Author: Rap Hooks

Sometimes, if you put your intentions out there, the universe responds with exactly the thing you need. At least according to Katy Perry, who told People this week that she met the “love of her life” on her recently concluded global Lifetimes tour, boyfriend Justin Trudeau, after she set her heart on finding a legendary love.

The singer who was married to controversial British comedian Russell Brand for two years (2009-2011) and was in an on-and-off relationship with actor Orlando Bloom for nearly a decade (2016-2025)— the couple share a daughter, Daisy Dove — told the magazine that the unexpected love bomb came amid a difficult year for her.

After reviews for the singer’s seventh studio album, 143, slang code for “I Love You,” were almost universally negative and its three singles failed to reach her previous chart highs, Perry, 41, leaned into delivering the biggest, boldest performance possible on the tour. “I learned how to step back into my purpose,” she said, “and I got the greatest gift from this tour: I got to meet the love of my life.”

She’s speaking, of course, of Trudeau, 54, the former Canadian prime minister and father of three, who split from his wife of 18 years in 2023 and whom she met on the road one month after announcing her split from former fiancé Bloom. Perry launched the tour in April 2025, just a few months before she confirmed her breakup with Bloom in July of that year, a time the singer said was very stressful.

“It was probably the hardest time. My friends were all hanging out back home. I was crying and just feeling far away,” Perry said of the challenging period after the split. “But then my angels went to work. They really showed up.” Within a month, she and Trudeau had sparked rumors of a romance when they went out on a dinner date in Montreal, with Trudeau attending her show in the city two days later with his daughter, Ella-Grace.

“I got to meet Justin on tour, and then things shifted,” Perry said, adding that she had made a list last August that she believes manifested the relationship. The magazine describes Perry pulling out a piece of paper that read: “No. 10 just says, ‘True Love.’ And I think that’s where we’re at.” The couple went public in October of last year when they went out to dinner in Paris for Perry’s birthday and made their red carpet debut in June at the Tribeca Festival in New York, where she referred to Trudeau as “the love of my life” while promoting her just-released The Lifetimes Tour — Live From Paris concert doc.

She also appears to have taken a positive note from her long relationship with Bloom, telling People that she wouldn’t have stayed with him for nine years “if there wasn’t really important things to learn. Each relationship is a teacher, right? I had to let it go so I could move forward. I always wanted this epic legendary love, and I was talking to my therapist about it: Everything in my life is epic, but this is kind of the missing puzzle piece — then it showed up.”

Trudeau has definitely been there for her as well, attending 10 of her 20 recent shows with enthusiasm. “He knows the words, he’s supportive, and he’s in awe; it’s super healing,” Perry said. “He is really heart-centered, and I think that we align in that way. I’m so grateful.”

The lineup for the fifth edition of Lollapalooza India dropped on Thursday morning (Sept. 3) and it features headliners Olivia Dean, Limp Bizkit, KATSEYE and Fontaines D.C. The two-day event that will take over the Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai on Jan. 23-24 will also include sets from 5 Seconds of Summer, St. Vincent, Steve Angello, Rachel Chinoriri, Ecca Vandal and ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U.

The gig will mark the debut in India for all four headliners, who will take the stage alongside a stacked lineup of beloved Indian acts including Anuv Jain, Indian Ocean, Kayan and Scribe, as well as former Police drummer Stewart Copeland with Indian composer Ricky Kej, with whom he’s collaborated on a series of world music and new age projects.

Among the other acts on the lineup are: Aditya Gadhvi, The Manganiyar Seduction, 2ManyDJS, Zulan, Blackstratblues, Reha Raj, Pinkshift, Eleven guitarist Alain Johannes, Maneesh on the Beat, Isyana Sarasvati, Ranj x Clifr, Swadesi, Yashraj and Donn Bhat and others.

