The members of 5 Seconds of Summer have been through a lot together after nearly 15 years as a group, but nothing could’ve prepared them for the fiery chaos of Hot Ones Versus.

In the latest episode of First We Feast’s competition series posted on Tuesday (July 21), Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin sat beside one another as they stomached hot wings, burning questions and increasingly ridiculous challenges.

Immediately, the episode kicks off with a tough question for Clifford, asking him to rank each member’s solo albums from best to worst. Rather than risk bruising any feelings, Clifford opted to take the punishment instead. The band watches curiously as he dives straight into a “death wing,” sipping all drinks at his disposal in hopes that the spice subsides.

Irwin is next met with a “Wild Card,” in which the band is advised to pass a toy pizza around the table without using their hands — a nod to the group’s deep-cut rarity called “Pizza Song.” The band didn’t have to endure another fiery bite after completing this challenge, and even evaded it the next round as Hemmings successfully “filled in the blank” to complete the lyrics of old 5 Seconds of Summer songs.

Hood, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. Hemmings picks up a card, ordering Hood to either let his bandmates doodle all over his face for the remainder of the episode or eat another spicy wing. The bassist chose the latter, squeezing his nostrils shut as he picks up his punishment. Hemmings asks in confusion, “What’s with the nose?” to which Hood responds, “Well, nose is like, 90% of the taste.” The group erupts into giggles as Hood finishes his bite.

The prompts only became more absurd from there. Clifford judged his bandmates’ outfits in an impromptu fashion show, eventually sentencing Hemmings to another death wing, while Hood assigned each member tongue-in-cheek personality sashes. Hemmings was dubbed the group’s “Little Diva,” Clifford earned “Hot Mama,” Irwin was bestowed “The Flirt,” and Hood embraced the title of “Bad Influence.”

Later, the group huddles together to devise the perfect question for Irwin after drawing the game’s “Killer’s Choice” card.

“He’s an open book,” Hemmings laughs as the band try to think of a question he can answer. Everyone has had a wing except for Irwin, so they ultimately ask him a burning personal question about how many houses he owns, and how much they cost. Irwin sidesteps the interrogation by voluntarily eating a death wing.

For the grand finale, the longtime friends settled the competition with a heated game of musical chairs after adding an extra dab of The Last Dab to their remaining wings. Clifford emerged as the winner from the game, though not without being jokingly accused of cheating by the rest of the band. He holds his Hot Ones Versus trophy and issues a playful challenge to fellow boyband alum Niall Horan to face all four members on a future episode.

Watch 5 Seconds of Summer’s full episode of Hot Ones Versus below.

Lizzo is closing out the month in a “Special” way, making her Sports Illustrated cover debut for the magazine’s July 2026 Swimsuit digital issue.

The “About Damn Time” singer wore her signature Yitty Swim bikinis and swimsuits for the poolside, Miami mansion-set shoot, marking a second of two recent Sports Illustrated moments. In the spring (May 30), Lizzo performed several songs from her new Bitch album, including “Sexy Ladies,” at the 2026 SI Swimsuit Runway Show during Miami Swim Week. The 38-year-old worked the catwalk in a bright blue one-piece swimsuit with the word “b—h” written across the front, a nod to her latest LP.

“My newest fantasy is about feeling good in my body and enjoying my life,” she told Sports Illustrated. “I worked so hard that I destroyed my nervous system. I have such bad anxiety that now I’m working on reversing those things because it’s not conducive to my career. It doesn’t help … to be an artist of this caliber and to have anxiety and to have fear. … There’s no place for that. I really am just seeking joy.”

This grounded, restorative outlook previews Lizzo’s exciting upcoming slate of projects. The Grammy-winning singer-rapper-songwriter hasn’t been on the silver screen in an acting role since 2019’s acclaimed Hustlers, but she’ll soon return in the starring role of a forthcoming Sister Rosetta Tharpe biopic.

