Kelly Clarkson‘s having a full-circle moment: She released two new songs from her upcoming album, Chemistry, 24 hours before she marks the 20th anniversary of her very first album, Thankful.
Released on April 15, 2003 — six months after Kelly won the first season of American Idol — Thankful featured Kelly’s first non-Idol single, “Miss Independent.” It was co-written by Christina Aguilera, who originally planned to include it on her album Stripped, but didn’t finish it.
Kelly completed it with the other writers and recorded it herself, though Christina was reportedly upset about it. The song became a top 10 hit in the U.S. and around the world, and earned Kelly her first Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal performance. Allegedly, Christina stopped being upset when she ended up winning that category for “Beautiful.”
Thankful also includes “The Trouble with Love Is,” which appeared on the soundtrack of the hit 2003 film Love Actually, as well as her Idol coronation song “A Moment Like This” and its flip side, “Before Your Love.” Thankful debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and went Platinum in six weeks. It received positive reviews and proved Kelly had actual talent beyond the scope of American Idol.
As for Kelly’s new songs “Me”/”Mine,” they’re both addressed to the person who broke her heart — presumably her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock.
In “Mine,” Kelly sings, “Go ahead and break my heart/ that’s fine/ so unkind … someone’s gonna show you how a heart can be used like you did mine.” In “Me,” she declares, “You are the reason I said goodbye … I don’t need to need somebody/ when I got me.”
There’s no release date yet for Chemistry, but Kelly’s Las Vegas residency begins in July.
Lauren Spencer Smith, who broke out on TikTok with her song “Fingers Crossed,” has teamed up with two female singers who also broke through on TikTok: “abcdefu” singer Gayle and “Numb Little Bug” artist Em Beihold. Their collaborative single “Fantasy” has just dropped, and as Em tells ABC Audio, “It’s fun to do it with friends.”
Em says she, Lauren and Gayle met last year at a radio show. “We were just kind of hanging out backstage and we started a group chat called the Powerpuff Girls, and started talking as friends, basically,” she says. “And then one day Lauren just texted us the song ‘Fantasy’ and she was like, ‘Hey, do you guys want to be on this?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah! The song’s amazing, of course!'”
“Then we got into the studio and wrote our own parts all together,” she adds. “And now it’s a thing and I’m so excited about it, ’cause I love them so much. So it’s fun to do it with friends.”
In a statement, Lauren says, “When writing ‘Fantasy,’ I wanted to capture how hard toxic relationships are and that coming out of those relationships can be so powerful. GAYLE and Em instantly connected with the topic and their verses helped take the song to another level.”
Gayle adds in a statement, “I was like ‘Wait, you want me and Em on this!?? My favorite human beings in one song?'”
The video for the song arrives later on Friday, April 14.
Em’s currently on tour with Lewis Capaldi, while Gayle is opening for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour. “I’ve kinda been living vicariously, seeing all the TikToks of her,” Em says of Gayle’s gig. “And we talked a bit about it on [the video] set, and I’m just really proud of her.”
Hot on the heels of her Breakthrough Female Video of the Year win at the 2023 CMT Music Awards, Megan Moroney has earned her first ACM nomination for New Female Artist of the Year at the 58th ACM Awards.
Growing up, Megan never envisioned herself receiving these accolades and nods, let alone winning awards. After all, she was on track to be an accountant, not singing in front of thousands of fans.
“When I watched the CMT Awards, it was like, ‘Oh, Carrie Underwood is so pretty. I love her outfit.’ It was never like, ‘That’s going to be me one day,'” she tells ABC Audio. “Because I was like, ‘No, you’re going to college like your brother did. You’re going to be an accountant and you’re going to go do those people’s taxes.’ It was just not something that I ever thought was a thing.”
That’s why, looking back, Megan knows the one piece of advice she’d give her younger self.
“I wish I could go tell my younger self to dream bigger,” the “Tennessee Orange” singer reflects, before adding with gratitude, “This just means a lot to me because I never expected to be here on any circumstance.”
“Tennessee Orange” is the lead single from Megan’s debut album, Lucky, which drops May 5.
The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, streams live on Amazon Prime Video May 11 at 8 p.m. ET.
A Black Lady Sketch Show is back on HBO with its fourth season, but this time around there are some new faces. Joining the cast are DaMya Gurley, Angel Laketa Moore and Tamara Jade, who creator Robin Thede says “were a seamless addition to the cast this year.”
