Joey Valence & Brae delivered a chaotic, synth-heavy take on Amyl and the Sniffers’ “Security” during their appearance on triple j’s Like A Version, transforming the 2021 punk track into a bass-driven dance-rap performance.

The duo — currently touring behind their second album HYPERYOUTH — stripped back the original’s pub-rock guitars and rebuilt the song around electronic production, booming low-end and rapid-fire vocal exchanges, while still preserving the raw intensity of Amy Taylor’s original delivery.

Speaking during the session, Brae said the pair chose “Security” because of its immediacy and energy.

“Just has so much energy. As soon as you hear it, you want to bounce off the wall,” he said. “So we knew we had to cover that one.”

The duo also praised Taylor’s performance style and the loose, unpolished feel of the recording — qualities that helped make Comfort To Me one of Amyl and The Sniffers’ breakthrough releases internationally.

Released in 2021, “Security” appeared on the band’s second album Comfort To Me, which reached the top 25 on the Australian albums chart and significantly expanded the Melbourne group’s global profile. The album later helped propel Amyl and The Sniffers onto international festival bills and major touring circuits, with Taylor emerging as one of modern punk’s most recognizable frontpeople.

Joey Valence & Brae’s version pushes the song into entirely different territory sonically, drawing from dance music, early Beastie Boys-style rap cadences and hyperactive electronic textures — all trademarks of the duo’s own catalog.

The pair released HYPERYOUTH last year, collaborating with artists including JPEGMAFIA, Rebecca Black and TiaCorine across the project. The album was produced, mixed and mastered entirely by Valence in his Pennsylvania bedroom studio.

Their Like A Version appearance arrived during the Australian leg of the HYPERYOUTH World Tour, which recently included stops in Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

A few weeks back, it was the Game. Now we can add DJ Whoo Kid to the list of people saying that the rap game is missing Drake on the charts.

Whoo Kid sat down with Diverse Mentality recently, and was asked about the Toronto rapper using his drop for the Kendrick Lamar diss track “Push Ups,” revealing that Drake hit him up randomly for permission while he was on a cruise with a significant other. He also said the moment helped younger fans become familiar with his mixtape days before equating it to the battle between the two rap titans. “You know, the thing I’ve learned when you do stuff like that? It’s just a moment, man. Everything is a moment. Kendrick had his moment,” Whoo Kid said. “Six months, he’s the man. Then the Super Bowl, he’s the man.”

However, according to him, the genre is in dire need of Drake making his return to chart dominance.

“But the thing about Drake, he uses patience as a way of getting back,” he explained. “As you can see, I mean, where has hip-hop been? There’s no Billboard charts, there’s nothing. I think French Montana and Max B barely is like in the 80s and thank God they there in the Hot 100, but I don’t know. I think Sexyy Red is back up now because she just dropped, but there’s not really nobody like…I don’t know. You tell me. I’m not an expert in this, but I know when he’s here, we’re on the charts. If you wanna talk numbers and facts, whether it’s inflated or whatever ’cause labels been inflating sh– for years.”

The wait is almost over, though, as Drake’s ninth solo album Iceman is set to drop next week, on May 15.

You can watch the clip below.

Punch, Top Dawg Entertainment’s president, stopped by The Joe Budden Podcast recently and was asked directly about “the bot allegations” that have been levied by fans online in a Patreon clip that has surfaced online.

“I don’t got nothing to say about it,” he answered. “We don’t bot.”

Budden then peppered him with a series of questions where he asked if he ever purchased bots, if he knows where to purchase bots, and if he’s aware of people in the industry using bots to their advantage, with Punch answering “no” to every question except the last one, to which he added that juicing numbers has been an industry practice since the days of Myspace. “But our whole thing was like, if we do that, how are we going to know who the actual fan is?” he continued. “Like, we do a show, don’t nobody show up because it was all fake. So we purposely chose not to do that back then.”

The conversation then went into how something like bots could benefit an artist if they were in a close race to No. 1 on the charts, to which Punch replied, “If that’s your aim, then yeah, I could see that, but we never been based on actual numbers. Our true metric is seeing people in them seats at the show.”

In another clip, Punch was asked why Kendrick Lamar‘s decision to move on from the label that helped become a superstar happened so seamlessly. “It goes back to what you were saying earlier about being principled,” he answered. “We all cut from similar cloth. We understand. Kendrick fulfilled all his contractual obligations and he wanted to expand what he was doing. So, yeah, let’s do it.” He added that they still consider themselves family and pointed out that SZA was featured on “Luther,” made an appearance at the Super Bowl, and co-headlined a stadium tour.

