Ariana Grande isn’t holding back on her new album, Petal, which the pop star said comes from a place of “unfiltered rage” in a new Apple Music clip posted Wednesday (July 29).

Shared one day prior to “Petal Radio” airing on the platform Thursday (July 30) at 5 p.m. PT with a more in-depth conversation about the LP, the clip shows Grande sitting on the bed that is part of her stage design on the Eternal Sunshine Tour. When asked which of the 12 tracks on Petal she’s most excited for fans to hear, the Grammy winner couldn’t choose.

“I’m equally excited to see how they react to every single song,” she said. “It pulls from many different parts of myself and yet, at the same time, it is very experimental and different for me. I wrote from a place that I don’t usually, which was like an unfiltered rage that I think we all feel sometimes.”

“I usually am too shy to tap into that,” she continued. “This time, I didn’t filter as much as I usually do. I usually do a lot of rewrites and make things a little kinder. This time, I didn’t.”

It’s not the first time Grande has hinted that Petal has a bit of a temper. In May, she posted a video of herself breaking down the message of the album in a meeting with her team, saying at the time: “It’s a little feral. It’s definitely from a place I’ve been maybe too shy or polite to tap into before. This kind of just feels like, ‘F–k it.’”

Fans will have to wait until the full album drops on Friday (July 31) to get the full picture, but the snippets of Petal they’ve heard so far definitely live up to Grande’s description. On Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 lead single “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” for instance, she muses with brutal honesty, “I’ve held your projections when you’ve felt so insecure/ Tell me, why is it this way?/ Why you so hate to see women endure?/ Is it really my fault you all gave me your hearts of your own accord?”

“Good luck on your way to hell,” the vocalist sings plainly on a clip from one song she posted on Instagram earlier in July.

And on the title track — which she debuted live on stage at her first Eternal Sunshine Tour show in Montreal — she further addresses her relationship to being in the public eye. “All of my favorite stories end in some kind of catastrophe,” the lyrics read. “But I don’t need someone to save me/ ’Cause this music and I will never die.”

Watch the clip from Grande’s conversation with Apple Music below.

The electronic world is reeling Wednesday (July 29) with the news of Kavinsky’s death. The French synthwave producer was found dead in his Paris home on the night of July 28, local time, with police reporting that the artist had been experiencing headaches and may have died from a stroke. An inquiry has been opened to determine the cause of death, with first responders finding nothing suspicious at the scene. He was 50 years old.

A synthwave pioneer, Kavinsky was a key member of the global swell of French Touch in the early and mid-2000s and into the 2010s. He became famous for 2010’s “Nightcall,” a synthwave masterpiece and staple of the era that gained global renown when it was used in the 2011 film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.

Now, the artist born Vincent Belorgey is being remembered by friends and associates.

“Just learned about Kavinsky’s passing,” David Guetta wrote on social media. “A true icon of French electronic music. Thank you for creating a sound that was entirely your own and for leaving us with music that will continue to inspire. Thank you for your kindness and simplicity. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and loved ones. Rest in peace.”

“Kavinsky was the funniest person I’ve ever met,” wrote A-Trak. “As I sit here processing the sadness of losing a dear friend, I think this is what he would want me to remember. The good times. There were many sides to Vinco. Of course there was the Kavinsky character, the zombie in the ‘Teddy’ varsity jacket, driving a Testarossa — whose music became more celebrated than ever in recent years since the French Olympics. But there was also a man who, in my case, joined the Fools Gold Records tour on the first year of the label, who had us in tears cracking up every time we saw him, who stayed at my apartment in Montreal back in the day, who had a nickname for everyone in the crew. The lore runs deep, a lot of stories will have to wait for another day but for now go watch the video for Mr. Oizo’s ‘Analog Worms Attack‘ to get a glimpse of Vincent the actor before he became a musician. Everyone who met him was marked by his charisma. RIP to the silver fox.”

Madeon wrote that “Yesterday I was going through my CD copy of OutRun, amazed by the vibrancy of his universe… I remember reading all the updates about him on French Touch Forum as a teen and how nervous I was when I finally got to meet him. A few months ago I played ‘Nightcall’ at Coachella as the sun set and I got chills sharing this unique moment with the crowd. It’s a generational record that our kids will discover as well. Sending love to his friends and family.”

