Goodbye, Park City, and thanks for all the memories.

Back in 1978, when Robert Redford first established what was then known as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival, this modest little affair was based in Salt Lake City; the initial idea was simply to attract more filmmakers to the region. Then, in 1981, Redford moved the fest to Park City, a quaint little ski-resort town where he owned property. And for the past 45 years, that’s where this event — which would eventually be rechristened the Sundance Film Festival, after one of the actor’s most famous roles, in 1991 — took place. Film lovers, industry bigwigs, indie-cinema movers and shakers, A-list celebrities, wannabe auteurs, and legions of corporate sponsors and lookieloo tourists and paparazzi flocked to this small hamlet in the snowy Utah mountains every January to make deals, establish careers, debate the future of the art form and, above all, to see movies. Lots and lots and lots of movies.

Now, with a relocation to Boulder, Colorado, on the horizon, Sundance is ready to say farewell to its longtime home. When the 2026 edition of the festival kicks off on January 22nd, it will be its final go-round in Park City, and its first without its late, great founder. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t a little misty-eyed about bidding adieu to the place where we’d seen so many memorable, occasionally lifechanging films. But damned if Sundance is not exiting its former base of operations without one last big bang. This year’s lineup looks to be one of its strongest in years, and we’ll be reporting on the highs and lows of the fest throughout its 11-day run. But here’s a look at some of the hotter, buzzier titles that seem poised to set Park City on fire (metaphorically speaking). From Charli XCX’s white-hot meta-fiction about Brat Summer to a white-knuckle Ethan Hawke survivalist thriller, a warped midnight movie from an Adult Swim legend to a doc about the life, times, and comeback of Courtney Love — here are 22 movies we can’t wait to see at Sundance 2026.

‘Antiheroine’

Everyone has some sort of opinion on Courtney Love — her history, her artistry, her marriage, her persona, her problems, and the undeniable force of the music she made with her seminal 1990s band Hole. Ms. Love is well aware of what folks might think about her — and she’s ready to set the record straight on a few things. Documentarians Edward Lovelace and James Hall give the former girl with the most cake a stage in which to tell her own story in her own words, covering everything from her tumultuous youth to her early brushes with fame to everything that happened after. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

‘The Best Summer’

It was the summer of ’95, and Australian music promoter Stephen “Pav” Pavlovic was putting together a traveling down-under music festival he dubbed “Summersault.” The lineup included the Beastie Boys, the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Rancid, Pavement, Beck, and a host of James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax crew. Fresh off of directing the cinéma du Sandler classic Billy Madison, Tamra Davis was following the traveling circus, camera in hand; she’d end up recording a number of performances, along with a handful of interviews with the musicians. Cut to January 2025, when Davis was evacuating her house during the Palisades fires. She happened to come across a box of tapes filled with her old Summersault footage — and now we get this oral history-cum-mixtape of a once-in-a-lifetime fest that captured a moment of Nineties live music in full feedback-soaked bloom.

‘Broken English’

When we were forced to bid farewell (on this plain of existence, at least) to Marianne Faithfull in January of last year, it wasn’t just one more cascade of tears going by — the loss of both a Sixties icon and a genuinely timeless iconoclast felt like a true end of an era. Documentarians Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (no strangers to iconoclasts, having made the Nick Cave portrait 20,000 Days on Earth) revisit the life and times of the singer via something called the Ministry of Not Forgetting, where Tilda Swinton interviews the lady herself and digs into the who, what, where, and when of it all. Nick Cave, Courtney Love, Beth Orton, and Suki Waterhouse occasionally drop by to sing a song or three. Having played festivals in Venice, London and Taipei, this singular take on the music doc makes it’s U.S. premiere here at Sundance. The Faithfull faithful on these shores may now commence rejoicing.

‘Buddy’

The program note for this festival selection consists of a single sentence: “A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids’ television show.” Pretty vague, amirite? And yet! There may not be another movie in Sundance’s Midnight sidebar that we’re looking forward to seeing more than this one, due to the fact that thias comes courtesy of writer-director Casper Kelly, the gent who gave usthose demented Adult Swim Yule Loge videos, the instant classic “Too Many Cooks,” the TV show Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, and a number of other brain-melting, psychotronic shorts. Also check out the cast: Cristin Milioti, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt, Keegan Michael-Key, Topher Grace and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You‘s Delany Quinn. Something tells us this one is going to generate some chatter. And probably some vomiting.

‘Carousel’

Noah (Chris Pine) is a doctor, a divorcé, and a dad who’s determined to make a modest medical practice in Cleveland enough to sustain both a close proximity to his daughter and his sense of well-being. He’s content to be on his own. Then an old high-school flame named Rebecca (Jenny Slate) returns, and suddenly, his carefully constructed life is upended. We’re fans of filmmaker Rachel Lambert’s previous Sundance entry, the oddball Daisy Ridley vehicle Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), so we’re excited to see what she does with a similar story of self-imposed isolation and second chances.

‘Chasing Summer’

Comedian Iliza Shlesinger wrote and stars in this dramedy about a woman who, having found herself unexpectedly single and unemployed, retreats to her hometown in Texas. Once back in the Lone Star state, she finds her past catching up to her and naturally gets caught up in a host of angst-fueled shenanigans. Personally, you had us at “Iliza Shlesinger” — her stand-up specials are a hoot, and if you’ve seen her supporting turn in 2020’s Pieces of a Woman, you know she has chops — but add in the fact that she’s enlisted Jospehine Decker (Madeline’s Madeline, Shirley), and you’ve got something that sounds like more than just another millennial coming-of-age story.

‘The Disciple’

From the moment that heard the Wu-Tang Clan’s seminal debut album Enter the 36 Chambers, Tarik Azzougarh became an instant ride-or-die fan. The Dutch-Moroccan kid quickly put together his own hip-hop crew in his hometown of Tilburg, and ended up slinging verses onstage next to Ol’ Dirty Bastard when the group played in Amsterdam. Taking the name Cilvaringz, Azzougarh would become a Wu “affiliate” and end up booking a world tour for RZA. He’d also began conceiving and producing a project that would eventually be called Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, and, well… you know what happened next. Oscar-winning filmmaker Joanna Natasegara chronicles how a kid obsessed with the Staten Island collective ended up collaborating with heroes — and how what was supposed to be a major addition to the Wu legend ended up becoming one of the most controversial album “releases” of all time.

‘The Gallerist’

We remember catching Cathy Yan’s debut Dead Pigs at Sundance 2018 and immediately pledging our allegiance to this sui generis filmmaker (not even a detour into superhero I.P., 2020’s Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, could dampen her sharp wit or her idiosyncrasies). So we’re especially jazzed that she’s back at the fest with one of the most buzzed-about screenings of this year’s edition — it nabbed the prime Saturday-night-at-the-Eccles slot — about a gallery owner (Natalie Portman) trying to catch the attention of an art-world tastemaker (Zach Galifianakis) before Art Basel Miami kicks into full gear. Let’s just say that a corpse becomes a key part of the equation. It’s fair to call this particular satire “star-studded”: In addition to Portman and Galifianakis, the cast includes Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Sterling K. Brown.

‘Ghost in the Machine’

No surprise that A.I. is a hot doc topic at this year’s fest, with not one but two different nonfiction takes on the tech that’s causing a lot of deserved existential dread among us flesh-and-blood types. There’s the Premieres section’s The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell’s big-picture look at the ins and outs of artificial intelligence as filtered through the lens of fatherhood. And then there’s this entry in the fest’s more experimental, odds-and-sods NEXT sidebar from documentarian Valerie Veatch (Love Child), which takes a more essayistic approach about the history of human advancement through technological advances, and how the combination of utopian ideology, dystopian nightmares and good old-fashioned exploitation are playing into what could happen next with AI.

‘The History of Concrete’

If you’ve seen John Wilson’s brilliant HBO series How to With John Wilson, then you know this one-of-a-kind documentarian has a knack for turning the mundane into the magnificent, not to mention mining B-roll footage for maximum irony. His feature debut picks up where his TV show left off, with Wilson asking a simple question: what is the history of that substance that paves our sidewalks and provides our structures with a strong foundation? His attempt to find an answer will lead him everywhere from a screenwriting class that teaches you how to write a Hallmark movie to a marathon that requires runners to run around a block for 3100 miles. To say “we can’t wait to see this,” per our list’s headline, is severely underselling our excitement.

‘I Want Your Sex’

He (Cooper Hoffman) is a young Angeleno who just scored a plum gig as an artist’s assistant. She (Olivia Wilde) is his new boss, who’s also decided that her new hire will become her “sexual muse.” Considering this cockeyed explored of intimacy, consent, power dynamics and hot ‘n’ heavy kink comes to us courtesy of director, cowriter and New Queer Cinema icon Gregg Arraki (The Living End, The Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin), we expect a post office’s worth of envelopes to get pushed before the end credits roll. Charli XCX, Daveed Diggs, The Studio‘s Chase Sui Wonders and Scream‘s Mason Gooding costar.

‘In the Blink of an Eye’

Pixar legend Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) has spent the last decade directing episodes of top-shelf TV series (Stranger Things, Better Call Saul, For All Mankind). Now he steps back into the world of live-action features — his first since 2012’s John Carter — with this trilogy of tales that spans the prehistoric era to the present day to our distant future. A family of cave dwellers fight to survive the harsh terrain. An anthropology grad student (Rashida Jones) starts a relationship with a peer (Daveed Diggs) while studying the remains of early humans. And an astronaut (Kate McKinnon) roams the galaxy many, many light years from now, trying to ward off a threat to the ship’s in-house ecosphere. Chances are good that there will be numerous similarities between all of these tales, which will lead folks to believe that time sure passes… well, see the title.

‘The Invite’

Olivia Wilde isn’t just at the festival as an actor for hire (see: I Want Your Sex). The hyphenate is also bringing her new directorial effort, the first since 2022’s Don’t Worry Darling — yeah, yeah, we know, quiet down now, people — which centers around two couples gathered together for what’s supposed to be a nice, civil dinner party. Quicker than you can ask who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, the evening devolves into an airing of marital grievances that that threatens to go nuclear. Wilde and Seth Rogen play one of beleaguered duos; Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz play the other. Very curious about this one, in a sort of Bill-Hader-as-Keith-Morrison-chomping-popcorn-meme kind of way.

‘The Moment’

Remember how Charli XCX and “Brat Summer” dominated 2024? The singer-songwriter is now ready to give you a firsthand look at what it was like to be in the eye of that pop-superstar storm, via a cheeky metafictional comedy! Director, co-writer, and longtime Charli collaborator Aidan Zamiri has described this faux-chronicle of the hitmaker on tour as an “alternate history of the Brat era… if she’d made all the wrong choices.” Alexander Skarsgård plays the hottest director in town, who’s been hired to document everything. Rachel Sennott, Kate Berlant, Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Demetriou, and Hailey Gates co-star. We assume the premiere will shock Sundance like a defibrillator.

‘Once Upon a Time in Harlem’

In 1972, the late, great filmmaker William Greaves (Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One) sent out an invite to the last living creators and emissaries of the Harlem Renaissance: come to Duke Ellington’s apartment on the corner of West 157th and St. Nicholas Avenue for a night of cocktails and conversations. Greaves proceeded to document a who’s who of songwriters, authors, poets, theater bigwigs, journalists, movers, and shakers sitting around and reminisced. The footage remained virtually unseen — until now. Thanks to David Greaves, William’s son (and who was operating one of the cameras on that fateful night), we now get to be a fly on the wall as a host of legends detail how they made history and changed American art forever.

‘Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story’

Anyone who has been lucky enough to sample Maria Bamford’s sense of humor — via her stand-up specials, the Comedians of Comedy documentary, her TV show Lady Dynamite, or at a mid-sized theater or club near you — can attest to the fact that she is one of the funniest, smartest, and most unique comics working today. Seriously: name another comedian who would center an entire televised showcase around performing her act live for her parents, and no one else. She’s also had her share of struggles in terms of anxiety, depression, mental instability, and what may or may not be professional self-sabotage (it depends on whether you consider a Target pitch-person talking shit about the superstore to be “self-sabotage.”) Bamford has been long overdue for a solo doc, so thank the good lord that Judd Apatow and co-director Neil Berkeley have not only put this profile together, but refused to play down her issues — or how she’s consistently managed to turn a long, hard stare into the abyss into a tight hour of hilarious material.

‘Public Access’

Before the World Wide Web, before Wayne’s World, before social media and the era of 24-7 content creators and influencers, there was public access television — a wild frontier of would-be talk show hosts, bon vivants, raconteurs, kooks, freaks, and free-speech advocates with a need to push the boundaries of good taste. When New York City introduced the nation’s first public cable channel in 1971, it not only opened the floodgates to a host of DIY entertainers and marginalized communities — it changed what could be said and shown on the air. David Shadrack Smith’s doc gets into the good, the bad, and the Midnight Blue of it all, filling in a lost chapter of media history that’s crazier than you could imagine.

‘See You When I See You’

Jay Duplass — he of the Duplass brothers, Transparent and Industry acting fame, and director of the recent shaggy-dog comedy The Baltimorons — hits Sundance with an adaptation of Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir. Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth) plays the author’s screen counterpart, a young writer named Aaron who’s trying to find his voice. Then a family tragedy forces him to deal with an unbearable loss, and the idea that humor can help guide folks through the darkest of times. If anyone can pull this off without turning this into quirky indie grief-porn, it’s Duplass. Kaitlyn Dever, David Duchovny, Hope Davis, and Lucy Boynton costar.

‘The Shitheads’

Because what is Sundance without a ridiculous buddy comedy, usually involving various dim and/or down-on-their-luck dudes getting into absurd — and absurdly dangerous — situations? Thank god writer-director-actor Macon Blair (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore) stepped up and gave the 2026 edition its requisite bumbling-idiots road-movie farce. O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Dave Franco are hired to transport a rich teen (The Black Phone‘s Mason Thames) to rehab. Simple enough, right? Before you can say The Ransom of Red Chief, however, he’s turning their lives into a living hell. Also along for the ride: Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Braun, Kiernan Shipka, and Killer Mike.

‘The Weight’

No stranger to Sundance — he’s been a constant presence at the fest since Reality Bites premiered there in 1994 — Ethan Hawke stars as a Depression-era dad who ends up in a brutal work camp out in the Oregon wilderness. But there’s this corrupt warden (Russell Crowe), see, and he has an offer: smuggle a mother lode’s worth of gold through a 100 miles of unforgiving terrain, and if he makes it through, the prisoner can go free. The task is way, way harder than it sounds. This sounds so up our action-filled-1970s-style-character-study-survivalist-thriller alley.

‘When a Witness Recants’

It started with a teenager being robbed and murdered for his Georgetown jacket in the hallways of his high school, during the middle of a school day; the 1983 crime would rock the Baltimore neighborhood in which it took place, causing a generation of kids to feel that they were unsafe in their own community. But it would also lead to a gross miscarriage of justice, in which one of the victim’s best friends was coerced by the police to lie about what he witnessed that day — a decision which would send three innocent teens to jail for 36 years. Documentarian Dawn Porter (The Lady Bird Diaries, John Lewis: Good Trouble) and executive producer Ta-Nehisi Coates revisit the case, and dive into the details regarding the conspiracy that landed the trio in jail, how they were eventually exonerated and released, and the sense of guilt that hovered the young man whose decision cost them their freedom.

‘Zi’

Video artist and filmmaker Park Joon Eung — who goes by the nom de artiste Kogonada — has been one of the major Sundance discoveries of the past 10 years, having shown his extraordinary first feature Columbus at the festival in 2017. He’s back with this elliptical, sci-fi–inflected story of a Hong Kong resident (Michelle Mao) who begins to encounter her future self. Then things apparently get weird(er). Longtime collaborator Haley Lu Richardson and Pachinko’s Jin Ha add to the vibes.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post 22 Most Anticipated Movies at Sundance 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

2026 is a year of heavy hitters and legends reclaiming their thrones in K-pop. And it’s an unbelievable lineup at that. BTS is finally dropping their fifth studio album. And it’s going to be a culture-shifting moment. Not to be outdone, EXO is coming through with their eighth full-length album, Reverxe. And for the Blinks?  Blackpink is back “in your area” with their third studio album.

But the nostalgia doesn’t stop here.  BigBang is celebrating a massive two decades in the game, and they’re doing it on one of the world’s biggest stages at Coachella. Meanwhile, if you’re into the more cinematic side of K-pop, Enhypen is pulling us into a whole new universe, exploring the dark fantasy vibes of their upcoming album, The Sin: Vanish.

If anything, it’s going to be the year when K-pop takes over our lives again. Let’s break down the comebacks you absolutely cannot miss in 2026.

BTS

The countdown to BTS’s comeback begins with their fifth studio album, arriving on March 20, 2026. The announcement was made on Weverse, accompanied by special handwritten letters from each member to their fans in the Weverse community. The 14-track record promises to be a showcase of personal growth and gratitude for fans, with all members involved in the creative process. The release comes with an extensive promotional world tour, with over 65 stops globally, potentially including India; the exact details are expected to be announced on Jan. 14, 2026. Pre-orders for the album open on Jan. 16, 2026, accompanied by teaser images and promotional schedules.

EXO

EXO-Ls and K-pop stans are hyped about EXO’s new offering, Reverxe, their eighth full-length album, following Exist in 2023, releasing on January 19, 2026. But this time around, the group includes only six members: Suho, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, and Lay, as Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin won’t be participating due to contract issues with SM Entertainment. The album boasts nine tracks, including the pre-release single “I’m Home.” A world tour is likely in the works, and the fifth season of their reality show, Travel the World on a Ladder, will play a key role in promoting the album.

