Lil Nas X just released new single “Star Walkin,” his song for this year’s League of Legends World Championship. But if you want to hear another track you may not have heard before from the “Industry Baby” star, check out his new campaign for YSL Beauty.
Not long ago, the artist was named YSL Beauty’s latest U.S. ambassador, and now his ad for the brand’s latest campaign is live. The lengthy ad is soundtracked to a Lil Nas X track called “My Little Baby.” The song was first leaked in July 2021 — several months before the release of Nas’ Montero album — but remains officially unreleased.
The commercial showcases the brand’s lipstick, mascara, fragrance and tint — it shows Lil Nas X applying all those products while strutting through the desert. He’s followed by a pack of pretty people, both male and female, all of whom start dancing in a rainstorm.
Ironically, “My Little Baby” is about Nas feeling insecure, as he sings, “Hey, can we please turn off the lights/Don’t need you to see my flaws at all tonight.”
The chart-topping star is currently out on his Montero tour and told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe that it’s “actually going great.”
“I’m able to really find my confidence on that stage. And I feel like I have to poop less and less every night,” he jokes. “Because usually, I have the nerves so bad, but I feel like they get more and more calm every night. And that’s cool.”
Billy Joel‘s acclaimed eighth studio album, The Nylon Curtain, was released 40 years ago — September 23, 1982.
The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200. It included the hit singles “Allentown” and “Pressure,” which reached #17 and #20, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.
Produced by Phil Ramone, the Beatles-influenced project is one of the first to be digitally recorded, mixed and mastered, and featured Joel exploring more complex arrangements.
The album also found the Piano Man tackling weighty topical themes, such as the aforementioned “Allentown,” which was about the declining steel industry in the U.S., and the Vietnam War elegy “Goodnight Saigon.”
Joel filmed a video for “Goodnight Saigon” at New York’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and the clip featured a group of Vietnam vets joining him onstage to sing the song. Over the years, Billy has continued to have veterans and military members sing the tune with him onstage when he plays it in concert.
The Nylon Curtain was nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Toto‘s Toto IV.
In a 2011 video interview, Joel explained that he wanted The Nylon Curtain to be “a sonic masterpiece,” adding, “I consider [it] maybe my best recorded effort.”
The Nylon Curtain has gone on to sell over 2 million copies in the U.S.
Here’s the full track list:
“Allentown”
“Laura”
“Pressure”
“Goodnight Saigon”
“She’s Right On Time”
“A Room of Our Own”
“Surprises”
“Scandinavian Skies”
“Where’s the Orchestra”
(WASHINGTON) — British pop legend Elton John is set to rock the White House on Friday night, playing for President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden in a South Lawn performance the White House says “will celebrate the unifying and healing power of music.”
Biden has said his songs hold deep meaning for him and John, CNN reported, asked the White House if he could perform.
The event, dubbed “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme,” is part of a collaboration with A&E Networks and The History Channel, according to the White House. The title of the event is a quote from Irish poet Seamus Heaney that Biden frequently uses in speeches and remarks, including when he accepted the Democratic nomination in 2020.
The event, before Cabinet secretaries and 2,000 invited guests, is to honor John’s life and work, according to the White House, as well as to commemorate “the everyday history-makers in the audience, including teachers, nurses, frontline workers, mental health advocates, students, LGBTQ+ advocates and more.”
Biden and his wife will make remarks.
John has a concert scheduled Saturday night at nearby Nationals Park, part of his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.” The 300-plus world tour dates are a farewell to his fans all over the world, according to the “Crocodile Rock” singer, part of a nearly 50-year career in music.
It’s not the first time the singer has been at the White House. In 1998, President Bill Clinton invited him to play at a state dinner for then-U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with Stevie Wonder.
Biden has said that John’s music has comforted his family at its most painful moments.
In his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, Biden recounted visiting his son Beau in the hospital one night shortly before Beau died of brain cancer. John had been at the White House earlier that day, Biden wrote.
When he reached Beau’s bedside that night, Biden said, he sang “Crocodile Rock” to Beau — just as he had to Beau and his other son, Hunter, many years before, after Biden’s wife and daughter were killed in a car accident.
“The words came back like it was yesterday, but after the first few lines I started to get emotional and wasn’t sure if I could go on,” Biden wrote. “Beau didn’t open his eyes, but I could see through my own tears that he was smiling. So I gathered myself and kept at it, for as much of the song as I could remember.”
In addition to his music, John has also been lauded for his work as an AIDS activist, having testified numerous times on Capitol Hill in support of AIDS funding. To date, according to its website, the Elton John AIDS foundation has raised over $600 million since its inception in 1992.
John also has another presidential fan — former President Donald Trump who reportedly wanted the Grammy award winner to play at his inauguration, but John declined.
