Harry Styles may have been in a hurry, but he still made time to share a sweet interaction with a young fan while out for a run in London recently.

In an adorable video shared Sunday (Aug. 17) by a fan on X, the pop star sports a purple baseball cap, a white long-sleeve and black shorts while jogging through London’s Hyde Park. As Styles zooms past, a small boy walking the opposite direction waves and catches the Grammy winner’s attention.

In response, Styles simply gives the young fan a thumbs up before carrying on with his workout.

The former One Direction star’s jog comes a few months after he embarked on a much more intense run in Tokyo, completing a marathon with more than 37,000 other runners and finishing 6,010th overall. His stats were impressive; according to online records, with his net time coming in around three hours and 24 minutes, with an average pace of about 7:47 per mile.

At this point, fans have gotten used to seeing Styles turn up in random places while on an extended break from performing and releasing music. In May, he appeared at newly appointed Pope Leo XIV’s Vatican unveiling in Rome, and a couple of months before that, he hitched a ride in London with a taxi driver who recounted not realizing the identity of her famous passenger on social media.

And while he hasn’t released an album in the three years since dropping Billboard 200-topper Harry’s House in May 2022, Styles has been busy with his lifestyle brand Pleasing. A few weeks prior to his recent jog through London, the musician made headlines for unveiling a line of sex toys and lube on his company’s website in the “radical pursuit of that which feels good.”

An immersive installation exploring grief, communal gathering, modernity and more is opening in Los Angeles next month with an original score by producers Tokimonsta, Boreta (the solo project from The Glitch Mob member Justin Boreta) and El Búho. The installation’s soundtrack will also including music by Jean-Michel Jarre, Andrew Bird, Air, Rival Consoles and Kiasmos.

Called The Cortege, the installation is a three-hour experience during which participants will be guided through various phases beginning with an open air food market and live music including hang drum and cello. At dusk, participants will experience an hour-long processional performance composed of, as the press release for the event states, “choreographed movement, archetypal costuming, drone apparitions, puppetry, robotics and participation.”

A project by Visomnia, a creative studio founded by Oakland-based artist Jeff Hull, and production partner Brilliant Work, The Cortege is partially inspired by Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and is designed to explore the concepts of mythic pageantry, solace, celebration, renewal, collective and personal grief and more.

The experience concludes in an area that will serve tea and host DJ sets by artists including Carlos Niño, Superposition (the duo made up of Boreta and Matthew Davos whose 2020 album Form//Less was nominated for a best new age album Grammy), Nailah Hunter, Secular Sabbath, Alan Watts Org, Living Earth and more artists and collectives to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Cortege opens at The Cricket Field at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Sept. 11 and runs Thursday through Sunday through Sept. 28. Tickets begin at $87 and are currently on sale. Find more information about The Cortege here.

After a year and a half of self-discovery, Sekou tells Billboard that his upcoming nine-song project is a deliberate departure from his previous music, evolving from emotional piano ballads to something more vibrant and upbeat.

With his love for dancing and uptempo music, it was time to switch things up and finally find his real sound. In celebration, he says he threw a bigger-than-expected listening party with Puma that turned into a live show he described as the “kind of chaos I wanted.” 

The new era of Sekou’s music has been bolstered by a series of high-profile credits in 2025 alone. He provided vocals on “TOO LONG” from Justin Bieber‘s recent album SWAG and “Limitless” from Central Cee‘s album Can’t Rush Greatness. What’s unbelievable is how many of these opportunities came to be: through direct messages on Instagram.

Sekou candidly shared that his approach to DM outreach is driven by a bit of “delulu,” but has ultimately blossomed into some deep ties between him and some of his favorite artists.

Read the full Q&A below. 

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It seems like you have a lot going on at the moment. Tell me about your recent listening party… 

The listening party was meant to be a very intimate playback. I’ve done it before, and I wanted to do it again for this project. I haven’t released it for two years, and I wanted people to hear it early. We did this sign-up sheet and there were 4,000 entries, and it was kind of overwhelming… but I was just like, why don’t we just do this 500-capacity venue and invite everybody? It was kind of the chaos that I wanted. It wasn’t crazy, like harmful. It was the right chaos.

