When Queen Latifah takes the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to host the American Music Awards on Monday (May 25), she’ll become the first person ever to have solo-hosted both the Grammys and the AMAs. She hosted the Grammys in 2005.

If you add in performers who solo-hosted the Grammys and co-hosted the AMAs, you pick up two more names – Kenny Rogers and LL Cool J.

The personable Queen Latifah has solo-hosted several other shows: the BET Awards in 2010, the NAACP Image Awards in 2023-24 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2024.

Latifah is also set to be a coach on The Voice this fall, alongside Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson and Riley Green. “All roads lead back to music for me,” she told Billboard on Tuesday (May 19). “Everything I’ve done in my career, it all started with music.”

The 52nd American Music Awards are set to air live coast-to-coast on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+.

Taylor Swift is this year’s most nominated artist with eight nods, followed by Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr with seven each.

Billy Idol will receive this year’s lifetime achievement award and deliver his first-ever AMAs performance. Karol G will perform and receive the international artist award of excellence.  Other performers include Hootie & the Blowfish, KATSEYE, Keith Urban, Maluma, New Kids on the Block, Riley Green, sombr, Teddy Swims, Teyana Taylor, The Pussycat Dolls + Busta Rhymes and Twenty One Pilots.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.

What makes a good host? I’ve seen big singers, big names, who just don’t have it. It’s a particular skill. What does it take?

I think you just have to be able to relate to an audience. I know a lot of really huge stars who are pretty camera-shy. They can be still quite shy when it comes to relating to people, and definitely a room full of people. I think you have to be able to allow for a certain amount of spontaneity, because it’s live and you don’t know what might happen. So you sort of have to feel comfortable at the helm. Rehearsal — you gotta be able to read and rehearse. To me, I feel much more comfortable when I know everything that’s gonna happen, and I feel like I’ve changed the words that don’t sound like things that would come out of my mouth and made it my own. I think it’s important for anybody who’s hosting the show to sort of make it theirs, so that they feel comfortable, and it just flows.

Who are some hosts, not just of the AMAs or the Grammys, but of all shows over your lifetime where you thought, “Boy, they’re good.“

I think Jamie Foxx is a great host. I’ve seen him host, and I thought he was a great host because he’s funny, and he can sing, he can play instruments, so he could break into song at any moment, but he’s also a comedian, so he’s funny, and he’s an Oscar[-winning] actor, so he knows how to play and just fall into a role. Just something about his little grin makes you think there’s always something coming, something is about to happen, so I think he was always a great host. We can take it way back into other people, but he’s the one that comes right to mind.

Who are some other people?

How far back are we going?

Well, on the Oscars, you have Bob Hope and Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal.

Billy Crystal – I thought was an amazing host. Yes, and I think Robin Williams [was] a great host, and Whoopi Goldberg, if we’re going there, I think those three are killer combination of hosts. But yeah, Billy Crystal, top-notch, top quality. Just all the quick-witted, funny things.

Do you know most of the artists performing on the AMAs? I imagine some of the newer people, like sombr and Teddy Swims, you’re probably meeting for the first time.

I met sombr at the Grammys, because I was already a fan, and I was already plugging in. “Back to Friends,” that was like my song, because that song really sounds like something of my era, that I would have grown up on those harmonies, and the rhythm of it. It’s not such a new style that you can’t really grasp it. It’s just a proper song. He’s great, and just his whole performance style, just going out there and just being himself in just the most amazing way.

How about other artists who are either performing or are nominees this year?

Leon Thomas, I’ve been playing his record a lot, so of course I know him. Karol G, I’ve been a fan of. Taylor Swift, of course, you know. New Kids, come on. You know, we’re talking a lot of people that I’m quite familiar with, and of course Billy Idol, like I just can’t wait to see him. Sabrina Carpenter is great, you know. I’ve gotten to see a lot of these performers perform at other shows, or on SNL or somewhere along the way. So I’m just excited to see them actually under one roof one night to see how they get down in Vegas.

Teyana Taylor is on fire, as you know, with an Oscar nomination, a Grammy nomination, just everything. It occurs to me that you are one of the people who paved the way for her and made her success possible.

Maybe I have seen her so much and so closely that it didn’t even occur to me to say her name, but I play her albums like religiously, like her music goes everywhere I go, and has for years, and everything she does, even if she’s opening up a nail salon in Harlem, she does everything with a certain style. She just did a collab with [Michael] Jordan, she gave me some sneakers, you know, we had the All-Star Game together, we were at a Tom Brown fashion show together.

I’ve been trying to support her, but, like, give her her space at the same time, because being nominated for every single thing in the world on the planet is not easy, and she has done it with such an amazing style and flair, and making it her own, which she always does, that I’ve just gotten to enjoy watching it all happen for her. But she knows I’m here if she ever needs to talk. All I’ve told her to do is just enjoy the moment, because this is not something that happens very often, so make sure you stop to enjoy this. Make sure you stop to just enjoy this thing, and not let it just all be the grind of what it is when it all happens, because it can be. It’s quite a grind, but it’s also a grind that you not might not see very often. You [should] actually have a party at one of these parties you’re at, enjoy it.

You’re doing The Voice this year. Have you started taping those episodes?

No, we haven’t started taping, but that’s going to come pretty soon. So the gears are grinding, the gears are grinding. I’m so elated about that, to be able to hear, I mean, I’m going to be like, ‘turn a chair’ and work with a bunch of great people, and be in one of my most comfortable spaces, which is around music. Leave me in music, and all roads lead back to music for me. Everything I’ve done in my career, it all started with music, and music goes along with me through everything that I do. I find some song that I can put on that can connect me to that thing or the feelings I may have at that moment. So, it all comes back to music. So, I’m really happy for it to come back to music on this one, and just the real music, like what this is, people’s dreams, you know, people have a dream, they have a gift, and they want to share it, and it’s always exciting to hear that, and to help it come to fruition, because people help me, and so I’ve always been one to want to help do the same thing.

OK, this has been great. You gave me just what I need. I thank you for taking the time.

What you got back there on those shelves?

CDs, from days of yore.

Oh man, I thought I had a lot of CDs. You got me beat.

Three of the biggest music festivals in the U.S. will be streamed on both Disney+ and Hulu this summer. On Monday (May 18), Disney+ announced that it is teaming up with its sister streamer to air footage from Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. (June 11-14), Lollapalooza in Chicago (July 30-Aug. 2) and Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas (Oct. 2-4).

At press time the streamers had not announced exact programming details or which artists will be featured in their coverage.

Deadline noted that Disney has been leaning into its music connection lately, including last week at the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in New York, which featured a long segment with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, as well as a closing performance from former Disney Channel Bizaardvark star Olivia Rodrigo. The joint stream will take place as Disney is prepping to merge Hulu and Disney+, with the refreshed, unified app slated to roll out by late summer.

This will make the sixth year that Hulu is airing bits from the three festivals, all of which are produced by Live Nation. “Music festivals are among the most electric, can’t-miss moments in culture, and now Disney+ and Hulu subscribers around the world can experience the excitement,” said Lauren Tempest, Disney head of content planning & partnerships, DTC in a statement. “As we continue to extend our live offerings, we remain committed to bringing fans the biggest, most iconic moments right as they happen, and are thrilled to bring that vision to life with Live Nation.”

In addition to livestreaming the performances, Disney+ and Hulu will also bring back the Live Set, an on-site content studio at each festival, which will include artist interviews and behind-the-scenes content throughout each weekend.

This year’s Bonnaroo will feature sets from Skrillex, Four Tet, Vince Staples, The Strokes, Turnstile, Major Lazer, Geese, Wet Leg, Noah, Kahan, Kesha and more. Lollapalooza will host Charlie xcx, Lorde, JENNIE, Tate McRae and Olivia Dean, among others and ACL will feature headliners Charli xcx, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Twenty One Pilots, Lorde, Skrillex (weekend one), Kings of Leon (weekend) and The xx.

Lola Young will return to the stage for All Things Go NY a year after she collapsed midsong at last year’s event in September. In a statement, the singer said “we have unfinished business,” adding that she was feeling “blessed and ready to take it to the next level.”

Young will headline the festival’s opening night on Sept. 25 along with Zara Larsson on a bill that will also feature Rebecca Black, Cara Delevingne, Blue Detiger and Chloe Quisha. The festival, which runs from Sept. 25-27 at Forest Hills Stadium in New York, will host headliner Brandi Carlile on night two, along with Sienna Spiro, CMAT, Jensen McRae, Meg Stalter and Natalie Jinju.

The final night will be toplined by MUNA, who will be joined by The Beaches, Hemlocke Springs, Grace Ives, Cherry Bomb and Carly Rae Jepsen. Tickets for the festival will be available through a presale beginning on Wednesday (May 20) at 10 a.m. ET; you can sign up for a presale access on the festival’s website.

In addition to this year’s all-female/non-binary artist lineup in New York, ATG is also taking place in Washington, D.C. at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sept. 25-27 with Mitski, Ethel Cain, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Hayley Williams, MUNA, Larsson, Suki Waterhouse, Carlile, Young, Spiro and Father John Misty, among others. The Toronto edition taking place on June 6-7 will feature sets from Kesha, The Beaches, Rachel Chinouriri, Lorde, Wet Leg, Del Water Gap and others.

In March of this year, Young opened up about the turmoil in her life that led to onstage collapse, which she described as her “breaking point.” She told Rolling Stone that her hectic schedule at the time made it hard to manage her cocaine dependency and schizoaffective disorder, which she had discussed previously.

“When somebody is going through addiction, or struggling in any capacity, it’s hard to know how much a person can do … I chose to hurt myself and self-sabotage, and I also chose to get onstage and perform,” she said. After her on-stage incident Young told fans she would be “going away for a while” to “work on myself.” Young made her return to the stage in March in London for her first full set since All Things Go.

Check out the full lineup for the 2026 All Things Go NY below.

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ATEEZ are heading to Hyde Park. The eight-member South Korean group have been confirmed as headliners for BST Hyde Park’s June 28 show in London — their only U.K. date of 2026.

The group join a 2026 BST Hyde Park lineup that also includes Garth Brooks (June 27), Maroon 5 (July 3), Mumford & Sons (July 4), Duran Duran (July 5), Pitbull (July 10) and Lewis Capaldi (July 11-12). A full supporting lineup is yet to be announced.

The announcement places ATEEZ in storied company. BST Hyde Park has become the defining stage for K-pop’s global ambitions — BLACKPINK made U.K. festival history there in 2023 as the first K-pop act to headline a major British music festival, followed by Stray Kids the following year as the first male K-pop group to do the same. ATEEZ now take that baton.

The eight members — Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung and Jongho — have built one of the most consistent chart runs in K-pop history since debuting under KQ Entertainment in October 2018, selling out a world tour just four months after their first release.

Their storytelling-driven discography spans four interconnected album series — Treasure, Fever, The World and Golden Hour — and has produced two Billboard 200 No. 1s, making them one of only three K-pop acts alongside BTS and Stray Kids to top the chart more than once.

Nine of their releases have charted on the Billboard 200, with eight landing in the top 10. In the U.K., they became the first South Korean act to place three different releases in the Official Albums Chart top 10 within a single year, achieving the milestone in 2024.

Their most recent release, GOLDEN HOUR: Part.4, arrived in early 2026 led by the high-energy single “Adrenaline,” adding fresh momentum heading into a Hyde Park headline debut that feels less like an arrival and more like a confirmation.

American Express presale begins Monday (May 18) at 10 a.m., with an artist presale on May 20 and general on sale opening May 29 at 10 a.m. local time.

Madonna only had “4 Minutes” to save the world, and now the Queen of Pop, Shakira and BTS only have 11 minutes to stage the first-ever World Cup halftime show.

On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are talking about how the three superstar acts might share their time during the 2026 World Cup final game on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. One theory we have: Each act could have around three minutes to do a medley of their new music and their biggest hits, and then all three can come together for a new version of Shak’s just-released World Cup anthem “Dai Dai” (originally also featuring Burna Boy).

We’ll have to wait until the soccer world championship in July to find out, but in the meantime, listen to our conversation below.

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Noah Kahan spends a third week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Great Divide — and, perhaps shockingly, no rock album has spent at least three weeks at No. 1 in more than a decade. What was the last album? Listen to the podcast to find out! Plus, on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Ella Langley hits double digits, with “Choosin’ Texas” spending a 10th week at No. 1, while Bruno Mars’ “Risk It All” returns to the top 10 after a Spanish-language version of the song dropped.

We also discuss Drake releasing a trio of new albums on Friday and how it could affect next week’s charts, as well as Harry Styles kicking off his Together, Together Tour with the first of 10 shows in Amsterdam.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)