Ariana Grande attends the 96th Academy Awards, March, 2024 (Disney/Jenny Anderson)
In January, Variety asked Ariana Grande if she planned to release new music before her tour this summer, and quoted her as saying, “No — definitely not. Nothing is coming before May,” adding, “Not yet — but soon enough.”
Ariana then denied she said any such thing, writing in the comments of a post, “welp i never said ‘but soon enough’ or mentioned any months ! lol my goooooodness ……. !!!!!”
She went on to blame the misunderstanding on a “zoom glitch or something,” and joked that she’d need “an extra brain and four more arms” in order to be able to write a new album with her crazy schedule. But now it seems that all may have been some kind of ruse.
On Wednesday, Ariana posted an entire series of photos of herself working in the recording studio, leading fans to write comments such as, “ITS HAPPENING” and “AG8 IS COMING.”
And here’s more proof that something’s up: There’s a new message attached to the phone number Ariana set up to promote her album Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead.
The album marked its one-year anniversary on March 28. When you call the number, you hear Ariana celebrating that milestone and then saying, “We’re counting down the eights — oops! I mean the days. We’ll see you this summer.” Many fans believe this is a subtle hint that AG8 is, indeed, coming.
Ariana’s tour starts June 6, so it’s possible that she was telling the truth when she told Variety, “Nothing is coming before May.”
Mama, we’re coming home, and on time thanks to the new limited-edition Ozzy Osbourne watch.
The exclusive timepiece, simply dubbed “The Ozzy,” was crafted by the London-based brand Split Watches in honor of the late Prince of Darkness.
“Using the most advanced modern materials, the watch is intentionally designed to be unpolished and stripped back,” a press release reads. “‘The Ozzy’ features the rock legend’s iconic purple tinted glasses on the sub dials and his cross at 12 o’clock. Each piece is meticulously hand painted and Ozzy’s logo can be seen on the rotor through Split’s exhibition case back.”
Only 50 watches will be made and will cost $2,960 each. All proceeds will be donated to MusiCares, the charitable arm of the Record Academy.
“This watch represents something very meaningful–Ozzy always said, ‘Time is the most precious thing in the world. Be very careful not to waste it,'” Sharon Osbourne says in a statement. “We’re delighted that Split Watches created such a thoughtful piece that truly captures Ozzy’s spirit.”
“The fact that they’re donating the proceeds to MusiCares, an organization that my husband and I have admired and supported for many years, is just fantastic,” Sharon continues. “The money raised is a great way for us to continue to support MusiCares and the music community.”
“The Ozzy” will go on sale beginning May 14. For more info, visit SplitWatches.com.
Bridgerton fans, please welcome the newest members of the ton.
Netflix has announced three new cast members for season 5 of the Regency romance series. The Sandman’s Tega Alexander, Carnival Row’s Jacqueline Boatswain and MobLand’s Gemma Knight Jones join as recurring guest stars.
Alexander plays Christopher Anderson, the son of Lord Anderson and Mayfair’s newest Casanova. Boatswain takes on the role of Helen Stirling, the vivacious mother of Michaela Stirling, while Jones is set to play Lady Elizabeth Ashworth, Michaela’s old friend and confidante.
As previously reported, season 5 will focus on the romance between Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and the cousin of her late husband, Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza). It marks the first season of the series to have a queer couple at the forefront of the story.
“Two years after losing her beloved husband John, Fran decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons,” the season’s official logline reads. “But when John’s cousin Michaela returns to London to tend to the Kilmartin estate, Fran’s complicated feelings will have her questioning whether to stick to her pragmatic intentions or pursue her inner passions.”
Bridgerton season 5 will consist of eight episodes. Jess Brownell serves as its showrunner and executive producer, while Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Tom Verica and Chris Van Dusen also executive produce.
Katy Perry visits Louvre Abu Dhabi ahead of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Dec. 6, 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Experience Abu Dhabi)
Katy Perry is dating former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and apparently their relationship includes being a sort of in-house music critic for his 18-year-old son, Xavier Trudeau.
While appearing on the Can’t Be Censored podcast, Xavier, who makes music under the name Xav, was asked if he talks to Katy about his music. He says he does, adding, “When I’m really happy with a song, like, [I] send it, yeah. Like, she’s always happy to give me advice or tell me what I should change.”
“She’s super nice. Like, she’s super down to earth,” Xav says, adding that Katy’s “great.”
“And I think that my dad’s happy, so that’s important,” he notes.
When asked what it’s like seeing photos of his father together with Katy — an experience that Xav’s mother, Justin’s ex-wife Sophie Grégoire, has described as “noise” — he says, “Yeah, but like, just like any other picture of my dad and my mom, or just my dad.”
However, he says he often thinks to himself, “What is my life?,” noting, “My life is just so crazy sometimes.”
