Tag: Entertainment-Variety

MEP Capital Management, a New York-based private investment firm focused exclusively on the media and entertainment industry, has closed a majority stake acquisition in BondIt Media Capital, the independent film and television financier.

The deal comes alongside a fresh $100 million credit facility that will underpin both BondIt’s existing lending business and its push into new areas including live entertainment, sports, and the creator economy.

BondIt co-founders Matthew Helderman, who serves as CEO, and Luke Taylor, COO, will remain at the helm. MEP will contribute capital markets expertise and institutional support as the enlarged platform seeks to grow both at home and abroad.

“BondIt has earned real trust in the independent film and television ecosystem by being consistent and pragmatic while building a track record of prudent underwriting across market cycles,” said Andrew Kotliar of MEP Capital. “With this growth equity investment and a new credit facility, BondIt’s core business is expected to scale rapidly while selectively expanding into adjacent opportunities across media and entertainment assets.”

Helderman and Taylor said in a joint statement: “We built BondIt to be a reliable partner to creators – one that understands the realities of production, distribution, and execution. MEP shares our long-term view and bring complementary strengths that will help us expand capacity, grow internationally, and explore new opportunities with the same disciplined approach that has defined BondIt from the start.”

The infusion of capital is designed to allow BondIt to pursue bigger, more complex deals – among them bonded productions and higher-budget TV series – without stepping back from the independent community that has been central to its business since its founding in 2013.

Recent BondIt credits include “Embassy,” the television series starring Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmons; “Vanished,” the Amazon MGM+ original with Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin; and the 2025 Elements Music & Arts Festival, headlined by deadmau5, Illenium, and Pretty Lights.

The acquisition also opens the door to collaboration between three complementary platforms: BondIt, its sister company Buffalo 8 – home to a library of over 400 film and TV titles and more than 1,000 music scores and soundtracks – and MEP’s distribution affiliate West Side Pictures, whose holdings run to approximately 10,000 film and television titles. Together, the companies aim to offer independent creators a broader suite of financing and distribution solutions.

Going forward, BondIt’s priorities include growing its core lending capacity, moving into bonded films and premium television, deepening its international footprint, and selectively branching into adjacent verticals where MEP has existing experience, among them music, live events, video games, YouTube, and sports media. Further acquisitions that complement the platform’s focus are also under consideration.

The deal follows Accord Financial Corp.’s previously announced exit from BondIt, which stemmed from its 2017 investment in the company.

Since its founding, BondIt has put more than $500 million to work across upwards of 450 film, television, and media projects. Its track record includes Oscar-nominated “Loving Vincent,” Emmy-winning “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street” for HBO, Roland Emmerich’s war epic “Midway,” Kevin Smith’s “Clerks III,” and horror phenomenon “Terrifier 3.” Productions backed by the company have collectively taken in more than $1 billion at the global box office.

Netflix have teased the first images from their upcoming mystery series “The Boroughs.”

Exec produced by “Stranger Things” creators the Duffer Brothers, the 8-part series stars Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman as a retirement community who uncover a dark secret after a grieving newcomer (Molina) joins their midst.

Molina plays Sam Cooper, who is experiencing something of an existential crisis after recently losing his wife.

The series, which was created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”), will drop on May 21.

The Duffer Brothers and Hilary Leavitt exec produce for Upside Down Pictures.

Ben Taylor directs multiple episodes. He is also an EP. Augustine Frizzell and Kyle Patrick Alvarez also direct.

“From the beginning, we knew we wanted The Boroughs to feel equal parts scary, mysterious, exciting and emotional. The challenge was to create a world that could hold all of these different tones at once. Which is why it was so fun to work with the Duffer Brothers – the masters of balancing heart and horror,” said Addiss and Matthews.

“According to some very unofficial napkin math, our stars bring something like 350 years of craft to The Boroughs. We knew they would be great. We didn’t expect them to be so fun. They can make you laugh or cry with just a look. Makes it whole lot easier on us writers.”

The Duffer Brothers said: “For years, we’ve wondered why no one has made a film like Ron Howard’s wonderful ‘Cocoon’ since, well, ‘Cocoon.’ Then, out of nowhere, Jeff and Will emailed us an idea for ‘The Boroughs:’ a story about retirees and monsters. They were adamant that — unlike so many stories about older characters — this wouldn’t treat aging as a punchline. Instead, it would treat its characters as real people facing real challenges… along with a few supernatural ones. It was exactly the show we’d been dreaming of.”

