Fresh off the release of her surging new single, "bittersweet," Madison Beer joins us for an Audacy Check In to talk about new music, her recent performance at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and more from inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York.

The GRAMMY-nominated singer is prepping for a new project, 'locket,' due out on January 16, and shared with Audacy's Mike Adam some of the emotions and inspirations that went into the upcoming album's creation. "It's all me, baby," she smiles when asked about selecting singles and the rollout of her next chapter.

"I get opinions from everybody, but sometimes too many opinions overwhelm me," she adds. "These felt like in my gut what I wanted to do, and I feel like 'yes baby' was a good song to sort of re-engage people ideally, and get them excited. Also, not close out forever, but like close out the dance stuff a little bit and now introduce the real sound of this album, and what you could really expect. So 'bittersweet' really represents sonically what the album feels like.

Both the happy and sad sides of Madison Beer occupy 'locket,' with Madison admitting, "they're both driving this ship this time around. They both are coexisting now, which is what I'm really excited about, their coexistence."

"I feel like I started to really find the true energy, a couple of months ago, probably 6 months ago," she says of getting into the groove of this new project. "I don't know exactly when it was, but sometimes things just start to flow and you're just in that flow state of like, 'yes, I'm doing this and it feels really good.'"

Just hours before sitting with us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York, Beer was a borough away ruling the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Brooklyn. "I got to meet so many of the OG angels, which was so cool and amazing, and they were all so sweet to me, and I was like, 'you guys know who I am?' It was crazy," she gushes. "It's also a huge room and it's such a whirlwind, and everyone's changing, and taking off makeup. It's so fast. As soon as the show is done, everyone's jetting out of there, but it was so cool."

"I can't really believe that I did that. There's been so many iconic performers that have done it, so I just feel very honored to be a part of it."

Don't miss our full Audacy Check In with Madison Beer above.

YUNGBLUD is once again having a moment, continuing to forge his own path in the world of Rock, thanks to sincere songwriting, electric performances, and a few heavy co-signs from iconic artists. The "Zombie" singer recently joined us for an Audacy Check In to catch up on all of it, and he admits that conquering doesn't come easy.

Still feeling the love from this summer's album, 'Idols,' YUNGBLUD has been everywhere ever since, first at the final Black Sabbath show in July, and ultimately with Aerosmith at the MTV VMAs honoring the life of Ozzy Osbourne. He also collaborated with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on an upcoming EP, arriving everywhere on November 21.

After receiving a message from Perry, pouring on praise for his song "Hello Heaven, Hello," YUNGBLUD made plans to connect with Joe and Steven in Florida. "I went for a drink with the Aerosmith guys and I secretly held a studio, cause if you're on a first date, you're either gonna go on with each other or you're not gonna get on," he shares. "Luckily we went home with each other, you know, within an hour I was like, 'I've got a studio around the corner, you want to get in,' and they were like, 'yeah.'"

"When we got together, we were so similar energetically, we're two puppies. I say me and Steven are puppies and Joe's a cat. Joe Perry's a cat, we're puppies, you know what I mean? Joe Perry's like, 'I'm gonna sit here and look cool as f*** and I'm gonna play my guitar,' and me and Steven are just like, 'woo woo woo.'"

"There was this beautiful sense of healthy competition between me and Steven," he adds. "We were just trying to outdo each other, and then all of a sudden Joe's going, 'wow, he's hitting notes that I've not heard him hit in years.'"

YUNGBLUD goes on to share details of the incoming EP, 'One More Time,' teasing a song that's "stadium rock & roll" and another that's "outlaw Country," as well as a juiced-up version of "Back In The Saddle" from Aerosmith. "We're like family now."

Once again YUNGBLUD is set for another tour of states, one which sold out in mere minutes when it went on sale. "As an Englishman, you know, and an English Rock musician, the whole dream is to break America," he reveals.

In one of his final interactions with Ozzy Osbourne, the icon told him to "conquer America," and that's just what he has set out to do. "I've always been obsessed with playing Rock music in America because it's where it came from. Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, it's where it came from, and I think that's why breaking America for a British Rock musician is so sacred," YUNGBLUD explains.

"It's where the genre began, it came out of the blues, it came out of the swamps. I think Rock music is such a beautiful genre because it's adherent to where it came from. It's very respectful to its history. I think that's why it's a safeguarded genre. I think Hip-Hop and Pop music give the crown up to whatever's biggest, Rock music doesn't give its crown easily because you need to be vetted multiple times."

"My vibe is this, if you are unsure about me, come see me live, and I'll blow your mind. Promise."

