Grammy Award-winning band Cage the Elephant has inked a label deal with Big Loud Rock, Billboard can reveal.

The group has also released the new single “Beaches in Tennessee,” marking the band’s first new music in two years. Cage the Elephant includes Matt Shultz on vocals, Brad Shultz on rhythm guitar, Nick Bockrath on lead guitar, Matthan Minster on keyboards/guitar/backing vocals, Daniel Tichenor on bass and Jared Champion on drums.

Big Loud Rock, the rock/alternative imprint of Big Loud Records, has a roster that also includes Dexter and the Moonrocks, Blame My Youth and Common People.

“What Cage The Elephant has accomplished over the last twenty years speaks for itself, and what excites me most is that they’re nowhere near finished,” Big Loud co-founder and Big Loud Rock president Joey Moi said in a statement. “They’re still taking risks, pushing themselves creatively, and finding new ways to connect with fans. Seeing that renewed energy and perspective carry into this next chapter is incredibly exciting. Welcoming a band of this caliber to Big Loud Rock, alongside the incredible team at Q Prime, is a huge moment for us. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”

“It’s definitely a new chapter,” Cage the Elephant’s Matt Shultz added. “We always try to write from life experience. Whatever we’re going through will undoubtedly make its way into the music. Even when going through difficult seasons, life can still prove to have no shortage of light memories. I’ve learned we don’t realize the things that we’re capable of making it through until we actually face them. Having fond memories during difficult times, is a blessing to say the least — which some of these songs do for certain. Navigating troubled waters many times reminds us how extraordinary life truly is. Life’s beautiful. It takes peaks and valleys to illustrate that beauty.”

The Kentucky-formed band is known for a steady string of hits including “Metaverse,” “Neon Pill,” “Come A Little Closer” and “Shake Me Down.” The group’s Grammy wins include two trophies for best rock album, for 2015’s Tell Me I’m Pretty and 2019’s Social Cues. They’ve earned 13 No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.

Following the band’s run as special guests on Oasis Live ’25, it headed directly back into the studio. The group created its new song, “Beaches in Tennessee,” with producers Justin Raisen and SADPONY (Jeremiah Raisen).

“I liked several different albums Justin had worked on, including Kim Gordon and Yves Tumor,” says the group’s Brad Shultz. “For producers, he was at the top of my list. I flew out to L.A. and hung out with him in the studio one night. The energy was crazy. It was like two wool socks in a dryer. He brought in Jeremiah. There’s a common thread between them, but they make two different types of art. They have their own unique views and ways of doing things, so it’s been pretty cool to just jump between those two worlds. It’s made a pretty unique mix in what we’re doing. I knew they were the guys.”

“Beaches in Tennessee” creatively addresses a time when Cage The Elephant’s Matt Shultz weathered mental health struggles a few years ago. He said in a statement, “It’s no secret that I went through a mental health crisis a few years back; this song for me symbolizes me finally being able to move past it. I was hospitalized for nearly three months, the song addresses it by creating a fictionalized account of it. It was my attempt at reclaiming the ability to write about something serious that happened in my life, from a place of genuine experience.

“There’s a saying, ‘There’s nothing better than a poor Christmas,’” he continued. “It’s because you learn to make the most of what you have and appreciate it. Having gone through what I did, I’m grateful to have the perspective that I have now. The experience gave me a greater appreciation for my life when I came out on the other side. I’m thankful for where I’m at now in this new chapter. As a band, we were able to reclaim the ability to write a song rooted in a difficult and turbulent real-life event, but do it in a lighthearted way. I hope it helps someone else the way it helped me.”

“Musically, we always want to reinvent Cage The Elephant,” Brad Shultz said. “We’ve discovered a whole new side to our band, how we look at things, and how we make art. You’re growing constantly as an artist, and I think we’ve tapped into that growth. I do feel like we’re making the best music we’ve ever made. If anything, it’s definitely the most inspired.”

The Elegance Of Time, a glossy, 256-page coffee table book by Swiss-Iranian photographer Anoush Abrar, honors and illuminates the central tenet of Montreux Jazz Festival: this is an event for musicians to let go and collaborate spontaneously; to surrender to the moment.

