With the new year comes a fresh new start. For Brian Imanuel, formerly known as Rich Chigga, that meant dropping his old moniker -- which many had criticized to be racist -- and adopting a new stage name: Brian. Just Brian. The news was initially announced Monday when Imanuel dropped "See Me," a new track from his upcoming debut album Amen, under the name "Brian." He then took to Twitter to confirm the name change writing: "Yes I now go by 'Brian'. I have been planning to do this forever and I'm so happy to finally do it. I was naive & I made a mistake. new year, new beginning, happy new years™."
In a 2016 interview with The FADER, Imanuel explained that he originally picked his former stage name to be "the most controversial shit ever." He acknowledged that he didn't know people were going to react the way they did over it, and said that he "might change it in the future." Looks like the future is now with Imanuel adopting the tamest and most uncontroversial name ever. He's up there with all the other mononym stage name celebrities now: Zayn, Sia, Madonna, etc.
Imanuel has been working on his upcoming debut album, Amen, which is currently scheduled to drop Feb. 2. Listen to "See Me," the latest single from that project, above.
A request for comment on the official name change was not immediately returned.
