Weekly wrap-up
Week of September 21, 2026
87 stories No issue this week
Everything the desk filed September 21 to 27, 2026, best-covered first. No issue went out this week, so this page is the whole of it.
Filed this week
87 stories
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BusinessPop
Taylor Swift takes the first MTV VMA Artist Director honour for her music videos
MTV built a new category around a performer who directs her own clips, and handed it over five days before the ceremony.
Confirmed4 outlets
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LegalPop
Fake Taylor Swift and Rihanna vinyl lands a British bootlegger in prison
Rehan Ahmed pressed records on machines seventy years old for seven years, and police carried 18 tons of evidence out of his warehouse.
Confirmed4 outlets
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ReunionsIndie
Atlas Sound returns after seven years with eight songs nobody has heard
Bradford Cox was added to the Making Time bill a week out, then played none of the back catalogue.
Confirmed3 outlets
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ReleasesRock
Carrie Underwood sings two Guns N' Roses songs at the band's Atlanta concert
Her first appearance with Axl Rose's group since 2023 came a day after a report that he is advising her on a rock record.
Developing2 outlets
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FestivalsMetal
Ozzfest confirms a US edition of the metal festival for 2027
Sharon Osbourne says an American date is happening but will not say where, and she wants the bill weighted towards new bands.
Developing2 outlets
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ReleasesCountry
Lydia Loveless rerecords Accolades as the title track of an October EP
A song posted to Bandcamp last year and then pulled down has been cut again in Memphis with Matt Ross-Spang.
Developing2 outlets
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ToursRock
Placebo book ten Latin American shows to mark thirty years as a band
The run revisits the first two albums, and the Buenos Aires date puts them at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas on 3 March.
Developing2 outlets
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LegalHip-hop
Creditors file nearly $200,000 in claims against Tay Keith's estate in court
American Express wants about $87,000 across two card accounts and Bank of America about $115,000 on a 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLS.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessHip-hop
Busta Rhymes says streaming pays rappers in a currency that does not exist
He made the argument while promoting Dillagence II, which he has pressed to vinyl, CD and cassette to get around the problem.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Syleena Johnson turns to UK house on the single Take Care with DJ Shy Cookie
The R&B singer's new track marries her vocal to four-on-the-floor production and garage rhythms rather than a soul arrangement.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Solange and Summer Walker post a band rehearsal clip and say nothing else
Solange says she coaxed Walker out of guitar retirement; there is no release, billing or date attached to any of it.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursR&B
Mary J. Blige will close her Las Vegas residency in February 2027
Ten nights of the twenty-date My Life, My Story run remain, split between October and a February finish at Dolby Live.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Daley releases the album Strange Nature and opens a 27-city US tour
Robert Glasper and Keyon Harrold appear on the ten-track record, and the run began in St. Louis.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessCountry
Country singer Garth Brooks ends his three-year radio partnership with TuneIn
The Garth Channel and Tailgate Radio sign off on 22 September, and The BIG 615 stays on without him until the end of the year.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Joyce Wrice sets her second album Machiko for 9 October
The 14-track record takes her middle name, and the third single Fly (Someone You Love) brings in the rapper SALIMATA.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessIndie
Beach Fossils singer Dustin Payseur says indie rock no longer means anything
In a long interview before a Buenos Aires show, the founder traces his records from a laptop microphone to an album he says is nearly finished.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsCountry
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion closes a 25th festival on the state line
Old Crow Medicine Show finished it on State Street, and the 2027 edition is already set for 10 to 12 September.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsHip-hop
Rolling Loud sets 2027 festival dates in Orlando and San Bernardino
Florida returns to Camping World Stadium in May and California moves to December, with no bills announced for either.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesMetal
Bruise Bath answer the news with the single Non-Consensual Intervention
The Philadelphia post-metal band open the track with a sampled argument for invading the United States, then bury it in riffs.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessRock
Modern English joke that the Strokes took their song I Melt With You
A video captioned as a beef points at Bad Decisions, the 2020 single fans had already matched to the 1982 original.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesMetal
Black Label Society release a live video of Ozzy's Song, Zakk Wylde's tribute
The track closed Engines of Demolition, and the footage comes from its live debut in Madison back in March.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
You Are An Angel shares two outtake songs from It's Fine To Dream
J McClendon, who led the emo band Glass Beach, put Candyglass and Baroque out over the weekend.
