After telling fans on night one (Oct. 16) at the Hollywood Bowl that it had “always been a dream” of hers to play the iconic Los Angeles venue, Miley Cyrus hit back at critics of that performance during her second show on Sunday night (Oct. 18).

“I’ve never heard that I don’t put my heart into something,” Cyrus told the audience at her second Hollywood Bowl show, according to a video of her comments posted on X by The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t know if any of you heard that. That somebody was doing commentary to get clickbait on their video talking about my show on Friday night, but I’m a lot of things, yeah, and we’re not even going to entertain that.”

Though she didn’t refer to a specific complaint, the comments were seemingly in reference to videos that claimed Miley (the singer recently changed her stage name to a mononym) was not fully present and did not sing all the words at her first full concert in four years.

“You all have been with me long enough to know that anytime I’m doing something meaningful that’s gonna be a stepping stone in my life, in my career to become the artist and the person that I want to be,” she said. “You know that it’s been controversial. And the controversy, you know, it used to be a lot of fun. It still can be. I can be pretty melted. I love that about me. I actually used to live my life pretty hard. Because life’s hard, so I thought I had to get hard. … But, you know, I didn’t enjoy my life as much when I was living hard. I love pouring myself into something.”

Then Cyrus got real about the difficulty of getting back on stage to perform after so many years and her decision to step back from the rigors of major tours.

“It is hard for me to stand up here and do this show,” Miley added. “It does not come as natural as it once did to me before. Because, like all of us, we change, we evolve, we grow, and we find what gets to come with us. What continues to fit. And you all are more to me than an experiment. That is absolutely not what this is. This is not an experiment of you. This is an experience for me. You all make the experience possible. The only way that I get to test my personal boundaries, my limits, what I think I can do …”

The singer got real, admitting that before coming out to perform the Bass Persuades ballad “Orbit” to open Sunday night’s show, she had already convinced herself that the gig wasn’t going to happen. “I was gonna run away, but never would I leave you all sitting in these seats unfulfilled from a show.” The latter got the crowd chanting “Miley! Miley! Miley!”

Miley then made her intentions perfectly clear: “I can take a lot, but one thing I will not stand is any question about where my heart is when I’m on the stage. Not one. I am fully present,” she said. “The only thing that I have is this moment with all of you. And so to make it clear, I’m here with you right now.”

The two shows are the only live events Cyrus has planned to promote Bass Persuades. She opened the run on Friday with a selection of songs from the new album, as well as a moving tribute to her late godmother, Dolly Parton. The singer said one of the biggest reasons she wanted to play the Bowl was that it was the only place she saw Parton perform live.

“Me and Dolly are eternal,” she said, noting that she can feel Parton’s presence now more than ever. “I’m going to see her again and I can’t wait, because I f–king miss her.” Friday’s set also included a cameo from collaborator/opening act Model-Actriz as well as one from the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, who performed his band’s “Do You Realize??” as well as “Karen Don’t Be Sad” from their joint 2015 Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz project.

Taylor Swift is No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart for a third consecutive week with “Patient Zero” (charts dated Oct. 17).

The song appeared on the Encore deluxe edition of her record-breaking album The Life of a Showgirl alongside new tracks “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” Swift premiered the music video for “Patient Zero” on Sept. 27 at the 2026 MTV VMAs, where she also collected the inaugural artist director prize.

“Patient Zero” is Swift’s third U.K. No. 1 of 2026 following “Opalite” and Toy Story 5 track “I Knew It, I Knew You.” On Saturday (Oct. 17), Swift gave a surprise live performance at the Academy Museum Gala, and gave The Life of a Showgirl track “The Fate of Ophelia” its live debut.

Cardiff-born Jamie Miller follows at No. 2 as his breakout single “Babydoll” rises one place to a new peak. Ashe’s “Stop The Wedding!” is up one spot to reach a new best for the rising pop act. 

Sienna Spiro’s “Great Expectation” is down two spots to No. 4, followed by Adéla’s “Nicole Kidman” at No. 5, up three on last week. 13 years after its original release, P!nk’s “Just Give Me a Reason” is back inside the top 40 and up to No. 15 as it enjoys a spike on streaming following attention on social media. 

Recent Billboard cover star Noah Kahan sees gains for “Willing and Able” which rises three spots to No. 17. Rising R&B and rap artist Season 25 earns his first top 40 placing with “Shotta’s” up to No. 38.

Kings of Leon will tour Australia in February and March 2027, playing outdoor shows in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne with Australian band Ocean Alley as special guests. The run opens in Auckland and follows the Nov. 6 release of their 10th studio album, O My Beloved.

The Sydney show is their headline slot at Sydney Summertime on Sunday, Feb. 28, with the new outdoor concert series at Centennial Park run by Black Peach. The series previously announced The Strokes as its first headliner for Feb. 20, with Beck, Courtney Barnett and Promiseland, making Kings of Leon the second international headliner. More headliners are set to be announced in the coming months.

From there, the band plays Brisbane Showgrounds on Wednesday, March 3, and Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Friday, March 5, after opening at Live at The Domain in Auckland on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The dates skip Adelaide and Perth.

