NEWS
It will be a whale of a good time — for a good cause — when members of Mt. Joy, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Young the Giant, Needtobreathe, The Red Clay Strays and more perform a show benefiting endangered whales next month.
This group of artists, along with other yet-to-be announced musicians, will perform as part of Whale Jam, an ongoing concert series benefiting The Whale & Dolphin Conservation, and North Atlantic right whales in particular.
This upcoming edition of Whale Jam marks the event’s first time in New York City, with previous show happening in Boston since the event’s inception in 2022.
Happening Dec. 12 at Brooklyn Paramount, a 2,700-capacity venue that opened earlier this year, the night will feature Matt Quinn from Mt. Joy and Taylor Meier from Caamp, Ela Melo of Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Sameer Gadhia of Young the Giant, Clyde and Grace Lawrence of Lawrence and others. See the current lineup below.
Tickets for the event are available now and start at $64, with proceeds directly benefiting the nonprofit Whale & Dolphin Conservation North America. Focused on stripped down sets and impromptu collaborations, Whale Jam’s shows this year in Boston and on Nantucket have raised a combined $75,000 for the organization.
Whale Jam is produced by Nantucket Crisps, a potato chip brand inspired by Nantucket, with flavors named after islands on the beach. The famed Massachusetts island is, of course, located in the North Atlantic ocean, where whalers in the 1800s hunted North Atlantic right whales to the brink of extinction. Nantucket was once the whaling capital of the world, a legacy that gave Nantucket Crisps co-founder Hayden Arnot a special interest in raising money for whale conservation.
“For our last show, Matt Quinn joined Taylor Meier for ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac, David Shaw of The Revivalists joined Jonathan Russell of The Head and The Heart for ‘Lost in my Mind’, and at the end of the show all of the artists joined on stage for a rambunctious version of Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’, very fitting for Boston,” Arnot tells Billboard. “It’s truly amazing seeing these eco-minded artists take the time out of their busy schedules for this cause; it’s a stars aligning moment every time. The North Atlantic Right Whale is a whale that is very near and dear to the heart of the Northeast.”
North Atlantic right whales — named so because whalers once considered them the “right whales” to hunt — are only found in North America and live on East Coast’s migratory corridor. According to the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered large whale species. The whales have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1970, with roughly 370 of these whales currently remaining.
Their two biggest threats to these whales are strikes from water vessels and accidental entanglement in fishing gear. As such, money raised by Whale Jam directly benefits efforts to expand on demand fishing, which removes vertical line from fishing waters to prevent entanglement. Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America is also working to implement regulations that would require water vessels to go slower during whale migration periods. Money raised goes to purchase on demand fishing gear and to pay staff working to get regulations in place.
“In order for our oceans to be healthy, we need whales,” Whale & Dolphin Conversation’s deputy director Melissa Walker tells Billboard, explaining that the work whales to do circulate nutrients in the ocean plays a vital role in ocean health and its ability to absorb carbon and release oxygen.
NEWS
Stormzy has shared that he is returning with renewed strength after a period of being “crippled by sadness” in 2025, while also pushing back against accusations that he was “selling out” following his collaboration with McDonald’s.
The collaboration was initially revealed early last year, when the UK rapper partnered with the fast food brand to launch the first Famous Order meal across the UK and Ireland. Fans were able to order his go to meal, and a selection of merchandise was released through the McDonald’s app at the same time.
The partnership sparked criticism from some quarters due to McDonald’s perceived support of Israel, with detractors arguing that the deal appeared to contradict Stormzy’s stated values. The artist, whose real name is Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., has previously spoken publicly in support of Palestine and performed at a benefit concert in January 2024 to help raise funds for humanitarian aid.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement had earlier backed an international boycott of McDonald’s after franchises in Israel distributed thousands of free meals to Israeli forces in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Around the time the collaboration was announced, fans also noticed that the rapper had deleted a social media post from October 2023 in which he voiced his support for Palestine.
Stormzy later addressed what he described as a “twisted narrative” suggesting the post was removed because of the McDonald’s partnership. He clarified that the deletion was part of a wider clean up of his social media account, during which he removed numerous older posts.
“In that post I spoke about #FreePalestine, oppression and injustice and my stance on this has not changed,” he wrote at the time. “The brands I work with can’t tell me what to do and don’t tell me what to do otherwise I wouldn’t work with them.”
Now, Stormzy has shared another reflective message to usher in 2026, explaining that the previous year had been a deeply transformative chapter in his life, marked by his efforts to push through feeling “crippled by sadness”.
Opening the lengthy message, Stormzy described facing “a few unexpected twists and turns” at the beginning of 2025, experiences that he said strengthened his resilience and “put the final nail in the coffin of my desire to be understood”.
Reflecting on the reaction to the McDonald’s deal, he noted that “a lot of you [questioned] both my character and my integrity”, adding that a younger version of himself would have felt “compelled to quickly explain himself, and let you know that there is no world in which he would ever trade his humanity for cash”.
He explained that he no longer feels that pressure, saying he “couldn’t give a single fuck to explain that fact” because he does not “need to explain anything to anybody”.
Opening up further about the challenges he faced throughout the year, the ‘Hide & Seek’ rapper said he was determined not to allow “2025 have me on the backfoot, so I came out the first quarter with one hand down my trousers and my middle finger up”.
“Then towards the end of the summer I found myself crippled by sadness and I was struggling again,” he continued, adding that his faith and close circle of friends helped him find the strength to keep going.
“I was tested physically, spiritually, professionally and creatively. I had no choice but to reassess every detail of my life,” the post later shared. “So yes it’s been painful and at times I hated it but as the year ends and I reflect I can say that I am so so so so grateful for it.”
Looking ahead, he said that he has “gained a lot of clarity around who I am as a man and who I am as an artist, and in 2026 I want to honour that clarity with execution”.
He finished by revealing that he plans to step back from social media and confirmed that work is still ongoing on his fourth studio album.
Around the period of the McDonald’s controversy, the company’s CEO Chris Kempczinski stated that the brand had not taken sides in the conflict, describing the boycotts as “disheartening and ill founded” and attributing them to “misinformation”.
Elsewhere in Stormzy news, the London artist was awarded an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University last summer in recognition of the Stormzy Scholarship to Cambridge.
The scholarship programme began in 2018 and committed to funding two Black British students each year. With additional backing from HSBC UK, the scheme expanded to support 10 students annually, resulting in 56 students having their tuition fees and living costs fully covered.
