Music
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Chappell Roan knew it all along. After the “Pink Pony Club” singer capped a stellar year with a best new artist win and a headline-making performance at Sunday night’s (Feb. 2) Grammy Awards, an X user resurfaced an old video of a then-14-year-old Kayleigh Rose Amstutz accepting the first-place prize at 2012’s Springfield’s Got Talent […]
Ezra Collective, Kae Tempest, Mogwai and English Teacher are among the names that will play the 2025 BBC 6 Music Festival – see the lineup in full below.
The weekender, which is the station’s flagship festival, will take place between March 26-29 at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Greater Manchester. Tickets for each event are sold separately and will be available beginning at 10 a.m. (GMT) on Thursday (Feb. 6) here.
On March 26, a BBC Introducing event at the city’s YES venue will kick off proceedings, featuring rising acts Adult DVD, Renee Stormz, and Jasmine 4.t.
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The following evening (March 27), Ezra Collective will herald in 6 Music’s three-night residency at O2 Victoria Warehouse. The jazz five-piece will be joined by Fat Dog, before a DJ set from 6 Music host Jamz Supernova. There will also be a New Music Fix night at YES with DJs 1-800 GIRLS, Florentino, Marie Davidson and NAINA.
March 28, meanwhile, will see a headline performance from Scottish rockers Mogwai, with support from Leeds band English Teacher, winners of the 2024 Mercury Prize. Elsewhere in Greater Manchester on March 28, there will be DJ sets from Sports Team, Lava La Rue, Steve Lamacq, Viagra Boys and Nathan Shepherd at Band On The Wall. 6 Music will also team up with The Warehouse to present a Rave Forever event at Amber’s nightclub.
March 29 will see spoken-word artist Kae Tempest debut new material for the first time during a headline show at O2 Victoria Warehouse. They will be joined by Perfume Genius and SHERELLE.
“It’s amazing, it’s so exciting,” Tempest said of the festival, speaking to presenter Nemone on Tuesday morning’s (Feb. 4) 6 Music breakfast show. “I can’t wait for people to hear what I have been working on. We’re still working it out in terms of what people will hear first, and we’ve got a new live set-up coming together – all the pieces are in place.”
They continued: “This gig will be the first time I have performed my new songs, which are very different to the stuff I have made before. The creative process has been akin to being caught in a strong current… I can’t wait to see what happens on stage.”
Throughout the festival, the 6 Music team will be broadcasting live from MediaCity U.K. in Salford. Current presenters include: Nick Grimshaw, Iggy Pop, Huw Stephens, and Mary Anne Hobbs.
The 6 Music Festival is aired across a number of BBC radio, television, and online channels. Since 2023, it has found a home in Greater Manchester, while previous iterations of the festival were hosted in different cities annually across the U.K. including Cardiff, London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle.
In January 2014, the BBC launched the 6 Music Festival in Manchester with headliner Damon Albarn. In the years that have followed, the event has seen sets from world-renowned acts including Depeche Mode, Fontaines D.C., Father John Misty and Neneh Cherry.
Coldplay have teamed up with Laura Mvula to cover The Proclaimers’ classic track, “Sunshine On Leith.” Watch the performance in full below. The band delivered an emotive rendition of the Scottish act’s 1988 single during a pared-back performance for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room Month series on Monday night (Feb. 3). Birmingham-raised songwriter Mvula assisted […]
The Great Escape festival in Brighton, England has announced hundreds of new names for their lineup including The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, Jordan Adetunji, Lynks, The K’s and more.
The festival is also expanding its programme to run for an extra day, and will take place in the city on May 14-17. First held in 2006, the annual gathering showcases emerging talent across the city at a number of independent venues; previous performers at the festival include Charli XCX, Fontaines D.C., Sam Fender, Japanese Breakfast and more.
On May 14, The Libertines’ Peter Doherty will perform at a special Spotlight Show curated by his record label, Strap Originals. It will feature acts such as Warmduscher and Trampolene at the Deep End venue on Brighton’s beachfront. Tickets for the festival are on sale now.
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Further additions to the festival’s bill include: Armlock Silver, Black Fondu, Bold Love, Donny Benét, Gore, Lemfreck, Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Moonlandingz, Namesbliss, Rabbitfoot, Real Farmer, Shortstraw, Sunday (1994), The Pill, Westside Cowboy and more.
The festival has also announced further details about the accompanying conference programme and a raft of speakers and curators for the event. Industry bodies The Council of Music Makers (MMF, MPG, FAC, Ivors Academy and the MU), Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), BBC Introducing LIVE and Youth Music all return as collaborators, alongside The Association of Independent Music (AIM).
Themes across the panels will include the role of government policy in creative spaces, community building for artists and labels and more. See the full rundown at the festival’s official website.
The Great Escape has also shared news that warmup event, The Road To Great Escape, will take place in the preceding week, and returns to key cities Glasgow (May 9-10) and Dublin (May 12-13). The showcases will see a number of acts from the lineup performing live in their home cities before making the trip to England’s south coast.
Kelly Clarkson has a gift for taking any song—no matter the genre—and making it feel fresh, but her latest Kellyoke cover might be one of her most unexpected yet.
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On today’s episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, she took on Harvey Danger’s alt-rock anthem “Flagpole Sitta,” a track packed with anxious, anti-establishment energy that became a defining song of the late ’90s.
As always, Clarkson and her backing band, My Band Y’all, delivered a full-throttle performance, leaning into the song’s frenetic energy and wry, self-aware lyrics.
Released as the debut single from Harvey Danger’s 1997 album Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?, “Flagpole Sitta” became an unexpected hit. The song shot to No. 3 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, peaked at No. 38 on the Hot 100 chart, and made appearances across multiple other Billboard charts.
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Its snarky, disaffected lyrics perfectly captured late-’90s youth culture, making it a staple on alternative radio stations and securing its place in pop culture history.
The track became even more iconic when it was featured in the 1999 teen comedy American Pie, blasting over one of the film’s chaotic party scenes. It also found a second life in the 2000s, being rediscovered through TV shows like Peep Show.
Meanwhile, Kelly Clarkson’s Kellyoke segment has turned into one of the most beloved parts of The Kelly Clarkson Show, with the singer tackling everything from pop divas to classic rock anthems. But “Flagpole Sitta” might be one of her most delightfully unhinged choices yet.
Clarkson didn’t just cover the song—she completely embodied it, channeling its nervous energy with her powerhouse vocals while keeping the raw, slightly manic edge that made the original so memorable.
The instrumentation stayed true to the alt-rock sound, with distorted guitars and driving drums keeping up the pace. Even Clarkson’s delivery had an extra bite, proving she can just as easily tap into her rock side as she can belt out a soaring ballad.
For longtime fans of Kellyoke, this isn’t the first time Clarkson has dipped into the alternative rock world. She’s previously covered songs from The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins, Kings of Leon, and Foo Fighters.
Watch Clarkson’s rendition of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” below.
With under two weeks to go until Saturday Night Live host their homecoming concert as part of their 50th-anniversary celebrations, the prolific Dave Grohl has been added to the lineup of performers.
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Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, the SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert will take place at 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 14 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with live streaming available on Peacock. It’s part of the iconic show’s ongoing birthday celebrations which have also included the premiere of the 50 Years of SNL Music documentary on Jan. 27, and the SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night documentary on Jan. 16.
On Thursday (Jan. 30), SNL announced the names which will feature in their upcoming concert, with previous show hosts and performers Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus appearing atop the bill.
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Elsewhere, the likes Post Malone, Jelly Roll and the Backstreet Boys can also be found on the bill, in addition to Arcade Fire, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Chris Martin, David Byrne, DEVO, Eddie Vedder, Jack White, Mumford & Sons, The B-52s and The Roots.
At the time, it was noted that more performers would be announced leading up to the show, with Consequence now confirming that Dave Grohl will also be joining the lineup.
Though absent from the initial announcement, a promotional video for the event has since mentioned Grohl’s presence. Notably, Grohl is the only artist featured in the video who was not named in last week’s lineup, though the clip also overlooks mention of confirmed performers Brittany Howard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Robyn.
The Foo Fighters founder has been largely absent from the public eye since September 2024 when he announced he had become the father of a new baby born outside of his marriage to Jordyn Blum. “I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness,” a statement released by Grohl at the time read.
Grohl’s upcoming contribution to the SNL’s Homecoming Concert makes sense, however. To date, he holds the record for most musical appearances on the show, with 15 performances taking place between 1992 and 2023.
These include nine times with the Foo Fighters, twice with Nirvana, once as a drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and once as a member of Them Crooked Vultures. The Foo Fighters have also appeared as a special guest with Mick Jagger in 2012, and Grohl also performed with his Nirvana bandmates alongside Paul McCartney later that same year.