Trump frequently plays John’s music at his rallies and infamously reacted to the news of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “Tiny Dancer” blared in the background.
Trump even dubbed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Little Rocket Man” in what appears to be a reference to John’s song, “Rocket Man.” The singer also performed at Trump’s wedding in 2005 to his curreent wife, Melania.
(NEW YORK) — Although the daily death rates have ticked down slightly from August, updated federal data shows that the U.S. is still losing hundreds of Americans to COVID-19 every day, and 225,000 people in the U.S. have been lost to the virus since the start of 2022.
On average, more than 350 American deaths related to COVID-19 are still reported each day, and over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported nearly 2,500 deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, totals remain much lower than during prior COVID-19 surges, such as in January 2021, when an average of 3,500 people were reported lost to the virus on a daily basis.
The reaching of yet another grim milestone follows President Joe Biden’s remarks on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, during which he said “the pandemic is over.”
“We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over,” Biden said.
Earlier this week, public health experts pushed back on the president’s assertion, telling ABC News that that pandemic is not over yet, and that Biden’s comments may be somewhat premature.
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was reluctant to directly agree with the president’s assertion that “the pandemic is over,” but with hospitalization and case rates falling, and vaccines and treatments available, she said that “we’re in a different place.”
“I think if we look at the big picture, things are very different,” she said. “We’re in a different place. Schools are open and businesses are open. We have a lot of population immunity out there right now.”
However, Walensky said that even though there are currently fewer people dying from the virus on a daily basis in the U.S., hundreds of Americans are still dying of COVID-19 every day — a fatality rate that remains too high.
“Three hundred fifty deaths a day is still too many as far as I’m concerned, but we’re in a very different place,” Walensky added.
As the U.S. heads into the fall, wastewater levels in some parts of the country have indicated a slight upturn in the percentage of COVID-19 virus in samplings. Even so, the daily average of new infections continues to hover around 55,000 cases.
However, dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and thus, experts suggest that infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.
COVID-19 testing levels have also plummeted to their lowest point since the onset of the pandemic, with approximately 350,000 tests reported each day, compared to more than 2.5 million tests reported daily at the nation’s peak in January of this year.
In recent weeks, virus-related hospitalizations have continued to fall — with 30,000 virus-positive Americans receiving care in the U.S., down from about 33,000 patients in the hospital last week, according to data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The number of virus-positive Americans — 4,100 — currently entering the hospital each day is down by 6.8% in the last week.
Overall, the total remains significantly lower than at the nation’s peak this past January, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.
(WASHINGTON) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Thursday rolled out an agenda that he says the House GOP would follow should it retake control of the chamber after this year’s midterms.
The plan, dubbed the “Commitment to America,” marks McCarthy’s most concrete attempt to outline a policy agenda to try to persuade voters ahead of November’s races, in which the GOP is favored — but not guaranteed — to flip the House. The proposal seeks to replicate former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” an agenda released in 1994 when Republicans won control of the House for the first time in decades.
McCarthy’s blueprint contains four overarching goals: creating “an economy that’s strong,” “a nation that’s safe,” “a future that’s built on freedom” and “a government that’s accountable.”
In a video, the minority leader cast the plan as a panacea for the country’s struggles, arguing the proposal would fix inflation, lower crime and other issues he lays at the feet of the Democratic majority in Washington.
“Violent crime is at record highs in our streets and neighborhoods. The border has become a national security crisis, with fentanyl killing our fellow citizens. Soaring inflation has shrunk paychecks and sent us into a recession. And our kids have fallen further behind thanks to school closures and lockdowns,” McCarthy says in the clip, seemingly filmed in a grocery store.
“The White House and the Democrat majority in Congress control Washington. They’re in charge. This is their record,” he says. “And yet, they want you to give them two more years in power. But Republicans have a plan for a new direction — one that’ll get our country back on track.”
McCarthy will formally roll out the plan at an event in Pennsylvania on Friday with a broad cross-section of House members, including moderates like retiring John Katko, N.Y., who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a prominent bomb-thrower.
The proposals largely lean on issues that Republicans believe are advantageous for them this cycle, including stubbornly high inflation, concerns over crime and increases in southern border crossings.
While intended to detail what an agenda could look like in a GOP House majority, the plan is light on specifics. Included in the “commitment” are platitudes like “support[ing] our troops,” “exercis[ing] peace through strength with our allies to counter increasing global threats,” “recover[ing] lost learning from school closures” and “uphold[ing] free speech.”
The proposal also boasts of “rigorous oversight,” though no specific investigatory efforts are laid out.
Among the more specific policy suggestions are “support[ing] 200,000 more police officers through recruiting bonuses” and “repealing proxy voting,” which House members of both parties have relied on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republicans in Congress praised the plan on Thursday, saying it hits on the right policies.
