Harry Styles introduced Radiohead’s Thom Yorke at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards with a five-minute speech that was eloquent, heartfelt, funny and charming. “It’s always nerve-wracking stepping onto a stage, but to know that a man I’ve spent so much of my life listening to is now listening to me talk to you about him is a truly terrifying honor,” he said.

Styles presented Yorke with a fellowship prize at the Ivors, which were held at the Grosvenor House near London on Thursday (May 21).

Styles noted that he was born the year after Radiohead’s debut album, Pablo Honey, was released, a comment that drew laughter at the idea of a young man calling attention to the age difference. “Just going to let that sink,” he said, drawing even more laughter.

Styles also pointed out that he lost his virginity to Radiohead’s ‘Talk Show Host.’ He thought a moment and corrected himself. I lost my virginity to the intro to ‘Talk Show Host.’

Here’s Styles’ speech introducing his hero, in full.   

“Thom Yorke has always had a way with words

Over his almost 35 years of releasing music, he has taken feelings of anxiety and alienation, and turned them into atmospheres, anthems and art. From guitars to glitches, he has time and time again shown us what the future sounds like. Never compromising, a restless creative, an artist in its truest form. There are no two songs that sound alike.

For so many of us, he lives atop this magical music mountain that we’re all attempting to climb.

Some of you had Radiohead albums at the time they were released. Their debut album came out the year before I was born. [laughter] Just gonna let that sink. [more laughter]

So, I discovered their songs over time growing up inhaling the secondhand teenage angst from up the stairs separating my sister’s bedroom from where I sat below doing my homework.

Thank you to my uncle Michael for burning her numerous CDs to try to convince her of some of what he referred to as some of the weirdest stuff

I found them again at parties [and] in treasured moments alone.

I lost my virginity to “Talk Show Host.” [laughter] I lost my virginity to the intro of “Talk Show Host.” [more laughter]

Thom’s work is music that is felt. It’s always been somewhat of a religious experience to me. Religious in the sense that understanding seemed to go both ways.

I always felt I could uniquely understand the writer of these songs, and at last someone was capturing what it feels like at times to be human. Thank God, someone would think that, I used to think. That alien, that prowling ghost, that angry prophet, Thom Yorke.

I cannot overstate how his work has influenced my belief in the purpose of the arts in our world today, and I cannot overstate how much his work continues to influence me.

Without ‘Exit Music,’ there would be no “Watermelon Sugar.”  Imagine that. [laughter] A world without that song [playing off the laughter].

Now, it’s always nerve-wracking stepping onto a stage, but to know that a man I’ve spent so much of my life listening to is now listening to me talk to you about him is a truly terrifying honor. The first time I met Thom, I was walking in the street in Rome. The previous evening at dinner, listening to The Smiles’ “Bending Hectic,” my friend had asked me if I’d ever met him, and I said that I hadn’t. Maybe it was better that way. I’d always been worried that he might be mean to me and emotionally I would never recover.

The next day, A Moon Shaped Pool playing in my headphones. I found myself alone with him on a quiet cobbled street.

“Hello, Mr. Yorke,” I said. “Oh, it’s you. Hello,” he replied. I was overwhelmed during our conversations. Our time with giants is not to be squandered. The weight of the moments with the men who have made us is to be noticed. He was light, he was friendly and he was kind.

In a world where outside noise tends to leak into our awareness without permission, among our resented desire to please, a small kindness extended to you by a hero can be enough to release you. I beamed, and I’ve been beaming ever since.

The wizard was also a human.

When asking Thom’s friends to describe him in three words, they said he was compassionate, sensitive, devoted, bold, unique, untouchable, challenging, true punk, Not For Sale, or as his wife shared me, holidays with synthesizer,

To quote Thom, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Your mouth moves only with someone’s hand up your ass. Has the light cut out for you? Because the light’s gone out for me.” It is the 21st century. The message is clear. Commit to your humor and your heartbreak. Only cowards meet our complicated, beautiful world with distance.

It’s an honor to be here tonight to present Thom with this recognition of his enduring influence on British music. Radiohead is my favorite band. Thank you Thom forever.“

Nearly a year after his death, Ozzy Osbourne is set to return — as an AI-powered avatar.

The news was revealed at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas on Wednesday (May 20), when Osbourne’s son, Jack Osbourne, announced the project during a discussion about the future of Ozzy’s brand that also included Ozzy’s widow, Sharon Osbourne.

“It’s kind of scary how it’s really very accurate,” said Jack at the event, according to a recap from Licensing Expo organizer License Global. “He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers. Technology has come such a long way to where it’s almost drag and drop. You could shoot a template for a commercial … literally prompt what you want Digital Ozzy to do in that commercial and you just drop it in. It’s that simple now.”

