Camila Cabello shared a heartfelt message to fans about overcoming the pressure of beauty standards and being at peace with one’s body.
Taking to her TikTok recently, the “Havana” singer reflected on the thoughts she had while running in a crop top, which showed off her stomach that she admits is not flat.
“I was just running in the park minding my own business trying to be fit, trying to keep it healthy. And I am wearing a top that shows my belly,” said Cabello while panning down to show her relaxed stomach. “I wasn’t tucking it in, because I was running and existing like a normal person that doesn’t tuck it in all the time!”
“And I was like, ‘Damn.’ But then I reminded myself being at war with your body is so last season,” the singer noted before sharing her thoughts that all women’s bodies should be celebrated.
“I am grateful for this body that lets me do what I need to do,” the upcoming Cinderella star grinned. “We are real women with curves and cellulite and stretch marks and fat. And we got to own that, baby!”
Cabello hilariously closed out her video by belting out a few lines of Aretha Franklin‘s “Something He Can Feel” while gesturing to her curves.
The “Señorita” further punctuated her point by captioning the PSA, “I luv my body.”
Cabello has been more active on social media as of late, which culminates with reports that the singer is gearing up for her next era in music.
The three-time Grammy nominee confirmed over the weekend that she will be releasing a new single and music video on Friday, titled “Don’t Go Yet.”
The single will be Cabello’s first offering of 2021 and the followup of her 2019 album Romance.
Rapper D Smoke showcased his dense flow and conscious lyrics on his Grammy-nominated debut album,BlackHabits. He tells ABC Audio that it was essential for fans to learn about his personal story and his perspective growing up in Inglewood, California.
“I think it’s really important to share with the world, like, who the artist is,” D Smoke says. “I always treated BlackHabits like my debut album, even though I been making music for years. I’ve put out music [for] a long time. But this was going to be available to a large part of the world.”
He continues, “I thought it was really important that people go back and learn about my history [and] my family history, because my family has everything to do with why I am the artist that I am.”
D Smoke, who is 35, comes from a talented family of musicians: His mother, Jackie Gouché, plays piano and is a professional singer, while his brother, singer and producer SiR, is signed to Kendrick Lamar‘s label, Top Dawg Entertainment. D Smoke also won an ASCAP award for co-writing Jaheim‘s 2007 song “Never” with his brother, Davion Farris,and he mentions his oldest brother Ron-Ron on the Black Habits track “Bullies.”
“My family’s connection to music goes back many generations from before my grandmother. But what I’ve witnessed begins with my grandmother,” he says. “She started playing piano in church and singing in church…singing that Aretha-esque music. And then, of course, my mom and my uncles. They all wrote music and sang harmonies together and performed together doing gospel.”
D Smoke says it’s a “blessing” to build a “collective bond” with his family, where “multiple voices are singing and playing different instruments.”
Gabby Barrett gave birth to her first child, daughter Baylah, in January, and she’s now out performing live, and looking even better than she looked before she got pregnant. So what’s the secret behind her post-baby body bounceback? Gabby credits the fact that she’s just very busy…and, most importantly, she’s young.
“I don’t know, I guess being a mom…I really haven’t gotten the chance to, like, eat all the junk food that I was eating,” she laughed to reporters not long ago. “So I guess it really just cut [the weight] out in my face and all around the place!”
The “I Hope” singer, who welcomed Baylah about three months before her 21st birthday, also thinks her relative youth had something to do with it.
“I thankfully was able to kind of like shed some weight quickly and get off all the baby weight and I feel good,” she said. “I dunno, I’m thankful for that — that my body kinda was able to snap back and be healthier than it was before, even after having a baby, and quickly, after that. So I can thank, I guess, my 21-year-old metabolism for that!”
Gabby is among the many stars who’ll be taping a concert in Nashville at the end of the month for an upcoming ABC-TV special. Newlyweds Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani are also performing, as are American Idol judge Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and others.
Longtime Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder has released his debut solo single: “Haenim,” a cover of a song originally written by Korean guitarist Shin Joong Hyun, who pioneered the rock scene in the country in the ’60s and ’70s. As Schroeder tells ABC Audio, the track is a fitting introduction to who he is as a musical artist now, and who he’s been as a person his whole life.
