Lady Gaga’s Tour Launch, Ariana Teases Tour, Nicki & SZA’s Feud

Lady Gaga's "Mayhem Ball" Launches in Vegas

Lady Gaga has launched her 2025 "Mayhem Ball" tour in Las Vegas, with fans eagerly tracking reports from T-Mobile Arena to see her setlist. The "Mayhem Ball" largely followed the template of her earlier Coachella shows, but with several crowd-pleasing additions appearing in the second half.

Notable inclusions not seen in her prior 2025 performances included fan favorites like "Aura," "Applause," "Just Dance," "Shadow of a Man," and "LoveDrug." The only live debuts were “LoveDrug” and "Kill for Love" from her recent "Mayhem" album, while "Summerboy" — a track from The Fame — marked its first concert performance in 18 years.

Ariana Grande Teases 2026 Tour

Despite her extensive film commitments, including upcoming Wicked movies and a Dr. Seuss adaptation, Ariana Grande has confirmed to her eager fanbase that she's far from abandoning music. On July 16th, the pop superstar took to Instagram, sharing a video that teased plans for a "tour of sorts" in 2026, reassuring her millions of followers that music remains her "lifeline."

This would mark Grande's first tour since 2019's "Sweetener World Tour," and her first time performing material from Positions (2020), Eternal Sunshine (2024), and Brighter Days Ahead (2025). Fans have eagerly awaited her return to the stage.

ICYMI:

• Coldplay accidentally exposed an alleged affair between Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his colleague Kristin Cabot at one of their recent concerts.

• Emma Watson has been banned from driving for 6 months due to speeding. The BBC reports that the actress already had nine points on her license before the speeding incident.

Nicki Minaj and SZA's Public Twitter Feud Escalates

A public Twitter feud has erupted between Nicki Minaj and SZA. The conflict began when Minaj's Tuesday tweet, seemingly aimed at SZA's manager, was met by SZA's post about "Mercury retrograde." Despite SZA's clarification that her tweet was unrelated, Minaj escalated the dispute, leading to sharp exchanges.

The exchange quickly intensified. Nicki Minaj continued to tweet aggressively, questioning SZA's success and claiming, "Sza if every song you’ve ever done vanished right now the music business wouldn’t even miss you." SZA responded on Wednesday night with an alleged screenshot of Minaj reaching out to her manager for a collaboration back in 2020 — which SZA claims was met with “no response.”

POP FACT: On this day in 2019, Ed Sheeran set a new Spotify record, with his album, No. 6 Collaborations Project, garnering 69 million streams in its first month.

Connie Francis Dies at 87

American singer and actor Connie Francis has died at the age of 87. Her death was confirmed on Thursday (July 17) by her friend Ron Roberts, president of Concetta Records.

A major star in the 1950s and 60s, Francis recently saw a resurgence in popularity for her 1961 song "Pretty Little Baby" on TikTok and Instagram Reels, a phenomenon she found "truly awesome" despite not remembering the song initially.

ICYMI:

• Billboard has released its predictions for the 2026 GRAMMYs, they predict that DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS, SWAG, Man’s Best Friend, Who Believes in Angels?, MAYHEM, GNX, Chromakopia, and Hurry Up Tomorrow, will be nominated for Album of the Year.

• Mercury Retrograde has begun and will end on August 10th.

• Pete Davidson is expecting his first child with Elsie Hewitt, TMZ reports.

• Luminate’s global ‘export’ date has reported that The Weeknd is the most popular Canadian artist in the world.

• The British voting age is being lowered, allowing 16-year-olds to vote in the nation’s next general election.

• SZA has bought out Lizzo for the debut live performance of their collaboration, “IRL,” at the Grand National Tour in Paris.

Best New Track: Mind Loaded by Blood Orange (feat. Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Mustafa)

The newest single by Blood Orange features Mustafa, Caroline Polachek and Lorde. This marks the third song released from his upcoming album Essex Honey.

Lorde rarely collaborates on other artists’ songs, so when it happens, we shouldn’t take it for granted. Blood Orange andLorde’s partnership is still new (this is only their second collaboration after Virgin) but hopefully it’s the start of somethingmore. They’re set to tour together later this year.

But anyway! This song is really unique. It launches gently before evolving into a rad and different landscape. CarolinePolachek’s backing vocals are nothing short of beautiful and imbue the track with deep-ethereal quality. “Everything meansnothing to me,” Lorde sings, and the end is especially satisfying. We could really use another project with all of them together.

Essex Honey is out August 29. “Mind Loaded” is out now.

—Dawson Therre

— Katie MacBeth

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