The new recording features the former Police frontman joined by Mexican singer/songwriter KURT, an emerging Latin pop star.
The song is available now via streaming services and as a digital download, while a music video featuring Sting and KURT performing the tune together has premiered on YouTube.
“KURT is a wonderful singer who performs with great authority, sensitivity, and passion,” Sting says in a statement. “I thoroughly enjoyed working together with him on this song.”
Adds Kurt, who used to perform Sting’s songs when he would perform in bars early in his career, “For me, collaborating with Sting has been like getting to know one of my music superheroes…it’s a dream come true, and a true honor.”
As previously reported, “For Your Love” was featured on Sting’s most recent studio album, 2021’s The Bridge, and he was inspired to create a Spanish version during a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he was captivated by the scenery of Baja, California, and the views of the Gulf of California. The original version of “Por Su Amor” was released in February.
The Spanish lyrics for the tune were written by musician, songwriter and producer Martin Kierszenbaum, who is also Sting’s manager. Martin also co-wrote of “For Her Love” and co-produced The Bridge album with Sting, as well as contributing keyboards to “Por Su Amor” and The Bridge.
The long-running ABC reality competition series Dancing with the Stars is sashaying to Disney+.
“Dancing with the Stars has entertained fans for 16 years on ABC, and we are excited to bring this beloved show exclusively to Disney+ as the platform’s first-ever live series, noted Kareem Daniel, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution chairman, in a surprise announcement.
Season 31 and 32 will run live on the streaming service starting this fall.
“The show’s broad appeal, as well as the overwhelming popularity of its Disney-themed competition nights, make Disney+ the perfect home for DWTS,” Daniel added.
An Instagram post announcing the move was liked by tens of thousands of fans, and earned “praise hands” from dancer Witney Carson, who said, “Huge!” Other dancing pros also replied with their support.
Over the show’s 30 seasons on ABC, the BBC Studios-produced show earned multiple Emmys, and its fall 2021 run, hosted by co-executive producer Tyra Banks, ranked among the top five unscripted series in the 18-49 demographic.
Network execs are reportedly aiming to fill DWTS‘ traditional Monday night slot with NFL football.
It’s a big day for Jack White. In addition to releasing his new solo album Fear of the Dawn on Friday, he performed the national anthem ahead of his hometown Detroit Tigers baseball team’s Opening Day game.
The White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather rocker led a slide-heavy instrumental rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on electric guitar, while backed by a three-piece band featuring drums, bass and keys.
White, of course, is a big baseball fan — you may remember that he co-owns the baseball bat company Warstic. However, his love of baseball may be overshadowed by the Sad Jack White meme, which captured him looking grumpy at a Chicago Cubs game several years ago.
White’s eventful day continues Friday with the launch of his Supply Issues headlining tour in Detroit. The massive outing is set to stretch all the way into September.
Don’t count Sam Smith among the artists who become upset when a song of theirs flops. In fact, the “Stay with Me” singer is grateful for the experience.
“I think having a few absolute stinkers in there is wonderful… Because you’ve got to dare greatly right?” Sam tells Spotify.
Noting their 2014 song “Money On My Mind,” the British singer revealed, “I’m really happy that I shot for the sky with some songs.”
Sam believes more artists should adopt this mindset, explaining, “There’s so much music snobbery out there.” They add, “Every single person has made a bad song. That is a fact,” which means artists should turn that disappointment into a learning opportunity to become even better.
The “Latch” singer also hinted against taking oneself seriously in the music industry because, according to them, “Absolutely no one knows what they’re doing.”
“Even the biggest writers in the world, who have written so many hits, they can pretend like they do, but they don’t know. They don’t know the magic,” they attested.
Sam reflected on their bigger hits and said the best advice they have about finding success is, “Keep your ears open at all times.”
“With writing music in the room with people, you just need to lean into the thing you’re good at,” they continued. “Some people are led by lyrics, but I’m definitely always led by a melody. When I’m in the room… I just sing and sing and sing until someone says, ‘That makes me feel good.'”
