On July 24, a transformative album is rolling out. And it promises to be more than meets the eye – and the ear.

To celebrate 40 years of The Transformers: The Movie, the Nelson Shin-directed animated flick that thrilled (and traumatized) a generation of children well before Michael Bay’s live-action adaptations, Hasbro is giving fans a “reformatted” edition of the film’s iconic, hard-rocking soundtrack.

The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition boasts rerecorded, reimagined versions of all 10 tracks from the original movie soundtrack: the power ballads, the heavy metal headbangers, the instrumentals and the wacky synth-pop parody.

Fans who have the 1986 songs seared into their subconscious can rest easier knowing that one special singer—the soundtrack’s MVP—is bringing his indelible touch back to the Autobots vs. Decepticons battlefield. Stan Bush, the man behind the fist-pumping power ballad “The Touch” and the rousing “Dare,” is on board for this Cybertronian musical odyssey.

“Man, I’m fired up to reprise ‘The Touch’ on this Transformers The Reformatted Edition soundtrack! Coming back to a song that’s touched so many lives is pure magic,” Bush says. “The guys involved with the new recording did a great job! Transformers fans — it’s time to feel the power once more. You got the touch!”

Check out a new music video for the reimagined “The Touch” by Stan Bush below.

The new album is led by a band called The Knights of Unicron, which includes Gus Rios, Matt Harvey and Ross Sewage. Incredibly enough, metal icon Sebastian Bach swings by to sing “Nothin’s Gonna Stand In Our Way,” while Brittney Slayes belts out “The Transformers (Theme).”

Original film composer Vince DiCola also returns to the laser-scorched, robotic realm for this project, with Mark Osegueda biting into “Hunger,” Francesco Cavalieri rebuilding “Instruments of Destruction” and Cold Slither’s Torch taking over for “Weird Al” Yankovic on “Dare to Be Stupid.” The new album is produced by Matt LaPlant.

The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition, a collaboration between Hasbro and the record label Reigning Phoenix Music, hits streaming services July 24 and is also coming out on vinyl in limited editions. You can preorder here.

The 40th anniversary celebration of The Transformers: The Movie is far from over after the release of this album. Starting Sept. 17, the film itself returns to theaters, giving fans the chance to see Optimus Prime, Megatron, Galvatron, Hot Rod, the Sharkticons and more back on the big screen, in all their animated ‘80s glory, only this time augmented by 4K.

‘Til that day, when all are one, check out the full tracklist (and some of the vinyl edition artwork) below.

The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition

1. “The Touch” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Stan Bush (originally recorded by Stan Bush)

2. “Instruments of Destruction” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Francesco Cavalieri (originally recorded by N.R.G.)

3. “Death of Optimus Prime” – Vince DiCola

4. “Dare” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Stan Bush and Vince DiCola (originally recorded by Stan Bush)

5. “Nothin’s Gonna Stand in Our Way” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Sebastian Bach (originally recorded by Spectre General)

6. “The Transformers (Theme)” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Brittney Slayes (originally recorded by Lion)

7. “Escape” – Knights Of Unicron (originally recorded by Vince DiCola)

8. “Hunger” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Mark Osegueda (originally recorded by Spectre General)

9. “Autobot/Decepticon Battle” – Knights Of Unicron (originally recorded by Vince DiCola)

10. “Dare to Be Stupid” – Knights Of Unicron featuring Torch (originally recorded by “Weird Al” Yankovic)

Lola Young will return to the stage for All Things Go NY a year after she collapsed midsong at last year’s event in September. In a statement, the singer said “we have unfinished business,” adding that she was feeling “blessed and ready to take it to the next level.”

Young will headline the festival’s opening night on Sept. 25 along with Zara Larsson on a bill that will also feature Rebecca Black, Cara Delevingne, Blue Detiger and Chloe Quisha. The festival, which runs from Sept. 25-27 at Forest Hills Stadium in New York, will host headliner Brandi Carlile on night two, along with Sienna Spiro, CMAT, Jensen McRae, Meg Stalter and Natalie Jinju.

The final night will be toplined by MUNA, who will be joined by The Beaches, Hemlocke Springs, Grace Ives, Cherry Bomb and Carly Rae Jepsen. Tickets for the festival will be available through a presale beginning on Wednesday (May 20) at 10 a.m. ET; you can sign up for a presale access on the festival’s website.

