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The 2025 men’s NCAA college basketball national championships (a.k.a. March Madness) is officially underway with the Sweet 16 set and scheduled starting on Thursday (Mar. 27). And there are multiple ways to watch and stream the games and tournament online. Want to watch March Madness? Here’s what you need to know.

March Madness 2025 Dates

NCAA March Madness continues with the Sweet 16, which goes from March 27-28 and the championship game on April 7. Sweet 16 gameplay starts with No. 6-ranked BYU taking on No. 2 Alabama beginning at 7:09 p.m. ET/4:09 p.m. PT on CBS. Check out key dates and schedule location here.

Meanwhile, music fans will also love the star-studded line-up of artists performing at 2025 NCAA March Madness Music Festival — which includes Chris Stapleton, Benson Boone, Pitbull, Jelly Roll and Billboard Woman of the Year Doechii.

NCAA Men’s March Madness 2025: How to Watch Online Without Cable

Whether you’re watching basketball on your computer, phone or TV, streaming gives you the flexibility of watching games from anywhere.

Those who already have access to CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV, through cable, satellite, internet (or an HD antenna for local channels), can watch March Madness games live, but for those who haven’t settled on a TV streamer, we’ve put together a few different options that are actually worth the money.

College basketball fans can watch and stream March Madness 2025 games online through DirecTV Stream and other platforms that provide live television, such as Hulu+ Live TV.

Watch March Madness on DirecTV Stream

How much is DirecTV? You can join for $74.99 per month and gain instant access to over 90 channels. DirecTV Stream includes a free trial, along with cable channels and local channels, such as CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV to let you watch March Madness online without cable.

Watch March Madness on Max

To watch NCAA March Madness, Max starts at $9.99/month on Max.com. It’s also accessible via Prime Video. However, you’ll need a subscription to Prime Video (or an Amazon Prime membership) to add Max to your account (no free trial available).

Max has access to 2025 NCAA Division Men’s Basketball Championship games live, in addition to studio coverage airing on TBS, TNT and truTV. The tournament games will be available to stream on Max in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Watch March Madness on Paramount+

Though March Madness games and other CBS programs are available on Paramount+. You can also get instant access to CBS through the channel’s official streaming platform Paramount+. Along with CBS, you’ll also be able to stream content from Nickelodeon, MTV, Bet, Comedy Central, Showtime and the Smithsonian Channel. If you already have a subscription, just log into your account to livestream content.

Don’t have Paramount+? New users will receive a seven-day free trial when you sign up. Use it to watch March Madness on CBS for free online. Once the free trial is over, you’ll be charged based on the plan you choose at checkout.

Watch March Madness on Sling

Sling TV is another streaming option. Plans start as low as $23 for the first month to watch dozens of channels including TNT, TBS, truTV, ESPN and more. Additionally, you can catch all of the college basketball games that broadcast on CBS with the March Madness Live app. Just use your Sling TV login for access. It’s that easy.

Can you watch NCAA tournament games on ESPN+? You won’t find Men’s NCAA March Madness tournament on ESPN+, but there are plenty of college sports games available including basketball, football, soccer and more to stream.

To watch March Madness 2025 internationally, try ExpressVPN or NordVPN.

2025 March Madness Merch & Tickets: Where to Buy

And now, it’s time to talk merch and tickets. If you’re looking for March Madness merchandise you can find lots of gear at retailers, such as Fanatics, FansEdge, Nike, Amazon, Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and the NCAA Shop.

You can find March Madness tickets available at StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek and Gametime.

As the first person to ever win American Idol, Kelly Clarkson walked a lonely road for several years as other stars in the music industry had mixed feelings about her then-unorthodox route to success.

On the latest episode of Kylie Kelce’s Not Gonna Lie podcast posted Thursday (March 27), the “Stronger” singer revealed that some of her now peers initially judged her for getting her start on Idol — something that wouldn’t be so ironic if some of those same stars didn’t end up serving as coaches on offshoot competition series The Voice. “I had no one,” Clarkson began. “I was the first winner. It was hard.”