That sounds like an iconic night…

It wasn’t meant to be! It was just meant to be a playback, just talking intimately. But I thought, “why don’t we just play the first couple songs off the project live and let people hear it?” I’ve never really played with a band before. It would normally be a piano, but there was trumpet, saxophone, or the whole, you know, brass section. So it was kind of mad.

So tell us about the new project, what’s this rollout going to be like? 

I’ve been working on this music for about a year-and-a-half. I’ve mentioned before that I really struggled with finding myself, and I think as an artist, you have a lot of pressure to really know who you are really quickly when industry people get excited. I think I just lost myself, so I needed to figure out who I was.

I worked with two guys called Tiron and Jeff Kitty. They’re incredible songwriters and producers. I just wanted to do something that I’ve been saying from day one. I love to dance, I love uptempo music, and I just love something that makes my voice feel big and all this new music is very that. And there’s a real artist in it. I used to hide behind the piano quite a lot, and I feel like that’s not really what it is anymore.

You’ve worked on projects by Central Cee and Justin Bieber recently – how do you land these spots?

It kind of all happened at the same time. But honestly, all of them were through Instagram. I love DMing people all the time because I always like to have my eyes on everything, that can be a good thing and a bad thing. The Justin stuff just happened by Instagram… but it was friendship first. I didn’t go into it thinking, “I want to write with him.” I’d obviously love to, but we built a friendship first, and then music started to come around. And I was working in that household for like, a month, and it was just scratching ideas on everything, really.

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What’s your opening line when you speak to these artists?

I think that they’re never going to reply! It’s a little bit of “Delulu,” you know? I think I said, “I’ve been a fan since 14. You’re such a legend, you’re my king” and stuff, obviously. I sent that DM the end of 2023, so the DM had been sitting there. I woke up one morning and he replied, but I literally thought it was a scam. When you speak to someone that’s that successful and that famous, it feels like you’re talking to a robot from an online perspective. But no, it was very much real.

Tell us about “TOO LONG,” the song you worked on for SWAG.

We did loads of stuff, and that was the first song that I put my vocal on. I didn’t go crazy on that song, I just sang and did the backing vocals on the chorus. We did loads of things, and I think there’s more that will come out, not to say too much, but, yeah it’s really exciting.

And how did you connect with Central Cee?

His friend DMed me and passed on the message. I went to the studio that they work at, and their whole team was there – that was a really quick and easy process. A lot of artists work in so many different ways. Sometimes you get artists who are like “I’m a fan. Would you do this?” You give it to them, you don’t hear anything. And then you’ve got an artist like Justin who’s there every step of the way and gives you advice and notes.

You also toured with Reneé Rapp. What did you get from that tour?

Being on that tour was so fun. She’s such a nice and caring person. I really like it when an artist really stands on what they mean. It’s not just for social media or just to be respected, actually what she says online and in her music, she really believes, and I think that’s really cool.

It was a very LGBTQ crowd – which I’m part of – and it was really nice to perform in front of our audience, because I think they are the most diehard fans. That’s the most important thing any artist could ever ask for. It was so fun that she, again, was so caring and really let me have my space. There were fans after the show waiting to see me as well as her.

Another huge show with SZA and Snoh Alegra at BST Hyde Park. That’s literally a dream lineup… 

That show was incredible. I’ve met a couple big artists who are really tapped into really underground, smaller artists, and SZA is really tapped in. I think she also has had a similar journey to a lot of these artists, and faced a lot of rejection early in her career, and, you know, took a while to have a moment. Everyone on that show was incredible: Snoh, SZA, Elmiene, all of them.

How did you and Fred Again – who you were spotted with in the studio with lately – mesh creatively?

I always gravitate towards people who really care about the art, and I think Fred & Skrillex, they really care about the creation and the process of art. Working with Fred was such a dramatic moment, because I didn’t really know what to expect. And you think you know going into a room, a singer in my world, I know exactly what I’m going to go in there and come out with. Someone like Fred can come out with 500 things and they will be very different. I think that’s just the fun part. When I was working with them, everyone was like, “What’s going on? Like, this doesn’t make sense,” but really down to the music it does.

