The Strokes will embark on a three-city east coast tour of Australia early next year in support of Reality Awaits, the U.S. rock band’s latest studio album.

Julian Casablancas and Co. will play four dates in the land down under, starting Saturday, Feb. 13 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The jaunt then heads south for a pair of concerts at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena (Feb. 16 and 17), and wraps up Saturday, Feb. 20 for the inaugural Sydney Summertime at Centennial Park.

Those dates will mark the Strokes’ first Australian headline shows since their sold-out run in 2022, although the band did headline Harvest Rock 2025 festival in Adelaide.

Also announced Thursday, Sept. 24, Courtney Barnett and Promiseland, the project of Johann Rashid, signed to Casablancas’ Cult Records, are confirmed as special guests for the Brisbane and Melbourne shows. Beck, Courtney Barnett and Promiseland will join the Strokes on the lineup for Sydney Summertime.

The Strokes Reality Awaits Australia 2027 is produced by Secret Sounds and Live Nation.

The Strokes have just completed the North America and Japan legs of their Reality Awaits tour, with a batch of shows across the United Kingdom, Europe and South America yet to come.

Reality Awaits (Cult Records/RCA Records) debuted at No. 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart in July of this year. Of their seven studio albums, six have cracked the top 10, including a No. 1 with 2011’s Angles.

Recorded in Costa Rica with producer Rick Rubin and finished around the globe, Reality Awaits features the singles “Going Shopping” and “Falling Out of Love,” and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200.

Tickets for all Australian shows go on sale Tuesday Sept. 29 at 1pm. For more, visit secretsounds.com and livenation.com.au.

The Strokes’ Reality Awaits Australia 2027:

Saturday, Feb. 13 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane —

Tuesday, Feb. 16 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Wednesday, Feb. 17 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Saturday, Feb. 20 — Sydney Summertime, Centennial Park, Sydney

Presented by Secret Sounds and Live Nation

Supported by Double J

The grand final for Australia’s National Rugby League won’t have an entertainment spot after talks with Tones And I fell through due to scheduling conflicts.

Tones (real name: Toni Watson) had been tipped as the headline music act for the NRL’s showpiece event, set for Sunday, Oct. 4 at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

That won’t happen, her reps say. And the league won’t pursue another artist to fill the void.

According to a statement from Tones’ team at Lemon Tree Management, the singer was “recently approached to perform the preshow at the NRL Grand Final.” An offer was presented to Tones via management on Sept. 5, reads the message, seen by Billboard. 

“Tones had a prior commitment with Macklemore in America and explored all avenues to make it work.” However, “nothing was signed or confirmed in writing.” 

“Due to the last minute nature,” the statement continues, “and prior commitments by Tones, we were unable to accept the offer. We wish the NRL nothing but the very best for their event.”

The league has said it will, instead, funnel that budget towards sports programs for underprivileged children.

Speaking with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’landys said the cost associated with the grand final entertainment was roughly A$1 million.

“I’d prefer to see 20,000 underprivileged kids who can’t afford to play rugby league play rugby league, rather than spend a million dollars on 11 minutes of a musical performance,” he remarked.

V’landys had no hard feelings with Tones. “I’m a fan of Tones And I,” he said. “She is a great performer, no doubt about that, and she’s got some great songs, but as I said, we both decided to go to a different direction.”

That different direction means a move away from artists sharing the spotlight of the grand final, one of the great annual crossover moments for a country obsessed with music and sport.  

V’landys insisted the sport didn’t need high-profile singers to sell tickets. “Our game sells itself,” he told the ABC. “People come to watch rugby league. They don’t come to watch a pop concert.”

Performers have included Tina Turner, Billy Idol, The Kid LAROI, and in 2025, Teddy Swims. Swims could be the last of that breed.

“We consider a lot of artists over a period of time,” V’landys added, “but as I said, I’ve been toying with this idea for a couple of years now, about giving the money to kids to play rugby league rather than a musical act.”

The Sydney Morning Herald, quoting unnamed sources, reported the issue was connected with the NRL’s demand that Tones And I perform her 2019 smash “Dance Monkey,” but that the singer and songwriter had declined. Tones has previously discussed her mixed feelings about the song. In a 2022 interview for Australian commercial radio, Tones remarked that “a lot of time, I don’t want to sing it.”