“People were really mean,” she continued without naming names. “People that were really mean have been coaches. You know what I’m saying? Like, hated talent shows, and they ended up being on The Voice.“

Clarkson won season one of American Idol in 2002, a victory that propelled her to a successful career in music marked by three Billboard Hot 100-topping hits and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 so far. Ever since the flagship show premiered, numerous other competition series inspired by Idol have sprung up over the years — one of which, The Voice, saw Clarkson stepping into the coaching role for seasons 14-21 and 23.

But while televised talent shows are all the rage now, the three-time Grammy winner added that 20 years ago, “people were really cruel at first.”

“They didn’t like it,” she told Kelce. “It took the industry kind of by storm, the talent shows. It was a very unlikable thing in the industry concerning the populous. Now there’s so many.”

One advantage of starting out on Idol, however, was Clarkson’s ability to empathize with the contestants back when she was a coach on The Voice. The same applied to fellow coach Jennifer Hudson, who competed on Idol in 2004 before joining The Voice panel on seasons 13 and 15.

“People like us who have been there in that audition process, and just being so judged instantaneously, on maybe not your best performance but you know you can do better … it’s a grueling thing,” Clarkson said of herself and the Dream Girls star. “And it’s unforgiving in a lot of ways, and a lot of pressure for these artists that I don’t think a lot of artists that sell tons of records would be able to handle. It’s a different thing.”

Listen to Clarkson reflect on Idol critics on Not Gonna Lie below.

A lot has changed for Aqyila in the four years since she picked up her first Juno Award nod for contemporary R&B recording of the year. She earned that recognition for her debut single, “Vibe for Me (Bob for Me),” and she’s now competing in the same category at this year’s awards with “Bloom” — the song that took her from local talent to one of the most alluring, ascendant R&B stars of the 2020s so far. 

Bolstered by TikTok virality in 2024, “Bloom,” a gorgeous love song dedicated to the act and concept of love itself, quickly became Aqyila’s breakthrough single, giving her both a sonic catalyst to build the rest of her debut studio album and a commercial leg-up ahead of its release. Falling Into Place, which arrived Friday (March 28), is a thrilling amalgam of sultry jazz, heart-baring soul, sizzling Caribbean riddims, and a painstakingly particular approach to vocal stacks informed by musical giants like Brandy. The result is a formidable introduction – one that presents a self-assured star with near-limitless potential. 

“On this album, I’ve learned to take a step back and allow the vocals to shine. I want people to connect with the feeling, lyrics and sound overall,” she says. “This whole project is about growth and not being so in my head.” 

Instead of rushing out a project to capitalize on the success of “Bloom,” Aqyila bided her time and spent months fine-tuning the lush, soulful soundscape of Falling Into Place, which she crafted alongside key collaborators like Maya J’an B, Jonathan Elkær, Kasey Phillips and Thomas-Ray “Rex” Armstrong. Nonetheless, the Toronto-bred artist didn’t hide in the studio for that entire period. Just two months after “Bloom” dropped, she won the Juno Award for traditional R&B/Soul recording of the year with “Hello,” her biggest pre-“Bloom” hit. 

For the first quarter of 2025, Aqyila supported Pink Sweat$ on his North American tour ahead of this year’s Juno Awards (March 30), where she has two nods. In addition to her nod for “Bloom,” “Limbo” is gunning for traditional R&B/Soul recording of the year. 

With critical acclaim in tow and even bigger commercial wins potentially on the horizon, things really are falling into place for Aqyila. In a bubbly conversation with Billboard, Aqyila traces her musical roots, goes behind the scenes of her debut album, and bets on a Canadian R&B takeover.

What’s your earliest musical memory? 

My mom played a lot of Whitney Houston in the house when I was a kid, so I used to imitate her runs. That’s where I was like, “Oh, singing is kind of cool!” I vividly remember my crib days singing along to Alicia Keys too. When Fantasia was on American Idol, I remember staying up late and watching from her audition to when she won. Ruben Studdard too. I don’t know how I remember these things, but I do! [Laughs.] Those moments really inspired me. 

