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The Final Jeopardy clue on Jeopardy! on Wednesday (May 7) seemed to be way too easy, but not one of the contestants got it right. The category was The Grammys. The clue: “Best New Artists at the 7th Annual Grammys, this band would be nominated the next six years, but not again until the 39th and 67th events.”
The champion wrote down “Who is the Marine Marching Band,” which was incorrect. The ensemble has never even been nominated for a Grammy.
A challenger wrote down “Springsteen,” which ignored a key part of the clue that it was a “band.” And while Bruce Springsteen has been recording for more than 50 years, the clues indicated a 60-year span of Grammy ceremonies. The Boss hasn’t been around quite that long.
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The second challenger, you figure, has to get it right. He wrote “The Rolling Stones.” As host Ken Jennings pointed out, that was closer, but still not right. To the Grammys’ eternal shame, The Rolling Stones weren’t even nominated for a Grammy until the 1979 ceremony, when they were up for album of the year for Some Girls. And they don’t satisfy another part of the clue, either: They have never been nominated more than two years in a row. But they did win best rock album earlier this year for Hackney Diamonds.
The correct answer, of course, is The Beatles. They won best new artist at the 1965 ceremony, were nominated every year from 1966-1971, and then were nominated again in 1997 (when they won a total of three Grammys for The Beatles Anthology and “Free as a Bird”) and earlier this year (when they won best rock performance for “Now and Then”).
If the contestants had just muttered “Help!” when they saw the clue, and realized they were in trouble, that might have led them to the correct question.
OK, so, these three contestants were not Grammy experts, and perhaps not die-hard Beatles fans. Still, they did very well in other categories during the two rounds of play. This just goes to show that we all have our strong suits and other areas were we draw a blank.
[Spoiler alert: This story contains the identity of the winner and runners-up revealed on Wednesday night’s (May 7) season 13 finale of The Masked Singer.]
In a season that has featured the unmasking of a mess of music stars — including Edwin McCain (Nessy), Method Man (Stud Muffin) and Flavor Flav (Space Ranger), plus actors Matthew Lawrence (Paparazzo), Candace Cameron Bure (Cherry Blossom) and James Van Der Beek (Griffin) and boxer Oscar De La Hoya (Fuzzy Peas), among others — when the confetti rained down on Wednesday night’s (May 7) Masked Singer finale, it was no surprise who came out on top.
Pearl shone the brightest on a night when she reigned supreme over the other three finalists — Boogie Woogie, Coral and Mad Scientist — after a season of dominating the competition with a perfectly executed mix of pop, R&B, rock, Latin and soul songs.
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If you were really paying attention to the clues this season, Pearl’s identity was plain to see. There was talk of a “tough exterior” you had to break through to find the treasure inside, making her own way by playing shows in discount stores and dive bars, Elvis, a bowl of cherries and Aphrodite, goddess of love. She also noted she grew up in a tiny town, split before finishing high school to work in a bar and said that when she started doing what she does, it launched a movement that opened the doors for many others.
The guesses were all over the place, with judge Robin Thicke thinking Melissa Etheridge, to Rita Orr tossing out rockers Pat Benatar and Joan Jett and always-wrong Ken Jeong wildly swinging with certainty that Madonna was under the mask (she wasn’t). Meanwhile, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg’s guesses over the season leaned country, including Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Kacey Musgraves — which turned out to be the right kind of lean.
There’s a very good reason Pearl came out on top, beginning with her gritty, emotional cover of Lesley Gore’s 1963 empowerment anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” which Thicke praised for being “sultry and swaggy,” with a touch of soul and grit. Proving her versatility, she also spread that grit on The Outfield’s 1986 rock anthem “Your Love,” then pivoted again with a hip-swiveling take on Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine’s 1985 classic “Conga.” Other highlights included a killer cover of Dolly Parton’s 1977 pop country No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Here You Come Again,” a rock pivot for Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and an impressive run through the Whitney Houston ballad “Saving All My Love For You.”
