Music News

22 Apr 2025

Liam and Noel Gallagher Spend Easter Together: ‘Absolutely Incredible’

Liam Gallagher has confirmed that he and brother Noel spent Easter Sunday together, marking a rare public show of unity just months before Oasis reunite onstage.

On Sunday (April 20), Liam Gallagher took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a surprising family moment: he spent Easter Sunday with his brother Noel and Noel’s two sons, Donovan and Sonny.

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“So we had a BIBLICAL Easter Sunday,” Liam wrote. “Noel, Donavan and Sonny popped over to ours for a cup of tea. It was absolutely incredible to meet the young guvs. I obviously blew their minds coz I’m cool as f—. You heard it here 1st.”

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The casual tea catch-up arrives just months before the first Oasis shows since the band’s 2009 split. The iconic Britpop group is due to kick off its global reunion tour this July, having announced 41 dates so far.

The shows will kick off with the first of two shows at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, before criss-crossing the U.K. in advance of a North American run beginning August 24 in Toronto; the tour will then move on to Mexico City, South Korea, Japan, Australia and South America.

The new tour follows decades of tension between the brothers, who last performed together during Oasis’ 2009 tour before an infamous backstage blow-up in Paris led to the band’s split. Since then, both Gallaghers have pursued solo careers — Liam releasing multiple solo albums and Noel fronting the High Flying Birds.

In January, Liam responded to a fan’s dream setlist, telling them “it’s not far off,” when they asked if the unsolicited rundown was “official.” The list included band’s past setlists, including such live staples as: “Acquiesce,” “Some Might Say,” “Lyla,” “Shakermaker,” “The Hindu Times,” “Cast No Shadow,” “Slide Away,” “Supersonic,” “Morning Glory,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Live Forever” and “Champagne Supernova.”

Last month, the band announced that a film documenting the Oasis Live ’25 tour would be created and produced by BAFTA- and Oscar-nominated writer/producer/director Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Spencer, Dirty Pretty Things) and directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace (Meet Me in the Bathroom, Shut Up and Play the Hits). No release date has been announced as of yet.

21 Apr 2025

Kimble Rendall, Hoodoo Gurus Co-Founder and Music Video Director, Dies Aged 67

Australian musician and director Kimble Rendall has passed away at the age of 67, it has been confirmed.

Rendall’s passing was officially announced on Sunday (April 20) by publicist and friend Melissa Hoyer, who described the late figure as a “musician, advertising guru, film director, husband, devoted dad & a very good friend to many.”

“One of the very, very good men – Kimble was married to the ‘first lady of music television’, the late Basia Bonkowski & carved out a huge reputation in music (he was in the XL Capris & the Hoodoo Gurus); a leading figure in the advertising world (what award didn’t he win?) and went onto became a mega successful film director,” Hoyer wrote.

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“Thank you for being in our lives Kimble. You were a compassionate, constantly creative, funny, clever & perennially entertaining one-off … & the time had come to join your beloved Basia.”

Rendall was born in Sydney in 1957, and showed interest in the world of films at a young age. Completing a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Mass Media, he later trained as a film editor with the Australian Broadcasting Commission. 

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In 1978, Rendall co-founded the Sydney punk outfit XL Capris alongside Tim Gooding, Johanna Pigott, and Julie Anderson. Their debut single, a cover of Tommy Leonetti’s “My City of Sydney,” was released the following year and has since become regarded as an influential snapshot of Australia’s then-burgeoning punk scene.

Rendall would depart XL Capris in 1980 and co-founded the Hoodoo Gurus alongside guitarist and vocalist Dave Faulkner, guitarist Roddy Radalj, and drummer James Baker the following year. While Rendall and Radalj would depart the group in 1982 before the release of 1984’s Stoneage Romeos debut, they would appear on the band’s debut single, “Leilani,” for which Rendall also directed the music video.

The Hoodoo Gurus would later top the Alternative Airplay chart in 1989 with “Come Anytime,” and hit No. 3 in 1991 with “Miss Freelove ’69.” In 2007, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in their native Australia. On February 1 of this year, Rendall reunited with his former bandmates in Brisbane to join them for a performance of “Hoodoo You Love” as part of their Back to the Stoneage Tour.

