Music

Jill Scott is back with To Whom This May Concern, her first studio album in more than a decade, arriving February 13, 2026 with 19 tracks of grown‑woman neo‑soul, spoken word and jazz‑funk. Critics are calling it one of her most adventurous and empowering projects yet, weaving themes of healing, middle‑aged romance, divorce, community and self‑accountability into lush live‑band production and guest spots from Tierra Whack, Too $hort, JID, Trombone Shorty and more. You can read more in Variety’s

Shaé Universe is making waves this week with her new single “D’ANGELO’S JOINT,” a soulful R&B tribute honoring the late D’Angelo and released to coincide with Black History Month. Written the day after D’Angelo’s death, the song blends Shaé’s airy, church‑trained vocals with a warm, live‑band feel that nods directly to his classic neo‑soul sound while still sitting comfortably in today’s R&B landscape. Visually, the track arrives with a lyric video and social clips built around the evolution of

Kanye West’s career has been shaped as much by shifting relationships as by music. His collaborations have produced landmark albums, but his public breaks with figures like Jay-Z and Pusha T have also become part of his story. Now, a recently surfaced extended interview offers another glimpse into how he sees the current rap landscape. The footage, from a conversation with Justin Laboy on The Download, first aired last year but has reemerged online in a longer cut. During the interview, Laboy

Seventeen just made Tiny Desk history as the first K‑pop group to perform an in‑office concert at NPR, delivering a nine‑song medley with a live band squeezed behind the famous shelves. The set, which Music Connection highlighted in its January “Song Biz” column, strips away arena‑scale production in favor of tight harmonies, reworked choreography for a cramped stage and arrangements tailored to Tiny Desk’s intimate, musician‑forward format. With only part of the group present and an audience o

Metallica are still running their M72 stadium loop into 2026, My Chemical Romance are stretching their Long Live the Black Parade run across another year, and a reunited Rush is out on a “Fifty Something” tour with Anika Nilles behind the kit, selling the kind of tickets algorithm‑pop can’t touch. Loudwire’s tour guide, The Rock + Metal Bands Touring in 2026, treats those acts as just three pillars in a crowded calendar that also includes Iron Maiden, Ghost, System of a Down and Korn doing the

Britney Spears has reportedly sold the rights to her music catalogue. The catalogue includes hit songs like “…Baby One More Time” and “Oops!…I Did It Again,” according to US media reports. Celebrity website TMZ, citing legal documents, reported that the deal was signed on December 30. TMZ sources also estimated the deal could be worth about $200m, although the exact amount was not stated in the documents. Reports said the rights were bought by music publisher Primary Wave. Primary Wave’s po

Bad Bunny headlined the Super Bowl LX halftime show with a Spanish‑language set built around his own catalog and Latin pop collaborators. Over roughly 13 minutes, he performed songs including “Tití Me Preguntó,” “Yo Perreo Sola” and “Voy a Llevarte Pa PR” on a field‑level stage styled to resemble a Puerto Rican neighborhood, with dancers, extras and street‑themed props filling the space. Coverage noted a mix of musical performance and visual storytelling. Outlets highlighted staging elements su

Ghanaian highlife pioneer Ebo Taylor has died at the age of 90, according to statements shared by his family and Ghanaian media on February 8, 2026. A Facebook post from his son Kweku Taylor described him as “a colossus of African music” and said he died on February 7, 2026, shortly after events linked to a new Ebo Taylor music festival and about a month after his 90th birthday. Tributes across social media and local outlets have highlighted both his role in shaping modern Ghanaian highlife and

Nick Jonas has released his new solo album Sunday Best, his first solo project in five years, via Republic Records on February 6, 2026. The 12‑track album features acoustic‑leaning production and focuses on themes including adulthood, relationships and self‑reflection, according to official descriptions and early coverage. Critics note that the project moves away from glossy pop toward a more reflective and stripped‑back sound. Jonas previewed Sunday Best at a “Sunday Best Brunch” event at Nell

Harry Styles’ new single “Aperture” has jumped straight into the upper tier of the Billboard Hot 100, giving him another major chart moment as he rolls out his next era. In the top‑10 rundown for the chart dated February 7, the track “bursts into the top 10,” entering the mix alongside Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might,” while Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” hits a new peak in the same frame, as shown in Billboard’s latest Hot 100 countdown. “Aperture” is already delivering across multiple charts. It h

Kehlani has won Best R&B Performance, for “Folded,” at the 2026 Grammy Awards. They won out over songs by Chris Brown and Bryson Tiller (“It Depends”), Justin Bieber(“Yukon”), Leon Thomas (“Mutt [Live from NPR’s Tiny Desk]”), and Summer Walker(“Heart of a Woman”). View this post on Instagram A post shared by New Dope (@newdopehq) This is Kehlani’s first Grammy win; she also won for Best R&B Song, again for “Folded,” later in the evening. “I’ve never won anything before, this is a really

J. Cole released his highly-anticipated album The Fall-Off on Friday (Feb. 6). Nearly eight years after teasing The Fall-Off with the KOD outro, “1985,” J. Cole has finally delivered what he’s long framed as his final album. The Fall-Off is a double-disc album split into Disc 29 and Disc 39, totaling in 24 songs. The Dreamville honcho recently shared that some of his earliest verses were written at just 19 on The Come Up, when “a delusional teenager from Fayetteville” packed up and headed to NY

