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Almost 20 years on from the release of their major label debut, Death Cab for Cutie have announced a handful of shows to celebrate their Plans album.
The Washington outfit will perform four shows in August which will see them playing Plans in full. They’ll launch with a show in Seattle on Aug. 2, before heading to Chicago on Aug. 5. Death Cab for Cutie wrap up the anniversary run with two dates in New York City on Aug. 8 and 10, with an additional appearance supporting My Chemical Romance in New Jersey nestled in between those last two.

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“Plans is an album that changed the trajectory of Death Cab for Cutie forever—it was our major label debut, it went platinum, and earned us our first Grammy nominations,” the band’s frontman Ben Gibbard said in a statement. “We are only playing a few shows in its honor as we’re currently working on our next studio album, but we would be remiss to not take the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary in some fashion.”

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Plans was Death Cab for Cutie’s fifth album, and followed on from 2003’s Transatlanticism, which gave them their first appearance on the Billboard 200, hitting No. 97. Plans increased their career-best, reaching No. 4, and saw the group receive a nomination for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2006 Grammys. 

The following year, their tour DVD Directions was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video, while third single “I Will Follow You into the Dark” was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The record also gave the band their highest peak on the Hot 100, with lead single “Soul Meets Body” charting at No. 60.

Death Cab for Cutie releases their latest album, Asphalt Meadows, in 2022, before launching a lengthy run of dates the following year in honor of Transatlanticism’s 20th anniversary. These shows also featured Gibbard’s other band, The Postal Service, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their sole studio album, Give Up.

Death Cab for Cutie Plans Anniversary Shows

August 2 – Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WAAugust 5 – Chicago Theatre, Chicago, ILAugust 8 – Brooklyn Paramount, Brooklyn, NYAugust 10 – Brooklyn Paramount, Brooklyn, NY

Veteran industrial outfit Ministry are looking to rewrite their own history with their next album.
March 28 will see the band issue their new album, The Squirrely Years Revisited. As the title indicates, it sees Ministry revisiting their earlier, somewhat despised ‘80s material. “Since I hated my early stuff for decades, I decided to take ownership of it and do it right,” singer and founding member Al Jourgensen said in a statement.

Ministry first formed in Chicago, IL back in 1981, albeit with a far different sound to what contemporary fans would be familiar with. At the time, the group featured a decidedly synth-pop sound, and following shows alongside Depeche Mode, Culture Club, and A Flock of Seagulls, they issued their debut album With Sympathy in 1983.

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The material on that record largely disappeared from setlists by the end of 1984, and in 1986, the band released their sophomore record Twitch. Harnessing a sonic shift for the band, it was still influenced by synth-heavy bands of the era, but featured a darker, more industrial lean to it.

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Though Jourgensen claimed that record label influence had pressured him to not only venture into this synth-pop style, but also adopt an English accent for With Sympathy, Jourgensen’s future Pailhead bandmate Ian MacKaye later claimed that the Ministry founder only discovered heavier music after the band’s first two records.

Regardless of the timeline, Ministry leaned into this far heavier sound for their third album, 1988’s The Land of Rape and Honey, and by the ’90s, the group had become an influential presence on the industrial scene, with 1996’s Filth Pig peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard 200.

Ministry previously broke up in 2008 following their C-U-LaTour farewell jaunt, but would later reform in 2011. In recent years, Jourgensen has spoken of an impending split, with Ministry signing a deal in 2024 for the band’s final album.

However, The Squirrely Years Revisited will not be that final release from the group, with a statement from the band noting that it “comes ahead of the final new studio album from Ministry in 2026, a record that has Jourgensen teaming up with Paul Barker once again”. 

The Squirrely Years Revisited will largely consist of material originally featured on With Sympathy, along with re-recordings of 1985 single “(Every Day Is) Halloween”, and rarities such as “Same Old Madness” and “I’ll Do Anything For You”. Their Twitch album will also be revisited, but only for three tracks exclusive to the CD edition.

Ministry will also embark on a North American tour in April, performing alongside Die Krupps, Nitzer Ebb, and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.

