Sam Hunt‘s hit single “23,” was years in the making. In fact, it originally had a different title and hook until he and co-writers Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Chris LaCorte landed on the defining version of the track.
“That was one that I’ve tried to write for a couple of years. I started writing it, it was ’22’ originally. ‘I’ll never be 22 with anyone but you,'” Sam describes of the initial approach. “And for whatever reason, one day we decided to try ’23,’ and that was the thing that broke it open for us and [we] ended up writing it in a couple of hours.”
While the Georgia native has a skill for writing hit songs, he reveals that the songs he writes evolve over time and sometimes end up on future projects.
“You try to write a good handful of songs and then you hope a few of those songs end up making it on the record,” he explains of his songwriting process. “Then you also have an excess of ideas that maybe are skeletons or bones that never really get finished and they float around, and then you hope one day maybe they will get finished.”
“23” is the lead single from the superstar’s forthcoming third studio album. It’s currently climbing its way up the top 10 on country radio.
Lady Gaga is spilling the tea on the House of Gucci love scene with Salma Hayek fans never got to see.
While appearing onJimmy Kimmel Live! Monday, the Oscar Award winner, admitted that she’s not sure who’s responsible for cutting the scene from the film, but did reveal how the idea of the two’s characters becoming more than friends came about.
In the film Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, who hires a hit man to kill her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, with the help of her friend and spiritual advisor, Pina, played by Hayek.
Recalling her conversation with Hayek, Gaga says, “I was like ‘Okay, listen. So before we do this scene, I just want your consent to do something together’…And I said ‘Okay, so I was thinking, you know, after the hit gets put out on Maurizio and you get the phone call that he is dead, that I will go over to you and kiss you.'”
After getting Hayek on board, the “Rain on Me” singer went to get approval from director Ridley Scott and his wife, who was working production on the film.
“They were like ‘Yeah, sure, try it.’ And we did it,” Gaga explained. “The only reason it’s not in the movie is because that whole scene was cut. But it was an awesome scene. “
As for what the scene looked like, the Grammy award winner dished, “So Salma is walking around the house and the cats are following her and then we’re surrounded by cats, and we started making out.”
“I made out with Salma Hayek,” she adds. “But I’m like that really annoying kid in school that’s like bragging that they made out with the popular girl but has no proof.”
Ed Sheeran loves keeping in touch with friends, but he doesn’t keep in touch with them through text. Speaking on the The Collector’s Editionpodcast in an episode posted Monday, the “Shivers” singer revealed he doesn’t have a phone.
“I don’t carry a phone, no,” Ed revealed candidly. “I haven’t had a phone since 2015.” He then detailed why quitting his cellular plan cold turkey was one of the best choices he ever made.
The Grammy winner explained how his mental health was suffering because of the device. “I got really, really overwhelmed and sad with the phone. I just spent my whole time in a very low place,” said Ed, detailing how answering text messages straight away “would stress me out.” He added there were immediate benefits after he “got rid of it” at the end of his X (Multiply) world tour.
“It was, like, a veil just lifted… I didn’t so much cut contact with people, I just limit contact with people,” he continued. “Now, I have an email… and every few days, I’ll sit down and open up my laptop and I’ll answer 10 emails at a time… And then I’ll go back to living life and I don’t feel overwhelmed by it.”
Ed says “the best thing about” ditching the phone, aside from feeling less stressed, “Is the moments that I have with the people I love in person, uninterrupted.” He adds he finds it funny that, when he goes out with large groups of friends, he notices how many have their noses buried in their phones. “I’ll be like, ‘Good chat, guys!'” he joked.
Ed also believes phones are too advanced nowadays and should “take a step back” so they’re less complicated. He then yearned for his old BlackBerry Bold and the old BBM messaging service it offered.
As The Zombies prepare to launch the previously announced spring U.S. leg of their Life Is a Merry-Go-Round Tour, the British Invasion legends have now added a series of North America summer dates to the trek.
The summer portion of the tour begins with a June 21 concert in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, and is plotted out through an already-scheduled July 28-30 engagement in Park City, Utah. The outing also includes shows in the Midwest, Pennsylvania, the Pacific Northwest, California and Arizona.
Tickets for many of the newly announced dates will go on sale to the general public this Friday, January 28, at 10 a.m. local time. Visit TheZombiesMusic.com/live for more information.
Canadian pop-rock duo Altameda will open 11 of the new shows.
As previously reported, The Zombies’ spring U.S. tour leg kicks off on April 1 in Orlando, Florida, and runs through a May 1 concert in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Veteran singer-songwriter Bruce Sudano, who is the widower of late disco great Donna Summer, will be The Zombies’ special guest through an April 14 show in Knoxville, Tennessee, while singer-songwriter-pianist Jesse Lynn Madera will serve as the opening act for the rest of the leg.
