Jackson Dean‘s getting “Fearless” with his new single.
The new release from Greenbroke is the follow-up to his debut single, “Don’t Come Lookin’,” which went on to become his first #1.
“I believe in ghosts/ Most people don’t/ I swear it on my Grandpa’s grave,” Jackson sings in the opening lines of “Fearless,” continuing in the rebellious, mystical style he established with “Don’t Come Lookin’.” This time, he makes room for a little romance, adding, “I got thick skin/ I’ll dive in/ I’m fearless/ Except when it comes to you” in the chorus.
2023’s a big year for Jackson. He joins Blake Shelton and Carly Pearce on the Back to the Honky Tonk Tour, before performing in the New Faces Show at Country Radio Seminar in March — a feat seen as one of the biggest predictors of long-term success in the genre.
Katy Perry is practicing “Dryuary” — where one is challenged not to drink alcohol during the month of January — and reveals she actually goes a step further than that.
Speaking to Women’s Health, Katy revealed she will go alcohol-free for months when it comes to her music. “Sometimes when I’m prepping for a tour or album release, I’ll take three or six months where I’m not drinking at all,” she disclosed.
“I am a zero to 100 type of girl,” she continued. “I lean into the luxury and the pleasure. But then I have to recuperate and take time, pull back, re-energize by feeding myself good things and taking care of myself in certain ways so that I can go back out into the world and ham it up.”
Katy will never drink alcohol before a show. “I have so many marks to hit, and so many things that I have to make feel effortless and easy and natural, but they’re actually very technical,” she explained. “I’m hanging on wires, I’m masquerading as a Cirque de Soleil performer many of the times.”
Katy also spoke about being a first-time mom, and said she gives all the “extra moments I have to being present and being a mother.” She shares a 2-year-old daughter named Daisy with partner Orlando Bloom.
Katy became a mom at 35 and believes the timing was perfect. “I really feel like I checked off a lot of my life boxes and was ready to do that, to be of service as a mother does … I’ve seen so many views of so many different mountains, and this is the best view,” she said.
Bob Weir is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his debut solo album, Ace, with a new deluxe edition and he’s giving fans a little taste of what to expect with the release.
The Grateful Dead guitarist just released a live version of the tune “Greatest Story Ever Told,” featuring Tyler Childers, which will appear on Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, dropping January 13. The live version of the track was recorded at a 2020 show with his band Wolf Bros at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, where they performed the entire album live and were joined by special guests.
Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition will be released as a double CD and on streaming services. It will feature a remastered new mix of Ace, along with a full Radio City performance. A black vinyl version will also be released on February 3.
Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A major storm is hitting the West Coast Wednesday into Thursday with flood, high wind and heavy snow alerts in effect for California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington state.
More than 176,000 customers are without power in California.
A winter storm warning is in place for the mountains outside of Los Angeles, where up to a foot of snow is possible.
In California, winds gusts up to 132 miles per hour were reported in Alpine Meadows, California, and up to 60 miles per hour at San Francisco International Airport.
Heavy rain will continue Thursday in California and then most of the state will catch a break on Friday before more rain arrives over the weekend and into early next week.
Winds in Los Angeles County gusted up to 87 mph and up to 63 mph on the Santa Barbara County coast.
The highest rainfall totals in California over the last 24 hours were 5 inches in Potter Valley, 3.98 inches in Valley Christian, 4.67 inches in Los Angeles County and 1.8 inches in Beverly Hills.
San Francisco picked up more than half of its annual rainfall in just 30 days.
In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, more than 5 feet of snow is expected in the next seven days.
Elsewhere, there were 23 reported tornadoes across the South.
Seven tornadoes were confirmed in Illinois alone, making it the biggest tornado outbreak for the state since 1989.
To the north, up to 15 inches of snow fell in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, breaking a daily record and making it the snowiest start to January in five years.
With more than 45 inches of snow so far this season, this is the snowiest start to winter in almost 30 years at Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport.
GAYLE is included in the RIAA’s Class of 2022, which lists all the artists who earned their first certifications over the last year.
The teenage artist’s breakout hit “abcdefu” was certified Gold last January and ended 2022 with triple-Platinum honors, signifying 3 million certified units.
GAYLE is one of 39 artists who achieved their first RIAA certification in 2022, though “abcdefu” was the only song by an RIAA freshman to go multiple-times Platinum.
