Olivia Rodrigo gave a small Brooklyn crowd a major surprise Sunday night (April 26), popping up unannounced at a New York City open mic to perform her new single “Drop Dead.”

The appearance took place at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg, a low-key venue better known for showcasing emerging artists than hosting one of pop’s biggest stars. Rodrigo’s stripped-back performance quickly spread online, with attendees sharing clips and reactions after realizing who had just taken the stage.

The moment comes as Rodrigo builds momentum toward her third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, due June 12 via Geffen. “Drop Dead” has already become a focal point of the rollout, following its live debut earlier this month during a surprise appearance at Addison Rae’s Coachella set.

At the Brooklyn open mic, the song took on a different shape. Without the scale of a festival stage, Rodrigo delivered a pared-down version that leaned into the track’s emotional core.

The surprise set is part of a wider run of smaller, under-the-radar performances tied to the album’s release. Just days earlier, Rodrigo played an invite-only show at Los Angeles venue The Echo, where she was joined by Weyes Blood and debuted additional new material.

“Drop Dead” also includes a lyrical nod to The Cure, referencing “Just Like Heaven.” The connection traces back to Rodrigo’s 2025 Glastonbury set, where she brought out Robert Smith for live performances of “Friday I’m in Love” and “Just Like Heaven.”

Rodrigo’s ability to command both massive festival stages and small rooms has been central to her rise. Her 2023 album GUTS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while singles including “vampire” and “bad idea right?” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

David Lee Roth made a surprise appearance at the Stagecoach Festival on Saturday night, joining Teddy Swims onstage for a performance of ”Jump,” Van Halen’s 1984 single.

During Swims’ Stagecoach set, the singer brought Roth onstage after performing his recent single “Mr. Know It All” and “Some Things I’ll Never Know,” both from his debut studio album I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1), released in September 2023.

The collaboration marked the third consecutive festival appearance for the pair, with Swims having also brought Roth out during recent appearances at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he introduced the singer as “David Lee Roth from the best band of all time, Van Halen,” before the pair launched into “Jump.”

The recent performance took place amid a turbulent evening at Stagecoach, where high winds earlier in the night had forced a temporary evacuation of the festival grounds and prompted a series of schedule changes, including the removal of several artists, including Journey and Riley Green, from the lineup.

The evacuation was triggered by high winds that intensified across the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, where the festival is held. An “emergency evacuation” message appeared on screens across the site, instructing attendees to “move quickly and calmly to the nearest exit,” while alerts sent via the festival’s official app directed festivalgoers to leave the area.

The disruption affected multiple stages, with the Mane Stage between sets at the time the evacuation notice was issued. Winds had been building throughout the day, with gusts increasing into the evening under a regional wind advisory.

Despite the weather, Swims’ set went ahead, with Roth’s appearance providing one of the night’s most high-profile moments as fans gathered following the festival’s reopening.

Stagecoach, one of the largest country music festivals in the United States, is held annually at the same site as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and draws tens of thousands of attendees each year.

Nedra Talley Ross, who was the last surviving member of the ’60s hitmaking girl group The Ronettes, has died, a statement released on the trio’s social media accounts confirmed Sunday (April 26). She was 80.

Her cause of death has not been reported.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nedra Talley Ross’ passing. She was a light to those who knew and loved her,” read the statement, which was posted on the official Ronettes page on Facebook.

“As a founding member of The Ronettes, along with her beloved cousins Ronnie and Estelle, Nedra’s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music,” the message continued. “Her contribution to the group’s story and their defining influence will live forever. Rest peacefully dear Nedra. Thanks for the magic.”

With Ronnie Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector) and Estelle Bennett, she formed The Ronettes and recorded songs that would live on as classic pop staples, including the group’s influential 1963 hit “Be My Baby.”

Talley Ross, born in 1945, gave an interview that was published online just a couple months before her death in which she recounted her start in music, telling the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio, “I started singing when I was very young because my mother sang, [and] my grandmother.”

“I owe my mom everything,” she noted. “She liked to sing, wanted to sing … She gave me the courage to go out there and sing.”

“I figured something out recently,” said Talley Ross. “Part of the reason I believe the Ronettes continued and we were as successful as we were, is because we held each other’s hand when we walked out on stage, and we believed that God was watching what we did.” God and vigilant family members, that is: “We had uncles that were guards,” she joked, and a mother who had enough interest in performing to impart advice about what her daughter might encounter as a young woman on stage in the early ’60s: “Believe me. I’m older than you. I know what’s out there.”