She secured the win with Wednesday night’s cover of KT Tunstall’s 2004 rocker “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” which sounded so much like it could have been one of her own songs that Jeong called her the “Meryl Streep of Masked Singer.” Her final song, The Pretenders’ epic ballad “I’ll Stand By You,” soared and, seemingly, locked in the season 13 crown for none other than country star Gretchen Wilson.
Her victory came over Boogie Woogie (Andy Grammer), Coral (Zombies‘ Meg Donnelly) and Mad Scientist (Florida Georgia Line country star and solo singer Brian Kelley).
The singer — whose breakthrough, Grammy-winning 2004 single “Redneck Woman” sat at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart for five weeks — spoke to Billboard before her win about why now was the right time to do the show, how the flashy costume switched up her public persona and why she didn’t sing a song from her all-time favorite rock band.
This show had you doing more choreo than I imagine you’re used to, so much hip shaking and gyrating. Was that weird to you, or did the costume help alleviate any nerves?
The costume helped with everything. When I stepped into the costume, I was transformed, I became Pearl. All of the different sides of Gretchen Wilson that I’ve never felt comfortable enough to show just took the forefront in the costume. I saw it as an opportunity to show the world there’s a lot more to me than this redneck y’all keep talking about.
What as it about that sparkly costume that appealed to you? You usually are a black T-shirt and jeans kind of woman, and it’s so girly. [For the record, Wilson was wearing a black T-shirt and one sparkly, rhinestone-studded blue glove during our Zoom.]
It was just all of the things I’ve never felt comfortable to do as a grown woman. I took it and ran with it. It’s an uncomfortable costume. You don’t feel all that pretty in it because you’re mostly just sweating. But when you happen by a mirror and see it you’re like, “ooh!,” you just can’t help yourself. I thought it was really good exactly because of that: Everybody just thinks of a plain Jane, girl next door type of thing, and I thought this costume was perfect because it was so opposite of what anybody would ever think they’d see me behind.
You’ve had a wild ride in the music biz, scoring five top 10 singles on the Billboard country charts and then jumping to your own label, so I’m curious: What did you want to prove on the show?
I had some post-COVID health stuff, I’m a long-hauler. I’ve got medications I’ll have to take for the rest of my life — high blood pressure, asthma — these are all things I didn’t have right before COVID. I also was dancing with a 6-year-old boy at a wedding, spinning, spinning, spinning, then I lost myself and I shattered my ankle and my leg, so I spent eight months in a wheelchair in a cast. So all of this was happening to me the last couple of years and it really got me to the point where, health-wise, my weight, I was thinking, “I might be done. It could be over for me because I’m not sure I’ll be able to breathe out there and do this thing as a living anymore.” So when this opportunity came, it was a moment for me to go, “All right, I’ve struggled, I’ve got the weight down, the medication is helping and if I say yes to this and I can go do this then I can do anything.” If I can do this, I can do a 75-minute show in Yuma, Arizona, in August outside.
Your sound was so versatile on the show, from rock to country, pop, Latin and R&B. Why was that a priority for you?
First of all, because I could. I grew up in bar bands. When I was 16, I was in three to four bands all at once, and it was always covers, so I got my start like, “How much can I sound like this one?” That was sort of a hidden gem in my pocket that I had, being able to transform my voice.
You didn’t do a song by your favorite band Heart, though. Why not?
Like any show, only a certain number of songs they have clearance for, so it wasn’t like I could go in there and say, “I want to sing ‘Barracuda’ by Heart.” There was a very good chance they wouldn’t have been able to clear it. Also, had they brought me a Heart song, I would have said no because it would have been a dead giveaway. I felt we got really close with show opener [Big & Rich’s] “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” — those are two of my very best friends. How do they not know that that’s me? I tried to pick songs I love, but also songs my audience would not typically think it would be me singing.
Speaking of which, was it fun to sing “Pink Pony Club” with Rita Ora on the finale?
