Tyla is ready to take over the world: “There's no way to stop me”

ABC/John Argueta

Tyla‘s goal is to become Africa’s first pop star, and she’s well on her way with a Grammy for Best African Music Performance, her global smash “Water” and her self-titled debut album. Though she had to postpone her planned tour due to an injury, she still has plans for world domination.

In addition to music, Tyla tells Billboard that she’d like to branch out into fashion, beauty and acting. “People are going to see me everywhere,” she says. “So if you don’t like me, I’m sorry.”

Even her injury isn’t going stop her from bringing her music to fans. “I’m really confident in what I’ve created. Now’s a time where I can showcase a performance style where I’m not really dancing as much,” she tells Billboard. “Maybe I strip back a little bit more and I’m just serving vocals.”

“But there’s no way to stop me,” she continues. “I’m always going to find a way.”

Right now, you can see Tyla showing off her dance moves in the spring campaign for GAP.

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich marks 1 year in Russian prison

NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images

(LONDON) — Friday marks a year since Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia. The first American reporter to be imprisoned by Moscow since the Cold War, he remains trapped in jail while the United States struggles to find a deal with Russia to free him.

Gershkovich, 32, has now spent 12 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison on espionage charges that his newspaper, dozens of leading international media organizations and the U.S. government have denounced as false. He has pleaded not guilty.

The fight to free Gershkovich has become a cause championed by defenders of press freedom around the world, as well as a grueling personal battle for his family. His detention has also changed how international media cover Russia, with most leading outlets no longer basing correspondents in the country.

In an interview this week with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Gershkovich’s parents expressed hope that the Biden administration‘s efforts to have their son released, saying from prison he is also striving to keep their spirits up.

“I think if you let the pessimism in … the game is over,” Ella Millman, Gershkovich’s mother, told George Stephanopoulos in the interview. “And our saying in the family is we’re moving forward. Moving forward.”President Joe Biden has said bringing Gershkovich home is a top priority, and his administration has indicated it is continuing to negotiate with Russia to try to find a deal to release him.Gershkovich, who had worked as a journalist in Russia for several years and was accredited by the Russian foreign ministry, was detained by the FSB domestic intelligence agency last March while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg. FSB officers seized him as he sat in a steak restaurant.

Since then, he has been kept mostly in a two-person cell in Lefortovo, a former KGB jail, awaiting trial. A court this week extended his pretrial detention for a fifth time. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

A native of New Jersey, Gershkovich worked for The New York Times as a news assistant before moving to Russia in 2017 to work first for The Moscow Times and later Agence France-Presse. His parents were Soviet Jewish émigrés, who left Russia in 1979, and Gershkovich grew up speaking Russian, later becoming fascinated with the country. He joined the Wall Street Journal in January 2022.

“Our main focus at the Journal has been to keep Evan’s story front and of mind, to remind people that an innocent journalist is behind bars, in prison of doing his job,” the Journal’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in the “GMA” interview.

Gershkovich is one of several Americans seized by Russia in recent years — among them the WNBA star Brittney Griner — as part of an apparently intensifying campaign of hostage-taking. A former Marine, Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned since 2018 on espionage charges the U.S. and his family say are fabricated. Another U.S. journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been in detention since October, charged under a law used to censor criticism of Russia’s military. Press freedom groups have condemned her arrest and joined RFE/RL in calling for her release.

Griner was released in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022.

In recent months, Russian officials have indicated that they view Gershkovich as a bargaining chip, hoping to exchange him for Russians held in Western countries. President Vladimir Putin, in an interview in February, said he wanted a deal with the U.S. to free Gershkovich. Putin signaled he may want to trade Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian man jailed in Germany as an FSB assassin.

The U.S. in December said Russia had rejected an offer that would have freed Gershkovich and Whelan.

President Biden has met with Gershkovich’s parents. He mentioned Gershkovich and Whelan in his State of the Union address in March, saying, “We’ll work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul,” as Gershkovich’s parents sat in the audience.

“We were happy that both governments have expressed willingness to negotiate,” his father, Mikhail Gershkovich, told Stephanopoulos. “We are confident that [the White House is] doing everything they can, and we want them to continue to do that.”

The U.S. and the Kremlin have both indicated that talks about a deal are ongoing. Those close to the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in prison last month, have claimed there were discussions for a possible trade that would have freed Navalny, as well as Gershkovich and Whelan, in exchange for the Russian assassin, Krasikov.

The Wall Street Journal this week reported Biden and Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz had discussed such a trade but that Navalny had died before it could be proposed to Putin. Navalny’s team has accused Putin of killing Navalny to prevent the trade.

