Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Swift drops surprise new album
Taylor Swift fans are getting a double reason to celebrate this year — the singer-songwriter is about to release her second album in 2020.
“To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift wrote in social media posts Thursday morning. “I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released.”
Swift said the new album is called “Evermore,” which she described as a “sister” album to her latest release, “Folklore.” A video for a new song, “Willow,” will arrive along with the album, released at midnight ET Thursday.
She revealed the track list for the 15-song new album and noted that some of the guests are Haim, The National and Bon Iver.
“Folklore,” released this summer, enjoyed three separate visits to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and became the first album to sell a million copies in the U.S. in 2020.
On Instagram, Swift said working on “Folklore” was different than her previous albums and she just kept writing songs. “I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/ not imaginary tales,” she wrote.
“I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.”
BTS isTime’s Entertainer of the Year:
BTS has had more than just a “Dynamite” year — they’ve become such a global phenomenon that Time magazine named the South Korean group its 2020 Entertainer of the Year.
The magazine announced the honor for the seven-member K-pop
boy band on Thursday.
The magazine cited
BTS’ massive global presence amid the pandemic, including leveraging their massive fan base to support causes like Black Lives Matter. The group has become a staple of recent awards shows, performing their flashy No. 1 hit “Dynamite.” The song in November brought BTS its first Grammy nomination.
“There are times when I’m still taken aback by all the unimaginable things that are happening,” BTS member Suga told Time for an interview that accompanied the announcement. “But I ask myself, Who’s going to do this, if not us?”
TVspecial replaces Rose Parade:
There won’t be thousands of people watching flower-laden floats roll through the streets of Pasadena on New Year’s Day, but the show will go on.
Sheryl Crow leads a long list of performers and celebrity guests who will appear in a Jan. 1 television special replacing the 132nd Rose Parade, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Performers will also include Mickey Guyton, Tori Kelly, Lady A, Rascal Flatts and husband-andwife duo The War and
Treaty. Celebrity guests will include Rita Moreno, Emeril Lagasse, Gary Sinise, Daddy Yankee, Shanola Hampton, Dascha Polanco, Vin Scully, Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez and Rose Bowl Hall of Fame inductee Matt Leinart.
“The Rose Parade’s
New Year Celebration presented by Honda” will air on ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel and Univision.
Dec. 11 birthdays: Actor Rita Moreno is 89. Singer David Gates is 80. Actor Donna Mills is 80. Singer Brenda Lee is 76. Singer Paul Beasley of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 76. Actor Linda Day George (TV’s “Mission: Impossible”) is 76.Actor Teri Garr is 73. Actor Bess Armstrong is 67. Singer Jermaine Jackson is 66. Bassist Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens is 63. Bassist Nikki Sixx is 62. Actor Ben Browder is
58. Singer-bassist Justin Currie of Del Amitri is
56. Bassist David Schools of Widespread Panic is 56. Actor Gary Dourdan is 54. Actor-comedian Mo’Nique is 53. Rapper-actor Mos Def is 47. Actor Rider Strong is 41. Actor Xosha Roquemore is 36. Actor Karla Souza is 34. Actor Hailee Steinfeld is 24.