There’s a song I’ve never heard! Never heard it [before I sang it] and never heard it since. Let me just say [throws up prayer hands]: Nothing against the song, it’s just not my thing.
How cool was it to get that message from your daughter on the last night? Did she know it was you on the show?
In the beginning, I told almost no one. I told my publicist, I had to tell my mom because I have four dogs and she had to come take care of them. The show decided to involve my daughter and her new husband, so that’s how she got on it, otherwise she wouldn’t have known. I’m really glad they did because keeping this secret from her felt wrong not having her involved in the moment.
Your Pretenders cover tonight made Ken cry! That must have felt good, right?
I didn’t remember that! I haven’t seen the final episode yet. I don’t know what my favorite performance is because I haven’t seen them all yet. I was impressed with the “Conga” because that was so far outside of what I normally do, but my friends are all liking “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and that was my least favorite. I was thinking, “What did I just do? I just chose a song that is going to lose me the competition. Where do I go with this vocal?” I had to be creative and jump an octave, or two, because this song doesn’t go anywhere! I think I did go three octaves in that song.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have launched an official inquiry into the event ticketing business at the urging of President Donald Trump, the agencies announced Wednesday (May 7).
As part of the inquiry, “the agencies invite members of the public to submit comments and information on harmful practices and on potential regulation or legislation to protect consumers in the industry,” according to a press release. Anyone “impacted by anticompetitive practices in the live concert and entertainment industry” will have 60 days to submit comments to Regulations.gov, with the comment period concluding on July 7.
After the comment period closes, the agencies state they will “use the information in their preparation of the report and recommendations directed by President Trump” in his Executive Order 14254, also known as Combating Unfair Practices in the Live Entertainment Market. Signed by the president during a March 31 meeting in the Oval Office with musician Kid Rock in attendance, the order directed the Attorney General, along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the chairman of the FTC, to submit a report identifying “recommendations for regulations or legislation necessary to protect consumers” in the industry, including by enforcing the Better Online Tickets Sales (BOTS) Act.
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Passed in 2016, the BOTS Act gives both the DOJ and the FTC broad power to crack down on scalpers who illegally use automated technology to skirt the restrictions placed on high-demand ticket sales and prevents scalpers from buying up the best seats to flip for profit. Yet since its passage in 2016, the BOTS Act has only been used once to prosecute scalpers who knowingly break the rules put in place to make ticket buying fairer and more equitable.
“Competitive live entertainment markets should deliver value to artists and fans alike,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division in a statement. “We will continue to closely examine this market and look for opportunities where vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws can lead to increased competition that makes tickets more affordable for fans while offering fairer compensation for artists.”
Added FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, “Many Americans feel like they are being priced out of live entertainment by scalpers, bots, and other unfair and deceptive practices. Now their voices are being heard. President Trump has sent a clear message that bad actors who exploit fans and distort the marketplace will not be tolerated. The FTC is proud to help deliver on that promise and restore fair and competitive markets that benefit ordinary Americans.”
The inquiry comes as several ticketing bills work their way through Congress, most notably the TICKET ACT, which passed the House of Representatives on April 29 and also includes language calling for the enforcement of BOTS Act.
“Illegal bot use runs rampant in the ticketing industry because the FTC has only brought one enforcement action since the use of bots was banned in 2016,” read a statement from Stephen Parker, executive director of National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), shortly after the April 29 passage of the TICKET ACT in the House. He added, “We hope Congress does not miss the opportunity to ensure these laws are actually enforced in the future.”
Brad Arnold, singer and drummer of the Mississippi-based rock band 3 Doors Down, announced Wednesday (May 7) that he’s been diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer.
“Got some not-so-good news for you today,” Arnold said in a video posted to social media, revealing that he’s fighting clear cell renal cell carcinoma and that it’s metastasized into his lung.
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Due to Arnold’s diagnosis, the band is canceling its upcoming summer tour, with dates that were set to begin next week in Florida and continued through August.
