Majestic girl group FLO is entering their sophomore era with intense momentum. Ahead of the Aug. 7 release of Therapy at the Club, the British R&B trio offers Billboard a closer look at the 16-song project, which includes previously released songs “Leak It,” “Don’t Break Her Heart” and the title track, as well as yet-to-be-released songs “Floating,” “Cry Ugly,” “HaterBooth,” “Miss U Missing Me” and “Small Doses.”

Behind the music, though, there was a creative shift that the trio says happened long before the tracklist was finalized.

Speaking with Billboard, FLO shares that making Therapy at the Club meant becoming more outspoken in the studio, even when it felt uncomfortable. Instead of holding back their feedback, the group said they learned to trust their instincts and advocate for what they wanted the album to sound and feel like.

“It felt really good,” member Stella Quaresma says. “I think that it comes to a point where you just have to rip the Band-Aid off. Some things can feel confrontational or uncomfortable, but we’re all in the room to make a great song.”

That mindset, they explain, changed the entire creative process.

“It feels good to just say how you feel and say, ‘I don’t like that,’ or ‘try that,’” Quaresma continued, adding that speaking up left the group “in a much better place creatively.”

The confidence seems to have carried over into every corner of the album-making process. Compared to debut album Access All Areas, which introduced the trio’s rich harmonies and nostalgic R&B influences, FLO says Therapy at the Club reflects who they are as both artists and women.

“It definitely feels more grown,” Renée Downer says. “We have grown up. We have been heavily involved in the album. We immersed ourselves into it… figuring out what needed healing and figuring out what we wanted to talk about. It feels very honest and more real.”

That evolution extends beyond the songwriting. While discussing the cinematic music video for their song “Leak It,” the group candidly admitted they hadn’t been “100% happy” with some of their previous music videos, making it a priority for this era’s visuals to better showcase the ambition of the songs.

“We knew that song had to have a big moment and a big video,” Quaresma states. Downer chimes in as well, adding, “You want to make the video an accurate representation of the music. If the music feels big, it’s always kind of sad if the video doesn’t match it.”

The album arrives after a breakout stretch for FLO: Access All Areas earned the triad a Grammy nomination for best progressive R&B album earlier this year after reaching No. 20 on Top R&B Albums in late 2024.

If Access All Areas introduced FLO to the world, Therapy at the Club appears poised to show listeners a more self-assured version of the trio: one that’s no longer afraid to speak up, both inside and outside the recording studio.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Magnus Ferrell scores a breakout hit, Latto and Doja Cat get some added momentum from a much-discussed music video — and yes, one more World Cup-related song.

Major Podcast Looks Help Boost Magnus Ferrell’s Breakthrough Single ‘Asleep Talking‘

It seems that a new successor to the lineage of Robin Thicke/Justin Timberlake-esque blue-eyed soul has emerged — and he happens to be the son of Emmy-winning comedy icon Will Ferrell. 

Magnus Ferrell released “Asleep Talking” — a soulful midtempo number that recalls the laid-back groove of jazz-infused classics like Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love” — in the spring (April 24), but a recent wave of social media love via key podcast mentions have helped the track gain new momentum this summer. On July 1, the senior Ferrell stopped by Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’s IMO podcast, where he proudly played a snippet of his son’s buzzy track.

By July 23, “Asleep Talking” earned a favorable mention from The Morning Shift Show, which boasts over 1.6 million followers on TikTok alone. In the interim, Magnus Ferrell has been cranking out social media content promoting the song — including clips of him reacting to NBC News picking up the connection between him and his father — while launching his Blue Note Los Angeles residency on July 21. 

According to Luminate, “Asleep” earned just 67,000 official on-demand U.S. streams during the period of July 18-21. Over the next four days (July 22-25), “Asleep” vaulted a whopping 892% to over 670,000 official on-demand streams.  

With its No. 24 debut on the Aug. 1-dated Digital Song Sales chart, “Asleep” helps Magnus officially join his father as a Billboard-charting artist. Back in 2020, “Husavik,” Will Ferrell’s song from his Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, peaked at No. 16 on the same ranking. — KYLE DENIS

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Glamorous Music Video Lifts Latto & Doja Cat’s ‘Okayyy’ 

Last week (July 21), Latto and Doja Cat dropped their sexy “Okayyy” music video — and it’s already having an impact on the song’s streaming success. 