Blackpink

While Blackpink is on the verge of wrapping up their Deadline World Tour, the K-pop superstars are gearing up for their comeback with their third studio album set to drop in early 2026, as confirmed by YG Entertainment. It marks 10 years since the quartet’s debut in 2016 and will be their first physical release since Born Pink (2022), featuring the lead single “Jump,” which dropped in July 2025 and became one of our top K-pop songs of 2025. Reportedly, in its final stages, band member Lisa recently hinted at the new music, courtesy of an InMusic report, saying, “There’s something for you guys coming, but I won’t say anything because you know I hate spoilers.” Meanwhile, you can catch the Deadline tour’s final shows in Hong Kong (Jan. 24-25, 2026).

BigBang

The K-pop icons will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in style at Coachella on April 12 and 19, 2026, with G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung taking the stage — their first major group performance since 2022’s “Still Life.” The Coachella performance is part of their year-long celebration. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the band is also working on a new album, their first since 2016’s Made and leaving YG Entertainment.

Enhypen

Enhypen’s forbidden love saga continues with their seventh mini-album, The Sin: Vanish, launching a fresh narrative arc in the dark-fantasy universe. The album picks up where Desire: Unleash left off, with lovers forced into exile to keep their love alive amidst a vampire society’s rigid rules. The Sin: Vanish follows a vampire’s existential crisis — if he should cross the line for the one he loves — and hints at Enhypen’s signature blend of styles, rich vocals, a solid sound design, and darker textures. The EP drops on Jan. 16, 2026, at 2 PM KST (12 AM ET) digitally and physically.

The post The Biggest K-Pop Comebacks of 2026: BTS, EXO, and More appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

After the Christmas and New Year’s break, festival season is back in full swing in the coming weeks, bringing in top Indian and international artists as well as experiences that move beyond music performances. Whether it’s the continued resurgence of concerts in Manipur, the 25th edition of Ruhaniyat in multiple cities, a rock and metal-focused edition of GIFLIF in Bhopal, or reggae at Goa Sunsplash, there’s likely something for everyone. While the likes of Magnetic Fields Nomads, and Kala Ghoda Arts Festival are also slated for this period, they are yet to announce their lineups and additional details. In the meantime, here’s a quick roundup of what’s coming up.

Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival  

Jan. 9 to Jan. 11, 2026

Park Exotica Resort, Udaipur

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Focused on music, theater, talks, and of course, performances, the Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival takes place near the Fateh Sagar Lake and features music by the likes of Aanchal Shrivastava (with Sufi and qawwali), actor, VJ, and musician Meiyang Chang performing with his band, as well as inmates from Udaipur’s Central Jail performing and narrating stories.

Get tickets here.

Imphal Indie Music Festival

Jan. 10 and Jan. 11, 2026

Wahyum Eco Resort, Imphal East

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A wholly homegrown effort by Manipur’s music community, the Imphal Indie Music Festival is bringing in favorites like Imphal Talkies, Meewakching, The Dirty Strikes, and more across two days. The lineup also includes Arunachal singer-songwriter Takar Nabam, Mumbai-based Manipur-origin instrumental act Sei Hek, experimental rock act Atingkok, indie-folk act Saelum, and DJ-producer Create Nusanz.

Get tickets here.

Jaipur Music Stage at Jaipur Literature Festival

Jan. 15 to Jan. 17, 2026

Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur

Taking place as an evening program as part of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Jaipur Music Stage has often hosted top acts, and this year’s edition adds even more diversity. U.K.-based sarod artist Soumik Datta brings his Travellers set and shares the lineup billing with Bengaluru folk-fusion act Vasu Dixit Collective on Jan. 15, 2026, while day two on Jan. 16 brings in rock acts like Parvaaz, Raman Negi and Jaipur’s own folk-fusion duo Yugm. Jaipur Music Stage closes on Jan. 17 with sets by Nepali act Gauley Bhai and fusion metallers Thaikkudam Bridge.

Get tickets here.

Kantha Festival at BLR Hubba

Jan. 16 to Jan. 25, 2026

Freedom Park & Various Venues, Bengaluru

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The annual music festival as part of BLR Hubba returns with an international headliner in prog guitarist Marty Friedman performing (with support from folk-metallers The Down Troddence and Manipuri act Ereimang) on Jan. 18, 2026 but there’s a lot more programmed across 10 days. From Mumbai artist Sudan to a Battle of the Bands contest to The Aahvaan Project, Indian Ocean, Kaushiki Chakraborty and Shantanu Moitra’s Pankh performance, there’s something for everyone.

Get info here.

Bloom In Green

Jan. 16 to Jan. 18, 2026

Canterbury Castles, near Nandi Hills, Karnataka

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The sixth edition of Bloom In Green festival moves slightly closer to Bengaluru, taking place near the verdant Nandi Hills with as many workshops as performances for attendees. The music lineup includes U.K. act Hang Massive, Australian electronic artist Merkaba, Indian DJ-producer Calm Chor, Marathi hip-hop artist Shreyas, Mumbai rock act Daira and more. Workshops at the festival explore everything from augmented reality to meditative photography, yoga, dance, contact improv and more.

Get tickets here.

Goa Sunsplash

Jan. 17 and 18, 2026

Thalassa Beach Boutique Resort, Goa

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Celebrating a decade in the running, Goa Sunsplash is bringing reggae, dancehall, dub and ska, among other genres, like few other curated lineups in the country. Artists like Luciano Messenjah, British reggae veteran and activist Macka B, O.B.F. Soundsystem, plus regulars like BFR Soundsystem, Reggae Rajahs, 10,000 Lions Soundsystem also perform, alongside rapper J Queen, fusion act Prem Joshua & Band and more.  

Get tickets here.

GIFLIF Indiestaan Musical Experience

Jan. 18, 2026

MPT DDX Drive In Cinema, Bhopal

Also celebrating a decade in action is GIFLIF, which has put together its heaviest lineup yet for its annual Indiestaan music festival in Bhopal. This time, New Delhi folk-metallers Bloodywood, Solan-origin prog artist Sutej Singh, and New Delhi rock band Leading Drops will perform for a compact but power-packed edition.  

Get tickets here.

Rural Festival

Jan. 23 and Jan. 24, 2026

BudXLoft, Anjuna, Goa

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Promising an unhurried start to the new year, Japan-origin Rural Festival sets up at BudXLoft in Anjuna for an intimate gathering that aims to deliver an experience rather than just performances. At its first-ever edition in Goa, Rural Festival takes place across two days and three stages, including Japanese artists like Gonno, Occa, Atsushi, Dr. Nishimura and Thailand’s Sunju Hargun, U.K. origin veteran DJ Jane Fitz, among others.

Get tickets here.

Ruhaniyat

Jan. 24, 2026 (Bengaluru), Jan. 26 (Hyderabad), Feb. 7 (Chennai), Feb. 14 (Pune)

Various Venues

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Described as a “mystic music festival,” Ruhaniyat is now hosting its 25th edition across four cities starting Jan. 24, 2026, in Bengaluru before traveling to Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. The lineup in Bengaluru includes Baul artist Uttam Das Baul, Spanish artist Eva Serrano, Gambian artist Dawda Jobarteh, Rajasthani vocalist Mir Mukhtiyar Ali, while the Pune edition on Feb. 14, 2026, brings in Parvathy Baul, Warsi Brothers and more.

Get tickets here.

Lollapalooza India

Jan. 24 and Jan. 25, 2026

Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mumbai

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The fourth edition of Lollapalooza India features a heavy-hitter lineup comprising international stars like Playboi Carti and Linkin Park making their debut in the country, plus long-awaited artists like LANY, Sammy Virji, R&B artist Kehlani, Yungblud, Japanese singer-songwriter and pianist Fujii Kaze, synth band The Midnight, and several more across four stages.

Get tickets here.

SulaFest

Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2026

Sula Vineyards, Nashik

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After its comeback edition in 2025, there’s a more India-focused lineup in store at the upcoming SulaFest 2026, held at Sula Vineyards in Nashik. While festival favorite and Italian DJ-producer Gaudi will be returning, the likes of electronic music veterans Nucleya, Midival Punditz, Karsh Kale and more perform alongside hip-hop/pop hitmaker King, rock band The Yellow Diary, folk-rockers Swarathma, electronica artist and drummer Dark Circle Factory, Rajasthani folk-fusion artist Kutle Khan, Mumbai rock band Daira and more across two days.  

Get tickets here.

Sacred Spirit Festival

Feb. 13 to Feb. 15, 2026

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur

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A mainstay folk and fusion festival that brings artists from across India as well as around the globe, Sacred Spirit Festival will host artist such as Chinese act Silk and Bamboo, sarangi artist Sabir Khan’s tribute to tabla legend Zakir Hussain, Iranian percussionist Naghib Shanbehzadeh teaming up with Indian artists including Rajasthani act Mustafa Rehman Ensemble, violinist-composer Ambi Subramaniam collaborating with his Arabic counterpart Zied Zouari and more.

Get info here.

Mahindra Blues Festival

Feb. 14 and 15, 2026

Mehboob Studios, Mumbai

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The Mahindra Blues Festival is back with familiar and stalwart names in the blues world. Multi-Grammy nominee and blues powerhouse vocalist Shemekia Copeland, American guitar great Eric Gales, and British guitarist Matt Schofield will all return to the festival after several years, performing at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios. Joining them is India’s favorite instrumental blues act, Blackstratblues, with bandleader Warren Mendonsa making his way down from New Zealand.

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Bandland

Feb. 14 and 15, 2026

NICE Grounds, Bengaluru

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With U.K. act Muse and American band Train as headliners, it’s a dose of early 2000s rock and pop at the upcoming edition of Bandland festival. Australian prog band Karnivool and the comeback of Mumbai’s beloved hardcore unit Scribe also mark the third edition of Bandland festival. Bengaluru-based rock/heavy metal act Girish and The Chronicles, American pop-punk band Pinkshift, Welsh band James And The Cold Gun, Los Angeles act The Sophs and New York rock act The Thing are also on the lineup.

Get tickets here.

Riders Music Festival

Feb. 21 and 22, 2026

The Great India Place, Noida

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Red FM’s Riders Music Festival was launched in 2016, and a decade on, the gathering of bikers and music lovers is evolving with the times. The lineup this year includes rap heavyweights like Seedhe Maut, shapeshifting artist Chaar Diwaari, electronic artist Nucleya, singer-composer Papon, singer-songwriter Bharat Chauhan, New Delhi band Level Six, and standup comedian Harsh Gujral performing across two days.

Get tickets here.

The post Upcoming Music Festivals on Our Radar in January and February 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

The TV landscape is shifting faster than you can say “Scrubs reboot,” with tectonic pressure from relentless corporate mergers, the specter of AI, and the unsettling fact that no one under 20 even knows what TV is. Nevertheless, creators and showrunners persist. And thank goodness. This year promises another barrage of knockout shows, from prestige dramas to camp comedies. Many of them are packed with stars — or with stars in the making. Some continue stories we haven’t revisited in years; others create whole new worlds we’ve never even imagined. A great TV show can help you escape or connect — sometimes both at the same time. And those are two things we need right now more than ever. Here are 40 upcoming series we can’t wait to get lost in this year.

‘His and Hers’ (Netflix, Jan. 8)

Jon Bernthal. Tessa Thompson. Those two names alone should be enough to whet your whistle for this miniseries based on Alice Feeney’s 2020 novel of the same name. It’s a twisty thriller involving a small-town cop (Bernthal), a TV reporter (Thompson) trying to reclaim her spot as a star news anchor in Atlanta, and a dead body that brings them (back) together. The story reaches back into high-school friendships and marriage drama, and for those who didn’t read the book, chances you know where it’s going are approximately zero. —Maria Fontoura

‘The Pitt’ Season 2 (HBO Max, Jan. 8)

Everybody’s favorite hospital drama (sorry, ER, we moved on with a younger model) is back with 15 new hours of white-knuckle drama. Can it sustain the intensity and depth of Season One? Our bet is yes, and then some. This season sees a new attending physician join the team as Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) prepares to leave the ED on an extended motorcycle trip. Don’t worry: He’s got one last shift to complete before that happens, and we all know how that’s gonna go. Expect the series to deftly touch on more social issues of the day that intersect with our health-care system, from immigration to insurance inequity and more. Paging viewers to HBO Max, stat. —M.F.

‘Industry’ Season 4 (HBO Max, Jan. 11)

Hopefully you took the 15-month break between Industry seasons to brush up on your U.K. finance-speak, because series co-creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay are throwing us directly back into its melee of financial corruption. When this slow-burn prestige drama premiered in 2020, it introduced fans to investment bankers Harper Stern (Myha’la), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Eric Tao (Ken Leung), and their growing cohort of associates who let lust, deception, and some insatiable cocaine habits rule their actions on and off the trading floor. Kit Harington spiced things up in Season Three, and now, a fresh influx of soon-to-be fan favorites like Max Minghella, Kwabena Bannerman, and Kiernan Shipka arrive to give the show an extra jolt of energy. —CT Jones

‘The Night Manager’ Season 2 (Prime, Jan. 11)

Ten years after its debut, the sophomore season of this TV take on John le Carré’s thriller — starring Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier enlisted to nab an arms dealer — has arrived. Olivia Colman returns as Pine’s foreign-office liaison, assigning him to infiltrate the operations of the new big dog on the international smuggling scene. Soon, our man is in Colombia, mixing it up with Camilla Morrone’s sultry businesswoman, Roxana, and getting into dangerous (and by the looks of this trailer, quite steamy) situations. —David Fear

‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ (Paramount+, Jan. 15)

Or: What if Top Gun took place in space and featured Klingons? The latest addition to the venerable Star Trek franchise boldly goes where it has never gone before, i.e. officers training school. Come, follow a bunch of young recruits as they attempt to find out whether they have what it takes to go into the final frontier! Holly Hunter plays the captain of the USS Athena, the starship that doubles as a campus for these cadets; Paul Giamatti, Tatiana Maslany, and Tig Notaro will be on board as well. Stephen Colbert voices the academy’s Digital Dean. —D.F.

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ (HBO, Jan. 18)

Readers of George R.R. Martin’s three Dunk and Egg novellas will be thrilled to see that HBO has chosen these Games of Thrones tales, set close to a century before the events of original series, as their latest GoT spin-off. Peter Claffey is Ser Duncan the Tall, a lowly squire who is liberated from his master and goes to seek his fortune amongst the knights. Dexter Sol Ansell is the future Prince Aegon Targaryen, a child now better known by his nickname “Egg”; he’s the underage Sancho Panza to Dunk’s Don Quixote. Expect a slightly less reverent tour through the Seven Kingdoms, though we assume that here be dragons as well. —D.F.

‘The Beauty’ (FX/Hulu, Jan. 21)

The ever prolific Ryan Murphy’s latest series for FX concerns a new wonder drug that causes people to become instantly smokin’ hot. Sounds great, unless you read the fine print (and who ever does that), which suggests users may experience a few… interesting side effects. The show is based on the comic book of the same name by Jeremy Haun and Jason S. Hurley, though if you think it also sounds like the American Horror Story producer doing his own riff on The Substance, then congratulations! You get to advance to the next round. As usual for a Murphy joint, the cast list is bananas: Ashton Kutcher, Isabella Rossellini, Anthony Ramos, Rebecca Hall, Dahmer’s Evan Peters, Bella Hadid, Billy Eichner, Meghan Trainor, Ben Platt, Peter Gallagher, and Vincent D’Onofrio. —D.F.

‘Wonder Man’ (Disney+, Jan. 27)

MCU alumni Daniel Destin Cretton and Andrew Guest — the former directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings, the latter was a producer on Hawkeye — take a spin at giving the comics’ on-again, off-again Avenger his own series. It remains to be seen whether they’ll delve into the character’s backstory from the books, which is complicated (to say the least). But we do know that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) is stepping into the suit as Simon Williams, a struggling actor who gets the opportunity to audition for the title role of Wonder Man in a big superhero blockbuster. It seems he may be a little too qualified for the role, however, given his own unique powers. Ben Kingsley reprises his role from Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi, Williams’ fellow thespian Trevor Slattery. —D.F.

‘Shrinking’ Season 3 (Apple TV, Jan. 28)

Grief reverberates in new ways for the Shrinking crew in the sweet hangout comedy’s third outing. Jimmy (Jason Segel) struggles with the pending departure of his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) for college, and with the introduction of a potential love interest (played by Cobie Smulders!). Paul (Harrison Ford) faces the rapid progression of his Parkinson’s (including with the spirited help of guest star Michael J. Fox). Brett Goldstein’s guilt-ridden drunk driver Louis comes to a realization about his future, and Jessica Williams’ Gaby gets a spotlight that brings new emotional depth to her fun-loving sidekick character. A sleeper hit whose audience just keeps growing, this show feels like a big squishy hug in chaotic times. —M.F.

‘The ’Burbs’ (Peacock, Feb. 8)

A suburban resident and several neighbors watch as a new couple moves onto their block, and they begin to suspect something fishy is going on. Naturally, these nosy folks decide to start snooping and get way more than they bargained for. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the plot of the 1989 Tom Hanks comedy of the same name. If you’re tempted to yawn about another cult movie from the Rubik’s Cube decade getting a TV makeover, consider this: The creators of this redo cast Keke Palmer in the lead role. Now you have our attention, Peacock! The supporting cast ain’t too shabby, either: Paula Pell, Haley Joel Osment, Weeds’ Justin Kirk, British stand-up Jack Whitehall, Newhart’s Julia Duffy, and What We Do in the Shadows MVP Mark Proksch. —D.F.