Arnold said that he’s leaning on his faith through the medical battle (“I have no fear. I really, sincerely am not scared of it at all.”) and asked for prayers from his fans. “I’d love for you to lift me up in prayer any chance you get. And I think it’s time for me to go and listen to ‘It’s Not My Time’ a little bit.”
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He also referenced the 2008 3 Doors Down song “It’s Not My Time” in his Instagram caption, writing: “Thank you for all the memories so far. Now, I believe ‘ITS NOT MY TIME’ is really my song. This’ll be a battle so we need our prayers warriors! Thank y’all for being the best fans in the world. We love y’all!”
Arnold’s comments section was filled with a who’s who of his musical peers, with Creed’s Scott Stapp writing, “If anyone has the FAITH and STRENGTH to face this fight, it’s YOU brother. … I think I can speak for all of us, we are lifting you up in prayer right now believing without doubt for your total healing! I love you bro.”
Chris Daughtry added, “Sending you love my brother,” with Gavin McGraw commenting: “May God bless you brother. Showing us how to conquer the darkness with light.”
“Man I hate to hear that Brad. Praying for ya brother,” Jason Aldean wrote, with Sara Evans saying, “Will be praying for you every day!”
During their early 2000s heyday, 3 Doors Down scored 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including three top 10s: 2000’s “Kryptonite” (No. 3 peak), 2003’s “When I’m Gone” (No. 4) and 2003’s “Here Without You” (No. 5). They also scored two No. 1 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart: 2005’s Seventeen Days and a self-titled project in 2008.
When Rascal Flatts and the Backstreet Boys hit the stage at the ACM Awards on Thursday night, look for their medley to contain a few surprises. “We close out with ‘Thriller,’” bassist/singer Jay DeMarcus jokes to Billboard.
Maybe not, but they will sing a combo of BSB and Rascal Flatts hits with the two groups relying on their trademark harmonies. Rascal Flatts guitarist/vocalist Joe Don Rooney had nothing but praise for their new duet partners following rehearsal.
“They’re just such great singers and their melodies are so good,” he tells Billboard. “They know how to stack them. It’s like a wall of vocals. It’s really, really cool and really an amazing, powerful sound.”
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The medley will include “What Hurts the Most,” Rascal Flatts’ 2006 Hot Country Songs No. 1 that the Backstreet Boys perform with the trio on Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets, a June 6 collection of remakes of Rascal Flatts’ most-loved hits that pairs the trio with such artists as Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson, as well as Jonas Brothers on their new single “I Dare You.”
Rascal Flatts came back following a five-year hiatus for their 25th-anniversary tour, which kicked off a few months ago and lasts through the summer. Following the break, they admit it took them a little while to get their sea legs back. “It took me a couple of weekends,” DeMarcus says. “Definitely the first weekend I got out there, I was winded, and I was like, ‘I gotta get my show legs back.’ My back hurt.”
“He’s like, ‘Are you guys sore at all?’” lead singer Gary LeVox adds.
As the trio revisits their hits in concert, some have taken on new meaning as the years have passed. “When we cut ‘My Wish,’ I didn’t have kids, so now that my kids are 13 and 15, it means a whole different thing to me now when I sing that song,” DeMarcus says. “I think that for all of us, different seasons of life make different songs mean different things.”
“I think what really did it for me was ‘Bless the Broken Road,’” LeVox says. “It’s a moment in the show where just the three of us are up there. It’s a special moment in the show.”
For Rooney, it’s “I’m Moving On.” “It’s very special to me and has taken on a new life in my life. I’ve been through a lot the last five years,” says Rooney, who has been sober for three years after being arrested for DUI in 2021 and going through a contentious divorce. “These guys said, ‘Get out there and sing “I’m Moving On” by yourself.’ It’s been tough. The first couple of weekends, I was extremely nervous, but it’s very heartfelt. I mean everything I say and I just really thank God so much for my life I have right now.”