More recently, Grohl also appeared in the 50 Years of SNL Music documentary, and on Thursday (Jan. 30), took part in a Nirvana reunion as part of the FireAid LA Benefit Concert. Appearing alongside bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, the four-song set featured guest vocalists St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett, with Grohl’s own daughter Violet closing out proceedings with a rendition of “All Apologies”.
While the music world didn’t receive its highly-anticipated Aerosmith reunion over the weekend, the reality wasn’t far off, with frontman Steven Tyler making his long-awaited return to the stage.
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In January, reports emerged that Tyler’s sixth annual Jam for Janie Grammy Awards Viewing Party would be taking place on Sunday (Feb. 2) at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, with Aerosmith set to make a return performance.
Alongside appearances from Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Lainey Wilson, Tom Hamilton, Linda Perry, Matt Sorum, and Nuno Bettencourt, the reported Aerosmith reunion would have been the group’s first live show since Sept. 2023.
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While performing in Elmont, NY on Sept. 9 of that year, Tyler fractured his larynx, necessitating the postponement of shows on their Peace Out tour. Ultimately, these shows were canceled entirely when the band announced their retirement from touring in August 2024.
Though excitement for a reunion from Aerosmith members was high in the lead up to the Jam for Janie event on Sunday, the result was equally appreciated when Tyler took to the stage for a rare live appearance. Ultimately, the likes of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry weren’t on hand for the night, though bassist Tom Hamilton was.
Performing with Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Tyler’s six-song set featured a rendition of Aerosmith’s “Toys in the Attic”, Extreme’s “More Than Words” with Mick Fleetwood, and “Dream On” with Lainey Wilson. Joined by Hamilton and the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson for performances of “Sweet Emotion”, and “Walk This Way” (which also featured English singer Jessie J), the high-profile set closed out with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker”.
Sunday’s performance was only Tyler’s second time appearing on stage since his vocal injury. In May 2024 – months before Aerosmith announced their retirement from touring – Tyler performed “Mama Kin” with the Black Crowes in London. At the time, the Black Crowes were planning to resume their role as the opening act for Aerosmith’s then-postponed Peace Out tour later in the year.
It’s currently unclear whether Tyler’s return to the live stage could result in anything more in the future, though Hamilton did speak to Boston’s WBUR in January to give an update on the possibility of one-off Aerosmith appearances down the line.
“Steven’s healing process is going really, really well, but it goes at its own pace,” Hamilton told the station. “Maybe Aerosmith will do something in the future, but it’s a big if and the last thing I want to be doing is to try and push Steven in that direction.
“If we do anything in the future, it would come from him,” he added.
The Black Keys are heading out on tour this year, and are hoping for a better experience than they had in 2024.
The Akron duo initially planned to close out the latter quarter of last year with a 31-date run of shows, with their International Players Tour scheduled to kick off Sept. 17 in Tulsa, OK and wrap on Nov. 12 in Detroit, MI.
However, four months before the tour’s launch, the group unceremoniously canceled these dates, with the band later assuring fans that both guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney were fine, but were planning on altering the presentation of their U.S. run.
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“Following the recent run of shows in the UK & Europe, including stops at iconic venues like Brixton Academy and the Zenith in Paris, we have decided to make some changes to the North American leg of the International Players Tour that will enable us to offer a similarly exciting, intimate experience for both fans and the band, and will be announcing a revised set of dates shortly,” they wrote in a statement at the time.
While The Black Keys would only perform a handful of shows throughout the rest of the year, speculation did swirl as to the reason behind the cancellation, with most opinions turning to low ticket sales. In early June 2024, the band split with their management team of three years, and days later Carney took to social media to claim “We got fucked. I’ll let you all know how so it doesn’t happen to you. Stay tuned.”
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Though specifics in regard to the cancelation still remain unclear, the pair have now announced their intention to return to the touring circuit, detailing their No Rain No Flowers Tour on Monday (Feb. 3).
Launching in Durant, OK on May 3 and wrapping up in Asbury Park, NJ on June 14, the 13-date run of shows sees the group performing in smaller venues than last year’s planned tour. For comparison, the 2025 opening show at Durant’s Choctaw Casino & Resort has a capacity of 3,000, as opposed to the 19,000 capacity of Oklahoma City’s BOK Center which was supposed to host the launch show of their 2024 tour.
