Last year, Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus appeared on CBS This Morning and announced that their 20th-anniversary tour would also be the official farewell tour for Rascal Flatts, as each wanted to pursue other creative endeavors. However, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the tour plans, and those Flatts dates were never rescheduled.

Now, in an interview with People, LeVox says there is more to the story and that the band’s breakup was initiated by Rooney.

“I’ve never been okay with the way that it ended,” LeVox told the outlet, adding, “I wasn’t happy that Joe Don quit.”

“It kind of came out of nowhere,” LeVox said. “It was like, ‘Let me try to wrap my head around this.’ And then I certainly wasn’t okay with the pandemic, which canceled everything. I hate the way that it ended. I hate that we didn’t get to do this farewell tour. I can’t stand the fact that it just feels there’s no closure with something that we’ve been so blessed with. That will always be in my heart.”

As the group’s 2020 tour dates were already on hold due to the pandemic, the group disbanded quietly, with LeVox pursuing a solo career and releasing the recent Christian album One on One. Meanwhile, DeMarcus released a tribute to his late father with “Music Man,” and also runs the CCM label Red Street Records.

In August, Rooney joined DeMarcus at the the ACM Honors ceremony to accept the Cliffie Stone Icon Award for Rascal Flatts, though LeVox was not in attendance. Last month, Rooney was charged with a DUI near Nashville. LeVox told People he has not spoken with Rooney since the incident.

“I think God gets your attention in different ways,” LeVox told People. “I just wish him the best and I hope he gets everything that he needs to get well and take care of whatever issues he’s got going on. There’s power in prayer.”

According to LeVox’s official website, he has several solo shows slated through October and November.

On Thursday, the Democratic Party of Virginia posted and then pulled down “Swifties Against Youngkin” merchandise from their web store.

The move follows Terry McAuliffe — the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor — running ads across Facebook, Instagram and Google starting Tuesday that highlighted his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin’s connection to the sale of Taylor Swift’s masters back in June 2019. Youngkin was the co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, which helped back Scooter Braun’s infamous purchase of Swift’s Big Machine master recordings. The digital ads included photos of Swift and the hashtag #WeStandWithTaylor.

“Did you know that Republican candidate for Governor, Glenn Youngkin, helped buy Taylor Swift’s masters out from under her when he was co-CEO of Carlyle Group?” one of the targeted ads states.

Piggybacking off the ads, the Democratic Party of Virginia started selling hats, mugs and buttons with the phrase “Swifties Against Youngkin” emblazoned on them in magenta writing, as reported by Washingtonian magazine on Thursday. A screenshot of the merch was tweeted Friday (Oct. 8) by Mediate reporter Katherine Higgins.

(4/7) In the wake of the ad, the VA Democratic Party started selling Swift-themed merch, such as buttons, sweatshirts and hats on a page called “Swifties Against Youngkin.” pic.twitter.com/moOekQ4hGW

— Katherine Huggins (@katherinehuggi) October 8, 2021

There’s no word yet why the merch was pulled, but back in February 2017, Swift filed a series of trademarks for the word “Swifties” — the nickname for her fanbase.

Swift’s spokeswoman has not responded to requests to comment about the singer/songwriter’s unwitting involvement in the Virginia gubernatorial race.

In a statement to Billboard about McAuliffe’s Swiftie-targeting ad campaign, Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Manuel Bonder said: “No matter the industry, Youngkin has shown he would rip off anyone for a profit. What happened here is a continuation of Glenn Youngkin’s abhorrent track record of shipping jobs overseas, raising rents on seniors, and harming working families across our country. When it comes to Taylor Swift’s music: What did Glenn know and when did he know it? Virginians deserve answers.”

For his part, Youngkin rep Christian Martinez responded: “Terry McAuliffe has reached the stage of desperation in his campaign where he’s rolling out the most baseless attacks to see what sticks. It’s a pathetic fall that could only be achieved by a 43-year political hack.”

Swift is now re-recording her first six records as a response to the sale of her master recordings, beginning with the April release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and continuing Nov. 12 with Red (Taylor’s Version).

Adele is gearing up to release her fourth studio album, which fans believe is titled 30 due to mysterious billboards that have popped up around the world. The British singer recently sat down with British and American Vogue to share several details about the upcoming release, including lyrical content, song inspirations and overarching themes on the album.

Below, we’ve rounded up the most important revelations from Adele’s interviews with Vogue.

Don’t Expect a “Hello” Anthem

In Adele’s interview, she mentioned that she hasn’t tried to replicate the success of “Hello,” which hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015. “I don’t want another song like that. That song catapulted me in fame to another level that I don’t want to happen again. I’m not saying I’ve got ‘Hello’s in my pocket. I was just conscious that I didn’t want my story on this album to sound like that,” the singer explained.

It’s Her Most Personal Album

“It’s sensitive for me, this record, just in how much I love it,” Adele told American Vogue. “I always say that 21 doesn’t belong to me anymore. Everyone else took it into their hearts so much. I’m not letting go of this one. This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don’t think I’ll ever let this one go.”

The “Rolling In the Deep” singer also shared that she placed her personal interests at the forefront of making the record. “I was drunk as a fart on 21; I really don’t remember much, I just remember being really sad. On 25, I was obviously sober as anything, because I was a new mum. That one, I was sort of more in tune with what I thought people might want or not want. With this one,” she said of the upcoming release, “I made the very conscious decision to be like, for the first time in my life, actually, ‘What do I want?’”

“I feel like this album is self-destruction,” Adele added, “then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption. But I feel ready. I really want people to hear my side of the story this time.”

Though the 33-year-old spent a large portion of her interview discussing her divorce from ex-husband Simon Konecki, fans shouldn’t expect the album to be solely about their split. “I assumed it would be about my divorce, but it’s kind of not,” with the magazine describing the body of work as “her usual singer-songwriter gear to midnight chanteuse to chilled Balearic club at sundown.”

Several Lyrics Have Been Released 

The singer revealed that “Easy On Me” will be the first single from the album after sharing a snippet of the song on Oct. 5. The clip didn’t include any lyrics, but the feature revealed some lines from the piano-heavy track: “Go easy on me baby/ I was still a child/ Didn’t get the chance to/ Feel the world around me.”

Adele did not share any of the song’s titles with the interviewers, but the writers shared two additional sets of lyrics: “My little love/ I see your eyes/ Widen like an ocean/ When you look at me/ So full of my emotions” and “I just want to love you for free/ Everybody wants something from me/ You just want me,” lines from two separate songs.

There Are No Traditional Features

While there are no official artist features on Adele’s album, the singer did incorporate VoiceNotes from Tyler, the Creator and Skepta on the record. “I thought it might be a nice touch, seeing as everyone’s been at my door for the last 10 years, as a fan, to be like, Would you like to come in?” she said.

Adele’s friends also make an appearance on the record, singing the words “Just hold on, just hold on,” over and over on a gospel-infused track. “The thing that they’re all singing is what my friends used to say to me,” she explained. “That’s why I wanted them to sing it, rather than an actual choir.”