Music

Billy Joel spent 10 years performing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and now he’s lent the title of one of his signature songs to a collection of merch that celebrates the Garden’s other residents — The Knicks — making it to the NBA Finals.

Called the New York State of Mind collection, the collab with the Sportiqe brand is now available online, and inside New York City’s NBA Store. It includes a hoodie and a tee, each one sporting the Knicks logo and the words “New York State of Mind.”

The collection is the start of future Sportiqe Billy Joel merch collabs, which will tie in with other New York teams and venues through 2026. The brand did something similar in 2025 with Frank Sinatra and the New York Yankees.

Sportiqe co-founder Jason Franklin says in a statement, “I started taking piano lessons when I was 8 years old because I loved Billy Joel – the first song I ever learned to play was one of his songs. Thirty-six years later, it’s incredibly meaningful to launch this collaboration during the Knicks’ long-awaited return to the Finals.”

The Knicks will play the San Antonio Spurs at the Garden during games 2, 4 and, if necessary, 6.

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Welcome to the three-comma club, Beyoncé.

She’s one of the new additions to the 2026 Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women. What put her over the top? According to the publication, it was her 2025 Cowboy Carter tour, which grossed more than $450 million in ticket sales and merchandise. Beyoncé is tied with several other women for #39; the list includes 43 women in total.

Among the musicians featured, Taylor Swift ranks the highest at #23, with an estimated net worth of $2 billion. That’s based on royalties from her music, income from touring, her music catalog — which is worth an estimated $600 million — and a real estate portfolio worth $110 million.

The only other musician on the list is Rihanna, who also ranks at #39 with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. However, that’s not from her music. Much of her wealth comes from her cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, and her Savage X Fenty lingerie line. The mother of three is allegedly working on a new album, which would be her first since Anti released in 2016.

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Europe has released a second single from their upcoming album, Come This Madness, their first new album in nine years.

The Swedish rockers, best known for their 1986 hit “The Final Countdown,” have dropped the song “The Cult of Ignorance,” along with a star-studded video featuring appearances by The Hives’ Howling Pellet, Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson, actress Malin Akerman, tennis champ Stefan Edberg and others.

“I love this track! It’s a straightforward rock anthem with lyrics reflecting the times we live in, written slightly tongue in cheek,” says Europe’s founding member and frontman Joey Tempest. “The title was inspired by a phrase coined by author and biochemist Isaac Asimov. It reflects some of the negative tendencies emerging in our world today, though it is written in a slightly light-hearted tone.”

Come This Madness, Europe’s first album since 2017’s Walk the Earth, will be released Sept. 25.

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Ariana Grande is getting fans hyped for her Eternal Sunshine tour kickoff this weekend: She released a “live from rehearsal” version of her single “hate that i made you love me.” 

Shawn Mendes is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his single “Treat You Better” with the release of a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl. The original recording is on side A, and a previously unreleased live version on side B. Shawn also shared a performance video of the live version on YouTube and made the track available on streaming services.

*NSYNC’s Joey Fatone is returning to Broadway musical & Juliet in July. He’ll be back in the role of Lance from July 2 through July 12, Aug. 4 through 15 and Sept. 1 through 7. Joey is also one of the producers of the Tony-nominated musical Titanique, as is JC Chasez.

Ellie Goulding will release her new album, I Know Too Much, on Sept. 4. The first single, “Black Prada Dress,” will be out on Friday. Ellie’s friend Katy Perry is excited about it: She wrote in the comments, “OK im sat.”

Speaking of Katy Perry, she posted a video of her “rehearsing” for her upcoming festival dates. In it, she sings a slowed-down, country-tinged version of her hit “Roar” with absolutely no enthusiasm. “rehearsals for the summer festival show are going great thanks for asking,” she captioned the video. One fan commented sarcastically, “New roar arrangement is lit wow.”

Sienna Spiro has released an official video for her album’s title track, “The Visitor.” “I feel it captures the true essence of what it means to be a visitor, feeling like a spectator in your own life, just passing through someone else’s experience,” she wrote on Instagram.

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Looks like Benson Boone will have some new music before he hits the road for his Wanted Man tour in July.

Benson has revealed on social media that he’ll be dropping a project called “The Time of My Life” on June 26. It’s not yet clear if it’s a new single, a new album or perhaps — as rumors have suggested — a movie soundtrack song.

In one video, Benson sits down in a chair and props his feet up, revealing the title and release date on the bottom of his shoes. A phone then begins, prompting him to get up and answer it.

In another video, Benson walks through a puddle of water to a neon sign reading, “The Time of My Life.” You can just hear him sing the first word of the song — “I” — before the video ends. 

On his Instagram Story, he wrote, “Everything is a clue. Remember that.”

