Mitchell Tenpenny’s Speed of Light Tour (Courtesy Mitchell Tenpenny/Schmidt Relations)
Mitchell Tenpenny’s new song, “Speed of Life,” was written with eyes toward it going on Teddy Swims’ album.
Typically, when the “Drunk Me” hitmaker and the pop star write together, they each sing a verse on the demo. But since this song was supposed to be for Teddy, this time, he sang the whole thing — which led to an interesting problem for Mitchell.
The more he listened to it, the more he fell in love with it — and the more he was convinced HE should record it.
“This felt like me and I asked, ‘Man, are you cool if I do it?’ And he was like, ‘Absolutely,'” Mitchell tells ABC Audio. “So [I] went in the studio, and then, obviously, trying to sing a song after Teddy, I got such demo-itis like hearing him. So I really had to try to make it my own.”
Mitchell made up his mind that he’d do whatever it took to deliver what he believed the song deserved.
“I told my management … ‘Cancel whatever’s happening two days after the session, because I’m going in there and I’m going to lose my voice. I’m going to sing as hard as I possibly can and try to make this song special and feel emotional, cinematic, anthemic. I want it to feel that way. And so I’m gonna give literally everything I got,'” he recalls.
“And I love the way it turned out. I haven’t been more excited for a song in a long time than I am for this. It feels like me again, and I am truly stoked,” he adds.
Mitchell Tenpenny’s “Speed of Life” is out now and is the name of his headlining tour that stops in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Friday night.
Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm (Photo credit: Krishta Abruzzini)
Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm’s new solo album, Released, is out now, made up of previously unreleased songs he recorded in the ’80s for his previous solo albums.
While it’s been decades since he first recorded some of these songs, Gramm tells ABC Audio he always knew they existed, but notes “as time went by, I forgot I had them.”
“When I was ready to do a new album, I had some original songs written, and something just kept tugging at me to go back and listen to the songs from my previous solo albums that weren’t on the album,” he says. “I remember when I started listening to ‘em that they shocked me at how good they were, but they were incomplete.”
Gramm says the songs didn’t make his original solo albums not because they were bad, but due to “time restraints,” noting in order to meet deadlines he had to choose songs “that were done, not necessarily the ones that we liked the best.”
Gramm says going back and listening to the tunes all these years later turned out to be “very emotional” for him.
“And then I started getting a little angry. ‘Why didn’t we finish them? Why didn’t we get them on the album?’” he says, noting, “Here are these great songs sitting around for 30 years, you know, or more.”
Gramm says he hopes after listening to the record fans come away realizing he’s “a formidable songwriter, as well as a vocalist.”
“I have a style that’s uniquely my own and it has elements of Foreigner in it, because that’s the band I was part of,” he explains. “But it’s quite a bit different than Foreigner,” noting he hopes the album lets the “difference be known.”
It’s a big month for Charlie Puth: He became a father for the first time on March 13, and his new album, Whatever’s Clever, is out on Friday. He tells ABC’s On the Red Carpet that he can’t wait to go on tour in April because the album was made to be played live.
“I’m looking forward to playing this music live, in a live setting, cause I’ve written this album and produced this album in a way that’s made for Madison Square Garden and big arenas,” Charlie said. “I just … want people to sing along with me. So that’s the first time I’ve taken this approach, where I really wrote this for the people.”
Charlie says he doesn’t mind how those people discover his music, even if its through snippets on TikTok.
“However they want to consume the music,” he said. “I just wanna give, what do they call it? Goosebumps. I want to give people the goosebumps.”
Whatever’s Clever features guest appearances by yacht rock icons Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, as well as sax player Kenny G; “Love Me Not” singer Ravyn Lenae; legendary Japanese musician Hikaru Utada; and Coco Jones, who sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at February’s Super Bowl pre-game show, during which Charlie sang the national anthem.
Discussing the album’s catchy title, Charlie told ABC’s On the Red Carpet, “I think it’s a very human phrase. I found myself saying it a lot during the process of making the record. And I think in the days of so much artificially created content, it’s nice to be human, and stand out, alone.”