Sebastian Tellier wrote, “You were one of a kind—hilarious and deeply moving. Your brilliant, masterful music will stay with me—and all of us—forever. We shared so much over the years: records, movies, music videos, fits of laughter, and endless nights out!!! I’m going to miss you terribly, my Vinco —as will the whole French Touch scene and our beloved Montmartre neighborhood. You were, and always will be, a legend!!!”

“My Vincent, the night truly called you back too soon,” wrote Jean-Michel Jarre. “I remember our late-night calls and the bond we shared, and I keep you close to me, my little brother-in-arms.”

Gaspard Auge of Justice simply wrote, “Goodbye mon cher ami.”

Majestic girl group FLO is entering their sophomore era with intense momentum. Ahead of the Aug. 7 release of Therapy at the Club, the British R&B trio offers Billboard a closer look at the 16-song project, which includes previously released songs “Leak It,” “Don’t Break Her Heart” and the title track, as well as yet-to-be-released songs “Floating,” “Cry Ugly,” “HaterBooth,” “Miss U Missing Me” and “Small Doses.”

Behind the music, though, there was a creative shift that the trio says happened long before the tracklist was finalized.

Speaking with Billboard, FLO shares that making Therapy at the Club meant becoming more outspoken in the studio, even when it felt uncomfortable. Instead of holding back their feedback, the group said they learned to trust their instincts and advocate for what they wanted the album to sound and feel like.

“It felt really good,” member Stella Quaresma says. “I think that it comes to a point where you just have to rip the Band-Aid off. Some things can feel confrontational or uncomfortable, but we’re all in the room to make a great song.”

That mindset, they explain, changed the entire creative process.

“It feels good to just say how you feel and say, ‘I don’t like that,’ or ‘try that,’” Quaresma continued, adding that speaking up left the group “in a much better place creatively.”

The confidence seems to have carried over into every corner of the album-making process. Compared to debut album Access All Areas, which introduced the trio’s rich harmonies and nostalgic R&B influences, FLO says Therapy at the Club reflects who they are as both artists and women.

“It definitely feels more grown,” Renée Downer says. “We have grown up. We have been heavily involved in the album. We immersed ourselves into it… figuring out what needed healing and figuring out what we wanted to talk about. It feels very honest and more real.”

That evolution extends beyond the songwriting. While discussing the cinematic music video for their song “Leak It,” the group candidly admitted they hadn’t been “100% happy” with some of their previous music videos, making it a priority for this era’s visuals to better showcase the ambition of the songs.

“We knew that song had to have a big moment and a big video,” Quaresma states. Downer chimes in as well, adding, “You want to make the video an accurate representation of the music. If the music feels big, it’s always kind of sad if the video doesn’t match it.”

The album arrives after a breakout stretch for FLO: Access All Areas earned the triad a Grammy nomination for best progressive R&B album earlier this year after reaching No. 20 on Top R&B Albums in late 2024.

If Access All Areas introduced FLO to the world, Therapy at the Club appears poised to show listeners a more self-assured version of the trio: one that’s no longer afraid to speak up, both inside and outside the recording studio.

Noah Kahan is the latest artist to lash out at the White House for using his music in a social media propaganda. After President Trump’s visit to a Michigan auto plant this week to tout cars made in America, the administration posted videos and photos on TikTok and Instagram cued to Kahan’s song “American Cars” from his fourth studio album, the Billboard 200 No. 1 LP The Great Divide.

The 29-year-old Vermont-bred singer-songwriter adamantly slammed the unauthorized placement, writing in comments on Instagram (where, at press time, it appeared the sound had been disabled), “Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration.” The comment on Monday’s (July 27) post has more than 21,000 likes so far.

The song, however, is still featured in the accompanying White House TikTok from the event, where it plays as Trump is signing a white Corvette while visiting the General Motors proving grounds in Milford, Mich. Kahan’s frequent cowriter and the co-author of “American Cars,” guitarist Noah Levine, left a more blunt comment on the Instagram post, writing, “You fat f–k this song isn’t for you.” At press time, a number of fans complained that it appeared Levine’s comment had been scrubbed.

At press time, a spokesperson for the White House had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

Kahan joins a very long list of artists who’ve called out the Trump administration for using their music without permission in videos or posts promoting the president’s agenda. Over the weekend, Katy Perry was similarly incensed when the White House used her iconic 2010 hit “Firework” in a TikTok that featured footage of military strikes, writing on X, “I am deeply appalled and angry to see ‘Firework’ used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.” The video synchronized Perry’s “boom, boom, boom” lyrics with black-and-white footage of bombing, with the caption, “Iran has been warned.”

