The song went viral on TikTok and hit No. 1 on Spotify just in time for the actor herself to endorse it during a press tour. Kidman smiled and ducked her head meekly as it played at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The dirty-hot aesthetics of the video, the strategic release of the track and the choice to dedicate a song to a star with a decades-long imprint on pop culture all suggest that the woman behind the song really knows what she's doing. 

Until now, Adéla was best known as a reject from the girl group Katseye, who was deemed too sexy and independent to fit the rank-and-file of a K-pop ensemble. The 22-year-old performer's success suggests she was destined for solo success, anyway: "Nicole Kidman" and "Ain't in LA" are currently unavoidable on the charts and TikTok alike, though Adéla only released her first album in September. 

Adéla's ballerina training, pink locks and unbridled sex appeal have made her an easily recognizable breakout star in the pop music landscape. Visually, she's unlike anyone else making music right now — boy, there are a lot of brunettes with country twang — but her compelling backstory makes her unforgettable. As Katseye shows signs of strain, Adéla has begun to outshine them. 

'Pop loves an underdog'

Audiences first fell for Adéla on The Debut: Dream Academy, a reality show that pitted performers against each other in challenges where they'd perform songs and choreography for a spot in a global girl group. Fans voted on their favorites, whittling 20 hopefuls down to six group members. Adéla was eliminated in the first round after receiving the fewest votes.

The failure added even more character to Adéla's backstory. She grew up in Slovakia and began taking intensive ballet lessons in Russia at age 3. For years, along with her intense dance education, she studied Britney Spears and Madonna and yearned to move to the U.S. to take a shot at superstardom. 

Talia Kraines, the pop music editorial lead at Spotify, tells me that's because "pop loves an underdog."

She says Adéla's "kind, nurturing personality" shone through on the show, though when she's in performance mode, she channels an "untouchable diva energy." Few artists are able to strike that balance while still being perceived as earnest, and thus deserving of success. 

Alex and Vito, two Adéla stans in their early 30s who attended her sold-out Sept. 19 show in New York City, watched her on the show.Alex tells me that Adéla was "the big sister in Dream Academy [who] mentored the other girls and went home first because the label knew she'd be a solo artist." 

"She wasn't gonna go along with whatever kiddie stuff they had planned for Katseye," Vito adds. "Adéla sticks out to me because in a climate of pretty, polished pop stars, she's not afraid to get ugly, dirty and release darker-themed music." 

Katseye is, of course, stacked with beautiful women in provocative outfits, but they've been widely criticized for their childish lyrics. The song "Gnarly," for example, describes fried chicken, Tesla and boba tea as, well, "gnarly." In contrast, in the song "Superscar" on Adéla's debut EP The Provocateur, she sings about feeling like she has to sell her body and soul to the music industry.

Adéla isn't just a Katseye reject — she's a well-studied student of pop music who knew she needed creative freedom to make the splash she truly wanted to as an artist. In the process of finding her identity, Dream Academy exposed her to an army of K-pop fans, who are notoriously devoted and intense, without subjecting her to the strict demands for cohesion and image that groups often face within the K-pop machine.  

A 'high-spectacle triple threat' who's here to stay

Adéla might not be an underdog anymore, but her interesting backstory has given her depth that's refreshing to see in pop music right now. 

"Watching interviews with her talking about how hard she has worked and wanted to be a pop star made me emotional," says Jordan, a 25-year-old fan from Chicago who's seen Adéla in concert five times, including when she opened for Demi Lovato. "You can feel her emotion and want." 

In the age of nepotism and supposed industry plants, pop fans have a hunger for stars who rise from obscurity through genuine talent and grit. Recently, artists like Zara Larsson, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx have all broken into the mainstream pop pantheon after years of grinding away for their breakout moments.

In many ways, Adéla is emulating the hard work, intense choreography and sexy visuals that reference the golden era of pop stars in the 2000s, when Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and eventually Lady Gaga were at the top of their game. 

"She's really filling that classic pop star role of the full-package, high-spectacle triple threat with the hair, the dancing and the vocals," Kraines says. 

I asked fans on TikTok and X why they think Adéla is having such a moment right now, and I got a wide array of theories: One says she has a truly distinct hairstyle, so she's easy to remember visually. Another tells me she makes high-energy "moodboard music" that sounds like it's from 10 years ago, so people feel instantly nostalgic. A third says she's sexy and edgy in a time when pop stars have been trending in a different direction. But far and away, fans agreed that she's good at everything. 

Allan Gregorio, a fan and digital artist who creates viral TikTok filters, pays close attention to what content the app rewards. He says it makes perfect sense that Adéla is the algorithm's favorite artist right now. 

"She is breaking out because she arrived complete," he tells me. "She has the look, and the pink hair is part of it. She has strong visuals, a style people like and real music talent. Most artists have one or two of these. She has all of them."

In a time when so many of her 20-something peers are terrified of being seen trying, Adéla is working harder than ever. Recently, she became the first Slovakian artist to score an entry on the Billboard Hot 100. All she had to do was work insanely hard for her entire life and excel in every facet of stardom — but it's always nice to see that rewarded. 

As the algorithms on streaming services and social media sites increasingly personalize our listening habits, though, no one can really agree on what the one true song of this summer is. 

Let's start by dissecting the most popular songs of the summer on each platform. 

Spotify wouldn't pinpoint just one song of the summer. Instead, its editors selected five "by weighing streaming data, cultural impact and their own editorial expertise." The songs were Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas," Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's "Rein Me In," Shakira and Burna Boy's "Dai Dai," Yung Miami's "Spend Dat" and Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me." 

One of my favorite platforms for vibe-checking the state of music is Touchtunes, an app that lets you pay to select which song plays at a venue, like a virtual jukebox. Langley's "Choosin' Texas" dominated its song of the summer list. In fact, she's all over it. Here's the full top 10, as shared with Yahoo: 

Top Frontline Venue Plays (released less than 18 months ago) 

1. Ella Langley - "Choosin' Texas"

2. Ella Langley - "Be Her"

3. BigXthaPlug (feat. Ella Langley) - "Hell at Night"

4. Morgan Wallen - "20 Cigarettes"

5. Morgan Wallen - "I Got Better"

6. Drake - "Janice STFU"

7. Drake - "Shabang"

8. Yung Miami - "Spend Dat"

9. Olivia Dean - "Man I Need"

10. Stella Lefty - "Boston"

Billboard, which considers data across streaming platforms, sales and radio, also had "Choosin' Texas" in the top spot. It makes sense: The song has shattered just about every possible record in the last few months. At this point, it's hard to imagine any other song ending the year bigger.

TikTok did things a little differently, picking a song of the summer that took us back in time. The platform didn't share its methodology for determining its list of top songs, but it made a compelling case for putting Katy Perry's 2010 hit "The One That Got Away" in the top spot, pointing out that it's been used in 42 million videos, which have generated over 55 billion views.

So what's the actual song of summer? 

If the hard data puts Langley's biggest hit on top, then that's technically our answer. But there are a lot of outspoken non-country listeners out there who don't feel like that song represents the vibe of summer at all. 

"The way I can't even hum the melody.. nothing. Who even plays this song?" one X user wrote of "Choosin' Texas." Any time that song breaks another record, which is frequently, a chorus of confused pop music fans appears on social media, asking, "What is this and why haven't I heard it?" Other commenters advocated for other songs to reign supreme — something by Drake, Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift, who all have new music out. All popular, but none the top dog. 

For the record, since 2023, many country (or at least twangy) songs have dominated the summer months. Morgan Wallen is a mainstay — "Last Night" claimed 2023, then "I Had Some Help (feat. Post Malone)" took 2024. "What I Want (feat. Tate McRae)" came in second place in 2025, behind Alex Warren's "Ordinary," one of many popular secular praise music songs.

When I asked music enthusiasts at Coachella in April for their too-early song of the summer predictions, several of them told me they were sick of country's dominance. Alas, it continues with someone other than Wallen on top. 

The reason there are so many mini songs of summer may be simple: Monoculture is dead. One massive song no longer unites us. If you don't like country music, you never have to hear it. So many of us are living in echo chambers calibrated by algorithms to fit our specific tastes and, you know, sometimes influenced by advertising. 

We may never be able to agree on a song of summer again. Instead, we'll have our own individual top tracks to reflect on. That's fun … but what's going to get people on the dance floor at summer weddings or singing along at barbecues? Bruno Mars, perhaps. 

Looked cute, regretted it later 

In the week leading up to the festival, I agonized over what I was going to wear. People in the Daisy Chain Fields subreddit cautioned against wearing jean shorts or boots of any kind, instead suggesting that attendees prioritize comfort over fashion. "I promise you, babe, an all-black look with leather knee-high boots is not worth it," was essentially what the internet girlies were trying to tell me. Did I listen? Obviously not. 

My Daisy Chain Fields look consisted of a Cou Cou Intimates Rina tee (I know, I know… sooriginal), men's cargo shorts from Value Village (it's basically Savers but Canadian), brownish-black boots from eBay and my new vintage Oliver Goldsmith sunnies (or as my mom likes to call them, my "owl glasses"). For a slight pop of color, I threw on my hand-dyed silk corsage by London-based designer sssilk666, who also made the corsage Rodrigo wore during her Primavera Sound performance in June. 

Neia Balao/Yahoo! News

My all-black outfit had betrayed me. My feet hurt halfway through the day, and I'm surprised the pain didn't set in sooner. As for my clothes, they were drenched in sweat. Gross, sorry. If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably try to incorporate more color. Maybe more gray, or something. 

Shoutout trash bin 

OK, this one kind of goes in tandem with my outfit faux pas. It was 80-plus degrees in Irvine that day, but I swear it felt like more than 100. I know this because I was outside in the blistering sun with minimal shade for 10 hours. While my black smoky eyeshadow put in the work to stay on my lids (thank you, waterproof products!), I had a pretty relentless sweat mustache all day. No amount of Hourglass setting powder could've saved me. 

A highlight (though maybe more of a lowlight) of the day: hiding in the shadow of a trash bin. It was surprisingly effective. 

Neia Balo/Yahoo! News

A safe space for you and me

My first music festival was the Vans Warped Tour, which I attended with my best friend in the summer of seventh grade. With its many mosh pits, overwhelmingly male lineup and history of sexual-misconduct allegations, Warped Tour was, in retrospect, a pretty grown-up place for a 12-year-old girl to be. 

"I'm usually on edge like at other places, and here I feel like I don't even have to think twice about it," Monserrat, 26, told me while we were lined up for Daisy Chain Reaction, the festival's nonprofit village. "I love turning every corner and just seeing women. It's so comforting." 

As Mitski's set came to a close, Bailee, an attendee who drove down from San Francisco, told me that "people are a lot nicer" at Daisy Chain Fields than at other festivals she's been to. "Here, it's completely different. We've had random people be like, 'Oh, do you guys need electrolytes? Are you guys OK?'" 

That's what felt so refreshing about Daisy Chain Fields: Women were prioritized. The branches of Yoko Ono's "Wish Tree" were adorned with handwritten tags bearing festivalgoers' hopes and dreams; the Guerrilla Girls' "Complaints Department" invited attendees to write their personal and political grievances across a giant chalkboard; and Astria Suparak's "Grrrl Germs: Punk Feminism Goes Viral, 1991–2026" exhibition celebrated the underground feminist punk movement.

I went to Daisy Chain Fields alone, but I never felt alone. Women weren't just the headliners; our experiences were woven into every aspect of the festival. 

Bad harmonies, really good vibes 

Aside from some really determined fans who pushed their way toward the barricade minutes before Rodrigo's set began, the Daisy Chain Fields crowd was one of the most considerate I've ever been part of. I saw little girls hoisted onto their dads' shoulders for better views and Gen X moms rocking out to McLachlan and Morissette before holding their daughters tight as Nicks performed. I saw women who hadn't known each other until that moment hug one another and scream as Rodrigo launched into yet another banger. 

Neia Balo/Yahoo! News

During "Expectations," Rodrigo told us to sing, so we belted out the chorus like our lives depended on it. (Imagine hearing thousands of voices in unison yelling, "I won't settle for a guy with a fake job!" I'll never forget it.) When she asked us to finish the lyrics to "Drivers License," we took our job very seriously and even tried harmonizing. One woman nearby reacted to how terribly off-key we all sounded. "Wow, guys, that was really bad," she said. Everyone within earshot, including me, burst into laughter. Yeah, she was right.

Women ruled the stage 

As a young girl, I felt this need to modify my taste in music to fit in with what was perceived as "cool." I've always gravitated toward female artists and bands fronted by women and felt self-conscious about not enjoying dude-centered bands to the same extent. For part of my adolescence, I had this warped notion that girl power was cheesy and cliché, and that rock music, for instance, was a space exclusively reserved for men. 

Neia Balao/Yahoo! News

At Daisy Chain Fields, women ruled. I had never been so in awe of a lineup. I started the day strong with Rachel Chinouriri, followed by Mitski, Doechii, who was covered in neon pink body paint for her performance, and then Chappell Roan, before ending the night with Rodrigo, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, and Stevie Nicks. 

And those weren't the only women on the cross-generational roster: '90s feminist rock mainstays like Garbage, the Breeders and Bikini Kill also took the stage, as did Eli, Devon Again, Quiet Light, Die Spitz, Santigold and María Zardoya's Not for Radio. The entire day felt like a dream come true. The young girl who once thought her taste in music wasn't "cool" enough would've totally freaked out over this lineup.

Doechii was onto something: The future is pink. 

Something bigger than us

Prior to closing out the evening with her 80-minute set, Rodrigo took the stage to announce that Melinda French Gates had pledged to double the festival's fundraising earnings, bringing the grand total to $20 million. 

"All of the organizations Daisy Chain benefits are doing essential, inspiring work, and I hope you all got a chance to learn more about them today," Rodrigo told the crowd. "I really believe that giving women the tools to decide their own futures and live healthy lives free of violence and discrimination is the most effective tool we have at changing the world for the better." 

Neia Balao/Yahoo! News

As the sun began to set, I knew I needed to swing by Daisy Chain Reaction. Each of Daisy Chain Fields' 10 nonprofit partners — Planned Parenthood, National Women's Law Center, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, Jhpiego, FreeFrom, Center for Reproductive Rights, Black Mamas Matter Alliance and Baby2Baby — had a booth where volunteers fielded questions and handed out pins. Even after getting their pins (which were required to receive the adorable complimentary tote bag), attendees stuck around to chat some more. They were genuinely interested in getting involved. 

Transportation woes

Actually leaving Great Park — where the festival was held — was a bit of a mess. After exiting the festival, attendees flooded the streets, sidewalks and nearby parking lots in search of their pickup locations. Many festivalgoers waited for specific shuttles, while others walked long distances in an attempt to catch Ubers and Lyfts. Online, footage of sweeping lines and hourslong waits to board shuttles out of the park went viral. And those who opted for ride-hailing weren't much luckier: Drivers were apparently declining requests left and right. 

Neia Balo/Yahoo! News

I was waiting in the shuttle line for journalists and photographers. While the line was bearable, actually getting on a shuttle was another story. Traffic was basically at a standstill as local police closed off several streets, making what should've been around a 10ish-minute wait for a shuttle closer to half an hour. We finally made it to our drop-off point around midnight, which wasn't ideal considering the festival ended at 10 p.m. 

I'll give Irvine officials some grace, though! After all, this was the first-ever Daisy Chain Fields. Here's to hoping things are more organized next time around. 

Just happy to be here  

Neia Balao/Yahoo! News

Rodrigo is Filipino American. You don't need to spend much time online to grasp how proud Filipinos are of her. Sure, she's a stellar musician who's crafted three no-skip albums, but she's also steadfast in her efforts to protect women's rights and uplift her own community. 

I'm Filipino Canadian, and Filipinos get really stoked when we realize someone we admire is Filipino too. It's comforting, you know? Being able to connect with people who understand you in ways others might not. 

I came to Daisy Chain Fields already inspired by Rodrigo's advocacy. I left feeling proud of the powerful world she had built for girls and women like me. 

Daisy Chain Fields, Olivia Rodrigo's inaugural music festival benefiting women and girls, took place Saturday at Great Park in Irvine, Calif., with a stellar lineup of women artists ranging in age from 23 (Rodrigo) to 78 (Stevie Nicks), with a few in between (52, Alanis Morissette). 

So we thought it fitting to send our own cross-generational roster of reporters (well, two reporters and one very opinionated — but extremely grateful — 11-year-old). Here, they weigh in on some of the day's biggest acts, whether they'd wait in an egregiously long merch line again and how they survived outside in scorching weather.

Meet your correspondents

The lineup

Click ahead to read Neia, Andrew and Elliot’s Daisy Chain Fields takes.

• 🌼 The vibes

• 🧍 The lines

• 👕 The merch situation

• 🪽 Sarah McLachlan + Olivia

• 🎤 Alanis Morissette + Olivia

• 🛝 Stevie Nicks + Olivia

• ☀️ The sun

• 🥁 The '90s bands

• 🔥 Chappell Roan

• 🩷 Doechii

• 🤠 The festival fashion

• 🤑 The cause 

• 📅 The 'see you next year' reveal

The vibes

💚 Neia: Such good vibes. I wouldn't consider myself a festival girlie and I went solo to Daisy Chain Fields, so I was a bit nervous about that. But everyone was so kind! It really did feel like a day for celebrating girlhood. 

💛 Andrew: I think the last real festival I attended was Where the Action Is with Pixies, Neil Young, Fever Ray and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. That was in Sweden in 2009. Maybe a couple of New Orleans Jazz Fests after that? Anyway, I'm really not a festival guy, and I'm certainly not a TikTok-era megafestival guy. I'm generally just too old for this s***. So all of the brand collab stuff was a bit much for my borderline Gen X sensibilities. But I will say: the crowd was great. Kind, positive, earnest, supportive. Felt like a safe space for my daughter, and I really appreciated that.

🩷 Elliot: It was pretty different than I expected. I was thinking it would be a lot smaller, and only one stage. And fewer food stands too. And I did not think there was going to be a bar. But I really liked the vibe of the festival itself. I thought [Yoko Ono's] Wish Tree was really cute, for example. And everyone seemed really nice there. They were all for women's rights. And I did like the bands. I just didn't think Die Spitz fit in with the rest of them. 

Andrew Romano

The lines

💚 Neia: I tried to get some food around lunchtime and was stoked to try this Filipino bakery, San & Wolves Bakeshop, but the line was way too long. I abandoned my lunch plans and ended up snagging a slice of (surprisingly delicious) Hawaiian pizza right before Olivia's closing set at around 8 p.m. No lines at that time! 

💛 Andrew: Props to Olivia and her organizers for inviting so many small, local food vendors that are mostly women-owned. But there's a reason stadiums buy in bulk and serve the same three things at every stand: speed. The lunch lines were bad enough — about 45 minutes. By the time everyone arrived and decided it was time for dinner, the situation was completely out of control. It took me two hours to get Elliot some chicken fingers. Price: $27. Missing half of Doechii's set and all of Garbage's? Priceless, in a bad way. And honestly, I didn't try to do anything else — Taco Bell's You Seem Pretty Pink For a Baja Blast, LEGO Editions: The Artist's Garden — because I didn't want to miss even more music while waiting in line. 

🩷 Elliot: The food lines were too long. I know there were a lot of people, but my dad had to wait for two hours to get me Dave's Hot Chicken, and it wasn't even that good. [Dad: What would you do differently in the future?] Not get Dave's Hot Chicken. [But what about the festival? What should they do differently?] Not hire Dave's Hot Chicken. [Well, it wasn't just Dave's Hot Chicken, because we waited for Marathon Burgers, too.] Oh, yeah, the burgers were good. [So that was worth the wait?] Yeah. But in the future, they should make burgers without mustard.

The merch situation

💚 Neia: OK, the merch lines were wild. Luckily, I picked up what I wanted the day before when I grabbed my wristband — and there was basically no line. Would I have waited in a super long line for some Daisy Chain Fields swag, though? Absolutely. Merch is a must for me. Sorry! 

🩷 Elliot: I was not expecting to like the look of it, because usually I don't really like pink and stuff. I thought it was going to be too girly, and it wasn't. And I don't think it was too much merch. It's better to have a variety than to just have, like, three things to choose from. The only problem was that I wanted to wait in the line, because it's honestly cooler if you get it at the show than if you order it online. My dad said no. I guess it was nice that you could only order online from the festival, so it still feels kind of special. But not as special. 

💛 Andrew: Sorry, I'm not waiting in an hourlong line for merch, especially when you can just buy it online and have it shipped to your house. I do think this is generational. Younger generations seem less interested in "being there" than "proving they were there," whether by posting on social or copping their "exclusive" merch. I think this is a natural reaction to living in an increasingly unreal world. But if you miss a set to buy a T-shirt, you're also kind of missing the point. 

So to be honest, I didn't really like her music. I mean, it was good, it just kind of put me to sleep. I was very tired too, so maybe that was part of it. I sat down for her set. Elliot on Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan + Olivia

💚 Neia: My Canadian queen! As the mother of Lilith Fair (wish I could've gone, but I was a single digit at the time), it was so gratifying to see Olivia bring out Sarah McLachlan. It was such a full-circle moment. Also, "Building a Mystery" is a banger. 

💛 Andrew: This brought up a lot of complicated feelings for me! Radical honesty here: in 1997, I was a 15-year-old boy who was deeply into music and just starting my first band. I thought I was too cool for Sarah McLachlan and way too cool for Lilith Fair. But secretly, I kind of liked some of her songs (especially the chorus of "Adia"). I had forgotten all of that until McLachlan came onstage. She sounded ageless. Olivia's harmonies were immaculate. The Dolly Parton tribute on "Angel" was a genuine tearjerker. I uncomplicatedly enjoyed every moment McLachlan was on stage. The '90s were rad and all, but I'm glad I'm not a teenage boy anymore.

🩷 Elliot: So to be honest, I didn't really like her music. I mean, it was good, it just kind of put me to sleep. I was very tired too, so maybe that was part of it. I sat down for her set. [Dad: Had you heard either of those songs before?] No. But I think she was the one who helped people, right? Like, she was really big for women's rights? [Yes, she started Lilith Fair there in the '90s.] OK, I thought that was cool.

Alanis Morissette + Olivia

💚 Neia: The scream I scrumpt when Alanis Morissette came out. Gen X moms around me were freaking out — and with reason. She's angsty, alt-rock royalty. (Also, another Canadian I adore. Do you see a pattern here?) 

💛 Andrew: A fun surprise after Karen O bailed for personal reasons. I was again impressed with Olivia's harmonies; she and Alanis really belted out that "Ironic" chorus. But I was a little shocked that Elliot and her friends sat down for this; Elliot even turned to me and asked, "Who is that?" She has some awareness of music history; she listens to Green Day and Oasis all the time, for instance. But Jagged Little Pill was probably the most ubiquitous album of the '90s. Are the kids not hip to Alanis?

🩷 Elliot: Wait, who is she? [Dad: That's what you said at the concert!] Oh, is that the one Mom likes to sing at karaoke? [Yes.] OK, I honestly didn't listen to her music either. She also kind of put me to sleep. But it was … pretty good? I thought it was country, though, and I guess it's not?

Stevie Nicks + Olivia

💚 Neia: I cried. The crowd chanted "Stevie! Stevie! Stevie!" before she hit the stage. Once she did? We all erupted in cheers. Watching Olivia and Stevie perform "Landslide" was literally a highlight of my life. My heart fluttered! TBH, I would've loved to see them duet "Silver Springs" too, but I'll take what I can get. 

💛 Andrew: I'm a Lindsey Buckingham partisan — Tusk forever! — but even I can't deny the power of "Landslide." Would it have ruined the moment to bring Billy Corgan out as well? Probably. More lovely harmonies and a fitting way to end the evening. It cracked me up when Nicks returned to the mic to praise Olivia: "She reminds me a lot of me when I was her age a hundred years ago." Pure Stevie.

🩷 Elliot: Stevie Nicks was awesome. [Dad: Why was Stevie Nicks awesome?] What do you mean why was Stevie Nicks awesome? [What did you like about Stevie Nicks's performance?] It was good. It was really good. [What was good about it?] Well, I knew the song "Landslide" already. It's a great song. I like how Olivia performed in it too. It was just really cool to see Stevie Nicks live. She has a really amazing voice. Like, really, really amazing. [You like Stevie Nicks's voice? Isn't it kind of strange, though?] Yeah, but it's cool.

The sun

💚 Neia: Pain. I've been living in Southern California for nearly a decade and nothing could've prepared me for the constant sunlight I endured at Daisy Chain Fields. I also wore all black (a big mistake), which made things way worse. I got sunburnt and hid in the shadow of a trash can before Doechii's set. I was desperate. Also worth mentioning: I have a history of fainting (it's not really a big deal, according to my doctor) and I'm happy to report I DID NOT faint. Shoutout electrolytes for the assist. 

💛 Andrew: I just looked up the high temperature yesterday in Irvine: 82°F. I do not believe that. It felt like it was 110. Everybody was melting. Tip for next year: Fewer art installations and brand collabs, more shade structures, cooling tents, misters, water stations, whatever. Or else wait til the fall. 

🩷 Elliot: Nobody really likes the sun. Well, sometimes you do, like when you're at the beach. But not when you're at a festival trying to get food in a line and the sun's just being really mean by beating down on you and sunburning you. And you have to put on a lot of sunscreen. Again and again and again. And you can't find any shade because there's, like, one tree at the whole festival and everyone's crowded underneath it. [Dad: Did things get better when the sun went down?] No. It was still hot.

It reminded me of an earlier mode of indie-rock feminism: less telling, more showing.Andrew on Kim Deal and The Breeders's set

The '90s bands

💚 Neia: Bikini Kill! The Breeders! Garbage! What a lineup. I'm bummed to have missed seeing Shirley Manson IRL since I was waiting in line to see all the nonprofits at Daisy Chain Reaction. BUT I did hear Shirley's voice from the line! Major FOMO. "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" was a fabulous closer. Me too, Shirley! 

💛 Andrew: I was as excited to see the Breeders as I was to see Olivia. I thought I might be alone in that, but then I saw the crowd gathering for the Deal sisters' set. The female-male ratio had suddenly plummeted from 80/20 to about 50/50; dads were everywhere. Kim was wearing a Shirley Chisholm for President T-shirt: "Unbought and Unbossed." It reminded me of an earlier mode of indie-rock feminism: less telling, more showing. Just blow the boys out of the water on stage. I've always preferred the Breeders to the Pixies. 

🩷 Elliot: Wait, which ones were they? [Dad: The Breeders, Garbage, Bikini Kill.] What about Die Spitz? [No, they're new.] OK, good. Then I liked all of them. Also, I thought it was cool to get to see them because I kind of thought they were all dead. 

Chappell Roan

💚 Neia: There's nothing more wholesome than seeing thousands of people doing the "HOT TO GO!" dance together at sunset. Also. Chappell's vocals — and makeup — were insane, obviously. Go off, girl. 

💛 Andrew: "Only the hits today," Roan said as her band launched into "Good Luck, Babe!" about two-thirds of the way through her 40-minute set. That's all there was time for. But I was impressed that just one album into her career, Roan could just rattle off banger after banger: "HOT TO GO!" "Casual," "The Subway," "Pink Pony Club" and so on. Every song sounded like a single. I think pop stars like Roan and Rodrigo are smarter and tougher and just more interesting than what I was hearing on mainstream FM radio as a kid. Elliot is lucky to have them. 

🩷 Elliot: She did well. She was confident, unlike some of the other artists who were giggling or laughing during their sets. [Dad: Did you like her new look?] Not really. She looked like a flight attendant or something. In purple. Like a flight attendant who had a lot of makeup on.

Doechii

💚 Neia: Mindblown. I think this was one of the best sets I've ever seen. Period. When she came out, I was gagged: She was in full hot pink body paint! Doechii is so talented and I was literally texting my friends during her performance, telling them I had chills. Swamp Princess forever. 

💛 Andrew: Great energy and choreography, but her music started to feel repetitive a few songs in. And I have to admit: I wanted to reach over and cover Elliot's ears during "Spookie Coochie." Major "dorky dad at the concert" moment. Fortunately, I don't think she was paying attention to the lyrics. Or so I hope.

🩷 Elliot: I don't really know her music, but she seemed to get a lot of people hyped up. The background dancers were cool. She was cool. Her jokes were funny. It looked like she was wearing a metal bikini. [Dad: What about her skin? Wasn't it painted pink?] Oh, I thought that was a reflection. 

The festival fashion

💚 Neia: Across the board, the girlies seemed to draw inspiration from aughts-era fashion trends. Babydoll tops and Hollister-esque denim shorts? I love to see it! I was also happy to see that other attendees made the ill-advised decision to wear knee-high boots (like me). 

🩷 Elliot: I liked the main singer of the Breeders's look. [Dad: Kim Deal?] Yeah. She had a T-shirt on at the festival. Nobody else had T-shirts. All the girls were in bikinis. One guy was in a swimsuit. There was one girl with a cowhide skirt. It was so short I could see her … butt. Some people were just weird. 

💛 Andrew: A very unscientific reaction, but the fashion seemed both more referential (flower power + '90s mall, with a smattering of flowing Lilith Fair looks) and more homogenous (the short dress + cowboy boots Coachella thing) than it would have been pre-internet. I'm with Elliot here: more T-shirts, please. Or more just looking like yourself. 

The cause 

💚 Neia: I think one of the coolest parts of Daisy Chain Fields was getting to interact with people from the nonprofits. We had the opportunity to visit a variety of booths, including Planned Parenthood, Baby2Baby, Center for Reproductive Rights and Black Mamas Matter Alliance to learn more about each initiative. Everyone I talked to said "the cause" was a big motivator for attending the festival. You could really feel that. 

💛 Andrew: I choked up a little, behind my sunglasses, when I saw Daisy Lane — the main festival thoroughfare — paved with quotes from feminist icons like Eleanor Roosevelt ("No one can make you feel inferior without your consent") and a timeline of women's-rights milestones. But then, I'm an ancient American studies major with a soft spot for "see how far we've come" history lessons. I'm not sure Elliot even picked up on it. But I guess that's the point, in a way, of having come so far. 

🩷 Elliot: The cause? Is that the name of Olivia's new song? [Dad: No — Olivia did all of this to help raise money for groups that support women and girls.] Oh right! They raised $20 million. I think that was very important because no man would donate all of that money to help women. I'd never been to a festival before, but I think I felt more important at the Daisy Chain Fields Festival than I would have at Lollapalooza or whatever, with a bunch of dudes banging into each other in the mosh pit. There were no mosh pits. 

The 'see you next year' reveal

💚 Neia: YES!!! I cannot wait. See you next year, Olivia!!! 

💛 Andrew: Great news for Olivia and her fans. But once is enough for me — unless she books Björk. Or PJ Harvey. Or Lauryn Hill. 

🩷 Elliot: We're going. Yahoo better bring me next year. You better include that, dad. 

Her monthly listeners on Spotify nearly doubled to 15 million in May, when her breakout song "Boston" made the cover of the platform's Hot Country playlist. In addition to the single climbing the Hot 100, the 24-year-old Chicago native just nabbed two VMA nominations and released a new album, Long Way Home, in late August — altogether a massive summer for someone who wasn't signed by a major label until earlier this year. 

But there's a fact about Lefty that I can't stop thinking about every time I hear her song, which is often: She's the daughter of a billionaire. 

Lefty's dad is Eric Lefkofsky, the founder of Groupon and Tempus AI. He's worth an estimated $4.8 billion, per Forbes, which makes him one of the 1,000 richest people in the world.

That seems to be giving ammunition to those suspicious of her success. Her biggest scandal thus far is the fact that "Boston" has some undeniable similarities to Noah Kahan's "Stick Season," one of the biggest songs of the 2020s. He’s credited as one of the songwriters on the track. "When I was writing the song, I wasn't thinking about Noah Kahan," she tells Vanity Fair. "I was literally thinking about nothing at all."

That explanation seemed less believable when a compilation of the many times she posted a cover of "Stick Season" online went viral on X. That opened the floodgates to further allegations of copying popular songs. Listeners pointed out her song "Misery" sounds like "A Million Dreams" from the Greatest Showman soundtrack, while "Why Wouldn't We" was compared to Blake Shelton's "I'll Name The Dogs."

"Summer You Were Mine" is an approved interpolation of The Chicks' "There's Your Trouble," so her team has at least acknowledged the similarities, but some detractors have mused that drawing inspiration from popular songs for her own work might be a strategy that's not easily accessible to artists whose dad's aren't billionaires. Her song "7-11" sounds a lot like "Teenage Dirtbag," and in a promotional video for the song, she wears a shirt that says, "My lawyer can beat up your lawyer."