Benson hasn’t released new music since his 2025 album, American Heart. The video for one of the album’s single, “Mr. Electric Blue,” is among the music videos that will be screened June 9 at New York’s Tribeca Festival, as part of the festivals Shorts programs. 

The Wanted Man tour launches July 7 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Soul Asylum has released another track off their upcoming album, MPLS Unplugged, dropping Aug. 28.

The latest is a recording of the track “What Will Become of Me,” a fan favorite that was first performed live in 1995 and has been part of their sets for years, though it’s never officially released on an album.

“What Will Become of Me” is available now via digital outlets.

MPLS Unplugged captures Soul Asylum’s 2023 concert at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of their 1993 performance on MTV Unplugged.

Soul Asylum has also announced a new world tour that hits North America starting June 13 in Oroville, California, and runs through Aug, 27 in Winnipeg, Canada. They will join the Live on their South American tour, starting Sept. 13 in Santiago, Chile.

A complete list of dates can be found at SoulAsylum.com.

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The New York Times released a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters in April, based on feedback from more than 250 music insiders and six Times critics. The list drew criticism from music fans, prompting the newspaper to give readers an opportunity to weigh in.

The Times has now released a readers’ choice list of the 100 greatest American songwriters, explaining, “As soon as we decided to make a list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters, we could guess how readers would respond to the results: with a combination of enthusiasm and outrage, quickly letting us know which of their favorites we had unconscionably forgotten.”

“We didn’t want all that passion to go undocumented. So we invited readers to assemble their own list — with a formal poll,” the publication added.

The new list is based on more than 25,000 ballots cast, which resulted in “nearly 12,000 distinct choices,” before being narrowed down to 100 songwriters.

Unlike the original list, the readers’ choice list ranks its selections. Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Kendrick Lamar placed in the top 20, landing at #6, #13 and #17, respectively. All three were included on the original list, as were Lionel Richie, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Outkast and Babyface, whom fans voted onto the new ranking.

Among the artists excluded from the original list but included in the readers’ choice ranking are Eminem, Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Ye, Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys.

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When Alex Warren announced his current tour, he enlisted Jennifer Aniston and Max Greenfield to join him in a comical video sharing the news.  Now, he’s enlisted Kevin James for another comical video announcing his new album.

In the video, Alex arrives on set, ready to film his big announcement. Kevin, playing the director, tries to get him hooked up to a harness that’s going to lift him in the air. “Is this gonna be safe?” Alex asked, before a crew member smashes into him, spilling blue paint all over him. 

“It’s okay, we’re gonna fix it in post,” says Kevin. 

Alex is then hoisted into the air. “My name’s Alex Warren, and my new album…” he says, before confetti explodes everywhere, cutting him off. “No! No! No no no!” screams Kevin. “Not yet!”

“You know, it might be a better choice to do it on the ground,” suggests Alex, but Kevin won’t hear of it.  The confetti goes off again, Kevin starts screaming again, the set catches on fire and then the confetti goes off again.

“Alex, just say the line,” says Kevin, at the end of his rope.

“My name’s Alex Warren, and my new album…” Alex says, before the harness gives way and he falls from the ceiling. 

The new album is called Wildchild and it’ll be out Aug. 28. It’s the follow-up to his album You’ll Be Alright Kid, which featured his smash hit “Ordinary.”

The confetti in the film is likely a reference to Alex’s current tour: Each night, he has someone from the audience come onstage and hit a button, which rains confetti everywhere.

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Nita Strauss is a new mom.

The Alice Cooper guitarist and husband Josh Villalta welcomed their first child, son Maxwell James Villalta, on May 28, People reveals in a new interview with the couple. The couple also shared photos of Maxwell on Instagram.

“We’re in the full on newborn trenches: exhausted, running on fumes and figuring new parenthood out as we go, and it’s still been the most fulfilling and incredible time of our lives,” Nita tells the mag. “Even after only a few days of motherhood, it’s already the best thing I’ve ever done.”

As for the origin of their son’s name, Josh explains, “Whatever he does in his life, we hope he does it to the max!” adding, “His middle name is James, after Nita’s dad, musician James Strauss.”

Nita describes giving birth as the “hardest thing I’ve ever done” but it was well worth it.

“I’ve always heard people say ‘You don’t know true love until they put your baby on your chest for the first time,’ but I never fully understood it until it happened to me!” she says. “It was as if the rest of the world melted away and we were in a vortex bringing a new life into this world.”

“I’m excited for every phase of this new chapter, from right now as we’re learning to care for a newborn to bringing our son along for the ride on tour when the time comes!” Strauss says of motherhood. “It’s going to be amazing, chaotic, and exciting and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Strauss and Villalta, who married in 2024, revealed they were expecting in January. Cooper announced in April that 22-year-old guitarist Anna Cara would be filling in for Strauss on tour while she’s on maternity leave.

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