A whole new generation of music fans are learning about TheMamas and the Papas singer Cass Elliot thanks to a meme that’s been going viral on TikTok.
The meme in question features a clip from the 2022 film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which has star Nicolas Cage looking at a carefree Pedro Pascal as they ride in a convertible, set to Cass’ 1969 song “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”
And Elliot’s daughter, Owen Elliot-Kugell, is thrilled by the resurgence of her mother’s tune.
“It’s the coolest thing I could possibly even conceptualize,” she tells the mag. “I’m a total TikTok junkie, and I’m loving, in particular, the context that people are using the song because it’s completely accurate in the whole attitude.”
She adds, “‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ is really about like ‘f*** you. I’m gonna do whatever I want, no matter what anybody thinks.’”
Prompted by the meme’s popularity, some folks on social media have taken to trying to educate younger music fans about Cass and the challenges she faced as an overweight woman in the music industry, something her daughter is also happy about.
“One of my main goals in my life is to make sure that her legacy stays prominent and alive,” she says. “The thing that people connect with about my mom is the idea of triumphing over adversity. She was a woman in a man’s world who paved the way for other women of size. And that’s important.”
Calvin Harris released his hotly anticipated Ellie Goulding collab “Miracle” on Friday and says the song is “the best vocal I’ve heard in years on a dance song.”
The DJ chatted with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe about his new offering and explained why he loves working with Ellie; they also collaborated on 2012’s “I Need Your Love” and 2014’s “Outside.”
Harris says he will give Ellie a song and “she does it in an hour, two hours. She knocks it out the park, then goes home. And I’m just like, ‘Well, that was obviously very easy for you.'”
As for “Miracle,” the artist raved, “It’s like absolute gold, the best vocal I’ve heard in years … on a dance song.”
“One of my likes is an Ellie Goulding angelic vocal. One of a kind. You’re not going to get this from anyone else,” he continued. “Ellie can do a lot of different things; for me, this is my absolute favorite thing that she does, and only she can do it, in my opinion.”
He also revealed how the uptempo sound of “Miracle” pushed him out of his comfort zone. “I’ve never done it before. I’ve done the, I’ve done the trancey sounding things before, but I’ve never been this fast,” he said.
That said, what is Harris planning on next in his music career? He said, “I think it’s probably a bunch of dance music. I don’t want to do loads and loads. I want everything to exist for a reason, which, I mean, has been my kind of thing for the last decade or something.”
“I want [my music] to be things that I’m going to want to play on and on and just be proud of,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — When President Joe Biden unveiled his $6.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 on Thursday, notably absent was a plan to shore up the finances of Social Security.
Biden’s placed an outsized emphasis on Social Security and Medicare since clashing with Republicans over the programs in his State of the Union address last month. He’s repeatedly hammered the GOP over the issue, accusing some members of wanting to target benefits as Congress gears up for a battle over the debt ceiling and federal spending.
“I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed. I won’t allow it to be gutted or eliminated, as MAGA Republicans have threatened to do,” Biden said to applause as he rolled out his plan in a campaign-style speech to a union crowd in Philadelphia.
The 184-page budget reiterates Biden’s position that cuts to Social Security are off the table, and includes an additional $1.4 billion for the Social Security Administration to improve customer service.
But while the proposal addresses Medicare’s solvency, it doesn’t include a similar plan for Social Security — which could see a reduction in scheduled benefits by roughly 20% starting in 2034 unless lawmakers take action.
For Medicare, which is on track to deplete its trust fund in 2028, Biden’s proposed tax increases on the wealthy and bringing down drug costs would bolster the program’s finances through 2050. The plan was unveiled by Biden in an op-ed for the New York Times two days before the official budget release.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, responding to Biden’s proposal, praised the Medicare measures but said it was “extremely disappointed it neglects Social Security, putting seniors’ benefits at risk.”
Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told ABC News the budget is “scant on details regarding Social Security.”
Asked during Friday’s press briefing why a solvency pitch wasn’t included in the budget, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young said, “We’re trying to protect the benefits that are there now.”
“I wish we were at the point of the debate where we could sit down and come up with proposal to extend [solvency]. Unfortunately, it’s clear some people want to go backwards … You’re assuming all players are starting from the same place, they’re not,” Young said.
The problem for Biden, experts said, is that he’s vowed not to cut any benefits and to not increase taxes on those making under $400,000 per year — which will make it extremely difficult to balance the program’s finances long-term.
“Under the parameters that President Biden has set out, it’s almost mathematically impossible,” Biggs said.
During the 2020 campaign, Biden proposed upping the payroll tax to 12.4% for Americans making more than $400,000 per year, among other changes, to help Social Security’s funding shortfall. An analysis by the public policy think tank Urban Institute found those changes would extend Social Security’s solvency just five years.