If you want to watch the full episode, head over to The JBP Patreon.

There are the get-ready videos you and your friends make, and then there’s the GRWM clip Rihanna posted on Thursday (May 7) of the intense prep it took for her and partner A$AP Rocky to (just barely) make it to the Met Gala on Monday night.

You can see now why the perennially fashionably-late-to-the-party “This Is What You Came For” singer was one of the last A-listers to walk the carpet at the annual fashion Super Bowl earlier this week in the 45-second clip chronicling her prep. It opens with the 11-time Met veteran exclaiming, “I can’t believe we’re going to the Met!” as she travels in a sprinter van in her stunning custom sculptural gown by Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela.

The eye-popping outfit hand-sculpted, bronze and silver creation inspired by medieval architecture took nearly 1,400 hours to embroider according to Vogue, and from the first seconds of the recap, RihRih is already locked in and ready to show it off with a series of icy Blue Steel-like carpet poses, with and without the equally turned-out-in-style Rocky.

We see the couple posing and walking together as flashbulbs illuminate their outfits and commenters opine on their looks, with Rihanna stopping at one point to sassily exclaim, “excuse me!” With good reason, since her dress required a second, of fifth look, thanks to a corseted bodice with more than 115,000 crystal beads, jewels and chains, while Rocky looked dapper in a custom Chanel by Mattieu Blazy wool pink robe with black satin lapels, accented by a silk and feather brooch and two hand- and ear-fulls of Chanel jewelry.

With a soundtrack provided by Arya Starr and Rema’s “Who’s Dat Girl,” we see Rihanna putting her own makeup on, choosing from a series of trays filled with high-end rings, earrings, necklaces and thick bangles and then having metallic jewels painted onto her face, with two diamond teardrops under her right eye and her hair filled with curlicue metal swirls.

At one point a reporter asks, “who’s allowed to show up late for a Met Gala red carpet?” while Rihanna fans her makeup dry and enjoys a smoke as another woman’s voice says, “Rihanna?” and the video cuts to a vintage clip of the singer cheekily winking at an interviewer with a smile.

The camera then lingers on Rihanna’s imposing-looking dress hanging on a rack, zooming in on the metallic details before and after she slips into it and revealing that, as Rocky told Variety, she was, indeed, “shining like a diamond … she’s shining.”

“We going to the Met!!!” Rihanna yelps as the party heats up during the ride over and Rocky astutely directs the camera away from him and over to RihRih as she does last-minute touch-ups in the van while he enjoys a pre-celebration beverage to the strains of N.E.R.D.’s 2008 party anthem “Everyone Nose.” Rocky also leans in to show off his neck full of custom bling, including a green skull with diamond eyes and a bejeweled crucifix.

The clip ends with Rihanna looking in a mirror and seemingly getting misty as she says, “I feel so pretty! Oh my God!” while gazing at her glittery ensemble.

Vote for your favorite look from the 2026 Gala here.

Ronnie Wood is just as excited as the rest of us for the release of The Rolling Stones’ 25^th and latest studio album Foreign Tongues.

When the legendary British guitarist proved it when he stopped by The Tonight Show on Thursday night, May 7, demonstrating the bounce of a cat, and the energy of lightning bolt.

Wood, age 78, will turn back time when he sets out on a run of solo shows in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe this summer, his first in 16 years. And in November, an exhibition of his artwork in Germany.

The big drop, of course, is the release of Foreign Tongues on July 10, a 14-track LP led by core members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Wood, with starry contributions from Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, The Cure frontman Robert Smith and others.

The album, Fallon explained, reading from a vinyl copy, includes a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good,” the original of which was housed on the late diva’s Back to Black album from 2006. Winehouse and the Rolling Stones have history. The “Rehab” singer joined the Rock Hall-inducted band on stage in June 2007 at the U.K.’s Isle of Wight Festival, for a rendition of “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”

Late night viewers were also treated to a snippet of “Back In Your Life,” which features a “fantastic” Wood solo, according to Fallon, who has enjoyed an early listen to the album. Wood, we learned, drew divine inspiration for the recording. The Englishman cut his solo on the day Brian Wilson died, last June, when he was still reeling from Sly Stone’s passing days earlier. “It came out my guitar, the feeling, you know,” he recounts. “Just one take. I didn’t do that, the guitar played itself.”

For his latest stint on NBC’s The Tonight Show, Wood took a trip down memory lane as he reminisced on how he learned music and art from his older siblings, was gifted his first guitar, being skint before fame, forming The Faces with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, and he rounded it out with a harmonica jam with Fallon and the house band.