Their Backstreet Boy pals are set for a Las Vegas residency at Sphere coming up in July, and Rascal Flatts admit that sounds pretty sweet to them. “We’ve had a couple of [Las Vegas] residencies. We were three years at the Hard Rock, two at the Venetian,” LeVox says. “Setting up one time is really nice. That’s really convenient.”
“I wasn’t allowed back in Vegas for a couple of years. I think they’ve lifted that now,” jokes DeMarcus before seriously adding of Sphere dates, “I think anybody would want to play there, you know. It’s a wonderful thing, but it’s a whole other thing for us. You have to spend so much time putting creative into building the show and making sure all the content fits. It’s very expensive to build all the content.”
Rascal Flatts, who are up for group of the year at the ACM Awards for the first time since 2017, are coy when it comes to saying if they plan to release an album of new music.
“We’re trying to take it a step at a time,” DeMarcus says. “We’ve just kind of been thrown back into the deep end, but we really loved being on tour. We really loved cutting the duets record. We’re going to do some more shows this summer, and we’re still talking about what the future looks like. We’re really excited about what lies ahead for us, but we really haven’t made any definite plans yet. I would hate to say never. If we find the right kind of song and we feel compelled to cut it, we have the freedom to do that. So you never know what’s gonna happen.”
In a promo for this weekend’s new Saturday Night Live, it seems like Walton Goggins still has White Lotus on his mind as he teases his hosting debut.
Paired with SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez, the promo finds Goggins poking fun at the weekly White Lotus-style “who’s gonna die?” fan theories, applying them to the penultimate episode of season 50.
Hernandez attempts to rein in Goggins’ death theories, saying, “It’s not that kind of show, man. It’s SNL, no one’s gonna die.”
Goggins presses on regardless, confidently adding, “Colin Jost, Michael Che, murder-suicide,” to which Hernandez replies, “No! These are real people, they’re not characters… no one is dying.”
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Goggins pushes further, insisting, “That’s exactly what someone who’s about to die would say,” and proceeds to theorize about which cast member might be responsible for Hernandez’s fictional demise. He cycles through Heidi Gardner and Chloe Fineman before fixating on Bowen Yang, exclaiming, “It’s Bowen! It’s always been Bowen. It would always ever be Bowen, because he hates you.”
In classic SNL fashion, the sketch culminates with cast member Michael Longfellow sneaking up to dramatically stab Hernandez, revealing himself as the killer. “I should have been Domingo,” Longfellow says, referencing Hernandez’s viral recurring SNL character. Goggins, fully immersed, concludes with, “Wow, I did not see that coming! Prestige television!”
Fresh off his debut at the Met Gala on Monday, Goggins will continue a month of firsts as he makes his Saturday Night Live hosting debut this weekend, alongside musical guest Arcade Fire. SNL airs Saturday night at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and streams live on Peacock.
When some people first saw LISA‘s attire at the 2025 Met Gala, an unexpected question came to mind: “Wait, is that Rosa Parks on her underwear?” But according to a rep for one of the designers she worked with, the answer is a definite no.
In a statement to Vulture after the Monday (May 5) event, a spokesperson for Henry Taylor — an artist who collaborated on the BLACKPINK star’s Louis Vuitton look with Pharrell Williams — clarified that no civil rights pioneers were featured on LISA’s look whatsoever, despite online backlash that occurred when people mistakenly believed that Parks’ image had been displayed on her underwear. “The figure featured in Lisa’s Louis Vuitton look is not Rosa Parks, but one of Henry’s neighbors,” the rep said.
“The faces seen on this look, as well as on previous LV garments featuring Taylor’s artwork, are all drawn from his personal life — family members, friends, and neighbors,” they continued. “These figures come directly from Henry’s existing artworks, which he provided to LVMH for Pharrell’s debut collection with Louis Vuitton in 2023.”
