It’s Christmas in July! And to celebrate Mariah Carey is releasing a limited edition crate filled with holiday goodies.
The legendary voice behind the Christmas classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” announced the news on Thursday, sharing an animated clip of Santa Claus taking her call while in a tropical-looking location.
“Hey Santa, it’s Mariah,” she says in the clip. “I miss you so much and I cannot wait for you to see what I’ve been working on. A sneak peek is out now and there’s even bigger news coming later.”
“Alright, love you,” Mariah concludes. “Merry Christmas in July!”
In the caption, the songstress directs to fans to a website where it’s revealed that she’s selling a limited edition crate “full of Mariah Christmas collectibles! From ornaments and gifting essentials like baker’s twine and exclusive gift labels to holiday baking treats like an exclusive cookie plate.”
The crates, which sell for $49.99 plus shipping, are on sale now, however, the website states that they won’t be shipped out until November.
Jethro Tull has unveiled plans to release a new studio album titled The Zealot Gene in early 2022. It’s part of a new label deal the veteran U.K. prog-rockers signed with InsideOut Music and Sony Music.
The project will apparently be the first studio effort that frontman Ian Anderson will release under the Jethro Tull name since 2003’s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album.
Anderson says about his new record deal, “After 54 years in the world of music recording, it is with great pleasure that I now sign Jethro Tull to a record company which reminds me, in many ways, of [our former record label] Chrysalis.”
“Here are real music guys with a passion for the best and most creative in rock music,” he adds. “We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship and more releases to come.”
InsideOut Music executive Thomas Waber notes, “Adding Jethro Tull to the roster is an incredible honor for us. The band are true innovators of the genre and we are looking forward to working with them on their new album.”
The current Jethro Tull lineup also features bassist David Goodier, keyboardist and accordionist John O’Hara, drummer Scott Hammond and guitarist Joe Parrish. Goodier and O’Hara joined the band in 2007, Hammond in 2017 and Parrish in 2020.
Demi Lovato revealed when and where they feel the “sexiest” — and it just so happens to be in the middle of a bubble bath.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the “Confident” singer shared a makeup-free selfie they took during a relaxing bath.
Lovato, who came out as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, explained in the caption, “I feel the sexiest in the bathtub w no makeup, no extensions, no lashes.. naked.”
“Just me in my purest form,” the Grammy nominee continued. “I don’t always feel comfortable in my skin/body so I’m beyond grateful that in these moments, when I’m most vulnerable I can feel beautiful & accept myself as is.”
Lovato, who is a vocal supporter of body and self-acceptance, was praised by their fans for the vulnerable yet empowering update.
While the singer’s 110 million followers called them “beautiful” and “inspiring,” others thanked Lovato for serving as a source of motivation to overcome their own insecurities.
Lovato has consistently documented their journey of self-acceptance. After coming clean about their years-long battle with eating disorders and self-esteem issues, Lovato bared it all in their latest album Dancing with the Devil…The Art of Starting Over, their first full-length project since 2017.
Backstreet Boys had some encouraging words for Britney Spears, who is currently embroiled in an intense legal battle over her long-standing and controversial conservatorship.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the boy band asserted that they are in Britney’s corner.
“Stay strong, support your ground, and we will pray for you,” said AJ McLean. “I hope she gets what she deserves, which is her freedom.”
Recently, McLean slammed Britney’s conservatorship, calling it “completely brutal” and “insane” during his appearance on Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live. The singer also recalled the last time he saw Britney, saying their brief interaction “broke my heart.”
Bandmates Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson were present for the ET interview and nodded in agreement as McLean spoke against the conservatorship.
The Backstreet Boys join a growing number of celebrities and singers who have rallied in support of the pop star.
Most recently, Ariana Grande, Christina Aguilera and Madonna called for Britney’s freedom.
Lorde gave her new song “Solar Power” its TV debut on Thursday night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
But rather than performing it in the studio, or sending in a pre-recorded performance, Lorde reached for greater heights: She delivered the song from the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, where Colbert’s show is based.
Wearing a two-piece midriff-baring yellow outfit, Lorde began the song standing by the roof’s parapet, before joining her band members, who were standing around the edge of a giant circle tiled with reflective round mirrors.
Lorde stood in the middle of a tiered platform tiled with the same mirrors as she sang. When she got to the line “Come on and let the bliss begin/blink three times when you feel it kickin’ in/That solar power!” she and the band were enveloped in soap bubbles, pumped towards them from four bubble machines, which viewers could see in a dramatic overhead shot.
Lorde’s new album, Solar Power, comes out August 20.
After teasing an announcement for several days, Dan + Shay finally dropped their big news on Thursday night. The duo is planning to release their fourth studio album, Good Things, on August 13.
Dan + Shay shared the title track and its accompanying music video this week, too. Euphoric and pop-heavy, the anthemic new song gets an epic visual component that finds both band mates meeting in a desert, with people and families of all descriptions flocking to join them.
