It isn’t just the music that’s new for Rob Thomas as he gears up to release All Night Days, his sixth solo album. The 11-song set, coming Sept. 5 and preceded by first single “Hard To Be Happy”/”Thrill Me Now,” will be on Universal Records after Thomas spent 30 years with Atlantic, on his own and with his band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas’ move comes in the wake of a seismic leadership change at Atlantic Music Group that includes the departure of chairperson/CEO Julie Greenwald and other key executives.

“It says a lot when I think I’m the person that’s been at Atlantic longer than anybody else in the building,” Thomas tells Billboard via Zoom. “As we got this record together I was literally having a conversation with the guys at Atlantic Records. We had the team on a Zoom and we’re talking about the marketing, we’re talking about the single, ‘This is gonna be this’ and ‘this is gonna be this.’ Then three days later I got an email…that basically came with an ultimatum for this record: ‘We’d like to restructure your deal. We’d like to do this or this or this.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to do that,’ and they said, ‘Well, how about if we just give you your record? It’s yours, and we can walk away free and clear.’ I was pleased; I was only bummed that it didn’t happen sooner.

“Luckily, as soon as the ink was dry on the docu-sign, I told Monte Lipman over at Universal Republic, and literally in a minute I got a text back that said, ‘Welcome to Republic,’ and that started my new life on Universal.”

Thomas has no hard feelings towards Atlantic, where he released five solo studio albums and another six with Matchbox Twenty. And he’s relieved about the lack of drama in securing a new deal. “It was a very short period of worry — worry’s not even a good word,” says Thomas. “I’m one of the only artists I know who after 30 years has been on the same label and hadn’t made a move to something independent or a different label. (All Night Days) was very important to me. I knew I had made something that was special, something I think my fans are really, really gonna love, so you want to make sure this is gonna have a chance to be heard. That’s where Universal came in with a f–kin’ cape and saved the day.”

Thomas has been working on All Night Days, co-produced by Gregg Wattenberg and Grant Michaels, since during Covid. He had intended to put it out during the early 2020s as the follow-up to 2019’s Chip Tooth Smile (and 2021’s Something About Christmas Time). But as Matchbox Twenty’s planned tour continued to be postponed, the group decided to make its first new album in 11 years, 2023’s Wattenberg-produced Where the Light Goes.

“On that record there’s maybe three songs that would’ve been on the solo record, and then two or three songs that didn’t make the Matchbox record that moved their way over to (All Night Days),” Thomas says. Matchbox Twenty’s other members, in fact, appear on the solo album track “I Believe It,” which drummer Paul Doucette didn’t want to include on the band album. “I had a long time to curate this record; someone asked me the inception date for ‘Hard to Be Happy’ and I looked at it and it was 2020. It was five years ago I had started writing that song. I had more time to sit with those songs and write better songs and go, ‘Let’s replace that with this.’ I think it became a better record for it.”

Thomas wrote “Hard to Be Happy” with Todd Clark and Derek Fuhrmann and says it was “born out of a joke” during a Covid Zoom session. “We’d all been writing a bunch of depressing sh-t, and we were just like, ‘It’s hard to write a happy song. It’s hard to be happy,’” he says. “So we started with that line, ‘It’s hard to be happy,’ and we wrote, I think, what’s musically one of the happiest sounding songs I’ve written, ever. It’s very positive, very fun. I think there’s elements of Harry Nilsson and ‘lime in the coconut’ going on, some weird Caribbean vibe that mixes with a little George Michael ‘Freedom’ and a little David Bowie ‘Young Americans.’ All that was in there.”

Thomas collaborated on the B-side, “Thrill Me,” with Tim Lopez from Plain White T’s. “It’s a love song that couldn’t have been written by somebody not my age,” Thomas explains. “This is a song you play at your recommitment ceremony after 30 years of marriage. It’s a song about how after all this time the other person still excites you and still thrills you.”

