When fans finally get their ears on Subject to Change, Kelsea Ballerini hopes it’ll take them on a whirlwind of emotions.
“I loved the idea of having a record that takes you through a roller coaster — of growing up, and love, and a lot of inward conversation and maturity,” the singer tells ABC Audio. “Just airing all that out there in a way that feels witty and poetic and honest.”
As the title suggests there’s a major theme of change on the record — good change, bad change and all the growing pains that make us who we are.
“I never really have a start and stop date for writing [for my albums],” Kelsea explains. “When it’s time to make an album, I listen through to the demos that I’ve written over the last year and a half, and I see what they say.”
In the case of the “80 songs” that Kelsea wrote during the Subject to Change era, the songs were talking about different kinds of change. “I was noticing a lot of contrast and a lot of juxtaposition and a lot of change,” she notes.
Any artist would hope that each record sharpens and matures their sound, and Kelsea says that’s the case for Subject to Change, too.
“I’m really proud of what this record says about me in the last couple of years,” she notes. “Because I feel like it’s really honest. And also I feel like, sonically, it is so heavily ‘90s-influenced, and I hope it brings people nostalgia, too.”
Subject to Change arrives on Friday. Kelsea previewed the new album, which features lead single “Heartfirst,” before releasing it in full.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are teasing another preview of their upcoming album, Return of the Dream Canteen.
The “Californication” rockers will drop a new track from the record, titled “Eddie,” this Friday, September 23.
Along with the announcement, the Peppers have shared a minute-long clip of “Eddie,” which begins with a very “By the Way”-esque guitar riff and includes the lyric “They say I’m from Amsterdam/Does that make me Dutch?” — proving that Anthony Kiedis doesn’t just sing about California.
Return of the Dream Canteen, which also features the previously released single “Tippa My Tongue,” is due out October 14. It’s the second RHCP album of 2022, following April’s Unlimited Love.
Last week, Red Hot Chili Peppers wrapped their U.S. summer headlining tour. They’ll play the Louder than Life and Austin City Limits festivals this fall.
The Kinks‘ Dave Davies recently released a solo compilation called Living on a Thin Line, a musical companion to his new memoir of the same name.
The 13-track collection features previously released solo studio recordings and live performances, as well as new mixes of two of Dave’s songs created by his son Simon.
One of the new mixes is of a 1999 live version of the classic Dave-penned 1971 Kinks song “Strangers,” recorded at a concert at Wisconsin’s Marian College.
“I have always thought [that rendition] was my favorite … recorded version of [‘Strangers.’]” Davies tells ABC Audio. “So we messed around with that [recording] a bit. Simon Davies added some bits of keyboards. He added some little audio improvements … And I’m very happy with it.”
The other new mix is of “This Is the Time,” a tune that appeared on Davies’ 2007 album Fractured Mindz, the first record Dave released after suffering a debilitating stroke in 2004.
Dave explains that the song is about embracing a youthful attitude about looking toward the future.
“‘This Is the Time’ is my heartfelt optimism about what we’re capable of, and maybe where we’re going,” he says. “[M]aybe this is the time to really make things happen. You know, like they thought in the [days] … before the Vietnam War … All the youth were in uproar, and the ‘Flower Power’ thing.”
The compilation also features select songs from 1998’s Kinked; 2002’s Bug; the 2000 concert album Rock Bottom: Live from The Bottom Line; and 2018’s Decade, a collection of unreleased tracks Dave recorded during the 1970s.
Meet Titania! She’s the villain on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which drops a new episode today on Disney+.
Jameela Jamil plays the baddie, known as Titania, and Jamil shared her character’s back story with ABC Audio.
“In the comics, she’s bullied really badly as a kid, and that’s where all of her desperation for attention and power comes from,” she explains. “And so we don’t get to tell that story here, but maybe one day in the Marvel Universe, I’ll be able to. But I think it’s an important part of her, and I think it’s a part that probably exists in a lot of very insecure, vain narcissists.”
Titania, originally a wrestler in the comics, is now a social media influencer, which the 36-year-old British actress believes is appropriate for a supervillain here in 2022.
“I feel as though they are the modern day supervillain, some of them, of the world. And the fact that she sells products that are, you know, false and dangerous and [Titania’s] so fraudulent, I think resonates around certain influencers that we have in the world,” she shares.
While other actors of color have experienced bullying online after taking roles in comic-book and fantasy based shows and movies, Jamil says she’s “deeply relieved” that she hasn’t experienced any of it for this role.