“In the live business, what makes Montreux Jazz so different is the luxury of time that we’re giving to artists,” festival CEO Mathieu Jaton tells Billboard U.K. “That’s where the magic comes out. We want to give them time for creativity and inspiration, and for meeting people. When they’re staying in Montreux for two or three days, we will accept the cost of the hotel and catering et cetera and give them the space to fully be here.”

Released earlier this year to mark the festival’s 60th anniversary, The Elegance Of Time brings together more than 300 photographs spanning the past decade of performances and candid backstage moments, tracing the more recent evolution of Montreux Jazz through Abrar’s lens. Published alongside a new exhibition based in the Swiss resort town, the book features intimate images of artists including Sam Smith, Jon Batiste, RAYE and Benson Boone, capturing a newer slate of acts that have revitalized the concert series’ backstory; this year’s event, which kicked off on July 3, runs through July 18

Jaton, who has led the festival since 2013, inherited the role from founder Claude Nobs, whose vision transformed a small jazz gathering into one of the world’s most revered music events. Their shared backgrounds in hospitality are no coincidence. Before launching Montreux Jazz in 1967, Nobs worked as a fine dining chef, while Jaton began his career in Switzerland’s hotel industry. It is a lineage that continues to shape the festival’s identity today, with a particular emphasis on how artists are welcomed and cared for, treating them more like guests of the city.

When visiting Montreux, Jaton wagers, musicians “have less stress and more fun”; they are encouraged by the festival organizers to extend their trip and explore the surrounding locale, which is home to studios previously used by Queen and David Bowie and is recognized by UNESCO as a pivotal location for musical history. Montreux has a population of 27,000, and there is “no fanaticism in Switzerland,” Jaton says, meaning that audiences are appreciative but rarely intrusive, allowing artists to roam around with relative anonymity.

British soul-pop star Sienna Spiro, who returned to the festival on Monday (July 6) to perform in celebration of her debut LP Visitor, concurs. When Billboard U.K. meets the singer backstage at the newly-reopened Montreux Music & Convention Centre, home to venues Auditorium Stravinski and the Montreux Jazz Lab, she opens her iPhone camera roll to show us a montage of memories here: swimming in Lake Geneva, watching old Nina Simone footage from the Montreux Jazz archives, walking along the town’s cobbled avenues with her team at dusk. 

“I feel at home performing here,” Spiro says. “I feel like the novelty of this festival doesn’t wear off. If I do some other festivals a second time, I don’t get that rush or ‘first time feeling’, but I definitely still have that for this. I’m so honored and grateful to be able to play this festival.”

So, what’s the magic in the water? Originally launched in 1967, Montreux Jazz has grown into an annual, two weeklong extravaganza that now spans genres far beyond its original remit. Such is its mythology that it has inspired some of music’s most enduring stories: Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” was written after a fire at the Montreux Casino in 1971, which broke out during a Frank Zappa performance; Prince made the town a recurring creative home throughout the 2000s, with impromptu festival appearances and “Lavaux,” a song inspired by the breadth and beauty of the Alpine peaks. Ella Fitzgerald became a festival regular, while Miles Davis lent his name to a stretch of the lakeside promenade.

The question, then, is perhaps no longer whether the festival deserves its reputation, but how it continues to reinvent that legacy with every new generation of artists that passes through its site. Even a brief perusal of this year’s line-up will throw up names from the worlds of dance (Danny L. Harle), alternative pop and R&B (PinkPantheress, Giveon, Kwn), hip-hop (The Roots, Loyle Carner) and jazz (Marcus Miller, Charles Lloyd, Billy Cobham). 

RAYE, meanwhile, kicked off proceedings this year with a curated show on July 3 billed as Moments In Time, inviting guests Alicia Keys and Mark Ronson to perform orchestral renditions of highlights from the London singer’s catalog. Its exclusivity was testament to Montreux’s unique pull: a festival powerful enough to bring global stars together for a one-off performance.

