Khalid describes the song as his own "personal therapy" that he wrote toward the beginning of the pandemic.
Ro.Lexx*Khalid has announced that he will be performing a brand-new song for the Virgin Galactic Spaceflight launch on Sunday, July 11th.
Although the song, titled “New Normal,” won’t be officially released until July 21st, the singer will debut the track on stage following the Unity 22 crew’s landing of the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity. It will be the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight and the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin, including Virgin Galactic’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who will be testing the private astronaut experience.
When it comes to the track’s inspiration, Khalid tells Rolling Stone: “Around this time last year, I was super fascinated and gravitated toward space. I was watching this comet by the name of Neowise last year, and space travel is something that I’ve always been interested in as well. And I’ve been going through the motions of understanding this new, postmodern future that’s coming together, especially when it comes down to technology — it’s something that really excites me.”
Khalid describes the song as his own “personal therapy” that he wrote toward the beginning of the pandemic. “Writing the song ‘New Normal’ was my way of coping with the anxiety and coping with the misunderstanding,” he says. “I had to come to terms with who I was as an individual and the type of person that I wanted to be. And to me, this song, it just embodies hope for the outcome of our future.”
The livestream of the launch will be available to watch on Virgin Galactic.com and will be simulcast on the Virgin Galactic Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook channels. It’s expected to begin at 7:00 a.m. MDT/9:00 a.m. EDT on the day of the flight.
Lamb of God and Trivium are set to return to Australia this October for a massive five date co headlining arena tour presented by Destroy All Lines. Joining them on every stop will be Scottish metalcore band Bleed From Within as special guests.
The tour kicks off at Perth HPC on Oct. 2 before heading to AEC Theatre in Adelaide on Oct. 4, John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Oct. 6, Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Oct. 9, and Riverstage in Brisbane on Oct. 11. Artist early bird presale tickets become available Friday, May 15 at 9 a.m. local time. Additional presales begin Tuesday, May 19 through Destroy All Lines, venue partners, and My Ticketek, while Spotify’s early bird presale launches Wednesday, May 20. General public tickets will be available Thursday, May 21 at 9 a.m. local through destroyalllines.com.
For Lamb of God, this upcoming run will be their first proper Australian headline tour in almost ten years. The Richmond, Virginia metal giants, who have received five Grammy nominations throughout their career, most recently appeared in Australia during Knotfest Australia in 2024.
Since forming in the mid 1990s, the group have cemented themselves as one of the defining names in heavy metal. Tracks like “Laid to Rest,” “Redneck,” “Walk With Me in Hell,” and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For” continue to stand as fan favorites and staples within the genre. Earlier this year, the band released their newest studio album, Into Oblivion.
Trivium, who came together in Orlando, Florida in 1999, have built a reputation over the years as one of modern metal’s most dynamic and technically skilled live bands. Their music blends elements of thrash, progressive, melodic death, and groove metal, while their 2017 track “Betrayer” earned the band a Grammy nomination.
The group has also achieved several top 20 entries on the Billboard 200 along with multiple chart topping releases on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart. Trivium last visited Australia in 2023 for the first ever Knotfest Australia, where their Brisbane sideshow received strong praise from fans and critics alike. Their most recent project is the 2024 EP Struck Dead, which followed their 2021 album In the Court of the Dragon.
Bleed From Within will open the tour after recently celebrating two decades as a band. The Glasgow metalcore act released their seventh studio album Zenith in 2025 and have previously toured alongside major names including Slipknot, Bullet for My Valentine, and Megadeth throughout their career.
