ShipRocked Set to Sail Again after Record-Breaking Year

Posted on by sumeriannoel

2026 was a monumental year for the 16th annual festival on the water. It marked the largest ever edition of ShipRocked with a completely sold-out boat, over 30 bands, surprise performances, and more. Now, ASK4 Entertainment has revealed the dates, ports, and theme for ShipRocked’s 2027 voyage.

ShipRocked 2027

Following the record success of 2026, ShipRocked has planned its return in 2027 to make history again. They will set sail on January 24 and return on the 30, departing from Miami on the Carnival Horizon. Then, they will travel to Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras, for the first time ever before landing in Cozumel on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. “ShipRocked Samurai” has been dubbed the official theme for the voyage.

Fans at From Ashes To New’s theater show holding up lights from their phones
Fans at From Ashes To New’s theater show, courtesy of ShipRocked / ASK4 Entertainment

Guests who attended ShipRocked 2026 are already pre-registered for the 2027 sailing; all others can find information on the ShipRocked 2027 public pre-sale on their website.

Unforgettable Voyage

This year, fans of rock and metal traveled from around the world for six days and nights of immersive performances, meet & greets, travel, and more on the Carnival Horizon from Miami to Half Moon Cay, Celebration Key–Carnival’s newly-opened private cruise port on the island of Grand Bahama–and Nassau in The Bahamas. 

The Greek-mythology-themed rendition featured a meet & greet and ShipDocked with Halestorm, a surprise acoustic set from Wage War, a guitar clinic with Marcos Curiel of P.O.D., and more. On board, fans could venture to the VIP spa for a relaxing escape, or to the on-board tattoo parlor where featured artists from Paradise Tattoo in Florida, and Chris Bishop (Crobot) of Snake Eyes Tattoo in Austin could provide a lifelong souvenir.

The greek mythology mascot of ShipRocked kneeling with fans on the desk.
ShipRocked 2026 Family Photo, courtesy of ShipRocked / ASK4 Entertainment

Along with the unforgettable experience, ShipRocked also worked to change lives by raising a record-breaking $200,000 through their Cancer Sucks! onboard charity auction. This brings the total to $1.2 million going toward medical research in order to find a cure for cancer.

Amy Harris with Consequence.net described ShipRocked, saying it “wasn’t just a party at sea; it was a living, breathing ecosystem of metal, community, and collective release…this isn’t just a music festival on a boat — it’s a full-blown community forged at sea.”

The overall music lineup for ShipRocked 2026 featured Halestorm, Motionless In White, and Knocked Loose, along with Wage War, AWOLNATION, Suicidal Tendencies, Avatar, Starset, Sleep Theory, From Ashes To New, and Kittie. The full SR26 lineup was rounded out by ’68, Andy Wood Trio, Archetypes Collide, aurorawave, The Barbarians of California, Dead Poet Society, DeathByRomy, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Emi Grace, Fox Lake, The Funeral Portrait, GANG!, Holy Wars, House Of Protection, Kemikalfire (Arejay Hale & Taylor Carroll), Lowlives, LYLVC, Not Enough Space, The Pretty Wild, Shepherds Reign, UnityTX, Zero 9:36, and all-star band The Stowaways.

Billy Corgan Marks One Year of The Magnificent Others — and Teases a Bigger, More “Spiritual” Next Chapter

Posted on by nyocum

A year after stepping behind the mic as a host rather than a frontman, Billy Corgan is celebrating the first anniversary of The Magnificent Others, the wide-ranging podcast that has quietly become one of his most intriguing creative projects outside of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Launched last year, Corgan’s show has distinguished itself from the crowded podcast landscape by leaning less on celebrity chatter and more on probing, sometimes philosophical conversations about creativity, legacy, and the costs of making art. In its debut season, The Magnificent Others welcomed an eclectic roster of guests — from Gene Simmons, Tom Morello, and Pat Benatar to Malcolm McDowell, Penn Jillette, Carrot Top, and Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy — all filtered through Corgan’s distinctly earnest, occasionally cosmic perspective.

From the start, Corgan made clear that the show would be guided by his personal curiosities rather than algorithm-friendly bookings. “I’d like to celebrate people in the culture that I feel are either misunderstood or overlooked,” he said when the podcast launched. “I only want to talk to people that I am passionately interested in talking to.” That ethos has carried through conversations with everyone from REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin and The Doors’ Robby Krieger to younger artists like Yungblud, as well as outliers like Brady Bunch alum Susan Olsen.