“I’m horrified to see the hard time that other people have gotten. And it’s so unjustified and it’s so bad for the mental health of these quite young people who are entering the MCU,” she adds.
As for why that might be, Jameela figures, “This is not my first rodeo man. And so I think people also know that I just don’t care, as there’s no point.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Cincinnati 5, Boston 1
NY Yankees 14, Pittsburgh 2
Philadelphia 4, Toronto 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Houston 5, Tampa Bay 2
Baltimore 8, Detroit 1
Texas 7, LA Angels 2
Cleveland 8, Chi White Sox 2
Kansas City 5, Minnesota 2
Oakland 2, Seattle 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 3, Atlanta 2
Milwaukee 6, NY Mets 0
Chi Cubs 4, Miami 3
San Francisco 6, Colorado 1
San Diego 1, St. Louis 0
Arizona 6, LA Dodgers 1
(HOUSTON) — A toddler was found dead inside a car that was stolen after the child’s father was shot and killed in Houston on Tuesday, police said.
A 38-year-old man now faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the case, police said Wednesday. The name of the suspect, who initially had been detained for questioning, will be released once charges are filed, police said.
Police had appealed to the public for information in the hours after the grim discovery amid their search for a suspect.
“We are asking for a lot of things from the public right now,” Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite told reporters during a press conference Tuesday night. “First and foremost, to pray for this family. A mother lost her husband and she lost her 2-year-old child today. We are also asking the public’s help in identifying the suspect. He is still at large.”
The Houston Police Department received a 911 call about a shooting in the area of El Camino Rey Del Rey Street and Chimney Rock Road at around 1:46 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Upon arrival, officers found a 38-year-old man who had been shot to death, according to Satterwhite.
Investigators believe the victim was meeting with another man at the location when possibly an argument ensued. The other man took out a gun and shot the victim multiple times before stealing his black SUV and fleeing the scene, Satterwhite said.
That evening, at approximately 6:36 p.m. local time, a woman called 911 to report her husband and 2-year-old son missing. The information she provided was specific enough that police soon realized the shooting victim was her husband, according to Satterwhite.
“We never knew about the child until she called,” he told reporters.
The stolen SUV with the little boy inside was found on Elm Street, more than 10 miles away from the shooting scene. Officers shattered the windows of the locked vehicle to get to the child, then immediately tried to render aid and called for an ambulance, according to Satterwhite.
“Sadly, it was too late. The child had passed in the car,” he said. “At this time, we don’t know why or how or what the cause of death will be. It could be something like heat exhaustion, we just don’t know. That will be determined later through autopsy.”
Investigators believe the suspect had left the car there, locked up and turned off, with the child in the backseat, according to Satterwhite.
“It’s the hardest thing we do,” he told reporters. “Children are innocent.”
The unidentified suspect, who remains on the loose, is described as a Black man wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts and a black Oakland Raiders cap.
When asked if he had a message for the suspect, Satterwhite said: “Turn yourself in. Turn yourself in now.”
(MADISON, Wisc.) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that he is calling a special session of the state legislature in his latest attempt to repeal a criminal abortion ban dating back to 1849 which suspended some abortion services in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in June.
“In Wisconsin, we still have an 1800s-era criminal abortion ban on the books that originated before the Civil War and when Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote, which could ban nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, if it goes back into effect,” Evers said in a statement on social media.
The Democratic governor had called a special session earlier this year, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, to repeal the then-dormant law. The Republican-controlled state legislature gaveled in and out of the special session without holding any discussion. Days later, the Supreme Court released its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, effectively overturning Roe. Abortion providers in Wisconsin have since suspended services amid the threat of prosecution.
Evers said he is now calling a special session to “create a pathway for Wisconsin voters” to repeal the abortion ban, which makes it a felony to provide an abortion except when the mother’s life is at risk.
The governor’s actions come a week after Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin suggested voters could challenge the abortion ban through a statewide referendum.
Voters in Wisconsin currently can not change state laws by referendum or introduce ballot initiatives, according to the governor’s office. Instead, a constitutional amendment must pass two consecutive state legislatures before heading to voters.
Evers proposes creating a process that would enable voters to “bypass” the state legislature and allow referendum ballot questions brought by the public.
“Wisconsinites were not only stripped of their reproductive freedom, but they currently can’t enact change to protect that freedom without having to get permission from the Legislature first. That’s just wrong, and it’s time for us to change that,” he said.
