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Russia-Ukraine live updates: US suspends tariffs on Ukrainian steel

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(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 last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 10, 6:47 am
Russia paying the price for underestimating Ukrainian resistance, UK says

Russia is paying the price for underestimating Ukrainian resistance, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.

“Russia’s invasion plan is highly likely to have been based on the mistaken assumption that it would encounter limited resistance and would be able to encircle and bypass population centres rapidly,” the ministry said Tuesday in an intelligence update. “This assumption led Russian forces to attempt to carry out the opening phase of the operation with a light, precise approach intended to achieve a rapid victory with minimal cost.”

“This miscalculation led to unsustainable losses and a subsequent reduction in Russia’s operational focus,” the ministry added.

According to the ministry, these “demonstrable operational failings” prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from announcing significant military success at Monday’s Victory Day parade in Moscow.

Although he showed no signs of backing down, Putin did not make any declarations of war or victory in his annual speech for Victory Day, a national holiday in Russia commemorating the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Instead, he drew parallels between Soviet soldiers battling Nazi troops and the Russian forces fighting now in Ukraine, as he has vowed to “de-Nazify” the former Soviet republic.

“You are fighting for the motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of the Second World War,” Putin said Monday during a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square.

May 10, 6:30 am
US suspends tariffs on Ukrainian steel

The U.S. will temporarily suspend 232 tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced Monday.

Ukraine’s steel industry is one of the foundations of the country’s economy, employing 1 in 13 Ukrainians, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Some of Ukraine’s largest steel communities have been among those “hardest hit by Putin’s barbarism,” the U.S. Department of Commerce said in a press release, and the steel mill in Mariupol has become a “lasting symbol of Ukraine’s determination to resist Russia’s aggression.”

“Steelworkers are among the world’s most resilient — whether they live in Youngstown or Mariupol,” Raimondo said.

The pledge to slash tariffs “is a signal to the Ukrainian people that we are committed to helping them thrive in the face of Putin’s aggression,” she said, “and that their work will create a stronger Ukraine, both today and in the future.”

Ukraine is currently losing about $170 million every day due to blocked ports and the country’s export potential has fallen by more than half, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmysal said on Monday.

Ukraine also submitted a several-thousand-page questionnaire, the second part of the answers, that must be completed by countries aspiring to join the European Union, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday during his nightly address.

“It usually takes months. But we did everything in a few weeks,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president held talks with EU leaders on Monday and claimed Ukraine could be granted EU candidate status as early as June.

Russia running out of missiles

Russia has used up about half of its existing missiles during its invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Monday. But the Russians still maintain the capacity and a certain supply of components to replenish some of their depleted arsenal, Malyar added.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense also stated in its Monday intelligence update that Russia’s stockpile of precision-guided munitions “has likely been heavily depleted.” Instead, the Russian military is now using “readily available but ageing munitions that are less reliable, less accurate and more easily intercepted.”

Russia will likely struggle to replace the precision weaponry it has already expended, the ministry said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted Monday that he has “never been more certain that Ukraine will win,” adding that Britain will stand “shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Fighting continued on May 9 at the Azovstal steel plant while “some occupiers were walking along the streets” of the surrounding city of Mariupol parading with flags and Ribbons of Saint George, a traditional Russian military symbol, said Petro Andriushchenko, the Mariupol mayor’s advisor. Russian forces on Monday tried to blow up the bridge used to evacuate people from the steel plant, trying to “cut off our defenders from the possibility to exit,” Andriushchenko said.

There are still more than 100 civilians trapped in Azovstal, Pavlo Kyrylenko, who heads the Donetsk military administration, told local media.

Alcohol deaths increase dramatically during pandemic, especially for younger adults: Research

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Martin’s drinking started early.

In elementary school, his father would offer swigs of Budweiser in the car during their daily pilgrimage from Pomona to Hollywood, California to pick up his mother from cosmetology class, he told ABC News.

Decades later, after churning through dozens of jobs, Martin — who spoke under the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy — found himself in the pandemic’s crosshairs.