“People like Shin Joong Hyun, basically their gigs were to play these clubs that were for U.S. military people, because that kind of music really wasn’t popular amongst the Korean population,” Schroeder explains. “It was really for, I think, a lot of these military base nightclubs where these musicians would go and play.”
Since his mother, who’s Korean, met his father when he was stationed there in the military, Schroeder felt a kinship to Shin’s musical identity.
“My personal connection as a rock musician and Korean American and this song is all interwoven in this bigger, larger sociopolitical history of the U.S. and Korea,” he explains. “So [‘Haenim’] really felt like the right place to start this new chapter of, at least, my musical life.”
From the musical side, “Haenim” features dreamy guitars reminiscent of the Pumpkins, punctuated by classic metal-style solos that really help the song soar. Schroeder credits the inspiration of those to a friend named Max, who had recently passed away.
“I said, ‘What would Max tell me? If he was here, what would he encourage me to do?'” Schroeder recalls. “‘Cause I was, like, ‘Oh, I can definitely do the more shoegaze-y type of lead thing here…or should I just totally go for it?’ And I was, like, ‘No, Max would tell me to go for it.'”
Schroeder is currently prepping his debut solo EP.
Matt Stell‘s in an enviable position: So far, every song he’s ever released as a single has gone to #1.
Now that the six-foot-seven former college basketball player has a new hit climbing the chart, is he feeling the pressure to keep up his streak?
“It’s crazy. It’s a little bit of a roller coaster with the singles,” he explains. “Because with ‘Prayed for You,’ I had no expectations whatsoever… I just went into it and was just enjoying the ride.”
“‘Everywhere but On,’” he continues, “I felt like I was playing with house money a little bit…”
“Now, as that song got towards the top ten and closing in on that #1,” Matt admits, “there was some expectations and some nervous moments in there hoping that we could ring the bell.”
Matt’s third career single, “That Ain’t Me No More,” does deviate from his playbook significantly.
“What’s different about it, is it’s the first outside cut that I’ve ever cut,” he points out. “I moved to town to be a songwriter, but part of that is because I love songs, right?… And whatever the best song is, has kind of been my motto.”
“So this song came out of nowhere and kinda changed our plans a little bit,” Matt reveals. “And I thought that really spoke to the power of this tune. And it’s one that I’m really glad I get to be the person to cut it and kinda put my stamp on it.”
“And as far as pressure,” he says, “if it’s anything like the last one, you know, once it kind of gets up wherever it’s gonna get to, that’s kinda when the nail biting starts.”
This summer, Matt heads out with both Old Dominion and Miranda Lambert.
Foghat has just released a new concert album and video called 8 Days on the Road in celebration of the veteran rockers’ 50th anniversary.
The collection, which is available as a two-CD/DVD package and digitally, features a November 2019 performance by the band at Daryl’s House, the club Daryl Hall owns in Pawling, New York.
Founding Foghat drummer Roger Earl tells ABC Audio that the band hadn’t planned to record the show, but since the club has cameras and recording equipment already set up, they went ahead and documented the gig.
“The sound in the room is terrific…It’s like playing in your living room,” Earl explains. “[A]nd then we took all the stuff home and [Foghat lead guitarist and producer] Bryan Bassett…started working on it. And we listened to…the first rough mixes and we said, ‘Wow, looks like we can play still.'”
Roger adds that he also was “pleasantly surprised” with the film of the show.
The concert features Foghat delivering inspired renditions of many of their best-known tunes, including “Slow Ride,” “Fool for the City” and the Willie Dixon classic “I Just Want to Make Love to You.”
Earl notes that the band also included two rarities in the set, a cover of Chuck Berry‘s “Maybellene,” which the group originally recorded for its 1972 self-titled debut, and a version of the Wild Cherry hit “Play That Funky Music.” Roger says he suggested that the band perform the latter tune because Bassett is a former Wild Cherry member, and played on the original track.
Earl tells ABC Audio that Foghat will be playing the 8 Days on the Road set at their 2021 concerts, so if “people come to see us and they like the set…it’s already pre-recorded for them.”
Last year’s celebrations for the 20th Anniversary of Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical landmark film Almost Famous were toned down because of the pandemic. In celebration of the milestone, star Patrick Fugit took ABC Audio on a walk down memory lane.