Thomas expects to release other singles before All Night Days’ release. (The title came from a conversation with a friend in which Thomas said, “I think my all-night days are over.”) He’ll be previewing songs during his All Night Days Tour, which begins Aug. 1 in Atlanta. “I haven’t gone out solo since 2019,” he notes. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to have a lot of fun with all these other songs here in solo world. And it’s the 20th anniversary of the first solo record, so it seems this is a perfect time to go out.” The touring band, which also played on most of All Night Days, will include Thomas’ son Maison Eudy on guitar

“It’s a weird thing to think it’s been 30 years with (Matchbox), 20 years solo,” says Thomas, who anticipates some special performances with the band for next year’s anniversary, followed by a full-scale tour during 2027. “Everything about it feels simultaneously like it’s happened forever and it just started a couple days ago. Every now and then it just pops up on you; there’s certain hard truths when we look in the mirror, or that our knees are telling us at certain times. But otherwise, creatively, you just feel like there’s gonna be something really great around the bend if I just keep working at it. There’s gonna be something around the corner that’s gonna be great.”

The track list for All Night Days includes:

Thomas’ All Night Days Tour dates include:
Aug 1- Atlanta, GA – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park
Aug 2 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily’s Place
Aug 3 – Boca Raton, FL – Mizner Park Amphitheater
Aug 5 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater
Aug 6 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
Aug 8 – Richmond, VA – Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront
Aug 9 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann
Aug 10 – Washington, DC – The Theater at MGM National Harbor
Aug 12 – New York, NY – Rooftop Pier 17
Aug 13 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug 15 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
Aug 16 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
Aug 18 – Dayton, OH – Rose Music Center @ The Heights
Aug 20 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
Aug 22 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
Aug 23 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
Aug 24 – Detroit, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Aug 26 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
Aug 27 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
Aug 29 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Aug 30 – Houston, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Sept 2 – Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre
Sept 4 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
Sept 5 – Las Vegas, NV – Fontainebleau
Sept 6 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
Oct 24 – Perth, AU – PCEC Riverside Theatre
Oct 25 – Perth, AU – PCEC Riverside Theatre
Oct 27 – Adelaide, AU – AEC Theatre
Oct 29 – Melbourne, AU – Forum
Oct 30 – Melbourne, AU – Forum
Nov 3 – Sydney, AU – Enmore Theatre
Nov 4 – Sydney, AU – Enmore Theatre
Nov 8 – Brisbane, AU – Sandstone Point
Nov 11 – Auckland, AU – KTK Theatre
Nov 13 – Christchurch, NZ – Te Pae
Nov 15 – Wellington, NZ – Michael Fowler Centre

Daddy Yankee, or DY as of recently, is splashing into summer with the joyous, soon-to-be anthem “Sonríele,” which he released on Thursday (July 10).

Marking his first release under HYBE Latin America, a division of HYBE — the company behind BTS, KATSEYE, SEVENTEEN and ENHYPEN — the merengue track is both infectious and uplifting, with DY offering a message of resilience. “Give me a smile,” he sings over a hip-swiveling beat. “Smile at life that joy cures the soul/ Give thanks to the one above for waking up another day and the bad things leave.”

With that a spiritual and hopeful outlook, DY continues his commitment to dedicate his life to Christianity after announcing his retirement from reggaeton in 2022. “This isn’t about a comeback. It’s about connection,” the Puerto Rican hitmaker said about “Sonríele” in a statement. “Life’s not perfect, but we have to smile through it. This song was born from what we live every day — it’s my way of telling people not to give up, to appreciate the little things and never let anyone take their joy away.”

“Sonríele” was preceded by a teaser featuring actor Anthony Ramos, who asks Daddy Yankee if he’s ready, to which he replies, “I’m back.” After spearheading the reggaetón movement with his 2004 breakthrough hit “Gasolina,” DY announced he was “retiring” in 2022, although since he’s released a handful of singles, including “Loveo” and most recently, “En El Desierto.”

The song’s music video was recorded across three locations, including including New York City’s Bushwick neighborhood, where DY once lived and allowed him to “reconnect with the streets that shaped him and the memories of his humble beginnings,” according to a press release.

