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A fundraiser event for New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo was notable for the high amount of powerful women who attended.
Last Friday (March 7), former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo received a big boost for his mayoral campaign, thanks to a breakfast fundraising event that counted over 250 notable women in different fields in the audience. The fundraiser was held at 425 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Those who wished to attend were required to pay $250 for an individual ticket, with supporters chipping in $2,100 and chairpersons required to pay out $10,000. “Once a small group started talking about this event, it took off. We’re now having to turn people away,” a source close to the organizing group said.
Cuomo spoke to everyone in attendance, according to reports. There was even a surprise appearance by Brooklyn Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, who gave her endorsement of Cuomo for mayor. Her endorsement, along with that of former City Comptroller Carl H. McCall and Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres represents striking early political support from some representing the city’s Black and Brown communities.
The attendees included Cuomo’s family – his mother, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, sister Maria Cuomo Cole, sister-in-law Cristina Greeven Cuomo as well as his daughters Cara, Mariah, and Michaela. Other attendees included Tribeca Enterprises co-founder Jane Rosenthal, Renee Rockefeller, Margie Loeb, Tanya Zuckerbrot, Jen Bayer, Simone Levinson, Judith Hope, Fern Mallis, Jennifer Gilbert, Harriet Schleifer, and former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Activist Patricia Duff, Serena Roosevelt, Melissa DeRosa, and Second Shift co-founder Jenny Galluzzo rounded out the notable personas in the audience.
Cuomo’s fundraiser marks a significant increase in his public appearances since he declared that he would run in the Democratic primary for mayor last week, reminding people of his achievements as governor. His opponents in the primary, including state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, have attacked him on his having to step down as governor due to numerous allegations of sexual harassment in 2021. A recently released poll from Gotham Polling & Analytics favors a Cuomo win in ranked-choice voting, with him beating out Lander and Mamdani at 51% to 31% and 18%, respectively.
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Doechii is really coming up in the world these days as she’s already a Grammy Award winner and well on her way to household name recognition, but nothing says “I made it” like a co-sign from one of the biggest music icons from the previous generation, Lauryn Hill.
Over the weekend the “Ex-Factor” singer was performing at the Jazz in the Gardens (JITG) music festival when she surprised fans during her set by bringing out Doechii to help her perform a rendition of her classic ’90s hit, “Doo Wop (That Thing).” Rapping Lauryn Hill’s verses while Ms. Hill performed the background vocals, Doechii was obviously motivated to show out during the set, as she knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to share the stage with a music legend that rarely pops out, and on the rare occasions when she does, she’s usually hours late (no shots).
Taking to X to express her gratitude over the moment, Doechii thanked the multi-platinum-selling artist and wrote, “Thank you Miss Lauryn Hill. Thank you. My heart is so full. She is my hero. This is the greatest honor hip hop could give me. Praise God 🤎 … my entire body is vibrating with joy right now. I’ll never forget this day! EVER!”
Still on cloud nine from the moment, Doechii tweeted another post in which she said, “I never been so nervous in my life 😭 she is a QUEEN.”
You gotta love it.
Whether or not this will lead to a collaboration between the two women at some point is anyone’s guess (we hope it does), but for now we’re just glad to see these two marvels sharing the same space for the culture.
What do y’all think about Lauryn Hill and Doechii linking up in concert? Would y’all want to hear a cut featuring these two artists? Let us know in the comments section below.
You know how you know you’re a huge pop star? When the mere mention of your name, or a brief, dance-y cameo during the host’s monologue drive the studio audience into uncontrollable shrieking. BTS‘ j-hope knows this feeling.
The singer got ARMY in formation early on Monday night (March 10) during his appearance on The Tonight Show when he snuck out during Jimmy Fallon’s monologue for a bit making fun of the host’s lame dance moves. “I wish I could dance even a 10th as good as he can,” Fallon lamented of his skills compared to his guest, as Roots drummer Questlove assured Jimmy that he indeed had smooth moves. Busting into some seriously cringe dad choreo, Jimmy gyrated to massive screams as a smiling Hobi slipped on stage to show him how it’s done, leaving Fallon thinking that he’d killed it. “You love my dancing!” Fallon blushed.
The singer came back for a sit-down chat, beginning with his favorite things to do when he visits the U.S. Fallon noted that the K-pop superstar recently made his first visit to In-N-Out Burger and he asked how it went. Switching from Korean to English, j-hope said he ordered a cheeseburger, animal-style, a vanilla milkshake and fries. “It was good…. very salty and cheesy and sweety… but not healthy,” he smiled.
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After Fallon shared a recent Instagram post in which Hobi busted out his best Kendrick Lamar “Not Like Us” shuffle dance, the singer confirmed that he’s never met K-Dot, but is definitely down for a collab. “I’m ready for work with you, Kendrick,” he said to screeches from the studio audience as he did a command performance of the signature dance from Lamar’s Drake-destroying single.