“They kept us tight. My mom kept me very tight,” said Nedra, who grew up in New York City with cousins Ronnie and Estelle, who were sisters. The three often sang together with other family members, and formed a family act they first called the Darling Sisters. They’d rebrand as Ronnie and the Relatives before ultimately becoming the trio known as The Ronettes, a name that combined parts of each of their individual first names.

Together they auditioned for Philles Records and legendary producer Phil Spector in 1963, after establishing their performance style at live nightclub gigs, including Brooklyn’s Fox Theater, but seeing little success with initial records released through Colpix Records.

With Philles, “Be My Baby” — co-written by Phil with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and led by Ronnie’s signature vocal — became The Ronettes’ breakthrough single, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1963. “Be My Baby” remains their highest-charting song.

Among The Ronettes’ discography are the singles “Baby I Love You,” which reached No. 24 on the Hot 100 in 1963, and “Walking in the Rain,” which peaked at No. 23 in 1964. They released just one full-length album, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes.

The single that would land The Ronettes their second-highest chart position, to Talley Ross’ surprise — “I didn’t expect that to be a memorable song,” she quipped of its Billboard chart ranking in that recent interview in Cleveland — was a 1963 recording of the Christmas standard “Sleigh Ride,” climbing up the Hot 100 all the way to No. 8 — though not until 2023, 60 years after its original release on Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You compilation.

The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with an introduction by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who once were an opening act for The Ronettes) at the March 12, 2007 ceremony, where they performed three songs, including “Be My Baby,” to a standing ovation from the crowd. (Nedra and Ronnie performed without Estelle, who was present to accept the honor but not well enough to sing.)

“They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound,” said Richards, making a reference to both The Ronettes’ vocal prowess and the production aesthetic of Phil Spector’s work with the group, as The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock Hall. “They didn’t need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still.”

Estelle Bennett died in 2009, and Ronnie Spector died in 2022. Both passed away after battling cancer.

Beyond her years with The Ronettes, Talley Ross recorded as a solo artist, releasing a contemporary Christian album titled Full Circle in 1978.

The set was produced by her late husband, media personality Scott Ross, whom she married in 1967; they first met when he was working in radio in New York City, and — after The Ronettes disbanded — moved to Virginia, where he took a position at The 700 Club. The couple had four children together.

“She’s one that she never let stardom go to her head,”said her son Ryan, who sat with her during the interview in Cleveland — and during their chat said his parents were much cooler him, “no matter how hard I try.” “She would talk to anybody. She was nice to everybody. There was never a time that she didn’t want to get to know people and talk to them. She never really thought of herself as a star in that sense. She was always a mother, and a sister, and a cousin and a wife.”

El Último de la Fila returned to the stage for the first time in 30 years on Saturday night (April 25). The iconic rock band kicked off their reunion tour at Marenostrum Fuengirola, an open-air venue on the southern coast of Spain by the Mediterranean, at the foot of Sohail Castle.

At 10:00 p.m. sharp, the screens lit up with visuals inspired by 1980s video games, featuring an animated cootie-catcher as an introduction. Then, a brief blackout led to the band’s entrance.

The show opened with “Huesos” by Los Burros, the band in which Manolo García and Quimi Portet first collaborated before forming El Último de la Fila in 1985. Backed by a large band and two drummers, García appeared with a scarf in hand, while Portet stood beside him with his guitar, as if no time had passed.

The last time they performed together was on March 22, 1996, at the Palau d’Esports de Granollers in Barcelona. Two years later, on January 13, 1998, they announced their separation in a press release citing “musical fatigue.”

This reunion is not a one-off gesture. Over the years, the two have continued to work together in the studio, maintaining a relationship that never fully broke. In an interview with Billboard Español in the days leading up to the tour’s launch, Portet explained how the comeback came to life: “The definitive conversation was, oddly enough, a casual chat after a meal. After that conversation, everything came together very easily and naturally,” he said.

Tickets for Fuengirola sold out in just four hours when they went on sale in 2025. During the show, songs like “Insurrección,” “Aviones Plateados” and “Como un Burro Amarrado en la Puerta del Baile” were sung by a multigenerational audience that couldn’t hide their emotions — with many moved to tears. The show lasted about two-and-a-half hours, featuring a setlist that spanned various stages of the band’s career.