Taken from Latto’s new Big Mama LP, “Okayyy” earned over 823,000 official on-demand U.S. streams in the five-day period preceding the music video (July 16-20), according to Lumiante. In the five-day period following the video’s release (July 21-25), that number leapt 308% to over 3.36 million streams. On YouTube, the “Okayyy” music video has surpassed 4.7 million views in just over a week, and the official TikTok sound plays in over 237,000 posts. Drawing praise for their complementary fashion and glam — and sound critique for how the video’s almost-exclusive use of dark-skinned black men as mute background props plays into colorist tropes — the “Okayyy” video has been virtually inescapable across social media. 

Latto hasn’t landed a Billboard Hot 100 entry from Big Mama since last summer’s “Somebody” (No. 94), but “Okayyy” could change that should the song maintain its post-music video momentum. Notably, on Oct. 1, Latto will join Doja’s Tour Ma Vie World Tour as the special guest for the trek’s North American leg. — K.D. 

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Don Miguel’s 2020 Banger Takes Off Again After Yamal World Cup Celebration

“Yamal is the official owner of this song,” reads one comment on the YouTube page for Don Miguel’s “Y Qué Fue?” That may be going a little far — the Dominican dembow artist’s 2020 single had already racked up hundreds of millions of plays on both YouTube and Spotify before Spain took home the gold trophy at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But the song has certainly gone to a new level in the past week and a half, following the country’s 21-year-old superstar using the song as the soundtrack to his introduction at the team’s championship celebration at the Plaza de Cibeles last Monday (July 20).

“Y Qué Fue?” (in English: “And what happened?”) went newly viral after Lamine Yamal’s entrance to the hard-hitting dance song, complete with a little dance shuffle that helped it catch on social media. (Don Miguelo also shared video of the intro on Instagram.) Consequently, the song has exploded on streaming, racking up nearly 1.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending July 23, according to Luminate — a 159% gain over the prior week. It even debuted on both the Global 200 (No. 148) and the Hot Latin Songs chart (No. 15) dated Aug. 1, six years after its initial release.

Will the streaming bumps from this World Cup ever stop? Not if the winning country has anything to say about it. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

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The queens are back. Drag Race México returns July 30 for its third season, bringing a new lineup of performers ready to compete through runway challenges, lip-sync battles and high-energy performances for the chance to become Mexico’s next drag superstar. 

The latest installment of the RuPaul’s Drag Race international franchise will once again feature drag legends Lolita Banana and Taiga Brava as hosts, with Óscar Madrazo joining the judging panel.

How to Watch Drag Race México Season 3

Drag Race México season three premieres July 30 and will be available to stream on WOW Presents Plus for international viewers in the United States. Fans in Mexico can watch the series on Paramount+.

How to Watch Drag Race México Season 3 From Outside Mexico

Viewers outside Mexico can stream Drag Race México season three on WOW Presents Plus. For fans traveling or accessing content from a region where the series is unavailable, a virtual private network (VPN) can help connect to streaming services from different locations around the world.

NordVPN makes it easier to stream Drag Race México season three from anywhere by letting you connect to a Mexico IP address and access Paramount+ as if you were watching locally. The VPN service offers more than 8,000 servers across more than 165 locations, fast connection speeds and support for up to 10 devices at once. Plus, NordVPN includes features like malware protection, ad blocking, tracking prevention and Data Breach Scanner. Right now, new subscribers can save 70% and get three extra months free with a two-year plan, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Watching Drag Race México internationally is possible with ExpressVPN, a popular VPN service known for its fast speeds, reliable connections and online privacy features. Its three plans offer different levels of protection, including VPN access, support for multiple devices, tracker blocking, password management, identity protection tools and premium features like dedicated IP access and eSIM data. Deals start at $2.49 per month for the basic package, and go up to $7.49 per month for the Express Pro package.

Proton VPN offers a free plan for users who want basic VPN protection, but its paid tiers provide more features for streaming and privacy. The VPN Plus plan is the best option for watching international content, with faster speeds, access to global servers, streaming support, up to 10 device connections and added security features. Proton Unlimited includes everything in VPN Plus, plus Proton’s suite of privacy tools like encrypted email, cloud storage and password management.

