Not sure if you peeped, but it looks like Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign may be pivoting to Christian rap.

He recently sat down with The Shade Room and was asked why he’s changing the content of his rap music after going viral earlier this week when a clip of his new music surfaced. “Sometimes in life…I feel like…you gotta listen to that voice that’s talking to you,” he explained. “I feel like everybody is spiritual, everybody know who God is, right? And they pray a couple times, but you gotta actually do something for God. I mean, you’ve got to actually put in a little pain for God. I’m not a person that gotta learn the hard way, feel me? I just know when it’s time to get right.”

However, he doesn’t feel like he’s making gospel music exactly. “When people used to asked me if I was a drill artist, it was hard for to answer it,” he said after being asked if he sees himself as a gospel artist now. “So, as far as me being a gospel artist, this is the first time somebody asked me that question, I don’t feel like I’m a gospel artist and I really don’t feel like I’m doing gospel music, I just name it gospel music because I know what that means. But I feel like it’s just music from my heart. I got all types of beats on it. So, I don’t know what’s a real gospel beat, but the album got different styles of music where I’m praising God.”

Adding, “I don’t want to put it in a category. I’m just Fivi and I’m just trying to praise God through my music and not worship the devil through my music, push a positive image and change, you know, hopefully I get a blessing from God.”

He also said that he would like to eventually collaborate with gospel acts Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin in the future.

Fivio flirted with Christian rap on Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) 2021 Donda album on the song “Off the Grid” where he delivered one of the project’s standout verses.

You can watch the interview below.

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed that he is once again fighting cancer. In an interview with El Salvadorian station YSKL, the 63-year-old musician discussed his philosophy for keeping a positive, hopeful attitude after revealing in 2013 that he was battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he said returned in 2015 and yet again recently.

“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” Campbell said of his diagnosis. “In the winter of 2023, I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening. And I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive … I did that in January of ’25 .… Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. So the cancer has returned, and I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”

Campbell said he plans to try another transplant within the next few years with a different donor to see if that will stick, but in the meantime, he is going to keep performing with the “Rock of Ages” band as well as his side project, the Last in Line, and racing rally cars, a lifelong obsession. “I love cars and I love driving,” he said. “And as a child, I thought, ‘If I don’t play guitar for a living, I’m gonna be a race-car driver.’ So I’m very, very, very fortunate and blessed that I get to do both.”

The key, Campbell told the station, is to keep “moving forward” and stay busy. “And I do think that that’s what helped me, even when I was at a really low ebb with cancer treatment. The fact that I could still continue to work, that gives me something to live for, something that you enjoy, that you’re passionate about, that you can wake up in the morning and look forward to,” he explained. “I think that deflects, that takes away from focusing too much on cancer.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and is highly treatable and often curable by using chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.

Campbell, who logged time in Ronnie James Dio’s band, Dio, as well as Whitesnake and the British new wave metal band Sweet Savage, joined Def Leppard in 1992 following the death of founding guitarist Steve Clark.

He observed that some people who get a diagnosis focus just on the cancer and nothing else, while he has been determined to keep living his life “as much as possible. In fact, even more so. After getting a cancer diagnosis, it amplifies that desire to tick all the boxes, to do the things you wanna do. But I also consider myself very fortunate because I caught my cancer early. So, it’s always been more about managing my cancer.”

Concluding with a message that “life is for the living,” Campbell, who was forced to miss some 2024 and 2025 shows due to health issues, said he just encourages everyone to keep an eye on their health. “And if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis to overcome the fear,” he said. “Fear is inevitable when you’re first told those words. But once you get over that, you gotta realize just how to manage it and how to deal with it as best as possible, and just don’t give in.”

Def Leppard are slated to play the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. on Oct. 15, followed by dates in Mexico and Central and South America in October and November.

For the past decade, DMA’S have lived the dream. The Australian alternative rock band has amassed an enviable fanbase in the United Kingdom, their spiritual home. They’ve landed spots on the biggest stages. Awards have come their way, including an ARIA for best group in 2023.

One thing, however, is strangely missing. A No. 1.

The trio has got ever-so-close, on multiple occasions. Their most recent album, 2023’s How Many Dreams, opened and peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, and No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Its predecessor, 2020’s The Glow, also peaked at No. 2 in Australia, and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.

With their self-titled fifth album, a fresh start. DMA’S arrived Friday, Aug. 21, the product of recording sessions at the band’s own studio, and released through Wonderlick and Sony Music, their first through a major label machine.

