Demi Lovato Struts Into Her Dance Era With ‘Low Rise Jeans’: Stream It Now

Demi Lovato finds a confident stride with “Low Rise Jeans,” the latest release in the pop veteran’s new dance era.  

The fresh cut dropped at midnight, not long after she road-tested it early in the set of her It’s Not That Deep Tour opener Monday (April 13) at Orlando’s Kia Center.

“Low Rise Jeans” has the type of production that screams for commercial radio airplay. Produced and co-written with Zhone, it’s pop with a punch, a retro twist and a hip-hop sensibility.

On it she sings: “I’m in my low-rise jeans/ You don’t need your imagination/ In my see-through tee/ I can feel your anticipation.”

On that Florida date, the first stop on her 18-date, arena-headlining tour of North America, Lovato brought out besties Selena Gomez and guest performer Joe Jonas, and played her latest release over the arena’s speakers at night’s end.

Lovato has marked this year out another major career outing, both on the road, the airwaves, and in film. She stars opposite Golden Globe winner Rose Byrne in the drama Tow, which hit select U.S. theaters on March 20, and she’s also executive producing Camp Rock 3, which is expected to debut on Disney+ this summer.

The It’s Not That Deep Tour is in support of Lovato’s 2025 album of the same name. Following its release last October, the collection bowed at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, for her ninth top 10 appearance on the all-genres albums chart.

The new jam will be housed on her deluxe album release, It’s Not That Deep (Unless You Want It To Be), due out next Friday, April 24. Released via DLG Recordings/Island/Republic Records, It’s Not That Deep earned Lovato her first No. 1 album on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart, opening at the summit.

The tour continues Saturday, April 18 in Philadelphia, PA.

Stream “Low Rise Jeans” below.

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Paul McCartney Walks Us Through Every Track on New Album, ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’

Thursday night (April 16), Paul McCartney gave a magical, mystery tour through his new solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, for 30 fans.

Hosted at producer Andrew Watt’s newly christened Diamond Dust studio in Sherman Oaks, McCartney and Watt described the making of the album track by track before playing each song. In between, an animated McCartney regaled the audience with stories about his fellow Beatles, before playing a handful of deeply nostalgic songs.

Overall, the album, which comes out May 29 on Capitol Records, is delightfully Beatle-esque in parts in terms of melodies, instrumentation, bold tempo and stylistic changes and, of course, McCartney’s vocals, which sound by turns sturdy and robust and then delicate and vulnerable. Watt stressed that for the most part (other than the strings and orchestration), McCartney played all the instruments on the album, including drums…though he got a very able assist from Ringo Starr on one track: “I said [to Watt], ‘Are you going to get Chad [Smith]?’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you have a go?’ And I did!”

“No one else can do that,” Watt said of McCartney’s multi-instrument prowess. A modest McCartney replied, “A few people can do it,” before taking a beat and cutely tilting his head and adding, “but not many.”

The superfans were shuttled from the Capitol Records Tower to the studio, and while McCartney’s presence hadn’t been promised, when the fans (and three journalists) entered the small room and saw two burgundy velvet chairs with three acoustic guitars lined up behind them, flanked by two large speaker stacks, anticipation rose that McCartney would definitely make an appearance.

Shortly before 7 p.m. PT., Watt, McCartney and McCartney’s wife, Nancy Shevell, entered the room, with McCartney miming playing the guitar. “We’re going to play the album and we’re going to explain how we made it,” McCartney said, adding, “Welcome my missus, Nancy.”

And that’s exactly what happened. For close to 90 minutes, a delightfully loquacious McCartney dived into the making of the album, starting with how he met the 35-year old Grammy-Award winning Watt, who has become the go-to producer for legendary artists, including the Rolling Stones, Elton John and the late Ozzy Osbourne, after producing such acts as Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus.

McCartney met Watt for a “cup of tea,” but they immediately began noodling around and trading licks and “I’m like, ‘okay, we’re going to work together,” McCartney said. “Sometimes, I like to find a crazy chord and [find] maybe that will inspire me,” he said, grabbing an acoustic guitar from behind him to replicate the chord. The small audience burst into applause, leading McCartney to joke, “it wasn’t that good.” From there, they came up with the opening track and began working on the album, which was recorded in Los Angeles and England.

“When I first met Andrew, I thought, ‘He’s a bit pushy,’” McCartney said. “And he is, but that’s what you want in a producer. You don’t want a shrinking violet.”