She does sing it, sometimes, including her showcase for the New Year’s celebration at Time’s Square, heading into 2026, and at Sydney’s NYE event in 2022.

“Dance Monkey” was a massive streaming hit which dominated charts for months, including Australia where it held top spot for an all-time record 24 weeks. The single also led the U.K. survey for 11 weeks, a record for a solo female artist; it cracked the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100; and reigned over charts in some 30 territories.

Tones’ debut full-length album Welcome to the Madhouse hit No. 1 in Australia after its release in July 2021, and featured her followup hit “Fly Away,” which peaked at No. 11 in the U.K. Her sophomore album, 2024’s Beautifully Ordinary, also went to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart.

Tones has, in the past, described Macklemore as her “favorite artist.” And with the release of “Chant” in 2022, she counts the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist as a collaborator.

Macklemore finds himself with some unexpected time on his hands, after a widely publicized early exit from Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour of the United States, following his “Free Palestine” remarks onstage.

Ciara says she’s no match for her 9-year-old daughter with a sixth sense.

Before the singer and Russell Wilson officially broke the news to their kids that they’re expecting baby No. 5, daughter Sienna had already started putting the pieces together.

In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight published Tuesday, Ciara shared that Sienna somehow sensed that her family was about to grow pretty soon — even before there was a visible baby bump.

“Sienna told me that I was pregnant before I told [the kids],” Ciara said.

According to the singer, Sienna has a history of picking up on her pregnancies before her siblings, and this time was definitely no different. “She told me early on, but my stomach was not big. I wasn’t showing then. She’s got this sixth sense. She’s done this with all her siblings,” Ciara explained.

Sienna apparently wasn’t keeping her suspicions to herself, either. At one point, she directly confronted her mom in the kitchen, telling her, “There’s a baby in your tummy.”

Ciara rightfully panicked a little bit, telling her daughter, “No, there’s not. What the heck?”

She immediately realized that her daughter might accidentally ruin the surprise she had planned for the rest of the family.

“And we were in the kitchen, so I’m like, ‘You’re really going to blow my cover,’” Ciara said.

But Sienna wasn’t the only one who had burning questions and suspicions. While Ciara was filming a TikTok dance with her son Future Zahir, who is 12, he apparently noticed that fans had something to say about his mom’s appearance. After scrolling through the comments, he came to Ciara with a question of his own: Why did everyone keep saying she was pregnant?

Ciara brushed off the speculation like a champion, telling him that people were just being people. But with the family’s big reveal still under wraps, it seemed like her kids were getting dangerously close to figuring out the secret.

Eventually, Ciara and Wilson decided it was time to stop keeping everyone in the dark. The couple gathered their children for what they presented as a family photo before Ciara revealed her growing bump and announced that they were expecting another baby.

The reaction was pretty predictable due to the previous detective work done by her children. After hearing the news, Future joked that the speculation that was swarming in the TikTok comments were in fact true. Despite somewhat figuring it out before the big reveal, everyone was overjoyed that a new member of the family was expected to arrive.

Baby No. 5 will be Ciara and Wilson’s fourth child together. The couple already share Sienna, Win, 6, and Amora Princess, 2, while Ciara shares 12-year-old Future with her ex-fiancé, rapper Future.

Watch the full interview below.

KATSEYE‘s Lara Raj has a special place in her heart for Camila Cabello.

On Wednesday (Sept. 23), Raj posted a selfie with the “Havana” singer to her Instagram Story. Raj is seen smiling while wearing a pair of sunglasses, posing next to Cabello as she rests her head on Raj’s shoulder. The sweet snapshot is captioned, “My big sissy forever.”

The photo doesn’t provide any clues about where or why the pair linked up, but Cabello’s music has been an inspiration for Raj, who revealed in August on the Nicky at Night podcast that the former Fifth Harmony member’s 2018 hit “Never Be the Same” was a reference behind the writing and production of KATSEYE’s song “Unloveu.”

The other girls of KATSEYE have also previously expressed their love and admiration for Cabello. In an interview with Complex back in 2025, member Sophia Laforteza deemed Cabello everyone’s “older sister.”

Released in 2017 as part of Cabello’s debut solo album Camila, “Never Be the Same” went on to become one of the singer’s biggest solo hits. The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2018 and also topped Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart.