Evers has ordered the state legislature to act on his proposals on Oct. 4.
In response, the Republican leaders of the state legislature called Evers’ actions a “desperate political stunt.”
“Governor Evers would rather push his agenda to have abortion available until birth than talk about his failure to address rising crime and runaway inflation caused by his liberal DC allies,” state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in a joint statement.
Evers is further challenging the pre-Civil War abortion ban in a lawsuit filed in June by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul that names three Republican state legislative leaders among the defendants. Last week, Kaul named three district attorneys as new defendants in the ongoing case. The lawsuit argues that newer legislation, including a 1985 law that bans abortion only after fetal viability, should take precedence.
The governor, who is up for reelection this November, has vetoed more restrictive abortion laws passed by the state legislature in the past three years.
(NEW YORK) — Cancer deaths in the United States are continuing to decline, according to a new report from the American Association for Cancer Research.
The report, published Wednesday, found that deaths from cancer have decreased by 2.3% every year between 2016 and 2019.
Overall, there has been a 32% reduction in the U.S. cancer death rate since 1991, which translates into approximately 3.5 million lives being saved, the report said.
Additionally, in 2022, there are more than 18 million cancer survivors living in the U.S., equivalent to 5.4% of the population, the report found. Fifty years earlier, there were just 3 million cancer survivors.
According to the report, the decreasing number of deaths is due to “unprecedented progress” made against cancer within the last decade.
This includes eight new anticancer medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between August 2021 and July 2022 as well as 10 previously approved medications that have been expanded to treat other types of cancer.
Another reason is due to the decline in smoking, the report says. Rates of smoking among U.S. adults have also decreased from 42% in 1965 to 12.5% in 2020.
The report also highlights the importance of cancer screenings, which can determine if a person has precancerous lesions or cancer in its early stages.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Colorectal Cancer Control Program — which aims to rise cancer screening rates among people between 45 and 75 years of age — saw an average increase of 8.2 percentage points and 12.3 percentage points among clinics that participated in the program for two and four years, respectively, according to the report.
“Basic research discoveries have driven the remarkable advances that we’ve seen in cancer medicine in recent years,” Dr. Lisa Coussens, the president of AACR, said in a statement.
“Targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and other new therapeutic approaches being applied clinically all stem from fundamental discoveries in basic science,” the statement added. “Investment in cancer science, as well as support for science education at all levels, is absolutely essential to drive the next wave of discoveries and accelerate progress.”
However, because cancer continues to be the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. — with an estimated 600,000 lives expected to be lost this year — the AACR is calling on Congress to increase funding for the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health and for the FDA, which oversees the regulation of anticancer medication.
The group also called for more support for programs such as President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, which was relaunched in February 2022, with a goal of slashing the national cancer death rate by 50% over the next 25 years.
The good news comes despite a recent report that cancers among adults younger than age 50 have “dramatically increased” globally over the last several decades.
Researchers from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital said the sharp rise of several cancers including breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, liver and pancreas began in the early 1990s.
The Brigham study found the rise is partially attributable to early screenings for some of these cancers. Early life exposures such as people’s diet, weight, lifestyle, environmental exposure, and microbiome may factor into what’s contributing to early-onset cancer, but more information on individual exposures is needed, the study said.
ABC News’ Dr. Evelyn Huang contributed to this report.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A panel of judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a request from the Justice Department to stay portions of a ruling by district Judge Aileen Cannon that had effectively paused the government’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s potential mishandling of classified records after leaving office.
The three-judge panel, comprised of two Trump appointees and an Obama-era appointee, ruled unanimously that the Justice Department is no longer enjoined from using the documents with classifications recovered from Mar-a-Lago in its investigation and will no longer have to submit them to special master Ray Dearie for his review.
“[Trump] has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents,” the panel said in its ruling. “Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents.”
They also agree with the Justice Department that Trump has submitted no record or claim that he ever declassified the documents at issue, and that his team resisted stating as much when pressed by Dearie.
“In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal,” the judges said. “So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.”
Travis Barker has added a skin care line to his wellness brand, Barker Wellness.
The CBD-blended products are “formulated to help elevate and revitalize your daily skincare routine,” according to an Instagram post from the company.
Speaking with Elle, Barker shares that his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, inspired him to launch the line.
“Kourtney has taught me consistency is key when it comes to skincare,” the Blink-182 drummer says. “And now I’m seeing results. That’s why I wanted the skincare line to be simple, so it’s straightforward for anyone to follow.”