“From the first day of rehearsals, they were like, ‘Let’s go, we watch the show, we know it inside and out,’ like, ‘We know to get in, where we fit in,'” she tells ABC Audio. “That’s what it takes to be a featured player on the show, like you’re not a series regular yet, but you have to come in and support the main cast … The cool thing was that throughout the process, they were each able to take on bigger roles and heavier leading roles because they just showed us so fast how good they were.”
Also different this go-round is the fact that “there aren’t a bunch of dark, black, myriad twists in the sketches.” “It’s … more in your face and more, like, just big characters, big jokes,” Robin says. “There’s joke after joke after joke. There’s not a lot of lines that aren’t good jokes, so it’s super joke heavy.”
She continues, “I just wanted people to be breathless, you know, when they’re watching it and just be like, ‘Ughh, there’s so many jokes, I can’t even catch them all,’ so I think for me that was a big thing.”
Robin says season 4 of the show “is bigger and broader than ever.”
In 1973, Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers, made up of Nils Lofgren, Ben Keith, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, hit the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London for a show that went on to become a classic for fans. Although it’s finally getting an official release on April 14, if you believe Lofgren, at the time of the show the audience didn’t really love what they were experiencing.
The tour was in support of Neil’s album Tonight’s the Night, and Lofgren tells ABC Audio the record was “this otherworldly adventure in darkness and redemption.” He noted, “It was born of having to wrestle with a lot of our friends and heroes starting to die on us.”
The band would play the album in its entirety, and since fans didn’t know it yet, Lofgren says they weren’t happy. “Everyone was wondering when we were going to play ‘Cinnamon Girl’ or ‘Heart of Gold,'” he says. “And people got pissed off. They’d yell, they’d boo, they’d throw bottles.”
It took some time but folks eventually came to realize the special night they witnessed. Lofgren says as he’s played in England over the past 30 years there’s always at least one person who’ll apologize for “booing and yelling for hits” during that Rainbow concert, telling him, “’and now I realize I witnessed one of the greatest artistic nights of my life.’”
Somewhere Under the Rainbow will be available Friday on vinyl and CD at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives, as well as at most music retailers.
Mrs. Maisel is ready for her curtain call. The Emmy-winning Amazon Prime Video comedyThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel debuts the first three episodes of the fifth and final season Friday.
The show follows Miriam Maisel, played by Rachel Brosnahan, an unfulfilled 1950’s New York housewife who throws herself head first into the world of stand up comedy. Along the way she teams up with a down-on-her-luck manager, Susie Myerson, played by Alex Borstein, and the two try and forge a path in a world where women often weren’t welcome.
While fans may have wanted the series to go for longer, show co-creator Dan Palladino tells ABC Audio they knew it wasn’t going for 10 seasons.
“A lot of shows go past their expiration dates and I think fans always know that,” he explains.
Additionally, his fellow show creator and spouse Amy Sherman–Palladino admits that they’ve known how the show was going to end from day one.
“That ending was in the pitch, in the initial pitch for the show,” Sherman-Palladino shares, adding that it gave the duo a roadmap to follow.
“That’s the fun place, that’s the weird trajectory,” she says. “And then what are all the twists and turns that can get us there?”
Although Amy and Dan knew the ending, it’s still a bittersweet moment for the creators.
“We love the cast. We’re going to miss them,” says Palladino. “We want to work with them all separately again.”
Sherman-Palladino adds, “We have all their home information, so we know how to find them and we will be stalking them.”
As far as Sherman-Palladino’s hopes for the season ahead, “Our main goal this season was honestly just sticking the landing and making sure that her journey that she and Susie set out… barrel to a conclusion one way or another.”
(NEW YORK) — A new bill introduced in California could potentially do away with some additives that appear in ingredient lists of processed foods from candy to cereals.
Earlier this week, the California State Assembly health committee approved the landmark piece of legislation, AB 418 , which would prohibit brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide in food products sold throughout the state.
If enacted, California would be the first state to impose such a prohibition.
With the narrow exception of Red No. 3 used in candied cherries, regulators in Europe previously banned the other four substances outright. In the U.S., such a move would set a precedent for processed food safety going forward.
The bill’s proponents have raised concerns over the potential adverse or negative health impacts, both short-term and long-term, of these chemicals.
“Californians shouldn’t have to worry that the food they buy in their neighborhood grocery store might be full of dangerous additives or toxic chemicals,” Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the legislation’s sponsor, said in a press release in February. “This bill will correct for a concerning lack of federal oversight and help protect our kids, public health, and the safety of our food supply.”
Because these chemicals exist in non-natural foods that Americans already eat, it’s important for consumers to understand the impact, but “not make themselves crazy” over their exposure, especially in small amounts, said Dr. Stephanie Widmer, an ABC News medical contributor, board-certified emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist.
