Phil Wickham, Lauren Daigle, Jamie MacDonald and Josiah Queen are among this year’s top nominees for the fan-voted 13th annual K-LOVE Fan Awards.

Wickham leads the pack with four nominations, while Daigle, MacDonald, Queen, Jeremy Camp and Elevation Worship have earned three nominations apiece. Wickham is up for artist of the year, song of the year (the 16-week Billboard Christian Airplay chart-topper “What an Awesome God”), worship song (the eight-week Christian Airplay chart-topper “Homesick for Heaven”) and male artist of the year.

Queen earned nods for song of the year (for his three-week Christian Airplay chart-topper “Can’t Steal My Joy” with Brandon Lake), artist of the year and male artist of the year, while MacDonald is up for song of the year (“Left It in the River”), artist of the year and female artist of the year. Daigle is up for song of the year (“Let It Be a Hallelujah”), artist of the year and female artist of the year, while Elevation Worship earned nominations for worship song (“Alleluia”), artist of the year and group of the year. Camp is up for song of the year (“No Survivors”), artist of the year and male artist of the year.

The annual awards ceremony, which will be held at Nashville’s Opry House on May 24 and will air on Trinity Broadcasting Network on May 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET (with subsequent showings on May 29 at 10 p.m. ET and on June 5), honors artists, songs and performances in Christian music, as well as recognizing achievements in television, film, books, sports and digital media.

Among other nominations are books from Tauren Wells (Joy Bomb), CAIN (We’re So Blessed) and Anne Wilson (Hey Girl), and movies/shows including I Can Only Imagine 2 and House of David: Season 2.

The fan voting period opens tonight (May 8) at 6 p.m. CT at KLOVEFanAwards.com. Coca-Cola Consolidated returns this year as the title sponsor of the event.

The K-LOVE Fan Awards will take place during a weekend of fan events, including concerts and showcases running from May 22-24 in Nashville.

See the full list of 2026 K-LOVE Fans Awards nominees below:

Song of the year

“Can’t Steal My Joy”– Josiah Queen/Brandon Lake
“Get Behind Me”– Emerson Day
“Heaven On My Mind”– TobyMac
“Left It In the River”– Jamie MacDonald
“Let It Be a Hallelujah”– Lauren Daigle
“Make It Well”– MercyMe
“No Fear”– Jon Reddick
“No Survivors”– Jeremy Camp
“What an Awesome God”– Phil Wickham
“Won’t Start Now”– Seph Schlueter

Worship song

“Alleluia”– Elevation Worship
“Homesick for Heaven”– Phil Wickham
“How Good It Is”– Chris Tomlin
“Mighty Name of Jesus”– Hope Darst & Josh Baldwin
“The Lord Will Provide”– Passion
“Washed”– Elevation Rhythm

Breakout single

“All Joy”– Natalie Layne
“Get Behind Me”– Emerson Day
“I Need You”– Jet Trouble
“Somebody’s Praying”– Bay Turner
“Stay”– Zahriya Zachary
“Where Would I Be”– Peter Burton
“Why Should I Worry”– Carly Anne Taylor

Artist of the year

Brandon Lake
CeCe Winans
Elevation Worship
Jamie MacDonald
Jeremy Camp
Josiah Queen
Lauren Daigle
MercyMe
Phil Wickham
TobyMac

Group of the year

CAIN
Caleb & John
Elevation Rhythm
Elevation Worship
for King & Country
MercyMe
Passion
We the Kingdom

Male artist of the year

Ben Fuller
Brandon Lake
Chris Tomlin
Jeremy Camp
Jon Reddick
Josiah Queen
Matthew West
Phil Wickham
Seph Schlueter
Tauren Wells

Female artist of the year

Anne Wilson
Blanca
CeCe Winans
Emerson Day
Hope Darst
Jamie MacDonald
Katy Nichole
Lauren Daigle
Leanna Crawford
Terrian

Podcast impact

“Back Porch Theology”– Lisa Harper
“Girls Gone Bible”– Angela Halili & Arielle Reitsma
“Hey! It’s the Lusko’s”–Levi & Jennie Lusko
“Livin’ The Bream”– Shannon Bream
“The Bible Recap”–Tara-Leigh Cobble
“The Bryce Crawford Podcast”– Bryce Crawford
“There Is More Podcast”– Karen McAdams & Rachel Faulkner Brown
“Whoa That’s Good”–Sadie Robertson Huff