Formed in Barcelona in 1985 by García and Portet after their time with Los Rápidos and Los Burros, El Último de la Fila crafted a sound that defied categorization. Their music blended rock, pop and flamenco roots, but above all, it delivered songs that stayed with listeners. Over time, their repertoire became part of the collective memory of Spain and Latin America.

The current tour includes stops in nine Spanish cities between April and July, with performances in Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Valencia, among others. Additional dates were added after an overwhelming response from fans, bringing the total to 12 so far.

Before wrapping up Saturday’s concert, García addressed the crowd: “Thank you all for being here… it’s a pleasure to reconnect. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” And in closing, he left the audience with a memorable phrase: “Forgive the immodesty, but these songs are eternal.” After bidding farewell, the band returned for a surprising final song: the mariachi classic “El Rey” by Mexican composer José Alfredo Jiménez, performed in a rock style infused with their unique touch.

So far, the band has no other plans beyond this reunion tour. “The challenge of performing these dozen concerts is serious enough to focus all our energy on them,” García told Billboard Español.

The Great Divide, the new album from Noah Kahan, tops this week’s fan-voted new music poll.

Listeners voted in a poll published Friday (April 24) on Billboard, choosing the Vermont singer-songwriter’s latest full-length release as their favorite this week.

The Great Divide led the way in a week that also saw new music streaming in from Kehlani, Hayley Kiyoko and Gigi Perez, Suki Waterhouse and more. At the poll’s closing time on Sunday, Kahan reached the summit with 60% of the vote.

Arriving four years after breakout album Stick Season, the folk-rock artist’s The Great Divide made its official debut on Friday. Kahan’s new 17-track set was proceeded by its title track, “The Great Divide,” which has become his highest-charting hit so far on Billboard‘s Hot 100 songs chart. (The song reached No. 6 in February upon its release.)

Kahan co-produced The Great Divide with Gabe Simon as well as Aaron Dessner — whose Long Pond Studio in upstate New York became the setting where Kahan recorded part of the new album.

Besides keeping busy with new music, fans have a tour to look forward to, with dates kicking off June 11 in Orlando, Fla., and running through December. Kahan will be playing cities across North America before heading to Australia and New Zealand, and then making it to over to Europe.

Among the new releases trailing behind The Great Divide are Kehlani’s self-titled new album, with 17% of the vote; Hayley Kiyoko and Gigi Perez’s collab “Collide,” with 4% of the vote, and Suki Waterhouse’s song “Tiny Raisin,” with 2% of the vote.

See the final results of this week’s poll below.

SNL UK broadcast Foo Fighters‘ first live performance of material from their just-released Your Favorite Toy album on Saturday night (April 25).

The band played the high-energy “Caught in the Echo,” which is the opening number and first single from their twelfth studio album, on the new English offshoot of Saturday Night Live.

Foo Fighters returned for their second performance slot of the night with the earnest “Child Actor,” a track on the second half of their new record that has Grohl ruminating on growing up in a very public way. (Though he was in his early 20s when Nirvana broke through in the beginning of the ’90s, he applies the metaphor of childhood fame here: “I was a child actor, a face on a wall/ Holding my breath as I wait for the curtain to fall/ Was it good enough?/ Was it ever good enough?/ Anything, be the person that you want,” he sings, later pleading on repeat, “Turn the cameras off, turn the cameras off.”)

The April 25 episode of SNL UK was hosted by actress Nicola Coughlan, whose monologue featured a cameo from Grohl in a bit that had her gallivanting backstage with special guest Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon nudged the starstruck host to approach the Foo Fighters frontman and ask him to be her best friend. “We’re live. He has to say yes,” Fallon pointed out.

Your Favorite Toy is the followup to Foo Fighters’ 2023 album, But Here We Are, which cracked the top 10 of the Billboard 200 upon release (landing at No. 8). The rockers hit the road on tour beginning April 28 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Watch Foo Fighters perform “Caught in the Echo” and “Child Actor” live in the videos uploaded by SNL UK below.

The night began with the image of Ryan Castro on screen singing “SENDÉ” [the intro to the album of the same name, inspired by the classic “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” by Dawn Penn] from inside a National Police helicopter, before “REBECCA” started playing and a double appeared, simulating[the artist walking on the roof of the Atanasio Girardot Stadium. Seconds later, fans understood the entire sequence: the real “Ghetto Singer” was already on the main stage, kicking off his show with the remix of “Parte & Choke,” the hit song by his Ecuadorian colleagues Jombriel and Alex Krack.

