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Olivia Dean Dominates BRIT Awards as Icons and New Stars Share the Spotlight

Eric Alper
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Olivia Dean Dominates BRIT Awards as Icons and New Stars Share the Spotlight

If there was a headline within the headline at the BRIT Awards 2026, it was this: Olivia Dean just leveled up. With four wins, including Artist of the Year, Mastercard Album of the Year, Pop Act, and Song of the Year with Mastercard for “Rein Me In” alongside Sam Fender, she owned the night. Add in a UK No. 1 single and album in the same week and a recent Grammy for Best New Artist, and you are watching a career go supernova in real time.

But the BRITs were not a one story show. Sam Fender picked up Alternative/Rock Act for the second year running. Lola Young scored her first BRIT for Breakthrough Artist. Wolf Alice took Group of the Year. ROSALÍA claimed International Artist of the Year, while ROSÉ and Bruno Mars won International Song of the Year for “APT.” Mark Ronson was honored with Outstanding Contribution to Music, PinkPantheress was named Producer of the Year, Jacob Alon won the Critics Choice Award, Noel Gallagher received Songwriter of the Year, and Ozzy Osbourne was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in a moment that felt like British music history taking a bow.

Elsewhere, Geese won International Artist of the Year, Dave took Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act, Fred again.., Skepta and PlaqueBoyMax won Dance Act, and SAULT were honored with R&B Act. From K-pop breakthroughs to rock royalty, the 2026 BRITs showed a scene that is global, genre fluid, and unafraid to celebrate both the future and the legends who built the stage.

Full List of Winners

Artist of the Year – Olivia Dean
Mastercard Album of the Year – Olivia Dean
Pop Act – Olivia Dean
Song of the Year with Mastercard – “Rein Me In” – Olivia Dean and Sam Fender
Alternative/Rock Act – Sam Fender
Breakthrough Artist – Lola Young
Group of the Year – Wolf Alice
International Artist of the Year – ROSALÍA
International Song of the Year – “APT.” – ROSÉ and Bruno Mars
Outstanding Contribution to Music – Mark Ronson
Producer of the Year – PinkPantheress
Critics Choice Award – Jacob Alon
Songwriter of the Year – Noel Gallagher
Lifetime Achievement Award – Ozzy Osbourne
International Artist of the Year – Geese
Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act – Dave
Dance Act – Fred again.., Skepta and PlaqueBoyMax
R&B Act – SAULT

Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas Turn Up the Volume in Power Ballad

Eric Alper
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Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas Turn Up the Volume in Power Ballad

Paul Rudd smashing a guitar. Nick Jonas looking like he just stepped off a stadium stage in 2008. If that sentence alone doesn’t sell you on Power Ballad, I don’t know what will. Lionsgate just dropped the first character posters for John Carney’s new musical comedy, and yes, they are exactly as dramatic and gloriously self-aware as the title suggests. Sunglasses on. Guitars raised. Rock star energy dialed all the way up.

The film follows Rudd as Rick, a once-promising wedding singer, and Jonas as Danny, a fading boy band idol. They bond over a late-night jam session, but things go sideways when Danny turns Rick’s song into a career-reviving hit. Suddenly it’s less “brotherhood of music” and more “who actually wrote this thing?” It’s about ambition, ego, friendship, and that universal musician fear: hearing your song on the radio and realizing someone else is getting the applause.

Directed by John Carney, the man behind Once and Sing Street, Power Ballad premieres at the Dublin International Film Festival before heading to theaters on June 5. Between Rudd’s effortless charm and Jonas leaning into his pop legacy, this feels like a love letter to the messy, emotional, occasionally petty world of making music. If you’ve ever argued over a chord change, a credit line, or who really came up with the hook, this one might hit you right in the chorus.

Hang In There Punch and Why the Internet Needed Him

Eric Alper
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Hang In There Punch and Why the Internet Needed Him

If you have been online this week, you have probably met Punch. Seven months old. Japanese macaque. Abandoned by his mother at Ichikawa City Zoo near Tokyo. Now the most unexpectedly important creature on your feed.

Punch was born last summer and was rejected by his mother, likely due to inexperience and the extreme heat. Zookeepers stepped in, nursing him and giving him something deceptively simple: a stuffed orangutan. Not as a cute prop, but as a behavioral tool. The zoo explained that soft objects help simulate maternal clinging and prevent overdependence on humans. Translation: this was science, not sentiment.