“To fix the problem, what he’d have to do is he’d have to find more money or he’d have to cut benefits,” Richard Johnson, the director of the Urban Institute’s Program on Retirement Policy, told ABC News.
“Changes to Social Security have always been bipartisan, and so it might not be something that he wants to do on his own because it will probably involve some pain,” Johnson said.
The 2024 budget stated the administration looks forward to “working with Congress to responsibly strengthen Social Security by ensuring that high-income individuals pay their fair share.”
Republicans have been critical of Biden’s new budget proposal, rejecting any tax increases.
GOP leaders have said Social Security and Medicare will not be touched during negotiations on the debt limit, though some in the party have previously called for cuts and others have advocated for changes to benefit formulas or the eligibility age.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, testifying on the budget on Capitol Hill Friday, was asked by Democratic Rep. John Lawson about payroll tax increases for those earning over $400,000 per year to help fund Social Security.
“I think it is about fairness and I think hardworking Americans who have counted on Social Security and paid into it their entire lives and depended on it as their major source of income in retirement, I think we need to make sure that it’s there for them,” Yellen said. “And we look for additional revenue to Americans with very high incomes, many of whom in total pay less taxes than a teacher or a firefighter.”
Sam Hunt is reliving memories of a past relationship in his new heartbreak song “Outskirts.”
Composed by Sam, Zach Crowell, Josh Osborne and Jerry Flowers, the track finds Sam reflecting on how a return to the “outskirts” of town has flooded him with recollections of an ex and an inevitable air of melancholy.
“But soon as I get out here on the outskirts/ I wish I was runnin’ by your house first/ Somethin’ ’bout a summer in the south sure/ Shines like gold down these old/ Round bail, river valley back roads/ Way back in the holler where the grass grows/ God almighty, baby, we were that close/ To ditchin’ this town and settlin’ down/ Out here on the outskirts,” Sam sings in the chorus.
“Outskirts” is the latest song release from Sam and follows “Walmart,” “Start Nowhere” and his current single, “Water Under the Bridge,” which is number 16 and climbing on the country charts.
Back in September The Mars Volta released their self-titled seventh album, which was their first new record in more than 10 years. Now they’re ready to drop another one.
The rockers have just announced they’ll be releasing Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon (which translates to May God Curse You My Heart), an acoustic reimagining of that self-titled album, on April 21. They’ve also shared the first taste of the record, their new take on “Blank Condolences.”
The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodríguez-López calls the album their take on a “folk record,” with the description noting it’s “much more than a simple ‘un-plugged’ reading” of the self-titled release, adding it “furthers the mission of the source music, which drew into sharper focus the traditional Latin influences that have always inspired their music.”
Smokey Robinson has shared a new track off his upcoming album, GASMS, which is set to drop April 28. The latest is “How You Make Me Feel,” which follows the previously released single “If We Don’t Have Each Other.”
GASMS is Smokey’s first studio album in more than nine years. His last release was 2014’s Smokey & Friends, which featured new versions of his classic tunes with the help of stars like Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Steven Tyler and James Taylor.
Here’s the track list for Smokey’s GASMS:
“Gasms”
“How You Make Me Feel”
“I Wanna Know Your Body”
“I Keep Callin’ You”
“Roll Around”
“Besides”
“If We Don’t Have Each Other”
“You Fill Me Up”
“I Fit In There”
(NEW YORK) — Virginia state Senate candidate Monica Gary is open about her past. National outlets have already picked up her story because of her background as a former dancer at strip clubs.
But Gary says her backstory also includes growing up in poverty in Stafford County, having a premature baby at 17, leaving an abusive partner and eventually turning to a life of ministry and public service.
As for her time in clubs, she said it came about after her son’s biological father came back into the picture.
“Because I grew up in purity culture, I thought, ‘Well, ‘I’m broken, so no one’s ever gonna want me. I’ll just be with this guy who’s already awful to me because maybe he’ll want me.’“ Gary said. “That continued into more of a domestic trafficking situation. He suggested strongly that I would dance at the clubs where I had gone to just waitress, and that just kind of snowballed.”
Now, Gary has seven kids — two of whom are active duty in the military — and she has been married to her husband, Peter, for 14 years. They met when Gary, who was in an abusive relationship, was still working at clubs, she said.
“He just was a friend to me,” Gary said. “He treated me with so much dignity.”
Gary, who has a theology degree, has worked in ministry for years, and she started New Wine Community Church in Stafford in 2019. The former dancer has also served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors since 2022, representing the Aquia District.
The current Virginia General Assembly has no independent members, and partisan control of the legislature is split, with a 21-18 Democratic majority in the Senate and a 52-48 Republican majority in the House of Delegates. State Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Clarke County) currently represents the 27th District, which Gary is running for, though its borders are now different due to redistricting. Vogel is not seeking reelection.