Confirming that the film was greenlit and in development, Lizzo revealed, “We’re in the process of writing the script. There’s a lot of research that has gone into the biopic, and I want to be really careful and precious with the script because I think it’s really important to show a Black woman at that time in a different light. … I want her biopic to represent her as the superstar that she was.”

In addition to her acting career, Lizzo is also bringing her talents to the world of children’s books. This fall (Sept. 8), she’ll release Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’, a Mark Pett-illustrated picture book that follows “a girl [who] finds her voice with the help of a smart and sassy flute.” “I want to… give people backstory on my relationship,” she said. “I’m super adamant about young people playing instruments again. It used to be mandatory, and I don’t know if it’s mandatory anymore, and it scares me.”

It’s been a busy month for Lizzo, most of which she’s spent as a guest professor at Kai Cenat’s Streamer University, where she notably gave streaming star and Grammy-nominated artist Plaqueboymax helpful lessons in self-love after fellow “students” like online personality Ojaysuave harassed him and encouraged homophobia-laced speculation about his sexuality.

Last month (June 5), Lizzo’s Bitch became her first project since 2015’s Big Grrrl Small World to miss the Billboard 200 completely. Led by the singles “Don’t Make Me Love U” and the Meredith Brooks-nodding title track, the LP managed to reach No. 15 on Indie Store Album Sales and No. 46 on Top Album Sales.

A congressional forum was held Tuesday (July 21) to call attention to Donald Trump‘s various “vanity projects,” one of which — the unprecedented 2025 overhaul of the Kennedy Center — Ben Folds was on hand to discuss.

During his turn to speak before lawmakers in the hearing presided over by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the singer/songwriter shared testimony of the changes he witnessed when he was still artistic advisor to the cultural institution’s National Symphony Orchestra. Ever since Trump booted a number of board members and took the role of chairman for himself in February 2025, the Kennedy Center has become a “hyper-politicized environment,” according to Folds.

“I never heard politics discussed in any meetings or gatherings at the center,” he recalled of his tenure leading up to Trump’s takeover, noting that the organization remained apolitical even during the twice-impeached POTUS’ first tenure in 2017-2021. “Everyone involved, including the Trump board, knew we were there to create, educate and showcase art for all Americans, not to further a political agenda.”

“I think most of us understand that when you politicize art, you’ve got propaganda,” he continued.

Folds went on to detail how Trump’s actions negatively affected the center’s reputation and mission. For one, he pointed out that artists can no longer accept or decline invitations to perform at the venue without it coming across as either an endorsement or protest of the president’s administration.

He also said that he “could not trust” that the artists he booked to play at the Kennedy Center “would be safe from retribution if they said or sung something that might displease the president or his political allies. “For this reason, with great sadness, I had no choice but to resign,” he added.

Further, Folds also amplified the investigation into Yasmin Levy’s performance at the center in September. The singer had criticized the board’s DEI and programming changes in an email exchange with then-interim executive director Richard Grenell, who was selected for the job by Trump. When it came time for her performance — which she went through with in solidarity with the Kennedy Center’s staff and union — she was booed by hecklers that Grennell’s executive vp, Rick Loughery, had allegedly paid to harass her.

“The takeover hobbled the Kennedy Center, broke its once-proven successful business model and disrespected its original core mission,” Folds said conclusively. “I can only hope your concerns can find their way to the hearts and minds of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who seem absent today.”

The Kennedy Center was just one of many issues covered at the forum, which came in response to “Trump’s vanity projects [that] have wasted hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars,” according to a description. Testifiers such as Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and National Parks Conservation manager of veterans programs Jimi Shaughnessy, as well as Public Citizen democracy advocate Jon Gollinger, also shared observations about Trump’s extravagant spending on renovating parts of the White House, making over the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool and constructing a large triumphal arch in Washington, D.C.

