Music

Kendrick Lamar took control of his narrative and remained “Humble” while doing so for another year. His 2025 kept him in the headlines, beginning with a sweep at the 67th annual Grammy Awards, where he won all five categories he was nominated for — including song and record of the year.

Exactly one week later, Kendrick returned to another massive stage, headlining the Super Bowl halftime show alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams and special guest SZA. The performance also included a bit of a pointed shade toward Drake, who had filed a lawsuit over their 2024 feud.

The show previewed the chemistry to come on his Grand National Tour with the SOS singer, which ran from April 19 to June 18 and has since become the highest-grossing co-headlining tour in history.

Though Kendrick kept his releases light in 2025, appearing on Playboi Carti’s Music album and on Clipse’s “Chains and Whips,” his prolific 2024 run was more than enough to keep him at the center of the cultural conversation.

He was the top winner at the BET Awards, taking home five trophies. Those included album of the year for GNX, video of the year for “Not Like Us,” best male hip-hop artist and best collaboration for “Luther” featuring SZA. He added VMA and NAACP Image Award wins for “Not Like Us,” while his Super Bowl performance helped him secure a Primetime Emmy Award.

Kendrick closes out 2025 atop several year-end lists, including Billboard’s top rapper, #1 Hot 100 songwriter of the year and top R&B/hip-hop artist of the year.

His hit “Luther,” which became the longest-running #1 in the history of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, also finishes the year leading both the hot rap songs and hot R&B/hip-hop songs year-end rankings.

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Who had a 4 Non Blondes comeback on their 2025 bingo card? Well, frontwoman Linda Perry, for one.

“The top of the year, I had a premonition, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna put the band back together,'” Perry told ABC’s On the Red Carpet during rehearsals for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026, during which 4 Non Blondes will be performing. 

“When I got that energy, all this stuff started happening,” she added.

Said stuff included the first extended run of 4 Non Blondes live shows in over 30 years, as well as a viral TikTok trend featuring a mash-up of the 4NB hit “What’s Up?” and the Nicki Minaj track “Beez in the Trap.” Celebrities including Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Paramore‘s Hayley Williams have taken part in the trend.

“I mean, it’s still going,” Perry said of the trend. “Martin Scorsese did one, alright?”

For Perry, performing on NYRE is a fitting way to cap such an eventful year.

“It’s just been a really wonderful experience because, you know, it’s been 30 years, and we had a momentum like this 30 years ago,” Perry said. “So it’s really kinda fun to be 30 years later and to have that same feeling, that same momentum, and the drive and the love.”

“The song just doesn’t go away,” she adds of “What’s Up?” “It’s one of those songs, it’s iconic, and I’m so blessed to have written that song.” 

4 Non Blondes will look to continue that momentum into 2026 with the release of their first album since their 1992 debut.

Until then, you can watch NRYE 2026 Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Other performers include AJR and The All-American Rejects.

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Anthrax‘s Scott Ian embodied the spirit of metalheads everywhere upon obtaining Iron Maiden guitarist Dave Murray‘s signature Fender Stratocaster.

As seen in a video posted to his Instagram, Ian broke in his new guitar by shredding the riff from the Maiden classic “The Trooper.”

“Got the new Dave Murray Strat … and of course this is the first riff I played (too fast) on it,” Ian writes in the caption. “The guitar is SWEET!!!”

Ian will have a chance to show off his Maiden playing skills to Murray when Anthrax opens for the English metallers on select dates of their 2026 U.S. tour starting in September.

Anthrax’s other 2026 plans include the release of their long-awaited new album, the follow-up to 2016’s For All Kings.

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A seven nation army couldn’t hold Jack White back from enjoying his new Christmas gift.

The White Stripes rocker shares in an Instagram post that his wife, Olivia Jean, got him a wax seal kit for the holidays. Naturally, he used it to recreate his III logo.

“Such a wonderful Christmas present from Olivia Jean,” White writes in the caption.

Jean previously gifted White his very first cellphone in July for his 50th birthday.

Meanwhile, you can catch White on the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony special, airing New Year’s Day on ABC. White attended and gave a speech, though his White Stripes bandmate Meg White was not present.

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Diddy‘s sons Justin Combs and Christian “King” Combs are opening up about their father’s trial, sentencing, and the media attention surrounding the case in an upcoming docuseries on Zeus Network.

A trailer teasing the untitled series dropped Sunday. It shows Justin and Christian seated in a home theater as they watch coverage from Diddy’s arrest and trial, while headlines of new articles flash across the screen. The two then receive a phone call from Diddy, before the clip cuts to a title card announcing the docuseries will be released in 2026.

“To be clear, this documentary is about giving Justin and Christian the opportunity to share their personal story,” Zeus Network CEO Lemuel Plummer wrote in the comments. “We’re not here to endorse Diddy or anyone else. As a network, we believe in giving individuals a platform to tell their own experiences, just like any network that enters the documentary space.”

“We’re simply allowing these stories to be told, and that’s the essence of what we’re doing here,” he continued. “Thanks for understanding and for letting us bring these narratives to light.”

The announcement has already drawn a response from 50 Cent, who executive produced the Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning, about Diddy’s downfall.