Even if Lefty's billionaire family doesn't have direct ties to the music industry, access to so much wealth can cover a multitude of licensing and lawyer fees. She can afford to riff on already popular songs to boost her appeal, while other emerging artists likely could not.

Lefty is not the only artist whose parental influence is being put under a microscope right now.A scroll through the charts at the moment will yield you a list of artists with successful parents, varying from those who simply have some industry connections to those who are undeniable household names. There's Audrey Hobert, the star of NPR's latest Tiny Desk whose dad is a writer and producer known for Scrubs and The Middle; Malcolm Todd, Hobert's brother who just scored a Gap ad and a VMA nod; Gracie Abrams, daughter of blockbuster writer-director JJ Abrams; and VMA nominee Magnus Ferrell, son of comedian Will Ferrell. Being related to someone well-connected in the industry is hot right now. 

"If a family connection gets you a meeting, I can't call that a scandal. It's natural for a parent to open any door they can for their child. Most of us would do the same," Jay Siegan, a longtime music executive, tells Yahoo.

It's the most surefire way to skip past the pesky "unknown" phase of stardom and get access to resources that artists with day jobs don't have. But Siegan notes that "the door only stays open once. The audience is the great equalizer, and either someone resonates, or they don't." 

The boom in stars with famous lineage isn't entirely new. What's different now, compared to the past when nepo artists like Ziggy Marley, Hank Williams Jr. and Rosanne Cash were developing their own careers with a boost from their parents' coattails, is just how much we're talking about it. Nepotism has become an obsession in the 2020s, in a world where people are constantly suspicious that there are unseen influences everywhere. It's hard not to resent the people who seem to have been born with a leg up in life.

Multiple music industry publicists tell Yahoo that it's best to be upfront about nepotism status from the beginning, because it'll inevitably become something the public fixates on. Maxwell James, who works in entertainment publicity, says he'd recommend "acknowledging the advantage without making it the center of the artist's identity." 

No matter how hard you try to downplay it, audiences can tell when artists have benefitted from access, resources, relationships and early exposure, James explains. They'll need to prove themselves with their talent, showing that they belong at the upper echelon just as much as someone who's gifted but didn't get a head start. 

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Lefty says it's obvious to her that there's going to be chatter about her father's wealth, "which I totally understand." "Me and my dad have spoken about this a lot since I even started music. He was like, 'The truth will set you free,'" she says. The interview didn't reveal any more of her thoughts on how her parentage affected her career, though. 

There's really no denying that nepo babies have opportunities that other artists don't. For instance, Magnus Ferrell got an instant boost in fame when his dad played a snippet of his song on Michelle Obama's podcast this summer, though he wasn't necessarily an overnight success. Many of them also had parents rich enough that they never had to approach "starving artist" territory. Not needing a day job while you plug away at your craft is a massive luxury.

James says the worst thing a nepo baby can do is appear defensive about whether they "deserve" their success. Gracie Abrams was praised for acknowledging in an interview with the New York Times' Popcastthat she has "privilege" and a "safety net" afforded to her by her parents' status in Hollywood — and their wealth. "That allowed me the ability to experiment and to concentrate and I had the gift of time to dedicate to doing this thing I loved. I wasn't growing up afraid financially, and that's the biggest deal," she says. 

That may elide, nevertheless, what really matters: connections. Those contacts could be vaguely in entertainment, where a meeting can go a long way, or it could be specifically within the opaque music industry. There's a difference between Billie Eilish's parents, who were working actors, and Clairo's dad, who was a high-level marketing exec with label connections. That sparked debate about which artists might be industry plants, a common concern among music fans worried that an up-and-coming star might be "planted" on the charts by record labels, rendering them inauthentic and unworthy of their success. 

Nepotism doesn't guarantee success, of course. Plenty of celebrity and industry children try and fail, while random singers take off on TikTok all the time. Though let's be honest — any breakout success on an algorithm-driven platform, be it a streaming service or a social media site, can always have paid promotion behind it. As I type this, there's a massive ad for Lefty's album dominating my Spotify homepage. 

Nickie Robinson, a music marketer, notes that a lot of these nepo babies honed their talent in the first place because they could afford tutoring and lessons from a young age. She sees it as a gift, but one that should be acknowledged by the beneficiary.

"Remember, labels only care about numbers, and most nepo babies have a substantial following from their parents and associated proximity bias. Why not leverage it?" she says, admitting they sometimes get on her nerves when she notices how plainly their parents can open doors for them. But, just like everyone else, they have the option to ignore the haters and just keep working. 

"In this industry, you cannot care what people think. They will always have something to say, regardless," she says. Might as well let them. 

One of the group members, Sophia Laforteza, announced on Aug. 7 that she's taking a break from the group for mental health reasons — roughly five months after singer Manon Bannerman did the same. Four active group members remain ahead of the Aug. 14 release of their latest batch of songs, Wild.

The story of Katseye is fascinating. Its members are international; the songs are in English but forged through K-pop methodology. It's a collaboration between Hybe (the South Korean company that created the ultra-powerful K-pop mainstay BTS) and Geffen Records (owned by Universal Music Group) throughThe Debut: Dream Academy. The YouTube reality show pitted gorgeous triple-threat performers from across the globe against each other on "missions," in which they were split into groups to perform songs and choreography. Fans would vote on their favorites, whittling 20 contestants down to six group members. The result is an absolute performance machine, fine-tuned by fan adoration and hard-fought competition. 

Over the past year, Katseye has been up for Best New Artist at both the VMAs and the Grammys. Their fans, known as Eyekons, have lifted them to an impressive 20 million TikTok followers. Their 2026 Coachella performance drew massive crowds, and they're scheduled to take the stage as a foursome at Olivia Rodrigo's inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in August. Their cultural impact even extends beyond music: Last year's viral Gap jeans ad was so widely praised that professors taught it in college marketing classes. Katseye's accolades just keep piling up — and so does the pressure on the members. 

Just being in a girl group alone requires a massive amount of "emotional synchronization," therapist Rachel Needle tells Yahoo. 

"You're not just responsible for your own performance; your success, public image and career are intertwined with several other young women navigating the same intense scrutiny," she says. "That creates a unique combination of comparison, pressure and interdependence that can be psychologically demanding." 

The members of Katseye became part of the group after being judged for their looks, personalities and talents — and that judgment hasn't stopped just because the competition show ended. In a girl group,,the pressure to be perfect comes with the challenge of both blending in and standing out. Members have to balance potential solo careers with the appearance of total equality and friendship among members. 

Katseye's success adds even more pressure to an already volatile ecosystem. Given the history of girl groups, the format seems destined to fall apart. 

Lauren West-Rosenthal is a pop culture expert who specializes in the Y2K teen mag era that saw the heyday of girl groups. She recalls Geri Halliwell (aka Ginger Spice) leaving the Spice Girls at the height of the group's fame, citing exhaustion, depression and creative tensions. All the members went on to release solo projects, but none were as beloved as their 2007 reunion.'It happened over and over again, West-Rosenthal explains: In the 2000s with Dream, 3LW and Destiny's Child, and again later with Fifth Harmony. Some groups can launch superstars, such as Beyoncé and Camila Cabello, but their departures devastated the original acts. 

"The Spice Girls … introduced a formula no one had ever seen before. Each member projected a distinct persona that fans saw themselves in and felt empowered by. … Girl groups never had that level of individuality before," West-Rosenthal says. "Combine that dynamic with the 'girl power' movement, and it created a whole new kind of frenzy. But that magic relied strictly on the chemistry of all five original members." 

Girl groups, for the most part, have the same target audiences as boy bands: young women and girls, who come away inspired and empowered. Boy bands, however, represent a different fantasy — one that elicits swoons and the exploration of their sexuality. A fan pledging their loyalty to one favorite group member, like One Direction's Harry Styles or NSync's Justin Timberlake, is a core part of the experience of fandom. 

As a result, audiences expect cohesion and perfection from the girl groups they look up to, and that's not always the case for boy bands. Leaving a girl group for your own career pursuits is diva behavior, but it's expected of the brightest stars in boy bands. "The playbook is not fair or balanced," Rosenthal says. "Pop culture tends to expect boy band alums to evolve into solo stars, but girl group alums must justify standing on their own." 

We don't know whether the women of Katseye who are taking a break from the group will ultimately pursue solo careers, but that's not unusual in K-pop. The group Blackpink, for instance, hasn't technically broken up, but its four members, Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie and Rosé, may be among the first to collectively outshine their original union in their solo work. 

K-pop fans are notoriously intense, especially now that the genre has become a mainstay in America. So is the culture of K-pop groups in general, where even higher levels of achievement are demanded in performance, appearance, social media presence and fan engagement. 

"That kind of relentless pressure can create chronic stress, even for incredibly resilient young performers," Needle says. 

It's not unusual for these groups to take breaks. For instance, BTS briefly went on hiatus as its members fulfilled South Korea's mandatory military service requirement, pursuing solo projects along the way. 

Needle is hesitant to say that Katseye is "falling apart" just because it has two members taking mental health breaks. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes. 

"I think it underscores the extraordinary psychological demands placed on performers in today's pop industry, particularly within K-pop-inspired systems that emphasize constant performance, perfection and public visibility," she says. 

Aiden Levy is a Gen Alpha teen who has grown up with streaming, smartphones and TikTok. But the soundtrack to his childhood has always been the Beatles.

At just 15, he's the youngest host in the history of SiriusXM's The Beatles Channel. Through their show We Want to Tell You, Levy and cohost Elizabeth Bonker are helping reshape Beatles coverage for a new generation.

Levy and Bonker bring warmth, humor and genuine fandom to the show. But the show stands out for another reason: Both are nonspeakers with autism who use text-to-speech technology to share their commentary.

"I'm amazed that technology allows a nonspeaker to host a radio show," Levy tells Yahoo. "I never imagined the possibility."

The long and winding road to radio

Levy was 6 years old when he communicated for the first time, pointing to letters on a letterboard, a tool for spelling out words. Because of autism and apraxia, the latter a neurological condition that affects motor planning, he can't speak or write with a pen. 

With a way to communicate came the ability to share what mattered most to him. That quickly became the Beatles.

"I shared that the Beatles were my favorite band, and Paul McCartney was my dream concert," Levy says. "The Beatles Channel became our primary radio station in the car after that."

One of the channel's programs, My Fab Four, invites fans to share their favorite Beatles songs. Levy's father, Piet Levy, a music reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, encouraged his son to submit his list in 2023. The following year, SiriusXM came calling.

Levy says SiriusXM's vice president of programming, Lou Simon, was intrigued by the perspective of a young Beatles fan who happened to be a nonspeaker and invited him to cohost the monthly show.

"It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life," he says. 

Levy already knew Bonker through her advocacy work following her viral college commencement address in 2022. As SiriusXM explored the logistics of creating a show presented by nonspeakers, Levy recommended Bonker, who soon joined him as cohost.

"It was important to me for our show to celebrate our love of the Beatles and talk about our mission to free nonspeakers from suffering in silence," says Bonker, the 28-year-old founder of the nonprofit Communication 4 All.

The new custodians of Beatles storytelling

More than six decades after Beatlemania, the band remains one of the world's biggest music brands, with new documentaries, anniversary releases and streaming introducing the Fab Four to successive generations. Levy and Bonker are among those now carrying that legacy forward. 

Their entry points reflect that perspective. Asked about their favorite Beatles movies, they don't name A Hard Day's Night or Yellow Submarine. Instead, Levy says Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back turned him into a superfan. Bonker's pick is Julie Taymor's Across the Universe, the 2007 movie musical built around Beatles songs.

Their expertise is self-taught and well-researched. Levy keeps a stack of Beatles books nearby while writing each episode. Bonker says she studies the songs themselves for inspiration and turns to A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles' Song as a reference.

Their generation may consume music differently than previous ones, but they say the emotional pull of the Beatles hasn't changed.

"Times are different, but the Beatles' music is eternal, and the big feelings they generate in a person are as powerful as ever," Levy says. "I imagine the joy I feel listening to the Beatles is similar to the joy a teenager experienced at the height of Beatlemania in 1964."

Bonker agrees. "I am 28 years old and can relate to the Beatles just as much as my mother and grandmother."

Courtesy of Elizabeth Bonker

A day in the life

Every episode of We Want to Tell You begins with Levy suggesting a theme — like animals and fictional characters. Then he and Bonker swap song selections and build the script together, passing it back and forth until it's complete.

Their words are then converted into audio using text-to-speech software and voices they selected themselves. Because Levy communicates by pointing to one letter at a time, producing about 10 minutes of finished commentary can take several hours. "It's a very long process," the high school student says.

Bonker credits Microsoft's Speech Studio for helping make their voices sound more natural. The result is a show that feels like eavesdropping on two friends obsessing over the Beatles.

There is "joy in our shows," says Bonker — and that's important. "People often associate disability with sadness. We want to show how people with disabilities have gifts to share with the world."

Beatles love

Levy has fulfilled his childhood dream of seeing McCartney in concert — twice — last fall. He also saw Ringo Starr live. The three separate shows were "the three greatest nights of my life."

He says McCartney and Starr have "gone above and beyond making us feel welcome." Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Dhani Harrison have sent messages sharing their support and love of the show, which "meant the world to me."

Courtesy of Aiden Levy

The positive feedback extends beyond Beatles royalty. 

"Definitely some of the most rewarding responses have been from nonspeakers and their loved ones who are so excited that nonspeakers are on the radio," Levy says.

Bonker recalls one listener, Carolyn, who told her she had to pull off the road because she was crying.

"Her son is a nonspeaker with autism, and we had given her hope that he, too, could learn to type to communicate and live a life filled with meaning and joy."

John Lennon and Paul McCartney sparred over creative control of the Beatles' sound, Michael Jackson and Prince squared off over album sales and the Ping-Pong table in the studio they briefly shared, while Elton John mercilessly took aim at Madonna over lip-syncing. 

Conflict is the cheapest promotion in music, Jeff Moore, a music marketing strategist and founder of Nuance Media Group, tells Yahoo. "Nothing gets people talking like a fight, and that attention sends people to the music," he says.

What pop stars feud over and who does the actual fighting has changed over time, though. We don't know exactly what happened to create the observed chill between Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, the biggest pop star in the world and her heir apparent, but it's their fans who are duking it out in X threads, TikTok comment sections and subreddits. The stars themselves are too savvy to jab at each other through the media — it's their devoted audiences who are monitoring their every move for potential shade and battling for total musical supremacy on the charts. 

In the streaming era, an artist's impact feels ephemeral. Algorithms have fragmented pop culture so much that most of us can't be confident that we even know who the biggest pop stars in the world are at any given moment — just the ones that have been selected for us on our feeds. Chart records and listening data, which once felt like industry insider jargon, are now the only empirical measure of who's truly on top, and as a result, a pop star's fan army often gets heated and granular about those numbers.

"One of the bigger shifts we've seen in the streaming era is that an artist's numbers are now part of their long-term legacy," Moore explains. "Chart positions and streaming milestones are updated in real time, so fans and the media follow them and treat them like a live scoreboard."

Fans become amateur data analysts and devoted foot soldiers to the cause, doing what must be done to boost their favorite artists to the top of the charts — buying songs instead of just streaming them, purchasing multiple album variants and streaming music even when they're not around to listen to it. A perceived feud heightens their competitive edge. In 2025, when fans interpreted Swift's song "Actually Romantic" as a shot at Charli xcx, streams for Charli's "Sympathy Is a Knife" increased 480%. The same thing happened for Kendrick Lamar when he was feuding with Drake. 

Swift is probably the biggest target in the music industry today because she's the benchmark — everyone is being measured against her. A shot against her becomes a story that drives attention, and thus streams for the perceived victor.  

At the heart of many of the pop stars' feuds, however, is a more tender neurosis than what all the mudslinging on Reddit threads might suggest: It's about who gets remembered as the top dog of their time and whose legacy outlasts their individual hits. Let's take a closer look at the ongoing beefs in pop music right now to see what's fact, what's speculation and what might be the real reason artists and their fans are so quick to head into battle.

Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift

When a then 17-year-old Rodrigo was catapulted to superstar status with the release of her single "Driver's License" in early 2021, she gushed about getting Instagram comments and gifts from Swift, her longtime idol. She said she's the "biggest Swiftie in the whole world." They met and took photos together at the 2021 Brit Awards. 

Things seemingly began to fall apart in July of that year. When Rodrigo's first album came out, Swift and her collaborator Jack Antonoff were credited as writers on her song "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back" because it interpolates their track "New Year's Day." Rodrigo told Rolling Stone that the bridge of Swift's "Cruel Summer" inspired the production of her song "Deja Vu" — but it wasn't until after the album came out that Swift, Antonoff and St. Vincent were given cowriter credits. 

No one can say for sure exactly what happened between the two women or their teams, but their public relationship noticeably cooled after that — there were no more effusive displays of public affection. Fans didn't hesitate to fill in the blanks and take shots. Was Swift being a ruthless businesswoman threatened by her own protégé? Or was she simply an artist fighting to be credited for her influence in the industry amid a concurrent battle for the rights to her masters? Was Rodrigo guilty of plagiarism, or merely inspired by an artist she grew up listening to? 

Speculation about tension between the two singers increased when Rodrigo's next album, Guts, came out in 2023. Were "Vampire" and "The Grudge" about Swift? Rodrigo told the Guardian she doesn't want to reveal who her songs are about, but she was surprised to hear that rumor. "I don't have beef with anyone. I'm very chill. I keep to myself. I have my four friends and my mom, and that's really the only people I talk to, ever," she later told Rolling Stone. 

Fast-forward through the years: Swift was spotted applauding Rodrigo at the VMAs and dancing along with her performance at the Grammys. In 2024, fans wondered if she wrote "Clara Bow," a song about the complicated pain of being compared to younger artists, about Rodrigo. A year later, they speculated that a line in her song "Father Figure" about the betrayal of a protégé might be a reference to Rodrigo as well, though Swift says it's about the TV show Succession.

Swift isn't entirely resistant to crowning an heir (not that she's going anywhere herself). She has hitched her wagon most recently to Sombr, and before that, Gracie Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter opened for Swift on tour, has performed with her onstage and served as the sole featured artist on her 2025 album. Given Carpenter's rumored beef with Rodrigo — we'll get to that in a minute — the alliance seems pointed. 

The purported Rodrigo-Swift feud may have started as an existential discussion about how legacy, mentorship and influence should be credited, but with the passage of time and both stars staying tight-lipped on the subject, it seems to have entered a new arena. With the recent release of Rodrigo's third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, fans are determined to prove who is the reigning queen of pop music — or at least who's coming for the crown. Their weapon of choice? The nerdy interpretation of chart data. 

Spotify declared Rodrigo's album the most-streamed album in a single day in 2026 by a female artist. Amazon Music announced it's its biggest first 24-hour streaming debut globally of any album this year (Swift, notably, does not have an album out this year so far). Rodrigo is breaking records left and right — the first artist to debut all three of her lead singles and all three of her albums at No. 1, and the only one to ever have her entire discography chart on the Hot 100.

And yet, Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You," a song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, coincidentally released just a week before Rodrigo's new album, blocked Rodrigo from debuting her latest single, "Stupid Song," at No. 1. Swift's pop-culture supremacy remains unmatched. 

Still, Rodrigo's early-career momentum shows that she's the closest thing Swift has to competition. That's enough to send shock waves through Swiftie camps and get them marching back to the trenches. Even if the two pop stars were to publicly make peace, it's unlikely that their fans would stop pitting their records against each other. It's the best ammunition they have. 

Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter 

At the same time in 2021 when "Driver's License" was turning Rodrigo into a bona fide megastar, it was turning her fellow former Disney Channel child star Carpenter into a pariah. Whether or not Carpenter was "that blond girl" that Rodrigo mentions her former lover moving on with in the song, fans ran with the rumors. In "Because I Liked a Boy," Carpenter laments how she received "death threats" and was reduced to a "homewrecker" and a "slut" because of a situation that, though unconfirmed, sure sounds a lot like her alleged love triangle with Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett. 

Carpenter, Rodrigo and Bassett may have written several songs about each other over the years, depending on who you ask — beyond the singers themselves, because they'll deny it. But when Carpenter's own superstar moment came with the release of "Espresso," a goofy song of the summer that doesn't seem to be about much of anything at all, she developed an identity entirely separate from Rodrigo. 

"I think she's great," Rodrigo said of Carpenter in a 2026 interview with British Vogue. "I'm so happy for all of her success, too. I love the album she's put out."

Aside from Carpenter's embrace of Swift's endorsement, they don't seem to be on opposing sides anymore. Their fans aren't on the friendliest of terms, but Rodrigo's camp seems focused on breaking Swift's records over everything. Until I see them together in footage that's higher-quality than trailcam Bigfoot, I must declare this feud lukewarm but technically ongoing. 

Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish

By now, you're picking up on the fact that Swift is involved in a lot of these tussles, even if she's staying mostly above the fray these days. Her early career was in some ways defined by her years-long, very public beef with Kanye West, but she also skirmished with the likes of Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj. Swift's confessional style of songwriting, her paradigm-shifting career as an artist, as well as her highly engaged fan base all contribute to her being a lightning rod of controversy.  

She's also far from the only one to attract that kind of attention. Back in her heyday, Madonna went at it with Elton John for decades, and fought with Lady Gaga over the similarities in their work. They've all since buried their respective hatchets, but women at the top of the pop charts are easy targets for those hoping to cement their own legacies. 

It's a double-edged sword — picking a fight makes a pop star look petty, but some fans like that. Having a fight picked against you can be annoying, but it often results in increased streams for the winner. In the case of Kendrick Lamar and Drake, Lamar was declared the winner so broadly, his streams increased 49% while Drake's decreased 5%. 

At the same time the rappers were going at it via pointed diss tracks in the summer of 2024, fans thought they detected much more subtle shade between Eilish and Swift. 

Swift's Tortured Poets Department, which came out on April 19 of that year, was holding steady to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's album chart leading up to the May 17 release of Eilish's Hit Me Hard and Soft. At that time, Swift released a new batch of limited edition album variants — a tactic she's been known to deploy to hold on to her spot on the charts by generating a fresh wave of sales. Swifties argued that the timing was coincidental — of course she'd want to hold on to her top position the second it starts to slip — but Eilish's fans saw this as sabotage. Ultimately, Swift won the chart war and stayed at No. 1. 

Swifties were particularly satisfied because it seemed Eilish had been shading Swift for months. Ahead of the release of Tortured Poets, Eilish told Billboard she finds the practice of releasing vinyl albums to drive more album sales and move up chart rankings "wasteful." She later clarified that she wasn't trying to single anyone out. 

In a May 2024 interview with Apple Music, Eilish expressed disdain for overtly autobiographical songwriting — another classic Swift tactic, though Eilish didn't do any name-dropping. Over the next few months, this happened repeatedly. Eilish questioned why billionaires exist, and Swift is one. Eilish said playing a three-hour concert would be "literally psychotic," and that's kind of the core offering of the Eras tour. 

This particular feud — intentional or not — seems particularly hollow, waged largely through mysterious innuendo. Eilish may genuinely be opposed to the way Swift operates a business, but they're not turning their beef into songs or even going back and forth. Their fans are doing all the fighting, and it's playing out on the charts.

Taylor Swift and Charli xcx 

It's lucky for fans that Swift is often one side of various beefs because there's nothing she does better than revenge. Remember when fans were expecting a breakup album about her partner of six years, Joe Alwyn, but got one about her slow-burning situationship with Matty Healy instead? Allegedly, of course, since Swift wouldn't actually say his name. 

Still, it seems highly probable that he's at the center of her feud with Charli xcx too, but not in a Rodrigo-Carpenter-Bassett way. Charli, who was friendly enough with Swift in the 2010s to perform as a special guest and open for her at concerts, is now close with Healy and is married to George Daniel, his bandmate from the 1975. Fans believe she wrote "Sympathy Is a Knife," a 2024 song about feeling insecure around a superstar who she doesn't want to see backstage at her boyfriend's show, about Swift. 

In an interview with New York Magazine later that year, Charli said the song is more about her own mind than any particular person. For the same profile, Swift told the magazine that she's been impressed by Charli's musical abilities for years. 

So what happened between that time and 2025, when Swift released "Actually Romantic," which fans think is a more direct shot at Charli? In the song, Swift says she heard someone refers to her as "boring Barbie" when they're using cocaine, that this mystery antagonist high-fived her ex and that she's glad he ghosted her. Even more pointedly, she sings that this person "wrote a whole song saying it makes you sick to see my face," but she finds this apparent one-sided vitriol to be romantic. Did I mention that Charli has a song called "Everything Is Romantic"? Seems relevant. 

Days after "Actually Romantic" came out, Charli posted footage in a recording studio, leading fans to believe she was recording a response — but she never did. Or at least she hasn't so far. The next album is due out July 24. For the record, Charli loves Rodrigo's new song.

There's an undercurrent to this beef that's all about the ineffable attempt to cement a legacy and define yourself as an artist. Who has real cultural cachet and the "it" factor? Charli's Brat album could never get more streams than Tortured Poets, and her Sweat tour wasn't nearly as big as Eras, but the internet collectively decided that 2024 was "Brat" summer. Some fans see this feud as a struggle between someone who's truly cool and someone who's undeniably powerful. 

Decades from now, will we see the most influential artists of the decade as the ones who make all the Top 10 lists, or the ones who brought back partying through an existential crisis? 

SZA and Nicki Minaj

Minaj is almost singular in her willingness to spark a feud with … well, pretty much anyone who's in her line of sight. Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Remy Ma, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, Lil' Kim and Meek Mill all caught heat from her for a whole host of reasons.

One of her most interesting beefs, though, is the random fight she picked with SZA in July 2025. To make a long story short, Minaj posted negatively on X about Top Dawg Entertainment president Terrence "Punch" Henderson, who was also SZA's manager until late 2024. Around that time, SZA — without tagging Minaj in any way — posted, "Mercury retrograde .. don't take the bait lol silly goose." Minaj responded to that post directly, insulting SZA's appearance and voice, to which SZA answered back, "My parents are healthy and I'm the most successful I ever been. GET SOME F---ING PERSPECTIVE n BARK AT THE WALL !!!"

Minaj came for that in her next response more explicitly: "SZA if every song you've ever done vanished right now the music business wouldn't even miss you. I've been to countries that never heard of you," she posted. She went on like that for a while.

The exchange seemed to reflect the issue at the root of many of the feuds of this era: insecurity about one's stature and longevity, no matter how many accolades you've collected. Minaj's catalog is lengthy and responsible for several of the most iconic lines in rap, but it's been a while since she had a huge chart hit, save the reemergence of her 2012 Justin Bieber duet "Beauty and a Beat." SZA, meanwhile, is currently at the top of her game. On paper, they're hard to compare. Fans will still try, though, pitting them against each other whenever they get the chance. 

On the swanky blue carpet ahead of the show, singers, industry titans and TV personalities couldn’t stop buzzing about the joy of embracing down-home yeehaw culture — whatever that means to them. More than two dozen of them were delighted to share the most country antics they’ve gotten into over the past week. Some played blackjack. Some bought cowboy hats, mucked out horse stalls and chewed tobacco. And then there’s the band that survived a near-plane crash … 

Tyler Cameron, reality star, Bachelor Nation 

“I built my vegetable garden.  … [There aren’t] many vegetables right now, but I built the boxes, we got all the pebble rock in, made it paved out and made it all nice, built the gate and fence and all that.”

Alexandra Kay, singer-songwriter

“Staying up until 3 a.m. last night and being in hair and makeup at 7 a.m. ... That is some corn-fed stuff right there. I always say if you’re gonna wallow with the hogs at night, you better be able to fly with the eagles in the morning.” 

Mindy Small via Getty Images

Lauren Alaina, singer-songwriter

“I mowed the grass before I came here, and I got bug bites on my back and we had to cover them up with makeup. I mowed like five acres before I came here! … I love to mow … I get on the zero turn and I’m just out there listening to podcasts or music and mowing my heart out.”

Caroline Jones, singer-songwriter and member of the Zac Brown Band

“Taking my 2-and-a-half-year-old naked swimming in the river.” 

Brandi Cyrus, actor and DJ 

“Cleaning my horse’s stalls, I guess. That’s pretty country. … I love Kacey [Musgraves]’s new song. The line is, ‘Everybody wants to be a cowgirl until it’s five in the morning, and it’s cold as hell, and the work isn’t going to [do itself].” That’s me every day, guys!

Queen Noveen, voice actor and announcer 

“The most country thing I’ve done this week is go shopping for cowboy hats, because I honestly don’t own one. Being able to personalize it and put different beads and feathers on it. …  I was like, ‘I’m loving this, honestly!’”

Mōriah, singer-songwriter 

“Spending time with my family. That’s something that [is part of] country culture and Hispanic culture. We really value being with family. My cousin did my makeup, and my other cousin came up from L.A. and did my hair. It’s a family affair!”

Taylor Williams, reality star, Love Island 

“I’ve been paying vet bills [for a horse owned by his girlfriend and costar, Clarke Carraway] all this week.”

Graham Barham, singer-songwriter 

“I didn’t wear no shoes yesterday.  … You know what’s crazy? I sat down at the craps table last night with no shoes on, and people were looking at me sideways. And I was like, ‘Why is everyone looking at me?’ Then I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ I lost them for a little while, but then my drummer found them, so I got them back now. … We’re a little different around here.” 

Denise Truscello via Getty Images

Braxton Keith, singer

“Lose money at the blackjack table.” 

Corey Heim, NASCAR driver 

“I don’t have a whole lot of exposure to country music, but we’re representing Tyler Reddick, and he’s got the ACM scheme on, so that’s probably the most country thing we’ve done this week.” 

Emily Ann Roberts, singer-songwriter

I went and saw Blake Shelton at his residency at Caesars Palace, and you would’ve thought that afterwards we would be talking about music or something about business, but we were in a battle deciding who had planted more tomato plants in their garden. …. Blake won. I almost think he’s pulling my leg because we planted 129 tomato plants and he says him and Gwen planted 130. 

David Becker via Getty Images

Cody Johnson, singer 

“Work cattle. ... I leave tomorrow for Alaska for a 10-day grizzly bear hunt in the Alaskan wilderness.  … If I win Entertainer of the Year, there’s not a grizzly bear safe in Alaska.” [Author’s note: He won — look out, bears!] 

Atlus, singer-songwriter

“Just a lot of drinking, I guess. Drinking, hanging out … tequila or whiskey.” 

Isaac Gibson, lead singer of 49 Winchester

“We’ve been playing country shows. … We did one in a cave … two nights in the Caverns down in Pelham, Tenn.  We’ve got a lot of country stuff we’re about to do because this is our last day of the spring tour. We’re home for like 12 days …  so we’re going to fish really hard.” 

Blake Pendergrass, songwriter 

“I don’t know if it’s country, but I feel like it’s to the spirit of it: doubling down on blackjack when you’re probably going to lose.” 

Kimberly Perry, lead singer of the Band Perry 

“We have a toddler. He’s 2-and-a-half years old, way past the bottle. So he found his bottle in the attic and wanted us to fill it up again. I was like, ‘Baby’s back on the bottle, just like mommy and daddy!’” 

Kristian Bush, singer-songwriter and former member of Sugarland

“The most country thing I did this week was take out a package that’s been sitting in my closet for 17 years that my singing partner in my country band Sugarland gave me … and I wore [those cufflinks] for the first time. … Thank you, Jennifer Nettles, you are one of my best friends. Thank you for giving these to me!” 

Mindy Small via Getty Images

Michael Bublé, singer-songwriter

“I went to church. I listened to ‘All My Exes Live in Texas’ about 43 times. I think I was kind and courteous. That’s why I love being invited into this community, because they’re my kind of people. I very much feel like I belong here.” 

Kameron Marlowe, singer-songwriter 

“I’ve been kind of bougie this week. I’ve been touring on the bus and sleeping in a lot … [so] I ordered $200 in sushi to my room yesterday.” 

Marcus K. Dowling, editor at large at Veeps Magazines 

“I rode a mechanical bull for the second time. [The first time,] I fell off. [The second time,] eight-second ride, baby!”

Ian Munsick, singer-songwriter 

“I got to sing a song with Emily Ann Roberts, and anytime she speaks and you are in her presence, you become a little bit more country. She’s from the mountains of East Tennessee and that is a different kind of country out there. … It’s its own language.” 

Libby Vodicka, reality star, Age of Attraction 

“I went to the beach and I drank — not a beer, but a little margarita. I had a hat on. I was like, ‘I’m so country!’” 

