Cover art for Cheap Trick’s ‘All Washed Up’/ (BMG)
Cheap Trick will release their 21st studio album, All Washed Up, on Friday, and bassist Tom Petersson says their approach to making records today is the same as it was when they first started out over 50 years ago.
“We just are making songs that we like, would like to hear ourselves,” he tells ABC Audio. “So it’s like we’re making it for ourselves and our friends, and then the rest, it’s like having a lottery ticket.”
Songs on the album range from fast rockers like “The Riff That Won’t Quit” to ballads like “The Best Thing,” but Petersson says they don’t go into the studio with a plan to have specific types of songs on an album.
“If one person doesn’t like it we won’t do it,” he says of the songs they record, noting they won’t include a ballad on a record just because someone tells them to.
“If somebody writes a ballad, then we go, ‘Hey, that is a good one. OK, let’s do that,’” he explains. “Now we just basically do it for our own enjoyment because that’s probably all anybody’s gonna get out of it is their own enjoyment.”
“We want to do something we’re not embarrassed to play for people,” he says, explaining that they wouldn’t want to record something they don’t like even if it could sell 10 million copies.
He adds, “We just want to do what we think sounds good.”
All Washed Up is Cheap Trick’s first album since 2021’s In Another World. It will be released digitally, on CD and on black vinyl. There will also be an orange marble variant, limited to 1,000 copies, sold through the band’s website.
Justice Smith as Charlie, Ariana Greenblatt as June, Dominic Sessa as Bosco, Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves, and Dave Franco as Jack Wilder in ‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.’ (Katalin Vermes for Lionsgate)
For its next trick, Now You See Me becomes a three-film franchise.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, in theaters Friday, continues the magician-themed heist series following the original 2013 movie and its 2016 sequel. The threequel reunites Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher as the Four Horsemen, a troupe of Robin Hood-esque illusionists who use their powers of deception to rob from the rich and powerful for the benefit of the common people.
As Franco tells ABC Audio, he had no idea Now You See Me would become a trilogy back when he was filming the first one.
“The concept of magicians pulling off bank heists, it’s a very fun idea, but in the wrong hands, that could be a disaster,” Franco says. “But I think when that first movie came together the way it did, we were all like, ‘Oh my God, that’s like a miracle magic trick in and of itself.’ And now we’re just trying to harness it, and we just have so much fun making these films.”
Eisenberg thinks that the films have connected with audiences because they make viewers “feel clever.”
“You’re in on the puzzle, and it’s just a great feeling to have,” Eisenberg says. “I have to say, I’ve been in a lot of movies, and these movies, Now You See Me, are the ones I’m stopped for on the street more than anything else.”
Along with the original Horsemen, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t brings three new up-and-coming magicians to the fold, played by Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa and Ariana Greenblatt.
“Huge fan of the first two movies,” Greenblatt says. “I wanted to be in the group, I wanted to be friends with all of them, I wanted to know magic.”
Gigi Perez on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Gigi Perez has been named Vevo’s 2025 DSCVR Artist of the Year.
The DSCVR series is an annual “hand-picked, highly curated selection of global artists who Vevo has tipped to break through to the mainstream.”
“Gigi Perez is the definition of what it means to be an artist on the rise,” says Vevo executive JP Evangelista. “With a sound that is bold yet vulnerable, storytelling that’s deeply authentic, and a stage presence that is simply unmatched, she perfectly embodies the next generation of artists that Vevo always loves to champion.”
Perez’s 2025 has included releasing and touring in support of her debut album, At The Beach, in Every Life, which includes her breakout single, “Sailor Song.” She also played shows opening for Hozier.
In celebration of her DSCVR Artist of the Year title, Perez has released a new acoustic performance video for her song “Fable.”
Vevo, meanwhile, has also announced its list of 2026 DSCVR Artists to Watch, which includes Royel Otis.
‘The Surface Seems So Far’ album artwork. (Fantasy Records)
Seether has premiered the video for “Lost All Control,” the current single off the band’s latest album, The Surface Seems So Far.
The clip follows a mysterious figure as they walk through a desert while picking up and trying on different masks. You can watch it on YouTube.
The Surface Seems So Far was released in 2024. It also includes the lead single “Judas Mind,” which hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
Seether is currently on a U.S. co-headlining tour with Daughtry, which concludes Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Roberta Flack onstage at Madison Square Garden for the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert, New York, New York, May 14, 1988. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
A new biopic on legendary R&B singer Roberta Flack is in the works.
ABC Audio has confirmed that Good Morning America host Robin Roberts’ production company, Rock’n Robin Productions, has acquired the singer’s life rights for a biopic and a documentary on Flack’s life.
“We are thrilled to add Roberta Flack to the illustrious list of American icons whose stories have been told by Robin Roberts and Rock’n Robin Productions,” Suzanne Minka Koga and Joan Martin, co-artistic executors of the Roberta Flack Foundation, said in a statement. “Roberta was a devoted fan and friend of Robin’s and she considered her one of our greatest journalists who continues to inspire us with storytelling that exemplifies extraordinary courage and creativity.”