Below are the songs on the album, McCartney’s first solo set since 2020, with some of his comments on each. As every tune played, McCartney mouthed almost every word or would sometimes play air drums, and Watt, who smartly ceded the floor to McCartney, would often play air guitar.

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Olivia Dean Dominates ARIA Charts as the Several Artists Enjoy Post-Coachella Bounce

It’s another chart double Olivia Dean in Australia, where several artists enjoy a bump from Coachella.

Dean’s The Art Of Loving enters a twelfth non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, ahead of Laufey’s A Matter of Time, which flies 43-2 following the release of an extended version, dubbed The Final Hour.

Closing out the podium on the latest frame, published Friday, April 17, is BTS’ former leader ARIRANG, down 2-3. The top new arrival belongs to U.S. country artist Ella Langley, whose Dandelion flowers at No. 4. That’s a serious improvement on her 2024 album Hungover, which peaked at No. 26 and this week dips 26-40. Langley lands a top 40 hit with album cut “Be Her,” new at No. 33.

Perth punk band Sly Withers has the top new release by a homegrown act with To Be Honest, new at No. 11. Honest is the rockers’ fourth studio album and third to crash the ARIA Chart after Gardens (from 2021) and Overgrown (2022) both reached No. 10.

Making her first appearance on the chart is English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone, with her sophomore album Cruel World. It’s new at No. 18.

Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber are both on the bounce after their weekend 1 Coachella headline performances. Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend improves 13-5 and Short N’ Sweet gains 11-7, while Justin Bieber’s Swag vaults 54-12. Bieber’s low-key concert in the California desert gave a burst of chart energy to his former No. 1 “Daisies,” up 36-10, while “Yukon” lifts 81-23.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Olivia Dean replaces herself at the top of the leaderboard, again, as her duet with Sam Fender, “Rein Me In,” climbs 2-1 for a second non-consecutive week in charge. Dean’s “Man In Need” dips 1-2, and “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” holds at No. 6.

Katseye also performed at Coachella and they’re on the way to Australia for a promotional visit. With all that activity, the international girl group is thrust into the ARIA Chart at No. 19 with “Pinky Up,” the top debut of the week. It’s Katseye’s second top 50 appearance after “Gabriela” reached No. 27 earlier this year.

Finally, American singer, songwriter and musician Malcolm Todd bags an ARIA Top 40 with the funky “Earrings,” new at No. 34.

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Zayn Kicks Back With ‘Konnakol’: Stream It Now

Zayn Malik isn’t letting his old One Direction bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan have all the fun. The British pop singer is back with his fifth studio album, Konnakol (via Mercury Records/Island Records U.K.), a collection that houses the previously-released recording “Sideways” and lead single “Die For Me.”

Konnakol is Zayn’s first since 2024’s Room Under the Stairs, which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and No. 3 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.

Zayn co-produced the new LP with Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde), extending a working relationship that dates back to his debut solo album Mind of Mine (2016) and its followup Icarus Falls (2018).

The former 1D star will go full bore with his promotional work in support of the new record. He’ll make his first late-night TV interview, with a performance, for Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show on April 21.

Next up, an April 23 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, and on May 12, he kicks off his largest solo tour to date, with a show at AO Arena in Manchester, England.

Produced by Live Nation, the KONNAKOL Tour will visit major cities across the world including London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo, and is scheduled to close with a concert Nov. 20 at Kaseya Center in Miami, FL. It’s billed as his first-ever solo arena trek.

He should be match fit. Zayn complete his first-ever Las Vegas residency earlier this year, where he debuted and teased unreleased material from Konnakol.

The new album’s name is a reference to the art of performing percussion syllables vocally, a style found in South Indian Carnatic music. It’s “the act of creating percussive sounds with one’s voice,” he explains in a statement, “but what it means to me lies somewhere much deeper. It is a sound that holds the reverberation of a time before words existed.”

He added, “I have always drawn on my heritage for inspiration since I first started making my own music — this album is a development of that understanding, knowing more now than ever, who I am, where I come from and where I intend to go.”

Zayn made history as a member of 1D, and was the first to split from the band in pursuit of a solo career. He made the best possible start with his first single “Pillowtalk,” which led the Billboard Hot 100 and the Official U.K. Singles Chart. Its parent album, Mind of Mine, also went to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stream Konnakol below.

