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On her global smash “Cold Heart” with Elton John, Dua Lipa sang part of Elton’s classic hit “Rocket Man.” Now, she’s recorded a new version of yet another iconic song, coincidentally one of Elton’s former duet partners: the late George Michael.
Dua has recorded her take on George’s 1990 top 10 hit “Freedom! ’90” for a new ad campaign for Yves Saint Laurent Beauty’s new fragrance, Libre Le Parfum (libre in French means free or at liberty). You can find a 45-second ad using the song on YouTube, though it doesn’t appear to have been officially released yet.
“Obviously, when you’re covering a song that has such a big legacy and with such an incredible artist, you know you want to do it justice,” she continues, noting she wants to be thoughtful about covering a song that holds “so much value to culture.”
“I wanted to create in my own way, but also have it hold the same meaning … I hope I did it justice,” she says.
As for her feelings about freedom, Dua says she feels the most free when she’s onstage.
“I feel lucky that I get to really live those moments, those words that I created in a studio environment and remember why I wrote them, and why I felt the way I did and be able to share that energy,” she explains.
And in case you’re wondering, Dua says her biggest beauty inspirations include Kate Moss and Drew Barrymore‘s ’90s looks, and her mother, who could put on eyeliner “so perfectly every time.”
For Hispanic Heritage Month, Gloria Estefan spoke to ABC News about her life and career. In her decadeslong career, you could say the Cuban-born star has lived the American dream, but her dreams, she said, have always been about creating and not about receiving accolades.
“It wasn’t part of my dream,” Gloria told ABC News when asked about her many awards, like her seven Grammys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “My dream was to be successful, to be educated, to make a life — later on, it became to make a life in music, and to be able to reach people’s hearts and minds with my music.”
“Those awards are all beautiful and fantastic, but we never, ever made music thinking of a hit song on the radio, or a Grammy,” she continued. “You might say, ‘Oh, come on, really?’ And I go, ‘Yes, really.’ Because to me, the joy is in the creating.”
The “Get On Your Feet” star says that every time she writes a song, “I know that somebody somewhere is going to be able to listen to those words and hopefully it will empower them, or make them feel better, or be able to cry. That to me was my American dream.”
Admitting that her success in achieving her dreams “comes with a lot of really nice perks,” Gloria noted that she and her husband and musical partner, Emilio Estefan, have been “very blessed and privileged.”
“We’ve tried to turn that into making life easier for other people through philanthropy and my foundation,” she continued. “But the dream was just to do what we love, to do what makes us happy and passionate.”
Next up for Gloria is an album called Estefan Family Christmas, which will feature her daughter, Emily, and her grandson, Sasha.
Carrie Underwood heads out on her Denim & Rhinestones tour this fall, and for the first time in a long time, she won’t have her kids in tow with her.
That’s right: Carrie’s adorable plus-ones, 7-year-old Isaiah and 3-year-old Jacob, typically join her when she’s on the road, but now that they’re old enough to go to school, they’ll be staying at home and only coming out for visits.
She’ll miss them, of course, but Carrie tells ET Online that flying solo this time around isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “I feel like it’ll be a little bit easier, I guess, to go on tour, because my kids are in school now,” she says.
“It’ll be the first time I haven’t had a baby on the road in years. Years years,” she continues. “So I am looking forward to being able to really work and not be so tired.”
Carrie’s tour kicks off on October 15 with opening act Jimmie Allen. Even though her boys won’t be joining her this time around, she’ll still see them plenty, she adds — the singer says she’s making stops at home in Nashville to make sure she sees her two kids as much as she can.
The singer’s boys have both gone on the road with her plenty, and Isaiah has also joined her in the studio in the past. He duets with his superstar mom on a rendition of “Little Drummer Boy,” which is featured on Carrie’s 2020 Christmas album, My Gift.
Nearly two years after a divorce, LeToya Luckett is feeling strong again and enjoying what she calls her rebirth.
The former Destiny’s Child member divorced her second husband, Tommicus Walker, in January 2021 right after their third anniversary. It was in the middle of the pandemic, and with two children, the divorce was traumatic.
“You’re already having to deal with the loss of normalcy,” Luckett tells Essence. “And then, on top of that, having another death, the death of a marriage. Honestly, to this day I still don’t understand how I coped with that, outside of prayer, meditation, a good therapist and just really putting everything in the hands of God.”
The two-time Grammy winner had just given birth to her second child, son Tysun; had gained significant weight; and was dealing with postpartum depression as a single parent.
Since then, LeToya has lost 60 pounds and says, “I’m in a great place.” Luckett calls her transformation the “rebirth of Toya.”
The 42-year-old entertainer has a recurring role on 50 Cent’s series Power Book III: Raising Kanan and hosts her YouTube series, Leave It To LeToya.