Fugit recalled working alongside a bevy of A-listers when he scored his breakout role as Rolling Stone journalist William Miller going out on tour in the 70s with “Stillwater.”
Fugit adds he was only 16 when he was offered the role and recalled what it was like filming alongside powerhouse acts like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand.
“Frances would give more like sagely advice you know, and sort of be there with me and pass to me the things that she had learned over time,” the 38-year-old actor reminisced. “Billy was straight-up hostile towards me. He’d be like ‘Where the hell are you from again?’ I’d be like ‘Salt Lake City, Utah.’ And he’s like ‘How old are you?’ I’d be like ‘Sixteen’ and he’s like ‘God.'”
When it came to working alongside Crowe, Fugit said the director helped immerse him into the sounds of the era.
Fugit said Crowe burned him “a bunch of mix CD’s that he had put together that were sort of tonal” so he knew what emotion to convey during certain scenes.
The actor also reminisced about one the film’s most beloved sequences — the sing along to Elton John‘s “Tiny Dancer.”
Although it took “over two, maybe even three days” to complete, the actor said, overall, filming that scene while maintaining that level of energy, “was amazing.”
To mark Almost Famous‘ 20th anniversary, Paramount released anewly remastered version of the movieon Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD.
(SPRING, TX.) — A chemical spill at a water park in Texas sent dozens of people to the hospital, according to officials.
The incident began around 2:30 p.m. in a children’s pool at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown in Spring, Texas, when a lifeguard and several guests started to get sick, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told reporters.
Children and their parents were experiencing “respiratory issues,” and 28 of them were transported to hospitals, the Harris County Fire Marshal’s office said.
After evacuating the park and conducting preliminary tests of the air and water, investigators found the water had a chemical combination of 35% sulfuric acid and 10-13% bleach, Scott Seifert, the chief of Spring Texas Fire, told reporters. The chemicals are commonly used to clean and treat swimming pools.
Over 65 people were contaminated by the substance, however, no one suffered any chemical burns, according to the fire marshall’s office. The affected persons were decontaminated.
The most serious case involved a 3-year-old child, and as of Sunday, that child was stable at Texas Children’s Hospital, according to Hidalgo.
“Everybody else was in the less urgent position,” she said. “Most people were feeling better afterward.”
A representative from the park said in a statement that it was closing Hurricane Harbor Splashtown indefinitely as they work with health officials to determine what caused the spill.
“The safety of our guests and team members is always our highest priority,” Rosie Shepard, a spokeswoman for the park, said in a statement.
The fire marshal said the last time the park had its fire and safety inspection was June 29 and the Harris County health department conducted health and safety inspections for commercial pools in April.
Hidalgo said that the park is supposed to have systems in place that track the pH level in the water and alert crews quickly, however, she reiterated that the city will make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“If you can have 60-plus people get sick, and your system doesn’t catch it … then clearly something is wrong with the system,” she said.
ABC News’ Timmy Truong contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Collin Morikawa won The Open in Sandwich, England Sunday afternoon to win his second major.
The 24-year old shot a bogey-free 66 to beat Jordan Spieth by two shots.
Just like when he won the PGA Championship last year, this was Morikawa’s first appearance at The Open, becoming the first player to win two different majors on the first attempt.
“This is by far one of the best moments of my life,” said Morikawa after his round.
According to ESPN, Morikawa became the first player to win two majors in eight or fewer attempts since Bobby Jone in 1926.
(CANNES, France) — It was almost a strange sight; packed movie premieres and actors again walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival — maskless- — while throngs of photographers snapped away.
With going to the movies put on hold for more than a year, and the festival canceled last year due to the pandemic, even some of the stars were struck by what felt like a return to normal.
“I was a little overwhelmed last night, and I’m really glad that we’re here this year. Because I think we’ll all look back and remember launching out of COVID — and what a way to do it,” said actor Matt Damon, who teared up after the standing ovation he received at the premiere of his new film, “Stillwater.”
Beyond the glitz and glamour, the Cannes Film Festival is also home to the world’s biggest movie market, the Marché du Film. Set up inside the Palais des Festivals, a convention center behind the main theater where premieres are held, the marché is where thousands of directors, producers, sales agents and distributors from around the world try to get their movies made, bought, sold or distributed.
