13 February 2026 - Dua Lipa ft. Angèle - Fever

Yep.  Yesterday's main artist is today's feature.  

And yes, Dua Lipa and Angèle do stop their video in the middle to talk about Dexter, who is clearly Dua's pet, getting his balls cut off.  In English.

The song is from Dua Lipa's huge hit album Future Nostalgia and was a huge #1 hit... and now most of you are thinking "but I don't remember this song being a huge hit and in fact my copy of Future Nostalgia doesn't have this song."  Well, while it did eventually get a lot of streaming play in the US, it was a HUGE hit in France and Belgium - both Flanders AND Wallonia, and if you know Belgium, you know that's a BIG deal - and was originally included only on the French version of Future Nostalgia.  It was eventually added to worldwide versions of Future Nostalgia and also the expanded Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition). 

The song itself is a lot of fun, and was written by the artists and their songwriting teams.

So both artists actually play the song live, and I wanted to share a few of those performances.  I'll start with one from June 2025, at a Dua Lipa show in Antwerp.  For those not up on their world cities, Antwerp is the largest city in Belgium, in the Flemish region of the country a.k.a. Flanders.

So yeah.  There was a special guest who happened to be in the neighborhood, and by in the neighborhood, I mean a 33-minute train ride away in Brussels.  No word on whether or not Angèle drove or took the train. 

Unlike that 2025 performance, the crowd KNEW Angèle was in the building, as she was the opening act for that show and several on the Future Nostalgia tour... .so it would have been weird for Dua to not bring her out, right? 

By the way, they're really good on stage together.

Now, Angèle also has toured, and she also performs the song live. 

She unfortunately can't get Dua Lipa to show up most of the time - and certainly not in New York City for her Nonante-Cinq tour, so a larger-than-life projection of her had to suffice.

12 February 2026 - Angèle - Jalousie

So, this is an artist we've talked about before, and an artist we undoubtably will talk about again - as we expect a new album out of her this year.   

I hope she doesn't let me down. 

We, of course, are talking about Belgian artist Angèle, who debuted in 2018 with the album Brol, which is Belgian slang that's a little hard to translate, but generally means a heap of random small objects.  But there was nothing random about the album.

This was her fourth single from that album, and, well, I think even my non-polyglot readers can figure out what the title is about.   

If you're having trouble identifying Angèle in the video, she's the one without the mirror box on her head.

I know we focus on a lot of pop artists and then we like to go "wow, look at how talented they are live" but I think this performance, which completely changes the song from slightly spirited and angry to more meloncholy, shows her great range.  

By the way, she also co-produced and self-released the album, and wrote and composed almost the whole thing herself.  She's a TRUE talent. 

And, I mean, the fans in Brussels love her. 

11 February 2026 - Sabrina Carpenter - Tears

Sabrina Carpenter is the queen of analogy.

She's not talking about crying here.  

And she's giving the people what they want.

From her 2025 album Man's Best Friend, the song, written by Carpenter, Amy Allen and John Ryan, this song, the 2nd single from the album, is very disco-inspired (on brand for her).  

It's also very dirty, which is also kind of on brand for her.  

The single peaked at its debut point, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, having run into the juggernauts that are Taylor Swift and KPop Demon Hunters. It is STILL in the top 40 as of this writing, though - because the song is excellent. 

The video is clearly inspired by The Rocky Horror Picture Show and also features Colman Domingo in drag. 

There were a few alternative endings to the video.  Spoiler: the boyfriend dies in all but one of them:

Look, this song is all about the performance... including the dance break.  The pregnant pause before the dance break is incredible. 

But she added it to her tour setlist, and the performance is entertaining, as it was at this show in Pittsburgh.  Let us know in the comments if you were there. 

10 February 2026 - Victoria Justice - Down

Do you think that it grinds Victoria Justice's gears that Leon Thomas and Ariana Grande both won Grammys this year, and Victoria Justice never even won a Kid's Choice Award?

I don't think it does.  And it shouldn't. She's doing her thing and making solid pop music in her own right. 

This single from 2024, cowritten by the artist, Toby Gad and Will Jay, is an example of that solid pop music she is making.  She's got a bigger voice than I think she gets credit for, and I suspect that the accolades are going to come soon. 

9 February 2026 - Blondshell - 23's A Baby

This post keeps getting shuffled around, and today, I decided I was done doing that.

Blondshell had a breakout 2025 with her album.... correction, albumS.  If You Asked For A Picture was absolutely one of the best albums of 2025.  On my Wicked25, it was literally the LAST cut and I don't think I would have cut it if I made that list today. 

This song, one of the singles from the album, is a large reason why I thought so highly of the album. Cowritten by Sabrina Teitelbaum (AKA Blondshell) and Sam Stewart, it's a upbeat album about being judged for having a kid too soon. 

I mentioned two albums.  She also released Another Picture, which contained a lot of reimagined versions of the same songs.... including this one, reimagined as a duet with Samia.

Live in Boston in 2025, Blondshell opened her show with a rousing performance of this song.

The crowd loved it.  

Also, stick around for the whole thing.  The whole show is great and there's a reason you're going to see the same show posted on Totally Covered today. 

The acoustics were a little better in the KEXP studios.

Also, I'm pretty sure those are prescription sunglasses. 

8 February 2026 (Special Edition) - 3 Doors Down - It's Not My Time

 Yes, I did choose this song ironically. 

Brad Arnold - lead vocalist and drummer - passed away yesterday at age 47 after a relatively short battle with cancer.  The entire music community paid their respects, so I left it was time for us to do the same. 

This 2008 single, from their self-titled fourth album, made it to the top 20 on the US Pop Charts - their last visit to those heights in this country on pop radio (although they continued to garner rock radio airplay consistently), was originally written for the remake of the movie The Poseiden Adventure, but the filmmakers ended up not wanting it. 

The band kept it.  And it ended up being a hit. This song about resilience, written by the band, ended up resonating with people.

The band never stopped touring even after their hitmaking days were behind them.   Here they are performing this song on a cruise in 2024.  They still bring the same energy. 

Brad Arnold will be missed.  Our best wishes go out to him, the band, and his family. 

6 February 2026 - sombr - 12 to 12

I wanted to end this week with another Best New Artist nominee from the Grammys - and I had three choices, really.  

I went with the most glittery one.  

I struggle with liking sombr a little bit - but it may just be because his music doesn't fit into a nice genre-box like I want it to - kinda falling into the same box for me as Tame Impala.  But his album I Barely Know Her (Sombr? But I barely know her!) is excellent.  His voice is huge, and his music is fun and disco-tingled.

So, yeah.  We're doing this. 

And by the way - I chose this song without looking at the YouTube comments.

Yes, that Addison Rae

So, enjoy!

Since I could not find a suitable Grammys performance, I went with his SNL performance of this song....  which, really, had him bringing just as much energy. 

I am personally impressed by his ability to go seamlessly between deep growl and significant falsetto.... live!