Justin Bieber‘s new album, Swag, is dominating the Billboard charts in Canada.

On the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, Swag debuts at No. 1 — knocking Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem down to No. 2, after it spent eight weeks at the top. Swag marks Bieber’s first full-length project since Justice in 2021, which also peaked at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums chart and notched five weeks in the top spot.

The second project from rapper Travis Scott‘s label showcase Jackboys, dubbed Jackboys 2, is at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart, but debuts at No. 2 in Canada behind Bieber.

Bieber’s surprise album, released July 11, also grabs 17 spots on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, dated July 26, in its first week. Of the 21-song album, two tracks cracked the top 10 on the Canadian Hot 100: “Daisies” at No. 2 and “Yukon” at No. 8. In his home country, Bieber boasts 38 top 10 career hits — most recently “Stay” with The Kid LAROI, which spent 12 weeks at the top in 2021.

While Swag leans into Bieber’s pop and R&B roots, the project prioritizes experimental production and instrumentation. While he worked with longtime collaborator Harv, Swag includes influences from songwriters and producers Carter Lang, Dijon, mk.gee and Eddie Benjamin — to name a few. Canadian R&B star Daniel Caesar, who was featured on Bieber’s 2021 No. 1 hit “Peaches,” is credited as a writer and producer on “Devotion,” which debuts at No. 50 on the chart.

Though he said he was coming for No. 1, Drake‘s “What Did I Miss?” moves down from No. 2 to No. 7, while “Nokia” sits at No. 39. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” remains at No. 1 for its 15th week.

Read more on the Canadian charts here. 

SOCAN Sues Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) Over Licensing Fees: Report

Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) is being sued by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) for copyright infringement and failure to pay royalties for approximately three years.

SOCAN, which is responsible for granting licences and collecting royalties on licensed music in Canada, claims in the lawsuit filed in federal court that since at least July 2022, the festival’s organizers “have failed to obtain a license from SOCAN and have not paid any royalties or submitted any report forms to SOCAN.”

The court claim for copyright infringement, which was filed July 3 (the same day the festival began), cites The Festival international d’été de Québec Inc. and BLEUFEU as defendants in the case.

“Bleufeu and Festival d’été de Québec operate FEQ, one of Canada’s largest music festivals, drawing a total attendance of 1.4 million over 11 days and generating tens of millions in revenue each year,” SOCAN writes in a statement on their website. “While Festival d’été de Québec is a registered charity, the performances it presents are virtually indistinguishable from those of its for-profit competitors, and Canadian law still requires it to pay licensing fees for those performances.”

On Saturday (July 12), FEQ released a statement to Canadian Press that “fair remuneration, in accordance with the highest industry standards,” is one of the festival’s core values.

The organizers questioned SOCAN’s motives for “filing legal proceedings in the middle of the festival, despite discussions that had been ongoing until very recently” and that “proceeding in English, in the context of a Quebec cultural event, seems inappropriate and disconnected from the reality of the community.” FEQ said it had a different interpretation of the law from SOCAN and that other comparable organizations shared the same interpretation.

On Tuesday (July 22), SOCAN released another statement on its website, “On Fair Compensation for Music Creators from Canadian Festivals.” In it, the organization said the timing was driven by legal constraints, and that the claim had to be filed by July 6 in order to include all performances from the 2022 festival.

The page includes a Q&A about SOCAN license fees, along with how and to whom they are distributed. Festivals are required by the Copyright Board of Canada to pay license fees to SOCAN in the amount of 3% of ticket sales and the equivalent of 3% of the amount paid to performers for free concerts, the organization wrote.

“All entities, regardless of tax status, must pay license fees for commercial live performances in public of musical works. The Copyright Act provides a limited exception in some cases for charitable organizations — but this doesn’t apply when admission is charged or when the performers, technicians, producers, vendors, or others working at the concert are paid.”

Aside from FEQ, SOCAN confirms in the statement that they are also pursuing other proceedings “infringing festival performances.”

One of Canada’s biggest music festivals, FEQ, concluded on Sunday, July 13, after 11 days of programming. This year’s iteration boasted popular artists from across the genre spectrum, including Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Shania Twain, Def Leppard, Slayer and Benson Boone. 

Canadian Woman Dies at Weekend 1 of Belgium’s Tomorrowland Music Festival

A Canadian woman has reportedly died after attending the Tomorrowland music festival on Friday (July 18).

The unnamed 35-year-old “became unwell on the festival grounds” at the event’s opening night in Boom, Belgium, a small city outside of Antwerp, according to a statement from Tomorrowland spokeswoman Debby Wilmsen to the Canadian Press.

She “received first aid on site,” and was taken to the University Hospital of Antwerp, where she later died on Saturday morning (July 19).

“This morning, we were saddened to learn of her death. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and loved ones,” said Wilmsen.