Tucker, the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief, this week expressed confidence that a deal can still be reached.

“Evan will be released, but it’s complicated to get there,” she said. “There are a lot of different people and governments involved. So I think, you know, we just have to be patient, and optimistic.”

The Wall Street Journal has been leading an international campaign among his colleagues and friends to keep attention on Gershkovich’s case, including holding runs for him and 24-hour “read-a-thons” of his work. Time Magazine this month put Gershkovich on its front page.

Gershkovich is able to send and receive letters from prison, keeping in contact with friends and family, who say he retains his characteristic humor. He has even been arranging via others to have gifts delivered for friends’ birthdays and other occasions. The Journal has encouraged people to send letters to Gershkovich via its site.

“He remembers his friends’ birthdays. We received flowers from him for International Women’s Day on March 8,” his mother told ABC News. “He really cares. He wants to thank people for their care about him, for keeping his story front and center.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

'Carol Doda Topless at the Condor' directors on the famous dancer's impact

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As March comes to a close, continue celebrating Women’s History Month by learning about someone who helped shape the sexual revolution of the 1960s: Carol Doda.

A new documentary about her life, Carol Doda Topless at the Condor, is playing in theaters now. Directors Jonathan Parker and Marlo McKenzie spoke to ABC Audio about Doda’s impact.

In 1964, Doda became the first dancer in the nation to perform topless. She wore fashion designer Rudi Gernreich‘s monokini swimsuit and danced on top of a white baby grand piano that descended from the ceiling of the Condor Club in San Fransisco’s North Beach.

Her act launched a heated debate around what constituted indecent exposure in a public setting. The ensuing arrests and trials paved the way for a sexual revolution.

“A lot of discussions can be started with her story,” Parker said. “I always just zero in on this moment in the movie where she’s asked if she thought of herself as a feminist pioneer. And she said, ‘No, I don’t think of myself as a feminist pioneer, but I was the first bra burner.’ … Right there you have this weird, ironic coming together of an action that can mean multiple things to different people.”

McKenzie agreed, saying she was drawn to telling the story of a woman in charge of her career when many were not afforded that opportunity.

“It was a time when women were very restricted, and we were just starting to think about what it might mean to be in the world,” McKenzie said. “Carol having this career … where she takes off her top, in that time was a really big deal. And so, I was drawn to her courage where she was totally being her authentic self in a time when that was not really accepted.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Get a peek into Steve Martin's wild and crazy life in 'Steve! (martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces'

Apple TV+

The life story of celebrated comedian, actor, author, musician and playwright Steve Martin gets the documentary treatment in the new Apple TV+ doc Steve! (martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces, out Friday, March 29. It’s from Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville, who talked to ABC Audio about why he wanted to profile the living legend.

“He’s somebody who does things that can be really silly and stupid or really smart,” Neville explains. “And I kind of love the fact that he does high culture and low culture and kind of can do it all.”

One thing Neville didn’t ever figure on Martin doing was agreeing to make a documentary about himself, since “Steve had turned down the idea of doing a documentary for years and years and years.”

But, says Neville, “I think maybe because of COVID and maybe because he’s happier now, word got out that he maybe would be willing to talk to a documentary filmmaker. And so I went to his house and we had lunch, and we talked about kids and art and New York and, and at the end of it, he was like, OK.”

Whether you know Martin from his standup or movies like The Jerk or Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Neville believes you’ll find the doc relatable, noting, “I feel like a lot of the film isn’t about the celebrity stuff, it’s just about the human stuff.”

“How to figure out your creative voice and how does it connect with the culture and what you’re trying to do, and how to stick to your guns about your originality. And then the emotional questions of like, you know, does success bring happiness? And how do you actually work through your issues with your parents?” he explains.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Kelly Clarkson tells fans not to “sleep” on new Ariana Grande album

Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande in 2021; Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande were coaches on NBC’s The Voice at the same time, so it’s no wonder they’re pals. Now, Kelly has encouraged her fans to check out Ariana’s new album, eternal sunshine.

On March 28, Kelly posted on X, formerly Twitter, “Y’all don’t sleep on this album. It’s so good!” She added hashtags for three songs from the album: “#imperfectforyou,”#wecantbefriends” and “#yesand.”

Fans immediately responded by begging Kelly to cover the new Ariana songs during the Kellyoke segment of her talk show and to get Ariana to come on her talk show to discuss the record.

