If you don’t know Raveena, prepare to add her to your regular rotation. Last week she dropped Lucid, her experimental R&B album, and while you ought to listen in full, it’s worth pointing first to the singles. Make sure to catch the very sweet video for “Mama,” a song about immigrant mothers, and then spend some time with “Stronger,” a track in which she realizes she’s better than the dude who’s bringing her down. It’s lovely, balanced, and also slightly weird, driven by soulful organ chords, grounded by Raveena’s soft, ASMR-y voice, and ornamented by these sort of synthy space bells. She reportedly conceived the song on an acid trip, so when she sings, “I know you love to see me broken / You live to see me confused, at my knees / Don’t talk too soon, I ain’t dead yet,” it is, in all senses, a revelation.
Bye Bye LaCroix Boi
June 5, 2019
LaCroix, it’s been real
Perhaps you’ve heard that LaCroix is cancelled? Well, not cancelled. Rapidly losing its market share. Sales went down 15% just last month, the latest and greatest in a string of negative sales months. It’s a surprise from the king of seltzers until you realize that they’re far from the one-and-only; their success has sparked a million competitors, and while other brands innovate, LaCroix has not only maintained a pretty stagnant product offering, but also battled PR crisis after crisis. They’re currently in a class action lawsuit over the (errant) term, “all natural,” on their can; they defended their CEO after he was accused of several instances of sexual misconduct; and representatives have compared the brand’s struggles to a handicapped dependent… Whoops?
Speaking of market share
After the apparent smashing success of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, Nestlé is throwing its dollars into the action and launching the “Awesome Burger,” otherwise known the “Cha!” of the faux-meat market. That’s after they launched the “Incredible Burger” in Germany (which we can only assume had some copyright issues stateside). And it’s not just Nestlé: the food giants JBS and Tyson are also entering the competition, hoping to cannibalize some sales from the established winners in the space so far. Watch your backs, guys. No one is safe.
Show off your brand allegiance
Just in time for LaCroix– I mean, seltzer season, Kenzo is selling a transparent drink holder with a strap so you can have your bubbles literally on you at all times. And lucky you: it’s on sale for the low, low price of $125 (down from almost $200).