But then the photos hit. Punch dragging the plush toy. Punch hugging it. Punch clutching it when other monkeys swatted at him during his rocky reintroduction to the enclosure. Suddenly, timelines everywhere were flooded with one small primate and one big emotional metaphor.

The hashtag #HangInTherePunch took off. Visitors lined up outside the zoo. Parking lots filled. Entry restrictions followed. In the middle of global political tension, economic anxiety, and algorithmic chaos, millions of people stopped to collectively care about a baby monkey holding a stuffed animal.

And then came the twist. This week, the zoo shared that Punch has begun playing with other young monkeys without relying on the toy. He has been grooming and being groomed. He has received hugs. For macaques, grooming is social currency. It means trust. It means belonging. It means he is integrating.

Why did this hit so hard?

Because Punch became a mirror. We saw vulnerability. We saw isolation. We saw the awkward stage of trying to rejoin the group after being on your own too long. And we saw progress. Slow, imperfect, but real.

There is something deeply human about needing a placeholder while you figure out how to belong again. A stuffed orangutan. A comfort album. A comfort show. A ritual. We all carry something.

Punch’s story says a few things about us in 2026. We are overwhelmed. We are craving softness. We are desperate for narratives that bend toward connection instead of collapse. And we will absolutely rally around a baby monkey if it means believing that integration is possible.

The best part? The toy is still there if he needs it. Growth does not erase comfort. It just adds community.

The 50 Most Streamed Songs of All Time (Updated For February, 2026)

Eric Alper
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The 50 Most Streamed Songs of All Time (Updated For February, 2026)

Streaming has rewritten the record books. No more waiting for decades of radio spins or physical sales tallies. Today, cultural impact is measured in billions of clicks. From 1970s rock staples to 2020s pop smashes, these are the 50 most-streamed songs ever, ranked by cumulative global streams.

  1. The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights” – 5.305 billion
  2. Ed Sheeran – “Shape of You” – 4.796 billion
  3. The Neighbourhood – “Sweater Weather” – 4.422 billion
  4. The Weeknd and Daft Punk – “Starboy” – 4.397 billion
  5. Harry Styles – “As It Was” – 4.276 billion
  6. Lewis Capaldi – “Someone You Loved” – 4.243 billion
  7. Post Malone and Swae Lee – “Sunflower” – 4.143 billion
  8. Drake with Wizkid and Kyla – “One Dance” – 4.073 billion
  9. Ed Sheeran – “Perfect” – 3.854 billion
  10. The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber – “Stay” – 3.815 billion
  11. Imagine Dragons – “Believer” – 3.762 billion
  12. Glass Animals – “Heat Waves” – 3.676 billion
  13. Billie Eilish and Khalid – “Lovely” – 3.669 billion
  14. Arctic Monkeys – “I Wanna Be Yours” – 3.635 billion
  15. Lord Huron – “The Night We Met” – 3.623 billion
  16. The Chainsmokers and Halsey – “Closer” – 3.621 billion
  17. Coldplay – “Yellow” – 3.615 billion
  18. James Arthur – “Say You Won’t Let Go” – 3.539 billion
  19. The Chainsmokers and Coldplay – “Something Just Like This” – 3.534 billion
  20. Vance Joy – “Riptide” – 3.529 billion
  21. Billie Eilish – “Birds of a Feather” – 3.524 billion
  22. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars – “Die With A Smile” – 3.473 billion
  23. Tom Odell – “Another Love” – 3.456 billion
  24. Tones and I – “Dance Monkey” – 3.401 billion
  25. Hozier – “Take Me To Church” – 3.372 billion
  26. OneRepublic – “Counting Stars” – 3.361 billion
  27. Post Malone and 21 Savage – “Rockstar” – 3.337 billion
  28. The Police – “Every Breath You Take” – 3.325 billion
  29. Ed Sheeran – “Photograph” – 3.322 billion
  30. Taylor Swift – “Cruel Summer” – 3.262 billion
  31. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Señorita” – 3.258 billion
  32. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis with Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us” – 3.225 billion
  33. Harry Styles – “Watermelon Sugar” – 3.217 billion
  34. Coldplay – “Viva La Vida” – 3.209 billion
  35. The Weeknd – “Die for You” – 3.171 billion
  36. Dua Lipa – “Don’t Start Now” – 3.168 billion
  37. The Goo Goo Dolls – “Iris” – 3.158 billion
  38. Bruno Mars – “Just the Way You Are” – 3.149 billion
  39. Post Malone – “Circles” – 3.090 billion
  40. Justin Bieber – “Love Yourself” – 3.085 billion
  41. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out Of Heaven” – 3.083 billion
  42. Juice Wrld – “Lucid Dreams” – 3.080 billion
  43. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” – 3.075 billion
  44. Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar – “Goosebumps” – 3.075 billion
  45. Bruno Mars – “That’s What I Like” – 3.064 billion
  46. Ed Sheeran – “Thinking out Loud” – 3.046 billion
  47. The Killers – “Mr. Brightside” – 3.044 billion
  48. Linkin Park – “In The End” – 3.036 billion
  49. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man” – 3.034 billion
  50. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – “Shallow” – 3.025 billion

