Back when they were just starting out, 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey says that someone from the group’s label handed the band a book that laid out the age of consent in every single state. The shocking revelation comes in the new Investigation Discovery docuseries, Boy Band Confidential, which features stories from members of some of the era’s biggest names dishing on life inside the boy band bubble.

“This is going to sound super shady but when we first went out — I remember in our first tour — someone at the label gave us a book,” Love Is Blind co-host Lachey says in the series that debuts on Investigation Discovery on Monday (April 13) and Tuesday (April 14) at 9 p.m. ET before later streaming on HBO Max. “It was the age of consent in every state in the country,” he added, according to Us magazine.

“We kept that book on the tour bus. Unfortunately, there were people out there looking to tear you down,” he adds in the show of the manual that was seemingly meant to make sure the singers, then in their early-to-mid-20s, did not break the law on the road when interacting with fans. Lachey fronted the band that also featured his younger brother, Drew Lachey, as well as Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre, and he says that the safeguards in place today were not there when he and his bandmates were touring.

“You see [Justin] Bieber cancel a tour. You’ll see Shawn Mendes cancel a tour because [their] mental health needs to come first,” he said, noting that no matter what was going on off stage for the group known for such hits as their Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 collaboration on Mariah Carey’s 1999 smash “Thank God I Found You” (also featuring Joe) and 2000s No. 2 hit “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche),” they were encouraged to carry on.

“That was not an option when we were out there. You went out there and you did the show. Then you came back after the show and you broke down and you cried and you kicked a hole in the wall. Or you did whatever you had to do. But you didn’t bow out. You work so hard to get there, you can’t let your foot off the gas,” he said of expectations for the band, who were all between 25-27 years old during their peak 1998-2000 years (Drew was between 22-24).

98 Degrees released their first non-Christmas album in more than a decade, Full Circle, last May. The collection featured six updated versions of their biggest hits. Boy Band Confidential, executive produced by *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone, features Fatone, Lachey, O-Town’s Ashley Parker Angel, *NSYNC’s Lance Bass, Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman and LFO’s Brad Fischetti.

The thrill of Gorillaz, the British “cartoon band,” collaborating with Sparks, the eclectic American alternative pop duo, is the stuff of pure fantasy for the edgier music fans among us.

Late owls got a taste of the real thing on Thursday night, April 9, when those two worlds collided for a performance of “The Happy Dictator,” the lead single from Gorillaz’s ninth studio album The Mountain, via the band’s own new label KONG.

Every Gorillaz performance raises the question of just how Damon Albarn and Co. would realize the animations that are so important to the band’s visual storytelling. In the early days, the characters 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle were splashed on a big screen, the band members performing incognito behind it.

For their performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jamie Hewlett’s lovable illustrations took a back seat for the humans, Albarn playing the happy dictator in military threads, aviator glasses and a red beret.

The Mountain climbed the U.K. chart peak in March of this year, for Gorillaz’ third leader. On the other side of the Atlantic, Gorillaz swung to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart for the fourth time. 

Produced by Gorillaz, James Ford, Samuel Egglenton and Remi Kabaka Jr., plus Bizarrap (Orange County), The Mountain was recorded at Studio 13 in London and Devon, various locations in India including Mumbai, New Delhi, Rajasthan and Varanasi, as well as Ashgabat, Damascus, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. The collection features an impressive lineup of collaborators, including Sparks, and songs performed in five languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish and Yoruba.

Gorillaz continue The Mountain Tour of the U.K. and Europe tour in June, with a schedule that includes festival spots and a one-off headline show at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, June 20, for the band’s biggest show in their homeland to-date, with support from Sparks and Trueno. Dates are booked through January 2027.

Watch the late night performance below and check out Gorillaz’ tour dates here.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond. 

Last week, we featured Jack White, Arlo Parks and Anne Hathaway.

