Sombr performs on ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
There’s so much AI content floating around online these days that you never know what’s real. Maybe that’s why we can forgive sombr for thinking that a quote from Taylor Swift praising him was fake.
Taylor did an interview in October in which she said, “Tate McRae is amazing. Sombr is amazing. There are so many incredible artists that I love listening to … I’m supporting them by streaming their music constantly in my house.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair, sombr said, “[E]very time anything cool happens to me, I’m sleeping. And I sleep really late, so I always wake up and already have a bunch of texts about it, spoiling it. … I just woke up and I opened my texts: ‘Taylor Swift mentioned you!’ I was like, No, no way. This is AI. But it wasn’t!”
“I was … six years old listening to pop radio, and it was Taylor Swift.Now I’m on pop radio with Taylor Swift, and she says she listens to my music,” he continued. “Life doesn’t feel real. And what do you mean, I’m a pop star? I’m still trying to process it all.”
The best new artist Grammy nominee had a similarly suspicious reaction to hearing his song on the radio for the first time. “I remember, when it first started picking up, I was going to meet my friends, and I got into an Uber and ‘Undressed’ was just on, and I had never experienced something like that, so I got really scared,” he told Vanity Fair.
“I was like, Am I getting kidnapped? Then I looked at the screen on the car and it was just on a radio station. Ever since then, it’s gotten to be more normal.”
Thomas Rhett performs on stage during 2025 CMA Triple Play Awards at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on April 29, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)
Thomas Rhett and his family are mourning the loss of another beloved pet, after losing their dog Cash in October.
On Wednesday he posted a photo of his dog Kona and wrote, “It’s been a tough dog month for our family. We lost our little Kona girl. I think after cash passed she just wanted to go be with him.”
“It’s weird losing a dog, cause whether you know it or not they are just always there, always by your side at the dinner table,” he continued. “They are truly a part of your family. Got the courage last night to listen to @hardy song ‘Dog years’ I cried like a child, but dang that song is so spot on about the life of a dog if they could talk.”
“Kona and Cash yall will be missed a lot. I know yall are having a blast up in heaven together.”
When Cash passed, TR paid tribute by writing, “He was the most loyal, kind dog that I have ever known. He was [my wife] Lauren’s best friend. He was there when every single baby came home for the first time.”
Thomas and Lauren share four children and are expecting their fifth in 2026.
USA Photo of Jimmy CLIFF (Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns)
The Rolling Stones have paid tribute to Jamaican reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, who passed away Monday at the age of 81.
Mick Jaggerposted a black-and-white photo on social media of him and Cliff laughing together, writing, “So sad to lose the beautiful voice of Jamaica, Jimmy Cliff.”
Both Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood also posted photos with Cliff. While they were different shots, they appear to have been taken around the same time.
Richards covered Cliff’s hit track “The Harder They Come” in 1993 and wrote about seeing the impact of the movie of the same name, which Cliff starred in.
“Farewell Jimmy, I was in Jamaica when the ‘Harder They Come’ was in every cinema on the island. You could feel the pride and and the love for Jimmy everywhere,” he wrote. “The sweetest voice, the sweetest soul. His music will live with us forever! Heartfelt condolences to his family! One love, Keith @jimmycliff.”
And in his tribute, Wood recalled Cliff’s 1982 album, Special, which he appeared on.
“Very sad news, bless @jimmycliff,” he wrote. “I made an album with him Jimmy in Kingston, Jamaica – a song called ‘Peace Officer’ among others xx.”
And those weren’t the only times The Stones and Cliff collaborated. The reggae star contributed backing vocals to the band’s 1986 album, Dirty Work.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One on November 25, 2025 in flight en route to Florida. The Trumps are traveling to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case against President Donald Trump and others has been dismissed after the prosecutor who took over the case requested that it be dropped.
“In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years,” wrote Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, who took over the case after the original prosecutor was disqualified from the case.
Within minutes of Skandalakis’ court filing, the judge overseeing the case granted the request and dismissed the case.
“This case is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee wrote.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
The charges, which were brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to win the state, allege that the defendants solicited state leaders throughout the country, harassed and misled a Georgia election worker, and pushed phony claims that the election was stolen, all in an effort for Trump to remain in power despite his election loss.
Defendants Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Willis was subsequently disqualified from the case following accusations of impropriety regarding her relationship with a fellow prosecutor, leaving a council of Georgia attorneys to assign an independent prosecutor to take over the case and determine its fate.
Skandalakis took over the case himself earlier this month after he said he was “unable” to find someone else to accept the job.
In a statement following the dismissal of the case, Trump attorney Steve Sadow said, “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
The dismissal marks the end of the two major election interference cases Trump faced following the 2020 election.
Following an eight-month investigation by then-special counsel Jack Smith, Trump pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged.
After Trump was reelected president last year, the case was dismissed without prejudice due to the Justice Department’s long-standing policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
In a 22-page filing explaining his decision to drop the Fulton County case, Skandalakis wrote that the allegations and case theory are “not a viable basis for prosecution,” and noted the timing and logistical difficulties of continuing the case specifically against Trump.