Just prior to the start of the spring trek, the band will take part in the Flower Power Cruise, which sets sail from Miami on March 28.
Monday’s episode of The Bachelor began with host Jesse Palmer telling Clayton he could “do whatever you want” with regards to taking back the rose he gave to Cassidy after hearing a rumor that she was dating a guy back home.
When confronted with the rumor, Cassidy initially denied it, before clarifying that the man in question was “a friend” of hers who “does not want a relationship” and she had no interest in resuming it.
Despite her assurances that there was no one in the competition as “excited” about him as she was, Cassidy was sent home.
“The wicked witch is gone,” replied Kate, who would soon be gone herself.
But if Cassidy was the Wicked Witch of the East, Shanae, whose aggressive play for Clayton during a group date two weeks ago ended in disappointment, would end up being the Wicked witch of the West.
During a group date on Monday that featured former Baywatch star Nicole Eggert taking some of the ladies through some romantic lifeguard training, Shanae once again tried to grab Clayton’s attention by throwing herself at him every chance she got. Once again though, she came up empty as Gabby snagged the date rose.
Finding herself in a “do or die” situation, Shanae escalated her ongoing fight with Elizabeth, telling Clayton that Elizabeth was bullying her and causing the other women to avoid her when they were in the room together. Shanae seemed to acknowledged it was all a show, by bragging to the camera, “I was good!”
Whether the ploy worked or not will be answered on next week’s episode.
Elsewhere, Kaitlyn Bristowe made a surprise appearance, leading an emotional date where Clayton and the women opened up about their insecurities, ending with Eliza picking up a rose.
Sarah, who earned a rose after a one-on-one date that featured Becca Kufrin sending her and Clayton on a semi-naked scavenger hunt.
Kate, Ency and Tessa were sent home after the rose ceremony.
After Blur and Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn told the Los Angeles Times that Taylor Swift “doesn’t write her own songs,” Swift immediately responded on Twitter, “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.” Now Albarn is apologizing…or trying to, at least.
In response to Taylor’s tweet, Albarn wrote, “I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologize unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
Some are asking, however, how Albarn could claim that his comments were reduced to “clickbait” when he specifically said of Taylor, “She doesn’t write her own songs.”
When the interviewer insisted that Taylor did, and added that she “co-writes some of them,” Albarn responded, “That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing. I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great.”
And then, bizarrely, Albarn then went on to praise Billie Eilish, who co-writes all of her songs with her brother FINNEAS.
Antonoff tweeted, “i’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. herb.”
Dessner, who worked with Swift and Antonoff on her albums folklore and evermore, noted, “Your statements couldn’t be further from the truth…you’re obviously completely clueless as to her actual writing and work process.”
Las Vegas’ When We Were Young festival is proving to be a hot ticket: It’s just added a third date after selling out the first two.
Last week, the festival, which features a star-studded 2000s era lineup, announced that it had added an October 23rd date after the first one, on October 22, sold out. Now a new date has been added: October 29.
A presale starts January 31 at 10 a.m. PT for fans who sign up for early access at whenwewereyoungfestival.com. Any remaining tickets will go on sale January 31 at 2 p.m. PT.
The lineup is the same for all three dates and, as previously reported, features My Chemical Romance, Paramore and Bring Me the Horizon topping the bill.
Performers also include Avril Lavigne, A Day to Remember, Jimmy Eat World, AFI, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Alkaline Trio, Manchester Orchestra, jxdn, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Ice Nine Kills, Atreyu, The Maine, The All-American Rejects, Sleeping with Sirens, Nessa Barrett, Wolf Alice, 3OH!3, The Linda Lindas, Royal & the Serpent, I Prevail and Pierce the Veil.
(MILWAUKEE) — Six people were found dead at a home in Wisconsin’s largest city in what police are investigating as a homicide.
Officers were conducting a welfare check at a residence in Milwaukee’s Park West neighborhood on Sunday afternoon when they discovered the bodies of four men and one woman, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office announced early Monday that the body of a fifth man was also found at the location.
During a press conference Sunday night, Milwaukee Police Assistant Chief Paul Formolo said all of the deaths are being considered homicides, though he did not provide a cause of death. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed via Twitter overnight that the sixth body was also a homicide victim. Autopsies are expected to be conducted Monday, according to Formolo.
Investigators are still working to determine the identities of the deceased and for how long they were dead before officers arrived, Formolo said.