RAYE, ‘This Music May Contain Hope’ (Human Re Sources)
RAYE’s sophomore album, This Music May Contain Hope, is finally here, but for a while there, it looked like it might not happen.
In October 2024, RAYE posted on Instagram, “it’s my birthday and my car got stolen with all my song writing books in the [trunk] so no second album any time soon love you bye.”
In March 2025, she told People, “My car was stolen. … There was a big giant book [in it] that says ‘RAYE’s Second Album’ on the front of it with loads of … really f****** personal s***.”
She added, “I hope whoever stole the car just took the stuff and threw it in the bin ’cause I don’t want people reading that.”
Then in October, RAYE revealed the police got in touch with her two or three months earlier and told her that they’d found her car and all her lyric books completely intact.
RAYE subsequently told ABC Audio in November that she did indeed get the lyrics back in enough time to incorporate them into the album. When she started looking at them, she said, “Some of it was like, ‘What am I thinking? I hope no one read that. And some of it was perfect.”
“You know, there’s so much I dumped in those spaces,” she continued. “I do really love a book and a pen, but clearly I’m learning that maybe I’m gonna need to digitalize some things at least. Either that or start using a safe for my lyric books!”
As previously reported, This Music May Contain Hope features 17 tracks grouped into four “seasons.” Guests includeRock & Roll Hall of Famer Al Green, film composer Hans Zimmer, two of RAYE’s sisters and two of her grandparents.
Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on March 04, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice notified a federal judge that it has been erroneously relying on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo to justify arrests at immigration courts, according to a new court filing.
The filing is part of an ongoing federal case in New York brought by civil rights groups challenging a policy of arresting people at immigration courts.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they had repeatedly cited a memo titled “2025 ICE Guidance” to defend the policy, which led to courthouse arrests nationwide.
“We write respectfully and regrettably to correct a material mistaken statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs,” wrote Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Clayton informed the court that ICE officials notified DOJ this week that the guidance “does not and has never applied” to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near immigration courts.
“As stated in the Guidance, it also does not apply to criminal immigration enforcement actions inside courthouses,” the memo states. “The Guidance does, however, apply to civil immigration law enforcement at or near all non-immigration courts at federal, state, and local/municipal level.”
Immigration attorneys and advocates previously told ABC News that immigration enforcement officers have been waiting in immigration court buildings and arresting migrants who have had their cases dismissed.
Deportation hearings in immigration court are legal proceedings initiated by DHS in which an immigration judge determines whether a migrant should be removed from the United States.
Often, an immigration judge will dismiss a case in order to allow the individual to pursue legal relief by seeking asylum, according to attorneys.
Several videos of migrants being detained after their cases were dismissed have gone viral on social media.
“It’s clear that it’s a coordinated campaign of fear-mongering, to put fear into our immigrant communities and undermine the constitutional right to due process,” Priscilla Olivarez, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Antonio, Texas, previously told ABC News.
In response to the filing, attorneys for the New York Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU said the arrests have “deprived” immigrants of their right to seek relief from removal.
“The implications of this development are far-reaching,” the groups wrote on Wednesday. “In the months since the Court relied on the government’s representation to deny Plaintiffs preliminary relief, Defendants have continued arresting noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, resulting in their detention—often in facilities hundreds of miles away.”
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement: “There is no change in policy. We will continue to arrest illegal aliens at immigration courts following their proceedings. It is commonsense to take them into custody following the completion of their removal proceedings. Nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them.”
Christian Andreu of Gojira performs at Canada Life Place on September 22, 2025 in London, Ontario. (Jeremychanphotography/Getty Images)
Gojira’s Christian Andreu has announced a new signature guitar in collaboration with Jackson.
The Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads RR24 EVTN6 boasts “three-piece neck-thru construction with graphite reinforcement and alder wings” that create a “bulletproof foundation that delivers earth-shaking tone with fortress-like stability,” Jackson says.
