Ed Sheeran has made a major change to his professional life.
In an email update to fans, Ed announces that he left his record label a month ago. He’s been with the same label for 15 years, but as he says, “This isn’t a ‘disgruntled artist leaves record label’ type situation.”
“This is a boy who started as a teenager on the company with different priorities, to the father of 2 man who exists now, who feels like he needs a shift and change in the way he does things professionally,” he explains. However, he notes that “the door is always open for the future.”
He goes on to thank everyone at the label, Warner Music, adding, “It’s been an incredible journey. Excited to see where the next 15 years takes me.”
He continues, “I leave the company with SO much love and gratitude for everything we achieved together.”
As for what prompted this change, Ed writes, “My life is hugely different now to what it was when I was a teenager, and I’ve been feeling in my gut for a long time that a lot of things in my professional life need to change.”
“I am, underneath it all, a singer songwriter who plays pub gigs,” he concludes. “And I’ve sorta morphed into this pop star who plays stadiums over 15 years, it’s a super amazing thing to have happened but also a lot to get your head around.”
Both Warner and Ed Howard, who signed Sheeran to the label in 2011, issued statements supporting Ed’s decision to Music Week.
According to Music Week, Ed’s career on Warner Music has resulted in 170 million albums sold worldwide, 126 billion global streams, 38 billion YouTube views and 14 tracks in Spotify’s Billions Club.
Josh Kiszkaand Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet perform live on stage during Lollapalooza Brazil at Autodromo de Interlagos on March 24, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Greta Van Fleet has announced the release of a new single called “Play Your Games.”
The track is set to premiere on May 29. It’s available now to presave, and you can check out a minute-long preview via Greta Van Fleet’s Facebook.
“Play Your Games” will mark the first fresh material from Greta Van Fleet to follow their 2023 album, Starcatcher. In the time since that release, the band had fans worried they’d broken up when they posted a video titled “Thanks for the Wild Ride,” before revealing that they were back in the studio working on new music.
Greta Van Fleet will play an intimate underplay concert at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom on May 27. Tickets will be available exclusively at the Bowery Ballroom box office starting at 9 a.m. ET on May 26.
In sadder Greta Van Fleet news, Gretna Van Fleet of Frankenmuth, Michigan, whom the band is named after, has died at age 95.
Neil Young has released reissues of his ’90s albums Harvest Moon, Unplugged, Sleeps with Angels and Mirror Ball.
All four titles were previously collected into vinyl and CD box sets in 2025 as part of Young’s Official Release Series reissue campaign, but are now available as standalone releases.
HarvestMoon was released in 1992 and served as a sort of spiritual successor to Young’s classic 1972 album, Harvest. It was followed in 1993 by Unplugged, which Young recorded as part of MTV’s Unplugged performance series.
1994’s Sleeps with Angels found Young back together with his frequent backing band, Crazy Horse, while 1995’s Mirror Ball was recorded with members of Pearl Jam.
Young’s most recent album is 2025’s Talkin to the Trees, which he recorded with his band the Chrome Hearts. A live album with the Chrome Hearts called As Time Explodes is due out May 29.
The Pretty Reckless has premiered a new song called “Dear God,” the title track off the band’s upcoming album.
“‘Dear God’ is desperation set to music,” says frontwoman Taylor Momsen in a statement. “When life gets that physical, that brutal, you leave your body and start begging something bigger than yourself to pull you out.”
“That space between heaven and hell isn’t a metaphor,” she adds. “It’s somewhere you actually live.”
Dear God, the follow-up to 2021’s Death by Rock and Roll, is due out June 26. It also includes the previously released songs “For I Am Death,” “When I Wake Up” and “Love Me.”
The Pretty Reckless will launch a U.S. headlining tour in July. They’ll also be playing shows opening for AC/DC.
Now we know why Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming live show is called The Unraveled Tour.
The singer has released the music video for “the cure,” in which she repeats the lyrics, “I’m unraveled” as pieces of red yarn — representing blood — shoot out of her body. She eventually ends up on an operating table with multiple hearts attached to her body by more red yarn. But first, let’s go back to the beginning.