‘Dark Winds,’ Season 4 (AMC, Feb. 15)

The Southwestern noir once again drops Zahn McClarnon’s tribal sheriff and Kiowa Gordon’s former fed turned deputy into the middle of a hot case, this time involving a missing Navajo girl last seen on the seamier streets of Los Angeles. Once they and their fellow law enforcement officer (played by Jessia Matten) head to the City of Angels, things quickly go from bad to worse. Run Lola Run‘s Franke Potente and the late, great Udo Kier join a host of returning regulars in this series we’ve consistently hailed as one of TV’s best. —D.F.

‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’ (NBC, Feb. 23)

Tracy Morgan is back! 30 Rock co-creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (along with one of the show’s writers, Sam Means) have crafted a good old-fashioned network sitcom around the comedian, who plays a former NFL great now on the skids. Enter an award-winning filmmaker (Daniel Radcliffe) who wants to help the sports legend rehabilitate his bad image and win back his family and friends. Get Out’s Erika Alexander and SNL alum Bobby Moynihan join in the fun as well. —D.F.

‘Paradise’ Season 2 (Hulu, Feb. 23)

One of the most bonkers shows of 2025 returns — let’s call this round Paradise II: Beyond the Bunker. When we last left the mountains of Colorado (or their undercarriage), evil-ish bajillionaire mastermind Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), code name “Sinatra,” had been shot by definitely evil Secret Service agent Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom). The president (James Marsden), code name “Wildcat,” was still dead. And our hero, special agent Xavier Collins (the always heroic Sterling K. Brown), was piloting a plane back to what remained of aboveground America to hunt for his wife, who he had reason to believe was still alive. This season, we get Shailene Woodley joining the cast and a whole new batch of eye-popping reveals. Strap in. —M.F.

‘Scrubs’ Season 10 (ABC/Hulu, Feb. 25)

Andy Warhol once said that in the future, every sitcom that had at least nine seasons would be rebooted for at least 15 minutes. (We’re pretty sure that’s the quote.) And so, this Primetime Emmy-nominated comedy — which ended, or so we thought, in 2010 — gets a new batch of eps for nostalgia’s sake. Zach Braff and Donald Faison don the titular doctor duds once again, heading back to the teaching hospital of Sacred Heart for more medical misadventures and, we’re assuming, more voiceover commentary. Looks like J.D. and Turk may finally get that man-date after all! —D.F.

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Season 2 (Apple TV, Feb. 27)

The ongoing Monsterverse saga returns to the small screen with more clashes of the Titans — your Kongs, your Godzillas, your other raging, ginormous kaiju beasties. This time around, something wicked this way comes on the great ape’s home of Skull Island, which brings the various humans chasing these creatures together once again. Oh, and there’s some type of sea monster that’s burst onto the scene wreaking oceanic havoc as well. The Russells (Wyatt and Kurt) are back, as is Shōgun‘s Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, and Anders Holm. —D.F.

‘American Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’ (FX/Hulu, February)

If you are old enough to have lived through the Nineties heyday of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — their tumultuous courtship, paparazzi-stalked NYC existence, the unfathomably chic wedding at a tiny chapel in Cumberland Island, Georgia — you understand both the fervor and the glamour producer Ryan Murphy is looking to recapture with this dramatization of their relationship and tragic deaths. (The couple, along with Bessette’s sister, perished in 1999, when the plane John was flying crashed into the Atlantic en route to Martha’s Vineyard.) If you’re a Gen Z newcomer who’s just discovered the pair (mostly Carolyn) as style icons of the era, welcome to the story of one of America’s great tragedies. Murphy’s shown he can do great things with historical spectacles like the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Here’s hoping he honors the last vestige of Camelot. —M.F.

‘Scarpetta’ (Prime Video, March 11)

They call her Kay Scarpetta — a brilliant Italian-American forensic pathologist who uses medical science, the latest technical advances in her field, and her ability to rock an autopsy like nobody’s business to figure out whodunnit. Patricia Cornwell’s popular crime novels come to the small screen with no less than Nicole Kidman playing the sleuth with the scalpel. Jamie Lee Curtis is Kay’s sister; Ariana DeBose is her niece; Bobby Cannavale is a former detective and resident complicated hot guy; and Simon Baker is an FBI profiler. —D.F.

‘Imperfect Women’ (Apple TV, March 18)

Araminta Hall’s 2020 novel gets the celebrity-packed prestige-TV treatment with Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, and Kate Mara playing three lifelong friends known to clink their wine glasses together (see above photo) while hiding whatever jealousies and hurt feelings have bubbled up over time. Then a murder takes place, some secrets come to light, and all hell breaks loose. The book followed a Rashomon-like structure where each woman got a section to delve into her own perspective; no word yet whether the show will do the same. Joel Kinnaman and Corey Stoll co-star. —D.F.

‘Rooster’ (HBO Max, March)

Lately, when we see Steve Carrell on TV, we can’t help but long for his days as Michael Scott. His forays into straight drama often lack the inherent charm he brings to comedic performances. But this series from Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking (hey, three other shows on this list!), and Matt Tarses promises to hit the sweet spot between the two for its star. Carell plays Greg Russo, a famous beach-lit author trying to repair a strained relationship with his adult daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), a college art history professor. The great Danielle Deadwyler plays one of Katie’s colleagues, John C. McGinley is the school’s president, and Phil Dunster (Lasso’s Jamie Tartt) is Katie’s preening estranged husband. That’s a Ph.D.-level comedy ensemble. —M.F.

‘Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair’ (Hulu/Disney+, April 10)

Malcolm fans, rejoice! The beloved Fox sitcom of the early 2000s gets a four-episode update and reunites most of the original cast — notably Frankie Muniz, who played Malcolm; Jane Kaczmarek, a.k.a. Malcolm’s mom Lois; and Bryan Cranston (who sadly never did anything of note after this sitcom, certainly not a drama series with a strong claim to be the best TV show of all time) as Malcolm’s dad Hal. It seems Mom and Dad are celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary in a big way and demand the presence of their son with the genius I.Q. This is easier said than done, apparently. Cue shenanigans. —D.F.

‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ (Apple TV, April 15)

This miniseries adapting Rufi Thorpe’s bestselling novel follows down-on-her-luck single mom Margo (Elle Fanning), desperately trying to raise her baby after an ill-advised affair ends in an unexpected pregnancy. Her estranged parents — mom (Michelle Pfeiffer) was a Hooters waitress and dad (Nick Offerman) a semipro wrestler — don’t have much advice in the way of child-rearing. But when bills pile up, Margo turns her frustration with life into a quirky and wildly successful run on OnlyFans. Pfeiffer’s husband, the legendary TV creator David E. Kelley, serves as showrunner, and Nicole Kidman co-stars, because she is simply not busy enough. —CTJ

‘Widow’s Bay’ (Apple TV, April 29)

Writer-producer Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation) and director Hiro Murai (Atlanta) gin up a horror-comedy starring Matthew Rhys as a small-town mayor who wants to turn an island community off the coast of New England into a touristy hot spot. The locals aren’t crazy about the idea, due to some sort of ancient curse. The mayor ignores their warnings. Bad idea. This sounds like a cross between a Stephen King novel and a Northern Exposure-type sitcom, which, OK, we’re here for it. —D.F.

‘Euphoria’ Season 3 (HBO Max, April 2026)

How do you solve a problem like an overwrought high school television series? For Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, the answer may be granting fans their long-awaited time jump. According to early interviews, Season Three of the blockbuster series — returning after a four-year hiatus — begins five years down the road from where we last saw its characters, pushing Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Lexi (Maude Apatow), Nate (Jacob Elordi), Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), and Maddy (Alexa Demie) out of the schoolyard and straight into the world of adulthood. That means plotlines about Nate and Cassie’s marriage, Rue’s ongoing debt to a drug dealer, and Maddy’s potential involvement with a strip club. The show will also welcome 18 new cast members, including a guest appearance by viral content creator and former exotic dancer Trisha Paytas. If messy is the theme, this season might have it in full. —CTJ

‘Man on Fire’ (Netflix, Spring 2026)

If you had asked us beforehand whether we needed a TV-series version of A.J. Quinnell’s Eighties thriller novel of the same name, which was already adapted into not one but two movies — a 1987 flop starring Scott Glenn and a gritty 2004 nail-biter starring none other than Denzel Washington and directed by Tony Scott — we would’ve offered a hard no. But this unexpected take starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the troubled ex-Special Forces soldier John Creasy, and helmed by Creed II director Steven Caple Jr., is mighty enticing. Bobby Cannavale, Scoot McNairy, and Alice Braga co-star — and keep your eye on newcomer Billie Boullet, who plays Creasy’s young charge. —M.F.

‘Elle’ (Prime, Summer 2026)

What, like it’s hard to make a prequel series based on a beloved movie that came out 25 years ago and spawned two sequels (one still in production) and a musical? Well, yeah. It sounds like it is. But, with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company behind this latest foray into the Legally Blonde universe, we trust it’s in great hands. The new show will follow a young Elle Woods (played by Lexi Minetree, handpicked by Witherspoon herself) on her high school adventures in Bel Air. There’s sure to be plenty of pink, pools, parties, and deceptively adorable overachieving. —M.F.

‘The Bear’ Season 5 (Hulu, 2026)

The Bear may have lost its crown as the series America is most obsessed with (see: The Pitt, another hilarious comedy) but don’t pretend you’re not counting the days till the next batch of episodes following Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) — who’s emerging as the show’s focal point — Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and the gang. Last season ended on a properly big moment: Carmy is turning over the restaurant to Syd and leaving cooking to go deal with his glaring emotional problems (maybe this season he’ll say something other than “sorry” to everyone). How will that decision actually play out? We can’t wait to find out. —M.F.

‘Beef’ Season 2 (Netflix, 2026)

When it dropped back in 2023, Lee Sung Jin’s Beef was as shocking as a slap across the face with a cold slab of raw meat. That’s a compliment, to be clear. The show was original, bold, clever, and shifty — the tone and plot always racing and zagging one step ahead, urging you to keep up. Its tale of dueling revenge schemes — and how they intoxicated and nearly destroyed their perpetrators — was so expertly played by stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, it was tough to shake. As a limited series, we didn’t necessarily expect to see it again; but now it returns in anthologized form, with a new cast featuring Oscar Isaac (!) and Carey Mulligan (!!). —M.F.

‘Blade Runner 2099’ (Amazon, 2026)

After Denis Villeneuve extended and expanded upon the, ah, Bladerverse with Blade Runner 2049, his 2017 sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi cinema game-changer, fans hoped that wouldn’t be the last we’d see of replicants and bounty hunters running around dystopian worlds. Thankfully, this series grabs the baton and fast-forwards 50 years, where it’s safe to guess that androids still dream of electric sheep and the elite law enforcers known as blade runners still track down rogue bots. Details are scarce, but we do the know year in which the action takes place (see title), and that Hunter Schafer, Michelle Yeoh, and Furiosa’s Tom Burke star. Frankly, you had us at “Blade Runner.” —D.F.

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale’ (Hulu, 2026)

OK, so this entry may be an act of wishful thinking — precious little has been confirmed about this reboot — but the Buffy faithful have been engaging in such fantasies for years, so why stop now. Here’s what we can say, based on reports and interviews out there in the world: No, the problematic showrunner behind the original teen-horror series to end all teen-horror series will not be helming this extension of the 1990s classic. Yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar will be returning as Buffy Summers, the worst thing ever to happen to vampires, ghouls, demons, and other creatures of the night. Word is that the OG slayer revisits the place she once called home and finds that things around the ol’ Hellmouth are still alive and kicking. The executive producers include Gellar, director Chloé Zhao, and Dolly Parton — seriously! —D.F.

‘The Comeback’ Season 3 (HBO, 2026)

Plenty of shows take time off between seasons; few take a whole decade. But by doing just that, The Comeback — a mockumentary series starring Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a onetime television It girl — is able to skewer Hollywood’s ever-changing expectations of its female stars. The first season, in 2005, saw a 40-year-old Cherish taking on a matronly character in a network sitcom, while also documenting her journey on the then-nascent platform of reality TV. Season Two, in 2014, had her struggling to find her place within the world of streaming prestige dramedies. Twelve years later, as social media stars reshape the entertainment landscape, where will Cherish fit in? There’s only one way to find out. —Elisabeth Garber-Paul

‘DTF St. Louis’ (HBO Max, 2026)

Does that acronym mean what you think it means? It sure does! This miniseries follows some bored and frustrated middle-America married folks (played by Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour) who wind up in an extramarital entanglement — and then one of them winds up dead. As with much of creator Steven Conrad’s work (like the cult-favorite series Patriot), expect more than meets the eye: This show promises to be quirky, darkly funny, and sometimes just dark. With this cast (which also includes Richard Jenkins as a cop investigating the death), we’ll follow wherever it leads. —M.F.

‘East of Eden’ (Netflix, 2026)

In 1955, Elia Kazan directed a film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s opus that was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Actor for its star, James Dean. Seven decades later, his granddaughter Zoe Kazan has written and executive produced this adaptation for television. Florence Pugh stars as the volatile Trask family matriarch Cathy Ames, who flees motherhood for life as a bordello madam. Christopher Abbott is her abandoned husband, Adam. Mike Faist plays Adam’s brother Charles. But the spotlight will really be on up-and-comers Joe Anders (Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes’ son) and Joseph Zada, tackling the roles of doomed twins Aron and Cal, respectively, and bringing the full weight of this intergenerational saga to bear. —M.F.

‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 (Apple TV, 2026)

When we last left Ronald D. Moore’s extraordinary sci-fi show about an alt-historical space race, Mars colony rebels pulled off a “heist” of a resource-valuable asteroid, an ensuing riot almost left one person dead, and the former head of NASA got marched off to the hoosegow. Season Five should pick up right after the previous finale’s ended, with a time jump to 2012 and the fate of our tenure on the Red Planet secure… for now. Mankind OGs Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, and Wrenn Schmidt are all slated to return for what may (or may not) be the Apple TV drama’s final go-round. —D.F.

‘Half Man’ (BBC/HBO Max, 2026)

After the runaway success of Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer, folks wondered what the writer-actor was going to do next. The answer: an equally intense-sounding drama, co-produced by HBO and BBC, about two brothers with a river of bad blood between them. When one shows up unannounced to the other’s wedding, several decades’ worth of issues bubble up to the surface. Jamie Bell plays one of the siblings; Gadd plays the other, and judging from the early stills, it looks like our guy has been hitting the gym for the role. —D.F.

‘The Hunting Wives’ Season 2 (Netflix, 2026)

In the immortal words of Billy Eichner, let’s go lesbians! Netflix’s campy surprise-hit charting the lives of a group of lying, cheating, murdering, girl-kissing Texas women is returning for another season. This comically entertaining take on the airport-novel thriller puts small-town mysteries mostly on the back burner in favor of seeing its main characters conduct steamy, sapphic affairs in as many scenes as possible. While Season One ended with no fewer than five dead bodies, there are still plenty of questions the writers need to answer — and plenty of new ladies to introduce to the group. After all, there is at least one vacancy. Our only request? Let Malin Ackerman keep her godawful shake-and-go wig. —CTJ

‘Spider-Noir’ (Amazon, 2026)

Remember that film noir-style alt-version of Spidey from Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, voiced by none other than Nicolas Cage? The fan favorite gets his own live-action series, with Cage reprising the role of Ben Reilly, a 1930s private dick who, in his spare time, fights mobsters and criminals as a costumed superhero. Even if you’re not a fan of the comics or those animated Spiderverse movies, this sounds like a retro crime-flick blast. Brendan Gleeson, Lamorne Morris, Jack Huston, Lukas Haas, and Sinners’ Li Jun Li co-star. —D.F.

‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’ (Netflix, 2026)

The Duffer brothers follow up their truly epic Stranger Things run with this nuptial horror series from showrunner Haley Z. Boston, about a bride and groom prepping for their big day. Before their knot can officially be tied, they must deal with a possible derailing factor. What, exactly, threatens their union, you ask? We don’t know, but if the title is to believed — and you factor in that Boston was a writer on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and this show’s executive producers gave us the Upside Down — let’s assume it’s very, very bad indeed. —D.F.

‘Ted Lasso,’ Season 4 (Apple TV, 2026)

So remember how Ted Lasso‘s third season was rumored to be its last? Apparently the good folks involved with AFC Richmond are ready to get back on the pitch. Apple confirmed that production on the award-winning series’ fourth season was underway via a video that appeared to show Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, and Jeremy Swift filming a scene in an American diner. No word on whether this will now be a transatlantic workplace comedy, though fellow series regulars like Brett Goldstein and Nick Mohammed are said to be returning for this extra-time batch of episodes. —D.F.

‘Vladimir’ (Netflix, 2026)

Rachel Weisz and White Lotus breakout Leo Woodall star in Julia May Jonas’ adaptation of her own 2022 novel, about a college professor experiencing a marital crisis after her fellow-academic husband is accused of inappropriate behavior with students. She then develops a deep fixation on a hot young novelist who has recently joined the university’s faculty. If the limited series is half as suggestive as the book’s cover, we may be in for one of the hornier prestige dramas of the year. —D.F.

‘Yellowjackets’ Season 4 (Showtime/Paramount+, 2026)

Not since Lost have survivors of a plane crash had so many quasi-spiritual, totally confusing experiences in the wilderness — only this time there’s cannibalism, same-sex love stories, grunge-era needle drops, and a slew of 1990s teen stars we’d watch read a phone book (looking at you, Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, and Juliette Lewis). Last we saw the remaining members of the Wiskayok High girls soccer team in the wild, they were pretty sure they’d devised a method to contact the outside world for rescue; meanwhile, their 2020s counterparts were trying to figure out if the mysterious “it” could be passed on to younger generations. This will be the series’ final season, so hopefully showrunners Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, and Jonathan Lisco will fare better than that other plane-crash show in tying up the loose ends. —EGP

From Rolling Stone US.

