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Water Cooler Chat: Music News

Britney Spears appears to have deactivated her Instagram account. The update comes as Kevin Federline, who was married to Spears between 2004 and 2007 and shares two sons with her, Sean Preston and Jayden James, recently made a number of accusations against her. nme.com, nytimes.com

Florence Welch opens up on the “life-and-death experience” behind her excellent new album, working with Taylor Swift, and why she’s looking forward to turning 40. rollingstone.com

Donald Trump‘s administration has once again been slammed by an artist for using their music without permission, this time receiving a comment from an unhappy Olivia Rodrigo after the White House and Department of Homeland Security shared a video set to one of her songs. billboard.com

A new class action lawsuit against Spotify alleges the company has “turned a blind eye” to “mass-scale fraudulent streaming” on its platform and that one musician in particular has been the beneficiary of “billions” of fake streams: Drake. rollingstone.com

Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Award nominations, with the potential to take home nine trophies. cbc.ca

A petition calling for Bad Bunny to be replaced by George Strait at the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show has over 100,000 signatures. digitalmusicnews.com

SOCAN and the Canadian Senate Declare Joni Mitchell's Birthday as Music Creator Day in Canada. billboard.com

Tracks And Vids: New Music This Week

Popular artists and chart-topping tracks.

Katy Perry (46.5M subscribers) - “bandaids” (genre: pop, pop rock, dance pop) youtube.com

ROSALÍA (11.8M subscribers) - “Divinize” (genre: indie pop, adult contemporary, downtempo) youtube.com

Kesha (4.72M subscribers) - “Dear Me” (genre: pop, singer songwriter, downtempo) youtube.com

Faouzia (2.83M subscribers) - “DON'T EVER LEAVE ME” (genre: pop, indie pop, synth pop) youtube.com

Young Miko (2.68M subscribers) - “Likey Likey” (genre: pop rap, reggaeton, trap) youtube.com

Kings of Leon (1.97M subscribers) - “All the Little Sheep” (genre: rock, alternative rock, indie rock) youtube.com

Hilary Duff (1.04M subscribers) - “Mature” (genre: pop, synth pop, pop rock) youtube.com

Chrissy Costanza (861K subscribers) - “Weather” (genre: rock, indie rock, alternative rock) youtube.com

Julia Westlin (604K subscribers) - “So What If I Am” (genre: pop, indie pop, synth pop) youtube.com

Puddle of Mudd (582K subscribers) - “Monsters” (genre: rock, pop rock) youtube.com

Lights (372K subscribers) - “LEARNING TO LET GO” (genre: pop, indie pop, synth pop) youtube.com

Jimmy Eat World (306K subscribers) - “Failure” (genre: rock, alternative rock, pop punk) youtube.com

Maisie Peters (278K subscribers) - “Audrey Hepburn” (genre: country, alt country, neo folk) youtube.com

HEALTH (112K subscribers) - “YOU DIED” (genre: synth pop, chillwave) youtube.com

Coyote Theory (108K subscribers) - “Stranger Than” (genre: rock, indie rock, power pop) youtube.com

Normandie (69.2K subscribers) - “Sellout” (genre: rock, alternative rock, metalcore) youtube.com

Romy (49.4K subscribers) - “Love Who You Love” (genre: synth pop, breakbeat, progressive house) youtube.com

Found Music

Artists with smaller followings on YouTube.

Telenova (13.7K subscribers) - “THE DEEP” (genre: rock, alternative rock, indie rock, dream pop) youtube.com

Black Coast (6.45K subscribers) - “Overflow” (genre: rock, alternative rock, alternative metal) youtube.com

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers (5.46K subscribers) - “WONDERFUL” (genre: rock, indie rock) youtube.com

HARPY (3.76K subscribers) - “Call Me Mommy” (genre: electronic, industrial, trip-hop) youtube.com

Mellon-Collies (1.19K subscribers) - “WHERE’S MY F****IN' BUS?!” (genre: rock, punk, indie rock) youtube.com 

LUKE (332 subscribers) - “The Truth Remains The Same” (genre: rock, blues rock, retro soul) youtube.com 

Covers & Remixes, Etc

Radiohead play ‘Just’ live for the first time in 16 years youtube.com

KING ULTRAMEGA covered Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried To Live” with Kim Thayil youtube.com

Emily King did a fantastic NPR Tiny Desk Concert youtube.com

The Doobie Brothers did a fantastic NPR Tiny Desk Concert youtube.com

Nova Twins did a fantastic NPR Tiny Desk Concert youtube.com

Neo Acoustix covered System Of A Down’s “Aerials” youtube.com

First To Eleven covered The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” youtube.com

Panic Shack performs “Gok Wan” live for BBC Music youtube.com

This Is My Jam This Week

Karen Dió - (10.1K subscribers) - “Cut Your Hair” (genre: power pop, pop punk, indie rock) youtube.com 

This week’s full playlist on: YouTube and Spotify and Tune My Music

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