Alessia Cara was Jimmy Fallon‘s guest on Monday’s The Tonight Show, and also joined Fallon for the latest edition of his “Musical Genre Challenge.”
The game featured Fallon and Alessia singing popular tunes in different musical styles. For example, Alessia delivered Doja Cat‘s “Kiss Me More” in the style of a 1960s folk song, and Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI‘s song “Stay” as a jazz/swing tune.
Jimmy gave BTS‘ “Butter” an ’80s new wave twist and the Spider-Man theme a ’60s British invasion spin.
While chatting with Fallon, Alessia discussed her new Christmas single, “Jingle Bell Rock,” available on Amazon Music. As to why she chose that song over the many other holiday standards, she explained that while she normally gravitates to the more melancholy tunes, a “jolly and happy” song is what we all need right now. However, there was another reason she picked it.
“I wanted to sing the line, ‘Giddy-up jingle horse.” says Alessia, noting, “It makes you laugh, like, what is a jingle horse?”
The 25-year-old “Shapeshifter” singer also discussed her first band, formed with her cousins, called The Lilacs — “We performed very small venues like my living room, my family’s living room,” she recalled — and her acting turn in season two of Amazon’s Yearly Departed, alongside Jane Fonda, Chelsea Peretti, Meg Stalter, Dulcé Sloan, Aparna Nancherla, X Mayo and host Yvonne Orji.
Alessia will perform “Jingle Bell Rock, as well as her own song, “Make It to Christmas,” on NBC’s annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center, airing on Wednesday.
Rihanna has been declared a National Hero by her home country of Barbados.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the singer received the island nation’s high honor Monday night at the Pride of Nationhood ceremony in Bridgetown.
“May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honor to your nation by your works, by your actions,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the singer, referencing her 2012 hit “Diamonds.”
Rihanna becomes just the second woman to receive the National Hero honor, and the 11th person overall. She can now use the title of Right Honorable in front of her name.
At the same ceremony Monday, Barbados formally cut ties with the U.K. and removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. In doing so, Barbados becomes the world’s newest republic.
After telling Rolling Stone that she wasn’t going to do a Las Vegas residency because there were no venues available for her, Adele has gone ahead and — yep — announced a Las Vegas residency.
The superstar’s new show, titled Weekends with Adele, will take place at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, formerly the residency home of her idol, Celine Dion. The shows kick off January 21, 2022, with Adele performing two shows each weekend through Saturday, April 16.
You can access the pre-sale tickets for the shows by registering with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan® program. Registration is open now through midnight on Thursday, December 2. The presale itself will start Tuesday, December 7 at 1 p.m. ET. If demand for tickets exceeds the supply, there won’t be a public on-sale at all, so this is your best bet.
Adele also told Rolling Stone that she didn’t want to do a regular tour, due to uncertainties about COVID-19. A Vegas residency would allow her to control the situation more easily, and since she lives in Los Angeles, flying in and out would make it easy on her — pun intended — since she wouldn’t have to leave her son, Angelo, for long periods of time.
Here are the dates for Weekends with Adele:
January 21/22
January 28/29
February 4/5
February 11/12
February 25/26
March 4/5
March 11/12
March 18/19
March 25/26
April 1/2
April 8/9
April 15/16
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Describing what seems like a scene from a movie, Bradley Cooper reveals he was held at gunpoint on a New York City subway.
During Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the 46-year-old actor and filmmaker recounted the terrifying incident.
“I used to walk around New York City all the time with these [headphones] on — this was pre-pandemic — I was on the subway [at] 11:45 to pick up [his daughter] Lea downtown at Russian school and I got held up at knifepoint. It was pretty insane,” Cooper began.
Cooper said that he was “all the way at the end of the subway” when he felt someone’s presence.
“I thought, Oh, they want to take a photo or something,” he continued. “As I turned, I’m up against the post like it’s the French Connection or some s***, and I turned. I looked down and I see a knife.”
The five-time Academy Award nominee shared that he couldn’t “hear anything” because he had headphones but recalled being taken by how “young” the person looked.
Explaining how he got out of the situation, Cooper recalled, “I just started booking, just started running. I jumped over the turnstile, hid around the white, tiled entrance to the subway [and] took my phone out. He jumped over, running away. I took a photo of him. Then I chased him up the stairs. He started running up 7th Avenue. I took two more photographs of him.”
Eventually, Cooper was able to flag down two officers, who told him to check to make sure he hadn’t been stabbed.
“What happens is people get stabbed and they’re in shock. I looked to see if he was right,” he said. “And then I got back on the subway and picked up my daughter.”
(NEW YORK) — As holiday shopping season ramps up, Walmart CEO John Furman addressed the concerns of prices and how long supplies will last.
Furman told Good Morning America that President Joe Biden, who met with retail executives this week, and his administration have “been a great help.”