The post The 40 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

To say 2025 was the year India’s music festival circuit hit its all-time peak would be an understatement. From Lollapalooza India bringing down global icons like Green Day and Louis Tomlinson, to Rolling Loud making its long-awaited debut in the country with a roaring lineup featuring Central Cee, Don Toliver, NAV, and Karan Aujla, it’s been a watershed moment for the live music market. But India cementing its place in the global festival circuit has been decades in the making.

Building steady momentum since the early 2000s, independent trailblazers like Ziro Festival and NH7 Weekender have been laying the groundwork for today’s explosion, while fledgling efforts are finding a new footing in cities that move beyond the metro bubble. The music festival circuit has evolved into a network of formats, scales and intentions that coexist across the country, each serving a different purpose within the live ecosystem. Some festivals are designed to operate on a global level, drawing in international touring routes and large-scale productions. Others are rooted in place, culture, or community, building something slower and more intimate. A few sit somewhere in between, evolving year after year as audiences and scenes change around them. 

In a hyper-saturated concert economy, it’s harder than ever to tell which festivals actually matter and which will vanish into your Instagram archive. Our writers and editors scoured through lineups, fished out old wristbands, excavated photo storage folders, and debated over Excel sheets to put together a definitive list of festivals that cut through the noise. Each entry is shaped by how consistently the festival has delivered, how clearly it understands its identity, and how well it has earned the trust of its audience. Curation, production, cultural relevance, and long-term impact all factor into how these festivals stack up, especially in a market that is expanding as quickly and unevenly as India’s. 

Here are the top 25 music festivals in India, ranked.

25. Cherry Blossom Festival 

Cherry Blossom Festival has long positioned itself as Shillong’s bid for a place on India’s touring circuit, and while the intent is commendable, the execution has increasingly leaned toward spectacle over substance. Early editions struck a more considered balance between international headliners and the region’s deeply rooted music culture, but recent lineups have pivoted heavily toward familiar, big-ticket global names like Jason Derulo, The Script, Akon, and Boney M. While regional artists remain part of the programming, they receive little of the spotlight, scale, or consideration given to the global acts, leaving them eclipsed rather than meaningfully showcased. Their presence now feels more token than foundational. As India’s festival ecosystem grows more discerning, the lack of a clearer curatorial identity and a stronger commitment to the Northeast’s own musical legacy becomes harder to ignore. Cherry Blossom’s place at last on the list reflects that tension: a festival with undeniable potential, but one that risks becoming another touring stop rather than a destination with a distinct voice. – Shamani Joshi 

24. Sunburn 

There’s no denying what Sunburn once meant. At a time when large-scale electronic music festivals were virtually nonexistent in India, it played a foundational role in shaping the country’s early EDM culture. It brought down global heavyweights like Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, and Above & Beyond as far back as 2007, and introduced an entire generation to the idea of destination-style dance festivals. That legacy still carries weight. Over time, however, repeated issues around crowd management, entry and exit bottlenecks, logistics, communication, and on-ground coordination have chipped away at that goodwill. The conversation around Sunburn today is less about discovery and more about endurance: how long the lines will be, how congested movement might feel, and how exhausting the overall experience can become. In a festival ecosystem that has matured significantly, these shortcomings are more visible than ever. Audiences now know what well-run festivals look like, and they expect that same standard from a festival of Sunburn’s scale. Its ranking at No. 24 reflects that growing gap between legacy and lived experience, and the hope that the on-ground reality can still rise to match the ambition that once made Sunburn so pivotal. – Peony Hirwani  

23. DGTL India

DGTL India brought clean, industrial sounds and aesthetics lodged at the fringes of electronic music to a bigger spotlight. Since the festival’s India debut in Bengaluru in 2020, its editions across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru have followed the global blueprint of modular stage design, art‑forward installations, and a roster of international artists like Solomun, Maribou State, SPFDJ, Ellen Allien, Yotto, and Hector Oaks, alongside cult-favorite local names like Sickflip, Anyasa, Parallel Voices, and Kollision. For India’s electronic loyalists, it has become the go-to space to experience international-quality production and underground sounds, presented with restraint. In recent editions, however, its growing scale and broader appeal have softened some of the grungy energy the festival was founded on, a dilution that places DGTL at No. 23 on the list. – S.J. 

22. Udaipur World Music Festival  

While Rajasthan has always had music festivals catering to different demographics, the Udaipur World Music Festival is a prime example of what a free music festival can do for the city’s spirit. Hosted since 2016 and conceptualized and produced by event company Seher, in the past, they’ve had morning sessions that give you a view of the iconic Lake Palace and evening sessions that take place in the heart of the city. Whether it’s hip-hop from Cote d’Ivoire or Yemeni folk or Portuguese folk rock, these acts have been presented alongside Indian favorites like Karsh Kale, Farhan Akhtar, Shaan, Kutle Khan, and others, making it a wide-ranging curation that leads the way when it comes to free music festivals for all.  – Anurag Tagat 

21. Outrage Festival  

After the Great Indian Rock Festival, there hasn’t really been a gathering for heavy music in the capital city of Delhi, and Outrage Festival steadily built itself from indoor club editions that shook up several venues to finally going open-air in the hopes of larger gatherings. They are 11 editions in, and while it’s not been without challenges — tech-death metallers Cryptopsy did not play their headline set owing to local authorities shutting down the festival earlier than anticipated in November 2025 — Outrage has definitely given metalheads in the capital a lot to look forward to in otherwise parched times. The likes of Bloodywood have got their much-anticipated homecoming gig, while Bhayanak Maut, Kryptos, and Gutslit marked their rare appearance in the capital, alongside local rock and metal acts who don’t always find a stage.  – A.T. 

20. Jazz Weekender  

The Jazz Weekender has slowly evolved into India’s most interesting jazz-adjacent melting pot, even if strict purists might look elsewhere. The fourth edition, held this October, leaned fully into jazz as a connective language rather than a closed genre, turning the festival into a live crossroads between hip-hop, R&B, electronica, funk, and improvisation. That philosophy peaked with Gujarati rap phenom Dhanji’s blistering 13-piece jazz-funk ensemble, an audacious, loose set that felt completely at home on this stage, alongside Mark de Clive-Lowe’s shape-shifting live remix performance. By framing jazz as a living, adaptive form rather than a museum piece, the Jazz Weekender has become one of the circuit’s most forward-leaning experiments, and a proper showcase for some of India’s finest live performances of the year. – Sharan Sanil 

19. Hornbill Festival 

One of the earliest instances of the state government getting involved in promoting Indian independent artists has arguably come from Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival. What started out as the Hornbill Rock Contest and then became Ticket To Hornbill became a launchpad for bands ranging from The F16s to Yesterdrive, Joint Family, Underground Authority, and Perfect Strangers since 2006. Kohima and its nearby town of Kisama threw their doors open for guests from all over in a cultural showcase like few others. The music is at the core of this, with evening performances from international and national stars alike, ranging from folk to rock to metal at the Naga Heritage Village. Nagaland has led with soft power for decades, and Hornbill is their annual blowout, packed with new discoveries as well as seasoned favorites on the lineup. – A.T. 

18. K-Town 3.0 

One of the few festivals in the country that has consistently tapped into India’s massive Hallyu wave, K-Town 3.0 comes in at No. 18 on this list simply because of the way it has managed to deliver a large-scale festival dedicated entirely to Korean music and culture. Renowned for bringing global K-pop heavyweights to the country, its past editions have featured names like BamBam (GOT7), Xiumin (EXO), Taemin (SHINee), and SUPER JUNIOR-D&E, alongside R&B and rock acts such as B.I, Bang Ye-Dam, Jey, and ONEWE. 

While the festival touts itself as bringing the best of K-culture, including food, beauty, and lifestyle, under one roof through meet-and-greets, official merchandise, pop-up karaoke, and photobooths, what truly gives it its warmth and spirit is the way it also doubles as a community that brims with fandom spirit. You’ll find attendees exchanging photocards, strangers vibing at impromptu flash mobs, and people headbanging to artists they’re probably hearing for the first time, emphasizing the long-standing power of community within the live music ecosystem. K-Town Fest has not only satiated the desi audience’s insatiable appetite for authentic, immersive experiences but also established itself as a platform for musical discovery. – Sharanyaa Nair 

17. South Side Story 

Red FM took an ambitious call when they decided to host a South India-themed music, food, and culture festival outside of the region itself with South Side Story. Then again, perhaps the whole idea was to call on the South Indian community that had settled in cities like New Delhi and Mumbai for a celebration of all things Malayali. Spearheaded by Red FM’s Kerala-origin chief operating officer and director Nisha Narayanan, South Side Story was launched in 2019 to mark Onam festivities. So you can come for performances by bands like Agam, Thaikkudam Bridge, and rapper Arivu, but stay for the sadhya (traditional and wholesome Kerala meals served on a banana leaf). Each edition sees attendees come out in their best lungis and white sarees, also becoming a draw for anyone who’s curious and happy to celebrate South India. – A.T. 

16. Bollywood Music Project  

One of the loudest efforts to take Bollywood tunes from cinema halls to the live stage, the Bollywood Music Project, now eight editions strong, has become a living archive of the genre’s enduring appeal. The festival has showcased legacy powerhouses like Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan, Usha Uthup, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Salim-Sulaiman, while also holding space for names like Dino James, Nucleya, Priyashi Shrivastava, Divine, and more. In doing so, it has carved out a space where generations of listeners converge, offering Bollywood loyalists a live experience steeped in nostalgia, collective memory, and a shared sense of pride in the music that has shaped popular culture. – Veer Mehta 

15. Orange Festival of Adventure and Music, Dambuk  

Whether you were flying in by helicopter or crossing a seasonally dried-up river bed, or perhaps taking a ferry across the Brahmaputra from Dibrugarh, getting to the Orange Festival of Music and Adventure in Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh, is, well, an adventure. Infrastructure like bridges have made the festival much more accessible for anyone to come for the orange orchards, river rafting, and off-road 4×4 events on the sidelines, but stay for the music. OFAM has hosted the likes of American rock act P.O.D., guitar great Yngwie Malmsteen, rock guitarist Richie Kotzen, rap-rock act Flipsyde, Indian stars like Divine, Ritviz, When Chai Met Toast, and more since 2016. It has quenched the thirst for rock in the Northeast but also now moved into a space of curating national stars, making sure OFAM has evolved for Arunachal as well as the rest of the region.  – A.T.  

14. Ocha Festival  

Ocha Festival is less a conventional music festival and more a cultural convergence point for Kerala’s youth. Fiercely genre and language-agnostic, it reflects how Malayalam rap, English bars, and bass-heavy EDM coexist without hierarchy, mirroring a scene that values intent and authenticity over rigid categorisation. What sets Ocha apart is its culture-first approach. The festival prioritises community, energy, and scene-building rather than spectacle, allowing audiences to engage deeply with the music and the movements behind it. Watching thousands rap along to SA’s English verses or respond with equal fervor to Malayalam hip-hop underscores how “local” here is expansive, not limiting. This year’s highlights included Tamil rapper Asal Kolaar, the OG English rapper and crowd favorite SA, and rising artists such as Lil Payyan and EFY, alongside appearances from Dabzee and Vedan, while forerunners like Thirumali and Thudwiser anchored the lineage of Kerala’s hip-hop journey. Ocha stands out as a festival that documents a scene in motion: rooted in culture, confident in its identity, and unconcerned with external validation. – Srishti Das 

13. Goa Sunsplash

Goa Sunsplash feels like stepping into a reggae utopia carved out of sunshine, community, and impossibly good vibes. Rooted in the ethos of peace, unity, and sound-system culture, this beachfront gathering, founded by Delhi reggae collective Reggae Rajahs in 2016, rolls out a steady pulse of roots, dub, dancehall, and Afro-Caribbean grooves. Mornings ease in with yoga and wellness, afternoons drift into bass-heavy bobbing, and nights belong to massive sound systems shaking up palm trees under starlit skies. What sets Sunsplash apart is its sincerity: there are no gimmicks, just a deeply global yet distinctly Goan celebration where music and community float together on the same warm tide. – S.J. 

12. Bangalore Open Air 

Starting out in 2012 on a college campus, event organizer Salman U. Syed’s bullish bet on giving India a regular metal festival has led to 12 editions of Bangalore Open Air (BOA) in the Garden City. From Suffocation, Kreator, Rotting Christ and Mayhem to In Flames, Animals As Leaders, Alcest and several more, BOA has always been focused on bringing international acts to India. Where production challenges and cancelations have been nagging at them for years, the ship seems to have steadied with recent editions, with the 2025 outing bringing in Ukrainian metallers Jinjer and prog legends Cynic. Metalheads in India haven’t exactly been overrun with options but BOA has been that no-bullshit gathering they can look towards for quality international acts alongside Indian heavy-hitters. – A.T.  

11. Mahindra Kabira Festival, Varanasi  

Endeavoring to put forward the teachings and life of Kabir “in every sense,” the Mahindra Kabira Festival set up in the tourist hotspot and holy city of Varanasi to add a meaningful musical dimension. From sunrise sessions that take you on a boat ride on the Ganga for a ghat-side concert, to storytelling-led city tours and power-packed evening concerts, Mahindra Kabira Festival is the tourist-friendly gateway to Varanasi, but with music curation at its core. From Shubha Mudgal to Indian Ocean, The Raghu Dixit Project, Ranjini-Gayatri, Kaushiki Chakraborty, and several more, there’s a sonic diversity that makes you overlook the fact that artists often draw from the most popular Kabir couplets for their compositions. You might hear a lot of “Moko Kahan” and “Udd Jayega Hans Akela,” but there’s a new soul injected by varied artists. Working with New Delhi’s Teamwork Arts also brings forward theater performances and literary discussions to offer a more holistic deep dive into the poet-saint’s life and work. – A.T. 

10. Rolling Loud India 

Rolling Loud India earns its place on the list because of what it represents for hip-hop in this country. As the Indian edition of the world’s most recognizable rap festival, its arrival marked a turning point — a signal that Indian hip-hop had grown large enough, visible enough, and commercially viable enough to host a format built almost entirely around the genre. The ambition is undeniable: Rolling Loud India brought global hip-hop framing, scale, and intent into a scene that has largely grown from the ground up. Its strength lies in that statement alone, that rap here deserves dedicated infrastructure, headline treatment, and festival real estate without being boxed into side stages or genre silos. At the same time, its ranking reflects a festival still finding its footing locally. The challenge ahead is depth: building stronger continuity, sharper curation, and a deeper connection to India’s regional hip-hop ecosystems beyond the marquee moment. As a first chapter, Rolling Loud India opened the door. What it becomes next will decide how far up this list it climbs in the years to come. – P.H. 

9. NH7 Weekender 

Billed as India’s “happiest music festival,” NH7 Weekender is one of the OGs of India’s modern festival scene. Weekender always felt like a sprawling, communal reunion, whether it’s Pune’s warm afternoons spilling into electronic-charged evenings, or drum ’n’ bass, or pop, hip-hop, and metal sharing the same grounds in Shillong’s hills. It’s the place where college kids discovered their first indie favourites and where artists like Prateek Kuhad, The Local Train, When Chai Met Toast, Parekh & Singh, Lifafa, and more found their earliest festival-stage highs. After the 2024 Pune weekend was cancelled hours before gates opened due to law-and-order concerns, the festival is now toying with a multi-genre one-day festival format, touring in cities like Jaipur, Indore, and Noida while grasping onto the same indie spirit that made it so memorable. – S.J. 

8. Sacred Spirit Festival 

Sacred Spirit Festival earns its place by doing something very few festivals in India attempt, let alone sustain: slowing down. Set against the backdrop of Jodhpur, the festival has carved out a space that prioritizes spiritual, folk, and indigenous music traditions, creating an experience that feels intentional rather than overstimulating. What sets Sacred Spirit apart is its curatorial clarity. The focus isn’t on chasing trends or ticket-selling headliners, but on building a programme that foregrounds cultural exchange, heritage, and context. Performances feel rooted, often immersive, and closely tied to the setting, allowing audiences to engage with music that exists outside the mainstream festival circuit. Its ranking reflects both its strength and its specificity. Sacred Spirit is not designed to be everything to everyone, and that’s precisely why it works. By staying true to its ethos and audience, it has become one of the few Indian festivals where the experience extends beyond the stage, leaving a lasting impression that goes beyond a weekend of live sets. – P.H. 

7. Mahindra Blues Festival  

If the blues have a home in India, it’s the Mahindra Blues Festival at Mehboob Studios in Bandra, Mumbai. It’s really that specific, down to the venue and the locality, and not just the city, because Mahindra Blues has been doing this since 2011. From Buddy Guy to John Mayall, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Keb Mo, and others, the 2026 edition brought back blues veterans like Shemekia Copeland and Eric Gales. Repeating acts could be a negative at most festivals, but with blues, you know you’re getting an electrifying performance every time, and the Mahindra Blues Festival seems to have cemented their audience on the basis of that, among other aspects like just running a well-organized and limited capacity event that’s meant for blues lovers. Along the way, they’ve even continued to spotlight Indian blues acts like Soulmate, Blackstratblues, Kanchan Daniel and Arinjoy Trio, who wouldn’t get a dedicated festival stage otherwise.  – A.T.  

6. RIFF 

The Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) transforms the majestic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur into a world-music cauldron, marrying centuries-old Rajasthani traditions with global sounds. Taking place during Sharad Purnima under full-moon skies, the festival welcomes folk ensembles, fusion groups, and international collaborators from far edges of the world into its stunning open-air courtyards. Workshops on instruments like the kamaicha and khartal sit alongside Kalbelia and Ghoomar dance performances, while its UNESCO recognition and Mick Jagger lore draw artists and audiences from around the world. A folk celebration with roots deep enough to touch every genre it embraces, its most standout moment is the RIFF Rustle, a one-of-a-kind, all-artist improvisational finale that feels completely electric. – S.J. 