“These chemicals are all kind of in different foods and all exert different effects and different concerns — some of them are associated with neurological problems, some are reproductive problems, some have been linked to cancer. It really depends on the substance,” Widmer told “Good Morning America.”
“I don’t know if there is, for any of these things, a safe level,” she added, underscoring instead the importance of “moderation and variety in diet.”
According to Widmer, “there are tons of chemicals and substances that are in our foods that are not necessarily supposed to be there.”
“But we’re not necessarily being exposed to them in high amounts,” she said. “And you can’t go nuts trying to track down everything in your food.”
Widmer explained that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while “trying to do everything they can, are just constantly playing a game of catch up” when it comes to tracking new substances coming onto the market.
“It’s nearly impossible to be able to regulate everything,” she added. “We’re learning more and more about the food we eat every day and they’re trying to do the right thing.”
Widmer said it was “unfortunate” that “a lot of these different additives and preservatives that can be harmful have ended up in our food supply,” but added, “I think [the FDA is] trying to stay on top of it as best they can — it’s almost overwhelming.”
Over 10,000 chemicals are allowed for use in food sold in the U.S., 99% of which were approved by the food and chemical industry, but not the agency tasked with ensuring the safety of America’s food supply.
Widmer’s biggest takeaway and advice to others, she said, is to “limit exposure as much as you can and when it comes to diet.”
“Try to just do things in moderation and have variety in your diet — as long as you’re not being exposed to the same thing over and over again in high quantities, you should be OK,” she said.
Potentially harmful effects of 5 food chemicals
Widmer broke down, at a basic level, what science-backed research has found as far as potential links to health problems for the five substances that would be banned under AB 418. At this time, while some evidence is stronger than others, there isn’t conclusive proof that any cause adverse health conditions for humans — just that there could be a risk.
Brominated vegetable oil: In high quantities, Widmer said, it has “often been linked to neurological changes, like balance problems and memory problems” in humans.
Potassium bromate: “Potassium bromate is found in certain soft drinks and can cause issues with hearing and kidney function,” Widmer said.
She noted that “there have been studies suggesting that it’s been linked to cancer in some animals in the laboratory,” but there isn’t research on that link in humans.
Propylparaben: “Propylparaben has been proposed to be a reproductive toxin [that] can cause hormonal dysregulation, which is concerning for some people — there [have] been documented studies where it caused earlier or delayed menstration,” Widmer said.
While the research has hinted at those links to disruptions in the hormone systems in humans, the evidence is weak and research is ongoing.
Red dye No. 3: Red No. 3, which “gives that reddish or pink color, like in those pink Peeps,” Widmer said, is banned in cosmetics as it “is a known carcinogen,” a substance capable of causing cancer. Research in California linked it to behavioral problems in children.
Titanium dioxide: This “is in sunscreen, but it’s also Skittles,” Widmer said, noting that it is a “possible carcinogen and food color additive that can be very irritating to mucous membranes like the eyes, nose and throat.”
She said it has also been “linked to cancer in rodents.” There is no research on that link in humans.
(PURVIS, Miss.) — For the first time this week, a Mississippi couple got to hold their baby quintuplets together and commemorate the milestone with a couple of precious family photographs.
Haylee and Shawn Ladner of Purvis, Mississippi, welcomed their five children — Adalyn Elizabeth, Everleigh Rose, Malley Kate, Magnolia Mae and Jake Easton — back in February but although they’ve been able to hold them individually, it wasn’t until this past Sunday when they could both cradle their little ones simultaneously.
“We got all the babies dressed up in their little Easter outfits and we held all of them at once and had one big group photo for them for their first Easter,” Shawn Ladner explained to “Good Morning America.”
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking because traditionally, you only hold one baby at a time,” the 26-year-old father continued. “So I had three, she had two, that was a little bit of a joke but we managed it fine and it was a really impactful moment to see all of our babies together again because that was the first time that they had all been together, right beside each other since they were in her womb. So it was a really cool moment.”
Haylee Ladner said it was “just so sweet” to see all of their kids, who she describes as “miracle babies,” interacting with each other.
“It’s definitely been miraculous, I would say, to see all five babies grow and not have any complications and to just be perfectly healthy and to be striving and thriving,” the 26-year-old mother told “GMA.”
The Ladner quintuplets — four identical girls and one boy — were conceived through intrauterine insemination or IUI, after Haylee and Shawn Ladner experienced a miscarriage and chemical pregnancy.
