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.

GRAMMY-winning singer Tyla has returned with her sophomore album, 'A*POP,' making good on the promise of an industry-shaking superstar and somehow still marking another leap forward for 24-year-old South African artist.

A few days before the release, Tyla joined Brooke Morrison inside our Los Angeles studios to talk about her own evolution since first finding success, and the driving force behind 'A*POP.'

“Everything feels different. Like, I feel different,” admits Tyla. “Everything I do is based on a feeling, so, I don't know, like it wasn't really intentional. I just didn't sing what didn't feel like me and I didn't make what didn't feel like me because I know listening to ‘A*POP,’ it feels exactly like how I feel right now. It's fine growing up in front of the world and letting the world see all these different versions of me, and it's just weird at times cause I'm like ‘damn, like you guys have seen me grow up,’ but it's also interesting to for me also to sometimes look back and see who I was and now who I'm becoming.”

“I've just gone through so many different experiences that have led me to be this girl that I am right now,” she adds. “I've just grown so much, a lot of things that mattered to me in the beginning don't matter as much now and vice versa, so it's interesting to see me becoming more myself.”

That “feeling” has guided Tyla well, earning her 2 GRAMMY Awards from her debut album and already racking up millions of listens and views on A*POP lead singles like “CHANEL” and “IS IT.”

“I base everything on feeling. It's kinda weird, it's like a superpower, but like, girl, like when I hear a song, when I hear a beat, when I hear a lyric, like it rings in me when it feels right.”

“I can't explain it, but I just know when something is for me and when it's just not. It could be a hit song, but if it's not for me, I just, I don't even pay mind to it.”

The success and support that Tyla has found in her young career has helped her to feel “limitless,” and find purpose beyond the Pop. “I'm literally a girl from South Africa, like, this does not happen ever and I got two GRAMMYs of one album and all these crazy things and I don't like bringing it up cause I'm like, you know, but it's just kinda limitless. As humans, we're just so limitless and It's just exciting to share that feeling with people.”

To hear more about the making of A*POP and the evolution of Tyla, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

Back with their first new music since 2022, Nickelback has shared the first single from their upcoming album, 'Everything Under The Sun.' Bassist Mike Kroeger recently joined us to talk about the blistering new track, “Rattle The Cage,” crossing paths with Rock legends, and the misconceptions about the band that continue during an Audacy Check In.

With nearly 60 million albums sold worldwide, Nickelback is ready to to launch a new chapter, with 'Everything Under the Sun' scheduled for release on October 30. It starts with a statement, as "Rattle the Cage" sets a heavy tone for the new record.

Abe Kanan and Mike Kroeger discussed that there is a dichotomy between “casual” Nickelback fans and those who have been around through it all. Because of their crossover success, the band is often labeled as “Pop Rock,” but real ones know the true power they hold.

“We've been metalheads to one degree or another, all of us, the whole time,” Kroeger shares, “but it is peculiar when, every once in a while we get the criticism that, ‘oh, I don't listen to Nickelback cause it's all just radio songs.’ It's like, ‘well, you know that cause you're listening to the radio.’”

“If anybody actually gives a listen to one of our albums, listens beyond the singles they hear, there's a rock and roll DNA there that is pretty much undeniable.”

With that DNA comes respect, notably from heavy bands like Pantera, which Mike counts as good friends, despite some difference in lifestyle. Kroeger shared with Kanan a story about his one visit to the famed “clubhouse” owned by Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, which Mike quickly exited once he realized where he was.

Seeing the potential for catastrophe, he recounted his panicked decision to leave immediately to protect his marriage. “For me it was an experience because it was one of those moments… we're hanging with the boys after a show, and you know, they were feeding us the black tooth grins, getting us sloppy and rolling video to see if they could catch somebody projectile vomiting or making an ass of themselves.”

