Dave Grohl Universal Pub Signs Dave Grohlhas addressed Josh Freese’s departure from Foo Fighters for the first time, explaining that the decision to move on from the drummer was a collective one that “didn’t happen overnight.”

Speaking in a new interview with Zane Lowe, Grohl reflected on the band’s internal discussions following Freese’s exit last year. Freese, who stepped in as Foo Fighters’ drummer in 2023 after the death of Taylor Hawkins, revealed in May that he had been let go from the group, writing on Instagram that the band had decided “to go in a different direction with their drummer” and that “no reason was given.”

Grohl said the band spent months discussing their next steps before making the decision.

“In those six or seven months, as a band, we talked about what to do next, a new direction, and thought, ‘OK, let’s call Josh and let him know that we are going to move on with a different drummer,’” Grohl said.

“We called, as a band, all of us called, it wasn’t just me.”

Grohl described the conversation as direct and appreciative. “Basically, we called Josh, and were like, ‘Hey man, that was awesome. That was such a blast, thank you so much, but we are going to move on and find another drummer.’”

Following the call, Grohl noted that the band chose not to publicly address the situation at the time. “After that, we didn’t make a press release, tweet anything or do interviews. We didn’t say anything,” he said. “Since then, there’s been a lot of talk about it, but I think Josh said it best when he said that he didn’t feel our music really resonated with him, and that’s really important.”

Freese has since rejoined Nine Inch Nails and recently stepped in for Weezer during their Australian run for the Good Things Festival.

Grohl’s comments come as Foo Fighters prepare to release their 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, due April 24. The band dropped the title track on Friday, with Grohl describing it as a pivotal moment in shaping the new record’s direction.

“‘Your Favorite Toy’ really was the key that unlocked the tone and energetic direction of the new album,” Grohl said. “We stumbled upon it after experimenting with different sounds and dynamics for over a year, and the day it took shape I knew that we had to follow its lead. It was the fuse to the powder keg of songs we wound up recording for this record. It feels new.”

The album announcement arrives ahead of Foo Fighters’ upcoming stadium tour of Australia and New Zealand, scheduled to run between November 2026 and January 2027.

Freese joined Foo Fighters in 2023 during a transitional period for the band following Hawkins’ sudden passing in 2022. His tenure marked a significant chapter in the group’s evolution as they continued touring and recording in the wake of the loss.

With a new album on the way and international tour dates lined up, Grohl’s comments offer the clearest explanation yet of the band’s decision to make another lineup change.

Bad Bunny paused his performance in São Paulo, Brazil, Saturday night (Feb. 21) to acknowledge the death of Willie Colón, the legendary salsa musician and leader behind many of the most influential salsa records in Latin music.

Colón passed at age 75. His longtime manager, Pietro Carlos, confirmed the news of his death earlier on Saturday, noting, “Willie didn’t just change salsa. He expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in urban chronicles and took it to stages where it hadn’t been before. His trombone was the voice of the people.”

Bad Bunny mourned the loss with his audience at Allianz Parque, but told the São Paulo crowd of music fans that Colón’s impact will live on.

“Today, one of the legends who contributed to this beautiful and legendary genre passed away,” Benito is heard saying (in Spanish) in a fan-filmed video uploaded to Instagram on Saturday, the second of two nights he headlined the stadium on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour. “So, on behalf of myself and Los Sobrinos, we wish Willie Colón peace. Much strength to his family. The inspiration of so many of these great musicians who left their mark on this earth will never die as long as there are talented young people like those here, keeping the music, salsa and all Caribbean rhythms alive.”

Colón was a pioneer in salsa with a stacked list of hits, from “Ché Ché Colé” and “Aguanile,” recorded with Héctor Lavoe, to the album Celia and Willie alongside Celia Cruz, to Siembra, the album he recorded with Ruben Blades that became the biggest-selling salsa set of all time.

Bad Bunny — whose “DtMF” recently soared to No. 1 on the Hot 100 after his Super Bowl performance, and who jets to Sydney, Australia, next on his world tour — was among a number of prominent names in Latin music to pay tribute to Colón on Saturday.