This week, Lady Gaga and Doechii team up for the high-powered, high-fashion “Runway” from The Devil Wears Prada 2, Katseye releases a pre-Coachella single with “PINKY UP” and The Strokes are back with a new song and album on the way… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Lady Gaga and Doechii, “Runway”

Turns out, Lady Gaga and Doechii are the perfect pair to “turn a dance floor into a runway,” as they sing on their catchy collab — and even though the two stars had never worked together before, it sounds obvious here they were meant to. “Runway” — which was co-written and co-produced by Bruno Mars — is the first official single from the anticipated upcoming film, The Devil Wears Prada 2, out May 1. Fittingly, the track is booming with in-your-face bass and filled with the exact type of confident sass that anyone about to hit the runway would want to hear.

KATSEYE, “PINKY UP”

“Pinky Up” arrives at a pivotal time for Katseye: the girl group is fresh off the Grammys and one day away from making its Coachella debut and, of course, now operating as a fivesome following the recent hiatus by member Manon Bannerman. Needless to say, the girl group’s new single had just a bit of pressure on it. But the high-energy techno-pop track delivers, dizzying and delighting with its relentless tempo — perhaps meant to soundtrack just how nonstop Katseye is right now.

The Strokes, “Going Shopping”

This week, The Strokes announced its first album in six years, Reality Awaits, produced by Rick Rubin. With the announcement came the release of lead single “Going Shopping,” an auto-tuned yet still retro-sounding Strokes song that seems to find a balance between the band’s essence and perhaps its commentary on the “reality” of what’s ahead — or is already here — in popular music. The new music arrives just in time for the band’s Coachella set, providing an opportunity to preview even more tracks off the upcoming project.

Alabama Shakes, “American Dream”

After announcing a 2026 tour, bluesy rock band Alabama Shakes is back with new music — and right on time. The aptly titled “American Dream” is the group’s first new release since 2015’s Grammy-winning Sound & Color (but follows two solo albums from vocalist Brittany Howard) and despite its slow and simmering production, delivers an urgent message. “What are we doing?” asks Howard, before reciting various indicators of the state of the country right now: “Got the White House pretty and pimped out/ Gun reform/ My body my choice…Low grade fever, lower wage people/ How many folks got shot this week/ It’s enough to make you wanna go back to sleep.” Still, Howard concludes on a note that could be viewed as sarcastic, instructional or hopeful — and maybe even all three — when she states, “keep dreaming.”

Tiny Habits, “Right In Front Of Me”

Folk-pop group Tiny Habits (a trio that formed in 2022 while still students at Berklee College of Music) could be gearing up for its next era. Following a debut EP in 2023 and full-length debut in 2024, the group has released its latest single, “Right In Front Of Me,” a breezy track that sounds as carefree as its subject yearns to be. “You can tell by myself, is where I’m comfortable at/ Oh, but tonight this lady, she looked crazy, but so free,” the three harmonize ahead of the song’s happy ending, in which the subject hits the dance floor as freely as they always wanted. And the best part? “Nobody is saying, ‘You look crazy.’”

FISHER’s Out 2 Lunch festival is skipping this year.

The 2026 edition was mapped out to be the most ambitious yet, growing from a single show in the artist’s hometown, the Gold Coast, to a four-city coast-to-coast traveling fest, featuring a lineup with Gorgon City, Skream, Sarah Story, Azzecca, Little Fritter and headliner FISHER (real name: Paul Fisher).  

As it was planned, the one-day EDM spectacular was to kick off May 2 at Melbourne’s Fleming Racecourse, stopping in the Gold Coast’s Doug Jennings Park (May 3), Sydney International Regatta Centre (May 9) and wrapping up at Perth’s Wellington Square (May 10) – a nine-day rolling party crossing this expansive country, with an estimated 100,000 tickets sold.

Those plans, however, will have to wait.

“Due to the significant pressures currently impacting Australian live event audiences and the industry, TEG Live has made the difficult decision to postpone the OUT 2 LUNCH Festival from its planned May 2026 dates to 2027,” reads a statement Friday (April 10) from organizers.