Tysun is now 2 years old, and his sister, Gianna, is 3 years old. When they grow up, Luckett hopes they will feel that “Mommy is resilient. Mommy never gave up. Mommy did whatever she had to do, to fight for us and to fight for herself.”
Pixies bassist Paz Lenchantin recalls crossing paths with late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins while on tour.
“I’ve run into him many, many times on the road,” Lenchantin tells ABC Audio. “We’re like little birds, it’s, like, ‘Oh, there you are!’ … and that’s the only time that we really see each other.”
Lenchantin reveals that Pixies had actually been asked about possibly performing at the Hawkins tribute show in London earlier this month. She says she “got a call” from former A Perfect Circle bandmate Josh Freese, who was one of the many guest drummers who played with the Foos at the end of the concert.
“They were wondering what we were up to, that they knew that we were on tour,” Lenchantin shares.
While Pixies were indeed in England for the day of the tribute, they’d already been booked to play another show at the End of the Road festival. Still, Lenchantin felt Hawkins’ presence while on the latest Pixies tour.
“In the beginning of this tour, I felt like I saw him out there in our audience,” Lenchantin says. “I know that he was a Pixies fan.”
“For some reason, I don’t know why, I kept seeing him outside smiling in the audience,” she adds. “And it would kinda shock me.”
A second Hawkins tribute concert will take place September 27 in Los Angeles.
Pixies, meanwhile, are gearing up to release a new album called Doggerel on September 30. They’ll play a quick run of U.S. dates in October.
Lady Gaga was in tears Saturday night when she was forced to cut short the final show of her Chromatica Ball tour at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium due to dangerous lightning and rain.
Gaga posted a video of herself on Saturday crying backstage, and telling fans, “We really tried to finish the show tonight in Miami but we couldn’t, because even when the rain sort of stopped, there was lightning that was striking right down to the ground so close to us.”
“I know that for a really long time I’ve always wanted to be, like, that hardcore bad b***h, but what I really want is to also be responsible and loving,” she continued, “I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to anybody in the audience or any member of my crew…my band, my dancers.”
She concluded, “Chromatica will never be over, because Chromatica’s about healing and Chromatica is about knowing that you’re enough. And I feel like enough tonight, even though I didn’t get to finish.”
In a second post, she wrote, “Look, for years some of you have called me ‘mother monster’ — in my heart, I knew it was better to keep you safe.”
She added, “Sure, OF COURSE, I wanted to sing ‘Rain On Me’ for you in the rain — ‘I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive’ — I guess somehow I knew this moment would happen…Safety first. Love you. Thank you for the flowers and the cheers and for understanding. Life matters.”
Gaga also noted that Chromatica was “the greatest tour of my life.”
(SAN JUAN) — The entire island of Puerto Rico lost power just before Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Sunday afternoon, according to officials.
More than 1.5 million customers are without electricity as the Category 1 storm, with sustained winds at 85 mph and torrential rain bear down on the island, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced on Facebook Sunday afternoon.
Fiona strengthened to a hurricane from a tropical storm Sunday morning. Emergency response teams for the utility companies will deploy once the conditions allow, Pierluisi said.
The National Hurricane Center said Fiona made landfall in southwestern Puerto Rico at 3:20 p.m. ET. Widespread torrential rain has been hitting much of the island and is expected to continue for several hours. Flash flood effects are in place across the eastern half of the island.
Pierluisi believes Puerto Rico is prepared as it can be, with enough resources and manpower in place to respond, he told ABC News earlier in the day — adding that the island learned its lessons from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
“We’re much in a much better position than we were five years ago,” he said.
Hurricane warnings will remain in place for Puerto Rico and the easternmost points of the Dominican Republic throughout Sunday. Tremendous rainfall is forecast, with much of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic expected to receive up to 10 inches. Some localized regions in Puerto Rico could get up to 20 inches.
While still a tropical storm, the system battered the Caribbean islands. One person died in the French territory of Guadeloupe, according to The Associated Press. More than 20 others were rescued amid heavy wind and rain according to the AP.
The island’s emergency management office in Puerto Rico even had a blackout during its Saturday morning press conference. Pierluisi reiterated during that press briefing Saturday evening that the fear is that heavy rains will produce mudslides.
After passing through the Caribbean, the storm system will head northward, passing just east of Turks and Caicos before tracking near Bermuda, forecasts show.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sunday, which allows federal agencies to coordinate all relief efforts.
Biden’s decision has the “purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” the White House said in a statement.
At least 101 people are in 79 shelters across Puerto Rico, with the expectation that the figure will go up, officials said.
The storm continues to move west-northwest at about 9 mph, with sustained winds of 60 mph as of Saturday evening.
Fiona’s center moved through the island of Guadeloupe on Friday night, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds across the Leeward Islands.