“We’re all working together to make sure that customers have what they need over the holiday season and ended our third quarter up in inventory,” Furman said. “It took a lot of work on behalf of our team and they’re working really hard.”
As the calendar dwindles down on 2021, Furman said that “it’s always a good idea to shop early” and “just like every year there’s something hot, a hot toy — like game consoles — but we have a couple things we can help with.”
“Last week we had our biggest day ever in terms of delivery,” he said of their Walmart Plus membership program. “But there’s some categories like Christmas decor — that are selling quick.”
Other trends that Furman said Walmart has seen and prepared for, are people “spending a lot more time together in groups.”
For Thanksgiving alone, he said “we sold over 10 million turkeys, which is about 2 million more than last year, so it tells you a bit about how many families are getting together and spending time together.”
The Federal Trade Comission has launched a probe into the supply chain issues, which Furman said Walmart just learned about, and said he is optimistic about the company’s position in the market.
“A lot of what you see in stores and online, all the products and what’s available, these are the results of plans, in most cases, that started over a year ago. Our merchants work about 12 months out to determine what they think the trends are, what people will be looking for,” he said. “And we’re proud of our inventory position at this point.”
Another Hollywood couple has reportedly decided to part ways: Tiffany Haddish and Common.
Although neither actor has publicly addressed their relationship, an insider told People, “They are never in the same city together and both of them are just too busy for a serious relationship.”
Haddish, 41, first confirmed her relationship with Common, 49, in August 2020 during an episode of Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast.
“I am in a relationship,” she told Steve-O, showing off her freshly shaved head to match Common’s bald dome. “We’re twins now.”
According to Haddish, the couple met when Common played her love interest in her 2019 film The Kitchen and they bonded over a few occasional spades games.
(NEW YORK) — Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday? Tuesday marks a potentially big day for saving if you’re looking to snag a deal on a trip in 2022.
“A lot of folks in the travel industry are trying to encourage people to not just buy things over the holiday weekend, but buy experiences as well,” Scott Keyes, Scott’s Cheap Flights founder and author of Take More Vacations, said. “Buy travel and treat yourself to that gift of those lifetime memories from trips you take.”
Paul Couch, a city surveyor from Akron, Ohio, is looking to do just that. He will be scouring the airlines’ websites for a reasonably-priced getaway this travel holiday.
“I’m hoping for the best,” he said. “Just kind of checking the different locations out and if something strikes my eye, you know a place I haven’t been to, then I’ll look for travel dates and book a flight and hotel and all that.”
In 2019, before the pandemic, online booking platform Hopper said it saw more flights discounted on Travel Tuesday than on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
“We typically see about 34 deals per second here at Hopper,” Hopper economist Adit Damodaran told ABC News. “That’s 30% more than we usually see on any other day throughout the year. So, that’s really a great time to be booking those flights for 2022.”
Several airlines have announced promotional discounts over the last few days: JetBlue is offering $50 off one-way and $100 off round trip tickets; Aer Lingus is offering up to $200 off economy fares and up to $300 off business class fares from the U.S.; Air New Zealand, Fiji Airways, Icelandair, and many more are offering discounts for certain destinations.
But Keyes says the real “hidden secret of the travel world” is that the best deals actually come from un-advertised sales.
“Just in the past two or three days alone, we’ve seen flights nonstop to Hawaii for $158 round trip nonstop, to Costa Rica for $176 round trip nonstop, down to Aruba for $226 round trip,” he said. “These are fares that have been popping up that are not getting any advertising dollars behind them. You’re not going to see them in your inbox from the airlines promoting them, but they’re quietly offering these fares, and so the key is to be able to find out about them before they disappear.”
If you’re looking for a deal tomorrow, Keyes recommends looking at the fine print.
“You’re going to see a lot of airlines say ‘25% off,’ ‘50% off,’ ‘This is one of our biggest sales of the year,'” he warned. “But oftentimes, that doesn’t include taxes and fees, all of these types of things that oftentimes can make up the majority of what a ticket costs. So, seeing what the actual price looks like, and then trying to compare it to well, is this a good deal? Is this significantly cheaper than what I might have expected to pay last week or what I might expect to see next week?”
And don’t worry if you can’t find that perfect price, Keyes says, you still have plenty of time.
“Cheap flights are constantly popping up throughout the year, and so don’t put extra pressure on yourself to book something on Travel Tuesday,” he said. “If it just seems like an OK deal you can rest assured that constantly deals are going to continue to pop up throughout the rest of this year and certainly into next year.”
(NEW YORK) — Period pain is a fact of life for many women, yet many don’t know that what they are experiencing might not be normal.
“When it comes to period pain, a lot of people just don’t know what they don’t know,” Dr. Nita Landry, a Los Angeles-based OBGYN, said. “Which makes sense, because the only period that you’ve ever had is your period.”