Folds had served as the NSO’s artistic advisor for nearly a decade before stepping down in February 2025, around which time several acts denounced Trump for taking control over the Kennedy Center and publicly canceled planned concerts at the venue. This past May, a federal judge ordered that Trump could not add his name to the Kennedy Center’s title and called for the immediate removal of any reference to him on the building’s signage.

Watch the full hearing below.

Xzibit’s Instagram comments were flooded by cat-loving fans across the globe who wanted to know how he was able to keep Thunder Cat alive for more than 20 years, and the West Coast rapper posted a follow-up video explaining his tactics on Monday.

“I had no idea you guys liked cats that much, but Thunder Cat has been in my life for a long time. She’s seen it all,” he said. “Everybody’s asking how I kept her alive for, you know, this long. Well, first of all, I love my cat. I take care of her and I look out.”

The former Pimp My Ride host revealed that Thunder Cat has a dry food diet for the most part, but gets a junk food treat when Thunder’s on his best behavior.

Xzibit credited doctors for getting her on an IV fluid regimen to treat her previous kidney and thyroid medical issues.

“People have loved my cat as much as I have for a long time, so people send me sh– all the time associated with my cat,” he continued. “The fact that this is going crazy is beyond me. But this is the kind of sh– I get.”

Fans have sent him gifts over the years, ranging from a sweater that he’s worn with Thunder Cat’s face emblazoned across the garment as well as various paintings and portraits. “People love Thunder Cat. I love Thunder Cat,” X added. “I’m glad you guys like her as much as I do.”

The feline has been getting so much love that X decided to make Thunder Cat his own Instagram account, which now boasts more than 25,000 followers.

On the music side, Xzibit’s last album came with Kingmaker last year. In May, he joined forces with D-12 and Ice-T for the band’s “Nightmare Walking” single.

Lil Wayne was an open book during his recent appearance on Lil Dicky, Benny Blanco and Kristin Batalucco’s podcast Friends Keep Secrets.

During a conversation about how he watched mostly Naked and Afraid and sports while he was behind bars, the New Orleans rapper admitted that Ancient Aliens is a guilty pleasure of his when he’s not watching sports.

“I love everything about Ancient Aliens,” he admitted after Batalucco asked if he watched the 2025 documentary The Age of Disclosure. “But that [documentary], Age of Disclosure, that’s when they’re exposing everything that the government is watching.”

He then said we still don’t truly know the real truth about aliens while also bringing up the conspiracy theory that an extraterrestrial by the name of “J-Rod” survived an alleged UFO crash that happened in Kingsman, Arizona, in 1953. “We also have to understand what an alien is,” Wayne said. “None of us know. We don’t even know if they’re from another planet. The only alien that we supposedly knew is the one from Roswell that lived, J-Rod.”

He added: “J -Rod said, ‘I’m not from another planet.’ He said, ‘I’m from another time.’ He said that your world will end in a cataclysm, and some people will make it — a lot of people will — and they’ll have to live within the planet, basically going like ants. And that civilization, that time, will last so long that we’ll adapt to living there, and just like we adapt to everything else, we’re gonna start adapting to being an insect, devoid of light. That’s why alien eyes are so big because wherever they came from, there’s no light and the atmosphere is so dense. That’s why they don’t grow too tall because the atmosphere don’t allow them to. They don’t eat the same food, that’s why don’t get so big like that.”

Elsewhere in the podcast, Weezy revealed that he eats “breakfast for dinner a lot” and that he’s not the biggest fan of milk even though its essential when enjoying a bowl of cereal. “I don’t do milk, and I still eat cereal. I put milk in it; I just can’t look at it,” he said. “I don’t eat a lot of things that are white and soft. So, like, mashed potatoes I don’t f— with. Ranch, I can’t do. Stuff like mayonnaise, nothing. Milk is the only thing, and white rice. That’s the only thing I can do.”

Oh, and we almost forgot: When asked who his favorite rappers were, Wayne answered with Jay-Z (despite the supposed Super Bowl snub) and Missy Elliott.

You can watch the full episode of Friends Keep Secrets featuring Lil Wayne below.