Single source1 outlet
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ChartsCountry
Matt Dragstrem enters the top 20 of the MusicRow songwriter chart at No. 17
Cuts by Luke Bryan and Greylan James carried him there, while Ella Langley holds the No. 1 position.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessCountry
The Crew books a 17th CMA Awards viewing party for Musicians On Call
The Nashville industry group raised more than $24,000 at last year's benefit and returns to Tin Roof on 18 November.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursIndie
Holly Humberstone cancels her European tour after a medical emergency on the bus
A member of her touring party was taken to hospital in Cologne and is now stable; the singer says the dates will be rescheduled.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessHip-hop
Jay-Z says he nearly quit rap in the documentary series Jay-Z in 8
The first two HBO episodes have him telling Rick Rubin that signing a record deal once looked like a step down from what he was already earning.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsPop
RTE keeps Ireland out of the Eurovision Song Contest 2027
The Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has withdrawn too, and the Bulgarian contest still runs across three May nights in Burgas.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsCountry
Round Top Film Festival adds a Bluebird Cafe songwriter round for 2026
Shane McAnally's episode of the documentary series SONGWRITER screens on 14 November, and he plays afterwards with Josh Osborne.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessLatin
Cuco, NEZZA and Fuerza Regida play CHIRLA's 40th anniversary awards night
The immigrant rights group handed out its Immigrant Champion Awards at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on 18 September.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Sen Morimoto shares a second song, Chewing Gum, from Time Is On Your Side
The follow-up to Overthinker keeps the same unhurried register as the album announcement last month.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursHip-hop
Gnarls Barkley book their first tour in eighteen years behind the album Atlanta
Danger Mouse and CeeLo Green open at the Masonic in San Francisco on 5 November, with Gallant and Duckwrth supporting.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesLatin
Pedro Capo opens the album Fulanito with the single Caer y levantarse
The Puerto Rican singer wrote it about getting back up, and the record lands on 16 October after his move home to the island.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursElectronic
Ninajirachi adds eleven January dates to her I Love My Computer tour
The run ends at Montreal's Igloofest on 23 January, with MGNA CRRRTA and iKeda supporting and a San Francisco show added for November.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Susan Tedeschi headlines Berklee's first homecoming with a Derek Trucks guest spot
The college named a scholarship after its 1991 graduate days before she played a 16-song set on a Boston street.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Pet Fox share the single Avoidant, a second song from the album Balance
Theo Hartlett wrote it about ending a relationship with someone who has done nothing wrong, and it arrives a month before the record.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessCountry
Country singer Randall King says he is six and a half months sober
He cancelled a tour in March, checked himself into treatment, and came back through the Grand Ole Opry circle in August.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursLatin
Ha*Ash book an 18-date North American tour for spring 2027
The sisters open at Toronto's Meridian Hall on 20 April and finish in Miami Beach on 22 May, with tickets on general sale Friday.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Nirvana's In Utero turns 33, and its Steve Albini mixes are still an argument
The record Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl made in twelve days at a Minnesota studio arrived on this date in 1993.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Protomartyr put out Exalted Eagles, the last single before Hotel Usona
Joe Casey's band close a three-song trail of previews four days ahead of the record's arrival on Domino.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
StubHub fined $20,000 under Ontario's face-value cap on concert ticket resale
The province has penalised two marketplaces in a month, and both say they cannot see what a ticket first sold for.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
Jam band Widespread Panic return to Charlotte for two New Year's concerts
Bojangles Coliseum takes the group on 30 and 31 December, their first dates in the city since 2014, billed as a food drive.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Piracy bill would order US internet providers to cut off sites hosting stolen music
Darrell Issa's draft would let a rights holder win a blocking order against broadband firms, DNS resolvers and VPNs.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
Marianas Trench add a Windsor concert to a thin run of Canadian shows
Josh Ramsay's band play the Colosseum at Caesars Windsor on 8 January with Fionn opening, and tickets go up on Friday.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Dirty Honey name the album Catch My Butterfly and share two singles from it
