KCON LA 2026 just got even more epic.

Last month, entertainment company CJ ENM announced that KCON will return to Los Angeles this summer, Aug. 14-16, as well as its lineup. To continue building excitement, the annual convention celebrating Korean music, beauty, food and culture announced Wednesday (April 22) a new set of artists joining the slate. Five new performers will hit the stage across the three-day convention.

Girl group H//PE Princess and debut members from PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI will perform on Friday, joining the previously announced NCT 127, KickFlip, &Team and more. The next day, seven-piece boy band MODYSSEY will join acts like ZEROBASEONE, ILLIT and izna. Finally, EVAN — the K-pop solo artist formerly known as Heeseung and previously of ENHYPEN — and Korean and Japanese boy band NEXZ will take to the stage on Sunday alongside TOMORROW x TOGETHER and Allday Project.

KCON LA 2026 wil be EVAN’s first North American solo performance and H//PE Princess, MODYSSEY, NEXZ and PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI’s first time at the convention. They all join a lineage of incredible KCON LA performers, including SEVENTEEN, RIIZE and aespa.

Since its 2012 debut, KCON has grown into the world’s largest K-pop fan and artist convention. KCON LA 2025 saw more than 100,000 fans for its three days of festivities. KCON LA 2026 will be held in Downtown Los Angeles’ Crypto.com arena and will feature showcases and interactive booths highlighting Korean culture.

Fans can buy tickets for KCON LA here.

UPDATE: On Wednesday (April 22), Taylor Momsen shared on update on Instagram, confirming that the spider that bit her on tour last week was a brown recluse. “NYC … So happy to be home for a minute…need a good book while my leg continues to heal…a week or two and I should be fine,” Momsen said in the caption of a photo taken outside New York’s Strand Bookstore. “Thanks to everyone for your concerns. Brown Recluse bites are no joke.”

PREVIOUSLY (April 15): Taylor Momsen knows the show must go on, even when dangerous spider venom is wreaking havoc on your body. The Pretty Reckless singer and Gossip Girl alum gave fans a health update on Tuesday (April 14) in the wake of the nasty arachnid bite she recently suffered while on tour opening for AC/DC in South America.

“Hospital today, show tomorrow,” Momsen, 32, wrote in an Instagram post in which she included a selfie showing off her mottled right leg and a close-up of the aftermath of the nip from an unspecified creature, which left her with angry red splotches up and down her shin and a nasty-looking bite mark just above her ankle.

“But the show must go on, see you tomorrow Mexico City!” she added along with three Mexican flag emoji and a pair of lightning bolts. The singer followed up on Wednesday morning (April 15) with a pair of hospital snaps in which she looked worse for the wear, after having to stay overnight for treatment. “Or I spend the night in the hospital,” she wrote alongside a picture of her wearing a black surgical mask and a white hospital gown while laying on a gurney and holding a bag of ice to her forehead. “Thank you to the amazing doctors who, well, they know [three heart emoji].” She signed off with three spider and three thumbs down emoji.

In an accompanying video, Momsen filmed herself being rolled through the unnamed hospital’s corridors with surgical booties on her feet and her rashy leg outlined in blue surgical marker.

The seeming turn for the worse came after Momsen said she was doing “f–king fine” in a backstage video before her band’s opening slot for AC/DC at Estadio GNP Seguros stadium in Mexico City on Saturday (April 11), laughing at the nod to lyrics from the recent Pretty Reckless single “When I Wake Up”.

“When I wake up … with a spider in the bed,” she said with a smile in a video to a post titled “AC/DC TONIGHT! I’M DOING FINE!” She followed up with a clip of the band on stage at the weekend show, writing, “MEXICO CITY NIGHT 2 Can’t wait for Wednesday!“

The bite that landed Momsen in the hospital took place more than a week ago, with the singer keeping up her graveyard humor at the time, writing, “When do my superpowers kick in? That’s what I want to know,” alongside an image of a doctor cleaning the wound while another member of the medical team gave her a shot in her left arm. To date, Momsen has not shared what kind of spider bit her.

