Carmit Bachar, Kimberly Wyatt, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Sutta and Ashley Roberts from the Pussycat Dolls, Jan. 31, 2020 in London, England. (Neil Mockford/GC Images)
The Pussycat Dolls announced a reunion tour in 2019 featuring five of the original six members, which was subsequently canceled due to legal disputes. For the group’s newly announced reunion tour, there are only three Dolls participating — Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts and Nicole Scherzinger — and one original member is now claiming she never got the invite.
On Tuesday, O.G. Doll Carmit Bachar, who was part of that original canceled reunion tour, wrote on Instagram that she wanted to “speak honestly and respectfully.” She then wrote, “I was not contacted regarding the group’s decision to move forward, and I learned of these plans at the same time as the public.”
“Given my history with the brand, having been part of its foundation long before its commercial debut and instrumental in the connections that led to the record deal…I would have appreciated direct communication,” she went on to say. “While this is disappointing on a personal level, I remain proud of the role I played in helping shape what The Pussycat Dolls became.”
Carmit noted, “My intention in sharing this is not to create division, but to honor the truth and the fans who have supported us throughout the years. Transparency and respect are values I hold deeply.”
She signed off by saying she’s focusing on her well-being and remains “open-hearted about the future.” She also promised information about upcoming projects as well as “an exciting collaboration with a television and music industry icon.”
Meanwhile, the new PCD tour is set to start June 5 in Palm Desert, California.
U.S. Marines land at the objective point during a simulated bilateral small boat raid at Kin Blue Training Area, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 26, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon’s decision to send the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a 2,200-troop force, to the Middle East is fueling new speculation about whether the conflict with Iran couldinvolve U.S. ground troops, a step that would mark a dramatic escalation and potentially push the already unpopular war into a far more dangerous phase.
It could take up to two weeks, or the end of March, before the unit is in place and its presence unlikely to significantly shift the dynamics of the war on its own, experts say. A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) can deliver an initial surge of troops quickly, but seizing and holding key terrain, or sustaining a prolonged fight, would almost certainly require a far larger ground force.
Experts say the MEU would likely be used to conduct raids across the Iranian shoreline to gain a foothold in areas across the crucial oil shipping waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, which has emerged as a contested point of the conflict.
A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month showed 74% of registered voters opposed sending U.S. ground troops into Iran while 20% supported it.
Asked Tuesday if he was afraid of the Iranian regime’s assertion that U.S. boots on the ground “will be another Vietnam,” President Donald Trump replied, “No, I’m not afraid. I’m really not afraid of anything.”
Sailing from the Pacific, it will likely take up to two weeks for Marines to be in place in the Middle East, and it is not yet clear what those troops would be used for. The unit operates as a self-contained, sea-based force — essentially a floating hub capable of launching troops, aircraft and equipment without relying on nearby bases or infrastructure.
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would unlock a waterway through which 20% of the globe’s oil supply transits each day. Its closure has seen gas prices soar and markets roiled. Trump has referenced shorelines from which the Iranians can attack vessels transiting the waterway.
“Now we are pounding that area, that coast, as you know, left side,” Trump said Monday. “We’re pounding it like really pounding it hard.”
According to Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, the MEU could take part in land-based “raids” on targets along that coast.
“There’s a number of missions where you can conceivably see a MEU playing a role, either unilaterally or kind of in conjunction with maybe the deployment of larger Army units,” said Eisenstadt, who believes the deployment of the MEU was likely related to the strait.
Iranian fortifications along the coast that could “interfere with convoy operations,” Eisenstadt said, could be U.S. targets. Top military leaders have said they’ve explored the potential uses of convoys, or warship escorts, to facilitate the safe passage of commercial shipping through the strait.
Raiding parties could target missile storage bunkers that are hardened and difficult for U.S. warplanes to destroy from the air.
The idea would be to “clear out the shore and then use air power to prevent them from returning once you’ve cleared out those areas,” Eisenstadt said.
Such an operation would not by itself create conditions for smooth sailing in the strait, experts told ABC News.
“My concern is that it takes so little to disrupt the shipping industry, Eisenstadt said. “If there’s a small, you know, kind of a small residual [Iranian] capability, it could still potentially be very disruptive.”
