With just a few weeks to go before KATSEYE takes the stage again in the US, the group is celebrating a recent number one with their EP, 'WILD,' and standing confident in their established style. Last month as the new project arrived, Yoonchae, Lara, and Daniela joined us for an Audacy Check In.

“I think ‘WILD’ is just a big sister of ‘BEAUTIFUL CHAOS.’ It feels like ‘WILD’ is the final destination of the ‘BEAUTIFUL CHAOS’ era, if that makes sense,” shares Lara. “It's us taking it further and being like, ‘OK we're gonna really go for it, do songs that are all completely different to one another,’ like each song is really unique, but then still is cohesive and still fits within the same world. Yeah, it's just us kind of full sending it.”

While still expanding their sound, KATSEYE have managed to establish an identity that sets them apart. “Honestly, I feel like we have grown so much as artists,” Daniela admits. “I think especially as a group, and individually as well, but I mean we're still experimenting and figuring out our sound and trying new things. We're still gonna keep evolving, like it's always gonna keep growing.”

'WILD' finds a way to mix it all together, from the Dance Pop of “PINKY UP” to the Latin flavor of “Hootie Frutti,” and the Ed Sheeran penned hit, “Animal,” KATSEYE are always evolving, even track-to-track sometimes. "I felt like the thing that excited me the most probably was like, ‘OK we can show our vocals on this,” Lara says of “Animal.”

“I was like, ‘I feel like this has a bit more like edge and soul.’"

The next step for KATSEYE is to bring their evolution directly to the fans, with tour dates in the US kicking off in October. “We're so excited for this tour,” says Yoonchae, “we have so much bigger stage now, so maybe we can show more creative elements and a lot more production.”

“Expect a lot of things you haven't seen yet,” teases Lara. “I think everyone's gonna shine in a new way on this tour.”

For more from KATSEYE, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

There’s no slowing down for Alex Warren. Between headlining tours and supporting his 2025 chart-topping album, the “Ordinary” singer somehow found space to create his latest project, 'WILDCHILD,' which is now available everywhere.

Warren recently joined us inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York to talk with Mike Adam about the making of 'WILDCHILD,' his relationship with his “heroes” from the album’s rollout campaign, and a look back at his massive, historic hit.

Before diving into his latest project, Warren looked back on a few of his favorite “Ordinary” covers, and shares that despite fears of the song outgrowing itself, he’s happy with the way it’s been able to soundtrack so many moments for people around the world. “Regardless of how big a record got, you know, it was played at funerals, it was played at weddings, so many things,” recalls Alex. “I think that those permanent moments in people's lives have benefited from that song.”

As for covers, there’s a few from 'America’s Got Talent' that have blown him away, but he’d still love to see Gracie Abrams take his track, “First Time On Earth,” for a spin. “I think that song would really compliment her voice.”

'WILDCHILD' is another offering from Alex, after serving up a 21 track debut in 2025, composed between tour dates during his meteoric rise. “We were doing the album, on my off time in between tours,” he reveals. “So I had about 2 or 3 months in-between tours, and we started working on the album then, and then I started going on tour every March, and whenever I'd have off time or whenever I had days off, they'd fly out and finish the album, and we've been working on this album now for about 1 year, 1 and a half years, so it's been really cool to kind of like, perfect this a little bit.”

In the lead-up to 'WILDCHILD,' Warren enlisted celebrities like Kevin James and Jennifer Aniston to help introduce fans to the project. “I write the scripts a lot of times,” says Alex. “I just had fun with it.”

“Are these people in your phone now?” asked Mike, wondering how you start a text to Jennifer Aniston. “I text Kevin the most, I think. I text all of them. Jen's a sweetheart. Jen does these things every Sunday that's really fun. I've yet to go, but I hear they're fun.”

'WILDCHILD' is a good look at Warren as an artist, after watching him starting to put it together for his debut. “These are songs that are about me. You've known me for this amount of time now,” he says. “It feels like a debut album because it feels like this is me as a musician. This is me as an artist. That was me becoming one.”

For more from Alex Warren, check out the full Audacy Check In above. 'WILDCHILD' is now available everywhere.

Sara Bareilles has returned with her first studio album since 2019, an emotional exploration of grief and healing titled, 'Good Grief.' Co-produced by Bareilles and Aaron Dessner, the collection traces a line through loss to hope, with a sharp focus on mental health both inside the songs, and surrounding the project.

Sara recently stopped by the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In with host, Mike Adam, to talk about the making of the album, her upcoming tour, and her connection to organizations furthering the mission of helping those struggling with their own mental health.

First recommended to Bareilles by Brandi Carlile, Sara shared her “gentle” experience working with the highly intuitive producer, Aaron Dessner. “There's just something incredibly facile and easy and flexible about working with him,” shares Sara. “He's not imposing at all. It just feels very easy. It's really easy to work with him.”

With so much of 'Good Grief' centered on Sara’s journey through healing, it was important for Bareilles to team with organizations, NAMI and The Jed Foundation, in an effort to pay it forward and support the work they are both doing in the mental health space for this album and upcoming tour.

“My goal for this tour is to donate a million bucks to charity,” Sara reveals. “I'm someone who has really struggled with my mental health over the years. I require a lot of support. I require medication, meditation, therapy, you name it, good friends, all of it, so I'm just trying to sort of pay it forward as best I can, and I think it's a really important time, you know, the world feels crazy, people are struggling, we're carrying a lot, and I think that helping ourselves get help is what I want.”

When asked by Adam about finding the line of using pain and struggle to create, versus it being too unhealthy, Sara admits that she found herself on the latter side in 2020. “When I knew it was too unhealthy was in 2020,” she says. “I have my now husband but then partner, Joe Tippett, to sort of thank for this, that he was like, ‘we gotta figure something out.’ I was just beside myself with anxiety all the time, ruminating thoughts, fixation, bad sleep, a kind of paranoia.”

“There's one song that actually is on the record that I wrote on my birthday of that year,” Sara adds. “This is like as bad as I've ever been. And it's the only experience I've had of feeling like I channeled something. I was sort of desperate and saying a prayer of just like, ‘I'm not OK,’ and I put my voice memo on record and I sat at the piano and the song, ‘Wind Is The Weather,’ sort of arrived and it arrived in completion.”

“It was all about that idea of writing a letter to your wiser self, or writing a letter to God, or the universe, or whatever your belief is, and the wisdom that comes back is, ‘whatever it is you can handle this, you're not broken, there's nothing to fix, you are OK you can hold this too.’ So I guess, yeah, something good comes out of it sometimes, but it's not comfortable. It's painful, it's scary.”

Bareilles will headline the 'Good Grief Tour' across North America this fall, kicking off September 9. For more on 'Good Grief,' check out the full Audacy Check In above.