As RuPaul’s Drag Race expands with global editions like Drag Race México, fans have more opportunities than ever to discover new queens and international content online. Private Internet Access VPN is designed to help users create a safer, more personalized browsing experience with features including fast streaming, advanced split tunneling and a Kill Switch that helps prevent data exposure if a connection fails. Along with ad blocking and around-the-clock customer support, PIA offers multiple subscription options, with its summer sale bringing the two-year plan down to $2.19 per month.

The Mexican edition of RuPaul’s Drag Race first premiered in 2023, expanding the franchise’s growing lineup of international adaptations. After quickly building a fanbase, the series saw a major boost in viewership during its second season, which drew 40% more viewers than its debut. That success led World of Wonder, the multiplatform media company behind the global Drag Race franchise, to announce a third season of the competition series.

“The dream of Drag Race México has been a long time coming. Fans lobbied hard for years, and when the show launched, their support and engagement was total euphoria. The artists in the show and the audience’s love for them embody everything Drag Race should be,” World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato told Variety. “After the runaway success of Seasons 1 and 2, we are thrilled to announce Season 3. Through their bedazzling creativity and diverse talents, the queens of Mexico serve a feast of pure joy.”

Season three continues the global expansion of the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, with queens competing through a series of challenges, runway presentations and lip-sync battles as they fight for the crown.

Merck Mercuriadis, the founder and former CEO of Hipgnosis who recently launched a new venture called Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships, is slated to deliver the keynote at the 2026 Music Tectonics conference, it was announced on Wednesday (July 29). Mercuriadis will speak on Oct. 28 at the Santa Monica, Calif., gathering, which is set to run from Oct. 27-29.

Mercuriadis is widely recognized for his role in popularizing music as an asset class after founding catalog investment group Hipgnosis. The group spanned a suite of companies including two catalog acquisition funds (a public fund, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and the privately held Hipgnosis Songs Assets, backed by Blackstone) and an investment manager (Hipgnosis Songs Management). It was renamed Recognition Music Group in 2024, shortly after Blackstone acquired its public fund. Earlier that same year, Mercuriadis stepped down as CEO of the investment manager and was succeeded by Ben Katovsky.

Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships, effectively a revamp of the earlier Hipgnosis, was launched by Mercuriadis last year.

“This year, we want to rally everyone from top label execs to publishers to artist managers to artists and founders around a single theme, how we can work together to create a rising tide that lifts all boats,” said Dmitri Vietze, founder of Music Tectonics, in a statement. “Merck knows what can grow music and grow value. He pulls no punches when it comes to amplifying truths that push us all past industry blinders. I’m prepared to be surprised by what he presents. And a little afraid. But in a good way.”

Added Mercuriadis, “The last decade has transformed the fortunes of the music industry through systemic change in how people consume music as streaming grew from 30 million to over 800 million paid subscribers globally. The next decade will further transform the fortunes of artists, songwriters, producers and managers, without whom there is no music industry, through what will be the most significant value shift ever.”

As it does every year, Music Tectonics 2026 will include a series of panels on the intersection of music and tech, including:

— Investor Confidential: Where the Money’s Moving in Music Tech

— Activating Artists in the Biggest Social Games on the Planet

— What if AI Grows the TAM? A New Licensing & Royalty Paradigm

— Music Is Worth More: Tech That Multiplies Revenue, Not Disrupts It

— Startup Hotbox: Labels React to Music Tech Startups

— Making AI Work for Artists, Labels, and Publishers

Early-bird pricing on Music Tectonics tickets is available from now until Aug. 11. They can be purchased here.

The truth hurts.

Sometimes it’s the listener who feels it, sometimes it’s a third person who’s victimized by the pain, and sometimes the truth-teller suffers worse than anyone else for having to say it.

But people lie. Regardless of their reasons or their intent, that creates drama. And that drama is ripe for country songs.

Lying is an enormously popular topic in country. It was in the music even before Hank Williams blasted a dishonest lover in “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in the 1950s. Lies remain at the core of the genre now.

“I think you always come to country music when your heart is broken, and lying is usually the biggest reason that a heart gets broken,” suggests The Band Perry’s lead vocalist, Kimberly Perry. “We have those standard topics in our format. We write love songs to beer. We have a lot of gospel-adjacent themes in our music, and then cheating and lying and heartbreak would have to be the third tier of that trilogy.”