Taylor Swift is at it again. Less than a week after a mysterious countdown went live on her website and ticked down to what would turn out to be an announcement for her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, the pop star has once again unveiled a cryptic timer heralding yet another piece of major news — but what could it be?

Fans began noticing the new countdown on Monday morning (Aug. 18). Whereas the album announcement timer had an orange backdrop, the new countdown is set against a sparkly purple wallpaper.

Giving no clues as to what will happen once the clock reaches 00:00:00, Swift’s latest countdown simply states that it will expire at 2 p.m. ET on Monday.

There’s no telling what the 14-time Grammy winner has in store for fans this time. The musician has already bombarded Swifties with information over the past week, revealing on Aug. 12 that she had a new album titled The Life of a Showgirl on the way before sharing its cover art, release date and tracklist — featuring a Sabrina Carpenter collaboration — the following day. At the same time, four different variants of the LP became available for pre-order on Swift’s site, including the “Sweat and Vanilla Perfume” edition, the “It’s Frightening” edition, the “It’s Rapturous” version and the “It’s Beautiful” edition.

“[The album is] a lot more upbeat, and it’s a lot more fun pop excitement,” Swift said of the project on an Aug. 13 episode of boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast, where she shared more details about her next era. “My main goals were melodies that were so infectious, you’re almost angry at it … This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time.”

There are still several weeks before Showgirl drops on Oct. 3, so the new countdown could mean anything. Will it lead to a lead single announcement? A music video? More alternate versions of the album? Swifties have theorized about all of the above, but the overwhelming feeling in the fandom is pure excitement at what the Eras Tour headliner could possibly have in store next.

“I AM NOT READY FOR WHATEVER THIS COUNTDOWN LEADS TO,” one Swiftie wrote on X.

Another person pleaded, “WHAT DOES IT MEAN TAYLOR?!”

Gloria Estefan remembers vividly the first time she met her husband, Emilio Estefan Jr. “He had short shorts, he had great legs, playing the accordion — he looked naked,” she says with a laugh while reflecting on a moment that would change their lives forever.

She was at a friend’s house putting a band together for one night, and Emilio, who knew her friend, showed up to give them some pointers. “I was sitting on the floor and I thought, ‘Wow, this guy has charisma,’ ” she recalls. “He left, we did our gig, everybody went their separate ways.”

That summer, the two would meet again at a wedding that her mother had dragged her to. He was part of the band, playing Van McCoy’s “Do the Hussle” on the accordion when she spotted him — this time in a tux. “We run into each other in a doorway, and he goes, ‘You’re that girl!’ and I go, ‘Yeah, you’re that guy.’ ‘Come sing with the band!’ And I go, ‘Ahhhh.’ ” By then, she was known within the community, and many guests had heard her play guitar and sing since she was a kid.

So she obliged and performed two Latin classics, “Sabor a Mí” and “Tú Me Acostumbraste,” earning both an ovation from the guests and an invitation from Emilio to formally join the band. Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo, then 18 years old, working two jobs and about to start college, politely declined.

“He found my number and called me two weeks later,” Gloria continues, beaming. It was her grandmother who made her see the light. “‘You aren’t going to be happy in your life unless you share your gift,’ ” she recalls her saying. “ ‘Listen to me and not your mother.’ And I did. I joined the band for fun.”

“I really liked the metal in her voice,” Emilio says. “I thought there was a sound for the new generation that was bilingual — the Miami Sound — and I said, ‘This would be good, because it would be something new in the music industry, and she can sing both in English and Spanish.’

“I think that Gloria and I, it was destiny, because we both found happiness in music amidst all the tragedy we were going through,” he adds. “I didn’t have my mom, I didn’t have anyone, and I was obsessed with being able to carry a sound that I thought was unique. And also, the need [as a Cuban immigrant] — everything I saved would be used to bring my mother, my brother, my whole family [to the U.S.].” As for Gloria, “I saw her sad — her father went to the Bay of Pigs. When he came back, he went to Vietnam, and when he came back from Vietnam, he came back in a wheelchair. But when it came to making music, her eyes shone.”