In addition to talking about his early days in the underground dance crew Neuron — which was inspired by the first time he heard the clothes-to-the-back kid rap duo Kriss Kross — j-hope said that, like Fallon’s pal Justin Timberlake, when he’s in the studio he can’t help dancing to his own songs and dreaming about what it will be like to perform them live.
“Whenever I listen to music, something come up in my mind,” he said. “And I think of how I want to express that on stage.”
The singer also came back to close the show with a performance of his new solo single, “Sweet Dreams,” with Miguel. Standing on a platform on a fog-shrouded set, Hobi harmonized with the soul singer on the song’s love-filled chorus in his first-ever solo spot on the show, before busting out his melodic rap on the verse while rocking the stage in baggy jeans and fuzzy bunny slippers.
Watch j-hope on The Tonight Show below.
Continuing his ascent as one of the U.K.’s most in-demand electronic acts, Barry Can’t Swim has returned with a intense new single. Listen to “The Person You’d Like To Be” below.
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Offering direct spoken-word vocals that cut through discordant arrangements, the track marks the first preview of a forthcoming project from the Scottish artist. More details of the release are expected to arrive soon.
Born Joshua Mainnie, the DJ and producer has had a stratospheric rise over the past 18 months. Following the release of his debut album, When Will We Land?, in October 2023 – which peaked at No. 12 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart – Mainnie has gone on to perform at major festivals across the globe, including Coachella and Australia’s Laneway.
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In September 2024, the record was shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize. His nomination puts him alongside Aphex Twin, Nia Archives, Burial, Jamie xx, Fred Again.. and Jon Hopkins as the only solo British electronic acts to be nominated for the award. Leeds band English Teacher would go on to be named as the winner of last year’s award.
Later that month, Mainnie released “Still Riding,” a dancefloor cut that features a sample of Kali Uchis’ 2015 single “Ridin Round.” It was first aired at one of his sets in 2022, before he released the track – which samples the Colombian-American artist’s vocals – to streaming two years later.
When Will We Land? also led Mainnie to a BRIT Awards 2024 nomination in the dance act category, as well as making the shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year awards. He performed three sold-out shows at London’s iconic O2 Academy Brixton last October, following a much talked-about slot on The Park stage at Glastonbury earlier in the year.
Mainnie will headline London’s All Points East series on Aug. 22. He will be supported by special guests Confidence Man and Shygirl. Elsewhere, there will be appearances from a bevy of dance acts including DJ Heartstring, Interplanetary Criminal, Salute, Leon Vynehall and ATRIP, among others. The four-night festival will also see RAYE, The Maccabees, and Chase & Status top the bill at their respective all-dayers.
On Aug. 24, Mainnie will appear at Bristol’s Forwards Festival alongside Doechii, Ezra Collective, and Jorja Smith. He is also scheduled to headline Lost Village Festival in Lincolnshire across the same weekend.
He is currently gearing up for a U.S. tour through the spring, which will see him perform in major cities including Boston and New York. The run of dates will culminate with two nights at Los Angeles’ Shrine Expo Hall (May 2-3).
Lil Nas X took some time off, but clearly it was no vacation. The rapper has dropped back-to-back new singles this week and on his latest he’s warning that no games will be played this year. “B–ch, I’m in my prime like a paintbrush/ Big s–t poppin’, walkin’ ’round in a mink vest/ Whoop-whoop, talkin’ […]
The Voice season 27 turned up the heat Monday night (March 10) as the Battle Rounds began, pitting the Top 48 contestants against each other in unforgettable duets to secure their place in the Knockouts.
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Coaches Adam Levine, John Legend, Michael Bublé, and Kelsea Ballerini each paired their artists strategically, but it was Team Adam’s matchup between Fran Posla and Ethan Eckenroad that sparked one of the evening’s most memorable performances.
Performing Noah Cyrus’s emotional hit “July,” Posla and Eckenroad showcased distinctly different vocal strengths on the soulful track.
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Posla, who Levine encouraged to sing slightly sharp to maintain pitch—advice he insisted “makes sense” despite the initial confusion—captivated the audience immediately with her crisp tone and confident phrasing. Her cool, laid-back delivery earned her praise across the board, with Kelsea Ballerini enthusiastically describing Posla as the “ultimate cool girl,” jokingly adding, “I want to go drink a bourbon with you, and I don’t even drink bourbon, ’cause that scares me.”
Meanwhile, Ethan Eckenroad, who has spent considerable time away from his wife and infant daughter during the competition, brought a softer, emotionally charged vocal style that gained momentum throughout the performance.