Or, perhaps, the third tear.

Lies are, once again, earning attention in the genre. The Band Perry’s “You Lie” has been reimagined as a new collaboration with Kaitlin Butts. Morgan Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies” and Jelly Roll’s “Liar” both topped Billboard’s Country Airplay in the last 20 months. And Zach Top’s “I Never Lie” peaked at No. 2 while snagging two nominations each in the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music and Grammy Awards shows.

Corey Kent’s current “Empty Words,” at No. 39 on the Country Airplay list dated Aug. 1, provides a particularly detailed understanding of lies and their consequences. Its protagonist has shape-shifted his stories so much that now “even the truth sounds like a lie.” The guy is left to himself, forced to wallow in his self-created, negative consequences. The scenario in “Empty Words” doesn’t match Kent’s experiences exactly, but he’s been banished to the couch in his marriage, so the song is based in a reality he’s lived.

“Contrary to popular belief, I think that truth still sells,” he says. “Making up a story about meeting a girl in a bar, when you clearly didn’t live like that, that still works, but I think this works on a deeper level. Like, everybody’s been there, even if it’s not this exact storyline, even if you didn’t mess up to the point where she left forever.”

A night or two on the couch may be a transitory condition in an otherwise stable relationship, but when lying becomes a long-term problem, it also yields long-term results.

“Trust is a toothpick,” “Empty Words” co-writer and co-producer Austin Goodloe suggests. “It is very easy to break, and when you put it back together, it doesn’t really go back the same.”

 That’s an issue in interpersonal relationships, but this current round of country hand-wringing about truth and lies may symbolize a greater urgency in the country at large.

“I’m a big believer that whatever’s happening in culture, music is just the mirror of that,” Perry says.

Dishonesty is arguably pulling the country apart. An Economist/YouGov poll released July 21 found that only 24% of Americans view the current president as honest. In perhaps his most divisive issue, President Trump still claims he won the 2020 presidential election, though courts have determined otherwise. Still, through constant repetition of the story — frequently referred to as the Big Lie — a chunk of the American public has been persuaded to support the narrative, creating enormous tension as the U.S. looks to an important election in November.

“That’s kind of what’s been in the zeitgeist,” notes Chad Karger, co-executive director of Porter’s Call, a Franklin, Tenn.-based non-profit that provides counseling for recording artists. “We have a president who seems to play pretty loose and fast with the facts. And in his case, all these [supporters] who espouse some sort of Christian belief [are] making accommodations for that… but in their personal life, they probably don’t tolerate the same [behavior] as they do [from] their president.”

No artist is grappling with the trust issue more than Bryan Andrews, an independent act whose first album, Independence Day, employs the word “truth” three times across eight tracks filled with political vitriol. Most of it is directed at the president, but some is also focused on the system at large. As a 20-something progressive from red-state Missouri, he shares a frustration that crosses party lines in his age group, as current economics make it difficult for many young Americans to see a future as promising as their parents’ lives. As he intimates in “The Older I Get,” the first political song he released last fall, the life he anticipated turned out to be a lie.

“You expect to have transparency with people that you trust, because at the end of the day, whether it’s your government or your partner or your family, they’re supposed to want to have your best interests at heart,” Andrews says. “It hurts to find out that sometimes they don’t.”

Trust is a fragile state that develops differently based on childhood dynamics. Children who grow up in dishonest households have difficulty trusting as adults, while kids who come from homes where their parents were honest and reliable frequently go through painful adjustments once they’re out on their own. They may be misled by phony romantic partners or acquaintances when they simply don’t anticipate lies.

“Because my mom ingrained that into me, I would forget that people could do that,” “You Lie” collaborator Butts concedes. “Like, that wasn’t an option [for me], and so I get taken advantage of or lied to… I had no idea that people did that.”

As a teenager, Butts was particularly drawn to The Band Perry’s original version of “You Lie,” belting it frequently around the house, even though she didn’t have firsthand experience with a conniving boyfriend at the time. The song contains plenty of humor, enough to offset some of the more pointed anger in the second verse that now features Butts as the soloist.

“I love that it’s tongue-in-cheek,” she says, “a little bit of murder, a little bit of everything.”