Do you hear or feel the energy of any of those singers on the new album? 

I didn’t listen to this artist as a kid, but I started listening to her more as I got older: Brandy. She does a lot of vocal layering and harmonies; I love Brandy’s elements that she puts into her projects. I love the textures on songs like that. To me, that’s really good music — because it feels natural to the person and adds extra, unique elements. 

What was the first song written for the new record? When did you start to realize that you had a full album coming together? 

The first song written was actually the first song released. “Bloom” was written in November [2023], and that became the start of the album. I was just vibing in that session with Maya [J’an B] and Jonathan [Elkær], and that was my first time working with them. It genuinely was magic in that room that day. Even today when I sing “Bloom,” I have the biggest smile on my face; I love singing about love and being a lover girl! 

Did you find that the success of “Bloom” made you want to go in a particular direction for the full album? 

Even before “Bloom,” “Hello” was when I realized how much I love doing vocal stacks. I only did it at the end of the song because had never tried that before, but I ended up loving it. That’s why I did the outro to “Bloom” like that because I want to carry the [stacks] as something that I do on every song. I do it on a lot of the outros on the album; it’s something I feel is my little signature piece. 

How do you think you’ve grown professionally and personally since your last EP? 

I think my writing has gotten even more introspective. I’ve also grown more and been able to do more with my voice; I’m able to sustain my notes more, belt more, and I’m learning different tips and tricks. 

Most of the songs [on this album] are [the demo takes]; I didn’t even bother trying to recut them because sometimes when you capture that natural essence in the studio and you try to match that energy later, it just didn’t sound the same. But I’m also a perfectionist. If I hear the note’s off, I’m like, “Hold on, I’m gonna punch that word in.” I get that nitty gritty in the studio. 

Snippet culture played a key role in “Bloom” blowing up. What does it feel like as an artist when fans are upset at the final version of a song sounding different from the snippet? 

Because of that experience with “Bloom” — where I teased the demo, and I knew I was gonna go add more stuff – I learned that I’m no longer going to tease a song unless it’s close to the final mix or if it’s a section of the song I know I’m content with. I understand from a consumer standpoint: when you’re listening to something, you want to hear what you heard. When you get the full song and [elements] you grew accustomed to [have] changed, that kinda sucks.  

But as an artist, I’m conflicted, because it’s art. It’s my art. If I’m gonna add something new, I have the ability to do so. 

“Sunshine” is so jazzy. What’s your relationship with jazz and would you ever explore the genre further? 

Again, in my crib days, my mom played a lot of jazz music for me. I used to fall asleep to jazz music. I guess [the jazziness of “Sunshine”] makes sense because another one of my favorite artists is Masego, and he does a really good job of mixing trap, soul and jazz. I really love “Sunshine” because of those elements as well. I would love to tap into that even more because I feel like I [have] a good tone to sing over some jazz music. 

How did “Most Wanted” come together? That was an unexpected kick of Caribbean energy near the end of the tracklist. 

It’s such a good vibe! And that’s owed to my background because my parents are from Jamaica. My dad played reggae and dancehall while I was growing up, and my mom played a lot of conscious reggae. It was very natural for me to lean fully into it. Kasey and Rex are also Caribbean, so the three of us made some real heat in that room. Before the song was even done, I told my team it needed a music video! 

Do you think a Canadian R&B wave could be hitting the States soon? 

Oh my gosh, yes! There are so many hidden gems; with the right push — or maybe that right amount of luck – and visibility, it’s game over. I’ll be scrolling on Instagram and hear someone singing, go to their profile, and they’re from Toronto! It’s incredible. 

Songwriters often note that the concept of turning a song into a hit, at its core, crucially leans on timing: the right singer connecting with the right song at the perfect time. For 27-time Grammy winner, vocalist/fiddler Alison Krauss, that convergence of artist, song and time sparked the reconvening of one of bluegrass music’s most revered groups, the 14-time Grammy winners Alison Krauss & Union Station, who will release their first album in nearly 14 years, the Down the Road Records project, Arcadia, on Friday (March 28).

