In addition to the Spanish-language album she’s preparing, Christina Aguilera also is hard at work on another pop album.
The singer, who’s performing with an orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl tonight and tomorrow, teases that the second album will have a “totally different feel” from the Latin album.
“I’m working with producers and writers that I’e been a big fan of for a long time,” she tells the Los Angeles Times. “One in particular is Joseph Angel — he wrote ‘Love on the Brain’ for Rihanna.”
She continues, “But all the writers come from such a deep, heartfelt place. It’s not about us trying to fit a mold; it’s a grown perspective that embodies everything I’ve experienced in this business and on a personal level.”
Christina adds that she made a lot of changes over quarantine, including surrounding herself with new collaborators and a new support team.
“I’m in a really happy place, and I’ve never been able to fully say that,” she says.
If hanging out at a casino with the likes of Sleeping with Sirens and Royal & the Serpent sounds like a dream vacation to you, you’re in luck.
Los Angeles-based musical curators and event planners Emo Nite are hosting a destination festival called Emo Nite Vegas Vacation, which will take place in Sin City from October 14 to October 17. The acts booked for the event so far include the aforementioned Sleeping with Sirens and Royal & the Serpent, plus Travis Barker, Mod Sun, Avril Lavigne, Mayday Parade, carolesdaughter, The Maine, 3OH!3 and more.
Special guests, parties and shows every night are among the attractions of the festival, which will take place at various hotels and clubs across the Las Vegas strip.
“emo nite vegas vacation is a three-day travel experience curated by us with pool parties, concerts, emo nites, and tons of special guests,” reads the announcement. “the best part…is that everything is included! your ticket includes your hotel room and access to all of our events all weekend long. all u have to do is get ur a$$ to vegas.”
For more information, or to reserve your spot — which comes with a COVID-19 money-back guarantee, by the way — visit Pollen.co.
(WASHINGTON) — As Texas House Democrats close the first week of their quorum break in Washington, D.C., to stall Republican-backed voting bills, their colleagues across the aisle are escalating efforts to compel them to return to the Lone Star State.
On Thursday, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced he would charter a plane on Saturday to fly the absent Democrats from the nation’s capital back to Austin.
“I am demanding all of our colleagues in D.C. to contact my staff immediately in order to secure their seat on the plane and return to Austin in order to do the state’s business. The State of Texas is waiting,” Phelan said in a statement.
In response, the Texas Democrats said they have no intention of taking up Phelan on the request.
“The Speaker should save his money. We won’t be needing a plane anytime soon, as our work to save democracy from the Trump Republicans is just getting started,” they said in a joint statement, adding, “We’re not going anywhere and suggest instead the speaker end this charade of a session, which is nothing more than a month long campaign commercial for Gov. Abbott’s re-election. The speaker should adjourn the House Sine Die.”
Beyond making the open request, the Texas House Speaker cannot further compel the Democrats to return to Texas. The state’s law enforcement officials similarly do not have jurisdiction across state lines to force the lawmakers back.
A group of Democrats left Texas on Monday to break quorum and wait out the end of their ongoing special legislative session in an effort to block the advancement of dual Republican-backed bills that would revise the state’s voting and election laws. Voting rights advocates say, if enacted, those bills would make it harder for Texans to have ballot access. By breaking quorum, the legislators also stalled the advancement of a slate of other bills the state’s Republican Gov. Greg Abbott deemed as priorities for the legislature, of which his party holds as a majority.
While it remains unclear what comes next for the Democrats in the nation’s capital, Abbott says the end of the current special legislative session will not wipe the slate clean of his priority items.
“Whenever the current special session ends, I will immediately call another special session, and I will continue calling additional special sessions so we can address issues,” Abbott said in an interview with CBS Dallas-Ft. Worth on Thursday.
In an attempt to terminate the possibility of another round of walkouts, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Texas Senate, wrote to Abbott on Thursday asking him to add an item to the next session that would change quorum rules to be based on a simple majority attendance.