Outside of the main bill, attendees can explore dozens of free pop-up shows, while the Montreux Jazz ecosystem can be felt at almost every turn. Opposite the conference center stands a merch shop stocked with football jerseys, serving plates, Keith Haring-style art prints, flip-flops and even an eco bike. MJF-branded Porsches cruise through the streets. There is a Montreux Jazz cafe at Geneva Airport and other licensing projects are in the works. Public transport is made free in order to extend the festival’s reach into the neighboring villages, while colorful murals of the late Nobs adorn post boxes and pavement corners.

All of this serves to bring Montreux’s history into the present, as Jaton explains: “I’m so proud, honestly, that we have some Swiss journalists questioning whether what we are doing is purely that to attract a younger audience,” he says. “No, it’s not a strategy, it’s just that we have the opportunity to host some of the biggest artists that are making music today. When you have an artist like PinkPantheress recognized by The BRIT Awards as the first female act to win producer of the year, it means something. So, she simply has to play Montreux.”

Having played the previous year, and appeared at a Spotlight Sessions event in between editions, Spiro is a key ambassador for Montreux Jazz and her inclusion on the 2026 line-up is indicative of the festival’s search for new torchbearers. It is “a wild honor” to brush up against decades of musical history, Spiro explains, and even more so to be part of the 16 British acts represented at this year’s Montreux Jazz, the most of any nation from across the bill.

“British music has just something special about it, our artists have a rare kind of honesty, grit and rawness to their work,” she says. “I feel like a lot of us are true musicians too. RAYE uses a proper live band, as does Olivia [Dean] and Lola [Young]. It shouldn’t be seen as ‘old school’ as this approach is obviously really connecting with people.”

During her set at the Montreux Jazz Lab, Spiro aired her own take on the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves,” as well as a cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard To Handle,” giving two classics a fresh perspective. There was evidence of that same cross-generational connection throughout: in Kwn’s set earlier in the evening, where an attentive, near phone-free audience revealed their surprise through their facial expressions as she joked that they “didn’t realize I make sex songs”, and in Nick Cave’s rapturous performance the night before, when he shouted “F–king Montreux” in delight over and over. Younger punters attending PinkPantheress lined buses towards the venue in tartan berets and fluffy stomper boots, with their parents in tow.

Those moments – a young artist discovering the festival archives that inspired generations before them, or a secret special guest arriving in town – are what keep Montreux moving forward, Jaton affirms. He points to 2026 headliner Conan Gray as an example of the festival’s approach to booking fresh faces. While the Gen Z-beloved singer is capable of selling out arenas in other European markets, he remains a comparatively new name in Switzerland.

“When I announced Conan Gray at our press conference, people said, ‘We don’t know him,’” Jaton recalls. “Meanwhile, he sold 18,000 tickets in Paris in 10 minutes this year, and sold out The O2 in London.” Many young Swiss fans are already traveling abroad to see artists like Gray, he says, making it all the more important to bring them to a domestic audience. That may mean attracting smaller crowds as awareness builds, or putting more resources into marketing output, but, for Jaton, it is a worthwhile investment in the festival’s future. He adds: “We have to bet on the potential of a new artist each time, but I’m happy to take that risk.”

In Jaton’s view, the artists who define and expand Montreux Jazz today may not be the ones audiences expect, but the festival’s principles remain the same as they were six decades ago: create the right environment for both artists and fans, and the history will take care of itself.

“We always have to look to the future. It’s good to have the past, the history, the patrimony of Montreux – that’s essential. But it’s even more essential to think about the future and the next generation,” Jaton concludes. “So when I’m criticized for booking an act because ‘it’s not jazz’, I actually find it interesting. My answer is simple: I don’t care what you think – I know it’s right.”

BTS are bringing their immersive “BTS The City ARIRANG” experience to New York. The group announced on Friday (July 10) that following successful earlier editions in Seoul, Las Vegas, Busan and London, the traveling exhibition will open in New York City on July 24 and stay open through Aug. 3 in conjunction with the K-pop supergroup’s world tour in support of their ARIRANG album.

According to a release, “the citywide project will transform New York into an immersive extension of the concert experience, where fans can experience BTS’ music, storytelling, and artistry far beyond the concert stage.”

