Brandon Flowers: Thrasher review – Killers frontman’s country pivot is a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy-bootin’ hoot!

Even a couple of bafflingly misguided social commentary songs can’t detract from the joys of Flowers’ classically full-throated commitment to the Nashville bit

Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine tour review: pop illusion at its most effective – for good and bad

On her last live dates before she steps back from the public eye, Grande holds her own – but it’s also impossible to avoid feeling concerned for her wellbeing

Rock stars Ash look back: ‘Mark broke his feet jumping off a balcony – for the rest of the tour he self-medicated with gin and buckets of ice’

The Northern Irish band on jamming together at school, booze and breakdowns, and being a weirdly functional family

‘I thought – if I die, I’ve had a good innings’: producer James Ford on life, death and making an album from his hospital bed

The Arctic Monkeys, Pet Shop Boys and Pulp collaborator was Britain’s most in-demand producer when leukaemia struck. ‘I realised life is exceptionally fragile,’ he says

‘Have I tried having sex to my own music? God, no!’: Natalie Imbruglia’s honest playlist

The singer was wooed with some knocked-off Joni Mitchell and might even be persuaded to sing Torn at karaoke. But what fan comment winds her up the most?

Family affair: how pop-star siblings Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd stormed the charts in parallel

Following in the footsteps of Michael and Janet Jackson, and Kylie and Dannii Minogue, the Hobert siblings have simultaneously struck pop gold – with no rivalry

Add to playlist: the heartbreak post-mortems of Cape Town’s Rowlene and the week’s best new tracks

The South African singer has been a memorable guest artist, but the unhurried, emotional tracks on new album Some Strings Attached show she’s ready for the spotlight

‘It was lonely being a young queer artist’: Sam Smith on finding health, happiness – and their hazel-eyed fiance

On their new album, Smith is subverting their singer-songwriter roots to tell a queer love story. They talk about their shifting fanbase, the nasty undercurrents of fame – and finding sanctuary in New York City

Chelsea Wolfe: The Dark review – existential reflection goes from whisper to gothic scream

The genre-blending Californian artist casts off past toxic influences with a powerful set of tender, brooding and emotionally charged songs that wouldn’t feel out of place as festival anthems

James: Getting Away With It review – hippies, hardnuts and dreamers unite

Auto-hagiography it may be – most of the interviewees were in the band at some point – but this portrait of the seminal Manchester indie group is charming stuff

Countries in ‘armed conflict’ barred from hosting Eurovision

Organisers says new rule will ensure contest provides ‘safe and welcoming environment’ for participants

Post your questions for Amy Lee of Evanescence

The metal icon is here to answer your questions about the band’s 90s origins, MTV fame and being trailblazer in a male dominated genre

‘Today’s Brazilians have no idea what it feels like to lose democracy’: Joyce Moreno on her battles to become a Latin musical great

After her defiant femininity outraged many in Brazil, she lived through a military dictatorship and was boycotted for years. But after more than 30 albums, she explains how she kept going

Rod Stewart cancels farewell tour dates after undergoing successful heart procedure

The singer said that he was ‘already feeling better’ but forthcoming dates on his mammoth farwell tour will not now go ahead

A moment that changed me: My stammer made life a misery – then a song gave me back my voice

As a teenager, I was so ashamed of my speech disability that even my family didn’t know about it. When Scatman John came on the radio, celebrating his own stammer in a hit about self-esteem, I knew I had to meet him