Lainey Wilson and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan are part of a mutual admiration society, so much so that Taylor has used Lainey’s music on the hit TV show multiple times, which Lainey calls a “blessing.”
It all started when Taylor discovered Lainey’s music when her self-titled EP was released in 2018 and he incorporated one of the tracks into the Paramount series. Soon after, Taylor invited the country star to Las Vegas, where he was hosting a horse-reining competition, and the two hit it off.
“I went out there and met him and we really bonded over horses, because I grew up riding too, and developed this friendship,” she explains. “He has been a huge champion. I’m a fan of his…he’s a fan of mine, and it’s introduced my music to a crowd of people that might not listen to radio or might not know how to download music. It’s been such a blessing.”
After her song “Small Town, Girl” was featured in the season-three finale in 2020, Lainey surprised fans on the season-four finale that aired Sunday night when she was featured performing a trio of songs: “Workin’ Overtime,” “Rolling Stone” and her #1 hit “Things a Man Oughta Know.”
“You dream about your music being played on the radio and people singing it back to you, but you don’t ever think about your songs making it into one of the coolest, most bada** shows that’s out there right now,” Lainey professes. “It has been so cool.”
“Things a Man Oughta Know” became the Louisiana native’s first #1 song in 2021. Meanwhile, her duet with Cole Swindell “Never Say Never” is currently climbing the charts, inching toward the top 20 on the Billboard Country Airplay tally.
Megan Thee Stallion will headline Afro Nation Puerto Rico in March, described as the “world’s biggest Afrobeats festival.”
The “Hot Girl Summer” rapper will be joined by more than 20 acts, including Nigerian Grammy winner Wizkid, at the three-day event taking place March 24-26, 2022, in Balneario de Carolina, Puerto Rico. Another Nigerian artist, Tems, who is featured on Drake‘s Certified Lover Boy album, will also perform. She is a featured artist on Wizkid’s song “Essence,” which is nominated for a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance.
Megan is also headlining Afro Nation Portugal, which is scheduled for July and is billed as the world’s number one beach festival. Wizkid, as well as Burna Boy and Beenie Man, will perform at the three-day festival, which will be held July 1-3 at The Algarve in Portimao, Portugal.
Megan Thee Stallion enjoyed an incredible year in 2021, and posted a recap video on New Year’s Eve. She fulfilled her late mother’s dream on December 11 by graduating with a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Texas Southern University. The next day, Megan received the 18th Congressional District Humanitarian Award.
In December, the Houston MC also announced a new production deal with Netflix. The previous month, she was honored as one of Glamour‘s Women of the Year. Meg also won American Music Awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album for her debut album, Good News; Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist; and Favorite Trending Song for her hit “Body.”
In addition, Megan is nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Rap Performance for “Thot Sh**,” and Album of the Year for Lil Nas X‘s Montero, thanks to her contributions as songwriter on “Dolla Sign Slime.”
GAYLE is starting the New Year off right: Thanks to her hit “abcdefu,” the teen singer from Texas is appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday evening. Of course, the version of “abcdefu” you hear on the radio is the censored version, swapping “forget you” for “eff you.” But GAYLE isn’t sure it fully conveys the breakup anthem’s emotion.
“I don’t know if it’s as angry,” GAYLE says of the censored — or “nicer” — version. It’s one of several versions of the song, including an “angrier” version and a “chill” version.
“I like to think that it can maybe spark people’s interest enough to at least, like, try and hear the original,” she notes. “The goal with that song was for, hopefully, the censored version to hit as hard. I don’t know if ‘forget you’ is as, like, angry.”
GAYLE’s anger was was sparked by a real-life event: Her breakup with a boyfriend who, she says, inspired several of the other songs she’s released.
“I have a song called ‘Orange Peel’— it’s about him. ‘Happy for You‘ — it’s about him and it’s…like, ‘You’re the best thing ever and I’m the complete worst,’ basically,” she explains to ABC Audio. “So it definitely shows the evolution of emotion. Like…’I love you so much. Oh my God, I’m the worst. I’m the problem…Wait a minute. Eff you!’“
But Gayle, just named Billboard‘s Chartbreaker for January, realizes that just because one of her songs is getting popular doesn’t automatically mean she’s now a huge pop star.
“‘abc…’ is…just one song,” she notes. “And so, my goal is to just keep telling my story and keep doing what I do, and hopefully people don’t hate it and we’re just going to kinda go from there and see what happens.”
The longtime Van Halen frontman’s statement, which EW.com received via his manager, reads, “Sometimes you win…Sometimes you lose…We got rained out…Covid cancelled…Future shows? When the benefit concerts for Colorado, Farm Aid, and hospital workers ‘everywhere’ come up; Call me.”
Accompanying the note was a photo of a road case that features multiple images the singer wearing a red top hat and holding a microphone, along with the message, “To be continued…”
As previously reported, Roth had announced in an October 2021 interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he planned to retire after his Vegas shows. David scheduled nine concerts at the House of Blues, on New Year’s Eve and January 1, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22, all of which were canceled in recent days.