In a post shared on Instagram, Blades, with whom Colón had formed a legendary duo, sent heartfelt condolences to Colón’s wife and family. He promised more words would come: “Later, and with calm, I will write about Willie and his vital and important musical legacy.”

“Personally, your art inspired and guided me: it taught me that culture can also be modern, that creativity has no limits, that popular music can be sophisticated, and that music, when made with truth, lasts forever,” said Rauw Alejandro, whose own Cosa Nuestra album was inspired by Colón’s of the same title.

Fania Records, the label that signed Colón when he was just 15 years old, said in a statement on Saturday: “We are heartbroken by the passing of an icon whose sound transcended the dance floor and defined an era. A pillar of Fania Records, Willie helped bring Latin music from the streets of New York to audiences around the world. His music declared identity, pride, resistance, and joy. His music was not just heard; it was lived.”

Authorities in Ohio have arrested and charged a former contestant on American Idol with shooting and killing his wife and staging the crime scene to mislead investigators.

Caleb Flynn, 39, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of murder, assault and tampering with evidence.

“I just want to take care of my daughters. I’m not a risk,” he told Judge Samuel Huffman in a video of his arraignment from jail.

The judge set his bond at $2 million.

Ashley Flynn, 37, was found dead Monday after officers received a report of a burglary and shooting at a Tipp City, Ohio, home, according to a news release by Tipp City Police. Her husband and two children were inside the home when officers arrived.

In a 911 call released by authorities, a frantic Caleb Flynn tells a dispatcher someone broke into his home and killed his wife. He says she was shot multiple times in the head and he doesn’t know whether the intruder was still there.

“There’s blood everywhere, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” he says.

His attorney, Patrick Mulligan, said in a statement on Saturday he and Flynn were “disappointed and concerned about the short timeline and seeming rush to judgment in this case.” Police arrested Flynn on Thursday.

“When the government runs out of leads or can’t develop leads and looks at a surviving spouse in cases such as these, the chance of a wrongful conviction increases,” the statement said.

Tipp City Police Chief Greg Adkins defended the investigation, saying in an email on Saturday that it had “not moved fast.”

“Rather, it has progressed at a pace dictated by a thorough and deliberate investigative process,” he said.

Ashley Flynn was a middle school volleyball coach and substitute teacher, Tipp City Schools said on its Facebook page.

“She was known for her beautiful smile, warmth, kindness, and the positive impact she had on so many—both in and out of the classroom and on the court,” the post said.

Flynn auditioned for American Idol in Chicago in 2013, and in a Road to Hollywood video posted by the show at the time, he says his wife nudged him to try out for a third time. “I love my wife more than anything,” he says in the video. “She’s very, very pretty.” Watch the video below.

Willie Colón, the iconic trombonist, arranger, bandleader and producer who was one of the architects of salsa, a leader of the genre and one of its most towering names, died Saturday (Feb. 21). He was 75 years old.

His death was confirmed in a Facebook post by his longtime manager, Pietro Carlos. “Willie didn’t just change salsa,” wrote Carlos. “He expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in urban chronicles and took it to stages where it hadn’t been before. His trombone was the voice of the people.”

The eulogy is not an exaggeration. A massively talented musician, Colón rose from a tough upbringing in the South Bronx to become not just a masterful performer, but a visionary musician who took the music of his Puerto Rican parents and understood precisely how to blend it with the New York jazz and funk scene. There is perhaps no other musician from the fabled Fania empire who so epitomized the salsa sound that propelled Latin music in the ’70s and who so defined it as a quadruple threat. Colón was not, by his own admission, a brilliant singer, but he wrote his songs, he arranged them, he produced them and he played his trombone like no one else in Latin music.

Signed to Fania when he was only 15 years old, his possibilities were quickly discerned by label founders Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci, who put him to work producing his own albums as well as those of others.

Colón’s very long list of genre-defining hits includes his seminal “Ché Ché Colé” and “Aguanile,” recorded with Héctor Lavoe on vocals; the album Celia and Willie alongside Celia Cruz; and of course, the ground-breaking Siembra, the 1978 album he recorded with Ruben Blades, which includes the hit “Pedro Navaja” and which still is the biggest-selling salsa album of all time.