Seven days into a gig as a short-order chef, in March 2020, his restaurant shut down and the 44-year old began quarantining with his family. Martin said he tried desperately to abstain from drinking — he adored helping his arthritic mother with chores around the house — but the pandemic only deepened his underlying alcoholism.

“All I ever knew about how to spend my time was to get drunk,” Martin told ABC News, “and I had more of my time than ever before.”

In September, his family kicked him out. Two months later, he was passing out cold on the street, he recalled.

Americans had been drinking more for years ahead of the pandemic. But as COVID forced people to lock down, these patterns only intensified.

New research shows that deaths caused by alcohol shot up, too. And younger Americans — people in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s — were the hardest hit.

Struggling to cope with pandemic stressors

That extra glass of merlot was driven in part by people’s attempts to cope with unprecedented circumstances, Anusha Chandrakanthan, a psychiatrist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, told ABC News.

“Social isolation, along with fear of the unknown, have always been major triggers for our patients,” Chandrakanthan added.

At the same time, alcohol became easier to get than ever, said Sara Polley, who directs youth continuum services for Hazelden Betty Ford, a national addiction treatment organization that also runs residential centers.

Relaxed alcohol-delivery laws meant people could order merlots, stouts or vodka to their homes across the country. There, they could pour uninhibited by open tabs or last calls, Polley added.

Heightened stressors, plus ease of access, led to Americans purchasing alcohol at the greatest rate in decades, according to IWSR, an alcohol research organization.

By winter 2021, hospitals around the country reported that alcohol-related admissions increased up to 50% compared to prior years. Hospitalizations leapt higher still during intermittent stay-at-home orders.

Increases in deaths particularly high in young adults

New data now shows that alcohol deaths, which are defined as those where alcohol use disorder is a cause of death on death certificates, have skyrocketed as well.

A study published this week found that deaths rates surged by 25% in 2020. They stayed high in 2021 — 21% above the pre-pandemic baseline — a figure equating to tens of thousands of deaths.

The research builds on data from March that likewise showed increases in alcohol-related deaths. It also reinforced another finding: young adults were hit the hardest.

The observation may reflect a sea change in how younger Americans view alcohol, Aaron White, chief of epidemiology and biometry at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, told ABC News.

“Our kids are, on average, drinking less,” he told ABC News, “but they’re drinking alone more when they do — and they’re drinking in combination with drugs.”

Drinking alongside drugs can be particularly deadly. Historically, one out of every seven opioid deaths also involve alcohol. As opioids overwhelm the country, deaths involving both are only accelerating.

The toll may be higher than we know

And bad as the alcohol death data look, they may actually underestimate the toll, White told ABC News.

Since death certificates rely on examiners’ judgment, not all may screen for alcohol or attribute the death to alcohol if it’s detected.

White points to gaps between death certificates and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data as evidence: about 10,000 deaths due to drinking and driving captured by NHTSA — fully 90% — were not reflected on death certificates in 2020.

“We know for certain that deaths due to alcohol are undercounted,” White told ABC News, “so, the question is, what’s the true number? And really, we have no idea.”

Will the trend continue?

Whether the mortality spikes are a blip or a trend remains up for debate.

Some experts, like Polley, are hopeful they’ll resolve “as peoples’ lives get slowly but surely back to normal,” she told ABC News.

Others are more concerned.

“All the data says to me that we’re fraying at the edges,” White told ABC News.

At Hazelden Betty Ford, admissions to its residential programs — including its center for young adults — have reached record highs in 2022.

“I don’t see anything to say we’re moving in a better direction,” White told ABC News, “at least, not yet.”

Martin, for his part, is hopeful the pandemic can mean a new beginning.

“That popping sound of that first beer, it used to literally be music to my ears — but not anymore,” he told ABC News.

He found a rare room at a rehab in Long Beach, and he said he’s been faithfully attending AA meetings.

“Now, I just want to see a new me,” he told ABC News, “a me that’s old, sober, and can be there for my mom.”

A ghastly effect of drought, bodies are emerging in Lake Mead

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LAS VEGAS) — As the water level of the nation’s largest man-made reservoir keeps receding due to drought, human bodies keep emerging.

