Do Dan + Shay and Carrie Underwood have a collaboration in the works?
On Tuesday, the Grammy-winning duo posted a video of a live orchestra playing in the studio, and tagged the fellow superstar alongside the raised-eyes emoji. Carrie replied to the video with a winking-face emoji, and the post sent fans into a frenzy speculating what the two acts have up their sleeves.
“I’m not readyyy this is gonna be crazyyyy,” one fan writes in the comments section, while another adds, “the VOCALS are gonna slay so hard I cannot handle this,” and yet another suggests that a collaboration of this caliber has the power to “break the internet.”
Earlier in the day, Dan + Shay incited speculation when they posted a throwback photo on their Instagram Stories of them with Carrie at the 2019 American Music Awards.
News of the possible collaboration comes weeks after Dan + Shay dropped their chart-topping new album, Good Things, which features their hit Grammy-winning collaboration with Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours.” Meanwhile, Carrie’s latest collaboration with Jason Aldean, “If I Didn’t Love You,” is racing up the country charts.
Billie Eilish‘s Disney+ special Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles debuts on Friday, but we have our first look at it now, with a full-length clip of her performance of “Oxytocin.”
In the clip, an animated Billie peels out in a sleek convertible sports car and speeds through a tunnel as red streaks of light flash by. The video then cuts to real-life Billie onstage at the Hollywood Bowl, bathed in red light, as she sings the track from Happier Than Ever.
As previously reported, the special will feature Billie performing every song from the album in order, joined by her brother FINNEAS and additional musicians, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The special had its official premiere Monday night at The Grove in L.A. The drive-through experience featured socially distanced photo ops, dinner and a live performance by the L.A. Philharmonic performing five songs from Happier Than Ever. Billie and FINNEAS were both in attendance.
Following his recent homophobic comments, which led to him being banned from several events, it was announced Tuesday that DaBaby met virtually with Black leaders from HIV organizations last week.
During the meeting, HIV facts were discussed by representatives from the Black AIDS Institute, Gilead Sciences COMPASS Initiative Coordinating Centers, GLAAD, National Minority AIDS Council, The Normal Anomaly Initiative, Positive Women’s Network-USA, Prevention Access Campaign, the Southern AIDS Coalition, and the Transinclusive Group.
One hundred twenty-five organizations support an open letter to the “Suge” rapper, which states, “When HIV continues to disproportionately impact Black Americans and queer and transgender people of color, a dialogue is critical. We must address the miseducation about HIV expressed in your comments, and the impact it has on various communities.”
A joint statement added, “We believed that if [DaBaby] connected with Black leaders living with HIV that a space for community building and healing could be created.”
At the Rolling Loud festival last month in Miami, DaBaby said on stage, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.” During the meeting, DaBaby apologized for his comments.
The leaders said after the meeting, “We wish for him to use his platform to relay that critical information to his fanbase and encourage people to get tested and know their status. During our meeting, DaBaby acknowledged that the HIV facts we presented, many of which he himself was unaware of, are what every American needs to know. HIV is preventable and when treated properly, cannot be passed on.”
They added, “Celebrities and influencers of all backgrounds have the power to defeat the stigma that fuels the epidemic.
Nia DaCosta accomplished a major career milestone when her supernatural slasher flick Candyman bowed at number one in theaters over the weekend — she became the first Black woman to debut a film at number one at the domestic box office with a $22.4 million opening.
Deadline reports that DaCosta, who directed the “spiritual sequel” of the first Candyman movie, which came out in 1992, also grossed the second-highest opening over a three-day period for a Black female director. Ava DuVernay‘s 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time holds the top honor, with a $33.1 million opening weekend.
DaCosta, 31, co-wrote Candyman alongside Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. The 2021 reboot is the first in the horror franchise’s nearly 30-year history to feature an all-Black main cast. Candyman is the second film DaCosta’s directed, behind her 2018 debut, Little Woods.
