Deftones‘ Private Music is private music no longer, with the rock band dropping its 10th studio album on Friday (Aug. 21) for all the world to hear after more than a month of buildup.

Led by singles “My Mind Is a Mountain” and “Milk of the Madonna,” Private Music features 11 tracks total. The rest of the tracklist features “Locked Club,” “Ecdysis,” “Infinite Source,” “Souvenir” “Cxz,” “I Think About You All the Time,” “Cut Hands,” “~Metal Dream” and “Departing the Body.”

Recorded and produced in part in Malibu and Joshua Tree in California, the project marks the bandmates’ first full-length since 2020’s Ohms. Peaking at No. 5, the latter became Deftones’ sixth top 10 hit on the Billboard 200.

The release of Private Music comes about six weeks after the rockers first announced the album, sharing its simplistic cover art — an albino snake curled up on a bright green surface — on social media and writing simply, “private music | out august 22.” That same day, Deftones dropped “My Mind Is a Mountain,” with “Milk of Madonna” arriving about one month later.

The band has since been getting fans ready for the long-awaited new record by hosting a string of private listening parties leading up to Private Music‘s release. The sessions took place Aug. 19-21 in Amsterdam, Mexico City, Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, New York City, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver,
Berlin, Paris and, of course, Deftones’ home city of Sacramento.

Before that, the band kicked off a North American headline tour that has already included shows at NYC’s famed Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum in L.A. Next up, Deftones will play a string of dates in Canada — starting with a performance in Vancouver on Friday — followed by more shows in the U.S.

Listen to Deftones’ new album Private Music below.

After a five-year recording hiatus, Teyana Taylor is heralding her return with Escape Room. The singer-songwriter, dancer-choreographer and actress-director’s anticipated fourth studio album (out Aug. 22) is being released via Taylormade Enterprises, Inc./Def Jam Recordings. And in further celebration of her next musical chapter, Taylor has partnered with Amazon Music for an exclusive livestream of her new short film, also titled Escape Room, on the album’s release date (8 p.m. PT).

Prefaced by the previously issued singles “Long Time” and “Bed of Roses,” the 22-track Escape Room finds Taylor expressing the raw emotions she experienced in finding her escape route from life’s turmoils to a stronger sense of self and healing. Underscoring that journey are empowering narratives from a diverse female chorus featuring Taraji P. Henson, Sarah Paulson, La La Anthony, Niecy Nash and Kerry Washington, among others. In addition to the aforementioned singles, other notable tracks include “Pum Pum” featuring Jill Scott and Tyla, “Hard Part” featuring Lucky Daye and “Open Invite” with Kaytranada. Taylor’s daughters Junie Shumpert and Rue Rose Shumpert appear on the album’s moving closing track “Always.”

While speaking with Billboard about ending her musical retirement, Taylor — who recently underwent emergency vocal cord surgery — described herself as a “Glade plug-in: I’m going to plug in wherever I see a socket, wherever I see an outlet … Coming back to music and being able to do it on my terms was a big turn-on for me.”

One of those creative outlets was the opportunity to write, direct, produce and star in the album’s accompanying, same-titled short film. Done under the banner of her all-female production company, The Aunties, this visual representation also features key songs from the project. Following the livestream on both Amazon Music’s app and Twitch channel, actress-producer Lena Waithe will moderate a Q&A with Taylor. Viewers can watch post-livestream on Prime Video here. A trailer is also available now.

In the press release announcing Amazon Music’s livestream, Taylor says, “Escape Room isn’t just a film or an album; it’s a world I built to live in, bleed in and heal in. I poured my heart into every layer, from the story to the sound, to capture that journey we all take through the shadows of heartbreak, whether that’s love lost, friendships broken, dreams deferred and guide you toward the lightness of healing. It’s the visual representation of my scars, the picture of my healing and a mirror for anyone ready to face their own truth. This is more than a story… it’s a place to break free.”

Listen to Escape Room below.

Country’s favorite rapper BigXthaPlug released his highly-anticipated I Hope You’re Happy album on Friday (Aug. 21).

The country-trap effort delves into all the emotions surrounding a recent relationship BigX was in that resulted in the couple going their separate ways.

