Olivia Dean now has membership into Spotify’s Billions Club.

The fast-rising British pop star achieves her milestone moment with “Man I Need,” which crosses the threshold with one billion plays on the Sweden-based streaming music platform.

It’s one of many recent plaudits for Dean, who was named best new artist at the 2026 Grammy Awards, swept the 2026 BRIT Awards with four wins, including artist of the year and album of the year, and collected a hattrick of honors at the 2026 MOBO Awards.

Also, Dean is the female artist with the biggest increase in global streams on Spotify in the past year, and she performed her signature song at the Spotify Best New Artist party during Grammy Week.

In Australia, “Man I Need” has collected 20 non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, making it the second-longest reigning single in the history of the national charts, which were first published in 1983. Only Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey” has more weeks at the top (24).

In the United Kingdom, she became the first female solo artist in Official Charts history to have four songs in the top 10 simultaneously, a feat achieved last October with her No. 1 “Man I Need,” along with The Art of Loving cuts “So Easy (To Fall in Love),” “Nice To Each Other,” and her collaboration with Sam Fender, “Rein Me In.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Dean is the Rookie of the Year for Billboard’s 2025 Greatest Pop Stars series and, earlier this month, was crowned on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart with “Man I Need,” recognizing the most-played song on panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the United States.

Dean can add to her collection of silverware at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards, to be presented May 21 in London. Dean is one of the frontrunners at the Ivors, with two nominations: best album and The PRS for Music most performed work categories.

“Man I Need” is now added to Spotify’s Billions Club playlist, which now numbers 1,255 songs. Stream it below.

Dave Mason, the celebrated singer, songwriter and musician who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame as a co-founder of Traffic, died Sunday (April 19) at the age of 79.

“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dave Mason,” reads a statement from his publicists.

According to reps, Mason passed away peacefully at his home in Gardnerville, NV. Mason, the message continues, “lived a remarkable life devoted to the music and the people he loved.”

Born in post-war England, in 1946, Mason rose to prominence with the blues-rock band Traffic, for which he contributed writing credits and lead vocals for such tracks such as “Hole in My Shoe” and “Feelin Alright?,” which would be recorded by dozens of artists, including Joe Cocker, the Jackson 5, and John Belushi.

Mason also enjoyed an impressive solo career, which got underway in 1970 with his debut solo album, Alone Together, which peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, and featured the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Only You Know and I Know.” Let It Flow from 1977 was a platinum smash, yielding the single “We Just Disagree.”

As a collaborator, Mason was a wanted man. Across the years, he recorded or performed with the likes of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson and others. His guitar work can be heard on Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” on the Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” McCartney’s “Listen to What The Man Said” and on fellow Beatle Harrison’s own collection All Things Must Pass.

Traffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums, four of which cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200. While active, four Traffic singles crashed the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The rockers reunited two decades later to tour in 1993-94, while Mason hit the road with Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi in 1998.

In 2004, Mason was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member Traffic. Bandmates Capaldi and Steve Winwood performed “Dear Mr. Fantasy” at the ceremony. The following year, Capaldi died after a brief battle with stomach cancer, aged 60.

Mason returned to the Rock Hall in 2009 for an official VIP induction pre-party at the pillar’s museum, where he played an acoustic set that included “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and his rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.”

His most recent solo album release, A Shade of Blue, dropped in 2025. However, Mason recently called time on touring after 60 years, citing ongoing health challenges. 

He is survived by his wife and partner, Winifred Wilson, his daughter Danielle, nephew John (Trish) Leonard and niece Michelle Leonard, as well as his brothers in law Sloan (Claudia) Wilson and Walton (Barbara Sims) Wilson. He was preceded in death by his son, True and his sister, Valerie Leonard.

After debuting in Los Angeles last year, Fantastic Reality — a three-day mixed reality 3D live festival featuring independent virtual and VTuber talents — is returning this summer.

The fest will happen at Vermont Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles on July 2-4, with the three nights each featuring a unique lineup.

Night one will present Fantastic Reality: Found Futures presented by IRIAM, a show headlined by VTubers Matara Kan, kson and Lilypichu, along with the debut of Virtual Signal, a group being billed as the first rock band made up of entirely of virtual talent. The event will also be Matara Kan’s first live concert, Lilypichu’s first live in-person concert as a VTuber and first performances by Virtual Signal and its lead singer Emilya Fell.