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Don Schlitz, Grammy-Winning Composer of ‘The Gambler,’ Dies at 73

Don Schlitz, one of country music’s all-time songwriting greats, a hitmaker who collected almost every possible accolade including two Grammy Awards, the first of those for “The Gambler,” died Thursday (April 16) at a Nashville hospital following a sudden illness. He was 73.

Schlitz achieved greatness with his first recorded song, “The Gambler,” which he wrote at the age of 23. It went on to win the Grammy for best country song in 1978, and gave its performer Kenny Rogers a launchpad into the stars. It was a reporter who informed Schlitz that the song had been nominated for the Country Music Association’s song of the year, remarking that it would be the first line of his obituary. The song won, and the late songsmith will forever be remembered for it.

Today, “The Gambler,” a timeless tale of a card shark with sharp wits, is played everywhere that people party.

Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Schlitz briefly attended Duke University before moving to Nashville at age 20. The story goes that he caught the bus to Music Row with just $80 in his pocket. He knew how to play his cards right.  

Schlitz was no one-hit wonder. He also crafted hits for Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss, his creations including “On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” “The Greatest,” and “When You Say Nothing At All.”  All “are touchstones and inspirations that continue to influence songwriters and singers decades after they were written,” reads a statement from the Grand Ole Opry, which in 2022 inducted Schlitz as a member. “His words and music have articulated the extraordinary emotions inherent in common experience.”

Commercial success was followed with a slew of lifetime achievement awards, and many major honors from his peers. Schlitz was named ASCAP country songwriter of the year for four consecutive years, from 1988-91, and his collection includes a hattrick of CMA song of the year awards and a brace of ACM song of the year awards. He won a second golden gramophone in 1987, also in the category for best country song, with “Forever And Ever, Amen.”

Induction into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame came in 1993. Then, in 2012, Schlitz was elevated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rogers was on hand that night to salute Schlitz. “Don doesn’t just write songs,” the late superstar singer remarked, “he writes careers.” 

Later, Schlitz was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, at a the time when only five other songwriters were admitted: Bobby Braddock, Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.

Schlitz’s Grand Ole Opry nod saw him become the only non-artist songwriter inducted into the show in its 100-year history. The prolific music man also wrote the music and lyrics for the 1999 Broadway musical “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”

The Grand Ole Opry performance this Saturday night (April 18) will be dedicated in Schlitz’ honor. Other service plans are pending, reps say.

Schlitz is survived by his wife, Stacey; his daughter Cory Dixon and her husband Matt Dixon; his son Pete Schlitz and his wife Christian Webb Schlitz; his grandchildren Roman, Gia, Isla, and Lilah; his brother Brad Schlitz; and his sister Kathy Hinkley. 

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Nine Inch Nail’s Album With Boys Noize Has Dropped Like a Hammer: Stream It Now

Nine Inch Nails doesn’t just arrive. Trent Reznor’s industrial metal act steams in, crushes, always leaves an impression.  

At the stroke of midnight, NIN delivered that full-body experience with the help of Boys Noize, by way of the collaborative album Nine Inch Noize.

Coming in at 46 minutes, with 12 mashups, the collection was announced ahead of their global debut performance as Nine Inch Noize at Coachella on Saturday (April 11), where reworked classic NIN cuts “Heresy” and others got the live treatment at the Sahara Tent at Coachella.

Nine Inch Noize drops like a hammer ahead of Coachella weekend 2, which should see a repeat performance of Reznor and Co. with the pioneering German techno producer on Saturday evening, April 18.

The collaborative album is a natural progression, and walks the tightrope of capturing the studio sound with the chaos of a concert; it’s both a club record and a beating with a metal club. Boys Noize (real name: Alex Ridha) has been the opening act for Nine Inch Nails’ 2025/26 Peel It Back tour, a 63-date international run during which the two acts also played a segment of the show together.

Previously, Ridha worked with Reznor and Atticus Ross last year when he remixed the duo’s lauded, techno-forward soundtrack to the film Challengers.

The Peel It Back tour concluded in March in Sacramento, CA., a show at which frontman Trent Reznor clarified a statement he’d made at an earlier show in Tulsa, OK, that suggested the band might no longer tour. “I don’t know if we’re going to be touring anymore after this,” he remarked in a fan-filmed video from the show, “but I’m proud of the show that we’re doing right now. And I’m f—ing grateful that you’ve chosen to spend your evening with us tonight. Thank you very much.”