5. Echoes of Earth   

Among Bengaluru’s mainstay music festivals, sustainability is in the DNA of Echoes of Earth, and that’s always been executed without compromise. From upcycled materials for stage design modeled on India’s wildlife, psychedelic art installations that mirror Burning Man, as well as workshops, film screenings, and plant-based food options, there’s been a consistent vision with Echoes that has been both intertwined with music and also existing alongside the performances from Indian and international artists. Often having a bent towards electronic artists as well as genre-agnostic acts, Echoes of Earth’s animal-backdrop stages have featured fungi-obsessed oddities like Modern Biology to Tuareg desert rock act Tinariwen, groovemasters in the Yussef Dayes Experience, Indo-American experimentalist Sid Sriram, and more. The electronic stage involves a walk deeper into the woods near Embassy International Riding School, making the experience of techno and house (among other styles) hypnotic and enveloping. – A.T. 

4. Ziro Festival

In action since 2012 in a verdant valley in Arunachal Pradesh, Ziro Festival is as much a showcase of emerging and established talent from Northeast India as it is for alternative acts from the rest of India and the world. Ziro Festival has been home to international artists ranging from post-rock giants Mono, guitar great Lee Ranaldo to rock experimentalist Damo Suzuki, mainstream hitmakers Kailasa, Lucky Ali, Farhan Akhtar and Shilpa Rao. The stages are built from bamboo, there are traditional folk dances to welcome attendees and ever so often, there’s rain, mist and fog that makes the festival grounds in the town of Biirii like no other music setting in the country. Home stays have grown, as have hotels and campsites, proving hod music festivals can support local economies even as Ziro carefully select their partners each year, making sure Ziro is a place you escape to, not just for the music. – A.T. 

3. Bandland  

Coming up to its third edition in February 2026, Bengaluru got a rock music festival it could call its own after long thanks to Bandland. Still experimenting with lineups that have ranged from Deep Purple to Avenged Sevenfold to The War on Drugs and soon, Muse and pop band Train, Bandland runs a tight ship when it comes to production, crowd management, and tasteful but not clichéd design. Setting realistic ambitions is key for any festival to survive, and Bandland seem to be doing just that. So far, it’s not been stuffed with brand activations, and that makes it a bit more unique, perhaps because it’s trying to build a home for everyone, from parents and their children to new listeners wanting to discover the diverse world of rock and metal. – A.T. 

2. Magnetic Fields 

Ranking as the runner-up, Magnetic Fields has earned its spot for being one of the most forward-thinking festivals to pop up in the country. One of those hush-and-wink secrets you just have to be part of to truly understand, the festival established itself as a sensorial, intuitive escape where underground electronic and avant-garde sounds collided with immersive art, virtual-reality escapes, and wellness sessions like breathwork and stargazing. Previously set against the backdrop of the 17th-century Alsisar Mahal, ravers lugged suitcases through sand dunes, stumbled into secret dungeon stages, floated through palace hallways at 4 AM, danced their way through the biting desert chill, and woke up to the sound of khartals and sarangis. Over its decade-long run, it has hosted artists like Four Tet, DJ Koze, Khruangbin, Young Marco, Peter Cat Recording Co., and Ahadadream, while also carving out space for Rajasthani folk collaborations. While it skipped this year’s edition, it’s now evolving into Magnetic Fields Nomads and is set to re-launch in February 2026 at a new Rajasthan site. And if its past curation is any indication, revellers can hopefully expect late-night raves done right, a lineup with taste, and an atmosphere that can’t really be manufactured. – S.J. 

1. Lollapalooza India 

Lollapalooza India sits at the top of this list because it represents a clear shift in how India is positioned within the global festival ecosystem. It isn’t just a franchise landing on Indian soil, but a large-format event that has proven, in real terms, that India can sustain international touring schedules, headline-level production, and multi-genre programming at scale. What sets it apart is consistency and intent. The festival understands exactly what it’s meant to be: a gateway between global touring circuits and Indian audiences that still makes room for domestic artists across stages and genres. Its curation balances pop, rock, electronic, and hip-hop without feeling scattered, and its production standards match what audiences expect from the Lollapalooza name globally. More importantly, Lollapalooza India has shifted perception. It has helped move India from being seen as an optional stop to a serious market within global touring conversations. In doing so, it has raised the bar not just for international-format festivals, but for the entire live music circuit that now operates around it. – P.H. 

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As a wise man once said, so this is the new year — which means we’ve got a whole lotta new movies on the horizon. We’ve peered ahead at what’s hitting theaters and streamers over the next 12 months, and picked out 50 titles that are likely to wow us, thrill us, move us, and make a good deal of noise. From a massive Elvis concert doc in IMAX to Charli XCX’s metafictional portrait of a pop star under pressure; a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel to new chapters in the Star Wars, Dune, and Avengers sagas; Christopher Nolan tackling The Odyssey to a brand-new take on Wuthering Heights — here’s everything you need to know about everything you need to see in 2026. (Dates are not only subject to change, but almost guaranteed to do so in more than a few cases.)

1. ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ (January 16)

We had to kill time for close to 18 years to get a new entry in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later series — but we only had to wait seven months for a sequel to last year’s 28 Years Later. This latest addition to franchise follows Alfie Williams’ plucky young hero, Spike, as he falls in with known as the Jimmys, a.k.a. the feral gang of track-suited miscreants we met in the closing moments of the previous film. Jack O’Connell plays the head Jimmy; Eleanor the Great‘s Erin Kellyman is his second-in-command; and Rafe Fiennes returns as the former doctor trying to tame an infected “Alpha” superhuman. Nia DaCosta (Hedda) steps in for Boyle as the director.

2. ‘The Moment’ (January 30)

Remember how Charli XCX and “Brat Summer” dominated 2024? The singer-songwriter is now ready to give you a firsthand look at what it was like to be in the eye of that pop-superstar storm, via a cheeky metafictional comedy! Director, co-writer, and longtime Charli collaborator Aidan Zamiri (he did the videos for “Guess” and “360” — hey, and shot this Rolling Stone cover story of Timothée Chalamet) described this faux-chronicle of the hitmaker on tour as an “alternate history of the Brat era… if she’d made all the wrong choices.” We’re sold. Alexander Skarsgård plays the hottest director in town, who’s been hired to document everything. Rachel Sennott, Kate Berlant, Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Demetriou, and Hailey Gates co-star. We assume this will shock us like a defibrillator.

3. ‘Send Help’ (January 30)

He (Dylan O’Brien) is the asshole boss to end all asshole bosses, a corporate bro who thinks nothing of humiliating his employees. She (Rachel McAdams) is a frumpy junior V.P. who’s often the target of his mockery. When a plane accident during a business trip strands both of them on a desert island, however, her surprising facility as a survivalist reverses the power dynamic — and essentially turns this Cast Away situation into horror-movie scenario filled with carnage. Bonus: No less than the great Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Drag Me to Hell) is orchestrating this revenge thriller.

4. ‘Pillion’ (February 6)

Colin (Harry Melling) is a shy young man who lives with his parents in the suburbs of Southeast London and is content to pass the time singing with his barbershop quartet. Then he meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a tall, handsome, gay biker into BDSM who decides that Colin would make the perfect submissive. Writer-director Harry Lighton’s feature debut made quite a stir when it premiered at Cannes last spring, and his delightfully subversive rom-com has been leaving scorch marks on the festival circuit all year. Now you’ll get the chance to see what all the buzz is about.

5. ‘Scream 7’ (February 6)

Frankly, we’re surprised that the venerable horror franchise managed to get this seventh entry made at all, given all the “creative retooling,” beaucoup backstage drama, and exits — voluntary or otherwise — of talent. But the series seems to have picked itself up, dusted itself off, and enlisted a host of O.G. Scream folks, including filmmaker Kevin Williamson, Neve Campbell, and Courteney Cox; the movie’s IMDb page also lists David Arquette, Matthew Lilliard, and Scream 3‘s Scott Foley in the cast as well. We’re guessing the plot involves Campbell’s in-house survivor having to deal with Ghostface returning and once again making her life hell. You know the drill.

6. ‘Wuthering Heights’ (February 14)

“Heeeeeeathcliffff, it’s meeeee, Cath-yyyyy, I’ve come home, I’m so cold!!!” Emily Brontë’s novel of love and death on the Yorkshire moors gets yet another adaptation — but this time, Promising Young Woman/Saltburn filmmaker Emerald Fennell is behind the camera, and she’s got two super-hot A-listers playing every bibliophile’s favorite pair of doomed lovers. (No disrespect, Romeo and Juliet!) Jacob Elordi, a.k.a. the star of Euphoria, Frankenstein, and your dreams, should bring the brooding sensuality as Heathcliff, and Margot Robbie, a.k.a. Barbie, Harley Quinn, and three-time Oscar nominee, puts her hand to her dampened-with-lust brow as gothic-lit’s first couple. We’ve heard rumors that whenever you watch the trailer online, any kettle within 100 yards of your laptop will simply start boiling of its own accord.

7. ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ (February 20)

When Baz Lurhmann was researching his Elvis biopic, he came across reels of unused footage from two concert films from the early 1970s (Elvis: That’s the Way It Is and Elvis on Tour) in an archive in a Kansas salt mine. Some of it was extra performance footage, some of it was candid clips of Presley offstage — and in Lurhmann’s mind, all of it was fodder for a whole other documentary on the King of Rock & Roll. Epic, indeed. The film’s IMAX run (!) begins Feb. 20; it’ll hit general theaters Feb. 27.

8. ‘How to Make a Killing’ (February 20)

When he was but a wee lad, Beckett Redfellow was told by his mother that yes, he was indeed related to the rich and famous Redfellow family — think the Rockefellers meet the Murdochs, only wealthier. But Mom had been disowned by her kin when she became pregnant with him, and that’s why he grew up poor. Nonetheless, the boy would be seventh in line to inherit the family fortune. Fast forward a few decades, and let’s just say the now-adult Beckett (Glen Powell) would like to hurry up the process by any means necessary. “Killing” is in the title for a reason, people. Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris, Topher Grace, Zach Woods, and Bill Camp co-star. John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal) directs.

9. ‘Man on the Run’ (February 27)

So there’s this guy from Liverpool named Paul, see, and he and his mates start a rock band. Long story short, they become kind of a big deal. Everybody loves ’em. Then the quartet call it quits. What’s this talented fella supposed to do now? Morgan Neville’s doc charts Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career, from his first recordings after the Fab Four break up to his formation of the group Wings. If you’re the sort of Macca fan who heavily stans his solo joint Ram and knows all the words to “Magneto and Titanium Man” by heart, this one’s for you.

10. ‘The Bride!’ (March 6)

Actor turned director Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter) puts her own uniquely twisted spin on The Bride of Frankenstein, with our main man-slash-monster Frankie (Christian Bale) requesting that his maker supply him with a companion. He is then gifted with a bride (Jessie Buckley) who proves to be the perfect partner in crime. Like, literally: Did we mention that the story has been relocated to 1930s Chicago and refashioned as something like an old-timey gangster movie, with the couple going on a Bonnie and Clyde-like spree? Also there are musical numbers? The combination of a truly unleashed Buckley — whose performance in Hamnet remains the most earth-shattering thing we’ve seen in eons — and that exclamation point in the title suggests this one’s gonna be extra bananas.

11. ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ (March 6)

When we last saw Tommy Shelby, Irish-Romani gangster and top dog of the Birmingham underworld, he’d burned down his house, burned every bridge in his old life, and ridden away into the sunset. Fans hoped they’d at least get a Peaky Blinders feature to definitively wrap things up after creator Steven Knight announced the sixth season of the popular crime show was its last. And, well, sometimes dreams do come true! Cillian Murphy returns as Shelby, ready to settle some scores. A number of series regulars, including Sophie Rundle and Stephen Graham, reprise their roles; franchise newbies Barry Keough, Rebecca Ferguson, and Tim Roth also jump on board.

12. ‘The Breadwinner’ (March 13)

He’s one of the most successful touring comics right now, selling out arenas across America — it was only a matter of time before Nate Bargatze got a starring role in his own movie comedy. Our man Nate plays an everydude who becomes a stay-at-home dad when his wife (Mandy Moore) starts her own business. He is, shall we say, actively learning on the job. So it’s a contemporary version of Mr. Mom starring the really dry, witty guy with the Southern drawl? OK, we’ll bite. Will Forte, Kumail Nanjiani, Kate Berlant, Colin Jost, and Severance‘s Zach Cherry fill out the supporting roster of funny folks.

13. ‘Project Hail Mary’ (March 20)

A middle-school science teacher (Ryan Gosling) is recruited by a government agent (The Zone of Interest‘s Sandra Huller) to travel millions of light years from Earth. The reason: Our sun is dying, as are a number of other infected “luminous spheroids of plasma held together by self-gravity” (thanks, Wikipedia!). There’s one distant star that’s unaffected by whatever is causing this celestial meltdown, however, and he’s apparently the only person that can save humanity. Also there is an alien who appears to be made of rocks and is called Rocky. The trailer makes it seem like there will be laughter, tears, and a whole lotta Gosling.

14. ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ (March 27)

That’s right, the 2019 class-conscious horror flick — featuring Samara Weaving fighting her way out of becoming a casualty in the world’s deadliest hide-and-seek game — gets a sequel. Part 2 picks up where the original left off, with Weaving’s “final girl” now having to contend with not just one horrible rich family, but a whole slew of them, all vying to take her down so they can keep their respective ill-gotten fortunes. Bad news for our hero: Her sister is now dragged into this as well. Good news for us: The sibling is played Kathyrn Newton, a strong contender for the greatest scream queen of her generation (see: Freaky, Abigail). Solid supporting cast, too: Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood, The Faculty‘s Shawn Hatosy, Kevin Durand.

15. ‘The Drama’ (April 3)

Most engaged couples will tell you that they experience a minor case of the jitters before getting hitched. Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) are no different — they love each other, but they’re still nervous about the whole til-death-do-us-part thing leading up to their wedding. Then a secret is revealed, and suddenly, these newlyweds are in what appears to be a serious state of crisis. Given what writer-director Kristoffer Borgli put Nicolas Cage through in his previous film Dream Scenario (2023) — not to mention what the Norwegian filmmaker ginned up in the truly gnarly satire Sick of Myself (2022) — we’re more than a little concerned about what’s in store for these kids. Also cordially invited to this A24 production: Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Zoë Winters, and Hailey Gates.

16. ‘Normal’ (April 17)

Bob Odenkirk continues his run as your favorite new AARP-aged action hero in this tense thriller about a sheriff settling into his job in a small Minnesota town. After he begins investigating a bank robbery, the lawman stumbles in to the middle of a vast criminal underground — and suddenly, the officer is under siege from a lotta locals who don’t like strangers meddling in their less-than-legal affairs. Not great, Bob. The mighty Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Down Terrace, Free Fire) is calling the shots behind the camera.

17. ‘Michael’ (April 26)

The ever-spinning music-biopic wheel has finally landed on Michael Jackson — and yes, director Antoine Fuqua’s look back at the life and times of the King of Pop has had its share of friction, funny you should ask! Casting Jafar Jackson to play his uncle Michael has been one of the few aspects of this project that hasn’t caused controversy, and both the Jackson estate and those with legal agreements regarding what can and can’t be depicted in the film have had their issues. “Complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the feelings around all of this. People will be able to judge for themselves in April. Colman Domingo, Miles Teller, Derek Luke, Nia Long, and Larenz Tate are on board as well.

18. ‘Mother Mary’ (Spring 2026)

Once upon a time, a singer (Anne Hathaway) and her go-to dressmaker (Michaela Coel) were inseparable. Then the former leveled up in her career, the two drifted apart, and, well, you know how it goes when it comes to suddenly being the major constellation in the pop-star universe. It’s time for a new world tour, however, and the musical icon wants her old friend to design her wardrobe. Except here’s a lot of bad blood that needs to be dealt with first. And some of that “dealing with it” may include the supernatural. We’d be psyched about whatever filmmaker David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight, The Old Man and the Gun) has been up to, but judging from this creepy-ass trailer, his latest looks especially promising — and highly unsettling. Plus it features new music from Charli XCX, FKA Twigs, and Jack Antonoff.

19. ‘Marc by Sofia’ (Spring 2026)

From the Titular-Truth-in-Advertising department: Sofia Coppola makes what A24’s press release calls “an intimate, unconventional portrait” of her good friend Marc Jacobs. It’s the first nonfiction movie from the Lost in Translation filmmaker, and captures 12 weeks in the life of the fashion icon as he designs his spring collection in 2024. Word out of last year’s Venice Film Festival, where this premiered, was promising. And if anyone is going to get the gentleman to drop his guard and open up — as well as craft something more interesting and impressionistic than your standard clips-testimonial-rinse-repeat doc — it’s Ms. Coppola.

20. ‘The Adventures of Cliff Booth’ (2026)

OK, so this is exciting: Quentin Tarantino has indeed written a sequel to what’s arguably his best movie (please do not @ me, feel free to have a different opinion and discuss amongst yourselves), Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. It’s allegedly set in the 1970s and centers around Brad Pitt’s stuntman Cliff Booth (!), with His Bradness reprising the role. And while Tarantino isn’t directing the movie — he’s said he wants his last official film to be something original and take place “in uncharted territory” — he did get someone of equal stature to helm it: David Freakin’ Fincher. This may well be the most anticipated of the Most Anticipated Movies of 2026.

21. ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ (May 1)

First off, it’s nice to know that the Prince of Darkness still has great taste in designers. Second, this sequel to the beloved 2006 rom-com — in which Anne Hathaway dealt with a demanding boss who is definitely not based on anyone in real life, nope, not at all or even a little bit — reunites the Les Mis Oscar-winner with her old co-stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley “the Tooch” Tucci for more misadventures in the fashion-mag industry. Plus, the original’s director and screenwriter, David Frankel and Aline Brosh McKenna, respectively, are back in the fold as well. Joining the veterans: Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Rachel Bloom, Sydney Sweeney, Lady Gaga, and Donatella Versace. Let’s find out if details of an assistant’s incompetence still don’t interest Miranda Priestly, shall we?

22. ‘Hokum’ (May 1)

A haunted house movie set in Ireland, starring Severance‘s Adam Scott? You have our attention, Neon. We know the who and where; details are scarce on the what, how, and why of this horror film from writer-director Damian McCarthy (Caveat, Oddity). But the production company that gave us that cryptic, crazy-successful marketing campaign for Longlegs a few years ago is back to its old ballyhoo tricks, and this unnerving trailer does indeed do a good job selling this scary movie while giving away exactly nothing.

23. ‘Obsession’ (May 15)

The big headturner out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, writer-director Curry Barker’s debut feature is a spin on the old when-you-wish-upon-a-monkey’s-paw chestnut: A boy (Michael Johnston) is head over heels for a girl (Inde Navarrette). Worried that he’s stuck in the friend zone, he buys an item at a curio shop that will apparently make his dream of true love come true. It works not wisely but too well. Way, way too well. Barker takes his time with the wind-up, which only makes the eventual shift into high gear that much more of a jolt.

24. ‘I Love Boosters’ (May 22)

Writer, director, musician, and overall Renaissance man Boots Riley drops his latest satirical smart bomb, in which a group of professional, Oakland-based thieves led by Keke Palmer do battle with a fast-fashion CEO played by Demi Moore. It’s been picked as the opening night selection for SXSW, which bodes well in terms of how it will play with crowds hyped to have fun; if it’s one-third as outrageous as Riley’s 2018 feature debut Sorry to Bother You, we’re in for a wild ride. Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Eiza González, and Poppy Liu co-star.

25. ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ (May 22)

The Star Wars movies begat the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian, in which Pedro Pascal’s masked interstellar gunfighter must protect a young, Yoda-like child with a unique connection to the Force — and now that show gives us the latest big-screen adventure set in that good ol’ galaxy far, far away. Congrats, Grogu, you’ve graduated to in-the-title status! Sigourney Weaver joins the franchise as a former rebel pilot who now leads the starfighter squad known as the Adelphi Rangers; Jeremy Allen White plays Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son (!!!); and the series co-creator Dave Filoni will reprise his exquisitely named X-wing flyboy Trapper Wolf as well.

26. ‘It Ends’ (2026)

Anyone lucky enough to have caught this indie-horror gem from writer-director Alexander Ullom — about a group of kids who are driving home during their college break and mysteriously find themselves on a literal road to nowhere — on the festival circuit in 2025 can confirm that it’s one of the better genre film debuts in recent years. The fact that it quickly racked up viewers when Letterboxd added the movie to its online Video Store only added to its growing reputation, and now Neon had picked up the film for distribution. Trust us, you’ll wanna check this one out.

27. ‘Over Your Dead Body’ (2026)

If you’ve been listening to the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast, you know former SNL writer and Popstar co-director Jorma Taccone spent a good portion of 2025 filming something in Finland. Now you’ll get a chance to see what he was up to. A remake of the 2021 Norwegian movie The Trip, this dark comedy follows a couple (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) whose relationship is on the skids. Both of them are respectively planning to murder each other during an upcoming vacation. Then they’re taken hostage by some criminals on the lam from the law, and, well… nothing really messes up your homicide plans like a hostage situation, amirite? Juliette Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, and retired MMA fighter Keith Jardine add to the mayhem as well.

28. ‘Master of the Universe’ (June 5)

Just because you can make a film franchise out of a line of toys doesn’t mean you should make a movie franchise out of a line of toys — but that hasn’t stopped Mattel from trotting out this I.P. in the hopes of having its own in-house blockbuster series. You’re either very excited that the adventures of He-Man are getting the full summer-movie treatment or you need to see an ophthalmologist due to injuries incurred from too much eye-rolling. Nicholas Galitzine (Red, White and Royal Blue) is the super-jacked prince who moonlights as the savior of the galaxy; Jared Leto plays his nemesis, Skeletor; Alison Brie is the super-villainess Evil-Lyn; Idris Elba is He-Man’s second in command, Man-at-Arms; Morena Baccarin shows up as a sorceress; and Kristen Wiig voices a robot called Roboto.

29. ‘Disclosure Day’ (June 12)

For months, the new sci-fi movie on Universal’s summer schedule was simply known as the “Untitled Steve Spielberg UFO Movie” — and the thought that the legend behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds [Editor’s note: the Tom Cruise one, not the Ice Cube one] was revisiting the watch-the-skies subgenre was enough to get a lot of filmgoers drooling. The film now has a name, albeit one that brings up more questions than answers — what’s being disclosed, exactly? — and a trailer featuring Emily Blunt speaking in tongues that somehow muddies the waters even further. We know Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson, and Wyatt Russell all factor into this, as do what appears to be a lot of self-aware animals trying to nudge their human counterparts into some sort of epiphany. But who are we kidding? You had us at “Spielberg UFO Movie.”

30. ‘Toy Story 5’ (June 19)

After a few hit-and-miss swings at non-sequel material, Pixar goes back to the drawing board — get it? — for a sure thing, i.e. milking their O.G., game-changing animated hit for one more go-round. This time, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the gang must contend with their eight-year-old owner’s newest obsession: a smart tablet. Who thinks there might be some messaging about screen time versus play time, how technology is warping kids’ imaginations, and how not even the latest fancy-pants Silicon Valley gadget can truly replace good old-fashioned playthings? Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger, Tony Hale, Melissa Villaseñor, and Blake Clark return to voice their characters from the previous movies; Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Anna Faris, and Ghostbusters‘ Ernie Hudson are the new talent jumping into the fray.

31. ‘Supergirl’ (June 26)

Superman viewers probably remember Milly Alcock showing up at the end of James Gunn’s movie as the Man of Steel’s 23-year-old cousin Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl — defender of truth, justice, and fighting for her right to party. This cosmic bar-hopper will now anchor the second movie in Gunn’s revamping of the DC Extended Universe, based on Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s comic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Enlisted by a teen (Eve Ridley) to help avenge the death of her father, our hero with the red cape and the wicked hangover must confront a host of bad guys and deal with the responsibility that comes with being one of the last Kryptonians alive. Jason Momoa trades in his gills for an interstellar biker get-up and a cigar to play Lobo, the fan-favorite badass mercenary. And yes, Krpyto is around to save the day, super-doggy–style, as well. Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) directs.

32. ‘The Odyssey’ (July 17)

What do you do after you’ve revolutionized the superhero genre, cornered the wonky, psychologically dense puzzle-thriller market, and crafted the ultimate biopic on Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds? If you’re Christopher Nolan, you go back to the source — the original epic-poetic narrative of a hero’s journey. Matt Damon is Odysseus, Greek king of Ithaca who battles all sort of perils (witches, sirens, and cyclops, oh my!) so he may be reunited with his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) after the Trojan War. The actor bench is as deep as you’d expect in a Nolan IMAX extravaganza like this: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Mia Goth, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo… the list goes on. Go big or go Homer, we always say.

33. ‘Moana’ (July 30)

Do not ask, “Did we actually need a live-action version of the 2016 Disney animated film about a Polynesian girl who befriends a demigod and must save her island?” — that way, dear reader, lies only madness. Simply acknowledge the fact that Disney made a ridiculous amount of money off its live-action Lilo & Stitch last year, and that the unsolicited transformation of all your animated favorites into so-so redos with real actors has become an inevitability. We look forward to seeing what Catherina Laga’aia does with the title character, and you’ll now be able to watch Dwayne Johnson give the exact same performance as Maui rather than just listen to him do it. Plus, they got Thomas Kail, producer of Hamilton and one of the creators of Fosse/Verdon, to direct.

34. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ (July 31)

Your friendly neighborhood arachnid-themed do-gooder is back for yet another adventure involving post-teen angst, great powers equaling great responsibilities, and a whole lotta webslinging. Tom Holland once again dons the mask and Zendaya once again graces the screen as MJ. The plot is being kept under wraps — no surprise there — but we do know that Mark Ruffalo will be on hand as the Hulk, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is slated to show up, and Better Call Saul‘s Michael Mando will introduce the legendary Spidey villain Scorpion into the MCU. Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink and Severance‘s Tramell Tillman have also been cast in yet-to-be-revealed roles.

35. ‘The Christophers’ (2026)

When does Steven Soderbergh find time to sleep? (Perhaps a better question is: Does Steven Soderbergh sleep at all?) After last year’s stellar ghost story (Presence) and the best spy-vs.-spy thriller in ages (Black Bag), the prolific filmmaker now gifts us with art heist film — or maybe it’s a heist art film? — involving a legendary painter (Ian McKellen) and his new assistant (Michaela Coel). The young woman has actually been hired by the artist’s heirs to steal a number of his unfinished works, complete them after he dies, and split the profits. Our guess? It gets complicated.

36. ‘Exit 8’ (2026)

The concept is simple: You’re walking down a corridor in a Tokyo subway underground. You notice everything around you, from advertisement posters to a passing fellow commuter. After turning a corner or two, you find yourself in the same hallway — but if you notice any “anomalies,” such a different billboard or an extra door, turn back. If everything is the exact same way it was the first time, proceed. Do this successfully eight times, and you can exit the building. The 2023 Japanese cult game doesn’t exactly scream “movie adaptation” when you play it. But director Genki Kawamura not only captures the feeling of existential panic and the flexing of deductive muscles the game generates; he also constructs a parable about parental anxiety and the peril of making bad choices — in and outside of this strange prison — as he puts his hero, the “Lost Man” (Kazunari Ninomiya), through his paces. The film was a highlight of last year’s festival circuit, and we’re glad Neon is giving it a proper release.

37. ‘Flowervale Street’ (August 14)

We’ve been waiting to see what David Robert Mitchell — the writer-director behind cult hits It Follows (2014) and Under the Silver Lake (2018) — would do next, and the answer is apparently a cryptic sci-fi movie. The logline is simply: “A family in the 1980s starts to notice bizarre happenings in their neighborhood.” Yes, it’s a fairly generic premise that could virtually go anywhere. But given how Mitchell managed to mine gold out of equally stock ideas like “curse is passed from one person to next” and “man stumbles across vast, hidden conspiracy,” our curiosity is piqued about this one. Nice, eclectic group of actors he’s corralled, too: Ewan McGregor, Anne Hathaway, My Old Ass breakout Maisy Stella, Sweet Tooth‘s Christian Convery, The Boys’ P.J. Byrne, The Deuce‘s Chris Coy.

38. ‘The Dog Stars’ (August 28)

New Ridley Scott joint incoming! The latest from Sir Ridley concerns a pilot (Jacob Elordi) who survives a deadly global pandemic and is left to navigate the postapocalypse with his faithful pooch and a crusty old marine (Josh Brolin) on an airbase. When one of his searches for supplies ends in disaster, he ends up befriending a rancher (Guy Pearce) and his daughter, a doctor (Margaret Qualley). Readers of Peter Heller’s 2012 novel know what’s in store for our hero. The rest of us will have to head to a theater to find out.

39. ‘Clayface’ (September 11)

If someone forced us to pick a legacy Batman villain that would be ripe for getting his or her own solo flick, Clayface would probably have been the second-to-last name we’d have chosen. (The last pick is naturally Hugo Strange and we will not be taking questions at this time.) But Mike Flanagan, the writer-director of Doctor Sleep, Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House adaptation, and numerous other spooky endeavors, pitched DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran a horror-centric tale involving an actor who can turn his body into shape-shifting clay, and look who’s now fronting the DCEU’s big fall movie! Because of scheduling conflicts, however, James Watkins (Speak No Evil) will be calling the shots on a script partially credited to Flanagan. Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries (above) will play the title character; Naomi Ackie is the scientist who helps transform him; Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan show up to lend support.

40. ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (September 11)

Has it really been over 30 years since Emma Thompson and Ang Lee gave us that near-perfect screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s debut novel? How time flies when you’re left swooning over Hugh Grant’s dashing Edward Farrars. We were certainly overdue for a new version, and given the deft touch that Georgia Oakley displayed in her 2022 anti-bigotry drama Blue Jean, we have high hopes take on this literary warhorse. Daisy Edgar-Jones is Elinor Dashwood, the lovelorn young woman pining for Farrars, now played by George McKay (1917, The Beast). Fiona Shaw, Outlander‘s Catríona Balfe, and Frank Dillane round things out. Expect a display of some serious Austen powers here.

41. ‘Resident Evil’ (September 18)

Fresh off the success of Weapons, director (and dedicated gamer) Zach Cregger jumps into the Resident Evil franchise, with what sounds less like a reboot and more like a cinematic expansion pack. According to the director, his movie is set in the same universe as the popular PlayStation zombie-killing title, and will stick to the same rules as those RPGs and first-person shooters. But it will follow a new character — played by Cregger’s longtime actor-in-residence Austin Abrams — as he navigates his way through a signature landscape of mutants, creepazoids, and other “bio-organic weapons.” The filmmaker calls it a “love letter” to the games. OK!

42. ‘Digger’ (October 2)

Alejandro González Iñárritu truly loves immersive, intense moviemaking — if you’ve seen Birdman and The Revenant, you know what we mean — so the thought of him collaborating on the movie with the totally chill Tom Cruise (joke alert!) was always going to get tongues wagging. Until recently, their mystery project was simply known as the “Iñárritu/Cruise” film; we now know it’s a dark comedy that takes its title from Cruise’s name Digger Rockwell, “the most powerful man in the world.” And the logline is essentially that Rockwell causes some sort of catastrophe, and has to try to make things right again before something akin to Armageddon occurs. Dropping by for the end of the world as well: Jesse Plemons, Sandra Huller, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Emma D’Arcy, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

43. ‘Verity’ (October 2)

The cinéma du Colleen Hoover continues, with the novelist’s 2018 psychological thriller getting the A-list treatment. A young woman (Dakota Johnson) is hired to finish the bestselling series of a popular author (Anne Hathaway) after the latter is waylaid by an accident. The more this ghostwriter dives into her employer’s history, however, the more it seems like her condition was not due to an “accident.” Let’s hope this one doesn’t end in lawsuits.

44. ‘The Social Reckoning’ (October 9)

Don’t call it a sequel — Aaron Sorkin’s revisit to the world of Facebook corporate shenanigans is being listed as a “companion piece” to his Oscar-winning film The Social Network, not a Part II. This time, Sorkin is doing double duty as writer and director, and he’s training his focus on Frances Haugen, the product manager turned whistleblower who passed along internal documents detailing all types of dodgy decisions at Zuckerberg Inc. involving misinformation peddling, election misinformation, and worse. Mikey Madison plays Haugen; Jeremy Strong brings his characteristic Method madness to Mark Zuckerberg; Jeremy Allen White is Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz.

45. ‘Remain’ (October 23)

M. Night Shyamalan teams up with bestselling author Nicolas Sparks — a series of words we never, ever thought we’d be writing — for this potboiler about an architect (Jake Gyllenhaal) mourning the death of a family member. He decides to take his mind off things by designing a house in Cape Cod for his closest friend; while there, he meets a young woman (Fair Play‘s Phoebe Dynevor) who throws a monkey wrench into his attempts at mental and emotional stability. Expect a last-minute twist.

46. ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ (November 20)

Ah yes, another Hunger Games prequel! This was takes place roughly a quarter of a century before the original movie, with a handsome young Haymitch Abernathy (played by handsome young Australian actor Joseph Zada) competing in the games — but there’s a catch. Because of some obscure rule or another, this particular competition requires not one but two tributes from each district. This means Haymitch has to go toe to toe with one of his neighbors as well as his fellow citizens, in the form of District 12 resident Maysilee Donner (McKenna Grace). The franchise’s resident auteur Francis Lawrence directs.

47. ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ (November 26)

Greta Gerwig is using her post-Barbie clout to reimagine the through-the-wardrobe-and-back-again world of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novels — and if there has to be yet another stab at bringing Narnia to the screen, we thank Azlan that it’s Gerwig who’s in charge of it. She’s tackling the sixth book in the series, a prequel which involves magic rings, pools which double as portals to other universes, regal witches (naturally), and two English kids who get into a number of sticky, otherworldly situations. The cast includes Carey Mulligan, Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey, and Andor‘s Denise Gough. Thankfully, Netflix is giving this holiday release an IMAX theatrical run at the end of November, before dropping the film on its service on Christmas Day.

48. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ (December 18)

Marvel Studios has already started dropping teasers for its next big all-star superhero epic, which promises to not only bring back a lot of favorites — Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Robert Downey Jr. except now he’s Doctor Doom — but also to finally, fully integrate a lot of former I.P. properties (the X-Men, the Fantastic Four) into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even the ridiculously long reveal of the cast list was treated like a major event. Details are scarce regarding the plot, but we know this will help kick the next “phase” of the MCU into full gear. If we had to hazard a guess, it will likely involve Doom fucking some shit up big-time, and every living, dead, formerly dead, and alt-timeline superhero trying to stop him, lest the universe be in fatal peril, etc. Let’s see how close our predictions are come next December.

