Dua Lipa, Sam Hunt, and The Weeknd are pop stars who decided to release their new albums despite the big lockdown. Lady Gaga, Haim, and Sam Smith have decided to wait. Dua Lipa said, as Variety reports, she "thought I’d be doing them a disservice to delay it, especially during this time”, while Lady Gaga said - “it just doesn’t feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic”. Whether to release an album or not depends on the genre also - hip-hop sells close to 100% in digital formats so there's a good chance of selling the album in expected numbers, while some older-demographic artists are still selling 70%-80% physical, and the records stores are closed... Tours are equally cancelled for both sides.

Billboard presents the latest edition of Queer Necessities, monthly LGBTQ-driven playlist where they catch on the latest and greatest bops by queer musicians. This time they've got Sam Smith with "a hard-hitting bass and a beat that's radio-ready" on 'How Do You Sleep?', Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens has "’80s-like drums, infectious synths […]