In the caption to that post, Momsen noted that this isn’t her first time getting bitten whole on tour with AC/DC. “🕷️🕷️🕷️ So it wouldn’t be an AC/DC tour if I didn’t get bit,” she wrote. “This time a massive spider decided to take a chunk out of me and its venom did a number on my system so had to have the wonderful doctors in Mexico come and deliver quite the shot before the show last night…add it to the list!”

Momsen and Pretty Reckless last toured with the Australian hard rock legends in 2024, when she was bitten by a bat while on the road in Spain during a performance of “Witches Burn” from her band’s 2021 Death By Rock and Roll album. In a clip from the time, a bat landed on the singer’s thigh and she didn’t notice it at first. But after spotting some fans pointing at her she looked down and said, “There’s a f–king flying bat on my leg right now … I must really be a witch!”

A crew member removed the bat, but not before it had already bitten Momsen, which sent her to a hospital for treatment and two weeks of follow-up rabies shots.

While she had a good attitude about both bites — writing “Spider woman? Batgirl? 🕷️🕷️🕷️🦇🦇🦇 WTF 😬” last week — a spokesperson for the band had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment at press time on whether Momsen’s hospitalization would impact the band’s planned opening slot for AC/DC at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City on Wednesday night.

After tonight’s gig, Pretty Reckless will take some time off before launching a European swing beginning with a June 5 show at the Rock Im Park festival in Nuremberg, Germany, then teaming up with AC/DC again in Charlotte, N.C. on July 11 for a North American summer stadium run in-between their own club shows.

Get in, girls. We’re going on a trip with Zara Larsson — who just announced that Shakira, PinkPantheress, Robyn and more leading ladies of pop will be featured on the upcoming deluxe edition of her breakout album Midnight Sun.

On Wednesday (April 22), just a few days after revealing that she’d be dropping Midnight Sun: Girls Trip this May, the Swedish pop star shared a video unveiling the names who will be joining her on the expanded project. In addition to her “Stateside” collaborator and the other previously mentioned names, “She Did It Again” duet partner Tyla, Kehlani, JT, Madison Beer, BAMBII, Margo XS, Emilia, Malibu, Eli and Helena Gao will also appear on the lengthened track list.

The clip shows Larsson walking into a gas station and picking out an assortment of kitschy keychains, each reading a name from her list of Girls Trip collaborators. “I’m so so so so so honored and excited for this,” she captioned the video. “And you know what’s crazy? This is just the beginning of girls trip!!! Like HELLO This summer is gonna be madness.”

Midnight Sun: Girls Trip will arrive May 1, building on the success Larsson has found in recent months with her fifth studio album and the success of its title track. She recently earned her first-ever top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 by guesting on PinkPantheress’ “Stateside,” which peaked at No. 6 in March.

On April 29, Larsson will accept this year’s Breakthrough Award at Billboard Women in Music. In a recent interview with Billboard about the honor, the singer said, “For the first time in a long time, I’m on the Billboard charts. I’m reaching so many new heights 10 years into my career, which is exciting and a testament to never giving up.”

See Larsson’s post below.

Josh Groban got engaged to his girlfriend of nearly four years, theater actress Natalie McQueen, at the happiest place on Earth. The “You Raise Me Up” singer posted pictures from his Disneyland wedding proposal on Tuesday (April 21), writing on Instagram, “MY BEST FRIEND SAID YES!!!” alongside a photo of the 45-year-old singer laying a big kiss on McQueen, 36, in front of a giant display of flowers in front of the Snow White Wishing Well.

“Sharing this life with you is my happiest place,” Groban added. “Thank you @disneyweddings for helping to make the best day of our lives (so far) so magical.” The happy couple share another kiss in a second pic, with a spinning carousel lighting up the scene in the background. The final picture is of their congratulations engagement cake, festooned with white frosting flowers and three red hearts, not to mention a shot of McQueen’s hefty ring.