Flack, who passed away in February at the age of 88, is known for such chart-topping ’70s hits as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Where is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You.”
Flack won the Grammy for record of the year two years in a row, in 1973 for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and in 1974 for “Killing Me Softly,” making her the first artist ever to do so. “Killing Me Softly” would go on to have renewed popularity in the ’90s, when the Fugees topped the charts with a cover of the song.
Coco Jones and Mariah the Scientist will perform their holiday songs at The Wonderful Worldof Disney: Holiday Spectacular. Coco will sing “Silent Night,” while Mariah will perform her rendition of “Santa Baby.” The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular will air Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Clipse released the official music video for “F.I.C.O.,” from their Grammy-nominated album Let God Sort Em Out. The video finds Pusha T and Malice rapping from various parts of an empty apartment and the back of a car that’s making its way through New York City on a rainy day.
Cardi B took on the role of meteorologist Tuesday when she wrote on X, “Looks like there is a 100 percent chance of snow tomorrow at 12pm est.” Jeezy reshared the post alongside the snowman emoji. It was all a tease for their new collaboration, “ErrTime.” The track arrives as part of Am I the Drama? (The Snow Mix), which features the original version of “ErrTime,” the Jeezy version, the Latto version, and one with both Jeezy and Latto. “It’s time to make the club fun again,” Cardi wrote.
Shaggy and Sean Paul are headlining the upcoming Jamaica Strong benefit concert, which aims to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Melissa. It will take place Dec. 12 at New York’s UBS Arena and will feature performances by KES, Chronic Law, Inner Circle, T.O.K. and more. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday.
Jimmy Kimmel and Cleto Escobedo III (Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Jimmy Kimmel isn’t the only celebrity mourning bandleader and saxophonist Cleto Escobedo III.
Before Cleto became the leader of Cleto and the Cletones on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he toured the world with Paula Abdul. She shared a clip on Instagram that showed her performing her hit “Forever Your Girl” onstage with Escobedo and wrote, “My heart is heavy today as we say goodbye to the incredible Cleto Escobedo III.”
“I first met Cleto when he was playing sax in a small bar at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas,” she continues. “I was putting together my band for my first world tour and the moment I heard him, I knew I had to hire him, even though he didn’t have any touring experience yet.”
Paula goes on to say that Escobedo’s “talent and energy were undeniable,” and adds that he “went on to have an amazing career” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! She concludes, “Cleto was pure light and soul, both on and off stage. Sending so much love to his family and everyone who loved him.”
In his emotional monologue bidding farewell to Escobedo, who died Tuesday at age 59, Kimmel showed the same clip that Paula posted and commented on his late pal’s long, curly, Kenny G-like hair, “We never stopped making fun of that hairstyle.”
Oren Alexander, Tal Alexander and Alon Alexander attend Chanukah With The Stars Gala, Dec. 10, 2014, at Harmonie Club in New York. (J Grassi/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York decided the wealthy Alexander brothers must face charges they conspired for more than a decade to drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of women, rejecting the luxury real estate brokers’ attempt to dismiss the indictment by arguing it is legally deficient.
The judge, Valerie Caproni, agreed to dismiss one of the charges, attempted sex trafficking, ruling it falls outside the statute of limitations.
She ruled the rest of the charges in the sex trafficking case must stand.
“As much as Defendants want to characterize the charged conduct as just men behaving badly, that is not what the Indictment charges,” Caproni wrote in her order, entered on Wednesday. “The charges are that three grown men conspired to entice women and girls to travel in interstate and foreign commerce, to provide things of value to those women and girls, and to use force and drugs in order to have sexual contact with those victims.”
Former luxury real estate brokers Tal and Oren Alexander and their brother Alon have pleaded not guilty. They argued, in part, that the indictment should be dismissed because the federal government was seeking to prosecute a local crime of sex trafficking. The judge rejected the argument.
“This is far from a ‘local’ crime; it stretches from Martha’s Vineyard to New York to Florida to Israel and involves the movement of women and girls from various Points A to various Points B where they would be, as planned by Defendants, sexually assaulted. Prosecuting this case federally simply does not run afoul of the balance between federal and state authority,” Caproni wrote.
The brothers are next due in court on Nov. 24.
Oren and Tal Alexander gained notoriety in New York’s luxury real estate market through their company, Alexander Group, and have been under federal investigation alongside Oren’s twin, Alon, since late 2024.
They have been accused of luring women to nightclubs and parties, then drugging and sexually assaulting them.
Oren Alexander’s lawyer, Richard Klugh, said earlier this year the charges were misguided and lacked merit. Defense attorney Deanna Paul, who is representing Tal, called the allegations “speculative” earlier this year.