In addition to this year’s all-female/non-binary artist lineup in New York, ATG is also taking place in Washington, D.C. at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sept. 25-27 with Mitski, Ethel Cain, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Hayley Williams, MUNA, Larsson, Suki Waterhouse, Carlile, Young, Spiro and Father John Misty, among others. The Toronto edition taking place on June 6-7 will feature sets from Kesha, The Beaches, Rachel Chinouriri, Lorde, Wet Leg, Del Water Gap and others.

In March of this year, Young opened up about the turmoil in her life that led to onstage collapse, which she described as her “breaking point.” She told Rolling Stone that her hectic schedule at the time made it hard to manage her cocaine dependency and schizoaffective disorder, which she had discussed previously.

“When somebody is going through addiction, or struggling in any capacity, it’s hard to know how much a person can do … I chose to hurt myself and self-sabotage, and I also chose to get onstage and perform,” she said. After her on-stage incident Young told fans she would be “going away for a while” to “work on myself.” Young made her return to the stage in March in London for her first full set since All Things Go.

Check out the full lineup for the 2026 All Things Go NY below.

Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian Eurodance group behind one of the 1990s’ most enduring pop anthems, have announced they are ending their run as a live band after three decades together.

Members Lene Nystrøm, René Dif and Søren Rasted shared the news on Instagram on Monday (May 18), posting a joint statement in both Danish and English.

“After many incredible years, we have decided to close the chapter of AQUA as a live band,” they wrote. “When you’ve been together for this long, you also learn when it’s time to protect what you’ve created together. For us, this feels like the right moment to say goodbye, while the memories are still strong, and while the love for the music, the story, and each other remains intact. From the bottom of our hearts: thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey over the past 30 years.”

Formed in Copenhagen in 1995, Aqua originally comprised four members — Nystrøm, Dif, Rasted and Claus Norreen, who departed in 2016 to pursue other projects. The trio broke through globally with “Barbie Girl,” the third single from their 1997 debut album Aquarium.

The track — a tongue-in-cheek Eurodance number built around the fictional lives of Barbie and Ken — topped charts across Europe and became one of the best-selling singles of the decade, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their success made them the best-selling Danish band of all time, with estimated sales of over 33 million albums and singles worldwide.

The band’s cheeky lyrics attracted legal attention from Mattel, the makers of Barbie, who launched a lawsuit in 2000 claiming the song damaged the brand’s reputation. The case was dismissed in 2002, with the judge famously advising both parties to “chill” — and Aqua later went on to work with Mattel directly on promotional campaigns.

Their sophomore album Aquarius arrived in 2000, after which the band split for the first time. They reunited in 2007 and released Megalomania in 2011 — their third and final studio album — before splitting and reuniting once more in subsequent years.

Their most recent brush with mainstream pop culture came in 2023, when Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice sampled “Barbie Girl” on “Barbie World,” recorded for the soundtrack of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie film, earning a Grammy nomination and sending the original back into the UK Top 40 for the first time in 25 years. Their final live performance was in November 2025 at the Shillong Cherry Blossom Festival in India.

Drake sampled Lykke Li’s “Little Bit” on 2009’s So Far Gone, and now he’s interpolated the Swedish singer again, this time her breakthrough hit “I Follow Rivers” nearly two decades later on his new Iceman album, which arrived on Friday.

Rolling Stone caught up with Lykke Li over the weekend to get her thoughts on Drizzy circling back to shrewdly interpolate her 2011 EDM-infused bop on the spiteful “Janice STFU.” “I think it’s potent. It has that raw, revenge, hip-hop energy,” she said of the Iceman standout.

Li thought she was being trolled by co-writer Rick Nowels, who informed her via email that Drake wanted to use “I Follow Rivers” on Iceman. Most of all, the 40-year-old appreciates all of the different lives that the global anthem — which exploded following a The Magician remix — has taken on over the years.

“I mean, it is the most mysterious, incredible gift of my career because it’s had so many lives and different iterations,” she added. “With certain songs, there’s an alchemy or symmetry to them that allows them to have their own life in the world. And as a songwriter, that’s the greatest wish. I’m so grateful and blessed to have one of those songs that doesn’t even belong to me. It has a life of its own.”