Katy posted a carousel on Instagram Tuesday that included a new photo of herself posing with Justin. The caption was, “Never knew karma could be so rewarding.” That’s a lyric from Katy’s song “Legendary Lovers,” from her album Prism. In it, she sings, “Never knew karma could be so rewarding and bring me to your life/ Maybe this is the beginning of something so magical tonight.”
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas discuss their starring roles in ‘Chicago’ in an interview that aired April 8, 2026, on ‘Good Morning America.’ (ABC News)
What happens in the ballroom doesn’t always stay there.
After captivating audiences on Dancing with the Stars, Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas are back together — only this time they are on Broadway, starring in Chicago at New York City’s Ambassador Theatre.
“If someone would have said a year ago that the two of you would be on the cover of the playbill, Chicago on Broadway, what would your reaction have been?” ABC News’ Will Ganss asked the duo in an interview that aired Wednesday on Good Morning America.
“I probably would have been like, ‘You’re crazy. What? How?'” Leavitt said with a laugh.
“Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah. Speechless,” Ballas added.
Leavitt, who rose to fame on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, is now leading Chicago to its highest-grossing week in the show’s 30-year history while playing Roxie Hart.
“She’s definitely sassy. She’s very sassy. I’d say sassy, impulsive and always just, like, learning,” Leavitt said of her character.
Asked what she and Roxie Hart have in common, Leavitt replied with a laugh, “Every single one of those things.”
Amid her success on Broadway, Leavitt said she is still deciding what her future looks like on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the hit Hulu reality TV show.
“We’re figuring it out in real-time. I don’t really know,” Leavitt said. “I feel sometimes that it’s like time to venture out. Like, this is what I’m passionate about.”
In Chicago, Ballas joins Leavitt as Billy Flynn, following in the footsteps of stars like Patrick Swayze and Usher.
The moment marks a full-circle journey that began during their time on DWTS, when they danced to the song “Cell Block Tango” from the Broadway show.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC and Hulu.
Carly Pearce’s Monday benefit at City Winery raised $45,000 for Nashville’s Pet Community Center.
Ashley Cooke opened the show and returned during Carly’s set to sing Ashley McBryde’s part on “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.” Carly’s stripped-down performance included music from her upcoming album, including “Dream Come True” and her new hit, “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay.”
“I am honored to be here tonight to raise money and awareness for needy pets in our community,” she told the audience. “Pet Community Center does tremendous work to provide veterinary care, food, supplies, and spaying and neutering services to the most vulnerable pets in Nashville. As a dog mom of Johnny and June, I am here to honor them tonight!”
In addition to donating her time, Carly gave $5,000 to the cause.
Alleged serial killer Rex A. Heuermann appears inside Judge Tim Mazzei’s courtroom with his attorney Michael Brown at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead for a frye hearing on July 17, 2025 in Riverhead, New York. (Photo by James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images)
Heuermann, a New York City architect, was arrested in 2023 and initially pleaded not guilty to killing seven women whose remains were found on Long Island. His trial had been set for September.
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and his daughter are at the courthouse for Wednesday’s high-stakes hearing.
Heuermann’s victims date back to 1993, when Sandra Costilla was killed. Her remains were found in North Sea on Long Island.
Valerie Mack was killed in 2000 and Jessica Taylor was killed in 2003. Partial remains of Taylor and Mack were found near Gilgo Beach and in Manorville on Long Island.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was killed in 2007 and found near Gilgo Beach.
Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Lynn Costello were killed between 2009 and 2010 and also recovered near Gilgo Beach.
Pink Floyd is set to release a new compilation album.
Titled 8-Tracks, the release will, as the name suggests, feature eight curated classic tracks from the 1971-1979 era of Pink Floyd.
Songs on the album include iconic tunes like “Money,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” “Time” and “Comfortably Numb,” along with early Pink Floyd tracks “One Of These Days” and “Wot’s… Uh The Deal.” The final track is a full version of “Pigs on the Wing,” which prior to this was only available on the eight-track release of 1977’s Animals.
According to the album’s description, 8-Tracks is a “starting point for new listeners to discover the depth and breadth of Pink Floyd’s peerless album catalogue, as well as a carefully curated collection for longtime fans to appreciate.”
8-Tracks will be released June 5 on vinyl, CD and digitally. It is available for preorder now.
Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi answers questions from the media at the United States Capitol on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Matt McClain/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is not expected to sit for a closed-door deposition next week, after the Department of Justice informed the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that its subpoena is essentially moot because it sought Bondi’s testimony in an “official capacity as Attorney General” — and President Donald Trump removed her from office last week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Iranians hold national flags as they gather in Tehran’s Revolution Square after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, on April 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As President Donald Trump pulled back from threats to annihilate “a whole civilization” when the Iranian regime agreed to a ceasefire and open the critical Strait of Hormuz, some people in the Islamic Republic expressed relief after juggling feelings ranging from despair to doom.
