Madonna fans score a surprise late goal with the release of “Read My Lips,” a new addition to the Official FIFA World Cup 26 album.
“Read My Lips” is the Queen of Pop’s bilingual collaboration with Latin star Feid, and it arrives late Thursday, June 25, a “Bonus Edition” cut from the all-star FIFA World Cup collection, which now expands to 20 tracks.
Produced by Madonna, Stuart Price and Tainy, the song first reached our ears in Madonna’s Confessions II – The Film, which premiered earlier this month at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, a 13-minute visual project centered around her upcoming album Confessions II, and is now available for the first time as a complete release.
It’s shaping as a Madonna Summer. The superstar singer will drop the full length album, Confessions II, on July 3.
Then, two weeks later, on Sunday, July 19, she’ll join BTS and Shakira on stage at MetLife Stadium for the first-ever halftime show at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.
With all the activity surrounding her short film, new music and concerts, Madonna hasn’t forgotten about her long-gestating biopic.
In a recent Interview cover story, the “Like a Virgin” singer spoke openly about why the screen project has experienced so many delays, from her perspective. “I was supposed to make a movie about my life,” she began. “I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting. We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget because I needed — I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget.”
Confessions II, it turns out, was born from those frustrations.
The film project was first announced by Universal Pictures in 2020. After Julia Garner was cast in the starring role and Madonna worked on two versions of the script, news broke in 2023 that the project had been scrapped by the studio. In May 2025, the seven-time Grammy winner partnered with Shawn Levy to create an autobiographical series about her life, a few months after which the Weapons actress appeared to hint that she was still involved.
The actress recently appeared in Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Bring Your Love” music video, which dropped earlier in June, another teaser for Confessions II.
The Official FIFA World Cup 26 Album (Bonus Edition) features recordings by Andrea Bocelli, Daddy Yankee, Future, The Rolling Stones and more. Stream it below.
Katy Perry is setting her past ablaze on new single “Watch It Burn,” which dropped Thursday night (June 25) alongside a cinematic new music video.
As previewed in teasers shared by the pop star leading up to its release, the visual finds her wreaking havoc as a monstrous scorpion-human hybrid. On the cathartic pop-rock banger — which Perry performed before its release at both O Son do Camiño in Spain and Rock in Rio Lisboa — she sings about reclaiming her life by saying goodbye to a long-term relationship.
“Tonight’s the night, I light a match/ Throw it hard behind my back,” she sings on the track. “Gonna try to forgive and forget/ Light a cigarette, and watch it burn.”
The hitmaker adds in the lyrics, “I’m gonna get what I deserve … Finally I put myself first.”
“Watch It Burn” marks Perry’s first release since November single “Bandaids.” Before that came 2024 album 143, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200.
The new song’s lyrics seemingly nod to the singer’s breakup last year from fiancé Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares daughter Daisy. While speaking with cowriter Justin Tranter on his Unfamous podcast, Perry said, “In ‘Watch It Burn,’ I am wrestling with my darkness, but last year was pretty tough.”
“I have not given myself permission to be angry my whole life over things where I should be f—king angry about,” she continued. “What I’ve done is I pushed it down, but I should be f—king angry. I’m allowed to be angry for a f—king moment.”
Perry is now in a relationship with Justin Trudeau, whom she called “the love of my life” during a Q&A at the premiere of her Lifetimes Tour concert film in New York earlier in June. “I fly super high,” she added at the time. “Sometimes I need to be anchored. To have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole.”
Check out “Watch It Burn” below.
HBO has announced JAŸ-Z IN 8, an eight-part documentary in conversation with and directed by legendary producer Rick Rubin. The network has also provided a glimpse into the docuseries with a teaser trailer, which you can watch below. In the 40-second clip, JAY-Z opens up about using his lyrics to “articulate”…
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Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) has announced a new round of speakers for its 2026 ADE Pro conference, with Josh Baker, Mochakk, Busy P, and Orbital‘s Paul Hartnoll among the latest additions to the event’s 30th anniversary edition.
The newly announced participants join previously revealed speakers including electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, who will serve as ADE Pro’s Guest of Honor, along with Mosimann, Novah and LYZZA. The conference takes place Oct. 21 – 25 in the Dutch capital and is recognized as one of electronic music’s largest global industry gatherings.
This year’s conference program is curated around three central themes: market consolidation and the future of independence, rebuilding the music industry’s relationship with big tech and collective action. The event will also spotlight Brazil, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and sub-Saharan Africa as key growth regions for electronic music.
