Vera Blue has taken on one of alternative rock’s most enduring songs, covering Radiohead‘s “Creep” for triple j’s Like A Version.

The Australian singer-songwriter stripped the 1992 track back to three elements — electric guitar, piano and vocals — building from the lower end of her range into a soaring falsetto by the chorus. Late in the performance she deployed The Pipe, a mouth-controlled dynamic effects processor and synthesizer made by SOMA Laboratory, adding an eerie texture to the arrangement.

Blue said she was drawn to the song’s emotional core, describing “Creep” as an “epic rock song” whose lyrics are also “heartbreaking,” and aiming for a “very haunting version” that still nods to Thom Yorke’s original.

Blue also performed “Maze,” a track from her forthcoming album Modern Rituals, during her studio session. The album is due Friday, Aug. 21 via Island Records/Universal Music Australia, and Blue will support it with a national tour opening the same night at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre and running through Perth’s The Rechabite on Aug. 28.

Born Celia Pavey, Vera Blue first emerged as a folk artist and finalist on The Voice Australia before reinventing herself under the Vera Blue name in 2016. Her 2017 album Perennial reached No. 6 on the ARIA Albums Chart, powered by the double-platinum single “Regular Touch.” Her highest-profile chart success came via her collaboration with fellow Australian Flume on “Rushing Back,” which reached No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Modern Rituals will be her third studio album as Vera Blue, following 2022’s Mercurial.

Vera Blue — Modern Rituals Australian Tour 2026

Aug. 21 — Brisbane — Princess Theatre

Aug. 22 — Sydney — City Recital Hall

Aug. 23 — Canberra — UC Refectory

Aug. 26 — Melbourne — Northcote Theatre

Aug. 27 — Adelaide — The Gov

Aug. 28 — Perth — The Rechabite

Musical icon Angélique Kidjo is set to become the first African musician, and the first Black African performer, to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Kidjo joins Charlize Theron, a white South African actress, in representing Africa on the Walk of Fame. The Oscar-winning actress received her star in 2005. Kidjo will receive the 2,854th star.

Kidjo’s star ceremony is set for Aug. 18 at 11:30 a.m. PT at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard. Joining Kidjo for the ceremony will be Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe and Grammy- and Primetime Emmy-nominated songwriter/producer Harvey Mason jr., better known these days as CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares. The ceremony will be emceed by Variety correspondent Angelique Jackson and will be streamed live exclusively at www.walkoffame.com

Kidjo, 64, was born in the West African country of Benin, but left for Paris in 1983. She has amassed five Grammy Awards. She won best contemporary world music album in 2008 and won best global music album four times between 2015 and 2022. She also received a Polar Music Prize in 2023.

Kidjo has released 19 albums since 1981. She has acquired fans across the world with her ability to fuse West African styles with funk, jazz and R&B. Her long list of collaborators includes such diverse artists as Burna Boy, Philip Glass, Sting, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, John Legend, Bono and Yo-Yo Ma.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers the Walk of Fame for the city of Los Angeles. Millions have visited the cultural landmark since 1960.

A federal judge says Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation must face trial in a lawsuit filed by a former cameraman who says he was forced to watch the rapper have sex in a car during a European tour.

In a ruling Friday (Aug. 7), Judge Gregory H. Woods refused to dismiss several accusations from videographer Emilio Garcia, who filed a bombshell lawsuit in 2024 containing salacious accusations against the rapper.

The decision means that Megan and Roc must face a jury trial over some of his claims, including Garcia’s accusation that they failed to pay proper wages, discriminated against him under New York law and retaliated when he complained about his pay.

A rep for Megan and Roc Nation did not immediately return a request for comment. Garcia’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, thanked the judge and said his client was “looking forward to having his day in court.”

In a May 2024 lawsuit, Garcia accused Megan and Roc Nation of subjecting him to a hostile work environment due to the alleged car-sex incident, which he says took place while on tour in Spain in 2022. He claimed the incident left him “embarrassed, mortified and offended,” and that Megan and Roc Nation later retaliated against him by reducing his work and eventually terminating him.