He acknowledged the seriousness of the case, writing that the indictment, if proven, would establish a conspiracy undertaken by multiple individuals … to overturn the results of the November 2020 Presidential Election,” but said that trying a criminal case against Trump would not be feasible.
“There is no realistic prospect that a sitting President will be compelled to appear in Georgia to stand trial on the allegations in this indictment,” he wrote. “And even if, by some extraordinary circumstance, [Trump] were to appear in Georgia on January 21, 2029 — the day after his term concludes — an immediate jury trial would be impossible.”
Regarding the specifics of the case against Trump, Skandalakis wrote that “Overt acts such as arranging a phone call, issuing a public statement, tweeting to the public to watch the Georgia Senate subcommittee hearings, texting someone to attend those hearings, or answering a 63-minute phone call without providing the context of that conversation, just to name a few examples, are not acts I would consider sufficient to sustain a RICO case” against the president, referring to the racketeering charges that Trump faced.
Skandalakis wrote that he considered severing Trump from his co-defendants but concluded that such a move would be “futile and unproductive.”
He also concluded that the case should have been pursued federally, not in a Fulton County courtroom.
“The criminal conduct alleged in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit’s prosecution was conceived in Washington, D.C., not the State of Georgia. The federal government is the appropriate venue for this prosecution, not the State of Georgia,” he wrote.
He also identified a series of flaws in the prosecution’s case theory, including that the Republican electors charged lacked criminal intent and that the allegations against federal officials Jeff Clark and Mark Meadows “fall short of the far more rigorous standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt required to sustain a criminal conviction.”
In concluding his explanation, Skandalakis acknowledged that his decision would receive pushback — but said he still had to make it.
“The role of a prosecutor is not to satisfy public opinion or achieve universal approval; such a goal is both unattainable and irrelevant to the proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion. My assessment of this case has been guided solely by the evidence, the law, and the principles of justice,” he wrote.
Aunt Vivian is putting her mental health first in the fourth and final season of Bel-Air. Cassandra Freeman, who plays Aunt Viv on the Peacock series, tells ABC Audio the season finds her once again balancing family and ambition, but doing so on her own terms.
“I’m really big on this philosophy of the more women center themselves in their life and work, the easier life is, and I feel that a lot with Aunt Viv,” she says. “She could go back to her old ways in season 1 and only center her family, and in this [season] she’s like, ‘No, I’m gonna redo this thing.’ And she’s gonna put her own sanity and mental health in the driver’s seat, which is why she makes a lot of the decisions that she makes.”
Aunt Viv, as fans know, is the matriarch of the Banks family; the other women in the family are Hilary and Ashley, played by Coco Jones and Akira Akbar, respectively.
Coco says fans “will be gagged” by her storyline in the fourth season, especially when it comes to her relationships with LeMarcus and Jazz.
“Ithink Hilary has a lot on her shoulders this season. And it does get rocky, I can’t even lie, but it comes out with her finding a purpose and finding a reason behind all of the things,” Coco explains.
And Akira says Ashley becomes “more comfortable with who she is and her identity” while growing up and still going through “teenager problems.”
The first three episodes of Bel-Air‘s fourth season are now streaming on Peacock.
Travis Scott has a new album that he hopes will drop soon. A clip said to be filmed in Europe while he was on his Circus Maximus tour has surfaced on the web and sees him responding to whether he has recorded new music. “Oh yeah, like a whole album,” he said. As for when fans will be able to hear it, he added: “Soon, hopefully. Yeah, I made a whole album on tour.” The Circus Maximus tour, according to a Live Nation press release, has the most tickets sold on a solo rap tour and is the highest-grossing solo rap tour in history.
De La Soul stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday night to perform a pair of songs from their new album, Cabin in the Sky. Posdnuos and Maseo took the stage with “Run it Back” before going into “The Package.” The performance is now available to stream on YouTube.
Nas and DJ Premier‘s collaborative album, Light-Years, is dropping on Dec. 12. The album will close out Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It series, which saw the release of seven new albums from iconic hip-hop artists, including Slick Rick and Mobb Deep. Light-Years is now available to presave, with limited physical products currently on sale.
Billy Joel, ‘Live From Long Island,’ RSD Black Friday 2025 (Legacy Recordings)
You can work off the calories after your Thanksgiving meal Thursday by walking around your local independent record store and picking up exclusive vinyls released for the 2025 Record Store Day Black Friday event. Here’s a roundup of just some of the items you can score this year.
Billy Joel is releasing his Live From Long Islandconcert as a three-LP standalone set. The 1982 show, recorded at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum in December 1982, features most of Billy’s hits, including, “Allentown,” “Piano Man,” “Pressure,” “Big Shot,” “You May Be Right” and “Just the Way You Are.”