“We've come in the back door, it appears to be a nightclub, and I'm sort of like, ‘OK, I don't know where, where am I?’” he recalls. “I don't know what's going on, and then I'm sitting there and I'm going, ‘all these women are naked.’ I think I gotta go… I'm married. I wanna stay married.”

It worked out for Mike, who stayed married, and has kept Nickelback grinding as one of the most successful bands of the past 25 years. To hear more from Kroeger, check out the full Audacy Check In above.

'Everything Under the Sun' is available everywhere on October 30.

As The Beaches make their way across the country, opening for Louis Tomlinson, the band took a moment to stop by the Hard Rock Hotel New York for a talk with Mike Adam, breaking down how that 'Off Campus' shout out came together, and discussing life on the road.

The Beaches are still celebrating their 2025 album, 'No Hard Feelings,' and this year’s deluxe edition, but they got a pleasant surprise when their 2023 song, “Edge of the Earth,” got a massive boost thanks to its inclusion in the series, 'Off Campus.'

“We got the sync. We approved it, obviously, but we didn't know what the context of our song was going to be like in the show until we watched the episode,” explains Kylie Miller. “So we found out with the rest of the world.”

“It's in there and it's during a pretty pivotal scene like when they're, sort of discovering that they have feelings for each other,” adds Jordan Miller. “So as like the audience that's watching is starting to really care about the characters, then all of a sudden they name drop us.”

“I think the creator is quite a big fan of the band. I mean, she knew a bunch of our songs and I think listens to us on repeat,” shares Miller. “They filmed the show in Canada too so a lot of the crew who filmed the show obviously have heard of us, and yeah, it just it was so crazy that that came to be and also so crazy that it took off in the way that it did.”

The result has been an influx in new fans, many catching The Beaches for the first time in the opener slot for Tomlinson.

“Do you guys ever hit the stage while you're mad at one another, or do you go by the phrase, ‘don't go to bed angry?’” asks Mike Adam of the close knit crew during this trek. “We definitely have!” smiles Jordan.

“Honestly, you forget that you're mad at them as soon as you get on stage and then everything is always fine,” adds Kylie. “Whatever small argument that felt like the biggest thing in the world literally disappears when you're on there. It's crazy.”

“It is crazy,” echoes Jordan. “I'll be so mad at one of them and then we'll have like a little smile on stage because you're performing together and it's such a good time and you forget like why you were upset.”

“It's probably me and Jordan,” Leandra Earl exclaims. “I'll like avoid her for a couple of songs and then I'm like, ‘OK, let me come and give you a kiss.’”

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

Just days before the release of her debut album, 'Visitor,' SIENNA SPIRO sat down with Bru inside our Los Angeles studios to talk about her love of the longform experience, the experience of crafting her album, and her excitement for what’s next.

“It's like giving birth,” the UK singer says of releasing her first LP. “I know people describe it a lot like that, but you know it's like having a child, carrying a child for two years and you're working so much on it and so much care and so much intention and time and everything, and then you just have to let it go.”

“I'd be lying if I said I didn't want people to like it. I hope people like it and I hope I get to sing it for a long time.”

The good news is, 'Visitor' has already received critical acclaim, with some outlets dubbing her the “next pop superhero” or the “next singer-songwriter to watch.” She’s done it by delivering on the promise of her timeless voice, creating a cohesive story that begs to unfold across a full album in an arena that has gotten quicker and more singular in recent years.

“I always was gonna make a project called ‘Visitor’ and it was gonna have a song called ‘The Visitor’ on it,” SPIRO tells Bru. “I actually originally was gonna make it an EP or a mix tape and that's because I had a very specific idea of how I thought an album should be made.”

“The way people received those songs gave me the confidence to make it an album and also it's really something I really cared about, like the concept of ‘Visitor.’ I really thought it would be a disservice to not see it as a full project, a full album.”

According to SIENNA, the song “The Visitor” explains it all, with the rest of the project being built around that sentiment or idea. “I feel like that song kind of articulates the experience of how I feel being a visitor, like this fear of impermanence and, you know, being temporary and like how fragile these relationships are and being aware of that.”

For much more from SIENNA SPIRO, check out the full Audacy Check In above. 'Visitor' is now available everywhere.

High atop New York City in the Rockstar Suite at Hard Rock Hotel New York, Niall Horan joined us this week to talk about the making of his 4th studio album, 'Dinner Party,' now available everywhere.

The “Tastes So Good” singer also talks about his experience mentoring artists and how he manages to maintain a private life, during our Audacy Check In hosted by Mike Adam, as Niall opens up about the challenge of balancing high-profile fame with a "normal" life.

“Making the music, promoting it, you know, touring is like one thing and then being at home, just chilling out and walking a dog and doing stuff around the house is kind of the other separate life," he admits.

Early in his career, there was "no off switch," but he has since learned to separate his professional commitments and spending time at home in London. “I've just always tried to be myself no matter what what I'm doing, I suppose, and then I guess people have latched onto that over the years in different ways, whether it be the music or the tours or ‘The Voice’ or I don't know what it is, but people are still coming and I'm forever grateful for that.”

'Dinner Party' is the 4th solo project from Horan, and one that found its “jumping off point” in its title track, despite it coming further into the process. “I'd written quite a few ideas up to that point, but I'd say ‘Dinner Party’ was a couple of months in,” he shares, “and then I was like, ‘alright, well now I'd write the rest of the album around that evening,’ so I didn't have to go much further than that.”

“I also felt like ‘Dinner Party’ sounded like an interesting title, as in like you don't really hear album titles called something like that. So that's where it came from, really.”

To hear more from Niall about his experience on ‘The Voice,’ his songwriting process, and touring with Thomas Rhett, check out the full conversation above.

After 20 years of shredding, Five Finger Death Punch is just as ferocious as ever, proving so on the newly released single, “Eye Of The Storm”

Guitarist Zoltan Bathory linked back up with Abe Kanan recently for an Audacy Check In, discussing Five Finger Death Punch’s upcoming world tour, and the mission while making new music.

Bathory describes their new single, "Eye of the Storm," as a balance between the band's heavier and lighter styles, serving as a representative sample of their upcoming album. “We picked that song because that was one of the first ones that was ready from the batch,” Zoltan says of work on the new LP. “Ivan is actually in the studio right now, still recording vocals.”

“That was kind of the song that we thought that would represent the upcoming album the best,” he reveals. “This is kind of a song in the middle, right? We have heavier stuff and we have a little bit lighter stuff, so that was right in the middle and that's kind of like the idea there that ‘OK, let's pick this one because it is a pretty good indicator of what's coming,’ and it seems like everybody was super excited about it.”

“It's a little bit heavier, a little bit more guitar,” Bathory describes. “We're kind of dipping back into the beginnings, the 1st 2, 3 records, it has a similarity. Of course, you have to always progress, so we're not gonna go back and repeat that, but there is a little bit of that first, you know, 3 records aggression in this one.”

Zoltan also opened up about the band's songwriting process, which relies on a "vault" of riffs and songs accumulated over many years, such as "Wrong Side of Heaven" and "The Bleeding," which were written long before they became hits. Bathory explains that assembling an album is like a puzzle, requiring a balance between heavy tracks and ballads to avoid monotony.

“It has to kind of have the ups and downs,” he says. “It has to have the super heavy stuff and you it has to have a couple of ballads, so that's always been the thing, and sometimes it just simply, you know, ‘OK, we have already 2, 3 slow songs on this record, we have 5 more, but I can't put it on the same record because it's too much,’ right? So that's how it works.”

“Things are coming out of the vault, there are some new things, and then we look at what we have, and then assemble the record that we think is the right one for the times.”

For more from Zoltan Bathory including a tour of his castle, and the band's commitment to charity and helping the US Judo team, check out the full conversation above.