In another testament to SB19‘s unwavering global appeal, the Phillippines’ boy band sensation is gearing up to dominate new U.S. stages as part of their much-anticipated Simula at Wakas World Tour.

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Fresh off being crowned winners of the Billboard Fan Army Face-Off for both 2023 and 2024, the group’s global fanbase — affectionately known as A’TIN — can look forward to Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken, and Justin visiting even more of them this year while hitting new cities and countries.

Billboard can exclusively reveal plans for the SB19 Simula at Wakas World Tour, which will showcase not only their dynamic live performances of the P-pop boy band but, inevitably, the latest evolution of their sound as they gear up to drop their new EP, Simula at Wakas, on Friday, April 25.

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Simula at Wakas promises to push the guys further into the global-pop conversation as the final chapter in their musical trilogy following 2021’s Pagsibol and Pagtatag! from 2023. SB19 first teased fans with a new trailer video on January 31, 2025 (below) that featured visual callbacks to previous hits like “What?” and “Gento” (which hit No. 8 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart in 2023) to signal a fresh, new musical direction for their soon-to-be revealed new single set for a February 28 release.

Soon afterward, the Filipino sensation will hit the road with a series of concerts, including U.S. stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and more, alongside international dates in cities like Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney, Taipei, Doha, and more.

“We’re really excited to meet everyone,” Ken tells Billboard. “We’ve been preparing for unlimited surprises for you guys.”

While Justin promises that fans will hear new songs from Simula at Wakas for the first time, Josh is sure to add that A’TIN should “stay tuned for new genres and performances, plus fresh arrangements of our older tracks!”

While the guys are laser-focused on releasing their new music, they say bringing those songs to life in new countries and territories is equally exciting to the quintet.

“We’re thrilled to finally share what we’ve been working on over the past few months,” Stell says. “After a long break as a group, our main focus is now on the new EP, and we can’t wait to reconnect with our fans — especially in places we haven’t visited before. We’re really excited to meet everyone there.”

In addition to the world tour dates already set between May-August, as well as October 2025, SB19 say “more cities will be announced soon” with dates coming soon for their Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, and Hong Kong stops.

“We are pushing the boundaries and we want the best for all of the fans,” leader Pablo shares before Josh adds, “We think from our last tour they have seen more of our individuality but this time, we will be coming stronger.”

Stell concludes by speaking to SB19’s larger ambitions, saying “We really want our fans to connect with our stories since we did it with all our hearts. Our goals are not only for SB19 but for the entire Philippine music industry.”

See below for the Simula at Wakas World Tour poster and stay tuned for more information from the band.

SB19

Courtesy Photo

Noel Gallagher was unimpressed by Kendrick Lamar’s record-breaking Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on Sunday night (Feb. 9). “I had to switch it off. It was absolute nonsense,” the Oasis frontman said during an appearance on TalkSPORT on Tuesday (Feb. 11), specifying, “I didn’t watch it all, I just switched it off. There was like […]

Alejandro Sanz is back in the top 10 on a Billboard U.S. chart thanks to “Hoy No Me Siento Bien,” his first team-up with Grupo Frontera. The song, which climbs 12-7 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart (dated Feb. 15), becomes the Spaniard’s first visit to the upper region since 2020.
“Hoy No Me Siento Bien,” released Jan. 24 on Sony Music Latin, climbs to No. 7 after a robust 51% gain in plays for the tracking week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate. That increase translates to 2.7 million audience impressions in the U.S. in its second week on the chart.

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“This is not a song, this is a statement,” shared Sanz on his Instagram account, as he announced the Frontera collab on Jan. 24. The song, produced by Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Edgar Barrera, fuses Sanz’s characteristic pop and Frontera’s cumbia folk.

Sanz last scored a top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay through “For Sale,” with Carlos Vives in 2020, reaching a No. 5 high then. In between, he’s placed three other songs, among those, “Muero,” with Kany García, nearly missed the upper region, landing at No. 11 in 2022.

Frontera grabs its first top 10 on its first try. The group joined the Latin pop radio ranking last week, when “Hoy No Me Siento Bien” debuted at No. 12 on the chart dated Feb. 8.