Book impact

“And She Got Up”– Courtney Pray Duke
“Beloved”– Francis Chan
“Blessed Are The Spiraling”– Levi Lusko
“Hey Girl”– Anne Wilson
“Jesus Shaped Life”– Lisa Harper
“Joy Bomb”– Tauren Wells
“Tame Your Thoughts”– Max Lucado
“We’re So Blessed”– CAIN

Film impact

David
I Can Only Imagine 2
Light of the World
Sarah’s Oil
Soul on Fire
The King of Kings
The Last Rodeo
Truth & Treason

TV/Streaming impact

Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey
House of David: Season 2
Miracle
Testament
The Chosen Adventures
The Promised Land
Virgin Birth

Sports Impact

Robert Anthony Cruz “Coach RAC”- Savannah Bananas

Adam Lambert announced the release date for his upcoming sixth solo studio album on Friday morning (May 8). ADAM, is due out on July 10 on his own More is More label, distributed by The Orchard. He previewed the 12-track collection with the sultry, vampire love come-on grinder “Eat U Alive,” a classic mash-up of Lambert’s legendarily sky-high, powerhouse vocals, industrial beats and dark, simmering sensuality.

“You know my love’s gonna eat you alive/ Swallow you up when you come take a bite/ I want you/ In the night, sinkin’ teeth/ Into you, into me/ Eat you alive,” he wails on the urgent chorus.

The album from the solo star and Queen vocalist was executive produced by Pete Nappi (Jonas Brothers, Rihanna) and features a “fully realized exploration into all facets of Lambert’s humanity and otherworldly artistry,” according to a release.

Inspired by 90s alternative rock and electronica, the album is “the perfect primer into my next musical chapter,” the singer said in a statement. “I wanted to create songs that fit into a world reminiscent of the music that made a formative impact on me in the 90s and early 00’s,” he added, citing such influences as Nine Inch Nails, Björk, Prince, Muse, Goldfrapp, Daft Punk, George Michael, Massive Attack and the Crystal Method.

“The album explores both the light and shade of life and the razor’s edge that separates a positive experience from a negative one. I hope these songs connect with anyone who has been through the confusing but necessary process of self-acceptance,” Lambert said. “There was a real liberation in acknowledging my own weaknesses and strengths. Accepting the bad and the good all together. Revolutionary for someone who always thought of himself as a perfectionist and Idealist.”

The new single is the first taste of new music from Lambert since he made his 2024 Broadway debut as “Emcee” in the Tony-winning production of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and released the single “I Don’t Care Much.” After that, he starred as Judas alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl in August 2025. Lambert, an ambassador for Global Citizen, will speak at the Global Citizen NOW: New York impact summit on May 14.

Listen to “Eat U Alive” below.

Mike D is back with some souped-up flavor for your ears. The charter Beastie Boys member dropped his first-ever solo track on Friday (May 8), the beat crazy experimental hip-hop track “Switch Up.”

The track, the first new music from any member of the legendary New York rap trio since their final studio album, 2011’s Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, is a heady mashup of U.K. jungle beats, Lee “Scratch” Perry-like sonic collage and digital hardcore attitude. According to a press release announcing the project, the song’s origins trace back to “carefree, low-pressure experiments” in Mike’s home studio.

The sessions began with his sons Davis and Skyler, and their indie rock band, Very Nice Person, and then expanded to include a number of other collaborators and sessions in other locations. “The spontaneous, free-flowing and intuitive nature of these various sessions is apparent in the aptly titled single and its fluid direction shaped by community and creative chemistry,” according to the release.

The release came a few weeks after D (born Michael Louis Diamond), 60, made a surprise appearance at a Very Nice Person show last month, where he popped out to perform some B-Boys classics, including “So What’cha Want” and “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun.” D celebrated the release of the new song by performing it live on Thursday night (May 7) at the Plaza Nighclub & Dance Hall in Los Angeles at the first of four planned small club shows promoting the single; he’ll follow up with a gig on Sunday (May 10) at the Sid the Cat Auditorium in South Pasadena, Calif., as well as shows on May 22 and 23 at Xanadu Roller Arts in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Thought I’d get reception, needs some self-reflection/ Try to take a beat ’cause I can’ take the message,” D raps in a distorted voice over the frenetic, glitchy beats. The track was produced by Carter Lang & Very Nice Person and mixed by Derek “MixedByAli” Ali at No Name Studios.

Mike has not released any music since the death of Beastie Boys co-founder Adam “MCA” Yauch, 47, in 2012 following a long battle with cancer. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in the wake of Yauch’s death, with D later suggesting that he and fellow charter member, Ad-Rock, would never make music under the group’s name again. In 2018, D and Ad-Rock released the comprehensive, Easter egg-packed memoir Beastie Boys Book, which was later made into a 2020 documentary, Beastie Boys Story.

