In 2026, PSYCHIC FEVER continued expanding its overseas reach, taking on new challenges on a global scale. The group has been steadily building up a wealth of experience, putting on its first North American tour in 2025 and performing at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas. Building on the enthusiastic response it has received, it is planning on releasing a new album this July.

Billboard JAPAN talked to JIMMY and WEESA while they were in London.

PSYCHIC FEVER had a fan meeting in London in July 2025, right? What about your London fans made an impression on you?

JIMMY: The reason we were able to come to London is that a lot of overseas listeners got to hear “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY” thanks to social media. When we performed for the first time in London, we had fans singing along to “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY.” But what got me really hyped was that fans had also listened to the songs we released after “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY” and they were singing along as we performed them. The buzz wasn’t just a one-time thing, they really liked PSYCHIC FEVER and were following along with our releases, which made me so happy.

WEESA: The first time we came to Europe, you could feel this powerful energy coming off the fans. They were dancing and singing to our songs even more energetically than we were. Seeing those fans, I welled up with love for performing in Europe. I feel like we’ve been influenced by our European fans, both in our music and the way we perform.

You’ve played in a lot of different countries. What differences have you found in the fans?

WEESA: The songs that get the audience pumped are different depending on the country. Each country has its own sound, and the music that resonates with people depends on the country, so the parts of the shows that get the crowd going in one country are totally different than another country.

JIMMY: In America, the audience really gets into “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY” and the songs with the 2000s and late 1990s feel that inspired us. In London and the rest of Europe, “Highlights,” which is performed by us and REN, went viral before “Just Like Dat feat. JP THE WAVY.” It has an electronic sound, and it feels like a huge number of the fans are into that kind of genre.

You’re building up a lot of experience with the aim of going global, and I’m sure you’ve had your struggles, but has there been anything that’s made you especially happy or left a lasting impression?

JIMMY: We moved to Thailand soon after our debut, lived there for about six months, and continued to use it as our base for roughly two years. While things didn’t go exactly as we’d hoped, one great thing was that we were able to use that experience as a starting point to perform in all kinds of overseas locations. I’m also really glad that we’ve been able to serve as a gateway for people to become interested in the whole LDH family, both groups that came before us and newer ones. I love that people aren’t just digging us, but other groups too.

I think one of PSYCHIC FEVER’s strengths is that, even though you’re young, you’ve got a message that you convey through your music. Are there any tricks to keeping that steady core?

JIMMY: When we debuted, we didn’t have a really strong concept like “this is the kind of style we’re going for.” We built up our confidence through our overseas experience and the reactions of our fans. So all seven of us were on different pages, but people said that was one of the things that made us great. Those differences are what got people interested in us. Those reactions really resonated with us, which is why we’re able to share our message. The more we get from our fans, the more we want to give back. I think that automatically feeds into the strength of our team.

So as you were building up that, you were also working on your new album, DIFFERENT. What was the creation process like?

WEESA: JIMMY and I wrote lyrics for the first time, and we all talked about what to do from the very start, creating the album from the ground up. A lot of people took part in the album’s creation, so reflecting everyone’s ideas and creating a finished work was really hard, but we were able to pack in even more than our first album, so I think it’s going to come out well.

JIMMY: On our EPs, we’ve tried our hands at hip-hop, R&B, and electronic music. We built up a lot of experience through the process, and I think that’s created the foundation for DIFFERENT. We all have our differences, and that shapes our identity and is one of our strengths. I’ve come to feel that really strongly during the time we’ve been working on the album. This is our first time deciding on a solid concept and creating an album, so it took a lot of time, but we worked hard to create something that would resonate with people around the world.

So there’s a connection between the title of the album, DIFFERENT, and the identities of the group’s seven members?

WEESA: We named the album DIFFERENT to share the message that being different is a good thing. That being different has value. I think there’s also a lot of significance in the fact that we’re releasing this album from London, which is a melting pot of races.

I’m looking forward to the album release. This year, you’ve got a Japanese tour coming up, as well as overseas shows. What kind of hopes do you have for five years down the road?

JIMMY: I’d like to do an arena-sized show. Today, even. My main goal is to perform for a lot of people. Whether the venue is big or small, what we do is the same, but if we want to be seen by a lot of people, we need to perform at venues with capacities in the tens of thousands. I go all out in every performance to get ready for that, but I’d like to further improve my performances.

Changing gears a little, what foods have you liked in London?

JIMMY: I’m constantly eating fish and chips.

WEESA: London has lived up to its reputation for having great meat.

JIMMY: I had meat yesterday.

WEESA: Like steak! There’s this one restaurant I’d love to go to, so I hope I have the chance. There are a lot of delicious restaurants in London.

I’ve heard you really like London, JIMMY. 

JIMMY: London is a great place for learning English, and I like the fashion, so every time I come here I go to the shops and vintage clothing stores around Brick Lane. I’ve been all around the world, and London is my favorite place to go shopping. Recently, there have been a lot of new young street fashion brands coming out, and people around me have been talking about how great London’s street fashion is.

Also, London’s kind of like Japan in a few ways. There are a lot of people who really value older culture and their roots. Even young people will talk about how they’ve gone with a certain look because of the roots of that fashion. I don’t know if I’d exactly call it craftsmanship, but there’s a certain mentality that’s a lot like Japan.

Yeah, Brits do tend to go really deep. I understand why creators like the UK so much. 

JIMMY: British stuff is cool. If I could live anywhere, I’d live in London.

I’m looking forward to hearing about PSYCHIC FEVER playing here in London and whipping up a frenzy in the near future.

This interview by Tomoko Moore first appeared on Billboard Japan

Charlie Puth is heading to Australia and New Zealand this November on his Whatever’s Clever! World Tour.

Live Nation confirmed the six-date run on Tuesday, with general on-sale tickets available from Thursday, April 23 at 1 p.m. local time.

The tour opens Nov. 5 at Spark Arena in Auckland before moving to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Nov. 7, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Nov. 10, Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Nov. 13, Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Nov. 15, and RAC Arena in Perth on Nov. 17.

Puth will be backed by a full live band across all dates.

“I feel like I’ve worked and waited my entire career to put this sort of live show on for you all,” Puth said in a statement. “We have worked so hard to bring you the sort of top-level musicianship and arrangements that you all deserve in a live show, and I am beyond excited to bring my music and this incredible band and show to some of the most iconic rooms in the world. It’s going to be fun!”

The tour supports Whatever’s Clever!, Puth’s fourth studio album, which is out now. The run follows a strong start to 2026 for the multi-platinum artist, who performed at the Super Bowl in San Francisco in February. An artist presale begins Monday, April 20 at noon local time at charlieputh.com, with Vodafone and Mastercard presales also running from Tuesday, April 21.

Puth has built one of pop’s more consistent chart resumes over the past decade. His highest-charting solo single remains “Attention,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017, while “We Don’t Talk Anymore” featuring Selena Gomez reached No. 9. His co-written and co-produced track “Stay” for The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reigned atop the Billboard Global 200 for 11 weeks in 2021. To date, Puth has amassed over 35 billion career streams, nine multi-platinum singles and four Grammy nominations.

Tickets for all dates are available via charlieputh.com, livenation.com.au and livenation.co.nz.

Though its absence from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been criticized from many quarters, Iron Maiden is pleased that the number of its beast has finally come up for induction.

The heavy metal stalwart was previously nominated in 2021 and 2023 and has been near the top of most lists of Rock Hall snubs over the years. Now it’s one of eight acts in the performer category that will be inducted during the shrine’s annual ceremony on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles. The group — which formed in 1975 in London — also received 395,000 votes in the fan vote.

In a statement following Monday night’s announcement on American Idol, longtime Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said, “We’d like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for including us (and former members who were all part of our story) in the 2026 roll call of inductees. Iron Maiden have always been about our relationship with our fans above anything else, including awards and industry accolades. However, having said that, it’s always nice to be recognised and honoured for any achievements within the music industry too!”

Smallwood added that, “It also seems appropriate for the band to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year as we continue our 50th anniversary celebrations with our Run For Your Lives World Tour visiting the Americas and beyond. We would also like to congratulate our fellow 2026 inductees and extend our gratitude as ever to our fans for their loyalty, perseverance and support for over 50 years now!  See you all, somewhere on tour.”

The tour, which focuses on material from Iron Maiden’s first nine albums, launched last May in Europe and picks up again on May 23 in Greece, with dates through November in Europe, North and South America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Additionally, a documentary film, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, opens in theaters worldwide on May 7. The group has said it’s planning a break for 2027.

Guitarist Adrian Smith recently told Billboard in an interview about the film that Iron Maiden’s long history of road work is as integral to the band’s connection with fans as its body of 17 studio albums. “It’s always been a touring band — tour, tour, tour, tour,” Smith notes. “Obviously there were albums in between that, but the philosophy was, ‘Let’s do this the hard way,’ I guess. We were never gonna get massive hit records — and I’m not criticizing people who did. What I’m saying is … we took the music to the people. I think in the long run people remember that, and it’s a very honest way to build up a following. We’re getting the payback for that now. It’s like a celebration, the band and the audience, ‘Look what we’ve done together!’ There’s always been that connection.”

As Smallwood notes, the Rock Hall induction will honor past members such as the late Paul Di’Anno and Clive Burr, as well as ‘90s frontman Blaze Bayley and longtime drummer Nicko McBrain, who retired from touring after 2024 due to health issues. The constant throughout has been bassist Steve Harris, who’s shepherded Maiden through myriad personnel changes and musical trends that have not always been kind to metal bands.

“He’s the driving force behind the band; he always has been and probably always will be,” Smith acknowledged. “We’re part of it. We’re contributors. But Steve is who’s really kept this alive.”

There’s no word yet on what Maiden might have planned for the ceremony. Frontman Bruce Dickinson, who’s in his second stint with the band, has been outspoken in the past about his disdain for the Rock Hall, labeling it “an utter, complete load of bollocks” while speaking to fans in 2018. He’s also said he feels Maiden deserves to be inducted, however.

The second time proved to be the charm for Billy Idol at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — and he couldn’t be happier about it.

The veteran punk/New Wave icon – who turned a sneer into a signature style and notched four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including one chart-topper —  is one of eight acts to be inducted in the performers category at the Rock Hall’s annual induction ceremony, taking place Nov. 14 in Los Angeles. Idol performed as part of Ozzy Osbourne’s induction as a solo artist during the 2024 event in Cleveland and was nominated for the first time last year.

“It’s really exciting,” Idol tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. He and guitarist Steve Stevens, who will be inducted alongside Idol, performed “Rebel Yell” as part of Monday (April 13) night’s American Idol episode that revealed the inductees. “I can’t believe it. It’s incredible. It’s just fantastic to think that something I was doing for the sheer love of the scene we were in back in the ‘70s, the punk rock scene. We were doing it for the love. We had no idea it was going to explode and lead to me doing this for 50 years. So it’s all really incredible and something I just couldn’t have imagined when I was starting out.”

Idol, who learned of the induction a few days before the announcement, adds that he “got quite emotional just telling Steve Stevens a few minutes ago.” And having to wait a year from his first nomination only makes getting in that much sweeter.

“Certainly being part of Ozzy’s induction…that really showed me what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is about, really,” he explains. “It’s about other artists joining together, and you’re getting respect from your peers, which is really pretty incredible. So many of my heroes, going back to the ‘50s — Bo Diddley and Elvis (Presley) and Buddy Holly, Little Richard, even Eddie Cochran…. That’s pretty incredible that other people think you should be in something like this.

“It’s just been fantastic, being part of this musical revolution we really believed in and to be pushing the culture along. It’s been really fun, and a dream come true. And then this is just icing on the cake, just … wow, what an honor! I almost can’t put it into words. To be able to have your peers vote you in and that, it’s pretty special.”

Idol received 601,000 votes on this year’s Rock Hall fan ballot, more than twice as many as he got in 2025. “That’s the other thing,” he notes. “You get a chance to really thank your fans in person. That’s really special. They helped to put you where you are, stuck with you through thick and thin. Just to get a chance to really thank them is a fantastic moment. I’m looking forward to it, really.”

Idol hasn’t given much thought yet to what November ceremony will entail but says “we’re in a really good place to perform” there. He was on the road last year to support his 2025 album Dream Into It and will head out again in July, with U.S. dates running into late September as well as a five-night residency at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas starting Aug. 28. The documentary film Billy Idol Should Be Dead, meanwhile, is streaming on Hulu.

“We’re on a roll now,” he says, “my band and I and Steve, so I know we’re gonna bring it, bring out the whole thing — the whole attitude and everything. It’s a perfect moment for us to be inducted. We are still at the top of my game.”

In addition, Idol says he’s planning to start working on his next album in June, hoping for release in 2027 but acknowledging that “you never really know how long it’s gonna take you before you start.” Nevertheless, Idol adds that “there’s a bit of a direction we might go in. The last album was very rock ‘n’ roll; I think we’re going to put an element of dance back into this next album. But you never know where it’s going. You plan, but there’s a lot of things you just have to find out when you’re doing it and start seeing songs and see what you have.”

For the third year running, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame revealed its annual inductees on American Idol, with Ryan Seacrest and Rock Hall of Famer Lionel Richie announcing the Rock Hall’s Class of 2026 on the show’s Monday (April 13) night episode.

Of the 17 artists who were nominated for the Rock Hall this year, here’s who made the cut. In the performers category, the inductees are: innovative pop-rock hitmaker Phil Collins; New Wave punk Billy Idol; heavy metal gods Iron Maiden; post-punk-turned-dance pioneers Joy Division/New Order; Britpop icons Oasis; sophisticated R&B group Sade; smooth R&B legend Luther Vandross; and culture-shifting hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan.

But that’s not all. Queen of salsa Celia Cruz; Afrobeat architect Fela Kuti; hip-hop boundary-breaker Queen Latifah; rap pioneer MC Lyte; and country rock godfather Gram Parsons enter the Rock Hall with the early influence award. Philly soul songwriter Linda Creed (“The Greatest Love of All,” “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)”); producer Arif Mardin (Bee Gees, Bette Midler, Norah Jones); producer/musician Jimmy Miller (Steve Winwood, The Rolling Stones, Motörhead); and producer Rick Rubin (LL COOL J, Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash) are in via the musical excellence award. Finally, Ed Sullivan—whose groundbreaking variety show The Ed Sullivan Show introduced Americans to live performances from Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Jackson 5 and more—receives the Ahmet Ertegun award.

The 2026 induction ceremony will take place Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, to be aired on ABC and Disney+ in December.

Once this year’s induction is completed, everyone from the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot will have been inducted. The last time that happened was 2015, when Lou Reed’s induction marked the ‘completion’ of the 2000 ballot.

The induction of post-punk outfit Joy Division and dance-rock pioneers New Order together marks the third time the Rock Hall has seen fit to salute two bands with overlapping members at the same time, following Parliament/Funkadelic in 1997 and The Small Faces/The Faces in 2012. (Similar-ish, the Rascals were inducted in 1997 as The (Young) Rascals.)

Eight of the marquee names in the Class of 2026 are being inducted posthumously: Luther Vandross (died in 2005), Celia Cruz (2003), Fela Kuti (1997), Gram Parsons (1973), Linda Creed (1986), Arif Mardin (2006), Jimmy Miller (1994) and Ed Sullivan (1974). Of the late inductees, Parsons died the youngest—he was only 26 years old when he died of a drug and alcohol overdose. Cruz was the eldest, making it to 77 before dying of complications related to cancer. Just last year, Creed’s frequent songwriting partner, Thom Bell, was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

So who was on the 2026 ballot who didn’t make it in this year? That would be The Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Mariah Carey, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, P!NK and Shakira. Interestingly, New Edition won the 2026 fan vote but failed to make the Class of 2026; while the fan vote contributes to the final tally, it is not the deciding factor. Fan vote runner-up Phil Collins did, however, make the grade this year.

Additional reporting by Paul Grein.