George Birge, singer-songwriter

“Shine my boots up. … You gotta wear boots on the carpet. You gotta make sure they’re shined up.” 

Ashley Cooke, singer-songwriter

“I ran around in the mud with my dog outside for like an hour. … Chance is a little goldendoodle puppy. He’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. He looks like fried chicken. He’s that brownish-red color. He’s a big fluffball!” 

Andrew Bishop and Zach Rishel, members of the Red Clay Strays

Bishop: “I drove my 2000 F-250 Super Duty to our private jet to fly here. That’s pretty country.”

Rishel: “Then we almost died in that private jet. … Part of our engine cowling fell off during takeoff.” 

Bishop: “We had to circle Mobile [Ala.] for about two hours to lose enough fuel to land again.” 

Dasha, singer-songwriter

“I pulled a beef stick out of my purse and ate it on the plane. … [I have one] locked and loaded at all times. You gotta, man.” 

Danae Hays, comedian

“Chewed tobacco. A fan dared me to do that, and I was like, ‘Why not?’ … It made me sick.” 

As I sat in the MGM Grand Garden Arena surrounded by fans, artists and industry professionals, I couldn’t deny that what used to be a total bro-fest is now dominated by women. Ella Langley, the new queen of modern country, won a whopping seven awards, including Song of the Year and Single of the Year for “Choosin’ Texas” and Female Artist of the Year. Megan Moroney was the most-nominated artist of the night with nine nods, but she skipped the ceremony to be the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding. Just as well: She somehow went 0-9.

Between star-studded performances and delightful appearances by host Shania Twain, I gossiped with reality TV stars, spied on celebrity interactions and got the scoop on the artists getting fans most excited these days. Let me tell you all about what you didn’t see onscreen. 

Not your average awards show 

Unlike the Oscars or the Emmys, the ACMs are more of a concert with a few awards sprinkled in than an actual awards show. It’s a hoot.

It also has the strangest layout for any awards show I’ve ever seen. In front of the stage are two fan sections, where an employee instructs them on when they should clap, raise their hands or sway.

Then the entire floor space is covered with tables, where industry professionals are assigned seats to mingle. I know because I accidentally went down there when I was looking for my seat — a mistake so grave that an usher repeatedly told me I’m very much not supposed to be there, and urged me to reveal who let me in. 

I found it fascinating that they often displayed the lyrics to songs on a teleprompter while artists performed, as if they were doing karaoke.

Ella Langley’s stardom cannot be overstated

Not only was Langley the biggest winner of the night, but she was the recipient of constant thunderous applause. Before the show began, a dance remix of “Choosin’ Texas” played in the arena, and fans sang along like it was the national anthem. A publicist sitting near me gave me advice on how to maintain bangs like Langley’s. I haven’t seen a woman in country music ascend to superstardom this quickly since Taylor Swift. 

I kept an ear out for the stars who drew the biggest applause. Riley Green and Cody Johnson definitely generated enthusiasm. When Tucker Wetmore took the stage, the women sitting around me were abuzz about how cute he was. Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen, who weren’t there for the ceremony, had crowds amped up when their names were called as nominees. 

John Shearer via Getty Images

The gossip was flowing

I was unexpectedly seated in a section filled with influencers and reality TV stars I had spoken to at the red carpet just a few hours before the show. To my left was Libby Vodicka, a 23-year-old breakout star of Netflix’s age gap dating show Age of Attraction, who was hilarious and predicted all but one of the award winners that night. Someone please get this woman a podcast immediately! 

Vodicka and I were delighted by how much the women performers, like Langley and Kacey Musgraves, had people on their feet. We were charmed by Avery Anna, whose energetic, rock-infused performance fell into a genre Vodicka described as “female rage music” — Moroney, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift also fit the bill. We bonded over struggling to tell the difference between Green and Wetmore, both of whom sported mustaches like Wallen. There’s a facial hair epidemic sweeping the genre right now. 

Another random nugget of gossip that kept coming up was the fact that Keith Urban, who briefly appeared at the ceremony to present an award, had jumped into the foot-deep pool at a concert the night before. I was there, and merely dipping my toes into the faux ocean at Mandalay Bay Beach made me feel like I was turning inside out like a slug touching salt. He is built different. Wetmore apparently signed a fan’s shoe with eyeliner at the same event. 

You just had to be there 

I always keep a watchful eye out for what celebrities are doing when the cameras stop rolling. I saw Shaboozey and Twain chopping it up in the dark on stage during a commercial break as if they were old friends. Musgraves sat patiently perched on a washing machine in the dark for at least two minutes before her performance started. Langley and Lainey Wilson sneaked away for multiple outfit changes throughout the night. 

Ethan Miller via Getty Images

During the performances, I caught a few moments that made being in the audience in person feel truly special. When Avery Anna launched her drumsticks into the crowd, they rolled under a woman’s chair and she didn’t even flinch. After Cody Johnson’s patriotic rendition of “Travelin’ Soldier,” a section of the crowd chanted “USA! USA!” until the next star took the stage. Blake Shelton closed out the show with a cover of “The Gambler,” which had the whole crowd — Vegas, baby! — smiling and singing.

Filing out of an arena directly into a casino wasn’t ideal, but I couldn’t help but crack up. A sea of disgruntled cowboys stretched out before me as far as I could see until I arrived at my hotel, shuffling at a glacial pace. It gave me time to think about just how much fun it is to watch a slate of the buzziest performers in country music all in one night, affirming who’s a can’t-miss artist and sending me straight to Spotify to check out the ones I hadn’t heard of, like Carter Faith and Zach Top. What a delight. 

‘

Shania Twain revolutionized the music industry with her genre-bending hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s. There’s no denying she’s the blueprint for so many artists — male and female, country and pop. She knows a thing or two about how difficult it is to challenge the norms of the tradition-obsessed country music machine, though that didn’t stop her from becoming the top-selling female country-pop artist of all time. As the host of this year’s ACM Awards, to be held on Saturday in Las Vegas, she’s aware that women have had to claw their way to the forefront of the industry. 

“There’s more … awareness that we need more balance,” Twain tells Yahoo. “Diversity is stronger among the women right now. They’re so different from one another — they are presenting originality and that is demanding space.” 

Country music has long been defined by its distinctly Southern sounds and themes. Banjo-plucking, guitar-strumming, accent-heavy songs about family, drinking, boots and trucks are both a stereotype and a reality. The industry hasn’t always been open to experimentation. Breakout stars, like Twain, often have to transcend the genre entirely to create an image and a musical catalog that can’t be denied by the bigwigs in country radio, who remain powerful gatekeepers even in the age of streaming. Twain had to defy them in the ‘90s. 

Even after she made it big, purists criticized her for leaning too far into rock and pop. She says that when she first started performing at age 8, the genre was more accepting of different people and sounds — folk rock, dance country, country western and Southwest music could coexist. 

“We had a little bit of everything,” she says. “I want to see us go back to where we were in our open-mindedness. There were more doors open then to variety and [style]. Let’s go there again and let’s open it up.” 

It wasn’t just her crossover sound that the industry was resistant to. She was told she was too opinionated to attract male fans and too sexually expressive for women. Her music video for “What Made You Say That” — where she bared her midriff and got cozy with a shirtless hunk — was banned from CMT, but that’s the image that would go on to make her a star. She was sexy, funny, outspoken and hard to categorize all at once.  "Nashville hadn't seen anything like Twain [before] — a leopard-print-loving, midriff-exposing artist determined to be an international star,” the Independent’s Roisin O’Connor has written of Twain. 

Twain’s willingness to rebel against  the country machine, particularly her 1995 album, The Woman in Me, ended up changing it for good. Taylor Swift credits Twain for inspiring her country crossover. Carrie Underwood says she “paved the way” for a lot of women in country, whether they realize it or not. Post Malone, Harry Styles, Halsey and Rihanna have all cited her as an inspiration. 

Still, the country remains difficult for women to break into, compared to men. Two decades after Twain’s star-making moment, radio consultant Keith Hill made headlines for saying that “if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out.” Per his metaphor, if the genre is a salad, women are the tomatoes and men are the lettuce. The 2015 controversy is now called “tomatogate.”

In 2026, women in country music have made significant inroads, getting respect from major genre institutions like the ACM Awards and radio stations, though there’s still a ways to go. Twain says embracing originality is the path forward for country music, which she wants to take global. 

Photo illustration: Andrew Footit for Yahoo News; photo: Timothy White

“The doors in country music should never be closed, period. So let’s start there. Whether it’s men or women or whatever it is,” she says. “Let’s take ourselves all over the world. We’re worthy of that, right?” 

Twain knows better than anyone that a distinct sense of style and a unique offering is so important. 

“When I was a kid, country music was so glamorous. Even the men were glamorous!” she says.  “Over the top, but amazing.” 

Everyone from the Mandrell Sisters to Crystal Gayle were strikingly individual — and fabulous. “The culture was more about, ‘How can I look my best while making an impact?’ I think women are a big part of that,” she says. 

Reflecting on the country music industry now, Twain sees her early self in “quite a few artists.” Lainey Wilson immediately came to mind — especially her “positive thinking.” 

“I always thought that, ‘OK, if I can manage my nerves and I can remember to smile, keep myself buoyant, that … will energize me,’” Twain says. “I see that in her.” 

I can’t help but tell Twain that Sabrina Carpenter, with whom she’s dueted multiple times, reminds me of her. Carpenter isn’t technically a country singer, though her twang shows up prominently in “Please Please Please” and “Manchild.” 

“Isn’t she just like a reincarnation of Dolly Parton?” Twain laughs.

Maybe she is, but Twain, who credits Parton as an early influence, is certainly part of that family tree that’s branching out all the time, as country music continues to mint superstars like never before. 

Even before the ceremony, this year’s nominations had already sparked conversation across the country music world, with women dominating many of the show’s biggest categories.

Leading this year’s nominees was Megan Moroney with nine nods, including Entertainer of the Year, following a massive year that cemented her as one of the genre’s defining new voices. On Sunday, she posted on Instagram that she would be skipping the awards show to be maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding. She ultimately did not win any awards.

Miranda Lambert followed closely behind Moroney with eight nominations, while breakout star Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson each earned seven. By the end of the night, Langley swept, earning seven awards in five categories, including Female Artist of the Year. In two categories — Song of the Year and Single of the Year, both for her song “Choosin’ Texas” — she was awarded multiple trophies, as the Academy of Country Music recognizes songwriting and recording contributions separately.

Chris Stapleton led all male artists with six nominations, while neo-traditional standout Zach Top earned five nominations in a breakout showing for the rising star. Neither of them won an award.

The nominations also delivered a few surprises. Morgan Wallen received major nominations, including Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year, but was absent from the Male Artist of the Year category — one of the most notable omissions on this year’s ballot. He also didn’t win an award.

Fan-favorite collaborations were also heavily represented in the Music Event of the Year category, including Langley and Riley Green’s “Don’t Mind if I Do,” Megan Moroney and Kenny Chesney’s “You Had to Be There,” and “Trailblazer,” the multigenerational collaboration from Reba McEntire, Lambert and Wilson. Langley and Green won.

The full list of 2026 ACM Awards winners is available on the official ACM website. Take a look at the major categories and winners below.

Entertainer of the Year

• Luke Combs

• Jelly Roll

• Cody Johnson — winner

• Megan Moroney

• Chris Stapleton

• Morgan Wallen

• Lainey Wilson

Female Artist of the Year

• Kelsea Ballerini

• Miranda Lambert

• Ella Langley — winner

• Megan Moroney

• Lainey Wilson

Male Artist of the Year

• Luke Combs

• Riley Green

• Cody Johnson — winner

• Chris Stapleton

• Zach Top

Group of the Year

• 49 Winchester

• Flatland Cavalry

• Old Dominion

• Rascal Flatts

• The Red Clay Strays — winner

Duo of the Year

• Brooks & Dunn — winner

• Brothers Osborne

• Dan + Shay

• Muscadine Bloodline

• Thelma & James

New Female Artist of the Year

• Avery Anna — winner

• Mackenzie Carpenter

• Dasha

• Caroline Jones

• Emily Ann Roberts

New Male Artist of the Year

• Gavin Adcock

• Vincent Mason

• Shaboozey

• Hudson Westbrook

• Tucker Wetmore — winner

Album of the Year

• Zach Top, Ain’t in It for My Health

• Carter Faith, Cherry Valley

• Riley Green, Don’t Mind if I Do (Deluxe)

• Morgan Wallen, I’m the Problem

• Parker McCollum, Parker McCollum — winner

Song of the Year

• Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton, A Song to Sing

• Megan Moroney, Am I Okay?

• Ella Langley, Choosin’ Texas — winner

• Zach Top, I Never Lie

• Lainey Wilson, Somewhere Over Laredo

Single of the Year

• Megan Moroney, 6 Months Later

• Ella Langley, Choosin’ Texas — winner

• Zach Top, I Never Lie

• Lainey Wilson, Somewhere Over Laredo

• Cody Johnson, The Fall

Music Event of the Year

• Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton, A Song to Sing

• Shaboozey & Jelly Roll, Amen

• Riley Green feat. Ella Langley, Don’t Mind If I Do — winner

• Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, Trailblazer

• Megan Moroney & Kenny Chesney, You Had to Be There

Visual Media of the Year

• Megan Moroney, 6 Months Later

• Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton, A Song to Sing

• Stephen Wilson Jr., Cuckoo — winner

• Lainey Wilson, Somewhere Over Laredo

• Cody Johnson, The Fall

Songwriter of the Year

• Jessie Jo Dillon — winner

• Ashley Gorley

• Charlie Handsome

• Chase McGill

• Blake Pendergrass

Artist-Songwriter of the Year

• Luke Combs

• Riley Green

• Ella Langley — winner

• Megan Moroney

• Morgan Wallen

Ella Langley wasn’t a Stagecoach headliner this year — but she might as well have been.

Ahead of last week’s country music festival, the singer had just pulled off quite the feat: dethroning Taylor Swift as the queen of modern country music thanks to her No. 1 hit “Choosin’ Texas” having a weeks-long grip on the Billboard Hot 100. (Her album, Dandelion, has also surpassed records set by Beyoncé, marking one of the most explosive runs in recent country music history.)

But on the ground in Indio, her ascent felt less like industry momentum and more like consensus.

As I crisscrossed the festival grounds for Yahoo and spoke to fans about their love of country music, her name came up again and again — from Gen Z-ers there for the first time to a 78-year-old dieharder named Candy, who had circled Langley’s set as a must-see.

During that 50-minute performance on Friday, Langley sang hits like “Choosin’ Texas,” “Dandelion” and “I Can’t Love You Anymore” (minus the song’s collaborator, Morgan Wallen). And in lieu of Riley Green accompanying her for their chart-topper — 2024’s “You Look Like You Love Me” — podcaster Theo Von made his way onto the stage.

The festival grounds were packed with fans from just about every demographic. “We were in the crowd singing every single word to every single song that Ella had. That speaks volumes right there,” a young man named Jackson told me. He and his three friends all “110%” identify as Ella’s Fellas — the nickname that Langley-loving men wear with pride. 

Not surprisingly, Ella’s Fellas thought she should have been tapped as a headliner (the honors instead went to Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson and Post Malone). “She was way better than anyone else,” said Jackson. One middle-aged woman chimed in: “She needed more time, and we needed more time from her.” 

On that, at least, there was agreement. But when it came to everything else — what country music sounds like, who belongs in it and where it’s going — opinions felt far less settled. Stagecoach, more than anything, made that divide visible in real time.

Country’s center

Morgan Wallen wasn’t on the Stagecoach bill this year, and Riley Green’s Saturday night performance got 86’d thanks to a dust storm that left attendees reaching for their bandanas. But if mainstream country circa 2026 had a Mount Rushmore, they’d be on it, judging by how often their names were brought up. 

For some of the youngest fans I ran into, there’s no question. “My daughter can sing pretty much every Morgan Wallen song,” Anthony, 37, told me of 5-year-old Aleigha. In the car and at home, those songs have become part of their shared language.

Jason Kempin

Bella, 7, and Cash, 8, both named Wallen as one of their favorites. “Honestly, he knows all the songs, and they’re all about drinking,” Cash’s mom, Sierra, 37, told me in the desert. She grew up with The Chicks, Martina McBride and Tim McGraw — artists she feels are now harder to find on the main stages. “I don’t even know the big guys, to be honest, because mine are from back in the day.” She laughed. “[Cash] knows more of the people here than I do.”

Emma, 18, has been listening to country “since I was super-duper young” thanks to the influence of family and friends. Now her favorites include Cody Johnson and Treaty Oak Revival — newer names, but ones she connects with in the same deeply personal way. Others, like 27-year-old Taylor, still move between eras, naming Brooks & Dunn alongside Green, Langley and Wallen. Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs were also absent from Stagecoach, but were each shouted out several times. 

So even country’s biggest stars aren’t quite the unifying force they might appear to be. Instead, they operate more like overlapping circles — shared by some, skipped by others and constantly shifting depending on who’s listening. If you know Nashville, you know there’s always been a push and pull between old-school country and whatever comes next. But at Stagecoach, that tension feels especially pronounced, playing out in real time as fans disagree not just on artists, but on the very definition of the genre.

The divide

The question of what counts as country music came up almost as often as the artists themselves, especially with crossover acts like Post Malone (whose F-1 Trillion boasts a who’s who of country collaborators) and Beyoncé (who won the Best Country Album Grammy and Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter after being shut out of the CMA Awards), and even genre-blurring artists like Hardy (a country-rock singer-songwriter who has collaborated with Wilson, Wallen and Langley). 

For some fans, that expansion is exactly what’s made the genre feel bigger than ever. “There is such a diverse array today of what is considered country,” said Kiera, 31, who has been a fan since middle school. What once felt like a more traditional, all-country Stagecoach lineup has, in her view, opened up — and with it, the audience. “It’s gotten more diverse, which is great.”

Others pointed to those same shifts as proof that country can color outside the lines. Ann, 32, recalled moments from across the weekend — Bailey Zimmerman covering Miley Cyrus, Cody Johnson welcoming Boyz II Men to the stage, Post leaning into old country classics — that drew some of the loudest reactions. “It’s cool how universal the music is,” she told me. “Everyone loved that.”

And that stretched well beyond traditional country. On one stage, rapper BigXthePlug drew a massive crowd for his bass-heavy set, including “Texas,” while Teddy Swims took the main stage later in the weekend to showcase his soulful tunes. For some, it felt like a natural extension. Others found it harder to square with the idea of a country festival.

Artists like Dasha, Megan Moroney and Avery Anna also came up in conversations about how people are finding country music now — not through radio, but through TikTok, Instagram and word of mouth. “There's this ability for a female artist to get noticed on a public platform that doesn't require being a part of the traditional ways of making it in the country industry,” said Kiera. In those cases, twangy tunes aren’t something you grow up with so much as something you stumble into. 

Anthony sees that shift firsthand with his kids, who move easily between genres and artists. For him, the question isn’t whether someone belongs in country, but whether the music itself does. “If it fits, it shouldn’t really matter who sings it,” he said, pointing to songs like Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em” as an example. “If you want your genre to grow, why not?”

Not everyone is convinced.

“Country is not as country anymore. It’s basically pop,” Bachelor Nation alum Alexe Godin told me. “Bring us back Johnny Cash.” The comparison between the old and the new sounds of country came up a lot.

“I don’t know if this is a hot take, but ’90s country is way better than the country that’s out now,” said Blake Horstmann, also from Bachelor Nation. But he likes to stay open-minded. “The coolest part about country music is that it can be anything. … If you’re a storyteller, then it’s country music.”

Others echoed that tension between appreciation and loss. “You just can’t top the ’80s and ’90s,” said Levi, 48. Chris, 55, was more direct. “I don’t like rap being in country,” he said. “I like the old school.”

Even Candy — who counts herself as a fan of both Langley and Post Malone — acknowledged the shift. “It’s gone more rock,” she said. “There’s some rap in it now. It makes it interesting, but sometimes you don’t feel like you’re listening to country.”

For all of the people who appreciate the evolution and expansion of the genre, there are folks who see it as unfamiliar or even a dilution of the sound that they’ve long loved. Which means that while country music may be reaching more listeners than ever, there’s less agreement on what, exactly, they’re all listening to.

Country is not as country anymore. It’s basically pop.Alexe Godin

The overlap

For all the back-and-forth around what country music is right now, moments like Langley’s set made it feel a little less complicated. She was one of the only artists I heard people of all ages bring up in the same way — not as a debate, but as a given. Not many artists had sparked that same fervor.

Part of that is timing. Langley is coming up in the middle of all of this moment — amid streaming, TikTok and crossover artists — where people are finding country music in completely different ways. But part of it is simpler than that too. Her songs hit. People connect to them. They know the words.

For some, it may sound like the country music they grew up with. For others — like the new converts who stumbled upon a Langley track during their TikTok scroll —  it’s totally fresh. And while that tension does exist, it doesn’t keep anyone from showing up or from finding something they like. 

Country music might be bigger than it’s ever been, but it’s harder to pin down — except every once in a while, like those 50 minutes on a Friday night when a massive crowd sang: “Excuse me. You look like you love me.”

The guest list alone read like a snapshot of where music is right now — and where it’s headed: Teyana Taylor. Zara Larsson. And the Oscar-winning KPop Demon Hunters trio — Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — bringing global star power.

Yahoo was on the carpet talking to more than 15 artists spanning different genres — pop, country, hip-hop — and the message was surprisingly unified: There’s never been a more expansive (or exciting) time to be a woman in music. “Everybody here’s an inspiration to me,” Mariah the Scientist, who took home the Rising Star award, told us, summing up the tone of the evening in a single sentence.

That next-gen energy was everywhere, especially in artists like Ella Langley. Fresh off a buzzy Stagecoach set, the “Choosin’ Texas” breakout is not only making noise in country, she’s also making history, recently breaking a decade-old record held by Taylor Swift. 

“It means that my head’s spinning around like an owl,” Langley joked on the carpet when we asked her about the milestone moment. “You ever seen that? It’s pretty scary. It’s nuts. I’m just excited.”

Inside, the energy only ramped up, with high-gloss fashion, emotional speeches and performances that felt less like a victory lap and more like a handoff from one generation of powerhouses to the next.

Below, take a look at the best moments from the night, from standout style to the quotes and superlatives that defined it.

Most ‘new to you, not to me’: Zara Larsson

Rich Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

The Swedish pop star brought the energy early with a high-octane performance of “Midnight Sun,” which had Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami dancing and singing from their seats. Larsson used her Breakthrough Artist win to gently (but firmly) reframe the narrative. Yes, she’s having a moment. No, she’s not new.

“There are so many years of hard work behind an overnight success,” Larsson told the crowd, reflecting on what she described as a long-awaited career renaissance.

In her speech, she got even more candid about the shift that got her here: letting go of chasing trying to be “the best” and instead becoming “the most me.” The result, she suggested, isn’t a sudden glow-up — it’s alignment. And maybe that’s the real breakthrough.

Best from-the-heart moment: Ella Langley

Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

Introduced by fellow country star Lainey Wilson, who praised her friend as “still Ella,” despite all the recent success, Langley delivered one of the night’s realest moments. She first took the stage for a stripped-down performance of her record-breaking No. 1 hit “Choosin’ Texas,” setting the tone for what followed.

Then came the speech, and at an event where teleprompter hiccups were already in play, Langley ditched it altogether.

“I really tried to write a speech for a long time, and then I procrastinated until right now,” she laughed, before shouting out her largely female team.

What followed was entirely off the cuff. “To me, ‘powerhouse’ is strength. It’s resilience. It’s coming back when you don’t necessarily want to, but you feel like, I’m going to fight for this,” she said. “This is something I’ve wanted to do my whole entire life. … There wasn’t a day I wanted to be anything else.” 

Most worth the wait: Teyana Taylor

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images

Fashionably late and immediately forgiven, Taylor was the last to hit the carpet. That cut into her interview time, but she made up for it in the best way possible: stopping to hug every person in her path on the way inside.

Introduced by legend Dionne Warwick — who earned one of the night’s few standing ovations — Taylor was honored as Billboard’s Women in Music Visionary, a title that fits her multi-hyphenate career to a tee After a stripped-down performance of “Bed of Roses,” she took the stage and thanked her mother.

And despite earning critical acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for her acting work, Taylor made one thing crystal clear: “Music is my first love.”

Most daring look: Tyla

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images

Tyla didn’t just wear a look — she owned it. The singer stepped out in a barely there, feathered ensemble that felt equal parts high fashion and fearless, with a dramatic open back and textured detailing that moved with her every step. It was the kind of outfit that requires total confidence, and she delivered, turning the carpet into her runway without missing a beat. We were all talking about it on the carpet.

Most electric performance: Thalía

Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

When you’re receiving the Icon award, expectations are high — Thalía lived up to them. The trailblazing Mexican singer-actor brought the room to life with a high-energy medley of “Piel Morena” and “Amor a la Mexicana,” complete with a mariachi band that had the audience on its feet.

For Thalía, the performance was a full-circle moment. “I want to dedicate this award to the little girl who I once was,” she told the crowd. “To every single kid who dares to dream big: Do not stop.”

Most ‘wait … are you going to run L.A.?’ energy: Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt

Rich Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

While Spencer Pratt continues to roll out campaign videos in his very real (and very online) bid to become mayor of Los Angeles, he took a rare step back on Wednesday, avoiding the red carpet and letting his wife shine.

And she had plenty to celebrate. More than a decade after its release, her 2010 album Superficialsurged to No. 1 on the iTunes all-genre charts last year — a surprising second act that came just days after the couple lost their home in the Palisades fire.

Montag told Yahoo that while the past year has been incredibly difficult, it has also reignited her passion for music. 

“This has been the best and the hardest year of my life. … I think we’re getting through a lot of the hardships and starting to focus more on the good — what’s next, what I want to do with my life,” she said, noting a new album is on the way this summer. “Life is short. … I just want to work hard, balance being a mom … and now a supportive wife.”

That “supportive wife” mode is also a nod to the campaign trail — a role that, if things keep trending this way, might just come with a title upgrade.

Most ‘still Golden’ energy: Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images

Less than two months after their awards season victory lap, the trio reunited onstage and closed out the night in a major way. Fresh off being named Women of the Year, they treated the crowd at the Palladium to a performance of their hit “Golden,” bringing the room to an emotional, energetic finish.

But it was their message that lingered. “Music doesn’t see race or gender; it only asks for the truth,” Ejae told the crowd. “When I brought my full truth into it — my voice, my Korean-ness, my women-ness — everything began to shift.” She added, “As a woman, our power has never been in fitting in.”

Most angelic voice: Laufey

Rich Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

If anyone in the room wasn’t already familiar with Laufey, they were within seconds. The pop-jazz artist took the stage to perform “Silver Lining,” and the reaction was immediate. “Oh my God,” one woman next to me whispered the second she opened her mouth, a sentiment that quickly spread across the room.

Honored as the evening’s Innovator, Laufey used her speech to zoom out, shifting the focus from herself to the women around her. “It feels funny to accept an award as an innovator, because I really do feel like every woman in this industry is an innovator,” she said. “We’re all here today not only because we pushed for change but because we made room for each other.”

Most personality: Mariah the Scientist

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images

Mariah the Scientist brought the emotion to the stage with a performance of “Rainy Days,” showing exactly why she’s one of the genre’s most compelling voices right now.

Earlier on the carpet, she kept things just as real. Asked which woman in music she’d call for advice, Mariah immediately clarified: “Business advice or relationship advice?” Her answers were just as specific, tapping Latto and Kali Uchis for business and adding Ciara into the mix for matters of the heart.

Best humble brag: Diane Warren

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

The songwriting legend is a fixture on just about every major carpet — from the Oscars (where she’s racked up 17 nominations) to the Grammys and beyond — so it felt fair to ask which ones she actually enjoys the most. Her answer? Instantly iconic.

“I prefer the movies because that means I’m nominated for an Oscar,” she said, before adding with a laugh, “I’m keeping that shit real.”

Most ubiquitous plus-one: moms

VALERIE MACON via Getty Images

Call it a theme of the night: Moms were everywhere, either physically or in spirit. Laufey, Zara Larsson and countless others shouted out their mothers while accepting awards, turning the evening into a heartfelt (and very public) thank-you.

Teyana Taylor took it a step further, bringing her parents along — and giving the audience one of the night’s funniest moments. After a teleprompter mishap, Taylor that revealed her mom had some thoughts backstage. “It was so dope watching you curse them out back there,” she joked, earning big laughs from the crowd.

So how'd I end up in the desert last weekend wearing a bandana and boots and singing my heart out to Cody Johnson's "'Til You Can't"? The short answer: Post Malone (and — full disclosure — an invite from T-Mobile, which hosted the festival's Club Magenta). The longer version: The shift that the genre is navigating in the TikTok era — new sounds, new algorithms and new superstars like Ella Langley — and how it's luring in "anything but country" folks like me.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kerry Justich

I arrived as an outsider in an Amazon bolo tie. Three days, one dust storm and a Diplo DJ set (complete with line dancing) later, I left feeling like I'd found my people — or, at least, a newfound appreciation for twangand the fans willing to share it with me. 

The lineup: A little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll, a little bit Mr. Worldwide

Though Stagecoach is the country counterpart to Coachella — where, ahem, many festivalgoers told my colleague Kelsey Weekman that they were sick of Morgan Wallen & Co. ruling the charts — its 2026 lineup blurred the lines between Nashville and … everywhere else. Sure, there were belt buckle belters like Wynonna Judd and Little Big Town — but also Pitbull and Ludacris. Meanwhile, Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, the Wallflowers and Hootie & the Blowfish scratched that '90s nostalgia itch. 

I didn't have a nostalgia itch; what I did have was a raging case of Post Malone-itis. Thanks to his 2024 album F-1 Trillion (and the Wallen collab those Coachella attendees were complaining about), the tattooed rapper had built up enough country cred to be named one of three Stagecoach headliners, alongside Cody Johnson and Lainey Wilson. As a true-blue Posty, I had to be there. 

I also had to see Diplo's Honky Tonk stage — where Marshmello, Loud Luxury, Two Friends and even my fellow New Jerseyian, DJ Pauly D, turned country staples into bass-heavy remixes, complete with line dancers moving in sync under a mirrored disco horse — with my own eyes. The electro-meets-Amarillo mashup shouldn't have worked, but it did, pulling some of the weekend's biggest, most unexpected crowds.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kerry Justich

Even the more traditional country hitmakers weren't afraid to veer out of their Grand Ole Opry lane. Bailey Zimmerman did a cover of Miley Cyrus's "The Climb," and Brett Young sang Justin Bieber's "Yukon." As a pop music girlie, I lived for these crossover moments, but I wasn't alone — the denim-clad folks around me were cheering just as loud. 

It wasn't always this way; Stagecoach's roots are very much country or bust. The first lineup, in 2007, boasted George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson and not a DJ in sight; its "activations" included saddle making and lasso seminars. While those pillars of country haven't been erased (multiple artists covered honky-tonk classics, and there were horses, haystacks and line dancers galore on the festival grounds), what counts as country these days isn't so easy to define in the era of Cowboy Carter, "Old Town Road" and Luke Combs's spin on "Fast Car." And then there's the influence of social media platforms like TikTok, where viral hits from Langley, Zimmerman and BigXthaPlug reach people who wouldn't otherwise be tuning into country radio. People like me. 

Some of the festival attendees I spoke to prefer those classic country vibes, telling me they skipped out on the stages featuring newer or non-country acts. Others were rolling with the times. 

"My husband was an old-time country fan, like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, and I kind of progressed with the newer [artists] while he stayed in the past," Candy, 78, told me. "I love the lineup this year."

"Country music has definitely changed," Levi, 48, agreed. "There are a lot of new artists, but it's amazing."

Jorts, bandanas and failing the cowboy boot test

If I wanted tofeel like I belonged at Stagecoach — where Daisy Dukes, cow print, fringe and corsets reign supreme — I had tolook like I belonged. 

I figured the two fringe jackets and three Western belts I already owned would help me blend in with the crowd. A fedora? Good enough. (Reader, I've worn a cowboy hat once, and it was for a friend's bachelorette in Austin.) 

But I needed more. I snagged some real-deal cowboy boots from Lainey Wilson's Golden West brand and bought a bolo tie off Amazon. Another must: a bandana, which I packed after festival regulars on TikTok told me the accessory was less of a fashion statement and more of a survival tool against the desert dust. (This would prove to be correct.) I was also advised that heel guards were the secret to walking miles across the festival grounds without feeling like I'd stomped barefoot over some cactus. 