Bandmates Johnny Took (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Matt Mason (lead guitar) and Tommy O’Dell (lead vocals) recorded the collection in their studio in Sydney’s Glebe, a space that was established by rock’n’roll legend Col Joye, and hosted sessions with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees. The DMA’S found the studio on Facebook Marketplace, buying it from Australian Music Prize winners Hermitude.

The LP was largely self-produced, with contributions from Lach Bostock of Mansionair, Norwegian duo Jimi Somewhere and two-times Grammy Award nominee Styalz Fuego.

“We did try with a producer overseas and it didn’t work out,” Mason tells Billboard over a Zoom. “We tried a few things out. It didn’t work. It solidified what were thinking, should we do it ourselves? F— it, let’s just go home. We’ve got our own studio now. We produce music for other bands. It’s album five. We know what we want, you know? Let’s just do it ourselves.”

DMA’S is the sound of a band that knows what they want. It’s an album with big songs, style and swagger, born from Britpop, raised in Australia. The trio boast an impressive following in both countries, but no Britpop frontman had the lungs of O’Dell, who shows off his natural talents on the singles “My Baby’s Place,” “Heatin Park” and “Killing Time,” and across the new album’s 11 tracks. 

The sessions were “basically free because it’s our studio,” Mason says. “You’re the one creating the deadlines, you can go on forever. It did take a long time because it’s just up to you. At least we can say that we love it. It’s my favorite album that we’ve done.”

Recording the album took roughly a year to complete. “It did take quite a bit longer than usual. Just because we had the luxury of just spending as long as we can,” Mason admits. “You have this unlimited sort of potential to just experiment as long as you can and to have that luxury was like something that we haven’t done before. Some records I can look back on and say, f—, I wish I could’ve switched in an extra day or two for that. Yeah. But this album was completely happy with every single segment of it.”

Some of the songs geminated at the beginning of their career. “My Baby’s Place” and “One & Only” borrow from recordings which the band members retrieved from a rusty old PC.

Since the release of Hill’s End, which this year celebrates its 10^th anniversary, DMA’S have amassed over 535 million streams. Breakthroughs, they can come from the least-expected avenues. In Australia, it was the band’s 2016 cover of Cher’s ‘90s dance hit “Believe” that got the ball rolling. Their version came out on top of triple j’s inaugural Hottest 100 “Live A Version” countdown in 2023.

In the U.K., a 2016 appearance on the now-defunct Sky Sports show Soccer AM, where they performed “Delete,” was an early goal. Mason remembers the experience for several reasons. “People liked the song. But the comments on YouTube, people were like, ‘why are their shoes so dirty?’” It was the first of several appearances. The bandmates are soccer tragics, a love affair that has spawned a merch collaboration with Sydney FC, featuring a jersey, jacket, scarf and wall flag.

Conversation shifts to that elusive No. 1. “I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a part of it,” Mason tells Billboard, referring to their new major label route. Each of the band’s previous studio albums were released through I Oh You, part of the Mushroom Group. All crashed the ARIA top 10.

When the band’s contract came up, “we were kind of looking around, you know, what’s going to be our next move? I was thinking, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to find another family or another team that feels like that. Sometimes you just think like that would be impossible to find. A group of people who would be so accommodating and, you know, we’ve found it,” he says. “We’ve just made the right decision.”

The U.K. beckons, where the band has already made five return trips this year. There, DMA’S played 10 Hills End anniversary shows in February, with multiple dates sold out, including two at the O2 Brixton Academy. From September, DMA’S will play regional parts of Australia, performing sets at triple j’s One Night Stand in Griffith, Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong the following month, and will end the year at Spilt Milk in Canberra, the Gold Coast, Geelong and Perth.

“I feel like this has been a busy year for us,” Mason considers. “There are a few places we really want to go back to. Italy, we have a decent fan base there and we just love it. Japan would be great. The United States, yep. I’d love to. Maybe next year.” Regular, long-haul travel “is f—ed,” he says with a laugh, “but there’s a beauty to be able to travel to the other side of the world and have that appreciation.”

Stream DMA’S below.

Weezer’s Blue, Green, Red, White, Teal, and Black eras are in the rearview. We’ve now reached Gold.

At midnight, Rivers Cuomo and Co. turned over a new leaf — gold leaf — with the release of their 20^th studio album. The process behind the new, self-titled collection, the so-called Gold Album, was a blast from the past, an LP made the old fashion way.