Perry added, “My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.”

That followed a similar comment from Ariana Grande in June, when she objected to the White House using a version of her 2024 song “Bye” in a TikTok showing ICE agents arresting and handcuffing people. “Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense. F— ICE,” Grande wrote in a comment that is no longer visible.

Kahan, Perry and Grande join a large roster of acts who have spoken out against Trump using their music in campaign and administration hype videos, a list that includes everyone from Beyoncé and Adele to Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, Jack White/White Stripes, Kenny Loggins, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, Ozzy Osbourne, Rihanna and many more.

Dua Lipa has announced her curated lineup for the 2026 London Literature Festival, running from Oct. 20 to Nov. 1 at the Southbank Centre. The program marks the latest venture for her Service95 Book Club, which features monthly reading selections and an author-interview podcast series.

“Curating the line up for the London Literature Festival with my Service95 Book Club has been a true joy and I’m so proud of the program we have created,” Dua Lipa said in a statement. “We’ll be joined by icons as well as emerging voices from across the arts the world needs to know. You will recognize some as friends of the book club, and others may be your first introduction, but ultimately, I wanted to create a space that brings together some of the most exciting writers, poets and thinkers from around the globe. I’m looking forward to being both in conversation and taking my seat in the audience at this iconic venue.”

Dua will be in conversation with a number of authors and musicians during the event. On Oct. 24, She will speak with British author Zadie Smith about her award-winning 2000 debut novel, White Teeth, alongside separate discussions with Sudanese-Canadian poet Mustafa (Oct. 24) and punk-rock icon and author Patti Smith (Oct. 25).

Elsewhere during the festival, there’ll be a number of panels focused on translated fiction, and an appearance from British rapper and musician Kae Tempest. Malorie Blackman (Noughts & Crosses) and Hernan Diaz (Trust) will also be in attendance. Tickets for the event are on sale now from the Southbank Centre’s official website.

The guest curation is the latest move by the esteemed London venue in its 75th anniversary celebrations. In June, Harry Styles curated the annual Meltdown Festival and also performed a stripped-back, rarity-stuffed headline show as part of the program.

Dua’s Service95 Book Club launched in 2023, and its monthly reads have included both classics (One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and a number of contemporary favorites (Flesh by David Szalay).

London’s Ministry of Sound will mark its 35th birthday with a weekend-long party, Billboard U.K. can exclusively reveal.

Across the weekend of Oct. 2-3, Andy C, Kerri Chandler, Moodymann and Loco Dice will take over the famous club with a series of performances. Tickets are available for the event via Dice.fm.

Louder, MoS’ longest-running club night, will take over the Friday night, with drum-and-bass legend Andy C returning to the London venue for the first time in 10 years for an extended three-hour set.

The following day, influential label Hard Times will bring together two of house music’s most revered figures, with New York deep-house pioneer Kerri Chandler and Detroit icon Moodymann performing during the daytime event.

On the evening of Oct. 3, Urge, the Ministry’s flagship underground house and techno night, will be headlined by Tunisian-German DJ and producer Loco Dice. Additional names for the event series will be announced in the coming months.

Speaking on the program, club director Matt Long said, “Few venues get to celebrate 35 years at the heart of dance music. We wanted to mark this milestone with a lineup that reflects both our heritage and where our sound is today. It’s an honor to celebrate this anniversary with such incredible talent, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you all.”

It’s the latest celebration for the London institution’s 35th anniversary. The club recently released a new book, Ministry of Sound: Anthology, which tells the untold story of the London space, and launched Boxed In, a live-streamed talent competition for emerging DJs. They will return to Ibiza with a one-off party at 528, marking their first event on the island in more than a decade.

The club first opened in London’s Elephant & Castle in September 1991, and has played a key role in shaping the U.K.’s dance music scene. The Ministry of Sound Group has grown to include a record label, publishing arm and a private members club.

As legend would have it, Niccolò Paganini completed one of his legendary violin performances on a single string when the others snapped one by one. Whether it was the art of showmanship, or just a display of ridiculous talent, is a matter still open for discussion hundreds of years later.

Vetle Nærø had his own moment that would’ve made Paganini proud.