The babies were born on Feb. 16 at 28 weeks and 1 day gestation and were delivered by caesarean section at Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Since then, they have been in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s of Mississippi Hospital in Jackson.
Because the babies were born prematurely, they’ve had to receive care such as respiratory support, according to their parents, but have not had any major complications after birth.
“The biggest thing right now is the babies are still learning to bottle feed and so, as they work up their ability with bottle feedings, they’ll be able to be discharged,” Haylee Ladner said.
The Ladners said they’ve been soaking up their time with quintuplets.
“I love getting to be their mom and getting to be here with them every day and getting to see them learn new things and grow and it’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I couldn’t be any happier,” Haylee Ladner said.
Shawn Ladner, who works as a maintenance mechanic, added, “It’s been amazing really, even through all of the ups and down. I had to go back to work so I’ve been traveling back and forth to come up and see the babies … It made me so happy that they’ve been doing so good.”
As their quintuplets continue to grow, the Ladners say they plan on documenting and sharing all the noteworthy and special moments through their new “5 Little Ladners” YouTube channel.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 100 cases of a rare, fungal infection have been linked to a Michigan paper mill.
Public Health Delta & Menominee Counties (PHDM) said 19 cases of blastomycosis have been confirmed while another 74 are suspected.
The department was notified about the first cases on Feb. 28 among workers with Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
“The health and safety of our Escanaba employees is our first priority,” Brian Peterson, vice president of operation at the mill, said in a statement. “Although the source of the infection has not been established, we continue to take this matter very seriously and are following recommendations from health and government officials.”
Public Health Officer Michael Snyder told ABC News the health department sees a few cases of the infection every year but rarely an outbreak of this magnitude.
Here’s what you need to know about blastomycosis and how it can be treated:
What is blastomycosis?
Blastomycosis is a fungal infection caused by a group of fungi known as Blastomyces.
“These are fungi that live in the environment as a mold and they make spores,” Dr. Teresa O’Meara, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, told ABC News. “And what happens is that when people inhale too many of those spores, they can sort of set up and evade some of these innate immune responses and cause pneumonia and spread throughout the body.”
The fungi are found in the environment, mainly in moist soil and in decomposing organic material such as wood and leaves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most cases of the infection occur in the United States and Canada but are very rare, with the annual incidence being about one to two cases per 100,000 people, the CDC said.
In the U.S., O’Meara said blastomycosis is most common in eastern parts of the Midwest — including states like Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin — the Great Lakes region and Southwest.
“On average over the past five years, only 26 cases have been reported for the entire state of Michigan annually,” PHDM said in a release. “However, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a known risk area for blastomycosis infection.”
The infection is not transmitted from person to person or from animals to people and can only be contracted by breathing in the microscopic spores, often after activity that disrupts the soil or the decomposing material.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms can be wide-ranging, O’Meara said. Some patients are asymptomatic while others develop symptoms including coughing, fever, chest pain, muscles aches and fatigue.
Because symptoms resemble other types of infections, it can be hard to diagnose the illness in a person, O’Meara said.
“And so diagnosis is pretty hard, even in places where it’s endemic, just because it’s so rare,” she said.
O’Meara added that evidence suggests symptoms can appear anywhere from three weeks to three months after inhaling spores.
According to the CDC, the infection can spread from the lungs to other areas of the body, including the joints, bones, brain and spinal cord among those who are immunocompromised.
Which treatments are available?
Those are infected with blastomycosis needed to be treated with a prescription antifungal medication.
Those with mild to moderate cases can take a medication known as itraconazole, which stops the growth of fungi.
Patients with severe infections are usually given amphotericin B, an intravenous medication. Because it can have a wide range of side effects, it’s only given to critically ill patients or those who are immunocompromised.
Treatment can range from six months to a year and can depend on how severe a person’s infection is as well as the strength of their immune system.
“One of the really important problems I would like to highlight just for people to know is that we often think about antibiotic resistance as being a real problem,” O’Meara said. “But there’s actually dozens of classes of antibiotics and antifungals. There’s only three classes of antifungals available.”
She continued, “And so this is going to be a big problem going forward just because there are more and more fungal infections that are on the rise and we need to develop new antifungal treatments.”
Is blastomycosis deadly?
It is very rare for blastomycosis to result in death. According to the CDC, there have been 1,216 blastomycosis-related deaths between 1990 and 2010.
What’s more, the age-adjusted mortality rate is 0.21 per 1 million person-years, the federal health agency said.
How can I protect myself?
Because there is no vaccine and it is endemic in some environments, it may be hard to protect yourself against the fungus.