The Ozzy avatar is the result of a partnership between Hyperreal — which describes itself as a “digital human technology company” that uses patented “Digital DNA” technology to create digital avatars — and Proto Hologram, described as a “hologram and AI spatial compute platform in entertainment, healthcare, education, finance, retail and more.”

According to Hyperreal, its Digital DNA technology will allow Ozzy’s avatar to “have conversations with fans and move, speak, and respond as Ozzy would.” The company tells Billboard the Ozzy avatar will begin appearing in Proto Luma units — essentially life-sized, interactive touchscreens — in the U.S. and U.K. beginning late summer of 2026.

“Every element of this avatar was built exclusively from authenticated, approved source material: curated, consented, and controlled by the people who love him most,” said Hyperreal CEO Remington Scott in a statement sent to Billboard. ”This is a living performance, not a rendering; and it draws from nothing that wasn’t given willingly. We have the enthusiastic participation of Ozzy’s family, and that changes everything about what this can be.”

“It’s an honor to be trusted to bring one of true gods of rock back to the world to continue to connect with fans — thank you Sharon and Jack!” added David Nussbaum, founder of Proto Hologram. “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t know both of our company’s technologies will create an experience that truly extends Ozzy’s presence, his heart and soul, into the future.”

This isn’t the first time Hyperreal has created a digital avatar of a celebrity. In the past, the company has debuted avatars of notable figures including The Notorious B.I.G., soccer star Lionel Messi and Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee.

Charli xcx is on a “runway that goes straight to hell” for her new “SS26” song and music video, which arrived Thursday night (May 21).

For the music video — directed by Torso from a concept by Charli — the singer/songwriter walks the Paris runways in a series of high-fashion looks as she sings lyrics about both style and substance. “Spring Summer ’26/ When the world is gonna end, no hope for any of it/ Yeah, we’re walking on a runway that goes straight to hell/ Nothing’s gonna save us, not music, fashion, or film.”

In the second verse, Charli has some fun with the cancel-culture news cycle, singing, “I was hacked, it got taken out of context, obviously/ But I didn’t do it, even if I did, wrote a really good notes app apology.”

Watch the music video below:

“SS26” arrives two weeks after the release of “Rock Music,” the first taste of Charli’s seventh studio album, which doesn’t yet have a title or release date. Following her buzzy comeback with 2024’s Brat album, Charli announced her intent to pivot away from the dance genre on “Rock Music,” singing: “I think the dance floor is dead/ So now we’re making rock music.” This seemed to catch the attention of Madonna, whose own dance album Confessions II arrives on July 3. The Queen of Pop declared in an Instagram post this week: “If your Dance floor feels dead, maybe you’re playing the wrong music.”

“Rock Music” and “SS26” will both be included on Charli’s yet-untitled next album.

There were two bosses on The Late Show, as Bruce Springsteen stopped by and paid tribute to outgoing host Stephen Colbert.

Springsteen always seems to show up at the precisely the right time. And so it was, again, on Wednesday night (May 20) as the legendary rocker gave a rousing pro-democracy speech and performed “Streets of Minneapolis” on what was Colbert’s second-to-last show.

“I am here tonight to support Stephen, because you’re the first guy in America who lost his show because we’ve got a president who can’t take a joke,” he remarked, while at the mic. “And because Larry and David Ellison (the new owners of Paramount, feel the need to kiss his ass to get what they want.”

That second jab was aimed at the Ellison family, led by billionaire Larry Ellison and his son David, who now own and controls Paramount Global following their $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. That arrangement gave them ownership of CBS, the broadcaster for Colbert’s left-leaning program, which regularly punishes Trump’s administration and his MAGA movement with razor-sharp comedy footwork that would make Muhammad Ali proud.

“Stephen, these are small-minded people,” Springsteen added. “They’ve got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about.”

And with that Springsteen dedicated “Streets of Minneapolis” to Colbert. The Boss’s choice of song was a poignant one. He wrote and recorded the anti-ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) song following the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January amid Operation Metro Surge, during which undocumented immigrants have been targeted and apprehended by ICE.

Then, he premiered the song live in Minneapolis Jan. 30 during the Tom Morello-helmed Defend Minnesota benefit concert. “Streets of Minneapolis” went on to be the highest-selling song in the United States, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart dated Feb. 7, even though it was available for just two days of the tracking period.

Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show will air on Thursday, May 21, drawing curtains on an 11-year run. CBS announced the cancelation in July 2025, citing financial losses. Many observers, however, aren’t buying it, with figures like Senator Elizabeth Warren claiming the axing was political censorship, coming just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount, over their $16 million legal settlement with Trump.

Watch Springsteen’s speech and performance here and below.

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