“Texans expect their legislature to work and not be held hostage by a few legislators who are exploiting the quorum requirement. The majority of other state legislatures require a simple majority plus one,” Patrick wrote in the letter.
The current rules stipulate that two-thirds of elected members in each chamber must be present to conduct business. Abbott has not yet indicated if he plans to make the addition.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be questioned on Saturday by investigators with the New York State Attorney General’s office related to the probe into sexual harassment allegations made against him, according to reports.
The independent probe into these accusations, ranging from alleged unwanted hugs to alleged inappropriate comments, has stretched into its fourth month.
The three-term Democrat, up for re-election next year, will be grilled in Albany by two outside lawyers, Joon H. Kim and Anne L. Clark, hired to lead the probe overseen by Attorney General Letitia James, The New York Times first reported.
Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, told ABC News: “We have said repeatedly that the governor doesn’t want to comment on this review until he has cooperated, but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the attorney general’s review.”
The attorney general’s office had no comment on the matter when reached by ABC News.
The eventual findings of the investigation will be released in a public report.
A number of women, including former Cuomo aides, have accused the governor of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. Accusations first emerged in December when a former aide, Lindsey Boylan, alleged harassment in a series of tweets.
The governor has shared several public apologies in press conferences for “making people feel uncomfortable” but has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly said he would “fully cooperate” with the investigation.
John Shearer/Getty Images for Essential Broadcast Media, LLC
Garth Brooks will see two very different sides of Salt Lake City this weekend. On Friday night, his Dive Bar Tour hits local honky tonk, The Westerner, and the following day, he takes the stage for a sold-out stadium show.
“It’s funny because the whole mission is to make the dive bar feel like a stadium and the stadium feel like a dive bar,” Garth points out. “But to have them back-to-back in the same city?…I’ve got to tell ya, if I could paint a future for me, that’s exactly what I’d want to see. Friday night in a dive bar…Saturday night in a stadium…maybe back Sunday night in a dive bar!”
Clearly, Garth’s Salt Lake City fans are looking forward to his Stadium Tour stop as much as he is. When tickets to his show at the city’s Rice-Eccles Stadium first went on sale back in May, fans snapped up 50,000 seats in just under 30 minutes.
Garth has spent much of this summer getting Stadium Tour dates back on the books after the past year’s pandemic-induced touring hiatus. He’s officially back in action as of last weekend, kicking off the tour with a sold-out show in Las Vegas.
Here’s a roundup of new hip-hop and R&B music from Eric Bellinger, BJ The Chicago Kid, Leela James and more.
Eric Bellinger caters to the ladies on his new single, “Only Fan,” inspired by the popular subscription service, OnlyFans. “Just let me be your only fan,” he sings on the track while discussing women who desire validation from social apps.
BJ The Chicago Kid links up with New Orleans vocalist Lucky Daye for “Make You Feel Good.” The romantic ballad was produced by Bongo ByTheWay and will arrive on BJ EP 4AM, which drops July 23.
The following week, soul singer Leela James will release her highly-anticipated album, See Me, on July 30. It will feature James’ 2021 songs “Complicated,” “Put It on Me,” and her new single, “You’re the One,” which is out today.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Hudson takes us back with a cover of Aretha Franklin‘s 1967 hit “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman” to accompany her starring role in the Franklin biopic, RESPECT. The film and its soundtrack will be released on August 13.
West Coast natives Blxst and Bino Rideaux return with their collaborative project,Sixtape 2, featuring double the tracks of their six-song EP, Sixtape. The second installment blends both artists’ stylistic lyricism over hip-hop and R&B tracks with catchy hooks.
And in case you missed it, rising singer Muni Long dropped her new EP, Nobody Knows, along with a music video for her single, “Just the Beginning.” Long also recently contributed to Big Femme Energy, Vol.1, the debut album from female-led music and entertainment company, Femme It Forward.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday night unsealed an indictment against two California men who allegedly conspired to blow up Democratic headquarters in Sacramento, California.
Ian Rogers and Jarrod Copeland were allegedly inspired by the unfounded belief that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the court documents say.
When investigators searched Rogers’ house in January, he allegedly had five pipe bombs, which court documents say were live. They also allegedly seized between 45 and 50 firearms, including at least three fully automatic weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
In text messages obtained by investigators and included in the federal indictment, Rogers and Copeland allegedly laid out their plan to bomb the building.
“I want to blow up a Democrat building bad,” Rogers wrote, according to the indictment.
They then discussed their target and Rogers said he was “thinking sac office first target,” to which Copeland agreed.
“I agree. Plan attack,” Copeland said, according to the court documents.
As the exchange concluded, Rogers allegedly wrote: “Let’s see what happens after the 20th we go to war.”
Shortly after Rogers was arrested in January, court documents say that Copeland contacted a militia group that Rogers allegedly belonged to, and the group instructed Copeland to destroy his phone.
Rogers and Copeland were previously charged federally via criminal complaint for allegedly possessing explosive devices and wanting to go after Democrats, but the complaint did not mention a planned attack on the Sacramento Democratic headquarters.
According to the complaint, investigators found a Three Percenters sticker on Rogers’ truck. The FBI has said the Three Percenters is a “radical militia group” with ties to the Capitol siege. Investigators also said they found a “White Privilege Card.”
A lawyer for Rogers declined to comment, and Copeland’s lawyer could also not be reached.
“Sad it’s come to this but I’m not going down without a fight,” Rogers allegedly texted, adding, “These commies need to be told what’s up.”
The special agent who authored the complaint wrote that he believes the messages show an intent to cause violence to prevent now-President Joe Biden from assuming office.
Rogers also discussed plans to attack Twitter and Facebook for banning Trump and possibly California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
He faces additional weapons and explosives charges in Napa County.
“I hope 45 goes to war if he doesn’t I will,” Rogers allegedly wrote.
WILLOW’s new pop-punk album lately I feel EVERYTHING is out today, and you can celebrate it by watching a new concert experience that just went live on Facebook Watch.
During the video, Willow performs songs from the new album, and discusses her musical evolution with her friends and family, including mom Jada Pinkett Smith. Joining her for the video, which runs just under an hour, are Travis Barker, her collaborator on the current hit “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l,” and one of her heroes, Avril Lavigne, who joins her on the song “Grow.”
“This is such a special moment for me…Thank you for coming on this journey with me,” Willow writes of the video.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 about her new music — which is a long way from “Whip My Hair,” the debut single she released at age 10 — Willow says, “I followed my joy and I followed my heart, and I feel like it took us to a really beautiful spot. I’m in a place of disbelief right now.”
“I honestly feel like I’ve been waiting to make this album since I was literally 12,” Willow adds of lately I feel EVERYTHING. “This has been brewing inside of me for a long time.”
Dustin Lynch puts a modern spin on the story of the American cowboy in two new songs, “Not Every Cowboy” and “Pasadena,” which arrived as a two-pack this week.
“Not Every Cowboy” is a sweeping, string-filled love ballad that promises a new lover he’ll never slip out the door in the middle of the night, no matter what she’s heard about cowboys having an independent streak.
Meanwhile, “Pasadena” is a dreamy look back at a fling that took place during a California vacation, between two people who found they have a surprising number of things in common, even though they both were in an unfamiliar place.
“‘Not Every Cowboy’ and ‘Pasadena’ are just about that timeless, authentic, American cowboy love story,” reflects Dustin. “I’m very proud of how these songs captured that emotion in such a classic way. They felt special the day we created them and I’m so excited that they’re out now where everyone can enjoy.”
It’s been a busy summer so far for Dustin, who headed to Vegas last month for his sold-out pool party, the Dustin Lynch Pool Situation. He’s keeping the warm-weather good times rolling with a new duet with Chris Lane, “Tequila on a Boat.”
Meanwhile, Dustin’s current duet single with Mackenzie Porter, “Thinking ‘Bout You,” is climbing the country charts.
