The apocalyptic dark comedy Don’t Look Up is in theaters now, and Ariana Grande has also dropped the music video for “Just Look Up,” the single she performed with Kid Cudi for the movie.
Ariana plays pop star Riley Bina, who is charged with writing the prophetic song to tell the world a planet-killing meteor is hurtling toward Earth.
The performance video begins with Ari, dressed in a flowing white gown, belting out her haunting vocals while suspended high above the stage. She then floats down to join Cudi, who plays DJ Chello in the film, as he lays down an apologetic verse about not being man enough during her time of need.
The two hold hands for a brief moment before Ari redirects the song back to the subject at hand — everyone is going to die.
“Look up, what he’s really trying to say / Is get your head out of your a** / Listen to the godd*** qualified scientists,” she croons, but the message appears to fly over the cheering audience’s heads because they are still lifting up their phones and swaying to the music.
The music video also features a cameo from Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, who star as the two astronomers that discover the planet-killing meteor. The pair are seen standing on the side of the stage so they can observe the blissfully unaware crowd.
Don’t Look Upis in theaters now for a limited time before it heads to Netflix on December 24.
(NOTE: Embedded video contains uncensored profanity)
Chris Lane delivers a story song with a classic twist today, releasing his twang-heavy new love ballad, “Stop Coming Over.”
Though the title might call a breakup song to mind, this track is anything but. Its lyrics tell the story of a guy who’s already all-in on his relationship, and the obvious next step is to move in together.
“When I listened to this song for the first time and heard that hook, I knew I had to record it,” the singer says. “It’s so catchy and the songwriting is so clever, I just loved everything about it. I can’t wait for everyone to hear this one and perform it live for y’all on the road!”
Speaking of the road, Chris will have ample chance to work the song into his set list when he sets forth on the next leg of his Fill Them Boots Tour in January. That batch of shows is named for his current single, and he’s released a number of other new songs lately, too, including the heartstring-tugging “That’s What Mamas Are For” and his warm-weather anthem, “Summer Job Money.”
At home, Chris has got plenty of real-life inspiration to pull from for his love ballads. Earlier this year, the singer and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Dutton.
Freddie: Phil Dent/Redferns; Cohen: P. Lehman/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Rami Malek won the Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, but when the project was first proposed back in 2010, it was Sacha Baron Cohen who was originally cast as Mercury in the film. Now, Queen drummer Roger Taylor says he thinks Cohen would have been terrible in the role.
Cohen exited the project in 2013 over creative differences, and Malek was eventually cast. Now, Taylor tells Classic Rock magazine that he thinks Cohen would’ve been “utter s**t” in the role of Freddie.
“Sacha is pushy, if nothing else. He’s also six inches too tall,” Taylor continues. “But I watched his last five films and came to the conclusion he’s not a very good actor…I thought he was an utterly brilliant subversive comedian, that’s what he’s great at. Anyway, I think Rami did a brilliant job in an almost impossible role.”
“We kind of got it right in the end,” Taylor adds of Bohemian Rhapsody. “We wanted to take people on a journey, make them feel up and then down, then joyous at the end.”
The Academy might disagree with Taylor about Cohen’s acting abilities: He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 2020 movie The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Michael Nesmith, singer/guitarist and songwriter for The Monkees who went on to become a respected producer, and a pioneer in the nascent field of music video, has died at the age of 78.
The Monkees’ manager, Andrew Sandoval, confirmed the news on Facebook, writing, “It is with deep sadness that I mark the passing of Michael Nesmith. We shared many travels and projects together over the course of 30 years, which culminated in a Monkees farewell tour that wrapped up only a few weeks ago.”
“That tour was a true blessing for so many. And in the end I know that Michael was at peace with his legacy which included songwriting, producing, acting, direction and so many innovative ideas and concepts,” Sandoval continued. “I am positive the brilliance he captured will resonate and offer the love and light towards which he always moved.”
“Nez expressed the highest part of his being through his voice,” Sandoval wrote. “And you could get no closer to him then through knowing his work. May all those who loved him feel his comfort at this time – just listen and he will be there for you.”
He ended by posting a quote from Nesmith’s song “I’ll Remember You”: “Thank you for the times you gave me, thank you for the tears you saved me, please take this song as my thanks to you.”
Nesmith’s family toldRolling Stone in a statement, “With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes. We ask that you respect our privacy at this time and we thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us.”
His death leaves Micky Dolenz as the only living member of The Monkees. Fellow members Davy Jones and Peter Tork died in 2012 and 2019, respectively.
Most fans know that John Mellencamp is a talented painter, but it seems like his son is following in his footsteps.
On Friday, the rocker revealed that the painting on the cover of his new album Strictly a One-Eyed Jack— which shows him wearing an eyepatch — was done by his 26-year-old son, Speck Mellencamp.
Also on Friday, Mellencamp released another new song from the album, “Chasing Rainbows,” along with a lyric video. It’s the second song we’ve heard from the project, following the September release of a duet with Bruce Springsteen titled “Wasted Days.”
John also debuted a new acoustic tune from the album titled “I Always Lie to Strangers” during his performance at the 2021 Farm Aid concert in September.
Strictly a One-Eyed Jack will be released January 21.
(OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich.) — Michigan’s Oxford school district is reopening for the first time since last week’s deadly shooting at Oxford High School.
Four students were killed and seven people were hurt in the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township. The suspected gunman and his parents have been charged.
