Author: Rap Hooks

If there’s a pot out there to stir, you can be certain that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher is going to dip his spoon in and swirl it around with gusto. Which is why it’s no surprise that less than two weeks after announcing their second run of reunion shows — slated for 2027 — Gallagher has already begun tamping down speculation about the group’s future.

When a fan claimed on Wednesday (Sept. 23) that Gallagher “once told me this isn’t a farewell tour,” Gallagher was right there with a provocative response that was definitely not what Oasis fans wanted to hear.

“It isn’t a farewell tour but it still could be our last,” Gallagher wrote without any further explanation.

It was the latest dark cloud futurecasting from the Gallaghers, who famously ended their initial run in 2009 and reportedly did not speak for nearly 15 years until reuniting in 2025 for a sold-out, rapturously received world tour that sparked hopes of a more permanent return. But, in classic Gallagher fashion, despite the nightly smiles and upraised hands of solidarity on the tour and seeming ease of rapport between once-battling brothers Liam and guitarist/songwriter Noel as seen in the new Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger doc, neither sibling seems willing to commit to much else.

Calling in to his favorite U.K. sports chat show, talkSPORT last week to promote the news of the 2027 dates, Noel said he knew the exact moment when he and Liam were going to hit the road again. “It was after about the second Wembley show [on July 26, 2025],” Noel revealed in the interview. “Nobody really knew what was going to happen … or how it was going to go. So we did Cardiff and Manchester, then by the time we got to Wembley, somebody said ‘Well, you know?’ and it was decided we were going to do it.”

Then, when asked if the revived touring schedule or any other Oasis-related activities are something he’d like to keep rolling, Noel said, “I dunno,” doubling down on Liam’s previous statements that the 2027 shows will not be accompanied by what would be the band’s first new music since 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul album. “There won’t be any new music, no,” Noel said flatly. Asked if he wanted to elaborate on that, Noel repeated “no.”

In July, after a fan pleaded with Liam to consider recording a new album, which they claimed might just “change lives,” Liam held the party line. “NO I’m just not prepared for the criticism if it doesn’t sell 100 million copies in the 1st hour cure bad breath and constipation for the nation if it doesn’t turn back time for Cher and some other s–t let’s just to some gigs and be happy thank you,” he responded.

Earlier this week, Oasis added a handful of shows to the upcoming Live ’27 tour, tacking on a third night at Munich’s Allianz Arena (July 6), a third at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico (July 26) and fifth and sixth shows at Knebworth House in Stevenage, England (Sept. 25, 26). Next year’s run is now up to 42 stops, one more than the initial reunion tour.

In early 2024, Texas native Dylan Gossett’s breakthrough song “Coal” became his first Billboard Hot 100 hit, and went on to become certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. He followed with more homespun, organic tracks like the romantic “Beneath Oak Trees” and his 2025 self-written and self-produced debut album, Westward.

With his sophomore album Ramblin’, out Friday (Sept. 25) on Big Loud Texas / Mercury Records, Gossett aims to strike a balance between some of the more rustic fare of his previous projects and evolving his sound with even more full-bodied instrumentation.

“I’m like a kid on a playground,” Gossett tells Billboard. “There’s still those stripped-back songs on this record that I love, and honestly, they’re some of my favorites on the record. But we got to do the big drum kit, open things up and widen the sonic space of each song. That’s why I think it feels a bit more complete than Westward might have been. I feel like there’s more layering. The lyrics still hold up and have the same storytelling element, but a lot of these songs, you just want to put on with your friends in the car and just jam them.”

He’s previewed the new album with songs like the deceptively breezy “Clothesline,” which centers on the emotional turmoil of being in relational limbo, and the plucky, longing “Loving You Like That.” Though sonically he broadens his sound, some of the songs themselves are drawn from deep in his writing catalog, including a few songs that didn’t make it on Westward.