BTS is gearing up to perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Aug. 1 and 2 and “BTS The City ARIRANG NEW YORK” will give ARMY a chance to check out a diverse group of attractions and experiences across New York, including at the Korean Cultural Center New York, where ARMY can customize their light sticks and another at Grand Central Terminal, where “THE CITY” banners will be displayed and fans can customize T-shirts. There will also be a Samsung Galaxy Experience booth at the Korean Cultural Center with a chance to get some limited-edition BTS THE CITY merch and craft one-of-a-kind stickers, as well as a display of some of the band’s iconic stage outfits from the “LOVE YOURSELF: SPEAK YOURSELF” concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Other experiences throughout New York include, a citywide stamp rally at Bank of Hope, as well as fan events including Random Play Dance with I LOVE DANCE and exclusive offerings from local partners such as Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Kim’s Kimbap and others. Some of the details of the experiences have not yet been announced, but the list includes a BTS pop-up shop and brand activations with a range of restaurants and hotels.

BTS’ tour in support of their ARIRANG album will hit Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on Saturday (July 11) and Sunday (July 12).

Check out a map and schedule with the full list of “BTS The City ARIRANG NEW YORK” events here.

Colin Hay was on top of the world with Men At Work. And then, abruptly, he wasn’t. In time, the Scotland-born singer and songwriter would climb the mountain once again.

Hay has gone on to enjoy one of rock music’s remarkable second acts, both as a solo artist, as a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, and as a raconteur, his stories and music opening doors and minds everywhere.

Hay has the gift of the gab, an easy charm, and stories that easily beat what the rest of us can drum up. Few tales can compare to the meteoric rise of Men At Work which, for a moment in 1983, simultaneously had the No. 1 single (with “Down Under”) and album (Business as Usual) both in the United States and in the United Kingdom, a rare achievement for an act from Australia, then and now.

Speaking with two-time Grammy Award–winning producer and music executive Pete Ganbarg for the Rock & Roll High School podcast, Hay remembered the high times, some “classic blunders” made along the way, turning his back on booze, and the comeback.

“You always think that you’re handling things really well, but of course you’re not,” he says of Men At Work’s bright start. “We made a couple of classic blunders but I think more than anything else it just wasn’t a band that was destined to go the distance really in terms of the personnel. This is also in hindsight really, we may have had another couple of albums in us, but five musicians and one manager. The manager was my friend and a couple of the guys in the band wanted to sack the manager and he wasn’t gonna get sacked cause he was my friend. It very much turned into an episode of Survivor, who’s gonna get voted off the island.”

That situation “soured me on the whole thing,” he continues. “I thought, well what is the point of conquering the world together if you can’t enjoy it together. It should be enjoyed and honored together by all the people who did that and there were six of us who did it. I’ll never understand why they wanted to get rid of him. It was just stupid. Even to this day I still think it was stupid, so it was over pretty much.”

Men At Work completed two more albums, before calling it a day: Cargo (from 1983) and Two Hearts (from 1985).

Speaking with Ganbarg, Hay points to a moment in January 1991 that he got his life and career back on track. With a move to Los Angeles, Hay kicked the bottle. “That really was the start of my new life,” he explains.  

Hay doesn’t have any bad feelings, except for the bruising — and costly — copyright battle over the flute refrain in “Down Under,” which began in 2009 and concluded several years on, an “unforgivable” situation, he mentions. “It was horrible and it went for so long as well. It went for six years or something. There was nothing really I could do about it but defend it,” he reckons.

To make matters considerably worse, bandmate Greg Ham died in 2012, aged 58, two years after the Australian Federal Court ordered Men At Work to pay 5% of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from future earnings.

“At the end of the day the sadness for me was the fact that Greg, who wasn’t in great shape anyway at that particular time, felt a sense of guilt about the fact that he played the line and yet he wasn’t sued,” Hay continues. “I was the one that was sued as the songwriter and EMI Music Publishing was sued also. And it had a great effect on my father, who had come to Australia as an immigrant and was so proud of what we’d done and I would play him the songs all the time before they were records so he knew the song was clean in terms of composition so smoke would come out of his ears…I’ll never forgive them for that.”

For the podcast, Hay discusses songwriting, resilience, how life’s great setbacks can ultimately lead to fresh starts, how Zach Braff introduced Hay to new audiences on Scrubs and Garden State, the unlikely fan in System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, and much more.

Listen here or rockschoolpodcast.com.

The queen of pop, Madonna, is crowned on Australia’s albums chart with Confessions II (via Warner Records).

That’s Madonna’s 22^nd ARIA Chart top 10 album, and 13^th No. 1 after True Blue (in 1986), I’m Breathless: Music From and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy (1990), The Immaculate Collection (1990), Erotica (1992), Bedtime Stories (1994), Something To Remember (1995), Ray Of Light (1998), Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005), Hard Candy (2008), MDNA (2012), Rebel Heart (2015), Finally Enough Love (2022).

That career swag places Madonna is some elite company. Only Jimmy Barnes, The Beatles and Taylor Swift have had more No. 1 albums, according to ARIA. Barnes is the all-time leader in that category, with 22 leaders including 16 No. 1s as a solo act, and another six with Cold Chisel.

Madonna’s fast start unseats Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Geffen/Universal), down 2-1, while U.K. newcomer Sienna Spiro completes the podium with her debut album, Visitor (Capitol/Universal), new at No. 3.

Further down the list, published Friday, July 10, English heavy metal legends Deep Purple return with Splat! (earMusic/Orchard), their 24th studio album. It’s new at No. 19. Deep Purple has twice landed albums at No. 1, both released prior to the ARIA Charts era: Deep Purple In Rock (1970) and Machine Head (1972).

The Neighborhood’s 2025 collection (((((ultraSOUND)))) (via Warner Records) makes a belated noise on the chart, opening its account at No. 47. The U.S. rock act is currently in the market for a tour that concludes tonight at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” (Sony Music) collects a fifth non-consecutive No. 1, while her 2025 release “Weren’t For The Wind” improves 57-37, for a new peak position.

In a chart completely devoid of new releases, Sombr has a noteworthy climb with “My Body Isn’t Ready” (Warner), up 46-27. It’s the U.S. pop star’s fifth top 30 appearance in fewer than two years. Indeed, the New Yorker reached the top 10 with “Back To Friends”, “Undressed”, “12 To 12” and “Homewrecker.”

Jack White, the record label chief, business owner and scathing critic of the Trump administration, gets back to the business of rock ‘n’ roll with Frozen Charlotte, his seventh studio album.

Released through White’s Third Man Records, Frozen Charlotte dropped at the stroke of midnight on digital music platforms and houses the new single “Neighbors Blues,” the propulsive, previously-released “Dollar Bill,” and the tracks he performed on SNL earlier this year, “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico.” 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee unveiled the 13-track collection during the free, two-part online series Third Man Release Lab, in which his team peels back the layers on his label’s joyfully chaotic release process.

Frozen Charlotte was produced and mixed by the Detroit native, and took sonic shape at White’s Third Man Studio in Nashville with a roll call of familiar collaborators, including Patrick Keeler (drums), Dominic Davis (bass) and Bobby Emmett (keys).

White has assembled the band for North America tour dates in support of the album, which begin tonight, July 10, with a sold-out show at Washington, DC’s The Anthem and then continues through a two-night stand at Atlanta, GA’s Coca-Cola Roxy on Nov. 20-21. Highlights include two-nighters in a string of cities, from Brooklyn to Chicago, Charlotte, and Miami Beach, along with top-billing at Borderland Festival (Sept. 19) and Iron Blossom Music Festival (Sept. 20).

White and Co. will make an Atlantic crossing for more summer dates and festival spots in the United Kingdom and Europe, including two-night stands at London’s Eventim Apollo (Aug. 25-26) and Dublin’s 3Olympia (Sept. 1-2). Then, a visit to Asia for shows in Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China; and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The followup to White’s Grammy Award-nominated 2024 LP No Name, Frozen Charlotte is also available in physical formats, including CD, cassette, standard black vinyl, limited-edition “Zug Island Blue” vinyl (available via Third Man Records), limited-edition “Chrome” vinyl (available on tour), and limited-edition “Ice Blue” vinyl (available at independent record stores).

Stream Frozen Charlotte below.