KATSEYE are in the midst of their first-ever world arena outing, The Wildwood Tour, which kicked off on Sept. 1 at 3Arena in Dublin and will keep them on the road through a Nov. 28 date in Mexico City. At present, two members of the group, Manon and Sophia, are on a temporary hiatus to focus on their health. In addition, the group was forced to cancel their planned appearance at Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields Festival last weekend after member Megan sprained her ankle.

Last year’s Lolla India featured sets from Linkin Park, Playboi Carti, Yungblud, Kehlani, LANY, Calum Scott, Destroy Lonely, Karsh Kale, Fujii Kaze, Sammy Virji, Mother Mother and more.

Check out the full lineup for Lollapalooza India 2027 below.

There is one very good sign pointing to a possible Oasis reunion tour sequel next summer: the lack of a major football tourney. At least according to songwriter/guitarist and co-founder Noel Gallagher. In a call-in chat with his good friends at England’s talkSPORT’s Drive this week, when asked by co-host Andy Goldstein if he could respond to fans about the potential need to start saving up for Oasis tickets — specifically for a return to Knebworth, a persistent rumor — even in a cryptic way, Gallagher gave the most Gallagher answer possible.

After a brief pause, Noel did what Noel does and he put it on younger brother, singer Liam Gallagher. “It’s Liam, innit? He’s not into it,” Noel said of the band’s mercurial vocalist. “He’s not?” Goldstein responded with some measure of caution. “He’s not into Oasis anymore,” Noel assured him.

When Goldstein noted that Liam had seemingly quit social media recently, Noel seemed surprised at the news about the vocalist notorious for generously answering fans’ queries, theories and trash talk with pointed quips on X. “Did he?” Noel said with a hearty laugh. “Yeah, I think he said, ‘I’m done.’ You didn’t know that?” Goldstein wondered.

He wasn’t wrong, on Aug. 25, Liam issued an all caps missive that read, “IM OUT OF HERE LOOK AFTER YOURSELVES AND REMEMBER DONT TALK TO S–T C–TS.” That said, just a day before Liam sent a not-so-coded message to Noel via the tweet, “ffs RKID announce the tour we’re all losing our minds.”

“Oh, well, then there must be something happening,” Noel said about the surprise social media leave-taking. “There must be something happening,” Gallagher continued, noting, “Well, let’s put it this way: there’s no football tournament next year, so we’ve got to do something in the summer, right?”

It wasn’t exactly a no, but neither was it a yes. And, to be fair, Noel is half-right. While there is no men’s soccer tourney next summer, the FIFA Women’s World Cup is taking place in Brazil in June and July. Just saying.

Regardless, Oasis have not officially confirmed another round of reunion dates to follow their triumphant Oasis Live ’25 tour, which featured 41 sold-out, rapturously received gigs across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel amid a series of reports about a possible second run, including a potential return to the site of one of their greatest triumphs: a pair of 1996 gigs where they played to 250,000 over two nights at Knebworth in England.

At press time a spokesperson for the band had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on possible 2027 dates.

Before seemingly bouncing off his socials, last month Liam threw ice cold water on the incessant round two chatter, writing on X, “It’s not HAPPENING so all you croc wearing flag waving s–t c–ts can calm the f–k down.” And while that seemingly definitive statement appeared to shut down any talk of a second go-round after the band’s unexpected get-back following a legendarily nasty 2009 split, it’s worth noting that it’s not the first, or twelfth time, Liam has made a seemingly contradictory or negative statement about more dates.

At the end of the first run, during the final show in London on Sept. 29, 2025, Liam thanked the crowd and said teasingly, “Most of all, I wanna thank you lot for keeping the faith and putting this band back on the map … See you next year!”

Though the band has been off the radar since the final show on Nov. 23 in São Paulo, Brazil, they will be back, on movie screens anyway, next week when the reunion tour doc Don’t Look Back in Anger hits IMAX screen on Sept. 11 before screening on Hulu and Disney+ later this year.

Alex Van Halen adds a Knighthood to his heaving collection of awards.

The Van Halen drummer and co-founder was Knighted this week in The Netherlands, the country of his birth — recognition of his remarkable career and influence on musicians around the globe.

