BTS have dropped the video for “Hooligan,” the latest visual from their ‘ARIRANG’ album era, and it’s a statement. The clip places all seven members, RM, Jimin, Jin, j-hope, SUGA, V and Jung Kook, across fog-drenched dystopian landscapes, delivering sharp choreography against barren terrain, a stark red platform, masked dancers and gravity-defying civilians floating through a dark, windswept passage. It’s cinematic, controlled and built for a stadium world tour that kicks off this week with three nights at Goyang Stadium in South Korea, running through to March 2027 across North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. ‘ARIRANG’ is out now and sitting atop the Billboard 200 for a second consecutive week.
BTS Rules a Dark Dystopia in Stunning New “Hooligan” Music Video
Robin Ross and The Melodynes Bring Flower Power Back With Breezy New Single “All I Want (Is A Lover)”
Robin Ross & The Melodynes have a new single out, and it sounds like 1967 never left. “All I Want (Is A Lover)” is out now via RPM Entertainment Enterprises, a sun-warmed, harmony-rich track built on buoyant rhythms and acoustic warmth that pulls directly from the flower power playbook without feeling like a museum piece.
The track’s already moving. It landed a featured placement in the Apple TV+ and Peacock original series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” appearing in the second episode airing April 15, 2026. The cast alone tells you the profile of this show: Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman and Nicole Kidman. Getting a sync in that room isn’t a small thing.
Songwriter and producer Robin Ross wrote the foundation of the track around a C-B-Am progression, capturing an early vocal scratch that he and vocalist JoEllen Gaetani later shaped into something complete. “The song is about letting love live without the stigma often placed on those who don’t ‘match the norm,'” Ross says. “It’s about moving past that and letting love flow like an atom in flight.” The track earns that sentiment, warm and unhurried, without overselling it.
Recorded at Baa Baa Leaf Music Studio in Milford, Pennsylvania, and co-engineered by Jonathan Duckett (Philip Glass, Kenny G, David Sanborn), the production reflects Ross’s three-plus decades behind the board. The result sits comfortably alongside the ‘Mind Space’ album, available now on Bandcamp digitally and on CD.
Ross, who co-founded the progressive rock outfit Jack’s Maze in the early ’90s, has been prolific lately, releasing records under multiple project names in 2025 alone. A fresh Jack’s Maze release is also expected later this year.
John Cleese Brings Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s 50th Anniversary to Hamilton
Fifty years on, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” still holds up, and now John Cleese is hitting the road to prove it. Just For Laughs and Mills Entertainment have announced “Not Dead Yet! John Cleese and the Holy Grail at 50,” a special evening at Hamilton’s FirstOntario Concert Hall on Sunday, October 4, 2026, pairing a 50th anniversary screening of the film with a live conversation and audience Q&A with Cleese himself.
This isn’t a passive screening night. Cleese will be on stage after the film, sharing behind-the-scenes stories, fielding questions, and doing what he’s done for six decades: making rooms full of people laugh. VIP tickets include prime seating and a post-show photo opportunity with Cleese, making this one of the more personal comedy events the year will offer.
The film co-written and co-starred in by Cleese remains one of the most quoted, referenced and genuinely funny pieces of cinema ever made. Watching it in a concert hall setting, followed by the man himself unpacking how it all happened, is exactly the kind of experience that doesn’t come around twice.
Cleese’s career has never needed much of an introduction. From “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Fawlty Towers” to “A Fish Called Wanda” and beloved franchise roles in Bond, Harry Potter and Shrek, his fingerprints are on a half-century of comedy history. This Hamilton show is a chance to hear him tell it in his own words.
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 10 at 10:00AM at ticketmaster.ca. Coconuts are not included.
SOCAN Hits Record $587M as Canadian Music Creators Navigate a Shifting Digital World
Canadian music rights organization SOCAN has posted record royalty revenue of $587.1 million for 2025, a 5% increase over the previous year, with $511.9 million distributed directly to songwriters, composers and music publishers across Canada and around the world.
The numbers reflect real momentum. Digital revenue sources totalled $232.8 million, an 11.5% year-over-year jump. General licensing and concerts climbed 16.1%. International revenue reached $141.7 million, confirming that Canadian music continues to travel well beyond its borders.
But SOCAN isn’t letting strong financials obscure a harder truth. CEO Jennifer Brown has been direct about the gap between organizational revenue growth and the daily economic reality facing working songwriters and composers. “There is an urgent need for modern protections rooted in consent, credit and compensation,” Brown said, “to provide songwriters and composers with a reliable foundation from which to support their families and continue making music.”