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The statement puts to rest a wave of criticism directed at LISA after she walked the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City Monday night, with the Thai performer sporting a sparkly black blazer, tights printed with the Louis Vuitton logo, and a mesh bodysuit patterned with embroidered faces in black lace. Some people slammed the White Lotus actress for what they believed to be an insensitive wardrobe choice, especially considering the fabric’s placement over her crotch area — not to mention the night’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, which focused on “the role of sartorial style in forming Black identities” and “the emergence, significance and proliferation of the Black dandy.”
But, as Taylor’s rep concluded in the statement, “None of the individuals depicted in any of [LISA’s] garments are Rosa Parks or other well-known figures from Black cultural history.”
The “Rockstar” singer was one of three BLACKPINK band members in attendance at the 2025 Met, which was co-chaired by Williams with A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton. ROSÉ also hit the carpet, as did JENNIE.
The event comes as the bandmates are gearing up to reunite for the first time since their Born Pink World Tour ended in 2023. When it comes to solo music, LISA is also continuing what she started with debut album Alter Ego by collaborating with Maroon 5 on new single “Priceless,” which dropped May 2.
They say you never forget your first Met Gala — and in the midst of her winning streak, Doechii is in no danger of forgetting how her appearance at the 2025 event went down on Monday (May 5).
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Prior to event starting, footage caught the TDE rapper in a stressful moment as she was shuttled out of The Mark Hotel covered by a portable screen and a number of umbrellas looking to keep her Louis Vuitton outfit a secret before hitting the blue carpet.
Some fans took issue with how Doechii addressed her team in the midst of the tense moment, as she tersely instructed them to bring her more umbrellas. “Give me another umbrella, now,” she shouted in her clip. “I need more f–king umbrellas!”
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The parties involved took a few breaths and cooler heads prevailed as all appears to be good for Doechii and her team after what she called an “overstimulating night.” The “Anxiety” rapper had some fun with her reply to the candid footage catching her leaving the hotel as Doechii posted a TikTok on Wednesday (May 7).
“All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” she captioned the clip. “This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside).”
The TikTok video finds Doechii with her hands up, like the famed Druski meme, as The Commodores’ “Easy” provides the soundtrack. “God forbid a girl needs more umbrellas,” she wrote.
@iamdoechii_ All jokes aside this was such an overstimulating night but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! This was the night we all dreamed of and my team killed it (umbrellas aside) 😭🥴 ♬ Easy – Commodores
After successfully protecting her outfit, Doechii unveiled a crisp Louis Vuitton tux jacket with matching checkered shorts and a mahogany tie. “This is one of the biggest nights in fashion, and for it to be so Black .. .I’m present, I’m here,” the Grammy-winning rapper told Cosmopolitan. “I felt inspired by the theme of ‘student of hip-hop’ and I feel like that’s really dandy.”
Doechii was seen hanging out with Megan Thee Stallion and WNBA star Angel Reese inside as the Houston Hottie broke the no phone policy and filmed the trio sampling various appetizers from inside the venue.
Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell were tabbed as co-chairs for the 2025 Met Gala, which saw attendees serve looks tied to the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, celebrating Black fashion.
Earlier this year, Sen. Cory Booker made history by speaking for 25 hours straight inside the United States Capitol in protest of the Donald Trump administration, delivering the longest speech ever recorded on the senate floor. And in a new interview, the politician revealed which music gets him pumped up to take such big leaps in his work, from songs by Beyoncé to show tunes sung by Cynthia Erivo.
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While reflecting on his historic feat in a Rolling Stone profile published Wednesday (May 7), Booker shared that music is one thing he enjoys outside of his work as a New Jersey senator. “I wake up and listen to podcasts that give me the news of the day, and then by the time I’m working out, it’s whatever music can get me most pumped up,” he told the publication before pulling up his Spotify Wrapped from last year. “My top 2024 songs: On top is Beyoncé, ‘Texas Hold ’Em,’ which I think I played way too much.”