In some cases, people may expect their period to be painful based on what they’ve seen on social media or heard repeated in pop culture — that experiencing pain is just part of having a period.
In other cases, it may be because their mom or grandmother or aunt told them that painful periods “are just the way it is” for women in the family, according to Landry.
“It could be that everybody is experiencing period pain that was never properly diagnosed, and it was never properly treated,” Landry said. “So then everybody ends up suffering unnecessarily.”
More than half of women who menstruate have some pain for one to two days of their cycle, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
For most women, the pain is mild, but for others it can be debilitating, which is a sign it’s time to seek help, Landry said.
“Periods are not fun, that’s not really a secret,” she said. “But, they are not supposed to make you miserable either. They should not be debilitating.”
Here are five facts to know about periods and pain:
1. There are different types of period pain.
The technical term for period pain is dysmenorrhea.
Primary dysmenorrhea is the most common type of dysmenorrhea and is caused by natural chemicals in the uterus lining. It is the cramping pain that comes before or during a period, according to ACOG.
Secondary dysmenorrhea is also a recurrent, cramping pain, but it is the result of an underlying medical issue in the reproductive organ.
“For example, if a person has endometriosis, which is where tissue that’s similar to the inside lining of the uterus gets outside of the uterus, or if someone has uterine fibroids, which are benign growths in the wall of the uterus, then those conditions can lead to secondary dysmenorrhea,” Landry said.
With secondary dysmenorrhea, the pain often lasts longer than normal period cramps and can worsen over time.
“When you think about pain with periods and what’s normal, pain can start about a day or so before a woman’s menstrual period starts, but it typically tapers off within two or three days,” Landry said. “If you find that your pain is extending beyond your menstrual period, then that’s not normal.”
2. Period pain is caused by a hormone-like chemical called prostaglandins.
Women experience pain during their periods because of a natural, hormone-like chemical called prostaglandins.
During a menstrual cycle, prostaglandins cause the uterine muscle to contract, which compresses some of the blood vessels that pump blood into the uterus.
“Blood is going to carry oxygen, so when you decrease blood flow to the uterus, you’re going to have a lower level of oxygenation, and, as a general rule, your body does not like to be deprived of oxygen,” she explained. “Whenever you are deprived of oxygen, you can experience pain.”
“So when we think about pain with periods, you have the uterine contractions, the contractions will decrease blood flow, less blood flow means less oxygen and less oxygen translates as pain,” she said.
Some people may naturally produce larger amounts of prostaglandins, which means they will likely experience more pain during their periods, and some people may be more susceptible to pain, according to Landry.
And just because a person has a light period flow does not mean they can’t experience painful cramps during their cycle, she noted.
“Please don’t make the assumption that, ‘My periods hurt, but my flow is not that heavy so it’s not a big deal,'” Landry said. “It’s still a big deal because pain is pain, and who wants to live with period pain if there’s something that can treat you effectively?”
3. Lifestyle habits can make period pain better or worse.
If you do not have an underlying issue, factors like what you eat and how you handle stress can also have an impact on the pain you experience, according to Landry.
“Being under a lot of stress actually makes your period worse,” she said, and, “Fatty foods increase the production of prostaglandins, and that’s going to increase period cramps.”
Smoking can also make period pain worse, because it constricts blood vessels, which decreases blood flow to the uterus, Landry said.
On the other hand, she said, exercise is a lifestyle habit that is helpful in lessening pain during the menstrual cycle, as is getting good sleep.
“A lot of things can come into play when it comes to determining why some people have more painful periods compared to others or even why the same person may experience different levels of pain during their periods from menstrual cycle to menstrual cycle,” Landry said.
4. These are red flags to look for when it comes to period pain.
The biggest warning to look for when it comes to period pain, according to Landry, is how it is impacting your life.
“If you are missing school or if you are missing work or you’re just missing life in general, that’s a red flag,” she said. “That’s not how your period is supposed to be.”
Other red flags include period pain that gets progressively worse or that continues past your menstrual cycle or changes with age.
“If you didn’t have period pain before, but you’re 25 or older and you start to experience a different type of pain, that’s also a red flag,” she said. “Because that could indicate that there’s an underlying issue that developed more recently that needs to be addressed.”
Landry said the most important thing is for women to talk to their health care provider about their period pain.
“If your health care provider tells you that period pain is normal even though you’re missing school, you’re missing work, you’re missing out on life, then talk to another health care provider,” she said, “I don’t want you to suffer unnecessarily.”
5. Period pain can be treated.
For mild period pain, Landry recommends adjusting lifestyle habits such as diet, exercise and stress management and using natural remedies like a warm bath or a heating pad.
Women can also take over-the-counter pain relievers, called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), in the first one to two days of their period to reduce the production of prostaglandins.