“Across Australia, fans and communities are navigating significant pressures arising from the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation and broader economic uncertainty. TEG Live believes it is important to ensure that Out 2 Lunch fans can fully enjoy the festival without added financial strain.”

Those pressures became acute with the war in the Middle East, which has caused the price of fuel to rocket in Australia, like elsewhere, and ruined punters’ budgets.  Every cost is mounting. Weighing everything up, it’s an “unprecedented situation for Australia,” reads the message from TEG.

In making the decision, TEG points out the “considerable challenges as the diesel fuel shortage will impact the trucking logistics, power generators, production infrastructure and a multitude of suppliers and services that underpin a major touring festival.”

The postponement of OUT 2 LUNCH follows closely on the heels of Bluesfest, which canceled its 2026 show and immediately went into liquidation. The list of fests that have skipped a year, or disappeared entirely, is a growing one that includes Rolling Loud Australia, Esoteric Festival, Caloundra Music Festival, Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo, Listen Out and others.

The decision comes as the festival’s national expansion – with four large-scale events spread across nine days and spanning the entire country – faces considerable challenges as the diesel fuel shortage will impact the trucking logistics, power generators, production infrastructure and a multitude of suppliers and services that underpin a major touring festival.

“Given the severe pressures on fuel supplies and consumer sentiment right now, we have to do the right thing and postpone the festival so that greater needs can be prioritised during this critical period, which we understand will be most acute during the next 6-8 weeks,” comments Tim McGregor, Global Head of Touring, TEG Live. “The scale of this touring festival is immense and delivering a world-class experience is our top priority — we believe rescheduling to 2027 is the best way to ensure we can deliver the incredible, high-quality festival that fans deserve.”

New dates for OUT 2 LUNCH 2027 will be announced in due course. Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled dates. All existing ticket holders who wish to obtain a refund can do so, the TEG statement confirms.

“I’m really bummed at the moment, at what is happening,” comments FISHER. “And no one more than me would like to put on this show for you guys. We tried all angles but unfortunately we had to postpone due to the circumstances that were put before us. This is something that I don’t take lightly. I’ve seen this before, back in 2020 and 2021 when we had to postpone my shows 2 times before they ended up playing out, although it wasn’t what we wanted, it was the right thing for the fans in the end so we could put on the best show for you. Sometimes the pause is part of the plan. 2027 is worth the wait.”

Hilary Duff just revisited one of her most beloved tracks ahead of the Laguna Beach reunion special, re-recording “Come Clean” and surprise releasing it Friday (April 10).

Approaching the track with a mature sound that still evokes the charm of her teenage self, the Lizzie McGuire star sings, “Let the rain fall down/ And wake my dreams/ Let it wash away my sanity/ ‘Cause I want to feel the thunder/ I wanna scream/ Let the rain fall down/ I’m coming clean.”

The track will appear on Hilary Duff – (Mine), the star’s upcoming collection of re-recorded versions of her greatest hits. The project will arrive Friday (April 18) on a silver vinyl exclusively for this year’s Record Store Day. Only 10,000 copies will be available to purchase, meaning only a small number of fans will get their hands on Duff’s updated renditions of “What Dreams Are Made Of” and other nostalgic favorites.

“Come Clean (Mine)” will also be featured on The Reunion: Laguna Beach, which premieres Friday on The Roku Channel. The original track by Duff — which reached No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2004 — served as the theme song for the reality show back in the day. That’s not to say Duff herself was a fan of the show; she hilariously confessed on Watch What Happens Live in 2023 that she’d never seen it.

The How I Met Your Father alum is currently in the midst of a major musical comeback, dropping her first album in 10 years in February and reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with Luck … or Something. Her seven-month Lucky Me Tour kicks off in June.

Listen to Duff’s new-old song “Come Clean” below.