How Will BTS Endure a Grueling World Tour? We Asked Their Ex-Trainer.
BTS launches the U.S. leg of an 11‑month world tour that will hit 34 cities and 80 concerts. The schedule demands high‑energy performances, endless rehearsals, media duties and as little as four hours of sleep each night. Former conditioning coach Kim Jinwoo, who guided the group through its first four tours, likens the members to professional athletes, emphasizing stamina, injury prevention and the maintenance of a specific physique. As most members now enter their 30s, the physical strain intensifies.
Fact-Checking ‘Michael’: What the Biopic Gets Right and Wrong About Michael Jackson
The new biopic "Michael" attempts to dramatize Michael Jackson’s rise, family conflict, and cultural impact while navigating legal constraints imposed by the Jackson estate. Fact‑checking shows the film gets several key details right—Joseph Jackson’s belt abuse and the real‑life truce...
Michael Jackson’s Music Was Too Big to Be Canceled
The release of the new biopic “Michael” has propelled Michael Jackson’s music to its most lucrative era since his 2009 death, with streaming numbers rivaling current superstars and the Broadway show “MJ” selling 2.3 million tickets for $328 million. Despite renewed abuse...
Michael Harrison, 67, Dies; Inventive Composer Who Played With Tuning
Michael Harrison, the avant‑garde composer and pianist who reinvented piano tuning through just intonation and Indian raga, died at 67 from pancreatic cancer. His career spanned collaborations with La Monte Young on the legendary "The Well‑Tuned Piano" and the creation of...
‘The Great Divide’ Review: Noah Kahan Is Caught in the In-Between
Noah Kahan’s third studio album, The Great Divide, arrived on April 24, 2026, marking a stylistic leap for the 29‑year‑old folk‑pop singer. Co‑produced with longtime collaborator Gabe Simon and indie‑rock veteran Aaron Dessner, the record blends atmospheric arrangements with sharper lyrical self‑examination. Kahan expands...
Alan Osmond, Who Led His Brothers in Song, Dies at 76
Alan Osmond, the eldest Osmond brother and original leader of the 1970s pop group, died at 76 in Salt Lake City. His brother Merrill announced the death on Facebook; cause was complications of multiple sclerosis, according to collaborator Debbie Ihler...
Is 1990s Alternative Rock the New Country?
Stagecoach Festival, originally billed as the "country Coachella," is expanding its roster to feature 1990s alternative‑rock icons like Counting Crows, Bush, the Wallflowers and Third Eye Blind alongside its country headliners. The move reflects a strategic blend of legacy rock acts...
Vilma Jää’s Voice Is Unlike Anything in Opera
Vilma Jää, a Finnish folk‑pop singer, is redefining operatic vocalism in the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Kaija Saariaho’s “Innocence.” The composer crafted the role of Markéta around Jää’s native techniques—Karjankutsu herding calls and Viena Karelian yoik—allowing her to improvise cadenzas that...
7 New Songs You Should Hear Now
Nine Inch Noize, a new collaborative project between Nine Inch Nails and German producer Boys Noize, released a debut album featuring club‑ready remixes of classic Nine Inch Nails tracks, many of which debuted live at Coachella and a Brooklyn arena show....
Nate Smith Is Bringing a Big-Tent Approach to the Newport Jazz Festival
Grammy‑winning drummer Nate Smith has been named the third artistic director in the 72‑year history of the Newport Jazz Festival. Known for genre‑blurring collaborations and a strong social‑media presence, Smith plans to use a “big‑tent” approach that pairs jazz legends...
How John Dowland Built a Music Career on Tearful Melancholy
John Dowland, the Elizabethan lutenist and composer, built his enduring reputation on the melancholic “tear” motif, epitomized by his 1604 *Lachrimae* collection and the famed “Lachrimae Pavan.” The piece began as a wordless lute dance and gained lyrics in his...
How Coachella Became a Pop Spectacle With Surprise Guests Like Madonna and Olivia Rodrigo
Coachella began in the late 1990s as a rock‑and‑dance festival but has transformed into a pop‑driven spectacle anchored by surprise guest appearances. Madonna’s 2006 tent performance marked the first major pop incursion, followed by a hologram Tupac in 2012 and...
Gwendolyn Chisolm, Who Rhymed on Rap’s First Female Hit, Dies at 66
Gwendolyn Chisolm, known as Blondy, died at 66 from septic shock in Atlanta. A grocery worker from South Carolina, she became a hip‑hop pioneer as a founding member of The Sequence, the first all‑female rap group to score a commercial hit....
Luca Guadagnino Wants a Difficult Opera to Break Free of Polemics
Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is directing a new staging of John Adams’s controversial opera *The Death of Klinghoffer*, set to premiere at Florence’s Maggio Musicale Theater. He says the production will let audiences hear the work’s musical and libretto strengths rather than its...
Lana Del Rey, Prince: 10 Songs We’re Talking About This Week
Lana Del Rey has written “First Light,” the first James Bond‑themed song for the upcoming 007 video game, delivering orchestral drama reminiscent of classic Bond scores. Brazilian pop star Anitta teams with Marina Sena on “Mandinga,” a track that blends Afro‑Brazilian samba samples with contemporary...