AI is now central to that fight. SOCAN’s national advocacy campaign generated 8,700 letters to the federal government, pushing back against any policy that would allow unlicensed use of music to train AI systems. The campaign reached the Prime Minister’s Office directly, with Brown and CISAC president Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA) meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney to make the case for protecting human creativity.
A 2025 SOCAN–Pollara survey found that 81% of Canadians believe supporting local music creators is essential to Canadian culture. That’s not a niche concern. SOCAN’s full 2025 Annual Report is available now, with the organization’s AGM scheduled for April 29, 2026, in Calgary.
Ten Songs Nobody Ever Skips (And Why That Says Everything)
We live in the age of the skip. The average listener decides whether a song is worth their time in the first seven seconds, streaming platforms are designed around the assumption that you will move on, and playlists have replaced albums as the primary way most people consume music. Skipping is not rude anymore. It is just Tuesday.
And yet there are songs that stop the finger. Songs that come on in the car, in a bar, through someone else’s speaker at a party, and something in your brain quietly says not this one. This one stays. You don’t even make a conscious decision. The skip just doesn’t happen.
These are ten of those songs, and understanding why they work tells you something important about what music actually does to people when it’s doing its job at the highest level.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” – Queen
Is the obvious starting point because it is perhaps the most unskippable song ever recorded. It is also, technically, a deeply strange piece of music. It has no chorus in the traditional sense. It shifts genres three times in six minutes. It includes an operatic section that has no business being in a rock song. And yet from the moment Freddie Mercury opens his mouth, the thought of skipping it feels almost physically wrong. It demands full attention not because it’s demanding, but because it’s genuinely unpredictable. You stay because you never quite know what’s coming next, and that is as rare in pop music as it gets.
“September” – Earth, Wind and Fire
Does something different. It doesn’t ask for your attention so much as it simply takes it. That opening brass line hits and your body responds before your brain has a chance to weigh in. There is a reason this song has appeared on virtually every “never skip” list ever compiled by real listeners: it is biologically optimised for joy. The ba-dee-ya hook is nonsense syllables that somehow communicate pure euphoria. Nobody knows what the 21st night of September means. Nobody cares. It works every single time.
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” – Crowded House
Is a different kind of unskippable. It’s not energetic or physically irresistible. It’s something quieter and more lasting. Neil Finn wrote a song that somehow manages to feel both universal and deeply personal at the same time, the kind of song that people attach to specific memories and carry with them for decades. The line about trying to catch the deluge in a paper cup has lived in millions of people’s heads since 1986 and shows no signs of leaving. Songs that do that don’t get skipped. They get turned up.
“Mr. Brightside” – The Killers
Is one of the stranger entries on this list because by any metric it should have worn out its welcome by now. It is over twenty years old. It has been played at every university event, house party, and karaoke night in the English-speaking world for two consecutive decades. And yet its skip rate remains stubbornly, almost defiantly low. The opening guitar riff triggers something Pavlovian in an entire generation. It is the musical equivalent of a smell that takes you straight back to a specific night, a specific feeling, a specific version of yourself. That kind of emotional encoding doesn’t fade. It compounds.
“Superstition” – Stevie Wonder
Earns its place through sheer immediate impact. The clavinet intro is one of the most recognisable instrumental hooks in the history of recorded music, and it lands in roughly two seconds. You know exactly what song it is before a single word has been sung, and the part of your brain that was planning to skip has already changed its mind. Wonder recorded it at the peak of his powers during one of the most creatively fertile runs any artist has ever had, and the confidence of that moment lives in every note of the track.
“Gimme Shelter” – The Rolling Stones
Operates on a different frequency entirely. It doesn’t make you want to dance or sing along. It pulls you in through atmosphere, through a kind of tension that builds from the first guitar chord and never fully releases. Merry Clayton’s vocal performance midway through the song remains one of the most viscerally powerful moments in rock music. People don’t skip this song for the same reason they don’t walk out of a great film twenty minutes before the end. You need to see it through.
“This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” – Talking Heads
Is the definition of a song that grows rather than fades. When it was released in 1983 it was appreciated. Thirty years later it became a cultural touchstone, showing up on every “cozy,” “Sunday morning,” and “songs that make you feel at home” playlist on the internet. David Byrne wrote something that somehow gets warmer and more comforting with each passing year. Songs that do that don’t just avoid being skipped. They become part of the furniture of people’s lives.
“Dreams” – Fleetwood Mac
Had one of the most unlikely second acts in pop history. A song released in 1977 became a genuine viral phenomenon in 2020 when a man on a skateboard drank cranberry juice and lip-synced to it on TikTok and the internet decided it was exactly what it needed. That moment didn’t create the song’s appeal, it just revealed what was already there. There is something about the combination of Stevie Nicks’ vocal and the hypnotic, mid-tempo groove underneath it that feels like being gently carried somewhere. You don’t skip it because you don’t want the ride to end.
