Halsey has inadvertently created a viral TikTok moment by claiming that their record label is forcing them to create a viral TikTok moment.
In a TikTok posted on Sunday, we see Halsey frowning as a song — presumably the one they want to release — plays in the background. The text reads, “Basically, I have a song that I love that I want to release ASAP, but my record label won’t let me.”
The text continues, “I’ve been in this industry for eight years and I’ve sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.”
“Everything is marketing and they are doing this to every artist these days,” the text concludes. “I just want to release music, man and I deserve better tbh. I’m tired.”
In the comments, fans were indignant on Halsey’s behalf, while a few joked, “plot twist this is the viral tiktok they planned.”
Then, Halsey posted receipts: A video of themselves listening to someone who presumably works at their label, telling them how the TikTok rollout should go. When the label guy asks Halsey why they look upset, they say, “Honestly, I just hate this. It sucks.” “Oh, I know,” he replies. “I hate it.”
The text over the video reads, “I wish I was kidding lol.”
When a fan wrote in the comments, “What counts as ‘viral’ tho?” Halsey replied, “It’s like…if it doesn’t get a certain amount of views or likes or [whatever] they will just keep making me make videos and push [the song’s release] back until they’re happy.”
“Reverse psychology this IS the marketing scheme,” another fan commented.
So far, according to Variety, Halsey’s label hasn’t commented.
As Yes prepares to launch a tour of U.K. and Ireland next month celebrating the 50th anniversary of their classic album Close to the Edge, the prog-rock legends’ have announced that longtime drummer Alan White wn’t be taking part in the trek because of “current health issues.”
A message on Yes’ social media pages explains, “Alan was really looking forward to playing live again preparing to celebrate 50 years with Yes, having joined the band for the July 1972 Close to the Edge Tour, coming full circle in 2022. Alan’s close friend Jay Schellen will be taking on drumming duties in Alan’s place.”
Schellen has regularly joined Yes on the road since 2016, either playing alongside White or filling in for him.
The upcoming leg of Yes’ Album Series Tour 2022 kicks off June 15 in Glasgow, Scotland, and is scheduled through a June 29 show in Cork, Ireland. The shows will feature the band performing Close to the Edge in its entirety, followed by a set of other memorable songs from Yes’ back catalog.
The concerts will include a high-definition video wall with a presentation directed by longtime Yes artist Roger Dean. Dean also will accompany the band on tour, and an exhibition of his work will be on display at each show.
Released in September 1972, Close to the Edge became Yes’ highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200, peaking at #3. The record as made up of three long musical pieces — the title track, “And You and I” and “Siberian Khatru.”
Yes also will be bringing the Close to the Edge anniversary trek to Japan for four shows in September.
The band recently postponed a planned 2022 tour of mainland Europe until spring 2023. Yes will showcase its 1974 album Relayer on that trek.
Letitia Wright dropped some hints to Varietyabout the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and how all involved are honoring the original film’s star, the late Chadwick Boseman.
Wright plays Shuri, the genius sister to Boseman’s King T’Challa, and rumor has it she’ll be taking on the mantle of Black Panther, as Boseman will not be recast.
Wright suffered an injury on the set of the film that was severe enough to cause changes to production to the Marvel Studios film. She says cast and crew soldiered on, as a tribute to Boseman, who died in 2020 at age 43 after a private battle with colon cancer.
“We committed everyday to working hard, no matter what circumstances we faced,” Wright told Variety from a red carpet event at the Cannes Film Festival. “And we faced a lot of circumstances. A lot of difficult situations, but we came together as a team.”
She added, “It is an incredible honor for Chadwick Boseman, it’s jam-packed with exciting stuff.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will hit theaters on November 11.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
Evanescence guitarist Jen Majura is no longer in the band.
The “Bring Me to Life” rockers shared the news in a social media post over the weekend, which reads, “It has been a very special chapter in the band with our dear friend Jen Majura, but we have decided it’s time to go our separate ways.”