“After the tour was canceled, the consensus was, ‘Shit happens, and you just have to move through it,’” Carney said in a statement. “We were already on a creative streak, and the best thing we could do, rather than sit at home, was just go back in the studio. Get back to work. So, that’s how the record started.”
“Writing and recording has always been therapy for us, from the very beginning,” Auerbach added. “We communicate best that way. It has always been the thing that’s brought us together, so I’m not surprised at all that we ended up back there so quickly after the last album.”
The Black Keys’ last record, Ohio Players, arrived in April 2024 and peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 – their lowest-charting release since 2006’s Magic Potion. Their as-yet untitled 13th album is expected to arrive later this year.
The Black Keys – No Rain No Flowers Tour Dates
May 23 – Choctaw Casino & Resort – Grand Theater, Durant, OKMay 25 – Ford Amphitheater, Colorado Springs, COMay 27 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, COMay 29 – Kettlehouse Amphitheater, Bonner, MTMay 30 – Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden, Boise, IDMay 31 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater, Bend, ORJune 01 – Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CAJune 03 – The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CAJune 07 – Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, Austin, TXJune 08 – Walmart AMP, Rogers, ARJune 11 – Live Oak Bank Pavilion, Wilmington, NCJune 12 – Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NCJune 14 – Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ
Beyoncé made history Sunday night (Feb. 2) when Cowboy Carter won the Grammy for best country album, making the superstar the first Black artist to win in the category since it was reintroduced in 1995, after a nearly three-decade absence.
Earlier in the evening, she also captured the award for best country duo/group performance for “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus, which was the first time a Black lead artist had won that award since The Pointer Sisters in 1975. Bey capped the evening by winning the night’s biggest prize, album of the year, an honor that had previously eluded her during her 25-year career as a member of Destiny’s Child and a solo artist, despite winning more Grammys than anyone in history.
Many in the country music community are applauding Beyoncé’s country wins and hope they will help lift up other Black artists in country music today, many of whom have been unable to get a foothold on radio or gain much traction within the genre.
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Beyoncé’s wins for best country album and album of the year are overall wins for country music, says Big Machine Label Group founder/president/CEO Scott Borchetta. “Beyoncé made a brilliant album that was absolutely worthy of album of the year,” he says. “Every event and moment like this is a move forward and continues to widen the aperture and acceptance of what country music is and can be.”
Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, co-founder of the Black Music Action Coalition, agrees, telling Billboard: “Cowboy Carter pushed country music’s genre redlining into the public zeitgeist – but as Beyoncé herself has mentioned, Black artists and writers have been pushing against Music Row’s gates for decades. Cowboy Carter is such a powerful body of work that it finally broke some long-held barriers. [Recording Academy CEO] Harvey Mason jr. and the academy also deserve acknowledgement for working intentionally to foster a younger, more diverse voting membership, which helped to bring some of those barriers down. However, it’s important that the industry – and Music Row specifically – understand that this moment, this album, is a beginning, not a destination. … ‘Genre’ is still too often used as coded language for race, and it’s far past time for that to change.”
Others see Beyoncé’s win as an isolated victory. “I love that Beyoncé won for best country album and [album of the year] for Cowboy Carter last night at the Grammys, but it’s a win for Beyonce, not necessarily for Black artists in country music,” says Cameo Carlson, CEO of artist development/management services company Mtheory and manager of Black country singer Mickey Guyton, who received three Grammy nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards but took home none.
“The fact that Beyonce’s album wasn’t even nominated for other Nashville or country-centric awards, like the CMA Awards, is indicative of the work that still needs to be done in Nashville and in country music,” Carlson continues. “The Grammys are a global award for all intents and purpose; the hardcore country awards — and the large body of people that make up the voting bloc for those awards — did not embrace Beyonce or Cowboy Carter, decrying [the album] as ‘not really country’ or making the excuse that she didn’t ‘play the Nashville game’ by coming and investing time in the country music community or in Nashville.”
Beyonce had already rewritten the country rulebook with the album before her Grammy victories. Following its March 29, 2024, release, Cowboy Carter debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, making her the first Black woman to reach the pinnacle, dating back to the chart’s January 1964 inception. She also became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which stayed at the top for 10 weeks. However, the song peaked at No. 33 on the Country Airplay chart.