The Dallas native tapped a handful of country stars to join him on the effort, including Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Luke Combs, Bailey Zimmerman, Thomas Rhett, Tucker Wetmore, Shaboozey and Ella Langley.

BigX credited a Billboard interview at the top of the year with pushing him to complete a country project. During his chat with Billboard, he teased that he had the pillars of a project jumping into country ready, but the truth was that none of that was actually in motion at the time.

“I go and do a Billboard interview and I straight up say, ‘I got a country project on the way,’” he told the New York Times’ Popcast. “And I never had a country project on the way… I wasn’t thinking properly, they had just made me cry in the middle of the interview… We come back and I’m kinda trying to change the narrative, ‘I got a country project on the way.’ After I was like, ‘Damn.’

He continued: “I said that and my team was like, ‘You know you gotta do it now, right?’ Days later, You got Jelly Roll saying [he wants in on the album] and we getting demo after demo from all these other artists.”

I Hope You’re Happy, which BigX originally titled Not Just Country, serves as his first project since 2024’s Take Care, which debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Stream I Hope You’re Happy below.

The band’s Los Angeles shows may still be weeks away, but Oasis fever has already reached Los Angeles, with the Wednesday (Aug. 20) opening of the Oasis Live ’25 Fan Store on Hollywood Boulevard.

The first Fan Store to open in North America amid the band’s current world tour comes ahead of their two-night takeover at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on. Sept. 6-7.

Located in the heart of Hollywood, the store was properly buzzing on opening day, with a line of fans snaked around the corner and the group’s greatest hits blasting through the speakers inside as Oasis fans young and old shopped.

The space is populated with merchandise specific to the band’s current reunion tour — its first run since splitting in 2009 — along with more general Oasis swag, including T-shirts, jackets, hoodies, stickers, coffee mugs, tote bags, a selection of children’s clothing and, naturally, several varieties of bucket hats.

The store’s offerings also include the band’s official collaboration with Adidas, a collection that includes track suits, soccer jerseys and more and which was moving off shelves and over to the cash registers at a brisk pace. But even those without funds to spend can walk away with some memorabilia, as the store includes an installation emulating the cover of the group’s 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe, where fans can take photos and show off their best Liam-lying-down pose.

The store’s Los Angeles location is the first of several North American Oasis Live ’25 Fan Stores. The Toronto shop opened Thursday (Aug. 21); the New York location opens on Aug. 23; and the Chicago store launches Aug. 26. These shops are opening ahead of the band’s dates in each of these cities, with the Toronto performances up first on Aug. 24-25, Chicago on Aug. 28, the New York City-adjacent shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug. 31-Sept. 1, Los Angeles on Sept. 6-7, and Mexico City on Sept. 12-13.

See photos from opening at the Los Angeles shop below.

Legendary British rock band Muse has signed with Brent Smith at Wasserman Music, Billboard has confirmed. Muse was previously represented by United Talent Agency.

Muse is one of the most successful rock bands in live music, grossing more than $200 million in ticket sales since 2000, with more than 3.1 million tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore. Formed in the British seaside town of Teignmouth, Devon, in the mid-1990s, Muse is made up of Matthew Bellamy on guitar and vocals, Chris Wolstenholme on bass and Dominic Howard on drums.

Muse headlined Madrid’s Cool festival in 2025, Germany’s Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival in 2023, Reading and Leeds in 2017 and Glastonbury in 2016. The trio has also headlined BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Download Festival, Rock in Rio, Coachella, Isle of Wight, Big Day, Pinkpop and many more.

Muse has sold more than 30 million albums globally, won multiple Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, NME Awards and taken home two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, first with The Resistance (2009) and later with Drones (2015).

Since launching, Muse has undertaken nine major tours across North and South America, Europe and Asia. The band’s Simulation Theory World Tour in 2019 featured a mix of iconic arenas, stadiums, festivals including Madison Square Garden in New York, Stade de France in Paris and Foro Sol in Mexico City. The band’s Will of the People World Tour in 2022 and 2023, carried that momentum forward, hitting the United Center in Chicago, Stadio Olimpico in Rome and Kuala Lumpur’s National Stadium.