“Good Things” was co-written by band mate Dan Smyers, who had a hand in penning all 12 of the album’s tracks. Dan also was the primary producer for Good Things.
Dan + Shay have often toed the line between country and pop in recent years, so it’s fitting that the album’s credits are brimming with superstars from both worlds. Old Dominion band mate Brad Tursi and hit-magnet country songwriter Ashley Gorley both show up in the credits, but so do singer-songwriter Julia Michaels and pop star Shawn Mendes.
Dan + Shay’s smash duet with Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours,” is on the track list for Good Things, as are two more familiar songs: “I Should Probably Go to Bed” and “Glad You Exist.”
Dan + Shay bring their just-released “Good Things” to the stage during an appearance on NBC’s Citi Music Series on TODAY on Friday, just hours after their album announcement.
You can pre-orderGood Things ahead of release day. You can also catch Dan + Shay on the road this fall when they resume their Dan + Shay The (Arena) Tour.
Gigi Hadid has replaced Chrissy Teigen in a voiceover role in Netflix’s comedy Never Have I Ever, in the wake of Teigen’s cyberbullying scandal.
Hadid can be heard throughout the third episode of the season titled “…opened a textbook,” which centers on Darren Barnet‘s hunky high-schooler, Paxton. In the episode’s open, he’s shown staring at a poster of a bikini-clad Hadid.
“This is Paxton Hall-Yoshida,” Hadid says. “He is a 16-year-old boy from Sherman Oaks, California, and I am model, designer, activist, and a former 16-year-old from California, Gigi Hadid.”
A quick montage of Hadid posing on the red carpet follows.
“You may be asking yourself, ‘Why is Old Gigers taking time out of her busy skedge to narrate the story of a 16-year-old boy?’ Believe it or not, I relate to this kid. We’re both constantly underestimated because people only see us as sex symbols.”
She adds, “When scientists declare your face to be perfectly symmetrical, that’s all everyone thinks you have to offer the world…[But] we have some much more going on inside. At least that’s true for me…”
Teigen lost the gig — as well as endorsement deals, and her unofficial title as the Mayor of Twitter — after it was revealed she’d cyberbullied a then-teenaged Courtney Stodden.
Teigen recently made a lengthy Instagram post in which she claimed to have been sitting around the house depressed for being “cancelled.” In it, she claimed, “…I could use some time off my couch!”
In that post, she didn’t mention that she, husband John Legend and their two children had just returned from a trip to Italy.
(NEW YORK) — Purveyors of legal marijuana are cautiously applauding a Democrat-backed Senate bill to end the federal prohibition of pot, saying their businesses have been stymied by banking regulations that force them to deal in cash and make them a target for thieves.
For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances — laws that led to more than 1.5 million arrests in 2019 alone, 32% of which were for nonviolent lower-level marijuana possession offenses, according to the nonprofit Drugpolicyfacts.org.
Federal laws have also created a legal gray area for businesses operating in states where marijuana is legal.
The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act is backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who called the legislation “monumental.”
But some cannabis industry insiders told ABC News that while the draft legislation includes many things that would greatly benefit dispensaries and growers — like allowing them to get bank financing, accept credit cards and go public on the New York Stock Exchange — they would rather see the federal government leave the issue in the hands of states.
“I hope I’m dead wrong, but the cynic in me says why would a Democratically-controlled Congress want to put a legalization bill in front of a president from their party who has already said he doesn’t want to sign a legalization bill?” Kyle Kazan, the CEO of American cannabis production and distribution company Curaleaf, told ABC News.
Kazan also worries about federal involvement because of the damage done by the war on drugs.
Despite Schumer’s support for the bill, President Joe Biden still opposes federal legalization of marijuana, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday and the measure would need several Republicans to support it to pass.
‘Excited’ but staying ‘realistic’
The legislation, co-sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., would aim to expunge criminal records of most nonviolent marijuana offenses and create banking systems to help cannabis businesses, specifically hundreds of small and minority-owned companies wanting in on the so-called marijuana green rush.
Headset, a provider of data and analytics to the cannabis industry, forecast this week that the U.S. legal cannabis market will surpass $30 billion in sales in 2022.
The legislation, now in its early draft stage, would also allow states to craft their own cannabis laws, as states do with alcohol. A new federal excise tax would also be created similar to alcohol and tobacco.
The proposal would also clear the way for U.S. marijuana companies to use banking services, including holding bank accounts and taking out loans and allow companies to list on U.S. stock exchanges. Currently, cannabis companies do not have access to the banking system because their product is illegal in the eyes of the federal government.
Despite his doubts, Kazan, a former California police officer, said he would love to see the legislation pass, but have the federal government largely leave the details to the states.