Following a well-received 30^th anniversary tour, the four band members got down to business in a rehearsal space in Orange County, Calif. Those sessions marked the first time Cuomo and Weezer’s drummer Pat Wilson had fleshed out the framework of a song since their first album, released back in 1994.

Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (FKA Kenny Beats) came on board to produce the new body of work. Ahlund contributed a “more mathematical, stringent approach,” reps say, while Blume set about to make the “most violent Weezer album ever.”

The fruits of their OC labor, 10-tracks including the lead singles “Shine Again” and “We Might As Well Be Strangers” featuring Wednesday, the latter track performed live Wednesday night (Aug. 19) when the rockers stopped by NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“We hung out in a living room, actually, for months. All four of us. And just threw ideas out. It was really fun,” Wilson told Fallon of the new project.

“What you hear on the record is something that could only be created by humans coming together and being vulnerable and creating something together,” Cuomo added. “It just can’t be created by AI or a somebody on their own working on a computer or something.”

The band will support the new Gold Album with Weezer: The Gathering tour, getting underway in September with multiple stops across North America.

“The gathering has something to do with summoning sorcerers from all corners of the world to come into this,” Cuomo explained to Fallon. “And I think this tour is something like that. We’re summoning all the different kinds of Weezer fans from around the world to come rock out with us.”

Stream The Gold Album below.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to New Music Friday’s most essential releases each week — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.

Last week, we featured Phoebe Bridgers, Katseye, Ayra Starr, Troye Sivan and more.

This week, Sam Smith shares their new album, Hazel Eyes; Stella Lefty releases her highly-anticipated debut set; and Weezer drops its 20th (!) full-length… plus much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below:

Sam Smith, Hazel Eyes

On “Constant Companion” — one of 12 tracks on Smith’s fifth album — the English singer-songwriter chooses to spotlight their impressive range, singing in their deeper, lower register to start and slowly softening into a more familiar tone that allows their voice to soar. Accompanied by gentle percussion and choral harmonies throughout, delicate keys and an acoustic guitar kick in later and help carry the song. But it’s in the last minute, after the addition of winding strings, that it reaches its peak as Smith bellows with renewed intention: “’cause you, you are my constant companion.” — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Stella Lefty, Long Way Home

After breaking out this year with her debut chart hit “Boston” (which interpolates Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season”), fast-rising country-pop artist Stella Lefty shares her first full-length, Long Way Home. Lefty, 24, co-wrote all 14 tracks on the album, which follows her May EP and is produced by Joe Reeves. As Melinda Newman writes in the album’s Tracks Ranked, “Reeves’ low-key production perfectly complements Lefty’s sweet, unadorned vocals, creating what feels like an uncomplicated, authentic effort and a solid introduction to a formidable, developing talent.” — L.H.

Weezer, Weezer (Gold Album)

What else could Weezer possibly name its 20th album except for Weezer? So they did just that — then added (Gold Album) for good measure. It’s a bold title for a fittingly bold album, full of power-pop-rock anthems led by Rivers Cuomo’s distinguishable vocals. Co-produced by Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (formerly known as Kenny Beats), the latter set out to make “the most violent Weezer album ever,” according to a release. Turns out, they did just that.  — LYNDSEY HAVENS

Jorja Smith, What Are The Odds

The third album from British singer-songwriter Jorja Smith is injected with energy and beats primed for the dance floor, as previewed by previously-released singles “What’s Done Is Done” and “I Lied, You Lied.” Meanwhile, single “Alive” with Wizkid showed that Smith can still it slow it down when she wants. And while the album mostly leans into those more booming tracks — some of which feel a world away from the more intimate R&B of her 2018 debut Lost & Found — songs like “Pretend” and album closer “When It Gets Like That” let Smith’s stellar vocals take the lead. — L.H.

Brandon Flowers, Thrasher

For his first solo effort in 11 years, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers turned to his dad’s record collection for inspiration — and found himself creating an album full of country-western-inspired tunes. Across Thrasher, which is Flowers’ third solo project, he turns inward not only for the sonics but for the song’s lyrical content as well — and perhaps that’s where the album’s title and boxer-inspired artwork come from. Think less of a production punch, and more of a mental one — which can sometimes hit even harder. — L.H.