That’s obviously not the case. “To be clear, I think I said something the other day that then got misconstrued into something that is not intentionally, necessarily true,” he later remarked. “What I said was, ‘This is the last show of this tour and we don’t have any shows booked and we don’t have any plans to book any shows anytime in the future, so far.’”

He continued, “that doesn’t mean we may not tour again. We may tour again. It won’t be next month, it won’t be this year. I never said we were intentionally stopping, and I never meant that.”

NIN has been prolific of late, and full of surprises. The heavy-edged act recently released a companion album to its Tron: Ares soundtrack, titled Tron Ares: Divergence. It’s the followup to TRON: Ares, the first-ever film score from Oscar-winning composers Reznor and Atticus Ross (credited under their Nine Inch Nails), which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Nine Inch Nails has landed eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and made 18 appearances on the all-genres Billboard 200, including two leaders: 1999’s The Fragile (one week at No. 1) and 2015’s With Teeth (one week). NIN was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

Stream Nine Inch Noize below.

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Olivia Rodrigo Kicks Off Her ‘Sad Lover Girl’ Era With New Single ‘Drop Dead’: Stream It Now

Olivia Rodrigo‘s new song “Drop Dead” just, well, dropped.

On Friday (April 17), the pop star shared her first single in years to kick off her You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love album era. The track is one of 13 that will appear on the June-slated LP, her first full-length since 2023’s Billboard 200-topper Guts.

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“Drop Dead” also gives fans their first look at the concept behind Rodrigo’s new album, which she explained in a recent interview with British Vogue. “I realized all my favorite romantic love songs were beautiful because they had a tinge of fear or yearning in them,” she said, revealing that You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love is full of “sad love songs.”

“Falling in love, [I thought] that the second I’m in a really great relationship, I’m gonna start feeling good about myself, and this stuff is going to fall into place. But it just doesn’t work like that,” she continued at the time. “I’m definitely a lover girl. Like, I want to be in something committed and so in love. And yeah, it’s hard these days.”

Leading up to the track’s release, the Grammy winner shared videos on social media teasing “Drop Dead.” “I hope you never finish that beer,” she wrote over a video of herself sipping a Guinness, paired with a wispy, buoyant snippet of the single.

In another clip, she gazes out the window of a moving train. “it’s feminine intuition,” reads pink text over the video.

So far, both of Rodrigo’s lead singles to her past two albums have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. First, “Drivers License” made her a global superstar ahead of the release of debut LP Sour, after which “Vampire” topped the chart ahead of Guts.

Now that it’s finally out, listen to “Drop Dead” below.


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‘The Shows Will Of Course Go On’: Iron Maiden Won’t Derail Australia Tour For Rock Hall Induction

Iron Maiden’s forthcoming tour of Australian won’t be impacted by the band’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, Billboard can exclusively confirm.

The British heavy metal giants are tapped for the shrine’s class of 2026, following nominations in 2021 and 2023, and sitting near the top of most lists of Rock Hall snubs over the years.

Maiden is one of eight acts in the performer category that will be elevated during the annual induction ceremony on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles.

Small problem. The rockers will be in Australia at that time for their Run For Your Lives World Tour. Those shows get underway Nov. 11 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre, before hitting Melbourne’s AAMI Park (Nov. 13) and Sydney’s Allianz Stadium (Nov. 15) – marking the band’s first-ever stadium dates in this part of the world.

Those concerts won’t be affected, the band’s manager Rod Smallwood has confirmed.

“As the most observant have already noticed, the band will be on tour in Australia around the November date of the Induction ceremony for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in Los Angeles,” Smallwood explains in an email to Billboard. “In accepting, Iron Maiden made it very clear to the R&R HoF that the fans always come first and that the shows will of course go on.”

Megadeth are special guests on the Australasian run, which starts Nov. 7 with the first of two shows at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. The Australia lap begins Nov. 11 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre and wraps-up Nov. 19 with a second, and recently-added, show at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. TEG Dainty is producing the seven-date, five-city trek.

The tour down under will mark Iron Maiden’s eighth, dating back to November 1982.

“We would like to assure all our fans in Australasia that the Australian and New Zealand dates will remain unaffected,” Smallwood adds, “and we look forward to bringing the Run For Your Lives Tour to them on the penultimate stop of our 50th anniversary celebrations.”

There’s no rust on Iron Maiden which, in addition to its Rock Hall induction and ongoing global tour, is the subject of a feature-length documentary, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, due out in cinemas May 7 through Universal Pictures International (UPI).