Watch the “Switch Up” visualizer below.

There are the get-ready videos you and your friends make, and then there’s the GRWM clip Rihanna posted on Thursday (May 7) of the intense prep it took for her and partner A$AP Rocky to (just barely) make it to the Met Gala on Monday night.

You can see now why the perennially fashionably-late-to-the-party “This Is What You Came For” singer was one of the last A-listers to walk the carpet at the annual fashion Super Bowl earlier this week in the 45-second clip chronicling her prep. It opens with the 11-time Met veteran exclaiming, “I can’t believe we’re going to the Met!” as she travels in a sprinter van in her stunning custom sculptural gown by Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela.

The eye-popping outfit hand-sculpted, bronze and silver creation inspired by medieval architecture took nearly 1,400 hours to embroider according to Vogue, and from the first seconds of the recap, RihRih is already locked in and ready to show it off with a series of icy Blue Steel-like carpet poses, with and without the equally turned-out-in-style Rocky.

We see the couple posing and walking together as flashbulbs illuminate their outfits and commenters opine on their looks, with Rihanna stopping at one point to sassily exclaim, “excuse me!” With good reason, since her dress required a second, of fifth look, thanks to a corseted bodice with more than 115,000 crystal beads, jewels and chains, while Rocky looked dapper in a custom Chanel by Mattieu Blazy wool pink robe with black satin lapels, accented by a silk and feather brooch and two hand- and ear-fulls of Chanel jewelry.

With a soundtrack provided by Arya Starr and Rema’s “Who’s Dat Girl,” we see Rihanna putting her own makeup on, choosing from a series of trays filled with high-end rings, earrings, necklaces and thick bangles and then having metallic jewels painted onto her face, with two diamond teardrops under her right eye and her hair filled with curlicue metal swirls.

At one point a reporter asks, “who’s allowed to show up late for a Met Gala red carpet?” while Rihanna fans her makeup dry and enjoys a smoke as another woman’s voice says, “Rihanna?” and the video cuts to a vintage clip of the singer cheekily winking at an interviewer with a smile.

The camera then lingers on Rihanna’s imposing-looking dress hanging on a rack, zooming in on the metallic details before and after she slips into it and revealing that, as Rocky told Variety, she was, indeed, “shining like a diamond … she’s shining.”

“We going to the Met!!!” Rihanna yelps as the party heats up during the ride over and Rocky astutely directs the camera away from him and over to RihRih as she does last-minute touch-ups in the van while he enjoys a pre-celebration beverage to the strains of N.E.R.D.’s 2008 party anthem “Everyone Nose.” Rocky also leans in to show off his neck full of custom bling, including a green skull with diamond eyes and a bejeweled crucifix.

The clip ends with Rihanna looking in a mirror and seemingly getting misty as she says, “I feel so pretty! Oh my God!” while gazing at her glittery ensemble.

Vote for your favorite look from the 2026 Gala here.

South Korea’s HYBE launches ABD, a new label dedicated to girl group production.

Leading ABD, short for A Bold Dream, is its inaugural president Jiwon No, who previously served as head of artist planning at PLEDIS and MORE VISION. At ABD, she will oversee the label’s overall management and strategic direction.

The first ABD project will debut in the second half of 2026. Sung Soo Han, widely recognized as the creative mastermind behind such artists as SEVENTEEN, After School, IZ*ONE, and TWS, will lead the girl group’s overall production, from music to concept and performance.

“The creation of ABD aligns with HYBE’s multi-label strategy, which champions creative independence and autonomy within HYBE’s broader support framework,” reads a statement, issued Friday, May 8. “With a distinct focus on girl group development and the introduction of differentiated IP and artistic identity, the launch of ABD marks a strategic step in strengthening HYBE’s multi-label ecosystem as K-pop continues to evolve globally.”

HYBE is on a high, after reporting record-setting revenue at 698.3 billion KRW ($470.2 million), thanks largely to the comeback of BTS and the group’s fifth studio album, ARIRANG, and world tour.

Within the rest of HYBE’s artist portfolio, ENHYPHEN’s seventh mini album, THE SIN: VANISH, became the group’s fourth double-million seller during the period, while CORTIS’ debut album, COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES, surpassed 2 million copies in cumulative sales.

HYBE America reported strong gains with KATSEYE, the girl group that recently surpassed 32 million monthly listeners on Spotify, while their EPs, SIS (Soft Is Strong) and BEAUTIFUL CHAOS, sold a combined 1 million copies. The quarter also saw the relaunch of BMLG as Blue Highway Records, led by Jake Basden as CEO.