While, as Carlson mentions, there had been much talk about the Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter not receiving a CMA Award nomination for album of the year (or any CMA Award nominations), such an occurrence is hardly rare. There have been more than a dozen records that have won the Grammy for best country album since the Recording Academy brought the category back in 1995 that did not receive a CMA nomination for album of the year, much less a win, including Shania Twain’s The Woman in Me (1996), the then-named Dixie Chicks’ Wide Open Spaces (1999) and Tanya Tucker’s While I’m Living (2020). The Grammy voters tend to nominate a wider variety of albums, often including legends who no longer receive commercial airplay, artists who belong to the broader country genre but aren’t in the mainstream, or artists who don’t necessarily, as Carlson said, “play the game.” (In addition to Cowboy Carter, the only country album to win the all-genre Grammy for album of the year and not receive a CMA nomination is The Chicks’ Taking the Long Way in 2006, which came out after much of the country community disavowed the trio for comments Natalie Maines made about then-President George Bush.)
The CMA declined to comment for this story.
Scott Stem, manager for Scotty McCreery at Triple 8 Management, doesn’t see the disparity as a bad thing. “I don’t think all the awards have to be the same — one artist can win the Grammy, one artist can win the CMA Award, one artist can win the ACM Award, and one artist can win the American Music Award,” he says. “It only widens the pot if more artists and their work are recognized instead of it being the same artists on each show.”
Unlike the CMA and ACM Awards, which draw from primarily the country community and may include industry members not involved in the creative process such as radio executives as voters, the 13,000 Grammy voters come from all genres and must be involved in the creative music-making process. Grammy voters are allowed to vote in up to 10 categories across three fields in addition to the General Field categories, meaning that non-country voters could choose to vote in the country field in order to support Beyoncé. Beyoncé won none of the other Grammys she was nominated for in such genre fields as pop, rap or Americana, possibly indicating that non-country voters were inclined to vote for her in country but not spend their limited votes for her in other areas.
Not everyone felt the win was deserved, with some questioning whether the album belonged in the country category at all after Beyoncé herself said in March, “This ain’t a country album, it’s a Beyoncé album.” But there was no denying its homage to country’s Black roots with the inclusion of Black country pioneer Linda Martell and country’s history with the participation of Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, as well as a nod to its future by including rising Black country artists like Shaboozey, Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer and Reyna Roberts.
Big & Rich’s John Rich posited in a post on X that her win was a result of Sony Music swaying the vote, instead of merit. “Folks are asking me ‘how do music award shows work?’” Rich wrote. “Labels/publishers all have blocks of votes. They make deals with each other ‘you vote for mine, we’ll vote for yours’ type thing. It has ZERO to do with who made the best music, thus, Beyonce with ‘Country album of the year.’ Nice, right? The same thing is true with the CMA’s, ACM’s, Billboard, etc…all work exactly the same. Last night, the Grammy’s [sic] outed themselves in a big way.” [Editor’s note: The Billboard Music Awards are determined solely by Billboard chart performance, not a voting body.]
As the current presidential administration erases diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, many of which came to be following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, some hope Beyoncé’s win will show Nashville that listeners want to hear from more than the white men who dominate country music, especially mainstream country radio.
“Beyoncé will move on and make another killer Beyoncé record in any genre she wants to, while Black and non-white country artists will continue to struggle to be heard and supported,” Carlson says. “Labels and the country infrastructure need to continue to invest in these artists, need to continue to invest in DEI programs, and support programs like Equal Access that are out here doing the work every day to make sure that Beyoncé is only the first Black artist to win a country album of the year Grammy, but certainly not the last.”
Beverly Keel, dean of Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment, says all eyes will now be on the May 8 ACM Awards, for which first-round voting started Feb. 1 and ends Feb. 18. “I hope Nashville will now fully embrace the project,” Keel says. “This international superstar is taking her wonderful representation of country music around the world, introducing it to people who haven’t listened to the genre before. I hope the next Black female artist doesn’t have to be as successful as Beyoncé to have a big country album. I hope this is the beginning and not an anomaly.”
—Assistance on this story provided by Jessica Nicholson
Miley Cyrus won her third career Grammy at the awards ceremony on Sunday night (Feb. 2), and the superstar took to Instagram to celebrate. “Last night at the @recordingacademy,” she wrote alongside a series of photos wearing custom black Alaïa dresses. “Having your name called is an honor that deserves to be celebrated. Just remember […]