Van Halen was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw) on Tuesday (Sept. 1) in Nijmegen, the Dutch city where he and his brother Eddie spent a good chunk of their childhood. It’s one of the country’s highest civilian orders, given only to those who “make extraordinary contributions” to society.

The 73-year-old rocker was on hand for the ceremony at the Berchmanianum, the academy building of Radboud University, where mayor Hubert Bruls presented the royal honor and spoke of Van Halen’s role in writing a “remarkable chapter in the history of rock music.”

Speaking on the sidelines, Van Halen remarked: “My cousin organized most of this. I’m very grateful. I think institutions like this are important in people’s lives because it adds a dignity and a gravity to what we do. Whether it’s actually deserved or not, that’s another question. But we can live up to it. That’s the whole thing, is you got to have something to live up to.”

Alex also signed Nijmegen’s Book of the City, a tome reserved for distinguished visitors, inking his name in its pages alongside Bruce Springsteen and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

“Alex still feels a connection with Nijmegen,” reads a statement from the city, “and Nijmegen in turn honors the band.”

For his 2024 memoir, Brothers (through HarperCollins), Alex Van Halen recounts his upbringing in Europe; the brothers’ relocation to the United States, eventually settling in Pasadena, California, in 1962; and their band’s ascent to the very highest peak of rock music.

Throughout Brothers’ 231 pages, Van Halen discloses the tight bond between him and Eddie, his guitar hero brother who passed away during Oct. 2020 at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer.

Van Halen was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, won a Grammy Award (hard rock performance for 1991’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), four MTV Video Music Awards, and, for a time, dominated the charts. In the United States, the band scored five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart and more than 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including the 1984 smash single “Jump,” which logged five weeks at No. 1.

It’s been more than two months since Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce crashed all your social feeds with their reportedly lavish, but extremely locked-down wedding at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Not a single photo of the dress, the ceremony, the afterparty or really any other salient details have leaked from either Swift or Kelce’s camp in one of the most impressive displays of message discipline in recent pop history.

But on Wednesday (Sept. 2) Travis, 36, is gearing up to spill some tea about the event in the season 5 debut of his New Heights podcast with brother Jason Kelce. In a minute-long preview clip that went up early Wednesday, Jason opens the show by low-keying the event heard ’round the world, saying, “Interesting bit of the offseason … you’re finally married!”

Travis then proudly holds up his golden wedding band and confirms, “I am a married man, yep.” The preview then quickly moves on to shots of the guys laughing uproariously at an unheard joke, Travis shouting “welcome back!” to their loyal viewers and Jason amping up the energy even more by screeching, “HE’S BACK! S–T!”

According to People, during the episode, Travis calls the wedding a “night out we’ll never forget,” adding, “Me and Taylor are so thankful for everybody that showed up, from the vows to just seeing everyone, to how much fun we had, throughout the entire evening and hearing that, kind of be relayed through everybody’s stories of the night. And it was just so magical, man.”

If he had any regrets, he said, it’s wishing that the night could have lasted even longer than it did. “It felt like it just happened in the blink of an eye.” Kelce and Swift married at MSG on July 3 in a ceremony conducted by comedian and friend Adam Sandler, with Kelce saying they chose the unusual venue because the couple wanted to get married “somewhere where we could have a very intimate and genuine setting without a lot of distractions. And we needed it to be a private feel.”

After some light manscaping talk in the preview clip, the brothers also get to another really important topic: the debut of Travis and Taylor’s adorable Samoyed Wendy in the NFL star’s new Tommy Hilfiger campaign, which dropped on Tuesday (Sept. 1). In the ad, Kelce is seen dapping up some famous sports stars and musicians as he strides through New York’s Plaza Hotel on his way to chill in a suite with the white-haired puppy.

“We were gonna use a dog and am I OK with dogs,” Travis says in the preview. “I’m like, ‘I have a dog.’ And like, ‘Oh, you wanna bring your dog in?’” he said the shoot’s producers asked him. The full episode of New Heights drops at 9:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.