Another piece of advice is: “Never lower your standards.”
Said Sam, “You know what you need. And if you don’t know what you need, you need to ask yourself what you need. And then do not stop until you get that.”
Marvel Studios’ sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has bested The Batman, becoming the biggest movie in 2022 to date in terms of ticket pre-sales on Fandango.
Advance tickets went on sale on Thursday, and Fandango tells ABC Audio the Sorcerer Supreme conjured up “staggering” numbers of fans, with showtimes selling out for the May 6 release, leading theater chains to add showtimes to keep up with demand. It’s showing the biggest pre-sales since Spider-Man: No Way Home last year.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars at least two versions of Benedict Cumberbatch‘s title character, as well as returning Marvel movie players Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Rachel McAdams, as well as newcomer Xochitl Gomez, and X-Men veteran Patrick Stewart.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Oliver Contreras/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden celebrated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation to the Supreme Court at the White House on Friday with a tearful Jackson delivering a powerful message in perseverance.
“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. But we’ve made it,” Jackson said, clutching tissues in her hand. “We’ve made it — all of us. All of us. And our children are telling me that they see now more than ever that here in America, anything is possible.”
Reminding that her family, in one generation, went from “segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States,” she said she hopes her ascension to the court is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride.
“The path was cleared for me, so that I might rise to this occasion, and in the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, ‘I do so now while bringing the gifts my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave,'” she said.
“In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the supreme court of the United States. And it is an honor, the honor of a lifetime, for me to have this chance to join the court, to promote the rule of law at the highest level, and to do my part to carry our shared project of democracy and equal justice under law forward into the future,” Jackson said.
Biden, donning his trademark Aviator sunglasses when he stepped out onto the South Lawn, spoke before Jackson, calling it “not only a sunny day.”
“This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women, so many young Black women,” Biden began. “We’re going to look back and see this as a moment of real change in American history.”
Biden recalled the promise he made in the 2020 presidential campaign — ahead of the South Carolina primary — to nominate the court’s first Black woman.
“I could see it as a day of hope. A day of promise. A day of progress. A day when once again the moral arc of the universe — Barack used to quote all the time — bends a little more toward justice,” Biden said.
While he thanked the three Republicans who broke party ranks to vote for Jackson, who were invited but not in attendance at Friday’s event, Biden blasted those on the committee for their treatment of his first nominee.
“It was verbal abuse, the anger, the constant interruptions, the vilest, baseless assertions and accusations,” Biden said. “In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses.”
As the event kicked off Friday afternoon, scores of guests gathered on the lawn, chatting and taking photos with a flag-draped South Portico behind them under a sunny April sky as the Marine Corps band played patriotic tunes. Jackson’s parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, who grew up under segregation in the South, her husband, Patrick, a general surgeon, and their two daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17, were front row to witness the historic moment.
Kamala Harris was the first to deliver remarks at the outdoor event on the White House South Lawn, calling it a “wonderful day” before a cheering crowd, and offering the public a powerful image of the first Black female vice president alongside the first Black woman to soon sit on the Supreme Court.
“The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you — and they will see, for the first time, four women sitting on that court,” Harris said to applause.
When she is sworn in after Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of the term, Jackson will also serve on the first-ever high court where white men constitute a minority of the membership, and become the first former public defender and first Florida-raised judge to sit on the Supreme Court.
Her Senate confirmation by a 53-47 bipartisan vote Thursday marked a big political win for Biden’s long-term legacy — and his short-term efforts to energize Democrats. But a cluster of positive COVID cases since Monday, including some like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who have had contact with Biden, has raised questions about whether the celebration could turn into a superspreader event.
Jackson, the first Black woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in its 233-year history, joined Biden in the Roosevelt Room Thursday afternoon to watch Democratic senators and other supporters break out in applause when Harris announced the vote.
But what should be considered a celebration for Democrats and the Biden White House risks being overshadowed by the pandemic Biden said this week is “under control.”
A growing number of Washington officials have tested positive for COVID, including two Cabinet members, two White House staffers, and at least 13 members of Congress.