For the second time in seven days, human remains have been discovered in Lake Mead near Las Vegas.

U.S. National Park Service rangers said human skeletal remains were found about 2 p.m. Saturday at Lake Mead near Callville Bay. The Clark County Medical Examiner collected the remains and is working to identify the person and determine a cause of death.

The discovery came a week after the decayed body of a man was found stuffed in a steel barrel near the reservoir’s Hemenway Fishing Pier, more than 20 miles from Callville, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

“We believe this is a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound,” Lt. Ray Spencer, head of the LVMPD’s homicide section, said of the body found on May 1.

Spencer said the Clark County Medical Examiner is attempting to identify the body. He said detectives believe the man was killed in the mid-1970s to early 1980s based on his clothing and footwear.

In regards to the second body found on Saturday, LVMPD officials said Monday they have found no evidence to suggest foul play.

Saturday’s discovery of skeletal remains was made by two sisters, Lindsey and Lynette Melvin, who said they were paddle-boarding on the lake because the water was too shallow to go snorkeling.

The sisters told ABC affiliate station KTNV-TV in Las Vegas that they found the skeletal remains when they stopped to explore a sand bar they said used to be underwater before a prolonged drought dropped the water table to historic record lows.

At first, the sister thought it was the remains of a big horn sheep. Then they discovered a human jawbone with teeth still attached and reported them to National Park Service rangers.

“We just really hope that the family of that person finally gets answers and hope their soul is laid to rest peacefully,” Lynette Melvin said.

The sisters said they grew up in Las Vegas and have heard rumors of Mafia hitmen dumping bodies in the lake.

Geoff Schumacher, a mob historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, told ABC News on Monday that the discoveries of the bodies, especially the man found in the barrel, have reignited those rumors.

“Certainly, Las Vegas has a history with the mob and there have been people who have gone missing in this area over the years that may have been the victims of mob violence. But I don’t recall a case where we had anything like this where we found a body in a barrel that popped up in Lake Mead,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher said disposing of a body in a barrel is a classic mob technique dating back to the 1880s.

He said one famous case was that of Chicago gangster John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli, who helped the mob control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. Roselli disappeared after testifying in 1975 before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about an alleged conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

Roselli’s decomposing remains were discovered in 1976 stuffed inside a 55-gallon steel barrel a fisherman found floating in Dumfoundling Bay near Miami. An autopsy determined Roselli died of asphyxiation.

Noting that police suspect the slain man found in a barrel in Lake Mead this month may have been killed in the 1970s or 1980s based on his clothing and shoes, Schumacher said the mob was prominent in Las Vegas during that time frame.

“There was a lot of conflict and I would not at all be surprised to find that was the victim of mob violence,” Schumacher said.

He said that as the reservoir, which is formed by Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, continues to recede, more shocking discoveries are likely to emerge, including the wreckage of a B-29 bomber that crashed in the lake in 1947.

“There’s probably a whole bunch of sunken boats out there, too,” Schumacher said. “Who knows what other stuff people have thrown out into the water over the years, physical objects as well as bodies.”

Woman testifies against chef Mario Batali in sexual misconduct case

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BOSTON) — A woman who accused celebrity chef and restauranteur Mario Batali of groping her said Monday she was speaking out “to be able to take control of what happened,” while a defense attorney for Batali called her a liar who is twisting the truth “for money and for fun.”

Natali Tene, 32, alleged Batali, 61, forcibly kissed her and grabbed her breasts, buttocks and groin after meeting him in a Boston bar while having a drink with a friend in March 2017. Batali, she claimed, was “grabbing me in ways I had never been touched before, squeezing between my legs … pulling me closer to him.”

Batali has said he is not guilty of the allegations. At the start of the trial on Monday in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, Batali told Judge James Stanton he wanted to waive his right to a jury trial, which means Stanton will render the verdict directly.

The alleged assault took place after the accuser asked the chef for a selfie. He smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated, she alleged. Tene has also filed a civil complaint for unspecified damages based on the same allegations that will be tried separately from this case.

If found guilty, Batali could face nearly three years in prison and be forced to register as a sex offender.

Under cross-examination from attorney Anthony Fuller, Tene repeatedly said she did not remember text messages she sent friends that described her meeting Batali as “exciting.” In one message, she purportedly suggested to a friend that she could “hopefully” get $10,000 for photos of the encounter.

“I really, honestly thought this is how it all worked. I thought [with] celebrities, when they get in trouble, that’s how it works,” she said. “$10,000 is just an arbitrary number to me.”

Fuller characterized Tene as uncredible and flatly denied that the encounter took place.

“The defense in this case is very simple: It didn’t happen,” he said. The photo evidence “[does] not show any indecent assault and battery.”

In his questioning of Tene, he also referenced her claim that she is clairvoyant, an answer she used to allegedly get out of jury selection in a previous criminal trial.

Four women accused Batali of inappropriate touching in December 2017, which prompted him to leave the ABC daytime cooking show The Chew and remove himself from his restaurant business. In a statement following the accusations, Batali said he was “so very sorry” for disappointing his friends, family, co-workers and fans.

“My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility,” he said at the time.

Batali’s company paid a $60,000 settlement following a state investigation that alleged the company promoted a sexualized culture that violated multiple human rights laws.

Corrections officer dead after being caught with missing inmate in Indiana

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(EVANSVILLE, Ind.) — Florence, Alabama, jail employee Vicky White has died Monday after she was apprehended along with murder suspect Casey White in Evansville, Indiana, which ended a 10-day manhunt, according to the Vanderburgh County Coroners Office.

After Inmate Casey White, 38, and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, 56, were spotted at a hotel, Casey White and Vicky White led police on a car chase that ended with a wreck, Indiana authorities said. Vicky White, who was driving the Cadillac, was hospitalized with “very serious” injuries from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Vanderburgh County, Indiana, sheriff’s office.

“Can’t clarify how long they have been in Evansville … lucky we stumbled upon them today,” Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Monday.

He said the pursuit only lasted a few minutes.

“We got a dangerous man off the street today,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday during a press conference.

Casey White and Vicky White, who are not related, fled the Lauderdale County Jail on April 29.

Authorities said they believe Vicky White willingly participated in the escape, which took place on her last day before retirement.

The duo fled Alabama in a Ford Edge and ditched the car in Williamson County, Tennessee — about a two-hour drive north of Florence — just hours after the jail break.

On Monday, U.S. Marshals said investigators were in Evansville, Indiana, following up on a tip after a 2006 Ford F-150 believed to have been used by Casey White and Vicky White was found abandoned at a car wash on May 3. Police were alerted to the vehicle on Sunday.

At the time of his escape, Casey White was facing two counts of capital murder for allegedly stabbing a woman to death in 2015, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Vicky White has been charged with forgery and identity theft for allegedly using an alias to buy the Ford Edge used to facilitate the escape, according to the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office. A warrant was also issued for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

No one was injured as a result of the escape, Singleton said.

Vicky White died Monday evening at Deaconess Hospital. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Casey White will be brought back to Lauderdale County to be arraigned, Singleton said.

“He’s not getting out of this jail again,” Singleton said. “I assure you that.”

What South Korea’s new president means for North Korea

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SEOUL, South Korea) — The inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol as the 20th president of South Korea took place at the National Assembly compound in Seoul on Tuesday, marking the start of his five-year term.

Facing an economy hit hard by the pandemic, surging home prices and a politically polarized country, Yoon’s biggest and imminent challenge is the constant threat of North Korea, which has sped up its nuclear weapons program while test-firing missiles 15 times just this year alone.

“The door to dialogue will remain open so that we can peacefully resolve this threat,” President Yoon said during his inauguration speech.

Under the condition that North Korea “genuinely embarks on a process to complete denuclearization,” the new South Korean government will present “an audacious plan” to help Pyongyang strengthen its hardstricken economy and “improve the quality of life for its people,” Yoon added.

But prospects are grim for a peaceful resolution between the two Koreas. Yoon, characterized as a “man of principle” and “predictability,” has repeatedly warned that North Korea’s bad behavior will not be rewarded.