Kelly and Ariana have previously duetted on The Voice and on record: Ari made a guest appearance on the song “Santa Can’t You Hear Me” on Kelly’s 2021 album, When Christmas Comes Around

The two also have another thing in common: they both seem to really like the Jim Carrey movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Ariana, of course, named her album after the movie, and it inspired the plot of the video for “we can’t be friends.” And on Kelly’s latest album, chemistry, she mentions the movie in the lyrics of her song “mine.”

Kelly sings, “Go ahead and break my hеart, that’s fine/ eternal sunshine of thе spotless mind.”

And finally, here’s another thing Kelly and Ariana have in common: both of their albums, at least in part, document their respective divorces.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

House Republicans want Biden to testify at April impeachment hearing as White House slams probe

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(WASHINGTON) — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Thursday officially invited President Joe Biden to testify before the panel as part of a Republican-led impeachment inquiry into allegations that Biden used his office to participate in and profit from his family’s foreign business dealings — which he has adamantly denied.

The committee proposed April 16 for the hearing, according to a letter from Comer, who claimed in a statement that the “the White House has taken a position hostile to the Committee’s investigation.”

The impeachment probe, launched unilaterally by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield concrete evidence against the president.

Comer nonetheless contended in his statement on Thursday that there is a “yawning gap between” what Biden has said publicly and the committee’s work.

“As Chairman of the Committee, in addition to requesting that you answer the questions posed in this letter, I invite you to participate in a public hearing at which you will be afforded the opportunity to explain, under oath, your involvement with your family’s sources of income and the means it has used to generate it,” Comer said, addressing the president.

Speaker Mike Johnson echoed that in a statement of his own, saying, in part, that “there are significant outstanding questions that have emerged from our inquiry that the President can answer.”

The oversight chairman, a Kentucky Republican, said at the end of the most recent impeachment hearing that he planned to ask Biden to testify.

That hearing, earlier this month, focused on well-established allegations of Biden family impropriety by House Republicans, while Democrats sought to cast the probe as a political hit job.

“The Bidens sell Joe Biden. That is their business,” Comer claimed then.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, shot back at that hearing: “With any luck, today marks the end of perhaps the most spectacular failure in the history of congressional investigations: the effort to find a high crime or misdemeanor committed by Joe Biden and then to impeach him for it.”

Asked for comment on Thursday about Comer’s letter, the White House referred back to earlier statements by spokesman Ian Sams, who has repeatedly denounced the impeachment proceedings.

“This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment,” Sams wrote on social media last week.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Music notes: Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga and more

Mariah Carey is continuing to celebrate her 55th birthday — or anniversary, as she says. She posted several more photos to her Instagram of her wearing sparkly dresses to mark the occasion. “327 vibes,” she captioned photos of her lying on a sandy beach, while she also wrote “3.27 at dusk” to caption a photo of her lounging on a boat.

Speaking of birthdays, Lady Gaga celebrates another year around the sun on Thursday. She was photographed getting dinner with her boyfriend, Michael Polansky, on Wednesday night. The singer also dined with several friends and her manager, Bobby Campbell.

While promoting his new film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which releases the same day Taylor Swift‘s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT drops on April 19, Henry Cavill talked to E! News about his appreciation for the pop star. “I was never not a Swiftie. She’s magnificent,” Cavill said.

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Maroon 5 approves of Mick Jagger's dance to their hit song

Christopher Polk/Getty Images for A&M/Octone

On March 27, Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger posted a video of himself at an outdoor bar where the local band was playing — you guessed it — “Moves Like Jagger.” Maroon 5 has now reacted to the video.

In his post, Jagger, 80, busts some moves while laughing and smiling. He wrote in the caption, “Moves like who!” It appears the video was taken at one of the rock icon’s favorite island destinations, Mustique.

Maroon 5 has reposted Jagger’s video to their Instagram Story and captioned it with an animated “GOAT” — “Greatest of All Time” — graphic.

“Moves Like Jagger,” featuring Christina Aguilera, came out in 2011 and became Maroon 5’s second #1 hit, as well as one of the bestselling singles of all time. The video features footage of Mick as a young man, showing off his signature dance style.

Mick and the Rolling Stones will kick off their Hackney Diamonds tour April 28 in Houston, Texas. Maroon 5 resumes their Las Vegas residency at Park MGM on May 17.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Win Brooke’s Bucks (3/28/24)

Have a knack for trivia? Well, so does Brooke… Try to answer as many questions right as you can in 30 seconds. If you answer more correctly than Brooke, you win 100 bucks! Good luck!

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Keanu Reeves, Fisher Stevens prepping documentary on MMA legend Benny Urquidez

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Keanu Reeves knows his way around a martial arts mat, what with his extensive training for The Matrix and John Wick franchises, and now he’s about to pay tribute to a groundbreaker within the combat sports.