They got lots of congratulations from their A-list friends, including Bernadette Peters (“Congratulations you two”), Michael Bublé (“Congrats to you both. What awesome news”), John Stamos (“Magical CONGRATS”) and Busy Philipps (“This is so exciting! Congratulations!”), as well as nice words from Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rita Wilson, The War and Treaty and others.

The pair reportedly started dating in 2022, around the time the veteran English singer and stage actress referred to Groban as her “boyfriend” in a hiking post from September of that year, though they didn’t make it Instagram official until Valentine’s Day in 2023. McQueen has appeared in a number of West End musical productions in her native England, including Chess, Wicked, Starlight Express, Kinky Boots and 9 to 5 The Musical.

The couple won’t have a ton of time to celebrate, as Groban has been tapped alongside with Teddy Swims to perform at the 2026 Grammy Hall of Fame Gala in tribute to their label, Warner Records, on May 8 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. That’s the same day Groban will drop his 10th studio album, the 10-track Cinematic, his tribute to movie music, which he recently previewed with a new version of the Elton John/Tim Rice The Lion King classic “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” He is also gearing up to launch his GEMS North American tour with special guest Jennifer Hudson, slated to kick off on June 2 in Quebec, Canada at Place Bell.

RAYE’s career arc is better than any tale told in a Disney film.

Born and raised in London, the singer and songwriter is a former BRIT School student and nominee for BBC Music’s Sound award, an identifier of the next big thing. Then, she landed a record deal with Polydor, a frustrating era that boiled over when, in 2021, she tweeted that the major label wouldn’t let her release an album. Shelved, in the industry vernacular.

RAYE split with the music company and went independent, signing with distribution and artist services company Human Re Sources, a relationship that continues to this day.

Then, the magic happened. In January 2023, RAYE nabbed her first U.K. No. 1 single with “Escapism” (featuring 070 Shake) and went on make history. In March 2024, she collected a record haul of six BRIT Awards, including album of the year and artist of the year. That effort smashed the old record of four awards in one night, held jointly by Harry Styles (2023), Adele (2016) and Blur (1995).

In January 2026, she scored her second U.K. No. 1 with “Where Is My Husband?” It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, the best placed of her three titles to impact the chart.

“Where Is My Husband” appears on her sophomore studio effort, This Album May Contain Hope, which dropped in March of this year. Hope debuted at No. 1 in the U.K., her first leader. In the United States, she bagged a career best No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart, and she’s set to receive the Hal David Starlight Award at the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame gala. A headline spot awaits at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Before all that, RAYE returned to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night (April 21), three years after her performance of “Escapism.” This time, she delivered a double hit of live music. RAYE took the mic for a performance of “Clack Clack Symphony,” shot in black and white. And, in a bonus for guests at the Ed Sullivan Theater and late owls watching at home, RAYE doubled up with performance of “Joy,” dazzling in a yellow summer dress.

For both spots, RAYE was supported by a full band and an ensemble of backing vocalists, including her sisters Lauren (“Amma”) and Abby-Lynn (“Absolutely”).

Watch below.

Olivia Dean now has membership into Spotify’s Billions Club.

The fast-rising British pop star achieves her milestone moment with “Man I Need,” which crosses the threshold with one billion plays on the Sweden-based streaming music platform.

It’s one of many recent plaudits for Dean, who was named best new artist at the 2026 Grammy Awards, swept the 2026 BRIT Awards with four wins, including artist of the year and album of the year, and collected a hattrick of honors at the 2026 MOBO Awards.

Also, Dean is the female artist with the biggest increase in global streams on Spotify in the past year, and she performed her signature song at the Spotify Best New Artist party during Grammy Week.