After departing the Hoodoo Gurus, Rendall concentrated on his directorial career, producing music videos for groups such as Cold Chisel, Mental As Anything, Paul Kelly, and Johnny Diesel & The Injectors. In 1987, he would be nominated for best video at the ARIA Award for his work on Boom Crash Opera’s “Hands Up in the Air.”

Elsewhere in his career, Rendall would also work on a number of high-budget films as a second unit director, working on titles such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions; I, Robot; and the Nicolas Cage films Ghost Rider and Knowing.

Rendall was also married to television presenter Basia Bonkowski from 1982 until her passing in 2022. Alongside presenting numerous music-based television programs, Bonkowski was also immortalized by Melbourne band Painters and Dockers, whose 1985 debut single “Basia!” was named in her honor. Together, they adopted two children, William and Camille.

News of Rendall’s death comes only days after the Hoodoo Gurus were also affected by the passing of their manager, Dominic “Mick” Mazzone OAM. Mazzone’s promotion to the top job came after longtime manager Michael McMartin stepped down from the role in February 2024, ultimately passing the following month.

21 Apr 2025

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees to Be Revealed on ‘American Idol,’ Where James Taylor Will Serve as Mentor

The 2025 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will be announced on a live episode of American Idol on Sunday (April 27).

Show host Ryan Seacrest will make the eagerly awaited announcement. James Taylor, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2000, will serve as a mentor on the episode, on which this season’s top 14 Idol contestants will perform songs associated with previous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

At the end of the episode, two contestants will be sent home, leaving this year’s top 12.

This year’s eclectic group of nominees for the Rock Hall were announced on Feb. 12: English rock supergroup Bad Company; Southern blues rockers The Black Crowes; powerhouse singer/songwriter Mariah Carey; early rock ‘n’ roll hitmaker Chubby Checker; late blues belter Joe Cocker; radio-friendly punk rocker Billy Idol; post-punk-turned-dance-rock pioneers Joy Division/New Order; pop iconoclast Cyndi Lauper; Mexican rockers Maná; Britpop legends Oasis; critical and commercial hip-hop faves Outkast; jam band standard bearers Phish; grunge hitmakers Soundgarden; and garage rock minimalists The White Stripes.

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Idol also announced that the theme of the live show set to air on Monday, April 28, will be “Iconic Idol Moments.” Season 3 winner Fantasia will serve as the mentor for this episode and will also perform. Artist-in-residence Jelly Roll will join the show’s live studio audience.

Both episodes are set to air live coast-to-coast from 8-10 p.m. ET/5-7 p.m. PT. The episodes will also be available the following day on Hulu.

21 Apr 2025

Darkside’s Nicolas Jaar Makes Statements on Palestine, ICE, For-Profit Prisons & More at Coachella 2025

Coachella 2025 will likely be considered one of the most political editions of the longstanding festival, with a flurry of artists using their onstage platforms to make statements on topics including Palestine, ICE, the Trump administration and more.

Nicolas Jaar of psych jam act Darkside used the trio’s Saturday night performances in the Gobi tent to address the audience about a myriad of issues, primarily Palestine. Jaar began his statement by acknowledging that Southern California is the ancestral home of various Native American tribes, with many of these people killed in the mass murders of Native Americans that occurred in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

“Here were committed the genocides that are the blueprint for what’s happening in Palestine right now, the same racist logic,” Jaar stated during the band’s weekend 1 show, on April 12. “We must continue resisting, even from the belly of the beast, because this genocide is funded by American money, with technology from Silicon Valley, thanks to the complicity of all the politicians in this country.”

Jaar continued by referencing Mahmoud Khalil – the detained Columbia University graduate student currently being held in an immigration detention center following his role in on-campus protests.

“I also want to say that today, these days, as some of you may know, just protesting a genocide that is happening means that you can get deported, like Mahmoud Khalil. That doesn’t feel right. Mahmoud and many others are in ICE detention jails. These jails are run for profit by groups like CoreCivic and The GEO Group. They make money off of keeping people in cells. We need to keep fighting them. For the sake of everyone there stuck without trial, and with no hope, we need to give hope. Thank you, everyone.”