“‘Running From the Sun’ is an older song I wrote, and then ‘Snow Melt,’ a few of those had been written before Westward,” he says. “But some of the cooler songs on Ramblin’ that I love were buzzer-beaters. Two weeks before we had to submit [the album], I’m like ‘Can we get into the studio?’ And the idea turns into songs like ‘The Old Me’ and ‘Loving You Like That.’”

Elsewhere, “Honeysuckle” looks at the values of his family and home in Texas. After his initial career breakthrough, instead of making a predictable move to Music City, the Texas A&M graduate has stayed close to his roots deep in the Lone Star State.

“I have no reason to leave. I’ve got so much family here and my wife and I love it. When I need to go do work, I’ll fly to Nashville real quick, or New York or L.A., and can come back home the next day. I like being able to separate work and home. It helps keep my head clear a bit,” he says.

Ramblin’ also nods to the swift changes in Gossett’s personal life; “My Boy” embraces his journey into fatherhood.

“It’s been great. Luckily, I [married] a person that understands this world and is so supportive and is a great mom, so it’s been fun to see this family expand. It’s not easy when you have a one-month-old and you’re away for six weeks or so, but we make it work. They’ll come visit, or we’ll FaceTime and it’s one of those things where I’m blessed enough to where when I’m home, we’re not working 9-to-5 jobs and we get to spend the entire day with him. Those moments matter and they add up.”

It seems Gossett’s son, who was born earlier this year, is already showing a curiosity for music.

“He loves looking at the guitar and he’s starting to grab things, so he can feel the guitar strings and that’s been fun to see,” Gossett says. If his son one day ends up following in Gossett’s musical footsteps, he says he hopes to have plenty of wisdom to pass down.

“The industry is not the prettiest place of all time, but hopefully we raise him in a way that has a good foundation. I would support it. I’d probably give him a couple of tips on things I messed up early on or something, but that would be awesome.”

Gossett just wrapped stints opening for The Red Clay Strays, as well as opening for Mumford & Sons on their Prizefighter Tour.

“Mumford was one of my biggest inspirations ever,” Gossett says. “When we got the [initial] call, it was like, ‘This is an opportunity, it’s a possibility.’ Months went on and I was like, ‘We’re probably not going to get this, it’s been too long.’ But then we finally got the official call and it was the craziest, easiest ‘Yes’ of my life. I was like, ‘Move everything, we just can’t skip out on this.’ And those guys are amazing. Marcus [Mumford], the very first show, made a point to come and talk to us and we got to meet the rest of the guys and hang out a bit. They were just super welcoming, and we got to play with them at [Chicago Cubs’ home]  Wrigley Field, which was surreal.”

Gossett is currently co-headlining tour with fellow country-folk troubadour Charles Wesley Godwin, where they trade off closing the evening in different markets.

“We had shows in Texas and I was ending the night, and the shows we’re doing in the Carolinas and East coast are more [West Virginia native] Charles’ area in closing the shows. It just feels like a party. Charles, I was listening to his albums top to bottom before I ever had a song out, so it’s just really cool.”

After launching  his career viral hits like “Coal,”  he knows well the pressures artists can feel to maintain a steady cadence of releases to remain in the algorithmic conversation. But with two albums and a couple of EPs under his belt, he says he’s worked to find his own balance in the battle between quantity and quality.

“I focused on it in the past, and I think I’m starting to understand this cloud of smoke that is around social media and putting out music. You get so caught up in it, and a lot of it is smoke and mirrors. I’m okay with taking a break to make sure that the quality of stuff I’m putting out is good. When you see something like, ‘Oh, I’m falling down in the public view’ or whatever, it doesn’t really matter that much, as long as the next song you come out with is good and you’ve taken your time with it. It also gives people time to breathe.”

Whether he’s playing in amphitheaters, concert halls or stadiums, Gossett remains focused on the songs.

“Writing is my passion. I love doing it,” he says. “I wrote two songs yesterday. I want to co-write when it makes sense to. I feel like it’s not my first instinct, but some song ideas, I want to get a different input or get new ears on it. That’s when I go to guys like [his brother and songwriter] Blake [Gossett] or Colton [Forrest Hardy] and the guys in the band that understand my sound, but have their own thing, too. I’m just trying to make the best songs possible.”

Taylor Swift is opening up about the strange relationship behavior that inspired the first single from her just-released The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore deluxe edition, “Patient Zero.” An Instagram post from the U.K.’s Capital FM on Friday morning (Sept. 25) reported that Swift had revealed the origins behind the slinky song that is one of four newly recorded tracks on the LP.

“I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and one of my friends told us that she had been reached out to by the new girlfriend of an ex of hers, asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy that this new girlfriend was having,” the singer told the outlet; a spokesperson for Swift confirmed to Billboard that Swift had shared the her thoughts with Capital FM.

“And everyone in our group just immediately started saying like, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that too’, and telling the stories of when this kind of reach out had happened for them,” Swift continued. “And I thought to myself, if this has happened to all of us, it’s such an interesting kind of angle on humanity and on relationships, and I wonder if I could write something from the perspective of getting this phone call, and really only from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before.”

The song’s first verse appears to dovetail with that explanation, with Swift singing, “I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve been expecting your call/ No, it’s not a bad time at all/ I heard somebody saying there’s trouble in paradise/ And my lips are sealed tight now.” The chorus then says it all: “It’s not for me to tell/ Someone else what to do/ But if you wanna party with somebody who might know/
About the devil on his shoulder under his halo/ When the toxins take their hold, you’d rather die than let it go/ But if you’re sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero.”

The deluxe version of Swift’s 12th studio album, out now, also features the newly recorded song “Babylon,” “Pink Clouding” and “Cleveland!” The original album spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and opened with a record-breaking 4.002 million equivalent album units in the United States in its first week.

Swift will celebrate the refreshed album’s release on Sunday (Sept. 27) at the 2026 MTV VMAs, where she plans to premiere the cinematic video for “Patient Zero,” which co-stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell. Swift directed the visual and she is slated to receive the inaugural Artist Director Honor at the show, where she is nominated 13 times.

Val Blavatnik, the 28-year-old son of Warner Music Group majority owner and vice chairman Len Blavatnik, has been named managing director of Warner Music North America, U.K. and Corporate Development at the Warner Music Group, the company announced Friday (Sept. 25). In his new role the younger Blavatnik, who has held several roles at the company in recent years, and has been a board member since 2023, expects to “unify and drive business and operational strategy across these markets while guiding the company’s investment strategy to support growth,” according to a press release.

The Blavatnik announcement is part of a flurry of new executive announcements that CEO Robert Kyncl made this morning. In addition, Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO Elliot Grainge will take over ADA as its new chairman, while Alejandro Duque, who has held the dual roles of president of Warner Latin and president of ADA since last July, has been named president of Warner Music International, adding Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa under his oversight. Zach Friedman, currently COO at Atlantic Music Group, will add the title of vice chair of ADA to his resume.

That means that Simon Robson, who has been president of EMEA recorded music since last September, and has spent almost 30 years in senior international roles at Warner Music, will be leaving the company. Replacing him in that role will be Guillermo Gonzalez, who has spent the past six years as president of Warner Music Iberia; Andrés Rothschild will take over Iberian operations. “We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Simon Robson for his dedicated service, operational excellence and trusted leadership while expanding WMG’s global footprint over his remarkable tenure, and wish him the very best in his next endeavors,” Kyncl said in a statement about Robson’s exit.

Finally, Aaron Bay-Schuck has been affirmed as the sole chairman/CEO of Warner Records, two months after co-chair/COO Tom Corson was elevated to COO of the Warner Music Group. Bay-Schuck has co-led the label since 2018, and will continue as the sole chief moving forward.