Brennan Wedl, Brennan Wedl

With signees including Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman, ANTI- Records has emerged as the marquee destination for alt-country artists — and that roster now includes Brennan Wedl, who supported Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman’s joint spring tour and captures rootsy magic on her self-titled label debut. With a voice that immediately conjures Lucinda Williams, Wedl lyrically channels both Lenderman’s hyperspecificity (“Let’s get on the Jumbotron at MSG / And shake it like an Etch A Sketch,” on “Let’s Be Models”) and Waxahatchee’s poetic concision (“I can be your low-grade fever / Keep you hot and bothered,” on “I Wanna Be Your TV”) across the set’s 13 gems, which blend punk, garage-rock and country for what Wedl calls “grungetry.” Produced by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her longtime producer Brad Cook, Brennan Wedl is another essential entry in the subgenre that has become indie-rock’s dominant style this decade. — ERIC RENNER BROWN

Bliss out, ENHYPEN is back with six fresh tunes.

At the stroke of midnight, the K-pop heavyweights dropped THE SIN : BLISS, the group’s eighth mini album and the second installment in the ongoing THE SIN series.

THE SIN : BLISS is ENHYPEN’s first release since HEESEUNG announced that he would go his own way and pursue a solo career. Now a six-piece of Jake, Jay, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-ki, the band recently completed the Latin American and United States legs of their BLOOD SAGA trek, their largest world tour to date.

ENHYPEN’s busy year has taken the group to Brazil, where they performed on late-night television program The Noite com Danilo Gentili; and Mexico City for a 2026 FIFA World Cup celebration event at Campo Marte. Along the way, the group took part in San Diego Comic-Con 2026, where they introduced global audiences to “DARK MOON,” HYBE’s original story inspired by ENHYPEN’s narrative universe. The lads also gave blood — and their profiles — to the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign in celebration of World Blood Donor Day on June 14. 

Up next, BLOOD SAGA tour dates in the United Kingdom and Europe from February through March 2027, including stops in Italy, France, The Netherlands and Germany.

Prior to the release of THE SIN : BLISS, the group landed nine titles on the Billboard 200, including six top 10 appearances — MANIFESTO : DAY 1 (No. 6 in 2022), DARK BLOOD (No. 4, 2023), ORANGE BLOOD (No. 4, 2023), ROMANCE : UNTOLD (No. 2, 2024), DESIRE : UNLEASH (No. 3, 2025), and THE SIN : VANISH (No. 2, 2026).

Stream THE SIN : BLISS and check out the BLOOD SAGA 2027 world tour dates and venues below.

Feb. 24 — Milan, IT – Unipol Dome
Feb. 27 — Paris, FR – La Défense Arena
March 2 — Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
March 5 — Berlin, DE – Uber Arena
March 9 — London, UK – The O2

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is going to give the sober life a try.

The Louisiana rapper took to his Instagram Stories and shared that he flushed the rest of the drugs he had down the toilet and is going to try to be sober for six consecutive months. “I wanted to get high last night I just flushed the sh– down the toilet,” he said. “I’m trying to see if I really can make it to 6 months.” He also posted an IG Story hinting at a new album. “Hope yall ready for my album,” he told his followers. “This when we separate this and that.”

Back in 2023, he told Bootleg Kev that he had checked himself into a rehab facility during an interview. “I went to rehab for a weekend recently,” he admitted. “I still get an image that I do a lot of drugs, so I kinda get that thrown in my face like, ‘This is taking over his mind or something.”

NBA, who now lives in South Korea, recently sat down with Funny Marco and hinted at retirement and revealed that he has no interest in moving back to the United States anytime soon. “I’ll go on tour one more time throughout my whole life and that’s it,” he said before saying that he has “one or two” albums left in him.

And when it comes to his plans of maybe coming back to the States he told Funny Marco, “Never in life,” before explaining how he was able to muster up the power to call South Korea his home. “I used to always feel like I never have the opportunity to get away or leave, so it’s like I don’t have no problem being away,” he continued. “It’s nothing there for me at all. Probably the most important thing is my kids. They there, but that’s what they got planes for.”

The title of his next album is All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Ariana Grande has once again blasted the Trump administration for using her music in social media clips promoting the president.

Team Trump posted a video to TikTok on Thursday (Aug. 20) soundtracked by Grande’s 2024 Eternal Sunshine hit “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”

The clip finds Trump walking toward the podium at a speaking engagement and is captioned with lyrics from Grande’s Billboard Hot 100-topping smash, “Me and my truth we sit in silence,” followed by a statement about women’s sports. “Men can’t have babies and should never compete in women’s sports,” the post continues.