Jaar delivered a slightly different version of the same statement during the band’s weekend 2 performance on Saturday, April 19, stating that, “We’ve been on tour for about a month and a half, and during this month and a half, the administration of this country has been deporting people for their political views, they have been locking people up in ICE detention jails. The prisoner count of this country keeps on being the highest in the entire world. There’s more people locked up in California than at Coachella right now, and this country keeps on arming and funding, also with tech and Silicon Valley, the genocide of the Palestinian people and arming and funding Israel’s system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

“But the problem doesn’t stop at this administration and the administration of that country,” he continued. “It’s much deeper than that… It’s based off a system of racism, of ethnic cleansing both here in these lands, and also there. And there’s no way to continue in this planet without the empires falling as soon as possible. In all ways possible. A lot of people tell us to shut up and just play the music, but for us, music is being together, and how can we be together if our brothers and sisters are locked up and our brothers and sisters are literally burning in their homes?”

Elsewhere at the festival’s second weekend, Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap ended their performance with strong anti-Israel sentiments. On Friday (April 18), the Belfast trio closed their show by projecting strong messaging in support of Palestinians on their video screens. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F— Israel; free Palestine.” This display came a week after the band claimed Coachella censored the pro-Palestinian messaging during their debut at the event.

On the main stage, headliners Green Day also changed the lyrics of “American Idiot” to state “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” Other artists including Bob Vylan and Blonde Redhead displayed Palestinian flags during their sets. During the performance by this latter artists, the onstage event was soundtracked by audio of Khalil. Senator Bernie Sanders also appeared onstage during Clairo’s weekend 1 performance and urged festivalgoers to “stand up and fight for justice.”

21 Apr 2025

Kanye West Says He & Jay-Z ‘Fought’ Over MAGA Hat Lyric on ‘Donda’

Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) didn’t take a break from posting on X over Easter Sunday.

The controversial artist revealed to fans that he and his mentor Jay-Z had a falling-out over a lyric about him wearing the infamous red “Make America Great Again” Donald Trump hat. On the Chicago rapper’s song “Jail” from the 2021 album Donda, Jigga rapped, “Hol’ up, Donda, I’m with your baby when I touch back road/ Told him, ‘Stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home’/ Not me with all of these sins, castin’ stones/ This might be the return of The Throne.”

Apparently, Ye wanted to edit that line out, but Jay wouldn’t let him. “Why did Jay Z have to say ‘no red hat’ on Jail,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “That sh– tore me to my soul. We fought about it and he told me either leave that line on there or take my verse off. Me wearing the red hat was the most stand out example of me going against ‘the program.’ Do you guys think he was instructed to say that?”

Ye started to affiliate himself with President Trump back in 2016 during the Saint Pablo Tour, when he told concertgoers that, had he voted in the presidential election that year, he would have picked Trump. Ye then started wearing the red MAGA hat around 2018, even as he faced backlash from peers and fans — one of those peers being Frank Ocean, who Ye said tried to talk him out of supporting Trump.

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Last month, Ye was criticized for making comments about Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s 7-year-old kids Rumi and Sir Carter during an explosive X tirade, where West questioned the twins’ mental abilities and made unsubstantiated claims about in vitro fertilization. Suge Knight, Bey’s dad Mathew Knowles and more have spoken out against the hateful comments.

21 Apr 2025

Post Malone Has Some Help From Jelly Roll & Ed Sheeran for Coachella Weekend 2 Set

Post Malone brought out both Jelly Roll and Ed Sheeran for his Coachella-ending set on Sunday night.

As captured in clips posted by fans who were in the desert, the “Rockstar” singer first welcomed the country star for a live rendition of their 2024 F-1 Trillion collaboration “Losers.” After Posty delivered the first verse and chorus of the track solo, Jelly walked out midway through the song to sing the next part as fans in the crowd went wild.

The two then united on the inspirational song’s chorus, harmonizing on the lines, “This one’s for the losers/ The outcasts and the sinners/ The ain’t-never-been-no-winners/ Let’s hear it for the losers.”

Later in Posty’s set, he brought out Sheeran, who played guitar and took over Swae Lee’s part on the Billboard Hot 100-topper “Sunflower.” Afterward, the duo clinked red Solo cups and shared a drink together before the British pop star exited the stage, after which Sheeran shared a video of the moment on Instagram and wrote, “UK vs USA.”

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“Loved singing with ya,” Sheeran added on his Story, sharing a video of their performance.

The day prior, the “Shape of You” singer played his own late-addition set on the Mojave stage. He also hosted his own Old Phone Pub pop-up at the festival, performing with Shaboozey and Alex Warren in front of an intimate crowd inside a temporary structure made to look like an actual bar.