Harris was in “close contact” with her communications director who tested positive, but she presided over Jackson’s vote in the Senate chamber without a mask just two days later. According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone deemed a close contact should “wear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public.”
“After consulting with a White House physician and reviewing CDC guidance, which we do for all engagements, the Vice President presided over the Senate while practicing social distancing — with limited and brief interactions from her chair. In addition, the Vice President tested negative today, and will continue to maintain strong protocols and follow the CDC’s guidance,” a White House official told ABC News.
The highly transmissible BA.2 variant appears to be closing in on Biden, 79, after he also appeared with Pelosi at two White House events this week — even sharing a kiss at one — prior to her positive COVID test.
Some 200 guests were invited to Friday’s ceremony including Jackson’s family, all current and former Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, some members of the House, Democratic members of Congress from Florida — Jackson’s home state — and all 53 senators who voted for Jackson’s confirmation. No justices will attend, however, ABC News has been told.
While Biden is sure to want Republicans on hand for the victory lap as he aims to shore up the court’s credibility and Jackson’s vote, all three who voted for Jackson won’t be there. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine won’t be attending after she also tested positive for COVID this week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was traveling to Alaska and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who gave Jackson a standing ovation in the Senate chamber, won’t attend either, his office said, but didn’t explain why.
The White House insists it won’t be a repeat of former President Donald Trump’s infamous and maskless Rose Garden event in October 2020 at which he nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the court, but with hugging and maskless photos likely as part of Friday’s festivities, the White House risks appearances at odds with CDC protocols and public messaging it has touted.
While the White House has said Biden and his inner circle follow the strictest COVID protocols for safety, Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, notably is now acknowledging that it’s possible the president will test positive for COVID “at some point.”
“The president is vaccinated and double boosted, and so protected from severe COVID. We take every precaution to ensure that we keep him safe, we keep the vice president safe, the first lady, second gentleman, our staff here,” she said on CNN Friday morning. “But, you know, it is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID and he is vaccinated, he is boosted and protected from the most severe strains of the virus.”
While masks are no longer required at the White House, senior administration officials say the president continues to be tested regularly and people meeting with him are also required to be tested. All White House employees also undergo regular testing.
When pressed on Thursday by ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if those protocols also apply for other individuals meeting with the president, such as invited guests, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they assess each event on a “case-by-case” basis.
“Now, if you are at an event, obviously there are assessments made on a case by case. But if somebody is going to be in close proximity, standing next to him, sitting next to him on a stage, that would be obviously different than a broad group of attendees,” she said.
Jack Johnson has announced a new album called Meet the Moonlight.
The eighth studio effort from the “Flake” artist will arrive June 24. You can listen to the lead single “One Step Ahead” now via digital outlets.
“When [producer] Blake [Mills] and I first got in touch we’d send each other playlists, and over time we realized we were drawn to music that sounds effortless despite all the effort put into making it,” Johnson says. “After a while we got a language together and I gained a trust in him that allowed me to let go, push outside my comfort zone, and get to a sound I really loved.”
Meet the Moonlight is Johnson’s first album in five years, following 2017’s All the Light Above It Too. More recently, he teamed up with Milky Chance for the 2020 single “Don’t Let Me Down.”
Johnson will launch a U.S. tour in support of Meet the Moonlight in June. The outing will stretch all the way into October.
The Rolling Stones, Genesis and Green Day are among the artists who have been nominated for multiple honors at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
All three bands are in the running for the Top Tour and the Top Rock Tour awards — The Rolling Stones for their No Filter tour, Genesis for its The Last Domino? trek, and Green Day for the Hella Mega tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer.
The Eagles‘ Hotel California trek and pop star Harry Styles‘ Love on Tour also received nods for the Top Tour honor.
Meanwhile, Elton John will be competing for the Top Dance/Electronic Song prize for his duet with Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” while the Sing 2 soundtrack, which features the new U2 song “Young Song Saved My Life,” has been nominated for the Top Soundtrack trophy.