Megan’s attorneys have strongly denied any wrongdoing, calling the accusations “false and fabricated.” They said Garcia had taken “run of the mill” complaints about his wages and added “sensationalist false allegations of sex, debauchery, and workplace harassment for the sole purpose of creating a media firestorm.”

“Plaintiff is a con artist who is manipulating the judicial system to act as his publicist and bullhorn in a desperate attempt to boost his failed singing career while trying to tear down the successful career of Megan Thee Stallion,” wrote the star’s attorney, Alex Spiro.

But after more than two years of litigation, the case is headed to trial following Friday’s ruling. The judge did dismiss certain claims, including that the star or Roc had retaliated against him for complaining about the car-sex incident. But the judge said he had done enough that a jury might side with him on his discrimination claims, his wage accusations and his claims of retaliation tied to the wage dispute.

Osheaga’s 19th edition was one for the books.

The three-day music and arts festival and Montreal just wrapped up its 19th year by logging one of its most successful editions, drawing its second-highest-ever attendance with over 151,000 fans. It’s proof that one of the biggest festivals in Canada continues to get even bigger, with two out of three nights fully sold out this year.

Osheaga was Canada down this year, and Tate McRae helped make history. The Tate-headlined Saturday date (Aug. 1) was sold out nearly three weeks in advance, the fastest sellout ever for an individual day. The sales were largely driven by the Canadian hitmaker’s headlining slot and its massive hype. Evenko, the promoter behind the festival, already forecasted the sellout in May.

McRae took the stage for her first-ever festival headline appearance in her home country while simultaneously becoming the first Canadian to headline the festival since Arcade Fire replaced the Foo Fighters in 2022, and The Weeknd headlined in 2017.

The local spirit was remarkably high this year, with about 50% of this year’s crowd comprised of Quebec fans, up from about 40% last year. One of the weekend’s most anticipated moments came in the form of Quebec heroes Angine de Poitrine, who played a surprise set on Saturday. The band was booked in May, prior to their legendary record-setting set at Montreal Jazz Fest. They were saved as a last-minute surprise because sales were already steady, so they added some last-minute buzz. Osheaga initially soft-launched their appearance by including their name within the lineup on select merch pieces just one day prior to their performance, and later revealed them the following morning, giving ticketholders a guaranteed opportunity to see the world’s most viral band.

The festival has proven its knack for booking bubbling acts right before they spike in popularity, and this year’s edition followed suit with that trend. Rising singer-songwriter Stella Lefty, who is currently charting in the top 5 of the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and Billboard Hot 100, filled up the Mountain stage during her ripe 3 pm set, and Malcolm Todd played the primary main stage after earning millions of new listeners in the past months, since the lineup first dropped.

As nostalgia continues to blanket 2026, this year’s Osheaga was a full-circle edition including several throwbacks to its own programming from 10 years ago, including Lorde’s return as a headliner and other Osheaga alumni making their way back to Parc Jean-Drapeau.

“Zara Larsson played in 2017. She’s had a great career, but now all of a sudden she’s huge,” Osheaga founder Nick Farkas tells Billboard Canada. The Swedish pop star pulled one of the weekend’s biggest crowds amid her major chart resurgence. Fans rocking bright colours and flowers filled the audience across both main stages, eager to hear Larsson’s hits both old (“Lush Life”) and new (“Midnight Sun” and “Stateside”). The Heated Rivalry craze also led Wolf Parade to the festival once more, with Farkas adding that it was “so much fun having Wolf Parade back.” The band famously played the inaugural edition of Osheaga and made their second decennial return this year, now having played in 2006, 2016 and 2026, a run that speaks to their own longevity as well as that of the festival.

Read more here. — Stefano Rebuli

OVO Golf Classic Doubles Its Support For The Remix Project and Scarborough Shooting Stars Foundation in 2026

October’s Very Own upped the ante for its second OVO Golf Classic last Thursday (July 30).