“It’s inspirational to do” music and art, he says. “You know, I’m lucky enough to do a solo thing with the painting, and then be a part of a band, you know, part of a group, to express musically. It’s such a gift, you know, to be able to do both.”

Ahead of Foreign Tongues, the band has released two tracks from the project: album opener “Rough and Twisted” and lead single “In the Stars.” Wood’s guest spot on NBC’s The Tonight Show came 24 hours after Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger stopped by to do his bit in a comedy sketch.

Watch Wood’s interview below.

Charli xcx is living the year of going all-out. With the release today of “Rock Music,” the British singer, songwriter and producer switches gears, cranks up the amps and rocks it with electric guitars.

One of those amps goes out the window at the top of the official music video. Shot in black and white, and directed by Aidan Zamiri, the clip follows Charli as she gets up to rock ‘n’ roll stuff, strutting around central Manhattan wearing fewer clothes than anyone else, smoking up a storm, and unleashing a moshpit.

At its musical core, “Rock Music” has a throwback edge, its guitar riff slotting into what is essentially a mid-paced electronic track in which Charli splices and dices her vocals in the chorus. No, it’s not heavy. “Rock Music” has more in common to Daft Punk than it does to Deep Purple.

Charli first teased her new era, new sound in an April interview with British Vogue, which premiered one of the new song’s lyrics: “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music.”

She told the publication, “if I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad. That’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be.”

Charli has since clarified that she isn’t necessarily performing an about-face for what would be album No. 8. On Instagram, she recently shared a clip of herself in the studio and wrote, “a video of me making a song called ‘rock music’ that is not actually rock music which is funny because i never said i was making a rock album.”

“Rock Music” is Charli’s first release since the Wuthering Heights companion album arrived in February, and dropped in at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. Before that, her 2024 Brat album peaked at No. 3 on the all-genres chart, peaked at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and ARIA Chart, and caught the zeitgeist.

Charli’s busy year includes a starring role in A24’s The Moment, based on her original idea and the first co-production from her new studio365 venture. Also, she appears in Daniel Goldhaber’s remake of the 1978 cult horror Faces of Death, Greg Araki’s erotic thriller I Want Your Sex, Cathy Yan’s independent film The Gallerist, Julia Jackman’s period fantasy 100 Nights Of Hero, Romain Gavras’ satirical action Sacrifice and Pete Ohs’ intimate drama Erupcja.

Stream “Rock Music” below and watch the official music video.

C. Breezy season is upon us. Chris Brown returned on Friday (May 8) to deliver his 12th studio album, Brown.

A backronym for Break Rules Only When Necessary, Brown is loaded with 27 tracks in total and boasts appearances from YoungBoy Never Broke Again, GloRilla, Vybz Kartel, Leon Thomas, Bryson Tiller, Tank, Fridayy, Sexyy Red and Lucky Daye.

“Dis is so tight thank u for having me apart of it I love you Bhrisssssss,” Sexyy Red wrote in CB’s comments on Instagram May 5 in appreciation of being invited into his world for the album.

Out of the 27 songs, Brown included four singles — “Obvious,” “Fallin’,” “Holy Blindfold” and “It Depends” — which were previously released.

Chris Brown is slated to hit the road later this year for the blockbuster R&B Tour with Usher. Across 33 dates, the pair of R&B dignitaries will bring their influx of anthems to North American stadiums. The trek will kick off in Denver on June 26, and wrap up on Dec. 11 in Tampa Bay, Fla.

In between, the duo will be making stops in New Jersey, Detroit, D.C., Cleveland, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans and Miami.

The 37-year-old recently welcomed a baby boy with influencer Jada Wallace in April, making Breezy a father of four. CB’s also dad to 11-year-old Royalty Brown, 6-year-old son Aeko Catori Brown and 4-year-old daughter Lovely Symphani Brown.

Stream Brown below.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again let fans know Thursday (May 7) that he’ll no longer be performing at this weekend’s Rolling Loud festival in Orlando, Florida.

In a message posted to his Instagram Stories, NBA YoungBoy wrote: “To my Rolling Loud family, I won’t be making it this time. I just need some time away from traveling and performing right now. Love to everybody supporting me, I’ll forever appreciate y’all!”

Rolling Loud re-posted the message on their Stories and, minutes later, shared a new lineup that includes Ken Carson as the replacement Sunday headliner. “PLEASE WELCOME OUR NEW SUNDAY HEADLINER, @kencarson,” reads the caption alongside the lineup poster.