For much more from YUNGBLUD check out the full Audacy Check In above.

'The Residency' is a new live album from Sammy Hagar and The Best of All Worlds Band, celebrating their Dolby Live at Park MGM run in Las Vegas earlier this year. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, The Red Rocker recently joined Remy Maxwell for an Audacy Check In to talk about the new release, recent projects with Nickelback, the status of his relationship with David Lee Roth, and more.

Featuring Michael Anthony (bass, vocals), Joe Satriani (guitar), Kenny Aronoff (drums), and Rai Thistlethwayte (keyboards, guitar, vocals), the album captures Sammy's 2025 stretch with an electric live album, touring through a lifetime of hits from Hagar.

"I'm in love with this record," shares Sammy. "I've got 3 live records in my life that I'm in love with. Number one, J. Geils' 'Full House.' Humble Pie live at 'The Fillmore,' and 'Frampton Comes Alive.' Those records, when you sit down and crank them up, which I still do today, they make you feel like you're there. And this record, 'The Residency,' makes you, makes me, makes anyone feel like you're there. And so, mission accomplished, otherwise I wouldn't make it."

Sammy will return to Dolby Live in 2026 for new performances of The Best of All Worlds residency, March 11–21 and September 18–26, 2026. Tickets are available at RedRocker.com.

We also had to ask Hagar about the current status of his relationship with David Lee Roth, as DLR recently shared some kind words towards Sammy on stage, and Hagar has since said he'd be up for "hanging out" with Roth. "Assuming David would behave himself, yeah, we could," says Sammy. "It's not like it's my wish list or my bucket list. It's just that Dave is, he's so unique and to me he's so over-the-top entertainer, you know. I'd like to hang with them under the circumstances where we've let all this crap go because I've certainly let it go."

"Anybody that wants to compare us today is crazy," he adds. "If you want to compare our old stuff, well you're just as crazy because it's both great, and we did both did the best we could at the time. And now we're doing what we're doing. So let all that go and not try to be competitive with Dave and I'm sure he'd be a fun hanging for a while. I mean, I'm sure it'll come a time ago, 'what you wanna what? You were thinking, what?' But, yeah, I'm serious about it."

"When he said those things about me, about being a great singer and things like that, and has a great catalog, I'm going, 'see, he's now getting past it too,' because he's never ever complimented me on anything that I know of anyway. I thought that's very nice. So if you're going to be nice, if you want to be nice, then I can be nice. I don't wanna dig any ditches again. I just don't, would never want to dig any holes and go down that. It's just so stupid."

To hear more from Sammy Hagar about 'The Residency,' his work with Nickelback, and much more check out the full Audacy Check In above.

Let 'em know, BIA is the building at the Hard Rock Hotel New York, and "WE ON GO" with the rapper for an Audacy Check In to talk about her official debut album, 'BIANCA,' and more.

The Massachusetts-born MC has been in the game for nearly a decade, dropping fire features and breaking through on songs like "WHOLE LOTTA MONEY," and her latest inescapable anthemic track, "WE ON GO." Now she's out with her official debut album, 'BIANCA,' which is now available everywhere.

After talking about the her come up from Boston and her first time putting pen to paper as a rapper, BIA told DJ Buck and Regg about the making of 'BIANCA,' and her goals with the project. "I wanted to come different but a lot more intentional," she shares. "I had success with songs that were like fun songs, and like upbeat, you know, like braggadocios songs but not songs that were internally carrying a message. I felt like I was seeing where my songs would land in the world and what it does to the world and community. I wanted to have a bigger presence in community and I wanted to have like more well-rounded songs that could play in any area, any space."

"I think I've been able with this project to find a way to to be both, like the vulnerable side of me as I'm growing into more of a woman and just like finding my way through life is softer. I'm more of a softer woman, but then still like that same rapper that people know and love me for. The duality between both of those people on one project."

"I think this album is my most vulnerable album, my most intentional," she adds. "Even me starting this album off with the track 'October.' It's so outside of my range. I didn't want people to be able to guess what the next song was gonna be. 'October' is so different from anything else I've ever sung before in my life, so I just wanted to really show my range and show people like, this is soft, this is vulnerable, but also like, watch that ass."

To hear more about the making of 'BIANCA,' BIA's inspirations, and more, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

Louis Tomlinson is ready to release the record he always "deserved to make," but first he joins us inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In to talk about the lead single, "Lemonade," and more.

'How Did I Get Here?' is due out everywhere on January 23, 2026, and Tomlinson is bursting with pride about the process and the way he pushed himself to create this time around. "I wanted to write and record somewhere tropical, somewhere visually very different from home and somewhere quite literally far away from home," Louis shares. "So we decided to do Costa Rica in a lovely little town called Santa Teresa, and it's absolutely beautiful."

"Songs like 'Lemonade,' I don't think would have happened in England. There was just something magical about the place that we were in, the tempo, the way of living, the freedom, all of that. So I think that it's a byproduct of the beautiful, beautiful environment that we're in."

It all starts with a sonically shimmering and swaggering lead single, "Lemonade," which announces a new beginning for Tomlinson and willingness to be big, fun, and fearless.

"It's something I've been trying to challenge myself to more, you know, it's kind of infinite, the deep dive of being creative," reveals Louis. "With this record, I wanted it to be really ambitious and I wanted to try and step it up a level, creatively. You've gotta kind of push yourself to do those things."

"I mean, you know, I'm saying push yourself creatively while being in paradise in Costa Rica. It wasn't all that bad, you know."

Before the new release arrives in 2026, fans around the globe are still celebrating the 15th anniversary of One Direction forming. Nearly a year after the passing of Liam Payne, the group has stayed mostly silent on the milestone, but Tomlinson did take some time to look back on 1D during his time at the Hard Rock Hotel.

When asked about the One Direction song that he didn't necessarily like when it was dropped, but now he looks back on with fond memories, Louis was quick to keep it real.

"I still don't like the lead single, 'What Makes You Beautiful,' honestly," he shares. "I think actually the first couple of records, the first couple of albums at the time, I wasn't in love with them but now when I listen back, there's definitely a lot of nostalgia there. But 'What Makes You Beautiful,' I don't think I'll ever get around to that, to be honest."

Louis also admits that "there's loads" of unreleased One Direction songs. "There's a couple that got leaked over the years," he says, although you likely will never hear the rest. "I'm kind of a little bit funny about that, especially when they leak and stuff, cause it's often a reason they've not made the record. That's often been like a creative choice. The songs were probably not good enough to make the record at the time, you know, probably still good songs, but there's probably close to like, I don't know, 50, 60 songs like that."

To hear more from Louis Tomlinson about his recording process, the joy of house plants, and Halloween plans, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

Even on her 12th time around, every release remains different for Taylor Swift. The GRAMMY-winning, actively iconic artist took time out of 'The Life of a Showgirl' premiere weekend to talk with Bru about release rituals, the making of the album, and more during a very special Audacy Check In.

"I do it differently every single time. Honestly, based on how an album feels," reveals Taylor about her album release rituals. "I'll make it, you know, a year ahead of time or something, right? I always really try to put a lot of effort and intention into the planning of how to release it and trying to make it as fun for my fans as possible. So I want to like make vinyl for them, I want to make a music video, I want to create a situation like with this one where we have these release parties in the movie theater, so they can go and they can get kind of a peek behind the curtain of how I made the music video, get to see the music video on a big screen, so that stuff takes time."

"When you make the album ahead of time, it can oftentimes be like a year before you put the album out. This time everything feels like it completely lines up with how my life feels."

"But with an album, like with 'Torture Poets Department,' my ritual was like I went away on vacation with my boyfriend and my friends, boyfriend then fiancé now, and friends," she clarifies, "and put my phone in a drawer and was just like, 'I'm putting this album out into the world, but it doesn't match with how my life feels now.' So that felt right at this time. With this one I'm just like so happy that it's out, so proud, so excited to hear people's favorite songs, it just feels very different. It feels like a really joyful, fun, hilarious experience."

After just a few days, fans are already picking favorites and investigating themes and storylines from within the words of 'The Life of a Showgirl.' When asked, Taylor currently is interested in the takes on "Father Figure," as listeners relate differently depending on their standpoint. She also says she's currently most proud of her lyrics on "Wi$h Li$t."

"Oh my God, oh my God, there's so many," Swift shares when first asked. "I'd say 'Wi$h Li$t' was a song that was really, really fun to write just in terms of, it's a song that kind of chronicles all these different wishes that different people have for what they want in their life, their aspirations, what they want to buy, where they want to go, how they want their life to look. So I kind of was able to write all these descriptions of different lives that people want, and that was really fun to do, and then culminating in the chorus where in the course I talk about what I want, and I think that, right now, that's kind of one that I'm like, 'I'm pretty proud of that one.'"

