The 94th Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday night, and one of the nominees for Best Original Song is Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s “Dos Oruguitas (Two Little Caterpillars)” from the Disney hit Encanto. If he wins, Miranda will achieve an EGOT: He’ll have an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Latin superstar Sebastián Yatra, who sings the song in the movie, and will perform it at the Oscars, tells ABC Audio that he’s rooting for Lin-Manuel to win.
In the Best Original Song category, it’s only the songwriter who wins the Oscar, not the performer, but Yatra says, “For me, I feel like I’m nominated as well and being a part of this song is just something that I couldn’t be more thankful for.”
As for Lin-Manuel, Yatra says, “I really hope that he takes it because he deserves it. And it’s a song that’s going to be part of Disney’s history, and it’s touched so many souls. There’s really no bigger award than that.”
While the Oscars have announced that Sunday night’s telecast on ABC will include the first-ever live performance of that otherEncanto song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” it’s not clear if Yatra will perform “Dos Oruguitas” as part of that segment, or another one. But either way, Yatra says he’s stoked.
“We’re definitely excited, super-excited to go there, and I’m excited to represent my country [of Colombia] at, like, the most prestigious gathering that there is,” he says.
As for the “Bruno” performance, it’ll include not only cast members Adassa, Stephanie Beatriz, Mauro Castillo, Carolina Gaitan and Diane Guerrero, but also Latin stars Becky G and Mr. “Despacito” himself, Luis Fonsi.
The Academy Awards start at 8 p.m EDT/5 p.m. PDT on ABC Sunday night.
Maren Morris’ Humble Quest album arrives today, and now there’s a big item on the singer’s to-do list: Go out and find a physical copy to buy from a store.
“Yes, I will be [buying my own CD]!” Maren said during a Twitter Q&A about the project this week, after a fan asked whether she would be grabbing a copy of the record herself.
In fact, that’s something Maren does with every project, she went on to say. “It’s tradition. 3 for 3,” she said, nodding to the fact that Humble Quest is her third project, and the third that she’ll be picking up in-store.
During the fan Q&A, Maren also fielded lots of different questions from fans about her new music. She said that the most personal song on the project is “Hummingbird,” a song she wrote about her son, Hayes.
Maren also named Hayes as a guest vocalist on Humble Quest, said that Sheryl Crow and Carole King were some of the artists she was listening to while making the record and warned fans that they might need a tissue for “one or two” tracks on the album.
Shinedown has released another new song off the band’s upcoming album, Planet Zero.
The track is called “The Saints of Violence and Innuendo,” and finds frontman Brent Smith singing about a “world where empathy goes to die.” You can listen to it now via digital outlets.
“The Saints of Violence and Innuendo” is the second cut to be released from Planet Zero, following the title track. The song “Planet Zero” has been the number-one single on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart for the last four weeks.
Planet Zero the album drops April 22. Shinedown will launch a U.S. tour ahead of the record’s arrival April 1 in Spokane, Washington, with support from The Pretty Reckless and Diamante. That run will be followed by a summer Canadian outing with Pop Evil and Ayron Jones, and then a return to the U.S. in September with “Dead Man Walking” artist Jelly Roll.
Love reigned over Zak Starkey this week! People reports that on Monday, Ringo Starr‘s oldest son and The Who‘s touring drummer since the 1990s got married to his longtime partner and fellow musician, Sharna “Sshh” Liguz.
According to the the magazine, the nuptials took place in West Hollywood, California, at the Sunset Marquis, and featured an intimate gathering of family and friends.
Ringo was on hand to give his son away, while two other rock greats, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, served as Zak’s best men. Zak played in Marr’s group Johnny Marr & The Healers during the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Zak, 56, and Sharna, 37, have been a couple for almost 20 years, and picked Monday to get hitched because it was the first birthday of their daughter, Luna Lee Lightnin.
In a statement shared with People, Zak and Sharna wrote, “After 18 years together, Luna’s umbilical cord kinda tied the knot but we wanted to make it official and share with our friends and family in the U.S., before doing the same in Jamaica and the U.K.”
Starkey also posted a message on his Instagram page on Wednesday that reads, “Great to be solid with the greatest girl in the world. And to celebrate Luna’s no1 birthday. Thanks to everyone who came from near far wide abstract and online. Our dearest friends in da USA — great to see u at our wedding and experience true party stamina. Feels great to be wed to the woman I have loved for 18 years.”
Zak and Sharna record and perform together as the rock duo Sshh, and also co-founded the record label Trojan Jamaica.
Dave Grohl has finally unleashed his metal EP as Dream Widow.
The self-titled eight-track collection, which is available now via digital outlets, finds the Foo Fighters frontman channeling his inner ’80s thrasher while performing every instrument and handling lead vocals.
Dream Widow, which takes its name from the fictional band that haunts the Foos in their new Studio 666 horror movie, begins with the lyrics “Take the f***in’ dagger/Draw the pentagram” off the 90-second opening track, “Encino.”
However, Grohl is certainly taking Dream Widow seriously — the collection ends with two songs, “Becoming” and “Lacrimus dei Ebrius,” that push over seven and 10 minutes, respectively.
In between head-banging to Dream Widow, you can watch Studio 666 now on-demand. The film stars the six Foo members as fictional versions of themselves as they try to record an album in a spooky mansion haunted by supernatural forces.
(NEW YORK) — When it comes to the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, brackets are either busted or booming. So one brand came up with a way to sweeten the experience for everyone.
Krispy Kreme announced on Thursday that through Sunday, March 27 all guests who bring in their bracket — whether it’s on paper or an app — will receive a free Original Glazed doughnut each day they do so.