“While the characters are a little older than the kids in ‘Stranger Things’ (they ride golf carts instead of bikes), the spirit is very much the same. At its core, this is a story about belonging and growing up — no matter your age — filled with adventure, wonder, comedy, scares, and tears. And most importantly, you’re going to fall in love with these characters.”

Digital Brand Architects has promoted five team members across its talent division based in Los Angeles and New York, including “The Home Edit” talent manager Alix Frank.

Frank, who reps Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of “The Home Edit,” has been upped to executive vice president of talent at the Raina Penchansky-led company. Additionally, Ali Wald and Haley Walsh have been elevated to vice presidents of talent, while Sasha Mixon and Sophie Fox have been named directors of talent.

Originally from Seattle, Washington, Frank relocated to Los Angeles in 2014 to join the company, where she led its expansion into the food and home space. She oversees a team of talent managers while personally representing a diverse roster of talent and New York Times bestselling authors, including The Home Edit, Dani Klarić, Olivia Tiedemann, Marco Zamora, and Lissie Mackintosh, among others. She has played a central role in building globally recognized brands, and campaigns, notably partnering DBA with South Beach Wine & Food Festival to launch FoodieCon, the festival’s first influencer-driven event. In 2018, she worked closely on the launch of DBA’s podcast network, Dear Media, advising on cross platform collaborations and growth in the audio space.

Wald is now a vice president of talent at Digital Brand Architects. Her clients include Wishbone Kitchen, Brian Can’t Stop Eating, Brocc Your Body, The Grill Dads, Miles Chamley-Watson and Jov Khan among others. Wald has become known for her ability to bridge the divide between digital and traditional media, securing transformative deals in publishing, television, streaming, and podcasting that have helped cement her clients as household names.

Also newly appointed vice president, Walsh reps a roster of creators, including beauty phenomenon Mikayla Nogueira, DJ Xandra Pohl, Bran Flakezz, Chelsea Parke, and others. She specializes in identifying emerging talent and nurturing long‑term success through thoughtful mentorship and tailored brand strategy, including co‑collaborations with Ole Henriksen, Glow Recipe, and ELF Cosmetics.

Now a director of talent, Dweck is recognized for identifying breakout talent early, including Brigette & Danielle Pheloung, Kira Kirby, and Gia Duddy. In 2025, Sasha supported the execution of a seven-figure partnership with Microsoft Copilot while continuing to drive performance and portfolio growth across her talent roster. Her work includes securing ongoing collaborations with brands such as L’Oréal, Maybelline, Wella, Amazon, and Victoria’s Secret.

Fox, also a new director of talent at DBA, has spent six years at the company creating client relationships with brands across Amazon, Sephora, L’Oreal and the P&G portfolios. Fox was featured in Business Insider’s 20 most influential TikTok talent managers and agents helping creators build businesses.

“These promotions and strategic hires underscore our long-term vision for DBA – building a team that’s as ambitious and forward-thinking as the creators we represent,” DBA president Vanessa Flaherty said. “By cultivating talent from within and thoughtfully expanding our leadership, we’re positioned not only to support growth, but to define the next phase of the creator economy.”

Ali Velshi is about to enter a club with very exclusive membership.

When TV-news outlets contemplate how best to explain the results of the nation’s big elections to viewers, one key element is always an interactive board that shows polling and voting results in the most granular detail. The person assigned to that duty each year becomes an important part of the evening’s proceeding.

At MS NOW, Velshi will pick up duties previously held by Steve Kornacki, and which are matched elsewhere by John King at CNN and Bill Hemmer at Fox News Channel. Kornacki left MS NOW last year as the network, once known as MSNBC, was preparing for a split from NBCUniversal. MS NOW, CNBC and other cable networks are now part of a separate company known as Versant ,and Kornacki opted to stick with NBC News and NBC Sports, where he often interprets data about football and horse racing.

“I’ve had the privilege of learning from Ali for the last twenty-plus years in various newsrooms. One of his many gifts is his unique ability to take complex data and make it digestible,” said Rebecca Kutler, president of MS NOW, in a statement. “Ali will guide our audience through the real-time information that will determine the outcomes of the midterm and presidential elections. I’m thrilled Ali will bring his understanding of public opinion and voters to our election coverage in the years ahead.” 