Currently, Belgian authorities are investigating the woman’s death at one of the world’s largest electronic music festivals.

Global Affairs Canada said it is aware of reports that a Canadian woman had died in Belgium, but would not release information due to privacy considerations.

The news comes after Tomorrowland’s main stage was destroyed by fire on July 16, casting doubt on whether the festival would go on. The following day, the festival opened as scheduled with an alternative stage still under construction.

Tomorrowland draws electronic music enthusiasts from all over the world. This year’s event features DJs including David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Eric Prydz, Sofi Tukker, Lost Frequencies and Charlotte de Witte.

Tomorrowland runs across two weekends, July 18-20 and July 25-27, and is expecting about 400,000 attendees this year.

Black Sabbath was scary from the start. The first song on its debut album — both called “Black Sabbath” — opens with the sounds of a rainstorm and church bells, then a wicked guitar riff. Then Ozzy Osbourne howls a question: “What is this that stands before me?” When the album came out, in early 1970, it was, pardon the pun, a hell of a question. Led Zeppelin had released its first album a year before, but Sabbath was darker, sludgier, laden with doom. The band’s psychedelic visions were dark and haunted, as far from the colorful optimism of flower power as its native Birmingham, U.K., was from San Francisco.  

The first four Sabbath albums — the debut, followed by Paranoid, Master of Reality and Vol. 4 — laid out the blueprint for the entire genre of heavy metal. Osbourne’s success with Sabbath would propel him into a successful solo career as a recording artist and a top touring act. What’s harder to figure out — the light mystery at the heart of the Prince of Darkness — is how he became a sitcom dad in The Osbournes, remained popular enough until this summer to headline the “Back to the Beginning” concert in Birmingham on July 5 and loomed large enough as an icon to receive a tequila-poured tribute from Drake that made it into the paper of record. In the end, even the Gray Lady bowed.  

His secret, I suspect, was not taking himself too seriously.  

This might sound bonkers considering just how serious Sabbath sounded — not to mention how genuinely frightening Osbourne seemed in the eighties. As a pre-teen early in that decade, I heard rumors that Osbourne bit the head off a live bat (true, but he thought it was fake), did the same to a dove (apparently true) and sacrificed live chickens onstage during his show (I can find no evidence of this, although he apparently once put a chicken full of antifreeze on a fence to scare away coyotes). This sounded dangerous — but, since parents hated it, possibly also fun.  

Two decades later, he was a befuddled sitcom dad, struggling to figure out how to work the remote control on The Osbournes. He didn’t seem frightening at all — just slightly confused, dedicated to his family, knowing about his flaws, and much more plainly decent than anyone would have suspected. This figure who once menaced parents was a parent himself — one who just happened to have a job as a rock star.  

The reason this worked was that Osbourne was in on the joke. It didn’t always seem that way — mostly because he mumbled. But he knew that the idea that the Prince of Darkness couldn’t housetrain his dogs was comedy gold. And, like few other rock stars, he wasn’t afraid to laugh at himself.  

This might seem like slight praise, but how many aging pop stars, especially in rock, realize that, on some level, they are professional entertainers doing a young person’s job? (They can also be serious artists! This isn’t mutually exclusive.) This also changed with the times. In the ’70s and ’80s, a little mystique went a long way — Led Zeppelin hardly ever appeared on television, and it probably helped. By the end of the nineties, maintaining an image seemed tired — the radical move was to embrace exposure, deflate the myth, offer a view backstage, or at least a limited view of it.  

Osbourne became bigger than ever. The Osbournes boosted Osbourne’s albums and Ozzfest, and he was on the cover of Rolling Stone in May 2002 and then again in July. In 2004, MTV created “Battle for Ozzfest,” a contest to win a spot on the tour — booking as a revenue stream. His wife, Sharon Osbourne, became a celebrity in her own right, the wickedly funny host of a UK talk show, judge on the UK X-Factor and co-host of The Talk. Sometimes, she was the truly scary one, extreme and even vindictive in the defense of her client and husband. Every artist should be so lucky.  

Osbourne slowed down after his 2018 “No More Tours II” concerts — they took place a full quarter decade after his “No More Tours” shows — and his music, at least before his death, didn’t stream in a way that reflected his fame and his appeal as a touring act. He took quite a final bow, however, at “Back to the Beginning,” an all-star metal show that raised £140 million ($188.4 million) for Acorns Children’s Hospice, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Cure Parkinson’s. It seems like quite a charitable move for a guy who started his career singing about Satan. But the truth is that Osbourne was both more complicated than he appeared — and at the same time not so complicated at all.  

Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah, roma-roma-ma, Gaga, ooh Labubu … Lady Gaga is getting in on a certain plushie craze.

