At the beginning of April, many fans began worrying that XO and Republic signees 88GLAM's music career was in jeopardy, with rumors of a break-up and recurring label trouble threatening to derail the release of their 88GLAM 2 follow-up. And while the coronavirus pandemic ultimately prompted their upcoming album Close To Heaven Far From God to be delayed, the breakup rumors persisted, fueled by the narrative that inner conflict was driving the duo of Derek Wise and 88 Camino apart.

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Now, however, the Toronto group has officially come forward to put their foot down on the matter. Taking to Twitter, 88 Camino laid down the law and stated quite plainly that "no 88GLAM isn’t breaking up." A succinct yet to the point take on a topic that has been plaguing them for a minute, and while we don't have any further details on their next endeavor, it certainly bodes well for them to be moving as a cohesive unit once again. 

It should be noted that as of now, 88GLAM is set to remain with XO Records. Back in November of 2018, the pair spoke with HNHH for an installment of On The Come Up, describing their experience working with The Weeknd's label. "They let us make the music we want to make. They trust us creatively. We have creative control over all of our stuff," explained Camino. "Even when it comes to like music videos and stuff, they're like, 'Who do you guys want to work with?' They just want to see our vision -- us capture our vision. They're like 'we're going to give you guys the resources, but just do you.'"

Keep an eye out for more developments on 88GLAM as they surface. Do you feel relieved by this development?  

The rise of Toronto’s 88GLAM only strengthened the XO roster but fans became widely concerned over the status of the group in 2020. A subreddit dedicated to 88GLAM recently speculated that they’ve split up. In addition to rumors that there’s an internal conflict between Derek Wise and 88Camino, the internet was immediately fueled with rumors that they had been dropped by both XO and Republic Records. Of course, all of these problems combined would mean that we wouldn’t receive their follow-up to 88GLAM 2. With an April 17th release date previously set, we’ve finally received some sort of response surrounding the status of their next project. 

Via HNHH

Coronavirus has officially impeded the release of Close To Heaven Far From God. The group relayed the message Instagram earlier today, stating that they wouldn’t be able to properly roll out the project.

“We hope everyone is keeping safe and well during this horrific, unprecedented time. Due to recent global events and all touring/festival cancellations, we have decided to delay our album release,” the message reads. “We wanted to release it during a time that would not compromise our roll out strategy. Cant wait to see all of our fans and go offfff to the new music.”

Some people took this as a good sign while others appeared to further question the status of the duo. However, it should be noted that there has been a screenshot of an alleged conversation with 88GLAM’s day-to-day manager Melody who confirmed that things are all good between them and that they are steadily cooking up. 

Toronto duo 88GLAM was on pace to release their brand new project imminently but, after this weekend, even that much is unclear.

The group, made up of Derek Wise and 88 Camino, has been signed to XO Records and Republic Records for several years but there are rumors that the two artists were dropped from both labels. In the subreddit assigned to the recording artists, fans have started freaking out about the fate of the album and the group’s immediate future, believing that the end is in sight for the collective.

According to the post, the group has been dropped completely from XO Records and Republic Records, which has not been confirmed. They have also been removed from the upcoming tour from The Weeknd, being replaced with Black Atlass, another singer from the XO Records camp. 

Apparently, the issues may stem even deeper than a disagreement with the label. Fans of Derek Wise and 88 Camino also noticed that the two collaborators unfollowed each other on social media, which can’t mean anything good. Shortly after, the latter actually deleted his Instagram altogether. 

HotNewHipHop has reached out to 88GLAM’s representatives for a statement. Hopefully, this is cleared up for the fans so they can finally have some clarity. 

In the meantime, enjoy our episode of Snack Review with the guys below.

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The Weeknd will be making his way around North America and Europe in support of his upcoming After Hours album, and he’ll be joined by special guests Sabrina Claudio, Don Toliver, and 88GLAM on select dates of the tour. The Weeknd’s been on an impressive music rollout ever since he dropped the first single of his new era, “Heartless,” back in November. Despite teasing an album by the name of Chapter VI for over a year now, the singer switched up on us and instead revealed last week that his next project, which will feature “Heartless” as well as his follow-up single, “Blinding Lights,” will be called After Hours. Shortly after this reveal, he amped up the hype by sharing the album’s horror-inspired artwork before releasing the title track on Wednesday. With the “After Hours” single came an official release date for the album exactly one month from today—March 20th—but what’s an album without a tour to support it?

Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images

The After Hours tour dates have officially been cemented, so once we’ve all had a chance to let the project sink in, The Weeknd will kick off the North American leg in Vancouver on June 11th. He’ll make his way around Canada and the United States with special guests Sabrina Claudio, Don Toliver, and 88GLAm on select dates. This leg of the tour concludes on September 3rd at Madison Square Garden in New York, and The Weeknd will get a little over a month to relax before he gets back on the road to take over Europe and the UK. He heads to London on October 11th to play at the O2 Arena for three nights and will make other stops around the UK as well as in Belgium, Holland, and Germany. The tour will officially come to an end in Paris at the AccorHotels Arena on November 12th. Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster on Friday, February 28th. Check out all the tour dates below to see if The Weeknd is hitting up your city:

North American Dates

June 11 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
June 14 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
June 17 – Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
June 22 – Saint Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
June 24 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
June 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
Jun 27 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
June 29 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
June 30 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
July 2 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell
July 4 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
July 7 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
July 8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
July 11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
July 13 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
July 15 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
July 16 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
July 18 – Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena
July 21 – Orlando, FL @ Anway Center
July 23 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
July 24 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 25 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
July 27 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
July 29 – Salt Lake City, URT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
July 31 – Portland, OR @ Yoda Center
August 1 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
August 3 – Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
August 4 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
August 6 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
August 8 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
August 9 – San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego
August 11 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
August 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
August 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
August 19 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
August 20 – Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
August 22 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
August 23 – Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center Omaha
August 25 – St Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
August 26 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
August 28 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
September 1 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
September 3 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden

European Dates

October 11 – London, UK @ O2 Arena
October 12 – London, UK @ O2 Arena
October 13 – London, UK @ O2 Arena
October 15 – Newcastle, UK @ Metro Radio Arena
October 16 – Birmingham, UK @ Arena Birmingham
October 18 – Glasgow, UK @ SSE Hydro
October 19 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Arena
October 26 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Sportpaleis
October 27 – Amsterdam, Holland @ Ziggo Dome
October 29 – Berlin, Germany @ Mercedes-Benz Arena
October 31 – Munich, Germany @ Olympiahalle
November 8 – Hamburg, Germany @ Barclaycard Arena
November 9 – Cologne, Germany @ Lanxess Arena
November 12 – Paris, France @ AccorHotels Arena