Music

It’s a new year and Gracie Abrams has new music to share — and she says not releasing it yet is very difficult for her.

Speaking to People, Gracie said she was “beyond ready” to let her fans hear the music, adding, “I’ve never felt this way about anything I’ve made before, so it’s definitely driving me crazy in a good way.” 

But despite being excited about the new music, Gracie said the #1 thing in her life is her group of friends and collaborators.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the people you get to make things with and spend your time with, and that … means the most to me right now,” she told People. 

Gracie rang in 2026 with a group of people that included her boyfriend, Paul Mescal, and said they all “basically stood around the fire and wrote private wishes or thoughts down — things we either want to leave behind or bring with us into the new year.”

“There’s so much going on in the world for all of us collectively in this moment, and everyone’s got their own personal s*** going on all the time,” she said. “[I love] any opportunity to be with your people and remember how that is the core of everything.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tyler Perry continues to add to his growing list of television and films with a new set of projects announced as part of Netflix’s 2026 lineup.

Kicking off the year is Joe’s College Road Trip, set to premiere on Feb. 13. Tyler stars as the titular character, who takes “a cross-country college road trip where tensions run high and life-changing lessons are learned,” according to Netflix. Jermaine Harris and Amber Reign Smith also star in the film.

Tyler tapped Fantasia for Tyler Perry’s The Gospel of Christmas, featuring a star-studded cast including Tank and gospel stars Shirley Caesar, Fred Hammond, the Clark Sisters, Smokie Norful, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Ann Nesby, Yolanda Adams, Hezekiah Walker and Je’Kalyn Carr. The film follows a pastor who inherits his family’s church and reconnects with his faith as he tries to save the congregation.

And as previously reported, another installment of Why Did I Get Married Again is on the way. Michael Jai White’s Marcus and Tasha Smith’s Angela reunite with their longtime couple friends for their daughter’s wedding and are forced to acknowledge how much she’s grown to be like them. Jill Scott, Taraji P. Henson and Da’Vinci are among the other cast members.

While not a Tyler Perry project, Tasha directs ’Tis So Sweet starring Taraji, Joey Bada$$, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Russell Hornsby and DeVon Franklin. The film’s about Chicago bakery owner Lenore Lindsey, whose life is changed by a discovery that inspires healing, renewed purpose and more.

Other Netflix 2026 films include 72 Hours starring Kevin Hart and Teyana Taylor; Animals with Kerry Washington; Here Comes the Flood starring Denzel Washington and Danai Gurira; and the animated film Swapped, featuring the voices of Michael B. Jordan, Tracy Morgan and Cedric the Entertainer.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Scotty McCreery, bluegrass queen Rhonda Vincent, comedian Henry Cho and the Grammy-nominated The War and Treaty will headline An Evening with the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall. 

Look for more artists to be announced for the March 20 show that’s part of the United in Sound: America at 250 festival. It’s also a continuation of the Opry 100 celebration that kicked off in 2025.

This will be the fourth time the Opry and the famed New York City concert hall have come together. In 1947, Ernest Tubb led a show that featured Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe, Eddy Arnold and The Carter Sisters with Mother Maybelle Carter.

In 1961, Patsy Cline headlined a benefit for the Musician’s Aid Society. 

Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley and more returned in 2005 to mark the Opry’s 80th birthday. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Having been famous since the ’90s thanks to his role as Dr. Carter on ER, you’d think The Pitt‘s Noah Wyle wouldn’t get starstruck. But he revealed that he was practically “drooling” when he met Ariana Grande at the recent Critics Choice Awards.

On the red carpet at the season 2 premiere of The Pitt, Access Hollywood‘s Scott Evans told Noah that Ariana was “awestruck” when they met each other at the Critics Choice Awards, which Noah scoffed at.

“Is that how it played out? I thought it was the other way around,” laughed Noah. “I thought I was drooling and telling her how I was gonna have so much street cred with my 10-year-old when I got home.”

