• Bret Michaels — Poison frontman and former Celebrity Apprentice winner — announced he is withdrawing from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair concert series on the National Mall, citing “threats and safety concerns” and saying the event has “evolved into something much more divisive” than what he agreed to
• Michaels becomes the fifth act to exit since the lineup was announced on May 27 — joining Martina McBride, Morris Day and The Time, and Young MC — leaving just a handful of the original nine announced performers still on the bill
• In his statement, Michaels said: “Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of” — while also noting his shows have “never been about politics”
• The Freedom 250 Great American State Fair is still scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., organized as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations under President Trump

The Freedom 250 Great American State Fair is losing its lineup faster than it can replace it. Bret Michaels — the Poison frontman who also won Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice — announced Friday that he is pulling out of the Trump-backed concert series on the National Mall, citing safety threats and a festival that had become something other than what he originally agreed to. He is the fifth act to exit since the lineup was publicly announced just 48 hours earlier on May 27. As Variety pointedly observed, Freedom 250 is now a festival with very few acts left to lose, per Variety.

Michaels posted a statement to his website explaining his decision. “When this opportunity was presented to me,” he wrote, it was framed as a nonpartisan celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. That framing, he said, did not hold. “Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of.” He was also specific about the physical dimension of his exit: threats and safety concerns were raised, and those concerns factored into his decision to step away. “My shows have never been about politics,” he added, per Deadline.

Michaels’ departure carries a particular resonance given his history with Trump. He appeared on Celebrity Apprentice and won — making him, of the artists who have now exited the series, the one with the most direct personal connection to the president. That he is still choosing to withdraw, and citing safety concerns as part of his reasoning, adds a dimension to the story that goes beyond the standard political opt-out, per Billboard.

The Growing Exodus

The cascade of departures began almost immediately after the Freedom 250 lineup dropped. Morris Day and The Time were among the first to announce they would not perform, followed by Young MC. Martina McBride exited Thursday, writing on Instagram that she had been presented with “a nonpartisan event” but that “what we were told is not, in fact, what is happening.” McBride’s statement used nearly identical language to Michaels’ — both described being misled about the event’s nature before signing on. By Friday morning, five of the nine originally announced acts had now publicly withdrawn, leaving the festival’s music programming in significant disarray with less than four weeks until the scheduled June 25 opening, per Forbes.

Freedom 250 was established by President Trump to organize the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations, and the Interior Department declared it the official branding for those events. The organization has maintained publicly that it is nonpartisan — a characterization that multiple artists say does not match what they encountered when they examined the event’s structure and political affiliations more closely. The pattern across the departures is consistent: artists say they accepted based on a nonpartisan pitch, then withdrew when the fuller picture emerged.

What’s Left of the Lineup

With five of nine acts now out, the Great American State Fair faces a significant rebuilding challenge before its 16-day run on the National Mall. The festival is still scheduled to operate from June 25 through July 10 — the stretch spanning the lead-up to and follow-through on July 4th — with programming across the area between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. What remains of the original music lineup, and whether organizers can attract replacement bookings, remains to be seen. Each new departure has arrived accompanied by statements that echo one another almost verbatim: nonpartisan is how it was sold, divisive is how it landed. For artists weighing whether to join or stay, those statements are accumulating into a pattern that is hard to ignore, per Yahoo.

The post Bret Michaels Exits Freedom 250 Over ‘Threats and Safety Concerns’ — Now 5 of 9 Acts Have Pulled Out appeared first on Cream.

• Ariana Grande, 32, released “Hate That I Made You Love Me” on May 29 — the lead single from her upcoming eighth studio album Petal, due July 31 via Republic Records — co-written and produced by Grande alongside longtime collaborators Ilya and Max Martin
• The mid-tempo song carries a dual meaning: on the surface it reads as a breakup track about a lost love who felt more invested than she did, but the bridge expands into a meditation on fame and the expectations placed on women in the public eye — “Is it really my fault you all gave me your hearts on your own accord?” she sings
• An official music video directed by Christian Breslauer — who helmed Grande’s MTV VMA-winning Bright Days Ahead short film in 2025 — premieres Monday, June 1 at 8 a.m. PST; a teaser featuring Weapons actor Justin Long dropped earlier this week
• Petal is described by Grande as “little feral” and “from a place I’ve been maybe too shy or polite to tap into before” — the 12-track album was executive produced and co-written by Grande and Ilya, who has worked with her since her 2014 breakout single “Problem”

Ariana Grande has officially opened a new chapter. “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” the lead single from her forthcoming eighth studio album Petal, arrived Friday, May 29 — and with it, the clearest signal yet of where the 32-year-old is heading musically and emotionally after two years of high-profile film projects, a divorce, and a seven-year gap between major tours. The song is built around a shimmering, ambient instrumental, Grande’s voice in a quieter register than much of her previous work, and a premise that sounds like an apology but isn’t really one, per Rolling Stone.