Analysts also doubt that Pyongyang will change its path, especially after its leader Kim Jong Un declared last month that “the nuclear forces, the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, should be strengthened in terms of both quality and scale.”

Analysts say more variety of weapons tests, especially tactical nuclear weapons and submarine-launched missile systems, are very likely to follow with the aim to minimize nuclear warheads.

“For tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed, they have to test a tactical nuclear warhead. So it’s not going to be a bigger sized scale of the nuclear test, but they probably need to have a nuclear warhead test very soon to show that they have that capability,” Dr. Woo Jung-yeop of the Seoul-based Sejong Institute told ABC News.

Yoon, married to first lady Kim Gun-hee with no children, spent 27 years of his entire career as a prosecutor with no political experience. He rose to prominence for standing up against political and social pressure when convicting numerous big political players, including two former presidents, Park Geun-Hye and Lee Myung-bak. He was appointed as Prosecutor General in 2019 by then-President Moon Jae-in for that reason, but was ironically pushed out by Moon’s Democratic Party politicians last year for his principled manners against their radical reformist policies. Yoon had run for office as the opposition conservative People Power Party’s presidential candidate.

Eleven staffers at Missouri hospital are pregnant at the same time

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LIBERTY, Mo.) — At one Missouri hospital, it’s going to be quite a baby bonanza soon.

Ten nurses and one doctor at Liberty Hospital in Liberty, Missouri, are pregnant at the same time. And, in case you were wondering, none of it was planned and nothing’s in the water.

“There’s a lot of nurses saying they won’t drink the water,” Hannah Miller, 29, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “One of the nurses actually brought her own water bottle the other night and I was joking with her. I was like, ‘Oh, you’re really not drinking the water,'” the postpartum nurse, who’s expecting her first child, added.

Dr. Anna Gorman of Northland Obstetrics and Gynecology is expecting her second child and said it wasn’t likely that all 11 of them would be pregnant together.

“I think it’s really unique because it’s all in the same unit … and especially like our population ratio, I think is quite high. So sure it happens, but it’s pretty exciting when it’s this big,” the OB-GYN said.

Most of the pregnant staff are nurses with Liberty Hospital’s Birthing Center and said they hope to deliver there when the time comes. They’ve also bonded over their shared experience so far.

“This is definitely a great experience and it’s something that I feel like we’ll probably bond over for a lifetime, having the babies due around the same time,” Alex Atcheson, a labor and delivery nurse, told GMA. “It’s been great to have each other for support and go through pregnancy together.”

The 29-year-old is expecting her third child, along with her colleague, labor and delivery nurse Alison Harrell.

“Alex and I figured out pretty early that we were due the same day,” the 30-year-old said. “And then we started making a list of everyone and people just kept adding to the list as time went on.”

Atcheson and Harrell are 37 weeks along and will welcome their little ones in the next two weeks, with both sharing the same due date of May 27. Their labor and delivery co-worker Katie Bestgen is due in a little over two months, on July 20.

Meanwhile, Christen Burns, 26, joined the club more recently.

“I was one of the last ones to tell everybody that I was pregnant,” she said.

The labor and delivery nurse is expecting her first child and said, “I think it was just more exciting to add to the group and have everybody right there with me.”

In addition to delighting in each other’s happy news, the nurses and co-workers have been sharing their own experiences as well.

“It’s been really helpful. Just like getting advice and tips from my coworkers and especially the ones that have had babies before and just relating and like, ‘Oh, do you have problems with your hips too, or different pains or that kind of thing?'” Cheyenne Beaty said.

For the 26-year-old labor and delivery nurse expecting her first child, she’s appreciated having a built-in support group at work.

“It’s just nice that there’s people around me going through the same thing for sure,” she said.

Therese Byrum, 27, said lately, there have been at least two pregnant staffers working together during a shift and they’ve also had instances where everyone was pregnant during a shift. The obstetric float nurse who rotates between labor and delivery, the NICU, and in postpartum, will be one of the last staffers to give birth. The mom of three is expecting her fourth child on Thanksgiving Day.