The 2022 Billboard Music Awards will air live May 15 on NBC. The winners will be decided based on Billboard chart figures for the tracking period between March 26, 2021, through March 17, 2022.
For more info and to check out the full list of nominees, visit Billboard.com.
Oliver Contreras/for The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden celebrated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court at a large-scale event at the White House on Friday amid new concerns about COVID spreading among Washington’s power players.
Biden, donning his trademark Aviator sunglasses when he stepped out onto the South Lawn, said it was “not only a sunny day.”
“This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women, so many young Black women,” Biden began.”We’re going to look back and see this as a moment of real change in American history.”
Biden recalled the promise he made in the 2020 presidential campaign — ahead of the South Carolina primary — to nominate the court’s first Black woman.
“I could see it as a day of hope. A day of promise. A day of progress. A day when once again the moral arc of the universe — Barack used to quote all the time — bends a little more toward justice,” Biden said.
The president hailed Jackson’s performance at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings — where he said Jackson showed that she’ll be an impartial, fair and thoughtful justice, and called her a “brilliant legal mind with deep knowledge of the law and judicial temperament … that is calm and in command. And humility that allows so many Americans to see themselves in Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
While he thanked the three Republicans who broke party ranks to vote for Jackson, who were invited but not in attendance at Friday’s event, Biden blasted those on the committee for their treatment of his first nominee.
“It was verbal abuse, the anger, the constant interruptions, the vilest, baseless assertions and accusations,” Biden said. “In the face of it all, Judge Jackson showed the incredible character and integrity she possesses.”
As the event kicked off Friday afternoon, scores of guests gathered on the lawn, chatting and taking photos with a flag-draped South Portico behind them under a sunny April sky as the Marine Corps band played patriotic tunes. Jackson’s parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, who grew up under segregation in the South, her husband, Patrick, a general surgeon, and their two daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17, were front row to witness the historic moment.
Kamala Harris was the first to deliver remarks at the outdoor event on the White House South Lawn, calling it a “wonderful day” before a cheering crowd, and offering the public a powerful image of the first Black female vice president alongside the first Black woman to soon sit on the Supreme Court.
“The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you — and they will see, for the first time, four women sitting on that court,” Harris said to applause.
When she is sworn in after Justice Stephen Breyer retires at the end of the term, Jackson will also serve on the first-ever high court where white men constitute a minority of the membership, and become the first former public defender and first Florida-raised judge to sit on the Supreme Court.
Her Senate confirmation by a 53-47 bipartisan vote Thursday marked a big political win for Biden’s long-term legacy — and his short-term efforts to energize Democrats. But a cluster of positive COVID cases since Monday, including some like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who have had contact with Biden, has raised questions about whether the celebration could turn into a superspreader event.
Jackson, the first Black woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in its 233-year history, joined Biden in the Roosevelt Room Thursday afternoon to watch Democratic senators and other supporters break out in applause when Harris announced the vote.
But what should be considered a celebration for Democrats and the Biden White House risks being overshadowed by the pandemic Biden said this week is “under control.”
A growing number of Washington officials have tested positive for COVID, including two Cabinet members, two White House staffers, and at least 13 members of Congress.
Harris was in “close contact” with her communications director who tested positive, but she presided over Jackson’s vote in the Senate chamber without a mask just two days later. According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone deemed a close contact should “wear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public.”
“After consulting with a White House physician and reviewing CDC guidance, which we do for all engagements, the Vice President presided over the Senate while practicing social distancing — with limited and brief interactions from her chair. In addition, the Vice President tested negative today, and will continue to maintain strong protocols and follow the CDC’s guidance,” a White House official told ABC News.
The highly transmissible BA.2 variant appears to be closing in on Biden, 79, after he also appeared with Pelosi at two White House events this week — even sharing a kiss at one — prior to her positive COVID test.
Some 200 guests were invited to Friday’s ceremony including Jackson’s family, all current and former Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, some members of the House, Democratic members of Congress from Florida — Jackson’s home state — and all 53 senators who voted for Jackson’s confirmation. No justices will attend, however, ABC News has been told.