Another celebrity has unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19, this time it was Lupita Nyong’o.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday the Oscar winner announced, “I too have tested positive for COVID-19. I’m fully vaccinated and taking care in isolation, so I trust I will be well.”
“Please do all you can to keep yourself and others protected from serious illness. #StayMaskedAndVaxxed,” she concluded.
Lupita’s diagnosis and consequent isolation forced her to drop out of virtual interviews for her upcoming film The 355, where she was set to join co-stars Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz,Diane Kruger, Fan Bingbing, Sebasitan Stan and director Simon Kinber to promote the spy film.
The 355 hits theaters this Friday.
I too have tested positive for COVID-19. I’m fully vaccinated and taking care in isolation, so I trust I will be well. Please do all you can to keep yourself and others protected from serious illness. #StayMaskedAndVaxxed
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Toronto 129, San Antonio 104
Memphis 110, Cleveland 106
New York 104, Indiana 94
Phoenix 123, New Orleans 110
LA Lakers 122, Sacramento 114
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 7, Columbus 2
Florida 6, Calgary 2
Boston 5, New Jersey 3
Detroit 6, San Jose 2
Colorado 4, Chicago 3 (OT)
Winnipeg 3, Arizona 1
Anaheim 4, Philadelphia 1
Nashville 3, Vegas 2
Washington at Montreal (Postponed)
NY Islanders at Seattle (Postponed)
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Baylor 84, Oklahoma 74
Duke 69, Georgia Tech 57
Kansas 74, Oklahoma St. 63
Auburn 81, South Carolina 66
Texas 70, Kansas St. 57
LSU 65, Kentucky 60
Marquette 88, Providence 56
Colorado St. 67, Air Force 59
Seton Hall 71, Butler 56
Xavier at Georgetown (Postponed)
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — An FBI dive team is assisting in the search for missing 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil, authorities said.
The investigation has led the FBI’s underwater search and evidence response team to an area not previously searched, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance,” McManus told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday evening at the scene of the search. “Everything that we get that has any kind of potential at all, we follow it up. And that’s what we’re doing here today.”
The area is located near the family’s apartment complex, according to ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT.
The chief said he couldn’t provide any additional information on what led detectives to the area, but noted the search will continue Tuesday until it gets dark, and pick up again Wednesday.
“I wish there was more uplifting information I could give you to at least provide some hope, but I don’t have any of that information, unfortunately,” he said.
Lina Sardar Khil was last seen on Dec. 20 between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at a park on the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, according to police. The park is located near the family’s home at the Villa Del Cabo apartment complex.
Lina has brown eyes and brown hair and was last seen wearing a black jacket, red dress and black shoes. Police issued multiple Amber Alerts and said she could be in “grave danger.”
Lina’s family is part of the Afghan refugee community in San Antonio and speaks Pashto. Police have issued alerts in multiple languages to the community, urging anyone with information to come forward.
FBI joins ‘aggressive’ search
McManus said Tuesday Lina is still considered a missing person.
“Our Missing Person’s Unit is working tirelessly at receiving leads and tips on little Lina’s case,” a spokesperson for SAPD told ABC News. “We will continue to follow every lead, no matter how small, until Lina is located.”
The FBI said it is accepting any tips, video footage or insight on Lina’s whereabouts.
Agent Justin Garris of the FBI’s Justin San Antonio field office told reporters on Dec. 28 the investigation into Lina’s disappearance is “aggressive,” adding that the FBI has utilized its child abduction rapid deployment team, behavioral analysis unit, intelligence response teams and forensic examiners.
Authorities are asking anyone who has information on the case to call SAPD Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660.
Community rallies behind the family
As the search continues, the community is rallying around the family by joining search crews and raising money to help find the child.
The Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach organization, a nonprofit in San Antonio, joined the search over the weekend with about 150 people from the Afghan community showing up.
“We can’t sit still. We have to do something,” Pamela Allen, CEO of Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach, told ABC News.
Allen said the group has been in touch with police and was actively searching surrounding areas that are points of interest in the case.
“Yesterday we had about 150 Afghani men and children come out and look for this baby,” Allen said, adding that seeing the community come together has been “the most amazing thing.”
The Islamic Center of San Antonio is also supporting the family by offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who can help police find Lina.
The Crime Stoppers of San Antonio has offered an additional $50,000 for information resulting in the arrest or indictment of a suspect accused of any involvement in the disappearance.
Lina’s family moved to the U.S. in 2019, her father, Riaz Sardar Khil, told KENS5 through a translator.
Khil said at first they believed that their daughter could be with another Afghan family in the community but now they believe she may have been abducted.
“During our entire lives we have not been as saddened as we were yesterday and today,” he said.
Culturingua, a San Antonio nonprofit that has been helping with the search for Lina, is a leader of the Afghan refugee response collaboration, a citywide effort to support the large influx of Afghan refugees in San Antonio.
Culturingua CEO Nadia Mavrakis told ABC News on Tuesday the organization’s programs include community development in low income and moderate income areas with a high percentage of refugees, including Lina’s family.