The song’s influence seems to be full-circle for Raj, considering she used it as inspiration for “Unloveu,” which appears exclusively on the Target edition of the group’s third EP, WILD. The project was released last month, and it also made a major splash on the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and giving the group their first No. 1 on the tally.

The Wanted‘s Nathan Sykes and his wife, Charlotte, are officially expecting their first baby.

The couple shared the happy news Wednesday (Sept. 23) in an Instagram post filled with heartwarming photo-booth snapshots. Among the black-and-white pictures are images of the couple holding up ultrasound photos, while another shows Nathan placing his hand on Charlotte’s baby bump.

Their little one is expected to arrive in April 2027.

The announcement came with a simple message from the couple: ‘We’ve been keeping a little secret…” before revealing that “Baby Sykes is officially on the way.”

For longtime fans who first knew Sykes as the youngest member of The Wanted, the news is the start of a pretty sweet new chapter. Sykes joined the British-Irish boy band alongside members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and the late Tom Parker in 2009.

The Wanted made quite the impact on the U.S. charts with “Glad You Came,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2012. The group also sent “Chasing the Sun” to No. 50 on the Hot 100 that same year. Sykes later embarked on a solo career, scoring a Billboard chart-topper of his own with “Kiss Me Quick,” which reached No. 1 on Dance Club Songs in 2015. Sykes also briefly dated Ariana Grande in 2013, releasing the duet “Never Enough” that same year.

He got engaged to Charlotte in December 2022 after proposing on a beach in Saint Lucia. The beach is notably the same one where her parents had married years earlier, making the proposal extremely sentimental. The couple went on to tie the knot in October 2025.

View the full Instagram post below.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z‘s “Crazy in Love” has officially entered YouTube’s Billion Views Club.

It’s been more than two decades since the iconic collaboration introduced the world to Beyoncé as a solo superstar, and its official music video has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, making it the singer’s third music video to reach this milestone, following “Halo” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”

Released in 2003 as the lead single from Beyoncé’s solo debut album, Dangerously in Love, “Crazy in Love” established Bey as a force to be reckoned with outside of Destiny’s Child. The Jake Nava-directed video is every bit as memorable as the song, thanks to Beyoncé’s now-iconic choreography and Jay-Z’s appearance for his verse. The visual was also recognized at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, where it won for best choreography.

The song was just as dominant on the Billboard charts upon its release. “Crazy in Love” became Beyoncé’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, spending eight consecutive weeks atop the chart.

The track’s success has hardly faded with time, as it recently received an eight-times-platinum certification from the RIAA in December 2024, representing 8 million certified units in the U.S.

With its latest YouTube achievement, “Crazy in Love” joins “Halo” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” as Beyoncé’s three videos to surpass 1 billion views.

Watch the music video below.

You know it’s not the same as it was, because Harry Styles now has a billion views on his “As It Was” music video.

The 2022 visual directed by Tanu Muino recently hit the milestone on YouTube. It marks just the second Styles video to enter the platform’s billions club, following 2017’s “Sign of the Times.”

Released as the lead single to his third studio album, Harry’s House, “As It Was” remains the pop star’s biggest hit to date. It spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — for context, just seven songs have had longer runs at the summit than that — and the same amount of time atop the Billboard Global 200. Harry’s House won album of the year at the 2023 Grammys and topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks.

“As It Was” was nominated for video of the year at the 2022 VMAs, but the prize went to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” short film.

Fast-forward a few years, and Styles is now on tour for his fourth album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. After stops in Amsterdam, London, São Paulo and Mexico City, the One Direction alum is currently nearing the halfway point of his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

He recently announced that he’ll be keeping the tour going through August of 2027, unveiling a string of additional dates earlier in September. Styles also told fans at the time: “After that, I don’t know what comes next for me, but I know that I’m excited to find out.”

Add your view to more than a billion others by checking out “As It Was” above.

Three days after the announcement that New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert had died at the age of 45 after a brain cancer battle, Hayley Williams shared a statement addressing the loss of her ex-husband.

In a typed message posted to her Instagram Story on Wednesday (Sept. 23), the Paramore frontwoman began by saying, “Have not known what to say or if it’s appropriate.”

“But I feel sure now that I want to bc life is made of the paths we cross and the reasons we cross them are infinite,” she continued. “Chad is indeed a legend in the scene and my time connected to him taught me a lot. He introduced me to people that continue to shape my life in beautiful ways, and to music and culture that has made life a lot richer.”