“We will always love her and support her, and can’t wait to see what she does next!” the statement continues. “We are so grateful for the good times and great music we made all around the world together.”
Several hours later, Majura issued a tweet suggesting that the parting of the ways wasn’t an exactly a mutual decision.
“I feel the need to address that none of this was my decision!” Majura wrote, though she added that she has “no hard feelings against anybody” and that she wishes her now-former band “all the best.”
“I am allowed to carry beautiful memories of these past years, I am grateful,” she wrote.
Majura joined Evanescence in 2015 and played on their 2021 comeback album, The Bitter Truth, as well as their 2017 compilation, Synthesis, which featured alternate versions of the band’s past songs rerecorded with orchestral and electronic elements.
As for who will take Majura’s place, Evanescence will be announcing “exciting news about the new lineup…in the next few days.”
Evanescence is set to launch a European tour in June. They’ll return to the U.S. for a couple festivals in July, followed by a tour with Korn kicking off in August.
Marvel movie star Chris Prattannounced over the weekend that he and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, welcomed their second baby together.
“We are so excited to announce the birth of our second daughter, Eloise Christina Schwarzenegger Pratt,” he posted to Instagram on Sunday, adding, “Mama and baby are doing well. We feel beyond blessed and grateful.”
Katherine announced back in December that she and Pratt were expecting their second child. The couple also has a 1-year-old daughter, Lyla.
Pratt has a 9-year-old son, Jack, from his first marriage to actress Anna Faris.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 23, 10:08 am
Zelenskyy calls for preventative sanctions in virtual address at World Economic Forum
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calling on the West to recognize as a mistake the refusal to impose preventive sanctions on Russia and take decisive steps in that direction.
“We must not react, but act preventively,” Zelenskyy told the forum in a virtual address. “And not only adapt what we have to the new realities, but create new tools. … Do not wait for fatal shots. Do not wait for Russia to use chemical, biological or, heaven forbid, nuclear weapons. Do not give the aggressor the impression that the world allegedly will not offer sufficient resistance. Protect immediately to the maximum freedom and a normal, useful world order.”
Zelenskyy said there are still no such sanctions against the Russian Federation, and listed them:
Complete embargo on Russian oil.
Complete blocking of all Russian banks.
Complete rejection of the Russian IT sector.
And complete cessation of trade with the aggressor.
Zelenskyy also called for freezing and confiscating Russian assets around the world and sending them to a special fund to pay compensation and restore Ukraine.
“There should be a precedent for punishing the aggressor. … Russian assets scattered across different jurisdictions should be found, arrested or frozen, and then confiscated and sent to a special fund, from which all victims should receive compensation,” Zelenskyy said.
He warned it will not be easy, but added that various aggressors will definitely not be motivated to do what Russia has done and continues to do in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he believes the world is at a turning point and that the future of not only Ukraine, but the whole world, depends on the resistance to brutal force.
“This year, the words ‘turning point’ are not just a rhetorical figure of the speech,” Zelenskyy said. “Now is really such a moment when it is decided whether brutal force will dominate the world. If it dominates, then our thoughts are not interesting to it, and we can no longer gather in Davos. For what? Brutal force is looking for nothing but subjugation of those whom it wants to subdue, and it does not debate, but kills immediately, as Russia is doing in Ukraine right now — at this time when we are talking to you.”
May 22, 3:21 pm
Lithuania becomes first EU country to suspend all Russian energy imports
Lithuania is suspending all imports of Russian oil, natural gas and power, the country’s energy minister Dainius Kreivys announced in a statement Sunday, making it the only country in the European Union to suspend all imports on Russian energy.
Lithuania is now receiving liquified gas from the U.S. after becoming the first EU country to suspend Russian gas imports in April, Kreivys said. The country is now generating electricity via local power generation and local EU imports via existing connections with Sweden, Poland and Latvia.
It is unclear what alternate source of oil Lithuania will rely on, but Kreivys’ statement indicates that its sole importer of oil, Orlen Lietuva, refused to import Russian oil more than a month ago, Kreivys said.