Humor, it turns out, is a great way to address deception in art. Collin Raye’s “That’s My Story,” Terri Clark’s “Girls Lie Too,” Kenny Chesney’s “Out Last Night” and Lefty Frizzell’s “Saginaw, Michigan” all weave some form of deceit into a lighthearted plot. They can be thought of as the country music version of a sitcom, a TV format that often relies on miscommunication and/or lies to set up the schtick.

Andrews is taking that humor to heart as he creates new music. He’s spent several days in Nashville writing new songs in July, and suggests that his next round of material may be less harsh than the current release. Independence Day, a mix of metal and country, is notably biting, but it also couches some of its anger in clever wordplay. He’s purposely attempted to approach this new music with a lighter touch, believing it will make a better connection as he continues to deliver his message.

“Truth looks a lot different to everybody,” he says. “It’s a subjective term. But for me, especially when I was seeing other artists speak about things that they were passionate about, even though I disagreed with them, it gave me conviction to be able to speak my truth, you know, and talk about the world that I see around me, and it ain’t so great right now. Truth hurts sometimes.”

Part of what has made perceptions of the truth so volatile lies in the skills of public figures and digital creators. The Oxford Dictionary named “post-truth” the word of the year a decade ago, recognizing the proclivity of people to ignore provable reality and believe in fluid narratives — such as conspiracy theories — that mirror a gut feeling, even if there’s little factual support for the position.

“We’re in a post-truth era,” author Will Kaufman says. “So how can you claim to be singing three chords and the truth when nobody knows what the truth is anymore?”

Kaufman’s next book — American Song and Struggle from World War II to MAGA: A Cultural History (Oct. 31, Cambridge University Press) — has an entire chapter titled “What is Truth,” named after Johnny Cash’s 1970 Vietnam War commentary. As in the current cultural scenario, that era had a conservative president overseeing an unpopular war while using heavy-handed tactics to vilify his critics. Cash played the White House at the time, and President Richard Nixon requested he play “Welfare Cadillac” and “Okie from Muskogee,” songs by other artists that supported Nixon’s politics. Cash declined and instead closed his set with “What is Truth,” which includes a verse in which a hippie is required to tell the truth under oath in a courtroom. The substance of his words, however, is missed by observers focused on his appearance.

“It’s really interesting that [Cash is] speaking truth to power by letting power know that truth itself is open to question,” Kaufman says. “It’s okay to question someone’s version of truth.”

The truth one interprets from the world may vary, but the underlying reality does not. Whether it’s a politician, a stranger on a dating app or a country artist presenting themselves on social media, a lie is an attempt to make someone else believe in something that isn’t real. And many lies — perhaps most — are destined to be revealed.

“Is there a difference between truths and facts?” Kaufman asks rhetorically. “Maybe there are competing truths, but I don’t think there are competing facts. A fact is, you know, two and two is four. When Kellyanne Conway says there are alternative facts, a fact is a fact.”

Still, not all lies are the same. While Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar” is bitter, a typical white lie is more likely well-intended.

“I feel like lies are on a scale,” says songwriter Matt Alderman, a co-writer of Mitchell Tenpenny’s “Truth About You,” which peaked at No. 2 on Country Airplay in 2022. “Not all lies are bad. Like, if your wife asks you if she looks pretty in a dress, and you don’t think she looks pretty, you lie. I would say that that’s a good lie. You don’t want to just insult people all the time.”

Arguably, the worst lies are the ones directed at ourselves. George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care,” Deborah Allen’s “Baby I Lied,” Alan Jackson’s “Someday,” Ricky Van Shelton’s “Somebody Lied” and Clint Black’s “We Tell Ourselves” — much like Wallen’s “Lies Lies Lies” — capture an inner voice that has denied a deeper reality.

“Over time, one of the most detrimental lies that we can tell is the one that we keep telling ourselves,” Karger says. “Whether it be a counselor, or a guide, or a coach, or a friend, or a pastor, a spouse or whatever — having someone who has the fortitude to speak to that and to call it out is, I think, incredibly important to having a really happy and well-adjusted life.”

The truth is elusive. But it’s worth seeking it out, which is why country songwriters devote three chords or more in search of it.

“Yeah,” Alderman says. “People want to hear songs about it.”