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kerry Justich

I was proud of the jorts and boots I paired for the first day, and relieved that I fit in with the majority of attendees in their best country-core outfits: suede jackets, leather shorts, denim vests and the occasional splash of patriotic red, white and blue. There were some outliers in the all-ages-and-vibes-welcome crowd: A group of women who looked to be in their 70s wore head-to-toe sequins as they made a beeline for Dan + Shay, and some Pitbull fans sweated it out in bald caps in a nod to Mr. Worldwide himself. 

Of course, my own personal cowgirl cosplay didn't fool everyone. Chris, 55, told me the real test of an authentic country fan was in how worn the soles of their cowboy boots were. I glanced down at mine. Stiff, spotless, unmistakably new and screaming, "As a matter of fact, this is my first rodeo." Chris didn't judge. "That's all right," he said. "I'm just happy you're here, whatever the draw is."

Sydney Sweeney, Guy Fieri and zero pretense

By the end of each day, I'd logged nearly 19,000 steps — about nine miles — weaving through crowds. At times, it felt less like a festival and more like the Fourth of July in a small town: kids tagged alongside their parents, who were half-watching them and half-watching the stage, groups of friends spanning generations and the mouthwatering smell of barbecue — much of it courtesy of Guy Fieri himself — hanging in the air.

The presence of kids threw me. At 10:50 p.m., strollers still rolled by. Families posted up on picnic blankets in general admission, unfazed by the hour. During Ludacris's set, I turned to see a child sitting in a stroller beside me, fighting sleep as his mom bopped to "Money Maker." 

During Cody Johnson's night one headlining show, I noticed something else: not a lot of phones. No sea of screens, no scramble to capture the perfect clip. People stood in groups, dancing, singing, fully in it. At one point, Johnson mentioned walking through the campgrounds and seeing people from all walks of life — with different backgrounds and tastes in music — all ending up in the same place. 

That included some famous folks too — but this was a far cry from the influencer Olympics that is Coachella. T-Mobile's Club Magenta — where Teddy Swims, Madelyn Cline, Dylan Efron and Bachelor Nation folks like Blake Horstmann and Joey Graziadei hung out for most of the weekend — provided a VIP experience without the exclusivity that you'd assume. Anybody with the network is allowed in — no invite-only or RSVP situation — which meant regular festival goers had access to the same bar, activations and view of the T-Mobile Mane Stage as the A-listers. (Not to mention the couches and portable chargers, which helped get me through the finish line of my first festival.) Celebrities like Sydney Sweeney, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis could also be spied soaking up tunes along with the normies. 

The brand activations, including Sweeney's own Syrn Saloon for her lingerie company, were refreshingly low-key. The Euphoria actress made headlines for doing karaoke in a plunging minidress with celebrity pals. When I walked through the swinging doors, I found a random duo of Stagecoachers on the mic while others played darts. It felt more like a chill bar than a brand experience — albeit one decorated with Syrn panties and bras. Again and again, I was reminded of something I'd read on Reddit threads ahead of my trip: "This isn't Coachella." 

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kerry Justich

And then came the dust storm

The only time the weekend felt like it might unravel was when the desert reminded everyone where we were. On Saturday, a dust storm rolled in fast, sending festivalgoers running for cover.

I was among the hundreds of people in line for Diplo's Honky Tonk, when the winds started knocking cowboy hats loose. Palm trees were swaying and the sky went dark, but Marshmello's set was still going strong, and from what I could tell, Little Big Town was still singing. This must be that desert wind people talk about, I thought.

Turns out, 40 mph winds aren't normal. An emergency evacuation was prompted. Luckily, I was with a friend, plus one girl who asked to join us after she got stranded from her group. Cell service worked just enough for her to reunite with them before we made it to the exit, shuffling our way out to the parking lot with thousands of others. 

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Kerry Justich

Despite the drama, the festival's chill spirit prevailed; nobody seemed all that agitated. If anything, people were bummed that they'd be missing Riley Green, Journey and maybe even Lainey Wilson — though her set was ultimately just delayed. By the time we got the green light that the show would go on, I had stripped off my dirty clothes, put on pajamas and was ready to hit the hay. (That would be the proverbial hay — not the actual hay all over the festival grounds.) 

Gone country(ish)

Thanks to the dust storm, I missed Wilson — who headlined in ab-baring brown leather — and Pitbull. But there was no way I was missing Post Malone's night three set, bringing the festival — and my Stagecoach adventure — to an end. As expected, the Texan leaned into his new country sound, covering Hank Williams Jr. and Toby Keith and welcoming Shaboozey onto the stage. I didn't know the lyrics — or even, I'll be honest, the song titles — of those covers, but I found myself swaying along anyway. It wasn't familiar … but it no longer felt foreign. 

Over three days, this Jersey girl found herself singing along to "Neon Moon," finding new appreciation for country artists old (Brooks & Dunn, on their farewell tour) and new (reigning "it" girl Ella Langley) and feasting on pulled pork in Western wear. I learned what country music fans mean when they gush about storytelling in the songs they love most — and how that storytelling doesn't have to sound the same way. And I discovered that the long flight home to New York City is sweeter with Noah Rinker's folk-pop-country tunes playing in my AirPods. 

It's too early to say if I'm a country convert — but I've got more scuff on my boots.

The honor — a somewhat arbitrary one, to be sure — is awarded to whatever tune dominates airwaves and playlists between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Billboard, which tracks the most dominant tracks from week to week, typically declares a winner in September based on what was streamed, purchased and played on the radio during the summer, although frankly, the victor is also crowned somewhat on vibes. Historically, the chosen song is upbeat, easy to dance to and unavoidable, blasting from speakers through open windows and on crowded beaches throughout the warmer months, so much so that you’re ready to never hear it again come fall. 

Past songs of summer include earworms like “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen and “I Had Some Help” by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. But things took a turn for the soulful last year when Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” emerged triumphant. The chart topper, which belongs to a genre that we  dubbed “secular praise music,” was unusually difficult to dance to for a summer song. It ended Morgan Wallen’s two-year streak, though his duet with Tate McRae, “What I Want,” came in second place. 

That doesn’t mean there’s no debate and dissent about the culture-defining anthem of each season. For instance, Charli XCX never topped the charts in 2024, but who could deny the existence of Brat Summer? During the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, I spoke with dozens of fans about their predictions. They might all have very different streaming service algorithms and relationships with the radio — RIP monoculture — but they’re certainly in-the-know about music. Here’s what they told us. 

Everyone really does want it to be 2016 again 

No shade to Alex Warren, but when I reminded Coachella attendees that he snagged last year’s song of summer title, I was met with mostly groans. They wanted bangers and were particularly nostalgic for the music of 2016. 

“We need Drake,” Haley, a 28-year-old from Los Angeles, tells me urgently. The world seemed a simpler place when “One Dance,” which debuted just before Coachella 2016, was the biggest song in the country, she explains.  A new Drake album called “Iceman” is reportedly defrosting on May 15, but will it hit as hard now that  Kendrick Lamar has eviscerated Drake  in their legendary beef? 

“Literally anything Justin Bieber” was a prediction I heard from multiple influencers at Revolve Festival, the swag-and-content-creation extravaganza that runs parallel to Coachella every year. Not a surprising sentiment, given that we spoke on the very day of Bieberchella, when chatter about the pop star was the go-to small talk conversation du jour. 

In the weekend after his performance, Justin Bieber saw a 165% increase in streams on Spotify, according to data shared with Yahoo. That includes songs from his 2025 albums “Swag” and “Swag II” as well as decade-old hits, like 2012’s “Beauty And A Beat.” Earlier this year, when there was a random wave of nostalgia for 2016, “Let Me Love You” by DJ Snake and Justin Bieber also reentered the Global Top 50, according to Spotify.

Bieber’s not the only artist to capitalize on culture’s retro mood this year: Zara Larsson has had an astronomic rise with “Lush Life,” a 2016 song that hit its highest peak on the charts in 2026 after Larsson wisely capitalized on a meme, rebranded her style and went viral with a catchy new dance. Before she made a surprise appearance on stage with PinkPantheress, several people invoked her name as a song of summer contender, including Veronica, a 21-year-old Coachella attendee from Sweden. She predicted that Larsson’s 2025 bop “Midnight Sun” — which is as relentlessly summery as its name — would see a resurgence soon and climb the charts. 

The main pop girls — and aspiring ones

The months leading up to Coachella 2024 served as a turning point for two huge popstars who performed that year in front of massive crowds: Sabrina Carpenter, who released “Espresso” ahead of her set, and Chappell Roan, whose “Good Luck Babe” came out just a week before that. It yielded such a 180 for Carpenter’s career, “her Espresso” became shorthand for a breakout moment, or a “ticket out of the Khia asylum” as pop fans would say. Carpenter’s moment has proved durable: As I stood around waiting for Carpenter’s headlining Coachella set, multiple people told me “House Tour,” boosted by its Bling Ring-themed music video, could ascend to song of summer status. 

But a new class of emerging pop girls is still in the running too. Slayyyter drew massive crowds with her club-friendly sound paired with a belt buckle and a trucker hat, capturing what music is all about now — vibes and aesthetics. “She’s really that girl,” Jayvon, a 28-year-old from Dallas, tells me before yelling “CRANK IT!” — a line from a Slayyyter song that has become a call-and-response for fans. Could her own version of Brat Summer be brewing? 

K-pop girl group Katseye’s performance generated buzz as well, though people weren’t talking about their music. Just before Coachella — and the song they released right before it, “Pinky Up” — the group announced that member Manon Bannerman would be going on hiatus. Cheers on her behalf echoed across the desert between songs. The crowd’s verdict on Katseye? I heard from many fans that while they put on an incredible show visually, they haven’t found their best hit yet. Sorry, “Pinky Up.” 

I left Coachella before Olivia Rodrigo dropped her first single in years, “drop dead,” so I didn’t get to do a vibe check. The following weekend, she debuted it on stage during Addison Rae’s set, the performance for which I was berated the most for missing after I returned home. 

Anything but country 

I mentioned earlier that country artist Morgan Wallen has claimed two of the last three songs of summer — and only narrowly missed winning last yeart Coachella, people were sick of it. 

"No country. That's enough country,” Jessica, a 29-year-old from Orange County, tells me. “No Morgan Wallen,” confirmed another person who overheard our conversation (the vibe at Stagecoach, Coachella’s country music sister festival, will likely be very different next weekend). I sense Wallen strumming a new hit as we speak. 

If the charts have anything to say about it, country haters might be out of luck again this summer. Even as Coachella catapulted artists like Bieber and Carpenter to the upper echelon of cultural conversation, Ella Langley, a rising country artist, was topping the charts with her new album  “Dandelion” and the single “Choosin’ Texas” clinching No. 1 on the Hot 100 for a seventh week. 

But at Coachella, the artist I heard named more than any other (besides Bieber) was Don Toliver, who performed at Revolve Festival. Men especially — including TJ Palma from Love Island — shouted out the singer. His pick for song of summer is “E85,” which is extremely popular on TikTok. Palma was there with his girlfriend and fellow Love Islander Iris Kendall, who pulled out her phone to confirm the name of her favorite artist of the moment, Sienna Spiro. “She’s going to be big,” Kendall tells me. Spiro’s song “Die on This Hill” is also big on TikTok. 

There are other dark horses in the race, too. I heard a lot of love for EDM and house music, particularly John Summit, a DJ who performed a surprise set at Coachella and Anyma, a Coachella headliner who had to cancel his performance that weekend because high winds put his set at risk (if you’ve ever seen a Anyma set, you know the scary robot person who appears behind him on screen is kind of a huge part of the draw). My husband will not stop telling me to listen to Nine Inch Noize, a collaboration between rock band Nine Inch Nails and EDM producer Boys Noize, after livestreaming their performance from home. 

I would be remiss not to mention how Taylor Swift was on many people’s lips, though she has not released new music this year and is rumored to be getting married this summer. That suggests to me that she might be a little busy to do the song of summer circuit, but I know better than to underestimate her. 

All in all, the vibe among festivalgoers was an almost desperate craving for something upbeat to shake ass to in the summertime — for what can only be called, knock on wood, recession pop. People are reaching back into the catalogs of Bieber and overlooking years of distaste for Drake in search of an escapist banger. They’re scrolling through their social media feeds in hopes that a new pop princess will be crowned. Pop stars, rappers, R&B singers and EDM dudes, hear our cry — the people need a danceable bop. You have until Memorial Day to turn in your assignment and have a shot at the song of summer. 

Langley’s song “Choosin’ Texas” held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks — the longest run from a song by a female artist that also hit No. 1 on the country charts. Swift set the record in 2012 with “We Are Never Getting Back Together” — one of her last non-pop hits. 

Langley told Yahoo’s Taryn Ryder on the red carpet of the 2026 Billboard Women in Music Awards that the milestone had her feeling like her “head’s spinning around like an owl.”

“You ever seen that? It’s pretty scary. It’s nuts. I’m just excited,” Langley added.

That’s not the only record she’s broken of late, either. According to Forbes, “Choosin’ Texas” surpassed Justin Bieber’s country collaboration with Dan + Shay, “10,000 Hours,” as the eighth-longest-running hit on the Hot Country Songs chart.

With long brunette waves that could land her a starring role in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and a bohemian-princess look, Langley resembles a “country boy’s dream girl” — something she acknowledges in a song with that title. “Choosin’ Texas,” meanwhile, is about the all-too-familiar feeling of seeing your ex move on with someone else. She pairs relatable songwriting prowess with the country twang that Swift has shed over the years. 

Langley hasn’t done many interviews, she keeps personal life largely under wraps, and she’s buttoned-up on social media, which is a rarity among her generation of stars.

“Country music is storytelling, and then you do it with a little bit of twang,” Langley says in an ad for American Eagle. “It's cool to be from such a small place and get to do such massive things.” 

Langley hasn’t done many interviews, she keeps her personal life largely under wraps and she’s buttoned-up on social media, which is a rarity among her generation of stars. Despite that understatedness, she has managed to ascend, drawing crowds of adoring fans at the country music festival Stagecoach. And she’s no one-hit wonder, either — her single “Be Her” is also climbing up the Hot 100, as is her collaboration with Morgan Wallen, “I Can't Love You Anymore.” Her latest album, Dandelion, debuted at No. 1.

Women in country have been gaining popularity steadily for years, and Langley’s pleasantly inoffensive persona and relatable songs come at exactly the right time to make her not just the next top country act like Shania Twain or Carrie Underwood but also a record-breaking, mainstream success. We haven’t had a star like that in over a decade. 

Who is this person, and why is she having a moment? 

Langley is a 26-year-old from Alabama. She’s been making music since she was a teenager but had her breakout moment in 2024 when her duet with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me,” blew up on TikTok. 

Her social media profiles mostly feature promotional snippets for her new album and clips from brand collabs. She’s eschewed getting more intimate and playful with her fans, in contrast to her more online counterparts Megan Moroney and Kacey Musgraves. Nevertheless, her 3.8 million TikTok followers are rabid for her, referring to themselves in the comments of her posts as “Ella’s Fellas” and “Langley Ladies.” 

I can’t get over the fact that, aside from her objectively flawless bangs, Langley doesn’t have much of a signature style or a distinct gimmick that catapulted her out of obscurity like Sabrina Carpenter’s tongue-in-cheek glamour or Chappell Roan’s drag-queen-inspired maximalism. Cynthia Todd, director of talent booking at the music video platform Vevo, calls Langley’s style “effortlessly cool” and reflective of the fact that “she had a clear sense of who she is from the beginning.” 

Langley said at a 2025 concert that she wanted to take a break after her 2024 album, Hungover, and her 2026 release, Dandelion, because she “had to live some life,” signaling how important honesty is in her songwriting. “What the hell do y'all want me to write songs about? Nothing? You know, I had to love somebody in between these last two records to make a record,” she continued. Her brand is low-key but also authentic, reflective of what even non-country fans appreciate about the genre. It’s about storytelling and vibes. 

Langley’s ability to both maintain a connection to the traditional country music machine and also generate buzz online is what sets her apart. Spotify streams, Shazams and TikTok activity for “Choosin’ Texas” all peaked at the same time she broke Swift’s record, according to data shared with Yahoo by the Beats + Bytes & Chartmetric Stat of the Week Newsletter. At the same time, she was getting plenty of country radio play — a necessity for a song to blow up on the Hot 100. There are more stations in the U.S. specializing in country music than any other format, and radio has more influence over a country song’s success than other genres. 

That’s partially why it’s so hard for a new country star to be born — and what makes Langley’s rise even more impressive. If you haven’t ever heard of her before, you might just not be listening. 

Why is this moment important for country music? 

It has historically been hard for female country stars to outshine their male counterparts, both within country music and on the national stage. 

For a while it seemed like women were shut out of the upper echelons of country music on purpose, which blocked their path to wider success. In 2015, radio consultant Keith Hill made headlines for saying that “if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out.” He compared women in country to the “tomatoes” of a salad — as in, they’re not the lettuce — leading to a controversy called “tomatogate.” 

Marcus K. Dowling, a longtime country music journalist and editor-at-large at Veeps, tells Yahoo that there’s been a dramatic sea change in recent years. It began in 2020, when Miranda Lambert’s song “Bluebird” blew up, with Lambert vocally pushing back against the airplay machine that favored men. Her success paved the way for stars like Musgraves, Moroney, Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini and eventually Ella Langley. Musgraves won Album of the Year for Golden Hour at the Grammys the year before, and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won in 2025. Women in country are undoubtedly having a moment culturally.  Now that moment is becoming more obviously commercial and hitting mainstream listeners with Langley’s meteoric rise. 

“Ella Langley slides perfectly into the moment, and it’s not just her. … If you walk into any Target in America right now, there’s a pink aisle full of Megan Moroney’s merchandise,” Dowling says. “If you go to a Buckle in any shopping mall, you’ll see Lainey Wilson’s Wrangler pieces. If you see live country music on tour, Carter Faith is opening for Jelly Roll and Post Malone.” He adds that Musgraves has a new album out soon, and Lana Del Rey has been threatening to release her country album for months. 

Some artists like Mickey Guyton and Sara Evans still say not much has changed — they’re still struggling to get the radio airplay necessary in country music to top the charts. Others say it’s not great, but it’s getting better. Either way, it’s no longer a conversation that gets swept under the rug.

“What has changed is we're saying that out loud now in ways that had been a bit more hush-hush or a bit more easily brushed off 10 years ago," Kate Duncan, director of the School of Music and Theatre Professions at Loyola University, New Orleans, told Yahoo in 2025. "I think there are some really good — we'll say crowbars — cracking some light into the the [underrepresented] industry spaces, but we are in the red so significantly with representation that we just need an influx of help to make it more equitable and to make it a safe space for underrepresented people of all those categories."

But why did it take so long for a female country artist to top the Hot 100 for multiple weeks in a row? “Math,” Dowling says with a laugh. For a new star to emerge, chart mainstays like Swift, Bad Bunny and others had to cool it with new releases. There are just a lot of genres to compete with and a lot of stars with superfans to usurp. 

The masses aren’t as afraid of a woman with a bit of a twang and impressive songwriting prowess as the chart drought may have suggested.

There’s also the effect of Morgan Wallen, the genre’s biggest star and resident bad boy, who has hogged a lot of the real estate by going No. 1 for several weeks of the summer every year for the past three. In 2023, when country music consumption in the U.S. grew by 23.8%, Wallen’s One Thing at a Time was the top album of the year across any genre.

But the masses aren’t as afraid of a woman with a bit of a twang and impressive songwriting prowess as the chart drought may have suggested, Dowling says. Sabrina Carpenter, who’s from Pennsylvania, donned a bit of an accent and hit No. 1 with songs like “Please Please Please” and “Manchild.” Though those songs aren’t technically labeled country, they have all the elements of the genre. Despite no one being able to topple Swift as a mainstream country artist in years, our ears have been primed. 

Langley claims the genre wholeheartedly, with her flawless-yet-digestible aesthetics, her country-girl-next-door persona and witty songwriting abilities. She seems like the perfect artist to crown the next true queen of country music, as the industry slowly but surely gives women the attention they’re due. 

Does that mean a new era for women in country has begun, or just a new era for Langley? We’ll see when the weather heats up and songs about heartbreak, pickup trucks and beer become even more in demand. 

What’s even weirder is the fact that “Lush Life” was first a hit in 2016, and it’s not the first of Larsson’s decade-old songs to make a comeback. What’s going on here?

The pop singer’s career renaissance, which now includes a Grammy nod and a much-lauded performance at the ceremony’s pre-show, is largely thanks to TikTok. The app’s ability to turn a song into a smash hit is well-documented, but the pop stars randomly selected by the algorithm to have this kind of resurgence are rarely able to capitalize on their 15 minutes of fame. Larsson, however, is determined to turn her viral luck into something more enduring.

Who is this person and why are her older songs trending?

Larsson belongs to the class of mid-tier pop star whose songs you definitely recognize, although her face and name may escape you — she’s more than a one-hit wonder, but far from a household name. Her big break came in 2008, when, at 10 years old, she won Sweden’s version of Got Talent. She immediately got a record deal, and as she entered her teenage years, put out a number of hits, including “Ruin My Life” and “Never Forget You.”

Jamie McCarthy/WireImage via Getty Images

“I had amazing people who were helping me and have always listened to me, but being 14 in a room full of 40-year-olds, it’s kind of impossible to experiment and find out who you are,” she told i-D in 2026. Unsure of what she really wanted her identity and career to look like, Larsson fizzled out, until — completely randomly — a TikTok meme made her relevant again.

In August 2024, a TikToker posted a video of several Lisa Frank-style dolphin images set to Larsson’s song with Clean Bandit, “Symphony,” with the caption “I’m depressed.” The irony of the upbeat visuals and song and the downbeat messaging became a meme, and other users began sharing similar posts set to “Symphony” with captions like “I have social anxiety” and “I want to give up with my whole life.”

Instead of ignoring the trend’s absurdity, Larsson embraced it by posting her own version with the caption “What the f*** is happening.” Her video’s popularity transcended that of the original, and she began using dolphin imagery at her concerts and embracing a more beachy style, to better match the meme. She released a new song with this aesthetic, “Midnight Sun,” in June 2025, which earned her enough buzz to open for Tate McRae on her Miss Possessive tour, sparking a full resurgence in the U.S. Larsson then embarked on her own tour for her new Midnight Sun album. The single earned her a dedicated cult following of superfans and is now at its highest position ever on the Billboard Hot 100.

Larsson’s song “Lush Life,” similarly, first came out in 2015, and spent weeks slowly rising to its peak at No. 75 on the charts in August 2016. Nearly a decade later, in November 2025, a video of a teenage fan enthusiastically performing the song’s choreography on stage with Larsson went viral, launching it back into the zeitgeist, where it has once again begun to climb the charts. The dance is now a TikTok trend, and it’s at No. 40 on the Hot 100, a new peak position. According to data that TikTok shared with Yahoo, posts using “Lush Life” have exceeded 14.5 billion total views. Following in the path of other pop stars like Sabrina Carpenter and Role Model, who have honed the art of the viral concert stunt, Larsson too brings a fan on stage with her at every show, driving tons of views and chatter on social media.

Larsson is now working on a deluxe edition of her album Midnight Sun that’s due out in March, and in October, released her biggest hit yet — a collaboration with the internet darling PinkPanthress called “Stateside.” In the music video, Larsson acknowledges the popularity of her colorful Y2K aesthetic by swapping it with PinkPanthress’ plaid-infused, British one. Her initial nostalgia-driven resurgence might have been a fluke, but her comeback is real.

What does this mean for pop music?

Larsson has recovered from her flop era, a term used to describe the dreaded experience of trying but failing to reclaim your glory days. Dozens of other once-famous pop stars could only dream of the kind of renaissance Larsson has mounted. Working so hard to break out can be seen as cringe, but since Larsson’s entire resurgence was absurd, audiences don’t see her as a try-hard.

"I’ve already had success and then my ‘flop era.’ And then it’s like, ‘ok, I flopped.’ So, it doesn’t scare me anymore,” Larsson told ABC News in December.

Chimene Mantori, the founder of a music influencer talent agency, tells Yahoo that Larsson didn’t exactly fail — she plateaued. But the way the singer handled it could be a blueprint for other artists hoping to finally break out.

“I think audiences are quick to label quiet periods in artists’ careers as 'flops,' but music careers aren't linear — they're cyclical, especially in the modern day, where a TikTok trend can suddenly revive a dormant song,” Mantori explains. “She's let the audience dictate her direction rather than self-rebranding. She didn't overexplain, she didn't distance herself from memes — she took the moment and ran with it.”

Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images

A number of singers have broken out of the so-called “Khia Asylum” — that’s internet parlance for a lower tier of pop stardom where celebrities are seen as desperately striving for cultural relevance. They toil away putting out music and performing until they find the right combination of good music, iconic style and algorithmic luck to catapult them to stardom. Sabrina Carpenter did it with her bombshell rebrand on Short n' Sweet, Chappell Roan managed it with her embrace of drag aesthetics and undeniable musical prowess with “Good Luck Babe,” and Charli xcx had a monumental career breakthrough with her balance of hard-partying and vulnerability on Brat.

They can now welcome Larsson into their ranks. She’s now surpassed 50 million monthly Spotify listeners, and she’s not losing momentum. Imagine what she could do when her music and aesthetics actually match the weather outside.

The 68th Grammy Awards took over downtown Los Angeles on Sunday night, and from the jump, this one felt louder and more pointed than in recent years. With Trevor Noah back as host, the ceremony didn’t shy away from the moment we’re in — politically, culturally or otherwise. Jokes landed with bite, some with audible gasps, and the room felt fully awake in a way awards shows don’t always manage to be anymore.

Inside the arena, it was the kind of night where big, carefully planned moments lived right alongside the unscripted ones — tech hiccups and funny slipups that somehow made the whole thing feel more human. Politics loomed large throughout the telecast, but so did music-first moments that reminded you why the Grammys still matter when they get it right. There were performances that felt intimate despite the scale, crowd reactions that didn’t quite match what viewers saw at home, and a few exchanges that will almost certainly live forever online.

And then there was the celebrity watching. Did Miley Cyrus shade Lady Gaga? What does a Bieber date night actually look like up close? And which star quietly pulled the most attention in the room? After six hours on the red carpet, I watched the night unfold from high in the arena, close enough to spy on the action with the help of my phone’s zoom. Let me take you inside the show.

One big thing

It’s what everyone was talking and laughing about as we exited Crypto.com Arena.

Cher’s most delightfully chaotic moment of the night came during the Record of the Year presentation — and it technically started earlier. After accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award and speaking about longevity, the icon turned and began walking backstage, only for Noah to call out that she still had another job to do. Despite speculation online, that moment felt rehearsed. What came next did not.

When it was time to announce the winner, Cher paused, admitted she thought the name would be on a teleprompter, then briefly announced “Luther Vandross” — as in the famed singer who died in 2005. Vandross inspired Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” which was the actual winner for Record of the Year. Cher corrected herself, but it could barely be heard over laughter and applause as the winners made their way to the stage.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The room loved it. The crowd cracked up, especially my section, with whispers of “Best part of the night,” “We deserve a little levity” and “Oh my God, this is instantly classic.” Even better, the team behind the song leaned in. Producer Sounwave opened his speech with, “First and foremost, let’s give a shout-out to the late, great Luther Vandross,” before Lamar walked onstage, laughing, and summed it up perfectly: “This is what music is about.”

One political thing

From his opening monologue on, Noah made it clear he wasn’t tiptoeing around the political climate the way some recent awards shows have. One of the biggest laughs came at the expense of Nicki Minaj, who’s become one of President Trump’s most vocal celebrity supporters. “She is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues,” Noah joked, before continuing in a Trump impression: “Actually, Nicki, I have the biggest ass. Everybody’s saying it. ... Look at it, baby: WAP, WAP, WAP.”

Kevin Winter via Getty Images

But the line that drew more gasps than laughs came later, after Billie Eilish won Song of the Year. “That’s a Grammy every artist wants — almost as much as Trump wants Greenland,” Noah said, before adding, “Which makes sense, because since Epstein’s gone, he needs a new island to hang out with Bill Clinton.”

Noah capped it with a shrug to the audience: “I told you, it’s my last year! What are you gonna do about it?”

As it turns out, Trump’s answer appears to be: threaten to sue.

One misunderstood thing

Did Miley Cyrus really diss Lady Gaga? I’m making the case for: no.

A video circulated online of Cyrus seemingly looking bitter and not clapping after Lady Gaga beat out the former Disney star for Best Pop Vocal Album. I’m not sure exactly how it was cut on TV, but I have video of the whole crowd — Cyrus included — when Lady Gaga’s name was announced. Cyrus clapped right away. She actually clapped a lot as Gaga made her way up to the stage. She may not have stood up, but honestly, she didn’t stand a ton throughout the ceremony. Maybe her shoes were uncomfortable. Let’s give the girl a break.

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

One thing that wasn’t on TV

The Biebers are Little Monsters.

Justin, Hailey and Lady Gaga shared a sweet moment away from prying eyes. (OK, most prying eyes.) Admittedly, I got turned around trying to get from the red carpet inside Crypto.com and ended up in a holding area for celebrities before they hit the photo pit. I saw the trio run into each other and they seemed so happy to catch up before the craziness got going. I saw the couple give Gaga some kind of compliment (on her outfit? already picking up two Grammy Awards?) and the songstress just said, “Thank you so much.”

One couple’s thing

Speaking of the Biebers, there’s always so much noise around them. Read any headline or blog and it seems like they’re perpetually in a “rough patch.” One lip-reader even claimed they were testy on the red carpet, their first in four years. Well, I watched them most of the night, and it felt less like a spectacle and more like seeing one of my friends out on a date. Sorry to the haters, but they seemed happy and ... normal?

Inside the show, Justin wasn’t shy about showing PDA. He put his arm around Hailey’s back multiple times, and the couple shared quiet, intimate moments, leaning in to whisper to each other throughout the night. It was also clear Justin was a little nervous — these high-profile awards shows don’t exactly seem to be in his comfort zone — and he visibly relied on Hailey for grounding.

During his performance of “Yukon,” which was a standout moment of the night, watching Hailey sway, sing along and smile at a song written about her was genuinely sweet. I’m pretty sure they left after his awards category, only to hit an afterparty together. Sorry, haters, but they seem solid.

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

One weird thing

When Alex Warren performed his hit song “Ordinary” as part of the Best New Artist medley, there was a brief technical glitch, apparently due to a problem with his earpiece. Inside the arena, though, it was barely noticeable. If anything, Warren — whose breakout song was snubbed from the Grammys’ major categories — seemed to get the last laugh. Of all the Best New Artist nominees, he arguably had the biggest production moment, glitch aside, literally ascending into the air as the crowd not only sang along, but shouted along, belting out every word. It was a moment Cyrus really seemed to enjoy. If Warren was rattled, he didn’t show it, blowing kisses to the crowd afterward — then addressing the mishap on social media later.

One loud thing

Bad Bunny used his first televised win of the night to send a political message, and the crowd overwhelmingly responded. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out,” he declared onstage as he accepted the award for Best Música Urbana Album. The response in the room was almost deafening and certainly louder than you heard at home, as the crowd stood and cheered for more than 25 seconds. Every star, from Reba McEntire to Pharrell Williams to Cyrus, was on their feet.

“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens,” he continued. “We are humans and we are Americans.”

Bad Bunny won a total of three awards on Sunday, including the Recording Academy’s highest honor, Album of the Year.

Oh, and if there was any doubt: Bad Bunny was the biggest star in the room. Everyone — and I mean everyone — wanted a moment, with celebs constantly stopping by to say hello (Cyrus! Gaga! Hailey!). Every time he won, the arena erupted. Next up, he’ll be performing at the NFL Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.

What does it take to win a Grammy? It’s not just musical talent. According to enthusiasts who have kept a close eye on music’s biggest night over the years, there’s more to it.

“The Grammys are only slightly predictable in the sense that there are ‘Grammy darlings,’ or artists who always get nominated and often win,” Brittany Spanos, a freelance music journalist who writes BRIT POP on Substack, told me ahead of Sunday’s show. “But the Grammys have always been full of surprises.”

My music-obsessed colleague Kelsey Weekman agreed. The Grammys, she said, are “the hardest of all award shows to predict.” But why?

“Music is so hard to objectively judge,” said Weekman, who has a knack for consuming all of the content related to any award show every year (you can read her Grammy takes here). “The Recording Academy has perennial favorites like Bruno Mars and Billie Eilish, but they also have a habit of rewarding long-overlooked artists for projects that might not be their best. … We don't necessarily know which way voters will sway in a given moment.”