Brazilian artists Mochakk and Solarce Brothers join the program as part of ADE’s broader focus on the country’s expanding influence in the global electronic music market. Elsewhere, Manchester-based producer and label owner Josh Baker will discuss how artists are increasingly building businesses beyond music through labels, festivals and education platforms.
Ed Banger Records founder Pedro Winter, better known as Busy P, and Because Music founder Emmanuel de Buretel will unpack their long-running partnership and the future of independent music companies. Hartnoll will appear on a panel titled The Ethics of the Sample: Collaboration, Consent and Credit Across Cultures, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of Orbital’s seminal 1996 album In Sides.
Other newly-announced guests include SPFDJ, Pegassi, Mathame, Gideon Berger, Sarah Williams and Coldcut co-founder Matt Black. More speakers and sessions for ADE Pro 2026 will be announced in the coming months.
The 2025 edition of the conference featured appearances from British rapper Skepta, plus DJs Hannah Laing, Joris Voorn, Chris Stussy and Armin van Buuren. In an on-the-ground report, Billboard U.K. described ADE as “a diverse and fun-loving hub of creativity in Europe,” noting that Amsterdam was “totally taken over by the 600,000 fans and 10,000 music industry professionals who live and breathe electronic music.”
Alison Wonderland has no shortage of tales to tell the grandkids. The Australian EDM star etched her name in the history books when, in 2018, she headlined Coachella, becoming the first female DJ to do so in what was her fourth performance in the California desert.
She’s prouder still of her seven-times headlining the “Temple of Wonderland” at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. And there’s been headline slots at Lollapalooza’s Perry’s Stage, and appearances at Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Life Is Beautiful. The Sydneysider has shifted more than 800,000 headline ticket sales across her U.S. tours alone. Global streams of her music top 1.1 billion.
On Thursday evening, June 25, perhaps a moment to stand among her finest; Wonderland has been invited to present the match ball for Australia’s final Group D round match with Paraguay in the FIFA World Cup Finals, which kicks off 10pm ET at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
“OH MY GDDD I just got asked by ADIDAS to BRING OUT THE MATCH BALL TO THE FIELD FOR THE AUSTRALIA VS PARAGUAY MATCH TOMORROW,” she writes on her socials. “I’ll wave to you all from the TV. WISH ME LUCK (have been in the studio all day so had to process haha ).”
An overjoyed Wonderland shared several snaps from the studio. In each shot, she’s wearing her Aussie green and gold Adidas track pants. One apparently captures the surreal moment she read the email with the once-in-a-lifetime request.
The Australian Socceroos will hope Wonderland (real name: Alexandra Sholler) is a good luck charm. To progress in the tournament, Australia must win or draw against the South American team. Losing isn’t an option.
The timing is perfect. Wonderland is currently on tour in the United States, the final date of which is set for this Saturday, June 27 at Foam Wonderland in Las Vegas, NV. Then, she takes her show on the road to for performances in the United Kingdom and Europe, getting underway July 10 with the Wonderland Warehouse Rave in London, all of it in support of her fourth studio album, Ghost World (via EMI).
Speaking with Billboard ahead of her latest tour, Wonderland remarked: “I’m a perfectionist. Someone said something a long time ago, you can tell everyone you put everything into this body of work but at the end of the day the only person who will know if you really went there will be you. It sits with me and haunts me anytime I make anything. I think it’s why I push myself so hard. I think about it all the time to this day.”
Collaborators on her latest album, which dropped in December 2025, include Nina Wilson, better known as EDM producer and artist Ninajirachi, plus DJ Dave and Erick The Architect. Wonderland produced the collection with Dylan Ragland, MEMBA and QUIX. Ghost World was mixed by Tom Norris and Tristan Hoogland and mastered by Dale Becker.
RÜFÜS DU SOL will carve out another slice of history this week when the EDM act parks at Madison Square Garden, arguably the world’s most famous arena.
The Australian trio will set a new benchmark on Thursday, June 25 with the first of four consecutive sold-out shows — the most by an electronic artist at MSG, and the most tickets sold at the venue by an electronic artist.
RDS has been burning the history books of late. As previously reported, their Inhale / Exhale World Tour is recognized as the highest-selling electronic tour of all time, and multiple record-setter in Australia and New Zealand.
The Sydneysiders completed their 2025 Australia tour last November with the third of three sold-out hometown shows at Afterpay Arena (then known as Qudos Bank Arena), the country’s biggest arena, for 150,000 tickets sold across the country, lifting their overall tally to 750,000 headline tickets for the year.