Fittingly, it’s almost as if Lykke Li manifested reconnecting with the 6 God, as the singer admitted she’d been “craving” Drake and bumping classic tracks like “Marvin’s Room” recently.

“Strangely enough, I’ve been really craving Drake and have actually been listening to ‘Marvins Room’ lately,’” she revealed, name-checking the 2011 Take Care song. “The old Drake was such an era. When you’d walk into a room and they’d play ‘Hotline Bling.’ … So yeah, I was missing him.”

Lykke Li performed at Coachella in April and dropped her The Afterparty project earlier in May. As for the OVO boss, Drizzy returned with Iceman on May 15 alongside Habibti and Maid of Honour to complete a trifecta of LPs.

Listen to “I Follow Rivers” and “Janice STFU” below.

Lola Young just delivered a performance that cannot be ignored, helping Apple Music launch its brand-new Music Room series.

The British pop singer is the first artist to appear on the new performance series, which aims to give musicians an opportunity to reimagine their own tracks in a smaller, more private setting. The first look at her performance comes exclusively via Billboard on Monday (May 18), with a video of Young singing “Can We Ignore It :(” for a small crowd of fans gathered in Apple Music’s studios in Los Angeles.

After an extended instrumental intro that differs from the original track, Young raises her mic and lets her powerful voice rip in the video, the stripped-back setting giving a new resonance to her lyrics. “I play with fire, kinda like the way I feel when it burns/ If I’m being honest, I’ll take anything as long as it hurts,” she belts, emotion saturating her voice. “I need a doctor, got a sickness, and it’s just getting worse/ I said, ‘I think I’m dying,’ he said, ‘Darling, you’ve been dying since birth.’”

As the song picks up in intensity, the Grammy winner circles the small, carpeted room, taking turns singing straight to members of the crowd bopping along in their seats. “I’m not going to start crying my makeup off, but it was just a moment when you realize, like, art is really all we have,” she says at the end, holding back tears.

“F— it, that’s what I’m saying,” she adds. “That moment when I’m hearing the music, and it’s like, ‘F—, that’s all I’ve ever had.’”

Young also reworked several other songs from her 2025 album, I’m Only F–king Myself — including “d£aler,” “Penny Out of Nothing” and “One Thing” — for the flagship program, with her full performance premiering on Apple Music and YouTube at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday (May 19). Fans will then be able to listen to recordings from the event compiled on an EP titled Music Room: Lola Young EP, available exclusively on Apple Music.

“Apple Music has always aimed to bring artists and their fans closer,” Rachel Newman, co-head of Apple Music, said in a statement about the new series. “There is no better example of that idea come to life than Music Room. It’s everything that’s pure and even magical about live music, unfiltered and unadorned. No spectacle or stage — just the songs and the stories behind them, shared like never before, the audience just inches away.”

More installments of Music Room with other guest artists are set to roll out in the coming months.

Watch Young’s performance of “CAN WE IGNORE IT :(” for Apple’s new Music Room series above.

Last Friday is really happening.

We’ve covered the rumors over the last couple of years, like when Ice Cube told Flavor Flav that the fourth installment of the beloved film franchise “finally got some traction with Warner Bros.” back in 2024 and when Mike Epps told The Breakfast Club last year that he had recently gotten word that a deal was in place. Now it looks like the ink is dry and it’s finally happening.

Cube and Epps sat down with Entertainment Tonight to confirm the news and exclusively told the outlet that Last Friday will deal with the gentrification of their neighborhood. And when asked if Chris Tucker would return as Smokey, the role that made him a star, the pair seemed optimistic.

“We’re talking to him and he wants to come back,” Epps said, with Cube adding, “He’s one of the best. I think he’s going to do it.”

Cube previously told Cam Newton about a rejected script idea where Craig and Day-Day were owners of a dispensary who suddenly found themselves in jail. “I wrote a script where Craig and Day-Day, they had a dispensary. They had a flash mob in there and they caught one of the kids and beat his little a–, and they end up going to jail,” he began. “So they in jail duckin’ Deebo, they in jail duckin’ Damon, they in jail duckin’ the Joker brothers. And then they get into a rehab — and I was trying to get Chris [Tucker] back — Smokey was running the rehab, but it was a bullsh– rehab where he was taking everybody’s weed and smoking it in the basement.”

