Justin Vernon is preparing to release 22, A Million at the end of this week, his third project under the Bon Iver name and first since Bon Iver, Bon Iver came out way back in 2011. It’s almost certainly going to be stunning. But first…

In an interview with The Guardian yesterday, Vernon talked about his principles:

“You can never be self-righteous, but it’s okay to be a little righteous,” he says. “You have to believe in something. Like, I’d prefer Beyoncé didn’t do a Pepsi tour. Do not take two million dollars from Pepsi and be a role model for young girls. Do not do that. That stuff does anger me. And I feel like I am not afraid to talk about that stuff.”

It’s an interesting take from Vernon, which got us—and everybody else—thinking about this:

…and this:

Consequence of Sound

Hey, maybe The Guardian left out a very important quote from Vernon in which he took himself to task for the Bushmills tie-in; he’s a personable and seemingly pretty self-deprecating guy, so much so that to imagine him boldly hopping up onto his pedestal here doesn’t really add up.

And it’s worth remembering what Tom Waits once said: “you can glue decals all over your head that say ‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘Pepsi’ and advertise cigarettes and underwear. That’s one way to get across. You know, like race drivers that have every product known to man tattooed across the side of their car. And a lot of groups choose to align themselves with big companies to underwrite their tours. I hate that shit.” Not only is that the basic message of Vernon’s complaint here, it’s pretty much the exact criticism that he seems to have of Beyoncé​, right down to the brand itself.

Thing is, even Tom Waits advertized dog food in the ’80s​. So yeah, maybe Vernon should pick his battles, maybe ​The Guardian’​s interview lost some of Vernon’s tone in transcription. But nobody is without Sin.

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