In a whimsical TikTok posted Friday (July 25), the pop superstar filmed herself seemingly getting ready backstage for a concert, all dressed up in one of her Mayhem Ball tour outfits. With her hair teased into the shape of two bunny ears — similar to those sported by the fuzzy little monster keychains you keep seeing attached to everyone’s bags and purses — Gaga says in a silly, high-pitched voice, “I’m a Labubu!”

“Labubu!” she repeats before sticking her tongue out slightly at the camera.

For those not yet in on the trend, Labubus are collectible dolls sold by Chinese brand Pop Mart. With sharp teeth and goblin-like faces peeking out of their variously colored fur suits, the toys are basically just portable little monsters — an especially fitting product for Gaga, considering the name of her fanbase.

Mother Monster’s funny video comes shortly after she finished the second of three Mayhem shows at San Francisco’s Chase Center, at which she’ll play one more concert on July 26. The Grammy winner’s trek kicked off earlier in July with three performances in Las Vegas, and Gaga will continue touring through North America, Europe and Australia throughout the rest of 2025.

The trek comes in support of Gaga’s Mayhem album, which dropped this past May. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the project found the A Star Is Born actress returning to her dark dance-pop roots.

“Part of my personal mayhem is that it’s fun, and that’s why I keep doing it,” she told Billboard of the LP in a March interview. “That’s what makes it complicated — it is dark, and it pulls me away from myself, but it’s also the best time. It’s that point where you’re at the party, and you’re totally numbing out, and you’ve fully accepted that by the morning you are not going to feel well, but you’re fully in it.”

Watch Gaga’s TikTok below.

@ladygaga

🎶ga bu bu

♬ original sound – ladygaga

Tyler, the Creator is for the kids. After a fan requested that Tyler bring a clean version of Don’t Tap the Glass to streaming services, the Grammy-winning artist answered the call and came through on Friday (July 25).

The edited edition of Don’t Tap the Glass is now on Apple Music, marking the first time Tyler has released clean versions of his albums on streaming platforms, which is sure to make parents across the country happy.

A fan tweeted at Tyler on Tuesday (July 22), hoping to get a clean version to jam to the new album with his younger brother.

As the saying goes, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, and this one swished through the net. “YO @tylerthecreator are you gonna put out a clean version? my lil brother tryna dance too,” the user wrote.

Tyler responded hours later, saying he was “on it.” Promises were made, and promises were delivered on Friday. “Done,” he followed up to show that the mission was complete. “DONT TAP THE GLASS clean version OUT NOW,” Tyler added on X.

on it https://t.co/Iz3VR1GvvP

— T (@tylerthecreator) July 22, 2025

DONE https://t.co/Iz3VR1FXGh

— T (@tylerthecreator) July 25, 2025

DONT TAP THE GLASS
clean version OUT NOW pic.twitter.com/FZxpBFG0X2

— T (@tylerthecreator) July 25, 2025

Don’t Tap the Glass arrived on Monday (July 21), boasting 10 tracks with features from Pharrell, Yebba and Madison McFerrin.

While he dropped off his ninth studio album earlier this week, Tyler is still on the road in support of Chromakopia. The North American trek continues on Friday with a show in Toronto before returning to the U.S. for a pair of dates in New Jersey.

Stream the clean version of Don’t Tap the Glass if you please here.

Kehlani‘s childhood idol is now one of her collaborators, with Mariah Carey tapping the R&B singer for new song “Sugar Sweet.”

And on the day of the track’s release Friday (July 25), Kehlani penned a sweet note gushing about how meaningful it was to work with someone who was so influential in their life growing up. “nobody speak to me i got a song with the one and only @mariahcarey,” she wrote, sharing a promotional photo for the song, which also features Shenseea.

“the earliest video of me singing and first song i ever learned was ‘Hero’ and everybody who knows me knows this is one of my heroes,” Kehlani continued of Carey. “this woman is the definition of an icon. to have given us so much, for DECADES & never fail to impress us through all the twists and turns music makes. i am so honored and immensely grateful. there truly are no words.”

The musician also added a kind shoutout to their other collaborator on “Sugar Sweet.” “@shenseea you’re an absolute BAD A– who is right on your way to legendary status yourself,” Kehlani concluded. “i’m happy man. #SUGARSWEET 🐑 LAMBS WE ARE SO UP.”

In the comments, Shenseea returned the love. “WE DID THAT!!!!” the Jamaican singer-songwriter wrote. “Thank you @kehlani I’m so happy for you especially, given your history!”

“Sugar Sweet” marks the second single fans have gotten from Carey’s upcoming album Here for It All, which will drop in September. Mimi has also shared the song “Type Dangerous” from the set, locking in her milestone 50th entry on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this summer with the track.

Kehlani is also fresh off the release of a new track titled “Folded,” which dropped in June via Atlantic Records. The star’s last album, Crash, arrived in July last year and reached No. 25 on the Billboard 200.

See Kehlani’s post below.

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A post shared by Kehlani (@kehlani)