Entertainment
New Music Friday October 18: Blake Shelton, Jennifer Hudson, Kelsea Ballerini, ROSÉ, Gracie Abrams and More
Happy New Music Friday! The weekend is here, which means more streaming, new playlists and the best that music has to offer — and ET has you covered for everything in between.
Taylor Swift posted that she is back in the office! Taylor is back on The Eras Tour with three nights in Miami this weekend. She recently announced that The Official Eras Tour Book and The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology on vinyl and CD will be available for the first time ever at Target starting November 29. The book will be filled with Taylor’s personal reflections and never before seen behind the scenes photos.
Nicki Minaj is making history as her Pink Friday 2 World Tour now ranks among the top five highest grossing hip hop tours in history. She now has the record for the highest grossing and bestselling tour by a female rapper with $108.8 million from 787,000 tickets sold in 70 shows.
Jin of BTS is set to release his first solo album Happy on November 15. The album will explore Jin’s journey to discover true happiness. This week, Jin revealed the tracklist — there will be six tracks including the main track “Running Wild,” “I’ll Be There,” “Another Level” and more.
ROSÉ from BLACKPINK released the lead single off her upcoming debut full-length solo album rosie. The song “APT.” features Bruno Mars who also co-directed the music video. “APT.” was inspired by a Korean drinking game. She said “APT.” is actually my favorite drinking game that I play with my friends back home. It’s so simple, puts a smile on your face, and breaks the ice at any party.”
Kelsea Ballerini dropped a new song “First Rodeo” from her new album PATTERNS out next week. She released a music video featuring her boyfriend Chase Stokes. On Instagram, she said Chase inspired the song and made her love sunsets again. At last night’s Giorgio Armani show in New York, Chase told ET that Kelsea revealed to him that the song was about their story and she didn’t want to have anybody else to be in the music video. He said it was a “no brainer” to be in the video.
Megan Thee Stallion will be telling her story with a new documentary Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words which will stream globally on Prime Video on October 31. The documentary will follow Megan’s journey on the road to stardom as she navigates fame, grief, pressure and success. In the trailer, she shares “I want people to see how I feel. To be heard, you have to speak.”
iHeartMedia announced the lineup for the eighth annual iHeartRadio ALTer EGO Presented by Capital One. Performers will include Cage The Elephant, Fontaines D.C., Glass Animals, Incubus, St. Vincent, The Head And The Heart, The Lumineers, The Offspring, and Damiano David. The event will take place at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on January 11, 2025.
Morgan Wallen announced the debut of Sand In My Boots, a three day music festival and beach vacation set to take place on the Hangout Festival site on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama on May 16-18, 2025.
Plus, new music from Blake Shelton, Jennifer Hudson, Gracie Abrams, Mary J. Blige, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and more!
“Go Tell It On The Mountain” – Blake Shelton
“first rodeo” – Kelsea Ballerini
The Gift of Love – Jennifer Hudson
“APT.” – ROSÉ & Bruno Mars
The Secret of Us Deluxe – Gracie Abrams
“You Ain’t The Only One” – Mary J. Blige
WARRIORS – Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis
“Bricks” – Andra Day
“Love Somebody” – Morgan Wallen
2024: A Case Study of the Long Term Effects of Young Love – Jaden
“Holding On” – Bailey Zimmerman
“Perfect Stranger” – FKA twigs
“Does She Know” – T-Pain
SABLE, – Bon Iver
Don’t Mind If I Do – Riley Green
“Khalifa’s Home” – Wiz Khalifa
Project 2024 – BRELAND
“Do You Hear What I Hear?” – Clay Aiken
“Both Ways” – Juice WRLD
“Most Beautiful Design” – Coco Jones feat London on Da Track & Future
“Holidays” – Conan Gray
TRENCH – Audrey Nuna
“Him All Along” – Gunna
“I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend” – BANKS feat Doechii
“Opportunist” – Lil Durk
SPILL THE FEELS – SEVENTEEN
“If I Knew” Matteo Bocelli & Sofia Carson
“Time On My Hands” – Ringo Starr
“DISCO” – Nessa Barrett feat Tommy Genesis
“made it out of mexico (acoustic)” – Ella Langley
“HOME” – ENHYPEN
“Still Fallin’ (Lost & Found)” – Hunter Hayes
“Fire” – Estelle feat Joi
Long Way Home – Jamie Miller
“Sweet Delusion” – Bella Poarch
Back 2 Basics – Blanco Brown
“cowboy / hold my beer” – Alana Springsteen
La Pantera Negra Deluxe – Myke Towers
“The Sweetest Song” – Kathryn Gallagher
“Forgiveness” – Tiwa Savage
“KIZAO” – MILLENNIUM PARADE with Rauw Alejandro & Tainy
“Winter Baby / New Jersey Blues” – 070 Shake
Godspeed – The Blessed Madonna
“Get Loud” – KISS OF LIFE
Goodbye Horses – ian
“Pathological” – Lauren Ash
Sofía Valdés – Sofía Valdés
“Freedom of the Night” – Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Tell My Therapist I’m Fine – Bishop Briggs
“No Me Cansaré” – Sevdaliza & Karol G
“Cats on the Ceiling” – Ruel
Tennessee Moon – Julie Williams
Glimmer Of God – Jean Dawson
“Blue Eyes” – iyla
“Muse” – Isabel LaRosa
Que Sigan Llegando Las Pacas (Let the Money Keep Coming) – Chino Pacas
“BLAME IT ON THE MOON” – Cat Cohen
“10,000 Faces” – Mergui
“Lunch At Dune” – Gordi & SOAK
Growin’ Up Holiday
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for April 29, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you love a good catch.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Fish or cut bait
The words are related to the outdoors.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe going fishing.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Tackle.
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NYT Strands word list for April 29
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Reel
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Hook
-
Bobber
-
Weight
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Tackle
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Lure
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Swivel
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Cooler
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Pliers
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 29, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you’re not a fan of big cities.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
Countryside.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
The letter R appears twice.
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Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter R.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
RURAL
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for April 29, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To admire.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
ADORE
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
Heavy.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
HEFTY
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
Two-legged.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
BIPED
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Hefty.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
HEAVY
Final Hurdle hint
Pointy.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
SHARP
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
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