“We didn’t mean for it to take so long, but it did,” Krauss told Billboard.

Krauss has long had a habit of tucking away songs that she loves, waiting for the right time to record them. Over the years, she’s amassed a collection of those potential recordings, but it wasn’t until she heard the Jeremy Lister song “Looks Like It’s the End of the Road” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that Krauss felt she’d found that perfect song to kick off a new record with her band Union Station, one that would mark their first since 2011’s Grammy-winning Paper Airplane.

“I had been collecting most of those things since we recorded the last album, so I’d had a lot of them,” Krauss says. “I heard Jeremy Lister’s song and within the first half of the first verse I’m like, ‘There it is.’ A few days later, I texted everybody saying we should get together. I never stopped wanting to [make a new album], but with touring and people recording, there’s such a huge factor, because everybody is scattered.”

The top-caliber talents of each of the band’s members led them to an array of various projects through the years, including studio work, collaborations with other artists and their own solo projects.

In 2017, Krauss released the solo project Windy City. In 2021, she teamed with rock icon Robert Plant for the album Raise the Roof (the sequel to their Grammy-winning Raising Sand project) and a subsequent tour as a duo. Krauss’s Union Station bandmate, dobro player Jerry Douglas has released numerous solo albums, including 2024’s The Set with his own band. Douglas and Union Station bassist Barry Bales also paid tribute to Flatt and Scruggs as part of the group Earl of Leicester. Among other music initiatives, banjoist Ron Block released the 2015 project Hogan’s House of Music. Meanwhile, in 2017, vocalist/mandolin player/guitarist Dan Tyminski released the project Southern Gothic, followed by 2023’s God Fearing Heathen.

“It was great,” Krauss recalls of those first sessions playing with the group and getting acquainted with playing the songs together. “Once we listened to all the material, we started playing all the songs and it’s never a labored process of getting those initial arrangements down for tracking. They are such a great band, cutting the basic tracks that goes really smoothly. So, this is a magical moment for me to be singing my scratches [scratch vocals] over those tracks.”

But as the group began to reconvene, they realized the new project would come with a significant shift in the group’s lineup, when Tyminski revealed he would not be returning to the group, so that he could focus on his solo career.

“Nobody wanted Dan to go, but we respect what he feels called to do,” Krauss says. Tyminski’s influence on the project can still be heard on instrumentation on the album, and he co-wrote the album’s “The Wrong Way” with Robert Lee Castleman.

“He played me that song, it’s got to be 10 years ago at least,” Krauss says. “I’ve had that song a long time and I loved it immediately. I thought it was just beautiful.”

On the new album, Russell Moore, a six-time IBMA male vocalist of the year winner known for his work as part of the seven-time IBMA vocal group of the year-winning group IIIrd Tyme Out, joins Union Station, adding his unmistakable voice alongside Krauss’s ethereal soprano.

“Can you believe his singing?” Krauss gushes. “We all grew up in that same generation and all had the same similar influences of what was happening in bluegrass at the time. We’re all made of the same stuff—we ate the same grass.”

She adds, “So when this came up, we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ I mentioned Russell and he’s been so respected in this music for decades. The first time I heard him sing, I was 14 and he was 21 — he was playing with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. He and Dan [Tyminski], of that era, were the guys. I can’t even believe we got to play with Dan for 30 years and now we get to play with Russell, too. It’s just amazing, the fortune of this band. It’s amazing to hear [Russell] sing, standing next to him — this amazing voice you’ve heard your whole life.”

Moore’s work with IIIrd Tyme Out will take a brief hiatus as Moore records and tours as part of Union Station.

“I didn’t think he would [join Union Station] because he’s got his own group,” Krauss says of reaching out to Moore. “But he was up for talking about it. And the way we’ve structured this tour is to make sure everybody can still do their own stuff. We’re going out for six months and then the rest of the year is to make sure everybody else’s projects are honored. I don’t think [Russell] would’ve [joined] had we not made sure that [IIIrd Tyme Out] would be honored, too. There was no way he was going to leave his group — he’s built that over 30-something years.”