Watch the “Sonríele” music video below:

Taeil — a K-pop star who found fame as part of SM Entertainment boy band NCT — will spend three and a half years behind bars after pleading guilty to a rape charge.

According to The New York Times, the 31-year-old performer born Moon Tae-il received the ruling in Seoul Central District Court on Thursday (July 10). He reportedly looked “downcast” in the courtroom as Judge Lee Hyun-kyung read out his sentence, calling his crime “severe” and noting that his victim “likely suffered great mental pain” from his actions.

Taeil pleaded guilty in June of raping a Chinese tourist alongside two other men, who also received the same sentence. The crime took place last year, with the musician and his cohorts sexually assaulting a heavily intoxicated woman they’d met at a bar in Seoul earlier that night after taking her to one of the defendants’ homes via taxi. 

The offense — which South Korean law deems “special quasi-rape,” a term reserved for specific cases such as when two or more perpetrators are involved in assaulting an unconscious victim, per the NYT — has a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors had tried for a seven-year sentence, arguing that the three men had deliberately moved their victim to another location so that she would later struggle to remember details of what happened, but the defendants were ultimately given half that amount.  

Taeil and the two other men were reportedly taken into custody immediately after the sentencing. In addition to jail time, they will have to complete a 40-hour sexual violence program.

Billboard has reached out to SM Entertainment for comment. 

The development comes almost a year after SM announced that Taeil had been removed from both NCT and sub-unit NCT 127. At the time, the company shared only that the decision had been made due to the performer being accused of a then-unspecified sex crime. 

“We have recently learned that TAEIL has been accused of a criminal case related to a sexual offense,” read a statement from SM shared with Billboard in August 2024. “While assessing the facts related to this matter, we recognized the severity of the issue and determined that he can no longer continue team activities.”  

“After discussing with TAEIL, it’s been decided that he will withdraw from the team,” continued the statement, which also noted that the star had been fully cooperating with police investigations. “We deeply apologize for the controversy caused by our artist.”

Even before his departure, Taeil’s activities with NCT had been limited for quite some time. In August 2023, he suffered a severe motorcycle accident that necessitated surgery to treat his wounds, leaving him unable to participate in performances and band appearances while he recovered.

NCT 127 hasn’t released music since before Taeil left. The band’s last album, July 2024’s Walk, reached No. 117 on the Billboard 200.

If you or anyone you know is in need of support for victims of sexual violence, reach out to RAINN for free, confidential support via its website or by calling 1-800-656-4673. 

Challenge a good ol’ boy on a tractor to diagram a sentence and the reaction would likely amount to a short grunt.

But play that same guy the new Dylan Marlowe single, “Picture Perfect,” and he’d probably smile over the obscure John Deere reference and appreciate the twist of a common adjective into a verb, even if he couldn’t explain how or why that twist worked. It’s also a sure bet that he’d relate to the song’s topic: the desire to find peace of mind on a piece of land. It’s a slice out of Marlowe’s own story.

“There was a plot of land, it was 80 acres,” he recalls. “We literally were like, ‘This is what we’re wanting to buy. It’s a good deal.’ We literally had driven to the land, looked at the land we were dreaming about, where the house was going to go, where the fence was going to go, where a gate was going to go. Like, we were dreaming these things in a moment.”

Oddly enough, Marlowe was fenced out from the initial writing session when that property emerged as a song idea. Marlowe’s then-current single, the Dylan Scott collaboration “Boys Back Home,” was at No. 12 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and when Nate Smith came up sick, Marlowe was a last–minute fill-in for Audacy’s Stars and Strings acoustic concert in Hollywood, Fla., last November.

Marlowe’s “Boys Back Home” co-writers, Seth Ennis and Joe Fox, encouraged him to take the gig and promote the single, as did Play It Again Music founder Dallas Davidson, Marlowe’s manager and publisher. Those three kept the writing appointment they’d set for that day, and in Marlowe’s absence, they decided to tailor something for him. Ennis had a title, “Picture Perfect,” that would typically work as a two-word adjective, as in “picture-perfect wedding.” But Marlowe had told Fox in a phone call the previous night about driving with his wife, Natalie, to view the 80-acre plot. Fox thought they could employ “picture” as a verb, something like, “When you picture us, picture perfect.”