As the podcast enters its second year, Corgan says he’s aiming even higher. “Given the tremendous support for my show’s first season, the goal now is to expand the reach and scope of our guests to something far more universal and dare I say, spiritual,” he explained — a fitting ambition for an artist who has long toggled between the sacred and the surreal.

The anniversary comes amid a typically busy period for Corgan. Over the past year, he oversaw the reissue of Machina for its 25th anniversary and spearheaded a sprawling 30th-anniversary celebration of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, complete with deluxe vinyl, archival live recordings, a one-of-a-kind performance with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and even high-end chocolate collaborations.

Between running the NWA wrestling promotion, popping up for surprise sets at his Madame ZuZu’s Tea House in Chicago, and continuing to write and record new music, Corgan’s reach only seems to expand. With The Magnificent Others, he’s carved out yet another space — part confessional, part cultural salon — that feels very much in line with his restless, ever-evolving creative life.

Listen to the podcast here and watch the most recent episode with Gilles Mendel below:

Wolf Alice Announce NYC Summer Show at Pier 17

Posted on by nyocum

Wolf Alice are returning to North America with a single, high-profile date that’s already shaping up to be one of the summer’s must-see rock shows. The British band will headline New York City’s Pier 17 on July 29, marking their lone confirmed North American appearance of the season. Artist and fan pre-sale begins Wednesday, February 11 at 10 a.m. EST, with general on-sale following Friday, February 13 at 10 a.m. EST.

The show arrives in the wake of the band’s acclaimed fourth album, The Clearing, which is out now. The record — written in London’s Seven Sisters and recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin — finds Wolf Alice at their most assured, balancing emotional introspection with the melodic muscle that has become their calling card. Upon its release last year, The Clearing topped the U.K. Albums Chart and earned a spot on the 2025 Mercury Prize shortlist, making Wolf Alice one of the only bands to receive nominations for all four of their albums.

Fresh off a sold-out North American tour, the band are also in the midst of a banner awards season. They’re nominated for three BRIT Awards — Best British Album, British Group, and Alternative/Rock Act — and are set to perform at the ceremony on February 28 in Manchester. In a separate bit of cross-genre buzz, frontwoman Ellie Rowsell recently contributed backing vocals to Harry Styles’ new track “Aperture.”

Since emerging from North London in 2013, Wolf Alice have evolved from precocious indie upstarts into one of the most consistently lauded British bands of their generation. With landmark festival sets at Glastonbury and Radio 1’s Big Weekend behind them — and a globe-spanning tour in support of The Clearing — the Pier 17 date feels less like a victory lap and more like another statement of intent from a band still very much in motion.

Stream their latest album, the aforementioned The Clearing now here.

For tickets to the The Rooftop show at Pier 17 artist pre-sales are here beginning Wednesday, while general on-sale begins Friday the 13th at 10am EST here.

Holly Humberstone Plots Cruel World North American Tour, Heads to Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Governors Ball

Posted on by nyocum

Holly Humberstone is stepping back into the spotlight — and into the surreal, shadowy world of her new era. The British singer-songwriter has confirmed a summer run of North American dates in support of her forthcoming sophomore album Cruel World, due April 10 via Interscope Records.

Dubbed the Cruel World North American Tour, the trek kicks off June 3 at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club before winding through major cities including Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club), Chicago (The Vic Theatre), Minneapolis (Varsity Theater), and San Francisco (The Fillmore). Along the way, Humberstone will also hit some of the continent’s biggest stages, with high-profile festival appearances scheduled at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Governors Ball, and All Things Go Toronto. Artist pre-sale begins February 10, with general tickets going on sale February 13.

The tour arrives as Humberstone prepares to release Cruel World, a record that leans into the tension between pain and pleasure, chaos and acceptance. Where her 2023 debut Paint My Bedroom Black was marked by turbulence and yearning, the new album finds the 26-year-old in a more grounded, reflective space — even as she constructs a gothic, fairytale-tinged universe populated by childhood relics, memory, and monsters.