“But the real game-changer is the revolutionary Evertune F6 bridge – pure wizardry that locks you in perfect pitch no matter how hard you thrash, bend, or punish this beast,” the description continues.
The guitar is available now for $2,429.99. For more info, visit JacksonGuitars.com.
Gojira’s most recent album is 2021’s Fortitude. In between, they released the Grammy-winning song “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira),” which they performed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
“Brush Me Like a Horse” single artwork. (Mushroom Music/Virgin Music Group)
Alt-J frontman Joe Newman has released the video for his single “Brush Me Like a Horse,” released under his solo moniker, JJerome87.
The surreal clip finds an imprisoned man forced to run on a treadmill overhanging a cliff, lest he fall to his death.
“Brush Me Like a Horse is an acid western about a man condemned to die in a cruel, humiliating public spectacle,” says video director Alex Takács. “Joe Newman came to me with the vivid image of a state execution via treadmill, and it immediately conjured this whole narrative world.”
You can watch the “Brush Me Like a Horse” video on YouTube.
“Brush Me Like a Horse” is included on the debut JJerome87 album, The Canyon, which is available now exclusively via Newman’s website.
Gigi Perez performs during Laneway Festival 2026 at Western Springs Stadium on Feb. 5, 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Dave Simpson/WireImage)
Gigi Perez has released a cover of the Green Day song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
The “Sailor Song” artist recorded the ’90s classic for Hollister’s newly launched graduation season campaign, continuing the track’s status as a graduation staple despite being initially written as a bitter breakup song.
The cover is accompanied by a video, now available on YouTube, featuring footage of seniors reflecting on the final days of high school cut with shots of Perez strumming an acoustic guitar. It begins with Perez listening to a tape cassette of the opening guitar line that Billie Joe Armstrong infamously fumbles in the intro of the original song. However, Perez does not say the f-word, as Armstrong did.
“There were so many pieces of this project that made this opportunity feel perfect,” Perez says in a statement. “I’m deeply nostalgic, and thinking about my own senior year, the impact Green Day has had on me, and my connection with Hollister made reimagining a song that’s so important to me a really special experience.”
Perez will be performing at Coachella in April before launching a tour opening for Noah Kahan in June.
What do Jonas Brothers have in common with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Lin-Manuel Miranda? They’ve all worked with Disney in some capacity over the years. That’s why JoBros and those other stars are being named Disney Legends at the company’s annual D23 fan event, set for Aug. 14-16 in Anaheim, California. Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
Just call *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and JC Chasez “The Producers.” They’ve joined the producing team for the musical comedy Titanique, a sendup of the 1993 movie Titanic, featuring the songs of Céline Dion. It starts previews in New York City Thursday night on Broadway. Joey actually appeared in a 2010 production of The Producers, and he’s also appeared in Broadway shows like Rent, Little Shop of Horrors and, most recently, & Juliet.
If you missed BTS’ performance of their new single “SWIM” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night, you can watch it now on YouTube. Or, you could just wait until Thursday night, when the group will perform a second song on the talk show. During their Wednesday appearance, the group discussed their reunion, answered questions from fans and revealed the meaning behind some of the songs on their new album, ARIRANG.
Mariah Carey performs during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at San Siro Stadium on Feb. 6, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Mariah Carey’s birthday — or, as she calls it, anniversary — is Friday, but we’re getting the gifts.
At midnight, Mariah is releasing her performance from the opening of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in February. As part of the elaborate opening production, Mariah sang the beloved Italian song “Volare,” also known as “Nel blu, dipinto di blu.”
The song, recorded by Domenico Modugno, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 and has been recorded by over 100 artists. It marked the first time Mariah had sung in Italian. At the end of that track, she broke into one of her patented “whistle tones,” before segueing into her song “Nothing Is Impossible” from her 2025 album, Here For It All. The songs are being released as one medley.
On Instagram, Mariah posted behind-the-scenes video from that day, including footage of her walking around backstage in a silver gown and white feather boa. You can watch video of her actual performance in an earlier post on her Instagram.
Friday is the 57th “anniversary” of Mariah’s birth.
