Rihanna confirms new Reggae album during interview

This week, we chat to Australian jazz singer, pianist and composer Sarah McKenzie, who is currently touring France with a mini residency at the prestigious Duc des Lombards jazz club. She tells us more about the creative way in which she connected with musicians from around the world at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. We also meet young Parisian artist Yoa, whose bedroom pop-filled debut EP "Attente" has just been released.

Barbados declared hit singer Rihanna a national hero at its republican celebrations in her hometown of Bridgetown. Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the 33-year-old would be conferred with the honor of National Hero of Barbados to cheers. Rihanna was called up before the crowds to be congratulated by Mottley.

Three BTS members — Suga, RM and Jin — have tested positive for COVID-19. The superstar group had recently returned to South Korea from the United States where they held their first in-person concerts since the pandemic.

Rihanna donates $15 million to climate justice through her Clara Lionel Foundation

Pop star Rihanna showed off what appears to be a baby bump in pictures published online on Monday. The 33-year-old Barbados-born singer, whose birth name is Robyn Fenty, posed alongside her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky for a series of photos taken in New York, according to the Mail Online.

Known for kaleidoscopic synth-pop - or what they call "experimental sludge pop" - the duo behind Let’s Eat Grandma met when they were small children and have been making music together since their early teens. After two critically acclaimed albums, Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth are set to drop a new LP in April. They tell France 24’s Florence Villeminot about “Two Ribbons”: an album about the gradual dissolution of a friendship, as well as grief and loss in general. We also look at new releases for British independent rock band Alt-J and Welsh musician and producer Cate Le Bon.

With his bright portraits of black icons overlaid with slogans of empowerment, Fred Ebami mixes pan-African sensibility with a pop-art lens. Raised in France, with Cameroonian roots, Ebami says his first muse was Jesus. He's gone on to explore the divisiveness of icons - from American rapper Kanye West to former DRC strongman Mobutu Sese Seko. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about feminism, his new graphic novel, and his desire to show the younger generation that anyone can have an impact.

They have a knack for the sort of radio-friendly, feel-good pop tunes that have won them fans the world over. Metronomy's music is the soundtrack to an eternal summer. As they return with a seventh studio album, the band members sit down with FRANCE 24 to talk about taking a creative break, the new stripped-down sound of their album "Small World", as well as their deep and affectionate ties to Paris, French food and the racier side of la chanson française.

French soul singer Ben (formerly Ben l'Oncle Soul) who spent years in San Francisco, New York and Paris, is back with a new cover album entitled 'Red Mango'. In this new work, he and the Monophonics put a reggae rocksteady spin on songs by pop’s biggest artists, from John Lennon to Rihanna.He popped by the FRANCE 24 studios to talk about his music and tease his next original album.

Some North Koreans are defying strict fashion and style regulations to fight conformity. But their expressions of individualism could cost them their freedom.

We look at press reactions to the White House announcing President Joe Biden's upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia. British papers react after the government's plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda to be processed was scuppered by the European Court of Human Rights. Also, K-Pop band BTS announces they are taking a break, much to the dismay of their millions of fans. Finally, Crocs has come up with a new summer collaboration: margarita-inspired Crocs!

Latvian singer Intars Busulis had millions of fans in Russia and a successful concert career. But he has given all that up now. He is writing pro-peace songs and using social media to try to show Russians what is happening in Ukraine. The move has come at some cost.