Alt-Rockers Red Vanilla Announce Second EP ‘Where I Should Be’ With Acoustic Single “Sunkissed Pools”

Eric Alper
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Alt-Rockers Red Vanilla Announce Second EP ‘Where I Should Be’ With Acoustic Single “Sunkissed Pools”

Red Vanilla are moving. The Dundee alt-rock quartet have announced their second EP, ‘Where I Should Be,’ due April 3rd, and launched it with new single “Sunkissed Pools,” out now. It is their first new material since their critically-acclaimed 2024 debut EP ‘Days of Grey,’ and it arrives as a deliberate left turn, their first fully acoustic release, built from layered vocals, guitar, and synth, recorded with producer Kieran Smith in lead guitarist George’s spare room in Dundee.

Vocalist Anna Forsyth wrote “Sunkissed Pools” from a specific and personal place. “It’s about your parents constantly worrying about your happiness or safety, wishing they could protect you, and my response to that,” she says, describing the need to move through pain on her own terms while knowing her parents remain her anchor. The band went with a less-is-more approach, and Forsyth believes the intimacy of the production puts full weight on the story. A lot of young people, she says, will find something in it.

Red Vanilla have been building steadily since forming during the pandemic. Their debut single “Embers” arrived in 2022, followed by ‘Days of Grey,’ a tightly constructed collection of guitar-driven alt-rock that drew early support from CLASH Magazine, VISIONS Magazine, Discovery Music Scotland, The Skinny, The List, and more. They have shared stages with Fatherson, Pulled Apart By Horses, Beach Riot, and Dea Matrona, and opened for Kyle Falconer (The View) across two nights at Camden Underworld in London.

‘Where I Should Be’ is being released one song at a time, a deliberate and unhurried process the band has embraced fully. Forsyth is direct about what comes next: “We’re so ready to start working on a debut album. We’ve got stories to tell, and lots to say.” The goal is to keep the momentum going and not wait around. For a band this focused, that sounds less like ambition and more like a plan already in motion.

Yellowcard And Good Charlotte Unite For New Single “Bedroom Posters”

Eric Alper
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Yellowcard And Good Charlotte Unite For New Single “Bedroom Posters”

Yellowcard and Good Charlotte have finally made it official. The Florida alt-rock band has released a new feature version of “Bedroom Posters,” lifted from their 2025 album ‘Better Days,’ now with Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden adding his vocals to a track the band already considered one of the record’s most special moments. ‘Better Days’ is Yellowcard’s first album in almost a decade, executive produced by Travis Barker, who also plays drums on every track, including “Bedroom Posters,” “Better Days,” “Honestly I,” and “Take What You Want.”

Ryan Key sets the scene plainly. “The new single is for anyone who holds memories of their hometown near and dear,” he says, describing the feeling of returning home and being overwhelmed by everything that led up to the day you left. He adds that Madden’s vocals take the song “to an even more impactful place that can truly take you back to the bedroom where you fell in love with your favorite band for the first time.” Madden is equally direct: “GC and Yellowcard finally have a song together and it feels so right. This is our love language.”

The collab carries straight into a live setting. Yellowcard and Good Charlotte are currently on tour together in Australia and New Zealand. This summer, Yellowcard launches the massive U.S. “The Up Up Down Down Tour,” bringing New Found Glory and Plain White T’s along for the ride.

Kesha Drops A Fresh “Glow” Remix With Australian Trio Blusher Ahead Of World Tour

Eric Alper
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Kesha Drops A Fresh “Glow” Remix With Australian Trio Blusher Ahead Of World Tour

Kesha is bringing new life to “Glow.” The multi-platinum global pop superstar has released a new version of the fan-favorite track featuring Australian pop trio Blusher, out now via Kesha Records. The remix arrives as Blusher joins Kesha as special guests on the ongoing Australia and New Zealand leg of “The Tits Out Tour,” her first headlining run Down Under in over a decade.

