There’s nothing quite like a last chance performance to squeeze the tension and ramp-up the nerves.

Elsie found herself in just that position on America’s Got Talent.

Following the Auditions, the Mississippi mom and singer stood at or near the brink of elimination. But she made it through to the Judges’ Callbacks, a special round for those acts who landed three or four “Yes” votes at their audition to show why they deserve a spot in the Live shows.

For her make-it-through moment, she performed a cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Make It Rain” (originally by Foy Vance), reinterpreting the number with a splash of southern soul.

Simon Cowell was caught on a hot mic, explaining why the 32-year-old’s audition, a performance of an original song, “Forgiveless,” divided the judges and failed to spark him up. “She just didn’t make the connection the first time for whatever reason,” he explained to guest judges Poo Bear and Normani. “And this time it was like, seriously, a completely different experience.”

Elsie was proud of her efforts. “I can leave here feeling accomplished,” she said in an interview, which aired Tuesday night (Aug. 4) along with her Judges’ Callbacks performance, “because he said he wanted me to be myself and I feel like I accomplished that.”

Not so fast. Elsie and her fellow hopefuls gathered, one by one, to learn their fate.

Cowell, as he so often likes to do, kept the artist and the viewers hanging. “I think after that first audition was what we spoke about yesterday was I didn’t quite feel the connection. I think today, from the minute you walked out, you actually lit up the stage,” he remarked. “You have this incredible, almost like peaceful, aura about you. And there is no question of doubt, we will not be making these live shows… without you.”

Cue the tears.

“So, you are joining us in the live shows,” Cowell confirmed, if any doubt remained.

The acerbic British judge also advanced Abiud Sando, Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm, Akira, and Travis Garland, while Elekrodads was eliminated. Meanwhile, Mel B advanced Butter & Grit, James & Marina, and Béty, while Lachlan Patterson, Joel M, and Madelyn Tallent & Malachi Martin headed for the exit.

AGT airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day on Peacock.

Watch Elsie’s green-light moment on AGT’s Results video below.

Simple Minds and Delta Goodrem brought some rock and pop star-power to the closing ceremony for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, presented Sunday, Aug. 2 in Glasgow, Scotland.  

Delta, the superstar Sydneysider, kept the Australian gold-rush flowing by performing her classic “Born To Try,” lifted from her 2003 smash debut album Innocent Eyes, and had the honors of welcoming the athletes into The OVO Hydro with a medley of her hits.

Delta belted out a batch of power ballads, including “Eclipse,” the song she performed at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, and fresh cut “Warrior.”

“Glasgow,” she writes on Instagram. “What a way to close the 2026 Commonwealth Games celebrating these incredible athletes, their strength, perseverance, heart. The unity that sports and music bring! A special moment singing Warrior for you all.”

To close it out, Goodrem teamed up with Scottish pop artist Cammy Barnes for a rendition of Australia’s unofficial national anthem, John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice.”

Goodrem has now completed a Commonwealth Games hattrick, after twice performing at the tournament in Australia — at Melbourne 2006 and Gold Coast 2018.

With her closing ceremony spot, Delta ensured her homeland continued its winning form. Australia topped the medals table with 70 gold, well ahead of England (29 gold) and Canada (19), respectively.

Delta is on something of a victory lap. Following her spot at Eurovision, where she finished fourth, she will begin her independent phase with Pure on Nov. 6, her first album release through a new deal struck with Universal Music via Better Now Records/Electrola. It’s the followup to Delta’s 2021 collection, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams (via Sony Music), her fifth leader on the ARIA Albums Chart.

Meanwhile, Glasgow’s finest, Simple Minds, wrapped-up the Commonwealth Games spectacular with a pair of songs from their mid-‘80s pomp, “Alive and Kicking” and “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill and Co. will celebrate their fifth decade in music with the V Tour, kicking off February 2027 with a run of headlining arena shows in Australia and New Zealand.

Sandi Thom, Shereen Cutkelvin, Elephan Sessions and Bemz also performed at the Closing Ceremony, which marked the official end of the 11-day quadrennial multi-sport event. For the record, the home nation punched well above its weight during the official competition, winning 13 gold for fifth spot on the medals tally, ahead of New Zealand, Nigeria and Jamaica, respectively.

The Commonwealth Games spotlights athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which includes England and more than 70 former “British Empire” territories across the world.

With No. 1s on both sides of the Atlantic, Il Divo has experienced the peaks of a music career like few others. And in 2021, the crushing lows that come with the loss of a bandmate.

As the pandemic raged around the globe, Carlos Marín, the Spanish baritone and a beloved member of the classic crossover act, died unexpectedly at the age of 53.

The group’s surviving artists Urs Bühler (the Swiss tenor), Sébastien Izambard (the French pop artist) and David Miller (the American tenor) grieved, lifted. And with the discovery of Steven LaBrie, the Mexican-American baritone, a gift that would enable Il Divo to fulfil its second act.

“It was super difficult, to be honest,” recounts Izambard of the tragedy. “A part of us thought, we need to keep representing the legacy of our band. If Carlos had still been in this world, he would probably have told us to keep going.”

When the group considered pushing on, Miller pitched LaBrie, an artist he had worked with who possessed “an incredible voice,” Izambard says in a Zoom with Billboard. A recording of LaBrie’s talents came down the phone. “I was blown away, personally,” he explains. “I was like, there are some similarities in this voice. We talked the four of us, with Steven, to say how hard it’s gonna be, how big a role it to take on for Steven to be part of our band.”