Alon Alexander’s attorney, Howard Srebnick, said in response to the May superseding indictment that Alon “passed a lie detector test, administered by a former, senior FBI polygraph examiner, establishing his innocence to the accusations in the earlier version of the indictment.”
The brothers are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting trial, which is currently scheduled for January.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefitting Wall Street Rising, with a Performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Patrick Mcmullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Wednesday flatly dismissed the release by House Democrats of emails from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including one in which he wrote that President Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with someone the Democrats alleged was a victim.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as she faced questions on the latest developments at her Wednesday afternoon press briefing.
President Trump weighed in directly for the first time in a social media post shortly after Leavitt wrapped the briefing.
“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump wrote. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
Notably, Leavitt seemed to contradict Trump today when she said Trump kicked Epstein out of his Florida club for being a “pedophile” as well as a “creep.”
“What President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep,” she said.
When asked later by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if she was implying Trump knew what Epstein was doing with young women, Leavitt clarified in a statement: “No, Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile. That’s a fact that has now come out. The president kicked him out of his club because he thought Jeffrey was a creep to his female employees. The president has said this himself many times.”
In one message released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Epstein appeared to touch on his relationship with Trump and whether he’d been banned from membership at Mar-a-Lago years earlier.
“Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” Epstein wrote in a message to author Michael Wolff, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”
After Epstein was arrested in 2019, Trump said he hadn’t spoken with him since 2015 because of a falling out. This summer, as momentum picked up in Congress to release all the Epstein files, Trump said Epstein “stole” young women (including prominent Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre) from his Mar-a-Lago club, but that he didn’t know why.
Democrats push for release of all Epstein files; GOP says Dems trying to ‘slander’ Trump
The release of the Epstein emails referencing Trump have added fuel to a renewed push on the Epstein discharge petition.
“We won’t stop until we end this White House cover-up. Release the files, NOW,” Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, wrote on X.
Many Democrats issued similar calls.
“It’s clear as day: Trump is in the Epstein files,” New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler wrote on X. “The American people deserve the full truth.”
“The public deserves to know who enabled Epstein, who looked the other way, and who’s still being protected. Survivors have waited long enough. Release the Epstein files NOW,” wrote Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
ABC News’ Bruce, at Wednesday’s briefing, pressed Leavitt: “In the interest of transparency, why not just go ahead, release the full files on Epstein, get this all over with?”
“This administration has done more with respect to transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein than any administration ever. In fact, this administration, the Department of Justice, has turned over tens of thousands of documents to the American people. We are cooperating and showing support for the House Oversight Committee,” Leavitt said.
Though ABC News reported that top Trump administration officials met with Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert Wednesday morning in an effort to get her to change her vote on a discharge petition that would compel the Justice Department to release all the files related to Epstein.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee accused Democrats of “trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.”
In a social media post, Republicans on the panel claimed in the 2011 email between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell that said Trump spent “hours at my house” with an alleged victim, Democrats redacted the name “Virginia” — a likely reference to Giuffre, who had made extensive public comments about her exploitation by Epstein, but had never accused Trump of any wrongdoing.
“Democrats continue to carelessly cherry-pick documents to generate click-bait that is not grounded in the facts,” a House Oversight Majority spokesperson said in a statement. “The Epstein Estate has produced over 20,000 pages of documents on Thursday, yet Democrats are once again intentionally withholding records that name Democrat officials.”
After the release by House Democrats, House Republicans on the Oversight panel released an additional 20,000 pages of documents they received from the Epstein estate.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, one of a handful of Republican women backing the effort to compel the release of all Epstein files, defended Trump and said the focus should be on the victims.
“How pathetic that Democrats are using Epstein’s victims to bury headlines on their vote against reopening the government,” Mace wrote on X.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna are leading the discharge petition to force a vote on compelling the Justice Department to release all the Epstein files.
Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, set to be sworn in on Wednesday, is expected to become the decisive 218th signature needed for the petition.
“Why did Justice or the FBI not get & release these?” Khanna wrote on X about the Epstein emails made public by House Democrats. “Today, [Massie] & my petition gets 218!”
Kehlani on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Several stars have covered Kehlani‘s Grammy-nominated hit “Folded,” but there was only one artist she had in mind when she thought about its remix. While taking over Apple Music radio Tuesday, Kehlani said she had her sights set on Usher.
“Usher was my dream ‘Folded’ remix. Before the [Folded Homage Pack] came about, naturally, I was like, ‘That’s who I want to get for the remix.’ But Usher was on tour,” Kehlani said, before noting “he loves the song.”
Despite not making it happen, Khristopher Riddick-Tynes, who produced the song, said Kehlani and Usher were still able to come together and “might have a little something something” on the horizon.
“Are we spilling beans?” Kehlani asked, to which Khristopher responded, “The beans have been slightly spilled.” She revealed that the song will appear on her new album, which she teased will be filled with “great songs.”
“I think that we can tell by the track record we’re currently having of great song [after another] great song that there’s more great songs, which eventually lead to a great album,” Kehlani said.
