Alex Warren performs at Jingle Ball 2025 (Disney/Frank Micelotta)
Alex Warren went from being a TikTok creator to a Grammy-nominated, chart-topping global pop star in a relatively short amount of time. But Alex thinks it wasn’t talent that got him where he is today — it was luck.
“I know everyone says this, but truly, I don’t think I’m [better than anyone],” he told ABC Audio. “I think an audience member could come up and do my job better than I could. And so I have that mindset everywhere I go. I’m no better, not more talented, I just got lucky.”
That’s why, Alex said, he’s able to stay grounded and not go on some kind of ego trip. “I think there’s so many people in my position who would immediately think that they’re better than everyone else and then they start acting like it, which then puts them on a pedestal and whatnot,” he noted. “And, genuinely speaking, I just think I got really lucky and there’s so many talented people in this world.”
He continued, “I know so many talented people who are way better singers, way better songwriters, way better everything that I work with. And I think that’s so important to understand that there’s a huge percent of luck in our job. And there’s also just a huge percentage of, you know, ability.”
However, Alex will allow that he does have one particular skill that he thinks shot him to the top, along with that luck.
“I think I have a great ability to be able to tell a story,” he acknowledged, noting that his particular story — which includes losing both his parents and being homeless for a time — is a “really cool” one that “people like to hear.”
Still, he insisted, “That doesn’t make me better than the average person.”
Poppy on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Poppy‘s new album, Empty Hands, is out now. Coming off 2024’s Negative Spaces, which spawned the singles “new way out” and the “cost of giving up,” Empty Hands finds Poppy continuing to push the boundaries of her sound, jumping in between different styles and genres from song to song, and often within the same track.
“I like the album to feel like an emotional roller coaster full of highs and lows and in-betweens,” Poppy tells ABC Audio. “It might mean something different to somebody else, but for me, I like the push and the pull and the up and the down and the sideways.”
One thing that stays consistent throughout Empty Hands is Poppy’s continued use of bodily language — you’ll hear multiple mentions of ribs, lungs, eyes and hands. Even a more metaphorical song like “Bruised Sky” takes on a more physical connotation thanks to the word “bruised.”
“I find myself to be a pretty body aware person,” Poppy says. “I’m interested by the way the body responds to external stresses and stimuli, and viewing it as if I’m laying down and I’m looking at my body from across the room.”
Along with naming the album Empty Hands, a phrase that pops up in its closing title track, Poppy sings the lyric, “My idle hands will let you drown,” on the song “Dying to Forget.”
“I witness a lot of things that I let play out by themselves and I don’t wanna intervene,” Poppy says. “And then some other situations, I decide to intervene when I’m strong and passionate about them.”
Meanwhile, on the grungy “Eat the Hate,” Poppy declares she’ll do just that.
“There’s a lot of noise out there in the world,” she says. “And it shouldn’t be confused for truth and repetition for reality.”
It’s been 20 years since you could say there’s a new album from The Format out, but that’s no longer the case.
The duo of Nate Ruess and Sam Means has released their third studio effort, Boycott Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to their 2006 sophomore effort, Dog Problems. The outfit went on hiatus in 2008, after which Ruess went on to form the band fun., which then went on hiatus in 2015.
The Format originally planned a reunion tour for 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Shortly thereafter, Ruess learned how to play guitar and invited Means over for a fateful jam session.
“At that point it was literally just for fun,” Means tells ABC Audio. “But over the course of the next few months from there, I think it just kind of turned into something a little bit more real.”
Despite the 20-year gap, Means says he and Ruess’ songwriting relationship picked up where it left off.
“When you find someone who you can write music with, you just develop a bit of a shorthand, and that doesn’t ever really go away,” Means says.
Boycott Heaven‘s themes touch on everything from religion and current events to relationships and mental health, but overall it reflects the core of what The Format is, as expressed in the lyrics of their 2003 song “On Your Porch”: “My thoughts bounce off of Sam’s guitar.”
“The Format spirit is a thing,” Means says. “I don’t know if we really know what it is exactly. It’s not a formula that we can just capture, it’s just something that tends to happen when we get together.”
Boycott Heaven is out now. The Format will launch a U.S. tour in March.
Queen’s ‘Live Killers’ (Hollywood Records)/’ThePlatinum Collection’ (Queen Production Ltd/Universal International Music)
Queen is revisiting their 1979 album, Live Killers.
The band is set to reissue the live album on two-LP black vinyl on Jan. 30, marking the first time it’s been available on vinyl in years.
The double live album was originally released in June 1979 and featured songs recorded during the European leg of their Jazz Tour, which ran from January 1979 to March 1979.
The album includes performances of “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “You’re My Best Friend.”
But Live Killers isn’t the only Queen album getting a vinyl rerelease. The band also recently announced they will be releasing their box set The Platinum Collection on black vinyl for the first time. The six-LP set features all three of the band’s Greatest Hits albums in one collection.