Along the way, the trio became just the second Aussie act, after AC/DC, and first electronic outfit to headline Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, and played a string of high-profile festival spots, including Chicago’s Lollapalooza. All up, the lads played to some 1.5 million fans worldwide on the Inhale / Exhale World Tour, according to concert promoters Live Nation and independent Melbourne events specialist Untitled Group, which awarded the Sydneysiders with a commemorative plaque.
There will be more massive moments for RDS’ Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George, and James Hunt in the weeks ahead, including a headline spot to over 60,000 music fans Saturday, July 4 at Mexico City’s Foro Sol. This current tour has also seen RDS wind their way through a circuit of iconic baseball stadiums, including Chicago’s Wrigley Field (The Cubs), Boston’s Fenway Park (Red Sox), and San Diego’s Petco Park (Padres).
The ongoing North America ’26 trek is in support of 2024’s Inhale / Exhale (Rose Avenue Records / Warner Music Australasia), their fifth studio album, which opened its account at No. 3 on the ARIA Chart, continuing a podium finish for all their recordings in Australia. Along with that swag of historic moments, RDS have won four career ARIA Awards and six Grammy Award nominations, with a win in 2022 for best dance/electronic recording with “Alive.”
PJ Harvey is sending a message from deep space. The British singer-songwriter has unveiled “Voyager,” a sweeping new track inspired by NASA’s legendary Voyager probes, which were launched in 1977 and continue their journeys nearly five decades later.
Originally conceived during sessions for Harvey’s next album – details of which have yet to be announced – “Voyager” took on a new life after physicist Professor Brian Cox invited the musician to contribute a song to his live Emergence stage show, which hits the U.K. later this year. The track was later recorded with a full orchestra at Miraval Studios in Provence, France.
Lyrically, the track also references the late astronomer Carl Sagan, whose 1994 book Pale Blue Dot was inspired by an image of Earth taken from the edge of the solar system, by NASA’s Voyager 1. In it, Sagan described the planet as “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Harvey shared in a statement: “I was excited for the challenge to compose a song in the ‘voice’ of Voyager 2. I have long been fascinated by the spacecraft and its journey, and asked myself, ‘What it might say to us if it could?’ This was an inspiring route to take to develop the song.
“The song had already started life as part of the ongoing work towards my new album, so when Professor Brian Cox invited me to write a piece for his new show, I sent him the voice memo of this song to see if it resonated,” she continued. “It immediately made him think of the Voyager craft and the sound of its signal being sent back to Earth. With these ideas as my starting point I let the song develop, and discussed an orchestral accompaniment with Dario Marianelli.
“I’m very happy with the end result, and it’s wonderful to hear the orchestral score bring such expansiveness to my music. I thoroughly enjoyed researching the history and journey of Voyager 1 & 2, and was glad to be able to quote the great Carl Sagan within the song, and his famous description of our fragile and beautiful ‘pale blue dot’.”
Harvey’s most recent studio album arrived in the form of 2023’s I Inside the Old Year Dying, her tenth full-length effort to date. It marked her first release with independent label Partisan Records after three decades with Island Records and followed 2016’s Grammy-nominated The Hope Six Demolition Project.
The record also earned a nomination for the Mercury Prize, adding to her long history with the award; the Dorset musician has been nominated several times overall and has won twice, for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2001) and Let England Shake (2011). She remains the only artist to have received the award on two separate occasions.
Thanks to the outpouring of love for You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, Olivia Rodrigo is enjoying the happiest week, ever. Her words.
The American pop phenomenon dropped in for a chat Wednesday, June 24 with Australia’s Nova network on her hit new album, how she surrounds herself with supportive people, and more.
After powering to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, and around the globe, including Australia, the love for You Seem Pretty Sad has put a smile on Rodrigo’s face.
“I’ve had the happiest week ever. It feels so amazing to have this record out in the world,” she tells Nova 96.9’s Ricki-Lee & Tim. “I’ve been living with it, and you know, finessing it for about two years now, and so it feels kind of surreal that now the songs are in other people’s hands, and to watch them kind of resonate with them the way that they are, and you know, apply them to their own personal lives, is just, it’s just so beautiful, and a total dream come true.”
You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 485,000 units shifted, for Rodrigo’s career best week. She’s now a perfect three-from-three on the all-genres albums chart, and the rumor mill is now grinding away on whether Rodrigo can win her first album of the year trophy at the Grammy Awards next February.
The secret to her success? Working with the right people. Just like the rest of us, Rodrigo admits she’s “navigating my way through this crazy old world,” but she insists on “finding people who really support you and truly love you for who you are is just the name of the game. I think if I am sane at all, it’s only because of my wonderful friends who have always supported me and like brought me back down to earth.”