The tour follows a stripped-back turn for the Followill family band, brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared and cousin Matthew. O My Beloved is their first self-produced full-length, released via Love Tap Records and Virgin Music Group two years after 2024’s Can We Please Have Fun.

The 11-track set reflects on their families, childhoods and shared history. The band announced it Sept. 10 with the single “My Whole World” and a sold-out show at The Basement East in Nashville. “KOYSAR” is also out. JamBase reported that Caleb Followill wrote “My Whole World” while recovering from a foot injury, and that the band set aside several more electric songs for the quieter material.

“I thought, wouldn’t it be beautiful to make an album that is looking back on all of the things that we’ve done and appreciating how we got here,” Followill said when announcing the record.

Australia has long been a stronghold for the band. Only by the Night was the country’s best-selling album of 2008, and 2021’s When You See Yourself topped the ARIA albums chart.

On the U.S. charts, the band’s climb was gradual. Youth & Young Manhood first reached the Billboard 200 in 2003 at No. 113. Only by the Night then peaked at No. 5 behind “Use Somebody,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, became their first top five hit there and logged 57 weeks on the chart. “Sex on Fire” reached No. 56 on the Hot 100 and topped the Alternative Songs chart. Come Around Sundown (2010) and Mechanical Bull (2013) both peaked at No. 2, and Walls (2016) debuted at No. 1 with 77,000 equivalent album units, the band’s first U.S. chart-topper.

Kings of Leon’s 2027 Australia and New Zealand dates, with Ocean Alley:

Wednesday, Feb. 24 — Live at The Domain, Auckland
Sunday, Feb. 28 — Centennial Park (Sydney Summertime), Sydney
Wednesday, March 3 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane
Friday, March 5 — Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne

Western Sydney drill group ONEFOUR will go home to Penrith for a world-premiere show with the 25-piece Penrith Chamber Orchestra. Made Men runs Jan. 22 and 23, 2027, in the Concert Hall at The Joan, presented by Penrith Performing & Visual Arts and Sydney Festival.

The production reimagines ONEFOUR’s catalog over two nights. They will be backed by young classical musicians from across the region who have trained through the Penrith Conservatorium. Tickets go on sale Thursday (Oct. 22) at 9 a.m. local time, and Sydney Festival’s discounted-ticket initiative will cover a limited number of premium seats.

“This is a Western Sydney story, told in Western Sydney, for the people who live here,” Penrith Performing & Visual Arts CEO and artistic director Toby Chapman said in a statement. He framed the project as a celebration of the region’s range, from contemporary rap to classical strings.

ONEFOUR come from Mount Druitt and are widely credited with putting Australian drill on the map. Their debut album, Look at Me Now, came out June 13, 2025, with guests including Headie One, The Kid Laroi and Mabel. The group’s publicist says it reached No. 2 on the ARIA albums chart and that the group has more than 400 million streams.

Their 2020 EP Against All Odds reached No. 7 on the ARIA albums chart. It also gave its name to the Netflix documentary ONEFOUR: Against All Odds, which premiered at SXSW Sydney in October 2023. The film chronicles their rise alongside the canceled shows and police scrutiny that shadowed it. The group’s first headline Sydney show came only in September 2025, at City Recital Hall.

Made Men is the second recent Western Sydney booking for Sydney Festival’s partnership with Penrith Performing & Visual Arts. It also fits a wider push by local arts bodies to pair hip-hop acts with classical ensembles.

Made Men — ONEFOUR & The Penrith Chamber Orchestra (world premiere):

Friday, Jan. 22, 2027 — Concert Hall, The Joan, Penrith
Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027 — Concert Hall, The Joan, Penrith

Following Taylor Swift‘s Saturday night performance in Los Angeles, where she played a song from The Life of a Showgirl live for the first time, the superstar arrived in Kansas City to take in the Chiefs-Chargers game Sunday night (Oct. 18).

Swift was in good company in a suite at Arrowhead Stadium, with pals Caitlin Clark and Este Haim by her side. Travis Kelce’s mom, Donna, was also in attendance; Swift was seen giving her mother-in-law a hug.

She went luxury designer-casual in red in support of the Kansas City Chiefs, who played the Los Angeles Chargers. Swift’s outfit was built around a bright red Louis Vuitton turtleneck bodysuit, which she paired with black bottoms and her matching red signature lip.

Swift surprised the audience at the 2026 Academy Museum Gala with the live debut of “The Fate of Ophelia” during a short set on Saturday. Though it’s been more than a year since the Showgirl single’s release, fans had yet to see her perform “Ophelia,” or any track from the chart-topping collection, until this weekend. She also performed “I Knew It, I Knew You,” plus longtime hits “Blank Space” and “Love Story.”

The Life of a Showgirl returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week. The album returned to the top after Swift added four new bonus tracks — “Patient Zero” (which also got the music video treatment), “Pink Clouding,” “Cleveland!” and “Babylon” — to a deluxe edition of the original LP in a late September 2026 release. It’s now accumulated a total of 15 nonconsecutive weeks on the chart.