Music News Roundup: Swift, Young and VMAs

Taylor Swift will be the first recipient of the Artist Director Honours at the 2026 MTV VMAs. The 2026 VMAs will be broadcast live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 27.

Neil Young rerecorded I’ll Love You Forever, which he wrote and recorded with The Squires in 1964, with Chrome Hearts for his new album Second Song. His first concert of 2026 included Heart of Gold, Old Man, a new song and a duet with Willie Nelson.

Hey Rosetta! reunited for the first time since its indefinite hiatus in 2017 and played a series of return concerts in Canada. Blond:ish achieved a first Billboard No. 1 with Lovers on the Dancefloor featuring Kurtis Wells, while Nickelback earned its first U.S. radio No. 1 in more than a decade with Rattle the Cage.

Other reported developments included bbno$ saying he wanted to organize a major benefit concert for Palestine, Jann Arden, Lindi Ortega and other Alberta artists protesting Alberta separation at a Calgary concert, and Abel Tesfaye saying he has not completely moved away from The Weeknd persona and describing it as more of a hibernation. Céline Dion also sang with fans on top of a car after the third night of her Paris concert residency. Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 album Emotion developed a cult following lasting more than a decade and influenced her new album Day and Night.