“To build upon our successful year in which we delivered on all three strategic priorities to grow market share, increase the value of music and increase our efficiency, these frontline executive changes enhance our best-in-class leadership team with diverse skill sets to execute on the next chapter of WMG’s growth,” Kyncl said in a statement about the slew of moves. “Elliot, Aaron, Alejandro and Guillermo are exceptional, dynamic and proven leaders who have transformed their domains, and elevating them allows us to further scale their success. I’m also excited to welcome Val to the executive team, where his operational and strategic focus will help us build our momentum across key markets.”

Val Blavatnik had been widely expected to land in the WMG leadership team as his influence at the company grew over the past few years. He got his start in the music business as an artist manager in 2016, and began working at WMG in 2023, both as a board member and as senior director of business development at Warner Chappell Music. Prior to that, he spent two years on the investment team at LionTree, and as of 2024 has held the role of special advisor to Warner Music Group CEO Kyncl, while he finished his studies at Harvard Business School, from which he graduated this past spring.

Over the past few years, he’s had a hand in the acquisition of 10K Projects, which brought current Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO Grainge into the WMG fold; and the subsequent restructuring that led to Grainge being appointed to that role. He’s also had a hand in the negotiations for Zach Bryan’s $360 million deal with Warner Records last year and worked on WMG’s AI development and distribution plans, including their agreement with Suno and the acquisition of distro company Revelator earlier this year. 

“At Warner, our guiding principle is getting compensation and safeguards for artists and songwriters, [and] we’re only doing deals with companies that commit to our principles,” he told Billboard in January about the company’s AI strategy. “The music business, in my view, has always been late to innovate, and I think we have this incredible opportunity here to at least be on time and not fight innovation.”

Len Blavatnik, who is the founder of Access Industries, purchased WMG in 2011, and took the company public in 2020. In 2022, Kyncl took over for longtime CEO Stephen Cooper atop the company, and instituted a series of layoffs and restructuring with the aim of saving hundreds of millions of dollars in costs and better positioning the company for a more tech-centered future. The company has also cycled through four CFOs in three years, and two months ago promoted Warner Records co-chair/COO Corson to be COO of all of WMG, following the exit of the last CFO/COO, Armin Zerza. Additionally, Warner Chappell co-chair/COO Carianne Marshall is exiting the company after an announcement earlier this week, part of what was characterized as a move away from the co-chair executive model. Guy Moot is now sole chair/CEO at the publisher.

Grainge, the son of Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, has reorganized his Atlantic division into several branches, with Atlantic Records, 300 Entertainment and 10K Projects all reporting to him. He had also long exerted influence over ADA, as 10K itself, which Grainge founded as an indie, had been cutting similar distribution-type deals prior to its acquisition by WMG. His new role gives him oversight of the entire global distribution channel at the third-largest major.

In 2025, following Grainge’s appointment at Atlantic and Val Blavatnik’s own ascension in influence in the company, Billboard asked the rising exec if there was a generational changing of the guard that needed to happen. “The music business should constantly evolve and innovate, like any other successful business,” Blavatnik said at the time. “It’s not so much about a generational shift, but more about having executives with bold, fresh ideas and the ambition to deliver outstanding results.”

In a world where Cuban reparto music is having viral momentum and making international leaps, there’s Melanie Santiler going against the tide. To best showcase her artistry, the 25-year-old rising act from Havana delivers her debut album Los Cisnes, out today (Sept. 25) under MamiFinaRecords/ONErpm.

On the 10-track set, Santiler, a former 2025 Billboard On the Radar Latin artist, seamlessly navigates from alternative to jazz to electronic, while fearlessly redefining Latin pop music. And while she’s creating music in her own terms, three of the tracks — ”Gataza,” “Delincuente,” and “Los Repas No Lloran” — honor the booming reparto movement (a tropical and urban musical genre that derives from the barrios of her native Caribbean island).  