49. ‘Dune: Part 3’ (December 18)

And we’re back! Denis Villeneuve will finish what he started back in 2021 with this final chapter of his sci-fi epic, which will follow Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he gets a little spice-drunk with power, what with him being the new emperor and all. This chapter draws heavily from Frank Herbert’s second book in the series, Dune Messiah, which revolves around a religious jihad that helps Paul maintain his reign yet spirals out of his control — so brace yourself for both a lot of spectacle and even more reel-to-real commentary about the world outside the theater. Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Jason Momoa, and Anya Taylor-Joy reprise their roles from the earlier films; Robert Pattinson joins the cast as a yet-unnamed character.

50. ‘Werewulf’ (December 25)

He’s taken on witches and vampires — now Robert Eggers digs into the mythology around lycanthropes. The writer-director hasn’t said much about the specifics of his tale regarding a werewolf terrorizing a medieval town, but he has confessed that this is the “darkest thing I’ve ever written by far,” which… yikes. Card-carrying members of Eggers repertory company Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Ralph Ineson will help our man carry out his vision of sheer, blood-curdling terror. The fact that it’s coming out on Christmas Day may seem counterintuitive, but remember that Eggers released Nosferatu on that holiday as well, and look how well that turned out.

Fom Rolling Stone US.

The post The 50 Most Anticipated New Movies of 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

2026 is here — and already, it’s shaping up to be a big year for music. Artists like A$AP Rocky, Megan Moroney, and Hilary Duff are kicking things off with a bang, hitting the ground running with early releases in January and February. In March, we’re getting one of the most anticipated projects in a while: BTS is dropping their long-awaited comeback album, following a lengthy hiatus that has kept fans crossing their fingers for a big reunion.

And then there are other LPs that haven’t quite been confirmed, but we’re choosing to be hopeful. Madonna dropped little clues that she’d been in the studio throughout 2025, and Peso Pluma got back in action with a joint album with Tito Double P that dropped at the end of the year — meaning he could go planning another full-length release. There’s a lot in the works, but here’s what we’re most excited for in 2026.

A$AP Rocky, Don’t Be Dumb – Jan. 16

In the eight years since A$AP Rocky last released an album, a lot has happened in the Harlem-raised rapper’s life: He’s acted in two movies, been found not guilty on felony firearm assault charges, co-chaired the Met Gala, served as Creative Director for both Ray-Ban and PUMA, and, oh yeah, started a relationship (and a family) with Rihanna. Exactly which of those life experiences inform Don’t Be Dumb, his long-delayed, highly anticipated fourth album is unclear. So is the final tracklist, though he’s reportedly worked with a diverse list of collaborators, including Metro Boomin’, Tyler, the Creator, Mike Dean, Pharrell Williams, Morrissey, composer Danny Elfman, and director Tim Burton, who helped design the artwork. Rocky blamed “leaks and sample clearances” for the delay, but also left listeners with a promise: “I wanna make the best album ever.” —Christian Hoard

Lucinda Williams, World’s Gone Wrong – Jan. 20

Lucinda Williams is one of those prolific artists who is always moving. After her 2023 album Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, the singer-songwriter has been drawing inspiration from today’s turbulent times and getting ready to release World’s Gone Wrong, which drops Jan. 20. The project, out on her own Highway 20 Records label, already has a glittering cast of characters surrounding it: It’ll feature Mavis Staples, Brittney Spencer, and Norah Jones. —Julyssa Lopez

Joyce Manor, I Used to Go to This Bar – Jan. 30

Joyce Manor have set the bar high for their seventh studio LP, promising a project that finds the California pop-punk rockers at the top of their game. Produced by Bad Religion co-founder Brett Gurewitz, I Used to Go to This Bar takes nods from some of the Golden State’s top rockers, including Weezer, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Jane’s Addiction. Their initial offerings, “Well, Whatever It Was” and “All My Friends Are So Depressed,” are strong snapshots of just how far Joyce Manor have stretched their punk roots. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long into the new year to hear the rest of their California dreamin’. —Maya Georgi

Charli XCX, Wuthering Heights – Feb. 13

Don’t call this a Brat follow-up. Charli XCX is set to release the soundtrack album for Wuthering Heights, a complete concept record created for the upcoming film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, arriving in mid-February. The singer said she was “immediately inspired” after reading the screenplay and went on to write several songs for the project. “I wanted to dive into persona, into a world that felt undeniably raw, wild, sexual, gothic, British, tortured and full of actual real sentences, punctuation and grammar,” she wrote on Substack. We’re ready to enter the world. —Tomas Mier

Hilary Duff, Luck … or Something – Feb. 20

Hilary Duff’s return to music has been met with a warm welcome, ramping up the excitement for her highly anticipated fourth album Luck … Or Something. (People online have been tasking Duff with a Herculean task: to save millennial pop). The multi-hyphenate hasn’t released an LP in 10 years, and there’s a ton to catch up on. “I am often asked how I still have my head on straight after growing up in this industry,” Duff said when she announced the album. “The album title is my way of answering that question. It’s luck, but there’s also a lot of weight in the ‘…or something’. Many of the things I’ve been through along the way are held there, and I feel like ultimately that’s what’s shaped me.” A former child star, who somehow came out unscathed, ruminating on her early years of fame? Count us in. After all, her lead single “Mature” has been on repeat since its release. —M.G.

Megan Moroney, Cloud 9 – Feb. 20

Megan Moroney delivered Lucky in green, Am I Okay? in blue — and now she’s floating into a pink Cloud 9 for her third album. When announcing the project, Moroney said it was written by “the strongest, most confident version of myself.” While she hasn’t revealed a track list yet, she’s promised there’s an evolution here. “Similar to the first two albums, it’s all written about honest, personal experiences, but these songs were written by the strongest, most confident version of myself I’ve ever been,” she said in a statement. “My feet feel firmly planted in my artistry and it was fun to play around sonically, while still sticking to my roots of what my fans and I love. Cloud 9 is a state of mind, and I have no doubt this will be the best chapter yet.” —T.M.

Gorillaz, The Mountain – Feb. 27

Damon Albarn’s ninth album with the long-running more-than-a-cartoon-band is an ambitious suite of songs inspired by grief — both he and visual collaborator Jamie Hewlett lost their fathers in recent years — and time spent in India. The guest list features everyone from Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle to Syrian great Omar Souleyman to English rock group Idles to Argentine superproducer Bizarrap to the Fall’s late mastermind, Mark E. Smith, to hip-hop heroes De La Soul and Yasiin Bey. “You’re supposed to listen to it from beginning to end,” Hewlett recently told RS UK. “What we’re asking is, take the time to sit with your earphones and listen for however long the album is, and look at the artwork, and then just lose yourself in this story.” —Simon Vozick-Levinson

BTS, Title TBD – March 20

Army, the time has come! After a long hiatus, during which the members of BTS focused on solo work and fulfilled mandatory military requirements in South Korea, they’re finally reuniting on an album fans have been counting down toward. At the top of 2026, the group’s agency Big Hit Music let the world know exactly when the LP is coming: “March 20 Comeback Confirmed,” they wrote in a social media post. Now that everyone has marked their calendars, let’s start speculating about what it might sound like. All we know is that the band has been back in the studio since this summer and that they’ve said the new music will “reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas.” —J.L.

Tigers Jaw, Lost on You – March 27

Emo rockers Tigers Jaw are returning in 2026 with their seventh album, Lost on You. The LP marks the band’s first release since their 2021 album I Won’t Care How You Remember Me, with alt-rock producer Will Yip, who has worked with bands like Mannequin Pussy, The Wonder Years, and Turnover. Tigers Jaw has already previewed Lost on You with lead single “Head Is Like a Sinking Stone,” an energetic rocker that shows the band leveling up without compromising on their meditative emo roots. —M.G.

Olivia Rodrigo, Title TBD – Date TBD

2026 marks three years since Rodrigo’s propulsive second album, Guts. But she’s kept incredibly busy in the time since, tearing through an expansive world tour (paired with a Netflix film), owning the festival circuit, and capping it all off with a killer live album. She said the Guts era is officially over — but a new one, the third album her fans have dubbed “OR3” — is most likely about to begin. She’s already seemingly teased new music with a glittery red “3” shirt, and has confirmed she’s been busy in the studio. “I won’t say too much, but I think 2026 is going to be a busy year for me,” she said. What that album will be like is anybody’s guess, but we can assume its title will have four letters, consistent with Guts and her explosive 2021 debut, Sour (or, as Rodrigo says, it’s logical). —Angie Martoccio

Evanescence, Title TBD – Early 2026

Evanescence have been teasing an album for the majority of 2025, with scattered singles throughout. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Amy Lee confirmed a new LP will arrive “early next year” but she still has some lyrics to write and vocals to record. “I’m feeling some of the same inspiration level and love I felt when I was making Fallen,” Lee said. “There are certain pieces of [the band] that I’m able to recognize again and look at with an out-of-body kind of love, which is helping us create something really special.” —M.G.

Tokischa, Title TBD – Date TBD

Tokischa has spent the last few years charming fans with raucous dembow hits and a fully liberated, give-no-fucks attitude. That’s exactly what has attracted artists like Rosalia and Madonna, who have tapped her for major collaborations. All of it has been setting up the runway for her highly anticipated debut album, expected sometime this year. The best part? Because Tokischa is always authentically herself, she’s completely guided by instincts — so it’s anyone’s guess what she might do on this record. —J.L.

Kim Petras, Title TBD, Date TBD

If Kim Petras’ two recent singles, “I Like Ur Look” and “Freak It,” are any indication of what’s to come, pop fans — and Bunheads especially — are in for a treat. The singer has been teasing her next era, even offering to send NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani a copy of the album if he bans horse carriages from Central Park. The project will mark a follow-up to her NSFW Slut Pop album and 2023’s Feed the Beast and Problematique. Kim, it’s time to save pop! —T.M.

My Chemical Romance, Title TBD – Date TBD

So My Chemical Romance haven’t indicated that they will be releasing anything next year, but if their live circuit is any indication, there’s at least some hope fans will get to hear more than just an unreleased song from the band. My Chem is taking their lauded Long Live the Black Parade Tour around the world in 2026, including three dates at Wembley Stadium and a five-show stint at the Hollywood Bowl. The band hasn’t released new music in over 10 years at this point. What better time than next year with a whole global audience at their feet? —M.G.

Peso Pluma, Title TBD – Date TBD

At the peak of his career as a leading figure in música mexicana, Peso could have quickly released a follow-up to his 2024 Éxodo, which came a year after his record-breaking LP Génesis. Instead, the Mexican hitmaker slowed things down, keeping fans on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting his next album. He’s already revealed he’s hunkered down in the studio working on new music and with a just-released joint project with his cousin Tito Double P, it looks like Peso is back in business. We don’t know when his new album will drop, but we already know it’ll be worth the wait. —Griselda Flores

Madonna, Title TBD – Date TBD

The long-awaited follow-up to Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor is officially on the way — and it’s expected to arrive in 2026. Over the past few months, the pop icon has shared glimpses of herself in the studio with Stuart Price, who produced the 2005 original. Back in September, the Queen of Pop also announced she would return to the label that helped make her a superstar, calling the release a “full-circle moment.” Confessions 2, we’re waiting for you! —T.M.

From Rolling Stone US.

The post Here Are the Albums We Can’t Wait to Hear in 2026 appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Christmas is here, and your K-pop playlists are begging for a festive makeover. You could do that with the winter wonderland EXO’s “First Snow” brings or maybe the chaotic, Grinch-like vibes of Stray Kids’ “Christmas EveL.” In keeping with the holiday spirit, we’ve curated a list of K-pop Christmas songs that capture the essence of this season in all its joy, chaos, and warmth. Whether you’re into romantic ballads, fun party numbers, or quirky holiday tunes, here’s our list of K-pop hits to get your playlist holiday-ready.

EXO – “The First Snow”

“The First Snow” is a K-pop Christmas classic that never gets old. Its gentle, soothing melody captures the magic of snowfall, with lyrics about making memories with your loved ones that really hit home. The piano accompaniment is soft, the harmonies are lush, and EXO’s vocals make everything come alive — the perfect soundtrack for cozy winters and Christmas festivities.

Stray Kids – “Christmas EveL”

This song may seem like an outlier among Christmas songs, but that’s precisely why it hits the spot for some. It’s about the chaos of the festive season, from the holiday rush, buzzing streets, extreme cold, the whole nine yards, layered over a funky hip-hop beat that captures Stray Kids’ edgy vibe, along with some festive bells and chimes that add to the mood. If you’ve ever felt a little Grinchy during the holidays, “Christmas EveL” is for you — a refreshing mix of humor, spirit, and heart that makes it a must-listen.

Jimin – “Christmas Love”

A holiday pop treat, “Christmas Love” is sweet-toned, blending traditional carol vibes with modern R&B beats. Jimin (of BTS) wrote it as a Christmas gift to fans, inspired by his childhood memories of snow falling on Christmas morning. Consider it an offering to help people tap back into that carefree, innocent feeling and remind them they’re loved through this feel-good music.

Twice – “Merry & Happy”

“Merry & Happy” is a holiday romance, written by J.Y. Park, a pop delight that turns the holidays into a celebration of love and connection. With its snappy charm and holiday sparkle, this track is surely Twice’s gift to your Christmas playlist.

BTS – “Dynamite” (Holiday Remix)

Vibe with this festive remix from BTS, which brings the original song into the holiday season with a fresh sound. The original’s upbeat mood, sassy style, and ease get a festive facelift where retro disco-pop meets Christmas magic, with a warm holiday vibe and jingle bells taking center stage. The vocals are intimate, making the song’s message of spreading joy, hope, and confidence as comforting as a hug from your best friend.

Girls’ Generation-TTS – “Dear Santa”

“Dear Santa” rewards close listening and repeated plays with its subtle fusion of pop, R&B, and jazz, where each layer reveals new depths and textures. The song’s emotional core is its message of romantic longing, perfectly captured in Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun’s soulful vocals and a soaring swing section.

NCT Dream – “Candy” 

“Candy” is the essence of winter romance in NCT Dream style, a revamp of the H.O.T. classic featuring R&B and pop elements alongside a dash of festive magic. The lyrics express the happiness of loving someone, and the band’s energetic performance is sure to leave you with a big smile on your face.

Super Junior – “Celebrate” 

“Celebrate” is like the perfect background music for a quaint coffee shop on a snowy night. The bright synth-pop, off Super Junior’s 11th studio album, is like a love letter to the festive spirit — the crunch of snow, the warmth of a cup of hot chocolate, and the laughter of friends and family — in a catchy, feel-good number that reminds you to slow down, appreciate the everyday miracles, and drink in the fun of being together.

Red Velvet X Aespa – “Beautiful Christmas”

A highlight from the SMTOWN winter album, 2022 Winter SM Town: SMCU Palace, “Beautiful Christmas” is a dance carol built on cheerful swing rhythms and piano hooks. The cute crossover showcases the versatility and chemistry of Red Velvet and Aespa, with a message that emphasizes the importance of appreciating the people and moments that make the holiday season special.

The post K-Pop Christmas Hits: Must-Add Songs to Your Holiday Playlist appeared first on Rolling Stone India.

Metalheads have always found transcendence, exultation, and deliverance in music’s heaviest genre where everyone else has heard noise. Sometimes you need to feel like the sound coming out of your speakers is crushing your soul to get through to the other side. Bands like Deftones, Ghost, Castle Rat, Agriculture, and Primitive Man understand this on a fundamental level. That’s why the records by those bands, along with 10 more listed here, represent the genre’s best — and heaviest — albums this year.

Photographs in illustration: Courtney Hall; Amy E. Price/Getty Images; Jimmy Fontaine; Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

15. Coroner, ‘Dissonance Theory’

In releasing their first album in more than 30 years, Coroner had a clear advantage over many reanimated bands: The Swiss thrash trio already sounded so futuristic during their initial late-Eighties-through-mid-Nineties run that there was little risk of coming off as a relic. Still, it’s striking how seamlessly Dissonance Theory slots into a 21st-century metal climate strongly informed by Meshuggah’s cyborg-esque technicality. Blazing through uptempo ragers like “Renewal” or digging into discordant groovefests such as “Transparent Eye” — tracks that instantly recall 1991’s Mental Vortex and 1993’s Grin, respectively — bassist-vocalist Ron Royce, guitarist Tommy T. Baron, and new drummer Diego Rapacchietti recapture the icy ferocity and eerie atmospherics that have made Coroner perennial cult favorites. —Hank Shteamer

14. Deafheaven, ‘Lonely People With Power’

The latest album from the endlessly inventive metal band Deafheaven perfectly sums up their magic-trick mix of raw aggression, painterly lyrics, and earworm melodies. Lonely People With Power is an ambitious and oddly gorgeous suite, vacillating between aching isolation and introspective rage. It’s a culmination of a decade and a half of innovation — a mixing and merging of melody and metal, pain and poetry. Some moments explore conventionally masculine rage, but there’s also a membrane of beauty that holds the whole album together. —Brenna Ehrlich

13. Runemagick, ‘Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Remains)’

Runemagick, the lachrymose brainchild of vocalist-guitarist Nicklas Rudolfsson, carved out a desolate corner of the underground back in 1990. Since then, they’ve held firm against every trend, beavering away in the name of darkness, death, and doom. Their stately 14th album, Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms), is a dusty love letter to the old ways — specifically, the late Nineties, when death-doom hybrids like My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth were locked in a global struggle with Runemagick to out-miserable one another. Here, Rudolfsson plays around with tempo and makes some interesting stylistic choices (gotta love a “shamanic trance voice”), but ultimately, the new album sounds old in the best possible way: weighty, human, and heavy as a curse. —Kim Kelly

12. Chepang, ‘Jhyappa’

The Nepali American self-described “immigrindcore” quartet Chepang have been grinding away in the D.I.Y. world for the past decade, wowing devotees with their unique approach to the noisy genre — complete with Nepali pop samples. This year, they inked a deal with Relapse, and their fourth album, Jhyappa, saw the band tear through nine tunes in under 20 minutes. In a callback to their first EP, Lathi Charge, Jhyappa trims away any fat to serve up urgent grindcore with a heavy metallic backbone. Nepali lyrics delivered by dual vocalists Bhotey Gore and Mountain God veer between the personal (the frantic, oddly motivational “Ek Hajar Jhut”) and political (the seething, two-stepping “Drivya Shakti”), culminating in a moment of unexpected Zen on outro “Bindhai.” —K.K.

