Jessie Murph caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly at Stagecoach 2025.
Metallica will revisit their 1996 album Load with a sprawling 301-track box set that will feature 245 unreleased tracks as well las demos, rarities and outtakes. The massive set due out on June 13 will be released in a number of formats, including a 2LP 180G vinyl package, as well as CD, cassette and digital, in addition to an expanded 3CD version and what they are calling a “mammoth” deluxe box set.
The “ambitious and comprehensive time capsule of 1995-1997 era Metallica” will feature the entire remastered Load album on 180g double vinyl, the extended version of “The Outlaw Torn,” which was originally edited for release due to the running time limits on CDs at the time, as well as a “Mama Said” picture disc and Loadapalooza ’96, a 140g triple album recorded live during their headlining Lollapalooza show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on Aug. 4, 1996.
Also included in the 15-CD set are 245 never-before-released tracks, including “riffs, floor takes, demos and rough mixes, B-sides and rarities,” as well as “tons” of live material. The box will also come with four DVDs including behind-the-scenes, in-studio and live footage, as well as on-air and TV appearances and their Polar Beach Party visit to Tuktoyaktuk, Canada.
The massive 10 pound, 1,800-minute box remastered by Reuben Cohen chronicling the group’s second LP to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart will be filled out with special goodies, including 14 Rorschach Test cards, a Pushead patch, an 11×17 Lollapalooza poster, a reproduction of their Rolling Stone cover from the time, a five-pack of guitar/bass picks, lyric sheets, two laminated tour passes and a deluxe 128-page book featuring unreleased photos and stories from the era.
Click here to see all the formats and to pre-order the set; fans who pre-order the deluxe box set now will receive a handful of instant free tracks: “Until It Sleeps (Remastered),” “Until It Sleeps (Herman Melville Mix),” “F.O.B.D. (‘Until It Sleeps’ Rough Chorus Vocal Idea Mix)” and “Until It Sleeps (Live at Slim’s, San Francisco, CA – June 10th, 1996).”
The band released a new lyric video for “Until It Sleeps” in advance of the set’s release, check it out below.
Eighteen months ago, Barbra Streisand released My Name Is Barbra, an anecdote-rich memoir about her 60-plus years of blazing trails in music, film, Broadway, activism and beyond. But the story isn’t over. On Wednesday (April 30), the eight-time Grammy winner and five-time Billboard Hot 100 topper announced a new studio album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, is coming out on her longtime label Columbia Records on June 27.
A sequel to 2014’s Billboard 200-topping album Partners, this new project also features a cross-genre, cross-generational list of duet partners. And some of the names on this tracklist are likely to leave more than a few jaws on the floor.
There are duets with classic rock royalty, including Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Sting (separately); Irish rocker Hozier; Icelandic jazz singer-songwriter Laufey; English crooner Sam Smith; country hitmaker Tim McGraw; Josh Groban, fresh off his celebrated Broadway stint in Sweeney Todd; and British soul mainstay Seal. Plus, there’s a duet with not just one but two vocally dynamic divas – Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande — that is sure to set the Internet aflame when it lands.
The first taste of the album, Streisand’s duet with Hozier, is already here. Listen to their take on Roberta Flack’s 1972 Hot 100 No. 1, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” out now.
“Barbra Streisand is one of the most enduring and iconic vocalists of our time, and somebody who defined an era with the sheer force of her voice, her talent, charisma and vision. To be asked to join her on a duet was a huge honor and came as a wonderful and welcome surprise,” Hozier said in a statement. “Ewan MacColl’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, made famous by the stunning Roberta Flack recording, has always mystified me. It is, to me, one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. Like so many, I was deeply saddened to hear of her recent passing. Along with the honor I have to sing on this record with Barbra, I hope this duet offers something of a gesture to Roberta Flack’s incredible legacy.”
“I’ve always loved singing duets with gifted artists. They inspire me in unique and different ways…and make our time in the studio a joy,” Streisand said in a statement. “My new album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, gave me the chance to work and play with some of my old friends, label mates, and new artists too. I admire all of them… and I hope that you’ll enjoy listening to our collaborations as much as I enjoyed recording with all of my wonderful partners.”
Check out the full tracklist for The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two below. The album is produced by Walter Afanasieff and Peter Asher, with orchestrations provided by William Ross and David Campbell. Streisand and Jay Landers, her longtime A&R executive, are the album’s executive producers.
- THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE with Hozier
- MY VALENTINE with Paul McCartney
- TO LOSE YOU AGAIN with Sam Smith
- THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU with Bob Dylan
- LETTER TO MY 13 YEAR OLD SELF with Laufey
- ONE HEART, ONE VOICE with Mariah Carey & Ariana Grande
- I LOVE US with Tim McGraw
- SECRET O’ LIFE with James Taylor
- FRAGILE with Sting
- WHERE DO I GO FROM YOU? with Josh Groban
- LOVE WILL SURVIVE with Seal
Australian punks Amyl and The Sniffers have taken out the song of the year at the 2025 APRA Music Awards, held Wednesday (April 30) at Melbourne Town Hall.
The Melbourne group received the coveted peer-voted award for their track “U Should Not Be Doing That,” which was released as the lead single for their 2024 album Cartoon Darkness. The record itself became the group’s second consecutive release to hit No. 2 on the ARIA charts, while the single received a nomination for best video at the 2024 ARIA Awards.
The award caps off an impressive run for the four-piece, having recently wrapped up two weekends at Coachella as part of their North American tour, and taking out both best live act and best LP/EP at the 2025 Rolling Stone Australia Awards.
Troye Sivan, meanwhile, was named songwriter of the year, just shy of the one-year anniversary of “Rush” being named song of the year at the 2024 ceremony.
“Songwriting is my favorite thing that I get to do. I think it’ll be something that I do for the rest of my life,” Sivan said of his win. “I feel like it’s, one of the greatest gifts that I was born with. Not even the ability to write a good song, just the ability to create at all.”
While Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell of Royel Otis received the emerging songwriter of the year award just months after winning four trophies at the ARIA Awards, Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker emerged as the night’s big winner, being honored in the categories of most performed Australian work and most performed pop work.
In both instances, Parker’s win was for Dua Lipa’s “Houdini,” which he co-wrote alongside Lipa and international writers Caroline Ailin, Danny Harle and Tobias Jesso Jr. Released in November 2023, the single topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and reached a respectable No. 11 on the Hot 100.
Sia’s “Unstoppable” was named most performed Australian work overseas, while Tate McRae’s “Greedy” took out most performed international work. King Stingray, Ziggy Alberts, Make Them Suffer, Kaiit, Lithe, and Dom Dolla also emerged victorious in their respective genre categories, while Kylie Minogue took out the previously-announced Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.
The 2025 edition of the APRAs cemented “another huge year for Australian music, both at home and overseas,” comments APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston.
“It’s heartwarming to see so many first-time winners this year, showcasing the incredible breadth of talent Australia produces, and it’s a testament to the opportunity of Australia becoming a global songwriting powerhouse,” he added.
“With an election just days away, we hope that both sides of government can see the immense talent we have here, and the opportunities to build a stronger, fairer, more vibrant future for Australian music, recognising our music as the global cultural powerhouse and valuable export that it so clearly is.”
Established in 1982, the Australasian Performing Right Association’s annual songwriters’ ceremony is one of the Australian music industry’s most treasured events, a worthy counterpart to Britain’s Ivor Novello Awards.