The newly drawn 27th District covers parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg city. In the 2020 presidential election, Stafford County — which makes up about 60% of the 27th District — voted for Biden 51%-47%. Spotsylvania County — the next largest chunk of the district — voted for Trump 52%-46%. Biden carried the smallest chunk, Fredericksburg, 66%-31%.
Gary said she filed as an independent because she doesn’t want to alienate voters.
“If I put a letter next to my name, immediately half of the population is going to say, ‘You’re not going to work for me. You’re not going to help me and even worse, you’re going to hurt me,'” Gary said. “That’s not acceptable to me.”
Gary highlights three issues on her campaign website: transportation, reproductive rights and education.
The state Senate hopeful touted her tenure on the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board as evidence that she’s prepared to tackle the problem of congestion, saying the issue requires nuance because the district has both urban and rural areas.
“We have a very diverse district, the new 27th, which I guess technically there’s no incumbent because it’s a brand new district. It’s very diverse. So we have very rural roads that need improvements and maintenance and then we also have very urban areas like in Fredericksburg,” she said.
When it comes to education, Virginia is one of the centers for the battle over school choice, or a policy that allows parents to send their children to private schools and have the costs covered, at least in part, by publicly funded vouchers. Proponents of school choice believe it gives parents a better say over their children’s education and allows some students to leave under-performing schools. Opponents believe it takes funding away from public schools and leaves many students behind.
Gary’s position against school choice is influenced by her time as a public school student and as a mother who, aside from a brief period of homeschooling her children during COVID-19, sends them to public schools.
“This is not going to open up opportunities for most families who may want to utilize those vouchers. It’s not going to cover the whole tuition,” Gary said. “So now you already have folks who probably already afford private school funding, but now they’re getting a discount.”
As for the issue of reproductive rights, Gary also invokes her personal experiences.
“I am very open about this: I have had abortions,” Gary said.
After her procedure, she said she “overcorrected” and was anti-abortion, then looked back on how her life would have gone without access to abortions.
“It would have meant staying in a very abusive relationship,” Gary said. “It would have meant … a lot of awful things continued in my life.”
While her support for abortion rights puts her to the left of many Republicans’ perspective, her belief on when life starts differ from the view held by most liberals.
“I’m Christian, and I believe that personhood happens even before conception, right? I believe that God knew me even before I was here and he had a purpose for my life,” Gary said. “But that doesn’t mean that I go in and say I believe a, b, and c so you have to do all of these things.”
The primary election for the 27th District is June 20, but because Gary isn’t participating in a political primary, her name will not appear on Virginians’ ballots until the general election on Nov. 7.
Selena Gomez recently became the most-followed woman on Instagram and is close to breaking the 400 million mark.
As of Friday afternoon, Selena’s follower count stood at 397 million. According to a team of data analysts from Lottery Texts using data from Social Blade, 19 million people followed her in the past 30 days. They surveyed celebrity profiles between February 6 and March 7 to determine the artists who gained and lost the most followers in that time frame.
Fans believe Selena is enjoying a following boom because of the ongoing drama with Hailey Bieber. That same drama caused the model to hemorrhage viewers; in the same period of time, 980,430 people hit the “unfollow” button on Hailey’s profile.
Kylie Jenner, who used to be the most-followed woman on Instagram, was connected to the “mean girls” drama, and her follower count apparently suffered as a result. The analysts claim Kylie lost close to 1 million followers — 993,337 to be exact — over the same period of time.
Both Rihanna andBeyoncé gained over 5 million followers. Taylor Swift welcomed 4.4 million new followers, while Cardi B rounded out the top five after 3.7 million more people hit the “follow” button.
On the other hand, Billie Eilish is among the celebrities who lost the most followers in a month — and fans think it’s because she recently revealed on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast that she deleted social media apps off her phone. Over the past 30 days, she lost 519,676 followers.
Another artist to lose a fair amount of followers was Ariana Grande, who saw 229,052 people leave her followers page. Dua Lipa also saw 117,444 fans jump ship in the past 30 days.
(DAVENPORT, Iowa) — GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first Iowa swing of the 2024 presidential cycle kicked off Friday in a packed casino room on the eastern side of the state, where he boasted that his stringent conservative leadership style had steered Florida into becoming a model for the rest of the country — a distinct tease of his White House ambitions.
“Good morning, I bring greetings from the free state of Florida,” DeSantis said as he took the stage to loud cheers, touting his state as a blueprint, insisting it has “served as the promised land” and is “the fastest growing state in the country.””And that is a result of leadership. It’s a result of vision. It’s a result of standing up for what’s right,” he said.
The Sunshine State leader — who publicly insisted he wouldn’t vie for the presidency this cycle — was visiting the critical early state as he’s privately indicated to allies that he intends to launch a bid for the White House in May or possibly June, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
His trip to Davenport and Des Moines comes days before his presumed opponent and current GOP frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, will make a campaign stop in Iowa on Monday.
DeSantis’ visit occurred while Nikki Haley, a former Trump-appointed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who announced her White House bid last month, hosted a dueling event across the state in Clive, Iowa, with Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst.
Ahead of Iowa’s 2024 presidential caucuses, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found that if former President Donald Trump were to be the Republican nominee again 74% of Iowa Republicans say they would likely vote for him in the 2024 general election — although the number of Iowans who say they would “definitely” vote for him has decreased by more than 20 percentage points since June 2021.
In Davenport, DeSantis received a warm reception, including several standing ovations when touching on a range of issues from the border to COVID-19 to education. He spoke just under an hour, first from the podium, then sitting down for a conversation with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds — another GOP chief executive who gained notoriety for bucking federal COVID guidance during the pandemic — to promote his new book, ‘The Courage to be Free.’
“I’ve hung around with Ron for just a little bit and I’m here to tell you he is just getting warmed up. So, this guy is a man on a mission,” Reynolds said.
DeSantis, who in a the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll had favorability numbers just two points behind Trump’s, did not mention the former president directly by name, though he painted a contrast between the criminal probes, staff turnover and communications crises of Trump’s tenure to his own administration, which he pointedly says has “no drama.”
“The one thing I could say if you talk to Floridians, there’s no drama in our administration. There’s no palace intrigue. They basically just sit back and say, Okay, what’s the governor going to do next? And we roll out and we execute, and we do things and we get things done,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, who has a notably hostile relationship with non-conservative news outlets, was asked outright by Reynolds about his approach to news media coverage.
The Florida governor called legacy media “very, very untrustworthy” in response.
“We just focus on delivering results and delivering the agenda. And I think what people have figured out is, you know, the legacy media is very, very untrustworthy in the eyes of the public,” he said.
“Just speak the truth. Do your thing, but do not give them the satisfaction that they are some type of neutral gatekeepers, because they are not.”
In a tweet following DeSantis’ visit, Reynolds uploaded photos from her interview with the Florida governor, captioned: “The corporate media’s worst nightmare!”
The Florida governor rose to national GOP stardom throughout the COVID pandemic, when he kept the state largely open during the early days of the virus’ spread and has been vocally skeptical about vaccine efficacy.
Iowa attendees jumped to their feet several times on Friday when DeSantis addressed COVID.
“I’m just proud to say that when during COVID the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, the state of Florida stood as a refuge of sanity,” he said. “The elites were wrong about lockdowns. They were wrong about forced masking. They were wrong about closing schools. They were wrong about denying natural immunity.”
DeSantis also touted his administration’s decision to ban “any COVID shot mandates for schoolchildren and university students” and his push against vaccine mandates, saying, “nobody should have to choose between a job they need and a shot they don’t want.”
The governor also took a swipe at President Joe Biden, calling on him to allow Novak Djokovic, the tennis champion who refuses to take the COVID vaccine, to compete at the Miami Open, despite the tournament’s vaccination requirements.
“If Djokovic wants to meet us in the Bahamas, we’ll get him over here by boat, get him to the state of Florida so he can compete,” DeSantis said to applause.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulers and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
Jim Jones,Back in My Prime — Exclusively produced by Hitmaka, the album includes lead single “I Am” with Stefflon Don,“Seen The Money” and “Stay.”
Blxst, Just for Clarity 2 — the singer’s back with part two of his 2021 project. He tapped Roddy Ricch, Terrance Martin, Mustard and Larry June to join him.
Conway the Machine & Jae Skeese, Pain Provided Profit — Conway teamed up with Jae for the first release off his Drumwork imprint, which he says will be the “flyest and the rawest and the richest u ever seen.”
Talib Kweli & Madlib, Liberation 2 — The project, exclusively produced by Madlib, was over 10 years in the making, Kweli says. “It’s expansive in concept but tight in its substance and approach.”
Musiq Soulchild, Hit-Boy, Victims & Villains — Led by singles “beat of a slow dance” and “i remember you my ex,” the project marks Musiq’s first album since 2017.
Rae Sremmurd,“Tanisha (Pump That)” — Produced by Mike Will Made It, the song is a taste of what’s to come on the group’s new album, SREMM4LIFE.
NLE Choppa, “Mo Up Front” — The latest offering from Choppa’s forthcoming Cottonwood 2 album is accompanied by a visual that finds him shopping for jewelry and throwing cash around.
Lola Brooke, “So Disrespectful” — Lola heard the song’s beat and started “punching in on the mic.” “I just didn’t think too much about it. I was just being myself,” she says.
6lack, “Talkback” — Off his forthcoming album, Since I Have A Lover, 6lack says the song “does the trick when I need to remember my purpose.”