When asked whether a weapon was found in the home, Formolo told reporters that officers are actively searching the residence but did not give further information. He did not confirm if a suspect was among the deceased and could not comment on the relationships between the victims. However, he said there was no indication to suggest that the incident poses a threat to the community.
An investigation into the deaths is ongoing. A motive was unknown, according to Formolo.
Arnitta Holliman, director of the Milwaukee Office of Violence and Prevention, urged members of the community to contact the Milwaukee Police Department or Milwaukee Crime Stoppers if they think they have any relevant information.
“The community is tired, we are tired of seeing people’s lives snuffed out too soon in preventable situations,” Holliman told reporters. “Each and every one of us has to step up, speak up, stand up, do something.”
“Milwaukee is great place and can continue to be one,” she added, “but we cannot continue to see the kind of violence, level of violence, that we’ve been seeing.”
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson released a statement on Sunday evening describing the deaths as “horrific.”
“It is important not to feel numbed by the ongoing violence in our community,” Johnson said. “A horrible crime has again occurred, and it is not a movie or a fictional account. These victims died in our city, in one of our neighborhoods.”
ABC News’ Jakeira Gilbert contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 868,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.4% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Latest headlines:
-Pediatric cases sky-high but hospitalizations show decline
-31 states report plateauing or decreasing new case rates
-Palin tests positive for COVID, delaying her libel trial against New York Times
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 24, 4:05 pm
Pediatric cases sky-high but hospitalizations show decline
More than 1.1 million children tested positive for COVID-19 last week — nearly five times the rate of the peak of last winters’ surge, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
A total of 10.6 million children have tested positive since the onset of the pandemic. A fifth of those children — over 2 million kids — tested positive in just the last two weeks, according to the two organizations.
Pediatric cases in the Northeast are seeing a dramatic drop but new cases in the West, South and the Midwest are still surging.
But there is positive news: COVID-19-related hospitalizations among children fell this week for the first time in one month.
More than 28.4 million eligible children remain unvaccinated.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 24, 1:18 pm
New Jersey cases drop by two-thirds in 2 weeks
The omicron surge appears to be letting up in New Jersey, where cases are now down by roughly two-thirds from two weeks ago, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.
While hospitalization numbers have been falling this week, Murphy stressed that they’re still “higher than anything we had seen with the two prior surges.”
“We also remain very concerned about the ICU and ventilator numbers, which are coming down much more slowly,” the governor said.
Jan 24, 12:26 pm
31 states report plateauing or decreasing new case rates
Following weeks of increasing infections, COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are rising. The nation is now reporting nearly 2,000 new COVID-19-related deaths per day — up by 30% in the last two weeks, according to federal data.
But there’s continued evidence that the nation’s most recent surge may be receding in many regions. Thirty-one states as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now reporting decreasing or plateauing new case averages, according to federal data.
The only states with an increase in new cases are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Nationwide, the U.S. is reporting an average of 716,000 new cases per day, down by about 10% in the last week.
However, case levels in the U.S. remain incredibly high. In the last seven days, the U.S. reported more than 5 million new cases. Only 1% of U.S. counties aren’t reporting high transmission, according to federal data.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 24, 11:51 am
Palin tests positive for COVID, delaying her libel trial against New York Times
Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has tested positive for COVID-19, a Manhattan federal court judge announced Monday, as her libel trial against the New York Times was about to begin.
“Since she has apparently tested positive three times I’m going to assume she’s positive,” Judge Jed Rakoff said.
The libel case between Palin and the newspaper has now been delayed until Feb. 2.
Palin sued the New York Times after an editorial incorrectly linked her political rhetoric to the mass shooting that gravely injured Rep. Gabby Giffords. Palin is expected to testify.
Following Meat Loaf‘s death this past Thursday at age 74, his fans began consuming sizable amounts of the singer’s music via streaming and download, Variety reports.
According to MRC Data, on Friday, when the news of Meat Loaf’s passing began to circulate, on-demand streaming of his recordings increased by 4,650% from its average during the beginning of 2022, while his album sales jumped a whopping 18,684%, and his individual digital track sales surged by an even more impressive 33,793%.
Variety points out that the increase in sales and streams of Meat Loaf’s music is particularly noteworthy because many of his songs were being bought and streamed regularly before his death.
According to MRC Data, Meat Loaf amassed 205,666 on-demand audio streams last Thursday, the day he died, while on Friday, that figure increased to 9,344,181. As for his sales, Meat Loaf’s albums surged from 54 to 12,675 and individuals tracks jumped from 95 to 36,346 from Thursday to Friday.
Thanks to the surge in streams and sales, Meat Loaf’s most popular songs and his classic 1976 album Bat Out of Hell are likely make a big impact on the next Billboard charts, which won’t debut until early next week.