Liverpool’s Magical Mystery Tour has long been one of the city’s most in-demand tourist attractions, with fans of The Beatles taken on a city-wide excursion to key locations in the Fab Four’s story. Now it comes with added star power: Sir Paul McCartney himself.

The band’s bassist made an unexpected cameo on a daily tour yesterday (July 20) when guests on the Magical Mystery bus spotted him at a set of traffic lights. After waving to fans in the serendipitous moment, they then received an added bonus when, after waving to fans, McCartney showed them that he was currently on a Facetime call with former bandmate Ringo Starr.

Speaking to the BBC, driver and tour guide Neal Morton said “it was surreal” to spot the musician while on the tour of the city.

“I had pulled up at the traffic lights on Hope Street when who should I see – Sir Paul with Ringo on Facetime”, he said. “He waved to us, and everybody took photos. The passengers could not believe it.”

McCartney was in town ahead of a presentation to actor Stephen Graham (Adolescence, The Irishman) with a companionship of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA); McCartney is a co-founder of the school and often attends graduation ceremonies for students.

The unofficial tour, named after their 1967 LP, is a two-hour visit to the city’s locations that played a part in the band’s stories, visiting their childhood homes, Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, and finishing at the Cavern Club, where the group played early shows.

It’s the latest team-up between McCartney and Starr after the pair duetted for the first time on the former’s latest album The Boys of Dungeon Lane, released in May.

Every man knows that the surest way to a woman’s heart is through … hyaluronic acid? Well, that’s the pitch A$AP Rocky uses in a new ad for his line of Fenty Beauty skin products in which he co-stars with company founder and his longtime partner, Rihanna.

The minute-long FentySkin spot posted on Rih’s Instagram on Monday (July 20), is titled “DON’T BE DUMB, USE @fentyskin,” borrowing its name from A$AP’s fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb, which dropped in January. In it, the rapper and sometime actor takes on the role of a subway-style hawker, busting into a beauty salon with his loud and proud pitch.

“Ladies, ladies, can I have your attention please,” he says as he opens up his overcoat to reveal rows and rows of high-end beauty products lining the inside of the jacket. “I ain’t sellin’ no gel, I ain’t sellin’ no grease,” he adds as Rihanna sits up at attention and dips her tinted shades down to get a look at the handsome huckster.

Smoothly dropping the product-laden garment to the group, A$AP announces that there’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s showing himself around. That confidence allows him to approach a clearly unimpressed RihRih, asking for two minutes of her time to sell her on his elixirs. “You got two seconds,” she says tersely.

A$AP, his hair pulled up on top with pink oversized curlers, tries to sell her on a daily moisturizer cream, mansplaining what SPF stands for along the way. “Don’t be dumb, you gotta use SPF,” he says smoothly, tipping some out to show off its qualities as Rihanna twists the curler-shaped bottle in her hands and coos, “I kinda like that,” after finding out its invisible on all skin tones.

The rapper tries to sell her on a lip balm as well, which comes with a keychain carrying case he personally designed. His pitch clearly lands, as Rihanna says “I’ll take all of it” at the end, adding in a cha-ching wink to close the deal. Check out other items in the A$AP Rocky x Fenty Skin line here.

Rocky will take his Don’t Be Dumb tour overseas next month, beginning with an Aug. 25 date at ING Arena in Brussels, Belgium.

Burna Boy granted fans an all-access pass to one of the biggest performances of his career, and Billboard had a front-row seat.

In a new behind-the-scenes video diary for Billboard, the genre-blending artist takes viewers through every single step of his day as he prepared to perform at the inaugural FIFA World Cup Final halftime show on Sunday. From a police escort at the beginning of the day to the adrenaline of stepping on the field at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium for the halftime show, the video transparently showcases a timeline of all the moments that led up to and followed his high-profile performance.