Noah went on to say that he’d been “sort of living on cloud 9 ever since” encountering Ari. “We love her, love Wicked,” he raved. “Played the soundtrack out this year in our house. And meeting Glinda was like meeting real royalty.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

David Bowie’s wife and daughter are remembering the rock legend on what would have been his 79th birthday.

Bowie’s wife Iman, whom he married in 1992, shared a black-and-white photo of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer on Facebook, writing, “A million feeling(s) A thousand thoughts A hundred memories…. YOU! Happy Heavenly Birthday.” In a separate Instagram post she wrote, “Happy Heavenly Birthday Your light burns so bright in all our hearts! We love and miss you.”

His 25-year-old daughter, Lexi Jones, shared a childhood photo of her and her dad on Instagram. In it she’s holding a cake with “happy birthday dad” written in frosting. She captioned the shot, “Da big 79 today. Happy birthday pops, miss ya.”

Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti also remembered the rocker, noting in a Facebook post that Bowie shared a birthday with his father.

“I’m glad I was able to introduce them to each other,” he wrote. “I loved them both and I miss them like nobody’s business.”

Bowie passed away Jan. 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar, which he recorded while he was secretly battling liver cancer.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Following the success of her song “Folded,” Kehlani is working on an album that she tells Inked is “almost finished.” Compared to her previous projects, the singer says she collaborated with more people this time around — all of which were organic connections.

“I have way more collaborations than I’ve probably ever had, and they’re all people that I really, really respect,” Kehlani teased. “The coolest thing about it is that none of the features feel like, ‘Oh, a label threw this together,’ or ‘Two people were popping right now, so we just threw it together.’”

“It was all super organic; everybody’s just loving the music that’s being made,” she added. “I have people that I adore and look up to on this project, so I’m really excited about it.”

While it’s not clear when the album will drop, it will follow the success of “Folded,” which has been covered by several artists, including JoJo, Ne-Yo, Brandy, Toni Braxton, Mario and Tank. Much like the collaborations on her upcoming album, Kehlani says the remixes came together naturally.

“This happened completely organically — I didn’t do any of this,” Kehlani said of the versions by Brandy, Braxton, Mario and Tank. She did, however, initiate the conversations with JoJo and Ne-Yo.

All of the versions were later compiled into the Homage Pack.

“It was just freaking natural, dude. I don’t know — it’s been the craziest thing ever,” Kehlani said. “Maybe ‘Folded’ never ends. Maybe the clothes never actually get folded.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Midland‘s keeping their cowboy aesthetic strong as they ride in with new music in 2026.

“Mountains in the background, hell of a view and we’ve got a brand new song to share with you,” the trio wrote on their socials. “‘Marlboro Man’ is available Jan 16th.”

The post quotes part of the song’s lyrics, as you can see in an earlier performance by Mark Wystrach, Cameron Duddy and Jess Carson.

“Mountains in the background, hell of a view/ But all I see is me missin’ you/ Just cussin’ myself for who I am/ Alone again like that damn Marlboro man,” the three sing in a previous post.

The 2017 ACM new vocal group of the year hasn’t released a new album since 2024’s Barely Blue, though they dropped a handful of tracks in 2025, including May’s “Glass Half Empty.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Shinedown is gearing up for a busy year in 2026.

The “Second Chance” rockers have shared a video on Facebook in which frontman Brent Smith teases, “You should probably start thinking about what you wanna do this year come around May, where you’re gonna be in June, July, August, September, probably October and definitely November.”

When Smith says “August,” he takes an extra beat to look at the camera, perhaps suggesting that something particularly exciting in Shinedown world will be happening that month.

“Just saying, maybe start checking your calendars, ’cause we’re getting ready to start some announcements,” Smith adds.

As for what those announcements might be, Shinedown has been working on a new album to follow 2022’s Planet Zero. And, of course, with a new album often comes new tour dates.

Shinedown released four new singles in 2025: “Dance, Kid, Dance,” “Three Six Five,” “Killing Fields” and “Searchlight.” In December, they teased something called “Hundred % Human” alongside the caption, “Coming Soon.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.