“As much as I am cheering for Cory Booker and Chuck Schumer and (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell to come together on something, I think it would be best if they just said, ‘Let’s get the hell out of the way and let the states do it,'” said Kazan, whose company trades on the Canadian Stock Exchange. “The federal government has only done harm here with the war on drugs and the war on cannabis. You have tens of thousands of people that are serving hard time for nonviolent cannabis and other drug crimes. Just stop doing harm.”
Steve DeAngelo, a co-founder of Harborside Health Inc., a California cannabis company that also trades on the Canadian Stock Exchange, told ABC News that the legislation has been a long time coming.
“I’m excited. But I also want to be realistic about it,” said DeAngelo, who has been dubbed the father of the legal cannabis industry. “But it’s a great day when the Senate majority leader comes out supporting comprehensive legalization of cannabis at the federal level. That is a great day for our movement.”
To date, 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and 37 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, now allow the medical use of the drug.
A Pew Research Center Poll released in April showed that 91% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use.
DeAngelo cofounded a medical marijuana business in Northern California as a non-profit more than a decade ago and said it’s been an uphill climb ever since due to conflicts with federal regulations listing marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with narcotics as heroin.
“Most successful businesses in the United States have an ability to go to a bank and get financing for a variety of uses at a reasonable interest rate. Cannabis businesses aren’t able to go to banks and get any type of financing,” DeAngelo told ABC News.
“When we’re trying to … just operate in an efficient way and do things like paying our taxes, those same banking laws can require us to do crazy things like go into tax offices with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in order to pay our back taxes,” he added. “Things aren’t safe or efficient.”
An increasing target for thieves
Having to have large amounts of cash on hand to do business and shelves stocked with high-grade cannabis, dispensaries and grow operations have increasingly become alluring targets for robbers.
In San Francisco last week, a group of robbers stormed a cannabis dispensary in the city’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, overwhelmed a security guard and took his gun before ransacking the business and making off in multiple getaway vehicles with boxes of marijuana, police said. On June 17, an attempted robbery at a pot dispensary in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles led to a shootout in front of the business that left a security guard critically wounded and one of the suspects dead, according to police there.
“It’s been a huge problem. People have died because of this,” DeAngelo said.
He said that allowing cannabis businesses to accept credit cards would help eliminate the need to have large amounts of cash on hand.
“That’s one of the good things that this will do,” he said of the legislation.
McConnell, the powerful Republican from Kentucky, has said he opposes the Senate bill, which will need 60 votes to pass, including 10 Republican votes.
DeAngelo said that if he had a chance to speak with McConnell, he’d say, “cannabis isn’t harmful but cannabis prohibition is.” He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic many cities in states where recreational cannabis is legal designated pot dispensaries essential businesses along with pharmacies.
“They need to abandon old and outdated ways of thinking about cannabis,” DeAngelo said.
Mark Hoppus shared an update regarding his ongoing cancer battle, telling fans during a recent Q&A that the cancer he’s fighting is the same type that his mother beat.
The Blink-182 bassist revealed he has an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “The cancer isn’t bone-related, it’s blood-related,” he said.
“My classification is diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) Stage 4-A, which means, as I understand it, it’s entered four different parts of my body,” the musician continued. “It’s entered enough parts of my body that I’m Stage 4, which I think is the highest that it goes. So, I’m Stage 4-A.”
Hoppus remained upbeat and revealed he’s grown even closer to his mother because, a few years ago, she battled DLBCL and won.
“I’ve been able to talk with her and bond with her quite a bit. Oddly enough, we have the exact same form of cancer that she had. And she beat it,” he said, noting she is also a three-time cancer survivor. “Twice for breast cancer and one for the same cancer that I have.”
“I can’t get sick and I have to vigilantly take my temperature and make sure I don’t have a fever,” he explained.
Hoppus said he’ll soon know if chemotherapy is working, noting he will undergo a PET scan and hopes doctors will tell him, “Congratulations! Your chemotherapy has worked and you are all done and you’ll never have to think about this cancer again for the rest of your life.”
“We’re beating this cancer,” he assured. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Shortly after ABC’s Dancing with the Stars announced it will return for its 30th season on September 20, Carrie Ann Inaba confirmed that she’ll be returning as well — alongside fellow judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.
“Hey guys, I’m walking my dog, Lola. Anyway, just wanted to say, did you hear the news? Dancing With the Stars, September 20, it’s official. We’re back!” Inaba, 53, shared in a video posted her Instagram Stories on Thursday. “Get your glitter on, pull your disco balls out, warm up your back.”
“I can’t wait,” she continued. “Let’s bring on the dancing!”
Carrie Ann also promised to have some news about her future on CBS’ The Talk.
“I noticed a lot of you are asking about The Talk, if I’m coming back and what’s happening there,” Inaba said in another series of videos. “I should have some news soon about what’s going on with my future at The Talk.”
She also congratulated Jerry O’Connell, who was announced Wednesday as the show’s permanent new co-host, joining Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and Elaine Welteroth.
In April, Inaba announced that she would be taking “a leave of absence” from The Talk “…to focus on my well-being.”