Kesha keeps it direct: “Baddies on the GLOW Blusher remix. Can’t wait for you girls to join the tour down under.” Blusher matches that energy. “Kesha is an icon and a huge inspiration to us, and a big reason why our band formed in the first place after bonding over Kesha’s deep cuts the first time we met,” the trio says, adding that getting to produce a remix and support her on tour would have left their former selves “extremely shook.” They are also, for the record, hoping she does a pre-show shot with them to settle the nerves.

“Glow” appears on ‘Period,’ Kesha’s chart-topping sixth studio album. “The Tits Out Tour” has already electrified sold-out arenas and amphitheaters across North America, from the Kia Forum in Los Angeles to Madison Square Garden in New York. The run continues into the UK and Europe, opening March 4th at Berlin’s Uber Eats Music Hall and closing March 31st at Dublin’s 3Arena.

Thunder Bring Their Legendary 1998 Live Album Back With A Remastered Edition

Eric Alper
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Thunder Bring Their Legendary 1998 Live Album Back With A Remastered Edition

Thunder has made ‘Live’ essential again. The British hard rock institution has released a newly remastered digital edition of their landmark 1998 album, with a physical release following on April 17th in the US. Recorded in 1997, the album captures the band at full force, a raw and unfiltered document of one of rock’s most commanding live acts doing exactly what they do best.

The remaster, handled in 2025 with careful attention to the original recordings, restores the full weight and immediacy of these performances. Danny Bowes commands the stage with that unmistakable voice, Luke Morley delivers the riffs and songwriting that built Thunder’s reputation, and Chris Childs, joining the band just before these shows, locks in as though he had always been there. Alongside the release, Thunder has shared a video for fan-favorite “The Only One,” a fresh visual companion to a performance that still crackles with energy.

HEADLINE: British Hard Rock Legends Thunder Bring Their Legendary 1998 Live Album Back With A Remastered Edition

TAGS: Thunder, Danny Bowes, Luke Morley, Chris Childs,

BLOG POST:

Thunder has made ‘Live’ essential again. The British hard rock institution has released a newly remastered digital edition of their landmark 1998 album, with a physical release following on April 17th in the US. Recorded in 1997, the album captures the band at full force, a raw and unfiltered document of one of rock’s most commanding live acts doing exactly what they do best.

The remaster, handled in 2025 with careful attention to the original recordings, restores the full weight and immediacy of these performances. Danny Bowes commands the stage with that unmistakable voice, Luke Morley delivers the riffs and songwriting that built Thunder’s reputation, and Chris Childs, joining the band just before these shows, locks in as though he had always been there. Alongside the release, Thunder has shared a video for fan-favorite “The Only One,” a fresh visual companion to a performance that still crackles with energy.

Twenty-two core tracks span the band’s catalog, including “Love Walked In,” “Dirty Love,” “Backstreet Symphony,” and “The Only One,” with bonus acoustic and studio recordings rounding out a 31-track set:

Thunder, ‘Live’ (Remastered) Track Listing:

This Forgotten Town (Acoustic)

Welcome To The Party

Higher Ground

Don’t Wait Up

Low Life In High Places

Gimme Some Lovin’

Empty City

Until My Dying Day

A Better Man

Does It Feel Like Love?

Dance To The Music

She’s So Fine

Backstreet Symphony

An Englishman On Holiday

I’ll Be Waiting

Laughing On Judgement Day

Like A Satellite

Moth To The Flame

Living For Today

The Only One

Love Walked In

River Of Pain

Dirty Love

New York, New York

Pilot Of My Dreams

Everybody Wants Her

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Stand Up

The Only One (Studio Version)

Too Bad (Studio Version)

Something About You (The Nomis Session)

Metal Supergroup Metal Allegiance Breaks Eight-Year Silence With “Black Horizon”

Eric Alper
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Metal Supergroup Metal Allegiance Breaks Eight-Year Silence With “Black Horizon”

Metal Allegiance is back. The New York-based metal supergroup has released “Black Horizon,” their first original track since 2018 and the opening shot of a new era for the band. Eight years is a long time, and this song arrives with the weight of that absence fully intact.

“Black Horizon” is a slow-building apocalypse. Alex Skolnick (Testament) opens with roaring riffs that set a desolate scene, while William DuVall (Alice In Chains) delivers ominous, howling vocals that chronicle a desperate flight for survival. Gloomy, minimalistic verses give way to thunderous choruses, with Mark Menghi (King Ultramega) anchoring the low end and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) keeping the dread coiled and ready to detonate. Systems fail, shadows fall, and the doomed cry for salvation. This is heavy music with genuine atmosphere and weight.