Velshi, a veteran of the cable-news wars, joined MS NOW in 2016 after stints at CNN and Al-Jazeera America. Since that time, he has led his own weekend program, teamed up with Stephanie Ruhle and served as a fill-in host for the network’s primetime shows. He has also traveled around the world, reporting from Ukraine and across Central and Eastern Europe, among other locales.

“On big political nights, the numbers tell the story of participation, power, and choice. Voters decide elections, and the data lets us watch those decisions take shape in real time,” said Velshi, in a statement. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to guide viewers through primaries, election nights, and major political moments with context, transparency, and a focus on the facts.”

Former Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli launched her own direct-to-fan platform, “Valerie’s Place,” Wednesday, a subscription service powered by new tech company Visible Things.

Bertinelli’s Valerie’s Place offering, which his now live as a website and will debut as an app in the coming weeks, features “a curated library of fan-favorite content, including new episodes of “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” as well as new original programming, podcasts and live streams. The content is offered through a tiered subscription beginning at $2 per month.

“Valerie’s Place is my digital home and that’s why it’s my place. It’s where everything I do lives, and where I get to explore everything I want to do next,” Bertinelli, who exited Food Network in January 2024, told Variety. “Beyond ‘Valerie’s Home Cooking’ and fan favorites, we’re launching brand-new original programming, including shows, live streams, podcasts, merchandise, and members-only content. I’m especially excited for my book club and podcast ‘Getting Naked’ launching this spring. It’s completely me, but also something totally new.”

Valerie’s Place is the first product to debut from Visible Things, a company focused on enabling “traditional stars, digitally native creators, and brands to move beyond algorithm-dependent platforms to build direct, monetizable relationships with their most devoted audiences.”

Founded by “American Idol” and “Little People, Big World” producer Billy Cooper, who serves as CEO, chief content officer Andrew Greenberger, and chief operating officer Willis Robertson, Visible Things aims to “significantly reduce the time, cost, and engineering lift traditionally required to build a custom DTC platform from scratch.”

“For decades, talent has been asked to build audiences on platforms they don’t own, with business models that can change overnight. Visible Things was built to give celebrities and creators the infrastructure to power their own businesses and take back control of their libraries, their community, and their fan relationships,” said co-founders Cooper, Greenberger and Robertson in a joint statement. “Valerie immediately understood that shift. She’s not just launching an app, she’s redefining how a modern celebrity connects with and serves her Superfans.”

Visible Things, which also serves as a production partner on the original programming created specifically for Valerie’s Place, has an advisory board that includes Boardwalk Pictures Founder and CEO Andrew Fried, former WME board member Mark Itkin, Voldex Head of Franchise Katelynn Duffel Heil, and new AMS Capital’s managing partner Freddy Boom.

Visible Things will be launching more direct-to-fan platforms from talent and brands soon. The company is repped by WME.

“For a long time, I felt like I had to stay in just one lane,” Bertinelli said. “With Visible Things powering my platform, I finally have a seat at the table and I own the table. I’m no longer put in one box. I have full creative freedom to make and share the content I actually want to create. And it’s not just my seat, my fans have one too. I worked closely with the team at Visible Things to build Valerie’s Place because it allows me to bring everything – my shows, podcasts, live experiences, and merchandise – together in one place, directly with my audience. This isn’t just another streaming service. It’s my own platform, online and in an app, where I truly own my content and my relationship with my fans. This is about more than uploading shows. It’s about creating a fully connected digital home that reflects who I am and how I want to engage with my community. There isn’t another platform that brings content, commerce, and community together this way. What is most important, is the level of ownership and creative freedom I now have and that means everything to me.”

See below for a list of shows that will be available on Valerie’s Place at launch and additional shows to come.

Reheated: Valerie’s Home Cooking: Valerie and her longtime culinary producer Sophie Clark revisit favorite recipes and fan-favorite episodes from Valerie’s Home Cooking and give them a fresh twist. Along the way, they break the fourth wall, share behind-the-scenes stories, and show how cooking shows are really made, all while creating something new (and delicious).