The clothing and culture brand co-founded by global superstar Drake took over all three award-winning courses at TPC Osprey Valley, home of the Canadian Open, for a spirited day of music, sport and community in support of the Remix Project and the Scarborough Shooting Stars Foundation. It was hosted by eTalk’s Tyrone Edwards, a Remix alumnus himself, and sports broadcaster Rod Black, the voice of the Scarborough Shooting Stars.

The event was produced by creative marketing and experiential events agency That Good.

While 2025’s first edition set a standard for the event, the second year was even bigger. There were 91 teams (up from 36 last year), totalling 364 golfers.

That included some major names from music, culture and sports: the NBA’s Devin Booker and Jordan Clarkson, football star Johnny Manziel and soccer star Jozy Altidore, OVO Sound artists Smiley, Nineteen85, Roy Woods and Jordan Ullman of Majid Jordan, social media stars Glamzilla, MD Motivator, Kyle Foregard of the NELK Boys and many more.

Following an 11 a.m. shotgun start, golfers spent the day playing through a superpowered version of the acclaimed golf course. Every hole was activated with exclusive giveaways and challenges, adding an extra layer to the action on the course. Billboard Canada was the partner for hole 11, letting participants star on their version of a Billboard cover between swings.

All the money raised went toward the Remix Project and the Scarborough Shooting Stars Foundation, the charitable arm of a Canadian Elite Basketball League team, funding youth programs that provide access to sport, mentorship and opportunity for under-resourced youth in the community.

At the end of the day, a helicopter dropped a set of balls onto the course, each with a potential big prize including a suite for 20 people for a Toronto Blue Jays Game, tickets to any NFL game, a $1000 OVO gift card, a Gretzky Hockey School jersey signed by Wayne Gretzky and a one-night, two-round stay for four golfers at TPC Osprey in 2027.

After everyone was done on the course, a special meal and reception fed and entertained the star-studded crowd.

Read more here. — Billboard Canada

Departure Executive Producer Steps Down After Two-Year Run

Kevin Barton has stepped down from his role as executive producer at Departure.

Barton held the role for both years of the conference and festival since it was bought by Oak View Group and Loft Entertainment in 2024 and rebranded from Canadian Music Week. Barton remains a partner and shareholder at Loft, the Toronto-based music company co-founded by former Bell Media and Universal Music Canada executive Randy Lennox and film producer Jeffrey Latimer.

“I’m concluding my role as Executive Producer of Departure Festival + Conference,” Barton tells Billboard Canada. “After spending the past two years helping guide its evolution, it feels like the right time for me to begin a new chapter.”

In March, shortly before the second edition of Departure, the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFA) announced Barton would be taking an expanded role as chief strategy officer. At the time, Barton clarified on Instagram that he would continue in his roles at Departure and Loft.

Barton says his decision to move on from Departure was not driven by his expanded role at CAFA, but rather by a desire to focus on new projects.

“I’ve reached a point where I want to focus on a broader portfolio of work, including CAFA, strategic advisory projects, and developing new initiatives around culture, business and innovation,” he says.

Throughout his career, Barton has bridged the worlds of music, fashion and art, building the Urban Music department at Universal Music Canada and also working in film and photography.

Canadian Music Week’s transformation into Departure also shifted from its longtime identity as the Canadian music industry’s leading conference into one that also focused on media, technology, film, fashion and other cultural subjects.

“When I joined, one of my priorities was helping reimagine the festival’s identity to better reflect where culture was heading,” Barton says, expanding across creative sectors to reflect “how today’s artistic communities actually collaborate and create.”

Billboard Canada learned there were layoffs following this year’s edition of Departure. Barton attributes that to seasonal staffing, which he says is common across the live events industry. “Organizations expand to deliver the festival and then realign afterward as they transition into planning, partnership development and long-term strategy for the next edition.”

Read more here. — Richard Trapunski

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Millions of viewers around the world have fallen in love with KPop Demon Hunters, with the Oscar-winning film now ranking as Netflix’s most-watched original movie of all time.