Now that 50 years have passed, Gloria adds, “Every step of the way has continued to be fun.”

Since rising to stardom in the 1980s as the lead vocalist of Miami Sound Machine and later as a solo artist, Gloria has helped infuse Latin flavor into English-language pop music, breaking barriers with hits like 1985’s top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Conga” — which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year — and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” while also singing in Spanish.

She has placed 29 songs on the Hot 100 — three of them at No. 1 (“Anything for You” in 1988, “Don’t Wanna Lose You” in 1989 and “Coming Out of the Dark ” in 1991) — and 31 tracks on the Hot Latin Songs chart, 15 of which reached the top (from “Si Voy a Perderte” in 1989 to “Hotel Nacional” in 2012).

Her first Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra (1993), spent an impressive 58 weeks at the summit of Top Latin Albums and earned her the first of her four Grammy Awards. Her latest, Raíces, debuted in the top 10 of the Tropical Albums chart, while the title track landed atop Latin Airplay, Tropical Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay. In between, 2000’s Alma Caribeña debuted and spent seven weeks at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and 2007’s 90 Millas debuted and spent three weeks at the top of the same chart.

“Gloria Estefan is a global icon, a true artist with endless talent, but above all, she’s a wonderful person,” says Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin Iberia. “Her trust in Sony Music throughout her career speaks to a relationship based on professionalism, passion, love and respect. She’s an essential part of the company’s heart.”

“Gloria Estefan represents the best of our music and our history,” adds Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music U.S. Latin. “Her legacy is eternal, and her generosity and spirit continue to inspire all of us who have the privilege of working with her.”

Gloria has also proved to be a talented author — she’s written two children’s books — and an actor with a comedic edge in her performance as the no-nonsense mother in the 2022 remake of Father of the Bride alongside Andy Garcia. She also co-hosted Red Table Talk: The Estefans, a spinoff of the popular talk show Red Table Talk, featuring her daughter, Emily Estefan, and niece Lili Estefan.

It’s a remarkable career for the Cuban American star, who in 2023 became the first Latina inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2024 received the Legend Award at the Billboard Latin Women in Music ceremony for her lifetime achievements — all while balancing work and family and putting her loved ones first.

And many have not only noticed but been inspired by her, inside and outside the Latin music world.

“To have that sound and go mainstream, topping the pop charts, was groundbreaking and really incredible. What she and Miami Sound Machine did influenced music, food, television, fashion,” American pop icon Cyndi Lauper, her contemporary and friend, tells Billboard Español. “Gloria is a true cultural phenomenon. And on top of that, she and Emilio are the salt of the earth. Such great people, generosity of spirit, caring, leading by example to change to world. People throw these kinds of words around a lot, but the Estefans really did change the world.”

“Gloria and Emilio have been a true family to me. They’ve always made me feel at home, and when the U.S. was a new country for me, they supported me every step of the way,” Colombian superstar Shakira recalls. “Gloria was a role model, a true inspiration … She accompanied me throughout my crossover as a mentor and a friend, helping me translate my lyrics from Spanish to English [for the 2001 album Laundry Service] while maintaining their essence when I hadn’t yet mastered the language.”

“Gloria is a hero to me, not only for being a pioneer in music and opening doors for Latinos in the industry but also for what she represents as a human being,” Cuban American star Camila Cabello says. “Beyond her talent, her humility, her passion for her people, her fight for our shared dream of a free Cuba make her even more admirable and adored by all.”

