Ashley Cooke’s self-titled second album (Big Loud)
The unofficial start of summer is here, with Memorial Day weekend now in the rearview mirror.
That’s good news for folks like Ashley Cooke, who’s ready to get things rolling ahead of the official start of the season on June 21.
“I’m a big water girl,” she explains. “I love the ocean, I love the lake, I love the pool, whatever it is, I love being near water. I love to wakeboard. I love to just lay out, read a book under the sun.”
“Summer is my favorite season,” she adds, “and I feel like the most ‘me’ as soon as summer comes back around.”
The self-titled sophomore album from the “your place” hitmaker also drops this summer, arriving Aug. 14. It features her latest hit, “the hell you are.”
: (L-R) Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes perform onstage during the FIREAID Benefit Concert for California Fire Relief at The Kia Forum on January 30, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for FIREAID)
The Black Crowes recently launched their new Southern Hospitality tour with Whiskey Myers. It’s their first tour since releasing their new album, A Pound of Feathers, and guitarist Rich Robinson tells ABC Audio that fans can expect them to play a mix of old and new songs.
“We change our set list every night,” he says. “You know, we have 10, 12 albums’ worth of stuff to pull from, some released and some unreleased albums.”
“It’s something I’m looking really forward to is to get in and flush these songs out and see where they fit within the set list,” he adds.
Rich says over the years they’ve adopted a different approach to creating their set list. “When we were younger, we were a little more militant about not playing a song twice in a row.”
“We kind of refused to play some of the songs that some of the people really wanted to hear every night,” he says, noting now that they’re older they get that people want to hear songs like “She Talks to Angels,” “Hard to Handle” and “Jealous Again” at every show.
“And we do that now,” he says, “but then we also have these moments in our set list where we can bring in these new things and bring in covers and stuff like that.”
And while incorporating new material may not always be easy, Rich says he’s up for it.
“To me, it’s not even a challenge,” he says. “It’s just like, I can’t wait to play these songs.”
The Southern Hospitality tour hits Orange Beach, Alabama, on Wednesday, and runs through Aug. 20 in Mountain View, California. A complete list of dates can be found at TheBlackCrowes.com.
Black Eyed Peas are winners of the best throwback song award at the 52nd American Music Awards, from the MGM Grand Las Vegas, on Monday, May 25, 2026. (Francis Specker/CBS)
Fergie unexpectedly showing up at the American Music Awards to accept an award with her Black Eyed Peas bandmates has fans of 2000s pop in their feelings — and begging for a reunion.
Fergie officially left BEP in 2018, and since then, the group has carried on with singer J. Rey Soul in her place. Will.i.am, Taboo and Apl.de.ap remained friendly with Fergie, but the group’s appearance as a quartet on the AMAs was the first time they’d been publicly seen together in years.
After the group’s 2010 single “Rock That Body” won the best throwback song award on Monday night, the group posted footage of the moment, alongside the caption, “From 2010 to 2026, the energy never stopped. It’s crazy to see how this song keeps moving through time, from the era it came out to a whole new generation rocking with it today.”
In the comments, fans called for Fergie to rejoin the group. “FERGIE, PLEASE COME BACK TO THE BEP. WE ALL NEED THIS!!!” wrote one. “WE NEED FERGIE BACK TO BEP,” wrote another.
“My heart is melting seeing u all together again,” read a third comment. “Come back and rock that body, Fergie Ferg!” a fourth fan wrote.
On Fergie’s Instagram account, another fan penned, “This four together could make the world a happier place again.”
Other comments included, “PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER ALBUM TOGETHER OMFG,” “We need them back,” and “Who else waiting for the announcement of WORLD TOUR in Fergie’s speech.”
When Fergie initially left the group, will.i.am said she wanted to focus on being a mother to her son, Axl Jack Duhamel, who she shares with her ex-husband, Josh Duhamel. She shouted out Axl in her acceptance speech Monday night.
John Lennon & Paul McCartney returning to Heathrow Airport from holiday in Greece (Cummings Archives/Redferns)
In a new video for Amazon Live and Amazon Music, Paul McCartney sits down with another famous Paul, Paul Mescal, who’s playing him in the upcoming quartet of Beatles films from Sam Mendes. During their 11-minute chat, McCartney discusses writing about his old Beatles bandmates on his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
“On this record, I might even refer to him in my mind, you know, as if we’re still writing together,” McCartney tells Mescal about John Lennon. “I’ll write something and go, ‘What’s that? Is that any good?'”
“And you’re talking to him?” asks Mescal.
“Kind of,” says McCartney. “You know, sometimes I get away with it. And sometimes you say, ‘No, it’s s***!'”
“That’s mad,” replies Mescal. “You know, his spirit’s still in me,” McCartney says. “And I’m very glad of that.”
Mescal also asks McCartney how it feels to have written songs on the album specifically about Lennon and George Harrison. “It’s like seeing old snapshots,” he says. “It’s nice because you’re kinda revisiting them.”
But when Mescal asks McCartney how he managed to write songs about the old days and still make them sound as though they’re in the “present tense,” he has no answer.
“I mean, I don’t know how I do it,” McCartney replies. “I haven’t got a formula.”
In other McCartney news, he’ll be going live on TikTok Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET. He’ll be answering questions submitted by fans ahead of time, and ones that come in live during the stream. You can now register for the upcoming event.