While he initially struggled to find his footing, Eckenroad eventually won over the coaches with a soulful climax that highlighted his vocal warmth. Michael Bublé particularly praised Eckenroad’s voice as “soft and beautiful,” recognizing the hidden power beneath his gentle delivery.
However, it wasn’t smooth sailing for Eckenroad from the start, as both Legend and Levine acknowledged he took some time to find his groove.
Legend noted that while Posla appeared effortlessly comfortable with Noah Cyrus’s track “July,” Eckenroad’s initial uncertainty was apparent. Ultimately, Adam surprised viewers with his decision, advancing Ethan Eckenroad to the Knockouts while eliminating Fran Posla, despite universal acclaim for her standout performance.
Levine appeared conflicted, reflecting openly: “Fran, you really did thrive singing this song. Ethan, it’s not that you didn’t thrive, because you did…but it took a little time.” Despite second-guessing the song choice, Levine placed his bets on Eckenroad’s growth potential moving forward.
The Voice Season 27 continues next week as coaches Legend, Levine, Bublé, and Ballerini guide their artists into the Knockout rounds, inching closer to crowning the next vocal star.
Luke Combs has revealed the intense nature of his struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), describing the condition as “particularly wicked” during a candid conversation on 60 Minutes Australia.
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The country star shared that unlike common perceptions of OCD—such as compulsive behaviors like flicking light switches—his form, purely obsessional OCD, manifests internally with relentless anxiety and intrusive thoughts rather than outward rituals.
“Probably the worst flare-up of it I’ve had in, I would say three or four years, started about two days before this trip,” Combs told the program prior to his show at Sydney’s Accor Stadium last month.
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“It’s something that in some way I at least think about every day. There’s some tinge of it to some extent every day … The craziness of the particular disorder that I have, it’s the way to get out of it,” Combs told interviewer Adam Hegarty.
“There’s no outward manifestation of it, right? Like you’re talking about the flicking of a light switch, but for me, it’s all going on in here,” Combs explained, adding. “When someone else flicks a light switch, you can see it happening. But for someone like myself, you wouldn’t even know what’s going on—it could be happening right now and you wouldn’t even realise it.”
“It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have… and then they cause you stress, and then you’re stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don’t understand why you’re having them, and you’re trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them.”
He continued, “I’m lucky to be an expert in how to get out of it now… I’m probably 90 per cent out of my flare-up now … and in the midst of doing a world tour, right?”
Combs, known for hits like “Forever After All,” described recent anxiety flare-ups as among the most severe he’s experienced in years, noting periods where obsessive thoughts consumed him for “45 seconds of every minute for weeks.” The intrusive thoughts ranged from unsettling violent images to existential concerns about his identity.
The country star admitted that his OCD significantly impacted his life, explaining, “It held me back so many times in my life where you’re trying to accomplish something, you’re doing really great, and then you have a flare-up, and it just like ruins your whole life for six months.”
Yet, Combs has gradually learned to manage the disorder more effectively by acknowledging these intrusive thoughts without fear.
“When it happens now, I’m not afraid of it because I’m not like, ‘What if I’m like this forever?’ I know I’m not going to be like this forever now.”
Previously, Combs had opened up about first experiencing OCD-related anxiety in middle school during a 2021 interview on AXS TV’s The Big Interview, likening his obsessive thoughts to “fixing the blinds or straightening the carpet,” but occurring entirely in his mind.
Luke Combs has landed four No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart: This One’s For You (2017), What You See Is What You Get (2019), Growin’ Up (2022), and The Prequel (EP) (2019). His albums Gettin’ Old (2023) and Fathers & Sons (2024) both peaked at No. 2.
Drake appears to be working on his next era, though he’s taken to social media to warn that it might not be for everyone.
The Canadian musician shared a post on Instagram on Monday (March 10), with its cryptic content swiftly generating much speculation as to what it might be referring to. “U know I grew up non confrontational and always treated this game as a sport where my pen won gold, but my these days the podium has been hard for all of us to ignore,” the post began.
Presumably, this could be in reference to the OVO rapper’s high-profile beef with Kendrick Lamar, which recently saw Lamar performing the incendiary “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, only days after it won record and song of the year, best rap performance and song, and best music video at the Grammys.
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Drake had previously promised another round in their ongoing feud was on the horizon, with Lamar later addressing the 6 God’s claim while announcing his halftime performance. “You know there’s only one opportunity to win a championship,” Lamar said. “No round twos.”
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As Drake continues his post though, he hints that whatever comes next may be uncomfortable for some, adding that an unidentified individual has been sending him texts. “I understand that this next chapter may leave you feeling uneasy, but I hope you see my honesty as clarity not charity that answers some questions especially about the unanswered texts you’ve been sending me,” the post concludes.