The move is an expression of solidarity with Ukraine, Kreivys said, adding that it cannot allow its money to finance a Russian war machine.
The EU stated in March that it would end its dependency on fossil fuels imports from Russia and made plans to phase out Russian oil, gas and coal. The European Commission presented details on how it plans to achieve that last week.
May 22, 2:54 pm
50 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers killed every day, Zelenskyy says
While Ukraine has rarely reported on its combat losses since the Russian invasion began in late February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced during a press briefing Sunday that 50 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed every day.
The last time Zelenskyy revealed military death toll figures was in April, when he said that around 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in action and around 10,000 wounded. Zelenskyy did not provide a total figure for combatants killed in action on Sunday.
Since the start of the invasion, most Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 have been banned from leaving the country. On Friday, a petition calling for the government to cancel the ban was registered with the president’s office.
The petition surpassed the 25,000-signature threshold that requires the president to address it on Sunday. Zelenskyy acknowledged the petition during Sunday’s briefing.
“How would I explain that to relatives of our defenders who are fighting at the most difficult positions in the East, where 50 to 100 troops lose their lives every day?” he said.
Ukraine’s parliament voted to extend martial law through Aug. 23. Zelenskyy’s office has a few weeks to consider the petition.
May 22, 12:41 pm
Zelenskyy welcomes president of Poland amid Ukraine’s bid to join EU
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy extended a warm welcome to Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday amid his bid to have his country join the European Union.
During a parliamentary session, Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to all Poles for their support, making it clear that he’s pushing full steam ahead to ensure Ukraine is granted candidate status.
“I am sure that all the necessary decisions will be made first for the status of a candidate for Ukraine, and then for full membership,” he said. “In particular, thanks to Poland’s many years of protection of Ukrainian interests on the European continent.”
Shortly after Zelenskyy and Duda addressed lawmakers, the parliament session was briefly interrupted when air sirens sounded in Kyiv, and members of parliament were moved to a shelter. The Ukrainian regional military administration later confirmed a Russian missile was intercepted over the Kyiv region.
France’s Minister for European Affairs Clément Beaune in his interview with France TF1 radio said on Sunday that it could take 15 to 20 years for Ukraine to become an EU member state, adding that Kyiv could enter the European political community proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in the meantime.
May 22, 12:07 pm
Recent attacks have killed more than 200 Ukrainians, Russian military claims
The Russian Defense Ministry provided updates to what it described as the “special military operation in Ukraine” on Sunday, saying that hundreds of Ukrainians were killed in recent attacks.
High-precision air missiles and other attacks launched in Donetsk, Lugansk and Krasnyi on Sunday hit command posts, areas where Ukrainian manpower and military equipment are concentrated and ammunition depots, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
The attacks killed more than 210 Ukrainian nationals and destroyed as many as 38 armored motor vehicles, the ministry claimed.
Russian air defense also shot down 11 Ukrainian aircraft and intercepted “multiple launch rockets” in the Kharkov region, according to the defense ministry.
The ministry claimed that, in total, 174 Ukrainian aircraft and 125 helicopters, 977 unmanned aerial vehicles, 317 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,198 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 408 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,622 field artillery and mortars and 3,077 units of special military vehicles were destroyed during the operation.
Olivia Rodrigo spent the weekend celebrating the one-year anniversary of her smash debut album SOUR, which arrived May 21, 2021.
“It is impossible for me to sum up in words how much this album means to me and how grateful I am to have gotten the privilege to make it and watch it exist in the world,” Olivia wrote on Instagram, thanking her musical collaborator, Dan Nigro, for “believing in me more than anyone.” She also thanked “everyone who has embraced my 17-year-old lamentations and forever changed my life in the process.”
Olivia’s words captioned a slideshow of photos and videos of scenes from the past year, including her winning night at the Grammys, her original diary entry in which she wrote that she “got my drivers license today,” a clip from her video, and scenes of fans in the audience singing along with her.