Sustained winds of 45 to 60 mph are expected for parts of southwest Puerto Rico and St. Croix Sunday night with gusts as high as 85 mph.
Rain and gusty winds will continue for Puerto Rico through Monday morning before conditions taper off in the afternoon, officials said.
The worst conditions in the Dominican Republic are expected late Sunday morning.
The rain has already saturated areas in the southeastern part of Puerto Rico, along with the mountainous areas, where potential mudslides and winds could cause the most damage.
“We shouldn’t underestimate this storm,” Pierluisi said in a briefing Saturday.
Resident Magda Diaz told ABC News outside a San Juan Walmart that she expects to be without power. Diaz said she loses power regularly, especially during smaller storms, and was recently in the dark for three days.
A LUMA Energy official told ABC News on Saturday that the company has been fixing the grid and is ready to get the grid back online if the system fails. LUMA Energy is in charge of the transmission and distribution of electricity on the island.
“We were expecting power outages from Fiona … and we’re bringing in 100 more workers from our parent companies that will be landing Sunday,” LUMA official Don Cortez said.
LUMA Energy’s Crisis Management Manager Abner Gomez told reporters the energy distributor is working to prevent a repeat of Hurricane Maria’s aftermath.
“We are going to make sure [a widespread outage] will not happen because we have the crews,” he said. “There will be damage. There will be outages and we will be ready to respond.”
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Sunday paid their respects to Queen Elizabeth II as world leaders gathered in London ahead of the late monarch’s state funeral.
The Bidens gave tribute to the queen as her coffin lie in Westminster Hall, with the president putting his hand over his heart. He and the first lady are also signing separate condolence books.
The two are also attending King Charles III’s reception at Buckingham Palace.
“It’s a loss that leaves a giant hole and sometimes you think you’ll never, you’ll never overcome it,” Biden told the press, echoing a frequent refrain he tells grieving relatives. “But, as I’ve told the king, she’s gonna be with him every step of the way, every minute, every moment and a reassuring notion. So, it’s all the people of England and all the people of the United Kingdom, our hearts go out to you and you were fortunate to have had over 70 years. We all were. The world’s better for her.”
The president also said Queen Elizabeth reminded him of his mother and praised her commitment to service.
“I think what she gave is a sense of, maybe, above all, the notion of service. We all owe something. There’s something within our capacity to do that can make things, not just the world better but your neighborhood better, your household better, your workplace better and that’s what she communicated to me, anyway, and it was an honor to meet her, an honor to meet her,” he said.
The Bidens left for the United Kingdom on Saturday and will attend the state funeral for the queen on Monday.
The trip comes at a time of political change in the U.K., where Prime Minister Liz Truss just took office. She and President Biden will hold their first bilateral meeting in New York on Wednesday when both are there for the U.N. General Assembly.
The queen died at age 96 after serving as head of state for 70 years, a record tenure for a British monarch that spanned 14 U.S. presidencies. Buckingham Palace announced on Sept. 8 that she “died peacefully” at Balmoral Castle, her Scottish estate.
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday called for more “coordination” with the federal government and Govs. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, and Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who are busing and flying newly arrived migrants to blue states across the country.
“I traveled to Washington last week, spoke with Sen. [Chuck] Schumer, Sen. [Kirsten] Gillibrand and other lawmakers and sat down with Biden administration to talk about — how do we coordinate?” Adams, a Democrat, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, referencing New York’s two Democratic senators.
“Their goal is to make sure that we get resources and coordination that’s needed. … These migrants and asylum-seekers are not coming to any particular city. They’re coming to America. This is an American crisis that we need to face,” Adams said.
His comments come as Abbott has sent some 11,000 migrants from Texas to Chicago, New York and Washington in protest, Abbott has said, of Democrats’ southern border policies. He most recently bused dozens of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence — and DeSantis, embracing a similar strategy, last week flew migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, which numerous critics denounced as a stunt.
Adams, whose city has accepted migrants bused up from Texas, on Sunday said New York had a “moral and legal obligation” to provide shelter and aid people who come there after entering the U.S.But he accused Abbott of declining to collaborate on efforts to transport the migrants, despite Abbott’s office initially agreeing otherwise.
“We’ve reached out and stated that, ‘Let’s coordinate and work together so we can deal with this crisis together. They refused to do so,” Adams said, adding, “I don’t think it was politically expedient for them to coordinate. It was more to do this, basically, showmanship.”
El Paso, Texas, Mayor Oscar Leeser who oversees a border city, also appeared on “This Week” on Sunday and expressed concern about the number of migrants coming across the southern border. But he said it was important to treat people entering the country humanely — and to think of the work as a joint effort.
“The people are not coming to El Paso. They’re coming to America,” Leeser said.