Posty was one of the Coachella 2025 headliners, alongside Lady Gaga, Green Day and Travis Scott also leading this year’s lineup. Weekend 2 comes just more than a week ahead of the “Psycho” artist’s kick-off show with Jelly Roll on their joint Big Ass Stadium Tour, which launches April 29 in Salt Lake City.

See Post and Sheeran onstage together at Coachella below.

21 Apr 2025

SZA’s ‘SOS’ Surpasses Adele’s ‘21’ for Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Among Albums by Women

On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 26), SZA’s SOS surpasses Adele’s 21 for the most weeks spent in the top 10 among albums by women.

SOS, released in 2022, garners its 85th nonconsecutive week in the top 10 on the chart, where it climbs 4-3. Adele’s 21, released in 2011, was last in the top 10 for its 84th and final (nonconsecutive) week in the region on the Jan. 9, 2016-dated chart.

The new April 26, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website April 22.

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Both SOS and 21 are former No. 1s, with SOS having spent 12 weeks atop the tally and 21 having logged 24 weeks at No. 1 (a record among albums by women). SOS collected its two most recent weeks at No. 1 in January following its SOS Deluxe: LANA reissue with additional songs.

Further, SOS now ties Peter, Paul and Mary’s self-titled album for the third-most weeks in the top 10 among albums by a singular artist. They both trail two albums by Morgan Wallen (Dangerous: The Double Album, with 158; and One Thing at a Time, with 106).

Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular weekly basis, with the March 24, 1956-dated chart, the album with the most weeks in the top 10 is the original cast recording of stage musical My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Albums With the Most Weeks in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 Chart:
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10
173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956
158, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2023
109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965
106, Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time, 2023
106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962
105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 1960
90, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 1958
87, Original Cast, Camelot, 1961
87, Original Cast, Oklahoma!, 1956
85, SZA, SOS, 2022
85, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter, Paul and Mary, 1962
84, Adele, 21, 2011
84, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984
(From March 24, 1956, through the April 26, 2025-dated chart)

Because of how the Billboard 200 chart is now compiled, where streaming activity is blended with album sales and track sales, albums tend to spend a longer time on the list thanks to continued streaming activity. The chart only began utilizing streaming information in its methodology in December 2014. Before then, the chart was based solely on traditional album sales.

Also, a lengthy tracklist with multiple popular songs can help accrue large streaming totals, so albums like SOS, One Thing at a Time and Dangerous — each with more than 30 songs apiece — benefit from the continued weekly streams of their long tracklists.

Further, older albums (known as catalog albums; generally defined today as titles at least 18 months old) were mostly restricted from charting on the Billboard 200 from May 25, 1991, through Nov. 28, 2009. After that, catalog and current (new/recently released) albums have charted together on the Billboard 200. In turn, older albums now regularly spend hundreds of weeks on the chart. On the April 26, 2025-dated list, for example, there are more than 30 albums with least 400 total weeks on the chart. Before the rule change in December 2009, allowing catalog albums back onto the chart, only three albums had spent more than 400 weeks on the list – led by Pink Floyd’s chart-topping The Dark Side of the Moon. Today, it continues to hold the record for the most weeks on the list, with 990.

21 Apr 2025

Kendrick Lamar Seemingly Trolls Drake With Mock Deposition Before Performing ‘Not Like Us’ on Tour

Kendrick Lamar and SZA kicked off their 39-date Grand National stadium tour in Minneapolis over the weekend, and they’re already making headlines.

Before Lamar performed his smash single and Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” he decided to have a little fun by prefacing it with a skit poking fun at the Toronto rapper’s current UMG defamation lawsuit over the record giant’s promotion of the song.

The skit in question shows the Compton rapper sitting at a table being questioned about certain dates by what sounds like a lawyer. After being asked about May 4, 2024, and February 9, 2025 — the dates when he dropped “Not Like Us” and performed it at Super Bowl halftime, respectively — Dot answered, “I don’t keep up with dates.” He was then asked if the message Drake had for him at the end of “Family Matters” helped jog his memory. “Does this ring a bell? Drop, drop, drop,” the lawyer asked, right before the crowd exploded after hearing the “I see dead people” needle drop.

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Fans also pointed out that Lamar’s pgLang might have also referenced Lil Wayne‘s infamous deposition from 2012 over the controversial The Carter documentary release and one of 2Pac from 1995 where his lyrics were called into question.