The new album places vocals and stories at the fore, with the band expertly building each instrumental bed around Moore and Krauss’s voices. Many of the album’s songs center around despairing storylines, with some recording details of long-ago tragedies, such as the Civil War tale “Richmond on the James,” or when Moore takes the vocal lead on “Granite Mills,” which depicts the story of a fire at a mill in Massachusetts in 1874, which took the lives of more than a dozen people. Elsewhere, “Hangman” sets a desolate poem from Maurice Odgen to music.

“One thing that bluegrass tunes have never been afraid of is saying exactly what happened,” Krauss says of “Granite Mills.” “My son asked me not that long ago, ‘How do you sing these sad songs? I can’t even listen.’ I said, ‘I have to sing them, and I feel called to sing them. A lot of these stories you may not even know.’ I talked to someone who lived in the area that the mill tragedy happened in, and he said, ‘I didn’t even know that happened here.’ So here in this song, it’ll live forever. For me, these tragedy songs, they’re survival stories and they bring encouragement to people. Trying to survive will never go away, no matter what time in history. It’s just the human condition.”

The album does have some moments of levity, as when Bales and Block lighten the mood with “North Side Gal,” with twin fiddle work from Alison and Stuart Duncan. The album is bookended with another Lister song, “There’s a Light Up Ahead,” which lends a more hope-filled conclusion to the project.

The album reunites them with the founders of Rounder Records — Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, and Bill Nowlin — who launched a new label, Down the Road Records, in 2023. As with reuniting with Union Station, it was Krauss who made the first call.

“When I started to hear about them putting the label together, I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s room for us? If I don’t ask, I’ll never know,’” Krauss says. “Because those folks, they’re the real deal. They’re the evangelists of folk music and traditional music. I love being there with people that feel that way about the music, that it has to be heard and it has to be recorded. I love who they are, so I’m thrilled to be with them again.”

This spring, Alison Krauss & Union Station will launch their first tour in a decade, with 75 North American tour dates set. As for the possibility of another 14 years elapsing between projects for Krauss and Union Station, Krauss says, “No, it won’t be that long. I definitely hope not. I’m thrilled to be back with these guys and getting to make new music and play the older ones again. It’s so nice to hear the old songs.”

Back in 2017, Selena Gomez was coming off her greatest commercial hot streak, having just released 2015’s Billboard 200-topping Revival — which scored a trio of smash pop singles — and keeping her momentum going with a run of successful collabs. Then, she released “Bad Liar,” the most sophisticated, ambitious and generally surprising single of her career to that point, co-written alongside a pair of hitmakers with whom she had an obvious connection. The song was rapturously received by pop fans and critics alike, but the commercial response to it was distinctly muted — seemingly leaving Gomez unsure of what to do next.

On this week’s Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard‘s executive director of music, Jason Lipshutz, to talk about one of the most fascinating pop songs of the last decade. We look at why the song worked in so many unlikely ways, why it won over so many listeners who’d previously disregarded Gomez but still couldn’t find its footing at radio or streaming — and whether or not the song, which felt like a major turning point in Selena Gomez’s career upon its release, actually ended up being such a pivotal release for her.

Along the way, of course, we ask all the important questions about Selena Gomez and “Bad Liar”: Why was lifting the bassline from a 1977 Talking Heads song the key to this 2017 pop single? What made Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter such perfect collaborators for Gomez at this point in her career? Why does she love playing multiple characters in the same project so much? Was there really nothing subtle about the Battle of Troy? Can we hear any of “Bad Liar” in Gomez’s new I Said I Love You First album, recorded with longtime producer (and now-fiancé) Benny Blanco? And perhaps most importantly: Would we still name “Bad Liar” the best song of 2017?

Check out our discussion above, and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights. (Selena would want you to!)

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed, and giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.