“Hate that I made you love me / Sorry if I made me your type / Yeah, I hate that I made you love me / ‘Cause I barely tried,” she sings in the chorus. The song was co-written and produced by Grande alongside Ilya and Max Martin — the same Swedish production team behind many of her biggest records. It arrives with a comic-book-inspired lyric video and is listed as the second track on Petal. It’s also Grande’s first non-soundtrack single since 2025’s “Twilight Zone,” per Billboard.

Speculation about who the song is directed at began immediately. Just Jared noted that on Eternal Sunshine, Grande sang about how hard she worked to sustain a relationship — and that this song flips that script entirely, with the narrator claiming she “barely tried.” Some fans have drawn a connection to her divorce from Dalton Gomez. Others read the song as addressing something bigger: the experience of being a public figure whose image becomes a projection screen for everyone who encounters it. Grande doesn’t resolve the ambiguity, and that seems intentional, per Just Jared.

The Bridge Changes Everything

The element of the song that has generated the most conversation is the bridge, which pivots away from the romantic framing entirely. “I felt your projections when you felt so insecure / Tell me why is it this way, why you so hate to see women endure / Is it really my fault you all gave me your hearts on your own accord / I don’t really think so,” she sings. ELLE’s analysis of the lyrics noted that the bridge transforms what appears to be a breakup song into something more pointed — an address to the audience itself, to fans and critics alike who have assigned their own meanings to Grande’s persona over the years. That reading fits with what Grande has said about Petal more broadly: it’s an album going somewhere she hasn’t let herself go before, per ELLE.

The closing lines — “I know that I will find my way from you / Like flowers from a tomb while you decide who you are” — land as both a breakup sign-off and a statement of self-possession. The album title suddenly makes more sense. Petal: something that pushes through, fragile and insistent at once, per Pitchfork.

What We Know About Petal

Grande first announced Petal via Instagram on April 28, describing the 12-track set as “little feral.” “It’s definitely from a place I’ve been maybe too shy or polite to tap into before,” she said in a video. “This kind of just feels like something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging.” The album is the follow-up to Eternal Sunshine — her Grammy-winning 2024 record — and is executive produced and co-written by Grande and Ilya. Ilya, the Swedish producer behind some of the biggest pop records of the past decade, has been Grande’s closest studio collaborator since “Problem” put her at the top of the charts in 2014. His fingerprints are audible throughout “Hate That I Made You Love Me” — the production is controlled, precise, and built to let Grande’s voice carry the emotional weight, per Variety.

The Music Video and the Tour

Before the single even dropped, Grande had already teased the official music video with a clip featuring Justin Long — the actor currently in Weapons — peering into a car’s rearview mirror as a trap-adjacent beat builds, only to see Grande’s eyes staring back at him. The teaser’s visual language, Billboard noted, evokes the poster design of the 1986 thriller The Hitcher. The full video, directed by Christian Breslauer — who also directed the MTV VMA-winning Bright Days Ahead short film for Grande in 2025 — premieres June 1 at 8 a.m. PST. Long’s appearance continues what Billboard described as Grande’s longstanding tradition of casting recognizable actors in her visual projects, per Billboard.

The single arrives just as Grande is about to head back on the road. Her Eternal Sunshine concert tour — her first major tour in seven years — kicks off in June, meaning fans will be hearing these new songs live almost immediately after they land. Petal drops July 31, squarely in the middle of the touring run. The timing is deliberate: Grande is not easing into this era. She’s releasing the music while she’s in front of the biggest live audiences of her career, and “Hate That I Made You Love Me” is the opening argument.

The post Ariana Grande Launches the ‘Petal’ Era With New Single ‘Hate That I Made You Love Me’ — Here’s What the Lyrics Mean appeared first on Cream.