You always win with team #KrispyKreme🙌 TODAY 3/24 – 3/27, you can visit any US shop to show us your booming or busted bracket & we’ll give you one FREE Original Glazed #doughnut! Yes…we’re serious! 🍩 See full offer details & participating US shops at https://t.co/Ks0SA31BkDpic.twitter.com/x4pPcfClsR
Customers who join the confectioner’s rewards program can also get a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts for just $1 with the purchase of any regularly priced dozen through Monday, April 4.
The offer is valid in shop, drive thru and online with the Krispy Kreme app.
(NEW YORK) — Pale pastel colors and fresh fruit are just a couple of indicators that we’ve left winter behind and moved on to sunnier spring days ahead.
Dairy Queen has embraced both the flavors and colors for spring with a dose of nostalgia for its latest limited-time menu addition.
The light purple hued fruity blast dipped cone is made with DQ world-famous soft serve in a cone that’s dipped into a fruity cereal flavored shell.
(WASHINGTON) — In the fall of 2020, after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the presidential election, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, repeatedly urged White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to attempt to overturn the election results, according to text messages obtained by congressional investigators.
“Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!” Thomas wrote to Meadows on Nov. 10 after the election was officially called for Biden. “You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”
Sources familiar with the text messages, which were obtained by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, confirmed their authenticity to ABC News. The content of the messages was first reported by The Washington Post and CBS News.
Meadows, who did not respond to all of Thomas’ missives, texted in late November that Trump’s challenge of the election results was “a fight of good versus evil.”
“Evil always looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs,” he wrote. “Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues. I have staked my career on it. Well at least my time in DC on it.”
“Thank you!! Needed that! This plus a conversation with my best friend just now … I will try to keep holding on. America is worth it,” Thomas replied.
The messages — more than two dozen between Thomas and Meadows in November of 2020, and one from Jan. 10 — were among the thousands of pages of text messages, emails and documents Meadows voluntarily turned over to the committee last year, before he reversed course and decided not to cooperate with the inquiry.
Thomas did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News. A spokesman for the committee declined to comment on the messages or their contents.
Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, told the Washington Free Beacon in March that she and her husband don’t talk to each other about their work.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America,” Thomas told the conservative news outlet. “But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.”
Thomas said that she attended the “Stop the Steal” rally outside the White House on Jan. 6, but left early because it was cold. She said she had no role in planning the event.
Regarding the attack on the Capitol, Thomas told the Free Beacon she was “disappointed and frustrated that there was violence that happened following a peaceful gathering.”
Ethics experts have raised questions about Thomas’ work on major issues that come before the Supreme Court, on which her husband sits.
In January, the court declined to block the Jan. 6 committee from obtaining Trump White House records over the objection of only one justice: Clarence Thomas.
“There were some eyebrows raised when Justice Thomas was that lone vote,” said Kate Shaw, ABC News Supreme Court analyst and Cardozo Law professor. “But he did not explain himself, so we don’t actually know why he wished to take up the case.”
There are no explicit ethics guidelines that govern the activities of a justice’s spouse, experts say, but there are rules about justices avoiding conflicts of interest. Federal law requires that federal judges recuse themselves from cases whenever their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
The Rocket Man turns 75 today, and Elton John is marking his milestone birthday by issuing a statement summing up his feelings about where he is now in his life and career.
“I’m not usually one to look back or get nostalgic, but 75 is such a milestone birthday. I’ll definitely find time today to take stock and thank my lucky stars for my wonderful family, friends and career,” Elton says in a statement.
“I feel unbelievably lucky that at 75 I still love what I do so much — I’m still so energized about music and excited I get to play, listen and talk about this every single day,” he adds. “Being back on the road is a blast and the thrill of playing live is as amazing as it was 50 years ago.”
He concludes, “I have so much to pass on to the new generation of fans and artists alike, and I’m determined to keep giving back to the industry that has given me so much.”
In celebration of Elton’s birthday, his greatest hits album, Diamonds, has been released to streaming platforms in Dolby Atmos, a technology that makes music more immersive and detailed. In addition, he’s Dua Lipa‘s guest on the new episode of her podcast Dua Lipa: At Your Service.
Elton performs in Des Moines, IA on Saturday, and on Sunday, his 30th annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party will take place, hosted by Elton’s husband, David Furnish, along with Lady Gaga, who’s the godmother to Elton’s sons, and Emmy-winning actors Billy Porter and Eric McCormack.
As for Elton himself, the Oscar-winning singer will be performing his Farewell Yellow Brick Show concert in Lincoln, NE, on Oscar Sunday — a date he refused to change, as his fans had waited so long to see him.
Cardi B is showing off a different side of herself on the remix to Summer Walker and SZA‘s track, “No Love.”
The new version of the R&B track, official titled “No Love (Extended Version),” dropped Friday and features an assist from the rapper — but she’s not just rapping on the track: she’s singing, too.
Cardi hops on at the beginning and sings, “Here I am there you are / Falling out of love again / I don’t know just how to feel it’s hard to meet you where you are / I needed some time apart,” before returning to her usual rap flow.
The “Up” rapper switches it up one more time and sings again, before Summer and SZA’s “No Love” continues as normal.
In addition to the remix, the trio also released a sultry and seductive music video for the track.
Taking to Twitter shortly after the release, Summer wrote, “I hope y’all love the “no love” Extended video as much as I do.”
“Thank you @itsSeanBankhead for getting me out my comfort zone and @iamcardib & @sza for making this song so special,” she added. “And shout out to all the signs…we love y’all.”
“No Love (Extended Version)” is available to stream now.
