Category: Music

Ariana Grande is suing unnamed hackers who she claims have repeatedly stolen and leaked unreleased music, photos and video footage, saying they have violated the “sacred relationship that exists between her and her fans.”

In a lawsuit submitted to Los Angeles court Monday (July 27), the pop star’s attorneys say the hackers have targeted her photographers and producers, allowing them to carry out “unlawful and egregious” thefts of her private content. They say 45 of her songs were stolen and leaked in 2023 alone.

“Neither Ms. Grande nor any other public or private figure should have to suffer such violations caused by these wrongdoers who hide in the shadows and wreak technological havoc with impunity,” the star’s lawyers write. “It is imperative to Ms. Grande to ensure on behalf of herself and others that such conduct is deterred to the fullest extent possible.”

The lawsuit does not name any actual defendants; instead, it names anonymous “John Doe” hackers. Grande is aiming to use the lawsuit to unmask them, potentially through court-ordered subpoenas to internet service providers.

“Ms. Grande initiates this action to uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct,” her lawyers write.

Grande’s lawyers say she has “constantly and recently been the target of cyberattacks,” resulting in theft of her music, photos and video that are “part of her personal and professional creative process and that are not intended for public consumption.” After these thefts, the hackers have then “sold this personal data and content on the dark web for significant sums of money.”

The lawsuit claims Grande has faced “hundreds” of such leaks since 2011, including a 2019 theft of “still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos and footage,” as well as two attacks in 2024 that saw unreleased photos of the star stolen in phishing scams.

“This malicious invasion of Ms. Grande’s privacy and disruption of her career have caused her substantial and irreparable harm due to this breach of privacy,” her lawyers write. “The unauthorized misappropriation and disclosure of these materials is a violation of Ms. Grande’s identity and artistry, and the direct and sacred relationship that exists between her and her fans.”

In technical legal terms, Grande is suing the unnamed hackers for invasion of privacy, violation of California computer hacking laws, and conversion — the civil law equivalent to the crime of theft.

On Sunday (July 26), Slayyyter kicked off her WOR$T GIRL IN THE WORLD Tour with a hometown show — and special treat.

During the opening night set, the pop provocateur live debuted four unreleased songs. Within 24 hours, she announced that one of those unheard gems, “BRAND NEW CHANEL$,” will arrive on Friday (July 31), giving even more fans the first taste of what could be an extension of her iconic era.

Slayyyter revealed the news via Instagram on Monday (July 27) alongside a high-quality live snippet of herself performing the track during the show in St. Louis, Missouri. She accompanied the post with a message thanking fans for coming to show and wrote, “I love my hometown so much. I can’t wait to do it all over again tonight.”

Concertgoers at the tour opener were the first to hear “BRAND NEW CHANEL$,” along with three other unreleased songs: “NEKROMANTIK,” “I THINK HE’S GOT A GIRL” AND “CRANK 2.” The surprise debuts immediately caused speculation to rise surrounding Slayyyter’s next album, though she has yet to announce a new LP.

“BRAND NEW CHANEL$” will be the first official release since her third studio album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, which arrived in March and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart. It also scored Slayyyter her first entry on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 22.

Her WOR$T GIRL IN THE WORLD Tour extends through Nov. 5, wrapping in London at The Roundhouse. The trek includes a handful of festival appearances, including Lollapalooza Chicago, Reading and Leeds Festivals and All Things Go in Washington, D.C.

After matching one of the oldest records in U.K chart history, Sam Fender and Olivia Dean‘s “Rein Me In” is now in a tight battle with Shakira and Burna Boy’s 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Dai Dai” to claim the crown. 

The pair’s soaring collaboration, which last week equalled Frankie Laine’s 18-week reign atop the Official U.K. Singles Chart with 1953’s “I Believe,” is aiming for a record-breaking 19th week at No. 1 this week (chart dated July 31). If it holds on, “Rein Me In” will become the longest-running No. 1 single in history.

According to the Official Charts Company, however, Shakira and Burna Boy’s “Dai Dai” has surged into the lead (midweek chart dated July 26), putting the World Cup anthem on course for its first week at No. 1. The track was performed by the duo in the tournament final’s half-time show, and now stands as a competitor to “Rein Me In” and its potential record holder status with only 600 units between the two songs.