• Martina McBride announced Thursday she is withdrawing from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair — a 16-day concert series on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., running June 25 through July 10 — saying she was misled about the event’s nature
• “I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,” McBride wrote on Instagram. “What we were told is not, in fact, what is happening”
• McBride is the fourth performer to exit since the lineup was announced May 27; Morris Day and The Time and Young MC also dropped out in the days immediately following the announcement
• Freedom 250 was launched by President Donald Trump and was declared the official branding of all 250th anniversary celebrations by the Interior Department — though it has been described publicly as nonpartisan

Less than 48 hours after Freedom 250 announced the lineup for its Great American State Fair concert series, Martina McBride became the fourth artist to pull out. The country singer posted to Instagram Thursday saying she had accepted a performance slot under the impression the event was nonpartisan — and that turned out not to be the case.

“I would like to talk to you and clear the air,” McBride wrote. “I will not be performing at the Great American State Fair on June 25th. I was presented with the opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading. What we were told is not, in fact, what is happening.” The statement came after she had already faced criticism online simply for being on the bill, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Freedom 250 was launched by President Donald Trump to organize the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. The Interior Department declared it the official branding for those events. The organization has described itself as nonpartisan, a framing that multiple artists say does not match what they experienced once they looked more closely at the event’s structure and affiliations, per Variety.

A Growing Exodus

McBride is the fourth departure since the lineup dropped May 27. Morris Day and The Time announced they would not perform, followed by Young MC, before McBride made it official Thursday evening. The exits began almost immediately after the announcement, suggesting that several artists hadn’t fully understood what they had signed up for before the public reveal, per Billboard. The Great American State Fair is still scheduled to run June 25 through July 10 on the National Mall.

The post Martina McBride Is the Fourth Artist to Drop Out of Trump-Backed Freedom 250 Concerts: ‘Turned Out to Be Misleading’ appeared first on Cream.

• Scooter Braun — former manager to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Kanye West, and the central figure in Taylor Swift’s masters dispute — sat for a rare 90-minute interview on the Second Thought With Suzy Weiss podcast, his most extensive public appearance since stepping down as CEO of Hybe America last year
• Braun said he never had a substantial relationship with Swift before the controversy: “I think I’ve met her in my life three times” — and said he never had a real conversation with her before he became, in his words, “a villain” to her fan base
• The dispute began in 2019 when Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Records, the label that owned the master recordings of Swift’s first six albums; Swift responded publicly and called it her “worst case scenario”
• Braun also discussed Kanye West, Spencer Pratt, and Sydney Sweeney in the wide-ranging interview

Scooter Braun doesn’t do many interviews. But the former music mogul sat for a 90-minute conversation with Suzy Weiss on her Second Thought podcast — and used a significant portion of it to address the Taylor Swift masters dispute that defined his public image for the past several years.

His main point: he barely knew her. “I think I’ve met her in my life three times,” Braun told Weiss, per Billboard. He said he’d never had a real conversation with Swift before the 2019 acquisition of Big Machine Records — and his company’s ownership of her first six albums’ master recordings — made him the target of one of pop music’s most public feuds. “I was a villain overnight,” he said.

Swift had called the acquisition her “worst case scenario” and went on to re-record her first six albums as the Taylor’s Version series, eventually reclaiming commercial control of her catalog. Braun maintained that there was no personal animosity on his end going into the situation — a framing that does little to resolve the underlying dispute but clarifies his own account of it, per TMZ.

A Rare Public Appearance

The interview covers more than Swift. Braun also spoke about Kanye West, Spencer Pratt, and made brief mention of Sydney Sweeney. He stepped down as CEO of Hybe America — the US arm of the South Korean entertainment conglomerate — last year, and has largely stayed out of the public eye since. The Second Thought podcast appearance is the most he’s said publicly in some time, per Variety.

The post Scooter Braun Says the Taylor Swift Feud Made Him a ‘Villain’ Overnight — ‘I Think I’ve Met Her Three Times in My Life’ appeared first on Cream.

• Bruce Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello announced the “Power to the People” protest festival on Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., as part of Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour
• The one-day event is set for October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland — one month before the midterm elections — and will be headlined by Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard, and Joan Baez
• Throughout the Land of Hope and Dreams tour, Springsteen has opened each show with a declaration: “We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in these dangerous times”
• The festival is organized by Morello and is framed around “freedom, justice, equality and rock ‘n’ roll”

Bruce Springsteen isn’t waiting until after the tour to make his point. The Boss announced a major protest festival Wednesday night from the stage at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., joined by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who has been touring with him on the Land of Hope and Dreams run.

The Power to the People festival is set for October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland — putting it squarely one month before the midterm elections. The headliner list runs from Springsteen himself to Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard, and Joan Baez, per PBS NewsHour.

The announcement came near the end of Springsteen’s short American tour, which has been explicitly political from the first night. At every stop, Springsteen has told the crowd: “We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in these dangerous times.” He has also used the tour to spotlight activist organizations, welcoming groups into each venue to do outreach and solicit support, per Billboard.

Festival Details

Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Howard County, Maryland, is one of the mid-Atlantic’s signature outdoor venues — a practical choice for a large-scale event of this kind. The festival’s stated themes of “freedom, justice, equality and rock ‘n’ roll” track closely with the rhetoric Springsteen has been deploying throughout the tour, per CBS News Baltimore. No ticket details have been announced yet.

The post Bruce Springsteen Announces ‘Power to the People’ Protest Festival With Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, and Joan Baez — One Month Before Midterms appeared first on Cream.

• Madonna, 67, named John F. Kennedy Jr. as the best sex of her life in a new video made in partnership with Grindr to promote her upcoming 15th studio album Confessions II
• When asked to name the “best d***-down” she’s ever had, Madonna offered a qualifier first: “I’m only going to name dead people” — then picked JFK Jr., with whom she had a brief relationship in the early 1990s
• The video was obtained early by Page Six and also features playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D’s Marcello Gutierrez
• Confessions II is the follow-up to Madonna’s 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor; no release date has been announced

Madonna has never exactly been tight-lipped about her personal life, but her latest disclosure comes with one of her better qualifiers in recent memory. In a new video made with Grindr to promote her upcoming album Confessions II, the 67-year-old was asked to name the best sex she’s ever had. She was happy to answer — on one condition.

“I’m only going to name dead people,” Madonna said. Then she named John F. Kennedy Jr., per Page Six, which obtained the video before its release.

Madonna and Kennedy Jr. had a brief relationship in the early 1990s — a pairing that was the subject of considerable tabloid attention at the time and has been referenced in the decades since. Kennedy Jr. died in a 1999 plane crash at 38. The caveat Madonna attached to her ranking — limiting it to deceased exes — was noted across coverage as both practical and characteristically Madonna: a way of answering the question while declining to compare anyone currently living.

The Confessions II Rollout

The Grindr collaboration is part of an unconventional promotional push for Madonna’s 15th studio album, the follow-up to her landmark 2005 record Confessions on a Dance Floor. Instead of a traditional press tour, she filmed a roundtable-style video with playwright Jeremy O. Harris, Bob The Drag Queen, dancer Ivy Mugler, designer Raul Lopez, and i-D Global Beauty Editor Marcello Gutierrez — a mix of queer artists and tastemakers suited to the Grindr platform, per Us Magazine.

The questions in the video ranged from playful to pointed. The JFK Jr. answer has naturally dominated the coverage since the clip began circulating Thursday, per Just Jared. No release date for Confessions II has been announced.

The post Madonna Says JFK Jr. Was the Best Sex of Her Life — With One Very Madonna Caveat appeared first on Cream.

• Olivia Rodrigo, 23, pushed back against online criticism of her babydoll dress looks in a new interview on The New York Times’ Popcast, calling the reaction “really disturbing” and saying it shows “how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture”
• The backlash began after she wore a pink-and-blue minidress in her “Drop Dead” music video and escalated when she wore a Génération78 babydoll dress at Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona on May 8 — critics described the looks as “infantilizing” and accused her of wearing “sexualized children’s clothing”
• Rodrigo pointed out the double standard directly: “I have worn outfits that are revealing on stage. I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts… and that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deem to be childlike was inappropriate”
• Per Complex, she connected the criticism to riot grrrl fashion history and broader patterns of how society sexualizes young girls, calling those reactions “freak” reactions
• “Drop Dead” is from her forthcoming third album You Seem Pretty Sad

Olivia Rodrigo has had enough. The “Drivers License” singer spent part of a new New York Times Popcast interview addressing the months-long online debate over her babydoll dresses — and she didn’t hold back.