Now, DaCosta is onto her next big project — the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, which is due out November 11, 2022.
Candyman— which stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo — is in theaters now.
Florida Georgia Line will serve as one of the headlining acts of the three-day festival, taking place in Panama City Beach, Florida June 3-5. They join previously announced headliners Old Dominion and Brooks & Dunn.
Jordan Davis, Maddie & Tae and Mitchell Tenpenny have also been added to the lineup, joining other performers Scotty McCreery, “My Boy” singer Elvie Shane, Tyler Rich and more.
FGL replaces Chris Stapleton, who was set to headline the 2021 event but had to bow out of the new date in 2022 due to a scheduling conflict.
The 2020 edition of Gulf Coast Jam was postponed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a surge in COVID-19 cases across the U.S., festival organizers decided to move the 2021 event, originally planned for Labor Day weekend, to 2022. Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam COO Mark Sheldon says the first weekend in June will be the festival’s new permanent date.
Ashley Graham is counting down the days until she meets her second child, who is due soon.
Taking to Instagram recently, the supermodel shared a tastefully nude maternity shoot where she proudly shows off her curves and stretch marks in the untouched photo.
“Uh oh she’s naked again,” she cheekily captioned the snap.
In the photo, Graham, 33, drapes her arm over her breasts and stands slightly to the side, showing off the stretch marks on her stomach and hips.
The model also shared another photo from the maternity shoot, where she stands to the side and shows off her growing stomach.
Graham has regularly rallied for body positivity by sharing unfiltered snaps of her figure and by proudly displaying her stretch marks and cellulite.
She is expecting her second child with husband Justin Ervin. The two share a son, who was born in January 2020.
She first revealed her pregnancy in July, writing, “The past year has been full of tiny surprises, big griefs, familiar beginnings and new stories. I’m just beginning to process and celebrate what this next chapter means for us.”
AJR has teamed up with the indie pop band Daisy the Great for a new song called “Record Player.”
The track is a reworked version of the Daisy tune “The Record Player Song,” which was originally released in 2017 before finding a new life recently on TikTok. It was on TikTok that AJR‘s Jack Met heard the original song, and decided to reach out.
“This has never happened to us before, but we came across this Daisy the Great chorus, and thought it was the catchiest thing we’d ever heard,” AJR says. “We thought if we could team up with the artists behind that hook and build a new song using the existing hook as the basis, it could be something pretty special.”
You can download “Record Player” now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video is streaming now on YouTube.
“Record Player” follows AJR’s new album OK ORCHESTRA, which was released in March. It includes he singles “Bang!” and “Way Less Sad.”
AJR will launch a headlining U.S. tour in support of OK ORCHESTRA September 7 in Madison, Wisconsin. Daisy the Great is opening for the fall trek.
Elton John has announced that he’s, well, making an announcement tomorrow. And from some of the hints he’s posted on social media, it seems like it could be some kind of duets project.
On his Instagram stories, Elton has posted a sparkling rhinestone star graphic, and on top of that, various names are displayed, including Stevie Nicks, Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, Charlie Puth, Stevie Wonder, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, rappers Young Thug, Nicki Minaj and Lil Nas X, country star Jimmie Allen, singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, British act Years & Years, alt-rockers Gorillaz, British singer/songwriter Rina Sawayama and American pop duo Surfaces.
In the past year and a half, Elton has released singles with Years & Years, Rina Sawayama, Gorillaz and Surfaces. He’s very friendly with Brandi Carlile, and he’s just worked on a Metallica cover song with Miley Cyrus. In addition, in the past, he and Charlie Puth have both referred to some sort of collaboration they did. And of course, Dua Lipa and Elton just released their new single “Cold Heart.”
As for Nicks, Minaj, Wonder, Lil Nas X, Vedder and Jimmie Allen, well, Elton pretty much knows everyone, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s worked with those folks too.