Formed in East London in 1975, Iron Maiden are titans of the heavy genre, with 17 studio albums, over 100 million records sold, and more than 2,500 performances across 64 countries. In September 2021, the band earned its highest charting album ever on the Billboard 200 as Senjutsu debuted at No. 3. 

“Run For Your Lives” Australia and New Zealand Dates

Nov. 7 — Spark Arena, Auckland

Nov. 8 — Spark Arena, Auckland

Nov. 11 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Nov. 13 — AAMI Park, Melbourne

Nov. 15 — Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Nov. 18 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Nov. 19 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre

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Meghan Trainor Cancels Get In Girl Tour: ‘I Promise I’ll Be Back Soon’

Meghan Trainor has canceled her upcoming Get In Girl Tour scheduled to kick off in June. On Thursday (April 16), the pop star took to social media to announce that she was canceling the trek due to struggles balancing her new album Toy With Me (due later this month), touring and her new baby.

“After a lot of reflection and some really tough conversations, I’ve made the decision to cancel The Get In Girl Tour,” she wrote in an Instagram story. “Balancing the release of a new album, preparing for a nationwide tour and welcoming our new baby girl to our growing family of five has just been more than I can take on right now and I need to be home and present for each and all of them at this time.”

The Get In Girl Tour, produced by Live Nation, was announced in November with special guests Icona Pop. The arena tour was set to kick off June 12 in Clarkston, Mich., and continue through Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, Houston and more. The 26-show run was also scheduled to play iconic venues like Madison Square Garden in New York and Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

“I know this will come as a disappointment to my fans, and I am so sorry to let you down. But I know this is the right decision for my family and me right now,” the post continued. “I promise I’ll be back soon, and I can’t wait for you to hear this new record. I’m so proud of it, and I’m endlessly grateful for your love and support always.”

Trainor’s new album Toy With Me is due on April 24 via Epic Records and features singles “Still Don’t Care,” “Get In Girl” and her latest release “Shimmer.” The upcoming release will mark her seventh studio album.

In January, Trainor and her husband Daryl Sabara welcomed their third child, a baby girl named Mikey Moon Trainor. Trainor has two older boys, 4-year-old Riley and 2-year-old Barry. Sharing the news in January, Trainor wrote on social media, “Riley and Barry have been so excited, they even got to choose her middle name,” adding. “We are going to enjoy our family time now, love you all.”

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‘Heated Rivalry,’ ‘South Park’ & More to Receive 2026 Television Academy Honors: Full List

The Television Academy today announced the recipients of its 19th Television Academy Honors, recognizing six programs and their producers who have harnessed the power of television to advance social change. The honorees include three buzzy miniseries (Adolescence, Heated Rivalry and Dying for Sex), an animated comedy series that debuted during the Clinton administration (South Park); and two non-scripted documentary programs (Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television and Deaf President Now!).

Each year, Television Academy Honors celebrates programs across numerous platforms and genres that raise awareness about complex issues facing society. Honors are awarded to programming that aired between Jan. 1, – Dec. 31, 2025. Recipients will be celebrated at a ceremony slated for Wednesday, May 20 at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center in North Hollywood, California.

“Storytelling is a vital source of information regarding important social issues both locally and globally, and television has increasingly become a powerful platform for knowledge and discourse and a catalyst for social change,” Cris Abrego, Television Academy chair, said in a statement. “We have selected this year’s Honors winners to celebrate their commitment to educating and motivating television viewers around the world.”

Three of these programs — Adolescence, Dying for Sex and Heated Rivalry — were nominated for Peabody Awards one week ago. South Park won a Peabody Award in 2006. The Peabodys lauded the show for its “scathing satirical campaigns on modern society.” Show creators and showrunners Trey Parker and Matt Stone accepted the award, thanking Comedy Central and jokingly mentioning that the Peabody Awards introduced them to Battlestar Galactica.

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South Park yielded several albums that landed on the Billboard charts. Chef Aid: The South Park Album reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 in 1998. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, a soundtrack to a spinoff film, reached No. 28 in 1999. A Various Artists live album, South Park 25th Anniversary Concert, reached No. 3 on Comedy Albums in 2025.

That 1999 film was a big hit, grossing $83.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to boxofficemojo.com and even spawning an Oscar-nominated song, “Blame Canada,” which was co-written by Parker and Marc Shaiman.

Here are the recipients of the 19th Television Academy Honors, with (lightly-edited) capsule summaries provided by the Television Academy.

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