Night two of Fantastic Reality will feature Anibash: Crossroads, a co-production with dance music label Asahi Crew, known for their high energy Tokyo-style club rave parties. Day three will be a matinee performance of Doki Doki: Rewind Time, a concert co-produced, curated and headlined by Vtuber Dokibird. Organizers note that the combined cross-platform social reach of the participating talents exceeds 24 million. Additional Fantastic Reality artists will be announced in the coming months.

Tickets for Fantastic Reality are on sale now, with phase two ticket sale with GA and VIP options opening on April 28 at 4 p.m. PT. Tickets are available here.

“Fantastic Reality strives to create community through inspirational experiences showcasing the world’s top virtual talents” Fantastic Reality co-producer Spencer Burnham says in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have internationally-recognized virtual stars Dokibird, Matara Kan, kson, Lilypichu and friends perform with our house band in an awe-inspiring, intimate irl space.”

Fantastic Reality 2026 follows a successful 2025 debut that featured performances by virtual star Ironmouse, along with a host of other VTuber virtual talent.

Rihanna keeps some pretty potent weed on her, and this particular strain of kush has some unusual side effects, according to Jonah Hill.

As part of Rih’s W magazine cover, the Moneyball actor was asked about his favorite Rihanna memory, and he had quite the story queued up tied to their time spent on set together for 2013’s This Is the End movie.

Hill ended up seeing Rihanna out when it was his birthday and joined the blunt rotation with a friend, which had some unexpected consequences for a friend.

“After we shot This Is the End, I ran into her at a bar, and it was my birthday,” he said of Rihanna. “She had a joint and was generous enough to share with my friends, and one of my friends got so stoned that she pooped her pants. Rihanna has that ‘make your friends sh– their pants’ weed.”

Back in 2013, Rihanna explained to Elle UK that she had no issue posting herself smoking weed to social media because she wanted her IG account to be an accurate representation of her life at that moment.

“I Instagram everything about my life. Whether it’s smoking pot, in a strip club, reading a Bible verse — how crazy, I know,” she said. “That’s why I’m posting pictures of myself smoking pot, to tell the truth about myself. I’ve got so much to think about, why bring all this extra sh– by being dishonest?”

Outside of her cameo as herself in This Is the End, Rihanna’s stacked a handful of film and show roles in Hollywood over the years, making appearances in Ocean’s Eight, Annie, Guava Island alongside Donald Glover, Bates Motel and Smurfs.

Rihanna graced the cover of W magazine with her daughter, Rocki. Her partner A$AP Rocky gushed about Rih’s evolution as a mother, but clarified that she’s “always been magic.”

“That certainly changes you,” Rocky said. “But this woman has always been magic. Philosophically, the way she operates is on another level. She is the most charming and genuine person on Earth. Her energy is unmatched — one of a kind. I just adore her.”

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Mariah Carey has heard of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but she just can’t be bothered to worry about whether she’s in it or not. TMZ caught up with MC in Manhattan on Monday (April 20) and asked her if she was peeved that she did not make the cut for induction again this year. “No,” Carey said as she climbed into a luxury SUV.

As for her message to the members of the Lambily who have been defending Grammy-winner Carey — who first became eligible for induction into the Rock Hall in 2016 and was first nominated in 2024 — the singer said “I love my fans, always.” Reminded that she’s already won “a lot of awards” in the past, Carey shrugged the slight off, saying, “Who cares? Like, give it to somebody else, fantastic.”

As you may have heard already, this year’s inductees in the performers category are: Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Wu-Tang Clan and the late Luther Vandross. Passed over this year alongside Carey were: The Black Crowes, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, P!nk, Shakira and Jeff Buckley.

It was the third year in a row that Carey was passed over for the honor despite her platinum chart track record, which includes 19 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and five Grammy Awards, including best new artist in 1991 and best R&B song and female R&B vocal performance for “We Belong Together” in 2006.

Carey released her 16th studio album, Here for It All, in September.

The 2026 induction ceremony will take place Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, and air on ABC and Disney+ in December, at which point MC will be super busy anyway with her second job as Queen of Christmas.

Lil Tjay is in a moving car somewhere with bad signal, and he has a lot on his mind that he’s not allowed to say.

Two weeks ago, he walked out of Broward County Jail in Hollywood, Florida — arrested the night before on disorderly conduct charges in connection with the shooting of Offset outside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino — and gave reporters an interview that lit up every music blog within the hour.

He called Offset a “rat.” He recounted the scene. He threatened the Atlanta native with the kind of language that doesn’t leave a lot of room for interpretation.

Today, he’s considerably more composed.

“I’m just as confused as everyone else about that,” he says, when the situation comes up. “My lawyer told me not to touch on it too much. What I can say is the album will really hit home for my fans.”