“The Marché du Film is really the business of film, we’re the less sexy and exciting part of the film festival,” said Monique White, senior vice president of distribution for California Pictures who’s been coming to Cannes for years.
This year, cinema’s power players were eager to get back to work, hoping the deals struck here will serve as evidence the business of film is also back. The industry took a massive hit during the pandemic — global theatrical revenue in the U.S. fell from $42.3 billion in 2019 to just $12 billion in 2020, according to the Motion Picture Association’s Annual Report — leaving film professionals scrambling to adjust.
Some argue perhaps the single biggest change was the streaming boom.
“COVID changed the way we watch anything now. Whether we’re watching on just the internet, on Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Hulu, whatever. We have more eyeballs on our computers and our phones,” said White.
While tensions between traditional theaters and streaming platforms had been growing for a while, the problem really came to a head during the pandemic, with the controversial online release of Universal Pictures’ “Trolls World Tour” movie in April 2020 marking the beginning of a new era and sending shockwaves through Hollywood.
AMC, the country’s largest cinema chain, responded by temporarily refusing to run Universal movies.
“There used to be more of a professional understanding that you would wait a period of time before you released,” said White. “But now it’s really subject to the production and the producer and how they want to release the film domestically.”
The feud between Universal and AMC was eventually resolved, but a number of other studios have since then followed suit. Disney, the parent company of ABC News, decided to release films like “Mulan” and “Luca” online, and WarnerMedia announced the company would release all of its 2021 films on HBO Max the same day they hit theaters.
The shift to digital has even prompted the Oscars to change their eligibility rules — whereas movies first had to be released in theaters to qualify for the awards competition, the Academy is now allowing movies released online to participate.
As a result, “Nomadland” which was released on Hulu, eventually won best picture, and Netflix won seven awards and 35 nominations, the most of any studio this year.
Recently announced Emmy nominations are reflecting a similar pattern with streaming services winning more nominations in 2021 than those of broadcast and cable combined.
The Cannes Film Festival, for its part, is maintaining requirements that a movie must first air in theaters to be able to qualify.
“Of course, the streaming companies exploded and they needed lot more product which is great because now they’re asking for more,” said Hernan Aguilar, a distributor focused on the Latin American market.
Aguilar said he sees an upside to the shift to streaming.
“In general it’s good this thing is happening, because cause more product is being asked for,” he said. “The demand is going up, so in that sense, that’s good.”
The change is causing a certain uneasiness in the industry, with some fearing streaming services could not only put theaters at risk, but also the likes of producers and distributors. A number of streaming platforms are now producing their own content, instead of buying films made by independent filmmakers.
It’s an issue that’s top of mind in Cannes this year.
“Cinema and screening platforms can coexist. At one time, there was a thinking that TV was going to kill cinema. This stuff is not new. It’s all cycle,” said director Spike Lee, president of the Cannes Film Festival jury this year.
Some argue studios won’t be able to continue bypassing theaters, as there’s just no substitute for box office revenue. The recently released blockbuster “F9” — released exclusively in theaters — raked in $70 million on opening weekend.
White predicts streaming services will eventually have to raise their prices.
“They’re all gonna go up. And before you know it, let’s say in the next couple of years, it’s gonna be like 20 bucks for Netflix, I’m sure. That’s not gonna be sustainable,” she said.
Aguilar thinks it’ll be the opposite.
“I think what’s gonna happen is there’s going to be more and more streaming platforms and with competition the prices will go down but I think it’s really not expensive at all right now compared to tickets in the cinema,” he said.
Another big question: will streaming change the type of content that’s being produced?
“Streaming is definitely … if you see the quality of the content you’re seeing, you’re seeing more lower quality in terms of the story or how things are done,” said Juan Pablo Cadaveira, producer and co-founder of Blue Productions.
It’s unclear what will happen next, but some are hopeful the end of the pandemic will mean a return to theaters, pointing out it was the Great Depression that inspired Hollywood’s Golden Age.
“I just think now though hopefully with things opening up, we’re gonna be less on [streaming platforms] than we were before. No one wants to be in a small apartment. They want to go out and see people and go to the movies,” said White.
“I think as people go to church for religion, you go to the cinema to watch a good film, but it’s true that for me people are going to do it less and less because it’s so much easier to watch a good film in your house,” said Aguilar.