Marín’s passing, he continues, “was a good lesson for me, especially. I want to enjoy life, as much as I can. That was a great message for all of us.”

Fast forward to 2026, and the chaps are enjoying life and music. A new album is in the works, the followup to 2024’s XX, a 20th anniversary collection of new material, including an original song.

“The plan is to do new music,” Bühler confirms, “then go back out and share that with the world. With some collaborations as well.” Watch this space.

Il Divo are giants in their lane. Initially assembled and mentored by Simon Cowell in 2003, the vocal group has sold more than 30 million albums, bagged two No. 1s on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and became the first classical crossover act to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, doing so 20 years ago, in 2006, with Ancora.

Along the way, they’ve collaborated with the likes of Celine Dion, Toni Braxton and Michael Ball, and entertained a who’s who of important figures, from former U.S. presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Australian audiences will be among the first to catch this new era of Il Divo. The group will return to Australia for a special all-star concert, Dec. 5, led by Jose Carreras, and featuring performances by Robbie Williams, the Corrs, Ronan Keating, Natalie Imbruglia, Darren Hayes, Katherine Jenkins and more.

Echo Pacific Entertainment is promoting the Carreras & Friends show at the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane — host city for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It’ll mark Il Divo’s first live performance in these parts since a four-city run in 2023, produced by TEG Dainty, and serve as an early Christmas present for the act.

Carreras and his groundbreaking work with Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo was an early inspiration for Il Divo. “It could well be said that Il Divo wouldn’t exist without the Three Tenors,” Miller enthuses. “Yet another reason to thank Maestro Carreras.”

On Tuesday (Aug. 4), Glen Hansard was gracefully remembered through the music he spent a lifetime creating at his Dublin funeral.

Family, friends and fellow musicians gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to celebrate the life of the beloved Irish singer-songwriter, who died July 29 at age 56 following a motorcycle accident. Among those paying tribute were U2‘s Bono and The Edge, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Hozier, Imelda May, Jake Clemons of the E Street Band and Liam Ó Maonlaí of Hothouse Flowers, all of whom joined mourners in honoring Hansard’s enduring legacy.

Bono shared a heartfelt statement during the ceremony, mulling over Hansard’s remarkable ability to make everyone feel like a close friend.

“People on the green outside, best friends. People tuning in, best friends. Even people who haven’t met him, best friends,” Bono said. “Everyone who met him, they just remember the day they met him.”

The U2 frontman shared a voicemail from Patti Smith that included a lullaby she recorded for Hansard’s loved ones. He also delivered a spoken tribute inspired by U2’s song “Beautiful Day,” accompanied by The Edge, reworking portions of the lyrics in honor of Hansard.

Vedder later took the stage to perform Hansard’s “The Song of Good Hope,” a fitting tribute from a longtime friend and collaborator. The Pearl Jam frontman was joined by Hansard’s Once collaborator Markéta Irglová during the performance, one of several musical moments that showcased the songwriter’s deep and sentimental influence across generations of artists.

Hansard’s brother, Richie Hansard, also delivered an emotional eulogy recalling the musician’s outlook on grief.

“Glen said once that when you lose someone, you don’t really lose them,” he told attendees. “If you have the strength and the will, you will gain them back and you inherit the best parts of them. And we have. We have inherited all the magical, colorful words, hugs, talks, madness, sadness, insightful, manic beauty that a brother, an uncle, a husband and a father could ever give. Thank you, Glen. Thank you, brother.”

The service concluded with a rendition of Bob Dylan‘s “Forever Young,” featuring Bono, Vedder, The Edge, Liam Ó Maonlaí and a choir of musicians assembled around the altar in a final farewell.

Hansard first rose to prominence as frontman of The Frames before earning worldwide acclaim alongside Irglová in The Swell Season. The pair won the Academy Award for best original song in 2008 for “Falling Slowly” from the film Once, which later inspired the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Over the course of his career, Hansard also released five solo studio albums and became known for his annual Christmas Eve busking performances in Dublin benefiting people experiencing homelessness.

Watch the moving musical tribute below.

The Backstreet Boys knew exactly what a momentous occasion it was when Kevin Richardson and Snoop Dogg crossed paths at Sunday’s Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie red-carpet premiere.

On Tuesday (Aug. 4), the BSB social accounts shared two photos of the encounter — one of the pair embracing and the other of them shaking hands — with the caption “It finally happened… iykyk.”

The inside-joke caption is in reference to viral memes dating back to 2024 suggesting that Richardson — a founding member of the boy band — “looks like a white Snoop Dogg,” with three side-by-side sets of photos as evidence. Some fans said the comparisons go back even further, recalling that BSB’s Nick Carter and Brian Littrell told Richardson he resembled Snoop when the similarly lanky boy bander sported cornrow braids during the group’s Black & Blue Tour in 2001. (You can read all about Kevin’s full hair-volution here.)

The comments section under the new photos of Kevin and Calvin (Snoop’s real name is Calvin Broadus) didn’t disappoint, with *NSYNC’s Lance Bass sharing four clapping emojis on Instagram and Muni Long commenting on Threads, “So ya’ll was separated at birth or what?”

It took Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie — the upcoming sequel to 2023’s Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie — to bring these two look-alike music stars together. Snoop voices the character of Dave in the Aug. 16 movie, while the Backstreet Boys recorded the new song “Bottle Up” for the film.

Richardson and the Backstreet Boys are still in the midst of their residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, with dates set through Aug. 29, while Snoop is currently getting the biopic treatment, with a Universal Pictures film about his life set to hit U.S. theaters next year, on Aug. 6, 2027.