While Biden is sure to want Republicans on hand for the victory lap as he aims to shore up the court’s credibility and Jackson’s vote, all three who voted for Jackson won’t be there. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine won’t be attending after she also tested positive for COVID this week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was traveling to Alaska and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who gave Jackson a standing ovation in the Senate chamber, won’t attend either, his office said, but didn’t explain why.
The White House insists it won’t be a repeat of former President Donald Trump’s infamous and maskless Rose Garden event in October 2020 at which he nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the court, but with hugging and maskless photos likely as part of Friday’s festivities, the White House risks appearances at odds with CDC protocols and public messaging it has touted.
While the White House has said Biden and his inner circle follow the strictest COVID protocols for safety, Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, notably is now acknowledging that it’s possible the president will test positive for COVID “at some point.”
“The president is vaccinated and double boosted, and so protected from severe COVID. We take every precaution to ensure that we keep him safe, we keep the vice president safe, the first lady, second gentleman, our staff here,” she said on CNN Friday morning. “But, you know, it is certainly possible that he will test positive for COVID and he is vaccinated, he is boosted and protected from the most severe strains of the virus.”
While masks are no longer required at the White House, senior administration officials say the president continues to be tested regularly and people meeting with him are also required to be tested. All White House employees also undergo regular testing.
When pressed on Thursday by ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if those protocols also apply for other individuals meeting with the president, such as invited guests, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they assess each event on a “case-by-case” basis.
“Now, if you are at an event, obviously there are assessments made on a case by case. But if somebody is going to be in close proximity, standing next to him, sitting next to him on a stage, that would be obviously different than a broad group of attendees,” she said.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — A jury found two men not guilty Friday on charges connected to an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a mistrial was called on two remaining suspects after the jury was deadlocked on their charges.
Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were all arrested in October 2020 following an FBI sting operation against a militia group of which they were alleged members, and had openly protested Whitmer’s COVID-19 policies. All four were charged with kidnapping conspiracy. Fox, Croft and Harris were also charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
The jury was deadlocked on all the counts against Adam Fox and Barry Croft. The judge declared a mistrial on those charges for those men.
The jury found Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta not guilty on all counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Harris was also found not guilty of weapons of mass destruction and unlawful firearm charges.
Whitmer’s office released a statement after the verdict thanking the investigators and prosecutors for their work but said the plot was “the result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country.”
“There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened,” her office said in a statement.
Two other suspects who were allegedly part of the conspiracy, Kaleb Franks and Ty Garbin, were also arrested and later pleaded guilty to weapons and conspiracy charges.
Federal prosecutors alleged the group had meticulously planned to kidnap the governor and hold her hostage along with others at the state Capitol in Lansing. Investigators said the men allegedly acquired weapons, ammunition and materials for explosives and conducted surveillance of the governor’s home.
“The evidence proves all of them were already willing to commit the crime,” U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said during closing arguments on April 1.
Undercover FBI agents infiltrated the group and recorded conversations of their alleged plotting.
The suspects’ attorneys contended that their clients did not intend to kidnap Whitmer and they were coerced by the FBI agents.
Defense attorney Christopher Gibbons told the jury that the government’s claims that Fox was the ringleader of the operation were unfounded.
“He talks bad government talk. Talk, it’s just talk,” he said during closing arguments on March 31.
Prosecutors argued that they did not entrap any of the men accused because investigators saw the men had an alleged pattern of anti-government and hateful rhetoric, and that they were serious about carrying out the plot if they were not stopped.
Javed Ali, the former senior counterterrorism leader on the National Security Council, said Friday’s verdicts were a significant legal development when it comes to federal prosecutions.
“In a post-9/11 counterterrorism world, the Department of Justice has rarely lost high profile counterterrorism cases based on successful entrapment claims, and this development punches a hole in that relatively unblemished track record the past two decades,” he told ABC News. “It may also give momentum to other anti-government groups and extremists who believe in similar causes like those pursued by the individuals in this case.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