Olivia, dressed as nurse in a hospital made out of cardboard and string, selects a heart from a medicine cabinet and injects it with various potions while singing about how her hopes that her partner’s love could cure her insecurities has ultimately failed.
“I thought I found the antidote with you/ But my head is full of poison, and my heart is full of doubt,” she sings. “I got toxins in my bloodstream, you tried hard to suck ’em out/ And it feels like medication, and it’s good for me, I’m sure/ But it don’t matter how your love feels anymore/ It’ll never be the cure.”
At the end, as Liv lies on the operating table, we discover that the hospital — in addition to being made of cardboard and string — is actually a diorama. The “real” Olivia picks it up and places it on the floor of a room filled with cardboard boxes. She then steps on and crushes the diorama — and tiny Liv on the operating table — and walks out.
“this song means so much to me and I’m so so so happy that it’s out in the world!” Olivia wrote on Instagram, adding, “this song is the thesis statement of [my album] you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love and it made the whole album click for me. I hope you enjoy it xoxoxox.”
Britney Spears attends the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards. (Image Group LA/Disney Channel via Getty Images)
New footage obtained by ABC News shows Britney Spears being arrested in March after police said she failed a sobriety test.
Spears was arrested March 4 on suspicion of driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs after California Highway Patrol responded to reports of an erratic driver.
In one video, officers are seen conducting a field sobriety test on Spears and handcuffing her before placing her in the back of a highway patrol vehicle.
Spears can also be heard in the video telling officers, “I am OK though, sir. I’ve already done my evaluation, you did the eye test — you did a million tests, I don’t want to do any more tests. I want to get in my car and I want to go.”
Newly released police records also revealed new details from the arrest. In the DUI report, when officers found Spears, they “detected the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage from inside” her vehicle, they wrote in the report.
Spears told officers she had one mimosa when she woke up hours before the stop, according to the report. She allegedly said, “I could probably drink four bottles of wine and take care of you. I’m an angel.”
The report added that Spears’ eyes were “red and watery, and her pupils were dilated.” Officers reported that when they initially asked her to exit her vehicle, she refused, but she finally agreed after “10 minutes of speaking” to her. They also noted that her “speech was rapid and slurred, her gait was unsteady, and she was fidgeting with her fingers.”
When officers were going through her vehicle, a bottle of pills labeled “Adderall” that were not prescribed to Spears were found, according to police. Officers also found an empty wine glass in the cup holder.
According to the report, police took Spears to the California Highway Patrol Moorpark Office for a Drug Recognition Evaluation, then transported her to Los Robles Medical Center for a blood draw.
Officers noted that Spears attempted to delay the blood draw by going to the restroom where she was observed by officers as being “argumentative and belligerent,” according to the report. After agreeing to a chemical blood test, Spears was then transported to Ventura County Jail where she was booked for a drug and alcohol DUI.
ABC News has reached out to representatives of Spears for comment.
Spears previously pleaded guilty on May 4 to reckless driving and was sentenced to one day in jail, which she already served.
The 44-year-old singer was also sentenced to three months of an alcohol education program, including weekly visits with a psychologist and twice-monthly visits with a psychiatrist. She is also required to pay a $571 fine and undergo chemical tests at any time at the request of police.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office in California initially charged Spears with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol and at least one drug.
Following her arrest, a representative for Spears said that she voluntarily checked herself into a facility. Representatives for the singer also shared a statement with ABC News at the time and called her behavior “an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.”
“Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long-overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life,” the statement added. “Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.”
Boots Riley follows up Sorry to Bother Youwith his new film I Love Boosters, now in theaters. Like his previous film, the movie blends surrealism, comedy and a star-studded cast, including LaKeith Stanfield, Taylour Paige, Naomi Ackie and Demi Moore.
“[I Love Boosters] takes place in the world of professional shoplifters,” he tells ABC Audio. “You could roughly say it’s a heist comedy, and then you just add the fact of the cast, and you don’t have to say more. If you want to know more than that, you want to know too much.”
While Sorry to Bother Youused telemarketing to critique capitalism, this film focuses on boosters aka professional shoplifters. Boots says he had personal experience with that world during his years as a “broke rapper” trying to keep up with fashion.
He explains, “I’ve spent decades being a broke rapper … and when you have no money and you’re trying to stay fly, you better call a booster.”
The film follows a group of professional shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven by stealing her clothes and reselling them.
Boots says his interest in boosters comes from how often they are “villainized,” suggesting they play a role in working-class communities and communities of color.
“Boosters serve in a world in which style … is generated from communities of color and other poorer communities that can’t afford the stuff that gets generated from those inspirations,” he argues. “And so boosters actually end up … being something that holds the community together while people are trying to survive.”
The film also stars Keke Palmer, whom Boots says he wanted to challenge creatively.
“People think she’s inspiring on film, and on TV and on Instagram. She’s more so in person,” he says. “She’s such a bright, shining beacon and she is smart as hell.”
He adds that he believes the film is both of their best work.
Back in 1964, Paul McCartney played The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles. And on Thursday night, he returned to the same venue to turn out the lights on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Sir Paul returned to Ed Sullivan Theater, as it was renamed in 1967, to sit for an interview with Colbert on the host’s final broadcast, and then performed The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye,” with Colbert singing backup, along with Elvis Costello, former bandleader Jon Batiste and the show’s staff.
During the interview, Colbert asked McCartney if the theater still brings back memories. “When you close your eyes, do you hear the girls screaming?” “Yeah,” McCartney replied as the women in the audience screamed wildly.
“How often does that happen to you at this point?” Colbert asked when the screams died down. “Often,” said McCartney.
McCartney also reminisced about how, when The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, they got makeup put on them for the cameras and “it was, like, bright orange.” “That’s very popular in certain circles these days,” joked Colbert. “Now we know where it started. Thanks a lot, Paul McCartney!”
Sir Paul also talked about the romantic vision The Beatles had of America as “the land of the free, the greatest democracy,” adding, “That was what it was. It still is, hopefully.”
Prior to “Hello Goodbye,” Colbert, Costello and Batiste performed an obscure Costello song, “Jump Up.” Then, as “Hello Goodbye” faded out, Colbert went to turn out the lights, and beckoned McCartney to join him. He threw the switch, the building went dark, and it was then sucked into a wormhole and spit out into a snow globe, being sniffed at by a dog. We then heard Colbert’s voice saying, “C’mon Benny, let’s go,” and the show ended.
Back in 1964, Paul McCartney played The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles. And on Thursday night, he returned to the same venue to turn out the lights on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Sir Paul returned to Ed Sullivan Theater, as it was renamed in 1967, to sit for an interview with Colbert on the host’s final broadcast, and then performed The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye,” with Colbert singing backup, along with Elvis Costello, former bandleader Jon Batiste and the show’s staff.
During the interview, Colbert asked McCartney if the theater still brings back memories. “When you close your eyes, do you hear the girls screaming?” “Yeah,” McCartney replied as the women in the audience screamed wildly.
“How often does that happen to you at this point?” Colbert asked when the screams died down. “Often,” said McCartney.
McCartney also reminisced about how, when The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, they got makeup put on them for the cameras and “it was, like, bright orange.” “That’s very popular in certain circles these days,” joked Colbert. “Now we know where it started. Thanks a lot, Paul McCartney!”
Sir Paul also talked about the romantic vision The Beatles had of America as “the land of the free, the greatest democracy,” adding, “That was what it was. It still is, hopefully.”
Prior to “Hello Goodbye,” Colbert, Costello and Batiste performed an obscure Costello song, “Jump Up.” Then, as “Hello Goodbye” faded out, Colbert went to turn out the lights, and beckoned McCartney to join him. He threw the switch, the building went dark, and it was then sucked into a wormhole and spit out into a snow globe, being sniffed at by a dog. We then heard Colbert’s voice saying, “C’mon Benny, let’s go,” and the show ended.