A mother of two and a proud grandmother of one, Gloria now chooses her projects carefully, based not only on what moves her but also how much time and travel it will take. “A lot of it has to do with, ‘Is it going to take me away from my family?’ ” she says. “If it’s something that is going to take me away from my grandson’s life and miss big chunks of it — that’s high on my list of priorities. He is growing so fast.” She also feels she’s earned that precious time. She will do an occasional concert but not a full, big tour like she used to in the ’80s and ’90s, when she was at the peak of her stardom. “[Touring] is wonderful because I get to be with the fans, but it is like boot camp for me,” she explains. “I’ve worked really hard in my life, and I think, ‘Did I really work that hard to work this hard?’ ”

In the last few years, she’s been busy creating songs for an upcoming Broadway musical titled BASURA (Spanish for “garbage”) along with her daughter. Based on the 2015 award-winning documentary Landfill Harmonic, it will narrate the journey of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra, a group of young artists who turn scrap material into musical instruments.

So when Emilio presented her with the idea for the song “Raíces” a couple of years ago, Gloria, who usually writes or co-writes her own music, got excited.

“Emilio didn’t even realize [this year] was my 50th [career anniversary],” says Gloria, who wanted to do something special to celebrate. “I told him, ‘Babe, I can’t change my mindset for this, but I would like, if I do an album again, for it to be tropical, for it to be in Spanish.’ He says, ‘Do you trust me?’ I go, ‘Who else am I going to trust [other] than you?’ ”

Released May 30 on Sony Music Latin, Raíces contains 13 tracks mostly co-written by Emilio. Salsa, bolero and tropical rhythms resonate in songs ranging from the title track and “La Vecina (No Sé Na’)” to romantic tunes such as “Tan Iguales y Tan Diferentes,” “Te Juro,” “Agua Dulce” and “Tú y Yo.”

“He wrote his own love songs for me to sing to him!” Gloria jokes.

Among the songs she penned is the sweet “Mi Niño Bello (Para Sasha),” dedicated to her grandson, with an English version titled “My Beautiful Boy (For Sasha).” Another track on the album, “Cuando el Tiempo Nos Castiga” (co-written by Emilio and Gian Marco and originally recorded by Jon Secada in 2001), also has a new English version courtesy of Gloria titled “How Will You Be Remembered.”

Gloria sat with Billboard for a trip down memory lane leading straight to the future.

Going back to your beginnings, what do you remember about your start in the music business? You’ve said in the past that you were shy.

It’s not that I was shy, because one-on-one I was perfectly fine and I could handle any situation. I was an observer. But what I don’t like is to be the center of attention; that’s just not my nature. So to join the band, it was for fun. I never thought, “Oh, I’m going to be famous,” or “I’m going to do these crazy things.” No.

And there was a really nice guy in that band…

He was, but I saw him as a man. He was only four-and-a-half years older than me, but he was very responsible, and he took care of his parents. He worked during the day, he studied at night, he had side jobs, he had businesses. I saw him as “Oh, Mr. Estefan,” you know, the boss … I didn’t start dating him until a year after. He had an older girlfriend, let me tell you. She was 36, he was 22. And I didn’t think he would be interested in me. I had zero experience, never went out anywhere because I took care of my dad [who had multiple sclerosis]. Joining the band was a freeing experience, and marrying him was an even more freeing experience. I didn’t think I’d get married the day after I turned 21. I had no doubt that I wanted to be with him the rest of my life. We’ve made a very unique partnership, and a lot of the things we’ve accomplished [are] because we’re together.

When did you realize that you had really made it in music?

When “Conga” crossed charts in Billboard, I thought, “OK, they’re getting it, they’re understanding what we have believed all along could happen.” And look, that song is now going to the Grammy Hall of Fame [after] 40 years.

Which three songs do you consider to be the most important in your career and why?

“Conga,” clearly. Probably “Mi Tierra.” And “Con Los Años Que Me Quedan,” [which] became a love song and a wedding song and it’s the first song that Emilio and I wrote together way back in the day. But there are so many more!

OK, tell me two more.

If we’re going to be real, “Dr. Beat,” which actually broke through, but I didn’t write that one. “Anything for You,” my very first No. 1. And “Coming Out of the Dark,” which was a big thank-you to everyone that sent prayers my way after the accident. That song poured out of me in 10 minutes. [In March 1990, Gloria was in a tour bus accident that resulted in a broken back and temporary paralysis. She underwent surgery and a lengthy recovery.]