“Whenever a Gold, Platinum or Diamond certification is earned, it represents massive engagement from an artist’s fans, and a remarkable achievement by the artist, their creative teams, and their record label,” says RIAA COO Michele Ballantyne. “And when it is your very first RIAA award, it’s even more special. We are so encouraged by the success of this #RIAAClassOf 2022 and are honored to help celebrate their immense talents.”
Meanwhile, GAYLE’s 2023 is looking to be just as eventful. She’ll be opening for select dates on Taylor Swift‘s stadium tour, while “abcdefu” is nominated for Song of the Year at the 2023 Grammys.
Host Ta-Nehisi Coates asked Coogler how the sequel took shape, both before and after their friend Boseman’s 2020 death at 43 following a private cancer battle.
At times overcome with emotion, the filmmaker explains he’d sent a draft of the script to Boseman weeks before he passed away. Coogler, like most people, didn’t know Boseman was dying.
Coogler recalls solemnly, “I could tell he was tired. I’d been trying to get a hold of him for a few days, and Denzel [Washington] had been trying to get a hold of him, too … I could tell he was laying down when I was talking to him … I could tell something was up.”
Coogler recalls, “I found out later he was too tired to read anything.”
Weeks later, Coogler was told Boseman passed away. “I didn’t wanna believe it. So I called Denzel, and I was like, ‘Maybe it’s a rumor.’ I was texting Chad … And [Denzel called back] and said, ‘It’s not a rumor.'”
The filmmaker exclaimed, “I found out in the [press] release … he was sick when I met him [in 2015]! When he passed, I just went back to all [the stunts] I asked him to do on [Black Panther].”
Coogler remembered Boseman needing extra time to warm up after scenes in the water. “Some days I’d just find him incredibly sad,” he expressed.
“Looking back,” Coogler realized, “I was like, ‘My mans was dying!'”
He said of going ahead with Wakanda Forever, “If he did all that while he was going through that … we gotta push through.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022. It arrives on Disney+ February 1.
(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of Uber drivers in New York City are carrying out a day-long strike on Thursday after a lawsuit from the rideshare company temporarily blocked a pay increase set to take effect last month.
Striking drivers were set to hold a rally at the Manhattan headquarters of Uber, demanding the company drop its legal challenge and allow the pay increase to go forward.
A new rule from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, a city agency, would significantly raise minimum compensation for rideshare drivers, hiking pay by more than 7% per minute and 23% per mile.
The pay bump will yield a typical rideshare driver an additional $1,000 each month, said the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, or NYTWA, a labor group that organized the strike.
Samassa Tidiane, who has driven for Uber since 2014, said he is participating in the strike on Thursday because the need for a pay increase has become especially urgent amid near-historic inflation.
“This week, I was in the supermarket and a packet of a dozen eggs cost $8.49. Before, it was less than $2,” he told ABC News. “If our pay doesn’t go up, how are we supposed to survive?”
Tidiane said he typically works 12 or 13 hours each day, taking home up to $1,000 per week. But expenses like gas and car repair cut significantly into the earnings. He said Uber doesn’t cover such costs.
“Uber doesn’t give us one penny,” Tidiane said. “They treat us like garbage.”
The pay increase was set to take hold last month but a Manhattan judge suspended implementation days before, after a legal bid from Uber.
In its lawsuit, Uber objected to the new rule as “arbitrary and capricious,” saying it departs from the city agency’s previous decisions and relies on a faulty methodology.
In a statement, Uber said it expected few drivers to participate in the protest on Thursday.
“Every time the taxi association calls for a strike, drivers demonstrate they’re more interested in delivering for New Yorkers than social media discourse,” the company said. “We expect this time will be no different.”
The action from Uber drivers marks the second single-day strike carried out in protest of the delayed implementation of the city’s pay raise.
The first strike, on Dec. 19, prompted thousands of rideshare drivers to log off, forcing companies to institute surge pricing, NYTWA said.
Uber downplayed the effect of the first strike, saying that on that day the company recorded 8% more trips and 7% more drivers than an average Monday over the last three months of the previous year.
The next court date in the case over the pay increase is set for Jan. 31.
If the pay raise remains stalled in court, drivers may take part in a future strike lasting as long as two weeks, Tidiane said.