Sanz, one of Latin pop’s earliest hitmakers, adds a 25th career top 10. The Spaniard first reached the upper region the with the No. 9-peaking “La Fuerza del Corazón” in 1995. He has since placed at least one top 10 on Latin Pop Airplay in every decade. Six out of those landed at the summit, including his featured role in Shakira’s “La Tortura,” which dominated for 10 weeks, tying with Juane’s “La Camisa Negra” for the longest-leading song in 2005.

Continued reception across Latin pop radio stations, takes “Hoy No Me Siento Bien” to a No. 43 debut on the overall Latin Airplay chart, Sanz’s first visit since “Muero,” with Kany García, in 2022.

“Hoy No Me Siento Bien” will appear on Sanz’s 15th studio project. It follows first single, “Palmeras En El Jardín,” a No. 13 high on Latin Pop Airplay (Dec. 2024).

Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show is officially the most-watched halftime show performance of all time, Roc Nation, Apple Music and the NFL announced on Tuesday (Feb. 11). “We’ve broken the record again! The most watched Apple Music Halftime show EVER, with 133.5 Million viewers,” the companies wrote on Instagram. Lamar’s halftime show performance drew a […]

The comma in the title of Bon Iver‘s three-track October EP Sable, was always there for a reason. And on Tuesday (Feb. 11), the musician born Justin Vernon finally revealed what it was, announcing new album Fable — a counterpart project that’ll serve as the direct follow-up to the original release, featuring collaborations with Danielle Haim, Dijon and Flock of Dimes.
Arriving April 11 via Jagjaguwar, Sable, Fable will serve as Bon Iver’s first proper album since 2019’s I, I, which debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Described in a release as a “love story set to lush, radiant pop music,” the new project “begins with the vulnerable unburdening” of the Sable EP, before giving way “to a new nine-song saga in which one person becomes two, darkness turns to salmon-colored beauty, and sadness transforms to unbridled joy.”

“Where Sable, is a sparse and solitary reckoning with a pain that long-defined the past, Fable looks towards a vibrant future filled with light, purpose and possibility: a partner, new memories, perhaps a family,” the description continues.

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Dijon and Flock of Dimes will join Vernon on a song called “Day One,” while the HAIM band member’s voice will appear on a duet called “If Only I Could Wait.” The rest of the track list includes titles such as “Things Behind Things Behind Things,” “Speyside,” “Awards Season,” “Short Story,” “Everything Is Peaceful Love,” “Walk Home,” “From,” “I’ll Be There,” “There’s a Rhythm” and “Au Revoir.”

The Wisconsin native also shared the album’s minimalistic cover via Instagram on Tuesday. The geometric artwork simply features a salmon background with a black title in the center. In a concept photo also on Bon Iver’s account, Vernon is dressed in the exact shade of pink standing in a lush natural landscape, while four people covered head-to-toe in black pose around him.

But while fans will have to wait until spring to get their hands on Sable, Fable — which is available to preorder — the project’s lead single, “Everything Is Peaceful Love.” Described as “the portrait of a man overwhelmed with happiness upon meeting the one he will fall in love with,” the track will drop on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) alongside a music video by John Wilson.

Five days later, Vernon will share more about Sable, Fable at On Air Fest in Brooklyn, New York, during a conversation with author Krista Tippett. Ticket information is available on the event’s website.

See Bon Iver’s announcement below.

Cam’ron finally explained why Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana‘s long lost collab album I Can’t Feel My Face never saw the light of day.
During a recent episode of his YouTube show Talk With Flee, Cam’ron talked about the rumors about him being the reason why Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana never dropped their much-hyped project. “So, Juelz and Lil Wayne had a project,” he began. “Def Jam is under Universal, which Lil Wayne was signed to. When they wanted to put this project out, Universal told Def Jam, ‘Well, Lil Wayne still didn’t give us his album yet, so if y’all wanna put this project out, we’re taking 95 percent and Def Jam, y’all can take 5 percent.’”