Deadline reports Reeves and Oscar-winning director Fisher Stevens will co-produce a documentary on Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, who is credited with introducing mixed martial arts to the world. 

Now 71, Urquidez was a world champion karate and kickboxing legend who transitioned to training actors and coordinating fight scenes for movies. 

Incidentally, John Cusack was one of his students, and Urquidez takes him on in a famous scene in the actor’s 1997’s hit Grosse Pointe Blank. But Urquidez’s client list reads like a Hollywood’s who’s who: Everyone from Jackie Chan to the late Patrick Swayze to Michelle Pfeiffer trained with him over his long career. 

Emmy-nominated sports documentary editor and filmmaker Jennifer Tiexiera is directing the documentary. She tells the trade, “Benny’s fighting career was born out of his struggles with identity, poverty, and race, but he didn’t let those things define him. The result is a story about how struggle and sacrifice evolved into one about love, spirituality and deeper meaning.”

Keanu recently appeared in and produced another documentary, Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story, which is streaming on Hulu.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In “Hell Together,” David Archuleta expresses his “joy” at leaving his religion — with his family

Irvin Rivera

David Archuleta, who came out as queer in 2021, announced in 2023 that he was leaving the Mormon church after being unable to reconcile his religion’s view of homosexuality with his own journey. He’s just released a song about it, but specifically, about how his family has supported him through his decision.

“It was a scary place to leave something that was all I knew and that gave me my purpose to live, but it was something I knew I needed to do,” David says in a statement about the song, which is called “Hell Together.” 

A few days after he announced he was leaving, David’s mom told him she was leaving, too. She told him, “If you go to Hell, we’re all going to Hell with you. We’re a family and we’ll always be there for each other, in good or in bad!”

“I was really moved by that,” David notes.

In the song, David sings, “All I want is to make you proud/ If I would run, would I let you down?/ You said
‘If I have to live without you/ I don’t wanna live forever/ in someone else’s heaven … if they don’t like the way you’re made, then they’re not any better/ If Paradise is pressurе, oh/ We’ll go to hell togethеr.'”

David says the song’s gospel vibe is “meant to show the joy and how by leaving my religion is how I found a greater light. And, more importantly, how much it meant to still have a support system of family still there for me.”

“Most people within the church would think you feel dark and lost leaving your faith, but that was not the case for me. I felt like I found myself!”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

TikTok Click Shock (03/28/24)

There’s a mystery going on in high school’s across the nation right now… but one teacher shared what she finally figured out… Plus, and 8 year-old from the Midwest id going viral for what he did at a reccent tractor show… You’ll see why when you hear the audio of it in a brand new TikTok Click Shock!

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Say Yes To The Ex: Say Yes To The Trio

We’re doing our best to reunite a listener with one of their previous romances… only if we don’t screw it up first. Catch an all new “Say Yes To The Ex!”

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Schumer says Senate trial for Mayorkas will take place next month

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(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Thursday that the impeachment articles for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be sent over to the Senate on April 10, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate trial will take place on April 11.

In a new letter, Johnson and the Republican impeachment managers called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to “schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously.”

The House voted to impeach Mayorkas on Feb. 13 by a vote of 214-213 over what Republicans claimed was his failure to enforce border laws amid a “crisis” of high illegal immigration, allegations the secretary denied as “baseless.” But Johnson waited to send over the articles until the government was fully funded.

“The evidence on both charges is clear, comprehensive, and compelling, and the House’s solemn act to impeach the first sitting Cabinet official in American history demands timely action by the Senate,” the letter to Schumer said.

Asked for a statement, DHS referred ABC News to the statement when Mayorkas was initially impeached.

“Without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country,” DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said. “Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe.”

Once the articles are sent over, the Senate will be sworn in and seated for a trial. Later Thursday, Schumer’s office said senators will be sworn in as jurors in the Mayorkas impeachment trial on April 11. However, Schumer has indicated Senate Democrats will move to dismiss a trial despite Republican demands for one.

“We call upon you to fulfill your constitutional obligation to hold this trial,” House GOP said in the letter. “The American people demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible. To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve.”

Several Republican senators have called on Schumer to hold a full trial. If Schumer does hold a trial, the charges require a vote by two-thirds of the Senate to convict Mayorkas and remove him from office. There are not enough votes to convict Mayorkas.

The impeachment managers are: Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Ben Cline, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, Rep. Michael Guest, Rep. Harriet Hageman, Rep. Clay Higgins, Rep. Laurel Lee, Rep. August Pfluger, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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