Dressed in a yellow suit and sunglasses, and holding a microphone colored like the Curaçao sunset, the artist appeared on stage in front of a crowd of 47,000 people. He followed with “SQ” (also known as “W Sound 04”), one of the most successful tracks from his sessions produced by Ovy On The Drums, and “Fiesta,” a hit by Castro and Fariana that many may not know — but it has been a massive success in Colombian clubs across Antioquia and the Coffee Region.

Staying true to his Caribbean flow, Castro delivered hit after hit with dancehall and island-inspired sounds. First came “SANKA” (which also incorporates elements of kizomba) and “BOOMBASTIK<3” — with their respective guest artists, Curaçao’s Dongo on the former and Italian artist Kybba on the latter. Then came “BA BA BAD REMIX,” which featured none other than Sean Paul, the Jamaican artist who once proclaimed himself the “Global Ambassador of Dancehall.” Paul, with a career spanning 25 years and dozens of hits, also performed classics “Like Glue” and “Temperature” at the Atanasio.

Rayo and Toby brought the mode-up vibe of San Andrés Island with “Movimiento De Caderas” and “Calor.” More dancehall hits and guests followed: Kapo joined to perform “DÓNDE” and “LA VILLA.”

Then came Maluma to perform “Pa’ la Seca,” the song he recently released with Castro, as well as other hits from his own discography, including “Hawái” and “Borro Cassette.” Maisak also joined to perform “FDSR.” 

Mounted on a jet ski, Castro glided over the crowd to a second stage, where a new phase of the concert began, and reminisced about songs from his earliest years, such as “Cositas al Oído.” The first guest on this stage was Mora, who performed “La Inocente,” his track with Feid from years ago, and “MIL VIDAS.” Hamilton also joined the stage, proudly waving the Cartagena flag and singing “A Poca Luz” and “4 LIFE,” his two collaborations with the night’s star.

Other artists followed on the second stage, including Aria Vega, Altafulla (an influencer and winner of the reality show La Casa De Los Famosos, who has released songs with artists like Juan Duque in recent months), Jorge Celedón and Zion — one of the first Puerto Rican artists to collaborate with Castro. Together, they performed “ENVIGADO” from Castro’s self-titled album.

Back on the main stage, Castro invited another artist from his early career, Andy Rivera, to reminisce about the golden days of “Monumento – Remix.” Sech also joined him to perform their hit collaboration “Novio No.”

As the show neared its end, SOG, Ryan Castro’s go-to producer, appeared to accompany him on his merengue hit “Mujeriego,” a staple of Colombian December celebrations. Castro’s alter ego “Richy” — used for songs more aligned with Colombian party music — took the stage to perform tracks like “La Garrafa” and “Mi Fortuna,” the latter a hit from late last year that reached the top 10 on the Billboard Colombia Hot 100.

“El Ritmo Que Nos Une,” the soccer anthem that supported Colombia during the last Copa América and is expected to become an unofficial anthem for the upcoming World Cup, also made its way into the setlist.

Feid was another guest who couldn’t be left out. Together, he and Castro performed their massive hit “Monastery,” a crucial track in both of their careers. But the night couldn’t end without the arrival of J Balvin, who shares what seems to be a genuine friendship with Castro.

Balvin had a special stage — a bus — from which both artists descended to the beat of Kris Kross’ hip-hop classic “Jump,” the melody that inspired their track “Tonto.” Together, they performed that song as well as “Niveles de Perreo” and “Pal Agua,” the three collaborations they’ve released so far, just days ahead of their joint album OMERTÁ. The “Boy from Medellin” (Balvin) also delivered hits from his own repertoire, such as “Ay Vamos” and “Azul.”

Finally, the night reached its climax with Baby Rasta and Gringo, who performed their classic hit “Ella Se Contradice.” It was no coincidence that Castro gave them the most prominent moment of the evening; the duo is making a comeback after more than a decade and promoting an acoustic album of their greatest hits. The final song of the night was “Malory,” accompanied by fireworks befitting the occasion.

“This show was one of my dreams,” Castro said about what has been, without a doubt, the most important concert of his career so far.

April 25, 2026, will go down as a historic date for Ryan Castro: the day he proved that a young man raised between Medellín and a Caribbean island, who once sang dancehall on urban buses with fellow paisa Crickmanjam, who not only created reggaetón hits but also showed Colombian youth that there are other ways to make urban music, is now ready to start filling stadiums around the world.

This article was originally published in Spanish by Billboard Colombia.