Earlier this month, the Norwegian neo-classic composer dazzled with a performance on the piano, a special guest of the 2026 Bergtatt Festival. That haunting mid-morning set at Luster’s Dale Church, built during the first half of the 13th century, was unexpectedly unplugged — through no fault of his own.

“The concert was going to be a more electronic set with my synthesizers, some gear. But they were lost at the airport,” he tells Billboard. “So I had to basically rearrange my concert and return to solo piano.”

The show must, and did, go on. The performance, and his words to the 200 guests, had some in floods of happy tears. To create “calm and connection,” he says, “is the reason why I do this.”

Thanfully, the musical equipment has since been returned to its owner.

Born in Oslo in 2000, and raised in the quiet coastal town of Ålesund, Nærø studied classical piano at a young age, learning his craft from the playbooks of Chopin and Rachmaninoff. By age nine, he had discovered the godfathers of minimalism, including Philip Glass and Arvo Part. Later, he would form a jazz trio and the electronic scene came calling.

His first album, 2018’s By Heart, was a spontaneous project recorded in a single day. Its followup, Introspection, came in 2021. A third, From Moments, dropped in 2023, and his most recent album release, All Moments Must Pass, was issued in May 2025 on Piano & Coffee Records.  

He’s currently mapping out his fifth studio album, to be released in 2027.

“It’s forming up to be a very big release, at a bigger scale than I’m the previous one,” he hints. “I get to work with some amazing people that really believe in what I’ve made.”

Fay Wildhagen chose the right time, and the right place, to draw curtains on her 2024 project, Let’s Keep It In The Family.

The award-winning Norwegian singer, songwriter and bandleader waved her “final goodbye to that era” with a headline performance earlier this month at the 2026 Bergtatt Festival, one stacked with songs from Family, her third studio album, and rearranged fan favorites.

There’s more new music to come. “I have a bag full of demos that I’m listening to in the car, and in hotel rooms. I feel like my head is so full of music,” she tells Billboard in a chat at the edge of the mighty Sognefjord fjord.

The next album will be independently released through the Orchard, on Wildhagen’s own label, ending a 10-year partnership with Warner Music Norway.

“It just feels cool to try something new, and just go for it,” she enthuses. “And just give it a real try before I’m done.”

Wildhagen is in sparkling form. Raised in Oslo, the capital, she signed with Warner Music Norway as a 21-year-old and released her Spellemannprisen-nominated debut album, Snow, in 2015. Her sophomore album, Borders, arrived in 2018, opening doors for critical praise and concerts across Europe. Fay produced the 2023 album Møtested – en hyllest til Anne Grete Preus, and collected the Spellemannprisen (the Norwegian Grammys) for producer of the year — a moment that touched something deep inside.

“I cried when they gave it to me,” she recounts. “Nobody quite understands how much time goes into the writing, and the producing, just making and recreating sounds, turning and tossing them around, and trying things. For hours and hours and hours.” Getting recognized for the work that few people see, “yes, I cried a lot.”

Family was a seven-year itch. “It took time for me to find the right path for it. And find the home for it,” she recalls. “And also, it needed a lot of courage to write it properly, honest and true.”

On Family, she wrote, produced and arranged all 15 songs and its instruments, with the exception of the first single “Reason,” which was co-written with Øystein Greni, frontman and main songwriter of the Norwegian rock band Bigbang.

With the studio calling this year, Wildhagen took a detour to enjoy the Bergtatt experience. The journey was something else. With her partner, Wildhagen drove from Oslo, 220 miles to the south, completed hair-raising mountain passes, all of it to tick-off that bucket-list item.

The boutique fest in Luster, Western Norway, presented on the banks of the epic fjord and surrounded by striking, snow-capped mountains, just might be most picturesque setting for a live music event, anywhere.

“It’s been a dream to come here for many years,” she tells Billboard. “It has never fit the schedule, so it’s never just been right.” The festival “is one of these things that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s really amazing.”

Steve Lacy may have unintentionally become every Marvel fan’s enemy.

The Grammy-winning alternative singer raised eyebrows at the Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiere on Sunday (July 25) after slipping what might be a spoiler into an otherwise normal red carpet interview.

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Lacy was interviewed by streamer Valkyrae on the carpet, and he was asked which character he was most excited to see, with the caveat of avoiding spoilers.

“You know what? Jean. I like Jean,” he replied. The interviewer awkwardly paused, though Lacy continued: “She’s the villain, but there’s a reason to her madness.”

The interviewer immediately responded with a laugh. “OK… is that a spoiler?”