Team Trump added in the caption: “This shouldn’t be controversial! #trump #arianagrande #maga.”

Grande quickly got wind of Team Trump’s post and slammed the administration for using her work in the comment section. “Never use my music again. Also, your truth is false,” she responded.

Arianators also flocked to the comment section to alert the singer. “Does Ariana know he’s using her song AGAIN,” one fan wrote.

This isn’t the first time Grande has spoken out against the Trump administration for using the pop star’s music to promote its content. She previously condemned Trump’s deployment of ICE after the agency posted a clip soundtracked by 2024’s “Bye” in June.

“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F— ICE,” she commented.

Plenty of Ari’s pop star peers have criticized Trump’s deployment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter.

The 33-year-old has been a staunch supporter of the anti-ICE movement, as she sported an “ICE Out” pin at the 2026 Golden Globes.

On the music side, Grande returned with her petal album in July, which topped the Billboard 200 — her seventh LP at the summit — with 295,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States. Grande is currently in the midst of a 10-show run at London’s O2 Arena on the Eternal Sunshine Tour.

Find the Team Trump TikTok video below.

Mary J. Blige’s musical influence birthed plenty of R&B artists in the ’90s and into the turn of the century, but the R&B icon opened up about not having any biological children of her own.

Blige joined Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’s IMO podcast on Wednesday, where she reflected on her decision to not have kids.

“I saw a lot of people struggling,” the 55-year-old began. “I see a lot, you know, my family members needing babysitters and them not having a choice, no freedom. So when you’re younger, those are the words you make, those are the choices you make. I don’t want any kids.”

The “Real Love” singer also revealed how she’s had some regret about being kidless as she’s gotten older, but is ultimately happy with the life she’s built.

“When you get older, you start to see how valuable their teenagers are to them [and] their kids are to them. … Sometimes I’m lonely, but I’m alone a lot. I’m in my home, but we have a good time. We have a good time. I make sure we have a good time,” she said. “We by ourselves, we watching movies, I be trying on clothes, I be watching movies. I accept it; it is what it is. I’m not trying to have company and friends; it is what it is.”

Michelle Obama spoke about women feeling pressure to have children as a duty in life. “You don’t have to be a mother. That doesn’t make you whole,” the former first lady said. “If you’re not a whole person, a child will not do that for you. It won’t complete you.”

The Yonkers native married producer Kendu Isaacs in 2003 but filed for divorce in 2016. Blige and Isaacs ultimately settled the tumultuous split in 2018.

Mary J. Blige is currently preparing for another run in Las Vegas as part of her My Life, My Story residency, which picks back up in Sin City on Oct. 23.

The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s last album arrived in 2024 with Gratitude. She popped out as a guest earlier in August at Chris Brown and Usher’s R&B Tour stop in New Jersey.

Watch the full Mary J. Blige interview below. Talk about motherhood takes place around the 45-minute mark.

New Max B and Jim Jones music could be in our future.

During a recent appearance on The Jason Lee Show, Max was asked why he and his former collaborator and business partner fell out, but the Harlem rapper decided to not get into the details. Instead, he took the high road and extended a bit of an olive branch.

“There were a lot of things that led to our fallout, but I’m on new time now,” he told host Jason Lee. “I’m a father of four children. I’m a husband and I wanna see everybody win these days. I’m not with no drama.”

He was then asked if he’d be open to making new music with Jimmy and again remained positive. “Shout to Capo. Shout to the crew. I wanna see y’all win,” he began. “I’m at the place where if it makes sense and it makes money. Like I told y’all before, this is not my first interview saying that — if it makes money, it makes sense. If it don’t make money, it’s Internet juicy gossip, it’s not conducive to the Biggavels.”

Max then continued by hinting at a stint in Hollywood and said he’s been in contact with Jamie Foxx, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart and Wiz Khalifa.

“I’m not with the beef, I’m on parole. I’m not tryna beef with nobody,” he said. “My job out here is to make good product. I link with as many artists as I can. I just left Jamie Foxx. I just left Wiz Khalifa. I talked to Tiffany [Haddish]. Shouts to Tiff. I’m about to come out here with y’all. I don’t really wanna namedrop. Shout to Kev. We outside.”

He also said Rick Ross gave him a stack of money when he came home.

You can watch the full convo between Jason Lee and Max B below.