“There is tremendous pressure placed on the refugee resettlement agencies as this high influx of Afghans are coming into the community,” Mavrakis said, adding that the coalition seeks to support the integration of Afghan families in the community through services that go “beyond the scope and capabilities of the case workers.”
Nader Mehdawi, COO of Culturingua, told ABC News one of the “biggest challenges” that families like Lina’s face is the language barrier.
“A lot of the Afghan refugees coming here, they only speak Pashto or Dari,” he said, adding that this is one of the reasons many refugees “struggle to find work.”
Mavrakis, who visited the family on Friday along with other staff members, said that Culturingua is one of the organizations that has offered translation support to the family as they communicate with police and navigate the legal system.
The Afghan community started a GoFundMe account for the Khils so they can focus on the search for Lina and Culturingua has been working to get the word out to the Afghan community and the organizations within their network, she added.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are using the impending one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to put a fine point on their efforts to shore up the nation’s election system.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in floor remarks Tuesday, said the same misinformation and malice that led a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election to storm the Capitol is fueling voter suppression laws in GOP-controlled statehouses.
“As we remember January 6 this week and as we confront state level voter suppression, we must be clear they are not isolated developments. They are all directly linked to the same anti-Democratic poison of the big lie,” Schumer said, referencing misinformation about the election results espoused by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
Democrats have for months been trying to push some sort of voting reform through the chamber, citing research from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan independent organization that analyzes election rules, that found that 19 states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for Americans to vote.
But those legislative efforts have faced an unrelenting blockade from Republicans, who oppose federal election reform because they say it is unnecessary and takes power away from the states to control their own elections.
“There’s been a lot of talk about big lies, the big lie on the other side is that state legislators controlled by Republicans are trying to make it difficult for people to vote,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a press conference Tuesday. “If you actually read the legislation that has been passed that’s clearly not the case.”
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
Multiple attempts at passing legislation have fizzled because of the Senate filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to begin debate on a piece legislation. Continued Republican blocks have prompted Democrats to up the ante and many, including Schumer, are calling for a revision to the rules to allow voting reform to pass with a simple majority.
This is far from the first call for a change to the filibuster rules made by Democrats in the evenly divided Senate, but a rule change would require unanimous support from all Senate Democrats, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have been clear they won’t support a carve out, even for voting rights.
But on Tuesday, Manchin moved slightly off his hardline stance, refusing to rule out a Democratic-only solution on voting rights if Republicans refused to negotiate. Manchin called passing a change to the Senate rules a “heavy lift” while speaking to reporters and emphasized that his “preference” would be Republican buy-in, but he stopped short of calling Republican support a “red line”
“That’s my preference,” Manchin said when asked if GOP support was necessary. “I would have to exhaust everything in my ability to talk and negotiate with people before I start doing things that other people might think need to be done.”
It was enough to give some Democrats a sliver of hope that the West Virginia moderate might be softening his position after months of talks.
But later in the day, after a one-hour, closed-door meeting with Schumer and a handful of key Democrats on voting rights and rules changes, Manchin insisted, “The filibuster needs to stay in place in any way, shape or form that we can do it.”
The senator did, however, express support for making it easier to begin debate on a bill.
(AURORA, Colo.) — Taniya Freeman, 14, was found on Tuesday in Aurora, Colorado, after being reported missing over the weekend. A spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department said that she’s now home safe with her mother.
Freeman’s father, Nigel Freeman, said the family had no additional comment but that they appreciated everyone who shared the posts about their missing daughter on social media.
Taniya left her father’s home between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, her mother, Tiana Wilder, told ABC News earlier on Tuesday.
Wilder urged her daughter to come home.
“We miss her. We love her, of course, and the safest place for her to be is here with us,” she said.
The Aurora Police Department said Taniya has long hair with pink streaks and may have a backpack with her. Wilder said that she believed her daughter was wearing a black hoodie and red pants.
Wilder previously said her daughter didn’t have a history of running away and that there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, as far as arguments or yelling, that night.
“I have no idea who she is with; where she is at and that’s my concern,” Wilder said prior to her daughter being found. “So as far as any harm coming, yeah, I am worried.”
Agent Matthew Longshore, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department, had told ABC News that the department was working with limited information. “Our investigators are still following up on different leads and we’re trying to find her,” he said.
“If her friends know something, tell us. And [don’t] think that they are snitching on her or getting her trouble,” Wilder had said. “Whatever they know that could be helpful is what we need to know.”
Jim Spellman/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rush pinball machine has arrived.
Last month, the company Stern Pinball teased that a game dedicated to the Canadian prog legends was in the works. Now, Stern has officially revealed the details of the machine.
Not only will the game feature 16 Rush songs, such as “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “2112” and “Fly By Night,” but it also includes custom-recorded dialog by surviving band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
In a behind-the-scenes video, you can watch Lee and Lifeson recording their parts alongside pinball enthusiast and fellow Canadian rocker Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies.
“I particularly love it when a pinball machine taunts you,” Robertson tells Lifeson while coaching his voiceover performance.
The Rush pinball machine will be seen in action for the first time during a virtual event at the 2022 Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, taking place January 5-8.