The quotes from the band say everything. Menghi reflects, “Who would have thought we’d be here 12 years later with new MA music,” adding that DuVall’s presence “opens up a new era for MA.” Skolnick describes the track as “a gift from the ghost of MA past, salvaged from a stockpile of riffs we’d started long ago but never quite finished.” DuVall calls it an honor, and Portnoy is simply “stoked they finally get to see the light of day.” Metal Allegiance is not revisiting the past. They are building something new from its bones.

Singer-Songwriter Carla Muller Releases Two Complete Albums in One Day: ‘In Between’ and ‘Paper Stars’

Eric Alper
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Singer-Songwriter Carla Muller Releases Two Complete Albums in One Day: ‘In Between’ and ‘Paper Stars’

In an era of strategically spaced singles and algorithm-driven release schedules, Carla Muller is doing something audacious: she’s releasing two complete albums on the same day. ‘In Between’ and ‘Paper Stars’, both out now via Canterbury Music Company, represent a creative floodgate opened—a songwriter unwilling to wait any longer to share the stories she’s been carrying for years. This double release defies conventional music industry wisdom, but for Muller, the decision reflects an artistic urgency that couldn’t be contained by typical rollout strategies. Based in Woolwich, Ontario, Muller spent years balancing family life with a lifelong dream to share her music with the world. It wasn’t until 2020 that she began recording at Canterbury Music Company, working alongside veteran engineers Jeremy Darby and Julian Decorte and collaborating with Canadian heavyweights like Jason Fowler, Mark Lalama, Nathan Hiltz, and Gary Craig. “I write from my heart, for the people I love, and for myself—past and present,” Muller explains.

‘In Between’ opens with “Hold The Door,” a masterclass in narrative songwriting co-written with Scott Metcalfe that captures the lightning-bolt moment Muller’s parents met sixty years ago—a story involving borrowed heels, a wing-tipped automobile, and 1960s chivalry. Anchored by Metcalfe’s piano and coloured with Chris Quinn’s banjo and Drew Jurecka’s violin, the song moves from literal to metaphorical, using the “door” as a symbol for life’s transitions: “The day they first met he drove her home / In her pretty bright blue dress and borrowed heels” and “The wolf’s done kicked it in, so let’s all dance across the floor / ‘Cause we can’t hold the door anymore.” The inspiration came from observing her parents’ six-decade marriage, ultimately becoming a meditation on “a life well-lived” and the realization that the most beautiful moments happen when we stop trying to hold the door against time’s inevitable changes.

‘Paper Stars’ reveals a different dimension of Muller’s emotional landscape. “Too Much To Ask” examines teenage heartbreak through the lens of middle-aged wisdom, written at forty-three about a love that consumed her at sixteen: “All that I ask / Is that you love me for tonight / But all I ever wanted / Was you to love me for all time / Is that too much to ask?” The emotional centrepiece arrives with “Beautiful Day,” a tribute to her friend and musical collaborator Sean Cunnington, who passed away in 2020. The song emerged unexpectedly one morning after Muller feared she might never write again: “I woke up this morning with a song in my head / I just had to call you up to say / I’m on my way, just getting out of bed / And it’s gonna be another beautiful day.”

The dual album release strategy reflects Muller’s unconventional career path and her priorities as an artist. She doesn’t tour, stating: “I would be giving up the very thing I’m always writing about—family, friends and home if I did that. Home is where the magic happens—that’s where the stories flow from. I also need to stay close to my parents, family and my new grandson. I don’t want to miss a single moment.” Rather than spacing releases for maximum commercial impact, she’s chosen to share both bodies of work simultaneously, trusting listeners to engage with the music on their own terms.

The albums showcase Muller’s range as a storyteller, moving seamlessly between generations and emotional registers. ‘In Between’ explores family legacy, resilience, and the passage of time, while ‘Paper Stars’ delves into personal memory, romantic intensity, and creative grief. Together, they present a songwriter at the height of her powers, unafraid to be vulnerable and unwilling to compromise her vision for industry convention.

. Notably, Muller continues her philanthropic commitment, with 50% of proceeds from sales and streams of the track “We’ll Be Alright” directly benefitting the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, and 25% of all CD and vinyl sales of ‘In Between’ also supporting FBWR. In a world that often feels like “nothing would ever be the same again,” Muller’s music argues that as long as we have these stories, we’ll be all right.

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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