“This is a guide a map to what we’ll do to a majority and I think the future speaker is handling it exactly the way it should be,” said Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We’ve got the best candidates we’ve ever had, we’ve got the right message. It’s about cost of living, it’s about crime. It’s about the border.
When asked if the plan was specific enough, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said, “More of this is what we believe in, and this is what we are going to fight for. And I think they are good and I embrace them.”
The commitment was notably circumspect on one issue that has roiled the midterms: abortion.
“This election is about kitchen-table issues … inflation,” Emmer maintained. “You’ve got to have a position [on abortion], but [kitchen-table issues] are going to decide the election,” he said.
The release of McCarthy’s vision for his caucus comes amid what strategists and lawmakers of both parties have suggested is a turning of the midterm tide away from what was expected to be a red tsunami earlier this year.
The Supreme Court’s June decision eliminating constitutional protections for abortion and a Democratic legislative hot streak this summer — including passage of the Inflation Reduction Act — have helped level the playing field as generic ballot polling shows Democrats closing the gap with the GOP.
The changed landscape has thrown into question control of the Senate, currently split 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties, though Republicans are still favored by analysts to flip the House.
McCarthy’s decision to release a plan runs counter to the strategy of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has said he will unveil an agenda only if the Senate is controlled by Republicans next year.
“If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority … I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide, in consultation with my members, what to put on the floor,” he said earlier this year.
Democrats, for their part, came out swinging Thursday against McCarthy’s agenda, arguing that House Republicans are stoking divisions while President Joe Biden’s plans are the ones that would actually tackle the nation’s issues.
“Republicans are mistaken if they think their political stunt less than 7 weeks before the election will be enough to distract voters from their toxic record. While Democrats deliver critical investments, bring jobs back home from China, and fight to lower costs, Republicans stoke fear for power, obstruct popular legislation that will help everyday families, defend MAGA extremism, and push to ban abortion nationwide,” said Chris Taylor, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(OXFORD, Mich.) — New evidence uncovered during discovery of the case of Ethan Crumbley allegedly shows that Oxford High School teachers and school officials failed to respond to warning signs exhibited by the accused school shooter in the months leading up to the November 2021 shooting, attorney Ven Johnson, who represents the victims and their families in a lawsuit, told reporters Thursday.
The evidence was allegedly uncovered as several lawsuits against the school, school officials, the school district, Crumbley and his parents have been filed. At least eight lawsuits accuse the school district and others of wrongdoing and failure to act in the months and days leading up to the shooting, despite teachers and counselors allegedly being aware of concerning behavior exhibited by the accused shooter.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot ordered the release of evidence in June, including school surveillance footage from the shooting. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith also enjoined coordinated discovery and other matters for eight civil lawsuits brought against the Oxford, Michigan, school and school officials.
Crumbley, who was a student at the school, is charged with 24 counts after he allegedly shot and killed four of his classmates on Nov. 30, 2021.
His parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly failing to recognize warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting.
All three Crumbleys have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Johnson, in a press conference Thursday, said new details were revealed after deposing teachers and school employees who had direct contact with the accused shooter prior to the Nov. 30 shooting, including email correspondence between school employees and several instances where Crumbley’s concerning behavior was not addressed.
Evidence allegedly uncovered included a school assignment submitted by Crumbley in late August 2021 on which he drew what Johnson alleged might be a magazine full of bullets, or a building. In sworn testimony, the teacher who discovered this drawing alleged she only saw the drawing on Nov. 29, just one day before the shooting.
In another instance, a Sept. 8 email from a Spanish teacher to the school’s counselor discusses a school assignment in which Crumbley allegedly wrote that he feels “terrible” and that his family “was a mistake,” Johnson said on Thursday.
Despite the school counselor being informed of this instance, the counselor allegedly never spoke to Crumbley, Johnson alleged.
Weeks later, a teacher sent an email to the school counselor on Nov. 10 raising concerns about Crumbley, saying he is having a rough time and that he may need to speak to the counselor, Johnson alleged.
The counselor testified in his deposition that he went down to Crumbley’s classroom and asked him to step out into the hallway. The counselor then allegedly told Crumbley that if he is having a tough time, the counselor was available to speak with him. Crumbley allegedly responded “okay,” according to Johnson.
Johnson criticized the counselor’s actions, saying more needed to be done and that the counselor needed to follow up with Crumbley, considering this was the second time concerning behavior had been flagged to the counselor. According to Johnson, another email uncovered was sent from a teacher to the dean of students and another school official, telling them that Crumbley was seen in class looking at photos of bullets on his cell phone. The teacher then looked at some of Crumbley’s previous work completed earlier in the year and said it “leans a bit toward the violent side,” Johnson alleges the email said.