The 2,200 Marines in the MEU would limit any operation longer than a raid, which have pre-planned withdrawals. To get on land, these types of Marine units primarily seize footholds by riding small watercraft onto beaches or by helicopter insertion.
“Normally in an amphibious assault, you have all sorts of Navy landing craft behind you to sustain the force ashore. There’s none of that. There’s none of that logistical tail that would allow them to remain ashore,” said retired Marine Col. Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor.
Leaving strategic waters in the Pacific
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit is primarily based in Japan, where it routinely trains with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on skills in high demand across the Pacific, including rapidly seizing small islands. Earlier this month, it took part in a major annual exercise that featured amphibious assault drills, marksmanship training and operations focused on capturing hostile terrain, according to the Defense Department.
Their removal from the region removes one of the primary ground combat elements in the Pacific, which could respond to a crisis with China or North Korea. Other significant combat elements in the region include the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, stationed to bolster South Korea’s frontline against Pyongyang, as well as the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska.
“That leaves a ground combat and amphibious capability gap in the region,” Carlton Haelig, an expert in military operations and fellow at the Center for New American Security, said.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based out of Camp Pendleton, California, is preparing to deploy to the Pacific, according to Pentagon imagery.
Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour poster (TAS Rights Management)
It was a long time coming, but Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour launched three years ago on March 17, 2023.
Taylor’s first stadium tour since 2018 kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, and wrapped up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in December 2024. Along the way, it visited 149 shows in 51 cities across five continents and became the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Running more than 3.5 hours, the Eras Tour was also the first to earn more than $1 billion and then $2 billion. The Federal Reserve even credited the tour with boosting the U.S. economy, contributing more than $4 billion to the country’s GDP. Taylor herself became a billionaire, allowing her to eventually buy back the rights to her master recordings.
In addition to earning buckets of money, the Eras Tour became a cultural phenomenon. Cities renamed themselves in honor of the tour. Superstars flocked to witness it. Media outlets hired full-time correspondents to cover it. And one guy in Kansas City got so upset that he didn’t get to meet Taylor after the show one night that he proposed to her just over two years later.
The Eras Tour boosted sales of Taylor’s entire catalog and sent her 2019 song “Cruel Summer” to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the midst of the tour in 2024, she released a new album, The Tortured Poets Society, and in October 2025, she released another new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which she’d written and recorded while on tour. Both of those albums broke sales records.
The Eras Tour was captured in a movie, which became the highest-grossing concert film of all time and in a Disney+ docuseries; the final show was also turned into a Disney+ special.
Tour art for Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter’ series tour (Live Nation)
The celebration of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter series continues, as he has added a new set of shows to his tour due to overwhelming demand.
The new leg is scheduled to begin June 30 and run through Oct. 23. Cities on the itinerary include Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and Raleigh, among others. This time around, he’ll be joined by 2 Chainz, while The Game, who is celebrating over 20 years of his Documentary album, will support on select dates.
A Citi presale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time, followed by an artist presale at noon local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.com.
Early buyers will have access to a special 2-for-$75 ticket offer, available while supplies last.
The tour celebrates more than 20 years of Wayne’s Tha Carter series, which began in 2004. Six installments have been released over the years, including Tha Carter II (2005), Tha Carter III (2008), Tha Carter IV (2011), Tha Carter V (2018) and Tha Carter VI (2025).
Chayce Beckham currently has nine more shows on his Old Fashioned Tour, amid being in the studio working on new music.
Hannah Dasher’s Scattered, Smothered & Covered EP drops March 27, featuring classics by Tammy Wynette, Earl Thomas Conley and Hank Williams Jr. Her first cookbook, named for her viral video series, Stand by Your Pan, is out now.
Maren Morris will kick off her 12-date dreamGiRL Tour June 13 in Calgary, Alberta, marking the 10th anniversary of her debut album, HERO.
Carly Rae Jepsen performs during the 2024 Pitchfork Music Festival on July 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)
Carly Rae Jepsen has gone from “Call Me Maybe” to “Call Me Baby:” She and her husband Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, aka Cole M.G.N., have welcomed their first child.
On her Instagram Story, Carly shared a mirror selfie of herself holding a newborn dressed in a green-and-white striped onesie and cap. She wrote, “Last 2 weeks have been the best of my life. Welcome to the world little one.” She didn’t reveal the baby’s gender or name.