“Rein Me In” first arrived in February 2025 as part of Fender’s Mercury Prize-winning People Watching album, before Dean joined forces with the North Shields artist for a remix released in June that year. From there, the track embarked on a record-setting 35-week climb to the summit. “Rein Me In” marks Fender’s first U.K. No. 1 single and Dean’s second (“Man I Need”).

Since then, it has won the publicly-voted song of the year prize at the 2026 BRIT Awards and become the longest-running U.K. No. 1 of the 21st century (previously Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” 15 weeks) and the longest by a British act (Wet Wet Wet’s “Love Is All Around”, 15 weeks).

Elsewhere on the chart, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” – the current Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 – is on course to reach a new peak at No. 3. Anotr and 54 Ultra’s “Talk To You” follows at No. 4, while HUGEL’s “Movin’ To The Sun” is standing at No. 5.

KATSEYE are chasing the week’s highest new entry with “Gnarly” (No. 13), which would become the K-pop group’s highest-charting single to date. Charli xcx’s “Camera,” lifted from her recent Music, Fashion, Film is eyeing a top 20 debut at No. 18.

As Bruno Mars wraps up his Wembley Stadium residency as part of The Romantic Tour, with his final London show taking place Tuesday (July 28), his 2024 Lady Gaga collab “Die With A Smile” rises to No. 23. Solo hit “I Just Might,” released earlier this year, is also on the rise, moving up to No. 39.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard have announced a 2026 Australian tour, anchored by a two-day, band-curated Croxton Block Party in Melbourne and featuring a late-night rave set in Sydney.

The run opens Oct. 13 at Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul, followed by a headline show at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Oct. 14 — both with support from Xiao Xiao — and a separate late show the same night at Sydney’s Liberty Hall billed as a “rave set.” The tour then moves to Melbourne for the second edition of The Croxton Block Party on Oct. 17-18, a two-day event the band has curated and will headline with a three-hour set each night.

For the Block Party, King Gizzard have programmed a bill weighted toward the Australian underground and a handful of international peers. The Oct. 17 date features Japanese pop-punk mainstays Shonen Knife, Byron Bay psych group Babe Rainbow, Heavy Moss — the project fronted by King Gizzard bassist Lucas Harwood — plus B3LLY, Moktar, Techno666 and a solo modular-synth set from frontman Stu Mackenzie. The Oct. 18 date features Sydney rock band C.O.F.F.I.N, Glyconic, Gut Health, ORB, Public Figures and Moktar.

The Block Party returns after debuting in 2025, converting the Croxton’s carpark into a festival site. King Gizzard have a long association with the venue, which the venue said dates to the band’s first show there in December 2015 and includes a 2016 residency and a 2020 bushfire benefit. Ticket buyers will contribute to a conservation initiative: through a partnership with climate agency FEAT, $1 from every Block Party ticket will support habitat restoration on Lungtalanana Island in Tasmania, a Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre-led project aimed at reintroducing the Bass Strait wombat and long-nosed potoroo.

The tour arrives during an especially active stretch for one of rock’s most prolific acts. Earlier this month the band announced its 28th studio album, the hard-electronic Alien Metal, due later this year on its own p(doom) Records and trailed by lead single “Level 5.”

Since forming in Melbourne in 2010, the seven-piece has built one of the most singular catalogues in contemporary rock, cycling through genres — microtonal psychedelia on Flying Microtonal Banana, thrash metal on Infest the Rats’ Nest, and ambient and acid house on 2023’s The Silver Cord — while releasing at a pace few acts attempt, including five albums in 2017 alone.

That productivity has translated to steady U.S. chart presence: the band has placed multiple titles on the Billboard 200, topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, and reached the top 10 of both the Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard — Australia 2026

Oct. 13 — Thirroul — Anita’s Theatre (with Xiao Xiao)

Oct. 14 — Sydney — Hordern Pavilion (with Xiao Xiao)

Oct. 14 — Sydney — Liberty Hall (late show, rave set)

Oct. 17 — Melbourne — The Croxton Block Party

Oct. 18 — Melbourne — The Croxton Block Party

Oliver Tree was remembered by friends, family and collaborators on Saturday (July 25) at a public “Celebration of Life” held in his native Santa Cruz, California, six weeks after the singer died in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro at 32.

The ceremony, held at Santa Cruz’s Quarry Amphitheater, leaned into the surreal, absurdist sensibility that defined Tree’s career. In front of the stage, three mannequins dressed as the singer — in his signature bright windbreakers, sunglasses, cowboy hats and blunt bowl cuts — were laid out in coffins.