Offering a glimpse into the making of 'The Life of a Showgirl,' Taylor says that she would often scroll through her notes app for inspiration. "When we're working on an idea and, you know, Shellback will be playing guitar and I'll be sitting at piano, or we'll just be kind of riffing off of an idea melodically, I'll go scrolling through these ideas that I have and it'll be like a theme that I like, or a word that I've always thought sounded really exquisite, and that's what's so fun. Cause, you know, in the middle of the night, you could wake up and have an idea that you swear you will remember it in the morning. You absolutely will not. If you do not write it down, it's just gone."

"I've learned over the years that if I have any kind of semblance of a thought that I think might be like clever, interesting, funny, whatever, I have to write it down."

To hear more from Taylor Swift about her favorite Swiftie inside jokes, how she kept the continuity of 'The Life of a Showgirl' while on 'The Eras Tour,' and so much more, listen to the full Audacy Check In with Bru above.

Sarah McLachlan is back with her first album in nearly a decade, and plans to celebrate with fans across the country on her 'Better Broken Tour' beginning in November. The GRAMMY-winning singer recently sat down with us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In, to talk about her latest project, 'Better Broken,' the new Lilith Fair documentary, and much more.

The new album from Sarah all started with the song, "Rise," which McLachlan penned coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I just felt like I need to get this song out," she tells Audacy's Race Taylor. "It was kind of this hopeful lament about the world that we're entering into and this idea that we are creating all these divisions, and people are so scared and angry, and I have this sort of hopeful utopian version that if we just figure out how to get along and recognize that we need each other, maybe we'll start making better choices. Clearly that hasn't happened so far."

"Then it was like, 'OK, I've got enough material, let's get in the studio and start recording,' and that's kind of what happened and here we are, finally a new record."

The new collection of songs is another batch of raw and honest anthems from McLachlan, with 'Better Broken' marking her first new album since 2016's holiday release, 'Wonderland.'

"When you think about what 'Better Broken' means, it's kind of about the resilience that we have to have as individuals to manage the world," admits Sarah. "We constantly, we get hurt, we fall down, we have to pick ourselves up and pick up the pieces and rebuild ourselves, which we've done numerous times by the time we get to 57."

McLachlan's 57th year has been a big one even beyond the new album and upcoming tour. Hulu also recently released, 'Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery - The Untold Story,' which shares behind-the-scenes views of the landmark festival that McLachlan founded.

"To have this time capsule of 3 of the most important years of my life and my career, so succinctly put together in this beautiful piece, what a gift for me," shares Sarah. "I just felt this immense pride and joy of getting to have this thing that I now get to carry with me, and also for the world to see this and for young women and young men to see it's like this. We can do things a different way. We can do things a better way if we work together and communicate with each other and lift each other up instead of tear each other down."

Looking back on Lilith Fair, McLachlan says, "It was a lot of fun and honestly it was just such a simple concept at the beginning. I didn't want to have all the responsibility of a show on my shoulders, but I thought, 'well let's just get some other women.' There's so many amazing women coming up, getting a ton of radio play, having success, and the few festivals that were out there that they were completely male dominated, and I said 'well let's just do something ourselves.' And then we were told we couldn't. And that was certainly, you know, it's like, don't tell me I can't do something, like come on, I'm definitely going to prove you wrong."

To hear much more from Sarah McLachlan about her collaborations, the Lilith Fair, and her new album, 'Better Broken,' check out the full conversation above.

Before taking the stage at Madison Square Garden, Cil stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In, chatting with Mike Adam about new music, including the new single "something like this," and her experience opening for Dua Lipa and Stevie Nicks.

In town for an opening spot on Dua's tour, Cil was quick to praise the singer for her talent and dedication. "She really is dedicated to her craft and she's dedicated to really putting on an amazing show," shares Cil, who also shares an Albanian heritage with the "Levitating" singer.

"When I was really able to watch her and have the full experience was in Kosovo, and she just inspired me so much. I had like my set, I had my whole show planned out and everything. I was like fully ready, and I changed it all up before the tour cause I was like, 'I want to show up,' the way that she shows up. I'm learning so much and just watching her, just being in the proximity. She's a force."

This tour with Dua Lipa is just the latest big stage for Cil, who previous opened for Stevie Nicks. "Stevie was my first introduction to doing arenas and so there was a huge learning curve for me with that," Cil reveals. "But with Dua, I get the opportunity to focus on my show, focus on my performance, not just focusing on like, 'oh my gosh, don't be nervous, don't be nervous, don't be nervous,' you know, 'how do I make my way around backstage of an arena?'"

"Stevie, I'm forever grateful for because she took a chance on me," she adds. "Stevie is somebody who, she loves music. She loves good music, she loves talent, and she really gets it."

To hear more from Cil on her influences, tattoos, and the new track "something like this," check out the full Audacy Check In above.