In Australia, “Man I Need” has collected 20 non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, making it the second-longest reigning single in the history of the national charts, which were first published in 1983. Only Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey” has more weeks at the top (24).

In the United Kingdom, she became the first female solo artist in Official Charts history to have four songs in the top 10 simultaneously, a feat achieved last October with her No. 1 “Man I Need,” along with The Art of Loving cuts “So Easy (To Fall in Love),” “Nice To Each Other,” and her collaboration with Sam Fender, “Rein Me In.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Dean is the Rookie of the Year for Billboard’s 2025 Greatest Pop Stars series and, earlier this month, was crowned on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart with “Man I Need,” recognizing the most-played song on panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the United States.

Dean can add to her collection of silverware at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards, to be presented May 21 in London. Dean is one of the frontrunners at the Ivors, with two nominations: best album and The PRS for Music most performed work categories.

“Man I Need” is now added to Spotify’s Billions Club playlist, which now numbers 1,255 songs. Stream it below.

Dave Mason, the celebrated singer, songwriter and musician who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame as a co-founder of Traffic, died Sunday (April 19) at the age of 79.

“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason,” reads a statement from his publicists.

According to reps, Mason passed away peacefully at his home in Gardnerville, NV. Mason, the message continues, “lived a remarkable life devoted to the music and the people he loved.”

Born in post-war England, in 1946, Mason rose to prominence with the blues-rock band Traffic, for which he contributed writing credits and lead vocals for such tracks such as “Hole in My Shoe” and “Feelin Alright?,” which would be recorded by dozens of artists, including Joe Cocker, the Jackson 5, and John Belushi.

Mason also enjoyed an impressive solo career, which got underway in 1970 with his debut solo album, Alone Together, which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, and featured the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Only You Know and I Know.” Let It Flow from 1977 was a platinum smash, yielding the single “We Just Disagree.”

As a collaborator, Mason was a wanted man. Across the years, he recorded or performed with the likes of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson and others. His guitar work can be heard on Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” on the Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” McCartney’s “Listen to What The Man Said” and on fellow Beatle Harrison’s own collection All Things Must Pass.

Traffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums, four of which cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200. While active, four Traffic singles crashed the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The rockers reunited two decades later to tour in 1993-94, while Mason hit the road with Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi in 1998.

In 2004, Mason was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member Traffic. Bandmates Capaldi and Steve Winwood performed “Dear Mr. Fantasy” at the ceremony. The following year, Capaldi died after a brief battle with stomach cancer, aged 60.

Mason returned to the Rock Hall in 2009 for an official VIP induction pre-party at the pillar’s museum, where he played an acoustic set that included “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and his rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.”

His most recent solo album release, A Shade of Blue, dropped in 2025. However, Mason recently called time on touring after 60 years, citing ongoing health challenges. 

He is survived by his wife and partner, Winifred Wilson, his daughter Danielle, nephew John (Trish) Leonard and niece Michelle Leonard, as well as his brothers in law Sloan (Claudia) Wilson and Walton (Barbara Sims) Wilson. He was preceded in death by his son, True and his sister, Valerie Leonard.

After debuting in Los Angeles last year, Fantastic Reality — a three-day mixed reality 3D live festival featuring independent virtual and VTuber talents — is returning this summer.

The fest will happen at Vermont Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles on July 2-4, with the three nights each featuring a unique lineup.

Night one will present Fantastic Reality: Found Futures presented by IRIAM, a show headlined by VTubers Matara Kan, kson and Lilypichu, along with the debut of Virtual Signal, a group being billed as the first rock band made up of entirely of virtual talent. The event will also be Matara Kan’s first live concert, Lilypichu’s first live in-person concert as a VTuber and first performances by Virtual Signal and its lead singer Emilya Fell.