Cam continued by explaining that the business side of things didn’t make sense and said he wasn’t to blame for the deal eventually falling apart. “Shout to Steve Gawley, he’s now the head lawyer for Universal, at the time he was the lawyer for Def Jam, and we still good to this day. Now go find Steve Gawley and ask him that,” he said. “N—as don’t know Steve Gawley; n—as just wanna blame Cam. We had a joint venture deal with Def Jam, so if that project came out, that means Def Jam would get 2 and a half percent of the album and me and Juelz would get 2 and a half percent of the album. And they said, ‘Cam, we love you and all that, but we’re not doing that.’”

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He added: “Why would I wanna stop making money? My whole thing was to make Juelz a star, to make Juelz rich. However it played out in the end, it played out towards the end. But Juelz said it: ‘Cam gonna make me a star, he’s gonna make me a million.’ We both did what we said we was gonna do. Why would I wanna stop that?”

https://twitter.com/2Cool2Blog/status/1889346379169808859

There are unofficial versions of the fabled project floating around the Internet made by entrepreneurial mixtape and DVD salesmen from a time when you could buy burned copies of music on a CD from a guy in a barbershop or from a kid at your school. The album was supposed to be released around 2006 after Wayne dropped Tha Carter II and Juelz dropped his sophomore LP What the Game’s Been Missing!

Wayne talked about releasing the project as an album instead of a mixtape with MTV News back in 2006. “It’s a mixtape, but we just sat down and listened to it and noticed that we didn’t use no outside beats,” Wayne said while on the set of his video for “Shooter.” “We used all produced beats. We can go album with this. Look out for it, we are deciding [whether to release it as an official LP].”

You can watch the full episode below.

The pop-punk princess is making her Warped Tour debut at last. As announced Tuesday (Feb. 11), Avril Lavigne will perform at one of three stops on the iconic traveling rock show — which is set to make a comeback in 2025 after six years off the road — for the first time in her career. […]

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, and Ben Winston, a founding partner of Fulwell Entertainment, will be named 2025 Music Visionaries of the Year at the UJA-Federation of New York’s Music Visionary of the Year Award Celebration. The event, which is marking its 25th anniversary, will be held on June 16 in New York City.
The announcement was made just nine days after Mason and Winston worked together on the 67th annual Grammy Awards telecast. Winston was an executive producer of the show, along with Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins.

“We are thrilled to honor Harvey and Ben as our 2025 UJA Music Visionaries of the Year,” Daniel Glass, founder/CEO of Glassnote Records, chair of UJA’s Music Division and co-chair of UJA’s overall Entertainment division, said in a statement. “They have not only shaped the future of sound and storytelling, but Harvey and Ben also brought that same passion and vision to this year’s Grammy weekend and award show, respectively, rising to the occasion in the wake of devastation to help showcase music’s unparalleled power to heal, unite, and uplift. Beyond their remarkable contributions to the industry, their commitment to making a meaningful impact truly sets them apart.”

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As the first Black CEO of The Recording Academy, Mason has diversified the voting membership and revised rules and processes to make the Grammy Awards more transparent, inclusive and reflective of a wide variety of music genres. He has also enlarged the Academy’s role as a service organization for music creators and restructured the organization to position it for global growth.

Mason is the founder of Harvey Mason Media and a five-time Grammy nominee. He has written and/or produced songs for such artists as Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson.

Winston is a producer, director and founding partner of Fulwell Entertainment. He has won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards — eight for various iterations of the James Corden vehicle Carpool Karaoke; three more for other programs hosted by Corden (including the 2016 Tony Awards); and two for acclaimed variety specials headlined by pop superstars: Adele: One Night Only and Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.

In 2019, Winston received eight Primetime Emmy nominations — a one-year record for an individual. In 2024, he produced the Paris to Los Angeles Olympics handover, a prelude to the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Funds raised at the luncheon will go toward UJA’s annual campaign supporting the work of confronting antisemitism, promoting inclusion and caring for New Yorkers of all backgrounds. A portion of the proceeds will also support UJA’s Music for Youth, which helps young people connect to life-changing music programs.

Working with a network of hundreds of nonprofits, UJA extends its reach from New York to Israel to nearly 70 other countries around the world, touching the lives of 5.5 million people annually. Every year, UJA-Federation provides approximately $180 million in grants. For more information, visit ujafedny.org.