One sentence. Door shut. On to the album.

The short version: a $10,000 casino debt, months of public beef, and then on April 6, Offset was shot outside the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. Tjay was arrested that night on disorderly conduct charges. His lawyer called the reports linking him to the shooting “false rumors.”

Authorities never named him as the triggerman. He was out on bond by morning.

Two weeks later, he’s on the phone to talk about new music. The chaos is still there, humming in the background. But Tjay seems genuinely uninterested in feeding it.

“My week’s been active,” he says. “I’ve been putting everything together for my album, keeping content rolling so fans have things to watch.”

The album is They Just Ain’t You, due May 1 via his own imprint TrenchKid Records/ADA. It is, structurally and sonically, the most deliberate thing he’s put his name to — and the most personal, in ways that go beyond the music itself. This is his first fully independent project, built without major label infrastructure behind it. That shift is not incidental. It’s the whole point.

“The main thing — it’s completely me,” he says. “It’s an in-house project, no major label backing this time, unlike before. But the body of work should be just as strong.”

He’s not bitter about the label years. Good people, sometimes useful opinions — but a system that has its own gravitational pull. “You can get tied up in the business and people get too passionate,” he says. The outcome, for him, is simple: “Now I’m able to be my own boss.”

The lead single “Life On Edge,” out today, sounds like what that independence feels like from the inside — stripped back, a little isolated, pressure coiled underneath calm production. “

The more the struggle, the better the shine,” he delivers. “My life is a puzzle, but I’ve been hustling and juggling with times.” It doesn’t sound like a victory lap. It sounds like a man still in the middle of something, working it out in real time.

The album’s short film — a three-part visual series rolling out alongside the release — pulls from his Bronx upbringing in ways his earlier work touched on but never fully excavated. Going back to that material, he says, does something specific to him.

“It feels unrealistic sometimes,” he says. “The Bronx is different from anywhere else. When I go back it gives me a sense of accomplishment — reminds me what I’ve done.”

He acknowledges the gap between now and his last album plainly, without excuses. His 2023 release 222 was critically well-received — anchored by “June 22nd,” a raw account of the near-fatal shooting that nearly ended his career before this chapter could begin. But the label transition created a silence he knows cost him momentum.

“I fell short transitioning off the label and haven’t dropped an album since,” he says. “Now I plan to keep my foot on the gas and not take long breaks again.”

When asked about his musical inspirations, he brings up Justin Bieber — the recent Coachella moment, what it stirred up for him. Growing up in the Bronx, certain things were and weren’t acceptable to admit to. Liking the Canadian pop star was firmly in the second category. Tjay didn’t care then. He’s not apologising for it now.

“Where I’m from it wasn’t cool to be a Bieber fan, but I always rocked with him,” he says. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I might not be an artist today.”

It lands quietly, but it lands hard. Because it explains something — about the melodic instinct that runs through Tjay’s catalogue, the emotional directness that helped him accumulate more than 18 billion global streams and a string of platinum certifications going back to his 2019 debut True 2 Myself. That sound didn’t come from nowhere. It came from a kid in the Bronx paying attention to whoever actually moved him, regardless of whether that was the approved choice.

That same instinct is what’s driving They Just Ain’t You. Not the noise. Not the drama. Not the version of Lil Tjay that walks out of a Florida jail and says what he says to the cameras. The version that gets back in the car, turns the phone on, and tries to make something true.

Asked what he wants fans to take from this era, he keeps it short.

“Stay on your own mission,” he says. “Rainy days come, but keep moving forward.”

From someone who has survived a near-fatal shooting, a public feud that ended in a casino parking lot, and more industry turbulence than most artists twice his age — it doesn’t read like a platitude. It reads like the only logical conclusion a person could reach after all of that.

They Just Ain’t You is out May 1.

Violent Soho are returning to the stage, announcing a three-date Australian tour for September 2026 that marks their first run of shows since entering an indefinite hiatus four years ago.

The Brisbane rock band will perform at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Sept. 11, Melbourne’s Forum on Sept. 18 and Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Sept. 25. The run represents their first official headline tour since stepping back from the spotlight in 2022.

News of the band’s return had been building in recent weeks, with speculation intensifying after frontman Luke Boerdam and guitarist James Tidswell joined blink-182’s Mark Hoppus onstage at the Sydney Opera House for a performance of “Dammit.”

During the appearance, Hoppus told the crowd the band were “getting back together,” signaling what has now become a confirmed reunion.