J. Cole has revealed the tracklist for The Fall-Off two days ahead of the album’s Friday (Feb. 6) arrival. The double-LP boasts 24 tracks in total. It’s broken down into 11 tracks plus a bonus on each disc, which are titled Disc 29 and Disc 39. It’s possible that the featured guests are being hidden. In addition to Cole, Dreamville cofounder Ibrahim “IB” Hamad, T-Minus and Dreamville are credited as executive producers. The back cover reveals posters of Cole’s hip-hop inspirations, including r

Country‑branded festival Rock the Country has lost at least three performers — Ludacris, Morgan Wade and Carter Faith — amid backlash over the event being labeled a pro‑Trump “MAGA fest.” The festival, promoted with headliners Kid Rock and Jason Aldean, quickly drew criticism from fans who questioned the mix of artists on the bill. Many asked why a 2000s crossover rapper like Ludacris and more left‑leaning or indie‑country performers were appearing alongside outspoken conservative acts. Parade’

Kendrick Lamar has set a new record at the 2026 Grammy Awards, becoming the most-awarded rapper in history with 27 wins, surpassing Jay-Z’s previous record of 25. The 38-year-old took home the award for Best Rap Album for GNX at the start of the ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 2. Later during the broadcast, he also won Record of the Year for "Luther," featuring SZA. "I'm not good at talking about myself, but I express it through the music," Lamar said during his acceptance speech. "It’s an honor to b

Miguel has returned to NPR’s Tiny Desk series with a new performance that connects his early 2010s breakout to his recent work. It is his first Tiny Desk appearance since 2012, when he performed a stripped‑down set soon after “Sure Thing” became one of his signature songs. NPR is presenting the 2026 concert as part of its ongoing Tiny Desk lineup and has published both the video and an accompanying description on its site. The new set, filmed at NPR’s offices, features a live band and a small s

Bad Bunny says “ICE out” in forceful Grammy speech It is music's biggest night - but politics is still playing a leading role at the Grammy Awards. Artists including Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny and British singer Olivia Dean, as well as country star Shaboozy and Cuban-American icon Gloria Estefan, used their wins to call out the Trump administration's continued immigration enforcement operations. Immigration operations have riled multiple cities, most recently Minneapolis, where federal a

Mariah Carey just turned a long‑whispered in‑joke into the emotional centerpiece of her MusiCares Person of the Year tribute. At the Los Angeles Convention Center gala two nights before the Grammys, the organization honored her five‑decade run of pop, R&B, gospel and hip‑hop hits—then surprised her by blasting cuts from her “secret” 90s grunge album while she watched from a front‑row table. Back in 1995, Carey quietly recorded and co‑produced a grunge record called Someone’s Ugly Daughter with

An alleged AI‑powered “Afro‑soul” version of Stromae’s 2013 hit “Papaoutai” has quietly slipped onto Spotify’s global chart, landing at No. 168 with more than a million daily streams and over 14 million overall. The track, credited to Unjaps, mikeeysmind and Chill77, has listeners debating whether the vocals and arrangement are heavily AI‑assisted or just extremely on‑point mimicry. Coverage in outlets like Newsweek frames the song as part of a wave of “AI‑adjacent” remixes that blur the line be

It appears that late rapper Juice WRLD’s music has sprung a leak ahead of the upcoming deluxe version of his posthumous album, The Party Never Ends. XXL broke the news on Tuesday (January 27), revealing that the leak occurred last week. The tracks surfaced on January 24, just weeks before the planned release of The Party Never Ends (Deluxe). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Juice WRLD 9 9 9 (@juicewrld999) The leak reportedly includes songs such as “Lost My Mind,” “Time,” “B

J. Cole has unveiled a second album cover for his long-anticipated seventh album, The Fall-Off. On Thursday (January 29), the two-time Grammy winner shared the new artwork for his upcoming album, which is scheduled to arrive February 6, alongside a backstory on why he’ll have two separate covers. "The Fall-Off that is currently circulating is a picture that I took on a disposable camera when I was 15 years old," Cole wrote in a post on X. "My very first set up. My first beats were made in that

BLACKPINK are closing out their all‑stadium Deadline World Tour tonight in Hong Kong, wrapping a run that started in Seoul last July and hit major markets like Tokyo, Singapore, London and New York. The shows doubled as a preview for Deadline, a new mini‑album that’s set to land shortly after the tour, marking the group’s first multi‑track project together since Born Pink in 2022. During the touring gap, all four members focused on solo work, with releases from Jennie, Rosé and Lisa each reachi

Beyoncé seemingly teased her return to music with an exclusive collection, “Beymine,” ahead of Valentine’s Day.  The intimate set included candles, silky robes, eye masks, rhinestone pasties, and more. Prices range from $40 to $300. Items are available to purchase on the Renaissance singer’s official website. “A LITTLE ROCK N ROLL WITH A WHOLE LOTTA SEXY,” the website reads. According to reports, the singer’s highly anticipated Act III project is set to be released any day. Similar to Act I an

Charli XCX is extending her Brat era into film with The Moment, a new mockumentary that just premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by longtime visual collaborator Aidan Zamiri from an idea Charli helped develop, the movie has her playing an exaggerated version of herself trying to wrap a never‑ending “Brat summer” while a record label, streaming partners and a tour‑film director push her to keep cashing in. The story drops her into late 2024, juggling a concert film for a tech g