Who Believes In Angels? Live At The London Palladiumdocuments the March 25 concert Elton John and Brandi Carlile did at the London Palladium. It features a concert poster and live versions of songs from the duo’s Grammy-nominated album, as well as Elton hits like “Your Song,” “I’m Still Standing” and “Tiny Dancer.”
Phil Collins is releasing 12″ers, a six-track EP of extended mixes of songs from his album No Jacket Required.
Benson Boone‘s 2023 EP, Pulse, is coming to vinyl for the first time on electric yellow and bright blue splatter vinyl and includes a 12×24 poster.
Bruno Mars‘ debut EP, It’s Better If You Don’t Understand, is on vinyl for the first time. It features “Count On Me,” “Talking to the Moon” and two other tracks.
Billie Eilish is putting out live recordings from Amazon’s Songline series, which have never before had a physical release. The four-track LP includes live versions of “Birds of a Feather” and more.
Matchbox Twenty is releasingMad Season (Live 2001),a 2-LP set on truffle color vinyl documenting concert recordings from their tour promoting their second album, Mad Season. It includes hits like “If You’re Gone.”
Benson Boone, ‘Pulse,’ RSD Black Friday 2025 (Warner Records)
You can work off the calories after your Thanksgiving meal Thursday by walking around your local independent record store and picking up exclusive vinyls released for the 2025 Record Store Day Black Friday event. Here’s a roundup of just some of the items you can score this year.
Benson Boone‘s 2023 EP, Pulse, is coming to vinyl for the first time. It’s pressed on electric yellow and bright blue splatter vinyl, and it comes with a 12×24 poster.
Bruno Mars‘ debut EP, It’s Better If You Don’t Understand, is on vinyl for the first time. It features “Count On Me,” “Talking to the Moon” and two other tracks.
Billie Eilish is putting out live recordings from Amazon’s Songline series, which have never before had a physical release. The four-track LP includes live versions of “Birds of a Feather,” “Wildflower” and more.
Chappell Roan is releasing a 7″ vinyl with “The Subway” on one side and “The Giver” on the other.
Kesha has a 7″ vinyl version of her 2024 Spotify Singles cover of Lindsey Buckingham‘s “Holiday Road”; the B-side is Kesha’s unreleased version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which dates from 2010.
The deluxe version of Role Model‘s Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye) is available as a 2-LP set on colored. It includes a few live performances, including one of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out” plus a collaboration with Laufey.
James Bay is releasing his debut album, Chaos and the Calm, featuring “Let It Go” on ruby/black marble vinyl with alternative cover art.
Matchbox Twenty is releasingMad Season (Live 2001),a 2-LP set on truffle color vinyl documenting concert recordings from their tour promoting their second album, Mad Season. It includes hits like “If You’re Gone” and “Bent.”
Jelly Roll, ‘Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up the Pieces),’ RSD Black Friday 2025 (Republic Records)
You can work off the calories after your Thanksgiving meal Thursday by walking around your local independent record store and picking up exclusive vinyls released for the 2025 Record Store Day Black Friday event. Here’s what’s available:
Jelly Roll is releasing Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up The Pieces) in a physical format for the first time. The LP is pressed on “tequila sunrise”-colored vinyl and collects the 13 tracks from the digital deluxe version of Beautifully Broken, including collaborations with Keith Urban, ERNEST and pop star Halsey.
Post Malone is releasing Long Bed, the nine tracks from the digital deluxe version of his album F-1 Trillion, physically for the first time. It’s pressed on neon orange vinyl.
Morgan Wade‘s putting out a limited-edition purple vinyl pressing of the five new songs from the deluxe edition of her 2025 album, The Party is Over (recovered). It includes “Hardwood Floor (String Session).”
Fans of ’90s country will want to get Dwight Yoakam‘s And Then I Wrote… The First Three Albums Of The ’90s, available as a four-LP boxed set. It collects If There Was a Way, This Time and Gone, and throws in a full side of rarities from the era. Those albums include hits like “Turn It On, Turn It Up Turn Me Loose,” “You’re The One,” “Nothing’s Changed Here,” “Ain’t That Lonely Yet,” “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere,” “Fast as You,” “Try Not to Look So Pretty” and “It Only Hurts Me When I Cry.”
Twenty One Pilots’ Josh Dun at 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Disney/Cristian Lopez)
Twenty One Pilots‘ Josh Dun has shared a drum cover of the Turnstile song “T.L.C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION).”
The performance is featured on Dun’s YouTube channel, where he’s also posted drum covers of Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” and Rage Against the Machine‘s “Bulls on Parade.”
“Posting songs that inspire me in some way or another. Whether that’s just a feeling or a desire to get better,” Dun says. “[Turnstile’s] Daniel Fang is a drummer worth watching to get inspired, and this song is rad.”
Dun just paid tribute to another drummer, Meg White, when Twenty One Pilots covered “Seven Nation Army” in honor of The White Stripes getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Turnstile, meanwhile, released a new album, NEVER ENOUGH, in June. It was accompanied by a visual album that premiered at the Tribeca Festival.