Along the way, Burna shares several memorable interactions. He poses for photos with collaborator Shakira, with whom he teamed up for the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Dai Dai.” The song — which the duo performed during Sunday’s halftime — spends a second week atop the Billboard Global 200 and a fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. Burna also meets up with streamer iShowSpeed, embraces Justin Bieber in a hug, and even greets Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis, who made an unannounced cameo to introduce Bieber. After making his rounds, Burna squeezes in one final practice session right before taking the stage.

The camera follows Burna stepping onto the field, capturing the celebration. Burna is all smiles as the performance comes to an end, entering the players’ tunnel to return backstage and receiving praise from Chris Martin, who curated the halftime show and co-wrote the song “We Dance” with his Coldplay bandmates for the finale.

Watch Burna Boy’s full day in the life via Billboard below.

 J. Cole‘s The Fall-Off World Tour has gotten off to an auspicious start.

Last week during the tour’s second stop in Miami, a couple got engaged as he was performing “Life Sentence,” one of the latest cuts from his most recent album The Fall-Off, which is dedicated to love and marriage despite the song’s title. “What’s up, baby girl? What’s up, my boy? God bless y’all,” the rapper said once he caught wind of their engagement. “That’s f—ing beautiful. Y’all make some noise for them, man.”

There was also another couple who were getting married the day after the show at Miami’s Kaseya Center and had their seats upgraded by Cole’s team and invited him and his manager Ibrahim Hamad to the wedding. “Aye @KingOfQueenz @JColeNC we just wanna say thank you for tonight’s show in Miami. our original tickets had an ‘obstructed view’ and so y’all upgraded our tickets to the front row,” the fan wrote on X. “Y’all let a bunch of fans since 2010 make a core memory. thank you. my lady and I get married tomorrow at 3pm in Miami if y’all would like to come. shoutout to Cole for showing us love during Life Sentence.”

And now, during the tour’s fourth stop at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, someone threw their bra onstage as Cole was performing his hit record “Work Out” from his 2011 debut studio album Sideline Story. “N—a ain’t got a bra onstage in a long motherf—in’ time, boy,” he told the crowd as he was laughing in shock. “You gotta cherish that sh–.”

The American leg of Cole’s tour ends in his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina, at Crown Coliseum on Sept. 3. He then heads out for the European leg starting Oct. 7 at Uber Arena in Berlin and will end it at Unity Arena in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 12, so there’s still plenty of time to catch him if you haven’t gotten the chance to already.

Make sure to bring either a bra or an engagement ring — or both.

Taylor Swift attended game 4 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in June, which saw the Knicks overcome a 29-point deficit for the largest comeback in Finals history. Knicks star Jalen Brunson spoke at Variety’s inaugural Sports & Entertainment Studio last week, during which he showed appreciation for having the pop supernova courtside among the celebrity guests in the crowd.

“It’s really cool having her there,” Brunson said, before bringing up Swift also being courtside for the Eastern Conference Finals in Cleveland. “I feel like her being in Cleveland for courtside one game, obviously, I think Travis and the Kelces are from Ohio, so I get that. And she’s been at the Knicks’ games before.”

He continued: “So, I mean, whoever comes, as long as you’re cheering us on, we appreciate it. And I think that was probably a really good game to come to as well.”

Swift cheered on the Knicks during the historic comeback in game 4 while rocking a “Stevie Knicks” T-shirt alongside HAIM’s Este and Alana Haim as well as actress Mariska Hargitay.

JB and the Knicks ended up disposing of the Spurs in five games to capture the franchise’s first championship in 53 years.

Page Six reported that Brunson and the rest of the Knicks starting five were invited to Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding. JB didn’t confirm whether or not he was invited, but he did relay that he wasn’t at the star-studded affair.

“It’s a great question,” he said. “I found out the same way the rest of the world did. So, I don’t know if it was true or not, but I did not attend.”

Swift and Kelce tied the knot at Madison Square Garden on July 3 in front of more than 1,000 wedding guests, while Adam Sandler served as the ceremony’s officiant.