Chris Pratt stars as Chris Raven in ‘Mercy.’ (Justin Lubin)
Chris Pratt is a police officer on trial before an AI judge in the new film Mercy.
The film, which was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, arrives in theaters on Friday.
Rebecca Ferguson co-stars as Judge Maddox, an AI being in a future dystopia tasked with determining whether Officer Raven (Pratt) killed his wife or if he is innocent. Judge Maddox has a little over an hour to make the decision, and if Raven is found guilty, he dies instantly.
Ferguson told ABC Audio about how she approached playing an AI character.
“I think it was quite good to keep her as automated as possible — as simple as possible — and then work within where the cracks lay in the foundation,” Ferguson said. “AI is supposed to copy human beings. And that was an interesting aspect of it for me.”
Ferguson said that her character has sentenced many people before Raven, but saw something different in him.
“Rather than going into victimization of himself, he was starting to see the flaws within her. So he was starting to question her behaviorism. He was seeing something that she wasn’t prepared for,” Ferguson said.
Pratt said he believes there is a part of Raven that thinks he may have actually committed the crime. This, he says, helps Judge Maddox develop intuition.
AI beings “are not intuitive, they’re just mimicking human behavior,” Pratt said.
“She’s starting to understand that she’s becoming a little bit more sentient, and a little bit more aware and a bit more human, but also is protecting herself from being reset,” Pratt continued. “She’s actually fighting, in a way, for her own life, so that her agency in this thing that she’s developed and who she’s become can be preserved.”
Harry Styles, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’ (Columbia Records)
Harry Styles has released his new single, “Aperture.”
The track is the first single off his fourth studio album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., which drops March 6.
“It’s best you know/ What you don’t/ Aperture lets the light in,” he sings over an electronic beat. “We belong together/ It finally appears/ It’s only love.”
Earlier on Thursday, Harry announced his Together, Together tour, featuring 50 shows in seven cities. As of now, New York City is his only stop in the U.S., with 30 dates booked at Madison Square Garden.
Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. follows his third studio album, Harry’s House, which was released in 2022 and featured the songs “As It Was,” “Late Night Talking,” “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” and more.
The new album will have 12 tracks and is executive produced by Kid Harpoon, the musician, producer and songwriter behind Harry’s House, as well as Styles’ 2019 album, Fine Line, and his eponymous debut album, which was released in 2017.
(L-R) Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe and Bill Berry, of R.E.M., attend the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala at New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 13, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame)
The members of R.E.M. — Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck —along with Bonnie Raitt, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran‘s Simon LeBon and others, have signed their names to a new campaign targeting artificial intelligence.
The Stealing Isn’t Innovation campaign, backed by the Human Artistry Campaign, blasts big-tech companies that use copyrighted works for AI without authorization.
“Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation. It’s not progress. It’s theft – plain and simple,” reads the statement on the campaign’s website. “A better way exists – through licensing deals and partnerships, some AI companies have taken the responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use.”
It adds, “It is possible to have it all. We can have advanced, rapidly developing AI and ensure creators’ rights are respected.”
Other musicians supporting the Stealing Isn’t Innovation campaign include Chaka Khan,Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, OK Go, MGMT, CAKE, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and The Zombies.
Senator Amy Klobuchar attends a field hearing at the Minnesota Senate Building on Jan. 16, 2026, in St Paul, Minnesota. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar filed paperwork on Thursday to create a campaign committee to run for governor in the state — the latest step indicating that she is nearing an official announcement to enter the race.
A source close to the senator said that her filing “is a preliminary step necessary for any candidate considering a run. The senator will make an announcement of her plans in the coming days.”
Klobuchar is widely seen as the most popular Democrat in the state, and could help the party avoid a pitched primary fight to succeed Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his bid for reelection as governor earlier this month.
Walz decided to suspend his run for a third term amid intensifying federal pressure on his state following a welfare fraud investigation. Walz said he would not run for reelection because he would not be able to give a campaign all of his attention as he works to defend Minnesota against those allegations of fraud.
The state has been at the center of the Trump’s administration immigration crackdown, drawing large protests following a federal agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Good, and threats from President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, a law that authorizes the use of the military on U.S. soil for certain purposes.
Frey defended himself and Walz on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, calling the investigation “deeply concerning,” and saying he intends to comply with it.
“Look, we have done nothing wrong, so of course we will comply in it, but at the same time, we need to be understanding how wild this is,” Frey said.
In a statement posted on X, Walz called the investigation “political theater.”
“This Justice Department investigation, sparked by calls for accountability in the face of violence, chaos, and the killing of Renee Good, does not seek justice,” Walz said the statement. “It is a partisan distraction.”
Klobuchar, who is also seen as a possible 2028 presidential candidate after running in 2020, won reelection to the Senate in 2024.
One Democratic Party county chair in Minnesota, speaking with ABC News after Walz dropped out of the race, said that Klobuchar likely would have a lock on the party’s nomination if she runs.