‘Donna Summer: The Casablanca Studio Albums’ box set. (Crimson Productions)
A new box set compiling some of the late Donna Summer’s biggest albums has been announced.
The collection, dubbed Donna Summer: The Casablanca Studio Albums, is due out Oct. 2 on seven-CD and 10-LP sets.
As its title suggests, the set includes the albums the Queen of Disco released on the label Casablanca Records, specifically between 1975 and 1979. Inside you’ll find 1975’s Love to Love You Baby, 1976’s A Love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love, 1977’s I Remember Yesterday and Once Upon a Time, 1979’s Bad Girls and1978’s Live and More live album.
Live and More includes Summer’s rendition of “MacArthur Park Suite,” which underwent a resurgence earlier in 2026 after Olympic figure skater and gold medalist Alysa Liu used it to soundtrack a routine.
‘ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks’ vinyl. (Zappa Records/UMe)
The Frank Zappa compilation ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks is being released on vinyl for the first time.
The record will make its wax debut on July 17. It was previously only available on CD and digital upon its original release in 2016.
The two-LP package is divided into four sections — Appetizers, Entrées, Second Course and Desserts — and is described in a press release as “an inviting entry point into the more rock-oriented side of [Zappa’s] expansive repertoire.”
“This isn’t a greatest hits album, as Frank didn’t really have ‘hits,’ per se, nor is it a ‘best of,’ since it would be impossible to fit so much awesome onto one disc,” Zappa’s son Ahmet Zappa said of the collection back in 2016. “It’s a veritable smorgasbord of musicality for the curious and a buffet of favorites for the fans.”
Miley Cyrus has many pets, including dogs, cats and horses, but she just added a new one to her menagerie. According to Wags and Walks, a nonprofit animal rescue group, Miley adopted a 20-year-old tortoise named Teru from them. “When we heard that @mileycyrus was hoping to adopt a tortoise, we knew we had to help make the connection happen. After a little coordination, the stars aligned, and Teru officially found his forever home with Miley,” the charity wrote on Instagram, sharing photos of Miley feeding her new pet.
Olivia Rodrigo has already released two videos for songs from her upcoming album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, but she’s apparently filmed another one. She was photographed during the shoot standing on a New York City street while surrounded by dancers in pink tutus.
Ariana Grande is releasing her new single, “hate that I made you love me,” on Friday, and so far all we’ve heard from it are some electronic bleeps and bloops. But on Tuesday she shared what seems to be a lyric from the song. She posted a photo of herself and captioned it, “cause i barely tried.”
KATSEYE’s performance at the American Music Awards gave fans a preview of what to expect on their upcoming WILDWORLD TOUR, but it may be hard to get tickets. The trek, which will see the group playing in the U.K., Europe and North America, sold out in just 48 hours. Shows were added in London, New York, LA and Mexico City, but those have also sold out. The tour launches Sept. 1 in Dublin, Ireland.
Bruno Mars is giving fans a look at his current The Romantic tour.
He’s released a live video performance of his single “Risk It All,” which was filmed on tour. Since it’s the first song in his set, the video shows the curtain rising to reveal Bruno standing alone onstage, with a huge sign reading “The Romantic” hanging above him. As he sings the song, a video animation of a stained glass window appears behind him.
After he hits a long note, he says, “Ladies and gentlemen, The Hooligans.” The lights come up and another curtain opens to reveal his band and a full horn section, who join him for a bit. As the song ends, the lights go down again, the curtain closes and Bruno is standing alone onstage once again.
While Bruno didn’t attend Monday’s American Music Awards, he ended up winning three trophies: best male R&B artist, best R&B song for “I Just Might” and best R&B album for The Romantic. The tour continues Wednesday in Toronto, Canada.
Poster for THE KEHLANI WORLD TOUR: North America (Live Nation)
The dates for the Kehlani World Tour have been announced, with 33 stops currently on the schedule.
The tour kicks off on Aug. 6 at The Armory in Minneapolis, before moving on to Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Atlanta and other cities across North America. It wraps Oct. 3 with a hometown show in San Francisco.
As previously reported, Kehlani will be joined on the road by special guests Durand Bernarr, Isaia Huron, The Artist and Waseel. An artist presale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time, followed by additional presales taking place throughout the week. Tickets then go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time at kehlaniworldtour.com.
As part of the singer’s partnership with PLUS1, a nonprofit that helps “leading artists, events, and brands in helping to unlock funding and build visibility,” $1 per ticket will benefit The Kehlani Fund by Live Nation.
‘Pickin’ Up the Pieces’ album artwork. (Third Brother Records)
Fitz and the Tantrums have announced a new batch of shows, some of which will feature a full-album performance of their 2010 debut, Pickin’ Up the Pieces.
The shows take place Nov. 3-4 in Solana Beach, California; Nov. 6 in Ojai, California; and Nov. 7-8 in Menlo Park, California. The Nov. 3 and Nov. 8 shows will feature a performance of Pickin’ Up the Pieces in its entirety, while the other three will feature a career-spanning greatest hits set.
Presales begin Wednesday, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit FitzandtheTantrums.com.
You can also catch Fitz and the Tantrums on tour throughout the summer in continued support of their latest album, 2025’s Man on the Moon. A deluxe edition will be released June 5.