In addition, Olivia created an Instagram Reel that takes fans backstage at her show at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. In the video, she reflects on her incredible year, noting, “I always had this hypothesis that music that was super-vulnerable and honest would always cut through, no matter what it was about or who was singing it.”
“I think for me, SOUR just kind of reaffirmed that belief and made me believe in, like, the universality of music,” the 19-year-old star added.
This week, Olivia wraps up the North American leg of her SOUR tour in San Francisco. She’ll start the European leg in June.
Paramount Pictures has dropped the first teaser-trailer for the series’ seventh chapter, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, and to say it’s action-packed is an understatement.
The snippet teases chases on horseback in the desert, in cars on the streets of Europe, and of course, many shots of Tom Cruise‘s super spy, Ethan Hunt, running.
“Your days of fighting for the so-called ‘greater good’ are over,” Hunt is told by his one-time boss Kittridge, played again by Henry Czerny, who appeared in 1996’s very first M:I movie.
“This is our chance to control the truth,” he says, before adding, “You need to choose a side.”
By the look on Hunt’s face, he chooses to go rogue, again.
The teaser also features its share of brutal hand-to-hand fighting, with Esai Morales — apparently the heavy — as well as Guardians of the Galaxy vet Pom Klementieff, and her Marvel movie colleague Hayley Atwell getting in on the action this time around. The film also stars returning M:I players Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby.
The teaser is capped by the feat Cruise has called the most dangerous he’s ever done: Driving a speeding motorcycle off a cliff, launching the actor into the air for a skydiving stunt.
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One opens July 14, 2023.
Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: the Series has been picked up for a fourth season ahead of the season three premiere, the streamer announced on Friday. Disney also announced July 27 as the premiere date for season three, which will follow the students of East High to sleep-away camp for a summer of “campfires, summer romances and curfew-less nights.” Disney also shared a first-look clip with original HSM cast member Corbin Bleu, appearing as himself in a guest role. He joins series regulars Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Kate Reinders, Sofia Wylie, Matt Cornett, Dara Renee, Julia Lester, Frankie Rodriguez, Larry Saperstein and Mark St. Cyr. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…
Euphoria‘s Alanna Ubach has joined the cast of Seth MacFarlane’s Peacock comedy series Ted, based on his popular film franchise, according to Deadline. Ubach will play Susan Bennett, a “selfless and almost pathologically sweet woman” who “sees the world through naive, rose-colored glasses.” In addition to MacFarlane, who reprises his role as the voice of the titular foul-mouthed teddy bear, Ubach joins series regulars Georgia Whigham, Max Burkholder and Scott Grimes…
Colin Cantwell, the concept artist who designed the iconic Star Wars spacecraft, including the X-wing fighter, TIE fighter and Death Star, died Saturday at his Colorado home, Sierra Dall, his long-time partner, tells The Hollywood Reporter. He was 90. Cantwell’s other film credits include special photographic effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, technical dialogue for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and computer graphics design consultant for WarGames. Stars Wars is a property of Disney, the parent company of ABC…
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness spent a third week at #1 at the North American box office, holding off Downton Abbey: A New Era with an estimated $31.6 million haul. That pushed the Doctor Strange sequel’s worldwide gross to just over to just over $800 million.
Still, the aforementioned Downton Abbey: A New Era enjoyed a strong second-place debut, grabbing an estimated $16 million, a possible sign that older audiences are finally returning to movie theaters. The film — starring Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, and Maggie Smith — delivered an estimated $35.7 million overseas, bringing its first-week global tally to $51.7 million.
The Bad Guys took third place, adding an estimated $6.1 million in its fifth week of release. The animated feature has now collected $74 million domestically to go with $107.8 million internationally, for a total gross of $182 million.
Fourth place belongs to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which delivered an estimated $3.9 million in its seventh week in theaters. The film has earned a total of $181 million in North America and $194 million overseas, putting its current global tally at $375 million.
Rounding out the top five is another newcomer, Ex Machina director Alex Garland’s latest indie film, Men, debuting with an estimated $3.3 million.