The parents of Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and Keegan Gregory, all victims of the shooting, were present at the press conference with Johnson and criticized the school board’s lack of transparency in the months after the shooting, saying its members should resign. Its president resigned last week after receiving months of backlash.
The school board had declined several offers from the state attorney general to investigate the shooting, saying it will launch a third-party investigation as soon as litigation in civil suits brought against the district conclude.
Separately, a Michigan judge ruled Thursday that Ethan Crumbley will remain in Oakland County Jail for adults, as part of monthly procedural hearing. Crumbley’s trial was initially scheduled to begin in September, but was pushed to January 2023.
Attorneys for the Oxford Community School District did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The #iVoted Festival and Live Nation have teamed up to raffle off tickets to shows by artists including Måneskin, The Smashing Pumpkins and Greta Van Fleet in an effort to encourage early voting for this year’s upcoming U.S. midterm elections.
To enter, eligible U.S. voters need to send in a selfie from outside of their polling place, or from home with their unmarked absentee ballot. If you’re not of voting age but still over 14, you can enter by sharing your first voting-eligible election year along with why you’re “excited to vote.”
The sweepstakes is also offering tickets to see artists including Dave Matthews Band, Turnstile, Phantogram, Palaye Royale, Barns Courtney, Matt Maeson, Judas Priest, I Prevail, Marcus Mumford, Silversun Pickups and The 1975.
You can enter between September 26 at noon ET and November 7 at 6 p.m. ET. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. The virtual #iVoted Festival, featuring artists including Rise Against, Halestorm and The Revivalists, will air on Election Day.
The #iVoted Festival and Live Nation have teamed up to raffle off tickets to shows by artists including The Who, ZZ Top and Earth, Wind & Fire in an effort to encourage early voting for this year’s upcoming U.S. midterm elections.
To enter, eligible U.S. voters need to send in a selfie from outside of their polling place, or from home with their unmarked absentee ballot. If you’re not of voting age but still over 14, you can enter by sharing your first voting-eligible election year along with why you’re “excited to vote.”
The sweepstakes is also offering tickets to see artists including Santana, 38 Special, The B-52s, Blue Oyster Cult, Smokey Robinson, Goo Goo Dolls, Chaka Khan, The Marshall Tucker Band and The Grateful Dead‘s Bob Weir.
You can enter between September 26 at noon ET and November 7 at 6 p.m. ET. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. The virtual #iVoted Festival, featuring artists including Richard Marx, Los Lobos, Bruce Sudano, Jeffrey Gaines, Lake Street Dive, Umphrey’s McGee and Yacht Rock Revue, will air on Election Day.
(PALMER, Alaska) — Two people, including a 9-year-old boy, were injured in a bear attack while hunting in Alaska, authorities said.
The child suffered serious injuries, while a man sustained minor injuries, Alaska State Troopers said.
The incident occurred Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. local time near Palmer, located about 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, police said.
The pair, who are related, were hunting moose in the Palmer Hay Flats area, a state game refuge, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told ABC News. Troopers did not specify their relationship.
They came upon a brown bear that then mauled the child, troopers said. The man shot and killed the bear during the attack, police said.
Troopers and EMS responding to the scene following reports of a bear attack found the two victims, who were taken to a hospital in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley area, troopers said.
McDaniel said the last report he received had the child listed in “fair condition.”
The brown bear was with a cub at the time of the attack. The Alaska Wildlife Troopers and Alaska Department of Fish and Game were unable to locate a cub in the area after ground and aerial searches, McDaniel said.
Ludacris‘ longtime manager, Chaka Zulu, appears in recently released surveillance footage obtained by TMZ of a deadly Atlanta shooting. The video captures the moments before gunfire erupted outside of Chaka’s Atlanta restaurant, Apt4B.
In the clip, a group of men approach Chaka outside the restaurant, where a dispute reportedly made its way into the parking lot. One of the men, Tre’mon Robinson, had previously been asked to leave Apt4B, the outlet reports.
An argument ensues, and a man named Corey Crawford is spotted grabbing an object out of his car. He and his friends then join Robinson, who chest bumps Chaka, prompting the music executive to respond. As Chaka grabs Robinson, however, he’s attacked by Crawford and 23-year-old Artez Benton. Robinson, meanwhile, knocks Chaka’s assistant to the ground as she tries to help him, and Crawford hides between two vehicles.
Eventually, Chaka appears to fire his gun and hits Benton. Crawford then seems to follow with his own shots, one of which reportedly hit the music executive in the back. Benton, who’s seen crawling away in the footage, was struck in the chest. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Chaka is now facing charges of murder, aggravated assault, simple battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. His lawyer, Gabe Bank, says Chaka acted in self-defense “after this gang repeatedly stomped, punched, and kicked him while he was on the ground in a defenseless posture.”