However, studio executives weren’t too fond of the idea and were worried about jail not being funny. “They were like, ‘Jail’s not funny, it’s too much time in jail. How can you make jail funny?’ And I’m like, ‘Man, y’all don’t know what the f— y’all talking about,’” he said. “Then they come out with Orange Is the New Black, Let’s Go to Prison — all these movies about that. And I’m like, ‘See, more Hollywood execs don’t know what the f— they talking about.’”

Shooting is set to start later this year, but in the meantime, you can check out The Everyday’s Friday: Lyrics, Lougin’ and Laughing show in Long Beach, California, on July 17 (a Friday, of course) to celebrate Friday’s 30th anniversary.

You can watch the clip below.

Nearly two decades after his death, Michael Jackson is the biggest artist in the United States. The late superstar, who died in 2009, tops the Billboard Artist 100 chart for the first time, powered by the continued success of the Michael biopic and a massive resurgence across streaming, radio and sales.

The Artist 100, which Billboard launched in 2014, ranks the top artists in the U.S. based on artists’ activity across streaming, radio airplay, album sales and track sales. The chart combines those metrics into a weekly multidimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Here’s a closer look at the numbers behind Jackson’s historic week.

Streaming Is Soaring

Jackson’s solo catalog generated 161.2 million chart-inclusive on-demand official U.S. streams during the May 8-14 tracking week, according to Luminate (up 6% week to week). That’s the third highest total of the week among all artists, after only Drake (248.6 million) and Morgan Wallen (201.4 million).

Radio Airplay Continues to Thrive

Jackson’s music has continued to thrive on radio, drawing a combined 93.4 million radio airplay audience impressions in the U.S. during the tracking week (up 2%). That’s the eighth-most among all artists, after Bruno Mars (197.1 million), Wallen (172.3 million), Taylor Swift (143.7 million), Olivia Dean (139.6 million), Ella Langley (129.5 million), Luke Combs (128.3 million) and Justin Bieber (98.3 million), all of whom are fueled by current releases.

Album Sales Are Spiking

Jackson’s solo catalog sold a combined 46,000 albums in the U.S. during the week (up 8%) — the second-highest total among all acts. Only CORTIS sold more (86,000), largely driven by its new EP GREENGREEN, which sold 81,000 alone.

Digital Song Sales Are Booming

Jackson’s songs sold 20,000 digital downloads combined during the tracking week, placing him narrowly behind Langley (also roughly 20,000) for the second highest total among all acts.

Together, those metrics make Jackson the biggest artist in the U.S. this week, a feat sparked by the major cultural and commercial impact of Michael. The film has become second-highest grossing film of the year and has reignited interest in Jackson’s catalog, which in turn has sent many of his songs and albums back onto Billboard’s charts.

On the latest Billboard Hot 100, Jackson places six songs — the most he’s ever charted simultaneously: “Billie Jean” (up 17-15), “Human Nature” (29-21), “Beat It” (32-29), “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (42-36), “Dirty Diana” (No. 44 reentry) and “Rock With You” (No. 47 reentry). Five of those classics topped the chart between 1979 and 1988, while “Human Nature” hit the top 10 in 1983.

“Billie Jean” also rises to No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart for the first time, becoming the biggest song in the world this week.

Jackson additionally places six albums on the Billboard 200: Thriller (No. 5), Number Ones (No. 6), The Essential Michael Jackson (No. 83), Off the Wall (No. 93), Dangerous (No. 135) and Xscape (No. 192 reentry).

Jackson becomes the sixth artist to top the Artist 100 posthumously. He joins David Bowie, who led the week after his death in January 2016; Prince, who spent two weeks at No. 1 following his death the same year; XXXTentacion, who led twice following his death in 2018; Juice WRLD, who returned to No. 1 after he died in December 2019; and Pop Smoke, who was No. 1 in July 2020 after the posthumous release of Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon.

Notably, the Jacksons are also benefiting from the Michael resurgence, as the group reenters the latest Artist 100 at No. 98.