11. Castle Rat, ‘The Bestiary’

A time-tested rule in metal is that an attention-grabbing act doesn’t mean squat without the songs to back it up. On their second LP, Castle Rat — a self-described “medieval fantasy heavy-metal band,” led by guitarist-vocalist Riley Pinkerton, a.k.a. the Rat Queen, who takes the stage looking like both a pro wrestler and a warrior princess — showed that they’ve clearly been taking notes. While their performances court camp, their music has serious depth, pairing chugging High on Fire-via-Sabbath doom with witchy moodiness and an almost artisanal craftsmanship. “It’s important for us to give people a world to step into outside of their own,” Pinkerton recently told New Noise; accordingly, The Bestiary is as expertly transporting as any other metal LP released this year. —H.S.

10. Rwake, ‘The Return of Magick’

Rwake has never done things the “right” way. If they had, the doom metallers might have softened their monolithic sound, moved to a scene-y city, or committed to a punishing tour schedule that could have boosted their name recognition and pulled in some extra dough; instead, Little Rock, Arkansas’ heaviest export chose to grow on their own terms. Their sixth LP, The Return of Magick, was released after a 13-year pause, and it is an absolute stunner. The band tempers its trademark tectonic sludge with progressive flourishes, technical ecstasies, trippy interludes (“In After Reverse” is a brain melter), and nifty fretwork from Austin Sublett and John Judkins’ dual power guitars. —K.K.

9. Whitechapel, ‘Hymns in Dissonance’

Cults, demons, and the seven deadly sins made this album one of the year’s darkest — and most fun. Whitechapel vocal gymnast Phil Bozeman shrieked and growled his way over 10 tracks that recounted a hellish portal and the cult leader who wants to reopen its gaping maw. Produced by one of the group’s three(!) guitarists, Zach Householder, Hymns in Dissonance was balls-to-the-wall metal, both in sound and lyrics. Who doesn’t feel like sowing chaos while blaring songs titled “Prisoner 666,” “Diabolic Slumber,” and “Bedlam”? It’s an intense listen, but Whitechapel’s attention to every devilish detail make it one of the year’s best executed. —Joseph Hudak

8. Deadguy, ‘Near-Death Travel Services’

When Deadguy released their second LP after a three-decade gap this summer, they weren’t just following up any old record. Fixation on a Co-Worker, the metalcore outfit’s 1995 debut, was long enshrined as an underground classic — an unhinged tantrum of metallic hardcore that touched a nerve in any listener who’d ever felt themself losing their grip on sanity while stuck in a soul-crushing office job. Cueing up Near-Death Travel Services opener “Kill Fee,” it was almost concerning how malcontented the band still sounded, writhing and lurching through its signature nails-on-chalkboard riffs as vocalist Tim Singer howled about coping with a world “full of narrow lanes and rigged games.” The rest of the record followed suit with one relentless noise-core expulsion after another, somehow clearing Fixation‘s impossibly high bar. —H.S.

7. Blut Aus Nord, ‘Ethereal Horizons’

Blut Aus Nord have always shunned predictability to their advantage. Now, two albums into the decidedly noisy Disharmonium trilogy, frontman Vindsval decided to change tack entirely and release a gorgeous melodic black-metal album, Ethereal Horizons, instead. The LP harkens back to the icy grandiosity of the band’s Memoria Vetusta trilogy but adds a dash of modern dissonance and clouds of synth-lined prog-rock to its dreamy mid-tempo meandering. Could the album’s bright, cosmic bent, particularly on radiant closer “The End Becomes Grace,” signal the coming of yet another new era? Time will tell. —K.K.

6. Halestorm, ‘Everest’

When Lzzy Hale and Co. teamed up with Eric Church producer Jay Joyce for 2015’s Into the Wild Life, fans feared they were going country. Instead, they made one of their hardest rocking albums yet. The same is true for Everest, a ferocious, multilayered record helmed by Chris Stapleton’s go-to producer, Dave Cobb. Everest is as grand as the eponymous peak and is an overall lush listening experience (put on headphones for the orchestral “Darkness Always Wins”), punctuated by guitarist Joe Hottinger’s technically ornate solos and Hale’s raspy but ever-soulful howl. On the title track, she takes stock of the journey ahead and the hard roads she and the band have traveled thus far: “All my life, I’ve had to fight/And don’t know why, I just keep going,” Hale sings. After six albums, Halestorm keep scaling rock’s mountain. —J.H.

5. Primitive Man, ‘Observance’

The doom-metal trio Primitive Man has always fed off its hatred for mankind’s monsters, especially fascists. In 2025, we needed them more than ever — and they delivered. Observance, the death/sludge trio’s fourth full-length, sees them paint a grim portrait of a depressed man, haunted by the horrors of the world outside, consumed by the pain of living. From the album’s first blackened, bleeding moment on “Seer,” Primitive Man lean heavily into the doom-y side of their sound, dragging each note through rotten muck and smothering any shard of light beneath layers of distortion. The band’s languid, shuddering tempos only amplify the horror on tracks like “Transactional,” a gutted paean to alienation. Here, Primitive Man capture the zeitgeist of 2025 — its inhumanities, its hatefulness, its despair — and Observance refuses to let us look away. —K.K.

4. Dream Theater, ‘Parasomnia’

A decade and a half ago, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy suffered a lapse of reason and quit the beloved prog-metal outfit he co-founded in 1985. Now, with the stickman back in the fold, the quintet sounds complete again on Parasomnia, their 16th album of athletic prog-metal, built around guitarist John Petrucci’s finger-breaking fretwork, Jordan Rudess’ coils of synths, and Portnoy’s jaw-dropping command of about 16,346 drums and cymbals. On “A Broken Man,” written by frontman James La Brie, they shift gears between un-headbangable time signatures like 5/8 and 5/4, and on “Midnight Messiah,” penned by Portnoy, Petrucci conducts a hurricane of notes during the solo break, but it can’t break the band. On that last song, La Brie sings, “The dream will never end” — not a bad thing. —Kory Grow

3. Ghost, ‘Skeletá’

Ghost notched some serious career milestones this year, topping the Billboard 200 and selling out their first headlining show at Madison Square Garden. But even more impressive was what the Swedish pop-metal sensations accomplished on their sixth studio LP. Since the band’s 2010 debut, Opus Eponymous, Ghost auteur Tobias Forge has always matched an elaborate backstory and lavish theatrical trappings with serious songwriting chops. Still, Skeletá marked a real leveling-up: Every track here felt worthy of the band’s newfound arena scale, from rock-operatic anthem “Satanized” to tearjerking power ballad “Excelsis,” and, maybe best of all, to the sinister strutter “Missilia Amori,” which could almost be a lost Hysteria cut. For the first time, the emotional content of the songs — swagger and pathos, chilly blasphemy and cheeky fun — felt as impactful as the band’s famously over-the-top stage show. —H.S.

2. Agriculture, ‘The Spiritual Sound’

Two minutes into “My Garden,” the first song on The Spiritual Sound, Agriculture offer up a Zen koan worth considering: “Death is the ultimate fucker.” The guitars squeal and cymbals crash tempestuously. And then they abruptly lighten things up with a chorus that sounds almost like Sonic Youth. The group packed each of the 10 tracks on their second album with abrupt musical U-turns, making it one of the most exciting and avant-garde metal albums in ages. Some of the textures include tremulous black-metal thrumming (“Flea”), extreme noise-guitar terror (“The Weight”), and the one-two punch of “Bodhidharma,” a lumbering, grungy meditation, and “Hallelujah,” a Dinosaur Jr.-like folk-rock song using the same chords. Death may be the ultimate fucker, but Agriculture are penultimate. —K.G.

1. Deftones, ‘Private Music’

The best thing about Private Music, the band’s 10th LP, is how it upholds Deftones’ core aesthetic — a juxtaposition of grinding alt-metal riffage and deep, sensuous yearning that recalls their turn-of-the-millennium landmark White Pony — while somehow sounding fresh. Highlights such as the jagged, unnerving “Cut Hands,” woozy power ballad “I Think About You All the Time,” and the anthemic “Ecdysis” feel like instant Deftones canon, each a reminder of this band’s unusual staying power. At a moment where a whole new generation of vanguard heavy acts is proudly displaying the influence of their back catalog — including recent tourmates Fleshwater and English punks Higher Power — Private Music showed that Deftones are still writing riveting new chapters. —H.S.

From Rolling Stone US.

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This year in television gave us stunning breakouts (newcomer Owen Cooper in Adolescence), crowd-pleasing comebacks (good to see you, Matthew Macfadyen, even behind that scraggly Death by Lightning beard), and long-awaited kudos for journeymen (and -women) of the small screen (see: Katherine LaNasa on The Pitt). It was 12 months full of good TV — and truly great acting that made it all come alive. Here, in alphabetical order, are our 10 favorite performances of 2005.

Photographs in Illustration: Sarah Shatz/FX; Shane Brown/FX; Apple TV; Kenny Laubbacher/HBO

Odessa A’zion, ‘I Love LA’

Odessa A’zion was like a husky-voiced tornado barreling into movies and television this year. On the film side, she’s a wonder in Marty Supreme. On TV, she’s the most entrancing thing about Rachel Sennott’s I Love LA, a whirlwind of chaos with untamable hair and a stolen Balenciaga. A’zion plays Tallulah, the bestie and also client to Sennott’s Maia, an aspiring talent manager. Tallulah is hoping to make it as an influencer, but she’s not quite driven or ruthless enough to make it big just yet. A’zion plays her with a natural charm that makes it clear why people are drawn to her, but adds in a hefty dose of vulnerability so it’s evident this girl is a little bit of an outsider. She might be incredibly messy, but you can’t help but root for her. That’s the magic of A’zion’s elastic face. —Esther Zuckerman

Christopher Chung, ‘Slow Horses’

Roddy Ho is disgusting. He is crude and rude and sexist and all manner of gross. Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, however, is a singular delight. This season of Slow Horses put a spotlight on Chung’s performance as the Slough House gang’s resident IT whiz. Chung was the star from the season’s very first scene, which featured a sweatsuit-clad Ho dancing his way to work along to (what else?) Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible.” His dancing commute sees him harass multiple women and kicks off some fresh spy games with a near-death experience — but, more importantly, it shows off Chung’s honest-to-goodness moves. Chung, who has a real-life side hustle as a personal trainer in London, manages to make Slow Horses’ slimiest misfit into an absolute thrill whenever he’s onscreen. Roddy Ho forever. —Claire McNear

Stephen Graham, ‘Adolescence’

Fans of the Liverpudlian actor have been raving themselves hoarse over both his film and British TV work for years (we implore you to seek out not just the three This Is England series that extended the mods-and-sods universe of the 2006 movie, but also The Virtues, his equally great 2019 collaboration with Shane Meadows). To see Graham finally get his flowers on these shores for this devastating limited series, about the aftermath of a 13-year-old boy’s murder of a classmate, was a huge vindication. And while we’re blown away by deserving Emmy winners Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty’s work in that standout third episode, it’s Graham who truly anchors this drama about the corrosive effects of incel culture on young men. The moment he realizes that his child is actually guilty and reflexively recoils from him is gutting enough. Yet the way Graham plays this father’s confusion, protectiveness, anger, and genuine sorrow over what’s happened to his son is the emotional backbone of the entire endeavor. That long-building breakdown at the end is enough to leave you raw and in tears as well. —David Fear

Ethan Hawke, ‘The Lowdown’

There is no television character this year that seems like a better hang than Ethan Hawke’s Lee Raybon on Sterlin Harjo’s Oklahoma-set noir The Lowdown. Lee is a self appointed “truthstorian,” a journalist and bookstore owner who has a habit of getting in trouble for digging too deep into the muck of local conspiracies. Hawke plays Lee with a ragtag energy that’s absolutely infectious. You can see how he’s both a nuisance and a smooth operator, as the actor melds his years of heartthrob status with the rough edges of someone who has seen it all. The performance adds to an incredible year for Hawke, who is also phenomenal in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, playing a character in complete opposition to Lee: the midcentury composer Lorenz Hart. —E.Z.

Tom Pelphrey, ‘Task’

Most people were probably introduced to Tom Pelphrey via his one-season arc on Ozark — his take on a lost-soul sibling in a downward spiral remains the highlight of that show. In Brad Ingelsby’s follow-up to Mare of Easttown, he gets the chance to truly flex his chops, playing a sanitation worker whose side hustle is robbing local trap houses with a small crew in Pennsylvania’s Delco region. There’s a personal aspect to his character Robbie Pendegrast’s crime wave, which involves his family and an old score that needs settling; things get even more complicated when one of their raids goes horribly wrong and he must bring a victim’s son into his already chaotic household. Pelphrey turns this morally conflicted criminal into a walking contradiction, capable of both incredible tenderness and violence. What really makes his work stand out is how deftly he nails the compartmentalization of someone who’s got to balance vengeance and survival, emotional ties with righteous fury. It’s one of the least fussy yet most layered TV performances we’ve seen on a premium-cable prestige drama in years. And keep your tissues handy for his turn in the justifiably praised Episode Six. —D.F.

Rhea Seehorn, ‘Pluribus’

Vince Gilligan is keenly aware of the power of Rhea Seehorn’s face, and he makes incredible use of it in Pluribus, where the Better Call Saul star plays Carol Sturka, a woman who suddenly becomes one of the few people on Earth able to feel unhappiness. The series makes it clear that Carol wasn’t a particularly peppy person before most of the planet’s human citizens were turned into a smiling hivemind, but the juxtaposition of the barely buried anger in her eyes and her neighbors’ newfound joy is powerful. Though it’s not just simmering rage that makes Seehorn great; it’s also her ability to hit a punchline. She’s our sardonic avatar, carrying skepticism on her shoulders, cracking jokes as she tries to figure out just what the hell is going on in this not-so-brave new world. —E.Z.

Will Sharpe, ‘Too Much’

In a show that was often exactly as advertised in its title, Will Sharpe leapt off the screen as a paragon of nuance and subtlety. His indie musician Felix, boyfriend to Megan Stalter’s exuberant Jessica, was a fully realized human instead of just a manic pixie dream guy — sweet without being a pushover, diffident but self-assured, aloof yet tender. Sharpe played moments of sincerity with an edge, imbued with intellect and vulnerability lurking behind Felix’s eyes. In nearly every scene, he offered viewers a bit of much needed breathing room amid Jess’ histrionics. Previously best known for his appearance in The White Lotus Season Two as Ethan, tech bro husband to Aubrey Plaza’s Harper, and for playing a tour guide in Jesse Eisenberg’s Oscar-nominated dramedy A Real Pain, the London-born actor proved with Too Much that he can carry a series — even one that’s not centered on him. —Maria Fontoura

Tramell Tillman, ‘Severance’

Tramell Tillman was already one of the big breakouts out of the initial season of Apple TV’s hit dystopian workplace comedy — he’ll forever be synonymous with the phrase “defiant jazz.” Season Two, however, is where Tillman gets to add new levels to his smiling corporate enforcer Seth Milchick. He lets you see the cracks in the armor as Milchick starts to question both Lumon Industries’ methods and the company ceiling he’s starting to bump his against. By the end, he’s left trapped in both the office bathroom and a prison of his own making. Tillman still gets his share of showstopping set pieces — that marching band sequence is a killer. But the moment we keep going back to comes in Episode Three, when Milchick is presented with a series of paintings intended to make him feel like a part of Lumon’s mythological backstory. His murmured “Oh, my” speaks louder than any cri de coeur. There are centuries of social history that play out in miniature in Tillman’s exchanges with his scene partner Sydney Cole Alexander. The actor simply plays the dented dignity and cascade of tamped-down emotions that Milchick, and thousands of workers in similar situations, would feel. Then he goes right back to work. —D.F.

Michelle Williams, ‘Dying for Sex’

Michelle Williams is one of the most open-hearted performers working today, and that is evident in Dying for Sex, where she plays Molly, a woman with stage 4 cancer who leaves her husband to explore her sexual desires. Too many other actors would only focus on the tragedy of this scenario. Instead, Williams leans into Molly’s humor, whether she’s figuring out that she likes to dominate men or losing herself to an afternoon of masturbation. Yes, Williams is also able to make you weep, but she does so with a delicacy that would be impossible to replicate. When you inevitably lose Molly, it cuts deep because this person feels so real in Williams’ hands. She turns Molly into your best friend over the course of the limited series’ run. —E.Z.

Noah Wyle, ‘The Pitt’

Has there ever been an actor so fully melded with one of their characters in the public consciousness as Noah Wyle is with Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch? Be honest: If you had a horrific accident with a meat grinder at home, you would fully expect Noah Wyle could arrive and save your mangled forearm. And so would we. Not only that, he’d do it with all the calm and focus of Dr. Robby, and the heart and gravitas of a man who’s seen every type of tragedy darken his emergency department door over decades on the job. It would be a dangerous thing for many actors to return to a genre well that made them a star years prior. But ER veteran Wyle is so invested in the characters and stories of his new show (he also writes, directs, and serves as executive producer), that past experience only brings his performance to new heights. Noah Wyle is Dr. Robby. There’s no separating the two, and we hope it stays that way for as long as he keeps making The Pitt. —M.F.

From Rolling Stone US.

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