Williams went on to praise Gilbert for “what he contributed to the musical world a lot of us grew up in,” adding that the rocker’s “influence and attitude guided the genre forward.”

“His passion for fostering the community was inspiring and sticks with me,” she added. “I will forever be grateful that from him I gained a deeper understanding and a reverence for the community and the culture of hardcore.”

The singer concluded by sending love to Gilbert’s “family, NFG fam, and all his friends.”

After dating since 2008, Williams married the rocker in 2016. The following year, they announced their separation, stating at the time that they remained “close friends who are good in each other’s eyes.”

Gilbert later married Lisa Cimorelli, who broke the news on Sunday (Sept. 20) of her husband’s death alongside his New Found Glory bandmates on social media. “On the morning of September 20th, Chad Everett Gilbert passed away peacefully in his sleep,” they wrote in a joint statement. “He left this world surrounded by friends and family and took his final breaths with his wife and mother by his side, just as he wished.”

The announcement also noted that Gilbert — who shared daughter Lily with Cimorelli — considered being a father his greatest accomplishment. “His biggest dreams came true,” it added.

Los Angeles’ Silverlake Conservatory of Music will celebrate its 25th anniversary next month with an all-star benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium. The Oct. 17 show will be headlined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Vince Staples and comedian Marc Maron.

Chili Peppers bassist Flea, one of the co-founders of the school, encouraged fans to check the event out, writing on Instagram, “Come celebrate a quarter century of The Silverlake Conservatory Of Music! Yeeeeeeeah! Proceeds of course all go to the non -profit school. We teach 1000 kids a week, we are open 7 days a week. Private lessons, ensembles, choir. We are beautiful.”

Tickets for the benefit will go on sale to the general public on Friday (Sept. 25) at 1 p.m. ET, with a pre-sale starting on Thursday (Sept. 24); click here for information on VIP packages and sponsorship opportunities.

Flea and musician Keith “Tree” Barry co-founded the nonprofit music school with friend Peter Weiss in 2001 with a mission to fill in the gaps in music education in L.A. public schools. The Conservatory now provides music lessons to more than 1,000 students a week, with a vibrant scholarship program that serves more than 200 students via free lessons, instruments, supplies and ensemble classes for those whose families cannot afford music lessons.

In past years, the school has held an annual private dinner to raise funds, but this year it is opening its doors for the Palladium show that aims to raise around $1.5 million for programming. Previous events have included sets from Beck, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, Bruno Mars and the Chili Peppers.

A special concert honoring the 20th anniversary of Amy Winehouse‘s iconic 2006 Back to Black LP will take place in London next month (October 21). The one-off performance at London’s Roundhouse will see Winehouse’s original live band joined by a slate of special guests vocalists. 

The gig will be curated by key collaborators on the album including, album producers Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi, long-term musical director Dale Davis, co-writers Paul O’Duffy and p*nut, and former Island Records executive Darcus Beese OBE.

Special guest vocalists, selected by the album’s original producers, include Baby Rose, Corinne Bailey Rae, FLO, Jessie Reyez, Jorja Smith, Lianne La Havas, Nia Smith, Sasha Keable, Skye Newman, and Yebba.

Speaking on the concert, Ronson said, “I’m honored to be asked to come celebrate Amy alongside Salaam and some amazing artists worthy of singing her songs. Doing justice to the legacy of Back to Black is the order of the night.”

Salaam Remi added, “Funny how time flies! I can’t believe it’s been 20 years already. I’m excited to see what these ladies bring to their versions of these songs we know and love.”

A pre-sale for tickets is available to artists who pre-order a new 20th anniversary edition format of Back to Black from Winehouse’s official artist store by Sep. 28, 12 p.m. BST. A general sale will then begin on Oct. 1, 10 a.m. from Metropolis Music’s website.

The concert will be broadcast on BBC Two in late October as part of wider programming celebrating Winehouse’s legacy, and on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 2 show on Oct. 26.

Released in October 2006, Back to Black is one of the U.K.’s best-selling albums of all time and peaked at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200. At the 2008 Grammys, Winehouse collected record of the year and song of the year for “Rehab,” best pop vocal album, and best new artist. Winehouse died in 2011, aged 27, from alcohol poisoning.