Based on the artists involved, it’s likely that the project will collect all the collaborations Elton’s done since the pandemic, along with some newly recorded tracks.
In 1993, Elton released an album called Duets that featured him collaborating with the likes of Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder, George Michael, the late Little Richard and Leonard Cohen, and more.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, speaking to the nation Tuesday, gave his fiercest defense yet of his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan — a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America’s longest war to a close — but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.
“Let me be clear, leaving August the 31st, is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives,” a defiant Biden said, responding to harsh criticism both of his decision to leave and how it was handled.
After praising what he called the “extraordinary success” U.S. troops had in conducting the rushed and dangerous evacuation, he bluntly blamed both the Afghan army and the Afghan government for collapsing so quickly and the Trump administration for making a deal with the Taliban, that he said inherited, that would have withdrawn all ground troops by May 1.
“So, we were left with a simple decision. Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan or say we weren’t leaving and commit to another tens of thousands more troops going back to war,” he claimed. “That was the choice, the real choice. Between leaving or escalating. I was not going to extend this forever war. And I was not extending a forever exit.”
His voice rising in anger at times, Biden continued, “It was time to be honest with the American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan. After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refuse to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should’ve ended long ago.”
The president’s prepared remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House came 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country, something Republicans and other critics have blasted as “leaving Americans behind.”
Biden downplayed that part of the foreign policy crisis, saying the U.S. had reached out to the remaining Americans 19 times.
“The bottom line, 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out,” Biden said, without detailing out how that could happen.
Biden had told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”
On Tuesday, he said that when he made the decision in April to end the war and set the Aug. 31 deadline, U.S. officials had assumed that the more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that they had trained over the past two decades would stand up to a Taliban takeover.
“That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate,” Biden said. “But I still instructed our national security team to prepare for every eventuality. Even that one. And that’s what we did.”
He did not mention the problems that have marred the past week in Afghanistan.
“The decision to end the military lift operation at Kabul airport was based on unanimous recommendation of my civilian and military advisers,” he said.
“I take responsibility for the decision. Now some say we should have started mass evacuations sooner, and couldn’t this have been done — been done in a more orderly manner? I respectfully disagree,” he said. “The bottom line is, there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges, threats we faced. None.”
Biden also used the national spotlight to fire back at critics who say the U.S. could have maintained a limited military presence.
“Those asking for the third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, what is the vital national interest?” Biden said. “The fundamental obligation of a president in my opinion is to defend and protect America. Not against threats of 2001 but against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow.”
Pres. Biden: “We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago. Then we stayed for another decade. It was time to end this war.” https://t.co/TQIuZzC8oGpic.twitter.com/uu2YDmXKTa
“My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over. I’m the fourth president that must face the issue of whether and when to end this war. When I was running for president, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war. Today I’ve honored that commitment,” he said.
With the military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.
The Pentagon said that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people — Afghans “friends and allies” — were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.
The president’s poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden’s deadline could be a grave mistake, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.
“I give you my word with all of my heart,” Biden said Tuesday. “I believe this is the right decision, a wise decision, and the best decision for America.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden addressed the nation Tuesday and continued to defend his self-imposed deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan — a day after the last troops left the country, bringing America’s longest war to a close — but only after a chaotic and deadly exit.
“Last night in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history,” Biden began, going on to tout the historic evacuation numbers. “No nation, no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history. Only the United States had the capacity and will and ability to do it.”
“The real choice was between leaving or escalating,” he claimed.
The president’s prepared remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House come 24 hours after the last military plane cleared airspace above Afghanistan but without more than 100 Americans on board who still wanted to get out of the country.
“There is no deadline” for Americans who want to leave, he said, at the same time saying “90% of Americans who wanted to leave were able to leave,” adding the U.S. would continue efforts to help those who wanted to get out.
Biden said that when he made the decision in April to end the war and set the Aug. 31 deadline, “The assumption was that more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that we had trained over the past two decades and equipped would be a strong adversary in their civil wars with the Taliban.”