Now Val’s Cooking: An all-new stand-and-stir cooking show with Valerie making recipes she’s never filmed before. From brand-new dishes to favorites inspired by her cookbook Indulge, this is classic Val – relaxed, joyful, and all about food you’ll actually want to cook.

Now We’re Cooking: This is cooking together, in real time. Valerie goes live and invites VP Preferred and VP VIP members to cook along with her, comment, ask questions, and share the experience just like friends gathered in the same kitchen.

Meals for One: Sometimes you’re just cooking for yourself, and that deserves just as much care as cooking for family and friends. In Meals for One, Valerie makes simple, satisfying meals for one, focusing on comfort, ease, and recipes that don’t leave you with a fridge full of leftovers. Real food, real life, no scaling required.

Content coming post-launch throughout the Spring:

Getting Naked: The Podcast: An all-new podcast with Valerie and special guests, featuring candid conversations about life, growth, creativity, and showing up as your real self. Thoughtful, funny, and heartfelt; the kind of talks that stay with you long after they end.

Superfan Supper Club: Valerie cooks LIVE, but this time, select VP VIP members join her on camera. While others watch and cook along, a few lucky superfans get to interact with Val face-to-face, ask questions, and be part of the show itself.

Val’s Book Club: Every other month, Valerie and her community pick a book to read and discuss together in a live virtual book club. VP Preferred and VP VIP members can watch and comment, while select VP VIP members join Valerie on screen for an intimate, honest conversation…starting with her new book, Getting Naked.

These days, any drama with the U.K.’s Sheridan Smith raises expectations, especially if her role is written by Tony Schumacher, creator of “The Responder.”

Winner of a BAFTA TV Award for “Mrs Biggs” (2013) and TV Choice Award for “Cilla” (2015), Smith was also the star of last year’s “I Fought the Law.” “No one does this kind of drama better than Sheridan Smith. Ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances are what she does, and few do it better,” said The Guardian in a review. 

Smith is also a master of mixed emotion reaction, such as resolution and vulnerability. She’s likely to show both in “The Cage,” which reteams Schumacher with Fremantle and unites him with Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s high-flying and creator-friendly Element Pictures, a Fremantle company. 

Commissioned by Director of BBC drama Lindsay Salt for BBCiPlayer and BBC One with global sales handled by Fremantle, “The Cage” is shaping up as one the big unveils at Fremantle’s Feb. 27 showcase at the London TV Screenings. 

Chosen by Variety as one of the Screenings’ Hot Picks, it also now has new first look images, shared in exclusivity with Variety. 

Smith stars opposite Michael Socha (“The Gallows Pole,” “Showtrial”) another striking actor discovered and cast like “Adolescence” star Stephen Graham in “This is England” by Shane Meadows. 

In “The Cage,” Smith and Socha play Leanne and Matty, a single mum and compulsive gambler who skim cash from the safe of their Liverpool Casino, soon with the mob and police  closing down

Expect a taut crime drama – “high-stakes and high-energy,” says Fremantle – which will stand out from the pack by its nuanced performances, a story of “two unforgettable characters” as Fremantle puts it, and its heart, through it mix of crime thriller and family drama: Leanne, a single mother, turns to her amateur heists to avoid losing her family flat, Mattie to get some money to his daughter as child maintenance, despite his chronic gambling. “One final heist becomes their last chance for escape – because in ‘The Cage,’ everyone’s gambling,” the series’ synopsis ends. 

Majority owned by Fremantle from 2022, Element Pictures is behind Yorgos Lanthimos’ four-time Oscar winner “Poor Things,” as well as multiple Lenny Abrahamson titles such as “Room,” a best actress Academy Award winner for Brie Larson and his major TV hit “Normal People.”

“The Cage” is directed by Al Mackay (“Kidnapped,” “Without Sin”) and shot in and around Liverpool and Merseyside in the U.K. 

Hilary Martin serves as executive producer for Fremantle, with Aird, Guiney and Lowe for Element Pictures, alongside Schumacher and Smith. Lucy Richer is the executive producer for the BBC, with Clare Shepherd as producer. 

In the build-up to Fremantle’s Friday showcase, Aird, Element Pictures head of TV, and Fremantle’s Rebecca Dundon, SVP, head of scripted content, talked to Variety about what marks “The Cage” apart in an age where buyers are looking for crime dramas more than any other program type but want series that bring something fresh to the table.