But if you’re like me, you’ve also fallen asleep to the film, with the moody scenes and haunting soundtrack (occasionally) serving as an ideal backdrop to doze off too. I’ve seen the movie so many times, the songs are almost like meditation for me.

Now, there’s another way to fall asleep with the film, as Walmart is selling a weighted “pillow buddy” inspired by the supernatural tiger, Derpy.

Walmart doesn’t give the exact specs for this new release, but in my experience, similar weighted stuffed animals typically weigh less than two pounds, so you’re not in danger of being smushed or crushed. Instead, it’s like a gentle hug that can often help with anxiety, restlessness or insomnia. The feeling of having the cuddly 18-inch Derpy toy against the body “provides a comforting, cozy feel,” per a product description.

This stuffed toy is made from a soft “velboa” material, which mimics the look and feel of velvet. The colorful plushie features Derpy’s expressive eyes, toothy grin and leopard-style spots and stripes. While he follows owner Jinu around in the film, this version of the blue tiger can now be your companion at home.

This plush toy features the tiger in his sleeping pose, which may inspire you to fall asleep as well. This plushie isn’t weighted, but at 18 inches, it’s perfectly sized for a snuggle. Both of the Derpy pillows are part of Netflix’s official KPop Demon Hunters merch line.

The stuffed animals come on the heels of other KPop Demon Hunters toy releases in recent months, including an official Squishmallows collection and official HUNTR/X Mattel dolls.

Sized for your couch, chair or bed, the Amazon deal gets you two 18 x 18-inch pillow covers inspired by KPop Demon Hunters. Keep in mind: you’ll need to buy the actual pillows separately (we like this top-rated throw pillow here).

You can shop for more KPop Demon Hunters bedroom accessories, like blankets and bedding, here.

A bestseller online, shoppers give the weighted plush an average 4.9-star review out of five, with reviewers praising everything from the toy’s “sensory soothing” abilities, to the fact that you can toss it in the washing machine and dryer.

Two decades after studying at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and relocating to Nashville, Mississippi native Charlie Worsham has forged a career as an award-winning artist/songwriter/musician. He’s a multi-hyphenate artist in his own right, but is also a first-call session player, touring bandmate, and essential thread in the fabric of country music’s current landscape.

His new album, Once Upon a Second Time Around, out Friday (Aug. 7), is his third full-length solo project, following 2013’s Rubberband and 2017’s The Beginning of Things, as well as the 2023 EP Compadres, but also launches a new independent era: The album is out on ONErpm after he spent years with Warner Records Nashville.

Concurrently with releasing his own music, Worsham has lent his prowess on guitar, mandolin, banjo and songwriting to albums by Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Ella Langley, Kacey Musgraves, Kip Moore, Sam Williams, Luke Combs, and Dierks Bentley. He’s been part of touring bands for Vince Gill and Bentley, as well as briefly joining Old Crow Medicine Show. Early in his career, he played in the country group Kingbilly, where one of his bandmates was Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne.

“When you move to town, you need a little piss and vinegar, a little bit of an attitude, which I [had]. I had the great fortune of moving into a house and band with all these great musical big brothers I never had. Chief among them, John Osborne. The biggest difference from 21-year-old me to now is I’ve learned to let go of so much and in letting go, my hands are free to pick up the really beautiful parts.”

Two decades in the industry have helped Worsham, 40, arrive at a moment where he’s redefined for himself what constitutes success.

“It’s very easy to have blinders on as a young artist in town because the definition of success can be so narrow. What’s great in this moment is I have that proverbial seat at the table. I know enough to know now that what I was really tightly clinging to and what felt like anger was really fear that I wouldn’t have this permanent spot in town in this community,” he says. “I think the biggest shift is that I have freedom to expand my definition of success…Any day I wake up and I’m collaborating with people that challenge me and inspire me to be better and I’m being creative, that’s the dream.”

His experiences are woven into his new album. Guiding him as a mantra was “The impossible takes longer,” a saying he found in a book of quotes from Nobel Laureate honorees.