The Los Angeles trio's third record lands on 15 January with John Feldmann producing, and Lights Out is out now.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursCountry
Old Crow Medicine Show debut a Phish cover on the band's home ground in Vermont
The string band opened its encore at Shelburne Museum with The Wedge, teasing Tweezer on the way in.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Josephine Illingworth gives half of the song Who Burnt the Mountain to conservation
The London composer built the track around a recording made in the Himalayas, and it lists Nature itself among the credits.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Claire Cronin turns folk horror into a lullaby on the song Before The End Of Time
The Los Angeles writer and musician usually works in dread, and her new track is about missing the world after it goes.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesMetal
New World Man announce the debut album I Am The Machine with its title track
Mike Shaw, the guitarist behind Mindforce riffs, runs several bands at once, and Stereogum calls this the wildest.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessHip-hop
Roc Nation signs the Hong Kong pop star Jackson Wang to a global management deal
The singer marked it with a new song, Thank You, filmed on a phone with 30 fans picked from 80 countries.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessRock
The Capitol Theatre turns 100 and the Port Chester venue answers with a five-hour concert
Pink Talking Fish became the Centennial Band for a night, playing only acts that had stood on that stage since 1970.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesMetal
Artificial Brain name the album Antillia and share the song Quantum Malignancies
The death metal band moved from New York to Richmond and picked up a new singer and drummer on the way.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
US ticket buyers meet more fraud and steeper fees than concert fans abroad
A survey of 5,107 people across three countries was run by a resale marketplace that wants the rules changed.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursIndie
Aubory Bugg books a 20-date 2027 tour behind her debut album
The folk singer-songwriter opens at Eddie's Attic in February and finishes at The Basement in Nashville on 6 March.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursPop
tripleS book six North American shows including Toronto and Vancouver
The South Korean group open at Massey Hall on 11 November and close in Vancouver on the 26th, with four US dates between.
Single source1 outlet
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ReunionsR&B
Two Danity Kane members open for Day26 and split the group's own fans
D. Woods and Aundrea Fimbres played a New York show as a duo, a year after the last three-piece version came apart.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessCountry
Cameron Whitcomb takes three awards at the 44th CCMA Awards in Saskatoon
The James Barker Band hosted and won twice, and Karen Kosowski became the first solo woman named record producer of the year.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
Jim Cuddy adds four Ontario theatre shows with Billianne opening
The Blue Rodeo singer's November run now reaches eight dates across small halls from Keswick to Blyth.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesCountry
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood duet on the Lady Gaga song Shallow in Washington
Yearwood rose out of a riser on her 62nd birthday, then took the stage alone for her 1991 debut single.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Congress passes the American Music Tourism Act to sell US venues and festivals abroad
A bipartisan bill now awaiting signature tells the Commerce Department to put studios, clubs and festivals on travel itineraries.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursElectronic
Calvin Harris takes the DJ attendance world record with 1.6 million in Sao Paulo
Guinness certified a February street party that shut a main avenue, with Harris playing from the top of a moving carnival float.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Ireland plans a 100 euro culture voucher teenagers can spend at music venues
Sixteen-year-olds would get a digital card for gigs, cinemas and theatres, at a cost to the state of up to eight million.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesCountry
Diamond Rio set the EP America Works for November with a Fort Campbell video
The country band's four-song release also gives new member Carson McKee his first lead vocal on a Diamond Rio record.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Triggerfinger release the album Tarmac after losing a founder member
Ruben Block and Mario Goossens made the loudest record of their careers for Paul, who died last October.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Grace Potter sings Dolly Parton's 9 To 5 with Maggie Rose at her own Vermont festival
Jackson Browne turned up for a Warren Zevon song, and a US congresswoman had sung with her the night before.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Mumford & Sons play the Springsteen song Atlantic City with Jake Clemons
Marcus Mumford moved to the drum kit to sing it, four miles from where Bruce Springsteen built the E Street Band.
