Music

BTS is used to performing before throngs of screaming, adoring fans, but what happens when they sing and dance in front of a line of impatient commuters sitting in traffic? As expected, things got a little hairy.

We finally know what happened when the K-pop sensations joined The Late Late Show with James Corden‘s perennial bit, “Crosswalk Concert” bit, which saw them take over West Hollywood’s Beverly Boulevard as traffic waited at the red light.

To help psych the singers up, James assured they were about to perform at “the biggest venue of your life” as he gestured to the busy intersection, calling it “the hottest ticket in town.”

RM deadpanned, “We just played for 50,000 people at SoFi Stadium. Now, he wants us to play next to some gas station?” Despite the group’s initial apprehension — Jimin even declared, “I don’t think this is safe,” —  they decided to give it a shot.

The septet took to the sidewalk to perform over-the-top renditions of their hits “Butter,” “Permission to Dance” and “Dynamite,” which included backup dancers, people jumping on trampolines and smoke bombs.  Thankfully, they successfully entertained the rush hour traffic. Some commuters whipped out their smart phones and danced along.

However, there were some hiccups during BTS’ performance — most notably when V slipped and fell when the signal turned green. Thankfully, he jumped right back up and made it to safety in time.

As for James, he accidentally summoned the Los Angeles Fire Department after becoming a little too enthused when promoting “Dynamite” by saying they were “going to blow this place up.” The British host apologized to one of the firemen and promised to “choose my words more carefully next time.”

The Late Late Show airs at 12:30 a.m. ET on CBS every weeknight.

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Toni Cornell honored her late father, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, with a performance on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday,

Toni performed her own version of her dad’s Grammy-nominated cover of the Prince-penned classic “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which appears on the his posthumous covers compilation, No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1. The two Cornells previously recorded a duet version of the song, which Toni released in 2018, a year after Chris’ death.

The 17-year-old teased the performance earlier this week, writing on Instagram, “So excited to perform a special song in honor of my dad on @fallontonight.”

Toni has previously honored her father with a cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” on ABC’s Good Morning America in 2017. She’s also performed his Temple of the Dog song, “Hunger Strike.”

 

 

 

 

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A cause of death for the 10 victims that died as a result of the Astroworld Festival tragedy has been determined. 

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s office ruled all victims died of “compression asphyxia.” Of the 10 victims only one, Danish Baig, had a “contributory cause” due to the “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol,” the report states, according to ABC affiliate KTRK.

In addition to Baig, 27, the remaining identified victims were Rodolfo “Rudy” Peña, 23, Madison Dubiski, 23, Franco Patiño, 21, Jacob Jurinek, 20, John Hilgert, 14, Axel Acosta, 21, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Bharti Shahan, 22, and Ezra Blount, nine.

All the deaths were ruled an accident.  

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A cause of death for the 10 victims that died as a result of the Astroworld Festival tragedy has been determined. 

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s office ruled all victims died of “compression asphyxia.” Of the 10 victims, only one, Danish Baig, 27, had a “contributory cause” due to the “combined toxic effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and ethanol,” the report states, according to ABC affiliate KTRK.

In addition to Baig, the remaining identified victims were Rodolfo “Rudy” Peña, 23, Madison Dubiski, 23, Franco Patiño, 21, Jacob Jurinek, 20, John Hilgert, 14, Axel Acosta, 21, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Bharti Shahan, 22, and Ezra Blount, nine.

All the deaths were ruled accidental. 

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Fans will get to see Tim McGraw step into the role of James Dutton this weekend with the premiere of 1883, the highly-anticipated prequel series to Yellowstone that will stream on Paramount+.

But now that the season’s filmed, the singer says he’s not slowing down: He’s about to kick his day job into high gear.  His McGraw Tour 2022 is set to launch at the end of April, and it’s a run he’s especially excited about, because the COVID-19 pandemic has kept him off the road for a couple of years.

“I love touring, and I love the routine of touring,” he explains. “I do look forward to getting back out on the road and look forward to that instant gratification, because it’s a different kind of energy.”

Tim adds that he’s particularly excited to watch his opening acts, including Russell Dickerson, perform every night. “I love seeing new acts and going out this side of the stage and seeing what they do,” he explains.

And as if launching 1883 and planning a tour weren’t enough, Tim’s got even more exciting plans in the works, he hints.

“At the same time, you know, working on this [series], I’m working on an album as well,” he reveals. “So I’m going home at night and listening to mixes, writing songs. It’s a full-time schedule to get all of this done.” 

1883 premieres December 19 on Paramount+.

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One of 2021’s more unusual Christmas songs is Darren Criss‘ rendition of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” originally recorded by 10-year-old Gayla Peevey in 1953. Darren says it’s definitely not one of those songs that everyone knows — and that’s one reason why he likes it.

“It seems to be very divisive: Either you know it and you love it, or you’ve never heard it, ever,” Darren tells ABC Audio. “I’ll talk to some people from certain parts of the country or the world [and] they’re like, ‘I’ve never heard this song!’ Somebody heard my version of it, and was like, ‘Did you write this one?’ And I would say, “I wish I wrote that song!”

Darren says he’s been “really obsessed” with “Hippopotamus” since he was a kid, because he couldn’t get over how great Peevey’s voice was. 

“I remember being 10, being like, ‘Wait, she’s 10 as well?’ like, ‘Wow…She sounds like an adult,'” he recalls.

“It has a lot of meaning to me…just ’cause it’s a very silly, fun song, that my mom loves to lip-sync to around the house,” he laughs.  And while he was determined to put the tune on his holiday album A Very Darren Crissmas, he knew that he needed to change it up.

“With this song, it’s usually covered by…female artists, and it’s usually a straight cover,” he notes. “I knew if I was gonna do it. I’d have to justify it by [doing] something completely different, which is this sort of half-time, electronic, very contemporary, IDGAF-kind of feeling.”

“That’s kind of what I do with everything,” Darren says. “I like taking things that you think you know and trying to make you reevaluate what you thought you knew to be true.”

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Fans of Taylor Swift and the Apple TV+ show Dickinson — but particularly those EmiSue stans out there — will be greeted by “Ivy” in a very special scene in the show’s ninth episode.

Dropping today, the penultimate episode of the series sees real-life poet Emily Dickinson, played by Hailee Steinfeld, in an intimate scene with her longtime forbidden love, Susan Gilbert, played by Ella Hunt. 

“Ivy,” from Taylor’s album evermore, sets the mood for the scene onscreen, and it did the same while the two actresses filmed, Hunt tells ABC Audio.

“I loved that song before we started shooting,” Hunt explained. “And the first time we shot that scene, I was trying to hold back tears from my eyes. It felt so meaningful, because we were listening to the song as we were getting it on.”

“It was a lot,” Hunt admits of the combination of the emotional scene and the song, before adding with a laugh, “It was very impactful!”

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time Taylor has been linked to Emily Dickinson: Fans have speculated that evermore was inspired by her. The album was announced on December 10, Emily’s birthday, and Dickinson ended her poem “One Sister I Have in Our House” with the word “forevermore.”

For the record, Dickinson star and producer Hailee — a friend of Taylor’s — admitted that she’d heard those rumors too, and told a U.K. radio station earlier this year that she was “dying to find out” if they’re true. As she put it, “The clues are lining up!”

You may recall that Hailee was one of the many female celebs who co-starred in Taylor’s video for “Bad Blood.”

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