Realizing what he may have just said, Lacy quickly pivoted and tried to save the conversation. “I like her. I like her character. I don’t know why.”

The moment began to circulate across social media, with fans immediately trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. While Lacy only referred to a character named Jean and never mentioned an actor by name, many viewers connected his comments to Sadie Sink, whose role in the film has been extremely secretive throughout the movie’s promotion.

Fans began sounding the alarm across social media as the clip quickly began making rounds online. People joked that Marvel’s famously reserved executives were probably already “on the phone” and out to get Lacy. One fan even wrote, “He pulled a Tom Holland on Tom Holland’s movie,” referencing the film star’s infamous history of spoiling major Marvel movie plot points.

Lacy attended the premiere because his song “Oh Yeah?” appears on the film’s soundtrack (it’s also the title track to his third studio album, released earlier this month). Lacy’s Spider-Man crossover comes four years after his breakout hit “Bad Habit” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Its parent album, Gemini Rights, also reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 back in 2022.

As for whether Lacy actually spoiled Spider-Man: Brand New Day or simply sent fans into an unnecessary spiral, Marvel devotees will have to find out for themselves this Friday (July 31). Until then, the internet has already reached one verdict: maybe don’t ask Steve Lacy spoiler-related questions on a red carpet.

Watch the clip below.

Oliver Tree‘s mother shared a touching final message from her son at a memorial for the beloved, eccentric singer in Santa Cruz, Calif. over the weekend. Christine Nickell told the audience about the last conversation she had with Tree (born Oliver Tree Nickell), who died in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 14 at 32.

“I texted Oliver the day before he passed and asked how quitting smoking was going for him, as he promised he would give it up once he was on tour,” she told the audience on Saturday (July 25) at the “Celebration of Life” held at Santa Cruz’s Quarry Amphitheater, where she described her son as a “sweet and mischievous child” who was a “bolter,” always eager to run, explore and not look back. “He FaceTimed me immediately and let out a huge puff of cigarette smoke in my face.”

She added that Tree was “so happy and excited about life that day, he told us he was taking a helicopter ride to a house on a mountaintop the next day to make TikToks and music with his friends. He loved having epic days, each one more memorable than the last. The overwhelming outpouring of love and support since Oliver’s passing has been a profound source of comfort. I have witnessed humanity at its very best.”

The event had the touch of the absurd that Tree was known for, including three mannequins laid out in coffins dressed as the singer lined up in front of the dais, all wearing variations of his signature brightly colored windbreakers, sunglasses, bowl haircut and cowboy hats. But, as his mom noted, Tree could be silly at times, except when he sat his family down to preview his new music, insisting they sit silently and pay full attention, no phones, no talking, no distractions.

“We had to sit in complete silence and absorb his art with the same seriousness, care and reverence that he brought to creating it,” she said with a smile, surrounded by the rest of the Nickell family. “And if you didn’t, he’d shut it down and you’d get the wrath of Oliver. And those of you who know that wrath, know it was dreaded.”

In keeping with Tree’s cheeky sensibility, the event opened with a note from Ron Johnson Van Swanson, the fictional president of the singer’s independent Alien Boy Records. “On behalf of everyone here at the label, we would like to thank you for celebrating the life of our most beloved artist, Oliver Tree Nickell. Tonight’s program will immerse you through the mind and art of Oliver Tree. Our journey will begin at the very start of his roots and we will work our way up around and then all the way back down the rabbit hole,” he said in a video message.

Swanson encouraged the hundreds of fans gathered to honor Tree to sing along during the musical tribute, noting that he loved when fans sang with him. “So please do so … or else,” Swanson added ominously as flames filled the screen.

A video montage of some of Tree’s best moments on stage — including childhood footage proving that the bowl haircut was an OG part of his look from day one — ended with tape of a teenage Oliver describing his limitless opportunities. “People don’t realize their potential,” he says. “Even myself. I don’t really fully know what I’m capable of. You know, I feel like I have a pretty good idea from some of my experiences growing up that I could do pretty much anything I put my mind forth to.”

The event also featured homages from friends Diplo and Logan Paul, with DJ/producer Diplo calling Tree the coolest person he ever met. All proceeds from the event benefited Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant for Baby Geniuses, a foundation the singer’s estate launched in accordance with his will to help emerging artists.

Watch the tribute broadcast below (tribute from Christine Nickell begins at 54-minute mark).