The cryptic nature of Drake’s latest message is continued in the choice of photos used in the post, which – alongside selfies, live footage, and a screengrab from the 2017 film Phantom Thread – also includes an image of two Zofran pills, which the Mayo Clinic notes are “to prevent nausea and vomiting that is caused by cancer medicines (chemotherapy) or radiation therapy.”
Specifics relating to Drake’s upcoming plans remain unclear currently, but his update follows the release of his $ome $exy $ongs 4 U collaborative album with PartyNextDoor on Feb. 14, and the postponement of a number of Australian and New Zealand tour dates due to a “scheduling conflict.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are plotting a global live stream of their Bob Dylan-approved performance at Paris’ Accor Arena in November.
The performance, titled Wild God – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Live in Paris, captures Cave and his bandmates as they perform the final date of their U.K. and European tour in support of 2024’s Wild God. Taking place on Nov. 17, the 22-song show largely leaned upon the nascent Wild God album, peppered with tracks from the band’s extensive back catalog.
“With Cave’s electrifying stage presence and a powerful band featuring Warren Ellis, George Vjestica, Colin Greenwood, Jim Sclavunos, Carly Paradis and Larry Mullins, plus a four-piece gospel-inspired vocal section (Wendi Rose, T Jae Cole, Miça Townsend and Janet Ramus), Nick Cave led a high-intensity, emotionally charged performance in front of 20,000 fans,” a description of the stream reads.
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Notably, the November concert saw the band gaining a high-profile blessing when Bob Dylan took to his sporadically-active social media account to Tweet a message in support of the show.
“Saw Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena and I was really struck by that song ‘Joy’ where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now it the time for joy’,” Dylan wrote. “I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right.”
Cave himself took to his own Red Hand Files website to respond to Dylan’s message, labeling it “a lovely pulse of joy that penetrated my exhausted, zombied state.”
“I felt proud to have been touring with The Bad Seeds and offering, in the form of a rock ‘n ’roll show, an antidote to this despair, one that transported people to a place beyond the dreadful drama of the political moment,” he wrote.
“I was elated to think Bob Dylan had been in the audience, and since I doubt I’ll get an opportunity to thank him personally, I’ll thank him here. Thank you, Bob!”
The Wild God – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Live in Paris concert will be streaming from April 7 via the ARTE Concert YouTube channel and their own ARTE.tv website. North American fans will be forced to wait, however, with the broadcast available from June 1. “We assure you that your patience will be rewarded!” ARTE guaranteed on social media.
Acclaimed composer Hans Zimmer has reflected on his inability to add another Academy Award to his shelf thanks to Dune: Part Two, noting his disqualification was simply due to a “a stupid rule.”
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The German composer has spent more than 35 years working on crafting scores for Hollywood films, with his efforts resulting in two Academy Awards for his efforts. From 12 nominations at the Oscars, Zimmer has taken home the best original score award just twice, once in 1995 for The Lion King, and again in 2022 for his work on Dune.
With director Denis Villeneuve releasing Dune: Part Two in March 2024, many fans could have expected Zimmer to add another feather to his cap thanks to the nascent entry in the franchise. However, in October, Variety reported that Zimmer’s score for the film was deemed ineligible for submission to the Academy Awards due to “surpassing the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music.”
According to the Academy’s rule: “In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Due to Zimmer’s score for Dune: Part Two incorporating elements and key cues from the Oscar-winning score to 2021’s Dune, it was therefore deemed ineligible for submission.
Though Villeneuve and the film’s team were undeterred in their efforts for Zimmer to be recognized for his work, the score was ultimately disqualified and did not appear on the ballot for consideration. The film did however receive a total of five nominations, taking home best sound and best visual effects at the ceremony on March 2.
In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Zimmer reflected on the small controversy when host Josh Horowitz asked if the disqualification was a “sore point” for the composer.
“It’s not really a sore point. It’s just such a stupid point – how can it be a sore point?” Zimmer asked. “I got disqualified because I was using material from the first movie in the second movie, but it’s not a sequel. It is the completion of the arc, both movies are one arc.
“So was I supposed to go and take all the character themes away and write new character themes and develop them?” he added. “It’s just a stupid rule. What I didn’t want to do is go and bitch about it.”
Zimmer’s recent comments also continue on from what he told Variety back in October, stating his belief that Dune: Part Two is simply a continuation of the narrative begun in the first film.
“It’s called Dune: Part Two, not Dune 2,” he explained. “The story starts the second we finish the first movie. We are still within that story, those characters, and it would be foolish and completely uncinematic to go and write new themes for the characters instead of enlarging the theme.”
Zimmer is planning to return for Villeneuve’s next film in the series, with Dune: Messiah reportedly set to begin filming in mid-2025.