“Your Love” – The Outfield
Is pure nostalgia weaponised. That opening guitar hook is one of the most instantly recognisable sounds of the 1980s, and it arrives with an entire emotional package attached. People who were teenagers when this song came out feel it in their chest every single time. People who discovered it later feel like they’ve always known it. The chorus is so committed, so earnest, so completely unironic about its own longing that it bypasses all your defences and gets you every time. Some songs are good. This one is something else.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Simon and Garfunkel
Is in a category of its own. It is not a song you put on in the background. It is not a song you half-listen to. It is a song that, when it comes on, asks you to stop what you’re doing and just be present for three and a half minutes. Art Garfunkel’s vocal is one of the great recorded performances in the American songbook, and the arrangement builds with such patience and purpose that skipping it would feel like leaving a conversation before the other person has finished their sentence.
Dear Concert Venues: Short People Sections Need to Happen. Like, Yesterday.
Let me paint you a picture. You’ve been waiting six months for this concert. You bought the tickets the second they dropped, spent way too long picking the perfect outfit, arrived early enough to actually get a good spot, and then right as the lights go down and the opening notes hit, a 6’2″ guy in a bucket hat materializes directly in front of you like he was summoned from the underworld specifically to ruin your night.
You can see his shoulder. Maybe his ear. If you stand on your toes for the entire set, you can catch a blurry glimpse of the artist you paid $180 to see. Congratulations. You have successfully attended a concert.
This is the lived reality of every person under 5’4″, and we are tired.
Here’s what nobody talks about: tall people don’t need to be in the front. They can see from literally anywhere. A 6-foot person standing at the back of a venue has a cleaner sightline than a 5’2″ person pressed against the barrier. The front is wasted on them. It’s like giving the best seat at a restaurant to someone who already ate.
Short people, on the other hand, have done the physics. We know exactly how many rows back we can stand before we lose all visual contact with the stage. That number is approximately two. Two rows. After that, we are essentially listening to a very expensive audio experience while staring at the back of a stranger’s jacket.
There is an unspoken physical surcharge that short people pay at every single concert. While everyone else is standing comfortably, we are conducting a full lower-body workout. Calves burning, knees slightly bent, core engaged, neck craned at an angle that will require physiotherapy by morning. We are not watching a concert. We are doing a Pilates class set to live music.
And the second you find a gap between two people and shuffle into it for a better view, someone fills in behind you and the wall reforms like it was never broken. The crowd is sentient. It knows. It always closes.
Yes, we get there early. We get there so early we watch the venue staff do their pre-show walkie-talkie routines. We stake out our spot with the focus and territorial intensity of a nature documentary animal. And then, forty-five minutes into the opening act, a group of tall people decides that our carefully selected location is exactly where they’d like to stand, and they simply stand there. In front of us. Without a single moment of self-reflection. They didn’t earn that view. We did. But height doesn’t care about effort.
Nobody is demanding a revolution. We’re not asking for a raised platform, a special entrance, or a dedicated concierge. We are asking for one modest, clearly marked section, maybe ten feet wide, right in the middle, with a simple sign that reads: 5’6″ and under. You’ve been through enough.
That’s it. That’s the whole ask. A small patch of floor where short people can see the artist they love without performing an involuntary athletic event. A place where nobody is blocking your view because everyone in the section is working with the same vertical limitations and there is a sacred, unspoken understanding between all of you.
Is it segregation? Technically yes. Is it the good kind? Absolutely.
Tall people, we don’t hate you. Some of our best friends are tall. We just need you to understand that your natural physical advantages extend into every other area of life, reaching things on high shelves, being taken seriously in meetings, existing in airplane seats, and maybe just maybe the front row of a Chappell Roan concert is one place you could afford to cede some ground.
We just want to see the show. We bought the same ticket. We felt the same feelings when the album dropped. We deserve to witness the moment with our own eyes and not through a gap in someone’s armpit.
Short people sections. Make it happen. We’ll be easy to spot. We’re the ones you can’t see.
Monsta X Bring Their World Tour to North America This Fall With 10 Arena Dates
Monsta X are coming back to North America, and they’re doing it at scale. The 2026 Monsta X World Tour, The X: Nexus, hits 10 cities across the continent this fall, promoted by Live Nation, kicking off October 3 at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, VA and closing October 24 at WAMU Theater in Seattle. Stops include Madison Square Garden, The Kia Forum in Los Angeles, MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, and Toronto’s Great Canadian. Tickets go on sale April 14 at 3 PM local time.