If you work in areas where the fungi is prevalent or you might disturb soil, O’Meara said you can consider wearing protective equipment.
If you think you’ve been exposed, get tested and — if positive — start antifungal treatment if needed.
(NEW YORK) — Shalon Irving knew her newborn daughter Soleil for less than one month.
Three weeks after giving birth to Soleil, now 6, Shalon Irving, who is Black, died from complications of high blood pressure on Jan. 28, 2017 .
“My daughter had wanted a child more than anything on this earth,” Wanda Irving, Shalon Irving’s mother and Soleil’s grandmother, said in an interview with ABC News. “Soleil came to me and said, ‘Nonna, I want to die because I want to go where my mommy is. That’s the only way I’m going to get there.'”
Shalon Irving is part of a growing group of individuals, particularly Black women, dying from pregnancy-related complications several weeks or months after childbirth.
After her daughter’s death, Wanda Irving founded Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project, an organization devoted to connecting Black women to resources and information about maternal mortality.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Black women die during and just after pregnancy at a rate 2.6 times that of white women.
A recent CDC report found the majority of maternal mortality cases — about 53% — occur after the first week of childbirth. Maternal deaths occur up to a year after delivery.
The causes vary based on race, with Hispanic and white women more likely to die from mental health conditions and Black women more likely to die from cardiac conditions, like the high blood pressure complications that killed Shalon Irving.
While every case is unique, CDC researchers estimated more than 80% of those deaths are preventable. Dr. Kamilah Dixon , a board-certified OB-GYN and maternal mortality expert at Ohio State University, said more awareness is needed.
“We still have to make sure that we are vigilant [even after childbirth],” Dixon told ABC News. “A lot of people think, ‘OK, we did it. All the risk is gone, and we don’t have to worry anymore.'”
One of the risks long after delivery is death from mental health conditions, which is the leading cause of maternal mortality overall, the CDC report found.
That includes deaths from suicide and accidental drug overdose. Blood loss is the second leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths.
The ongoing opioid addiction crisis in the U.S. contributes to the high rate of deaths from mental health conditions, said Dixon.
She said access to overdose-reversing drugs like Narcan is important to combat these deaths. Access to doulas and midwives could serve as mental and emotional support for individuals during pregnancy and after pregnancy.
Attention to cardiac health is key for Black women, who have the highest overall maternal mortality rates overall and are most at risk from heart conditions.
While the data doesn’t explain why pregnant Black women are more likely to die from cardiac conditions, CDC data from 2019 found Black Americans were 30% more likely to die from heart disease than their white counterparts.
Structural racism also plays a role in the stark inequities in maternal mortality, according to Dixon, who said differences between the types of conditions and issues affecting different demographic groups make it difficult to tackle the issue in a consistent way.
“I think it’s important to … understand what’s happening in particular communities so we can really target that,” she said, noting that different groups might need different types of interventions.
Still, big-picture policy changes can also play a role in driving change.
Congress passed a law in 2021 expanding Medicaid coverage for pregnant people from about two months to up to one year after childbirth, which will make resources more accessible to pregnant individuals.
“People need to know this is a problem we have here in the U.S.,” Dixon said. “I’ve had many patients in my office who’ve told me that they’ve chosen not to get pregnant because they don’t want to die.”
While pregnancy-related deaths are rare, individuals who want to become pregnant should be aware of the risks, according to David Goodman, Ph.D., a maternal mortality expert at the CDC.
“Be informed. Make sure that you are working with providers that you trust and have a relationship with,” Goodman told ABC News. “Don’t be afraid to walk away and find another provider as much as you are able.”
Home births are also on the rise, but Dixon and Goodman stressed that childbirths performed outside the hospital are riskier.
They said home births are unlikely to be a safe alternative for many pregnant people, who should consult their medical provider to discuss the options that might be safest for them.
In the meantime, families affected by pregnancy-related deaths, like Shalon Irving’s family, are taking their own steps to combat the problem.
Through the organization named for her late daughter, Wanda Irving helped create Believe Her , an app that provides maternal health resources for Black women and gives them a space to share their experiences.
Wanda Irving underscored that policy work is important, but she said lawmakers need to address structural racism to combat maternal mortality.
“Our whole system — everything — our foundation of America is built on racism, on the backs of Black and brown people. We need to recognize that, accept that and change it,” she said.
She added, “If we don’t start holding doctors accountable for the way that Black women are treated in the medical system, nothing is going to change.”
Aisha Bowen, M.D., is a resident physician in family medicine from Grant Family Medicine and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Michal Ruprecht is a medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