Full List of 2025 APRA Music Awards winners:
Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year
Title: U Should Not Be Doing That
Artist: Amyl and The Sniffers
Writers: Declan Mehrtens / Fergus Romer / Amy Taylor / Bryce Wilson
Songwriter of the Year
Writer: Troye Sivan
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing
Emerging Songwriter of the Year
Writers: Otis Pavlovic & Royel Maddell (Royel Otis)
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Ourness Songs
International Recognition Award
Keanu Torres (Keanu Beats)
Most Performed Australian Work
Title: Houdini
Artist: Dua Lipa
Writers: Kevin Parker / Dua Lipa*^ / Caroline Ailin / Daniel Harle / Tobias Jesso Jr.^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Universal Music Publishing^
Most Performed Australian Work Overseas
Title: Unstoppable
Artist: Sia
Writer: Sia Furler / Christopher Braide*
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing ANZ*
Most Performed Alternative Work
Title: Paradise
Artist: Coterie
Writers: Brandford Fisher / Conrad Fisher / Joshua Fisher / Tyler Fisher / Robby De Sa*
Publishers: Concord Music Publishing ANZ / Sony Music Publishing*
Most Performed Blues & Roots Work
Title: New Love
Artist: Ziggy Alberts
Writer: Ziggy Alberts
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing
Most Performed Country Work
Title: Take Forever (Hally’s Song)
Artist: Cooper Alan
Writers: Kylie Sackley* / Timothy Cooper^ / Justin Morgan+
Publishers: I Love You More Music Worldwide* / BMG^ / SHOUT! Music Publishing+
Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work
Title: Saving Up
Artist: Dom Dolla
Writers: Dominic Matheson / Clementine Douglas* / Toby Scott^ / Caitlin Stubbs^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Mushroom Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^
Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work
Title: Epitaph
Artist: Make Them Suffer
Writers: Sean Harmanis / Nicholas McLernon / Jordan Mather / Alexandra Reade / Jeff Dunne
Cooking Vinyl Publishing
Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work
Title: Fall Back
Artist: Lithe
Writers: Josiah Ramel* / Omid Khasrawy
Publisher: Concord Music Publishing ANZ obo Boss Level*
Most Performed International Work
Title: Greedy
Artist: Tate McRae
Writers: Tate McRae / Amy Allen* / Jasper Harris^ / Ryan Tedder
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Concord Music Publishing ANZ^
Most Performed Pop Work
Title: Houdini
Artist: Dua Lipa
Writers: Kevin Parker / Dua Lipa*^ / Caroline Ailin / Daniel Harle / Tobias Jesso Jr.^
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music* / Universal Music Publishing^
Most Performed R&B / Soul Work
Title: Space
Artist: Kaiit
Writers: Kaiit Waup / Jake Amy / Anthony Liddell / Jaydean Miranda / Justin Smith
Most Performed Rock Work
Title: Through The Trees
Artist: King Stingray
Writers: Theo Dimathaya Burarrwanga / Roy Kellaway* / Campbell Messer / Yirrŋa Gotjiringu Yunupingu* / Yimila Gurruwiwi / Lewis Stiles
Publisher: Sony Music Publishing*
Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Service to Australian Music
Kylie Minogue
Licensee of the Year
Lazybones Lounge Restaurant & Bar
Charli xcx has lined up yet another major acting gig. According to Variety, the singer will star in and produce the next movie from Japanese horror director Takashi Miike (Yakuza Apocalypse, Ichi the Killer).
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At press time no information was available about the film’s plot, but the unnamed film will be the second project Charli will produce through her new Studio365 banner, following the upcoming A24 drama The Moment, which is based on the singer’s original idea. Miike is a legendarily prolific director who has helmed more than 100 films over the past three decades, many of them known for their graphic violence.
The script for the Miike movie will be written by Ross Evans (How to Save a Marriage).
In addition to ruling last summer with her Grammy-winning Brat album — and seemingly this summer as well — Charli has been building up an impressive acting resume as well. Along with director Aidan Zamiri’s The Moment, she will appear in Julia Jackman’s period drama 100 Nights of Hero, as well as Pete Ohs and Jeremy O. Harris’ Erupcja and director Daniel Goldhaber’s horror remake of the legendary shock cult film Faces of Death.
Her long list of upcoming big screen projects also includes director Greg Araki’s I Want Your Sex and Romain Garvas’ adventure comedy Sacrifice, as well as The Gallerist, in which she’ll appear alongside Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. As if all that wasn’t enough, the singer/actress is also reportedly in talks to join Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia film as Jadis, the White Witch.
Charli will also be storming the small screen thanks to Benito Skinner’s upcoming Prime Video comedy series Overcompensating (May 15), which she produced music for in addition to shooting a cameo.
After crushing it at Coachella earlier this month with a set that included guest spots from Lorde, Billie Eilish and Troye Sivan, Charli continues her 2025 road trip with an upcoming four-night stand at Barclays Center in Brooklyn beginning tonight (April 30).
Fresh off his viral Coachella performance and the release of his latest single, Yeat is officially bringing the bell to Australia.
The breakout rapper has announced his debut Australian tour, The Bell Down Under Tour, which will see him perform four shows across the country this October.
Presented by Live Nation, The Bell Down Under Tour kicks off on Oct. 10 at Melbourne’s Festival Hall, followed by stops at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion (Oct. 14), Brisbane’s Riverstage (Oct. 16), and Perth HPC (Oct. 18).