Women with bleeding disorders, asthma, aspirin allergies, liver damage, stomach disorders or ulcers should not take NSAIDs, according to ACOG.
Hormonal therapies, like birth control, are also frequently used to treat period pain.
Landry said there is also research to support the idea that some vitamins, including vitamins B and E as well as magnesium and Omega 3 fatty acids, may be helpful when it comes to easing period pain.
Some women also find alternative remedies such as acupuncture and acupressure helpful, too, according to Landry.
“There are so many different treatment options that your doctor can talk to you about,” she said. “Make sure you give them a chance to tell you about all of them before you decide to grin and bear [the pain].”
GoodMorningAmerica.com is tackling a different taboo women’s health topic each month, breaking down stigmas on everything from mental health to infertility, STDs, orgasms and alcoholism.
(DAYTON, Ohio) — The suspect who carried out a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, on an early August morning in 2019 had an “enduring fascination with mass violence,” the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded in a report released Monday.
Just after 1 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2019, Connor Betts killed nine people and wounded 27 when he opened fire in downtown Dayton.
It was the second mass shooting that weekend, after 23 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the day before.
After a mass shooting or incident, it is typical for the FBI to use its Behavioral Analysis Unit to try and determine a motive or find other factors at play when an attacker carries out an incident.
The FBI concluded in its report that Betts “likely violated federal law” by lying to federal investigators about his drug use when he purchased the gun used in the attack.
The agency also concluded that Betts likely suffered from mental illness.
“The FBI’s BAU assessed the attacker’s enduring fascination with mass violence and his inability to cope with a convergence of personal factors, to include a decade-long struggle with multiple mental health stressors and the successive loss of significant stabilizing anchors experienced prior to August 4, 2019, likely were the primary contributors to the timing and finality of his decision to commit a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio,” the report stated.
There were no specific warnings that Betts would one day commit a crime, the FBI said, despite having “suicidal and violent fantasies” for over a decade.
“This underscores the importance of bystanders’ attentiveness to more subtle changes an individual may exhibit that could be indicative of their decision to commit violence, such as a change in personal circumstances, an increase in perceived stressors, or language indicating they may be contemplating suicide,” the FBI said.
One reason that family and friends did not alert authorities about Betts was potentially because of “bystander fatigue,” according to the report. Bystander fatigue occurs when people around the suspect don’t pay attention or take any action “due to their prolonged exposure to the person’s erratic or otherwise troubling behavior over time,” according to the Behavioral Analysis Unit.
The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Cincinnati field office said there were some technical issues with the investigation that made it harder to get to the bottom of what happened.
“Finding answers for the victims and their families has been a driving motivator each day,” FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers said in a statement.
“From the start, this has been a thorough and deliberate investigation. Due to technical challenges accessing lawfully acquired evidence that was encrypted, this investigation has taken significantly longer than expected,” he said. “However, we are confident that it has uncovered the key facts and that we have done everything in our ability to provide answers to all those impacted by this horrible attack.”
(NEW YORK) — “The biggest science event of the year quickly became the biggest political debate in our country, and the word at the center of both stories is vaccine,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, said in a press release. “Few words can express so much about one moment in time.”
The selection, which is based on search volume, comes as more than 196 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. The dictionary publishing company said in a press release Monday that even though the choice may be seen as “obvious,” data from its website’s search history paints a more complicated picture.
“Vaccine lookups increased 600%, and the story is about much more than medicine,” Sokolowski said in the press release. “It was at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations, school safety, healthcare inequity, and so much more.”
Sokolowski told ABC News on Monday that there was already increased search for vaccines coming into the year, as the first shots were administered in late 2020. Those searches continued in 2021, spiking in early summer and fall.
The dictionary publisher also expanded its definition of vaccine to include scientific advances in how vaccines work, adding information about the use of mRNA technology.
“Insurrection” was a notable runner-up as searches for the term spiked following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Sokolowski told ABC News that there was a 61,000% increase in searches for the word following the attack.
Another contender was “infrastructure,” which spiked in April as President Joe Biden made his pitch for a more than $2 trillion package investing in infrastructure.
Other words related to pop culture and lifestyle also trended, including “nomad,” which spiked after “Nomadland” swept the Oscars in April. The word “cicada” increased by 1,442% in May as Brood X emerged in the Northeast, with millions of the insects making their noisy entrances.
Sokolowski said some of 2021’s most popular words, like vaccine, may already be in the vocabulary of the average American and that the interest in the words may have “nothing to do with the spelling of vaccine, but it has a lot to do with our understanding of vaccines.”
“I’m betting most of the words that you look up in a given day are words that you have encountered before,” Sokolowski told ABC News. “Looking up a word isn’t the signal of ignorance, it’s the opposite of ignorance. It means that you want to know more nuanced, more specific knowledge”