Single source1 outlet
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ObituaryPop
Ronnie Dove, the pop balladeer who charted 21 singles in the sixties, has died at 91
The Baltimore singer cut his hits in Nashville with the A-Team, then bought back the masters and kept selling them himself.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsElectronic
John Summit hangs his Experts Only banner on the stock exchange before the festival
A text message sent fans to a Seaport newsstand for a fake broadsheet and a lanyard, then to a pop-up on the trading floor.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Lexie dates the EP San Miguel for November and shares the single Swimming
Written between two Italian summers, the Portland songwriter's new record picks up where a cancer diagnosis and a ten-year marriage left off.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursLatin
Shakira draws 165,000 to the first weekend of her Madrid concert residency
Three nights into a twelve-show run, the setlist is already moving and Laura Pausini has turned up unannounced.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessHip-hop
Afroman answers his cancelled Riot Fest set: the rapper once played through a hurricane
Storms over Chicago cut into the weekend's schedule, and the rapper says the festival kept him paid anyway.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessRock
Muse say a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg settled who gets the band's name
Matt Bellamy gave the @Muse handles to Meta's assistant and kept the music and the merchandise.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
Widespread Panic play Burning Down The House for only the third time in the band's history
The Talking Heads cover closed an encore in Wilmington, 327 shows after its last outing.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesPop
YAZ turns a stalled talking stage into the single If We Don't Know Each Other
The Camden singer wrote one verse, took it into the studio with Joseph Tilley and Ryann Barnes, and left with a chorus.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Steven Wilson sets Requiem For A Village for November and shares its title song
The album turns away from AI and studio correction, with narration by Andy Partridge read aloud by David Tennant.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsElectronic
AVA London publishes the full 2026 festival programme for its club culture conference
Moby, The Avalanches and Oklou take part across three days of talks, workshops and after-hours rooms.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Universal and Warner move to dismiss the American Federation of Musicians AI suit
The labels argue that a union concession in open court about a missing rate agreement ends the case before discovery.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
Spanish Love Songs hold back 5% of tour tickets at 20 pounds, no questions asked
The Los Angeles punk band play Spain for the first time on a 2027 run trailing the album Future Nausea.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursRock
The Velveteers book 20 UK and European dates for their first proper run over here
The Boulder garage-rock trio play London's Oslo on 18 February, most of a month into a leg that ends in Milan.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesIndie
Tough Cookie name their EP Devotion after the Patti Smith book August read on tour
The London band's second record arrives on 23 October, trailed by the single Let Me Die (Curled In Your Arms).
Single source1 outlet
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ToursJazz
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra opens its Coltrane centenary tour in Edinburgh
New commissions, a chanting brass section and a saxophonist making her Scottish debut filled The Queen's Hall.
Single source1 outlet
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BreakupsPop
Mis-Teeq are said to have split again, and Su-Elise Nash says that is news to her
One camp announced the end of the reunion alongside a solo tour; another member says 2027 offers were still live.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesPop
Faye Meana finishes a years-old song and makes it the single All This Time
The London singer's bossa-tinged track lands ahead of her EP I Meant To Say on 9 October.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Crawlers line up a second EP, Live With This, a month after the last one
The Cheshire trio put Birthday out first, a song about feeling alone on the day you are meant to celebrate.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursIndie
Man/Woman/Chainsaw put their biggest London show on a May 2027 UK tour
The Kentish Town Forum closes the run, and every autumn date they have already sold out, New York included.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursPop
Mariah Carey brings her Christmas tour back to UK arenas after nine years away
Birmingham, London and Manchester get three dates between 27 November and 2 December.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesElectronic
Boy Harsher release GET MEAN, the album they made after the couple became a band
Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller ended their relationship in 2024 and kept working; twelve tracks came out of it.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Spotify lets parents keep kids' music out of their Wrapped and recommendations
A global setting stops nursery rhymes and cartoon soundtracks feeding the algorithm, and it works backwards as well as forwards.
Single source1 outlet