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 7, at 11 a.m. local time via livenation.com.au. A Mastercard presale runs from Friday, May 2, at 9 a.m. local through Tuesday, May 6, at 9 a.m. local. Live Nation members can access a presale from Tuesday, May 6, at 10 a.m. through Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. local.
Yeat, born Noah Smith, has skyrocketed in just a few short years. With the release of his latest album, LYFESTYLE, Yeat landed his first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 89,000 equivalent album units, following up on the No. 2 debut of his last album, 2093, bringing his total number of top 10 entries to five. He’s previously landed with Lyfë (No. 10 in 2022), 2 Alivë (No. 6 in 2022), and AftërLyfe (No. 4 in 2023).
The 24-year-old first gained attention in 2021 when his song “Gët Busy” went viral, quickly earning co-signs from artists like Drake, Lil Uzi Vert and Young Thug. Since then, Yeat has cultivated a cult-like following that’s helped fuel his rise to streaming dominance, boasting over 16 billion global streams to date.
Yeat’s latest collaboration with Drake, “IDGAF,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 in late 2023. With even more music on the way, The Bell Down Under Tour is set to be another defining moment in Yeat’s unstoppable momentum.
Yeat — The Bell Down Under Tour 2025 (Australia Dates)
Oct. 10 – Festival Hall, Melbourne
Oct. 14 – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Oct. 16 – Riverstage, Brisbane
Oct. 18 – Perth HPC, Perth
Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) Donda 2 album is on streaming services for the first time. West premiered the sequel in February 2022, and the project had only been available on the Stem Player until Wednesday (April 30).
As of press time, Donda 2 is available on YouTube Music and Spotify, but is yet to hit Apple Music. The project is loaded with 18 tracks and guest appearances from XXXTENTACION, Don Toliver, Migos, Jack Harlow, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Baby Keem, Future and more.
Future served as the album’s executive producer and the cover art remains the same, showcasing Ye’s childhood home on fire.
West originally premiered the album with a listening party inside Miami’s LoanDepot Park in February 2022, but many of the tracks were unfinished and never made it to streaming services as Ye focused on the Stem Player technology.
Ye also threw in cuts like “City of Gods” featuring Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys, which arrived just prior to the Donda 2 listening party, and served as the lead single for the Brooklyn drill rapper’s B.I.B.L.E. album. The track reached No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“530” was one of the unfinished standouts on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 album, but West felt strong enough about the cleaned-up version to include it on Donda 2‘s streaming release.
Kim Kardashian’s 2021 Saturday Night Live monologue is still included on “Sci-Fi.” “I married the best rapper of all time,” she can be heard saying to start the track. “Not only that, he is the richest Black man in America. A talented, legit genius who gave me four incredible kids.”
West has been holed up in Spain for much of April. A masked Ye hosted a live stream premiere for Donda 2 with popular streamers Digital Nas, Sneako and N3on on Tuesday night (April 29).
West has been under fire in recent months for controversial X rants filled with hate speech. On the music side, he released a visual edition of his Bully album in March.
Listen to Donda 2 below.
Long-dormant D.C. post-hardcore outfit Fugazi will be making their extensive vault of live recordings much more accessible, bringing the archive to streaming at long last.
After 14 years spent as a digital archive on the Dischord Records website, Fugazi will begin to upload their live recordings onto their Bandcamp page. Launching on Friday (May 2) as part of Bandcamp Friday, the first two offerings will bookend the band’s career, including their debut show at D.C.’s Wilson Center on September 3, 1987, and their “to-date final performance” in London on November 2, 2002.
Further shows will be uploaded on a monthly basis, while the band’s online archives will also remain accessible.
Fugazi first formed in 1986, comprising noted members of the D.C. hardcore and punk scene, including Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Guy Picciotto of Rites of Spring. Between 1990 and 2001, the group released six studio albums, largely avoiding commercial success along the way. While the band would chart modestly in the U.K., their U.S. peak occurred in 1995 when fourth album Red Medicine reached No. 126 on the Billboard 200.
The group’s live performances were arguably one of the strongest aspects, however, with their DIY punk ethos resulting in the band performing over 1,000 shows across 16 years, with most gigs being priced as low as possible – often $5 – to make them accessible to everyone.
In 2004, the band’s extensive live archives were opened up and they began to issue their Fugazi Live Series recordings as physical CDs to fans. In 2011, the archives moved online, with more than 800 shows being made available for fans to purchase – complete with false starts, stage banter and audio dropouts.
“We liked this idea of, ‘Let’s just let it be everything,’” Picciotto told the New York Times in 2011. “There doesn’t have to be the idea that this is the great, golden document. It’s all there, and it’s not cleaned up. You get what you get.”
Fugazi have been inactive since embarking on an indefinite hiatus in 2003. Though members remain friends and regularly perform together both privately and in other bands, there is yet to be any official word of a potential reunion from the revered group.
Katy Perry has assured fans that she’s “ok,” despite a recent barrage of online vitriol that has come her way.
The singer addressed the recent negativity from online commentators in an Instagram comment on a fan page, expressing her gratitude toward her fans for their ongoing support during what she labels an undoubtedly difficult time.
“I’m so grateful for you guys. We’re in this beautiful and wild journey together,” Perry wrote. “I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond. I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year!”
Perry has found herself as something of a lightning rod for negativity in the past few weeks, with much of the discourse related to her spaceflight aboard the Blue Origin NS-31 on April 14.
While the likes of Kesha had been roped into the ongoing drama following an online post that seemingly referenced fast-food chain Wendy’s’ snarky jab at the “Firework” singer, English musician Lily Allen recently walked back her comments about calling Perry and her spaceflight “out of touch.”
“There was actually no need for me to bring her name into it, and it was my own internalized misogyny,” Allen said on her Miss Me? podcast. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and it was just completely unnecessary to pile on with her. I disagree with what it was that they did, but she wasn’t the only person that did it. She was possibly the most famous and the one that divides people the most.”
The Instagram post which Perry responded to was a video of a Times Square billboard that congratulated the singer for the opening week of her Liftimes tour, and ostensibly aimed to serve as comfort amidst the online backlash.
As Perry continued, she explained that much of her ability to survive the barrage of negative comments has come about through plenty of therapy and personal growth.
“Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me,” she noted. “My therapist said something years ago that has been a game changer, ‘no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don’t already believe about yourself’ and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it.
“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.”
Perry recently launched her Liftimes tour in Mexico on April 23, with each night also featuring fans being brought onstage during a special request section of the set. “What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth,” she concluded. “I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that.
“I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary, I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but… I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level UNLOCKS.”
Perry will bring her Lifetimes tour to the U.S. next week, with a headline date in Houston, TX set to take place on May 7.
Julien Baker and TORRES’ Send a Prayer My Way debuts at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 3), and also takes a bow in the top 10 on both the Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales rankings. The set – the first collaborative effort from the duo – was released April 18 and sold about 6,500 copies in the United States in the week ending April 26, according to Luminate.
Previously, Baker has placed two solo titles on Top Album Sales. Baker is also a member of the group Boygenius, which has notched a trio of titles on the list.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
In addition to the No. 5 bow on Top Album Sales for Send a Prayer My Way, it also starts at No. 4 on Vinyl Albums, No. 6 on Indie Store Album Sales, No. 16 on Americana/Folk Albums and No. 34 on Independent Albums.
Elsewhere on Top Album Sales, Doechii scores her biggest sales week yet, and first No. 1, as Alligator Bites Never Heal reenters atop the chart with 14,000 sold. Until April 18, the set was only available to purchase as a download and in two vinyl variants. On April 19, it garnered a wider availability on vinyl, including two new vinyl editions (both color variants) exclusively available via Target and Urban Oufitters, along with a widely available CD.
A trio of former No. 1s are next up on Top Album Sales: Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet rises 7-2 (8,500; down 14%), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX climbs 8-3 (8,000; down 16%) and Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM ascends 14-4 (nearly 7,000; down 11%). Many titles on the chart vault up the tally with big positional climbs, but with declines in sales, as the chart adjusts back to normal following a crowded Record Store Day-infused chart a week ago.
Childish Gambino’s 2024 album Bando Stone and the New World reenters Top Album Sales at No. 6 with nearly 6,500 copies sold following its first physical release, on vinyl. It’s the best sales week and first week in the top 10 for the title.
Chappell Roan’s chart-topping The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess jumps 19-7 (5,500; down 20%), Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s Who Believes In Angels? steps 10-8 (just over 4,500; down 50%), Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours races 36-9 (4,500; down 3%) and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft flies 38-10 (nearly 4,500; down 2%).