Drake and his lawyers recently filed an updated version of their defamation lawsuit to include language alleging that Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance was malicious, saying, “It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist.”

For more on Kendrick and SZA’s first show, check out our list of their best moments at U.S. Bank Stadium.

21 Apr 2025

Linkin Park Goes ‘Up’ to No. 1 on Rock & Alternative Airplay Chart for Fifth Straight Time

Linkin Park notches its eighth leader and fifth in a row on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, with “Up From the Bottom” bounding three places to No. 1 on the April 26-dated ranking.

The track leads with 4.7 million radio audience impressions (up 28%) in the week ending April 17, according to Luminate.

The song reigns in its third week on the tally, wrapping the shortest trip to the top since Linkin Park’s own “The Emptiness Machine” hit No. 1 in its second week last September on its way to a 15-week No. 1 command.

The band now boasts five consecutive No. 1s on Rock & Alternative Airplay, from the 20-week leader “Lost” in 2023 through “Friendly Fire,” “The Emptiness Machine” (both in 2024) and “Heavy Is the Crown” (beginning this January). Dating to the chart’s June 2009 start, Linkin Park extends its record for the most consecutive No. 1s, a mark previously broken when it nabbed its fourth straight.

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The streak encompasses the contributions of three vocalists; the last three songs feature newly added singer Emily Armstrong plus longtime singer, rapper and guitarist Mike Shinoda, while the first two were posthumously released after the death of singer Chester Bennington in 2017.

The rockers also led with “New Divide” in 2009, “The Catalyst” in 2010 and “Burn It Down” in 2012 and now tie for the second-most No. 1s in the chart’s history.

Most No. 1s, Rock & Alternative Airplay:
11, Foo Fighters
8, Green Day
8, Linkin Park
6, Cage the Elephant
6, Twenty One Pilots
5, The Black Keys
5, Imagine Dragons
4, Red Hot Chili Peppers
3, Weezer

Concurrently, “Up From the Bottom” breaks into the top 10 of the Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts, jumping 11-7 on both. It’s the band’s 22nd top 10 on each tally, with Linkin Park moving into sole possession of the fifth-most on the former, which began in 1988.

Most Top 10s, Alternative Airplay:
31, Foo Fighters
28, Red Hot Chili Peppers
27, Green Day
23, U2
22, Linkin Park
21, Pearl Jam
21, Weezer
20, The Offspring
18, Cage the Elephant
18, Twenty One Pilots

“Up From the Bottom” debuted at No. 2 on the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart dated April 12 and ranked at No. 3 in its second week. In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 2.2 million official U.S. streams and sold 1,000 April 4-10.

The song is from the deluxe edition of Linkin Park’s eighth studio album, From Zero, due May 16. The standard version debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in November and has earned 350,000 equivalent album units to date.

All Billboard charts dated April 26 will update Tuesday, April 22, on Billboard.com.

21 Apr 2025

Kelly Clarkson’s Musical Director Reveals Which of Her (Incredibly Popular) Songs Is His Least Favorite

Kelly Clarkson can make a wish, take a chance and make a change, but one of her most beloved hits will still be her musical director’s least favorite.

On an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show guest-hosted by Andy Cohen on Monday (April 21), Jason Halbert — who oversees all things music on the talk show, including the host’s live Kellyoke cover series — got candid when the Watch What Happens Live TV personality cheekily challenged his loyalty. “While I’m here, this is my studio, kind of, maybe, for an hour,” Cohen began.

“So Jason, I’ll give you $20 if you tell me your least favorite Kelly Clarkson song,” he continued as audience members gasped.

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After a little bit of hemming and hawing, Halbert confessed. “Unpopular opinion: ‘Breakaway,’” he said, hiding his face behind his hands.

Unpopular opinion indeed. Released two decades ago, the track remains one of Clarkson’s biggest hits to date, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also ranked No. 39 on Billboard‘s Best Songs of 2004 staff list.

In addition to the countless times she’s performed it live over the years, the “Stronger” vocalist also sang “Breakaway” with guest Sam Smith on an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show a few years ago — featuring Halbert on keys. Clarkson and her band have been putting on live performances like that for audiences ever since her talk show kicked off in 2019, but one of them sticks out to Halbert as the hardest to learn: “For me, it was the Mister Rogers theme song,” he told Cohen on the Monday episode.

Watch Halbert share his hot take above.