“That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate,” Biden said.
His speech did not focus on the operational miscues that have marred the past week in Afghanistan but instead homed in on why the U.S. entered the war 20 years and why he didn’t want to pass the war on to another president.
“I was not going to extend this Forever War,” he said.
As Americans still remain in the country, Biden repeated an administration line that “there is no deadline” on getting Americans out, but did not offer operational details for retrieving remaining Americans with the airport under Taliban control.
On Monday, it was not Biden, who has long opposed the war, who marked its conclusion after 20 years on Monday, but Pentagon and State Department officials.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered a preview of Biden’s remarks earlier, saying that he would express his thanks to the service members who executed the “dangerous mission” as well as the veterans and volunteers who offered support.
“He will lay out his decision to end the war in Afghanistan after 20 years, including the tough decisions he made over the last seven months since he took office to bring the war to a close,” her statement said. “He will make clear that as President, he will approach our foreign policy through the prism of what is in our national interests, including how best to continue to keep the American people safe.”
Biden on Monday did release a written statement thanking commanders and service members for completing the withdrawal on schedule “with no further loss of American lives,” praising the evacuation effort as “the largest airlift in US history,” and teasing his defense not to stay beyond Aug. 31.
“For now, I will report that it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned,” he said in the statement, although military leaders had lobbied Biden earlier this year to leave a residual U.S. force in Afghanistan to support the Afghan army and government.
With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete as the U.S. approaches 20 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Taliban has again taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort the past two weeks. Shots were fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal in Kabul on Monday night.
The Pentagon said Monday that 2,461 troops were lost in the war, which started as it began: under Taliban rule. Since the evacuation mission began, 6,000 citizens and more than 123,000 people — Afghans “friends and allies” — were airlifted out by the U.S. and partners, but alarms are being raised over those left behind.
Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous in an exclusive interview on Aug. 18, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”
His poll numbers, too, showed uncommon cross-partisan agreement among Americans that withdrawing all U.S. troops by Biden’s deadline could be a grave mistake, according to an ABC/Ipsos poll conducted after Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul which killed 13 service members and wounded 20. The survey found the percentage of Americans who think U.S. troops should stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan is 86% among Democrats, 87% among Republicans and 86% among Independents.
Tuesday’s speech comes amid outrage expressed by some family members of those service members killed in last week’s airport attack over his handling of the withdrawal.
Some have criticized the president following Sunday’s dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, where he met with families. White House press secretary Jen Psaki wouldn’t respond directly to criticism from one family but said that the president feels responsible for their loss at a briefing on Monday.
Republican lawmakers have also blasted Biden for his handling of the withdrawal, with Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., calling the withdrawal a “national disgrace” and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., claiming Biden has armed the Taliban by leaving behind equipment.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” defended the withdrawal and contended that only the president, as commander in chief, knows what it is to make these hard decisions.
“Those criticizing are not the ones who have to sit in the Situation Room and make the hard calls about the threats that we face and the objectives we’re trying to obtain and President Biden made that hard call and it is a call he believes will ultimately serve the interests of our people, all of our citizens and our country,” he said on Tuesday.
Perhaps foreshadowing Biden’s remarks, Sullivan also claimed the U.S. and the international community have “enormous leverage” on the Taliban to ensure those Americans and Afghans who want to get out can do so.
But the administration hasn’t provided a clear plan for those evacuations beyond saying it’s relying on a Taliban commitment to provide “safe passage.”
The 100 to 200 Americans that Secretary of State Antony Blinken said still wanted to be evacuated weren’t able to reach the airport in Kabul on Monday before the last U.S. plane left. Of the five final flights, no American civilians made it on board.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S., who fear reprisal from the Taliban, also did not make it out and are forced to rely on Afghanistan’s new rulers for departure — of which there is no guarantee.
It’s unclear what the evacuation picture will look like now that the U.S. military is gone.