Indeed, it was Colón who introduced Blades to the world in 1977’s Metiendo Mano, an album whose cover is a photo of Colón, dressed as a boxing trainer and holding high Blades’ hand. Produced by Colón and Jerry Masucci, it was the first of five collaborative albums by Colón and Blades (the two would eventually split up and sue each other, but had recently reconciliated), and its opening song, “Pablo Pueblo,” marked the beginning of what would be known as more socially conscious salsa, whose message and intent went beyond merely dancing.

Colón’s colorful life, always anchored by his beloved New York, included often-polemic stints in politics, art and film. But to him, everything stemmed from his origins and the music.

“I came from a really tough neighborhood,” he told Billboard during an interview several years ago, explaining why so many of his album covers and titles depicted tough-guy images. “And my father spent time in jail. Almost everybody went to jail. A lot of people were getting home from the Korea war and Vietnam; there was rampant drug use in the streets. So this was kind of a way of symbolically showing the world what was going on. Since my father was arrested, my friends were arrested, there was a lot of interaction between us and the police. I was able to be a badass gangster and not do it for real. And since that was part of what was going on, it made my music relevant.”

William Anthony Colón Román was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents and gravitated to music early on after his grandmother gave him a trumpet when he was 11 years old.

“I studied music in junior high school; I didn’t go to any conservatory or anything,” he told me. “I met an African-American trumpeter in my block who heard me playing, and came and knocked and became my mentor. He taught me how to read music. I looked forward to rehearsing with him. And as soon as I learned how to play a couple of songs, I got a couple of kids together and we used to play and pass the hat around.”

By the time Colón was 15 years old, he had his own band and was playing the teen circuit, entourage and all. Eventually, he started recording on his own and shopping for a record label.

“And Herb Greenbaum — who was the engineer of most of the early Fania records — said: ‘Do you mind if I play it for Jerry Masucci?’ Jerry listened to an instrumental track called Jazzy, and I took my business representative, who was my mother — a high school graduate — and they signed us for $500.”

Johnny Pacheco, assigned to be Colón’s producer, suggested a different singer, Héctor Lavoe. “Jerry [Masucci] convinced us, and it was a great combination,” said Colón.

Colón would transcend the Fania days, recording more than 40 studio albums in his lifetime, and his music would cross generations. Rauw Alejandro’s acclaimed 2024 album Cosa Nuestra, for example, is directly inspired in concept and title by Colón’s 1970 album of the same name, whose cover shows him in gangster mode holding what could be a gun case next to a body alongside the East River, but is actually a trombone case.

A prolific performer, Colón toured literally up until his death.

“I only cared about the music,” he once told me.

Colón was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000, received a lifetime achievement award from The Latin Recording Academy in 2004, and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.

After a decade-long gap between solo studio albums, Bruno Mars has unveiled the tracklist for his fourth LP, The Romantic, due Feb. 27.

The nine-song set marks his first solo release since 2016’s 24K Magic. Mars revealed the full lineup Monday (Feb. 16), confirming that the album will be led by “I Just Might,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — his first career No. 1 debut and his 10th Hot 100 chart-topper overall.

The album arrives during a sustained period of chart momentum for Mars. His collaboration with Lady Gaga, “Die With a Smile,” topped the Billboard Global 200 for 18 weeks and earned a Grammy Award.

Meanwhile, “APT.” with ROSÉ spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and 12 weeks atop the Global 200. The track was named IFPI’s biggest-selling global single of 2025 and Apple Music’s most-streamed song globally for the year.

In January 2025, Mars became the first artist in Spotify history to surpass 150 million monthly listeners. He also became the first artist to earn six RIAA Diamond-certified singles in 2022. As of 2026, he holds at least seven Diamond certifications, including “Just the Way You Are,” which is certified 21-times Platinum and ranks as the highest-certified song in RIAA history.

Other Diamond-certified hits include “Uptown Funk” (with Mark Ronson), “Grenade,” “That’s What I Like,” “Locked Out of Heaven,” “When I Was Your Man” and “The Lazy Song.”

Mars has scored 35 Billboard Hot 100 entries, including 10 No. 1 hits. His debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, has logged more than 345 weeks on the Billboard 200 and remains the longest-running studio album by a solo male artist on the chart.

The Romantic tracklist: