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Corinne Bailey Rae will headline the second edition of Billboard U.K. Live, a new live music series celebrating artists who shape culture and define sound.
In partnership with Aviva, who joins as Presenting Partner, Billboard U.K. will bring fans, leaders and industry leaders together for a one-night-only experience that blends performance and storytelling.
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Taking place at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, on Dec. 2, Grammy Award-winning artist Corinne Bailey Rae will perform an intimate set in The Hall, as well as partake in an exclusive Q&A session with Billboard U.K. editor Thomas Smith.
Tickets for the event are free and will be awarded via a ballot. Register here before Nov. 17, 9 a.m. GMT for the chance to win two tickets for you and a guest. Successful applicants will be contacted by Nov. 19. Attendees must be age 18 or over.
Throughout an illustrious career, Bailey Rae has established herself as a singular voice in British music. Her self-titled 2005 debut LP peaked at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart, spawning hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like a Star.” She collected a Grammy in 2012 for best R&B performance, and two of her albums, The Sea (2010) and Black Rainbows (2023), were nominated for the Mercury Prize.
The latter record saw the singer-songwriter pen a striking meditation on the history of Black experience she discovered at the Stony Island Arts Bank archive in Chicago. It landed her vast acclaim in the U.K., with critics praising Bailey Rae’s genre-spanning approach, blending influences across rock, electronica, jazz, hardcore punk and the African diaspora.
“We can’t wait to welcome audiences to Aviva Studios for an incredible night with Corinne Bailey Rae, brought to life through our exciting partnership with Billboard U.K.,” said Tom Whiteside, group head of sponsorship, Aviva. “This is all about celebrating music, creativity and the unique energy of this amazing venue.”
The show will follow the inaugural Billboard U.K. Live experience, which took place at The Great Escape festival in Brighton this past May. The event featured a wealth of emerging talent including Daffo, RIP Magic and Westside Cowboy, alongside headliners English Teacher, the winners of the 2024 Mercury Prize.
“Our collaboration with Aviva reflects a shared vision to create meaningful moments for artists and their fans across the U.K.,” said Elizabeth Crisante, chief commercial officer, Billboard U.K. “Hosting Corinne Bailey Rae at Aviva Studios brings that vision to life, with a globally acclaimed artist performing in one of the country’s most inspiring cultural spaces.”
Stay tuned to uk.billboard.com and @billboarduk on social media for further information on the event.
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Hearing Judy Garland‘s 16-year-old voice singing the original “Over the Rainbow” a cappella — minus The Wizard of Oz orchestration — was not the intensely emotional experience you might predict for her daughter, Lorna Luft. As the singer and actress put it: “Well, I heard my mom sing it a lot.”
But this newly edited version of Garland’s signature song, which makes its debut on streaming services on Friday (Nov. 7), will blow most Oz fans’ minds. “It’s just so honest and so pure,” says Luft. “To be able to hear my mother’s vocal as if you’re in a room with her, and there is no piano, just her vocally — people have gotten so emotional when they hear this. It takes them back to where they were when they heard the song.”
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This stripped-down “Over the Rainbow” is part of a re-recorded The Wizard of Oz soundtrack that first aired only as part of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, an immersive 4D version of the 1939 classic that opened at the Las Vegas venue in June. The uncluttered voice of Garland, who died in 1969, is the centerpiece of the new 42-track recording, which unites the original actors’ voices with a contemporary orchestra convened at the original MGM studio in Culver City, Calif. “You’re hearing things that you’ve never heard before — nuances and themes you didn’t catch onto — because you’re hearing it so clearly,” says Julianne Jordan, the production’s music supervisor.
To prepare Oz for its Sphere treatment, the production team separated the vocal stems from the music and the background noise from the original mono recordings. “I had an Oscar-winning friend, who will be unnamed at the moment, who did a test for me and took ‘Over the Rainbow’ and said, ‘I can help,’” says Ralph Winter, Sphere Studios’ head of production. “What he was able to do was separate out the music and the effects and the tracks and the noise and come up with just Dorothy’s vocals. It was so pure to hear what only maybe those studio executives and the director heard back in 1939.”
In August 2024, the Sphere team convened an 80-piece orchestra to re-record the tracks from the Oz score at the MGM scoring stage, now owned by Sony, in Culver City, Calif. Conducted by longtime film composer David Newman, the orchestra employed instruments used for Oz, like the ocarina, or hand flute, featured in the Scarecrow’s “If I Only Had a Brain.”
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To align the new orchestral recordings with the original vocals from Garland, Ray Bolger (who played the Scarecrow), Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion), Buddy Ebsen (the original Tin Man, who sang for the soundtrack but was replaced in the film) and the rest, Sphere Studios and Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services teamed up to separate the tracks into stems. Thus, in spring 2024, Jordan was present when the Sphere team unveiled the a cappella “Over the Rainbow” on a Warner Bros. stage. “Not a dry eye,” she says. “Incredible. Really clean.”
The original “Over the Rainbow,” recorded in October 1938, was two Garland takes spliced together. “She got up [to] ‘somewhere over the rainbow, way up high’ — and she coughed, and she apologized, and they started again,” says John Fricke, a New York-based Oz historian who has written several books about Garland and the film. “They used the beginning of that take because they liked it more and married it with the almost-full take of the rest of the song.”
Luft shared the new a cappella version two weeks ago with Fricke, a longtime friend who first heard the original when he viewed The Wizard of Oz on TV in 1956. “My first reaction was, it’s amazing that this can get to me the way it does when I know every second of that track,” Fricke says. “The magic is that it’s still magical.”
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The original Oz score and soundtrack, created at the MGM studios in 1938, was created by a team of musicians that included songwriting duo Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, who wrote classics like “Over the Rainbow” and the vaudeville-influenced “If I Only Had a Brain” and “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.” Meanwhile, the studio’s music director, Herbert Sothart, composed most of the score, including the ghostly strings and brass in “The Haunted Forest.” According to Luft, the Garland estate, which includes her half-sister Liza Minnelli, owns Garland’s name and likeness rights and quickly signed off on the new “Over the Rainbow” release after Sphere inquired.
“I just want people to understand how important this movie is, and this song, and now to be able to hear my mother’s vocal as if you’re in a room with her,” Luft says. “It’s a song about finding a better place. That doesn’t mean physical. It means in your mind. It means there is hope.”
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Winners, as we know, are grinners. Ninajirachi had every reason to wear the brightest of smiles when she visited the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s studios on Friday morning, Nov. 7.
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The previous evening, the songwriter, producer, DJ and artist collected the coveted Australian Music Prize for I Love My Computer (via NLV Records), her debut album.
The AMP is essentially the Australian album of the year, and is selected by a music industry panel for its artistry, over commercial success. In addition to a trophy, the winner collects a A$50,000 check.
“I feel so awesome,” she said on the ABC’s News Breakfast. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s really awesome.” Even to be shortlisted was “so flattering. But no, I didn’t expect this to happen.”
The AMP win is just the starting point for what should be a thrilling ride for the 26-year-old.
Later this month, Ninajirachi (real name: Nina Wilson) competes for two J Awards, including the triple j album of the year, and she’s in the hunt for a leading eight trophies at the annual ARIA Awards, where she’s nominated for album of the year, best solo artist, the Michael Gudinski breakthrough artist, best independent release, best dance/electronic release and more.
From Nov. 28, she hits the road for an Australia tour, including one-off shows and festivals. The world awaits. First, New Zealand in early January, then a U.S. run starting Jan. 15 with a sold-out show at Holocene in Portland, OR, plus a spot on the Coachella bill, and “some other countries that haven’t been announced yet.”
Ninajirachi will tick off a bucket list next April, when she visits, and plays, the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA for the very first time. “I’m so excited for Coachella,” she enthused. “I can’t wait.”
She’s buckled up and ready for what’s next. “I really just had a good time making an album. I hope I can keep making albums that feels as good as this one did,” she explained. “I’ve been making music for a long time and I could have never predicted what this year would look like. So it’s hard to say (what the future holds). I just hope it keeps feeling as fun as it has been recently.”
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Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl (via Republic/Universal) continues to twirl on the ARIA Charts, as it enters a fifth consecutive week at No. 1 on the national albums survey, while “The Fate Of Ophelia” retains top spot on the singles tally.
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“The Fate Of Ophelia” is Swift’s 13th chart leader in Australia and, with five weeks in the penthouse, it’s her second longest leader after 2022’s “Anti-Hero,” which logged six weeks at No. 1.
The top debut on the latest ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, Nov. 7, belongs to Florence + The Machine, as the British alternative pop outfit’s sixth album, Everybody Scream (Polydor/Universal) opens its account at No. 4. All of Florence’s albums have cracked the ARIA top 10, including No. 1s for Ceremonials (in 2011), and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015).
Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning returns to the top 10 thanks to the 20th anniversary edition of Tea & Sympathy (Dew Process/Universal), his debut solo album. Tea & Sympathy re-enters at No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart, and leads the Australian Albums Chart, the Vinyl Chart and the On Replay Albums Chart.
The veteran Brisbane singer collected the most entries in triple j’s Hottest 100 of Australian music countdown in July, with four total songs, including three with Powderfinger and his solo number “Wish You Well” (at No. 57), lifted from Tea & Sympathy, a chart-topper following its release in late 2005.
Also new to the chart is Vitriol (GYRO), the debut from Western Australia rock outfit Cloning. It’s new at No. 12, arriving ahead of a national tour that gets underway later this month.
Radiohead is back in the headlines, as they prepare for another U.K. tour later in the year. The Rock Hall-inducted British alternative rock act is back in the charts, too, as Hail To The Chief Live Recordings 2003-2009 (via XL) appears at No. 15. The studio version of Hail To The Chief was released in 2023, hitting No. 2.
Paramore singer Hayley Williams impacts the chart with her independently-released solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, new at No. 24. The project is an unusual one, which collects and repackages the songs Williams dropped earlier this year across her artist pages and on streaming services.
Close behind is Frankston, Victoria indie rock band the Belair Lip Bombs, which cracks the chart for the first time with Again (Third Man Records/RK), their sophomore set. It’s new at No. 25, and is one of eight homegrown recordings on the ARIA top 50. The Belair Lip Bombs are the first Australian band to sign with Jack White’s Nashville-based Third Man Records.
Further down the list, Brisbane nu-metal band Headwreck just misses out on a top 40 berth with Attitude Adjustment (Ditto). The debut collection drops in at No. 43, for Headwreck’s first appearance on the ARIA Charts.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, just one Australian track makes the cut, Tame Impala’s “Dracula” (Columbia/Sony), which lifts 50-37, a new peak position. And just one new single makes its mark for the first time, Lily Allen’s “Pussy Palace” (BMG), at No. 50.
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Wicked fans can relive the magic of Thursday night’s NBC TV special with the official soundtrack album, which materialized at the stroke of midnight.
Recorded live at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack captures performances from Wicked stars and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, alongside Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and others.
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The collection houses 10 live recordings, including “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “The Wizard And I,” all of which are back by a 37-piece orchestra, led by Stephen Oremus, and executive music producer of Wicked and the forthcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good.
“From Broadway to the big screen, Wicked has become a global cultural phenomenon, celebrating friendship, courage and the power of standing up against injustice,” reads a statement. The new, live soundtrack “honors that legacy with a collection that bridges generations of fans and captures the emotional heartbeat of one of the most beloved musicals of all time.”
Earlier, NBC beamed out its two-hour concert special, which marked the first time fans got to watch Grande and Erivo perform “What Is This Feeling?” and several other Wicked classics live.
The spectacle, and its soundtrack, should build the buzz for Wicked: For Good, which rolls out at cinemas from Nov. 21, and is accompanied with its own soundtrack, due out on the same day. Pre-orders are here.
Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack is now available now to stream via Republic Records and Verve Records. Check out the tracklist below.
Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack Track List:1. Overture / No One Mourns the Wicked (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Ariana Grande2. The Wizard And I (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo ft. Jeff Goldblum3. What Is This Feeling? / Dear Old Shiz (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande4. Popular (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Ariana Grande ft. Remington Glass5. I’m Not That Girl (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo6. Dancing Through Life (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Bowen Yang, Ethan Slater & Marissa Bode7. Thank Goodness (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Ariana Grande8. Defying Gravity (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo9. Get Happy / Happy Days Are Here Again (Live from the Dolby Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande10. For Good (Live from the Gershwin Theatre) – Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Idina Menzel & Kristin ChenowethWicked: For Good – The Soundtrack Track List:1. Every Day More Wicked – Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo ft. Michelle Yeoh, Ariana Grande2. Thank Goodness / I Couldn’t Be Happier – Ariana Grande, Wicked Movie Cast ft. Michelle Yeoh 3. No Place Like Home – Cynthia Erivo 4. The Wicked Witch of the East – Marissa Bode, Cynthia Erivo, Ethan Slater5. Wonderful – Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo6. I’m Not That Girl (Reprise) – Ariana Grande7. As Long As You’re Mine – Cynthia Erivo & Jonathan Bailey 8. No Good Deed – Cynthia Erivo9. March of the Witch Hunters – Wicked Movie Cast, Ethan Slater 10. The Girl in the Bubble – Ariana Grande11. For Good – Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
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Licorice has long been sought out and snaffled for its touted benefits, which range from digestion to respiratory health and skin conditions. It’s handy, too, in the creation of music.
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Hatchie’s third studio album Liquorice, which drops today (Nov. 7) through a global arrangement with Secretly Canadian, was created on the stuff, both the sticky snacks and the tea.
“I was introduced to licorice lollies at a young age because it’s my mum’s favorite, so my taste for it was already there,” Hatchie tells Billboard.
A bag of licorice, the top-shelf gear produced Darrell Lea, was close by when Hatchie caught up with Billboard at Summa House, an airy club in Fortitude Valley, the entertainment precinct of her hometown, Brisbane.
Licorice tea, she explains, “is really soothing for the vocal cords,” something learned on tour years ago “when I was struggling with chronic laryngitis. It coats your throat which really helps with tickles, so I’ve always got some handy when I’m singing. I drink it pretty much every day now.”
Hatchie is the project of Harriette Pilbeam, one part dream-pop, another shoegaze, and which, earlier in her career, the Australian singer and songwriter depicted as a creative mashup of Cocteau Twins with Kylie Minogue.
Perhaps that’s still the case, though this new LP, reads a statement, “reflects a woman increasingly comfortable in her own skin, no longer feeling the pressure to fit into a box or prove herself, whatever that even means.”
The album, “my best work yet,” she writes on social media, is the followup to 2022’s Giving The World Away. Spanning 11 tracks, Liquorice was written in Brisbane, then Melbourne, and completed in Los Angeles, where it was recorded at the home studio of producer Jay Som (real name: Melina Duterte), alongside Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett) on drums, and her bandmate, co-writer and partner in life, Joe Agius.
Is this “peak Hatchie,” where confidence, creativity and experience collide? “God I hope so,” she remarks. “It’s taken a lot of self-discovery to get to this point of creative self-acceptance.”
The album was mixed by Alex Farrar (Wednesday, MJ Lenderman) and mastered by Greg Obis (Dutch Interior, Slow Pulp, Wishy), and is led by the singles “Lose It Again,” “Only One Laughing, and “Sage,” which arrives today with an official music video.
The new collection is the first global Hatchie release through Secretly Canadian, which signed the Aussie act in 2021, two years after arrival of debut LP Keepsake, and on the heels of plaudits from Pitchfork, Stereogum and elsewhere.
If confusion abounds on whether Hatchie is an artist or an act, Pilbeam is happy to clear it up. “It’s closer to a band at this point,” she says. “I could never make so many decisions by myself.”
To celebrate the release of Liquorice, Hatchie announces 2026 U.S. dates at Los Angeles’ Lodge Room (Feb. 2) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (Feb. 20). See below and stream Liquorice.
Hatchie 2026 U.S. tour dates:
Feb. 2 — Lodge Room, Los Angeles, CA
Feb. 20 — Music Hall of Williamsburg, New York, NY
Trending on Billboard Kehlani isn’t ready to let a relationship go “Out the Window” on her new single that dropped on Friday (Nov. 7) via Atlantic Records. She resurrects that old school R&B feel even on the “Out the Window” cover art, which was shot by photographer Markus Klinko, who also did the cover of […]
Rockstar Games / Grand Theft Auto VI
You’re going to have to wait even longer to play Grand Theft Auto VI.
Some unfortunate news to report, gamers: Grand Theft Auto VI has once again had its release date pushed back. Take-Two Interactive announced the highly anticipated game will now drop on November 19, 2026, six months after its original May 2026 release date.
The news of the delay came during the company’s July-September quarterly earnings results.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick didn’t provide a reason for the delay in a letter to shareholders but did note, “we remain both excited and confident they will deliver an unrivalled blockbuster entertainment experience.”
Take-Two also says that recent firings in the UK, which led to the video game company being accused of “union busting,” had nothing to do with the delay.
A statement from Rockstar disputes those claims, noting that the fired staffers “were found to be distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies” and the cuts were “in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities.”
“These two matters are entirely separate, and the reasons that we’ve given for each,” a spokesperson for Take-Two said Thursday. “And I think to conflate the two would not only be misleading, it would be highly erroneous. So these are two entirely separate issues.”
Rockstar Games Shares New Grand Theft Auto VI Release Date
In a separate statement on X (formerly Twitter), Rockstar Games revealed the new release date and shared more insight into the delay.
“Hi everyone, Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026. We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve. We want to thank you again for your patience and support. While the wait is a little longer, we are incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City. Sincerely, Rockstar Games”
Honestly, take your time, Rockstar Games, because Grand Theft Auto VI has to be nothing short of a masterpiece.
Social media is reacting to the news of GTA VI’s latest delay. You can see those reactions below.
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Snoop Dogg is open to joining the ownership team of his beloved sporting club, Celtic.
Glasgow Celtic, that is.
Speaking with Scotland’s Daily Record, Snoopy, who earlier this year invested in English Championship side Swansea City, is ready and willing to do the same with Celtic.
“It’s something I have talked about in the past and if the opportunity was right I would be down for it,” he’s reported as saying. “Celtic is a huge club and fans want to see the best players playing in this great stadium. All the owners have got to do is ask.”
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“Huge” might be an understatement. Competing in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic F.C. is one half of The Old Firm, a name given to the historic derby matches against Rangers, which is also based in Glasgow. Celtic Park, the team’s iconic homegrown, is a beast, with a capacity north of 60,000 — fitting for a club with more than 100 major trophies, including the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) in the 1966–67 season.
Snoop isn’t just a casual fan. Speaking with the Record, he considered Celtic’s prospects, which is now guided on an interim basis by experience manager Martin O’Neill, following the departure of incumbent Brendan Rodgers. The future may belong to the past, reckons Snoop, who called for the return of Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, who is now available following the briefest of stints leading Premiership team Nottingham Forest.
Postecoglou captured a bunch of titles during his successful two-year reign at Celtic. “You got to give Martin O’Neill big respect, he is coming back when we need him,” the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” artist remarked. “I think you got to bring Ange back. The club are going to do what they are going to do, but the fans would love to see him back.”
Snoop, it turns out, is a man of many sports. The Doggfather founded the Snoop Youth Football League (SYFL) in 2005, which has produced numerous NFL players, and he hosted the 2025 NFL Honors.
And just last month, Snoop performed at the AFL grand final, the showpiece event for Australian rules football.
He won’t be ringing in the new year on NBC, however. After previously announcing that the hip-hop legend would host a two-hour musical variety special from Miami titled Snoop Dogg’s New Year Eve as an extension of the hip-hop icon’s larger deal with NBCUniversal, Deadline reported on Wednesday (Nov. 5) that the network has decided not to proceed with the project.
Trending on Billboard Pentatonix collects its 11th top 10-charted album on Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart, as the group’s latest release, Christmas In the City, debuts at No. 6 on the chart dated Nov. 8. The 16-track set features new original recordings and covers of familiar favorites, like “Silver Bells” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.” Explore […]