If she had to dish out advice, she’d suggest being “really careful who you spend your time with.”
Currently, Rodrigo doesn’t have any Australian tour dates scheduled for her 65-date world tour in support of Sad, though she isn’t ruling it out. “I am so on album mode. I like literally cannot see five feet in front of [me],” she told the Sydney Breakfast radio show hosts. Rodrigo last visited these parts in October 2024 when her GUTS World Tour looped into Sydney and Melbourne. “I love going to Australia,” she added, “and I hope to be back very soon.”
The love goes both ways. You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (via Geffen/Universal) opened its account at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart last Friday, while “Stupid Song” started atop the national singles tally, giving Rodrigo a rare chart double. All 13 tracks from the new collection impact the ARIA top 30.
Like in the United States, all three of her studio albums have topped the national chart. Her debut album Sour logged eight weeks at No. 1 in 2021, and her sophomore collection Guts led the tally for two weeks in 2023. Rodrigo just missed out on the top 10 with her 2025 release Live From Glastonbury (A BBC Recording), which peaked at No. 11.
Stream her interview with Nova here and below.
When Mackenzie Sol was just 4 years old, he auditioned for judge Simon Cowell on The X Factor. More than 20 years later, the now-25-year-old TikTok star was back in front of Cowell to try out for America’s Got Talent.
On Tuesday night’s (June 23) episode, Sol transformed sombr‘s breakout hit “Back to Friends” into a sensual R&B ballad, slowing down the tempo and adding a series of creative vocal runs, putting all the attention on the song’s heartbreaking lyrics. “Back to Friends” was sombr’s first song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 back in April 2025, eventually peaking at No. 7 in January this year.
Ahead of his performance, Sol was able to tell Cowell about their first encounter more than two decades ago. What he didn’t mention is that in the years since, he’s gone on to amass more than 12 million TikTok followers through his combination of comedy and music videos. He also previously auditioned for American Idol in 2024, making it to the top 20 of season 22 before he didn’t make the top 14 cut.
But he’ll be moving forward in AGT: Following the sombr cover, Cowell asked fellow judge Mel B of Spice Girls fame to share her thoughts, and she immediately went for the Golden Buzzer, automatically advancing Sol to the live shows.
Below, watch Sol’s full audition:
After almost 60 years, Daryl Braithwaite is calling time on performing live.
In a social post on Tuesday, June 23, the ARIA Hall of Fame inducted singer and former Sherbet frontman says years-long battles with his own body are taking a toll.
“I would like to share this news with you all,” he writes on Instagram. “After much thought and consideration, I have made the difficult and sad decision to step back from performing live gigs. For some time now it has been increasingly physically challenging for me to sing comfortably and as a result it has taken the joy out of performing, which has always been so important to me.”
The iconic Australian singer doesn’t close the door on studio work or future recordings, although he leaves little wiggle room for one-off shows or events.
“I have loved the 58 years of being a part of the music industry,” he continues. “I sincerely want to thank all of the dedicated and loyal supporters and all of the people and organisations that I have been associated with who have been such a significant part of my singing life. With much love and I thank you. Daryl.”
Braithwaite’s last promoted solo show was presented March 13 at The Cooly Hotel in Queensland. Prior to that, he embarked on the 2024 Red Hot Summer series, a national tour of open-air venues headlined by Simple Minds and ICEHOUSE.
As frontman with glam-era pop outfit Sherbet, Braithwaite landed a string of hits in the ’70s with “Summer Love,” “Howzat,” “Cassandra” and others. The Sherbs, as they’re affectionately known down under, enjoyed a taste of international success.
Back in 1976, their Aussie chart-topping hit “Howzat” reached No. No. 4 in the United Kingdom and No. 61 in the United States. And they crossed into French Touch territory when Daft Punk sampled their early ‘80s track “We Ride Tonight” for the now-disbanded duo’s song “Contact,” from 2013’s Random Access Memories.
Braithwaite’s interpretation of Rickie Lee Jones’ “The Horses” is now regarded as a classic Down Under and is a staple at house parties across the country. When triple j counted down its inaugural Hottest 100 of Australian Songs in July 2025, Braithwaite’s “The Horses” came in at No. 30 – the highest-ranked cover in the poll.
The Aussie singer, how aged 77, is one of a small handful of artists twice elevated into the ARIA Hall of Fame. He got his dues with Sherbet in 1990, in just the third year of the annual celebration. And again in 2017, as a solo artist.