The tour marks Monsta X’s first large-scale North American outing in four years, following their 2022 No Limit Tour, and arrives in support of ‘Unfold’, their third full-length English album, released April 3. The ten-track project features focus track “Heal” alongside singles “Growing Pains” and “Baby Blue,” exploring themes of healing and growth across a dynamic blend of pop and ballads. As the first K-pop group to release three full English albums, Monsta X have consistently pushed the boundaries of global crossover, and ‘Unfold’ marks their first U.S. release in over four years.
The X: Nexus launched earlier this year with three nights at KSPO Dome in Seoul and celebrates more than a decade of material alongside the new record. The tour’s title reflects the bond between Monsta X and their fanbase Monbebe, signaling a new chapter built on eleven years of shared growth. For a group with their live reputation, elevated vocals and onstage chemistry that’s been building since their debut, these arena dates are going to deliver.
2026 Monsta X World Tour, The X: Nexus North American Dates:
October 3 — Fairfax, VA — EagleBank Arena
October 6 — New York, NY — Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden
October 8 — Boston, MA — MGM Music Hall at Fenway
October 10 — Toronto, ON — Great Canadian Toronto
October 13 — Rosemont, IL — Rosemont Theatre
October 15 — Irving, TX — The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
October 17 — Phoenix, AZ — Arizona Financial Theatre
October 20 — Los Angeles, CA — The Kia Forum
October 22 — San Francisco, CA — The Theater at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
October 24 — Seattle, WA — WAMU Theater
DaBaby Drops the Video for Chart-Climbing “Don Julio Lemonade”
DaBaby’s “Don Julio Lemonade” already has the chart positions to back up the attention, and now it has the visual to match. Directed by Nick Mays, the video places DaBaby inside a lemon-stacked house with a clean, stylized concept that lets the track’s laid-back confidence do the heavy lifting. The song currently sits at No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 5 on Hot Rap Songs, No. 9 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and No. 8 on Rap Airplay, while racking up over half a million user-generated TikTok creates and landing on both the TikTok Top 50 and Viral charts. It’s the second-highest-performing track on ‘Be More Grateful’, which debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums and No. 25 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year. The Be More Grateful Tour is currently running, with high demand driving expanded dates, and a DaBaby-hosted festival in his hometown of Charlotte still to come.
Bluegrass Innovator Sierra Hull Releases Her Long-Awaited Three-Part Concerto ‘The Movements’ on April 10
Sierra Hull has always operated at the intersection of technical mastery and genuine musical curiosity, and ‘The Movements’ is where those instincts converge most completely. Commissioned by the FreshGrass Institute ahead of their 2023 event, Hull’s three-part bluegrass concerto combines through-composed ideas, arranged parts, and room for improvisation in a way that places her alongside Béla Fleck, Rhiannon Giddens, Sarah Jarosz, and Kronos Quartet in the FreshGrass commissions canon. The studio recording arrives April 10, and it’s been worth the wait.
Hull and her band, Avery Merritt, Erik Coveney, Mark Raudabaugh, and Shaun Richardson, recorded ‘The Movements’ right after their FreshGrass debut, but a busy tour schedule and the completion of her album ‘A Tip Toe High Wire’ pushed the release back. “Movement 3 has been a staple in our live shows over the last few years,” Hull says. “Folks have been asking for a while now when we would finally release a recording of them, so we are pumped to finally share it with everyone.” The recording captures the earliest days of this particular group of musicians finding their footing together, and that energy is audible throughout.
The rest of Hull’s 2026 calendar reflects her standing in the roots music world. She’s currently on a spring headlining tour before joining Brad Paisley in Europe in June. Later in the year she’ll return to the Outlaw Music Festival Tour with Willie Nelson and The Avett Brothers, support Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheatre, appear at Billy Strings’s inaugural Ionia Freak Fair, and perform at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival.
KISS Heirs Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons Bring Stanley Simmons to Southern California Stages This May
Stanley Simmons, the new outfit formed by Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons, sons of KISS co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons respectively, have announced their first-ever live dates, a four-show run across southern California in May. The debut takes place May 4 at the House of Blues Voodoo Room in San Diego, with stops in Santa Ana and Morro Bay before wrapping May 13 at the Ventura Music Hall. The shows follow the strong early reception for their sophomore single “Dancing While The World Is Ending,” which pulled over 145,000 YouTube views in its first ten days.
Tour Dates:
May 4 — San Diego, CA — House of Blues Voodoo Room
May 6 — Santa Ana, CA — Constellation Room
May 10 — Morro Bay, CA — The Siren
May 13 — Ventura, CA — Ventura Music Hall