When “The Cage” was announced, you are quoted, Chris, as saying “Tony writes characters from the heart that break your heart.” Is that connected to what you add: That “The Cage” is “a crime show” but also “a show about family”?

Chris Aird: That’s exactly what Tony does. This show is hopefully an exciting crime story with the stakes of crime stories. People are breaking the law and cutting across other people’s interests. What marks Tony’s writing out, however, is that you really feel why these people are forced into doing what they do and their very real problems in their lives. Leanne is very worried that she’s going to lose the [family] flat; Mattie is a terrible addict and forever in hock to his moneylender.

Rebecca Dundon: Tony and Element have created amazing flawed underdog characters that are instantly likeable and charismatic. “The Cage” is a crime heist thriller with great characters who aren’t evil people, just trying to survive and make a better life. In the world today, people are often looking for their own escape, to get themselves out of these situations and you really are instantly with them. But this is all wrapped up in a propulsive, twisty-turny surprising show that really throws the crime genre on its head by giving you characters that you want to win, despite being on the other side of the law.

And this is what drew you to the story?

Dundon: Definitely. From an international perspective, it’s so important that you have characters that surprise and stories that feel fresh in genres that work. Crime is going to continue be a bedrock for many platforms, many buyers. It’s what most people enjoy. But we never want to offer something that someone’s seen before. Tony’s writing and this show will surprise audiences and bring new audiences to the crime genre, because it’s got heart, levity and high stakes. 

You have two of the finest performers in British TV. How was the casting process?

Dundon: They’re magnetic. That’s the best word for them. They pull and push against one another throughout the series and draw the audience in. What the team have done so well with casting here is that they’ve really made sure that the chemistry between those protagonists is paramount. You have to be able to have that banter between them, the ability to champion one another as well when they feel like they’ve lost everything.

Liverpool has a large presence in the series but I wonder if this isn’t only as a setting but in terms of actors having a confidence in the authenticity of their performance, of hitting the right beats because Tony, from Liverpool, would tell them if they didn’t. Could you comment?

Aird: That’s interesting and I think you’re right. Everyone who is involved in this show, from Tony downwards, were really invested in making a show partly about Liverpool and about that kind of slightly intangible thing, but you know it when you feel it. Both Sheridan and Michael also really keyed into it. It is about humanity. It’s about vulnerability. It’s about also warmth and humor in the face of adversity. It’s all these things. Interestingly, neither Sheridan nor Michael are actually from Liverpool, but Sheridan does a very, very good Scouse accent. They’re both from the north of England. And they both said they tap into that.

As actors, they are very good at small physical details….

Aird: Yes, what’s great about this show is we can keep it feeling real and authentic, because actually we don’t need huge, high concept things to happen because it is about that character response to the real. How would you really cope with being up against one of the city’s most dangerous gangsters? How would that actually feel? Rather than a pat kind of genre way of approaching it, you really understand the hot water that they get themselves into because they both feel so real.

Dundon: Touching on authenticity, Liverpool is authentic, real but with a really exciting colour palette that feels unusual and that we haven’t seen on screen. It just opens the whole world up, which we feel is going to make a real difference internationally, because it’s Liverpool like we haven’t seen before. Director Al Mackay has done an incredible job in creating that intimacy of performance, but with this beautiful kind of backdrop.

Aird: Al and Árni Filippusson, our DP, made a decision really early on that they wanted to light up this world and use a kind of directional light. And we shot this in Spring last year and it literally didn’t rain for four months: The whole show is suffused in bright, warm sunlight.

More people are talking about the value of authenticity than they used to. I wonder if that’s a reaction to the large amount of non-authenticity in the world….

Aird: That’s really interesting. I’d say that we’re crying out for human connection not mediated by little boxes on screens. And I think that a show like ‘The Cage’ is all about human connection. It’s about the people you work with, the people you live with, your family. I would hope that this is the kind of show that people might watch together as well. I think we are crying out for that at the moment: that authenticity of character as well as a cracking good story too. 

How does the show fit into your production strategies?

Dundon: With regards to Fremantle’s distribution arm, we’re always looking for strong crime series, commercial dramas that are going to cut through, make noise, surprise us but be in a familiar genre that people enjoy, that they want to sit down with their partners, that can speak to a number of different platforms and buyers, whether that’s the public broadcasters whom we absolutely adore or the streamers. “The Cage” is that in spades. 

Working with great, great creatives is also part of both your strategies…

Dundon: For us, it’s absolutely a bonus for us that it’s an Element show and have Tony come back after the success of “The Responder,” a huge international hit for us. Buyers are actively following what he’s going to do next because they love his tone of voice, and the fact that he’s bringing it to life in a surprising way and in a very different way to what we’ve seen him do before is a real honor for us.

Aird: You’re absolutely right. “The Cage” fits into Element’s strategy which is to support the very best creative voices in the business, whether they’re filmmakers or screenwriters. We’re always trying to do that. On the film side, we work with the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos and Lenny Abrahamson and Joanna Hogg. Now on the TV side as well, we’re hoping to expand on that.

Last week, Ava Max decided to break her silence on what’s been happening behind the scenes over the past few months. After days of teasing what appeared to be the start of a new era on social media, she posted an open letter to her fans — “Avatars,” as they’re called — revealing that she’d been working on new music and, as some had suspected, that she’d left Atlantic Records, her label home of nearly a decade.

“In retrospect, I’m better off now because it taught me to stand up for what I believe in and not be afraid to speak up about what’s important to me,” she wrote. “I had to change a few things around and do what’s best for the music I want to make.”

Today, Max is speaking candidly as she looks back on the year that led her to this moment of newfound confidence. “I know what I want, and I think honestly it’s a good feeling to know what you want,” she tells Variety in the lobby of her new apartment building in Los Angeles, just two days before the arrival of her new single “Kill It Queen.” “And that is a beautiful place to be in. When you wake up, it makes you excited about life. Indecision was what was stressing me out before. Being stuck, you know?”

Max is lighting the fuse on the next phase of her career with a new team that she refers to as her “wolf pack.” On Wednesday, she released “Kill It Queen,” the first offering from her upcoming fourth album, due later this year. She partnered with ArtistPG, reuniting her with former Atlantic executive Mike Caren who fostered her early success with the imprint, and retained a new publicity team.

All of this, she says, is a welcome sea change: “They’re calling me all day and night. I’m just like, wow, they’re more excited maybe than me. How is that possible?”

“Kill It Queen” is a self-empowerment anthem in a classic Max mold, a forceful pop tune that leans even harder into the towering sound of past singles. She taps into her artistic roots — her mother sang opera back in Albania — and embraces her falsetto, something she honed with Eric Vetro, the gold standard of vocal coaches (clients include Ariana Grande and John Legend). The track is produced by Arthur Besna and Sam Martin, collaborators who have been working with Max on her next single and album.

She’s aware of the recurring online discourse that she should try something other than the explosive sound of her past singles. It only made her play into it more. “Something struck a chord. I’m like no. I love pop music. I love making pop records. Why would I leave that just because I wasn’t supported last year and I had a team that didn’t see me?” she says. “That’s why I restructured everything. I left my record label. I love all those people but they weren’t the right fit because someone who doesn’t see the beauty in pop music is not the right person for me to work with.”

Max is touching on one of the most challenging periods of her career. When she released her third studio album, “Don’t Click Play,” last August, she felt immobilized. The pop singer, whose hit singles “Sweet But Psycho” and “Kings & Queens” have more than three billion Spotify streams between them, had been trying different managers on a trial basis, but none of them were sticking. At the end of 2023, she split with Cirkut, her longtime producer and boyfriend, who started dating her co-writer Madison Love, and was left with a lingering sense of distrust. Ultimately, she felt isolated from Atlantic, the engine behind her success since she signed in 2016.

Max noticed a shift in her standing with Atlantic not long after her debut album “Heaven & Hell” was released in 2020. She recalls, for instance, that they wanted her to adjust her sound and get rid of her signature “Max Cut” hairstyle. “It was an energy shift,” she says. “It was almost like, ‘OK, we’re leaving her on her own.’ That’s how it felt. And I just knew something had to change, but I couldn’t change right away.” (Max pauses while discussing this chapter in her life to air out her black tee: “I’m like dripping sweat.”)