The controversy started in April when Rodrigo wore a pink-and-blue minidress in the video for “Drop Dead,” a single from her upcoming third album You Seem Pretty Sad. It intensified after she performed at Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona on May 8 in a Génération78 babydoll dress and knee-high black boots — a look that set off a fresh wave of takes, with some describing the outfit as that of a “sexualized child” and others writing things like “A grown woman wearing children’s clothes… she keeps giving me the ick.”

Rodrigo’s response, recorded for an upcoming Popcast episode and previewed widely this week, was pointed. “That’s been making me so upset,” she told Us Magazine. “Not even for me. People can say whatever they want.”

‘Fully Covered Up… Was Inappropriate’

What bothered her, she said, was the logic the critics were applying. “What’s really disturbing is I have worn outfits that are revealing on stage,” Rodrigo continued, per Newsweek. “I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts, which is my right — that’s fun, I felt cool and comfortable in that. And that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate.” She said the pattern was “really disturbing” and added: “It really shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”

Per Complex, she tied the reaction to riot grrrl fashion — a deliberately transgressive, anti-sexualization aesthetic with deep roots in ’90s punk and feminist music — and to broader double standards in how young women’s bodies get policed and interpreted regardless of what they actually wear. The framing, she suggested, says more about the critics than it does about the dress.

The post Olivia Rodrigo Fires Back at Babydoll Dress Critics: ‘It Really Shows How We Normalize Pedophilia in Our Culture’ appeared first on Cream.

• Portola Music Festival has announced its 2026 lineup for the event’s fifth annual edition: September 26-27 at Pier 80 in San Francisco, presented by Goldenvoice
• Saturday night is headlined by Robyn and Dog Blood — the duo of Skrillex and Boys Noize — alongside Soulwax, Fatboy Slim, Skepta, Tove Lo, Groove Armada, DJ Shadow (performing a set celebrating 30 years of Endtroducing…..), Beastie Boys’ Mike D with his 5D project, and Tricky
• Sunday is headlined by Swedish House Mafia, with Tiësto making his Portola debut; the day also features Four Tet performing a live set, Zara Larsson, Ninajirachi, Kettama, and Mel C (the former Spice Girl) performing as a DJ
• Passes go on sale Tuesday at noon Pacific time; registration is required for access, and a “Party People Loyalty” presale is available for returning attendees

Portola just put together the kind of lineup that will have electronic music fans clearing their late-September calendars. The San Francisco festival, now heading into its fifth year, dropped its 2026 bill Thursday — and it’s headlined by Robyn, Dog Blood, Swedish House Mafia, and Tiësto across two nights at Pier 80.

Saturday leads with Robyn — the Swedish pop-dance icon whose catalog has anchored DJ sets and club nights for two decades — and Dog Blood, the project Skrillex runs with producer Boys Noize. Supporting on Saturday: Soulwax, Fatboy Slim, Skepta, Tove Lo, Groove Armada, Tricky, and DJ Shadow, who will be performing in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Endtroducing….., his landmark 1996 album. Beastie Boys’ Mike D is also on the bill with his 5D set, per Brooklyn Vegan.

Sunday belongs to Swedish House Mafia as headliner, with Tiësto making his debut at Portola. Four Tet will perform a live set — a different proposition from his usual DJ work — alongside Zara Larsson, Ninajirachi, Kettama, and Mel C, the former Spice Girl who has built a substantial second career as a DJ, per Billboard.

Tickets and Details

Portola takes place September 26-27 at Pier 80, the waterfront industrial venue on the outskirts of Potrero Hill that has become the festival’s signature setting. Passes go on sale Tuesday at noon Pacific time, per GVWire; registration is required, and returning attendees can access a “Party People Loyalty” presale.

The post Portola 2026 Lineup: Robyn, Swedish House Mafia, Dog Blood, Tiësto, Four Tet, and More Head to San Francisco This September appeared first on Cream.

