Pato Banton is a grammy nominated reggae legend that has recorded and toured the world with The English Beat, Steel Pulse, UB40 & STING! (just to name a few).
Continue readingDream Street
Matt Ballinger and Greg Raposo, original members of the early 2000s boyband Dream Street, have reunited to bring a fresh, acoustic take to the group’s beloved hits.
Continue readingDavid Cook
A rock artist originally from Kansas City, Missouri, David Cook rose to fame after winning American Idol’s seventh season in 2008.
Continue readingNine Days to Celebrate 25 Years of ‘Absolutely (Story of a Girl)’ With Australian Tour

US pop-rock outfit Nine Days are heading to Australia for the first time this November to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their breakout single, “Absolutely (Story of a Girl),” and its parent album The Madding Crowd.
The Long Island band will perform three intimate shows on the East Coast, with dates locked in for Melbourne (Nov. 13 at Croxton Bandroom), Sydney (Nov. 14 at Caringbah Hotel), and Brisbane (Nov. 15 at The Back Room). Tickets will go on sale Thursday, June 26, via MRG Live, with pre-sale access starting a day earlier.
Originally released in 2000, “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 31 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The double-Platinum single has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, thanks in part to its reimagining in the Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once. To date, it has racked up more than 175 million streams on Spotify.
Frontman John Hampson says the band has long hoped to tour Australia: “We have been waiting 25 years for this opportunity! Over the years, fans from Australia have reached out to us wanting to know when we were going to make it there to play some shows. Well, now we can finally give them an answer – this November!”
In a nod to the band’s Aussie connection, Hampson recalled an exclusive CD single released only in Australia, featuring unplugged recordings from a Seattle session. “For some reason, this fascinated me,” he said.
While often labeled a one-hit wonder, Nine Days have released eight studio albums since 1995, including their most recent, Snapshots, in 2016. “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” continues to be a generational anthem, earning spots on Rolling Stone’s list of the best one-hit wonders of the 2000s and Billboard’s top 10 songs of the summer from the same decade.
The upcoming shows promise to be a nostalgic celebration for longtime fans and a rare chance to hear a beloved track performed live by the band that wrote it.
Nine Days 2025 Australian Tour Dates:
Nov. 13 – Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne
Nov. 14 – Caringbah Hotel, Sydney
Nov. 15 – The Back Room, Brisbane
Akon Is Secretly Recruiting Country Artists for New Project
Akon is the next artist who’s moving into the country space. He shared his master plan to enter the genre in a very unique way. It involves reimagining all of his songs.
“I’m actually redoing my whole catalog in country,” Akon tells TMZ. “I’m not even joking.”
Akon said it’s been in the works for a while. “This has been an idea for years like forever,” he adds. “The project has been in motion for the last five years. But starting next month, y’all gonna start seeing all the releases.”
Akon’s move into country makes him the feature, not the lead artist. “They’re country artists featuring me,” he explains. “They’re the ones performing them.”
He did not give the names of any country artists he’s working with or what songs he’s doing.
I Love the 90s & More to Perform on CNN ‘The Fourth in America’ Special: Full Music Lineup
Before you and the fam settle in to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July, be sure to check out “The Fourth in America” concert special — with the performer lineup revealed exclusively on Billboard below.
Now in its fifth year, CNN’s The Fourth in America has built on the success of CNN’s New Year’s Eve programming, making it a yearly destination during the Fourth of July as families across the country tune in after a day of barbecuing and chasing kids around.
CNN’s The Fourth in America special will broadcast live on CNN and CNN International, and will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps on Friday (July 4) with coverage set to begin at 7 p.m. ET on CNN and ending at 1 a.m. ET.
Josh Ross & Akon Drop Wild New Video for “Drunk Right Now (Na Na Na)”
Akon, Josh Ross │ Vevo
Produced by COMING OF AGE and directed by Mattias Russo-Larsson & Lewis Atallah, the official music video captures the essence of the track and amplifies its no-regrets energy. Since its release last month, “Drunk Right Now” has racked up millions of streams and sparked viral dance clips on TikTok. The video aims to take that momentum global with a visual that’s as addictive and unexpected as the track itself.
“Akon’s music was always a huge part of my life growing up,” Ross shared when the track released in May. “Having two older siblings, his songs were always playing—his sound, his hooks, everything about it just stuck with me before I even knew what the words meant. I’ve always been a fan. About a year ago, I was messing around in the studio and reimagined his song ‘Right Now,’ just for fun. We started playing it before our shows and the crowd went nuts—it turned into this wild country party anthem.”
“I ended up sending it to him, not really expecting anything… and he actually loved it,” he continued. “He said he wanted to jump on it, and suddenly it turned into a real collab. It’s one of those full-circle moments I never saw coming and I’m truly grateful to have a summer party anthem.”
Keith Sweat’s ’90s Anthem “Nobody” Sees 91% Streaming Surge Thanks to Gen Z Fan’s Viral Moment
Keith Sweat performs during KMEL Summer Jam at Shoreline Amphitheatre on August 3, 1996 in Mountain View, Calif.Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
This week: Keith Sweat’s “Nobody” gets a bump from an improbable cover source, a less-remembered Black Eyed Peas gets its moment in the TikTok sun and Playboi Carti may have a new Music breakout following his BET Awards performance.
‘Carnival Cruise Tyler’ Karaoke Performance Sets Off a Keith Sweat Revival
Who can do it like Carnival Cruise Tyler? Nobody, apparently – at least nobody outside of Keith Sweat himself. The 20-year-old Georgia native born Tyler Heyworth has been going viral on TikTok the past couple weeks for an unexpected performance he offered on vacation with his family on the Carnival Cruise line, where he sang Sweat’s 1996 top five Hot 100 smash “Nobody” (featuring Athena Cage of Kut Klose) — released when Tyler was approximately negative nine years old — to what could certainly be described as a receptive karaoke audience.
Tyler’s performance, delivered with strong vocals, engaging (but never quite inappropriate) stage moves and an understated confidence, resulted in multiple crowd freakouts, with different captured angles of his now-storied rendition each seemingly revealing new multitudes of enraptured listenership. Unsurprisingly, his viral fame has resulted in much internet celebrity: “I’ve had a bunch of, uh, interesting women in my comments and in my DMs,” he told TMZ. “It’s kinda too much at this point.”
The young man’s “Nobody” performance is not yet available on DSPs – but of course, Keith Sweat’s apparently well-enduring original certainly is, and fans new and old were motivated to spend time with the ‘90s R&B classic. The song’s daily official on-demand U.S. streams rose gradually throughout last week, hitting a high of 319,000 on Friday (June 13), up 91% from 167,000 the previous Friday (June 6), according to Luminate. Sweat himself even shared video of Tyler’s performance, with the caption, “If everybody don’t sing NOBODY it’s not done correctly.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER