(NOTE LANGUAGE) Cordae just dropped his Anderson .Paak-assisted and J. Cole-produced single “Two Tens,” but according to the rapper, he and .Paak have a lot more songs over Cole’s beats in the vault.
“We literally got a mix tape full of joints of me and .Paak on — well, we got an EP full of joints with me, .Paak and Cole beats,” he said in an interview with Apple Music 1. “It’s because this is really my friend. Other artists be like, ‘Ph that’s my brother,’ or, ‘Oh that’s my man,’ saying that sh** just to sound cool. I don’t really have too many friends, to be honest. He’s one of my real-life, genuine friends.”
Beyond that, Cordae claims he’s holding on to nearly 200 songs, all of which he recorded in 2022.
“I think last year I recorded literally 180 songs. I know some artists record like a thousand songs, but it feels like that’s the most songs I recorded in the year, for sure,” he said. “Last year, it was also the most touring I did, so I’m proud of myself for still recording 180 songs.”
“Two Tens” is now available on streaming services.
Weezer, Fall Out Boy and Beck are set to perform in an upcoming tribute concert to The Beach Boys.
The event, dubbed A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys, will take place February 8 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. It’ll later air as a special on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.
Other artists on the bill include St. Vincent, Mumford & Sons, Brandi Carlile, Hanson, Norah Jones, Lady A, John Legend, Little Big Town, Michael McDonald, My Morning Jacket, Pentatonix, Charlie Puth, LeAnn Rimes and Take 6.
Who better to pay tribute to the distinctive harmonies of TheBeach Boys than Lady A and Little Big Town?
Both country super groups will lend their distinctive blends to A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys, which will air later this year on CBS. It’ll be recorded February 8 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, just a few days after the Grammys.
LeAnn Rimes, Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, John Legend, Charlie Puth, Beck, My Morning Jacket, Weezer and others will also offer their takes on signature Beach Boys tunes like “California Girls,” “Good Vibrations,” “In My Room” and “God Only Knows.”
Tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime event are on sale now.
Because everyone’s in town for the Grammys anyway, the CBS TV special A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys has attracted a star-studded lineup for its taping three days later.
Tickets for the February 8 taping, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, are on sale now. If you buy one, you’ll see Pentatonix, Charlie Puth and John Legend take the stage to pay tribute to the iconic group behind classics like “Good Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “I Get Around.”
Norah Jones, Hanson, Michael McDonald, LeAnn Rimes, and country groups Lady A and Little Big Town are also on the bill, as are rockers Beck, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Mumford & Sons.
If you’re not going to be in the area, you can always wait to watch the special when it airs on CBS and streams on Paramount+ later this year.
(DANA POINT, Calif.) — Republican National Committee members will elect a new chair at a ritzy hotel in Dana Point on Friday, closing out an unusually contentious race that could have outsized implications as the GOP gears up for the 2024 elections.
Incumbent Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is running for a fourth term, is the favorite in Friday’s election, though she faces a challenge from attorney Harmeet Dhillon and a long-shot bid from My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell. Typically a sleepy affair, the chair’s race this year morphed into a debate over personality and strategy, with surrogates for the candidates lobbing personal attacks over last year’s election operations.
The acrimony has largely been fueled by a broader reckoning over Republicans’ underperformance in the 2022 elections, with McDaniel insisting certain aspects of the midterms were out of her control and Dhillon panning what she claims was a fundamental lack of strategy and misallocation of resources on the part of the national party.
McDaniel still retains support from well over half of the 168 voting RNC members — the threshold she needs to clinch reelection — though frustrated members say the stakes are high for whomever wins the chair.
“I think Ronna is likely to win but probably by a smaller margin than she may expect. There is pretty profound desire for change from the committee. But there’s also dissatisfaction with the way Harmeet has run her campaign,” said one undecided committee member. “And I think the important thing is, whoever wins, the party has got to come together — and that starts with Ronna and Harmeet.”
“2024 just has so much at stake with the White House in play,” this member said. “I think many Americans think the country is on the wrong track. As a party, we just can’t afford to underperform in ’24. We clearly underperformed in ’22, and there are a lot of reasons for that. We can’t do it again.”
Ahead of the race, McDaniel released a letter boasting endorsements from more than 100 of the 168 voting RNC members, handing her buffer room to shed support to a challenger and still be on strong footing.
Dhillon, who has represented former President Donald Trump against the House Jan. 6 committee, also got a late start in the race.
McDaniel only added to the number of supporters in recent days, announcing endorsements from a small handful of state party chairs who are also RNC members.
Dhillon, however, has waged a full court press, leaning on both meetings with RNC members and outside allies including Fox News personalities to raise the heat and try to help her beat that daunting math.
RNC members predict that she’s succeeded in peeling off at least a few signees from McDaniel’s letter, though it’s unclear just how many defectors Dhillon can win over in Friday’s secret ballot.
In an interview, Dhillon claimed the pro-McDaniel letter is inaccurate and said she’s “hoping and planning to win,” though she wouldn’t say how many votes she believes she has behind her heading into Friday.
“I have an estimate, but I’m not sharing that information publicly because some of those people want to stay private,” she insisted. “That said, several people are privately committed to us, and I’m picking up votes — several a day.”
Dhillon said her challenge to McDaniel is fueled by three main concerns, including “an inexplicable failure” by RNC leadership to take advantage of mail-in and early voting to the full extent that it’s allowed — even as Trump and some other Republicans tell voters to embrace in-person ballots.
Dhillon also accused the national party of “wasting” millions of dollars on “consultants who don’t produce results” and failing to promote “clear and concise messaging and direction for our candidates,” citing conflicting stances among candidates around the Supreme Court’s ruling scrapping constitutional protections for abortion.
“We failed,” Dhillon said. “And again, these are sort of critical, basic building blocks of winning elections. And until we get these things right, I don’t know that donors, voters or candidates are going to have confidence in the party, and that’s terrible because the RNC plays a critical role in our elections.”
Dhillon also argued that McDaniel didn’t take a muscular enough approach in advising local and state officials on which candidates could be potent in general elections.
“Ultimately, voters have to select who the candidate is. But there are many inflection points along the way between the time somebody wakes up and says, ‘I can be the next United States senator,’ versus the day we are counting the ballots and coming up short,'” Dhillon said. “I think the idea that everybody else gets a say, Democrats get a say, President Trump gets a say, various PACs get to say, but the party doesn’t get a say? I don’t think so.”
Kari Lake, who traveled to the RNC meeting in California to drum up support for Dhillon after her failed Arizona gubernatorial bid, echoed the need for different leadership.
“I am so excited to see such quality candidates stepping forward to say, ‘Let’s move on, Ronna. Thank you very much for your service, we need a change in America,'” Lake told reporters Wednesday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cruised to reelection in the midterms despite GOP disappointments elsewhere, told conservative activist and host Charlie Kirk on Thursday that he “like[s] what Harmeet Dhillon has said about getting the RNC outside” of Washington.
“I think we need a change, and I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC,” DeSantis said.
Lindell asserted in a phone interview with ABC News that he and Dhillon have enough combined power to at least keep the simple majority away from McDaniel.
“I believe Ronna McDaniel is well under the 85 needed,” Lindell said. “Kind of like what happened in Congress [with Kevin McCarthy’s protracted speakership election]. This is very similar, only it’s very much to my advantage because it’s a secret vote.”
“If it was an open vote, I think it’d be hard for anybody to win because of the promises that are made — and all of the sudden you’re going to get that carrot pulled back if you vote elsewhere,” he said.
Lindell, like Dhillon, sought to project confidence about his chances to overcome McDaniel’s broad support.
“Remember, it’s a secret ballot — and guess what, no machines. Isn’t that great?” Lindell said, laughing. (The businessman has continued to spread baseless claims about electronic voting machines.)
Despite the challenges, McDaniel’s pull on her caucus remains strong. During a candidate forum on Wednesday night at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, McDaniel was the only candidate to receive a standing ovation from RNC members, according to several sources who were present in the room. Supporters milled about the lobby of the Waldorf later that evening, sporting campaign buttons — a bright red “Roll With RONNA for RNC chair” fastened to several members’ lapels and dresses.
McDaniel, whose spokesperson did not make her available for an interview after multiple requests, has insisted that her critics are overestimating the power of the RNC chair and that she does not have the power to pick candidates or impose messaging discipline on any nominee.
And with six years of running the RNC under her belt, McDaniel, a member of the Romney family’s whose GOP ties stretch back decades, still boasts a hefty roster of supporters who maintain that she has the institutional knowledge and donor base to propel the GOP to victory next year.
“I think she’s demonstrated the skills and the temperament and the passion to run the organization in a way that’s gonna benefit parties around the country and, hopefully, our presidential candidate, too,” said an RNC member supporting McDaniel.
One thing uniting McDaniel and Dhillon are vows to remain neutral in the 2024 GOP primary — as mandated by RNC bylaws — despite both of their links to Trump and claims from members of different camps that their preferred candidate’s opponent would not be able to sufficiently cut ties.
But beyond debates over campaign operations, what has made the race particularly divisive is the sharpening of swipes over strategy into attacks on character and professional threats.
Oscar Brock, a national committee member from Tennessee, sent an email in November to others in the RNC blasting McDaniel after Trump dined with antisemites Nick Fuentes and Ye, saying he was “flabbergasted” by what he suggested was an insufficient response by the national party.
One Dhillon ally, meanwhile, released other members’ contact information and Kirk, a hardline activist supporting Dhillon, sent out an email to RNC members warning he could replace them with those who “better represent the grassroots voice.” On top of that, Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham have promoted Dhillon and criticized McDaniel in an apparent bid to apply pressure to the 168 who will elect the chair.
“This was the first time that I’m aware of where we’ve had a lot more outside involvement. I think for Harmeet, I think that was a smart strategy, but I wouldn’t say it was perfectly implemented. And I think it’s helped her and hurt her,” the undecided RNC member said. “The strategy is probably a smart one, but I think she overplayed her hand”
“We had people like Charlie Kirk sending emails to RNC members threatening us. That’s not very effective. Certainly doesn’t make him very popular with RNC members,” the member said. “And I think that really hurt her.”
Members on all sides of the race concede it has gotten ugly, though they say the long-term divisions run no deeper than strategy.
But in the short-term, even Dhillon supporters who say she’s run a strong campaign also say her chances are murky.
“The party isn’t fractured. A lot of us are simply disappointed with Ronna’s stewardship of the RNC and know we need a change,” Bill Palatucci, a member from New Jersey who endorsed Dhillon, said earlier this week.
Still, “If I was a betting man, I would think the incumbent wins,” Palatucci said. “But Harmeet has run an excellent campaign very aggressively and has made a lot of progress and continues to make progress. So, we really won’t know until we get out there.”
The Beach Boys are the latest artists getting a special salute by the Recording Academy, and now we know who’s on board to celebrate them.
A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys is set to happen February 8 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with a lineup of performers that includes Michael McDonald, Brandi Carlile, Beck, Fall Out Boy, Norah Jones, John Legend, Pentatonixand Weezer.
The celebration is set to take place three days after the Grammy Awards and will be recorded for a special to air on CBS later in the year.
Last year, Paul Simon was the subject of the annual Grammy Salute, with the special airing last December. It featured performances by Dave Matthews, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, The Bangles and Garth Brooks.
(NEW YORK) — Child sex trafficking victims implicated for crimes against their abusers are speaking out amid an ongoing push for laws that change how such cases are treated in the criminal justice system.
In 1995, Sara Kruzan was 17 when she was sentenced to life in prison for killing the man who she says began grooming her at the age of 11.
“I was an easy target for a man with disturbing intentions. From ages 13 to 16, I was a child sex trafficking victim who endured horrific abuse and rape at the hands of my trafficker and other adult males,” Kruzan told ABC News.
Kruzan would go on to spend nearly two decades in prison before her sentence was commuted twice — once in 2011 and once in 2013. She was released that year and was pardoned by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last July.
Since her release, Kruzan has dedicated her life to children who find themselves in the position she was once in — vulnerable, powerless and at the constant mercy of abusers.
Nearly 1,000 children were forced into sexual slavery in 2020, according to the Administration for Children Families. Victims often have a history of neglect, abuse and trauma. But in most cases, the abuse goes unreported.
In many cases, victims never return home. Only an estimated 1% to 2% of child sex trafficking victims are recovered, according to Erase Child Trafficking.
“The sex industry preys on vulnerability and marginalization,” said Yasmin Vafa, a human rights attorney who co-founded the nonprofit Rights4Girls. “And so those children who are marginalized by race and ethnicity, by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, by disability, by immigration status, by a whole host of factors. Those children are more likely to be exploited because they are vulnerable.”
In Wisconsin, 22-year-old Chrystul Kizer is facing a life sentence for killing the man who she says forced her into sex work.
Kizer met Randall Phillip Valor when she was 16 years old. She says Valor sexually abused her and recorded the acts. After a year of abuse, Kizer went to Valor’s home and shot him. She then started a fire and drove away in his car.
Kizer later admitted to detectives that she “had gotten upset and was tired of [him] touching her.” She was charged with multiple felonies, including first-degree homicide, and has since been released on bond.
In a groundbreaking decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Kizer may have the chance to be acquitted of all charges using a state law meant to provide immunity to victims of human trafficking.
Kizer’s defense argues that when she committed the murder, she was being trafficked and for no other reason would it have occurred, ABC News legal contributor Channa Llloyd said. The burden is now on the state to prove being sexually trafficked wasn’t a direct cause.
Kruzan said that trying child sex trafficking victims as adults is “another form of human rights violations.” She’s now part of an ongoing push to change laws around sentencing child victims of sex trafficking.
Backed by bipartisan representatives, one of them is “Sara’s Law” or “The Preventing Unfair Sentencing Act.” If passed, it would give judges discretion to hand down reduced sentences for child survivors and promote physical and psychological recovery for child sex trafficking victims.
Looking back at her case, Kruzan wishes that the justice system treated her with compassion.
“You know, trying to ask the right questions, to say, well, what happened to you? How did this happen? And then, how did the adults miss it?” Kruzan said.
Lady Gaga has a new song on the radio, but the interesting thing is that it’s not something she recorded recently.
Thanks to the hit Netflix series Wednesday and the viral TikTok dance craze it spawned, Gaga’s 2011 deep cut “Bloody Mary” is creeping onto radio stations.
The singer took to TikTok to share her reaction to hearing the song, which she never released as an official single, playing on a local radio station. The video starts with Gaga filming her car’s radio and shouting, “We’re on the radio!” She then flips the camera around and films herself mouthing along to the lyrics.
The video was also captioned in all capital letters, “When your song from 2011 is a 2023 smash.”
“Bloody Mary,” from Gaga’s Born This Way album, is enjoying a renaissance thanks to Wednesday‘s viral dance scene in which star Jenna Ortega flails to The Cramps‘ 1981 song “Goo Goo Muck.” TikTokers recreated the dance, but chose to soundtrack their videos to a sped-up version of “Bloody Mary.”
Netflix later jumped on the song’s newfound popularity by featuring it in a teaser confirming the show’s second season.
It should be noted that Gaga’s video is exciting fans for another reason. She wrote in the video description, “Driving home from set … my song came on the radio [sobbing emoji].” The singer included a joker card and red heart emoji when talking about being on set, which fans say is her way of revealing she’s working on the upcoming Joker sequel.
Days after announcing her debut album, In Pieces, is dropping in March, Chlöe‘s returned with a teaser for the project’s lead single, “Pray It Away.”
In a photo shared on her socials, Chlöe’s seen kneeling and holding her hands up in prayer in the middle of a room surrounded by lit candles. “1ST PIECE.#PRAYITAWAY. JAN 27TH,” she captioned the posts, revealing the song’s release date.
“Pray It Away” will follow previous solo singles “Have Mercy,” “Treat Me,” “Surprise” and “For the Night” featuring Latto, which were all inspired by her personal experiences.
“‘Have Mercy’ stemmed from my being sad. I was responding to haters. That is where that song came from,” Chlöe previously told Complex. “The single ‘Treat Me’ came from reminding myself that if there is something I want out of a man, I have to give it to myself first.”
“The song ‘Surprise’ came from, you know—it’s OK to feel a little sexy sometimes,” she continued. “I let that side come out of me with those lyrics. Now, I have released ‘For the Night.’ Every song I have is personal.”
Luke Bryan‘s ready to roll the dice on a new season of American Idol.
“21 years of making dreams come true on @americanidol! Can’t wait to get this season started on Feb 19th on @abcnetwork,” he shared on his socials, along with the show’s new art and a new promo.
The photos show Luke, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Ryan Seacrest posing alongside a retro slot machine. That’s perhaps a sly nod to the fact that both Luke and Katy have ongoing Vegas residencies at Resorts World, while Lionel’s had one at the Wynn.
The new promo continues the same theme, adding a “g” to transform Sin City into Sing City.
Season 21 of American Idol kicks off Sunday, February 19, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
