These last 15 months dest - the creator and founder of What’s Nu? Magazine - has written, printed, published and shipped every single issue. Until we can figure out a more sustainable way of managing her workload we are putting things on pause. Rather than mourn this state of affairs, I’d like to celebrate what she has accomplished.
The world’s first monthly new nu metal magazine. All of it spearheaded by someone not even old enough to rent a car. I’m a bit too floored by the accomplishment to properly give it the right tribute but wow. What were you doing at 19? I bet it wasn’t this. Over this last year and a half I have watched dest invest her entire heart and soul into every word of every issue. She has carved out a distinct writing style and visual aesthetic that blends the professional with the personal. She has managed a team of talented writers and editors to make each issue even better than the last. Bands that no legacy publication would give the time of day to have gotten to see themselves in print, their faces and names on a piece of media that you cannot scroll away from. Those pages belong to them, forever.
Every issue has been stellar but my favorite will always be Issue #006. Instead of spotlighting a particular band, we turned the attention to the legions of young people that have found a sense of belonging in a genre that the wider world rejected outright years ago. Kids as young as 15 speaking passionately about their love for bands like Sevendust and Snot. That’s incredible. Modern social media’s endless scroll makes it feel like there is no past and no future but sometimes you have to bring your head up above water and recognize the present moment for its singular beauty. Almost nobody cared about these bands a decade ago, now they’re so commonly talked about it’s something that can be taken for granted.
Dest has been the voice of that generation for these last 15 months and, I anticipate in one way or another, she will continue to be. Although she has handled a very adult set of responsibilities in an extremely professional manner (seriously, 15 issues all done and ready to ship by the first of each month) it is so important to remember that everyone deserves a break sometimes. She has earned each and every second of this one.
What’s Nu? Magazine as it has existed for these last 15 months is coming to an end but also it is not. These pages are forever, you cannot take that away from those who were printed upon them. You can’t archive or delete or format what we, what she, has done. Our interconnected, internet lifestyles have made things feel either so big or so small that it has become near impossible to size up situations for what they are. 15 issues of a magazine devoted to new music is very big. And wherever What's Nu? goes next, I'm betting it will be even bigger.
What’s Nu? Magazine. A monthly magazine dedicated to what's new in nu, created by dest and published by The Nu Metal Agenda. 2025 - infinity.
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