“We got a new baby”: Luke Bryan’s niece welcomes first child

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Luke Bryan has a new member of the family!

Mother’s Day was extra special for the Bryan family, as the singer’s niece, Jordan Cheshire Eudy, welcomed a baby boy named Jonathan. In addition to celebrating his wife, Caroline, the family headed down to Luke’s home state of Georgia to meet the new bundle of joy, who was born on May 7, weighing three pounds and 13 ounces.

“My niece, Jordan, her little boy came a little early. Caroline and I got to go see our brand-new precious little nephew, and he and mama are doing well,” Luke shares with E! News. “We got a new baby. We got a new mama in our family. That made Mother’s Day.”

The country superstar also walked his niece down the aisle when she wed Clint Eudy in Tennessee last year.

“Clint and I are extremely thankful and cannot wait to get him home. We know he was handpicked from Heaven by the sweetest angels,” Jordan writes on Instagram, alongside a photo of the couple holding their new son.

Luke and Caroline adopted Jordan and her siblings, Kris and Til, after their parents passed away. Luke’s sister Kelly died in 2007 of unknown causes, followed by her husband, Ben, who passed away in 2014 due to a heart attack.

Demi Lovato says their gender identity “has nothing to do with my music or the direction it takes”

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Fans who are expecting Demi Lovato‘s new music to describe in detail what it’s been like to fully embrace their queer identity and come out as non-binary in recent years may be disappointed with what they’ve got coming, although Demi assures fans that they won’t be ignoring the topic entirely.

Speaking to Inked magazine, Demi says, “My gender identity has nothing to do with my music or the direction that it takes. But I am proud to be non-binary and I talk a little about acceptance from others in the lyrics of my new songs.”

Regarding their forthcoming project, Demi says, “I’ve only made a few songs so it’s still very new. My writing style hasn’t really changed much. It’s just going into the studio, thinking about a concept that I’m passionate about and wanting to write a song about it.”

Describing their new material as “more rock than anything,” Demi tells Inked, “I hope my fans can find inspiration in my new songs coming out and something to relate to in these times of uncertainty.”

But what the “Sorry Not Sorry” star is most looking forward to, they say, is being onstage. “I haven’t performed any of my new music, which is what I’m looking forward to most,” Lovato says. As for which of their old hits might be on the set list, they tease that they “still love performing ‘Cool for the Summer.'”

Of course, doing an interview with Inked magazine required Demi to comment on their tattoos: They have 22 and counting, and don’t regret any of them. They explain, “It’s important to me to get pieces of art on my body that represent who I am.”

Alice Merton reflects on “No Roots”: “That came from a really dark place”

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Ever since releasing her debut breakout single “No Roots,” Alice Merton has written a lot of very sad lyrics accompanied by very happy-sounding music. Even still, the true nature of “No Roots” continues to elude listeners over five years since it first dropped.

“Everyone’s always like, ‘Ah, it’s so much fun! This is a great, like, upbeat [song]!'” Merton tells ABC Audio of “No Roots.” “I was, like, ‘That came from a really dark place.’ I felt like I had no home, I couldn’t really figure out where I belonged in the world.”

Giving “No Roots” that bright sonic flavor was Merton’s way of putting a “fun twist” on some difficult emotions.

“As soon as you add this fun bassline…it just becomes fun, you know?” she says. “Instead of dwelling on these sad things, I just wanted to give it a fun spin.”

Merton originally wrote “No Roots” about having to constantly move homes throughout her life. Given the travel restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, one might assume that Merton took the opportunity to stay put for a bit. That, of course, is why you should never assume.

“To be honest, as soon as the pandemic got a little bit easier and there was a gap in between…that’s when I decided to move again,” Merton laughs.

Merton moved to London to be closer to her parents in the U.K., and while she doesn’t feel any more “rooted,” she has a new outlook on the idea.

“I also realized my home is not in certain places,” she says. “It’s everywhere.”

You can hear more of Merton’s sad-happy songs when she opens for Bastille‘s U.S. tour kicking off this Saturday, and on her upcoming sophomore album, S.I.D.E.S., due out June 17.

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