When I asked Weekman for her winner predictions, she had a loose strategy. “We’re just going on vibes,” she tells me. 

After being surprised by how well chatbots did at predicting the Golden Globes, I decided to give them another challenge.

The experiment

In the week leading up to the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, I lined up a panel of four trusted experts: two humans (Weekman and Spanos) and two AI bots (ChatGPT and Google Gemini). I nailed down 12 of the show’s buzziest categories across genres and asked each the same question: “Who do you predict will take home a 2026 Grammy in each of these categories?”

There were a lot of similarities across the board (including four categories with unanimous predictions. And like Spanos and Weekman, ChatGPT and Gemini both allowed for some wiggle room. Both tools noted that some guesswork was involved, as the Recording Academy is known for considering factors beyond whether a song is a certified bop.

“Winners aren't based in popularity or even critical acclaim — every choice is much more nuanced than that. I make my predictions based on my historical knowledge of how the voting system works, but I also take into account how the awards have slowly begun to change to better reflect culture,” Weekman explained. “Bots might be able to predict those wins based on patterns, but they can't take into account how sometimes the biggest winners are the ones with the most interesting narratives.”

Yet somehow, they did. In the Album of the Year category, Gemini’s pro-Bad Bunny prediction echoed what Spanos and Weekman had told me.

“I do think the Grammys tend to reward a great story above all else,” said Spanos. “Bad Bunny makes for one this year, especially as he prepares for the Super Bowl.”

Great minds think alike. Gemini wrote, “The Grammys love a comeback, a farewell or a massive cultural shift. … [Bad Bunny’s] potential win for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is a ‘moment’ prediction. The Academy has faced years of criticism for never awarding a Spanish-language album the top prize. With him headlining the 2026 Super Bowl, the narrative is perfectly aligned for a historic win.”

Other categories weren’t so aligned. Who knows better? Here’s how it all shook out.

The predictions and results

And the winner is...

Album of the Year

• Brittany Spanos: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny

• Kelsey Weekman: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny

• ChatGPT: Mayhem, Lady Gaga

• Google Gemini: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny

WINNER: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny

Record of the Year

• Brittany Spanos: "Manchild," Sabrina Carpenter

• Kelsey Weekman: "Luther,” Kendrick Lamar & SZA

• ChatGPT: “APT.,” Rosé & Bruno Mars

• Google Gemini: "Luther,” Kendrick Lamar & SZA

WINNER: "Luther,” Kendrick Lamar & SZA

Song of the Year

• Brittany Spanos: "Luther," Kendrick Lamar & SZA

• Kelsey Weekman: “Golden,” EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick, songwriters

• ChatGPT: "Luther," Kendrick Lamar & SZA

• Google Gemini: “Golden,” EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick, songwriters

WINNER: “Wildflower,” Billie Eilish

Best New Artist

• Brittany Spanos: Olivia Dean

• Kelsey Weekman: Olivia Dean

• ChatGPT: Leon Thomas

• Google Gemini: Olivia Dean

WINNER: Olivia Dean

Best Pop Vocal Album

• Brittany Spanos: Mayhem, Lady Gaga

• Kelsey Weekman: Mayhem, Lady Gaga

• ChatGPT:Mayhem, Lady Gaga

• Google Gemini: Mayhem, Lady Gaga

WINNER: Mayhem, Lady Gaga

Best Rap Album

• Brittany Spanos: GNX, Kendrick Lamar

• Kelsey Weekman: GNX, Kendrick Lamar

• ChatGPT: GNX, Kendrick Lamar

• Google Gemini: GNX, Kendrick Lamar

WINNER: GNX, Kendrick Lamar

Best Contemporary Country Album

• Brittany Spanos: Evangeline vs. the Machine, Eric Church

• Kelsey Weekman: Evangeline vs. the Machine, Eric Church

• ChatGPT: Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll

• Google Gemini: A Song To Sing, Chris Stapleton

WINNER: Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll

Best Pop Duo/Group

• Brittany Spanos: "Golden," HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI

• Kelsey Weekman: “APT.,” Rosé, Bruno Mars

• ChatGPT: “APT.,” Rosé, Bruno Mars

• Google Gemini: “APT.,” Rosé, Bruno Mars

WINNER: “Defying Gravity,” Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

Best Pop Solo

• Brittany Spanos: "Manchild," Sabrina Carpenter

• Kelsey Weekman: "Manchild," Sabrina Carpenter

• ChatGPT: "Manchild," Sabrina Carpenter

• Google Gemini: "Manchild," Sabrina Carpenter

WINNER: “Messy,” Lola Young

Best R&B Album

• Brittany Spanos: Mutt, Leon Thomas

• Kelsey Weekman: Mutt, Leon Thomas

• ChatGPT: Mutt, Leon Thomas

• Google Gemini: Mutt, Leon Thomas

WINNER: Mutt, Leon Thomas

Best Rock Album

• Brittany Spanos: Never Enough, Turnstile

• Kelsey Weekman: Private Music, Deftones

• ChatGPT: Never Enough, Turnstile

• Google Gemini: From Zero, Linkin Park

WINNER: Never Enough, Turnstile

Best Alternative Music Album

• Brittany Spanos: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Hayley Williams

• Kelsey Weekman: Sable, Fable, Bon Iver

• ChatGPT: Songs of a Lost World, The Cure

• Google Gemini: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Hayley Williams

WINNER: Songs of a Lost World, The Cure

So, how’d they do?

It turns out that the Grammys are as predictably unpredictable as the experts warned me. With a healthy mix of both pattern recognition and narrative judgment, the playing field among the humans and bots was leveled, and each ended up with 50% accuracy across the 12 categories above.

The most interesting part of it all was seeing how each expert discerned which category would lean one way or the other. For the biggest award of the night, ChatGPT assumed the Recording Academy would stick with darling Lady Gaga, who is known to win most of the categories in which she is nominated. Spanos, Weekman and even Gemini decided that the cultural significance of Bad Bunny taking it home would be the deciding factor of that win.

Even still, ChatGPT was rewarded for leaning into the element of surprise with accurate predictions for Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Alternative Music Album.

How did Weekman feel about her 50%, though? “I was right in predicting they are a crapshoot,” she says.

Musicians have always pushed the boundaries of fashion — and the 2026 Grammys red carpet was no exception.

From feathers, sequins and leather to lots of skin — and what Chappell Roan was wearing — that “anything goes” vibe continued at Crypto.com Arena in L.A. on Feb. 1.

That made for some funny moments with the mostly junior fashionistas — aka seven kids, ages 2 to 13, the children of Yahoo staffers — who we asked to share their reactions.

While our kids didn’t stick around for the actual show, hosted by Trevor Noah and featuring a Cher-size gaffe and stripped-down Justin Bieber performance, they still got plenty of entertainment during the preshow. And, if I’m being honest, parents also got plenty of questions about fashion logistics. (I had a few of my own about Roan’s.)

With that in mind, here are the unfiltered opinions straight from the mouths of babes — plus one grandmother — that no stylist could prepare for.

Addison Rae

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

"It looks like a wedding dress that failed." — Zoe, 13

"It looks like she’s wearing it backward." — Allie, 13

Paris Hilton

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

"It looks like a vase." — Allie, 13

Chappell Roan

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

“Excuse me? Celebrities are crazy. It's like Halloween — but for naked people." — Gigi, 10

Zara Larsson

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

"It's perfect. It looks like a spider crawling up a wall." — Della, 4

Sombr

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

"So many suits are plain basic black. I love the disco feel." — Zoe, 13

Olivia Dean

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

"I love it. She's a lollipop." — Jasper, 4

Doechii

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

“She looks like an angel floating in the sky." — Della, 4

“It’s incredible. I can’t believe how big the dress is. I love all the sparkles and poufs. It’s so extravagant.” — Zoe, 13

Rosé

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

"Is that a giant bedsheet around her waist?" — Gigi, 10

Kelsea Ballerini

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

"I like how detailed it is. It’s very beautiful." — Zoe, 13

"It feels a little cluttered to me, like a junk drawer." — Allie, 13

Lainey Wilson

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Brianna Bryson/WireImage via Getty Images

“Her necklace looks like a spoon." — Jasper, 4

Heidi Klum

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Brianna Bryson/WireImage via Getty Images

“It looks like someone did a mold and then just stopped midway and said, ‘Time to go!’ I feel like: Why? Why would you do this?” — Gigi, 10

Nicolas Vansteenberghe

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images

"It's a man." — Emilia, 2

Yungblud

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

“What's with people and not wearing shirts?" — Gigi, 10

Katseye

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

“They look very pretty. I love how their outfits are coordinated, but each one has their own specific style.” — Zoe, 13

Jelly Roll

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

“This guy with the tattoos looks like Frankenstein.” — Beau, 7

Lady Gaga

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Brianna Bryson/WireImage via Getty Images

“Evil feather lady.” — Jasper, 4

Bad Bunny

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic via Getty Images

“Bad Bunny 100, Chappell 0.” — Jackie, 71

But artists entertain us in so many ways, and several of them delivered viral moments that transcend mere musical talent. Chappell Roan got people talking with her viral red carpet look, and a number of stars made headlines for getting political in their acceptance speeches, including the night’s biggest winner, Bad Bunny. Here are our favorite viral moments from the 2026 ceremony.

Chappell Roan won the red carpet

Jeff Kravitz via Getty Images

Sabrina Carpenter joked that photographers were surprisingly quiet on the red carpet this year because Chappell Roan whipped them into shape — remember when she fussed at that rowdy one at the VMAs a few years ago? It’s a good thing she did, because Roan had far and away the most talked-about look before the ceremony this year, wearing a barely there dress seemingly held up by nipple piercings.

And what about that guy in the weird shiny mask?

My feed was filled with photos of Gesaffelstein, a French DJ and producer on Lady Gaga’s Mayhem album, wearing a shiny black mask. He’s not one of those faceless DJ types like Marshmello or DeadMau5, either — he’s just having a bit of fun. Perhaps it was a tribute to Daft Punk. He didn’t say much onstage, so we may never know.

Limited acceptance speeches still got political

Multiple winners lambasted the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in their acceptance speeches. After winning the Grammy for Best Música Urbana album — little did he know he’d go on to win the biggest award of the night as well — Bad Bunny began his acceptance speech by calling out recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say 'ICE out,'" the singer said, pausing for more than 20 seconds for applause. "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens — we're humans and we are Americans," he continued. "It's tough to know [how] not to hate these days. Sometimes we get [contaminated]. The hate gets more hardcore with more hate."

Billie Eilish, who won Song of the Year, said “No one is illegal on stolen land” in her acceptance speech. She also said, "F*** ICE, is what I want to say,” but that was bleeped out of the Grammys telecast.

Before the official ceremony, Kehlani, who won both Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance, said "F*** ICE" onstage while accepting one of the trophies. Other celebrities have condemned the agency with "ICE out" pins, including Joni Mitchell, Jack Antonoff, Hailey Bieber and Justin Bieber.

“Jesus is not owned by one political party,” Jelly Roll declared onstage, accepting the award for Best Contemporary Country Album. That was more a rebuke of politics than a political statement, but it got enough people talking about the divide in the country that we’ll count it.

Trevor Noah had senioritis

During his sixth stint in a row as the show’s host, Trevor Noah seemed to be phoning it in for a few of the jokes in his opening monologue, hopping from celebrity to celebrity and gently ribbing them. Still, he took a few big swings. He dissed Nicki Minaj for her absence and made fun of her recent meeting with President Donald Trump. He later made a joke aimed at the president about Greenland and Jeffrey Epstein that Yahoo’s on-the-ground reporter, Taryn Ryder, said landed well with the crowd in the room.

Noah also repeatedly returned to Bad Bunny’s side to joke around, doing a running bit about how he can’t perform at the Grammys because he’s performing at the Super Bowl. Eventually, the bit paid off — sort of. Noah and a band performed around the man of the hour.

Justin Bieber makes his big return to the stage — and strips things down

The singer performed in public for the first time in four years, after scrapping his tour in 2022. Since then, a lot has changed for Bieber: He split with his manager, fought publicly with his wife and sparked a lot of concern among his fans. Online, people were thrilled to see him back in full force — he performed “Yukon” without modifying his voice, which his supporters had been clamoring for over the weekend.

In fact, his performance was so stripped down that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He performed in socks and underwear, just as I have many times in my nightmares. Bieber’s voice speaks for itself, though. It was great to have him back.

Sabrina Carpenter and Tyler, The Creator go over the top

Never one to be outdone, the sexy-but-silly performer went all-out for her rendition of “Manchild,” descending from a fake plane and dancing around a rotating baggage carousel onstage. Her backup dancers were dressed as all sorts of random occupations — there was a doctor, a firefighter and an astronaut — but no amount of choreo could distract from her witty lyrics.

Tyler, The Creator, now a bona fide movie star for his scene-stealing role in Marty Supreme, also gave a high-octane performance. He delivered a medley of his songs “Thought I Was Dead,” “Like Him” and “Sugar On My Tongue,” complete with a guest appearance from Regina King and a gas station explosion onstage.

Cher’s well-intentioned mix-up brings levity to a long night

After winning a Lifetime Achievement Award, Cher was supposed to announce the winner for Record of the Year. She spoke for a bit about her accomplishments, like how she was the first person to use autotune and how she’s been famous for a very long time. She encouraged people not to give up.

“I've been in this business for 60 f***ing years,” she said to tremendous applause.

Cher then began leaving the stage — until Noah reminded her of the task at hand. She got back on track, but not without a few hiccups.

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

“And the Grammy goes to … Oh! They told me it was going to be on the prompter!” Before mistakenly saying the award went to Luther Vandross (instead of the song named for him, “Luther” by SZA and Kendrick Lamar).

“First and foremost, let’s give a shoutout to the late great Luther Vandross,” Lamar said, opening his acceptance speech by injecting a little levity into the snafu.

Cher appeared to apologize repeatedly on the sidelines for the mix-up, but all great divas deserve to have a little onstage fumble in good fun. She’s the star of the night. Isn’t live TV the best?

Music’s biggest night is never just about the trophies. It’s about the wacky and barely-there outfits, the passionate performances, the new artists who will one day become household names and tried-and-true superstars solidifying their legacy. It's about living legend Cher having only a loose sense of where she was and what she was supposed to do — in the most delightful way possible — as she flubbed announcing Record of the Year.

To make sense of the 2026 Grammys, Yahoo tapped its sharpest cultural voices to dissect exactly what happened. Spanning fashion, beauty, celebrity, viral moments and, of course, winners and losers, they break down the moments everyone will be talking about when the dust settles on Monday morning. Here are the Grammys, from every angle. 

Fashion | Beauty | Winner and Losers|Celebrity | Viral moments

To match or not to match?

It wasn’t really a question on the Grammys red carpet: Those who showed up together, dressed together.

The British girl group Flo was among the first to be spotted in coordinated blue ensembles. "We wanted to make sure that it was very clear that we are a girl group. And fabulous," Jorja Douglas told E! on the red carpet, noting that the idea was inspired by Destiny's Child. But they weren't the only ones to get the memo.

All six members of Katseye showed up in complementary white dresses by Ludovic de Saint Sernin, followed by the three sisters of Haim who opted for black satin looks accented with delicate rhinestone detailing. It wasn't just the ladies who went all in on matchy-matchy styling. Malice, Pusha T and Pharrell Williams wore identical velvet blush-pink suits. The Marías also made a coordinated statement in luxe black attire.

And as all of the cutest couples do, Justin and Hailey Bieber, as well as Mark Manio and Scott Hoying, made sure to harmonize their looks with their hunnies.

— Kerry Justich, senior writer

Amy Sussman via Getty Images

It’s music’s biggest night and, apparently, its most naked

It’s not new for celebs to show up baring lots of skin, especially at the Grammys, but it seemed almost like a test on this year’s red carpet to see how daring they could go. Zara Larsson was the first to catch my eye with an insane ab-baring moment and was quickly followed by Kehlani, Ciara Miller, Keltie Knight and even Yungblud, who wore a cheetah-print suit jacket with nothing underneath. There was also Heidi Klum, who went faux nude in a latex body-sculpted look.

All of these naked looks paled in comparison to Chappell Roan, who left little to the imagination after removing a cape from her shoulders. The dress itself was less a dress than it was a skirt, which appeared to be held up by her nipple piercings.

I’ve been left speechless … and wondering where the naked dress trend goes from here.

— Kerry Justich, senior writer

CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images

Look out, it's 1997 again

Tyla, PinkPantheress, Kehlani, FKA Twigs, Addison Rae, Haim, Sabrina Carpenter and Zara Larsson couldn’t be more different as artists, but they had at least one thing in common at tonight’s Grammys red carpet: Their makeup heavily featured shades of brown. In fact, outside of Joni Mitchell’s bright orange lipstick, the makeup for music’s biggest night was decidedly neutral and even staid with nary a bold lip, a glittering shadow nor a rocker’s heavy smoky eye.

Pink Pantheress’s makeup artist, Julian Stoller, described the look as “soft focus and lived in,” but all the taupe lids and tawny lips seemed more like a serious throwback to the late '90s, specifically something you’d see on Rachel from Friends. I did notice one distinct difference from that Gen X beauty heyday: This time around, the trend appears to be richer and warmer, without any of those grungier, death-becomes-her brown-grays.

— Jennifer Romolini, senior beauty editor

John Shearer via Getty Images

The arrival of the Grammys’ next great British darling

Olivia Dean’s Best New Artist win was a predictable and celebratory outcome! She was my No. 2 pick after Addison Rae, whose conceptual pop performance stole my heart in 2025. That was always going to be a long-shot win, though, with the various struggles she’s faced being taken seriously by the industry post her TikTok come-up. A nomination (and performance slot) is proof enough that she’s here to stay.

Olivia, meanwhile, comes from a lineage of Grammy-bait British female artists: Adele, Amy Winehouse, Raye etc. Her win also solidifies the fact that being a best “new” artist can happen over a decade into your career. "Man I Need" absolutely deserved a Song of the Year nomination as well. I think tonight we’ve christened a brand new Grammys darling; there are certainly more wins in Olivia Dean’s future.

— Zachary Hourihane, the Swiftologist

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Bad Bunny wins the night, the week and the year

Bad Bunny’s Debi Tirar Más Fotos won the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, and is the first all-Spanish album to do so. He was already the biggest streaming artist of 2025, and now it’s official: The Recording Academy loves him too.

When his name was announced, he remained tearfully in his seat for a few moments. It’s hard to overstate just how monumental of a recognition this is for someone who has had to endure a discourse cycle about how his Spanish songs are not American enough, especially ahead of his Super Bowl performance next week. In both of his televised speeches, he was politically outspoken. With this win, it’s undeniable — Bad Bunny is the biggest artist in the world right now.

But a win for Bad Bunny means a loss for Kendrick Lamar, a Grammys darling (who had just won Record of the Year for “Luther,” his collaboration with SZA). Some say he was long overdue for the biggest honor the Academy bestows, but he’s certainly not hurting for trophies in general. Funnily enough, Lamar won a handful of awards for his song “Not Like Us” at last year’s Grammys, just before performing at the Super Bowl halftime show himself. Someone in their programming department really has their finger on the pulse of pop culture.

—Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Lady Gaga misses out on the Big Four awards

The Big Four this year was both an expected and a surprising result — Olivia Dean is, of course, Grammy bait. AOTY going to Bad Bunny, and his speech, delivered mostly in Spanish, was poetic and fitting for the moment, especially with Bunnybowl on the horizon. Billie Eilish winning Song of the Year for a track that came out in her last cycle when we had chart monsters like APT and Golden up for the trophy…definitely felt like a compensatory moment for Billie getting nothing in last year’s ceremony. I was a little surprised that Record of the Year went to Luther — I thought APT or Abracadabra had this locked. It’s a shame that Gaga missed out on the Big Four after a strong year and a great performance tonight. 

— Zachary Hourihane, the Swiftologist

Addison Rae turned her Grammys performance into a full-blown star-making moment

Addison Rae began her performance of “Fame Is a Gun” in the parking area of Crypto.com Arena, riding on the back of a truck. The entrance felt like a nod to Rae’s friend Charli xcx’s Grammys performance last year, a perfect continuation of the pair’s ongoing Brat summer.

What followed was a star turn: Rae masterfully commanded her crew of dancers as they danced around the truck, ripping off her coat to flash the “security guards” before they carried her away. Her efforts worked, and Rae ended up on the Grammy stage. With her choreo and charm up to 100, Rae has never been more deserving of the “daughter of Britney” nickname. And making her set an even more memorable Grammy moment? A pallet of Grammy trophies were wheeled past her as she looked longingly at them passing her by. It may not have been the night to take one home but it was her night to steal the whole show.

— Brittany Spanos, a music journalist who writes BRIT POP on Substack

Sabrina Carpenter knows how to put on a show

Sabrina Carpenter's performance of her cheeky Grammy-nominated song "Manchild" embraced what she did best: complicated set design and a fabulous dance break. She exited a massive plane and flounced about the rotating baggage claim area dressed as a flight attendant, backed by a number of dancers in fun costumes — a doctor, an astronaut and a firefighter, to name a few — while delivering the witty lyrics that remind us why she's up for Song of the Year, among many other things.

For some reason, Carpenter was censored three different times — she clearly said "F my life," people! But always funny and sexy in her delivery, the whole performance was a great reminder that she's one of the most interesting pop stars we've got right now.

— Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Katseye, on the other hand ...

The Katseye performance highlighted to me how shaky their case was for best new artist. It was essentially a TikTok song & a dance break making their case for them. With no album out, they stick out like a sore thumb against the other artists in the category who (for better or worse) have fully executed creative visions that weren’t concocted in a board room by a bunch of men.

— Zachary Hourihane, the Swiftologist

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

Bieber’s swaggy return

For the first time since 2022, Justin Bieber returned to the Grammys stage. He celebrated Swag’s Album of the Year nomination with a stripped-back intimate performance of “Yukon” that got to the core of what made that album work so well.

In a pair of blue satin boxer shorts, Bieber played the guitar riff before creating a loop on the pedal. He performed mostly to a mirror with his eyes closed, giving the feeling it was just him alone in the room. But one person who was very much in the room and loving it was his wife Hailey Bieber. Every time the camera panned to her, she was smiling ear to ear.

— Brittany Spanos, a music journalist who writes BRIT POP on Substack

The Best New Artist medley shows off a surprisingly stacked freshman class of budding superstars

As a big pop music fan, I often wonder when our next slate of legends will rise. I think we're in desperate need of a culture-unifying performer with both talent and stage presence (I love Taylor Swift, but I’m thinking beyond her). Heading into the Grammys, I was looking for a new person to stan.

All eight of the Best New Artist nominees performed in a medley of sorts that showed off the power of the industry’s rising stars. It started out dreamy and wistful as The Marías sang "No One Noticed," then went into a typically high-octane Addison Rae performance as she sashayed around a massive truck — the former TikToker never misses with mesmerizing choreography. Katseye, Leon Thomas (one of two Grammy winners from the cast of the Nickelodeon show Victorious), and Alex Warren followed, before the camera panned to Lola Young, who delivered a powerful, slowed-down version of her song "Messy," making a triumphant return after she took some time off last year.

Things got glitzy again when Olivia Dean sang her ubiquitous, jazzy "Man I Need." It's more easy listening that you've certainly heard on the radio recently, and the Recording Academy loved it, because she won Best New Artist shortly thereafter. Sombr closed out the medley, leaping from a floating platform as he sang "12 to 12" dressed like a human disco ball. He's come a long way in his showmanship since a disgruntled fan likened him to Slenderman just a few months ago.

We might not have just watched our next Taylor Swift, but there's definitely someone in that lineup for everyone.

— Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Bad Bunny calls out Trump administration in night filled with ICE resistance messaging

After winning the Grammy for Best Musica Urbana album, Bad Bunny began his acceptance speech by calling out the Trump administration — specifically recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the United States.

"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say 'ICE out,'" the singer said, pausing for more than 20 seconds for applause. "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens — we're humans and we are Americans," he continued. "It's tough to know [how] not to hate these days. Sometimes we get [contaminated]. The hate gets more hardcore with more hate."

It was among the most overtly political messages of the night, and a seismic one given that he was the biggest artist globally last year on Spotify, and in just one week, he'll be taking the biggest stage in the country as he performs at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Bad Bunny was the second singer to call out ICE in a speech. Before the official ceremony, Kehlani, who won both Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance, said "F*** ICE" onstage while accepting one of the trophies. Other celebrities have condemned the agency with "ICE out" pins, including Joni Mitchell, Billie Eilish, Jack Antonoff, Hailey Bieber and Justin Bieber.

— Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Trevor Noah had senioritis

During his sixth stint in a row as the show’s host, Trevor Noah seemed to be phoning it in for a few of the jokes in his opening monologue, hopping from celebrity to celebrity and gently ribbing them. He still took a few big swings: He dissed Nicki Minaj for her absence and made fun of her recent meeting with President Donald Trump, and later made a joke aimed at the president about Greenland and Jeffrey Epstein that Yahoo’s on-the-ground reporter Taryn Ryder said landed well with the crowd in the room.

Noah also repeatedly returned to Bad Bunny’s side to joke around, doing a running bit about how he can’t perform at the Grammys because he’s performing at the Super Bowl. Eventually, the bit paid off — sort of — when Noah and a band performed around him.

— Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Cher out-Chers herself

After winning a Lifetime Achievement Award, Cher was supposed to announce the winner for Record of the Year. She spoke for a bit about her accomplishments, like how she was the first person to use autotune, and how she’s been famous for a very long time. She encouraged people not to give up. “I've been in this business for 60 f***ing years,” she said to tremendous applause.

Cher then began leaving the stage — until Noah reminded her of the task at hand. She got back on track, but not without a few hiccups.

“And the Grammy goes to …. Oh! They told me it was going to be on the prompter!” Before mistakenly saying the award went to Luther Vandross (instead of the song named for him, “Luther” by SZA and Kendrick Lamar).

“First and foremost let’s give a shoutout to the late great Luther Vandross,” Lamar said, opening his acceptance speech by injecting a little levity into the snafu.

Cher appeared to apologize for the mixup repeatedly on the sidelines, but all great divas deserve to have a little onstage fumble in good fun. She’s the star of the night. Isn’t live TV the best?

— Kelsey Weekman, senior entertainment reporter

Did you know Mariah Carey made a secret grunge album?

As a lifelong fan of the superstar, it’s a detail I first learned in her 2020 memoir — and then promptly forgot — until Friday night, when Carey was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year. Somewhere between the gowns, the standing ovations and a room full of music royalty singing her songs back to her, Carey reminded everyone (myself included) that her legacy has always been a little stranger — and more fun — than it gets credit for.

The annual gala, held two days before the Grammy Awards, celebrates an artist not just for their musical achievements, but for their philanthropy and impact. This year’s tribute performances came from the expected heavy-hitters — Jennifer Hudson! John Legend! Teddy Swims! — and played like a two-hour love letter to Carey’s catalog. Hit after hit, era after era.

And yet, one moment cut through the spectacle.

Early in the night, Taylor Momsen (frontwoman of the Pretty Reckless and former Gossip Girl star) joined the Foo Fighters onstage to perform songs from Carey’s long-rumored, rarely-heard ’90s grunge album. Yes, that one.

Matt Winkelmeyer via Getty Images

Carey was absolutely tickled.

While she sang along from her seat throughout the night — mouthing lyrics, swaying, soaking it all in — this was different. When Momsen and Dave Grohl tore into “Hermit” and “Love Is a Scam,” Carey lit up. She clapped. She sang. She was fully out of her seat by the end.

The backstory makes the moment even sweeter. Carey recorded the album Somebody’s Ugly in 1995 under the band name Chick, entirely in secret, during sessions for Daydream. 

“I was just rebelling,” Carey later recalled. “I always regretted not putting it out.”

On Friday night, that regret was replaced by joy, validation and the rare pleasure of watching a global icon get surprised by her own history. In a room built to honor Carey’s greatest hits, it was the forgotten deep cut — distorted guitars and all — that felt most alive.

And while the grunge reveal was the night’s most unexpected high, it was far from the only memorable moment. Hudson opened the evening with a showstopping medley of “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” “My All,” “Vision of Love” and “Make It Happen.” Kesha jumped onstage to perform “Obsessed.” Legend tackled “Hero,” with his wife, Chrissy Teigen, beaming from the audience. (For what it's worth, Busta Rhymes performing “I Know What You Want” was my personal favorite.) 

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

The MusiCares gala is the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year, fueling its year-round work — from emergency disaster relief to ongoing support for music professionals when they need it most. Last year, the event unfolded in the shadow of L.A.’s devastating wildfires. This year, it felt impossible not to notice a more subdued energy at times, shaped by fresh political tensions. In the bathroom, I overheard one woman ask another, “Are we ridiculous to be dressed up in sparkles while the country is falling apart?”

Stevie Wonder, one of the night’s surprise guests, took the stage alongside Gayle King to honor his longtime friend — and was the only speaker who gently brushed up against the moment we’re living in.

“When you speak, it’s for free. When you talk, it’s for free. When you sing, it’s for free,” he said. “I say to all of you, not just here but throughout the world, never let anyone think they can take your freedom away.”

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The line resonated with the crowd.

When Carey accepted her award after the tribute concert, she called the evening “one of the most profound moments of my life and career.”

“Tonight has been sublime,” she told the crowd. “To hear my songs reimagined by some of the world’s greatest artists — it’s surreal. When I was a little girl scribbling lyrics in my notebook late at night, I could only dream of someone hearing those words and relating to them. This has given me life, and I appreciate you so much.”

To close out the night, Jon Batiste led the crowd through a rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” before the Queen of Christmas herself jumped onstage, bringing the room to its feet one last time.

In a room full of uncertainty, the music did what it always does best: brought people together.

The 2026 Grammy Awards are on Sunday night, and music’s biggest night always spawns plenty of water-cooler chatter among the pop-culturally savvy and your most pretentious friend who won’t shut up about his speakers. 

In comparison to its more staid awards show counterparts, the Grammys are zanier and more bombastic. It’s where Jennifer Lopez infamously showed up on the red carpet in her barely there green Versace dress, where Nicki Minaj sort of took part in an exorcism and where Adele seemed genuinely upset that she beat Beyoncé. Even if you’re not immersed in the goings-on of artists and new music, you’ll still be able to hold your own with your coolest coworkers on Monday morning with our small talk guide. 

Let’s start with the basics: There are dozens of awards up for grabs at the Grammys, which are voted on by members of the Recording Academy. The four major ones are: Best New Artist, Song of the Year (which goes to songwriters), Record of the Year (which goes to producers of a song) and Album of the Year, which is considered the night’s biggest honor and often generates the most controversy. Remember how massive it was when Beyoncé finally won for Cowboy Carter in 2025? 

Unlike other shows that focus on celebrity banter and speeches, the Grammys are all about performances. According to producer Ben Winston, there will be at least 18 or 19 of them. 

Now, let’s talk about what’s actually going to happen. 

Conversation starter: Who’s going to win — and who should win — the night’s biggest prize?

Many are predicting Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS will win Album of the Year, which would make it the first all-Spanish album to claim the category. It would be a massive victory for the artist as he prepares to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show next week. Bad Bunny, who’s also a budding actor, knows people don’t always understand his lyrics, but he doesn’t mind. After all, he’s the biggest global artist of the last year. 

Others predict it could finally be Kendrick Lamar’s year. He won five last year for the song “Not Like Us” alone, but he has still never nabbed Album of the Year. Never forget the time that Macklemore won over Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed good kid, m.A.A.d city, and then posted his text apology to him. It’s time to correct this wrong, and GNX is really good. 

Hot take: You’ll have more fun if you root for the underdogs 

There’s no denying that Bruno Mars is the favorite child of the Recording Academy with 16 wins across his career. Spread the wealth, y’all! Another victory would feel villainous. Mars’s collaboration with Rosé, “Apt.,” is up for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year, after it dominated streaming in 2025. It seems Mars’s power is only growing — he won big last year, both at the Grammys and on the charts, and he’s poised to continue his reign with new music in 2026. I love my short prince of pop, but give someone else a second to shine! 

For the sake of the narrative, which is more important to pop stardom than you’d think, I say it would be way more interesting if the artist who has made a magnificent return to her over-the-top pop superstar persona was rewarded for her efforts. “Abracadabra” rejuvenated vibes in a way we so desperately need, and Lady Gaga should be honored for overcoming health struggles to make her return to high-energy freak behavior (let us not forget when she showed up to the 2011 Grammys entombed inside a giant egg, only hatching for her performance). Technically, she won a Grammy in 2025 for “Die with a Smile,” but that was a collaboration with — you guessed it —  Mars! Get back to Vegas, Bruno, it’s Mother Monster’s time to shine. 