“Don’t Click Play,” she says, was entirely her vision. She did it all without her A&R, who “wasn’t answering my calls.” It arrived with a question mark — was the album actually dropping when she said it would? — and after it ultimately did release on time, it was followed by the postponement and subsequent cancellation of her second headlining tour. The stress of it all took a physical toll. She developed headaches and vertigo, and knew something had to change. She met with Atlantic and they mutually decided to part ways. “At the end of the day, we respected each other,” she says, describing it as a “grown-up breakup.” “We kind of came to the agreement, like we’re better off without each other.”

The next day, she called Caren to get the ball rolling on her next era. “He signed me in the beginning when no one cared about me. He taught me a lot at the time and he brought me in and I got so excited because I was working in the studio every single day and we were creating the sound,” she says. “He tells me the truth. And I like people who are honest and upfront. That’s important to me.”

Max is stepping into 2026 with a concept. She has the visual identity of the project mapped out — think Galliano and Westwood, more high fashion but “circus freak” with a theatrical bent. She’s working on new music and securing features. And while there’s no concrete timeline that she’s ready to share, she’s conceptualizing a new tour that she promises will follow.

Performing, says Max, will always be the priority. She didn’t always have dreams of becoming a pop star — she just wanted to connect with people as an entertainer. “I want to be out there. I want to see the fans. I want to perform,” she says. “I want to do everything 10 times better than I’ve ever had… I also want to feel reborn in this era. Dig this girl up. Find her again, and go bigger and better.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced 17 nominees for its class of 2026, with one of its most widely genre-spanning lists of contenders ever:

The Black Crowes
Jeff Buckley
Mariah Carey
Phil Collins
Melissa Etheridge
Lauryn Hill
Billy Idol
INXS
Iron Maiden
Joy Division/New Order
New Edition
Oasis
Pink
Sade
Shakira
Luther Vandross
Wu-Tang Clan

The 10 nominees appearing on the ballot for the first time are Jeff Buckley, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, Pink, Shakira, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.

The seven returning to the ballot after previous tries at getting elected are the Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis and Sade.

If that seems like a large crop of nominees, it is. For 2025, the total number of contenders stood at 14, three fewer than this year’s roster.

Of the seven returning to the ballot, five were on it just last year and make an instant return: the Black Crowes, Carey, Idol, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis. The singer for the latter band, Liam Gallagher, disavowed the Rock Hall when his band was previously twice nominated, but the nominating committee did not hold his recalcitrance against him this year.

The third time being nominated could be the charm for four of the artists: Carey, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis. The three second-time nominees, meanwhile, are the Black Crowes, Idol and Sade. The Hall is not going back into its ancient history to find return nominees: All of the prior nominations for all of these artists occurred since 2021.

Pink is the only artist being nominated in her first year of eligibility; her debut album, “Can’t Take Me Home,” came out in 2000.

This year’s list has what some might consider a recency bias, relatively speaking. All of the 10 first-time nominees having debuted on the scene in the 1980s, 1990s or, as with Pink, 2000, despite the annual cries from fans of older rock bands of the ’60s and ’70s that their favorites are still overdue.

Collins is the only 2026 contender who already has a spot in the Rock Hall, having been inducted as a member of Genesis.

Buckley is the rare artist getting a shot at being elected on the basis of releasing only one album in his lifetime. “Grace” came out in 1994; the singer/songwriter died in 1997.

Those who can be counted on to complain every year that the Hall should limit itself to actual rock ‘n’ roll will have plenty to gripe about this year, although others will be grateful for the wide gamut of genres spanned. Only roughly half of the 17 nominees would be considered “rock” per se: the Crowes, Buckley, Etheridge, Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order and Oasis… with Collins perhaps straddling the line as a recognized superstar of pop, apart from his duties in the rock band Genesis. That leaves plenty of room in this crop for a sizable representation of pop, with Pink, Carey, and Latin-pop crossover favorite Shakira, and R&B and/or hip-hop, with Hill, New Edition, Vandross and Wu Tang in the mix.

(Although the Hall strives to be inclusive of different contemporary genres, one wildly popular genre that is not represented among these nominees, again, is country; Dolly Parton remains the only country figure inducted in the last 23 years.)

The vote will take place over the next two months, with those selected by the Hall’s 1,200 voters revealed in April. At that time, further Inductees will also be named who are entering the Hall under three special committee categories: Musical Influence, Musical Excellence and the Ahmet Ertegun Non Performer Award.