Night two of Fantastic Reality will feature Anibash: Crossroads, a co-production with dance music label Asahi Crew, known for their high energy Tokyo-style club rave parties. Day three will be a matinee performance of Doki Doki: Rewind Time, a concert co-produced, curated and headlined by Vtuber Dokibird. Organizers note that the combined cross-platform social reach of the participating talents exceeds 24 million. Additional Fantastic Reality artists will be announced in the coming months.

Tickets for Fantastic Reality are on sale now, with phase two ticket sale with GA and VIP options opening on April 28 at 4 p.m. PT. Tickets are available here.

“Fantastic Reality strives to create community through inspirational experiences showcasing the world’s top virtual talents” Fantastic Reality co-producer Spencer Burnham says in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have internationally-recognized virtual stars Dokibird, Matara Kan, kson, Lilypichu and friends perform with our house band in an awe-inspiring, intimate irl space.”

Fantastic Reality 2026 follows a successful 2025 debut that featured performances by virtual star Ironmouse, along with a host of other VTuber virtual talent.

Rihanna keeps some pretty potent weed on her, and this particular strain of kush has some unusual side effects, according to Jonah Hill.

As part of Rih’s W magazine cover, the Moneyball actor was asked about his favorite Rihanna memory, and he had quite the story queued up tied to their time spent on set together for 2013’s This Is the End movie.

Hill ended up seeing Rihanna out when it was his birthday and joined the blunt rotation with a friend, which had some unexpected consequences for a friend.

“After we shot This Is the End, I ran into her at a bar, and it was my birthday,” he said of Rihanna. “She had a joint and was generous enough to share with my friends, and one of my friends got so stoned that she pooped her pants. Rihanna has that ‘make your friends sh– their pants’ weed.”

Back in 2013, Rihanna explained to Elle UK that she had no issue posting herself smoking weed to social media because she wanted her IG account to be an accurate representation of her life at that moment.

“I Instagram everything about my life. Whether it’s smoking pot, in a strip club, reading a Bible verse — how crazy, I know,” she said. “That’s why I’m posting pictures of myself smoking pot, to tell the truth about myself. I’ve got so much to think about, why bring all this extra sh– by being dishonest?”

Outside of her cameo as herself in This Is the End, Rihanna’s stacked a handful of film and show roles in Hollywood over the years, making appearances in Ocean’s Eight, Annie, Guava Island alongside Donald Glover, Bates Motel and Smurfs.

Rihanna graced the cover of W magazine with her daughter, Rocki. Her partner A$AP Rocky gushed about Rih’s evolution as a mother, but clarified that she’s “always been magic.”

“That certainly changes you,” Rocky said. “But this woman has always been magic. Philosophically, the way she operates is on another level. She is the most charming and genuine person on Earth. Her energy is unmatched — one of a kind. I just adore her.”

Mariah Carey has heard of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but she just can’t be bothered to worry about whether she’s in it or not. TMZ caught up with MC in Manhattan on Monday (April 20) and asked her if she was peeved that she did not make the cut for induction again this year. “No,” Carey said as she climbed into a luxury SUV.

As for her message to the members of the Lambily who have been defending Grammy-winner Carey — who first became eligible for induction into the Rock Hall in 2016 and was first nominated in 2024 — the singer said “I love my fans, always.” Reminded that she’s already won “a lot of awards” in the past, Carey shrugged the slight off, saying, “Who cares? Like, give it to somebody else, fantastic.”

As you may have heard already, this year’s inductees in the performers category are: Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Wu-Tang Clan and the late Luther Vandross. Passed over this year alongside Carey were: The Black Crowes, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, P!nk, Shakira and Jeff Buckley.

It was the third year in a row that Carey was passed over for the honor despite her platinum chart track record, which includes 19 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and five Grammy Awards, including best new artist in 1991 and best R&B song and female R&B vocal performance for “We Belong Together” in 2006.

Carey released her 16th studio album, Here for It All, in September.

The 2026 induction ceremony will take place Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, and air on ABC and Disney+ in December, at which point MC will be super busy anyway with her second job as Queen of Christmas.