Pretty Bitch Music

As a track runner in high school, Saweetie probably knows all about having to recover from false starts. Although anticipation for the project may have waned after so many delays, it doesn’t look like Saweetie has given up on herself yet – and that’s the true test, in many ways. In any event, I’m sure there are still plenty of folks who want to hear just what exactly she has had in store after nearly three years of teases. If the new single “Icy Girl, Icy World” is any indication, she could be back on her Sample Saweetie kick, which could mean a return to prominence is just one starter pistol away.

Travis Scott – Utopia

Just about the only rapper whose album we know anything about this year is Travis Scott, who has been quietly biding his time in the wake of the Astroworld Festival disaster last summer. He actually began the rollout for Utopia during Coachella, putting up massive billboards on the way to and from Indio extolling the upcoming project. However, he kicked his promotional efforts into high gear more recently, joining Pharrell on “Down In Atlanta” and making multiple appearances on Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains album and SZA’s SOS. While he hasn’t overtly dropped anything from Utopia yet, it looks like he’s building himself back up and testing the waters to make sure it gets just as warm a reception as its predecessor.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.