Music

Mastodon has shared a video addressing the death of the band’s former guitarist, Brent Hinds.

Hinds, a founding member of Mastodon, unexpectedly parted ways with the “Blood and Thunder” outfit in March 2025. He died just five months later in August 2025 in a motorcycle accident.

The video, titled “The Mastodon in the room,” finds the other Mastodon founders — drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders and guitarist Bill Kelliher — sitting in a theater watching archival footage of Hinds and the band. Toward the end, they open up regarding their decision to part with Hinds.

“It isn’t easy to talk about Brent, he was our family, someone we all loved wholeheartedly,” Mastodon says in the video’s description. “He was a wild man, our wild man, and that came with some challenges. Both things are true and we aren’t interested in chasing one truth over the other.”

“Losing him has meant sitting with a type of grief we never expected,” the band continues. “No more hugs, no more high fives, no more disagreements, no more making up. That part has been hard, it’s real. We put this conversation out there so you can hear it directly from us, you all deserve that.”

You can watch “The Mastodon in the room” on YouTube.

Mastodon has continued with new guitarist Nick Johnston and released a new song in June dedicated to Hinds called “Your Ghost Again.” 

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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Say Anything has announced a new album called Cherry Soda in collaboration with the band Wavves.

The record is due out Sept. 18. Lead single “Deathx1k” is out now alongside a claymation video, which you can watch on YouTube.

“We kind of wrote to each other’s situations,” Say Anything’s Max Bemis says of working with Wavves frontman Nathan Williams. “We’re both very different people, but we get along really well. As writers, we pushed ourselves. He became more emo and I became more Wavves-y.”

“I think we brought out some of the stuff that isn’t most obvious in each other,” Bemis continues. “I may be singing stuff that sounds kind of bleak, but that’s kind of like Nate’s whole shtick, although he’s actually a very sweet, sensitive guy.”

Here’s the Cherry Soda track list:
“Keep What Hurts”
“Deathx1k”
“Gone Away”
“So Low”
“Still Alive”
“Cherry Soda”
“Sell You Hope”
“Litterbug”
“Pretend Again”
“Pinesol”

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Ariana Grande has teased a cappella snippets of two new songs off her upcoming album, petal.

In an Instagram carousel posted Wednesday, she revealed an alternate picture disc of the album available for preorder, as well as the song teases. She shared a portion of the lyrics in the post’s caption.

The first snippet is from track five on the album, titled “oh well.” We hear her a cappella harmonies as she sings the lyrics, “Good things can replace dysfunction, obsession/ Thanks but I’ll see you right out/ Good luck on your way to hell/ Oh, well.”

The other snippet is from track seven, titled “freak.” On it she sings, “Someday all the seeds will open/ All of the human life I’ve dreamt of/ Will be real if I start over/ How will it feel?”

Petal, featuring her current single “hate that i made you love me,” comes out July 31.

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Taylor Swift is bejeweled once again with an Emmy nomination.

The singer earned an Emmy nod Wednesday for her work on her Disney+ concert film Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show.

Swift, who is listed as a performer and a producer on the project, earned a nod in the outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) category.

The concert film, directed by Glenn Weiss, earned five nods, including outstanding picture editing for variety programming, outstanding sound mixing for a variety series or special, and outstanding technical direction and camerawork for a special.

Weiss also earned a nod for outstanding directing for a variety special.

This marks Swift’s second Emmy nomination and could be her second Emmy win. According to the Television Academy website, the “Cruel Summer” singer earned her first Emmy in 2015 for outstanding creative achievement in interactive media – original interactive program for AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, on which she served as an executive producer.

Also nominated in the outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) category are Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…, The Muppet Show, Nikki Glaser: Good Girl and Wicked: One Wonderful Night.

Swift’s latest Emmy nomination comes just days after her star-studded wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce on July 3. The duo tied the knot in New York City at Madison Square Garden.

The 2026 Emmys will be held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 14. The ceremony will air on NBC and will be streamed live on Peacock.

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Dustin Lynch launched his career in 2012 with “Cowboys and Angels,” and nearly 15 years later, he’s put together a greatest hits collection made up of 10 chart-toppers. 

Setlist Staples – 10 #1’s is set to arrive Aug. 28.

“These are the songs that have stayed with me and the fans from the very beginning,” he says. “No matter how much new music I make, these are the records that always find their way back into the show. They’ve become part of the soundtrack to so many memories over the years, and I love getting to relive those moments every night onstage.”

There’s another song that’s definitely a concert mainstay these days — his current hit, “Easy to Love,” which is in the top 25.

Here’s the complete track listing for Setlist Staples – 10 #1’s:
“Hell of a Night” 
“Seein’ Red”
“Thinking ‘Bout You (featuring MacKenzie Porter)”
“Where It’s At”
“Chevrolet (featuring Jelly Roll)”
“Ridin’ Roads”
“Mind Reader”
“Good Girl” 
“Stars Like Confetti”
“Small Town Boy” 

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Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show scored nine Emmy nominations Wednesday, more than any other Super Bowl halftime show.

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny was nominated in the outstanding variety special (live) category. It breaks the record previously held by Lady Gaga’s halftime show, which received six nods in 2017. Coincidentally, Gaga made an appearance during Bad Bunny’s halftime set.

Gaga, meanwhile, scored a nod of her own in the outstanding original music and lyrics category for “The Dead Dance” from Netflix’s Wednesday.

Taylor Swift is also an Emmy nominee this year in the outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) category for Disney+’s Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show. The special scored five nods total.

The 2026 Emmys will be held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 14. The ceremony will air on NBC and stream live on Peacock.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford is featured on new version of the song “Balls to the Wall,” originally by the German heavy metal band Accept.

The updated track is included on Teutonic Titans 1976-2026, an upcoming compilation of rerecorded Accept songs featuring guest artists in celebration of the band’s 50th anniversary.

“Rob is the Metal God. I don’t need to say any more about him,” says Accept guitarist and co-founder Wolf Hoffmann in a statement. “Once we knew that he would do it, it was an obvious choice to give him ‘Balls to the Wall’ because it’s the best fit imaginable!”

Alongside Halford, the rerecorded “Balls to the Wall” features Scorpions guitarist Matthias Jabs, Pantera bassist Rex Brown and Bullet for My Valentine drummer Jason Bowld.

Teutonic Titans 1976-2026 will be released Sept. 4. It also features contributions from Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Ghost’s Tobias Forge.

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Tierra Whack has released the music video for her song “Candle Wax,” from her mixtape Whack’s Museum.

Directed by Child, the video opens with Tierra resting her head on a pile of unlit candles with her eyes closed. She then wakes up and the visual transitions, panning down a row of people from a woman to a man and another woman. Dollar bills are wrapped around the man’s shoulders and around the woman’s head like a veil. They pass what appears to be a glass of milk to Tierra, who is later seen standing beside a little girl eating dinner while people in the background interact and serve themselves plates of food.

The 45-second video follows Whack’s Museum‘s “Whack Job.”

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Justin Moore will return to the road on Saturday after a little more than a month away.

He’ll play the Knox County Fair in Knoxville, Illinois, on July 11, after announcing June 8 he was taking some time to focus on his health. 

“See y’all on the road soon!” he posted on Instagram, along with a video set to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” with its familiar “Don’t call it a comeback” line. The clip shows Justin walking to the stage and ends with a look at his remaining 2026 shows. 

In addition to fairs, festivals and his own headlining dates, Justin will play Las Vegas, Phoenix, Detroit, Wichita and beyond on Riley Green’s Cowboy as It Gets Tour. 

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U2’s just-released single, “Street of Dreams,” soundtracks a new short film of the same name featuring soccer star David Beckham.

The film was released by Bank of America in conjunction with the World Cup. According to a press release, it “tells the story of a young girl whose life has been upended through homelessness but refuses to give up on her dream of playing soccer.”

It’s described as an “uplifting story about resilience, hope and the transformative power of sport.”

The film centers around a young girl named Calle, played by Nevaeh Derricks, with Beckham appearing as the “personification of her inner voice.” According to the press release, he represents “a powerful symbol of belief and opportunity, standing with her and showing up when it matters.”

“We’re honoured that ‘Street of Dreams’ could play a small part in telling a much bigger story,” U2 said in a statement.

The film showcases Bank of America’s “Soccer With Us” platform, which supports young people aged 6-18 by combining sport with life skills. 

A 30-second TV commercial version of the film will be part of World Cup coverage on Monday.

“Street of Dreams” is the first single off U2’s yet-to-be announced studio album. The album will be the band’s first since 2017’s Songs of Experience.

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