• The state court in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison on Thursday for plotting a jihadist attack on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Vienna — the plot that forced the cancellation of three sold-out shows in August 2024
• The defendant, identified only as Beran A. under Austrian privacy rules, is an Austrian citizen who pleaded guilty in April as his trial began; before the court retired to deliberate, he told the room: “I would just like to say that I am sorry”
• He was found guilty on multiple charges, primarily terrorism-related offenses, by the Wiener Neustadt court; the 15-year sentence reflects the severity of a plot that caused widespread disruption and fear among fans across Europe
• The Vienna cancellations in August 2024 affected roughly 170,000 ticket holders across the three dates; the plot was foiled by Austrian authorities in a joint operation before any attack occurred
• Swift has not publicly commented on the verdict

Nearly two years after Austrian authorities foiled a planned jihadist attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts, the man at the center of the plot has been sentenced. The state court in Wiener Neustadt handed down a 15-year prison sentence Thursday to the 21-year-old Austrian citizen identified in court proceedings only as Beran A., finding him guilty on multiple terrorism-related charges, per Variety.

The defendant had pleaded guilty in April when his trial began. Before the court retired to consider its verdict, he addressed the room directly: “I would just like to say that I am sorry,” according to the AP. The court accepted the guilty plea and convicted him on the full range of charges.

The case dates to August 2024, when Austrian security services uncovered the plot days before three consecutive Eras Tour dates in Vienna — shows that had sold out roughly 170,000 tickets in total. The concerts were cancelled as a precautionary measure, sending shockwaves through the global Swiftie community and raising broader questions about security at major stadium events. Swift acknowledged the cancellations at the time but has not commented on the court’s verdict.

A Plot Foiled Before It Could Begin

Austrian authorities worked with international partners to identify and detain Beran A. and other suspects before any attack took place. The Wiener Neustadt investigation established that the plot had an Islamist extremist motivation and that the target was chosen specifically because of the massive crowd the concerts would draw, per WTOP/AP.

The 15-year sentence is one of the longest handed down in Austria for terrorism-related offenses in recent years. Beran A. will be in his mid-30s before he is eligible for release.

The post Man Who Plotted Jihadist Attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna Concerts Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison appeared first on Cream.

• Ravyn Lenae has announced her third studio album Blue Island, arriving August 7 via Atlantic Records; it follows her 2024 album Bird’s Eye and the billion-stream breakout single “Love Me Not,” which reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts
• The announcement comes with a new lead single “Handle,” accompanied by a music video directed by Andre Muir with choreography by Akira Uchida
• The album was executive produced by Dahi — who also produced Kendrick Lamar’s “Worst Behavior” and “Money Trees” — continuing the creative partnership that defined Bird’s Eye
• Blue Island will include the previously released singles “Bobby” and “Reputation” (featuring Dominic Fike); Lenae also collaborated with Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress during 2025
• On the album’s concept: “‘Blue Island’ is a point of arrival, and feeling set in my ways and in who I am, and feeling free of any of those preconceived notions about Blackness or what I had to be in the past… really say ‘fuck all of that’ and do my own thing”

Two years after Bird’s Eye and the slow-burning rise of “Love Me Not” to a billion streams, Ravyn Lenae is back. The Chicago singer-songwriter announced her third studio album Blue Island on Wednesday alongside a new single, “Handle,” and a music video that captures a looser, more confident version of the artist who first emerged as a teenage prodigy on the Chicago indie scene.

Blue Island arrives August 7 via Atlantic Records, executive produced again by Dahi — the Grammy-winning producer behind Kendrick Lamar’s “Worst Behavior” and “Money Trees” — whom Lenae has described as a creative partner who works the way she does. The album includes the previously released “Bobby” and “Reputation” featuring Dominic Fike, and comes after a 2025 that saw Lenae collaborate with both Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress.

“Handle” was directed by Andre Muir, with choreography by Akira Uchida. Per Pitchfork, the track and video land as upbeat, movement-driven work — a different register from some of the more introspective material on Bird’s Eye.

“Say ‘F— All of That'”

Lenae’s statement about the album explains what Blue Island is trying to do — and what it’s trying to leave behind. “‘Blue Island’ is a point of arrival, and feeling set in my ways and in who I am, and feeling free of any of those preconceived notions about Blackness or what I had to be in the past,” she told Brooklyn Vegan. “So I think now it’s fun to challenge the idea of what R&B is supposed to sound like, what pop is supposed to sound like… and really say ‘fuck all of that’ and do my own thing.”

That’s a meaningful statement for an artist who came up being compared to everyone from Erykah Badu to SZA, and whose sound has consistently resisted easy categorization. Blue Island appears to be the record where she’s done explaining herself. It’s out August 7.

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