“It feels that way sometimes, like, ‘How do I get to this place, but bring my bluegrass heart that I have and this Southern rock heart that I have and all these things are starting to take shape?”

Worsham co-wrote around half of the album’s dozen songs, though he also worked with Sony Music Publishing’s exec vp of creative Josh Van Valkenburg, who played a key role in finding several of the album’s cuts, including “Family Man,” written by Josh Jenkins, Ben Stennis and Matt Rogers, and “They Never Do,” which was an older song written by Lainey Wilson, Dallas Wilson and Josh Nix.

“She’s a sister to me in that regard, she’s just been at it for a long time and had to be patient for the world to catch up,” Worsham says of Wilson, who previously recorded with Worsham for a song on his Compadres EP. “She did me a great kindness by singing on this.”

He adds, “Josh [Van Valkenburg]  also found songs that I had written and kind of forgotten about,” Worsham says, including the album’s title track. “I was writing for a record I thought would be a Warner record. Technically, I had not parted ways with Warner until the middle of this process. The day I wrote that song, I needed to write for my heart and then I immediately disregarded it and didn’t think it would see the light of day.”

Songs like “Powers That Be” and “Family Man” center on Worsham’s balancing act between his musical duties, his roles as husband and father, and his podcast, Mississippi on the Map, which highlights his home state’s contributions to musical culture, as well as the 50 Years From Home with Gill. 

“I’m still working on the balance. Part of that is self-induced, and part of it is just the nature of being a multi-hyphenate, which for a long time I felt worked against me,” he says. “[In] this independent season, it kind of works for me. I’m learning to sort of double down everywhere I can on doing the thing that only I can do. That means injecting a little bit of music nerd into things. That means injecting a medium dose of Mississippi into all things, telling stories,” he says. “And the balance part is definitely a challenge. But I’m better than I was last year. I’m better than I was the year before that at it. And so it’s an ongoing process and I am so grateful. I still love getting out on the road. But also coming home has never been sweeter.”

Time spent at home influenced “Years Go By,” which came from a COVID-era writing session over Zoom with Stephen Wilson Jr., as Worsham and his wife were expecting a child, and Wilson was teaching his son how to drive.

“At that time– and still do–I looked to dads who were farther down the road, like, ‘All right, help me out. What’s some wisdom?’ So it was half that and half co-write,” Worsham says.

The album closes with a reprise of one of the album’s earlier songs, “Wrap My Porch Around,” this time a nod to Worsham’s affinity for bluegrass by collaborating with The Travelin’ McCourys. In doing so, Worsham gives a nod to Bentley, who has often closed out his albums with a bluegrass cut, and Gill, who on his 1996 album High Lonesome Sound included two versions of the title track, one featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station.

“It was very much meant to be a tip of the hat to Dierks, but also to Vince. I’ve gotten to know the McCourys through being with Dierks,” he says. “And sweet Jason Carter, that recording was the last thing he did [as part of The Travelin’ McCourys] before striking out as a solo guy.”

Worsham calls Gill’s genre-blending High Lonesome Sound “monumental for me, because I knew I wanted to come to Nashville. I knew I was a bluegrass kid but I knew I loved ripping an electric guitar and country music. We even cut [“Wrap My Porch Around”] at Vince’s house and I played one of Vince’s acoustic [guitars] on it.”

Professionally and personally, he continues to view Gill as a role model.

“He understands that he has less time ahead of him to make music and be creative and every note matters,” he says. “I’m living another version of that; my kids are growing up faster than I’ll be able to emotionally handle. But I do, God willing, have decades of making music ahead of me. I hope that in the next 20 years, I’ll look back and go, ‘I made twice as much music as I had.’”

Ahead, fans could see a record that leans more heavily into Worsham’s bluegrass proclivities. “This moment where we’re in, where Billy Strings is selling multiple arena nights, it’s just a good time for music to blur the lines and for people to show all their cards and say, ‘This is where my journey has taken me.’”