“Joe made it a little more interesting,” Davidson says. “I’m like, ‘I’m in, let’s write this thing.’ ”

They started from the top, verbally re-creating Marlowe’s experience with the property, describing the land and the way a house might fit with the tree line. It led directly to a chorus that opened with that verb — “Baby, close your eyes and picture perfect” — before drawing on homey images: handprints in the concrete, pencil marks on the door frame. And Davidson placed a 4020 in the barn, referencing a John Deere model that he’d inserted into a previous Luke Bryan track, only to have Bryan remove it.

“That’s an iconic tractor,” Davidson recalls. “You had a no-cab 4020 — I drove one when I was 15 years old, working pecans. A guy named Junior taught me how to drive a 4020, and I’m glad that made it in there.”

“If people question it,” Marlowe adds, “that might give them something to go look up. It might make them pay attention.”

After the 4020 line, Ennis extended the “picture” verb to the next level: “Baby, picture baby pictures in the hallway.”

“I didn’t know if it was a thing at first,” Ennis says. “I was like, ‘Hey, would it be dumb if we said, “Baby, picture baby pictures”? Is that lame to say the same thing twice?’ And then Dallas, who’s this multi-hit songwriter, looks at me and he’s like, ‘What are you talking about, dude? That’s awesome.’ ”

As they finished the first verse and chorus, they began hearing the melody as something better suited for Bryan, so they reworked it.

“Seth kind of spit out a new chorus melody,” Fox recalls. “It was a completely different vibe, like different chords, different melody. But we had the lyrics, so we kind of went and just revised it to be a little more Dylan.”

Davidson suggested they halt there so Marlowe could work on the next verse and make it even “more Dylan.” They emailed a guitar/vocal version to Marlowe, who -listened to it repeatedly on the flight back to Nashville the next day. Once he was home, he wrote a second verse and a bridge on the porch, outlining how the amount of road work he was taking on was to provide financial roots for the couple’s dream.

“I was working my butt off, playing shows, trying to save so much money, and also just confirming [the motivation],” Marlowe says. “Women like to be reaffirmed that you’re doing that kind of thing.”
Marlowe’s co-writers gave the new sections a thumbs-up, and Ennis cut a new guitar/vocal version that pulled the whole thing together.

Fox produced the master at Sound Stage, intent on finding a middle ground: enough bite to elevate its sound beyond ballad territory but slow enough to convey its seriousness and sincerity.

“The tempo of this song was a pain in the butt to figure out,” Marlowe says.

Ilya Toshinskiy laid down an oscillating, two-note acoustic guitar figure as a foundation, and the rest of the arrangement adhered to that part, particularly a simple six-note up-and-back riff that blended a Fox vocal pass with Scotty Sanders’ steel guitar and Dobro.

“Joe did the perfect amount of having it rocking, but it also serves what the song is talking about,” Ennis says. “You don’t necessarily want rock’n’roll, in-your-face screaming guitars when you’re talking about what this song is talking about. I think that he nailed the vibe.”

They scrapped the bridge so they could get back to the chorus sooner, and Fox weaved in a notably spare guitar section.

“I’m not a fan of shredding guitar solos,” Fox says. “In the ’80s hair metal days, which I like, they always found a way to make the guitar solo a part of the song so you could sing the solo back.”

Sony Music Nashville’s Columbia imprint released “Picture Perfect” to country radio through PlayMPE on May 12 as the follow-up to “Boys Back Home,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart dated Jan. 18.

“Ken [Robold] and Taylor [Lindsey] are new at Sony as the heads, and they are firm believers in songs, which I appreciate,” Marlowe says. “They just said, ‘Hey, this is a good song. It may not have the same numbers as “Boys Back Home” off the bat, but we believe in this song, and we believe you when you sing it.’ It was very mutual.”