Nearly two weeks after Valentine’s Day, Bruno Mars plays the role of love doctor with the release of his anticipated album The Romantic, out on Friday (Feb. 27).

It’s the hitmaker’s first solo album since 2016, and The Romantic boasts nine tracks in total, including the Billboard Hot 100-topping single “I Just Might,” which marked his first debut and 10th overall entry at the summit. The track is still holding strong inside the top 10 at No. 6 on the Hot 100 at press time.

Bruno will be spreading the love across the globe, with The Romantic Tour invading stadiums across North America and Europe later this year.

The singer-songwriter’s Silk Sonic running mate, Anderson. Paak, will be joining him on the trek, while RAYE, Victoria Monét and Leon Thomas will also be providing support on various legs.

The global trek kicks off with a pair of shows in Las Vegas on April 10 and 11, before heading to Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Toronto, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and more before it wraps up with shows north of the border in Vancouver, B.C., on Oct. 16 and 17.

For the European fans, Bruno’s slated to make stops in Paris, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Milan and Madrid this summer.

Bruno Mars teamed up with TikTok and iHeartRadio to give fans an early listen of The Romantic on Thursday night (Feb. 26), which saw him hosting Romantic Radio with Bruno Mars: An iHeartRadio Album Preview.

Bruno’s last solo album, 24K Magic, arrived in November 2016 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The LP would go on to win album of the year at the 2018 Grammy Awards.

Stream The Romantic below.

Rolling Loud Australia 2026 has been scrapped just a week before showtime.

The hip-hop fest was meant to return this year for the first time since 2019, this time with shows in two east coast cities. Gunna was booked to headline the even, which was to touch down Saturday, March 7 at Sydney’s Centennial Park and wrap up Sunday, March 8 at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse.

Those shows won’t be going ahead. A statement posted to Rolling Loud Australia’s social channels and official website reads, “we’re really disappointed to announce that Rolling Loud Australia in Sydney and Melbourne will not move forward.”

Reps for the global hip-hop brand point the finger at local partners Primuse Entertainment, claiming important deadlines and obligations weren’t met. “These ongoing delays left us without the necessary guarantees so close to the event,” the statement claims. Ticket owners will be refunded, with further details to be provided by the event organizers and or the official ticketing partners

“This one hurts,” the message reads.

Other international performers on the bill included Ken Carson, Sexyy Red, Tyga, Swae Lee, Lil Tjay, Ski Mask the Slump God, NLE Choppa, Quavo, Ian and rising rapper Osamason.

Billboard reached out to Primuse Australia for comment. “We are aware of media reports regarding Rolling Loud Australia. As the local promoter, we are currently in discussion with Rolling Loud and will provide an official update as soon as possible,” reads its own media release. “We ask fans to wait for confirmed information, which will be communicated directly via our official channels.”

It’s an unfortunate end to Rolling Loud Australia 2026, which was reentering a festivals landscape cratered by festival cancelations. In recent years, Esoteric Festival, Caloundra Music Festival, Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo, Listen Out and other major events have either paused their events, or disappeared entirely from the calendar.

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At its Galaxy S26 Unpacked event, Samsung taps SUGA of BTS for the unveiling of their latest and greatest flagship earbuds, the Galaxy Buds4 and Buds4 Pro. With a new overhauled design, improved Hi-Fi sound quality and enhanced all-day comfort, the premium audio buds feel one step closer to competing with its popular rival, Apple AirPods.

For audiophiles, the Buds4 Pro aims to improve its listening experience across the board. For the first time, the earbuds feature a super wide woofer, as part of its two-way driver setup for cleaner bass. The Buds4 also combine improved Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and an enhanced Adaptive Equalizer to supply full-spectrum sound true. Both Galaxy Buds4 models support high quality audio up to 24bit/96kHz and direct multi-channel 360 audio is available as well.

The Pro model also brings back an impressive feature from its predecessor, Super Clear Call, that detect’s the user’s voice and increases ambient sound for conversations. When you stop talking, the earbuds will automatically resume ANC. The more premium Galaxy Buds 4 Pro also has a Siren Detect feature that activates ambient sound so that you can hear safety alerts like alarms or emergency vehicles.

Similar to the AirPods Pro 3, the he Galaxy Buds 4 Pro offers impressive motion gestures to handle quick tasks without lifting a finger. Users can simply nod their head to answer or decline phone calls as well as interact with Bixby via voice controls.

The Galaxy Buds 4 ($180) and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro ($250) are available for pre-order today before hitting shelves on March 11. Both models will be available in black, white and a Samsung online exclusive pink gold option on the Pro.

Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro

$249.99

Buy Now on samsung

The Galaxy Buds4 Pro comes in white, black and pink gold.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds4

$249.99

Buy Now on samsung

The Galaxy Buds4 comes in white and black.

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At the Unpacked event, SUGA was revealed as the official brand ambassador of the Galaxy Buds4 Pro in a new minute-long trailer that had BTS fans roaring with cheers at the packed venue in San Francisco Watch the Galaxy Buds4 Pro x SUGA ad below.

Primary Wave is in the advanced stages of putting together a deal to acquire Kobalt Music Group, the gigantic independent music publishing administration company, which would create a powerhouse independent music company with over $7 billion in assets, Billboard estimates. 

Primary Wave’s portfolio, which includes stakes in the catalogs of Prince, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley and recently Britney Spears, is worth nearly $6 billion. Kobalt, the world’s largest independent music publisher, was acquired in 2022 by a group of investors led by Francisco Partners in a deal that valued the company at around $750 million valuation. Since then, Kobalt under CEO Laurent Hubert has grown significantly, improved profitability and launched a joint venture with Morgan Stanley’s Tactical Value group with $700 million to invest in music copyrights.

Soucres say those efforts have resulted in Kobalt generating roughly $100 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), and that the company could fetch a sale price north of $1.5 billion, especially if the assets purchased with Morgan Stanley are included in the deal. Goldman Sachs, which advised Kobalt in its sale to Francisco Partners, is said to be representing the company again.

All of the companies declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Francisco Partners has a controlling 90% interest in the company, with Dundee Partners, Matt Pincus and Kobalt founder and chairman Willard Ahdritz also owning stakes in the company. Pincus sold his company SONGS and its valuable music publishing catalog to Kobalt back in 2017, which the company subsequently turned around and sold to Dundee Partners in 2021.

Before that sale, Kobalt sold another portfolio of music publishing assets to Hipgnosis Songs Fund in 2020. But under the Francisco Partners-led ownership, Kobalt once again began acquiring music assets with Morgan Stanley, including certain rights related to the catalogs of *NSYNC and AJR, as well as catalogs from songwriters who have written for various artists.

In its second incarnation after selling some of its assets to BMG in 2013, Primary Wave has emerged as a powerhouse buyer of music assets and owns the music rights to such artists Stevie Nicks, James Brown, Notorious B.I.G., Olivia Newton-John, Boyz II Men, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Luther Vandross, Burt Bacharach, Alice Cooper and the Cars.

But it’s been dependent on other publishing administration platforms for its collections. Many of its music publishing acquisitions have been tied up in publishing administration deals. For assets where deals has been ending, if the songwriters agree, Primary Wave has been assigning them to be handled by the Universal Music Publishing Group, sources say.

If the deal to acquire Kobalt goes through, Primary Wave would not only have its own publishing administration platform, it would also own Kobalt’s AMRA, the global music collection organization that collects mechanical and performance royalties directly from digital services providers. This would thus cut out the fees paid to local collection societies and sub-publishers, improving profitability for Primary Wave’s music publishing assets.

Another possible benefit to Primary Wave is that it would acquire a stake in the music catalogs Kobalt has acquired since 2022. Kobalt said in 2023 it formed a partnership with Morgan Stanley Tactical Value to invest more than $700 million in music rights, with Kirkland & Ellis acting as advisor to Kobalt.

While Kobalt has been quiet about the acquisitions it made through that partnership, sources say it has been actively buying primarily publishing catalogs as well as some rights to master recordings. Sources suggest that its acquisition portfolio includes rights related to the catalogs of *NSYNC — which has accumulated in the U.S. nearly 32 million album consumption units in its career — and AJR, whose catalog so far has garnered nearly 5.4 million album consumption units.

Whatever rights Kobalt has acquired, these assets don’t appear to be covered by the consolidated financial results that Kobalt has filed to the U.K.’s Companies House. Sources say the joint venture acquisitions are highly leveraged. In the past, Kobalt has used an off balance-sheet approach to the music catalogs it has owned and may be doing so again.

Finally, Kobalt has created KOSIGN, which provides publishing administration services to independent artists and songwriters who often don’t have a way to collect publishing royalties on the plays their recorded masters receive. This is a growing area that could fuel further revenue growth for Kobalt as companies like Songtrust and Word Collections are competing in this growing D-I-Y sector.

Kobalt’s financials for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, are due to be filed at the U.K. Company House site by March 31, 2026. In the meantime, a look at its financials from the prior year ending June 30, 2024 shows that Kobalt lost $30.24 million on revenue of $794.4 million, versus the prior year when it had $13.1 million in profit on revenue of $522 million.

The main reason why the company went unprofitable in 2024 is that it’s administrative expenses almost doubled to $119 million from the prior year’s spending of $64.4 million, while its finance costs increased to $48 million from the prior year’s $27.2 million.  However, sources say that Kobalt’s operating profit, when examined under U.S. accounting principles, is very strong, and that the company has become much more profitable in the last few years.

HARD Summer will return to Los Angeles this August with a lineup featuring a mighty b2b from genre titan Zedd and San Diego bass star Knock2, an entirely hip-hip set from French legend DJ Snake, Latin chanteuse Kali Uchis, Dutch phenom Mau P, British garage star Sammy Virji and Belgian techno leaders Charlotte de Witte and Amelie Lens.

The lineup also includes Brutalismus 3000, Confidence Man, Chris Lorenzo, RL Grime, Tiga, Snow Strippers, Frost Children, Odd Mob and Omnom performing as Hyperbeam, a b2b from DJ Seinfeld and Luuk Van Dijk, Shygirl presenting her Club Shy party, a b2b from Interplanetary Criminal and Main Phase and much more.

Additionally, HARD 2026 will host a stage takeover by Berlin-based independent label and artist collective Live From Earth that will feature performances from experimental artist 2hollis, American duo Snow Strippers, German DJ and rapper MCR-T, hyperpop duo Frost Children, Underscores, 10cust and other sets to be announced. See the complete lineup below.

HARD Summer 2026 happens at Hollywood Park at SoFi Stadium this August 2-3, with the upcoming event marking the festival’s third year at the 300-acre site in Los Angeles’ Inglewood area. Organizers report that this year, HARD Summer will have a revamped site plan designed to maximize the ease of moving between stages, along with a new Green Stage area designed to provide more crowd space.

Tickets for the 18+ festival go on sale Friday, Feb. 27.

HARD Summer has happened in and around Los Angeles since 2007, outside of the 2020 pandemic year, at sites around the city and the Inland Empire. The festival is produced by Insomniac Events.