Whether the song from KPop Demon Hunters wins any of its categories or goes home empty-handed, “Golden” already made its mark as the most shocking nominee. Yes, the biggest banger from the most popular movie of 2025 — aimed at children, mind you — is actually genuinely good. It’s also fantastic that it’s a  K-pop song, cementing the genre’s status and staying power in the U.S. 

Hold your own: Keep an eye out for Sabrina (and dozens of other performances)

Even if Sabrina Carpenter’s six Grammy nominations don’t yield a win, I predict that she’ll steal the show. The pint-sized pop star is allergic to delivering anything other than an iconic performance. At last year’s ceremony, she warmed up the stage with a vaudeville-style mashup, and over the summer, she brought the house down at the VMAs by spotlighting drag queens and channeling Britney Spears. Don’t get me started on all her viral tour moments. She was born for this. 

Justin Bieber, who’s up for four awards, is set for his first major public performance in four years, after scrapping his tour in 2022. Since then, he’s had a kid, split with his manager, fought very publicly with his wife and generally made fans worried about him. One of his decade-old songs is currently charting on Spotify, so if he successfully pulls off this performance, I’ll officially declare the 2016 Renaissance valid. 

The Grammys have been slow to announce other performers, but we’re expecting infectious choreography and borderline nonsensical lyrics from girl group Katseye — remember their viral jeans ad? Also in the announced line-up: All eight of the Best New Artist nominees, including Addison Rae, Alex Warren, Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, Sombr and Lola Young. Pharrell will be there for some reason. 

Impress your coworkers: You’re going to start having to take TikTok singers seriously

Best New Artist will be among the most-watched categories of the evening because of the way it can help a budding singer build momentum. Sometimes they’re a bit of a flop — has anyone heard from Alessia Cara or Victoria Monet recently? No? Sorry! But in years past, the Grammys have bestowed the honor upon Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo, which arguably helped catapult them to superstardom. 

This year, many were shocked to see the likes of Alex Warren and Addison Rae among the nominees — they’re both TikTok stars who were part of the infamous content creation collective known as the Hype House. They used their fame to build something deeper and more meaningful for themselves: a music career. Warren snagged the unofficial honor of Song of the Summer for his secular praise music bop “Ordinary,” and Rae went from flop to pop star by embracing irony, Britney Spears-esque vocals and strong visuals.

Still, they probably won’t win. That honor will probably go to Olivia Dean or Leon Thomas. Yes, I’ll explain who they are.  

So, wait, who are all these people?

You’re going to be seeing a lot of faces you don’t recognize. Don’t panic. You’ve probably heard most of them on the radio. 

• Olivia Dean: This jazzy lady performed on SNL last year, but you undoubtedly have heard her song “Man I Need” at the grocery store or blaring from the speakers of a buggy sliding around in the snow. It is honestly becoming unavoidable. 

• Leon Thomas: You’ve also definitely heard the semi-annoying song “Mutt,” which is heinously catchy, but Thomas is more likable than that — he starred in the kids’ show Victorious with Ariana Grande, and it’d be lovely to see another Nickelodeon standout go mainstream, even if it is roughly a decade late. He’s the second most-nominated artist of the night!

• Sombr: The floppy-haired Gen Z-er got himself into trouble this year for beefing with a fan, but don’t let his youthful follies distract from his musical prowess. 

• Lola Young: The mullet-sporting Brit is responsible for another inescapable song, “Messy,” but she’s got a lot of good ones. It’s nice to see someone with a thick accent and a unique sense of style taking the stage — and she’s just now returning to performing after a rough year. If you see her, root for her. 

And where is Taylor Swift? 

Swift didn’t release an album during the eligibility period for this year’s Grammys — The Life of a Showgirl will get its turn in 2027. She has not yet been announced as a performer or a presenter, so we might not see her at all. 

What’s different for Swift this year, though, is that her fiancée, Travis Kelce, will actually be free on Sunday night because the Chiefs didn’t make it to the Super Bowl for the first time since they got together. Is a Grammys red carpet debut in order, or are they saving that for wedlock? 

Taylor Swift is sending her fans into a tizzy yet again. On Thursday night, so-called Swifties on social media noticed something strange about the singer’s 2017 album Reputation: specifically, that lyrics from two songs had mysteriously changed. 

Multiple surprised fans shared the changes to tracks “I Did Something Bad” and “Delicate” on social media. On “Delicate,” a song about wanting to be careful with a new romance, Swift typically sings, “Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you/ Oh damn never seen that color blue.” But on the new version of the song, the line is “Goddamn never seen that color blue.” 

“I Did Something Bad,” a song about embracing the negative reputation that comes from standing up to people who have wronged her, has a bigger tweak. The original song features the line, “But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin’/ And if he spends my change, then he had it comin.” Her new line goes, “And if he calls me a bitch then he had it comin.”

What’s behind the change? As fans noticed, the songs were included in the version of Reputation with Dolby Atmos sound, which is intended to create a three-dimensional soundscape. The Dolby Atmos tracks were released by Apple Music on Dec. 12 — the same day Swift released the first two episodes of her Eras tour documentary. 

The singer was previously on a mission to rerecord and release her first six albums after she was unable to purchase her master recordings. Instead, they were sold to producer Scooter Braun, whom she accused of “incessant, manipulative bullying.” Swift, whose 2018 deal with Universal Music Group and Republic Records allows her to own her masters outright, released so-called “Taylor’s Versions” of albums Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989 between 2021 and 2023. 

However, in a letter to fans posted on her website back in May 2025, she revealed she purchased her own masters from Shamrock Holdings, the equity firm that had previously bought them from Braun. Though she wrote that she recorded her first album, a self-titled work fans refer to as “debut,” she said she had not even rerecorded half of Reputation yet.

“The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it,” Swift wrote in her letter. “All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first six that I thought couldn't be improved upon redoing it. Not the music, or photos or videos. So I kept putting it off.”

Swift also wrote that the vault tracks from Reputation — aka songs that she cut from the album originally —could be released at another time, should fans want them. 

Swift did release at least one “Taylor’s Version” Reputation track: “Look What You Made Me Do,” which appeared in a May 2025 episode of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. 

Spotify on Wednesday unveiled Wrapped, its annual year-end campaign that ranks which songs, albums and artists topped the streaming platform’s charts for 2025. Spotify wasn’t the only streamer to unveil its annual roundup: Apple Music’s Replay ’25, which includes its top songs of the year, was made available on Tuesday. 

So, who is the Latin superstar — and 2026 Super Bowl halftime show performer — who was crowned Spotify’s global top artist for the fourth time in his career, with 19.8 billion streams in 2025? Which duet earned the No. 1 spot on Spotify’s global songs chart with 1.7 billion streams? And which viral track topped Apple Music’s top 100 global songs of 2025? 

Yahoo has rounded up both streaming platforms’ global year-end music charts below:

Spotify’s Top 10 Artists Globally

1. Bad Bunny

2. Taylor Swift 

3. The Weeknd 

4. Drake

5. Billie Eilish

6. Kendrick Lamar

7. Bruno Mars

8. Ariana Grande

9. Arjit Singh

10. Fuerza Regida 

Spotify’s Top 10 Albums Globally

1. Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos 

2. KPop Demon Hunters cast, Huntr/X, Saja Boys, KPop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack From the Netflix Film) 

3. Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft 

4. SZA, SOS Deluxe: Lana

5. Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet 

6. Lady Gaga, Mayhem

7. Alex Warren, You’ll Be Alright, Kid

8. Morgan Wallen, I’m the Problem 

9. Kendrick Lamar, GNX

10. Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti 

Spotify’s Top 10 Songs Globally

1. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile” 

2. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”

3. Rosé and Bruno Mars, “Apt.”

4. Alex Warren, “Ordinary”

5. Bad Bunny, “DtMF”

6. Sombr, “Back to Friends”

7. Huntr/X, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, KPop Demon Hunters cast, “Golden”

8. Kendrick Lamar (with SZA), “Luther”

9. Gracie Abrams, “That’s So True”

10. Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”

Apple Music’s Top 100 Global Songs

1. Rosé and Bruno Mars, “Apt.”

2. Kendrick Lamar and SZA, “Luther”

3. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile”

4. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”

5. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”

6. Gracie Abrams, “That’s So True”

7. Alex Warren, “Ordinary”

8. The Weeknd and Playboi Carti, “Timeless”

9. Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”

10. SZA (with Kendrick Lamar), “30 for 30” 

Morgan Wallen led all artists with 12 tracks in the top 100 global songs, his highest-charting one being “I’m the Problem” at No. 18. Kendrick Lamar, meanwhile, landed on the chart nine times; he and SZA nabbed two spots in the top 10. See the full Top 100 Global Songs list here. 

Apple Music’s Top 100 Most-Read Lyrics 

1. Rosé and Bruno Mars, “Apt.”

2. Kendrick Lamar and SZA, “Luther”

3. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile”

4. Huntr/X, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, KPop Demon Hunters cast, “Golden”

5. Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”

6. Gracie Abrams, “That’s So True”

7. Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”

8. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”

9. Mrs. Green Apple, “Lilac” 

10. Kendrick Lamar (feat. Lefty Gunplay), “TV Off”

See the full Top 100 Most-Read Lyrics list here.

Apple Music’s Top 100 Global Radio Chart

1. Rosé and Bruno Mars, “Apt.”

2. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile”

3. Lola Young, “Messy”

4. Alex Warren, “Ordinary”

5. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”

6. Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”

7. Gracie Abrams, “That’s So True”

8. Ed Sheeran, “Azizam”

9. Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”

10. Lady Gaga, Abracadabra”

See the full Top 100 Global Radio list here. 

Apple Music’s Top 100 Songs identified by the Shazam app 

1. Rosé and Bruno Mars, “Apt.”

2. Lola Young, “Messy”

3. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile”

4. Alex Warren, “Ordinary”

5. Moliy, Silent Addy, Skillibeng, Shenseea, “Shake It to the Max (Fly) [Remix]”

6. Emin and Jony, “Kamin”

7. FloyyMenor and Cris MJ, “Gata Only”

8. Doechii, “Anxiety”

9. Benson Boone, “Beautiful Things”

10. Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather” 

See the full Top 100 Shazams list here. 

Hilary Duff’s musical renaissance is in full swing — and it’s a millennial dream come true. On Friday, the Younger star announced the release date of her upcoming album, Luck… or Something, her first LP in over a decade.

Duff revealed the news in an Instagram post, writing, “my new album luck ... or something is out on feb 20th ✨ so much love, late night anxiety and a little chaos went into making this album - hoping you see yourself in here the way I have 🪩🍒 I love you and excited is the largest understatement.”

Duff’s announcement comes two weeks after she dropped “Mature,” her first new song in 10 years. The track, she previously explained, “speaks to my mature self calling my not so mature self on the phone many years ago” to discuss “a brief time with a lover that left me with so many questions.”

“She’s letting her know we landed softly,” Duff said of her wiser, more mature self.

Luck… or Something marks Duff’s first full-length album since 2015’s Breathe In. Breathe Out. The album, Duff’s fifth overall, featured the lead single, “Sparks,” which was her latest track before “Mature.” Despite its failure to generate “major success,” Duff said there was “still some work on the record that felt authentic.”

That Duff is releasing a new album doesn’t come as a surprise to fans. The Come Clean singer has shared photos of herself in the studio with her husband, music producer Matthew Koma, with whom she collaborated on Breathe In. Breathe Out. In September, Koma confirmed Duff’s plans to drop a new album when he shared a touching Instagram tribute for her 38th birthday.

“Working on your album with you this year, on your terms, framed how it works for you, has been the f***ing best and I can’t wait for the world to hear what it sounds like when you get to speak directly to your people without anything or anyone standing in the way,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ll be cheering front row (not actually cause Ticketmaster has this new queue system so probably more like row 6), but I’ll be there.”

With Luck… or Something, Duff is delivering on her promise of “new music … or something.” After all, her musical renaissance was always in the cards.

“It was always going to happen,” Duff said on an episode of Jake Shane’s Therapuss podcast. “There’s no way that that was not going to be a part of my story.”

For decades, Eric Vetro has been Hollywood’s secret weapon — the man behind some of its most iconic voices. The Grammy-nominated vocal coach has guided everyone from Ariana Grande and John Legend to Timothée Chalamet and Reese Witherspoon, preparing them for the kinds of performances that define careers. If you’ve heard a showstopping high note or a biopic singer who sounds impossibly authentic, chances are Vetro was in the room.

But right now, his work is most visible in Wicked: For Good, the second installment of the blockbuster musical adaptation. Grande — a student he’s worked with since she was a young teen — returns as Glinda, delivering the crystalline soprano and emotional precision that earned her an Oscar nomination. Her transformation into the Good Witch didn’t happen overnight; it’s the result of years of discipline, trust and technical evolution guided closely by Vetro. He also helped craft the buoyant, effortless tone of Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, ensuring both performances feel as magical as they look onscreen.

Still, Wicked is only one chapter in Vetro’s far-reaching career. His influence stretches across generations — from Bette Midler to Gen Z stars like Benson Boone and Addison Rae — and he has helped actors like Jeremy Allen White, Austin Butler and Renée Zellweger embody musical legends onscreen. In this interview with Yahoo’s Taryn Ryder, Vetro reflects on his work, the years-long evolution of Grande’s voice and the student he calls “the Judy Garland of our time.”

Guiding Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey through Wicked

I’ve known Ariana since she was 13 — before Nickelodeon, before Victorious. I used to give her lessons over Skype from Los Angeles to Boca Raton. From day one, she was one of the most diligent, hardworking and wildly talented people I’d ever met. She’s always been that way. What’s evolved is how much she’s grown because she works at growing. She’s constantly challenging herself to be better — and that’s what makes her so extraordinary.

We’ve talked about Wicked for years. It was her dream role. She used to say, “Someday, I just want to be part of that movie.” So when it finally happened, it felt almost surreal — joyful in a way that’s hard to describe. Watching her walk into that world, where she could use everything she’s learned over the years, was an emotional experience for me.

Vocally, the process was intense. Ariana wanted to sing as Glinda with complete authenticity. Not an impersonation of the Broadway version but her own take on the character. She could’ve mimicked that sound easily; she can impersonate anyone. But she wanted to be Glinda, to live in that high soprano voice naturally. So we worked for months developing that part of her instrument — expanding the fullness of her upper register, finding an operatic resonance that still felt connected to her. She already had the range, but now those top notes bloom with this effortless, radiant quality.

She also has the kind of pitch that’s almost shocking. I can introduce a new exercise, and she’ll pick it up instantly, perfectly in tune, every time. That’s rare. In today’s world, where so much is “fixed in post,” Ariana doesn’t need it. What you hear is her.

And she’s fun — genuinely fun to work with. The most talented people usually are: They’re smart, curious, creative and have a great sense of humor. She brings that same energy to the room. She’d try "Popular" in 20 different comedic styles, just so the director had choices. She wanted to be overprepared.

People often talk about “Ariana’s real voice,” and I always laugh a little. She has many voices — a deeper, sarcastic one, a higher speaking tone she uses to protect her cords and layers in between. When she was on Nickelodeon as Cat Valentine, the character voice wasn’t easy on her vocal cords. I loved that character, but hearing her use her voice that way drove me crazy as her coach. I was very happy when that period ended.

The first time I saw her as Glinda — especially her entrance in the bubble, hitting those big, glorious high notes — I had to hold back tears. In a private screening, I let myself cry, but at the premiere I was trying not to look like I’d been sobbing. It was just pure joy watching her live out that dream.

Working with Jonathan Bailey was equally special, but in a very different way. He’s so much more than “Sexiest Man Alive.” He’s intelligent, thoughtful, funny and deeply compassionate — the kind of person who cares about the world and the people in it.

Because he was splitting time between Bridgerton and Fellow Travelers, our focus was on keeping his voice healthy and effortless for “Dancing Through Life.” That song can’t sound strained; Fiyero starts the story as someone light and carefree, and his singing has to reflect that. We worked on making his sound as easy and natural as possible, so he could dance, move and sing all at once without losing that charm. He brought a beautiful complexity to the role that I can’t wait for audiences to see in Part Two.

How I approach the voice — and the people behind it

When actors like Jeremy Allen White, Timothée Chalamet or Austin Butler come to me for singing roles, we start from zero — just as students. First, they learn their own voice: how to breathe, how to place sound, how to trust what they hear. Only then do we start shaping the character’s voice — Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Elvis. My philosophy is simple: No one wants to see an impersonation. The goal is to capture the essence of that person so fully that audiences forget they’re watching Jeremy or Timothée at all.

I’ll never forget the day Jeremy sang “I’m On Fire.” His posture shifted, his face changed — and suddenly I got chills. He was Bruce in that moment. Those are the moments you chase as a teacher.

Whether it’s Jeremy or Ariana, Bette or Renée, the common denominator is work ethic. The artists who last are the ones who stay open, keep learning and practice relentlessly. They may get insecure like anyone else, but instead of spiraling, they ask, “Show me how to fix it.” That’s what separates the greats from the rest.

With social media stars like Addison Rae, it’s similar. People might think of her as a “TikTok dancer,” but she’s a deeply creative person who visualizes everything — her sound, her look, her world. In another era, she would’ve been a Disney or Nickelodeon star. Now artists build their own platforms. The medium has changed, not the ambition.

In all cases, honesty is my approach. I tell people the truth — never to be harsh but to help. If they know you care, they’ll take the note. Occasionally, someone can’t. I once gave a small correction after a sound check, and I could see immediately the person was done for the day. (No, I don't want to say who.) Maybe she’d had a bad morning, maybe something else had happened. I try not to judge. We all have off days. But if someone truly doesn’t want honesty, I’m not the right teacher for them.

Reflections, gratitude and the long game

When someone I coach wins or gets nominated for an Oscar or Grammy, of course it’s thrilling. It means I did my job. But I try not to live for those moments. Awards are wonderful, but they’re fleeting. Only one person wins; many deserve it. I focus on doing the best work I can each day with whoever’s in front of me. The rest is extra.

If I could have coached anyone from the past, I’d say Frank Sinatra for his control and confidence, Billie Holiday for her emotional truth and Judy Garland for her vulnerability and magic. I always tell Ariana she’s my Judy Garland — the Judy of this generation. There’s that same rare mix of discipline, emotion and electricity. And like Judy, Ariana’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime voices.

I’ve been fortunate to brush against those legacies in other ways — Renée as Judy, Austin as Elvis, Jeremy as Bruce — so in a sense, I have worked with them. That’s what I love about my job. I get to help great artists find their voices and, in the process, keep learning from them too.

The 2025 CMA Awards, which took place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday night, welcomed some of country’s biggest, brightest stars for an evening of celebration.

Hosted by Lainey Wilson, the awards show marked a historic occasion for the CMAs: It was the first time three solo female country artists — Ella Langley, Megan Moroney and Wilson — were tied for the most nominations.

Close behind in nominations was Zach Top, with five, followed by Cody Johnson and Riley Green, who had four nods apiece. 

The 59th annual awards show was filled with star-studded performances by notable country names, including Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Kelsea Ballerini, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert.

The 2025 Country Music Awards are now available to stream on Hulu. 

See the full list of winners below. 

Entertainer of the Year 

• Luke Combs

• Cody Johnson

• Chris Stapleton

• Morgan Wallen

• Lainey Wilson — winner

Album of the Year

• Megan Moroney, Am I Okay?

• Zach Top, Cold Beer & Country Music

• Post Malone, F-1 Trillion 

• Morgan Wallen, I’m the Problem 

• Lainey Wilson, Whirlwind  — winner

Female Vocalist of the Year

• Kelsea Ballerini

• Miranda Lambert

• Ella Langley

• Megan Moroney

• Lainey Wilson — winner

Male Vocalist of the Year

• Luke Combs

• Cody Johnson — winner

• Chris Stapleton

• Zach Top

• Morgan Wallen 

Vocal Group of the Year 

• Lady A

• Little Big Town

• Old Dominion

• Rascal Flatts

• The Red Clay Strays — winner

Vocal Duo of the Year 

• Brooks & Dunn — winner

• Brothers Osborne

• Dan + Shay

• Maddie & Tae

• The War and Treaty 

New Artist of the Year 

• Ella Langley

• Shaboozey

• Zach Top — winner

• Tucker Wetmore

• Stephen Wilson Jr. 

Single of the Year 

• Lainey Wilson, “4x4xU”

• Luke Combs, “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”

• Megan Moroney, “Am I Okay?”

• Zach Top, “I Never Lie”

• Ella Langley and Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me” — winner

Song of the Year 

• Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson, “4x4xU”

• Jessie Jo Dillon, Luke Laird, Megan Moroney, “Am I Okay?”

• Carson Chamberlain, Tim Nichols, Zach Top, “I Never Lie”

• Johnny Clawson, Josh Dorr, Lalo Guzman, Kyle Sturrock, “Texas”

• Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere, “You Look Like You Love Me” — winner

Musical Event of the Year 

• Riley Green featuring Ella Langley, “Don’t Mind If I Do”

• Brandon Lake with Jelly Roll, “Hard Fought Hallelujah”

• Post Malone featuring Blake Shelton, “Pour Me a Drink” — winner

• Megan Moroney featuring Kenny Chesney, “You Had to Be There”

Music Video of the Year 

• Megan Moroney, “Am I Okay?”

• Cody Johnson with Carrie Underwood, “I’m Gonna Love You”

• Lainey Wilson, “Somewhere Over Laredo”

• Chris Stapleton, “Think I’m in Love With You”

• Ella Langley and Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me” — winner

Musician of the Year

• Jenee Fleenor

• Paul Franklin — winner

• Brent Mason

• Rob McNelley

• Derek Wells

Charli took to Substack in November to write about the release of her upcoming album. She said the concept came about after Fennell, who also directed Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, texted her “out of the blue” about collaborating. Fennell, who previously used Charli’s song “Boys” in Promising Young Woman, sent Charli the Wuthering Heights script. As she read it, the pop star began to feel “inspired,” immersing herself in a story that was “steeped in history.” 

“I was purely a voyeur and I was enjoying being one,” Charli wrote. “The language of this world felt so opposite from the world I had been inhabiting for the past 2 and a half years. I began to feel a sense of freedom again.”

When Fennell asked Charli to write a song for the film, Charli instead suggested she write an entire album for the movie, explaining that she was eager to dive into a world that was “undeniably raw, wild, sexual, gothic, British, tortured and full of actual real sentences, punctuation and grammar.” She teamed up with producer Finn Keane and, later, the two connected with John Cale of the Velvet Underground for the track “House,” which she released a music video for in November.

Charli also released the second song from the album to coincide with the Wuthering Heights trailer. Titled “Chains of Love,” in the song — which appears in the full trailer for the film — Charli sings of a painful love akin to the one Cathy (played by Margot Robbie in the Wuthering Heights film) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) experience onscreen. 

“I’d rather lay down in thorns/ I’d rather drown in a stream/ I’d rather light myself on fire/ I’d rather wear all these scars/ I’d rather watch my skin bleed/ In the eye of your storm,” Charli sings. 

Charli xcx’s dive into the film world

Charli shared on her Substack that the experience of working on Wuthering Heights came at a time when film was inspiring her in more areas than music alone. 

In the wake of Brat’s success, Charli released her A24 film, The Moment, a mockumentary about her first arena tour, which stars Charli as well as Alexander Skarsgård, Rachel Sennott and Kylie Jenner. 

Charli also recently appeared in Sacrifice, opposite Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Evans, and 100 Nights of Hero with Maika Monroe and Emma Corrin. 

On the TV side, Charli serves as the executive music producer for the Prime Video series Overcompensating and appeared as herself in one episode.

Robyn is back with a new single, "Dopamine" — and fans couldn't be more thrilled over her long-awaited return to music. 

The new single, which dropped on Wednesday alongside a music video featuring Robyn dancing alone as well as with her son, Tyko, is the Swedish singer's first in seven years. The song reunites Robyn with Klas Åhlund, her longtime collaborator, who also worked with her on songs like her 2010 hit "Dancing on My Own." 

The dance-y track "Dopamine" features lyrics like "I know it's just dopamine / But it feels so real to me / I'm tripping on our chemistry / It's firing up inside of me / I just need to know / That I'm not alone / I know it's just dopamine / But it feels so real to me."

Fans love the new single. In the comments section of the music video, one wrote, "It's great of Robyn to be in charge of the music again, she's absolutely awesome!" Another welcomed back the artist, writing that she "came to save music once again." A third thanked the musician for "being a shining light in my world, and for being a constant source of joy and true artistry!"

And another likened Robyn's return to that of Hilary Duff and Vanessa Carlton, both of whom released new songs this month after taking a break from releasing music. 

Watch the music video below.

Back in September, Åhlund revealed on the podcast Nordmark Pod that the two were working together on an album. The upcoming work is Robyn's first album since her 2018 release, Honey, which featured songs like "Missing U" and "Baby Forgive Me." 

 It’s not unusual for Robyn to take some time between new music. She took nearly eight years between her 2010 album, Body Talk — which was three mini albums that dropped at separate times across 2010 — and Honey.

Although Robyn has not released new music of her own since Honey, she has collaborated with other artists. That includes Charli xcx, whom she joined for a remix of her 2024 Brat single "360," which also featured Yung Lean. 

“Golden,” the most unavoidable bop from the animated kids movie KPop Demon Hunters, has been the No. 1 song on the Billboard Global 200 for 14 weeks. The film is Netflix’s most popular movie of all time, with more than 325 million views and counting. People even left their couches to see it in theaters, and it dominated the box office during its brief run. Kids recreated the film’s most popular looks for Halloween and beyond, and adults say they love it too.

“Golden” is performed by the fictional band Huntr/x, voiced by singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. In response to the news of the song’s nominations, EJAE, who’s one of the song’s cowriters, told Variety, “I’m not able to digest this time. I’m still in shock.”

But given how massively popular “Golden” is, it’s not surprising that the Recording Academy, the organization of music industry professionals that administers the Grammy Awards, gave it a nod for Song of the Year, one of its top prizes. What’s unusual is the fact that it’s a song from a film made for kids — and it’s K-pop, a genre that’s rarely recognized by the Grammys.

©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

While it’s not unheard of for a song from a kid’s movie to be nominated for a major award — hits from The Lion King earned multiple nods in 1995, and “A Whole New World” from Aladdinwon in 1994 — they rarely transcend the soundtrack categories to contend for the top prizes of the night. “Let It Go” from Frozen and “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 might be earworms woven into the very fabric of pop culture, but they weren’t Song of the Year nominees.

KPop Demon Hunters stands out in that regard too, because it’s a brand new slice of intellectual property without the backing of familiar characters, Disney or nostalgia. It’s wholly new, and its bubble gum pop music and infectiously bright visuals have made it an obsession.

That’s the calling card for much of K-pop, which has been quietly zooming toward mainstream domination for years. The genre, which consists largely of South Korean boy and girl groups, has notoriously intense fans who obsessively promote their favorite artists, like BTS.

“Fans become evangelists for their favorite K-pop artist among their friends, helping expand the artist’s fan base exponentially,” Serona Elton, interim vice dean and chair of the music industry program at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, told Yahoo in September.

The intensity of K-pop fans has paid off: Now, it’s not so unique to love the genre. There’s another K-Pop star up for Song of the Year: Rosé, a member of the K-pop girl group Blackpink, is up for the award for "Apt," a collaboration with Bruno Mars. It’s also pure, unadulterated pop and includes Korean lyrics, signaling that this year was a turning point for the genre’s acceptance in the U.S.

KPop Demon Hunters is nominated for four Grammys total, which does more than just crown it as a massive musical success — it validates its popularity. Music professionals have dubbed it worthy of honor in addition to it being inescapable. Whether you’re listening to the radio, letting Spotify’s algorithm dictate your streaming habits, bopping to whatever your kids are into or hunting for the best possible songs determined by the people who make them, KPop Demon Hunters is totally unavoidable. Maybe it should be rewarded for that.

A new Katy Perry single just dropped, but is it a “California Gurls”-level smash hit? Fans are loving “Bandaids,” which Perry debuted along with a Final Destination-like music video. 

The song’s lyrics are about coming to terms with the end of a relationship after holding on to it for so long. “Got so used to you letting me down / No use tryna send flowers now / Telling myself you'll change, you don't / Band-Aids over a broken heart,” Perry sings in the chorus. 

In one lyric, Perry hints that a lack of effort by her partner was what doomed the romance, singing, “It's not that complicated / To ask me how my day is / I'm flatlining trying to save this.”

The music video features Perry constantly in serious peril. In the opening scene, the singer drops what appears to be a wedding band into a garbage disposal, only to accidentally turn it on as she reaches for the ring. Later, in a moment straight out of Final Destination 2, she attempts to dodge logs after they drop from a truck on the highway. 

Toward the end, she sings about how the “love that we made was worth it in the end,” as she gets stuck in the path of a train, before seeing a daisy lying near the tracks. That daisy inspires Perry to jump out of the way and save herself. Perry’s 5-year-old daughter, whom she parents with ex-fiancé Orlando Bloom, is named Daisy, and the title of the 2020 single off of her Smile album is “Daisies.” 

Fans showed a lot of love for the music video in the comments section, where many applauded it for its nostalgic sound. One fan wrote, “Sounds like 2010. Sounds like my childhood. I am sobbing. She's SO back. Such a great song!” 

Another fan declared that “Katy Perry has finally returned to the pop rock sound that makes her so special. I’m SO seated for this era.” And another said that the song was a “great comeback” track, calling it a mix of the singles “Wide Awake” and “Never Really Over.” 

Others found the daisy moment in the music video sweet, with one writing, “Daisy being her reason to keep going ... [I love you] Katy.” 

Perry announced the new song in an Instagram post on Nov. 4 that included a photo of herself with tiny cuts all over her face to match the track's theme. 

The “Firework” singer is currently in the middle of the U.K. and European leg of her Lifetimes tour, her first time on the road since her Witness tour concluded in 2018. The Lifetimes setlist features music from her 2024 album 143 as well as previous hits.

“Bandaids” is Perry’s first single since her breakup with Bloom. Reps confirmed their split after nine years together in July, stating that the two have been “shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting.”

Perry recently made headlines for stepping out with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with whom she has been linked since the summer. While neither Perry nor Trudeau has directly addressed a possible romance, Perry acknowledged her relationship status during a recent stop on the tour after a fan in the audience proposed to her. 

“This guy is trying to get me to marry him and he has a ring in his hand,” she told the crowd, per a TikTok video of the moment posted on Oct. 31 . “No. I am dating someone else for crying out f***ing loud.” 

Music’s biggest night took place on Sunday, making many of your favorite artists Grammy winners. Kendrick Lamar, who made history at the 2025 Grammys for winning all five awards he was nominated for with his diss track “Not Like Us,” led the pack with nine nominations. By the end of the night, he had taken home four Grammys, including Record of the Year for “Luther” with his collaborator SZA.

Lady Gaga also scored seven nominations this year, including for Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Mother Monster, who gave a high-energy performance on the Grammys stage, walked away with Best Pop Vocal Album for Mayhem and Best Dance Pop Recording for “Abracadabra,” as well as Best Remixed Recording for “Abracadabra (Gesaffelstein Remix).”

But it was Bad Bunny, scheduled to be the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show performer, who was the biggest winner of the night. He took home Album of the Year, for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, making him the first Spanish-language artist to win the award. He is also the first to be nominated in the Album, Song and Record of the Year categories.

“I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said as he accepted the award.

The Best New Artist category was brimming with up-and-coming talent, with nominees including Addison Rae, Katseye and Lola Young. Ultimately, however, it was Olivia Dean who earned the award, with an acceptance speech that honored her immigrant grandparents.

The full list of nominees and winners is here. Take a look at some of the most notable 2026 Grammy nominations below.

Album of the Year

• Bad Bunny, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS — winner

• Justin Bieber, Swag

• Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend

• Clipse, Pusha T and Malice, Let God Sort Em Out

• Lady Gaga, Mayhem

• Kendrick Lamar, GNX

• Leon Thomas, Mutt

• Tyler, the Creator, Chromakopia

Record of the Year

• Bad Bunny, “DtMF”

• Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”

• Doechii, “Anxiety”

• Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”

• Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”

• Kendrick Lamar with SZA, “Luther” — winner

• Chappell Roan, “The Subway”

• Rosé & Bruno Mars, “APT.”

Song of the Year

• Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”

• Doechii, “Anxiety”

• Rosé and Bruno Mars, “APT.”