The festival kicks off Friday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, with headliner Don Toliver, while Playboy Carti is at the top of the bill for Saturday. Carson wasn’t previously on the bill before stepping in as the new Sunday headliner.

Other rappers performing this weekend include Sexyy Red, Chief Keef, EsDeeKid, Destroy Lonely and PlaqueBoyMax.

This marks the first time Rolling Loud has taken place in Orlando, following 10 stints at its original Miami home. Orlando marks the only U.S. Rolling Loud stop scheduled for this year, previously hosting events in the New York and Los Angeles areas as well. They’ve also gone international, with the last overseas Rolling Loud event taking place last year in India with headliners Central Cee, Wiz Khalifa, Karan Aujla and Toliver.

Carson — who scored his first Billboard 200 No. 1 album last year with More Chaos — was originally set to headline Rolling Loud Australia this year before the March festival was canceled.

See the updated Rolling Loud Orlando lineup below:

Well, put this sad news on the s–t list. L7 announced on Thursday (May 7) that the band is hitting the road for one final tour.

“When L7 decided to release a documentary in 2015, we thought maybe we would take one last victory lap around the sun by playing some shows,” said frontwoman Donita Sparks, referring to the feminist rock band’s 2016 documentary Pretend We’re Dead, which borrows its title from the lead single off its 1992 studio album, Bricks Are Heavy. “Instead, that lap turned into 11 more years of touring, sweat, new music and reconnecting with the fans who made this all possible in the first place.

“Looking out into the crowd seeing longtime supporters rocking out next to a new generation of L7 fans has been the most powerful and humbling part of this chapter,” she continued. “We are deeply grateful and ready to give our audiences one last, loud, fun and hopefully unforgettable night of rock and roll.”

The 27-date North American trek, called The Last Hurrah Tour, is set to kick off June 4 in Toronto, and wraps Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, with stops in Seattle, New York City, Dallas, D.C., Chicago and more in between.

L7 launched in L.A. in 1985, with their self-titled debut album arriving three years later. Third studio effort Bricks Are Heavy launched in 1992 and peaked at No. 160 on the Billboard 200 in September that year; 1994’s Hungry for Stink reached No. 117; and 1997’s The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum achieved a No. 172 high. 1992 single “Pretend We’re Dead” achieved the No. 8 peak on the Alternative Airplay chart, while “Andres” off Hungry for Stink reached No. 20.

During the group’s career, several songs were featured on movie soundtracks, including “Shitlist” on both Pet Semetary 2 and Natural Born Killers, and “Shove” for Tank Girl.

Take a look at L7 over the years in the band’s teaser for its upcoming tour, and find the North American dates below:

RAYE‘s star has exploded in the past couple of years — and with that, she’s faced more scrutiny than ever. But one specific critique involving the late Amy Winehouse has bothered her in particular, something she addresses on her song “I Will Overcome.”

In her Billboard cover story published Thursday (May 7), RAYE told staff writer Hannah Dailey why she chose to sing about people comparing her to the British soul-pop icon — who died in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning — on the opening number of her March album This Music May Contain Hope. On the track, she sings, “Some people say I remind them of Amy/ Some spit through their keyboards, I’ll never amount/ And the evil in insults, the arrows from your tongue/ [Are] the same devils you tortured her with.”

“It just strikes me as so funny, darkly funny, that someone can rip into me in the most evil, horrible way, ‘defending’ Amy,” RAYE explained to Billboard of including the lyric. “What you’re saying to me is a microcosm of what Amy went through. Amy went through being berated and annihilated through words — by the press, by the public, by everyone.

“It’s one thing to not like me, that’s fine,” she continued. “It’s just the irony of someone being so horrible, so dark, so nasty. It’s the same evil. I just wanted to say that, because … I get a lot of beautiful, lovely, kind things. Unfortunately, the negative things are just louder.”

This Music May Contain Hope debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and reached No. 1 in the U.K., RAYE’s first LP to do so. The feat comes after a long uphill struggle to make her name as an independent artist following her split from her first label, Polydor Records, in 2021.

Elsewhere in her Billboard cover story, the musician touched on her experiences with mental health, sexual assault and finding light in her life again. She also shared her current mindset on dating, having declared her desire to find love on the hit single “Where Is My Husband!,” which has so far peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“It’s been genuinely so many years that it feels alien to me,” she said. “Sometimes I’m very assured and confident and happy with my life, and then some days I’m watching a rom-com, and I’m like, ‘Where? Where?’ But it’s not serious. I’m not crying myself to sleep every night — just some nights.”

Watch RAYE address the Amy Winehouse comparisons below.