Banger Brief: Olivia Dean shines on SNL, Rosalia Performs 'La Perla' on Fallon
Your weekend catch-up.
Happy Monday! Start your week off right with a dose of Olivia Dean … plus: Rosalia on Fallon, Yungblud’s tour cancelation, Taylor Swift at number one, Britney Spears hanging out with the Kardashians, and more →
Olivia Dean’s Week
Olivia Dean had a huge week for a Brit in America — and that doesn’t even include her Best New Artist GRAMMY nomination, which came the week before.
The 26-year-old has been captivating U.S. fans ever since releasing her brilliant album The Art of Loving. Not only is her single “Man I Need” incredibly catchy, but her effortlessly cool live performances make it nearly impossible not to fall in love with her. She recently opened Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour to rave reviews, and her set at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in early October — which I attended — was the best of the weekend.
This past Saturday, she appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing “Man I Need” and “Let Alone The One You Love.” She sounded fantastic, with many viewers noting on social media that she beat the “everyone sounds bad on SNL” allegations.
To top it all off, last Friday, Olivia announced her first headlining arena tour in North America. The Art Of Loving Live 2026 will visit 14 cities next summer with shows in big markets including New York City at Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.
Tickets for her shows go on sale this Friday, Nov. 21.
If you are as obsessed with Olivia as I am right now, I also recommend her Apple Music Nashville Sessions, which also came out last week.
ROSALIA performs on Fallon
Rosalia appeared on a special episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night after NFL Sunday. The singer sat down to chat with Jimmy about her new album LUX and to perform “La Perla.”
During the interview portion, Rosalia talked about the classical music inspiration behind her new album, singing in 13 different languages on it, and then she taught Jimmy how to sing “La Perla” in a hilarious moment.
They also played a game called Seductive, Insulting, or Nonsense - where she would say things to Jimmy in different languages and he would have to guess if it was something seductive, insulting, or nonsense.
The first edition of The Banger Brief landed on a Friday. On Fridays, I am giving you as many pop releases that I think you should know about as possible. One of my favorites last week was 5 Seconds Of Summer’s new album Everyone’s A Star. I especially loved the title track.
“Everyone’s A Star” feels symbolic of just how much the band has evolved. It’s almost surreal that the same group who gave us “She Looks So Perfect” is now producing something this textured and mature. The production is sick, the lyrics hint at a struggle with industry expectations, and the whole thing takes you on a dreamy, mind-bending ride filled with a touch of rebellious resentment.
Check it out below and give me a song recommendation in the comments!
YUNGBLUD cancels remaining tour dates
Yungblud was forced the cancel the rest of his tour dates this year.
He has been touring nonstop since June this year. In between performances of his Idols World Tour, he also performed at Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell concert, honored him in a tribute at the VMAs, and recorded an EP with Aerosmith.
On a break from all of that, he went to see a doctor for a routine checkup. His voice and blood tests raised some concerns, so the doctor ordered him to step away from performing the remainder of the year to prevent more permanent issues.
“It is in my nature to run and run until I run myself into the ground without giving a f—k about anything apart from the music and you guys but this time I’ve been told I have to take it seriously and can’t f—k around,” he wrote on his Instagram story. “I understand that some of you will be frustrated. I just want you to know that this is so hard for me to do but I promise I will make it up to you.”
His shows in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Washington DC - which were already rescheduled from a previous date - were canceled. He did say refunds were going to be issued for people that bought tickets for those shows. For the shows opening for Limp Bizkit in Latin America, he wrote, “we are already looking into my own shows down there that will be more affordable next year too.”
Earlier this month, Yungblud was nominated for three GRAMMYs.
Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl spends a sixth week at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It is just two weeks away from reaching the 2025 record which is held by Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem at eight weeks.
Alex Warren announced the North American dates for his arena tour next year. Jennifer Aniston and Max Greenfield starred in the comedy-sketch tour announcement video. I can’t tell if it’s funny or cringy. You can watch it here and then let me know what you think. Ha!
The annoying man that ran up to Ariana Grande at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Singapore last week has been charged with being a public nuisance. It turns out he is Johnson Wen, a social media troll that does stupid things for attention. Earlier this year, he was also arrested for jumping on stage at Katy Perry’s concert in Sydney.
Post Malone, Jack White, and Lil Jon will headline NFL halftime shows on Thanksgiving Day. Malone will do the honors during the Cowboys-Chiefs game, White during the Lions-Packers game, and Jon during the Ravens-Bengals game.
Sadie Sink went on stage with Lorde during the latter’s performance of ‘Green Light’ at the London stop of her Ultraviolence World Tour. Watch it here!
Britney Spears spent some time with Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian over the weekend and she shared it on social media for all of us to see. So happy to see Britney happy!
Meghan Trainor drops music video for “Still Don’t Care”
Meghan Trainor just released the music video for her new single “Still Don’t Care.” It was directed by Phillip Lopez.
The song appears on her upcoming album Toy With Me, which is out April 24, 2026. She also recently announced a big summer tour for North America with special guests Icona Pop. You can see the dates here.
Olivia Dean, Gen-Z’s Easy Listening Queen by Katherine St. Asaph
(Stereogum)Madison Beer Is Ready To Get Back To Pop by Brittany Spanos
(Rolling Stone)Michael Jackson is moonwalking back, but after the Springsteen flop is the pop biopic still relevant? by Edward Helmore
(The Guardian)
P.S.
Thank you so much to everyone that read the first edition last week. I’m having a great time putting it together knowing that people are actually reading it. It’s been an interesting transition moving from WordPress to Substack, but I love this platform. Having a newsletter is a gamechanger for Bops and Bangers. Just make sure to follow us on socials (below) to keep up with pop music as news happens!
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Have a great week. See you Wednesday!
Peter