Visually and thematically, Cruel World is deeply personal. Humberstone has described sifting through artifacts from the “Haunted House” she grew up in — from ballet shoes to Alice in Wonderland books — reframing the ghosts of her past into something playful and magical with the help of her sister Eleri and creative director Silken. Musically, the album was shaped through disciplined daily studio sessions with collaborator Rob Milton and explores love in its many forms: romantic, platonic, and feminine.

Recent singles like “Die Happy” and “To Love Somebody” hint at the album’s gothic romanticism, drawing inspiration from Dracula, the Brothers Grimm, and Victorian theatre while grappling with devotion, danger, and the destabilizing power of love. Humberstone recently brought “To Love Somebody” to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, further signaling the scale of this next chapter.

Since her breakthrough EP Falling Asleep at the Wheel, Humberstone has built a cinematic, emotionally unguarded body of work that has taken her from the haunted rooms of Grantham to Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Wembley Stadium — where she opened for Taylor Swift. With Cruel World and a sweeping North American tour on the horizon, she’s poised to make her most ambitious statement yet.

Public on-sale is available here on the aforementioned February 13 date. Pre-save Cruel World here.

HOLLY HUMBERSTONE LIVE

April 10 – Indio, CA – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
April 17 – Indio, CA – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
June 3 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
June 4 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre
June 6  – Toronto, ON – All Things Go Toronto
June 7 – Queens, NY – Governors Ball Music Festival
June 9 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of The Living Arts
June 10 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
June 12 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
June 13 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
June 15 – Detroit, MI – Saint Andrew’s Hall
June 16 – Chicago, IL – The Vic Theatre
June 19 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
June 21 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre
June 22 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex – The Grand
June 24 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
June 25 – Vancouver, BC – The Commodore Ballroom
June 26 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
June 28 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore

Joey Valence & Brae Keep the Party Going With (afterparty)

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Joey Valence & Brae aren’t ready to call it a night — and with HYPERYOUTH (afterparty), they’re making sure no one else is either. The boundary-pushing duo announced that an expanded version of their acclaimed third album, HYPERYOUTH, will arrive February 27 via RCA Records, adding six new tracks to a record already hailed as one of 2025’s standout rap releases.

True to form, the “afterparty” edition promises more of what has made JVB such a singular force: sample-hungry maximalism, boisterous bars, neon-flecked nostalgia, and dance-floor-ready production that straddles rap, rock, EDM, and late-2000s pop. The new songs — including “friends,” “push the pipe,” and “how does it feel to be young” — are billed as quintessentially Joey Valence & Brae, further deepening the album’s themes while amplifying its chaotic, joyfully unhinged energy.

The release lands as the pair prepare to kick off their Monster Energy Outbreak U.S. tour on February 12 in Fort Lauderdale. The 18-date run will hit major markets including Atlanta, Nashville, Washington D.C., Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with a rotating cast of special guests along the way. From there, JVB will head overseas for a sprawling HYPERYOUTH World Tour, making stops across Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and much of Europe — including festival appearances at Primavera Sound and Best Kept Secret.

Written, produced, mixed, and mastered entirely by the duo in Joey’s State College, Pennsylvania bedroom, HYPERYOUTH has already earned critical praise for its blend of adolescent abandon and adult tension. As CONSEQUENCE put it, the album uses “the framework of late 2000s and early 2010s pop and EDM to assemble a rough sketch of adolescence” — all while daring listeners to stop being too cool to have fun.

With HYPERYOUTH (afterparty), Joey Valence & Brae are making that invitation even harder to refuse.

Pre-save afterparty here and grab a ticket to the tour here.

HYPERYOUTH (afterparty) TRACKLIST

friends
push the pipe
how does it feel to be young
bustamove
i like this
changes
HYPERYOUTH
BUST DOWN with TiaCorine
GIVE IT TO ME
IS THIS LOVE
SEE U DANCE with Rebecca Black
PARTY’S OVER
WASSUP with JPEGMAFIA
LIVE RIGHT
BILLIE JEAN
HAVE TO CRY
THE PARTY SONG
MYSELF
GO HARD
DISCO TOMORROW