Trump had given the Iranian regime a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday — which would have been Wednesday, April 8, at 3:30 a.m. in Tehran — for the Iranian government to strike a peace deal or risk the destruction of all bridges and power plants in Iran.
He later extended the deadline to two more weeks as Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and work to forge a peace deal.
Sohreh, a 33-year-old journalist and resident of Tehran, told ABC News she felt an immediate sense of “relief” when she heard that a ceasefire agreement had been brokered.
“My heart was about to stop,” Sohreh said in a written message to ABC News of the hours she and other Iranian citizens spent on Tuesday bracing for the massive U.S. to strike on its power plants, bridges and infrastructure before the attack was called off. “I cried all day for Iran and prayed to a God I don’t believe in: ‘A miracle, please, send a miracle. I can’t live after the destruction of Iran.'”
Leading up to the ceasefire announcement, Iranians who have been in contact with ABC News throughout the conflict, which began with a Feb. 28 U.S.-Israel joint attack, recalled moments of joy as it appeared the Iranian regime was about to be toppled and disappointment that the Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRGC) had refused to give up the fight.
An internet blackout imposed by the regime has made it challenging to communicate with people inside Iran, so it’s difficult to gauge how people in the country are feeling. Some have managed to get messages to ABC News.
“I am against the regime and I want them gone with every cell of my body. I have participated in the protests against the regime. But by no means I agree with a foreign power destroying what has been built by my people, for my people, and for the future of our children,” Fatemeh, a 40-year-old engineer who lives in Tehran, told ABC News in a written statement on Monday.
Citing security reasons, Iranians like Fatemeh and Sohreh who have communicated with ABC News, spoke on condition that their real names not be used.
Sohreh recalled a rollercoaster of emotions since the conflict began, from hope that the regime would be toppled to despair that it was hanging on and prolonging the pain of regular Iranians.
“I danced so much to the news of Khamenei’s death, so much that my legs hurt and I fell,” Sohreh said in a message to ABC News on Monday, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, who was assassinated in a strike on the first day of the conflict.
But as the war dragged on, Sohreh said she battled doubts that the U.S.-Israel attacks would bring the regime to its knees. “We ask ourselves what if the war continues?” she said.
“When they hit Asaluyeh, everyone was feeling terrible,” Sohreh said of Monday’s strike by Israel Defense Forces on Iran’s southern petrochemical infrastructure in the Persian Gulf port city of Asaluyeh. “We wonder what to do if they hit the infrastructure. They don’t belong to the Islamic Republic. They are built by our own children. They belong to Iran and the future of Iran.”
On Tuesday morning, Trump posted an ominous message on his social media platform, saying, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote. “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
During a news conference on Wednesday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield.
“A capital V military victory,” said Hegseth, adding that the U.S. military had “achieved every objective.”
Hegseth said that prior to the ceasefire being announced, the U.S. military was prepared to carry out the threat Trump made on Tuesday morning.
“Had Iran refused our terms, the next target would have been their power plants, their bridges and oil and energy infrastructure, targets they could not defend and could not realistically rebuild. It would have taken them decades. And we were locked and loaded,” Hegseth said.
He added, “President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s economy in minutes, but he chose mercy. He spared those targets because Iran accepted the ceasefire under overwhelming pressure.”
Trump’s ominous statement on Tuesday came after he told reporters on Monday during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, “The Iranian people, when they don’t hear bombs go off, they’re upset.”
“They want to hear bombs because they want to be free,” Trump said without attributing where he was getting his information from.
He went on to claim that the only reason Iranian civilians have not taken to the streets en masse to demonstrate against the regime is that “they will be shot immediately, and that’s an edict. That’s in writing.”
Leila, a 36-year-old resident of Tehran who works as a manager of a shipping company, said she agreed with Trump, telling ABC News on Monday that when she doesn’t hear bombs, she feels “upset.” Leila, who described herself as anti-regime, said she longs for the day she sees American soldiers in Iran to save them.
In an earlier message Leila sent to ABC News on March 30, she said, “We don’t have fear from the missile attacks, we just get very happy to watch them burning the bases of the IRGC.”
Darius, a 38-year-old anthropologist from Tehran, told ABC News in a message sent on March 25 that he was initially anti-regime, but as the bombing continued, his opinion of the regime had started to change.
“The noise of the bombs and the fact that they are actually killing a lot of civilians pushes us more towards let’s say rallying around the flag,” Darius wrote. “We are fighting this war as a country and even though the Iranian state is not my cup of tea and even though I detest many of the things they do, still, I prefer to stand by their side against a Nazi in the White House.”
At least 3,546 people, including 244 children and 1,616 other civilians, have been killed in Iran due to the U.S.-Israeli strikes since the war began, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News agency reported on Sunday.
