Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian Eurodance group behind one of the 1990s’ most enduring pop anthems, have announced they are ending their run as a live band after three decades together.

Members Lene Nystrøm, René Dif and Søren Rasted shared the news on Instagram on Monday (May 18), posting a joint statement in both Danish and English.

“After many incredible years, we have decided to close the chapter of AQUA as a live band,” they wrote. “When you’ve been together for this long, you also learn when it’s time to protect what you’ve created together. For us, this feels like the right moment to say goodbye, while the memories are still strong, and while the love for the music, the story, and each other remains intact. From the bottom of our hearts: thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey over the past 30 years.”

Formed in Copenhagen in 1995, Aqua originally comprised four members — Nystrøm, Dif, Rasted and Claus Norreen, who departed in 2016 to pursue other projects. The trio broke through globally with “Barbie Girl,” the third single from their 1997 debut album Aquarium.

The track — a tongue-in-cheek Eurodance number built around the fictional lives of Barbie and Ken — topped charts across Europe and became one of the best-selling singles of the decade, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their success made them the best-selling Danish band of all time, with estimated sales of over 33 million albums and singles worldwide.

The band’s cheeky lyrics attracted legal attention from Mattel, the makers of Barbie, who launched a lawsuit in 2000 claiming the song damaged the brand’s reputation. The case was dismissed in 2002, with the judge famously advising both parties to “chill” — and Aqua later went on to work with Mattel directly on promotional campaigns.

Their sophomore album Aquarius arrived in 2000, after which the band split for the first time. They reunited in 2007 and released Megalomania in 2011 — their third and final studio album — before splitting and reuniting once more in subsequent years.

Their most recent brush with mainstream pop culture came in 2023, when Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice sampled “Barbie Girl” on “Barbie World,” recorded for the soundtrack of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie film, earning a Grammy nomination and sending the original back into the UK Top 40 for the first time in 25 years. Their final live performance was in November 2025 at the Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival in India.

Gorillaz, The Strokes and Twenty One Pilots will headline the 16th edition of the Corona Capital festival, promoter OCESA announced on Monday night (May 18). The highly anticipated lineup for the annual rock gathering, scheduled to take place November 20-22 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, also features The xx, Lola Young, Mumford & Sons, The Offspring, Underworld, Daniel Caesar, James Blake and Lil Yachty.

More than 70 acts will make up the 2026 program, including Mother Mother, Pierce The Veil, The Kooks, Tricky, The Black Crowes, Manic Street Preachers, Yung Lean, Violet Grohl, Chvrches and Johnny Marr.

This year’s edition marks the highly awaited debut of Gorillaz at the renowned festival as part of their international Mountain Tour. It will also be the first time that the legendary band Manic Street Preachers performs in the Latin American country. Meanwhile, New York-based band The Strokes will return to Mexico City after four years.

“In every edition, we strive to strike a balance between legendary artists, contemporary acts, and new talents that are shaping the future of music,” Memo Parra, creator of Corona Capital and current director of international events at OCESA, told Billboard Español. “At the same time, we put a huge focus on fan experience: from production, infrastructure, and gastronomy to comfort, technology, and services within the festival.”

“Today’s audience is much more connected, informed, and demanding, and that forces us to constantly innovate to continue delivering an experience that matches the world’s top festivals,” he added.

Promoters said they expect around 240,000 attendees over the three-day event. The presale for Citibanamex cardholders will take place on May 26, OCESA announced. General ticket will go on sale the following day.

Over its 16 years, Corona Capital has solidified its reputation as the most important international music festival in Mexico and one of the few in Latin America that features prominent Anglo artists, similar to the Chilean and Brazilian editions of Lollapalooza.

“Latin America, and particularly Mexico, has become one of the most important markets for the global live entertainment industry,” Parra noted. “Today, artists understand that there is a very powerful combination here: passionate audiences, a rich musical culture, world-class infrastructure and a level of attendance comparable to the major entertainment capitals.”

In the past, the festival has brought renowned acts such as Paul McCartney, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Muse, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Portishead, Interpol, Billie Eilish, Pixies and Richard Ashcroft.

Check out the full Corona Capital 2026 lineup below.

Congressional Democrats got together with key stakeholders on Monday (May 18) to criticize the settlement cut by the federal government during Live Nation’s antitrust trial, which state attorneys general ended up winning on all counts.

Top Democratic senators and representatives discussed Live Nation at a so-called “shadow hearing,” meaning the proceeding was not sanctioned by Republicans, who control both chambers. The witnesses were California Attorney General Rob Bonta, former DOJ lawyer Roger Alford, The Hold Steady keyboardist Franz Nicolay, indie promoter Jerry Mickelson and indie venue owner Tom DeGeorge.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) shocked court-watchers in March when it settled out of its blockbuster antitrust trial against Live Nation after just a few days, striking a deal that would require Live Nation to cut back on some exclusivity practices but allow it to retain ownership of Ticketmaster. Dozens of states rejected that settlement and trudged forward with the case, ultimately winning a verdict that held Live Nation liable for monopolizing the artist, venue and ticketing sides of the live music industry.

While Live Nation previously said the DOJ settlement was “a major step in improving the concert experience for artists and fans,” lawmakers spent much of Monday’s hearing criticizing Donald Trump’s appointees for inking the resolution. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described it as a “sweetheart deal, ” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called it a “trivial and pathetic slap on the wrist” and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said it was “a complete sellout.” They also cited reports that Live Nation hired Trump allies Kellyanne Conway and Mike Davis to lobby for the deal.  

Bonta, who was one of the attorneys general to continue pursuing the Live Nation trial to a verdict, shed some light in his testimony on how the DOJ deal came to be. He said the DOJ suddenly “went quiet” midway through the trial despite their years-long united front in pursuing the case against Live Nation — and then “they burned all the trust.”

“They bailed,” said Bonta. “They left us hanging. We’re a team, and they left their teammates. They left us flatfooted for a moment, but we regrouped quickly… We were able to fight for more, and we got more.”

It still remains to be seen what Live Nation’s ultimate punishment will be for the alleged antitrust violations, which the company fervently denies. A decision on so-called remedies will fall to Judge Arun Subramanian, with states set to argue for a forced sale of Ticketmaster in a major court brief expected later this week.

Live Nation, meanwhile, has said it is confident the outcome “will not be materially different than what is envisioned by the DOJ settlement.” The company also intends to appeal any unfavorable rulings, arguing that it achieved success in the market through shrewd business dealings rather than any anticompetitive activity.

Many of the lawmakers advocated on Monday for a Ticketmaster breakup. Raskin, for example, stated that Live Nation’s monopoly is so strong that artists are “seriously afraid” of the company: “Many of the performers we asked to testify today at this event would not make themselves available for fear that Live Nation Entertainment would take away their livelihood,” he said.

Nicolay, the one artist who did testify at the hearing, noted in his testimony that megastars are not the only ones affected by Live Nation’s alleged conduct. “The music industry obviously is always going to focus on the Taylor Swifts and Bruce Springsteens,” said the keyboardist, “but the monopolistic forces that control the industry equally affect the broad popular music middle class.”

Reps for Live Nation and the DOJ did not immediately return requests for comment following the hearing.

Last Friday is really happening.

We’ve covered the rumors over the last couple of years, like when Ice Cube told Flavor Flav that the fourth installment of the beloved film franchise “finally got some traction with Warner Bros.” back in 2024 and when Mike Epps told The Breakfast Club last year that he had recently gotten word that a deal was in place. Now it looks like the ink is dry and it’s finally happening.

Cube and Epps sat down with Entertainment Tonight to confirm the news and exclusively told the outlet that Last Friday will deal with the gentrification of their neighborhood. And when asked if Chris Tucker would return as Smokey, the role that made him a star, the pair seemed optimistic.

“We’re talking to him and he wants to come back,” Epps said, with Cube adding, “He’s one of the best. I think he’s going to do it.”

Cube previously told Cam Newton about a rejected script idea where Craig and Day-Day were owners of a dispensary who suddenly found themselves in jail. “I wrote a script where Craig and Day-Day, they had a dispensary. They had a flash mob in there and they caught one of the kids and beat his little a–, and they end up going to jail,” he began. “So they in jail duckin’ Deebo, they in jail duckin’ Damon, they in jail duckin’ the Joker brothers. And then they get into a rehab — and I was trying to get Chris [Tucker] back — Smokey was running the rehab, but it was a bullsh– rehab where he was taking everybody’s weed and smoking it in the basement.”

However, studio executives weren’t too fond of the idea and were worried about jail not being funny. “They were like, ‘Jail’s not funny, it’s too much time in jail. How can you make jail funny?’ And I’m like, ‘Man, y’all don’t know what the f— y’all talking about,’” he said. “Then they come out with Orange Is the New Black, Let’s Go to Prison — all these movies about that. And I’m like, ‘See, more Hollywood execs don’t know what the f— they talking about.’”

Shooting is set to start later this year, but in the meantime, you can check out The Everyday’s Friday: Lyrics, Lougin’ and Laughing show in Long Beach, California, on July 17 (a Friday, of course) to celebrate Friday’s 30th anniversary.

You can watch the clip below.