I remember the first time you sang it live, at the American Music Awards.

Oh, gosh, it was insane. I wanted to kill Emilio because Dick Clark had called Emilio in September [1990], so I was still at a point where I couldn’t move by myself anywhere. And Emilio actually came to me to tell me that Dick Clark wanted me to perform the following January. I was inside this body that didn’t feel familiar. I was relearning everything: how to walk, how to wash my face and not be in pain. The last thing that I’m going to think about is getting on a stage. I want to be able to walk and get a glass of water by myself. I want to not put my family through what I went through [with my father] if I could help it. He was nuts. I said, “Babe, I can’t.” And then he told Dick Clark, “I can’t convince her; you’re going have to.” And Dick Clark got on a plane and flew to Miami to talk me into [the performance].

Did that help you with the recovery in any way?

It did. Emilio, as usual, was right. My first outing three months after the accident was to the studio, because I felt so bad for him that he hadn’t left my side. He said, “I have this piece of paper that I wrote this thing on the day you had the accident, in the helicopter. I found it today in my pant pocket.” It was all washed. He hands it to me. I look at it and I go, “Why is it in English?” (Laughs.) And it said: “Coming out of the dark.” He said, “I would love for you to come to the studio. Jon Secada is going to meet me there.” And I went, for him. And when I heard the one melody line of (Sings.) “coming out of the dark” that Jon sang, it was like, Oh, my God. And it all poured through me. That’s what I was going to perform at the American Music Awards. Having that goal really helped me to focus and not just deambular [wander]. Even though every day I was focused on getting better, it gave me a date to shoot for.

Is there anything you miss doing or wish you could do without being recognized?

Nothing stops me from doing anything I want. I was talking to my grandson about that the other day, because he and I would get in a car and go to an escape room and inevitably someone would ask for a picture. He knows I’m always going to stop. He always says, “I’ll take the picture.” He’s very kind about it. My kids lived a different experience, because that part of it — when you are at the top, you literally can’t go anywhere because it becomes impossible. It creates a scene, people go crazy, you divert from the kids. Even though I told them, “If we’re in public, I’m never going to say no to an autograph, because we have a moment to either make them happy or possibly traumatized from approaching anyone.” They understood, but it was harder for them. That’s why I love this moment when, yes, we have a beautiful career and I still get the love, people ask me for hugs, but it’s not the craziness of that moment when you’re new, fresh; the fame is huge.

As one of the most stable and beloved couples in Latin music, how do you and Emilio keep the spark alive?

Oh, my gosh. He makes me laugh every day. And if he goes on a trip, I’ll go to brush my teeth and there’s a little note: “Babe, I’m going to miss you.” He draws a little thing, him with the guitar or something. He’s just very sweet and thoughtful. He would buy me stuff all year-round, to the point where I tell him, “Babe, please, I don’t need any more jewelry,” but he’s happy doing that. Me mima, he spoils me in so many ways. And I try to do the same for him. We’re excited, we love being with each other, we miss each other. We don’t sleep the same when we’re apart. It just becomes deeper, and there’s a lot of respect and admiration.

Is there anything you still would like to achieve professionally?

This was always my go-to answer, and it’s getting a little more difficult to envision it, but if it were to happen within the next few years, to sing in a free Cuba. Somehow that dream, every time we feel a piece of it — like what happened July 11 [of 2021 with the anti-government demonstrations] and we thought, “Oh, maybe this is it, maybe this is the moment” — it dissipates under the crushing weight of that dictatorship. Celia [Cruz] had that dream, too, and it wasn’t in the cards.

As the closing song on Raíces, “How Will You Be Remembered,” goes, how do you wish to be remembered?

I actually wrote a song answering that exact question years ago, and the title is “Remember Me With Love.” That’s all I hope. That when people think about me, either because of my music or the way I represented the culture or family life, they remember me with love, there’s a smile on their face and they play the music a lot.

A version of this story appears in the Aug. 16, 2025, issue of Billboard.