HYPERYOUTH WORLD TOUR DATES

Feb 12 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live*
Feb 13 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live*
Feb 14 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham*
Feb 16 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel* ★
Feb 17 – Atlanta, GA – Heaven at The Masquerade* ★
Feb 19 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl* ★
Feb 20 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground* ★ SOLD OUT
Feb 21 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club* ★ SOLD OUT
Feb 23 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club* ★ SOLD OUT
Feb 24 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel* ⬟
Feb 26 – Chicago, IL – Metro* ▲
Feb 27 – Chicago, IL – Metro* ▲ SOLD OUT
Feb 28 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall* o SOLD OUT
Mar 3 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theatre* o
March 5 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren* o
Mar 6 – Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether* x
Mar 7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether* o
Mar 10 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park* o
Mar 12 – Mexico City, Mexico – Foro Puebla 186
April 9 – Auckland, New Zealand – Powerstation
April 11 – Melbourne, Australia – Forum Theatre SOLD OUT
April 12– Melbourne, Australia – Forum Theatre
April 14 – Brisbane City, Australia – The Tivoli
April 15 – Brisbane City, Australia – The Tivoli SOLD OUT
April 18 – Sydney, Australia – Enmore Theatre
April 22 – Perth, Australia – Metro City
May 6 – Belfast, Ireland– Limelight ✚​
May 7 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Olympia Theatre ✚
May 9 – Liverpool, UK – O2 Academy Liverpool ✚
May 10 – Glasgow, UK – Barrowland Ballroom ✚
May 12 – London, UK – Roundhouse ✚
May 13 – Paris, France – Bataclan ✚
May 15 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix ✚
May 16 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg ✚ SOLD OUT
May 17 – Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall
May 19 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso SOLD OUT
May 20 – Hamburg, Germany – Docks
May 22 – Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene
May 23 – Stockholm, Sweden – Fållan
May 24 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
May 26 – Berlin, Germany – Huxley’s Neue Welt
May 27 – Warsaw, Poland – Klub Stodola
May 29 – Budapest, Hungary – Dürer Kert Main Hall
May 30 – Vienna, Austria – Flex
May 31 – Munich, Germany – Muffathalle
Jun 2 – Zurich, Switzerland – Komplex 457
Jun 3 – Milan, Italy – Magazzini Generali
Jun 6-7 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound^
Jun 10 – Prague, Czech Republic – Rock for People Festival^
Jun 12 – Porto, Portugal – Nos Primavera Sound Festival^
Jun 14 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands – Best Kept Secret^

*Denotes Monster Energy Outbreak Tour Dates
^Denotes Festival Dates

Support legend:

★ Joshua Raw
⬟ Big Daddy Marc
▲ chase usa
o detahjae
 x Sha Crow
 ✚ WHATMORE

Hysteria Finds Space Between Tender Honesty and Explosive Energy with “Angela”

Posted on by sumeriannoel
Members of hysteria in an empty room. The vocalist is squatting as the rest of the band stands behind.
Photo: Fiona Kane

The LA-based quartet Hysteria lives between soft vulnerability and explosive catharsis. With a name referencing women historically being punished for feeling too much, they blend all corners of emo, incorporating both the heavy and the light. Hysteria recognizes the necessity of emotion and turns it to resistance and power. Their influences include Texas Is The Reason, Sunny Day Real Estate, and more, blending a Y2k aura with a modern edge.

Last year, the group made their debut with “Reason To Pray.” The single introduced fans to their urgent sound and confessional lyricism. Now, Hysteria has unleashed their newest single, “Angela.”

Produced by Photographic Memory (Wisp, Jane Remover), “Angela” lives as an emotionally compelling piece. Twinkly guitars frame the song while Dakota Cosgrove’s vocals slice through the center, building to a bursting chorus. The track is composed of tender honesty and raw energy, filling space with haunting ups and downs.

“Every moment is both an ascension and a decline, leaving you face down on the ground,” Cosgrove explains. “Angela is the year of your life you want to erase, a desperate cry to be loved, that sick desire to be broken and put back together. Angela is the girl who you let destroy you.”

Grace VanderWaal Returns With Intimate New Single “Prettier”

Posted on by nyocum

Grace VanderWaal is back with “Prettier,” a quietly devastating new single that interrogates admiration, intimacy, and the cost of being desired without being understood. Following last fall’s reflective “High,” the track finds VanderWaal leaning further into emotional precision, pairing restrained vocals with lyrics that cut deep.

Co-written with Julia Michaels, Grant Boutin, and Mark Schick, “Prettier” unfolds through vivid, unsettling imagery — crowded rooms, hollow praise, and a body treated like something fragile and ornamental. VanderWaal sings with calm resolve as the song circles its central question: “Do you feel prettier when you hold me?” It’s less accusation than realization, capturing the moment when affection reveals its imbalance.

“My new single ‘Prettier’ is written about being seen but not heard in a relationship, and wanting something more,” VanderWaal said in a statement.

The release continues VanderWaal’s evolution following CHILDSTAR, her critically praised album that confronted the realities of growing up in the public eye. Where that record reckoned with the past, “Prettier” lives squarely in the present — sharper, more self-aware, and unafraid to name the quiet loneliness that comes with being admired as an object rather than understood as a person.

An official lyric video accompanies the song, underscoring its emotional directness and minimalism. With “Prettier,” VanderWaal further defines a new chapter rooted in clarity, autonomy, and emotional honesty.

Mandy, Indiana Team With billy woods on Ferocious New Single “Sicko!”

Posted on by nyocum

Mandy, Indiana have dropped “Sicko!,” a blistering new single featuring billy woods and the final preview of their forthcoming album URGH, out Friday via Sacred Bones (pre-order here). Built on a cold, relentless techno pulse, the track fuses the Manchester band’s punishing post-punk assault with woods’ unmistakable, incisive delivery, pushing both artists into darker, more confrontational territory.

The accompanying video leans into fragmentation and overload. Conceived as a multi-director collaboration, seven filmmakers each contributed a 30-second visual responding to the theme of “sickness,” released as both an interactive carousel and a full-length video (carousel below – full-length video here). The band says the format reflects how music is increasingly consumed online, turning the act of scrolling into a way of experiencing the entire song.

“We wanted to create something with an artist we love,” the band said of collaborating with woods. “He’s such a unique voice in hip hop — his words are so expressive, and this track adds a different dimension to the record.”

“Sicko!” arrives amid mounting anticipation for URGH, which expands on the feral intensity of Mandy, Indiana’s 2023 debut i’ve seen a way. Co-produced and co-mixed by guitarist Scott Fair and Daniel Fox of Gilla Band, the album was written during an intense residency outside Leeds and recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester, shaped by personal trauma and physical recovery. Vocalist Valentine Caulfield’s lyrics — delivered largely in French — confront sexual assault, systemic indifference, and the omnipresence of pain, transforming private anguish into a visceral call to endurance. Their previous single, “Cursive,” made our list of “Top Ten Songs of January”.

Following the album’s release, Mandy, Indiana will tour across Europe this spring, with dates in London, Paris, Berlin, and beyond.

Mandy, Indiana Tour Dates

Wed. March 25 –  London, UK @ Heaven *
Fri. March 27 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club *
Sat. March 28  – Glasgow, UK @ Room 2 *
Sun. March 29 – Liverpool, UK @ Rough Trade Liverpool
Wed. April 8 – Dunkirk, FR @ Les 4 Ecluses
Thu. April 9 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
Sun. April 12 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn
Tue. April 14 – Copenhagen, DK @ Huset
Wed. April 15 – Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree
Thu. April 16 – Hamburg, DE @ MS Stubnitz
Fri. April 17 – Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn
Sat. April 18 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique

* = with The Null Club

American Football Announce Expansive 2026 World Tour

Posted on by nyocum

American Football are heading back out on the road. The Midwest emo touchstones have announced a 2026 world tour, marking their first full run of shows since wrapping up the extensive 25th-anniversary celebrations for their landmark 1999 debut, American Football (LP1). The four-month trek kicks off this May and stretches across the United States, Europe, the U.K., and Canada, with additional dates expected to follow.

Beyond the shows themselves, the band are tying the tour to a broader cause. Partnering with PLUS1, American Football will donate $1/£1/€1 from every ticket sold to Safe Passage International and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, organizations that support migrants, refugees, and deportees amid ongoing ICE-related violence and intimidation across the U.S.

The tour finds Mike Kinsella and company in a reflective but forward-looking moment. After reuniting in 2014 and releasing two more self-titled albums in 2016 and 2019, American Football have steadily expanded their sound beyond the twinkling melancholy that made LP1 a generational touchstone, folding in post-rock, post-punk, and experimental textures — and collaborating with artists like Hayley Williams, Rachel Goswell, and Ethel Cain along the way.

Artist presales begin Wednesday, February 4th, with general tickets on sale Friday, February 6th at 10 a.m. local time here. As the band looks toward 2026, the tour signals not just a return to the stage, but the next phase for a group whose once-modest legacy has continued to grow, decades after a handful of basement shows and a house on a quiet Midwestern street changed indie rock forever.

2026 Tour Dates

05/15 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall *
05/17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/18 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall *
05/19 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theater *
05/20 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
05/22 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom *
05/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern *
05/24 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park *
06/19 – Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz !
06/20 – Stuttgart, Germany @ Im Wizeman !
06/21 – Cologne, Germany @ Die Kantine !
06/23 – Brussels, Belgium @ La Madeleine !
06/24 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso !
06/26 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy !
06/27 – London, UK @ O2 Kentish Forum !
07/08 – Boston, MA @ Royale #
07/09 – New York, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount #
07/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer #
07/11 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
07/14 – Richmond, VA @ The National #
07/15 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel #
07/16 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse #
08/07 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues ^
08/08 – Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall ^”
08/09 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre ^
08/10 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall ^
08/12 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works ^
08/13 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre ^
08/14 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed ^
08/15 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom ^
08/16 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue ^

* Mei Semones: 5/15 – 5/24
! Marconi Union: 6/19 – 6/27
# IAN SWEET: 7/8 – 7/16
^ Afternoon Bike Ride: 8/7 – 8/16

Rico Nasty By Nature

Posted on by nyocum
Photo: Chris Yellen

Before she adopted the moniker Rico Nasty, Maria Kelly was a teenager creating off-the-wall sounds, merging genres and spitting peerless rhymes in Washington, D.C. metro area basements.

Long before Nasty released her breakout hit, 2018’s riotous “Smak a Bitch,” or coined the genre “sugar trap,” her family would brag about her bizarre ability to memorize songs and poems after just one listen. “I didn’t need no paper, no nothing,” she recalls. “Growing up, I realized that’s not a normal thing. I’d hear a song and I could remember the melody and the key.”

Though Rico grew up in Palmer Park on the outskirts of Prince George’s County, Maryland, she was sent an hour away to school in Baltimore starting in fifth grade in the hopes she would attain a better education. Instead, she eventually got expelled for smoking weed.

“I lived on campus, and it was sad for me because I didn’t fit in there,” Nasty says of the school, which did not offer choir or other music-related courses. Luckily, her dorm counselor unlocked her penchant for writing after she found out Rico grew up listening to early 2000s R&B bellwethers such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott and India.Arie.

Photo: Devin Desouza

“She got me into writing poetry,” Nasty says. “She got me a little diary and I wrote about how I miss my family. It was always some gut-wrenching, painful art.” From there came her first song, a “lo-fi Cali swag lean” track that sounds nothing like what she makes now. Dubbed “Tumblr Famous” after Nasty’s then-love for the proto blogging platform, the track was made on GarageBand on a day she and her classmates decided to skip school to get high on the last day before winter break. She even remembers wearing her uniform in the woods and falling in the mud at one point.

“We got to the house and we made that song and everybody was like, ‘OK, what’s your rap name?’ I didn’t have a rap name – I was just going by my real name,” she says. Rico Nasty was born shortly thereafter, and she began work on her first mixtape. “It was a snowball effect,” she says.

Her influences in those days ranged from Rihanna (the first CD she spent her own money on was Loud) to Joan Jett. “I had the Shrek soundtrack,” she says. “I wanted to play ‘All Star.’ I wanted to play ‘Bad Reputation.’” Tyler, the Creator made an even deeper impact, to the point that Nasty admits she was “bsessed. It was bad. It was the first time I ever stanned someone.” In fact, if you followed the artist on SoundCloud before Rico Nasty blew up, her original handle was NailBog696, which renders the name of Tyler’s second album, Goblin, backwards.

Nasty’s newly released third album, Lethal, her first for new label Fueled by Ramen, shows off a more mature side to her music thanks to following herself instead of the crowd. “This album represents that it’s OK to stand alone,” she says. “It’s an ode to people who are too nice and then reclaiming their power. In everyone’s younger days, we’re constantly looking for approval. Am I doing this right? No one’s doing it right – not even the people we think are doing it right. So, just relieve that pressure off of yourself and worry about the shit you think is cool.”

Rico Nasty’s LETHAL and the extended LETHAL-ER are available now on Atlantic.

Read this story and more in the below issue of Hit Parader: