He has always been notably quiet in person and has seldom had a lot to say from stage.

But big speeches weren’t what people have wanted from Alan Jackson. They wanted the songs: “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “Chattahoochee,” “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” “Remember When,” “Small Town Southern Man,” “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” Those titles spoke volumes about Jackson as a singer-songwriter, and about the fans he served.

Jackson caps his concert career Saturday (June 27) at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium with Last Call: One More for the Road — The Finale, a show that serves as a milestone in the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s career and a nostalgic reminder of his substantial body of work. But just as importantly, it highlights his influence. More than 35 years after Jackson reached the national spotlight, the ‘90s country that he helped define — marked by strong hooks, proud lower- and middle-class stories and an unapologetic use of fiddle and steel guitar — is hot. “Last Call” will feature appearances by a bundle of younger artists who took the baton, including Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack and Luke Combs, just to name a few.

They’re not the only music folks who’ll be on hand. The stadium will also welcome the four executives who headed the labels that oversaw his releases prior to this year: Tim DuBois, who signed Jackson to Arista Nashville; Joe Galante, who worked with him when a restructuring placed Arista under the RCA Label Group umbrella and, later, under Sony BMG; Mike Dungan, who signed him to Capitol Nashville; and Cindy Mabe, who succeeded Dungan at Universal Music Group Nashville (now MCA).

They collectively see Jackson as a key voice for the nation’s heartland.

“I call him the Norman Rockwell of country music,” DuBois says. “He just paints a picture that is so relatable to middle-class America.”

Jackson has amassed 26 No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs among 50 top 10 singles, deftly using everyday language and unpretentious musical construction to create a bond with the genre’s listeners. He avoided gimmickry and never overplayed the emotional content in his material. Instead, he delivered his stories with sincerity and respect, using those tales as his primary means of communication. He could acknowledge commitment and economics in the same chorus — as he did when he sang “Livin’ on love, buyin’ on time” — capture intimacy in the lines of “When Somebody Loves You” and laugh at rejection in “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues),” the latter co-written with fellow traditionalist Randy Travis.

Jackson connected with men and women at the heart of their humanity, but he had his surface attractions, too.

“I know I sold a ton of music,” DuBois quips, “but I also sold a lot of long legs and long hair.”

A native of Newnan, Ga., Jackson communicated regular-Joe status through a love for the water and a passion for automobiles. He married his high-school sweetheart and kept cassette recordings of his songs in brown paper grocery bags, writing about his parents, his wife, his good times, his church and his growing pains. Fans saw him as one of their own — and he was. He still is.

But he wasn’t a pushover when it came to the music business. He needed a record company, but wasn’t about to sacrifice his identity to make it. Particularly as a younger man, he was prone to push back when the business people asked him to try marketing moves that didn’t fit his view of his art.

“He wanted it to be about the music,” remembers Dungan, who first worked with Jackson in the early days of his career. “When you’re the head of marketing, as I was at Arista, there are a million opportunities to fight with a man like that.”

And they did. Dungan remembers one brutally loud argument at a Nashville restaurant that turned the heads of other patrons. It wasn’t personal. Jackson simply had a public profile and — like most great artists — a sense of what he was willing to do when his name or likeness was attached. He knew what made his business work, and he didn’t compromise when it didn’t make sense.

“He was always on the lookout for anyone and everyone who was going to try to interfere with his creative process,” Dungan recalls.

Galante knew that side of Jackson, too. A year before Arista came under Galante’s leadership, Jackson registered a top 5 single with “Little Man,” a frank lament about the brute force of big businesses gobbling up market share in small communities. It wasn’t just posturing, but his own artistic success placed him in situations where he had to make choices between the music and the business sides of the music business.

When WHTZ New York, Z100, heard Jackson’s 9/11 reflection, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” the top 40 station was interested in playing it. As a five-minute country ballad, “Where Were You” was a bit of an outlier for a pop station. The company was willing to accept that, but executive vp Butch Waugh funneled one request to Galante: Could Jackson remix it with less steel guitar? Galante called the artist with the proposal.

“The silence — it seemed like an eternity, but it was probably three or four seconds,” Galante recalls. “He said to me, ‘I kind of like steel.’ And the next thing I heard was a click. I went into Butch’s office, and he said to me, ‘How did it go?’ I said, ‘Well, as I expected, he’s not going to change the record. And I don’t think he should.’”

It’s not like Jackson was acting out of selfishness. Though his songwriting was a hallmark of his career, he recorded a fair number of outside songs, including 18 of his top 10 singles, such as “Little Bitty,” “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Gone Country” and “Right on the Money.”

There was a practicality about it — invariably, the songs represented his love of classic country or expressed his viewpoint in a way that he didn’t think he could. The songs he selected and the compromises he refused to make were all a part of a genre that was central to his identity.

“He never lost his roots, and I think he always thought about that,” Galante says. “I mean, he was a shade-tree mechanic, coming from a small town, and still remembered what the struggle was like. I think that resonated in everything he picked, or wrote, and we worked.”

When Jackson left Arista, he called Dungan, who had moved on to Capitol, and suggested working together again. He acknowledged that they had had their share of arguments, but said he always knew that Dungan was giving him an honest assessment. He apologized for the long-ago restaurant squabble, and he laughed it off when Dungan said he wanted to get Jackson back on the radio. Jackson believed programmers had moved on.

“I was very shocked, because if you ever work with artists, you know none of them ever say that,” Dungan notes. “It’s the other side of the coin. It’s like they will not accept that radio won’t play them anymore. Here was a guy, who was very difficult in his early career, being the most grown-up adult in the room.”

The fact is that Jackson had a handle on what worked for him.

“Looking back,” says DuBois, acknowledging his own battles with Jackson, “he was right more times than I was.”

Jackson’s final concert is timely in a way he could not have predicted when he booked it more than a year ago. Back in 1989, Jackson — despite his longing for a recording contract — insisted on meeting DuBois’ boss, Clive Davis, before he became the first artist signed to Arista’s unproven Nashville division. Davis died on June 22, just five days prior to Jackson’s stadium show. Similarly, Larry Shell, who co-wrote “Murder on Music Row” — the award-winning 1999 release that excoriated the country industry for turning its back on tradition — died June 17. George Strait, who recorded “Murder” with Jackson, will participate in the concert.

Jackson’s legacy “matters so much, because the past, present and future of country music all connect together,” says Mabe, whose Joan of Arc Music is set to develop an NBC special out of the concert. “He’s an extension of Hank Williams, and what he’ll do for that next generation is they’re going to pick up the extension of Alan Jackson and move it forward. That’s why this concert and everything that comes in this moment is going to be so pivotal. It’s a cultural moment. It’s not just a last concert.”

Mabe’s production, of course, will need to demonstrate that through the music and through the other voices that might appear in it. Jackson, as someone who isn’t prone to talk much publicly, is certainly not one to boast. It’s not necessary.

The most talkative people in a room “tell you everything that they possibly know about anything,” Mabe observes. “The one with all the information is the quiet guy in the corner. That’s Alan Jackson. I’ll be honest, he knows a lot of stuff.”

Madonna fans score a surprise late goal with the release of “Read My Lips,” a new addition to the Official FIFA World Cup 26 album.

“Read My Lips” is the Queen of Pop’s bilingual collaboration with Latin star Feid, and it arrives late Thursday, June 25, a “Bonus Edition” cut from the Official FIFA World Cup 26 Album, which now expands to 20 tracks.

Produced by Madonna, Stuart Price and Tainy, the song first reached our ears in Madonna’s Confessions II – The Film, which premiered earlier this month at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, a 13-minute visual project centered around her upcoming album Confessions II, and is now available for the first time as a complete release.

It’s shaping as a Madonna Summer. The superstar singer will drop the full length album, Confessions II, on July 3.

Then, two weeks later, on Sunday, July 19, she’ll join BTS and Shakira on stage at MetLife Stadium for the first-ever halftime show at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

With all the activity surrounding her short film, new music and concerts, Madonna hasn’t forgotten about her long-gestating biopic.

In a recent Interview cover story, the “Like a Virgin” singer spoke openly about why the screen project has experienced so many delays, from her perspective. “I was supposed to make a movie about my life,” she began. “I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting. We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed — I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget.”

Confessions II, it turns out, was born from those frustrations.

The film project was first announced by Universal Pictures in 2020. After Julia Garner was cast in the starring role and Madonna worked on two versions of the script, news broke in 2023 that the project had been scrapped by the studio. In May 2025, the seven-time Grammy winner partnered with Shawn Levy to create an autobiographical series about her life, a few months after which the Weapons actress appeared to hint that she was still involved.

The actress recently appeared in Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Bring Your Love” music video, which dropped earlier in June ahead of full release of Confessions II.

The Official FIFA World Cup 26 Album (Bonus Edition) features recordings by Andrea Bocelli, Daddy Yankee, Future, The Rolling Stones and more. Stream it below.

Katy Perry is setting her past ablaze on new single “Watch It Burn,” which dropped Thursday night (June 25) alongside a cinematic new music video.

As previewed in teasers shared by the pop star leading up to its release, the visual finds her wreaking havoc as a monstrous scorpion-human hybrid. On the cathartic pop-rock banger — which Perry performed before its release at both O Son do Camiño in Spain and Rock in Rio Lisboa — she sings about reclaiming her life by saying goodbye to a long-term relationship.

“Tonight’s the night, I light a match/ Throw it hard behind my back,” she sings on the track. “Gonna try to forgive and forget/ Light a cigarette, and watch it burn.”

The hitmaker adds in the lyrics, “I’m gonna get what I deserve … Finally I put myself first.”

“Watch It Burn” marks Perry’s first release since November single “Bandaids.” Before that came 2024 album 143, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

The new song’s lyrics seemingly nod to the singer’s breakup last year from fiancé Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares daughter Daisy. While speaking with cowriter Justin Tranter on his Unfamous podcast, Perry said, “In ‘Watch It Burn,’ I am wrestling with my darkness, but last year was pretty tough.”

“I have not given myself permission to be angry my whole life over things where I should be f—king angry about,” she continued. “What I’ve done is I pushed it down, but I should be f—king angry. I’m allowed to be angry for a f—king moment.”

Perry is now in a relationship with Justin Trudeau, whom she called “the love of my life” during a Q&A at the premiere of her Lifetimes Tour concert film in New York earlier in June. “I fly super high,” she added at the time. “Sometimes I need to be anchored. To have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole.”

Check out “Watch It Burn” below.

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For the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt, as well as the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint, Jay-Z is performing two nights at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York this summer. And after increased demand, a third concert “extra inning” date was added in late March, which now makes the special NY event slated for three consecutive nights starting on Friday (July 10).

Although tickets first went on sale through Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the retailers’ Face Value Exchange program is an option for fans to resell tickets.

However, the dates have either sold out, or are very close to selling out, so one of the best ways to find Jay-Z tickets online is through third-party sites, including StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, Gametime, Event Tickets Center and others. All online retailers guarantee authentic tickets in time for your concert. Prices may be above or below face value at times.

Where to Find Jay-Z Yankee Stadium Tickets Online

Looking for cheap seats to see Jay-Z live? Here’s where to find tickets still available and on sale online.

StubHub has Jay-Z tickets available. StubHub ensures that all tickets are valid and authentic, but for whatever reason, if they’re not, you’ll get your money back. Additionally, if your Jay-Z concert is canceled and not rescheduled, you’ll receive 120% in credit, or be given the option of a full refund without the extra 20% credit. As of this writing, tickets start at $334.

One of the lowest prices we’re seeing for Jay-Z tickets is at SeatGeek. We’re seeing tickets starting at only $292, as of publication. Use our discount code BILLBOARD10 to save an additional $10 at checkout.

You can find Jay-Z tickets online at Vivid Seats, which lets you search by price, location and “Super Sellers,” which denotes reputable sellers with the best deals on tickets. You can even get 10% off your first purchase when you sign up for the company’s newsletter. On Vivid Seats, tickets start as low as $278, as of this publication date. As a bonus, you can use our exclusive promo code BB30 to take $30 off your purchase.

TicketNetwork has tickets to Jay-Z’s concerts with all-in pricing that lets you see exactly what you’ll pay up front (fees included). Tickets start at just $370, as of this writing. You can use our exclusive code BILLBOARD150 to save $150 off $500 or BILLBOARD300 to save $300 off orders of $1000 and up.

Jay-Z Yankee Stadium 2026 Dates

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