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“Bruce Springsteen,” he continued. “Stevie Wonder. Lots of gospel music. Oh, Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ made it into the top 20. ‘The Color Purple,’ Cynthia Erivo’s song, I played a lot last year.”
Speaking of Erivo, Booker noted that he hasn’t had the time to catch a movie in theaters since seeing Wicked, which premiered in November last year. It’s understandable why he might’ve been busy; the Democratic party has been fighting against the initiatives of the Republican majority-led Congress ever since January, when Trump was re-elected as president and his party took control of the senate after flipping four seats in the election.
In one of the splashiest means of protest since the billionaire businessman took office, the former mayor of Newark spoke for 25 hours and five minutes on March 31 into April 1, using his lengthy stretch of time on the senate floor to criticize Trump’s policies and delay Republican’s overall productivity in the senate.
Though he did beat out Strom Thurmond’s 24-hour spiel protesting the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for the new longest senate-speech record, Booker’s address wasn’t technically a filibuster, as he wasn’t delaying the passing of a specific piece of legislation. Of the decision not to do a proper filibuster, he told Rolling Stone, “In the modern Senate, it’s very hard to even get control of the floor.”
“I said to my team, ‘How did Ted Cruz get control of the floor? How did Rand Paul? Figure out how they got control,’” he continued. “The person in the cloakroom told me, very annoyingly, ‘We let [Rand Paul take the floor], because he promised it was only going to be a couple minutes — and he lied through his teeth’ … I’m not going to lie, so let’s just let them know that I’m going to take control of the floor and hold it for as long as I possibly can.”
As for whether he wants to run for president in 2028, Booker was frank. “It would be the biggest malpractice of my life if I didn’t tell you I am running for reelection two years before that election,” he told the publication. “I want to be reelected as a New Jersey senator, and my focus is to let my state know I am 100 percent focused.”
The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow film hits theaters on May 16, and he revealed that his sleep paralysis diagnosis played a role in inspiring the movie.
Ahead of the film’s arrival, the singer spoke with The Fader earlier this week, when the superstar revealed that his suffering from sleep paralysis played a major role in inspiring Hurry Up Tomorrow. “There are no antagonists in this film,” he said. “I think that sleep paralysis is the enemy. One of the main concepts of this film is sleep paralysis.”
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The Weeknd added that he has since gotten his sleep paralysis under control with better sleeping practices limiting his lucid dreaming.
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“That is something that I was really dealing with, still am to this day, not as much as before, but they’re very vivid nightmares where you’re in bed and you’re half asleep, half awake,” he explained. “You’re aware of your surroundings, but you can’t move. You’re paralyzed for almost a minute. Sometimes you see a shadowy figure in the corner and you hear voices, sweet nothings. It’s saying nothing, but they’re voices.
The Toronto singer continued to say that lack of sleep was the biggest contributor to his sleep paralysis. “I did my research on it and it’s just a lack of sleep,” he concluded. “Your brain is still awake when you’re asleep. So my biggest medicine for it is just turn your phone off, turn the TV off, turn all the lights off. And yeah, you won’t get it. The irony is it’s got to all be dark and scary for you to sleep through the night.”
Hurry Up Tomorrow finds The Weeknd playing a fictionalized pop star version of himself while starring alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan in the psychological thriller directed by Trey Edward Shults.
The star gave fans a sneak peek into a scene from the film on Wednesday (May 7) on Instagram. The clip finds The Weeknd osing his voice, but he learns it was due to a psychological condition and not from physical harm.
The clip direclty mirrors the Weeknd’s real life, as Tesfaye was forced to cancel a show after he lost his voice while performing “Can’t Feel My Face” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in September 2022.
Before the film’s arrival, The Weeknd will embark on his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. The North American trek kicks off on May 9 in Phoenix. Playboi Carti and Mike Dean are slated to serve as the tour’s special guests.
Watch a Hurry Up Tomorrow trailer below and look for the movie in theaters on May 16.