“Reparto is a constant inspiration in my music,” Santiler, who’s currently in Spain, tells Billboard over a zoom interview. “I used to produce a slow-tempo reparto, but now it’s faster and has evolved with the sounds I have been listening to. In ‘Los Repas,’ I even dared to make a ‘sad’ reparto mixed with bolero lyrics.”

But beyond the melting pot of melodies — inspired by artists such as Rosalía, C. Tangana, Yomil y el Dany, Buena Vista Social Club, and Celia Cruz — Los Cisnes underlines years of soul-searching and self-reflection narrated by Santiler’s dreamy and sensual vocal prowess. 

Below, Santiler talks more about her debut album.  

Melanie Santiler has a very different sound than what’s actually trending in Cuba today. What made you take this alternative route? 

This was always Melania, really; I had to mold that persona early in my career — trying to find myself, above all — but this album gives me the chance to show who I truly am, through and through. The project itself allows me to create a universe I felt I needed. When I played my music for others, I felt something was still missing — songs that truly expressed who I was. This album has made that possible, allowing people to get to know the real me.

It’s true, this isn’t the kind of music currently being consumed in Cuba, and that scares me a little; at the same time, though, I have great faith that there are people — in Cuba and around the world — who need this kind of music. I decided to take the risk of being myself, of saying what I’ve wanted to say for a long time, of dancing, and of creating a visual album.

In the opening track, “Guardaespaldas,” there’s a lyric that goes, “Me gustan que me hagan todo, menos escribirme las canciones” (I like when people do everything for me, except write my songs): How involved were you in the writing process? 

I wrote all the songs — or I’d say 80–90% of them, with contributions from the producers. In fact, I was able to release songs I’d had tucked away for a long time. For example, “Azabache” is the first song I ever wrote, six years ago; I always saved it for the album.

The idea for the record really took shape last November, when I traveled to Spain for the first time and saw the real world. I realized I needed to take the step of becoming a recording artist, and that it was time to show the world I was capable of creating a bigger project and speaking about important things.

How did that trip to Spain truly bring the project to life?

I have a healthy relationship with Madrid. I love this city, and every time I come here, I put on a major show. With last year’s concert, I realized that these kinds of projects were viable. In Cuba, for instance, the single format is dominant, and very few artists have dared to create a true concept album. Every one of my songs is there for a reason and follows a specific structure. That was what drew me to Madrid — the ability to do different things that took a different path. I felt more inspired to build projects.

“Los Cisnes” with Carlos Varela feels like the most personal song of all and the most current with the situation in Cuba.    

Exactly. In fact, we play the Cuban national anthem in a minor key, which is why it feels sadder. “Los Cisnes” was written around the same time as “Azabache”; it isn’t one of the newest songs on the album, yet it remains very relevant in every respect. Getting to perform it with Carlos Varela is a dream come true. I’ve always used songs to speak my mind and communicate what I need to say. This will always be my answer to any question about my country… I said it all in “Los Cisnes.”

Why should we be listening to Melanie Santiler now?

I am going through similar processes to everyone else. I don’t want people to listen to me because I’m the promise. I would like them to listen to me to find someone who is speaking truths from her point of view and trying to be super sincere with herself, and that connects much more than any aspiration.

I feel that listening to a sincere project at a time when the music industry is so commercial is the most valid thing: see the work, see myself fighting, search for my identity, show what I’m going through. The album talks about a process of searching and ultimately transforming. About how I started my career in one way and a million things happened, while getting somewhere else. The heroine’s journey, which is not the end result but the process and what you are learning along the way.

So, what did you learn along the way?  

I think, above all, it’s about not having answers. In fact, “Rezo” — the album’s closing track — is about not being okay and not knowing what to do yet, but still holding onto the hope that everything will turn out fine. It’s more about living through the process — knowing that both good and bad things can happen, but that I have to keep moving forward. It’s that search for identity and freedom — and even for what being Cuban means to me — while coming to understand that there are no answers to some very big questions. It’s an album about the process, rather than about making a definitive discovery.