• Bad Bunny, “DtMF”

• Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, “Golden”

• Kendrick Lamar with SZA, “Luther”

• Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”

• Billie Eilish, “Wildflower” — winner

Best New Artist

• Olivia Dean — winner

• Katseye

• The Marias

• Addison Rae

• Sombr

• Leon Thomas

• Alex Warren

• Lola Young

Best Album Cover

• Tyler, the Creator, Chromakopia — winner

• Djo, The Crux

• Bad Bunny, DeBÍTiRAR MáS FOToS

• Perfume Genius, Glory

• Wet Leg, Moisturizer

Best Pop Vocal Album

• Justin Bieber, Swag

• Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend

• Miley Cyrus, Something Beautiful

• Lady Gaga, Mayhem — winner

• Teddy Swims, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2)

Best Pop Solo Performance

• Justin Bieber, “Daisies”

• Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”

• Lady Gaga, “Disease”

• Chappell Roan, “The Subway”

• Lola Young, “Messy” — winner

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

• Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, “Defying Gravity” — winner

• Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, “Golden”

• Katseye, “Gabriela”

• Rosé and Bruno Mars, “APT.”

• SZA with Kendrick Lamar, “30 for 30”

Best Rock Album

• Deftones, Private Music

• Haim, I Quit

• Linkin Park, From Zero

• Turnstile, Never Enough — winner

• Yungblud, Idols

Best Alternative Music Album

• Bon Iver, Sable, Fable

• The Cure, Songs of a Lost World — winner

• Tyler, the Creator, Don’t Tap the Glass

• Wet Leg, Moisturizer

• Hayley Williams, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

Best Rap Album

• Clipse, Pusha T and Malice, Let God Sort Em Out

• GloRilla, Glorious

• JID, God Does Like Ugly

• Kendrick Lamar, GNX — winner

• Tyler, the Creator, Chromakopia

Best Latin Pop Album

• Rauw Alejandro, Cosa Nuestra

• Andrés Cepeda, Bogotá (Deluxe)

• Karol G, Tropicoqueta

• Natalia Lafourcade, Cancionera — winner

• Alejandro Sanz, ¿Y Ahora Qué?

Best R&B Album

• Givēon, Beloved

• Coco Jones, Why Not More?

• Ledisi, The Crown

• Teyana Taylor, Escape Room

• Leon Thomas, Mutt — winner

Best Traditional Country Album

• Charley Crockett, Dollar a Day

• Lukas Nelson, American Romance

• Willie Nelson, Oh What a Beautiful World

• Margo Price, Hard Headed Woman

• Zach Top, Ain't in It for My Health — winner

Best Contemporary Country Album

• Kelsea Ballerini, Patterns

• Tyler Childers, Snipe Hunter

• Eric Church, Evangeline vs. the Machine

• Jelly Roll, Beautifully Broken —winner

• Miranda Lambert, Postcards From Texas

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

• Dan Auerbach

• Cirkut — winner

• Dijon

• Blake Mills

• Sounwave

Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical

• Amy Allen — winner

• Edgar Barrera

• Jessie Jo Dillon

• Tobias Jesso Jr.

• Laura Veltz

Best Música Urbana Album

• Bad Bunny, Debi Tirar Má Fotos — winner

• J Balvin, Mixteip

• Feid, Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado

• Nicki Nicole, Naiki

• Trueno, EUB Deluxe

• Yandel, Sinfonico (En Vivo)

“‘Mature’ speaks to my mature self calling my not so mature self on the phone many years ago, and she’s letting her know we landed softly,” Duff wrote in an Instagram caption celebrating the song’s release. “This was a brief time with a lover that left me with so many questions. … It felt like a good place to start. How are we feeling … Mature?” 

The scathing pop-rock track sees Duff criticize an ex-lover for moving on with a younger woman who’s fallen for his “Scorpio touch.” Duff’s not judging the girl though. She’s been there herself, which she acknowledges on the chorus: “She looks/Like all of your girls but blonder/A little like me, just younger/Bet she loves when she hears you say, ‘You’re so mature for your age, babe.’” 

“It’s a really fun song, and I feel like it’s myself talking to my younger self about an experience that we had,” Duff said of track on the Wednesday episode of Jake Shane’s Therapuss podcast. “Just reflecting on it and being OK with it, and having, you know, a little tongue-in-cheek moment with yourself and like accepting your past and being good with where you landed.” 

Duff said she’s ready to reconnect with her fans through music. 

“I have this crazy, like, connection with fans that I’ve known since I was 9 to 10 years old, and I just want to connect with them again now,” she told Shane. “And I think that we have gone through a lot of the same things, whether that’s complicated relationships, anxiety, raising kids, divorces, trying to find yourself in adulthood, family drama. I mean, lots of topics that, you know, just felt like finally I felt safe enough and comfortable in my own family to step outside and open that part of myself up again.” 

The Raise Your Voice star’s return to music doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. She did, after all, allude to as much in September, when she shared a series of photos of herself in the recording studio with her husband, music producer Matthew Koma, on Instagram, alongside the not-so-cryptic caption “new music … or something 🪩✨🍒.” 

The “Come Clean” singer also teased her musical renaissance a few weeks earlier, when she celebrated the 22nd anniversary of her second studio album, Metamorphosis. In a lengthy Instagram caption, Duff reflected on the “pretty epic adventure” of crafting the record, before signing off with “To be continued…” 

It appears that Koma, who shares daughters Banks Violet, Mae James and Townes Meadow with Duff and is the stepfather to Duff’s son, Luca, from her previous marriage, is helping bring his wife’s newest musical era to fruition. The Brooklyn native has previously produced tracks for artists including Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, Carly Rae Jepsen as well as Duff. On Duff’s 38th birthday, in September, Koma all but confirmed that a new album was on the way. 

“Working on your album with you this year, on your terms, framed how it works for you, has been the f***ing best and I can’t wait for the world to hear what it sounds like when you get to speak directly to your people without anything or anyone standing in the way,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’ll be cheering front row (not actually cause Ticketmaster has this new queue system so probably more like row 6), but I’ll be there.”

Koma’s heartfelt tribute came months after he urged Duff to “go save millennial pop music” on Mother’s Day. “It needs you now more than ever,” he wrote on Instagram. 

“Mature” marks Duff’s first new song since “Sparks,” the leading single from her Koma-produced fifth studio album, Breathe In. Breathe Out., which debuted in 2015. In an Instagram post celebrating that album’s 10th anniversary, Duff noted that there was “still some work on the record that felt authentic” despite it not having “major success.” 

A decade later, Duff is ready to reemerge. The mom of four has already made some big moves: She inked a contract with Atlantic Records in September and has a new docuseries about her return to music on the way, which will be directed by Sam Wrench, whose recent work includes A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. 

“I always knew I was going to return to music. I needed to feel safe and I needed to have the right people in my corner and be absolutely 100% ready,” she told Variety in October. “Honestly, I needed to have 10 years of life under my belt. I needed a lot to say. This album feels like the inner workings of my brain and I really am so excited to connect with people again on that level, that very forward-facing level.”

“i can’t wait to get back on the road with you and dance to these songs together night after night,” the Disney Channel alum wrote alongside a photo revealing the upcoming dates. Lovato also announced that singer Adéla would be supporting her on the tour, calling the “insanely talented” singer an “absolute star that is going to blow your mind.” 

“this is gonna be so much fun, i can’t even contain it,” Lovato wrote. “SEE YOU SO SOON.” 

When and where is Demi Lovato touring? 

The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer is heading to 23 cities, beginning with an April 8 show at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C. The tour ends in Houston more than one month later. 

Below are the dates and locations for Lovato’s upcoming tour: 

• April 8 — Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.

• April 10 — Kia Center, Orlando

• April 12 — State Farm Arena, Atlanta

• April 14 — Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

• April 16 — Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

• April 18 — Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia

• April 20 — Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario

• April 22 — TD Garden, Boston

• April 24 — Madison Square Garden Arena, New York

• April 27 — Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

• April 29 — Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

• May 1 — United Center, Chicago

• May 2 — Target Center, Minneapolis

• May 5 — Ball Arena, Denver

• May 8 — MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

• May 9 — Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.

• May 11 — Chase Center, San Francisco

• May 13 — Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle

• May 16 — The Kia Forum, Inglewood, Calif. 

• May 19 — Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, Ariz.

• May 22 — American Airlines Center, Dallas

• May 24 — Moody Center, Austin, Texas

• May 25 — Toyota Center, Houston

How can fans get tickets for Demi Lovato’s show? 

Fans can head to Lovato’s website to sign up for presale access now through Oct. 28 at 10 p.m. ET, with presale beginning Oct. 30 at 10 a.m. local time. The general ticket sale begins Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. local time.

What has Demi Lovato said about her new album and upcoming tour? 

Lovato previously teased she is eager to get back to performing live, writing in an Oct. 13 Instagram post “this era is a celebration of the journey that’s brought me to where i am today. i haven’t announced a headline show since 2023 and i have missed seeing your faces so much. i cannot wait to get back in a room with you all and sing, dance, scream and shake our asses TOGETHER!!”

The new album marks a return to pop music. Back in January 2022, the Camp Rock star held a funeral for her pop music career as a way to usher in the release of her rock album Holy Fvck. 

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the singer said that while she previously made “cathartic music” about “heavy topics” as a way to process her emotions, this era feels different. “When I got back in the studio this time around, those songs just weren’t resonating anymore because I’m not in that place in life,” the singer, who married singer Jordan “Jutes” Lutes in May, said. “I’m happy, I’m in love, and I just want to enjoy life and have fun. I realized it’s not that deep anymore, and that became the ethos for this album. It’s Not That Deep is meant for late nights and dancefloors, and I can’t wait for you all to dance with me.”

Lovato unveiled her ninth studio album and firstpop album since 2021, It’s Not That Deep, on Friday. She’s nearly four years out of the pop game, but Lovato’s homecoming is bright and assured. Tracks like “Fast” and “Little Bit” hark back to the club-going energy Lovato radiated on “Cool for the Summer,” when she had the genre wrapped around her finger. 

Where It’s Not That Deep differs from Lovato’s previous works is in its inherently carefree ethos. Lovato isn’t just singing about having fun — she’s actually having it. 

“This album era has been such a joyful and fun time in my life. i really feel like i’m exactly where i’m supposed to be. every piece of this world was created with so much love,” Lovato wrote on Instagram following the album’s midnight release. “from set to the studio, i’ve enjoyed every moment of this process and i hope you can feel it when you listen. i’m so glad it’s finally yours to laugh, dance, and even cry to (because let’s be real, i had to get a little deep).”

Lovato also dropped the live music video of “Let You Go,” the fourth track on It’s Not That Deep, at 4 a.m. ET on album release day. 

Fans will recall that nearly four years ago, Lovato sent her inner pop star six feet under, holding a “funeral” to commemorate the death of that musical era. In January 2022, the Camp Rock alum, clad in all black, hosted “a funeral for my pop music” with executives from Island Records, including her then-manager Scooter Braun. She went on to release Holy Fvck in 2022, followed by Revamped in 2023, before pivoting back to her pop-centric roots. 

“My pop music coming back to life after we had a funeral for it,” reads text on a video Lovato posted to TikTok on July 21. 

Ten days later, Lovato dropped “Fast,” her dance-pop single and first solo release in three years. “Here All Night,” an uptempo breakup track, was released in mid-September, followed by her latest, EDM-heavy single, “Kiss,” which debuted earlier this month. 

With It’s Not That Deep, Lovato seems to embrace the nostalgia of her past and channel it in a way that serves who she is in this moment. There’s a cool, commanding nonchalance that’s steady throughout, and it’s especially evident on tracks like “Frequency,” where she repeatedly vows to “f*** up the vibe,” and “Say It,” on which she’s unapologetic in her desire for validation. 

Still, the album lends itself to moments of introspection without sacrificing its free-flowing, electro-heavy energy. On “Let You Go,” Lovato realizes it’s time to end a relationship, as she sings, “Maybe we’ll be better as a memory/ Even if it means that you’ll forget me.” Lovato then slows things down with “Ghost,” a touching ballad about “wanting to be haunted for life” by the ghost of her partner. 

It’s unclear if the “In My Head” singer plans to tour the album, though her Los Angeles fans are in for a treat: She’s set to play a special, one-night-only show at the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday, Oct. 25, where she’ll perform tracks from It’s Not That Deep along with her greatest hits. The evening, Lovato says, will serve as a celebration of how far she’s come.

“I haven’t announced a headline show since 2023 and i have missed seeing your faces so much,” Lovato wrote on Instagram. “i cannot wait to get back in a room with you all and sing, dance, scream and shake our asses TOGETHER!!” 

The 28-year-old pop singer is currently on the road for her Ultrasound World Tour in support of her summer album release, Virgin. Performing, for Lorde, goes beyond putting on an entertaining show for her fans — it’s rooted in cultivating connection and creating a physical, visceral space. 

Tapping into this deeply emotional place, the singer told Variety in an interview published Wednesday, is why she tapes her chest onstage every night while performing her track “Man of the Year.” Even before there was an album, Lorde knew that the act of taping her chest was something she wanted fans to see her do. It was a statement she knew she wanted to make. 

“It just felt like an image I had never seen, and it felt incredibly vulnerable and powerful to me,” the “What Was That” singer told Variety. “I feel kind of like a rockstar, like, wow, there’s something really special about this.”

For Lorde, taping her chest elicits feelings of empowerment. Looking out into the crowd and seeing fans with their own chests taped, she told the outlet, is also “the sickest thing” she’s ever seen. 

“When we started doing it on the tour I realized, whoa, this is actually incredibly vulnerable,” she told Variety. “And through the course of the song, I become powerful. It empowers me. But it’s quite amazing how it works on me as a device. I feel so bare in front of these people, and there is this sort of intake of breath in the room because it is just such a raw image. And that feels like exactly the work that I need to be doing. That’s why I’m playing an arena, is to give you this image.” 

Lorde said she taped her chest for the first time in 2023, the same year she began writing “Man of the Year.” Lorde, who still identifies as a cis woman, suddenly became acquainted with what she described to Dazed as a “very pure version” of herself. 

“I’d really been feeling this stuff bubble up and talking about it a lot in therapy,” she told the magazine in September. “We started writing the song, and I saw this TV performance of it [in my mind’s eye], and it wasn’t even finished. And in the performance I saw myself in jeans, no shirt. And I thought about how I would actually do that on TV. It wasn’t a bra. I had this roll of tape and grabbed it, put my jeans on, taped up, and saw myself — and was like, ‘F***, that’s me.’”

Lorde’s candor regarding identity extends beyond these two instances. Earlier this year, a Rolling Stone interview between Lorde and Chappell Roan made headlines after the “Shapeshifter” singer addressed whether or not her pronouns were changing. Clarifying the conversation with Dazed, Lorde said that she doesn’t have it all figured out — and that her identity is ever-changing. 

“It’s all a journey,” she said. “I have no idea where it’s gonna go; it doesn’t feel like I’ve arrived anywhere permanent at all. I’m sure it’ll keep unfurling, the way these things do.” 

Meg compared the vibe of the audience to that of a middle school dance, and at the same time, mused about whether Sombr’s onstage behavior was appropriate given some of his vulgar stage banter. These types of concert dispatches aren’t unusual, but what Sombr did next certainly was. He responded directly.

In his own video captioned “rant” that has racked up more than 8.8 million views thus far, Sombr addressed the “TikTok drama” and accused Meg of starting a “massive body-shaming hate train” against him (seemingly a reference to her Slenderman comparison). He said that he respects “people having opinions,” but implied that Meg probably shouldn’t have gone to that concert at all.

“And if you’re 25 years old and you’re going to come to my concert and not expect people younger than you to be there, when I, the artist, am five years younger than you, it’s just a skill issue,” Sombr says, punctuating his point with more internet slang.

The fact that one of the biggest emerging pop stars of the year responded to a single post from a fan turned critic is bizarre. It’s a testament to the ever-evolving nature of fame in 2025, and a clear indication of the symbiotic but contentious relationship that artists can increasingly have with their own supporters.

Wait, who is this guy and why is he fighting with fans?

It’s hard for a male pop star to break out these days — Harry Styles is one of the only true singing, dancing pop phenoms — but Sombr is one of the few to make real headway. The 20-year-old, whose real name is Shane Michael Boose, first gained traction on TikTok and earlier this year landed a coveted performance spot at the MTV Video Music Awards. His pensive songs about relationships had recently begun to climb the ranks of the alternative and pop charts.

In a sign of his momentum, Taylor Swift recently shouted him out as an “amazing” artist, and until the Meg debacle, his post about receiving a handwritten note from Swift was his most recent TikTok. In it, he spoke with the energy of a baby deer too big for his limbs and the choppy cadence of a teenager raised by algorithms.

Sombr’s public response to a concert attendee’s critique immediately ignited backlash. Artists, especially those so close to becoming household names, don’t usually break the fourth wall and single out fans. While many pop stars have infamous online armies of supporters that wage war on the artist’s behalf, musicians and their teams like to project the image that they’re above the fray. Sombr erased that illusion when he climbed down into the muck himself.

To some, it was a baffling move that risks alienating would-be fans and makes him appear alarmingly thin-skinned. Ron Roecker, a brand strategist who was once the vice president of communications for the Recording Academy, tells Yahoo that Sombr “clapped back because he is a young kid who got humiliated in front of his besties and got his feelings hurt.”

Part of Sombr’s reaction may have been motivated by the fact that he came of age and got his first taste of fame online, where it’s normal to turn your camera on and just start talking. Early fans tend to reward that kind of authentic engagement.

“He didn’t think of the ramifications of his actions because when you get famous on a social media platform, you still are somewhat isolated and protected by the screen,” Roecker says. “Online stars get such adulation from a targeted fan base, they think they can do or say just about anything. The reality is you have to be smart about handling critics.”

Authenticity is a double-edged sword

As an artist starts gaining more clout, being so off-the-cuff can be risky given that the music industry is still volatile. Artists can go on tour and deliver impressive performances, but they mostly have to pray that social media and streaming algorithms cast their favor upon them. Roecker says that the smallest interaction, be it with a fan, a server at a restaurant or a totally random person, could swing public opinion against Sombr’s favor.

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for MTV

“He needs to define what his personal brand is and what kind of artist he wants to be,” Roecker says. “Once he figures that out, gets a little time under his belt and hopefully hires a strategic team that he trusts will give him good advice ... then the rest usually works itself out.”

Sombr isn’t the first deeply online artist to wade into such treacherous waters with fans. When Chappell Roan, who had an active and outspoken social media presence before reaching pop star status in 2024, directly admonished fans for “abuse, harassment, [and] stalking,” she was criticized for being unkind.

Shortly thereafter and following similar controversies, Roan stopped posting so prolifically. Now she’s more guarded, using her social media presence to promote new music or share performances. That could happen to Sombr too. Music labels have a lot riding on these artists, and so much of their success lies in the ways fans perceive them.

Sombr could become an outspoken and authentic Gen Z hero, or be dismissed as a combative young person not used to his own fame. Does he want to be known as the artist who fights with his own fans? It would certainly make him a new kind of pop star.

Taylor Swift may be a pop star, but in college classrooms across disciplines — from gender studies to economics — she’s being treated as more than entertainment. Her work is fueling academic conversations about storytelling, culture, identity, capitalism and power in courses that bear her name.

Harvard and New York University were among the first schools to introduce classes studying Swift, starting in 2022. That’s since grown to other universities across the country. Now, with her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, professors are finding new material to weave into their syllabi.

“Taylor’s writing is what makes her worthy of study,” Elizabeth Scala, an English professor at the University of Texas at Austin who has created coursework around Swift, tells Yahoo. “She is a cultural phenomenon in the U.S. Everyone and every product tries to connect with her. She is not in the zeitgeist; she is the zeitgeist for many.”

We spoke with five professors who have taught courses on the singer about how they’re using her new album to spark discussion, deepen analysis and keep students engaged.

Philosophy (Taylor’s Version)

• Professor: Melissa Jacquart

• School: University of Cincinnati

“During the Eras tour, my colleague [Tom Polger] and I found out we were secret Swifties,” Jacquart, who typically teaches feminist philosophy, tells Yahoo. “I joked to him: ‘Wouldn't it be fun to do philosophy through the art and life of Taylor Swift?’ He was like, ‘We should do that class!’”

In fall 2024, the pair teamed up to teach Philosophy (Taylor's Version) at Travis Kelce’s alma mater. “It’s an opportunity to utilize something our students actually care about and are interested in talking about and debating in order to study philosophy,” she says.

Jacquart says the skills she typically explores in her classes — critical thinking, developing claims and giving reasons — make Swift a natural fit for study.

The course is now in its second year and meets twice a week. This semester, their 62 students made predictions about The Life of a Showgirl before its release, supporting their claims with evidence.

“We pre-guessed [her] next color would be orange, so we're very pleased with ourselves,” she laughs.

When the album was released, students conducted a track-by-track analysis of its philosophical themes, including the risqué “Wood.” Jacquart guided the conversation around how male artists have been writing songs like this for years, asking her class: “How do we want to think about that? Do we think Swift needs to be held to a different standard?”

Generational perspectives also make for a broad range of viewpoints. Jacquart is “peak millennial” to Polger’s “Gen X Swiftie dad” and their students are Gen Z.

“Students notice different things, or they’ll say: ‘We don’t see why this is such a big deal,’” she says. “One of the things Gen Z has been joking about with her album is that it's a little millennial cringe, but I eat that up. It's fun discussing it from different lived experiences and perspectives.”

Introduction to the Academic Lore of Taylor Swift

• Professor: Misty L. Heggeness

• School: University of Kansas

When Swift announced that The Official Release Party of a Showgirl was coming to movie theaters timed to her album release, Misty L. Heggeness arranged a class field trip.

“Before we went, we talked about: What do we think the songs are going to be about? What do we base this on?” the professor, who teaches Introduction to the Academic Lore of Taylor Swift, tells Yahoo. “Then we did a debrief: Were things as we expected?”

Frazer Harrison via Getty Images

That led to a deep dive into fan theories, Easter eggs and a discussion about how, before the album dropped, the song “Ruin the Friendship” was predicted to be about Swift’s friendship status with Blake Lively. Once the album came out, “CANCELLED!” — about Swift not easily throwing away friendships — was more likely the track touching on that.

This is the first semester the class has been offered at the University of Kansas. Heggeness, an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration, teaches the interdisciplinary course with faculty from various departments, including sociology, journalism and business.

Her students are encouraged to critically analyze media narratives and societal expectations, especially regarding gender. She says they like what they’re learning — as evidenced by the class's high attendance rate so far.

In spring, Heggeness will add a second course to her load: The Economics of Taylor Swift. It’s based on her forthcoming book, Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, and will look at gender and economics, monopolistic behavior (using Ticketmaster and the Eras tour as a case study), supply and demand (Swift driving consumption of her products by restricting the number released) and the economic impact of Swift’s tours.

“She’s the perfect muse,” she says.

Analysis and Public Discourse of Taylor Swift's Music

• Professor: Nathan Fleshner

• School: University of Tennessee, Knoxville

The variety and evolution in Swift’s music — from country album to the showgirl era — is what makes her an ideal subject for academic study, Fleshner, an associate professor of music theory, tells Yahoo.

“For a music analysis class, which is what my class is, she’s fantastic because we can cover so much ground and so much variety with just a single artist,” he says. And I don’t know of another artist that you can do that with.”

Fleshner teaches Analysis and Public Discourse of Taylor Swift's Music, a new, online only course. Each week, students examine one album from Swift’s discography, focusing on a different musical topic (rhythm, melody, harmony, lyrics, form), culminating in The Life of a Showgirl.

“I’m proud to have submitted my syllabus with a 12th album listed before she announced it was coming out,” he says with a smile.

Valerie Terranova via Getty Images

The course incorporates discussions of each album musically and its critical reception. The semester culminates in his 32 students creating podcast episodes or YouTube videos that communicate their analysis and thoughts on Swift's music.

The program has a student-centered approach, where Fleshner serves as a guide rather than a traditional lecturer.

“I know Swift’s music and listen to it, but many of the students know it better than I do,” he says. “I don't like the core structure where the professor is espousing knowledge and the students are listening. Students have a lot to add and contribute.”

The Taylor Swift Songbook

• Professor: Elizabeth Scala

• School: University of Texas at Austin

Scala was inspired by her daughter to create an intro to English studies course, “The Taylor Swift Songbook,” in 2022, which she has gone on to teach multiple times.

Her child, a Swiftie, was home from college during the pandemic and introduced her to the artist’s work. Scala embraced it to teach her students basic literary critical reading skills, scrapping a “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” course she previously taught.

“For my purposes, [Swift] is a writer’s writer: a self-conscious literary artist who thinks in and through form,” Scala says. “Her music, her lyrics, her visuals, image and video are highly self-conscious of themselves as art. For example, her wordplay. That makes her worth studying, not simply the content or the ‘what’ that she writes about. That is, in fact, secondary to how she writes about it and sets it to a tempo, beat and rhythm.”

Scala, who uses the Instagram handle @swiftieprof, is not teaching the course this semester, as she plans for a special seminar on Showgirls and Tortured Poets in fall 2026. She’s also hoping to do a large lecture version of The Taylor Swift Songbook online next summer.

Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball

• Professor: Ari Perez

• School: Quinnipiac University

Back when Perez taught sixth grade, he found common ground with male students by chatting about sports and video games. He struggled to connect with the girls in his class — until he hopped on the Swift train.

“I didn't think she would be my kind of artist, but from the first time I heard her, I just got completely hooked,” he tells Yahoo.

In summer 2024, Perez brought that fandom to Quinnipiac, where he’s an associate professor of civil engineering. He created and taught Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball in the women and gender studies program. He collaborates with professors from different fields (like communications and literature) to provide academic frameworks for analyzing Swift’s music, business strategies and cultural impact.

The course is structured into 13 units, each focused on a different era of Swift’s career, with scholarly readings and guest lectures that unpack its particular significance. Perez is currently working to add a new unit focused on Swift’s fashion and how it communicates artistic messages — especially in light of her latest release — for the course next summer.

NBC via Getty Images

Perez, who hosts the podcast ¿What Are Taylor Swift Studies Anyways? as part of the class and runs the @quinnipiacswiftie Instagram, says he’s “always very interested in careers where people’s personal lives intersect in a very meaningful way with their professional lives” — like Swift’s. He’s also fascinated by her ability to continuously reinvent herself.

“Predicting Taylor Swift’s next moves is a fool’s game, because she always zigs when you think she’s gonna zag,” he says.

“Honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate my (almost) birthday than to relive the Eras Tour with you!” Swift wrote in an Instagram post alongside the trailer, which gives an inside look at the behind-the-scenes action of the Eras tour.

Swift previously announced that Disney+ will drop the first two episodes of the six-part docuseries titled Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The End of an Era on Dec. 12, a day before her birthday. The documentary series will chronicle “the development, impact, and inner-workings” of the globe-spanning tour, a press release for the film stated. And that’s not all: A brand-new concert film, titled Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show, taped at the tour’s grand finale in Vancouver, will premiere the same day and include Swift’s set for her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department. 

In the trailer, Swift talks about how the tour — which ran from March 2023 to December 2024 and smashed records, becoming the first tour to gross $1 billion — “created a bonding experience for like 70,000 people all at once. There’s something very special about that.”

Back in October, Swift shared the news on social media, posting an Instagram teaser for the upcoming two projects. “It was the End of an Era and we knew it,” Swift began her post. “We wanted to remember every moment leading up to the culmination of the most important and intense chapter of our lives, so we allowed filmmakers to capture this tour and all the stories woven throughout it as it wound down. And to film the final show in its entirety.”

“The Eras Tour | The Final Show, featuring the entire Tortured Poets Department set, and the first two episodes of The End of an Era, a 6-episode behind-the-scenes docuseries, will be yours December 12th on @disneyplus,” Swift wrote. 

Swift previously released a concert film of the Eras tour in October 2023, shot during multiple Los Angeles stops on her tour. It became the highest-grossing film in box office history among concert and documentary films. However, the movie was missing the segment of the tour for Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department, which was added into the live show only as of May 2024. Since then, fans have speculated whether she would add an additional section to the film later on. 

Swift, who is currently promoting her new album, also took movie theaters by storm this month with The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, a cinematic experience in which Swift exclusively premiered her self-directed “The Fate of Ophelia” music video and some behind-the-scenes footage in movie theaters. The 90-minute program also shared 12 lyric videos for the album, along with background information about the songs.

The unveiling of “Sally” that takes place every time Role Model plays the song “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” has given the 28-year-old singer, whose real name is Tucker Pillsbury, his biggest hit. Many of those reveals go viral on social media, often featuring beloved celebrities like Hilary Duff, Kate Hudson or Natalie Portman. Sometimes, Pillsbury picks a fellow pop performer to role-play alongside him onstage, like Conan Gray, Troye Sivan or Griff.

Sally varies in level of fame, age and gender, but she (or he) is always enthusiastic. There’s so much zeal, in fact, that some people have begun to use the term “Sally” online to denote a person’s confidence and main character energy. The Summer I Turned Pretty showrunner Jenny Han used the term to describe the series star, Lola Tung, as she confidently danced on set and in behind-the-scenes footage.

Despite the word’s climb into the lexicon, there is no Sally without Role Model, and no Role Model without Sally.

What does it mean to be Sally?

Pillsbury’s song is about the intense but potentially fleeting connection he feels with someone while they’re out drinking. “Don't go falling in love, then disappear when the wine runs out,” he pleads in the chorus. Sally is described as a “born again wild card” who “can be a diva,” but she doesn’t get much characterization beyond that. The song is more about the situation that he’s in than the traits of the person whose affection he’s craving.

Pillsbury told an alternative radio station in Los Angeles that his process for picking Sally is “different every night,” but “it’s just based on whoever’s giving the most energy” in the crowd. That could be during his performance or before the concert even starts. Lately, as Pillsbury performs at high-profile music festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, it’s been mostly famous people selected to play Sally — and technically, that’s how it all began.

Influencer and podcaster Jake Shane was the first Sally. Pillsbury told the New York Times that Shane was rumored to be the inspiration for the song, so he asked him to come out onstage as he performed. Fans loved it, so he kept doing it. Pillsbury has since picked a dance teacher, a 7-year-old boy and his own mom, proving Sally knows no true age or status: She’s a vibe.

Main character energy

Concert stunts like Sally aren’t new — Pillsbury’s foray reminds people of when Bruce Springsteen pulled Courteney Cox onstage, or when Taylor Swift brought out a special guest at many of the stops on her 1989 tour. Artists frequently collaborate with their famous friends, but surprising fans with a high-profile cameo adds a must-see element to their performances. Even if you weren’t at the show, you can be a part of the zeitgeist.

Lately, these moments engineered for virality have become commonplace. Aided by social media algorithms that detect people’s fandom and feed them posts based on who or what they love, videos of Role Model’s Sally, Charli xcx’s “Apple” Girl and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Juno” arrests end up making headlines and dominating feeds with every new person plucked to dance under the spotlight.

“Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” is emotional and upbeat, which in turn wraps audience members and viewers at home in fuzzy feelings that they then associate with both Pillsbury and Sally. But with each passing performance, the song becomes less popular for its melody and lyrics and more for its power to anoint a new main character.

Sally is like a rom-com heroine for the stage: She’s got that special, enticing something that makes a relative stranger want to know more about her, but she’s selective about who she gives her attention to. She wants to shine. Onstage with Pillsbury, she does.

With these stunts, singers are picking a new face to embody their hits. The reveal is so exciting, it shifts the focus of the performance away from the music to the crowning of a new “it” person for the night. Fans then eagerly dissect the choice online. It reveals allegiances and hidden networks between celebrities — is Carpenter dating Joe Keery because she cuffed him during her Austin City Limits set? Did Pillsbury become good enough friends with Portman filming the movie Good Sex that she’s willing to play Sally? Some choices are clearly made to get fans riled up, which gets them posting, raising the profile of the singer who kicked off the stunt in the first place. The song then becomes an added bonus.

This creates a feedback loop: Role Model picks Sally, Sally gets to shine in a seemingly spontaneous moment in which all eyes are on her, the audience experiences the thrill of the Sally reveal, which they then share on social media and continue to dissect.

Pop stars are still feeling the pressure to turn their shows into can’t-miss events that go viral online, even as competitive ticket sales and soaring prices make concerts feel more inaccessible. Liz Duff, host of pop culture podcast Late Night Scrolling, tells Yahoo that with these stunts, “artists can manufacture moments to ensure there is a consistent difference [between performances] that will make every show unique … and worth buying a ticket for.”

Fans in the crowd also want to capture these singular moments that make their shows feel special, so they can then share their experience and go viral too.

