Music

Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Surf Rock Poet, Dies at 82

Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group's wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced Wednesday. He was 82. "We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now," read the statement published on Wilson's ...

Ezra Collective Redefines British Jazz With Joyful Energy

Named Group of the Year at the 2025 Brit Awards, London-based quintet Ezra Collective has ignited a fresh wave of enthusiasm for jazz. Fusing it with Afrobeat and raw, contagious energy, the band proudly repeats its mantra: this music is for everyone. Set to play Glastonbury Festival at the end of the month, the band made history in under two ...

Five Things to Know About the K-Pop Juggernaut

All the members of South Korea's most lucrative boyband BTS are set to finish their military service this month, paving the way for the K-pop super-group to release new music. The news has prompted a fan frenzy, with speculation rife about forthcoming releases and even tours. AFP takes a look at what is going on: Who Are they? The ...

'Bouquet Final': Vanessa Paradis’ Enchanting Voice Returns with Tender Melancholy

Vanessa Paradis dropped Bouquet final this Friday, June 6 — a song co-written by Étienne Daho and featured on a new album rooted in a pop/soul universe, expected this fall. For this project, she collaborated with her two children from her relationship with Johnny Depp: Lily-Rose and Jack Depp. Bouquet final was composed by Jean-Louis Piérot ...

From Birmingham to the World: Black Sabbath’s Last Gig Streams Live

Ozzy Osbourne's final ever gig as Black Sabbath's frontman will be streamed worldwide after fans snapped up tickets for the hometown show, starring the original line-up, in just 16 minutes, the band said Friday. Osbourne, who revealed in 2020 that he has Parkinson's disease, will join Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward for the all-day "Back ...

Charli XCX Shines at 'We Love Green', But Francophone Talents Steal the Show

While pop phenomenon Charli XCX headlines Paris’ We Love Green festival this weekend, a new generation of francophone artists is proving prolific, bold, and ready to shake things up — from Camille Yembe to Zamdane. The festival, held in the heart of the Bois de Vincennes, boasts a major draw: British pop rebel Charli XCX. Known as the ...

Sting Brings 'The Last Ship' Musical to Paris in 2026

British singer Sting, a rock icon and frontman of The Police, announced he will perform in Paris in February 2026 with his musical The Last Ship, as reported by Le Parisien on Monday. The show is set to run at La Seine Musicale, just outside the French capital, starting February 18. Originally released in 2013 as a concept album, The Last Ship ...

Taylor Swift Finally Reclaims Full Rights to Her Music

Pop sensation Taylor Swift, who was locked in a feud with record executives since 2019 over ownership of her music, has bought back the rights to her entire back catalog, she said Friday. "All of the music I've ever made ... now belongs ... to me," she wrote on her website, after years of disputes over her first six albums, a number of which she ...

Strauss’s ‘Blue Danube’ Waltz to Beamed Beyond Stars

Austrian composer Johann Strauss II's The Blue Danube has, for many people, been synonymous with space travel since it was used in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi film classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the world-famous waltz will truly travel among the stars on Saturday, when the European Space Agency's (ESA) antenna will broadcast a live ...

Taylor Swift Buys Back Rights to Her Old Music

Pop icon Taylor Swift, who has been publicly feuding with record executives since 2019 over the rights to her early music, now owns her entire catalogue, she said on her website Friday. "All of the music I've ever made ... now belongs ... to me," she wrote, after years of dispute over her first six albums, a number of which she has rerecorded to ...

Eurovision 2025: 166 Million Viewers, Record Audiences, and Viral Peaks

The Eurovision Song Contest confirmed its place as the world's biggest live televised music event, with 166 million viewers in 37 countries watching the 2025 edition, organizers said Wednesday. Three million more people watched this year's 69th edition in Basel, Switzerland, than last year's contest in Malmo, Sweden, said the European ...

AI Is Not a Threat, It's The Future of Music, Says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

Artificial intelligence will encourage more people to create music in the future and is not a threat to the industry, the co-founder and CEO of streaming giant Spotify said. Artists using machine-learning tools to produce music have given rise to concerns about whether AI-generated music  - even entirely fake artists - could one day replace ...