When pressed by Karl, Mayor Adams insisted New York would remain a “sanctuary city” and that migrants who arrive will be cared for. (Karl noted that both Abbott and DeSantis declined to appear on “This Week” and discuss immigration.)
“This city has always been the sanctuary city, and we’ve always managed those who wanted to come to New York City to pursue the American dream,” Adams said. But, he said, “We’re not asking for people all over the country to send people to New York merely because they don’t want to take on their responsibility to help those who are seeking this American dream. That is not what we’re asking for.”
“Let’s coordinate in that fashion like we’ve done with other large communities we have in New York City, where we’re able to coordinate, get sponsors, work with our nongovernmental organizations. That is what crisis calls for,” Adams said. “It calls for coordination.”
Asked by Karl if he planned to accept Abbott’s invitation to visit the border, Adams declined to answer directly and pivoted to criticizing Abbott’s “political ploy” by sending migrants away.
Mayor Leeser told Karl that the number of migrants coming to El Paso continues to increase, with the city seeing roughly 2,000 migrants in a single day last week. But he emphasized that they would be treated compassionately as they are transported to their final destinations after being processed by government officials.
“That’s been really important, that we don’t send anyone where they don’t want to go, we make sure we help them,” Leeser said. “We put them on the buses with food and make sure they get to their destination and make sure that we always continue to treat people like human beings.”
Asked by Karl if he was aware of how the Biden administration planned to handle the ongoing migration — as Republican leaders like Abbott stress they feel the White House has no plan — Leeser cited his own strong relationship with Border Patrol. But he said the issue affected more than his city.
For their parts, Abbott and DeSantis have argued Democratic-led states and cities away from the southern border aren’t doing enough amid the high border crossings, with DeSantis warning that the flights to Martha’s Vineyard are “just the beginning efforts.”
(NEW YORK) — As new evidence emerges of war crimes by the Russian military in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, “It’s so important for everyone to see the true face of this aggression and terrorist attack Russia is waging,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, said Sunday.
“It’s tortures, rapes, killings. War crimes of a massive proportions,” Markarova claimed in an interview with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “That’s why we need to liberate the whole territory of Ukraine as soon as possible because clearly Russians are targeting all Ukrainians. Whole families. Children. So, there is no war logic in all of this. It’s simply terrorizing and committing genocide against Ukrainians.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on Thursday that a mass grave was found in the recently recaptured territory of Izyum. Over 400 bodies could be buried in the site, according to Ukrainian officials. (Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, despite evidence otherwise.)
“Do you have a handle in terms of those mass graves of who the victims are?” Karl asked Markarova on Sunday.
“We already have teams of investigators there,” she replied, adding that the country has been preparing national and international criminal cases against Russia — an effort the U.S. is assisting with, Markarova said.
“The majority of [the victims], of course, Ukrainians,” Markarova told Karl, calling the mass grave’s discovery “horrifying.”
“Some of them are families, like everyone in the family is killed for no reason,” she said, noting that “the majority of them … [showed] clear signs of torture.”
This month, Ukraine launched a rapidly successful counteroffensive to recapture territories occupied by Russia. During an address Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces advanced 110 kilometers in five days of combat, taking back large swaths of the east.
Karl noted the operation was undertaken “with a relatively small number of armed forces.”
“Do you have the manpower to hold this territory and to continue to push the Russians back?” he asked.
Markarova acknowledged her country’s military weaknesses but said their resistance extended beyond troops alone.
“In general, our force is much slower than Russian force. But the reason why they can’t hold the ground and we can retake it, and we will retake it, is because they are not only fighting with our brave president and our armed forces, they are fighting with all Ukrainians,” she said. “So all 40 million of Ukrainians are fighting for our loved ones and homes.”
“All of them were waiting for liberation,” she said.
The U.S. this week provided another $675 million in aid to Ukraine for ammunition, missiles and training. Since January, the U.S. has given some $13.5 billion in aid.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, says his army is regrouping in a war he has described as preserving his country’s security. The White House has publicly warned him against certain kinds of retaliation.
In an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” President Joe Biden said that if Putin were to use chemical weapons against Ukraine, “You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.”
Citing that “stern warning” from Biden, Karl asked Markarova about the Ukrainian military push, saying, “What do you worry that Russia will do in response?”
“For all years that Putin is in power, they tried to scare the world and they tried to get all of us thinking what he will do next,” Markarova said. “We just have to continue on pushing, liberating Ukraine. We just have to clearly and all together say to Putin, and to all Russians who support this, that it’s not OK in the 21st century to attack a peaceful neighboring country.”
“Let’s not worry about what Putin thinks he should do,” she added. “Let’s all stay the course, provide more support to Ukraine because it’s going to be much cheaper and better for the democratic world to win this war while it’s still in Ukraine.”