“Wow I want to see this show, I’m not sure this was a good idea,” he wrote on Instagram Monday.

The news comes days after Justin reportedly caught up with his dad during a Christmas visit.

Diddy is currently serving a 50-month sentence after being found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution. He is appealing the conviction and seeking either an immediate release or a lighter sentence.

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The Billboard Hot 100 may be completely dominated by Christmas songs, but over on another of the publication’s charts, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters has just made some history.

As Billboard notes, the song, performed by the voices of HUNTR/X — Audrey Nuna, EJAE and Rei Ami — tops the Radio Songs chart, which measures radio airplay across all musical genres. It’s now the first K-pop song ever to take the #1 spot.

“Golden” previously spent eight weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 and three weeks on the Pop Airplay chart.

The trio of singers has been all over TV lately, appearing or performing on NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Saturday Night Live, the MTV VMAs and Netflix’s NFL Christmas Gameday. They’ll also be performing on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest Wednesday night on ABC.

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Congratulations are in order for Nelly and Ashanti, who celebrated two years of marriage Saturday. Ashanti shared a clip on Instagram from their second wedding anniversary, capturing her reaction to a surprise from Nelly, born Cornell Haynes Jr. 

In the video, Ashanti is seen walking out of a room and finding a bouquet of pink roses on the floor. As she  enters another room, she discovers pink heart-shaped balloons, candles, a bucket of roses reading “Happy anniversary” and a heart-shaped floral arrangement that says “Mrs. Haynes.” Holding the bouquet, she embraces Nelly and the two share a dance. Their son, Kareem Kenkaide Haynes, also appears in the clip, walking hand-in-hand with his mother over the rose petals on the floor.

“Living in the moment all day yesterday (and night ) 12/27/25 I love you babe!!!” Ashanti captioned the clip.

Ashanti and Nelly originally dated on and off for 10 years before calling things off in 2013. After nearly a decade break, they reunited and tied the knot in 2023, welcoming Kareem in July 2024. The two have since documented their journey as newlyweds and parents on their Peacock reality show, We Belong Together, which Nelly confirmed will be coming out with a second season.

“I think the goal was … to let everybody in to this new chapter of Nelly, this new chapter of Ashanti, us being together,” he told ABC Audio. “We had a lot of fans out there rooting for us and things like that. So hopefully, you know, they continue to bless us with the energy.” 

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Miley Cyrus hit the red carpet at the Academy Awards earlier this year, but now she’s revealed that the reason she attended was to ask for a job.

Miley shared with People that she ended up writing her Golden Globe-nominated song “We Dream as One” for Avatar: Fire and Ash after running into director James Cameron at a Disney event and letting him know she was up for writing music for his movies.

She also pitched Jamie Lee Curtis, which, she said, led to her writing her Golden Globe-nominated song from last year, “Beautiful That Way,” for Curtis’ film The Last Showgirl.

And she didn’t stop there. Miley told People, “No, literally, that’s why I went to the Oscars this year. Everybody that came up and introduced themselves, I said, ‘Well, if you need any music, I’m around.’” 

Miley said she also offered her services to the creators of the hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer, adding, “I don’t know what I would write for Baby Reindeer season 2, but I threw that out there!”

Her approach seems to be working: back-to-back Golden Globe nominations can’t be denied.

As for why Miley is so determined to write music for films and TV, she explained, “I really feel myself attached to [movie] songs. There’s certain songs that, even if they were written for the film or just a song used in the film, like ‘I Will Always Love You,’ you immediately think of the movie itself and they become embedded.”

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Back in October, Bono and The Edge were in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to represent U2 as they were honored with the Woody Guthrie Prize, which was given out by the Woody Guthrie Center. Now they are giving fans who weren’t in attendance a chance to hear what went down.

Audio of the conversation Bono and The Edge had with T Bone Burnett about art and activism, as well as the duo’s acoustic performance from the event, is now available on YouTube.

The surprise performance includes such songs as “Running to Stand Still,” which included a bit of Guthrie’s “Bound for Glory”; “Sunday Bloody Sunday”; “One”; “Pride (In The Name of Love),” which also featured a bit of Guthrie’s “Jesus Christ”; and “Yahweh.”

The Woody Guthrie Prize recognizes “a recipient who embodies the spirit of Woody Guthrie’s social consciousness and musical legacy.” The event was held at Cain’s Ballroom, a venue U2 headlined in 1981 on their Boy tour.

Previous Woody Guthrie Prize winners include Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello.

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Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson made a surprise appearance at the Lambeth Music Service school in London to speak with students.

When asked to choose his favorite guitar riff that he’s written, Delson picked the opening to the LP hit “One Step Closer.”

“It’s not technically hard to play, but it has a bounce to it, and a pocket that’s not obvious,” Delson shared. “I don’t try to show off with my playing, I try to channel something that people will like.”

You can watch footage from Delson’s visit in the latest episode of Linkin Park’s LPTV series, streaming now on YouTube.

While Delson remains a member of Linkin Park, he hasn’t been touring with them since the band relaunched in 2024 with new singer Emily Armstrong. 

“Over the years I’ve realized I thrive most when I’m actively working with my bandmates behind the scenes––in the studio, collaborating on our new music, and helping build our live show,” Delson said.

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