In a statement shared alongside the announcement, Violent Soho framed the tour as a natural return rather than a reset. “Some dudes play golf, we play in a band,” they said. “For us, that band is Violent Soho, and we missed making noise together… When we took a break, we said, ‘Until Next Time’ — and now feels like that time.”

Joining the band on tour are Beddy Rays, who will open all shows, with Teenage Joans appearing in Sydney and Brisbane and Secret World set for the Melbourne date.

Formed in 2004, Violent Soho built a reputation as one of Australia’s most consistent and in-demand live acts, with a run of releases that bridged alternative rock, punk and grunge influences. Their 2016 album WACO and 2020’s Everything Is A-OK both debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, while earlier record Hungry Ghost has continued to resonate, with its 10th anniversary edition returning to the charts in 2023.

The band’s impact has extended beyond commercial success, with tracks like “Covered in Chrome” maintaining a lasting presence in Australian music culture, including a recent placement at No. 40 in triple j’s Hottest 100 Australian Songs of All Time.

Pre-sale access for the tour begins April 23 at 10 a.m. local time via the band’s mailing list, with general tickets available April 24.

For longtime fans, the September shows mark a long-awaited return — and the next chapter for a band that had, until now, left its future open-ended.

The estate of Prince has released a previously unheard recording of “With This Tear,” a song the late artist originally wrote and later gave to Celine Dion in the early 1990s.

The newly unveiled version, issued via NPG Records and Legacy Recordings, features Prince’s original recording of the piano-led ballad, which he wrote, produced and performed himself. The track was first recorded at Paisley Park in November 1991, but had remained unreleased until now.

Dion’s version of “With This Tear” appeared on her 1992 self-titled album, marking one of several instances in which Prince contributed material to other artists while keeping his own recordings in the vault. His original take offers a more stripped-back interpretation of the song, foregrounding his vocal and piano arrangement.

The newly released recording has been updated with a fresh mix by Grammy-nominated producer Chris James, who has previously worked on multiple Prince-related projects. The release forms part of a broader effort by the Prince Estate to continue opening the artist’s extensive archive of unreleased material.

The timing of the track’s arrival is notable, coming just ahead of the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death. Since his passing in 2016, a steady stream of archival releases — including deluxe editions, vault recordings and previously unheard collaborations — has helped maintain his presence within contemporary music conversations while offering deeper insight into his prolific output.

“With This Tear” also reflects Prince’s long-standing role as a songwriter for other artists. Over the course of his career, he wrote and produced songs that were recorded by a wide range of performers, often delivering compositions that took on new forms outside of his own catalog.

The release follows renewed interest in Prince’s archive in recent years. In 2024, a demo of “Baby Doll,” a previously unheard collaboration between Prince and Kylie Minogue, surfaced online, highlighting the depth of material still contained within the vault.

While details about a potential larger vault project have not been formally confirmed, reports have suggested that additional archival releases may be forthcoming.

It’s a Justin thing.

Justin Timberlake reacted to Justin Bieber covering “Cry Me a River” during his Saturday weekend 2 Coachella headlining set. In a new post to Instagram on Monday (April 20), Timberlake shared an old video of himself meeting a young Bieber.

“I know this has been a long road,” Timberlake writes in his Instagram caption. “And I know it’s not always a smooth ride. I’m proud of you — and you should be proud of you too. Sending love @lilbieber.”

Alongside the vintage clip of the duo meeting, Timberlake also posted a snippet of Bieber’s Saturday performance. In the video, Bieber speaks to the crowd about the song he is about to sing, saying, “You know, I grew up listening to Justin Timberlake and so many other beautiful talents, but I remember this like it was yesterday.”

Behind the singer, a large screen plays a video of his younger self on guitar singing “Cry Me a River.” The original cover, which is still up online, was posted to Bieber’s YouTube in February 2008 under the title “Cry me a River – Justin Timberlake cover – Justin singing (Justin Bieber).” Bieber debuted with his first single, Billboard Hot 100 hit “One Time,” the next year.

“Guitar was out of tune,” Bieber says before singing a duet with his younger self. The clip Timberlake posted ends with Bieber turning around to face the screen to continue the song before cutting off right before the pre-chorus.

“Cry Me a River” was the second single from Justin Timberlake’s debut solo album Justified. The track peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and spent a total of 20 weeks on the chart.

There’s a lot of history between the Justins, as Timberlake famously tried to sign a pre-fame Bieber, but the Canadian tween pop star and his manager Scooter Braun ultimately chose to partner with Usher instead.

Watch Justin Bieber’s full original 2008 cover of “Cry Me a River” below.