Another county party chair told ABC News at the time that to some in the party, a bid by Klobuchar didn’t seem to make sense because she could be a candidate for Senate Majority Leader if Democrats flip the chamber. Klobuchar is currently a member of Democratic Senate leadership.
Earlier this week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would not run for governor.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner speaks after the President held a signing ceremony for the “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 22, 2026, in Davos, Switzerland. The US-backed “Board of Peace” is intended to administer the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after the war between Israel and Hamas. The final makeup of the board has not been confirmed. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a real estate developer, on Thursday unveiled some of the Trump administration’s “master plan” for rebuilding war-torn Gaza that includes waterfront developments and other luxury buildings.
Kushner, whop spoke alongside President Donald Trump at his Board of Peace signing in Davos, Switzerland, said the plans for Gaza will emulate what other newly redeveloped Middle Eastern cities will look like.
Kushner, who has been part of the Gaza peace negotiations, suggested the construction would be done in just two or three years. The Board of Peace estimates that the plan would require more than $25 billion to develop modern utilities and public services.
“We’ve developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump’s been saying, has amazing potential, and this is for the people of Gaza,” he said.
Kushner, who showed slideshows with concept art of his “master plan” said that the plan includes development done in zones.
“In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, Let’s build a free zone, and then we have a Hamas zone. And then we said, You know what? Let’s just plan for catastrophic success. We have mass signed a deal, demilitarized. That is what we are going to enforce,” he said.
Kushner displayed a “master Plan” that depicts four phases: Rafah, or “city 1”; Khan Younis or “city 2”; Center Camps or “city 3”; and Gaza City or “city 4.”
In “New Rafah,” Kushner put up a slide that claims there will be over 100,000 permanent housing units, 200 education centers, 180 cultural, religious and vocational centers and 75 medical facilities.
A section shows “coastal tourism” with 170 towers with areas for residential areas and industrial complex data centers and advanced manufacturing behind it, split up by parks, agriculture and sports facilities.
The “coastal tourism” renderings show flashy high-rises, hotels and luxury villas on shimmering waters.
Kushner said the next 100 days will be focused on sending humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, with quantities consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove the estimated 68 million tons of rubble and to open roads.
“We continue to be focused on humanitarian aid, a humanitarian shelter, but then creating the conditions to move forward,” he said.
Increasing the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip is a key element of the overall ceasefire deal. While international aid organizations have reported being able to operate more freely in parts of Gaza where Israeli troops have withdrawn, it is hard to quantify how much aid has entered the strip since Oct. 10, when the first phase of the ceasefire deal went into effect.
International aid organizations still report more aid is needed across the Strip – from food to medical supplies to shelter.
Winter storms have made the situation on the ground in Gaza even more difficult, as heavy rains have caused flooding in displacement camps and lower temperatures have made living conditions even more difficult. About 1 million Palestinians currently need shelter assistance, according to the UN. Ten children have died of the cold, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health has said.
The 100 Day plan also accounts for reconstruction, suggesting improved temporary housing in transition until permanent housing is ready, a Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created, synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will “create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza,” according to Kushner.
A special economic zone would be established, with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries, he added.
Kushner said that many of the funds for this project will come from the private sector, touting “amazing investment opportunities.”
Trump, who also spoke at the conference, contended the war in Gaza “was really coming to an end” and praised the redevelopment plan.
“I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location, and I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people,” he said.
“People that are living so poorly are going to be living so well,” he added.
Over 90% of residential buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and subsequent war that followed, according to the UN.
While the ceasefire has largely held, there have been intermittent incidents of violations from both sides. At least 483 people have been killed since the first phase of the ceasefire went into effect, the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office said.
Last year, Trump boasted that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and rebuild it.
When asked by a reporter during the Feb. 4, 2025, during a White House news conference with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Palestinians relocated would have the right to return, Trump responded, “Why would they want to return?”
When another reporter asked who would live in Gaza, Trump responded, “the world’s people,” saying, “the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable.”
“History, as you know, just can’t let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so … magnificent,” the president said during the news conference.
The president was criticized later that month over a AI generated video that he shared on social media that depicted him and Netanyahu sunbathing in a location dubbed “Trump Gaza,” which showed a luxury resort.
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins performs onstage during a concert at Gunnersbury Park on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
The members of R.E.M. — Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck — along with SmashingPumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Bonnie Raitt, OK Go and others have signed their names to a new campaign targeting artificial intelligence.
The campaign, Stealing Isn’t Innovation, backed by the Human Artistry Campaign, blasts big-tech companies that use copyrighted works for AI without authorization.
“Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation. It’s not progress. It’s theft – plain and simple,” reads the statement on the campaign’s website. “A better way exists – through licensing deals and partnerships, some AI companies have taken the responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use.”
It adds, “It is possible to have it all. We can have advanced, rapidly developing AI and ensure creators’ rights are respected.”
Other musicians supporting the Stealing Isn’t Innovation campaign include MGMT, Cyndi Lauper, Chaka Khan, CAKE, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, The Zombies and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon.