In November, Carly and Cole announced the pregnancy with a black-and-white photo of themselves sitting on their bed, with Carly showing off her baby bump. The caption read, “Oh hi baby.”
The Canadian singer and the music producer first met in 2021 at a songwriting session and started dating in 2022. They got engaged in 2024, and wed in October of 2025 at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.
Leon Thomas at 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (Disney/Cristian Lopez)
The lineup for Lollapalooza has been announced, and Olivia Dean is among the headliners.
She’s set to headline the 2026 festival alongside Charli XCX, Tate McRae, Lorde, John Summit, Jennie, The Smashing Pumpkins and The xx.
Lil Uzi Vert, Leon Thomas, Clipse, Freddie Gibbs, Mustard, Destin Conrad and Justine Skye are also scheduled to perform.
“Welp see you here too I guess…,” Pusha T of Clipse wrote alongside the lineup on his Instagram Story.
Lollapalooza is set to take place July 30 to Aug. 2 at Chicago’s Grant Park. A presale begins Thursday at 10 a.m. CT, and tickets go on sale to the general public at 11 a.m. CT.
The full lineup and ticket information can be found on Lollapalooza.com.
Tim McIlrath of Rise Against performs onstage at Warped Tour at Shoreline Waterfront on July 27, 2025 in Long Beach, California. (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Chicago bands unite as Rise Against announces a tour with Alkaline Trio.
The joint outing launches Sept. 22 in Dallas and wraps up Oct. 23 in Irvine, California.
“This isn’t just a tour, but a celebration of two bands that sprung from the same soil and the same Chicago basements and bowling alleys,” reads a post on the Rise Against Facebook. “We can’t wait to link back up with our Windy City brethren, Alkaline Trio. Together, we take what we both started so long ago on a tour that is long overdue.”
Oddly, though, there isn’t a Chicago date currently scheduled on the tour, though fans in the comments are theorizing it’ll make a stop at Chicago’s Riot Fest in September.
For the full list of announced dates and all ticket info, visit RiseAgainst.com.
Rise Against is currently on a spring U.S. tour in support of their latest album, 2025’s Ricochet.
Kip Moore’s seventh studio album, Reason to Believe, was recorded during the loss of his mentor and first producer, Brett James, and is named for a song he particularly loved.
For Kip, it’s particularly personal.
“I felt like I was describing more of who I am as a human. This album is my daily thoughts. In here,” he says, pointing to his heart. “It’s an ‘in here’ kind of thing.”
In addition to shows with Cody Johnson and Billy Currington, Kip will set out on the Reason to Believe World Tour in 2026, playing stadiums and arenas in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa, the U.S. and the U.K.
Here’s the complete track listing for Reason to Believe, which comes out May 29: “Levee” “Get What Ya Give” “The Darkness” “Heartbreaker” “Headlights” “You & Me” “Faith in the Wind” “Reason to Believe” “Lonely Tonight” “Long Time Coming” “Wild Things” “Sober” “Josephine”
Bruce Springsteen on Jimmy Kimmel Live!/(Disney/Randy Holmes)
Bruce Springsteen’s private chef is spilling some of the rock star’s food secrets.
Andre Fowles, who recently released the new cookbook My Jamaican Table, featuring a foreword by Springsteen, talked to Rolling Stone about the book, which reveals some of The Boss’ culinary preferences.
Fowles tells the mag that when it comes to food, Springsteen “loves his classics: a great cheeseburger, hot dogs, fried chicken,” although, he adds, “He has his moments where he craves seafood for a few days, or it’s just meat, or it’s just ‘he’s going to have dinner, no lunch.’”
Fowles incorporates his Jamaican heritage into what he cooks for Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa and he says he and Springsteen talk about food “all the time.”
As for The Boss’ favorite dish, Fowles says, “I keep going back to one particular dish that I’ve made quite a few times that he enjoyed. It’s a curried lobster with coconut rice, roti to dip into the sauce, some mango chutney and sweet plantains.”
He adds, “You have the spicy from the curry, the sweetness from the chutney and the coconut rice, so it’s a really lovely spread. I would say that’s his go-to.”
But while Jamaican food can be quite spicy, thanks its frequent use of Scotch bonnet peppers, Fowles says Springsteen’s Scotch bonnet tolerance is “mid to low.”