“If they do nothing today, we’re going to prepare a next step,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — The United States plans to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine in a new security aid package expected to come on Friday, U.S. officials told ABC News.
The White House confirmed the plan to send the vehicles later in the day in a readout of President Joe Biden’s call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
During the call, Olaf made his own major pledge to Ukraine, saying his country will send Marder infantry fighting vehicles as well as a Patriot air defense system. This will be in addition to a Patriot battery the U.S. committed to Ukraine in late December to help the country thwart Russian airstrikes.
The announcements come a day after President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would be sending armored combat vehicles to help Ukraine in its fight.
A U.S. official told ABC News on Wednesday that Bradleys were on the list of equipment being considered. Later that afternoon, President Joe Biden confirmed it when asked by a reporter.
Bloomberg first reported that Bradleys were under consideration last Thursday.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian chief of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov told ABC News, “We are waiting for these vehicles, these vehicles will increase our abilities in combat actions.”
The U.S. first fielded the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in the early 1980s. They are armed with a 25mm automatic cannon, a 7.62mm machine gun, and a TOW missile system that can hit armored targets more than two miles away.
“The Bradley infantry fighting vehicle is the exact type of vehicle the Ukrainians need,” said Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and ABC News contributor. “There are many available, they are relatively easy to learn to operate effectively.”
While the Bradley does not offer the same protection as a tank, it can still be used to take out Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, according to Mulroy.
“This system could play a significant part of the effort of the Ukrainians to continue their counter-offensive,” he said.
The decision comes after French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced that his country would be sending its own armored combat vehicles to help Ukraine in its fight.
The U.S. has committed more than $21 billion in security assistance to Ukraine Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on February 24 of last year. The U.S. announced a major presidential drawdown package in late December that included a Patriot air-defense battery to help Ukraine thwart Russian airstrikes.
Ellie Goulding celebrated her 36th birthday on December 30 and had “some random thoughts” to share. The singer took to Instagram on Thursday to talk about what she learned over the past year.
Sharing a photo of her lounging in a green bikini, Ellie wrote, “Staying in the glow of everything I’ve accomplished (including the teeny things like getting out of bed) and not constantly downplaying things to myself to exhaustion. Accepting it’s ok to be proud.”
“Noticing that my anxiety induced adrenalin might be ageing me (or is that just age?!) but I also feel like I could lift a car at any moment, so I’m still quite lethal somehow despite being knackered most of the time,” she continued. “I have spent more time alone on walks this year than ever. Don’t always find the answers, but being in nature will always be the most healing and nurturing thing possible.”
The singer added she is reading more and is currently devouring Niamh Campbell’s We Were Young. She also praised the benefits of listening to classical music and revealed some natural remedies she took a shining to, like ashwagandha to manage her stress and magnesium to help her sleep.
“Sleep is crucial too. Lots of sleep,” she said. Ellie also said she is “sick of ‘trying’ but not with action verbs like doing.”
Finally, she signed off by asking if brunette hair is better and ruled, “Remains to be seen.”
Dolly Parton‘s teaming up with a who’s who of pop icons from the ’80s for a new song from the upcoming film 80 for Brady. The new movie features her 9 to 5 co-stars — and longtime friends — Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, along with her Steel Magnolias compadre Sally Field and the iconic Rita Moreno.
“Gonna Be You” was written by legendary songwriter Diane Warren.
“I wanted to write a song that celebrated these women’s deep friendship,” Diane says in a statement. “Since 80 was in the title I got a crazy idea, why not get some of the most iconic singers from the 80s, who are still amazing and always will be, to all sing it?!!!!”
“Everyone I approached said yes and was just as excited as me!!” Warren adds. “I’m honored to have Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan and Debbie Harry on this song!! ‘Gonna Be You’ is that song you want to sing along to with all your good friends!!!”
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that Dolly is a pop icon herself. In addition to her numerous country hits, she also topped the pop charts in the ’80s with the title track from 9 to 5 and “Islands in the Stream” with Kenny Rogers.
80 for Brady is based on the true story of four best friends who traveled to the Super Bowl in 2017 to see then-New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady play. Brady appears in the film, which arrives in theaters February 3.
We won’t have to wait quite as long to hear “Gonna Be You,” which arrives January 20.