The high school has yet to reopen, but students in eighth grade and younger are returning to classrooms for a half-day on Friday, with several changes in place.
No backpacks are allowed in school through at least next week, Superintendent Tim Throne said in a statement Thursday.
Every building will have law enforcement, private security, trained trauma specialists and additional staff on-site, he said, and staff will undergo trauma-response training.
Every school will also have trained therapy dogs through the rest of the school year, he said.
Thorne also said that the district has software in place on school-provided accounts to manage “all outgoing content from students and staff” and immediately raise “any concerning images, links to websites and shared items from Google Drive for our technology safety and security team.”
Thorne said the schools “will be acknowledging, in an age/grade-appropriate way based on recommendations from trained mental health counselors and crisis response experts, why we have been closed for the last seven days.”
“If you and/or your child is struggling with the return to school, please contact your child’s principal so we can work to help them move forward,” he said.
Alec Baldwin made his first public appearance Thursday night since the tragic shooting that occurred on the set of his film, Rust.
The actor was the master of ceremonies for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ gala in New York City, a nonprofit that focuses on mass incarceration, gender-based violence, racial justice and more.
“Thank you for all coming out tonight. It’s great to be together in person. It’s great to be with everyone. My wife and I have six kids, anything to get out of the house for 30 minutes,” Baldwin said, according to People.
“He’s there. He’s there in good times and bad, in your good times and bad and his good times and bad, he always shows up,” Robert Kennedy‘s daughter, Kerry Kennedy, remarked of her and Alec’s near 40-year friendship. “I’m so proud.”
This is the first time Alec has appeared at an event since the prop gun he was using on the set of Rustdischarged a live round and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
In a recent interview with ABC News, Baldwin professed he would “go to any lengths to undo what happened,” while adding, “Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — was honored Friday at Washington National Cathedral before being brought back to his home state of Kansas and eventually laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.
President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy at the funeral service, which aired on ABC News and ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for public viewing.
He spoke of how Dole was gravely wounded in Anzio in Italy when hit by enemy fire in World War II, at the age of 21.
“Nearly eight decades on, we’ve gathered here in a world far different from the mountainous battlefield in 1945. But there’s something that connects that past and present, wartime and peace, then and now,” Biden said. “The courage, the grit, the goodness, and the grace of a 2nd lieutenant named Bob Dole, who became congressman Dole, senator Dole, statesman, husband, father, friend, colleague, and a word that’s often overused but not here, a genuine hero.”
Biden also addressed partisan divisions and infighting in the United States — and how Dole sought to bridge that divide.
“In his final days, Bob made it clear that he’s deeply concerned about the threat to American democracy,” he said. “Not from foreign nations but from the division tearing us apart from within. And this soldier reminded us, and I quote, ‘too many of us have sacrificed too much in defending freedom from foreign adversaries to allow our democracy to crumble under a state of infighting that goes more unacceptable day by day.'”
“We’re bidding this great American farewell. But we know that as long as we keep his spirit alive, as long as we see each other not as enemies but as neighbors and colleagues, as long as we remember that we’re here not to tear down but to build up; as long as we remember that, then taps will never sound for Bob Dole. For Bob will be with us always; cracking a joke, moving a bill, finding common ground,” he said.
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for 25 years and has praised the late Kansas lawmaker for wit that crossed party lines, gave formal remarks on Dole’s service to the nation on Thursday at a Capitol ceremony as Dole lay in state — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.
“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said, looking to Dole’s wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, and his daughter, Robin, who was expected to speak Friday. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”
Also delivering remarks were former Sen. Pat Roberts, a fellow Kansas Republican, and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, whose time serving as the Democratic leader overlapped with Dole’s leadership role.
After the funeral, Dole’s motorcade is scheduled to pause at the World War II Memorial for a ceremony paying tribute to his military service. There, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and actor Tom Hanks are expected to speak about Dole’s life.
His casket will then be flown to Kansas where Dole will be honored at funeral services in his hometown of Russell and at the Capitol in Topeka, where he served in the state legislature for two years before beginning a 36-year career in Congress.
Dole, who nearly died in WWII and was later awarded two Purple Hearts, served as the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton, who later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was starting treatment.
In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he pushed lawmakers to find common ground in difficult times, writing, “Those who suggest that compromise is a sign of weakness misunderstand the fundamental strength of our democracy.”
The photo shows William, Kate and their three children, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3, all smiling while on a trip to Jordan earlier this year.
The family is posing casually in the photo, with William, George and Louis wearing shorts and short-sleeve shirts and Kate and Charlotte each wearing a dress.
The photo was shared on William and Kate’s Instagram page Friday with the caption, “Delighted to share a new image of the family, which features on this year’s Christmas card.”
Their card last year featured the Cambridges sitting on haystacks and posing in front of stacks of firewood at Anmer Hall, the family’s country home in Norfolk, England.
The eighth studio effort from Chris Jericho and company — and their first since their 2017 breakout effort Judas — will arrive April 15. It includes the previously released singles “Sane” and “Nowhere to Run,” both of which hit the top 10 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
“Judas, both the album and the song, was a HUGE breakthrough for Fozzy,” Jericho says. “It took us to the next level and positioned us as legit players at rock radio and as a live draw. As a result, we knew that we had to follow up with the album of a lifetime…Boombox is that album!!”
Fozzy will hit the road in support of Boombox on a headlining tour kicking off March 2020. The outing includes an album release concert taking place April 11 in New York City.