Diplo and Logan Paul were among the speakers. Diplo called Tree the coolest person he’d ever met, while Paul — a close friend — delivered a eulogy in keeping with Tree’s own comedic spirit, ribbing the singer’s hair and joking that he was “watching us all from somewhere in the heavens,” likely “super disappointed in this production.”

“Oliver was everyone’s best friend. He was an adventurer with an incomparable zest for life and the ultimate ability to make anyone feel seen and heard,” he said. “Oliver is a generational artist whose legacy and music will last forever, and he’d be proud of all of us for keeping our heads up high by celebrating the impact of his time here on Earth, because at the end of the day, life goes on.”

Tree’s parents also addressed the crowd, saying, “I think Oliver would say trust yourself, get off the couch, produce art, and it’s really important to get in there and get your hands dirty.”. They added, “He was a doer.”

All proceeds benefited Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant for Baby Geniuses, a foundation the singer’s estate launched in accordance with his will. In the months before his death, Tree had been outspoken about his intention to leave his wealth to emerging artists rather than his family. “The idea is, when I die, all the money is going to go back to artists,” he said on an April episode of the Zach Sang Show.

Tree, born Oliver Tree Nickell, built a singular career across music, filmmaking and viral internet spectacle, frequently working through absurdist alter egos and elaborate visual worlds. He released four major-label studio albums through Atlantic Records — Ugly Is Beautiful (2020), Cowboy Tears (2022), Alone in a Crowd (2023) and Love You Madly Hate You Badly (2026), the last of which he described as the first made without a character. His debut Ugly Is Beautiful entered the Billboard 200 at No. 14 and topped Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, while its single “Life Goes On” reached No. 7 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His Robin Schulz collaboration “Miss You” climbed to No. 4 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2022 and earned a 2024 BRIT Award nomination for Best International Song.

System of a Down are returning to Australia and New Zealand for the first time in more than a decade, confirming a stadium run with Faith No More as special guests across January and February 2027.

The announcement followed a week of teasers across both countries. On Friday (July 24), murals featuring System of a Down’s hand symbol appeared in Melbourne and Sydney, while a light projection of Faith No More’s logo was spotted in Brisbane the same evening. The confirmed run takes in Accor Stadium in Sydney on Jan. 22, Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Jan. 27, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Feb. 1, and Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Feb. 7.

Tickets go on general sale Friday, July 31, with staggered start times across the four markets. A PayPal First Access presale begins July 29, preceded by an artist presale for mailing-list subscribers on July 28. Ticketing is handled through TEG Live.

The shows mark System of a Down’s first Australian dates since 2012, when they played the now-defunct Soundwave Festival. The band recently wrapped a European and U.K. tour and headlined Las Vegas’ Sick New World Festival in April. Faith No More, meanwhile, were last in Australia in 2015, supporting the final edition of Soundwave.

System of a Down remain one of the most commercially significant heavy acts of their era despite not having released a studio album since 2005. That year, the band pulled off a rare feat: their companion albums Mezmerize (May) and Hypnotize (November) both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making System of a Down the first band since Led Zeppelin in 1970 to land two No. 1 studio albums in the same calendar year. Mezmerize opened with 453,000 copies and Hypnotize with 320,000. Both followed 2001’s breakthrough Toxicity, which also debuted at No. 1 and has since sold millions worldwide, powered by the singles “Chop Suey!” and “B.Y.O.B.,” the latter earning the band a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Across their catalogue, three of their five studio albums debuted atop the Billboard 200.

Faith No More, the influential Bay Area alternative-metal band fronted by Mike Patton, broke through in 1990 with “Epic,” which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped pioneer the funk- and rap-inflected metal that would dominate the decade to follow. Their 1989 album The Real Thing went platinum, and its 1992 follow-up Angel Dust became their highest-charting record, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and earning a double-platinum certification. Their most recent album, Sol Invictus, arrived in 2015 following an 18-year studio hiatus.

System of a Down 2027 Australian and New Zealand Tour (with Faith No More)

Jan. 22 — Sydney, NSW — Accor Stadium

Jan. 27 — Melbourne, VIC — Marvel Stadium

Feb. 1 — Brisbane, QLD — Suncorp Stadium

Feb. 7 — Wellington, NZ — Hnry Stadium