Duff says Pillsbury’s stunt benefits the chosen Sally, whether she’s an A-list actress or a singer who hasn’t broken out as much as Pillsbury has. They appeal to a wide range of audiences too, from the millennials who love Hudson and Portman to the Gen Z-ers who stan fellow Sallys Olivia Rodrigo and Reneé Rapp. Audiences could be learning about Pillsbury from his Sally, or about his Sally from Pillsbury. That’s how fandom is built.

“We’ll see Sally continue to climb the charts as it makes headlines with [Role Model’s] new guests every night,” Duff adds.

Thanks to Pillsbury, Sally is more than just a stand-in for a fleeting romantic entanglement. She’s who we all want to be — someone with all eyes on her, hand-selected by the person we’re all here to see.

“To see how much shit [the song] stirred up makes me not only embarrassed but kind of scared,” Bryan said via an Instagram story on Tuesday evening. “Left wing or right wing we’re all one bird and American. To be clear I’m on neither of these radical sides.”

The country singer also clarified that he wrote the song months ago.

“This song is about how much I love this country and everything in it more than anything,” he said. “When you hear the rest of the song, you will understand the full context that hits on both sides of the aisle. Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are.”

The 29-year-old country singer added, “To all those disappointed in me on either side of whatever you believe in just know I’m trying my best too and we all say things that are misconstrued sometimes.”

(Zach Bryan/Instagram)

Uploaded by Bryan to Instagram on Oct. 3, alongside the caption “the fading of the red white and blue,” a minute-long snippet of the unreleased track, “Bad News,” has sparked outrage among some of his right-leaning fans. The lyric in question appears to be targeting the continued immigration enforcement operations conducted by the Trump administration. Bryan, at one point, refers to the police as “cocky motherf***ers.”

“And ICE is gonna come bust down your door/ Try to build a house no one builds no more/ But I got a telephone/ Kids are all scared and all alone,” Bryan sings. 

In an apparent reference to what some view as the decline in American democracy, Bryan continues, “I’ve got some bad news/ The fading of the red, white and blue.” 

Bryan, a U.S. Navy veteran, has since garnered backlash from conservative creators — and even the White House. On Tuesday, the White House responded to Bryan’s critique of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration raids. 

“While Zach Bryan wants to Open The Gates to criminal illegal aliens and has Condemned heroic ICE officers, Something in the Orange tells me a majority of Americans disagree with him and support President Trump’s great American Revival. Godspeed, Zach!” Abigail Jackson, the White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement shared with Newsweek. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said of Bryan, “I hope he understands how completely disrespectful that song is, not just to law enforcement but to this country.”

“To every single individual that has stood up and fought for our freedoms,” Noem added while speaking to right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson on Tuesday. “He just compromised it all by putting out a product such as that, that attacks individuals who are just trying to make our streets safe.”

“Zach, I didn't listen to your music,” she added. “I’m happy about that today. Today, that makes me very happy that I never once gave you a single penny to enrich your lifestyle if you truly believe what that song stands for. But I am going to go out and probably download some Jason Aldean songs, John Rich songs, Jon Pardi, Kid Rock … any of those guys.”

Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, also responded to Bryan’s condemnation of ICE on Tuesday, writing on X, “Stick to Pink Skies, dude.” McLaughlin is referring to Bryan’s 2024 track “Pink Skies.” 

The official X account for the Department of Homeland Security stated a pointed response too, posting a montage of ICE raids set to Bryan’s track “Revival.” 

Jackson and McLaughlin aren’t the only right-leaning figures upset with Bryan’s lyrics. Online, creators who identify as conservative have blasted Bryan for failing to recognize that ICE agents “risk their lives daily,” as one X user wrote. “Violent leftists throw bricks at them, attack them, spit at them, even shoot at them. And this is the song he released. Career over.” 

But Bryan has also received praise from other social media users who are surprised that a country star of his caliber is deliberately choosing to release such a politically charged track.

“Zach Bryan just reminded everyone that real courage in music isn’t lip-syncing to corporate scripts it’s calling out abuse of power while everyone else twiddles their thumbs. The nerve it takes to put human decency over ‘don’t rock the boat’ country clichés? Legendary,” one X user wrote. Another added, “Wait Zach Bryan, Im sorry I wasn’t familiar with your game.” 

Referencing recently announced Super Bowl halftime show headliner Bad Bunny, another X user wrote, “Bad Bunny has a chance to do the funniest thing ever by inviting Zach Bryan to sing the anti-ICE song at the Super Bowl.” The Puerto Rican rapper has drawn backlash from some Americans for his staunch support of immigrant rights — and decision to bypass the United States on his upcoming tour, to avoid possible ICE raids at his venues. 

Some fans are likening the backlash Bryan is receiving for his critique of ICE to the treatment the country trio the Chicks received after taking a similarly political stance over two decades ago. Then known as the Dixie Chicks, the group, which consists of Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, publicly criticized then-President George W. Bush during their London show in March 2003. Maines, the band’s lead singer, said they were ashamed that Bush was from their home state of Texas and that they didn’t support the U.S. invasion of Iraq. 

“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence,” Maines told the crowd. Maines’s comments sparked outrage from country music’s primarily right-leaning listeners. The group was blacklisted from country radio, received death threats and saw an overall decline in music and concert sales. Their country music exile didn’t last forever, though: The trio ended up winning all five Grammys they were nominated for — including Album of the Year — in 2007. 

While some people are commending Bryan for speaking up, like the Chicks did, others believe the treatment of Maines, Maguire and Strayer should serve as a cautionary tale for him.  

The stunt, widely recorded by concertgoers, draws comments online that are feral and overwhelmingly positive, from “I watched this an unhealthy amount of times” to “Not to be dramatic but I would be screaming and die.” People rave about his sensuality, but that’s not all they’re captivated by — a video of his energetic choreography has 2.2 million likes and thousands of comments lauding his talent. His song “It Depends” inspired a viral dance trend that has been posted about more than 23,000 times on TikTok, contributing to the song’s climb up the charts. Even Kevin Hart participated, with an assist from Ludacris.

But elsewhere online and in the court of public opinion, Brown is a more polarizing figure. People question why there’s so much support for this man with a lengthy “legal issues” section of his Wikipedia page.

“I haven’t forgotten what he did to Rihanna” is a common refrain, referencing a domestic violence incident from February 2009 in which he harmed his then girlfriend, leaving her with severe facial injuries, after the Grammy Awards. He pleaded guilty to felony assault and was swiftly canceled — but not for long.

Many of Brown’s supporters roll their eyes in response to comments about Rihanna, encouraging them to get over it and passionately defending him. But that’s not the only time he’s been accused of violence: He faced accusations that he punched singer Frank Ocean in 2013, though Ocean never pressed charges; an alleged hit-and-run in 2013 resulted in a rehab stay and a probation violation that led to several months in jail; a 2016 lawsuit brought by his former manager Mike G claiming assault, false imprisonment and battery and was settled out of court; and a five-year restraining order granted to ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran in 2017 involving allegations of threats.

Prince Williams via Getty Images

He didn’t leave his legal troubles in the 2010s, either — he was arrested in May 2025 over an incident in which he allegedly smashed a tequila bottle over music producer Abraham Diaw's head.

Criticism of the singer may follow him throughout his career, but it hasn’t limited his success — it just looks different now. Though he’s no longer dominating the Billboard Hot 100 like he did in the 2000s, he still has some hits, and his current tour is by far his most popular of all time. In 2025, he won a Grammy for Best R&B Album and was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award.

He doesn’t seem canceled anymore at all. Fans are still happy to turn out in droves to his concerts and run to his defense in online comment sections. Why?

‘Separate the art from the artist’

I spent hours reading posts about Brown on social media and spoke to a few of his fans about why they defend him, and many made the same argument: He’s extremely talented, and he always has been. In 2005, Brown broke out with his debut single, “Run It!,” making headlines at just 16 for his gorgeous singing voice and unbelievably smooth dance moves that earned him comparisons to Michael Jackson. Until his fall from grace in 2009, he was at the top of the world. Some people haven’t let go of that — he’s “one in a million.”

John Medina via Getty Images

Brown is so gifted that his performances make the negativity and drama that follows him slowly melt away in the eyes of his audience, celebrity PR expert Chrissy Johnston tells Yahoo. It helps that his biggest hits were emotional bangers that conjure nostalgia for millennials who listened to “With You” or “Forever” at dances, out at the club or on the radio.

“The controversy [surrounding Brown] is hard to ignore. Some fans try to separate the art from the artist, others can't and many just shrug it off if the song resonates with them or makes them feel good,” Johnston says. “It’s not necessarily about talent versus bad behavior; it’s more about how human beings have the ability to respect and admire someone’s talent, despite disagreeing with their choices.”

Endurance, not redemption

Brown’s ability to bounce back from cancellation might say more about our culture than his persona and talent, though. Publicist Toni Ferrara tells Yahoo that fans keep “choosing talent, nostalgia and profitability over accountability.”

“This is where we see the truth about ‘cancel culture.’ It was never permanent. It’s selective, it’s inconsistent and it favors the people with enough cultural capital to survive it,” Ferrara says. “America forgives differently when it comes to men, when it comes to celebrities and especially when it comes to artists who give us something we don’t want to lose.”

People are getting tired of being mad all the time. Sarah Schmidt, president of PR firm Interdependence, calls this “outrage fatigue.” She tells Yahoo that this comeback Brown is experiencing is “not about redemption — it is about endurance.”

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

Maggie, an author from Los Angeles, grew up listening to Brown. She’s not as big a fan as she used to be, but she has sympathy toward the singer. If Rihanna has forgiven him, as she told Oprah in 2012, can we keep holding that incident against him? Can we really hold him accountable for all the other accusations made against him if we’ll never truly know what happened and forgiveness isn’t ours to give?

“If he's not actively harming people and being a menace, shouldn't we all give the grace we would want in a similar situation?” Maggie says.

On the other hand, Nizel, a music fan and engineer from Chicago, is more skeptical of Brown.

“I’m all for forgiveness, but what is there to forgive when there is no remorse?” he tells Yahoo. “Chris Brown’s mostly female audience is perhaps the eighth wonder of the world.”

Brown knows he’s controversial. His Breezy Bowl XX concerts feature a video montage of news coverage about his legal troubles.

“It was hard,” he says in the video, according to the Arizona Republic. “It was real hard. No radio would play my music. Nobody would really answer their phones. ... Nobody really wanted to be associated with you. Nobody wanted to be around you.”

He says he wanted to focus on his craft and become a better person, but didn’t want to try to meet anyone’s expectations.

That’s enough for Brown’s fans. They haven’t just forgiven him. They contribute to his success by streaming his songs and dishing out tons of money for concert tickets. It’s impossible to ignore that the most viral element of his tour is the moment in which he simulates onstage sex acts with women selected from his audience, seemingly leaving the ways he’s been accused of and admitted to harming women in the rearview and charting a new course he’s made for himself as a man whose star power transcends his actions.

REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl roll-out is pure spectacle — and it wouldn’t be complete without a theatrical experience. Following the massive success of last year’s record-smashing Eras Tour concert film, Swift brought The Official Release Party of a Showgirl to cinemas. But instead of a recording of Swift’s live performances — of which, thus far, there have been none, as the album debuted on only Friday — Swift shared content typically reserved for the internet with movie-goers.

The theatrical event included 11 lyric videos for the new work, with each song introduced by the singer, as well as the Swift-directed music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” and additional behind-the-scenes content. It’s unclear when this content will be released outside of theaters, so if you were lucky to snag a movie theater seat, you’ve already gotten the inside scoop. Not so lucky? Here are five takeaways from the experience.

REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

‘The Fate of Ophelia’ music video is one of Swift’s most ambitious

Per her website, which lists her directed works, Swift has directed 14 music videos, including that for “The Fate of Ophelia.” The music video takes fans through the world of a showgirl, which, as Swift notes in the movie, has evolved over the years. Sometimes a “showgirl” is a woman posing for a painting — as Swift’s character in the music video does when she poses as Shakespeare’s Ophelia — while other times she’s a dancer in a musical or on a Las Vegas stage. And sometimes, as Swift points out, she’s a pop star onstage for the Eras Tour.

And speaking of the Eras Tour: The music video unites Swift with all her background dancers from the globe-spanning tour, whom Swifties will certainly recognize in both the music video and the behind-the-scenes content.

Emma McIntyre/TAS24 via Getty Images

Oh, and it’s not a glitch in the movie theater: You’ll see “The Fate of Ophelia” music video twice during Release Party. It plays once in the beginning to kick off the show, then again at the end after “The Life of a Showgirl” lyric video.

Expect the clean versions of the lyric videos

Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl isn’t exactly X-rated, but there are certain lines that may make some Swifties (or at least their mothers) blush. For example, Swift’s racy song “Wood,” which features lines like “His love was the key / That opened my thighs” is changed to the clean version of the tune, which is “His love was the key / That opened my skies.” Swift was very tongue-in-cheek when talking about “Wood,” telling the audience with a smirk that it was merely about “superstitions.” (Wink, wink.)

Similarly, Swift’s song “Eldest Daughter,” in which she declares she’s not “a bad bitch” in the explicit version, is changed to “not the baddest.”

Swift shares what ‘Ruined the Friendship’ is about

“Ruined the Friendship” is easily the saddest song on the album, as it reflects on a crush Swift had while in high school, which she never pursued due to the risk of ruining the friendship or making things “awkward.” At the end of the song, Swift says that her friend Abigail — longtime bestie Abigail Anderson, who is also referenced on the song “Fifteen” off 2008’s Fearless — called her to tell her that the high school friend had died.

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

Swift did not confirm if this person was real but instead said that the story was an “amalgamation” of experiences from high school. She also shared that she was excited to be writing about high school again, as she used to write about it “all the time” but hasn’t explored it much in recent years.

Swift talks ‘Cancelled!’ and hints it may not be about one person

There has been much speculation about who the song “Cancelled!” — which refers to a friend who may have “girl bossed too close to the sun” and met the ire of the public — could be about. Swift explained that she wrote it while reflecting on social scrutiny. Swift said that she’s been met with public criticism over nearly “everything” in her life — so much so that now, when her friends are facing backlash, she’s often their first call.

Swift explains why she wanted Sabrina Carpenter on the titular track

The song “The Life of a Showgirl” tells the story of Kitty, who warns a young aspiring performer not to seek life in the spotlight — a warning that the up-and-comer ignores in pursuit of a magnificent life. Swift says she wanted Carpenter, who opened for her on the Eras Tour, to join her on the track not only because she’s one of Swift’s favorite artists but because she has the “temperament” to be in the spotlight without letting it break her. She applauded Carpenter, who has faced her own backlash over the years, for pivoting as she needed to in order to keep her career moving.

TAS2024 via Getty Images

Swift also said that Carpenter recorded her parts of Showgirl while on her own tour, using her time off while on tour in Sweden to head to the studio with producers Max Martin and Shellback.

Just eight months after her record-breaking Eras tour ended, she joined her now-fiancé Travis Kelce on his podcast in August to announce her latest project, kicking off yet another new era. Weeks later, they both dominated headlines with news of their engagement. But all along — even before the album release date was confirmed — she held fans’ attention. They hung on her every word, outfit and post, hunting for clues about what she’s up to.

According to U.S. data from September 2024 to August 2025 shared with Yahoo by brand tracking platform Tracksuit, 90% of people surveyed across all demographics know who Swift is. Nearly half of all female respondents said they listened to her music, and nearly one-fifth said they’d listen to her music over any other artist.

Kevin Mazur/TAS24 via Getty Images

Swift’s ability to own cultural conversation partly comes from the fact that she’s consistently one of the most-streamed artists in the world, but as she says in her song “Mastermind,” none of it was accidental. In the 2020 documentary Miss Americana, Swift shed light on her philosophy toward dominating pop culture.

“This is probably one of my last opportunities as an artist to grasp onto that kind of success. ... As I'm reaching 30, I'm like, I wanna work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful,” she says in the film. Now 35 with several additional albums under her belt, she’s not slowing down. The demand for her isn’t, either.

There’s a reason we can’t stop talking about her, listening to her music and watching her every move. I spoke with diehard fans, who are also experts in marketing, psychology and academia, about how Taylor Swift is a master of the attention economy and the best at what she does — total media domination.

She appears in short bursts

Though it often feels like Swift is everywhere all the time, that’s just the result of a smart strategy. Katie Perry, a marketing agency owner and Swiftie since 2006, tells Yahoo that the pop star is a “master of momentum.”

Photo illustration: Yahoo News

“She literally engineers bursts of attention rather than relying on constant presence. Think surprise drops, flurries of activity and strategic pauses that keep fans on their toes ... her editorial calendar is as strong as her catalog, with every move timed for maximum effect,” Perry says.

To keep her momentum growing, Swift masterfully establishes a vibe and brand for each project she releases, making it easy for fans to follow along and create their own content promoting her.

She leveraged her life story for success

Swift refers to each album in her discography as an era, and that’s no accident. Joanna Weiss, coauthor of Taylor Swift: Album by Album, tells Yahoo that each release corresponds with a time in her personal life, which allows fans to imagine that she’s sharing her secrets through her music.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News

“Taylor’s personality is her strategy!” says Weiss, who first became a fan after taking her daughter to Swift’s 1989 World Tour in 2015, but developed into a full-fledged Swiftie during the Eras tour. “Through sheer force of will and a willingness to share just enough of her life with her fans, she has managed to leverage her own life story with record sales.”

The Life of a Showgirl comes at a particularly upbeat time in Swift’s life, which Weiss predicts will resonate with the fans who have been rooting for her since her early days of recording music as a lovelorn teenager.

She’s someone people can look up to

Because Swift has been so open about her personal life, she feels familiar to her massive audience. That makes the struggles she’s gone through, from heartbreak to betrayal, feel relatable to her massive audience.

Her struggles with public perception and criticism forced her to define her own worth. Swift went through her “dark night of the soul” and has emerged triumphant, clinical psychologist Colleen Cira tells Yahoo.

“By reclaiming her masters and embracing her full identity, she has stopped apologizing and started leading. That’s not just strategy — that’s sacred power,” says Cira, who’s been a Swiftie since 2009, when the flower girl at her wedding walked out to Swift’s song “Love Story.”

The transformation Swift has gone through is “magnetic,” Cira says, because we’re drawn to people who live their truth because it gives us permission to do the same.

“She narrates her life in real time, and we can’t look away from someone who feels both larger-than-life and deeply relatable,” she explains. “With Travis Kelce, we’re seeing something rare: two people both standing fully in their power. … Their confidence means they don’t have to compete, which leaves room for something the public finds irresistible: celebrating one another.”

Another psychologist and Swiftie, Cynthia Edwards-Hawver, tells Yahoo that many of Swift’s biggest fans have been following her since they were also teenagers, growing up as she did.

“She’s also modeling something profound for young women: the courage to go after what you want without letting the noise of social media define you,” she says. “In an era where online scrutiny can destroy reputations overnight, Swift’s ability to remain grounded, recalibrate and keep creating is extraordinary.”

She uses Easter eggs to get fans invested

What sets Swifties apart from other fans of pop stars is the sheer amount of time they spend trying to figure out what Swift is intimating — whether she’s hinting at an upcoming appearance through social media posts or subtly referencing another artist in her lyrics.

The pop star knows her audience well, and knows that’s what they want from her, Maha Abouelenein, an author and communications expert who has been a Swiftie since she attended a concert in 2023, tells Yahoo.

“From surprise album drops that keep fans in a constant state of alert to Easter eggs ... that lead to viral online discussions and investigations, she’s mastered how to create anticipation. ... Every new release feels like a full-blown event over a simple announcement,” Abouelenein says.

Fans get absorbed by investigations, which is a fun way to show how much they truly love the pop star, and gets them interested in further supporting Swift through merch, concert tickets and album streams. That investment in Swift really does support her — she is a rare artist who doesn’t have a business venture outside of her music. After purchasing her masters, she’s more in control of her art than ever.

She’s doing what makes her happy: Creating

People often remark about Swift’s impressive output — she’s released 12 original albums and four rerecorded ones since her career began nearly two decades ago and always seems to be up to something. Ari Perez, an associate professor at Quinnipiac University who teaches a class called Taylor Swift: Cultural Mirrorball, tells Yahoo that Swift keeps busy because she genuinely likes it.

“I think she enjoys keeping a strong productive output so that putting music out on a continuous basis makes her happy and fulfilled, but that she also knows right now is a great moment in her career that she should capitalize on,” says Perez, who’s been a Swiftie since the Fearless era in 2009.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News

That’s what made her so successful in the first place, earning her such devoted fans.

She’s creating a playbook others can copy

Over the course of her career, Swift has created an unparalleled storytelling arc about her life, often referencing herself. That’s what social media algorithms want, and it’s what people want from their idols, as well. Avery Akkineni, chief marketing officer at VaynerX, tells Yahoo. She’s been a Swiftie for about 15 years.

Swift’s journey is unique — she pivoted from teen country star to pop legend — but the lessons she learned in harnessing fandom and conquering the internet are already starting to influence a fleet of new singers, including the ones she’s taken under her wing like Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams.

TAS2024 via Getty Images

“We’ll certainly continue to see new stars emerge in unique ways, and there’s a key core lesson that all brands can take away: Attention is the currency today, and Taylor’s legacy proves that authentic, always-on narrative evolution is how you win it for decades straight,” Akkineni says.

Other artists can copy that evolution and transparency, but there will never be another Swift.

Being an eldest daughter can be emotionally exhausting. Just ask Taylor Swift.

Following the 12 a.m. ET release of her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, on Friday, fans flocked to social media to analyze the hidden message behind each track. The immediate dissection of lyrics is typical for Swifties — as is the particular interest they pay to the fifth track of every album. That’s why “Eldest Daughter” has garnered special attention.

OG Swifties know: Track 5 always packs an emotional punch. The Track 5 lore goes back to 2012, when fans theorized that Swift intentionally placed an emotional track in the fifth spot of each album. (Swift has since confirmed this theory herself.) Previous track fives include Red’s gut-wrenching breakup ballad “All Too Well,” Midnights’ introspective coming-of-age anthem “You’re On Your Own Kid,” and The Tortured Poets Department’s bittersweet goodbye “So Long, London.”

On “Eldest Daughter,” Swift proves that she isn’t immune to the pressures of fame — or familial rank. The Life of a Showgirl track seems to reference the “eldest daughter syndrome," a concept that’s gained popularity on TikTok in recent years.

Though it’s not recognized as a medical diagnosis, the “eldest daughter syndrome” refers to the emotional stress and hardship the oldest girl in a family commonly endures. She’s often saddled with pressures of setting a good example for her younger siblings, doing right by her parents’ sacrifices and living up to their expectations. There’s a sort of misogyny that comes into play as well, as the expectations of an eldest daughter — caretaking and catering to those around her — are often gendered in nature.

Swift, who has one younger brother, Austin, alludes to the loss of identity and softness that comes with being an eldest daughter, as she sings, “Everybody’s so punk on the internet / Everyone’s so unbothered ‘til their not / Every joke’s just trolling and memes / Sad as it seems, apathy is hot.”

Online, some women who identify as having eldest daughter syndrome have praised Swift’s lyrics, saying how deeply it resonates with them.

“A lot of eldest daughters aren’t seen as traditionally cool, because traditionally cool is chill, laid back, go with the flow, vibing,” said Sherri Lu, founder of Eldest Daughter Club, in an Instagram post. “But eldest daughters are typically the planners, type A, making sure that everyone is OK, the group mom.”

The meaning behind Swift’s “Eldest Daughter” also appears to be twofold. While it seems she’s commenting on the familial obligations that come with being the first-born daughter — it’s possible she’s also speaking to the burden of being a metaphorical eldest daughter in the music industry. Swift is no stranger to the pressures of perfectionism and perils of public scrutiny in her professional life.

Swift, as both a mega pop star and first-born daughter, shoulders colossal expectations, as she sings, “Every eldest daughter / Was the first lamb to the slaughter / So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked at the fire.”

Fans have also pointed out that “Eldest Daughter” is, in many respects, a love letter to Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce, who is the youngest child in his family. Just as she laments her loss of childhood and the pressures of having to uphold a certain image, both at home and in her career, Swift knows the type of partner she wants to be.

Swift articulates this very fact on the chorus, where she acknowledges her inherent softness and vows to show up for Kelce no matter what: “But I’m not a bad bitch, and this isn’t savage / But I’m never gonna let you down/ I’m never gonna leave you out / So many traitors, smooth operators / But I’m never gonna break that vow/ I’m never gonna leave you now.”

With “Eldest Daughter,” Swift once again delivers a deeply poignant fifth track. She no longer concerns herself with needing to be everything for everyone — and she’s finally prioritizing who she is and who she loves.

Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl is finally here, and with it, 12 carefully selected tracks that explore everything from her romance with Travis Kelce to an ill-fated high school crush to a toxic relationship with the public. But on “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift sings about a love that’s rescued her from the terrible end met by the tragic figure in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But who, exactly, is Ophelia, and why was Swift so terrified she might end up like her?

Swift spoke about the song “The Fate of Ophelia” on Hits Radio, explaining that she has “this fixation on Shakespeare characters that I love and I can’t stand to see them meet a tragic demise.”

For those who did not read Hamlet in high school, Ophelia is the daughter of one of Denmark’s noblemen, Polonius, and a love interest of the titular Hamlet. While Hamlet, the prince, shows interest in Ophelia, he’s got a lot of other things going on — reeling from his father’s death, his mother’s sudden marriage to his uncle and, eventually, plotting revenge after learning that his uncle Claudius murdered the king to take the throne.

Ophelia, meanwhile, is basically a pawn: She’s innocent and tries her best to please the men of Denmark, who are busy waging power struggles and dragging her into schemes that have nothing to do with her. Eventually, when Hamlet kills Ophelia’s father and then flat-out rejects her after a lengthy situationship, Ophelia loses her grip on reality. She’s ultimately found dead in a stream — whether it was suicide or an accident, however, is unclear.

Swift doesn’t dive into all the politics of Denmark in her song, but she does reference Ophelia specifically, referring to her as “the eldest daughter of a nobleman.” (Swift’s also the eldest daughter in her family, and sings about the pitfalls of that birth order on another Showgirl song called, well, “Eldest Daughter.”) The Grammy winner also sings about how “Ophelia lived in fantasy / But love was a cold bed full of scorpions / The venom stole her sanity.” Swift is comparing herself to Ophelia here — she’s loved before, but it’s let her down.

But there is good news for Swift, who is rescued from her “tower” and dug out of her “grave” by a person who was calling for her from a “megaphone.” (It wouldn’t be a stretch to think this song could be about how her now fiancé, Travis Kelce, who wooed her by publicly talking about wanting a date with her.) Now, Swift sings, she is “No longer drowning and deceived / All because you came for me.”

Swift also seemingly references Ophelia’s death in the cover art for The Life of a Showgirl. The album artwork features Swift laying in a pool of water (in her full showgirl outfit, of course) which could be a nod to Ophelia’s drowning death. The image also bears similarities to John Everett Millais famous 1851 painting “Ophelia.”

It’s worth noting that this is not the first time that Swift has made a major Shakespeare reference in her work. Her single “Love Story” from her 2008 album Fearless placed her and her lover as Romeo and Juliet, the ill-fated couple from Shakespeare’s tragedy. But unlike these two, who end the play by taking their own lives after the world’s worst miscommunication, Swift and her Romeo end their love story with a marriage proposal. Right now, in her personal life, Swift’s not meeting the fate of Ophelia — but she did end up with her very own version of Romeo.

Some scars come from the deepest heartaches — the kind that stay with you long after the pain fades away. Then there are scars that come from, well, a deer. Amanda Shires is familiar with both.

I'm talking with the singer-songwriter about her new album, Nobody's Girl, while she's recovering from a recent accident. Driving home outside Nashville, Shires swerved to avoid hitting a deer — “I should not have swerved, I still hit it” — sending her truck plowing through a fence and into a tree. She walked away with a broken nose and a wound on her face.

“It’s kind of like the equivalent of a face tattoo,” Shires tells Yahoo with a wry laugh. “But you could still get a job at Home Depot.”

It’s that blend of humor and raw honesty that permeates Shires’s album, which ventures deep into the territory of heartbreak, survival and personal reinvention. She began writing it in 2023, the same year her marriage to singer-songwriter Jason Isbell ended, and the emotional aftermath of that split is woven throughout.

When I ask how she’s doing, revisiting a painful chapter through the lens of her new music, she pauses before answering.

"I'm feeling pretty good [right now]," Shires says. "It's a process going through something. I think the songs helped me do that, because I speak more clearly and figure things out easier with music than I do in real life."

Not a divorce album

While the dissolution of her 10-year marriage looms large in the background of Nobody’s Girl, this isn’t a divorce record. Instead of cataloging grief or betrayal, Shires says, the album focuses on what comes after — a reckoning with life when you realize no one is coming to save you but you.

Shires began sketching out songs for Nobody’s Girl not long after the release of her 2022 album, Take It Like a Man. But as her marriage unraveled, the project shifted. Her longtime producing partner, Lawrence Rothman, encouraged her to keep digging. Shires says Rothman told her she still had some work to do: on herself and on the record, for herself and for her art.

That push led to “A Way It Goes,” the album’s first single, which opens with the lines: I could show you how he left me/ Paint a picture, growing flowers for nobody/ But I'd rather you see me thriving/ Vining my way back up.

“I wrote that in two hours,” Shires says. “It was kind of a response to not only Lawrence, but also a reaction to folks asking me what happened or wanting more details than I felt I wanted to share. I don’t ever want it to sound like I was some kind of victim to something that’s so universal — people dealing with loss or grief or letting go of things. I want them to see me when I’m fully healed, kind of like the song says.”

The details

For fans seeking answers about her ex-husband, many have focused on the track “The Details,” which draws listeners into the raw center of Shires’s story. The song underwent multiple rewrites before it became what she calls her most honest version of events.

I got him help, and then he bailed/ What were all those promises for?/ Cover me up, nothing’s ever enough/ Gonna have to put the house up for sale/ He scared me then, and he still scares me now/ Never will hear me out/ The thing is he justifies it, using me/ And cashing in on our marriage/ He erases the details/ And I'm history.

“That started off being a different song,” Shires explains. “It was still about not wanting to be erased or my story not [to] be erased — about saying this was my experience. This is my truth. But I was being too vague, or I was trying to mix too many characters up in the song. So I scrapped it all and rewrote it.”

That willingness to start over is part of what makes Nobody’s Girl feel so unflinching. When asked if those lyrics are a reflection of her own experience or a broader, universal truth, Shires doesn’t hesitate: “It’s both.”

“It’s a lot to do with the fear of not being heard or having your truth dismissed or twisted,” she says. “It’s about the kind of harm that being shut down can cause and emotional fear. And it was one for me — or it is one for me — that’s difficult, I guess, only because I’ve only just now become comfortable in reclaiming the silence, if that makes any sense.”

The 13-track album is hardly wall-to-wall sadness. Shires makes room for levity, most playfully on “Friend Zone.” She leaned into melodrama with sweeping strings to mirror the absurdity of yearning for someone who doesn’t feel the same way. She sings about getting too high with someone, watching Tombstone and snacking, not flirting.

“That one is just like when you’ve been [told], 'You remind me of my cousin' one too many times,” she laughs. “It feels absurd — you keep on trying, or pretending you’re not trying and you’re just hanging out eating jelly beans.”

The song serves as a reminder of how humor has helped her cope with the heartache. “You can’t cry the whole record,” Shires says. “It’s all the laughter and the tears, sometimes between delusion and self-respect.”

A happy ending

At its heart, Shires’s new album isn’t about loss but about what follows and the messy, unsteady process of reinvention. It’s a declaration that even in heartbreak, there is strength.

“You don’t have to be OK to be powerful,” she says. “Even in your worst moments, there’s somebody that’ll listen to you. And if you’ve ever had to hold your own hand or come to your own rescue, maybe this music can make a good partner to sit with.”

The most important partner in Shires’s life right now is her daughter.

As we talk, traces of Mercy, her 10-year-old with Isbell, are everywhere — in the paintings that hang in Shires’s home studio, in the glue gun art projects that clutter the house. On the album, Mercy’s presence can be felt in the way Shires talks about resilience. Being a mother, she explains, has shaped how she approaches music and life.

“When I think about my daughter, I want to try and make the world a better place,” Shires says. “And I want her to see that you can survive something painful without becoming bitter. You can lose love and still be full of love. And making art is always an option.”

Shires knows her ex will likely hear the record — he has also released music since their split. Asked what she hopes he might take from hers, she only shrugs.

“We all process our experiences in different ways,” she says. “And this one’s mine.”